best as he could tell, the stairs continued back into the darkness. With his hands held out ahead and feeling for each step of the way, he began climbing. The sound beyond the barricade grew fainter as he proceeded up the stairs. After what seemed like hours he saw a glimmer of light in the tunnel and felt a cool breeze on his cheek. A minute later and he stood on an icy ledge with a view of the Garoche Heights below.
Carefully stepping to the edge Cero saw that he was above a snowfield on the face of a cliff. The winds were trying to tear him off the ledge when the mountain seemed to shake. Before he could react, the ledge crumbled, dropping out from beneath him. Lunging at the hole in the rock with all his strength, he only succeeded in catching the bottom edge of the opening. Hanging here precariously above thin air, he shuddered to think what would happen if he were to lose his grip. This thought had only passed through his mind when the rock he was holding on to broke free.
***
The dwarves under Seeroth’s command paused in the tunnel as he stopped to survey them. They had just broken the ancient stone gate free. Several tons of stone had slammed into place sealing the rebels on the other side and shaking the mountain. With the lift system rotten with age, there was no chance that the rebels could follow them into the tunnel anytime soon. He was pleased to note that there weren’t any dwarves missing from his command, but he did note one conspicuous absence.
“Roild! Where is the human?” Roild emerged limping as he did so.
“I hid him in the closet on the second level, but we were forced to retreat. I didn’t have a chance to go back after him and we were so hard pressed that I couldn’t even get the message to you in time. He is still in here. We have to go back.”
“Fool boy! That wasn’t a closet. It was a stairway to a lookout at the surface. It is a little late now to do anything about it. They wouldn’t have been pressing us if they knew that we didn’t have him. The best we can do for him now is to keep them thinking that we took him with us. Give me your horn lad.” Seeroth took the offer horn and loosed an earsplitting knell.
“TO ME MEN. Protect the human! They won’t get their grubby fingers on him as long as I'm alive!” The cursing that drifted through the walls from the frustrated rebels came as confirmation of their ruse’s success. They now hoped to traverse the tunnel and return to one of Underheim’s other entrances. If they could enlist more guards, then it would not be difficult to retake the guard post and free Cero if hadn’t been found. Hopefully the rebels would be focused on chasing them down and wouldn’t perform a search of the holdfast. Taric and Roild activated the crystals set in their armor and led the way.
***
Cero came to with a start. He found himself laying in the snow field that he had looked down on from the ledge. Remembering the ledge, he climbed to his feet and looked up at the cliff. He found the aforementioned ledge littering the snow around him. The snowy slope started at the foot of the cliff and gradually leveled. He could see where his fall had been broken by the slope and the trail leading to where he now stood.
Without howling bands of dwarves after his skin, he was now able to step back and take a look at his circumstances. They were so far the worst he had yet to encounter. He stood high in the mountains with only the lightest of clothes. He wore shoes, but they were not suited to the snow. His wardrobe didn’t include a coat or even a cloak that might protect against the chill winds that blew up the slopes. He wasn’t cold yet, even though his attire, while warm, was not equal to the glacial heights and promised the inevitable deadly chill that he had heard about. Worse yet was the clouds piling on the horizon that portended foul weather before dusk. Weaponless and without any idea of his true location, he simply picked a direction and began walking. He wasn’t going to be in any immediate danger as long as he kept moving; that