Chapter 33|Descent
Shanis held back, letting the others to make their way down the tunnel first. She still hesitated at the thought of responding to the beckoning tug from down below. Even now that she had solved the mystery, it still drew her downward. She took a long look.
“Are you coming?” Hierm’s voice echoed from the well.
“All right.” Gingerly, she lowered her left foot into the well until it found purchase. Keeping her palms firmly on the ground, she stepped down with her right. The footholds were damp, but not particularly slippery. Another step down and the first handhold was in sight. She hooked the fingertips of her left hand into it and continued her slow descent, all the while mindful of the pulling sensation that sought to drag her down. The cold rock sucked the warmth from her hands, and the dark blanketed her. She heard the scraping sound of a firestick, and soon a yellow glow shown up from below.
Her foot hit solid rock and she looked down to see a stone grate, cut through with narrow slits. A thin trickle of water flowed from a small spout about chest-high and disappeared through the floor. She knelt and tried to peer through one of the slits, but only blackness lay beneath. Her heart fluttered at the thought of infinite emptiness that her imagination conjured. She was suddenly aware that the sensation no longer seemed to be drawing her down, but instead seemed to be over her right shoulder. She looked back to see her companions standing in the mouth of an arched tunnel, staring at her. She was about to say something acerbic, but one look at the tunnel rendered her speechless.
The passageway was about ten paces wide, flat at the bottom, and rose at a gentle angle before narrowing at the top, to meet at a sharp point. Where the tunnel opened into the well, a groove ran all the way around, where the wall that sealed the tunnel had locked into place. She looked down to see where it had receded into the floor. She pushed between Hierm and Khalyndryn, and stepped into the passage. An odd decorative pattern was carved into the apex of the ceiling. Long, cylindrical segments with spikes jutting from either side were evenly spaced as far as she could see. The appearance was familiar, but she could not place it.
“It’s the backbone,” Larris said, walking up beside her. “And these,” he reached out and touched one of the vertical protrusions that formed arches every ten paces are so, “are the ribs.” His voice was soft and reverent as he spoke. “We are in the belly of the snake.”
Shanis knelt and touched the smooth black floor, inlaid with shiny stones carved in the shape of scales. A quick glance revealed that the walls between the ribs were the same.
“It’s…” The words would not come.
“You were right, Shanis,” Khalyndryn said, sidling up to her. Her voice was tentative, and she looked as if she would flee if Shanis so much as blinked in her direction. “The city up above was false. This is the real thing.”
Shanis stood, and met the girl’s worried frown with a long, level stare. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking, but she believed she saw, not an apology in Khalyndryn’s eyes, but a sincere desire for things to be right between them.
“Thank you,” she replied. Gods, that was painful! Resisting the urge to add something cutting, she turned away as the broad, shining smile she had hated since childhood bloomed on Khalyndryn’s face.
“Well done,” Larris whispered, clasping her shoulder in his strong hand.
“Don’t patronize me,” she shot back, pulling free of his grasp. “Let’s see where this tunnel leads before Oskar fouls his breeches.”
“Wait a moment!” Oskar protested, but nervous laughter from the rest of the group drowned him out.
She snatched the torch from Larris and led the way down the tunnel.
The passage gently wound back-and-forth like a serpent slithering across the ground. Allyn cautioned them to watch for traps or side tunnels, but they saw neither. After what seemed like an hour, but surely was not, they finally came to a place where the tunnel split into two passages.
“It seems the serpent has two heads,” Oskar quipped.
Shanis opened her mouth to ask in what direction Larris wished to proceed, but a deep roar startled her into silence. The sound came again, this time so powerful that she feared it would shake the walls down upon them. She saw Larris and Oskar exchange frightened glances.
“What was that?” Khalyndryn whispered, her voice quavering. Giant cracks were appearing in the brave façade she had adopted that morning, and the scared town girl was emerging. She clutched an annoyed-looking Hierm’s upper arm in both hands.
