“Then try to figure out tha’ order, annoyin’ human!”
I sighed and flipped my palms.
“I thought we agreed on only calling me ‘human’.” Borin shrugged dismissively. I sighed and muttered, “Not helping,” to myself.
I decided to let the matter go. Instead of brooding and thinking of ways I could get back at him, I tried to study those constellations engraved into the ceiling. Somehow they linked with the pedestals. It was a bit hard to focus since the sound of Borin’s axe repeatedly clashing to the giant stone door was drilling into my ears. I wanted to demand him to stop, but, eh, let him have his fun.
“Borin, I think I have the order all figured out.”
He laughed sarcastically.
“And how did ya do tha’? By summonin’ a brain for a change?”
He was really getting on my nerves. I clenched my fists, bit on my teeth and tried to resist the urge to beat him to a pulp. Think about it: One moment you’re beating up a dwarf, the next you’re surrounded by hundreds of them, all ready to give payback. I’d rather not take that chance.
“Well, if you were an expert in astrology, which I highly doubt, you would’ve known that the three moons of Ysellian moves into line every seven years. On that exact same day magic is at its strongest. A great day to cast powerful spells. Anyway, when the moons align, seven stars also spread out and move into place, meaning the seven main stars from all the millions. They all represent the seven signs. I have noticed from this chart on the ceiling that they move into place in a certain order. You get where this is going?”
I took a few steps towards the pedestal standing in the middle of the room with my one hand behind my back, waiting for Borin to answer.
“Yes, of course I get where this is goin’! I’m not an idiot!” I sighed and shook my head, knowing he really didn’t.
“If you know so much, then why don’t you go ahead and open the door?”
Borin huffed, crossed his arms across his chest and kept mumbling things to himself about his shirt and me being an idiot.
“I thought so. Anyway, as I was saying: Each of these pedestals represents a sign .. a star. They all stand in the direction the stars move in. So all I have to do is look upon the chart and see what pedestal represents what sign and light them in the order they move out into place.”
“Be mah guest, but if somethin’ explodes I’m blamin’ YOU.”
I nodded, not caring as much as he might thought I did.
As I moved toward the pedestals, I muttered the signs to myself as I set them on fire. I moved towards the golden pedestal on the left of the great ancient door on the east side of the room and lighted it.
“The sign of the Warrior.”
I made my way towards the pedestal near the entrance on the left on the west side of the room.
“The sign of the Royal.”
I walked towards the one next to Borin on the other side of the door.
“The sign of the Magician.”
I moved across the room to the east side to the one standing on the right side of the ancient door.
“The sign of the Archer.”
I strode my way through the room to the one against the wall on the south side of the room. I leaned over the melted gold surrounding the pedestal and lit it.
“The sign of the Machinist.”
I quickly walked towards the one on the opposite side of the room, north. I leaned over the gold, trying to keep my balance and not fall forward.
“The sign of the Thief.”
Last but not least, I went to the one lone pedestal in the middle of the room. I looked up to the ceiling one last time before lighting the last pedestal.
“The last one, the rarest one of all. The sign of the Dragon.” I lit the grey ashes inside the pedestal. All the pedestals were now burning together and a creak in the far end of the room could be heard, alongside the sound of old rusted gears groaning to life. Both Borin and I stared at the giant great door and watched as it slowly opened by sliding into a slit in the ground.
CHAPTER 22
HUMOUR CUT SHORT
TERROWIN
THE GIANT DOOR SLID OPEN and revealed nothing more than a pitch-black chasm.
I closed my hand and the fire at my palm quenched. I shot a glance at Borin, crossing my arms.
“You’re welcome. Looks like summoning fire isn’t that bad after all, now is it?”
Borin frowned and copied me. We found ourselves in a deadly stare off, each hating the other more than the next.
“Even hearin’ ya say the word ‘fire’ makes me want to take mah shirt off.”
My eyes widened.
“Please don’t.”
He gave me a mischievous smile. I knew that he’d consider doing it on purpose just to scare me off.
“Don’t even think about it!” Borin sighed and approached me.
“On to different matters then. I congratulate ya on yer success, numbskull.”
I guessed that to be my new nickname then. I didn’t know whether it was an upgrade, or a downgrade.
Borin stepped closer and punched me playfully on the shoulder. I winced and doubled over and grabbed at my arm since it was a punch landed to my broken arm.
“Look where you’re punching at, would you?” I scolded between gritted teeth, trying not to show my pain too much.
“Sorry.” Borin apologized, but I could tell that he really didn’t mean it since he took a silent laugh to himself.
“There is somethin’ I remember about this abyss. There is supposed to be this secret set of stairs tha’ leads down into tha darkness. The staircase will only reveal itself to ‘tha person tha holds tha right fires’ they say. There are old dwarven legends that say tha’ your soul will be taken by these who haunt this staircase. Only the proper light will protect these who dwell through tha’ abyss.”
Borin stepped forward and looked down into the abyss.
“Mind jumpin’ in to test it out for me?” he laughed tauntingly.
“But you’re the courageous one. Perhaps you can do me this one favour to prove it.”
