“Where were you?”Aza stopped in his tracks, followed by Luke.
“Lost. Very, very lost.” He hopped down and brushed himself off. “What in the Abyss did you two get up to?” He looked around at the decimation before him.
“We were finding this.” Aza held out the notebook.
The scholar’s eyes became wide as saucers and he ripped it from his hand. “Where did you find this?”
“It was on Arthur’s body. The paper you’re looking for isn’t down here, but the notebook said something about riddles. It looks like they’ll lead us to wherever it’s hidden.”
“Oh….” The energy seemed to drain from him. Another diversion was the last thing he needed right now. “Well….no matter. One step closer I suppose.”
Luke nodded. “Looks like you found sumthin.”
“Hmm?” Han looked down at his satchel. It was its normal weight, despite having been emptied before coming down here. Puzzled, he opened it up and revealed four books stashed within. One of which was notably bigger than the rest. “I….I have no idea where these came from….”
Tom found the scholar’s eyes on him. “I didn’t plant em on ya! I don’t even remember seeing anywhere you could have either.”
A deep sense of unease crept over them. Yet Han opted to keep these mysterious tomes upon realizing what the largest of them was. “No matter, just another mystery to solve later. Let's just get out of here….”
Chapter 16: The Truth Comes Out
“What now?” Aza was looking directly at the circular doorway in front of them. He couldn’t hear the wights, but that meant nothing. On the other side was their territory.
“I am unsure….” Han looked it up and down, as if doing it enough would allow him to see through the stone.
“Hmmmm. If they was that close...we’s feel afraid right?” Luke looked to Han, hoping he was right.
“Yes...yes actually, you would be correct.” He looked at Luke in surprise, not expecting him of all people to think of that.
“They can’t be dumb enough to leave the only way in unguarded?” Aza eyed the thing suspiciously.
“Not necessarily. There are eight other tunnels that lead down there; it is possible that they scattered to cover them.” He thought about it some more. “Though there could just be something waiting that does not possess the fear that they do.”
Silence fell over the four. All of the boys knew that the door had to come open, but none of them wanted to be the one to say it. Each aware that no matter where the wights were, nothing but death could be awaiting them. Eventually, it was Han that organized them and got things moving again. Luke, Aza, and even Tom, took a defensive stance with their weapons drawn and eyes on the door. The scholar himself was in charge of getting the thing open again. Up, down, left, spiral, twist, push. This was the pattern that caused all of the tongues to uncoil and reveal the familiar maze beyond. To their surprise, there was nothing outside. Not the wights, or the many eyed creatures, or even some new horror. It was just the dim emptiness of the grave that greeted them.
“It’s a trap.” Luke’s eyes narrowed as the grip on his axe tightened.
“Yeah, but if they’re far back enough it might not matter.” Aza dispersed his threads but kept his guard up.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Han led the charge back out to the maze, making sure to seal off the way they had come from. Like before, the lead was only temporary and Aza found his way to the front.
The group sprung out of the maze and onto the thirtieth floor. There were no undead to be seen, yet none of them felt the slightest bit of comfort. Together, the four made their way to the stairs unimpeded, but just before they hopped onto the spiral, they heard a single creature lumbering towards them. It was one of the many eyed monstrosities. Though the creature was merely watching them, not giving chase. Almost like it didn’t have to. Now even more afraid then they already were, the group continued back up the winding stairway. Each floor opening a gap in their secluded escape route, perfect for unwanted guests to crawl inside. The further they ascended, the clearer their enemy's plan became. All the wights needed to do was guard the upper levels, with the eye creatures scattered around the intermediary floors to track their progress. They were ten levels down from the first when they began to see the blue glow of the lantern on one of the upper balconies. The fear of all the wights and the Nightman himself crawled over the railings like the arms of a kraken. The four had no way to get past them, no hope of fighting through. They were only seven floors away.
All of the sudden, Tom broke from the party. He charged out at the sixth floor knowing that if they kept going up they were doomed. At every level prior, he had looked into the darkness for some other way out and now he had finally found it. The other three charged behind, not sure what he was doing, but possessing no better option. They were heading south. Aza could feel the call of the gauntlet growing stronger the further out they traveled. This part of the necropolis was unlike any of the others, but not for the right reasons. It appeared to be mined out. The necrite having been broken from the natural stone and the crypts ransacked. There was even metal layed down into the floor for reason that quickly became apparent. Ahead was a cart on wheels, perhaps what Tom was running towards. It didn’t matter because two wights crawled out from indents in the stone. They weren’t alone; blue lights sprung to life as bodies rose from the jagged ground. Each one was a wight, but much newer. They had no fear, no extra limbs, just shovels and pickaxes.
