The Shadows of Starpoint Mountain

by Bill Albert

  Gallif failed to hold back a giggle and Jakobus coughed loudly. Luvin smiled and shook his head but a tap on the shoulder from Acrufix quieted him.

  Gallif shook her head and went back to examining the squares and the triangles. She laid another square on the floor so there was now two of each. More light lines crossed the floor so that each triangle was connected with both squares, but the triangles and squares did not attach to similar shapes.

  Jakobus took the last triangle and laid it on the floor. Light stemmed from the triangle and attached it to each of the squares.

  “Try moving them around,” Acrufix suggested.

  As much as she hated it, she had to admit it was the next best step and she carefully picked up a triangle, as she did the light streams vanished. She laid it down on the opposite side of the squares and again they were connected by light streams.

  “They don’t cross each other,” Luvin pointed. “They snake around to make a connection, but the light streams don’t cross.”

  Gallif moved the tiles several times and no matter where she placed them the streams found their targets without crossing each other.

  “Good eye,” Jakobus nodded. “What if we add the final square?”

  Gallif laid the last tile on the floor and there was an immediate explosion of red light. Streams of light snaked out from each tile to connect with the three opposite tiles and soon the floor was covered with a layer of light.

  Gallif felt a wave of dizziness cross her and her hand went to her already rumbling belly before Jakobus grabbed one of the square tiles and picked it up. Once it was off the floor the lights ebbed to steady streams where a beam went from each triangle to each square.

  “Evidently that was the wrong place,” Blinks said regaining his balance. “Pretty carpet though.”

  “I think I’ve figured it out,” Luvin said kneeling to look at the tiles. “The idea is to put them in positions where the streams can go from each triangle to each of the three squares without crossing each other. Can I try?”

  Gallif nodded for him to go ahead and Luvin arranged the tiles in a new order. When the last tile was laid another carpet of light covered the floor and he quickly removed a tile from the pattern. He tried it again in a different design and the same thing happened. He looked up at Gallif several times with desperation as he tried other combinations. Finally, he picked up a square and handed it to Jakobus and walked away embarrassed. He kicked a small rock out of the way and mumbled an apology.

  “It’s okay,” she said softly to Luvin as she shared his frustration. “I can’t come up with anything better.”

  “It could take forever,” Luvin said looking away.

  “Yes, exactly, it could,” Jakobus said with a smile. “That would be the ultimate clue,” he rose to his feet and they all watched him. “This puzzle isn’t about where to place the tiles. Each puzzle we’ve come across has been a bit more than the one before. First you just put things in the right place, then you have to do it and have a reason, so this one has to be bigger.”

  “More than just a reason?” Gallif asked confused.

  Jakobus took one of the tiles and stood to face the wall. “No,” he said loudly and clearly. “It’s impossible to solve and I refuse to waste time proving you right.”

  Almost immediately the blank wall smoothly and silently parted in half as the top section slid into the roof of the cave and the bottom into the floor.

  They all stood silent for several minutes looking at the broken statue in the wide cavern ahead of them. The cavern itself was long and wide and appeared to be constructed with stone blocks but a quick glance at the nearest showed they were actually painted lines. There was a large archway leading off into a hall on the far end and two smaller hallways breaking off on each side. In the center of the cavern a giant statue lay broken into hundreds of pieces. They steadily approached it and studied the shattered chunks.

  “It was a dragon,” Jakobus said pointing to one of the larger remains. As they got closer they could see that it was part of a dragon’s head. Its eyes were open, and the star shaped pupils were pointing up. It did not look scary but was still intimidating.

  “What happened to it? It just fall over?” Blinks asked.

  “No,” Gallif said looking up. The domed ceiling had several large chunks of stone missing from the center.

  “I suspect it was loosened by some of the tremors we’ve experienced,” Jakobus agreed. “Maybe even the fall of the mountain itself,” he said and couldn’t help but glance at Gallif.

