Long, Dark Road

by Bianculli, Susan

  Heather looked nauseated, and I couldn’t blame her. I felt that way myself.

  “Is there a way to guard against that?” Jason asked.

  “If you see a light bobbing mid-air in the distance, do not keep looking at it. Instead, look away, then look back, and keep doing that rhythm until it goes away.”

  “How did you learn this, Fellef?” asked Auraus with curiosity.

  “I work in Allocations, Mistress,” Fellef replied. “I hear things from the Duty Scouts who come in to replace damaged equipment from their patrols.”

  Hmmmm. I wonder what else the Kobolds and Troglodytes and the others hear? I wondered to myself.

  The Wind-rider meanwhile looked embarrassed. “You do not need to call me, or any of us, anything except our names, Fellef.”

  He looked uncomfortable at her broad permission as he turned back around on the driver’s seat to face forward again. A quad of Duty Scouts wound around our wagon just then, and we stopped talking until they were gone again.

  “At least we aren’t being forgotten back here,” Jason said jokingly.

  “That would be the height of irresponsibly if we were,” sniffed Ragar.

  Jason sighed. “Ragar, I, oh, never mind,” he said, unconsciously mimicking what I’d said earlier.

  “So, we have about a day’s–uh, Lightening’s–journey to get from here to the no longer Shifting Tunnels of Chirasniv,” I said in general. “Isn’t that right, Fellef?”

  The Kobold replied, “I do not know. I have never left Chirasniv before.”

  I mentally smacked my forehead. Of course he hadn’t. What was I thinking? Just because he heard things about monsters didn’t mean he heard things about geography.

  “We are going slower on the wagon than we did on the dranth. I suspect it will be more like two Lightenings,” Dusk stated.

  I lay down on the wagon, which wasn’t bumping around too badly, and pillowed my head on my pack. “Well, then, I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it.”

  Time passed, but the wagon train never stopped moving, which made me wonder if Dusk’s prediction of closer to two days would be true. We six kept ourselves busy by seeing to our weapons, making the rope knots we would wear to distinguish us to our Kelsavaxian counterparts, eating, talking about ourselves to our companions, napping, and jumping off the wagon to stretch our legs before running to catch up to it so we could jump on again. Fellef was replaced at some point by another Kobold, who replaced by yet a third, who was replaced by Fellef again.

  “Hello again,” he said to us as he took the reins.

  “Hello, Fellef,” I replied with a yawn, having just recently woken up from a dream of drinking a large, extra strong coffee with sweetened hazelnut creamer in it with a cinnamon bun to go along with it. My mouth watered, and my stomach rumbled in disappointment that I wasn’t going to be eating anything like that any time soon.

  Murmurs of greetings came from my companions as well.

  “I did some asking around when I was relieved of my shift last Brightening,” he went on, “and found out that we will be reaching the Chirasnivian Shifting Tunnels before this Darkening.”

  That made us sit up and take notice.

  “We’d better start planning, then,” said Heather.

  “Plan for what?” said Jason. “Plans are for when you have an idea of what is going to be going on. We have no clue. All we know is that we’re to get off at the Shifting Tunnels, or earlier if there’s an ambush, and make our way in from there. That’s it. That’s the plan.”

  “Lise,” Heather began, turning to me, but I held up a hand.

  “Actually, he’s right,” I said. “Everything we could possibly plan for, which isn’t that much, is completely dependent on what the Kelsavaxians do. We are going to have to wing it.”

  Auraus raised her eyebrows at that, and I explained that it meant doing whatever seemed right at the time.

  “You Humans have quite a variety of expressions of words meaning something other than what they seem,” she said with a smile.

  “Yeah, that’s us loco humans,” Jason said.

  We rumbled along the corridors that was already semi-familiar to us from our abortive recent mission, but all of a sudden we were jolted to a halt.

  “What is going on?” Dusk asked Fellef.

  “I do not know,” came the reply. “We have to wait to be told.”

  The answer soon came down the line, passed from wagon driver to wagon driver. The scouts who had been sent ahead of the main line were under attack.

