by S. R. Witt
Indira looked skeptical. “How do I know you’re not working with them?”
“Uh, because they tried to kill us?” Bastion showed his empty hands to Indira. “What the hell more proof do you want that Saint isn’t lying to you?”
Even Mercy seemed exasperated by Indira’s reluctance to accept the truth. “I think they’re being straight with us. Even if Saint did steal a book from the Hoaldites.”
She watched me for my reaction when she said that, but I didn’t give her anything to work with. She might know that I was tied up with the Hoaldites somehow, but so was she. The fact that she wasn’t talking about it told me she wanted to keep that secret to herself, as well. Maybe I wasn’t the only one with something to lose here.
I took another shot at mending fences. “We should be working together to stop these freaks before they wreck the whole damned town.”
Indira crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not buying this. There’s no way your monsters can get into this town and just take it over.”
This was not going the way I’d expected. It was time to cut to the chase. “I’ll show you.”
“Show us what?” Indira asked.
“I’ll show you how they’re going to do it.” It was a bad idea, but I was out of good ones. “Promise you’ll work with me, and I’ll show you what they’re planning.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I tried to look more confident than I felt. Our new alliance was shaky as hell, and if I couldn’t find the Burning Throne, then none of this was going to work. Lucky me, I had a book of maps.
That I’d never really looked at.
And wasn’t even sure I could read.
I dug the slim tome out of my cloak and cracked open the front cover. The first page held the title, The Undercity of Frosthold and the Hall of the Burning Throne, with a smudged line where the author’s name belonged. Either the ink they’d used to was spectacularly shitty, in which case there was a very good chance the maps would be smudged and useless, or someone didn’t want anyone else to know who’d created the book.
Knowing how snotty the Hoaldites got about people who disagreed with them, I guessed it was probably the latter. I could imagine Saryle getting her nose out of joint when some scribe crossed her and searching the library for every book the poor sap had ever written just so she could scratch his name off the title page. That lady knew how to carry a grudge.
And I was on the top of her shit list. Yay for me.
There were no words after the title, just page after page of illustrated maps. Some were simple line drawings, others were ornate and so richly detailed it was difficult to tell where the illuminated margins ended and the intricate maps began.
This was going to be fun. I grimaced and flipped through a few more pages of the book, trying to find something I recognized. If I could find a landmark, maybe I could follow the maps along to the Burning Throne. Easy peasy.
Indira cleared her throat. “Are we going somewhere, or are you doing some light reading?”
There was no point putting it off any longer. “Just follow me and don’t ask a lot of questions. This book isn’t easy to read.”
Indira tried to peek over my shoulder, but Bastion blocked her with his oversized shoulder. “Let him concentrate,” he growled.
We wandered, more or less aimlessly, and I tried to pick out some landmarks that matched anything on the maps. The city changed so fast as it grew, it was hard for me to line up the drawings with the way the city was now. I needed something stable, something that wouldn’t have changed over the years.
I flipped back to the first map in the book. When we’d landed in Frosthold, there was one main street with a gate at either end, the tavern, a pawn shop, and the smith. Those things hadn’t changed position, which made them useful landmarks. I just needed to find them on the map.
VERBOSE CARTOGRAPHY SKILL CHECK: UNTRAINED
1/2 Intelligence (5) + d100 (47) = 52
vs
Difficulty: Basic = 50
Skill Check Result = 2
SUCCESS! You manage to determine North from South and East from West on your map.
Activation Time: 5 seconds
Stamina Cost: 0
You have learned the rudiments of the Cartography skill. (Rank 1)
My new skill paid off immediately. Golden highlights appeared on the maps. The first page had a streak of light running from east to west, passing through a series of gates along what had to be the main road. And from the looks of the map, Frosthold used to be a LOT bigger. If the book was right, our little city was once a ringed fortress that just happened to have a metropolis crouched inside its massive walls. What had happened to cause it to fall apart?
A niggling suspicion told me we were going to find out before this adventure was over.
For an hour, I wandered back and forth along side streets parallel to Frosthold’s main drag. Sticking to the larger roads would have been easier, but also put me at greater risk of being spotted by a city guard or some treasure-hungry adventurer who’d try and turn me over to the Hoaldites.
The burden of being a wanted man was really starting to get to me.
“We’re going in circles.” Indira sniped.
“We are not walking in circles,” I corrected. “I’m looking for something.”
We’d ended up close to the tavern, which annoyed me to no end. To think the Burning Throne was so close to a place where so many adventurers spent their time made my teeth itch. How had no one stumbled across it?
We did walk in circles for a while, then. My cartography skill kept climbing, and the highlights became more and more distinct. But they didn’t make any sense. Why was it guiding me around the same block of homes, again and again?
I stopped in an alley and flipped through the book of maps, searching for some more detail that would point me to the Burning Throne. We were so close, but I couldn’t put the last piece of the puzzle into place.
