by Jim Hodgson
Usta nodded and the man moved away toward the opening of the tunnel. Usta followed him to see what progress had been made during the night.
As his eyes were adjusting from the morning light to the near-total darkness of the tunnel mouth, there was a series of tremors Usta could feel coming up from his boots. Then there was a final, larger tremor. It wasn’t enough to make him lose his footing, but it was certainly peculiar. This must be what the workers had been experiencing all this time.
“That was a small one,” King Bilal said, walking out of the gloom of the tunnel.
“Was it? Felt rather impressive to me.”
Bilal nodded. “I believe I may have some even more impressive news.”
The hole was not very big, perhaps the size of an orange. The extramortals were picking away at it, sending rock chips flying in all directions. Usta was obliged to lift an arm to cover his face until Bilal could get his men to fully dig the hole out. Dry black earth was pouring through the hole and onto the floor of the tunnel.
“That dirt means we can only be feet away from the other side,” Bilal explained. “We should be looking down into the valleys of Ilbez within a few hours.”
Usta very much hoped that was the case. As he watched, he saw a pinprick of light appear in the falling dirt, then wink out. He pointed. “There! I saw light!”
A cheer went up among the workers and they redoubled their already superhuman effort with their picks. The hole was nearly the size of a man’s head now. Dirt was still tumbling down from the hole, making it hard for the workers to get close to the site, but a few exchanged their picks for shovels and worked at clearing it away. What had been the lone pinprick of light was now the occasional shaft of brilliance, then more dirt. The men laughed as they worked, empowered by the knowledge that their task was nearly complete. Usta could even hear shouts coming from behind him. Presumably the news was being carried to those in the camp outside the tunnel.
Usta could now see steady daylight through the hole. He couldn’t restrain himself any longer, so he signaled a pause while he stepped up to the opening and had a look.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light, and he had to hold his hand near his face at an odd angle to keep the still-pouring dust from his eyes, but he could definitely see outside the hole. He could see riders circling and whooping, and hear the clang of steel striking steel. There was a scream of pain and then a flash of magic that struck the mountain somewhere up the slope. He strained to see if he could pick out any of the fighters. Were any of them Elgin? He couldn’t tell.
He withdrew himself from the hole and shouted, “We must hurry! The Ilbez party on the other side is in battle. We must come to their aid!”
But as he did so, a bolt of magical energy struck the rock wall behind him, sending sparks and rocks flying.
King Bilal bellowed, “To arms! The hill people attack! To arms!” Bilal drew his sword and ran back towards the tunnel entrance, never looking to see who, if any, followed him. The extramortals were hot on his heels with picks and shovels raised.
Usta slapped at his hip and hit only his belt. He swore. He’d left his sword in his tent. He picked up a shovel stuck in the dirt and ran after the undead digging crew.
As he neared the mouth of the tunnel he could see that he and the extramortals were heavily outnumbered. The hill people didn’t appear to be skilled hand-to-hand fighters, but given the occasional magical flash and resulting booms they might easily be able to make up for a loss of fighting skill with their crude magic. Ozel had told him of their ability to wield these spells. Usta had hoped never to see them in person.
Much as the hill people might have been a dangerous challenge, the extramortals fought them with a measured ferocity that no humans could have matched. Their limbs moved much faster than any man’s could have, often felling the strong but sluggish hill people before they could defend themselves.
Usta rushed into battle on the right flank, swinging his shovel at the head of a hill person who was trying to climb around to get behind an extramortal worker already engaged in battle. The shovel made a dull ringing sound as it connected with the hill man’s skull, and he went down. Another came at Usta with a sword and, though Usta wasn’t used to fighting with digging implements, he was able to dispatch this man as well. Then another came. And another. And another after that. Usta cast a glance around to see how the rest of the party was faring. They were laying waste to the hill people near them, but even as the bodies piled on the ground, more pressed toward them. The hill people were trying to force them back into the tunnel.
