The Shadows of Starpoint Mountain

by Bill Albert

  “What did you find,” Gallif asked Acrufix.

  “A nest of ratels,” Luvin answered first. Gallif looked at him hard and he matched her stare. “We got rid of them just fine, thank you.”

  Gallif scanned his front from head to toe and then told Marassa to stay with her and they headed south.

  Even before they reached the entrance from the outpost, again surrounded by the yellow soil, they could hear the thunder rumbling. They could smell the rain by the time they entered and noticed the coolness in the air. They also registered that the bodies they had found here before were gone. They glanced at the area briefly then went to the opening to take a look.

  Outside a terrible storm was raging. The torrents of drops were blinding and they couldn’t see any more than a few feet outside. Luckily the cave tilted upward once it was entered so no puddles or pools were being formed inside.

  “Oh goddess! We should be nowhere near the rainy season yet,” Blinks said.

  “No,” Marassa agreed in surprise at the ferocity of the storm.

  “Even then it usually doesn’t get this bad this far west,” Gallif said and leaned against the wall to steady herself. She put one hand on her mouth and the other on her belly. She tried to take a slow, deep breath but coughed it back out. She was relieved that they were all so interested in what was happening outside that they didn’t notice.

  “It’s one of the many changes happening in the Land of Starpoint now that the mountain is gone,” Jakobus informed them. “Wind patterns are changing so everything else is bound to change as well.”

  “Hopefully the only big changes we’ll have to face will be above ground,” Marassa added.

  Gallif put her hand to her mouth as she coughed again, and this time felt something rise in her throat so she turned away from the group and spit it out. She glanced down at the sickly green bile on the floor and quickly rubbed it away with her boot. She rubbed her belly again and prayed to Tebiet that the healing cast on her armor would cure whatever was happening inside. She looked back to see Marassa watching her with a blank expression. Gallif just nodded to her and started walking down the south tunnel.

  This tunnel was quite different from the north. It was considerably more jagged with various caves and alcoves leading off in all directions. There were many more places to hide and they all couldn’t help but get the feeling they were being watched. Their progress was slow and none of them had much chance to talk. Gallif’s own skills at reading nature were engaging her senses and the underground being a natural habitat for a dwarf gave him valuable insights.

  “Don’t go down that way, ever,” Gallif said as they passed two-foot diameter tunnel that curved down and away.

  “Why not?” Blinks asked.

  “There’s a centipede nest down there,” she replied.

  At one-point Gallif stopped and crouched down to a pile of fur and bones and examined it.

  “Another ratel, it’s been dead a few hours,” she said as she rose.

  “That’s good. What killed it?” Blinks commented.

  “It was devoured by tarsiers,” she added.

  “Gallif, would you please stop answering my questions?”

  She looked forward into the tunnels and moved on.

  After a while Jakobus suggested they stop and give everyone a chance to relax. Moving through caves with a flame sword, his torches and other unusual sources for lights could be disorienting with the unusual colors of the soil and rocks. They found a stream under a natural stone bridge and Gallif took a few handfuls of fresh water.

  “This stream leads to the waterfall at the outpost,” she said washing her face as the others filled their water skins.

  “Are you okay?” Jakobus asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said quickly. “A little bit of a stomachache, but it’ll pass,” she said not really believing it.

  “You’re looking pale,” Marassa pointed out.

  Gallif looked at her bare left arm and saw that she had lost quite a bit of color in her skin. She clenched her fist, was relieved that she hadn’t lost any strength, and got them going again.

  They continued on until the tunnel came to an abrupt end. The jagged walls, uneven floor and ceiling suddenly butted into a smooth wall with letters carved into it. The letters were in a common alphabet broken in to two lines with the last letter replaced with an indented square.

  A F HIJKLMNO QRS U WXY

  BCDE G P T V

  Alone on the floor the letter Z was carved into a tile.

  “I don’t get it,” Luvin muttered. “Is it a trap?”

