Awakening

by G Clatworthy

  At that point he rang. I shoved my phone at Lorandir. Next, I heard Marco’s voice shouting about his car and where were we. I called out that we were crossing the river and I’d bring it back as soon as we found anything. I heard a string of Italian. I grabbed the phone, held it up to my mouth and made crackling sounds.

  “Sorry…breaking….up...” then I hung up on him. Lorandir stared at me.

  “What? You’ve never pretended you didn’t have signal? Look at the road!”

  He returned to staring out of the window, then pointed. The blue car had turned right and was motoring along the edge of Bute park. The traffic lights were already on amber. I accelerated through. We narrowly avoided the oncoming traffic which had just started to roll forwards as their lights changed. We were now directly behind the car. Schiztz. This wasn’t covered by any of the police shows I had watched with Mum.

  Traffic was steady and although the driver of the blue car tried to overtake several times, it was too busy to get a clear gap and instead they tailgated the silver estate car in front of them. I hung back cautiously in case there was an accident, and trying not to look as if I was following it.

  Suddenly, the blue car swerved out onto the other side of the road. An oncoming Ford Focus crashed up onto the pavement to avoid it, hitting a bollard for their trouble. The silver estate braked hard. I followed suit. Marco’s brakes squealed loudly in protest. We stopped a centimetre away from the bumper. Lorandir started unbuckling his seatbelt.

  Pedestrians were already crowding around the damaged Ford and the driver was on the pavement., Others had their phones out, calling the emergency services.

  “What are you doing?” I practically screamed at the poor elf. The silver car started tentatively moving forward. I followed. I didn’t dare to try to overtake as a fluorescent police car drove past in the opposite direction, lights flashing.

  We caught up to the blue car at the next set of traffic lights. The driver had decided not to risk a collision or arrest by running the lights. The silver car turned slowly and we were once again behind the blue car.

  The car continued following the road, crossing the river Taff again as we headed into some of the more residential areas. I ran a red light to keep behind it, frantically apologising as I sped past other drivers.

  At the Coryton roundabout, the blue car dived into a small gap. Several other cars pulled out and I was forced to brake hard to avoid crashing. Lorandir grabbed the ‘oh schiztz’ handle on his side of the car tightly but kept quiet as I swore. I thought we’d lost the car but then they went past us again, going round the roundabout another time. We were in luck. I saw it take an exit. I followed with two cars between us. Lorandir pointed at the exit sign. We were going to Castell Coch. The name didn’t seem quite so funny this time.

  Chapter 15

  Unsurprisingly given the weather, the car park was pretty empty with only a few family estates parked up, forcing fun on their children even in the rain.

  As we pulled up, the dull red of the castle walls rising out from the green forest surrounding it made me pause. It looked like a fairy tale castle, with its round turrets and pointed roofs, it looked like it belonged in a romance novel or a kit book of how to build a medieval castle. It was hard to believe we were so close to the city.

  I saw an indistinct tall figure in a hoody striding towards the castle entrance. I guessed it was the same figure we had followed here but couldn’t be sure with the rain now pelting down and making everything blurry. Marco’s windscreen wipers seemed to have finally given up after being on the highest setting for all of forty minutes.

  Lorandir was already out of the door heading towards the entrance while I was texting the others the news and reassuring Marco his car was alright, although it definitely needed a service. Who could own a car without working windscreen wipers in Wales of all places?

  I cursed to myself before heading out into the rain and sprinting over the wooden drawbridge to the shelter of the entrance. Lorandir was waving two tickets at me and we walked in without any trouble. The rain and Lorandir’s enchantments making it tricky to see our weapons. I tried to avoid fingering my axe nervously as we walked through the arched entrance into the castle courtyard.

  I pretended to study the building as if deciding where to go first whilst staying dry under the arch. The bricks were a dusky red and accented the vibrant fire-engine red gothic style wooden walkways. I glanced at the map Lorandir had given me. Apparently the current picturesque exterior was created by the Marquess of Bute but underneath was a thirteenth century castle.

