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Sinnie tried not to flinch as Ujenn placed her palm on Sinnie’s forehead. Ujenn’s smile was disarming, but Sinnie had a hard time letting her guard down entirely.
“I know you cannot fully trust me.” Ujenn’s voice resonated in Islish of a clarity Sinnie had rarely heard. “You think I have put a charm on Carl, and that I may put a charm on you, to get what I want, what my people need.”
“Pretty much exactly that,” Sinnie admitted. “Did you read my mind?”
“No, I can only do that if you let me. The Sabrit does not allow it. That’s the council of Maer mages, whom all of us follow. Karul wanted me to use such a power in the Parzek, but again, it is not allowed.”
“I guess that would rule out planting insidious suggestions in my mind in the guise of an unspecified boon as well, right?”
Ujenn laughed. “You and I shall be friends, Sinnie. And no, that would not be allowed either. And I would not do that to you.”
Sinnie relaxed a little at Ujenn’s words. “So what is it you’re going to do to me again? How does this ‘boon’ work?”
“Close your eyes,” Ujenn instructed, and Sinnie complied. She had agreed to go face deadly trolls beneath the castle, so at this point, there was no sense fighting it. “I am going to give you a spark of my energy, which will embed itself within you until you call upon it. Not with your voice, but with your mind, or your heart if you prefer to think of it that way. It can help you gain extra focus, or rally from fatigue, or otherwise enhance any ability you already possess, for a short time. The spark will be with you until you sleep again, at which point it will fade away. Are you ready?”
Sinnie nodded. Her mind was calm and clear, and she sensed that she could trust Ujenn, that the sorceress could help her. “I’m ready when you are.”
“Very good. You will feel a warmth in your forehead, then it will pass into your mind, which may try to defend itself at first. I cannot give this boon without your consent. Just relax, let it find its way to a cozy place inside, where it will wait and be ready when you call upon it. I begin...now.”
Sinnie’s forehead grew warm, then cooled as the warmth shifted inside her, relaxing her brain like a nice hot bath. She sank into the feeling, letting it wash over her, explore her mind, finally nestling in and becoming still. Ujenn’s face sank a bit when she removed her hand, and she eased back onto her bed, supporting herself with both arms.
“Carl,” she said, followed by something in Maer, ending in “Carl.” Sinnie nodded and made her way through the dark hallways to the fire.
“Your turn, chief,” she said to Carl. “She’s pretty worn out, but I bet she’ll still be able to find the spark for you.” She said it without malice; she could sense the good in Ujenn, and she could see why Carl was drawn to her. Carl seemed to take no offense, his eyes already fixed on the exit, into which he quickly disappeared.
When he returned about ten minutes later, his face was equal parts tranquil and determined. All the party had been granted a boon, except Luez, who had politely declined. They had eaten, prepared their gear, and fed and watered the dogs, who seemed to sense that something exciting and deadly serious was afoot. Their ears and noses were on high alert, and they watched Karul for instruction. He looked around at the company assembled and nodded.
“It is time,” he said in heavily accented Islish, as if he had memorized the line. Melka took the dogs’ leashes and said something in Maer, and the dogs stood up, their ears perked and tails wagging slightly. Luez followed, gesturing to Carl to come next, then Finn, then Sinnie. She fell into line as they made their way past the living quarters into the back part of the keep, where they passed a spacious kitchen and several rooms with curtains covering the doorways, until at last they came to a large pile of rocks guarded by two Maer, looking equal parts bored and nervous.
“We will need to move these rocks to get to the door,” Luez said, “and they will be replaced after we go in. It takes several minutes to move them, so there will be no quick escape.” Everyone pitched in, and the stones were moved in short order. The door beneath was made up of a series of half-timbers lashed together and took two Maer to lift open.
“They might want to get a few more Maer to stand guard until we come back, just in case we are in a bit of a hurry,” Carl pointed out. Luez nodded and barked some orders to one of the guards, who gave a military nod and dashed off into the keep. Luez lit a torch, which crackled into life before settling down to a weak but steady flame.
“Have your lantern ready,” she told Finn, “and I’ll have a second torch at hand. We won’t sneak up on them regardless, but we don’t want to come in blazing until we need more light.” Finn held up the lantern and gave a little salute. Luez drew her sword, a short but sinister-looking steel blade, and Melka gripped his spear with the bladed bronze tip, the one like Carl’s Ka-lar sword, which the Maer seemed to call ‘blade of the ancients.’ Finn took a few slow, deep breaths, and Sinnie checked her bow and reached back to her arrows, sliding her quiver a bit higher on her shoulder for easier access. Carl already had his Ka-lar sword in his right hand and his shield on his left arm, and his smile seemed less bloodthirsty than before.
The dogs led, silent but attentive, down a twisting staircase that seemed never-ending. The sound of rocks being piled on top of the door as they wound their way down added to Sinnie’s growing sense of dread. She could have been on her way back to Brocland, breathing in the fresh mountain air instead of the musty, fetid smell that rose up from the depths below the keep. After descending several hundred stairs, they emerged into a rough passageway, where a faint current of air seemed to flow from the right.
