| |
––––––––
It wasn’t a long corridor. At the far end a smoky candle threw a dirty light across two doors. The one on the left stood ajar. Within, a withered figure lay beneath a rough blanket upon a wooden bed. The candle outside cast a thin trickle of light across his sleeping face.
With a cry Ferris pushed open the door. Redburr held the children back with one thick arm while he searched the room carefully for traps, then followed them inside.
“Reiffen!” called Ferris in a soft, fearful voice. His eyes opened slowly as she knelt at his side.
“Hello, boy,” said Redburr, looming above her.
“Is it him?” asked Avender.
“Of course it’s him!” cried Ferris. “How can you think it isn’t?”
Avender looked closely at the thin figure on the narrow cot. He did look like Reiffen, a Reiffen with almost all the life twisted out of him. The shadows of his friends fell across his pale face. His eyes, which seemed to have grown larger above his painfully hollow cheeks, regarded them blankly.
“Reiffen,” Ferris pleaded. “Don’t you recognize us? Please say you do. It’s me, Ferris. And Avender, and Redburr. And Nolo’s with us, too, only we left him Downstairs.”
Reiffen’s eyes narrowed. His mouth formed a word, but no sound came out. He frowned at the effort and tried again.
“Ferris?” he whispered. His friends held their breath to hear him. “Avender? I thought you died.”
“Skimmer saved him.” Ferris placed her bound hands gently on the blanket. A sad smile limped across her face. Reiffen’s chest felt thin and cold beneath the ragged cloth. “What have they done to you?” she asked.
The pale face shook feebly. His tongue worked dryly between his lips before he spoke again. “It’s nothing,” he whispered fiercely. “They’ve been trying to make me do what they want. But I haven’t let them.”
He smiled faintly and closed his eyes. His head dropped back upon the mattress.
“Don’t let him talk any more,” said Redburr. “He’ll need all his strength if we’re going to get him out of here.”
“He can’t possibly walk,” said Ferris. “Look at him. It looks like they’ve been starving him.”
She reached under the meager blanket to press his hand and a horrified look came over her face. Gently she lifted the side of the blanket and gasped.
“Look what they’ve done to him.”
The little finger on Reiffen’s left hand was missing the first joint beyond the knuckle. A thimble of black iron capped the rest. Avender clenched his own hands into fists. His anger at the Three was beginning to overcome his fear.
“We have to get him out of here.”
The Shaper pushed Ferris and Avender aside and bent to pick up the stricken boy. As Redburr lifted him, Ferris tucked in the corners of the blanket where they dropped like shrouds around the Shaper’s arms.
“I can walk,” croaked Reiffen.
Redburr shook his head. “It’ll be faster this way. You can walk when we’re not in such a hurry.”
“What about Captain Kender?” asked Avender.
A savage look crossed the Shaper’s face. “I’ll take care of Captain Kender.”
He set off with the boy in his arms. Ferris and Avender followed at the end of the rope, their hands still loosely tied. At the end of the short corridor back to the main passage Redburr stopped and turned to Avender.
“Think you can hold him for a bit?” asked the Shaper. “He’s light as a feather. I’ll signal for you to follow when I’m done.”
Avender nodded anxiously.
“I can stand,” insisted Reiffen. His voice seemed stronger than it had been before and the old fire had begun to burn in his eyes.
Redburr regarded him closely. “All right,” he said. “It might do you good to stand for a minute or two. We might as well find out what’ll happen if I have to put you down.”
With Ferris and Avender lending support at either side, the Shaper set Reiffen on his feet. The boy’s blanket slipped to the floor, but the boy himself, with both hands on the shoulders of his friends, was able to stand. That was when they noticed that both his little fingers had been lopped short and capped with the strange thimbles. Cold and dark as only iron can be, they looked as if they had been soldered to his skin. It didn’t appear that either would come off easily.
Reiffen noticed their stares. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said, holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers. “They only just started trying to persuade me.”
Ferris set her jaw, but said nothing. Redburr stepped out into the main corridor. The Shaper made no attempt at stealth as he walked down the passage, trusting that Captain Kender would be expecting his return. At the entrance to the guardroom he disappeared. Ferris and Avender strained to hear some sound of what was happening inside. But the stone was thick around them and the silence of Ussene remained absolute. Sooner than they expected, Redburr reappeared, waving the children forward to join him.
