Malediction (Scars of the Sundering Book 1)

by Hans Cummings

  His sister pulled her cloak tighter. "Not going to tell Pancras where we're really going, huh?"

  "We're meeting her in the undercroft. I don't know for sure that we're sneaking out. Besides, I don't want to worry him, all right?" Kale looked one last time across the city before stepping down the spiral stairs.

  "The undercroft. Great. More dead things." Delilah stomped along behind him. Between her feet slapping and her claws clicking on the cold stone, it was obvious to Kale she was deliberately noisy. He turned to her and shushed her.

  "You know, you can stay upstairs if you don't want to come. Pancras says there aren't any more dead things in the catacombs. Well, there are, but none that are moving around." Kale looked into the hallway from the bottom of the stairs. He saw a guard walking away from them.

  Delilah pushed him into the hall. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

  Neither the guards nor the palace staff paid the draks any mind as they made their way past the main hall and to the corridor that led to the undercroft. Delilah grumbled under her breath the whole way.

  "Are you going to be like this the whole night?"

  "Yes."

  Adjusting his hat, Kale turned into the hallway. He was surprised there weren't guards posted at the undercroft doors. "Ophayra!" Delilah lit the skull atop her staff.

  The undercroft itself appeared untouched since their last visit.

  "I'm supposed to meet her by the door to the catacombs." Kale led his sister through the undercroft to the door. The body of the zombie Delilah destroyed was gone, but the scorch mark where the corpse burned still marred the floor. He tried the door handle. It was locked.

  "See? She probably just wants you to let her in so she can rob the place." Delilah leaned against one of the arches and picked at one of the fetishes on her harness. Kale knelt down by the door and opened his tool pouch. The lock was rudimentary, designed to keep the casual wanderer at bay but was no match for someone who actually knew how to pick locks.

  With a click, the locking mechanism disengaged, and Kale opened the door. He packed up his tools and noticed that the pile of bodies he assumed were on the other side were nowhere to be seen. I guess Deli really wiped them out. The stench of burned flesh lingered in the air and mingled with the musty odor.

  "I was wondering when you'd show up." Kali stepped out of the shadows. She was wearing the same dark cloak as when Kale saw her in the shop. She raised her brow and clicked her teeth when she saw Delilah. "Backup, or a chaperone?"

  "Protection." Delilah leveled her staff at Kali. "From you."

  Laughing, Kali pushed the staff up and away from her. "You think so little of me. Three of us will make this easier. Come on." She motioned for them to follow her into the catacombs.

  Kale pulled the door shut behind them. "Where are we going?"

  "Yeah, and why?" Delilah took her brother's arm and pulled him to a stop. "What do you need Kale for?"

  Kali turned around. She spread her hands and smiled. "It's very simple. You're new in town. You have stripes. Obviously, you have talents the average working drak around here doesn't have."

  Kale rubbed his arm. "What do our stripes have to do with anything?"

  "Probably nothing. Children of Destiny? Isn't that what all the old draks call you stripeys?" Kali put her hand on Kale's shoulder. "It doesn't mean anything, but there are a lot of draks who think it does. You can be an inspiration to them."

  Kale brushed her hand off his shoulder and stepped back to stand next to his sister. "We don't want to be an inspiration to anyone. Besides we don’t believe all that talk about destiny. It’s all superstitions and nonsense."

  "Tell us what's going on, or we'll head right back upstairs." Delilah locked her arm with Kale's.

  "There's a seedy underbelly to this city." Kali leaned against the wall. She picked her teeth with one of her claws. "Do you know about the mines?"

  Kale shared a confused look with his sister. They both shook their heads.

  "Deep below, under the catacombs, there's quite a few mines. Of course, humans being short sighted and impatient, they linked the entrances with the catacombs and various other underground places. They own the mines."

  "So? What do they mine?" Kale wished she would get to the point. He wanted to stare in her blue-flecked yellow eyes and hold her hands but had difficulty reconciling his desire with his distrust of anyone who beat around the bush.

