The Bones of the Earth (The Dark Age) (51 page)

Ingund pointed at Tiana, Austinus and Malleus. “It was
their
fault!”

Krum Chimmek looked at the three coolly. They blinked in the bright light from the globes. “Well. A Greek, an Egyptian and a Scythian witch. Just who might you be?”

“
I am Austinus,” he answered, trying to sound confident. “This Egyptian man is Malleus, and this is my wife, Tiana, who is no witch, I can assure you. We are mystics from Constantinople, seeking answers to ancient mysteries and endeavouring to protect the light of civilization.”

“
Civilization!” Krum Chimmek snorted, walking slowly up to the three. “You call Rome ‘civilization’? An empire that ruthlessly exterminates entire nations and that  stripped its homeland of the ability to feed its own people? A nation that has adopted a religion that it is still making up, then forcing on others? A religion that makes no sense? Keep your Christianity! Keep your civilization! We have our own, far superior society!”

“
We are not Christians!” Tiana exclaimed. “Please, you and we, all of us, are caught in a web of forces no one can fully perceive, but which may destroy us all! You have made alliances with demonic beings and, as you can see, they can turn on us in an instant!”

Krum Chimmek looked up at her from under his golden dragon crest. “You say you are not Christian, and you are also not named ‘Tiana.’ No, I am not addressing Te-ma-arun-Vd-a, Scythian priestess of the goddess Tabita?”

Tiana went pale in the artificial, pure-white light of the glowing globes, and Austinus’ jaw dropped.

“
But we are wasting time. We must return to Devín now.” Without a further word, he turned toward the river.

“
Wait!” Ingund cried. “We must bury my uncle!”

Krum Chimmek said nothing, but four Kobolds, one carrying a glow-globe, went into the tent and carried Stanislaw’s body out on a stretcher. The surviving Sklavenic warriors gathered the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Tiana, Malleus, the stupefied Austinus, Ingund and the rest followed the Kobolds back to the river bank, where more Kobolds waited beside a long boat that was completely unlike any craft that the humans had seen before: long and low and sleek, made of a smooth, light-grey material without grain, seam or joint. It had no oars, paddles or sails. There was a long, low cabin in the middle. The bow was covered in a smooth deck of the same grey material, but the stern was open. Krum Chimmek strode across a wide plank from the riverbank to the forward deck. The Kobolds bearing Stanislaw’s body followed him and carefully placed the stretcher at the stern.

Miro, Ingund and some of the other warriors gathered around the body. Krum Chimmek said a brief prayer in an ancient-sounding language. Then he gave a sign and the Kobolds tipped the stretcher. Stanislaw slipped gently into the river, drifted out of the reach of the globes’ light and sank slowly into the dark water. “He is committed to the care of Donau,” said Krum Chimmek.

Miro had his men bring their fellows’ bodies to the edge of the river. He improvised a quick ceremony and the men pushed the bodies into the dark river, as well. By then, the moon was getting to the western sky and Krum Chimmek’s patience was worn out. The Kobolds pushed the men—twelve in all, out of more than 20 who had taken Ingund from Constantinople—into the open stern area. Krum Chimmek and two other Kobolds stood at the bow, looking at the bank, and the rest of the Kobold crew went into the cabin.

Tiana, Malleus and Austinus crowded into the open part of the boat with Ingund, Miro and the surviving warriors. Tiana wondered what Krum Chimmek waited for until Stuhach and its remaining fellows strode, limped and slithered to the bank. As soon as Stuhach set its foot on the plank, Miro jumped up. “No! I will not ride with the demon that killed my father!”

“
Our craft is very full, Stuhach,” said Krum Chimmek.

“
Very well,” it scraped, flicking its tongue toward Miro. “I can follow.”

And with that, the boat cast off. Without any sound or apparent effort by the Kobolds, the plank withdrew into the body of the boat and the glowing globes faded. A low, throbbing noise came from beneath the boat’s hull and it slowly backed away from the bank, turned upriver, and then with the slightest lurch started moving forward.

The boat quickly attained a speed that alarmed the people in the back, but Krum Chimmek and his Kobolds stood calmly on the foredeck, oblivious to the wind that whipped their long beards. Miro was amazed to see the riverbanks recede past them, and Austinus was mesmerized by the wake behind the boat, like two long triangular furrows that merged far behind them. Tiana looked at the bank and could occasionally see Stuhach loping along the river’s edge, keeping pace with them.

Ingund clung to Miro as they sped north-west, upriver. The only sound was the wind whistling past them and the low throb of whatever was driving the boat. As the moon rose, they saw low but craggy mountains on the right-hand side of the river.

Malleus screamed into Tiana’s ear over the sound of air rushing past, “Who the hell is Te-ma-arun-Vd-a?” Tiana shook her head, unwilling to answer, but at the same time, Austinus asked “How did the Kobold king know your real name?”

The boat sped upriver as the moon tracked westward. Sometime past midnight, as Tiana could reckon, the craft slowed as it approached a deep shadow cast where the mountains reached the river, and came to a rest beside a dock. Without a word, the Kobolds disembarked. The humans followed them along a path that led straight to a cliff.

Krum Chimmek walked without hesitating straight to the rocky face and as the light from the glowglobes touched it, a door, twice high enough for a tall man and wide enough for a wagon, opened silently on a long, smooth tunnel. The walls and floor shone with light reflected from two lines of glowing globes attached to the walls. Krum Chimmek led the way in while the other Kobolds waited outside until the humans entered, and to their surprise Stuhach joined them, dripping water.

At that moment, several things happened at once: a blast of wind from below scattered dirt and stones into their eyes; a stream of liquid hit Stuhach, covering it; and a man landed beside the monster.

