The Company traveled east from the Screaming Seer's Sanctum and followed the river into the mountains. Their quest was for the Beast but to reach it they had to travel up treacherous mountain paths and places where there was no path. There were places a man could jump but a horse could not be induced to leap and land safely on the other side. Autolykos led them through places that looked impassible and turned them back when it looked safe but really wasn't.
In the mountains the water pooled at the bottom of a waterfall. Bones whirled in the water and hogs dragged the corpse of a mountain lion ashore to gnaw it. Whatever killed it was at the top of the waterfall, so that's where the Company went.
At the top, the opening in the rock face was large enough for a bear and then some. Auckland recognized it from his dreams. He was used to seeing it from the other side, looking out. The Knights didn't want to enter the cave and fight the monster on its own turf, so Tiber taunted it to draw it out.
The beast leaped from atop the cliff and fell on top of the Salt Knight. It had been waiting for the Company to go inside so it could trap them.
The Knights fended off the monster's furious assault as best they could. In the form of a Fish and a Stag it lashed out with tooth and antler. They forced it back and kept it from reaching Tiber and it used its horns to toss a boulder at the Salt Knight, answering his taunt with an enormous rock. Tiber fired his crossbow. Autolykos pelted it with arrows. The Horn Knight lashed out with his enchanted halberd that sought the head of horned beasts. It broke free of their encirclement and leaped atop Tiber in the form of a ram and a lion, dealing him a furious blow to the head that sent him reeling. The others piled on with halberd and spear and the monster transformed again, retreating into its cave in the form of a six legged wolf with the horn of a stag beetle.
The Company dismounted and they helped Tiber stagger toward the mouth of the cave. The Salt Knight felt like he had just crawled out of the ocean again. But he knew the monster was in the cave and that going inside where it lay in ambush was stupid. So he issued another taunt as Autolykos and Auckland readied their attacks.
A hand emerged from the earth and grabbed Tiber by the ankle. It clawed him and yanked him down, and he had a flash of being pulled into the earth by such a hand, though he could not remember when. His fellows hauled him up and broke the claw's grasp and the Beast leaped out of the cave and onto the Salt Knight. Autolykos leaped in front and tried to deflect it with the enchanted seal on his armor, but it was for naught. Its form was a huge snake with the head of a goat and it made to headbutt Tiber like the ram had done. Then it killed him with a bite. The molars crushed his armor and crushed him and his last thought was that, while the monster was eating him, at least Reme would get away.
The wounded monster could have escaped had it simply ignored the Salt Knight's taunt, but that was not its way. The two survivors punished it with a hail of blows. Auckland smote it. Autolykos put an arrow into its eye and it collapsed on its side and was vanquished.
Auckland lifted his halberd. He told the monster that he had vanquished it and now it owed him a boon, for as it fought to prove its strength over other creatures so it had been beaten. He would ask it to swallow a great flood. By way of acceptance the monster let its long tongue loll out, and in doing so vomited up the dead but mostly intact body of the Salt Knight. Auckland used the silk taken from the Tiger Spiders to staunch the monster's bleeding. It transformed one last time into a panther with the horns of a bull and bowed deeply. Then it took its leave, bounding a little less nimbly up the crags to the summit of the cliff.
Rivière
The Seal Knight Shoat rode the Dusty Steed out of the steading of the shepherd and up into the mountains. He had spent the last several days applying protective sigils to the troops passing through the Glass Mountain in anticipation of the war in the north. The Glass Knight had finally given him a mission beyond the capitol which he eagerly accepted. In addition to the three mystery scrolls given him by the Drunken Seer, he had a message penned by the King himself to deliver to the Company. The aged shepherd had insulted him but informed him that the Knights had gone up into the hills to fight the Beast. He hoped he would catch them before battle was joined so he could help slay it.
Three horses and two men came down the mountains to meet him.
Shoat heard the story from Auckland. He learned that the Salt Knight, who had challenged him and explained (as so many people felt the need to do) the rudiments of Knighthood, had died in the fight with the monster. They postponed the pursuit of the Flying Swords because they felt it was more important to save the realm from the Flood than prepare an escape to another kingdom where they'd have to fight a pointless war. They were on their way to the Funeral Plain to inter the body.
ALEXANDER THE WAR KNIGHT HAS RISEN AGAINST ME
WE MUST END THE REBELLION BEFORE IT BEGINS
WE CANNOT AFFORD BLOOD AND TERROR AND BAD FEELINGS IN OUR OWN HOME
GO TO HIS KEEP AND KIDNAP HIM OR HIS FAMILY
DO NOT KILL EVEN A SINGLE ONE OF THEM
TAKE THEM ALIVE! ALIVE
Fantastic. As if they needed more proof the Crown had driven the King insane. Though it might be true that a rebellion was brewing in the mountain fortress at Castleview. Or Alexander might just refuse to participate in the invasion. Shoat wasn't thrilled to start his first mission by kidnapping his dad's friend, or his wife and kids. Although breaking into someone's castle and holding their family for ransom was a big part of Knighthood, if the Glass Knight's stories about his glory days were to be believed.
Fortunately for the Seal Knight, the King told him to follow the Company's lead on delivery of the message, and the Company decided to ignore their orders. They might talk to Alexander but they weren't going to kidnap him or his family. But before they did that they had to bury Tiber, and that wasn't even insubordination, it was the law of the land. You laid a man's shade to rest, first thing.
Auckland didn't want to deal with the shepherd again, so the Company went west through the Screaming Seer's sanctum. A funeral procession of cultists stood atop the cliffs with torches lit. The Company detached the bier with Tiber's body and hand carried it so it wouldn't slip off the path where the horse dragged it. The Screaming Seer was gone. They heard his cries as though from a great distance. On his platform, staked to the table, was a scrap of parchment. It was the same size as their map and it had a hole in the shape of a hexagon. When laid over the map it highlighted the southwestern most point in the realm. The Horn Knight recalled that Tiber had begun his journey there, and if he had truly emerged from the sea it might be a good place to return him.
That night they dreamed they were immobilized in an ice cave. They realized they were crucified upside down on a wheel, the ceiling of the cave was the frozen landscape of winter. Try as they might, they could not make the wheel rotate. They thrashed and squirmed and their limbs froze and they woke up.
The fastest way to cross the realm and reach the west side of the inlet was by boat. The Seer's cult were prepared for such an eventuality, and furnished them with a small and nimble felucca for the crossing.
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