“That’s done,” he said, breathing heavily as he met them at the door. His bulk blocked their view inside, but there was blood on his beard and hands. His eyes gleamed. “The alarm will be up soon, but with any luck they’ll never expect us to escape by going down. They’ll seal off the outlets to the open air.” He picked Reiffen up as he spoke, as easily as if he were lifting only the ragged blanket. “But it might take them a while to think to seal off the ways to the underearth as well.”
“Can’t I walk?” pleaded Reiffen. “I’m feeling a lot better.”
“Can you run?” asked Redburr. “No? Then you’ll still be carried.”
“What about torches?” asked Ferris. “Won’t we need torches when we go back into the dungeons? Nolo made us leave our lamps in our knapsacks.”
“We can get torches down below. They’ll have plenty at that first guardroom. Now, come on.”
The Shaper stepped out of the doorway and strode down the hall with Reiffen in his arms. Ferris and Avender peeked into the room behind him, then quickly turned away. There was no sign of Captain Kender, but blood and torn clothing were scattered all about the room. An empty boot lay beside a sheathed sword. Something sodden slipped off the wall and plopped thickly on the floor. They hurried off after the Shaper, Ferris with her hand to her mouth and Avender trying to blink away what he had seen.
They descended much more rapidly than they had gone up. Once Reiffen realized where they were headed, he directed them along the safest way. “They let me go just about anywhere,” he explained as he was carried along in the Shaper’s arms. “Except the dungeons.”
“We already know our way through those,” said Ferris.
They met no one on the less-traveled paths. But they had hardly set foot in the main passage leading to the dungeons before they heard coarse shouts and tramping feet in the distance behind them.
“They know we’ve taken him, now,” growled the Shaper. He slowed their pace to a fast walk. “But from the sound of it, they haven’t figured out which way we’re going. All that ruckus is back at the main gate. Hopefully the dungeon guard won’t know about our escape yet and we’ll be allowed to pass. Don’t run, though. Anyone sees us running, they’ll know what’s up at once. The longer we keep up the bluff you’re my prisoners, the better.”
At the fastest walk possible they hastened down the tunnel. Behind them the tumult faded. The search appeared to be concentrated above and behind them, closer to the day. All the same, Avender expected a company of sissit to burst out from one of the side passages at any moment. Remarkably, by the time they passed the last of the branching corridors, they were still alone. Behind them the noise of pursuit started to rise again. Mixed in with the distant shouts and trampling feet, they heard the harsh cries of hunting wolves.
The guardroom appeared ahead, dim and red with fire. As they drew closer the figures of the guards were outlined as dark shadows against the murky light. The commotion at the far end of the tunnel had caught the soldiers’ attention, and they were all up and waiting to see what was coming their way. Redburr slowed the children to a more moderate pace and put Reiffen back on his own feet.
“Now we can fight,” he said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. “But if we do, I want the three of you to keep out of the way. If I can’t handle the four of them myself I’ll know the reason why.”
He started to tie Reiffen’s hands with the same rope that bound Ferris and Avender, but Reiffen shook his head. “That’ll make them more suspicious,” he said. “I haven’t been tied up since I got here.”
Redburr gave the boy a searching look, then gathered the rope and pulled the other two children on down the passage. Reiffen hobbled after them as best he could.
The guards were waiting for them when they arrived. They had stepped back into the low chamber, their backs to the fire. Avender assumed they were more concerned with keeping people in the dungeons, not out. So, when Redburr entered with Reiffen and his string of prisoners, he wasn’t surprised to find the soldiers more curious than quarrelsome.
“Back so soon?” asked the sergeant. “What’s all the fuss at the Front Gate about?”
Redburr pulled his charges in close behind him. “Some prisoner got away or somethin’,” he said. “I been ordered t’ take this lot back Downstairs for safekeepin’.”
“Prisoner? Escaped?” The sergeant scratched the back of his head in confusion. “No one’s come up this way. An’ that boy’s the only one They’re keepin’ Upstairs.” He nodded toward Reiffen.
