by Garry Spoor
“I’m not asking you to come,” Kile said. “If you want to go home, fine. I think you should, and take Alex and Daniel with you.”
“Says who?” Daniel shouted. “You’re just going to send us off like civilians. I’m a Certified Level Five Hunter, I can take care of myself.”
“You’re not a field Hunter, Danny.”
“I’m not leaving you out here alone.”
“She won’t be alone.” Carter said. “I’m going with her.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
Carter laughed. “Do you even know where the ruins are?”
He had a good point. She could probably find them with help from Bakara, but how long would that take.
“Perha Squad will go as well.”
“Thank you, Tullner.”
“There is a great story in this, somewhere, and I’m not leaving in the middle of it,” Alex chimed in.
“So, I guess that’s it. We’re off to take on the Uhyre forces by ourselves,” Marcus laughed, sloshing his canteen.
“We’ll see what the others say. I don’t want to force anyone to come along who doesn’t want to.”
When the others arrived back at camp, they sat around the fire and discussed their options. They agreed Larks would return to Command and deliver what information they had to Colonel Barshed, or Guild Master Lathery, whoever he reached first. Although Kile was sure she could find a bird to deliver the message for them, she couldn’t help but notice how relived Larks looked when they presented him with the option. He claimed he wanted excitement and adventure, but how much of that was just bluster? Still, it wouldn’t be easy. He would have to make the trip on foot, if he was relying on his Edge. It gave him the speed he needed, although he couldn’t sustain it for long. It would still take him two days to get back to Forthbar, but it was a lot faster than going by horseback. Carter would borrow Lionora for their journey deeper into the wastelands. The rest of Perha Squad agreed to follow Kile, although she wasn’t too sure about Browne. He seemed a little skeptical at first, but ultimately his duty to the Squad over- ruled his concerns.
Although she wanted Daniel and Alex to return home, she knew they wouldn’t, and in some ways, she was glad. It felt right, somehow, to have the four of them back together. She just hoped her sentimentality didn’t end in catastrophe.
When the sun finally sank over the western flats, they provided Larks with what food and water he would need and wished him a safe journey. He was gone in a matter of minutes. The rest of the water was divided among the others before setting out, deeper into the wastelands.
Traveling by night was easier. There was less chance of them being seen, and without the sun beating down, less chance of them dropping from heat exhaustion.
***~~~***
24
“There it is,” Carter said, pointing across the horizon to, what could only be described as, the old ruins. At one time, the structure had to have been something to behold. Surrounded by a massive city of stone, now buried in sand, it rivaled that of anything the vir created. Toppled columns led up broken stairs to crumbing walls, which were ornate with intricate carvings. It wasn’t what Kile imagined Alverian ruins would look like. When she thought of the Alva, she always thought of the forest and the animals. Even the painting of Risa Ta’re was more Alverian then these ruins. No, this was the farthest thing from her mind.
“Over there.” Carter said, pointing to one of the few, still intact, structures. “That’s where they moved it.”
“And we don’t know what it is?” Tullner asked.
“Not a clue.” Carter replied. “But it was locked in what looked like a steel box which they carried into that building. They guard it around the clock, but I have no idea what it is.”
“If it’s a weapon, why don’t they just use it?” Anurr asked.
“Maybe they don’t know how,” Alex replied. “I mean, if it really is an Alverian weapon, it has to have some connection with the mystic arts. Maybe they’re trying to figure it out.”
“Then we have to get it out of there before they can,” Kile said.
“And how do you plan on doing that?” Marcus asked. “I don’t think walking up to the front door and asking to borrow their ultimate weapon of destruction is such a good idea.”
“From my run-ins with the valrik, they’re not too bright, they might just hand it over.” Browne replied.
“I think we’ll just leave that option off the table for now.” Tullner said, patting Browne on the back. “What we need is information.”
“What we need is a map.” Anurr added.
“What about it, Kile. How about asking your friends for help?”
“Birds are a little scarce around here, I’m afraid a single raven might look out of place, and I’m still not sure if I can trust him completely.”
“What about them?” Alex asked, pointing to a shallow ridge were a strange group of visitors were watching them. They were small furry animals, about a hand’s width in length, and another hand for the tail. The exact color of the sand, they nearly disappeared into the world around them. But what made them unique, were their ears. They stuck out from the sides of the head, nearly as big as the animal was long, give their heads a flat triangular appearance.
“What is it, a rat?” Browne asked.
“No, it’s a fox, or something like a fox.” Kile said as she approached them.
They made no attempt to flee and waited until she got closer.
-Not them.-
The largest fox said.
She knew instantly what he meant.
“No, we are not of the Uhyre,” she replied.
-Why you here?
The fox asked, slowly approaching her and sniffing around. She knew he was trying to get her scent, because, she hated to admit it, she was doing the same thing, before she stopped herself.
“We are seeking information,” she told him. “Can you help us?”
