Self-Made Scoundrel (22 page)

It wasn’t a hole but a short tunnel leading to the other side of the wall. He shone the light in, inspecting to see its dimensions. It was obviously meant for one, normal sized person, and even then it would be tight. A thick, burly person like Asa would be able to make it but not very quickly. Lengthwise, it would have fit between two to three people of average height end to end. Carefully he removed another stone to expose the full entrance to the shaft and put the rock serving as a light in his mouth. Behind him Asa emitted a short, sharp cry. Derk had to focus on getting the good warrior out of there so they could see to his wounds.

Derk took a deep breath and crawled in. Once his whole body was inside, he noticed two small holes on the right wall about where the giant stone door stood. He leaned both his elbows on the floor of the tunnel so he could get a better look inside the hole. Derk’s elbows pushed down on a hidden switch, meant to look like one of the many stones lining the floor. He strained his ear to hear what it could have possibly affected, trying to find the source of any mechanical workings within the wall. All he heard was the wild screech of a beast as it forced its way over their barricade. It was followed by the steady, powerful prayer of the elven priestess. Derk looked over his shoulder, hoping Devra heard him when he shouted. “I don’t suppose anything happened to the door just then?”

“No!” she cried. He could see her putting her back to the hole, apparently readying herself to face anything coming her way. Derk took a deep breath, sweat starting to bead on his brow. Had the tunnel just grown narrower? He licked his lips, easing off the switch and listening again for any possible sounds which might hint at what the hidden switch had triggered. Instead Derk heard grunting, sword slashes and shouts in a strange reptilian language. There was a popping sound and then a sizzle and a scream. Devra shrieked something unintelligible, and the hole became obstructed as she placed her back right against it.

I’ve got to get them out of there, Derk thought. He looked at the two holes set into the tunnel wall. Maybe there was something in here. Maybe another trap he had just set off. But he had to check. If this was the mechanism he needed, it would mean the difference between life and death for his friends. He took a deep breath and tossed the glowing rock into the hole. Nothing happened. He nudged it further into the small hole on the right, his hand lacing its way through and to the left…the two holes were connected and there was nothing there.

“Hems,” he cursed. Derk picked the rock and placed it between his teeth, crawling further through the tunnel. He had just set off a switch which didn’t do anything and wasted valuable time throwing a rock down a hole. The sound of battle muffled by the stone walls rang behind him, urging him on. Hands and knees took him through as quickly as he could, the light in his mouth revealing the stone wall that lay at the end. Probably a fake, he thought, approaching the end. Derk shifted in the exit so he could push it out with his elbow.

And then he pressed down on another switch with his other hand. Farther away from the din of battle, he could definitely hear chains and gears scraping against each other, the ticking sound of a primitive timer clinking behind the stone. “Betwixt,” Derk managed to whisper. His heart thumped in time with the metal workings readying themselves. He half whimpered, half screamed as he threw his weight against the stone, knocking it clear out of its niche and threw himself out onto the floor, landing on his side. Pain shot through his wrist and shoulder but he got himself on his feet, coughing as he looked back at the end of the tunnel.

Nothing happened. There was a strange, grating sound coming from somewhere but more importantly there was a lever on the other side of the wall. He turned to run for the lever when the sudden sound of metal slamming forcefully into stone pierced his ears. Derk jumped and screamed, wheeling around to see what had made the sound.

Right at the exit of the tunnel where his neck had formerly been was a large, metal plate, rust hiding its true color. Small clouds of dust billowed around the metal plate and Derk had no doubt it was still very sharp. He gulped, pulled away from the thoughts of his own mortality by the shouts of his comrades from the other side.

“Don’t worry!” he shouted, his throat dry from stress and running, hoping they heard him. He jumped up to grab a hold of the lever, missing the first time, screaming the second time as he grabbed it with both hands, his injured wrist burning with pain. He gritted his teeth as he crouched down and leaped up growling, grabbing hold of the lever and using the weight of his body to pull the switch down and hopefully the door up.

