Lady of Sorrows (Warhammer Age of Sigmar) by C L Werner

Author:C L Werner [Werner, C L]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The hill atop which the citadel stood was only an extended finger of a much larger range that rolled off into the distance. The hills were all characterised by their sharp, craggy contours and rocky surface. Unlike the Barrowbogs or even the Dreadwood, nothing alive scratched out a presence as far as Soraya could see. They were desolate and barren.

‘What do we do? Climb the cliffs?’ Ratimir wondered as he stared up at the hill. It was an uninviting prospect. The jagged rocks had split at such severe angles as to leave each with a knife-like edge.

Soraya craned her neck and tried to study the citadel. From this vantage it was just an indistinct structure rising above the peak. ‘There has to be another way,’ she said. ‘I don’t think the builders of this place expected visitors to make such an ascent.’

‘If the builders expected anyone to come here at all,’ Kvetka said. ‘Perhaps no one was meant to visit this place. Not an outpost but a prison.’

Venteslav pulled at his moustache for a moment before shaking his head. ‘We’ve come too far to turn back now. We’re here, and we’re going to see the Veiled Oracle.’

‘There may be a less demanding approach,’ Zorgrath offered. The cryptborn indicated the broad expanse of the hill itself. ‘We should spread out and see. There might be a path that isn’t immediately obvious.’

‘That notion sounds reasonable,’ Soraya agreed. She turned to Venteslav to see if he thought so as well.

‘It would be better to find out now than discover an easier path when we’re halfway up the hillside,’ Venteslav decided. ‘Everyone keep within eyesight of one another while you’re looking.’ He darted a worried glance back at the Barrowbogs where the glowing miasma could still be seen. ‘There may be other dangers lurking about.’

Soraya headed off to take position on the extreme left flank. The rest of the survivors spread out, with Zorgrath at the other extreme. Mahyar with Gajevic stayed at the spot where they’d climbed up from the swamp, acting as both anchor and reference point for the searchers. Despite their ordeal with the mists and their harrowing efforts to elude them, none of the survivors thought of rest. Not with their objective so near.

It was after a few hours of poking at the rocks with her stick, inspecting every shadow for anything untoward, that Soraya made her discovery. So cunningly placed within the angles of two tall boulders that she didn’t see it until she was right on top of it, there was a narrow path. She could see it arcing away from the base of the hill, winding off around its side in a gradual ascent banded on either side by the jagged rocks. It looked artificial, a deliberate construction. She confirmed this when she inspected the tall boulders and found that they were fragments of a still bigger stone that had been hewn in twain by some incredible process which looked to have both split it and pushed it apart.

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