by BJ Hanlon
It moved and morphed into an indistinct shape, twisting and reforming as it came at them. Edin let go of the rail and dropped as Berka crashed through the railing.
The balustrade exploded outward and bars of metal crumbled with them into the river. Edin’s breath fled as he was shocked by the water’s temperature. He kept hold of Berka’s shirt but was blinded a moment later when the fire completely went out.
That wasn’t good. He guessed that those green eyes could see in the dark.
But for the moment, they were moving with the current and further out of the range of that goo. That amorphous and foul blob. His right thigh still burned but he ignored that for a moment as he tried to get his bearings and figure out where was the surface. He held out his hand and summoned an ethereal ball.
Underwater, it made everything an eerie green blue. Berka was staring widely around. He looked confused. His cheeks were puffy and his eyes bulged. The walls were very clearly manmade or at least not natural, and they were covered by many years of algae with the bottom of the channel only a couple of feet below them.
As they were floating slowly with the current Edin’s air ran out. He kicked his legs and popped up to the surface.
The speed of the water wasn’t as fast as it’d seemed and as he broke the surface, he saw they’d been carried into the tunnel and he could no longer see the bridge. To the right, was the boardwalk made of stone. A sidewalk only a foot or so above the waterline.
Berka’s head breached the surface and he spat and gasped almost simultaneously. His arms were flailing. One arm held his greatsword, the other a wooden stick that had once been used as a torch and was now only useful as a club.
Edin kicked his legs to stay afloat, but Berka just bobbed. “Drop the blasted stick!” Edin shouted. Berka looked at him, shock and horror in his face. Then he went under.
Edin grabbed him, his arm straining under the weight. Then the sluiceway swam slightly right and he bounded off a wall. The ethereal light flickered and he nearly let go of Berka.
But he didn’t. The sidewalk was just above him and Berka resurfaced. “Let go of the blasted torch you blotard,” Edin screamed. This time Berka nodded. Though he still looked frightened. Edin saw the stick drop, and his sword. Both disappeared out of sight.
Idiot. Edin thought then yelled, “Grab the ledge!” Berka, who’d been extremely confused, did so. Edin let go and reached both of his hands up as well. His ethereal light went out and his hands slipped for a moment on the damp surface.
But then he caught himself and pulled. Edin got his torso out and over and onto the pathway. He rolled briefly into a rock wall, his quarterstaff digging into his back.
Berka was gasping and groaning next to him, his breathing rapid and his lips fluttering with each exhale.
“Are you okay?” Edin asked in the dark. Then he shivered. His body was cold and wet and he wiped water from his eyes.
“Dropped Marion,” Berka said.
Edin paused, “Marion?” He asked, his voice just above the water splashing about the waterway.
“My sword.”
“You call it Marion?” Edin said as he sat up in the darkness. His feet were dangling off the wall and his thigh was still on fire but other than that, he was fine. Edin summoned an ethereal ball again and lit up the tunnel.
“Yes.” Berka said and he didn’t go into it.
The waterway was curving back to the left. It was a hewn stone tunnel. An underground sewer or sluiceway. He then remembered seeing Arianne in the same type of tunnel. She’d been on the raft trying to escape the dwarven city and the draugrs and dematians.
Edin stared at it. Was it the same water? Did it carry his lady directly into the arms of the dematian king?
“You got the look of a man who’s gotta poo.” Berka said, “for which we don’t have time. What are you thinking about?” Berka asked.
“About Arianne,” Edin said, “she was on a river like this. It must be dwarven made.”
“You think the dwarves made this? They were supposed to be so little. How could they move stones and shape things like that?” He pointed to a giant stone pier. On it, was a large pyramid with a shining stone on the top. It was clear and looked to be a crystal of some sort.
“You should’ve seen Olangia,” Edin said. He didn’t see any green crowns to point the way.
They slowly stood. The ceiling began to arch a few feet above their heads. Edin looked both ways.
