by Eric Vall
Without hesitation, I released my hands and fell downward. I barely managed to clutch the rope below that ran perpendicular to the one I had been clinging to, and I immediately grabbed on with the other hand and hooked my legs around it. Now I had a direct view of the massive tumbling rock. I was nearly out of the way, but I had to keep moving, so I swung as far as I could to the right to avoid the steadily careening rock that threatened to splatter me against the pit’s deadly floor.
The rope felt good in my hands, and a quick tug with my left arm easily lifted up and over the top so that I was in a one-armed handstand position. Then I let out a laugh and flipped myself over so that I could walk across the line like a tightrope performer.
The remainder of the hulking rock hurtled past me, and I watched as the stony projectile collided with the ground in a deafening crash that scattered shards of rock into the air. This acrobatic exercise had been quite fun, but time was of the essence, and I reminded myself that my minions needed me to finish my task.
I craned my head in every direction to get my bearings. Luckily, my hasty drop had brought me nearer to the orb that I had set my sights on. I merely had to continue to travel to the right, and it would be within my grasp.
The sphere of white light was on a rope that slanted down, and it crossed with another, thus forming a sort of X-shape. After a minute or so of careful shimmying, I arrived at the crisscross, unhooked my feet, and cautiously stepped a foot into the middle of the X. It was sturdy enough for a foothold, so with one hand still firmly attached to my rope, I used my free hand to reach out to pluck the glowing orb from its place. I severed the thread as I’d done before and placed the ball into my sack. This work was tedious, and I still had eight more to go. I gazed around the pit in search of the next orb.
Then I heard Rana scream again. Her cry seemed to come from somewhere below the spiked floor of the cavern.
And then the rumbling started once more.
Chapter 18
I looked at the ceiling and saw that yet another giant rock was attempting to break away from the roof of the cavern. This time, however, it was on the far left, so I was out of harm’s way. The rock fell so close to the opposite cliffs side that it collided with the rocky face on its way down. It thundered and rumbled as it broke against the mighty cliff and its trajectory slowed. It looked like the collision had left most of the ropes intact as opposed to last time. Only a handful had snapped from the weight of careening chunks of boulder. What was going on? What was happening to Rana, and why was the ceiling falling apart?
Just then I heard something. A soft sound… a distinct flapping. I hadn’t heard the sound before when I had entered the spike-filled cavern, but it was strangely familiar. Suddenly, a shrill caw broke the cave’s silence. I knew that sound all too well. A raven. I looked around in search of the black-winged bird and soon saw it fly over my head.
“Down here!” I shouted. I had no idea how Morrigan’s winged companion had managed to find me in a cave that seemed to have no openings, and I didn’t care. I had never been so happy to see one of the elf woman’s pets.
The bird paused its flight and flapped a bit in the air as it moved its head around in search of me. Within moments, it spotted me and released another loud caw and began to make its way down. It expertly weaved in and out of the web-like network of ropes without decreasing its speed. Finally, it reached me and fluttered to perch on a rope beside my head. By now, I had figured out how to tell the elf’s pets apart. This particular raven had a small red mark on its beak, it was Fea.
“Morrigan?” I spoke to the raven although I wasn’t entirely sure why. I was sure that Morrigan was using her shared sight, and I knew that she could see me, but could she hear me? How would she be able to communicate with me? It would be difficult to formulate a plan if we couldn’t talk to one another. Still, I would have to be grateful that she had at least been able to find me, and I would speak in case she could hear me. “Morrigan, are you there?” I spoke once more to the elf’s winged pet.
The raven proceeded to open its beak. “Yes, I am here,” I heard Morrigan’s emotionless voice say. “Not only do I possess the ability to share Fea and Macha’s sight wherever they may roam, but I can also hear what they hear and am capable of speaking through them.”
“It is an excellent ability,” I said.
“Indeed, it is quite useful,” the elf said nonchalantly. It was strange talking to Morrigan’s pet and hearing her voice come out. Fea didn’t move her beak when Morrigan spoke, it simply hung open.
“How did you know where to find me?” I asked, but as the words left my mouth, I realized that the dungeon’s rooms were all connected, and I immediately knew that the deity had set up our games so that they would conflict with each other. Rana had screamed every time the ceiling had crumbled, so I guessed that she was either above or below my position.
“I did not know where to find you,” Morrigan continued. “I had suspicions and used Fea and Macha to locate both you and Rana. I do not yet know what has befallen Annalíse, but I soon shall.”
“Suspicions?” I said to the bird with Morrigan’s voice. “Have you figured out what is going on?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” the white-haired elf said calmly. “I am not aware of every last detail. However, the nature of our current situation is beginning to come into focus.”
“Then tell me your hypothesis,” I instructed.
“Our games, as that tiresome deity called them, are connected,” Morrigan said with a twinge of anger in her tone. “At least some of them are, of this much I am certain.”
“Oh?” I asked as I fought against a prideful smile. I had already guessed what the white-haired elf was going to tell me once I saw her raven, but I was delighted that she had figured out that the dungeons were all connected. I was very proud of her.
