by JA Andrews
She spun around. “Goblins!” she hissed.
“Where?” Patlon yanked his axe out of its sheath and turned.
“Behind us. They’re pouring into the warren.”
“Can we get out before they get here?”
Rass shook her head, her face terrified. “They’re coming!”
“Get us out of this main warren,” Will called up to her.
She nodded and ran forward, her hand dragging along the roots. She paused and pointed to the side, and everyone poured into a wide but short side tunnel.
Douglon and Patlon took up positions facing the main warren, kneeling so they could be upright, their axes out.
“This isn’t going to stop them from finding us,” Sora pointed out.
“We have enough metal to call an entire horde down on ourselves,” Patlon agreed.
“Rass,” Douglon said, “Can you collapse the warren between us and them?”
“Not without burying us too.”
“So buried alive or torn apart by goblins,” Patlon said. “I think I preferred the dragon.”
“How many are there?” Sora asked, kneeling next to the dwarves.
Rass cowered against one of the walls. “So many.”
“How far to the nearest exit?” Will asked.
“Not far. The next one to the right goes straight to the surface. But we’d still be on the grass and the Roven will see us.”
“We could drop all our metal here and try for it,” Patlon offered.
“Talen can fly faster than a goblin can run, right?” Will asked Sora.
“Easily.”
“Then let’s give them something else to chase,” Will said. “What sort of metal do they like most?”
“Silver and gold,” Sora answered.
“Anyone have any coins?”
Alaric offered him two, and Will, with a surge of calmness offered to Talen, pulled off the hood. The little hawk shifted and blinked into the darkness. A dislike grew in the bird, a discomfort with the closeness of the tunnel. “Tie the silver into the hood,” he told Sora. “And then tie it to his leg. And let’s hope it’s not too heavy for him.
“A bit of coin’s not going to fool them,” Patlon pointed out.
“It just needs to distract them.”
“What about the glimmer moss?” Evangeline asked. “Should we cover it?”
“The only thing that would make this situation worse,” Douglon said, “is if it was happening in the dark.”
“Agreed,” Patlon said.
“Then let’s at least get the light farther away from us,” Alaric said. “Put the bowls out in the main warren along the edges. Then maybe we’ll see them but they won’t be as likely to see us. Unless that will make them suspicious.”
“They’re not that intelligent,” Sora said. “They’re driven by smell. Some odd lights won’t matter to them.”
“How long until the goblins reach us?” Will asked Rass as the moss was put out in the hall.
“Not long.”
“Tell me when they’re almost close enough to see.”
She nodded and Will squeezed past the dwarves to stand hunched at the mouth of the main warren. The glimmer moss was spread along the tunnel, lighting it with the dim orange glow. Past it, the warren faded into blackness.
“There’s a way out ahead,” he told Talen, setting a restraining hand on the hawk’s chest and putting the idea into the little bird’s mind of the warren and the branch to the right, leading to wide open grass and endless sky. Talen shifted eagerly on his arm, but Will held him back.
A guttural cry cut through the darkness from behind him.
“They’re here!” Rass hissed through the darkness.
Will thrust his arm forward and pushed the idea of freedom and open sky at Talen. The hawk spread his wings and flapped into the darkness of the warren.
Will ducked back in past the dwarves and sank to his knees next to Alaric. “And now we just need a wall that can block our smell.”
“How can I help?” Alaric asked.
“I’m going to need a lot of energy.” Will closed his eyes and cast out. Above the bright vitalle of the people around him, the energy of the grass dangled down in the roots. He set his hand on the ceiling and drew some in, turning to face the entrance.
Alaric wrapped one hand around Will’s wrist and reached for the roots with the other. A stream of vitalle flowed into Will’s arm.
More cries echoed down the tunnel, couched in grunts and rustles.
