The Ossard Series (Books 1-3): The Fall of Ossard, Ossard's Hope, and Ossard's Shadow.

by Colin Taber

  His breath caught at the discovery

  Anton could see Sef’s intent examination of the dart, and had already guessed the truth. He asked, “What is it?”

  “I think it’s poisoned!”

  Matraia cursed under her breath.

  Anton hissed, “Well, we can’t stay here. We’ve got to get past that door while Matraia can still move, and then out of these infernal tunnels!”

  She nodded.

  Sef agreed and said to Matraia, “Let me check the wound.”

  She turned and twisted her arm so he could get closer to it. “I can’t even feel it.”

  To Anton, Sef said, “Keep an eye on the door without getting hit.”

  Anton nodded as Matraia attempted to inject some humour into their dire situation by saying, “Just leave getting hit to me.”

  Anton answered her as he focused on the door, “We already have. You’ve proven yourself quite good at it so far.” After a few moments, he added, “There’s nothing at the door.”

  Sef examined the wound, a ragged red hole that was already swelling and inflamed. “It’s making your skin angry.”

  Matraia asked, “What can you do about it?”

  Sef’s voice came back less certain, “I’m not sure, I’m not used to dealing with such wounds.” He pursed his lips and then said, “I’m going to tie off your arm to slow its spread.

  She nodded.

  The big Flet grabbed a rag out of his pack and tied off her arm, as he said, “We need to get away from here. Are you up to moving?”

  She grimaced as he tied the rag tight. “How? Are we just going to run?”

  “More or less... We have little choice.”

  “We’ll be chancing more darts.”

  “Trust me, we’ll cross the flow here to the other wall and then make our way down to the doorway as quietly as we can, with the water’s song as cover. When we get to the door, we’ll just have to sprint past, but we’ll also provide some distractions with sword and stone. If we do it right, they won’t know we’re coming or get to take another shot at us.” As he spoke, he gathered up a handful of coin-sized stones from the rubble of the island and gave them to Anton. There were about a dozen of them.

  The Outleaguer took them as he said, “Our accompanying light will give us away.”

  “A good point, but we’ll use that to our advantage.”

  Anton nodded. “I suppose light down here in a world of darkness can be a weapon.”

  Sef nodded. “That’s it. Are we ready?”

  “Ready enough,” answered Anton.

  Matraia nodded. She was growing paler, her brow beaded with sweat, but she answered, “I can’t see our friend in the doorway.”

  Sef put his hand out over the stones cupped in Anton’s hands and whispered, “Juvela, please shift your light from us to these stones.”

  The radiance around them brightened as its source shifted and was now concentrated on the rocks in Anton’s hands. The hue remained the same green, but threw out new shadows.

  Sef grabbed back five of the rocks and threw one down to the shore of the island closest to the doorway and put another on the highest point to cast its light. He took one more and put it in his pocket. Closing his hands over his two remaining stones, he said to Anton, “Keep the rest covered until we need them. Be ready to move quickly.”

  Anton and Matraia nodded.

  “Wait here.” Sef then used what cover he could to move across the rubble and closer to the doorway. He made a point of keeping the glowing stones he had already positioned between himself and their enemy.

  Collectively the stones may have thrown out the same amount of light as before, but now as the source, each of them was a glaring point of blinding white-green. Such a thing would not be easy to look upon for hunting red eyes more used to a dark world of soft drafts and deep shadows.

  When he got closer, he quickly stood and threw two stones at the doorway. One went in but bounced back out after hitting the wall behind, briefly lit in green. The stone rolled out and lay just outside the doorway before the water. The other stone also rebounded, but bounced at an angle that made it roll further into the hidden tunnel.

  The sudden flashes of light caused a panic of movement, squeals, and groans. Shadows shifted as creatures went into retreat, the chaos also revealing a large beast that stood tall on two legs.

  The glimpse of their enemy was brief, but the stones had achieved what Sef primarily wanted – to distract their foes.

