by Kyra Halland
Carden paced. The four miners still in the cavern went on digging. The heaps of ore grew. Finally Gobby said, “Hey, Boss? Raydold an’ Mumit an’ Dinch all went out a while back to take a piss an’ none of ’em has come back yet.”
Carden stopped in his tracks and looked around, a look of confused irritation on his face as though he had been interrupted in the middle of great and important thoughts. “Go see what’s taking them so long,” he snapped at Gobby.
“Damn sheepknockers,” one of the remaining miners said.
“Ain’t no sheep down here, so maybe they’s knocking each other,” another one said. All four miners laughed.
“Be right back, boss.” Gobby went into the tunnel. Before he could have gone more than about ten steps, a distinct gasp and thud came from the tunnel.
“What –?” Carden exclaimed.
Mr. Vendine ran into the cavern, revolver in hand. He fired three shots before the three remaining miners could draw their own guns, and they fell, bleeding from their chests. As he spun, firing, his eyes briefly caught Lainie’s. A shock went through her at what she saw in them. He was glad to see her, and more than glad –
Before she could think about what it meant, Mr. Vendine came to a stop and aimed his gun, now glowing blue, at Carden. She braced herself for another violent magical explosion.
Carden laughed. “That toy didn’t work last time. What makes you think it’ll work now?”
The glow around Mr. Vendine’s gun brightened. “I wasn’t taking you seriously before. I’m serious now.”
He pulled the trigger. A streak of blue light shot towards Carden. An arm-length away from Carden, the light hit an invisible barrier and flattened out, spreading across it. The light disappeared, and Carden flung his right hand forward. A blast of dark orange light, thickly threaded with black, knocked Mr. Vendine backwards even as he fired at Carden again.
No magic came from the gun this time. Carden shouted in pain and grabbed his right shoulder as a red stain started spreading across his shirt. Carden couldn’t protect himself and attack at the same time, Lainie realized, but letting down his shield so that he could attack left him vulnerable. He must have expected Mr. Vendine to need time to recover from that magical shot, so he had let his barrier down briefly in order to make his own attack, giving Mr. Vendine the chance to shoot him with a regular bullet.
Carden threw another, weaker, blast of magic at Mr. Vendine, who dodged it. Then the renegade turned and ran into one of the tunnels that led from the cavern deeper into the mountain.
Mr. Vendine ran after Carden. Lainie stumbled to her feet, her legs stiff and aching. She glanced at the tunnel leading up out of the cavern to freedom, then turned the other way and followed Mr. Vendine. She wasn’t sure how much help she could be, but at least she could make it two to one against Carden, and she could deal with the Sh’kimech better than Mr. Vendine could.
Except for the blue light from Mr. Vendine’s hand and gun, the tunnel was pitch black. It looked to be completely lined with Sh’kimech ore. As the tunnel rose and dipped and twisted and turned, Carden came in and out of sight, a faint silhouette up ahead on the very edge of the magical blue glow. His own dark orange light had gone out. His running footsteps echoed along with Lainie’s and Mr. Vendine’s in a confusing jumble of sound. In the distance, Lainie heard him stumble and curse. A moment later, she tripped on the uneven ground herself, scraping her left hand and knee on the rough ore that covered the floor of the tunnel. She scrambled to her feet again and kept running.
Carden’s silhouette disappeared again, and didn’t come back into view. Mr. Vendine ran on to where he had vanished from sight, then stopped. Lainie came up behind him. The tunnel they were in took a sharp turn to the right, and a second tunnel branched off to the left. Footsteps echoed through the tunnels, but it was hard to tell where they were coming from. “Where’d he go?” she asked, her voice a bare whisper.
Mr. Vendine squatted down and examined the scuff marks left by running feet on the ground. She crouched beside him to have a look. He jerked his head to the left, down the branch tunnel. “That way.” He started reloading his revolver with bullets from his gunbelt. “You understand that I might not be able to protect you and fight him at the same time,” he said in a low voice.
“I know,” Lainie whispered back. “I want to help you. He’s being controlled by the Sh’kimech – the ore. I fought them back before, when they were in my mind. Maybe I can help fight them now.”
