by BJ Hanlon
He wasn’t looking up though, right?
Edin felt the hairs stand on his neck again. Was he actually being followed? Was this Merik’s doing or someone else? Did Sinndilo order him tailed?
He stepped backward away from the ornamentally carved balustrade. A hand fell on his back and Edin jumped.
“Woah, what’s going on?” Dorset said.
Edin turned and tried to settle down his racing chest.
“You look like a pile of horse scat.”
“Thanks…” Edin said after a moment. Under Dorset’s arm were three books, all of them four inches or more thick. “Anything good?”
“Stories. Nothing more. Found one that said there was an entrance near Vostine, that is—”
“Calerrat,” Edin said. “That is the old name for it.”
“I know,” Dorset said. “How’d you?”
“Arianne.” His voice quieted. “That was what she called it.” Edin trailed off.
Dorset put a hand on his shoulder. “She was a great— is a great woman.” Dorset corrected himself. “We’ll find her.”
Edin smiled and nodded. He knew Dorset didn’t believe she lived but he was trying. Also, the ‘we’ part wasn’t correct. Dorset, Henny, and Rihkar were going to embark on a six-week round trip to the isles very shortly.
“Well, the entrance is north of a small rock quarry. Or it had been a rock quarry three millennium ago. Right before the dwarves up and disappeared.”
“So, what would it be now?”
He shrugged. “A basin maybe. I’ve got it marked on a small map, but it’s halfway across the continent. At least two hundred leagues.”
“It needs to be destroyed if it hasn’t been already,” Edin said. “We’ll need to let the duke know about it, and about the one somewhere northwest of here. If the dematians can get an army around the rear of the dukes, if they could flank them without the army knowing it’d be—”
“Bad,” Dorset said. “Very bad.”
“We’ll need to send a message to the Prince of Resholt also. I cannot believe that no one has known about these tunnels in generations.” Edin said. He took Dorset’s books and set them on the table then headed over toward Rihkar. As his father came into view, Edin asked. “Anything?”
“It’s been five minutes. What do you expect me to have done in that time?”
Edin was about to open his mouth and then he shut it. “Not much I suppose.”
Dorset described the one tunnel. “We need to get a message to them fast.”
“Too bad there’s no Mage Relays anymore,” Edin said.
“How’d you know about those?” Asked Rihkar. “I know there’s one still on the isle…”
“And one in the Citadel and one in the mountain keep of Arianne’s father. It was how the old Inquisitor found us.”
“There are three?”
“There were three,” said Edin. “The Inquisitor sent a team to kill us. I’m pretty sure it’s been destroyed.”
They were quiet. Then Edin remembered their ‘discussions.’ “He also used a summoning stone to draw people’s consciousness to them. I wonder how connected the world was before Restican and his usurpers destroyed the old one…” Edin trailed off and stood quietly.
“A lot.” A voice came from off to the right. “There was a lot that has been lost and destroyed.” It was an old man who had somehow snuck up from behind them. He wore an odd, pointed cap that dropped to the right and he was hunched. He leaned on a cane with what looked like the snout of a dog poking out between the thumb and forefinger. “You’ve been looking for things that haven’t been searched for in generations.”
“Who are you?” Edin asked and then promptly coughed.
“Lad, I’m old, if you are ill please keep away from me. My body cannot fight off the illnesses of youth anymore.”
Edin stepped back.
“You two have been digging a lot,” he said looking at Rihkar and Dorset. His voice held a sort of twang to it. Something foreign. His skin was white and nearly translucent, his eyes a deep blue. “I’m certain you are not a student here.” His eyes settling on Rihkar. Then he turned to Dorset. “You do not look familiar and you seem a little old to be a first year.”
“We,” Edin paused, “we are not, we just arrived in town.”
“Refugees huh?” He looked them up and down for a moment, glanced at Rihkar’s empty sleeve and then back to Edin.
“Sinndilo.” Edin blurted, “He sent us on a special task—”
“Which had to be put on hold when the dematians attacked the outer gate a few days ago,” Rihkar interrupted. “The northern pass between the mountains and the sea is blocked by the army.”
“And yet, those crazed dematians still found a way around it.”
“They make use of old dwarven tunnels,” Edin said his mouth still muffled behind his hand.
“Of those I do know,” he said. “There are not as many as you may think.”
Edin’s heart nearly stopped.
This guy knew of the tunnels, what about the dwarven cities? “Are there, do you know of any cities underground that have a river through them?”
Rihkar shot him a quick glare as if to say, that’s not our mission. Edin didn’t care.
The old man tapped his fingers on his chin that had one of the thinnest and scraggliest white beards he’d ever seen. It was almost as if the beard was not even there. But the old man’s eyes. Those were alert. Of everything, those eyes were what said he was not holding on to dear life but truly alive.
“You say there’s a city like that, huh?” He paused and then shook his head. “I do not know. I have heard of a few, one in Resholt, it was a grand city though it was flooded when the Halecon Lake was dammed up. There was one in Porinstol, a great earthquake buried it in sand. I’ve heard of an expedition to try and dig it up some years ago.” He shook his head. “But they did not succeed. As for any in Dunbilston, I do not know. There are records of entrances to caverns and possible tunnels but expeditions inside rarely return.”
