Chapter 10   Angmar and Denesh

Sand did as she said she would and the following morning found them with Captain Antilles as an escort to the border of Corelaine.   There they were promptly met with the Angmar Guard who escorted them all to the capital city, known as Eisengarde.  The whole thing went pretty much quietly and wordlessly, even when being escorted to the front gates of the castle, where an old man met them.  If Ashlyn didn’t know any better, she would have thought that he was Dworkin at first glance, since he looked about as old and was as hunched over as well.  To his right, a very unattractive midget-man was at his elbow, ready to assist him should he need it.  To his left was a six-foot tall raven-haired beauty.

            “Ah!  Welcome to my kingdom, Amberites.  I am the King Denethor of Angmar.  This to my right is my servant Toadwart and this is my daughter, Charisma.  I’m so glad that the King has finally decided to take our petition in to consideration.  It’s been so long!  Come in, come in!  We have things to discuss, yes!  Charisma my dear, show our guests in to our drawing room,” the king turned and rambled on, walking away as he did, leaving Charisma with them.

            “I’m so glad that you’re here.  My father didn’t mention it, but we’re hoping that you’ll also be able to help with the strange attacks that have been happening on our city.  I know that you’re big and strong enough to handle a little monster, aren’t you?” she smoothly slid her hand onto Finch’s arm and began to lead him away.  “And the neighboring kingdom of Denesh hasn’t been making things easy for us either, but I know that you can put Denesh in its place, can’t you?  Of course you can!”  Ashlyn and Pandora exchanged rather quizzical looks.  Blake didn’t make anything of it while Vincent brought up the rear, trying his hardest to stifle the peals of laughter that were escaping him as Charisma continued to inflate Finch’s ego.

            “Looks like Vince has found his laughing place,” was all Ashlyn said on the walk to the King’s drawing room.  Pandora wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

            “Yes, yes.  Have a seat all of you, and I’ll tell you all about the menace that has been bothering the heck out of us!” King Denethor waved them all in to gather round as if he were about to tell a story.

            “Ever since we’ve petitioned for entrance into the Golden Circle , we’ve been being bothered by my neighbor, Denesh.  Sure, it all started with the little threats and the nastiness of the whole stinking thing, but it’s just gotten progressively worse.  I’m more than certain that Denesh is behind this latest shenanigan—he’s sent over this huge, green, stinky, ogre-looking—not mentioning stupid—thing that just can’t seem to leave us the heck alone!  How am I supposed to join in the trading if that thing is going to be there to mess with my caravans?  I just can’t have that!  I’m sure glad that Random sent you kids.  That at least shows that he’s seriously considering the petition, and I guess he figures that if you can’t handle this mess, then he’ll send in the even bigger guns, eh?” Denethor began laughing but it quickly diminished into a terrible coughing fit with Toadwart hovering about him the entire time.

            “So!” Denethor managed to choke in between his coughs.  “Just what do you all think you’ll do about it?”

            “Go through the proper channels first, of course,” Pandora replied.  “We’ll take the diplomatic route with Denesh.  If we can’t get to the bottom of it by talking the king out of his attacks, then we’ll deal with it another way.”

            “Of course.  That political red tape-thing.  Too bad you couldn’t just go out there, kick its butt and all would be well!” Denethor began his laughing cough again.  “Off with you, then!  And good luck!  My dear, escort our guests out to the kitchen where they may have a small meal before they leave.”

            Charisma smiled graciously and took Finch’s arm again as they now headed for the kitchens were a light repast was waiting for them.  The meal was eaten in near silence—it was a wonder Finch was able to eat anything at all with Charisma still pumping his ego and Vincent trying to stifle his laughter.

            “Good luck to you all,” Charisma said in parting as they left the front gates.  “I hope to see you again very soon!”  Of course, they all knew she meant Finch in particular.  The Rangers fell in behind them as they headed out of town.

            Pandora led the way, shifting the shadows around them to reach Denesh.  As they reached the border they were surprised to find that the Guard of Denesh was riding out toward them as if they knew they were coming.

