The Legend Thief

by The Legend Thief (mobi)

  He cranked his head around and saw the rock tumble into a small air pocket directly behind them, and then the rock was lost amidst the dirt streaming through his and Rauschtlot's bodies. He realized he still had his eyes open. He shut them, but that felt worse.

  They dropped into a tunnel and sailed through the air.

  He caught a brief glimpse of the other Gnomon falling to his sides, and then Rauschtlot plunged into the tunnel floor without slowing. She spun and twirled, charging through the finer sediment and punching through rock, until Sky lost' all sense of direction.

  It was horrifying.

  Another tunnel, another glimpse of the others, and then through again.

  Earth crashed all around him and they moved fast, like an avalanche.

  Time passed; how long, Sky couldn't say. Just when he felt like he couldn't stand it anymore, they popped into a tunnel and Rauschtlot came to a sudden halt. She released his hands and Sky slid off, collapsing to the ground. He coughed out dirt and rocks and bits of things he couldn't even identify.

  The Gnomon carrying T-Bone, Andrew, and Hands dropped into the tunnel nearly a minute later. Sky stood and brushed himself off, emptying dirt from several unmentionable places.

  "Are you guys all right?" Sky croaked.

  T-Bone, Andrew, and Hands nodded, still hacking up dirt like cats with stubborn hairballs.

  The tunnel sloped down, the heat growing more and more intense as they ran. A green glowing fungus illuminated the walls, and Sky heard running water ahead. After a few minutes they reached a gargantuan tunnel. In several places water fell from the ceiling hundreds of feet up. It crashed into giant pools and raced along an underground river.

  Near the river Sky saw Bedlam's body, entombed in the hardened and waxy Chrysalis.

  Over three dozen Gossymer riders guarded the Chrysalis, along with two people Sky recognized all too well: Ambrosia the Whisper and Gourmand the Wargarou.

  "Rauschtlot, how close can you get to the Chrysalis before the Gossymers know you're there?" Sky asked. "Clossse," Rauschtlot hissed.

  Sky glanced around the tunnel, thinking.

  "Could you get Paragoth to come here without getting caught?" Sky asked.

  Rauschtlot examined him. "It isss unwissse."

  "Probably," said Sky.

  Rauschtlot hissed. Then she turned to the other Gnomon and spoke rapidly, telling them to get the Chrysalis while she found Paragoth. The Gnomon looked frightened. They grabbed T-Bone, Andrew, and Hands, and slung them onto their backs.

  Rauschtlot began to grab Sky, but he stopped her. "No, not me. Get me on the way back. Paragoth first. I have a feeling we'll need the distraction."

  "Sky, what are you doing?" T-Bone asked.

  "Paragoth is our double bogey if things don't work out," said Sky. "She might give us a chance to escape if things go bad." "The double bogey .. . that's the super-high-risk secondary plan, right?" Hands asked.

  "Look, get the Chrysalis and leave. Rauschtlot will pick me up on the way out," said Sky. "If anything happens to separate us, I'll meet you up top by the Finger of Erachnus."

  "Idiot," said Hands. "You're going to get yourself kill-" The Gnomon dove into the ground, and Hands’ mouth was promptly filled with dirt.

  "Be sssafe, Sssky," Rauschtlot hissed. And then she too was gone, leaving Sky alone.

  He took a deep breath, waited a minute for them to get into position, and stepped from cover.

  "Ambrosia! Gourmand!" Sky yelled as he slid down the side of the tunnel and strode toward the river. "Morton didn't tell me I'd find you two down here!"

  The Gossymers leaped forward, quickly surrounding him. The ground shook, and something horrible trumpeted far down the tunnel, causing Sky's bones to tremble and making him seriously reconsider the advisability of his plan.

  While everyone's attention was diverted, Sky saw Bedlam's Chrysalis disappear into the ground.

  Ambrosia narrowed her eyes as Sky approached. "Sky Weathers. Most unexpected." Gourmand growled at him.

