by Andy Hoare
The other thralls looked uncertain, but had no time to answer before a deep rumble sounded from back along the tunnel. A wave of dust gusted along the corridor as the sound grew louder, and in that instant their mind was made up. As one, they dashed for the group clustered around the shaman, pounding down the trembling passageway as the sound of tortured stone grew louder still.
His eyes wide with concentration and fear, Yngv glanced over his shoulder in time to see the wave of dust rolling towards him. With a snarl he lengthened his stride, and those pressing in behind him were forced to redouble their own pace just to keep up.
‘Yngv!’ Khargrim called out as he saw with cold certainty what would happen if…
The rearmost thrall, the one who had started the argument with his peers, was suddenly outside Yngv’s magical field. Khargrim looked on with mute horror as the aeons crashed in upon the man, the floor beneath his feet seeming to rise up in a tide of ancient dust. But far worse than that was the effect the magical trap had upon the man’s body. In the span of seconds, his skin withered and his body twisted as he aged decades in the blink of an eye. If the man suffered, he had no time to call out. The parched shreds of his withered flesh sloughed away and at the last, his dusty bones clattered to the floor and all was still.
Shaking his head in stunned disbelief, Khargrim turned his back on the grisly scene, his companions crowding even closer to the mumbling, wide-eyed shaman. The rumbling that had triggered the thralls’ flight receded and a few minutes later the stunned party was passing beneath a massive stone arch and into a wider chamber beyond. Though little was visible beyond the globe of flickering orange light cast by the party’s torches, Khargrim knew that they had passed into a larger area, the air feeling suddenly freer and cooler.
‘Be still,’ he growled, keeping his voice low lest it echo about the open space and attract unwanted attention. ‘And be silent.’
Khargrim’s companions did as he ordered, though Yngv breathed heavily as he leaned on his staff, the exertion of his spell clear to see. The sibilant whistle of air passing through some unseen cleft came to Khargrim’s ears, and once again he was reminded that he was an engineer, not a miner. Nevertheless, he took a tentative step forward into the dark.
‘Stop!’ Verdandi called out, her voice so soft it barely made an echo. ‘Move your foot back, engineer. Slowly, make no sudden movement.’
Khargrim froze, only just suppressing a growl of annoyance that the sea-maiden might have seen something he had missed. He brought his foot back and set it down where he had started, then looked down towards the floor he had been about to step on to. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the stygian darkness before him, but when they did, he realised the source of the sibilant noise he had taken for the movement of air through cracks in the tomb’s structure.
Khargrim found himself looking directly downwards into a seething, writhing, coiling mass of sinuous bodies, and he uttered a colourful dwarfen curse that only Ghurni understood.
‘Pass me that torch,’ he said, reaching out behind him without taking his eyes from the sight below. Ghurni pressed the spluttering torch into his hand, and Khargrim waved it before him, the orange light glinting obscenely from the scene below.
‘What are they?’ asked the hunter Ovar with cold disgust.
‘Snakes?’ said Thorkell.
‘Nothing so predictable,’ Verdandi interjected as she came to stand beside Khargrim, her feet right at the very edge of the precipice. ‘Look closer.’
Khargrim did so, but all he could see were slimy, formless bodies writhing in a huge, depthless pool, the extent of which was beyond the light cast by his torch. Every now and then a black eye would emerge from the waters and cast an uncomprehending glance upwards before sliding beneath the surface once more. Dark forms moved beneath the waters too, glistening limbs breaking the surface, though it was impossible to see how many of the nameless creatures might be down there.
‘I still don’t see what they are,’ said Ovar.
‘Pass the torches back,’ said Khargrim, catching a glimpse of something odd about the waters below. ‘Right back, now.’
Khargrim and the others bearing torches passed them back along the line until their light was little more than an ambient glow, and he squinted into the once-more darkened pool. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness again, he confirmed what he thought he had seen a moment before. In fact, the further back the torches were passed, the greater the effect, as if something in the waters was reacting to the receding of the light.
‘Put them out,’ Khargrim ordered. ‘All of the torches, put them out.’
