Raging Sea and Trembling Earth: Disciples of the Horned One Volume Two (Soul Force Saga Book 2) (24 page)

D
amien and Jen
followed Eleck through dirt tunnels, the roots of trees growing above breaking through here and there. Their steps made no sound on the soft floor. The silence was jarring after the constant clomping of hard soles on stone back home.

Halfway up the wall a shrew stuck its head out, peered at them, and fled back into its little tunnel. What other vermin would pay them a visit in the night? Despite the crude surroundings there was no standing water, though a thick, loamy smell filled the air. Living like a mole wouldn’t have been Damien’s first choice, but the underground temple complex was nicer than it had any right to be.

They met no others on their short walk. There should have been other druids, temple servants, someone just walking around.

“Where is everyone?” Damien asked.

“The wise one ordered the temple cleared, he said in preparation for a festival.” Eleck glanced back at Damien. “In reality he wanted as few people as possible to know you’d arrived. His hope is that whoever’s responsible for moving the ley line won’t realize who you are before you find out who they are.”

“All the people we passed in the village know we’re here.” Jen said. “Some of them will almost certainly tell the ones we’re looking for about it.”

“They’ll say two new acolytes arrived. All new arrivals are brought first to the temple, nothing strange in that. Only the five of us know your true purpose here. We hope to keep it that way as long as possible. Here we are.”

They stopped in front of a curtained-off opening. Eleck pulled the green cloth aside revealing a dirt cave with two beds that appeared to have grown out of the floor. Moss was placed on top for bedding. Damien had thought his room lacked decorations. This place even made the room he shared with Eli look like a palace.

“I’ll bring your evening meal shortly,” Eleck said. “Please remain in your room. The fewer people that see you the better.”

“I thought the temple was empty,” Jen said.

“It is, but why take chances? Good afternoon.” Eleck left them to explore their luxurious accommodations.

They went in and Damien slid the curtain shut, adding a soul force barrier for good measure. Next he reinforced the walls and floor with another barrier. His shoes made a satisfying clunk when he stepped on it. They were essentially surrounded by a soul force box.

Jen tossed her pack beside the right-hand bed and looked around at the glowing walls. “Overkill?”

Damien made the walls invisible. “You want to be asleep in a dirt cave if a quake hits tonight?”

“Huh. Good point. I also don’t want any mice burrowing in for a visit. What did you think of the wise one?”

Damien shook his head. “I never thought to see a man growing out of a wall. I’ve seen some weird stuff the past year, but that’s near the top of my list. His peculiar circumstances aside, the wise one’s concern seemed genuine.”

Jen nodded. “That’s the impression I got too. How do you want to handle the questioning?”

Damien dropped his rucksack and sat on the remarkably comfortable moss mattress across from his sister. “I figured we’d bring them in one at a time, I’ll fix it so they can’t lie, and ask if they had any part in moving the ley line. Simple yes or no question. I learned the hard way if you make it too complicated a clever person can talk their way around an actual lie.”

“Works for me. We should be able to question everyone in a day. Anyone that tries to lie or doesn’t show up we can assume is part of the problem.”

“Yeah. That reminds me.” Damien dug through his stuff and pulled out a pencil and paper. “I need to let the archmage know we arrived safe and plan to begin our investigation soon.”

D
amien lay
on his bed of moss, one arm over his eyes, trying to fall asleep. He could hardly keep them open earlier and now he couldn’t relax. He sighed in the dark. Jen’s soft snoring was the only sign he wasn’t alone in the world. She didn’t seem to think it would be a big thing, finding whoever caused the quake. He hoped she was right, but the more he thought about it the more it seemed maybe he and Jen weren’t the best people for this job. It might have been better to send someone with more experience questioning people, someone like Alden or Imogen.

Now if they already knew who was responsible he and his sister would deal with them in as efficient a matter as you could hope for. He sighed again. They were here now so they’d just have to make the best of it. At least the food had been edible. Eleck had brought them bowls of greens, some sliced-up crunchy white things, and a flat piece of bread covered in spices that burned the back of his throat. Not so much as a hint of poison.

After he left Jen had dug some of her jerky out and added thin slices to the salad. Jen didn’t consider it a meal unless meat was involved. Damien either for that matter. Now, belly full, in his borrowed bed, Damien tried again to sleep.

