The Lodestone

by J. Philip Horne

  “Might as well tell a story while we go,” Verdag said as he jogged, breathing easily. “Would one of you kindly pass the time with your story, with particular emphasis on Drakin’s involvement? Then I can tell some stories as well.”

  Sally was in a talking mood, so Jack deferred to her as she told them about everything that had happened. She didn’t skip much detail, and Jack was amazed to hear just how much had happened since Monday. After she’d worked forward to that morning when they had arrived at the dwarven Lodestone, Verdag jogged silently for a few minutes before beginning.

  “I don’t know how to order my thoughts,” Verdag said. “This news has scrambled them. Jack, I don’t begrudge you your ability, but I’m concerned that Drakin plans nothing good with you. And Edalwin’s involvement, no, Edalwin’s very existence is a surprise. Let me start with the mundane. We run along the Fortress Road, once a major artery of commerce between dwarf and man, neglected since the Second Wizards’ War and the upheavals that followed. It is fitting that the road should prove needed at a time when the major players from that war suddenly reenter history. I only wish the old wizard himself were on the scene. He was a dwarf-friend like no other.”

  Verdag paused in thought, and Jack was about to ask him who the ‘old wizard’ was when he continued.

  “Some of you are other-worldlings, and humans have short memories to begin with, so it may help to hear of the past. We dwarves have memories that run deep, like the roots of the mountains. This road, the Fortress Road, speaks of a different time, when dwarves and men and others had commerce and communion that’s not known today. It travels as we dwarves prefer to go, underground, to within thirty miles of Fortress on the south edge of the Darksbane Forest. It will be a hard day’s jog, but we’ll travel it within twenty-four hours. The far end is neglected and in likely disrepair, but we’ll find a way to the surface.”

  Verdag jogged in silence for a few minutes, then continued. “Roughly two hundred years ago, the Second Wizards’ War began. It had no formal beginning, but once it got going, it was known to everyone. In that day, the Order of the Green Wizards stood against wizards who sought to set themselves as tyrants, and many mages stood with them. The Greens were the heirs of those that fought in the First Wizards’ War some five hundred years before the second war, overthrowing the despotic wizards that had ruled supreme in the previous age. When the old order was overthrown in the first war, the wizards and mages that had fought with the people formed an Order committed to a different world, where wizards and mages could not work unchecked to enslave others.

  “The Order created—through some magic not known today—the Hall of Telling. It was a test for wizards and mages to join the Green. When a wizard or a mage works magic, something of them shines through in the working that cannot be hidden. It is said that magic cannot lie, and the Hall of Telling tested them. Those that passed joined the Order. Those that failed were killed in the testing. It was harsh, but needed at the time to safeguard the future.”

  “So that’s why Edalwin said she would prove the Green she wore,” Jack said. “She was going to be tested in the Hall of Telling. But Gerlock, you said it had been outlawed.”

  “We’re getting there,” Verdag said. “The Order of the Green had the Hall of Telling, and they had Arameth Wizard, greatest of them all. Some say he led the fight in the First Wizards’ War to overthrow the evil reign of the old wizard tyrants, but that would be an extraordinarily long life, even for a wizard. Arameth led the Greens for as long as anyone knows, and it was within his fortress the Hall of Telling was built, and eventually the Wizard’s Council was formed to bring influence from non-wizards, and even dwarves, into the considerations taken by the Order of the Green.

  “Now, between the two wars, two other groups evolved. There were, and are today, the Grays, wizards who stood to the side of human affairs and wished to avoid meddling in any way. And there were the Reds, led by that ancient scourge Drakin. For as long as our histories record the events since the First Wizards’ War, Drakin has led those wizards who wish to restore the old order.”

  “What about the wizards who wear black, like the one that chased us with the wyvern?” Sally asked.

  “Drakin’s acolytes, members of the Red,” Fortuna answered her. “The old stories say that the prideful fool allowed only himself to actually wear red—the rest dress in black.”

