Descent Into Underearth

by Susan Bianculli

  Arghen swooped in and stood directly in front of us. “Get control of yourselves!” he hissed quietly. “Do you want to give us away this close to rescuing Jason?”

  That stopped my tears as probably nothing else would have. Jason. He was my whole reason for being here, and I would probably literally die from regret if I was caught before freeing him. I snuffled once and then sucked it up. I was grateful to Heather to see that she did the same. I noted that Emalai wasn’t crying, but I did see that she had an agonized look in her eyes as if she had seen this kind of thing too many times to cry for it anymore but was still moved by it.

  It was terrible to wander around the Art area and see more examples of Under-elf handiwork, but we had to check each cage to make sure whoever was on display was not Jason. Emalai didn’t know where he was. She hadn’t been brought to the Art Area for quite a few Lightenings, so she was not up on the status of new arrivals. Thankfully, there weren’t many Surfacers on display, but my heart wrenched each time we spotted someone suffering for Under-elf art.

  It was in the very center of the Art area that we found Jason, who was either sleeping or unconscious. I was thankful to see that he had not been cut open with his innards spread out or anything like that, but he had been restrained spread-eagled by metal clamps attached to a wide metal table angled upright at a forty-five degree angle. It was a good thing his feet were supported by metal rests, otherwise his shoulders might have eventually dislocated from his own weight. He was also naked except for the covering of the bandage that still bound his broken leg, which only emphasized his worrisomely-pale bronzed skin and general hurt condition. I was too appalled at the way he looked to blush for his lack of clothing. He was set up like a museum display. All his weapons, clothes and possessions were arranged on stands around him, with cards describing each exhibit. We also found an Under-elf warrior on guard beside his cage.

  “Step this way,” the guard said in a bored tone to us, as if she’d been saying it over and over for a while. “Come see the only Human in existence, and view the items these legendary creatures use.”

  Heather and I exchanged sardonic looks at her basic misassumption.

  “Fascinating,” Arghen said to the guard, leading Emalai up to the cage. “How did this occur? I thought Humans had been banished to the other side of the Disjoin long ago?”

  The guard replied, “He had been taken captive by eight other Surfacers, who were no doubt bearing him to their master or mistress for some sort of reward. A scouting party on the surface rescued him from whatever his fate would have been up there.”

  I narrowed my eyes. ‘Rescued’, hah! I thought to myself.

  Arghen gave a theatrical shudder. “On the surface? Does not our city have a go-between for that sort of thing?”

  She finally really looked at us, saw Arghen’s assumed rank, and became more deferential. “Yes, Captain, we do, but there have been troubles which have necessitated the occasional release of the military to assist the go-between.” She frowned then, but smoothed the frown away so fast that I wondered if I had seen it after all.

  Arghen said haughtily, “I am well aware of the troubles with Bascom, having come from up there recently myself. I was testing to see how much you knew. But there was no such thing as a Human at the keep.”

  The guard immediately said in a fawning manner, “Yes, of course, Captain. At your rank, you would of course know, especially if you had been there. The Human was not found at the Surface keep, but on the roads nearby it. That may be why you are unfamiliar with him.”

  Arghen peered closer as if interested. “Are you sure that this is a Human? It seems impossible.”

  “So it does, and yet here he is. He has been deemed valuable by the High Council, which is why he has not been ‘improved’ upon by our artisans. Magic does not work on him, just as the legends say—or at least, healing magic does not. His leg is broken and cannot be fixed the usual way.”

  “Who broke it?!” demanded Arghen. “Because that warrior will need to be severely dealt with for such clumsiness!”

  “Captain, Captain, do not be hasty! It was already broken when he was found,” the guard explained hurriedly.

  Arghen nodded, appearing to be mollified. “Ah. Very good. Carry on, warrior.”

  He turned and motioned us to leave. I widened my eyes, prepared to argue or say something that would allow us to stay there. I couldn’t just walk away and leave Jason—not like that. Arghen and I had a silent battles of wills over it which was abruptly terminated when the guard smothered a yawn. Arghen turned back to her.

  “How long have you been at your post?” he demanded.

  “A while, Captain. My replacement is unavailable, so I must pull a double shift until the next Darkening,” she said, unable to hide her yawn this time as she checked the nearest lamp pillar, probably looking to see how long a time that would be.

  Arghen became solicitous. “You look tired, and I am aware how long a time it is until the next Darkening. You cannot do an adequate job if you are not alert. What is your name, and who is your superior?”

  “Warrior Leori Mesoal, Captain, of the Solidum battle corps. My immediate superior is Sub-leader Hanoth Aldorni,” she said reluctantly, clearly not wanting to give him the information but not willing to disobey someone she thought was higher in rank than she and her superior.

  “I hereby release you from duty, Warrior Leori. I will have my Sub-leader here take your place until your replacement arrives. Go seek your rest, and I will be seeking out Chief Hanoth for a speaking.”

  A look of relief appeared in the guard’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced with apprehension as she said, “Thank you Captain. You are too lenient.”

  “Warrior,” Arghen flatly overrode her. “That was not a request. It was an order.”

