* * * * *
The blow caught Trevor Kahn full in the back, knocking the wind out of the former knight and causing him to drop the torch he was carrying as he fell to the floor. He reached for his sword only to discover that he was unarmed. Quickly, he rolled to the side just as the large club struck the ground where his head had been only a second before. Trevor shook off his confusion and looked at the twelve foot tall giant, dressed in animal skins, standing before him. The ugly creature lunged forward again, swinging his club with greater force at him. Trevor easily rolled free of the giant’s blow. He knew that if he could find a weapon that he would be able to defeat the slow-witted giant. But there was no weapon in sight for him to use.
“Whoa there, big fellow,” Trevor spoke, “can’t we talk this over?”
The giant replied with a vicious howl as he attacked once more. Trevor tried to escape but stumbled in the process. His breath was knocked out of him as he felt the impact of the giant’s club slamming hard into his left side. The blow sent him flying several feet before landing on the stone floor. Trevor tried to catch his breath as he slowly climbed back to his feet. Then he saw something that cut him to the bone; all around him—completely unnoticed until now—were the remains of his nine traveling companions. Each bloody corpse was strewn about, having fallen victim to the giant.
Trevor saw a possible means of escape in the distance as the giant approached him again. He wondered if he could outrun the beast and escape. Then he swore loudly. “I am no coward!” He said to nobody but himself. “I have never run away and will not begin now.”
Trevor crouched low, preparing to charge the giant. He looked about at the nine dead bodies, silently praying for each and vowing to do his best to avenge them. His eyes stopped on one of the corpses: Alek Jarobohim. What was his body doing here? Alek had died fighting the Snow-Elves.
Trevor Kahn laughed out loud at the realization of the truth. “I do not know who you are, but you messed up. There should only be eight bodies, not nine.”
Trevor stood and looked the oncoming giant in the eyes, “You cannot be here, my friend.”
* * * * *
Jaylen stopped in his tracks. “How in the Abyss?” He spat. The elf was standing on the wall near the gatehouse, surrounded by orcs. His twin swords were drawn almost instantly. He saw the body of an elf lying nearby; one that he remembered watching die nearly three hundred years earlier during the final battle in this very city; an elf that he had been charged to protect. Jaylen cursed the memory of that day. Then he sheathed his blades and ignored the orcs that charged him.
“Be gone!” He shouted.
The orcs vanished, as did his surroundings. Jaylen once more stood in the lair below the tower. He backed away against the wall, giving himself room to avoid the hectic actions of those around him. He looked to his son, “Landis. It’s all an illusion!”
* * * * *
Landis backed away from the gargoyle that slowly approached him. Even at twenty paces the evil creature looked terrifying, with its wings spread wide and saliva dripping from its fangs. The half-elf readied his bow and notched an arrow, wondering if the magical weapon was any match for a gargoyle. There is only one way to find the answer, Landis thought, letting the arrow fly as he reached for another one. The arrow struck the gargoyle and passed harmlessly through its body. Landis backed away, lowering his bow as he gaped at the creature. Then he saw the truth; the arrow striking the illusion had broken the spell.
Landis was once more in Bytorron’s chambers with the others. His recently fired arrow was sticking in the far wall no more than two feet above Eric’s head. All around him he could see his companions frantically moving about as they struggled with unseen phantoms. He saw Weslocke rolling on the floor, his hands clasped over his face as his powerful legs kicked back and forth. Jordan was swinging his sword at the air only a few feet from where Eric lay clinging to nothing. Then he spotted Natis. The mage’s arms were dancing in the air as he weaved some magic spell.
“Natis, no!” Landis yelled as he started after the mage, hoping to stop him from unleashing a spell at his illusion that might just kill them all. He raced across the floor but found himself caught in Jaylen’s powerful grip.
“Landis. It’s all an illusion!” his father yelled as he grabbed Landis’ arm.
Landis broke free of Jaylen’s grip and lunged once more at Natis. The wizard’s hands opened wide and his tense face relaxed as the spell was completed. Landis grabbed Natis’ arms but it was too late to stop whatever spell Natis had unleashed.
“What in the Abyss are you doing, Landis?” Natis asked, irritation clearly showing on his face.
“I was afraid that you were under the spell like the rest of us, and I thought your magic could kill us.” Landis explained.
“Well I wasn’t!” Natis yelled back. “You nearly cost the others their lives with your meddling. I was trying to negate the illusion spell. If Jaylen had not caught hold of you then my spell would have been broken and the others would be dead by now.”
Landis looked about the room. The others were coming out of their illusions one by one. A great sigh of relief came across each of their faces as they did so.
“What happened?” Weslocke asked, not bothering to get up from where he lay.
“This room is protected by an illusion spell.” Natis explained. “Had I not cast an incantation to dispel the magic, then those of you who had not broken free of the illusion would have died in it.”
“Thanks.” Eric offered as he unclenched his stiff fingers. He then noticed the arrow sticking out of the wall above where he crouched. “I suppose that came from you?” He asked Landis.