  "Salt mostly." She clenched her fists and leaned toward them. "It's not what they mine. It's how they mine it. There's a thriving slave trade under Almeria. I know it. The prince knows it. And too damn many humans know it and don't do anything about it."

  Delilah tapped the butt of her staff against the ground. "I don't like slavers. But what do we have to do with this? You don't have draks around town who can help you?"

  "Yeah." Kale nodded at his sister. "That hat guy gave up this hat with only a word from you. Don't tell me you don't have influence around here." He agreed with his sister on the slaver issue, though. He didn't like it when even the oroqs kept goblin slaves before they were driven out of Drak-Anor.

  "Well, sure, but"—Kali smiled a lopsided grin and stroked Kale's arm—"how honest do you want me to be?"

  Delilah pulled Kale's arm away from Kali. "Completely. Or we don't budge."

  Kali licked her lips and regarded them for a moment and then nodded. "All right. Fine. I consider you, both of you, more expendable than the draks I know around town. You don't have any ties around here, so if something goes wrong and you get captured or killed, it'll be easier for me to save my own skin. But I meant what I said. I think you probably have skills and talents most of the draks around here don't have. Am I wrong?"

  Kale didn't know what kind of skills or experiences draks in Almeria had, but he would bet money none of them had fought dwarves or oroqs before, and he knew none of them had ever charged into battle flying on the back of a dragon.

  He looked back at Kali. "No, you're not wrong about that."

  "Okay, so what's the plan? What are we doing? Freeing the slaves? Wiping out all the slavers?" Delilah leaned on her staff and awaited Kali's response.

  Kale knew bringing his sister along was a good idea. He could count on her to do whatever it took to accomplish their goal, even if she wasn’t completely sold on the plan. He felt more confident in his own abilities knowing she was there, too.

  "I hadn't intended for us to free all the slaves right now. I've only just learned the way into the mines through the catacombs and sewers." Kali stepped forward, ducking under an arch-spanning spider web. "Think of this more as a scouting mission."

  * * *

  The deeper the three draks traveled into the catacombs, the staler and fouler the air became. Mingled with the decades-old scent of decay, fresher odors seeped in from the sewers. Scratching sounds and squeaks in the dark told Delilah they were not alone, but Kali dismissed them as rats or possibly very large spiders.

  I hope she's right about that. I can handle those. If we're being stalked by ghouls, that's another story. Delilah kept her misgivings to herself and her eyes on Kale. Her brother seemed enamored of this orange-scaled drak. And maybe he should be. None of the females back home seem to be interested in getting to know him.

  Kali stopped at a three-way intersection. She pointed down the left passageway. "If you go that way, you'll end up near the city market. There's a loose grate that leads into one of the water runoffs. If it's not full of water, you can follow that all the way to the market. We're going this way." She pointed to the right.

  "Have you ever been to the mines before?" Kale kept pace next to Kali. Delilah followed them, her staff providing enough light for them to see several burial niches ahead. Once, she thought she saw something move in the shadows, but when they reached the spot, it turned out to be a rat's nest.

  "No, but I've heard stories. I haven't been arrested for anything bad enough to warrant imprisonment in the mines yet. They'll also send you if you rack up
enough debts you can't pay. I've even heard they send soldiers out west, toward the wastes, to kidnaps draks and dwarves when too many prisoners die."

  It sounded unbelievable to Delilah. "How do the people tolerate this? Don't they care? Pancras said the princess was nicer than the prince. Doesn't she care?"

  Kali looked back at Delilah. "I don't think the princess knows. She and the prince have never gotten along. Her father sent her down here to marry Gavril as part of some political deal. The people? As long as it's draks and not humans, the ones who know or suspect just don't care. But the lords like to keep it a secret. No one asks too many questions."

  After what seemed like hours to Delilah, they came to a bricked-up wall. A section of bricks near the bottom were broken and pushed aside. Kali crouched down by the hole. "This used to connect this part of the catacombs to the old iron mine. It ran dry, so they bricked up the access. All the bodies in this area are miners that died on the job. Hired dwarves, draks, humans, too. We can get to the salt mine through here." She dropped onto her belly and wiggled through the hole.

