Soul Under the Mountain (Legend of Reason Series) (3 page)

"
West
of the museum at the gardens. Very good. You're dismissed."

The man couldn't snap a salute without dropping the bags of soil, but he nodded before making his way passed the men and back up the dark tunnel to the outside. Somewhere off beyond that tunnel was an ever-growing pile of excavated Medoran soil.
Tannis couldn't help but think about how Medora was changing from within—in more ways than one.

"Rommus, get your men ready. The sun should be setting in about an hour, and we'll break through the surface not long after that. Have some of the dried meats and make sure you drink some water. You don't know when you'll have the chance to eat
or drink
again."

"Yes sir," Rommus said as he stood.

"I have to get back out there to assemble the rest of the men for the battle in the morning. Give me your sword."

Rommus cocked his head in confusion. "Why?"

Tannis unsheathed his own sword, which was ent
irely black from tip to pommel except for the sharpe
ned edge.
That edge
caught the firelight and sent little shards of light bouncing all over the earthen room. He held it across both hands; handle in one, and blade in the other
. After examining it a moment, he presented it to his son."

"I know you had to leave your golden sword behind, but it would mean a lot to your father if you took this sword instead of that one at your hip. Hopefully I don't have to explain why. It would just feel more appropriate for you to take my sword into this battle."

Rommus looked him in the eyes for a moment, and then to the sword at his hip. He pulled it free and handed it over, taking the black sword in return. After sheathing it, Rommus cleared his throat before he began to speak.

"Father—"

Suddenly there was yelling farther up the tunnel toward Taburdum. At first it was muffled by the wet walls, but there was no mistaking its urgency. It was an alarm. Something was wrong.

"Breach!" someone yelled. "They're coming!"

Chapter 3

The tight tunnel wa
s suddenly a boiling cauldron of
flesh and steel. The elite group of 15 soldiers was joined by another 20 or so who were returning from the breached tunnel opening.
The narrow
halls were swarming with men; some trying to advance, and some trying to retreat. It was
total
chaos.

"What do
we do?" Rommus yelled over the roar of soldiers.

"Medorans!" Tannis yelled. "Let the men returning from the dig pass! Get out of the tunnel! The rest of you stay right where you are."

Rommus looked over to his father. He appeared calm and commanding, but it was obvious to Rommus that he was nervous about what to do. A genuine look of worry crossed his face and his eyes darted about, searching for some kind of answer about what to do.

"Do we retreat?" Rommus asked.

Tannis shook his head. "There's still a chance this will work. There were 25 men up that tunnel, and only 21 have returned."

"So you think they were killed? What do you mean?"

"It's possible, but if I know my soldiers, anyone who came through that hole met a sword in a hurry. With any luck, the four
missing men are aboveground chasing down anyone who saw the hole. If they can kill them before they can report back to the enemy, then we can still move forward as planned."

Rommus drew his sword. "Okay, so if we don't see any slain Medorans, then we can assume they are inside the city trying to keep the mission a secret. We have to go now."

"The sun is still up. You need to be very careful, Rommus."

Rommus nodded and waited for the last returning Medoran soldier to pass before heading into the dark tunnel. He didn't bother to check if his elite companions were following; he knew they were. The walls and ground were slick with sticky mud, so he could not run, but he jogged up the tunnel as fast as
he could in the darkness. C
licks of armor and creaks of leather could be heard behind him.

Not far ahead, the darkness was split by a shaft of
cool blue evening
light. The light came down through the ceiling of the tunnel, and the outside world could finally be seen. There were hand and boot prints in the mud all around the hole where soldiers had climbed to the surface, but there was no sign of any of them. Rommus also noticed that there was no blood or dropped weapons as far as he could tell.

When he got to the opening he motioned for the soldier b
ehind him to give him a boost, as h
e didn't want to risk slipping on the walls
trying it by himself
. Two men came to his aid, and standing on their clasped hands, he cautiously peeked through the hole above him.

He didn't see a soul. It was darker than he imagined it would be, but only because clouds had moved in to block the rays of the setting sun.
The garden was empty of any human being, with only marble statues to
play
the role.
The flowers of spring and summer were long gone, but rows of carefully pruned bushes and decoratively-cut evergreens brought a little life to the cold garden.

"Anything?" a soldier quietly asked.

"Nothing. There's no one here. Push me up."

The men pushed him upwards to help him out of the hole. He took another look around and reached in to clasp an arm and help one of them up. In a matter of moments, all of the soldiers were out of the hole and crouching behind the low-cut bushes. All of them searched the horizon for the enemy, but none of them saw any.

A man named
Herrus
leaned over to Rommus. "They said that the enemy was coming. I don't see any evidence of that. It looks like our men got out, but no one got in the tunnel."

"You're right. I saw the footprints in the mud down in the hole. They were all heading this
way, not down into the tunnel. This must mean my father was right. There are four Medorans in here with us, trying to silence anyone who saw them before they alert the others."

Four? Are you sure?"

"Tannis was sure. I have to trust his assessment."

Herrus
scanned the horizon over a bush. "Why would only four stay, and not all of them?"

