“In his later notes, I began to notice various errors. I pieced them together and found what I believe to be a code to be translated into a sister language. Doing so resulted in two riddles. From there I was lead to a random page, with what appears to be a falsely labeled map. By all indications, it is to navigate the last part of a chartered route underneath the city.”
“Underneath?” Luke looked from him to Aza.
Han followed suit. “Yes, beginning somewhere called the “Olmire Bridges.” From there...from there we will journey to the necropolis...there is no telling what we will find within the halls.”
A solemn silence fell over the group. All except Luke, who merely shrugged. “So.”
They all turned to him.
“I’s been sayin we should take it slow fer years now...but the way I’s see it, that time is done. Barnabee is up ta sumthin an it ain’t safe no more...not that it ever was I’s suppose.” He pushed his chair back and stood up. “Sides, we’s made it this far, so why not a lil further?”
“Now hold up! What exactly are ya gettin my little brother tangled up in?” Now it was Desmond's turn to stand. “I know he an Aza like explorin and such, but I won’t have him riskin his life! And what’s this about Barnabee?”
Gretel leaned forwards. “You don’t keep up much on current events now do ya?”
He looked down to her. “What do you mean?”
Luke nodded to Aza and Han. “You guys get your things ready. Desmond, I need to tell ya a few thins.” He walked away from the table and up to the stairs, followed by his brother.
Aza got up and disregarded the dishes for later, while Han walked back over to his bag for a fresh set of clothes. Gretel remained at the table, knowing it would be another day spent watching Gregory. She wanted nothing more than to tell them all to stop whatever they were doing, and sort this all out, but it was too late for that. Her mom told her not to interfere, and now things had gone too far. She hopped up and strode over to her familiar couch just in time to see Desmond’s reaction to hearing about the events at the lighthouse. Luke had to talk him down as he told more of what had followed. Once he heard about the meeting with Barnabee, Desmond threw up his arms and headed for the door. His brother tried to pull him back, only to get a nasty glare at the doorway.
“No! I cannot believe you two got involved with City Hall! I’m tellin the rest of the family, and takin em to stay with Hesmond. In the meantime, you better sort this all out because you have put us all in very real danger with this childish horse crap!” The door slammed on his way out.
Luke just looked to the ground, knowing that his brother’s fears were justified. Yet this all had to be done. He turned to Aza, who tried to look reassuring. “We ready then?”
“Yes.” Han strode over to the door, his satchel around his shoulder yet visibly empty. He pulled open the door, took a deep breath, and stepped out into the dim light of the morning.
As soon as he had taken charge, he stepped back to let Aza lead the way. Their boots splashed against the dark roads as they traveled up a very familiar route. Yet instead of going to the town square, or even Luke’s farm, they took a sharp right. The streets narrowed as they maneuvered down to a crumbling set of stone stairs, leading to the river that cut deep through town. It did not have shores, but instead straight drop offs from the streets to the walkways below. Said walkways were wide and decrepit, with the raging waters flowing between them. Each side was covered in trash and a number of hazardous plants. Living within the filth were people, those too poor to afford the limited housing, and too smart to try fleeing to the woods or sea. Under any other circumstances the more unruly amongst their number would have been looking the unwanted guests up and down for what to steal first, but not these three. As tempting as the weakling in silver was, and as easy as it would be to distract the farmer, Aza was with them. Rumours were born and died down here, many of the citizens being firm supporters of Tobias.
Most retreated from the trio’s path as they made their way down the dingy walkway and over to the bridges themselves. Each one was massive, yet crumbling as hungry lichens littered its underbelly. It’s supports were caked with mildew, and it’s walkway cluttered with scavengers. The area had become a dumping ground for trash, and during the day many of the homeless spent their time rummaging. Han had to bury his nose in his jacket, while both Aza and Luke were unphased as they passed through. Their journey ended at the base of the middle bridge, surrounded by heaps of garbage and grey skinned onlookers. In front of them was a rusty metal doorway set into the stone. A single guard stood watch over not just the entry, but the downtrodden who wandered around it. He was tall and strong, with a scraggly beard and one bad eye. Despite his age, he looked as if he could take on anyone in a fist fight.
