by Martin Ash
So what had happened?
Many times he walked back to the cliff and examined in minute detail the area around the rune. There was nothing to be found, no indication of a doorway or anything irregular in the rock. They could not have gone back through, so where were they? Could they have been taken by the chanting people assembled before the portal? It was possible. Leth had not taken note of everyone before him. Some might have been out of his field of view, to his rear. At the instant that he released the children someone - two persons - could have crept up behind and snatched them.
Without a sound?
Leth's attention had been wholly directed away from Jace and Galry. It was quite possible that, stunned as he was, any brief scuffle would have escaped his notice. The children lifted from the ground, their mouths covered. . . they would have made so little noise.
'Gah!' Leth struck the rock once more. He looked impotently around him. Where had they been taken? There was no settlement in view, and the landscape was virtually bare, offering scarcely any opportunity for concealment. When he had first realised that the children were gone he had, after finding no way through the portal in the cliff, rushed out into the wilderness in pursuit of the strange assembly and the robed man. They had all vanished, as though into the air, for the land was almost flat until it met the hills in the distance, and he could see no feature that might have concealed them. The cliff behind him towered higher than he could see. It was almost too sheer to offer purchase to any but the most experienced climber. Its face was blank, without visible crevice, fissure or cavern. There was nowhere that any climber might have gone to hide from view, least of all climbers carrying two small, struggling children.
There was magic here, then.
Leth wrapped the food once more, mindful that his children would still be hungry. He secured it over one shoulder with the cord that bound it. The leather flask he strapped to his belt, then set off in the direction that the robed man had taken.
It did not take him long to determine where the robed man and his companions or followers had gone. Leth had walked barely one hundred paces when a shallow declivity, discernible only when he was virtually at its lip, revealed itself in the bare land. At its base was a cluster of small dome-like structures, the colour of the earth, with elongated ovular openings for door and window. Leth cursed. He stared at the buildings for some moments. Nothing moved; he descended. He drew the roseate sword and approached the first building.
Through the window opening of the dome he saw the robed man kneeling inside. His back was obliquely to Leth and he had his forehead pressed to the wall. The chamber he occupied was small and round with little in the way of furnishings. He appeared to be alone.
Leth strode to the door and with one blow kicked it open. The robed man jumped and spun upon his knees, half-falling, then lurched quickly to his feet. His face registered total dismay. 'Lord! Wha--'
Leth threw himself across the chamber, seized the man's scrawny throat with one hand and slammed him against the wall. 'Where are my children?'
The robed man made strangled noises, his eyes bulging, face swelling and turning purple. Leth relaxed his grip enough to let him speak. 'Where are they?'
'Y-y-your ch-children?' the man stammered.
'Tell me, or you will feel the rosy glow of this strange blade you have given me penetrating your worthless bowels.'
'L- Lord, do you not know?'
'Know what? I know nothing, save that I stepped through a door to find you grovelling before me, and moments later discovered my children gone. Who are you? Where is this place, and what is happening here?'
The robed man lifted his hands in placatory gesture. 'Wait. Wait. Release me. I will tell you all.'
Leth took his hand from his throat and stood back. The man recovered his breath, massaging his throat. 'Your children . . .' he began, then fell silent.
'My patience is limited,' Leth growled. 'And by all the forces of Enchantment, if they have come to harm. . . .'
The man grimaced. He could not meet Leth's eye. 'Lord, I do not know where to begin.'
'You call me Lord, and act as though expecting me. Who do you believe me to be?'
'Why, you are the Swordbearer, are you not? He who will deliver us from our pain. No other could draw the Sword of the Orb. You have returned after long ages, to slay the Kancanitrix.'
Leth scowled. 'I know nothing of this. I want my children, that’s all. Where are they?'
'Why. . . ? You truly do not know?' The robed man stared at him for long moments. He seemed lost for words. 'She has taken them.'
'What?' Leth advanced upon him again. 'Taken them where?'