  "It appears you've upset Gourmand," said Ambrosia. "If he loses control, it'll take me a week to coax him back into that form, so please don't do anything stupid."

  Gourmand's eyes flashed red.

  "No, I won't. I will only do smart things from now on," said Sky.

  "Patience, Gourmand. What is it, precisely, that you want, Sky?" Ambrosia asked.

  "Morton sent me down to collect Bedlam's body-I'm his apprentice now," said Sky. "Honestly, you'd think he would've mentioned that you two were in charge, but I suppose he didn't realize that we knew each other."

  "I hope you didn't spend too long coming up with that terrible story," said Ambrosia.

  "Not too long," said Sky. "Would you believe I got lost? Because I did. If you two could just point me in the right direction ... Oh, wait-I think I see it way over there. Well ..."Sky yawned and stretched. "I should probably be off, then."

  Sky started walking away, but Gourmand was suddenly in front of him, growling, the Wargarou's mouth full of pointy teeth.

  Sky backed away.

  "Now, Sky," Ambrosia chastised, "was that a smart thing?"

  The ground trembled and then split apart. The Gnomon burst out, like water from a geyser, and collapsed to the ground, bleeding and battered. Two dozen Gossymer riders poured through next, carrying Bedlam's Chrysalis, as well as T-Bone, Hands, and Andrew, whom they threw to the ground. "You didn't really think I'd be so unprepared, did you?" said Ambrosia.

  The ground continued to shake.

  "Not really," said Sky. He studied Ambrosia. "Why are you trying to free the Arkhon?"

  "Because he's my father," Ambrosia replied tartly. "If I locked up your father unjustly, wouldn't you try to free him?" "But what if he isn't your father?" Sky asked.

  "You mean because he's Solomon Rose?" Ambrosia retorted, raising an eyebrow.

  "You know?"

  Ambrosia waved her hand dismissively. "My father has been telling the hunters that lie for years, and it's finally paid off. We've finally found one stupid enough to believe him."

  "Morton's not stupid," said Sky. "Solomon stole your father's body. If you open the prison, you will free the hunter who might have killed him."

  Ambrosia frowned. "Nice try. But you're not going to win me over that easily."

  "I don't need to win you over," said Sky. ''I've got a double bogey."

  The rumbling grew louder and louder. Ambrosia glanced up the tunnel. "What have you done, Sky?"

  "Something stupid, I think."

  The Gnomon climbed to their feet, looking nervous.

  Far down the tunnel, where it curved, the glowing fungus began to wink out, the light disappearing.

  Just then Rauschtlot shot out of the ground next to the Chrysalis. Sky leaped onto her back, dodging past Gourmand. Rauschtlot snatched the Chrysalis, holding it under one arm.

  The strange fungal lights went out.

  The injured Gnomon grabbed T-Bone, Andrew, and Hands, and ran for the river.

  There was a scream of rage, and then Gourmand shifted into a giant wolf like creature of tusks, swirling fire, and dark­ ness. The ground rumbled. Paragoth shrieked from somewhere up the cavernous tunnel, and the Wargarou answered with a terrible roar.

  With a backward glance, Sky saw Ambrosia jump onto a Gossymer, throwing a Harrow Wight from its back.

  Sky darted for the river with Rauschtlot.

  Harrow Wights and Gossymers burst into flame.

  Sky and Rauschtlot shoved Bedlam's Chrysalis into the river and grabbed hold. The other Gnomon dove in after them, latching on as well. The enormous tunnel curved behind them, hiding Paragoth, but Sky saw wisps of darkness and a horrifying shadow as large as the gargantuan tunnel itself, and then they turned a bend and the river whisked them away.

  Gossymer riders rushed along the riverbanks with Ambrosia in the lead.

  Sky heard a new type of rumbling. "Waterfall!" Andrew screamed. "Dive! Now!" Sky yelled.

  The waterf
all came into view, and the Gnomon abandoned the Chrysalis and dove just before reaching it.