  Kale gestured at the hole. "You go first, Deli. We'll need your light in there."

  Delilah dropped to the ground, pushed her staff through the hole, and then followed it. Kali helped her to her feet, slapping her on the back as she stood. The tunnel was only a few inches taller than the draks, and was a perfect semi-circle, except for the floor. It was as if the tunnel was bored out of the earth by a machine.

  Kale was next. As he crawled through the hole, his cloak snagged on a brick. He jerked it free, but smacked his back against one of the bricks. Delilah heard him whimper and he lay there a moment, unmoving.

  "Kale? Kale!"

  He pushed himself up and winced. "I'm okay. It's all right. Those lumps are sensitive, you know?"

  Kali's eyes widened as she regarded the twins. She backed against the wall. "What lumps? Do you have some sort of disease?"

  "It's a long story. Nothing contagious." Kale rotated his shoulders and twisted his back. He sighed and shook his head.

  Delilah brought the top of her staff around and flipped Kale's cloak off his back. The lumps split open and oozed a viscous, cloudy fluid. She noticed flaps of flesh underneath the peeling skin.

  "You've busted them open, Kale. There's something inside."

  "What?" Kale craned his neck, whipping his head from side to side trying to see what his sister saw.

  "You didn't tell me you were sick." Kali made a warding gesture and moved further away from the twins.

  "I'm not. I went through a chaos rift before we went home and strange things have been happening to me. That's all. Nothing for you to worry—ow!"

  Kale yelped when Delilah poked the flesh around the mound. More fluid oozed forth.

  "No wonder it hurts. Whatever is in there is crammed in. Give me one of your daggers." Delilah wedged the butt of her staff in the bricks. She bent Kale over and pulled him around so she could get a closer look.

  "Stop, Deli! I'm fine."

  "Don't be a baby, Kale. I've seen worse than this. We need to get this taken care of. Kary, Kali… whatever your name is. Come over here and help me. Take his hand or something. Keep him still." Delilah held out her hand. "Kale. Dagger. Now."

  She felt him slap the hilt of one of his throwing daggers into her open palm. She wasn't used to seeing open, gaping wounds on her brother, but she'd seen plenty of draks run through by dwarves or oroqs. Dismemberment, evisceration, beheadings, they were all worse than this. She probed the wound on Kale's back with the dagger. The flesh flaps within strained against the rest of the skin and scales surrounding them. She poked at one of the flaps with her claw.

  "Hey!"

  "Did that hurt?"

  "Not really. It felt really weird. Did you stick your claw in my back?"

  Kali gulped and looked away. It appeared she was about to spew her last meal all over the tunnel. Delilah chortled and with a flick of the dagger, slit the skin around the flaps.

  Kale screamed. The flaps burst forth from the slit and unfolded, spreading into a wet, leathery wing. Delilah's eyes widened in wonder, and she repeated the motion on the other side of his back. Kale cried out a second time, and another wing unfolded. Fully unfurled, they hung down past his buttocks and reached the brim of his hat.

  "How's that?"

  "What is it?" Kale's voice quivered in pain. "What did you do?"

  Kali looked up and gasped. She dropped Kale's hand and fell to her knees. "Great Rannos!"

  "Kale, this is amazing." Delilah released her brother. He straightened up and looked over his shoulder.

  Reaching around his back, he felt the wings and then flapped them. Sticky ichor flew off, like when a dog shakes after being in the river. Delilah covered her eyes from the spray. "Are those wings?"

  Delilah nodded and laughed.

  Kale craned his neck to see the other side and flapped his wings again. "That is fantastic!"

  "Wait until Pancras see this!"

  "Terrakaptis should see this!"

  "Do you think I can fly?"

  "Can you carry me when you fly?"

  The draks talked over each other in their excitement. "We have to try these out!"

  "Pacha’s blue bollocks!" Kali shrieked. "Doesn't this strike either of you as a little strange?" She crawled backward away from the twins until she was trapped in a corner.

  Kale giggled. "I'm just happy it's not a worm or a boggin bursting out of my back to eat me. This is great. I can breathe fire now, I have w—" He gasped and covered his mouth with his hands. "I'm a dragon!"