The man shrank back. 'Lord, please! Do not wreak your anger upon me! I have done nothing except call you forth. That was my task, for I am Summoner, nothing more. My life has been lived only for this. It has taken so long!'
Leth drew back his lips across his teeth. 'Riddles and obscurancies! I will have no more of it! Tell me in plain words, or the life which you have lived for this one purpose will end now and you will sizzle on this scorching blade!'
The man called Summoner paused, then raised a forefinger. 'Wait. Wait, Lord. I will show you something.'
He slid along the wall, his eyes on Leth, smoothing his crumpled robe with the flats of his nervous hands, until he came to a blue curtain which hung to the floor. 'Give me a few moments, Lord. I’m not sure where I put it.'
He drew aside the curtain and began rummaging behind, muttering to himself. 'Ah! Where is it now? Is this it? No. Be patient, Lord, please. Bear with me. I will have it in a moment.'
A wooden crate came out, then a large jute sack stuffed to bulging with unknowns. 'Ah! No. Curse it! I think it is further in.'
Leth drummed his fingers in agitation upon his sword-hilt. Summoner was wholly behind the curtain now. It convulsed and billowed wildly as he searched. His voice sounded again, somewhat muffled, 'I see it now. Just a moment more.'
There was a creaking sound; the curtain grew still. Sensing the worst, Leth sprang. He wrenched the curtain aside. A grim gulf was before him, wholly black but for the uncertain outlines of stacked crates, sacks and sundry objects. He heard a muted thud at floor level further in as an unseen door was closed, then a heavy bolt slid home.
'Craven hound!' Leth threw himself towards the sound. He stumbled over something on the floor, and fell, crashing into a solid wall. Beneath him was wood, a trapdoor. On its other side he heard faint, hurried footsteps receding.
'Hound! Reprobate!! Come back now!' Leth's fingers groped furiously in the dark, found an iron loop set into the wood. He pulled, twisted, but the trapdoor was fast and did not give.
Leth stormed back into the main chamber, raging at himself for having been so easily tricked. He cast his eyes about the round chamber, seeking something with which to prise or smash open the trapdoor, but nothing was to hand. He went outside, ran to the nearest of the other dome-dwellings, peered through its single ovular window. It appeared untenanted. Leth tried the door, found it unlocked, and stepped inside. The room he entered was virtually identical to that within Summoner's dome. To one side a curtain hung upon the wall. This Leth tore aside. The sight that met him was, again, similar in all respects to that in Summoner's. Leth tried the inner trapdoor, and found it bolted from the other side.
In the third dome the tale was the same, but as he stepped outside again Leth spied a small wooden outhouse at the rear of the neighbouring dome. Here he found tools: scythe, hammers, pincers, various irons, hooks and spades. And in one corner - at last! - a heavy tree-felling axe and an iron jemmy. These he seized and returned to Summoner's dwelling and the trapdoor through which Summoner had made his escape.
The axe was superfluous; with the jemmy Leth was able to wrest the door free of the bolt that held it underneath. It came free with loud cracks and a shriek of protest. Leth raised it and let it fall back. A flight of steep wooden stairs led down. Leth, streaked with sweat, lowered himself through, to find h
imself in utter dark.
He listened: there was no sound. He took a single cautious step forward and found his foot upon the lip of a drop. He could not gauge its depth in the dark, but recognized that to a less circumspect intruder it could have proven injurious, even lethal. Sufficient time had passed for Summoner to have made good his escape, and there was nothing to be gained now by recklessness. Leth climbed the wooden stairs, returning to Summoner's dwelling and sought out an oil-lamp, which he quickly lit with flint and tinder, then returned to the dark below.
He found himself in a downward-sloping passage hewn into rock and earth, its walls and roof shored with sturdy tarred timbers. The drop over which he had come close to falling was almost as deep as an average man was tall - had he blundered over it he could indeed have suffered severely. But to a person knowledgeable of its existence it was simply a matter of scrambling over and then making off down the steps beyond.
Leth did just this, and with his lamp held before him began his walk into the unknown.
