Heirs of the Enemy (37 page)

“Plan on using myric quills for anyone other than K’san,” Garth said softly. “Tedi, you follow me closely. Natia, I want you to hang back a bit. If anyone notices us, it will be up to you to strike them from behind.”

Garth extracted a myric quill from the small quiver at his side. He also extracted a reed and slid the quill into it. With a glance at the others, he moved towards the door at the far side of the room. Button hovered over the Knights with a fairy lantern, while Bitsy scouted ahead. When Garth reached out for the door, he ordered Button to extinguish the lantern. He eased the door open, cringing as the old hinges creaked. The noise sounded loud in his ears, but he knew that it seemed louder to him than it really was. He peered through the doorway and saw the flickering of a distant torch around a corner in the corridor. Bitsy suddenly landed on his shoulder and whispered in his ear.

“Sentry around the corner. He is asleep.”

Garth nodded and brought the reed to his lips as he stealthily moved towards the corner. He peeked around the corner and saw the sentry sitting in a chair at the bottom of a flight of steps. He blew the myric quill into the sentry’s chest and then turned towards Natia.

“Check the rest of the corridor down here. We don’t want anyone between us and our escape hatch.”

The gypsy princess nodded and moved past the intersection. As she neared a bend in the corridor, she could see flickering light from another torch. She brought the reed to her lips and peered around the corner. The corridor was empty, but a torch flickered near an open door farther along the corridor. She crept forward until she reached the open door. Peering into the room, she saw another sentry sitting in a chair. The sentry was sleeping, but he held a wooden hammer in his hand. Next to the sentry stood a large metal gong and directly below it was a hatch in the floor. Natia blew the myric quill through the reed and watched as the sentry tumbled to the floor. She entered the room and checked it thoroughly before retreating. On her way back to the stairs, she checked every other room as she passed them. There were no other sentries. When Natia reached the stairs, she climbed them silently. Tedi was crouched at the top of the stairs, intently staring into the torch-lit corridor. Natia saw him nod to some unseen person and then he turned to her and held one hand up, his five fingers spread wide. He clenched his fingers into a fist and then extended them thrice more. Natia nodded her acknowledgement, and the gypsy prince rose and stealthily dashed into the corridor. Natia moved forward to take his place as she started counting numbers. She watched Tedi turn off into a cross corridor. She had almost reached twenty when she heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction.

Natia slid down a couple of steps where the shadows were deeper. She slid another myric quill into the reed and listened intently. The footsteps were not hurried, and indicated a single person moving along the corridor. The shadow of the black-cloak preceded the man, and Natia brought the reed to her lips. As the mage came into view, the gypsy princess blew her quill into the man’s leg. She dropped the reed and scrambled up the steps to catch the falling body, but she was too late. The mage fell to the floor with a loud thud. She quickly grabbed the body by its legs and dragged it to the top of the stairs. With a shove, she sent the body tumbling down the stairs and quickly retrieved her reed. She fed another quill into it and dashed towards the corridor where she had seen Tedi disappear.

As Natia turned the corner, she heard a shout and saw a magical projectile illuminate the room at the far end of the corridor. A loud crack split the air followed by the thud of a body falling to the floor. Natia halted, aware that her fellow Alceans were engaged in battle with K’san. As much as her instincts wanted her to run and join the battle, her purpose was to protect their escape. She turned around and peered into the main corridor in both directions. No one was coming, but shouts sounded in the distance, and they were not the shouts of her fellow Alceans. Things were about to get hectic. Unexpectedly, a fairy landed on her shoulder.

“Back to the stairs,” Button chirped softly, but urgently. “K’san is dead.”

Natia nodded and dashed into the corridor, the fairy tumbling from her shoulder. The gypsy princess slid into the stairwell and turned around, the reed pressed to her lips. Running footsteps pounded the stone floors from both directions. Tedi suddenly veered into the stairwell and raced down the stairs. Garth was only seconds behind him.

“Run,” Garth commanded as he ran down the stairs.

