They spent the rest of that day and night at the inn. Tathan and Liselle both needed extra rest. The only thing Tathan went out for was a new pair of shoes. They weren’t as good as his previous pair, which had been specially made for silent movement, but they would do.
Before the sun rose the next morning, the party was on their way to the Cavern Road. The reddish-brown face of the mountain was sloped at a steep angle with a huge opening that had been widened and reinforced by Rojuun after the city was built.
Inside the mountain was a massive cavern, the ceiling a good twenty levels above them. A small river flowed through on its way to Trohiin Lake. Sounds of people and a merchant train, which had entered the cave in front of them, echoed from the high ceiling.
A number of buildings lined the walls while the rest of the cavern was park areas with walkways and bridges crossing the river. There were plants and animals in roped off areas, a mixture of upper cavern wildlife mixed with surface wildlife for people to view. It created a strong smell that was only partially relieved by ventilation shafts in the ceiling.
The companions moved toward a large tunnel on the other side of the cavern. Human guards directed by a Rojuun supervisor were examining a wagon train coming out of the caverns. The wagons were long and thin. Sir Danth had learned that wagons were checked for plants and animals from the caverns, which were not allowed above ground as it could kill them. The Rojuun didn’t want to upset the natural balance of things by having flora and fauna smuggled in either direction.
A human administrator sat behind a desk to the right of the tunnel. Sir Danth led them to that desk and they gave him the passes. He looked them over and asked, “What is your purpose in the caverns?” The man was polite, but businesslike.
Tathan answered for them, giving a response they had discussed in advance. “We’re looking to travel to the Kingdom of Iynath. The Rojuun are nice, but we want to get out of the caverns and back under the sun. Regrettably there isn’t any way to get there except through the Cavern Road.” Tathan slumped his shoulders as though it was a burden to make the journey.
“Of course. You do understand that if a Rojuun insists you must work, you will be obligated.”
“We know,” Tathan replied miserably. “We’re going to keep our heads low and pray we make it through as fast as possible.”
The administrator looked the party over. Not knowing what to make of them, he just shrugged. “Very well. Do you have contraband or anything that is not legal to take into the caverns?”
“No sir. Nothing at all,” Tathan assured him.
He looked them over one more time, opened his mouth to say something then thought better of it and shrugged again. “Alright. Go ahead. Don’t break any laws, don’t . . . just don’t be idiots,” he finished with a sigh.
“We will avoid idiocy and pray it avoids us,” Sir Danth stated in a deadpan voice. It was enough to get a grin from the administrator as he waved them on.
The Cavern Road was a tunnel wide enough to fit three rows of wagons. Sir Danth explained that the people he had talked to about the road told him a few sections were only small enough to fit one, which was why the wagons were so thin and long.
The floor of the tunnel was slightly rough, but had been smoothed out by workers and a few centuries of wagon travel. The companions walked comfortably with the exception of Tathan. His new shoes needed time to be broken in, but the rock floor was not the best place to initiate them. New skin and muscle in his healed foot began protesting after the first mile.
Until that point, they had been making excellent time. Liselle saw him begin to favor the foot. After a while, she made him sit on one of the benches placed along the wall. The bottom of the foot was red and raw. When Liselle touched it, Tathan jerked backward with a hiss of pain. “This is really sore, Cousin. We’re going to have to take it easy,” she told him with concern in her voice.
“I don’t see why,” Sir Danth protested playfully. “His shoes are much more comfortable than mine and you don’t hear me complaining about sore feet, do you?”
“You don’t have feet anymore, Sir Knight,” Liselle explained.
“Well, that’s no excuse for him to complain,” he said with a gesture toward Tathan. “Besides, it’s not very nice to remind me of that you know. The loss is still fresh.”
“You lost your body centuries ago,” Tathan pointed out helpfully. “I think it might have been over a millennium, but I’m not sure.”
“So now you are saying that I’m old, Master Tathan. Is that it?” the knight challenged.
“You’re extremely old!” Vevin agreed enthusiastically. “I met some dirt once that wasn’t as old as you.” There was a big toothy grin on his face.
Sir Danth laughed out loud. He gave Vevin a clout on the back that sent the purple haired creature staggering. It caused Tathan to burst into laughter, thankful that he wasn’t the victim of the knight’s friendship for once. When Vevin straightened, his eyes were narrowed and his jaw set.
Vevin forced a fake laugh out and returned the gesture. A great clang ran the length of the tunnel. Instead of Sir Danth staggering, Vevin shook his hand in pain. “Owww!” he yelled out.
The armored knight laughed even harder. It sounded more human than it had in the past. Little by little, Sir Danth was becoming more alive. The metal was still there, but it wasn’t all there was to him anymore.
Vevin didn’t like having his hand hurt and turned it into a dragon claw bigger than Sir Danth’s head. The knight stopped laughing and moved into a defensive crouch. “Vevin!” Liselle chastised. “Play nice.” She stood up, waggling her finger at him.
The dragon claw disappeared, but Vevin grinned mischievously. Sir Danth came out of his crouch looking more worried than before. Liselle scolded both of them. “You boys are to get along. Is that clear?”
They looked contrite, but did not answer. “Is that clear?” Liselle asked more forcefully, crossing her arms. “Yes, Milady,” they said in unison. When she turned her attention back to Tathan’s foot, the two looked at each other with grins. Tathan decided not to bring it to his cousin’s attention.
“I think I can help a little,” Liselle said quietly.
