by Kris Kramer
Chapter 34
The vast, labyrinthine pathways appeared endless, yet Shela still insisted that she knew where to go. Eilidh had explained as accurately as possible where the cave-in had occurred that had separated her from Ruaidhri. Quickly claiming superior knowledge of the caverns’ layout, Shela had taken the lead.
In fact, even before that conversation, Shela had automatically assumed command. Eilidh hadn’t spent much time fighting alongside other Anduains, but was confused why the weakest member of the group would lead them. Surely Bob or Liam would’ve been a better choice. Nobody seemed to object, so perhaps druids often navigated for others. In any case, the whole group followed Shela through the silent, unending passages, winding around blind corners cautiously, and trying to avoid committing any crime grand enough to deserve a scowl from Shela.
Fionn was the polar opposite to her brash and assertive twin. Fionn spent most of the time walking beside Eilidh, talking about the Tree and Ghrian, how long had she known Ruaidhri, and when did she plan on taking her pilgrimage to Tan Arbrel, and to Arbreldin beyond that? Eilidh had politely replied that she hadn’t heard the Tree’s call yet, and Fionn had smiled and suggested Eilidh wasn’t listening very hard then.
The druid also taught Eilidh an unbelievable catalogue of spells. Of course, Eilidh appreciated the advice and lessons, but the sheer volume of the ancient knowledge was far too great to absorb all at once.
“Repeat back to me the spell for curing a poisonous affliction,” Fionn whispered. Shela had ordered everyone to keep quiet in order to avoid as much needless confrontation with enemies as possible, but Eilidh hadn’t noticed any signs of life on this leg of their journey.
“Alright,” replied Eilidh, who then fumbled the curing words out.
Despite Eilidh’s difficulty with the wording of the spell, Fionn smiled in that ever-present supportive fashion. “Very good. Now try to cure Kearney.”
The wolf shot a quick glance at Fionn upon hearing his name. Eilidh then saw the large animal stare at her, as if begging her not to accidentally do something terrible to him, like drop a pile of rocks on him like the dwarf had done earlier.
But of course he didn’t know what they were talking about.
Or did he?
Still mildly perplexed by that idea, Eilidh stood still and focused on the wolf, reaching out to connect their spirits. His fur bristled under her tentative touch. Never before had she sought to make such a union with a beast, but he shared the spirit of Andua with her, and she found the intersection of their souls far easier than she would’ve imagined.
The feeling of his unease was painfully apparent, but Eilidh felt fairly confident that she could squeeze the words out correctly. What was the worst that she could do anyway?
She avoided that thought, not sure what a mispronounced word could do to the poor animal.
In that space, everything around them faded from her perspective. Only Eilidh and Kearney existed. The spell rolled off her tongue quietly and far more fluently than before. The tingling sensation of the transfer of power between them broke her concentration and she lost the connection with the wolf. She opened her eyes to see that she had held onto Kearney for long enough. Ripples of the druid magic twisted softly around the wolf, who’d probably felt their healing effects many times before.
But that was when his master, Fionn, had cured him, not some random girl. A smile broke across her face as she and Fionn now trotted to catch up with the rest of their party. What an amazing feeling this was! To think, she had just cured an affliction. Well, if Kearney had actually been poisoned, she would’ve cured him, but still, she had seen the magic float around him and then dissipate, taking any maladies with it.
“You did well, Eilidh,” whispered her proud teacher with a grin.
“Thank you.”
Shela stopped ahead and glowered at the pair of giggly women.
“Are you two done trying to bring every damn enemy in the caverns after us?” she snapped quietly.
Despite the low volume of the words, they slapped Eilidh in the face with a tone of authority that she’d never heard before. She stood stunned for a moment before recalling that Ruaidhri had once explained that those blessed with an attunement to vocal magic could scream with enough intensity to disorient and confuse the enemy. Now Eilidh believed it, still waiting for the stars to clear from her vision.
Common sense fought to keep her mind in a positive light, but images of her lost Ruaidhri sought to drag her down into deep, dark recesses of her memory. Her recent magical success now already forgotten, Eilidh wallowed in a sudden sadness.
Will I ever find you, Ruaidhri? What will I do without you?
Shela continued on, pushing the group into a new area of the caverns. The style of the construction of the walls changed abruptly. The carvings etched into the stone conjured more memories from the last few days with Ruaidhri. Déjà vu forcefully struck Eilidh, visions of the cave collapse appearing far too real. The pain of separation welled up, renewed in its vigor by her weakened state of mind.
“What’s wrong?” asked Fionn.
The druid put a comforting hand on Eilidh’s trembling shoulder, but she felt no respite.
“This is where I lost him,” she mumbled.
“We’re close to one of the old shrines. It’s at a major intersection, so maybe you’ll remember the way that you went from there?” asked Shela indifferently.
