Into the Wastelands: Book Four of the Restoration Series

by Williams, Christopher

  They walked along the large passage for hours and Warren only allowed them two extremely quick breaks.

  The passage was gradually changing. There were more and more openings off of the main tunnel and as the day wore on the frequency of the openings increased. Most of them appeared to be other tunnels that connected up with this one. It reminded Heather of a complicated set of roads, but all they saw were the roads, not where the roads led.

  They stopped and took lunch in the mouth of a small and dusty passage. They had been walking for hours and they devoured the small piece of cheese and dried fruit. An unpleasant thought occurred to Heather about what would happen if their meager supplies ran out while they were still in here. It was not a thought she wanted to dwell upon.

  All too soon Warren got them moving again. This time he gave them another warning. They were getting close to the remains of the old city and they needed to remain quiet.

  They continued in this manner for another couple of hours. Their attention was wandering – they were all thinking about where they would make camp next. The sound of their feet on the worn stones was monotonous and it was dulling their senses.

  Suddenly, Warren held up a fist in the air and they all halted at once, their senses suddenly heightened. The only problem was that the sound of footfalls did not stop when they did.

  They stared at each other with wide eyes for several heartbeats and then Warren frantically began waving his arm in a ‘Let’s go’ manner. He dashed into a side passage and the others moved to follow but it was too late. A group of five or six goblins emerged from the darkness of the passage ahead. They stopped, clearly surprised to see humans in the mine. The goblin in front opened his mouth to say something but he never got the chance – an arrow from Jerrold pierced his throat and he fell to the ground writhing. Goblins aren’t courageous creatures and the sight of their leader lying in a growing pool of his own blood sent them running into the safety of the darkness. Quinn shot an arrow at another of the brutes but missed. In a matter of moments they had disappeared into the darkness of the passage.

  Chapter 23

  “Listen up!” Warren said as quietly as he could but still get their attention. “It won’t take them long to return and when they do, they’ll be in much bigger numbers. We run from here and we don’t slow down.” None of the Guardians looked too pleased with this idea and he hurried on, “I know a place where we can hide, but we have to get there fast. Before too long these tunnels will be overflowing with goblins and we don’t want to still be here then.”

  Warren looked at Heather then and she sighed deeply. She hated this but she still had to trust in this man. Right now they simply didn’t have any other choice. He was still looking at her and she nodded at him; that was all it took.

  “Let’s go,” he said, once again quietly but with force. He pointed at Quinn and motioned behind them and then he turned and ran. Strangely he did not run back the way they had come but rather farther into the passage, the same way they had been going originally.

  The other tunnels were definitely coming faster now. These new tunnels were wider and once again Heather thought of roads.

  They ran as quietly as they could, but that was hard to do with warriors in armor and carrying weapons. Still, they did the best they could.

  They ran through a particularly dark patch and emerged into a large cavern. Heather momentarily slowed down, but then she saw that Warren was still running as fast as ever and so she sped back up.

  This new cavern was monstrously wide but not that tall. They had emerged from the tunnel onto a wide bridge but the floor was not too far below and they could see it clearly. It was rather plain looking, fairly flat and without any dwarf-made structures. She had no idea what it was used for and they passed through too quickly for her to give it much thought.

  They entered another tunnel on the far side of the cavern. This tunnel resembled the tunnel they had just left, except for the smell. Several of them gagged at the horrible smell but thankfully no one vomited. They kept running for nearly another half an hour. Heather was doing fine, as were the other Guardians, but she could hear Dagan and Cassandra gasping for air as they ran. Agminion was only doing slightly better.

  Heather sped up, intending to catch Warren and insist that he relax the pace, but he slowed down before she even got halfway to him. He came to a stop and turned around to face them.

  “We’re near the ancient outpost. Wait here,” he pointed to a large pile of rubble that had been pushed off to one side, “I’ll go ahead and scout the way.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Heather said quickly. Warren scowled at her but didn’t say anything.

  The tunnel took a sharp turn to the right and she followed him as they tried to move only in the shadows. Roughly twenty yards after the turn, the tunnel ended in an enormous cavern. It had the look of something long deserted, and she assumed it had been once, but it wasn’t anymore. Goblins moved in the distance, lots and lots of goblins. They appeared to be digging through the rubble of the old city and there was plenty of rubble. Maybe two thirds of the city was buried under a collapse of the ceiling off to the right. The only remaining portion of the old city, that still stood, was to the left, and it wasn’t exactly standing, more like not buried under tons of ceiling rock.

  Warren grabbed her by the arm and pulled her deep into the shadows, over behind some large rocks just inside the cavern. He pointed at the collapsed ceiling, “The dwarves did that before the mine was overrun.”

  Her eyes wide, Heather looked again. “They did that to themselves?”

  “Better than being captured alive,” Warren said softly, causing her to shudder. Rumors of the horrors that goblins inflicted on their prisoners were well known.

  It occurred to her that she might face a similar decision in the immediate future; live and be captured by the goblins or make sure that she didn’t live long enough to be captured.

