Chapter Forty-one

Deep Secrets


We helped the rescued prisoners don their armor as we discussed ways to make a distraction so that our Duergar ally could take us past the citadel inside of her darkness spell. Spells, me flying out over the city, noises, lights moving away from us, or setting something on fire.

They finished donning the armor. I took note that Kima was wearing plate armor that could be quite loud. It was gleaming and beautiful, etched with the symbol of her deity. It looked to be spotless. Kutsool's armor was more dirty and worn, looking like it had been underground for a long time, which it probably had.

I had been watching as we discussed. The activity seemed to be going away from the citadel, into the city. A few guards were going back and forth from the citadel, but in regular intervals.

We decided to wait for one of the patrolling guards to leave, and then we would move forward with the duergar's darkness spell, all of us holding hands behind her. I debated using a spell I'd recently learned to make us completely silent, but it would also make us deaf.

That would make us both blind and deaf as we were led by a duergar we'd just met that claimed to be friendly. While she had convincing evidence, I still didn't like that idea. I felt like the duergar was being truthful, but I wasn't comfortable giving up both of my main senses.

Kima looked at the duergar. "What's your name?"

"My name is Sephra, but you can call me Seph."

Naidaroe shook her head. "I still would like to know why you show yourself now? If you've been helping us this whole time why didn't you come forward before now?"

"I didn't think you'd be able to get out of this one." The cave went silent.

Melima finally broke the silence. "Why are you helping us? What's in it for you?"

Sephra looked at her toes and lifted her heels. "I don't know if you'd believe me if I told you my story."

Melima didn't want to stop to hear her story, and Naidaroe agreed to let Sephra tell us after we'd gotten away. Everyone's armor was finally on, and the Duergar patrol just changed. It was time for us to make our move.

I cast the same spell Ari'yasa had been, making it harder to notice us. We crept to the corner of the citadel and divided into two lines. Everyone grabbed hands, Keothi at one of the ends so he could hold his hammer. Sephra was at the front, ready to hold the front of both lines.

Kima and I were standing next to each other at the front, right behind Sephra. Sephra moved her hands and everything went dark. Just before the darkness enveloped us, one of the guards glanced our direction, his eyes meeting mine. My heart nearly leapt into my throat.

I felt a slender hand grab mine. It surprised me, it wasn't the rough Dwarven hand I had just seen. I heard one of the guards grunting. Between hearing them, and asking Keothi and Sindus what various words were as we had traveled, I was starting to understand the Dwarvish language.

"What's going on?" The guard sounded scared. We seemed to walk past them, much to my relief. Our Duergar guide was not trying to take us back into the stronghold.

Sindus was stumbling and kicking rocks. I was grateful I could barely hear them with the spell I had cast to muffle our sounds. We turned and started a slight descent. "Okay guys," Sephra said, "there were two duergar that saw me before I cast the darkness. I'm going to keep the spell up for a little bit, just to be safe."

"Did they follow us?" Keothi asked.

"No, it doesn't look like it," she said.

We walked a little bit longer. I could hear our muffled footsteps, but not being able to see my surroundings was starting to unnerve me. It reminded me of another long, slow descent into dangerous territory when I couldn't see. "Can we see yet? I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I could keep guard."

"I can put the darkness down, whatever you guys want, but I can only cast it one more time before resting," our guide said. Per Naidaroe's suggestion, we went a couple minutes longer before Sephra dropped her spell.

It looked like we were in a main thoroughfare leading down, with a slight curve to the side. Naidaroe pulled out her glowing rapier and I could see Sindus relax.

I looked at Kima. "What do you remember after coming down this way? What are we looking for?"

"The next thing beyond the citadel, after I saw the column of lava— I traveled down, further down through and into a huge, open cavern where there was a large, what looked like overgrown mushroom forest, and beyond that was some type of pyramid temple, where I saw the eye. I don't know anymore beyond that, but if this is where my vision is taking me, this is the way."

"Well, that does give us an idea of what we're looking for," I said. She said we should keep going, and took the lead of our group.

Sindus and Melima started complaining that this was not the way to get out. They didn't want to go farther down. I explained that the way we came was blocked, and our best bet was to follow Kima's vision.

Naidaroe suggested we tie ourselves up and have Sephra lead us, in case we came across anyone. Sephra told us she couldn't actually speak Dwarvish, though she did speak Undercommon, the language of the underdark. We continued down, planning to fight anyone we came across.