  “A bit fancier than the ones we found in the northern tunnel,” Jakobus said, “but still a trap. I imagine if you put the last letter in the right line we get through. If you don’t…”

  “I think there’s more to it than that,” Marassa added. “It would make no sense to go as far as put this in place and then leave it all to chance.”

  “So, we have to figure out where the last letter goes and why?” Blinks shook his head in frustration. “Personally, I don’t like puzzles myself. Life can be enough of a puzzle as it is without adding any more. Why someone would do that just puzzles me.”

  Despite everything Gallif had to smile at his silliness. She looked at him and was surprised that his continuous blinking was barely noticeable on his charming face.

  “I have it, Gallif,” Marassa said and all eyes turned to her. “If you let me do it, I can get you through.”

  Gallif glanced quickly between her and the wall. She had to admit she had no idea where the last letter went or why. “Of course,” she said to Marassa and stepped back. “I trust you.”

  Marassa picked the tile off of the floor and ran her fingers across the letters. She looked at the bottom row and read it aloud slowly and clearly. “B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V and Z!” she announced and pressed the Z tile against the bottom square. Showing no signs of surprise when it held tight she stepped back.

  They all realized the simple rhyme that put the tile on the bottom and waited for a response. Acrufix, Blinks and Luvin tightened their grips on their weapons to be safe.

  There were sparks from the first letter and it disappeared. One by one the other letters vanished in colored sparks. After that the entire wall was covered in a shower of sparks. When they faded out the flat stone was gone.

  The excitement of the group faded when they saw what was beyond it.

  SIXTEEN: ILLUSIONS LOST

  Gallif took a deep breath and concentrated hoping the graveyard before them may just be an illusion but it remained in place. She knew that, had it been an illusion, it probably would have remained as she had no real reason to suspect it was false after they had already been through several.

  “Luvin,” Gallif snapped giving him a cold stare. “You stay here and don’t come in until we tell you to,” she ordered and turned away as anger and embarrassment came over his face.

  “I’ll stay with him,” Acrufix said.

  “No,” Gallif said. “You will come forward with us and Marassa will stay here and keep an eye on him.”

  “I don’t need anyone to watch me,” Luvin protested but a menacing step from Gallif stopped him before it got any further.

  “No, it’s quite all right,” Marassa said. “If something does happen I can cast from back here where I can protect more people.” There was a brief movement in the blur of her cloak and she produced a silver tipped wand in her hand.

  “Ok,” Gallif confirmed her. “The rest of you fan out a few steps and follow me,” she commanded and, with both swords ready, she stepped through the opening.

  Immediately inside she found herself at an intersection with the graveyard in front of her and more caves leading to the east and west.

  “What’s that sound?” Blinks, who was just to Gallif’s left, asked.

  Jakobus listened and then nodded to him that she also heard it. “It’s okay. Natural sounds. Rats, spiders, usual critters. Despite the odd colors this is still part of a nat
ural cave system. There’s bound to be some scuffling here and there.”

  Jakobus and Acrufix, on her right side, also listened and were almost relieved that they caught silence.

  “Don’t forget,” Gallif warned them. “There’re also winged creatures in caves.”

  “Any chance you mean chickens?” Blinks asked hopefully.

  “No,” Gallif said smiling. She swallowed hard to calm her stomach then started moving in.

  This graveyard was much like the others but this time there were only sixteen systematically placed mounds divided by a path down the middle. Each mound was seven feet long and four feet wide and had a foot-high white stone at one end. Also spaced evenly along the walls were bright burning torches.

  As the four of them continued on Luvin stood bouncing back and forth with frustration. His muscles were tense, his hand tight on his hammer, and he desperately wanted to be with them.

  “Calm down, my friend,” Marassa advised him. “You’ll get the chance to prove yourself to her soon.” Luvin stopped bouncing and looked at her. She smiled back saying, “I know what it is like to want to be with someone.”

