Mira's View (16 page)

Galena frowned at this statement. These
underworld elves really were as unhelpful as they were
depressing.

Galena vaguely noticed Morgo had led them
into a tunnel, and floating lights seemed to be following them.
Their own personal torches. The stones that surrounded them were
roughly two male elves wide and about two high. For this, Galena
was grateful. The feeling of closing in walls was constantly
nagging at her. She seemed to be reminding herself frequently that
the stone had been here longer than she had, and they would
continue to go on long after she passed from this world.

Their progression through the tunnels seemed
slow. Galena was unsure if that was because she knew they were
headed toward sunlight and fresh air, or because nothing really
seemed to change as they walked. One tunnel looked very much like
the next and so on. Galena felt as if they weren’t moving at all.
They stopped to eat sometime around noon and Galena found herself
fascinated by the process Morgo used to provide their meal. When he
first produced the food from his pack, they were only small pieces
of the whole. Waving his hand over the food, he caused it to grow
to the size of a reasonably sized loaf of bread and wedge of
cheese. He did this with a variety of fruits and vegetables as
well. Here was another concept that Galena had never considered
when using magic. She had wasted precious energy growing the trees
to which the fruits belonged.

Galena opened her pack and Twoit came
scampering out. She sniffed the air cautiously, before racing off
in one direction. She returned a short while later with what Galena
could only assume was a mouse because it was nothing like anything
she had ever seen. It had a mouse like head, only there were two of
them that joined at the neck. Their noses were somewhat flatter,
and their ears drooped. The furry heads ended at a lizard like body
that had eight legs and a long tail with spikes at the tip.
Altogether, it was a very unnerving creature to look at, but must
have tasted wonderful, because Twoit bit into the stomach with a
great deal of enthusiasm. Galena turned her head quickly to avoid
watching the gruesome sight of Twoit eating the hideous
creature.

“How far is the next village?” Tark asked
after he swallowed a large chunk of bread that he had ripped off
from his loaf.

“About eight days,” Morgo replied dully. Some
of the excitement that Galena had detected when he talked about the
upper world, disappeared when he talked of other things from his
own.

Galena rolled her shoulders in effort to
relieve them from the overwhelming tension she felt there. This
underground world was wearing on more than her heart and mind.

“Spar with me,” she said as she nudged
Elenio’s foot playfully with her own. “I need something to help
take my mind off of this gloom.”

Grinning broadly, Elenio stood and then
extended a hand to help Galena up. They removed their swords from
their scabbards and got into their beginning stances. Galena took
the first swipe, immediately noticing a definite difference that
she would have to accommodate to—the limited amount of space. In
the tunnel, there was far less room for fancier maneuvers. This was
something that she hadn’t taken in to account until this moment.
After several mistakes and almost hitting stonewalls several times,
Galena began to adjust her fighting technique, looking for the most
direct path instead of dancing around her opponent in hopes to
thoroughly confuse them before killing them. She realized this new
form of fighting that she was developing, was more exhausting and
required more brute strength. It wore her down in a mere matter of
minutes.

She swung ferociously to the left, but
changed directions at the last instant, bringing her sword to a
stop inches from Elenio’s pulsing vein in his neck. Sweat coated
both of them as they fought to steady their breathing.

Morgo’s eyes were alight with the excitement
of their practice session. Tark looked merely interested in the
outcomes, although he didn’t seem greatly surprised. Galena and
Elenio collapsed to the floor, feeling extremely tired.

“That... was... different,” he panted as he
replaced his sword into his scabbard. Galena just nodded.

****

On the first night they began to make camp;
Galena, Elenio, and Tark were discussing who would take the first
watch when Morgo spoke up. “That won’t be necessary. I can create a
wall of air that will alert me when someone or something is coming.
When they touch the wall, I can feel my magic being used.”

The three had seemed skeptical at first, but
when he explained that this was something he often did, they
relented.