  "You can breathe fire?" Kali worked her way up the wall until she was upright again. Delilah noticed she held a wicked-looking curved knife in her hands. "I thought you were just talking big when you said you burned a minotaur to death."

  Kale spun around and inhaled. He pushed Delilah back and breathed. Flames shot down the tunnel, burning away cobwebs. Delilah put her arm across Kali and held her back. She looked at the orange drak, then down at her dagger, and shook her head.

  "Okay, Kale. That's enough. It's getting hot and hard to breathe." Delilah coughed and blinked her eyes, working to flow tears to wash away the irritation caused by the smoke.

  Kale turned around again and faced the two females. His grin split his head in two. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

  * * *

  Kale felt great, better than before they went to Ironkrag to help the dwarves with their ghoul problem. His back stung a bit where Delilah cut him, but the ache he had been living with was gone. He arranged his cloak to hang down his back between his wings. Extended, he could scrape the sides of the tunnel with them. He couldn't wait to go outside and find out if he was able to fly.

  He couldn't help but have a little spring in his step as he continued on, although Kali was not as eager to walk alongside him. Oh well, she'll come around. I hope. He glanced over his shoulder at the two females. Delilah looked ahead, watching for oncoming threats. Kali kept glancing behind, eyes darting to and fro, like a frightened animal seeking an escape.

  Kale tried to put her at ease by smiling every time their eyes met, but it only seemed to agitate her further. As the tunnel sloped downward and ended in a sheer drop, he put aside the thoughts of putting her at ease.

  Delilah kicked a rock over the edge. It clattered against the bottom after what seemed to be a short fall. "If we hang-drop, I think we'll be all right. I don't know how easy it will be to climb back up, though."

  Kale moved past Kali, touching her shoulder as he passed. She jumped at his touch and then looked away, pressing herself against the tunnel wall. He leaned over the edge. He spotted the bottom. It appeared to be a small room alongside a larger passage. Kale knelt down and felt the wall below the edge. His sensitive fingers felt crevices and irregularities in the rock face that would provide easy purchase for drak claws.

  He swung his legs over the edge and hopped off before anyone could stop him. Kale spread his wings. They
caught the wind and slowed his descent, although the sudden jolt made his new joints pop audibly. He winced as he landed and flapped his wings to ensure they still worked. Apart from some new soreness, they seemed to have functioned as he expected. He chuckled and waved for the females to follow him down.

  As he waited, he looked around. The passageway connecting to the room he was in was square and reinforced with timbers. A pair of steel rails ran its length, as far as he could see in either direction.

  Delilah climbed over the edge and tossed her staff down to Kale. "Catch it!"

  He caught it and set it aside. She dropped down, falling to her knees and rolling. Kale offered his sister a hand and helped her to her feet. He waved to Kali. "It's not far. There's another passage. It has rails in it."

  Kali girded herself and dropped down. After Kale helped her to her feet, she brushed herself off. "All right, then. Let's get on with this." She entered the passageway and knelt by the track. "We're definitely in the mine now. I think this is an unused spur." She pointed down the passageway. "See how the rails are bent? How they don't join up exactly? Mine carts don't handle misaligned rails well."

  Delilah looked one way and then the other. "Which way should we go?"

  Kali sniffed the air, pulled out a lump of chalk, and marked the wall near the floor. She pointed to the left. "That way."

  "What makes you so sure?" Kale looked to the right. It appeared the passageway was the same in either direction. Obviously, they didn't lead to the same place, but he wouldn't know how to tell which way led deeper into the mine.

  "The breeze is flowing that way." Kali pointed to the right. "If we follow the foul air, we should find the operating portion of the mine."

  The passageway ran straight, and the further they went, the more evidence they found of its disuse. Several sections of track were missing completely, and in one area, they squeezed past a rockslide where the tunnel had partially collapsed. Once they were past the rockslide, the dark grey walls of the passageway became streaked with white. The air tasted salty to Kale, and he heard the faint sounds of picks on stone.