The floor was smooth and free of obstacles but it still took us almost ten minutes to cross the large cavern and reach the other side. Along the way I stared at the faces of the shiggreth, wondering what they thought, or even if they thought. They stood quietly for the most part, not walking or talking to each other, yet they whispered softly to themselves, filling the vaulted spaces with an endless susurration, a sound similar to wind through the leaves of a forest.
By the time we reached the tunnel on the opposite side I was thoroughly disturbed. I wanted to burn them, just to stop the noise. Surely we don’t need air to breathe that badly, right?
The tunnel we were in now appeared to have formed naturally, but much like the previous cavern it had been smoothed and cleared to some extent, making it much easier to walk without stumbling. That more than anything convinced me that there would be something worth finding at the end of it.
After traveling a hundred yards or so Walter spoke up, “I think it might be safe to remove the spell.”
“Wait,” I cautioned him. “I know it’s annoying not being able to sense anything but there may be more of them further ahead.”
“We’ve already demonstrated that we can sense them long before they sense us, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get as close to the cavern as we did,” Walter reasoned with me.
That made perfect sense, but I still had a feeling of trepidation. “Alright, take it down then. We’ll examine our surroundings and if we sense any of them close by we’ll put it back up,” I said in agreement. I was still worried though.
A moment later he had done so and it was as if I had had a blindfold removed. I had been using my magesight for so long now that not having it had left me feeling blind even though my normal eyes worked fine. I expanded my awareness slowly, feeling the tunnels behind us and making sure that nothing had followed us. I also explored ahead and quickly discovered that the tunnel we were in dead-ended in a fair sized chamber not far from where we were now, perhaps another seventy yards ahead.
As soon as my mind touched that room I knew we had made a mistake. There was a darkness there that lay heavily upon the air. It weighed upon me, and as I saw it I immediately felt it looking back, staring into me in a way that left me feeling vulnerable, as if it could see my innermost thoughts without effort or care.
Simultaneously I saw Walter’s face go pale and his eyes widened in shock, he could obviously feel it too. As the moment of recognition passed something drove inward, as whatever we had found sought to enter our minds. Pain shot through my body as I struggled to expel the invader and for a long minute I fought what felt like a losing battle. Walter fell to his knees and Harold looked questioningly at both of us, he was still unaware of the silent assault.
Gritting my teeth I focused and finally managed to speak, “Cherek Ingak!” An invisible shield formed around the three of us and suddenly the alien mind was gone. Walter gasped audibly and drew a long breath and I found myself breathing heavily as well.
“What the hell was that?!” exclaimed the older wizard. I could hear a note of panic in his voice but it didn’t surprise me since I felt much the same.
“What’s wrong?” asked Harold.
“I don’t know. There’s something down there, something bad,” I answered at last.
“That fills me with confidence,” Harold commented. If I hadn’t known better I might have suspected him of developing a sense of sarcasm, but I quickly dismissed the thought.
“There are three of them,” Walter added.
Again he had surprised me with the acuity of his senses. Holding the shield firmly I reexamined the cavern that held… whatever that horrible thing had been. Now that I could see it without being immediately overwhelmed I saw what he was referring to… there were two large four legged creatures near… whatever it was. The being that had almost overwhelmed us was physically small though it felt quite the opposite to my magesight. All three of the creatures absorbed magic and appeared ‘black’ to my arcane vision.
Doing his best to remain calm Harold addressed me, “What do you want to do?” I had to admire his reserve. Of course he couldn’t sense what we could; if he had he might not have been able to keep his nerve so easily.
Walter spoke first. “We have to go back. We can’t stay near it. Once we’re safely away from it you can teleport us out of here right?” he said, looking at me with a hint of desperation. “I think it’s calling the other shiggreth…,” he added.
That made up my mind. Straightening up I looked at both of them, “We have to take care of it quickly, before it can call for assistance.”
Walter’s mouth fell open, “Excuse me?”
“Get up,” I told him. “We have to move now while we still have some small advantage of surprise.” And before I lose my nerve, I added mentally. I could easily imagine falling into panic, a panic that would end with us screaming in the dark while they hunted us down.
“What did you say?” asked the other wizard incredulously.
Chapter 37
“I said we’re going down that tunnel and get rid of that thing while we still have the initiative,” I said with a calm I didn’t really feel. “If you don’t think you can walk in there with me then you’re welcome to remain here,” I added. Motioning to Harold we began walking down the tunnel. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to turn around and run the other direction but I had learned the lesson of conquering my fear several times over now. It still didn’t make it any easier.
After traveling a short distance I heard Walter running to catch up, though he was now invisible to my magesight. I was slightly relieved to have his company. “I’m coming with you,” he said from the dark behind us, “but I’m going to stay invisible. I don’t have any way to fight those things without a staff.”
I nodded, “That’s fine.” I had to admit he was right. He was walking into something terrible alongside us, and he had no reasonable way to fight, in many ways that took more courage than what I was doing, depending on how you looked at it. “Let’s pick up the pace.”
