Quick breathing from behind him alerted the wizard to Electra's own rising fears. He turned to see her face pale lit by the torch held in Bagheer's hand. Sweat beaded upon her brow as she fought her own phobia of the depths. She offered a brief smile that he returned with only slightly less effort. Seemingly unworried as he followed at the rear, Janus moved calmly into the depths. The elf rarely ever showed weakness like that, Darius thought. A difference between him and the knight he wasn't sure that would favor him.
At the next landing, Darius took the torch long enough to ascertain that the footsteps still led away from them into the depths. He was truly fearful that this stairway would lead them below the second half of the city. It was a thought since the stairway could be considered a weakness in the subterranean city's defenses. Maybe a passage that led to a dead end or a trap would be left to ensure the safety of those in Lower Darvus as Bagheer had worried over earlier. Knowing that the thought must be silly, since the dwarf had obviously taken the same route, Darius still found that his mind continued to worry.
Finally, Bagheer stopped and pointed below them. "There," he whispered.
Darius saw nothing, but trusted the man's eyes. When the four of them reached the spot to which Bagheer had directed them, Darius found a stone doorway that was nearly seamless in its fit. The wizard noted that the stairway did indeed lead down deeper into the depths than this doorway. Maybe the door could be hidden even better if given the time to do so. A trap could be waiting below or even boiling oil could be poured down the stairs once the enemy had passed the door by after all. Darius shivered at the consequences of such a mistake.
Bagheer and Janus worked at the stone's edges attempting to find the catch that would release the locking mechanism's hold on the door. It was finally Electra leaning against the stone wall further down below the door that sprung the release. A small, square depression where her elbow had hit the stone revealed the trigger. The elf woman smiled and gave a shrug.
The men said nothing despite some feelings of chagrin, since they were unsure whether someone could hear them in the space beyond the doorway. The door had come open almost silently and Bagheer pushed cautiously at its surface moving it inward while the elves held their weapons at the ready.
It was a needless action as they entered a small, square room. The place was completely empty. Darius closed the stone all but the last inch for those that would follow and moved to stand behind the others. They faced a small wooden door. It was so small that he knew that they would all have to duck to use it. Bagheer looked to Darius questioning him with his eyes, but remaining silent. The wizard nodded his assent and the others prepared themselves.
Bagheer took a deep breath and nodded before giving the door's knob a twist and shoving it open. He rolled into the dark with his sword held ready in front of him. Janus and Electra ducked through as well followed by Darius who was less worried. He could feel that they were expected now.
Light flashed on as several lamps were lit as one. The four of them were surrounded on all but one side, the one with the wooden door. Swords and battle-axes were held warningly towards Bagheer and the others who carefully lowered their weapons knowing themselves outmatched. Darius smiled coldly and looked to a dwarf directly behind the ring of dwarves.
"Hello, Dorvin," he greeted with eyes locked in a steely grip upon the familiar face.
The dwarf frowned rather than matching the grim smile on the wizard's visage. "Hello, wizard, you're trespassing, you know."
Darius chuckled as if he was truly among amusing company, "The librarians above granted me passage."
Dorvin shook his head, "They showed you the passage, bub, but they can not grant rights that are not theirs to give. You are trespassing. Why?"
Darius grinned even wider in a completely guileless way. "To see you, of course," he replied.
"What?"
"To see you. You see, I've solved the puzzle."
The dwarf's face was locked in a darker look still, "You speak in riddles, wizard. What do you mean?"
"You feign ignorance, descendant of Alig the Norn, but I see you for what you are,” the wizard wagged his finger at the dwarf as if he was a naughty child. “You are the current ruler of your people as well or your father is. Your family is the true ruler of Lower Darvus. You leave the light to the humans and those that watch them of your race, but these depths are yours."
The look on Dorvin's face softened slightly though annoyance was still strongly in evidence. "My father died a year ago and though my grandfather still lives, he is too old to lead. You are unexpectedly wise, Wizard Darius. Now what is it that you seek from me? Perhaps I will grant it, or perhaps I will have to have you all killed."
Darius stepped towards the dwarf drawing his power around himself and its strength forced the men to fall away as if he was a warm knife cutting through butter. They were puzzled by their own bodies' reactions as well, but could not help themselves. The wizard smiled. Janus had been correct as he had often suspected himself despite his testing theories first.
"Don't threaten me, Dorvin. You don't understand that you have lost your protection that was inherent to your people long ago."
A slightest whisper of worry echoed deep from within the dwarf's eyes. "What do you mean?" asked the dwarven leader quietly, no longer threatening.
"Your resistance to magic has waned over the centuries. My friend Janus knows this and he can tell you. Look at him, Dorvin, and see him for what he is and you tell me what has happened."
"Again you speak in riddles!" he barked, but Darius could see his shout for what it was, a final bit of defiance before the inevitable defeat. The dwarf looked at Janus a moment longer even so. It took him a second before he gasped, "The fair folk!"
At the words, the other dwarves seemed to gather up ready to strike without fear of consequences. Darius held up a hand and the men fell back frightened of the aura reaching for them. "You still fail to see reason," he sighed. "I'm younger than you and yet it seems pretty obvious to me. Has age clouded your mind? The elves do not threaten you, even as they only served to help against evil in the past, they are here for your help once again."