  “What a pity,” she said sadly. “I imagine it was quite beautiful.”

  “Look at this,” Acrufix said coming towards them. In his hands was a large flat part of the statue. It was very heavy and as he neared them he carefully but quickly laid it down on the floor. It was obvious at first glance that this slab had been carved in the shape of a book.

  This book was two feet wide and three feet tall and was quite an impressive work. Lines had been dug into three of the sides to depict pages and the spine was curved and unbroken. The most distinct part of the work was the words on the cover. There were three of them lined up and made out of thirty-seven characters from the dragon alphabet.

  “I wonder what it says,” Luvin said. “Does anyone know how to read it?”

  “I’ve seen some of the characters before,” Acrufix said. “Being that there are exactly eight hundred and ninety-seven of them in the dragon alphabet no one has ever figured them out.

  “The Giant Lords must have someone who can read it,” Gallif said. “In fact,” she said standing to face them all, “that’s why we are here. When I met with the Third Minister he gave me a task to come in here and find something. There were rumors of a dragon library possibly buried somewhere. That’s what we are here to find.” They all looked at her unmoving for several seconds and Gallif decided to continue. “That has been our mission all along, but I felt it was important to keep it a secret as long as possible. After what happened with Marassa I think it was the best thing to do,” she said looking at Acrufix’s mask.

  “Does this mean that you trust me?” Acrufix asked.

  Luvin’s heart skipped a beat and he glanced rapidly from Gallif to Acrufix.

  “It means it’s time for you to know one of the reasons we are here. We have to find the library in hopes of getting some answers to things,” she said stopping short of telling him the rest of the story.

  Before anyone could ask another question Gallif’s senses picked up a sound coming from behind her and she spun to look down the tunnel they had come. Jakobus, Blinks, and Luvin quickly joined her.

  “I heard something,” she said drawing both of her swords.

  “Marassa?” Luvin asked.

  “I’m not sure,” she whispered as she was even more sure that something was moving nearby that could not be seen. Her eyes were constantly changing direction and focus and finally saw a movement near the walls. It was mostly solid ground with just a thin layer of dust so anyone walking along it, even someone invisible, would barely leave a footprint. “THERE!” Gallif said running. She was two steps away when she heard a low grumbling sound and realized that this may not be the woman who had betrayed them. She made two exacting strikes with her weapons and the entire creature suddenly became visible and she immediately took a step back to stay out of reach. She remembered when she was a child hearing stories about these creatures. They had given her nightmares then and, she felt, even the nightmares were better than the real thing.

  The chupacabra she now faced stood only five feet tall with short muscular arms and three-fingered clawed hands. Its body was covered with short, dark blue fur with sharp spikes protruding from its back and leathery wings that each stretched out nearly six feet. Its head, topped by bulbous glowing red eyes, was oval shaped with an elongated jaw and massive fangs.

  The chupacabra swung at her and snapped both its clawed hands in her direction. She countered with both swords and even though the frost sword in
her left hand countered the attack she cursed when the flame sword went wild. The beast pulled back and quickly brushed the frost off of its arm, but she knew she had done little damage.

  Jakobus joined her first and put all his strength into a mighty swing with his cast axe. He was able to cut low and put a tear in the abdomen. It took a step forward and put itself between the dwarf and Gallif. It scratched at her and took a sudden step back in his direction. Gallif tried to keep its attention on her by swing both swords in short circles hoping the spikes on its back wouldn’t hit Jakobus.

  As Acrufix and Luvin joined them the chupacabra extended both its wings and started flapping them wildly. Using its wings to attack it managed to keep away opponents on all four sides.

  Gallif saw an opening and tried to chop upward at its glowing eyes with the flame sword. Her move was off, and the sword was high and clear, but it managed to distract the beast long enough that she successfully sliced into its right arm with the other. It shook as the pain ran through it but Gallif had to step back as it tried to scrape at her with the other arm. As she watched it, she thought how unnerving it was that this demon made no sounds at all.

