The Dark Portal (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 3)

by E. G. Foley

  “Snap out of it, Jake. That’s dangerous talk,” Derek growled.

  “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not my father. What do I care what anyone has to say, when I’m so bloody rich!” With an angry laugh, his heart aching, Jake dove right off the walkway into a sea of gold coins.

  Clanking sounds filled his ears as he sank beneath the surface, laughing carelessly, rolling around in his money—aye, swimming in it—and trying to tell himself he was the luckiest bloomin’ mumper in the world.

  It was too late now for whining, anyway; he willed himself to believe that this treasure more than made up for what he’d lost. Who needed stupid parents, anyway?

  Whoever once said you couldn’t buy happiness was a fool. He’d prove them wrong.

  Come to think of it, he thought, drowning in his money, he had the means now to bankrupt every apprentice-master who had ever been cruel to him.

  Aye, this gold could be used as a weapon—

  All of a sudden, his exultation came to an abrupt halt as a large beak dove into the mound of coins, grabbed the back of his collar, and fished him out by the scruff of his neck. Gold coins rained off him, falling out of his hair and his ears and his pockets and the folds of his clothes as Red pulled him out.

  But if Jake assumed his overprotective pet had meant to rescue him, he was sorely mistaken.

  Red dropped him on the walkway, tossing him angrily onto his back like a salmon he’d just caught out of the river for a meal.

  Jake’s eyes widened as the Gryphon reared up over him, tail thrashing, claws bared, his eyes glittering with fury as they did when he was in battle-mode.

  Landing on all fours, his lion-paws planted wide before him, Red’s scarlet mane-feathers stood on end.

  Then the fierce beast roared, full throttle, in his face—and Jake suddenly remembered who all that gold actually belonged to.

  Claw the Courageous.

  Who alone could not be corrupted.

  CHAPTER THREE

  All That Glitters

  Jake had never been scared of Red since the night he had first met him, when they were both Uncle Waldrick’s prisoners. But at the moment, he cowered from the beast, terrified that the noble Crafanc might rip his throat out.

  Instead, satisfied he had made his point, the offended Gryphon flew away, disappearing far above them through the elevator shaft.

  Jake let out a shaky exhalation and sat up slowly, trembling. Oh, he got the message, all right.

  He had just humiliated himself with a spectacular show of greed. He felt like an utter fool. At least Archie and Dani didn’t seem to mind his complete lack of character, he thought with a wince as they rushed over to help him up.

  “Jake! Are you all right?” they asked.

  But he wasn’t, especially when he saw Derek looking about as disappointed in him as Red was. The warrior lowered his head, pivoted, and walked back to wait in the elevator without a word.

  “I’m sorry,” he forced out as Dani and Archie managed to pull him to his feet between them.

  He still felt so weird and out of sorts. And kind of nauseated by his own demented display.

  This was the first time, moreover, that he had ever had a real spat with Red. “I-I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Oh, that would be the gold fever, I should think,” Emrys said kindly. “Don’t worry, lad. It’ll pass. You’ll feel better in a moment.”

  “Gold fever?” Jake echoed, steadying himself. “That’s a real thing?”

  “Looked to me like a horrid attack of self-pity,” Isabelle said with a cool stare.

  Jake cringed, knowing she was right. He mumbled another apology for his behavior, and his cousin gazed at him intently for a moment, no doubt sensing all his tangled emotions with her telepathic powers.

  “You’ve had a hard life, Jake, no doubt” she said at length. “But the other orphans, the ones you left behind in your old life? They’re still there.”

  “Right,” he whispered, barely able to find his voice at her simple reminder of the kids he used to know back at the orphanage and in his homeless days as a pickpocket.

  Still there.

  Her frank words were more effective than a much-needed slap across the face and worked at once to clear his head.

  Then she, too, walked away, returning to the elevator.

  Jake stared at the floor, his blond forelock hanging in his eyes, veiling his embarrassment. What an idiot I am. What a selfish, greedy fool. Between Red’s rebuke, Derek’s disappointment, and Isabelle’s soft-toned skewering, he felt lower than a worm.

