by Mel Odom
Baylee pulled himself through after her. Behind him, Cordyan was ordering men down into the well. The ranger crawled perhaps thirty feet before the tunnel suddenly ended and opened up onto a large cavern. He walked forward, looking at the crush of houses and buildings that had been flattened beneath the surface of the ruins. The ground had grown soft over the years, drawing the remains of the structures deep into the tunnels below.
The tunnels looked dwarven in nature, and Baylee thought the elves might have built Rainydale over an old dwarven mining city to use the underground storage areas for their fruits and vegetables. And, as a military man, Glitterwing would have wanted it as a more defensible position.
He consulted the map as Xuxa clung to the wall nearby. The cavern was shown on the map, but it held a different shape than it did now. He had the lay of the land figured out by the time Cordyan had all of her men organized.
When looked at properly, the trail could be seen snaking through the fissures to the right. With the long sword naked in his fist, Baylee trotted forward.
The intense earthquake caught him off-balance. Out in the open area of the cavern, rocks crumbled and fell, and stalactites dropped from the curve of earth overhead.
“What was that?” Cthulad demanded.
Baylee got to his feet, watching the choking dust rise from the tunnel floor. The dust shortened his visibility. “I don’t know. But it couldn’t have been good.” He continued along the trail, knowing the library lay somewhere up ahead.
Krystarn Fellhammer shoved herself back to her feet, yelling at the drow warriors around her to get back into position. Mild tremors followed the large quake.
She gazed around the caverns, wondering what had set the earthquake in motion. There were still a few echoing quivers every so often, reminders that the land had been cruelly torn in the battle with the Army of Darkness.
“He seeks now to destroy us all,” a voice whispered behind the drow.
Krystarn turned, spotting Nevft Scoontiphp behind her.
The baelnorn didn’t look at her, staring instead at the new fissures that had opened up in the walls of the cavern.
“You’re saying Shallowsoul did that?” Krystarn asked in disbelief.
“He failed to stop them,” the baelnorn said. “He never intended for the map Skyreach had among her things to reach humankind. He was supposed to hold the library here until a suitable heir could be found.”
“An heir?”
The baelnorn nodded. “In his mortal life, he was the caretaker of the library, hand-picked by Glitterwing himself, and transformed into the lich by Glitterwing as well. Haven’t you learned anything in these years you’ve been among us?”
“There is no heir.” Krystarn ignored the creature and started her men moving down the trail again. “And the way through the well will be blocked once we kill all the humans who have invaded these caverns. I can’t believe Shallowsoul hadn’t already blocked the way.”
“He was charged not to. And after awhile, I’m sure he forgot it was even there. His mind is not what it once was.”
Krystarn fell into the group of drow warriors, her morning star naked in her fist. Shallowsoul had alerted her only moments ago of the breach made by the group of humans. She’d even watched Baylee Arnvold lead the way through the hidden door.
“The humans have near to fifty warriors,” Scoontiphp stated.
“We are drow,” Krystarn said. “For us, it is but more who will die by our hand.”
The baelnorn smiled. “Thinking of that as your epitaph?”
Before Krystarn could reply, Scoontiphp disappeared, leaving only his mocking laughter twisting in the echoing emptiness behind the line of advancing drow warriors.
She pushed the baelnorn’s words out of her mind. She had her own agenda to pursue, and the hobgoblin army under Chomack was awaiting her word, still totally unknown to Shallowsoul. It was a comforting thought, one totally drow in nature.
Baylee felt the pull of a trip cord before he saw it. “Get down!” he roared over the creak of a spring loosing. A huge stone block pulled free of the nearby wall and slammed against the wall on the other side of the trail. It burst into a shower of rock, leaving only the thick pole that it had been tied to.
Pushing himself to his feet, the ranger regained his lantern from the ground and took stock of the situation behind him. Cordyan was next in line, shaken but still grimly in control of the watch unit.
