Legend of the Swords: War

by Jason Derleth

  Renek paused to stare down at them. “I wonder how they got their horses back,” he mused.

  Hesiod pushed by him on the narrow path. “Who cares? Get going, we don’t want them to catch up.”

  Renek lengthened his stride to keep pace with Hesiod. He pulled out a water skin and drank deeply while they walked up the steep mountain path.

  It took nearly another hour to reach the top. As the path turned towards the mountain’s top instead of another switchback, Renek noticed that he was having trouble breathing. He took several deep breaths in a row. Hesiod noticed, and started breathing more deeply, too.

  “Demon mountain,” he muttered. “It’s like there’s less air here.”

  Renek ignored Hesiod. “It’s like this pathway was cut into the shoulder of the mountain itself," he said, reaching out and touching the wall. Weather had worn it smooth. “There’s no trace of a tool mark anywhere.”

  “Maybe it’s natural.” Hesiod leaned over the side, trying to see the prince. “They’re not far below us, I think they’ve been catching up.” He straightened up and jogged past Renek. “Let’s get going.”

  Renek sighed, but jogged to catch up. The passageway was probably wide enough for three people to stand abreast.

  “This is what I saw from the other side,” Hesiod said between heavy breaths. He slowed to a walk. “And I’m not really a soldier, despite being in pretty good shape—I can’t keep this up.” He glanced behind them. “I hope we’ve got enough of a lead to find a place to hide, because I can’t run much further.”

  Renek was looking forward. “What’s that?” he said, pointing.

  The passageway had a few small stones and pebbles in it, making the appearance of clutter. As they turned a corner, more and more rocks were strewn about. Finally, the passageway revealed a pile of rocks about a foot deep across the passageway. Some were large, but most of them were small. It was as if several large rocks had been shattered.

  “Looks like a rockslide,” Hesiod said, staring up at the top of the chasm’s vertical walls. “I don’t see where it came from, though.”

  Renek shook his head as a cold shudder passed down his spine. “I don’t know…” He trailed off.

  Hesiod grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. “Scramble over the rocks, man. There’s a fork in the chasm up ahead.”

  “What?” Renek’s eyes snapped forward. He saw a passageway that went off to the right, just beyond the mass of debris. “Ah, ok.”

  Their feet slipped and twisted as they tried to walk over the small pile of rocks, but soon they turned the corner. The peak of the mountain loomed over them as they stared into a dark entrance. There was a gleaming metal bar to one side.

  They jogged up to the bar. Renek ran his fingers over it. “It’s embedded right into the rock!” He grabbed it and pulled on it, but it held firm. “It’s as smooth as the passage walls," he said, more quietly. Hesiod sighed, grabbed Renek’s arm again, and dragged them both into the dark passageway.

  * * *

  Hesiod rummaged around in his pack and produced two torches. “I hope these last. I only brought two," he said as he handed them to Renek. “Hold one of them out, would you?” A moment later, he struck some flint with his knife, and sparks showered onto the outstretched torch. Its pitch caught immediately. Renek held the second torch over the first to light it, and handed it back to Hesiod.

  The torches’ light pierced the darkness. Renek looked at the walls, which were carved smooth. The occasional translucent crystal face formed part of the wall. He reached out touch the wall.

  “The walls are smoother than the ones outside,” Renek said. “You’d think that the ones outside would have been worn smoother, but—”

  “Yes, that’s wonderful.” Hesiod grabbed his arm. “Let’s get in there, maybe we can lose James if we find another fork.”

  The corridor turned gently to the right, and started sloping down towards the heart of the mountain. After a few dozen feet, it straightened out again, but kept sloping down slightly. They walked forward, their steps echoing loudly.

  Renek glanced at the floor. There wasn’t any dust to muffle their footsteps.

  “Huh,” Hesiod grunted, gesturing at the wall a few feet in front of them. “Look at that burnt-out torch.” He walked up to it. “Someone used to live down here.”