  Her eyes widened as she fell silent then reluctantly handed him a key ring with a single key on it. She saluted him and us with a stony look on her pale-skinned face and left.

  “That was a stroke of luck!” Heather mouthed as Arghen made a show of handing her the key in case the guard turned back around.

  “Perhaps, or perhaps not,” he replied quietly as soon as the guard was far enough away. “I have been praying to the Goddess Quiris since we entered Central Court for any help She could give us. I am of the belief that this situation was influenced by Her to our advantage.”

  “So now what do we do?” I asked just as quietly. “How can we get him out and away from here without attracting attention?”

  Emalai took a deep breath and said, “In this way.”

  Before we could stop her, she yanked the lead off her collar and booked it down the pathway out of the Art Area.

  “What?” I said, caught off-guard.

  Heather, quicker on the uptake than I was just then, pulled me over to her and whispered in my ear, “She’s being a diversion!”

  The sight of a leadless but collared Surfacer made the few Under-elves in our vicinity go haring after her. I felt immense gratitude and guilt for her brave sacrifice because I knew she could not evade them for long, and she would probably end up being punished for our–my–cause.

  CHAPTER 19

  I turned back to the cage holding Jason and saw that Arghen had already taken the key from Heather and was unlocking its barred opening. I brushed past him with a muttered ‘sorry’ and ‘thanks’ as soon as the door was opened because I was that eager to reach Jason.

  “Jason! Jason! Can you hear me?” I whispered frantically, tugging uselessly at the clamps holding him prisoner while trying to figure out how to get him loose.

  “Que–que esta pasando?” he mumbled, eyes still closed.

  “Jason! It’s me, or rather, us! We’ve come to rescue you!”

  Arghen’s pale hand snaked past mine and tried the key on the left hand clamp that I pulled at futilely. It worked. As soon as it opened, his arm fell to his side. Jason winced, and I guessed it was because his muscles had probably been restrained in that unnatural
position for too long. I rushed around the other side of the metal table before Arghen completed freeing Jason’s other arm, and caught the arm as it fell to lower it gently to his side. Arghen swiftly freed Jason’s ankles, and then the two of us carefully helped him to the floor of the cage.

  Jason opened his eyes, looked at us, and said wearily, “Now what? Oh, never mind. You know what, you gilipollas cabron? Go ahead. Do your worst.”

  He closed his eyes again as if it was too much trouble to look at us. I blinked, a hurt expression coming into my face, and then I remembered that I was disguised as an Under-elf.

  “Wow. I must look pretty good for an Under-elf if you can’t figure out it’s me,” I teased with a little catch in my voice.

  Jason’s eyes flew open and he stared at me with hope dawning in his eyes. “Lise? Chica, is that really you?”

  “Yes, it’s really me. Let me tell you …”

  “We do not have much time for the telling of things,” Arghen cut in over me. “We will be obvious carrying their prize Human out of here since you, Jason, are too injured to walk. I am open to suggestions on how to do this while attracting the least amount of attention.”

  Heather, who had not entered the cage, suddenly yelped. Arghen and I spun our heads to look at her, wondering what was up, and froze. She was being held hostage, her arms imprisoned behind her and the point of a sharp knife indenting the skin under her chin, by a large, fully cloaked, and deeply cowled being. Heather’s arms were pinioned in such a way that she was unable to go for either her sword or her iron bar. To make matters worse, a voice I recognized all too well issued from the cowl’s shadowy depths, once he knew for sure he had our attention.

  “Were you to ask me, my suggestion would, of course, be to turn yourselves in. Because there is no way that you can succeed at escaping. Perhaps the Under-elves will show you mercy.” Bascom’s cold-blooded laugh sent chills up my spine, as did the thought of what Under-elf ‘mercy’ might be.

  “Bascom? No. No. You–you’re, you’re dead. You’re dead! I saw you blow up!” I managed to get out through teeth clenched to keep them from chattering in fear.

  I could feel Jason tense in my arms at the name Bascom, and I saw again in my mind’s eye the three-sided fight under the keep between our side, the Under-elves, and Bascom’s side—my iron bar landing on the mage’s robe and touching a variety of written spells all at once, and the explosion that swiftly followed which blew him to pieces.

  “I am pleased to say that you are wrong. Although,” the Miscere Ogre said with a frown on his grey-green face and a snarl coming into his voice, “you were not far from being right. Somehow you managed to use your iron to knock me out and teleport me to the stables in such a condition that I was fortunate that I woke up again afterwards.”

  My mind flashed back to the hayloft I had investigated before leaving the keep a few days ago. That hadn’t been a slacker up there. That had been Bascom! I ground my teeth in frustration to know that he had been so close while helpless then. If only I hadn’t left the barn to get help!

  “I am surprised that you have not already tried to attack us on our journey, since it is now obvious that you have been following us,” Arghen said flatly with an undertone of anger.

  “Given our last couple of, ah, interactions, I wanted to scout you and your capabilities out since they do seem to be rather formidable. I must admit that I am surprised that you did not realize I was around.”

