Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web (The Complete Epic Fantasy)

by Thomas J. Prestopnik

  A short time later, Nicholas and Leo returned to Cale’s cell with the key to unlock his door. They wore daggers at their sides, hoping they wouldn’t have to unsheathe them when they led him up the corridor and out of Deshla prison. They assumed the threat posed by the waiting troops would be enough to keep him in line.

  “Are you ready?” Nicholas asked, displaying the key.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Cale replied. He briefly held up his key to what Nicholas and Leo hoped unlocked a lightly guarded minor door to Vellan’s compound.

  “Fine,” Leo said, taking charge. “Step back while I unlock the door and open it. And remember, we’re both armed and several guards are waiting at the end of the corridor. So no trouble on your part or it’s back inside the cell.” He took the key from Nicholas, preferring to give the orders to Cale in an attempt to keep the fragile bond of trust strongest between Nicholas and the prisoner.

  Cale stepped back as Leo unlocked the door and slowly opened it as if a wild beast were inside. But a moment later, Cale emerged passively into the dimly lit corridor, his head slightly bowed as if his spirit had been broken. Nicholas and Leo stood on either side of him, each with a hand poised above their daggers.

  “You won’t need those,” Cale remarked.

  “I hope not,” Leo said. “Now let’s go. Both the day and the war aren’t getting any younger.”

  Cale smiled pleasantly as the trio proceeded up the corridor. “By the way, you may have my key,” he said, fishing through one of his pockets as he walked. “Since you kept your word and released me, I’ll entrust it to you as a show of good faith.”

  “And we’ll happily accept it,” Nicholas said.

  “I suppose,” Leo added, being purposefully indifferent.

  “Here,” Cale said, pulling a hand out of his pocket. Suddenly, he shoved Nicholas and Leo aside in opposite directions, throwing them momentarily off balance as he spun around and bolted back down the corridor past his cell. He faded into the darkness beyond the last oil lamp and passed through another tunnel to his left that burrowed deeper into the mountain.

  “Cale!” Nicholas shouted, sprinting after him in anger.

  “Wait!” Leo cried, catching up and grabbing him by the shoulder. “Nicholas, he wants us to go after him. But he won’t get far. The tunnels don’t exit outside according to the earlier searches. Let’s do this the smart way.”

  “And what way would that be?”

  “Wait here.” Leo hurried up the corridor and informed Hobin about what had occurred. He asked him and another soldier to stand guard inside the main entrance in view of the east and central tunnels in case Cale tried to circle back through either one.

  “Watch yourself,” Hobin said.

  “Cale won’t get far in the darkness with all the dead ends.”

  “Maybe I should go with you.”

  Leo unsheathed his dagger which glinted in the dull light. “We’ll be fine.”

  Moments later, Nicholas stood similarly armed by Cale’s cell when Leo returned. They each unhooked one of the oil lamps suspended from the low ceiling and continued down the gloomy corridor before turning left and plunging into the connecting dark passage. It was low and narrow like the other, with only a few prison cells carved into either side. None of them, however, had any doors attached.

  “This must be where Vellan ordered the Enâri to halt construction,” Leo said. “The waters of the Drusala would be more than sufficient to lock up the minds and freewill of his captives.”

  “A brilliant plan,” Nicholas remarked. “Deviously creepy, but brilliant.”

  “With an army of Cales running around, I wonder if Vellan can be defeated,” he said as they walked farther into the mountain. “The enemy can easily replenish its numbers by pushing captives into a river. How can we compete against that?”

  Nicholas sighed, wondering if Leo could be right. “I suppose you need unflinching faith in your cause to carry on,” he said, his eyes fixed on the fluttering light guiding them along the narrow passage. “That’s what I admire about King Justin, Malek and Eucádus. They never give up no matter how hard the enemy strikes.”

  “Their perseverance must have rubbed off on you. But since you’ve never given up in your search for Ivy even before you had met them, I can only conclude that you already possessed the same strength of spirit. What else would explain it?”