Usta was able to grab a crude sword off the body of a hill person. It was an improvement over the shovel, but nothing like his sword. As he stood to rejoin the fight, he saw a hill person being lifted onto the shoulders of his comrades beyond the press of the battle. The hill man was casting a spell.
“Look out!” Usta bellowed. A fire spell from that range would have spelled doom for the extramortals, their dry bones being extremely susceptible to fire. He did the only thing he could think to do. He threw the crude sword he’d only just picked up at the caster, trying to do anything to disrupt the spell.
The caster moved aside, avoiding the flying weapon but sending his spell directly into the mouth of the tunnel instead of its intended target. Usta had been wrong about it being a fire spell. From the color it had to be a more explosive energy spell of some kind. The magic shot down the tunnel at head height, then exploded within with a terrific boom that shook the ground.
Usta had to shift his feet to keep them under him, such was the shaking. When he regained his sure footing, he kicked the body of a hill man over hoping to find another sword, but the man had died on top of the blasted shovel. Usta grabbed the shovel once more, cursed it for not being a proper sword, then returned to battle.
The hill people were giving ground now, but before Usta could reason why that might be the case, a burning lump of magic flew out of the mouth of the tunnel and landed heavily on one of the extramortal combatants, knocking the man down screaming.
Usta could feel the heat radiating off the magic as it engulfed the man. Hill people stumbled over one another trying to retreat, leaving the fallen undead man’s comrades free to try to save him, but it was no use. They only caught themselves on fire in the attempt and had to be beaten out with gloves and cloaks.
The hill people were in full retreat now, screaming, running in all directions. A few looked back in terror at whatever had produced the lump of magic inside the tunnel. Usta moved to see himself what might be there, and could scarcely believe the evidence of his eyes.
Inside the tunnel, stooped low and plodding toward them, was a thick-limbed giant made entirely of red hot fire. It roared and steam erupted from its mouth, then it brought its fists down and smashed them onto the rock floor of the tunnel, sending another shockwave through the ground that made Usta fall onto his ass. He scrambled up again, over the pile of dead and dying hill people, only to be sent once more to the ground as the monster shook the earth. The beast increased its pace now, heading for the mouth of the tunnel.
Right, Usta thought, flinging the shovel aside and crawling forward. I’m bloody well making it as far as my tent and dying with a proper sword in my hands.
He turned back toward his tent, which is when he saw Ergam clawing his way across the ground. In one hand he held a bucket. As he crawled past Usta something foul-smelling splashed onto Usta’s arm.
“Hey!” Usta yelled, unable to do anything else or think of something better to yell.
“Sorry, Your Majesty!” Ergam yelled back. He dodged then, as the monster in the tunnel threw burning rock, narrowly missing taking one of his legs off.
Usta watched, horrified. Ergam was so close to the thing now he’d surely be smashed to pieces. The monster threw its huge burning arms over its head and put its great fists together, planning to bring them down onto Ergam with the force of a falling bridge.
Ergam half stood and
threw the contents of the bucket onto the monster’s body, then scrambled backward.
Steam erupted from the thing and it staggered, clutching at a blackened section of its chest. It fell against the wall of the tunnel, the weight of its body causing a tremor Usta could feel through the ground. All over the beast, fissures appeared, emitting jets of steam and a sulfurous stink. It slid down the wall, still clawing at its body where the blackness was spreading. Its hands slowed and its jaw went slack, until the blackness spreading outward from its chest enveloped its whole body. At last, it was still.
Chapter 15
Ergam, standing over the body of the dead lavadam, snapped his head around. “I hear fighting,” he said.
“Elgin!” Usta yelled. He scrambled to his feet. “The hill people, on the other side of the tunnel!”
Ergam disappeared into the tunnel and Usta pounded after him, feeling the still-intense radiant heat of the lavadam on his face as he jumped over its legs. It was only then that he remembered that he didn’t have his sword. He swore as he raced down the tunnel after Ergam.
