Sanctuary Tales (Book 1)

by Robert J. Crane

  The door was crossed by blades, jutting out of the walls as the tunnel beyond led into a spiral and down, toward the bottom of the vault some hundred feet below, she knew. She glanced back at the dome in the center of the room; the Red Destiny of Saekaj was hidden within, at the bottom of the vaulted chamber, and the tunnel walk down was the preferred method for retrieving it. The vaulted dome was usually used for something else entirely: feeding the predators that guarded the treasure.

  She ran a finger over the flat edge of a blade that barred her entry into the door. Three others blocked her within the first inch, and more were just past that, an impenetrable maze of blades skewering the center of the tunnel leading down, knitted so tight that even a gnome wouldn’t be able to pass between them. She looked to her right and saw the hole where a key would go, then found another matching hole to the left of the door. She frowned and jogged back to the fallen guards.

  “They won’t have keys,” Xem said, looking up at her as she passed where he and Norenn were working on the vault. “Those are kept by only four people, and it requires at least two of them to open it.

  “I’m just checking,” she said as she stripped one of the guards down and searched him. She made a small stack of their belongings off to the side—armor, clothing, weapons, and added the gold from each of their purses to her own after checking to make certain Xem was not watching. It took only a moment, after all.

  Once she had confirmed that neither had a key save for the one that unlocked the chamber door, she made her way back to the keyholes and prodded them with her pins. Neither responded favorably, and she smelled something strange as she worked, something that caused a tingle to run across her skin.

  After a few minutes she felt her skin grow warm from the exertion and stripped off her gown, laying it carefully in the corner. She was left in her underclothes, and caught a sidelong look from Norenn that she waved off with a simple, “It was always going to have to come off anyway.” He gave her a partial glare, the sort of thing he did when he knew she was right but didn’t care to admit it. It wasn’t as though she were nude under it; she had a pair of dressing shorts and a lace-strapped undershirt, after all. That and a length of thin wire spider web filament that was wrapped around each of her arms and threaded around her abdomen. She unwrapped it quickly, casting it off to the side in a coil.

  She prodded at the right-hand lock for another few minutes before coming to a conclusion. Something was blocking her ability to turn it, something she could not see or identify, something that was wholly unlike anything she’d ever seen on a lock before. She probed again, and was rebuffed, the tumbler failing to even move slightly. She withdrew the pin and turned, looking to Xem. “This seems to be completely immune to lock picking.”

  “Uh huh,” Xem said, focused on the dome. “Just as well,” he said, adjusting the small metal cone he was holding up to his ear. The other end was firmly placed against the vault dome, and Norenn stood next to him, almost smiling. Almost. “I think we’ve … got it!” He let out a small gasp of triumph and then slid the wheel atop the vault around once more until a click echoed through the whole chamber. Xem pulled himself and the cup up as Norenn scrambled to open the dome. He pulled on it once, then twice, only stirring it a bit until Xemlinan joined him. Together they lifted it up. It opened with a squeak, revealing hinges hidden under the dome that allowed it to be lifted to a roughly ninety-degree angle to the floor. Aisling threw a locking pin into place to secure it open, and the three of them peered over the edge into the darkness below.

  “We’ll need a torch,” Xem proclaimed before walking over to a wall sconce and pulling an unlit one off. He made his way to the sole burning torch, lit his upon it, then threaded through the support columns back to the vault. He leaned over and peered in, and Aisling followed after him.

  There was a powerful smell coming from the hole, something foul and most rotten. “The hounds?” she asked, covering her nose at the scent.

  “Surely,” Xem said, trying to look into the darkness. “They’ll be down there, guarding the approaches.” He chuckled. “I can believe no one thought of this before.” Light caught a glistening web only a few feet below them and he cocked his head. “That’s a … rather large spider web.”

  “Oh …” Norenn groaned. Ais shifted her gaze to him. His eyes were closed, a sick look upon his face.

  “What?” she asked.

  “How do you know that there are hounds guarding the treasure?” Norenn asked Xem, still looking a bit ill.

