Wizard's Key (The Darkwolf Saga Book 1)

by Mitch Reinhardt

  They continued straight, passing through three intersections. Geoff counted his steps as he walked, figuring it was about fifty yards or so. Along the way he noticed strange, jagged gouges and scrapes in the stonework on the floor and walls. They looked to him like someone was wildly swinging a pickax in the corridor.

  As they walked, the gouges became more numerous and they had to step over debris that had been torn from the walls and ceiling. Geoff felt many gashes in the stones beneath his feet, and the treacherous footing caused Jane to stumble twice, although she managed to stay on her feet.

  Every sound they made echoed throughout the subterranean passages, causing Geoff to cringe. He tried to imagine what sort of monstrosity could cause such damage to solid stone, but only succeeded in sending another shiver down his back.

  Suddenly Ariel stopped and remained very still. Just ahead, faintly visible in the green glow, were several large, rough holes in the walls on both sides of the passage. Each hole was roughly three or four feet in diameter and dripped with moisture.

  Ariel turned back to the others and held a finger up to her lips. Here the passage was nearly filled with debris. The stench of decay coming from the holes made Geoff’s stomach churn. He placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. Ariel, weapons in hands and her mage stone hovering above her head, crouched and hurried past the gauntlet of fissures.

  Once on the other side she turned and motioned for Jane to follow. Jane scurried past the openings in the wall, nearly falling over a loose bit of debris. The sound echoed in the corridor and continued for several long seconds. Geoff held his breath and they waited in silence for any sound in response. Beside him, Sawyer let out a long sigh of relief and shook his head. Ariel signaled for Geoff to come across next. He let out a deep breath and swallowed. He took slow, deliberate steps, trying to be as quiet as possible. The foul odor emanating from the openings in the walls caused him to cough and gag and nearly throw up.

  He tried to suppress his coughing as he rushed past the gaping holes and joined Ariel and Jane. He couldn’t help but take a peek as he passed, but he couldn’t see anything in the darkness. Sawyer followed close behind Geoff.

  Click-clack.

  The sound rang out from the last opening in the wall. Geoff and Sawyer looked at each other, then Geoff glanced behind him. Something moved in the darkness. He reached into his pocket to withdraw the mage stone Ariel had given him. But a firm hand on his collar yanked him backward and he found himself sitting on his backside next to Sawyer, who had received the same treatment.

  “We must go,” whispered Ariel. “Now!”

  As Ariel spoke a large, bloated insect-like creature emerged from a hole in front of them. It had large, sharp mandibles that resembled a giant pair of scissors, and these were making the distinct click-clack sound. A pair of large, wiry antennae waved about on its head. It had no eyes, at least none that Geoff could see. Its grayish body was covered with moist, smooth plates that resembled scales. Its powerful hooked claws stabbed the stonework, leaving large gashes. Geoff thought it looked like a giant tick. It was four times his size and moving quickly toward him.

  “That’s a mite? How can they be so big?” Geoff said.

  Geoff looked up and saw Ariel slash at the carrion mite.

  “Run!” shouted Ariel.

  The creature opened its mandibles, revealing a beaklike mouth lined with several rows of triangular teeth. The next instant, two moist, sinewy tentacles shot from its maw at Ariel, but her quick elven reflexes allowed her to move out of their way. Before Geoff and Sawyer could get to their feet, another carrion mite emerged from an opening on the other side of the corridor.

  Jane screamed so loud it caused Geoff to wince and cover his ears. He saw that Ariel was dodging two sets of tentacles while Sawyer had drawn his sword. Ariel reached up, plucked her mage stone from above her head and held it forth.

  “Iluminara!” she shouted, and the green glow from the gem exploded in a brilliant green burst of light. The carrion mites let out a shrill screech and retreated as the bright light engulfed them. Geoff watched as they shuddered and sizzled in the light.

  “Run!” shouted Ariel again as she looked over her shoulder at them. “Run now!”