He took her right hand and examined her swollen wrist. Without saying anything, he pulled a bandana from a pocket of his duster and wrapped her wrist firmly but not too tight. “Better?” he asked.
The gentle pressure eased the pain and offered some support. “Yeah. Thanks.” She looked at him in the blue light from his hand, and he met her eyes again. There was concern there, but also admiration, and warmth filled her heart at the sight. She smiled at him, and he gave her a quick grin in return. Then he stood and headed into the tunnel Carden had gone down.
This tunnel twisted and turned as well, and was pitched even more steeply up and down. From far ahead, Carden cursed some more. Lainie couldn’t begin to guess where they were in relation to the cavern, the canyon, and the rest of the mountains. She could only sense the dark, massive weight of the mountain above them and the Sh’kimech all around them, concerned that their willing servant might be destroyed.
Carden wasn’t fighting alone, Lainie realized. The Sh’kimech would be fighting as well, to protect their servant. She could only hope that she and Mr. Vendine were strong enough to defeat both enemies.
Chapter 14
CARDEN LED THEM up and down through more turnings and branchings of the tunnel. Lainie wondered if he was running blind or if the Sh’kimech were drawing him along as they had her. She was so hungry and sore and tired that she didn’t know how she could go on. But she couldn’t let Carden be taken over by the Sh’kimech and find his way back out into the world above ground, and Mr. Vendine couldn’t fight both the Sh’kimech and Carden by himself, so she pushed herself to keep going.
Finally, the tunnel opened into another large cavern. The farthest walls and the ceiling lay in shadow beyond the reach of Mr. Vendine’s blue mage light. A dark orange light bloomed to reveal Carden frantically pacing along the ore-covered walls, searching for a way out. There was no other opening in the cavern; it was a dead end.
Mr. Vendine moved to block the entrance. “Give it up, Carden,” he said. “You know you’re not in control of that power. It’s controlling you.”
Carden spun around and fired a blast of dark orange magic marbled with black. Mr. Vendine dove aside, firing his gun. Carden staggered back, clutching his left arm, as the orange power hit the rock around the tunnel entrance and exploded. With a grinding roar, the opening collapsed into a pile of black ore and underlying rock. Mr. Vendine rolled out from the resulting cloud of dust and fired a blue bolt from his gun. Carden ducked away, and the attack barely missed him. More orange blasts alternated in quick succession with bullets and shots of blue magic from Mr. Vendine’s revolver. The fight drove the men around the edges of the cavern until they stood directly opposite each other, Carden to Lainie’s left and Mr. Vendine to her right.
Lainie reached out with her magical senses. Carden’s shield was in place again, nearly invisible to her eyes, dark roiling orange mixed with the cold, heavy black of the Sh’kimech. Mr. Vendine was unshielded. Was he too brave to hide behind a shield? Too confident, or too cocky? Or did he just not want to be limited in his ability to act, as Carden was? With no shields blocking him, she could feel his power, a deep, rich blue, firmly rooted within him, vibrant and strong but held in well-disciplined check. A deep stab of yearning hit her, to have the same command over her own power. Would it be possible without giving up everything she loved, everything she was?
The two men stood at a stalemate, neither one able to attack while Carden had his protective shield in place but also with nowhere else
to run. Attacking Carden to trick him into letting down his shield probably wouldn’t work again. Mr. Vendine reloaded his revolver, but made no other move.
Lainie watched as though paralyzed; the only other movement in the cavern seemed to be the pounding of her own heart. If she moved at all, she was afraid that she might distract Mr. Vendine and give Carden an opening.
At the edge of her attention, the Sh’kimech clamored in alarm. Their servant was having trouble defeating his enemy. They couldn’t permit him to lose. It was time for them to take a more active role in this battle. With her mage senses, and almost with her physical vision, Lainie saw tendrils of darkness seeping up from the ore-encrusted floor of the cavern and winding around Carden’s and Mr. Vendine’s legs. The Sh’kimech intended to give additional strength to their servant and keep the other from being able to fight back.
