earthdawn Anarya's Secret

by Tim Jones

  He felt exposed standing in the roadway, so, with nothing better to do, he walked over to what was clearly the Pust contingent. Lethik was there, and Sakara, and their children. It had been Natrass who has spotted him, and the boy was hopping up and down in excitement.

  Kendik had a sudden desire to shorten the height of the boy's leaps with one swing of his sword. After getting so close to freedom, it was maddening to have been found out by a moment's inattention and the sharpness of young eyes. But, as quickly as it had come, the feeling left him. To these people, he was Duke Kendik. He would play his part.

  "I saw you!" said Natrass. "I saw you, and I called out."

  "I'm sorry about that, milord," said Lethik.

  "Father's got something for you, too!" said Natrass. "I found it in the garden. I saw your Name on it!"

  And Vulumensthetika's crumpled letter was pressed into his hand. "In your garden?" said Kendik weakly.

  "It's hardly a garden," Lethik said apologetically. "But our friend Belleraria found an empty house we could stay in when we came to the town. I've been teaching the boy to read, but even so, I didn't believe him when he said he'd found a parchment with your Name on it."

  "I stopped reading when I saw your Name," added Natrass. "I thought it might be private."

  "Thank you," said Kendik. "I thought this was lost forever." He tried a smile for size.

  "Well, now," said Lethik, "I'm sure you have more important things to do than talk with us."

  Kendik considered that. "I'm not sure that I do. I have been on other duties for the past few days, and have only just returned. What is happening?"

  There was a scream and a thump from somewhere above them. Instinctively, they moved back closer to the tavern, its stuccoed front and sturdy walls protecting them from whatever lay beyond the town wall.

  "After you returned to Borzim, those t'skrang hung about in Pust for a bit, making a nuisance of themselves."

  "They did more than make a nuisance," said Sakara. "They dismantled the water race."

  "All that work smashed to pieces! I was furious, but what could I do?"

  "I'm sorry to hear it," said Kendik. "But tell me, what happened then?"

  "On the night of the second day—it was a foggy night, as usu-al—they pulled out. I sleep like an obsidiman, but a change in the breeze will wake Sakara, and she—"

  "I got up to find the front door open and the boys' boots missing," interrupted Sakara. "The young fools had gone to find out what was going on. Fortunately, we caught up with them before they could get in further trouble."

  "We followed the t'skrang right to the west edge of town," said Natrass, "and we could hear them trampling over the fields. We were just working out what to do next when Mother caught us."

  "This one wanted to go back home," said the eldest brother scornfully.

  "I did not!" protested Natrass. "That's a—"

  "Boys!" said Sakara sternly. "Is this any way to behave in front of our benefactor, Duke Kendik?"

  The boys stopped arguing. Kendik smiled sympathetically at them, then, recollecting himself, said "They went to the west?"

  "Seems they went straight to the Opthia and took ship," said Lethik. "We woke up in the morning and it was as if they'd never been there, 'cept for a bit of mess in the tavern. We set about rebuilding the water race. It wasn't easy, what with the—"

  "Why did you come to Borzim?" interrupted Kendik.

  "Sorry, milord, sorry. We're here because they came back. I didn't know there were that many t'skrang in the world—armies of them, and more coming up the river by ship."

  "They weren't all t'skrang!" put in Natrass. "I saw orks as well. I'd never seen an ork before. They look fierce!"

  "Mercenaries, I guess. Did they drive you out?"

  "They tore down the water race again and said they'd come for good this time. That was it for most of us. We packed up whatever we could and headed south. They let us through their armies, but we were held up at the North Gate for quite a while before the guards would let us in. Without Belleraria's help, we'd have had nowhere to stay."

  "Have you money?"

  "It's kind of you to ask, milord. We had hard times of it on our way here, but Belleraria—"

  "All the same," said Kendik, and handed over one of his two remaining silver coins.