The half-elf nodded. “It seems that you were standing in the same place that my gargoyle was. It is a good thing the first arrow broke the illusion or I would really be feeling bad about now.”
“You would be feeling bad, what about me?” Eric shivered.
“You probably would not be feeling anything,” Natis said.
Jandelie came over to give Landis a hug. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I for one would like to get out of this place.”
Chapter 9
No one commented about it, but each of the nine companions breathed a sigh of relief after exiting Bytorron’s den. They stepped into a hallway littered with rubble from the broken stone wall and ceiling. There were places where the dirt from above had fallen to form earthen obstacles. Even so, the way looked passable.
Closing the door behind them revealed that the way into the chamber had been constructed as a hidden entrance. Even with damage from the tower’s collapse it still looked like a part of the wall when closed.
“No wonder we did not find this room.” Jaylen remarked as he looked at how well the secret door had been constructed. “This is the hall where Bytorron was defeated. If we go to the left it will take you to a stairwell that leads up into the palace. But going to the right leads to where Aaron and Bytorron died. Further on down from there is another stairwell that led up into the tower when it still stood, and down to whatever is below. That is the stairwell we came down when we followed after Aaron.”
“Then that is where we need to go.” Natis spoke.
They followed the hall, carefully stepping over and around the debris blocking parts of passageway. Even with the damage done when the tower had collapsed Weslocke assured them that—in his humble opinion—they were safe as long as they did not tamper with anything, as the remains of the building had obviously settled into a somewhat stabilized condition.
Jaylen led them to the place where Aaron Sergius and Bytorron had fought their final battle. As the elf had described to them, more than twenty feet of the wall to their right was missing, as was part of the floor and ceiling on that side of the hallway. The floor sloped dangerously downward near the edge, leading into a deep, dark pit. From the light of the torch they could see dirt on the far side of the cavern where the far wall had been torn away when the room dropped into t
he earth below the tower. Above them was a partial ceiling dangling from the far side. Other than that, there was no evidence that a room had ever been build in this location.
“This is not going to be easy.” Weslocke commented as he assessed the situation. “The floor could drop out below us if we put too much weight on the ledge. And I am afraid that climbing down there is a much greater risk. Any wrong disturbance and we could be buried alive.”
“Let me climb down.” Jandelie volunteered.
“You are not going down there on your own.” Landis insisted.
Jaylen peered down over the side. “I had thought that it looked much deeper before.” He commented as he surveyed the rubble at the bottom of the shaft.
“It may have seemed that way when you were in the middle of a tower tumbling down on you.” Weslocke granted
“Give me a rope, I’m going too.” The elf insisted.
After securing the rope the trio began the dangerous climb down into the pit. Taking great precautions, they carefully evaluated each place a hand or foot went before committing to the next step. With no small amount of skill and effort they reached the wreckage below, only to discover that it was solid stone covered around the edges with packed dirt. The way was completely blocked. Careful exploration left little doubt that they could not continue downward, so Jaylen regretfully motioned for them to return topside. Once out of the shaft they shared the bad news with the others.
“There is no way through.” Jaylen assured everyone.
“Then we have failed,” Jordan mumbled, believing that the death of his brother had now been in vain. “If the sword is down there it is buried where we cannot get to it.”
“But there has to be a way through.” Landis insisted, knowing that his Spirit Guides would not have sent him on a fruitless quest. “What about the stairs?”
“Nothing,” Weslocke explained. “While you three climbed down I went in search of the stairwell. It is caved in both above and below us. There is no way down.”
“And the stairs at the other end only go up.” Jaylen reminded his son.
Eric leaned against the far wall rubbing his chin with his fingers—a trait he had long ago picked up from his father—“The dungeon.”
“What about the dungeon?” Trevor asked, “We have seen no sign of one since we’ve been down here.”
“Precisely,” Eric agreed, “Yet the prisoner who escaped through the well had claimed to have been imprisoned in the dungeon.”
Landis felt his hopes rising once more. “Then there must be another way down below from the tunnel.”
Jandelie gripped the half-elf’s arm. “That means that we have to go through that damned wizard’s lair again.”
They made their way back to the concealed entrance to Bytorron’s hidden chambers. Their passage through this time was uneventful. With their awareness of the illusion spell and some added protection, thanks to Natis’ own wizardry, they had been able to enter the room without being subjected to any more magic. Even with the mage’s assurance, everyone made certain to keep their hands away from anything in the room that might have been protected by any magical wards. As everyone else stood at the mouth of Bytorron’s escape tunnel, Landis scurried through and looked about. Taking notice of the broken opening to the air vent he gave it a closer inspection. It was indeed large enough for someone to crawl through. And it went down below them.
“Weslocke!”
Hearing is name, the dwarf scrambled through to join Landis.
“What are the odds that the prisoner climbed up through here?” He asked as the dwarf reached his side.
Weslocke looked down into the opening. “It would be possible,” He proclaimed, “Difficult but possible. Especially if one were climbing for his life.”