  Dani propped him up by his elbow and searched his face with a frown. “You don’t look so good. Maybe we should go back to the cottage.”

  “No,” he managed. As much as he wanted to go and hide under a rock, the dwarves had gone to a lot of trouble to welcome him here today. He couldn’t just ruin the day for everyone—that would be selfish all over again. “I’ll be fine,” he said, and swallowed hard. “I’m…looking forward to our tour.”

  Emrys exhaled in relief when he said that.

  Then they all started back toward the elevator. Jake glanced upward, wondering where Red had gone.

  “Don’t feel too bad, laddie,” little Ufudd offered, noticing his anxious look. “Lord Crafanc is likely just a bit touchy after how things went here at the mine with your Uncle Waldrick.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked in surprise.

  “Well, when your uncle inherited everything, after what he and the sea-witch did to your poor father and mother, and since you couldn’t be found, the rightful heir—well, as the new Earl of Griffon, your Uncle Waldrick came here to look at all the gold.”

  “He spent ten hours in the Vault,” Emrys said. “We could barely pry him out of here for breakfast.”

  No wonder Red had reacted so angrily. Jake did not want to be anything like his horrid Uncle Waldrick, who was even now imprisoned in a tower for his crimes, deep in the heart of dragon country, where he would remain.

  They stepped back into the elevator, rejoining the pure-and-virtuous Isabelle and the always-honorable Derek.

  Jake knew they would never behave like he just had. “I-I wish to apologize for my outburst. I had no cause to be rude to you—Derek, especially. I hope you can forgive me. I guess the past just sort of hit me. Still, that’s no excuse.” His cheeks flamed and his voice faltered with the awkwardness. “I just wanted to say—I’m sorry.”

  The Guardian gave him an understanding nod. “It’s all right, lad. We’ll help to keep you honest.”

  Isabelle smiled ruefully at him. “It was a nice idea about the animal hospital, anyway,” she said.

  Then Emrys closed the door, and when they all held on, the elevator went shooting up again.

  Generous-hearted as they were, Jake’s friends spared him any further mention of his unseemly temper tantrum.

  As the elevator ascended, he reflected on how he was fortunate, indeed, that the people he cared about were willing to let his ugly moment pass as water under the bridge.

  But when they returned to the Atrium, Jake worried that the Gryphon might be another story. Red was already there, surrounded by dwarf engineers and geologists who were showing him maps of the mine’s newest tunnels and trying to get the beast to indicate where they ought to dig next, for gryphons had an instinct for finding gold.

  Red sent Jake a chilly glance over his winged shoulder and huffed through his beak, then turned away again.

  Jake’s heart sank. But there was no time to waste, for the dwarves’ workday was waning. They had to get on with their tour of the mine.

  Emrys put the gold key away while Ufudd passed out rain slickers and a hard protective hat to each of them. Goggles were optional, but each received a little pouch of powdered Illuminium to light their way back in case they got separated.

  If being underground weren’t bad enough in itself, Jake blanched at the thought of getting lost by himself in that labyrinth of subterranean tunn
els.

  Of course, Emrys had no intention of letting that happen, so the Illuminium was really just a keepsake from their visit to the mine. Dani was jumping up and down with excitement over having some Illuminium of her own when Derek announced that he’d be staying behind with Red in the Atrium, where he’d wait for them to return.

  He’d been on the tour many times before, he said, and for a fellow of his size, some of those passages, tunnels, and low arches were just a bother.

  Jake instantly worried that this was just an excuse, that Derek really just wanted to get away from him after his obnoxious outburst in the Vault.

  Not that he could blame him.

  Before they set out, Emrys issued a formal invitation to them all to come tomorrow night to Waterfall Village and enjoy the dwarves’ hospitality. They eagerly accepted the invitation, then with a final warning from Derek to do as Emrys said, they marched off into the wide main tunnel off the Atrium to begin their tour.

