by Mel Odom
Craugh followed the young sailor into the narrow passage of the cave, leaving Juhg and Jassamyn to bring up the rear. At Raisho’s request, the wizard passed the lantern up to the young sailor. Raisho kept the lantern high so it would rip away the darkness in front of the dwarven warrior. Moving cautiously, his left foot always ahead of the right so he could brace himself quickly in the event of attack, Cobner went slowly along.
After only a short distance, the narrow cave started a steep incline that twisted and turned down into the earth. Juhg trailed his fingers along the cave’s wall. When he examined his fingertips, he found they were coated with gray, powdery ash. He studied the long cylindrical structure of the cave and took note of the jumble of rocks lining the cave floor.
“This is a lava tube,” Juhg whispered. One of the first books he truly enjoyed at the Vault of All Known Knowledge had been Tharntin’s A Dwarf’s Eye for Caving: A Field Guide for Race Impaired Elves and Humans Who Have Dwarven Natures. The book had been packed with drawings, black and white as well as full-color plate, of caverns explored by Tharntin and his team.
The Ironpick dwarven author had been truly gifted, not only in his love of caves and exploring but also in his driving narrative style. During the reading of the book, Juhg had felt as though he had crawled, scaled, and nearly drowned in all the caves that had been described in the book. The guide had been the first book Juhg had taken time to make a personal copy of. It saddened him to think that copies of the book, including his own, might no longer exist after the destruction of the Vault of All Known Knowledge. When he had taught young dwellers to read, Tharntin’s guide had always been one of the first he started with. Reading the dwarven explorer’s exciting accounts had made even the most lackadaisical dweller child dream of exploring unknown underground regions.
Chasing after a murderous creature in the dark through a cave really takes the edge off cave exploration, Juhg thought. And lackadaisical dweller children tended to remain lackadaisical dweller children after they put even exciting books away.
“A lava tube, ch?” Raisho repeated. “I thought it was a cave.”
“A lava tube is a cave,” Juhg said. “But it is a specialized type the cave. Lava tubes are created by erupting volcanoes. That’s why ash coats the walls, the tunnel is so smoothly circular, and why so much rock has been deposited along the way. Since the Molten Forge Mountains were rich in iron ore and other metals, the molten liquid cooled and subsided and left the impurities behind. These rocks are the impurities.”
“Mayhap we could shelve the geography and spelunking lessons for another time,” Cobner whispered with some irritation.
“Sorry,” Juhg apologized.
“If you ever decide you’re tired of all that open water out at sea, Raisho,” Cobner said, “come visit me. I’ll take you on a tour of some of the best caves and mines you could ever hope to swing a pickaxe in.”
On and on they went, and the way grew steeper and steeper. Juhg found he was soon leaning back so he wouldn’t fall forward. Thankfully, the lava tube remained contained and did not branch off into other tunnels to confuse their pursuit. The creature that called itself Slither could only have gone in one direction.
They passed several bat colonies that hung from the ceiling. The stench of guano and sulfur stung Juhg’s nose and made him sneeze.
“We’re in a live tube,” Cobner said. “Feel how warm it’s getting? Not getting cold at all. If we were going down into a regular cavern, it would be getting cold by now.”
“What does that mean?” Raisho asked.
“Means that this tunnel leads down to at least a section of the volcano. Kind of reminds me when me and Wick fought Shengharck for his treasure hoard in the Broken Forge Mountains.”
“Didn’t ye mention that that volcano blew up?”
“Yeah, but we got out ahead of the explosion. Usually works out better if you get out ahead of an explosion when it comes to active volcanoes.”
“How far down does this thing go?” Raisho sounded a little nervous.
“Why, all the way to the other end, of course.” Cobner laughed a little at his own joke.
Raisho didn’t seem amused.
Several more minutes passed in silence. The heat grew steadily stronger, till it felt as intense as a baker’s oven. Juhg actually started to sweat where he had been almost too cool only moments ago.
