Under Fragile Stone

by Oisin McGann

  ‘Are you coming or not?’

  ‘All right, now you hold up right there,’ one of the clansmen said, hand on the hilt of his knife. ‘Nobody’s goin’ down that hole without Luddtich’s say so. Why don’t we all sit tight and wait for him an’ I’m sure he’ll show you around in there hisself.’

  Draegar strode over to Eldrith’s dead body and kicked it, making the Reisenicks jump.

  ‘Go away,’ he growled.

  They didn’t move. He kicked the corpse again. Something inside gave with a dry crack.

  ‘I can do this all night,’ he said. ‘And I’m going to want something soft to sit on when we get a fire going.’

  The Reisenicks looked fearfully at each other. This was against everything they believed in. Nobody should mistreat the dead. At least, not the Reisenick dead. Draegar kicked the body once more.

  ‘We might even need an arm or a leg to get the fire started,’ he added.

  ‘You’re goin’ ta die like the animal you are!’ the nearest clansman yelled plaintively.

  But the Reisenicks slowly backed away and with a few more curses and threats, they melted into the trees. Emos nodded approvingly and turned back to Rug.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘I’m not going in,’ the gangly man replied sullenly. ‘This is all some kind of … of sick plan. You’re telling me these lies so you can use me, somehow.’

  Taya came up beside him and took his hand.

  ‘It’s only a mountain,’ she said softly. ‘You can try it out, and if you don’t like it, you can always come back out again. You can come back to the village with us, if you want.’

  Rug slowly climbed down and walked warily towards the entrance. He was trembling slightly.

  ‘We’ll be with you,’ she said to him. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

  They each took a lantern, Emos leading the way into the black cave. He studied the floor as they made their way in, hoping against hope that he would find tracks there, but it was a painstakingly slow business to track over solid rock and they did not have time.

  The cavern inside gave way to a tunnel at the end, where a sharp corner turned down towards a junction, off which lay three branches. Mumbling an incantation, Emos pressed his finger into the wall, marking it with an arrow pointing back towards the entrance and started down the left-hand branch.

  ‘Why are you going that way?’ Rug asked.

  ‘Because it’s as good as any,’ Emos replied. ‘We’ll check them all in turn.’

  ‘But your family is down here,’ Rug said, pointing at the right-hand branch.

  The three Myunans looked at him.

  ‘And how do you know that, Rug?’ Emos inquired.

  Rug looked uneasily at the floor. He shrugged.

  ‘Is it ’cause you’re Orgarth?’ Lorkrin chirped, raising his eyebrows.

  Rug shook his head, but then started up the right-hand branch without them. They shared a look and followed behind, their hopes raised by the discovery that they had the spirit of the mountain as their guide.

  19 BONE STEW

  Cullum changed the dressing on his leg, noting with satisfaction that the wound was healing well. Draegar too, changed his splints and bandage. He was tired and his injured leg throbbed painfully. They all kept a watch out for the Reisenicks and Draegar was careful to keep Eldrith’s corpse close to hand. A fire was lit and Cullum started preparing some food as Khassiel positioned herself with her crossbow on the back of the truck, where she had the best view of the clearing. Draegar used the time to fill Cullum in on Rug’s story, as he had been in the cab the whole time. Cullum snorted at the tale and, having decided that everyone had clearly gone mad, dished out the beef, rice and beans he had cooked up.

  They were in the middle of their meal when they heard the sound of engines. Cullum got up to look. Draegar stayed seated and finished his food.

  ‘I think we’d best get inside,’ he told the Noranians. ‘No point giving them a target, now they’re here in force.’

  He and Khassiel moved into the cave, bringing Great Aunt Eldrith and the most important gear with them. Cullum quickly disabled the hoist before following.

  The four remaining vehicles of the Reisenick convoy came into sight, emerging from the trees and driving up the hill to pull into the clearing, surrounding the rescuers’ camp. The horde of young men jumped down and took up positions around the clearing, the old relatives staying on the back of the largest truck in their comfortable chairs. A large pot was lowered down and a fire quickly set under it. The smell of reheated stew filled the air, the breeze carrying it into the cave. Two middle-aged women stirred it slowly. The Reisenicks were settling in. Ludditch jumped down from the back of the lead truck and waved at Draegar and the Noranians, but did not come any closer.

