Back to the previous chapter: Book I: Detours

First Draft

14th Tinne 2044

Sturm looked from Farran, still fishing just off the shore, back to the town of Noyonne. The three wagons he had been watching were stopped near a large,low building at the center of the town. Like the rest of the buildings in Noyonne, this building was a single story wooden structure. Its walls were heavily weathered, a pale gray that contrasted with the bright greens of the valley around the town.

There was a substantial amount of movement between the building and the wagons. Sturm was unable to clearly see what was happening, but he suspected that the commotion involved his comrades. Shifting to a kneel, he looked around the copse of trees in which he had slept overnight.

There were close to a dozen trees, most of them deciduous, clustered near the western wall of the valley. The Vasmar stretched to the north, almost a hundred paces from the trees. Between the trees several sparse bushes grew. They were not much cover, but they would prevent a casual search from discovering the Sun Knight's hideout.

Sturm's sword was propped against one tree, the tip of its blade stabbed into a dead branch Sturm collected. The sword's scabbard was propped next to the sword, upside down and still drying.

Once again turning his attention towards the town, Sturm watched the wagons start rolling southeast, towards the dirt road that followed the valley floor. As Sturm visually traced the trail away from town, he spotted movement almost a mile inshore. After a few seconds of observation, he recognized the unmistakeable movements of over a dozen orcs, spread out in a screening line and walking up the valley. They were spread thin, but still able to spot just about anything hiding in the low grasses of the sheep fields they were crossing.

Now wary, Sturm continued to sweep his gaze along the valley floor, squinting towards the distant thin fog just starting to break well inshore and tracing back along the far side of the valley towards the shore.

It was difficult to tell peering past the buildings of Noyonne, but Sturm thought he saw another screening line moving away from him towards the far valley wall. "Looks like I'm popular," he muttered aloud.

Sturm continued looking around the valley. He could see a number of isolated houses, most likely those of the shepherds, ranchers, and farmers of the valley, scattered sparsely throughout the valley. A couple of dozen copses of trees, none larger than the one he currently hid in, also were sprinkled about. The nearest one was almost a quarter mile away.

Sturm noticed more motion near the town. He watched as a group of orcs, almost a dozen in number, trotted away from the town, directly towards this copse of trees. Sturm looked around the trees quickly, making sure his sword was still nearby. There was no indication that he had blown his cover -- the bush he was behind was thick enough that his shirt wouldn't show at this distance. Farran was still in the water, his head and part of his neck above the waterline. There was no way the orcs could see the horse, either.

Sturm lowered himself back to the ground, stretching his knees and rubbing his cold arms. He turned around to face the near valley foothills. The valley turned sharply upwards, making for a difficult climb after the first row of hills. Beyond the rocky peaks lining the valley, Sturm could make out additional peaks, many snow-capped. Not a great option. Better than getting caught.

Turning back to the village of Noyonne, Sturm saw that the approaching patrols had slowed and started spreading out. They may give me almost forty-five minutes before they get here.

Sturm looked to his left, towards the shore. Farran had started walking onto shore, shaking his legs to help dry them. Sturm looked back towards the orc patrols. They either didn't notice the warhorse, or they were not interested in it.

Sturm cupped his hands to his mouth as he turned back to Farran. "Get over here! There are patrols looking for us."

Farran looked at Sturm and snapped his tail a couple of times, spraying water behind him. His pace did not change as he walked towards the copse, but he started lifting his knees higher, until he was prancing. Sturm shook his head and turned back to watch the orcs.

Beyond the patrol, the wagon caravan had passed the last of the modest houses of Noyonne, bouncing down the road following the valley. They must be transporting everyone somewhere. They don't want us dead. Yet. As slow as those wagons are moving, I can keep up on foot easily. Sturm looked around the valley once more. There's no way I can run across the floor of the valley without the orcs spotting me. Sturm stood and looked to the nearby hills, then looked to Farran. "We can keep up pretty easily. I don't want to run into those patrols, so I think we should fall back to the far side of these hills and shadow the caravan."

Sturm stopped and looked at Farran. Farran had lowered his head, his ears cocked towards Sturm. "Do you have a better idea, Farran?"

Farran whipped his tail and shook his head, muzzle swinging from side to side.

Sturm walked over to his sword and picked it up, thankful again that he got a heavier-grade oil before he left Londoun. A thin layer of oil still covered the blade, protecting it from the moisture and air, in spite of its lengthy submersion. He then lifted his scabbard and shook it violently, holding the bottom end of it and swinging it repeatedly. He frowned as a few water drops flew from the scabbard. It'll have to do. I don't need to dally any longer. He slid the four foot long sword into its scabbard and wrapped the belt around his waist, hooking the buckle onto the steel attachment loop on the other end of the heavy leather belt.

Sturm started walking towards the nearby slopes, directly away from the town and patrol. He unconsciously crouched a little, hoping that he would not contrast too much against the greens of the hillside. The grass was thick, but not tall enough to really hide in. Small bees flitted between clumps of clover on the hillside, and a few butterflies danced over the small, white flowers.

Sturm noticed a slight saddle between two of the hills of the range, where a few larger rocks created some cover. He changed his course towards the rocks.

He was almost fifty paces from the rocks when he heard the thundering of hooves behind him. Sturm reached for the grip of his sword as he looked over his shoulder. Farran galloped up the hillside, passing Sturm without slowing. Sturm looked back across the valley from his elevated position.

The patrol that had been approaching Sturm's position was now running straight for him. They were still a mile away, but they covered ground much faster than Sturm could. Wonderful. Sturm started running for the rocks.

When he reached the rocks, he stopped and crouched behind one of the larger ones. With a look back over the valley, Sturm noticed that part of the screening line following the valley floor had turned towards his hiding place. Even at a run, it would take them at least half an hour to reach him. Sturm then noticed one of the orcs in the valley stop and launch a flaming arrow into the air. The flame was bright, as if there was some manganese mixed in with the tar on the head of the arrow. Sturm turned and jogged through the saddle between the two low peaks and turned southeast, following this smaller valley that paralleled the larger.

He spotted Farran up ahead, prancing in place and turning restlessly. "Why don't you give me a ride?" Sturm shouted at the foul-tempered roan.

Farran shook his head again and started prancing away, keeping his pace slow while the human caught up with him. Sturm started jogging next to the horse, who was prancing at a slow trot next to him.

A few minutes later, Sturm heard some shouts from behind him. Without glancing back, Sturm started running. The hoarse growls and snarls of orc voices became clearer as they spotted their prey.

Farran turned and charged the orcs. Sturm glanced over his shoulder once and kept running. Shouts and screams -- Sturm couldn't tell if they were orc or equine -- echoed in the valley as Sturm ran down a slight depression. An arrow landed to his right, but he kept running. When one landed five paces in front of him, Sturm slowed. The arrow had come from his right, not from behind him.

Looking up the rocky base of the low mountain to his right, Sturm spotted several orcs coming out of a well-concealed hut. Sturm stopped and put his arms up above his head, well out to the sides.

Several of the orcs ran down the hillside, their dark metallic armor rattling as the large humanoids jumped over rocks. Reaching the grassier region near the bottom of the valley, the orcs slowed and spread. Several held longbows, the rest held their strangely-curved throwing knives. Sturm heard some shouts behind him and half turned. Several more orcs approached -- but fewer then had been charging the copse Sturm had hidden in forty minutes ago. There was no sign of Farran, but one of the orcs held his shoulder in a strange position, as if it were dislocated.

Quietly, Sturm said, "I think this is where Eric would say 'kuso'."

Breanna tried to keep relaxed, as best as she could, in the cramped prison box. The wagon she was on bounced fiercely from time to time as a wheel caught a rut in the dirt road. Haven't they even heard of springs, or at least paving? She suppressed a sniffle. She was not about to give her captors the satisfaction of making her tear up.

The ride seemed to continue forever. She didn't get much of a chance to look around the valley when her captors escorted her from the holding cells to the wagons, but she was sure she would have spotted a keep up the valley. Maybe the keep is farther away? How long are we going to be in here? She suppressed an urge to scream.

Some time near noon -- Breanna guessed, because the sun seemed to be almost overhead -- the wagons stopped. She could hear guttural shouts of the orcs escorting the wagons, and distant replies. Breanna wasn't certain, but she thought she heard some shuffling and grunting coming from one of the other wagons. She also heard Captain de Peltier's smug voice: "Good. You've caught the Sun Knight."

They have Sturm, too? How are we going to escape? Breanna clinched her fists and tried again to practice the calming yoga exercise Eric had taught her during the oversea trip. The wagon again started bouncing along its inexorable path.

Some time later, the wagons again stopped. Breanna could hear the deep voice of the orc mage -- orcs have mages! -- as it muttered something to one of her fellow captives. Eventually, the orc stared into her cage. Breanna was uncomfortably aware of the musky scent of its breath as it said, "Be thankful for the mercy of the Lady Edralve."

Breanna felt a surge of Heka in the orc just before she passed into a mercifully deep sleep.