Around the next bend of the lava tube, they came upon the first remnants of stone structures that had been carved out of the mountain. Instead of the normal jumble of rocks they had been coming across, Juhg recognize blocks cut with stone axes.
“Wait,” Juhg said. He peered at the jumble of stone blocks, then closed in on one in particular.
“This is no time to be a rock hound, apprentice,” Craugh said.
Juhg brushed ash from the top of the rock, then from the sides. He felt engravings in the stone surfaces. “This is important. Bring the lantern over here.”
Raisho brought the light back to the stone. “What is it, scribbler?”
“It’s a cornerstone. He’s up and found a dwarven cornerstone.” Cobner’s voice held a note of reverence and awe. “Used to be, when dwarves knew how to read and write, dwarven architects made cornerstones for important buildings and they wrote on them. Usually gave the name of the clan, the master builder, the name of the building, and the date the cornerstone was set into place. In all my life, I’ve seen only nine cornerstones.”
The cornerstone was written in a dwarven language that Juhg had some familiarity with. He quickly read the inscription, thankful that the words were simple. “This cornerstone was set into place by the Molten Forge dwarves almost three thousand years ago. The master builder’s name was Unkor Surehammer. The cornerstone belonged to the clan meetinghouse.” He took out a piece of paper from his journal and made a quick rubbing of the stone face that bore the inscription. When he was finished, he folded the rubbing and tucked it back into his journal.
Reverently, Cobner laid his hand upon the cornerstone. “This is a powerful important thing you found, Juhg. When we finish our business with the Slither and we come back this way, I got to take this cornerstone with me. It needs to be set in a place of honor.”
“That cornerstone also means we’re getting close to where the dwarven city sunk down into the earth with the Molten Forge Mountains,” Craugh said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Excitement flared through Juhg as he continued following his companions down and down into the lava tube. They were seeing whole sections of buildings now that no one had seen in thousands of years.
The heat continued to intensify to the point they were all uncomfortable. More twists and turns followed, and for a time there were no more buildings. An orange glow started to fill the cavern, stripping away the darkness.
That was when they saw the first ghost.
The spectral figure was that of a dwarf dressed in miner’s gear. With a pickaxe over one shoulder, the dwarf walked through the lava tube walls while whistling, appearing on one side of the tunnel and disappearing through the wall on the other side.
All of them froze.
“Was that a ghost?” Raisho asked in a whisper.
Ghosts existed. Juhg knew that for a certainty because the Grandmagister had told him stories about the times he had encountered ghosts. However, Juhg had never seen a ghost in the flesh.
Well, Juhg thought ruefully, a ghost wouldn’t have exactly been in the flesh anyway.
“That wasn’t a ghost,” Craugh said. “I have seen ghosts and I know that was not a ghost.”
“Then what were it?” Raisho asked.
“I don’t know.”
With some reluctance, the party went forward. It wasn’t long before they encountered the second ghost.
The second ghost was a little dwarven boy on his knees working with a pickaxe made for his size. He was cutting blocks and engraving them with letters of the Molten Forge dwarves. The combination exercise taught him how to skillfu
lly use a pickaxe as well as his letters. When he finished, he would be able to work with and cut several different shapes and kinds of stone and recognize all his letters. Learning to spell later with the stones would also make him strong.
After a brief hesitation, Cobner walked straight through the boy and the blocks he was making. The boy never looked up nor gave them any notice.
“Ye know,” Raisho observed, “mayhap I ain’t never seen no ghost, but I bet you can walk right through one just like we walked through that boy.”
“Actually,” Jassamyn said, “you can’t walk through a ghost unless the ghost allows you to. Also, ghosts all have a scent. Whatever these things are, they have no scent.”
The frequency of the dwarven “ghosts” increased as they went farther down the tunnel. In short order, there seemed to be a whole community living within the earth.
Finally, they came into the main chamber of the volcano. The cavern was huge, big enough to hold at least ten good-sized trade ships with room for cargo left over. At the other end of the cavern, a boiling molten mass filled the cavern with heat and light. Dozens of the dwarven “ghosts” worked on dozens of “ghostly” projects.