  ‘Smells good,’ Cullum commented. ‘What’s that meat I’m getting?’

  ‘Bone marrow,’ Draegar replied, relishing the scent. ‘It’s bone stew. Nobody makes it like the Reisenicks.’

  * * * *

  Harsq walked up beside the chieftain.

  ‘They’re already in the cave, Ludditch. What are you going to do now?’

  ‘We’re already doin’ it, Kalayal. All we have to do is wait and soon we’ll be able to send all the boys in to finish the job.’

  ‘What do you mean? What about your great aunt?’

  ‘That’s to keep us at bay. But we’re not going to do any attackin’, it’ll all be done for us. Won’t be our fault if those trespassers fall afoul of the lampheads, now will it?’

  Harsq looked towards the cave.

  ‘What’s a lamphead?’ he asked.

  ‘You’ll see, soon enough.’

  ‘What makes you think your great aunt’s going to be safe?’

  Ludditch grinned.

  ‘’Cause the lampheads only eat freshly dead bones. They like the marrow in ’em. And the smell of that stew is goin’ to bring ’em runnin’ like flies to a dung-pile!’

  * * * *

  Emos stopped and sniffed the musty, still air of the cave.

  ‘The Reisenicks are here,’ he said.

  ‘How can you tell?’ Lorkrin asked.

  ‘I smell stew,’ his uncle replied. He paused and took a deep breath through his nose. ‘Bone stew. Didn’t take them long to start cooking.’

  His expression changed; suddenly he was on his guard, casting his eyes back the way they had come.

  ‘That cunning swine,’ he muttered. ‘Stay close to me. Rug, mind how you go. We might run into …’

  A sound ahead of them made him stop. It was a soft, deep moan, like an animal in pain. He went quiet and they all listened carefully, but heard nothing more.

  ‘Rug, do you know what that was?’ Taya whispered.

  Rug did not answer, his attention fixed on the tunnel ahead.

  ‘It’s an animal known as a Lantern Lady,’ Emos told her, drawing his knife with his free hand. ‘A nasty piece of work. They live in these caves, dangling a light to attract prey. We should avoid meeting it if at all possible.’

  Taya and Lorkrin exchanged looks. They remembered Draegar’s encounter with one of the creatures. Emos took a pouch from his pack and opened it, sprinkling some dust on each of them.

  ‘What’s this?’ Taya asked.

  ‘Bone dust,’ replied her uncle. ‘The smell of dead bone will put it off.’

  ‘I can feel it,’ Rug rasped. ‘It’s not in this tunnel. It’s off to one side. We can go on.’

  The passage was growing lower and every few dozen paces, it turned a corner. It would be all too easy to walk into an ambush. At one point, they came to a fork. Rug pointed up the left-hand branch.

  ‘It’s up there,’ he said. ‘Your family are the other way.’

  Lorkrin was crouching down, his hand pressed against the ground.

  ‘Does anybody else feel that?’ he asked.

  Now that he had mentioned it, they all felt it. A slight trembling carrying up through the soles of their feet. Rug put his hand t
o his chest and grunted.

  ‘It’s getting stronger,’ he wheezed. ‘It’s like something’s crushing me.’

  ‘We have to hurry!’ Emos exclaimed. ‘Come on, man. Find them, for pity’s sake. If this gets worse, the whole place could come down.’

  * * * *

  Outside the cave, the Reisenicks were looking worriedly down at the ground shuddering beneath their feet. Further down the hill, they heard the sound of a tree falling, and then another one. Birds were taking to the air and animals fled through the brush.

  ‘How we goin’ ta get back home, if this stuff blocks off the way, Learup?’ Spiroe asked uneasily. ‘Are you sure we’re safe here? I mean, you do know where it’s goin’ to come up, don’t yuh?’

  ‘Don’t go gettin’ yourself all worked up, Spiroe,’ his chieftain replied. ‘This is our time. If we have to go back through the Gluegroves after, we will. But we’ve got to see this done.’

  ‘Don’t worry, my son,’ Harsq placed his hand on Spiroe’s shoulder. ‘As long as you are with me, you are quite safe from the krundengrond.’

