THE EYE OF SOLZAN
Chapter Two
"Tyson!" Casper cried out. To him, it seemed as though his friend had been swallowed by the earth. There was a distant thump, and Casper surged forward, limping slightly, to see what had happened.
Just over a fallen stone, Casper saw a three by three hole in the ground, a trap door previously hidden by dust and debris. A little less than ten feet down, he could see Tyson sitting on a stoneworked floor, looking up with wide eyes. He was surrounded by grey-brown splinters of wood and bands of rusted iron.
"We're not having any luck today, are we?" Tyson asked grimly.
"Maybe not with gravity," Casper replied with a smile. "But look what you found!"
Slowly getting to his feet, Tyson looked around. "I think it found me. Hey look," he remarked, gesturing to something just out of Casper's line of sight. "The step you dislodged is down here. It must have landed on the trap door and smashed it open."
"I'm coming down," Casper said. Turning around, he got on all fours and slowly slid his legs into the hole. Supporting his weight on his hands, the young lad dropped carefully, momentarily hung by his hands, and then dropped down next to Tyson.
They were in a stoneworked chamber, roughly square, and empty except for a poorly made wooden ladder laying on the floor. Quite cool, it smelled dry and dusty and a thin layer of grime coated everything. Tyson had the presence of mind to check the chamber for any sort of footprints other than the marks he and Casper had made, but saw none. A single wooden door was set into the west wall of the chamber, resting slightly ajar.
"Well?" Tyson remarked, gesturing to the door. Casper's wide smile was answer enough. The blonde-haired lad grabbed the door's latch and pulled it open to reveal a corridor that extended into darkness.
Casper went back to the ladder on the floor and kicked off one of the end rungs. Picking it up, he turned to Tyson, smiled, and then looked back at the wooden rod in his hand. He spoke something spidery-sounding, and the piece of wood began to shine like a torch.
"I told you Belach taught me some things," Casper said. "Let's go."
Impressed, Tyson let Casper go first into the corridor. The light illuminated a fair distance, and they could see the corridor took a sharp turn to the south just ahead of them. Casper surged ahead and Tyson needed to jog to keep up with him.
"Be careful!" Tyson whispered. "This whole place could fall on our heads!"
"We're already out from under the tower," Casper replied. "We're under the hill now."
However, Casper still slowed as he came to the corner. Peering around, he turned back to Tyson with a grin. "Another door, this one's closed."
The two boys approached the doorway and Casper pulled on the latch. Disappointingly, it was locked, or jammed. Casper frowned and stared at it harshly, as though that would help.
"Don't you have any other tricks up your sleeve?" Tyson joked.
Casper grimaced. "I could light you on fire, how about that? What about you, can't your mighty Solzan open a door for us?"
Tyson grew quiet upon hearing Casper's tone, which sounded more like the senior Drake than the young son. "Hey, I was just kidding around."
Casper sighed. "I'm just frustrated. I was really expecting something down here, and here we are stopped by a locked door."
Tyson thought for a moment, and then rapped on the wood of the door. It felt dry and flaked under his knuckles. "We could break through it with a stone, I bet. It's really old and dry. We could make a hole big enough to reach through and unlock it from the other side."
Casper nodded. "Go get that stepstone, I'll wait here."
A few moments later, Tyson returned with the stone. It weighed about fifteen pounds and was two feet across, eight inches deep and about four inches thick. It was scratched and chipped, the markings fresh and white on it's darkened exterior. Hefting it over his head, Tyson targetted an area on the door just above the latch and hit the wood as hard as he could.
The vibration knocked the stone from his hands, but he had done significant damage to the door. He had checked the wooden door they had already passed through, and if this one was the same it was only one layer of wood about two inches thick. One strike with the stone had sheared off about a sixteenth of that thickness. Casper picked up the fallen stone and tried his hand at it, hitting the door four times before he dropped the step.
"It's working," Tyson said excitedly. "Let me try again."
Stronger in the upper body than Casper, Tyson was able to bash through the wood in a few more strikes, forming a small hole about the size of a copper coin - an "eagle" as it was called in William's Ford. Casper peered through, but only saw darkness.