The trail continued to wind down deeper into the earth. At times it picked up even older tunnels than the ones they had traveled through from the well, telling Baylee that Glitterwing’s library had been laid where much of the work had already been done.
From the tailings he’d found in several of the areas, he now knew the system of underground caverns had been a mining operation for metals. In a few places, he’d even found iron railings where mine carts had been. A few of the mine carts were even in the corners of some caverns.
Another quake hit the caverns, this one stronger even than the last.
“This is not a natural occurrence,” Civva Cthulad said. “Someone is causing this.”
“Or something,” one of the Waterdhavian Watch members muttered further back in the line.
“How much farther?” Cordyan asked Baylee.
The ranger shrugged as he turned a corner ahead. “We’re more than halfway according to the map, that’s all I can say. Distances are not recorded.” Sweat poured down him. The gnomish workman’s leather armor was hot in the underground environment. He tightened the cinches on his gloves.
As he rounded the next corner on the narrow trail, a feeling of vertigo assailed him. Ahead, the land suddenly sheared away, racing down to a black emptiness so far below Baylee really doubted there might be a bottom at all. The trail continued against one wall, barely three feet wide.
“Tighten up your men,” the ranger said to Cordyan, “and get me some rope.”
“What are you going to do?” the watch officer asked. She reached into the backpack of the nearest man and took out a coil of rope.
“I’m going to run a line to the other side,” Baylee answered, taking the rope she offered. “If another quake hits while we’re scattered across the middle of that, I don’t want to risk losing any of the men.”
“You didn’t even want them along,” Cordyan said.
“Yes, and this is one of the reasons why,” Baylee said. “I could have come alone or with Cthulad and mapped these areas, then set up a proper expedition. I didn’t get to do that, but I’m not going to allow those men’s lives to be thrown away.”
“You make this sound like I had a choice in the matter,” Cordyan said. “Don’t you think anyone else can feel as deeply driven to do their duty as you obviously feel you are to do yours?”
“That’s not the point at all.”
“That’s exactly the point as I see it.”
Baylee blew out his breath and finished tying the extra rope around his waist. “This is hardly the place for such a discussion.”
Xuxa telepathically agreed, then chirped in angry frustration. Now is not the time to get caught up in other thinking, the azmyth bat counseled.
Tell her that, Baylee said.
I believe I just told you both.
The ranger ignored the retort and started out on the narrow trail. He kept his long sword unsheathed in his hand. He guessed the distance to be something over forty feet.
At the other end, he selected a stone that appeared strong enough to take the weight if any of the Watch members fell over the side. He cupped his hands and shouted back at Cordyan. “Have the men tie on, then start them across. Ten feet apart.”
The watch lieutenant was staring at her sword. In the dimness, even across the distance, Baylee saw a circular glow in the sword hilt.
The ranger sensed rather than heard the movement behind him. But he was too late to do more than avoid the bulk of the blow. He saw the grinning drow face, followed by two others as they filled the open m
outh of the next cavern. Knocked off-balance, Baylee fell over the side into the chasm. In the long shadows below, it looked like nothing was beneath him.
“Baylee!” Cordyan screamed the young ranger’s name as she watched him plummet. The Shandaularan coin glowed brightly in her sword’s hilt. At the same moment that she spotted the drow warriors on the opposite side of the open chasm, she heard men behind her yelling.
“Hook horrors! Hook horrors!”
Cordyan glanced back, watching the shambling figures closing rapidly from behind. The creatures stood nine feet tall. A thick, mottled gray exoskeleton covered them, tough enough to turn most sword blows and glancing arrow shots. Their front limbs ended in foot-long hooks capable of slicing through leather armor easily. Their back legs held huge feet with three splayed and clawed toes. A vulture’s wedged-shaped head sat atop the shoulders, possessing a hideously curved beak and multifaceted eyes.
Cordyan tapped two men closest to her. “Hold the trail.”
They nodded and settled into place with their swords.
