Wilmurin: Land of Darkness

by H. J. Cronin

  'We certainly are,' said Ardag with a grin. 'What do you know of this Frost King?' he asked Finnvid.

  'Absolutely nothing, no one has ever lived to tell. No one has even come this far before,' Finnvid said, excited at the prospect of being the first of the Mjorn to see the Frost King.

  The party, led by three frost giants, walked through hallways so wide they could accommodate an army and so tall even the giants seemed short. The walls were full of strange markings and symbols that were alien to the druids and even the Mjorn. The giants were not smart enough to have developed such a complex and intelligent system. A long lost civilisation must have dug into the mountains to create such an awe-inspiring place.

  'Do you think these halls were created by the Old People?' Johan whispered to Finnvid.

  'I imagine only the gods know who created this complex. The Old People, judging by their tree carvings, were nowhere near learned enough to create this, nor would they have had the means. A long lost race created this, who must have been either driven from here or perished here. A sad fate for such an advanced people,' sighed Finnvid.

  As they entered a narrower hall, the walls were closer and the companions could make out drawings carved into the walls, along with the strange symbols and writings seen in the other hall. The pictures showed scenes of battles; a humanoid race wearing thick armour that covered their body fought giant beasts that looked like shadows. These weren't giants, they were something else.

  Johan looked around, quite frightened by the terrible pictures. The people in the pictures looked to have suffered greatly at the hands of these shadows, and he wondered if this was perhaps their fate. He feared one of the shadows would appear – they never did.

  Soon the party arrived before the Frost King, who looked like the other frost giants – a beard of ice, icicles pointed upwards for hair, a cruel, stern face. The only differences were the crown on his head and his somewhat larger bulk. He sat upon an enormous throne made from ice. The room was so large that one end couldn't be seen from the other; the glorious ceiling, decorated with the same symbols the companions had seen earlier, was held up by great towering pillars.

  The Frost King sat in the middle of his throne room and scrutinised each of the companions. He began talking to them in his own tongue.

  Ardag looked to Finnvid who was about to translate when the Frost King said, 'I see you do not know my tongue so I shall speak in yours, humans.' He had a thick accent that was cold and unpleasant.

  'Thank you, sire,' Ardag said, bowing; the others copied.

  'I do not know this word "sire". What concerns me is the presence of a bunch of Mjorn and some outlanders on my land. My soldiers tell me you slew some of my troops, unassisted,' he said, pointing at Ardag.

  Ardag nodded, and spoke whilst bowing, 'I had to protect my friends, my kin. Surely you understand this, oh great king.' Ardag fought hard to keep any sarcasm out of his voice.

  'Those troops who fell to your magic are not worth my time, we do not mourn their deaths. Now I demand to know why you are here,' he said, banging his fists down onto the arms of his throne.

  'There is a creature that dwells within these mountains, it guards some treasure we require,' Ardag said, bowing again.

  The Frost King scoffed. 'That demon called Shneesh, the chimera that destroys any who go near it. We, made of ice, melt instantly from its flaming mouth. You wish to confront the demon?' the Frost King said, laughing.

  'How did this creature get there?' Johan asked, somewhat fearful at the prospect of seeing this chimera.

  'I trust you saw the drawings in the halls. This entire city in the mountain was not built by the frost giants – an ancient race we call “the Builders” constructed it. Their pictures are everywhere and they tell a story. We do not know their language for their writing is different to anything we have seen. Judging from their carvings, they were a small race of people who dug for riches. They became too greedy and dug too deep. They awoke a dark shadow from the abyss, the shadow multiplied and began eradicating the Builders. Their numerous population declined in the war, and out of the abyss Shneesh decided to have her fun, she came to the stone city and, along with the shadows, vanquished the Builders. Now she sits upon her treasure, never leaving it – for some reason I don’t know she has stayed. She was here long before we came here – we stopped going there because we lost too many of our kind. By all means go there, you will meet the same fate as those who went before you.' The Frost King laughed again.