Tathan reached down to put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want you wasting your energy, Cousin.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry. It’ll take only a small amount.” Liselle took a firm hold of his foot with one hand while gesturing with the other. Blue glow came from her palm and fingertips to envelope the foot. The flower in her hair moved forward in interest.
It felt wonderful. Tathan breathed deeply, laying his head back. A moan of relief escaped his lips. The magic massaged the sore muscles and cooled the skin. It worked its way into the bones, strengthening them as well.
When she was done, Tathan looked at his foot. It wasn’t so pink or tender anymore. Wiggling the toes, he could feel that the muscles had relaxed. There was no longer any pain.
Liselle sat down next to him and took a drink from her waterskin. “Put your shoe on and try walking a bit, Cousin,” she told him.
He did so. The foot still didn’t feel completely normal, but it was much better than before. The tightness of new skin was gone. Muscles felt as they were supposed to instead of unexercised.
“I sent some healing into it, but also tried to age everything so it would fit the rest of the body,” Liselle said with a frown. “That’s not exactly what I did, but it’s the best I can explain and I’m learning as I go.”
“Thank you so much,” Tathan replied with a happy smile. He even did a poor version of Vevin’s happy dance, causing them all to laugh.
After pausing awhile for a snack so Liselle could rest and regain the small amount of energy she had used, they set out.
There were benches all along the road like the one they had stopped at. Wherever the tunnel widened seemed a good place to put another. On occasion, the party would pass a traveler or group sitting on one.
Sometimes the tunnel widened more than usual, or a side cave appeared. In these areas, benches would be set up in a circle for camping. One of the caves they passed had a pool at the back of it with crystal clear water, which was wonderful to the taste. The companions ate a late lunch there.
Globes placed at intervals along the length of the tunnel provided light. They glowed yellow, casting light that was comfortable to the eyes. When Tathan asked a woman driving a wagon if she knew how they stayed lit, she merely replied “Magic”.
The Cavern road angled downward gradually, going deep beneath the mountains. In some sections, the tunnels had ribbed braces providing strength. In others, the rock was strong enough that braces weren’t needed. Liselle asked one of the Rojuun who passed if the tunnel was safe and he assured her that minor collapses only happened once or twice a year and people rarely died in them. Oddly enough, that did little to comfort the companions.
Sound echoed in the tunnels. It was possible to hear a wagon train for a long time before they could see it. The rolling creaks of wagon wheels mixed with clip clopping horses to create quite a racket. Wagon drivers hollering at each other and the horses added to the din. The companions covered their ears the first few times a train would pass, but gradually became used to it.
Voices were another thing that echoed. Even when they tried to whisper, the noise carried for a long way. At any distance, the sound became garbled to the point of being unintelligible. Murmurs ebbed throughout the tunnel that the human ear could not separate.
Vevin, on the other hand, could tell exactly what people were saying for miles in any direction. He would tell his companions some of the more interesting bits like a woman who had an affair with her husband’s best friend. Most of it was just gossip, but every once in a while he would hear information about something that could help them.
Tathan finally asked, “Why haven’t you done this before to find out where the princess is?”
Vevin looked at him in surprise. “Why, I never even considered it. Most of the time, people are boring. It’s all about kids, work and . . . boring stuff.” He shrugged. “Plus listening to all those voices gives me a headache after a while.”
Tathan considered for a moment. “Sometimes I think of a word or two, like princess, then listen for that word when I’m in a crowd. Can you do that? Then listen for what’s said about it.”
Vevin stopped walking, tilting his head in each direction. The rest of them stopped as well. “I think I can,” he said slowly. “I don’t hear it right now, but I can tune my ear to that word. That’s very clever, Tathan. I’ll have to remember it.”
Tathan clasped Vevin’s arm. “Yes, definitely. Let us know if you find out anything that might be useful.”
Vevin nodded enthusiastically and did a listening dance.
The temperature became cooler as the party traveled deeper into the ground. Soon plants began to appear on the walls and ceiling. The plants were rich with oxygen, which made it possible to breathe the air.
Bioluminescent fluids creeped through the plants, creating light. It was similar to the glowflies in the forest, but much more powerful. They were different from plants on the surface. Their powerful roots dug deep into the rock, but at the same time secured the stone so that ribs and braces were no longer needed to keep the tunnel secure.
Plants that grew in the ceiling and walls of caverns and tunnels tended to be unfit for human consumption, though the Rojuun could eat many of the varieties. The roots collected nutrients from deep within the rock. This made them metallic and heavy in a way humans couldn’t digest. The floors of Rojuun caverns often had softer and more fertile dirt distributed by extensive underground rivers flowing throughout the world of Ryallon.
From this softer dirt, grew plants edible to humans. They glowed and produced copious amounts of oxygen as well, but were softer than their hanging counterparts were. Animals of all sorts fed on them. Meanwhile, other animals fed on those animals. When the animals died, they lay in the soil adding their nutrients to it. It was a vast cycle of life underground that had taken thousands upon thousands of years to develop. From that life came the Rojuun, later than humans had developed upon the surface, but perhaps that was the way the gods intended it.
“Vevin,” Liselle said thoughtfully. “If the humans came from the surface of Ryallon, and the Rojuun came from the caverns, where did dragons come from?”
Her mate, who was still listening for the word ‘princess’ in conversations, considered the question absentmindedly. After a moment he answered, “Why, from the stars of course.”
Near the end of the day, the party came to a small town set within a cavern. There was a lake nearby providing water and fishing for the citizens. They chose the simpler of the two inns and spent the night.