Shadowrun - Earthdawn - Lliferock (33 page)

Rock fragments crashed to the ground around him as he tried to remember where he was. All he wanted to do was get back to Sangolin. Then he remembered Reid Quo and Garen Dne. The memories of Ganwetrammus came flooding back on him and made him shiver.

He touched the Mynbruje pendant hanging from his chest. How could I have succumbed? But even as he asked himself the question, part of him longed for another rush.

“Pabl, we’ve got to get out of here.” It was Chaiel’s voice.

“Before the whole place comes down.” The shadow of his brother edged through the crowd of strangers around him and grabbed his arm. Chaiel didn’t wait for a response; he tugged at Pabl’s elbow, pulling him into a run. They moved down the tunnel as fast as they could, plowing against the tide of obsidiman bodies coming and going.

Pabl heard the grinding crack of boulders loosening in the arch of the ceiling. The crash of falling rock echoed in the chamber behind them as they pushed their way clear of the tunnel and entered the hollow beyond.

The night glowed red from the Scarlet Sea. The rocks in the hollow, moist from condensed steam, gleamed with the sea’s reflection as though they had been dipped in blood. Obsidimen ran chaotically, some toward the cavern to get to Sangolin, and some away, bolting up the trail in an effort to escape. Many weren’t sure what to do now that they were free to make their own decisions.

A massive explosion shook the ground around them as Pabl searched for Jan and Celagri. The volcano shot fire and sparks high into the sky, lighting up the clearing. The ground shook again, cracks ripping across the clearing.

“Pabl! Over here!” It was Jan.

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Pabl looked in the direction of the voice to see the dwarf standing by the trail which led up and out of the clearing. Celagri stood next to him.

“Chaiel,” Pabl said. “Where’s Reid’s body?”

“Why?”

“We have to get it. I promised that I’d return it to Ganwetrammus.”

“It’s there,” Chaiel said, pointing, “next to the fire.” Chaiel swallowed.

“Will you help me carry him?”

Chaiel nodded. “Yes.”

Pabl dashed across to the center of the clearing, dodg-ing obsidimen and the hail of volcanic debris. Chaiel hesitated for a second, then followed behind him. The fissures in the ground widened with a sharp crack that echoed loudly off the mountains. Pabl took Reid’s ankles and Chaiel grabbed his wrists.

Blazing volcanic ash showered down onto the hollow, chunks of burning rock bouncing next to Pabl and Chaiel as they hefted Reid and marched in the direction of Jan and Celagri.

Reid’s body was heavy, bulky and awkward to carry. A widening crevasse in the ground prevented them from heading straight for the trail, but Pabl found a narrow enough spot to jump across. They threw Reid’s body over first, and it landed with a heavy thud on the far edge of the rift.

The ground shuddered again, and the floor of the hollow started to tilt. Pabl looked up to see the chasm widening.

Soon it would be too far for them to jump. He glanced frantically along the rim of the widening gap, desperate to find another way across.

Nothing.

Chaiel took charge, tugging on Pabl’s hand and pulling him back a few steps. “Now run,” he yelled.

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“I can’t clear that gap.”

“I will help you,” Chaiel said. “Trust me.”

They ran.

“Jump now!”

Pabl leaped into the air, blindly. He knew he wouldn’t make it and neither would Chaiel. The fissure was too wide.

He started to fall.

Chaiel didn’t sink however. He magically glided on air, sailing out over the maw of the crevice. And he tightened his grip on Pabl, holding him up.

Pabl clutched tightly to Chaiel’s hand and tried not to look down. And as his magic ran out Chaiel threw Pabl, tossing him bodily through the air. Off-balance and awkward, Pabl hurtled over the narrowing gap.

Moments later he slammed into ground on the other side.

He’d made it!

Chaiel hadn’t fared so well.

“Dis take this place!” Chaiel’s yell echoed in the chasm behind.

Pabl rolled to a stop, and started to get to his feet, frantically searching for his brother. Chaiel was nowhere to be seen.