Drawn by the enigma presented before him, Juhg walked unbidden into the cavern. “Something is amiss.”
“I’ll tell ye what’s amiss,” Raisho offered. “This place is filled with ghosts an’ there ain’t no sign of that creature we come in here after.”
Juhg walked through several of the “ghosts” and trailed his hands through several others. None of them even seemed to know that he was there among them.
“These … these …” He gave up trying to find a name for them. “Whatever they are, are from different times. And all of them are dwarves that used to live in this region.”
“Mayhap this is a favorite place fer ghosts,” Raisho said.
“Juhg,” Jassamyn said. “The gemstones of The Book of Time are glowing.”
When he looked down, Juhg found that the gemstones were glowing so strongly that the blue light could be seen through the thick leather. Unconsciously, he closed his hand over the glowing pouch to dim the light. As soon as he put his hand over the gemstones, though, he felt a pull. The physical reaction surprised him greatly.
“What is it, apprentice?” Craugh asked.
Juhg shook his head and looked in the direction of the pull. “I don’t know. The gemstones are pulling me in this direction.” Curious, he followed the pull, walking through several of the dwarven “ghosts” as they continued about their business.
As he neared the wall to the left, Juhg spotted a grayish gleam buried in the rock.
“Did the Grandmagister’s journal specify where the dwarven section of The Book of Time would be found?” Craugh asked.
Juhg touched the wall over the grayish gleam. “No, he didn’t. He only said that according to the book he translated, the piece had been under the Molten Forge dwarven community.”
“We left the last of the buildings sometime back,” Jassamyn pointed out. “If that’s any indication, then we are under the old Molten Forge dwarven city.”
The volcanic rock of the wall should have been hot enough from the lava pool to burn Juhg’s hand. Instead, he felt the heat, but none of it was injurious to him. The pull between the gemstones in the leather pouch and the section of the wall continued, getting stronger.
“Something is behind this section of wall,” Juhg said. “I don’t know how, but I can feel that it is there.”
“Well then,” Cobner said, “let’s just be having a look at it.” He took the small pickaxe from his belt that he carried with him at all times. The pickaxe doubled as a weapon and as a tool.
Putting his battle-axe to one side so it would be quick to hand, the dwarven warrior reached out to touch the wall. He drew his hand back at once before it ever made contact with the surface of the stone.
Surprise showed in Cobner’s face, made bright by the orange glow from the lava pool. “How did you touch that stone, Juhg? If I was to put my hand on it, it’s hot enough to burn the flesh right off of the bone.”
“I don’t know,” Juhg said. The only thing he knew for certain was that he needed to see what was behind the wall. Even if he hadn’t been experiencing the pull from the gemstones around his neck, his dweller’s curiosity had been fully aroused. On top of that, there was still the mystery of the dwarven “ghosts” walking all over the cavern. He didn’t see how the two things could be separate.
Keeping clear of the hot wall, Cobner struck with his pickaxe. Stone chips flew as the sharp tang bit deeply. As he was pulling the pickaxe back for his fourth swing, the creature they had pursued oozed from the ceiling in a long black stream behind the dwarven warrior. Before Juhg or any of the others could shout a warning, and by the time the black stream touched the floor, the Slither stood once more in its man-beast form. The guardian struck Cobner without warning, driving the dwarf to the ground with a double-handed blow to the back of the head.
Wheeling around instantly, the creature focused on Juhg. Looking the Slither in the face, Juhg realized the guardian hadn’t overcome Craugh’s earlier attacks. The features weren’t quite finished and they seemed to have the consistency of pudding. The wizard’s spells had affected the creature’s ability to hold itself together.
“No!” the Slither shouted. “Stay away! This is not for you! This is for Lord Kharrion!”
Juhg saw Craugh take a step forward and raise a hand.
“Down, apprentice!” Craugh commanded.
Even fast as he was, Juhg barely got out of the way as Craugh’s spell smashed into the back of the creature and drove it over his head. He twisted, watching the Slither flail through the air as it flew toward the lava pool.