Mercy cleared her throat and huddled next to Indira. Her teeth chattered when she spoke. “If you can’t find it, just call it off, and we’ll head to the library. I’m freezing, and we’ve been at this for hours.”
There were symbols on every page of the book. Some were obvious directions to the next map. Some pointed to later or earlier pages, connecting the drawings through a series of convoluted lines drawn along the tops and bottoms of each page.
But none of that helped.
What was this symbol? I held the book closer to my nose and could just make out a hexagon, half-shaded black, the other empty. Where had I seen that before?
There was another one. A broken figure eight.
Why were those so familiar?
Indira picked that moment to run out of patience. “Okay, I’m calling it. Nice try, but I don’t believe you’re going to be able to show me anything more valuable than that stack of gold the Hoaldites are offering.”
My thoughts raced the inside of my skull like coked-up hamsters. I turned the book over in my hands. The cover was branded with a symbol, a broken figure eight. “Wait, wait. I need a minute.”
I plucked the Burning Codex from my cloak. It too bore the same symbol on its cover. I shoved it back into my pocket and turned my attention back to the map.
That symbol was very close to where we were standing.
But the alley between the rows of houses was empty. There weren’t any doors in either direction and certainly no mystical portals that would lead us to the Burning Throne. There were mounds of snow gathered where the street and the walls of the houses met, but nothing else.
Mercy shivered. “We’ve given you all the time you’re going to get. Let’s go.”
Bastion’s sword slid free of its scabbard with a hiss. The pale blue light of its flames flickered on the walls and snow around us. “We’re not going anywhere until Saint tells me he’s given up. Then we’re all going to take him to the library to turn him in. Together.”
That got Indira’s back up. “If you thin
k we’re splitting the reward three ways, you’re nuts.”
Bastion lowered his voice and brandished his sword. “If you think you’re going to get him out of here without my help, you’re nuts.”
Listening to the three of them argue over how to split the spoils from turning me in was annoying. At least my brother was giving me the time I needed to work it out. Even if I fucked up, he'd end up with something for his troubles.
Small victories.
Time for bickering was a luxury I didn’t have, so I left the three of them to decide how they’d handle the newfound wealth they’d get for ruining my life. Assholes.
The symbol on the map was adjacent to the third house from the north end of the road. The only thing there was a mound of drifted snow, unless…
I scraped the snow away with my foot to reveal a cellar door. “Don’t get all excited about how you’re going to spend your blood money, jerks. Take a look over here.”
They gathered around me, warring emotions plain on their faces. On the one hand, they really wanted all that filthy lucre. On the other, it turned out I might be right about all this crap, after all.
“Don’t just stand there,” I said, “help me get this thing open.”
Bastion helped me pry the unlocked doors apart, and I gestured for Indira and Mercy to head down the earthen steps into the darkness below. “After you, ladies.”
The elf sniffed at my outstretched hand and summoned a glowing ball of light from her fingertips. It bobbed ahead and lit our path quite nicely, a distinct improvement over shuffling along in the gloom. It was never truly pitch black in Dragon Web Online, the devs took pity on us and made it possible to see, if only for a short distance, even in darkness. Still, I appreciated Indira’s light, even if I didn’t need absolutely need it.
“Don’t touch anything,” Indira commanded. “This is someone’s home.”
I held the book of maps up near the light to get a better look. I flipped through the pages until I found one covered with small, box-like drawings. None of them were connected to each other, but lines were leading away from them to the edges of the page, where small numbers and symbols showed me which map I needed to follow next.
An excited shiver ran up my spine. If I was reading this right, the whole city was riddled with entrances into, and out of, the sewer tunnels beneath it. Armed with this book, I could get around without ever taking the surface streets. Perfect.
“Over here,” I said, pointing to the eastern edge of the cellar.
We found a filthy grate set into the even filthier floor. Mercy grimaced, and her tongue flicked the air with agitated swipes. “You know what this is?”
I didn’t need her keen sense of smell to know exactly what it was. “It’s an entrance to the sewer. They must dump their chamber pots here.”
There was a lot of grumbling, but everyone was committed at that point. The reward was enticing, but I wasn’t the only one curious about what was really going on. If the Hoaldites were offering such a handsome reward for a scrub like me, there had to be some reason for it. And that’s all it took to get the rest of my merry band to follow me down a shit-stained chute.
Indira was the last one down, but it didn’t spare her from getting filthy. Her blond hair was streaked with foul-smelling grue, and her feathered cloak took on the mottled gray of Brooklyn snow. The ball followed her, illuminating her stained cheeks and nose. “I should kill you for this.”
“Promises, promises.” She glared at me, but no flames sprouted from her fingers. Progress, right?
They all stared at me while I consulted my book of maps. It took me a minute or two to find the right page, and when I did it wasn’t very helpful.
Only one page had a golden glow on it, and it was actually a spread in the center of the book. There were no ornate drawings or symbols, just an intricate pattern of thin, spidery lines. They had to be sewer tunnels, but there were no symbols or other keys to show me the way.
