The Redemption, Volume 1

by Clyde B Northrup

  “I see why you wield teka,” Blakstar said, grinning; “it does get things done faster.”

  Thal and Klaybear both laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s see what they have found.”

  “I think we found it,” Reena said as they walked up. “There are stones here that have been worked, and there is an opening below, but whether or not it leads anywhere . . . ,” she left it hanging.

  “We will find out,” Tevvy said, smiling widely up at them. He looked at Thal and Blakstar. “If one of you could send a light down, I’ll go and take a look.”

  Thal spoke the word and directed his magluku into the narrow opening. Tevvy peered down into the space below for a moment before speaking. “I think there is something down there,” he said, “maybe a small chamber, I cannot tell for sure from this angle.” He looked up at the others. “Let’s move some of this stone back so you can lower me in.”

  A few minutes later, Blakstar held a rope over his shoulder and lowered the awemi into the opening; the rope soon went slack.

  “I’m down,” Tevvy called up. “It looks like a guard room; there used to be a trap door over stairs, but the door has rotted away,” he said and then fell silent for a time. “There is a lot of rubble in the stairwell, but I think we could move it; the stairs still look passable, but I’ll need some help clearing the way enough to investigate further.”

  The three of them looked at each other for a moment before Thal spoke. “I’ll go down,” he said, “there are some ortheks I’d like to try,” he said with a half-smile. Blakstar offered him the rope; Thal snorted. “Am I not a maghi?” he asked, holding his rod in front of him. He turned it horizontal to the ground, spoke a word, then stepped into the opening. He smiled back at Blakstar’s surprised look, then pointed his rod down; he was still smiling as he sank into the hole. He and Tevvy shuffled some of the rocks in the stairwell, then Thal raised his rod and began singing softly to himself. The stone blocking the stairwell moved back into the walls; he lowered his rod and let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow.

  “There is a way,” Thal called up, “disused, but a way.” He looked up at Reena, who was looking down into the hole. “Tell Delgart that we have found a way in.”

  Reena nodded. “May the One be with and keep you.”

  “And you, also, Reena,” Blakstar returned as the chief scout got to her feet and disappeared from Thal’s view.

  “Lower Klaybear down,” Thal said, “and then I’ll come up and bring you down.”

  Blakstar nodded, stood, and he lowered Klaybear slowly into the chamber. He coiled the rope while Thal rose up out of the hole, then wrapped his arms around Thal’s shoulders, making the thinner wethi wince under his weight. They sank slowly into the ground.

  Chapter 21

  Our lives are governed by elemental forces: even the simplest action, as in raising my arm over my head, is teka-powered, or at least teka-enhanced. . . .

  from Annals of Melbarth, First Series, Early Lectures of the Hierarchs

  Lecture by Sedra Melbarth

  In the light of Thal’s magluku, Klaybear could clearly see the large cracks in the floor, ceiling, and walls of the square chamber. The walls in places were pushed in and the floor was uneven, silent witnesses of the cataclysmic forces that had buried this part of Morokolu. The chamber had two rusted, metal doors, both hanging partially open, off their hinges, one on the south wall toward the east, the other on the east wall toward the north. There had been a table, some chairs, and two wooden cabinets, but since all had been made of wood, very little remained but rotten piles of wood and chunks of red rust that might once have been nails, handles, or hinges. Light flickered from the passage to the east, like flashes of torchlight. Tevvy stepped carefully and silently across the uneven floor and slipped past the gap between the door and its stone frame into the passage beyond, signaling that his companions wait; he returned moments later and moved toward the southern door, slipping past its gap.

  A few moments later he stuck his head back through the gap. “This way,” he whispered and beckoned them.

