Queen of Shadows - Episode 8

Previously:  In our previous episode, in the dead of night, Eilwen spots, within the Wolf Fang Clan raiding party's encampment, her Father, Cadfael, and Frostbridge Chiefton Mabon in a wooden cage with some old women. She awakens Aron and they get a closer look. When they see that only one sentry is on duty, guarding the cage, she and Aron decide they won't get a better chance to rescue the two men. With Aaron covering her with her bow, she stealthily moves from boulder to boulder and approaches the cage with only her dagger. She uses the runic magic her mother, Arwed, taught her for first time by herself to call upon the shadows to cloak her movements. And they come to her, but her magic betrays her, and instead of being cloaked in shadow, the shadows shift and change, and she is imbued with a ghostly sapphire light. She makes the best of it and pretends she is Shilvhana, Queen of Spears--a name and deity of her own creation--come down from the heavens to secure new retainers. She uses the tale to get close to the half-drunk guard who initially believes her. But he's ambivalent about following her, and when it looks like he might call out an alarm, she clubs him over the head with his own spear, and he crumples. She frees her father and Mabon without raising any alarm, but the captive women remain huddled within the cage, unwilling to leave, though the door is wide open. Eilwen and Aron with Cadfael, and Mabon all retreat back to the southern of Mt Hingworth to the mine entrance to make their way back through to Rockriver. Ways to Show Support: Join my patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay or as a paid subscriber and get additional additional content Give the show a positive review Share the show with others Reach out to me and say hello Attributions: - 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0. - Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.