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Once Kusari was sewed up, Niknak had them on the road again. The delay for her surgery had given him time to discover the pattern of goblin patrols and weave a path through a variety of crawlspaces, cellars, and raw tunnels that would minimize the team's risk. The patrols were tight and they were forced to move slowly.
Behind fallen bricks, networks of sewer piping, ventilation systems, and behind any rubble available, they hid. Silently, they watched the patrols pass. Steadily, they grew more constant. They were getting close to Forgeholm.
Near some abandoned digging machinery, Niknak stopped them and pointed up a large tunnel lit by a dim glow. After briefly listening, he gestured for the team to follow. They crept along the tunnel walls, around more rusted equipment, barrels of leaking chemicals, and over bodies of decayed gremlins. Blood, both dry and wet, was everywhere as were the swarms of insects feasting on the decay.
They came to a junkyard wall that clogged the tunnel. However, the structure was a shadow of the former gremlin construction. It had not seen their hands in many years, and the repairs woven into the failing structure were made by nailing the corpses over gaps in the trash wall. In front of the wall, and dug into the tunnel floor was a garden of spears mounted with the heads of gremlins and other subterranean humanoids. Their ominous expressions of torture were a warning of what lay ahead in the cavern beyond the wall.
Near some cover, Niknak motioned for everyone to stop. He pulled out his favorite knife and a second blade. He lifted his favorite knife to his lips, as if it were his finger, to silence the group. In response, Sarge pulled a silencer and attached it to the muzzle of his assault rifle while the others followed with their respective weapons. Sarge whispered for Ania and Callen to hide and the gremlin warriors turned off any lights that my give away their positions.
Switching to infrared, Callen could see shapes of several goblins. He watched as the gremlins used what cover they could along with a few of Tuco's carefully placed silenced sniper shots to reach the wall without being detected. Niknak and Kusari snuck through gaps in the wall after they each removed a rotting body. Next, came the creak of the gate and the hiss of silencers and carefully placed blade strikes. The goblins were dead within seconds. Sarge motioned for Callen and Ania to join them. Nikolai and Tuco began to set bombs on the wall while Niknak moved further up the tunnel.
"This is one of the five tunnel gates that lead to Forgeholm. We collapsed the most direct routes to Gearshire when we evacuated." Kusari said as the siblings approached. "We are almost there, Marked One. I hope you're ready."
"Yeah," Callen said.
Once Niknak and Tuco returned, the gremlins moved up the hallway in a tight formation. Ania and Callen hung back while the soldiers took out any goblins patrolling between this gate and Forgeholm. As the silencers whispered and the siblings waited for their instructions to move forward, Callen took Ania's hand since she wasn't able to use a flashlight.
"You don't need to hold my hand," Ania whispered. "I can see...well, not perfect, but I can at least navigate..."
"I know," Callen whispered. "But they don't know that."
"I wish you could see what I see," Ania whispered. "Although I still have no idea what I'm looking at, it's amazing, and I'm getting better at it."
"Like how?"
"Well, I'm beginning to be able to distinguish someone's identity through the colors they put off and I also see colors on items personal items that things carry. Like, Niknak's favorite knife." She paused. "It has more than just Niknak's colors on it. I see Mom's on it too."
"What?"
"Mom's colors are mixed with Niknak's colors on that knife."
"Strange," Callen said.
"What's strange?" Kusari said as she approached.
"I think what isn't strange is a better question," Callen said trying to cover for Ania. "Considering I'm trekking around underground with a group of gremlins that my world doesn't believe exists."
"I guess you're right." Kusari agreed. "Anyway, the squad is waiting. The goblins are practicing a ritual, so we have a distraction. I picked out the best path for me to lead you both through. Come."
Beyond the wall, they crept towards the hellish glow. The goblin's drums grew more intense with each step. When the tunnel became a ledge, the path spread into a network of catwalks, bridges, platforms, and dwellings stretched through the entirety of a large cavern. The several story tall goblin structure hung over a deep pit filled with dirty water and old gremlin dwellings.
Constructed from flesh, bone, and salvaged metal, the grisly structure was suspended from the remains of the skeleton of an unfinished bunker, engineered by men. Thick cables woven of the guts of sentient creatures hung from the leaky pipes of corroded fire suppression system, old elevator shafts, support beams, and a ventilation system. In the center of it all, on the largest of the platforms, burned a massive pyre before a mighty hut.
In the flashing reds and oranges, Callen watched the goblins dancing in profane worship. He swallowed hard.
Tapping his shoulder, Kusari pointed to a rune-marked door in the shadow of a large hut. "There's the holy door." She whispered. "Two stories down part of that large hut's platform leads to it."