  Spiroe gave him a faltering smile and then threw a wary glance back at Ludditch. The last thing they needed now was for the priest to go soft in the head.

  More trees fell behind them and soon they could hear the telltale rumbling of the ground at the bottom of the hill starting to pull itself apart.

  ‘Let’s have a song, Pappy!’ Ludditch called. ‘Somethin’ with a bit o’ kick in it!’

  * * * *

  Cullum swore to himself as he looked out the doorway.

  ‘Now they’re bloody singin’,’ he said. ‘The earth’s comin’ apart and they’re having a party.’

  ‘Will that … that krundengrond come up the hill?’ Khassiel asked.

  ‘Hard to tell,’ Draegar replied. ‘I’ve never seen it come to life like this. The soil is thin here, lying on solid rock. I would have thought it safe, but this is beyond my experience.’

  ‘That’s a comfort.’

  Draegar was looking back into the cave behind them. Outside the carpet of light thrown by the rectangular entrance, he had the sense of something moving in the darkness. He did not know these caves, but his instincts told him not to trust the empty blackness. A glow appeared around the corner at the end of the cavern. He drew further inside, trying to let his eyes adjust to the gloom. At the far end, somebody turned the corner carrying a lantern, its light swaying to and fro. Cullum turned to look.

  ‘They’re back already,’ he said. ‘Maybe they’ve found them.’

  ‘The light’s wrong,’ Draegar said suspiciously. He drew his sword.

  Cullum nodded and raised his battle-hammer. Khassiel stared through the sights on her crossbow. The light came closer, swinging gently with the motion of the person carrying it. Behind it, they could see another one following. The glow from the nearest one illuminated what looked like the face of an old woman.

  ‘Shoot it,’ Draegar growled.

  Khassiel did not hesitate. She fired a bolt straight into the old lady’s forehead. There was a throaty shriek and the light went out. Something charged at them. Khassiel reloaded calmly and took aim, levelling her sights at the darkness above the sound of running feet. She fired again. The bolt struck home, but the creature kept coming. She stepped aside and Cullum moved into its path. Turning his hammer so that its spike faced forwards, he raised it and waited as the animal burst into the light. It rushed towards him and at the last moment, he sidestepped and swung his weapon with all his force at its head. The beast staggered sideways, but was still standing, despite the fact that Cullum’s hammer was embedded in its brow. Draegar drove his sword into its side and twisted it back and forth. The animal gave a strangled gasp and collapsed on to the floor.

  Khassiel had already put a shot into the head of the second one, but these monsters had thick skulls – it was still coming fast across the cave at them. Placing her foot in the crossbow’s stirrup to hold the nose against the floor, she pulled the string back and set another bolt in place. Lifting it to her shoulder, she took aim again and this time sent a bolt through the lamp itself. The animal roared in pain, and slowed down, but then charged forwards once more, blind with rage and splashing acrid fluid from its injured sac. Cullum was on the far side of the beast which lay dying on the floor and could not get across in time. Draegar leapt forward and swung his sword low, chopping through one of the creature’s legs. It shrieked and lashed out at him, knocking him backwards.

  Cullum and Khassiel fell upon it with their short swords, hacking at its back and flanks. It turned awkwardly on its three remaining legs and got hold of Cullum with its powerful arms. It tried to sink its teeth into his chest, but his armour saved him. Corrosive alkali sprayed from its lamp and he shut his eyes against it. Khassiel nearly cut another of its legs clean through and it released Cullum and turned towards her, wild with pain and desperation, but badly maimed. Khassiel, faced with the animal’s nearly impregnable head and shoulders, swung her sword and cut through the stalk jutting from its skull, the remains of the lamp smacking against the wall and falling to the floor. The beast let out another shriek and lunged at her. But it was stopped short. Draegar had caught hold of one of its rear legs. Khassiel cut its arms aside and stabbed her blade up into its throat. It crumpled to the ground, nearly pulling her arm with it.

  ‘It was the stew,’ Draegar panted. ‘Ludditch drew them out with the smell of the bone stew. He’s going to pay for that. Where’s that damned aunt of his?’

  Cullum grabbed the handle of his battle-hammer, putting his foot on the creature’s head, and wrenched the weapon free. Suddenly, a hail of darts came flying through the doorway.