“Golorak.” Oskar sounded as if he had swallowed a frog.
“But you killed it!” Khalyndryn protested.
“I suppose there is more than one,” Larris said. The pallor of his face was evident even in the uneven torchlight, but his voice was surprisingly calm. “We did not expect it to be easy, did we?”
Shanis found herself grudgingly admiring his composure. She remembered his tale of their fight with the beast, and how his sword had bounced off its tough hide. What would they do if it found them? What could they do?
“Which tunnel did the sound come from?” Hierm asked, stepping toward the passage on the right and inclining an ear. The ensuing discussion yielded no agreement. Oskar and Larris thought the sound had come from the tunnel on the left, Allyn and Khalyndryn insisted that it came from the tunnel on the right, while Hierm and Shanis agreed that it sounded as if it had come from behind them, though that was impossible.
“Why couldn’t it come from behind us?” Khalyndryn asked.
“If it is even half the size of the one we saw, it would never fit down the tunnel,” Oskar replied. His voice had regained some of its strength, as if the realization reassured him.
While the others continued to discuss their plight, Shanis closed her eyes and willed the sound away. Just as she had done so many times at sword practice, she turned her focus inward. No distractions, no physical sensation. She sought the calming oneness with the blade. Within her consciousness she created the image of a shining sword. Her thoughts followed its razor edge down to the shining, perfect tip. Her flesh was steel, and she was one with the blade. The voices around her melted away, and the orange flickers of firelight upon her eyelids faded. At that moment, she felt perfect peace.
What to do when the wrong choice might mean death?
She remembered her father teaching her woodscraft. He took her into the forest and got her thoroughly lost. “Trust your instincts,” he said. “You can feel the path, if you will allow yourself to. It will call out to you, but you must let it.” Wrapped in the oneness, she felt no pang of homesickness at the memory.
She opened herself to the beckoning of the pathway that had guided her as a small child. A skill she had seldom had need to use. She felt something. It was the same tugging sensation that had drawn them into the well. It called out to her. It took her hand in a gentle grip and drew her forward.
She visualized the two passages. The tunnel on the left exuded a feeling of warmth and light. The passage to the right poured forth an icy cold like a gushing mountain stream. She shivered within her void, and her bones seemed to freeze in a way they had not since the last time they had encountered the ice cats. Her eyes snapped open.
“We must go that way,” she said, indicating the tunnel on the left. The sensation was so strong now, her certainty firm. She did not know what lay at the end, but she knew their path lay to the left. “The Golorak is down the other tunnel,” she added..
“How do you know?” Allyn stepped directly in front of her, his right hand on his sword hilt, his left thumb hooked in his belt. “It is our life if you are wrong.”
“I know,” she averred. She met his challenging stare with what she hoped was a look of firm resolve. She had no doubt that she was correct, but she had serious doubts about her ability to convince the others. “I feel it.”
“You feel it,” Allyn echoed.
Larris put his hand on Allyn’s chest and interposed himself between the tw
o. Anger flashed in Allyn’s eyes for an instant, and then he returned to his usual calm exterior.
Larris appraised her for a long, uncomfortable second, before nodding his assent. “We take the passage on the left, and may the gods smile upon us.”
“Wait!” Khalyndryn called out, recovering some of her earlier salt. “She feels it? Shanis has never felt anything in her life, save anger. She doesn’t know which way we should go.”
“So,” Larris said, “it is your opinion that we should take the tunnel on the right?” He waited as Khalyndryn gaped at them for a heartbeat before shaking her head. “You prefer the path to the left?” Khalyndryn only shrugged. “Well then, seeing how as it makes no difference to you….” Leaving the statement hanging, he turned and led the group down the passage Shanis had chosen.
She felt gratified that he had taken her side and her advice. It was good to be trusted for something other than hunting and fighting. It also pleased her to see someone else take Khalyndryn down a peg. She suppressed a smile. She was not one to act the fool over a prince. He was just seeing good sense, that was all.
