by BJ Hanlon
Thinking about him made Edin feel worse and then, just to compound the terribleness of the day and of his mood, it began raining again.
He spotted stairs to the underground beginning to fill up with throngs of people pushing to get out of the rain. At least they had that. And Edin was sure the nobles didn’t care if the homeless crowded the undercity.
Edin wondered if he should try to find the Raven down there in that rabble.
With the rain coming down, the roads soon cleared and he picked up his pace. It also made looking for shadows easier.
He didn’t see any.
Edin reached the library. It was a tall square building made of brick with a great dome at the center. At the four corners were stone towers that rose almost twenty feet higher than the dome. There was an intricately designed circle that crossed the entire structure horizontally at three intervals. They were thin carved ledges with people and animals on it and the carvings seemed to repeat themselves. A man, a man standing, a man walking, a man riding, and then an empty space. One that looked to have been chipped away. Maybe a man flying, but that would’ve been indicative of a mage. The ancients couldn’t have that. But they also weren’t stupid enough to go around and destroy old buildings because they were built by magi. That would’ve been idiotic.
“But destroying books was okay…” Edin whispered and shook his head. He walked toward the large double doors with iron knockers and a face on each. One was a man, the other a woman. They both seemed wizened somehow, maybe it was the pointed noses and sharp eyes.
Edin entered and brushed off his cloak, and it dried almost instantly. The puddle on the stone floor grew around his feet however.
Edin walked up and stood before a small desk with an elderly man looking up at him through spectacles. He wasn’t as wizened as the faces outside and the tufts of hair standing out from the bottom half of his head were like ruffled feathers on tiny wings.
There were oil lamps secured to walls and columns. The great dome was glass and it let in the soft gray light, and he heard the constant tinkling of the rain overhead. The place was huge. It seemed like it could take another hour just to find out where his friends were.
There were four stories around that great dome with an open-air reading space at the center. He saw desks with dividers and the bent heads of people who didn’t care about anything around them. He assumed they only cared about their collegiate work.
It was the first time he’d ever been in a university. His mother would’ve been happy to see him here.
He glanced at the man, “I’m looking for—”
“Are you perhaps, Edin?”
“I am...” Edin said hesitantly but a little loud.
“Quiet, it’s a library. Fourth floor, southwest wing.” He said pointing a hand toward a stairwell. “Make sure not to drip on the books.” he glared at Edin’s cloak. “If you ruin an ancient tome I swear—”
“It’s dry, feel it.” Edin held out his hand as the clerk gave him an odd, appraising stare. “It is, really.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” He said.
Edin was about to walk away and then stopped. “How did you know I was Edin?”
“The guy said you’d look like you don’t belong.” Then he squinted, “no stuff in the stacks okay. It’s a library not a brothel.”
“I’m,” he paused, “wait, what?” Edin gasped. “What makes you think that?” his voice was growing louder.
“Shhh…” Someone hissed over a shelf to his right.
Edin glanced that way, his mouth gaping.
“Yeah,” the clerk said. “Don’t make me tell you again.”
Edin was shocked, and he closed and opened his mouth as if to say something. Anything really to try and get a word in but he didn’t have anything to say.
Did the weird little clerk play some sort of mind trick on him?
Edin shut his mouth and turned. He headed in the direction the clerk pointed. Near the corner, he found a thin switchback staircase and began climbing. The railings and inner walls were a deep mahogany and it felt very regal in here. Regal and old.
A statue of a falcon stood on a pedestal on the second floor, and Edin saw that around the circular floor were other statues. The third had some sort of deer and the fourth had what looked like a dragon.
Edin paused and looked left and right. He read the signs. To the right was History, to the left Lore. They could be in both.
Then he wondered if either were looking for the lake. If not, he’d have to. Maybe he could check the geography or map sections.
After barely two minutes, he found Rihkar in Lore. The one-armed terestio was concentrating extremely hard on a text in a small nook at the back of the wall.
“Have you found anything?”
Rihkar looked up. He was wearing spectacles which looked very odd over his beard. Before him, a scroll was laid out with the top held in place by two small carvings of smart looking people holding scrolls. Next to Rihkar were other scrolls, huge tomes, and normal sized books.
“You look terrible,” Rihkar said. “why are you not in bed?”
“Couldn’t stay in. Have you found anything?”
“It’s been two days and it’s only me and your bookworm searching. I tried to get Henny but he can barely read.”
“And Berka?”
“Haven’t seen him since yesterday.”
“Well, what have you found?”
“Little. There are boring texts about land and a few maps that show mountains that have disappeared somehow or forests that have grown, spread, and then faded into oblivion. Off the southern coast, there used to be a land bridge that connected Bestoria to a few of the southern islands, but nothing about a great lake in the mountains.”
“What about the tunnels?”
“Dorset’s looking into that. I’ve found mentions of them, but that was it, they were only mentions. Side notes really and no maps. Not that I’d expect dwarves to give that info up. They were said to be notoriously enigmatic, hence they built underground.”
“I never even knew dwarves existed, how did you?”
