Chapter 11
The Creature
Through caverns and corridors to still endless caves, the decent into the mine went deeper and deeper. But for the magic glow of the light that surrounded the four who traveled the path to Cullinan's Cavern lit the way in the darkness. Walker Boh led his party surefooted and confident, that was, up until this very moment. All of a sudden, it seemed to Morgan, as he watched the Druid, that he was taking careful steps. He would stop in his tracks to sit upon his heels and exam the dust tracks that proceeded ahead of them and then stand to observe the stones, boulders and cliff verges above them. He would walk into another cavern's entrance only to turn around and come back out again.
Morgan leaned his shoulder upon the stone wall and adjusted the leather belt that kept his sword of Leah strapped to his back. His eyes moved from the Druid to Par, who was sitting upon a boulder and waiting for his uncle to finish inspecting this area of the mine. If Par was concerned, you could not tell it by the look upon his face. It was soft and serene while his gaze concentrating upon his brother, Coll. Morgan's eyes flickered over to what kept Par's attention.
Coll had propped himself against the stone wall and squatting upon his heels. In his hands, he fingered a clear crystal that he had taken from off the ground. He had the look of despair and uncertainty and he was lost completely in those dark thoughts. His right hand dropped to his side and slid the scabbard that housed the Sword of Shannara, so it rested upon his lap. In his direct view, Coll pondered what use this sword and talisman would aid in their struggles with the dark forces they would soon face. It was clear as the crystal that he held in his left hand, in how the Sword of Shannara saved Par during the Shadowen war, when Par was so lost in the lies of Rimmer Dall. But what good would this sword be in what they were about to face here in this mine?
When Walker Boh came out of the cavern that he explored, he slowly approached Par. Seeing the Dark Uncle moving towards them, Morgan and Coll joined Par to hear what the Druid wished to tell them.
"Walker, are we lost?" asked Par.
Walker Boh muttered to himself and took measured steps closer towards Par. "I don't know what has happened, Par. I felt the presence as if it was calling out to me. Now, I feel nothing at all. It's like a veil being drawn over it." Walker rubbed his chin as if he was uncomfortable with the length of his beard and his eyes shifted toward the dark corridor just ahead of them. There were other things that he felt, presence of other evils close by, but his eyes just could not see it. This left Walker unsure what to do as time felt like it was slipping away from him. They needed to find the one dark magic that he knew was not so close at hand, but somewhere deeper in the mine.
Walker Boh struggled with himself in whether to tell his four companions. He would have done so, if it was relevant at the time. He decided to save this for later.
"Then what should we do now?" asked Coll abruptly forcing Walker's attention away from his scratchy beard and the dark corridor.
"There's noting to do, but to continue on the best we can until we can find somewhat of an answer behind all of this," said Walker sourly. "We travel deeper into the mine."
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The Mole dropped to the stone floor, howling and sobbing and clutching to both sides of his head. "No!" he shouted for the hundredth time.
"I won't listen to you, nasty Mother!" he groaned and groaned while visions of Damson kept replaying in his mind of how he would betray her. He thudded his head hard against the stone floor until his head throbbed with pain. But the pain did little to stop those visions. The Diamond that possessed him would not give him any peace until he obeyed her desire.
"Stop, stop!" he screeched out sobbing and quivering. Tears poured from his dark eyes and streaked down his hairy face. He curled himself into a ball drawing his knees to his chest. So immersed into the evil of the diamond, the Mole could no longer fight by his sheer will. The vileness of the diamond had finally defeated him and he crumbed under the weight of it.
"Okay, the Mole will do it," he whispered through his sharp teeth. "We will bring our lovely Damson to you. We will do it!"
He lay upon the stone floor wrenching in sorrow.
Voices and lit torches came around the curve of the cavern where the Mole lay sobbing. He scrambled from off the floor and huddled closely to the wall of the mine. He enshrouded his face with his arms and pressed himself against the stone. So wroth in grief in knowing what he must do, he could not squelch his sobbing.
He heard the group stop and felt the light of their torches shining upon him, but the mole did not move nor care what they would or could do to him. Sniveling and whimpering, he waited.
"We have someone here, mistress!" one of the men Matty Roe had brought with her, shouted out to them.
Matty Roe, Llewellyn and Wren approached the ring of men that surrounded the pathetic creature cringing and crying.
It was Llewellyn who rushed to his aid and gently placed her hands upon his shoulders and felt him wince. She spoke softly to him. "Are you hurt, my fine fellow?"
