Irenya was unlike any other woman I’d met, both on Earth and Iriador. I could tell that she was using her body and sensuality to get what she wanted, which in this case was me and access to her magic. But she had something undeniably attractive in her approach to life. As I’d seen back at the market, she knew what she wanted and would go for it no matter what. She lived life to the fullest and sought to experience every pleasure possible. She appealed to the most primitive of my urges.
Thankfully, I was spared from further contemplation of Irenya’s sensuality by the sight of Captain Daxos, Arieste, and the two Blackguards in the distance. They had stopped at a section of the tunnel about forty yards away. As I approached, I saw that they were at an intersection where the passage split into three more to the right, left, and straight ahead.
“Any thoughts on which to take, Sir Ethan?” Captain Daxos asked. “Our lack of knowledge on Ironfast’s layout puts us at a severe disadvantage. I thought perhaps you might have an idea.”
I paused at the intersection and stared down the three corridors. They were each identical to the other, with the same gentle downward slope and rune-covered walls. None had a single distinguishing mark to indicate which way led to Ironfast. No doubt that had been done on purpose as a means to stop invaders from easily reaching the city below or to keep Vozaath from arriving at the surface.
My mind raced as I tried to think of a solution. If the legends were true, Vozaath was a creature of magic, just as the dragons, Snow Killers, rock trolls, and fire goblins had been. Maybe the Mark of the Guardian could sense the demon, and I could follow its trail down to Ironfast. Not the greatest plan, but no one else in our small party seemed to have any better idea.
I closed my eyes and reached out for the threads of magic in the world around me. I could feel the ice and fire magic like raging torrents inside me as well as the smaller trickles of power flowing through Irenya and Arieste. Tiny threads of fire magic flickered through the heat of the torches we carried and the warmth of our bodies. But I couldn’t sense the magical presence of a demon, or anything else living in the tunnels. If there were living or magical beings down here, they were too far out of range for me to sense.
I was about to give up when something in the walls caught my attention. I felt a tiny tug at the magic within me as if the black stone wanted to tap into the fire and ice powers. No, I realized, not the walls, but the runes etched into the stone.
I summoned a bit of ice magic to my fingertips, but instead of forming a shield I poured the power into the stone. I caught my breath as I felt the rock suck the magic from my hands with surprising force. Immediately, the rune beneath my hand flared to life. White light shone from the strange symbol, and it filled the intersection with a faint glow.
I heard gasps sound behind me and turned to see more runes flaring to life down the right-hand tunnel. The white light glowed like the landing strip of an airport, and it left no doubt in my mind.
“I’d say it’s this way,” I told the others with a broad grin, and then I gestured for them to follow me down the correct path.
Captain Daxos fell in beside me with an incredulous expression. His eyes traced the line of white lights running through the length of the tunnels, and once again he looked at the torch in his hand as if asking “Why did I even bring this?”
I chuckled as I strode down the tunnel. The glowing lights ran along both walls and the ceiling, and they provided more than enough illumination for us to see the way ahead. The path continued downward for another hundred yards before dropping off into a steeper angle, and then the roof of the tunnel blocked the rest of the way from sight.
“It feels surreal to be striding these corridors,” Captain Daxos told me in a hushed, awe-filled voice. “All my life, I have heard the tales of Ironfast, yet like the rest of Windwall thought it lost forever. We will be the first human feet to tread these halls in more than five hundred years.”
That got me thinking about what the priestess had said about the implings we would doubtless find living in these passages. Vozaath wasn’t the only danger we had to worry about. Every minute or so, I used the Mark of the Guardian to feel for any presence of magic around us. It made for slower going, but I wouldn’t be caught by surprise in the dark.
“Have you ever seen an impling?” I asked the captain. “Like in paintings or drawings?”
“I have,” Captain Daxos told me. “They are little beasts, as Priestess Quailu said, with vicious claws and teeth that can rip a man’s throat out. From the stories my father told me, more than one wizard died while trying to catch one as their familiar.”
