"Yes, Warrick tries to keep the people separated," Aric said. "But there is some trade, some contact. There has to be to keep things running smoothly."
"Yeah, I guess that all makes sense," Berig said. "But why didn't you go straight to Mountainside when you left Crayden, before the fire destroyed the teleportation chamber there?"
Klint was pacing, but no one paid attention to him. Looking down into the city, Berig thought he saw movement again.
"For one thing," Ander said, "we just didn't think of it. For another, we had unfinished business with Nadia. We had to go to Woodsville with her and find something, something that could possibly lead to Warrick's defeat." He shook his head. "I hope she's still alive."
"She is," Aric said. "She's a fighter. I know she can do it."
Berig had to agree with that. Anyone who took the risk of rescuing him and Markus in the midst of that inferno had to be strong and capable.
"What about the Shadowed Land?" Berig asked.
"Well, what I've read isn't entirely clear," Aric said, "but it's said to be another world, so to speak. Many of the sorcerers of old were sent there, and it's home to many monsters. In all, it is not a place anyone would want to go." His expression became downcast. "Unfortunately, I have the feeling someone we know has gone there."
"Are you talking about Kara?" Ander asked.
"I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to worry anyone, but if that thing that touched her is what I think it is, that's where she's gone. Honestly, I think death would be better. Maybe she's even dead by now, at peace instead of in constant danger."
Klint turned to them with an impatient glare. "We done talking? I mean, we do need to figure out what we're doing about this Underground City. Should we go through it?"
Aric scratched at his beard. "It might be dangerous, but will we ever have another opportunity to see a place like this?"
"I really don't care about that," Klint said. "I just want out of these damned caves."
"Maybe going through the city will help us find our way out," Aric said. "I think it's likely that this place is the source of the caves' strangeness. If we can find something that will help us figure out a pattern, we could get out much sooner."
"As much as I hate to admit it," Klint said, "that makes sense."
"Then let's go," Danica said, regaining her usual cheer. "It could be exciting."
Talia was staring solemnly at the city. "Graig would've loved to see this place. He read some of the same things as Aric. They always fascinated him."
After a long, tense silence, they started moving. They followed a narrow path that spiraled downward from the ledge to the city, hanging close to the chamber's wall. Berig thought he saw movement again, and his stomach lurched.
When they reached the bottom, they stood at the edge of the ruined city, a place of stone structures one or two stories tall. Now the city seemed eerily still and silent.
"This reminds me too much of Woodsville," Aric said.
Ander kept moving forward. "We have two staffs. We should be all right."
"You've been to Woodsville?" Klint said. "You insane?"
"We had our reasons," Ander said, checking his surroundings with every step. Berig's whole body felt tense. Things kept darting around the corners of his vision, but when he turned his head, he saw nothing.
"So do you intend to explore this place?" Klint said. "Or are we just getting to the other side, wherever that is?" He peered into the distance and shook his head.
Danica smiled. "A little exploring couldn't hurt."
"Actually, it could," Klint said. "This place looks dangerous."
"We really should find the way out," Ander said as they passed another row of stone buildings that remained mostly intact.
"We should find anything we can on how this place works," Aric said.
"And how're we gonna do that?" Klint asked. "Wander around aimlessly?"
Aric pointed ahead and to their left. "There's a large building. Doesn't look like an ordinary residence. Maybe there'll be something of use in there."
Berig agreed with Klint. The sooner they were out of this place, the better. The hairs on his arms stood on end, as though some foul presence hovered in the air, something he couldn't explain. A feeling he remembered from the Crayden Forest.
The building Aric had indicated stood at least twice as high as the others. Large columns carved with intricate designs stood before its entrance, and a set of wide stone steps led up toward the dark opening.
Berig shuddered, but he wasn't sure why. "You sure you wanna go in there?"
"Why? Ander said. "Is something wrong?"
"I don't know. This whole city makes me uncomfortable." Berig didn't want to explain how it made him feel, fearing they'd think he was crazy.
Aric frowned. "Yes, it is a bit . . . unnerving."
Berig followed the rest of the group up the stone steps and into the building, fighting against his panic. The magical light was not as bright in here, so they relit their torches.
They came to a large stone counter in a grand entry hall. To their right, stone stairs spiraled upward to the building's second level. Farther in that direction were a few doors, and matching doors stood off to their left, cracked in places but still intact.
"If I had to guess," Aric said, looking unsteady again, "I'd say this was some kind of government building. In its day, I'd imagine it was a magnificent sight." He walked along the desk, bracing himself against it, and Berig feared Aric was experiencing another episode of weakness.
Ander placed a hand on Aric's shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"Don't worry. It'll pass. I just need to rest for a moment."
While they waited for Aric to recover, Berig felt like the air was closing in around him—that invisible, evil presence again. He glanced from side to side, but nothing stirred.
"So where do you think we might find information?" he asked.
"We'll have to check," Ander said. He turned to Aric. "You ready?"
"I'm still weak, but I'll manage."