The hill people’s magic had inadvertently blasted open a hole into a cavern alongside where the tunnel ran. Light and heat spilled out, but Usta only had eyes for the dirt at the end of the tunnel. He began digging at the pile of loose dirt and was rewarded with a flash of daylight.
“Ergam!” he yelled over his shoulder. “Push me up!”
Ergam grabbed Usta by his legs and lifted him toward the hole. Usta grabbed the rock on either side and pulled himself toward the opening, yelling, “Push!”
Ergam pushed, and Usta wriggled through the falling dirt. Usta experienced a flash of fear that he’d just trapped himself in a pile of loose earth that would be his death by suffocation, but by digging desperately and with Ergam pushing at his legs, he wriggled, spluttering, into the sunlight. He scrambled to his feet, blinking. He was surrounded by a not-insignificant group of mounted Ilbez warriors and a dismounted Elgin rushing toward him.
“Alper!” she said. “Are you all right?” She pulled up short, a hand over her nose.
“Are you all right?” Usta shouted back.
He could see that she was all right, so he probably didn’t need to yell, but he couldn’t help himself. Dead hill people lay about on the ground. The warriors looked like they’d had a scrap, but there were no Ilbez down. Still, adrenaline and fear were shooting around in his veins. He grabbed Elgin and hugged her. She squeezed back. He wanted to hold her like this for another hour or two, just drinking in her presence and enjoying the fact that she was alive, but they were not alone. He released her.
“Well,” she said, loud enough for the warriors to hear. She was brushing at his clothes to smooth some of the dirt away. “I can understand a desire to visit Ilbez, my love, but I’ve never seen a man dig through an entire mountain to get here.”
Behind her, the warriors laughed good-naturedly. A few raised their weapons in salute, saying, “King Usta!” in tribute.
Usta grinned, nodded, and raised a hand at the warriors in acknowledgement. “Yes, well,” he said, regaining his composure. “I had something important to say.”
Elgin arched an eyebrow.
Usta took her hand, then went down on one knee. “Elgin Ormuz, will you marry me?” He could tell by the look on her face and the way she slowly blinked that she would have preferred another scenario for this moment. There was a twinkle in her eye too, and a smile at the corners of her mouth.
“I will,” she said.
Behind her, the warriors cheered and raised their weapons to the sky. Their mounts stamped around a little from the noise. Usta leaped to his feet, feeling his heart pounding in his chest and yet feeling terribly slow at the same time. He was smiling so broadly his cheeks were hurting a little. Elgin giggled, then pointed behind him.
Usta turned. The upper half of Ergam’s body was sticking out of the ground.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty,” Ergam said, clapping his hands together and sending puffs of dust into the air. “And best wishes, ma’am!”
Within a few hours, the extramortal workers on the Dilara side of the tunnel and the warriors on the Ilbez side had cleared enough dirt away that the tunnel was functional. King Sakir beamed when Elgin complimented him and his men on their achievement. They were walking toward Dilara.
“It means a hell of a lot to them,” King Sakir said. “A few of our number lost their lives to the hill people and that lava beast, which is distressing, but to have a public works project like this completed of their own accord? My people are thrilled.”
“As they should be,” Elgin said. She put her hand on King Sakir’s shoulder. He nodded at the kindness, and Elgin let her hand fall.
“On another note,” King Sakir said, as they arrived at the dead thing in the mouth of the tunnel, “I believe we should find a way to get this back to Dilara.”
Ozel and Ergam were standing over the monster. Ozel smiled and greeted Elgin.
Elgin frowned at the beast. It looked like a thick, bizarre statue lying against the rock wall and was still radiating quite a bit of heat. “That’s the lava thing?”
“It is,” Usta said.
“I’m certainly no expert,” King Sakir said. He gestured to the monster’s corpse, which was looking more and more like a pile of rock as it cooled. “But I believe this to be the makings of Koksal steel. The ore, if you like. To make it into a proper weapon we’d need a blacksmith, of course, but I think we all know one of those.”
“Aysu will be pleased,” Ozel nodded.