I tightened my grip on my axe. At least the implings would die as easily as any other mortal creature. We’d have our hands full enough dealing with Vozaath.
“Do you mind if I ask how you came by your magical abilities, Sir Ethan?” Captain Daxos’ voice was hesitant and he shot a sidelong glance at me. “Magic has not been wielded by human hands since the time of Ironfast. Yet here you are, with two dragons in your service, bending fire and ice to your will.”
“It’s a long story,” I told him.
I didn’t sense any deceit or malice in the captain, but not even Irenya or Arieste knew the whole story of my magical abilities, my agreement with Barodan, or that I had come from Earth.
“To tell you the truth,” I said, “I don’t really know how I got these abilities. I just sort of… had them one day, you know?” It wasn’t technically a lie, but it didn’t give away anything important.
“So, your abilities simply manifested from one day to the next?” Captain Daxos asked.
“Sure, that sounds about right,” I said with a nod.
“Do you think--” The captain shot me a curious glance and drew in a deep breath. “Do you think other humans can manifest the abilities as well? Could this be the return of magic?”
From the look in his eyes, I understood what he wanted to know. He had seen me use magic to defeat the ghoulins and save his fellow Blackguards on the Windwall. It was a power that any soldier would want, especially one fighting for the survival of his people and family. He wanted to know if he could one day use magic as I did so he could protect his loved ones.
“I hope so,” I said, “because it would be awesome to have more people to help in the war against the dragons. Hell, we could use a few extra hands to kick Vozaath’s ass and get rid of Emroth. But honestly, I don’t know if magic is returning to the world.”
“Oh,” he said, and his face fell. “I understand.” Disappointment flashed in his eyes, and I felt a stab of pity for the captain. Everything I’d seen of him indicated that he was a good man trapped in a hopeless situation like the rest of his people. In a way, Captain Daxos reminded me of Adath and Sir Galfred. He had their same innate nobility that had drawn me to them, and I wanted to hope he could develop magical abilities as well.
“Power is best reserved for those who are suited to wield it,” Nyvea warned in my mind. “Not everyone can do what you do, hero.”
“I know,” I replied, “but maybe Captain Daxos is one of those who can.”
“Time will tell,” she whispered. “Yet time may not bring him the magic he desires. In the end, it is the Mark of the Guardian and your tattoos that give you the power you have.”
“Can Barodan give the mark to more people?” I asked.
“No,” she responded, and a note of finality rang in her voice. “It can only be wielded by one at any time.”
“How about the tattoos?” I persisted. “Can they be given to others at the same time?”
Nyvea remained silent for so long that I thought she was ignoring me. Finally, she said, “No,” then spoke no more.
I was about to press her for more, but something in the air caught my attention. A smell, faint but noticeable, hung in the tunnels. It had a hint of sweetness with a rank, pungent edge that seemed oddly familiar. Almost like old meat with a few drops of cheap perfume added.
My gut clenched as I realized wh
at it was. Rotting bodies.
“Stop!” I hissed. Captain Daxos froze in place with his sword raised to strike, and I felt a surge of fire and ice magic behind me as Irenya and Arieste summoned their powers.
“You smell it, too?” Captain Daxos asked in a whisper. “The smell of death.”
“Yes.” I exchanged a glance with the captain. “We move slowly and watch for any sign of attack.”
Captain Daxos shot a silent signal to Sergeant Dai, who slipped between the two women to join us at the front of the line. At my nod, we moved forward at a slow steady pace. I felt no signs of magic in the passages except for Irenya and Arieste, but my heart hammered in my chest as I scanned the darkness. Though the tunnels looked empty, the smell grew stronger with every step.
Then I saw them. Fifty yards ahead and below us, there were small mounds strewn across the floor of the tunnel. The smell of rotting corpses grew nauseating as we approached, and it took a lot of effort to stop from gagging at the thick reek filling the tunnel. Eventually, I had to cover my mouth with my cloak to filter out the stink.