  Sef quickly crossed the rubble to the water’s edge as he waved over Anton and Matraia. He waited for them between where the flow came around the bend from behind the island of debris and where the doorway loomed. The shores of the rubble island did not extend down the slope far enough to take them beyond their enemies’ lair.

  They gathered there, the water swift as it sped past shin deep. Sef hissed, “We cross here, quickly and quietly, together, with an arm on each other to help.”

  They nodded.

  “Come,” the big Flet said as he led them, adding, “don’t lose your footing.”

  Down by the doorway, shadows moved and hisses sounded, but their enemies’ focus remained on the invading lights.

  After Sef had taken a few steps across the flow, a treacherous path where the water tried to drag his feet from under him as it sped down the smooth and well-worn roadway, one of the lights from the doorway went out. Dust billowed out like a cloud of smoke, lit green by the remaining glowing stone.

  Sef said, “They’re burying them. Quickly!”

  The others followed him, Matraia next with a hand in one of Sef’s own. Anton came last, his good hand taking Matraia’s other.

  The water sang around them as it rushed past, stirred up to bubble and splash where their legs broke the flow.

  As Sef reached the other side, Matraia lost her footing behind him and dropped to her knee with a grunt. He turned around and dragged her up while Anton held her against the pull of the water now that it had more of her to grip as it tried to drag her down the slope.

  A heartbeat later and with a rasping gasp, she was back on her feet, hauled there by Sef, who then pulled her to the narrow shore of rock and rubble just twenty paces up from the doorway they were yet to reach.

  Anton followed.

  Meanwhile, the second light stone down by the doorway was doused as handfuls of dirt and rocks were dumped over it.

  Sef noted the fact as he said to his companions, “They will still be confused. We need to go now. Let me clear the way first with my sword.”

  Anton nodded, but was anxious.

  Matraia agreed, her breathing heavy.

  Sef said, “Anton, when I use my sword, throw your stones in to dazzle them, but keep them hidden until we’re there. Matraia, when we have them distracted, pass behind us, even if you have to crawl through the shallows. Just get beyond the doorway. We will catch up with you, and then we must run as fast as we can.”

  He didn’t wait for them to query the plan, he just drew his sword and went.

  Clutching a handful of glowing stones deep in his pocket, Anton followed.

  Sef whispered, “Here we go!”

  Ten paces away.

  The wall stood dimly lit by the distant light shining from the two stones left on the island. As the three adventurers closed on the doorway, they could see that it was part of the original tunnel’s structure, with once straight lines now heavily chipped and damaged with the passage of time.

  With each step, Sef moved quicker.

  Five paces.

  Without a word, he swung his sword around his body, letting its lethal steel slash into the dark opening. He could hear Anton right behind him, already stepping out and ready to unload his stones. Matraia was also close to them, her breathing loud as it rasped in her throat.

  The poison was getting to her!

  Sef’s sword swang around and caught something, finding meat, before he stilled the blade.

  The strike earned an agonised sque
al and the scuffing of stones and dust as the unseen victim dove away from his lethal steel.

  At the same time, half a dozen blazing green stones zinged over his shoulder, rattling as they hit the wall and scattered beyond the doorway. The light was startling, its sudden arrival earning a chorus of angry hisses and wails.

  Shadows jumped as the creatures hurriedly withdrew, adding to the chaos as the light stones continued to bounce and roll.

  Before the light sources came to rest, Anton let three of his remaining four stones fly from behind Sef’s other shoulder. Once he had sent them on their way, he continued moving past the doorway as he shepherded Matraia down the roadway.

  Sef could hear his companions’ hurried footsteps as he swung his sword back and forth and bellowed, stabbing and slashing at different heights either side of the opening to keep any lingering foes at bay.

  In front of him, all the thrown stones finally came to rest in the dirt. A cloud of dust floated above them, kicked up in the chaos and now lit green. Finally, there seemed no more movement. He was alone.

