The Wealth of Kings (24 page)

Year 3,711 Age of Demigods, Winter.

2
nd
year of the reign o
f
Aldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marih
u
, 13
th
King of Roegudok Hall.

Al stood quietly as he surveyed the warriors gathered in Demon Spring. There had been enough lurker scales to forge three hundred sets of armor. It wasn’t nearly as many soldiers as King Sylus had during his final battle with the demons, but Al hoped it would be enough. Knowing that there were twenty addorite mounds where the portals would be functioning, the army was going to be divided into twenty groups of fifteen. The previous night, Al and Benbo had selected eighteen captains to lead eighteen groups of fifteen warriors each. Benbo would lead the nineteenth group, and Al was commanding the twentieth.

Each group had been briefed on the mission. Get in, sneak around if possible, slay anything that tried to attack them, and above all, get the crystal out of the alternate plane. He also stressed the importance of leaving the tunnel as a group once someone had the crystal. Anyone who didn’t jump back through the portal before the crystal was brought into Terramyr would be stuck in the alternate plane forever. Al had tried to describe the alternate plane to them as best he could, but even still he knew it was going to be a difficult fight. There was no way of knowing exactly where the crystal would be, other than looking for the three-headed demon Hiasyntar’Kulai had spoken of.

That was to say nothing of the lurkers. Al had no idea how many of them might be hiding in the darkness. To make matters worse, the cavedogs were unable to go through the portals. The three hundred warriors would have to go it alone, and on foot. Then there was the matter of time. For every minute they spent in the alternate plane, a day would pass in Terramyr. They would have to be quick.

The dwarf king took in a deep breath and glanced up to the tunnel leading out of Demon Springs. He took comfort knowing that the mithril gate was closed, and defensive traps had been set in place. If any demons or lurkers managed to come into Terramyr, the remaining warriors would deal with them.

Al looked at the pile of stones encasing the mound a few yards in front of him and his warriors. He nodded to them and gave the signal. The warriors began slowly dismantling the makeshift barrier. As the dwarf king watched them work, he caught a glimpse of something glowing just beyond the soldiers in his group. He stepped around the stone barrier and saw Alferug, King Sylus, and his father standing a few feet in the air above the ground. They smiled at him, and then they vanished. Al took comfort in seeing the spirits.

He walked back to his warriors and encouraged them. “Our ancestors are with us this day,” Al said. He adjusted his armor once more and held Murskain at the ready. As soon as the last stone was removed, he made for the mound of crystal. He walked up to the apex and then took one more step. As had happened before, the lights around him vanished and he was in darkness. He quietly looked around, searching for any sign of lurkers or demons.

A vent erupted just thirty yards away, illuminating much of the area around the dwarf king. Seeing nothing, he moved off the mound. The other warriors streamed in one after another. Al signaled to them with a silent wave as another blast of fire erupted from the nearby vent.

They moved along a stone embankment that skirted around a much softer, clay-like substance that had built up around the waist-high vent. When the fire erupted, the dwarves crouched low. Al caught sight of another group of dwarves moving along in the darkness. He silently wished them luck and then continued on.

The air in the alternate plane smelled of sulfur and something akin to rotting flesh. Moisture hung in the air, but there was no visible fog or mist. It was a sticky humidity that soon matted Al’s hair under his helmet. There were strange sounds as well. The vents were familiar with their exploding
whoosh!
Yet there were other noises, like clicking nails against stone, guttural grunts and gargled shrieks the likes of which Al had never experienced before. There were also the more familiar sounds of heavy footsteps, growls, and whimpering cries that came from deeper within the tunnels.

Having no other information to go on, Al tried to use the sounds to navigate. He reasoned that if there was a three-headed demon guarding a large crystal that was the source of their power, then that shrine might be located in the midst of a large gathering of demons or lurkers.

The prospect of trying to sneak up on either of those types of creatures was beyond intimidating, but Al let the warm energy flowing from Murskain steady his nerves. He was destined to find this place. That is what Sylus had said.

He would soon discover whether that sentiment was true.

Another flash of fire shot out from a vent nearby and Al signaled for his warriors to crouch low. A lurker moved along the shadows seventy yards away from them, but it didn’t notice them. Al began moving again as soon as the light died down.

Then everything took a turn for the worse.

A blood-curdling scream tore through the otherwise peaceful air in the network of tunnels and caverns. Al knew that someone had been slain. The dwarves were now discovered. They would have to work fast to find the crystal before they were all killed.

Dozens of clicking feet scurried in the darkness across the stone. War cries went up through the air as lurkers snarled and growled. A blue light formed around a winged demon that flew toward the sound of battle and began to blast the area with green lightning bolts.

“Come, we have to move,” Al whispered. The warriors at his back hastened their pace as he picked his way across the ground toward a nearby tunnel that led out from the large chamber they had appeared in.

He didn’t stop to help the other group of embattled dwarves. He didn’t even stop to watch as they were obliterated in seconds by the flying demon and his magic. The dwarf king pushed forward, then turned into a tunnel on his left. In this area there were strange, fungus-like things growing along the wall that gave off faint, blue light. It made running through the tunnel quite a bit easier. With the vent-filled chamber receding behind them, the group slowed to a more silent pace, but not a pace so slow that they might be discovered by the flying demon who would surely be patrolling the area now.

Al’s group rounded a corner to the right and then froze when Al held up his left arm. There, in a large dead-end, sat the largest lurker he had ever seen. It was easily twice the size of the other lurkers, and its abdomen was much, much longer. Instead of four legs and two arms tipped with claws, it had six legs and a pair of arms that were only half the size of the other lurkers Al had seen. The claws were made of the same white material, but they were only a few inches long instead of several feet long.