  “Why are we here?” Heather asked. “We can’t go into the city.”

  “We’re not,” Warren began to say but then he stopped and looked back the way they had come. There was a noise coming from the tunnel. It was the noise of muffled footsteps.

  The rest of their group came jogging quickly out of the tunnel and stopped. They looked out over the remains of the city and their eyes went wide at the sight.

  Warren popped up and rushed out to meet them. His face was twisted in anger. When he reached the others, he sought out Jerrold. “I told you to wait,” he said in a calm voice. There was a tension in him that betrayed the calm voice as a facade.

  Jerrold nodded and leaned close. “My apologies, but there’s a large number of goblins coming down the passage. We could hear their footsteps in the distance.”

  The anger immediately turned to determination. “Here’s what we’re going to do.” He didn’t get to explain exactly what it was he wanted to do because a shout came from just inside the tunnel and a horde of goblins stepped forward.

  “Follow me,” Warren shouted as he began running. He didn’t run into the city though, instead he ran along the left-hand side of the cavern. The ground sloped upwards as he ran. The ruins of the old dwarven city were on his right and the cavern wall on his left.

  As one the rest sprinted after him – old Dagan moved faster than any of them had ever seen before.

  Shouts rose from the goblins in the tunnel as they began pursuit. Echoing shouts came from the goblins digging through the rubble. They, too, began running to intercept the humans.

  As goblins can run fast, the chase might not have lasted very long. However, Warren slowed and then turned into an almost hidden passage in the left-hand side of the cavern. The opening was easily mistaken for just another shadow. Although small, Enton entered the opening by just ducking his head slightly.

  The passage opened up a few feet in, and they were able to run three abreast. It was still rather narrow for a fight, and that would, doubtless, be advantageous if the goblins caught up with them.
They could hear the goblins shrieks over the sound of their own panting breaths.

  Even though the walls were covered with the light producing fungus, the passage was still covered with shadows and they nearly tripped numerous times. Still the ground was, for the most part, smooth and they were not slowed by the darkness much.

  The tunnel gradually turned downwards and the slope became more pronounced as they ran. The tunnel started out fairly straight, but it began to turn; first to the right and then to the left.

  They could hear Dagan practically wheezing and Cassandra wasn’t doing much better. Neither one would be able to keep up this pace for long. It turned out that they didn’t have to.

  The tunnel turned to the right and they burst forth into a long but narrow cavern. A slow moving stream lay off to their left. The water flowed from the far end of the cavern where they could just make out a waterfall. The amount of water was not excessive and it undoubtedly exited the cavern through a subterranean passage.

  There didn’t seem to be any way to reach the far bank of the stream and none of them much liked the idea of trying to swim across. The Gods only knew what type of awful creatures might live in the murky water. Besides, the far bank didn’t appear to offer any hiding spots as the water flowed right up against the cavern wall.

  The right bank of the stream was broader and they huddled just outside the passage opening. The right-hand cavern wall varied in its distance from the river, but there was roughly a good twenty feet between the wall and the water.

  “What now?” Heather demanded.

  “Not much farther,” Warren shouted back. He began running again, following the shoreline.

  Cassandra and Dagan were done. They both had collapsed to their knees upon entering this new cavern and they knelt there, gasping for breath.

  “Enton! Atock!” Heather called. The two had been about to run after Warren and the others. “Grab these two,” Heather said as she pointed to the two kneeling members of their party. She could hear the approaching goblins and knew they didn’t have long. She drew her sword and retreated backwards from the opening.

  Enton and Atock both moved towards Cassandra but Atock reached her first. He grabbed the woman and pulled her roughly to her feet. He bent down and slung the woman over her shoulder. She gasped but could do little else.

  Enton scowled at Atock, but wasted no time in picking the old man up. He slung the old sorcerer over his shoulder just like Atock had done with Cassandra, only he enjoyed it much less than Atock had.

  Atock and Enton turned and ran after the others. Cassandra and Dagan were treated to a very unpleasant and bouncy trip.

  Keeping her eyes to the rear, Heather ran along the shore as well. They had barely started moving, when the first goblins erupted from the passage opening. They didn’t even slow down but charged right at Heather.

  She flicked her sword in a horizontal swing and it caught the lead goblin across the eyes. He howled and fell to the ground; taking some of the others with him, but a wave of goblins swarmed over their fallen comrade.

  Heather stabbed out again and another fell, but it was no use; there were too many of them.

  A wall of flame appeared in the few feet that still separated her from the goblins. It was blindingly hot and it scorched her skin. She nearly dropped the sword due to the pain of holding the metal.

  The goblins screamed again and fell back momentarily. Heather wasn’t about to miss her chance. The wall of fire could only be a magician’s work. Most likely not Cassandra; perhaps Mikela? She turned and meant to charge after Enton and Atock, but she came face to face with Mikela.

  “Thought you could use some help,” Mikela said. She smiled but looked a little weak.

  “What’s the matter?” Heather demanded taking the magician by the arm.

  “Just tired,” Mikela answered. “Let’s go before the fire fades.”

