The Silken Key

Chapter 22

The first sign of Jarkki was not a tower but a hole in the sky. From many miles off, the party saw a single spot where the steel grey clouds of the 'land of darkness' had been shot through as if by some giant cannonball. Even as the clouds shifted, that hole remained.

"Unnatural phenomenon," Tariq remarked. "The hallmark of a mage's residence."

When the tower itself came into view, Detlef found himself wondering what they had thought so frightening about Ingrid Soghir's tower in the north. Compared to Jarkki, The Rooks seemed like a welcoming lighthouse.

Tertullian's tower reached up to the sky higher than any man-made structure Detlef had seen before. It dwarfed the surrounding forest. One could almost imagine it being visible all the way from Brenmarsh.

Before they came so close any watchmen from the tower might spot them, the five left the road, tied the horses up in a wooded copse and skirted around a field to approach the tower unnoticed.

"I don't suppose you've got another inspiring speech in you, Detlef?" Rudiger asked. "The last one is starting to wear off a bit."

Detlef craned his neck to look up at the black tower. Huge stone gargoyles seemed to stare back down at him. Detlef could only hope those granite eyes could not see, for there would be no sneaking past them.

"We can do this," he said. "It's just a tower. It will have a door, some stairs..."

"And a necromancer bent on taking over the world," Maddy reminded him.

Tabitha put a hand to her chest, grasping the blue-rock key. "Let me worry about the necromancer," she said. "We have the thing he needs. If he wants it, either he will have to let us in or he will have to come out to us."

Detlef rubbed his chin and knelt down behind a bush, looking across a small field at some stone steps leading up to a door in the base of the tower. "That's true, but I can't say I'm keen on either of those two options."

"Detlef is right," Tariq said in a low voice. "We should try to remain undetected for as long as we can."

"I don't want to tinkle in your teapot," Rudiger grumbled. "But isn't that exactly what we tried to do at The Rooks?"

"This will be different," Detlef said, watching as two figures shifted idly on either side of the door. "There won't be skeletons this time. Just pirates. Look."

Straining his eyes, he could see that the two guards were indeed men with the distinctive features of the lands far to the south. They were lightly armoured in a way better suited for attacking from ship to land than mounting the defence of a tower.

"Krespanis," Tariq breathed. "Probably Tertullian has a small garrison of them. No doubt his fortress is staffed by slaves sold to him by those same pirates."

"It's been a long time since I've crossed a weapon with one of them," Detlef locked his jaw and gripped his halberd tightly, recalling the trepidation and uncertainty of battle. "They are skilled fighters. We need to give ourselves an advantage."

"The element of surprise is always a good advantage, is it not?" Rudiger suggested.

Detlef nodded and turned to Maddy. "Have you thought about how you're going to get people to buy your acid? You must have a little bit of a salesman streak in you."

Maddy furrowed his brow and looked about awkwardly. "I suppose I'd given it some thought...hardly seems like the right time to be talking about that."

Detlef smirked and looked back towards the tower guards. "How would you like to have a little sales practice?"

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