by Bill Albert
As they waited and watched to make sure it was dead, they became aware of a distinct odor. Jakobus reached down and dipped his fingers in a puddle of blood and then smelled them.
“Shifter,” said as he quickly washed his hand in the water. “This is worse than I thought.”
“Yes, Zaslow has aquilus and shifter’s working for him,” Gallif said. “Who knows what else?”
“When they die they stay in the last shape they shifted to. Isn’t that the way it goes?” Pate asked.
“Yes. By the way, well done, Pate,” Jakobus said as he nodded in the direction of the body and dusted some of the dirt off Gallif.
“It wasn’t me,” he admitted and they all quickly looked at him. “I had tried to hold it with a cast, but, unfortunately, it failed. Whatever brought it down wasn’t from me.”
They looked at each other and then quickly started to climb over the dead carcass for answers. When they saw the face they only had more questions. The single eye had been punctured deeply by three arrows.
Gallif knew that none of them were carrying projectile weapons and she quickly turned and scanned the walls and ceiling of the chamber. If whoever, or whatever, had fired on the giant was still there it was cleverly concealed in the shadows.
“We found this,” Jakobus said and showed her a gold pendant with a red stone on it.
“Damn,” Gallif spit and tore the pendant out of his hand. She laid it on a loose rock and used her flame sword to shatter the stone. She hit it several times to make sure the pendant was completely destroyed and then, breathing heavily, hit it again. She kicked the remains into the water and made sure that they sunk below the surface.
She saw a brief reflection and thought it may have been the gold bits being tossed in the current but jumped back as one of the giant lomasa leeches launched itself out of the water at her. Her reflexes took over and she cut into the leech’s husk and deflected its path. It dropped to the ground and brought its tail out of the water to defend itself. Though it could not move as quickly on land the whip like tail, with suckers of its own, would have been a match even for the monster they had just killed.
As it positioned for an attack, she struck it a second time and put a foot-long cut in its side. Before it could strike Pate’s long sword completely cut off its tail. The trunk and head started to wriggle uncontrollably and Pate kicked it into the water. As it sank Jakobus and Anamita joined them but stayed a discrete distance from the edge.
“We swam through that water to get here,” Anamita said in shock.
“Yes, we did,” Gallif agreed coolly.
“What are we going to do now?” Jakobus asked.
“Get our asses out of here,” Gallif said and turned towards the exit cave. They all followed and as fast as they could were outside of the chamber. Once there she paused briefly to look at what few shadows were left in the chamber but found nothing unusual. She held the flame sword in front of her and they left the area completely dark.
Gallif lead them several feet down the cave and Jakobus brought them to a stop.
“I know those leaches are deadly when they sneak up on their prey,” Jakobus said.
“Yes,” Gallif agreed with a smile.
“I also know that they always travel in pairs.”
“Yes,” Gallif almost giggled.
“We just lost the only way out we know,” Jakobus pointed out.
“Yes,” Gallif said with a wink.
“How are we going to get out of here?” Anamita asked.
“I have no idea,” Gallif admitted. “Follow me.”
They spent most of the next hour working their way through the caves. Gallif lead the way with the flame sword, Jakobus directly behind her with his bright white torch, then Anamita and Pate bringing up the rear holding his own torch.
They had come to several intersections on their way. The intersections were separated at various lengths and the cross tunnels were at various angles. To Gallif that indicated they were natural tunnels and not part of a planned network. Gallif looked at each and every crossing and kept her eyes on the floor for any signs. Several times she saw footprints and warned them to proceed cautiously. Not once did she find any indication of tunnels leading up.
The tunnel they were in abruptly emptied out into another cavern. Gallif entered first and ordered them to stay clear as she slowly swung her flame sword back and forth. She couldn’t tell if any of the shadow movements were caused by her own actions. She took a deep breath but stopped before she inhaled completely. There was a rotten smell in the area that reminded her of dead flesh. It wasn’t very concentrated, and she suspected the source was off some distance away, but she chose her steps very carefully. There were three other caves leading off from this cavern. She checked each of them and only one slanted upwards just inside the mouth. She decided that was the direction they should go.
She took several steps and motioned for the rest to follow. As Jakobus came through his white light made most of the room visible. Gallif hurried them forward but took a quick look at the ceiling. The highest points were still buried in shadow, but she could see the slow, slumbering movement of bats as they hung from their resting place. She pushed Pate through and they were all looking at her.
“I’ve got a question,” Pate said, and she nodded for him to continue. “What that thing, the cyclops, said when it was Kavelle back there. Was it true?”
“Yes,” she said looking him straight in the face. “It was true. I had one of those pendants planted on me so Zaslow knew where we were all the time. I feel like I was responsible for Tome’s death.”
“He probably slipped you a potion, Gallif,” Jakobus said. “There was no way you could have known.”
“I know,” she said and shook her head. “Maybe I’ll stop asking myself why I didn’t suspect, when I woke up the next morning, that something was wrong. I should have at least inventoried myself when I suspected something.”