  Chapter 29

  “This is where we get off, then!” said Ragar eagerly as he hopped to the floor of the corridor.

  “Ragar, remember, we are not going into the fight,” Auraus cautioned him as she got down.

  The mountain-cat-elf shot a look of disgust at her. After the last of us was down and we had donned our packs, I thanked Fellef, who seemed surprised at being thanked.

  “Okay, so we’re off the wagon. Now what?” asked Heather.

  “Why don’t we see if we can, I dunno, slip ahead of the forces and sneak into Chirasniv ahead of the war?” Jason suggested.

  “I like that idea,” I said.

  “I would advise against it,” said Dusk. “Better to slip in behind the Kelsavaxians as they distract the Chirasnivians. Much like what is happening now.”

  “Let us test Jason’s idea!” said Ragar, a little too eagerly for my tastes. “The skirmish up ahead would be a perfect opportunity to see if we can slip ahead, or not. Then you can base your decision on results.”

  Since I really hated waiting any place for long, and had always rather been doing something rather than nothing, Ragar’s words resonated with my feelings.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s test it out.”

  I glanced sideways at Dusk, who had a disapproving look on his face but wasn’t arguing with my decisions. I wryly reflected that Arghen would have made his disapproval far more vocal.

  “Should we split up?” I asked the Miscere Surface-elf. “Like, three of us on one side of the tunnel, and three on the other? Or should we be just one line?”

  “One line,” he replied without hesitation. “That way we will know if something is happening to one of us and can get there to help if needed.”

  That made sense to me, so I made the line up with Dusk being first, followed by me, then Jason because he refused to be put anywhere else except by me, then Auraus, then Heather, with Ragar bringing up the rear. That last was a tactical stroke of genius for me, I felt. I knew Ragar would sulk at not being up front, but I didn’t want him running away into battle when we encountered it. So by putting him in a protective spot for Heather, he would be more likely to keep his position. I hoped. Dusk flashed me a look of approval as we took our places, which made me feel better.

  We headed down the tunnel towards Chirasniv, slipping by first the Allocation wagons and then by the quads of warriors eagerly waiting to be called up. It wasn’t before long that we heard the sounds of fighting up ahead. We reached a clog of Under-elven reserves before we reached the cavern and had to flash our rope knots to get them to move aside enough to let us enter. Once we were in the clear, we drew our blades. The Conductivus, who was standing off to the side at the entrance, didn’t even see us pass him because his eyes were all black. I wondered if he was communing with the souls around him or if he was allowing them to tap him so the souls could aid the Kelsavaxians. From the little I knew of him, probably both. The honor guard around him, standing with war spears and blades like a spiky defensive hedge, kept an eye on us until we were out of their weapons reach.

  Through the hand signals Arghen had taught me way back when he, Jason and I had first gone to the keep, I signaled that we should creep around the cavern wall. It was utter chaos in there. Due to the Under-elven ability of phasing out of sight at a distance, we heard more fighting than we saw. What we saw was savage enough, though. Dead warriors from both sides lay about; the dull green torso sash of t
he Kelsavaxians and the red waist cloth of the Chirasnivians both in evidence here as we trotted the route I chose. I had to keep my eyes looking away and reminding myself they were not dead because of me. Several fights appeared and disappeared nearby us as we moved along the wall, but we kept our heads down to avoid making direct eye contact. I had hoped doing that would be enough to prevent us interacting with any fighters on the field, but then a screaming charge came our way from a wild-eyed Kelsavaxian warrior! We immediately dropped into defensive positions.

  “Stop! Stop!” I yelled, frantically patting my shoulder to draw her attention to the rope knot that indicated who we were, but she was too far gone in battle frenzy to recognize it.

  Dusk stepped out to meet her charge, and she focused on him. Before she launched an attack on him, another Kelsavaxian, a Sub-leader, came out of nowhere and football tackled her to the ground. I mentally cheered.

  “Go, go!” he cried to us, grappling with his warrior on the ground.