There was no sign of the Heavenly Guardian, though heading back toward it didn’t seem like the best move.
“What do you think?” Berka said. “Toward the beast or away?” He was darn near reading Edin’s mind.
Edin looked at the pier and thought that if there was a pier, then there was probably something to do around said pier. An exit or another tunnel. Heading straight up the river was like walking directly into the beast’s mouth. At least he knew what it could do now. Hopefully if they couldn’t avoid it, they could defeat it.
“We go down.” He turned and started going. “Keep your eyes open. That thing could be stalking us.”
“Well maybe you should take the back then. You’re the mage and armed.”
“It could be in front of us too,” Edin said and pulled the quarterstaff from his back and handed it to Berka. Then he led again.
“You stink,” Berka said through chattering teeth.
The dock or pier was really just a slab of stone that pushed out into the river two feet. It seemed to be neither. As they moved closer Edin noticed a light coming from the crystal. He stared at it for a moment and Edin remembered the lava lights in Olangia. How there were lines of glowing orange that lit entire rooms. First, he looked back toward the way the beast was, checking that it wasn’t crawling on the roof, then he released the ethereal ball.
The room went dark for barely a second.
Berka said. “Hey—,” before the crystal lit up sending a sweeping arc of white light, ethereal light about the tunnel.
There were a few other crystals in the ceiling at the apex of the arch that seemed to catch the light and hold it.
“It’s a light display,” Berka said.
Edin nodded. It went off into the darkness of the tunnel until it disappeared around the bend.
They followed it forward, their wet boots sloshing on the stone. After what Edin assumed was nearly a full U-turn in the river, the path went straight.
They passed another four pyramids and he held the ethereal light for a few minutes in front of each. He wasn’t sure but he hoped they’d hold the light for longer if he could sort of power them up.
It was comparable to Olangia but maybe there wasn’t any volcanic activity here. He pondered as they walked. What they’d use for power here escaped Edin.
A doorway appeared across the way from them. The actual wood that had been there had fallen away years ago. The rusted metal bands were clumped together on the ground. He caught a quick glimpse of stairs heading up. They continued.
Edin began to feel a rush of air from ahead and heard water crashing down. A few minutes later, they reached a larger room with an open pit in the center. The water churned as a small waterfall dropped a half a yard into a pool. He was looking at it and saw two doors on either side of the pool and a further, wider river that continued on under the wall.
He was too busy staring at the walls and the doors that when Berka tapped him very rapidly, he turned and said “what?”
Berka was looking into a corner. A dark corner to the right and across the pool from them. There was something in there. Sticks, Edin saw. And leaves and something reflective. Next to it was a hole. A hole much like the ones on the previous room they’d been in.
Edin instantly checked the ceilings and walls and behind him for that beast.
He didn’t see it.
He took a breath, his heart pounding very rapidly. “It looks like a bird’s nest.”
“That was my thoughts,” Berka said. “Is it wise to be in its lair? I�
�ve only got a stick.”
Edin nodded. “I don’t see it.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not here. It could be in that hole, or in that tunnel.”
“Or behind you,” Edin whispered.
Berka leapt toward Edin like he’d been stabbed in the butt with a glowing fire poker.
Edin was about to laugh but then instantly stopped. His scare tactic, was not far off, the beast wasn’t exactly behind him, but it was coming around the bend of the river on the very sidewalk they’d been on. “Get behind me,” Edin said.
The beast crept toward them, its legs moving silently as it came forward. Edin glanced at the room they’d just been about to enter. “The door,” Berka said.
“Slowly,” Edin said and they started to back up. The breeze blew in harder through the tunnel and he could smell possibly fresh air.
Above him, he noticed a green glow but didn’t look up.
Berka steered him as Edin backed up. His eyes locked with the emerald green ones of the beast before him. Edin felt ready to summon a culrian shield at any moment.
