Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  In each room there is a rack, obviously for the weapons that the Masters were carrying and a hook for a robe. There are few possessions and, according to Verily, no magic.

  They had left the complex when something occurred to Rani. She went back inside and counted. There were four full hands of Masters, according to the empty robes on the floor where they had died, but there were five hands of rooms that seemed to be tenanted.

  Does that mean that there is a hand of Masters somewhere else? She groaned to herself. I won’t mention this at present…not until we are at home. When they were moving to the next corridor, she made sure that she had picked up some of the bones of the Masters and put them in her pouch.

  The next complex of rooms held treasure. The Masters did not keep the spoils of their conquest of the Dwarves in their rooms. It is all here. It is almost as if they did not value the wealth that they had stolen. Then, why did they steal it? What is it all about?

  All of the timber is decaying, the iron is corroding, and much of the silver is more than tarnished, but the gold and gems are still there…and the coin, and the items made of the precious stuff. They all lie jumbled in a heap along with the remains of ancient weapons and unidentified objects. Some of the weapons and other items, those that were at the fringes, are still intact, so this pile of neglected treasure must be what they did with the loot the bandits brought to their Masters.

  It has been brought here, and then they just dumped it in a heap, paying as much attention to it as a city dweller does to a pile of rubbish. Looking at the expressions of wonder on the faces around me, I can see that the same thought is on several minds. If the Masters didn’t value the treasure that was collected for them, what were they after?

  Bianca

  This old backpack has all sorts of things in it…religious things. Unlike the rest of what is here, they have all been gathered together and kept in one place…and a new backpack at that…as if to shield them from sight.

  She first replaced her own wooden crucifix (kissing the old one and putting it in the bag) before putting a new gold one around her neck and then went around to all of the Orthodox and handed out silver and gold crucifixes and rosaries. Going up to her husband she handed him a beautiful golden pectoral cross with an icon in the centre and jewels on its limbs and gave him a kiss. “You didn’t receive a present at our wedding. Let this be your present.”

  “The Archangel Michael, General of the Heavenly Hosts. This is a good image to wear to battle. Thank you my dear.” Bianca was still rummaging in the bag and its pockets. “Anything else?” he asked curiously. She opened the side pockets on the pack and pulled out of each a flat wooden box that, when opened, revealed an icon. Each was in a frame of gold leaf and had small jewels in the corners.

  Christopher is looking at the first. It shows two men dressed in robes that have more than a hint of the Caliphate about them. Around them are medical tools. “Saints Cosmas and Damien, they are the patrons of healing. This is very useful. It would have been beneficial to have had it available earlier, but we will have it from now on.”

  He looked at the next. It shows a bearded man holding an oar in one hand and a book in the other. Behind him is a boat. Christopher grinned. “Saint Jude…the patron of hopeless causes. I have prayed to him often on this trip. This will never leave my side when we are away from the valley.”

  Thord

  It is done. Not only have we found Dwarvenholme, but we have defeated those who held it and, quite likely, those who caused it to fall. It is time to recover some of the wealth now.

  Thord found, buried in a small pile of fungi, which probably meant that there had, long ago, been a wooden box, a small pile of mithril coins with Dwarven markings. Mithril; we are rich. He looked around. No…we’re richer. He scooped up the coins and added them to the growing bulges of his pouches. I am not even touching the gold…apart from mithril, I am merely taking the gems.

  Digging in one heap he found a magnificent gemmed crown. As he raised it, he looked at it and the runes written on it. I turn it around and around and my eyes must be like orbs. I know what this is. Every Dwarf alive knows what this is! Now, I am really famous. When he spoke to the others he realised that his voice had suddenly became solemn, almost reverential in tone.

  “I t’ink t’at t’ next King of all t’ Dwarves ’ll ha’ t’ Crown of t’ last. T’is I’ll take with us in trust.” They may urge me to try it on, but I won’t. I am not the King. I am more than content to be the Crownfinder…to be the one who gets to choose the next King.

  Rani

  I can see that people are gathering what they wanted from the almost limitless supply of the Dwarves and the produce of centuries of theft. Packs are filling up again. I must make sure that they are not overladen.

  “Do not burden yourselves too much,” said Rani. “We still have to find the books and get home. We will return with horses later.”

  The third set of rooms revealed the library. It doesn’t look like any library that any of us has ever seen. Only one room has books. They are all on one stone shelf that runs right around the room. At least everything is not in a heap like the treasure. You can actually use this place to look at the books if you stand.

  Some of the books are too old. They are decayed and falling to pieces. However, many are much newer. There is even another copy of ‘My Travels Over the Land and Beyond’. Someone has, many years ago by the look of it, underscored the section on Mousehole in a now-faded ink on the fragile vellum.

  “They found the valley through the book,” said Theodora.

  Bianca thinks that she has found the book that started her on this road. At any rate, the binding on it is very similar to that of her Bible, so it may come from the same place. It is in High Speech, but an old form, and it talked of places and had maps. “Again, we will read it when we get it home.”

