World's End (19 page)

"Come 'ere and git inside," said Misty. "I feel a chill a-comin' and I got a fire started in the furnace."

They all followed Misty into the cramped confines of her cottage. The walls were lined with potions and poultice wraps, all of them identified with scrawled Dormian hieroglyphs. Misty gestured for them to sit down.

"So tell me," said Misty in a sullen tone. "To what do I owe this honor?"

Hill leaned forward in his chair. "Let me be blunt. I understand you and Josephus may have some history, especially with regard to the Fault Roads," he said. "All that is in the past. My question is this: how can we enter the Fault Roads?"

Misty's face clouded over at the mention of Josephus. "I got nothin' t'say. I ain't been in the Fault Roads."

"You've never been in the Fault Roads?" Hill pressed.

Misty shook her head and glared at Hill.

Resuza tried a different tack. She relayed the news about Kiril's escape and what they had found in Josephus's house. This evoked an immediate reaction from Misty. She slammed her meaty fist on a nearby table.

"I tol' him," she exclaimed. "I tol' him to forget that foolishness. He never listened. Thought he was the smartest sleeper around. Look where it got 'im. Treason!"

"What happened, Misty?" Resuza asked in a soft voice. "What's this all about?"

"Musta been near fifty years now," said Misty with a shake of her head. "Me 'n' a coupla miners found a veina pure platinum. 'Twas a gorgeous whitish silver color and it just stretched real thin and deep like—way down into the bowels of the earth. Well they got regulations says ya can't mine beneath a certain depth fer fear a-hittin' one of the roots of the Foundin' Tree. And we was pretty close to that depth when we hit this vein. But we're miners, and we found a veina platinum, so we just keep diggin'. One day, we bust through this wall and find ourselves in a cave—only the ground is perfectly flat like we was on the floor of a man-made tunnel. We agreed: nobody says a word 'bout this."

"It was the Fault Roads?" asked Resuza.

Misty nodded and continued with the story. Before digging any deeper, she paid a visit to her great-uncle Dlugosz, who was 106 years old and, according to family legend, had been born in the mines. Dlugosz had experience mining deep, well beyond the legal limit, and it was said that he had a few encounters with the creatures known as zwodszay.

"Yes sir, indeedy," said Dlugosz to Misty. "Sounds like the cave ya hit is a Fault Road. Mighty dangerous down 'dare—mighty dangerous. If ya gonna go, ya best take percautions. I'd take lotsa light wit' me and I'd cover meself up good with the sap-a the skelter tree—it's a greasy-lookin' tree in the jungle. Makes ya hard to track. Careful though—skelter sap wears off in 'bout quarter-day's time. Also, take just a few fellas wit'cha. No more 'an a dozen. The zwodszay don't like big groups none. Tell ya the truth, it's safest goin' alone. Don't talk either. Best to keep quiet or whisper. And keep yer eyes out for them mile markers, that's whatchya want. Ferget the platinum vein. Them mile markers is the real treasure!"

The following day, Misty returned to the mine with a crew of eleven. They took all of the precautions that Dlugosz had recommended. Just as Misty had initially suspected, the cave turned into a tunnel. Every few hundred yards or so, it had markers on its walls, which were made of solid gold. The markers had numbers on them—512.5, 512.4, 512.3, etcetera—which indicated how far it was to some destination, presumably farther down the tunnel. They couldn't believe their good fortune, and began prying the gold markers off the wall and stuffing them into their bags. Once or twice, Misty could have sworn that she sensed someone watching her.

"My goodness!" gushed Karny, the youngest of the miners. "We do this fer a week or so and we'll be richer 'n thieves."

"No!" said Misty. "We're 'ere today and then we ain't never comin' back. We'll melt down these mile markers so that no one knows where they came from, sell 'em at the exchange, pay what we owe to the Miners Guild, divvy up the profits, and that'll be the end of it!"

Misty's plan was a sound one, but it was foiled by Karny, who pocketed one of the mile markers and attempted to sell it on his own to make a bit of extra cash for himself. A week or so later, Karny showed up for work with a thin, bespectacled, scholarly looking young man at his side. The man introduced himself as Josephus, royal historian of Somnos, and asked to speak with Misty alone.

"I know what you're up to and what you've found," said Josephus in a measured voice. He then held out the solid gold mile marker as his proof. "You could be arrested on a number of counts, including for digging so deep and for entering the old Fault Roads."