  Nicholas recalled the recent frenetic months, wondering how he had survived them. “I had great teachers in life, especially my mother, Maynard and Tessa.” He thought about his father, Jack Raven, remembering the kind words Frist had said about him. “And some wonderful teachers I had never met.” He glanced at Leo. “And since you’ve been at my side through much of this adventure, you must have that same strength of spirit, too.” Nicholas laughed. “How else to explain your endless devotion to Princess Megan?”

  “Good point,” he replied. “But on the other hand, she and I–”

  Leo cut short his words. He and Nicholas stared into the dark void ahead, both having heard a noise in the distance. Footsteps? A loose stone hitting the ground? Neither could tell with certainty, but no other sound was forthcoming. Leo signaled to advance with caution as a weighty silence overwhelmed them.

  “Perhaps we imagined it,” he whispered.

  “Both of us?” Nicholas shook his head. “That has to be Cale skulking around, waiting to attack us. But I think he’ll find– Hey, what’s this?”

  Nicholas held out his hand, detecting a cool draft playing across his fingers. Leo felt it, too. When they raised the oil lamps for a better look, the increased illumination highlighted two additional tunnel openings, one to the left and another to the right.

  “Wonderful,” Leo whispered with exasperation. “Which way did he go?”

  “He might have continued straight ahead to fool us.”

  Leo raised his dagger, the firelight reflecting along its edge. “Stay here and stand guard while I scout ahead and see what kind of maze we’re in.”

  “All right. But watch yourself.” Nicholas though, had little time to worry about his friend as the glow from Leo’s oil lamp soon reappeared.

  “It’s a dead end after fifty paces, so that’s good news. Cale either took off to the left or right. Choose a direction.”

  “I’ll head right,” Nicholas said. “Holler if you find anything.”

  “You too. And keep that dagger handy.”

  They split up, their footsteps quickly dying out in each other’s ears. Nicholas turned right into the new passageway, finding nothing but crudely chiseled stone walls on either side, imagining with horror Vellan’s original plan to imprison the population living among the Northern Mountains. He noticed that the splash of light on the wall to his left had suddenly lessened after he had taken several more steps. He stopped and held up the lamp, shaking his head in dismay. He had found another opening that needed to be investigated and wondered if he would ever see daylight, or Ivy, again.

  Ten minutes passed. Nicholas vigilantly stood guard near the entrance to the newest tunnel, though it seemed like an hour. He couldn’t risk exploring the next passageway and leave the current one unattended, so he waited patiently for Leo to come back, feeling his chances of finding Ivy slipping away. To his relief, Leo returned a couple minutes later, the glow of his lamp swaying gently as he ambled down the corridor.

  “I was about to go searching for you,” Nicholas said.

  “I had an errand to run,” he joked, noticing the new entrance.

  “I didn’t dare search it and leave the rest of this one unguarded. What’d you find?”

  “My tunnel opened up into the main central corridor where Istillig and his friends are relaxing,” Leo said. “I recruited a few of Malek’s men to keep watch at that intersection in case Cale shows up. A couple others volunteered to check things out farther down in the main section. I’m guessing there are offshoots deeper inside. In the meantime, we can split up and see what you’ve found here.”r />
  Nicholas agreed and continued down the tunnel he had been exploring. Leo stepped into the newly discovered passage to the left. But Nicholas hadn’t walked much farther when he came to a dead end. He sighed dejectedly, knowing he mustn’t give up, yet found it difficult to retain a positive outlook. He turned around and returned to the spot where Leo had left him and followed him down that passageway. When seeing a lamp coming toward him soon after, he assumed Leo had found a dead end as well.

  “Any luck?” he asked perfunctorily, anticipating the answer.

  Leo shook his head, noting the anguish in Nicholas’ eyes. “None.” He held up his lamp and circled around the narrow passage for a final look as if hoping they had missed another tunnel opening somewhere. But both men felt only defeat and frustration as the stale air seemed to slowly suffocate them.

  “Cale must have fled to the other side,” Nicholas reasoned. “There’s nothing left here to explore. Let’s go back. Maybe the others tracked him down.”