  Luvin sighed slowly and nodded. “I know what we are trying to do is right; but sometimes I wish she’d put everything she has into that backpack of hers and we could just leave. Go out exploring the way we used to,” he said thinking about some of the fun adventures they had gone through. “She could do it, you know? She has one of those backpacks you can put anything inside it no matter how big it is. We could go spend some time at Outbound and maybe even explore the swamps.”

  “The swamps are full of prisons,” Marassa reminded him, “and the Others.”

  Luvin nodded and the thoughts of exploring with Gallif faded as he looked up the path she had gone. “What is that?” Luvin saw something floating above the graveyard. It was a shadowed figure that looked human in shape but was difficult to tell from this distance. “We have to go! We have to warn them.”

  “No, my friend, they are too far away. Stay here. I’ll use my wand to cast light on it,” she said changing the direction of her wand away from Luvin and towards the graves.

  “It’s getting closer.” Luvin could no longer contain himself and started running towards the figure he had seen. It was definitely moving after Gallif, Jakobus, Blinks and Acrufix. Luvin finally jumped off the main path to intercept it.

  When Luvin leapt over the first wave an intense beam of white cast light shot over his head. The light, coming from Marassa’s wand, highlighted the area Luvin had seen the figure hovering. The air was still and empty and there was no danger in the area.

  “Get back here now!” Gallif called as they all came running along the path to a spot near him. He looked at the empty area and cursed wildly as anger and confusion bubbled over. “Luvin, come back here to the path and be careful of every step.”

  He came walking steadily towards her and arrived at the path the same moment Marassa did. “There was a shadow up there. Something coming after you,” he said.

  Gallif looked at him with her eyes wide with anger. Anything she may have said was forgotten as the grave nearest to them exploded with a screech. Just as fast they had their weapons in hand ready to fight but soon realized it wouldn’t be so easy as all sixteen of the graves burst open.

  Gallif ran forward to confront the first skeleton and swung with both swords. The frost sword smacked into the skeleton’s rib cage and shattered some of the glowing white bones. Even with the cast sheath increasing her speed the flame sword missed entirely. Her aim had been true, but the skeleton had quickly flown up and out of reach. She backed away looking up until she was near Marassa, Jakobus, Acrufix, Blinks and Luvin with the skeletons circling in the air around them.

  Three of the skeletons suddenly dove down on them and, as one, they ducked out of the way. Jakobus swung at the specter as it passed over head and removed one of the legs below the knee. The skeleton instantly turned and screamed down on Jakobus with its jaw snapping at him, but a strike from Blinks split the skull and the rest of the body fell apart; the screaming came to an abrupt halt. As the glowing, transparent bones hit the ground they vanished and one of the graves returned to its original condition.

  Another skeleton sailed down at them and struck his armored left arm. The jaws clenched on tight and jerked back pulling him off his stride. Luvin grabbed his other arm and swung in with his hammer. The blunt head of the weapon hit the skeleton midway down and the hips and legs vanished when they hit the ground. There was a brief tug of war as the skeleton weakly tried to pull Acrufix down, but his own long sword finished off the battle. Another grave was restored.

  Marassa was using her wand and was casting at the flying skeletons as quickly as she could. A well aimed cast held two of them in mid-air and she used the wand to guide them hard against a wall where they vanished. The screams echoed for several seconds and then also faded out.

  Gallif took a swing at another skeleton and missed. She bit her lips in anger wondering why she was having so much trouble. Her right hand was shaking and it was getting hard for her to keep her grip on the flame sword. She let the flame sword drop to one side and struck at the next flying skeleton with the frost sword. She felt some relief that she chipped part of the skeleton away, but it flew off before she could do any more damage. As she looked for another target she noticed five of the graves were back to normal.

