Dralin (25 page)

“Alright.” Pelya stepped to the side to let
her come out and they studied their surroundings.

Unlike a normal street, there was no sky
above. Instead, some sort of ceiling was about two hundred feet
above their heads, but they couldn’t tell if was manmade stone or
natural rock. Little dots of different colored lights that looked
like stars were scattered along it. The lights also dotted the
ground and the walls of the shapes that looked like buildings.

“I think those are glowing flowers.” Ebudae
pointed at one growing through a crack about halfway down the
steps. Pelya began walking slowly toward it, watching for danger
the whole time. The wizardess followed her.

It was a flower with translucent leaves that
had slow-moving, orange liquid running through their veins. “I’ve
never seen or heard of anything like it,” Pelya said in awe. “What
kind of plant is it?”

“I don’t know,” Ebudae replied, just as
curious. “I don’t find plants all that interesting normally, so I
skim over that stuff unless it relates to spell ingredients.” She
blushed in the mixed yellow-green of the lanterns and orange light
of the plant. “I’ll try to find out more. They’re pretty.”

“They are. I wonder if all those lights are
plants.” Pelya stood and gestured at the myriad of glowing dots
that weren’t thick enough to generate real light in the dark,
cavernous space.

“I think they are. It’s beautiful. I just
wish there were more.” Ebudae said wistfully. “Oh, let me close the
door and we can go explore a little bit.” She dashed back up the
steps and closed it. “Do you think I should lock it?”

Pelya moved halfway back up. “No. We don’t
want to have to find the key if we’re in a hurry. I think that’s
more likely than something sneaking in.”

Ebudae nodded and they slowly made their way
down the broken and crumbling steps. The street they were on had
been cobbled at one time, but most of it was loose and the
underlying dirt was exposed in many places. Pelya wondered briefly
how thick the dirt was if there were more cities underneath. She
gulped at the mental image of everything caving in suddenly.

“What’s wrong? You’re breathing heavily and
don’t look so good,” Ebudae asked worriedly.

Pelya closed her eyes and steadied her
breathing as she had been taught to do in panic drills required by
the Guard. “I just thought about what would happen if everything
crumbled.” The wizardess smacked her hard on the arm. “Ow! What’d
you do that for?”

“Because I hate those thoughts. This is
scary enough without them. And keep your voice down,” she chastised
in a loud whisper.

They looked around to make certain nothing
heard them and were relieved when it was clear. Then they carefully
crossed the wide street. A building directly across the way formed
into what appeared to be a manor when they came closer. Crumbling
stone around a dirt yard had most likely been a low wall at one
time. They stepped over, not knowing where the gate might have
been.

Pelya thought she saw a movement in the
distance to the right. She froze and looked at the shapes of more
buildings, but didn’t see anything.

“What do you see?” Ebudae whispered,
grasping Pelya’s lantern arm with her free hand.

“I thought I saw a flash of silver, but it
was probably just a plant. It feels like someone’s watching us
though.”

“Do you think we should go back?” she asked
worriedly.

“No, I really want to see more and it was
probably just my imagination.” A small part of Pelya
did
want to go back, but she wasn’t about to say so.

They continued moving slowly to the manor.
Finding the door had decayed, they looked at each other and went
inside with Pelya leading the way, her sword held in front of her
to confront any danger.

***

Swirling, liquid-silver eyes watched the
little human girls go into the building. The children posed no
threat to her, but at that moment, the creature hated humans and
wanted them all dead. She was also famished and they would make a
most delightful snack. A low rumble of hunger emitted from deep
within her belly and rolled across the dark cavern. It had come
involuntarily and she hoped it wouldn’t startle the girls.

For now, they were not important no matter
how tasty they might be. Every effort she had made to get into the
city had been thwarted and, even more than hunger, exhaustion was
crippling her. The accursed underground city and tunnels contained
too many dangers for her to simply rest wherever she liked.
However, the larger building the girls had come out of looked
promising.