  "You're most kind, milord, most kind—"

  The conversation was terminated abruptly. A hand snaked out of the gloom beside the tavern and grabbed Kendik's arm. He resisted at first, until he realized that the hand belonged to Sezhina. With a muttered apology and a hasty wave, he left Lethik in mid-reminiscence.

  "No telling the ways of the gentry," said Sakara, staring after him.

  Kendik found the rest of his ragtag band huddled in the alleyway between the tavern and the house to its right. From the end of the alleyway came a ripe, complex smell that told him that a lot of organic matter had been cooped up here together for a long time. It wasn't a place he would choose to linger, but at least they were out of the light.

  "Where have you been?" he asked.

  "I don't share your suicidal urge to chatter with everyone you know, despite the fact you're an escaped fugitive under sentence of torture and death," said Sezhina. "I've been looking for a way out of here."

  "Found one?"

  "No."

  "Use tunnels," said a voice. It took them a moment to realize it was Atlan.

  Part of Kendik's mind rejoiced to see that Atlan had revisited the land of the living from whatever netherworld he had been occupying, but another part was weighing the odds. If the safe house, the only entrance to the tunnels he knew, was being guarded by the Falcons, then returning there would be a guarantee of a long and messy death. But if they weren't being guarded, then the town lay open to the t'skrang army—surely T'shifa hadn't been the only t'skrang who knew about the tunnels.

  Kendik was already quite sure that he was no friend of Lord Tesek, but he did not fancy having the blood of civilians on his conscience because he had failed to warn the defenders of the town about the threat that lay beneath their feet.

  "Atlan's right," he said. "But we'll have to be careful."

  If it had been difficult to make their way inconspicuously to the North Gate in the hour before dawn, it was even more difficult to make their way back through the town now that it was awake and astir. There was an extra desperation in the cursing and the haggling over bargains. The inhabitants of Borzim—those, that is, who weren't making their way to the North Gate to join the growing throng of the curious—had heard what was afoot, and were stocking up for a long siege. Twice, Kendik saw fights break out between shopkeepers and the queuing customers who would not believe that there was no more bread, nor fruit, nor wine. Qualia's sword tip twitched with the urge to restore order, but both Sezhina and Viknis whispered some sense into her.

  They tried to keep to the back streets, but at one point, Kendik lost his bearings, and had to return to the main road from the gate to regain them. Here, the guards were making their presence felt, clearing pedestrians and carts alike away from the center of the road. The carters, an independent breed, did not take kindly to this. One was telling the guards, in loud and fluent language, exactly where they could stick their cavalry, and other carters were lending verbal support from the sidelines. This provided enough of a distraction to let their well-behaved little group slip by unmolested.

  They approached the safe house with the caution of a field mouse who feels the sun on her back being dimmed by the shadow of a falcon. Inconspicuous as noonday shadows, they gathered in an alleyway opposite.

  There was no sign of trouble. This seemed to alarm Sezhina even more than a battalion of armed guards would have done. She told them several times that she didn't like it, not at all, and then announced that since somebody had to check the place out, it may as well be her. Nobody tried to dissuade her. She flitted across the street and into the lane. They heard the small sound of a door being opened. Then there was silen
ce.

  Time moved as slowly as the water in the marshes of the Mist Swamps. Then Sezhina reappeared in the lane and motioned them across. Trying to look as if it were the most natural thing in the world, they sauntered across to join her.

  "Place is deserted," she whispered. "I found your tunnel. The entrance to it is open. I can hear sounds from down there, but too far away to make out."

  Kendik shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know any other way out," he said.

  Somebody had been in the safe house since Kendik left. They had searched the place, but taken care not to cause damage. There were still carrots and parsnips left in the pantry. Viknis reached for a carrot, but Sezhina slapped his hand away. "Might be poisoned," she said.

  "I'm starving," grumbled Viknis, but he left the food alone.

  Kendik was hungry, too, but hunger and fear were overridden by the desire to escape Borzim, whatever perils might lie outside. He had managed to talk his way out of t'skrang trouble before, and thought he could do so again if he had to. "I think we should take the plunge," he said.