From far to the rear came the sound of the torches being ground against the stone-flagged floor, and suddenly, the entire space was cast into total darkness. But it wasn’t to last, as the effect Khargrim had thought he had seen reasserted itself tenfold. As the party watched in stunned awe, a lambent, cold blue glow started up from the waters, dozens of writhing forms now clearly visible silhouetted against it.
‘Look,’ said Verdandi, and Khargrim saw that her head was turned upwards towards the previously unseen ceiling of the chamber. The roof was made from uncut rock, not the precisely wrought blocks of the rest of the Tomb of Destiny. Huge stalactites depended from the roof, and to Khargrim’s amazement, they glittered with countless thousands of points of light, the glow from the pool cast back by precious deposits trapped within the damp rock.
‘I could pay off a lifetime of debt with that… ’ Ghurni exclaimed, drawing a disgusted sneer from the sea-maiden behind him.
‘That was not what I was speaking of, Slayer,’ Verdandi replied, pointing across the pool to a flight of steps cut into the raw rock. ‘Look. The way ahead.’
‘Karra?’ said Khargrim, looking around for the Amazon. ‘What lies at the top of those stairs?’
Karra didn’t respond straight away, for her dark gaze was fixed on the pool below. ‘The spawn of the ancients,’ she muttered, before looking up at Khargrim with glazed-over eyes. ‘What?’
Khargrim narrowed his eyes before reiterating his question. ‘Heed me girl. What lies beyond yonder stairs?’
With obvious difficulty, Karra tore her eyes from the brightly glowing pool and the dark shapes writhing in its depths and looked up towards the flight of stairs. ‘I am not sure.’
‘What do you mean,’ Khargrim turned on the girl, ‘You are not sure?’
‘I mean… I think we may have strayed…’
‘When?’ Khargrim growled. ‘Where?’
‘It must have been when the stone collapsed and the dust came up. The block must have been intended to divert us, sealing off one path and leading us on to another.’
‘It looks like we have little choice, Khargrim,’ said Ghurni, squinting across the pool towards the stairs beyond. ‘Those steps are the only way onwards’
At that, several of the party started to voice their objections all at once, but Khargrim held his tongue, keeping his own counsel as he pondered the issue of how to reach the flight of steps on the other side of the pool. By the flickering blue luminescence cast by the waters, he studied the form of the chamber, his glance tracking across countless stalagmites and stalactites, each of which must have been formed over unfathomable spans of time. Some were connected by oddly shaped rock formations, which appeared to have grown rather than been created by any geological process Khargrim was aware of. Following the track of these narrow, bridge-like formations from the base of one mighty rock column to the next, he finally believed he had located a way from one side of the chamber to the other.
‘Karra?’ said Khargrim. The Amazon was still gazing absently down into the lambent pool. The blue light shimmered and sparkled and motes of light glimmered in its depths. ‘Snap out of it, girl!’
‘What?’ said Karra with a start, her reaction all but confirming Khargrim’s impression that the dancing lights below wer
e somehow entrancing her. ‘The ancients,’ she stuttered. ‘They stir…’
Khargrim followed the Amazon’s gaze and saw that, just as she said, the bodies were indeed stirring. Whatever the creatures gliding through the depths of pool actually were, their movements were becoming ever more agitated. Scaly limbs possessed of wicked claws broke the surface and sent up sprays of glowing liquid. Khargrim knew with utter certainty that he really didn’t want any of that fluid to get on his skin.
‘Time to get moving, girl,’ Khargrim growled, shoving Karra towards a cluster of rock columns to one side of the pool. ‘Everyone, follow us and be damned careful!’
Though her eyes were wide with fear, Karra set out across the narrow rock bridge stretching from the base of one huge, glittering rock column to the next. Her bare feet finding purchase on the slippery rock, she dashed across, serrated sword in hand, and turned to set her back against the further column as she glared fearfully into the waters she had just crossed.
‘Now for the rest of you, one at a time. Go!’ said Khargrim.
