The carriage bumped and banged slightly as it continued its path. Kale and Clymain both sat on the wagon now, just behind what was left of the Baron's carriage. The two had agreed to ride on the wagon instead of letting their feet dangle in the Baron's face, but they both truly just wanted some distance from him. They had said nothing since the incident, nothing. Kale had raised his right knee up and wrapped his arm around it, placing his chin into his kneecap. He stared into the foliage and was listening intently. Clymain let his feet dangle from the wagon. They bounced slightly when the wagon hit a rut, and Clymain stared down at them, just hoping they could hold up if he needed to walk, or run, out of this place.

"You hear it?" Kale's whisper almost boomed compared to the silence, and startled Clymain a bit.

"No. I don't hear anything." Clymain stated bluntly as he returned a gaze to the tree line, "Not a peep."

"All right, just checking." Kale mumbled lightly, "I haven't heard anything for a miles."

Clymain then caught grasp of what he was saying. Absolute and utter silence. No birds were singing their usual cheer, no animals scurrying through the overgrowth. The trees refused to move their leaves, and even the wind wasn't brave enough to pass through here. Where were they?

"Oh Kale..." Clymain sputtered, his voice was shaken slightly, almost broken. Even frightened.

Kale turned quickly towards his childhood ally, only to see him gazing strait ahead. His eyes weren't widened in terror or shock, instead they held a sadness, half closed and worried, locked on something in front of them. As Kale's head followed their view outward, he found out what his friend was seeing.

It was a dark sunset. The canopy overhead was starting to hang in pieces, fall apart, die. The trees began to transform into rotted black spires of decay. The path was littered with tree branches and black soil. All the green was disappearing into the tree line, and what was left was only wilted and brown, at best. The holes in the canopy reveled a blackened sky, so thick that if the sun couldn't punch through, the stars were left with little chance. The blackness fell to an even orange line at the horizon, that faded into an even smaller red one. For all this, nothing was as intimidating as the silhouette that stood in front of the setting sun. A castle, even far in the distance, loomed. Several black lines protruded up from this shape in their view, and they could tell it was massive. With the last light falling behind it, this fortress seemed like the border between light and dark, good and evil, and soon that light would fade away as well. Then, what kind of beasts would lurk in these woods?

As they moved on, the vegetation subsided even more, eventually, it was gone. Kale looked behind him and watched the dying nature steadily move away from them, leaving only a blackened wasteland. This barren, desolate place seem to stretch forever, except in the north, where it ran only to the northern mountains. It might have even climbed those for all he knew.

"Kale, I really don't like this." Clymain stated again as he looked towards the castle.

Kale said nothing, but returned his vision to the castle that was seemingly on top of them. The rugged ebony towers were many, and they almost seemed attached to the sky that shared the same blackened tone. The bricks that made them and the walls were gray, slimy, and looked as if they had rotted there for years. Chunks fell from some, and most had large cracks and gaps. It would never hold in a siege, one would wonder what held it together now. Several smoke trails of various sizes were coming up from in and all around the keep, polluting the skies with their filth. Byproducts for whatever horrible things must happen in this place.

After what seemed like ages to them, the pair finally beheld the massive gates of Thabor, the stronghold of Baron Perenolde. As the carriage got closer, the iron gate began to raise. The massive, wooden door creaked and cracked as it was lowered over the blackened moat. Kale stared into it as the wagon crossed and the metal gate reached the top of its ascension. Black muck, too thick even to be considered mud filled only half of the moat. There was about a seven foot drop in until you reached the slime.

"What is that smell?" Clymain gasped as he held his hand over not only his nose, but his entire bottom jaw, "Its not the bodies in this wagon. That smell is of rot."

Kale did not know, but it reeked. Stagnant filth and a horrendous odor that no normal noble would expose himself to. Kale coughed slightly and thought he might throw up. He fought it back, and the wagon crossed to the inside of the castle.

Inside looked even worse than the exterior, but the smell had subsided slightly. Kale jumped off the wagon quickly, and Clymain followed his example hastily. Kale examined what seemed to be the main courtyard.

