The Brat's Final Gambit

Niam looked down into the hole and felt as if the darkness below gazed back into him. Dark waves of energy pulsed from the opening. Beside him, Maerillus and Davin peered down as well, and Davin asked, “How deep do you think it goes?”

Brian knelt down and examined the jagged edges of wood, and said, “It looks like the floor was pulled in from down there.”

Niam felt a shiver pass down his spine. “Hold the lantern out,” he said.

Brian nodded and extended his arm over the opening. A good twenty feet below, Niam saw the faint glint of damp rock. “There’s a good drop, but I can see the bottom. I think there’s a passage.”

Brain stood up. “We’ll need lanterns and a rope ladder,” he said to several guardsmen. To Niam, he asked, “Do you think there is anyone waiting to surprise us?”

Niam shrugged. “Probably.”

Brian nodded. He then called for more soldiers. “We need to get this body out of here while we’re waiting for the lanterns and ladder.”

“He had to live here while the body rotted,” Niam said in disgust.

“He’s a necromancer,” Maerillus replied. “I don’t think the smell bothers him like it does us.”

Brian whistled and let out a frustrated breath. “Count’s not going to like knowing this was all here under his nose,” he muttered.

Stamping his feet, Niam watched as the soldiers carried Kirse’s body out wrapped in the bed linens he had died in. “He suffered for a long time,” he said, sickened by the image of the man’s vomit-covered face bloated and swollen like a sausage beneath the covers.

“Yes,” Brian agreed. “I think he must have kept the guy alive long enough to get information from him he could.”

Niam felt a pang of guilt. “If I had realized that something was off the day I got sick, maybe we could have figured this out earlier and saved the man.”

“Don’t,” Brain said. “That kind of thinking will make you crazy. I’ve seen soldiers live with that kind of guilt until it drove them into a bottle.”

“Niam’s the king of guilt,” Maerillus said, but not mockingly.

Nearby, the soldiers returned with the things they needed and began lowering a ladder down into the opening. Lanterns followed, and the guardsmen cautiously descended first. Niam was the next to go. He dropped his staff to Brian, who deftly caught it, and then clenched his teeth, holding on awkwardly as the ladder shifted and swayed with every movement he made. “You alright, Maldies?” Brian asked, handing him his staff.

Niam nodded and lit a lantern while Davin and Maerillus navigated the wobbly ladder. Davin made it look easy. When he dropped the last several feet and landed gracefully, he wore a sly smile. “What?” he asked innocently as Niam and Maerillus watched, scowling.

Niam held his lantern up and inspected his surroundings. They stood in a long, natural passage that looked as if it had once been carved by an ancient underground river. Now, the floor glistened with moisture and the rocks were stained in deep orange and rust patterns all along the uneven passage walls. Twice, Niam winced as he stumbled over the uneven slant of ground beneath him; he had to be careful least a loose rock send him sprawling. With his luck, he knew he would probably break an ankle if that happened. His body ached all over as it was and his sight still wasn’t the best.

After several minutes, Niam noticed that several men were moving their way. “We found a glove,” One of the soldiers told Brian. “Looks like they’re down that way,” he said.

Brian motioned the troops to proceed in the direction of the glove, and the procession quickly became silent as they moved. The echoing footsteps reverberating along the length of their route made listening for approaching enemies impossible. The passage wound along a snake-like path, and Niam quickly became disoriented. They seemed to walk for hours, and while the lanterns gave off plenty of light, the confined areas they crept through reminded Niam that down in the depths of the earth, light was an intruder. Just beyond the lanterns’ glow, darkness waited like a pent up tide ready to break through the illumination and surge the emptiness forward. After what seemed like an eternity, the passage widened. Water dripped with hypnotic regularity, and tapering stalactites descended from the roof of the cavern like glottal protrusions of living rock.

The farther they went, the uneasier Niam became. He had to concentrate hard to push the sickening feeling away, but it did not work very well. Somewhere down into the heart of the earth, something dark and vile seemed to pulse like the great heartbeat of a gigantic animal.

Niam jumped when Brian suddenly called for a short break. He shook his head to try to clear it of the unpleasant and oppressive sensations assailing him. Looking around, he noticed something and said quietly, “The stalagmites have all been deliberately removed.”

“How can you tell?” the lieutenant asked.

“Look at these stumps,” Niam told him.

Davin knelt to inspect a blunted projection upon the rocky floor. “Yes. He’s right.” Then he stood up and moved around the wall of the cavern, holding his lantern aloft as he inspected the surface of the stone. “Look at this,” he said, pointing to a circular hole in the rock. “I bet these were bored into the rock to hang lanterns.”

Niam coughed. “This must be ancient,” he said and moved over to Maerillus and Davin, who were looking at strange patterns scrawled across the rock’s surface. “Looks almost like writing, doesn’t it?” Davin asked.

Indeed, what appeared to be harsh, angular letters or ugly characters faded and into the rock along broken lines covering a good portion of the cavern wall. “These look angry,” Niam nearly whispered. “ Uneasy questions flitted through his mind. Why had he been given this ability when it did little good against things like tralls? Or sorcerers? Or even people like Bode? Niam laughed at his foolishness. He lived under the illusion that the little bit of training he had received with a sword and staff might get him through whatever fate threw at them. He had been badly mistaken. He knew he wasn’t ready for what might lay ahead.

