That was when he received his first surprise. The compass was spinning and gyrating with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes it would spin slowly, quickly, or even come to rest for as long as half a minute before it would begin again. Even those times were odd because to test it out he moved back to an area where it had been quiet before and expecting it to come to rest, but it did not behave as he expected.
He looked up at the heavy rock above him and wondered if there might be a high iron content or something else causing his compass to misbehave. There was no way to tell, so he put the instrument away and just continued forward. So far, there had not been any side passages so it would be impossible to get lost.
Nilesh traveled for several hundred meters before finding a slight bulge in the passageway. It wasn’t exactly a room, but it would be big enough to hold them all and their mounts plus a small fire. Also, the faint howling he could hear from the Ridgeclaw diminished enough to ignore. Hopefully, the thing would give up and move off before they had to sleep.
Making his way back up the passageway, Nilesh returned to find the party somewhat recovered from their sadness. Ellian and Daka were stoic, though Fallon still clung to Ashrak’s sister. Ashrak and Chari themselves were quiet and looked up to Nilesh when he wrote back into view.
“There’s a place we can rest not too far down the passageway. It’s big enough for the dancers and us, and the airflow is enough so we can start a fire and cook something to eat.” The rest of them nodded and began to follow Nilesh as he led them to the resting place. It was not long before they had their mounts settled, and all of them immediately curled up into balls and fell asleep before they even eat. Exhaustion had set in even with this hearty desert breed.
After starting a small fire, the group settled around it and began to eat a meal of dried meat, fruits, and water. Everyone’s eyes were settled on the flame, staring into it as if it might have some answers for the tragedy that had befallen them out in the wastelands. The only sound was the deep breathing of the sleeping dancers, or the occasional movement of the foot on the sand as someone settled themselves.
“I’m sorry,” Ashrak said into the stillness. There was a small track of a tear make its way down his dirty cheek where the sand from their flight had blown up into his face. The young man looked heartbroken and uncertain; younger than Nilesh had ever seen him before.
His sister looked up at him, anger flashing across her face. “Sorry?” She said bitterly. “Don’t be sorry for my friends, Ashrak. Don’t you dare be sorry for them. They aren’t the ones that tried to hide away most of their life waiting to die.”
Ashrak looked back and seemed to shrink in on himself before reluctantly nodding. “You’re right; I was waiting to die. It’s hard not to when your brothers have already dug your grave for you and I had given up.”
Ellian stared at him over the fire, one side of her lip drawn up in a silent snarl. She looked like a predator stalking its prey, watching carefully before moving in for the kill. The scene was only marred by the tear streaked face of Fallon lying on her shoulder. “You had given up. You were a waste of space, and I convinced father to send you away so I didn’t have to see you killed for real. But then you went and killed him. You killed your brothers, too. Why? What made you change?”
Ashrak was quiet for a long time until he finally looked at Chari. “Friends, I think,” he said slowly and sadly. Chari nuzzled into him and held him tightly while he spoke. “I made several friends that made it seem worthwhile to care again.”
Ellian stood up from the fire and helped Fallon stand as well. She turned to go and took several steps before turning her head slightly and spoke in a low whisper that was easy to hear within the cave. “Then you know some of what I’ve lost,” she said before disappearing into the darkness with Fallon. They all watched her go and didn’t try to stop her.
Ashrak gave out a low sigh and frowned back into the fire. A few more minutes passed before Daka shifted and laid down. “You shouldn’t have apologized, boy,” he said after closing his eyes. “It makes it seem like it was your idea that they came along. It wasn’t. It was theirs as free men, and apologizing for them just cheapens it.”
No one else spoke after that, and thankfully, about an hour later the frustrated cries from the Ridgeclaw begin to diminish and finally stopped altogether. It was a relief though Nilesh wondered if they could go back out that way, if ever. Most likely, the creature would stay in the area for a while hoping they might come out. They’d already lost enough people to the thing’s hunger; they didn’t need to lose anymore.
Still, sleep came slowly but deeply once it descended upon them. Tomorrow morning they would need to explore this cave more thoroughly in hopes it might come out far enough away for them to escape the Ridgeclaw’s territory. Otherwise, their quest might have come to a dangerous end.
***
The next morning found Ellian and Fallon back to camp. It was impossible to tell what time it was that they’d all needed a good rest, so none of them had been overly concerned at the time. Nilesh crept back up to the entrance quietly and peeked out though it was difficult to tell where the sun was in the sky through the high walls of the canyon. The best he could tell was that it was midmorning.
He decided to stay at the entrance for a while and listened to see if the Ridgeclaw was still there. Only once did he hear something move far up above him and it was only a slight sound, but it was enough to tell him that it was not worth the risk. Daka had told him the creature was very persistent, and would most likely stake out this area for several days. Even if it moved away, it would not go far so he crept quietly back into the cave and made his way back to the party.