"But ya ain't turned us in," said Misty. "So ya must be wan-tin' somethin'. You lookin' fer a cut?"

"No," said Josephus. "My interests are more scholarly. I want you to take me back down to the Fault Roads for an hour or two so I can look around."

"That's it?"

Josephus nodded.

Misty gave a sigh of relief. She didn't like the idea of going back into the Fault Roads, but what choice did she have? Her crew escorted Josephus down the old mining shaft that led into the Fault Roads. As soon as they entered the road itself, Josephus let out a hoot of joy and broke off at a near run down the ancient passageway. Misty and her men hurried after him. They continued downward for several hours until Misty finally lost her patience.

"We've gone far enough!" declared Misty. "It's more 'an time we turn 'round. We've bin gone almost six hours and our coverin'a skelter sap is worn away. We're headed fer trouble from the zwodszay."

"That's an old wives' tale," said Josephus. "There's nothing like—"

He was interrupted by what sounded like the approach of heavy raindrops, but clearly this was impossible. Steadily the noise grew louder until it finally became evident that this was the sound of hundreds of feet and hands.

It was the zwodszay.

"They was upon us 'fore we ever saw 'em," recalled Misty with a shudder. "They went fer our torches first and 'fore we knew it, we was standin' in total blackness. Couldn't see a blasted thing. I smelled 'em though. They smelled like rottin' flesh. Then there was the screamin' of my miners. Sometimes I swear I can still hear 'em whimperin' like pups bein' eaten alive. They slaughtered us. Killed all twelve of us except fer me'n' Josephus, who were in the back and managed t'run away. We emerged from the tunnel drippin' in blood. Miners' blood. Aft'ward, we sealed up the way in wit' a boulder."

She stared at them angrily, and it was clear that the horror of that day had weighed upon her ever since.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" asked Resuza.

"What for?" asked Misty. "No sir. I put a knife t'Josephus's throat and said if he ever tried to go back down them roads, I'd kill 'im meself. He said he'd never go back. He learned his lesson, 'n' tol' me it'd stay a secret. We agreed we'd tell folks that there was a cave-in and that's how them other miners died. There was a lot of lyin' that we done, but we didn't 'ave a choice. If we tol' the truth, some numbskull woulda tried t'get back into the Fault Roads."

"So you've never been down to the Fault Roads since then?" Alfonso asked.

"No one's got any business down there," replied Misty matter-of-factly.

"But have
you
been down there since?" asked Hill.

"I ain't gonna lie to ya," said Misty with a sigh. "'Twas a time when my nephew fell sick 'n' no one 'ad any money. Was right 'fore the Great Sleeper came and the crops was all dyin' and people was starvin'. I went in by meself, real quiet, carried lotsa light, reapplied my skelter sap three times, and came out with a bunch a mile markers. It was just t' help my nephew, you understand?"

"Can you show us how to get down there?" Alfonso asked.

"No," said the old miner. "I won't letcha go down there. And it ain't just cause of the zwodszay either. Ever since the roots of the old Foundin' Tree withered away, none of the ground beneath Somnos has been stable. Mines've been collapsin' left and right. That's why I've taken to huntin' ants fer a livin'. I haven't been down 'dere for over a year now. It ain't safe."

"Please," said Resuza.

Misty sighed heavily.

"Fine," said the old miner finally. "I'll jus' show ya parta the way. But'cha better grab a few of those rank-smellin' vats that are sittin' on my porch—we may need 'em."

"What are they?" asked Bilblox.

"Skleter sap," replied Misty with a grunt.

***

Later that evening, as the moon began to rise, Bataar made her way into the foothills that loomed above the jungle. The temperature here was pleasantly crisp, a perfect mix of the warm jungle air below and the icy mountain air above. Looking backwards, it was still possible to see the majestic lights of Somnos in the distance. The area they were traveling through was a barren scrubland, composed of rocks, grass, and occasional clumps of snow. No one spoke. Alfonso, Hill, Resuza, Bilblox, and Misty were each lost in their own thoughts.

For his part, Hill was busy looking through a leather bag stuffed with a slingshot, a shepherd's flute, a hooded robe, and an assortment of herbs. These, of course, were the items from Kiril's list. Hill's aide had been incredibly resourceful at finding everything on the list. She had worked at lightning speed and delivered the items to Misty's house at dusk, just before they had departed for the Fault Roads. The only item missing from the list was the khopesh—no one could figure out what this was.