"Probably because most of the men digging were not armed or wearing armor. I don't know if these four have weapons and armor either, but I hope they do."

"Two of them have swords,"
Herrus
said. "Look here."

Rommus looked down to where
Herrus
pointed. Two distinct sword blades had been pressed into the mud near the mouth of the hole. They were carefully placed, and obviously a message sent to anyone following them out of the tunnel.

Rommus touched the imprints lightly. "That's good news. If they had the time to think to do that, then there's a good chance they were not rushing out of the hole after anyone. It's possible that no one saw the hole collapse at all, but since our men are not here waiting for us, I assume they are following
at least one enemy."

"So what do we do?"
Herrus
asked. "Do we try to find them, or do we proceed with our plan?"

Rommus stood cautiously and checked his surroundings. "We must go through with our plan. The four of them will have to do their part on their own. If we encounter them, we can help them, but remember we look like the enemy to them. We're wearing Vindyri armor, and they stick out like a sore thumb in here wearing bright Medoran armor. Keep an eye out for more imprints in the mud or any other signs they might leave us. We know they went that way, towards the city center. There's nothing out here but the museum and these horrible walls they built everywhere."

"Should we check inside the
museum?"

Rommus repositioned his black helmet. "No, let's just get going. No one would run in there and our men are obviously on a mission to kill. We need to get closer to the city center and do what we came here to do."

"And the hole?"

"No one can see it with all these bushes around it. I think we got very lucky in all of this. The tunnel could have opened up right under one of their camps."

The men did their best to walk towards the city as any Vindyri would. Obviously no Vindyri would be carefully scanning his surroundings or checking around corners, so they strolled along as any soldiers would.  One had even taken to singing quietly, which Rommus permitted. At first he thought it was a bad idea, but then he realized that no one in his right mind would be in enemy territor
y singing songs. It was a
good idea and made them blend in better if anyone saw them.

They were still out at the city limits, but the smells of horses and fire had found their way to their noses. The distant hum of thousands of voices could also be heard
on the wind
. The clangs of hammers on anvils pierced the cold air, and sent a nervous tingle up Rommus's spine. They were in a very dangerous place, and it was only going to get more dangerous. He suddenly felt very small.

Rommus took a slight detour and
led the group to a graveyard. There were some small buildings there where they could
rest out of sight
while waiting for darkness to come blanket them. He had his men eat some of their rations since they
didn't have the chance earlier
, and they drank some of their water since any that they found inside the city might be poisoned
.

Finally the blue light surrendered to the coming night, and all that could be clearly seen were the white marble buildings and some tombstones. Off to the east, the campfi
res lit the clouds above
with a
soft
orange glow. It wasn't as clear and bright as a moonlit night, but at least
as they approached the encampment they would be able to see.

Rommus looked back at how far they had come
. "I wonder why they built their
wall so far from their camp. That's a lot of work to protect an area that you're not using."

Herrus
drummed his fingers on a tombstone. "I guess they
had planned on having a lot more men in here. Or maybe they still plan on it, and more men will set up camp here later as the war progresses."

"I don't know," Rommus said. "
Something seems odd about this. It's too quiet here. Something isn't right."

"You think this is a trap?"

"No, not for us anyway. I don't believe they knew about the tunnel, so they probably don't know we're here.
Although I now fear
that th
e occupation of Taburdum may just be a diversion. Once we see what is happening in here, I want a few of you to go back and report to my father before morning. There may not be anyone in here for us to attack."

"Well that would be a good thing, right
?" Herrus asked. "We could take back the city."

"It's not really a good thing. If they have our attention here, and nothing is here, then they are
planning
to strike us somewhere else. It's the same trick that the Vindyri used when they asked for our help to fight the Bhoors near Burnhamheade. They marched right around us and attacked our cities while the Medoran Legions were gone."

Herrus
looked to the ground. "Yes, I remember that well. I lost my sister and her husband
to those animals when they came, and my brother has taken in their son to raise him.
I was out there fighting to protect the Vindyri, and they were back here killing innocent Medorans.
What is the world coming to?"

"An end," one of the other soldiers added.

"It certainly seems like it," Rommus said. "Although everything that ends is just followed by a new beginning. This may not exactly be the end of the world, but this war may very well be the end of Medora—and the end of freedom."

Herrus
stood and arranged his armor. "Let's go make sure that doesn't happen, Rommus. Let's see what these invaders are up to."

——————

"I guess I was wrong," Rommus said. "That's a lot of people. There's easily 20,000 down there, and there's no telling how many are inside the buildings—the ones that are still standing anyway."

Herrus
took off his helmet to get a better look. "I think the officers are over there in those buildings. When the candles go out, we know they'll be asleep soon after. It will still be some time before they prepare for bed though."

Suddenly a rustling came from the bushes behind them. Everyone turned at once to see a group of Vindyri soldiers with blades drawn. A few of them chuckled as they smacked the flat of their sword against their palms. They had walked up on easy prey.

Rommus fought to find his words in a hurry. "What are you doing out here? Get back to camp."