The Bones of the Earth (The Dark Age) (55 page)

No one left in the Queen’s cavern moved for several minutes until Kriemhild strapped Stuhach’s sheath around her daughter’s waist and chanted in her language again. There was a deep rumbling sound from the rear of the cave and a blast of cold air, and then a sense of something moving. An enormous form emerged from the darkness—another stone giant. Kriemheld said something else, and the giant bent low and cupped its great hands together. Kriemhild, Ingolf and their son and daughter stepped onto the great palms. The giant straightened without any visible effort, turned and strode back into the darkness. Stuhach, its eye leaking a foul black liquid, roughly grabbed Tiana around the waist and followed the giant.

They strode up a broad staircase that led up a high, arched tunnel, and soon they were out in the open night again. Stars glittered hard overhead and the air was chill. The staircase continued up the mountainside and the giant and the monster strode up, ever higher, without slowing.

Chapter 35: The people of knowledge

Javor fought panic and stayed under the surface as long as he could. He tried to remember how old Photius had swum in the river the night they escaped the
strigoi
and kicked his legs and waved his arms until his lungs felt they would burst.

Come up now, slowly, said the amulet.

Javor pushed down with his hand and lifted his head above the surface as gently as he could. He barely made a ripple, but his first gasping breath echoed. He could not see anything. There was no light in the cave.
Where are the others? I could not have swum that far!

The water was surprisingly warm. Javor kicked and waved his arms to keep his head above the surface, but was still worried that splashing would give him away.

Which way should I go?I don’t even know which was I was facing when I came up.
He tried swimming forward again, but the blackness was so deep he could not even tell if he was moving.

When he first saw a dim, yellowish glow, he could not be certain whether it was real or imaginary. It grew brighter and closer until strong hands grabbed him and pulled him up, out of the water and onto the Queen’s long boat. He struggled to his feet, ready to fight until he saw the Kobolds.

Goldemar wrapped him in a cloak. “Thank you.” Javor did not know what else to say. He realized he was shivering. The air in the cave was cooler than the water. The Kobold leader handed him a silver flask. Javor sipped strong liquor that warmed him immediately. A cut on his leg smarted. He sat down on a bench. A Kobold smeared a tiny amount of some sticky liquid on his cut, then withdrew before Javor could say anything.

So many questions whirled through his mind at once. He clenched his jaw and asked “How do you control the Queen’s boat?”

Goldemar snorted. “It is our boat. We allowed Kriemhild to use it once, and she kept it.”

Javor could feel the boat moving, could hear the water lapping the hull, but still could see nothing beyond it. “How does it move?”

“
Do you know what a machine is, lad?”

“
Never heard of it.”

“
The Greeks were once quite skilled at machinery, but the Romans only appreciate machines as means of mass murder. We built all this. We began with natural formations, like this underground river, then the tunnels and the staircases. Later came the conveyances, like our boats, the
bog sciopa
and the lifting platform.”

“
Who are you?”

“
We are the People of Knowledge, the Yonn-Sakathe. In this part of the world, men call us Kobolds. Once we had a civilization above and below ground that stretched across this continent. Our numbers have declined as your peoples’ have grown, and many of our finest works have been abandoned. Opportunists like Kriemhild have taken advantage of them. Now, we are little more than a fading memory.” He fell silent, staring into the dark for a long time, reminding Javor of Photius. “We were powerful, once. The Companions were once ours—the Eye and the Fang were our most powerful defensive weapons. And now Kriemhild has them. We have endured her presumption only because she promised to return the Eye in exchange for helping her to acquire the Fang ...”

“
The Eye—you mean that big orange gem on Kriemhild’s head?”

“
Yes. It gives insight, as well as far sight, to its bearer. Little can remain secret to the one that bears the Eye. It must not remain in Kriemhild’s possession!”

“
Why not?”

“
In your religion, does your god not forbid you the tree of knowledge?”

“
You mean, Christianity? It’s not my religion. Too little of it makes sense.”

“
You think as we do. We are dedicated to knowledge, to learning how the world functions. Our civilization has fed and protected all our people without war for thousands of years, all without despoiling the land. We do not argue about faith or the nature of gods, or anything else we cannot see or measure.”

“
And the Fang is my dagger?”