Natia turned and raced after Garth, the sounds of heavy footsteps right behind her. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Garth holding his two-handed sword. He nodded towards the sewers, and Natia immediately turned left and ran towards the old prison area. She heard the clash of metal behind her, followed by a cry of pain. As she passed through the doorway with the creaky hinges, she saw Tedi standing to one side holding his staff with both hands. He also nodded silently towards the trap door. Natia ran across the dark room and found the hatch. She quickly climbed down the rusty ladder and squeezed through the narrow passageway. When she reached the sewer, she waited in the dark. A distant rumble shook the sewer and dirt fell from the ceiling. Next she heard the crash of metal and a cry of surprise that she recognized as coming from Garth. She pictured the rusty ladder breaking under his weight and wondered if Tedi had made it into the small chamber. A shudder of fear coursed through her body.

“Jump!” Garth’s distant voice shouted.

Another thud drifted to her ear followed by a grunt. A few moments later, Tedi appeared at her side. Natia exhaled her held breath and smiled broadly. Garth pushed out of the narrow passageway right after Tedi.

“Use your staff,” Garth commanded as he put his arm around Natia and moved her away. “Bring the walls of that passageway down.”

Tedi swung his staff at the walls of the sewer and a tremendous deafening roar rolled through the underground tunnels. Dust and grit billowed into the sewer as the three Alceans ran away. When they came to the first intersection, Garth stopped and called for Bitsy. Both fairies landed on Garth’s shoulder.

“Light your fairy lanterns and blaze our path out of these sewers. We do not have much time.”

Distant shouting could be heard coming from the small chamber, but the path was blocked. Natia looked at Garth questioningly as the fairies illuminated the sewers.

“Why the hurry if the passage is blocked?”

“A black-cloak was hot on our heels,” answered Garth. “I heard him order one of his men to alert the army. They plan to seal the sewers by stationing men at every known exit. We need to make haste with our exit.”

The Knights of Alcea turned and ran after the guiding fairies. Once they passed out of the old sewers and into the new, they heard distant voices as soldiers began to enter the sewers in search of the assassins. By the time they reached the edge of the city where they had entered the sewers, they were exhausted. Garth led the way up into the basement, but he did not exit the building. They continued to climb up the stairs until they emerged onto the roof of the building. Attached to the edge of the roof was a grappling hook, and it was attached to a line passing over the city wall and into the trees beyond. Whistles sounded from every corner of the city, and the Knights of Alcea knew that they were out of time.

“Natia first,” stated Garth as he looked at the condition of the roof. “Be quick about it.”

Natia pulled off her belt and wrapped it around the line. She grabbed both ends of the belt tightly and threw her body off the roof. The gypsy princess soared over the wall and into the dark forest, her eyes focused on a tiny dim light among the trees. As the light grew closer, she saw the tree limb that the other end of the rope was tied to. She quickly let go of the belt and tumbled to the ground. As she got to her feet, Tedi nearly tumbled into her. She picked up her belt and put it on as Garth came sliding into the forest.

“Retrieve the hook, Button,” commanded Garth. “If they don’t know that we have left the city, they will waste hours looking for us.”

Governor Za-chan of Lanoir sighed heavily as he gazed down at the Chi River seven leagues south of the city of Chi. He shook his head as he looked across the river to the flat farmlands on the western shore.

“Even if we could complete such a task,” he said to the two Knights of Alcea standing beside him, “we would flood a great portion of the farmland across the river. That bank is much lower than this one.”

“Which is one of the reasons I chose this particular place,” stated Bin-lu. “The road on the eastern bank must not be affected. If the dam was placed any farther south, it would be the eastern bank that was flooded. That cannot be allowed. It must be built right here.”

The Governor shook his head again. “It is not possible. I have every spare hand harvesting crops by order of King Arik. Even if I wanted to, I could not take those people from their duties.”

“The harvesting will not last forever,” interjected Rut-ki. “King Arik said that we only had days to complete it, and that was days ago.”

“And all of those people will soon be available to work on the dam,” pushed Bin-lu.

“One does not construct a dam overnight,” scowled the governor. “Timber must be felled and planed. The flow of the river needs to be altered. Farms need to be relocated. Stone masons will be needed, and plans must be drawn up. Do you not realize what you are asking for? A dam on this river is a task measured in years, not days.”