He heard the sound of chains moving and gears moving yet again but a series of metal bangs and a few booms from somewhere below made Derk’s heart sink. He thought of the blade which would have killed him and how it had deployed late. If it had rusted, there was a good chance the chains working the door had rusted as well and snapped from the counter weights deployed after all these years. Tears of frustration sprang to his eyes. He wouldn’t be able to open the door. They were trapped. He would have to go back through the tunnel.…

The tunnel. Derk ran back over to the tunnel, the way blocked by the metal plate. He rapped his knuckles on it to judge its thickness, ignoring the blood stains now painting the orange colored metal. As most metal things meant to slice through flesh and bone, it was heavy but thin, flakes of rust scouring his skin. Maybe he could get the blade moved. Maybe someone else could.

“DEVRA!” He screamed the girl’s name, his voice hoarse but desperation propelling his plea forward. “DEVRA! I NEED YOU TO SHOOT SOMETHING DOWN THE TUNNEL! I NEED-”

He didn’t finish his sentence as something did indeed come down the tunnel. There was a high pitched whizzing sound as cracks he hadn’t noticed in the walls went from black to white as something made of light shot toward the metal plate. Derk was unable to take cover as the metal plate flew out and hit him in the head, knocking him sideways. For a moment everything before him was blurry and then black. Something told him he had to keep his wits about him.

Derk stumbled in the direction of the tunnel, the sounds from the other side telling him where to go. “Devra! I can’t get the door open, we’ll all have to come through the tunnel! Tell the others and then come on!”

Light and dark played at the other side of the tunnel before it remained dark, wood scraping against stone telling him she sent her staff first. Derk placed the light stone on his end of the tunnel, beckoning the young woman to come quickly. Devra stopped suddenly, her eyes wide with alarm. “I think I pushed something!”

“It’s okay, it’s been disarmed!” he called, urging her to come forward. Above his head he heard the rusted workings of the trap resetting itself, never to kill again. Devra crawled through, another shadow falling across the opposite end of the tunnel. This time a box was placed in the tunnel, a set of grey eyes peering from behind it as Derk helped the Wielder. First came the intricately carved box and then the priestess, pulling her robes along with her, her face wan and drained though she smiled at Derk as she exited. “We have pushed them back,” she said quietly, kissing him on the lips briefly, taking his hand in hers. “Asa and Jezlen gave them such a fight, they grew disheartened and retreated.”

“Asa and Jezlen need to get in,” came a quiet voice from within the tunnel. The pair moved away from the tunnel exit, first the elf and then the human emerging. Asa was the worse off of the two but he was smiling in his usual fashion, bushy eyebrows almost hiding the relief in his eyes. He went over to his sister and gave her as much of a hug as he could muster before looking to Derk. “Couldn’t get the door open?”

Derk shook his head grimly and looked at the tunnel everyone had just crawled through. “That door won’t open ever again. We should place the stone over the mouth of the tunnel and wedge it in so we can be sure not to have any followers,” he said, holding his injured wrist in his other hand. “This door only opens from this side and the switch is broken so we should be safe. Best we get to sealing up the tunnel,” Derk said, not wanting to be surprised by more creatures anytime soon. “Asa?” Asa nodded and walked over, the two of them managing to put the stone back in its place, the others handing them spare cloth and rock chips to wedge it into place. Sore as he was, it was difficult work and Derk wondered how he had managed to move the stone himself. He eventually had to chalk it up to fear. Once they were satisfied the stone wouldn’t be moved by anything weaker than Asa, Derk slumped against one of the walls and waited for his turn to be patched up.

“I am glad we got the chalice before they moved it,” said Sindra, turning her interest to the ornate box on the floor, kneeling before it. She placed her hands on its lid for a moment before removing the key from around her neck and unlocking the receptacle for the holy object. The party gathered around, forgetting their aches and troubles for a moment as they all tried to see the object.

It was a two handed cup. The body was carved of white stone and engraved and inlaid with silver holy symbols. The phases of the moon danced around the rim of it, waxing and waning in antiqued silver. In the bottom of the cup was set a pearl of great size, milky white and round like the celestial body it was meant to emulate.

