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"Gone," Stone gruffly replied. "He had to attend to something important concerning the barrier, he said, so he teleported his ass out of here."

"Hm." Scorpio frowned, not too happy about the sudden decrease in manpower. "The guards and shadows out there are going to open the gate any moment now, and they outnumber us by at least five to one. Does anybody have a brilliant idea about what we might do except for going down in flames?"

We shall help you, child.

"Come again, Garland?" The instructor looked at me expectantly.

"I did - I did not say a word," I stammered, making a quick step back to hide behind Aaron while looking at my hand that was clenched around one of the summoning scrolls again. I did not remember having reached into my pack.

"We could hide somewhere," Aaron suggested, which earned him a skeptical look by Scorpio.

"We couldn't hide forever, man."

"Well," Aaron shrugged 1), "if those idiot shadows thought it was a good idea, why shouldn't we?" He certainly had our attention now; three pairs of unblinking eyes stared at him. "In short, I think I saw a few shadows or some such disappear down the ladder to the Ore Barons' cellars while we were kicking the guards' butts," he explained. "Nothing to be afraid of, I mean, shadows, c'mon. And since they didn't return I take it they're still-"

"Guv'nor," Stone exclaimed, "you're a genius! Know what, there's a series of doors in that cellar that lead to the keep's outer wall!"

"Wouldn't somebody as paranoid as Gomez have those doors locked?" Scorpio inquired; the armorer threw his head back and laughed out loud.

"So what? We have decent swords, and if that's not enough, I didn't plan on leaving this hammer behind."

And then there was a protracted squeak, a shrill, grating sound accompanied by an elated whoop that told us that the opposition had just managed to push up the gate.

"Go, go, go," Scorpio shouted while he started to run across the yard to the ladder in question, "Stone, you lead the way! Aaron, Garland, come on!" While we all dashed towards the cellar entry, I suddenly knew that we would not make it. As it was, the others were going to intercept us before we reached the ladder, their way was far shorter... true, I might have felt betrayed by the undead dream warrior, but it was not as if I had a choice. Being the last in line, I came to a halt and unrolled the scroll I still held.

"Hey, kid, I mean Garland, hoof it!" Aaron the cannibal who had been a pace ahead stopped and turned back to glower at me.

I violently shook my head. "I shall keep the scoundrels off our tracks, good sir, and before you ask, yes, I know what I am doing. Do not forget that I am a magician, and it will take me but a minute, anyway. - Now be off. Run for your life. Tell the others that we shall meet at Cavalorn's hut."

Fortunately the cannibal seemed to trust me, or he did not care. Either way he sent me just one hesitant glance before he nodded and continued to sprint after Scorpio. I turned around to face the charging horde, concentrating on the words written on the scroll. Red lightning started to play over my outstretched hand, and I closed my eyes to let magic flow through my body, the incredible icy tingle creep up my spine... a faint tremor shook the ground, then another one. I could see the bones of those long-dead prisoners in the cells reassemble before my mind's eye, saw the hanged man descend from the gallows... and when I heard a terrified shout and the click-clacking shuffle of ivory feet, I knew that I had succeeded.

Lightning still danced across my palm when I opened my eyes again, but it was not my intention to let it die now. I unrolled the second scroll while the first wave of my mighty undead warriors advanced on the enemy who had come to a sudden halt. A few of the shadows had already turned tail, but the guards at least seemed to be determined to stand their ground and fight.

Well, you can have that, I thought while I unleashed a second host of skeletons; the newly resurrected troops who scampered out of the barrack's entryway opened their dead jaws wide to let out their maddeningly soft war cry before joining the ranks of their undead brothers.

I would have loved to stay and watch the ensuing battle, but reason told me that it was better to leave now while I still had the chance, so I beat a hasty retreat towards the ladder and climbed down.

*

The way through the Ore Barons' cellars was as uneventful as it would come. All doors stood wide open without a sign of a forced entry; those shadows who had taken the same route had in all probability been in the possession of the keys. Well, I took my time to shut each door behind me. You know - if somebody was following me, I wanted to hear that.

Now I am not very acrobatic, mind you, but jumping down on the roof of the hut directly below the exit in the castle wall was not too demanding even for someone as clumsy as me. I managed to land on the shingles without spraining an ankle, or worse. To my great surprise I discovered that this part of the outer ring was devoid of human life, the great hubbub in the background telling me that the majority of the camp's remaining population was either fighting my mighty undead warriors in the courtyard, or running from them. With a sigh of relief I climbed down to the ground to jog along the deserted nightly market place towards the camp's south gate.

When I glimpsed the scorched remains of several people in front of the gate, I held my breath; my companions would not have run into terminal trouble on the last few meters, would they? But no. A second, scrutinizing look at the burnt corpses revealed that they had - in their lifetimes - belonged to the gate guard detail.

I heaved a sigh of relief; so my friends, old and new alike, were in all probability on their way to Cavalorn.

I looked to the left and right before I passed through the south gate; the coast was clear. A smile spread over my face as I turned left and trotted along the moat, staying close to the Old Camp's outer wall to make an already highly unlikely discovery by the prying eyes of one of Gomez' men even unlikelier.

In hindsight, the story might have ended then and there; the odds were that I should have made my way back to Cavalorn's now crowded place without a problem.

So much for the odds.

I had barely passed between the unguarded main gate and the bridge when a sudden pang of hunger made me fish the pack from my shoulder and open it; after all, I had been without food for at least a day now, and now that the imminent danger was over, my stomach had decided that it was time to pipe up. My prime intention had been to dig for the piece of scavenger, but the instant I reached into my bundle I noticed that my third - and last - summoning scroll was missing.

An icy flash shot through my guts and stabbed up until it reached my skull.

I knew at once where the precious scroll would be... in the middle of the castle's courtyard where I had lost it while pulling out the other two. Reason told me that I should forget about the scroll, that the yard was - in all probability - teeming with guards and shadows and diggers battling my tough undead warriors, that I had no chance of getting into and out of there unnoticed, and that I might get hold of another summoning scroll one day, and even if not, that Beliar had played a mean trick on me, anyway...

So much for reason.

The icy prickle had taken hold of my complete body by now; I turned around with wobbly knees, facing the wide-open main gate... there was still nobody there... and then I started to march back towards the camp, slow at first, then faster and faster, until the gate loomed above me like a huge dragon's maw, the tips of the sharpened logs its teeth. It was not much of a deterrent for Shora Garland; as I knew by now, the gate guards were up in the courtyard as well.

With a deep sigh I stepped through and was back in the camp I had just escaped. Judging from all the shouts and the clanking, the chaos on the courtyard was still raging. Determined to get my scroll back no matter what, I plodded up the deserted way to the castle gate in the torch-lit darkness when I noticed that somebody was trampling downhill along the same path. I stopped with a frown, and so did the man who had come from the other side.

________________________

1) ...without being forced to wince now that he had been patched up...

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