“You see, I just found it in this book.” Said Edin trying to make an excuse. He didn’t need this guy spreading rumors.
“A tunnel entrance, there is one that I know of and you are correct, it is not far from here and on the western side of Falic Mount. There is a cavern that is now well guarded by a band of dematians including one of their magi.”
“Blast it,” Rihkar said. “I knew that wall would be a waste of time and resources.”
Edin shook his head. “We need to close it and the one by Calerrat.”
“How? We’d have to send word to Resholt and then they’d have to believe us…” Rihkar grumbled. They both knew that was a tall ask.
“Well, we can do something about the one here,” Edin said.
“I have a ship leaving in two days,” Rihkar said. “We need reinforcements and you are to continue your journey to find the el—, the elders, who can help to plan.” The last of this was in a staccato rhythm that almost advertised to anyone hearing that he was making it up as he went along.
The old man, a professor, Edin thought, said nothing about it.
“We’d need one of you,” Edin said. “Someone needs to help pull down the stone.”
“How would one of them help?” the professor asked.
He took a moment, stared at the old man who was still staring back. Then Edin thought about the exploding packages from the assault on the dry docks and the balls from the night the duke and the Por Fen attacked the isle.
Those blotards ruined Dorset’s wedding in the worst possible way.
“They both have experience with exploding things,” Edin said, this time his voice was clearly a lie. “Do you know what cave or where the tunnel exits?” Edin asked.
“Not precisely, but it would probably be the one surrounded by dematians,” he said. “But sneaking up on them will not be easy. I’d bet my life they are watching the city and the roads. They have spies men do not know of.”
; “Like what?” Rihkar asked. “And how do you know this?”
A half-smile turned up on the right side of the old man’s lips and Edin thought he’d seen the man before. But from where?
“How do we get there and destroy it?” Edin asked. “Other than taking down the entire mountain.”
“It’d be a heck of a feat to take down a mountain,” the old man said. “But you can figure it out. Of that, I am certain.”
As he started to turn, Edin stepped forward. “Excuse me professor. Do you by chance know of a large lake, one surrounded on all sides by mountains.”
He paused for a moment. “There was a tale of a humble man trying to set up a life in the mountains. There was a said to have been a giant lake nearby.”
“Where?”
“South of Jont’s Pass. Though I do not know.”
“What happened to the man and the village?” Dorset asked.
“No living men know. It is assumed by most he died.” The man started moving forward again and stopped. “And please, I am no professor, call me a historian. I love the past, though I’m fascinated by the future.” He turned back and stared directly at Edin. “Yours especially.”
5
The Target is Back on His Back
The man turned the corner beyond a stack of books. Edin was about to follow after him when a loud yelp came from down below. He looked over the rotunda again only to see black cloaks entering the library. A dozen of them at least.
“Por Fen,” Edin grumbled. “Blast it.”
“So they attack you and the truce is over?” Asked Rihkar rhetorically.
“I guess so.” Edin said and turned toward Rihkar. None of them were armed and they were trapped on the fourth floor at least fifty feet above the ground. The Por Fen started to split, one going to each corner. To the stairwells.
It was planned and planned well. He looked up toward the dome and saw the rain still coming down, though it was but a drizzle.
The old man stuck his head around the corner. “I thought you’d follow me. Come quickly.” They did and then the old man led them around a small, half stack near the rear of the building and through a thin, cloth covered portal to a narrow hall that seemed to run the length of the library. It was very dark but he could still see through shafts of light that were filled with dust motes.
Dorset sneezed.
They turned left and followed the corridor about ten feet before coming to a door. The old man grabbed the knob, there was a click and the door opened.
He waived them inside. “Behind the armor is a small ladder to the roof. It’s for maintenance.”
“How’s that going to help?” Rihkar said. “We’ll just be trapped on the roof.”
“Outside it’s pretty vacant of onlookers…” He looked toward Edin and winked. “No one is on the streets and I believe a fog is coming soon.”
Edin’s mouth dropped as the man closed the door and disappeared on the other side.
“Did he just make you as a mage?” Dorset asked.
“Maybe he’s psychic.” Rihkar stated as he began toward the armor.
It was a big suit, too big for many people and something not seen in Bestoria in a long time. Mostly the knights use little armor as speed is more useful to the modern soldier than durability. At least that was what the war books he’d read behind his mother’s back had said.
On the chest was painted a giant green dragon outlined by white.
Rihkar stepped through a thin gap between the rear wall and the armor and to a ladder. He grumbled.
“Trying to figure out how to climb one-handed?”
“I can do it,” he grumbled again. “I did it to save you and the army.”
“Do you not remember what actually happened? Did you think I was just sitting around drinking whiskey and wine?”
“Might as well have been,” Rihkar said. Edin thought there was a joviality to the words despite the danger.
