“Okay,” I said. “Here we go.”
“My Lord…” said Melaine in warning.
But I let go.
“Enemies!” shrieked the goblin. “Foes in the hive!” The voice carried through the open space, bouncing off the walls as it went.
“Screw it,” I said. I whipped my warhammer off my back and slammed it into the goblin in one smooth motion. The goblin went sailing off the edge of the stone ledge, plummeting into the emptiness beyond with a screee!
“Get moving!” I shouted, taking my own advice and sprinting up the stone street. Far below, I saw hundreds of goblins turn to look in our direction. They saw us and began to chitter, swarming in a mass along the stone ledges toward us.
“I would like to suggest that my Lord be slightly less merciful in the future,” said Melaine, exasperated. “It makes my duties much harder.”
“I’m not just going to go around killing things,” I said, annoyed.
“Nope, he’s just going to let them kill us,” Blade said cheerfully.
“Bite me.”
“My Lords!”
Samuel’s sudden cry got my attention, and I stopped short. The street ended suddenly in a wide gap of about fifteen feet. Way too far for me to jump, even if I wasn’t carrying a travel sack and my warhammer.
“Down, my Lord!”
Melaine grabbed me and flung me to the stone floor. I hit hard, the breath leaving my lungs in a whoosh. Above my head, small rocks flew through the air to strike the wall next to us. They would have cracked my head open.
“Thanks,” I said.
“My duty,” said Melaine.
“We’ll have to jump,” said Samuel. “I’ll go first.”
“Are you crazy?” I said. “I can’t jump that gap!”
“Not the gap, my Lord,” said Samuel. “Down there.”
He pointed over the edge. I shuffled forward to look. Over the edge of the gap, directly below us, there was another goblin house set into the alcove of the wall. But it was at least a twenty foot drop.
“It’s too high,” I said, nervous.
“What, are you scared of heights?” said Blade.
“Maybe a little,” I admitted.
“Well, the alternative is turning around,” said Samuel. “And that’s not an option.”
I looked back over my shoulder. Far down the stone street we’d come up, barely visible in the glow of the lava far below, a swarm of goblins was coming toward us. They’d be here in less than a minute.
“Right,” I said. “I’ve thought about it, and jumping over the edge definitely seems like the best option.”
“Glad you saw the light, my Lord,” said Samuel. “Off we go!”
He rolled over and fell from sight. Blade followed. Melaine waved me ahead. I went to the edge and looked over one last time.
“Just know I’m going to regret this,” I grumbled. Then I pitched forward into empty space.
I had a heart-stopping second of vertigo, my stomach leaping into my throat, before I came down into a soft mass of mud and straw. It hurt way more than it should have, but I didn’t feel anything break.
“Ow,” I said.
Melaine came down with a crash right beside me. “Ow.”
“Copycat.”
“What?”
“Come on!” said Samuel.
We leapt to our feet and ran along the new, lower street. It went for several yards before it hooked around, heading back up toward the boarded-off tunnel we were aiming for. But before that hook, the path swept downward, running right at the lava’s edge. The air was hotter than I could believe and drier than the Sahara. Every breath was like a hot knife in my lungs. Melaine, Samuel and I gasped and choked as we ran along, but I noticed that Blade seemed unaffected.
Sudden chittering sounded before us. Over the edge of the path far ahead, just where the street began to hook, rose a swarm of goblins. They pressed toward us in a mass, teeth gnashing and eyes beady.
“Crud!” shouted Blade. He launched a fireball into their midst. It exploded amongst them, goblins flying in all directions. Those that fell into the lava sank out of sight and vanished, but the others were merely flung away. They rebounded off of stone walls and the floor and got quickly back to their feet. They were resilient little monsters.
I reached for Water and tried to pull a ball from midair so I could explode it into ice shrapnel. But a tiny droplet was all that formed. With a hollow feeling in my stomach, I realized I would be useless in this dry heat.