Ander nodded, and the group started off to the right, past the stairs and into one of the rooms. It looked like a small office that might have belonged to a sorcerer. A weathered staff lay across a stone desk. Dozens of scrolls were scattered about the room. In the corner, there was a potion-making station, or at least what looked like one.
Despite his weakness, Aric moved around the room eagerly. "This is fascinating. I've never seen things like this before." He examined some of the scrolls, turning them over in his hands carefully. "We don't normally get to see glimpses into the lives of sorcerers like this."
Berig didn't understand why this was so interesting.
"But is there anything of use in here?" Ander asked.
"Probably not," Aric said, "but I'd love to spend more time in this place."
"Maybe you can do that once you're healed," Ander said. "For now, we need to figure out how we're going to get out of this city."
"I know," Aric said. "I just worry that we may never find it again." He turned to Klint. "After all, how many times have you been through these caves?"
Klint scratched at his scraggly beard. "I've lost count by now. At least thirty, I'd say."
"Strange," Aric said. "What're the chances that we'd end up in this place now? It makes you wonder if someone or something is guiding or steps, leading us to this place for a reason."
"I don't believe in fate," Klint said, but Berig wasn't sure he agreed. Before the last few weeks, he would've said fate was ridiculous. Now he was open to the possibility.
"I don't think we'll find any answers here," Ander said.
They returned to the large entry hall, where that oppressive feeling hung in the air. The longer it persisted, the more Berig felt tempted to tell the others. What if he doomed them all through inaction? It would be like so many things in his life, a tragedy that was his fault.
"Maybe we could try upstairs," Danica said.
Ander turned to
the whole party. "Any objections?"
No one objected. As they climbed the stairs, the air began to feel even heavier, and Berig shivered in a sudden and mysterious chill. Was it his imagination? Caves were cold after all.
At the top of the stairs, a large door stood open, shelves of books looming behind it.
Talia moved closer. "A library. We might find something useful in there."
"I agree," Ander said, leading the party into the vast chamber. Danica followed right behind him, holding her torch high, while Berig did the same at the back of the group.
He shivered again. Had it grown colder? He tried to push the concern aside. They didn't have time for his cowardice right now, not with Aric so weak—Aric who was bracing himself now against the stone shelves.
"This is bigger than the library in Crayden's castle," Ander said.
"How will we find anything?" Talia asked.
"I don't know," Aric said, moving slowly among the books. He grabbed one from the closest shelf and squinted at the words on the cover. "Luminian. At least I can read it."
"What's Luminian?" Berig asked.
"Luminia, the City of Light," Talia said. "A place that's home to many sorcerers. They wrote in a symbol language, probably to keep much of their knowledge secret." She sounded relaxed, but her hand stayed close to her sword.
Berig continued to feel the suffocating presence of something malevolent, coming closer and closer. He really should tell the others.
"I don't like this place," he said. "I feel like there's something evil nearby."
"What makes you think that?" Ander asked.
"I'm not sure. It's kinda tough to explain."
"Whatever it is, we'll be ready," Ander said. "We'll all stay alert."
They continued to wander through the library. Aric, the only one who could read Luminian with ease, picked up books at random, then shook his head after looking at them for a few moments.
"I'd love to study this place," he said. "There's so much history here."
"My friend the scholar," Ander said with a rare smile. "I know a little Luminian myself, but reading it is usually an exercise in frustration."
Berig felt a sudden blast of frigid air, and the whole world vibrated with that feeling of evil. It had to be only feet away. He peered around the end of the nearest shelf.
And saw it.
A strange, misty substance, roughly the size of a person, drifted toward them. As soon as Berig saw it, it hastened its pace. He couldn't tell if it had a face or a body; it was simply a silvery cloud, hovering closer and closer, reaching out with something like a tentacle.
"There's something coming!" Berig shouted.
Ander's eyes widened. "Berig, don't let it touch you!"
"He's right," Aric said. "That's the Silver Wisp. It's the same thing that probably took Kara to the Shadowed Land. We need to get out of here."
They all took off, and Aric cast aside the book he'd been examining. At the end of the shelf were two wispy creatures, one coming from each direction. Berig froze in panic.
"Let's get into the next aisle," Ander said. "We have to move fast!"
They ducked into that aisle, narrowly dodging one of the silvery beings, then raced as fast as their legs would take them. At the end of the aisle, they turned, staying just ahead of their pursuers. Now the silvery ghosts were appearing all around them, like the city had noticed their presence and flared to life.
Berig's heart pounded as they ran around the back side of the library. Up ahead, their path was clear, but the wisps were closing in from behind.
They reached the door leading out of the library.
"Where now?" Danica asked, her voice high-pitched with panic.
"Down the stairs," Ander said without stopping. They rushed down the stone steps, the wisps closing in on them. To Berig's horror, more lurked at the bottom, moving with chilling speed.
Two wisps blocked their path, and the party stopped, glancing at one another with alarm. Ander and Klint raised their staffs, sending jets of fire at the wisps. The creatures didn't vanish, but they recoiled, giving the party enough time to dart past them.
But too many of the wisps hovered in front of the door. So many that Berig couldn't count them as they closed in on their prey.