Tyson continued to smash at the hole until it was large enough for one hand to reach through. Casper did so without thinking, reaching through and searching for the latch on the other side.
"It's cold in there," Casper remarked. "And the air feels damp."
"Hurry up, open it!"
Suddenly, Casper's eyes went wide and his arm jerked violently. He screamed. "Something's got me!" he yelled out, and began pulling back on his harm, trying to reclaim is hand from the dark room.
Tyson cried out as well, grabbing Casper's arm and hauling back on it. The hand popped free from the hole and the two boys stumbled back a few steps. Tyson turned, ready to run back the way they had come, but Casper stopped him with his laughter.
"Fooled you!" he chuckled, his eyes watering from the laughing.
Tyson hammered his friend in the shoulder. "You're the fool! You scared me half to death!"
"You're a little girl," Casper replied, still laughing. "Come on, I unlocked the door."
The chamber beyond the ruined door looked like a trove of treasure to the two boys. However, the treasure was only rotting beds, putrid devans and mouldering rugs. They had found the quarters that were kept for whomever manned this watch tower. Tyson made excited noises as he examined the rusting weapons lying on the floor near a collapsed rack. He picked up what was left of a morning star and the rusted chain snapped. The spiked ball hit the floor with a loud crack.
Casper hefted open the lid of a large trunk sitting at the foot of one of the bigger beds. A dank, musty smell rose up to meet him, and he went into a coughing fit. Once done, he shone the glowing stick down into the trunk.
"Aah," he said, disappointed. "Rot. Rot, rot and rotting rot."
Tyson picked up a somewhat sturdy-looking quarterstaff and went over to where Tyson leaned over the stinking trunk. Poking the end of the staff into the trunk, he dug through the piles of nasty fetid cloth until he felt something solid move against the bottom of the trunk.
"There's something in there!" Tyson breathed, and tried to push away the ruined leather that lay over top of the hidden treasure. It was a small chest, barely six inches square, and three inches deep. Casper reached down and pulled it from the trunk, placing it on the stone floor. It was made from a dull gray metal, lighter than lead or iron. The latch on the chest opened easily, and Casper raised the lid, peering down on it's contents.
What lay inside were three long scrolls made from thin supple leather. Having both hands free now, Tyson gingerly pulled one of the scrolls out and unrolled it, the leather soft and forgiving.
"I can't believe this is in such good shape," Tyson said. Even the inside of the small chest was in fine condition, lined with a shining purple silk.
Marked on the leather scroll in sharp black ink was a map. The v-shape of the Blue Mountains was evident, though the map concentrated more on the area south of them, an area believed to be wild, untamed an evil. According to the map, it was heavily populated if the markings meant what Tyson thought they did - cities, towns, keeps, towers and fortresses. Following a line which meandered north through the mountains, Tyson and Casper were able to determine which marking was the tower they were now in. It seemed to be at the northern-most reach of whatever kingdom this map was detailing.
"This can't be right," Casper said. "There's nothing south of the Blue Mountains. Just deserts and dragons."
"Maybe there was, a long time ago," Tyson ventured. He re-rolled the map and pulled out another scroll. This one was covered in strange markings that neither he nor Casper could understand. That scroll went back as well, and Tyson pulled out the third. This, too, was covered in strange markings, but Casper seemed particularly interested in it.
"Belach can help me with this," he said, handing the glowing ladder rung to Tyson so he could re-roll the scroll and slide it into his own pack. The chest was closed, latched, and put into Tyson's pack.
The boys explored some more, jumping in excitement when Tyson discovered a scattering of silver "talons" on the floor under a rotting desk. It was more money than either of them had ever seen, and could easily buy them both some new adventuring gear. This, too, went into Tyson's pack, as Casper tried to keep his own as light as possible.
Tyson was about to remark that they should set up camp before it got dark outside, which would be soon, when something caught his attention. A tattered curtain hanging from the south wall seemed to ripple, and a light breeze whiffed against Tyson's cheek. Quarterstaff in hand again, he slowly walked towards the curtain while Casper poked through some ruined furniture looking for more coins. Reaching out with the end of the staff, Tyson moved the curtain to one side. The smell of death hit him as something moved towards him out of the darkness behind the curtain.