  “They bring fresh meat down here every day,” Xem said weakly. “They’ve been known to throw undesirables down here, according to my source.” Now Xem looked sick as well, and Aisling turned back over the edge, staring at the webs below. The torch caught the light of another set of webs, just below that, and another further down.

  “Oh,” she said, now feeling more than a little sick herself. “Not hounds. The meat’s not for dogs at all.”

  “No,” Norenn agreed. “Hounds would be near useless in guarding a vault of this sort. But a lovely breed of giant spiders, on the other hand …”

  Eight

  “What now?” Norenn asked, glancing at Xem.

  “Not sure,” came the reply.

  “I’ll go down,” Aisling said, staring at the first wave of webbing. She was oddly calm, certain that somehow down there with the Red Destiny lay her own, and she wanted—no, needed—to go down into those depths, even with the added danger.

  “Madness,” Norenn said, giving her the look. The smell coming from the vault was nearly overwhelming, a sickening aura of digested meat excreted, and other meat wrapped in webbing for later. “You don’t know how big those things are.”

  “As big as a vek’tag?” Aisling asked with faint amusement.

  “Probably not,” Norenn said. “Vek’tag are tame and they stick to mushrooms, roots and insects. These are probably Depths spiders, about a quarter of the size of a vek’tag, more maneuverable and poisonous. They’re one of the leading causes of prisoner death.”

  “Only one of the leading causes?” Xem asked weakly.

  “Yes,” Norenn said with some tension. “The number one cause is being killed by overseers or exhaustion.”

  “I can handle spiders,” Aisling said, feeling the chill return now that she had remained stationary for a few minutes. “I’ve got a knife.”

  “Poisonous spiders,” Norenn added, staring flatly at her.

  She didn’t look away as she answered. “I’ll be all right.”

  “Let’s go quickly. Better to get this done with as soon as possible,” Xem said, retrieving the rope from near her discarded gown. He flung it up and over the edge of the balcony above, threading it through the stone railing. Once he’d retrieved that end, he tossed it up and through the chandelier.

  “You’re sure the chandelier will support her weight?” Norenn asked. He was chewing his lower lip now, Aisling saw.

  “Yes,” Xem replied, catching the last of the coil. There was over a hundred feet of slack remaining now, even after he’d threaded it through both the railing above and the chandelier and tied it off on one of the columns. He dipped low and tied it around Aisling’s ankles, giving her a smile as he did so. “Norenn,” he said, and motioned for Norenn to stand at the point where he’d laid the slack before threading it over the chandelier. “Hold it tight while I guide her down into the vault.” Norenn nodded once as Aisling lay down on the cold stone floor to avoid having her legs jerked from beneath her.

  Norenn began to very slowly pull the filament, levering her legs from the ground, followed by her entire body. The blood rushed to her head and the upside-down sensation flooded her. Good thing I didn’t eat before this. She felt extreme disorientation, her head swimming, until she got hold of it. They had practiced this several times in the last week, and it always ended the same way—she had only minutes to retrieve the Red Destiny before she passed out. Which would mean the loss of the Red Destiny of Saekaj as well.

>   “All right,” Xem said, guiding her with hands placed firmly on her hips. He shuffled her sideways and she felt the motion of the rope as Xem pulled it along the edge of the chandelier to better position her under the vault. “Are you ready?” He let betray the slightest edge of concern.

  “I’m ready,” she said then looked down into the dark. “Torch?”

  “Ah,” Xem said, stooping to retrieve one he’d left burning on the ground. He handed it to her then tossed another down into the vault. She watched it land on the spider webbing below, where it burned its way through after a few seconds, then fell to the next level of webbing below, where it halted for a few more seconds. The first level of webbing sagged and fell with the hole the flames had produced, and she stared down, eyes trying to discern where the bottom was.

  “Long way down,” Xem said, patting her once. She looked over at him then past him to Norenn, who held the rope, his arms locked into place and a look of slight strain beneath his mask of concern.