"Riddles!" Dorvin blustered. "Have you no words that are not obscured with them? The fair folk never got along with mine. They were anathema to us as we were to them."
"And yet your two peoples gathered together long enough to form the armor to defeat the Dark Emperor. Come closer, Dorvin. Janus, take his hand in friendship. It is time to take up that banner again and this time the centuries make it easier for your two races to join as one."
Janus stepped forward understanding Darius' words even as Dorvin attempted to avoid the touch fearing the clash of magic and anti-magic. The elf took the small man's hand strongly and shook it twice. "We are no longer separated by our differences here, Dorvin. That is what the wizard is trying to tell you. Your race has changed here, unlike those still back in the old world.
Either the humans or the world itself has tampered with your people. You are no longer anti-magic, though I and my race are still magical as we have just recently left Litsors."
The dwarf seemed genuinely perplexed, perhaps even fearful. "How?" he asked Darius weakly.
Shrugging, the wizard replied, "It doesn't matter. What does matter is that your kindred and Janus' people need your help again MacNorn. Gather your elders and let us meet on this."
Dorvin nodded numbly, "Of course, Wizard Darius, if what you say is true, then we need to help our brethren. Has the dark one truly freed himself from his prison again?"
With a grim nod, Darius answered truthfully, "That is why I am here. We need to act soon or the old world will fall. Then the Emperor will choose his next conquest and that will most assuredly be this world."
"The dark days are upon us as Father Alig warned would happen so long ago. I shall gather the elders. Come,” was Dorvin’s reply as he turned to lead them all, dwarf, elf and human alike to a council of war.
Chapter 37- D
ante
Dante surveyed the same slope that he had been stuck looking at for nearly three days now. The far mountainside that lay before him across from the scar still lay marred by the battle of only days before. First, he had seen to the burial of the three women from Valenia's command and afterwards the soldiers’ torching of the dark creatures that the dragon refused to eat as they were all tainted, or so Drakus said. Blackened pieces of earth lay across both slopes to attest to their work's completion.
Ready to move on again, Dante could look to the others and he knew that not all of them could follow should he decide to leave right now. Then there was the problem of where they would go as well. Dante had no real concept of the time factor involved in this nearly mythological quest of the seers. He was just a pawn for their use and the thought of all the deaths caused already ate at his belief in their goals.
A dark emperor that he had no knowledge of, and had never seen was waging a war that was not aimed at him. Why were the seers dragging him into this war of worlds? It wasn't his fight he kept trying to tell himself.
Then he thought again to the battle at Turo and then the unprovoked destruction of Peleth. Anger flared in him at his lack of respect for the dead as the soldier realized that he had indeed been involved even before the summons by the Visionaries. To try and say that this was not a war of his asking, was true enough, but it had become a war for his country and world.
The warrior sighed. Though his body was already fully recovered from its wounds, his mind was still dreadfully tired of the killing. He could not realistically expect that to end until the Dark Emperor, whoever that was, was destroyed. No one would be safe to live their own lives until the dangers of the dark monsters could be ended or contained.
Looking up towards the sky, he noted Drakus coming back from one of several forays away from his lair. Dante wondered exactly what the dragon seemed to be worried about now that the enemy was gone. He learned little of what was going on in the creature's mind. Gannon seemed to be the only one who had his ear and the two of them told no one of what was spoken.
With a sigh, Dante walked back down from his perch nearly a hundred feet above the scar's upper reaches. He could see Volin and two of the women, Delia and Wreia, sitting near one side of the mouth of the cavern serving as token guards. They were talking even as they watched the land and sky around them. He was surprised that his mind had wandered to the relationships that his remaining soldiers had begun with the women in Valenia's command. The two bands had nearly formed into a family through all the hardships that they had gone through together. It was a far cry from when both groups had been ready to kill one another like they were mortal enemies rather than usually peaceful neighbors.
At his return, the three surrendered a brief salute maintaining the remnants of their training even now, despite the fact that Dante never asked for such token signs of respect. He had earned them assuredly, but the campaign had worn such trivialities from him. They refused to let go though and he returned their salutes as he passed. A certain amount of order was probably a good thing, the lieutenant thought belatedly.
"The dragon returns," Volin reported, "but all else is quiet, sir."
"Thank you, Volin. Have the scouts returned yet?" he asked of Erphen, Uilen and Calla who had been sent scouting the nearby trails and passes the previous day. The three were still healthy and in the same restless state as he, so Valenia and he had felt that the three should use their energy productively.
"No word, sir," Delia, a small blond with her wrist taped and arm resting in a sling, answered trying to be of help.
"As you were then," he spoke the customary response and headed into the cavern.
"Hello, lieutenant!" Riad greeted with a left handed salute and a grin. His right arm was covered in a support nearly as thick as a cast. Made of clay, a wooden piece designed to keep his hand straight, and cloth that protected the hand and wrist from direct contact with the clay, the device would remain in a sling until he healed.