The heat we felt from the lava dissipated the farther down we went. It was almost cool. We came to a place that broke into smaller tunnels, more naturally carved than the hewn rock we'd been traveling through.

The tunnels connected for a while, and Kima led us down the middle, the most straightforward path. It finally split in two different directions, with no middle path. Ari'yasa suggested we find somewhere to rest.

We explored the cave system, and found a place on the edge of the system where the tunnel curved, widening in the curve. Naidaroe said she knew a spell that could make us a small hut that would keep us safe, only letting in whomever she allowed.

She took several minutes to perform a ritual, and a shimmering wall soon enveloped us. It was much like the window of the water chamber we'd fought the mage at, we could see through it. Naidaroe indicated we could go through it as well.

I wanted to see what it looked like from the other side. I started to step through, my head leaving the dome first. I paused and stood in amazement, it looked as though I was standing shoulder deep in black stone.

Ari'yasa's head appeared next to me. The rest of her seemed to be buried in solid stone. I pulled my head back into the hut, I could see all of her, and all of me again! I stepped all of the way out of the dome, it looked like it was just a part of the cavern wall. I was comfortable with our disguise.

Everyone was setting their spot to rest when I went back inside. Kima walked over to Sephra and cast something. "So, who are you? How do you know Allura?" She looked at the rest of us. "She can't lie to us for the next little bit."

"My name is Sephra, and I encountered Allura as I was tracking your group."

"Interesting... Why did she give you one of those stones?" our fiery gnome asked.

"Because Allura trusted me in my journey in finding you, and I lost your trail."

"Interesting. Did she only give you the one?"

"I had five."

"She gave you five? Very interesting. Well, I'm glad you were able to get us out of there. I was afraid they were going to find us, again."

I stepped in. "Why were you following our group to begin with?"

"I don't know everything about my life, but I found something out when my parents passed away. In a chest in my home, I found a letter from my birth mother, in which I found identity of my birth father, and I found out that Melima and I are half-siblings."

There was a stunned silence until Melima finally spoke. "Wait, so is your father my father?"

"Yes." A quiet murmur filled our camp. The implications of that statement were astounding.

"So, I'm learning some things about my father. Who's your mother?" Melima asked in disbelief.

"I don't know. I've been tracking her for a while. I couldn't find anything on her and she had warned me that I wouldn't get anywhere with my father. So when I heard that you had left the kingdom, I wanted to see if I had a chance to get to know you."

"How come I've never heard of you? What do you look like?" It was odd that what looked like a duergar claimed to be the progeny of a High Elven king.

"To leave my disguise for us tonight I will leave my ring on, but I am a drow. I am a half-drow, obviously, because—"

"Oh," Melima interrupted, with some disgust in her voice. "A drow." She sighed. "Okay, good to know. So what else can you tell us? How old are you?"

"I'm five hundred years old."

Melima stared at her for a moment. I didn't know how old Melima was, but her face indicated Sephra's age as significant. She finally spoke again. "Do you have any siblings?"

"No, I had humans who raised me. My mother gave me up and I don't quite exactly know everything. So, I am too searching out answers."

"Humans don't live very long, so how long have you been on your own?" Melima asked

"For a very long time."

Melima stood for a moment before extending her hand. "Well, I guess welcome to our clan."

"Thank you. I appreciate that," Sephra said as she shook her hand.

"Where do your powers come from?" Melima asked. I'd had the same question. Was she of Draconic bloodline as well?

"I was born with them."

"Are they Draconic?" Melima asked.

"It is shadow magic, it comes from my Drow ancestry," Sephra said.

The origin of her powers was more concerning to me than if it were Draconic. "I'm curious, with your background, do you follow any particular deity?"

"I do, I follow the Everlight." That was not the answer I was expecting. I'd heard of her while I was roaming the religious district in Emildan. She espoused light, justice, and as Sephra explained, redemption.

Kima had told us she couldn't lie, but I remembered how Elora's powers had worked, it only worked for questions Elora asked. Did Kima's magic work the same way? Yet, everything told me she was telling the truth. I could find nothing hinting at any deception.

Kima shifted in her armor. "Well, that's an interesting twist." She looked back at us. "I don't know any of you, either."

We all took turns introducing ourselves, sharing stories and adventures. Kutsool told us that he had been a stonecutter in one of the main Dwarven mines. He was one of the main people to set explosives, dig tunnels, survey the mine, and the like.

He'd been sent down through one of the older tunnels and somehow had become disoriented. He'd tried to make his way out, but was captured in one of the tunnels by the duergar. He figured he'd been imprisoned for several weeks. He'd been there the longest, somehow managing to stay alive while all but Kima were killed. Kima had been one of the last to be captured.