Breanna awakened with a jolt. The top of her cage was open, and she could see dark silhouettes standing above her, barely visible against the dark sky. Night already? How long did I sleep? She felt the fading traces of a casting, strands of Heka dissipating like the thin smoke of a taback pipe.

One of the shadows above spoke. She recognized the voice of the orc mage. "Get up, woman. Unless you would prefer not eating or drinking. I suspect the Lady Edralve would be less than pleased if you willingly damaged yourself."

Breanna realized that she was parched. She could taste miles of road dust in her mouth. She slowly stood, legs unsteady after being folded in a fetal position for most of the day. She stepped carefully as her eyes adjusted to the available light, climbing down the steep stepladder leaning against the wagon. As she reached the cool dirt underfoot, she looked around.

In the dark, she could make out the three wagons, their horses tied up some distance away. Several large mounds were on the ground -- orcs resting around the coals of dying fires. There were quite a few trees in the area, far more then she had seen in the Noyonne Valley. The wagons were still on the road, as if no traffic was expected.

The orc mage jumped down and pushed her slightly. "If you don't want to sleep in your own offal, you had best go now."

Finding her voice, Breanna responded hoarsely, "Where?"

The orc pointed towards a tree on the edge of the encampment. Breanna stopped. "You are kidding me."

The mage shrugged. "Suit yourself. You'll be sorry tomorrow."

Breanna walked towards the tree, trying to ignore the orcs watching as she hiked her shift and squatted. She thought she heard some of them chuckling.

When she returned to the wagon, the mage handed her a large waterskin and a hard, dried roll. "Enjoy your meal, human. Enjoy it quickly, though. I want to get some sleep tonight."

Breanna quickly tore the roll apart and ate it, not caring that it was dried and stale. She hadn't eaten in over a day, unless she missed her guess, and anything was better than nothing. She quickly emptied the entire skin of water, nearly choking herself in the rush.

She climbed back into her box, muscles still aching and protesting at their brief exercise after so much inactivity. As one of the guards shut the top and started attaching the lock, Breanna heard Captain de Peltier's voice.

"Kurik, a word please."

The orc mage above her responded. "Make it quick, Captain."

"I asked you not to harm the captives. Why did your men beat the Church Knight?"

"He fought my men. He peed on Borz's leg. He wanted to fight. My men complied."

"I don't want them harmed. Edralve would be displeased."

"We can discuss this later, Captain. Tomorrow, I will instruct my men to chain the Church Knight before I wake him." Kurik leaned towards Breanna's cage, and again she felt the surge of Heka before she fell into a deep sleep.

Breanna awakened one more time, again at night. She was sure it was the next night, since she ached even worse and the forest was much different. She followed the same routine: relieving herself, eating a hard roll, and drinking an entire skin of water. Again, Kurik knocked her unconscious with the sleep-inducing Heka weave.

16th Tinne 2044

When Breanna next woke, it was daylight. She was stretched on a cold stone floor that felt luxurious after the cramped wooden cages. She slowly opened her eyes and noticed her companions were laying on the floor as well. Most of them. She realized that Kasey and Bilbus were standing in the middle of the room, watching something behind her.

Shifting slowly, very aware of the bruises and protesting muscles all over her body, Breanna rolled over to look at her surroundings. They had been deposited in the middle of a square room, thirty feet to a side with a twenty foot ceiling. There were double doors on two opposing sides of the room, and there were a number of high, narrow windows allowing light. Near one pair of doors, four orcs stood, scowling towards the party. Their beady eyes glared out from under their eyebrow ridges, and yellowed fangs jutted from the mouths of a couple of them. They didn't look particularly menacing, but they were armed and heavily armored, facing a group of nearly naked humans.

Breanna heard Bilbus say something behind her. She turned around, and Bilbus repeated himself. "Nice of you to join us, Bree. Kasey and I have been having a nice staring match with our friends over there."

Breanna looked at the two men. Bilbus stood straight, arms crossed, a smug grin on his face. He exuded confidence, as if he thought he was in control of the circumstances. Kasey loomed next to Bilbus, taller by a foot easily. His right eye was swollen shut, and he had several nasty scratches on his face and a few bloodstains on his shirt.

Breanna stood and walked towards Kasey, taking ginger steps as her legs fought every step. She stopped close to the Church Knight, one hand against his chest to steady her. "Are you okay, Kasey? I can do something for these cuts."

Bilbus interrupted Kasey's reply. "You don't have any poultices, remember?"

Breanna looked at Bilbus. "I know some more direct techniques of Healing. As long as Bres can hear me..."

Bilbus shrugged. "My goddess doesn't really listen to me."

Kasey finally spoke. "No, Lady Breanna, I'm fine." He glared towards the four orcs. "It's really nothing."

One of the orcs straightened and bellowed, "No tar keeng!"

Bilbus laughed. "I thought I recognized that ugly, pus-ridden face."

Kasey tilted his head and looked at the orc. "I don't see any pus."

The orc pointed at the three. "No TAR keeng!"

Rishala awoke abruptly and sat up too quickly. He put a hand on the ground to steady himself and immediately moaned as over two days of cramped confinement and the burns from the magickal trap in Noyonne caught up with him. Breanna rushed to kneel next to him, gingerly putting a hand on his shoulder and murmuring some calming words. She noticed the rest of her companions were stirring.

Bilbus started yelling back at the orc, his right hand curled in a fist at arm's length, the middle finger extended upwards. "It's like this, you flea-ridden bag of feces!"

The orc switched to his middle finger, still pointing it at Bilbus. "NO! Tar keen!"

"The genius can learn! Would you look at that."

"No! Tar!" the orc stopped abruptly as the doors next to it swung open. Into the room strode two women followed by Captain de Peltier and Kurik the orc mage.

Bilbus looked at the women. The first one through the door wore a rich blue silk dress with thread-of-gold embellishments. She also wore an elaborate gold necklace. She was older than Bilbus by at least ten years. Her visage was hard as she looked at the half-dressed prisoners. Her light brown hair had streaks of white creeping into it. The very way she carried herself had Bilbus on edge. Noble. No question about it. She's in charge.

The second woman had fierce copper hair and stunningly green eyes. She wore a black silk dress offset with a deep gray bodice/vest. Her very expression conveyed an absolute hatred for all the prisoners in the room. She was younger than Bilbus, perhaps not much older than Breanna. Although she was far shorter than either de Peltier or the orcs, all the men seemed to be granting her as much berth as possible. She stopped to the right of the first woman and slightly behind her. Captain de Peltier stood several paces to the left of the women, about two paces behind them. He wore a fancy coat and breeches, more appropriate for a courtly appearance than his sailing jacket. Kurik, still in his voluminous cloak and dark breeches and tunic, stood next to the other orcs.

The first woman surveyed the prisoners with a bored expression, as if she were being asked to choose amongst several equally uninteresting bolts of cloth. Bilbus met her gaze for the seemingly eternal time she stared at him. He radiated a cool disinterest that didn't reflect the turmoil he felt inside. I could have had us out of here, what, three days ago? Have we been transported that long? He realized he had no idea how long ago the Sea Ghost had landed.

After an interminable silence, the woman in the blue dress started speaking, still looking over the prisoners. "These are the ones who stole the Sea Ghost?"

Captain de Peltier took a few steps towards the woman, rubbing his hands together and bobbing his head. He took a furtive glance at the woman in black before addressing the one in blue. "Yes, Lady Edralve. That is what they claim. The man Brule, who was captain of the Sea Ghost when Stalgraf met him, claimed there were several men and a lady."

Edralve looked from Breanna to Adria and back. "I see two women. And a boy."

Captain de Peltier rubbed his hands on his breeches, looking at Breanna and Adria. "One started travelling with them later, Lady Edralve." He smiled towards her; she continued to face the prisoners.

"Captain Sigurd was always a fool. He was too lax in his vigilance. I hope the Great Lord gives him his just rewards."

"I have no doubt the Great Lord will deal with him." De Peltier took another step towards Edralve. "He was an idiot."

Edralve turned quickly to face de Peltier. De Peltier took a step back, raising his hands.

One edge of Edralve's lips curled slightly. "You did well, Captain. I will reward you ten Klal for bringing these annoyances to me. Virona will give you the reward. You will then return to the Sea Ghost and see to its repairs. The ship is now yours, Captain de Peltier."

De Peltier bowed deeply. "I thank you, Lady Edralve, for your kindness and generosity. I will faithfully execute your orders and be certain that the Sea Ghost makes ready to follow your commands." He stood again, his eyes lowered to Edralve's feet.

Kasey blurted out, "My gods! Captain de Peltier is such a boot-licker!"

"No tar-keeng!" the orc-guard shouted.

De Peltier snapped his head to glare at Kasey. As he did, Bilbus moved his hands subtly, catching de Peltier's attention. Bilbus started signing to the captain. Careful about sticking your nose much further up her tail. It may get stuck.

Thunderclouds broiled across de Peltier's face as he turned and stormed from the room.

Edralve watched de Peltier slam the doors shut behind him. "Virona."

