The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson

Kall and Laerin exchanged glances. "What do you mean?" asked the half-elf.

"Where do ye feel most at peace, Laerin—closest to yer god?" asked the dwarf.

"In Erevan's grove or Dugmaren's tunnels," answered Laerin.

"This is Dumathoin's place," said Garavin. "But it's been tainted."

"He's right," said Dantane. The wizard closed his eyes. He appeared to be listening, though Kall detected nothing breaking the stillness but the distant sound of water. "There's some sort of distant aura in effect."

"Meisha's master lived in the Delve," said Kall. "Could it be some latent magic of his?"

"I don't think so," said Dantane, "not unless her master was of another plane."

"Meisha was trained as an elementalist," said Garavin. "Might be there's links to the elemental planes here."

"Kall," Morgan said abruptly, "we're not alone."

Kall turned. A child stood in the opening of the clear tunnel, watching them with wide, fearful eyes. Her face was pale and thin, almost emaciated. Kall took a step toward her, but she darted off down the tunnel.

"The refugees," said Laerin. "Do we follow?"

Kall nodded. "Light two torches. Keep your weapons out but down. We have to find Meisha."

"Kall." Dantane pointed to the other tunnel branching off the chamber. The net strung over its mouth glistened in the torchlight. A thick, mucuslike substance dripped from the ropes, collecting in black puddles on the floor. "Something's coming."

Kall heard it—the sound of air rushing up the too-narrow tunnel. Next to him, Borl growled from the gut, shifting agitatedly. "Get away from the net," he snapped as Dantane bent to examine the black drippings.

The wizard ducked away as a leathery wing swiped at him. Twin lines of needle-teeth bit down directly in front of his face. The bat screamed as the black substance filled its mouth and foamed. It fluttered back against a wall of a dozen or more creatures just like it. Their wings tangled in the small space, causing them to snap indiscriminately at each other.

"The Shadow Thieves?" Laerin said. "Or are these meant for us?"

"I don't know," Kall said. "But we're not going that way. We follow the girl." He looked at Dantane. "You have the portal key?"

Dantane touched a pouch hidden in his robes. Within, he'd placed the oblong stone that activated the portal from this side of the Delve. Rays had kept his word.

"It will be safe," Dantane said.

Kall nodded. He and Laerin led the way down the open tunnel. Dantane, Morgan, and Garavin brought up the rear. Once out of the spell light of the portal room, the tunnel became stygian. The torches cast a glow in front and behind their group but made the air close and smoky. Kall couldn't imagine being trapped in the enclosed space for any length of time, as the refugees had been. It would have driven him mad.

The passage turned, weaving in a snakelike pattern for several yards without changing direction. Laerin pointed to the ground, where scuffed imprints of bare feet were clearly visible, even in the wavering torch light. "She won't be hard to track."

Frowning, Kall held up a hand for the group to pause. He listened. "Why don't we hear her running?"

"Maybe she's hiding," Laerin suggested. "We won't hurt you, little one," he called out down the tunnel.

Far off, Kall thought he heard a whimper. "Let's go."

The tunnel angled gradually, and at an intersection, Laerin guided them to the right. The tunnel dipped, forcing them to crouch and move single file.

"She's smart," said Morgan. "She knows we'll catch up to her on open ground. She's looking for a mouse hole."

The passage turned again, and finally Kall could stand upright. He shone the torch ahead and stopped, holding back Laerin and the others when he saw the girl.

She stood at the cusp of a second intersection, as if unsure which path to take. She swiveled her head to look back. Her eyes widened when she saw Kall, and she started to dart away.

"Don't!" Laerin shouted, springing forward.

The girl flinched. Kall saw her foot slide forward and heard the pressure plate click. The half-elf's sharper vision had seen the trap even in the shadows.

Laerin snagged the girl by the waist and pulled her to the ground beneath him. Above their heads, a spear burst from a hole in the tunnel wall, shooting across the intersection to ricochet off stone.

"Are you all right?" Kall asked. He started to move forward, but Laerin held out a staying hand.

"Let Morgan check the intersection first," he said.

Kall gave Morgan the torch, waiting while the rogue checked the walls and floor for more spear holes. Laerin kept a protective arm around the girl, but Kall saw him wiggle his eyebrows and whisper something to her that made her laugh. After that, her face lost much of its fear. The scene reminded Kall of how easily the half-elf had drawn him out, when he'd been a frightened boy in Mir.

He turned to Dantane. "We can't take time to check all the walls. We need a barrier."

The wizard considered the tunnel wall where the spear had originated. He touched the stone and began a clipped chant.

A chill breeze funneled down the passage, tugging at Kall's hair. Dantane's breath fogged and the veins on the backs of his hands turned a sickly yellow-blue. The red flesh beneath his fingernails bled white. All of a sudden, he stopped speaking and slapped the wall with his open palm.

The sound was that of an ice-covered branch cracking against stone. Kall half-expected the wizard's hand to shatter, but it did not. A sheet of ice spider-webbed from his fingers, the frozen strands shooting down the tunnel and thickening, filling in the gaps until the entire wall shone white.

"That should hold anything that comes from the wall," Dantane said.