"Go away and leave me," he bellowed through the crooks of his arms hiding his features of his face from them. He tried to shrink further away from her, cowering and trembling. "There is nothing anyone can do for me," he muttered weakly.
"Please, if you only allow me to take a look at you," she offered. "Perhaps there is something I can do."
She pressed her hands gently to his shoulders and eased him away so she could see his face. In his despair, he allowed her to move him and she got a clear view.
From the light of the torches, the Mole suddenly began to scream in terrifying pain. He quickly covered his eyes with his arms. Llewellyn took in his sunken, deep, dark eyes to the thick bristle that covered most of his features, and it stilled her breath for only a moment seeing what she did not expect. But for the compassion that Llewellyn possessed, only opened herself more so to his need. She could sense the pain he felt from the light and she behest the men to lower their torches.
"Llewellyn, leave him and come with us," Wren commanded. "There is clearly nothing you can do for this creature."
"We must keep moving if we are to find the Druid," ordered Matty Roh.
In the dim lighting, the Mole could see the three women standing about him and his mood suddenly shifted as did the malevolent light that sparkled deep within his eyes. He no longer needed the lovely Damson. There were three to take her place. He could have twittered with elation just thinking about it. But he forced his laughter away and faked a pitiful self. He moved from the stone wall and wobbled to his feet. Turning to the three women, he told them.
"We can take you to the druid. We know where he is," the Mole twittered even though he tried to suppress it. "We hid in the dark of the cavern away from him, we did. He did not see us and he did not catch us. Quiet we were while we waited for him to leave."
The Mole snickered again between his clenched, sharp teeth.
"If the druid is in this cavern, my men are more than able to track him," Matty Roh said to Wren. "We hardly need a pathetic creature to help us."
Wren eyed the creature who stood waiting for his answer. He looked all the pathetic thing that Matty claimed him to be, but to Wren and the creatures she had known, pathetic or not, had all been her saving grace. And here was another one. Faced with the same uncertainty as was before and given the choice to trust it, Wren knew instinctively that she must. Squaring her shoulders and standing firm, she told them her answer.
"We will let this creature led us to the druid."
A scowl creased the corners of Matty Roh's eyes and her mouth and stared at this elvish wisp of a girl who was giving them orders once again as if she was really the Queen of the elves. Crossing her arms in front of herself and taking a determined stance, and with a disdainful sniff, Matty turned from her and began to follow after them. She would have ordered her men back, but she would not give that mule-headed elvish girl the slightest bit of an edge in knowing that she had gotten one up on her. Instead she followed as if it was her idea and fully intended to watch their back.
Wren only glanced back once to see Matty following her a few paces behind. She lifted her confident chin and only the corners of her lips rose slightly in a satisfying smile.
At the front of the group the Mole rubbed his hairy hands together and was twittering and muttering to himself in quiet hissing whispers. "Yes, my lovely one. Nasty mother will not get her hands upon our lovely Damson. No, she won't. She will get these three here. Our lovely Damson will be safe. The Mole has saved her."
The Mole's eyes glowed with a white, gleaming light while he led the group in the darkness that was ahead of him. The torches lit the path for the other's to follow from the men who carried them and stayed a few paces behind the creature and just where they could see his shadowed form up ahead of them.
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Hearts pounded and thumbs rested upon the trigger of their crossbows. Lines of dwarves centered the bows upon the secret entrance just behind the tall crystal cone that hung from ceiling to floor in the opened cavern waiting for the creature called Cullinan to appear. Tuonin, who took Griffin's spot as the commander of these dwarves and who etched out the map of Cullinan's Cavern to Damson, stood ready to give the order to fire. His eyes were locked upon that entrance while Damson stood chewing her bottom lip and wondering and wishing for her father and his men to come to their aid. While she only had these small, handful of dwarves to try and stop this thing whose mire sight from his eyes could cut a man in half. The only protection her dwarves had was being behind huge boulders and in deep fissures in the side of a wall of stone. Damson hoped that she could find this creature's weakness and attack that before any of her dwarves would die. But death would come to many she feared, if she did not find away to stop it.
Before Dawson had time to clear her thoughts, the creature was there standing in the entrance and Tuonin screamed, "Fire!"