  We wasted no time in getting out of there, scurrying forward along the walls. At the corner of the cavern where we would have to turn to get up to the Shifting Tunnels, we saw trouble up ahead.

  “A blockade at the tunnel mouth. It just figures,” I said with resignation.

  “And no doubt manned by Under-elves that we cannot see at this distance,” said Ragar, a feral light in his green cat eyes.

  “How are we going to get over that without getting ourselves massacred?” Jason asked, concerned.

  “Let me?” said Auraus, looking at me for some sort of permission.

  When I nodded, she took a couple of running steps and flew up over the battle.

  “Wha–is she crazy? She’s gonna get herself killed!” Heather exclaimed.

  I thinned my lips. I should have asked what Auraus was going to do before she did it. I didn’t want to see her get hurt. Flying over a quad of Duty Scouts in this cavern, like she’d done the first time we’d come to Chirasniv, was one thing, but this was a battle! We watched anxiously as she swooped up and around the stalactites that were still attached to the cavern’s roof. We saw her motion with her arm to have us move closer to the blocked tunnel mouth.

  “Let’s move out,” I said. “She wouldn’t be doing that if she didn’t have a reason.”

  “Maybe next time she will let us in on the plan first,” Dusk said dryly, an undertone of disapproval of her actions lacing his words.

  We hot-footed it towards the barricade. As we neared it, several Under-elves bearing swords came into view who were already focused on us and our arrival. But between one breath and the next, they fell asleep.

  “Hurry!” Dusk said with urgency. “This spell cannot last long, and we need to be beyond them before they wake again!”

  We ran like mad for the barricade and scrambled hastily over it and the now sleeping Under-elves. I stared at one Under-elf dressed in fluttering white robes slumped against a warrior.

  “The Conductivus-venire!” I pointed her out as we ran by.

  “Great,” said Ragar sarcastically. “Now we have to be on the lookout for enemies we cannot see.”

  I didn’t bother to point out the impossibility of his statement as Auraus flew down to join us, and the six of us beat a hasty retreat down the corridor towards Chirasniv.

  “When did you get to be able to put several elves to sleep at once?” I asked her as we ran.

  “I felt an increase in my spell capabilities, poured extra power into the spell, and prayed to Caelestis that my ‘wineskin’ would not burst,” the Wind-rider replied happily.

  Fortunately the tunnel curved rather quickly, taking us out of the casual sight of whichever one of the Chirasnivians woke first, but we kept running until Heather gasped in pain.

  I pulled up sharply. “What’s wrong?”

  “Just–just a stitch. Can we walk a few minutes, please?” she panted, hand to her right side.

  Whew. I’d thought it was something worse. “Okay. We need to talk anyway,” I said, huffing a little myself.

  Everybody gathered in close.

  “Okay, we made it past the fight. Thoughts?” I asked everyone.

  Dusk said, “Now that we are behind enemy lines, we should keep going. If the Conductivus-venire orders a retreat, we will meet the returning Chirasnivian forces, and we will be out-numbered.”

  I blinked. That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear from Dusk.

  “But if we do that, then we will be hounded all the way to Chirasniv,” Auraus objected. “We should go back over the barricade and wait for the Kelsavaxians to clear the way.”

  “But we will have to face the Conductivus-venire and all Chirasnivians in her vicinity,” Ragar reminded her. “I do not think we can get so lucky to go over the barricade a second time. She will have souls looking out for her more closely now.”

  Dusk looked at me. “I believe we are committed, Lise,” he said solemnly. “This was not the choice I would have made back at the battle, but now we must go through with it, I feel. What say you?”

  I hesitated briefly. “All right, let’s push on. If worst comes to worst, maybe we can hide in one of the killing fields if the Chirasnivians sound a retreat.”

  We walked in silence towards the next killing field, each busy with our own thoughts. I thought about Arghen again, of course. I hoped we would be able to rescue him and that we could bring him to the Surface with us, and not send him to Quiris as she had said we might need to do. If, indeed, he hadn’t already been killed and we were unknowingly rushing to rescue a corpse. That thought depressed me so much that I was startled when Dusk broke the silence.

