by M. L. Forman
After several minutes, the path began sloping downward, deeper into the mountain, before the cave suddenly opened into a large chamber. Alex paused at the entrance, letting his eyes search the darkness for the enemy he knew had to be there. There was nothing to see, though, only stone and more darkness.
Stepping into the cavern, Alex heard a piercingly high squeak, and he raised his sword in time to block a huge bat flying down from the ceiling to attack him. The bat hit the edge of the sword with such force that it cut itself in two, the halves falling to the floor. Alex looked up at the ceiling and saw to his horror that there were hundreds of the bats hanging upside down and looking at him.
He stepped away from the cavern entrance, hoping the bats would not follow him, and he noticed something even more terrible. The bat that had cut itself in half on his sword was growing slowly into two complete bats, their wings flopping along the ground. Without thinking, Alex sent a jet of flame toward the two half-grown bats, but they only seemed to grow faster in the heat.
The light of his flame seemed to stir the rest of the bats, and he could hear the creatures beginning to fly about the chamber in front of him, blocking his path. He considered for a moment sending more false images of himself into the cavern, but given the number of bats he would have to fight, Alex realized it would be pointless.
Another bat shot into the tunnel toward him. He struck it with his staff, whispering a freezing spell as he did so. To his surprise, the bat shattered into a dozen shining gems. Alex bent down and picked up several gems, and he saw that they were real rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. He did not have time to think about why the bat had shattered into gems because a second bat flew into the cave toward him. Once more Alex shattered it with his staff, and once more the shattered pieces of the bat turned into gems.
Thinking quickly, Alex changed back into his wind form, moving forward into the chamber. The bats seemed to be aware of him, but their sonar couldn’t detect him hidden in the breeze. They flew around the cavern in a frenzy, clustering in circles in front of the passage that would lead Alex deeper into the mountain and barring his path.
Moving to the center of the chamber, Alex thought of the bright cold morning on the mountainside. He whispered the freezing spell softly, afraid to be heard, and as the bat’s movements stilled around him, he spoke another command like thunder. His voice rolled through the cavern, shattering bats and showering him with gems.
Alex knew the thunderclap command would surely alert Nethrom to his presence, but it was the only way he could think of to shatter all the bats at one time. Alex didn’t take time to examine the cavern, now covered in jewels, but hurried forward, hoping that he was ready to face the necromancer and whatever other creatures he still had waiting.
The cave went on and on, and Alex began to worry. He didn’t have any idea how long it would take him to reach Nethrom, and the deeper into the cave he went, the more nervous he became. Suddenly, he stopped short, catching himself against the cave wall as bits of rock flew out from his feet into empty darkness.
He had stopped at the threshold of what appeared to be another chamber, but this one seemed to have no floor. A dim light shone upward from deep below, but even with the extra light, Alex could not see the far side of the chamber. He put his sword back in its scabbard and leaned against his staff. He was breathing hard from his journey into the mountain, and he had to force himself to relax and breathe slowly and think.
As the sound of his beating heart slowed in his ears, Alex heard a new sound, the sound of digging far below him. Carefully he moved toward the edge of the cavern and looked down into the dim light. Far below him, he could see movement, like hundreds of ants digging in the earth. He watched the shapes moving about until he realized what they were. Hundreds of long-dead dwarfs were digging at the roots of the mountain as if that were the only thing they had ever done. Nethrom was using his own dead people to mine for him, and somehow that was more evil than anything Alex had expected. A feeling of rage began to grow inside of Alex.
Alex looked around for some way down to the miners. He did not know what he would do if he reached them, or what they might do to him, but he wanted more than anything to give the dead dwarfs the rest they deserved. The path he had been following turned sharply to his left as it came out of the cave mouth, moving down the face of the cliff. The path was narrow but well made, and Alex hurried down it.
He tried to calm himself as he descended the cliff wall, but his outrage burned inside him like a flame that would not go out. Alex wondered at how evil Nethrom had become, and at how he could have changed so much from the dwarf who had once helped the people of Neplee. That the same dwarf had enslaved the dead of his own people was too much for Alex to understand.
When he reached the bottom of the cliff, Alex turned to face the miners, wanting to speak to them and tell them that he would return them to their rest. He was surprised to find that the miners had all stopped working and were moving toward him like moths to a flame. He gripped his staff, wondering if the undead dwarfs would try to stop him from reaching Nethrom and if he would have to destroy them to end their torment.
“Hail, great one,” one of the dwarfs called out to Alex. “We have heard the clap of doom, and we know our time here is short.”
“You know?” Alex questioned.
“Your coming was foretold long ago.”
“Foretold by who?” Alex asked.
“It is not for us to say,” the dwarf answered. “It is enough for us to know you have come, and that our deliverance is near.”
“Quickly, then,” said Alex, not wanting to give Nethrom any more time to prepare for him than he had to. “Where do I find the necromancer? Which path leads to him?”
“Do not fear, he does not know of your coming,” said the dwarf with what might have been a smile. “We are bound to dig for him, but we are not bound to do more.”
“How could he not know I am here? You heard the thunderclap—” Alex started doubtfully.
