by Randy Nargi
“This is pretty cool.” Pari stood in the open atrium with the ornate mosaic floor of concentric circles. Above them floated hundreds of globes. “I had forgotten about this place,” she said.
“You’ve been here?”
“Yeah, once with Tolman. He had to research something. Of course it was a little tidier back then.” She motioned to a dozen books scattered around on the tiled floor.
Crap. He had done that. Back on the first day. Justin felt his face flush.
Then a gruff voice called out from above them. “Well, my least favorite student has returned!”
Justin looked up and saw Master Desiderius standing on the spindly wrought-iron interior bridge that spanned the atrium. He was still wearing his furry Eskimo coat, and he didn’t look very happy that Justin and Pari were there.
“A friend of yours?” Pari asked.
“Uh, more like the worst NPC in the game. And he’s really got a bug up his butt about me.”
“Nice.”
“I can’t believe I’m asking this, but should we try to talk with him?” Justin asked.
Pari said, “Why not?”
“Excuse me, Master Desiderius—” But when Justin looked back up to the bridge, Desiderius was gone. He probably was in his office, ignoring them.
“Such an asshole,” Justin muttered.
He showed Pari the way to get up to the top level. As they climbed the circular staircase leading up, they saw a small grey cat scamper up the stairs ahead of them.
“I’ve never been up here,” Pari said. “So many globe balloons. You can’t even see the ground.”
“I’m not so good with heights, so I’ll just trust you on that.”
Once they got to the top, the cat sauntered across the spindly bridge that led to Master Desiderius’ office. Justin followed, making sure not to look down.
Master Desiderius was seated behind his desk, reading a book so thick it looked like an old-school dictionary.
“And what do I owe the displeasure, acolyte?”
“Um, we’re looking for a clue.”
“I’d say.”
“We’re trying to find the Iron Veil.”
“Good for you.”
“We need your help.”
Master Desiderius looked up from his book and barked out a laugh. “What makes you think I’m in the habit of helping those who vandalize my library?”
“I didn’t vandalize—”
“Come now, whelp. Those books didn’t fly off the shelves by themselves.”
“That was, like, last week…”
“And I’ve been waiting since then for you to return and make amends.”
“Amends? How?”
“You can start by re-shelving the books,” Desiderius sniffed.
“You’re not serious? Don’t you have people to clean up around here?”
“Good day, then!” Master Desiderius went back to his book.
Justin looked at Pari, but she only shrugged and said, “You’re on your own here, bud.”
So frustrating.
“Ok, fine. I’ll clean up the books!” He stomped out of the office and across the bridge and down three flights of stairs. The cat didn’t follow, but Pari did.
“So what was that all about?” she asked.
“That guy’s been a real prick, right from the start. He insulted me and wouldn’t train me.”
“So you messed up his library?”
“I started out being actually curious about the books. But, yeah, I was a little pissy.”
“I’ve met stubborn NPCs before. There’s nothing you can do, but play along. Let’s clean this up.”
As, they started gathering the books off the floor, Desiderius called down, “Every book shall be shelved in its proper place, mind you!”
“Yeah, whatever.” It was fairly easy to figure out where the books were supposed to be since there were empty spaces on the shelves.
“Um… Justin?” Pari turned to him and held up a thin book.
“What?”
“Check out the title.” She handed the book to him.
A Complete Guide to the Sculpted Arches of Aune.
“Whoa! ‘Aune.’ From the tower!” Justin said.
“To be specific, ‘Find Aune.’ That’s the clue Klothar figured out.”
A voice called out, “It was indeed.”
Justin whipped around and saw Klothar. He had a big smile on his face and was lugging all his adventuring gear as well as his old war hammer. The ranger strode into the atrium, dumped everything on the floor, clapped Justin on the shoulder, and gave a little bow to Pari.
“My apologies for my deception back at the cabin,” Klothar said. “I was concerned that we were being observed.”
“Observed? By who?” Justin asked.
The ranger shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure. It was just an uneasy feeling I had. I figured it would be better to just follow you and find some place safe to speak.”
“But what happened to you?” Pari asked. “Why didn’t you return to Rathenhall?”
“I did, my lady, departing here as soon as I could secure a horse. But it wasn’t until early the next morning that I arrived, only to find the house was deserted. I waited for most of the day, and then returned here to Holgate, fearing the worst had happened.”
“Well, the worst almost did happen.” Justin quickly explained their torture by the assassins, their rescue by the Golden Hawks, and then their recovery at the Hawks’ tower.
“The only good thing to come of it all was the phone we found—”
“He means the magical device we found,” Pari quickly said.
They showed Klothar the phone and especially the map with the markers. Then they showed him the chat messages.
“So these words are missives between two enemy squadrons?” the ranger asked.
“Yes, we think so,” Pari said. “But the important thing is that it led us here—to this book.”
They found a reading table, and all three crowded around A Complete Guide to the Sculpted Arches of Aune as Justin flipped through the book.
“I don’t trust books,” Klothar said. “If I’m to hear what a man has to say, I prefer to hear it face to face., not via these little squiggles on a parchment.”