We began moving down the tunnel at a light jog and Harold’s armor began an almost musical symphony of sounds as he ran. We definitely wouldn’t be surprising anyone. I began casting spells as we ran, leaving glowing balls of light hanging in the air behind us every twenty feet or so.
“What are those for?” asked Walter.
“Once we get down there we’ll likely be distracted facing whatever it is in that cavern. You mentioned that you think it’s calling for help. If any shiggreth come down the tunnel behind us the lights will start going out, giving us some warning,” I replied.
“If you’re still fighting that thing there isn’t much you’ll be able to do about them,” he observed.
I opened my pouch and pulled out three of my deadly iron spheres and handed them to Walter. “Use any spell to damage them, or just crush them with something and they’ll explode. Hopefully you can bring down the tunnel ceiling without collapsing the entire cavern on us.”
He held them in his hand as if they might catch fire at any moment. “You want me to use these after we get inside?”
I shook my head, “No, only if the lights start going out. No sense in risking a cave-in unless we have a reason.”
“Why not just toss them in and collapse the ceiling on whatever is in that cavern?” pointed out Harold.
“Three reasons,” I replied, “One, I don’t think that would kill whatever this is. I strongly suspect it could escape one way or another. Two, I need to know what it is. Leaving now just leaves us with more questions and I’m already drowning in things I don’t know.” I slowed down since we had reached the entrance to the final cavern, twenty feet or so and we would be inside.
“What’s the third reason?” Harold asked.
I paused and glanced in Walter’s direction, “This should be good. You can watch from here, just make sure they don’t follow us in there if the other shiggreth come running.” I looked back at Ha
rold, “I want you to lead the way inside. There are two rather large four legged things in there… try to keep them off of me until I’m done with the little one.”
“What’s the third reason?!” Harold repeated stubbornly.
I strengthened my shield and lowered my staff in front of me like a spear. “I don’t like being afraid of things!” I shouted at him, “Now move your ass!”
Harold had already put his visor down but I heard him laugh inside his helm as he leapt forward. Fear and anxiety had given his voice an edge of hysteria but he didn’t give in to it. “Let’s make them afraid of us then!” he shouted back.
Harold charged into the cavern as though he was going to meet an army and I followed closely behind him. As I entered I pointed my staff at the ceiling fifty feet above and created a burning orb there to light the room. I could only hope it was high enough that the shiggreth wouldn’t be able to quench its light.
Light bloomed in the darkness and the room was filled with brilliant radiance as my spell took hold. Sitting on a carved stone throne at one end of the chamber was what appeared to be a small boy. If he had been alive I would have judged his age at around six or seven based on his size and appearance. Next to him on either side were two enormous bears, and they too were undead. That was a bit of a shock to me since I had never considered that the shiggreth might also be able to convert animals.
Harold’s charge came to a faltering halt as we reached the middle of the room and our eyes took in the scene. None of the enemy had moved yet and I was considering my next move when it spoke, “Hello Mordecai.”
A shock ran through me as I realized I recognized the creature’s face. It was Timothy, the little boy that Father Tonnsdale had murdered back in Lancaster. Penny had been the only one to see him commit the evil deed and the body had vanished inexplicably… until now. “Hello Timothy,” I replied with a confidence I didn’t feel. “Or do you have some better name for me to use?”
“Whatever my name was it has long since vanished from the time before I slipped into the void, Timothy will do for our conversation,” it replied. Unlike the many shiggreth I had seen before now, this one smiled grotesquely as it spoke, making an effort to project a more human expression. The attempt only made it look more unnerving as there was something subtly off about the facial muscles.
“Very well, Timothy it is,” I answered. “How did this happen to you?”
Timothy’s eyes glittered in the light, eyes that ignored the brilliant light above, eyes that were obviously blind. “Do you want to know how the child that was called Timothy came to be like this, or how I, the being that resides in this body now, came to be an undying creature of the void?”
The distinction was obvious and yet it hadn’t occurred to me before, and the answer to either question would be of interest once I considered it. “Both,” I said loudly.
“You are bold to come here demanding answers Mordecai. What would you offer in exchange for that information?” said the undead boy.
“I didn’t come to barter. I came to clean this den of the filth residing in it. It is your choice whether you wish to delay that reckoning by answering my questions,” I responded.
Timothy laughed… a dry rasping sound that set my teeth on edge. “You make several erroneous assumptions wizard. Your first is that you are capable of threatening me. Your second is that I do not have information more valuable to you than your own life. Your ancestor was similarly ignorant.”
The implication that this thing had once spoken to one of my ancestors was unsettling. Even worse I suspected it was telling the truth, in which case I had to wonder why it was more interested in talking than adding me to its collection of walking corpses. “I have nothing to give. What sort of information would you have that might interest me?”
It smiled again in its disturbing way. “I see you might be civilized. I propose we exchange questions, one for one, until one of us refuses to answer.”
I gnawed my lip in uncertainty, but eventually I came to a decision. “Fine, answer my first question and I will exchange questions and answers with you.”
“Which part of that question?” it asked me cleverly.
“All of it, in both senses, if you would show good faith in this game,” I shot back immediately.