I racked my brain for answers. There had to be some way to find the Burning Throne. I just had to figure it out.
Then I remembered.
Archways held up the ceiling every twenty feet. I splashed through the shallow muck to the nearest one and brushed the grime away from its keystone. “Can you bring that light over here?”
Indira grumbled, but she did as I asked. The blue light cast a pale glow over the carving in the keystone’s center.
The magus pointed at the etching. “What the hell is that?”
“A guidepost,” I said with a grin. The broken figure-eight symbol was faint and eroded by the passage of time, but it was clear enough to follow.
And that’s what we did. Soon, the filthy sewers gave way to wider, more ornate tunnels. The channel of green stone I’d seen earlier reappeared. At every intersection, we found the archway with the broken figure eight, and our quest continued.
Until it came to an abrupt end.
We followed a tunnel for what felt like miles. There were no intersections, no branches. The ornate tile inlays disappeared from the walls and were replaced by monotonous, featureless limestone.
And then, just like that, it ended.
I stood in front of a blank wall flanked by dead lanterns and stared at it, willing it to unveil its secrets.
Nothing happened.
Indira stood next to me. “This doesn’t look like much.”
“Give me a minute.”
“Sure, one minute. After that, I’m going to find my way out of here and drag you to the library. I’m ready for my reward.”
My heart raced along with my thoughts. If I didn’t figure this out, and soon, I was a dead man.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The dead end taunted me. There was nothing to tell me what to do. The channel in the middle of the floor ran right up to the wall, where it just ended. There were no markings, no symbols, no keyhole. Even when I shifted to my Thief’s Eyes, I detected no traps, no locks, not even a door. It was just a damned wall.
Behind me, Bastion and Indira broke into a loud argument about whether or not it was time to turn me in and collect the reward. I hoped he was successful in convincing them to give me more time, but I didn’t count on it. Handing me over to the Hoaldites meant a lot of money in her pocket and a lot of prestige for her character. I just wished she understood none of that would matter if the monsters took control of Frosthold. What good was it to be well-liked by the Hoaldites if they were driven out of town on a rail by an invading horde?
Desperation forced me down on my hands and knees in front of the wall. The channel ran up to the wall, then ended flush with the stone. But there was something there, right where they met.
A thin groove climbed up the wall’s face. It was invisible from more than a few feet away, but up close you could just make out the shadow it left in the stone. I pulled my glove off my left hand and ran my fingers along the marking, tracing it up the wall.
At about waist height, the channel split and formed a circle three feet wide. Even thinner, finer lines were carved into the wall from the edges of that circle toward its center. These I couldn’t see, but my fingertips felt them like the grooves in an antique vinyl record.
It was something, a start, but it wasn’t enough.
“Time’s up,” Indira announced. “I’ve had enough of the fun and games.”
My pulse raced. I was close. There was something here, and it wouldn’t take me much longer to figure it out. I just needed a little more time. “Just a few more minutes. I’ve almost got this.”
There had to be something here. I looked around the room, but I couldn’t see anything obvious. The dead lanterns on the east and west walls offered me nothing. There was an old candelabra hanging from the ceiling, but it’s wax-mottled surface didn’t hold any clues for me, either.
Indira cleared her throat. “I’m not kidding. I let you have your chance, but it’s time to go.”
But I wasn’t giving up. I was so close to figuring this out, Indira would h
ave to pry me away from the wall with the team of wild horses. “Shut up for a minute.”
The elf squawked in indignation, and I heard her muttering under her breath.
“Don’t do anything you’re going to regret,” Bastion said. I couldn’t tell if he was talking to me or to the elf, and I didn’t care. I needed to figure out that secret.
I was standing in front of the door to the Burning Throne and I knew it. So where was the fucking keyhole?
Mercy appeared next to me. “She’s really not going to give you much more time. If you don’t do something quick, there’s going to be a fight.”
Pressure squeezed my head like a vise. This was the place. There had to be some way to the Burning Throne. Or was everyone—the Shadows, the Hoaldites, and the monsters—so clueless they were fighting over something they couldn’t reach?
That made no sense. There had to be a way in. And I had to find it.
Mercy rested her arm on my shoulder. “I hope you figure this out. I really do.”
Deep breaths. Think it through, I told myself.
The unadorned walls told me this part of the undercity was older than the rest. Whoever built it, put it here for a reason. Not because they wanted to show it off, maybe not even because they wanted to hide it.
Maybe it had to be where it was.
I turned my attention to the green groove running down the center of the floor. It was smooth, without so much as a seam where its pieces fit together.
Because it didn’t have separate pieces. It was all one, flowing channel of stone. It felt like glass under my fingertips, so smooth it seemed unreal.
What had it carried?
And why were there lanterns here? Even without Indira’s light, it wouldn’t be really dark, that’s not how Invernoth worked.
