The Lure of Fools

by Jason James King

  Irvis slowly shook his head. “According to Rasha law, as long as I didn’t touch my victim or have intent to touch her, I can’t be charged with any kind of attack. So I don’t have to worry about castration or execution – the same in my book if you ask me.” He shook his head. “No, I think I’d rather be executed then have my man parts cut off.”

  “I’d agree,” Jekaran chuckled.

  Irvis continued, “Because they can’t prove my motive, I’m probably looking at a couple of months for unseemly behavior toward a lady.”

  “Sounds like you’re in a much better situation than me.” Jekaran put his hands behind his head and lay down on his straw mat.

  “There are things worse than death,” Irvis said quietly.

  “Like castration?” Jekaran chuckled.

  “I will be expelled from the brotherhood for my transgression.”

  Jekaran didn’t know how to respond to that. And when Irvis said no more, he let the conversation die and sought another distraction to keep his mind off his plight. The conversations of distant prisoners in the darkness of dungeon allowed him to doze into the space of half-dreaming, half-listening.

  Jekaran found himself in Maely and Mull’s small cottage, kneeling before the hearth, stoking the fire with an iron poker. Although his front was almost uncomfortably warm, his back was freezing. He turned away from the hypnotic fire and saw a frosted window. So, it was winter, then.

  “Jek!” Maely called.

  “Coming,” he said, and then pulled the poker from the fire. He laid it down just in front of the hearth until it could cool enough for him to stow it away.

  Jekaran stood, and turned to find Maely walking into the room. Her head was bowed down, and she held her right arm out against the wall to steady herself. Her belly was swollen with pregnancy, and there was a rigidness to her movements.

  “Jek, I think it’s time,” she said in obvious pain.

  Maely was having a baby? And he was the father?

  What the hell?

  The sound of the dungeon door swinging open jolted him from his nap and he sat up, fear rising with the bile in his throat. Was it time for his hearing? he wondered. Did Gymal really persuade the magistrate to exempt him from execution?

  Jekaran stared at the wall outside his cell, his mind racing with a dozen different possible fates. Time stretched in expectant silence, and, oddly, no one appeared. Jekaran glanced at Irvis, who looked just as puzzled as he felt. He hadn’t heard the dungeon door close, nor had he heard any guards interacting with the other prisoners. Jekaran stood and walked to the bars of his cell, straining to see through them and down the hall. It was then that he caught sight of a translucent rippling in the air, just below the ceiling, almost imperceptible in the dim lighting.

  Before he could say anything, something dropped to the floor in front of his cell. Jekaran instinctually backed away as a human-like shape materialized before him. It wasn’t human, Jekaran realized, it was Vorakk.

  “You,” Jekaran said. “What are you doing here?”

  “You know him?” Irvis asked, the chubby monk had also stood and was backing away from the cell bars.

  The Vorakk flashed a grin through a muzzle filled with razor sharp teeth. “Karak is here for you, human boy aka.”

  Jekaran’s pulse began to race, and he unconsciously touched the scabbed-over bite on his arm as he scanned the floor for anything that he could use as a weapon. The Vorakk pulled a ring of keys from a small leather pouch at his side and began cycling through them until he found one that fit the cell lock.

  “I’ll call the guards!” Jekaran threatened.

  The Vorakk ignored his threat and wrenched open the cell door. “Come, rok,” it demanded.

  Jekaran heard murmurs arise from the other prisoners. “What do you want?”

  The Vorakk hissed in what Jekaran assumed was irritation. “Isk, not much time!”

  His eyes grew wide, his jaw dropping. “Are you … freeing … me?”

  The Vorakk cast a wary glance in the direction of the dungeon’s outer door and nodded. “Aeks!” it beckoned urgently.

  His mind racing, Jekaran could think of nothing else to do but comply. He began to leave the cell when Irvis caught his arm.

  “Please take me with you,” he pled.

  “You could win a noose next to mine if we’re caught,” Jekaran warned. “Why risk it just to get out of a couple months of imprisonment?”

  “There is nothing left for me here.” A sober sadness framed his face, his grip still tight against Jekaran’s arm.