  The hooded figure was nowhere to be seen, but it made sense to go down, after all the dragon was meant to be slumbering underneath the ground, otherwise it would have been disturbed when all of the Victorian building work had gone on to create the fairy tale confection we were standing in. I elbowed Lorandir, who was glaring at the castle as if it could tell us where the figure had gone, and pointed at the dungeon on the fold out map before heading off in that direction. He overtook me after a few steps and quickly covered the open courtyard to the passage that led to the dungeon.

  We walked past the doorway to the dungeon slash cellar three times before noticing the glamour that had been placed over it to make it less interesting to visitors. We were in the right spot. I wondered why Gunther’s anti-illusion charm hadn’t allowed me to see through it straight away, then put the question out of my mind for another time.

  I felt a tingle and a sense of strange elven magic washed over us as we passed through the doorway. It was a strange sensation, a bit like feeling long dry grass brushing against my body combined with fire and it passed quickly as we entered the room. It wasn’t like any other elven magic I had experienced, but then it wasn’t like I’d really had close contact with many elves before this week.

  The space was surprisingly light for being underground with large yellow stones lending a sense of age to the room. In one corner, those stones had been moved away, revealing the entrance to a dark tunnel.

  The entranceway was large enough for me to walk through standing up but not an elf. I crouched to one side, careful not to silhouette myself in the entrance. I studied the tunnel closely but couldn’t tell if it was dwarven or manmade. The stones had been taken out methodically from this one spot and placed against the wall. They knew exactly where this passage was. A thought struck me. They hadn’t bothered to cover it up again. Either they were coming back this way or they were confident they wouldn’t be followed or…this was a trap.

  Staying crouched to one side, I took out my phone, turned on the torch setting and shone it down the tunnel. I could just see the regular wooden supports and uneven stone floor. It smelled damp and there was green moss growing on the walls and underfoot. It didn’t look like it was well used.

  I shared my thoughts with Lorandir. He looked uncomfortable when I mentioned it could be a trap, but stoically replied “We don’t have a choice do we? We’ve got to try to stop them.”

  He glanced uneasily at the tunnel before drawing his sword and stepping inside. He had to walk with his knees bent and shoulders hunched to avoid hitting the roof of the tunnel. It was an odd stance and he looked like a strange insect, all angles and joints.

  I tried my phone. One bar. I sent a text to Aloora letting them know where we were.

  Found tunnel in dungeon at castle cock. Following it. I sent it before I clocked the autocorrect changes. Oh well. I paused before I entered the tunnel and thought longingly of my quiet jewellery shop. I could turn back and ignore this. Then I thought of the culs who had kidnapped my friend and of the damage a rampaging dragon could cause. I knew I didn’t really have a choice either.

  We still had a couple of hours before sunset, but Lorandir was right. I sighed, gripped my axe tightly and followed him. The light disappeared quickly in the dank tunnel. My night vision was pretty good thanks to my Dad’s dwarven genes but this was pitch black without the phone. I shone my torch down to avoid tripping on the uneven st
one floor.

  I caught up with Lorandir at the first roof strut. He was rubbing his head and swearing in Elvish. I was thankful for my short build in this tunnel. Jutting out from the ancient beam was a strange iron loop, I looked at it for a few seconds before realising it was to hold torches. This had once been in regular use then, although the Awakeners had not been considerate enough to light the way today.

  I chivalrously offered to go first but he shook his head and crouched lower to avoid overhead beams.

  The passage sloped gently downwards and looked like it was in good condition from what I observed of the wooden supports as we passed them. The air was warmer in the tunnel and it was clammy, undisturbed for goodness knows how long, it seemed oppressive somehow. I shuddered.

  We were silent by unspoken mutual consent and on edge. I was focusing on avoiding a puddle that had formed on the floor of the tunnel when Lorandir stopped so quickly that I bumped into him. I was about to swear when he whispered urgently.

