Tarnagh approached them leisurely. His weapons also appeared from the mist. A huge, double-sided battle axe formed in his hands with two identical ones making an X on his back. As he walked toward them, he swung the weapon experimentally, as easily as a child swings a stick. He stopped for a moment to look them over.

"So this is the group that threatens the emperor's throne?" Tarnagh sniffed distastefully. "I've never had much taste for those Manekets. To mystical. Why turn into a dragon to stop someone when you can finish them with a crack in the skull? But you don't want to hear me whine. I know why you have come. So try. Try to stop me."

L'arch muttered something a shot two arrows at him. With a sweep of his hand he knocked bolts aside.

"Really? Is that the best you can do?"

Theuses remained silent as he charged the Argle. Tarnagh swung his axe sideways, but Theuses ducked and struck with his sword. The blade crashed against Tarnagh's meaty hide, but left only a small cut. Two more swings of the axe forced Theuses to retreat.

L'arch put her bow away and drew her two knives. Ilvnag stood back and searched for a weak point in the beast. Caster did likewise. Advancing quickly, L'arch attacked with a flurry of lightning-fast blows. The first and second of these Tarnagh blocked, but the rest came crashing down on his chest and shoulders. Unfortunately the knives' lack of weight made the cuts only tiny gashes. With a swing of his axe, Tarnagh sent L'arch sprawling.

Ilvnag's fist illuminated into flames. The fireball struck Tarnagh in the chest. For the first time, the attack seemed to damage him. His hissed and thrashed, trying to put out the fire. Finally, he cast a swirling sphere of water, and doused it, before turning to Ilvnag.

"A strong one? Indeed." For a moment no trace of sarcasm remained in his voice. "You will be a powerful hindrance Ilvnag Oakleaf. A hindrance, but not a problem."

"Stop speaking in riddles you vile monster." Ilvnag said calmly, but Castor could see his hands were trembling.

Tarnagh through back his head and laughed a deep, powerful bellow. "Do not try to threaten me, Night elf. You may be strong, but not strong enough." His mocking tone had returned.

Wordlessly, Ilvnag thrust out his hand. Lightning arced from his fingers in snaking tendrils, smashing rocks and striking Tarnagh. The Argle fell to his knees and shook the chamber with his laughter as the lightning crashed against him. Once the lightning stopped Tarnagh stood up again.

"By the sundown of the day, two from this, Morgorath will rise and you will have no hope." He stopped and hesitated. "My lord beckons me to his side. Farewell." He raised his axe in a mock solute. "I will see you at the pass. Don't disappoint me."

~ ~ ~

From the ramparts of the fortress, Tarris and Bantu looked out over the pass. The army had pitched camp in the caves that peppered the high ledges of the rocks. Paths led through the cliffs were Argles and Urki were assembling anti-siege weapons. Still they could hear the hammers falling on metal, forging out swords and armor for the battle. The project of the dam had long since been completed and the slaves had been escorted by forces of Argles to the neighboring imperial cities. Now the main force was of Urki. Small groups of Urki soldiers guarded the pass, more to alert the generals when the force was coming and less to actually hold the entrance. More Urki soldiers stood on the ramparts, looking over the fog-covered terrain. Paths went from the walkways to the carved walkways in the cliffs. Tarris was informing Bantu of the recent success.

"Tarnagh has been released. The Lron Elaron are as we speak making their way here. Our other armies have been called back."

"No."

This took Tarris off guard. "No? But sir-"

"Our forces here are sufficient. If the elves retaliate or another unforeseen problem occurs, we will need them there. Instead fortify the south encase the Night elves choose to attack."

Tarris disagreed, but was wise enough not to voice his doubt. An iron-grid door slammed aside. The robed figure of Ankh appeared.

Bantu turned to him. "Ankh, you have finally appeared."

"Finally? Tarnagh was released only hours ago!"

Tarris stepped forward. "You have no business raising your voice at the emperor."

Ankh shoved the general aside. The nearby Urki soldiers glanced warily at the situation unfolding.

"Do not serve your Maneket lord, Tarris. He is but my equal." He turned his fuming gaze on Bantu. "Next time you put me on babysitting duty-"

Bantu cut him off. "I did not. Your lord, Morgorath did."

"He is your lord too, Maneket! Don't you ever forget that. Morgorath put the scepter in your hand, set you on the throne of your kingdom and united the Argle and Urki armies under your banner. He formed your legend and gave you forgotten strength. I do not answer to you. We both serve the Dark Lord."

Bantu gestured boringly. "Of course. But please remove yourself from here. You will not be needed in the battlefield. You are only needed for Morgorath's resurrection. Until then, I expect you to stay out of the way." Bantu turned and walked away. Tarris followed.