“Calebaan, can you do something about those beasts?” Cordyan asked. She peered through the gloom and watched the wizard as he stepped forward to confront the first of the insect-like creatures. The chittering and clacking of the hook horrors punctuated the anxious conversation between the men. Cthulad took up a stance slightly in front of the wizard and bared his sword.
A moment later, a shimmer left Calebaan’s fingertips. Then a solid wall of stone formed, cutting off the trail from that direction, running straight into the walls surrounding the cavern. In the next heartbeat, the first heavy blows of the hook horrors started pounding against the wall.
Cordyan turned back to look for Baylee, but did not see him in the darkness. A crossbow quarrel slammed into the rock near her. She fell into hiding beside the rock.
“The wall’s not going to hold,” Calebaan called up. “The hook horrors are starting to break through!”
Krystarn Fellhammer pulled her piwafwi about her and tugged up the hood. With the cloak’s magic, she disappeared from the rear guard of the drow warriors.
Shallowsoul had sent her to intercept the humans and kill them, but she doubted he would be watching her. Without warning, the caverns quaked again. Huge chunks of the ceiling fell, bouncing all around her. She had to dive forward to avoid being flattened by a boulder the size of a firbolg.
No doubts remained in her mind that Shallowsoul was at the root of the earth shudders. She couldn’t imagine what the lich was doing, but she thought she had a way to find out.
Standing beside a wall after the earthquake subsided, she took the crystal ball from her cloak. Activating it, she peered into the library.
The lich stood in front of a maze of whirling gems that floated in the air before him. She listened to him chant, not recognizing any of the words. The gems—sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds—all swirled faster, gaining speed. Then they smacked together. Instantly the earth shook around Krystarn.
And for a moment, the library shivered and disappeared.
Fear seized Krystarn’s greed in its cold, greasy grip, shrinking it as the certainty filled her. Shallowsoul had discovered a way to take the library from the prime material plane where Faerûn was located to another plane of existence. Either that, or he’d had a way all along, but didn’t want to use it till after he recovered the shipwreck—or until humans had found the location of the library.
She waved a hand over the crystal ball, changing the focus and filling her head with thoughts of Chomack.
A moment later, the image cleared, showing the hobgoblin chieftain and his tribe. They numbered almost a hundred now. Chomack had continued to win converts or beat joiners into submission. He’d also managed to kill three human and elf adventuring parties and seize some of the weapons they had, further adding to his power.
At the moment, Chomack and his tribe hid in a cavern not far from the hallway where Krystarn kept her quarters. “Chomack, Taker of Dragon’s Teeth,” she said softly.
The hobgoblin chieftain looked up, not quite finding her gaze with his own. “What?”
“And are you ready?”
“By Maglubiyet’s good graces, yes.”
“I will join you in minutes. There will not be much time after that.” Krystarn ran through the twisting tunnels before her. Lloth willing, Shallowsoul would be too involved with his own machinations to discover hers.
She thought nothing at all of leaving her drow warriors there to die if need be.
Baylee watched the light eclipse as the chasm closed overhead. He released his lantern, not fearing losing it because it was secured to his arm by a strap. Working from memory, he pulled a thin rope from the gnomish workman’s leather armor. He shook it out, watching it move on its own.
Baylee! Xuxa called, winging after him.
The ranger ignored the azmyth bat as he flicked the rope at the chasm. He said the command word that activated the magic in the rope, watching as it jerked and suddenly fastened itself to a projection on the wall.
He hung on as he reached the end of the rope. The braid slipped through his hand at first, then he clamped on tighter after the immediate descent had been slowed. Coming to a full stop, it still felt like his arm was being yanked from its sockets. He held on to the long sword with the other, barely able to keep it in his fingertips.
He slammed against the chasm wall opposite the side with the trail on it. His breath whooshed out of his lungs, and he lost another few inches on the rope. When he had his breath back, he sheathed the long sword and climbed the rope to the chasm top.
