"I'm ready." Kale glanced back at his sister and the other draks. "I think we should rest a minute though." He worried about the other golems. An enemy unseen was more dangerous than the ones seen. He hoped Volos was far, far away from the mine. Maybe he was out at a tavern when that last storm hit. He's probably still there, getting drunk off warm ale in his belly. Warm ale sounds good.
"Let's go, Kale." Delilah dismissed his look of concern with a wave of her hand. "When I pass out after we're back at the palace, just leave me alone for a few days, and don't draw funny faces on me like you did last time."
Kale was more concerned about his sister falling unconscious from exhaustion before they returned to the palace.
"Pass out?" Kali looked from twin to twin. "Why is she going to pass out?"
"I'm not!"
"If she pushes herself too hard, uses too much magic at once, it exhausts her. Wizards can burn themselves out completely." He tapped his temple. "Messes them up in here, too."
Delilah shoved her brother. "I'm not going to overdo it that much. Let's get going. If we run into this Volos guy, just hit him with your bad breath."
Kali knotted her brow and then stretched. "All right, I'll go first. Delilah, bring the rest. Kale, bring up the rear." She didn't wait for a response before running out into the main hall. After a few moments, Delilah led the rest of the draks. They loped along behind her, much more slowly than Kale would have liked. He bounced from foot to foot waiting for the last to pass him and then followed at the end of the line.
From the bottom, the main cavern was even more impressive than from the catwalk at the top. He had to strain to see the wooden walkway from which they first entered, and it seemed the clouds were thicker than on the night they first scouted the mine. Not even Deep Road was large enough to have clouds, at least not the parts Kale knew about. In the distance, he heard the click-clack of one of the crystal golems on its patrol.
As he ran, his eyes searched the walls of the cavern for signs of the golem. Kali and Delilah were already across, safe in the corridor that led to the lower level. Half of the other draks were safely across. Kale finally spotted the golem as he dove for the corridor's entrance. It was high on the wall, halfway across the cavern. When he stuck his head back out to look, he saw that it moved away.
He turned and stopped in his tracks. Several of the draks cradled a loved one in their arms, weeping. Kali was on her knees in front of her father. The old drak was on the ground, wheezing and gasping. She shook her head, pleading with him.
"No, we've come so far! I promised I'd get you out. I promised!" She leaned over and pulled his head into her lap. He reached up with a shaky claw to stroke her cheek.
"You must… leave me, Kali. I tried to… be strong. I won't make it now."
"We'll rest here for a moment. Catch your breath. I promised you I would get you out of here!"
"You… did." His arm dropped away from her face. With one last shuddering breath, he lay still.
The drak who gave Kale the daggers knelt next to her. He stroked her arm. "The run was too taxing for many of them."
She looked up at him, her red-rimmed eyes flashing in the light. "It was the only way. If we'd lingered, a golem would've spotted us."
"No one is contesting that. They're old. The mines are harsh. Many of these draks were waiting in those cages to die. Because of you, they died free."
Delilah stepped over to Kale and put her arms around him. They watched in silence as the draks laid their loved ones side-by-side, spending one final moment with them. Kali nuzzled her father and crossed his arms over his chest and then stood. A line of blood stained a slash across her legs where her father had lain.
"Let's finish this."
Kale squeezed his sister. "Right."
The stairs leading to the lower level were not far. Carved into the rock they surrounded a central shaft containing a lift and pulley system similar to the one they saw the first time they tried to enter the mines. Kali explained the lift was for the ores they mined and stated using it would be too noisy.
The stairs were just wide enough for the draks to proceed and feel secure. Kale couldn't imagine how a human or minotaur could navigate them without falling to their death. As they approached the bottom, Kale heard the sounds of picks on rocks.
"Come on, lizards! I want to see those scales bleed!" The guttural voice punctuated his words with the crack of a whip. Kale darted forward, running into the chamber from which he heard the sound. Five draks hammered away at the rock on various ledges while a tall human paced, cracking his whip for emphasis. He wiped his glistening bald head with a dirty rag before turning on his heel to pace the other direction.