Next to cross was Verdandi, the sea-maiden so sure-footed she made the task appear like child’s play. Her Graeling sea bow raised, Verdandi took position beside Karra, keeping watch while the next of the party set out.
Ovar had no trouble at all getting across, for as a steppes hunter he was preternaturally nimble. Having crossed the rock bridge, Ovar darted around the base of the rock column and out of Khargrim’s sight. Next to cross was Yngv, the shaman still visibly shaken from the exertion of his spellcasting, aided by the Bjornling Thorkell. At one point, Thorkell almost lost his footing as the point of his wooden leg slipped across the wet rock, and it was the shaman who saved him from being pitched into the now thrashing waters below.
Bringing up the rear was the group of surly thralls, but Khargrim knew that the first group already across would have to press on first, for the base of the rock column was too small to accommodate the entire party. Fortunately, Khargrim could see that Ovar and Karra were already setting out, Verdandi keeping guard with her sea bow. Taking one last glance about, Khargrim waved the men on, ensuring in the process that there was no repeat of the earlier attempted mutiny. In moments, he and Ghurni were the only members of the party left on their side of the rock bridge.
‘Onwards,’ said Khargrim, swallowing hard as he adjusted the shield slung across his back into a more comfortable position and tucked his hammer into his belt.
‘Onwards,’ said Ghurni, looking just as unsure about crossing the bridge as his friend.
‘No good can come of this,’ Ghurni grumbled, stepping out onto the bridge just as a wet, back form slid through the water below.
‘If manlings can do it, so too can we,’ said Khargrim, gently pushing the reluctant Slayer onto the bridge.
‘It wouldn’t normally be a problem,’ Ghurni complained as he edged gingerly out, using his two-handed axe to aid his balance. ‘It’s just that I’m–
‘What?’ Khargrim pressed as he himself stepped out onto the narrow bridge.
‘It’s just that I’m… uncomfortably sober.’
‘Ah,’ said Khargrim, grateful for the distraction as the sound of swelling water below rose in volume, causing him to risk a glance down at its source, though he would rather not have done so. Even as he glanced downwards, a shimmering cascade went up and a shower of blinding motes spewed up through the air, filling the cavern with dancing, flickering illumination.
‘Khargrim!’ Ghurni shouted above the noise of thrashing water. ‘What by the ancestors is–’
Before the Slayer could complete his sentence, the waters erupted in a blazing spout, spraying both dwarfs with hissing, stinging liquid. Ghurni lost his footing and slammed to the rock, only just saving himself from falling into the boiling waters. Khargrim remained upright but the waters filled his eyes, blinding him for a moment as he fought desperately to wipe them clear and keep his footing at the same time.
When he did wipe his eyes clear, Khargrim saw that he had done so only barely in time for a huge form was rearing up out of the pool, arms as big as a man powering towards him. In the centre of a hugely muscled chest was a face not unlike that of a crocodile, its jaws gaping wide as it roared an animalistic, wordless war cry.
Before Khargrim could react, the beast’s jaws opened to their widest extent, so wide they filled his entire vision. Even as they closed something struck the beast’s head and it twisted about, the waters thrashing as its roar changed in tone to one of uncomprehending pain and anger. As his attacker spun about to locate the source of its pain, Khargrim saw that a long sea bow arrow was protruding from its snout, fired by Verdandi who was standing at the centre of another of the arching rock crossings.
Khargrim shrugged his shield from his back and took up his hammer and as he did so Ghurni struggled to his feet beside him. Together, the two faced the huge, reptilian thing as it turned back to resume its attack.
Khargrim took in the creature’s form, visible now that the churning of the waters had receded. It looked like a fearsome hybrid of ogre and crocodile, its teeth the size of knife blades. Its back and shoulders were covered in thick, armoured scales and the rest of its body was a heaving mass of sinew.
Even now, its tree-sized arms were reaching for Khargrim, and he knew that if it got him in its steely grip he would be torn in half in an instant. Gritting his teeth, he brought his hammer around in a wide arc, and as he did so, he spoke a mighty word of power known only to the dwarfs.
