Rungit scratched at his dirty beard and eyed the map worriedly. His brother stood next to him, a confused expression on his face. They stood in a steep, sloping ridge of large boulders deep within the Widow's Veil Peaks. It had been three days since the half-giant had hired them as guides to the cobalt deposit, and for those three days they had marched continually south... for the most part, at least. Burgen had taken the delays in stride, but appeared to be quickly losing his patience.
All around them jagged mountains sprang from the earth, towering up into the sky. Rungit turned the map a bit, examining it.
"This map can't be accurate," he muttered under his breath.
Farnus pointed towards one particularly distinctively shaped peak. "That sort of looks like it," he observed.
Rungit shook his head. "It can't be."
"Are you two nearly finished?" Burgen called out from several dozen paces back. "There are only a few hours of daylight left. If we're as close as you say I'd like to keep moving." There was a challenging tone to the half-giant's voice.
"Just another minute," Rungit shouted back, a nervous smile on his face, "And we'll be off."
Farnus gulped. "Do you think he knows we're lost?"
"If he isn't beginning to suspect it, he will soon."
"Maybe we should leave tonight while he's asleep," the dwarf offered.
"And go where? Back to Bordinar's? I think he'd probably look there." Rungit responded sourly, "Besides, this is the only way we'll get the money. You have seen how tightly he holds that pack when he sleeps. There is no way we could get it without waking him up."
"Well how much farther south are we going to go?" Farnus asked seriously, "You realize we're dangerously close to the dead's territory."
"Of course I realize that, do you think I am an idiot? We haven't seen any yet though, and so long as we stay on the eastern side of the mountains we should be fine."
Farnus narrowed his eyes. "I think this is a bad."
The other dwarf was about to respond, but was interrupted as Burgen trudged over from where he had been sitting. "Time to go," he stated.
"Yes, of course." Rungit said, smiling at the half-giant. "My associate and I were just discussing how to best avoid any unwanted meetings with the dead."
"They're on the other side of the mountains, right?" Burgen asked simply.
"You are correct, boss." Farnus chimed in.
"And the cobalt is on this side, right?"
The dwarves nodded.
"Then what is there to discuss?" Burgen was beginning to doubt the wisdom of hiring the first two dwarves he had found. It was too late to change his mind now though. They had said it would take only a day to reach the caverns in which the cobalt deposit lay. That had been three days ago. If he did not know any better, he would think the dwarves had gotten themselves lost.
Rungit grinned a bit sheepishly and clapped his hands together. "Right you are, boss. We are just a bit overly cautious sometimes, our one failing. Let's go."
Burgen surveyed the mountains all around him, peering out into the grey sky. "How much farther are the caverns?"
The dwarves exchanged a doubtful look.
"We're getting very close, boss," Rungit assured the half-giant, "Don't worry."
About midway through the next day, the half-giant did in fact begin to worry. Only Burgen had a tendency to worry aloud, very vulgarly at times. His violent outbursts, in turn, worried the dwarves.
"You are lost." Burgen accused the two, his voice ripe with disgust. "Are you sure you aren't Halflings?"
Rungit glanced uneasily at their surroundings. They stood in a place very similar looking to the one in which they had rested yesterday. In fact, everything looked much the same as it had before. The dwarf was sure they had traveled a good distance but could not tell the difference between one mountain and the next.
He held up his hands defensively as the half-giant stalked towards him. "Lost may not quite be the right word, boss," he said, "We did get a little off track, but we are well on our way to the cavern now. I assure you."
"That's what you said two days ago," Burgen growled through clenched teeth. He towered over the dwarf, glowering down at him angrily.
"The Widow's Veil are tricky mountains to try and find your way through," Rungit began to explain. But he was cut short by a frantic cry from his brother.
"There!" Farnus yelled, pointing up at a steep ledge.
Burgen pulled his gaze away from the dwarf and looked. "What?"
"That crack! It's an entrance to a cavern!" he said excitedly.
The half-giant squinted and gazed critically at the spot to where Farnus was pointing. Rungit clasped his hands together and grinned broadly.
"Well then," he said, "that must be it."
Burgen glared back down at the dwarf. "For your sake, it had better be."
"It's not even that far," Farnus said cheerfully.
The half-giant rubbed his eyes wearily with one large, calloused hand and shook his head. "It is much farther than it looks."
Rungit eyed the ledge upon which the crack rested appraisingly. "We can get there by nightfall," he declared confidently.
Burgen was not convinced. "If we're lucky," he said as they began to make their way towards the crack. He had his doubt this was even the right cavern, but decided if they got up on that ledge and it turned out to be the wrong spot he could always just throw the dwarves off it. He caught himself grinning at that prospect.
"I knew we were getting close." Rungit said pleasantly, "This is the spot, I can feel it." He noticed the half-giant's expression. "See," he observed, "You're cheering up already."
"I'm thinking about what I am going to do to you if this isn't the right cavern." Burgen replied dryly. The dwarves' smiles faded quite abruptly.
It soon grew dark. Moonlight illuminated the Widow's Veil with an almost eerie glow. The peaks were oddly silent, not a solitary bird or animal could be heard calling out in the distance. It did not appear to upset Burgen in the least, but the dwarves had a very worried expression about them as they pressed on into the brisk night.
Several hours of rigid hiking later, they stood at the base of the ledge. It was elevated a goodly distance off the ground. The edge jutted out from the mountainside several feet out of the reach of the half-giant.
Farnus eyed the ledge with a bit of trepidation. "This probably is not the best time to bring this up, but I am not a very strong climber."
"I'll go up and lower a rope," Burgen said. He set his club down against the rocks. "Hold onto that for me."
For someone of the half-giant's stature, the climb was not exceptionally difficult. He struggled to find a grip a few times but within a couple of minutes, he had pulled himself up onto the ledge.
There was not a lot of room to maneuver. He carefully knelt down and removed his traveling pack. As he began to pull out a portion of rope, he heard something from inside the crack. He gazed intently into the darkness, trying to identify the source of the noise.
"Is everything all right up there?" Rungit called out from down below.
Burgen looked back down at the dwarves. He could barely see them in the moonlight. "One second," he said, "I thought I heard something."
He turned back towards the entrance to the cave and flinched back involuntarily, sending several small bits of rock tumbling off the side of the ledge. He was staring directly into the points of a half dozen spears. Behind them, angry eyes glared out at him from the darkness. He cursed.
