The Gilded Rune

Torrin froze, one hand on cool stone, the other gripping his mace, as an eerie moan echoed out of the cavern ahead. Strong and insidious, it vibrated his body like a struck gong. The tunnel he’d been climbing leveled off ahead into a ledge overlooking a chasm hundreds of paces high and deep. A shape swept downward across the empty space beyond the ledge. A flying creature fluttered there like a flung cloak, its back as black as the darkness of the cavern, its belly as white as bone. Twin points of red-the creature’s eyes-glowed above a gaping mouth. A tail snapped like a whip in the creature’s wake, and then the thing was gone.

A cloaker, hunting.

“By my beard,” Torrin whispered. “That was close.”

His stomach felt loose and fluttery with nausea. His thoughts skittered about like frightened mice and took several moments to ebb. Even protected by his ring, Torrin had nearly succumbed to the cloaker’s magical call.

The moan came again, but from farther away. Then a third moan, still fainter, followed by the shrill cry of a cave bat, abruptly cut off.

Torrin felt nervous sweat trickle down his sides. Had he arrived at Needle Leap just a little earlier, he might have been the cloaker’s lunch.

Torrin stroked his braided beard. The touch of the tiny silver hammers at the end of each braid calmed him. He whispered a quick prayer of thanks to Marthammor Duin, the god that watched over adventurers like himself. Even though Torrin was human by birth, the dwarf god was clearly aiding him.

Torrin prayed that the god’s protection would also extend to the fellow he’d come to the desolate place to meet. Not only were there cloakers nearby, but the passageways through that section of the Underdark were thick with drow marauders. If Torrin had been given any choice in the matter, he would have taken the long way around to Needle Leap. But the dark elves had cut off the longer, safer route, leaving Torrin no other choice but to chance the jump.

He hoped that Kendril would fulfill his part of the bargain, and show up with the runestone. Arranging to purchase it had been a lengthy process-and an expensive one-involving numerous coded messages back and forth, via middlemen of questionable character.

No, Torrin told himself. Kendril had sworn, by Moradin’s beard, that he would deliver, and that was good enough. A dwarf would never renege on an oath like that. In a short time, the magical runestone would at last be in Torrin’s hands.

In the meantime, it was time to cross Needle Leap. Before the cloaker finished enjoying its meal.

Torrin crept out onto the ledge and studied the gap ahead, peering through the magical goggles that allowed him to see in the dark. The chasm extended as far above and below as the eyes could see, as well as to the right and the left. The gap between the ledge on which Torrin stood and the one that opened onto the tunnel leading to Helmstar was dozens of paces wide. And at the center of that gap was a narrow spire of stone-the Needle-whose mostly flat top served as an all-too-narrow landing point between Torrin’s ledge and the tunnel across from him.

At some point in the past, there had been a rope bridge across Needle Leap. But the rogues and outcasts who called Helmstar home had cut the bridge down years before. Moldering strands of rope hung from the pitons that had once secured them. Torrin had a rope, but he had been told not to trust the easily fractured rock. After noting how loosely anchored the rusted pitons were, he thought it wise advice.

Instead, he’d jump. There was just enough room on the ledge to get a good running start, but the gap between the ledge and the Needle was wide. Too wide for more than one young daredevil who had learned it at the cost of his life, after being so unwise as to accept a dare. Even with his longer human legs, Torrin estimated, he’d only just be able to make it. On top of that, the stone here was dewy with condensation from the damp air. Slippery. It would be a treacherous leap.

Torrin slid his mace into the loop on his belt and ensured that his backpack was snug; he didn’t need it sliding about and throwing off his balance. He whispered a quick prayer to the Watcher over Wanderers and kissed, for luck, one of his beard’s tiny silver hammers. Then he ran.

A leap… and he was sailing through the chill air, with nothing between himself and the jagged rocks far below. With his arms windmilling for balance, Torrin threw his body forward into a run the moment his foot touched the Needle. Still sprinting-one step, two, three-he leaped a second time.