  “That’s the meat of it,” Verdag said. “Drakin and his black-garbed disciples made their play for power two hundred years ago, a time we now know as the Second Wizards’ War. I’ll not recount the histories of that war, but several aspects of it are relevant today. First, Drakin and his minions lost definitively and quickly. Or they almost lost. Second, Edalwin Wizard, known then as Edalwin Stormbringer, was the greatest of Drakin’s followers, and there are historians that would claim she surpassed him. She is credited with single-handedly killing at least eight members of the Order of the Green Wizards.”

  “I don’t believe it!” Jack said, “Miss Edna, Edalwin, she’s no monster. She’s the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had.”

  “Hold your peace, young master,” Verdag said. “I speak of events from two centuries ago, and strange currents have flowed since then. Hear me out.”

  Jack stilled himself, reining in the emotions that boiled inside. He hated to hear stories of his foster mom being a cold-blooded killer, but he couldn’t help thinking of some of the things she had said in the past. Above her kitchen sink was a wood plaque that said, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Jack had often seen her standing at the sink, the dishes forgotten, staring at the plaque, her eyes distant.

  “To continue, then, Drakin and Edalwin were defeated, though at great cost. Then they made a last desperate move. No one knows exactly how it was done, but they called upon an ancient evil power and sought to bring it up from darkest depth. They called forth the Horned King, a legend and myth until it strode forth at their command. They sought its power for their own use, but evil isn’t tame, and an evil that great cannot be controlled. No, evil masters those who seek to master it, as they were to discover.

  “The war turned then against the Greens. For a time, Drakin seemed to harness the Horned King’s power, and use it as his own. But the Horned King did no man’s bidding, and it soon became evident that he, not Drakin, was the master. Many did his will, and the army he raised had many ancient evils in its midst. Creatures of dark stories and ancient myth, along with humans and even some dwarves caught up in his wake. All looked lost, when Arameth Wizard rode forth and dueled the Horned King. He went armed with a heartstone from these very mountains that the dwarves dug for him, and when the battle was done, the Horned King was imprisoned in what is called the Horned Mount, at the far north of the Daggerfels. Arameth brought back the heartstone, now the Seal to the Horned King’s prison in the mountain. He placed the Seal in the Hall of Telling, where it sits today. It was a brilliant move by Arameth, for it is magically protected so no non-wizard can claim it, but no wizard who would want to take it can survive the tests of the Hall. Afterward, Drakin disappeared, but there are stories of a final confrontation between Edalwin and Arameth. Whatever happened, neither was ever seen again.”

  “That’s it?” Jack said. “They both disappeared?”

  “Gone,” Verdag said, “and with Arameth gone the peace that had reigned between the two Wizards’ Wars fell to pieces. The Council now seeks power above all else, the dwarves have retreated to their halls, and the Greens never rebuilt their Order after the devastation of the second war. And now you come along with tales of Drakin himself alive and going to another world, a world where he is much weaker, to retrieve you, Jack. Drakin, a wizard who worked for centuries from the shadows through others, exposing himself to such risk? It means Drakin’s up to something so big he didn’t want even the black robes to know of it. Not a reassuring thought. He’s using t
hem now that Edalwin thwarted him, but much needs explaining. Not the least of which is Edalwin herself. Has she been in the other world this whole time?”

  “For at least a hundred years,” Derek said. “For the past century she has popped up under different names, always doing some great good in the face of great evil. Wars and such.”

  “Huh,” Verdag grunted and lapsed into silence.

  Jack caught Derek’s eyes and smiled his thanks for the positive testimony. That was the Edalwin he knew, the only one that mattered now.

  After a couple more hours, Verdag called a halt as they came to the end of a long tunnel that opened into a cavern just at the edge of their lantern light.

  “We’ll eat and rest here for half an hour, then begin the next six-hour pull,” Verdag said. “Should be four pulls to get to the end. And we’ll want to light all the lanterns going through this next cavern. It is a sight to behold.”

  The group ate quietly and quickly, then loaded back up and lit the other two lanterns. Verdag joined four other dwarves in the harnesses and prepared to pull the carts forward into the cavern. They had already passed through dozens of caverns, some only a hundred feet long, while others wound for several miles. Jack had been amazed by what he had seen, surprised by the beauty of both the large underground structures, and the intricate detail sculpted by water and minerals over the centuries. He was curious what made this particular cavern special.