  “I heard something ahead,” I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. I hesitated for a moment trying to work out if it was better to shine my phone in that direction or turn it off. I decided that whatever it was had probably already seen us so aimed the torchlight to the side of Lorandir’s slim frame. It didn’t do a lot to illuminate the passage. I got the vague sense of a more cavernous area ahead but that was it.

  Lorandir edged forward and I kept my phone and my axe up.

  Less than a hundred paces along the tunnel, an opening appeared on either side making an underground crossroads. We stopped and looked into the side tunnels cautiously. I shone my phone around the intersection.

  The tunnel cutting across the one we were walking down didn’t look like it had been constructed in a structured way. There were no wooden struts holding up the frame of the tunnel, no stones or wooden boards on the floor, just dirt. I knelt down and picked some up. It looked like the dirt had been packed down by the weight of something heavy but somehow it still looked fresh.

  I stood and shone my phone’s torch upwards at the roof. It was taller than the passage we were traversing and was curved. It had the same look of being packed in as the floor. I heard a slithering sound behind us. As it moved closer, the sound grew into some sort of chewing noise mixed with a rumbling movement. The ground shook slightly. Dirt trickled from the roof of the passage.

  Both Lorandir and I whirled around to see a large white shape coming through the new tunnel towards us. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back into our original tunnel. We staggered back as the thing undulated past us. I shone my torch onto it, illuminating its moist greyish white skin. I couldn’t see anything more as it took up the entire passageway. The tunnel shook as it passed through, bunching its muscles to move itself forward.

  “What is that?!”

  “A goliath,” I quietly named the large worm-like creatures that were the bane of dwarfish mines across Europe. I hadn’t ever seen one as they didn’t like too much noise or light so kept away from tunnelling close to the main dwarven underground centres. I had seen pictures in books though. I hoped it was just passing through.

  Its body was at least the length of three buses and it took some time to go through the passage. After what seemed like an age, its stubby grey-blueish tail passed us and it disappeared from sight.

  I sighed with relief, “Let’s get out of here.”

  We had moved about twenty paces when I heard that slithering sound again. It was moving faster this time. With mouths open, we turned. This time the goliath didn’t carry along its own tunnel but turned into the passage we were in. By the dim light of my phone, I saw rows of sharp teeth coming towards us, oozing with blue saliva.

  We ran. It followed, moving quickly as it bunched and released its muscles. I stumbled on a loose cobblestone and fell, crying out automatically. The goliath heard me and slowed as if it was scenting the air. I tried to stand quietly. The noise of pushing myself up was enough. It lunged. I tried to move backwards but was too close to the tunnel wall. Backed against it, I flung my arms up in automatic defence and fell to the ground again.

  It stopped and backed up a little.

  “The light!” Lorandir shouted. My phone’s torch was shining directly at the goliath, throwing the creature’s long pointed teeth into sharp relief. Each one was as long as my forearm and the rows of teeth went back into its body as far as I could see. I angled the phone higher, aiming for where I thought the eyes were, four bulbous black globes sunk into its head above its maw.

  It retreated further but wasn’t going away. While it was focused on me, Lorandir had edged along the other side of the tunnel, his sword ready to strike. When he was close enough, he swung and his sword sunk easily into the goliath’s grey skin. It roared in pain and turned to look at the elf.

  I pushed myself up and ran towards it, heaving my axe upwards to strike at its exposed lower jaw. Now it was really pissed off. It roared again, the tunnel vibrated with its power and dirt sprinkled down onto my hair. I leapt backwards with agility I didn’t know I possessed to avoid its massive head as it turned towards me.

  Lorandir had a dagger in his left hand and threw it deftly. It struck one of the goliath’s glittering eyes and sunk deep. The creature thrashed in pain, shrieking horribly as its head banged up and down against the tunnel’s edges. It succeeded in driving the dagger in deeper and screamed again.

  It began moving backwards in what I thought was a retreat. I staggered to Lorandir who had one hand against the wall supporting himself. A chunk of earth fell onto my face and I pushed the dirt out of my eyes, ready to make a snarky comment when the ground started shaking.