“This passage,” Luez said in a low voice, pointing to the right, “leads down for a long way before being walled off. We think it once led out the side of the mountain, but it seems to have been closed long ago. The mashtorul must have found another way in, but we do not know how. There are a few natural side passages, which we have not fully explored, but the mashtorul have only been seen down this way.” She pointed to the left and said a few words to Melka, who urged the dogs forward. The passage continued on level for a while before it began a slight downward grade. At the point where it began descending, they passed several heaps of moldering wood, which might at one point have been some kind of cart. The timbers that had once braced the walls and ceilings of the passage were similarly decayed, and Sinnie marveled that the whole place had not simply collapsed over the centuries. Other than a few cave crickets, which hopped frantically away from their light, a deep stillness reigned in the damp darkness. Though they all walked as softly as they could, their footfalls would surely be heard from far away.
After a few hundred yards, the passage widened, and a deep pit yawned to their right. Luez held her torch to the edge for a moment.
“This is the first of the old mine shafts,” she said. “There are a dozen or so, as well as a number of side passages that lead down and intersect with them at various points. We will go just past the third shaft, at which point we will break off from the main passage and descend toward the place where we encountered the mashtorul before.” Her calm demeanor was of slight comfort to Sinnie. Unlike Melka, whose face twitched and grimaced now and then, Luez’s face seemed carved of stone, as if she were immune to fear or any other emotion. Sinnie reached forward to squeeze Finn’s hand, and he gave her a weak smile over his shoulder.
They passed a partial ceiling collapse before reaching the second mine shaft, which had several more moldering carts heaped next to it. After a few more minutes, the dogs froze, emitting a low whine. Melka grunted them into silence and said something in Maer.
“Rats,” Luez explained. “This tells us we are getting closer. We might also see some large lizards, almost the size of the dogs, but they are shy and should pose no danger.”
As they approached the third mine shaft, one of the dogs pulled on the leash, and Melka jerked it back. Sinnie couldn’t see much, but Carl turned and whispered over his shoulder.
“Rock crawler, like what we saw in the mine above Brocland,” he said, gripping his sword tighter.
The air wafting up from the third shaft had a different smell to it, more of a wet earth and mildew odor, a pungent whiff of life and decay. Several mice scurried along the edge of the tunnel and disappeared down the shaft. No more than fifty yards past the shaft Luez stopped by an opening in the same side of the wall as the shaft. Sinnie could see that the opening led to a passageway, narrower than the one they were in, so they would have to go one at a time.
“With any luck, we won’t run across them in this passage,” Luez said in a low voice. “It leads down to a series of chambers, once used for smelting and the like, we think. That’s where they were before. It’s where the fungus seems to grow best.” Sinnie wondered what the talk of fungus was about, but she had no time to ask as Luez looked each member of the party in the eye. “Be ready,” she said. She put a hand on Melka’s shoulder and said something in Maer, then slipped past him. Melka gave a whispered whistle to the dogs, and they followed her. Carl fell in behind Melka, then Finn followed, and Sinnie brought up the rear, nocking an arrow but keeping her bow low as she slipped through the narrow entrance.
The passageway was rough-hewn and uneven, with the ceiling so low in spots she had to duck. Water trickled down in more than a few places, creating a rivulet that ran along the center of the passage floor. Puffs of fungus bloomed in long streaks here and there along the damp walls. Now that the group was walking single file, the torchlight barely filtered back enough for her to avoid bumping her head. The tunnel meandered up and down, perhaps following what had been the easiest rock to break, or a seam of ore.
After a while, they emerged into a large chamber, about fifty feet on each side, with a ceiling nearly twenty feet high. In the middle of the ceiling was a round hole, but their light was too weak to see what was beyond it. Piles of wood and stone debris littered the floor, and several large bowl-shaped indentations were set near the center of the room, filled with water. The rivulet from the passage entered a square-cut channel, which bisected the room, running between the indentations. The dogs’ noses were quivering, pointing toward the far end of the room, where Sinnie could barely make out an opening about the size of the one they had come through.
Luez lit a second torch and handed it to Melka, who had to wrap the dogs’ leash around his left wrist to take the torch and still carry his spear in his right hand. Luez eyed Finn’s lantern and said “As soon as they appear.” Finn nodded.
“Once we see the creatures,” she said, “I will drop my torch and try to slip off to the side unnoticed and attack from the rear. Melka and Carl will engage them up close, Sinnie with her arrows and Finn...well, you just do whatever it is you do,” she said with the hint of a smirk, which he returned in kind. “And if things go south, and I give the order to retreat, don’t wait for anyone or anything. They’re fast as lightning in short distances, but they can’t keep up a long run. My guess is, they won’t pursue us any farther than this chamber, so if you can get to that tunnel, you might be okay. Let’s just make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and stalked through the room, making a gesture to Melka to give her a little space. She stared up at the hole in the ceiling, peered behind each pile of rubble as she passed, then gave the signal to Melka to move through, and they all followed in a slow line. Water dripped in maddeningly irregular intervals into the pools, and Sinnie could hear it flowing somewhere in the room, but she could not make out where. Luez disappeared into the entrance opposite where they had come in, and they all followed her into a larger passage, wide enough for two. They stayed in single file, which was fine with Sinnie, as it kept her the maximum possible distance away from whatever a mashtorul was. The hollow, sour feeling in her stomach told her she was about to find out.