As the sun set, the graves for the fallen extramortals were dug. King Sakir gave a small presentation over them with the rest of the workers.
Afterward, Elgin, Usta, Ergam, and Ozel gathered in Usta’s tent for a cold dinner. Usta ushered Ergam and Ozel away from the group for a quick word.
“Let’s not tell Elgin about the urine,” he said.
Ergam and Ozel shared a look.
“I know it’s wrong to keep things from one’s wife, and I would never ask you to lie. I just don’t want her to know she accepted a marriage proposal from a king with urine on him,” Usta said.
“With respect, Your Majesty,” Ozel said, as they entered the tent. “Her Majesty does have a nose.”
Usta was prepared to reply to this, but was silenced. As she entered the flap, Elgin saw Usta’s sword leaning against a table. She picked it up and held it out to him. “Have you been looking for this?”
Ergam made a snorting sound.
Usta took it from her and leaned it against the table again. He also took off his filthy coat and dropped it in a corner.
“So, Your Majesties,” Ergam said brightly. “When will the wedding be?”
Usta glanced at Elgin, then said, “A few weeks, I should think.” He saw the look on Elgin’s face, then revised it by saying, “Perhaps more like … a month? Two? Yes. Two months.”
“Very good,” Ergam said. “In Dilara, I assume?”
“Quite right,” Usta agreed. “I’d like a few more days here to help oversee the completion of the work on the tunnel. Hopefully we don’t run into any more of those lavadams, but at least we know, er, how to deal with them.”
“How exactly did you all kill that thing?” Elgin asked.
Ergam and Ozel shared a look, but said nothing, letting Usta handle it.
“Well, as it happens, these two found a book at Guzul the Fierce’s house which gave them the clues they needed to save us. Had they not figured that out, who knows what could have happened, eh? Now, Ergam, you told me it was Yonca who actually unraveled the mystery?”
“What mystery?” Elgin asked.
“The lavadams were thought to be a myth, my lady. In fact, we were tasked with figuring out what the rumbling noises were. We found a volume that spoke of the lavadams and how to defeat them, but we thought it to be a work of fiction at first, until Yonca realized that the author’s name used the same letters as Guzul the Fierce’s name, only rearranged.”
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br /> “Ah,” Elgin said. “How peculiar.”
“Quite,” Usta agreed, clearly anxious to put this line of conversation to bed. “Anyway, it appears that in the lavadam’s dead body we may have found an entirely new form of steel. We’re hopeful Aysu can learn how to work it into a weapon.”
“Well, if anyone can do so, I’d say Aysu is certainly the one,” Elgin said. The rest of the table held their breath.
Elgin sighed, smiled at Usta. “What a day.”
He smiled back. “Indeed.”
“I’m thrilled that Dilara will have a queen,” Ozel said. “We haven’t had a queen in a long time, let alone a warrior queen. It’s about time.”
Elgin said, “I am pleased too. I’ll need the support of brilliant wizards, of course.”
“At your service, ma’am,” Ozel said.
“Can I count on you as well, Ergam?”
Ergam looked a bit taken aback that she’d asked. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Excellent. Now, I’d very much like one of you to tell me why my future husband smells like piss.”
Usta blinked.
“Ah,” said Ergam. “Well, you see, it seems that a substance found in human urine is fatal to the lavadams. A terrible poison to them. Ozel spent most of the trip here drinking as much water as he could and then, er, capturing it.”
“Well,” she said. “Better to be soiled than dead, I think we can all agree on that. Excellent work, both of you.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” they both said.
“As for you, Alper Usta,” Elgin said. “If you fell out of the sky and were covered in bird shit, and asked me to marry you, I’d still have said yes.”
Usta beamed, then stood. He buckled his sword on. “Right, well, if you’ll lay out the cheese and meats, I’ll see if I can find a stream and have a little wash.”
“You need your sword for a wash?” Elgin asked.
“I hope not,” he said. “But I’m taking it with me.”