Throne of Scars (16 page)

She turned and she was looking at me. I was sure of it. Her mouth fell open with surprise.

I cursed and fled.

I saw my companions above me, rushing up a stairway under the ceiling of oppressive, heavy rocks. Blue and silver veins of metal snaked up with us, and I begged she had not seen me after all.

Kiera stopped. She looked down, her face grave. She cocked her head.

A horn was blowing. It was a thin blare and the sort that demanded attention, making my blood freeze with its intensity. There was a reverberating power in the horn, and it was clearly magical.

“They saw us,” Ittisana hissed from the the top.

“They saw
him
!” Cosia spat and pointed a finger at me. “And you thought I’d betray us? Here we are, fucked!”

Ittisana didn’t refute her and gave me an evil look. “You made a mess of things. That is the Night Hunt. A Horn of the Huntress. Kallista is the Third Queen of Scardark, and her troops are especially adept at finding fugitives. They blow the horn to signal the start of a …. well … a hunt.”

“And we are the prey,” Kiera agreed. “We’ll have to run.”

“Run,” Cosia smiled. “Run as they run. Though you cannot, because you have a human with you. We’ll never reach Scardark. Never.”

We climbed. We climbed in the darkness and then took a tunnel that ran steadily for a direction I’d never guess. I was begging we would lose the enemy, but Cosia was right. While the others were fleet and skillful, I was slow and afraid, and likely the deadweight that would get us all killed.

The horn was blowing again.

W
e rushed on in the oppressive tunnels.

              I thanked Shannon and Ittisana in my head for the spell of sight. It didn’t take long to decide the map we had acquired was a lifesaving device. Kiera held the book, referring to it every now and then, as dozens of ways opened up.

              I was lost in minutes.

The tunnels demanded all of your attention. They were both uneven, with stairways and steps, and slippery rock slopes. There were signs and scribblings on some walls, and small chambers with dripping water and thick, glistening veins of ore. There was a feeling of constant pressure that made my chest hurt and head ache. The flight was confusing, a jumble of shouts, horn blasts, and elated and fearful emotions. I felt breathless, hemmed in, my heart thrummed with terror, and I tried to keep up. I heard my companions cursing, panting, their armor and weapons scraping on stone. There was a sound of dripping water on rocks, plopping and loud, and the rumbling grind of stone, which was probably natural in Svartalfheim. Our journey was much like running in the woods of my hometown when we were younger, during the night Napoleon’s hussars burned it on their way to outflank our army. Ittisana kept looking back at me, while herding Cosia forward. Their thighs flashed in the semi dark, as the females took turns on the winding route up and down and Kiera was just behind them, her hair a halo around her head. Thak was slinking along, sniffling and clearly worried about me, as my breath caught in my throat.

“Run, you runty, weak human,” Cosia spat from the darkness as I stumbled, fighting against the need to vomit. “Not so special now, are you?” she added and hissed out laughter, until Ittisana slapped her.

Cosia was right. I was a runty weak burden. I felt so unwell.

My chest hurt. My skin itched like mad, and I spat with disgust. There was blood in the spit.

We ran thus for an hour. More.

Dimly I understood the surroundings had changed into a totally unpaved way, with no sign of hammer and chisel on the walls. Occasionally, we had to squeeze through stalagmites, and crawl in low tunnels. We passed dark routes to the deeper depths where eerie sounds echoed.

Finally, I held my chest, and fell to my knees, and Thak, cursing, turned and pulled me along, half supporting me.

There was no sight or sound of our pursuers, but I had no doubt they were there, somewhere.

We rushed along and pushed to a high ledge. Ittisana pressed her palm on Cosia’s chest, and stopped us. The way continued on along the ledge for a mile or more. There, in the opposing wall there was the beginning of the next tunnel. The open space was beckoning like a lifesaving drop of magical nectar and I made to reach for it, but Thak stopped me short.

I carefully looked over the side.

Below, a dark army marched.

With them, rode the beautiful svartalf queen. I saw her immediately. There were a thousand svartalfs with her, their armor gleaming dully, the lustrous white and black hair heaving as they marched. They were travelling the lower tunnels, and before them ran the hulking brutes, some coming back to give reports, others rushing left and right. “Kallista knows the tunnels well,” Ittisana whispered. “Steady, and be silent. You OK?”

I shook my head. “My chest. Head. Is there enough air here to breathe?”