  Crews of dwarves with all their tools and gear bustled about in all directions, heading for their assigned work areas. Halfway down the tunnel, Emrys led them past an alcove hollowed out of the bedrock, with a few small tables built into it like a tiny restaurant. Here some of the dwarf miners were taking their breaks until a signal bell rang; then the hardworking miners picked up their tools, put on their hats, and trudged back to work.

  Next, their tour proceeded into even darker, narrower underground passages, where they saw many wonders. Great stone arches, dramatically lit with lanterns. Rock formations in an array of colors, like natural sculptures formed by water and erosion. Startlingly bright white calcium formations grew next to sleek, jet-black coal. Reddish clumps of iron mingled with sparkly green galena and silvery lead sulfide. Bright blue copper sulfate striped bold yellow deposits of garish sulfur.

  “Whew, that stinks!” Dani declared, holding her nose.

  “It wasn’t me,” Jake said on cue.

  The girls rolled their eyes at his joke, but at least Archie laughed. They were just glad he was starting to act like his normal self again.

  “Ah, that’s sulfur for you! Rotten egg smell. Well, way down here, we’re not that far from the underworld, you know,” Emrys jested. “We always joke we mustn’t dig too deep, or we might accidentally crack open the Pit of Hades and let the devil out. Then we’d have some explainin’ to do.”

  The boys laughed, but Dani’s eyes became like saucers. Ufudd stamped his feet. “You hear that, Old Scratch? You stay down there where you belong!”

  Dani O’Dell, the good Irish-Catholic girl, was suddenly looking over her shoulder, obviously wishing she had brought her little rosary. She seemed to fear that every shadow thrown out by the lanterns might be a demon lurking in the tunnels.

  Jake resisted the urge to sneak up behind her and scare her with a roguish “Boo!” He could hardly blame the carrot-head for believing in the devil, considering that a bona fide angel had once saved her life.

  Come to think of it, it had been a while since they had seen Dr. Celestus.

  Ufudd also noticed Dani’s uneasiness and spoke up to put her at ease, for at age ten, she was the youngest of their party. “Now, now, don’t you worry, my pip,” said the little old dwarf. “We’ll not dig that deep. We’re very careful here, as you can see. Master Emrys, tell them about how we make the gold.”

  “Right.” They continued on their tour with the head dwarf narrating as they went. “Gold, you see, is nearly always mixed with other kinds of minerals. That means it has to be separated out from them. Fine gold has to be purified. All the worthless stuff has got to be burned away. Just like with people,” Emrys added with a chuckle.

  He led them along to watch the dwarves at work at all the various stages of the process, from the initial taking of samples with a diamond-bit drill to the final smelting process that turned out pure, solid-gold bars.

  “You may not realize it,” he continued, “but it takes one whole ton of rock to get just six and a half grams of gold.”

  “Really?” Archie exclaimed. “No wonder the alchemists back in the olden days tried so hard to do it the easy way, changing lead into gold.”

  Emrys snorted. “Legend has it there was a local wizard once in these parts who succeeded. Unfortunately for him, it turns out that gold made from magic only lasts for a couple of hours and crumbles when sunlight touches it. What we bring out of the Everton Mine is the genuine article, 99.9 percent pure. Now, let’s head up this way. Watch your step. It can be slippery.”

  Indeed, they had long since realized why Derek had told them to wear their boots. Water trickled down the walls of the mine here and there and made their footing treacherous in places.

  They steadied each other as they went, with Emrys at the head and Ufudd bringing up the rear of their party.

  As they trekked on through the twilight, Jake was able to forget about his phobias from working in the coalmine. Bit by bit, he finally relaxed until he noticed he was actually having fun, trekking through tunnels, up ladders and down slides, over wooden footbridges suspended high above the central canyon of the mine.

  At one point, they had to stop and wait while a line of carts buzzed by carrying its load. They felt the breeze of it whizzing past, then Emrys showed them the one of the many ventilation shafts. “Keeping the oxygen flowing down here through twenty miles of tunnels can be tricky.”

