They crested the small hill and saw the remains of Jirish in the clearing. Madger hesitated, gathering her resolve before following her companions into the ruins. The huts were little more than piles of charred wood, and some blackened skeletons were near what was left of a few doorways. Several slimy piles of guts had been left behind in the street, as though some careless hunter had field-dressed a dozen kills before leaving with the carcasses.
Seal’s blue eyes gained a haunted look as she gazed over the razed village. Her throat worked to swallow, to wet her dry mouth, knowing the sound of the screams that would have echoed throughout the village. A memory of warning bells suffused on top of what she was seeing, and she clutched at her belly, expecting it to be round with twins. Feeling her flat stomach pulled Seal from her past, and she fortified herself again.
“There still be a trail,” Kharick said as he walked the road. He stopped at each putrid pile, noting the drag marks from each.
“Maybe they took some people alive,” Madger added, but her voice held little hope.
“We’ll track them,” Seal called over the sound of the rising wind. “Maybe we can find shelter along the way before this storm hits.”
They followed the trail of disturbed ground to the southeast, back through the forest. It kept far to the east, away from the paths they had been following. The tree trunks were so thick, Madger wouldn’t have been able to fully wrap her arms around them. The heavy branches groaned, protesting the winds that ripped through the sky, pushing the churning clouds.
A heavy, cold rain was beginning to pelt them, and they each pulled on an oiled cloak to keep the water from soaking them and their packs through. Just as they thought the trail would be lost to the increasing rain, a building came into sight. The three were stunned at the sight of such a substantial structure in the middle of the woods with no road, or even a worn path leading to it.
Huge timbers of whole trees made up the walls of the building, the trunks planted upright as though they had purposefully grown in the massive rectangular shape. The trunks were bone white and stripped smooth of any branches or bark. There were no breaks in the trunks, no windows and no gaps between them, they had been placed impossibly close and carved straight. The base of the steeped roof was well over Madger’s head, and the thatching was thick. Wooden doors with stamped iron over them, were hinged in the middle of the western wall.
Hail began to hammer down, pelting them with chunks of ice the size of chicken eggs. The sound of the storm made it difficult for them to hear each other, but Kharick shouted above it as best he could. “Hurry!” If not for the risk of the storm he would never have run toward the structure.
The earth shook with the power of the wind and thunder, lightning kept the sky lit with the nearly constant flashes. The trees shook from the howling gale as though trying to flee. Seal found herself losing her footing and grasped at Madger’s sleeve to keep from being taken by a gust of wind. They dashed for the iron encased doors, and Madger pulled one open. The massive weight made her strain and lean back against the ring inset in it, before it slowly inched open. They slipped in, and Madger heaved the door closed, by another ring on the inside, to keep the storm out. A muffled silence fell on them in the darkness.
The sounds of their panting breaths were the only things that disturbed the disquieting stillness. Madger crafted an orb of light and brightened it so they could see the whole room in its pale blue glow. A sickly pallor coated the tree trunks that faced the interior, pale green and red ichor took the place of bark. The coppery smell of blood hung thick in the air, and the wall opposite of the heavy doors was decorated with red and black slashes of crudely drawn runes. Etchings of a multi-headed dragon were dug into the white flesh of the tree trunks.
“I’ve never seen a spell like this before,” Madger muttered, but didn’t go closer to the wall. Magic often kept a signature from the person who cast it; much like an individual’s handwriting. The spell etched into the wall echoed with a vileness that nearly made her queasy.
“Hells,” Seal cursed softly and slipped her daggers free of their sheaths.
“We should no be here, lassies,” Kharick said.
Madger wiped the rain from her eyes and looked around the room. The floor was made of smooth stone, but had been stained an ugly black with dried blood. The bodies of the villagers they’d been looking for were hung from the ceiling by chains, like some macabre version of a butcher shop. Her heart hammered in her chest as she looked at the skinned humans, flashes of her slaughtered family boiled up, pushing to overwhelm her control and reason. She couldn’t stop the whimper that slipped free.