They continued journeying through the tunnels
by day and sleeping at night. Galena felt as if the days had begun
to melt into one another. They developed a similar routine as they
had when they traveled above ground, but unlike that journey, the
scenery never seemed to change. Galena grew tired and irritable,
laughing less, and snapping at everyone more. She realized it was
the cold and dampness affecting her mood, but she couldn’t do
anything about it. When they woke up on the seventh day, she was
more than a little irritated. Morgo, who was beginning to avoid her
more and more, was ready to go as soon as he had handed out fruit
to everyone for their morning meal. They ate the fruit as they
cleaned up their camping area. Galena bit viciously into hers,
taking out some of her mood on the fruit.

Morgo checked to make sure they were ready
before he started toward a tunnel that ended with two openings. He
consulted a map he had been carrying briefly before selecting the
tunnel on the right. Having no choice but to trust his judgment,
Galena shouldered her pack before following him. She heard the
other two closely behind and something else. Turning to look behind
her, she saw nothing but the floating lights and the dark wall that
seemed to always be present just outside of the light’s cold glare.
As they continued down the tunnel, Galena couldn’t shake the
feeling that something was in the dark watching them, waiting for
the perfect moment. Sensing her unease, Elenio reached for her hand
and they trudged on together through the tunnel, Galena glancing
back every few minutes. Tark, either from Galena’s own unease or
from feeling it himself, glanced over his shoulder frequently
too.

Morgo went around a bend in the tunnel,
disappearing from sight temporarily. They heard his groan of
frustration before they saw what had caused him grief. Coming
around the bend themselves, they stopped just behind Morgo. Before
him, rose a giant wall made of rocks. It looked as if there had
been a cave-in that had completely rendered this passageway
useless. He placed his hands on his hips, staring at the stone wall
with a look of disgust on his face.

“Can we dig through?” Tark asked, eyeing the
wall for weak spots.

“We could, but there is no guarantee that we
wouldn’t cause further damage. It could also take days or weeks to
move all this stone,” Morgo said. “The tunnel to the left will lead
us to another village, but it does take us a couple of days out of
our way.” He shook his head and turned to head back toward the
split, but froze.

Galena turned at the sound of his quick
intake of breath and felt her heart drop. There, just within the
outer edges of the floating lights, sneering at them with huge
black eyes, were no less than twenty torlos.

Chapter
Fifteen

Galena reached for the hilt of her sword even
as Elenio and Tark drew theirs. She took in the sight of these
creatures, having only heard about them in stories during her
childhood. Unlike a fully-grown torlic that had been trained in the
bowels of Rau’s palace, these dark creatures were a good two feet
shorter. Their skin was dark red, almost black and the horns upon
their heads were barely stumps. They still had long hair, but it
fell in greasy sheets over their faces, covering most of their
features. They lacked the rippling muscles as well, although they
still had a well-toned appearance. She could hear their raspy
breathing and wondered how she had missed them sneaking up behind.
Galena found that this combination of different characteristics and
her limited knowledge of them to be even more disturbing than
dealing with the torlics that had been chasing them for weeks. At
least she knew what to expect with torlics.

She pulled her sword and prepared herself for
a battle, her nerves tingly with fear as she realized she would not
be able to call upon magic when things became difficult. She tried
to push that particular thought to the back of her mind.

Shifting her weight to a more comfortable
position, she noticed Morgo from the outskirts of her vision step
up, and looking determined, waved a hand in front of him. Just as
she was taking a calming breath before she lunged, all of the
torlos crashed to the ground. Loud snores could be heard all
around, making her feel as if they were coming at her from all
directions. She dropped her sword arm and turned to look at Morgo
in amazement. He still held his hand in front of him, a determined
look upon his sweat covered face.

Elenio cautiously approached the fallen
torlos, but Morgo cried out softly, “You must not touch them or
they’ll wake. Once we pass, I will take care of them, but we must
pass without them waking. I will explain once we get away.” Wiping
the sweat from his brow, Morgo motioned for them to go quietly past
the torlos, indicating once more the importance of not touching the
bodies. Tark led the way quietly and slowly, followed just as
slowly by Elenio.