  Carefully, so as not to make too much noise, the kortexi pulled and then pushed on the door, widening the gap so that he, Klaybear, and Thal could pass through; the hinges groaned and bent, the bottom of the door scraped across the stone as Blakstar widened the opening. He slipped through, followed by Klaybear whose breastplate, like Blakstar’s, scraped across the rusted edge of the door. Thal directed his light through the gap and then followed. Klaybear entered a hallway that, like the room, showed clear signs of the forces that had buried the fortress: walls cracked and pushed in, parts of the ceiling fallen in, the floor uneven and pushed up in places; the hallway was about forty feet long, running south, before turning east and going down a cracked and rubble-choked stairway.

  “Where did that other door lead?” Thal asked Tevvy as they walked carefully down the hallway.

  “It was a defensive position above the west gate,” Tevvy replied, climbing over a pile of rubble. “The light came from arrow slits looking down on the main entrance; there was a lot of activity down there.”

  “Could you see what kind?” Blakstar asked stepping over the rubble the awemi had to climb across.

  “Not clearly,” Tevvy replied, “most of the openings were twisted, so I could not see down very well, but I would guess it was many people passing out.”

  Klaybear snorted. “Of course, Delgart is keeping them busy,” he noted.

  “That’s good,” Blakstar went on, “I hope it means that the morgle empties the fortress, which will make it easier for us.”

  Tevvy grinned. “It sure sounded that way.” He stopped and peered around the corner. “A stairway going down,” he whispered over his shoulder, “choked with rubble, but I think we can get through.” He slipped silently around the corner; Klaybear followed and when Thal’s light followed him around the corner, he saw Tevvy scrambling over the rubble and down the stairway. There was light leaking up from below. Blakstar went after Tevvy, climbing carefully over the rubble and moving more slowly than the awemi in order to make no noise; Klaybear followed Blakstar, and Thal followed Klaybear. At the bottom of the stairs the kailu found a long, torch lit hallway that was free of rubble and dust, and the cracks in the walls, floor, and ceiling had been carefully repaired; there were pairs of doors spaced evenly along the wall to their right, and Tevvy stood listening at the nearest; Thal canceled his magluku. After a moment, Tevvy examined the door carefully, then took out a small tool and began to pick the lock. Blakstar frowned and started to move toward him, but Klaybear put a hand on the kortexi’s shoulder stopping him.

  “Let it go,” Klaybear whispered, “he’s doing his job.”

  “His job does not include stealing everything he can find,” Blakstar hissed.

  Tevvy looked back, his face twisted with fury, and he spoke in a barely audible whisper. “Your voices carry down this hallway,” he noted through gritted teeth, “and anyone who has ears will hear. I’m trying to find out who or what uses this room, so we can determine where we are in this wretched place, and from that decide which way to go from here.” He paused and focused on the lock for a moment; Klaybear heard a soft click, and the door opened. Tevvy grinned evilly at Blakstar. “Someday my stealing just might save your life: when the moment comes, you had better pray that I have forgotten all your slights of my character.” Without waiting for the kortexi’s response, Tevvy slipped into the room.

  Blakstar tried to leap after him, but both Klaybear and Thal grabbed him and held him back. Klaybear caught and held the kortexi’s eyes. “This same kind of prejudice nearly got us all killed in Shigmar.”

  “And in Karble,” Thal added in a whisper, “and everywhere else we have been. You have to let it go.”

  Blakstar relaxed and sighed. “I can’t,” he admitted, “it’s who I am.”

  Thal snorted softly. “What is your order’s position on the use of teka and teka-powered artifacts?”
>
  “It is forbidden,” Blakstar replied.

  “Is your sword a teka-enhanced artifact?” Thal asked.

  “Well . . . , but it’s the first kortexi’s sword,” Blakstar replied, trying to evade the question, “so the question does not apply.”

  Klaybear shook his head.

  “How did we clear away Spenthronsa’s black webs?” Thal asked.

  “You cast an orthek and channeled it through the sword,” Blakstar replied.

  “And did you sing any words of power?” Thal asked.

  “Well, yes,” Blakstar admitted, “but I did not cast the orthek, you two did,” he went on, pointing at them, “you just channeled the power through me and my sword.”

  “And did you enjoy it?” Thal asked.