Kharick readied his weapons. His beard was creased with a frown and his thick eyebrows drew down, covering his eyes. Carefully, he looked around the large room, but didn’t see any movement. The only other thing in the room was a large stone altar; the top slab was scored from knives and stained with blood.
“What is this?” Madger hissed after regaining control of her fear and memories.
“Sacrifices lass,” Kharick whispered.
A thumping hammered the doors and the walls next to it, as though the storm was demanding entrance to the desecrated hall. They scurried away from the sound in time to escape the wall buckling. Several of the large trees from outside fell inward against the front wall and doors, collapsing them. The sundered wall and doors allowed the rain and wind entrance. The bodies swung widely, as though they were trying to break free from their chains. Rain rehydrated the blood and made the floor slick, making it difficult for the three to reach the rear wall, where the markings covered the trunks.
Seal cried out, her words lost to the wind and led Kharick to the corner. The kadmon reached down to a recessed ring and strained against it with both hands for a moment, but stepped aside after Madger tapped her on the back. Madger pulled the stone up with one hand through the ring. Her blue orb shined down into the depths, where carved stairs descended into a massive tunnel.
More trees crashed into the building, and the roof started to buckle above them. Rain drove in like a wave, soaking them. They had little choice but to seek the safety of the strange tunnel. The opening was large enough that Madger only had to duck a little to make it through. Kharick and Seal waited at the bottom of the short set of stairs for her to heave the trapdoor shut.
The tunnel was simply dug into the earth, with several timbers framing it, supporting the ceiling and walls. The scent of dirt and moisture was veiled with a hint of sulfur and burnt hair.
“This smells of the Hells,” Seal grumbled and readjusted her grip on her daggers.
The scent struck Madger with the memory of when she had been chasing after the thief who’d stolen the Titan’s Tome the night before it was given to her betrothed. Strange creatures had passed her near the river and suffused her with such an instinctual fear that she had raced home. She didn’t say anything to her friends, but noted it was likely something from the Hells that had frightened her, if what Seal said was true. It drove her to want to find out more about the tunnel they were in now, despite the terror the odors triggered.
Madger edged past Seal and Kharick, ignoring their protests of her going deeper down the tunnel. She offered the excuse, “What if the merchant’s niece is held down there?”
“Then she be dead, like the rest,” Kharick groused, but followed her.
The miasma grew more intense as they descended further and stone began to replace dirt and timber in the walls. Within the wall on the left, an iron door was set with a crude locking mechanism built into its frame.
Madger tried to use her magic to break the lock, but the spell slid off the door and the lock. “I can’t touch it with a spell.” She moved to the side. “Seal?”
“No. This is a bad idea.”
“If the Hells have something locked away, shouldn’t we see what it is?” Madger asked.
“Aye,” Kharick agreed bitterly.
Seal gave them both a withering look, but neither looked a
way. She edged forward and begrudgingly put away her daggers and slipped the thin tools from her braid to unlock it. Kharick glanced deeper into the tunnel, where Madger’s light had yet to reach, and set his back to the women to guard against anything that might come at them. It took Seal little time to click the lock open, and she put her tools back into her braid. She backed away from the door and pulled her weapons free again.
Madger left her ax to lean against the wall, and shouldered into the door, the rusted hinges protesting as the weight shifted inward. Inside, a pair of torches guttered red flames, casting strange shadows on the walls of the small stone-lined room. The odd light from the torches made her pause before gathering up her willpower to step inside. Upon crossing the doorway, her connection with magic cut off and her light went out.
“Earth’s bones,” she cursed, but her eyes adjusted to the lower level of light and she began to make out shapes against the walls, not just shadows.
