The Survivors (30 page)

“What are you getting at, girl?” Kellik demanded.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but the words died in his throat. There, in the center of the pile, everyone saw the same thing: covered in dust and looking for all the world like a rock was a skull. Once Bradok could see it, he also saw what looked like an armored chest and arm, ending in a long, curved spike.

“What is that?” Rose said fearfully.

Bradok pushed his way to the front and picked up the skull. What had made it so hard to see before was that it didn’t look like a skull, at least not like any he’d ever seen. There weren’t any holes for eyes, just a smooth, curved surface all the way across the front of the face where the eyes should be. Two vertical nostril slits sat high in the center of the forehead,
and the upper jaw held a double row of backward-facing, needlelike teeth.

Much bent down and picked up two long, curved bones from the floor, holding them up close to the skull. They were long enough to be arm bones, but everyone could see they were wicked, curving teeth.

“This jaw bone is two separate pieces,” Much said, holding the huge teeth in place against the skull in Bradok’s hands. “The bottom part must be missing.”

It was the largest jaw anyone had ever seen or imagined. The sight sent shivers up Bradok’s back.

“What was it?” Bradok asked Corin.

The Daergar reached out and took the skull, pouring water from his bag over it. As the dust disappeared, the skull took on a green hue, like bottle glass. Even more disturbing, Bradok could see Corin’s hand through the side of the skull.

“It’s not bone,” Corin said, holding the skull up for everyone to see. “It’s chitin.”

“What does that mean?” Lyra asked in a small voice.

“Chitin is what insect skeletons are made of,” Urlish Hearthhome said.

“That’s no insect skull,” Chisul said. “It looks human or maybe elf.”

“Only if humans had no eyes,” Perin said.

While the others argued, Bradok studied Corin. The dwarf’s normally easygoing manner had hardened, and his left eye was twitching.

“Tell me more. What do you know about these chitin creatures?” Bradok asked.

“He doesn’t know anything for certain, I’m afraid,” Xurces cut in. “There are old legends, nothing more than bard’s tales really, of a race of humanoid insects who burrow deep in the earth.”

“This is no legend, Xurces,” Corin said, holding up the skull. “This is real.”

“Well, what do the legends say about these insects?” Chisul asked.

Xurces sighed as if he didn’t believe he was having such a preposterous conversation. “They’re called the Disir, or at least that’s what I’ve heard them called. They’re supposed to be deep-dwelling insects with armored bodies, swordlike arms, and ravenous appetites. They’ll eat just about anything, even some rocks.”

“That’s it?” Kellik said.

Xurces shrugged. “Until five minutes ago, it was just a story to frighten disobedient children,” he said. “I never really paid attention to the details.”

Kellik brought out his hammer and a crowbar and began clearing debris. Bradok, Chisul, and Corin helped until half an hour later they had uncovered all the rest of the skeleton.

Kellik whistled, glancing at Xurces. “The next time someone tells that story, you can tell them it ain’t a story,” he said.

The skeleton had four legs attached to an oblong, tail-like piece that Urlish called the abdomen. Above that, a massive chest sprouted two arms that ended in serrated, swordlike blades. They assembled it partly on the ground, but even so, its size was enormous.

“I would not want to meet that monster in a dark alley,” Much said once they had all the pieces laid out.

“Dark,” Xurces said, snapping his fingers. “I just remembered something else about the legend. The Disir are blind. They prefer the dark. They hunt with sound, like bats.”

Much and Bradok looked at each other then turned slowly, looking up at the clock tower above them where the cogs, shafts, and gears were churning merrily away. It suddenly seemed like an awful lot of noise.

Watching them, Chisul also looked up and felt terror. “Turn that thing off,” he yelled. “Turn it off now!”

I
t took ten full minutes to get the water drive out and stowed. In the silence that followed, the only thing that could be heard was the ragged breathing of the survivors. Every ear strained to hear something, anything. No one knew what, exactly they were listening for, but everyone knew they would recognize it once they heard it.

“I don’t hear anything,” Xurces said after what must have been a full half hour of silence.

“Maybe they didn’t hear us,” Lyra said in a frightened voice.

“If there’s anyone left to hear anything,” Kellik said.

“I don’t want to stay and find out,” Bradok said, pulling out the compass and staring down through its crystal top.

As the light-gathering machine shut down, the stream of twilight from outside ceased. The only light that remained were the giant crystals that had bounced the beam around the cavern. They seemed to have the ability to store some of the light that passed through them and they glowed, pleasantly dim, shedding enough light to see by but still giving the impression of night.

“What’s down there?” Bradok asked, pointing down the lane of dead trees.

“A couple of big doors that lead to a rough tunnel,” Rose said.

“All right,” Bradok said, rechecking the compass and shouldering his pack. “Let’s head in that direction.”

The doors at the end of the tree-lined hall were large and ornate. They looked almost decorative, but Kellik pointed out the massive iron bars that could be dropped from a hidden slot in the ceiling. Once in place, the bars would keep the doors closed against just about any menace. The fact that they were still slotted in their holes in the ceiling made Bradok wonder again: Just what had happened to Galoka and his followers?

The passage beyond appeared to be a natural tunnel, like the ones they’d followed all the way from that first beach where the skeleton of Silas’s boat lay decaying. With a sigh, Bradok pressed forward. Kellik was closest to him, trailed by Much, Perin, and old Marl Anvil. The rest of the survivors followed at a short distance.

“Well, this is interesting,” Rose said, coming up beside Bradok. “Evil mushroom people behind us and killer insect creatures ahead. Never a dull day here in the underground.”

“What makes you think the killer insects’re ahead of us?” Bradok asked.

Rose offered a thin smile. “No reason,” she said. “That just seems to be the way our luck’s been running.”

