Steve clapped his hands together. “All right! Who’s first?”
“I will be the first,” Rhenyon declared, stepping up to Sarah. “What do I have to do, milady?”
Sarah took his right arm in hers. “Just don’t move and I’ll try to do this as quickly as possible. Be warned. The sensation is quite a jolt to the system.”
Rhenyon took a deep breath and nodded his head. Closing her eyes, Sarah concentrated, bringing back the image of the other tunnel.
In the blink of an eye, both woman and soldier vanished. Steve turned to Pheron.
“Do we have any water handy? If she’s as pale as she was last time, some water would do her good.”
Four soldiers instantly started patting themselves down, silently competing amongst themselves to be the first to present him with some water for Lady Sarah.
“Aye, have some of mine.” Pheron ripped his own personal canteen off his belt and proffered it to Steve.
“Thanks.” Steve looked at the soldier. “You moved. Where were you standing before?”
Pheron looked about, and then down at his feet. Without a word he moved about ten feet away. “I should be out of the way here. Ye moved as well, sir Steve.”
Realizing that no one could remember if they were standing in the exact same spot, all decided to join Pheron. Steve decided to move as close as he dared, in case Sarah stumbled again. He didn’t want to risk any unnecessary injuries.
Within moments Sarah popped back into existence, stumbling yet again. Steve jumped forward to catch her before she fell to her knees.
“Damn,” Sarah muttered, “I can’t seem to get those landings right.”
“You’re not looking as pale this time. Are you okay?”
Sarah nodded, taking deep gulps of air. “I’m not as nauseous this time. I’ll take that as a good sign. But it’s still a hell of a jolt.”
It took about ten minutes, with short breaks in between jumps, for Sarah to transport everyone to the other side. Standing together in the flickering torch light, Sarah smiled weakly at her husband. Apparently she hadn’t used this much of her jhorun at one time before. She looked and felt exhausted.
Correctly guessing what she was going through, Steve sidled up to his wife to walk with her as they descended further into the mountain.
“Feeling drained?”
Sarah could only nod. Steve felt along the harness holding his nohrstaf, and found a clasp to one of his mimet pouches. Silently slipping the crystal disc out of its holder, he pressed it into his wife’s hand.
“What’s this? One of those crystal charger thingies?”
“Yes, keep this with you. We’ll start having you charge one up as well.”
Getting irritated, she pushed it back at her husband. “It doesn’t do me any good now. Let’s worry about it tom-” she stopped in mid-sentence to stare at the crystal disc.
Hearing Sarah abruptly stop, Steve turned back to face his wife again. What’s with the strange look on her face?
“What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
Detecting the note of alarm in Steve’s voice, Rhenyon froze midstep, causing a comical pileup of soldiers running into one another. Before any of his men could protest, he held up a hand, silencing them instantly.
Sarah was still staring at the crystalline object in her hand. Why was it warm? She’d felt them before, and she always recalled them being cool to the touch. She looked at her husband, concern clearly showing in his face.
“This is warm,” she explained. “The last one I felt was cool. Are they supposed to be like that?”
“It’s warm to the touch when charged. But it only works for the person who charged it, so you shouldn’t be able to tell. That one should be empty.” He retrieved another mimet, handing it to Sarah. She took this second disc with her other hand. She shook her head. This one was cool, the way it’s supposed to be.
“Okay, this one is cool and the other is still warm. Why is that?”
Baffled, Steve withdrew a third mimet, one that he knew was charged. “What about this one? Hot or cold?”
Shifting both mimets to her left hand, she took the third with her right. “Warm,” she reported.
“Let me see those three.”
Taking back the three mimets, he sent his jhorun down to investigate. Look, but don’t touch, he ordered.
He felt the power emanating from two of the discs, and nothing from the third. Holding the inert disc, he handed the two active discs to his wife.
“Hot or cold?”
Sarah took the mimets. “Hot. Both of them.”
He handed the inert disc over.
“Cold,” she instantly informed him.
