Dark Magic (13 page)

Piskin nodded and smiled very broadly indeed. “I know you can.”

And it was not long after that the two headed off into the Haven wood together in pursuit of the maid Mari. Piskin followed the troll, who gamboled through the snow with a rolling gait. He was nowhere near as fast-moving a creature as Piskin, but he was unerring. He tracked Mari’s scent even through the deep snows.

And Piskin followed him as any hunter follows his hound.

Chapter Thirteen

Breakthrough

When Brand and Telyn finally reached the ruby tunnel, they were tired, dirty, slightly burnt and wary of every shadow. They traveled along the tunnel, hoping it was the right one. Occasionally, they took a wrong turn and came to a dead end. Each time the tunnel forked, they left a black lava rock they had gathered from the magma chambers on the floor to mark the spot. Brand still feared they would become hopelessly lost.

After what seemed like hours of travel, they halted. Up ahead lights flickered upon the upon tunnel walls far ahead. They extinguished their own lanterns and crept forward not knowing what new kind of horror they might have stumbled upon.

“It might be them,” whispered Telyn in his ear. Normally, Brand would have tried to kiss her when she got so close. But today—or was it tonight? Time meant little down in the Everdark. Today, he only watched the flickering lights and their corresponding shadows playing on the walls of the tunnel with unblinking intensity.

Could it be the Kindred? Possibly, but just as likely it was any number of worse things, some of which had mastered fire and aped human tribesmen. Brand recalled the gnomes as well. Somewhere down in this sunless hell they made their ale and grew their black glowing mushrooms. He was sure they would have heard about the fate of their cousins back in the Deepwood. Ever it was with such folk that news traveled fast.

They crept closer still, on their bellies now, and listened. They thought to hear the hushed voices of the Kindred, and over that sound, a
clinking
sound. It was a sound that could only be the beat of a miner’s pick. Could the Kindred still be digging out gemstones?

Brand and Telyn had seen many rubies on their trip through the tunnel. They had picked up a handful of the gleaming red stones. Brand figured he could buy himself a new house on Rabing Isle when he was home again, should he have the desire.

“That sound,” whispered Telyn, “it must be the miners.”

Brand reached over to her and pushed her head down. Likewise, he ducked his own head. Something whistled over them and cracked against the stone walls.

“Hold!” cried Brand, “Modi, we are sent by Gudrin!”

There was silence for a minute or two. Even the tapping pick stopped.

“Who goes?” came a gruff voice that Brand knew all too well.

“Brand, Champion of the Haven.”

“Brand? Truly? If this be some goblin voice-trick, know I’m in a foul mood.”

Eventually, Brand and Telyn managed to talk their way into the distrustful camp of the Kindred. Everyone gathered around and greeted them, but as a group they were tense. Brand’s eye ran over the crew. Each miner looked more tired and haunted than the next. Every bleary eye was surrounded by a dark circle. Thick fingers rubbed at the handles of their mining picks, never putting them aside, as if they expected to be attacked at any moment.

“What’s your situation?”

“Perfect, now that you’re here,” said Modi. Brand wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.

“We’ve got kobolds in front, fire behind and devils below,” said one gaunt miner. Modi shot her a dark glance but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Brand,” said Modi, “explain yourself. Where is the company of Kindred I expected? Do they come from the slower route? Yes, that’s it isn’t it? I should have expected it. You couldn’t wait and came down the shafts directly.”

Brand shrugged. “Gamal made it up with your request for aid.”

“Obviously,” grunted Modi.

“So, Gudrin thought we could do the best for you, and called upon us to come down and help. I heeded her call, and took the fastest route down I could find.”

“You came down the shafts from the Earthlight? Alone?”

“No, we had Gamal with us. We were separated, he had to go back up.”

“Just Gamal?”

Brand shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, but have no concerns, no kobold was ever born that could live through a single stroke of my axe.”