Concentrating on the air, he formed the idea of the wall. Not a clay wall this time, just a wall of dirt, like the rest of the tunnel. Anything to block their passage from the notice of the goblins. The energy seeped into his hand from above, singeing through the new skin on his palm and he fed it out his other hand, forming the air, shaping it, infusing it with the idea of earth. The air formed up immediately and the light of the glimmer moss shimmered as Will moved the air. The sound of the goblins faded until the warren was utterly silent.
Sora reached out and pushed her hand into it and there was a burst of pain across Will’s hand as the magic was interrupted.
“Don’t touch it,” he gasped and she pulled her hand back.
“He’s making a wall out of the air,” Alaric explained to the others, his brow drawn in concentration. “It should trap any smell we have here in this tunnel.”
“Should?” Douglon asked.
“Keep your axes handy.” Will pushed more energy toward the wall.
“If any come through,” Hal said, “kill them as quickly as you can. If they realize we’re here, the rest will know too.”
Sora and Douglon knelt facing the main warren with Hal and Patlon directly behind them.
Something pale flashed into view.
Chapter Forty-One
Grey, wiry limbs flew past the opening. Round eyes glinted like milky orbs. The group stood in silence, watching dozens and dozens of goblins rush past, scrambling past each other with sharp, jutting heads and claws that glinted in the mosslight.
The vitalle from the grass began to fade and Will grasped for more from above them, stretching out farther along the Sweep.
The skin around Will’s wrist where Alaric touched him burned. Alaric shoved their sleeves up and pressed their forearms together, spreading out the energy until it flowed through with a bearable heat. Will funneled the new energy toward the wall.
Two goblins shoved into each other and the closest one flew into the wall of air, breaking through and slicing pain across Will’s palm.
A grating screech ripped out of the creature’s throat and a rotten stench filled the air. Sora grabbed the creature’s neck and plunged her knife into its chest, tossing it down behind her. Douglon’s axe swung down, severing the goblin’s head. Blood pooled out onto the dirt in a steaming puddle of glistening black.
One of the creature’s feet still stabbed into the wall and the pain across Will’s hand was excruciating. Evangeline scrambled forward and grabbed the creature’s arms, dragging it farther in.
The energy from Alaric faded and Will felt the wall begin to weaken.
“How many more?” he asked Rass.
She pressed back against the wall, her face terrified, her hand grabbing at the roots above her head. “So many.”
Alaric grabbed the shoulder of the dead goblin and for a brief moment, Will felt a surge of vitalle before it faded.
“We need more energy,” Alaric said.
Rass pointed to a spot on the wall of the tunnel. “There’s a lot of roots behind there.”
Evangeline crawled over and scraped away the dirt. Loose earth tumbled down until she was up to her elbow. With a grunt, she yanked and pulled a wide, knobby root out of the wall. Alaric stretched across the warren to grab it, and the energy poured into Will.
Another goblin tumbled through the wall with searing pain, scrambling and scratching. Patlon’s axe fell almost faster than Will could see and the creature fell. Evangeline pulled it ba
ck, and the endless river of goblins flowed past.
“They’re almost done,” Rass said quietly. “Many of them followed Talen. The rest are heading toward the enclave.”
Will’s hand burned. His arm, where it touched Alaric, felt like it was pressed against hot metal. The root in Alaric’s hand had withered to a thin, brittle stick and the flow of vitalle weakened.
The last of the goblins rushed past and the group stood still, waiting.
“Hold it as long as you can,” Sora said. “Or they’ll smell the metal and come back.”
“They’re turning down another warren,” Rass said, her voice stronger. “And another past that…I think they’re gone.”
Alaric dropped his arm down and Will cut off the flow of vitalle. The air relaxed back into normal air and the glimmer moss glowed clearly through it again. The stench of rotten meat rushed in. Two of the moss bowls had been trampled.
“Let’s get out of this wretched place.” Douglon motioned for Rass to lead the way.
The main warren reeked of rotting meat and the sour stench of the goblins, and Will pressed the leather hawking glove to his nose while he hunched over and ran after the others. Rass turned them down a thinner warren that smelled more of earth and less of goblins. When the first hint of fresh air blew past, Will sucked it in like a drowning man.
