Eternal Beasts

Within Sight of the Walls

Morning in the Tara Coille dawned bright and warm. As the light from the dwarf suns filtered through the majestic, sky-touching hardwoods, it brushed across the sleeping figure of a lone nomad pathfinder, curled up on a massive branch five meters off the ground. And the elf twitched, instantly stirred back to wakefulness by the light's subtle caress.

Eyes fluttering open, Seth took a second to assess his condition. While not completely recovered from the late night antics of his run through the forest ahead of a drolim scouting party, he felt good enough to continue on to the high king's throne city. Where he hoped he'd find the rest of his companions waiting for him before they started looking for the entrance to the city's Master Library.

A quick stretch, a bit of food washed down with water from his waterskin, then Seth was retrieving his bear claws from his pack once more. Strapping them on, he tested their security. A couple good tugs satisfied him that they were secure. Then he was easing himself back down the trunk, placing his feet and hands expertly to make the traverse back down to the forest floor without incident.

With the suns out, it was elementary to locate the road. This time, however, he wouldn't be traveling it but shadowing it from the forest. Last night's discovery that the Harbinger forces still in the Tara Srath were using its ancient highways to move their forces about was enough to convince him to stay off the highway as much as he could to avoid running into another patrol. That wasn't to say they wouldn't have drolim in the bush on either side of the road regardless, but it reduced his chance of discovery significantly to stay off the road.

Now traveling solitary, Seth made good time. This wasn't the first time he had been forced to travel behind enemy lines by himself. Lucht Taistil huntsmen and women, when running long scouting missions into the Kasidian, either traveled alone or in pairs to keep themselves from being detected. As a younger man, even as recently as ten years ago, he had done much the same, going solo through the dark forest on a mission to determine numbers and locations of various enemy forces.

So he moved with confidence and determination, relieved of the burden of scouting for the denai war leaders, who, while puissant and capable warriors in their right, were much more accustomed to traveling in their large war bands, scouting in force and looking to drive the enemy before them. Not sneaking around a forest in the hopes of being undetected as they tried to achieve their mission, a task made much more difficult by their choice of armor.

As he traveled north, Seth unexpectedly found himself enjoying the light jog through the forest. As Ezekiel had declared, the Tara Coille was a singularly beautiful old growth forest, with its massive, cloud scraping trees, grassy, wild-flower covered ground, pure, scent-filled air and the living sounds of a forest in its prime. It truly was a paradise, especially when compared the the dark, shadow-filled spaces of the Kasidian, long a refuge for the forces of Darkness. Whatever magic that thaumaturge had used to cleanse the Shadow from this place was wondrous indeed if it had returned the Coille to its original glory.

Only when he caught a glimpse of the ruined throne city through the trees was the pathfinder reminded what his true purpose was, so wrapped up in the beauty of the forest was he. Spotting the cracked, pockmarked walls, the stone looking acid-bit from its long stay in the heart of the bog, the veteran nomad nodded resolutely. Time to go and find that Master Library and earn the forces of the Prophets some air cover.

Now within a kilometer of the city walls, it didn't take long for the determined nomad to cover the intervening distance. And quickly pulled up at the edge of the forest when he found it didn't go right to the walls.

Instead the highway, which entered the city through a south gate, also branched off to run around the city, presumably to head towards other urban clusters in the valley. While the forest had grown close to the road's edge, it hadn't breached it to run all the way to the walls. If he wanted to reach the walls, he'd have to cover a good ten meters worth of space to do it. Which meant he was vulnerable to any lookouts the Harbingers' may have on the top of the walls.

Seth frowned as something occurred to him. The logic he and their company had been using was that the Harbingers wanted to hold the Tara Srath as occupied and defensible territory. Yet, outside of the singular patrol they ran into the night before, he hadn't seen any significant enemy presence to suggest they were intent on defending whatever they were holding here. No marching companies or supply trains, no working on defensive walls or fall back positions, not even regular patrols!

The cleansing of the valley must've come as just as big a surprise as it had to them, removing any large advantage their mobile forces had here. Seth and company wouldn't be out of order to consider that may have forced the Harbingers to withdraw a greater part of their forces here, thinking the Light and the forces of the Prophet were preparing to retake the valley. While Tara Hill had symbolic significance, without its walls and fortresses, the fallen stone city had no real strategic significance. Especially this far from Harbinger lines set at the River Synn.

That being said, there was no stopping the forces of Darkness filling the place with boobytraps and ambush points to make retaking the valley as difficult as possible. Nocking an arrow, Seth eased out of the trees as he tried to put his everywhere at once. No sense in letting himself get caught by one of those traps if he could help it. But he also wasn't going to let the anticipation of such keep him from his goal: the ruined city's southern gates.

Carefully he slid across the open space, prepared to dive for cover at the least provocation. Then he was in the wall's lee unmarked.

Seth smiled tightly. Stage one of his advance successfully completed. Then the smile was gone as he began moving along the wall's tattered foot.

This close to the wall the damage the bog had done to the once powerful defensive barricade was even more apparent. Gouges were chewed deep into the weathered granite, cracks were made and widened, and in some places holes had been punched directly through.

Despite that, the walls were still mostly intact beyond where they had been breached four thousand years ago in the five year siege the Harbingers needed to bring the ancient capital to its knees. It was further testament to how well the Tuatha Fáil built back then, and why the Harbingers were so determined to destroy the stone cities first. The enemy had feared their strength.

Then Seth was sliding around a final pile of rubble that was once a guard post and found himself looking at the gates themselves. The once mighty portals, crafted from steel strapped stone and imbued with powerful magic, had long been torn asunder. Where they once stood was a rubble-filled expanse nearly twenty meters across, through which he could see the tattered buildings inside.

Before the veteran pathfinder could step towards the gap, a strong hand was grabbing him by the collar and pulling him behind the destroyed guard post.

"Here he is," Phineas dryly noted as Seth looked over his shoulder with an upraised brow at Mordecai, who had grabbed him. "Is that how you do it in the Kasidian, Seth? Walk right up to your target without looking around first?"