“You were given a specified task to complete, were you not?” Morrigan asked.
“Yes.”
“As were the rest of us, he said as much,” the pale elf continued. “I assume that you were also told that, to triumph, you had to complete said task and then you would be permitted to leave, is that the case?”
“Yes.”
“He has deceived you,” Morrigan said darkly. “He has deceived all of us. That insolent god had no intention of bestowing our freedom. He orchestrated these games in such a way that we would perish in our endeavors to complete them. Am I right to assume that you heard Rana’s screams?”
“Of course,” I said with a nod.
“I was the cause of Rana’s turmoil,” Morrigan said quietly. “Or rather I was partially the cause.”
“You?” I finally smiled. Yes. She was very clever.
“As I said, our challenges are connected,” the bird with Morrigan’s voice explained. “My task was to simply hit a series of flying targets using a bow and arrow. I was told that upon hitting all the targets, a door would be opened, and I would be granted freedom. This seemed far too easy, and while I do not trust that vile god, I shot one of my arrows as a test to ascertain what would happen. Naturally, I hit my mark without difficulty, but as soon as my arrow pierced the target, I heard Rana scream. For a moment, I thought that perhaps it was a coincidence, but I do not believe in coincidences. I shot once more, and again I heard her protest. I also heard strange rumbling sounds not long after she shouted.”
“Yes,” I breathed. It was all starting to make sense. “The rumbling was coming from this cave. Each time Rana screamed, one of those spikes came crashing down.” I gestured to the hulking jagged rocks above my head. The raven lifted its head to look at the malignant ceiling before it returned its dark-eyed gaze back to me.
“I see,” Morrigan spoke slowly, her pet’s beak was still agape. “It is as I thought, your game is connected to mine and Rana’s.”
“Have you found her?” I asked.
“Presently she is in a cage with some sort of demon,” Morrigan said flatly. “She was meant to defeat the creature
and retrieve the cage’s key from its possession. The cage was attached to the ceiling by eight chains, and it is suspended over a sea of lava. Two have broken away, and the cage is dangling by the remaining metal links. There were eight chains, and I had eight targets, so I surmised that I was the cause of these broken chains.”
“Then we have to help her,” I said with renewed focus.
“You do not need to worry about Rana right now,” Morrigan said coolly. “It is true that Rana still remains in the cage. However, the monster is incapacitated, and she has taken possession of the key.”
“If the monster is defeated, why has she not escaped?”
“She needs to find a way to make it back to solid ground, and I cannot continue to shoot my targets until she does.”
“I don’t understand why she hasn’t escaped. Is there some other kind of difficulty beyond the cage?” I asked as I studied the problem in my mind.
“Yes,” Morrigan said cooly. “There are immense stone ledges on either side of her, but she cannot reach them on her own.”
“Alright,” I said, “I will give you instruction now.” I realized that I was going to have to step in and control the situation more. Morrigan had put the pieces of the puzzle together, and she had figured out how to find me, but I didn’t want to risk losing any of my women because of a slight misstep.
“Tell me what to do,” she said through her birds, and a bit of pride swelled up in me that the elf girl was trusting me.
“Send one of your ravens to find Annalíse and let her know what’s happening,” I began. “I’m a little better off than Rana so send Fea, I’ll be fine on my own for now. My task was to collect all of these white spheres and place them on that scale.” I gestured to the bronze statue-like scale that sat atop the other cliff. “Tell Annalíse to brace herself for possible danger, but if your shots caused the supports on Rana’s cage to break, then I suspect it is her task that is causing the rocks to fall from the ceiling.” I wrapped an arm around one of the ropes to steady myself as we spoke.
“I will do it,” Morrigan said. “What about you?”
“I am going to finish gathering the rest of these orbs unless you come back to tell me otherwise because the rules haven’t changed. We still have to win our respective games. We’ll have to keep playing, only now we’ll be prepared,” I said determinedly. “Send Fea back to me once you’ve spoken to Annalíse and let me know what her current situation is. I will wait to fill the scale until Fea returns. Then we’ll figure out our next plan of action.”
“Understood,” the pale elf said through her raven. “I shall return Fea to you as soon as I have located Annalíse and communicated with her.”
“Excellent,” I said. With that, Fea leapt from her rope perch and flew upward and away from me. She cawed a few times before she disappeared over the top of the cliff.
I focused on the task at hand. I had a game to win and an obnoxious deity’s power to harvest, so I began to climb my way upward to the cliff that held the bronze scale. I would complete my challenge.
It took me a while to reach the top of the cliff, and I had no idea how much time had passed. I only knew how many ropes I had grasped with my armored fingers, how many times I had looked down, and how many times I swung through the empty air. Even still, the whole experience was exhilarating. It was one thing to craft a body and walk around, and quite another to endeavor at a task such as this, and I was still enjoying myself despite the situation.
What other sort of physical activities would I find pleasurable?
When I finally reached the rocky side and pulled myself up, I couldn’t help but smile. I’d done it, and the sense of accomplishment was something I’d not experienced in centuries.
