“He’s nowt here,” Geratty said.
“There must be a bolt-hole,” Ode said.
“Or a tunnel out,” Reuvan added. “Seems to me the Faction make tunnels wherever they go.”
My heart began to hammer. “If you are right, the minute he gets out, he will alert the other Hedra to our presence, and they will go straight for the demon-band works.”
“Here!” Geratty shouted suddenly, and we crowded in behind him to see the tunnel opening concealed in a fold in the wall. I looked into it and sent a probe after the Hedra master, but even if the stone had not blocked my way, I would have had little hope of touching his mind.
Geratty took a lantern and went into it. I swiftly probed the Threes, only to discover that they knew nothing of this tunnel. Gerraty returned and said to Reuvan, “Seaman, ye’ve th’ right of it. ’Tis a tunnel running inside the outer wall like that leadin’ to the One’s chamber, an’ it may be just as lengthy.”
“He must not warn the rest,” I said. “Yarrow, you and Geratty go after him. He has a start on you, and we must not lengthen it.”
They nodded, and Yarrow snatched up a fallen sword and hastened after Geratty, who had already gone into the tunnel.
I watched until their light vanished, and then I turned to Harwood. “We have to secure this place so the Hedra cannot get at the weapons, in case he does manage to set off an alarm.”
“We are too few to secure it, given that we cannot reach past the armory wall to farseek help,” Harwood said grimly. “We must destroy this place and as many weapons as we can. I had hoped to take this compound slowly and carefully, but it seems that events have decided the matter for themselves.”
“All right,” I said. As always in moments of high danger, my mind seemed to grow clearer and to work more swiftly. “We will use the black powder. If it is true that fire will run along it, we can lay a trail of it throughout this place, going into every weapon chamber at the front of the building. It will go to a pile of barrels set up near the front wall of the armory. That ought to be enough to prevent anyone being able to get into it. The powder trail must meander far enough that, once lit, it will be many minutes before it reaches its target. I suggest that once the trail is laid, you go back out into the yard with everyone save Zuria, Grisyl, and me. Have Davil explain that their master sent you all out so that he could show the Threes some new secret weapon. If anyone notices that Gerraty, Hilder, and I are missing, then you can say that we were needed.
“Harwood, let us say that you irritated the Hedra master, and he struck you. Have Davil confirm it and command you to go to the healing center. Then he can send Ode to find Colwyn and Hilder straightaway. They might be safe enough in a cellar chamber, but best if we can get them out of here, too. Reuvan must be dismissed and sent to his barracks, and he can slip away when he is outside the armory yard.”
“What of you and the Threes?” Reuvan asked.
“I will remain to light the trail of black powder and take them with me into the tunnel. When the explosion happens, if Yarrow and Geratty manage to stop the Hedra master in time, we can spread the word that he, the Threes, and three Hedra were killed when he was showing them his new weapon.”
There was no discussion, for there was no time. At any minute, one of the Hedra might enter with a message for his master. We piled three barrels of the black powder behind the door. Reuvan punched a hole in another with a dagger and rolled it hither and thither, leaving a thin trail that looked like black yarn. None of us knew how swiftly the flame would move or how much of an explosion would result. The others shut the cell doors save the one leading to the secret tunnel, for we did not want to risk a spark setting off the other barrels or the honey fire.
The moment we had finished, Harwood departed with Reuvan, Ode, and the coerced Hedra. I sent Grisyl and Zuria into the tunnel with a lantern, snatched up a short sword left on the ground and a second lantern, and followed them. I turned back and took a deep breath before hurling the lantern at the end of the black-powder trail. It flared and hissed like an angry viper, and then a thread of flame sped away.
I turned and bade the Threes run, and I ran after them. On and on we ran, and still there was no explosion. I began to worry that something had gone wrong. Perhaps there had been a small break in the trail of black powder that we had not noticed. Or maybe the Hedra had decided to enter before the thread of flame had reached the barrels and had managed to avert the armory’s destruction.
All at once there was a deafening thump, and moments later, a wave of heat rushed after us. But we had come far enough that it did not singe us. We had barely slowed to a panting trot when there was another explosion. The ground shook so violently that all three of us were thrown to our knees, and the tunnel was filled with choking, blinding dust. Zuria’s lantern was smashed and the flame snuffed out by the dust, so we groped along the tunnel in darkness. I wondered what had caused the second explosion. Then there came a third, which was the worst of all, and it made the heavy stone wall above us creak and shudder so alarmingly that I was terrified it would come down on us.
Knowing that the few barrels of black powder could not possibly have caused three separate explosions, I realized that the flames must have penetrated the thick cell doors, igniting the other barrels or maybe the honey fire. I could only pray that the others had got away in time. The delay had been long enough that I was sure Harwood and Reuvan had escaped, but what of Colwyn and Hilder, and Ode who had gone to find them?
I mastered my apprehension and farsought Geratty and Yarrow, but the passage curved to match the uneven edge of the island, putting too much stone between us. Or maybe they had already reached the end of the tunnel. I wondered uneasily where it came out, given that it was a secret known only to the Hedra master and his brothers. One thought that gave me pause was that it might end in Ariel’s chamber, but by my calculation, we had long since passed that point. Indeed, it seemed we had walked the full length of the compound, but distances were always distorted when traveled in the dark and in panic.
