by E. L. Todd
She flicked her sword around her wrist before she took her offensive stance once again. She challenged him with her gaze, ready to end this fight for good. She’d taken out two of his wrists, and now she would go for his neck next.
But General Noose stepped back.
The remaining Shamans did the same, backtracking away from her.
She wouldn’t let him leave this forest with his life. Not after what he’d done to Eden Star. After what he’d done to the trees, her people, even her queen. She pushed her mind out to General Noose, determined to make him a corpse like the pile of cloaks next to him.
But she couldn’t.
Her mind couldn’t even reach that far away. There was a barrier, not in front of him, but in front of her own mind.
She had nothing left. She’d exhausted all the strength and energy Ashe had provided, had depleted her own reserves long ago. She could feel the fatigue in her muscles as well as her mind. If she hadn’t expended it all on the Shamans, perhaps she would be able to take him out now. But she also might be dead if she hadn’t.
General Noose gave her a final hard look. He sized her up differently, as more than just an equal, but an actual threat. His sword remained at his side as he backed away and joined the ranks of the soldiers he’d brought with him. He kept his eyes on her until he was far enough away. Only when he was at the line of the trees did he turn his back on her—and retreat.
23
Into the Mountain
“Oh yeah, this is the place.” Bridge examined the stone doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.
“We thought that last time,” Rush said. “And the time before that…and the time before that.”
“Look.” Bridge walked to the wall then dragged his hands over the stone, removing the centuries of dust. “Those are runes. Dwarven runes.”
About time.
Hey, you slowed us down too.
Not as much as you.
I didn’t see you complaining when you ate all those goats.
Ugh. I’m sick of goat. I want a grizzly.
Well, I don’t think they have grizzlies in here, so you’re shit out of luck.
“This is great and everything,” Zane said. “But how do we open the door? There’s not a doorknob anywhere.”
“What does the map tell us?” Liam asked.
Rush unfolded the map and took a look. “Not much. There’s an X, and next to it the word Push.”
“Push?” Bridge asked incredulously. “We’re supposed to push solid stone?” He pressed his palms against the stone and gave a hard push. “Yeah, that’s not going anywhere.”
“Perhaps Flare could push it?” Liam asked.
Always looking for an excuse…
Can’t blame him.
“Flare won’t fit in here.”
I’m far too massive and beautiful.
I don’t think beauty is the deciding factor here.
“Wait.” Lilac moved to one corner and peered up at the ceiling. “Doesn’t it look like it curves?”
“Curves?” Zane joined her. “What do you mean by that?”
“Like this isn’t straight.” She pressed her palms against the wall and dragged it down.
Bridge examined the other side, looking down at the ground. “Actually, I think I see a little crack…”
Rush kneeled beside him, seeing the hole that indicated there was empty space somewhere.
It’s a ball.
Sorry?
A big ball.
Seriously, no idea what you’re saying.
An enormous boulder is blocking the entrance.
Ohh…
Took you long enough.
“Flare says it’s a boulder.”
“And we’re supposed to push it out of the way.” Bridge straightened then pressed his palms against the stone once more. “Which would be totally fine…if it didn’t weigh as much as a mountain. How are we going to move this thing?”
“Together?” Rush asked. “I can use some of Flare’s strength too.”
“This doesn’t make sense,” Liam said. “Dwarves may be stocky and strong, but they’re much smaller than an average human. It would take dozens of dwarves every time they wanted to go come and go. It’s just not practical.”
“If their goal was to make it as difficult as possible to reach them, then I say they succeeded.” Lilac pressed her hands against the door with one leg in front of the other. “A little help here?”
They all lined up against the boulder and pushed.
It moved one inch. Then two.
Bridge gave a loud grunt. “You think those goats could help us?”
Rush pushed his shoulder into the rock, keeping the slow momentum going. “Wouldn’t that be nice…”
The rock finally rolled away, finding a curved groove in the ground that guided its path against a different wall. It gave a loud rumble before it went still.
They all took a moment to regain their breath, bent at the knees, panting, wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
Bridge straightened. “Now what?”
Rush stepped into the long tunnel, which grew darker the farther he looked down. Torches lined the walls, but they were absent of flame. “I guess we go say hello?”
The hallway was endless.
On and on it went, branching off in different directions, the passages dark unless they held up a torch to chase away the shadows. Instead of veering off in any direction, they continued to go straight so they would always know the way back.
“I’m so glad I’m not a dwarf.” Bridge held the torch as he walked beside Rush. “Could you imagine doing this every time you come home?”
“I don’t think the dwarves do much coming and going. We were on that mountainside for nearly a month and didn’t spot a single one.”
“Well, they can’t grow their crops underground, so they’ve got to leave for food.”
“Unless they exist off a diet rich in goat legs.”
Bridge chuckled. “And goat milk.”
“That’s gross.”
“It wasn’t so bad. Nice to have a little cream in my coffee.”
Rush stuck out his tongue as he gave a grimace.