Borin grunted once again and knew that I had bested him yet again.
“Enough with yer foolery,” he grumbled.
I wanted to ask, “My foolery? What about yourself?” but I didn’t since I didn’t want to make an acquaintance with that axe of his.
Borin grabbed an unlit torch lying close by and held it in one of the fires lighting the pedestals. The torch caught on fire and shone some light of its own.
“Legends are called legends for a reason.”
He walked towards the edge to where the abyss began. “Watch this. I’m goin’ to walk right in and you’ll see tha there is already a set of stairs waitin’ for me.” I dashed forward. Just as he took a step in, his foot slipped since there really was no staircase to support him.
He dropped his torch into the endless abyss and wildly flapped his arms, trying to keep his balance and prevent himself from falling in. I acted fast and grabbed him by the collar of his armour and pulled him back to safety. He found his balance.
I’ve never seen anyone with eyes bigger than his. His breath was loud and heavy, depicting his shock.
“You have to be more careful!” I scolded.
I tried to recall the elven saying on the door.
“Fire shall light the path for the creator.” I tapped my chin, looking up to the ceiling and trying to think.
“But haven’t I just done tha’? I mean, I lit the torch and used it, didn’t I? Tha’ makes me the creator, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t think that’s what they meant.” Borin raised his hands.
“Then what do ya suggest? We find tha’ idiot who created this whole thing? Well sorry to burst yer bubble, but tha’ man has already been dead for centuries!”
“Let me try something.”
I rekindled the fire in my hand. Flames wreathed my fingers. I to
ok a step closer, thrust out my palm and splayed my fingers.
A ball of fire shot out into the darkness up ahead. As it proceeded forward, it lighted up some hidden stone staircase that disappeared deep down into the darkness. The sight of the stairs vanished as the flame flew away. I gave a smile of satisfaction.
With my hand still lit, I took a step into the darkness, led by nothing more than by blind faith. By my surprise, instead of falling into an abyss with no end, no bottom to fall yourself flat on, I actually stepped on something solid.
“How did ya-” I can’t believe that I actually left Borin stunned, speechless.
Yes, the same waist-high man that couldn’t seem to find it possible to shut his mouth.
“Just follow me.”
I walked in deeper and descended staircase. Borin carefully followed me from behind, being sure to stick close to the light I carried.
At some point, there was quite some distance between us. A shadowy hand reached out to grab him, whispering the word ‘soul’ with such hunger in its tone of voice. Borin jumped away edgily and quickly speed walked closer to my side. He had learned his lesson and followed close by from there on, staying wary of the things that crept about in the dark.
It wasn’t long before we finally left the dark caverns filled with… um… soultakers, and reached an all too welcoming clearing.
We emerged from the darkness and underneath a golden arch stretching over the entrance. It had the same dwarven symbol above we had seen on the great ancient door back there, adorned by ancient ruins clinging to its complex frame.
I stared at the clearing in front of us. It was like a thick, massive tree had sunk down into the ground. The whole area was a giant open space under the ground, a cavern. It’s just like the mine I woke up in, but without all the massive mechanisms and construction.
There was a whole village built into that massive tree with lightened braziers hanging from its dried branches to help with the lighting. A small lagoon of fresh earthen underground water resided nearby, some dwarves sailing on gondolas across to the other sides. Proud dwarves walked around close by the tree village. Some on their way towards a certain destination, others working hard and pushing wheel carts full of weaponry, finery, chunks of gold and lots of other priceless objects and items. Not all dwarves were dressed in armour, but rather in fine dwarven clothing, mostly made of animal skin and other soft materials. They walked around and kept to their own business, not paying much attention to us as they carried on.
“Welcome to Mantra,” Borin announced proudly. My shoulders slumped and I slowly nodded as I stared at the splendour scenery.
“Close tha’ mouth of yers. Yer goin’ to catch an earth fly!” I noticed that I was slightly gaping, but quickly stopped after realisation.
“Hey, thanks!” Borin patted my back. “I have always doubted ya.”
“There is something I need to ask.”
“Hm?”
“Do you always have to go through all of that trouble just to enter Mantra?”
“Nah, no’ at all. I just forgot about tha’ normal entrance thar in tha mine.”
My surprise quickly faded and my smile turned into a frown as I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth.
Of course.
“So what you’re saying is that we did all that for nothing?!”
“Pretty much. Now come on. Let’s get ya some new clothes and tha’ arm of yers looked at. You look bloody terrible.”
He gave a smack to my shoulder. Yet again, it was the broken arm that took the lucky hit. I winced and tried to keep the pain hidden just like before, clenching my arm as my muscles tensed. Borin merely dismissed it and continued his way forth.
Borin led me through the large underground village and, yet again, started with the history of the place, but he didn’t have that much to say. I personally think he was saving the rest just to bore me later. He led me to a large set of wooden double doors in the massive tree.
We entered and came across a giant room, a dining hall perhaps.
“The main hall,” announced Borin with his hands spread open with immodesty.
There was a warm fire, an open hearth, in the middle of the room.