  Surprise lit up Blakstar’s face, and he stood silent for a moment before speaking. “I don’t see what that has to do . . . ,” he began, but Thal cut him off.

  “Everything,” Thal interrupted him, “it has everything to do with it. If what you say is true, that you are simply a conduit we used, then you would feel nothing, not even the power passing through you, because you were not an active but passive part of the action. If, however, you felt joy at the wielding of the forces, that would prove that you were an active participant in the wielding of the forces to enact the orthek.”

  Blakstar’ face wrinkled in confusion.

  “There is a simpler test,” Klaybear put in.

  “Yes there is,” Thal admitted, “but I’m not sure he is willing to try it.”

  “Anything’s better than your convoluted explanations,” Blakstar snapped.

  Thal smiled. “My explanations are simple,” he noted blandly, then added, “to me,” grinning more widely, and Klaybear thought he looked like a demented scarecrow. His action made both of them laugh softly.

  “Take out your sword,” Klaybear said, and when the kortexi had done so, “now repeat the words of the orthek, without our help.”

  “Do you mean, gwolagelu?” he asked, and when he said the words of power, the same blue-gold beam of cold surrounded and shot from his sword. Thal and Klaybear both leaped backward, out of the way of the cold ray; Blakstar was so shocked by the sudden appearance of the cold beam that he staggered back, will-giver slipping from his fingers and clattering on the ground, the sound echoing up and down the long, empty hallway. The beam winked out as soon as the hilt left his fingers. “No!” Blakstar exclaimed. “It . . . I . . . it cannot . . . it’s not possible!” he stammered, looking first at his open hand, then the sword on the stone floor, then back at his hand. He looked at Thal and Klaybear, his mouth gaping.

  Tevvy came out of the room, his face flushed with anger. “What are you doing out here?” he hissed. “Are you trying to attract the attention of all the inhabitants of Morokolu?”

  “Learn anything useful?” Klaybear asked to divert him.

  Tevvy frowned, then looked back toward the room and softly closed the door. “The quarters of a trio of minor officers,” he replied. “I guess that the barracks of the regular soldiers are closer to the entrance, so we want to stay in this hallway.”

  “Pick up your sword, Blakstar,” Thal said. “I don’t think you should drop it like that,” he added. “We will discuss this issue again when we have more leisure.”

  Klaybear nodded; Tevvy shook his head. “Wethem,” Tevvy muttered under his breath as he turned and moved silently down the hallway.

  Klaybear passed a second pair of doors and slowed as he approached the third pair, for there was a passage going north. Tevvy peered cautiously around the corner, slipped around and out of sight, but returned a few moments later.

  “This hallway leads to a large barracks that is empty,” he noted, “lucky for you since the door was open,” he added wryly. He moved past the third and then the fourth pair of doors; Klaybear and the others followed. The hallway ended at a closed door. Tevvy checked it carefully, but this door was unlocked; opening it after listening for any sounds, Klaybear saw a short hallway ending in another iron door and a long hallway to the north. They followed the hallway north to another door, but Tevvy stopped them before they got close to it, hearing sounds behind the door; he motioned them back without saying another word.

  “It sounded like a mess hall,” he whispered when they got back to the iron door, “I think we should go through this door quickly,” he added, his eyes darting back down the hall, “just in case.” He turned and examined the door, and finding it locked, took out his small tools and quickly opened it. They fled silently down the stairs, closing the door behind them; the lock clicked audibly. “Dungeon,” Tevvy whispered.

  “How do you know?” Blakstar asked.

  “Where else would you put a door that automatically locks itself,” Tevvy replied, and then turned back to the door. “I should probably disable the lock,” he added, “just in case we need to leave in a hurry.” He fell silent, listening as he worked the lock. “Can you hear that throbbing sound?” he asked a few moments later.

  Klaybear paused, listening in silence for a time; Klaybear started to shake his head, but then Thal held up one hand.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Thal whispered, “but your ears are sharper than ours. However, I can feel something,” and he touched one of the walls with his fingertips, then squatted and touched the stairs under their feet. “I can feel it through the floor, a constant, rhythmic throbbing.” He looked up at his companions, then turned his gaze on the awemi. “What does it sound like to you?” Thal asked.