“I blew it tonight,” Niam said, realizing that the sour stomach he was now developing had less to do with the effect of sorcery than with his fear.

“You’re going to tear yourself apart,” Davin said.

“Niam made a sour face. “What happens if we run up against something we can’t beat?”

Davin looked down. “I honestly don’t think we’ve faced one thing we could beat. Not really. I just trust that I will get through whatever is happening.”

“I can’t,” Niam flashed. His voice echoed oddly down the passage.

Brian’s voice cut them off. “Time to keep moving,” he said.

Niam grumbled, but quickly joined the head of the group. As they continued, they were soon walking along a narrow passage. Here and there fissures ran through the walls, and several hundred paces further down the path, the quality of the air began to change. Niam couldn’t be certain, but he thought he caught a whiff here and there of crisp winter air. When he said something, Davin agreed.

“There must be openings in the ground above us,” he said quietly.

Niam wished he knew where they were going so that he could have remained up there. As they moved, the sensation of throbbing power grew more pronounced. Brian raised his hand suddenly, indicating a halt. Niam saw that the passage abruptly ended ahead and opened up into a much larger space. The lieutenant sent several men ahead to see what they were about to walk into.

“You’ve got to see this, sir!” one of the men said as they returned. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“You’re going to need all of the light we’ve got,” the other guardsman added. “It’s really big.”

The lieutenant looked back at Davin and arched his eyebrows.

“Here we go,” Niam said beneath his breath.

Brian held his lantern high. “Come on.” The scale of the cavern was enormous. Before them a large cavity plunged deep into the rock. It must have been as large as a pasture. Niam moved close and looked down into they stygian darkness. He shivered.

“That’s not what we wanted you to see,”

Niam allowed his eyes to follow the path as it wound along the perimeter of the drop-off and disappeared into inky blackness. The combined light of the lanterns lit a circle that seemed to tremble at its edges. Natural cavities within the rock had been carved into larger chambers ages ago. Though darkness obscured any details of what lay within, Niam made out smaller grottos extending further into open chambers. Some appeared to have been hewn from existing hollows, others, auricles that had existed possibly from the beginning of time. What caught his eyes, though, were the massive statues standing over all who dared skirt the edge of the yawning abyss. Tall, bestial figures with nothing that passed for human features leered across the drop wearing expressions that knew nothing of mercy or kindness. What Niam gazed upon gave silent witness to beings of anger and hate, guardians of an ancient drive from prehistory that spoke of savagery and domination.

Niam recognized them and knew them for what they were. “Guldeen.”

“I’ve seen the ruins they left behind,” Brian said. “But never anything like this. I wonder how long they’ve been here?”

“Time out of mind,” Maerillus said. The awe in his voice was obvious. “Look at the faces. The water seeping out of the rock has eroded some of the features.”

“Joachim says they were here when men first arrived. Our ancestors rooted them out over the centuries,” Davin said, awed.

“I wonder why they were down here,” Maerillus mused.

Suddenly, a fierce crackling erupted from the gaping maw in the rock. A brilliant flash of light filled the large cave. From beyond the edge of the wide drop, green fires licked above the rim like hungry, wispy tongues. Niam felt a stab of pain sizzle through him. He reached out for Davin’s shoulder as his legs began to buckle beneath him. “Get me closer to the edge!” Niam yelled.

Davin remained rooted where he was. “Don’t think that’s a good idea!” he cried out. “Back up!”

Growling, Niam pushed himself away and staggered closer to the edge. The fierce green light jabbed into his eyes, forcing him to shield his face with his hand.

“Maggots!” Davin cursed. “Don’t do that again!” Looking into the abyss, Davin shouted, “That looks like the sorcery we saw in Kreeth’s basement!”

“That’s because we’re right below Kreeth’s home!” Niam shouted.

Davin’s face formed a scowl as another burst of light lit up the far walls of the cave. Long and wavering translucent tentacles of energy began to lift up from the pit in a braided mass, like an underwater beast probing the dry surface. Niam watched as several tendrils separated from the main vine and lashed out across the pit. Shouts of surprise sounded above the din as men dodged away from the menacing filaments.

Behind Niam, a terrible shriek rose above the bedlam. Niam spun in time to see a soldier jerk as a glowing rope buried itself into his chest. Its movements had an esophageal quality, as if it was swallowing the man’s essence, even while he struggled furtively to pull it out of his body.

“No!” Davin lurched toward it, but Niam managed to catch ahold of him and pull him back.

“He’s dead already!” The unfortunate man’s movements stopped; though he remained upright, Niam knew it was only because he was being held there. His face shriveled in an instant. Wrinkles spread across his forehead and cheeks like cracks in a pane of glass. Niam watched aghast as the man’s skin became mottled and grew pale, taking on a waxy texture, which rapidly grew slack and doughy. Suddenly, the guardsman’s face just sloughed off like a mask, making an empty plopping sound where it hit the floor.