“Well I guess they must o’ brought in another, ‘cause you can see for yourself this one ain’t gone nowhere.” Redburr took a step forward, still keeping a tight leash on Ferris and Avender. “Now, how ‘bout getting’ out o’ my way so I can finish my job. They’ll keep ‘em cozy enough Downstairs.”
The sergeant straightened and put his hands challengingly on his hips. “What’s the password?” he demanded.
“Still ‘Shadows’, far as I know,” said Redburr. “Ain’t nobody told me any different.”
The sergeant stepped aside. Redburr led the children around the fire to the tunnel on the far side. It looked for a moment as if they were going to get clean away, without a fight at all. But, as Reiffen passed, with Ferris and Avender behind him, the sergeant seized the first boy by the shoulder and pulled him aside.
“Not this one,” he sneered. “We got orders never to let him Downstairs without one of the Three.”
“But he was told to come with us!” cried Ferris.
As soon as she spoke, Ferris knew she had made a mistake. She had forgotten she was still supposed to be a meek and pliant prisoner. She reached for Reiffen as she called out, but the sergeant knocked her down as soon as she stepped forward. Avender, tied to Ferris as he was, couldn’t help but fall too. He stumbled heavily into the brazier, catching his trousers on the iron grate, his pocket ripping as he tumbled after Ferris to the ground.
“Try that again, girl,” snarled the sergeant, “and I’ll give you a lot worse.” He looked back at Redburr with sudden suspicion. “The boy stays here.”
“I got my orders,” Redburr growled. “The Boss told me t’ take ‘em Downstairs, an’ that’s what I’m gonna do!”
The sergeant drew his sword in reply. Behind him his fellow guards brought their crossbows to bear, all bolts pointed at Redburr. Ferris and Avender scuttled backward across the floor, freeing themselves of the rope along the way when they saw no one was paying attention to them. But the sergeant still gripped Reiffen tightly in his free hand so Reiffen couldn’t follow. From the tunnel behind them came the sudden howl of one of the hunting wolves, closer now than before.
“If it’s a fight you want...” warned Redburr. He didn’t reach for his sword. At his most dangerous he generally forgot about human weapons. Besides, to reach for his sword would give the other guards enough warning to loose their bolts at him. They would never expect him to charge them barehanded.
Then, just as the Shaper was about to spring, a commanding voice cried out,
“CEASE THIS QUARRELING! AT ONCE! HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY MY COMMAND!”
Everyone, guards and prisoners, looked around. But there was no sign of where the voice had come from.
“FOOLS!” it went on. “LET THE PRISONER PASS! NOW! THAT IS MY WILL! THEN REPORT TO THE FRONT GATE! THE TROUBLE LIES IN THE CORRIDORS ABOVE, NOT BELOW! GO! AND INSTRUCT THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING TO TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO THE SEVENTH LEVEL, NOT THE DUNGEONS!
“GO!”
With that final harsh command the guards, frightened to death by what they couldn’t see, as well as the regular wrath of their master, turned and raced off into the main tunnel. Reiffen was thrown to the floor. He lay dazed in the filth, the last of his meager strength exhausted.
“What...?” Ferris looked mutely around the room.
“Durk.” Avender, who had been surprised by that particular voice before, felt for the stone in his pocket. His fingers slipped through the empty tear in his pants instead.
“Quick!” ordered the Shaper, who had also realized what had happened. “There’s no time to talk! They’ll figure out their mistake soon enough!” He grabbed a torch from the wall with one hand and scooped up Reiffen with the other. The wild light was beginning to shine from his black eyes once more. “Follow me!”
“I have to find Durk!” Avender scrambled wildly across the floor, searching the refuse for the stone. “We can’t leave him behind now!”
“I think I’m near the door.” Durk’s voice had returned to his usual, and much more worried, tone.
In a shot Avender was across the room, grabbing the rock in his hand. Redburr had already disappeared down the sloping tunnel to the dungeon. There was no thought for caution now. Ferris and Avender followed as fast as they could, the boy clutching the stone as he ran.
“How’d you know you could fool them?” he gasped before he was completely out of breath.
“I didn’t,” answered Durk, who had no breath to lose. “But I had to try. When I fell from your pocket and heard the guard seize your friend, I knew I had to do something. I didn’t think you’d leave him there after all the trouble you’d already gone to, and I knew you’d all be slaughtered if you tried to stay and fight. So I remembered Act Four, Scene Three, from The Knight of Deepwood Forest, where the knight hides in a hollow tree and pretends to be the bandit leader. And it worked, just as it does in the play.”