  “Let’s do this,” Aisling said and drew her knife with her free hand. She kept the torch in the other, holding it above her head. Her vision flashed, leaving a spot in front of her eyes when she turned her head to look. She felt the rope begin to move, lowering her into the dark chamber below.

  She heard the straining of the chandelier as she eased down a few feet. She dangled, rotating slowly in a circle. The neck of the vault tapered down to an hourglass shape. She fell toward the center slowly, a grain of sand in the middle of it. The spider webs just below her were flapping in the breeze coming from up top. Her skin was chilled, the sweat from her earlier labors now drying in the cold air. She kept a tight grip on the knife and the torch and tried to control the spin of her body as she continued to be lowered.

  The walls were a honeycomb of holes, as though the entire vault had been built with a careful structure of small arches surrounding the center. There was a creak above from the chandelier that got her to look up without thinking. Neither Norenn nor Xemlinan were visible now, both working on the rope to keep her suspended.

  “All right down there?” Norenn shouted, loudly enough that his voice echoed down to her.

  “I’m fine,” she shouted back, hoping that the vault was sealed off enough that no one would hear them bellowing back and forth.

  She continued to dangle as the rope lowered her, the shift in perspective between up and down still not something she was used to. With every sway of the rope she felt dizzier, the first hints that her body would not be capable of handling her position forever. She gripped the knife more tightly, readjusting her blade so that she could strike more easily with it. Still there was no sign of anything but discarded spider webs, burned by the torch that Xem had thrown down.

  She was approaching the center of the hourglass and her eyes spied movement below. Something anchored onto the wall shifted at the neck of the funnel. She could feel it watching her, even though she couldn’t see the eyes. It made noise, a subtle sound of legs moving that sounded like the cracking of dry straw. Something moved, and she saw a bone fall from beneath the legs of the spider, the image burning itself into her mind as it fell below.

  She readied the knife as she drew closer to the spider, holding it back to strike as she passed. She paused after a moment’s thought and thrust the torch out instead. The spider moved back of its own accord, easing away from her as she passed. Oh, no, she thought as her upper body passed into the narrowest part of the vault, my legs are going to go right past him …

  There was a clicking sound and she folded at her midsection, thrusting the torch up as she passed. It hit the spider as it started to lance out at her, a pincer hitting the fire. It emitted a hissing sound almost like a scream. A moment passed and her legs were beyond the spider, out of its reach.

  “Let us know when you get to the bottom!” Xem shouted from above. She could see him up there now, leaning over. Her descent had slowed somewhat, probably because he wasn’t helping to lower her any longer.

  She didn’t answer, turning instead to look down. Something glistened in the light below her, something on a pedestal that was emerging from the shadows as she came down. It glowed red when she waved the torch, the light reflecting back at her from it.

  “There you are,” she whispered to herself. It was only a few feet away now. “Slow me down!” she shouted back up top, and saw Xem wave over the vault top. Her descent became a crawl for the last few feet down as she moved toward it, the glimmering object that stood in the middle of the centered pedestal.

  The Red Destiny of Saekaj.

  It had a multiplicity of facets, it was so large. It was the size of a melon she had once seen at a feast. She called out, “Stop!” and a moment later, she halted, dangling only a foot above the pedestal. With a calming breath, she held herself still, gently swaying in the air. She sheathed her dagger then laid the torch across the pedestal’s side. It was wide enough that there was a half-foot of space on each side of the Red Destiny.

  She grasped the gemstone in her hands, feeling the weight of it. It was certainly heavy, though not as heavy as she would have expected. She tucked it under one arm, making certain it was secure in the crook of her elbow before grabbing the torch back off the pedestal and tucking it into the hand that held the Red Destiny securely against her side.

  “Now comes the fun part,” she said, and tried to blink the spots out of her eyes. These, she feared, were not from the light of the torch but rather from being upside down for so long. “Start bringing me up!” she called, and Xem waved at her. There was motion above, even after he disappeared beyond the lip of the vault, barely visible through the narrowing walls at the center. “Oh, crap.”