Lainie dropped to her knees and pressed her palms flat against the ground. She had pushed the Sh’kimech back before. She was the one they called Sister. She was the only one who could stop this. Sh’kimech! she bellowed in her mind.
Freezing pain shot up her arms and flowed through her bones and blood vessels, chilling her belly and loins, seizing her heart and lungs. The dark weight of the Sh’kimech’s malign presence blanketed her spirit. Far in the distance, she heard a man cry out in fury and agony, and another man’s laughter, followed by a magical explosion.
Sister, our triumph is near! the Sh’kimech exulted. The surface of our world will be cleansed. Join your life-force to us and rule with us forever! The force of their eagerness pulled at her, drawing her into the darkness with them.
No! She bore down against the Sh’kimech with all her strength. Sh’kimech! Listen to me! Such force and desperation filled the command that she shouted it out loud, the words feeling odd and harsh in her mouth.
Beyond the darkness that surrounded her, in the physical world, the cavern shook with another burst of magic, and another, and another. I may be your Sister, she shouted at the Sh’kimech, but I won’t submit to you! I order you to listen to me!
You are like us, they argued. You belong with us. Be our hands. Share your life-force with us, and take our power into yourself. As our servant, you may remain in your body and walk under the sun, but you will be more powerful than any other. The force of their will bore down on Lainie as though every particle of ore in all the caverns and tunnels was piled on top of her.
No. With all her strength, she pushed away their offer of power and unending life. As she strove harder against the Sh’kimech, a deep rose-colored glow came awake inside of her. Her magic flowed through her, adding its strength to her will. I understand what you’re offering me, she said. But I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I reject it.
The Sh’kimech halted in their advance. They raged at her, frustrated and offended, but she held firm. I don’t want it. And I won’t allow you to harm him. Leave him alone!
Her rejection, backed up by the force of her will and her magic, was absolute. Beneath it, unable to claim power over her, the Sh’kimech retreated.
The floor of the cavern became solid again beneath Lainie’s hands and knees. Her vision cleared, revealing the rubble-strewn cavern and Carden and Mr. Vendine, both dirty, bleeding, and heaving with breathless exhaustion. Lainie’s own lungs suddenly sucked in a huge breath, and she wondered if she had breathed at all during the entire battle with the Sh’kimech. The dark beings had gone quiet, but a vibration on the edge of her awareness told her they were still awake.
A ball of power formed in Carden’s hand – orange, with no trace of black in it. Carden’s eyes went wide. “What –?” he gasped, then threw the attack at Mr. Vendine anyway.
Mr. Vendine dove aside, and the loud crack of his revolver split the air. Carden stumbled back, blood spreading across the left side of his chest, as the ball of magic crashed into the wall behind where Mr. Vendine had been. Carden crumpled to the ground. A few heartbeats later, the orange mage light went out.
In the fading blue glow of his own light, Mr. Vendine lowered his gun. Slowly, as though the effort was almost more than he had strength for, he walked over to Carden’s body. Beneath Lainie’s feet, the ore-covered ground shifted. Rage spilled out from the Sh’kimech. Their kin had rejected their offer, they were driven back, their servant was destroyed.
“Mr. Vendine!” she shouted as the ground jolted again. “Mr. Vendine, they’re angry. We have to get out of here!”
Quickly, he stooped down and pulled the gold mage ring from Carden’s right forefinger. Another sharp shifting of the ground nearly made him lose his balance. Pieces of rock and ore, already shaken loose by the tremendous battle that had just taken place, rained down from the ceiling, pelting Lainie’s head and shoulders.
He slipped the ring into an inner pocket of his long brown coat, then ran to where the rockfall from Carden’s first attack blocked the only exit from the cavern. Lainie joined him and they began digging out the tunnel opening. Lainie’s hands were weak and shaky, her right hand nearly useless. Cold pain shocked through her arms each time she touched the Sh’kimech ore. But, driven by desperate terror of being buried alive down here, she went on grabbing rocks and tossing them aside as fast as she could. Mr. Vendine’s hands were larger, stronger, and steadier than hers, but he made no more progress than she did. No matter how much rubble they cleared from the opening, more fell down from the shaking walls and ceiling.