-Help? Seek what?-
“Is there a way into the stone building without being seen?” she asked. She communicated, not so much in the words she used, but with the images she gave to them. The more meaning she put into the images, the easier it was to communicate what she needed.
-Many ways, too big.-
The fox replied.
“Can you show me?” she asked, closing her eyes.
When the connection was made, she was once again seeing the world through a different pair of eyes, but unlike the birds, these were much lower. She wasn’t so much as soaring thought the sky, as she was hovering over the ground. It was always harder to get her bearings from this viewpoint and she often had the same problem when she connected with Vesper. Small rocks looked like large boulders and boulders looked like mountains. Even the tiny patches of vegetation looked like acres of forest.
The fox’s name was Rowd, and he lived with his mate and four kits in a small den located outside the west end of the stone city. His den was linked with others, creating an underground network, and even though the tunnels looked fairly spacious, from her point of view, Kile knew there was no chance she would fit. But, there was one promising place Rowd showed her. It appeared, through their incisive tunneling, the foxes stumbled upon some kind of underground aqueduct.
Rowd’s visions were sketchy at best and not very complete. He couldn’t remember much, as he was quite young when the foxes first found it. Since the water was undrinkable, it served no purpose, and therefore was forgotten, but the more Kile thought about the aqueduct, the clearer it became. It was as if the entire picture was being revealed, one small section at a time, and she realized she was seeing each piece with a different set of eyes. Soon she could see the entire aqueduct from where it started, to where it ended, all within her mind. But that wasn’t all, each pair of eyes had their own name, their own identity. Each set of eyes had their own life, and she was living them all. Instead of feeling stretched and overwhelmed, as she usually did when she touched on so many minds at one time, she felt safe
and accepted.
When she finally opened her eyes, Kile was surrounded by the small sandy colored foxes. Where there had only been a handful before, there were now twenty, possible thirty, all sitting around her, contributing to the map in her head. It was such a peaceful, warm feeling, she didn’t want to break the connection, but she knew she had to.
When the link was severed, her mind didn’t snap back as it usually did, leaving her with a headache. This time it was more gradual, and she felt surprisingly relaxed.
“Thank you,” she said, extending her gratitude to all the foxes, who she now knew by name.
-Welcome, you are.-
Rowd said with a slight nod of his head. When he departed, the others followed, leaving Kile sitting in the sand, alone. She was sorry to see them go.
“You all right?” Daniel asked.
She smiled up at him. “Yes, for once I can actually say, yes, I am all right,” she said, blinking back the tears.
“Where they any help?” Tullner asked.
“They were,” Kile said, getting to her feet. “There is an aqueduct which runs right under the city, and I know where it comes out.”
They found a place for the horses on the far side of a hill, down in a valley, far enough away from the stone city where there was little chance of them being spotted by a valrik patrol. Alex was left to the guard the horses. As Kile pointed out, there weren’t too many people who could hide nine horses as easily as Alex could. She also asked Lore and Nova to stay with him. Partially because the dogs would be able to detect the approach of unwanted visitors better than Alex, but there was also the chance that navigating the aqueduct may prove difficult for them. She wanted to leave Marcus behind as well, but he insisted on coming along, which seemed out of character for him. Tullner saw fit to leave Browne and Anurr behind as added protection, although Alex didn’t feel it was necessary.
They waited until nightfall, before setting off across the wastelands to where they hoped the entrance to the aqueduct was located. Kile led the way, followed closely by Daniel and Carter. Tullner and Sandson filled in the middle of the line and Marcus followed up the rear. She led them based upon the fox’s map, until she was close enough to smell the tainted water.
She motioned for them to stop.
“It’s here,” she whispered, although, all she could see was more sand.
“There’s nothing here.” Carter said as he knelt down beside her.
“I know it’s here, I can smell it.”
Daniel knelt down and placed his hands on the ground. “It’s here, but it’s deep,” he said.
“Are you saying we have to excavate the wastelands to find the entrance?” Sandson asked. “That could take a while, like a couple of years.”
“I may be able to narrow it down,” Daniel replied.
He started to crawl along the ground with his hands in the sand, moving from left to right, trying to hone in on the water. He was doing his best scullery maid imitation when he suddenly stopped.
“It’s strongest along here,” he said, but the ground looked no different than any other patch of the wasteland.
“Now all we need is someone with an earth Edge,” Carter remarked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Daniel replied, brushing away the sand. “There appears to be some type of stone surface.”
The more sand, he cleared away, the more the area resembled a floor, or possibly a street, whatever it was, it was compiled of closely interlocking stones. Sandson and Tullner joined in, and within minutes, they managed to uncover an eight foot square section, although the actual surface extended much farther in all directions.
“Hold up guys.” Sandson called out. He slipped his long knife from his boot and began prying up one of the loose pavers. It took him a few minutes to work the blade around the edges, but when it finally came free, it created a small hole in the ground, no more than five inches in diameter.