They followed the tunnel at a steady pace. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, expecting to see the golorak, though she knew the passage was too small. She wondered how far they had come. She imagined they were deep in the mountains, Murantha left far behind. She spared a thought for their horses, hoping the mounts were safe.
Her thoughts snapped back to her immediate surroundings when the golorak bellowed again. Thankfully, the sound clearly came from behind them. She felt relieved until she heard the second cry. It was a golorak, but its cry was slightly higher-pitched. She imagined it was a female. Worse, it came from in front of them.
“Two of them,” Allyn muttered. They walked side-by-side a few paces behind Larris. When the first golorak answered, he fished a bowstring from his belt pouch and strung his bow with dexterous fingers. Shanis imagined that the bow would do them little good, but it likely made him feel better.
“If they are a mating pair,” Oskar said to no one in particular, “then there might be younglings. And if the younglings are small enough to pass through the tunnel…”
“Shut up, Oskar,” she said. Not looking back to see if she had hurt his feelings, she gripped her sword hilt and quickened her pace to catch up with Larris. Always better to meet a problem head on, so Master Yurg always said. Of course, Master Yurg never had a golorak for a problem.
The tunnel wound downward at a gentle angle, and the air grew damp and distinctly chilly. The tunnel narrowed to the point that she and Larris were almost touching as they walked together. Though she understood that a narrow passageway made them safer from the golorak, or should she say, goloraks, she still sensed the oppressive weight of the stone above and around her.
Their path continued to carry them downward and she felt a slight breeze on her face as she walked. Larris paused, taking her by the arm to hold her back, and raised his torch high. Ahead of them, the blackness gave way to a gray, arching space. The tunnel had come to an end.
“Oh, my,” she whispered. The tunnel opened onto an expansive underground cavern. Unlike everything they had seen since the discovery of the city, the cavern appeared natural. Massive stalactites dangled from a ceiling so far above them that she could not guess the height. The walls were jagged, and fell into a bottomless blackness that make her stomach tremble when she tried to fathom its depths.
A faint hissing sound caught her attention. All around the cavern, as far as she could see, tiny streams no broader than arms width, poured forth from the stone, tumbling down the rocky faces into the silence below.
The others crowded up to the edge of the precipice, all wanting to witness the marvel. For a moment she feared they would push her over the edge.
“Gentle,” she said in a firm voice as Oskar shoved against her from behind. She felt Larris’ arm around her waist, and for once she did not mind.
“Look at the lights,” Khalyndryn said, awestruck. They all raised their heads to follow her gaze.
Far above them, six small openings had been bored in the rock. They formed a diamond shape, and were spaced too evenly and aligned too perfectly to have been formed naturally. Shafts of sunlight streamed through.
Each shaft of light shone on a stalactite, and she could see that they were imbued with sparkling crystalline rock. She followed the cascade of light as the beams tumbled down, dancing on the shining stones, dividing like channels of a river, and flowing back together at the tip of a thick bole of stone that hung down to eye level and shone against the far wall in a tight circle.
“There it is! There it is!” Larris’ voice danced with childlike joy. His arm still around her waist, he turned and crushed her in a tight embrace.
She was too surprised to resist. She was about to ask what he was talking about when she heard Oskar cry out.
“You’re right! I couldn’t see it before. The stalactite was in the way. Everyone duck down and look.”
She gently freed herself from Larris’ clutches, and dropped to her knees next to Oskar. “What is all this fuss about?” He pointed across the chasm, and she was surprised to see another tunnel, the twin of the one they were in, illuminated in the shaft of light. The giant stalactite in the center of the cavern had blocked their view.
She needed only a moment’s glance to know that this was the source of the pulling sensation. It seemed to glow from within, with a pulsating blue light. What was more, it seemed to her to be crackling with energy. She could neither understand nor express the feeling, but when she gazed upon it, it felt as though lightning shot through her.
“How do we get across?” Allyn asked. For once, there was no trace of skepticism in his voice, only eagerness.