They spilled out onto the edge of the grass near the base of the enclave mountain and streamed into the nearby trees. Rass waited at the top of the warren opening, glaring down into it.
“Are we being followed?” Will asked as he scrambled out.
She shook her head. “All the goblins near here are heading south.”
Rass stood above the opening, her bare toes curling into the earth at her feet. She held out a hand, palm pointing down over the warren. Her lips pressed into a resolute line.
“I do not like these.” Her fingers bent into a claw for a breath before she slowly closed them into a fist.
For twenty paces the surface of the Sweep sank down, filling the warren.
Rass kept her hand fisted, her tiny form quivering with displeasure, fixing a furious look at the sunken earth. “Let’s not go in one of those again.”
The group stood for a moment, looking between the tiny girl and the collapsed tunnel.
“Agreed,” Will said.
“This way.” Douglon led them through the trees, angling up the mountain.
Whenever there was a gap in the tree canopy, Will scanned the sky for any sign of Talen.
Sora pointed above them. “Top of that pine.”
There sat Talen on a branch, gazing regally out over the Sweep. His feathers were unruffled, the hood still dangled from his leg. Will pushed his relief and happiness and gratefulness toward the little hawk and held his arm out. Talen shifted on the branch and didn’t look down.
“Maybe he’s mad at you,” Sora said.
Will opened himself up toward the hawk.
Fierce freedom burst into him. Wind dragging its fingers over splayed feathers. Sharp heat from the sun soaking into the dark crest of his wings, seeping deep into muscles. Hunger and purpose and focus.
“There’s only more tunnels ahead,” Sora said to Will. “Let him stay outside. He’ll find you again.”
Will took another strip of dried meat out of his pack, broke it into small bits, and spread them on the top of a nearby stump. With a parting shot of gratitude toward the bird, Will followed the others up the slope.
It took only a few minutes to reach the base of the reddish colored cliffs that they were aiming for.
Douglon, Patlon and Sora spread out, looking for an entrance while the others sat with Hal. They had climbed steadily to get there and Will could see the long stretch of the Hoarfrost Range stretching to the east. The barren tops of the Scales were visible too, blocking the way off the Sweep to the east.
Will leaned a little closer to Rass. “There’s a lot of new grass out there.”
“I know!” Her face was so excited he thought she might burst. “Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
The ground flowed over small rises and short bluffs covered with not-quite-green grass. Wind moved from one hill to the next, swirling and rippling and skittering off in different directions. The blue sky sat utterly still and vacant above it.
He cast out and instead of the tiny snips of energy he’d felt when they’d been walking north with the clan, he was met with a rising tide of life, swelling, growing, absorbing the decaying grass of last year and rising with a silent blaze of power.
“It’s…” The echo of energy faded and he faced a Sweep bursting with the verdant green of spring, pushing past last year’s memories.
“Yes,” Rass said smugly. “Now you see it.”
“When I met you,” Will said, “you snuck everywhere and hid in the grass. Now you’re different. Braver. Or more daring.”
“There was no grass yet then.” She wriggled her toes into the dirt. “I always feel weak after a long winter, and everyone else seems so strong. But now…” She flexed her hands. “There’s strength everywhere.”
A strange little bird trill whistled across the mountain. Douglon stood half hidden by a large rock, motioning them to come. Hunching down behind boulders as much as they could, they made their way over and found him standing at the entrance to a thin, jagged hole.
“No more tunnels.” Rass crossed her arms and stood back from the entrance.
“You don’t need to come,” Will assured her. “You can wait for us in the grass. Hopefully, we’ll be back out this way with Ilsa in…” He glanced at the others. “Not too long. But be careful. There are a lot of Roven around.”
“The Sweep is awake again.” She gave a little smirk. “The Roven should be careful of me.” She turned and scrambled down the slope, her arms and legs twice as thick as the first time he’d seen her.