“Oh great, at this rate, we should be in there by Hob’s day.” Marcus commented from where he was sitting.
Tullner was unimpressed as he looked down the hole. “I don’t suppose any of you Hunters can shrink yourselves down to fit?” he asked.
“It’s too bad we didn’t bring Alex along after all.” Carter remarked.
“Even he couldn’t fit through that, but I know someone who can.” Kile said. She was looking directly at Marcus.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, girl! There is no way I can fit down there.”
“No, but your purse can.”
“What are you on to?”
“Just hand it over.”
“Great, I’m being mugged out in the wastelands.” Marcus said as he unfastened the purse on his belt. He made sure to dump the contents into another pouch before handing it to Kile.
“What do you say, Vesper, you want to go for a ride?”
-Me look?-
The yarrow replied.
“I get it.” Sandson said, and quickly produced a small ball of twine from his pack.
“Will he be able to see anything down there?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know, it is a bit dark, but he’s been in darker places,” Kile replied.
“I can take care of that as well.” Sandson said, and started rummaging through his pack again. He pulled out the small vial of liquid kindling, and then tore off a strip of his cloak. “Get me some brush from that shrub over there, will ya?”
Carter cut off a few branches and Sandson wrapped the cloth around them. Pouring a couple drops of liquid kindling on the end, he quickly dropped the bundle into the darkness. As it fell, it ignited, and when it hit the ground, it lit up a small section of the stone floor.
“That should give us light for a little while.” He said, looking down into the hole “can’t really make out much, just a lot of darkness.”
Kile fastened the twine to the pull strings of the purse and made sure Vesper was comfortable.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” she told him.
-Help Kile, Kile family, help family.-
He said, and she knew the yarrow would do just about anything he could to help her. He had proven that many times.
“Good, now just stay in the pouch and don’t move around too much. Just see what you can see,”
-Me see.-
Daniel carefully lowered the pouch into the hole while Kile closed her eyes and fell into her Edge. It didn’t take her long to connect with Vesper, it never did, and she was soon seeing through his eyes.
The hole was narrow at first, and all she could see was a wall of dirt. As she descended further, the world suddenly opened up around her and she felt as if she was suspended over the dark pit from her nightmares. She was afraid to look down, for fear of seeing those yellow eyes staring back up at her, but all she could see was Sandson’s small fire burning far below. When her eyes, or Vesper’s eyes, adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out distant shapes. The aqueduct was just as Rowd remembered it: a long dark tunnel. It stretched far to the east, farther than her vision would allow. Great arches held up a barreled ceiling of the same interlocking stone as the street above, and the floor had a channel cut down the center, where the tainted water flowed. She didn’t have to taste it to know it was undrinkable. The smell alone was enough. There was one thing she couldn’t deny. This was not the work of the Alva.
While she swung and twisted on her rope, something behind her caught her eye.
“Daniel, can you turn the rope a bit?”
As Daniel twisted the rope, she slowly began to spin, and that’s when she saw it.
“Over there.” She said, pointing to a place just behind Marcus.
Carter ran over and quickly began brushing away the sand. Tullner and Sandson helped. Marcus watched.
“There’s something here.” Tullner shouted.
“Daniel, pull me up.” Kile said.
As she started to ascend, she held her breath when she passed through the narrow hole and only released
it when Vesper was finally out. Daniel removed Vesper from the purse and handed him to Kile.
-Did good?-
The yarrow asked.
“You were wonderful,” she replied. She placed Vesper on her shoulder and followed Daniel to where the others were gathered. What they found was a metal plate, perfectly fitted into the stone street.
“What do you make of it?” Tullner asked Sandson, who was already inspected it.
“It looks like a hatch of some kind.” he replied.
“Made out of metal?”
“I think there might be a ladder leading up to it.” Kile said, kneeling down beside Sandson. She helped him brush the rest of the sand away.
“This looks like the release.” Sandson said, and after a few moments, and a few failed tries, there was an audible click. The metal plate jumped.
Tullner and Carter opened the hatch, which revealed a perfectly circular stone tube. Rungs of a ladder were embedded into the side of the rock wall leading down into the darkness. Sandson produced a small hooded lantern from his pack, one of the many things he had acquired from Treesand, and handed it to Tullner, who was the first to descend into the aqueduct. When he called back to give them the all clear, they proceeded down, one after the other.
The tunnel was not nearly as impressive as when Kile saw it through Vesper’s eyes. Although it was still a remarkable feat of architecture, it was much smaller than she thought. It was only ten feet wide, and with the channel cut down the center, for the water, it left them three feet on either side to walk. Even the height was nowhere near what she thought. At its highest point, it was probably only about eight feet.
“I thought it would be bigger.” Daniel said, echoing her thoughts.
“Bigger than the last tunnel I had to crawl through to break into a place,” she replied.