This time, the victim carried by the stalker was clearly not human; the legs were too long, a colt perhaps.
“You know what this reminds me of?”
Miko turned to his friend. “What?”
“Ants.”
“Ants?”
“Yep,” James replied with a nod. He pointed westward at yet another victim-laden stalker. “Ants go out empty but come back full.”
“But going back where?”
“That’s the question. Either way, we need to get the Star and soon,” James said. “We’ll worry about the whys and wherefores concerning these creatures later.”
“Brother Willim would be most interested to learn of this.”
“Good idea. When we get to Zixtyn, we’ll see if we can find the priest he mentioned and fill him in.”
The rest of the morning passed as the earlier potion had; stones felling stalkers and encountering more of those carrying victims into the Waste. Only one other carried a human, a boy this time. He too was deceased by extreme radiation poisoning. James felt nauseated.
When they came up behind one carrying an animal, James turned to Miko and asked, “Can you point toward where the Star lays?” He groaned when Miko’s arm rose and moved to align with the path of the stalker.
“I was afraid of that.”
“It is moving toward the Star?” Miko asked, surprised.
“So it would seem.”
“Why?”
“We’ll discover that when we get there,” he said aloud. Internally, his mind came up with all sorts of explanations, all of which tended toward the dark and macabre.
As noon approached, the number of creatures leaving the Waste gradually diminished while those returning with victims increased. Then the ground grew uneven as dark stones of varying shapes and sizes rose from the ground.
Coming to a large one that towered over both, Miko paused and reached out his hand. Just before he touched the stone, he quickly pulled it back.
“Something wrong?”
“Do not touch the stone.” Morcyth’s glow enveloped his hand then extended to the stone, passing over and through it. “Evil.”
James walked to the other side. “No wonder.”
The glow faded. “What do you mean?” Seeing James wave him over, he walked around the stone to join his friend.
James pointed to a series of engravings set into the hard surface. Though broken and severely damaged, the three dots and lines of the Warrior Priest symbol were clearly visible. “It must be part of Ith-Zirul, thrown here when it blew.”
“Then we are close.”
“I would say so,” James replied. “If this is here, then we must be close to ground zero.” When Miko glanced at him and arched an eyebrow, he added, “It means we are near the point where the explosion took place; within a mile or two at least.”
Miko closed his eyes. “Yes. I can feel the Star. We are very close.”
“Then let us not tarry.”
He could sense the Star very clearly now, knew almost to the foot how far ahead of them it lay. James was very close as to his estimation; slightly more than two miles. He quickened his pace.
Jutting stones, remnants of Dmon-Li’s high temple scarred the countryside. Most were hardly more than small chunks while a few sections of walls, floors or maybe ceilings laid skewed at an angle, towering over them. At one point their path led them through an arched doorway set into a section of a wall rising fifty feet high. The odd part was, the doorway was upside down. Once through, they continued on.
Nearly halfway there, Miko felt James’ hand on his arm.
“Look there,” James said, pointing off to their right.
A victim-bearing stalker, one that they had been keeping an eye on since before entering the rubble area, had come to a stop. The tentacle-like arms released the small hog it carried; the dead hog tumbled to the ground. The stalker then turned about and began heading back out of the Waste.
“What is it…,” Miko began then stopped when the ground beneath the hog began to rise.
Dozens of very fine tendrils burst through the ground. They moved first one way and then the other. Those that encountered the hog proceeded to twine around it. Soon the hog was nearly entirely cocooned by the tendrils.
“Have you ever seen anything like that before in your life?”
Miko shook his head. “Never even heard about it.”
Puffs of dirt plumed in the air from the ground directly surrounding the now-entwined hog. Small at first, they grew to great geysers full of dust and clods of dirt.
James gasped when a sheath, and that’s all he could think to call it, a sheath of flesh, skin, something extended from the ground as if following the tendrils. It continued rising from the ground to completely envelope the hog. Once the hog was fully contained, it sank back into the ground.
“Damn,” James cursed. “What was that?”
“I do not know,” Miko whispered. “But it would seem the stalked creatures are feeding it.”
James looked at him incredulously.
“We watched the stalker drop the hog, turn and leave. Then whatever that thing was took it,” he shrugged. “I do not know how else to describe it.”
“Curious.”
“Indeed.”
Off in the distance a ways, another stalker approached carrying a burden. Just as the previous one had done, it deposited its cargo, turned about and left. A few seconds later, that thing emerged from the ground to take it.
James looked to the ground beneath their feet, then glanced to Miko.
“We better be careful,” he said.
Miko nodded. “I think we should hurry and get the Star. With that in hand, I will be able to handle anything that should arise.”
“Then let’s go.”
They hadn’t gone twenty feet when Miko abruptly stopped. He pointed to the ground some thirty feet ahead. “Look.”