There was a long moment of silence finally broken by Anamita’s melodious voice. “What is that light from?”
Anamita had been looking up the passage before them and they all followed her gaze. Gallif put her flame sword in its sheath and asked Jakobus and Pate to hold their torches back. They could barely make out a green light in the distance. It was impossible to tell exactly how far away it was, though they noticed the ground was sloping upward at a sharp angle.
“We’re going to have to climb,” Gallif said. “Can you put out the torches?” she asked Jakobus.
“Not if we want to start them again,” Jakobus admitted guiltily. “Unfortunately, they burn brightly for a very long time, but they are so intense that once they are put out they stay out. It is the next step in my discovery process,” he shrugged.
“Okay, we’ll have to put them in here,” she said and pulled her backpack off. She opened the top flap and quickly stashed the torches inside. There was some light radiating from the pack leaving just enough for them to see each other without great detail.
Jakobus mumbled a dwarven exclamation and Anamita put a hand to her mouth in surprise.
“A jump bag,” Pate whispered in true astonishment. “Where did you get that?”
“It was a gift,” she said slowly. “I got it from your father.”
Pate looked at it closely and there was a hint of sadness on his face. She felt guilty for reminding him of Rayjen and wondered what kind of surprises Pate’s father had given him.
“We have to get moving. It’s going to be a long climb, I suspect, but it shouldn’t be so steep that we would need ropes or spikes. We can also travel in pairs and I want Anamita next to me.”
Pate started to protest but Gallif turned and walked on. He was ruffled, but nodded to Anamita. She joined Gallif at the lead and they started upward.
The first part of the climb was not easy, despite their youth and strength, and they would have to take it slowly. There were numerous rocks and pebbles on the floor and the moisture of being in the closed environmen
t made the ground damp and slippery, so they started crawling up the slope.
“Are you sure there are other exits? Exits that we could get through?” Anamita asked after several minutes.
“Yes,” Gallif answered without looking at her. Gallif’s eyes remained locked on the exit above them. “I know there are.”
“How are you so certain?” Anamita asked.
“Bats,” Gallif said simply. “Hundreds of them all sleeping in that last cavern we crossed. They wouldn’t be able to survive in an enclosed space, not enough to feed on, so they would have to leave the mountain at some point to hunt.”
“You saw them down there and decided not to tell us?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks,” Anamita said with a smile.
Gallif smiled as well and thought how nice it felt to be able to speak to the girl now.
Gallif spent some time concentrating on how far they had to climb. She was curious to discover how long it would take so she fixed her eyes on the light and started measuring the change in appearance after climbing her own body’s length. She tried it, several times, but either kept losing her count or the point above them she was focusing on. She cursed herself for having so much difficulty as she was not tired, and her mind should have been clear. After several failed attempts she stopped and looked up.
“What do you see, Gallif?” Jakobus asked quietly.
She waved for them to be quiet and closed the flap on her backpack so, except from the light above, they were in complete darkness. She stared at it and centered all her concentration on the light. Finally, its true nature occurred to her and she cursed under her breath.
“Very nice,” she told herself. “A very nice piece of casting.” Professor Tila had used that trick in class for three days before anyone realized what it was. She had also fought imaginary dwarves in the forest her last night at the school. She forced herself to concentrate hard on the rocks and dirt under her hands and feet. Then finally she just whispered, “I deny this.” She looked up again and saw the true tunnel. The exit was now within arm’s reach. They had only climbed a few feet.
“Stay here,” she told the others and pushed herself up to the edge that only she could see.
“What’s going on?” Pate asked from below.
Gallif looked down to see them climbing as if they were trying to catch up with her. Their muscles were tightening, and their balance was shifting though none of them were moving.
“Slow down,” Pate said as he looked up again.
She realized that she was now part of their illusion and, to them, it looked like she was further ahead of them. She also knew that, like the illusion to her, her apparent distance would not change.
“Stay right where you are at,” she ordered. They stopped moving and looked straight up at her. “Jakobus, who do you believe in?”
“My god, Ha’dar,” he said simply.
“Pray to your god to show you the true way,” she said. “Pate, ask your father for guidance.”
Jakobus and Pate each spent a few seconds with their eyes closed in meditation than looked up. She could read the looks on their faces and knew that they now saw the truth.
Pate looked at Anamita and said, “It’s an illusion. The exit is just out of reach.”
Anamita looked up and concentrated on the light above for several seconds. Then she frowned and shook her head as she looked back at Pate. “Believe me,” he said with surprising gentleness. She looked at him and touched his cheek before looking up again.
“So, what’s up there?” she asked Gallif.
Gallif lifted up so she could peek over the edge. Any satisfaction she may have had over discovering the illusion was wiped away when she saw the true source of the light.
“Damn,” she said with clenched teeth as she slowly let herself back down and she looked at the three of them sadly. “It’s a nest,” she told them. “A click beetle nest.”
