The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (23 page)

Black mold and mildew greeted their noses, the slick steps down into stagnant water once more met their feet, and the torchlight beyond the grate was now flickering. Men were moving past and around the lights beyond, they were close.
Lavress led them in, then up again near the steel grate covered in rust and mold. He waited for the far off sound of men moving in other passages to dwindle, then motioned for Liogan to take the right side of the bars and sheathed his blades.

Both of them pulled slow, testing the resistance and possible noise, it seemed ready to fall as it was. With a quick
creak
and
pop
of old worn steel, the grate came loose on the left side. Lavress set it down behind them on the steps, carefully watching that it would not slide and cause noise, then he saw a ripple.

He tapped Liogan on the shoulder, right as he was about to head into the next chamber and continue their infiltration and rescue. Just in time, Liogan turned, then dove to the right as the water erupted toward them both.
Lavress sprung to his left, and then the grate was covered in saltwater and scales. Then it was gone, leaving only washed up bones and broken shards of shells upon the stairs where they had just been. The water turned and rippled, then calmed, neither elf nor man moved a muscle as their knuckles kept tight on their weapons.

Seconds
passed, the soft yellow glow of the kukri showed only shadows on the walls and a black pool of water
that neither wished to give their
back to.
The grate tipped out of the water, as if something dangled it as bait, yet neither Lavress nor Liogan moved beyond short breaths. The young knight nodded to Lavress, put his toe behind a jawbone that had but three teeth remaining, and flicked it into the pool. Small a ripple as was made, it was all the creature needed to emerge
, searching for
a meal.

Two clawed feet landed on the stone from the aquatic explosion, dark green and webbed with claws as long as a mans arm. The serpentine body had yellow spots and black stripes on the scales and was as thick as a
n
old maple tree, how long it was with but twenty feet exposed, neither could tell. Four flaring sets of red gills opened and closed fast beneath a cold staring pair of gray eyes. The mouth opened from a long
curved
smooth head resembling a distorted fish, revealing
hundreds of
overlapping curled fangs that were
transparent
and moist.
Clear slime dangled like strands fr
om its bared teeth and its rough
black tongue felt something less than pleasurable upon it.
The
low
hiss mixed with gurgled water shot the jawbone high into the air, then its head turned down to Liogan, unblinking eyes looking at the one that had tricked it.

Two arrows pierced through the soft gills from the left, the hum of vibrating bowstring echoed in the cavern as a hiss of pain rose toward Lavress. A third, then a fourth arrow plunged into cold flesh, and then the elven hunter slung his bow and dove back toward the stairs over the sweeping fast claws of the serpent. Back again to his right, leaping over the biting head, he drew his blades. Lavress had no room to maneuver, the slick ledge was barely enough for his feet. He feinted left, then right, the claws of the giant sea snake planted on either side. There was no escape, it blocked any route, and Lavress waited to face it blades to fangs.

Slash, chop, thrust
, and oily blood ran down the side of the serpent as Sir Liogan drove his sword deep a fourth time from behind. The beast whirled with fangs bared, plunging over Liogan, who at the last moment raised his blade up and cringed. The point dove through the skull and open mouth, yet it bit down hard. The knight placed one fast hand between two fangs on the lower jaw, his sword wielding elbow wedged between two on the upper, blade still lodged through the roof of its mouth into serpentine skull. His face reddened, he exerted all he had, trying to keep his chest open and not be swallowed alive as the creature reared into the air with a mouthful of knight.

The falcata sliced clean through in the distraction, then again, and both clawed hands splashed into the water, cut off at the wrists. Lavress spun to his left, anticipating the fall of the beast that had held itself up with what he had just chopped off, and s
lashed the kukri up hard
. As it fell forward, Liogan still pinned in its salivating maw, its innards spilled all over the ledge. Like a pail being dumped down an alley, the slosh of inside organs and blood splashed onto the stone as its head thrashed from side to side.

Liogan tried not to yell as the head hit the ledge and his arms now held the fangs but hairs from his face.
Its body whipped and spasmed relentlessly as it began to slide into the pool of backwater.
The blood and more poured onto his legs from where his sword still stuck, the tongue frantically tried to wrap around his waist, and he had nowhere to go.
He breathed deep in the dark, feeling the water come up fast, and Liogan went under and down with the dying serpent.

Lavress looked for where to place his edges,
not knowing how much life in the beast there
was
left
. The creature sank slowly, and the elf drew his bow and nocked an arrow. He hoped that Liogan had not been swallowed, waited one moment, then fired below the gills and into the chest. The serpent sank more,
now submerged and out of sight, and Lavress looked around for Liogan Andellis. He found nothing, no
t
his blade, not a drop of blood. Lavress turned left toward the grate, yet there was no knight there either. The water stilled. A cloven claw floated up, then the other, but nothing else.

Lavress dropped his bow and quiver, closed his eyes in silent prayer, and stood over the edge to dive in. His senses saw something moving up, something shiny, moving back and forth under tha water. He drew his blades.

A broadsword emerged and clanked loudly on the edge of the pool, then a hand, and then Liogan pulled himself up and gasped for air. “
Help please
.” He whispered.

Lavress smiled, thanking Seirena in thought for his companion’s survival. He pulled Liogan out of the water, checked him over, and noticed he was barefoot but otherwise unharmed.

“
It got my boots. Bastard serpent, I liked those boots
.” He stifled a laugh and let Lavress help him to his feet.