Her eyes snapped to the creature and watched as the arrows disintegrate in the fiery, hot glow of the light that shot out of the creature's eyes. Now his eyes were upon the line of the dwarves with crossbows and he was coming fast after them. The dwarves with the long bows stood on the flank side of those with the crossbows and fired their arrows. A wave of the arrows plummeted down upon the creature only to bounce off of the energy that surrounded it. Damson's eye popped staring in disbelief that nothing they could do could stop this thing. She raised her arms and was about to shout the order to fall back, when a white lightening bolt shot across the cavern from behind her and slammed into the creature. Damson snapped around to see Par walking towards her. From Walker Boh's hand another bolt of lightening shot out and she returned her eyes to follow it. Walker's magic had only pushed the creature against the wall, but it appeared unharmed and it fought against the magic that Walker welded. A hum began to build in the cavern from the energy of both magic's pressing against each other to gain dominance over the other. Par could see that Walker was drawing more power within his magic and he knew he could not hold it for very long. Seeing Damson, he wished he could have embraced her, but that would have to wait until the creature was subdued. Par called upon his magic of the Wish Song and he could feel it spring to life and flared out towards the creature. It slammed the thing against the wall once more, but it still pushed away from the wall and its energy began to draw down upon Par. He could feel his power drawing more energy and he was filled to bursting with it. But the creature still remained. Between Walker's magic and his combined the things should have exploded into dust. All it seemed what they were doing was just holding the creature back. Walker shouted over his shoulder to Damson, "Get everyone out of here including yourself!" he yelled. "We can not hold this thing for very much longer!"
Coll drew the Sword of Shannara as did Morgan who stood beside him. Coll did not know what his sword would be able to do, but having something in his hands was enough for that moment.
The dwarves backed themselves out of the cavern to let the Druid and his magic fight the thing that they could not. Tuonin grasped Damson's elbow and tried to encourage her to leave with them, "Come my lady, there is nothing we can do."
"Damson, go with him!" shouted Par over his shoulder while he held onto his power against the Cullinan creature.
"I won't just leave you!" cried Damson knowing there was nothing she could do to help them. She felt helpless and frightened.
"Damson, you must leave. Join your father and let us stop this thing," encouraged Coll. "For Par's sake, you must!"
Damson set pleading eyes upon Coll and she hesitated for only a moment and then nodded towards Coll. There was nothing she could do. They would find away to destroy this creature. She had to believe that. With Walker Boh, Coll and Morgan, they would see to Par's safety and return him to her. Damson looked one more time at Par and the struggle with the wish song's magic bearing down upon the creature. He could not afford any distraction and his very life depended upon his focus in destroying this thing. Yes, she thought. Par would kill this thing and he would see to everyone's safety and right this evil. Oh, her arms ached to hold him one more time. She would save that when this was over. Damson's eyes wandered over the others. Par was safe in the company that he chose. She turned and ran out with the dwarves from the cavern.
Walker could feel his strength weakening and his magic beginning to fade. He knew he could not hold on much longer. His eyes quickly rose to the cone shaped crystal suspended above the creature. Then swift as a striking viper, Walker turned his magic upon the crystal. Hot, white lightening bolts shot from his fingers and the crystal seemed to absorb his energy into its self. The crystal began to hum loudly and vibrate to ear piercing pitch. Then the explosion sent booming repercussion that shook the cavern as it crashed downward and pinning the creature Cullinan to the floor of the cave. From the moment the creature was pinned to the floor, caused Par's release from his magic had sent him sailing backwards and skidding until his landed a few feet behind Morgan and Coll. They both ran to Par to help him.
Par was visibly shaken by the power that filled him. It had almost overtaken him with the energy it took to hold back the creature called Cullinan. He felt it was within seconds before he would have been burned alive by the power of the Wish Song.
Walker sunk to the hard stone about his feet breathing heavily trying to regain some of his strength. He peered over his shoulder to Par and the others and knew instinctively that Par was unharmed. He rose upon wobbly legs and scanned the ruin of the cavern.
A mountain of shard clear-cut crystals laid in heaps and piles. Huge stone boulders that fell with the explosion of the cone crystal also laid out in amongst the destruction. The creature Cullinan was no where to be seen, but Walker could still sense it.
Walker only glanced back once more before he decided to climb downward from their verge to see if the creature was truly dead. His steps were calculated and carefully planned to maneuver through the chunks of broken crystals. Some of the crystals were so large that he had to climb upon them and then lower himself on the other side. Some so razor sharp he had to place his footing just right to avoid the risk of injury. He kicked piles of crystals with his foot to dig down deeper to where he thought the creature was buried. Soon, Morgan, Coll and Par joined him and they helped remove some of the crystals to reach the thing under them.