They all took a deep breath and sighed as they all knew just how deadly the click beetles were. The beetles were large, as long as Jakobus was tall, with a bone shell that clicked when they moved. The lower abdomen of the females glowed when they were nesting and held a sharp stinger on the end. The lower abdomen of the males had no stinger and emitted no light. The upper abdomen of all click beetles had three sets of legs that gave them great maneuverability. Their heads were enveloped in a protective skin and had at least fifteen eyes depending on their age.
“Should have known that was coming after you told me about the bats below,” Anamita said.
Pate snorted in disgust and gave Gallif a stern look. “No more secrets,” he warned her.
Even Jakobus looked at her suspiciously.
“You’d have seen them yourself, if you had looked up, and there wasn’t any reason to frighten you. There are three exits on the other side and each of them goes up, so right now it’s our best option.”
“So how do we get past them?” Pate asked.
“Can you cast darkness?”
“Yes,” he said proudly. “It won’t blind them all,” Pate informed her after taking a quick peek over the edge. “They are too far apart but I can take out about half of them.”
“Whenever you are ready,” Gallif said.
“They’re sleeping,” Jakobus said. “I’ve been listening and there is no clicking at all. I am familiar with the click beetles and when they are awake, they move continuously.” They all paused and listened and realized that he was right. Jakobus looked Gallif straight in the face and said, “Attacking isn’t always the only choice.”
Gallif took a deep breath and nodded that he had made his point.
“Follow me over and step where I step,” she said. “But keep ready for combat just in case,” she added.
In one fluid motion Gallif pulled herself up onto the edge of the nest. Staying crouched she examined the area before her.
The nest was made up of smaller nests spread across the area. The nests were depressions dug into the ground. The dirt that had been removed was covered with a secretion from the males that kept it smooth and damp. There were a dozen small nests with eight made up of a female click beetles lying on their backs with three male click beetles surrounding them for protection. The females slept on their back to relieve pressure off their pregnant stomachs and the glowing tails lighted the room. Each of the four remaining nests was made up of females, six newborns, and four male click beetles surrounding them. All of the click beetles in those nests slept with their stomachs down to keep warm. The protectors in the nest would be highly sensitive and would attack quickly.
Gallif was relieved that the nests with the newborns were all on the right side. She looked back down at the others waiting for her and said, “Thirteen steps, all on the left-hand side. One at a time.” She pointed at Jakobus to indicate he should follow her and then returned her attention to the nest.
Her first and second steps were to the furthest nest on the left side. She watched the click beetles for several seconds to make sure they were undisturbed. When she was sure, her third step was over the edge of the nest. The ground was damp but sturdy and her fourth step took her completely to two other nests.
She stopped and examined all of the paths she could take. She didn’t want to step directly over the nest. There was a thick space between two nests on the far side, but she followed that path to a dead end. Her fourth step was between two nests and her sixth step took her to the edge of another collection. There were two nests here that were very close together. It was too dangerous to go around, so she made one very giant seventh step across the nest. The eighth, ninth, and tenth steps were over plain even ground and very easy. She spotted where she needed to walk to reach the clear space on the other side. The steps would not need to be very big, but there was a zigzag in the path that could be tricky. She carefully measured each step she would need and quickly passed the last nest.
She nodded to Jakobus and watched as he carefully followed her steps. She was worried an
d cursed herself for not taking Jakobus’s smaller, dwarven steps into account but soon realized he would be okay. He had been through situations like this many more times than she had, and strength made the trip easy for him. He was with her very quickly and she hugged him when he arrived.
“Well done,” she said.
“Remember, the underground is a natural habitat for dwarves,” he whispered to her.
“Keep an eye on them,” she instructed him. “I want to check out some of these paths.”
She went to the first tunnel that led away from the nest and looked up the pitch-black cave. It was a very steep climb and she could see nothing that indicated how high the exit, if there was one, reached. The second path was just as steep, but she could see an exit not far above. She recognized the familiar orange glow of torches flickering and dancing shadows in the room beyond. A quick glance up the third path informed her it was just as dark and as unknown as the first.
She glanced back to see Anamita working hard to cross the nests. She was not as experienced and was having some difficulty, but Jakobus and Pate were keeping close watch on her. Jakobus glanced back at Gallif and she pointed up the middle path. He nodded and gave her a warning glance to be careful.
She climbed to just below the edge of the next level in a few seconds. She scanned the area as best she could but saw no signs of life and heard nothing other than the crackling of torches. A bit further and she could see the entire room. There were two tunnels leading off in each direction. Each tunnel was well lit with torches and she put a hand on the hilt of her flame sword as she climbed into the area.
She had barely gotten to her feet when the first attack came. She took a quick step back and drew her flame sword as the attacker passed. She swung at it, missed, and took several steps forward to strike at it again when she saw the second one leaving the wall. She looked down the way she had come and considered sliding back down but decided against it. The shadows would follow her and a combat would only wake up the click beetles.
The second shadow came in at her fast but, to her luck, she had the perfect weapon for fighting creatures like these. A cast weapon, especially a flame sword, could destroy them if it struck them center. She swung at the second shadow and caught some of its tendrils. It didn’t hurt the creature, but it did change its course and move back.