trees get thicker. The path leads through the trees and cuts across the side of the mountain to the left. It would have offered a spectacular view of the lake, but unfortunately the trees hinder our visibility in all directions. It’s partway into this valley that we make camp.
Two days.
I’m beginning to get a little frantic. We had already been moving at a fast pace, but we lengthen our stride and press onward and upward with increasing quickness.
It’s on this day that the pass comes into sight, much to everyone’s relief. The trees clear slightly as we come up out of the valley, and the pass becomes clearly visible higher up on the mountain.
It sits between the slopes of two mountains. The path squeezes through them and lets out on the other side; Dracynnval’s Tower rises from behind the right cliff. It disappears as we plunge back into the trees.
As we trudge up the mountainside, the dirt path beneath us becomes stone stairs, worn and cracked with age. The trees here are thin and scraggly. A huge trunk lies to the side of the stairs, at one with the ground. Its decaying flesh has merged it with the earth.
Then the trees are gone, and we are left climbing the stairs up to the narrow pass. To the sides, there are only rocks of every shape and size, but all of them are black. They create small barren fields between us and the surrounding cliffs that hem us in.
The stairs turn from grey to black.
An archway spans the top of the pass, right above the point where the path passes through. It is far from intact, however. Chunks of its wall are missing and there are holes in its sides. It seems to be leaning to one side. The stone bricks that do remain are cracked and probably won’t support much weight.
The stairs lead all the way up to the arch, and the ground only evens out once we go through. However, we put off entering.
To the right, Dracynnval’s tower does its best to reach the sky. A couple of tall pines compete with it mightily. At the base of the tower sit the remains of a fortress. Only one room seems to still be intact, and it lies just in front of the tower. The rest of the fortress lies in ruins. The sun, getting low in the sky, is beginning to cast orange light around the old keep.
A blood-red banner flies atop the tower. It bears a black insignia: A twisting dragon inside of a black ring, with only the tip of his tail barely making contact with the inside of the ring. His wings are spread, but become one with the ring and do not go beyond the black circle.
“How does Diagrall control this place?” I question under my breath. “How? In the middle of our lands?!”
“We cannot turn back,” Aela says. “If we want to have any chance of getting through to Fragruss, we have to get through this pass.”
“I know,” I mutter. “We’ll have to be stealthy and quick. We do not know how many there are.”
Every one of us draws our weapons. Then we begin to step through the arch.
A twisted mass of rusted metal bars lies to the left, leaning against the cliff. I recognize it vaguely as a portcullis. That’s quite the catapult to do that, I think. But how did they get it up here?
That question is one for me to answer at another time. A campfire sits about fifteen feet from the door of the tower, with several armored men sitting around it. Their armor is silver with black veins running throughout it. The crest of Diagrall, identical to the one emblazoned on the flag, is printed on their helmets. One of them points us out with a yell and all of them draw their weapons.
So it begins.
We charge and Percival takes a blow on his shield as I smash in the chest of an assaulter. Another goes down underneath my hammer; James twists out from underneath an opposing strike and counters with effective precision. The man does not emit one sound as he falls with blood running from his chest.
Aela!
One of the soldiers backs away, lifting a drawn bow with a nocked arrow. He’s aiming straight at Aela.
Suddenly I am seeing from the eyes of my father. Aela becomes me, fighting the soldiers of Tygnar. I have just emptied their dungeons of all their prisoners, and we are fighting our