Par's eyes thwarted towards his uncle and vexation was written upon his face. He would have thought Walker would have been the first one to come to his aid, since it was him that aided his uncle when the Druid's strength was weakening. Did Walker care so little of Par's safety?
"By the way, Walker, I just barely survived that," stated Par sarcastically to the dark uncle.
"I sensed you were unharmed," said Walker dispassionately. He only glanced downward into Par's eyes before returning back to removing the final layer of crystals. They had all wrapped a piece of cloth over their hand and hands to prevent themselves from being cut upon the razor edges of the crystals. Walker uncovered the creature Cullinan's hand and arm and examined it to its elbow. There was not a single mark upon it and with the Druid's touch he sensed something else far more impossible.
"Back away from this creature and stand ready. It is not dead but asleep!"
"That's impossible, Walker!" Par's voice insistent and growing more frightened.
The razor sharp shards of crystal should have cut the thing in half, if not into smaller pieces. Not even their magic had any impact in killing this creature. It should have been dissolved into dust with the strength that both Par and Walker welded upon it. All this was puzzling Walker as he thought over what creature they were faced with.
Coll and Morgan froze holding their breath and waiting for the Dark Uncle to explain. The Druid rose from the crystal grave and took a measured paced while the three watched him with anxious eyes. His muscles appeared tense and his face intent and unreadable. He turned slightly and eyed the mountainous crystals that stood before him. Squatting down upon his heels, Walker picked up one polish looking crystal and held it tightly in his hand. For a moment, the Dark Uncle seemed to be withdrawing into himself. Quietly the three watched.
Par knew the furtive of the Druids and he hoped that his uncle would be straightforward with them. If they were to fight this evil then they needed all of Walker Boh's insight to lead them.
"Walker, I don't understand what happened. Why didn't our magic kill this thing?" asked Par trying to force Walker Boh to answer them.
Walker Boh stood and faced them.
"I do not know for sure, Par. Whatever this thing has of magic, it makes it invincible. If we do not find out what that is, we will not stand a chance against what evil had possessed this thing to begin with."
Walker's penetrating stare unraveled the three who listened apprehensively. His face was still impossible to read.
"This is not the creature we have come for?" asked Par incredibly. Their eyes stayed on Walker Boh wanting to know, but yet not wanting the answer to this question answered. Par swallowed hard.
"No, Par. He is not what I sensed. There is another far stronger than what this thing possesses."
"Then what chance do we have in defeating this evil!" shouted Par trying to keep incredulity from his voice.
Coll placed his hand upon his brother's arm as if to warn him not to push the Druid too far.
Par snapped his arm away from Coll and paced away from them trying to pull his fears together.
"Par some things are hard to give voice," Walker said patiently to Par's back knowing the turmoil and fear within his nephew. "I must seek insight to these answers. But we will not take a wrong step from here."
Walker waited for Par to answer him or at least acknowledge that he had listened to him. He hesitated, looking at them. Turning away, Walker climbed down from the mass of crystals and over to a large stone boulder. He pulled himself upon it and sat down. Closing his eyes, he willed himself into a Druid's sleep and sent his spirit into the cave to search.
Coll made his way downward from the top of the mountain of broken crystals after surveying the damage it caused from the magic that Walker Boh released into it. Coll inched his way downward taking careful steps and began heading towards Morgan who was perched mid-way over the hand that was sticking out. Morgan was lost in thought wondering how this thing could possibly have survived.
Surprise flitted across Coll's face when his feet began to slide and the crystals shifted from underneath him. His feet danced in place trying to find his footing and his arms waved in the air erratically trying to find his balance. The wild motions sent Coll flying backwards and his feet out from under him. The torrent of crystals took Morgan down with it in an avalanche of clear stones. Coll twisted from side to side trying to grasp anything solid when he felt his sword catch on something and then slide out of its scabbard. It had stopped his rolling only momentarily as he grasped feverishly for his sword. Held in place, Coll had a firm grip upon the blade towards the hilt of the sword and whatever else held the sword from moving with the torrent of crystals. The shards of crystals buffeted over him and around him, and he felt the cuts and scraps from the stones that slammed into him. He could feel his hand bleeding from the tight grip upon the blade of his sword and something else. A shock that he felt was like a bolt of lightening and it shook him making him tremble. Coll's eyes popped staring at the hand that held the hilt of his sword while the surge of crystals uncovered the creature called Cullinan and its penetrating stare was upon him. Coll froze holding his breath.