That night, they camped in the cave. The Night elves had been called back. They had returned with two deer, which were quickly skinned and roasted. The group now sat around numerous fires talking or sleeping. Several shamans guarded the cave entrance. They sat quietly with the sound of the fire crackling. After a while, spoke.

"Now what do we do?"

Theuses shook his head. "We have to keep going with the plan."

"Are you sure?" Ilvnag asked. "If we go with it we will most-likely lose."

"If we don't, we most certainly will."

"Tarnagh will be there and Fearior too, probably." Ilvnag said uncertainly. "The Empire will have it heavily secured with fortifications. We'll lose hundreds, if not thousands of men."

"We still have to do it. We can't afford not to." Castor said quietly. This was the worst part of being a king, he thought. He would have to make the hard choices, even if that meant sacrificing thousands of his subjects. But he knew that if he did not, than even more soldiers would lose their lives as long as their chance to actually make a difference. "We are going to need a plan, though. If we charge into the pass, swords shining, but don't know what we are doing, we'll get slaughtered. Remember what Tarnagh said? We have two days. It's at least a two day journey from here to the pass so we won't have time to go blundering through looking for the way."

Theuses nodded and picked up a stick. "You're right. Here is the lay-out. We have many maps of it in Ilesmatr. First off, you have to know that the fortress was originally made to keep the dwarves from intervening with the war. It is a natural defensive position from both the front and back. " He started drawing in the dirt. "Here are the walls. They are roughly a hundred feet tall, so scaling them is not an option. From there, it's about three-thousand yards to the back. That's where the fortress is. The fortress is made of rock, but the gates and walls are covered in thick iron. Spikes cover them, so again, scaling them isn't an option. The battlements run across the walls."

"Are there any anti-siege weapons?"

"Not on the walls, but they could have built countless things in the cliffs. There are also hundreds of caves and caverns, but the only way to get to the chasm is through the gate. The path goes for about a few hundred feet down. From there, there are a set of doors. Through the doors is the main chamber. That's where Ankh, Bantu, Tarnagh, and Fearior will be."

The others nodded their understanding.

"Okay, good. Now, the only way into the pass is through the mouth. That's where the army will be stationed. Across the front of the pass a river runs. That will also be a major problem."

"I don't think so," L'arch said. "Remember what the Night elf scout said? They built some-sort of dam to block it."

"You're right. Though I don't they made it to make things easier for us. Anyway, that's where the army is going to be."

"So we have to fight through three-thousand yards of Urki ranks just to get to the fortress?"

"No. Bantu would be a fool to fill any more than two-thousand feet with soldiers. If he filled the entire area the soldiers would have no place to move and they would be forced to just stand their ground. By the time we got to the back rows, they would simply have to stand there. No, Bantu won't have that many, but he will have lots. He would be wise to have at least ten-thousand men."

"Ten-thousand? We have less than half that! How can we possibly get through that mass and stop Morgorath?"

They sat in silence for a while. After several hours, a loud clamber came from the road. The shamans jumped from their sitting position. "Sir!"

A Night elf ran to Ilvnag. "A force of soldiers are coming into our position! They are humans, but there are about a hundred of them."

"We can take them," Castor said. "We have more than a hundred Night elves."

"No, I sent half of them ahead to scout out the area and make contacts with your armies. We have only about sixty warriors left."

L'arch loosed her knives. "We can take them."

"No we can't. That's only a secure force. If they find we are actually here, there will be another force of at least equal size. We're cornered."

"There has to be another way out. How thick are the walls? Theuses, can you blast an entrance?"

"We're in the middle of a mountain. There is no way I can get us out."

"They're getting closer!" One of the shamans called. The warriors had grabbed their weapons and extinguished the fires. "Sir, what do we do?!"

Castor looked franticly for an exit. The chasm's ceiling stretched high into the air. The walls were solid stone. There was only one way.

"Theuses, the pit!" Castor shouted desperately.

He looked up at Castor. "Are you mad?! We can't go down there!"

"Why on earth not?"

"It's Tarnagh's prison! Lord knows what's in there!"

One of the shamans ignited his fist in green flames. "Sir! They're coming!" Castor looked at Theuses matter-of-factly. Theuses's face drained its color.

"I guess we have no choice."

"Guys, come on!" L'arch and Ilvnag turned to him.

"Are you crazy?!" Theuses shouted.

Castor rolled his eyes. "That's enough! Just come on, unless you have another idea."

Ilvnag turned to his warriors. "You guess shadow jump! Meet us at the outskirts!" Several of the Night elves nodded as Castor approached the edge of the pit. Even without Tarnagh's spirit, the darkness was thick and inky. Closing his eyes and holding his breath, Castor leaped into the distant reaches of the pit.

֟^