“You can tell which mimet is charged? Try to draw power from one of the hot ones. Slowly and gently.”
Handing two of the discs back to her husband, she sent her tiring jhorun down to investigate the disc and discovered a large reservoir of foreign, but friendly, jhorun. How was she supposed to draw upon the disc’s power? Extending a mental invitation to the foreign jhorun to join hers, she instantly felt her body go warm as the mimet released a steady stream of power to mix with her own. In moments her jhorun was restored, invigorating her as only a couple of Red Bulls could. Her paleness vanished, as did her fatigue of mind. She handed the spent disc back to her husband.
“I didn’t know I could do that.”
“That makes two of us. You used my jhorun in this thing. Shardwyn said that wasn’t possible!”
“I’m glad he was wrong. This feels great!”
Smiling and shaking his head, Rhenyon started to descend the stairs once more. As husband and wife brought up the rear, chatting animatedly back and forth about the possibility of charging as many mimets as possible, Pheron suddenly stopped, causing Sarah to walk right into the back of him.
“Ouch!” She smacked his shoulder. “Don’t do that. I’m already sore enough.”
“My apologies, milady,” Pheron looked sheepish. “Do ye see that?”
Rubbing her sore forehead, Sarah looked around. “What?”
Pheron was rubbing his hands over a small section of the tunnel wall. “I believe we have found the source of the light down here. This rock is glowing.”
Steve leaned in, peering closely at the textured surface of the rock.
“What part, specifically? I don’t see anything.”
“What is it, lieutenant?” Rhenyon came walking up. “Do ye see something?”
“Aye, sir, I do.” He tapped the small section of rock. “This section of wall is glowing. Look. The light has been increasing the farther down we go. Coincidence?”
Rhenyon frowned, staring at the irrelevantly small section of the rock wall. With a grunt, he straightened, peering down farther into the tunnel. “I do not see what ye are referring to, lieutenant.”
Pheron rolled his eyes and pulled Steve aside. “Can ye extinguish the torches?”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Steve looked at the captain, who nodded. “Instant darkness coming right up.”
Within moments the tunnel was plunged into a darkness so black that one wouldn’t have been able to see their own hands waved mere inches in front of their face. Clutching Sarah’s hand tightly Steve waited for his eyes to acclimatize. Yes, the tall soldier was correct. He could see a small, dim patch of violet light softly glowing on the wall. Running his hands over it, Steve whistled.
“Damn, Pheron, you saw this with the torches lit? I’m impressed. That sucker is faint.”
“If ye like that, sir Steve,” Pheron pointed in the other direction, forgetting that the fire thrower would be unable to see him, “then check that out down there.”
Turning to look further down the passageway he could just make out the outlines of the tunnel walls. In fact, he could see for quite a ways down the tunnel’s length before the faint light was swallowed by the darkness.
“Ooo, pretty!” Sarah’s favorite color was purple.
“Everyone can see the light, right?” Ph
eron moved around his stationary comrades. “Why do we not use this natural light and save the torches?”
“I think not, lieutenant,” Rhenyon stated. “Ye might be able to see just fine, but for the rest of us, it is damn dark. Sir Steve, light the torches, if ye please.”
“Aye. Uh, I mean, right.”
Steve ignited both hands and increased the intensity of his flames by a few notches so that the entire tunnel was illuminated. Once he had enough light to ensure he wouldn’t ignite that which didn’t wish to be ignited, he lit the torches, snuffing his hands out as the last torch sprang back to life.
Sighing inwardly, Sarah relaxed. She really didn’t care for the dark, and had no desire to wander about using only the faint purple bioluminescence present on the walls as the only means of light. Maybe that’s all the dwarves needed, she mused, but she was no dwarf. She wanted illumination and lots of it.
As the soldiers conversed amongst themselves ahead of them, Steve and Sarah pondered how to best make contact with the dwarves. Steve suggested making as much noise as possible, figuring that an excessive amount of disturbance would alert the dwarves to the presence of guests. Sarah argued, however, that the dwarves might be farther down, and to announce their location to everything within earshot might not be such a wise move.