Sudden movement to the right and far below caught his eye. The cloaker was winging its way upward! The distraction threw off his landing, and he stumbled badly on the distant ledge, his lead foot twisting off the edge. He crashed down, half on and half off the ledge, sliding backward. He scrabbled for a crack, any crack, to jam his fingers into. No use-he couldn’t stop his momentum! Rough stone scraped his cheek and wrenched the goggles away from his eyes, sending them clattering onto the ground beside his head. Blinded, he slid until his clawing fingers were all that kept him from going over the edge. The rest of him dangled in empty space.

“Marthammor,” he gasped, knowing that in a moment more his trembling hands would betray him. “Why have you forsaken me?”

Hands seized his left wrist, just below his bracer, and pulled hard. As he was dragged bodily up and onto the ledge, Torrin at last found a knob of stone with one foot. He hiked himself up the rest of the way and rolled onto his back. Safe!

The hands released his wrist. Panting, Torrin lay arched uncomfortably over his backpack, sweat trickling down his temples. He felt the rough hands of his rescuer touching his beard and then patting their way down across his shoulders, chest, and legs.

“You’re no dwarf,” his rescuer rasped. “You talk like one, but by the feel of your limbs, you’re human.”

Torrin sat up. He felt around for his magical goggles and heaved a sigh of relief when he found them. They allowed him to see only in shades of black, white, and gray, but that was far better than blindly stumbling about the Underdark.

He looked up at his rescuer. The fellow who’d just pulled him to safety was a dwarf with patched, dirty clothes and a beard in need of combing. He had shoulders even broader than most, but moved stiffly. He wheezed like an old forge hand, his chest audibly rattling as it rose and fell. His breath smelled slightly off, with an odor like damp clay. His eyes, however, were the most disturbing. They were a pale, pitted white, like chipped marbles-and they weren’t moving. The skin at the corner of each eye was deeply creased. In normal light, it was likely a painful red.

“You’re blind!” Torrin gasped. “How did you know I was-”

A hand, as rough as chipped stone, grabbed Torrin’s neck. A dagger point pricked his throat, silencing him. “Who are you?” the blind dwarf rasped.

Torrin swallowed. Carefully. “Torrin Ironstar,” he replied. He started to raise an arm to show off the star on his bracer, then remembered the dwarf wouldn’t be able to see it. “Are you Kendril, son of Balund?”

The blind dwarf frowned. Then he laughed and released Torrin’s throat. He felt for his sheath with one hand, and slid the dagger into it. “I am,” he replied, sighing heavily. “Just as well, really, that you’re human.”

“Actually, although I may not look like it, I’m a dwarf,” Torrin corrected. “Moradin recast my soul in a human body this time around. I’d have told you that during our negotiations, but I didn’t think you’d trust me if I did.”

“Pull my beard another time, human,” Kendril said with a grunt. His head cocked slightly to one side. “Did you hear that moan? There’s a cloaker somewhere nearby. And we’ve business to conclude.”

Torrin stood and glanced down over the edge. He was on solid ground-but someone needed to tell his pounding heart that. He couldn’t see the cloaker, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still down there, somewhere. “You’re right. We should get back from the edge. Are you able to find your way?”

“I found you, didn’t I?” the blind dwarf said, wheezing. Feeling his way along with one hand on the wall, Kendril led Torrin into the tunnel. After a dozen or so steps he halted. “This should be safe enough, for now.”

Grunting with what sounded like pain, Kendril reached stiffly inside his shirt and pulled out a worn leather pouch. He teased open the pouch strings with shaking fingers and pulled out a fist-sized oval of bloodstone. He felt for Torrin’s hand and pressed the stone into it. “Here’s what you paid for.”

Torrin felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he took the runestone. Was it just his imagination, or was its magic making his hand tingle?

“You can feel its magic, can’t you?” Kendril asked.

Torrin nodded, then remembered to speak aloud. “I can.”

He held the runestone up and peered closely at it through his goggles. One side was blank. The other was inscribed with two runes, barely visible thanks to the many chips, scuffs, and cracks the runestone had acquired in the hundreds or even thousands of years since its creation.

“ ‘Earth magic?’ ” Torrin wondered aloud.

