Magic Astray (The Llandra Saga) (21 page)

“Zeles was a powerful Mage,” he continued. “He ruled over much of Salianca near the coast. When he attempted to extend his influence to Tallia, the people here fought his armies to a standstill. Enraged, Zeles searched for a way to gain the upper hand. That was when he rediscovered the secret to the Summoning Device, and unleashed an army of horrors upon the land.”

“But we eventually won, right?” Randall asked.

“No. You didn’t,” Dask answered. “Zeles held this country for his entire life. When he died, the Device was lost, and the land fell into chaos and disarray, with powerful nobles each claiming a piece of Tallia for themselves. It was nearly two hundred years before the country was once again unified under a single ruler.”

“It would be fascinating to read your histories, if I ever get the chance,” Randall said with a sigh.

Dask leaned back, shaking his head.

“What?” Randall asked, confused.

“You haven’t once mentioned the treasures you’ve seen in our kingdom, but grow excited when I mention our libraries. It is a rare man that recognizes true wealth,” he said, smiling broadly.

* * *

Nia brushed Randall off when he tried to talk to her about what he had discovered. “I am not a Mage,” she would say. “Why should such things matter to me?” It was infuriating that she took no interest at all in his excitement, but he understood her reasoning. If he were a carpenter, would she really care if he discovered a new type of glue or a new way of cutting wood? Probably not, he guessed.

He stopped short of telling her about Zeles the Mad. He didn’t want to give her cause to be alarmed or nervous. The tale had a poetic kind of symmetry, however. If the last Archmage opened the way to Llandra, it only seemed fitting that he would be the one to prevent it from happening a second time.

The next day, one of the dwarven guardsmen sprinted up to Nia and Randall as they sat down to lunch. Dwarven meals were simple, mostly consisting of bland stews made of meat and boiled root vegetables. While they weren’t fancy, they filled you up quickly. Randall tried not to think too closely about where the stew meat came from. He hadn’t seen any cows or other livestock in his explorations, and he wasn’t sure they would thrive underground anyway.

“Your friends have been found,” the guardsman said as he came to their table. “King Rodick wishes to see all of you in the throne room,” he said.

Randall nodded and wolfed down two large bites of the hearty meal before pushing back from the table. Nia showed more grace, standing and waiting while he finished.

“Let’s go,” Randall said, his cheeks packed and juice dripping down his chin.

Berry and Hunter were both waiting in the throne room when the two of them arrived. The big cat’s fur was matted and crusted in places with dried blood, and the imp had a large gash running down the length of his back.

“They were well-fed when we found them,” King Rodick explained. “They had been hunting the skald.”

“They’re wounded,” Randall said with alarm, fishing his talisman from underneath his tunic. “Your talisman,” he said, glancing at Nia. “Put it around Hunter’s neck.”

Randall placed his own talisman around Berry’s neck and hugged the imp closely before telling his friend “I’ll let you charge it up. I need to see to Hunter.”

Berry chittered his acknowledgement as Randall began powering the device hanging around the big cat’s neck. King Rodick gasped audibly as the cuts and bruises on both creatures began to knit and heal before their eyes. He leaned over and whispered something into the Court Mage’s ear. Dask shook his head vigorously, saying only “
heks-mast
” in reply to whatever the king had suggested.

At the reminder, the king straightened his back and slapped his palm on the arm of his throne. Randall looked up to see a stern expression on the dwarf’s face.

“As I have decreed, you have been treated as a welcome guests and your friends have been found. Now, it is time for you to leave. I will send a unit of dwarves to accompany you to the edge of our kingdom, to ensure your safe passage.”

Randall wasn’t sure if the guardsmen were really there to keep them safe from the skald, or to ensure that he and his friends actually left the dwarven stronghold.

“Aren’t you sending more with us?” Randall asked. “Rhys likely has an entire army at his back.”

“My guardsmen will escort you to a passageway that opens very close to Ninove,” the king answered. “To send an army to the surface would be a violation of treaties made long ago with your people. War may be coming, but I will not risk inviting it into my kingdom with such a response.”