A noise out in the hall woke him from a light doze. For hell’s sake, what was it? He’d finally fallen asleep and now it sounded like a bellows wheezing outside. A hint of corruption twisted his stomach. It wasn’t strong enough to be a demon. He frowned and formed a viewing rectangle. Damien connected it to the barrier and shaped an eye.

Out in the tunnel five black-scaled reptilian things slouched a short ways away. Eleck stood with them. He’d removed his gloves and underneath he wore four rings, two on each hand. On his middle fingers were black rings that crackled with corruption. Those had to be what he sensed. His barrier must be blocking the worst of the demonic energy.

The other two rings weren’t demonic, at least not as far as Damien could tell. The one on Eleck’s right index finger was silver, or maybe platinum, and studded all the way around with chips of some black stone. The final ring was gold and studded with red stones.

Damien conjured a hand and shook Jen awake. She sat up and looked over at him. Damien held a finger to his lips and motioned her over. Soul force flowed to Jen’s head as she washed away the effects of her short nap. She slipped out of bed and joined Damien. He held out the viewer so she could see.

“Eleck?” she asked.

Damien’s thought exactly. It looked like they weren’t going to have any trouble figuring out who was behind the quake after all. Eight more monsters came down the hall, red-scaled creatures similar to the black ones, but skinnier. Eleck’s lips moved, but Damien couldn’t hear what he was saying.

“The black ones are soul force eaters,” Jen whispered in his ear. “The red ones breathe fire. We fought them with Master Shen last month while you were at sea. I never imagined this was where they came from.”

Jen crossed the room, pulled on her boots, and buckled on her sword. Damien followed her example. He was just tightening the last strap on his sword harness when his barrier vanished. The curtain burst into flame an instant before the black-scales charged through the doorway. Jen met them at warlord speed and two instantly fell, their heads chopped off.

Damien drew his sword and charged a third monster halfway across the room. The keen steel of his blade passed through its shoulder, but missed anything vital. He leapt back ahead of snapping jaws.

One of the red-scales appeared in the doorway. It faced Jen, who was busy with the other two soul force eaters. Flames dripped from its jaws.

Damien lunged at his opponent, piercing it through the throat. The monster went down in a heap.

The red-scale threw its head back. As it started forward Damien conjured a bubble around its head. Flames blasted out, struck the barrier, and rebounded in the beast’s face. The red-scale collapsed, its face a charred ruin.

Jen appeared beside him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. It was nice to fight with a sword again. Come on, let’s check on Leah and the wise one.”

J
en poked
her head out in the tunnel. No sign of Eleck or the other red-scales. She’d feared Damien would have trouble with the soul force eaters, but it looked like he remembered his lessons. She should have known better. Maybe some sorcerers didn’t know how to fight, but her brother was a St. Cloud. And if they knew one thing, it was how to swing a sword.

“All clear. Let’s go.”

Jen led the way back to the central chamber. Since there was no one in the temple besides the two of them, Leah, Eleck, and the wise one she felt comfortable assuming anyone they met would be an enemy.

She rounded a corner and leapt back ahead of a blast of flame. She’d just caught a glimpse of four red-scales guarding the tunnel.

Damien sidled up beside her. “Any soul force eaters?”

“I didn’t see any.”

“Let me go first.” Damien stepped around the corner and flames washed over him. Her breath caught in her throat. When the flames subsided he stood unharmed amidst dying embers. “Clear.”

Jen rounded the corner. Scaled chunks of meat filled the tunnel. She ran past them, Damien hot on her heels. He might not be subtle, but her brother got the job done.

Outside the wise one’s chamber waited two more red-scales. Golden beams streaked ahead of her, disintegrating them above the waist. Definitely not subtle.

She burst into the chamber. The wise one lay on the floor, all the roots that had held him severed. Eleck spun to face them, halfway between the wise one and Leah’s bed.

He raised his hands and a stream of black flames shot at her. She didn’t even have time to flinch. The fire blazed all around her, but didn’t touch her. When they ended Eleck was gone, a fresh hole in the wall where he’d blasted his way out.

“You okay?” Damien asked.

She nodded. “I assume thanks to your shield?”

“I didn’t want you to get your face burned off if we ran into more of those red-scales. It never crossed my mind that Eleck could use hellfire. Good thing I put plenty of soul force into the barrier.”

“I second that. You check the old man, I’ll get Leah.”