Daka looked up from where he was tending to one of the dancers that had scraped one of its legs on a sharp rock. “Did you see anything?” He asked in his deep voice. Even if he tried to be quiet, his voice carried easily within the close confines of the Rocky tunnel.
“No,” Nilesh answered. “I’m pretty sure it’s still out there. I listened for a while and heard a faint sound far above but it was impossible to tell if it was the creature or just a loose rock. However, I also didn’t hear any other animal calls so most likely it is still lying in wait. I don’t think it’s a wise idea to try to go back out that way.”
Daka just shrugged and grunted, nodding at what the small man had said. “Well, it's damn good this cave is roomy as it looks like we might be spending some time here. How far down did you scout yesterday?”
“Just to here,” Nilesh responded. “I didn’t think it would be a good idea to go farther. I knew how exhausted I was and didn’t want to go looking for more trouble. There’s no telling if anything lives in here though there is plenty of room for something big. I’ll head out in a few minutes and scout ahead, though. There’s some sort of breeze, so there’s got to be a way out.”
Daka nodded, and after breakfast, Nilesh took his lamp and headed off into the darkness. The rest of them watched him go and then settled down by the fire to wait for his return.
Nilesh disappeared for several hours, and Ashrak began to worry for the diminutive assassin. Chari had gotten up to pace several times, staring into the darkness. Finally, she threw her hands up and came back to the fire. “What if he’s injured?”
“I don’t know,” Ashrak responded. “Eventually we will have to head further into the cave even if he doesn’t come back. Hopefully, he comes back because I don’t relish the thought of stumbling around underground looking for him. Following his tracks in the soft sand might be our only hope as long as the sand continues throughout the cave.”
“There are two more lanterns if we need them,” Daka said, lifting one up from Nilesh’s packs. There are plenty of candles as well. I don’t know if the little man was expecting a lot of underground work though it looks like he prepared.”
“I wasn’t expecting to spend a lot of time underground, actually,” Nilesh’s voice came from out of the darkness. A moment later the man himself stumb
led into the firelight and threw the remains of his lantern onto the ground. “Sorry it took so long to get back. I tripped and broke my lantern. I apparently was able to find the few pieces of stone flooring in this whole damn cavern. It’s mostly sand except for the rock I tripped over and the one the lantern shattered against.”
Chari ran over and hugged Nilesh, causing the small man to blink in surprise. “I’m glad you’re back,” she said. “There’s been enough death lately. We were just about to go looking for you. Did you find anything interesting?”
“Oh yes,” he said with an odd look in his eyes. “You won’t believe what I found. I’m not even sure what it is, but it might be something important. I think I remember seeing something in the book about it. I’ll have to check.”
“How far away is it?” Ellian asked. “Is it hard to get to?”
Nilesh shook his head as he went to his packs and pulled the book out. “No, it won’t be difficult to reach. This whole place is big and I don’t think it’s a natural cave. It’s too uniform and stays about the same size everywhere that I had gone except for the room with the Lake.”
“Lake?” Ashrak asked.
“Yes, an actual Lake. There’s no telling how big it is. It stretched off into the darkness farther than the light could go but the echoes from my voice told me it went on much further. However, it’s what’s sticking out of the lake that might be interesting to us.”
“Well out with it!” Daka grumbled angrily. “By the Seven, quit teasing us with all these mysterious hints or I’ll feed you to one of these dancers. What was sticking up out of the lake?”
Nilesh grinned and opened up the book to a large page with an illustration on it. He brought it over to the fire and set it on the ground so everyone could see. “This,” he said with a dramatic flourish. “This is what was sticking up out of the lake. It says here; it’s the gateway to the ancestors.”
They all looked over Nilesh’s shoulder and saw what looked like a massive, circular gate sticking up out of smooth stone. On either side were two massive statues that appeared to be wrestling with the round structure but were most likely there to keep it from falling over. Somehow the illustrator had drawn something in the circle that made it appear as if mist or something was swirling in its center.
“That’s it,” Ashrak said softly. “That’s got to be it.”
Chapter 18
The passageway to the lake was not difficult, and they found the spot where Nilesh had broken his lantern on his way back. Truly, it was the only two rocks they had seen on the floor in their entire time underground. Daka had ribbed Nilesh for several minutes afterward, praising his Riften bred ability to find valuable gemstones even in the darkest caverns but everyone went quiet once they reached the lake itself.
Nilesh had them put out the candlelight as they neared the entrance. Ellian grumbled about it, obviously not wanting to be trapped underground in pitch black though eventually they did as he asked. They were all happy they had done so because once the candlelight had gone out, it was replaced by a gentle purplish- blue glow from ahead of them. It was enough to see by and only grew as they proceeded forward.