“
Yes. An unbreakable, irresistible weapon, the only thing that can cleave the hide of a dragon—or of a monster like Stuhach. The Fang and the Eye are two of the Companions—the weapon and the light of knowledge.”

“
And my amulet is the Shield?”

Goldemar gently pulled apart the cloak he had wrapped around Javor’s shoulders and looked closely at the amulet in the greenish light of the Kobold glow-globe. “I suppose it is,” he said after a while. “It appears to be a single scale from a dragon’s hide. As such, it cannot be pierced or broken.”

“
Even by the Fang? My dagger?”

“
To tell you the truth, lad, until now I had only heard of it in legends that are older even than our people. I doubted it truly existed. How is your leg?”

Javor was surprised to realize it did not hurt at all any more.

“
Tell me,” said Goldemar. “Will you try once more to regain your dagger and help us regain the Eye?”

Javor nodded. The boat stopped at a stone wharf. Kobolds jumped out and tied it off, while others helped Javor disembark. Goldemar led them down another glow-globe-lit tunnel. It ended in a shadow, but when Goldemar entered it, more globes ignited to light another spacious cavern with a smooth marble floor.

At one side was a small armoury. The Kobolds donned shining silver and gold armour and strapped weapons on.

The armour was too small for Javor, except for helmets. He found a very ornate one with a tall horse-tail crest and golden wings on the side, but Goldemar shook his head and gave him a simpler silver one.
It actually fits better
. He picked up a Kobold broadsword, which for him was like a Legionnaire’s short sword.

Once armoured, the Kobolds marched across the floor to another circular lifting platform. Javor hesitated until Goldemar gave him a sharp look, then joined the small people in their formation. He nearly fell when the platform started to rise. It rose so fast, he could barely breathe in the rushing wind.

Chapter 36
:
The spell on the mountain

The staircase wound around a shoulder of rock and Tiana shivered as a blast of cold wind hit her. She pushed uselessly against the monster’s claw. It followed the giant ahead, on and on, and Tiana realized that the staircase spiraled up the highest peak in the area. The other mountains, outlined dimly in the starlight, fell away around them. The air was getting so cold that Tiana felt a little grateful for the monster’s claws where they blocked the icy wind, even though its scales were cold.

The stair ended on a wide, roughly circular area just below the summit. Except for the stone staircase, three sides of the ledge dropped off sheer cliffs. When Tiana peered over the edge, she felt almost as if she were looking
down
at stars. The half-moon was low.
Is it rising? Or setting?

In front of them was a rocky outcrop, the mountain’s peak, about twice the height of the stone giant.

The giant gently put down its human cargo. The little boy shivered in the cold mountain air. His father wrapped his red cloak around him and held him close.

Kriemhild went to the edge, lifted her hands over her head and screamed defiance in her strange language. She turned and walked to the opposite edge and repeated her scream, then again on the third side before approaching the rocky hump and bowing, muttering in the same bizarre tongue. Its harsh syllables sounded ancient to Tiana. At that moment, there was a red glint against the cliff: the sun was rising.

Ingund climbed onto a small rock at the base of the hump, like a little step. She leaned back against the rock, legs a little apart, and gazed at the sky. Her face was calm, intent, and she seemed to hear something no one else could.

Ingund drew Javor’s dagger, the Fang, from the sheath that still hung around her waist, kissed it, then held it out handle first to Kriemhild. The Queen took the knife in her right hand and held her left out for her son. The boy came to stand under her arm, cuddling against her for warmth but not finding it.

Tiana felt a sudden alarm as she started to guess Kriemhild’s intentions. She squirmed in the monster’s grip, but it was no use. The Queen lifted her arms again and spoke, this time in Greek.

“
Oh Great Mother, giver of all life, on this solstice day, I bring before you two young lives. One conceived and born wholly of the earth, the people who have never left the true faith of the earth: this innocent born of my loins, Ana-kui, who bears the name of that people who have ranged across your holy face these seven generations.

“
And the other lives still in the belly of my daughter, now arrayed upon your altar, Great Mother.” She lowered her hands and spoke to Ingund. “Tell your Mother truthfully, child, are you carrying your own child at this time?”

“
Yes,” Ingund answered proudly, face high to the night sky. “Two months now.”