They turned into the doorway that looked at first like it’d be too small for the beast, but despite it seemingly being almost five feet wide and six feet tall when it lifted its head, it slid into the hall with ease, though its shoulders rubbed each wall.
“Stairs, going up,” Berka whispered. “Step… step…” he continued, one hand still on Edin’s shoulder. The overhead lights began to fade. Edin summoned the culrian in front of him.
For some reason, that seemed to trigger the beast. It opened its mouth as the flap of skin flipped up a shield around its head. A glob shot at Edin and hit the culrian.
At first he felt okay. The shield had held. They’d back up, find a place where he could fight it, maybe use the sword or one of the talents.
Then the culrian began fizzling. Steaming and bubbling like water put directly on the stove. He began to see openings in the ethereal light. Small patched holes that started to grow. They were like throwing snowballs at windows during an extremely warm day. It stayed for a moment, dripped down and then grew bigger.
Edin swallowed. He let it go and summoned another in its place. The energy it took seemed difficult. Harder.
The beast shot again. Another glob. It hit and started burning through the shield.
“What is happening?” Berka whispered, panic was in his voice. “Step, step, turn.” He felt the arm guiding Edin as they turned the corner and there were no more steps.
Edin glanced over his shoulder. They were in some sort of hall. A tall open hall with huge columns reaching up to a hundred or more feet. There were statues on the walls and metal men. Suits of armor and a green crown.
“Edin,” Berka said as Edin released a culrian and summoned another one.
Berka started tapping his shoulder again. Very hard. Edin glanced back at the first beast and saw a second standing next to what looked like an obsidian throne.
There was a light coming through the ceiling, moonlight, and he looked up to see a blanket of stars through a hole the size of a wagon wheel.
They were passing a suit of armor. In the thing’s hands was a large spear with a metal haft. Berka pawed at it and somehow ripped it from the armor’s hand. Edin drew his sword as Berka dropped the quarterstaff.
“I don’t know if we can handle two,” Edin said.
“I wasn’t sure we could handle one,” Berka replied. The one that’d been chasing them, ever so slowly, paused. The one near the altar did as well, it seemed almost coordinated. Maybe it was, Edin thought. His heart leapt at that and sweat, more sweat at least, began to pour down his neck. It tickled and itched.
Then out of the corner of the room, near a large nest of branches, twigs and goo, a third, larger one moved. “They cornered us like rats.”
“I can see that,” Edin said. They were side-to-side watching the three as they all stared back at the two intruders.
“Is there any way we can beat them all?” Berka said. “I mean, what hurts lizards?”
Edin went through his memory. Master Horston and his encyclopedia of knowledge would know. He’d probably scorn Edin for not remembering what he’d been taught all those years ago. Reptiles… lizards. “They’re mostly associated with water, so they’re probably vulnerable to fire.”
“But you can’t make fire,” Berka said. “You can only manipulate it. Right?”
Wind wouldn’t do much unless he could somehow send the amorphous goo back at the beasts, and even then, would it hurt them? He could send ethereal knives or other sorts of weapons.
“Lightning.” Edin said.
“Good idea.” Berka said.
“I’ll have to let go of the culrian.”
“Not so good.”
“No.” Edin looked around the room. There were alcoves and columns to hide behind, there was the throne and a large vase that had brown and gold figures painted on it. He spotted open doorways though they’d probably be just as trapped. They had to find a single spot where they could hide for only a second, maybe ten.
Then he spotted a column that had been knocked down. It was probably three feet wide and crumbled into at least ten tubular sections. Though it was near the lizard to their right. If they could somehow get that thing to move maybe they could use that as cover.
He caught Berka’s look. They seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“Might as well,” Berka said. “You go high.”
“On three?”
“Three,” they screamed and charged. There was a moment when the beasts leapt back, apparently shocked by the fact that two tasty treats were running at them.