  She kept moving and took a few steps to her left. It turned to follow her and Luvin’s cast hammer made two thuds with a single swing against one of the spikes on its back and it stumbled and shuddered. Acrufix and Jakobus both took advantage of the distraction, but the Chupacabra’s flapping wings managed to distract them both.

  She tried to hit its legs as she saw them tense up and knew what it was going to do. Despite the fact that it had wings the chupacabra didn’t actually fly. Using its mighty legs, it kicked off the ground and leapt into the air using its wings to glide to a new position. Gallif, Jakobus, Acrufix and Luvin charged after it as fast as they could.

  At first Gallif thought they were lucky that it had landed with its back to some of the larger chunks of statue and would not be able to retreat, but her confidence vanished when she realized the confined space it was in meant they could not attack at the same time.

  Gallif and Acrufix were in the lead and reached the beast at the same time. She chopped at it with both swords and distracted it enough that Acrufix could puncture a hole in its chest with his long sword. It shuddered in pain and punched at him with both hands. One missed but the other connected with his shoulder and grabbed hold of him. The metal armor was strong, but the claws were powerful and sharp and armor was scared with several deep scratches.

  Gallif tried to distract it with the flame sword but failed to get close enough to do any good so she followed with the frost sword. She got its attention but was too close and she gritted her teeth in pain as one of the three-inch claws in its free hand punctured her bare left arm.

  She tried to shake the pain off and choked back a scream as the chupacabra withdrew its claw. There was a blur in front of her as Luvin came in fast and with a shout of anger pounded into its elbow. The attack was a success and it was obvious as it dangled useless to one side that the elbow had been shattered.

  As Gallif tried to regain her footing the chupacabra returned its attack on the prey it still grasped in one hand. The claw tightened on Acrufix’s shoulder and it leaned forward with its fangs snapping at his masked face. Acrufix didn’t attack but stepped back and stumbled over his own feet. He fell to the ground and the weight managed to pull the attacker forward and down. Jakobus took advantage of the exposed skull and planted his axe in the middle.

  The dark blue monster’s skull was suddenly covered in red blood and the wings started flapping in frenzy. They all withdrew as the blur of the monster’s movements made it impossible to attack. It suddenly stepped back and steadied itself for only a second. Gallif knew it was going to jump away again and prepared to run after it.

  With a more powerful leap than any of them expected it took only one step forward and launched itself high into the air. It was nearly high enough to touch the ceiling and they knew it would land far enough away that they would have difficulty catching up with it. Its downward arc brought it near the tunnel they had entered from and it was less than a dozen feet from touching the ground when Blinks stepped in its path with his long sword pointed up in the air. Too late to glide away the chupacabra was impaled by the blade and died instantly.

  By the time they all arrived the beast was a dark blue pile on the floor and Blinks was cursing profusely.

  “That was brilliant!” Gallif cried.

  “Yes,” Jakobus smiled. “You knew its weak moment. Very smart.”

  “Yeah?” Blinks frowned as he wiped some of the blood and blue fur off of his sleeve. “Well, if I were really smart I wouldn’t have been standing right underneath it. I tell you, if I don’t get new armor at some point I’m going to file a complaint against somebody.”

  Gallif smiled and shook her head. As she did so she caught a brief glimpse of Marassa disappearing in to one of the side tunnels.

  “There!” Gallif yelled and ran after her before any of the others knew what was going on. At full speed she was able to cross the distance before they started to follow her. Expecting a trap inside she rolled just as she passed through the entrance. She landed on her feet with both swords ready to strike. She saw Marassa standing to one side just as her hand, holding a wand, slipped into the blur of her robe. Gallif knew she had just cast something and was relieved that she felt no other damage or changes on her person. She rushed at Marassa and struck at her with the flame sword but missed. She followed quickly with the frost sword and was met with a blow from a hammer that Marassa had been hiding. It was a large hammer, the same size as Luvin’s, and managed to deflect Gallif’s weapon.