Kendril’s eyebrows rose. “You know how to read Auld Dethek?”

“Enough to make out simple words like these,” Torrin said. He took a cloth from his pocket and wrapped it around the runestone. “You said this stone would teleport me to wherever I wanted to go. How do I do that?”

“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself.”

“But you said-”

“I said I would sell it to you,” the dwarf said. “And I have.”

“But you must know how to use it,” Torrin said. “How else would you have gotten here? You can’t see.”

“Quite true. But teaching you how to use the runestone wasn’t part of our bargain.”

“What if I paid you more?”

Kendril sighed. “I don’t need your coin,” he said. “Or anything else you think to offer. Not any more. Our transaction is done.”

Torrin fumed. It was clear that Kendril wasn’t going to budge, and there was little Torrin could do about it. He wasn’t about to threaten a fellow dwarf, let alone one who was blind and obviously unwell. Kendril had stuck precisely to the wording of their bargain, and that was that.

Torrin wished that he’d anticipated such an obstacle. Figuring out how to use the stone would mean a consultation with a loremaster. And that would require payment-coin he didn’t have. He should have known better than to agree to purchase what was-he was starting to suspect-stolen property that Kendril himself didn’t even know how to use. Torrin had compromised his principles, and would have one more thing to answer for when his life was done.

“Where is it you want to go, anyway?” Kendril asked.

“The Soulforge,” Torrin replied.

Kendril rasped out a laugh. “The Soulforge?” he repeated. “If that’s what you’re looking for, step off that ledge, human. Test that theory of yours. If your soul really is that of a dwarf, it will wind up at Moradin’s forge soon enough.”

“The Soulforge I’m looking for is the one here on Faerun,” Torrin said. “It’s the one the dwarves emerged from when they entered this realm.”

“That’s an even harder beard pull,” Kendril said. “Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me you’re going to forge a new race of dwarves with it-that you’re the Dwarffather himself.”

Torrin made no comment. He was used to people mocking his holy quest. He shrugged off his backpack, tucked the runestone inside, and carefully tied the flap shut. “Your clanfolk received the fee,” he told Kendril. “In gemstones, as you specified. I had to sell everything of value I had, but-”

“I may be blind, but I still have eyes in Eartheart,” Kendril said. “I wouldn’t be here with you now if it hadn’t been paid.” He turned his face, seeming to peer at Torrin with those eerie, marble white eyes. “You’re certain they won’t be able to trace the gems back to me?”

“I’m sure,” Torrin replied. “I had a middleman deliver them to your brother’s wife. As you specified, he explained that they were part of the trove that had been overlooked during the division of the Sorndar estate. She seemed to believe that story, and didn’t question it.”

“And you delivered my message?”

“Yes. In person.”

“How did my brother receive it?”

Torrin hesitated, remembering the shove that had nearly sent him tumbling down the rampart stairs. “He… ah… He didn’t exactly listen to it.”

“Lightning smite the old fool!” Kendril exclaimed. “Does he still have only stone between his ears?” He smacked a fist into the rock wall beside him. It struck with a dull clunk. A piece of something gray splintered off and flew away. A fragment of loose stone from the wall? Torrin wondered.

No, he realized. That had been Kendril’s little finger-and the dwarf hadn’t even noticed. Dark blood oozed from the stump, slowly dripping onto the ground.

“You’ve… injured yourself,” Torrin said, feeling as if he were about to be sick.

“Have I?” Kendril asked. He felt the place where his finger had been but made no step to staunch the blood.

Torrin took an involuntary step back. “Your eyes… Your hand… Are you ill, or was it a spell that did that to you?”

Kendril’s bitter laugh skittered along the edge of sanity. “Don’t you worry, human. You’re not going to catch it from me.”

Torrin guessed that was supposed to put him at ease. It didn’t. But Kendril was a fellow dwarf, someone who quite clearly needed aid. More aid than Torrin could deliver, but he was bound by the code of the dwarves to at least do what he could. “Let me bind that wound,” he said.

“Too late for that,” the dwarf said.