He saw Kale and cracked his whip as a gap-toothed grin spread across his face. "Well, well. Here's a new one. Come to make troub—"
The human's grin fell as the other draks turned the corner. The tide of draks cut him off mid-scream as they fell upon him in a rush of picks, shovels, teeth, and claws. The draks on the wall turned their picks and hammers on their shackles and chains when they saw the drak mob beat down their tormentor.
Kali helped free the chained draks from their restraints. She climbed up on one of the ledges. "Behold the Firescale clan. Free at last!"
Cheers and applause rose from the assembled draks. Kale felt a swell of pride in his chest. He felt that for the first time in his life, he did something important. Something good. Their revelry was cut short by mocking laughter and slow, deliberate clapping from high above them.
On a platform overlooking the room stood a red-skinned man in gleaming, golden armor. His black hair, pulled back, revealed a pair of twisted horns which rose from his temples.
"Very good. Very good. Be proud. You've disrupted my mine." He leaned forward, placing his hands on the railing of his platform. "Where will the people get their salt? You probably don't even know all the things it's used for."
"How dare you act the victim!" Kali balled her fists, glaring up at Volos. "You've enslaved the Firescale—"
"Oh please. These draks are paying their debt to me. Elantan the Grim made a legally-binding contract with me—"
"Three hundred years ago!"
Volos laughed, wagging his finger at her. "The debt is not repaid. I pay every worker here."
A drak stepped forward from the crowd. "You pay us pennies and then charge us talons for food and equipment!"
Cries of "Robber!" "Slavers!" "Gods-cursed fiendling!" rose from the crowd. Volos's jovial facade fell away.
"Get back to work, or I will have you all killed!"
Delilah climbed up on the ledge with her brother. "We're taking these draks away from you. We owe you no debt, and from what we've seen and heard, none of these draks do, either. Anyone who did died long ago."
"The terms of the repayment were clear: all generations will be indebted to me until the debt is paid. No matter. You had your chance." Volos pulled a thick rod from his belt. Kale heard the familiar click-clack of approaching golems.
The draks near the stairs shouted in alarm. They pushed into the room, scrambling to get away from the approaching crystal golems. Kale jumped and flapped his wings, but still lacked the strength to truly fly. He landed on the ledge where Kali stood.
She grabbed his hand. "Thanks… for trying."
* * *
Delilah swore under her breath as Kale leaped into the air and failed to fly. She observed the smug fiendling directing his crystal golems from on high as they butchered the draks nearest the stairs. Both Kale and Kali leapt into the fray with their daggers, pulling weaker draks away from the spindly legs of the golems, and slashing at the crystalline monsters in an attempt to hold them at bay.
She tapped the butt of her staff against the ground and pulled strands of magic together. They swirled around her like an azure tornado. "Synnefotone shifone!"
Delilah willed the cloud of whirling blades into existence right behind Volos. The fiendling jumped in alarm as he realized his escape route w
as blocked. Delilah continued drawing on her magic. The room shifted out of focus, and blackness crept in at the edges of her vision. She shook her head, attempting to clear her sight and pointed her staff at Volos's platform.
"Ophayra!"
A ball of fire streaked forth from her staff, impacting the bottom of the platform. The explosion shook the room, cracking the stone supports that held the platform in place. Fire danced along the bottom, burning the wood and filling the top of the chamber with smoke. Salt dust rained down from the ceiling, stinging her eyes.
Through the haze, Delilah saw draks hacking and chipping away at the golems with their mining tools. They were made for digging through stone, and the taste of freedom so close lent the miners strength enough to damage the golems. She squeezed her eyes shut as a wave of blackness passed over her, threatening to steal her consciousness. She gritted her teeth, opened her eyes, and focused on the platform again.
"Ophayra!"