            “Halt!” came the command from the Captain.  “Just who do you think you are, entering the land of Denesh ?”

            “We have come from Amber to seek an audience with your king,” Pandora replied.

            “Amber?  You’re Amberites?” the Captain laughed.  “This I do not believe!”

            “But it’s true,” Finch protested.  “And I can prove it!”

            “Ha!  Such a little man of you stature could not possibly be an Amberite!  Amberites are much bigger than you are!” the Captain dismounted and came forward to tower over Finch.

            “Give me your hand,” Finch said calmly.  “I will show you.  See this tree? As we walk toward it, it will wither and die.”  Finch took the Captain’s hand and promptly disappeared as they walked toward the tree.  Of course, this did not go over well with the rest of the Guard.

            “Captain!  What did you do with him?  Bring him back!” an officer demanded.

            “Everything’s fine.  He will return with your Captain in just a moment,” Pandora said with conviction and an air of authority.  It seemed to quiet the officer for the moment.  She exchanged a look with Ashlyn again and both knew what the other was thinking.

            He’d better!

            Thankfully, there wasn’t long to wait.  Just as the Guards were ready to draw their swords and attack, Finch returned with the Captain.

            “Ah, yes!  I see now!  It’s all right, men.  They are from Amber!  By the way, You never gave me your name,” the Captain said.

            “It’s Finch,” he shook hands.

            “Finch!” the Captain roared with laughter.  “Such a little man of great power is named after a little bird!  Yes, they’re from Amber!  Let us go and grant their request.  Back to the camp!”

            It took most of the day to get there and the landscape around them became more and more scarce as they plodded along.  After what seemed like the walk would go on forever, they came upon what looked like a nomadic camp setting.  Tents were pitched in a helter-skelter manner with plenty of horses tied off just outside.  People were sitting outside some of the tents dressed in desert attire on their brightly colored rugs.  In the center of the tent cluster was what looked like to be some kind of bazaar.  Vendors called out from their carts selling their wares.  The Captain had led them all through the encampment to one of the largest, most luxurious-looking tents.

            “Just give me a moment to announce you.  The Emperor should be glad to see you.  I believe he has some kind of bone to pick with Amber anyway,” the Captain had dismounted and disappeared into the tent.  Ashlyn shot Blake a look of “I’m sure,” and tried moving closer into the shade.  The sun was being unmercifully hot and no one seemed to be prepared for it.  By Pandora’s guess, the Rangers weren’t doing all that well, but they weren’t complaining either.

            “Of course the Emperor will see you now,” the Captain had reappeared again.  “Hurry up and get out of the sun.  I’ll take care of your men.  They don’t look like they’re doing all that well.”

            “Thank you,” Pandora said warmly as she followed the others in.  They were surprised to find how cool it was on the inside.  She was expecting it to be all hot and stuffy like a little sauna.  The darkness was lit up by oil lamps, making it quite easy to see, so having to adjust their eyes to the dimmer light didn’t take so long.

            “Welcome to my kingdom, good travelers,” a man had spoken from his seat at a table.  “I was just about to meal.  Please join me, won’t you?”  He gestured to the table before him, which had one heck of a spread on it.  Servants responded quickly and put piles of rich, luxurious pillows around the table and quickly set new settings.

            “Thank you, your Highness,” Pandora said as they stepped forward.

            “My Captain tells me that you are all from Amber.  Must be my lucky day!  It’s not often that we receive such distinguished guests.  So what is it that brings you out here?  It’s not something wrong with the trade, I hope?” the Emperor leaned back on his cushions with a drumstick to gnaw on.

            “Oh, no.  Not to worry about your trade.  That is still going well.  We’re here to follow up on an investigation.  As you might have heard, Angmar has petitioned for entrance into the trade of the Golden Circle,” Pandora began.  “After an initial assessment of Angmar’s situation, it would appear that they’re suffering attacks from some kind of strange beast.  It almost looks like someone doesn’t want Angmar to be admitted into the Golden Circle.  So far our sources have led us here.  We figured that you’d want to give your side of the story before we act upon what we know.”

