Chapter Thirty-five

Underground Reconnaissance


We went away from the direction we had come, which was also away from where we had seen the dwarves go with the cart. I listened for sounds of the bridge falling. Arrows and bolts began to shower down around us. We managed to weave our way through them without any of us getting hit by one.

We made our way all the way around the cavern, crossing over the river running through it. It was a bit easier to cross than it had been earlier, though as we crossed I could see that it ran over the edge into the chasm. The sound of the river masked any sound that the fire or the bridge was making.

We followed the wall all the way back, then back over the river, now on our way to where the cart must have been left. I didn't want the dwarves to have any idea where we wanted to go, or where we had been hiding to rest.

The ruins were more sparse by the river, and stalagmites were more frequent. I wondered if the ruins were from these dark dwarves, or someone else. Because the statues were all the same color, I couldn't tell. I also noted some larger tunnels like the one we came down into the cavern. Those were away from the ruins.

We finally made it to the cart after walking for just under an hour. I looked towards the bridge. The fire was no longer there, but I couldn't tell if it had been put out or if the bridge was gone.

We found some basic supplies inside the cart. Rusty weapons, pikes, swords, javelins. There were some mushrooms, but they were starting to rot. They didn't seem to be poisonous, but Keothi told us they weren't ones we'd want to use for cooking.

"I almost wonder if they have more of a magical purpose," I said. Melima turned one over in her hands, but couldn't find anything magical about them. There wasn't anything we could use in the cart. As I thought about it, I didn't want to encourage Sindus and Naidaroe to go against what the snakes had told them about not taking anything anyway.

Sindus and Naidaroe peered over the edge of the cliff, then towards the bridge. The light from Ari'yasa's spell winked out, and I could barely make them out by the cliff face.

Ari'yasa went to heal Keothi with her magic—he wasn't standing as straight as normal and had a few open wounds—but he insisted he would be fine after resting for an hour or two.

We found a good place to sit and rest. Sindus told us there was a glowing orange stream at the bottom of the chasm. Naidaroe said that the bridge was gone. If Kima had been captured by these dark dwarves, we'd have to find another way across.

We hadn't been resting long when there was the sound of an explosion, like Lorcan's weapons made, but much bigger. It was the same sound I had heard on watch earlier.

I watched where I thought the sound came from, and fifteen or twenty minutes later there was a bright flash with another loud boom. It came from across the chasm, on the far side of the cavern. The sound of rock falling continued for several seconds.

Sindus looked at me. "Bang powder for our arrows!"

I smiled. We'd have to find some eventually. I took out my broom. "I'm going to fly up and see what is on the other side of the chasm, see what is going on."

I flew up far enough to stay hidden, but still see what was on the ground. I made sure to stay away from the walls so I was out of reach of any of the buglike creatures that might be crawling on it.

The chasm kept going past the cavern walls. In the chasm walls there were open pockets that seemed like they continued on the other side of the chasm. I saw the glowing stream storeys upon storeys below me. The height I was now at was almost dizzying.

On the other side were many makeshift tents and buildings. It almost looked like they had put tarps over ruins that were on this side. This city must have been pretty big. In the center of the town area, there were several torches. One of the ruins seemed to have been partially rebuilt, and there was a sort of plaza around it.

I had to watch out for stalactites on the ceiling as I moved to get a better look. The buglike creatures seemed to like to hang from them, maybe even sleeping that way. Curious creatures indeed.

Turning my focus back to the ground, I tried to see if I could see anyone walking around. I could, but they were far away. I started to pull away from the wall, keeping to the shadows.

I started to see more dwarves, and more detail on the ground. They had several ballistas with some other siege equipment, maybe battering rams. Another explosion lit the cavern, this one was much bigger, probably because I was closer. Rock fell off of the wall. There were three large tunnels carved into the back wall, the explosion happening in the third one.

I flew a little bit more over the camp. No one seemed to look up to the ceiling, and more than likely they were used to movement from the buglike creatures. Someone was leaving the rebuilt building in the center. A larger dwarf, like the ones we had fought, and a tall, strange creature.

It looked like a man, but in the torchlight its skin was purplish-grey. Its eyes were dark, almost black. Tentacles came out from the bottom of its face where its mouth should have been. It looked like the squid creature I had seen a statue of earlier. It wore a dark robe, and it didn't seem to have a gait as it moved, but rather, seemed to float.

I looked for somewhere that a prisoner might be held, but all but the building in the center were tents, nothing was very secure. Satisfied that I had seen enough to collect the information we needed, I flew back the way I had come.

There were two pairs of the dwarves patrolling the edge of the chasm now. I waited for them to be facing away from me before I flew across to the other side.

Once I had landed, Sindus asked me what I had found. "So, it seems that there are more ruins on that side, but they've made tents with them. Only one of the buildings seems to have been rebuilt. It looks like it is a mining operation or something."

"How many were there?" Sindus asked.

"Based on the number of tents I saw, between one-hundred-fifty and two-hundred. There was also a creature with tentacles instead of a mouth and purplish, almost grey skin. It reminds me of a squid. It was walking with a larger dwarf."

Naidaroe's eyes grew wide. "I've heard tell of these creatures. Living underground, it is said that they can somehow control a person. They feed off of the minds of other creatures, though I don't know what that means. It could all be tales, but I didn't think they actually existed."