  There was a matching one on the other wall. Renek peered at it, nose less than an inch away. For some reason, he was reluctant touch it.

  It was hanging in an ornate sconce, which seemed to be made of gold wires.

  Hesiod shook himself. “What the heck am I doing?” He muttered aloud to himself. “Let’s get going!”

  They turned forward, but there was a wall in front of them. An arch was on the right side, just beyond the torches. They slowly walked through, torches held high.

  The room was too large; the light wasn’t enough to chase the darkness away. From what they could see of the room, it was round, and had a domed ceiling. Stalactites hung down from above, making it difficult to tell where the top of the chamber was. They stood at the edge of an underground lake. The water was very still, with only an occasional ripple from a droplet falling from one of the stalactites. The drips seemed to echo loudly, disproportionate to the size of the tiny drop of water that occasionally flashed in the torchlight.

  There was a rocky island in the middle of the lake. Small, dark figures lay on the rock, still as the water.

  “There seems to be another small shore, and maybe even a passageway—off to the right,” Renek said, gesturing with his torch. “Maybe we should—”

  Voices carried down to them from the corridor behind, followed by several thumping boots. The two men looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

  “They’re closer than I had thought,” Renek admitted, whispering.

  Hesiod nodded. “They’re only a few minutes behind us now.” He kept his voice quiet, as well. He looked down at the water. “Nothing for it, I guess.” He slowly waded in. “It’s freezing!” He hissed.

  Renek followed him, sliding his feet gingerly into the frigid water. He watched ripples flow outwards from his feet, but they were completely overcome by the splash that Hesiod made when he fell into the water.

  “Hesiod!” he whispered, as he reached out to pull his companion from the cold water.

  “There’s something down there.” Hesiod gestured at the water as he whispered through chattering teeth. “I tripped.”

  Renek fumbled around in the water for a moment, and pulled up a strange, withered torso. It looked like it was part frog, part human, and might have been about three feet tall before it was cut into two. He tossed it to the side with a splash, and wiped the slime off of his hands by rubbing his pants.

  “Disgusting.”

  “At least it’s dead, Renek,” Hesiod said, hugging himself for warmth. “L-let’s get going, they’re right behind us.”

  “Hang on a second.” He pushed his legs through the water, and grabbed the body of the creature again. He dragged it behind him until it was in the water, just below the surface, directly between the other shore and the arch that they had come through. They could hear the echoes of footsteps growing louder behind them.

  “Maybe it’ll trip them up too,” he whispered, as they headed deeper into the black water.

  The water rapidly got deeper. Renek unbuckled his sword and held it, along with the torch, up above his head. The water soon came up to their chests, then to their necks before they started climbing out. They were both shivering when they got to the other side, but Hesiod grabbed Renek’s arm and quickly pulled him into the corridor. He held a finger up to his lips.

  Renek buckled his sword back on as quietly as he could. Faint light flickered on the passageway next to Hesiod, and they could hear voices.

  “There wasn’t any way to go, your highness, they must have come this way,” one of the foot soldiers said.

  “Perhaps … they went to that passageway across the lake, then?” The p
rince asked.

  “I see no other path they could have taken, general,” the Singer said to him. “Unfortunately, this rock … clouds my senses. I cannot sense where they might have gone.”

  “Well, I doubt they continued on past the entrance to this cave,” James said. “They must have gone into the lake. You two go check out the island, we’ll wait here.” His voice fell a bit, but the chamber seemed to carry echoes to Renek and Hesiod, and they could still hear him quite clearly. “We’ve nearly caught them, but this place is ancient—and it probably only has the one entrance. We’re between that entrance and them. We can afford to be careful.”

  There was a splash, and cursing. Renek smiled at Hesiod. “We’d better get going,” he whispered, gesturing down the corridor.

  Hesiod nodded, and they tiptoed down the hall.

