“Breeding lands?” Heather interrupted, but I already knew the answer Arghen was going to say.
“Kobolds, Troglodytes, and other such lower orders of creatures; at least, ‘lower’ according to the typical Under-elf,” he replied.
Heather looked revolted. “Ugh! Under-elves keep slaves?”
I elbowed her gently in the ribs. “That’s kinda why we’re down here, remember?”
She made a face. “Oh, yeah.”
I looked away from her so she wouldn’t see my annoyance. She may have forgotten about getting Jason back, but I hadn’t. Every stop, needed or not, increased the distance between him and us.
Arghen went on. “And beyond the farmlands lie the military living area, or the Martial Ring. Beyond that is the training grounds for the soldiers and where beast of burden like dranths and others are kept. Finally, beyond the training fields are the city-state gates, which is the only entrance in.”
Ragar held up a furry hand-paw. “Wait. Does this mean that we are going to have to sneak into the Under-elf city-state through the military sections first?”
Heather, Auraus, and I exchanged startled glances as Arghen nodded his white-haired head.
“How in the world are we going to be able to pull that off, if the Under-elves are as paranoid as you say that are?” Ragar asked, eyes narrowing.
“This is where the disguises come in,” he replied. “Lise, Heather and I are going to be Under-elves bringing Auraus and you in as captives. I am making an educated guess that this would be acceptable and that they would not be harmed since they would already be in our custody.”
“No,” I said flatly, interrupting him.
Ragar, who’d been bristling, relaxed as Auraus, who’d gone pale, regained a little color in her fair-skinned cheeks at my refusal.
“Arghen, that’s too risky,” I stated. “We know that the Chirasnivians take Surfacers, but we don’t know why. And what we don’t know could get Ragar and Auraus into a world of hurt. We’ll have to think of something else.”
“Besides,” Heather added, “If all Under-elves are as paranoid as you say they are, Arghen, wouldn’t they just detain us fake Under-elves anyway to check our non-existent papers or whatever? And when they discover we are fake, throw us in a jail cell or something?”
I looked away. If the Under-elves thought we were fake, it wasn’t a jail cell we’d be going to—it would be to Central Court. Heather seemed to have forgotten that pain and suffering was what happens to Surfacers in the Sub-realms, but I wasn’t going to remind her of that right now.
“It is possible,” Arghen conceded, “but it is the only scenario that I can think of that would get all of us inside the city-state gates.”
“Well, maybe we all should not go inside then,” said Ragar. “Auraus and I could wait at the cavern closest to the city-state gates until you return with Jason.”
I frowned. “I don’t like the idea of splitting us up. Too much can go wrong that way.”
“The cavern would be too far away from the city-gate to keep in any sort of contact,” Arghen warned.
“But Lise, I believe it might be safer,” said Auraus with only a little tremor in her voice. “I do not think that I could play a convincing captive.”
I quirked a smile at her. “I was never in favor of the captive plan anyways. Does anyone else have any other ideas about getting us into Chirasniv?” I asked, looking around.
Nobody returned my gaze. Sighing, I said, “Then we’ll just have to go with splitting the party despite what Arghen has stated. I don’t like it, but I see no other way.”
There was a disapproving look in Arghen’s amber eyes, but he didn’t argue it. Thankfully.
Heather said, “All those horror movies and books back home always have the party split just before the bad stuff happens, you know. Good thing movies and books aren’t like real life.”
I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t remind her that we were kind of already living a real-life story. I didn’t want her to get nervous and lose confidence before we had to pull off some serious doubletalk and sneaking around.
“How long until we reach the Chirasnivian gates?” I asked Arghen instead.
He shrugged. “I see signs, but they do not tell me distances. All I do know is that we are now within the areas patrolled by the Duty Patrol warriors.”
I blinked, remembering a conversation from our first trip to the keep when Arghen had told Jason and me this very fact—that there are groups of Under-elves whose only duty is to ride the tunnels that surround the tunnels that lead to the city-state and keep them clear of monsters that live in the Sub-realms.