Jen crossed the chamber and looked down into the wooden bed. Leah was on her back, eyes closed, sleeping just as if she had no idea a lunatic was about to kill her a minute ago.

Jen reached in and shook her. Leah didn’t so much as shift her position. Must be some kind of sorcery. She should have had Damien check the woman and dealt with the wise one herself.

“I can’t wake her up.”

Damien picked up the old druid and carried him over to the bed. He lifted a trembling, wrinkled hand and placed it on the roots. They slid back into the ground leaving Leah in the dirt. Leah groaned and her eyelids fluttered.

“You’ll have to carry her.” Jen could barely hear the wise one’s voice.

“I’ll get them both.” Damien conjured a box around Leah and laid the wise one in beside her.

“What now?” Jen asked. “We can’t stay here.”

The wise one pulled himself up the side of Damien’s construct. “A hidden grove. A sanctuary for the wise one. No one else knows about it.”

That sounded promising. “Where?”

“Out the door and turn right. Go straight until you hit a dead end.” The wise one fell back gasping for breath.

“I’ll take point,” Jen said. “You keep them safe.”

Damien gave her a thumbs up and they set out. The tunnel immediately outside the central chamber was empty. Jen listened with her enhanced hearing, but heard nothing beyond their heartbeats. No danger threatened for the moment.

She jogged down the hall, every sense straining to detect Eleck or his monsters. Damien guided his construct out next then brought up the rear. The tunnel seemed to stretch on and on. The further they went the dimmer the green glow became. If it grew much worse they’d be running in the dark.

Golden lights sprang up on either side of them. She looked back and Damien waved. Having a sorcerer along on a mission really made life easier.

A deep, snarling hiss filled the air behind them. Jen spun. Four black-scales appeared at the corner of the nearest intersection. They must have sensed Damien’s lights.

Her brother drew his sword. Good as he was Damien couldn’t defeat four of the reptilian monsters without sorcery.

She slipped back beside him. “Keep going. I’ll deal with these four and catch up.”

Damien nodded. “Be careful. I’ll take away your shield so they can’t drain it.”

A faint shimmer filled the air and then he was gone down the tunnel. Jen drew power from her core, raised her sword and attacked. Her blade took one’s arm off at the elbow and continued on to take another at the knee. She spun away from a third, its claws missing her back by inches.

Jen had to watch herself. Unlike some enemies, she couldn’t count on her iron skin to protect her from the soul force eaters.

She thrust her sword through the stomach of one of the uninjured monsters and ripped it sideways. Blood and bile soaked the dirt floor.

Jen lunged for the last one and stumbled. The monster whose knee she gashed had its claws around her ankle. She spun and stomped its skull flat.

Pain filled her leg and she went weak. The last black-scale had clamped its jaws around her left leg. Soul force rushed out of her core like water out of a leaky tub.

Jen rammed her sword between its shoulder blades before she became so weak she couldn’t fight back. It hissed, opening its jaws enough that she managed to yank her calf free.

She stumbled away from it. As she moved, the wound through its torso sealed up. Jen used the tiny bit of her remaining soul force to stop her leg from bleeding.

The soul force eater stood two feet taller after draining her, its head now brushing the roots hanging from the ceiling. Jen had only what strength she could muster from her shaky muscles; her empty core wouldn’t regenerate for hours.

The monster advanced and she hopped back down the tunnel. Her gaze darted left and right, hoping in vain to find something that might give her an advantage against the empowered creature. There was nothing but dirt and loose pebbles.

The black-scale snapped at her, forcing Jen to jump back. Her legs swore at her. Her weak counter slash bounced off its thick scales without making a scratch. She didn’t have enough strength behind the blow.

She backpedaled faster, a desperate plan forming. If it would just charge her, the monster’s own strength would do what she couldn’t.

It snapped at her again. Jen dodged and slashed its lower jaw. Just a shallow wound but it snarled at her. Jen bared her teeth right back at it. Come on, you ugly bastard, come get me.

She dodged two more swipes of its claws, opening a thin gash on its forearm in passing. It roared and charged. Finally.

Jen set her back foot and drove into it. Her sword burst out its back. Somehow she managed to guide it to the side so the huge body didn’t crush her.

She put a boot on its chest and ripped her sword free. Stupid monster. They were awfully lucky their opponents didn’t have brains to go along with their powers. Jen needed to catch up with Damien. If her brother ran into any more monsters he’d need her help.