by Jamie Davis
Cari reminded herself that something had driven the residents away from here at some point. Perhaps it was just the fact that the trade route through the mountain died out as other routes were discovered. She hoped that was all it was.
They continued moving along until Cari felt her stomach rumble. She decided it was time for them to stop and take a break for lunch. She looked for a good place to rest and spotted a sort of open courtyard in the street ahead with what might have been an old fountain in the center of it.
As the others took off their packs and sat down to take a break, Helen walked over to the fountain. It was a square stone pedestal that stood about four feet high in the center of a broad stone basin about ten feet across. She grabbed a stone lever sticking out of the side of the pedestal.
“I wonder?” Helen said as she lifted the handle and pumped it up and down a few times. She smiled when crystal clear water flowed out of the pedestal to splash into the basin below. “Looks like we found a source of freshwater boss.”
“Great,” Cari said. “Everybody, make sure you refill your canteens.”
The party ate their lunch, listening to the silence around them in the cavern. The only noise they heard was the occasional drip of water in the distance and sometimes the sound of a chirp that might have been an insect or another cavern denizen. How far away and how big it might be, Cari wasn’t sure.
Getting packed up again, they continued on around the cavern’s perimeter until they reached what must have been the center of the city. A broad avenue, lined with tall buildings stretched out to their left into the darkness of the cavern’s center. To the right, the street ended in a flight of magnificent stairs leading upward to what must be the central palace or perhaps a government building for this underground community.
Cari pointed up the stairs. “I wonder what’s up there? It might lead to an exit or somewhere we can spend the night again. It might be a good idea to check.”
“I’m game, Captain,” Francesca said. “It might be interesting to find out more about the people who lived down here once upon a time.”
“Helen?” Cari asked.
“We’ll need to camp again, soon. This is as good a place as any to find a safe place for the night.”
“Good, it’s settled then. Let’s check out what’s up these stairs.”
The group started climbing up the broad staircase. There were several landings or ledges in the cavern wall along the way the top. At each of the ledges, there was a small plaza of sorts with doors opening to the left and right into buildings along each side of the staircase.
The stairway continued upward, though it narrowed as it went higher towards the top. This led to Cari to think that perhaps whoever was in charge of this city either lived or governed from that point in the tavern. When the city was inhabited and lit up below, it must have been a spectacular sight from this vantage point.
They continued upward, pausing at each landing to look around for a moment before continuing on. At one point, Helen glanced inside one of the doorways off to the side of the landing plaza and smiled as she took the spare lantern and went inside for a moment.
“Helen, what do you think you’re doing?” Cari asked. “We need to stick together.” A few seconds later Helen emerged holding a cask of some sort. It was small, made of wood bound with iron hoops.
“I think this is lamp oil. I thought I smelled some as I passed the doorway. A few of the casks had been broached and spilled on the floor, probably as the iron hoops rusted. This one was still intact. We can refill our lamp supply from it.”
“That is good news. Good work, Helen.” Cari said. She and the others joined Helen at the edge of the stairway and refilled the flasks they’d been using to carry lamp oil from the ship. With a replenished supply, they should be good for several more days.
Once the cask was emptied of the lamp oil it contained, Cari and the others continued upward, climbing to the top and final landing that looked out over the city below. Turning about, Cari saw two large metal-bound doors set in the wall of the cavern itself. Cari started towards them. “Shall we see if we can open these doors?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, ma’am,” Francesca said. “Perhaps there is something sacred or special kept in there. It certainly sits in a place of honor for the city.”
“We’ll just have a look around. We won’t touch or desecrate anything.”
Cari pressed against one of the doors. It moved a fraction of an inch, then stopped. She put her shoulder against it and leaned into it while she pushed with her legs. With a grinding screech, the door slid open about twelve more inches.
“Helen, Francesca, come here and help me push. Let’s see if we can open this a little bit more.”
The three women pushed together against the massive door and it moved again, but only about another twelve inches or so. Beyond that, they could make no more progress. “I guess that’s far enough. We can squeeze through in single file.”
Cari took the lantern from Percy and held it in front of her as she slid sideways through the narrow opening between the double doors. The glittering walls all around her drew her eyes as the light of her lantern reflected off the facets of a thousand individual gems covering the walls. The worked stone around her was covered in elaborate stone carvings and inscriptions. Each of the inscriptions and scenes carved into the rock was accented with semi-precious gemstones and clear reflective crystals of various sizes. They all bounced the light from her lantern back at her.
Without realizing she spoke aloud, Cari said, “It’s like the inside of a room-sized disco ball.”
“What’s a disco?” Percy asked as he entered the room and stood next to Cari.
“It’s a sort of—” Cari stopped, realizing she never be able to explain a disco or a disco ball to her friends. Honestly, she wasn’t sure she understood its origins either.
