Long, Dark Road

by Bianculli, Susan

  “That means the meeting went the way the Conductivus was expecting,” said Jason.

  “Which was nowhere,” Ragar agreed.

  Frelanfur smiled a toothy smile.

  “Let me see to the controls room,” said Auraus, and spread her wings to fly over to the little one-room hut on the stone column in the middle of the river.

  “Oh, please, go right ahead,” the dragon said affably.

  Dusk’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know that I do not?” he asked the dragon as Auraus flew away.

  “She does not have the strength, nor the right spells, to completely disable the controls. As well, none of you would be able to get to the gates. I do not have such limitations.”

  Auraus came back and confirmed what Frelanfur had said about the room on the stone pillar.

  “Fly us over there one by one, Auraus,” Dusk said with determination. “All together we can probably do it. Then we can make a bargain with the dra-Frelanfur for a lesser favor.”

  “The room is not all that large, and is an awkward shape. I do not think I can get above two more as well as myself in there,” she objected.

  Frelanfur’s huge black eyes twinkled in amusement as he cleared his throat. “Did you know that you are going to have unwanted company sooner than you think? Do you really want to waste such time, Dusk, son of my good friend Quiris?”

  Dusk was silent.

  “So, I repeat, what do you offer me to take care of this extra problem for you?” the dragon asked everyone in general.

  “We have no more magical items. You have eaten them all already,” Heather said.

  “I do have other interests,” he replied, and looked straight at Venire.

  The white-eyed Under-elf was startled to be drawn into the conversation, and my mind flashed back to the conversation that Frelanfur, Jason and I had had about Conductivi while the dragon had been flying us to the mountain top.

  “Frelanfur! No! I can’t give away a sentient being! He isn’t even mine!” I said.

  Frelanfur’s large lips curled in a smile as he glanced at me. “Oh, so you have one that you can give me?”

  “No, no! I didn’t mean it like that!” I said, turning red.

  Frelanfur chuckled, and then addressed Venire directly. “I have an interest in learning about Conductivi. If you would be willing to go with me for a space of time and answer all my questions as fully and completely as you can, and do some experiments with souls who are willing to do so for me, then I will fulfill what your Conductivus has ordered you to do.”

  Venire looked torn. “But I am not subject to you!” the white-eyed Under-elf said.

  “No, you are not,” agreed Frelanfur. “Or rather, you will be for only as long as it takes for me to learn about Conductivi. After that has been accomplished, I will return you to your city-state of Kelsavax, unharmed. What say you? Oh, and also,” the dragon added, “you should make up your mind soon, as I can detect the presence of a group of beings gathering not too far from here. Say the length of a corridor away?”

  Venire’s face firmed. “Very well. I agree, dragon.”

  “Come and touch my claw to seal the bargain.”

  Venire went and did what I had done during my initial bargaining session with Frelanfur. He rubbed his palm in a quick circle on the talon.

  “Done!” said the dragon in a pleased voice just as a heavy pounding of what sounded like fists was heard on the door.

  “Wait! What about us?” pleaded Heather, fright in her voice.

  Frelanfur looked at me as a deep, solid “boom” replaced the fist-pounding. Worryingly, it sounded like every battering ram I’d ever heard in all those sword-and-sorcery movies I’d watched back home.

  “Consider this one a finder’s fee for my Conductivus, Lise Baxter,” he said to me, smiling as a rainbow-sheened mist swirled up around us and engulfed us all.

  Chapter 27

  When the rainbow mist cleared away, Jason, Heather, Ragar, Auraus, Dusk, and myself found ourselves standing in the Cavern of Convergence where the parley had been held. Our appearance must have been a big shock, because we saw the Kelsavaxians standing in frozen astonishment in the middle of breaking down the parley venue and removing the signs of their two day presence here. Truth be told, we were kinda in shock ourselves and were also a little rattled at having been teleported or whatever it was that had just happened to us. Each side stared at the other without speaking for a few seconds. The first to recover was the Conductivus.

