The road ended in the center of the lowest rib of the main structure. Unguarded, it looked unused for many years.
Black granite filled the courtyard as well as all the walls between the off-white marble ribs. Life-sized statues lay broken on the ground and cracks in the foundation offset the once flat platform.
Thorik and his family walked cautiously up to the open entrance. Soft wind streamed out from the structure, rustling their clothes, before stopping and reversing its direction back inside the massive statue’s chest.
A low thumping could be felt in the ground, like a heart beating in slow motion.
Stepping into the enormous skeletal statue, Thorik’s boot crushed an object beneath it. Thousands of black beetles scattered from the area, up walls, and into cracks. The sound of their shells slapping against each other made Thorik’s arms nervously tingle and shake.
The beetles had been feeding on several large, human-sized creatures, lying to one side of the first room.
Thorik reached into his backpack and pulled out his sack of Runestones. Holding the Runestone of Belief, he traced the worn ridges and thought of nothing but the Runestone. Red light illuminated from the gem in the center of the Runestone, casting shadows of the three Nums up onto the walls. The oval room of red stones bled, dripping onto the floors, pooling, and trickling down the open cracks.
They knew it was only water from the glaciers above, but it made it no less unnerving.
Similar in style of the City of Kingsfoot, the walls and ceiling had been carved into specific shapes. But instead of plants and animals, corpses littered the surface of every wall and arched ceiling.
The red light added to the effect of blood pouring from the bodies and out of the skeletal mouths.
The entrance breathed out again and then back in as the ground’s heartbeat continued.
Thorik walked over to the bodies the beetles had been working on. They were half devoured Krupes with their heads sliced off and tossed across the room. “Santorray’s work?”
Brimmelle scoffed. “Who else?”
The beetles began to creep back into the room from their initial fright, drawn back by the smell of the dead body. It was time for the Nums to leave the room.
Deeper into the chest they walked. Skeletal arms and legs hung off the walls and ceiling as though they were making an effort to escape the stones from where they were embedded. The sizes ranged from Mognin to Num, if not smaller.
The corridor stopped at a coiling staircase going up as well as down. The staircase wrapped around what appeared to be a giant spine, matching the size and placement for the exterior of Surod’s structure. Water could be heard flowing down inside the spinal column, while torches lined the staircase.
“The heart of this place is up.” Wrenching his neck to see anything up or down the well-lit stairwell, Thorik placed his Runestone back in his pack. “I would venture to say the heart is where the sacrifice would take place.”
Air rushed down the stairs at them, and then returned upward.
A scream from below rang out just as Thorik had started his way up the stairs. A second scream confirmed that it was Avanda.
“Wait here, where it’s safe.” Reversing his course, Thorik made his way down the wide spiral staircase.
Coiling around the giant spine, he followed the staircase down several flights until it finally opened up to a basement filled with structural columns and room for storage.
Avanda screamed again for help, as Thorik ran past crates, old supplies, and cages stacked up in unorganized aisles.
“Avanda?” he called out.
“Here!” she screamed with delight at the sound of his voice. She was locked into one of the smaller cages, only half her own height. “I can’t believe you came for me.”
Thorik took out his tools and started working on the lock. “I would never leave you behind.”
“Never?”
“Avanda, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you that night in Rava’Kor.” His voice was humble and soft as he worked the lock. “The only thing I could think about was Ericc, and that was shortsighted. I was a fool not to see how important you are to me. I wasn’t listening to anything you had to say that night. I just wanted you out of my way. I was wrong. I’m sorry for not being there for you.”
“It wasn’t your fault. I knew better. Brimmelle had told me to be back before dark but I spent longer than I had planned exploring the city. Then you tried to stop me from picking a fight, and I should have listened.”
“This isn’t your fault. Lucian was behind this. He is the one to blame for his actions against you.” Thorik tried a different tool to pick the lock.
“But you can’t always watch over me. Someday you’ll let me go, like you did Ericc.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. But now I have learned to be there for you when you are here. I trust you and believe in you.” Picking the lock, he removed it and opened the small door. Pulling her out, he lifted her to her feet and looked straight into her eyes. “You are now, and always will be, my dearest friend.”
The two hugged at the reconciliation of their emotional issues. The weight from their tension dropped, freeing them to look fondly at each other once again.
“You know, you never did tell me what you wished for on the Lu’Tythis lights.” Still overjoyed to find her alive, he allowed himself a moment of peace before he would remind her of the danger they were still in.
