The Khan made a last stifled gasp to try and heave in a gulp of air but failed. His eyes rolled up until only the whiteness could be seen. Dural’s entire body sagged and his hands fell by his side. A final, whispering death rattle emerged from the now lifeless mouth.
Wulfgen had a look of stone as he hefted the corpse in his burly arms and laid it down on the bed. He glanced over at the Khatun, who had remained where she was, face frozen in terror and anguish like one of the suits of armor adorning the room. “You may cry for help now,” he said softly.
Chapter 18
The walls of the crevasse reached as far up as their eyes could see. The solid sheets of ice resembled opaque white crystals forming sharp, vertical patterns along the sides of the passageway, reflecting back the torchlight’s orange hue. The cold emanating from the frozen water made them huddle together for added warmth as they continued down the gigantic crack in the ice, a faint mental beacon guiding them ever forward.
Miri couldn’t help but retain a sense of curiosity, despite the uncertainties that lay ahead. “In all my cycles, I have never encountered a sight such as this. Do you recall ever being encased in a land of solid water?”
Rion shook his head as he continued to walk beside her, their cloaks wrapped together for extra warmth. “My only memories were of the time in the Magi citadel and the pleasant interlude with the Arum Navar. After that was the journey across the wastes and then onto Lethe.”
“Did you not say to me you were in another place as well? An area of bright whiteness such as this?”
“That place was beyond the sky,” the boy said wistfully. “It felt like being in a construct rather than something made by the gods.”
Miri glanced down at him. “You mean the place where you met the other children?”
“Yes. That place felt like it was created by someone like us, not by the sand and wind.”
Miri faced forward once more. “So it is nothing like this region. I wonder where this Valley of Shadows might be.”
Something dark loomed at the tunnel ahead of them. It seemed like the walls of ice had ended, and they were now staring at something rocklike in the near distance.
The boy pointed with his finger. “Look.”
Miri tensed up as she gripped the spear with her right hand. She turned and offered the torch to Rion. “Here, it is better you hold the torch in case I have to use both my hands to wield my weapon.”
Rion took the torch with his left hand while his right hand slid underneath his cloak and felt the reassuring hilt of the Lethean spadroon that lay sheathed by his side. Ever since Zeren had taken Fumal Led’s sword as his own, Rion had coveted Zeren’s old broadsword, but he lacked the strength and the height to wield it properly so he had to leave it behind in the hold of their sand sail. The boy hoped it would still be there, waiting for him when they return. In the meantime, he carried a slightly smaller sword, biding his time until he grew up into a man.
They both continued to walk beside each other, but now their strides were more cautious as they approached what looked to be the entrance of a huge cavern. The crevasse had given way to solid rock, and the sloping tunnel seemed to ominously beckon at them.
Miri gripped the spear with both hands as she peered into the cave’s subterranean darkness. “Do you still sense the calling?”
Rion nodded. “Yes, the manifestation in my mind is weak, but it clearly leads into the tunnel.”
Miri extended her mindsense to detect any hostile creatures ahead of them. There were faint traces of instinct out in the far distance, but none in their immediate vicinity. “We may rest before we venture down below. It is best you gather your strength now, for there may be untold horrors that await us.”
Rion bit his lip. He had been constantly gathering Vis the moment they walked into the crevasse. “I am prepared. Let us continue.”
Miri took the lead, her boots making contact with the solid rock as she entered the mouth of the cave. “Very well. Stay close to me.”
They both lost track of time as they continued on down the passageway. The chilly air began to warm as they strode in deeper, and they soon discarded the outer fur coverings of their boots and stowed the extra cloaks into Miri’s pack. Making occasional pauses to add more oiled bindings to the torch, Miri would remind the boy to eat some rations or take a sip of water while they rested in between the long walks. The endless darkness all around them was disconcerting, but they were determined to keep going.
The first signs of life in this strange underworld were the growths of phosphorescent algae thriving along the walls and floor of the caverns. When they had chanced upon seeing it for the first time, both Miri and Rion were taken aback by the sheer strangeness of it all, until Miri remembered her foster mother had taught her there were some types of algae that glowed with their own inner light. The natural bioluminescence of the lichen all around them soon rivaled their torchlight in intensity, marking a clear path ahead with little trouble.
Rion’s demeanor soon became more sanguine since he felt safer at being able to see the surroundings without the aid of a torch, but Miri remained cautious- for whenever there were natural growths like algae around, there would surely be men or beasts feeding upon it.
After rounding another corridor, the shaft ahead of them indicated an even brighter area up ahead. The walls of the tunnel had also widened, and it looked to be some sort of terminus before them. Giving each other silent nods of approval, Miri and Rion continued their relentless walk until they reached the outer edge of the passage. The brightness had intensified to the point where Miri had already extinguished the torch and stowed it into her pack. As they looked out of the tunnel mouth, they both gasped out loud in astonishment.