  “There will likely be an ambush up ahead,” he said before we were within Elven hearing range. “At least, that is what I would do were I a Chirasnivian commander.”

  “Do you think it would be soul-based?” asked Heather.

  “No. Remember that souls require line-of-sight to tap a Conductivus in order to affect the physical world. Or, at least, that is what Venire said,” Auraus replied for Dusk.

  “Should we wait for the Kelsavaxians then?” asked Jason. “Get them to draw attention away from us a second time?”

  “You are assuming the Kelsavaxians are going to win without allowing any of the Chirasnivians to retreat,” Ragar said. “You should never base your plans on what might happen. Or at least, have a backup plan if you do.”

  “Yep, you’re right, Ragar. That’s Military 101. What was I thinking?” said Jason, lightly smacking his forehead in self-reproof.

  “Auraus? Can you, without going in there, have any sort of magic that can tell us if the cavern is occupied or not?” I asked her.

  She nodded, closed her eyes briefly, then opened her eyes and made a few arcane gestures, her forehead furrowing with intensity.

  “Hey, Lise? I thought Quiris had said that the Goddesses can’t sense us down here. How is it that Auraus can cast spells?” whispered Heather.

  I shrugged and whispered back, “Quiris did say that They do feel a little something from us when we prayed down here last time, remember? So I’m guessing that for this trip They are being hyperaware of us. Maybe whenever either of Them feels anything from us, They’re just going to send power down and hope it’s enough for what we want. If you really want to know you can ask Quiris when we get back after rescuing Arghen.”

  Just then Auraus turned to me. “There is no one here.”

  Dusk asked with incredulousness, “Are you sure?”

  She nodded firmly.

  I shrugged. “I’ve decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth, then. Move out, people.”

  With the familiar confused looks on the faces of Auraus, Dusk and Ragar, we six strode across the cavern with me and Dusk in the lead. It looked like it had last time I had seen it—a mid-sized cavern with stalagmites, stalactites, columns, and boulders both big and little scattered around. Everything was made of a greyish stone speckled with bits of brown, black and white. A clear road ran through the cave to the tunnel on th
e other side, and we followed it.

  We were only a quarter of the way across when Ragar shouted out, “Stop!”

  Everyone froze in place.

  “What’s up, Ragar?” I asked cautiously.

  “Poison,” he answered shortly. “I can smell it.”

  It figures, I thought.

  “Where?” Dusk asked him.

  The mountain-cat-elf sniffed lightly. “Everywhere, now. We must have tripped some trap trigger somewhere.”

  Ragar’s words were less forceful than they had been, and that worried me.

  “Auraus! What can you do about poison gas?” I said as loud as I could. It worried me that I didn’t sound as loud to myself as I thought I usually did.

  “Nothing right now! Run for the tunnel, where I can do something!” she shouted. “Maybe the poison is just in the area where the first of the invasion troops would encounter! I’ll fly ahead and prepare for you all!” The Wind-rider took a three step running start and did a fabulous wing-assisted long jump, of which I was briefly envious, towards the far tunnel entrance.

  Dusk, Ragar, Heather, Jason and I sprinted for the opposite side of the killing field, but our steps grew slower and slower as the poison got further into our systems. I was some yards away from the tunnel mouth when I collapsed to my knees, unable to keep moving. I saw Auraus beating her wings slowly back and forth and waving her hands in the pattern of a spell. She saw me and turned an encouraging look on me, but she didn’t stop what she was doing. Ragar, already carrying Heather, staggered by me. I was frightened. I reached out a weakly pleading hand towards his back in a request for help that the mountain-cat-elf didn’t see.

  I’m not going to make it to the tunnel mouth, am I? Please, Caelestis, I don’t want to go to your heaven yet! I prayed.

  Out of nowhere hands pulled me upright—a bronzed pair on one side, and a light-skinned pair on the other.

  “No! You will keep going, mi amor! You got that? You can’t stop now! I won’t allow it!” Jason yelled practically in my ear.

  Leaning on each other, Dusk, he and I stumbled the rest of the way into the tunnel entrance.