  Tevvy stepped slowly down the stairs, listening intently. “Now that you mention it,” he noted after a few moments of standing still at the bottom of the stairs, “I can feel it through my feet, too.” He looked back at the others, who moved slowly down the stairs; Tevvy wrinkled his nose. “This is where I was,” he added, “I can tell by the smell: offal, unwashed bodies, purem, fear, and death.”

  “Is that what is making the throbbing sound?” Klaybear asked, looking down the long, dimly lit passageway; he also sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. “The air is heavy with moisture,” he added.

  “The throbbing reminds me of the sound made by the pumps that keep the sewers of Rykelle and the cellar of my father’s school from flooding with seawater,” Tevvy replied.

  Thal nodded, his face white. “That would make sense,” he said, “since these areas of Morokolu are below the level of the water outside, so only by constant pumping can they be kept dry . . . ,” his voice trailed off. His face turned chalky; he sagged against one wall.

  “Thal,” Klaybear began, taking Thal by the arm to support him, “what is wrong? You don’t look well,” he finished.

  “It just occurred to me that we are now at least four levels below the level of the water,” he replied weakly, “if Motodu realizes we are here . . . ,” he paused, and Tevvy finished the thought.

  “. . . He might shut down the pumps,” Tevvy put in, “and drown us all at once.”

  Klaybear shook his head and pointed to Blakstar. “We are not in danger,” he said, “because we have an instant doorway out.”

  “You are right,” Thal said, “we are in little danger, but it is for those who are prisoners down here that I am concerned.”

  Tevvy turned and started to go.

  “Wait!” Thal hissed. “Remember what happened the last time you left on an impulse!”

  Tevvy stopped; his shoulders slumped, and he let out a sigh. “You are right,” he whispered in a defeated voice, “I am re-acting instead of acting: I need to think.”

  “We need to think,” Thal corrected, some of the color returning to his cheeks. “The morgle knows that you, Tevvy, would hear and recognize that throbbing sound, share that information with the rest of us, and we would recognize the danger, then run off to try and find and rescue those who have been taken from us.”

  “Running straight into a trap?” Blakstar suggested.

  Thal nodded. “Perhaps,” he agreed, “but there are other possibilities, alt
hough setting an ambush for us seems quite likely.”

  “There is only one way to find out,” Tevvy said, turning and moving down the dimly lit hallway with the furtiveness of both his race and his training; Klaybear and the others followed slowly, striving to be as quiet and cautious. The hallway sloped down slightly toward an intersection; the throbbing sound grew louder, so that even Klaybear could hear it. At the intersection of four hallways, a hole had been cut into the stone floor, about four feet square, but how deep they could not tell as it was filled with murky water. A narrow trough was cut into the floors of the north and east hallways; water trickled from the rubble-blocked south hallway and from a broken doorway just before the intersection on the south wall of the passage. The troughs and the well-like hole in the center of the intersection were covered with rusty iron grates. In the broken doorway, although missing its door and choked with rubble, Klaybear could still see the first two steps of what must have been a stairway ascending to the next level of Morokolu.

  Tevvy moved to the north side of the hallway, then peered cautiously around the corner, holding up his hand so that his companions halted and waited. After a long, silent moment he moved back away from the intersection.

  “There is no one moving down either hall,” he said softly, “although the torches make it hard to be sure. Which way?” he asked.

  For a moment, Klaybear looked at the others without speaking.

  “Toward the sound,” Thal said finally, “and the pumps, but we should probably look for mechanical and teka triggers, in case our foe was counting on our curiosity to trap us.” Thal raised his rod, opened his mouth to sing the phrase of power, but then he stopped and looked at his companions.

  “What is wrong?” Klaybear asked.

  “It just occurred to me,” Thal replied quietly, “that casting the orthek I was about to might be enough to set off some teka signal attuned to just such an orthek.”