Wait, there he was, scrabbling up over the cliff edge. Jan and Celagri were already there, trying to pull Chaiel onto level ground. Pabl ran to help them.

“Thank you,” Chaiel panted as he stood. His gaze lingered on Jan and Celagri. “I am in your debt.”

Celagri’s response was lost in another deafening eruption of the volcano. The mountain spewed noxious ash and fire into the clouds. Flaming boulders the size of thundra beasts rained down from the sky.

“Our time is up,” Pabl said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Pabl and Chaiel hefted Reid and moved to the trail as fast as they could. Jan and Celagri led the way, running up the slope. Pabl and Chaiel brought up the rear, toting Reid’s body.

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Sparks and fire rained from sky, burning holes in their clothes, singeing their skin in many places before they reached the top. The rockfall in the hollow below had been fused by Sangolin’s magic into a solid mass of stone, and it now shattered and collapsed, burying the core and the obsidimen who brawled to merge with it.

Then suddenly, the ground quaked again, nearly throwing Pabl off the trail. He stopped, pressing himself up against the mountainside for fear that the trail would break away and fall.

A deafening crack split open the night as the entire shelf lost hold on the mountains.

The ledge lurched askew, leaning precariously toward the fiery bath of the Scarlet Sea far below. Pabl could see the tiny shadows of obsidimen sliding down the once horizontal slope and off the cliff edge into the fire.

“Pabl!” Jan’s voice seemed far away. “Chaiel!”

Then the whole shelf of rock gave way, the crevasse breaking into a cliff as Sangolin tumbled with agonizing slowness.

It slid and lurched, rocks and obsidimen flying behind and over it, until finally it rolled completely upside down on its journey down the slope to the ocean of lava below. And when it hit the Scarlet Sea, molten rock splashed hundreds of feet into the air.

It was a sight of both beauty and anguish from up so high.

Exquisite catastrophe. Droplets of magma glowed red against the deep black of night. Magnificent sadness. The chunk of cliff that had been Sangolin slowly melted into the sea of lava.

“Come on, Pabl!” Jan yelled, closer now. He and Celagri had come back down the trail to where Pabl and Chaiel stood, unable to take their eyes from the Sangolin’s destruction.

Grief flooded Pabl as he watched. His muscles gave in to the exhaustion and fatigue he’d been ignoring. He sank to the ground, setting Reid’s body on the hard stone trail. He felt intense sadness at the huge loss of life — all the innocent obsidi-This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 

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men who hadn’t made it, who had died for their addiction.

Pabl sat and breathed, staring in awe at the ravaged landscape below. And after a while the grief passed, giving way to relief. Ganwetrammus is safe. Finally, I can go home again.

“We need to go now,” said Celagri, her arm on his shoulder. The tone of sadness in her voice brought Pabl out of his trance.

He turned and looked at his friends. “All right,” he said.

“Let’s go.” Pabl ignored the pain in his muscles and lifted Reid’s body with Chaiel’s assistance. They carried it up over the mountains and began their journey to Tepuis Garen — their journey home.

This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected])  Chapter Forty-One 

Sarbeneck’s camp was packed up and ready to leave in six hours. Even in the early light of dawn, the tepuis glowed with lines of fire which traced an intricate web across the cliff face. The lava flow from the tunnel had slowed once the cavern was completely filled.

All that purified orichalcum . . . wasted. It was almost enough to make him cry.

Still, Sarbeneck had his secret reserves, and he wasn’t about to stick around and see if the obsidimen wanted any of it back.

“Gingreth, is the cavalry ready to depart?” he asked.

The ork nodded. “Yes, sir. They are all eager to leave this jungle.”

“As am I, my friend. As am I.” Sarbeneck smiled at the ork.

“Let’s move out then.”

“As you wish,” Gingreth said. Then he stuck his tongue between his two jutting fangs and blew out a loud whistle. The caravan moved forward, heading toward the village of Rabneth. It was Sarbeneck’s intention to pass through Rabneth as quickly as possible and make good headway before nightfall.

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Rabneth was too close to this accursed rock.