They came out of the tunnel and onto the ramp that crossed the vast chamber beyond. Redburr had pulled well ahead of them despite carrying Reiffen; for a moment Ferris and Avender lost him as he vanished beyond the columns. They continued as best they could, splashing through the darkened puddles until he reappeared, his torchlight flaming upward in the arch above his head.
“This way,” he called quietly. “I’ve tried to set a false trail to throw off the wolves.”
He led them around the outside of the gallery. Their shadows raced through the arches beside them, dodging from pillar to pillar like wisps of smoke against the back of an empty hearth. At the long passage back to the dungeons they paused, remembering the fear that had gripped them before. All of them felt the grasping magic that waited for them on the far side of the dark threshold.
“This is the hardest part.” Redburr’s chest heaved as he took great, shuddering breaths. The torchlight faltered a few weak steps beyond the first rough stones. “This time the watchers will be awake. I’ll have to go as quickly as I can because I’m not sure how much magic Reiffen and I can take. If you fall behind remember to stay straight on to the stair. Don’t follow any of the side passages! And don’t lose sight of my torch!”
He stepped into the tunnel and began to run. Ferris and Avender followed as quickly as they could, but the strain of their long ordeal was starting to tell. Their footsteps sounded muffled now after the high, splashing echoes of the hall. Redburr’s light drew steadily farther and farther ahead. Fat he was, but his fatness was a bear’s fatness and only made him stronger.
Behind him, Ferris and Avender felt the cold gloom nipping at their flying heels. They were both sure that if they stopped, the darkness would certainly catch them. Almost they felt its hot breath on the backs of their necks, even though they knew nothing was there. And somehow they also knew, if they ever let their fear get the better of them and looked back, then nothing would turn into something, and they would be lost.
Strange thoughts and visions came over them as Redburr’s torch bobbed far ahead in the darkness. No longer were they racing deep beneath the ground. Now the tunnel lay just a short way beneath the earth. Close above their heads, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky. Why was it, they asked themselves, that they chose not to go to the surface? The surface was where they would be safe. No clutching shadow would touch them there. Green grass and warm sun were much better than filthy darkness.
“Quick, Avender!” called Ferris suddenly. The empty mouth of one of the side tunnels loomed close beside her. “This way! This is the way out!”
She grabbed Avender by the hand and began to pull him toward the tunnel. He was puzzled for a moment, and didn’t want to follow. Why, he wondered, did she want them to go down that particular passage? Didn’t she remember the way to the surface was further on? Unsure of the way himself, he was about to follow her into the deeper darkness when he noticed a small sparkle of brightness mirrored in both her eyes. He turned as she was still trying to pull him forward, and caught sight of Redburr’s torch winking in the distance. No, that was where the light was. It wasn’t up above. If the light was safety then they should head toward that.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and remembered they didn’t want to go to the surface at all. And, even if they did, the dark passage before them was hardly the way to get there. Hadn’t Redburr warned them to stay on the main path? He pulled hard on Ferris’s arm and hissed urgently, “Don’t you remember! Redburr said we have to follow his torch! This way!”
It was Ferris’s turn to be confused. She stared at him, even as the far-off light of Redburr’s torch continued to flicker in her frightened eyes. Avender saw he was close to losing her. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled her with him down the passage after Redburr’s light, now very faint in the distance. Avender was much stronger, and Ferris was forced to follow or else be dragged along the rough rock floor. Soon he had pulled her far enough away from the side tunnel that she was free of that particular passage’s grip. Then she clung willingly to his hand and fled swiftly beside him.
They kept their eyes on the warmth of the torch ahead. Almost at once the light began to grow. They had passed the last of the side passages; the clutching darkness could now reach out for them only from behind. They hurried on without looking backward, and caught up at last with Redburr where he was waiting for them at the top of the dungeon stair.
“Are you all right?” the Shaper asked as they crashed, gasping, into his side. His belly heaved as he caught his breath: Reiffen swayed up and down in his arms like a cork bobbing in the open sea. Ferris gave them both an enormous hug. Redburr’s clothes smelled, and he smelled, but Ferris couldn’t even begin to say how glad she was to be close to him once more.