  “Where did you come from? No, how did you come here?” he asked, unable to contain his surprise.

  “We just came in from Kelsavax on the wings of dragon magic,” I replied breathily, getting a grip on myself.

  Jason raised an eyebrow at the unintentional poetry I’d made.

  “Dragon magic?” the Conductivus cried, astonished.

  Incredulous mutterings was heard from every Under-elf of the parley. One of them called out, “You mean ‘dragon abomination,’ but she was quickly shushed by the others around her. The Conductivus searched each of our faces, and then he frowned. I winced as I realized why when he looked straight at me, eyes snapping in anger.

  “Where is my Conductivus-venire, Lise Baxter?”

  The mutterings from the Under-elves stopped as they realized Venire was no longer with our group, and as one they glared at us.

  I gulped nervously. “Well, you see, there was a bit of a problem in Kelsavax.”

  Each Under-elf put down what he or she was doing to fold their arms and stare at us in a very unfriendly fashion. I reluctantly relayed what had happened to our group, with the others adding in points of the story, but I made sure to play up Venire’s role and downplayed the confrontations between us and him. When I got to the Conductivus-venire of Chirasniv ordering our deaths, the Conductivus went ballistic and started pacing around and waving his arms madly.

  “What?! She dared to order the death of another Conductivus-venire?!” he raged over the angry mutterings of his entourage. “She had no right! This just proves even more to me that Chirasnivians are so far out of covenant that this war we will start is more necessary than ever to bring things back to the way they are supposed to be!”

  Dusk said loudly, but with respect, “Conductivus, we do have more to tell you.”

  The white-eyed Under-elf stopped short and visibly got hold of himself. A little unnerved, I continued on to tell how we’d been rescued and how Venire had ended up agreeing to the dragon’s bargain to fulfill the Conductivus’ orders.

  The white-clad Under-elf relaxed a fraction. “I knew he was not dead, else his soul would have come to me. So you say he gave himself to abomination for the sake of what I told him to do?”

  I nodded mutely.

  “Do you know where he has been taken?”

  “No, I’m sorry. I don’t. If I had to guess, it would be to the dragon’s lair, or wherever it is that he lives. Where that is, is anybody’s guess,” I replied with a shrug.

  “And the controls room has definitely been disabled?” the Conductivus pressed.

  I nodded. Well, I wasn’t completely sure about that, but Frelanfur had said he’d do it, and I had to trust that he’d done so.

  “And the gates?”

  All of us nodded this time.

  The Conductivus sighed in relief. “Despite my orders having been carried out by the results of abomination, I find the end result is acceptable.”

  Hmmm. That’s interesting. I wonder if all Under-elves subscribe to the ends justifying the means including using magic? I filed that piece of information away for later.

  “Frelanfur would not go back on his word, especially with him taking your Conductivus-venire with him. I do not doubt that those controls and the gates will have to be completely reworked. To fix them both will take the Chirasnivians time,” Dusk meanwhile stated.

  “Frelanfur?” the Conductivus asked.

  “That’s the dragon’s name. The one who brought us here,” I said, jumping in.


  “You are on a first name basis with a dragon?” he asked neutrally.

  “Well, Dusk and I are, anyway,” I replied.

  Wonder bloomed on the Conductivus’ face. “We have some knowledge of dragons, and so we know that that is incredibly rare.”

  I wasn’t too sure, but I thought he looked at Dusk and me a little differently now.

  “You are sure that the controls room and the gates have been taken care of?” the Captain of the entourage broke in with anxiety in his tone. “I do not want us in the Shifting Tunnels to find them being rearranged and have the Kelsavaxian forces either crushed, cut off, or both.”

  The Conductivus said dryly, “Captain, perhaps you should go back to Monstrous Lectures to refresh your memory. Once a dragon gives his word, it is his bond.”

  “Well, what do you know? It is true after all,” muttered Ragar.