The tunnel was cold, damp and earthy, but well-constructed and seemed in no danger of collapse. Leth passed a series of side-passages angling off the main tunnel. All seemed to lead roughly back the way he had come. Investigating one he found that it took him back to one of the dome-dwellings, with rear trapdoor letting into a curtained vestibule or storage cupboard just as in Summoner's. Outside the trapdoor, also, a deep and sudden drop had been dug to catch the unwary or unwelcome. Leth returned to the main tunnel and continued on his way.
The tunnel levelled out and then began to ascend. In due course, warm from the exertion, Leth found himself approaching what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. A door of proud ancient timber barred his way. Upon the ground to one side of it was a lamp similar to the one he carried. Leth drew his sword from its scabbard; only now did he discover that the glowing blade cast a pale rose light sufficient to see by. He doused his lamp and put it beside the other, then tentatively tried the door.
It opened without resistance. He looked into a small unlit chamber lined with blocks of stone, straw scattered upon the floor. An iron door was set into the opposite wall. Cautiously he stepped into the chamber.
There was a scuffling sound above his head. Instinctively Leth threw himself back. Something dark bulked in the swordlight, leaping from a recess or shelf high upon the chamber wall. It landed solidly in front of Leth, a hideously deformed man-like thing with huge pale eyes, small arms and formidably muscled, clawed legs. Its head was small and bony, almost perfectly flat on top, its skin thick and calloused, slightly glistening, the colour of dirty grey clay. An extremely long, strong prehensile tail lashed the air before it, at its tip a three-fingered hand grasped a weapon resembling a heavy, cruelly-spiked mace. The creature drew back its wide lips, revealing fangs like small daggers, and hissed at Leth. Strange chatterings came from above.
Another of the creatures leapt down, and another. The first swung at Leth with its mace. Leth dodged the blow, struck with his sword, aiming a swinging blow at the tail where the 'wrist' joined the hand that held the weapon. To his surprise the roseate blade bit clean through the creature's tail, so cleanly that Leth barely felt its contact. He was momentarily thrown off balance, having anticipated far greater resistance. The creature vented a dismal howl as its tail-hand fell to the floor and a pale ichor pumped from the truncated limb. It quickly bent and picked up hand and weapon in its little forelimbs then sprang high and disappeared.
Six of the creatures now menaced Leth from the crowded chamber. Leth had retreated through the door to a position just within the tunnel, so they could attack him only singly. They gibbered incessantly; one made a feint, then drew back as Leth's sword stabbed. Another followed suit. Leth lunged, taking a single long step forward. His blade entered the creature's eye, surprising it before it could draw back. It screamed and leapt away.
The din from their gibberings was deafening now, and Leth realized that many more of the creatures must be lying in wait beyond his sight. He was relatively safe for the moment where he stood, for whilst powerful, the creatures seemed not to be particularly skilled fighters. But if he advanced he would almost certainly be overpowered, for he could not hope to kill them all.
How had Summoner got past? Leth would have surely heard them had they been roused by his passage. Had Summoner power over the creatures, or could he have taken another route? Leth had seen no other way in the tunnel, but that did not mean no concealed passage existed. Or might Summoner simply have taken one of the early side-passages back to the dome-dwellings? Leth had explored only one of the passages. Did all of them lead only to the dwellings?
Leth was seized with sudden alarm, the hairs rising at the back of his neck. He spun around, sword at guard, for he was half-expecting to see Summoner bearing down on him. But the tunnel was empty. Leth swung back. A creature had instantly seized the advantage, leaping through the door. Leth took a half-step to the side and dropped to one knee as a mace sang past his head. He drew his blade up and across in a reversed scything motion, opening the creatures belly wide. As its entrails spilled onto the dark earth the creature writhed, throwing back its head with an ear-splitting shriek. In a reflexive movement it leapt skywards, leaving its bowels in a trail as it sought the security of its overhead lair. It smashed hard into the tunnel roof and fell back to the floor, dying.