“How do we know that there aren’t other things living down here? Do you really want to take that chance.”
Steve shook his head. “You have a point. So what do you think?”
“About how to make contact? We keep moving. Down. As long as we don’t come across any side tunnels, we should be okay.”
“Ye have already passed three, human.”
The voice was gruff, with just the barest hints of a sneer.
Rhenyon froze in place, causing yet another pileup. “Who’s there? Who speaks?”
There were shouts of surprise as soldiers were forcefully shoved aside by a stout, thick bearded dwarf dressed in dark leather armor. A heavy double-bladed axe was strapped across his back. Various tools were strung along his belt. Finally pushing his way past Rhenyon to take the lead, the dwarf turned to face the stunned group of humans.
“Are the lot of ye daft? What are ye doing here?”
“Who are ye, dwarf?” Rhenyon asked. “Where did ye come from? Ye say we missed three. Three what?”
“I am Breslin, of the Kla Guur clan.” The dwarf bowed. “Ye ask what ye missed? Turns, dolt. Ye blundered by not one, nor two, but three. Why did ye not take the second, as ye were instructed?”
“We passed no other tunnels, dwarf,” Rhenyon scowled, losing patience. “Nothing but a straight passageway from that large cavern to here.”
“Obviously I must have been mistaken,” the dwarf drawled. “Clearly I came in after ye and have been following silently behind. It is impossible to believe that I used a side tunnel that intersects this one.”
Steve snorted. This was one sarcastic dwarf!
“Did ye not make a copy of the map as ye were instructed? How did ye expect to find yer way around down here?”
“Map? Instructions? There were none, I assure ye.”
The dwarf paused, studying the human. Were all human men this stupid? He finally looked at the rest of the group. Four soldiers and a peasant couple returned his gaze.
“Did none of ye pay heed to the map?”
Sarah approached, looking down at the (clearly) befuddled dwarf. “Sir, I assure you, we encountered no map, let alone any instructions. Where was it?”
“As soon as the gate opened, the map would have illuminated on the opposite wall. Ye could not have missed it.”
“Nothing lit up on any wall other than glowing moss,” Pheron helpfully supplied.
“Impossible,” Breslin scoffed. “The spell is triggered by the gate’s movement. Map on one side, instructions on the other. Without both, ye can wander for years down here and not find anything. This,” the dwarf swept his hand around in a circle to indicate their present location, “will eventually encircle the entire mountain range. That’s well over nine hundred leagues, human.”
Rhenyon held up a hand. “Wait. Did ye say the door opens?”
“Aye, that I did, lad. How else could ye have made it this far?”
The captain of the guard exchanged a glance with their resident teleporter. This was unexpected. Had they somehow bypassed the proper method to open the door by using Lady Sarah’s abilities? Evidently this must be so.
“If ye are referring to that stone wall at the end of the second tunnel, then trust me, dwarf, it did not move.”
“Eh? What was that?” The dwarf was certain he just caught the human telling a lie. If the door did not open, then there were enchantments in place to prevent any unwanted intruders. They would have been unable to breech the Barrier, so they must be telling lies. The Barrier had been successfully blocking unauthorized entry for centuries. “Then how did ye make it inside? Ye cannot have made it past the door without unlocking it.”
“We didn’t unlock it,” Steve confirmed. “We teleported across.”
Two beady black eyes stared at him, searching for the lie that he was certain must exist. “Ye could not have teleported,” the dwarf insisted. “Enchantments have long been in place to prevent such actions.”
“We’re here, aren’t we?” Steve grinned. Nothing like stating the obvious to prove a point. “That’s how we got here. We teleported from the end of that tunnel to directly on the other side of the wall. Door. Gate. Whatever. If what you say is true, then no wonder we didn’t see anything. Nothing was tripped by the door, ‘cause the door didn’t move.”