It was unbelievably spacious. Kale noted one giant, metal grate in the center, roughly twelve feet long and ten feet wide. It was huge. Kale also took note that their were four doors present. One was a huge, outstanding door almost strait ahead, with giant green flags hanging from them, and additional flags beside them residing on poles. There was a smaller door to the right of it, on a large curved wall. It was standing wide open. In it was a stairwell, and only then did Kale realize that the curved wall was actually a massive tower. Kale's gaze ran up and down this parapet, it was easily the largest tower there. The third door was right beside the gate, which lead to a small guard shack beside the wall. The fourth door was in the very corner of the courtyard, and almost unnoticeable. It was adjoined directly to the wall, and no telling where it went.

Several ladders were about on various walls. On the walls, black shadows patrolled back and forth. Kale noted that they moved rather slowly. He had assumed all Baron guards would be slightly disciplined. Some were sitting, most where hunched or stumbling, as if drunk. Kale noted some were even limping. Maybe the bandits had struck here, too, or maybe someone else had? Kale noted one of the caravan guards casting an uncertain gaze to the closest wall, frowning and shaking his head, he muttered something and turned away. Kale saw nothing special about the wall, except it had similar shadows fumbling around on it.

"Welcome to my humble estate."

The voice boomed, commanding the attention of all present. Kale turned slowly, recognizing all to well the voice of the Baron, and he knew, that smile would be there. Probably bigger than ever.

Kale was right. The fiendish maw was baring teeth now with an insidious laugh. His arms were outstretched in both directions, slightly up. His hood still covered his eyes, but the strands of gray hair fell past his mockery of a friendly mouth.

"Impressed, eh?" The smile separated and let the words escape into the darkening air. Kale shuddered.

"Its big." Clymain responded almost coldly.

The Baron lowered his arms to his side. His teeth vanished behind his lips, but the smile held true. A slight chuckle ensued and the Baron turned towards the largest door.

"Come." He beckoned, and all the guards began walking in the same direction. Kale and Clymain, with nothing resembling speed or determination, began to follow as well.

As the doors opened, a huge gust of air flew forth. The Baron's cape flapped almost happily at the people behind it, as it wiggled to free itself from under the massive sword that had it pinned to Baron Perenolde's back. Kale walked into the room a bit cautious, but it ended up looking like the rest of this decrepit fortress. The room was large, but the gray tiles were rotting and cracked. The black columns here seemed to erupted from the floor and erode were it met the ceiling. A large, green carpet fell between the columns and rode all the way up to and including all of the steps at its end.

On the top of these steps, a huge throne. It had a green seat cushion and green backing, but the rest was totally black. About a dozen large spines came off the chair. After a large curve in the air, they began to hastily run to the floor, were everyone of them ended in a skull, a human skull, each missing its bottom jaw. This made the throne look that much larger and scarier, but the perfection was evident. All of the spines hit the floor in a perfect line. The legs of the royal chair were contorted spirals of darkened bone, and each was separated from the floor by a single human skull, also missing its bottom jaw. All of these skulls were blackened, each and every one of them looked as if they had been burnt before they were placed in this architecture of death.

The Baron took the steps two and a time in stride. Once he reached the top, he turned to face his men. The men formed into two lines, one on each side of the dazzling green carpet. As he sat, all his men immediately took a knee, Except Kale and Clymain, who stood in the back.

"Rise, my faithful." The Baron's voice echoed off every crevice in the room. His hand raised toward Kale and Clymain, and the fingers snatched back several times, beckoning them forward.

Clymain looked at Kale slightly before taking a step, and the both began walking between the two lines. They stopped just short of the stairs, and it was apparent neither of them intended to bow.

"Greetings, guest. I'll start off by thanking you both for your services. I offer you lodging for the next two nights. In this, I ask you to accompany me and my men on one last endeavor. We are going into the forest to exterminate this growing Caustrodon problem. Would you be willing to join the hunt?"

Kale blinked stupidly a few times. Hunt those? One had almost killed the entire caravan, and now he wanted to rid his province of them? What kind of plot did he have, anyway?

"We appreciate the offer, but we'd like to simply get paid and be on our way." Clymain said solidly, "We could use new armor and weapons before we assist any other employers."

Kale said nothing, still slightly shocked at the thought of this suicidal mission. How many guards would flee between now and then? The Baron chuckled slightly, then shook his head slowly.