He held up his hand as Randall began to protest. “Dask is certain that you are an Archmage. If this is true, you will find a way to defeat this threat without putting my people in jeopardy.”

Randall blew out his cheeks in frustration, but realized there would be no further argument on the matter. He stood, taking the talisman from around Hunter’s neck and handing it back to Nia. Berry scrambled up his side, taking his customary place on Randall’s shoulder and slipping his own healing talisman over Randall’s head.

“Then we will leave immediately,” Randall said, anger hardening his words.

“Such was my wish also, for both of our sakes,” King Rodick agreed, motioning toward the far chamber door. “Your continued presence invites too many temptations.” His eyes lingered greedily on the talisman around the young Mage’s neck.

The guardsman standing at the door turned and opened it, and nearly twenty fully-armored dwarves filed in arraying themselves in neat formation. The lead dwarf motioned for Randall and his company to follow. Snorting angrily, Randall turned on his heel and exited the chamber, followed closely by Nia and Hunter.

“I can’t believe he just threw us out like that,” Randall exploded once they had left the room. None of the dwarves accompanying them appeared to speak Talish, and so Randall had no qualms about complaining openly.

“What else would you have him do?” Nia retorted. “King Rodick made a wise decision. If war comes and your people defeat the elven army, then he will continue to make trade with them as if nothing had changed. If the elves win and the portal between worlds remains open, then his people will rejoin the fae, and his rule will remain safe.”

“But we could use his help,” Randall whined in frustration.

“And did you offer him anything that would entice him to give such aid?” she asked.

“No, of course not,” he spat, frustrated. “I had hoped he would see it was the right thing to do. What would I have to offer him anyway?”

“Randall Miller, you are no diplomat,” she giggled. “But King Rodick was right. This is our task. We will find a way to stop Mamaeth and Rhys before the portal is opened. This, I promise you.”

Chapter 22

The dwarven tunnels reminded Randall of an ant’s nest more than anything else. They passed through mile after mile of seemingly endless corridors and passageways, and not once did he spy any kind of living quarters, markets, or other areas that dwarves might gather in. Just endless winding tunnels, with no symmetry or plan.

“How do they live like this?” Randall mused aloud. “I would never be able to find my way around this place.”

Nia only nodded, her face bright with anticipation. It was clear that she was anxious to be free of the tunnels and back into the open air once again.

The group would pass the occasional dwarf going about his business, but they kept to themselves, ignoring the odd procession. It was so different than when Randall visited the elven city. Nobody stopped and stared or whispered as they passed. The group might as well have been invisible for all Randall could tell.

After a while, they stopped seeing even the occasional dwarf, and the branches and side corridors became less frequent. Eventually, even those ceased appearing, and they found themselves walking down a featureless wide tunnel. Unlike most of the passageways they had traversed, the ceiling was set high above them, and Randall felt tiny marching down the middle of the corridor. The sound of their boot heels echoed hollowly off the far walls as they moved onward.

“Wow. You could fit an army in here. Echo!” he said loudly, listening to his voice bounce back to him several times before it faded away completely.

“Indeed,” Nia answered. “I can think of no other reason such a passageway might exist heading straight for the human capital.”

“Really?” Randall asked. He hadn’t seriously considered that the tunnel’s purpose might be for waging war.

“It is the right size for companies of dwarves to march in formation,” she noted. “And large enough to even accommodate siege engines.”

Randall looked around the passageway, imagining it filled with dwarves geared for battle. Even catapults seemed likely to fit under that high ceiling.

“Do you think King Rodick is planning an invasion?” he asked.

“Even a land at peace has to be prepared for war,” Nia said. “I think this tunnel has probably been here since long before either of us were born.”

Randall nodded, and continued on in silence, images of dwarven armies dancing in his imagination.

* * *

“When will this blasted tunnel ever end?” Randall asked peevishly after nearly two days of travel. “It feels like we’ve been down here forever.”

“Why are you asking me? How should I know?” Nia shot back. The trek was getting to both of them.

Walking the tunnels hadn’t been so bad when the passages twisted and turned, and there was the infrequent dwarf or side passage to break up the monotony. But miles of the same dreary sameness was wearing Randall’s patience razor thin.