  My head snapped round to look at the goliath…where the goliath had been. With a surprising turn of speed, it had burrowed down into the tunnel floor, chewing through the chunky cobblestones as if they were nothing. Schiztz. The ground was now seriously unstable and I backed up without thinking. Lorandir stepped in the opposite direction, waving me forward along the tunnel.

  The floor of the passage shifted beneath my feet and the goliath roared as it entered the tunnel anew, pushing the earth up furiously. It angled itself to lunge towards Lorandir, the direction it was expecting us to be. I heard a grunt and the sound of metal grinding. I hoped that meant he was alright and still fighting.

  I felt the weight of Bane in my hand and leaped as high as I could. I managed to get about two foot off the ground before I swung the axe down and into the back of the goliath. Blue blood spurted from the fresh cut and the creature twisted in pain. I was flung against the tunnel wall and I heard my axe clatter on the stones. Purple stars sparked in front of my eyes but I blinked past them and pushed myself to my feet, fighting a wave of nausea at standing too fast.

  The creature was trying to turn to face me but the tunnel was too small for it to manoeuvre well. I shone my phone, searching for Bane and stumbled towards it, only a couple of steps away. The goliath screamed again, hopefully Lorandir had got a hit in too.

  It managed to retreat into its tunnel sufficiently to squash its head down and turn to face me. I held up my phone desperately aiming it at its eyes. Only two remained. It reared away from the light but was determined. It bunched its muscles and I gripped my axe ready to go down fighting. Before it had the chance to strike, Lorandir appeared on its head. I was so shocked by his sudden appearance, my phone shifted downwards and the creature roared in triumph.

  Lorandir positioned his sword between its two remaining eyes and plunged it in at the same time that the goliath lunged forward. I ran backwards, trying to get the light back in its eyes. I tripped over the uneven floor and fell. The goliath spasmed and I saw it bearing down on me. I closed my eyes, screamed and lifted my arm before I felt it land on my legs hard.

  I cried out in pain and felt my legs sink into the tunnel floor, the dirt compacting down under the massive creature’s weight.

  I smelt its dank breath – aromas of mildew and mould spewed from it. I opened my eyes. I saw rows and
rows of jagged long teeth. I screamed. After a while, I stopped screaming. I was still alive.

  Lorandir had managed to stay atop of the creature as it had collapsed. He yanked his sword out of the burst eye and wiped it on the goliath, leaving blue streaks on its pale grey hide. He leapt down effortlessly to my side. I tried to wriggle out from under the creature’s maw.

  “You couldn’t have killed it before it reached me?” I couldn’t help myself.

  He snorted in what I thought was an un-elf like way. “Do you want some help?” He asked pointedly. I grunted. He went behind me and slipped his arms under mine before levering me out from under the creature. There was a small indent in the tunnel floor where my legs had been forced into the ground. Once upright, I tested my weight on my feet cautiously but other than being bruised, my legs felt alright. I was lucky, I didn’t even want to speculate about how much that thing weighed.

  I was covered with blueish slime. I looked ruefully at my pale sheepskin coat, now a disgusting blue colour and tried to brush off the goo. This only resulted in my hands getting sticky so I stopped.

  “Are you OK?”

  I had nearly been crushed by a goliath, was covered with gloopy saliva, and my coat was ruined. “Don’t even worry about it,” was my reply, “what are the chances the Awakeners still don’t know we’re here do you think?”

  Lorandir looked up as if contemplating my question seriously. “I’d say slim to none,” he snorted again then laughed, a genuine musical elvish laugh.

  I gave him a smile, “Guess we’d better keep going then.”

  He offered me his hand to help me up the goliath with a mock bow, “M’lady.”

  “M’gentleman,” I replied with another smile as I climbed up onto the corpse. It still took up most of the tunnel and I crouched as I tried to cross it without slipping on the blood. I slid down the other side and did a neat jump over the mound of earth it had pushed up when it burrowed through the floor. Lorandir leapt down gracefully.