Groggy and nearly unconscious, Cobner lurched to his feet to do battle, dropping the pickaxe and reaching for his battle-axe.
Juhg picked up the pickaxe and turned to the wall. He lacked the dwarf’s skill but not much skill was required to chop a hole in the wall. The gemstones in the leather pouch around his neck continued to glow. Frantically, he drove the pickaxe into the wall six times. At the end of that, the hollow beyond the wall surface was revealed.
Inside the hollow, two more gemstones in the curious shape of a square topped by a mesa floated in a natural formation caused by lava bubbling as it cooled. Those pieces glowed dark brown as brightly as the gemstones around Juhg’s neck glowed blue.
“Stay away! Do not touch those! I will kill you!”
In stunned disbelief, Juhg looked back at the lava pool and saw the creature crawling out of the molten rock. Flames clung to the creature as it stumbled toward Juhg. The face and the rest of the body oozed and ran like melting candle wax.
Cobner set himself into a defensive position. He held the battle-axe behind and to one side of his body, ready to swing as soon as the creature came within range.
Reaching into the rock formation hollow, Juhg reached for the floating dark brown gemstones. His fingers passed through them but there was a brief cold contact. Concentrating on the task at hand, Juhg tried to find the resonance within the brown gemstones as he had with the blue gemstones. The connection came faster this time, but it also came more powerfully.
Paralyzed, Juhg stood waiting, and was horrified to see all the “ghosts” in the cavern suddenly turn and stare straight at him. Without a word, all of the dwarven “ghosts” approached him.
Craugh and the others sank back to defend him, forming a protective semicircle. They had their weapons raised and green embers swirled like maddened fireflies around the wizard’s staff. It won’t do any good, Juhg thought. None of us are going to get out of here alive.
Then blackness filled his head and he was gone.
18
“And This Is the Future, Librarian Juhg!”
“Ah, Librarian Juhg. You have returned.” Cautiously, Juhg glanced around. This time the mantis didn’t meet him on the mountaintop. All around him, as far as the eye could see, were bea
utiful orchards interspersed with artesian wells.
The mantis walked toward him, coming down a bricklaid walkway. Nothing had changed about the mantis. It walked toward him on its four back legs and clasped its upper arms behind its back as if it had been deep in thought.
“I see you have found the second piece of The Book of Time,” the mantis said. “Congratulations.”
“My friends,” Juhg said, remembering the situation he had just left them in, “are in a lot of trouble. The creature known as the Slither is attacking them, and so far he’s proven unkillable. Also, there are dwarven ghosts—”
“Ghosts, you say.” The mantis drew itself up straight and tall in front of Juhg. “And they’re dwarves? I guess it’s no surprise, really. That whole area used to be overrun with them. Many of them died over the years of old age, sickness, war, and—of course—when Kharrion’s spell shattered the mountains they lived in and dragged it into the hollows of the earth.”
“Yes,” Juhg replied. “But I have never seen a ghost before.”
“Nor have I.” The mantis smiled. “It would be hard for me to see one, though.”
“Why?”
“Because ghosts are always past their expiration dates.”
Juhg wanted to groan. The pun was simply awful. Instead, he said nothing at all.
The mantis laughed at his own joke. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” It didn’t act like it was really apologetic, though. “Actually I can see ghosts. But here I see them as they were before they were ghosts as well as after. And, of course, during the moment of death. Would you like to see a ghost here?”
“No,” Juhg said, shuddering at the thought.
“I feel like walking,” the mantis said. “Walk with me.”
“I really should get back. My friends—”
“Are in trouble again.” The mantis nodded. “Yes, I know that. Trust me, you will have plenty of time to get back to them. Now please walk with me. I feel like stretching my legs.” It started walking, heading past Juhg.
Having no choice, Juhg fell in slightly behind the creature and started walking. As they walked, he couldn’t help but gazing down at the rows of trees. Apples, pears, and oranges all filled the limbs. Flowers grew in wild abandon in the shadows under the trees.