“Duly noted,” Justin said, as he continued to flip through the pages.
“Hold it,” Pari said. “You’re going too fast. I think I saw a map.”
She was right. When Justin flipped back a few pages, there was a map of a town which had various locations marked on it with numbers.
The map was labeled ‘Aune.’
“Look at that,” Pari said, pointing to a north/south river noted on the map, just east of the town. It was labeled as the ‘Erslo River.’
“That sounds familiar,” Justin said.
And then his knowledge skill kicked in. The Erslo River was probably just a couple of hundred yards away from where they stood. It was where he had caught the leeches for that old hag. The Erslo ran south from the Faldor Mountains, past Holgate, then turned west past Rathenhall, Durrow, and then emptied into the sea.
“We must be close to Aune. It’s got to be north or south of here, right?”
“Wrong again, whelp!” called down Master Desiderius from the bridge above them.
Klothar squinted up at Desiderius. “Alton? Is that you?”
“Klothar?”
“Indeed.”
Master Desiderius laughed and said, “It’s been years, you old scamp. Last I heard, you were rotting away in a dungeon in Jodrell.”
“It wasn’t a dungeon, it was a duchess’s bower, and it wasn’t in Jodrell, it was in Northfleet.”
“Well, don’t just stand there, man, come up and have a drink!”
“Um, hello?” Justin called up to Master Desiderius. “We’re still here.”
But the sage just ignored him.
“Alton and I used to raise hell together back in the day,” Klothar explained.
“I
can totally see that,” Pari said. “Maybe you can get him to shed some light on this Aune place.”
“Perhaps,” Klothar said. “Although, as I recall, he can be a bit cantankerous.”
“You think…?” Justin sighed.
They all made their way upstairs to Master Desiderius’ office. The older sage had cleared off some chairs and had a bottle and some glasses out on his desk.
“Sit down, sit down.”
Justin noticed that only two chairs had been set out. Klothar and Pari sat while he was forced to stand.
Such an asshole.
“This is some especially peaty uskbow from Cotter’s Mill. Reynard’s Reserve.” Desiderius poured a glass for himself, Klothar, and Pari. “It’s good to see you, Klothar. It really is.”
The two men chit-chatted for several minutes, ignoring Justin and Pari.
Finally, Pari asked, “Hey guys, how about a little help with this book?” She slid the slim volume across the desk towards Master Desiderius.
Justin was sure Desiderius was going to say something snotty, but he just looked over at Pari as if noticing her for the first time.
“You have an interest in decorative arches, young lady?”
“No, sir. But I am very curious about the city of Aune.”
Desiderius harrumphed and said, “Aune’s splendor is long gone, I’m afraid. The city is no more than ruins.”
His cat took the opportunity to jump on the desk.
“What happened to it?” Pari asked.
“Flooded. Most of the arches are no longer accessible. It’s a damn shame.”
The cat cautiously sniffed at one of the glasses of uskbow. It sneezed and pulled its head away, obviously not a fan of the liquor.
“How far away is this Aune place?” Justin asked. “Maybe we can explore the ruins?”
Finally, Desiderius answered him. “Be my guest. There will be one less imbecile in the world.”
“Alton, don’t be like that,” Klothar chided. “The lad means well. Locating this place is important to us. Will you help?”
Desiderius didn’t answer right away. Instead he gently lifted the cat off the table and placed it on his lap.
Pari said, “Just tell us if it is north or south of here. We can follow the river and find it on our own.”
“It is neither north or south, young lady. Nor east nor west.”
What the hell was that old fart babbling on about?
“Come.”
Desiderius led them out on to the spindly bridge over the atrium. It swayed and creaked under the weight of all of them.
“Okay, not a good idea.” Justin’s knees started to turn to jelly.
“Behold!” Desiderius flipped a concealed switch on the bridge’s handrail and the globes all began to float up to the glass dome at the peak of the atrium.
“So what are you going to do, let all those globes loose?” Justin realized that it was much better to look up instead of down.
“Oh my god!” Pari cried. “The floor! I know that design!”
Justin chanced a look over to Pari. She reached into her bag and pulled out a square wooden plaque. It was the carving they had found on Pari’s sister’s workbench.
“Remarkable!” Klothar exclaimed.
Justin took a deep breath and looked down to see what everyone else was so excited about.
He saw the concentric circle design on the floor of the atrium. From up here you could really take in the full design. It exactly matched the carving on Pari’s plaque.
“That’s the sigil of Aune, known as the City of Mazes,” Desiderius said.
“It’s pretty cool and all, but you said Aune wasn’t anywhere around here,” Justin said.
“I said nothing of the sort, you impudent varlet! I said it was neither north nor south, nor east nor west.”
“Because it is down!” Klothar exclaimed, clapping Desiderius on the shoulder.
“Correct, old friend. The City of Mazes lies beneath us.”
They all cleared off the bridge and made their way down to the bottom of the atrium. There, Justin, Pari, and Klothar got on their hands and knees and inspected the detailed mosaic.