I shuddered at the thought of a group of Under-elves as deadly as Arghen roaming around nearby, and then I got a bright idea. “Arghen! Could we somehow ambush a patrol, steal their mounts and armor, and go into Chirasniv that way?”
Arghen, Auraus, and Ragar all turned to face me and skewered me with their eyes. Or so it felt like.
“Ambush Under-elves in their own territory? Are you well, Lise?” asked Ragar bluntly.
But Arghen’s expression became distant, as if he was thinking. “Maybe not a patrol, but a caravan of merchants instead?”
“But you said there was no set time for trading,” I argued. “How would we know if there is one due?”
“True. We might have to wait. Of course, with the bounty that the Chirasnivians have just gotten from the surface, maybe they have put out suggestions to other city-states for a market day. Merchants would be much easier to overcome.”
“Do other city-states have slaves, too?”
Arghen shrugged. “I do not know. Mine does not. It was only a suggestion.”
“Are there city-states nearby Chirasniv?” Heather asked him.
“It depends on what you mean by ‘close’. If you mean a day away, no. If you mean a few suns to a moon’s phase away, then yes.”
“We can’t wait that long!” I burst out. Jason was closer now than he’d been for some time, and it was killing me imagining him in Under-elf hands.
“Lise, I can understand your feelings,” said Auraus, “but I think this is one instance where Arghen’s suggestion is worth waiting for.”
I frowned. Merchants might be easier to handle than fully-outfitted patrols looking for trouble, but the longer we waited the higher the possibility that something irreversible would happen to Jason. I reached into my belt box and stroked the vial that Caelestis had given me for him, worried.
I sighed in annoyance. “I’ll compromise. We’ll wait a while for a caravan to show up. But not too long—no more than a couple of sleeps. If that much times passes and there are still no merchants showing up, then we go with the ambushing-the-patrol idea.”
CHAPTER 11
My idea of ambushing the patrol may not have found favor with Arghen, Auraus and Ragar, but it was taken out of our hands. As we were riding to catch up to Arghen in the leapfrog like maneuver we had been doing as we traveled, I was surprised to reach him in a shorter period of time than expected. He was sitting on Stalker staring at a collection of tunnel mouths side by side—the first that I’d seen that were not inside a Cavern of Convergence.
“Lise, I strongly suggest to you that we keep the party together from now on,” he said. “We are coming to the Shifting Tunnels now. If the Under-elves of Chirasniv somehow get wind of our coming, they can open and close tunnel entrances to make this a maze that would drive us right into a patrol, or a killing field.”
“Will there be another nexus point after these tunnels?” I asked, not wanting to forget Auraus’ request about staying outside of Chirasniv.
Arghen said, “It is likely. Under-elves prefer room to fight in. If these Under-elves are like those of my home city-state, there will be certain caverns mixed among the tunnels that could become a killing field.”
I nodded. “Then let’s stay together as long as we can. Will these tunnels make finding Jason harder?”
Arghen shook his white-haired
head. “Between Ragar and myself, we will still be fine for tracking as long as the tunnels that Jason was carried down are not closed off.”
That concerned me.
“Then we should set a faster pace, so that can’t happen,” I said, but Arghen shook his head again.
“I suggest that we go back to the cave behind us and find a place to hide so we can ambush any possible merchant caravan. That place cannot be re-arranged.”
I nodded. “All right, everyone, let’s go back for now.”
As we turned our mounts around, Arghen hissed and held up a hand. “A patrol is behind us. Move!”
Even though the rest of us couldn’t hear anything, I trusted Arghen’s Elvish hearing. We urged our mounts to go as fast as was safe back to the cave, aware that Under-elves were now on our trail.
The Under-elves of course had heard us, too, and rode swiftly enough that we heard the noise of their passage behind us just as we burst back into the cavern. Auraus stood up precariously in her horse’s saddle, spread her white-and-gold wings, and took flight. The rest of us turned our mounts around and spread out in a semi-circle to face the entrance. There was no chance the Under-elves would be able to outflank us, but they had to know that. I guessed they would rush out at us, hoping to overwhelm us. As the sounds of their approach grew louder Arghen and Ragar pulled out their swords, but I went for my iron bar instead. I wanted all the advantages I could against such fearsome opponents, and iron would give me that.