Devra gasped in awe and Derk and Asa bowed their heads in reverence. Derk hadn’t thought seeing it would have drawn any emotion out of him but it did. It was beautiful and it shone with its own light, a soft glow seeming to radiate and bathe its rescuers in its glory. Sindra closed the lid and locked it, placing the key back around her neck before looking up to the others, eyes shining with tears of happiness. “That’s been tended to,” Sindra said, a proud smile tugging at her lips. “Let’s see about getting us all patched up.”

Jezlen came to his aid, but a look from Derk and the elf just smirked faintly, going over to a corner to see to his own wounds. Eventually Sindra came and sat by Derk looking over his wrist and shoulder, judging them both bad sprains. She took several bandages from her pack, wrapping them tightly. She finished by applying balm to his hands. Derk could have done it himself but he wasn’t going to turn her away.

“All right, everyone’s patched up. We need to figure a way out of here,” said Asa when the gashes on his neck and shoulder were treated.

“I don’t think we’ll have to search hard,” Derk said, sitting up a bit straighter. He pointed at the lever and door with his chin, rubbing his rough face with his hand. “That door only opens from this side. There must be a way to get to this side up ahead.”

“I agree with Derk,” said Jezlen. He looked up from his weapons, all laid out in front of him in size order for inspection, his face looking as if he had just been roused from sleep and not facing bloody battle. “When we first entered the cave, it was clear the caverns were natural. The chamber we are in now was made. The cave we entered must have been the rear entrance while what lies ahead would most likely be the main entrance to this underground structure.”

“Well, those creatures didn’t build this,” chimed in Devra, her hands gloved once more and replaiting her thick hair. “If what you say is true, they obviously hadn’t found the tunnel yet and are kept back by the door. If not them, who?”

Derk lifted his head slightly, blinking as they all finally looked over the sides of the chamber they were occupying. He stood up and taking the still glowing sword Devra had made in his hand, thrust it before him. “The answer to that,” he said, turning to his comrades, “I believe is in the writing on the wall.”

The party puzzled over the carvings on the walls around them for a while, trying to make sense of the figures and the activities they seemed to be carrying out. They couldn’t agree on what or who the figures could have been and became more and more unsettled as they agreed upon their actions. The stone room seemed to become darker as the discussion trailed off, no one willing to end it properly, unwilling to say what was on everyone’s minds.

The empty eyes of the stone figures seemed to be watching them. At one point Devra suggested they make camp elsewhere, but by then everyone was too tired to move. Their wounds had been tended but most of the company had sore muscles and all needed a good night’s sleep.

Jezlen offered to take the first watch. Sindra said she would take the second, and Derk was glad to hear it. But as tired as he was Derk couldn’t manage to fall asleep. Every time he drifted off, he would think he heard something and wake up. The noise always seemed to come from one of the engravings on the wall. He rolled over on his bed and looked around, noticing one of the others sitting up or tossing and turning as well. Sindra sighed beside him and he drew closer to her, smiling as she opened her eyes and gazed into his. He kissed her on the forehead and rolled over again, hoping to drift off soon. After tossing and turning a half dozen more times, he sat up, looking over to Jezlen and raising an eyebrow. A wry smile played on the elf’s face, his eyes turned toward the weapons he was cleaning.

Derk contented himself with carving into one of the stones on the floor, carefully etching a waxing crescent moon, sure to close the shape with a heart before carving, “Derk loves Sindra,” his tongue stuck out of the side of his mouth. Thirsty, he reached over his sleeping love to feel around for the water skin. He took the opportunity to squeeze her backside, trying to feign innocence as she rolled over to smack his hand and laugh quietly.

“Since you are awake, perhaps you should take your watch, dear Sindra,” Jezlen said. Derk looked up at Jezlen, the elf finally putting his weapons away. “Not an issue, correct?”

“No issue whatsoever, Jezlen,” Sindra said. She kissed Derk on the cheek before she sat up on her bedroll, pulling out a book to read before she moved to where he couldn’t reach her. He huffed and glared to Jezlen.

“You should try to sleep as well, Derk,” Jezlen said. It sounded as if the elf were chiding him. Derk considered throwing something at him but couldn’t find anything to throw, so he scowled instead before he rolled over on his bedroll.