She studied the rocky face of the opposite wall, and her eyes quickly picked out a line of shadow running horizontally from the floor of the tunnel into the darkness to the right. Before she could call it to his attention, Allyn pointed into the distance.
“The ledge runs to a bridge. Or what’s left of one. I can see it from here. There was a bridge spanning the chasm. The middle has fallen away, but there are stone footings still in place.”
She strained to see the bridge, but all she could make out was a dark blob. She had not realized how good Allyn’s eyes were.
“There’s a ledge on this side as well, see it?”
“Yes, we see it.” Larris’ voice was tinged with impatience. He was likely frustrated at being unable to make out the bridge in the distance.
“If you follow it out, you can see where the bridge was on this side. There is a bit more of it left over here. If we can make our way over to it, I think I can get a rope around one of those footings, and we can climb across.”
“Climb across that?” Khalyndryn gasped. “I don’t think I can do it. I’m not strong enough.”
Oskar looked as if he were about to join the protest when another roar from a golorak shook the tunnel floor.
“That was right underneath us,” Hierm whispered, his voice almost inaudible over the ringing in Shanis’ ears.
Larris did not have to give the order to move. Allyn moved to the edge of the tunnel, took a moment to scrutinize the ledge, then extinguished the torch and dropped it to the floor.
“I have more,” he explained. “If we give our eyes time to adjust, there is enough light to make our way across.” The others followed suit, extinguishing their torches. By then, Allyn was already several paces out onto the ledge. His body was pressed flat against the rock, which was not exactly smooth, but appeared to be blessedly free of any large protrusions. “There is a groove cut into the rock at shoulder level,” he called back. “Hook your fingertips into it. It helps.”
“I’ll go next,” Oskar said, his voice choked with fear, “before I change my mind.” He adjusted his staff, which he wore slung across his back with a length of leather Allyn had given him. He looked back at Shanis, winked, and stepped out onto the ledge.
The golorak roared again, so close that Shanis thought she must be standing on top of it. The sound startled Oskar who whirled his head around to look back at them. For a moment she feared he would lose his balance, but he held steady, and continued his trek. Khalyndryn needed no further encouragement to mount the ledge and begin her trek across.
“Follow her and stay close,” Larris said to Hierm. “Try to keep her calm and don’t let her go too fast.” Hierm nodded and followed Larris’ instructions.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Shanis lay down flat on her stomach and hung her chin over the ledge. A faint animal scent wafted up, foul and unfamiliar. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom beneath the ledge, they focused on another tunnel directly beneath the one through which they had passed. This one was three times the width, and was rough and round, like a burrow. She heard a wet, snuffling sound, and the scratching of claws on stone. She did not need to see the frog-like face and razor teeth to know that the golorak was there.
She sprang to her feet and snatched Larris by the forearm, dragging him toward the ledge. “There’s a tunnel right below us. It’s right there!” She did not have to explain what “it” was. He hurried to the side, and gestured for her to go first.
Trying not to think about the emptiness beneath her, she put her left foot onto the ledge. Making sure she had firm footing, she reached up and hooked the fingers of her left hand into the groove. She held her breath, brought her right foot onto the ledge, and grabbed the handhold with her right hand.
The ledge was just wide enough for the ball of her foot. She was sickeningly aware of her heels hanging out in space, and the narrow pathway prevented her from centering her weight above it. The sword strapped to her back made her situation more precarious. She dug her fingers into the groove and suddenly was struck with a feeling of gratitude that she did not have Oskar’s large behind to further unbalance her. The absurdity of the thought and the tension of the situation were nearly her undoing. She lost her focus for a moment, and with it her balance.
“What are you doing?” Larris whispered. He waited at the edge of the tunnel for her to move so he could mount the ledge.
Down below, the golorak made a grumbling sound that put Shanis in mind of an empty stomach. Not liking the images that though conjured, she began to move along the ledge. Her first steps were cautious. She slid her left foot out as far as she dared, then moved her left hand forward. Her right hand followed, then she shifted some of her weight to her hands as she slid her right foot up to meet her left.