"A pity, to be sure. We could use your talents in my ranks."

The Baron sat motionless. Smiling. Always smiling, Kale thought. That horrid shape of the lips that, even in a friendly manor, always seemed to be a miserable illusion of kindness.

"So be it. A shame, really, but I'll not force you or argue with you. You are, however, still offered lodging here until my shipment of supplies head toward the eastern reaches. You are not required to go all the way into Baron Morte's kingdom, just catching a ride and you may get off where you please."

"We'd rather be on our way Baron." Kale sputtered without thinking. He didn't even think of the dangers that might lurk in this wilderness.

Kale glanced at Clymain, who looked slightly baffled. The Baron said nothing, but his devious grin still rained upon Kale's goose bumps like a thousand blades.

"We'd be honored to stay, Baron Perenolde. Thank you for your hospitality." Clymain corrected Kale, staring at him oddly.

"Very well, my guard will show you to your lodging for the night. Goodnight, warriors. Rest well." The Baron spoke loudly, and a guard ran up to them hastily.

"This way, M'lords." He spoke softly as he headed back to the entrance.

On the way out, Kale couldn't help but look over his shoulder. The Baron was a massive man, in his massive throne, over a very small group of soldiers. The grin followed Kale all the way out, until a door was between them solidly.

Kale and Clymain followed the guard as they exited the throne room. He took a sharp left, and headed towards the open door. Kale was, however, slightly distracted by the events in the courtyard.

The grate was opened, and the wagon was backed up to it. Several guards were inside, tossing bodies, armor, and weapons into the pit. Then, they stopped, got out and took the side closest to the hole off. Kale almost jumped as the dead Caustrodon's eyes were eerily fixated on him, almost begging for revenge even in death. All the guards got under the other side of the wagon and lifted for all they could. The Caustrodon was a heavy customer, and didn't budge. Blood poured from around it and into the pit as the guards lifted higher. Finally, the Caustrodon's arm shifted and flopped limply on the wagon floor, rolled off the end, and the rest of the carcass followed. As the guards set the wagon down, Kale heard a loud splash. Just what did they do in this mad place?

Kale thought little more of it as the guards began placing the grate back over the hole, obviously preventing any Caustrodon to return from the gave to exact its revenge. Kale turned and followed his cohort up the stairwell.

After climbing nearly seven flights of stairs, they came to a door. The guard motioned them towards it and opened the large, wooden frame, holding it for his superiors. As they entered, the room struck Kale as one of the more decent foundations of Thabor. Wooden floors and walls gave it a tavern feeling, and it was rather spacious. There were two large beds on each side, with one large bookshelf and a medium sized desk. The desk had a candle on it already lit. This room had one window, shaped like an upside-down kite shield. There were no bars, like Kale assumed there would be, but there were two, wooden window doors that they could shut at their whim.

The candle flame danced gingerly in a light breeze as the guard said, "You have a good night gentlemen. If you want breakfast, report to the throne room sometime in the morning and I'll see to it."

"Thank you." Clymain spoke as the guard shut the door behind him.

"I could use some sleep..." Kale stammered as he walked towards the window.

He stood there, looking out at the dark skies and gloomy landscape. He had a perfect view of the courtyard. He sighed a bit, doubting his adventure had even transpired. As he prepared to turn away from the window, he saw a slight flash go off inside the grate. He grasped the window with both palms, staring intently at the barred pit. Another flash, and another quickly followed. No set order, just random flashes. Kale was curious, what could be making those?

"Kale, are you all right?" Clymain asked lightly as he removed his chest plate, "You seem rather interested in something, and that always gets me in trouble..."

"Flashes in the pit, Clymain, were the put all the bodies..." Kale turned slowly from the window, "I wonder what the do with that amount of corpses?"

"No telling, and I probably don't want to know." Clymain stated bluntly as he sat to remove his boots.

"Well, I'm just wondering..." Kale said slowly as he shut the window doors.

"Wondering is what got us out here in the first place." Clymain said flatly as he fell back on his bed, "I want to wonder around in the back of my skull right now..."

Kale smiled slightly, "You're right, sleep sounds better than swimming through blood and corpses anyway. I hope I never have to see that Caustrodon again..."

Hold for the next installment. CHB