  Christopher has claimed for the village an illuminated set of what he calls Gospels. It is very old and quite heavy. “The one I took to Evilhalt was no heavier. I will get this home.” He looked at the next book and then exclaimed: “Ayesha…come here!” She hurried over. “Here; your people need this. It is your own Qur’an, and a beautiful one as well.” Ayesha reverently stored it in her pack, throwing out mere clothes to do so.

  Theo-dear has taken charge here. While people are looking at books for themselves, she has gone around and selected all of the important looking books and given them out, at least two each, to carry back to Mousehole. We have thirty or so books that are in the best condition, and a couple that are not.

  The other rooms in this section each have a pentagram on the floor. They are all very similar. There is writing I don’t recognise. She began towards one when Verily called out. “There is magic here, Air magic.”

  Rani looked at the diagram ahead of them. “Thank you. This must be charged.” Taking care to stay clear, she looked as closely as she could at it. To Theodora she confided: “I would venture that, as well as for normal casting, each of these that is similar will control a different pentagram somewhere. One of these was for Dharmal. One was for Conrad, and so on.” Together they counted the rooms. There is one large one, and twelve smaller ones.

  Rani looked at her wife. “This is something that we will have to come back for. We need to think if there is a way of finding out where they connect to, and if we can close them down. What would it be like if some of these patterns can physically bring a person or a Master here? We will have to be cautious about what we will find here when we return.”

  Chapter XI

  Bianca

  late on the 6th Undecim

  After the previous two, the last set of rooms is a disappointment. They are smaller than the others and revealed nothing at all except fungi, and the dirty and unidentifiable remains of what had been there. From the stone fittings, I would be willing to say it was once some form of accommodation, but ev
en that is unclear.

  There are privies though, and that means people. Seeing that there is running water from a stone spigot in one room that goes into a pool and flows out the other end, Rani has decided that this is as good a place as any for us to get some rest. Real rest is something that we have not had for a long time.

  There are a number of stone rectangles beside the water and along the walls. Thord thinks that the room was once a garden. Rani has said that we can keep our watch outside the entrance to the rooms, with one of us wandering through our small complex in case anything happens. What a relief to have something as normal as a watch ahead of us.

  In the second watch, Bianca had just re-joined the group outside when her husband came to her. Christopher’s hands were shaking as he handed her a flask. “This has the last doses of the Sleepwell,” His voice is full of pain. Why? “Do you remember that I told Rani that it may be addictive?” Bianca nodded.

  “It is. I had to take more in the last combat to gain the mana to heal everyone. Now I am addicted. I want to have more. I do not want to sleep. I just want to take some more, and then more and more. The craving is burning through my blood and my body like a fire in my veins. I have resisted it so far, but I do not know how long I can last.”

  “Take the bottle and give it to someone, and do not tell me who. Get them to hide it from me, but before you give it to them, make them hold their hands out like this.” He held his two hands out flat, palms down. Both of them are quivering violently. “If they shake like I do, don’t let them have it.”

  “I will face away from everyone. Choose someone, either awake or asleep, and do this. Come and get me before the end of the watch. I will be praying and trying to ignore what is happening to me. If I get violent, get them to restrain me and; whatever I do or say, or even if it kills me, remember that I love you very much and anything else is just the drug talking through me. It is not me.”

  He kissed her and went outside where the guards were and, without another word, lay on his face with his arms outstretched and his legs together in the shape of a cross. Bianca looked at her husband and tears began to trickle down her face.

  I love him so much. I cannot lose him…first…his bidding…who is the most stubborn of the hunters? I remember the stoicism of Verily when she was found, and I remember what she endured and survived. She looked around.

  Verily is on watch with us, looking curiously back at me. Bianca went over, holding her finger to her lips. Verily raised an eyebrow, and Bianca gestured for her to follow and went inside the set of rooms. Choosing a vacant room, she explained what Christopher had said.

  Verily is looking back at me. She sees my anguish and my tears and gives me a hug and kiss. “Your husband is a good man. God will not ignore him, and I am sure that He will help him overcome this. He will struggle, but he will live and be back with you. Now, go back outside and I will work out what to do with this.” Bianca nodded and silently went back outside.

  She spent the rest of the watch sitting, crying, near her husband lying on the ground. I can see his body shaking and can hear him reciting litanies and prayers, over and over again, trying to keep his mind off his agony. He has settled on one. Over and over he says the words “Kýrie Ii̱soú Christé, Yié tou Theoú, eléi̱són me ton amarto̱lón”…‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,’ as he tries to draw on the inner strength that he is granted.

  Eventually, as the watch was due to change, she roused him and took him to a vacant room to try and sleep. We end up spending the rest of the rest time with me holding him as he sweats and shakes. His eyes hardly seem to recognise me as he tries to keep up his litany.

  When everyone is waking, Rani comes to us. “Can he walk?”

  “I think so,” said Bianca and she stood Christopher up.