The copper-haired woman stepped forward. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Pay de Peltier as I command after you and Kurik see these annoyances across the island to the dungeons of Griffon's Beak."

"As you command, Mistress. What of their possessions?"

"Where are they?"

"In the dock warehouse. We have not inventoried it."

"Leave it there. After it is inventoried you can tell me what is worth keeping for gifts."

Edralve left the room without another glance at the travellers.

After the doors closed behind Edralve, Virona turned towards the prisoners. "Well. The Lady Edralve is feeling generous today. I would have sent you to the Forges."

She walked past the prisoners to the pair of doors on the far side. She opened the doors wide. "This way."

Bilbus offered, "After you."

Virona looked at him for a second, then nodded past him. Bilbus heard the rattle of the orc guards approaching. He started walking towards the open doors. "Perhaps next time, miss."

Outside, Bilbus quickly glanced around. The building to which their holding cell was attached looked to be a small, spartan manor surrounded by fifteen foot high walls. The open gateway in the wall was six inch thick wood with iron reinforcements. The manor itself was two stories tall.

Two of the orc guards passed Bilbus, taking the lead of the column of prisoners. Bilbus followed them out the open gate of the manor's compound onto a street in a well-to-do residential section. Bilbus turned his head left and right, taking note of the walls surrounding the entire town. It was not a large town, and it definitely was not any town Bilbus had visited. The houses nearby were very ornate, but closely placed. Small gardens and a few trees provided relief from the stone and plaster of the buildings and roadways.

There was a little pedestrian traffic. Most of it consisted of people in roughly-made breeches and tunics scurrying along, head down, with nary a glance at the procession. A few well-dressed people acknowledged Virona with bows or curtsies. They ignored the eight barefoot people in smallclothes and shifts in front of Virona and Kurik.

The procession continued past some large, open buildings. Bilbus could see hardened men walking inside the buildings, as well as rooms of bunks. The stink of a stable wafted from the far side of the building. Guards this close to the houses? Then again, there is not much room in this town.

The party was directed onto a larger street that continued north, past several open markets of fish and vegetables. There was more traffic on this street, including more working-class people at the stalls of the markets. Bilbus realized that there was a scattering of orcs in the crowd. Almost all the orcs wore normal day-to-day clothing, not the armored plates and maille of the orcs Bilbus had encountered in the past. Even here, the people ignored the procession. They made way for it almost without acknowledging its presence, aware of it but unwilling to consciously recognize it.

At the end of the street, Bilbus saw a round building. Several arched doorways surrounded its perimeter, with a guard standing at each of the doors. As the column of prisoners passed the building, Bilbus could hear a voice calling out from within: "Bidding is now at four Shekals. Four. This is a strapping young man. His back will be good for a number of years. Look at him. Five. Five Shekals. Six. We're now at six..."

Bilbus shook his head slowly as the column rounded an intersection and approached the town's gatehouse.

Four guards stood within the passway, milling about with the bored expressions that seemed to find gate guards everywhere. Two of them started to block the orcs in the front of the procession, but they recognized Virona and quickly moved aside. Virona passed them wordlessly.

Outside the gates, Bilbus could see for much farther. A steep-sided hill rose towards his right, to the southeast of the walled town. The top of the hill was flattened, and a white smoke rose from it continuously. The walled town itself was on a plateau about halfway up the side of this steep hill. To Bilbus's left, north, the slopes descended quickly to the lakeside. Several small tilled fields covered the plains at the northern base of the hill, and several piers jutted into the water.

The island on which this town had been built was surrounded by a large, placid lake. It was nearly circular, about three miles in diameter. The entire lake was surrounded by a very steep ridgeline, creating a circular valley that was hidden from the rest of the world. As Bilbus craned about to look for any more indication of where they were, he noticed that there was one very deep cleft in the valley wall. He could see some sort of stone building at the base of the crack, and a road cutting back and forth along the slopes leading to it.

Ahead of Bilbus, on another plateau on the island, were two walled keeps. The closer, and smaller, was nestled against the steepening slopes of the smoking hill. Bilbus could see a faint streamer of smoke pouring from a single chimney on the top of the small keep. The larger sat on the edge of the plateau, a thirty-pace cliff falling away from its walls on two sides of it. It was towards this keep that the column was heading.

Bilbus and his companions followed the orcs across the island to the keep. It was not a long walk -- no more than ten minutes had passed since they left the walled town. Bilbus felt his feet throbbing. The roads outside of town were not paved, and the small rocks were painful on his bare feet. He looked back at Breanna and Adria. Breanna was limping slightly, trying not to put too much weight on her left foot. Adria stared straight ahead, walking unsteadily and almost mechanically. The rest of Bilbus's friends were more alert, looking around and avoiding the larger rocks on the road.

Within the walls of the keep, the party was led immediately down a narrow, winding staircase. It was lit sparingly by torches set into sconces along the walls. The place smelled old and unused.

At the base of the stairs, the party found itself in a large, almost empty room, ten paces to a side. In the center of the room a large slab of stone, over two feet thick, rested on the close-fit stone of the floor. The orc guards stopped next to the slab and turned around.

Bilbus heard a gasp behind him. He turned in time to see Rishala crumple to the ground as Kurik stood beside him. Kurik moved next to Merek, waving a hand near the boy. Bilbus felt the surge of Heka as the boy collapsed, unconscious. Bilbus's companions realized what Kurik was doing, and they started sitting down. Bilbus remained standing, watching Kurik and trying to decipher the weave Kurik was forming with the Heka. Soon, Bilbus was the only human standing in the room. Virona was nowhere to be found.

Kurik stopped in front of Bilbus, looking down at the human with his dark, almost glowing eyes. "Well, human. It's just you and me. Wouldn't you like to find out?" He held his right hand up in front of his chest. Bilbus could see the small sparks of raw Heka dancing on the orc's fingertips.

Bilbus sat down, shaking his head. "I'd bet everything I have that you would win."

Kurik laughed quietly, his growl that of a predator. Bilbus felt the surge of Heka and felt the weave tighten around him just before he blacked out.

Bilbus awoke slowly. He was sprawled on an uneven, hard surface, and he could feel sand against his face. He was a little cold, and it was dark. Carefully, he opened his eyes. Correction. It is very dark. There was no light at all.

His left hand was wrapped around a cylinder, almost an inch in diameter. He squeezed it slightly, feeling it give as he did. Sitting up carefully, Bilbus looked around again. Still no light. He felt the cylinder with both hands. It was just over a foot long, made of a tightly-woven cloth. There were hard rings on both ends to give it shape. Something within the cylinder crinkled -- parchment, or paper, or vellum. The ends of the cylinder were open -- Bilbus could reach in and touch the rolled sheet within.

Setting the map tube in his lap, Bilbus listened to his environment. He could hear breathing coming from several places nearby, the slow breathing of people asleep. One such source of breathing was very near him. Carefully, Bilbus got to his hands and knees, grabbing the map tube in his right hand as he did, so that he would not lose it in the absolute darkness. Darkness is my friend, he reminded himself. Warmer darkness is. This is just miserable.

Bilbus crawled towards the nearby sleeper on all fours very slowly. When he guessed he was next to the sleeping form, he reached forward carefully, wanting to awaken whoever it was. His hand touched something warm and soft and curved. He recoiled quickly, but heard no change in the person's breathing. Bilbus stopped and visualized the sensation for a few moments.

It must be Adria. Does she still have that knife under her shift? Bilbus leaned forward and started feeling, trying to ignore the flush he felt. Surprised I'm not glowing red. What am I embarrassed about? His hand touched the hard grip of a small knife tucked into a sheath held between Adria's breasts by the smallclothes under her shift.

As soon as he started gently pulling the knife from the scabbard, Adria moved. Before he could withdraw his hand, she had swept her right arm out, knocking Bilbus's hands out from under him. At the same time, she twisted. Bilbus felt her left hand against the back of his head, driving him into the stone floor.

"Ow! What in the Hells are you doing, Adria?"

Adria whispered loudly. "I should have known it was you, Bilbus. I'm not even wearing a bodice and you're trying to put things into it."

Bilbus lowered his voice. "No I wasn't. I wanted to get your knife."

She shifted in the absolute dark again. He felt the warm steel blade against his throat as she leaned her head close to him. "Do you really want it that badly, Bilbus?"

As quickly as she placed the knife to his throat, she stopped. "Now what?" she asked, still whispering.

"Will you please hand me your knife, so I can get some light in here?" Bilbus's voice returned to a normal speaking level, echoing noisily in the darkness.

He felt the butt of the knife touch his arm. He gingerly took it from Adria and started concentrating, focusing a weave of Heka into the small blade. After a few seconds, the blade started glowing, a feeble blue source of light that seemed a bonfire in the dark. He handed it back to Adria.

Bilbus looked around. Beyond Adria he could see two other sleeping forms, and behind him were several more. "Let's wake 'em up. We gotta get out of here."

Adria turned and started rousing the people behind her -- Breanna and Rishala. Bilbus tucked the scroll case into the back of his under shorts, cinching their drawstring tighter to hold it in place. He soon had the others awake. They huddled, sitting in a circle and taking refuge in the feeble light of Adria's knife.