“Zackery.” Aza spun the name from his memory. A man he had never met, but was told of and forced to remember.
“Aza.” He looked the boys up and down. “Come here to cause trouble?”
“No, we’re here on Paladin business.” Luke piped up, wanting to hurry things along.
A bushy eyebrow came up. “A what? That your club or somethin?”
Aza shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, we’re not here to fight. We’re looking for something that might be hidden inside.”
He turned to the door. “An if I don’t let you in?”
Han opened his mouth but Aza spoke. “You protect the people that live down here. It’s noble. Now I don’t know how much you buy into Tobias and his lies, but we want nothing more then to keep them safe as well.” His expression seemed to change in a moment. “But we don’t have time for formalities.”
Zackery looked him up and down. He had asked Agnis about the boy many a time as Tobias spread his influence over those he protected. As far as she had stated, it was all hot air. Yet here he was, a haunting presence giving him a veiled threat. Though there was sincerity to the boy’s first statement, a clear respect for what he was doing. Either way, if even half of what he heard about the boy was true, then a fight would be nothing more than an exercise in futility. “Conway, watch the door. You three follow me.”
He opened up the ancient hallway and all four walked inside. Luke was asked to pull the grimy thing shut, while a thin man in a ruined top hat took Zachary's place as its guardian. The air inside was thick with sickness and a haze of spores. The walls seemed as if they were trying to crush them as they followed a claustrophobic hall of crumbling stone. Many new supports had been set up, but each one rotted away faster then they could be replaced.
They felt the crooked path slope as they moved deeper below the ground. All around them was pitch black until a faint yellow light began to shine out from up ahead. It was here that the stone abruptly shifted to necrite, the misty glass shining through the darkness with an otherworldly glow. Then out into the light they came. This hallway was unlike the haphazard one they had just come from. The ceiling was low, but the path was much wider. Massive blue orbs grew along the sides, much like the ones from Arthur's room. The walls themselves, even obscured by the growths, also stood out. There were many long indents, each one a little larger than a coffin, though many had been broken with time. It was clear that the dead were meant to dwell here, despite how many of the living now roamed their halls. Like above, trash littered the floors with the occasional human laying within.
The path ultimately curved into a tall, circular room with six openings. Each one spiraled and swerved into a different section of the crypt where its inhabitants hid out during the night. Between each of these openings, were pillars carved to look like the tentacles of an octopus, though the suckers were covered in barbs and spines. All of them converged at the ceiling, looking as if they had once spiraled back down into a chandelier of some kind. Though now all that remained was a shattered outcropping overrun by a red mass of twisting toadstools.
Zachery dug his muddy boots into the ground and turned to face the three boys. “Now Aza knows who I am, but in case you two don
’t, the name is Zachary K Hollowits the Third. I’m the unofficial mayor of this wretched abyss. If any of you lot do anything to hurt my people, I will end you. Do I make myself very clear?”
Han and Luke nodded, the former coughing a bit from the horrid air.
“Now that bein said, why have you come here? If ya were plannin on confrontin Tobias, ya missed him by a day or two.”
Despite him looking at Aza, it was Han who replied.“We are here to find Row Twelve.” He quickly produced the red notebook from his coat pocket. “A man named Arthur Lore the Second made trips down here around a decade ago.”
“Row Twelve?” His thoughts spun and swayed as he remembered that evil place. “Why would ya want to follow a dead man to his fate?”
“Dead? I thought Arthur never found his body.” Aza looked him up and down with skepticism.