Kriemhild lifted the tip of the blade under Ingund’s thin shift, then slashed upward. Tiana gasped, expecting the girl’s evisceration, and she saw Ingolf jump a little, too. But to their surprise and relief, the Queen had only ripped apart the dress, leaving her daughter naked on the rock. Tiana shivered sympathetically.

“
Answer truthfully, mother, were you a virgin upon conception of this life?” Kriemhild demanded.

Ingund/Danisa hesitated less than a heartbeat before she answered. “Yes.”

“
No! Javor was her lover!” Tiana yelled.

Both women stared at Tiana. “Silence, witch!” Kriemhild commanded.

“
She is lying!” Ingund protested.

“
It’s true! Javor told us that he and she had been lovers!” said Tania.

“
Do not break the spell!” Kriemhild snarled. “Be silent, witch of Tabita, or I will kill you immediately!” She turned back to her daughter. “It matters little whether you were a virgin. But answer truthfully, mother, what is the sex of your child?”

“
A girl,” Ingund answered firmly.

“
Answer truthfully, mother, who is the father of your child?”

“
Paulus, prince of Rome, son of the Emperor Maurice!” she cried proudly.

“
Yes, Great Mother! The seed of Rome, worshippers for centuries of the gods of the skies!” Kriemhild shrieked triumphantly. “In the body of my daughter I have united the faiths of Earth and Sky! I bring before you the seed of Rome itself, destroyer of your worshippers, despoiler of your fertile fields! Now, in this place of Earth and Sky united, I unite Man’s worship in this young mother’s body!” She raised the dagger high again and chanted in her weird, ancient language.

She turned to her son and spoke in Greek again. “Mother Earth, take power from my sacrifice this night and defeat your enemies! Vanquish Sky and restore the rightful balance of this world! Mother Earth, I offer you my greatest sacrifice. I give you my son!”

“
No!” Ingolf screamed and sprang forward. He grabbed the boy in one hand and Kriemhild’s knife-arm in the other. She was surprisingly strong and stabbed her husband in the belly. Groaning, Ingolf pulled the boy behind him as he crumpled to the ground, still gripping Kriemhild by the wrist.

“
Father!” Ingund gasped, still on her rock.

“
Witch,” he whispered as blood ran down his wrist. Even as blood came out of his mouth he pried Kriemhild’s hand from the dagger.

Kriemhild shrieked curses in a dozen languages. Ingolf whispered to his son, “Run!” and pushed him toward the stairs. He dropped face-first to the ground, embedding the blade deep in his body.

Ingund cried out again as her father died at her feet. Kriemhild cursed him, looking up just in time to see Ana-kui disappear down the staircase. “Turn him over and get the dagger back!” she ordered Stuhach. She yelled something at the stone giant, who strode after the boy.

The monster dropped Tiana and turned Ingolf’s body over, but before Kriemhild could retrieve her dagger, there was commotion on the staircase. The stone giant returned, walking backward. Its attention was held by small forms coming up the stairs.

Goldemar, arrayed in full silver and gold armour, leaped up onto the rock platform. He swung a huge double-headed axe at the giant’s legs. Behind him a company of Kobolds poured onto the summit. The giant swung its arms, trying to sweep them off the mountain, but the little men were too fast. Three carrying ropes ran circles around the giant, binding its legs. Another hurled a hammer as big as himself at the giant’s head. It reeled back, windmilling its arms, then fell, silently, over the cliff just as the sun rose, red between blood-stained peaks.

Stuhach attacked. Goldemar swung his axe and struck a blow that would have felled an oak tree. It only bounced off the fiend’s scales, but it staggered back and then it was attacked by three other kobolds. Their axe blows were also useless, but they kept the half-blind monster busy and away from Goldemar.

“
Kriemhild!” he shouted. “You know never to break faith with the People of Knowledge! Now give us back the Eye or we will kill you all!”

Kriemhild laughed. She touched the amber ball on her forehead and looked at Goldemar, then all the other Kobolds. “Hold! You know the power of the Eye! I command you all to stop where you are!” The Kobolds froze in place. Even Stuhach held still.

Kriemhild pulled the dagger out of her husband’s body, then raised it over her head and started to chant her spell again.