  Sef took a deep breath, the point of his blade dropping marginally down.

  He considered that maybe they would survive this mad crossing yet!

  But then a deep growl sounded, rumbling from the unknown tunnels beyond the doorway.

  He lifted his blade.

  A dark figure stepped forward.

  Sef swung with his sword, but the doorway restricted his range of movement, meaning the blow was poor and badly angled. His blade was knocked aside by something hard, the detail lost to him by a mix of shadow, movement and green glare.

  At first he thought his foe had swatted his clumsy strike aside with a thick limb as if it was just a stick. A heartbeat later, despite the bright stones, speedy movement, and remaining shadows, he realised with a sinking spirit that his foe, beast or not, unbelievably bore a patchwork of armour.

  These were not simple beasts.

  He was stunned by the realisation. Quickly, he stepped back and raised his weapon afresh to keep the point between him and his enemy.

  In that moment, Sef got a look at his foe, a creature that stood upright, taller than him, with a dark leathery skin and red eyes that exuded a hot anger as powerful as any spell. If this was some kind of vermin, it was a monstrous form of the cave dwellers. Those eyes glared at him with rage, in spite of squinting against the light.

  The beast took another step forward, causing an object that lay upon its broad chest to shift.

  There, despite the green glare, Sef could see a sphere issuing a deep violet light tied around his foe’s neck. As the item came forward, riding the creature’s advance, Sef felt a wave of chilly hopelessness reach out for him and attack his spirit.

  Magic!

  Yet, he realised, this wasn’t the only threat.

  The big Flet could sense a brewing menace behind this foe and its diabolical charm, of something much worse that approached from dark tunnels further away.

  The avatar!

  The presence came powered by a great fury at the travellers’ intrusion, this maleficent force seeking to not just cast them out of its mountain, but destroy them outright.

  What stood in front of Sef was nothing but a shield compared to the much more powerful menace closing in.

  Sef took another step back, his boots entering the water.

  He needed to get away. They all did.

  The red eyes in front of him glared, a rumbling growl sounding from the creature’s throat. The beast took another step forward, again setting the violet sphere to bounce on its broad leathered chest.

  And again, Sef felt the chill upon him deepen and his spirit falter, as though something was creeping through his mind with iron claws.

  The point of his sword, which he held up between them, began to drop.

  He was tired, his sword arm heavy, and his will to fight this giant vermin faded with each heartbeat.

  Far to his left he could hear the splash and cry of Matraia’s clumsy footsteps and rasping breath. That consoled him; at least his friends had escaped.

  And for a moment, as his gaze drifted from those red eyes to the mesmerising violet glow in front of him, he began to accept that perhaps such a thing was enough of a victory.

  He was cold and tired. He wanted to stop and rest.

  His perception started to fall into that purple light, sucked into a web aglow, cool and welcoming.

  The point of his sword, already dropping, fell quicker until it hit the dirt and kicked up a fresh puff of dust.

  With heavy limbs, he had had enough of his trials and troubles. Here he could lay down his burdens, giving them up to the ease he found in the purple light.

  Finally, he could rest.

  Anton was suddenly beside him, bellowing at the creature as the Outleaguer hurled himself forward, stabbing with his knife.

  The action broke Sef’s slide into mindlessness.

  Anton stabbed at the creature’s face, not just lunging at the beast, but throwing his whole body at his foe.

  The creature, focussed on Sef, was as surprised by the furious attack as the big Flet.

  The Outleaguer smashed into the creature, blade first, stabbing into its face and rupturing an eye.

  The creature squealed and lashed out, knocking him aside.

  Anton landed heavily in the dirt amongst the green lit stones between Sef and the beast.

  But the spell that had ensnared Sef was broken.

  Sef lifted his blade and swung again while reaching out with his free hand to grab Anton by the shirt and drag him back.

  The Outleaguer wasn’t idle though. He grabbed all the glowing stones he could and then flung them up at the wounded creature’s bloody face as it retreated.