Delilah sent another fireball rocketing toward the platform. The impact and explosion shattered the wooden flooring, sending flaming splinters flying. Volos screamed and plummeted. He smashed into the back of the golem occupying Kale and Kali before bouncing off to the ground, where he lay unmoving. Delilah allowed herself a smile and staggered toward him, leaning on her staff for support. Several of the older draks saw their opportunity and surrounded the still-twitching form of Volos. They blocked him from Delilah's sight, but she didn't need to see him to know what half-a-dozen draks with picks and hammers flailing away would do to him.
Kale and Kali maneuvered the golem they fought into a corner. Kale unleashed dragonfire in its face, while draks clung to its legs, holding them in place to keep it from impaling her brother. The rest of the draks continued to attack the other golem as if it were a rich vein of ore and freedom was the wealth they sought to acquire.
Delilah slipped, tumbling off the ledge. Her staff skittered across the floor, kicked along the way by the dozens of draks dodging golem attacks. She crawled in a feeble attempt to reach it, but stopped when her hand closed on a hard, cylindrical object: Volos's focus.
She felt the power coursing through the rod. Holding it in her hand, she pushed herself upright, sitting back against the wall. When she closed her eyes, she saw through the eyes of the golems as they skittered here and there, attempting to stab and kick the scampering draks. Her view shifted, and she saw another golem advancing down the stairs, scurrying to join its brethren against the draks.
Her vision clouded. The draks fighting in front of her were vague shapes fighting in the mist. Squeezing her eyes, she poured all her thoughts, all her remaining strength into the rod. Stop. Sleep.
* * *
Kale grunted as the golem's leg caught him across the midsection. He snapped his mouth shut to keep his dragonfire from burning the draks clinging to the leg as it shoved him across the room. He tumbled and rolled into Kali's legs, knocking the female over on top of him. Flaming debris showered down on them from above, and Kale spread his wings as a canopy to protect them.
The golem raised its leg, intent on driving it through the two draks, then shuddered, and stopped. It stepped back and lowered itself, folding up its legs alongside it.
The draks cheered. Kali rolled off Kale and helped him to his feet. The other golem was still, as well. He picked up his daggers off the ground as his eyes scanned the room. Many draks, a third of their total number lay dead or bleeding. The tang of blood mixed with the salty scent of the air and created an unpleasant, acrid taste in Kale's mouth.
"Hey, do you see Deli?" He stopped short, almost stepping in a ruined pile of fiendling. Kale gagged and looked away, giving the mound of beaten flesh a wide berth. He saw Delilah sitting against the wall, her head lolling.
"Deli!" Kale ran over to his sister, skidding to a stop and falling to his knees at her side. Although her eyes were closed, a smile spread across her face.
"Go 'way. Sleep now."
"Deli! We did it! The golems stopped attacking! We won!" He shook Delilah in an attempt to rouse her; yet, he knew she was probably weary from expending so much power during the fight.
She pushed him away and held up Volos's rod. "I did it. Go 'way."
Kale laughed and stood up. Kali stood behind him, tears leaving dark trails on her cheeks. She snatched him up in a bear hug, lifting him off the ground and spinning him around. Her touch ignited a fire in him, a warmth he rarely felt. He returned the hug, and they held their embrace until a drak behind them coughed.
The drak who gave Kale his new daggers held Delilah's staff. One of the skull's teeth was missing. "I believe your sister lost this."
Kale took the staff from the drak. "She'll be thankful you found it."
"Paz." Kali pulled the stout drak into a hug. "We did it."
He nodded. "Perhaps." He held her arms and smiled at her, and then looked at Kale. "We still must lead everyone out of the mines. Your sister, is she…?"
Paz left the question unspoken.
Kale glanced over his shoulder at Delilah. "She just needs rest. I don't think she's hurt."
"We'll help her." Kali took Kale's hand. "There shouldn't be any more guards, right?"
Paz rubbed his arms and chewed his lip. "I think we took care of all of them, but it's hard to say for certain. We shouldn't linger. I don't trust that the crystal golems are truly dormant."
"Deli said she stopped them." Kale pulled Kali over to Delilah's sleeping form. He knelt and lifted her arm. "She has that fiendling's rod." He tried to pull the rod out of her fingers, but even in her sleep, she kept a tight hold on it.