One moment the creature was standing in a
dark doorway, the next it moved in a blur to stand against the
academy door the girls had come from. Her hearing was supernatural
and every word the girls uttered had reached them, especially the
part about leaving the door unlocked. Locks were not her specialty
and she didn’t want to waste magic casting a spell to open it, or
deal with the noise of bashing it down.

She closed the door behind her after
slithering rapidly inside. It was quiet and safe. A spider slid
down a silken thread, but scurried back upon sensing the intruder.
Another step moved her in a blur to the intersection of halls. The
need to finish her task was overwhelming and she desperately wanted
to lash out and destroy everything in her way, but such actions
would be futile.

The hall to the left had the most potential,
so she moved in a blur to the end of it. Stopping at the last
intersection, she sensed a large room off a side passage. It would
be a perfect place for her to rest awhile. Rats and insects in the
area scurried for cover and a dangerous animal, called a hollow
land squid, trembled in a corner, not having any way to escape.
With any other creature, the squid would have stabbed it with
poisonous tentacles and drained the prey’s mind of energy, leaving
them stupid and helpless. Instead, it died in violent fashion as
the mysterious intruder sated its hunger.

Another blur and she was at the entrance to
the large room. It had probably been a ballroom at one time, but
she didn’t realize that or even care. She could sleep there even
though she would take up the entire room. Little effort was
required to put wards up to alert her if anyone came. Then she
transformed into her true self, curled up and went to sleep.

Perhaps the little girls would come explore
the room so she could have a tasty bedtime dessert.

***

The manor was in terrible shape. Parts of
the wall had fallen and there were holes in the ceiling where they
could look up to the room above. The girls stepped carefully around
debris, making their way to a staircase ahead of them. It looked a
little bit like an ancient, rundown version of Lady Pallon’s
manor.

A low rumbling sound rolled through the air,
seeming to come from everywhere outside. They froze. Hair on the
back of their necks stood straight and their blood temperature
lowered a few degrees. Nothing moved for a minute, including them.
When the hairs finally relaxed a little bit, they both let out deep
sighs of relief. “What was that?” Pelya asked in dread.

“I don’t want to know. Should we run or
hide?” They both stood staring straight ahead, fearful that if they
looked for the source of the sound, they might find it.

“Let’s pretend we didn’t hear anything,”
Pelya suggested in a shaky voice.

“That sounds like a good idea. I don’t think
we’re going to be able to go up those stairs, so we should try a
couple of rooms. I think it’ll be safer in here for now.”

“Good plan,” Pelya agreed. Their lanterns
showed that the staircase had indeed collapsed on both sides after
the first landing, making it impossible to go to the upper levels.
They walked through a doorway to the right where the parlor would
be in Lady Pallon’s manor, only to find it empty. The shape of it
was more like a dining room. Going further, they found the kitchen
with empty ovens and cooking stoves that hadn’t been used to
prepare food for anyone in centuries.

The sight of everything made Pelya sad. On
one hand, it was extraordinary that it was all so well preserved
and she wondered what it would have been like when new and clean.
The people must have been fascinating. On the other hand, nobody
had lived there in forever and she mourned the loss of those
people. She was curious as to why everyone had to die. It would
make much more sense if they could just live forever.

They exited the kitchen and turned left into
another hallway. More of the glowing plants grew in crevices and on
the ceiling and they slowed down to look at the different types,
touching the leaves to feel the smooth texture. They were surprised
to discover that the plants were chilly to the touch for no reason
they could see.

A doorway to the left led to a big room.
There was an empty fireplace on the right wall and another entrance
ahead. A rotten odor emanated from the room. The usual debris was
in a few piles on the floor especially near the walls. “This might
have been some sort of a room for entertaining,” Ebudae said. “They
could have put a bard on a stage along the wall and had seats, or
cleared the furniture for dancing.” She spun around in a circle
with arms in dance hold.