She shrugged. “There is. But you do look sick. We’ll stop for a while soon. We have to get past this one chamber, and then we’ll be safer.”

“Safer,” I chuckled as I looked down at the queen below. Her face was still as she listened to a report delivered by one of the armored orcs. He was gesturing wildly, and Kallista nodded her thanks and whirled around. The lizard hissed. the enemy army stopped, and she gave out orders.

They spread out and faced many ways.

“What the—” I muttered.

“Trouble for them,” Thak whispered. “Get ready to move.”

Below, the thousand svartalfs surrounded the doorway. Bows by the hundreds were raised, spells braided together, and spears and swords aimed. Kallista was riding slowly behind her ranks.

Something moved in the dark.

Something big. Thak growled.

A creature entered the chamber, a large shadow like a mountain, and it looked around, clearly surprised. It was a jotun, though not like Thak, but fair-skinned. It was a brutish looking beast with crude clothing and rusty armor. It held a huge mallet. A horde of white-armored orcs followed, the armor adorned with a painted black maw.

“Ban’s troops,” Ittisana whispered.

“Fire!” Kallista screamed, and hundreds of arrows ripped through the air, impaling the jotun. Most struck its throat and face. It roared so hard our ears ached. It took two steps forward, and fell with a shuddering crash. The enemy orcs looked stupefied. Hundreds more arrows riddled their forward ranks, creating corpses and chaos. They screamed defiance and charged. Dozens fell with spells of fire burning though their ranks. The forces crashed together, as a seemingly endless number of orcs, now supported by lizard-riding svartalfs surged out to do battle. A bitter fight commenced, spears and swords stabbing wildly, challenges were being shouted. A white-armored orc fought a svartalf champion in the middle of the melee, and the orc, wounded terribly in the throat, finally pulled the svartalf with him to a horde of orcs.

Both perished under blade and hammer.

Thak pulled me to him, and pushed me forward. I noticed Ittisana and Cosia were already creeping ahead, and Kiera rushed to us from the way we had come. “Clear that way, still,” she hissed and nodded us onward. We sneaked forward, constantly glancing downwards, hoping none of the combatants had any interest in looking up. 

None did, apparently. Perhaps the gods saw fit to give us a small measure of luck.

Or perhaps not.

As we made it to the doorway I glanced behind. I saw Kallista still riding back and forth, as her troops stabbed, pushed, stabbed again, and killed dozens of the orcs and pushed them back and over their own dead. One svartalf broke off the battle to slice off the jotun’s ear as a trophy, smirking viciously. He looked up, and frowned, and I was not sure if he had seen us.

We ran again.

The sounds of battle faded. The pain in my chest was worse. I panted along, until we burst out of a doorway into a huge cavern. I gazed around, surprised, and looked up. There was no sign of a ceiling, only darkness, and I could not guess how far it reached. All along the walls, hundreds of holes and shaded doorways loomed darkly.

Thak grabbed Kiera’s shoulder. “Where are we?”

She pulled out the book, opened it up, and the map unfolded, and her fingers traced the ways. Ittisana pulled Cosia to a her as they waited. I panted and waited as well. I gazed to the hundreds of dark corridors and wondered what one might find if one were to search even a fraction of them. I stayed silent as Kiera muttered, apparently finding our position. I listened. There was an uncanny, high-pitched wail as a strong
wind
whipped through the tunnels.

Wind? Was there a surface to Svartalfheim? Or was it Aldheim, somewhere far up there?

Kiera grunted and answered. “This is the Thousand Ways. We are a bit off. I meant to take us to the Crescent Pass, but we are close.”

“Where to?” Ittisana asked.

I frowned. Surely she knew the tunnels or had a sense of direction in her homeland? Or had she forgotten in her absence? I chuckled. I was being unfair. None could remember all the tunnels.

Kiera went on. “That road,” she pointed a finger at a hallway that was pillared and engraved with white runes, “will take us to the Crescent Pass and beyond to the Way of Echoes. That way,” she nodded to an insignificant hole across the vast chamber, “will take us where we are going. They are less used paths, and will lead to the Scardark, eventually.” She looked to our right. “There, those paths lead to deeper places. There are ways we might take there as well, but much too risky if we are hunted.” She had a furtive look on her face as she stared at Ittisana, who shook her head subtly.

What in Hel’s name were they thinking?
I thought.

“Are they even after us?” I said painfully, cursing my poor condition. “Surely that battle put a dent on their Hunt?”