I saw four dranths appear out of the darkness, and then four Under-elves materialized on their backs hissing battle cries at us, instead of yelling them like Arghen did. I was surprised to see only four, but then I remembered that all we had was one Under-elf on our side and how effective he’d been for the last couple of months. I started sweating bullets. How many more beings would I have to remember in my heart now?
“Heather! Stay back and be careful!” I yelled as I urged Saffron forward along with Arghen and Ragar. At least I could spare her this. I hoped.
I saw movement in my peripheral vision, and turned to see what it was.
“Wait!” screamed Auraus from somewhere above, her voice reverberating loudly from the cavern’s rocky walls, which drew my attention to her instead.
Both sides involuntarily checked their momentum at the unexpected cry, looking around for its source. That gave her enough time to cast a spell.
Whomp!
It was like a dozen airport searchlights on steroids going off in the cavern, and an almost painful magical tingle slammed across my senses. I was blinded and nearly thrown off my mount as Saffron neighed wildly and bucked in surprise. I hung on for dear life and tried to get him to simmer down as cries of pain and animal squeals came from everywhere around me, but especially from the Under-elves and their mounts. Yanking on his reins hard eventually brought Saffron under control while I blinked furiously, trying to clear my sight. My eyes watered. I pitied Arghen because I was sure he’d been affected too. There was no way he could have been prepared for that spell.
I heard a clang like a sword had been dropped, and then Ragar’s exultant “Haaaaaaaaah!” which was followed swiftly by cries of anger and pain from the Under-elves. I guessed the mountain-cat-elf was fighting them with his claws by sense of smell rather than sight, since he had to be half-blinded as well. I hoped he was able to avoid the dranths’ teeth. Then I heard the sound of swords crossing and figured Arghen was fighting the Under-elves as best he could. I jumped off Saffron and made my way closer to the sounds of the fight so I could help out when I could see. Auraus intoned something again from somewhere up above, and along with another almost painful tingle across my skin, she brought the house down. Or rather, the cave ceiling!
I threw myself towards where I thought the sidewall of the cave was as rocks started coming down from above, hoping against hope that I wasn’t going to be beaned on the top of my head by a stalactite or be crushed by a slab bigger than me. I prayed that Saffron would be safe and almost missed receiving a mental pat about it. A stalactite just brushed my back on the way down, but I managed to get over to the side wall with only a few pieces of rock smashing off my chainmail-covered arms that protected my head. The rocks would leave behind bruises, I could tell. Even over the rumble of the ceiling collapsing I heard a despairing feminine scream coming from overhead. Something had happened to Auraus! I scrubbed at my eyes and finally started seeing indistinct shapes.
“Lise! Are you all right? What just happened?” huffed Heather anxiously, appearing at my side.
“Can you see?” I asked her urgently.
I could still hear Auraus’ cries, but they seemed fainter and more hysterical, and that scared me. Had she been taken captive somehow and was she being taken away like Jason had been?
“Yeah. I was looking down into my saddlebags when the light hit, so it didn’t affect me as much.”
“What’s happening with the Under-elves? Are the horses all right? Can you see Auraus or any of our people?”
“There’s a huge pile of rocks where the Under-elves were. All the horses are fine. I’d already grabbed them and brought them to the side wall just as the fight started. But I can’t see Ragar or any of our guys,” she said in a worried tone. Then she said, “Oh, wait, someone is crawling out from under the mess—uh-oh; it’s an Under-elf, and it’s not Arghen!”
My eyes cleared enough that I could see the Under-elf stagger upright, look around, and lock onto Heather and me as the only standing opponents. “Get ready, Heather. He’s coming right for us!”