  Jekaran stared at the chubby monk for a long moment before nodding. As they left the cell, the other prisoners called out pleas for release, some even threatening to call the guards if refused. A menacing growl-hiss from the Vorakk effectively silenced them, and Jekaran and Irvis slipped out through the dungeon door.

  Jekaran began to follow the corridor back the way he remembered being escorted in, when the Vorakk hissed, “Isk stupid human boy! Guards that way!”

  “Then how do we get out?” Jekaran irritably demanded.

  “Karak spend night exploring jail. Daka, find other way out.”

  “Your name is Karak?”

  The Vorakk nodded, checked to see if a connecting hall was clear, and then hurried them on. They quickly moved down the corridor, Karak freezing and disappearing from visibility each time they approached a connecting door.

  Wish I could do that, Jekaran thought.

  They crept through the hall which ended at the foot of a stone stairwell and descended into a basement storage room. Light from a small window near the top of the room’s ceiling filtered into a room filled with dozens of waist-high barrels and stacked, cobweb-shrouded crates.

  Karak quickly led them through the maze of wooden storage containers to where he crouched over a trapdoor set in the floor, the hatch secured by an iron padlock. Again, the lizard man reached into his leather pouch and produced the stolen ring of keys.

  “Just out of curiosity, did you eat the previous owner of those keys?” Irvis asked with a nervous tremor in his voice.

  Karak hissed. “Isk human meat taste bad.”

  “So you have eaten people,” Irvis shot Jekaran a worried look.

  The lizard man didn’t answer Irvis’ follow-up question, but instead explained, “Karak get keys when guard goes in little room with human female aka.”

  A knowing grin spread across Irvis’ face that Jekaran ignored.

  Karak smiled as one of the keys he had tried fit into the padlock. He turned it, a pronounced click announcing success to the small band. The lizard man wrenched open the trapdoor, and Jekaran was assaulted by a foul stench, one that smelled like an old latrine.

  “What’s down there?” Jekaran asked as he pulled the collar of his tunic up to cover his nose.

  “Sewer,” Irvis said, the sleeve of his robe muffling his voice.

  Karak nodded, “On map in guards’ sleep room aka.”

  “You mean you haven’t been down there?” Irvis asked.

  “Isk if Karak go in tunnel, why it locked?” he motioned at the iron padlock lying open on the floor.

  “Good point,” Irvis said.

  “Where does this come out, Karak?” Jekaran asked, nose still covered.

  Karak shook his head. “Map just say out aka.”

  Jekaran studied the ladder that descended into the dark of the sewer. He looked up at Karak and asked, “Do you have a torch?”

  Karak shook his head. “Spirits light tunnel aka.”

  “What?”

  Karak held out his hand and a small ball of light appeared floating just above his open palm.

  Irvis’ eyes widened.

  “He’s a shaman!”

  Karak nodded and the small orb of glowing white rose into the air to float by his shoulder. He turned and began climbing down the ladder.

  Jekaran leaned over the trapdoor, watching as the Vorakk shaman splashed down into dark, knee-high water. He had to suppress hi
s gag reflex as he thought about what Karak must be standing in, what Jekaran himself would have to wade through in order to escape. He gritted his teeth. The thought of a waiting noose was enough to motivate him and he descended into the sewer.

  He landed in the murky water with a squelching splash. The water was cool but not cold, and Jekaran could feel clumps of human waste brushing up against his legs. Vomit swelled in his throat, and he was only able to choke it back at the last second by sheer willpower. He looked up to see Irvis peering down over the ladder, an uncertain look on his face.

  “Come on!” Jekaran called.

  Irvis looked over his shoulder, and Jekaran wondered if the man was reconsidering his choice to escape.

  “Too late to turn back now” Jekaran called.

  “I know!” Irvis snapped, and then he awkwardly turned himself to begin the climb down.

  He landed in the knee-high raw sewage with vomit pouring from his lips. The acrid smell of bile mixing with human excrement took the nauseating stench to a new level of repulsiveness. Only the thought of death or being Gymal’s lifelong slave kept Jekaran from turning back.