  As the dwarves leaned into their harnesses, an eerie, piercing sound echoed from far behind them in the tunnel.

  “That didn’t sound good,” Derek said, twisting around and shining his lantern back down the tunnel.

  Verdag barked some orders, and the dwarves all burst into motion. A dwarf standing near the rear grabbed Derek’s lantern and quenched it, then quenched Fortuna’s, and lastly shuttered Gerlock’s leaving only the faint hint of light. The other dwarf not harnessed set to work unchaining the lead cart from the other two. Two of the dwarves stripped out their harnesses, hustled Jack and the other passengers out of the carts, and emptied the blankets from the lead cart. The dwarves quickly loaded the supplies in the lead cart and then unceremoniously hoisted Jack and Sally into it on top. Verdag curtly cut off questions as the dwarves worked. Lastly, they quickly made sure everyone was armed.

  “Off, with haste!” he said a moment later, taking the shuttered lantern from Gerlock, and the three dwarves still harnessed to the one cart started out at a much faster pace than they had previously held.

  “Verdag, please,” Gerlock said, trailing behind Jack as he rolled forward in the car, “we need a bit more light.”

  Jack was pretty sure whatever it was Verdag said in response in dwarvish was not polite, but Verdag cracked the shutter open and ran after Jack and Sally as they bounced along in the cart. Derek, Gerlock, and Fortuna followed closely to stay in the small pool of light, and the other dwarves dropped back and followed in the shadows behind.

  “So, what was that?” Derek asked, as he loped along behind the others.

  “A corakus,” Verdag said. “One of the monstrosities created by the Reds to hunt dwarves during the Second Wizards’ War. They were hunted down and killed afterward, and none have been seen since I was young, but I remember that sound well. No less than twenty dwarves would ever hunt one, and no party ever returned whole.”

  The rasping call echoed to them again, with a second slightly lower call overlapping the first. This time Jack was certain Verdag swore in dwarvish.

  “Do they hunt in packs?” Derek said.

  “Not in my lifetime, though it is said coraki hunted together during the war when under someone’s mastery,” Verdag said. “I fear this is no coincidence, but is connected to Kargrag’s attack on my company and attempt to take Jack. Has Drakin’s webs entangled even the dwarves?”

  “I don’t think we can outrun them at this pace all the way to Fortress,” Derek said. “Or at least I can’t in these dress shoes.”

  “We’d be run down long before then,” Verdag said. “I haven’t been on this road in thirty years, but I recall a tunnel to an old way station at the edge of the Darksbane Forest up ahead within a few miles. We’ll head there and make our escape or take a stand.”

  Chapter 15

  TO THE FOREST

  JACK NEVER SAW the side tunnel in the dim, flickering light, but the dwarves all stopped at the same moment. The coraki’s cries had become more frequent and much louder, and Jack felt a now familiar terror sweeping through him. Whatever a corakus was, it sounded large, fast, and scary. Verdag waved Sally and Jack out of the cart while the three lead dwarves stripped off the harnesses, and Verdag distributed the supplies among all of them. Jack was given a water skin attached to a leather strap that he slung over his shoulder.

  “Secrecy is pointless as they are clearly on our trail, so light all three lanterns,” Verdag said. “It may be rough going and speed is everything now. I’ll lead the way, with my company to the rear. Follow close.”

  Once the lanterns were lit, Verdag jogged off the roadway and toward the side of the cavern in which they had stopped. The roof of the cavern rushed down to meet them as the ground sloped up. Though Verdag effortlessly jogged along at a quick pace ahead of him, Jack found he had to carefully leap along, running and hopping over and around broken rock and jutting stalagmites, all the while avoiding the stalactites closing in on him like teeth as the cavern roof came closer.