More hovered off to their left. The only escape route was to the right—the three doors leading to other rooms. The party raced toward these doors.
"Which one?" Ander said breathlessly.
Berig's gaze turned to the rightmost door, and he pointed at it. "That one. Don't know why, but that feels like the place to go."
No one argued, so they raced to that stone door, pulled it open, and rushed into the room beyond. An elevated platform, large and circular, stood in the center of the room.
"It's a teleportation chamber!" Berig said, darting up the stairs. The others followed, breathing loudly, Aric clinging to Ander.
Ander raised his right hand into the air. "Mountainside."
A tense moment passed, during which Berig worried he might have been mistaken, but then his feet lifted from the ground, and the world spun around him. The last thing he saw before his surroundings disappeared was a Silver Wisp floating less than five feet away.
Chapter 52: The Forest of Darkness
Tylen sat at a round table in the garrison, playing poker with his Imperial Guard comrades. He'd been losing for a few hands and thought he should get out of the game, but he didn't want them to think badly of him. They were all he had now.
That was a sobering thought. He'd never cared much for the company of others, but he'd always found other nobles to talk to. Now he wasn't sure he could go back to his previous life even if he had the opportunity. He'd seen too much. He understood the world much better.
Everything he'd ever believed about the world, and himself, was a lie.
Sam, his commander, sat beside him at the table. Also seated there were Will, a man Tylen's age whom Tylen liked, and Gerald—also the same age, but a little too cruel for Tylen's taste. Tylen worked hard not to show how much he disliked Gerald.
"I still don't think we should've let them go," Gerald said.
"We've discussed this," Sam said. "It wasn't worth the risk. Even Warrick's told us we did the right thing. We shouldn't question him."
Tylen disagreed with that last comment, but said nothing. After Crayden, how could he not question the emperor? Yes, he saw now that Imperial Guards were not as bad as he'd thought, but that didn't mean he supported everything Warrick did. Who could?
"Sam's right," Tylen said, shooting a stern look at Gerald. "We can arrest them when it's easier for us. Or would you prefer to be dead now?"
"I believe in supporting the emperor," Gerald said.
Sam pushed a couple of bronze coins to the pile in the middle of the table. "As do we all. Now let's get back to our game. There's no use reliving the past."
Of course, Tylen wasn't sure how much he did support the emperor. In fact, he wondered even now if he'd been acting against the emperor in convincing Sam to let Ander and the others go. As much as he resented them, something felt wrong about letting them die.
How had his life and beliefs become so complicated?
* * * * *
Rik awoke with a coughing fit. It felt as if somebody had slammed a mace against the side of his head. The world spun around him, and he vomited on the muddy ground again and again. His body trembled as he pushed himself to his knees.
Slowly and painfully, he got to his feet. His legs wavered, but he steadied his balance as the world spun around him.
His thoughts were a confused mess. He could barely remember anything until the rushing of the nearby river reminded him. He'd fallen in. He'd been knocked out. But somehow he'd survived.
He continued coughing, feeling like someone was stabbing him in the head.
The bright sunlight nearly blinded him and made his head hurt worse. As much as he feared the forest, its darkness looked appealing. In a daze, he checked his belongi
ngs. His leather sack of supplies had been swept away, but he still had his staff.
He squinted against the blinding sunlight and staggered toward the dark forest. As soon as he stepped beneath the canopy, the light faded. He could see maybe twenty or thirty feet, and it was so mercifully dark. Still woozy, he walked farther into the forest, collapsed against a tree, and passed out despite his pounding head.
When he woke, he felt a rough hand against his forehead. He jerked, and his headache flared again.
"You know how long I've been searching for you?" Garet said. "What made you think it was a good idea to wander into the damned forest on your own?"
Rik groaned, sitting up gingerly. "Too bright out there."
"Too bright?"
"I knocked myself out against a rock," Rik said. "My head hurts like hell."
"You feeling all right?" Garet asked. In the darkness, he was a faint shadow. "Good enough to travel?"
Rik moved his head around. It still hurt, but the nausea had faded. "Not too fast, but I think I can move at least. Shouldn't we find the others?"
"It's been hours and hours. Chances are they've gone on without us. If we want to find 'em, we'll have to get moving and hope we can make up some ground. You still got your weapons and supplies? I have weapons, but nothing to eat."
"Same here," Rik said, feeling the weight of the axe and staff strapped to his back. "How're we gonna get through this place with no compasses or anything?"
"I do have that," Garet said. "Had it sealed away in my pocket."
"Why aren't the others with you?"
"I was the only one who could swim well enough to rescue you."
"Thanks for trying," Rik said, leaning against a tree. "Guess I didn't need it, though."
"You should consider yourself very lucky. You really should be dead."
Rik's head throbbed. "Yeah, I wish I could feel lucky right now."
They traveled by the light of Garet's compass, but it proved insufficient once they left the outside world behind. In the darkness, Rik felt like panic had twisted his insides.
He kept his voice low. "Maybe we should use my staff. We can't see a thing."
World in Chains- The Complete Series Page 44