  Heather didn’t need to be asked twice. The two women ran, actually it was more like stumbled along until they caught up with the others.

  At the far end of the cavern, steps had been cut into the cavern wall, just to the right of the waterfall. They quickly mounted the slippery steps and carefully climbed after the others.

  They were out of breath when they reached the top. The cavern was maybe thirty or forty feet high and the slick steps made the climbing difficult. At the top, another small opening turned out to be a ten foot passage that led to another cavern. Jerrold was still standing in the passage, frantically waving them onward. They passed him and emerged from the passage just as the sounds of the goblins reaching the steps were heard.

  There was a roaring sound and for just a moment Heather thought the cavern was collapsing on them. As it turns out, she wasn’t too far off the mark.

  Jerrold came charging from the passage just as the noise started.

  “What is it?” Aaron shouted. “What did you do?”

  It was Warren who answered. “There were boulders suspended along the top of the wall and he simply released them.”

  Silence descended, both in the conversation and in the first cavern. It took a moment to visualize exactly what Jerrold had just done. The boulders lining the wall of the first cavern had been released. Undoubtedly the avalanche had made a mess of the pursuing goblins.

  Atock smiled. “Did you learn that from the dwarves?” he asked.

  “Actually, yes, we did,” Warren answered, returning the smile.

  “What now?” Heather asked. She was still breathing hard, but she didn’t want to wait for the goblins to come looking for them. “Where’s the next passage.” She looked around at the cavern for the first time. It was much larger than the first cavern, both wider and longer. An enormous murky-looking lake covered most of the floor. It lay off to the left-hand side of the cavern and the overflow of the water was the source of the waterfall for the previous cavern. The lake took up the entire left-hand side of the grotto and curved around to touch the right rear wall as well. They were standing on a rocky shore. The beach ran for about a hundred yards along the lake until the lake and the cavern wall met. The shore rose quickly to their right and ascended to what looked like another passage in the rock.

  The smile slid from Warren’s face. “There is one more room, but there aren’t any exits.”

  Heather tilted her head, “I don’t understand. If there aren’t anymore exits, then how do we get out of here?”

  “The only way out is back the way we came,” Warren said softly.

  “Then why did we come here?” Heather asked, surprised by how calm her words sounded. Inside, she just wanted to erupt in anger but that wouldn’t do.

  “I meant for us to sneak into the passage back at the old city. It was pure bad luck that those goblins came along.”

  “So why not run somewhere else? Preferably, somewhere we can get out of.”

  “The only place that we could have run was back up the passage and the goblins blocked us. The only other place for us to hide, with our retreat blocked, was on the far side of the old city and it was covered with goblins.” He softened his tone a bit, “I did not mean for this to happen.”

  Heather slowly let her breath out and looked away. The emotions warred within her. She felt Warren had meant well but part of her really wanted to blame him for their current situation. She forced that anger away and looked back at him, “So what can we do?”

  Warren motioned back towards the short passage that connected the two caverns. “This cavern is easily defensible. We should be able to hold it for days.”

  “Sooner or later they will get through,” Cassandra said from where she sat on the ground. She looked exhausted but her eyes were still bright. “What happens then?”

  “We go there,” Warren said pointing.

  They looked where he pointed. It was up the sloped shore, where Heather had thought there might be another passage.

  “Jerrold! Quinn! Guard the passage. Let us know the moment anything happens.” Warren said suddenly, causing sever
al people to jump. He then turned to Heather and said, “Come. Let us go up and see the next room.”

  Heather paused only long enough to glance back to Enton and Atock. Both men nodded, almost imperceptibly. They, too, would stay and guard the passage.

  The rest of the group followed Warren up the steep slope; Aaron had to help Dagan. The climb ended in a small level platform. As far as they could see, the only purpose in the platform was that it allowed access to an arch. The arch led through to a smaller chamber.

  Warren didn’t even slow when he reached the platform, but stepped right on through the arch. Heather paused only long enough to look back where Enton and the others guarded the passage and then she followed Warren.

  They stepped into a much smaller room; small as compared to the previous cavern. This was not a naturally formed cavern, but a room that had been hollowed out of the solid rock. It was almost empty. Off to their left was what looked like a doorframe. The frame was made of stone and was several feet from the wall. Two vertical stone pillars made the sides and one horizontal slab lay across the top. The width of the frame was a good twelve feet. There was no use to the frame that they could see.

  The right-hand part of the room looked as if the ceiling had caved in. The floor was covered in rubble. The back wall was visible, but an enormous amount of loose stone lay in front. A cave in was entirely possible, given what the dwarves had done in their last hours.

  The room was circular, or had been until the ceiling collapsed, and the diameter was maybe thirty feet.

  “What is, or was this place?” Mikela asked. She was the first one to find her voice. Several of them had half expected to see a suit of armor lying on the floor.

  Warren’s only answer was a shrug.

  Heather’s eyes narrowed. “Then why did you want to sneak us here?” she asked. She tried to keep the anger out of her voice but failed.

  Warren held his hands up in front of him. “Nerandall is near.”