“Hundreds of years ago, when the Erslo ran wide and strong, Aune was one of the most famous cities in the land,” Master Desiderius said. “It was known for its tall buildings, intricate iron adornments, and numerous decorative archways.”
“But why was it called the City of Mazes?” Pari asked. “Did the city really look like this labyrinth design?”
The older sage shook his head dismissively. “If you had bothered to read the book you are still clutching, you would know that the streets of Aune were a twisted jumble of lanes and alleys with no rhyme nor reason. That is how Aune earned its epithet.”
“What’s this thing in the middle of the circles?” Justin asked. It looked like a stylized campfire or something.
“The Forge of Ulan, of course.”
And then a flash of memory hit him. “Dwarves,” Justin said quietly. “You’re talking about dwarves.”
Master Desiderius got pale all of a sudden. “How do you know that?”
“I’m not really sure. It just came to me…”
“Well, you happen to be correct, but not many people are aware that Aune was a dwarvish city and ironworks. The ore would come in on boats from the mines in the Faldors and be smelted and iron shaped and worked right here.”
“What happened to the city?” Klothar asked.
“Three centuries ago a massive earthquake caused the Aune to collapse. What wasn’t destroyed in the earthquake was flooded. The dwarves came to believe that the city had been cursed, so they sealed it closed with the timbers of their wrecked ore ships. And then they fled the land. But in time, men settled the area and built on top of Aune: first a little Pycerian fort that eventually became the Keep, and then a village proper. Holgate.”
“And you say, it’s right beneath us?” Klothar asked.
“Holgate’s square is built right above the old Aune market. There are a handful of sinkholes and passages that lead to the City of Mazes, but all have been forgotten. Except a tunnel which runs directly beneath where we’re standing. The sages who built the Library of Globes marked the tunnel with the sigil mosaic. It is a thing of beauty.”
“It sure is,” Klothar said. Then he hefted his hammer and swung it down right in the center of the mosaic.
Cra-a-a-ak!
“Are you insane?” Desiderius cried. “Desist!”
Cra-a-a-ak!
The hammer struck again. This time it shattered the tile work and bits of mosaic tumbled into the darkness below.
“Apologies, old friend,” Klothar said. “We’re in a hurry.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Fifty feet was a long way down. But that’s as far down as they had to climb to reach the bottom of the tunnel.
Klothar had gone first, clambering down like a monkey into the pitch dark. Then they had lowered his knapsack and supplies. While the ranger had fired up a lantern, Pari had started her descent, bemoaning the fact that they didn’t have an enchanter with them who could just float everyone down.
Finally, it was Justin’s turn.
“Whatever you do, lad, don’t fall,” Klothar had called, his voice echoing up from the depths. “’Tis a long way down and the water’s not deep enough to break your fall.”
“Water?”
Luckily, he had been able to make it down in one piece, but his arms hurt like the devil.
“This is pleasant,” Justin said as he splashed down into the fetid knee-deep water. The muck was freezing and the whole tunnel smelled like an old refrigerator.
Pari busily tied her glowstones to the end of her shortstaff and she told Justin to do the same.
“You’re paying for this, Klothar!” Master Desiderius called from up above.
“Put it on my tab, Alton.”
“Put this on your tab!”
And with that their rope fluttered down.
“That dick!” Justin said. “How are we going to get back up?”
“This isn’t a very good start,” Pari said.
Then it got worse.
Master Desiderius must have pushed a piece of furniture over the hole because all of a sudden the light above them faded out.
“Great. Just great.”
Pari lifted her shortstaff up as high as she could to illuminate the tunnel. It was square and maybe fifteen feet wide. Judging from the library above them, Justin guessed that the tunnel ran north.
“Only one direction to go, friends! Assume marching order.”
Klothar led the way, probing in front of him with his bow. Justin walked in the middle, holding his shortstaff up to help light the way, and Pari brought up the rear.
As they waded through the tunnel, Justin looked all around, trying to take everything in. The water was slick with some kind of algae-like substance. After forty feet or so, the tunnel ended at a set of immense wooden doors. They were easily twenty feet tall and ten feet wide and made of wood banded with iron. The wood was swollen from the water, and if one of the doors hadn’t been slightly ajar, Justin didn’t think they could have gone any farther.
But they squeezed through the opening and walked along a wide set of stairs which went down another fifty feet. The water drained somewhere, because the stairs were relatively dry, but covered with a thick layer of dirt.
“This must be the market square,” Pari said, as they all gaped at the massive open space in front of them. It was like being in a football stadium with the roof closed. The space was so cavernous that the light from their glowstones and Klothar’s lantern didn’t even reach the ceiling which must have been at least a hundred feet up. But as Justin looked up into the darkness, he saw little pinpoints of dim light above their heads. It almost looked like a starry sky.
“Do you guys see that?”
“Must be some sort of phosphorescent fungus or something,” Pari said. “I’ve noticed that before in caverns.”
They trudged down the stairs into the square proper and Justin tried to take it all in. The square was a chaotic jumble of collapsed buildings and huge hills of debris, interspersed with a half dozen wooden towers. The towers stretched up towards the ceiling, probably providing some support for the roof.