“Wait,” Aiden interrupted as an idea flashed through his mind. “You said 'when the waters came'. That means there has to be a breach in the walls on one of the lower levels, right?”
“Yeah, it does,” Clavis gravely responded, “but we got no idea what level that breach is on. Could have been on the eighth for all we know, and there's no way we can swim down that far to find out. Even if we could, it just opens out into the lake that was struck, so we'd have to swim up through that and hope there be a way out someplace above.”
“Okay, so there's a chance it might not work,” Aiden conceded, “but if your clan was involved in flooding out the city with the aim of deposing their own King,” - Clavis visibly flinched at the mention of this - “then it's possible they cut that hole on the fifth floor, where his chambers were, just to make sure they got him.”
“How do you know the lake was there, though?” Pacian asked. “Maybe the lake was way down at the bottom of the city, where the mines were.”
“No, he's right,” Clavis said dismissively. “I don't rightly recall if there was a lake 'o water someplace near the King's throne room, but if the water filled up to the fifth level, then it must 'ave achieved a kind of equilibrium with the rest 'o the lake, meanin' it had to be pretty high up, even if the breach was lower down. We better get down to the next level and start searching around, I think there be a strong chance we'll find that breach there, somewhere.”
“Anything to get away from this damn smell,” Pacian agreed, screwing up his face. “What the hell do they keep down here anyway?”
“Smells like they're using it as a garbage dump,” Colt grunted. “It has to go somewhere, I suppose. It'd at least explain why they don't live down here. Let’s move.”
Colt lifted Sayana as if she weighed nothing at all, leaving most of her equipment on the stairs since they couldn't take everything with them. Nellise allowed herself to be lifted without complaint, though she wouldn't permit Pacian to carry her. She leaned on him instead and allowed herself to be guided along by the waning torchlight.
“In God's name, I have never been so tired,” she whispered. “Clavis, who was that man back there who was countering my prayers?”
“Priest 'o Relnak probably,” Clavis grunted. “Though I can scarcely believe Ol' Greybeard would answer the call of a treacherous cur like that.”
Colt's theory on the nature of the stench permeating the air proved to be correct, as they saw piles of refuse, offal and garbage littering the streets and buildings of this section of the once-great city. The smell became overpowering as they moved through it, glad to find a path that the dwarves kept clear to allow travel through the muck.
To Aiden's eyes, it seemed like the refuse was moving, and when he looked closer he saw thousands of beetles crawling over the garbage, feasting on the rotting piles. They seemed content to feed and live out their lives as the only inhabitants in this section of the decaying city.
The immense, white armoured hide of a borer loomed up in the street before them as they walked along, scaring them half to death before they realised it was already dead, the flesh having been eaten from its bones by the voracious beetles crawling over its hide.
What was even more disturbing though, were the huge gashes along its armoured side, as if a massive claw had slashed at the beast. Clavis was at a loss to explain it and they didn't have any choice but to keep moving forward.
They were deep underground now and the pressure of it was starting to get to Aiden. He was constantly nervous now, worrying about too many things to truly relax - if his theory about the breach being on the fifth floor was wrong, they were most likely doomed to perish down here. The ceiling was much lower this far into the city as well, being little more than fifteen feet above their heads.
The sound of splashing water could be heard just up ahead, which puzzled Clavis no end until they arrived at the edge of the stone floor, and looked out across a vast body of water.
“Well blow me down,” he breathed in awe. “The entire floor has cracked in half and sunk at least a few feet, judging by the height those buildings ahead are at. The floor is at an angle too, so I have to assume that some o’ the supports on the lower level have given way over the years.” The stone floor they stood upon was a good two feet above the waterline, the paving stones showing signs of having been split apart by tremendous force.
“So, we have to wade the rest of the way through freezing cold water?” Pacian asked with dismay.
“Aye, unless ya want to try lashing together a raft made out of beetles and excrement, lad,” Clavis grumbled.
The torch was almost gone and it was too dark to see anything else, so Aiden called for a halt. They would have to rely on Nellise or Sayana to provide them with light and until they were able to do so, they may as well rest where they were. So they sat down at the edge of the artificial lake, bunched together for warmth and the comforting reminder of each other’s presence. As the torch died, only Clavis could see their surroundings, and he told them what he saw with a sad note to his voice.
“This used to be the council chambers, where the bureaucracy that kept the city running was set up. A lot of what I can see – and that ain't much, let me be clear – has been destroyed by the water. There's a big pile of rubble at the edge of me vision ahead that practically reaches the ceiling, and some of the buildings look like they're gonna topple over at any minute.”
“Damn that's a lot of water though...” he continued. “We're gonna get wet moving around, no doubt about it, and I ain't lookin’ forward to diving through that to look for a way down to the throne room.” They sat quietly in the darkness, listening to the water lap at the stairs for a few minutes before Clavis spoke again, this time in little more than a whisper. “I'm sorry I got ye all in to this mess, and I'm sorry I didn't tell ya up front what really happened to me. Ye've been good to me this whole trip, and ya deserved better than this.”