“It’s something that reflects the light and creates pretty patterns along the walls. It’s something sort of like this but in reverse. In here, the walls reflect the pretty pattern back to the center instead.”
The rest of the party entered and the five of them walked farther into the large chamber. Cari felt a tug on her belt and looked down to see Jaycee standing next to her. She had the fingers of one hand hooked over Cari’s sword belt.
The young princess stared around them wide-eyed.
“Pretty nifty, huh?” Cari said. “I’m glad we made the climb up here. We would have missed seeing this spectacular room.”
“I wonder what it’s for?” The little girl asked. “There must’ve been a reason to create something so beautiful.”
Cari pointed to the far side of the rectangular room. Several doors led off to either side but the central feature in the distance was a carved stone throne. “My guess is the ruler of this place used to sit there and hold court. When this place was lit up by torches or lanterns, it must have lent a mystical and regal air to the proceedings.”
“We’ve seen what we came up here to see, Cari,” Helen said. “Maybe it’s time for us to head back down and find someplace to stay in a room down the stairs a bit?”
“We have some more time to look around. This might be a good place for us to break for the night and rest up too instead of going back down. It will be difficult for any large groups to sneak up on us if we close the doors and block them with something.”
“It would be nice to explore a little bit more,” Percy said. “Imagine what kind of treasures there must be hidden here.”
“We’ll worry about that after we set up a place to sleep,” Cari said. “Let’s go down to the far end of the room near where the throne is and look around.”
The five of them continued through the room, their lantern light creating sparkling patterns everywhere along the walls and floors as they walked along. The stone throne appeared to be carved from a single, massive block of quartz crystal. It was almost completely clear, though it was cloudy in places. Cari wondered who might have b
een the last person to sit upon it.
Without thinking, and before she really knew what she was doing, Cari walked up to the throne, turned around to face the others, and sat down.
There was a sudden flash of light. Everything and everyone froze in place around her.
Quest accepted — discover the final ruler of the city in the cavern
Chapter 13
Cari sat frozen in place on the throne, unable to move any more than her friends were. They gathered around her, looking her way in front of the throne. Each of them stood still as if caught outside of time in a snapshot or a photograph.
Nothing was moving at all in the glittering throne room.
A few seconds later, Cari realized that wasn’t true as she realized shadowy movements started drifting back and forth inside the glittering chamber.
At first, she only caught them out of the corner of her eye. Then, as she concentrated, Cari managed to see hazy humanoid shapes in the shadows moving all around the room. As she watched the scene unfold around her, the shadows became more defined and eventually, she could make out individuals going about their business as if she were seeing a recorded video holograph of an event occurring at a time in the room’s past.
While Cari could not move physically, she was able to rotate her visual perception and look around her at the shadows and see what they were doing. There was some sort of ceremony happening. The figures brought objects to set before and around the throne on which she sat. Each of the shadowy figures would approach, bow, kneel, and then place the object they carried on the floor before backing away. It took a moment for Cari to understand she saw things through the eyes of whoever it was sitting on the throne during this ceremony.
She sat and watched the ceremony for some time, unsure exactly how long. Once the presentations ended, a gruff male voice sounded inside her head.
“Who are you?”
At first, Cari didn’t answer, thinking they were talking to someone else, everything had been silent so far, but perhaps she was able to hear the events in the past now, too. Maybe someone addressed one of the shadows approaching the throne. The deep, booming voice sounded again, this time with more sternness. She recognized the tone the speaker used. It was one used for issuing commands.
“Who. Are. You?”
Was the strange voice talking to her?
Cari wasn’t sure how to answer, so she did what she usually did when someone demanded something she didn’t want to give. She asked a question in return. “Who are you?”
There was a pause then. After a few seconds, the voice answered her. “I am Roland, the King Under The Mountain. I once ruled this land beneath the others above. My people dwelt here for countless centuries before they embarked on the final exodus.”
“My name is Cari Dix. I’m traveling through your realm under the mountain, trying to reach the eastern side of these tunnels. There is no one here anymore, though. This city has been deserted for a long time. Where did everyone go?”
“It has been many centuries since anyone dwelled in this place. I was the last of the rulers here before the exodus took everyone away. I could not leave the realm I had sworn to watch over and protect, so I chose to stay behind. I remain here on my throne to guard over our city in hopes the others would eventually return. Alas, they have not.”
Cari sensed great sadness in the voice, sadness and loneliness. The king’s despair weighed on her as she experienced a part of it through their strange connection. “Where did they go? Why did they leave their homeland?” Cari asked.
“Another leader, one of the temple keepers, declared a prophecy. He said a great blight would but fall on us if we remained. At first, no one believed him. Then some of our citizens began to become ill. A few even died. Despite my efforts to tell them it was a lie, and something else was going on, the people began to believe what the keeper told them of his prophecy. I tried to convince them they were wrong, that they should stay, but eventually, the keeper convinced almost all of the people to follow him on a journey into the deepest tunnels beneath the city.”