Before she began to weave through the
sleeping bodies, Galena turned to Morgo and grasped him by the
arms. “While we head to the Mountains of the Gods, you must explain
to me as much about magic as you can.”

Morgo nodded fervently.

She firmly believed that if anyone could
teach her anything worthwhile about magic, it would be Morgo.
Galena slowly stepped over legs, arms, and other body parts. She
felt as if she were competing in a dangerous game in which failing
meant a certain death. She had never cared for games of any sort.
She came dangerously close to kicking a torlo in the head when he
grunted in his sleep and turned over. Pausing to make sure the
shifting torlo would remain still, she gingerly stepped past,
suppressing the urge to jab the dreaming torlo in the head for
almost making her lose this dangerous game.

Reaching the other side of the pile of
sleeping monsters, she turned with Elenio and Tark to watch Morgo’s
progress. He seemed to be moving even more slowly, bending down
beside each one, and depositing a small item before moving on
again. He made sure to put at least one of these shiny items by
each fallen body before moving on. After what seemed like hours, he
finally reached the other side. He motioned for them to take
several steps back, before he turned around himself. Galena saw the
same determined expression cross his face as he once again waved a
hand slowly in front of him. Instantly, each of the shiny items
burst into flames, spreading quickly over anything a few feet from
them. Within seconds, the torlos were consumed in a white-hot fire.
Galena cringed as she heard the tormented screams echoing through
the tunnels. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the torlos
rising all around, trying to beat out the all-consuming flames
before falling to the ground again, where the flames reduced them
to a pile of ashes. The screams would be enough to haunt her for
years to come; she didn’t need the images to accompany those
sounds.

The four elves retreated further back as the
fire grew more in intense in heat and light. Galena turned toward
Elenio, burying her head in his chest, but not before she caught
the look on Morgo’s face. Morgo’s black eyes were unusually bright
and his expression grim. Apparently, taking the life of another
creature did not suit him well either. As quickly as the fire had
begun, it died away, revealing an even blacker area covered in
soot. It was all that remained of the torlos.

“Let’s be on our way before more come to find
out what happened to their hunting party.” Morgo turned and headed
back down the tunnel until he reached the entryway of the split.
Without hesitation, he turned and headed down the left tunnel. They
followed Morgo down the winding path, at a quick pace, for hours.
At times, they found themselves jogging to keep up. Galena began to
feel an ache in her legs and back from the continued pounding of
feet on hard stone. The impact jarred her entire body with every
step and made her head ache miserably. This feeling only
intensified as the day wore on.

Finally, having deemed a larger area in the
tunnel as an appropriate stopping point, Morgo turned to face them
and swinging his bag off his back, began to get a campfire and food
ready for them. Elenio put one hand on his hip, leaning backward
while rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. Tark was
attempting to stretch his shoulders by grasping his hands behind
him and stretching them out and up as far as he could go. Galena
plunked down on the ground and lay back on the cold stone again.
The cold felt soothing on her aching muscles and head. Her body
hurt from the very tips of her toes to the top of her head. Even
the weight of her hair seemed to be too much at the time. She
thought once again about what a miserable place this would be to
live. One would have to have shoes made from the thickest faux in
order to walk comfortably, for any length of time. Twoit came out
of her pack then and seeing Galena lying flat on the ground,
scrambled over to her and nuzzled her ear affectionately.

“I’m alright, just tired,” she whispered
quietly to the fuzzy, little animal. She reached up and scratched
behind Twoit’s ears in which the ferret turned her head, and nipped
Galena’s fingers playfully. Bounding across Galena, she scampered
down the tunnel in search of her own meal. Morgo watched the tiny
creature go, as he often did. He never brought up the fact that
ferrets were supposed to be extinct in Tomiro, but simply seemed to
enjoy the little creature’s company and promises of good luck as
the others did.