  “Then it is good that Venire gave himself,” the Captain said with relief and proudness mixed in his voice. “He will make a worthy Conductivus for Kelsavax one day.”

  “If he is not irrevocably tainted by abomination,” said a member of the parley darkly.

  The Conductivus waved the comment aside. “Taint can be dealt with. It may not be pleasant for him, but it can be done.”

  Now what did he mean by that? I wondered.

  I wasn’t given much time to think about that because just then we heard the tread of many marching feet coming from the direction of the tunnel that led to Kelsavax. The sound galvanized the Under-elves of the Conductivus’ entourage to get back to work and finish packing up the parley. I looked at the Conductivus, who had a satisfied look on his extra pale face.

  “Is that–is that what I think it is?” I asked of no one in particular.

  “It is,” Dusk replied, “if you are thinking that is the sound of an army on the move.”

  “But if you were going to have the military attack anyway, why did you bother with the parley?” Auraus asked the Conductivus.

  He didn’t look at or answer her, making me instantly annoyed. My little temper tantrum had held sway on my part of the operation a couple of Lightenings ago, but apparently it wouldn’t be listened to here and now. I asked the Wind-rider’s question for her, and she smiled a wry smile at me in thanks.

  “Because I believe in being prepared for all events,” the Conductivus replied to me. “I had given orders for the military to camp not too far away, but to be out of casual search range. Once the Conductivus and her party was headed back towards Chirasniv I sent a runner to get the military on the move. We were not expecting you, of course. Who can plan for abomination?” The Conductivus briefly frowned and then went on, “I had expected that your party would hide out in Chirasniv somewhere or perhaps in the killing field closest to the gates, and that you would hear the war break out. Once you did, I would have expected my venire to come back to me and for you to go rescue your friend Arghen. But that has changed now.”

  “No, not really,” Dusk broke in quickly. “We still need to rescue our friend Arghen, so we would like permission to tail along behind your army so that we can slip into Chirasniv while they are occupied with fighting your forces.”

  The Conductivus was silent moment, obviously mulling it over, and then he said, “Yes. I grant this, as you did not accomplish what you had set out to do because abomination interfered.”

  I was getting pretty tired of the Conductivus referring to magic as abomination by this point, but I didn’t say anything because Dusk was right. We still needed to rescue Arghen. We waited with the Conductivus for the arrival of the army. While we waited, I re-lived the teleport over and over again, wondering if it had been more like a mist gate or more like a “Beam-me-up-Scotty” kind of thing. I was about to ask Auraus a question about it when Ragar beat me to it.

  “Auraus,” he said, “what do you have to say about large scale magic now?”

  The golden-haired Wind-rider looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “I asked you once about magic that can move people from one place to another, and you said you had no knowledge of it. Yet Frelanfur just saved us by magically taking us from one place and bringing us here. How do you explain this?”

  That wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to ask and wasn’t the way I’d intended to ask about it, but I waited to see what Auraus would say to Ragar.

  She furrowed her brow. “I do not understand your question, Ragar.”

  “Magic transport!” Ragar said with an edge of smugness. “You said back in the keep valley on our first journey there that it could not be done, but obviously it can be!”

  Auraus gave him an I-can’t-believe-you kind of look, and said, “Ragar. What I said was that I did not know if it was possible because I am not a mage. I assumed it was unlikely because I had never heard of armies appearing out of nowhere. However, dragon magic is far beyond what mortals know. I am sorry that I cannot tell you of the things I do not know.”

  Ragar subsided with a sulky mutter which made Dusk quirk his mouth, but the mountain-cat-elf brightened up when Heather tucked her arm into his. A short uncomfortable time later, the leaders of the military arrived at the head of the army.

  “Wait here,” the Conductivus instructed us as he strode to meet with the heads of the different units.

  We stayed put, and soon we were waved over.

  “These are the Surfacers,” he said by way of introduction.

  We were given looks of interest by the leaders since we, except for Ragar, still had our Under-elf disguises on.

  “These?” asked a Captain.