Will slid through the gap in the stones. Ahead of him a cave twisted into gloom. This definitely wasn’t a dwarven tunnel. The rocks around him were rough and irregular, the passage thinned and widened erratically, piles of stones jumbled on the floor. The passage was mostly naturally made, but in the narrowest parts, rough tool marks were visible. Up at the front, Patlon stopped in the dark, muttering and shoving against a rock blocking their path. He stood frozen against the rock for several heartbeats before it tilted and rolled forward with a crushing, grinding noise.
“If you don’t shut up, cousin,” Douglon’s voice came from behind Will. “The entire Sweep is going to know we’re coming.”
Patlon shoved against the rock with a growl. “I’d be alright with an honest fight about now. I’m tired of sneaking.”
“You beat the rock,” Douglon pointed out, as he climbed over it.
A half hour and three more shoved rocks later, the tunnel narrowed again to a point blocked by a thick wooden door. In the orange glow of the moss, the door looked like slats of black, rough wood. Iron straps held it together and it sat snuggly against the rocks around it.
“This is the back end of the enclave tunnels,” Hal said, “If we can get through this, there’s nothing stopping us from reaching the enclave. But it’s locked from the other side.”
There was no handle or hinges visible, and Douglon and Patlon brought their bowls of glimmer moss up close to the edges of the door.
“It’s barely locked.” Patlon knelt down next to the door and peered through the crack.
“You should break the hinges.” Douglon stuck something thin through the far side.
“Messing with rusty hinges, that’s a quiet idea. Why don’t we just scream until they come find us. Be helpful and oil the hinges.”
“If you break the latch, the hinges are still going to squeak when you open the door,” Douglon pointed out,
“Are you going to be helpful?”
“Already done.” Douglon tucked a little tin back into his bag. “Have you gotten through the latch yet?”
A sizzling noise and a wisp of smoke
trickled out of the crack in front of Patlon. “Almost. I need—”
Douglon set the handle of a thin saw into his cousin’s outstretched hand. Patlon grunted in acknowledgment and slid the blade through the edge of the door. It took barely any time before he grunted again and handed it back.
“We’d have been through by now and back with the girl if you’d just have done the hinges.”
Slowly, Patlon pushed at the door and it cracked open. A low, groaning came from the hinges along with a cool, damp breeze. Patlon worked the door back and forth in little nudges until the groaning stopped.
“You didn’t oil them very well,” he whispered to Douglon.
“You didn’t open it right.”
“Let’s hope the big man remembers where he’s going,” Patlon muttered.
“Tunnels don’t change,” Hal whispered back, sounding annoyed. “Even over ten years.”
Hal squeezed past the dwarves, taking the lead through the tunnel. Will brought up the rear, occasionally holding his bowl of glimmer moss behind them, searching the jagged, empty tunnel.
Through the forms of the others, Will caught the gleam of the dwarves’ axes in their hands. They passed caverns spilling chilled, dank air into the tunnel. Long teeth of rock hung down from the ceiling dripping water as though the mountain was melting. Rounder, lumpy stone fingers reached up out of the floor toward them.
A little farther on, Hal turned into a thin tunnel winding off to the left, and came to an abrupt stop. The glimmer moss lit a pile of rocks completely filling the tunnel.
Hal swore. “This is—This was the tunnel that leads to the living quarters.”
“Sometimes tunnels change,” Patlon pointed out.
“Is there another way?” Will asked.
Hal scratched at his beard. “Through the main cavern. The Torches’ enclave meets in a smaller cave off of it, hidden enough that it will be out of view, but if the meeting has started, there could be people in the main cavern as well.”
Will’s heart sank a little. “Maybe we got here before it started.”
Hal’s answering grunt sounded doubtful, but he continued down the tunnel. Only a hundred paces farther, another cavern opened up on the left. Will followed the others in and caught the smell of mossy water. On the far side of the cavern, a tunnel wound off and the mouth of it was not completely black. Hal ordered the glimmer moss covered, and motioned for silence, then stepped into the tunnel.