Leth was up, driving back another of the creatures which had ventured to the door. It retreated, yammering and glaring malevolently at him, its great mace gripped low before it, swinging rapidly back and forth. The strength of tail-muscles that could wield such a weapon so effortlessly could only be guessed at.
Leth again glanced quickly behind him, fearful that Summoner or some other assailant was at his back, but still the tunnel gaped black and empty. It seemed that he had no choice but to go back that way now, but this in itself presented difficulties. On this side of the door the tunnel was wide enough to enable the creatures to menace him in pairs. He would be forced to fight them as he retreated, and could not hope to best so many in such conditions. If he turned and ran he had little doubt that, with such formidably-muscled legs they would quickly outpace him.
He stood, eyeing the creatures but making no move, conserving his strength, seeking another way. The things milled in the chamber, monstrous phantom-like forms in the shadowy pink half-light, spitting and striking from within. They eyed him balefully but made nothing more than feints towards him. I can move neither forward nor back, came the dismal thought. Must I wait here helplessly until I perish?
Such inaction was unthinkable. He flexed his grip upon the glowing sword. He thought of Galry and Jace - where? - needing him, crying for him. And Issul, lost, he knew not where. The loss was too great to bear.
And then, to his surprise, a voice rang out. A woman's voice, strong and potently pitched, cutting through the noise of the beasts. 'Put away your sword!'
The sound came from within the chamber where the creatures milled. Now Leth saw her, pushing her way calmly through them, one arm extended, her forefinger pointing at him. 'Your blade! That’s what they fear. Put it away!'
'It’s my intention that they should fear it!' Leth called back incredulously. 'Do you think me mad?'
'You don't understand.' The woman, totally fearless, shouldered her way forward to stand in the door. She was tall and quite young, garbed in red half-armour, her hair confined beneath a moulded, ridged helmet. She was not beautiful by any means, yet her features were handsome, even striking, the bones well-formed. She stood confidently, feet firmly planted and hands upon her hips, and to Leth's eyes it seemed there was something distantly familiar about her. 'It’s the light. The ools can’t bear it.' Her eyes alighted upon the corpse of the creature Leth had slain, and her features fell. 'Oh, you have killed one.'
She lowered herself onto one knee beside the body and touched its head almost tenderly with the tips of her fingers.
'And injured others. They didn’t seek to barter,' said Leth.
/>
'Put away the blade!' she repeated, rising abruptly, a note of impatience in her voice.
'And be blind and helpless?'
The woman shook her head, sighing. 'Here. Here is my own sword.' She drew a slim blade from the scabbard at her hip and tossed it to Leth, who caught it in his left hand. 'The ools do not attack while I am here. See. Now, retreat a distance, as far as you wish, until you feel you can stand unharassed. Then sheathe the Orbsword, but keep mine on guard before you. If the ools advance you will hear them and can draw the Orbsword and see again.'
And face them in two's or more, thought Leth, but he backed away, for he could do little else. As he withdrew the noise of the ools diminished; they seemed less agitated. At fifty paces he paused.
'It’s all right,' called the woman. 'They won’t harm you now.'
Tentatively Leth sheathed the Sword of the Orb, and was engulfed in blackness. In almost the same moment the yammering of the ools fell to little more than a murmur.
The sweat ran cold between Leth's shoulder-blades. 'I can see nothing!' he called, though this was not strictly true. From the chamber of the ools there came the faintest greenish glow, enough to show the shape of the tall woman in outline and the dim figures, now quite still, of the ools behind her.
'Don’t be afraid,' came the reply. 'As long as you don’t draw the Orbsword you are safe. Listen, already the ools are leaping back to their lairs above.'
Leth heard queer whisperings and pipings, then grunts and scratching as immense muscles launched the creatures from the chamber-floor and they scrabbled to their unseen lairs somewhere overhead.
'That’s all it was: the light.' The woman's voice was closer now, though he could no longer see her. 'Nothing else will rouse them so, unless they’re deliberately provoked.'