There were some scattered cheers among them at his brave words. Modi, however, frowned.  Brand tried to change the subject to the supplies they had brought, not wanting to discuss Hallr’s decision to ignore Modi’s call for help. Things were bad enough down here without the group’s leader flying into a rage.

Telyn busied herself distributing the supplies that had survived the beetles. There were some smiles at the sight of hard tack bread and salted pork. Water was plentiful in these caverns, there were many spots you could set down a canteen beneath a dripping stone and have it full an hour later. But food had become scarce.

Modi put a hand on Brand’s shoulder. The axe twitched on his back, but Brand ignored it. He looked at Modi who gestured for him to follow.

Brand reluctantly followed Modi to a great pit in the floor. The stone there had a different texture and tone to it. The pit looked burnt and glinted metallically in spots.

He put his hands on his hips. “This must be the spot you’ve been digging. We could hear it out in the tunnel.”

“Do you know what this is?” Modi asked him, tapping the pick on the blackened spot.

Brand looked at it speculatively. “Some kind of ore?”

“It’s a plug. Meant to keep a section of the Everdark forever sealed off.”

“What’s beneath it?”

Modi smiled, and it was not a healthy smile. “It’s a secret. We don’t know what it is. Mysteries like this, that’s why I’m down here, Brand. This is exactly the kind of spot I came into the Everdark to find.”

Brand looked baffled.

“We, the Kindred, have lost our way. We’ve lost our will to go out and conquer and explore.”

“Is that because you have no King?”

Modi shot him a look, and slowly nodded. “Yes. I think so. You see, I’m hoping to discover something wonderful. Something fantastic. The Kindred need something to fire their imaginations. To get them moving again.”

“A fine goal. But how do we get out of here, Modi?”

“I’ll tell you. But first, tell me something: where are the Kindred my father sent?”

Brand looked uncomfortable. He sighed, seeing no way out of telling him. “There are none. Gudrin sent for us, because Hallr refused to send anyone.”

Modi nodded, his lips a tight line. “I see. I should have expected nothing else. Now that you have been honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. We have three routes. We could fight through the kobolds, and have half of us die in their traps, for your axe can slay any foe, but these creatures will not stand and die. They will retreat forever before us, killing one of us whenever they can.

“Or, we could climb out of the magma chambers. Most would make it, but we would have to leave behind our riches, and Kindred minds have been broken over smaller things. They will not do it, preferring to die.”

“What have we left then?” asked Brand in alarm. “We can’t go forward or back? Have I come for nothing?”

“Not at all,” said Modi, hefting his pick. That unhealthy smile was back on his face and bigger than ever. “We will chop our way through this plug, and we will find another exit unknown to us there.”

“But what if none exists?”

“Then we die trying.”

As he spoke these last words, he slammed the pick down into the plug with great force. Brand felt the sting of hard stone chips pelting his cheek.

* * *

Sigrid chided herself for staying here so long with her brood. It had been a gambit from the start, and she had almost succeeded in hatching them, but not quite. Just a year or two longer and they would have awakened her by hatching and crawling over her with hungry cries. Soon, they would have eaten everything that lived in this part of the Everdark.

Alas, that happy day might never come. She should have dug a tunnel out of this small warren of tunnels, but had decided that an exit served enemies as an entrance. By sealing in her brood, the Kindred had done her a service. She could slumber in this lair, forgotten, while her eggs matured.

That plan had failed. Now, since she had not dug an exit, there was none. She was trapped and she could not move her brood to safety. She would have to fight to the death, and for that she needed her flaming breath. Unfortunately, centuries of sleep had affected Sigrid’s internal fire. Like an ember that burnt down to gray ash over a winter’s night, her body had not been able to keep a flame going for so very long.

In order to breathe fire again, she would have normally consumed ash, saltpeter, copper salts and magnesium for brilliance. She quickly decided to forget about the copper salts, as they were only needed to produce her trademark blue-green color. In a time of danger, this wasn’t required.