  'I wish to strike a bargain with you, king of the frost giants,' Ardag said, choosing his words carefully. 'If we destroy this demon, will you allow us to leave? And will you declare peace with the Mjorn?'

  Finnvid and Jess looked at him, astonished. Finnvid whispered to Ardag, ‘The frost giants are evil, we all know it, they cannot be bargained with.'

  'Trust him, he knows what he's doing,' said Bry, placing a gentle hand on Finnvid’s shoulder.

  The Frost King laughed dramatically, he spoke in his own tongue and the other frost giants in the hall laughed. He composed himself and looked Ardag, bemused. 'Even with your great power, mage,' he said, 'the demon will be almost impossible to defeat. Go forth into the halls of this city within the mountains. Seek the chimera in its lowest depths. If by some miracle you return, you will have your freedom.'

  Ardag sighed with relief and smiled. He bowed once again and spoke to the king kindly, 'We all thank you. Will you be kind as to show us the direction to the depths?'

  The Frost King nodded. 'One of my servants will lead you to the door at the back of this room, the door leads to a maze of corridors. After that you will reach a mine shaft, your journey to the deepest part of the city starts there, it is a day’s journey down the ramp for people as small as you. I will not spare your foolishness another thought.' The Frost King dismissed them with his hands and signalled for one of his servants. A large giant approached, the floor shaking with every step, and it led the companions through the dark corridors.

  Their escort left them, without a word, at the top of a mineshaft that didn't seem to have a bottom. The lamps that would have lit the way had burned out a long time ago. A crude wooden ramp spiralled down the shaft and eventually vanished into darkness. The air felt warm and close, and a musty smell rose up from the shaft; there was no noise which made the experience seem even more sinister.

  The companions, along with eight Mjorn warriors, stood and waited. Ardag thought for a moment, stroking his moustache and lighting his pipe; the white smoke of the narnum rose into the air and gradually faded. At last he spoke, 'We have no other option apart from making the long descent. Find something that will ignite amongst this rubble on the floor so we can find our way.'

  The party scurried around until two of the warriors came back with two wooden planks, small enough to be held in one hand. They spoke to Ardag in their own tongue and pointed behind them. Jess translated, after smiling indulgently at Ardag’s uncomprehending face as the warriors spoke to him. 'Ardag, they are saying, "Mage, we have found this wood, there is a pile of it behind, must be left over from the great wooden ramp."'

  'Fantastic,' Ardag said clapping his hands together. 'Tell them thanks, now half of us have the means to light the way.'

  'Ardag, why don't you try and illuminate the burnt out torches that are attached to the walls?' asked Johan.

  'Because we do not want to alert the demon of our approach, surprise is the best weapon we have at this moment,' replied Ardag.

  'What do we do when we confront this beast?' Finnvid asked.

  Bry spoke, trusting she knew the answer, 'We do not know this beast so we will approach with caution. I imagine the fight will need to be improvised.'

  Ardag nodded, 'Once we are close enough to spring some kind of trap we must attack hard and fast. All of us will be essential in this struggle.'

  Larko cleared his throat and the others turned to look at him; he had been silent since his outburst in the Cold Wood. 'Ardag, we have followed yo
u this far, I trust your judgement.'

  'Me too,' said Johan, 'I have followed you since arriving on Wilmurin. I am sure I will follow you into the abyss if that is our destiny. I will follow you anywhere.'

  Bry smiled and added her contribution, 'As you know I can be a little hot headed, but you are the only one I will follow and be led by.' She embraced him.

  Finnvid and Jess had not known Ardag as long as the others had, but they nodded their agreement. Ardag felt overcome with emotion and nodded gratefully. 'I will not let any of you down – leadership may have fallen upon me but we are all still equal. Thank you for your kind words, friends. Let's head into the abyss, we have a chimera to become acquainted with.'

  The others laughed softly and Ardag led them down the spiral wooden ramp that seemed to have no end.

  It took them just under one day to get to the bottom. They had slept with little comfort on the wooden walkway, taking it in turns, two at a time keeping watch. They would need all the strength they could muster for their inevitable meeting.