  “Twenty miles of tunnels!” Dani said.

  “Ah, we’ve had a lot of time to dig them out, considering this mine was started away back when, in medieval days. You have heard the story of how the Everton Mine first came to be, haven’t you, young lady?”

  Before Dani could respond, Emrys launched into the tale, obviously a favorite of his. “Long ago, in medieval times, a humble farm boy called Reginald was sent off by his father to serve as page to a great warrior lord, who had promised to train the lad as a knight.

  “Well, it happened that the baron and his men were called up to join the king in some battle. So they came here to Wales from England, and Reginald had no choice but to follow his master to the war.

  “But one evening, the baron sent him out to gather kindling for their campfire, and that was when Reginald discovered it—a large, mysterious egg. This big.” Emrys held up his hands over a foot apart, then trudged on, leading the way down the dark tunnel. “It was just sitting there, wedged between some rocks in the hillside.

  “He’d never seen anything like it. The shell was gold and glittered in the sunset. He knew that if he showed it to his master, the baron would think it was a dragon egg and have it destroyed. But the boy wasn’t so sure. So, he picked it up and carried it around the woods, trying to find where it had come from.

  “He brought it all the way up to the top of the mountain, where he found the huge nest it had rolled out of.” Emrys glanced over his shoulder. “It was a gryphons’ nest, and the egg turned out to belong to a mother gryphon, and you know who was inside that, waiting to be born?”

  “Red!” Dani cried.

  “That’s right: Crafanc-y-Gwrool.”

  “Claw the Courageous,” Isabelle said with a smile.

  “It seems that while the mother gryphon was off catching food, the egg had rolled right out of the nest and down the mountain,” Emrys said. “Our dear Crafanc would have been lost forever if it weren’t for Reginald’s kindness.” He shrugged. “Perhaps, being just a boy, he did not realize the priceless value of the treasure he had found. So he simply gave it back.

  “I can assure you, if any of the knights or warriors would have found it, they’d have kept it, or given it as a present to the king in exchange for royal favors. The poor mother gryphon would have never seen her cub once he hatched.

  “Well, she was so grateful that Reginald had returned her prize—and so pleased to find a human who had proved he could be trusted—that she led the boy to a cave hidden in the mountain. There he saw the vein of gold sparkling in the rocks.

  “Young Reginald gave his master some e
xcuse and rushed right home to the family farm to tell his father what had happened. Fortunately, his father believed him and made the journeyed back to the mountain with him to see it for himself. Once he had confirmed his son’s tale with his own eyes, he sold the family farm and used the proceeds to buy this land instead. I understand he got it cheap.

  “No one could fathom why a sane man would trade a nice, fertile farm for a wild mountain, but the Everton family got to work chipping the gold out of the cave walls with their own hands, and that’s how it all began.” Emrys held up his lantern and beckoned them on. “This way, now. Come along, and watch your step down here by the water.”

  With his tale completed, he led them down to the tunnel’s end at the edge of an underground waterway, where they all got into a boat.

  The dwarves and the boys took up the oars. The dwarves steered the way through the maze of flooded caverns and old, quarried tunnels, while the boys added muscle to the rowing.

  They passed a number of little waterfalls pouring in from several directions above. At length, they came to an underground chamber where the water was a bright, unearthly blue, very cold and very deep. Emrys directed them to row out into the middle of the vaulted space to show them its interesting acoustics. “We call this the Echo Chamber. Try it. Halloo!” he called up into the hollow space above them.

  His shout bounced around and came back to him three times over, clear as a bell.

  They had a grand time yelling out words and silly phrases just to hear the echo, then they finally rowed on, still laughing. The deep, resonant sound of male voices singing came from ahead, with a steady, clanking rhythm.

  They went to see what it was, rowing onward. Gliding past another waterfall that spilled from a hole far above them, they paused at the mouth of another tunnel where the dwarves were hard at work.

  The children marveled to see the dwarf miners perched on scaffolding or hanging halfway down the wall with knotted ropes around their waists.