She had carefully judged the tapping on the great plug, and it had been slow. Nervously, she left her brood of three leathery eggs to rekindle her flame. Without that, she would have nothing but claws and fangs to face the Kindred. She figured that if they were brave enough to come back here, even after their previous defeats, it must be in such strength of numbers that they had little fear of her.

She hurried off into the side tunnels to find the ingredients she needed to burn them all down to dust and bone.

* * *

Modi stood inside his pit. His head was about even with the top of the pit and Brand stood above him, shining down a lantern and watching. Brand looked around the other miners who watched the proceedings with worry. They sharpened their picks and restrung their crossbows stoically, speaking little. Telyn worked on her bow, repairing it and counting her arrows.

Brand squatted upon the edge of the growing pit. “So, the Kindred plug these things up to keep things sealed off from the rest of the Everdark?”

“Bah!” complained Modi. “I’ve snapped another handle. By the nine hells the ancients did their work well on this plug.” He worked to replace the handle with a fresh one from his pack.

“If they didn’t want us down there...” Brand trailed off suggestively.

“No, they didn’t,” said Modi, turning up eyes that shone white in their soot-darkened sockets. “But that was so long ago that none of the maps even show this place. It is unknown, perhaps from the first original construction of the Earthlight and the first exploration of the Everdark.”

Modi worked his pick harder now, swinging with angry abandon. Brand thought about leaving him to it, but he didn’t. He sat there, thinking about how to properly handle this stubborn friend he had come so far to save. At this point, Modi had yet to even say thanks to him. The thought probably hadn’t even occurred to the warrior.

Brand worked himself up to making a new argument for stopping, when Modi shouted. Every Kindred in hearing jumped and stepped forward to see what had happened.

“A breakthrough!” shouted Modi, “I’ve found something!”

A foul smell rose up from the pit, and seemed to swirl around them, throwing up a choking vapor. Everyone took a step backward away from the vapor, save for Modi himself. The warrior pounded away with his pick, faster than ever. He worked with his teeth clenched and his lips curled back from them. The whites of his eyes and his teeth were all that showed upon his face, which was otherwise covered with black soot. Even the very hair of his beard was coated black.

“Modi, what is that smell?”

Modi gave a hoot of laughter and triumph. The relentless clanging of his pick finally stopped. Brand felt that his head still rang with the sound after it had ended.

Brand stepped up to the edge of the pit and Telyn stepped next to him, shining her bright magical light down into it. Modi’s great back bunched muscles and strained. With a roaring grunt, he pulled up a chunk of the black material, as big as his own head. He hurled it carelessly out of the pit and it
thunked
and rolled, causing miners to dodge and watch their toes.

Then Modi paused, his sides heaving. He stared down into the hole he had carved into the ancient plug. More of the Kindred gathered around then. Everyone wanted to see what was beyond. They murmured among themselves.

Suddenly, Modi held his arms high waving his hands for silence. Everyone fell quiet.

“Something’s down there,” he said in a harsh whisper. “Something still lives beneath us. I detect its stink.”

Brand knelt at the edge of the pit. The edge crumbled and he almost slipped and slid down onto Modi’s back. Telyn put a steadying hand on him and he nodded to her in thanks.

“Should we seal it back up?” asked Brand.

Modi looked at him, sides still heaving from his efforts. “Brand, I’ll not go crawling back to my sire, marked now as a coward. I’ll not dump a fortune in rubies, run from the unknown, nor lose half my company in kobold traps.”

Brand nodded, sighing. He could see the hole now. It was about as big as a Kindred’s head, which was to say large, but not big enough for them to slip through.

“If we keep digging, it will be alerted,” he said.

There was a murmur of agreement.

“What else can we do?” hissed back Modi.

“I can get through,” said Telyn. They all looked at her, then each other. It was true, she was the only one slender enough to wriggle through.