"I do not know how such wizardry works. We should leave quickly, at any rate." Paz looked around the room as the draks bound their wounds and tended to their dead and dying. "Our people's strength may fail if we give them a chance to rest now." He rubbed his belly. "Though, perhaps if we could find the food stores, we might be able to linger there long enough to restore some strength, hmm?"
Kali squeezed Kale's hand. "I'll scout around, see what I can find. If they have the strength, see if they can climb up, back to the main chamber."
Kale nodded and shook Delilah again. "I'll lead them up."
Paz picked up Delilah and threw her over his shoulder. Kale took her staff, and they led the surviving draks back to the stairs. The third golem was on its back, crumpled up in the well at the center of the stairs. The draks cast furtive glances at it as they passed. Kale's gaze returned to the draks they left behind. Kale did not like the idea of abandoning the dead, but they didn't have the resources to take them along for a proper burial.
The other draks noticed Kale's lingering glances at the dead. One of the older females laid her head on Kale's shoulder. "Grieve for them, but do not concern yourself with their empty shells. They reside with Rannos now. This place is their tomb, but not their final resting place."
Kali waited for them at the top. She chewed on a strip of dried meat. "I found their larder. No wonder these humans are fat. There's more than enough for all of us." She showed the group the way, across the main cavern, underneath the tunnel by which she and the drak twins entered the mine.
With Paz's help, Kali distributed the contents of the larder, cautioning the draks against eating too much, too fast. Kale forced himself not to wolf down his ration in front of the other draks. After he ate, he roused Delilah.
"Time to eat, Deli. You have to wake up enough to travel. You can sleep all you want when we get back to the palace."
She glared at him with half-closed eyes. "Can't we just stay here until morning? Pancras won't miss us."
Kale pressed a strip of dried meat into her hand. Despite her protests, Delilah ate it. Kale made sure she ate a second piece and then helped her up and passed her staff to her. She shoved the rod into her pouch, securing the cover as best she could to keep it from falling out.
The journey back up through the mine tunnels and corridors was devoid of excitement. The weary draks followed Paz and Kali and left the tun
nels of salt behind. Kale recognized that they did not return by the same route they entered the mine. Snippets of overheard conversation between Paz and Kali indicated this was the route by which they were supposed to arrive, had they not been chased by the ill-tempered apparition and his ghoul minions.
Kale dreaded re-entering the catacombs for that very reason and hoped Kali would lead them back some other way, even if it meant spending a few days away from the palace. Deli can always send Pancras a message to let him know we're all right.
The upper levels were noticeably cooler than the bottom of the mine. At a word from Paz, small groups of draks split off from the main group. When the last group split off to head for their safe house, Paz and Kali clasped arms.
"Thank you, cousin. We'll have a few drinks soon."
Kali pulled Paz into a hug. "We will, as soon as the streets are clear enough." With a start, she pulled him around and pushed him away. Kale saw the translucent form of the spectral knight pass through the tunnel wall. He brandished his spear and advanced toward the draks.
Kale looked at the daggers in his hands. They seemed woefully inadequate, and fire seemed to have little effect on the apparition.
Delilah groaned. "Not him again."
* * *
Delilah hoped she possessed enough energy to create one last distraction so they could flee the apparition. If nothing else, the evening's adventure taught her that she possessed the power but not the diversity for the terrors of the wider world. The most powerful destructive magic she knew barely scratched the crystal golems, and apparently, the most she had accomplished against the specter was to annoy it.
Paz brandished a sword he took from the dead guards, but Delilah knew it would do no good. He looked over his shoulder at her. "I hope you have some tricks under your scales for this thing."
"This foe is beyond me." Delilah hated admitting that. "Run."
"What?"
"Run!"
She grabbed him by the arm and fled, trusting her brother and Kali would follow. The apparition cursed in its ancient language and gave chase.
Malediction (Scars of the Sundering Book 1) Page 25