  * * * *

  Kalayal Harsq watched as one tree after another toppled, forming ever-larger gaps in the forest on the hillside. The ground shook with increasing violence, causing some of the old people’s chairs to bounce alarmingly. They climbed down and sat on the bed of the wagons instead. Harsq smiled warmly at them and waved like a visiting dignitary. He looked forward to seeing his creation again, and prayed to Brask to grant it strength and speed. His disciples did not share his prayers, watching the signs of the oncoming krundengrond in terror.

  ‘That stuff’s comin’ almighty close,’ Spiroe moaned.

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ Ludditch reassured him, looking out at the trees. But he seemed less certain now. ‘Have some of the boys move the old folk around and up the side of the mountain just in case, though.’

  Spiroe’s eyes widened, but he did not question his chieftain. He started off to obey his order, when suddenly, the sound of some wild animal burst forth from the mouth of the cave. There came the noise of frantic battle and Ludditch whooped with triumph.

  ‘That’s it!’ he bellowed. ‘Now, while they’re shook up! In yuh go, boys!’

  Some of the clansmen had already powdered themselves with bone dust. The smell of the dead bone would deter the lampheads from attacking long enough for the hunters to net and kill them. A swarm of darts was sent shooting in the entrance of the cave and then the Reisenicks stormed inside.

  The first clansman in was struck across the face with something dry, leathery and stinking of perfume. He fell back and gasped in shock as the man after him was beaten to the ground by the same weapon, Great Aunt Eldrith’s disembodied arm.

  The third clansman caught a hammer across the head and fell dead on the spot. They still had not made it inside, the defenders out of sight on either side of the entrance. When a fourth clansman had a sword driven into his belly, the others scrambled back and the corpse’s arm was thrown out after them.

  ‘There’s plenty more left of her!’ Draegar roared. ‘Keep on coming, we’ll give her back to you piece by piece!’

  ‘You’ve gone too far!’ Ludditch screamed back at them in a frenzy. ‘We’re comin’ in, and we’re goin’ ta put yuh in the ground!’

  ‘Come and get us, ya ugly, inbred, rotten-boned bunch o’ mother’s boys!’ Cullum yelled at th
em. ‘We’re goin’ ta pile you up!’

  ‘I’m deeply sorry, Aunt Eldrith,’ Ludditch muttered in trembling voice. Then, to his men: ‘Boys, this hasn’t worked out. If we’re going to triumph today, we’re goin’ to have to pay a terrible price. That Orgarth’s still in there and we have to get him out o’ there before he finds his way home. Now, if we’re goin’ to serve ’im up for the priest here, we’re goin’ to have to catch him right quick. Are yuh with me, boys?!’

  There was a chorus of raucous yells.

  ‘Then let’s get in there an’ take some hides!’

  In a massive rush, the Reisenicks charged the entrance of the cave. Behind them, they left their aged and crippled relatives, still cowering in the backs of the trucks.

  20 A VEIN OF IRON ORE

  The Myunans dug with feverish haste, pulling at the stone debris until their fingers were bruised and bleeding. Rug had led them up the steadily shrinking passage, only to find it blocked by a cave-in. Their family and the miners were trapped beneath it. Even as he had said it, another earth tremor had run through the rock and he had fallen to the ground, huddled up in agony.

  Taya and Lorkrin were close to tears as they dug. To have come all this way and survived so much, only to find their parents buried like this was more than they could bear.

  ‘Can’t…can’t you do something?’ Taya looked at Rug, her voice broken by sobs.

  Rug did not answer. He rolled onto his side and groaned.

  ‘It’s limestone,’ Emos told her as he hauled a large rock aside. ‘He can’t affect limestone. Come on, keep going. They could still be alive.’

  They found a space at the top of the pile and made it bigger. Taya crawled up into it and slunched, squeezing in.

  ‘Ma? Pa?’ she cried. ‘Can you hear me?’

  There was no reply. She dragged herself further in.

  ‘Ma! Pa!’

  From ahead of her came a muffled reply. Rocks were pulled away and a hand reached out of the darkness. It was her father’s.

  ‘We’re here, love,’ a distant voice said. ‘We’re all right.’