  Only a few dozen feet away from the lake, the hallway split. There was a passageway off to the left, slightly smaller than the one they were in. The main hallway continued straight. They were careful to walk as quietly as they could, but Renek frequently grimaced at a wet boot slapping on the ground.

  Hesiod nodded to the smaller passage, and they turned left. Renek turned to look back, and noticed that the floor was clearly wet. He touched Hesiod’s arm and gestured at the wet floor.

  Renek led them back to the main passageway and walked about twenty feet down the other direction, before turning and walking back. He took off his shoes and winced at the cold of the floor.

  Hesiod nodded, and took off his shoes, hissing at the cold. They wrung out their clothes as best as they could while still wearing them, and walked quickly and quietly down the smaller corridor again. They were both shivering uncontrollably.

  Holding their boots in one hand their torches in the other, the two men continued walking deeper into the mountain.

  A hundred feet down, the corridor became a crossroads, as another pathway came through at right angles. Hesiod shrugged, and looked at Renek, who shrugged back. They turned right.

  At least we’re not leaving a trail of water, now. Renek thought to himself. Well, there’s still an occasional drop or two, but it’ll be much harder to see.

  “How are you holding up?” he whispered.

  “Cold,” Hesiod grunted. “But we can’t light a fire.” He stopped, suddenly, Renek almost running into him from behind. “Can you hear anything?” Hesiod asked.

  Renek stood as still as he could, then shook his head. “No, I can’t. Do you think we’ve lost them?”

  “Well,” Hesiod smiled, speaking a little louder. Torchlight shone redly on his face. “I don’t know about them, but I know I’m lost.”

  Renek grinned. “Only way to go is forward.”

  “Didn’t know you were a philosopher, Renek.” Hesiod snorted softly. “But, regardless, you’re right.” He set his torch and boots on the floor, and rubbed his hands together to warm them a bit.

  Renek looked at the torches more closely. “These things are going to go out soon. We shouldn’t be using both of them.”

  Hesiod’s eyes widened. “A philosopher, but with practical suggestions?” He shook his head. “I didn’t know such a thing could exist, much less that I’d ever meet someone in my lifetime who fit that description.” He grabbed his torch, upended it, and rubbed it on the floor to extinguish it. “Maybe I will come trust you, after all, Renek!”

  Hesiod snorted again. “You know, we might just get out of this alive.”

  “If we’re lucky.” Renek’s mouth drew taut. He cocked his head, listening. He could just make out voices.

  Hesiod grimaced. “Sounds like James, but it’s hard to tell, in these tunnels, if he’s catching up.”

  Renek nodded. “I figured. We haven’t been lucky yet. Why should it change now?”

  Battle in the Mountain

  After about a half an hour or more of running on tiptoe, Hesiod and Renek were finally warming up. Whenever they came to a branching, they took the way that sloped down more.

  “Do you have any idea where we are?” Renek asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.

  “No clue,” Hesiod said, smiling. He spoke a bit more quietly than Renek, but he was no longer whispering.

  “I hear dripping,” Renek mused. “Maybe we’re close to being under that lake.” He stopped and sat down. “I’m going to put my shoes back on, they’re dry enough.”

  Hesiod sat down to do the same.

  “Could be we’re under the lake.” Hesiod laughed quietly. “Nobody down here to ask about it though. Can you imagine finding one of those frog things and asking them? ‘Is that dripping from the lake?’”

  Renek grinned. “I’d rather ask, ‘Do you know where some swords might be?’”

  They turned a sharp corner and entered another cavern. Suddenly, they had to shield their eyes.

  The cavern was huge, probably two hundred yards across, and the Sun was shining feebly from above them. As they watched, craning their necks backwards to stare almost directly above them, the light dimmed. Soon, there was only a small lit patch of a tunnel cut into the ceiling of the cavern, a short distance from the doorway that they had come through.

  No, that’s not a tunnel. Renek thought. That’s a crystal.

  “That’s a giant crystal that cuts through the mountain itself,” Hesiod breathed. “It’s hanging out of the ceiling.”