With the horde's attention occupied, the gremlins didn't delay. Using the shadows to their advantage, they began weaving their way down the hellish architecture towards the rune-covered door. They crept between the ghoulish dwellings, past stacks of crates, and barrels that were recently marked with biohazard labels. They past a crude elevator system, stacked with more barrels.
Callen wondered their purpose and where the elevator went, but before he could ask, he felt his lungs tighten. The ritual was intensifying, and he felt nauseous, but Kusari kept him moving. He struggled not to cough. The smell of herbs from dark rituals mixed with the rot that hung heavy in the air made it worse. He tried to breath through his mouth, but he could taste the air.
"Your colors aren't looking good, Callen," Ania whispered.
The large fire roared brightly as the goblin horde dropped to their knees and one goblin remained standing. From his current angle, Callen could get a clearer view of him. He raised a staff of rusted metal, topped with a stained skull, over his head as he chanted. His brow wrinkled around his sharpened horns, and his eyes glowed with hellfire.
Without the rhythm of the chant, the goblin began speaking in some infernal language to the crowd. He brought the staff to the ground and tightened his fist. His fingers were capped with a metal device that was wired to a glowing red stone on the back of his hand, but the stone was not loose. It was actually growing out of his hand, and spiny protrusions extended up his arm. They began to glow as well as his focus intensified. He waved his hand and the fire began to dance faster with the screaming faces forming in them. The biggest face to form was a horned skull that opened its mouth spitting flames out. It faded and the fire roared even greater.
"There are no salamanders in that fire," Ania whispered. "Sprocket was right about the sorcerer."
"Great." Callen choked back a cough.
Four goblins, wearing identical robes, left the large hut. The first two carried a rusty coffer adorned with a variety of skulls and dark precious stones on a pair of bone poles while the second pair dragged a child bound in chains towards the sorcerer. The coffer was placed before the sorcerer and the pair carrying it bowed as they opened it. The child was forced to her knees over the open chest.
The sorcerer lightly touched the girl's face with his dirty, sharp nails. She whimpered in fear. The fire flared again with the face, and the sorcerer's face creased with a hellish sneer. The jewel growing out of his hand pulsed and his body tensed. He dug his nail into the child's flesh and carved a rune on her cheek. The girl struggled and screamed as the sorcerer continued. Her blood dripped down her face mixing with the
tears into the box below and the goblins were silent.
Callen stood in awe. The burning that was dancing through his nervous system, and that he recognized the runes being carved into the girl's flesh. He saw a familiar circle carved into the floor at her feet. The circle of runes and arcane tributaries was similar to what he had seen near Virette's sacrificial altar.
"Oh my...we can't let her die!" Ania whispered. "We have to do something! Tuco..." She looked for the sniper, but he was too far ahead of them. She cursed and looked back at the ritual. Her eyes grew wide. "Callen, she's was in Gear..."
But before she could say anything else, Kusari covered Ania's mouth and held up her finger. "Tuco can't shoot or they'll be on us...and we can't waste this distraction..." She pulled them towards the next shadow.
They descended down the curving path and rounded behind the large hut, which was the last cover that would completely keep them from being spotted before they needed to make a dash to the rune-covered door. The tunnel before the door was short, and the collection of bodies there were not yet stacked, like on the way in. They were going to have to dart between piles of bodies, and perhaps hide among them, to get to their destination. Watching the goblin's movements, they waited for the opportune moment.
As he waited for the gremlins' signal, Callen ducked behind a disgusting water wheel. He followed the device up along the back of the hut. A series of gears and an axel lead into the hut and a water system hung under the catwalks, platforms, and bridges. They only trickled with a small amount of water, but the gremlin mill had seen much use.
Through a hole in the stretched flesh, he looked inside. Some of the firelight from the ritual lit the hut. Just past a few empty cages and biohazard barrels, he could make out a grinding stone. Both the stone and the milling surface shined with an unearthly iridescence. He wondered what was kept here, and what the goblins were doing. He wondered if it had to do with the gremlin's plague. If it did, the sheer amount of material stored inside pointed to some unknown purpose that spread beyond their war for control of the tunnels.
Ania grabbed Callen's forearm to tell him they were ready to move. Turning, he could see the sorcerer's fowl grin. A gut-wrenching cry from the child brought the horde to begin a low chant while they touched their heads to the ground. The child's limp body was dropped into the polluted water below.
Two by two the gremlins snuck towards the rune-carved door. When they reached the holy door, the goblins' chants intensified. The gremlins prepared for a pending attack. "Do your thing, Marked One." Sarge suggested.
Callen pulled out his father's cross, but the ritual caught his eye. The goblin sorcerer waited for two of his assistants to reach into the coffer. They pulled out a blood-soaked hooded cloak and the crowd cheered. They stepped forward and wrapped the sorcerer in the cloak. The sorcerer reached up and pulled the cowl over his head. The blood dripped down his face like sinister tears.