It was Javor. He made a desperate grab for the dagger strapped to the monster’s side, but Stuhach casually backhanded him. Javor flew across the tunnel.

Sarbox landed in a blast of wind, blowing grit into the shining clean tunnel, scattering Kobolds. Krum Chimmek ran toward him, brandishing a double-headed axe and the other Kobolds joined a formation around him. Sarbox ignored the Kobolds; it whipped Stuhach with its tail and pinned it to the ground.

Javor had thought the dragon was the most powerful being on Earth—everyone had told him that repeatedly. But despite being more than twice as big as Stuhach, and even with the element of surprise, the dragon was unable to subdue the monster. The dragon spit that had burned off Philip’s arm in Constantinople had no effect on it. And its strength was terrifying. It pushed the dragon off and slashed with its claws. The talons dug into the dragon’s hide and Sarbox roared in pain. It snapped its huge jaws at the monster and managed to wound its shoulder, but Stuhach did not slow down. It grabbed the dragon’s head, holding the jaws shut, and slammed the head into the floor. The Kobolds moaned collectively when the dragon’s head cracked the polished granite.

Sarbox slashed its tail at Stuhach, tearing the dagger in its sheath from the strap around the monster’s body. Stuhach noticed it, too, and let go of the dragon’s head. The dagger slid across the smooth floor, out the door to the riverbank.

Kobolds, humans, dragon and monster all ran out, but the dragon stretched out its neck and caught the dagger in its teeth. It spread its wings but before it could flap, Stuhach jumped on its back, wrapped one arm around the dragon’s neck and wrenched sideways. The dragon stumbled and collapsed.

“
Sarbox! Throw me the dagger!” Javor shouted as he ran toward the dragon’s head. Miro was right behind him. “Give me the dagger!”

The dragon rolled suddenly, trapping Stuhach beneath it, then quickly righted itself and sprang away from a momentarily dazed Stuhach. “Sarbox! The dagger!” Javor yelled. “What are you doing?”

It had no intention of giving up the dagger. It spread its wings and got ready to fly, but Stuhach was not finished, yet. Still prone on the riverbank, it flung a boulder at Sarbox.

The boulder hit the dragon’s head; the dragon fell back over the bank and the dagger dropped to the ground. Javor heard a succession of big splashes as the dragon’s body fell into the river. Javor ran to the bank and looked down; the dragon was sinking even as the current carried it south.

Stuhach calmly picked up the dagger again and went back into the tunnel. “We have wasted too much time, Krum Chimmek,” it said in its horrifying voice.

The Kobolds surrounded the humans, weapons out. Krum Chimmek studied Javor carefully. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“
My name is Javor.”

“
He’s one of us,” Austinus said.

“
Bind him,” Krum Chimmek ordered the Kobolds.

“
There is no need for that!” Austinus protested.

“
Shut up, unless you want the same treatment,” the Kobold leader said. “And young man, remain quiet or I will have you gagged, as well. Don’t even think of calling your dragon friend again.”

Quickly, two Kobolds fastened around Javor’s wrists thin metal manacles that were surprisingly comfortable, joined by a chain so thin that Javor nearly laughed. But the Kobolds laughed when Javor tried to break it.
How could something so tiny be so strong?

The Kobolds led the humans back into the tunnel, and Javor heard more than one clucking their tongues about the cracks in the floor. The door behind them closed silently and Krum Chimmek led them down the tunnel to where it opened into a huge chamber, lit by more glowing globes fastened at regular intervals on the rock walls. At the far end, there was another tunnel, dark and thrice the size of the one they had walked through. Where it entered the chamber, a smooth, semi-circular trench continued across to another opening.

And in the middle of the trench was the strangest thing that any of the humans had seen: a huge metallic cylinder lying on its side. The edge of the trench reached perhaps one-third up its side, and level with the floor of the chamber was an opening in the cylinder’s side.

Krum Chimmek stepped inside the cylinder and the humans followed. Inside, the cylinder was sumptuously furnished: the floor was covered in a thick carpet with a complex pattern, the walls in dark wooden panels. Benches upholstered in soft red leather were attached to the walls. There were cabinets and tables built into them as well, and at one end was a huge chair made of heavy oak, covered in red leather and adorned with at least a dozen sparkling gems of all colours, each the size of Tiana’s eye. Krum Chimmek sat there; Danisa made a point of sitting on the bench nearest him and claiming at least three seats for her own use. The rest of the humans found places at the other benches. Austinus sat as close to the Kobold leader as he could, and Tiana sat next to him, with Malleus on the other side. Miro sat beside a wooden cabinet, looking curiously at Javor.

Krum Chimmek made a tiny gesture, and two Kobolds pushed Javor into a seat at the back of the cyclinder. One unlocked the chain from one manacle, then attached it to the arm of the chair. Another chain attached the other wrist. Javor pulled experimentally.
Hopeless.

Stuhach bent down to get its bulk inside the cylinder and Miro immediately took a defensive posture. Krum Chimmek pointed at the far end of the cylinder; awkwardly, the monster shuffled there. The wood panelling silently slid aside to reveal another compartment, not as comfortable looking but still incredible. Stuhach squeezed through the opening and squatted down, and then the panel closed again, hiding it from human view.

The remaining Kobolds entered, opened cabinets and, without speaking, took out dishes and cups. They poured red wine and put out plates of bread, cheeses, berries and grapes.

The door slid closed, and humans and Kobolds were completely enclosed in the wood-panelled cylinder. They felt the floor shudder slightly and heard a sound like far-off wind in the treetops.

“
We’re moving,” Austinus said. There was no shaking, no noise.

“
We are going underground as quickly as we can to Dun Regen, the hall of the King of the Mountains,” said Krum Chimmek.