by Jamie Davis
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 been 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 t
o 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 city 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. “
“Please, then, King Roland. Please give me what we need. I must take the girl in my charge to her destiny. We must be able to exit these caverns to the east as quickly as possible.”
“Very well, child, it will be as you ask. Remember your promise to me. Tell the people above of my lost tribe. Tell them of the missing dwarves under the mountain.”
As the voice faded away, so did the shadowy figures moving about the room. Once they had disappeared completely, Cari’s friends began to move again. It was as if no time had passed at all. Cari sat staring straight ahead for almost a minute before Helen broke through her reverie.
* * *
Quest completed — discover the final ruler of the city in the cavern
18,000 experience awarded
* * *
“Thinking about becoming a queen, yourself?” Helen asked.
Cari pulled her eyes away from where she been staring back out the entrance to the throne room. “What? Oh, I’m sorry. I was thinking about who must’ve lived here and something strange happened.”
“Strange like how?” Helen asked.
“It was like I had a sort of conversation with someone who used to live here. Have you ever heard of dwarves living under the mountains?”
Helen scratched her head. “I’ve heard that word before, but it’s always been associated with old tales of imaginary beings who lived in the underground caves and secret places. Are you saying this is the city of the dwarves?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I think the people that used to live here were called dwarves. For some reason, they left here long ago, abandoning their city, leaving it to become the ghost-town it is today.”
“Are there ghosts here now?” Jaycee asked, stepping up next to Cari on the throne. “I’m afraid of ghosts, Cari.”
Cari smiled at Jaycee and reached out to grasp her hand. “If there are ghosts here, they are friendly ones. They only want us to remember they existed here once upon a time. Perhaps someday, when you are Empress, you can send scholars here to study this place and learn about the people who lived here. I think that would make the spirits who are still here happy and able to finally rest in peace.”
“It must be awful to be forgotten? I know how that feels. I was forgotten once, then you found me, Cari. No one knew who I was anymore. Even I almost forgot who I was.”
“Sometimes, Jaycee, I think we all feel that way.” Cari stood from where she sat on the throne. As she stood she realized something had changed in her visual field. There was a new sort of overlay in front of her. As she stared, it was almost as if there was a map laid out in front of her.
* * *
New skill acquired — Earth Sense
* * *
“Everyone should settle down and get some rest,” Cari said as she looked at the map she could now see of the cavern and tunnels around it. We’ll have dinner and get some sleep. I think we’re safe here in this place. The ones who used to live here will watch over us for a time so we may rest. I know how to get out of here now.”
Helen stared at Cari for a few seconds seeming as if she were about to say something then she turned and went back to getting the camp stove set up and preparing to make everyone some more jerky soup.
Cari was glad she made her friends climb up here. She was glad she learned something about the people that used to call this place home. Someday, maybe she could help someone discover what became of them. They deserved that much for helping her and her friends complete their quest. She now knew the way out of the mountains and on to the Crystal City.
Chapter 14
When the party woke the next morning, Cari noticed an
extra bounce in everyone’s step. She felt it too. Despite being underground and in a strange place, their rest had been the most peaceful in days and each of them awoke with a feeling of hope they hadn’t had the night before. Just being on this underground path for two days had darkened her soul in a way she hadn’t recognized until that darkness was removed. Cari glanced towards the Dwarven throne smiling and nodded a thank you for the blessing from the long-forgotten king.
Turning back to the task at hand, Cari helped the others pack up their camp. As each of them shouldered their packs and prepared to get on the move again, they looked at Cari waiting for her to tell them which way to go.
Before this point, Cari had just been taking them in what seemed like a random direction, trying to follow a path that seemed to make sense to her limited understanding. She’d made choices based upon a guess rather than the sure knowledge of which way she went.
Now, though, there was no guessing involved. She knew which way they had to go using her Earth Sense ability. She knew the others trusted she would get them out from under the mountain.
“Let’s head back down the steps to the main avenue below. We will top off our water at the next fountain we find. There are several along our route east.”
“How do you know that?” Francesca asked.
“I just know. I don’t know exactly how to explain it to you. I guess the best explanation is the people who lived here shared a piece of their knowledge with me while I slept. I know how to get out of here and the path won’t take us that long. We only have another day’s travel, maybe two, and we will exit the far side of these mountains.”
Francesca stared at her with her one good eye. Cari knew she was dubious of what Cari just said. Heck, she would have been, too, if someone claimed ghosts had told them how to escape this place. She’d just have to show them so they’d believe.