  “Oh, no! Look!” said Sawyer as he pointed past the two carrion mites Ariel battled. Geoff could see the bloated forms of at least three more mites in the corridor. Their clicking had become almost deafening as the sound reverberated throughout the catacombs.

  Geoff, Sawyer, and Jane turned and ran down the corridor. Jane managed to pull her mage stone out while she ran. She repeated the command word Ariel had taught them and her gem began to glow. As they ran, Geoff looked behind him and saw Ariel was running in their direction. Behind her the corridor writhed with swarming, clicking carrion mites.

  “Guys!” shouted Jane. “I don’t know where I’m going!”

  “Just keep running straight,” answered Sawyer.

  Geoff barely heard Jane and Sawyer over the increasingly louder clicking noises behind them. Jane held her glowing gem out in front of her as she ran. The green light bounced and bobbed about, which further added to their eerie surroundings. As they ran, Geoff noticed some of the floor stones ahead were heaving upward.

  “Jane!” called Geoff.

  “I know! I see it!” said Jane.

  Jane leapt over the upheaval of stones first, then Sawyer. Geoff barely made the jump as a pair of large, hooked claws emerged from the floor accompanied with the click-clack noise.

  They ran down the corridor and stopped at an intersection. Jane bent over and gasped for air. Geoff looked back and saw Ariel slash at the burrowing carrion mite as she leapt over it. The wounded creature screeched and retreated back down the hole from which it had emerged.

  “We should keep going,” urged Geoff. “Those things are everywhere.”

  “Hell, yeah,” said Sawyer. “C’mon! Let’s go!”

  Sawyer pointed straight ahead as Ariel caught up with them. She was followed by a dozen carrion mites, which seemed to be appearing from everywhere in the corridor.

  “Run!” she said, using a scimitar to point in the direction Sawyer had just indicated.

  With the added light from Ariel’s mage stone, Geoff saw another intersection a few feet ahead of them. With Jane leading the way, they dashed down the corridor as Ariel turned to face the pursuing carrion mites.

  Geoff glanced over his shoulder and saw Ariel use her mage stone to blind them and then slash and slice the ones closest to her. Their screeches echoed throughout the corridor, even drowning the clicking noises they made with their mandibles.

  As Jane, Sawyer, and Geoff reached the next intersection the walls collapsed on both sides of the corridor. Geoff looked around. Through the dust and debris, he saw that he was cut off from Sawyer and Jane. He was trapped. He had fallen behind when he had looked over his shoulder at Ariel battling the carrion mites.

  Geoff heard Jane call his name. He saw the light from her mage stone had drawn the attention of the carrion mites. They lumbered toward her and Sawyer.

  Geoff looked back at Ariel for help. She was about twenty feet away battling a new group of carrion mites that was dropping into the corridor from the ceiling.

  “Ariel!” shouted Geoff, but the noise of combat and the screeching accompanied by the deafening clicking noise made it impossible for her to hear him.

  Then he noticed something moving nearby. A carrion mite had emerged from the fissure in the corridor and was rushing at him. He screamed and ran down the nearest corridor.

  As he ran, he kept one hand touching the wall and the other stretched out in front groping. He heard the clicking mandibles of the carrion mite coming closer. Oh, no! Please! No, he thought over and over again as he ran down the corridor. His fingers were scraped raw from feeling his way along the w
all.

  He fumbled in his pocket for his mage stone, but was unable to grasp it as he ran. His chest ached and he could barely breathe. He thought his lungs were going to explode. He reached into his pocket one more time and found his mage stone. He pulled it out, and as he turned to face the oncoming carrion mite he tripped.

  Geoff landed on the cold, hard surface with a thud. He opened his mouth and said “Iluminara.” Descending on him from the darkness was the beaklike mouth with rows of jagged teeth surrounded by a pair of gnashing, clicking mandibles. Geoff screamed and held out his arms to ward off the attack. The light from his mage stone exploded into a bright flare until all he could see was white. He heard a horrible screeching and smelled burnt meat. Geoff’s head spun wildly and he gasped for air. He could barely keep his eyes open, and before he faded into unconsciousness, he thought he heard voices.