“I’m sorry I had to leave you alone back there,” he went on. “But it was the only way. The worst is over. A few sissit to deal with in the guardrooms, then we’ll be back with the Dwarves.”
At that moment Reiffen stiffened and tried to stand. His eyes wild, he reached out over the Shaper’s shoulder toward the passage behind them, his fingers twisted like claws. In a loud voice he cried out something they couldn’t understand and struggled briefly to escape the Shaper’s grip. But the Shaper held him tight. The boy’s fit ended as quickly as it began. Exhausted, he collapsed back into Redburr’s arms and fell into a deep sleep.
The Shaper shivered. The hair on his arms was bristling again. Then, as if in answer to Reiffen’s call, from far off down the passage they heard a distant stirring. The rock trembled beneath their feet.
“Quick!” cried Redburr, his eyes yellow as a beast’s in the torchlight. “Down the stairs! There’s no time to lose!”
Ferris and Avender stumbled forward through the gloom, fear forcing them on. A second, closer rumbling followed the first. It washed over them from above, almost as thick as a wave of water. Once again the black tunnel thrummed around them.
Wearily they staggered down the uneven steps, but Redburr brought them to a sudden halt much sooner than they expected. He raised a warning hand and growled, “The first guardroom is just below. Remember what I said about fighting. Just follow me through. I’ll stop on the other side in case they try to come after us, but you keep right on going. I’ll catch up to you before you reach the next level.”
“What about that?” asked Avender glancing nervously up the stair.
“We’ll deal with it when we have to. Here, girl. Take this.”
Redburr nearly dropped the torch as he handed it to Ferris. Both she and Avender could see the Shaper’s fingers had become almost entirely nail. But there was no question of stopping to groom him now.
As if it had heard them, a third and louder rumble blew down from above. The walls continued to shake after the low thunder had passed. Without waiting another moment, Redburr turned and rushed down the stairwell, his arm cradling Reiffen’s sleeping head as best he could against the danger below.
Two of the guards were peering up into the darkness when he appeared. They drew their swords, but Redburr was much too quick and strong for them. Leaping down the last few steps, he lowered his shoulder and knocked them both aside with a roar. Ferris and Avender came flying behind him, shrieking and shouting as loudly as they could. The other two sissit threw down their weapons and fled.
“That way!” The Shaper pushed the children toward the passage that continued on downstairs. “Avender! You carry Reiffen.”
Avender slipped Durk into his pocket and accepted his limp friend. Redburr’s harness and clothing hung from him in tatters; when he was rid of Reiffen his belt burst and his sword rattled to the floor. He seemed twice the size he had been; his beard and hair were much thicker. For a moment he waited to see if any of the guards might try to follow, but those that could still move were already far away. With a last look back for whatever was chasing them, he drove the children before him and bounded down the stair.
They never reached the second guardroom. The rumbling behind them increased until there was a regular pounding in the walls. Small stones crumbled from the roof. Something very large was pursuing them through the tunnel, gaining with every stride.
A light appeared ahead, pale and white. A feeling of relief swept over them; Nolo’s short, stocky shape stood outlined in the soft glow. Behind them the noise had grown so loud they couldn’t hear a word of what the Dwarf was shouting, but his gestures were plain enough. He stood beside a narrow doorway in the wall, his lamp gleaming at his forehead, and caught them as they came hurtling down the stair. Ferris first, then Avender with Reiffen in his arms. The Dwarf pushed them through the door, where Dale and Dell held them fast at the edge of another fissure that opened in the rock at their feet. Dale took Reiffen. Avender stumbled, but Dell caught him at the edge of the narrow chasm. A shower of small rocks disappeared down into the darkness.
Another great roar sounded from the passage above. A second roar, nearly as loud, answered.
“Where’s Redburr?” asked Avender, peering out into the passage.
Nolo nodded mutely back up the stair. A thunderous crash set the whole passage trembling. A large rock tumbled from the ceiling and rolled away. Shouldering his axe, the Dwarf charged back the way the children had come.
His jaw set in determination, Avender followed.
“Avender!”