The terror of the two older creatures slowed them to a near stop, three of the boys nearly falling to their knees as the evil song fell over them. Aza on the other hand had learned from the lighthouse, from the creature behind the chest. He spun a tune of his own, tendrils of terror rearing out from him as he focused on the idea of never escaping this evil place. It forced the two back long enough for them to hop into the nearby cart. There were three others in front of it, theirs and lead having extra gears and levers attached. Tom jerked one of them down and the thing sprung to life, slowly chugging forwards and away from the monsters. Yet there were more dead than the living. The abominations began piling onto the carts in front of them as the unit began picking up speed. The closest undead swung down a rusty shovel, only to be blocked by Luke. One axe deflected while the other took its hand clean off, puss and stale blood oozing from the wound. Another stuck at them with a pickaxe, only to be blocked yet again by Luke. This time he used the force of the axe to rip his attacker from the cart altogether.
Tom struggled to see over the fighting, praying to the loa for a crossroads up ahead. To his only real joy of the day, they answered and one came into view. When his father lost most of their land and possessions, they were forced into a run down building by the mine. Parts of it were empty, and proved to be the best place to play and think of better times. There was a game he used to play with an old mine cart, and still did to this day. The timing would need to be perfect, but he could do it. His hand darted into Luke’s bag and ripped out the pistol he had noticed earlier. The shot hit a loose switch just as he pulled the second lever. The carts all disconnected as the track slowly changed direction. The first two went up, the second derailed, and theirs went down. The five workers that had piled into the first only knew how to swing their tools, the leavers of the cart far beyond them. It continued its course, wrapping around and gaining speed until it emerged on the second level. It flew off the track, and slammed through the railing over one of the pits. The four boys remained where they were as their own cart continued to pick up speed. Three having no idea what Tom had just done, while he himself wasn't even sure.
They were in pitch darkness for what felt like ages before the cart eventually leveled out. The necropolis was long behind them, replaced with flashes of stone as they passed the occasional lantern. None of them knew where they were going; all just happy to be alive. Eventually, the rickety cart slowly ground to a halt at the end of the long and winding tunnel. They had arrived at a h
ub of some kind where two other tracks ran parallel to theirs. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all comprised of a sponge like stone that made up much of the ocean bed. While the room itself was fairly large, though nothing compared to the necropolis they had just escaped from, it seemed to be all but empty. There were boxes and necrite dust strewn about the floor, but other then that the dim place was abandoned. A tall wooden door sat cracked open along the far wall, nearly falling apart from overuse. It seemed to lead off further into this new tunnel system or whatever else was down here.
“Where are we…” Tom peered back into the darkness, terrified of what might be headed their way.
“Good question.” Luke hopped out of the cart. He looked back himself, unsure how to proceed. “Do we go back...er ah, look for a way up from here?”
Han coughed a few times, a thick humidity permeating the entire area. “We know we cannot go back the way we came. The path curved a few times….I am unsure if there is land or ocean above us. Any of you have a guess?”
None of the other three had an answer, with two seeming preoccupied with something else. Tom was still shaken by the wights, the strange time lapse, of seeing the Nightman’s glowing lantern. His excuses and explanations were all crumbling as he tried again and again to figure out how Aza could still be the Nightman. This was all too much for him. Aza himself was looking back to the mainland. He felt a distant pull from the gauntlet, as if they had over shot it. This was reliving yet frustrating. All he could do was pull himself from the cart and onto the damp ground.
He was followed by Luke and Tom. The only one left in the cart being Han himself. Despite having been the first one to speak, he didn’t want to go anywhere. He was still clutching the journal, no idea where they were, no books or readings to guide him. All he did was sink lower into the cart, fearing what would happen if they kept on pushing their luck. Though despite his fear, there was some part of him that wanted to carry on.
“You three go ahead, I...I’ll guard the cart…” That’s exactly what he was going to say. Yet before he could, he had already climbed out. “So, should we try one of the other tracks?”
“I dunno….theys could all just lead back to the necropopbolis.” Luke looked back and forth between all the exits as he spoke.
“Well the gauntlet is that way.” Aza pointed back to where they had rode in from. “So I would guess that door leads to another cave or...or maybe somewhere underneath an island.”
Luke could tell his friend was deep in thought. “An you think the witch might be there?”
“Yes.” His haunting eyes were locked onto the door. “ What else could this be? Those wights were mining out the crypt and this is clearly where its all going. I think it's worth a shot.”
“You mean to kill the witch….now?” Han was taken by complete surprise.
“If we have to. Preferably I would like to take them in for trial.” He looked to Han. “Maybe here there would be a way to contact the Paladins and they could handle things after the fact.”
“Oh...well yes….of course….” He was sweating bullets. “But like I told you before, whoever this is will be extremely powerful! We can’t just take them head on.”
“No, you’re right. That would be suicide.” He began walking up to the door. “There’s no one else here….I think we might have surprise on our side. Besides, with Barnabee up there...your boat gone...this might be the best way to end all this.” There was no excitement in his words, but solemn bluntness.