  “Ye see that?”

  “Aye,” answered a deeper, rough voice. “Thought no more wizards existed ’round these parts.”

  “I hear others coming,” said the first voice.

  “Get our loot. Better bring ’im too. A young wizard’s gotta be worth somethin’.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mage Fire

  Jane managed to raise her mage stone above her head and illuminated the area around herself and Sawyer, who had drawn his sword. They were positioned behind Ariel in the center of a rough-hewn intersection. Jane saw more carrion mites pour into the corridor from everywhere around them. Ariel slashed and sliced at them with her scimitars, holding them back.

  Jane looked around, but she didn’t see Geoff anywhere.

  “Geoff!” called Jane, but she could barely hear herself over the maddening clicking noises of the carrion mites.

  “Sawyer, where’s Geoff?” shouted Jane.

  She grabbed Sawyer’s arm, causing him to start and almost drop his sword. He shrugged her off and quickly regained his grasp.

  “What?” he said as he glanced at Jane.

  Jane grabbed his shoulders and shouted in his ear. “Where’s Geoff?”

  “Dunno,” said Sawyer with a quick shake of his head. “Isn’t he here?”

  “No! I don’t see him,” said Jane.

  The carrion mites’ numbers continued to grow. Ariel whirled and attacked with such grace that she looked like she was dancing, but the mites were pushing her back into the intersection.

  Jane looked all about for an escape route. Her palms were sweaty and her forehead was moist. This has to be a bad dream or something, she thought. It can’t be real.

  She watched Ariel swirl about in circles, killing one mite after another with her dance of death. She killed them in such a way that their corpses formed a bottleneck. The remaining mites were forced to attack her one or two at a time, but Ariel’s two scimitars made quick work of them.

  “Holy crap! I’ve never seen anyone move like that,” said Sawyer. “Have you?”

  Jane shook her head. Watching Ariel fight reminded her of a ballet. She opened her mouth to tell Sawyer she agreed with him when out of the corner of her eye she saw movement to her left. Down the corridor and saw a wave of carrion mites surging toward them from a new direction. She screamed, grabbed Sawyer’s arm, and turned him around so that he saw the oncoming mites.

  “Get back!” he shouted and raised his sword. Jane took a few steps back.

  “Sawyer!” she cried. “We have to get out of here!”

  “I got this!” called Sawyer.

  In the green glow of her floating mage stone, Jane saw his hands trembling, and he rapidly shifted his weight from foot to foot. The leading mite charged at Sawyer and raised up on its hind legs as it prepared to lunge. Sawyer jabbed at the underside of the creature with his sword, but he lost his balance and missed. He fell forward and landed directly in front of the mite.

  “Sawyer!” screamed Jane.

  A bright green light flashed from behind Sawyer and Jane, blinding the mite above him. Jane covered her face with her hands, shielding her eyes from the intense green light.

  “Move back!” shouted Ariel.

  The flash had lasted only a moment, but that was enough to scare the mites away.

  “Get up, Sawyer!” said Jane.

  She saw that Sawyer was struggling to get to his feet. He had dropped his sword and reached down to pick it up when a mite burst through the wall beside him. Ariel stepped in front of Sawyer and thrust a blade through it.

  Jane sprang forward and grabbed Sawyer by the hand. She pulled him to his feet and looked at Ariel. The elven druid was slicing and slashing at the blinded mites, driving them backward.

  “Ariel!” shouted Jane, “What do we-” She stopped. There was a white glow behind her. She turned and saw a rolling wall of white flames approaching. The writhing, violent flames tumbled toward them. The light hurt Jane’s eyes, and she looked away and tried to step back. The heat increased. Jane screamed. The pain from the searing heat was such that the air she breathed burned her nose and lungs. She felt the skin on her arms begin to burn.