"Aha!" said Misty. "Bring this 'ere anteater to a halt!"

Resuza, who had the reigns, tugged forcefully.

"What's the matter?" asked Hill.

Misty jumped to the ground and pointed to a round boulder that, at first glance, looked no different from the hundreds of boulders surrounding it. Upon closer inspection, however, they saw a small curlicue carved into the bottom of the rock.

"That's the mark I use," Misty proclaimed. She looked at Bilblox. "Come on then—help me with this thing. It's good t'have some strong folk helpin' out."

Misty and Bilblox pushed the boulder to one side, revealing a dark hole in the ground just over a foot and a half in diameter. Alfonso looked at it. The hole didn't seem particularly exceptional, certainly not like an entrance to the ancient Fault Roads.

"Any signs of Josephus or Kiril?" asked Hill.

"Impossible to say," said Misty. "Ground 'ere is all rock—no place to leave a footprint. If they came through 'ere, they musta moved dis 'ere boulder back into place and covered their tracks."

Hill looked unsatisfied.

"Whatchya' got that look on yer face fer?" asked Misty.

"We need to know if Josephus and Kiril are down there," said Hill. "I want to go down and see if we can find any traces of them."

"And what if ya do find some traces?" asked Misty angrily. "Then what? You gonna just keep goin' till the zwodszay ambush ya and eat ya for lunch?"

"No," said Hill. "I have no interest in exploring the Fault Roads. We'll just poke around a little bit. And, if we find any traces of them, we'll report back to the Grand Vizier and she can decide what to do."

"Blasted fool!" cursed Misty. "Stubborn, thick-headed, arrogant fool of a man. And they call ya a blasted dignitary? All them years ya spent in the outside world softened yer brain up like milk on porridge."

"Will you take us down there?" asked Hill.

"It'll cost ya," replied Misty.

"What's your price?"

"Let's put it this way," said Misty. "If I see any of them mile markers, ya just turn yer head, and I'll come home with a few souvenirs."

"Fine," said Hill.

Misty still looked worried, as if she knew she was making a terrible mistake, but she eventually nodded. "Well," said Misty finally. "It oughta take a few hours to git down to where ya want to go. I can show ya where them Fault Roads start. We can poke around a bit. Then we can resurface and ya can go have yer chat with the Grand Vizier."

Hill nodded.

"I got some extra packs wit' me," said Misty. "Just in case, I figre we oughta take enough supplies fer a few days."

"Why's that?" asked Alfonso. "You said it should only take a few hours."

"First rule a-minin'," said Misty. "Always plan for the worst—cave-ins—especially these days. It's real easy t'get trapped. That's why I'm insistin' on the extra food, and torches, and skelter sap, too."

Misty tied one end of a thick rope around a nearby boulder and then dropped the other end down the hole. It was impossible to see how far down the hole went. Bilblox placed a hand just above the hole.

"Do you feel that air?" he remarked. "It's cold." He shook his head and looked at Alfonso, who had his hand on Bilblox's shoulder. "Do you remember the catacombs below Barsh-yin-Binder? Afterward, I swore I'd never go underground again."

"We got no time fer storytellin'," muttered Misty. She had turned quite grumpy and her coal-black eyes glared at the group. She put on a battered miner's helmet, double-checked an overstuffed canvas bag slung around her shoulders, grabbed hold of the rope, and lowered herself down into the hole, burly hand over burly hand. When only her head peeked out of the hole, she looked around once more and let out another cackle. "Each of ya remember yer packs 'n' supplies and hurry up!" she said. "Follow me quick—you folks is liable to stand around that hole fer hours, makin' excuses why ya won't go down!" And with that last word, she disappeared.

They stood around the hole, listening to Misty's grunts and half-curses as she lowered herself down. Finally, Resuza grabbed hold of the rope, smiled at everyone, and disappeared through the hole. Hill quickly followed. Then Bilblox, with Kõrgu perched on his shoulders. Alfonso was the last. Suddenly, Alfonso had a very dark feeling, as if he'd rather do just about anything else than descend into this hole. But it was too late for second guesses. Alfonso grabbed hold of the rope and felt its coarseness against his palm. More noises fluttered up from below. Alfonso shut his eyes, ground his teeth together, and descended into the darkness below.