"Hello, Riad, how's the hand?" was his reply as he picked up a piece of travel bread from a pack.
"Better, and I'm always ready to go, sir. Thank the gods that I'm a lefty!" he laughed and pulled his sword out to brandish it with his good hand. "If that stinking troll hadn't wrenched my shield away like that, both hands would still be fine. It's kind of embarrassing to get injured from your own shield, you know?"
Smiling, Dante added a chuckled, "I wouldn't know. I've never had such a mishap."
"Sir!" the private protested. "Come on. Don't do this to me in front of the ladies."
Nya came from behind the trooper to mess Riad's blond hair. "Oh, don't worry, Riad. We don't think any less of you."
Hesia punched him lightly on his good arm and laughed, "Of course, we never thought much of you anyway, but we like soft men also."
Riad puffed out his chest and glared at Hesia, "I am not soft. I am more man than you know."
"Ah, but women are much better fighters, so like I said...," Hesia retorted without remorse.
"Ladies," Dante cautioned fighting back his own laughter.
Siene came up and bowed slightly. "You, lieutenant, are quite the exception, of course. If more men were like you, we'd all have husbands," the woman said with an added wink.
"Yes, indeed," Nya nodded. "But Riad is another matter. We are so sorry that we have to lump someone like you with such a sorry little soldier."
Riad who was even larger than Dante, though younger and still somewhat baby faced in the cheeks, could hardly be referred to as little, and they all knew it. The young man grabbed hold of Nya with one arm and slung the woman over his shoulder and walked away from the others. "I'll show you who is little, Nya."
Hesia nudged Siene, "I guess he's going to show her his little soldier again." The women laughed.
Dante knew that all three of the women had been with Riad at one time or another along the journey, despite their attempted ribbing at his expense, and though they all felt comfortable discussing the private's performance, the lieutenant was not and turned away as he felt himself starting to blush.
Luckily, Sergeant Lane came to his rescue from within the cavern. "Lieutenant, you and the captain should come inside. Gannon and Drakus have news for the two of you."
Valenia came from around a corner with Gillian, another of her survivors. She smiled at him and walked at Dante's side as they followed Lane. "So do you want to show me your little soldier tonight too?" the woman asked letting him know that she had heard of the earlier conversation and would hardly miss the chance to tease him.
"Only if you're good," he growled in annoyance.
"I'm always good," the woman smiled. She rested her hand on his arm and he responded by wrapping that arm about her shoulders. "Do you have any idea what they want?" Valenia asked quietly.
"Who knows with those two? They've been awfully secretive since the battle. I have a feeling that both know what is coming and are working together to help bring it about. I hate being left so far out of the loop, after being a leader for so long. Being a pawn again gets old quickly."
"We have the ring. Hopefully, that means this chaos is nearly at an end, Dante," she replied looking into his eyes intently.
Entering the main cavern behind Sergeant Lane, both Gannon and Drakus turned to look at the additions to the chamber. Dante nodded briefly to the others before asking, "So what news do you have for us?"
Drakus coughed his laugh and replied jokingly, "For an immortal, you have learned little patience. Are you sure this one can truly be immortal, seer?"
Gannon looked up at the dragon and smiled, "Our visions tell us so, Drakus. Perhaps we should do as he asks though, and tell them." The visionary turned to speak to the three soldiers, "Drakus has been scouting even as your people have, but his range is, of course, much greater than theirs. He also has the ability to sense things that humans cannot."
"What is it that he has sensed?" Dante asked as he took a seat upon a rock near him.
The dragon spoke for himself, "If I do not mistake the scent, I smell another race from the Emperor's world. If I am correct, they are dwarves of the anti-magic."
"Anti-magic?" Valenia asked shaking her head.
Gannon tried to clarify by saying, "Whereas sorcerers and seers work with magic to achieve their results, the complete opposite of our source is anti-magic. How such a thing can be, is beyond my knowledge, but Drakus and most any natural creatures have a piece of both kinds of magic incorporated into them. At the least, they are neutral. A creature of total anti-magic would repel a creature purely made of magic." The seer's thoughts seemed to wander as he considered the possibilities.
"So what is the source of this anti-magic?" Dante asked interrupting the man's thinking.
Gannon shook his quickly and reoriented on the question poised by the soldier. "We don't know. They don't seem to be showing themselves enough for Drakus to discern it. I've had no visions concerning this, but that may be a block caused by the anti-magic."
"Which way?" Dante asked and stood back up. "Northeast, but you aren't planning on leaving right now are you, lieutenant?"
"If you have nothing further to tell me, then I shall have our soldiers prepare themselves to move out for tomorrow." He looked with a glance to Valenia, "As long as you are in agreement, of course."
She nodded briefly and looked to see if the seer would object.
"Do you have anything further to discuss, Gannon?" Dante asked and at the seer's shake of his gray-haired head, the soldier left the chamber. Tired of having to think through the man's secrets and half truths, the soldier simply wanted this quest over.
From inside the chamber, Dante heard Valenia's voice ask another question, "Is this part of what we need to do to defeat the Dark Emperor, Gannon?"
The Emperor's Shadow War (Tales of Alus Book 2) Page 31