Thirty yards separated us from the bodies, then twenty, then ten. My eyes went wide as I realized they weren’t human. They were far too small, barely three feet tall, and no humans I’d ever seen had stubby wings, horns, and needle-sharp teeth.
“Implings!” hissed Captain Daxos.
My eyes scanned the darkness while the Mark of the Guardian searched the passages for any hint of magic. Nothing but emptiness and silence greeted me. I could find no trace of anything alive, only the dead bodies at my feet.
So, what the fuck had killed them?
Chapter Nine
I closed the distance to the corpses and crouched to get a better look. The implings were as hideous as I’d imagined, with squat fat bodies covered in thick fur and stubby wings barely two or three inches long sprouting from their spiny backs. Two long, curving goat horns protruded from the tops of their heads, and they had hundreds of needle-sharp teeth and enormous black eyes that probably helped them to see better in the dark. Up close, the smell of their decaying flesh was strong enough to make me gag.
“The bodies can’t be older than a few days,” Lieutenant Trosken said as he knelt beside another dead impling. “The stale air of the passages slows decay, but their flesh will still decompose until nothing but the bones beneath remain.”
“Hmmm.” I studied the wounds that killed the implings. Long claws had carved them to shreds, and I could see the marks left by sharp teeth. But as I got a closer look at the slash marks, I noticed how thin they were. I imagined the demon Vozaath had to be huge to terrify the wizards of Ironfast, but these marks had been left by something with claws barely larger than a coyote’s. During my EMT rotation, I’d actually treated someone who had been attacked by a ravenous coyote in a city park on Chicago’s West Side. Those wounds didn’t require more than a few stitches and a rabies shot, but whatever left these marks had carved the implings to ribbons.
“This cannot be the demon’s work,” Lieutenant Trosken said. His face was stiff, and I saw suspicion in his eyes as he shot a glance at Captain Daxos.
“So, what could have done it?” the captain asked.
“If I didn’t know better,” Trosken replied, “I’d say…” he trailed off, then shook his head. “No, that cannot be. Perhaps another group of implings attacked this one.”
I looked at the claws sprouting from the dead implings’ fingers. They were easily three inches long and ended in razor-sharp points. It would take a lot of strength for such a tiny creature to inflict this amount of damage, but it wasn’t out of the question.
“We must be wary,” Lieutenant Trosken said as he stood and glanced around. After a moment, he nodded in satisfaction and pointed to something a short distance down the tunnel. “That is where they came from. There may be more roaming the tunnels, but I did not expect we would find them this high above Ironfast.”
I moved closer to the section of the tunnel he’d pointed to and saw a part of ceiling that looked blacker than the rest of the surrounding stone. I lifted my torch to shine the light on it and realized it was a hole in the stone. The hole was eight or nine inches wide, just big enough for an impling to drop out of.
“This is how they travel around the mountain?” I asked.
“It is the most likely answer,” Lieutenant Trosken replied with a shrug. “From the stories told to me as a child, the wizards had to smoke them out of their burrows in the depths of the mountains. Perhaps there is even a network of such tunnels throughout the stone all around us, like rabbits in their warrens.”
It seemed an odd choice for an underground creature to tunnel into the roof, but I figured it was similar to the way snakes dropped onto unsuspecting prey. With those sharp claws and needle-like teeth, the implings could do some serious damage.
“Then we’ll have to keep an eye out for any more of these holes in the passages as we go down,” I told the others. “The last thing we need is to be caught off-guard by an impling attack.”
“Agreed, Sir Ethan,” Captain Daxos said. He exchanged a glance with his two men, and something passed unspoken between them. They were trying to hide something from me, I could tell. The reason why they’d want to hold back important information escaped me, but the fact that they were not telling me put me on high alert.
The truth was that I didn’t know a lot about the men who chose to travel with me. What little I’d seen of Captain Daxos had told me he was a decent man, but he could easily be hiding his true character beneath a facade. And Lieutenant Trosken and Sergeant Dai were two more unknown quantities. They’d come on the Captain’s recommendation, but this little exchange made me question just why the three of them had chosen or been assigned to this mission.
