by Simon Archer
“Where they make their orbs?” Godfried asked, his young voice breaking slightly.
“Where they made them, yes,” Marinka said. For the first time when speaking of the mountain elf-made structures, there was a hint of fear in her voice, though her continued interest and excitement certainly outweighed it. “It makes sense, truly, that their largest city would be right next to a mine like this. Their mines were their main source of resources, the hub of their civilization as far as we know.”
“No offense, Princess, but I do not wish to go in there,” Bernsten said, looking over the mine’s entrance warily.
“I don’t see how we have a choice,” I said, gesturing up at the cylindrical light above us. It was very close now, almost upon us. “There’s no other way to get there.”
“Leo is right,” Nadeine said, sitting up straighter on her horse and setting her lips in a thin, determined line. “There is no other way. We must press forward.”
“How do we know the mine is still functional?” Godfried asked. “It could collapse on us. It hasn’t been used in centuries, right?”
“This is true,” Marinka said, nodding slowly. “But I also see no other way. We cannot climb the mountain in this state, and we cannot go around it without losing precious time. It is the only way through.”
“Very well,” Godfried said, though he gulped audibly.
“Alright, let’s just go, then,” I said. “Get it over with.”
No one responded, so I just pulled on Bill’s reins again and ushered him forward and over the small gap between the mountains. He was used to these gaps now and overcame it easily. On the other side, the mine seemed even more imposing somehow. I looked up at my companions, who were still sitting uncomfortably upon their horses, looking down at Freyja, Bill, and me.
“Come on,” I said, ushering them forwards with my arms. Marinka let out a long breath, closed her eyes, and then reopened them, ushering her own horse over the gap. It made it over ably, just like Bill. Nadeine followed close behind her, and then Godfried. Finally, with a deep breath and a visible wince, Bernsten and Ishida made it over as well.
“Well, I suppose there is no turning back now,” Bernsten said, staring at the mine entrance with wide eyes.
“There never was, Brother,” Nadeine said, trotting over and placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Very well,” he sighed. “Let us, as Leo Hayden said, get it over with, then.”
“Okay, then,” I said, ushering Bill to the front of the group. “Let’s go.”
We pressed forward into the darkness, and I began to hum the illumination spell. The kingdom elves’ voices quickly joined with mine, combining to illuminate the entirety of the mine.
I looked around. It was clear the place hadn’t been used in a very long time. Carts presumably for collecting the mountain’s ore sat abandoned on rusty old tracks. Tools were sprawled across the ground as if their owners had disappeared in the middle of their use. The mine’s walls were black as night, with a hint of brown every here and there. The mountain’s interior was vast and seemingly unending. The tracks for the carts wound up and down and around every which way. I watched Marinka as her eyes wound all around the mine along with the tracks.
“We can come back here later, too,” I said, taking out my phone again and snapping a few pictures for her.
“Must we?” Bernsten sighed, his voice pleading.
“Well, you don’t have to, I guess,” I laughed. “You can take the long way around.”
“I will do so, thank you,” Bernsten said, holding his head high, his pride unbruised.
“We’re able to just keep going forward, right?” Freyja asked, squinting and trying to see as far ahead of us as she could. “We don’t need to go all around with the carts, right?”
“I think so,” I said, squinting to see ahead of us myself. “It’s hard to tell. We’ll just keep going and see what happens.”
“Infamous last words,” Bernsten said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Ha, ha,” I said as I passed him. “Come on, the sooner we get going, the sooner we get out of here.”
“Now on that, we can agree, my friend,” Bernsten said.
We all pressed forward then, and it seemed that the main level remained that way throughout the mountain, making our journey easier as we made our way through the mine. Marinka was so interested in our surroundings that I just gave my phone to her so she could take pictures herself. Finally, after what felt like hours, a glimmer of daylight appeared at the edge of my field of vision.
“Look,” Ishida called, pointing up ahead of us towards the light. “We’re getting close.”
“Thank the gods,” Bernsten sighed, and I heard his horse pick up its pace at the thought of getting out of the mine. I secretly didn’t blame him. It was pretty musty in there, and it was starting to get a bit claustrophobic. I definitely wanted to be out in the open air again.
We grew closer and were probably just about a quarter of a mile from the exit. My companions and I were all beginning to loosen up, if not quite yet able to breathe a sigh of relief. But at that moment, a rumbling sound began to emanate from above us. Bill stopped in his tracks, raising his head to the source of the sound.
“What….?” Godfried began to ask. But the answer came before he could get the rest of the question out. The walls literally came tumbling down around us, giant boulders of charcoal rock falling in front of and behind us, blocking our exit at every turn. As soon as I realized what was happening, I sang out a spell with all my singing voice, and a giant dome-like shield arose around my companions and me, preventing us from being crushed by the downfall. We all winced nonetheless, bracing for an impact that never came.
“Y-your words appear to have been a premonition, Cousin,” Marinka said when we were safely under the golden dome, her voice shaking.
“Indeed,” Nadeine said, her own voice shaky as well. “Your concerns about a collapse appear to have been warranted, Godfried.”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head as I concentrated intently on keeping the shield up and running. “This seems like too much of a coincidence.”