            “I will make no secret that Angmar and Denesh have never really agreed on anything about as long as I can remember.  To my knowledge, I have never sent anyone or anything to Angmar.  If anything, Angmar has been busy attacking us!  Just why don’t you ask Denethor about his magical ring?” the Emperor said it almost sarcastically.  “I can see that you’re eyes suddenly got very large, my dear.  Yes, I said his magical ring.  He has one, if that means anything to you.”

            “No, not really,” Pandora smiled to cover her surprise.  She didn’t have to look around the table to know that the rest of them were asking the same questions in their minds—King Denethor is in possession of a spikard?

            “So you can go back and tell your king that Denethor is not playing by the rules and that his petition should be cancelled immediately!” the Emperor said passionately.  The meal was finished shortly thereafter with small talk and pleasantries, seeming to make a point to steer clear of the subject of Angmar.

            “Thank you all for joining me.  It was rather pleasant. I hope your return journey is fruitful. As a matter of fact, feel free to take a beautiful rug of your choice from the bazaar.  My gift.  Safe journey and come again soon!” the Emperor said his good byes as his Amberite guests left his tent.

            “We’d better look into getting to the bottom of this whole thing in a hurry,” Vincent said once they were headed out of town with their prize rug.  “The Emperor was not being truthful about his knowledge of the attacks on Angmar.”

            “He was so lying,” Ashlyn confirmed.  “I was able to tell as well.  We’d better head back to Angmar.  The sooner we get to the bottom of this whole mess, the better!  I think Denethor might have a little explaining to do!”

            “You don’t think he might be trying to frame Denesh?” Pandora asked.

            “No, I feel that Denesh is involved with it somehow.  The Emperor seems to want nothing more than to have Angmar’s petition denied,” Ashlyn replied.

            “So what does Denethor have to explain?” Vincent asked.

            “The Emperor said that Denethor is in possession of a magic ring.  It sounds suspicious, like a spikard to me.  I want to confirm it,” Pandora replied.  “Let’s hurry.”

Finch was caught by surprise as he received a Trump call from a frantic Charisma.

            “Finch!  Oh, I’m so glad this works!  Please come quickly!  Angmar is under attack again by the ogre and he isn’t alone!”

            “Okay!” Finch said excitedly.  “Join hands, everyone!  Charisma is going to pull us through.  The ogre’s at it again!”

            They wasted no time in doing as asked and Charisma pulled them all through again to the Town Square where the ogre-looking beast was attacking the town again and he wasn’t alone.  There were a whole bunch of smaller demons running around the ogre’s feet and when they caught sight of Ashlyn and the others they ran toward them with a yell.

            Ashlyn almost felt too glad to oblige.  It would give her a chance to work out the anger and frustration that was building inside of her since Denesh’s emperor was lying about the attacks.  But about the ring—she wasn’t quite sure.  With a yell of her own she dismounted and ran forward to meet the first little demon with its teeth bared and its claws out.  Ashlyn swung her blade and neatly hacked it in two.  The next one suffered the same demise.  A third had come upon her so fast that she didn’t get to fully swing and her blade got stuck deep in his skull.  When she pulled it out the wound gushed, spraying her from head to toe with its blood.  Of course that didn’t stop her. It only spurred her on, her anger now focused on the little guys still advancing toward her and now running right past her as if she wasn’t even there.  She realized that those little demons were seeking their targets out by sense of smell.  That left the ogre and with Pandora and Blake’s help they brought it down with no problem since it was so big and slow.

            It seemed that it was over as quickly as it began.  Towns’ people came and wordlessly disposed of the carcasses and began to get back to their lives before they were interrupted.  Ashlyn was engaged with the nearest water trough to cleanse herself of the demon’s blood.  Just as she got the water out of her eyes she looked to survey what was left of the demon damage and it was then that she asked:

            “Where the heck is Finch?  Where’d Charisma go?”