Long wooden tables stood sideways of the firepit. At the far end of the room, a grand throne stood against the wooden wall, upon a slight pedestal. It was covered with furry animal skins for your typical dwarven decor. A dwarf sat upon his throne, stroking a pitch-black panther lying next to his chair of authority.
The panther started growling at only the sight of me. I gave a few steps back.
“And who is this?” the dwarf asked, his voice even deeper. I guessed him to be the chief.
“This is mah friend, Terrognome.” He said the word ‘friend’ with such hatred and distaste, but I didn’t blame him. I would’ve done the same.
“Uh, Terrowin actually.”
“Whatever.”
The head of the dwarves merely waved it away.
“Yes, yes, yes.”
This whole conversation seemed to bore him at first, but I didn’t actually care that much. I just needed to find a way out of here to continue my quest and find Carlaylin. Who knows how long I’ve been down here and where she might be...
I hope the fires haven’t hurt her…
The head dwarf’s eyes suddenly widened.
“By the gold of the Seven! What happened to you, boy? You look absolutely terrible! Worse than road kill itself!”
I looked down to check myself. I was still covered with dirt and soot. My clothes were ruined, dusty and torn on various spots. Not to mention my arm and the blood staining my shoulder…
“It’s a long story.”
I shot another glance at the panther. Its expression told me everything it was thinking about… Come any closer and I won’t regret eating you.
I instinctively took another step back, rather be safe than sorry. The chief narrowed his eyes and studied me. He nodded.
“Get this boy some new clothes and I shall meet him here tonight.” Borin nodded and bowed respectfully.
“As ya wish, mah lord.” He grabbed my good arm and pulled me out of the room.
***
The stubborn dwarf, namely Borin, got one of the medical dwarves to take a look at my arm. But all he did was shrug carelessly and diagnosed my situation with, “Ah, nothing I can do about it.”
He did nothing but bound my arm in a white satin cast and gave nothing but a black sling to support my arm with.
I guess this is better than nothing, right?
Thereafter, Borin led me up some wooden stairs and into a smaller room where new dwarven armour laid upon a wooden chest. If there was one thing I knew, was that I wasn’t about to put on some dwarven armour.
They were far too small for me anyway. You know, dwarf sized.
It got Borin furious when I rejected, but soon enough he calmed down and came to his senses, offering to get me some other clothes, mainly because ‘he didn’t want to do the laundry’.
He did mumble a few things about us pitiful humans that don’t appreciate anything and left the room. Well, sometimes that statement carries truth, if you look at my half-hearted uncle Jerry, that is.
A while later, new clothes were set down for me in the same room. I picked them up and nodded with a smile of satisfaction. It was nothing but some black pants, a pair of nice brown boots and a typical Hayley shirt: An extremely light brown shirt with sleeves that only reach one’s elbows. The shirt was a bit open at the front. A dark brown belt spread over the shirt around my waist. It came along with a dark brown jacket.
“Nice! Where’d you get them?”
Borin gave a formal smile and clasped his hands behind his back as he explained.
“Knocked a civilian over tha' head with a wooden board in Hayley and dragged him into one of tha’ dark alleyways. We then stole his clothes and brought them here.”
I knitted my eyebrows and
it suddenly felt awkward holding the clothes in my hands. Before I could reject, again, Borin was already gone. I supposed that I had little other choice but to put them on and meet him in the main hall before I changed my mind.
***
I made my way down all those dozens of stairs built at the trunk of the gargantuan tree and entered the main hall.
I froze in my tracks and scanned the area. Almost every single dwarf in Mantra sat at the tables that stretched out across the large hall. They seemed to quite enjoy themselves. A lute was playing a melody somewhere and all the dwarves joyfully sang their songs, swinging their beer-filled mugs around in the air. They laughed and ate some fresh meat on their plates.
Beer shot through the air as they swung their mugs. I had to duck for an oncoming tsunami of flying beer. The dwarves ecstatically drank and went on like crazy. My eye caught sight of Borin sitting next to the dwarven king. They both sat at the end where another table horisontally connected with the other vertical ones. There was another seat open next to the waist-high king himself.
The whole crowd immediately fell silent the moment they spotted me. The sound of beer sloshing subsided and not a single word was spoken. Even the lute musician was too curious to keep on playing. All the dwarves focused their eyes on me.
One of the dwarves accidentally dropped his mug, hitting another dwarf sitting next to him on the head the way down. The victim of the falling mug was knocked out and fell out of his chair, but no one paid any attention to him.
Out of the shell-shocked crowd someone shouted out, “Tha’ is the ugliest giant mah eyes have ever seen!” I wanted to reply with, “Me? Try looking in a mirror!” but decided it would be safer to stay quiet.
There was a wide diversity of weapons mounted to the walls. I wasn’t so keen on taking any risks…
“Ah, if it isn’t the annoyin’ human!” the king greeted blissfully. There was only one person who could’ve given him the idea of naming me that...
“Please, take a seat!” He gestured to the seat next to him. I nervously looked around and started walking towards the seat from the side of the room. If I knew that there was going to be a party, I never even would’ve bothered to show up in the first place. I alertly looked around for any signs of his pet panther nearby, but there was no trace of him.
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