At first James didn’t see what it was that Miko was pointing at. Then the ground moved ever so slightly as if something large lurked just beneath the surface.
“Is it that thing that took the hog?” Miko asked.
“Haven’t a clue,” replied James, “though that would be a good guess.”
Angling to the right, they gave that area a wide berth. A few feet farther and they reached another place where something lurked just beneath the surface. They paused again. Scanning the immediate area, they notice several other instances where the ground moved ever so slightly. James readied a stone.
“Do you think that is wise?”
“I would prefer not to be in the middle of those things when they all decide dinner wandered into their midst.”
“They may not notice us.”
“Yeah,” James replied, “and then again, they might.”
Miko reached down and picked up a rock the size of his fist. “Let me try something first.”
“Okay.”
Aiming for the nearest lurker, he lobbed the stone and watched it land, bounce off, and roll as it hit the ground. The lurker failed to so much as twitch.
Miko approached the lurker.
“Be careful,” James cautioned.
Stopping within a couple feet, Miko used his foot to gently scrape away the thin layer of dirt and rocks covering it. He waved James over.
James got there just as the lurker bowed out at the top as if something firm tried to push its way out. For a brief second, the outward distention of the lurker resembled a hog’s head.
“Did you see that?” James asked incredulously.
“Yes I did.”
Turning to Miko, James asked, “What did you see?”
“It looked like the body of the hog was being drawn through the lurker. You?”
“Same.” James brushed off more of the lurker’s dirt and rock covering. It was an off-brown, rough, and every few seconds, a tremor would course through it from left to right. Glancing left, James pointed and said, “So the stalker brings the hog and drops it there. Then
that other thing grabs it and next we see it passing through here on its way to…”
He turned to the right, “To where the Star is.” He glanced to Miko.
“Why?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” James replied as he eyed what he was growing to believe was not a creature lurking below to pounce on unsuspecting travelers. Rather an intestine-like conveyance system through which stalker victims were transported. Possible scenarios played out in his mind as to what could be waiting for them at the end of the line.
“You look worried.”
Snapping out of his reverie, James nodded. “I am. Let’s get the Star and get out of here.”
It became very clear that the underground conveyance conduit they encountered was but one in a labyrinthine network. The entire area was riddled with them moving in every which direction. Most were right at or just below the surface while others had their top layers exposed. One was completely in the open. It looked like a very long worm that pulsed periodically with rippling motions that started somewhere out in the Waste, then progressed to the central network area somewhere ahead.
The network of conveyance tubes paid them no attention whatsoever and the number of stalkers had dropped to almost nothing. Since first discovering the network below the sands, James had only had to drop one.
Conveyance tubes began gradually emerging from the ground the further they went. An inch or two at first, they eventually rose until dozens laid nearly completely out of the ground. The outer skin was leathery yet pliable. One climbed off the ground and passed through a window in the side of a large chunk of temple debris. James watched in horror as the bulge indicating the passage of a victim moved through it. It hesitated slightly upon reaching the window ledge, but then worked its way over and vanished on the other side.
“Brother Willim’s people have their work cut out for them.”
Miko nodded. “This cannot be allowed to flourish.”
They continued forward, avoiding as much direct contact with the conveyance tubes as well as working through the debris field. Coming to a series of massive edifices, they were forced to climb up one wall and through a doorway to avoid having to climb upon the tubes. Miko gave James a boost up.
Surprisingly enough, beyond the doorway was a complete room with four walls, floor and ceiling, all completely intact. In the wall opposite stood a wooden door; closed and intact. If not for the fact that the room was tilted at an angle, he could almost believe he was somewhere else.
Reaching down, he pulled Miko up.
“What are the odds this room survived like this?” James mused when Miko joined him in the room.
“Very long I would imagine.” Then he grinned, “But I bet Scar could put a point on it.”
James laughed. “I bet he could.”
At the door, they found it locked.
“I got this,” James said. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the door for a moment then opened his eyes. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
James smiled and reached out. A gentle shove caused a rectangular section of the door, one large enough for them to pass through, to fall away.
“How did you do that?”
“A variation of my assassin spell,” he explained. “If I can alter my shields to sever flesh, figured I could do so with other material.” Then he glanced to Miko, “Sectioning the door took more magic; must be due to the increased density of wood versus flesh.”
“No prison could hold you.”
“Not anymore.”
Miko laid a hand on his shoulder. “This is a fearsome ability.”
“And a weighty responsibility. I dare not allow the idea that this is possible to get out.”
About to reply, Miko stepped to the opening in the door and gasped. “Oh, my,” he breathed and stepped through.
From the doorway the stone floor stretched four feet before coming to a jagged end. But it was not the prospect of climbing down that had caused such a reaction. Rather it was the large pit not fifty yards from where they stood. Had they been on the ground with all the tubes and chunks of debris in the way they may not have seen it until right on top of it.