They had made half the distance to the village when Pontin and his guards rode up beside him. “I see that you have mobilized quickly,” Pontin said.

“Such keen powers of observation,” Sarbeneck said. I am going to enjoy this conversation immensely.

“I hope you don’t plan to carry out your threat against my village. You must know that I had no way of knowing that the chamber would be destroyed like that. You can still stay and re-mine it after the rock cools. That is what you were contracted to do, was it not? It’s not my fault if you ignore our agreement.”

“I take it, Pontin, friend, that you expected me to strip the orichalcum off the walls after the obsidimen were finished.”

“Um –”

“Well?”

“I assumed your bonus would be enough to cover the cost —”

“About that half-million silver, Pontin; I’d like that now, please.”

“You know I don’t have it.”

“Then my threat remains —”

“Please try and see it from my side, Sarbeneck. Those obsidimen deceived me, too. They promised me more. Plus, I know that you have a stash of the magic metal. I know you’re trying to get away without giving me my share.”

They caravan had passed into the outlying fields of Rabneth by this time and were rapidly approaching the village.

Sarbeneck looked around, wondering how much of all this land belonged to Pontin. Sarbeneck knew that Pontin owned all of the shantytown in the village including the slave-trad-ing rackets and the gambling houses. He also had his own private magician’s laboratory somewhere in that vast expanse of polluted and rundown huts.

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“Oh, you will get your share all right,” Sarbeneck said.

“Don’t worry about that, friend.”

“Are you serious? You intend to give me part of that orichalcum?”

“Oh no, not at all.”

“What then?” Pontin sounded worried now.

The caravan arrived at the village, the outlying houses nestled neatly into the eaves of the jungle. The crystal waterfall fell a few hundred yards behind them, roaring in the early morning light. The fiery filaments on the tepuis caused the water to sizzle and steam away into the sky. The stream flowed out from the pool below the waterfall and made its way through the shantytown.

They came upon the central clearing before Sarbeneck called Gingreth to him. “I want you to hold Pontin,” he said.

“Then burn the shantytown. Make sure everyone is outside first, of course.”

Gingreth smiled. “The cavalry will love you for this, sir,”

he said. Then he turned and bellowed some orders in orkish.

Pontin spurred his miniature horse and tried to make a run for it. He started to cast a spell, but an arrow hit him in the side before he could finish it. Pontin doubled over, grabbing at the arrow as blood welled a deep crimson against his white-and-green-checkered waistcoat. The red really did clash, Sarbeneck thought. Pontin must be terribly embar-rassed.

Gingreth said something to the horse and it stopped running.

“Make sure he watches the fire before you string him up,” Sarbeneck said. “It has not been a pleasure doing business with you, Pontin.” Then Sarbeneck moved up to him and ripped the beetle scarab from his cloak. “This I will take as partial payment,” he said. “Because I know it has value.”

“Yes, that is a powerful item. I can cast illusions through it.

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It belonged to one of the Tepuis Garen obsidimen a long time ago and was given to me by my employers. Please take it in exchange for —”

The rest of Pontin’s reply was lost as Gingreth clamped a hand on his mouth and began tying a gag over it.

Sarbeneck moved away to let Gingreth do his job. He hated watching the gruesome details. Pontin would be forced to observe a lot of very obliging, happy orks burn his precious buildings to the ground. And afterwards, Gingreth would hang him upside down from the branch of a tall tree.

Perhaps he will die, perhaps not. I don’t care. If he lives, which he most likely will, he’ll think twice about trying to cheat me again.

Sarbeneck decided he wanted to see Nancri. He had been spending many nights with her, and had come to miss her company when they weren’t together. A shiver of excitement passed through him as he rode up towards her. In his many years, he had never felt this way about a woman. Perhaps he would ask her to marry him.

Not here of course. Not in this accursed jungle. He would wait until they reached civilization — the glorious kingdom under the mountains. Throal.

I will take no more jobs outside the kingdom, he decided.

That is where I belong. Then he tossed the beetle scarab into the air and caught it again. Maybe I’ ll take some time off.

Maybe this magic bug will make a nice gift to Nancri.