“I have the plans,” countered Bin-lu as he pulled some papers out of his pack and handed them to Governor Za-chan.

The governor looked at the plans and shook his head again. “Do you plan to get beavers to make your dam? This is just a pile of trees in the middle of the river. It would never hold back the water.”

“I took the liberty of speaking to your engineers,” stated Bin-lu. “They drew up these plans. The dam will be crude, but it will work.”

“For how long?” retorted the governor.

“For long enough,” answered Bin-lu. “I know that you do not favor this plan, Za-chan, but I have the authority as a Knight of Alcea to have it built. If necessary, I will have King Arik state so in a personal letter to you.”

Governor Za-chan sighed deeply and turned away from Bin-lu. He gazed once again at the farms across the river. “That will not be necessary,” he said with a tone of defeat. “I know well the authority of the Knights of Alcea, but in a time when food is scarce, it confuses me as to why you would wish to bury so much rich farmland under a lake.”

“To preserve it for future generations of Alceans,” smiled Bin-lu.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and the trees swayed. Bin-lu felt as if he were floating in the air, and he quickly reached out for Rut-ki. Rut-ki reacted in a similar fashion and the two Knights of Alcea ended up in a mutual embrace. Governor Za-chan, however, fell to the ground. The rumbling only lasted for seconds, and Bin-lu broke the embrace and reached down to help the governor to his feet. Za-chan stared into the sky with a look of disbelief upon his face, ignoring Bin-lu’s hand. Bin-lu straightened and turned his gaze skyward to see what was troubling the governor.

“The sun has moved,” gasped Za-chan.

Bin-lu stared in awe. “The gods have spoken.”

* * * *

Jenneva stood on the plain in the Gordo region of northern Targa. She was staring at an old dilapidated structure when the dwarf halted beside her.

“What was it?” asked Prince Tergota of Talman.

“It was called the Dusty Trail Inn,” answered Jenneva.

“An inn?” questioned the dwarven prince. “Who would need an inn up here? There are no cities up here and precious few travelers.”

“Sarac built it,” answered Jenneva, “and Black Devils were its only customers. It hides an entrance to another Universe.”

The thick skin of the dwarf’s brow creased in puzzlement. “All of the Universes were destroyed in the Collapse. Why does this place still hold interest for you?”

“Everyone believes that all of the Universes were destroyed,” explained Jenneva, “but that is not entirely accurate. Seven unique Universes were originally created, and they were indeed collapsed into one, but there were two other Universes in existence. The Mage created one when he imprisoned Alutar a thousand years ago. It became the Great Demon’s prison.”

“And the other?” asked the dwarf.

“I created it to imprison Sarac many years ago,” replied Jenneva. “It was on this very plain that Egam, Kirsta and I battled Sarac and his circles of protection. Sarac had no ability to sense Junctions at that time, so he was unable to return, but Dalgar and Aurora learned the spell from the Book of the Beginning. They freed Sarac from his imprisonment. The Black Devils had this inn built to hide the Junction to Sarac’s Universe.”

“And you want my people to restore the inn?” asked the dwarf.

“No,” answered Jenneva. “The inn is to be demolished. It is inadequate for what I need. I want a stone tower built in its place. The tower must have a ramp capable of allowing wagons to ascend to the second level and pass through the Junction. An identical tower will need to be built in the other Universe. Both towers may need to be defended as one. Mages will also be required to maintain illusions so that the towers are invisible when necessary. I will leave the design up to you. Let me show you exactly where the Junction is.”

Jenneva led the dwarven prince towards the dilapidated building, but they were only half way there when the ground beneath their feet trembled. Prince Tergota grabbed Jenneva and forced her downward as he dropped into a crouch.

“Earthquake!” he warned.

The Dusty Trail Inn shook violently for a few seconds, tattered boards falling from the old frame and clouds of dust spiraling up into the air. As soon as the rumbling halted, Jenneva tried to stand up, but the dwarf’s strong hands held her in a crouch.

“There may be more,” he cautioned. “We have learned in the mines to wait a while before proceeding.”