“We blocked the sound from passing,” the dwarf answered. “The evil will not know you have come until you show yourself to him.”
“Then I am grateful for your help,” said Alex. “I will give you back your rest, but I must act quickly.”
“There is one more guardian you must face before you will find the dark one,” said the dwarf. “A golem made of stone. It is bound to guard the entrance to the dark one’s prison.”
“Prison?” Alex questioned.
“Nethrom is not the evil,” answered the dwarf. “He is only a foolish dwarf who did not know what he had found until it was too late. He is controlled by a greater darkness. He has nearly escaped in the past, but the evil needs Nethrom’s form to have power in this world. The evil fears what will happen if Nethrom ever escapes.”
“I understand,” said Alex, considering the dwarf’s words. “Is there anything I can do for you—apart from destroying this evil?”
“If you will,” the dwarf said slowly. “In life, I was named Set, lord and defender of the dwarf realm of Thraxon. My heir, Thorgood, now rules Thraxon, but he rules without my crown. My crown was broken when I died in this place, binding the evil to these caves, but I have the pieces still. Will you take my broken crown to my heir? Give it to him so that all will know he is the true king.”
“You would trust me with your crown?” Alex asked.
“You were foretold,” Set replied. “Take my crown to Thorgood, but you must ask what promise he has made for its return before you show it to him.”
“I will do as you ask,” said Alex, bowing.
“You honor me,” said Set as he returned the bow. “You will find the crown waiting for you in the first chamber as you leave. Remember to ask Thorgood about his promise. Farewell, and may fortune smile on you always.”
The rest of the dwarfs parted to make a path for Alex to follow, murmuring words of thanks to him as he passed. Alex looked at their faces as he went, allowing himself to feel their sorro
ws and their hopes.
At the far side of the cavern, Alex found yet another cave opening. This time, though, there were torches in the cave, and the brightness of them dazzled Alex’s eyes. He rubbed his eyes as he stepped forward, trying to remain as quiet as he could. The dwarfs in the great cavern may have blocked the sound of his spell from reaching Nethrom, but Alex feared Nethrom would be searching for him just the same.
As the cave walls extended back into yet another chamber, Alex saw the stone golem standing in the center of the cavern, facing the cave mouth. It began moving as soon as Alex stepped into the chamber. The golem was a slow-moving creature, and it looked as if it took great effort to move its huge stone legs.
Alex thought he could easily avoid the golem and find the path to Nethrom, but even as slow as it was, the golem was relentless. Alex went to the far end of the chamber as he looked for the path, and the golem followed. When Alex moved to another part of the chamber, the golem moved with him. It seemed the stone creature’s only task was to attack anyone who entered the chamber.
The golem almost caught him once, but Alex was able to slip under its outstretched arms before it could grab him. The golem was quickly becoming a nuisance, preventing Alex from finding the path that led to Nethrom, a path obviously hidden somewhere in the chamber. With the golem continually following him wherever he moved, however, Alex had no time to look closely at the walls and find the hidden path.
“Fine,” Alex said as he tried to think of some way to destroy, or at least disable, the golem.
For the first time, Alex looked closely at the stone creature that was following him. Its face—or at least the features where a face should be—was roughly carved. The golem’s body was massive and appeared to be made from a single, solid stone. There were no cracks or marks on the stone body, and the rock seemed to bend whenever the golem moved its arms or legs.
Alex worked his magic quickly, encasing the monster in ice. He thought freezing the creature in place would be the simplest solution, allowing him to move past it and on to the necromancer. For a second, he thought his plan had worked, but the golem was much stronger than he’d anticipated. As the golem continued to try to move toward him, the massive block of ice started to crack, and in less than a minute it had shattered and the golem was free.
The shattering ice gave Alex another idea. He sent a bolt of frost from his staff into the golem’s body. The monster slowed, its movements becoming even stiffer than before, but it still didn’t stop. Knowing that the stone body was now much colder than any ice, Alex charged forward and struck the golem with his staff, hoping to shatter the stone the way he had shattered the bats. A few bits of rock broke away where the staff hit, and the golem seemed to vibrate, but that was all.
Cold would not work, and fire was out of the question in the confined, underground battlefield. Alex tried to think of something else, something that wouldn’t alert the necromancer to his presence. He considered changing the golem into something else, but that was too dangerous. The monster was made of stone and magic, and not knowing how the magic worked meant that any change Alex might try could turn the golem into something even more deadly.
The answer came to him in a flash, and Alex almost smiled at the idea. Long ago, when the company had first entered Thraxon, he had seen trees clinging to the steep sides of the mountains, their roots digging into the solid stone. He sent his magic searching, and it didn’t take long for him to find what he needed. The land around the necromancer’s cave was a wasteland, but there were still roots of living things hidden underground. It only took seconds before the far wall of the cave began to crack and fall apart like clay, and the noise and motion distracted the golem.
For a moment, the golem just stood there, as if frozen to the spot. Living roots wriggled out of the stone wall, slithered across the floor, and wrapped around the golem’s feet. The monster tried to move away, but the vinelike roots were too fast. Larger, stronger roots were already wrapping themselves around the golem’s body. As Alex watched, the creature of magic and stone was dragged toward to the crumbling wall and slowly pulled into the darkness beyond.