“So…have any idea what you’re going to say when we finally find them?”
“I thought you were doing the talking.”
Bridge rolled his eyes. “This was all your idea, man.”
“I don’t know. I hope the words come to me.”
“Wish Flare could do it.”
“You and me both.”
I heard that.
Because you never know when to mind your own business.
“What’s that up ahead?” Bridge took the lead, carrying the torch over to the spot concealed by darkness.
“What is it?”
“A slide…I think.” Bridge kneeled and shone the torchlight on the passageway in the rock.
“A slide?” Lilac stuck her head inside and tried to peer into the passageway. “It does look like a slide. But I can’t see where it goes.”
Bridge carried the torch farther, revealing a dead end. “Huh. Looks like we’re out of road.”
“Maybe this is where they drop supplies to storage,” Rush said. “So they don’t have to carry it all the way.”
“That means the main entrance is through one of the side tunnels,” Zane said. “Should we go back?”
“Bad idea,” Liam said. “We’ll just get lost—which is the point.”
“Well, this could lead to a pit of lava,” Zane said. “A death trap.”
“You guys are ridiculous.” Lilac sat at the edge and dangled her legs. “I’ll go.”
“Whoa.” Bridge grabbed her wrist. “Let’s rear the horse for a second. One person should go and give the all clear to the rest. That makes sense, right?”
“Are you volunteering?” Lilac asked.
Bridge shrugged. “It’s better me than you…”
Lilac gave him a gentle pat on the cheek. “You’re a sweet b
rother sometimes. But it’s fine. I’ll go ahead.”
“No—”
Lilac jumped down and disappeared on the slide. “Woo-hoo!”
“If she dies, then I’m going to die,” Bridge said. “Just so I can yell at her in the afterlife.”
Rush kneeled at the hole in the rock, listening to her slide farther away until there was silence.
They all squeezed closer to the entrance, straining to hear any sign of life.
Rush ducked his head inside and called out. “Lilac? You okay?”
Her distant voice came back. “Imahsors!”
“What?”
She yelled a little louder, but her words were still incoherent. “Imahsoooorrrs!”
“She sounds fine,” Zane said as he stepped onto the slide. “Let’s go for it.” He pushed himself forward, and he disappeared into the dark tunnel. One by one, they went, Rush taking the rear.
Rush carried the torch, keeping it away from his face so he could light the path as they descended deeper into the mountain.
Flare’s mind became smaller, his presence retreating the deeper underground he went.
It’ll be okay, Flare.
You don’t understand.
We’ll get out of here as quickly as possible.
The slide ended, and he landed in a pool of cold water. The torch was extinguished once it was submerged, and he choked down a rush of liquid straight into his lungs. He broke the surface and coughed until his lungs were clear, finding the edge of the rock to hold on to. “That was fun…” Soaking wet, he pulled himself out of the water, getting to his hands and knees on the stone slab. “Everyone okay?”
He pushed his wet hair out of his face and watched the water leak out of his pants and boots. There was still a gulp of water lodged in his throat, so he spat it out onto the wet surface. “Guys?” He looked up, seeing everyone ignoring him.
He got to his feet, his weight and pack considerably heavier now that he was carrying pounds of ice-cold water. He pushed his hair out of his face once again then stilled. “Shit…”
The cavern was aglow with green stones in the corners, providing light throughout the ground and up the rigid edges of the inverted rock crevasses. The stones were along the walls, lighting up the inside of the mountain all the way to the very top of the cavern. It was a dim glow, but enough to see the horrifying details.
A sea of bodies hung from posts, sometimes several on a single rope. They were full skeletons now, flesh and hair decomposed long ago. There was no breeze in the cavern, so they hung there idly, for eternity.
There were at least a hundred—if not more.
With bones too thick to belong to a lithe elf and skeletons too short to be human, there was only one conclusion to draw.
They were dwarves.
Bridge surveyed the area with his hands on his hips. “Yep. This is bad. Really bad.”
“Can we go back through the slide?” Lilac walked to the edge of the pool and peered up to the stone arch that delivered them there. “Maybe we could build something—”
“You want to crawl all the way back up there?” Bridge asked incredulously. “It’s a slide for a reason, Lilac. You can’t go back.”
She flipped back around. “So, you just want to chill in this dwarf graveyard?”
Liam approached the closest cluster of corpses with narrowed eyes. “Decomposition this far underground would be very slow. This must have happened years ago. Many years ago.”
“New plan,” Lilac said. “We get outta here as quickly as possible.”
Bridge rounded on her. “You think?”
This is bad, Rush. And I can’t help you.
“Let’s just calm down, alright?” Rush turned back to them. “I admit this is a pretty gruesome sight, but we’re making a lot of assumptions right now when we have no idea what happened.”
“Oh, you’re right.” Bridge joined Liam next to the closest skeletons. “This was probably a birthday party.”
Rush rolled his eyes.
Bridge rounded back on him. “The dwarves were overrun and annihilated by some psychopaths—clearly.”