  As they made the long, dark descent to the bottom, Johan noticed that the rock slowly went from plain, grey, dirty rock to rock with nuggets of silver mixed in with it. That was why the Builders dug so deep, he thought to himself, they weren’t just looking for silver – maybe they searched for filven as well.

  The ground they stood upon was made up of a mixture of dirt and rock, a round wall of dirt surrounded them, and only a narrow tunnel indicated their next route.

  'We must go through that tunnel,' Ardag said amid a nervous silence. 'I know some of you may be apprehensive, but there is no going back. Let's move quickly so we can leave this damned place.'

  'My men are with you, Ardag,' Finnvid said, tapping his warhammer, 'It's a custom of ours that the fallen dine with the gods.'

  'I hope death is a long way away from now,' Jess said, more anxious than her brother.

  'In the teachings of my people,' said Larko, 'When we die we become part of the land, our spirits live on in the trees and grass.'

  'Such a peaceful thought for such a barbaric race,' Bry was quick to add.

  Before Larko could respond, Johan cut in, 'Enough talk about death just before we possibly enter a battle.' The others smiled.

  Ardag cleared his throat. 'We must be on the move now, follow me.'

  He held a flaming torch and led the party through the narrow tunnel; the walls were dirty and crumbled when touched. It seemed as if the tunnel sloped downwards, slowly sending them deeper.

  The tunnel seemed to go on forever – it took them an hour to reach the end. None of them were prepared for what they were about to see. The tunnel led to an enormous domed area; they couldn't see the end because it was so large. The dome was dimly lit by a river of black and red lava in its centre, which flowed from the left to the right, and the party could see a bridge had been constructed to cross the lava.

  'It appears that these Builders dug well beyond their limits,' said Bry, marvelling at the size of the dome. 'It looks as though we have entered the abyss. What is that river made of? I can feel the heat.'

  'That is lava,’ said Finnvid, ‘it pours from some volcanoes on the surface. It is so hot it destroys everything it touches. They dug deep indeed to reach lava.'

  'Why would these Builders want to dig so deep?' Bry asked.

  'Who knows?' shrugged Johan. 'I have a theory that they were mining for filven – it must be valuable due to its rarity. May be that's how it ended up on Wilmurin, these Builders could have traded it if they found a way to carry it.'

  'Greed almost always leads to disaster,' said Ardag with a sigh. 'I can't see or feel the presence of this chimera – tread carefully.'

  'Maybe it got bored and just left,' Finnvid said with exaggerated optimism.

  'I hope you are right, brother,' said Jess, patting her brother on the shoulders.

  'Over there!' Johan exclaimed suddenly. 'The walls are glistening in the distance.' The others looked and could see a faint glimmer where Johan pointed.

  'That must be the filven we have come to collect,' Bry said, rubbing her hands together.

  'Let’s go over there with haste,' Ardag said, leading the way. He looked over his shoulders as he walked and added, 'Keep looking out for this demon.'

  The party walked over to the glimmer. They crossed the bridge; the heat from the lava was almost unbearable but they willed themselves on. The glimmer became larger as they got closer, then, to their amazement, they saw it was a horde of shining silver. Ardag set five of the Mjorn to stand watch.

  'How do we know what the filven is?' Ardag asked, puzzled.

  'I think I know,' Johan said, pointing down at a block of metal darker than the others. 'If that's it, then there is enough to make a long sword.'

  'There's only one way to find out,' said Finnvid. He stepped forward, pushing some of the silver blocks aside. He cracked his knuckles and attempted to lift it. No matter how much heave or effort he put in, he couldn't lift it. Even with the help of two of his warriors, it wouldn't move.

  They all looked at Johan who stepped forward as the Mjorn stepped back. He sucked in a deep breath and bent down to lift it. Expecting an unimaginable weight, he prepared himself. To his amazement, he lifted it with ease. 'It's as light as a feather,' he said, smiling.

  The others were astonished. Johan put the filven back down and one by one, they tried to lift it. No one apart from Johan succeeded.