"I wish we had another knife," Bilbus said. "Who knows what else is in here."

Eric reached carefully up the leg of his under shorts. He produced a small knife.

Bilbus looked at the noble, his mouth half-open. "How did you smuggle that knife in here?"

"Bilbus, if you don't act like a donkey-headed fool, you don't get searched."

Bilbus shook his head. He then reached towards Eric's knife, weaving a flow of Heka into it until it, too, glowed.

Adria and Breanna stood and took a couple of steps away from the group.

Bilbus watched as Adria held her knife behind her back. "Do you see something?" he asked.

Adria nodded, but Breanna spoke. "There's a reddish-orange glow coming from somewhere this way. It's hard to see. I think it's down a tunnel or passageway."

Bilbus stood and stretched. He walked next to Adria and looked. He saw the glow. Why didn't I see it before? The glow did not flicker or dance any, and there was no shadows on the walls.

"Let's see what there is," Bilbus said as he started cautiously walking towards the glow.

The cave they were in was wide. The feeble light cast by the two glowing knives did not illuminate any walls or ceiling. Towards where the glow was, the cave narrowed sharply until it was less than two paces wide, with a ceiling only three paces high. The walls were rough, and the floor still had a thin layer of sand.

The tunnel veered sharply left just a few feet after it narrowed. The orange glow was reflecting from the dull stone of the walls. Bilbus peered around the corner, keeping his balance on his front foot, with both hands against the stone wall.

When he could see down the tunnel, he saw that it continued for twenty feet before turning back to the right. The source of the glow appeared to be just around that corner. Bilbus glanced back at his companions, then walked towards the next corner.

At the next corner, Bilbus repeated the pattern. Peering around the edge of the stone wall this time, however, he saw the light source.

There were three large bugs. Their bodies were nearly half of a foot in diameter apiece and domed like a ladybird beetle. They walked slowly away from Bilbus, giving him ample view of the light. Their hind ends, underneath their upper shells, glowed an orangish-red. Bilbus stepped around the corner, giving his companions a chance to see the insects.

Bilbus looked back at Eric. "Eric, give me your knife."

Eric handed the small blade to Bilbus, grip first. Bilbus turned and started stepping up behind the insects, taking care not to get too close. Eric's knife twirled between Bilbus's fingers, creating a mesmerizing pattern of blue flashes on the walls of the cave.

Bilbus kneeled behind the nearest bug, reaching carefully with his left hand towards the dark-shelled creature. When his hand was about an inch from the glossy black carapace, a shrill whistle roared through the confines of the tunnel. Bilbus leaped to his feet, spinning towards his comrades, with the knife held at ready.

Rishala was just lowering his hand from his mouth, laughing. "For the gods' sake, Bilbus. They're bugs. Just pick it up. They probably have as good of eyesight as you do after about five stout ales."

"Funny, Rishala." Bilbus noticed that Adria was chuckling quietly.

He turned again and kneeled quickly, reaching for one of the scattering bugs once more. He grasped it cautiously around the middle of the body and lifted. The shell on its back was no warmer than the air around him. He held it at arms length, upside down, and watched the legs slowly flail uselessly at the air.

"Are these things magickal? How do they glow?" he wondered aloud.

Rishala shook his head. "They aren't magickal. At least, if they're like the fire flies, they aren't. No one has ever seen any sign of magick being involved in fire flies. I think these fall into the same category: naturally glowing creatures."

Bilbus looked at the insect. Its hindquarters still glowed, a steady orange with no sign of heat. Its legs still flailed, slower now. "Adria, catch!" Bilbus tossed the insect with a slow underhand pitch to the blonde woman.

She caught the insect and shrieked, promptly dropping it to the ground at her feet. She then kneeled, picked the bug up, and smashed it face-first into the ground. The legs twitched spasmodically for a few seconds as the orangish glow started fading.

"Well done, Lady," Bilbus said as she stood once again.

Adria glared at Bilbus, eyes burning. He shrugged and turned to grab the second beetle.

He picked the insect up and turned to his companions. "Perhaps this should go to someone else. Eric?"

Eric held his hands out as Bilbus tossed the bug to him.

Bilbus captured the final insect and turned to his comrades. "Sturm?"

Sturm nodded. Bilbus took a couple of steps closer, then tossed the insect to the Sun Knight.

Merek, who had huddled behind Kasey while Bilbus captured the bugs, walked over to Eric. He looked at the glowing beetle with clear curiosity. He reached out carefully with one hand. Eric kneeled and held the bug towards Merek. The boy touched the insect's hind end, smiling at the steady glow under his fingers. Satisfied, he ran back to stand next to Kasey. Kasey tousled Merek's hair with one large hand.

Standing again, Eric looked at each of his friends. "Well, we don't know where we are. For whatever reason, Edralve decided to let us live. Now, we need to survive. We need to find food and water. Then, we can worry about an exit."

Bilbus remembered the scroll case in his breech-shorts. He drew it out. "Eric, this was in my hand when I woke up. I didn't have any light at the time to read it."

Bilbus offered the case to Eric. Eric took it and shook the rolled parchment out. Merek ran forward to pick the parchment up. Eric offered the still-flailing insect in exchange for the parchment. Merek delightedly held the bug, his eyes wide as he watched the large black legs slowly swing to and fro. Eric kneeled, holding the parchment near the rear of the beetle. He read the text aloud.

"For crimes against the City of Suderpol, the Lady Edralve, the Clomon Josacal the Younger, and the Baroness Eclavdra, you have been sentenced to spend the remainder of your days within the dungeons of Griffon's Beak.

As ordered by my hand,
Edralve,
Governor of Suderpol"

Bilbus snorted. "Well, we know where we are now. Fat lot of help that is."

Eric rolled the parchment and slid it back into the scroll case. He handed it to Merek and took the beetle back from the boy. "It doesn't matter." He stood. "We're alive. If we can find food and water, we can stay alive. A cave like this is bound to have water somewhere."

Bilbus looked at his friend. He spoke hesitatingly. "I might be able to help with the food. If Edain is listening, she might grant me the ability to create food."

Rishala scratched his chin. "Edain is the goddess of horses. Why would she listen to you?"

"She's also the goddess of luck and gambling, my friend." Bilbus smiled at finally discovering a gap in Rishala's knowledge. "Appropriate for people of my profession. Still, I wouldn't count on her acknowledging me. We aren't exactly close."

Eric spoke. "We'll try it if we have to, Bilbus. We may find something to eat. After all, if there's much water, we may find fish."

"Yes," Bilbus allowed. "But we'd still need a fire. This," he caused a small flame to appear at the tip of his thumb, "isn't going to be enough to cook anything bigger than my thumb nail."

"Not all fish has to be cooked, Bilbus."

Bilbus rolled his eyes. "Oh. Yes, the people of Karasimi do like raw fish, don't they. Yuck."

"You'd prefer starving?"

"No, I'd prefer cooked fish. And an ale, a warm fire, and a warmer maiden." Bilbus looked at Adria as he finished.

Eric sighed. "We don't have any of that here, do we, Bilbus? We can stand here all day and whine about what we don't have. Let's find out what we do have, and get the Hells out of here."

Bilbus looked at Eric. The bags under Eric's eyes belied the energy with which he spoke. "Go ahead, Eric. What do you have in mind?"

"We should start marking our route. Let's use one of these knives to cut a mark on the walls, an arrow, maybe. That way, we can tell where we've been."

Adria kicked the dead beetle on the ground in front of her. "What about using this for paint?"

Eric shook his head. "What if something down here likes beetle gore? It'd lick our marks right off the wall."

"What if we paint it really high from the ground?"

"If you want to do that, go ahead."

"I'm not carrying that thing!" Adria shuddered, then kicked the bug in frustration. It bounced off the cave wall and slid another two feet.

Bilbus looked at Sturm. "How did you get captured, anyway? I thought you escaped from the boat. I remember de Peltier and Kurik saying something about finding the 'Sun Knight'."

"Farran helped me get clear of the Sea Ghost. We put to shore about two miles from the village, and I hid there for part of the morning, until the orcs started sending search parties."

Adria sniffed. "You hid? Heroic knight..."

Sturm stared at the blonde. "What could I do against those numbers? If I tried to attack, they would have killed me before I got in close. My bow is still on the ship, probably floating in the hold right now." He looked back at Bilbus. "I saw the wagons heading out, and I tried to follow them. I got captured. The orcs must have sent parties out at night, while I was sleeping."

Eric spoke. "We're together now. Let's see if we can get out of here." Eric started walking down the tunnel.

Kasey touched Bilbus's shoulder. "Bilbus, give me Eric's knife."

"Why?"

"I'm a better knife fighter, for one thing."

"Good enough reason." Bilbus handed Kasey the knife, then started following Eric, who was already disappearing around a bend in the tunnel.

The tunnel turned and twisted several times, gradually descending. After several minutes of walking Eric noticed the floor became sandier. He continued on, stepping through the thick sand as he held the glowing beetle in front of him.