Tiana grabbed Kriemhild’s upraised hands from behind. The Queen managed to turn around without letting go of the dagger’s handle and Tiana found herself dangling from Kriemhild’s grasp. She kicked at the Queen and Kriemhild went down on her butt.

Then Javor slammed into Kriemhild, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Unable to keep up with the Kobolds as they charged the short distance from their lift to the summit, he jumped up the last slope to see the Kobolds keeping Stuhach at bay while the Queen threatened Tiana.

Kriemhild dropped the dagger and Javor grabbed it with a huge sense of relief.

But the Queen was not dismayed. “Yes! The Third Companion is here! The pieces of the spell are now complete!” she cried.

Javor looked up.
I don’t believe it.
On the other side of the ledge, Stuhach wrestled with a dragon. Javor knew it was Sarbox because of the great scars in its side—the results of its previous encounter with Stuhach on the Danuvius’ banks.
It was able to follow us because the dagger was separated from the amulet.

The dragon had surprised the monster and pinned it to the ground, but it could not hold Stuhach down. Its strength was terrifying. It pushed Sarbox off and slashed with its claws. The talons dug into the dragon’s hide, and Sarbox roared in pain. The dragon sank its long fangs into its opponent’s shoulder, but that did not even slow Stuhach down.

Stuhach is stronger than Sarbox. It’s older
. The monster grabbed one of Sarbox’s wings and pulled. There was a horrifying crack and the dragon’s wing drooped, the bone snapped. The monster gripped Sarbox’ jaws and pulled them open, and the dragon seemed helpless to do anything about it.

The monster’s back was toward Javor. He jumped forward and plunged the dagger in. The tip of the blade bit into the scales, but did not sink deep. The monster let go of Sarbox and whirled on Javor. He didn’t hesitate and thrust as hard as he could with all the strength he could find. The dagger went deep into the monster’s belly and Javor felt a shock all the way up to his shoulder as the tip penetrated the scales. But the fiend did not even stagger.

He wrenched the dagger out of the monster’s body. As it turned and slashed at him, Javor dodged, swinging the dagger wildly. The monster trapped him in front of the wall.

Then Javor saw something that only Javor could have seen: the dagger had made a slit in the monster’s hide. He stabbed and the monster laughed at the futility. But the little cut was slightly larger.

It can’t be just one thing. It’s never just one thing.

Javor pulled the amulet off its chain and pushed it into the  wound. The ogre screamed so loudly Javor’s ears hurt. It began to shake and smoke came from its scales, although Javor felt no heat. He pushed harder and the monster fell to its knees. Its arms hung limply against its body, and it slowly fell back.

The amulet was burning a hole in the monster’s body and Javor pushed it deeper. Stuhach fell back onto the rock, the amulet firmly embedded in its belly and burning in deeper. Its screams turned to chokes and then smoke came out of its mouth.

The sun rose fully over the mountains, changing from red to gold as cold green flames began to play along Stuhach’s shuddering body. Javor stood, panting and shaking.

Ingund began screaming, a long, drawn-out wail.

She hunched forward, holding her stomach. She vomited a thin stream. Blood flowed from between her legs. Instinctively, Tiana reached for her, but Kriemhild pushed her away.

“
Mother,” Ingund retched. She nearly collapsed but somehow stayed on the rock. “That potion …” She screamed and blood poured out of her. “No! No! My baby!”

Kriemhild cupped her hands between Ingund’s legs. Blood flowed through her fingers, but she triumphantly held up something small and soft. Tiana gasped when she realized it was the foetal body of Ingund’s baby, dripping blood through Kriemhild’s hands. The Queen held the pathetic thing up to the moon and chanted some more.

The Kobolds, Javor and Tiana were frozen by the horror of the sight. Ingund fell into Tiana’s arms, who lowered her gently to the rock. She was shivering from cold, shock and loss of blood and Tiana wished she had something to cover the poor girl with.

Kriemhild held her blood-soaked hands toward Ingund. “Get up, my daughter. The solstice is upon us! Come complete the spell and you will live forever!”

Ingund cried and tried to sit up. “Leave her alone,” Javor said, and Kriemhild looked into his eyes. Her fiery green eyes and the amber ball over them seemed to grow, to fill his entire field of vision. It was the same trick that the dragon had used on him.