Chains rattled, and Madger’s eyes widened as her companions added their own harsh words of surprise. Two sarpand looked back at the intruders, their yellow eyes sharp and bright in the meager light, one black, the other blue, bound to opposite walls. The scent of the Hells slackened inside the room, under the new smells of stale air and putrid stains.
“What happened to your light?” Kharick asked.
“Magic is blocked in this room,” Madger said. It was like when she’d been hooded. She clenched her teeth and remained in the room.
Kharick lit another torch from his pack and handed it to Madger, so she could bring more light into the room. The two sarpand squinted at the fresh light, but didn’t turn away from the three interlopers. The chains wrapped around their bodies and limbs left little slack for the two to move. Old blood and refuse stained the stones around them, the remains poorly cleaned away. Thick iron muzzles were locked around the sarpands’ snouts, making it impossible for them to open their mouths more than a fraction.
The walls, floor, and ceiling of the prison were carved with the same sigils as the back wall of the building above the tunnel. The stones were stained red within the marks, as though the blood from the runes above had seeped down into them.
Seal hissed a warning as Madger moved further into the room, but she ignored it. The kadmon’s eyes darted between the two sarpand and she edged back out of the room.
Madger moved to the smaller of the two sarpand, and the black looked up at her with what could pass as a curious expression on his scaled features. She carefully reached for the pin that held the muzzle shut. Though Seal’s warning made her hesitate a moment, the black gave what she could only term a reassuring nod. With a resolving breath, she eased the pin free and opened the muzzle, letting it drop to the floor between them.
After working his jaw to loosen the joints and muscles, he said, “Thank you.” He cleared his throat, trying to make his words clearer. “I’m Armagon. Could you?” He rattled the shackles at his wrist, exposing more blood and ruined scales, the scarred flesh raw and swollen.
Madger glanced nervously at her companions, only Seal shook her head. “You won’t harm us?”
“It would be foolish to say I would harm any of you if you removed these chains,” Armagon snarled with an annoyed look at Seal. “So no, I will not harm the three of you.”
Madger began unshackling the sarpand, trying to be careful and not touch the multiple wounds that marred his limbs and body. His wings bore angry welts and the bindings that held them had also rubbed the scales and leathery skin raw. “Who is the other sarpand?”
“My brother, DraKar.” Upon seeing her questioning look, because they were different colors, he explained, “War-brother.”
“This tunnel smells of the Hells,” Kharick grumbled from outside the room, still not trusting the pair enough to relax his stance. He recalled the scent from when he had mistakenly stayed overnight in the cursed city of Log Port. The dwarven kingdom he’d lived in and served, was the only dwarvish community close enough, and willing to bring in weapons and metals to the city.
“The Hells captured us and bound us here,” Armagon explained. He sagged heavily as Madger released more chains and he dropped to a knee. “See, child, I could do little to harm you, even if I needed to.”
“Hmm.” She continued removing the last of the chains. “Why would the Hells bind you both here?”
Armagon offered a simple explanation. “Because we upset some of those in power.” Tiamat had left them on the Mortal plane to keep them far from their allies in the Hells. She’d likely had the temple built on the mainland to keep them from her brood. If she’d imprisoned him and DraKar on the isles, some of the dragons might have tried to kill them. Tiamat liked to keep bargaining pieces safe for later use, and Mammon would want them back. He rubbed at his wrists gingerly.
Armagon eyed the odd group. Was it just dumb luck they’d come upon them? What was Tseyla doing with them? It was clear from the kadmon’s expression she wasn’t pleased to have crossed paths with them on the Mortal plane. He wasn’t in the mood or condition to question her. “My brother?”
Madger moved to the larger blue sarpand. He topped her in height. He was the first person, outside her clan, who forced her to look up to meet his gaze.
DraKar stared at the giantess, his eyes flinty, verging on angry, distrustful. As the giantess released his muzzle, he focused on Seal and in a snarling, cracking voice, he spoke, “Tseyla.”