“
Ssshhh, well done, but quiet now, it could come back and we need to move
.” Lavress whispered and motioned toward the opening where the grate had once been.

Liogan shook his head. “
It won’t come back, I killed it, trust me.
What did you think I was doing down there?”

“
I don’t know, I..I was coming..how did you…?”
Lavress was surprised, assuming his young companion was caught in terror of things he had never seen.

“
How? A good teacher I suppose
.” Liogan thrust his blade forward, recreating a slow stabbing lesson, one which he retained while underwater in the deathgrip of a dying sea serpent.

Lavress smiled again and the two cautiously stalked ahead through the small opening. The tunnel and chambers ahead were much more dry, dimly reflected the torches beyond, and the sound of men could be heard talking in the distance. Corner to corner, passage to dark passage, the two dashed in quick steps through the underground of Valhirst.

The elf paused, raised his hand, and motioned with a sideways nod for Liogan to get close to him. The knight followed his eyes beyond his pointed ears, and saw two men ahead by an alcove. Both dressed in black, both with masks up over their noses, and both taking turns at an underground latrine.
Then, both men, the one relieving himself and the one waiting for the same, came to attention as more men arrived. Lavress listened close while he and Liogan watched
a group of ten men, led by an immense panther and a man in shining
gold
a
rmor and a flowing cape, stop
before the two masked guards.

“My prince
, what an unexpected visit. And master Vermillion of the South,
master Oggidan,
and his…
pet…
” The guard stood while the other pulled his trousers up and buckled quickly
, both staring at the strange black feline
.

“You may call me
Crrrimson
of the
Norrth
, now open the cells.” To the surprise of the guards, the pa
nther with a patch over one eye
spoke to them. Farrigus smiled at the looks in their wide eyes.

“One hour, Farrigus, no more, then you gather your
men
and meet me in the courtyard.
I
have a warring king awaiting.
Jehrale
,
stay with him, Oggidan with me.
” Johnas turned, ignoring the bows and formalities, and marched back the way he came.

“Yes,
Prince Johnas.” The panther and cloaked man beside it
spoke in unison.

The keys jangled nervously, the bars were unlocked, and the panther that spoke strode
in with the dark
robed man,
silent as the grave. Lavress motioned
to Liogan with his eyes to back up. They went round a corner, and the blades came up again from the wood elf hunter. He made a motion
with his falcata and kukri opposed
and horizontal, his arms wrapped around an invisible foe. His elbows were high, then his blades cut in and across, as if he were slicing a throat from behind.

Liogan nodded, reluctantly, then looked to his broadsword. He
paused, then
he heard
Prince Bryant
moan and the echoes of war above
,
remembered
the finger he had seen, and that his kings only son
would be hung soon if they did not rescue him. He met the eyes of Lavress, and nodded. The two infiltrators snuck toward the guards by the underground l
atrine, quiet as death, ready to kill.

Outer Ruins, Kingdom of the Crescent Moon

Morning light had never been so dark and treacherous as it was no
w. The hours had passed without
a sound, no army of the dead came hunting Shinayne or Azenairk, and there was no sign that such a force had existed previous.
The five co
mpanions had a minimal meal
, as none could get their minds off of what the elf and dwarf had recited to them of their
midnight
excursion. It seemed they were gone for hours, yet Gwenneth knew they were not. The wounds they should have had were not there either, not a cut in cloth nor flesh to give credence to their recounted battle in
the night. No one doubted the words of their
friends in the least, but trying to understand how things such as this occurred was difficult. Then came the hopeful western sunrise, then c
ame the storm of storms with it.

The sunlight brought with it a terrible moan, like the dying howls of a thousand tortured souls. Winds came from nowhere and everywhere, dark clouds circled from the very ground and began to rise. From their vantage on the sandstone cliffs of the Temple Way they saw the forming of a gale turned swirling hurricane miles across. It covered the ruins in black thunderous gusts that followed the trench. Within moments, it was as dusk again, with all the cacophony of the cursed storm that was
but
silent
rain
the night before.
The passage to the ruins was blocked by a force of cursed nature and angry air, surrounding even beyond the peaks of the Kaki Mountains
to east and west
, and sending rumbling warning to any within miles.

“So, armies of the dead and gone by night, and this storm
blocks us by day!
For such a holy place of myth
,
it certainly makes thin
gs difficult for visitors!
” James yelled out his attempt at enlightening humor, having to get his voice over the winds that now whipped sand and debris to the air.

Zen shielded his eyes with his hand, as did everyone else. “We can’t go through that! Try and find a way around it, or
do we
wait for nightfall again?!”

“If we go south and east, we stay to this road and the cliffs, too dangerous!” Shinayne raised her voice over the gale. “We will be blown off the edge!”

“West means crossing in front of it for miles, likely to get lost in the haze and pummeled by all that it is throwing out! We won’t last
long walking across
it!” Saberrak the gray huffed out.

Heads held down, eyes all squinting, they stood staring at the storm for untold moments. A curved semicircle of peaks with a valley filled with ruins
had
lay before them, they knew it was there, and knew it was indeed what they had been searching for. Each breath brought a hopelessness that meant they would have to
wait for night and the calming of the storm. In turn they each wondered about the
innumerable
dead they might face. If what Shinayne and Zen had been through happened again, they knew that getting inside the ruins was a lost cause.