  Renek nodded, and looked around the room. It was filled with faceted, crystalline stalactites and stalagmites, some of which had grown so tall that they had fused together. The Sun grew brighter again as it reflected off of a facet of the crystal in the ceiling.

  Its ray fractured into a kaleidoscope of colors, which in turn fell onto the towers of crystal, and were split again and again. The room virtually glowed with refracted and reflected light.

  They stepped inside of the room, mouths open in wonder. The colors faded away, and only the faceted crystal in the ceiling still glowed.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this?” Hesiod said, voice hushed.

  “No, sir, I have not,” Renek said. The light above began to grow brighter again. Soon they were walking between the pillars, which seemed to be made entirely of light. Renek raised his arm and pointed to the other side of the room.

  “There’s something over there,” Renek said. “Can you see it?” Hesiod nodded. “It’s like the light is … collecting? Over there.” They jogged towards whatever it was.

  It was at least a hundred and fifty yards away. Since they had to weave their way through the random crystal stalagmites, it took several cycles of brightening and dimming before they could get near it. There was a large area that was completely clear of crystals. It was oval, similar to the room itself, and the stalagmites were so thick about its border they had to try three times to find a gap large enough to squeeze through into the clearing. About two thirds of the way across it was a large square box, with an opening about two feet wide and two feet tall facing them. There was a huge anvil in front of it—despite resting directly on the ground, the flat part of the anvil looked like it was higher than Renek’s waist.

  The light grew brighter as they walked across the clearing towards the box, which they could see was made of bricks that appeared to have been carved out of the same crystal as the stalagmites. Suddenly, there were beams of every color in the air, all driving toward the box. It glowed white, brighter and brighter, until suddenly its inside burst into white flames. The bricks themselves were instantly white-hot. It was too bright to look at.

  They were able to get within about ten feet of the light forge before it felt like the air was so hot that it was going to sear their lungs away.

  “You know, the oddest part about this is that it’s completely silent,” Hesiod said. “When I was younger, I spent some time around a forge, and there was always a lot of noise.” His eyebrows knitted together thoughtfully. “If it wasn’t the hammer, or the bellows, then there was the noise of the fire.” He gestured at the forge in front of them. “The flames don�
�t even crackle.”

  The light faded, and the forge died. Renek walked up to it and held out his hand. No heat whatsoever came off of the crystal forge. He looked up at the light source.

  They heard shouts behind them, and spun around.

  “They’ve found us,” Hesiod said. “Is there another way out?”

  “There!” Renek pointed at the wall opposite of the one they came in. A doorway led out of the narrow end of the oval. They ran towards it, ducking around the stalagmites.

  Behind the door, there were steep stairs, headed down. They threw themselves down the stairs, feet flailing in an attempt to keep them upright.

  The stairs went on for quite a while. Finally, the bottom came, and let them into a small, level hallway. They didn’t pause for breath, but ran flat out down the corridor.

  It emerged into a medium-sized room. The air was nearly as warm as it had been next to the forge. Molten magma flowed in a broad river across the middle of the floor. The ruins of a bridge sat on the far side of the flow. On the other bank was some sort of mechanical-looking apparatus, similar to a mill on the other side of the molten rock. It had a paddle wheel slowly turning in the flow of magma.

  There was a door on the unreachable other side of the room.

  Hesiod and Renek looked at each other, then back at the hallway. With a grim frown on his face, Renek drew his sword.

  We’re trapped between that lava and James. He shook his head. Not a good situation.

  A moment later, the three soldiers burst into the room, swords drawn. Renek immediately attacked. He brought his sword down, gleaming redly in the light of the magma, with such force that it clove the man’s metal shoulder guard. He cried out and fell under the force of the blow. Renek kicked the man’s head and pulled his sword out of the lifeless body.

  The other two men hesitated, looking at Renek’s dangerous expression. He felt as if he could already feel their swords in his body, and he let the pain show through. It motivated him. He advanced on them.