“Shut up you two and go,” Dorset said. He was behind Edin and staring back at the door.
“Someone will need to open the trapdoor,” Rihkar said. “That is too much for a one-armed guy.”
Edin pushed past him. He climbed quickly, found a thin metal latch, and threw it open. For some reason, it wasn’t padlocked. Maybe thieves didn’t care about what was in the library.
Outside was just as gloomy as before and the rain was trickling just a bit harder. He saw the castle, dark and silent with few fires blazing inside.
The rest of the city was the same. Edin looked past the walls and toward the river heading down from the mountains. He could barely see it in the fog, but it was raging and the water was completely white.
Rihkar appeared. “Help?” he called out, his voice straining. Edin bent down, grabbed the pit of his half-arm, and helped him climb to the roof.
As he looked around, he saw they were about twenty feet from the dome and he couldn’t see inside. Edin hoped the difficult angle was enough that the Por Fen couldn’t see them either. Then he noticed there was a shorter building to the right and beyond it one that towered over the library by at least thirty feet.
Dorset appeared a moment later. He lowered the trap door quickly and turned. “They were at the door, pounding on it. I don’t remember the old man locking it.”
“Doesn’t matter, come on.” Edin grabbed his shoulder and they started running toward the smaller building. They had to pass one of the towers that rose up above the roof. Edin saw a door in the tower. Did all of the towers have stairwells to the roof?
No, at least there wasn’t in the first stairwell he ascended.
Rihkar jumped off the edge of the building as Edin and Dorset rounded the tower.
They moved to the edge. There was a three-foot span to the next building whose roof was ten feet below.
Edin looked straight down and began to feel woozier. This cold would do nothing for his sickness. “I shouldn’t have left the bed today,” Edin said.
Dorset leapt like a daredevil and then from behind him, Edin heard thumping of something on wood. Edin swallowed and leapt after.
He was weightless for an instant and thought about using the air to buoy his decent, but it wasn’t that bad. Compared to the dive with the Cliff Raptor, this was nothing.
He landed hard on a slate roof that slanted slightly toward the alley. Dorset grabbed him as a foot slipped. Rihkar was already running across the roof toward the much taller building. One that’d be impossible to get on top of.
They followed Rihkar to the next break between the buildings. There was the same three feet gap between them and now a fortyish foot drop to the alley below. To the right and left were streets, though they were mostly empty.
“The old man, he wanted you to use the talent, right?”
Edin nodded.
“Can you?” Rihkar asked. “You’re not too sick?”
“I can, just not all of us at the same time,” Edin said. “You two go first.”
Dorset swallowed. “Are you sure about this?”
“Pretty sure…” Edin said. “I’ve done it before, and I’ve seen Arianne do it.”
“But she had much more training than you. You’ve been a wind mage for just over a month.”
“Closer to two.”
“It is either this, or that,” Rihkar said and pointed behind them. Appearing from just over the roof was one of the Por Fen. Rihkar grabbed Dorset’s arm. “Just don’t let us break our legs.” Rihkar jumped and pulled Dorset with him.
They dropped quickly. Edin shot out a hand and let a thick wind catch them like a pillow about ten feet above the ground. Then he let go.
“Abominat—” was all Edin heard before he leapt too. Four seconds later, he was on the ground and they were sprinting south and out of the government square toward the docks.
After turning down a few streets and alleys, they took a staircase into the underground.
Here though, it was more packed than he could imagine. Hightown was like an open field compared to
this place and the smell up there was like it’d been filled with wildflowers while this was wildflowers left to decay and rot in the cold, but not freezing north.
This level was the underworld if that truly existed. There were masses of people all around. There were some huddled together in doors and alcoves with others lying prone on the stone floor without movement or any sign of life.
Edin took a breath and nearly threw up. This wasn’t a good place for his illness. Ahead of him, the open-air edge of the city looked out blankly over the gray sea.
He took a moment to try and get his bearings. Though he’d only been here a short time, he could still picture the outside of the barber’s and the area around where he’d first met Flack and the Raven.
He hoped they were still there.
Edin coughed and started to head deeper under the city. “This way,” Edin said and began heading further into the darkness. After a while, nearly all of the light that seeped in from the open air was gone and the place was lit by oil lamps. Though there were fewer people around here, he began to notice their state was even worse than near the entrances. People were nearly skeletons, some of them, Edin was certain, were dead. He turned down the narrow street he believed held the barbershop and followed it. It was dirtier than ever; doors and windows were boarded up. Or had been and the boards had been ripped down.
There were few men around, young boys and geezers yes, but the only ones in between those ages were deformed. He saw a few men, three in total, that looked to be of good health, but as soon as he’d spot one and lock eyes with the man, he’d disappear.
Criminals, exactly what he was looking for.
In a thin alcove, he spotted two kids, probably not more than four, wrestling over something. A moment later, a much bigger boy ran up, barreled the two over and snatched whatever it was they were fighting over and then darted off. Both boys started to cry.
“I cannot believe these people call us abominations…” Dorset whispered. “There’s no way we would do things like this.”