The one in front of them, then one nearest the collapsed column, spit. The viscous glob struck the culrian and began melting it.
It was getting harder to summon another culrian. There was something about that spittle that seemed to peel the energy from him.
Edin leapt over the glob that coalesced on the ground and the thin lines of wavy smoke rising from it like a damp leaf pile being slowly burned.
The large shield around the thing’s head expanded and nearly touched the ground. Edin dodged to the right and stepped on a portion of the column.
The columns weren’t completely rounded, they were grooved, and the grooves rose from floor to ceiling. Despite this, the column rocked slightly. Ever so slightly that as Edin jumped, he mistimed it. The thing twisted its head up at him and opened its mouth as if to snatch him out of the air. The top of Edin’s foot caught one of the razor-like teeth and it slashed through it like a sword. Edin couldn’t stop and the beast slammed its snout into his leg.
His knee came down and caught the shield around its head. The shield was hard and ridged and his knee felt like it had hit a stone wall. Then it let out a piercing scream just as Edin was sliding off the side of it.
At least he thought it was the thing. It could’ve been Edin who screamed. He landed hard on a section of the column and tumbled off into a crook between the one he’d landed on, and another. Above him, he saw the thing thrashing with greenish blood pouring from a gaping wound in its neck.
It reeled back. Sharp crillio like claws scratched at the air like it was a cat trying to get through a door.
Then it began to tilt. It turned slightly toward Edin and started to come down. It was slow, like watching a wide canopied tree being felled in the forest.
Then it sped up. Edin had nowhere to go. He squeezed himself down into the spot between the columns as the large body crashed on top of it.
Edin was enveloped in darkness. A tomb. A moment later, he heard the screams of the other beasts and of Berka. Edin tried to summon an ethereal ball, but he couldn’t concentrate. He couldn’t even think.
His brain was hurt as if it were getting sat on.
Edin’s eyes stung with the fumes from the viscous liquid. A panic began to set in, and his heart seemed to skip three beats and an empty gut feeling filled his body. The sudden irrational thought that he was buried
alive came over him. It never had before. Deep in the underground. In the dwarven and other tunnels, he’d never felt that way.
Until now.
Edin screamed. He kicked his good leg out into the dead beast. The thing was heavy and it didn’t move. He looked down and could see a small opening between his feet. It was barely big enough for his head. Edin started to press himself down trying to ignore the pain in his thigh, foot, and knee.
He tried to summon the ethereal light again. It flickered but that was it. He saw legs run past. Human legs.
“Berka,” he cried out, his voice cracking just a bit.
“Help,” Berka yelled. Then he heard one screaming. Not really a scream more of a growling, moaning sound that was almost half feline and half wolf.
Edin kicked up and hit somewhere that apparently wasn’t as heavy. A leg. It flipped up and for a moment, there was moonlight in the sliver of room between the column and the beast’s body.
That and fresh air. Well fresher air at least.
Then the leg fell right back into place. Edin kicked again and this time was able to move into that area. He lifted his head and grasped it.
The panic of being trapped had left and he had just enough energy to summon another culrian. He knew it was the last one he’d be summoning while still in this fog of pain.
It pushed the leg up and out and Edin followed falling over the column and onto the ground.
Edin was on a knee and there was a hiss near his head. He looked up at the beast right before him. The thing reared back startled and Edin saw the glob forming in its mouth like when he’d try and fill the back of his throat with all the phlegm he had before launching a giant wad of spit at someone. Dexal would’ve been the best target.
Edin somehow still had his sword in his hand and though his leg barely worked. He pushed off and leapt at the thing. It spit, catching the culrian in mid jump.
Though it started to melt away the shield as if it were made of wax, Edin was able to cross the few feet to the beast.
The culrian dissipated and the globule splattered to the ground between them.
Edin was above it and he drove his sword into the thing’s chest and pulled up. He heard and felt bones breaking and the skin being split apart. The thing rocked backward.