“So, they left you alone without anyone else?”
“Only a few of those most loyal to me remained. For a while, we kept up appearances, but with no one here to tend the mushroom farms or the livestock, eventually, the food ran out. We waited here for a long time, but they did not return.”
“You said they traveled into the deep tunnels? What were they seeking down there?”
“We had discovered a long time before, a tunnel below all the others leading off to the south. Our explorers followed it, seeking to find its end. They continued until they realized it passed beneath the great Southern Sea in the world above. The ones who survived the rigorous journey to return said only that it continued to the south for a great distance. The temple keeper believed our only salvation lay down that southern path, the one that went beneath the ocean. That is where my people went, despite the dangers of such a journey.”
Cari listened as she watched the shadows go about their work, the ceremony repeating itself as she observed the figures leaving their offerings. She began to notice things she didn’t pick up on before. The people she saw looked different than she might’ve expected, shorter in stature and squat in their bearing. Some of the shadows wore beards over their long robes, the hair reaching to the floor. Others wore armor and ancient broadswords or axes.
As they came forward to leave their offerings before the king once again, a question occurred to Cari. “King Roland, who were your people? They weren’t humans or elves, were they?”
“My people were the dwarves of Fantasma. Long had we lived in this land beneath the mountains. Long had we traded with men, and elves, trolls and goblins, and many others who lived on the land above us. In the end, with no one here to trade with anymore, everyone stopped coming. I fear they have forgotten us completely. You are the first visitors here in a very long time.”
Cari thought about what King Roland said. She had never heard anyone mention dwarves in her travels through Fantasma. She’d heard of elves, goblins, and trolls. She’d heard of creatures related to goblins called grendlings to the north, but she had never heard anyone mention dwarves at all. “I think you are right King Roland, though it saddens me to say it. I came from above the mountains. Until I talked with you, no one had ever mentioned the existence of your people that I’d heard of.”
“It is as I feared. My people have disappeared from memory. No one remains to seek out what happened to us and where we disappeared to.”
Cari pondered what king Roland said. It was truly a tragedy. It was, however, not something she could do anything about at this time. “King Roland, I lament what happened to you and your people. Were I to be able to get free of this place, perhaps I could take word of what happened to your people from here. I could tell others about what you told me and who your people were. It would not bring them back, but it could offer a memory that would provide some service to everything you built here.”
“You would do that, girl? Even knowing there was a memory of my people up above would please my soul, trapped as it is here inside this throne of quartz.”
A thought occurred to Cari. “There may be a memory of your people up above, even though they do not understand from whence it came. The throne upon which the emperors and empresses of the realm sit is called the Crystal Throne. I wonder if it may be a throne crafted by your people and traded to the men above.” Cari wasn’t sure if that was true, but it made a sort of sense. Her father had told her that legends and myths often had their roots in distantly remembered facts and history.
Cari felt the presence in her head change in its mood. It seemed to become lighter, almost relaxed. After a long pause, the voice continued. “Cari Dix, I would like it if you took with you the memory of my people. Tell the ones living on the lands above about the dwarves. If you would do this, perhaps there’s something you would ask from me in return?”
“My friends and I seek an exit from your c
ity leading us back to the surface, one that exits to the east and not the west side of these mountains. Can you help me find that way out?”
“The way is not long but does twist and turn through many tunnels east of here. You would soon become lost without a guide. Perhaps, though, I could pass along to you something even the youngest of my people possessed. We have the ability to sense our place with reference to the earth itself. That is how we travel through our underground tunnels without getting lost. With it, you would be able to travel anywhere, above or below the surface, as long as you knew from whence you came. I have never tried to bestow this upon one not of my race before. It might not work, and I do not know what effect it might have upon you. Still, I offer it to you freely, if you would have it.”
Cari considered what King Roland said. If it helped her and her friends get out of these caverns in one piece, it was worth some risk to find a way out. “I understand and accept the risks that might be involved. I believe there is only one way to go forward for us and that lies to the east. We cannot afford the time it would take getting lost down here.”
“Very well Cari Dix. Remain still for a moment while I delve your mind. I would see if there is a way I might impart this knowledge to you.”
Cari didn’t know what to say. She had no choice but to sit still. She remained frozen in stasis as she had been throughout this conversation. She felt a tickling touch at the back of her mind as if a feather were brushing against the side of her ear or at the back of her neck. She wanted to brush it away to scratch at the itch, but she could not.
“Remarkable. Your mind is unlike any I have ever seen before. You possess the ability to expand what you can do almost as if you are a blank slate upon which new things, new abilities, new skills may be written. It may indeed be possible to give you what you seek. “