At first he though it was one of the elders from William's Ford, come to paddle them for being gone so long. Wisps of white hair flew about it's head and he caught the sight of yellowing teeth, but that's where the similarities ended.
Garbed in tatters, the thing moved forward jerkily. Tyson, shocked into silence, stumbled backward and held the staff up in front of himself defensively. He had learned a little about fighting from his father, but that had mostly been about defending himself from small kobolds. This thing was the size of a full-grown human adult. Patches of dried leather flaked from it's exposed skull, and shadowy eye sockets stared down at him. A toungeless mouth opened and made no sound, except for the chattering of teeth. An exposed skeletal structure covered only in rotten leathery chunks made up the rest of the abomination.
Finally, Tyson's voice worked, and the shriek was ear-splitting. Casper spun and let out a shout of his own, yelling something that Tyson didn't hear.
The skeleton swiped at Tyson, who dodged backward and then jabbed out weakly with the staff. It rapped off of the creature's chest, and Tyson fell back again. Casper shouted again.
"Cover your eyes!" he was yelling. Tyson did so, and even through his fingers he saw a dazzling burst of light. Dropping his hand down again, he saw the skeleton had stopped, it's skull moving back and forth as though confused.
"Hit it!" Casper yelled again. Tyson gripped the staff tightly as though he were playing pit-ball and swung it into the side of the skeleton's skull. The head shattered into dust and the rest of the skeleton collapsed to the floor in a clattering of brittle bones.
"Gods!" Tyson breathed, a chill settling at the base of his neck. "What was that?"
Casper crept up next to him. "Nice work, you smashed the abyss out of that thing."
"Okay, let's get out of here, now."
A shuffling noise from the curtain drew their attention, and the two boys turned to see two more humanlike figures emerge from the darkness. These creatures were quite fleshy, their eyes like those of a dead fish. Their lips sagged, exposing rotting green teeth and grotesquely swollen tongues. Neither of the creatures wore much of anything, and one could be seen clear through, as a large hole was present in it's abdomen. There was a soft plopping noise as something soft and wet fell from that hole. One made a noise, and the two boys turned and ran.
The corridor to the small chamber where the ladder lay seemed longer than before, and their legs didn't seem to want to respond properly. Somewhere along the way Tyson had dropped the quarterstaff and as they ran, the light that Casper had created winked out.
They were both screaming, and while Tyson tried to lift the ladder into place, Casper slammed the door shut and leaned against it with all his might. While Tyson struggled, there was a moment of silence when all that could be heard was the dancing wind above, and the ragged breaths of the two friends.
There was a bang against the door and Casper pushed harder. Tyson finally managed to get the ladder into place, and began to climb. "Come on!" he shouted.
"If I let go, they'll get through the door!" Casper cried back.
Tyson was half-way up the ladder. "You've got to move fast! Come on! Let the door go and come on!"
Tyson was now mostly out of the trap door, and Casper was alone in the chamber below. "Don't leave me!" he shouted, tears rolling down his face.
"I won't! Come on!" Tyson shouted. He picked up a fist-sized stone. "I'll throw rocks at them to slow them down. Now climb!"
Casper waited for another thud against the door, and then bolted for the ladder. He came into the circle of light filtering down from above, and Tyson hefted the stone, ready to throw it past Casper at the things below. More pit-ball skills being called into play.
There was a crash from below, and Casper looked over his shoulder, screaming. The creatures had bashed the door open and were heading for the rickety ladder. Casper was almost out, reaching for Tyson, when his eyes suddenly grew wide.
"Tyson," he said.
From above, Tyson's view of the creatures was blocked by his friend, and he had no clear shot. Casper abruptly stopped climbing, not moving up or down for a moment. Suddenly, the ladder split into pieces and the young boy disappeared down into the chamber again. Hot tears flooded down Tyson's face as he looked down to see the creatures clawing at his friend, who kicked and screamed and thrashed, trying to get free. Tyson threw the stone, but it was a poor throw and bounced ineffectively off the floor.
With surprising speed, the stinking creatures dragged Casper back down the corridor and into the darkness. The last thing Tyson heard before he blacked out was Casper shouting his name.