“I cannot fathom how the likes of ye could defeat the Barrier, but that is not my concern. Let the Council ponder that one. Let us be off.”
“Where are you taking us?” Sarah asked.
“The human king requested the location of the Strathos, did he not?”
“He’s in Borahgg, we know.”
Breslin turned to face the peasant. “And just how the ruddy hell did ye know that?”
“Ten years ago,” Rhenyon answered, “the dwarf we are looking for passed through one of our villages. He traded with a few townsfolk for some food and supplies. He told one of them where he was headed.”
The dwarf shook his head. “He always did have a big mouth.”
Sarah gave a quick jolt. “Do you know Maelnar then?”
“Legends of his skill are widely known. Lesser known is his fondness for bragging about it.”
Several soldiers snorted.
The dwarf’s eyes quickly flicked to the soldiers. “Laugh it up, lads. We always do. Maelnar is a mystery, and that’s no lie.” The dwarf turned and pointed back the way they came. “That way. Follow me.”
Pushing his way back to the other end of the group, Breslin took the lead position and started walking back up the passageway. He hadn’t even bothered to check whether the humans were following.
Whistling merrily, the dwarf cheerfully began pointing out various formations, elaborating on the skills necessary to bore tunnels through solid rock. In thirty short minutes Steve and Sarah learned more about sedimentary rocks than the most talented geologist from their world.
Breslin slowed, allowing the others to catch up, before he finally stopped, staring intently at the wall before him. As the humans crowded close, Breslin unslung his axe and leaned on it, watching as the humans stared around with bewildered expressions.
“Why have we stopped? Is something wrong?”
The dwarf shook his head. “And that, human, is why ye have missed three intersections. This is the last one that ye passed.”
Shocked, Rhenyon turned to the stone wall. Nothing but solid, unbroken stone met his eyes.
“Here? There is nothing here but stone!”
Steve approached, running his hands along the surface of the rock wall. As he neared the smug dwarf, his hand suddenly lost purchase, throwing him off balance. He stumbled towards the rock wall, fully expecting to receive a crack on the
head at any moment. Fortunately several pairs of strong hands grabbed the back of his tunic and held him fast. Regaining his balance, Steve carefully felt the open space his hand told him was there, yet his eyes insisted wasn’t.
Equally curious, Rhenyon and Pheron mirrored Steve’s actions, running their hands along the surface and poking fingers at various places. Only when they were positioned just so, with the dwarf giving instructions, were they able to see the outline of the tunnel opening. The dwarves had created a truly masterful illusion, with the entrance of the second tunnel being well disguised with ingenious rockwork. The various strata and discolorations of the rock blended masterfully with the rock in the walls and floors of the second tunnel to achieve a perfect blending of color and texture.
Knowing full well that the tunnel branched there, Steve still had difficulty believing someone could be so skillful as to have been able to craft such an illusion. Gingerly, he walked into the tunnel, did an about-face, and looked back the way he had come. There, clear as day, was the opening with everyone staring in at him. He walked back out and faced the tunnel again. It had disappeared, presenting him with what appeared to be a blank wall.
“Now that is just freakin’ cool!” Steve grinned at the dwarf, who grinned back. “Very impressive, Breslin.”
With his smile hidden behind his thick beard, Breslin bowed. “I thank ye for the compliment.”
Still smiling, Steve looked at his wife, who was leaning into the new tunnel to look around.
“No wonder we all missed it. Even standing in front of the tunnel entrance, I still can’t see it. We would have been wandering for years down here.”
Amazed and annoyed at himself for traipsing right by a “hidden” tunnel, Rhenyon was silent. He had heard stories glorifying the skill of the Bohani Mountain Dwarves, how they were masters of illusion, but this was a truly amazing feat. Looking down at the dwarf, who was clearly waiting for some type of acknowledgment from him, Rhenyon finally nodded.
“Yer brethren are truly masters of their work, dwarf. That is exquisite work.”
Beaming with pride, the dwarf bowed again. His respect for this group of humans just shot several notches higher.
Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy Page 32