My eyes locked on the two craggy spots in the ceiling where the enormous dagger-like rocks had broken away. Even facing those challenges had been fun in their own way. Still, this was no time to reminisce in the delights of this challenge. That could be done after my minions, and I had won this game.
Once I had steadied my breath, I summoned my shadow slaves. I had intended to do the task without them, but my minions were in more danger than I had first assumed, and I didn’t want to leave their fates to chance. Also, I was done crawling around for this god’s amusement.
I had already collected two of the luminous orbs, so I summoned eight shadow slaves, one for each remaining sphere. I had surmised that it wasn’t the gathering of the orbs that would trigger a negative event, it was placing them on the scale. This was based on the information that the nasal-voiced god had given as well as the fact that there hadn’t seemed to be a reaction to my collection of the orbs. So, I could allow my shadow slaves to work without worry. I sat on the edge of the cliff as I watched the orbs begin to detach themselves one by one from the perilous ropes.
I removed the sack from my shoulders and held it open for my shadow slaves to place the round objects inside. Some of the tension in my heart eased now that I knew that Rana was in less danger. Hopefully, the chains that held her cage would remain intact. I simply needed her to hold on for a little while longer. Once I was out of this place, I would send my shadow slaves to save her from her peril. And with any luck, Annalíse’s conditions were less dangerous like Morrigan’s. The elf was also safe, at least for now.
One by one, the colorless orbs were dropped into the sack, all the while I kept an eye out for Fea. When there were only two of the white spheres remaining, I suddenly heard a raven’s cry in the direction of the cliff where I had first appeared. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw a circular piece of the cavern’s wall begin to glow red. A mere second later, Fea emerged from the circle and flew into the cave.
The raven had somehow managed to pass through solid rock, but how could this be possible? The black feathered bird flapped toward me and fluttered down to rest beside me just as the final orb was placed into the sack. Fea opened her mouth so that her master could speak to me.
“I have located Annalíse,” I heard Morrigan say flatly. “She is in no present danger. She is in a cavern that has three bridges. That imbecilic deity told her that if she crossed the first bridge, she could save Rana, that if she crossed the second, she could save you, and finally if she crossed the third, she could save me. She can only choose one, and there is no other way for her to leave. When I found her, she was in a state of torment. This is an impossible decision for any being to make, especially Annalíse.”
“Yes,” I said solemnly. “Annalíse would never be able to choose. She would try to figure a way around it, much as she did when we were trapped in the room with the soul collector.”
“Precisely,” Morrigan said with a note of bitterness. “Annalíse would have been plagued by the choice and eventually have gone mad. She would have ended up staying there for eternity, unable to cope with the guilt of knowing that she had been responsible for the deaths of two of her companions. And yet she also would not have been able to stand by and do nothing. She would have spent the rest of her days searching for another way out.”
“Is she alright now?” I asked the raven with Morrigan’s voice.
“Yes,” the pale elf replied. “I was able to calm her, and I have informed her of your plans thus far. No doubt you have noticed no more rocks fell from above. That is because she has ceased trying to find other ways to escape.” The raven waited for me to nod before continuing. “What have you decided to do next?”
“Now that I’ve collected all the orbs, I’m going to place them one by one on the scale,” I said determinedly. “I don’t want to, but I have to in order to leave and help the rest of you should you need me. The way I see it, my challenge should either affect you or Annalíse, possibly both. Whoever is affected will have to hold out for a bit. Unfortunately, we will have to take that risk.”
My words came out sharply as I thought about what this corpulent god had done to us. He would pay for his contemptible acts. “When Fea leaves here, I’ll have the shadow slaves follow her. They can pass
through solid matter as Fea did. Direct them to Rana’s location first, then to yours, and finally to Annalíse’s. I’m going to send enough for both you and Annalíse in case you need them. If either of you finds yourself in a type of danger that you are unable to handle, send Fea and let me know immediately so that I can come to your aid. Otherwise, as soon as my door opens, I will be dealing with our gracious host.”
“I do not believe that I shall require any assistance,” the tattooed elf finally said. “However, I see no fault with your plan. I shall carry it out to the best of my ability.”
“Excellent,” I said with a nod. “How long will it take Fea to get from me to Annalíse?”
“Approximately five minutes,” Morrigan said.
“Very well,” I said quickly. “I’m going to count to seven minutes to be safe. Tell Annalíse to get ready. Once I get to seven, I’m going to start putting the orbs on the scale. Both of you prepare yourselves for what may happen after I finish.”
“Understood,” Morrigan said plainly. “I will attempt to signal you once I ascertain who the affected party is. It would take time for Fea to reach you once more, but it would be best if you at least knew whose game is affected by the scale. If it is me, then I shall have Fea caw twice. If it is Annalíse, I shall have Fea caw three times. In the unlikely event that there is, as you say, a sort of danger that we are unable to handle, Fea shall call out to you five times for Annalíse and seven times for myself.”
“Perfect.” I nodded to the raven. “Better get going.” Without hesitation, the black-winged bird took to the air, and I sent my shadow slaves after her. A glowing red circle appeared once more in the side of the cave’s wall, and Fea soon disappeared inside of it. The moment she entered, the circle vanished.