DECISION ABOUT SALIMEN
11:30 PM ~ A half hour passed since the departure of Salimen. Aramil allayed his anxious mood by meditating near the skirt of the southern trees. Erelis concentrated his mind on the complexities of the purple shard while Teflar whispered thoughts of the coming Zegithir war. Would Bethlun be forewarned? Had the scouts gotten to their Kingdom after the orcken raid?
" I hear noises." spoke Gailwind suddenly as he looked west past the darkened keep. " Wild cries I hear from behind the fort."
Oktavianus stomped the ground with his massive hammer " Damn! Seems poor Salimen has been spotted. Charging the keep with cries of war will mean sudden death to us all."
Teflar rubbed his neck and looked back over his shoulder at the nearby woods " We cannot win any battle; that is certain. We must move into the forest again for fear we will be discovered. Owlbears or not, we are running out of options here."
Kissing his amulet, the dwarf stated flatly " We cannot sit idly while one of us gets crushed by these foul beasts. Leah, can you creep up to the keep and investigate?" The monk stared in the direction of the growing noise and rubbed his sore arm
" No, let me. I shall keep to cover and make my way towards the sounds."
He then assured the cleric in a quieter tone " Worry not, good dwarf. My arm will not hamper my efforts."
Teflar lightly opposed " I fear our companion is beyond our hope. He was obviously discovered and against over one hundred orcs, nary a chance he has. If he did manage to get away and hide, we would do him a favor by not leading orcs to him."
"NO!!" blasted Oktavianus with surprised anger " Salimen shall not be abandoned. He still might be rescued."
He turned to Torynth " Brave words monk. We shall wait here for your return. Do not let yourself be seen."
Teflar frowned " I, too, hate to lose another, but our first duty is recovering the shards. The bard knew he might not return and left behind his gear except that which he needed for scouting. We have his scroll. I know about orc habits and, with some luck, we can evade them and be safe away from here."
Aramil looked to each who sounded their arguement.
" Sadly, this was a plan we should not have taken. Perhaps if we withdraw to another spot and allow Torynth to peer ahead, we may know the finality of Salimen."
Rounding on the dwarf, Teflar spoke defiantly " Are you trying to get us all killed?! There are more than one hundred orcs in there. It was folly to have Salimen hunt that place; alone or with help. If Salimen was the best at stealth and he was caught,... " the ranger glared at the monk "...what makes you think you will not be discovered as well by our enemies?!"
Torynth responded with anger
" Coward! Will you leave our friend then!? I, for one, will not. One orc or a hundred matters not. I will not leave Salimen behind as long as there is hope. I go and will return either with him or with the knowledge that I did my best to help."
The monk suddenly flinched at the pain shooting through his slinged arm.
Leah shook her head in pity and agreed to accompany the monk on this second scouting no matter what the cost.
The night was dark and silent. The cleric shifted impatiently while Leah relaxed calmly on a nearby root.
Aramil straightened up peering into the direction of the indicated commotion. He slowly looked at each in turn while lowering his left hand into the large, leather pouch on his belt.
The druidess stared solemnly up at the stars above, but said nothing.