Timothy frowned, “You drive a hard bargain but I will answer, even though that is truly two answers. Timothy, the human boy became this way when Millicenth drew his spirit out and opened the way from the void for me to enter. She did this using the man you know as Father Tonnsdale as her agent, what you would call a ‘channeler’.” It paused after that, as if unsure how to continue.
The statement that Millicenth, the goddess of the dawn had been directly involved in the recreation of the shiggreth was a shock to me as I had previously assumed it to be the work of Mal’goroth, but I hid my surprise. “And the rest of your answer?” I said prodding it verbally.
“I used my art to hide my spirit in the void, to escape the genocide of your treacherous ancestor. I remained trapped there until Balinthor released us a thousand years or so ago, and then I was trapped again another thousand years or more until Millicenth called me out into this body,” it replied carefully.
“For what purpose do you return from that ‘void’?” I asked.
“That is a separate question. I believe it is my turn human,” Timothy replied. “Have you ever heard of ‘Illeniel’s Promise’?”
That was simple enough, “No.” I followed with the only question that really mattered to me, “Why did you ambush the kidnappers that were sent for my family?”
Its answer was immediate, “To gain favor with the king or a lever against you. Have you fully explored the Illeniel house in Albamarl?”
I answered quickly, “No.” The question struck me as odd, for it indicated an unhealthy interest in the Illeniels. Taken with the previous question I couldn’t help but wonder what the shiggreth wanted. It made choosing my next question even more difficult. “How does killing my family gain favor with the king?”
Timothy snorted, or tried to; in the end he only succeeded in seeming even more disturbing. “You ask stupid questions human. You squander your information. Killing your family does not help us gain favor with your king, or a lever against you for that matter.”
My blood pressure was rising quickly, “Then why did you kill them?!” I shouted.
The monster held up one small boyish hand, “My question mortal, and do not test my patience. Does the phrase ‘Illeniel’s Doom’ mean anything to you?”
I bit down on my anger and forced myself to think. Fear and rage were clouding my mind and I could see that I was missing some obvious conclusions. “Yes, Celior warned me that it would destroy everything. I haven’t a clue yet what it is.” As I finished answering my mind snapped into motion and I realized I had been a fool. “Where is my wife?”
It smiled wickedly, and for once it got the expression right. “She arrived at Albamarl yesterday. Where she is now I have no way of knowing,” the creature paused thoughtfully before continuing, “It seems you do have a brain after all. I had begun to despair of you ever thinking clearly. If Illeniel’s Doom was hidden in Albamarl where would you think to look for it?”
My mind was racing at the revelation that Penny was still alive. I don’t know that, he might have been referring to her body, I corrected myself mentally. Still the implication was that she was alive… as a bargaining piece. A bargain with whom? “It would depend upon who last possessed it, otherwise I would have no clue where to start,” I said, answering its question. “What bargain did you make with King Edward?” It was a risky question, for it was possible that it had been someone else, in which case I had wasted a turn. If my guess was correct though, it had saved me a question or two.
After an interminable pause the thing spoke, “We offered him your wife and her guardian in exchange for Illeniel’s Promise, which you have heard called Illeniel’s Doom. Do you think he can deliver upon his end of the b
argain?”
“No,” I replied honestly, “I doubt he has any idea what or where it may be. Why didn’t you seek to deal with me directly?”
The thing that Timothy had become laughed, “Judging by your entry here I doubted we could have a meaningful discussion. The King needed a lever to control you and with it he claimed he could force you to deliver that which we seek.” It stared at me for a long minute, “Why did you come here?”
“To destroy you,” I said plainly. “Why do you want ‘Illeniel’s Promise’?”
“To restore my race,” it replied simply. “Is there anything we can offer you if you find it?”
A chill raced up my spine before being replaced with a surge of adrenalin. Our conversation was nearly at an end and I could feel the creature’s anticipation radiating toward me, an almost palpable hunger. I bared my teeth, “I’d rather be damned than deal with you, nor will you walk free from this place. The shiggreth are not a race, you are a creation, and one that must be undone.”
It frowned. “You are wrong mortal. We created ourselves in a last act of desperation. We are the spirits of the She’har.” As it spoke it brought up its hand and began weaving signs I could not recognize though I saw the arcane symbols forming in the air.
I was prepared already and pointing my staff at it I spoke, “Pyrren thylen!” and a focused line of fire and power struck the abomination before me. It was a spell I had used before, and in combination with my staff it had sliced easily through channelers shields in the past yet this time it scattered and fizzled as it struck the glowing symbols that hung in the air between us. Timothy began laughing as my face registered shock and dismay.
The undead monstrosities beside him had not remained idle; they had leapt forward only to be met by Harold’s swords. He ducked a massive sweeping paw from one and removed its foreleg at the shoulder. Spinning back he turned to meet the other but it had moved with unexpected speed and it caught him solidly. This time he was flung like a ragdoll and sent hurtling into the far wall. He struck with a resounding clamor and I wondered if he could recover. At the very least he had to be reeling inside his armor.