The drow didn’t notice him from their position, concentrating their crossbow fire on the humans they had pinned down.
Baylee slipped his quiver over his shoulder and opened it. He assembled the long bow and strung it quickly, gathering up a fistful of arrows. He pulled the first one back smoothly, letting the fletching touch his ear as he lined up his shot. Then he released.
The heavy flight arrow smashed into the drow’s chest, penetrating the chain mail shirt the warrior wore. He crumpled without a sound. By that time, Baylee had two other arrows in the air.
One of them took the drow behind the first through the neck. The second missed its target as the drow warrior ducked back to safety.
Baylee reached into his quiver and chose one of the incendiary arrows, knowing it from the way the fletching was put together. He broke the glass-vialed tip, then ignited the end with a flint and steel striker. The flames caught at once, twisting into a ball of flames at the end of the arrow.
Putting all thoughts of conventional and civilized warfare from his mind, the ranger loosed the arrow into the body of the first drow he’d killed. It was the only source of flammable materials he had at his disposal.
The arrow sailed across the intervening space like a comet, then thudded into the corpse with a meaty smack. The flames spread out in fiery bits, catching the dead man’s clothes on fire at once.
The other drow drew back, handicapped by the bright light that dimmed their sensitive vision.
Baylee stood and threw the coils of rope across the chasm, commanding it to take hold again. He tied the lantern to his chest on one of the many straps the armor had. Once the enchanted rope had secured itself to the other side, he tied the other end to a stalagmite. Slipping his bow across the rope, he held on to both sides, then slid across the rope, landing on the trail in a crouch. He dropped the bow at his feet, drawing the long sword. A blur of movement warned him of the quarrel’s flight as it sped toward him. He spun, bringing the sword up and hoping. He didn’t catch the quarrel squarely, but the swing did move him from in front of it.
Xuxa swooped in without mercy, raking her claws and tail across the drow’s face.
Baylee surged ahead, drawing the parrying dagger and opening the spring-trigger. The two side blades sprang out at once. He engaged the drow who had fired the crossbow bolt, catching the man in the midst of reloading. He struck the hand cros
sbow aside with the parrying dagger, then buried his sword in the man’s chest.
Another drow swung at him with a short sword.
Baylee blocked the cut with the parrying dagger, put a foot on the dead drow he’d run through, and yanked his sword free. Xuxa swooped across the drow, raking away his eyes.
The dark elf fell back, screaming in pain.
“Down, lad,” Civva Cthulad called from behind Baylee.
The ranger ducked at once, watching as the justifier thrust his military pick deep into the drow’s chest. The drow struggled to get free, but Cthulad leaned into the weapon, giving his weight to it. The length gave him comfortable room to work with even from behind Baylee.
“Now,” Cthulad said, withdrawing his weapon. The dead warrior dropped.
Baylee stood, aware that Cthulad was going to await any openings that might present themselves. Baylee cut and thrust, beating the swords of the next opponent down. The flames of the dead man’s burning clothes continued to burn bright enough to cause the drow warriors problems.
“We can’t stay out here in the open long, lad,” Cthulad said, thrusting again. “We’ll have to break the drow before the hook horrors get through Calebaan. Otherwise, a lot of those men behind us will die.”
Baylee dodged another sword thrust, sliding quickly to the side. In a roll of motion, he thrust the parrying dagger on the ground, then reached for the extended arm of the drow, grabbed the man’s elbow, and threw him over the edge of the chasm. The drow screamed the whole way down, then quieted abruptly. Long before then, Baylee had the parrying dagger in his hand again.
Cthulad lashed out with the pick again, driving another drow back. Baylee surged into the gap left by the retreating drow and the one he’d dragged over the side of the chasm. He used the long sword to hammer through the circle of steel the drow warriors tried to put up to block him. He swiped the parrying dagger across a man’s arm, rendering it useless in a spray of crimson. The blood splashed across Baylee’s face but stayed out of his eyes.