“The Boganthean Tower,” he looked up at a golden chandelier, at the rows of books, and the chairs. “This place reminds me of it, even that musty old book smell.” Rihkar smiled. “Mersett used to find me books that he thought would interest me.”
Edin swallowed, it seemed the old councilman was like Rihkar’s Master Horston. Did he know that Mersett died during an escape attempt from the dungeons? Edin wasn’t sure.
There was a faraway look in Rihkar’s eyes. One that said he did know and that he missed the old man. It seemed that there was also regret in that look. Like he’d said something that he wished he could take back.
Edin put his arm on his father’s shoulder. “He was a very good man. He helped me, watched out for me and didn’t let Pharont kick me off the island as soon as I stepped foot on it.”
Rihkar adjusted his spectacles and tried looking back down at the scroll.
“He treated me like his favorite student. I’d like to thank you for that.”
Rihkar put his good hand up and patted Edin’s. “Thanks.” He sniffed. “His nerdy nephew is over there; you might want to check to see if he found anything.”
Edin waited a few moments, gave his father’s shoulder a squeeze, then removed his hand and crossed back toward the circular balcony overlooking the rotunda below. Edin glanced to the clear dome above. It was still a gloomy and rainy day but at least there wasn’t snow.
Edin lowered his gaze to the first floor. As he looked over, he spotted on the ground floor across the cubed off spaces, a hooded figure standing between two stacks. The odd thing was that he wasn’t facing either of the stacks but facing the center of the rotunda and Edin’s general direction.
He wasn’t looking up though, right?
Edin felt the hairs stand on his neck again. Was he actually being followed? Was this Merik’s doing or someone else? Did Sinndilo order him tailed
?
He stepped backward away from the ornamentally carved balustrade. A hand fell on his back and Edin jumped.
“Woah, what’s going on?” Dorset said.
Edin turned and tried to settle down his racing chest.
“You look like a pile of horse scat.”
“Thanks…” Edin said after a moment. Under Dorset’s arm were three books, all of them four inches or more thick. “Anything good?”
“Stories. Nothing more. Found one that said there was an entrance near Vostine, that is—”
“Calerrat,” Edin said. “That is the old name for it.”
“I know,” Dorset said. “How’d you?”
“Arianne.” His voice quieted. “That was what she called it.” Edin trailed off.
Dorset put a hand on his shoulder. “She was a great— is a great woman.” Dorset corrected himself. “We’ll find her.”
Edin smiled and nodded. He knew Dorset didn’t believe she lived but he was trying. Also, the ‘we’ part wasn’t correct. Dorset, Henny, and Rihkar were going to embark on a six-week round trip to the isles very shortly.
“Well, the entrance is north of a small rock quarry. Or it had been a rock quarry three millennium ago. Right before the dwarves up and disappeared.”
“So, what would it be now?”
He shrugged. “A basin maybe. I’ve got it marked on a small map, but it’s halfway across the continent. At least two hundred leagues.”
“It needs to be destroyed if it hasn’t been already,” Edin said. “We’ll need to let the duke know about it, and about the one somewhere northwest of here. If the dematians can get an army around the rear of the dukes, if they could flank them without the army knowing it’d be—”
“Bad,” Dorset said. “Very bad.”
“We’ll need to send a message to the Prince of Resholt also. I cannot believe that no one has known about these tunnels in generations.” Edin said. He took Dorset’s books and set them on the table then headed over toward Rihkar. As his father came into view, Edin asked. “Anything?”
“It’s been five minutes. What do you expect me to have done in that time?”
Edin was about to open his mouth and then he shut it. “Not much I suppose.”
Dorset described the one tunnel. “We need to get a message to them fast.”
“Too bad there’s no Mage Relays anymore,” Edin said.
“How’d you know about those?” Asked Rihkar. “I know there’s one still on the isle…”
“And one in the Citadel and one in the mountain keep of Arianne’s father. It was how the old Inquisitor found us.”
“There are three?”
“There were three,” said Edin. “The Inquisitor sent a team to kill us. I’m pretty sure it’s been destroyed.”
They were quiet. Then Edin remembered their ‘discussions.’ “He also used a summoning stone to draw people’s consciousness to them. I wonder how connected the world was before Restican and his usurpers destroyed the old one…” Edin trailed off and stood quietly.
“A lot.” A voice came from off to the right. “There was a lot that has been lost and destroyed.” It was an old man who had somehow snuck up from behind them. He wore an odd, pointed cap that dropped to the right and he was hunched. He leaned on a cane with what looked like the snout of a dog poking out between the thumb and forefinger. “You’ve been looking for things that haven’t been searched for in generations.”
“Who are you?” Edin asked and then promptly coughed.
“Lad, I’m old, if you are ill please keep away from me. My body cannot fight off the illnesses of youth anymore.”
Edin stepped back.
“You two have been digging a lot,” he said looking at Rihkar and Dorset. His voice held a sort of twang to it. Something foreign. His skin was white and nearly translucent, his eyes a deep blue. “I’m certain you are not a student here.” His eyes settling on Rihkar. Then he turned to Dorset. “You do not look familiar and you seem a little old to be a first year.”