Nobody answered him, for whatever personal reasons they might have had. Maybe it was the aching in his body, or the tiredness from their ongoing ordeal, but try as he might, Aiden couldn't offer him any sort of consolation. If they actually found a way out of here, then maybe one day he would forgive the dwarf for his deception, but until then, he just couldn't do it.
A soft white light appeared at the end of Nellise' staff, offering them some illumination of the gloomy scene around them. She was leaning against a pile of rock while Pacian rummaged through her backpack, apparently searching for something at her behest.
“Is this it?” he asked of Nellise, showing her what appeared to be a small pouch. Moving very slowly, she reached up and opened the pouch, looking inside to check the contents. She nodded, taking it from Pacian’s hands and emptying it into a small mortar. Aiden only caught a brief glimpse, but it looked like some sort of herbs she was about to grind up.
“What’s that stuff going to do?” Pacian asked, sitting next to her and watching curiously.
“A concoction that will keep us going,” she whispered in reply. “Though we may come to regret taking it when its effects wear off. However, we cannot afford to stay here for much longer, despite our need to rest. They will be coming.”
“Right, then I better get to it,” Clavis declared, standing up and starting to strip off his armour, equipment, and weapons in preparation for swimming.
“You're still planning to try and get that damned axe?” Aiden asked, already knowing the answer.
“We may have gone through hell down here, but it'll all be for naught if'n I canna find the bloody thing I came here to get,” Clavis said. “Besides, I might just find that breach ya talked about, assuming I can find a way down to the next level.
“Considering the state of this place, I'd be surprised if you didn't find a hole in the floor,” Aiden replied caustically. “Still, for what it's worth, good luck to you.” The dwarf nodded brusquely in response, then stepped into the water, tentatively at first to be sure of its depth, but with greater confid
ence as he waded out into the city.
“Sayana's awake,” Colt announced at that moment as she stirred in his arms.
“How are you feeling?” Aiden asked.
“I'm starving,” she replied weakly, leaning against the big ranger as she looked about at their surroundings.
“Yep, she's back to normal,” Pacian chuckled with relief as Colt pulled out some of their rations for her. Sayana quickly took what she was offered, wolfing down cold sausages, bread and cheese much faster than she should have. She managed to avoid choking, despite her best efforts.
“Here's something else you can have,” Nellise offered, shaking a small vial of dark liquid vigorously in one hand. “I've made enough for all of us, but just take one mouthful or you'll regret it later.” She took a swig from the vial herself, shuddering as she swallowed the liquid, then handed it to Pacian who looked at it dubiously.
“This stuff better be good, because it smells worse than this garbage pile we're sitting next to,” he grumbled, taking his mouthful and screwing up his face in silent complaint. “Good God, it smells better than it tastes. Your turn, Aiden.”
“Oh, thanks Pace, I can't wait to try it after such a ringing endorsement,” Aiden commented acerbically, leaning over to take the vial.
“Just swallow quickly and it will be over before you know it,” Nellise offered, her voice sounding stronger already. Aiden took her advice and drank a mouthful in the hopes of avoiding the taste, but to no avail. It was a bitter, acrid tasting substance that made him shudder involuntarily, but almost immediately he felt more energetic.
“Whatever it is, it's working,” Aiden remarked, handing the vial over to Colt, who took a swig from it without complaint. The big ranger passed it to Sayana, who finished off what remained in the vial while she was still eating some bread. She displayed the most benefit from the concoction as her eyes widened and her posture straightened.
“It will last for little more than an hour,” Nellise explained, “but should give us the strength we need to search this place for a way out. If we don't find one, I guess it doesn't really matter after that.”
“I feel great,” Pacian exclaimed, leaping to his feet. “I'm going to search around a bit for anything interesting.”
“And how do you expect to find your way around?” Aiden wondered, feeling better and better with each passing moment.
“I still have the torch here,” Pacian replied after a moment’s thought. “I'll just re-wrap it in cloth and a little oil and it should give me some light for a little while at least.” He tore off a strip of cloth from the bottom of his longcoat, while the others rose to their feet and prepared to wade in to the freezing waters to look for a way out.
Clavis had disappeared from sight several minutes ago, but Aiden could still hear his muttered complaints about the cold, and splashes as he moved around the broken, flooded floor.
Although their boots and clothing did offer some protection from the cold at first, Sayana's ruined pants being non-existent below her thighs did nothing to shield her from the freezing waters as they stepped in.
“Are you feeling alright?” Aiden asked her as they started wading through the waters.
“Still weak,” she whispered, shivering.
“If we run into another fight, just get out of the way and let us take care of it. Your wound is better?”
“It's still very tender, so I won't take the bandages off yet. But my innards are staying on the inside at least.”
“Always a good thing,” Aiden drawled.
“Hey, I've found a way down,” came Clavis' cry from the darkness ahead. “There's holes in the floor all over the place fer some reason, so mind yer steps.”
“What sort of holes?” Aiden called back, looking down at the water with trepidation, hoping that they didn't blunder into any by accident.
“I dunno, it's kinda hard to make out any detail on 'em, but they ain't natural, which means some borers might have dug through some time ago,” Clavis guessed. “I dunno if they can swim or not, never thought about it before. But I don't know what else coulda done it.”