  All of a sudden I remembered the missing darts from the trap, the wyvern who’d become alerted to Arghen somehow, the movement out of the corner of my eye in the cave before Auraus brought the cavern ceiling down, and the door that had opened and then closed in the discussion room. He must have been invisible! My eyes widened, and Bascom nodded begrudging approval at me at the realization showing on my face.

  “Ah, I see our young friend here has figured out where I have played my hand as subtle tests on your travels.” The mage’s expression turned a little sour as he added, “I would have to say that congratulations should be in order for getting this far, but I will not. I will admit that restraining myself from seeking your deaths immediately was hard, but I was curious to see who this paragon was for which you were willing to brave the depths of the Sub-realms. I was also intrigued to see if you actually could rescue someone from the heart of Chirasniv, because if you were it might prove valuable knowledge for me in the future. It would of course have been more satisfying to kill you all myself, but then I would not have had my answers. But, alas, I cannot kill you now because I need to save my magical energies for a higher purpose. So I will grant you the opportunity to try and return to the Surface with your trophy, which will be difficult because he is wounded and cannot help you to help himself. I, on the other hand, have no such problem with my prize.”

  Prize? I wondered. Heather? I don’t like the sound of that. What did he mean?

  Heather, realizing that Bascom was talking about her, started to drop to her knees to slide out of his grip, but she stopped herself when the point of the dagger bit into her skin. I could see the wince of pain in her eyes as she straightened up again, a little rivulet of blood running down her tan throat.

  Bascom gave her a little shake. “Foolish Human,” he said dismissively. “You are valuable to me. I do not wish you damaged because I have need of you more whole than not—but I will harm you as far as necessary to get your obedience.”

  Arghen started to stand up slowly, but Bascom shook his hood at him. “Do not move, Under-elf. Or I will sound an alarm that will bring the Chirasnivians here faster than they will return on their own.”

  “You can’t do that,” I said, sure he was bluffing. “Because you’d be caught, too.”

  I thought I saw a flash of a white toothy smirk in the darkness of his hood as he said with a sneer, “Ah, but I have an arrangement with them. I may lose this prize I hold, but I would not be taken. You, on the other hand, would not be so fortunate.”

  I growled because I couldn’t think of an argument to counter that.

  Arghen put a hand on my arm to quiet me as he looked straight at Heather, ignoring Bascom. “Do not worry, Heather. We will rescue you. This I swear by my Goddess Quiris.”

  I nodded in vigorous support. “Me, too, by Caelestis!” I squeaked, my voice cracking with emotion.

  Bascom laughed as Heather said with a tremble in her voice, “You’d better. Or I’ll figure out how to haunt you both for the rest of your days if I die.”

  We remained crouched with Jason in the cage while Bascom pulled Heather backwards and away until we lost sight of them behind a lamp pillar. I dropped my head in defeat.

  Arghen took hold of my chin and forced me to look up at him. “Lise. We will get Heather back. But first we must figure out what to do with Jason.”

  Jason! I looked down at him, and his weary, pained dark brown eyes met my blue ones.

  “Lise! I knew you would come for me. Somehow,” he croaked, ending on a cough. “But you need to leave me, chica. You can’t help me, and I won’t be responsible for getting you caught down here. It would kill me if that happened.”

  I teared up at his willingness to try and save me at the cost of himself, and I hid it with a tremulous smile. “I didn’t come all this way just to leave you behind again, Jason. Besides, I can save you, but you have to believe.”

  Two sets of questioning eyes looked at me as I reached into my belt pouch.

  “Jason. This is from Caelestis,” I said, pulling out the beautiful little vial she’d given me before I’d left the keep. “But you have to believe in her, and in magic itself, for it to work. Can you believe? For me?”

  He whispered in a broken voice, “For you, Lise, I will believe anything. Because I believe in you.”

  My eyes went starry, a wide smile bloomed across my face, and I couldn’t have stopped the blush in my face that followed if I’d tried. He believed in me! Arghen held Jason’s head so I could pour the contents of the precious bottle into
his mouth. As Jason drank, I searched him anxiously for any changes and was rewarded by seeing the healthy bronzed color coming back to his skin, the bruises and abrasions that were all over his body disappearing, and the expression of tenseness on his face fading—as if pain that he had not mentioned had been taken away. When the vial was empty, I put it away. Jason sat up without help and unwound the bandages from his shin. I clapped my hands together once in glee to see his leg completely healed.

  I couldn’t stop myself any longer after that. I squealed and threw my arms around him and hugged him while sending up a prayer of thanksgiving to Caelestis. “I’ve been so worried about you!”

  He didn’t even hesitate as he hugged me back harder.

  “Enough,” Arghen said with something that looked suspiciously like a smile.

  Jason and I jumped apart like two guilty teenagers caught necking by the police late at night in Central Park.

  “Chirasnivians are soon going to be returning to whatever they were doing before Emalai sacrificed herself as a decoy,” he reminded us. “We need to depart this place quickly.”

  We got busy and helped Jason get dressed in his clothes and equipment in record time, wrapping his head up like mine to hide his lack of Elven ears. Arghen took off his Captain’s cloak and wrapped Jason up in it, pulling the hood down as low as it could go over Jason’s face.