“Or perhaps these dwarves disobeyed their king, so they were very publicly executed,” Rush said.
Bridge moved his hands to his hips and gave him a stare.
“Or maybe there was a famine, so they took their own lives instead of starving,” Rush said.
Bridge continued to stare him down, as did the others.
“Okay.” Rush rolled his eyes again. “Fine. They were probably defeated in a conquest…”
“But by whom?” Bridge asked. “Who would do this? It wasn’t men because you would have known about this.”
“Well, my father didn’t tell me everything. But you’re probably right.”
“And it wasn’t the elves,” Bridge said.
Rush examined the remains with his head cocked. “The goats, maybe?”
“Rush.” Lilac gave him a smack in the arm. “This is serious.”
He’s never serious.
You’re back, then?
If you aren’t going to take this seriously, then I need to.
Rush grabbed pieces of his clothes and wrung them out in his hands, releasing as much moisture as possible so his garments wouldn’t feel so heavy—and cold. “I think the plan is pretty simple. We need to find a way out of here—and not be seen.”
“I have a feeling that’s not going to work very well.” Bridge started to pace, his fingers interlocked at the nape of his neck. “We have no weapons—”
“Here.” Rush cut down the closest dwarf and let the bones smack against the stone. The dwarf’s sword was still secured at his waist, so Rush removed the belt and handed it over.
Bridge didn’t take it. “One, that’s disgusting. And two, that’s not a blade. That’s a dagger.”
Rush forced it into his hands. “It’s sharp and pointy, isn’t it?” He cut down other corpses, brittle bones breaking apart when they hit the rock at their feet. They harvested the weapons they could find.
“I found a note.” Lilac unrolled it. “But it’s in Dwarvish…can’t read it.”
Liam took it out of her hands. “My Bargora, we are overrun. The rock won’t hold. I will meet my end with honor defending our mountain. I don’t regret my death, but I regret leaving you and Rulan. I love you both.” Liam rolled the note back into place and slipped it into his pocket.
Lilac released a deep sigh. “Man…”
Bridge looked at the pile of bones on the ground. “What happened here?”
Rush stepped over the corpses and headed to the archway in the cavern, large pieces of rock on either side where their assailants had broken through. “I have a feeling we’re about to find out.”
24
Fazurks
I can’t reach her.
The rock must be too thick. Or we’re too deep underground.
I will try again later, but I think you’re right.
I told her not to worry if that happens.
She’ll worry anyway.
The glow of the green stones illuminated their path through the mountain. Caves branched in different directions, their destinations unknown. Stairs led them either up or deeper underground. The large caverns contained workshops or dining halls, all ransacked. There were bodies along the way, all dwarves.
The storerooms still had dried fruits and nuts along with water and preserved ale, so they were able to stock up on a few things and rest before they continued forward. Conversations were limited, all of them doing their best to stay as quiet as possible.
“I’m starting to wonder if there’s anyone here.” Lilac came to Rush’s side in the lead.
“You really want to take that chance?” His sword was sheathed at his side, but he kept his hand close in case he needed it. His armor was minimal, so a battle ax to his shoulder could be deadly.
“I’m so lost right now. I don’t even know the way we came.”
“Me neither.”
“You have no idea where we’re going?”
“Do I look like a dwarf to you?”
Her eyes sharpened like arrows.
“The exit has to be near the surface, so the higher we go, the greater our chances.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“I don’t want to be dramatic or anything, but I really don’t want to die in a cave.”
“You think any of us do?” Bridge asked her from behind.
“Sorry, Lilac,” Rush said. “I don’t think anyone gets to choose that…”
“Well, I’d prefer it to at least be in battle,” she said. “That’s what we’re working toward, right? All of that is lost if we die here…where no one will ever find us.”
“Enough with the death talk, Lilac,” Bridge said. “Rush, I think we should call it a night…or a day. Whatever it is.”
Scaffolding was mounted against the wall, high up the rock so they could access hundreds of feet in the air. There were pickaxes abandoned on the walkway, as if they had been digging for something before the onslaught happened. They’d had no idea an enemy marched on their mountain until they were already inside. Rush turned around. “I want to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
“I’m with you,” Bridge said. “But I don’t want to be attacked when we’re exhausted either, especially when we have no idea what we’re up against.”
“Not to be a wimp or anything,” Lilac said. “But I’m tired too.”
They’re right. You need to keep your strength. Some of these caverns are big enough for me to fit, but if we cross paths with the enemy at the wrong place, I won’t be able to burn them for you.
“Alright.” Rush moved forward again. “Let’s find a good spot.”
They walked awhile longer before they found a decent hiding place, a small but deep cut into the cavern wall. It was a tight fit, but if anyone passed through the cave, they probably wouldn’t even know they were there.
They opened their bedrolls and lay side by side, their packs as pillows.
Bridge sighed. “I miss grass…”
“I miss straw,” Lilac said.
“I’ll take this over the galleon any day,” Zane said. “At least it doesn’t move.”