Madger hesitated, holding the iron binding in her hands, wondering if the word was native to the two sarpand, or if it was something sinister directed at Seal.
“Peace,” Armagon said, easing to his feet. “DraKar is just upset over how long we’ve been held here.”
Madger glanced back to where Armagon was leaning against the wall, having recovered his footing. “Just upset?” She didn’t expect an answer and turned back to the blue. “Be still,” she ordered. She wasn’t sure, but a look of shock might have crossed his features at the command.
“As if I can move far,” DraKar growled. His voice was coming back now that he could move his jaw. The rumbling bass reminded Madger of the thunder of the storm that had forced them into the tunnel.
Madger gave him a cross look, but continued easing the restraints away from his flesh, scabs, and dried blood, reopening several injuries. She made a sympathetic sound when he winced, but the big sarpand didn’t offer any comment in return. Just as Armagon had dropped to the floor, so did DraKar when the chains holding him were released.
DraKar rested for a moment on his hands and knees, his breath coming in short, pained gasps. Joints and muscles ached from being held for so long, and gashes reopened, oozing blood onto the floor. Madger released his legs and backed away. Armagon used the wall to support him as he made his way to his brother.
“You should leave,” Armagon said. His voice was stronger now, a harsh hiss underlying it.
“The storm,” Madger protested.
“Whatever storm drove you down here is likely weaker, and if not, it’s still better to chance its wrath than the Hells’ when it’s discovered we’re gone,” Armagon insisted as he helped DraKar sit up. “Go, get far away from here.” He focused his gaze on Seal again for a moment. “No one will learn who aided us.”
Madger moved out of the room, while Seal and Kharick edged back to go to the entrance. Gaining back her sense of magic was like a breath of fresh air. She didn’t understand how magic could ward against the use of it, and she didn’t want to look at the spell enveloping the room with her power. She’d had enough of her stomach being turned when they were above ground. She hesitated at the door and drew her pack around. Seal urged her to hurry, but Madger took the time to toss a skin of water and sausage to the pair of sarpand.
Armagon took a long swallow of the water. “Seek us out at the swamp town of Meerwood, at the northeast border of the Unclaimed Lands, if you would like repayment.”
Madger nodded to him and hurried to follow her companions from the tunnel. She forced the
door open, grunting from the weight of the stone and debris that had fallen on it, but managed to gain enough room for the three of them to slip out. The severity of the storm had lessened, but heavy drops of rain still slapped at them. The thunder that had momentarily deafened them before, now echoed in the distance. She pulled the rest of the rubble away and left the hatch open for the two sarpand and then picked her way out of the ruin to catch up with Kharick and Seal.
They hurried away from the destruction, dodging around uprooted trees and over fallen limbs. The three returned to Naro, with scarcely a word said between them about what they’d encountered in the tunnel. They made their report to Kelin, the town had been razed and no one survived. After they were paid, they signed on as guards for the next caravan heading north.
Chapter 19
311-313 Br.
“Though humans are among the shorter lived species, they are plentiful. If there is one thing the humans excel at, it is proliferation. If there were no wars and disease, I fear they would consume the world like locusts.”
-King Rulc Buren, Ruler of the Black Mountain Dwarves
C andles brightened every corner of the library under Thesda’s temple. The walls were only adorned with shelves of books. Two rows of long tables were in the middle of the cavernous room. The stone for the library wasn’t the same gleaming white as the rest of the temple, just a simple gray that had been carved from a local quarry.
Len carried a small wooden chest under one arm. He passed by several empty tables and stopped at the last one, where Morkleb sat alone. He was hunched over a book with several more stacked nearby. The icren’s white mozzetta stood out sharply against his dark fur, wings, and brown cassock. The mozzetta had been cut to accommodate his wings that he kept folded over his shoulders, their dark membranes like a cape.
“I don’t think anyone else spends as much time down here as you,” Len said.
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