That’s one. Only a hundred or so more to go.
Her second step was a bit more confident, and her third even more so. She heard a scuffing sound behind her, and knew that Larris was out on the ledge.
The golorak roared again, nearly startling her off the ledge. She looked back to see the beast snap at Larris’ heels. With its flat face and virtual absence of neck, the golorak had no hope of reaching the young man. A wave of relief passed through Shanis as the creature turned back into the tunnel. The feeling was short lived, as the golorak thrust its hindquarters out of the tunnel, and whipped its thick, muscular tail at Larris.
It struck the wall with a violent slap, spraying shards of stone over Shanis and Larris. Slivers of rock cut her face and hands. The golorak bellowed, and struck again. Shanis screamed and turned her head as another wave of sharp fragments sliced into the back of her neck.
She tore forward across the ledge, thinking of nothing except getting away. She took reckless chances, actually lifting her feet off the ledge to take longer strides, and letting go of the handholds so she could reach farther forward. But no matter how fast she moved, she felt as if she were standing still. She imagined the ledge tilting upward, sliding her back into the golorak’s gaping maw.
“Shanis, slow down!” Larris called. “He can’t get to you!” He shouted something else, but it was overwhelmed by another roar. All the while, the creature continued to pound the rock with his tail.
Shanis was aware of blood oozing onto her fingertips from the cuts opened by the flying stone. Her grip was less sure, and she was about to slow her pace when it happened.
Her left foot came down on a sliver of rock, probably dislodged by the golorak. It was not large, but enough to turn her ankle. Her left leg buckled, and her right foot slipped free. She screamed, her feet scrabbling for purchase against the rough stone as she dangled from bloody fingertips over a black abyss.
Her right instep caught a rough protrusion, and she pushed up, at the same time pulling with slippery fingers. She could almost get her left foot onto the ledge. She was frighteningly mindful of the pulling sensation that drew her toward the tunnel on the other side of the cavern. She fought to ignore it as she struggled to regain the ledge.
Almost…she raised her foot…nearly there. Her left hand began to slip. Almost…her toe touched the ledge.
The rock beneath her right foot broke away, and her weight fell heavy onto her hands. Her left hand lost its purchase, and she knew she was going to die.
And then Larris was there. He gripped the back of her belt through a handful of cloak, and pulled her up. He could not lift her all the way onto the ledge by himself, but his added strength was enough to help her regain her grip, and get her feet back onto the ledge.
She looked at him, all six of him refracted in her frightened tears, and could not speak. She felt his hand on her shoulder, comforting her.
“You are all right,” he said. “You are the bravest woman I have ever known. Lead us across this ledge and away from that smelly animal.”
In that moment, she understood why a man would die for his ruler. In her moment of weakness, Larris had affirmed and inspired her with a few simple words. In the back of her mind, she knew he said those things to calm and encourage her, but in that moment she believed them to be true.
With her resolve firmed, she resumed her trek. She narrowed her focus on the ledge in front of her, and repeated her calming exercise, this time with her eyes open. Now it came easier. She formed the blade in her subconscious and imagined her senses to be the keen edge. All else was gone: the golorak, her fear, the tugging sensation.
In what seemed like seconds she felt hands on her, and looked up to see Hierm pulling her onto the remains of the old bridge. She fell into his arms as she stepped forward, and then felt Oskar wrap his bearlike arms around her from behind. They were squeezing the breath out of her, but she did not care. She felt a hand on her cheek and opened her eyes to see Khalyndryn weeping openly. She snaked an arm out and pulled the girl to her. Soon, the four villagers were in a tight circle, hugging and crying, a world away from home.
She broke the embrace with reluctance at the sound of Allyn clearing his throat. He stood at the edge of the chasm, having managed to lasso one of the square stone footings on the other side and had secured the other end rope to a nearby boulder.
“We need to get across right away,” he snapped. “Who knows what might come out of that tunnel?”