Eilidh glared at her leader, but said nothing. Shela turned her hands up in a surrendering gesture.
“Look, we all have a stake in this. We’re trying to find your friend, and we’re trying to locate my brother. Help me out here,” Shela said.
Eilidh looked to Fionn, and then to Liam. Both returned her gaze with sympathy. The elf, Aelfraed, stood behind the group, seemingly apathetic. Bob shuffled his feet across the dusty floor, his eyes finding the cracks in the ground quite intriguing.
“I’m not sure,” Eilidh finally admitted.
The realization hurt to vocalize. What was she doing? She had no idea where Ruaidhri could be. He was almost certainly dead, lying under a pile of collapsed stone. Alone.
Shela walked off, not looking back to offer a kind word.
Fionn produced a piece of scented cloth and wiped away the tears forming in Eilidh’s agonized eyes. Slight reassurance eked through the darkness fogging her mind. They silently fell into step behind the more assertive druid sister.
They reached a large crossroads, one great hallway terminating into the middle of another. In the center of the junction stood a pillar of polished stone, glinting in the uneven light of the torches. It was barely taller than Eilidh. She peered closely at the series of intricate runes carved into the crafted rock. Fionn lowered her head and whispered into Eilidh’s ear.
“We call these markers, but we’re not sure what they do.” Eilidh looked at her as Fionn ran her fingers across the stone’s markings. “They could’ve been magical once, but not anymore.”
Moving past the small stone pillar, Eilidh looked up into the great space attached to the crossroads. On the left wall stood what she was sure was once a great monument to a god of some kind, but none that she recognized. Now all that remained were ancient scorch marks where someone had presumably burned everything associated with the religious site.
“So now that we’re here at the shrine, and we don’t have a clear path to take, how deep do you want to go?” asked Bob, speaking up for what seemed like the first time.
“What do you mean?” replied Shela, exasperated.
“I mean that we are looking for two people who could be anywhere in this damned place. I’m not sure how far you’ve really gone to explore here, Shela, but I can assure you that we will not just randomly run into your brother, or her friend,” he said, sticking a thumb in Eilidh’s direction.
Shela now looked troubled and Eilidh sensed an irritation growing in the woman. Shela spoke through clenched teeth.<
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“So what do you suggest?”
“I suggest that we skip this level of the maze altogether and drop down towards the submerged sections.”
“Why would going deeper get us any closer to locating our lost ones?” asked Fionn.
Bob turned to her and explained, “We know the general area that Eilidh lost Roory or Rory or—”
“It’s Ruaidhri,” Eilidh interjected.
“Yes, right, Ruaidhri. If our young friend followed her path back out towards the higher levels of the caverns, then that means that her companion had to delve deeper into the darker sections.”
Now a deep silence covered the party as they each thought about the nuathreen’s suggestion.
“I agree.”
Everyone turned to face the elf.
“Had he survived the ceiling collapse, he would have been forced downward. That is where we should now go,” Aelfraed stated.
“And I suppose you know a shortcut, Bob?” Shela asked.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do,” he replied smugly. “Follow me, please.”
Eilidh could see the fire in Shela’s eyes, but the druid fell into step behind the nuathreen as he approached a large cylindrical pillar of stone that supported the high ceiling.
“You see, there’s a crack under this support,” Bob said, pointing at the base of the pillar. “We can slide right down through this section of the floor and jump down into the level below us.”
“How far of a fall is that going to be?” asked Fionn.
“Nothing that you cannot fix, good druid,” Bob said with a reassuring smile.
That didn’t sit well with Eilidh.
“Hold on a minute. You want us to jump down and what, break our legs?” she asked.
Bob kept smiling, but had a truly inquisitive look on his face, with no hint of condescension.
“You have the makings of a true druid, my dear. You’re more than capable of healing yourself afterwards.”
Could she hold her concentration long enough to perform a healing spell if she had two broken legs? This didn’t seem like a good idea at all.
The group clambered up onto the square base of the gigantic pillar and edged around to the backside, hidden from view from the main chamber. Eilidh followed close behind Bob as he easily slunk into a fissure formed between the back wall and the base of the pillar. He paused in the gap for a moment and turned back to Eilidh.
“Just watch your step here. It’s a bit slippery.”
Before Eilidh could respond, he took a single step and disappeared from view with a shout of what sounded like genuine excitement. The noise of sliding gravel echoed out of the slim space and then she thought she heard a sharp cry of profanity.
“Get on with it, Eilidh,” Shela urged.
Eilidh stepped down into the crack and saw utter darkness inside. She couldn’t tell how steep the decline was, even when she slipped on her first step and slid uncontrollably down into the dark hole. She screamed and reached out her hands and feet, desperately seeking purchase, but the crack widened dramatically as she fell. Looking down at her useless feet, Eilidh saw a dim, bluish light growing beneath her quickly until she was enveloped in it and freefalling through the air.