“Captain, you and your men take the lead,” I told him, “and I’ll bring up the rear with the women.”
“Of course, if you deem it prudent, Sir Ethan,” Captain Daxos said. Behind him, I noticed Lieutenant Trosken’s eyebrows rise in curiosity.
“If we do get attacked by these implings,” I said, “I think your heavier armor will be better-suited to keeping them off us, and your weapons will do far more damage than our magic will.”
“Ah, certainly,” the captain said with a nod. He had been in Priestess Quailu’s chambers when she mentioned the implings being immune to the effects of magic.
With a nod to Sergeant Dai and Lieutenant Trosken, he led the way past the bodies and down the tunnel. Arieste and Irenya fell into step behind the two of them, and I took up the rear. As the Blackguards moved, I tugged on the women’s elbows to slow their pace and put some distance between the three men and us.
“You saw that, right?” I said in a voice pitched low so only the women could hear. “That look they gave each other?”
Arieste nodded, but Irenya shook her head.
“They’re hiding something,” I told them, still whispering. “Something to do with whatever killed the implings. Maybe more.”
“What do you want us to do?” Arieste whispered over her shoulder.
“Nothing now, but keep an eye on them,” I said. “Whatever they’re hiding, it’s going to come out sooner or later. We need to be ready when it does.”
“Understood,” Irenya whispered, and Arieste nodded as well.
“Good. Now let’s catch up before they get suspicious.” We hurried to close the gap between us and the Blackguards, who seemed not to notice that we’d lagged behind. All three men were visibly tense, and they gripped their weapons in white-knuckled hands. Whatever they thought might have caused the implings’ death had them spooked.
“Well aren’t you the clever man?” Nyvea asked in my mind. “And here I thought you just wanted to get an eyeful of the two babes.”
“Let’s call that a bonus treat,” I replied with a grin. From my position a few steps behind Irenya, I had a wonderful view of the way her hips and ample butt swayed as she moved. Was it my imagination, or did she add a little extr
a sizzle to each step knowing that I was watching? “I don’t want to think the worst of Captain Daxos or his men, but I’m not going to be caught off guard. If nothing happens, we’re no worse for the wear. But if it does…”
“You’ll be ready to kick Blackguard ass!”
I truly didn’t want to believe Captain Daxos was here for any reason but to help ensure the success of our mission. The Circlet of Darksight would give Windwall an edge in the battle against Emroth, and it could actually free the city from the dragon’s threat once I eliminated her. But I’d seen enough duplicity and deception in my twenty-plus years of life to be aware that people could conceal their ulterior motives beneath a pleasant front.
A nervous silence gripped our small party as we continued our downward trek. The minutes seemed to drag on as we stepped deeper into the darkened tunnels. After about half an hour of walking, I noticed the white lights of the runes growing dim. When I reached out with the Mark of the Guardian, I could feel the magic I’d poured into the stone walls getting weaker. I summoned a bit of fire magic this time and used it to feed the hunger I felt pulsing within the runes. The five people ahead of me gasped as new runes flared to life and a bright red light filled the tunnel.
The crimson glow made everything seem somehow creepier. It reminded me of those horror movies where everything was tinted red, and it lent an air of danger to the surrounding tunnels. I found myself studying the roof to find more signs of the implings’ holes. When I spotted them, I made sure to give them a wide berth so one wouldn’t catch us off guard.
We passed just two intersections, each with three tunnels branching off to the right, left, and straight ahead. Each time, we followed the glowing light of the runes. The wizards of Ironfast had marked the path for those who knew how to use magic. Without my ice or fire powers, I had little doubt we’d have spent an eternity wandering the empty passages. Every single tunnel was identical to the others. It must have been designed as a labyrinth to keep out enemies or keep the demon Vozaath trapped inside.
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