It didn’t help that the dwarves hadn’t said a word to them the entire time they had been together. When it came time for breaks and meals, the dwarves would cluster together a short distance away from Randall, Nia, Berry and Hunter. And while they would talk quietly among themselves, they would go quiet if any of the group approached. It was obvious that they preferred to keep to their own company.

Even when Randall had tried to engage the guardsmen in conversation in Dwarvish, he had been ignored. Once, when he had been particularly insistent, the lead guardsmen had stopped the march and stared at him silently until Randall gave up in a huff and began walking again.

At the next meal break, everyone sat and ate in silence. Randall was so disheartened that he didn’t even try to engage Nia in conversation. After a few minutes, Berry suddenly hopped up from his meal and faded from view.

“Berry!” Randall called. “What’s wrong?”

Seconds later, Hunter yelped and sprung to his feet, spinning in a circle. A moment later, he spun again, hissing and spitting. Berry reappeared behind the big cat, the tip of its tail gripped in his tiny fist. He gave it one last tug before chittering and scampering off down the corridor.

The big cat gave chase, catching up to the imp easily with its long loping strides. Just as Hunter leapt to the attack, Berry stopped and flung a shield up around himself. Hunter crouched down and pawed at the translucent wall, raking it with his claws and attempting to get his mouth around it while Berry rolled on his back holding his sides and chittering hysterically.

“Berry,” Randall admonished.

“If you keep teasing him like that, he’s going to catch you some day,” Nia interrupted, though a grin teased at the corner of her mouth.

Even Berry and Hunter seemed to be getting a little stir crazy. But at least the show had helped to break the mood. Randall felt a little less ill-tempered when the group broke camp and continued down the passage. Berry sat on his shoulder humming contentedly, while the big cat would occasionally look back over its shoulder at the imp, dragging its long pink tongue across its fangs as it did so.

After nearly another full day of travel, the passageway ended abruptly, dead-ending into a wide, featureless wall. The dwarven commander barked orders at his men, and they scrambled to the wall, digging their fingers into a nearly imperceptible crack running down the middle. At his command, they began pulling against the crack as he fiddled with a mechanism set off to one side.

After a moment, there was loud cracking noise and the wall shifted. The dwarves heaved again, and the wall opened up a few inches more along the crack. Sunlight beamed through the opening, nearly blinding Randall after so much time underground. Nia took several deep breaths of the fresh air blowing into the passage, a satisfied smile on her face. Even Hunter sniffed at the air expectantly.

After several more pulls, the wall had opened wide enough for them to pass through without difficulty. As the group prepared to take their leave of the dwarven catacombs, the commander put up his hand to stop them. He handed Randall a small sack containing a few travel rations.

“Ninove, one day’s march,” he said in heavily-accented Talish, pointing directly away from the tunnel opening.

So close?
Randall thought to himself. They had traveled countless miles under Tallia! His mind boggled as he tried to imagine how extensive the dwarven tunnels must be, or how many dwarves might actually live there.

The image of a giant ant’s nest came back into his mind and he shuddered involuntarily. He wondered if the dwarves might one day tunnel directly under the capital city. Or even under every city on Tallia. He shuddered again, and stepped into the sunlight.

After everyone had stepped through, the tunnel wall behind them closed again. From this side, it looked like a natural outcropping of stone gracing the side of a hill. If he hadn’t known it was there, he would never have suspected it was a doorway leading into the dwarven territory. It fit in with any number of natural stone formations around him. He found himself wondering if any of them opened up into tunnels, too.

Nia looked around, grinning from ear to ear. She bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet before spontaneously clasping Randall in a fierce hug. He froze momentarily as she squeezed him tightly, and then reached up to awkwardly pat her on the back.

“I knew you would get us out of those horrible tunnels!” she said, giving him a peck on the check. She danced in a little circle as he stood, blushing. Even Hunter seemed heartened by the change in scenery, and he rose up on his hind legs, batting playfully at the elf as she danced. Soon the two were rolling in the grass, wrestling and laughing.