"Redcap ritual." Ania gasped in horror.
"Do something, Marked One," Sarge said. "I don't know how much longer until we are spotted."
Callen looked back towards the door and to his father's cross. He had absolutely no idea what to do.
Niknak's gaze darted between Kusari and Callen.
Callen looked back when he heard a blade scrape a scabbard. He turned to see Kusari draw her blade. She looked at Callen and nodded. "Open it...hurry..." She whispered.
"No! Bad, bad!" Niknak roared as he leaped towards Callen, Kusari, and Ania. With little movement, Kusari tackled Niknak, the two of them knocking Callen and Ania to the ground. "No, bad, bad, enter!" Niknak shouted.
The other gremlins turned towards the commotion, as did the sorcerer and several among the goblin horde. They roared and began rising like a wave of hellish terrors as the sorcerer pointed his glowing hand towards the intruders.
Nikolai and Tuco immediately opened fire, however fruitless it was. But, the narrow bone pathways helped funnel the crowd, buying precious time.
Sarge pulled out some sort of device and smirked. "Hasta la vista, Baby." He said. The device made a slight beep and was an explosion from the tunnel they came from. The first gate bomb exploded.
The goblins looked towards the explosion, delaying their charge towards the apparent attack only long enough for the sorcerer to direct the horde. Several split towards the explosion, while the rest returned their attention towards the intruders.
"How's that for collateral damage?" Sarge said as he pushed another button. A bomb on some of the supports exploded as a part of the horde passed another bomb. Bridges and platforms fell bringing goblins with them. He began blowing up smaller bombs sending the horde scattering and causing a few smaller collapses. "Terminated." He said with a grin. "Do what you need to do Marked one."
Callen stepped towards the door. He felt the cross begin to vibrate.
"No bad, bad! Open! No Bad, Bad!" Niknak screamed as he fought with Kusari. "Fail...master...bad, bad...The Many...no!" He screamed as he struggled towards Callen.
"Hurry!" Ania said. "We don't have long! Do something."
Callen knelt down next to the ruined door. "I really hope something bad isn't waiting for us...." With a thought, he activated a scan to see if he could detect any signals from beyond the door.
"Do it," Sarge said. "We are here. Do it now!"
"Do something, stupid American!" His machine gun chattered. He moved forward to the closest building for cover along with Tuco while Sarge provided cover.
"Forger give me strength in battle!" Sarge roared as he launched his first grenades into the charging horde. "If we die here today, what matters is few stood against many!" His assault rifle began to chatter.
The first of the horde reached Sarge, Tuco, and Nikolai.
Among the screams of the incoming goblins, gunfire, and movie quotes, Callen's head was spinning. "I don't know," Callen screamed. "I can't even find an access point to hardwire into or a signal to hack into...the door is technologically dead..."
Tuco cursed in Spanish as the first of the goblins reached him. He butted the closest one with his rifle snapping it in half. He drew his pistols and backed towards the door firing along the way.
"Open the door!" Kusari yelled as she smashed Niknak's face into the ground.
"I don't know how!" Callen said.
"We only have seconds!" Ania yelled.
"I just don't know..." Callen yelled.
Nikolai cursed in Russian as his gun clicked empty. He dropped it and reached for his sidearm. He wasn't quick enough. The wave of goblins washed over him dragging him to the ground. Several leaped on him and began tearing pieces.
"Open the door!" Kusari called. "Or we all die!"
"There is no key hole and I can't find an electrical signal...!" Callen screamed.
Niknak head-butted Kusari hard in the face and she loosened her grip on him. He leaped at Callen, grabbing his hand with the key. His cross vibrated more violently in his hand, and the door rumbled open as they fell to the ground.
"No, bad, bad, enter!" Niknak screamed. Kusari grabbed his shoulders and dragged him off Callen. She tossed him to the floor. She planted her elbow into the base of his skull and smashed his head into the ground again knocking him unconscious. He started twitching.
She grunted and tossed Niknak thought the door. "In, now," Kusari commanded.
Callen dove inside. "Come on!" Ania shouted as the first goblins reached Sarge.
"Esta muerto!" Tuco said as he stepped inside and continued firing doing what he could to cover Sarge.
Callen drew his pistol and took a few shots. "Let's go Sarge! Now!"
"Close it!" Sarge yelled as he backed towards us. "Leave me." He continued firing.
Tuco muttered 'no' and he jumped back out and grabbed the back of Sarge's shirt. He pulled with all his
weight and they stumbled backward into the door as Callen fumbled with the cross.
"Ah...close...shut..." Callen yelled, in desperation. The door then hissed squishing a pair of goblins. He looked down at the cross and shook his head. The six of them were now inside the domain as the goblins pounded on the door behind them.