Bradok nodded with a humorless smile.

“What do you want to do when we get out of here?” Rose asked as they walked along with the others.

“What do you mean, get out of here?” Bradok asked, surprised.

Rose smiled genuinely. “When we get out of here,” she repeated. “When we finally reach the surface again. Then what?”

Bradok hadn’t given it any thought and he said so.

“What if Much is right?” she prodded. “What if we’re the only dwarves left alive? What if all the towns are gone?”

“I suppose we’ll have to start over ourselves, then,” he said, wishing she would switch to a more pleasant topic.

“All right, so let’s say you’re starting all over fresh,” Rose said. “What would you want to do?”

Bradok laughed. He realized that she was doing a good job of distracting him and the others from their fears as they continued to explore the area for any signs of the dread killer insects.

“Hmm, I see what you mean,” he said. “There won’t be much use for a jeweler anymore. But I’m good with delicate metalwork. I suppose I could be a tinker; you know, make pans, hinges, locks, and such. You?”

Rose shrugged. “My family have been merchants for six generations,” she said. “I think I’d like to be a rancher and raise cows and pigs and goats. Assuming we can find some left alive.”

Bradok chuckled.

“Your friend here wants to be a builder,” Rose said, nodding in Much’s direction.

“A builder of what?” Bradok asked skeptically.

“Everything,” Rose said. “He said he helped rebuild Ironroot’s ventilation and water systems when he was young. I bet he could build a mill and set up irrigation for farming.”

Bradok had trouble picturing Much working on millwheels and aqueducts. What his friend really liked to do was drink and talk.

“I want to be a brewer,” Corin’s voice came from behind them.

They turned to find the Daergar a few paces behind them.

“All those years in the penal caves made me quite a connoisseur of rotgut. I’d like to try my hand. It would be nice to drink something that wasn’t made of boiled mushrooms.”

Rose chortled. “It sounds like what you really want to be is an innkeeper,” she said.

Bradok was only half listening. Up ahead, the passageway forked. Automatically he pulled out the compass and flipped open the lid. Glowing smoke rose up out of it and coalesced into the form of the Seer. When Bradok reached the fork, she extended her spear, pointing left.

“This way,” Bradok said.

He’d scarcely put the compass away when they came to a second fork. The spear pointed right. Then another fork, and another, and another, each time the spear telling them which way to go.

“It’s like a maze,” Corin said an hour later.

“It reminds me of something I saw once,” Rose said. “Some humans put two pieces of glass together with dirt between them. Then they put ants inside and watched them dig. They called it an ant farm.”

“What are ants?” Omer asked, curious. He was walking up front with the lead dwarves, clutching his rag doll.

“Insects,” Rose said.

Bradok shivered involuntarily at the word, thinking of the dead Disir.

Corin stopped abruptly. “You mean these tunnels remind you of ones dug by insects?”

Rose shook her head. “I just meant that they twist and turn a lot,” she said. “Then again …”

Bradok had slowed and Rose bumped into him.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

The faint light of the open compass illuminated the passage for several yards ahead. Just at the edge of its light lay a glossy black body. Bradok froze. Willing his limbs to move, he lurched forward, holding the compass high.

The light washed over the body on the ground. It had a hard, outer shell with a segmented body and four walking legs. The torso and head, however, were different from the Disir skeleton in Starlight Hall. It was decidedly female, with a line of eight breasts running down its front. The head had a
much smaller mouth, and its arms ended in hands with three long fingers. The body was smaller than the other, perhaps a little shorter than the average height of a human. All over the creature’s outer shell were thousands of little cracks, as though it had come under tremendous pressure and tried to shatter but couldn’t.

Bradok felt his arm going numb then realized that Rose had it in a death grip.

“Is it dead?” she whispered.

“Yes, thanks be to Reorx,” Bradok said, seeing the stain left by the vital fluids that had leaked out from the many cracks.

“What happened to it?” Corin said, edging closer.

Bradok kicked the dead Disir with his toe, but it didn’t budge. “I don’t care,” he said, checking the direction of the Seer’s spear. “Let’s just keep moving.”

“Quietly,” Rose said.

“Right,” Bradok said, turning to Corin. “Pass the word: less talking, everyone.”

The sandy passage grew wider and wider until it became a broad avenue. On either side, Bradok could see the bulbous protrusions of eggs buried in the sandy dirt. Each looked about the size of a man’s head. Several of the eggs had broken open, but there were no signs of any young. Two more shattered insect bodies lay at a juncture to a side passage, but there was nothing else.

Bradok could feel his skin crawl as he walked on in silence. Everyone carried weapons but nothing came rushing out of the darkness to meet them. Still, with every step they took, Bradok could feel the tension growing inside of him. He began to think it would be better if they were attacked. As formidable as he imagined the Disir to be, he was afraid of the tricks his terrified mind might play on him.

At that precise moment, a horrible nightmare appeared out of the darkness. In his overwrought state, Bradok cried out in alarm and fumbled for his sword.

“Stop,” Corin commanded, putting a restraining hand on his shoulder. “That one’s dead too.”

The body of a Disir warrior stood there, leaning against the wall of the tunnel, giving it the illusion of life. Its massive jaws dangled open as though it were ready to eat the next thing foolish enough to come near it. The long, wicked blades that made up its arms hung loosely at its sides, dragging in the sand.

Like the others, the Disir warrior appeared to have been shattered by some strange pressurized force.

“What could have done this?” Bradok asked, running his finger along one of the long fissures in the creature’s body.

“Could whatever destroyed Ironroot have struck here as well?” Rose asked.

“I’m grateful for it, whatever it was that killed these nightmares,” Corin said. “We’re among the nests of these creatures, can you imagine what they’d do if they caught us here?”