“We,” Edin paused, “we are not, we just arrived in town.”
“Refugees huh?” He looked them up and down for a moment, glanced at Rihkar’s empty sleeve and then back to Edin.
“Sinndilo.” Edin blurted, “He sent us on a special task—”
“Which had to be put on hold when the dematians attacked the outer gate a few days ago,” Rihkar interrupted. “The northern pass between the mountains and the sea is blocked by the army.”
“And yet, those crazed dematians still found a way around it.”
“They make use of old dwarven tunnels,” Edin said his mouth still muffled behind his hand.
“Of those I do know,” he said. “There are not as many as you may think.”
Edin’s heart nearly stopped.
This guy knew of the tunnels, what about the dwarven cities? “Are there, do you know of any cities underground that have a river through them?”
Rihkar shot him a quick glare as if to say, that’s not our mission. Edin didn’t care.
The old man tapped his fingers on his chin that had one of the thinnest and scraggliest white beards he’d ever seen. It was almost as if the beard was not even there. But the old man’s eyes. Those were alert. Of everything, those eyes were what said he was not holding on to dear life but truly alive.
“You say there’s a city like that, huh?” He paused and then shook his head. “I do not know. I have heard of a few, one in Resholt, it was a grand city though it was flooded when the Halecon Lake was dammed up. There was one in Porinstol, a great earthquake buried it in sand. I’ve heard of an expedition to try and dig it up some years ago.” He shook his head. “But they did not succeed. As for any in Dunbilston, I do not know. There are records of entrances to caverns and possible tunnels but expeditions inside rarely return.”
“You see, I just found it in this book.” Said Edin trying to make an excuse. He didn’t need this guy spreading rumors.
“A tunnel entrance, there is one that I know of and you are correct, it is not far from here and on the western side of Falic Mount. There is a cavern that is now well guarded by a band of dematians including one of their magi.”
“Blast it,” Rihkar said. “I knew that wall would be a waste of time and resources.”
Edin shook his head. “We need to close it and the one by Calerrat.”
“How? We’d have to send word to Resholt and then they’d have to believe us…” Rihkar grumbled. They both knew that was a tall ask.
“Well, we can do something about the one here,” Edin said.
“I have a ship leaving in two days,” Rihkar said. “We need reinforcements and you are to continue your journey to find the el—, the elders, who can help to plan.” The last of this was in a staccato rhythm that almost advertised to anyone hearing that he was making it up as he went along.
The old man, a professor, Edin thought, said nothing about it.
“We’d need one of you,” Edin said. “Someone needs to help pull down the stone.”
“How would one of them help?” the professor asked.
He took a moment, stared at the old man who was still staring back. Then Edin thought about the exploding packages from the assault on the dry docks and the balls from the night the duke and the Por Fen attacked the isle.
Those blotards ruined Dorset’s wedding in the worst possible way.
“They both have experience with exploding things,” Edin said, this time his voice was clearly a lie. “Do you know what cave or where the tunnel exits?” Edin asked.
“Not precisely, but it would probably be the one surrounded by dematians,” he said. “But sneaking up on them will not be easy. I’d bet my life they are watching the city and the roads. They have spies men do not know of.”
“Like what?” Rihkar asked. “And how do you know this?”
A half-smile turned up on the right side of the old man’s lips and Edin thought he’d seen the man before. But from where?
&nb
sp; “How do we get there and destroy it?” Edin asked. “Other than taking down the entire mountain.”
“It’d be a heck of a feat to take down a mountain,” the old man said. “But you can figure it out. Of that, I am certain.”
As he started to turn, Edin stepped forward. “Excuse me professor. Do you by chance know of a large lake, one surrounded on all sides by mountains.”
He paused for a moment. “There was a tale of a humble man trying to set up a life in the mountains. There was a said to have been a giant lake nearby.”
“Where?”
“South of Jont’s Pass. Though I do not know.”
“What happened to the man and the village?” Dorset asked.
“No living men know. It is assumed by most he died.” The man started moving forward again and stopped. “And please, I am no professor, call me a historian. I love the past, though I’m fascinated by the future.” He turned back and stared directly at Edin. “Yours especially.”
5
The Target is Back on His Back
The man turned the corner beyond a stack of books. Edin was about to follow after him when a loud yelp came from down below. He looked over the rotunda again only to see black cloaks entering the library. A dozen of them at least.
“Por Fen,” Edin grumbled. “Blast it.”
“So they attack you and the truce is over?” Asked Rihkar rhetorically.
“I guess so.” Edin said and turned toward Rihkar. None of them were armed and they were trapped on the fourth floor at least fifty feet above the ground. The Por Fen started to split, one going to each corner. To the stairwells.
It was planned and planned well. He looked up toward the dome and saw the rain still coming down, though it was but a drizzle.
The old man stuck his head around the corner. “I thought you’d follow me. Come quickly.” They did and then the old man led them around a small, half stack near the rear of the building and through a thin, cloth covered portal to a narrow hall that seemed to run the length of the library. It was very dark but he could still see through shafts of light that were filled with dust motes.