“A queen?” one of the warriors asked.

Al shrugged. He studied the creature carefully. It was lying still on its side, breathing heavily. It hadn’t seen them yet, so perhaps they should move out of the tunnel. Al turned to glance around the corner, but one of the warriors in the rear of the group signaled him away.

“Lurker coming in, Sire,” the warriors whispered.

Al knew there was only one way to survive. He signaled for the warriors to fan out and attack the queen. They charged in without yelling or shouting, though their plated boots did announce their presence with their loud clanking and slapping. The queen awoke and shifted to rest upon her underbelly. Al prepared for a challenging battle, but the queen proved to be lethargic and hardly worth the warriors’ time. She barely turned her head toward them before they hacked into her. Unlike the lurkers they had fought before, her scales were soft, barely sturdier than boiled leather armor. She grunted and wheezed, then fell flat and lifeless.

The lurker that had entered the tunnel was rushing in after them, though. Its clicking feet sped around the curve and it scanned the chamber for the intruders. Al and the others had carefully taken cover behind the queen, poking their heads up and parting the thick fur on her back just enough to watch the lurker in the soft light given off by the glowing mushrooms.

The beast came close, pausing before it stretched its neck out to sniff the queen.

The dwarves came out from their spot and launched a coordinated assault. Al struck the monster across the face with Murskain. Two others hacked off the front left leg. Three more drove spears into the lurker’s right side. The rest circled around and attacked the creature from behind. The lurker lashed out with its right hind leg, catching one dwarf in the throat before it was cut down.

Al and the others rushed to the injured dwarf, but there was nothing they could do for him. He convulsed as he bled out in a matter of moments. Al led the group from the tunnel back to the main chamber, ignoring the battle continuing to rage on and searching for another place to explore. A great series of eruptions started roughly two hundred yards away, blasting through several vents, each one closer than the one before and washing the whole chamber in a fiery red light.

Al dropped to his stomach to keep a low profile and used the light to survey the area. In the brighter light, he could see that the network of tunnels was like a hive network. Several smaller shafts branched off from the main chamber they had entered when they stepped through the portal, but there was one wide tunnel that led downward and disappeared into the darkness.

The dwarf king couldn’t be sure, but he felt like the shrine would be found in the biggest tunnel.

He signaled for his warriors to follow as he pushed up and moved out across the stone toward the main tunnel. He had gone only a few yards when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He turned to the right and saw a pair of glowing, icy blue eyes staring back at him. A green web of lightning appeared a moment later. Al reacted on instinct, swinging out with Murskain and driving the spike deep into the demon’s chest. Two other dwarves rushed in and pierced the demon’s neck with their swords, silencing any scream for help the creature might have otherwise mustered.

They moved as quickly as they could while maintaining silent footsteps. Another eruption of fire vents had them scurrying quickly toward the main tunnel, abandoning silence for speed so as not to be seen from a distance.

The tunnel descended so sharply that they almost lost their footing as they went down. They had to move to the wall and steady themselves to keep from sliding along the steep incline. Behind them, more sounds of battle and dwarven screams erupted.

Al could only hope that he was going the right way. To think that all of them might perish without ever laying eyes on the crystal was nearly more than he could bear. This time, the screams and clash of weapons and blasts of spells did not die down quickly.

“They are putting up a good fight,” one of the warriors noted.

Al nodded. “Then we should honor their sacrifice by accomplishing our task.”

None of the others said a word, but Al knew they agreed.

Another two hundred feet and the tunnel leveled out. It also turned around to the left, curving one hundred and eighty degrees. As they rounded the bend, Al saw yellow light reflecting off the walls some three hundred yards ahead where the tunnel curved out to the right. Shadows danced and moved along the light on the walls.

There was a chamber ahead of some sort. Al was sure of it.

The group crept along the tunnel, glancing over their heads and watching for any sign of danger.

The sounds of battle were quieting as they continued to distance themselves from the main chamber, but the battle itself sounded no less intense. Judging by the number of shouts and cries, Al figured that most of the other dwarves were currently engaged in battle. For all he knew, his was the only group still wandering free and looking for the crystal.

The dwarf king froze mid-step when he heard a howling noise coming from around the bend in front of them. A great shadow moved along the wall. Al studied it and started to smile when he counted three heads atop a large body. They were close.

He doubled their pace, stopping again when they reached the corner so Al could carefully peer around the curve and see what waited for them. He saw a long, rectangular chamber with naturally formed columns and a spring of purple liquid bubbling up in the center of the chamber. Fires burned beyond the alien spring and there, hovering in the air above what appeared to be a stone altar, was the blue crystal Hiasyntar’Kulai had spoken of.

Al smiled and glanced to his group. “This is it,” he said. He then turned his gaze back to the chamber. He hadn’t seen the guardian yet. He waited for a few moments before a massive, muscular leg stepped out from behind one of the natural columns. Then the body appeared. The demon’s alabaster skin was almost painful to look at because of how intensely it reflected the firelight. The three heads were not at all what Al had expected. The center head looked much like an ogre’s head, somewhat round, but a bit flattened out as if someone had dropped a boulder on top of the skull and flattened it a bit. The head on the left resembled a large, black wolf head. The pointy ears twitched this way and that as the head stuck its snout in the air and sniffed loudly just before howling. The head on the right looked like a great eagle’s head.