  And that was all the time the cell brothers needed.

  Sef recovered, rousing from his stupor, pulled Anton to his feet and then turned and ran, dragging his friend along with him.

  They fled down the dark tunnel, their steps splashing in the shallows as the flow rushed alongside them. The two could hear fading cries of pain behind, and Matraia’s ragged flight ahead.

  They just kept going.

  Both they and Matraia were no longer covered by Juvela’s light; instead, they ran blind in the dark, leaving the green glow behind.

  Sef reached into his pocket to retrieve the last light stone he had. The light emerged to show the flow meandering as the slope of the road eased. What debris lay around them had long ago been pushed to the sides by the water.

  The cell brothers could see Matraia ahead, the birdwoman stumbling through the shallow flow, somehow remaining on her feet.

  With her slowing pace, interrupted by stumbles, they would catch up to her soon.

  They kept running, not daring to look back.

  Eventually, they were again together, Matraia supported between the two men.

  Sef ran with the light stone held out in front of him, trying to keep the way lit.

  They eventually ran past a huge crack in the roadway, the gap a pace wide, and where the water all but disappeared with a roar amidst a tunnel-wide jet of blustering mist.

  Finally, the way ahead was clear.

  They fell into a slower run.

  Matraia stumbled more, her breathing rasping and hoarse. At times she coughed, and whenever they touched her to support her they could feel her skin was hot with fever. But they had to continue, despite her plight as the poison ravaged her body.

  Finally, when they thought they could go no further, they noticed a light ahead.

  It was bright and glaring, but tinted green.

  The tunnel’s end!

  “No one will ever believe us!” said Anton.

  “What, that we crossed a mountain by going under it, or that we were attacked by beasts bigger than us and that they threw poison darts?”

  “Both and more, but it doesn’t matter!”

  Sef nodded. “And that purple charm. I fear what kind of irresistible magic that was.”

/>   Anton agreed, but was thoughtful.

  Matraia remained silent, focussed solely on making the end of the tunnel.

  The gentle slope had faded to make the last of the road a simple, flat run. As they neared the exit, now breathing heavily with their efforts, Sef said, “We should slow up and watch what noise we make. We don’t know what lies outside.”

  “Yes,” Matraia finally gasped as they began to slacken their pace.

  Sef whispered, “It could be more barren Deadlands like those between the forests and the foothills, or valleys guarded by Sentinels, or even a garrison loyal to our vermin friend’s king.”

  “Yes, yes, and slow is good for now.” Anton wheezed between heavy breaths.

  Matraia said, between her own rattling gasps, “I think we’ll be in the high valleys. We’ll be able to see the forest basins at the heart of Kalraith, but we may still have to cross some ground.” She stopped to cough, trying desperately to catch her breath.

  Anton said, “Who can know after such a blind march?”

  Sef agreed, also too out of breath to say much, but finally he managed, “I’m getting too old for this.”

  Anton laughed.

  They slowed to a walk as they approached the exit, Anton and Matraia more so, but Sef went ahead, desperate to feel the sun on his skin.

  The tunnel seemed empty but for a good deal of dust, dirt and leaves that had so long ago begun to blow into the abandoned roadway and gather. The build-up gave the road surface a soft feel, something damp and studded with a hundred different types of fungi and small piles of rock and debris where parts of the roof or sidewalls had come down over the years.

  Their light source, focussed on Sef’s stone, had once seemed so bright but now faded away. The daylight at the end of the tunnel overwhelmed it, but this new light also came filtered in green by way of the leaves of the trees beyond. He pocketed the blessed stone.

  They soon reached the exit, finding the road overgrown by the borders of an ancient wood. The trees came up through the very roadway, their determined roots working to destroy the ancient wonder. There and then, with great relief, they left the dark underworld behind and walked into the dappled sunlight.

  Sef came into the daylight first, his eagerness making him discard some of his natural caution.