In the light of the spinning lantern, Pelya
saw milky eyes rising from the debris. “Danger!” She ran forward
while pulling her sword back for a strike and swinging it around at
the creature in one smooth motion. Ebudae dropped to the ground and
rolled out of the way.

The creature Pelya hit had rough skin,
speckled brown and green in color. It howled for an instant,
showing black teeth that glistened in the light. The howl stopped
as the sword cut through the right side of its neck all the way
through the left shoulder and thin, clawed forearm. Dark blood
sprayed from the blade, splattering in a dimly glistening diagonal
pattern against the walls and floor behind the creature.

Pelya was stunned by how little resistance
the blade met. It was as though she were slicing through soft
butter to put on her bread. Ebudae screamed behind her and Pelya
quickly turned to see another one lurching toward the wizardess.
Its body was five thin, mushy ovals squished together in a way that
had made it look like a pile of trash when curled up on the ground.
Two pairs of short knobby hind legs thrust it forward while four
sets of the tiny arms with three claws at the end reached lamely
for its prey.

Ebudae fell on her back while fearfully
reaching into a pouch for something. Pelya rushed to her side and
slashed upward into the creature just as it loomed over the
wizardess. She expected the blade to lodge into the creature,
especially since she was swinging one-handed in order to keep the
lantern in her other hand. Instead, the sword cut it in half. More
blood sprayed in an arc, this time up toward the ceiling. It was
astonishing and Pelya noticed it with a part of her mind that was
observing everything and filing away details.

She used as much leverage as possible in the
swing and followed with her shoulder in an attempt to knock the
monster to the side, away from her friend. While Pelya was large
for eleven, her size wasn’t enough to budge the mottled creature
very much as it began to fall to its death.

Luckily, Ebudae quickly recovered her senses
and rolled away toward Pelya. The creature’s body tumbled over
where she had just been with the top half splitting to the
side.

Ebudae came to her feet, threw something and
said a keyword. A rune ball flew threw the air and hit a third
creature that was closing in on Pelya. Green flames burst, rapidly
spreading over the monster’s body. A putrid smell assaulted their
noses and caused them to gag while the creature’s scream crawled up
their skin and gave them chills.

They dashed back into the hallway, glancing
to see the creature thrashing in anguish. The green flames cast
surreal shadows throughout the room and hallway. There were no
other monsters the girls could see. They weren’t about to look for
anymore, and ran back down the hall toward the kitchen.

Once there, they headed back through the
dining room and into the main hall. The girls rushed out of the
front doorway before turning and looking back, fearing that
something would follow them. Ebudae held up her lantern. “You’ve
got some of their blood on you. Is it burning or anything?”

The question alarmed Pelya. She looked at
her tunic, which had splatters on it. She felt moisture on her face
and wiped some of the sticky blood off. There didn’t seem to be any
burning. “No . . .” she answered tentatively. “Do you think I’ll be
alright?”

“I think so.” Ebudae wiped some blood off
Pelya’s cheek and rubbed it between her fingers. “It doesn’t seem
poisonous or anything. Most creatures really aren’t, but there’s
always a few.”

“What were they?” Pelya asked. “You have
some blood on you too.” She wiped a few drops off Ebudae’s
face.

“I have no idea. I haven’t seen them before.
They looked really bad though.” She stuck her tongue out in
disgust. “They smelled terrible too.”

From their right came a snuffling sound and
they turned to see a shadowy shape low to the ground thirty feet
away or so. It was slinking toward them, its yellow eyes staring
maliciously. “I want to run now,” Ebudae said fearfully in Pelya’s
ear.

They dashed for the steps of the academy
together. Pelya began to pull ahead, but paced herself to Ebudae’s
speed once realizing the wizardess wasn’t keeping up. The creature
made high-pitched squeals as it chased. Pelya felt it getting close
quickly, so she swung the sword at it over her shoulder. The
magical blade cut through the snout without resistance, just as it
had the other monsters. The beast screeched in pain and tumbled to
a stop.