  “All right,” Leo said as Nicholas turned and trudged back up the tunnel, his head bowed in defeat. “But don’t feel that this chase was a waste of time. Now that we know Cale is definitely in the other section of Deshla, we’ll find him. And then Ivy, too. I promise.”

  “If you say so,” he muttered, his eyes fixed to the ground.

  Leo, watching his friend from behind, couldn’t help but feel sorry for him and searched desperately for additional words of support. He was about to speak, knowing that Nicholas was slipping into a state of despair, when he observed a brief but lively fluttering of the flame in Nicholas’ oil lamp. But as there were no openings in the rock on either side of the wall, he wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

  “Nicholas, wait up a moment.”

  “Hmmm?” He turned around, his thoughts elsewhere. “What’d you want?”

  Leo locked his gaze upon Nicholas’ lamp, the fluttering of the flame having stopped. “Take a couple of slow steps toward me, holding your lamp aloft.”

  “Huh?”

  “Do it please,” he said with restrained urgency. “Humor me.”

  Nicholas shrugged, a puzzled look upon his face. “Fine. But what’s your point?”

  “I’ll tell you shortly.” As Leo watched Nicholas draw closer, his concentration focused upon the gentle flame. Then he saw it again when Nicholas passed a particular point along the passageway, a sudden and restless fluttering of the fire as if it had been carried past an open window on a blustery day. “Stop!” he shouted, startling Nicholas who took an additional step before halting.

  “Leo, what’s going on?” he asked with mild annoyance.

  “Take one step back and then don’t move. And hold your lamp a little higher and closer to the wall on your right.”

  “If you insist,” he replied, bringing the light toward the rock. “But we’re wasting valuable time when we should be–”

  Nicholas went silent, his heart beating faster upon seeing and hearing the flame in his lamp suddenly sputter and writhe as he held it near the wall. Yet neither he nor Leo could see an opening in the unevenly chiseled rock that would explain the current of air. He moved the lamp a few inches to the right along the wall and the flame returned to normal.

  “Move it back,” Leo whispered, watching closely. The flame once again danced when it returned to the same spot.

  “What are we seeing?” Nicholas asked with growing interest.

  “Not quite sure. Let me take a closer look.”

  Leo ran the palm of his hand across the stone until he felt a thin stream of air brushing against his skin. As he followed the upward path of the tiny breeze, Nicholas observed with amazement that Leo was tracing an outline of a narrow archway. When he finished, they looked at each other with drunken grins.

  “I’m guessing we’re thinking the same thing,” Leo said.

  “Is it possible?”

  “Let’s find out.”

  Leo handed Nicholas his oil lamp and then pressed both hands against the rock between the two thin vertical areas where he felt the stream of air, but nothing happened. Slowly, he moved his hands inch by inch to the right until the rock gradually gave way under the pressure as a gust of air washed over his face.

  “Leo! There’s a–” Nicholas, choking up, couldn’t finish his sentence.

  “–a doorway,” he replied, smiling.

  Leo grabbed his lamp and they both took a step back, raising their lights higher as a steady but gentle breeze rustled the hair on their heads. Before them was a low archway and a partially opened stone door expertly cut from the wall. Inside, it looked as black as the night itself. Neither uttered a word, believing that Cale had disappeared into the hidden passageway. Without hesitation, they slipped inside.

  The passage was much narrower than the tunnels of Deshla, only the width of three men abreast. Nicholas closed the stone door after they entered to stop the flow of air from extinguishing their lamps. He admired the craftsmanship that had created the smoothly turning door despite the fact that it was the work of the Enâri. Leo, meanwhile, eyeing their way forward, reached up and touched the cold rock ceiling with his fingertips.

  “Words of advice–don’t jump,” he joked as he and Nicholas moved on.

  “Where do you think we are?”

  Leo furrowed his brow as their footsteps subtly echoed along the tunnel. “I’ll bet people used this secret passageway to escort prisoners of particular interest to and from Vellan or his commanders, those few prisoners who were actually kept here. Or maybe it’s some sort of escape route. But where it leads to, who knows?”

  “I wonder,” Nicholas muttered as they trudged on. “Still, wherever it goes, Cale will have to take his time getting there without a light to guide him. But if he reaches the end before we do, we might never find him. Can we pick up the pace?”