The duergar were trying to get him to tell them where the Dwarven mines were. They seemed to want to find a way up. He didn't know how to get to them, but if we found a way to the Dwarven mines again that he could recognize, he would be able to get us out.

He was also extremely familiar with Dwarven engineering, being able to tell how well something was built and where the weak points were, being a craftsman and stonemason. It was good to have a dwarf on our side.

After a couple of hours, we finally retired to bed. We had no idea if it was actually night or not. By my best estimation, we had entered the temple of Talush about forty-eight hours ago, two full days.

I woke up as we slept, before I should have. Heavy footsteps were coming up one of the corridors. It sounded like there were six or eight sets. There were voices as well. I picked out bits and pieces of the Dwarvish.

Nearly all of it was mindless chatter, talking about other duergar, how they hated getting transferred to the city because the walk was so long, and how they'd rather stay where they had been stationed.

I glanced over to Ari'yasa, who had also woken from the noise. "It sounds like they're heading up."

She nodded in agreement. That was a relief, they were sending reinforcements to the city, not down towards where we were headed.

We let them pass, not even seeing them. I thought it would be funny if they passed directly by and I poked my head out of the dome, but that was obviously unwise on many levels. I knew someone else would do it if I mentioned it though.

We all awoke several hours later, and the dome disappeared. Melima asked Kutsool if he'd be able to identify explosives if he saw them. He affirmed that he could, and Melima handed him one of the black pearls we'd acquired from the chimera treasure.

He took it and rolled it between his fingers, then pushed it around his palm. "This isn't a natural thing. It almost looks manmade, almost magical. I'm curious though, it reminds me of something..."

He looked at me, then Melima with a mischievous grin. Then he turned and threw it down the tunnel. It clinked against the ground a couple of times, then an explosion went off.

Melima stood from where she had been sitting. "Are you crazy? You could have blown our cover!"

Kutsool shrugged. "No one's around."

"That we know of! But thank you. Thank you for clarifying what in the world these things are."

"I would suggest putting these in a safe place," the dwarf said.

Sindus coyly slipped a few into his pocket. It was so smooth that I almost didn't notice. "Sindus," I warned, "put them in the bag."

"No." He started to walk away.

Melima snapped the box shut and looked at our roguish friend. "What? What did Sindus do?"

"He took some of them! We don't need to accidentally make an explosion." I understood his desire to have them at the ready, but the risk in having them in a vulnerable position was not worth it.

"Why can't I have them? They're just beads!" Sindus said.

"They're not beads, they're explosives! Maybe once we can figure out how to put them on our arrows, but not now!" I was grateful our argument was keeping his eye off of Naidaroe, who snuck behind him and slipped them out of his pocket.

Naidaroe took them back to Melima, who secured them in her chest and put it back in her bag. Keothi walked up to Sindus and put his hand on his shoulder. "We just don't want you to die twice."

We looked back to where we had camped for the night. The duergar was gone, and in her place was a drow. I felt myself tense up for a moment, until I remembered Sephra had said her true form was a drow.

Her skin was lighter than the other drow I had seen, a light grey. Her hair was white, and her eyes purple. When she stood, her height was right between Melima's and mine, as tall as most humans. She wore a blue cape.

What was with the color blue? Melima's skin had a blue tint, Naidaroe's hair was blue, and Ari'yasa was blue all over. Even Darion had worn blue, a color that represented Bahamut. I was glad that Keothi and Sindus joined me in wearing earth tones.

Melima's demeanor changed. We all looked to both of the elves. They definitely looked like they could be related, at least cousins. Sephra looked at Melima. "Did I do something to upset you?"

"No. It will just take some getting used to." Melima was cool to the newcomer.

"I understand. I think I have some questions about our father, but I think I can ask those at a more appropriate time, if you are open to that."

I didn't think the room could get more still. Sephra was wise in wanting to wait. Melima gave a short nod. "Alright, we can talk later."

We finished packing up and set out again. We found our way to the end of the winding tunnels, back to the main tunnel we'd been traveling down. We walked for several hours, quickly dispatching any duergar we crossed on our way down. With the nine of us, they usually turned to run rather than fight.

Melima and Sephra pulled to the back to talk as we journeyed down. I stayed to the front. Not only did I want to stay alert and lead our group, I wanted to give the sisters privacy, and I could hear them clearly enough if I got too close. I might be family to them as well, but not close enough to get involved.