Ferris’s cry was cut short behind him by another pair of monstrous roars. Avender plunged after Nolo through the darkness, the Dwarf’s pale light half-hidden behind a curtain of falling stone. With every thud and crash a fresh shower of rock filled the passage. Something struck Avender on the side of the head and he fell to the steps, briefly stunned. The broken stone scraped his hands and knees. By the time he scrambled back to his feet, the Dwarf was far ahead. Avender kept on, hardly knowing why. He didn’t even have a knife. But if he stopped now he would never forgive himself.
Another crash scattered a fresh storm of stones across his back as Avender burst into the guardroom he had left just minutes before. A great black lizard, its scales the size of pie plates, had the bear wrapped in its thick tail and was snapping at him with its jaws. The Shaper clawed and roared in return, his long fangs bared. Nolo, axe at the ready, hopped back and forth beside them, looking for a chance to strike. Scattered across the cracked floor, the coals from the fallen brazier glowed like a crevice of red fire. Something glittered darkly: one of the guards’ castoff swords.
Avender scurried across the cracked floor for the weapon. It felt awkward and oddly weighted in his hand. A booming crash echoed through the room: the mander had smashed the bear against the nearest wall. The Shaper roared and raked his claws across the monster’s back with a horrible metallic screech, like something out of Grimble’s workshop. Nolo swung his axe. The mander squealed as the weapon bit deep into its tail.
With both hands raised, Avender rushed forward and gave the monster a mighty stroke. The sword shattered and the creature swept him aside. Banged and bruised, the boy landed heavily on the far side of the room.
“Get out, lad!” Nolo called over his shoulder. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the mander for a second. Another opening came and his axe cut deeply again. The mander snapped at the Dwarf with its rows of gleaming teeth. Specks of yellow spittle sprayed across the room, sizzling where they struck the floor. Nolo caught the creature a glancing blow on the side of the head. Faster than Avender would have thought possible for so large a beast, the mander caught Nolo’s arm between his teeth and shook him like a dog with a rat. With his free hand, Nolo whacked it twice on top of the head with the flat side of his axe. The mander shook its head again; Nolo flew bouncing across the room.
Avender looked around for another sword. Maybe he’d have more luck going for the mander’s eyes. The bear continued to claw futilely at the creature’s back. His rage grew with every useless blow, his muzzle stretched in rabid fury. The mander concentrated on the Dwarf, wary of what the axe had already done to its wounded tail.
The battle slowed. The creature ceased pounding the Shaper against the walls. Deep cracks and fissures ran across the ceiling, but no more stone was falling.
Avender found a jagged shard of rock. Stone in hand, he saw his chance. The creature was turned almost entirely away from him. If he was fast enough, he might be able to catch it off guard. Quickly he raced along the creature’s side and jabbed the stone into its right eye. The mander howled. Blindly, it knocked Avender to the ground. Its drool burned like fire. As it searched for the boy with its one good eye, Nolo stepped forward with another ferocious blow to its tail. The mander bellowed again. Gouts of black blood pooled across the floor. Avender rolled toward the wall, away from the blood and burning slaver.
Horribly wounded, the mander released the bear. The Shaper attacked again instantly, flailing madly with his claws. The mander rocked beneath the blows but took no fresh wounds. Nolo swung his axe. With a fresh cry of pain, the mander turned quickly for the stair. Fast as a leaping fish it was gone. A dark trail glistened behind it.
In as much a rage as ever, the bear surged forward in pursuit. Avender leapt painfully to his feet. “Redburr! We’ve won!”
The Shaper turned and snarled. Avender gasped. The beloved friend of his childhood was gone, replaced by a thing of madness and wrath. Worse even than the poisoned jaws of the mander were Redburr’s gaping teeth and throat. His fangs gleamed like knives in the light of Nolo’s lamp; his scarlet eyes had shrunk to the size of peas. Nolo pulled Avender out of the way just as the great muzzle snapped shut where the boy’s head had been.
Dwarf and boy fell back across the room. The bear, in his haste to come at them again, slipped in the mander’s blood and skidded into the far tunnel. As he scrambled to his feet the black wetness matted his fur and began to burn. With one last howl of pain and fury, the Shaper raced off up the stairs along the mander’s trail, back to the heart of Ussene.
Avender, spattered with burns and bruises, fell to his knees and wept.