“Indeed, my friend, I fear you are correct,” Bernsten said darkly.
“Either way, we must find a means of escape,” Marinka said. She was right, of course. While the mine had been musty before, the air was now downright difficult to breathe, full of dust. The air itself was also most likely in short supply, as it was locked in along with us.
“Okay,” I said, working to keep my own voice from shaking. “Remember the spell for moving large objects, everyone?” The kingdom elves all nodded. “We have to use that. I’ll have to release this shield in order to do the new spell at the same time, so we have to make it count the first time. There’s no room for error here.” I dismounted Bill and created a mage’s circle in the black dust beneath my feet. The kingdom elves followed my lead, though they all looked scared.
“What if we falter?” Bernsten asked, his eyes darting around in concern.
“We don’t,” I said, looking around at all of the kingdom elves pointedly. “We can’t. Alright, ready?”
“I am not sure…” Marinka began.
“Will you ever be more ready?” I asked her, raising my eyebrows.
“No, likely not,” she said, shaking her head.
“Alright, then, let’s go,” I said.
I breathed in deeply, trying not to cough from all of the dust until my cello appeared. I sat down and looked around at my kingdom elf companions, who were all standing in their own mage’s circles with their arms out, watching me closely. Freyja and Ishida remained on Bill and Bernsten’s horse, respectively, looking around nervously at the torrent of rocks and boulders suspended above us.
I breathed in deeply and nodded at them, then began to play. The kingdom elves all began to sing at the same time, and the golden dome around us turned into five flat slabs, one on each side and above us, raising and pushing the rocks and boulder
s up, out, and away from us. It was difficult, far more difficult than I could ever have imagined, and beads of sweat dripped down my face from the effort. The music echoed throughout the mine, repeating back to us as we made it.
For a few moments, I thought that we weren’t going to make it. The mine shook and groaned from the movement, but it seemed like just too much for our magic to bear. A few times, I thought that Bernsten and Marinka were going to stop, overwhelmed by the effort and strength the spell was taking out of them. But they pressed on, knowing there was no room for error. Then, in a burst of energy, Godfried and Nadeine’s magic grew stronger, adding greater strength to the golden slabs. It was enough to push the remaining boulders over the edge of the exit in front of us, though the rest of the fallen rocks remained above and behind us, blocking the entrance.
“Run,” I screamed when the path forward emerged. “Now!” Freyja and Ishida, comfortable by now with the horses, pulled on their respective horses’ reins and pulled the remaining horses forward with them, as they had taken their reins from Marinka, Godfried, and Nadeine. The forest elves and the horses reached the edge of the mine mountain and then disappeared out of view, presumably onto another adjacent mountain.
“Alright, you now,” I said, nodding to the kingdom elves. “I’ll keep it going. Keep singing as you go, as best you can.”
Bernsten seemed like he was going to argue but thought better of it since he knew speaking would disrupt the spell even more than following my instructions. He shot me one last concerned look and then darted in the direction of the exit, closely followed by the rest of my companions. Soon, they had disappeared as well, though I could still hear their voices continuing to sing the spell’s tune.
With a loud creak, the golden slab above me began to buckle and crack. Even though the kingdom elves were still singing, the further away they were, the weaker the spell became. I breathed in deeply, preparing myself for the task ahead. I would have to run faster than I had ever run before, and then some. In one quick motion, I dropped my cello, began to run, and continued the spell where I had left off with my singing voice. The slabs beginning to crack behind me, the space echoing with the sound of that and the rocks crashing to the stones below.
But I was a few paces ahead of the fall, and the part of the slab still above me was still intact. I pushed harder and faster, until finally, after what felt like an eternity, I reached the mine’s exit and the edge of the mountain.
My companions cheered from down below me on an adjacent mountain, and I leapt over the small gap between the two mountains, tumbling down on top of Bernsten, who clambered quickly out of the way. I heard a series of loud crashed behind me, and looked up to see the rocks and boulders cascading out of the mine’s exit, coming to a halt near the mountain’s edge.
“I suppose we won’t be going back after all,” I panted from my position sprawled across the ground next to Freyja and Bill. Bernsten reached out a hand to help me up, and I took it.
“I suppose not,” Marinka sighed, looking up at what remained of the mine wistfully. “But at least we still have this.” She held up my phone containing the pictures of the mine and handed it back to me.
“Thanks,” I said, placing it in one of the packs hanging at Bill’s side. I patted his head and let out a long breath. “I’m glad that’s over.”
“As am I,” Marinka agreed. “Though I believe our work is not yet done.” She raised her gaze to the cylindrical light, which I saw was right above us now.
“He’s on this mountain,” I said simply.
“Indeed,” Marinka said, nodding gravely. We all stood in silence for a few moments, staring up at the light.
“Well,” I said finally, throwing up my arms. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
31
“We should leave the horses here,” Nadeine suggested. “It will be more difficult to battle with them. And they could get in the way and get hurt.”