“Arthur’s son made many trips down there. Every time I would wait for him by the doors at exactly noon. One day he went down there and never came back. I waited for him, even tried again that entire week, but...nothing. Don't take no book learnin to know what that means”
“What exactly is Row Twelve?” Luke’s hand tightened on the bag slung around his shoulder. Within, and strapped to his back, were a small arsenal of weapons.
“It’s a tunnel that goes down...all the way down…”
“Then that is where we need you to take us.”
The old man turned to look at the scholar, trying and failing to place him. “What do you want with Arthur and his work?”
He held up the journal and flipped through the pages. “I am here to finish it. Surely you of all people must understand. I assume you two must have been acquaintances.”
The old man narrowed his eyes. Aza had sincerity, but this one was a liar. Though truth lingered within his words. Then again he supposed it didn’t matter. If they died down there it wasn’t his problem, and maybe Tobias would keep his furry face out of their affairs. Then again, Agnis likely wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. “If you really believe what ya say, then come with me.”
The four disappeared down the furthest of the six pathways, not seeing the young man lurking just out of sight. They passed by many outcroppings leading further into the numerous dwellings that dotted the area. Some were inhabited, while others were congested with deadly fungi that grew among the caskets still sitting within their sockets. The road all four were taking had a slight curve to it that only increased until any openings began to vanish. The hallway itself growing narrower until it fully fading into a dark staircase swirling around a central pillar. They twisted around and around for what felt like well over an hour. At the very bottom was a single metal door. No rust, no mold, no fungi, no trash or homeless. There was but an eerie stillness.
“This is as far as I can take ya. I’ll be back at six sharp and not a moment sooner. If ya still want to go ahead with this daft plan, be my guest.” He waved a calloused hand to the door, not daring to get any closer himself.
Aza, Luke, and Han just stood in place for a moment. The farmer confident, but feeling the same unease he did back at the lighthouse. The scholar at war with himself over what could be his biggest folly yet. Then there was the Puppetmaster, whose eyes shone bright in the shadows. He was afraid, more so than any of the others Yet it were his hands that twisted open the lock, and heaved the great thing open. On the other side was a cave. Massive pieces of shimmering necrite clung to the ceiling or satt shattered along the ground. Some were fallen, while others had been pushed straight up through the ground. Aza set foot into the strange place, for a second thinking they had been tricked, but then he felt it. The same pull that had haunted him in his dreams. He slowly walked further into the shadows, while the other two followed behind. Both jumped when they heard the door lock, but Aza carried on.
“What is this place?” Luke strained his eyes in the dim light.
Han cleared his throat, not fully certain himself.“According to legend, the Drow settled this region with the dream of constructing a great necropolis that would house all of their kind’s dead. During construction, they dug into one that was already here. It was this ancient expanse older than….well anything they had ever seen. Now if that legend holds any water, then we are likely at some midway point between the two structures. This whole area was probably a tunnel just like the ones back at Cedric’s Row.” He looked around at all the shattered and displaced necrite. “ That is, before the World Engine hit. Otherwise this is just a break in between more of what we already saw.”
“Ok.” The hairs on Luke’s neck stood straight on end. “What do you mean by already here?”
“Exactly what I said. It was even made of the same stone, with the same basic architecture...yet massive in scale. Some think the whole tale was made up by confused slaves, others say that some ancient drow built it eons ago. When I came here I assumed it was nothing more than a myth, but after the last few days it would be foolish of me to think such a far fetched idea could be anything less than truth. Thus the reason I suggested it first.”
Luke nodded, but the speech did anything to calm his nerves.
After a short ways, the cave began to narrow, and within minutes the toothy stone gave way to a thin opening. Aza was the first to step through. “By the loa…”
What stood before him was horrifying, yet astonishing. This place, this enormous hall of the dead, expanded out for what had to be miles in every direction. It was as if people, thousands or millions, or….maybe magic....had hallowed out the earth and left only an empty chasm in their wake. This chasm, this void dropping into eternity, was not empty. Square pillars of stone dwelled within it. The smallest were the size of a city block, while others, far in the distance, were many times larger than the very town they stood under. Each and every one of them were ringed with balconies connected by thin bridges. Together they formed the tens if not hundreds of levels that descending deep within the earth. Aza was standing on the first floor, on one of those very walkways. He staggered forwards, taking in the finer features all around him.