  Marassa pushed forward trying to smack Gallif in the side but the younger woman stepped out of her way. Gallif swung low as she passed but wasn’t fast enough to strike the older woman’s legs. She spun to face her and held her step as Marassa took several hard swings at her.

  She glanced over Marassa shoulder and saw Jakobus and Luvin just outside the entrance to the cave. They were yelling but she could not hear them, and their weapons appeared to be punching at the air. She realized Marassa had been casting a block on the arch to prevent any of them from joining her.

  She gritted her teeth as her stomach lurched and she was reminded of what was growing inside her. She took two steps forward alternating the swords as she went and managed to jab the frost sword into the blurred robe. She felt resistance and could tell by the shock on her face that Marassa had been hit. She found some comfort in the fact that despite the blur cast on the robe she could still be hurt.

  Marassa took a leap to one side and managed to land on top of a large yellow rock. Gallif finally managed to take a quick look around. This area was crisscrossed by raw, rough tunnels on several levels. She knew there were any number of places Marassa could go and was determined to prevent her from leaving. She quickly moved forward and used both swords to cut Marassa. Marassa jumped clear and her hammer came down close enough to Gallif’s head that she could hear it as it passed.

  She tried again to hit Marassa before she got her footing. She missed Marassa but managed to distract her and she stumbled turning to defend herself against a third attack.

  They were both distracted by a large pounding thud to one side and together they glanced over and saw part of the wall start to crack. Gallif smiled at the shock on Marassa’s face when she realized that, since they could not get through the arch, her friends had decided to come through the wall.

  Marassa drove the hammer at Gallif’s face again and she ducked back. Gallif also caught Marassa looking up to one side and knew by her movement that she was getting ready to run.

  Marassa didn’t wait but started moving quickly. She ran up a short but fairly steep incline and headed in to one of the tunnels running further to the south. Gallif quickly glanced at the door and saw Blinks watching her as Jakobus, Acrufix and Luvin broke a small hole in the wall. She knew Blinks would know where she went so she decided not to wait and followed
her enemy.

  She leapt up the incline and was on Marassa’s trail. She saw the woman ahead of her take a sharp turn and she reached the intersection expecting an attack. There was none but Gallif’s smile faded as she saw the tunnel break off into several more branches and no sign of which way her enemy had gone. She glanced at the floor hoping for footprints in the dirt, but the flat rock floor gave her no signs. She held her breath and listened hoping she could hear the echoes of the woman’s boots. She concentrated and blocked out the beating of her own heart, finally picking up a sound coming from the tunnel on the left. She wasted no time going after her and didn’t realize until too late she had fallen into a trap.

  Marassa had used a cast on herself and was floating above the cave entrance. Gallif passed underneath her and Marassa quickly descended to the ground. She whipped her wand and spoke a quick cast at Gallif’s back and the younger woman was yanked hard to a stop. She gasped as if a large hand had just gripped her body and pushed the air out of her. Using the cast from the wand as a string Marassa dragged Gallif hard against one of the walls. She yanked back and flung her to the other side hitting the rock hard. Gallif grit her teeth in pain and tried to get control of her body.

  Marassa moved closer and gained even more control of her puppet. She lifted Gallif off her feet and tossed her hard against the ceiling, dragged her across it, then punched her body into the wall again. This time some of the wall crumbled away and she managed to break through a thin layer of rock to an opening beyond. Gallif desperately tried to brace for another impact but found herself suspended in mid-air. Off in the distance she could hear the noisy, uncoordinated sound of her friends looking for her. She prayed to Tebiet, the god of nature, that they would make the right turns and find her.

  She felt herself turning and knew that Marassa was now directly behind her and soon she was jammed into the hole she had created. She cursed as she realized it wasn’t a tunnel leading off in another direction but a shaft leading down.