“You’re right,” I sighed, running my fingers through Bill’s mane. He looked at me with wide, droopy eyes, as if he knew we were talking about him. “You’ll be okay, Boy. It’ll be safer here.” I took his reins and tied them to a nearby boulder. My companions followed my lead.
“We should leave them their food,” Bernsten said, reaching for the large pack I knew contained the miniature horses’ food. “You know, just in case.” He pulled out the pack and opened it, laying it at the horses’ feet.
“Alright,” I said when that was finished. “Where on the mountain is he, then?” I raised my hand to shield my eyes and looked back up at the cylindrical light.
“It appears somewhere to the east,” Marinka said, pointing at it. “We are currently facing south, so it should not take long to reach him.”
“Very well,” Nadeine said, nodding curtly. “Let us go, as Leo said.” There was a gray, gravelly path leading up the mountain. I began to trek upwards, and my companions followed closely behind. I glanced back once at Bill but turned away quickly when I saw how closely he was watching me with those big, sad eyes.
“I’ll be back soon, buddy,” I muttered under my breath. Soon, he and the other horses were out of view as we made our way around to the eastern side of the mountain. There weren’t any trees or towns or anything on this mountain. Just a dark, gray, bland scenery full of colorless rocks. A few minutes after the horses disappeared from view, loud screaming filled my ears, and several of the specters appeared in front of us on the path.
“Okay, you know what to do,” I screamed to my companions.
“Do not stop pressing forward,” Marinka yelled over the sounds of the specters. She pointed up at the cylindrical light. “We do not wish to miss him.” She was right. The light seemed to be moving slightly. We couldn’t afford to lose any more time.
“Okay, just rush them as we do the spells, then,” I instructed. “Daggers, just like before.”
Before anyone could respond, I began to sing the spell. My companions joined me in short order, and soon there were daggers all around us, descending on the specters. We rushed them together this time, slipping around them with relative ease, given their confusion at the daggers’ appearance. But just when we thought we were in the clear, several reanimated forest elf corpses crawled around the corner in front of us. With a shock, I realized that they were the exact same corpses we had fought before, as they were led by Misho and Marius.
“Okay,” I said, holding out my arms to stop my companions, though they didn’t need the warning. They had already seen the corpses. “Keep pressing forward like with the specters. Freyja, Ishida, are you guys good?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Freyja growled. I glanced over at her and Ishida. Instead of scared and terrified this time, they just looked angry, their swords drawn and ready to pounce on the corpses. And why shouldn’t they be angry? Not only had this guy killed their friends, but he was also desecrating their memory by using their bodies against us like this.
“Good,” I said, returning my attention to the corpses. “Let’s go.” I dropped my arms and began to sing an advanced combat spell, a broadsword, mace, and machete this time. The kingdom elves followed my lead, and we pressed forward, walking straight into the throng of reanimated corpses.
My broadsword hit the corpses first, knocking several of them over. To my right, Freyja and Ishida knocked several of them out themselves using their physical weapons. And the kingdom elves’ spells, a smattering of swords, daggers, and maces, took out the rest. We quickly ran over the fallen, twitching corpses, wanting to get as far away from them as possible before they came to again.
The rest of the way up the mountain, we ran into more specters at regular intervals but disposed of them easily, used to their strange sounds and movements by that point. After we had passed what seemed like an endless gauntlet of ghosts, I glanced back up at the cylindrical light. It was nearly upon us by then and had stopped moving. We were reaching the top of the mountain, and our enemy along with it.
“Let’
s hold back when we reach it,” I instructed my companions. “Remember, we want to gather information first. Then, when we know what he’s doing, and the opportunity arises, attack.”
“He clearly knows we are here, though,” Godfried said. “He knows we are coming.”
“We cannot know that for sure,” Marinka reminded him. “Though I must admit it is likely.”
“Right,” I said, nodding curtly. “He could have left these things as a precaution, though I doubt it. And even if he knows we’re here, he might not know exactly where. Let’s hold back as long as we can.”
“Very well,” Godfried said, nodding and swallowing loudly. I didn’t blame him for wanting to get it over with, but we needed to know what this guy was trying to do. I had been practicing my custom spell to rejuvenate the forest, though I imagined its full force wouldn’t be realized until I combined it with destroying some of the orbs that had cast our enemy’s spell, which meant we had to know where they were first, and what the spell was for.
We crept up the mountain until we saw the mouth of a cave up ahead. Like the first cave, it was hanging up above the path, though it looked much bigger than that one had been.
“Look,” Marinka whispered, pointing up at it.
“Yeah, I see it,” I whispered back, holding a finger to my lips to signify that we should be quiet. I began to hum a spell in as low a voice as I could, and a long golden funnel with an ear on each end stretched up to hang under the mouth of the cave, as I held the other end with its ear up to my own, listening. All I heard from the cave was a low muttering, presumably our enemy’s voice performing a spell. Then, startling me so much I jumped, he spoke in a clear voice.
“If you are going to listen in on me, you might as well do so face to face,” the voice said. The voice was low and silky, dripping with unexpected charisma. My companions and I all stared at each other in shock and dread. But slowly, I climbed up the path to the mouth of the cave and entered it, closely followed by my companions.