“I got nothing down here!” I said. I pulled my warhammer from my back and hefted it in two hands, standing with feet apart like Melaine had taught me.
“Let us take the brunt of the attack, my Lord!” said Melaine.
I would have been only too happy to comply. There were dozens of the goblins, and they looked properly ticked off. But I couldn’t let Melaine and Samuel face them alone. With a sigh, I stepped up to stand beside them.
“If all of us don’t get out of this, none of us will,” I said.
Blade waved his arms again, and a wall of pure flame gushed from the rock floor immediately in front of the goblins. The ones in front shrieked as they fell to the ground, rolling around and trying to put the flames out, but the ones behind them simply leapt with their long, mantis-like legs, flying through the wall like demons. Then they were upon us. I stepped forward with a wide swing, dashing several of them to the ground. A couple of them were hit hard enough to launch over the edge, but I couldn’t look away to see their fate. The others were right behind. I was forced to step back as they came in closer. I curved the warhammer’s arc, using its momentum on the counterswing. The blades of Samuel and Melaine were flying, rising and falling, hacking and slashing. Blade was everywhere, sending gouts of white-hot heat wherever the goblins were thickest. Inexplicably, he was laughing as he set them ablaze.
“I know it sucks for you down here,” he said to me suddenly, “but I’ve never felt better!”
“Good for you!” I said. “Now if you’d just take care of our little infestation, we can all be as happy as you are.”
“Just give me a—” Blade began. But then a goblin leapt at him, catching him unawares. Off-balance, Blade took a step to the right before crashing down the smooth, polished black stone. He slid across it like glass, and my stomach lurched as I saw him start to go over the ledge into the lava. The goblin who’d tackled him pitched into the liquid rock with a squeee!
“No!” shouted Samuel. He leapt, dropping his sword as he clutched at Blade’s legs. But it was too late. Blade went head and shoulders deep into the magma. I heard a sharp hiss and wanted to vomit.
Enraged, I launched myself into the goblins before us. A punishing swing sent half a dozen of them flying away, most of them landing in the lava. The few that still stood before Melaine and I fled, suddenly fearful of our enraged attack. I whirled to try and help Samuel pull Blade out of the lava, to see if there was anything we could still do for him.
But when Samuel pulled Blade back, I was amazed to see him sit up, smiling at us, completely unharmed. His shirt was burned almost clean off, and he patted furiously at his waistline where some of his clothes had caught fire.
“Blade…what?” I stammered.
“It’s just heat, bro,” he said, laughing. “It can’t do anything to me. I’m the Keeper of Fire.”
A glint caught my eye, and I looked down at his hand. “Dude, your ring.”
Blade looked down. On the middle finger of his right hand was the golden ring with a red stone. He’d gotten it from the tomb of Adurin, one of the six original mages who had created the Realm Keepers. The ring was beautiful, but there had never been anything particularly special about it. But now it was glowing a deep, brilliant red, like it was on fire from within.
“Whoah,” said Blade. “Never seen it do that before.”
“We have to go!” said Samuel, hauling Blade to his feet. “They’re coming!”
I looked back down the street we�
�d come up. The goblins that had pursued us on the higher road had re-routed and were now swarming toward us on the lower road.
We took off, following the hook of the road as it swept up toward our exit. The flimsy wooden timbers that blocked our exit seemed weak enough. I yanked on them, but they were nailed tight to the rock.
“We’ve got to hack them down!” I said. I hefted my warhammer and took a swing at a plank, tearing out a good chunk. “Come on! Use your swords!”
“Wait, I’ve got a better idea,” said Blade. “Everyone stand back.”
We backed off from the tunnel. I took the opportunity to look down at the low road. The goblins had almost reached the hook.
“Whatever you’re doing, hurry up,” I told Blade.
He glanced down. “Oh, them?” He grinned. With a wave of his arms, a solid gout of lava leapt from the lake below us. It swept toward the narrow road on which we stood, and for a second I thought Blade was going to hit us. But the lava diverted at the last second and went crashing down the path. It swept the goblins from their feet and carried them into the lake, screeching all the way. In seconds the road was clear again. But more goblins were coming. Hate-filled screeches filled the air, accompanied by rocks that flew at our heads. I ducked a near miss.