There were statues protruding from the pillars, many on each level. All were different, and all terrifying in their own unique way. The horrors were carved in the shapes of malformed beasts with many mouths, and twisted bodies. Every one of them tasked with holding an orb of violet flame to light up this sacred place. Though their glow seemed suppressed, drained by the unique necrite that surrounded them. It had no mist about it, looking like glass molded from pure darkness. Aza was overwhelmed by what he saw, but knew deep down that there was so much more hidden within these ancient halls. So much lurking just out of view, just out of the safety the tunnel behind him provided.
Luke emerged next, becoming just as captivated as Aza.
Han, on the other hand, remained standing within the tunnel, his eyes fixed on the grim abode before him. “This my friends ...this... is Scaramire Mortalis...the Great Necropolis of Verdracill.”
Chapter 14: What Lies Beneath
The three boys all stood in awe of the great crypt before them. Enthralled by its magnitude, yet terrified of what else must be waiting for them below. Aza was the first to begin walking down the endless balcony, each step as quiet as the grave. It was as if the rock itself were pulling in any sound his footsteps should have made.
“So where exactly are we goin?” Luke whispered his words. His eyes peering around in the gloom while the dancing flames played tricks on him.
“Down. According to the maps, we are looking for a stairway.” Han stayed between his two allies, flipping through the pages of his new notebook for where to go next.
Aza was only half listening to the other two, his mind drawn to a faint call by an unseen force. “Are we looking for the gauntlet?”
Han was startled by the question. “No...what do you mean?”
“It’s like in the dreams...I can feel it…” He stopped dead in his tracks as they approached a four way split in the path. His head turned to the right. “It’s that way..
.out to sea I think.”
Both Luke and Han gazed down the winding walkway, a sinister statue with hundreds of mismatching teeth looming over them. “No, not exactly.”
Disappointment struck him like the stingers of a jellyfish, knowing he was so close to the strange artifact yet unable to heed its call. He considered, if for but a moment, going after it himself. Yet the other two needed him, and they had a job to do. Besides, he was somewhat intrigued about what could be more important.“What are we looking for then?” Aza just continued down their path while Han fumbled to find the next page in his notebook.
“A piece of parchment. What is written upon it must remain secret, unless absolutely necessary.”
Aza nodded, a little annoyed. “Need to know only. Got it.”
Han’s tone became very sharp and serious. “I understand you do not like being kept in the dark, but if it gets out what is written on that paper ...it could easily spell the end for this little town.”
This immediately got Aza’s attention and further prodded his growing curiosity.
Luke was spooked by the warning as well, but focused on his friend. “Whaddaya mean by dreams?” He ducked under another one of the twisted statues as they trekked further into the darkness.
“Nothing. I’ll tell you when we’re somewhere ...safer.” His eyes wandered to the drop off just a few feet away.
Luke nodded, unsatisfied but understanding. He instead looked to Han, who appeared to have found the page he was hunting for.
“We need to go thirty levels down. There should be a stairway coming up.” The scholar strained to see through the dim light, hoping everything on the map was orientated properly.
True to his word, there was a walkway that wasn’t connected to any wall. It instead sat perilously over the chasm, secured in place by a round stairway at its center that formed a tower. The steps were in the shape of a spiral, while stone was carved around them to resemble many tentacles impaling and twisting around one another. The design gave many wide openings that the trio could peer out of as they descended. For a while they began to almost feel secure in their little enclosure as they drew ever deeper into the maw of this beast. That was until Aza caught a glimpse of something out the corner of his eye.
The Curious Case of Jacob's Hallow Page 18