Han wanted to offer an objection, but didn’t have one. All he could do was stay back and hope everything worked out, in fact that's all he had been doing since the day began.
Luke strode up to the withered door, meeting Aza at his side. He took a deep breath, ready for whatever came next. Slowly and carefully, the two peered out into a curving hallway of light blue rock. This alien tunnel was brightly lit by a luminescent plant emanating an eerie green light. While one half of the walkway led off to parts unknown, the other unwound directly to a balcony and what looked to be a much larger chamber. Luke and Aza slowly crept down the hall, followed by the other two. They could hear the soft dripping of sea water, the breaking of wood or stone, and the slow shuffling of feet from someone or something up ahead. Each of them prepared to run or fight as they slowly stepped into an astonishing chamber. Before them was a round hole in the floor, ringed by jagged metal and three stairways leading down to the only other level. The piece they were on had a high ceiling, looking as if it had once been a mere cave. Now it was exponentially wider, supported by pillars of steel or shell. What was most striking of all were the holes in the ceiling. There were four of them, each the size of a large ship and leading directly to the sea floor. Salty, thrashing water sat at their edges like an upside down pool, an equally large hole to the lower level sitting under them. All of it was lit by toxic green light, sprouting haphazardly from the ceilings and walls. The plants themselves looked like sea anemones only much bigger.
In the distance they could see what looked like people walking about, but each of them knew better. Aza began to reconsider his plan. Perhaps this had been rash and they should just take the opportunity to get back to the surface. That’s when he heard someone speaking, a woman. Three began backing away, but not Aza. Against the hisses and whispers of Han or Luke, he began crawling on his stomach over to one of the many gaps in the metal. His eyes peered all around at the operation that had been set up down below. While it looked to be one open space with no walls, a makeshift room had been set up in the middle of the ring. There were shelves of papers, vials, and trinkets, reminding him of Aggie’s shop. Dust, wood, and metal fragments littered the floor as if salvage or scraps were dragged through regularly. Then, at the very heart of it all, was a winding wooden desk covered in papers and housing a single white orb at its center. Aza nearly reared back when he saw who was sitting next to it.
She was tall, maybe a few inches more than Barnabee himself. Greys and dark blues colored her frayed dress, while a mass of black feathers sat around her shoulders and back like a cloak or overcoat. Her hair was dark as onyx while her skin was the color of ebony. The thick mass of hair on her head stuck out like the legs of a lobster, just like the figure peering down in his dream. Despite the sinister attire, and sharp nails scraping against the wood of the desk, she looked almost beautiful. Everything was there, but it looked like she had gotten burned or caught in a blast. It was at that moment everything clicked. Aza knew who she was, how she became scarred...what she had done to his family...to his parents. He didn’t even notice Han crawl up next to him as he strained to hear what she was saying.
“Ten million and not a single piece of gold less.” She leaned forward, looking to the orb the same way a cat would at a mouse.
It seemed to glow and a voice, too far to hear, gave a lengthy reply.
“Oh don’t give me that Joshua, its enchanter grade seven. I have at least five other prospective clients who would pay much more than that and you all know it.”
The orb spoke again.
“Good. Now as I said, we’ll make the trade off in a few days, but you better keep him in the area.”
Agin the orb gave an unhearable reply.
She gave a bitter laugh. “Paranoid? Boy, an outsider showed up and toppled one of my guardians!” Her voice fell, oozing malice. “Barnabee said he dealt with them, but these days he’s been getting far too wise for his own good....”
The ball shifted and flashed.
“Someone was down in the catacombs. Supposedly they went over the side of a chasm, but I’ll believe that when I see the bodies.” She tapped her sharp finger on the tabletop. “Either way, just keep up your end of the deal and try not to screw anything up.”
The witch tapped the orb and it went dark. She slowly heaved herself from the rickety chair and pulled a winding staff of red wood from the ground. She walked with a slight limp, gained from the same event that had scarred her face and right side. Han peered down, knowing exa
ctly who she was from when he had read up on the area. Actually finding her here would have once shocked him to his core as impossible, but at this point he would believe anything.
As careful as could be, he began backing away. He hoped Aza would follow suit but no, in fact he could feel fear billowing off of him. There was rage in his eyes as memories long buried were pushed to the surface. He was in her home this time, he had surprise, and a duty to put this evil to an end. He sprung up and fired a thick mass of threads from his palm. They shot like needles, fast as a bullet, and far more deadly. His aim was for the staff, but the witch snapped away upon catching the glimmer from the edge of her eye. Her weapon was saved, but she in return was struck right in the forehead. She reared back and toppled over onto one of the shelves, collapsing it into a broken heap.
The Curious Case of Jacob's Hallow Page 22