“Nice one,” I said. “But unless you want to wipe out the whole colony…”
“Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on,” said Blade. He raised his arms once again.
“Why would Lord Miles remove his pants?” Melaine asked Samuel quietly. He shushed her.
Another stream of lava erupted, and this time Blade sent it crashing into the wooden timbers that blocked the tunnel. The wood was ablaze in seconds, the lava burning it away to ashes in an instant. Blade swept his arms upward, and the lava rushed away into the air.
“Go!” he said.
We ran into the tunnel’s entrance and turned. Blade backed slowly into the tunnel, then brought the lava crashing down again. He redoubled the stream from the lake below, filling the entire tunnel entrance with white-hot liquid rock. With a final gesture, the heat sapped away from the lava. In less than a minute, it was solid black stone, smooth as silk and polished as an office building’s marble floor.
“And that, as they say, is that,” said Blade.
I gave a sigh of relief and collapsed to the tunnel floor.
FOUND
MILES
WE ONLY GAVE OURSELVES A minute or two to rest. Each of us took a long pull from the three water skins we still had; Blade’s had been abandoned in the woods during the first goblin attack. But after a short rest, the sound of the goblins pounding on the other side of the new rock wall grew unnerving. We got back to our feet and headed off down the tunnel, once more led by Blade’s suspended ball of flame.
“Let’s find Calvin, you said,” I complained. “It’ll only be an hour, you said. My mom’s probably freaking straight out right now.”
“Yeah, well, you want to camp down within earshot of the goblin hive, you be my guest,” said Blade.
“Colony.”
“Whatever.”
We fell to silence again. The darkness before us and the stone walls close on either side were unnerving. They were like silent, looming watchers, discouraging conversation.
Melaine, however, seemed unaffected. “You fought remarkably well, my Lord,” she said, as easily as though we were on a nice ride through the streets of Morrowdust. “I do not mean to insult the progress you made during our training at the Runehold. But the skill you displayed tonight far surpassed anything I had yet seen from you.”
“Thanks,” I said, surprised. “I was just trying to do what you taught me.”
“Hey, what about me?” said Blade, pouting. “I’m the one who knocked the tar out of those goblins.”
“Yes, but I am not qualified to comment upon your use of magic,” said Melaine, arching an eyebrow. “Lord Miles’ combat skills, however, are something I happen to be the reigning expert in.”
I smiled. “You definitely hold the record for the person who has knocked me on my butt more than anyone else.’”
Melaine smiled back. “A distinction I am most proud of.”
Blade rolled his eyes. “Sheesh.”
We walked on in silence once more. Soon I’d lost all sense of direction as well as time. The tunnel didn’t branch or split in different directions, it just went on and on, mile after featureless mile. There was a new turn every thirty feet or so, but that was the only variation.
“It feels deliberate,” I said, my voice almost a murmur. I hadn’t really meant to speak out loud.
“What does?” asked Blade. He sounded about as tired as I felt.
“The turning of the tunnels,” I said. My voice cracked as I yawned. “It feels constructed. Even though it’s still clearly a lava tube.”
“I know what you mean,” he said. “It’s almost like a road.”
“Yeah. But a road to where?” I said. “Whatever. Listen, I think we need to call it. If we haven’t found Calvin by this point, there’s no telling when we will. And if we run into more goblins, we’re going to be too exhausted to defend ourselves. Plus, Melaine, Samuel, you guys have got to be wiped out, too.”
“We can keep going, my Lord,” said Melaine stubbornly. But she had massive luggage under her eyes, and she looked frazzled. I recognized her look—it was the same look of bone-weary exhaustion we’d all worn during the days of the siege of Morrowdust.
“I’m sure you can, and I appreciate it,” I said. “But you’ll be more use after a few hours’ sleep.”
