“Oh. Good. Well, I have the Light spell,” he said, tapping his forehead, “and I've memorized a couple of others that might be useful. Now all we have to do is wait for Aeris.”
He picked up the mirror while Kronk jumped back up to the table and joined him.
The tunnel was still in view and Simon looked at it speculatively.
“What's it like down there? Hot? Cold? Wet? Dry?”
“It is warm, master. The underground gets hotter the deeper you travel, but the depth of the tunnel is not so great that the heat is unbearable for you.”
He stared at the image and tilted his head slightly.
“The air is very dry down there. It might be well to bring a bottle of water with you, master.”
“Yeah, good idea.”
Simon stood up and went to search through his kitchen cabinets. After digging around for a few minutes, he pulled out a thermos and looked at it in surprise.
“Hey, look at this. I didn't even know I had one of these. Hmm, I'm going to have to do an inventory of these cabinets one day.”
“It is a water bottle, master?” Kronk asked as he watched Simon rinse out the thermos.
“Better, my friend. It keeps liquid inside either hot or cold depending on what you put in it.”
He filled the bottle and then crossed the room to grab his small backpack from a cupboard.
“I suppose I'd better have lunch before we go,” Simon said as he slipped the thermos into his pack and dropped it by the door.
“Good idea, master. I will see to the horses while you eat. Aeris should return soon and we will be ready when he does.”
Kronk headed outside and Simon started making sandwiches. He hoped that the air elemental wouldn't take too long. It was almost noon.
By the time Aeris returned, Simon and Kronk had finished their respective tasks and were sitting on the front steps waiting for him. Fortunately for the wizard, the sun wasn't shining directly on him. He'd had enough of it for one day.
The air elemental popped into the front yard and zipped toward the two of them.
“So you did wait. Good,” he said with relief.
“I told you we would,” Simon replied shortly. “Why would you think otherwise?”
“Because, my dear wizard, you get excited when you think you're going on an adventure. I was afraid that you would forget and go racing off into the depths.”
Simon stood up and brushed off his robe.
“Well, I didn't. I hope Clara was happy to get a new lodestone.”
He grabbed his pack and slipped it over his shoulders and then slung Bene-Dunn-Gal across it.
“Oh she was. I mentioned your plan to check out those tunnels and she told me to tell you to be careful.”
Simon stared at Aeris in exasperation.
“You told her? Oh for... You know how she worries. She has enough on her plate taking care of Nottinghill and her people without fretting about me. Next time, be more discreet please.”
“Yes, oh mighty one,” Aeris said with an exaggerated bow. “How was I to know it was a secret?”
The wizard sighed loudly and closed the front door.
“Never mind. Let's go while I still have the location fixed in my head. Both of you grab hold.”
Kronk jumped up, grabbed the bundle of torches and tucked it under his arm. Then he put his free hand on the hem of Simon's robe. Aeris moved closer to the wizard and grabbed part of his sleeve.
Simon chanted the Gate spell, checked on the elementals one last time and uttered the word of command.
“Invectis!”
As they materialized in the dark tunnels, Simon tripped over some loose rubble and almost landed on his face. He caught his balance just in time and teetered precariously for a minute on his toes.
“Whoa,” he muttered. “That was close.”
The tunnel was warm but not hot and the place was so dry that Simon could feel his nostrils pinching closed as he sniffed the air. It smelled dusty and stale, like an abandoned attic. He didn't much like it.
“Are you all right, master?” Kronk asked anxiously from behind him.
Simon looked around and could barely see the little guy's dark body against the rock-strewn ground in the darkness. He quickly cast the Light spell and a bobbing globe of clear white light rose from his hand to hover a few feet over his head.
“I'm fine, thanks. Aeris?”
“Fine, fine,” the air elemental said absently as he looked around. “I don't really care for traveling under the earth, you know. It feels like the weight above us is going to come crashing down at any moment.”
“Nonsense,” Kronk told him flatly. “These tunnels have existed for millennia and will exist for many more to come, I am sure.”
“Yes? Why don't I find that very comforting?”
Simon let the two of them squabble as he picked his way across the loose rocks and examined the nearest wall.
Kronk had underestimated the size of the place. The walls had to be at least thirty feet high. They were lost up in the gloom beyond the reach of the wizard's globe of light. The tunnel was also wider than the earthen had guessed; twenty feet or more.
There were numerous carvings and pictograms etched into the rough walls. Simon was fascinated as he ran his fingertips over the rock. Tiny figures were cut into the wall, unknown characters, writing of some sort.
He stepped back to get a better sense of the scope of things. The markings extended out of sight in both directions and the wizard was awed at the obvious age of the place.
When he turned and checked the ruts worn into the ground, he tried to imagine how many wagons or carts or whatever kinds of vehicles had used this road over how many years to wear deep tracks into solid rock. He couldn't even guess.
“Do you think anyone uses this path any longer?” he asked the elementals, his voice echoing up and down the tunnel.
They turned from their discussion to look at Simon and then at the road.
“I do not think so, master,” Kronk told him. “The dwarves use their drilling machines to travel, now that magic has returned to the world. But I would guess that they last used it many years ago, since they had no contact with the surface world for thousands of years.”