"Floor's clear," Morgan added, helping Laerin to his feet.

"Can you take us to Meisha?" Kall asked, crouching in front of the girl. Her eyes shifted to the torch in his hand, and Kall chuckled. "That's her—fire."

The girl nodded, and Kall set off again, keeping her just behind his hip as they walked along the passage. The tunnel stayed straight, and at the end of it, Kall didn't have to ask if they were close. He could see by the moisture dripping from Dantane's ice wall.

They entered a deep chamber with a high ceiling. A pillar of brilliant flame stood in the center of the room, lighting it to every corner. Meisha stood within the fire column, her hands clasped together against her chest.

"She's killing herself," breathed Dantane in fascination.

A hearty snort echoed in the chamber. "Not hardly."

Kall turned to see a boy of about eighteen or nineteen enter the chamber from an adjoining tunnel. He was as thin as the little girl, but his eyes held no fear, only defiance as he stared Kall down. "She just finished herding the last of 'em," he said. "Who're you?"

"Friends," said Meisha. The fire died away, leaving the Harper's skin sweat-slicked and flush. "Well met, Kall."

"Meisha." Kall held out his arm, and she clasped it gratefully.

"I see you brought the whole army," Meisha said, greeting Morgan, Garavin, and Laerin with a nod. Her eyes fell on Dantane and widened with curiosity. "This one's new."

"Meisha Saira, meet Syrek Dantane." Kall waited while Dantane bowed politely to the Harper. "I wish I could say that was the extent of the party, but the Shadow Thieves will be coming behind us."

"That's what the bats are for," said Meisha. "We didn't know if you'd be able to find us. We planned an ambush."

"We'll need it." Kall looked at the boy. "Is this one trustworthy?"

"Likely more so than your wizard," the Harper answered, grinning when Dantane flushed in irritation.

For his part, Talal bristled with all the fervor of his nineteen years. "Trust me not to catch on fire, without so much as a warning," he muttered.

"Talal saved my life when I came down here," Meisha explained.

Kall nodded approvingly. "Then I owe him my thanks as well. Go get the others together, Talal," he said. "Not here—we'll gather them in the entrance tunnel. We need to know where the seal is."

Talal took off back the way he'd come. "What are you planning?" Meisha wanted to know, but Kall shook his head.

"You'll see. Garavin and Dantane have it worked out. Meisha," he said, pulling her aside, "where is your master, Varan?"

Meisha's eyes were stone. "Varan is dead."

"Dead? But your message ..."

"Oh, he still breathes," she said harshly, "and his mind functions, on some level. But there is no heart in his eyes, no passion driving his actions, unless you consider madness a sustaining emotion."

"How did it happen?" Kall asked, shocked. "How did the Shadow Thieves overcome him?"

"It wasn't the Shadow Thieves. They exploited Varan's condition to get their magic items, but they didn't put him in his current state. I don't know how it happened, but now all he can do is sit in a room and make deadly magic."

Kall took it all in. "So Chadossa's illusion, the black market in Amn ..."

"The what?"

"A piece of broken magic that twisted a boy into a monster. It came from the black market." Kall's expression darkened.

"And they got it from Varan," Meisha said. "As far as I can tell, some of his creations work, some are . . . broken, and run wild. But they're all dangerous, as long as the Shadow Thieves have them."

Talal's voice broke in as the boy came barreling back into the chamber. "They're on the move," he said breathlessly. "Every one of 'em." He noticed Meisha's stricken face. "What? What's wrong?" He frowned at Kall, as if knowing instinctively he was to blame.

"I'm fine, Talal," Meisha said, forcing a smile as she looked at him. "Are you ready to bathe in the sunlight, Dirty Bones?"

He sniffed. "Ale is what I'm aching for. Keep your water and sunshine."

"We'll use Meisha's bats as distractions," Kall said as they filed in to the tunnel. "Can you let them out safely?" he asked, looking at the Harper with concern.

"I'll take care of it," Meisha said.

She retraced Kall's steps quickly to the portal room, while the others headed for the main entrance.

Careful to avoid the bats, Meisha placed her hands against the poison-treated net and called the fire. The power, simmering dangerously close to the surface, answered immediately. There was no flame, but the ropes began to smoke where her palms touched them. She waited a moment to make sure the hemp would burn, then ran back to the opposite tunnel.

She slowed, wary, when she saw Dantane waiting for her.

"What was that spell?" he asked curiously.

"It will slow-burn the net away," she said. "Between the fire and the poison, the bats will have worked themselves into a fine furor by the time our friends arrive."

"You're an elementalist," said Dantane, "and a sorceress. Have you learned to bypass spells completely, turning your raw power into whatever form you will?"

Meisha pulled on a loose end of rope left dangling by the tunnel mouth. A third net unrolled from the shelf of rock above the opening; poison slathered these ropes too. "No," she said. "The power would burn my organs from within if I tried."

"How can you be certain, if you've never experimented?"

"Because my master knew his craft. He trained all of his apprentices the same," she said, "before they were murdered—before my master was driven mad and sealed in a lightless prison to make toys for a man I would trade my soul to slay in the most terrible of ways."