  They found the river bottom and kept diving, burrowing into the earth. Water rushed in behind them. Down they went, and down again, ‘down, down, a hundred yards or more, all the way to the bottom, and when they reached it, they shot under the falls and back into the river.

  The earth under the waterfall, weakened by burrowing, slipped away and millions of tons of rock cascaded down into the river, creating a tidal wave.

  Far away, Sky heard the Wargarou roaring and the shrieks of Paragoth as they fought, but as the wave crashed down, he fixed his eyes on Bedlam's Chrysalis ahead and clung to Rauschtlot.

  The tidal wave smashed down on him, yanking him from Rauschtlot's back. He tumbled in the surf, struggling to breathe as water leaked through his earth-breathing pores and filled his mouth.

  And then he felt Rauschtlot's four-fingered hand grab his waist. They slammed into the riverbed, through it, and then popped out on the riverbank. Sky coughed and hacked up lungful’s of dirty brown water.

  Rauschtlot dove back in, reappearing a moment later with Bedlam's Chrysalis.

  There was no sign of T-Bone, Andrew, Hands, or any of the other Gnomon.

  "W-w-where are they?" Sky gasped. He heard scuttling behind him. The ground trembled. He looked over, hoping to find his friends.

  "We mussst go, Changeling," Rauschtlot hissed. "But...”

  Without waiting, Rauschtlot grabbed him and threw him on her back. Sky heard a sucking sound as little mouths on Rauschtlot's four-toed feet glommed onto Bedlam's Chrysalis.

  Then they plunged into the earth, dragging the Chrysalis behind them just as dozens of Gossymers exploded from the ground.

  They rushed through the earth. Rauschtlot spun and twisted. Gossymers darted past, raking at Rauschtlot and Sky with sharp legs.

  Sky sensed the waterfall nearby and they raced upward.

  But the Chrysalis slowed them, and Rauschtlot only had her arms to dig with. More and more Gossymers circled.

  A terrible wailing shook the earth below and Gossymers charged in, slamming down on Sky from above.

  Sky caught a brief glimpse of Ambrosia smiling from the back of a Gossymer, and then Rauschtlot dropped and they were falling, falling, falling through the roof of the gigantic tunnel. Water streamed down from the ceiling around them, and into the river far, far below.

  A whip of fire and darkness flashed past. Sky glanced right and his mind seized, for there was Paragoth, the earth eater, monstrous, dark, vaguely Gnomon-shaped, bits of rock crack­ ling from her skin, lava flowing like hair, mouths everywhere, gray skin seeping fire.

  They fell past, tendrils of darkness and mouths within mouths shooting out like tongues, crashing through earth, deep, deep, leaving holes where they devoured. Tongue-mouths licking and fretting, slipping past above, below, everywhere Sky looked, just missing as they fell, writhing shapes and flaming outs shooting by.

  Fiery whips from the Wargarou tangled with Paragoth's tendrils, lashing and ripping. The two fought, smashing and tearing at each other.

  Sky's brain shut down, and he clung to Rauschtlot, gibbering and crying.

  Gossyrners fell all around them, silk streamers trailing behind like parachutes, and Paragoth smashed and swatted them like flies.

  With arms spread out, Rauschtlot angled for an open tunnel going straight down.

  They fell through. Sky rotated just so and slammed his chest against Rauschtlot's back, activating the protective Shimmer just before they crashed into the shaft. They rolled, flopping and flailing, to a stop. Even with the Shimmer, it felt to Sky as if every bone in his body had snapped, but his erfskin, and the Gnomon resilience that came from it, were still working.

  Rauschtlot grabbed the Chrysalis under one arm and started running.

  Paragoth's mouths plunged through earth, shooting past them, just missing time and time again.

  Rauschtlot dove into a wall, grabbed the Chrysalis with her feet, and they were swimming through the loam.

  Ten minutes later they emerged from the earth, battered and torn, and in entirely the wrong place.