The subterranean expanse that lay before them was unlike anything they had ever seen or expected. They were both standing at the mouth of a cavern which led out into a gigantic underground hollow that seemed to be several leagues wide and just as high up. Miri could barely see the top of the domed fault that encompassed a massive gulf deep within the bowels of the world. What made it even more spectacular were the colorful hues and radiance which enabled them to see across this underground land with nary any difficulty. The glowing, phosphorescent algae they had first encountered in the caves were in abundance here, their gargantuan growths extending across the high walls, bathing the entire area in a weird, neon-like radiance that precluded the use of torches.
Rion shrieked, pointing up. Floating near the top of the subterranean dome were swarms of strange creatures resembling luminous spheres. These bizarre animals would sometimes bump into each other and bounce off, their gas-filled, rubbery bodies seemed elastic enough to protect them from injury via collisions. At the bottom of their ball-shaped bodies were what looked to be root-like tentacles, and some of the beasts would occasionally attach themselves to a clump of glowing lichen sprouting up from giant stalactites in the vaulted ceiling.
The boy continued to stare at them, completely mesmerized. “It is like watching thousands of moving suns across an eventide sky of inverted mountains.”
Miri stared across the bottom of the underground hollow with astounded eyes. She pointed towards what she initially thought of were box-like hills. “Look down there.”
Rion did as she suggested and inhaled deeply. Beneath the colossal stalactites dangling overhead were rectangular buildings made of stone. They could see clusters of what looked to be walls and houses made of fused rock, including larger buildings that might have been forts or even temples. It looked like an entire city had been built underground, but they could see no signs of life from the darkened, honeycombed windows of the structures. Other than the glowing lichen and the floating, luminous spheres up above, the entire landscape that lay beyond seemed strangely devoid of any other life.
Miri gritted her teeth. The desolate, underground structures which lay ahead were the exact same ones she had dreamed about a few days before. “I … had visions of this very place.”
> Rion’s chin trembled as he reached out and grabbed hold of her hand. “And I as well. It was the dream where we ended up in the strange white room, the place where I saw your body consumed by a cloud of crimson dust!”
Miri sent a calming wave with her mindsense to the boy’s psyche. “Worry not, Rion. Fate is mutable.”
Her appeasing Vis did help the boy somewhat, but Rion remained apprehensive, his concerns were far too great for Miri to keep in check. He looked up at her, a growing fear in his eyes. “Perhaps … perhaps it is better I go on alone.”
Miri frowned. “Alone? We do not know what inhabits those ruins. There could be great danger down there.”
Tears began to form on his eyelids and he looked away. Even though a part of him believed it had been nothing more than a dream, another side of his mind warned the vision would be a prophecy. “Miri … I-I do not want you to suffer for my sake.”
Miri placed a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I made you a promise before, Rion. I shall always be by your side to protect you. Whatever may come before us, I am certain our combined abilities will be able to overcome it. Let us go on and finish what we came to do.”
The boy nodded. He knew she would never leave him now, not after all they had been through. He made a silent vow he would do his utmost to protect her as well, and to face the upcoming vicissitudes together.
The path leading down to the floor of the hollow was narrow, and they traversed it slowly, mindful of the loose pebbles and steep incline. By the time they had reached the lichen-covered floor, they paused for a brief moment to rest and drink some water. The underground city looked to be at least several hundred paces away from them, and there were still no signs of movement. With no need for torches, Miri continued to hold her spear with both hands, always using the weapon’s tip to probe the glowing terrain ahead of them for anything hidden beneath the patches of algae.
As they began to trudge through across the morass of glowing lichen, their pace had begun to slow. Each step forward would plunge their boots into a sticky pulp of algae, and it was a struggle to pull free. “It is like walking on a sticky sand pit,” Rion said.
Miri was just ahead of him as she continued to prod the way forward with her spear. “Place your foot where I have just stepped. I can see a clear path up ahead.”
“Yes, Miri.”
They eventually made it to a dirt trail that was curiously devoid of any growths. It became even more peculiar since the road led directly through the main entryway of the seemingly desolate city. After scraping off a bit of the algae from their boots, both Miri and Rion continued onward until they stood just below the towering walls of black basalt. The ruins of what was once a massive double bronze gate lay in a twisted, greenish heap beside a gap large enough to accommodate a fully crewed sand sail.
Rion stood beside the lower ramparts as he ran his fingers along the strange, smooth rock, his innate sense of curiosity overcoming caution. “Were the builders of this place trapped in here when the sky fell unto them or did they construct this city afterwards, making the life for themselves upon journeying down these depths?”
Miri glared at the boy. “Do not touch anything with your bare fingers, Rion. There may be poisons lurking along the surfaces of all things here we do not know about.”
The boy quickly withdrew his hand. “Forgive me, Miri.”
Using her mindsense, Miri sent forth a number of mental tendrils to probe for any thoughts in the area. She had already concluded the floating things high above were mindless beings with no intelligence, merely chancing upon the growing algae as food while drifting along the air currents flowing through countless honeycombed tunnels across the wide expanse of the underground fault. It seemed the floaters were no more intelligent than the growths they were feeding on.