“If he was able to break into the vent from below then he would have been able to climb up.” Natis agreed.
Landis turned to the mage who had quietly sidled up behind them, much to the half-elf’s surprise. Looking back he could see the others joining them in the tunnel.
The dwarf gave the vent another look. “It is too narrow for all of us. I think we will have to send only a couple down there.”
Landis looked back to Jandelie, “Well, we’re both thin enough.”
“And I’ve had to squeeze through smaller spaces before.” She agreed.
Once again Jaylen insisted on joining them. They tried to limit the climb to just the three of them, but this time Natis refused to be left behind, claiming that they would need his expertise if they happened upon any more spells of protection. Reluctantly Landis agreed. And for the second time that day he found himself leading another climb into the depths below the tower.
They found the climb down to be tight and strenuous. There was little room to maneuver and they could not manage a torch. The only light came from the torch being held above them by Weslocke, who did his best to monitor their descent while reporting to those who waited above with the dwarf. Landis had an unlit torch dangling from his belt to be used once they had made it down, but they could not risk using it in the narrow confines of the air tunnel.
The half-elf and his father led the way down so that they could use their night-vision to aid as best they could. Jandelie followed the elf and Natis climbed blindly above her, often kicking her head or shoulders by accident. All of them were bound together by ropes leading back up through the narrow tunnel and securely held by Konik, Trevor, Jordan and Eric.
“I have found another opening.” Landis proclaimed. “It is unblocked.”
“That must be where the prisoner climbed into the shaft.” Jaylen suggested.
Landis instructed the others to remain still while he climbed through. Once inside he used his flint to light the torch. The light assured him that this was indeed the dungeon. All around the room were tables and machines built with instruments of torture upon them. Skeletal remains offered evidence that people had once been tortured or perhaps experimented on here in the belly of Bytorron’s tower.
“This is it.” He called into the shaft.
Jaylen slid through the opening with ease and then helped Jandelie to climb into the room.
“It seems that all the men in your family like to put their hands in the same places.” She said to Landis as she dropped out of Jaylens arms onto the floor.
Landis thought that he actually saw his father blush.
The elf had more trouble pulling Natis through as the wizard was not as used to climbing as the thief had been.
“This is amazing.” Natis said as he looked about the room.
“More like horrifying.” Landis corrected.
“That too,” Natis responded. “But you have to admit that you do not discover such a historical find as this very often.”
The dungeon was huge. It spread out far enough that the four of them were certain that this had to be the lowest portion of the tunnel. Cages lined the walls in places. Some were open and others closed: Many of those complete with the remains of humans who may have died of starvation after the fall of the city.
“We should have tried to dig our way down here.” Jaylen spoke with sadness in his voice.
“You could not have known they were here.” Jandelie tried to comfort the elf.
They discovered the iron door to the dungeon still closed and bolted shut from the outside. But farther beyond the door at the end of the dungeon they found what they were looking for: Sitting towards the end of the vast room was a half buried wall. Dirt piled high on the three sides that they could see and the top was hidden from view. From the damage above them it was evident that this room had crashed down from above, breaking through the ceiling into the dungeon. The top of the door could be seen above the pile of dirt and rocks that lined the wall. Jaylen slithered up the pile, finding it secure enough to hold his weight. “The door opened inward. So all we need to do is dig down enough to force it open.”
Landis joined his father. With no other tools at their disposal they used their sword
s to dig several inches down into the dirt until the latch came into view.
“I hope this still works.” Jaylen said as he reached down and tugged on the handle.
The door opened a few inches then stopped as something inside blocked its path. Jaylen and Landis sat atop the pile and used their legs to shove the door until they had forced it opened far enough to slide inside. Then they eased their way into the room.
“Hand me the torch.” Landis called.
Jandellie slid through the doorway behind him, holding the torch in her hand. “You don’t think that I’m going to stay out there while you have all the fun do you?”
As they surveyed the room Natis climbed in behind them. “By the gods.” He said as he took in the spectacle before him.
The walls were blackened; charred by whatever magic Aaron had unleashed when he broke his staff. The floor was shattered below them. It looked as if the floor caved, dropping everything and everyone in the room first before the rest of the structure tore free and crashed down to join it. Jaylen observed that the current height of six or so feet was far shorter than what he remembered this chamber being, verifying that it had compressed in upon itself during the crash.
“There had to have been another chamber below for this to have happened.” Jaylen observed, “Otherwise the room should not have collapsed as such.”
Natis stooped over to avoid hitting his head on the damaged ceiling “Knowing how it happened means little now. Let’s find what we’re looking for and get out of here.”
It did not take much examination for Landis to spot something nearby in the rubble. A skeletal arm protruded from a pile of rubbish. Most of the finger bones of the hand were missing, having long ago fallen off into the pile below, but on the part of the arm that lay exposed the half-elf could see a silver bracelet. The silver had tarnished, but the large oval, red pearl embedded in the bracelet was as brilliant as the day it had been pulled from the sea.
Elf Lords: 01 - Pearls of the Elf Lords Page 8