“It’s beautiful,” Chari said as she walked out onto the shore of the Stygian lake. There were no waves on it smooth waters, and it reflected perfectly the glowing gateway that was at the end of a rough path out to it from the shore close to them. The illustration did not do the gateway justice because there is no way to capture the dark swirling colors of the stone that composed the statue and gateway. At first glance, it appeared to be obsidian, but once one looked closer, it refracted all of the colors of the rainbow though in very dark form.
Within the center of the circle were the mists and they continually turned and writhed about each other in a mixture of soft blue and purple hues. They could still see through to the other side and all of them got the distinct impression that if they tried to walk through it, it would lead somewhere else entirely.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ashrak said coming up next to Chari on his dancer.
Chari squinted for a moment as if trying to think of something. “You know, it reminds me of one of the gates that Aiden made. Not exactly, because his didn’t have that swirling mist in the center, but everything else does.”
Ashrak nodded, agreeing with her before dismounting from his dancer. Ellian came up next to her brother and looked at him quizzically. “Is this the same friend that made your armor and swords?”
“Yes, the same one,” Ashrak answered. “We used it to get the Naiadens from Reid Island to Riften before the Mourning Lord’s troops attacked. It almost killed Aiden to do it, and he slept for two days afterward, but it worked, and we were able to ambush their forces and destroy them.”
Daka whistled and shook his massive head. “By the gods, that’s thousands of kilometers. How long did it take to travel there?”
“As long as it takes to take one step,” Chari said. “You would be standing in Reid and see people moving around in Riften like you and I are looking at each other now.”
Ellian grunted and shook her head. “I don’t see anything beyond that gateway. There’s no telling where it might lead. Here’s another question. Do we even need to be messing with this thing? What does that book say about it, assassin?”
Nilesh frowned as he picked up the book and turned to the same pages where the illustration of the gate was. “You know, I’m not really an assassin. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I can kill people if I need to and have been trained to do so but I don’t take money to do it. Your friends out at the black spire are real assassins. We’ve even heard about them at the academy. Ah, here it is,” Nilesh said placing his finger on one of the pages and squinting closely at it. He began to read silently, and everyone stayed quiet as they watched him.
After several moments Nilesh lowered the book and looked thoughtfully at the gate. “What does it say?” Chari asked as she came up beside the small man and peeked at the book itself.
“Not much,” Nilesh said. “At least I’m not sure it says anything useful, and it might even be something dangerous. It says it’s a place for spirits to touch the living and for the living to touch the spirits in the court of Ah’haresh.”
“What does touching the living mean?” Chari asked. “Does it mean you have to die or something? And what is the court of Ah’haresh?”
Nilesh shrugged at Chari. “I don’t know to tell you the truth. It seems to make a distinction between the living and the dead, and I’ve never heard of the court of Ah’haresh. Has anyone else heard that name before?”
After watching everyone shake their head, Nilesh returned his nose to the book with Chari looking over his shoulder. “Teglareck isn’t very specific. He does use another name for the ancestors here in this paragraph and calls them the glowing ones. There is a story from a Village Headman who was searching for answers to the loss of his son. He traveled through the gate with some of his villagers and met these glowing beings on the other side. The old man described them as indistinct and that they floated, but they allowed him to speak to his deceased boy. The boy told them where to find the golden bands, and that someday someone would come by that needed that information.”
“Do we all have to go through the gate?” Ellian asked with a frown.
Nilesh shrugged. “It doesn’t say that exactly though it’s implied that at least some of them accompanied him into the gate. It doesn’t say everyone followed them, though.”
“They talked to the spirit of the dead boy and he told them where to find the Golden Bands?” Chari turned one of the pages and read a little bit further and shook her head in frustration. “It doesn’t say where to look for the golden bands. Is this where it ends? This next page looks like a recipe for meat and grains for their dancers. That can’t be right, can it?”
Nilesh reached over and turned the page then did several more before nodding. “Yes, Teglareck does this all the time. I think it’s one of the reasons they call him Th
e Mad. It’s made reading this book difficult and somehow I think he does it on purpose. It certainly keeps the casual reader from realizing half of the things he talks about it. Like this gate. If anyone else looked through this book and weren't on this journey, they would probably put the book down in disgust.”
“Well, that’s not helpful to us now,” Chari grumped. “Are you saying he might have more information later in the book?”
“Yes,” Nilesh answered. “That’s exactly what I’m saying, but there’s no way to tell if there is or isn’t information further in the book. He could have stuck it in some margin next to a description of rock that he stubbed his toe on for all we know. I’ve been reading through this book for a few days though I’m a long way from mastering what’s within it.”
“So what do we do now?” Ashrak said. “We can sit here and read through the book, or we can go through the gate and see what happens. What’s certain is we can’t go back the way we came. That thing is still sitting out there waiting to eat us.” Ashrak walked over to where Nilesh and Chari hunched over the book. “It doesn’t say anything about them dying when they spoke to this court of Ah’haresh, does it? I would think even if someone were mad, he would mention that.”
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 101