“It’s no use,” he finally said. “It’s caving in faster than we can dig through. We have to find another way out.”
“I don’t think there is one. Can’t you use magic to get rid of these rocks?”
“I don’t have enough power left.”
The Sh’kimech’s rage continued to build. The ground and the walls shook harder, and a blizzard of sharp fragments of rock fell down from the ceiling. Lainie dropped to her knees and covered her head with her arms. “Stop!” she shouted, but she had no more strength to push the Sh’kimech back. Inside of her, where the rose-colored glow had been, was only emptiness.
The Sh’kimech’s fury reached its full force. A deep rumble like the end of the world filled the air. “Lainie!” Mr. Vendine threw himself over her, covering her with his body as larger rocks began crashing down around them. “Do you know how Carden took the power from the ore?” he shouted over the roar of the shaking, crumbling cavern.
“You have to use magic!” she sobbed out in terror and exhaustion.
“I might have enough. Tell me!”
“He held some, and said some words –” She repeated the words as best she could. “And – it was like he breathed it in, with his whole body.”
“Got it.”
“And you can’t let –”
Before she could finish her warning, he shouted out the words she had told him, his pronunciation far more skillful than hers had been. Above her, his body shifted as he inhaled deeply.
Lainie peeked out from under the shelter of his arms to see the ore beneath his hands crumble into gray dust. Eagerly, the Sh’kimech rushed into him. The ring on his left forefinger glowed with the strange black light of the Sh’kimech’s power, threaded through with only a few thin strands of blue.
He shouted a few more words in the mage language, and a dome of translucent black power formed over him and Lainie. A heartbeat later, the cavern collapsed with a thunderous noise. Rocks an armlength or more across pounded down onto the shield, sliding off and piling up around the black dome.
The shaking went on for another dozen heartbeats, then stopped. The cavern fell silent, but still the Sh’kimech flowed into Mr. Vendine unopposed. He welcomed them, he invited them in. He desired their power, and would make a fine servant for them.
No! Lainie cried out in her mind. But with no magic left, she couldn’t force the Sh’kimech to obey her. She scrambled out from under Mr. Vendine and knelt to face him. His face was twisted with pain, but a mad, dark light shone in his eyes, like she had seen with Carden when he was being controlle
d by the Sh’kimech. His body trembled with power. “Mr. Vendine!” she shouted at him. “Stop! You can’t keep letting them in! You have to push them away!”
“So powerful,” he said in a harsh whisper. “More powerful than anything. With this much power I could protect and punish whoever I want.”
“Mr. Vendine!” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Please listen to me!”
“I could stop anyone who opposes me.” His voice was low, dark, intense. The Sh’kimech exulted at his words.
“Mr. Vendine!” Lainie sobbed. How to get through to him? In desperation, she grabbed his dirty, bleeding, unshaven face between her hands and pressed her mouth hard against his.
She had never kissed a man before, so she didn’t know if she was doing it right. He struggled for a moment, and she held him even more tightly, refusing to let him go. As the kiss went on, his mouth hard and warm against hers, their breath flowing together, a tiny warmth began to grow inside of Lainie and she felt a little bit stronger.
Mr. Vendine gasped and made a questioning sound against her mouth. Reluctant to break the kiss, she pulled back just enough to force him to look her in the eye. His deep brown eyes were still shadowed by the darkness of the Sh’kimech, but the madness was gone from them.
“You have to reject them,” Lainie said. “Tell them you don’t want what they’re offering you. You don’t need their power. And then you have to push them away, back down into the ground.”
He hesitated. “You can do it,” she said.
He nodded once and closed his eyes. His face lined with effort, he spoke out loud in the harsh, guttural Sh’kimech language, words that Lainie understood. I reject what you offer me. I reject you. He repeated the words in a more commanding tone, and then again, shouting them.
Under the weight of his refusal, the Sh’kimech reluctantly retreated. With the tiny bit of renewed magic that had come to life within her during the kiss, Lainie joined her will and her power to Mr. Vendine’s. Return to your sleep, she commanded them. You are not part of our world, and we are not part of yours. Leave us, and sleep.