  An hour of sloshing through the sewer accustomed Jekaran to the smell, and, while far from pleasant, it was no longer overpowering. Their path took them down three connecting tunnels and very soon, Jekaran completely lost his bearings. He caught up to Karak, who had taken the lead, and asked, “Where are you taking us?”

  “Out ka,” was all the Vorakk said.

  “Right.” Jekaran nodded. “But how do you know which way is out?”

  The Vorakk cast Jekaran an incredulous side-long glance, an expression Jekaran thought was strikingly similar to Ez’s How could you be so stupid look.

  “Karak always knows where to go aka,” the lizard man finally answered.

  Great, Jekaran thought sardonically, we’re going to be lost forever in these tunnels! He returned to his normal pace and, a moment later, Karak was again several steps in front of him.

  “Vorakk possess an innate sense of direction,” Irvis’ muffled voiced said over Jekaran’s shoulder.

  He glanced back to see the chubby priest working to catch up to him, the sleeve of his robe covering his mouth and nose. It was wet, and Jekaran realized the monk must’ve had another bout of vomiting.

  “Child, I think something is following us!” Irvis said.

  Jekaran shot a glance behind them and saw only the dark tunnel. “Like one of the Rasha guards?”

  Irvis shook his head. “No, child. Not a person.”

  “Then what?”

  “I don’t know,” Irvis said. “I heard it sloshing behind us in the water.”

  “It’s probably just rats.”

  “I hope so.”

  They continued, Karak abruptly turning into connecting tunnels without any warning or explanation and Irvis lagging behind occasionally emitting emetic noises. As they skulked through the dark, Jekaran lost all sense of direction and time and so retreated to his thoughts.

  The contemplative state eased the smell and took him away from the frenzy of the dungeon, but only for a moment as a feeling of unease moved in like a thick fog. It was as if he wasn’t alone in his mind, like someone else listened to his thoughts. That’s mad. Jekaran shook it off and tried to think of something else, but the effort failed.

  Hello? Jekaran finally asked to the mental intruder.

  After a protracted moment of mental silence, and as he started to feel relieved and foolish, an answer came. It wasn’t in the form of an internal voice, but a vague, formless impression communicating the basic idea of a response. Jekaran stopped walking.

  Who are you? He demanded of the alien presence in his mind.

  No answer came.

  A scream of pure terror startled Jekaran. He whipped around to find Irvis scrambling toward him, running so desperately that he slipped and fell into the stream of sewage. He didn’t even complain as he fought to his feet, although he spat foul liquid from his mouth.

  “What’s wrong?” Jekaran rushed to the man’s side and gripped his arm, helping the man to find his footing.

  “WORM!” Irvis bellowed as he yanked his arm free and pushed passed him.

  “What?” Jekaran asked, but then didn’t need an explanation as something snake-like exploded out of the water and into the radius of Karak’s magic light. The creature’s grey, wet skin looked soft and slimy, and branching out of its sides were several flailing tentacles. But the thing the struck Jekaran most about the giant worm was its mouth full of pointed, pin-like teeth.

  The worm lunged at Jekaran and he was able to snap out of his shocked-paralysis just in time to kick at it. His boot connected with the underside of the worm’s mouth just as it came down at him, and the creature rolled to the side bellowing an inhuman shriek of pain. He lost his footing, about to slip into the muck, when a pair of leathery hands grabbed his shoulders and arrested his fall.

  Karak set him back on his feet and turned toward the worm. He threw out his right hand and hissed. Jekaran winced as a small ball of blue light emitted from the Vorakk’s hand. It immediately exploded into a wind that threw the worm back into the water amidst a torrent of raining raw sewage.

  “Human boy run aeks!” Karak said as he turned and began loping down the tunnel.

  Jekaran didn’t hesitate, but broke into a run, mindful of his footing so that he didn’t slip like Irvis had. He caught up to Karak, who had just overtaken Irvis; apparently, the chubby monk had not even stopped to look back. A shriek ripped through the air and Jekaran sensed the worm pursuing behind them. The worm wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded from its prey.

  “Karak! Can’t you burn it with a fire spell or something?” Jekaran shouted.

  “Isk stupid human boy!” the Vorakk shaman replied. “Your dung makes dangerous gas. Fire burn us!”