“Run!” Niam screamed.

Half of the soldiers shot back into the passage they had just emerged from. As Niam sped toward the other side, he realized that the men following him were being consumed by the living veins of energy.

Davin appeared beside him and shouted, “Movement!” Niam followed the direction of Davin’s finger. From the openings in the rock, dark shapes shifted and swayed in a way that made Niam think of the undead that had come slouching out of the woods at the sorcerer’s estate months earlier.

Davin called to Brain, “Walking dead!”

They tried to give themselves enough clearance from the openings in the cavern wall to escape the oncoming necromantic attackers, but a man’s scream cut through any hope that they might elude casualties.

This was followed by another. And then another.

Niam spun to see that Davin was running toward the commotion. In wavering shadows cast by the garish green light, something slender and quick leapt out of a dark recess at the base of a statue’s thick legs. It’s body was cadaverously thin, and mottled like the shade of a dead and gangrenous fish

. Davin was on it immediately, taking it from the side, driving his weapon into the creature’s ribs. Niam arrived with his staff twirling. He brought the end of it around with a powerful blow, which caught the thing on the side of its head. The impact of the blow travelled all the way up the staff’s length and carried so much force that Niam’s hands smarted painfully. He felt the reanimated creature’s face crunch and fracture like brittle shale. A large chunk of the thing’s face ripped free and was knocked to the ground.

Davin wasted no time with his counterstroke. With a grunt, he gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and brought the blade up in a reverse arc that tore the monstrosity in two.

They both turned in time to see more coming their way. As the undead made their way out of the chambers, they moved stiffly, but the shambling shapes quickly gained speed as they emerged into the open cavern. Niam backed away without thinking.

“There are too many!” he called out.

Davin nodded. “I’ll hold them! I think there’s a way out ahead! I saw light further back!”

Niam screamed to get the soldier’s attention. Brian was nowhere to be seen. Dark shapes boiled out of the openings like swarming ants. Davin came to a skidding halt when he saw this and gave Niam a panicked look. The gushing mass of twisted, black bodies poured over the guardsmen, and above the din of the fierce energy stream, bloodcurdling screams of men pierced through the darkness.

“We have to go,” Maerillus yelled. “There’s light down at the other end of the cavern!”

Niam and Davin cast one look back, but there were no survivors. They were totally alone. Fear and madness had found a place in the bowls of the earth as the dark forms tore the fallen guardsmen apart. The Guldeen’s bestial faces were dried husks of frozen rage. They made no sound; their silent savagery was the last indignation reserved for the doomed.

“GO!” Maerillus screamed.

Niam ran, realizing that all of them had dropped their lanterns during the attack. There was enough light to see by as they shot toward the end of the cavern. All along the wall, from recess in the rock, dark shapes were massing. Fear drove Niam. A feeble, pale light leached through narrow slats ahead, and as he drove himself toward it, Niam realized that there was indeed a way out. Rough stone steps led up sharply, and an old wooden door, rotten from neglect, covered a narrow opening in the rocks. Davin stopped just short of it and kicked the wood with his foot. The door splintered and collapsed like a pile of twigs. Niam knew the horde was rapidly closing. Davin grabbed Niam ’s arm and flung him through. As he was sent sprawling out onto a wooden platform, Maerillus followed. Davin emerged, panting.

Niam scurried up, preparing to fight. He was in a cellar of some sort, with smoothly plastered walls and shelves holding round packages and bottles of wine. On the far side of the space, a flight of stairs ascended into a room lit by morning light above.

Before Niam could move to strike anything emerging from the foul cavern, Davin reached up and flung an iron-barred door on this side of the entry closed. He quickly drew a metal pole across two catches, locking it. Against the wall ran a pair of sliding tracks. A set of shelves were connected to them, which explained how Ravel and his helpers escaped so easily the day they found the bodies hanging from the trusses in the sorcerer’s manor. “What were those?!” Davin cried out in disgust.

“Guldeen,” Niam said, panting hard.

The pitched note of disbelief in Maerillus’s voice was clear. “How? They tore those men apart!”

“I’ll never be able to get that out of my head,” Davin moaned. His face was pale and his eyes wore heavy, tired circles beneath them.

Niam knew exactly how his friend felt. “Did anyone see the lieutenant?” he asked.

“No,” Davin said sadly.

“We’re alone, then,” he said, and growled, “Typical.”

“Niam,” Davin’s voice was carefully controlled as he struggled to overcome the agitation strumming through his body. “That thing coming up from the opening . . . was that from the creature you saw falling to earth in the barrens?”

Niam nodded his head. “I think so. Maybe it came to ground here to die, but I think some of it remains down there, sleeping but not entirely extinguished. The Guldeen were drawn to it like flies to rotten meat. Kreeth, too—and I think he’s trying to use it somehow.”

“It seemed pretty spry to me,” Maerillus snapped.

Niam shook his head. “What I saw falling held immense power. Just look at what it did to the barrens. Whatever it is down there at the bottom of that pit sleeps or is still dying.

Davin’s voice was heavy with dread. “Can Kreeth wake it up?”

“Niam shrugged his shoulders. “I wish I knew.”