  “I can,” said Christopher in a tense voice. “It hurts, but then everything hurts. I feel like I am on fire. I am afraid that I will not be of much use if anything happens. I will do a Mass if anyone needs it, but otherwise, just let Bianca lead me. It hurts to have light in my eyes, so I am keeping them closed when I can do so.”

  Rani has agreed and now she leaves to gather the others and we will leave the place of our victory. If I lose him it will be a hollow victory indeed.

  Bianca led her husband out of the room and saw that all of the others were there ready to go. One by one, they came up and hugged her husband and herself, some murmured words of comfort to either Christopher, who hardly seemed to hear, or to Bianca. I am sure they mean well, but the words they say are just…passing.

  Rani

  very early on 7th Undecim

  This will make it difficult. We now lack our priest. Bianca is now useless as well. We need to get home as quickly as we can.

  Rani sent them down the stairs. I must make sure that we keep as much vigilance going out as we did coming in. It is easier this time…we are not being attacked as we go down the turns of the stairs, crunching through bones to the light of the nails.

  “Do we leave these here?” Astrid asked, as she waved at one of them stuck into the wall beside her.

  “Yes. We will be back, or others will be back, and these may help keep at bay some of the things that are surely still in this complex.”

  Christopher has nearly fallen several times as he walks down through the bones. He has lost his concentration and his co-ordination, and has to be helped through them. He is now walking leaning on Astrid, as Bianca lacks the strength that is needed to help him.

  We have reached the level where we entered on the stairs and now get to head back to the entrance. I wonder how deep it is? “Hulagu, do you still have some nails left?”

  He checked his pouch. “A hand’s worth.”

  “Then throw one down the shaft, and we will see if we can see how far down it goes.”

  Hulagu did as he was told. The ball of light, which fills the shaft at this level, becomes smaller and smaller and eventually a tiny speck, only as big as a copper dirham coin. It is staying that size…that must be at the bottom of the shaft.

  Rani looked up to see how big the circle of light was at the top where they had come from. It is at least four times that size. It is a long way down to the base…if that is indeed the base and not just the bottom of these stairs. How many other levels are there? What lies below? Is that where the missing Masters are?

  These are things we will have to find out later…probably much later. For now, we have to get the priest back home, and only then can we see what we have found and what it means to us. I don’t even know yet if this is the finish of the quest, or just the beginning of a longer one that lies ahead.

  They went down the corridor and out into the concourse. The bats are all still there, packed together and trying to stay outside the lit areas. Under the lowest of the huge circular balconies they passed around the huge circle to reach the tunnel to the entrance.

  Ahead of us is a square of light that is brighter even than the radiance of the nails along the corridor. It looks like it is morning outside. I have completely lost track of time while we have been inside. For us it could be any time of day.

  It is good to direct my people down this broad entrance corridor. I may have cast the spells that light behind us, but even I love that the light from outside is starting to gradually overwhelm that from my nails. It is a bright, shining and hopeful day outside. Yes, I think it is morning.

  Eventually, they emerged from the gates into a new day and the sun shone brightly on them as, now laden down with books and with treasure, they set out back on the road to Mousehole.

  Chapter XII

  Rani

  7th Undecim

  We may have broken the power of the Masters, at least for now, and found Dwarvenholme, but our joy is being overwhelmed by what is happening inside our Christian priest. We have not even gone half a day from the gate and Astrid h
as cut two saplings and made a stretcher. She and Aziz are having to carry the man.

  He is strapped to the stretcher, his hands tied down to stop him gouging his eyes out as he tried to do earlier. Still, his hands are oozing blood from where his nails had dug into his palms before this was noticed, and padding to stop him doing it was tied in place. A pad is placed in his mouth and bound there to stop him biting his tongue. His wife has to keep wiping the sweat off him as it poured from his body. His eyes are staring wildly and blindly at the sky, and his whole body shakes in a continuous and painful ague.

  I hear her as she whispers low: “I love you and you cannot die…you promised me children, and you are not a man to break a promise. When I sleep I keep dreaming of us surrounded by a large family, and you told me that you wanted to make my dreams come true.”

  “I may not be as good a healer as your priest,” Ayesha said to Bianca at one of their stops as she checked him. “I cannot do what he does and sense the life force within, but I can read his pulse and it is strong but very erratic. His body seems to be fighting itself…that is why he is burning up. We must make sure he does not lose all his water. Keep his gag wet and try and trickle some, only little bits so that he does not choke, around it.” Bianca started to do this, and Ayesha kept checking Christopher every time that they stopped. There was no sign of any change in his condition.

  As we move, we now only have Bryony to check ahead of us, and she stays near the path. Perhaps, if we move fast, we will only have to contend with normal beasts until any absent Masters return. Of course, there is still the dragon, so we must keep a watch on its mountain, which now lies ahead of us.

  If we are lucky it will have fed itself well while we were inside and, without the Masters to prompt it to stir again, it might stay quiet for another year at least. Asvayujau, please make it so. Despite moving with less caution, we are moving a little slower than we did on the way up. Although we are carrying less food and medicines and arrows, we now have to carry Christopher and the books and the other treasure.