  She could see motion above, off to the side of the entry hole. The spiders seemed to be operating at the periphery of her view. Gonna have to wait until I’m past the hourglass center to see what’s waiting, I suppose. Either that or tell Xem to stop pulling and give me some idea of what I’m going to be dealing with. Well, that’s the smart way, but it’ll sure slow us down …

  She approached the narrow center of the room, the walls tapering close on either side, squeezing tight around her. She crunched her abdomen, feeling the soreness from trying to defy gravity. The blood rushed out of her head. She felt nauseated and dizzy, and forced a breath to try and regain her head. She kept the torch at the ready, the Red Destiny squeezed tightly into her side, cradled closer than she would have any squalling infant, that was certain.

  She passed the neck of the hourglass and the hissing came from her left. She swung the torch and connected with something, the fire illuminating pincers and legs as a spider was knocked back. It fell into one of the arched holes and Aisling smiled. One down.

  When she looked up her smile vanished.

  “It’s getting harder to pull you up!” came Xem’s voice from above. He was not visible at the opening of the vault, which meant he was probably pulling. Alarming, since I’m not moving very fast.

  She held the torch aloft and her fears were confirmed. There were a dozen spiders above her, working threads, spinning them across the gaps that had been created earlier when they’d tossed the torch down. Black, eight-legged figures spun their way down lines, and she could see two spinning their webs around the line of filament she was dangling on. Whatever they had done was producing resistance, keeping the rope from rising as quickly as it should have.

  Thanks to the light coming from the room above, she could see the faint glint of freshly spun strands. There were so many spiders working around her, though. She wondered if the spiders re-spun these webs every day after the guards threw food down to them. It was a disquieting thought, especially considering the speed with which new, gleaming threads were being knitted above her.

  “Throw another torch down!” she called, wondering if Xem would think to ask why before doing it. She prepared herself to dodge whatever he threw. “Careful not to hit my rope!”

  Xem appeared at the edge of the vault, torch in hand. “Go
od gods,” he said, loud enough she heard him. “I don’t think I can throw it without hitting you. You’re too close to that narrowing part of the chamber.”

  “Dammit,” she breathed, and tried to fold herself again, bringing her head up as she pulled her abdomen tight. She took the torch and waved it, causing her body to go into a slow spin. Nausea hit her now, the spin coupled with the still-pooled blood in her head overwhelming. She felt the urge to vomit and suppressed it, instead trying to pick out individual threads of web as she spun then touching the torch to them as she passed. Her upward pace was a crawl, a few inches at a pull, and coming in great, uneven motions. She jerked with each tug of Norenn’s efforts, forced upward a few inches and then stopped in a halting motion.

  She burned another few threads and saw one of the spiders go swinging past her making that same hissing noise she’d heard earlier. It hit the wall, the fiber anchoring it severed by the flames. It was one of so many, though, and they seemed to be crossing the light above with such frequency she knew it could not be long until she was completely webbed in.

  “Throw the torch!” she called out again, lighting another few threads as she dangled past them.

  “It will hit you!” Xem said.

  “Do it anyway!” She saw it drop and tried to prepare herself. She brought her own torch closer, clutching the Red Destiny to her as the falling torch hit her feet, then tumbled into her leg, tapping her in the head briefly with the unlit end as it fell. “That was close,” she muttered as it fell past her. It had dropped several layers of fibers, and she could see the spiders swinging, their support burned free underneath them. The pace of her ascent increased, even with Xem lingering above her rather than rejoining Norenn to help pull her up. She was getting close, only ten feet or so from the lip of the vault, and the spiders were hanging on the walls, well away from her. She heard not even so much as a hiss when she crested the edge.

  “Here,” Xem said, taking hold of her waist as soon as she was up. He pulled her sideways, dragging her to where she could grab the cold stone floor, rolling the Red Destiny away from the hole. To Xem’s credit, he didn’t so much as look at it, instead focusing on helping her get to solid ground once more. When she was firmly away from the vault, Xem crossed to the dome and pulled the pin, gently lowering it back into place. “Don’t want those things getting out,” he said with a smile.