  'Great!' exclaimed Ardag, 'Now we have the way to defeat Darkool, we must leave before the creature—'

  A loud thump behind them interrupted him. They all turned around quickly and drew their weapons. To their horror, they saw the outline of a beast that had landed behind them; it was too dark to see the chimera’s full body. She must have flown above them silently, waiting for the opportunity to attack.

  Ardag instantly sprung to action, bellowing at the top of his voice, 'Light!' He lifted his staff up and an explosion of sparks came from the top. The sparks shot in all directions, illuminating each of the torches that lined the dome. Suddenly the place lit up, revealing its true size. But most of all, revealing the beast, Shneesh.

  It had landed on an unfortunate warrior, crushing him. Its lion head roared, snake tail hissed and the goat’s head on its back shrieked. The companions were momentarily stunned by its ferocity.

  'Can you reason?' Ardag shouted out to it.

  'It depends on what you call reason, mage,' said the deep, sinister voice of the chimera.

  'Allow us to leave you alone here,' replied Ardag.

  'Who are you and why do you come to my lair?' Shneesh asked with a snarl.

  'My friends and I come from a place called Wilmurin,' Ardag said, pointing to Johan, Bry, and Larko. He then pointed to the Mjorn, 'These people come from the surface.'

  'Shneesh doesn't like intruders,' the demon said with a sinister smile, showing razor-sharp teeth.

  'You are the intruder here, you abomination,' Johan suddenly blurted out. 'You destroyed those who created this place.'

  The chimera laughed, 'You will not speak to me like this, you and all those like you are beneath me. The pitiful creatures that were here before you couldn't stand up to my might – the shadows will return one day to wreak new havoc. You humans are a mere drop in the ocean that is our world, where there are things and horrors that even your cleverest people are not aware of. You are so young and naive, the world is far older than you know.'

  The words of the demon sent shivers down the spine of each of the companions. A strange aura came from Shneesh, possibly magical; it made the companions feel afraid and no one moved.

  The deep laugh of the demon echoed throughout the dome and the companions could only look on in horror. Shneesh spoke again. 'I have had enough of speaking to you miserable creatures, it is good though, to kill something other than frost giants,' she said and sucked in a deep breath. She blew a tongue of flame at one of the warriors, engulfing him in flames; the warrior screamed in agony, and still the c
ompanions couldn't move. The goat upon the chimera’s back shrieked again and spat acidic saliva at another one of the warriors, melting his face into liquid flesh. The snake tail lashed out and bit a third warrior, poisoning him and killing him instantly; he dropped to the floor, skin purple and morbid.

  Shneesh charged at another one of the warriors and pounced on him, breathing flames into the defenceless warrior, burning his face off. Ardag looked on in horror, as did the others – he willed and fought the fear that gripped him. For a moment, he felt the fear retreat and he became mobile again; at the top of his voice he bellowed, 'Fear, be gone!' A blue cloud shot up from his staff and entered the nostrils of each member of the party; suddenly their paralysis left and they all began to draw their weapons.

  There were now only three Mjorn warriors and the five companions left. Ardag quickly formulated a tactic, 'Larko and Jess, use your bows, stand far away from the beast and draw its attention, stand far apart and keep moving. Everybody else, we have few options here, try to surround it and hack it to death. I will attempt to bring it down with magic.' Without any words, the party moved into their positions. Jess and Larko stood opposite each other with the chimera between them, the others providing enough distraction for the chimera to ignore the archers.

  One after the other, the archers shot arrows at the demon – a couple found their mark but had little effect. Meanwhile, the others circled it, one by one stepping forward and attacking it. The chimera let out another tongue of flame, this time licking the legs of one of the Mjorn; soon the flames climbed up his body and enveloped the helpless man.

  Ardag shot three magical bolts of energy at the beast, but, to his amazement, the beast just absorbed them. It had suffered two cuts on its side, one from a warrior and the other from Jess. Ardag saw an apt moment and summoned up his strength; he blasted a hail of lightning energy at the beast, enough to wipe out fifty men – the others moved when they saw the blue energy approaching. It was to no avail, though, the creature simply absorbed the energy and laughed it off, as if it was a tickle.