Eric whirled about when he heard a surprised yelp behind him. Bilbus was hanging from the ceiling, his palms flat against the stone ceiling of the tunnel with no other signs of support. Bilbus started swinging back and forth until he could touch the ceiling with his bare feet. When they touched, they stuck. Bilbus was on all fours, hanging from the ceiling.

"Something brushed my feet!" he shouted, craning his head back so he could see the sandy floor below him.

Everyone started staring at the sand. Adria suddenly pointed and shouted, "Something's moving!"

In a fluid motion, Kasey grabbed Breanna and swung her onto his shoulder. He grabbed Adria by the waist and started lifting her as he suddenly winced. In the dim light, Eric could see some sort of large insect biting at Kasey's ankle. As Kasey lifted Adria from the sand, he charged forward. Eric turned and ran, not wanting to get bowled over by the large Church Knight.

When Eric reached the end of the sandy stretch, some fifteen paces later, he turned around to look back at his comrades. They had all cleared the sand, Bilbus still crawling on the ceiling of the tunnel. Eric realized with a start that Rishala was crawling on the ceiling as well.

"You know that dweomer, too, Rishala?" Eric asked as the storyteller crawled over Eric's head.

"I'm not going to get bit by those bugs!"

Rishala lifted his feet from the ceiling, hanging by his hands. Suddenly, he dropped to the ground. Bilbus remained on the ceiling and started crawling farther down the tunnel. When he reached the edge of the illumination, he, too, dropped to the ground.

Kasey kneeled down at the edge of the sandy section of cave tunnel. He watched some ridges in the sand moving as several insects swam through the loose grains. Holding his knife above the sand, Kasey held still for several moments. He then stabbed downwards quickly. When he withdrew the knife from the sand, a still twitching bug just smaller than the palm of his hand was skewered on the blade.

Kasey pulled the hard-shelled creature from his knife and started breaking it apart. The snaps of its outer carapace echoed in the narrow tunnel.

Bilbus looked over Kasey's shoulder. "Kasey, what are you doing?"

"I think these bugs are edible. We'd have to cook them, though."

"I'm not lighting a fire, and I'm not hungry right now." His growling stomach betrayed him.

"Maybe for later? If we can find this place again..."

Kasey stood and flipped the dead insect back onto the sand. Several other insects identical to it surfaced and started tearing the corpse to pieces. Kasey watched it for a moment, then started walking down the corridor.

Eric stopped him. "Kasey, mark the wall with that knife."

Kasey scratched the knife on the wall, creating a light mark about five feet above the rough floor of the tunnel.

Eric once more took the lead, holding his beetle in front of him for light. The insect still struggled to escape, legs flailing uselessly at the air in a slow-motion pattern.

The tunnel continued to wind, but it appeared to start climbing again. After rounding the latest in an endless series of corners, Eric stopped.

From behind him, Bilbus asked, "What is it?"

"A skull."

Bilbus squeezed past Eric. He kneeled down next to a dusty white human skull. Bilbus looked around, trying to find any other parts of the skeleton. There were no other traces of a body in the tunnel, but Bilbus found an old, rusted dagger wedged into a crack in the rocks. He carefully fished it out and inspected it.

This time, Eric peered over Bilbus's shoulder. "Is that a dagger?"

"It's badly rusted." Bilbus twirled it in his right hand. "Decent balance. It might still be used in a pinch."

"I wonder where the rest of the skeleton is?"

Bilbus shook his head. "I don't know. I don't see any other parts around here. The skull is scratched and chipped, like it's been rolled around or something."

Rishala spoke up. "Was it used in orc ball?" He immediately regretted asking.

Orcs had a reputation for playing with their prisoners before devouring them. Usually, when the prisoner no longer entertained its captors, the orcs would decapitate it, using the victim's head as a ball in a barbarous, violent game. Everyone stood quietly for almost a minute, listening for signs of orcs in the darkness around them.

Eric once again started leading through the corridor. Bilbus, immediately behind him, still twirled the dagger from time to time. The rest of their companions followed behind. No one felt like speaking.

The corridor flared wider before narrowing to a crack. Bilbus squeezed past Eric to inspect the crack. "Maybe it's a secret door. Some people conceal doors like this. You know, Eric, like your parent's room?"

"What about my parent's room, Bilbus?"

"Haven't we talked about this before? The hidden panel on the wall that leads to the basement where your father keeps his better stocks of wine and beer?"

Eric sighed loudly. Someone behind them giggled. It sounded like Breanna.

Bilbus jabbed the dagger into the crack. "Sometimes there's a trigger mechanism hidden in a crack. You just need something to push or twist..." Bilbus twisted the grip of the dagger.

With a loud "ping", the grip broke free of the blade. Bilbus held the grip, looking at the finger's width of blade still attached to it. "So much for that dagger."

Bilbus felt a brief chill of someone channeling. He turned back and saw Rishala inspecting the walls.

"What do you see, Rishala?"

The older man continued scanning back and forth along the narrowing walls of the corridor. "The only dweomer I can see is the two knives with their glowing. I can also see my necklace pendant. There's nothing hiding here."

Bilbus looked around at the walls. "Well, I guess we go back, then." He started squeezing past his comrades.

When they reached the sandy stretch of the tunnel, they stopped. Bilbus looked at the floor, then at the ceiling again. As he did, Eric ran across the sand. He yelped twice before he reached the far end of the sandy tunnel, the orangish glow of his beetle now twenty paces away.

Bilbus shook his head and looked at the rest of his companions. "Rishala, Breanna, do you know a formula for ridding pests?"

Rishala shook his head as Breanna said, "No."

Bilbus said, "I do, but I need some herbal components to hold the dweomer."

Sturm looked from Rishala to Bilbus. "Aren't the small clothes most of us are wearing made from linen? Linen comes from flax. Flax is a plant. Maybe that's good enough?"

Bilbus rubbed his chin. "We may as well try. Okay, who wants to rip his shirt for the good of us all?"

Sturm stared at Bilbus for several seconds, then started tearing the sleeves from his undershirt.

Meanwhile, Kasey kneeled next to the sand once again. He started stabbing into the sand with his knife, occasionally producing dying bugs skewered on his knife.

Adria kneeled next to him. "What are you doing?"

"These bugs eat their dead. I figured we could have a few of them to throw into the sand. Maybe it will distract the rest of them."

Adria continued to watch for a few minutes, then started stabbing the sand with her own knife. Soon the two had a pile of a dozen dead insects, many still twitching.

Bilbus, meanwhile, folded the strips of linen Sturm had handed him. One he tore into smaller pieces and stuffed within the others. "Okay, Rishala. Watch this. See what I'm doing?"

Rishala stared intently, just barely able to feel the flows of Heka more than see them. "I think so. Interesting. Let's hope this works."

Bilbus finished weaving the casting, then lifted the pouch he had folded. He held it carefully with one hand, then channeled some Heka into the scraps within. Soon, they started smoldering. As soon as a flame jumped out of the pouch, Bilbus blew across it. A thin white smoke poured from the pouch. "Here's to nothing," Bilbus said as he stepped onto the sand, crouched over and waving the pouch along the surface of the sand just in front of his feet.

Kasey insisted on lifting Breanna and carrying her on his back. He wrapped his arms around her legs, with several oozing bugs in each hand. He followed close behind Bilbus, tossing dead bugs every couple of paces. Sturm carried Adria in the same way, and Rishala and Merek followed behind, casting furtive glances at the dark sand underfoot.

Once across, Bilbus tossed the smoldering pile of linen back onto the sand.

Eric looked at his companions. "Everyone ready to continue?"

Bilbus straightened and put his hands on his hips. "I didn't feel like feeding the insects."

"I only got bit a couple of times. It really wasn't that bad. I've been through much worse over the last few days."

Eric turned and followed the tunnel back to the room in which they had awakened. Once the rest of his companions caught up, he turned to face them.

"One of the things I've learned about navigating labyrinths is to always turn the same direction and mark your route. Kasey, would you mark the tunnel wall?" Kasey cut a mark into the side of the tunnel as Eric continued. "I'd say we should always take right turns, just for consistency sake."

Kasey asked, "What do we do when we reach a dead end?"

"Like we just did? We come back and go right."

"But, if we took a right turn to get there, shouldn't we take a left to get back out?"

Eric shook his head slowly. "No, Kasey. Then we'd just be backtracking."

"Oh. Well, then. Go ahead."

Breanna kneeled next to Kasey's feet. She looked at the welt on his ankle. "I don't think there's any poison..." She grabbed the bottom hem of her shift and ripped a strip from it. She wrapped it around Kasey's ankle, tying it off in a makeshift bandage.

She then did the same thing with the two cuts on Eric's left ankle, again tearing her shift to create strips for bandaging. She stood again, glancing at Eric before taking a couple of steps back.

Eric smiled. "Thank you, Breanna." He looked to the rest of his companions. "Shall we find the exit now?"

He followed the right wall of the cave for twenty feet before another tunnel branched away from the larger room. Kasey stopped and scratched another arrow into the cave wall before following the tunnel.