            “I’ll have Tariel go and take a look,” Pandora sent him into flight.  Within half a minute she began to report what Tariel was seeing.

            “Finch is a ways away. Looks like he was giving chase to some big Centaur that has made off with Charisma.  He’s too far away for Finch or any of us to do anything about it at the moment.  I’ll have Tariel keep tabs and let us know where she’s being taken.  Better get a hold of Finch,” she said.

            “Boy, that Emperor is one sneaky, underhanded, smooth-talking guy,” Vince whistled.  Ashlyn was pulling out her Trump of Finch as was concentrating on it.  As the card came to life in her hand she could see Finch slowly picking himself up and rubbing the back of his head.  As he focused on the call, his eyes got wide and he suddenly cowered with a cry of “Evil!”  Ashlyn frowned and thought about seriously cutting the contact right then and there, but thought better of it.

            “Cut it out, Finch!” was all she said as she extended her hand toward him.  He seemed to hang back as if not sure what she would do to him.

            “Don’t tempt me, Finch!  Take my hand and quit clowning around!” Ashlyn nearly growled as she practically yanked him through.  “What are you so afraid of?”  Finch didn’t answer and still acted wary of her but had that mischievous glint in his eye that only she could see.

            “Tariel has spotted a keep on the edge of town.  That’s where they’re keeping her.  Get the Rangers together and let’s go!” Pandora began to lead the way out of town.

            Sure enough, there was the keep and it was heavily guarded.  No problem for the Amberites, you’d say!  While the Rangers kept ‘em busy at the only way in or out of the keep, our valiant heroes made their way over the walls and were ready to take it over from the inside.  It was easy to take out the guards that were guarding the walls.  They were easily distracted with all the battle taking place outside.

            Ashlyn had turned her sword into a crossbow and was picking off the wall guards with Vincent’s help.  They had a strange phaser-kind of weapon and one was able to get a lucky shot off at Vincent and it knocked him silly.  Before Ashlyn could fully dodge out of the way she caught a grazing blow that rendered her somewhat dazed and a little groggy as if she were walking in a dream.  It was like being present in someone else’s body as it continued to fight and pick off the guards.  In trying to dodge another blast she lost her footing from the catwalk and twisted her ankle.  The pain made her snap back to reality with a jerk.  She was a little unsteady on her feet but she had been hurt worse than this and wasn’t about to let something like a little twisted ankle get in her way.

            Seeing his chance, a guard had leaped down from the tower above, swinging his glaive menacingly in the air above her.  Ashlyn gave a heavy sigh.  She really didn’t have time to deal with it.  She felt as if she was in the middle of an Indiana Jones movie, so she ended it before it really had a chance to begin.  While the guard was swinging his blade around oh, so expertly and growling like he was going to cut her up into a hundred little pieces she drilled him one right between the eyes with her crossbow, dropping him where he stood.

            As she began to get her bearings again, she could see Finch on the adjacent catwalk being assaulted by a sorcerer who put a freezing spell on him and was about to do more but stopped short and blinked out when Ashlyn planted a crossbow bolt into the sorcerer’s back.  She then made a move to try and help Finch and see if he were alright but heard a voice from behind her growl “Meddler!” and the next thing she knew her backside was stinging in pain and found that it was turned into a pin cushion.  Ashlyn growled as she removed a few pins from behind her shoulders.  That wasn’t very nice.  In fact, that hurt like hell!

            “Ashlyn!  You alright?  That doesn’t look comfortable.  Here,” Pandora found her and pulled out her Trump of Amber’s Hall.

            “I’m okay,” Ashlyn groused.  “But thanks for the concern anyhow.  Just help me pull these out.”  With Pandora’s help the remaining pins were pulled out and Finch was returned to normal.  Blake and Vincent learned that the enemy was indeed of Denesh and Charisma was freed and returned to her father.  With the end of the attacks from Denesh, King Random was able to take over in the Angmar affairs and granted Angmar admission to the Golden Circle.

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