Ittisana growled. “Possibly. But there are other hunters out here.”

I tottered for a pool of dark water and splashed some on my face. I looked up to the towering heights. “A man could walk these tunnels for all his life and never see another soul,” I cursed. “I almost miss Aldheim.”

Thak chuckled and Kiera squinted as she moved back the way we came, listening carefully.

Ittisana squatted before me and lifted my face. “This is Svartalfheim and yes, the ways are beyond count. But you might run into something unkind before you die of old age. Things need to eat, you see,” she said, looking at my chest. “How painful is that?”

I put a hand on it and it came away bloody, even through the armor. I stared at it aghast, and thought I must have been wounded.

“It’s infected. No battle wound,” Ittisana said simply. “Do not worry about it. We’ll check it later.”

Later?
It was painful enough for me to want to tear the armor off and to see it, but I resisted. Heartbreaker. The sword Kiera had used. Was it magic, or just infection that caused the terrible condition? I turned to look for her, but she wasn’t there. I took a deep breath and tore at the chain armor to get a peek at the flesh.

I took a deep, shuddering breath.

There was a dark oozing wound where the prick had been. The wound was thumb-sized and obviously deep. It had grown far more serious. Ittisana stared at me, not her usual, merry self, and I guessed she was worried.

She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hang on. We’ll find a way to heal it. Can you make it?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be of no use in Scardark, if—”

“We have to move,” Thak rumbled from the side. “Now.”

“Wait,” Ittisana said and got up. “Let Kiera scout first.”

Cosia scowled at the Bone Fetters on her arm and the chain that connected her to Ittisana. She looked ready to rip her arm off to escape. “The giant is right! Wait? We cannot wait. They are out there, and not far. When they catch us, you’ll let me fight, yes?”

I looked at her as if she was entirely crazy. Let
her
fight? I pushed away the pain and growled at her. “I didn’t want you here in the first place. I have no idea why you had to come. Kiera’s secret, but one I’d love to share. I should have taken your damned head that night you fell. I should have killed you right there and then and congratulated myself heartily after. Gods know we tried many times.”

“Killed then, or days later,” Cosia said miserably. “Matters not. Now—”

Ittisana’s fangs flashed. Her hand shot out and she slapped the powerful female so hard Cosia rolled across the floor.

Thak stepped forward and placed a huge sword between the two. “We’ll deal with such problems later, eh?” he rumbled, his eyes on Ittisana. “You’ll not hurt each other. We need you both.”

“When we get through the tunnels, where will we be?” I asked to disrupt the two quarrelsome gorgons.

Thak grunted, and kept the sword between the two, though Cosia got to her knees and said nothing. She was so meek. So beaten. She was thoroughly broken by Shannon. And Ittisana? All the merriness in her was gone.

Ittisana shook her snake head and turned my way. “Two days that way,” she pointed at the far gateway and looked at Thak who nodded, “we find a chasm. The Depths of the Night, it is called. There is a Markudin, a long bridge over if, as you exit The Way of Echoes. We’ll arrive near there.”

Thak shook his head apologetically. “No, this way comes around the chasm. We’ll not cross Markudin or the Depths. This side way avoids the chasm, and meanders past the great river that surges through Vastness. We just have to get through here.” He nodded for the far tunnel.

Kiera ran in. I knew we were in trouble by the look on her face.

“There is a new battle back that way,” Kiera said as she appeared. I looked up at her, my hand still sticky with my blood, and she noticed my look. She looked away, her face betraying worry, but collected herself. She nodded at Thak, and pointed up the way we had arrived. “They are fighting some scattered forces of Ban. That queen is probably busy with the last of their enemy’s troops, but that doesn’t mean there are no other war parties out there. We have to move.”

“Indeed, we should hurry,” Thak rumbled. “If we didn’t have to fetch this Horn, it might be a good solution to have them fight each other for a few decades. Ban and the dragon shall never take the Scardark, and Ban’s own city is chiseled into a rocky perch. They breed like lizards, so they could go on forever.” He smiled wistfully and looked at Ittisana. “But Shannon cannot wait. I see that.”

Kiera pulled at me. “Let’s move. We have wasted too much time. They know this place is where many parties, armies and merchants come to get their bearings.”

And as if her words were prophetic, there were horns being blown in the tunnel that led to the Crescent Pass and the Way of Echoes. They were harsh, ominous horns, echoing wildly from the walls. There were shrieks, guttural commands. Thak pushed me back the way we had come.