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In the Shadow of Death
an illustrated tale
page 1





    The sun shown brightly down upon Garalt and his companions, there was a nice breeze and few clouds in the sky.  Overall it was turning out to be a good day.  It had been a few days since the great battle between Ethelred and Ulmerad, and though Garalt's injuries had been healed, his body was still sore.  But now that Ethelred's forces had been weakened, it was now time to find the key that would awaken the true power of the tower of Olyian.
    "So what exactly are we looking for, Greylen?" Moraine began.  The entire group halted their march to the tower and turned to face the mage.
    "Well, like I had said before, I couldn't decipher some of the writings, but if I understood them correctly, whatever the key is to unlock Olyian's true power, it's hidden in a cave near the tower.  I couldn't find any reference to what exactly we're looking for."
    "A cave, huh?" Garalt looked at his mentor, "Isn't there a cave right near by where we are Kullvox?"  Kullvox looked at the young knight and nodded slowly.
    "How convenient," Garn said with obvious sarcasm.
    "How far is it, Garalt?" Demonclaw began inspecting his staff.
    "Oh, its a good hours hike on foot." he said, looking at Kullvox for approval.
    "Then we best get going.  Every moment we spend out here, Ethelred's forces grow that much stronger."  Moraine motioned for Garalt to lead the way.  Garalt nodded and took point, leading the group to the northwest.  The walk seemed longer than just an hour, the terrain was rough but rather featureless.  There were few trees, mainly grassland. 
    But sure enough, Garalt lead them to the side of a small, rocky hill.  There, only large enough for a small child to walk through upright, was a hole in the rock face.  Garalt bent down slightly and peered inside.
    "Doesn't look like much of a cave, Garalt." Moraine did nothing to hide his doubt in the young knight.
    "Looks can be deceiving, Moraine," Kullvox reminded the paladin, "you above all people should know this by now."  Moraine clenched his jaw slightly in disgust.
    "And you could not decipher anything as to what we're looking for?" Garn looked over at Greylen, who shook his head slowly.
    "It's been years since I studied the ancient texts, I'm afraid I've gotten a bit rusty at translating them.  However I have a good feeling that we'll know what we're looking for when we see it.  It'll stick out like a sore thumb."
    "So like a big golden chalice on a stone pillar surrounded by a mound of gold sort of thing, right?" Demonclaw got excited at the thought.
    "Well, I suppose it could be that, yes," Greylen spoke, raising an eyebrow at his friend.  The other four just chuckled.

    Garalt peered into the cave once more.  The bright sunlight outside didn't help much, the inside of the cave was pitch black.
    "I can't see anything in there, how are we going to find this... whatever it is?" Garalt began to stick his head inside the cave entrance.
    "I'll use a spell," Greylen said, searching for something in his belt pouch, "it'll give us a good hour of bright light to work with."
    "And when the light fades?" Kullvox asked.
    "I'll cast another one," Greylen grinned.

    One by one they entered the dark cave, the light from outside guiding their path.  The couldn't see much, but it was obvious the entrance did not give justice to the size of the cave.  It was very wide and tall, but it did not seem very deep.  As soon as Garalt entered the cave, he came upon a large rock wall.
    "All right, Greylen, lets have some light." Demonclaw spoke, trying to see his way around the cave.  Greylen pulled something out of his belt pouch and began to chant softly.
 
 

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All characters contained within this page and website are purely fictional, any resemblance to persons either living or otherwise is purely coincidental.  All material  contained herein are copyrighted 2002 by and property of Anthony J. Sava III.  Any copying or reproduction of said material is strictly prohibited except with expressed written authorization.