The tunnel began slanting down very steeply, and soon it became steps. Then I saw the orange glow of firelight ahead. I coerced the Threes to wait and crept toward the door at the bottom of the steps.
What I saw when I looked out was like a nightmare. There was a vast cave of black stone with many openings going off in different directions. The tunnel had brought me inside the mine in the walled area at the end of the compound. The whole place was lit by a multitude of small greenish fires flickering on the surface of glimmering black puddles of liquid caught in depressions and cracks. I shuddered, for such witchfire burned on lakes and pools in the Blacklands. It seemed the mine suffered seepage from the black pool.
Then I saw the Hedra master not far away, talking to a group of Hedra. My heart plummeted at the sight of Geratty and Yarrow lying at his feet. At that distance, I could not tell if they were unconscious or dead, and when I tried probing one of the Hedra, the vibrating rejection told me he wore a demon band. It did not take long to learn that all wore demon bands. There must be a store kept in the mines or somewhere nearby. That meant the Hedra master had been outside already. But why come back here? Unless he intended to lead them along the wall tunnel to the armory, but no doubt he had heard the explosions. Indeed, there could be no one in the entire compound who had not heard.
I wished I could hear his plans, but the Hedra master suddenly turned to head up one of the winding tracks on the mine’s far side. All the Hedra followed, and the last two heaved up Yarrow and slung him between them. This must mean he lived, but Geratty they left lying there, and tears blurred my eyes at the knowledge that he was dead.
You sent him to his death, a cold voice told me.
I gritted my teeth and forced back guilt, knowing that I must get out into the open air to farseek Harwood and let him know that the Hedra master was at large in the compound with a group of demon-banded Hedra. I must also warn Asra of what had happened, for it was likely th
at the Hedra master would go to the One’s chamber. My only hope was that Cinda had been right in thinking that none, save the shadows, Falc, and the Threes, knew of the stair leading from the laundry to the One’s chambers, for that would mean they would have to take the long wall passage.
The instant the Hedra vanished, I burst out of the tunnel and ran to Geratty. He was not dead, but his face was a mask of blood, and there was a terrible wound in his chest. His eyes opened when I touched his face.
“…uildmistress,” he gurgled, and blood bubbled crimson at his lips.
“I will get help,” I said.
“No…use,” he rasped. “Bastard ran me through…Help…Yarrow.” His eyes widened, and I realized he was looking at something behind and above me!
I rolled to one side and rose, lifting the point of my short sword and blinking tears from my eyes. But the man facing me was no Hedra, despite him being bald. He was unarmed. Indeed, he was near unclothed, such was the state of the rags hanging from his filthy, emaciated limbs. His eyes were a startling blue in his pallid, withered face, and there was astonishment in them.
“You can talk,” he rasped. “I have not heard the voice of a woman in twenty years.”
I forced myself to relax, though my heart was still thudding wildly, for he must be one of the mine shadows Cinda had spoken about. No wonder there had been pity in her eyes.
“I must see to my friend,” I told him somewhat breathlessly, but when I knelt again beside Geratty, I saw that the life had gone from his eyes. Swallowing sorrow, I reached out to gently close his lids.
“He is dead. He is lucky,” creaked the shadow almost reverently. He muttered something else, but I scarcely heard him, for now I saw that other mine shadows were emerging from dozens of crevices and openings in the mine’s walls, creeping and hobbling over the rough floor, edging round the fiery pools, their faces gaunt and filthy. All were bald and most had weeping sores over their bodies, crusted with black filth. Their collective stench as they gathered about me turned my stomach, but I suppressed revulsion and fear. I could see that they had neither the strength nor the will to harm me.
The first man who had come reached out to touch my hair, but when I turned to scowl at him, he cringed back so pitifully that my brief anger faded.
“My friends and I are enemies of the priests,” I told them. “We have invaded the compound, and we are trying to take control here. If we succeed, you will be free to leave this place and go where you will.”
I saw only incomprehension in their faces and knew I was wasting precious time. I pushed through them, but even as I looked for the path taken by the Hedra, I realized there were numerous twisting paths leading to many openings in the mine’s sloping side, and I had no way of knowing which one was a tunnel that would lead outside. I turned back to the growing crowd of skeletal men gazing up at me.
“Please, show me the way out,” I urged them.
This seemed to penetrate their fogged minds, but they only goggled and muttered at one another.
“They won’t,” said the clear piping voice of a child. I looked down and all but gaped to see a small boy of about five gazing up at me from beside the blue-eyed man. He was very thin and bald like the shadow men, but his eyes were bright with intelligence.
“Why won’t they help me?” I asked him gently.
“They are afraid of going out lest they be chosen for the black pool,” said the boy.
The men crooned and rocked and tried to draw the boy into their midst, but I knelt and looked into his eyes. “How does a child come to be here?”
“My mother was a shadow. My father brought me here when she died bearing me. He is an acolyte. The shadows say he wept. They have looked after me and hidden me from the Hedra since I was a baby. When I am old enough, I am to become a novice so I can change things, but I do not want to be a priest.”