  "I agree," said Sezhina. She produced a light quartz from her bag, and Qualia did likewise from hers. Sezhina took the front. Anarya followed Sezhina. Next came Kendik, leading Atlan by the hand. "You're going right where I can keep an eye on you," Qualia told Viknis, and since she was taking the rear, that meant he had to walk in front of her. A bizarre procession of arms, legs, and backs, they crawled their way into the tunnel.

  When Kendik had entered Borzim through these tunnels, he had been wet, cold, and worried about whether they would find an exit, but he did not recall being scared of the tunnels themselves. Now, despite the presence of his companions, faintly visible in the light from ahead and behind, he felt the walls pressing in on him, and for a moment, had the panicky sense that he couldn't go on. He forced his legs to move him another step forward, then another. At least the roof was getting a little higher, so that he could stand.

  Then they all stopped, bumping into each other.

  "What—?"

  "I've reached the junction," whispered Sezhina. "Whatever's making the noises is down the way you said you came. Where does the other way go?"

  "No idea," said Kendik. "We never explored it."

  Sezhina made a muted sound of exasperation. "Well, we can't stay here for the rest of our lives. I'm going to push forward towards the river. The rest of you wait here until I return."

  Sezhina and her quartz disappeared to the right. The rest of them sat as comfortably as they could and waited.

  Why does she get to give the orders?, thought Kendik. I'm the duke around here. Then he recollected himself, and smiled wryly. His mother had told him the usual stories of orphans, abandoned in the woods, raised by wolves or peasants, who, by a chain of miraculous or magical coincidences, had been revealed as chiefs or kings and claimed the throne of their people. But he knew whose child he was. He had his mother's brown eyes, sharp nose, and long fingers. He had his father's lanky height and unruly shock of dark brown hair. He wondered whether he had his father's prowess in battle, though he had seen none of that for himself; it was all in the tales his father told him on those rare nights when he was home and felt prepared to give something of himself to the boy.

  "I love you," he whispered to Anarya, just in front of him.

  "I can't—" began Anarya, but she was interrupted by the sound and light of Sezhina returning. The older woman did not look happy. "There's a detachment of guards down the tunnel that leads to the Opthia," she whispered, voice pitched even softer than Kendik's had been. "I think they're trapping the tunnel. Once they've finished, they'll have to come back this way. We need to get out of here before they do."

  Kendik was opening his mouth to reply when they were hit by the shock wave of an explosion. Sezhina was thrown forward by the blast and slammed into Anarya, who in turn hit the wall. Kendik, just inside the tunnel that led from the safe house, was buffeted by the shock wave in the enclosed space, and banged his head hard against the tunnel wall. Behind him, he heard the rumble of loosened rock, and then a cry of pain from Qualia. The noise and the buffeting died away, and there was silence.

  Silence until Viknis yelled "Help my mother!" so loudly that Kendik could hear it above the ringing in his ears.

  That was much easier said than done. Sezhina and Anarya were both badly bruised and cut. Anarya, caught between Sezhina and the wall, had come off a little the worse. Once Sezhina found her light quartz, she and Anarya moved as far back as they could to allow Kendik—shaken, bruised, with a bowl-shaped lump already forming on his head—and Atlan out. Atlan showed no great signs of either animation or injury. It was just one more strange dream in his long slumber.

  That left Viknis and Qualia. Viknis had been banged about, and worse, his precious lute had been broken. But it was his mother he was really worried about.

  "The roof fell in on her," he told Sezhina. "She's got a lump of rock on her chest, and she doesn't sound good."

  "Can you lift it?"

  "I can barely move one corner."

  "I'm strong, but I bet Atlan's stronger than me. He's going to lift that rock, and we're going to pull Qualia out."

  It wasn't easy. Getting Atlan to grasp what had to be done, and then getting him in position to do it, was hard enough, but they also had to get Qualia out. In the end, they worked out that if At-lan squatted almost over Qualia's head and straightened up as he lifted, Sezhina, crouching just behind him, would be able to reach between his legs and pull Qualia out. Kendik, meanwhile, held the light quartz as close as he could.