A feeling of uneasiness fell upon the group. It was unlike anything we had ever encountered, but I was confident that we could handle it. We had been sent here for a reason, after all.

"The way I see it," I said, "we have a couple of options. We can continue to investigate the tunnels that continue on the other side, but I have a feeling that if Kima did come this way she would have investigated about the dwarves, seeing as she was coming to fight evil.

"Part of me wants to check by the other tunnels for tracks. If we can tell that Kima went that way we know that the dwarves aren't worth messing with."

"Is there a way we can get across right here?" Sindus asked.

"We could, there's just a patrol of dwarves on the other side."

Sindus perked up at something. There was a voice, but I couldn't make out what it was saying. Sindus headed in the direction it was coming from. Melima, Ari'yasa, and Keothi went with him. Seeing that the dark-blind people were going, I went with them.

Sindus explained he heard a call for help, in Dwarvish. As we drew near to the bridge we saw a dwarf standing next to the edge of the chasm, clutching his side. He could barely stand upright, and was grimacing in pain. He was yelling something to the other side.

"He's asking for something to help him get across," Keothi said.

Melima nodded. "So that means they have some means of getting across."

We agreed to try a truce with this dwarf. "I did not do so well talking to the last ones," Keothi said.

"I can go talk to him!" Melima said. Naidaroe said she would as well. They approached, and Keothi held back.

Melima spoke first. "Excuse me, sir."

The dwarf shouted something at her I didn't understand. Melima continued, "Do you speak Common?"

"I speak Common," the dwarf said, haltingly.

Melima extended her hand. "We see you are hurt and we would like to help you."

"Why you help me? You just hurt me," the dwarf asked.

"Because we need help. We desperately need help. Look, it was just a miscommunication and things got out of hand."

The dwarf put his hand on his weapon. Melima lowered her hand. "Please sir, you are not one to fight."

"What do you want?" The dwarf glared at her.

"We are looking for a friend of ours." Melima described what we knew about Kima.

"Heal what has been hurt," Ari'yasa muttered under her breath. A faint blue light moved from her to the dwarf. He looked down at his side.

"There is more where that came from. How does that feel?" Melima asked.

"Better." The dwarf relaxed a bit where he was standing.

"We have more of that we can give you, we just need your help, as much as you can. Things just got wildly out of hand and we don't want that to happen again."

The dwarf thought for a moment, looked at his side, then back at us. He laughed. "Your friend was taken."

"By who?" Naidaroe asked.

"By us." He sneered at Naidaroe with a look that said she was an idiot.

"Why'd you do it?" Sindus asked.

"She trespassed into our camp."

Naidaroe stepped a little closer. "Do you know where she's being kept?"

"She's probably dead by now." His smile belied something else. Something he said wasn't true.

"Guys, I think she's still alive. I think they are keeping her for some reason that he won't tell," Naidaroe said. "Look, you can't fool us. Tell us what you really know."

His blank eyes opened wide. After a moment he answered. "You let me live, and I'll tell you where she is."

Melima snorted. "Well buddy, you're breathing now, so start talking. Take us to where Kima is."

"I will not go, but I will tell you where she is." He took a few steps forward. His steps were pained, he was still bruised on his arms and most likely a leg.

"She is being kept in the Emberhold below." His words were staggered, he was exerting a lot of energy just to talk.

"Where is below?" Keothi asked.

"The Emberhold is the Duergar King's fortress." So that must be what these dark dwarves called themselves, duergar.

"And where is this fortress?" Naidaroe asked.

"It is beyond the caverns in the camp. Down, down the tunnels. But it will be near impossible to get down there without being seen."

"By who?" Melima asked.

"By us." The duergar almost shouted the last word and gave Melima the same look he'd given Naidaroe earlier.

"Well, we're going to get escorted!" Melima said, ignoring the look she'd just been given.

"The deal was you let me live, and I tell you where she is. Nothing more."

Sindus crossed his arms. "Well, now that we've let you live we've got what we need. So if you want to continue living you need to continue helping us."

The duergar looked at us. I was getting uncomfortable with the situation. My friends had just gone back on their word, which was not fair in negotiating. He took a couple steps back to where we had first found him standing. Sindus slyly loaded his crossbow.

"I would rather die than betray my people. I don't care if you find her, but I will not betray my people." I admired his sense of honor. It was more than my friends were showing now.

Melima stepped closer to him again. "We have ways of helping you and your people, and we want so much to leave this place better than we found it, but we need your help."

"How will you help my people?"

"You have been living under a rock, literally your entire life..."

"We like the rocks," the duergar interrupted.

"And they are beautiful, and we appreciate them, and we want to show you what we can do. But we need our friend, Kima. Please take us to whomever you need to take us to, to your leader, and we will sort the trade. And you will be left far greater than when we found you."

The duergar stood a moment, thinking. Melima began again. "You are healed! Are you not interested in learning the arts in which we are able to do that instantaneously?"

"We do have some that can heal, but not to this extent."

Melima smiled. "And that was a small heal. We have big heals!"

The duergar took another moment to think, then took another step back. He spat as he took another. With the last step, he fell over the edge of the cliff.

"Get your broom!" Ari'yasa said. I shook my head sadly. Not only would I not be able to reach him in time, I respected the decision he had made. True to his word, he had rather die than betray his people. I had been in the same position against the mage of Loltha and had made the same decision, I had just survived.