“Well for our sake, I hope they're as dead as the one we saw on the way through. Any sign of a breach in the walls?” Aiden asked, hoping against hope that a way out had been found, though part of him knew it couldn't be that easy.
“Nay, though I only been searchin' for a few minutes,” Clavis answered with a shake of his head. “The problem is trying to hold me breath long enough to get a good look-see. Anyway be careful where ya step, I'm headin' back under again.” There was the sound of splashing water, and then silence as he continued his search.
Aiden wasn't really paying attention, as he was watching Pacian climbing the pile of rubble that Clavis had mentioned earlier. It rose up out of the shattered buildings and flood waters around them, and seemed to consist mostly of carved stone sections from housing.
The light from Pacian's makeshift torch lit the ceiling and there appeared to be a sizeable hole above him. That could only mean that the rubble Pacian was climbing had come from... the floor above them.
“Pace, watch out, that hole above you leads right up through to where those crazy dwarves are living.” Everyone halted immediately at this statement, looking up at the hole in trepidation.
“I'm just going to take a quick look,” Pacian assured them, clambering over the rubble with ease towards the gap in the wall.
“No, wait,” Aiden hissed as loudly as he dared, hoping that they hadn't already alerted their enemies to their presence. Pacian ignored the warning, sitting directly beneath the hole and looking through it cautiously. It was much bigger than he was, probably close to ten feet across and had smooth sides, much like the borer holes they had seen on the higher levels.
Looking around at the base, Aiden couldn't see any signs that it was used as a passage between the levels on a regular basis. Despite his reservations, he started to climb up the pile of rubble to join his blond friend, for although part of him was wary of bringing their enemies down upon them again, another part wanted to know if they'd just found their way out of this dreadful place.
“What's goin' on up there?” Clavis said, surfacing not far from the base of the rock pile.
“There's a hole leading up through to the next level,” Nellise informed him. “I think they're trying to see if we can get out that way.”
“Well, I ain't found any way out from down there yet, but I did find the throne room. If I can just hold me breath a bit longer, I can get in there and see if the King's axe is still there.”
“Wouldn't it have rusted away by now?” Colt asked.
“It woulda if'n it were made 'o steel mate, but it was fashioned from precious mithral, and immune to the ravages of time and water.”
“Mithral?” Pacian called down to the dwarf. “Isn't that stuff worth a fortune?”
“Aye, and don't think fer a second that yer gonna sell it, ya greedy bastard.”
“I was just curious,” Pacian protested.
“Alright, this time I'll make it all the way down,” Clavis declared, almost to himself. He exhaled as much as he could, and then inhaled a mighty breath before plunging down into the depths.
“Give me a boost would you?” Aiden asked his old friend, having figured out the best way to climb up. Pacian complied, managing to push him while maintaining his precarious perch on top of the crumbled buildings. Aiden managed to get a hold above the edge of the stone, and pull himself up high enough to peer over the edge.
It was completely dark, but there were also no signs of glowing eyes looking back at him either. His heart racing, he continued to climb all the way, heaving himself over the edge to sit on the stone floor to get an impression of his surroundings.
Although he couldn't see, his hearing gave him a sense of an enclosed space, as if he'd climbed into one of the buildings they'd passed on their way through. Despite his desire to remain inconspicuous, he motioned for Pacian to throw the torch up through the hole
so he could see where he was exactly. The torch flipped through the gap with ease and landed across from Aiden.
He was underneath a vast pile of fallen rock that was hollow around the hole he sat next to. The rocks made an almost perfect dome shape overheard, peaking at the front of a building roughly fifteen feet away. The door to the building was still intact, though it appeared to be blackened in places, and the bones of several dwarf-sized individuals were scattered and broken around it.
But what really caught Aiden's attention was the gap in the surrounding rock just behind him, at roughly chest height, that opened out into the main thoroughfare – the hole he himself had made only hours ago.
Aiden could barely contain his excitement, for he had stumbled into the laboratory he had sought, right under the noses of the insane occupants of Ferrumgaard.
Chapter Thirteen
Thinking quickly, Aiden took off his longcoat and draped it over the gap in the wall. Then, he poked his head down through the hole in the floor and raised a finger to his lips to call for quiet from the others. Ignoring their curious looks, he limped over to the torch, picked it up, and then cautiously approached the area near the blackened door.
The stone around and above him was too perfect to have happened by accident. Combined with the scorched door and the broken bones, it was clear that this doorway had some rather serious eldritch protection upon it.
Leaning in for a closer look, Aiden could see etched runes around the edge of the door, familiar shapes he recognised from his long study of arcane devices. Most of them he could interpret as protective wards which invoked tremendous energies if the door was touched, but some of them he did not recognise. Whatever they were, it seemed likely they were all related to keeping people out of that room.
Despite the ominous implications, this actually gave Aiden hope, for it increased the likelihood of the contents of the room remaining undisturbed for the past century. If he could figure out how to bypass the protective runes on the door, he'd be able to find out, one way or another.
Nature Abhors a Vacuum (The Aielund Saga Book 1) Page 20