It was time to face the necromancer. Alex moved to the far end of the chamber, and now that he had time to look, he easily found the door hidden in the stone wall. The door was barred from the outside, and Alex felt sure that meant that Set had been right. Nethrom was still fighting the darkness, still fighting the evil he’d unknowingly set free.
Removing the iron bar from across the door, Alex put his hand on the handle and stopped. He stood motionless, remembering the advice Whalen had given him: Defend yourself, and try to turn the necromancer’s own powers against him. Attack only when you must. He thought about what he was about to face, but after a moment of hesitation, he shook his head. He had come this far and to hesitate now would be both foolish and deadly. Without waiting any longer to think or worry about what might happen, he threw open the door to the hiding place of the necromancer.
“Ah, you’ve come at last,” said an ancient-looking dwarf sitting at a table.
“Silence!” a second voice screamed.
Nethrom’s body went rigid, every muscle suddenly contracting. It looked as if the old dwarf had stopped breathing, and his face was pale. Alex looked around the room, searching for the source of the second voice, but there was no one else he could see. Slowly, Nethrom started to breathe, but each breath was clearly a struggle to draw in and force out.
“I should have realized that you would be in the one place I never thought to look,” the second voice said from Nethrom’s mouth.
“I think it best to be where I’m not expected,” said Alex calmly.
“Cursed crystal—I should have known it would show me nothing of value,” Nethrom said as he pushed his chair away from the table and slowly stood up. It seemed like he was trying to remember how to breathe, to remember how his body moved. “Still, it has some powers that are useful.”
Alex glanced at the crystal on the desk, realizing that it was the same as the crystal he had once recovered for the Oracle of the White Tower.
“The crystal will not willingly work for evil.”
“Most things won’t, but I manage just the same.”
“You admit you’re evil, then,” said Alex, surprised by the simple confession.
“Why not? I have lived too long to deceive myself, and I care not what others think,” said Nethrom.
“Then you know why I have come,” said Alex, moving a little farther into the room.
“To test your strength against me, of course,” answered Nethrom, laughing slyly. “To call me to account for what I have done.”
“And to free those you have enslaved with your power,” Alex added.
“Noble tasks, though foolish,” said Nethrom. “And all for nothing, really. What need have we to fight—two great powers in a land of small people? Surely we can settle any disputes without resorting to violence.”
“Are you willing to give up your evil?”
“Are you willing to give up your life?”
“We give up when we are dead, and even then the struggle will often go on,” Alex answered.
“You speak of Set and his miners. They are a small matter. One I could easily do without,” said Nethrom carelessly. “My powers do not rely on my servants, and they do not bend simply because wizards wish them to.”
“Have you strayed so far from wisdom, Nethrom?” Alex questioned.
“That is not my name,” shouted the dwarf, a pained look crossing his face. “Nethrom was nothing—a fool caught up in his learning. I am Mog, the ancient one, the destroyer of souls.”
“I see,” said Alex. “And yet you have not been able to destroy Nethrom. He still fights against you. Why else would you lock yourself in this dungeon?”
“His efforts are meaningless,” Mog answered angrily, picking up a short staff made of black stone. “I have taken his body and his power. All he can now do is play the fly, buzzing in circles but h
aving no sting.”
“Yet you fear him,” said Alex as he took another step forward.
“Fear is for the weak,” Mog spat back. “I fear nothing in this world, least of all a half-witted dwarf.”
“Then I must destroy you,” said Alex, raising his staff.
“You can try, but you will fail, as others have failed.”
Before Alex could move, he felt himself swept away from the dark chamber where he faced the necromancer. He blinked to clear his eyes of the dark mist that seemed to flow around him, and he looked up at the imposing figure of Mog.
“Behold, boy, my true form,” Mog called loudly.
For a moment Alex couldn’t breathe. Nethrom’s body grew into a giant and his head turned into something insectlike. His eyes glowed an evil green, and long, dripping fangs extended from his mouth. He was more terrible than Alex had thought possible, yet there was something inside Alex that made him feel pity rather than fear.
“Let me show you the power you face now,” Mog growled. “Let me give you a sample of what I am and what I can do.”
Flames leaped up around as Alex as far as he could see. The entire world seemed to be engulfed in a giant ball of flame, and for a moment Alex was afraid he would burn with it, but, strangely, the flames had no effect on him. He could feel the flames around him, but they were simply warm and felt like a summer breeze.
“You hide your pain well, boy,” Mog called, looking down at Alex. “I know the pain of the flames. There is no need for you to hold your tongue.”
Alex did not answer the creature, but watched as the necromancer began to move through the flames. Alex realized that the flames and the entire world around him was nothing more than an illusion created by Mog.
“Perhaps something else will pain you even more,” Mog sneered.
The flames vanished as he spoke, replaced by thousands of lightning bolts which shattered the rocky ground where they struck. Alex felt several of the bolts strike him, but there was no power in them. He knew then that nothing Mog did in the pretend world could possibly harm him.