Her body rotated of its own accord as she looked down and saw the watery floor rushing up towards her. She must’ve fallen from a height at least ten times her own. No air left in her lungs, she panicked and tried to scream once more, but failed. She righted herself as her feet crashed into a shallow stream of water, barely a hand’s breadth deep.
Pain rocketed through her legs and she cried out, her face partially submerged in the dirty water. Powerful hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her up. Her vision filled with a terrible sight as she saw her battered legs dragging behind her, shattered and bleeding everywhere. Bone protruded in every direction as she screamed fearfully, her mind completely blank with terror.
While she watched, her legs glowed brightly, covered in ribbons of white and blue light, and she could feel the soothing words of Fionn nearby. She closed her eyes and listened as Shela’s quiet song joined her sister’s calm voice. The sounds faded away and all she could hear were feet sloshing and people talking.
“She’ll be fine,” she heard Shela say, a bit indignantly.
“Shut up, druid. What are you doing down here with such an inexperienced girl?” demanded a new, unknown voice.
Eilidh opened her eyes and stood up to find a giant of a firbolg towering over Shela’s defiant form. Shela’s eyes shifted for a moment to look at Eilidh and the firbolg followed her gaze.
“I mean no disrespect, girl, but this is a dangerous place for you,” he said.
Despite not appreciating the contents of his words, Eilidh could sense genuine concern in his deep voice. Why did he care if she suffered? Even Eilidh could see that this firbolg stood amongst the strongest of King Darren’s soldiers, and his scratched and dinged armor was nothing short of spectacular. Only his eyes and chin were visible behind his dark blue helm. A matching tunic displaying the silver tree of Andua covered layers of scale-mail and chainmail, and a blue cloak draped majestically across his broad shoulders, also emblazoned with the Tree of Rebirth. An enormous two-handed broadsword protruded from a sheath on his back and just the sight of it both terrified and intrigued Eilidh. Who could effectively wield such a weapon?
“I’ll be fine, thank you,” she replied uneasily. After taking a moment to right herself, she added, “We’re searching for my—”
The words caught in her throat as she realized the dark shape looming next to the firbolg wasn’t just a trick of the poor lighting.
“—lost friend.”
The firbolg squared his shoulders towards Eilidh, giving her his full attention. Eilidh retreated a few steps as the solid shadow glided around to stay by his side. She hoped the look on her face didn’t betray her fear.
“I can only tell you that I’ve been here a couple of hours, and I’ve not seen any other Anduains. Only the guardians of the dracolich roam these halls,” he explained.
Timid, but determined to find Ruaidhri, Eilidh asked, “Will you help us?”
Without skipping a beat, the mighty firbolg responded flatly, “No. I have other business here.”
“And exactly what might that be, Captain?” demanded Shela. “Sparring with yourself?”
Eilidh guessed that the druid could also see the strange shadow standing by the firbolg, but she didn’t seem worried at all, so Eilidh forced herself into a calm state. She wondered if Shela had overstepped her bounds, because the soldier was visibly irritated by her question.
“My business is my own, druid,” he stated. He pointed a large hand at Liam. “This man looks like a decent enough Thorn, so you’ll be fine.” Liam’s face lit up with abject smugness at the partial compliment.
The firbolg carefully examined each of the group members and seemed satisfied with his decision to leave them to their own devices. Eilidh once more considered why this firbolg even cared to justify his actions in this case.
When his eyes reached Bob, his gaze narrowed, but the firbolg said nothing. Once more, the nuathreen was shuffling his feet and staring at the waterlogged ground.
A high-pitched scream pierced the air from downstream. The firbolg immediately sprinted in that direction. He moved with incredible litheness for such a large fellow. Over his shoulder, he yelled back at them, “I’ll handle this.” After a pause, he slowed and faced them for a moment, the strange darkness swirling by his side to keep up with the sudden turn. “You should leave. Now.”
Eilidh and the others exchanged confused expressions as the firbolg charged off without them. Shela climbed up out of the shallow stream and pointed at a gouge in the blue-green tunnel walls. The floating reflection of the dingy water on the walls captivated Eilidh as she followed Shela.
Shela paused at the opening to the crack in the wall and turned to address the group.
; “Forget about him. We’ll move on with our quest, and we’ll be fine.”
Fionn and Eilidh shared a worried glance as the group moved into the fissure behind Shela.
Liam pulled up behind Eilidh and whispered, “Is she trying to reassure us? Or just convince herself?”
Eilidh’s eyes widened at the Thorn’s strangely sage words, but Liam quickly smiled in that overly charming way of his and added, “Do not fear, Eilidh. I shall protect you.”
She nodded and followed him into the dark.