  Oh no, no. Too hot. Too hot, she thought over and over. She closed her eyes tightly and held her arms up to brace for impact. Then she heard Sawyer’s voice.

  “Aarrgghh! Where’d that fire come from?”

  The next instant she felt a strong hand grasp her arm and jerk her out of the corridor. She was thrown into the hole in the wall just made by the mite, and landed beside its body. Suddenly she felt Sawyer land on top of her with a painful “Oof!”

  Ariel laid down beside her while covering them with her arm and cloak. The carcass of the mite provided additional cover as the small cavern where they lay exploded with light and heat. Jane and Sawyer both screamed. From under Ariel’s cloak, Jane could see bits of bone and broken stones and debris all about the cavern. She squinted. The heat hurt her eyes, but she saw the stones scorch and the bone fragments char, some even turning to ash. The mite in the opening fell apart as it was incinerated. It seemed to Jane that the whole world was shaking, like a giant train had just rumbled by. Several stones fell from the ceiling of the cavern.

  A few seconds later Jane heard the high-pitched screeching of the carrion mites as they were engulfed by the rolling white inferno. She closed her eyes as pulsing waves of sweltering heat rolled over her. When the heat from the fireball faded and didn’t feel as intense, Jane opened her eyes. The cavern was too dark to see. She still heard the stones sizzling and the smell of burnt flesh clung to her nostrils. Jane lay still and coughed a few times.

  “Iluminara.”

  Ariel’s mage stone lit the cavern with a familiar green tint. A thick layer of smoke lingered overhead. Jane looked around at the black earth and black stone. Everything the white flames had swept over was charred.

  “What was that?” cried Jane.

  “Yeah,” said Sawyer as he brushed himself off. “That was close!”

  Jane watched as Ariel carefully walked to the opening and peered out into the smoky corridor. Suddenly a horrible thought occurred to Jane.

  “Ariel! Geoff! Is he—”

  “I do not know,” said Ariel. “Only a great wizard can cast such a destructive spell.”

  “He couldn’t survive that,” said Sawyer. “No one could.”

  “He may have hidden,” said Jane. “Got out of the way, like us. He may be okay, right?”

  Jane looked at Ariel for support, but the druid said nothing. Jane looked back at Sawyer. His eyes were wide with dread. Jane guessed what he was thinking, because she was thinking the same thing. Geoff may not have survived.

  “Well, we have to find Geoff! He may be hurt or—”

  Ariel held up a slender hand. She silently stepped into the blackened corridor, looked to the left and then to the right.

  “I heard him cry out during the batt
le with the mites,” said Ariel. “Perhaps he did survive. Come. It is clear.”

  Ariel moved down the corridor, disappearing from view.

  “Oh no!” said Sawyer. “My sword!” he called. “I dropped it!”

  “Sawyer, forget your sword,” said Jane. “Geoff could be dead. And if you dropped it in the corridor it must be melted by now anyway.”

  “Perhaps not.”

  The voice was Ariel’s. She had reappeared at the opening and tossed the Stormblade to Sawyer, hilt first. He caught the sword and examined it.

  “Wow, no damage. It’s just a little warm,” he said. “Why isn’t it melted?”

  “Some magical items are imbued with great power, making them difficult to destroy. That sword is such an item.”

  Ariel disappeared from the opening again. Jane noticed she went right this time.

  “Come on, Sawyer,” she said as she stepped through the opening. “We have to find Geoff.”

  Jane still felt the heat from the flames that had scorched the entire corridor as far as she could see. The stench from the charred mites was stronger in the corridor and the smoke was thicker. She coughed and covered her nose and mouth with her hand. The heavy smoke clung to her as she walked.

  “I can’t breathe,” she said as her stomach churned. “This smell is making me sick.”

  “Crouch lower, Jane,” said Sawyer from behind. “Like this.”

  Jane glanced back at him. He also had his hand over his nose and mouth, but he was bent over as he walked.

  “The smoke is what gets ya.”