Squeezing him tight, she caused him to embrace her back just as deeply. “You just made it come true.” She had fantasized about him ever since she became his student, many years ago. Her desire for him to rescue her and see her as an equal was beginning to unfold.
Smiling at the thought, he finished the hug and collected his tools, knowing they needed to get back upstairs.
“How did you find us?” she asked.
“You’re the only one we’ve found. Where is everyone else?”
“We got split up when we were attacked. I dropped my purse of magic as I made a run for it. How did you get rid of Bredgin’s panther?”
“His panther?”
“Yes, the one that has been guarding me.”
“I haven’t seen it.”
Without warning, the crates from behind the two Nums burst forward, exposing the giant Black Panther, Shrii. Her mouth was large and her teeth were so white they nearly glowed from the lantern lights.
The Nums ran, but were quickly cut off by the cat, preventing their escape to the stairs.
Thorik pushed Avanda through the metal bars of a large cage, to protect her from the cat. He followed once she was in, but it was a tight fit for him.
Shrii pounced, claws ready to rip him into pieces.
Over halfway through, he became stuck. His backpack was too large and could not fit between the bars while being worn. But there was no time to take it off. Shrii had arrived.
The straps tightened as he pulled forward and Avanda pulled his arms toward her.
Shrii attacked, biting at the Num. Grabbing Thorik by his pack, she lifted him up to the top of the cage, knocking Avanda backward.
Thorik spread his arms and legs to prevent himself from being pulled back out of the cage.
Shrii shook her head to dislodge him. Placing one of her huge paws against the base of cage for leverage, she began pulling him out.
Thorik struggled to hold on as the straps from his pack dug deep into his skin. The cat’s strength was vastly superior to his. He simply could not win this.
Avanda reached up and pulled one of Thorik’s legs with no luck.
Pushing forward, Shrii then snapped her head back to rip him out of the cage.
It worked. Thorik lost his grip. His pack ripped from his body, and Thorik tumbled to the floor outside the cage.
The cage had also been impacted from the final pull, as it tipped forward toward Thorik.
Shrii shook the pack for a moment before tossing it aside, returning her attention back to the fallen Num. Swiping her paw at him, the cage fi
nished its tip and crashed onto her front leg.
The panther shrieked from the pain and recoiled her arm, causing the cage to fall onto the Num.
Thorik had rolled into position between the approaching bars, but misjudged the angle, as it crushed his left forearm. Thorik let out a murderous scream as he felt his arm break. In addition, he was now pinned under the cage, with its weight far too heavy for the Num to budge.
Avanda had fallen forward with the cage and quickly jumped up to help him, but the weight was too much for her as well.
Shrii resumed her stalking; watching the captive Num. Nudging the cage with her nose caused great pain for Thorik as he yelled from each movement.
Placing a paw up on top of the cage, the panther prepared to leap up onto it. Its added weight would easily sever Thorik’s hand from his arm.
Thorik and Avanda twisted and pulled his arm with no success. Lifting the cage was just as futile. They were out of options.
A second paw reached up as the panther prepared for the leap. Shrii’s eyes focused on the helpless Num, as the cat sprang up off the ground.
As Shrii’s weight began to transfer onto the cage, the bars pressed deeper into Thorik’s arm, soon to snap off as if a meat cleaver were cutting off a chicken leg. Thorik’s only hope was that it was a clean enough cut, that it would at least allow him to escape.
The weight of the cat never fully materialized, as the panther lifted up into the room. Clawing the air in front of it, Thorik could see two large arms wrapped around the cat. It was Grewen, standing behind Shrii, holding her tight. The panther twisted and clawed as it tried to free itself from the Mognin’s bear-hug.
“Escape!” Grewen ordered, as he leaned up against the cage to tilt it enough to free him.
Thorik pulled his arm in close to protect it as he moved safely between the bars before Grewen dropped the cage. “What can we do to help?” the Num asked, pushing past his own pain.
Grewen fell to the side as he grappled with the cat, destroying various wooden crates and supplies while maintaining his hold onto Shrii. “There’s no time. Run to the high chamber to stop the sacrifice before it’s too late.”
Avanda assisted Thorik out of the cage. “I need my magical items.”
Thorik followed her comment with, “And I need my spear.”