Rion stood by silently as he sensed her use of the Vis. He couldn’t help but be curious as to how this strange, silent metropolis had been built. The rocks used in constructing the walls themselves were not cut into pieces and assembled like blocks; rather it seemed the thick basalt was shaped and molded like clay, for there were no traces of tool marks whatsoever along the smooth walls. How could the ancient builders have done that?
Miri continued to probe, her thoughtwaves looking for any sign of instinct or intellect. From her cycles of experience, even the basest forms of animals had mental patterns she could detect, such as a set of simple impulses and reactions to what a beast could sense around it. It disturbed her greatly when she could not even discover the base mental waves of small creatures such as grubworms or sand beetles in the immediate vicinity.
After some time had passed, Rion looked up at her. “Did your Vis sense anything?”
Miri bit her lip. “No, nothing- not even the thoughts of a lower beast. Something seems very wrong about it all.”
“What do you mean?”
Miri frowned. “Either this place is truly dead, or something might be concealing the thoughtwaves from me.”
“You are the most powerful Striga I have known,” the boy said. “Is possible someone could shield this entire place against your mindsense?”
She gave him a disappointed shrug. The only other possibility was she had gotten weaker. “I do not know. Perhaps it is best we continue on. Are we still on the right path?”
Rion nodded. “Yes, the calling seems to draw me into the heart of this place.”
“Very well, let us proceed.”
They walked past the outer walls and into a deserted avenue. The whole area was devoid of any algae growths, but there was enough illumination from the floaters above to give out a soft, twilit ambiance. The eerie silence gave them the chills, and they both stayed close to each other while moving across the middle of the thoroughfare.
Rion pointed up at the glowing walls of lichen out in the distance. “Do they not resemble the sides of a mountain?”
“Perhaps.”
Taking out the telling stone from the inner pocket of his tunic, Rion ran his fingers along the glyphs, rereading what had been written on its surface. “The legends describe the Valley of Shadow as a place of twilight in between two glowing peaks, with an endless field of small, radiant suns above it. I believe we may have already reached our destination.”
Miri was intrigued. “Is not a valley really but a trail between two mountains beneath an open sky?”
“Many stories within these stones have hidden meanings,” Rion said. “The word is nothing more than a symbol to describe something very much like an ordinary valley, but I believe it is a way to hide the truth.”
“Perchance you are right,” Miri said. “Does your telling stone also reveal any secrets about this city as well?”
The boy shook his head. “The stone does not even mention this place. Perhaps this city was built after the story was already written.”
“But by whom?” Miri asked rhetorically.
Their wanderings along the wide boulevard eventually brought them before a gigantic, pyramidal structure with a flattened top. Jutting stone steps along the black ziggurat indicated it was meant to be climbed. Miri could see the outlines of another structure located at its peak.
“If this is a temple,” Rion said, “I wonder what kind of gods is worshiped at this place. Should we climb the steps?”
Miri tapped the foot of the ziggurat with her spear. The stone foundation was smooth, and remained solid enough. “Yes, it is a good idea. We may be able to get a better sight of the entire city with a high vantage point at the top of this place.”
The climb was slow, for Miri would occasionally signal a pause to rest their tired legs due to the steep incline. Time itself seemed to stand still since the glowing illumination around them remained constant. As they got closer to the top, the wind had begun to pick up, sending an occasional chilly gust of air that would momentarily make them hesitate for a bit, as the greater height seemed to make Rion dizzy. Eventually making her way to the edge of the plateau, Miri used her mindsense to scan ah
ead, but there were still no signs of other life.
Rion breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled himself up and stood beside her. Looking around, he noticed several columns of dark obsidian jutting out from the solid floor of the stage. At the end of the plateau stood a box-like structure of fused granite, an open entryway revealing a darkened interior at its front.
Walking over to the line of columns towering above him, Rion noticed a few symbols etched along their surface. “Some of these glyphs are unfamiliar to me, but there might be enough of the others for me to make a rough translation of what was written on them.”
Miri stood close by, her eyes warily staring at the structure up ahead of them. “What do they say?”
“It seems to be a series of prayers to the gods,” Rion said. “Thanking them for being able to seek shelter from the chaos that was occurring in the outside. Whoever built this city must have fled down into these depths to build a new life for themselves.”
“So this Valley of Shadow served as a sanctuary for them? Does it mention at all as to what happened in the outer world that drove them to such an extreme journey?”
Rion squinted as he tried to make sense of the ancient glyphs. “I … am not sure. It says something about a series of wars, but it also says the sun had turned into blood, and many died when the killer lights came down from the heavens and the sky turned dark for untold cycles afterwards. It also says the last of their crops died and many more died of hunger.”
Miri pursed her lips. “So it could have been due to some conflict made by men, or some curse by the gods, or perhaps because of everything.”
The boy nodded as he continued to read. “I believe you may be right about the latter. If the outside lands had become unlivable, then it could have driven the poor builders down here.”
“If we are to assume the algae around us and those things floating above are not poisonous, then they could have served as a food source for the humans who exiled themselves down here.”
The Maker of Entropy Page 20