  “Then what do we do?” Jekaran shouted.

  “Hold still and be silent!” Irvis cut in as he regained a measure of his wits.

  Jekaran looked over to find Irvis flatting his back against the curvature of the tunnel’s wall, leaving as much space as possible down the tunnel’s center. Jekaran did likewise and noticed Karak copying them. They stayed like that, all of their stares nervously trained on the worm flying down the tunnel toward them. When it reached their position, it slowed and then stopped. Jekaran’s heart pounded so loud, he was sure the worm would be able to hear it as it slinked by, but it didn’t stop. It continued past them and then splashed back into the water, its water trail turning right into a connecting tunnel.

  Oh, I hope we don’t have to go that way, Jekaran thought. In unspoken consent, they all waited until the sloshing sound of the worm faded before speaking.

  “Where now?” Jekaran whispered to Karak.

  He stared down the tunnel and motioned for them to follow. They cautiously sloshed down the corridor, each taking controlled steps to limit the amount of noise they made. They reached a T, the tunnel on the right leading in the same direction the worm had gone. Karak motioned for them to turn left, and Jekaran’s worry subsided.

  As they turned left, he lost his footing and slipped, falling backward into the sewage. An involuntary yelp escaped his lips just as he hit the foul water. As soon as he regained control, he scrambled to his feet.

  “Isk human boy stupid!” Karak hissed.

  A distant shriek echoed behind them. Jekaran traded a glance with Irvis and then looked at Karak. Another shriek, this one louder, confirmed he had given away their position.

  “Aeks!” Karak growled as he mimed something before breaking into a run.

  Jekaran didn’t know what the communication was supposed to mean, but he didn’t have to. He leapt forward to follow Karak. Another, closer, shriek spurred Jekaran into a reckless sprint and he overtook both Irvis and Karak. As his burst of energy faded, Karak overtook him and Jekaran was again following the Vorakk shaman. He glanced over his shoulder and caught a view of Irvis trying to keep up. The serpent-like shape of the worm appe
ared as it shot out of the water only a few paces behind the lagging monk.

  It’s going to get him.

  Jekaran slid and almost fell again as he double-backed and ran toward Irvis. He arrived just in time to throw himself between the monk and the attacking worm. Pain flared in his outer forearm as the creature sank a dozen pin-like teeth into his flesh. Adrenaline took over, and Jekaran flung his arm out wide, successfully throwing the worm off him and into the tunnel wall. It wriggled and writhed as it fell beneath the water, and then two tentacles slapped Jekaran in the side of the face, knocking him back.

  Hands, this time belonging to Irvis, caught him and hauled him to his feet. Irvis’ eyes widened when he saw Jekaran’s bloody arm. A beat later, the worm shrieked as it exploded back out of the water. Irvis pulled Jekaran along until he was stable enough to run on his own, the splash behind them the only indication the worm continued to hunt them. Panting, they caught up with Karak, who had slowed to meet them.

  “Rok,” he growled as he waved to something ahead of them.

  That’s when Jekaran noticed a shaft of sunlight illuminating a ladder only a hundred or so paces away.

  “It’ll … be … on … us … before … we can make it out!” Irvis said between breaths.

  “Karak!” Jekaran said as the idea came to him. “You two get up the ladder and open that cover. I’ll distract it!”

  “Isk” Karak snarled. “Human boy will die!”

  He shook his head. “Just go and be ready to use a fire spell!” Before the Vorakk could argue, Jekaran broke away from them and ran to the left wall of the tunnel where he began stomping and splashing as much as he could. The worm veered toward him and reared up out of the water with a shriek. Jekaran waited for it, and then threw himself to his right just as the creature closed to within inches of his face.

  With lightning speed Jekaran did not anticipate, the worm changed direction and plowed into his side. He slammed into the wall, his head striking hard against the curvature of the stone. A hundred stars exploded across his vision and he suddenly wanted to vomit. The next thing Jekaran knew, he was on his back looking up through sewer water at the worm rearing to strike. He rolled to the right and scrambled out of the water with a desperate gasp. The worm flew at him, and Jekaran was only able to move to the side enough to avoid a face full of the worm’s teeth.