Kendril lurched forward suddenly and seized Torrin’s hand with his own, undamaged one. Torrin shuddered and tried to pull away, but Kendril’s grip was as strong as stone, despite the dwarf’s trembling.

“If you can’t convince Jorn, speak to his wife,” Kendril said. His foul-smelling breath panted up into Torrin’s face. “Tell her! They need to get as far away as possible, and as quickly as possible, or they’ll wind up like me.”

Torrin glanced uneasily down at Kendril’s oozing hand. If it was some sort of sickness that Kendril was suffering from, was it in his blood?

“Just tell them to get out of Eartheart-to get as far from the East Rift as they can,” Kendril said, pleading. “And tell Jorn I am his brother, still. Despite… everything. That I will carry my regrets to my grave.”

Torrin tried to ease his hand free. “Why must they leave Eartheart?” he prompted. “Tell me more. Tell me what the danger is.”

“Too late,” the dwarf said.

“But-”

“Shh.” Kendril cocked his head, listening. A low moan welled up from the cavern behind them. “That cloaker’s coming back.”

Finally, he let go of Torrin’s hand.

“We’d best be going, then,” Torrin said, backing off a pace. “Will you be able to find your way back to Helmstar on your own? Can I… guide you?”

In truth, Torrin wanted to turn and run the other way. Chance Needle Leap a second time, despite the cloaker. Run all the way home to Eartheart, and tell someone, anyone, of his strange encounter and ask them what it meant.

“I’m not returning to Helmstar.” Kendril said. “My destiny lies in another direction.” He took a deep breath, then turned his face up toward Torrin’s. “I was a cleric, once. Did you know that?”

“Really?” Torrin replied. Belatedly, he admonished himself for letting the word slip out. It wasn’t his place to mock a fellow dwarf, no matter how low the fellow might have fallen. Torrin knew how mockery could sting.

Kendril abruptly clenched both fists and banged his right hand down atop his left-the sign of Moradin’s hammer striking the anvil. “May the Soul Forger find a vein of worthiness, amid my dross, and forgive me for what I’ve done.” Then he sprinted away-straight toward the chasm.

“Kendril!” Torrin exclaimed. “Stop!” He started after the blind dwarf, but it was too late. Kendril ran straight over the edge, hurtling forward. Screaming the Dwarffather’s name-“Moradinnnnn!”-he plunged into the chasm.

“No!” Torrin gasped. He heard the sickening thud and crack of Kendril’s body striking a wall, followed a moment later by the rustle of a cloaker enveloping its prey. There was no scream. Torrin prayed that meant that Kendril had been knocked unconscious before being devoured.

“Moradin’s blessing upon you, Kendril,” he whispered as he backed hurriedly away from Needle Leap. “May you be reforged anew.”

Torrin turned and ran down the tunnel that followed the longer route to Eartheart, bypassing Needle Leap. As he ran, conflicting emotions clanged through him like hammers all trying to strike the same anvil at once. He was elated to have at last acquired the runestone, but at the same time a rising sense of dread filled him. What had been wrong with Kendril? Obviously some strange new disease that the blind dwarf feared would spread to his family. But why-and how? By his own admission, Kendril hadn’t spoken to his brother’s family in years.

And why had Kendril killed himself? Yes, the cloaker had been had been headed back, and might even have squeezed itself into the tunnel, but surely Kendril wouldn’t have felt it necessary to create a distraction that would save Torrin, a complete stranger to him. Such a sacrifice was something one would expect only of a shield brother.

Which, Torrin suddenly realized, was exactly what Kendril must have been doing: protecting his fellow dwarves by killing himself, so whatever it was that had afflicted him wouldn’t spread.

Torrin realized he was wiping his hand against his trousers as he hurried along. “Might as well try to blow out a forge with a breath,” he said, admonishing himself. If Kendril’s touch had left disease on Torrin’s hands, he’d need a blessing to expunge it. It wasn’t about to be brushed off like dust.

A cleric, he decided. A cleric was what he needed. The temple of the Lady of Mercy in Hammergate, just outside of Eartheart, would be his first stop. And he wouldn’t touch anyone, or anything, until he reached it.