  The screaming of another skeleton caught her attention and she turned to face the attacker. She crossed the swords and pushed forward using them to block the attack. The skeleton stopped its approach, but the screaming became louder and she flinched as the noise bounced around her head. She lunged forward and dropped the flame sword low until it almost hit the ground. She zigzagged twice with the frost sword and managed to decapitate the monster. Headless, the body flew wildly around the graveyard until it collided with the ceiling and vanished.

  She looked back to see how Marassa was doing and saw Jakobus and Blinks finish off two more skeletons at the same time. Marassa missed on a cast and was about to try again when Gallif felt something pushed against her back. She turned expecting to find Luvin near her but found another skeleton had tried to ram her. As she turned it bit hard into her right arm and tried to pull her down. She managed to keep her balance but a strike with the frost sword went wild. The skeleton shook her wildly and the churning in her stomach made her grip on her weapons start to slip. She worked hard to regain control and was thankful when both Jakobus and Blinks came to her rescue and brought down the skeleton with a few swift blows.

  She made sure her grip on the swords was tight and looked around for another specter when she realized that there was now silence. The screams had stopped, and the all of the graves were neatly packed away as they had been found. She checked to make sure that everyone was okay and finally her eyes settled on Luvin. Her hands were still shaking as she put the swords into their sheaths and walked toward him. Her anger vanished when she realized it was not fear on his face but worry. She looked at the rest of them and saw that they were all watching her with the same expression.

  Confused she looked at her hands and bare left arm and was surprised at just how pale and colorless her skin was. There was a sudden rippling in her stomach and she collapsed to her knees. Jakobus and Blinks were still close enough to grab her and prevent her from going face down on the ground.

  “Gallif, what’s happening?” Jakobus asked as they all came forward.

  “I’m not sure,” she gasped breathing heavily. “Sick or something,” she coughed and doubled forward as she felt bile rising in her throat. As she did her hair brushed forward and she finally caught the dull, dark appearance of her usually bright red hair. With barely a warning she grabbed her stomach and emptied its contents on to the yellow floor in front of her.

  “Oh, goddess,” Blinks said wide eyed.

  “No,” Jakobus cried and fought the urge to look away.

  Luvin reached forward and put a hand on her should
er but had to close his eyes. Even Acrufix took a few steps away from the sight.

  In the sloppy pool before her were three small, oval shaped objects. Two of them were covered in yellow slime but the third one had cracked open revealing the embryo inside it. Gallif spit up more bile and forced herself to look away in terror. She fell toward Jakobus who held her and pressed a hand against her forehead to steady her.

  “Those are tarna eggs,” Jakobus said, in case no one recognized them.

  Marassa came forward and looked at the mess with a blank stare. She nodded and stepped back.

  They all knew what tarna eggs meant. Once inside the system the pea sized eggs settled into the host and, usually within a day, started to grow rapidly. When the shells hardened at a one-inch diameter the worms inside developed until they were strong enough to break out. After that they started feeding on their hosts until the meat and muscle became stale. It was a horrible and painful way to die.

  “The armor should have protected her,” Luvin said as he caressed her red cast leather.

  “No,” Jakobus sighed, “it’s not really a wound so there is nothing to heal. After they hatch and start to-" he cut himself short and took a deep breath before trying to speak again. “After they hatch there will be tissue to heal, but there could be a dozen of them inside.”

  “We need to get back to the outpost and get help,” Luvin said. “Surely the Giant Lords will have some way to stop it.”

  “If they do, they’ve kept it to themselves,” Jakobus said. “You have anything?” he asked Marassa who didn’t respond but looked downward. “You?” he asked Acrufix who just shook his head.

  “At least, if the eggs have formed, it should be easier for her for a few days,” Blinks pointed out. “The vomiting will stop, and she’ll just feel uncomfortable for a while.”

  Gallif shook briefly and slowly forced herself up so she could sit on her knees. Her skin was pale, and her hair was dull, but Blinks had been correct; her stomach was calmer and easier to handle. She looked at the mess she’d made and the cracked tarna egg. “I’ve got about five days, I expect, maybe seven if I’m lucky.”