The pit itself was at least a hundred feet across, maybe more. A massive structure formed of the same material as the tubes rose from the center of the pit to tower over twenty feet above the desert; its lower end disappeared within the depths of the pit. Two stalks, identical to those upon the stalkers only much larger extended from the very top. Radial anchor lines secured the structure to the sides of the pit. Scores of tubes coming in from every part of the Waste connected to six extremely large tube sections extending from the central edifice at radial intervals.
“What is that?”
James shook his head. He watched the approach of a tell-tale bulge. It traveled along until reaching one of the six large primary tubes extending from the structure rising from the pit. There it passed through and disappeared.
“Please tell me the Star is not at the bottom of that pit.”
Miko closed his eyes and listened to the Star; then he turned to James. The expression on his face said it all.
“Damn.”
“How should we proceed?”
Gazing to the sun that was already dipping past noon, James said, “Whatever we do, we need to do it now.”
Miko nodded but remained quiet.
“Okay, we go in, get the Star then destroy that thing.”
“Should not be too hard.”
James turned to Miko and saw the grin.
“Yeah. Piece of cake.”
“Tart.”
“What?”
“I like tarts more than cake.”
James rolled his eyes. “Now is not the time to be funny.”
“Sorry.”
“Now, am I correct in assuming that once you get your hands on the Star, that you will be able to take that thing down?”
“Possibly.”
“What do you mean, possibly?”
“What I mean is, is that Morcyth does not allow wanton destruction of the natural order,” he explained.
James pointed to the structure rising from the pit. “Do you call that natural?”
Miko shrugged. “It matters not if you or I consider such a thing as unnatural. What matters is if Morcyth does.”
“So we might find our lives in jeopardy and the Star remain impotent?”
“I did not say that,” Miko argued. “There is a difference between destruction for the sake of destruction, and destruction in the interest of saving a life. Should I come across a rhino-lizard that is non-aggressive, I could not use the Star to kill it. However, if it was charging me, I could.”
“That’s splitting hairs.”
“Gods do not always make sense. As high priest, I must endeavor to fulfill the desires of my god whether or not I understand them, agree with them, or even if it should mean my life.” He eyed James carefully. “Do you understand that?”
Grudgingly, he said, “Yes.”
“But take heart. Morcyth has yet to let us down. He will be there should the situation call for it.”
“I hope so.”
From their vantage point, they scouted for a route to the pit that would enable them to avoid climbing over incoming tubes. Best they could do was one where only two had to be crossed. Jumping off the end of the broken floor, they carefully made their way to the first tube.
James crossed first. He put his hands against the side of the tube and could feel its subtle vibration. Pushing slightly, he backed up quickly in case his action elicited a reaction. The tube remained dormant.
“Perhaps get a running start,” Miko suggested.
“Good idea.”
Hoping to do better than he had in gym class when they were forced to do the pommel horse, he ran forward and leapt with hands outstretched. They connected with the top of the tube, slid and he impacted the side with his entire weight.
The side bowed in nearly a third of the way.
> “Get back!” Miko hollered.
Afraid he had waked it up or something, he lurched back.
Ripples coursed along the tube from his point of impact. He looked on in worry as they coursed their way toward the big, main tube to which it connected. The ripple struck it and dissipated. By this time the bowed in section had already fixed itself.
He and Miko looked about the area for incoming trouble and breathed a sigh of relief when none materialized.
Miko turned to him, grinned and said, “Nice.”
“Think you can do better?”
“I can but try.”
Six quick steps, Miko leapt, hands landed firmly and he leveraged himself over without any other part of his body touching the tube. He stumbled upon landing and fell; which made James feel better for some reason. The tube only showed the barest hint of bowing in.
Once Miko regained his feet, James tried it a second time. This time he didn’t try to vault over. Instead he threw himself bodily on top of it; his weight collapsing the tube to nearly half its regular diameter. He then rolled and scrambled off the other side.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” he said.
A small popping sound drew his attention back to the tube. Where he had belly-whomped, green ichor oozed from a small crack. The crack grew in size as the tube pushed back to regain its former shape. As the crack grew, so too did the flow of green ichor.
“Uh-oh.”
“Get back,” Miko warned.
James back-stepped until he came abreast of Miko.
The crack grew to several inches before small tendrils emerged, tendrils very much like those that had earlier gripped the hog before it was taken. They intertwined with each other and had the crack mended and the flow of green ichor staunched in short order.
Miko glanced to James. “We should be more careful in the future.”
James just glared at him. “Come on, there’s one more to cross.” Then it should get interesting, he added silently to himself.
The next tube proved slightly easier. Having done it once, James knew better what to do. This time he didn’t belly-whomp, rather he did more of a high jump. He leapt, his feet coming up until he was almost horizontal at the point where he reached the top of the tube. His back did hit the top of the tube, but rolling off quickly prevented such a sizeable indentation as he made the last time.
Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two Page 42