“You must,” croaked one of the shadows. “There is only that or this.”
“I would rather stay here with you and Colyn, Terka.”
“You will die if you stay here,” said the shadow he had spoken to. “The mine is poisoned by the black pool….”
“Look,” I interrupted. “I am sorry, but those Hedra who left are going to kill my friends, and I need to get out of the mine to warn them. Come with me!”
The shadows recoiled.
“I will show you the way out,” offered the boy solemnly.
The shadows moaned and fretted, hissing and rustling, and the boy turned to assure them that he would soon return, but they shook their heads and wrung their hands, and I saw that Terka was weeping. I realized that their concern for the boy had roused their wits, though his will was clearly more robust than theirs.
“I will make sure he comes to no harm for helping me,” I promised them, grimly aware that I might not be able to keep my vow beyond the next half hour. I asked if they would sit vigil over my companion. Then I pointed to the opening to the wall tunnel and asked if they would bind up the two men they would find waiting there. This request seemed to cause the mine shadows some consternation, but I could waste no more time, and I urged the boy to lead me out.
He set off up one of the paths and I followed. The boy climbed more slowly than I liked, but for all his eagerness to help, he was not strong or in good health. My heart twisted with pity at the thought of his life, but I resisted the urge to question him further, because it would slow him.
At last we approached an opening. As we entered, fresh air brushed my cheeks. The boy felt it, too, and would have spoken, but I shook my head and mimed that we must be silent. But the boy whispered with certainty that warrior priests never stayed long within the wall surrounding the mine and the black pool. They came only to administer punishments or to usher in the female shadows, who brought food and carried away brown rock from the mine, or to collect crates of demon bands. Then they departed, locking the gate behind them and leaving a guard outside. The boy added that the Hedra had been in the middle of choosing those to be punished when the Hedra master had burst from the forbidden tunnel.
“What happens to those who are punished?” I asked, wondering what could be punishment to the poor wretches condemned to work the tainted mine. More than half of my attention strained toward the end of the tunnel, in case the boy was wrong about the Hedra leaving the sector.
“They are sent into the black pool to get stuff for the demon bands we make here,” the boy said. “No one who does that lives long.”
I shivered.
At last we reached the opening. It was night and there were no lanterns. To my dismay, I saw that it was still raining, which meant I could farseek no one. I crouched down in the tunnel opening, squinting through the slanting rain, but it was too dark to see more than a stretch of broken ground dotted with muddy pools of water.
The boy pointed to the right and said the wall of the compound ran there, and along it was a room for the shadows to eat in and a long hall of beds. Then he pointed to the darkness in front of us, saying that the black pool was that way, and on the other side of it were the demon-band works. Last of all, he pointed to the left, explaining that the inner wall that surrounded the sector lay there, and if I felt my way along it, I would find the door to the rest of the compound.
“But it is locked,” he said, adding that even if it were not, there was always a guard stationed outside. Still alert for any movement, I asked the boy his name.
“Terka and Colyn call me Mouse,” he answered. “What is your name?”
“I am Elspeth,” I said. “Tell me, when do the shadows bring food?” I prayed he would not say morning.
“I hope they bring it soon, for I am hungry,” he answered wistfully. All at once, he seemed to grow uneasy. “I do not usually come outside until after the food has been brought, in case I am seen.”
“You had better go back to the shadows, then, for they will be worried about you,” I told him gently. “But I promise that all I told them was true. My friends and I are enemies of the
Hedra, and if we can overcome them, all of you will be free.”
The boy looked searchingly into my face. Then he said, “Will my father come for me?”
Before I could answer, another explosion rocked the ground, and a shower of small stones rained down on us. As I lifted my hands to shelter my head, Mouse leapt up and fled back down the mine. I did not try to stop him, knowing that, for now, he would be safer with his shadow protectors.
I made my way to the inner wall and felt along it, seeking the door. Just as I reached it, another explosion rocked the ground under my feet. My senses told me the explosions were coming from the direction of the armory, but I was terrified that it had not been destroyed and the Hedra were using the weapons there against Harwood and the others.
I heard the sound of voices raised in alarm. People were moving along the path on the other side of the wall. If only the rain would stop, I might have coerced their help. As it was, I pressed myself against the wall and listened to find out what was happening, but the noise of the rain defeated me. When the voices had gone, I examined the door. It was a great heavy slab of wood encased in metal and locked as the boy had warned. I laid my hands over the lock and concentrated hard to form a probe strong and delicate enough to manipulate the lock despite the rain. It was a simple enough mechanism but heavy, which meant it was likely to make a noise. I hesitated, picturing the Hedra outside, standing with his back to the door, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. His attention would be focused on the explosions, and the rain noise was loud enough that he was unlikely to hear the tumblers turn in the lock, but the moment I opened the door, he would turn, and I had no doubt that he would be armed and demon-banded.
I licked my lips, telling myself that it would be sensible to wait until food was brought and deal with the guard when he was distracted. Except that while I waited, the Hedra master would be getting nearer the One’s chamber, where Asra and the shadows waited, unaware of their danger.