Bearers of the Black Staff

“Hello, again,” Sider greeted him in turn.

The big man looked him up and down. “Didn’t expect to see you again quite so soon. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I can always use the company of a fellow mercenary. Oh, wait—you don’t like it when I call you that. A fellow practitioner of the art of war? Is that better? Well, whatever, I’m glad you came. My tracking device works pretty well, doesn’t it? Got your signal on my receiver, and it brought me right to you.”

He was rambling a bit, but Sider didn’t mind. He was just happy the other man had actually chosen to come find him. “Couldn’t have been easier,” he agreed.

“Well, then, we’re not far from the old homestead, so it won’t be any harder from here.” Inch glanced at the skies. “I would have reached you quicker than this, but I was out foraging, gone the other direction, and I had to retrace my steps. Sorry about that. Are you hungry?”

Sider nodded. “Thirsty, too.”

“Got the cure for both. Come along now, no further delays. Tell me what brings you back out again after I warned you that staying where you were was the better choice. Not that I thought for a minute you’d listen. But I feel an obligation toward those possessed of less common sense than myself. Come, come.”

He led the way down the backside of the rise and onto flats that stretched away through miles of ravines and scrub and ruined woods, chatting as they went about what he had been doing since Sider had last seen him. Mostly, he said, he had been working on repairs to the tunnel system in the ruins that served as his shelter while waiting for a message from the tiny village south that had sought his services but was deliberating his price. He was animated and voluble, and he waved his hands with their missing fingers as he talked. Sider gave a mental shake of his head and wondered where all the energy came from.

It was nearing nightfall and the rain was just beginning to fall when they reached the ruins and climbed the stone steps to the rooms that Deladion Inch maintained for himself. They moved inside the buildings, navigating their corridors until they reached a room where there were chairs and a table set in front of a hearth. Within minutes, Inch had a fire going, the dry wood crackling and snapping cheerfully.

“Don’t you worry about smoke giving you away?” Sider asked.

The big man gave him a look. “Can’t worry about everything. In weather like this, it won’t be easy to sort out smoke from mist and rain in any case. Besides, no one could catch me in the maze of tunnels that honeycomb this place even if they wanted to. We’re safe enough, smoke or not. Glass of ale?”

They sat before the fire and drank down several glasses, not saying much, just enjoying the warmth and the company. Sider thought that he could live like this, cocooned away, protected from predators, able to come and go as he pleased. He might get the chance to find out since his days of warding the passes leading in and out of the valley were coming to a close.

“I need your help with something,” he said finally, setting aside his glass and leaning back.

The big man nodded. “Thought so.”

“Understand, I’m not asking you to get involved, only to give me enough insight into what’s needed so I might be able to avoid getting myself killed.”

Deladion Inch grinned. “In your case, Sider, that might take more than just a few insights. But go on, tell me.”

Sider nodded. “There’s a girl from the valley who’s being held captive in a Troll camp. She’s a hostage for something that isn’t going to happen, and I have to find a way to rescue her before the Trolls figure this out.”

“Sounds as if your valley sanctuary might not be so safe anymore. Too bad about that, but I warned you.”

“Too bad about a lot of things.”

Deladion Inch took a long pull on his ale. “What can you tell me about these Trolls? Do you know which tribe it is?”

“Drouj. Their leader is called Taureq Siq. They’ve got a camp north of here. They’re migrating, they claim, but once they found out about the valley they decided that maybe it might be the home they were looking for. They caught the girl and a boy who managed to get a little too close. A Troll visiting from another tribe made friends with the pair and got the boy out, but not the girl. So now I need to get the girl back. It’s more complicated than I’m telling it, but the rest doesn’t matter.”