The tunnel meandered for some distance. Eric thought the tunnel curved more to the left than to the right, but he had no way to tell with any degree of certainty.

The tunnel started dropping noticeably, and it widened abruptly into another larger cave. From the feeble illumination of his fire beetle, Eric guessed it was a little over ten paces to the far wall, and a little over eight paces to either end from his current place. Two other tunnels wound away from the cave, but the floor of the cave held more interest for the explorer.

A sandy beach slightly more than two paces wide connected the three exits from the cave, but most of the cave floor was the smooth top of a clear pool. Eric dropped to his knees, placing the beetle next to him, and cupped his hands in the water.

Next to Eric, Bilbus dropped to all fours and stuck his face in the water. He pulled it out quickly. "Cold!" he managed to gasp.

The rest of the party entered the room, lining up along the edge of the pool to drink. As Eric scooped a second double-handful of water, he noticed some movement in the water. He grabbed the fire beetle, now over a pace away, and held it over the surface of the water.

Small white fish shuttled about, keeping close to the bottom of the pool. Eric smiled. "We can eat. We can drink. We can survive."

Sturm, about five paces to Eric's left on the edge of the pool, grunted. "The water doesn't taste too bad. Where does it come from?"

On the oppsite side of the cave, Breanna called out. "There's a small stream over here that trickles into the pool. It's not really much of a stream..."

Bilbus looked at the dark water. "Then there must be somewhere for the water to drain." He peered at the far side of the cave. "It looks like there's an opening over there."

Eric looked where Bilbus pointed. There was an opening that the water flowed through.

Kasey started stabbing into the water with his knife. Occasionally, he stabbed a blind cave fish. He started putting the fish together in a small pile. "It'd be nice to have some wood to burn. Something to cook these things on."

Bilbus looked at Eric. "There could be an exit over there, Eric. We might be able to get out."

Eric nodded. "There's one way to find out."

Bilbus steeled himself and waded into the cold water. Eric followed suit, holding his glowing beetle above the surface of the water.

The two were soon treading water on the far end of the pool. Eric held the beetle through the space between the water and the top of the opening, illuminating part of a larger cave. The ceiling of the other cave was only a foot above the waterline, but it appeared to be much deeper.

Eric climbed through the opening. Below the waterline, the bottom was only two feet deep where the two caves touched. On the far side, he could see it was much deeper. Bilbus followed him, looking around the small area above the water. "Nothing up here. Maybe it's an underwater exit?"

Bilbus peered through the water as best as he could. "I can barely see the floor of this cave. It must get deep very quickly... That's odd."

Eric tried to see what Bilbus observed. "What?"

"There's not as many fish over here..." Bilbus stopped and looked at Eric. Eric nodded and turned back for the opening.

Bilbus followed Eric back onto the shore, feeling his skin crawl even as bumps formed from the cold touch of the air.

Kasey looked at the two. "What's the matter?"

Bilbus looked at the knight, who still squatted at the shore, knife in hand. "There are not as many fish in the other cave."

"So?"

"So, maybe something is eating them."

"Oh. A bigger fish?"

"Maybe."

"Is there a way out over there?"

"We didn't get a chance to look very closely. Neither one of us has a knife."

"I'll go with you, Bilbus." The knight stood and started wading into the pool, glowing knife at his side.

"Thanks, Kasey." Bilbus started swimming towards the opening once again.

Back on shore, Eric set the beetle down and removed his shirt. He wrung the shirt several times, trying to squeeze the water out of the silk weave. He looked at the stream flowing in from one of the tunnels. "I wonder where this comes from..."

Breanna walked over to stand next to him. "We could find out."

Eric picked up his beetle and stared walking, his shirt lying on the sandy beach of the pool. Breanna followed him, staying close.

Rishala kneeled at the water's edge. He reached in and grabbed a white crayfish that was crawling on the floor of the pool. Triumphant, he placed it at his side on the sand. He was so intent watching another crayfish in the water that he never noticed the first one crawl away. Several minutes later, after catching the fifth crayfish, he looked at his bounty. "Where are all of them? I know I caught at least four of them!"

Merek sat down next to Rishala. He started pushing the damp sand, piling it into a small berm. He hollowed the space above the berm, forming a bowl. He then grabbed the crayfish, which had almost escaped into the pool, and put it in the bowl. As Rishala started hunting for another crayfish, Merek kept the first one corralled. Eventually, they had several white crayfish crawling in the bottom of the pen, trying without success to escape from the small pit and Merek's watchful guard.

In the water, Bilbus climbed through the opening into the larger pool cave. Kasey followed suit, holding the knife below the water level. Both looked around the cramped above-water area for a few minutes before Bilbus started swimming away from the opening.

Kasey called out, "Don't get lost."

"As long as I can see you, I'll be fine."

Kasey swam a little closer to Bilbus, still looking about. He lifted the knife above the water. "This is pretty neat, Bilbus. This magick stuff. They tried teaching it to me when I was still a junior Church Knight."

Bilbus faced the knight. "They teach Church Knights magick?!?"

"I was never really good at it. I studied it, but it is really complex. A lot of concentration on things you can't see but you can. It never made sense to me. It helps some knights, though. It's okay, though, since the magick comes from the gods, so it's not tainted like magick from the Dark One."

Bilbus mumbled to himself. "The Great Lord's taint isn't that strong." Bilbus shook his head, trying to clear it. "Let me see if I can find an exit. Hold that knife under water so I can see better down here."

Kasey stuck the knife info the water, still treading slowly and using his free hand to push against the water, turning. Bilbus took a deep breath and dove under the water.

The bottom of the pool was tinted, patches of dark color from various algae. Small white fish swam, and crayfish scuttled, around the algae. In the distance, at the edge of the light coming from the knife, Bilbus saw something lighter colored. He kicked a couple of times towards it before he realized what he was looking at.

It was a pincer-claw, like on the small crayfish. Only, it was larger than the claws on the crayfish. Much larger. It was larger than Bilbus was tall. As Bilbus started to turn back, he saw the second claw. Both were moving slowly.

Bilbus started to inhale, forgetting in his panic that he was underwater. He charged for the surface, crashing above water next to Kasey, kicking and screaming. Kasey grabbed Bilbus by the arm and kicked powerfully, dragging the thief towards the safety of the shallower entry pool. Kasey pulled Bilbus into the shallower water, finally depositing him on the shore of the pond. Rishala, Sturm, and Merek gathered around.

Rishala looked at Kasey. "What happened? Is he all right?"

Before Kasey could answer, Bilbus coughed and sat up. "It was big." He picked up one of Merek's corralled crayfish. "One of these, but claws were as big as I am."

Rishala smiled. "Bilbus, I thought I was the story teller."

Bilbus looked levelly at Rishala. "I'm not joking Rishala. That thing had to be at least five paces long."

"Did you see an exit?"

"I didn't get a chance to look. I saw that thing moving and I decided I better get out." He looked at the small crayfish he was holding. "I know how to get rid of that thing, though."

Rishala raised an eyebrow. Bilbus smiled and looked at the small crayfish. He started concentrating, pulling strands of Heka into the crayfish, weaving them into a fragile web.

Rishala looked on, sensing the Heka flow but unable to comprehend what Bilbus was doing. "How are you doing that?" he whispered to the thief. "Heka can't be weaved that way..."

Bilbus continued wordlessly, the smile on his face becoming a rictus. When he finally placed the last weave, he stood up, holding the crayfish carefully. "Kasey?"

"Yes, Bilbus?"

"How good are you at fishing with a line?"

"I'm pretty good, Bilbus. Why?"

"I want to go fishing for that big monster. Hold this." Bilbus held the small crayfish out to Kasey. "But, whatever you do, don't crush it."

Bilbus picked up Eric's silk shirt, still discarded on the shore. He tore several narrow strips from it, until he eventually had about ten paces' worth of strips. Bilbus started tying them together.

Kasey called out. "Bilbus?"

"Yes, Kasey?"

"If you're going to lure this big crawdad, you really oughta put some fishguts on this little one, to make it tastier."

"Why don't you do that, Kasey. Just don't crush that crawdad."

Bilbus continued tying the strips of silk together. When all of them were done, he carried the makeshift silk rope to Kasey, who held the crayfish, now dripping with fish ichor.

"Kasey, put the thing here."

Kasey put the crayfish near the end of the strip. Bilbus carefully tied it off, then noticed the fish Kasey had used. It was on the ground next to Adria, who held her knife, still dripping with blood from the fish. Bilbus carefully kneeled opposite the fish from Adria, dipping the end of the silk rope in the blood while watching her.

Bilbus stood and handed the other end of the rope to Kasey. "Okay, throw it into that other pool, as far as you can without losing the rope."

Kasey took the end of the rope, then grabbed the end that held the crayfish. He threw the weighted end at a shallow angle across the water, skipping it several times before it sank into the water.

Bilbus started walking quickly towards the tunnel that Eric and Breanna had walked up several minutes earlier. "Come on, everyone. We don't want to be in here if that monster bites the bait."