  They moved faster, gradually rising in elevation. Minutes later, Leo spotted a thin beam of light shooting through the ceiling at a sharp angle and hitting the wall to their left. “What have we here?” he asked, looking up through a narrow hole a few inches wide that had been bored into the stone to reach the fresh air outdoors. The touch of warm sunlight brought a smile to his face.

  “An air source,” Nicholas said, imagining there were several more scattered along the stone trail. “You’ve got to hand it to the Enâri–both deadly and resourceful.”

  “I prefer them in their present state,” Leo said. “Let’s go.”

  They continued through the claustrophobic surroundings, aware of the gradual rise and slight turns in their path, though generally heading in an easterly direction. As the cool air brushed against their sweaty brows, both were reminded of their climb up Gray Hawk Mountain with Hobin. They paused a few times to rest, their leg muscles burning, wishing they had brought their water skins. At several points in the trek, Leo set his lamp down and listened for signs of Cale. Except for the fluttering flames, all was silent.

  “Maybe he gave us the slip after all and went to the other side of Deshla,” Leo said.

  “Regardless, we’re going to the end wherever this leads,” Nicholas replied, signaling for him to move on. “For good or for ill.”

  A few minutes later they stopped again, tired from the continual rise in elevation and gradually warming air. Nicholas sat against the wall to rest, wondering if they would ever find Cale. Leo plopped down on the opposite side, guessing his friend’s thoughts.

  “It can’t be much farther, Nicholas. We’ll move on shortly. We’ll find her.”

  Nicholas nodded, appreciating the comment whether believing it or not. “I wonder how much longer our light will last. The lamp isn’t as heavy as when we started. Most of the oil has burned off.”

  “And unlike our delightful jaunt in the Cashua, we have no wood to start a fire,” Leo joked, noting a smile upon Nicholas’ face.

  “At least we’re not lost,” he replied, briefly closing his eyes. “We have a well-defined path to somewhere, but I don’t know if–”<
br />
  Suddenly a vague and distant call, cut off immediately after it sounded, startled them both. Nicholas’ eyelids popped open. He and Leo scrambled to their feet, staring at one another in confusion.

  “You heard that, too?” Leo asked.

  Nicholas nodded. “Was it a scream?” He grabbed his oil lamp. “Or a call for help?”

  Leo hurried forward. “It has to be Cale, but I can’t judge how far ahead.”

  “Be vigilant. We may not be the only ones here.”

  As they picked up the pace, sometimes going at a slow run, Nicholas lost sense of how long they had been inside the tunnel, having no clue as to the hour of the day. He assumed that Hobin and the others had probably begun to search for him and Leo within the corridors of Deshla, guessing that the odds were slim that they would stumble upon the secret opening in the wall. As the wavering light and slippery shadows drifted across the floor before his feet, Nicholas looked up to clear his mind. Leo, a few paces ahead, seemed more eager than ever to end this portion of their journey.

  “It can’t be much farther,” he said between breaths, glancing back at Nicholas with a confident smile. “I have a feeling that–”

  “Leo! Wait!” Nicholas’ blood ran cold as he dropped his lamp and lunged forward, grabbing Leo by the shoulders and pulling him to the ground where they both hit the stone with groan-inducing pain.

  “What are you doing?” Leo cried as he rolled on his back, staring up at the pale light flickering upon the ceiling as a momentary spasm of pain shot up his spine. His oil lamp had been extinguished during the fall, but Nicholas’ still burned a few feet away.

  “Saving your life is what I’m doing,” he replied, sitting up. “You all right?”

  “I will be,” Leo moaned, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Good. Now don’t move.”

  Nicholas stood and retrieved his lamp and then hurried back to Leo’s side, letting the light fall on the floor ahead of them. As Leo groggily sat up and stretched his limbs, his eyes focused forward and widened in shock. Just a few steps ahead was a deep pit that extended the width of the tunnel and stretched forward a dozen feet. Leo walked cautiously to the edge. He glanced at Nicholas with a pale but grateful smile.