  A moment later, the path Verdag chose smoothed into rock that had clearly been worked with tools, and they entered a tunnel much smaller than the tunnels through which the Fortress Road ran. Jack glanced back and saw that even Fortuna had to run with a slight crouch to fit. This tunnel sloped upward at a steep incline, and Jack’s lungs began burning as he ran uphill. After several minutes of progress, the rock tunnel ended in a small cave. On the opposite side wood beams framed an entrance to another tunnel, but this one was planked with wood, and dirt could be seen in all the cracks. A grating scream echoed behind them, and Verdag set off into the earthen tunnel.

  “All right, we only have a minute or so and they are on us,” Verdag called back as he ran. “The way station should be a few hundred yards ahead, but we’ve no time to see if it is open still, and no options if it isn’t. We’ll make our stand just ahead.”

  Jack chased after Verdag for another few hundred feet, with the others just behind them. Verdag pulled up and went back to the rear of the group with the other dwarves. He and the three other dwarves that were armed with axes attacked the planking and supports on the tunnel walls and ceiling. Jack stood now at the front with Sally and tried to look back down the tunnel past Gerlock, Fortuna, and Derek. A large timber snapped loudly, and a portion of the ceiling collapsed. The dwarves nimbly jumped just before it fell and continued their work within the cloud of dirt and dust now stirred up.

  Through the dust, in the light of Derek’s lantern shining to the side of the cave-in, Jack saw a corakus. The little he could see was terrifying, and it was sprinting toward the gap in the tunnel. Jack could see very little of the creature, but what he saw looked like a massive crocodile on longer, more powerful legs. It rushed forward as the dwarves worked their axes frantically. The remaining timbers in the section where the dwarves worked groaned loudly, hesitated and collapsed. Dust and dirt exploded past the dwarves as they leapt back from the collapse, and Jack had to close his eyes for a minute. When he opened them, he stood with the others to look at the cave-in. The passage was completely sealed off with dirt and rock.

  “Well, let’s see to the way station,” Verdag said with a pleased smile. The dwarves all patted each other on the backs, and the group moved down the tunnel together. A sudden tremor shook the tunnel, raining dirt down on their heads from above.

  “That can’t be good,” Derek said, looking back toward the cave-in. Another tremor shook the tunnel, and this time Jack saw the wall of dirt blocking the tunnel shift. “I think they are trying to ram their way through.”

  Again
the tunnel shook, and dirt burst out of the cave-in. The tip of a corakus snout showed for a moment before being buried below tumbling dirt. Sally screamed, turned up the tunnel, and ran.

  “Fly!” Verdag said.

  Jack chased after Sally in the flickering light cast by the lanterns behind them. In a minute they came to a dead end, and Jack moaned in frustration while Sally collapsed beside him and wept.

  “We’re not done yet!” Verdag said. “Look up.”

  Jack looked and saw the tunnel had not actually ended, but had turned up into a vertical shaft. Smooth plank walls went up into shadow. Gerlock stepped forward and aimed his lantern up the chimney. It opened up into some sort of room about twenty feet above them. Jack looked around frantically, but there was no sign of a ladder, nor any other way to climb to the room. Another tremor rocked the tunnel, and a muffled corakus scream reverberated all around.

  “We’re trapped,” Sally wailed.

  “Not yet, not yet,” Gerlock said. “Stand back in the tunnel. We’re close to the surface now, and I can feel life nearby, of oak, maple, and ash.”

  Jack stepped back with the rest, while Fortuna stepped forward to join Gerlock. They both closed their eyes and concentrated. The sound of rending wood washed out of the chimney over Jack, and dirt tumbled down to the tunnel below in large clods.

  “Climb,” Gerlock said as he grabbed Sally by the waist and lifted her up into the shaft. Jack scooted forward and saw the shaft was now shot through with large roots concentrated to one side. Sally climbed, and Jack was given a boost by Gerlock to follow her. As he scrambled up the shaft from root to root, he was forced to look down so dirt dislodged by Sally wouldn’t blind him. A moment later he grabbed upward and felt only air. He looked up frantically, and realized he was at the top. Jack scooted up into the dark room at the top of the shaft next to Sally, staying near the light coming up from the lanterns below.