  Chapter 29: Slippery Wick Brew

  “We’re under the manor,” Sky croaked after coughing the dirt from his lungs. “I realized this place—the tunnel that collapsed the night I became a Changeling.”

  Sky jumped up and drew the shimmering blade. He stepped toward Bedlam’s Chrysalis. He found a thin opening on top, large enough for the blade. He slid the blade in, but nothing happened.

  He still had no idea how to open the Chrysalis.

  "The Fffinger is overunnn," Rauschtlot hissed, her body bleeding and torn. "I .. . mussst ... rrr ..."

  Rauschtlot slumped to the ground, her skin turning bright white.

  Sky dropped his shimmering blade and fell next to her.

  "Rauschtlot? Rauschtlot!"

  She didn't move. She didn't breathe. She just lay there, still as the earth.

  Sky collapsed back against the wall, the horror of all that had happened finally catching up to him. He cried, his body rattling with heavy sobs.

  He'd failed everyone. Crystal was going to die. Exile was going to burn.

  Above, the manor rumbled.

  "I can't do this anymore," Sky whimpered. "I just can't." Then he heard something at the far end of the tunnel, where the ceiling had collapsed. He leaped to his feet, wiping his tears away.

  He tried to activate his Pounder, but nothing happened. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that the Pounder, along with most of his new cloak and gear, had been shredded to bits. Only Phineas’ old coat remained.

  Dirt poured out of a small hole in the wall. Rocks shifted. Sky backed down the tunnel.

  The hole got bigger and bigger, and Sky could hear voices coming through.

  A moment later Winston Snavely tumbled out of the hole. "Phineas?" Sky exclaimed, hardly believing his eyes.

  "It's Sky!" Phineas yelled back into the hole. He turned back to Sky, holding out his hand. "Come along now. Quickly." Sky heard a noise directly above him, and before he could move, a Gossymer crashed through the ceiling, landing on top of him.

  "Sky!" Phineas cried.

  "I bury you in one place and dig you up in another," said Morton Thresher as he grabbed Sky roughly and threw him in front of Ambrosia on the Gossymer before climbing back on. "Up we go!"

  Sky caught a fleeting glimpse of his shimmering blade, lying useless on the ground, and Phineas rushing toward them, and then they were up and gone, appearing amidst the chaos in the yard outside the manor. Storm clouds swirled above and lightning crashed down, but the monsters that had been trapped in the prison slept on. Sky, Morton, and Ambrosia had arrived far back from the manor, just inside the glowing stained glass wall that marked the boundary of Solomon's prison.

  Ambrosia shoved Sky off the Gossymer and he tumbled hard to the ground, then rolled to his back.

  "Give you a hand there, mate?"

  Sky looked up and saw Chase smiling hesitantly down at him, offering his hand.

  Sky ignored it and stood. "Thanks. I can get up on my own."

  "I can see that," Chase replied.

  "Keep an eye on him," said Morton. The Gossymer carrying Morton and Ambrosia shot back into the ground. "Will do," said Chase.

  Sky noticed Crenshaw and a small group of Morton's hunters hovering a short distance away. Crenshaw gave Sky a sour look before turning his attention back to the distant manor.

  "What's going on?" Sky asked, loud enough to be heard over the roaring storm, but not loud enough for Morton's hunters to hear.

  "Pendulum's not degrading," Chase replied. "Should've stopped some time ago, but Winston's keeping it going some­ how. They've blocked off the house-giant Shimmer, I think. No one can get near it. It only just dropped when you arrived."

  "So Morton and Ambrosia are burrowing into the manor," said Sky.

  Chase tapped his nose. "Spot on, mate."

  "Sometime you
and I need to have a little talk about not burying your mates, mate," said Sky.

  "Couldn't be helped. Here, take this." Chase handed Sky a small vial.

  "What is it?"

  "Something to help you survive," Chase replied.

  Sky frowned. The last time someone he knew had drunk an unknown liquid, he'd lost his memory. On the plus side, Derek had forgotten having kissed Hannah, so maybe it wasn't all bad.