  “These,” replied the Conductivus firmly. “They are to be allowed to tail the army and are not to be hindered when they do not fight with us but leave to do their own mission. Understood?”

  All the leaders nodded.

  “Have them wear something on their cloaks that is distinctive,” suggested one.

  “Good idea,” the Conductivus said firmly. “I will have them pin a knot of rope to their cloaks.” He looked at us. “Make that so.”

  We nodded dutifully.

  “Good.” The Conductivus turned back to the Under-elven leaders. “Get the word out to your subordinates. Then let us march on Chirasniv.”

  Chapter 28

  The Under-elven army made its way through the Cavern of Convergence with relative quickness, sucking up the members of the parley into itself like sugar into lemonade. Even the stuff from the parley was merged into the Allocations division at the end of the military line. Because Frelanfur hadn’t thought to send our dranth with us when he’d rescued us from the controls room of Chirasniv, the Conductivus graciously allowed Auraus, Dusk, Jason, Heather, Ragar and myself to sit on the last Allocations wagon so that we would not be left. However, he warned us to get off at either at the Shifting Tunnels or if an ambush occurred somewhere before that. Then he swept off to the front of the line. We made our way to the back of the army and told the light grey-skinned male Kobold driving the cart who we were and that we’d been given permission to ride with him. He nodded deferential acknowledgement, and we hauled ourselves up onto the back of the wagon.

  “It’s gonna be a long trip,” groused Heather, swinging her feet back and forth over the tail edge of the cart.

  “It would be longer if we were walking, nena,” Jason said to her.

  “Should we be concerned about monsters?” I asked Dusk, hoping to forestall any argument that might arise. “We already know the Sub-realms are a breeding ground for all things toothy and nasty.”

  Dusk looked thoughtful for a moment, but then he shook his head. “Given the size of our, ah, escort to Chirasniv, even the hungriest of monsters would think twice about taking on a group as large as the one we are part of now, I would think.”

  “I would not be too sure of that,” said our Kobold driver over his shoulder to us.

  “Oh?” Auraus asked him.

  “Not every monster down here relies on being savage, big, and dangerous. There are t
hose that rely on numbers, like the Antish, or on luring their prey silently away, like the Deep Wisps. There are others, of course, but what it boils down to is that just because you are travelling with a military expedition does not mean you should let your guard down.”

  “What are those monsters you have mentioned?” The Wind-rider asked him with curiosity.

  “Antish are a muddy brown, about the size of large Cave bats, have a three piece segmented body with six legs, and have a head that has antenna and these jaw things that stick out from the side of its face, or so I hear,” the Kobold replied.

  “Eeeeeew!” said Heather with disgust. “They sound like ants.”

  “They probably are,” said Jason. “There are things over here that are just like you find at home except for their size.” Jason grinned at her. “Say, Heather, did Lise and I ever tell you about the time we fought an araña that was about as big as a delivery box truck?”

  Heather shuddered. “No, and you don’t have to, either.”

  I quirked a smile, remembering that spider fight. It was the first time Arghen had started teaching us how to fight all together without Jason and I knowing about it at first.

  “What is the other monster you mentioned, ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name, please?” I asked the Kobold.

  He looked surprised that I asked nicely. “My name is Fellef, Mistress.”

  “Don’t call me that!” I said sharply.

  He cringed, and I instantly felt like a heel.

  “Sorry, I, I didn’t mean to, to… oh, never mind. I’m just sorry, all right? Call me Lise instead.”

  He blinked in surprise at that. When I nodded encouragement, he said cautiously, “All, all right, but only because you wish it, Mi–Lise.” When I didn’t explode in wrath at him using my name, the Kobold went on. “Deep Wisps are far more subtle. They will not actually hurt you, but they can somehow fog your mind and make you follow them. The Wisps will then lead you to a dangerous place, like a pit or a cliff or something that is deep enough to kill you if you fell from it. Once you are dead they will feast on your flesh, but only after it has completely cooled.”