Grewen struggled to keep his control of Shrii as the two tumbled around the room, breaking everything in their chaotic path. “I can’t hold her much longer. Get going!”
The two Nums fought to stay clear of the two giants as they randomly twisted and rolled around the room. Thorik tried to retrieve his spear twice before realizing that he would be flattened or ripped apart.
Grewen and Shrii rolled on the ground, as the cat tried to break free, crashing into support columns and breaking metal cages.
Upon Grewen’s final order, they ran for the stairs, Thorik’s broken arm tight to his stomach. “Where’s Ericc and Santorray?” he asked Avanda.
“It’s not good. Ericc has been captured.”
“And Santorray?” Thorik asked.
She paused for a moment. “He’s the one that captured Ericc.”
“He wouldn’t do such a thing. He gave me his word.”
“He lied to you. He lied to all of us.”
“No, not Santorray. I don’t believe it.”
“Then you’ll see it for yourself,” she said as they raced up the spiral staircase.
Leaping from every other step they climbed several flights before reaching the main floor where Thorik had left his grandmother and uncle. But the room was empty.
“Were did they go?” he asked himself, before seeing a few odd looking stones and gems on the steps leading up. “They went up.” He retrieved the stones along the way.
Porous walls provided vent-ways for the rushing of air in and out as the Nums made their way up.
The trail of gems led up onto a level with a round loft and several doors, only one of which had additional stones near it. He collected the rest and placed them in his pocket before listening to any sounds coming from the far side of the door.
Faint voices could be heard but not comprehended.
Avanda began to slowly open the door, allowing a sickly green light to escape from the room on the other side. “Isn’t that the Notarian light which affects the stone carvings?”
Thorik stopped her with a finger to his mouth before swinging the door open enough to look inside at the large open chest cavity of a room. The inside of Surod’s ribs filled the walls in an abnormal oval-shaped room.
The flickering green light caused the stone walls to slowly expand and contract, as if lungs actually existed inside the massive room, pushing against the structure’s ribs and body. The air rushed past the Nums and down the stairs and then returned upon each gigantic breath.
In the ceiling, on the far side of the room, was an enormous clear crystal; the same one they had seen from outside near the neckline.
In the center of the room was a shallow pool of water. Next to it, away from the entrance, sat a sacrifice altar formed in the shape of an upside-down spider lying on a solid block. Its legs reached into the air as it waited for its next victim.
A single copper vat was positioned opposite the altar. Resting on a metal base, the oils within the vat gave off the enchanting green light, causing the walls surrounding the main level to be alive with magical energy as small stone creatures entered and left the stone murals.
Several large porous stones were embedded into the floor around the perimeter, each giving off steam and causing the room to be warm and moist.
Holding his broken arm, Thorik leaned in past the door to see farther, but snapped back when he heard a voice from a side passage.
“Is everything prepared?” an older man’s voice asked.
Thorik had heard that voice before but unsure where, as he poked his head in again.
“Yes, Father.”
Thorik knew the voice of Lord Bredgin, making the other voice Darkmere. Knowing this, his heart raced and his breathing became heavy with fear. Without a plan, he could do nothing until an opportunity arose, so he watched and waited while wrapping up his broken forearm to minimize its movement.
Darkmere and his son walked into the main chamber. “Bring in Ambrosius’ heir.”
Bredgin signaled to a Krupe guard at the far doorway, who in turn opened two large doors.
Ericc was led into the room by Santorray. The young man’s wrists were tied and he wore a necklace with a large translucent brown gem in it. Brimmelle and Gluic followed Santorray; their Num hands were tied up the same as Ericc’s.
The Krupe guards, armored in their standard black metal, accompanied them toward the center of the room, pushing Ericc forward with their thick spiked maces.
“Santorray,” Darkmere said as a greeting.
“Darkmere.” He replied with a nod.
“You have done well.” Darkmere turned and visually inspected Ericc. “He has been delivered in full health, I see.” It had been a long time since he had seen Santorray and had wondered if he was still fighting for his cause.
“As you requested.” Santorray looked at Ericc and sneered. “However, I wish to change our terms for delivery.”
“Our terms were final. Your payment will be provided. Don’t get greedy.”
“To Della Estovia with the payment. I want the right to sacrifice the son of Ambrosius and to end this prophecy once and for all. I wish to end the lineage of Ambrosius.”
Darkmere grinned. “Terms accepted.”
Chapter 39
The Sacrifice