“God, just talking about it is making me even more tired,” Blade said. “Maybe it’s not such a bad idea.”
“All right, let’s do it.” I took my own advice and threw down my travel sack and warhammer. I unfurled a blanket and laid my head down on my travel sack, doing my best not to crush the small amount of food I was still carrying.
“I’ll take the first watch,” said Samuel wearily. Melaine nodded and crashed to the ground, leaning against the wall beside me, her head already beginning to droop.
I was just about to let my eyes close when I heard something down the tunnel ahead of us. The noise of something scratching against the stone. Skrtch, skrtch.
I shot up. “Blade,” I hissed.
He sat up. “I heard it.”
Slowly, silently, we got back to our feet. Samuel and Melaine drew their weapons with no more sound than a whisper. Blade brought his ball of fire closer, and at his gesture it grew in size as he prepared to fling it.
Skrtch, skrtch.
“As soon as it comes around the corner,” I whispered. The air wasn’t so dry here, and I pulled a ball of water into the air, ready to send it down the tunnel as a hail of icy shards.
I could see something now. Around the next curve in the tunnel, a light was approaching. Whatever was coming toward us, it had fire—that meant it was probably a torch, and that meant it was probably goblins.
“The light,” I whispered. “As soon as it comes around the corner, fire.”
“Literally,” Blade snickered.
Skrtch, skrtch.
That was it. It was almost there.
“Now!” I cried. I shattered the ball of ice I’d made and propelled it down the tunnel in a shower of death. Blade’s fireball launched, roaring down the rocky tube and flaring as bright as the sun.
Calvin appeared, saw our magic, and yelped. His hands flew up, and our fire and ice clashed against an invisible wall of air, dissipating into nothingness.
“What the frack?” Calvin shouted.
“Calvin!” I said.
“Yeah!” he said, obviously shaken. Cara leapt into view, guarding him with her shield. As soon as she saw us, however, her shoulders sagged.
I stalked down the tunnel toward the two of them. “Where the heck have you been?” I said. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. We had to fight off a whole goblin colony!”
“What?” said Calvin, his eyes growing wide.
Before I could say another word, Blade leapt forward and wrapped Calvin in a big bear hug. He lifted him off the ground, and Calvin’s eyes bulged as the breath shot out of his lungs.
“I never thought I’d be happy to see you, dorkmeister!” said Blade. “How you been?”
“Well, better than you guys, apparently,” Calvin squeaked. Blade finally set him down. Calvin took a couple of deep gulps of air. “We’ve just been wandering these tunnels forever.”
“Well, you won’t find anything that way,” I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “We had to seal it against the goblins.”
Calvin’s face sank, and he looked uneasily over his shoulder at Cara. She merely smirked in reply.
“What?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing,” Calvin said hastily. “We found a fork in the tunnel. Cara thought we should go right. I thought left. Here we are.”
“I do not like to brag,” said Cara, “but it would appear I was correct, my Lord.”
“Well, but if we’d gone your way, we never would have found Blade and Miles,” Calvin said indignantly. “So there.”
I sighed. “Whatever, man. I guess I’m just glad you’re safe. But we’re about to pass out. We’ve been walking forever, and I gotta get home.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” said Calvin. “I’ve been back to Earth. The girls are worried sick about you.”
“You talked to them?” I said. “Are they okay?” Blade leaned in, his eyes lighting up with interest.
“Yeah, yeah, they’re fine,” Calvin said, waving a hand. “And once again, I’ve missed out on all the excitement. They escaped from the goblins in a cave, and then had to fight a saber-toothed tiger. I suppose I’ll never get to see one now.”
“Whoah, like, an actual saber-toothed tiger?” I said, gawking. “They’re extinct!”
“Not in Midrealm, apparently,” said Calvin.
I turned away, staring into the distance. “That’s amazing. Who knows what else is gone on Earth that we’ll be able to find here? So many species mankind could never study back home. I could become famous!”
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 29