Aeris rose up and turned slowly in a circle.
“It feels very old, doesn't it?” he asked in a hushed voice. “With all of these fallen rocks, the dwarves must have abandoned this road long in the distant past.”
Simon squatted down and picked up a random piece of stone. He turned it slowly in his hands, small bits of crystal and minerals glinting in the dark rock.
“So which way is up and which is down?” he asked Kronk as he dropped the rock and stood up again.
The earthen pointed.
“That way leads deeper, master. The intersection that I showed you is down that way as well.”
“Okay, let's go,” Simon said. He adjusted his pack and staff more comfortably and began walking, carefully watching the ground to avoid tripping on loose rock.
Kronk skipped ahead, avoiding the rubble with ease while Aeris flew above it, his head constantly swiveling to look right and left.
It took a few minutes, but they finally reached the four-way intersection that Simon had seen in the mirror.
“Overshot it a bit, didn't I?” he remarked dryly as he stood in the center of the road and looked in each of the four directions.
“You made it in one piece, master. That is what matters.”
Simon smiled a bit at Kronk's encouragement.
“And you didn't end up embedded in a stone wall, so there's that,” Aeris added dryly.
Simon looked at him, wide-eyed.
“Wait, that can actually happen?” he asked with a touch of fear.
“Kronk? Would you like to answer our dear wizard?” the air elemental said to the little earthen.
The little guy hesitated and gave Aeris a nasty look. Simon waited, wondering why Kronk was being asked to answer the question.
“It has? When?”
“Many years ago, I was serving the family of a very powerful wizard. His young son...”
Kronk paused and turned away.
Simon looked at Aeris, whose expression had surprisingly changed to one of pity. He shook his head mutely.
“Forgive me, Kronk,” the air elemental said. “But you are the one with the first-hand knowledge here.”
“Yes, yes. I know.”
The earthen looked up at Simon.
“The young son attempted to Gate from the work room, where he had summoned me as practice, to his chambers high in the wizard's tower. The spell was beyond him, but perhaps he wanted to show his rather intimidating father that he was more powerful than he actually was. But for whatever reason, he cast the spell. I would guess that he did not picture his target clearly. At any rate, he stumbled on the spell and...ended up entombed in the wall of the work room.”
Simon stared at him in horror.
“Oh my God,” he whispered. “That's awful.”
“It was, master. Part of his leg and an arm were all that could be seen protruding from the wall. I was pulled back into the realm of earth as he died, for he was the one who had summoned me initially. I never saw the father's reaction, but I can only imagine that he was devastated. It was his only child.”
“I mentioned that story, my dear wizard, to prove that this Gating that you are doing willy-nilly is more dangerous than you seem to realize.”
Simon pushed back his hair and nodded solemnly.
“Point taken. Thank you both. And Kronk, I'm sorry you had to relive such a sad memory.”
The earthen kicked a loose stone and it skittered across the road.
“It was very long ago, master. All of those people are long dead. Do not be concerned. And Aeris is correct. You are skilled enough now to cast Gate easily, but always picture your target location clearly. Your miss today was fortunately without consequences.”
“Okay. You've both made your case and I am properly chastised. But we're here in one piece so let's make the best of it.”
Aeris floated off toward one tunnel that rose steadily away from the crossroads. Kronk headed in the opposite direction, where a tunnel dipped quickly and disappeared into the darkness.
Simon stood in the center of the four tunnels and looked around, spotting many more glyphs and pictograms on the walls than he'd seen earlier. One in particular caught his eye and he walked across the road to examine it more closely.
As he approached with the light bobbing along above his head, Simon's eyes widened. It was a crude picture, cut deeply into the stone, of what was obviously a dwarf.
He had a long beard and was wearing armor. He held an axe above his head. But it was what he was fighting that caught the wizard's eye. It was a horrible combination of wolf and man. Jagged teeth and long claws were the prominent features on the furry monster, but it was the fact that it was standing on two legs and lunging at the dwarf that was particularly disturbing.
“A werewolf? Wow. They actually exist?”
He reached out and ran his fingers over the carving and then stepped away, a feeling of revulsion overcoming him.
Simon turned back and moved to the center of the crossroads again. Neither of the elementals were in sight and he took the opportunity to check out the size of the chamber.
He glanced upward and, with a wave of his hand, sent his globe of light up toward the ceiling. It was a lot higher than he'd realized and, once the upper reaches were revealed, Simon saw that the ceiling was also covered with symbols and pictures. Cobwebs coated the carvings and made them hard to see and the wizard recalled his light after a few minutes of fruitless squinting, trying to make out what was inscribed there.
Kronk tip-tapped back up the road and joined Simon. The elemental reported nothing of interest except that the tunnel dropped steeply into the depths beyond the crossroad.
“I wonder what's taking Aeris so long?” the wizard muttered as he tapped a foot impatiently.
“Probably got caught up in exploring, master. That is what the airy ones are best at.”
Simon wiped some dust off of his sleeve and began to answer Kronk and then stopped. Dust wasn't only covering his sleeve, it was sifting down from the ceiling and coating his body, the little earthen and the tunnel itself.