In her relief at making it across the ledge, she had not noticed the gaping passageway that opened onto the bridge.
“I’ll go first in case it doesn’t hold,” Larris said, striding to the jagged edge of the broken stone bridge.
Allyn nodded and picked up another rope lying at his feet, and cinched it around Larris’ waist. He showed Shanis and the others how to hold it, and instructed them to keep tension on it, and to play the rope out as Larris climbed across. “If his rope doesn’t hold, it’s up to us.” He tied the other end to the boulder for good measure, then signaled for Larris to cross.
Shanis and the others watched in silence as Larris took hold of the rope in both hands, hooked his ankles around it, and began to make his way, feet-first across the chasm. It seemed an eternity, but soon he was standing on the other side, untying the rope from his waist.
“Send Oskar next,” he called. “While we still have enough hands on that side to support his weight.
Oska
r was trembling visibly as Allyn secured the rope around his midriff. The archer joked that he hoped there would be enough rope left after spanning Oskar’s middle, but Oskar was too nervous to laugh. None the less, he too made it across without incident.
Khalyndryn was next, and Shanis was surprised at how nimbly she made the climb. It was decided that Hierm, the heaviest of the remaining three, would go next, followed by Shanis, then Allyn.
Hierm made the hand-over-hand climb with ease, and was almost all the way across when the golorak came.
The deep, throaty roar burst forth from the passageway in a primordial challenge. It crept forward, its belly low to the ground. Muscled haunches rippled in the torchlight, and its bulbous eyes glowed silver. Shanis had never seen anything so frightening.
In a flash, Allyn fired off an arrow that clipped the golorak in the middle of its forehead and bounced harmlessly away. It roared again, and continued to slink forward. Another arrow just missed its eye, and it shook its head and took another step forward. Then it stopped.
Emerging from the tunnel, its eyes caught sight of two torches Allyn had wedged into cracks on either side of the tunnel. It flinched and drew back, baring its teeth.
“Come on while there’s time!” Larris called. “You’ll have to free climb. There’s no time for the rope.”
“Go,” Allyn ordered. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Shanis hurried to the edge and began her climb. She resisted the urge to go too fast, having learned her lesson on the ledge. The ropes cut into her already damaged hands, and her sore ankle screamed in pain as she scooted across the rope. She tried not to think of the unrelenting nothingness that reached up for her. She kept her eyes focused on her companions who waited on the other side, shouting encouragement to her.
She heard the golorak rumble, and stole a glance back. The creature had moved out of the tunnel, and was tensed to spring.
Standing at the very edge of the precipice, Allyn held his bow, an arrow nocked, in his left hand. In his right he held a firestick. Calmly, he struck the firestick against the bottom of his boot. Flame blossomed, and he touched it to the arrow, which instantly caught fire. He told me he carries a few pitch-coated arrows.
Silently, the golorak bounded forward. In a quick, fluid motion, Allyn took aim and let fly. The arrow took the monster full in the left eye, and it let out a deafening cry of pain and rage. It stumbled and fell. Rising, it turned and fled, bellowing all the while.
Shanis cheered, and she heard the others join in. With renewed spirits, she made her way across.
Allyn waited for her to finish her climb before he mounted the rope. He was the best climber of them all, and in no time he was halfway across.
We made it, Shanis thought. She was about to voice her thought when a flash of movement caught her eye. She looked up to see the golorak come hurtling out of the tunnel, sprinting toward the broken bridge.
Allyn’s back was toward the creature, but the look on the other’s faces must have told him what was happening. He scooted across the rope, hands and feet flying.
Shanis watched in fear as he drew closer, all the while mindful of the dizzying rate at which the golorak was melting the intervening distance. Could it jump so far?
Allyn was no more than twenty paces away when the golorak slid to a halt at the edge of the broken bridge, its claws grinding into the stone as it stopped.
Shanis could have sworn the creature looked right at her with its good eye as it raised a clawed foreleg and smashed down, crushing rock and cleaving the rope in two.