  "When I say 'Lift' ", Sezhina told Atlan, "you're going to lift that rock. Are you sure you know what to do?"

  Atlan nodded once.

  "Lift!"

  The big man got both hands under the masonry and lifted. Slowly, slowly the weight lifted from Qualia. Sezhina grabbed her arms and dragged, despite Qualia's whimpers of pain. It was Qua-lia's great good fortune that, although the roof had fallen in completely just behind her, her legs and feet were clear.

  Atlan gave a grunt of effort. His shoulders began to sag. "Hurry!" said Kendik. Sezhina pulled Qualia the rest of the way clear, and Atlan dropped the rock with a cry. A few more pieces of brick fell down, and for a moment, Kendik feared the whole tunnel would collapse on top of them.

  But it didn't. "Where does it hurt the most?" Sezhina asked.

  "Ribs."

  She felt carefully along the left side of Qualia's body. "Couple broken, I'd say. What about your legs?"

  "They still work. I wish I'd never met you."

  "You're still alive, aren't you? Not all who've met me can say that. Let's move you into the main tunnel—that looks a bit less likely to collapse. Got your healing kit?"

  "Yes. But it won't mend a broken rib."

  "You're right there, but we can deal with most of the rest of the damage. Then I'll bind you up as best I can, and we'll have to move on."

  It seemed to Kendik, waiting in the half-light, that it took an eternity before Sezhina pronounced herself satisfied and Qualia, still wincing, climbed gingerly to her feet. "Ow," she said, then, after walking a few steps, she said "ow" again. She had become a woman of few words, and none of them long.

  They didn't have to go far to confirm that the direct route to the river was blocked. Two hundred or so paces from the junction, the roof had caved in spectacularly—so much so, in fact, that a chink of light from above showed through. Anarya, the slimmest among them, climbed up for a look but reported that, if they solved the problem of getting through the tiny gap, they would emerge in a busy street. "I saw the boots of a couple of guards," she reported when they had moved back from the cave-in. "No sense going that way."

  "Looks like the guards were too keen to set off that trap," commented Sezhina, looking down at a brown-clad arm protruding from the rubble. "Well, there's only one way left to try."

  They returned to the T-junction and took the tunnel that led to the left. It was narrow, but tall enough t
hat everyone save Atlan could walk without ducking their heads. It carried on without deviation for so long that Kendik lost track of the paces he had been counting. It seemed to him that he had been walking for ever in this netherworld, one light quartz shining faintly from ahead, the other (now held by Anarya, who had dropped back to take the rear) shining faintly from behind. Strange phantoms of the astral plane began to trouble his mind. He fancied that he heard voices calling, seeking him out. They lived in the outer darkness, and they were searching for warm flesh and a warm soul to devour. He walked on a dark plane, an insignificant speck moving through the great darkness.

  "Air is changing," said Atlan, surprising them. It was true. A richer, more complex smell was wafting from the tunnel ahead of them. It became stronger as they resumed their journey. It was the smell of the River Opthia, and since they were underground, this was not reassuring.

  The tunnel turned sharply to the left and widened so they could stand two abreast. The smell was stronger, and now they could faintly hear the splash of water. Their way was blocked by an iron door that appeared to be rusted in place.

  "How—" began Kendik, but Sezhina motioned for silence. "Back," she mouthed. As they shuffled backwards, Kendik saw that the iron in the middle of the door was changing color. Then, almost too suddenly to follow, it melted away. The remains of the door fell inwards, and were followed by a rush of water that swirled about their feet and began to rise up their legs. Following the water came a group of t'skrang. Their leader had a bandage on her snout. She stopped and looked at them.

  "You again," said T'shifa.

  Chapter 13

  Kendik's first thought was to take out his sword and wipe the smirk from T'shifa's face forever. His second thought was to see whether he could turn this meeting to his advantage. Before he could decide, the sound of splashing and curses, quickly hushed, came from behind them.