In response, one of the runes worked into the head of the weapon flared bright, and at the exact moment the hammer slammed into the beast’s forearm it unleashed an explosive blast of raw, runic power. The impact was so fierce it jarred Khargrim’s arm and very nearly dislocated his shoulder, but the effect upon the beast was far greater.
The chamber echoing to the creature’s roar of pain, Khargrim saw that his strike had smashed its forearm to a pulp. Both Khargrim and Ghurni were covered in the blood that had been sprayed in all directions yet despite the damage wrought upon it the beast was raising its other arm, its fist balled into a huge mace.
‘Ghurni!’ Khargrim bellowed as he saw what must surely happen next. ‘Move!’
Khargrim set his boot against his friend’s back and propelled him across the bridge towards the rock column. Even before the Slayer had crashed into the rock, Khargrim dived after him and the beast’s fist crashed down, smashing the bridge where he had stood but an instant before.
The bridge exploded into a thousand jagged stone shards, one striking Khargrim a glancing blow across his brow that filled one eye with blood and cast his vision a blurred red. Hundreds scythed into the churning pool, many cutting into the flesh of the other creatures, turning the waters instantly red with their blood.
Barely able to see for the blood obscuring his vision, Khargrim grasped forward as he felt the rock collapsing beneath him. Panic welled inside him and he uttered a roar of savage denial for he was nowhere near ready to greet his ancestors. Then he felt a strong grip about his forearms and in a moment he was being hauled up to safety at the base of the rock column.
Wiping his stinging eyes with a sleeve, Khargrim saw that the two dwarfs were not out of danger yet. The beast had staggered backwards into the pool having smashed the bridge, and in so doing become a target for both Verdandi and Ovar, who were peppering it with dozens of arrows. At least a dozen shafts stood out from its upper chest, but thanks to its inches-thick, bony armour, none had yet struck a vital point. Worse than that, Khargrim saw that its gaping mouth was now spilling with blood, the pulped remains of one of the thralls.
‘Time to end this,’ Khargrim growled, his hammer held above his head.
The beast seemed to comprehend the challenge, and ploughed forward through the churning waters, a massive bow wave building up ahead of it. In a heartbeat, it was bearing down on Khargrim, its eyes wild with primordial s
avagery and its arms ready to smash him to a pulp.
Steeling himself, Khargrim uttered a second word of power. Another of the runes etched upon the head of his weapon blazed into life and he launched the hammer straight at the creature’s monstrous face.
The hammer flew straight and true, blazing with the power imbued within it by the runesmiths of Barak Varr. With an eruption of light ten times that of its first impact, the hammer struck the creature’s temple, exploding its head in a blinding detonation of gore and shattered bone.
The creature staggered and Khargrim’s hammer arced through the air, returning to his hand at the same moment that the beast collapsed straight downwards into the pool, the resulting impact causing the waters to explode in all directions.
For a moment, all was quiet, just the sound of unquiet waters and the panting of two of the dwarfs audible. Khargrim tucked his hammer into his belt, helped Ghurni to his feet, and shrugged his shield back over his shoulder.
‘Whatever that was, we had better get moving,’ he said, looking down into the waters and the dozens of other forms writhing in the depths. ‘There are bound to be more of those things down there…’
Having escaped the huge lizard creature, Khargrim and Ghurni caught up with their companions at the base of the rough-hewn steps and wasted no time exiting the chamber. Karra led the way up the stairs, her desire to leave the pool far behind lending her speed and strength as she climbed upwards. The damp, slippery steps must have been truly ancient, for they were worn smooth by the passage of countless feet over innumerable ages. Fortunately, the steps got dryer and wider as they climbed upwards into the darkness, and as the luminescent chamber was left behind, Khargrim ordered the torches lit once more.
The stairs wound upwards through a forest of glittering stalactites until they dived into the chamber wall and formed a steep tunnel that Khargrim guessed to be a natural fissure widened by the labour of long extinct masons. Though at first she was fearful and tense, Karra soon recovered when she came upon a junction. The party, she announced, was back on track for the heart of the Tomb of Destiny.