Rishala ushered Merek across the room as Sturm followed. Adria reluctantly stood and followed. Kasey still held the end of the improvised rope, tugging occasionally at it.

Bilbus stopped. "Kasey, what are you doing?"

"I'm bobbing the bait. Fish think it's still alive that way, and they'll bite at it."

"No, Kasey. If it doesn't bite, we can haul it back with the rope. Trust me, you won't want to be in here if that thing crushes the crayfish."

"If you say so..." Kasey dropped the silk rope and followed Bilbus from the cave.

He followed Bilbus about fifty feet up the tunnel, looked at the small, winding rivulet on the side of the tunnel. Bilbus finally stopped and turned. "Eric and Bree must have continued on farther. I hope they're allright alone together..."

Eric and Breanna looked around the cave. The tunnel they had followed turned back and forth a few times before straightening, climbing inexorably. The tunnel emptied abruptly into a smaller cave, almost seven paces to a side and circular. Two other tunnels entered the room as well, but the contents of the room held Breanna's attention.

Several large stalagmites and stalactities, all nearly touching, created a sense of pillars in the room, water dripping from stalagmite to stalactite endlessly. All across the damp floor, and along the bases of the stalactites, mushrooms and toadstools and other fungi of every description grew. Breanna's eyes goggled as she looked at some of the specimens.

"Eric! Look at this! I've only seen a sketch of this mushroom in one of old Master Shipley's books."

Eric looked over her shoulder, aware of the warmth coming from her body. Even after three days of confinement and misery, he could still smell the faint lilac and cinnamon in her hair. Breanna gestured at another of the myriad mushrooms.

"This is a ... a ..." she started.

"Mushroom?"

Breanna turned and slapped him on the chest before walking farther into the room. She gasped as she caught a glimpse of a large mushroom. "Eric! Look at this! Tell me I'm not imagining things!"

Eric walked past several clumps of white spherical fungi, taking care not to step on any of them, to stand next to Breanna. She pointed to the far wall of the cave.

Growing against the far wall of the cave was the biggest mushroom Eric had ever seen. It was a pale pinkish color, with white under the cap. The stalk alone was as tall as Eric, and the top of the rounded cap was half again as far from the ground as Eric's head.

"No, Breanna, you are not imagining it. That is a very big mushroom."

"I wonder what it is. I've never heard of any mushroom getting this big." She shook her head in frustration. "If I had a sketchbook. I've never even heard of anything like this."

Eric started to say something, but a thundering roar rumbled up the tunnel the two had used to enter the cave. Both turned to look at the tunnel wordlessly as the rumble echoed and rolled through the underworld.

Eric started walking quickly for the tunnel. "We'd better check. I'm sure everyone is okay."

They walked quickly back down the tunnel, following the tiny stream. When they returned to the pool room, they found the rest of the party standing on the shore, looking at innumerable white fish floating on the surface of the pool. The entire shore looked like it had been flooded.

Eric saw his shirt floating at the edge of the pool, just below the surface. He picked it up and shook it off, watching a fish or two fall out of it.

Bilbus looked at Eric and Breanna, a lopsided smile on his face. "I think we got it."

Eric looked at Bilbus incredulously. "Got what?!? Good gods, Bilbus! What did you do?"

"You didn't see it, Eric. There were fewer fish on the other side. I saw why. That was the biggest crawdad ever..."

Kasey walked up to Eric and handed him a long rope of tied-together silk. "Here's the rest of your shirt, Eric. Sorry."

Eric shook his head, then started wringing his shirt, muttering to himself.

"Let's go," he said. "We're not going to get anywhere standing here." He pulled the half-shirt back on, and started walking back towards the mushroom cave.

From there he took the right passage after Kasey marked the wall once again. Breanna pointed out the giant mushroom to the rest of her companions. They all marveled at the size of it, and they marveled again when Kasey pointed out a second one by the other exit from the room.

The tunnel winded, turning and twisting back and forth, for a long time. It seemed to take hours before they reached another dead end. They backtracked to a branch in the tunnels and followed the next path, which turned and twisted, slowly descending.

Eric stopped abruptly. "There's a chasm."

Bilbus walked up to stand next to the explorer. "Sure is." He looked down into the black abyss. "It's pretty deep." He kicked a small rock off the edge. There was a long delay before he thought he heard the sound of it hitting bottom.

"Well, now what?"

Rishala spoke next. "I feel a breeze."

Eric turned around to face the story-teller. "What?"

"There's a breeze. It's blowing across the chasm."

Eric smiled. "There could be an exit. I wonder how far across the other side is."

Eric saw Bilbus talking to Adria on one side of the tunnel. She suddenly grabbed a glowing beetle Bilbus was holding and threw it. It sailed across the chasm and landed, twenty feet away, on the other side. It righted itself and started scurrying farther down the tunnel.

"Great, Adria!" Eric said.

Adria pointed at Bilbus. "He told me to!"

"Why, Bilbus?"

"I wanted to see how far across it was. Standing here talking about it isn't going to answer the question."

Eric handed his beetle to Kasey. "Well, now we know."

He looked around for a few moments, trying to find hand holds on the cliffside or any other purchase for climbing down. When he looked back at his comrades, Bilbus was handing the last fire beetle to Adria.

Too late, Eric shouted, "No!"

Adria threw the bug straight down, into the chasm. It fell for twenty-some paces before the carapace on its back split and opened, revealing large, brittle, clear wings that the beetle used to guide itself to the wall. It landed seventy feet below the edge of the cliff, on the wall, with no bottom in sight.

Eric glared at Bilbus, who shrugged. "Do you really want to climb that far down, then climb the other side?"

"What do you suggest, Bilbus?"

Bilbus jerked a thumb towards Rishala. "Rishala and I can crawl across the ceiling and take a look over there. If it looks promising, we come back and figure something out."

Eric stood. "Okay. You and Rishala go take a look, see what you find. The rest of us will wait here."

Bilbus put his hands on the side of the cave. He then put his feet against the side as well, hanging without grasping anything. He crawled quickly on all fours to the ceiling. "Ready, Rishala?"

Rishala soon was crawling across the top of the chasm, next to Bilbus. They reached the far side of the chasm, still barely lit by the fire beetle, before they kicked their legs free and dropped from the ceiling. They started walking after the glowing insect.

Bilbus grabbed it and continued down the tunnel, his public relations agent close behind him. The corridor turned twice -- once right, then once back to the left -- before it ended in a round cave, about ten paces in diameter.

Bilbus looked around. "End of the road?"

Rishala pointed upwards. "Look. It's a tunnel going upwards."

Bilbus looked where Rishala indicated. Near the center of the room, a four-foot wide chimney went straight up into the darkness.

"Here," Bilbus said as he offered the beetle to Rishala. Rishala took the insect.

Bilbus trotted to the wall of the cave and placed his hands on it. He jerked his hands back, waving them around. "Bring that beetle over here!"

Rishala walked over to his friend and held the beetle close to the walls. The walls glistened with slime mold. Bilbus looked at his hands. "This stuff burned me!"

"It must be acidic. I guess we can't just climb the walls. The breeze definitely is going up there."

"I wonder how high the chimney is."

Rishala handed the glowing bug back to Bilbus. "You've found one way to measure it. Go ahead."

Bilbus walked back to the center of the room and threw the fire beetle upwards. It landed against the bottom end of the chimney, sixteen feet overhead, and started climbing.

Rishala and Bilbus watched it climb until it was ten feet from the bottom of the chimney. "It's a bit of a climb, Bilbus. Let's go tell the rest of them."

Bilbus nodded and followed Rishala, walking slowly in the darkness with one hand against the wall.

Bilbus spoke quietly, unconsciously lowering his voice in the darkness. "How can we get them all over here? And how do we get up to the chimney to see if it really is an exit?"

"We could weave the spider-walk casting onto everyone else so they can cross the ceiling like we did. Then, maybe a human ladder? The slime didn't look like it reached to the chimney. At least, that fire beetle didn't seem to notice it, and I didn't see anything shiny near it."

"That might work... I don't think I can channel enough Heka to get everyone dweomered, Rishala. I've been pushing my limits today."

Bilbus wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Rishala mutter "Amateur" before he spoke again. "I can, Bilbus. We should be able to get everyone across."

They rounded the last turn, spotting the two dim blue glows of the dweomered knives. Rishala started climbing the wall as Bilbus started speaking.

"We found a chimney over here. It goes up a ways, thirty feet or more. We can't climb the walls to reach it, though, because there is an acidic slime on the walls. The ceiling is high enough that I can't jump to it. What we want to do is put a dweomer on each of you so you can crawl over here on the ceiling like Rishala and I did. We can then form a human ladder so one of us can climb up into the chimney and see if it is a way to escape."

Rishala had completed crossing the chasm. He crawled onto the wall, then dropped to the ground.

Bilbus continued. "Bree, you better tie off your shift." He looked at Eric. "We don't want anyone to get distracted and lose his grip over this crevice." He then looked at Adria, a half-smile on his face. "Adria, you don't need to tie yours off..."

Bilbus was unable to hear what Adria said, but it sounded foul.

