Thralls of a Dread Lord (1.74T)
Welcome to my weekly serial. This is a rough draft that I am working on, for your reading pleasure.
It is a fairly grim tale, so be warned.
Here is the first post from this series.
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“Should have called it Rothgrim’s Rise,” grumbled Retaak, looking around the small area carved out between the sheer mountainside and the cunningly wrought turret jutting from a hidden wall. Within that fortification lay one of the old Dwarven realms, long fallen into ruin. It was a place of great danger, whose rumours of treasure had lured many Spawn to their deaths over the years.
While the point itself was plain to the eye, the view it offered was truly spectacular. Built close to the peak of Cloudspear, the largest mountain in the Gumaatayut range, he could see an incredible distance to the west and east. He could see the smoke shrouded shape of Greyrock and the town of Oystkivat around it. He could see the great green forests flowing down from the mountains and the shadowed Desolation nestled within them, pale and lifeless by comparison.
To the west he could see the mountains themselves, rank upon rank of jagged, snowcapped peaks. He smiled as he gazed out at them, serene and severe in their beauty. That views was only spoiled by the feat iron towers that shot from the ground throughout the mountains and all of Bemachhorak. They looked like jagged rust-coloured lances piercing the earth. One of the closest of these great edifices was Uzaagwaar, the Tower of the Seneschal, where Ushochhushi ruled when he was not in the Twilight Halls.
The largest tower, standing improbably high amid the peaks was the Spire of the Dread Lords, built atop the the Fellspawn Warrens. Unlike the other towers, this one glowed with fire and bellowed smoke from carved skulls the size of castles. It was said that the Dread Lord could gaze upon all of Bemachhorak from its heights. It was also said that the Dungeons of that Tower thrust deeper than even the lowest warren, down to the fire in the earth-mother’s belly, where the Dread Lord harnessed the secrets of molten rock and deep earth for his magic.
The wind and cold on Rothgrim’s Point was too much, even for Retaak and soon he was driven back to his task. Careful of the snow and ice, he climbed down from that hallowed place, aiming for the Seneschal’s tower. If he could keep moving at pace, he could reach it in less than two days, well before Uyage should.
Climbing down snow dusted rock with the winds howling above him required great effort, but Retaak never faltered. A slip or mishap could see him plunging off the mountain, joining Rothgrim in whatever mountain crevasse had swallowed his body. But Retaak was driven by his purpose and knew that the mountain was far less treacherous than what waited at the end.