But it turned out that the ‘he’ was a ‘she’ and was covered in stone dust and blood. She was also squinting as if her eyesight had not returned to normal. By the time she reached us, Heather and I had split far enough apart that she had to pick one of us to target first. She held herself at an equidistant point of a triangle from us, blinking furiously, trying to figure out which opponent she should go for first. I tried making myself look small and injured worse than I actually was so that she would pick me. I had a better shot than Heather did at taking her on because of my experience. With the Under-elf’s injuries, I thought that I might just live through the fight. My acting must have worked because she rushed me, evidentially wanting to put me out of the fight as quickly as possible so she could focus on Heather, who looked unhurt.
I brought my iron bar up in a two handed block to handle the force of the blow the Under-elf aimed at me. Our metals clanged against each other, sparks flying, and I was hard pressed to keep the sword from my head. She hissed at the bar in my hands, obviously recognizing what it was, and lashed out towards me with a heavy boot. At the last possible moment I saw it and twisted enough aside that it only skimmed my leg instead of crushing my kneecap.
I swung the bar in a circle around her sword to push it out of the way, and then with both hands riposted the iron towards a gap between the metal plates of her armor that had to have resulted from the rock fall. She saw it coming and acrobatically drew back, avoiding my thrust while sweeping her blade downward to shove my weapon to the side. But her resistance to pain must have been steadily lessening because she faltered at the end of the sweep. Heather chose that moment to swoop in from behind to stab the Under-elf in the shoulder of her over-extended sword arm. The Under-elf hissed in pain and anger, whirling on Heather and dealing a vicious blow that Heather only partially blocked.
“Face me!” I screamed at the Under-elf, scared for Heather. “I have iron, remember?!” I lunged forward to knock it into the back of her head.
The Under-elf heard me and whirled while ducking to the side, but not before I brushed her ear tip, burning it. That made her screech in anger, and she turned to charge me so viciously that I barely had time to reset and block her to save myself from being gutted like a fish. I struck at her again, and fortunately Heather did too at the same time. We both managed to find places in her armor to penetrate—my iron from the front, her sword from the back. But my iron didn’t touch any flesh because of the
leather underlay, which was just my bad luck. Even with Heather’s sword piercing her body, the Under-elf brought her blade down into my unprotected neck.
Blackness quickly followed.
CHAPTER 12
I woke up lying flat on my back on a smooth, cream-colored, hard surface. There was light all around me which wasn’t coming from any source that I could see, which left me confused. The Sub-realms were most definitely dark, so somehow I wasn’t underground anymore.
I stood up, and as I did I saw that I now wore a long, sleeveless, white robe-type dress, and I had bare feet. I blinked, stunned. When did that happen? I looked around for something that might tell me where I was, or someone I might question, but there was nothing as far as the eye could see. It was a white, empty, nowhere kind of place. I grew a little panicky, but I took deep breaths to get myself back under control. I wouldn’t be helping myself if I got hysterical and ran around screaming like a loon. When golden motes appeared in the air space a few steps in front of me, my eyes latched onto them in relief; I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen. And I was right; my white and gold winged goddess, Caelestis, soon materialized from them wearing her signature green fog dress with the draped girdle belt made of sparkling light.
“Analise, My Champion,” she greeted me warmly, coming to kiss me once on either cheek.
I was wrapped briefly in the spicy scent that I remembered from our very first meeting as her floor-length golden hair drifted around my shoulders.
“Caelestis? What’s going on? Where am I?” I asked, uneasy.
“You stand at the junction between the life you knew, and the next,” she replied.
I was speechless for a moment as I translated in my head what she meant. I’d … died? What? How?
Memory started to reassert itself: Heather and I had been in a fight with that Under-elf after the ceiling collapse caused by Auraus. She and I had both speared the enemy with our weapons—except that mine hadn’t really worked because it’d been a blunt iron bar that hadn’t pierced the leather underlay of my opponent’s armor. And then the Under-elf’s sword had come down. I shuddered as I placed my left hand to my neck where I’d been hit. Then I smiled wryly—at least I wasn’t going to be adding to the collection of remembrances in my heart.
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