On the other side of the chasm, Rishala stood looking at his companions. "Who wants to try this first?"

Kasey raised his hand and stepped forward. "Ooh! Me! Let me go first!" He waved his hand.

Rishala laughed as he held his hands near the Church Knight. He concentrated, feeling strands of Heka flowing nearby. He directed the Heka into a complex web, concentrating it on Kasey's hands and feet.

"Okay, Kasey. This is important. You must keep contact with the surface on two places, either both feet, or both hands, or a hand and a foot. Any less, and you fall. Don't try moving without at least three points of contact. Got it?"

Kasey nodded uncertainly.

"All you need to do is put your hands against the wall, then your feet. Then, crawl up onto the ceiling and cross the chasm."

Kasey put his knife in his mouth, holding it with his teeth. He then placed both hands on the wall. It didn't feel any different than touching the wall any other time. He then put his feet against the wall. Instead of falling on his rear like he expected, he hung against the wall.

"This is great!" he exclaimed around the knife as he started crawling to the ceiling. "Come on, everyone! You have got to try this!"

Kasey stopped over the middle of the chasm and turned around twice before facing his companions. He saw the women busily tying the bottoms of their shifts to prevent exposing anything underneath while hanging overhead.

Eric started climbing the wall. He passed Kasey and continued across to the far side, dropping to the ground next to Bilbus. Merek followed, his eyes goggling with wonder as he hung upside down from the ceiling of the cave. Breanna, Adria, and Sturm crossed as well before Rishala once again climbed the wall and crossed the chasm. Only after Rishala dropped to the floor did Kasey finish crossing the chasm ceiling.

He dropped to the ground and started talking excitedly to Merek. The boy and the knight seemed to be equally excited about the event, Merek signing wildly as Kasey nodded and talked to him. Finally both stopped and looked at the rest of the party.

"Sorry," Kasey said. "That was really neat."

Eric smiled. "I know, Kasey. We can talk about it later. Let's see if we can get out of these caves."

"Okay." Kasey started walking towards the chimney room.

The party reached the circular room and spread out. Bilbus walked to the center with Eric and Kasey. The three looked up the chimney at the fire beetle. It was not sixty feet from the mouth of the tunnel, still climbing.

Eric looked at Kasey. "Kasey, can you hold me on your shoulders. If I stand on your shoulders, Bilbus should be able to reach the chimney."

Kasey kneeled. Eric carefully put first one foot, then the other, on the knight's shoulders. Kasey slowly stood, his hands on Eric's ankles. It took a minute and a few near-collapses before Kasey was standing steadily with the explorer on his shoulders.

Bilbus put his hands on Kasey's shoulders, next to Eric's feet, and started climbing Kasey's back.

Kasey staggered and, in a strangled voice, cried out, "Wait, Bilbus!"

The three collapsed to the ground. Kasey and Eric stood again, much easier this time. Bilbus managed to find purchase, and climbed to Eric's shoulders. He reached up and easily placed his hands against the wall of the chimney. He slowly pulled himself upwards, keeping both palms as flat against the wall as he could. Bilbus then swung a foot until he touched the ceiling of the cave just outside the chimney's base. The other leg Bilbus folded against him, putting the knee inside the chimney. Bilbus started climbing the tunnel.

Rishala had wandered over to the side of the cave, inspecting the glistening slime once more. He placed his hands under his shirt, then pressed them against the wall. He felt the cool dampness of the mold through the shirt, then started feeling the burning sensation against his hands. Rishala quickly stepped back from the wall.

He noticed Adria about to do the same thing. She had torn some strips from the bottom of her shift and wrapped them around her hands, creating makeshift mittens. She was about to place them against the slime. "Adria, I wouldn't..."

She ignored him, quickly putting her hands on the slime and putting her still-bare feet against the wall as well. She started sliding towards the floor of the cave, so she started trying to climb, hands and feet quickly flailing. Rishala yelled at her as the slime started flying around the room. Adria stopped and backed away from the wall, wiping her feet with part of her shift to get the acidic mold off her.

In the chimney, Bilbus heard Rishala's shouts and shook his head. He started climbing the walls effortlessly, the dweomer holding him against the wall still strong. The chimney was about four feet wide and fairly smooth. I could climb this without the spider-walk if I had to. I'd rather have the dweomer. I won't slip that way.

Seventy feet from the bottom mouth of the chimney, Bilbus passed the fire beetle, no longer climbing. Bilbus suppressed an urge to knock it loose and continued past the large beetle. At least it gives me some light to see with.

Ten feet past the beetle, Bilbus noticed some strands on the wall of the cave. He pulled some loose to look at them. They were thick strands of silk, thicker than any he had ever seen.

He called down the chimney. "I found some silk! Thick strands!"

At the base of the chimney, Eric had climbed off of Kasey's shoulders several minutes ago. He stood next to the Church Knight, looking up the chimney at the thief, visible in the orangish glow of the beetle. "What, from silk worms?"

Bilbus shouted down. "No, it's more like spider silk, but really thick."

Eric turned to Kasey and lowered his voice. "That would probably be strong enough to support us, so we wouldn't have to try the human ladder trick anymore." He then looked back up the chimney. "Is there enough to play down a rope? Try knotting some loops in it so we can climb it."

"Okay!" echoed down the chimney.

After a minute of silence a scream echoed down the chimney. Kasey looked up the chimney, concerned. "Is there a mountain lion up there? I've heard that their scream is sometimes like a woman's."

Next to him, Eric shook his head, still looking up the chimney. "No, that's Bilbus."

Several bright flashes lit the far end of the tunnel. Eric and Kasey could see Bilbus's silhouette in the light, but they couldn't see what else was up there.

Bilbus's voice echoed down the chimney, pitch raised from stress. "Everyone down there, look out! Wait! Adria, come here!"

Something fell down the chimney. Eric and Kasey both backed up to get clear of it. It landed noisily on the cave floor below the vertical tunnel. Kasey kneeled next to it, looking at the dark, hairy, ovoid body and the eight curling legs. Smoke poured from where its face used to be.

Kasey poked the thorax with his knife once, then stood and looked at Eric. "That is one big spider."

Eric nodded and looked up the chimney. "Are you all right, Bilbus?"

"I'm fine. That thing surprised me, that's all."

Several minutes passed before Eric saw a silvery strand drop below the edge of the chimney. When it was low enough, Eric grabbed it and pulled it a little, testing its give.

"Wait!" Bilbus called down. "Let me actually anchor this strand somewhere."

Eric waited for a few seconds, then noticed a ripping noise coming from the side of the cave. Rishala crouched to one side, holding strips of his under shirt's sleeves. He glanced up at Eric. "The casting Bilbus showed me will get rid of any other spiders up there."

Bilbus yelled down the cimney again. "It's anchored. Come on up!"

Eric tested his weight on the silk. It held, but the narrow strands cut uncomfortably into his hands and feet. He continued the climb, putting his hands against the chimney wall and reverting to the dweomer to hold him as soon as possible.

Rishala followed soon after, a smoldering batch of linen tucked into a pocket he created tying off his shirt. The acrid smell wafted through the chimney, a thin smoke slowly drifting upwards past Eric and Bilbus. The rest of the travellers were soon crowded into the chimney behind Bilbus.

"Everyone's here?" he asked.

After everyone acknowledged his question, Bilbus once again formed a Heka-fueled flame on the end of his thumb. He held his thumb against the strand of silk. It quickly flared, severing at the point of ignition. The lower section fell downwards, quickly burning as it fell. The upper portion quickly ignited numerous other strands in the top section of the chimney.

The chimney became unbearably hot for a moment, and a sudden gust of air blew up from the caves below as the flame gobbled oxygen. When the light and heat subsided, Bilbus looked down at the rest of his companions. "Bet there aren't any more spiders."

He started climbing again. The dim blue glow of light from Eric's knife and the fading orange from the fire beetle gave him a little guidance as he continued. After climbing another ten paces, he stopped, looking upwards.

Behind him, Eric tried to look past Bilbus. "What?"

"It's a dead end. It doesn't go more than another ten or fifteen feet."

The dejected sighs of several members of the group echoed loudly in the chimney. Bilbus looked around for any good news. He spotted something and reached down past his legs. "Eric, give me your knife."

Eric handed the glowing blade up to the thief. Bilbus started hacking at the side wall. It crumbled readily, a layer of ash over a hole almost three feet wide.

Bilbus handed the knife back to Eric, then crawled into the side hole. It continued for four feet before widening into a den. Bilbus ignored the creeping sensation on his back as he quickly passed it and found another vertical climb. The hard-packed dirt, with a weave of silk for reinforcement, continued upwards. Several tree roots poked through the walls of the tunnel, providing more handholds for climbing.

Bilbus smiled and looked back at Eric. "I see daylight."

Bilbus climbed faster. He could hear noises behind him as his companions started climbing more quickly for the surface as well.

Back to the previous chapter: Book I: Detours

Continue to the next chapter: Flights

Back to the Book II Index.

Back to the Dark Mysteries Campaign Chapter Index.

Original Draft 04 February 2001

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