“What the...?” he exclaimed as he waved a cloud of fine grit away from his face.
Kronk looked up at the ceiling with a perplexed frown. The dirt falling on his face didn't bother him at all.
“Something is disturbing the tunnel, master,” he said, stating the obvious.
“Yes, I noticed. But what?”
The little earthen cocked his head to the side and opened his eyes wide.
“Do you hear that, master?” he asked in a hushed voice.
Simon stopped slapping dust off of his robe and stood still, barely breathing.
There was a distant sound, barely audible, that seemed to be coming from the tunnel that Aeris had disappeared into. It was odd, rhythmic.
“It sounds like someone's pulling something, you know?” he said to Kronk.
The little guy nodded, still looking puzzled.
They could hear a scraping sound, as if something was being pulled along the rubble-strewn ground. It would last for a few seconds and then stop. And then it would start again, over and over. The sound was getting louder as they waited.
“Perhaps Aeris has discovered something and is bringing it back to show you, master,” Kronk suggested.
“I hadn't thought of that. I know he's a lot stronger than he looks; you both are.”
Simon shook his head and watched a cloud of dust drift past his face.
“Well, whatever it is, it must be heavy to shake off this much dirt from the ceiling.”
They both waited silently as the mysterious source of the sound approached. The wizard had a sudden vision of Aeris dragging an ancient treasure chest filled with magical tomes or enchanted weapons in his wake. He grinned a bit in anticipation.
“Maybe he could use a hand,” Simon told Kronk. “Whatever he's found sounds awfully heavy.”
“Good point, master. He'd never ask for help, but if we just go ahead and meet him...”
Simon began to walk in the direction of the sound.
“Yeah, let's go,” he said.
They had only taken a few steps when Aeris shot out of the tunnel and zoomed toward them. He wasn't dragging anything.
“Run!” he shouted as he flew at them.
Simon stopped and gaped at him in confusion.
“What? Why? What's going on?”
“No time to explain. Just run!”
The air elemental flew by them and shot across the crossroads to the descending tunnel that Kronk had checked out earlier.
Simon and the little earthen exchanged a look and then both took off in the same direction, Simon pounding along while Kronk skittered and slid around the rubble.
The rhythmic dragging sound was getting louder and now it was punctuated by a low blast of air each time it stopped. The wizard was tempted to slow down and take a look at whatever it was, but Aeris kept urging them on.
“Don't stop, don't look. Just keep running. Maybe the tunnel narrows up ahead and we can get ahead of it.”
The light over Simon's head was the only thing that kept him from stumbling and falling on the rocks under his feet. The tunnel led downward and the slope was very steep. The wizard tried to focus on his footing and began to pant heavily.
“It does not narrow at any point nearby,” Kronk called to Aeris as he dodged and tripped down the tunnel, moving like a spring over the rubble. “But there is a sharp right-hand turn about a hundred yards ahead.”
“Okay,” the air elemental replied from up ahead. He was a small, glowing figure in the darkness. “That might buy us some time and let our dear wizard cast a Gate spell.”
“And wh
y do I need to do that?” Simon shouted raggedly, his breath beginning to burn in his lungs.
“You'll see soon enough,” Aeris replied loudly. “Just keep moving.”
And that was what they did. They raced away from the sound. It seemed to be falling back a bit, or at least it wasn't getting any louder, but Simon could not even imagine what would make such noises.
Finally he noticed that the tunnel was turning to the right and the ground was leveling out. It became easier to keep his feet, which was fortunate because his run had become more of a stagger as black spots swam across his vision.
And then the tunnel abruptly made a sharp cut to the right and then to the left, like an s-shaped curve, and it narrowed considerably.
Simon banged into one wall and fell to his knees, small pebbles cutting into his skin.
“I...I can't run any further, guys,” he gasped as he leaned against the wall and shakily pushed himself to his feet. There was a hole torn in his robe where one of his knees had been scraped open.
“Master, are you all right?” Kronk asked as he watched Simon attempt to stagger forward.
“Never mind that right now,” Aeris barked. “If you can't run, my dear wizard, just keep moving. It won't get through this bottleneck easily, so if you can move down the tunnel another fifty yards or so, you can Gate us out of here.”
Simon pushed his sweaty hair off his face and squinted at Aeris as he regained his balance and started walking. The sound from behind them was now fairly distant, but already getting louder again.
“Now will you tell me why I'm tempting heart failure?” he gasped. “What the hell are we running from?”
“Save your breath,” Aeris said shortly. “We're far from safe. Come on.”
The tunnel opened up again but oddly the ground was nearly free of fallen rocks beyond the bend in the road and Simon could walk almost normally. His light had faithfully followed him and was still bobbing along above his head.
They managed to get another fifty yards at a fairly quick pace as Simon caught his breath, and then the trio was brought up short.
They looked ahead and then at each other.
“Okay,” Aeris said. “Now we have a problem.”
The tunnel ended in a blank wall. It hadn't been blocked by a cave-in; it simply stopped.
The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) Page 27
