Kiera stopped him. Shouts and yells that way as well. She whirled. “Too late. Damnit. We’ll never make it across either.”
Ittisana shuddered and pulled Cosia to the right. “This is a guard hall, when there is war. A muster hall, if you like. Maybe they don’t hunt us, but are Ban’s troops reorganizing. Let’s hide in the deeper tunnel for a while.”
Kiera shook her head. “To the right, then. Fast as you can, run and stay quiet. And Ulrich keep your face hidden,” she hissed.
“I’ll want to talk to you about this wound you gave me,” I muttered at her.
“Later,” she answered with a sad look. “I’ll speak of it later. If we find the time. I’m sorry.”
Ittisana flashed her a warning look, and thrust me to the right, dragging Cosia along. We rushed, until we stumbled near the cavern wall. She pointed into a doorway of crumbling pillars and we ran inside. She pushed me to the wall. Her snakes were slithering very close to my face, as she shoved Cosia to her knees near the edge of the small room. I turned to look down to the tunnels that took to stranger lands. There, a way ran down into darkness. It was a dripping, wet path.
“The deeper roads,” Cosia whispered. “The very edge of the madness. That road takes us where we need to go, if we find the right ways, but we must not get lost and—”
“We’ll wait here,” Ittisana growled, as Thak altered his size to that of a man, and his dark face wrinkled as he looked down the road. “They’ll move off at some point, won’t they?” Ittisana added. We just wait here.”
“And what if they come
here?
” Kiera hissed, having passed us and crouched near the doorway, the book of maps in her hand. “What if they check these side tunnels?”
“Then we’ll have to risk the below,” Ittisana said thinly. “Read the map well. Hope we don’t find enemies. We have two days to get to the Under Lord. That’s all there is to it. Then the city will be closed. We can spend half a day here, if we must.”
“We should—” Kiera began but went quiet, tilting her head like the dead do, not unlike an owl and I shuddered at the strangeness. “Silent.”
We went silent.
The sound of boots echoed in the chamber. I glanced at the Thousand Ways, and saw lights from torches, perhaps magical ones, brighten the tunnel across.
Then a horde poured into the room. An army of orcs arrived, and with them was another jotun. Again, it was not like Thak, but hulking, and ugly, with a large nose and a thick black beard. It walked with a limp, its left eye was red, probably useless, but it was heavily armored with dark plate and a huge sword and shield. Thak moved uncomfortably at the sight. “Jotun. Not a frost or fire one, but old as Hel. Powerful,” he whispered so loudly we all nudged him.
The orcs kept coming in. Hundreds came in. A thousand. More. They were hulking, gray of face, and they rushed to the middle of the cavern and arranged into loose formations. Their armor was white, their weapons bone-white and of every imaginable make. Spears, tulwars, scimitars, hammers. They were thick-boned, near neckless, and their eyes were beady and black. There too, Ban’s officers were riding red lizards. Svartalfs with high helmets began sorting out the horde. A horn was blown, and they collapsed into groups of hundreds. The giant walked to stand in the shadows by the doorway we had wanted to take. The svartalfs conversed in the middle, their high helmets gleaming with silver, and dark and white hair ran down to their backs, thick as any elven hair. Far, far more horns were blowing in the distance. They were likely Ban’s as well, since the svartalfs didn’t react.
I grunted and whispered. “Can those things smell us? Those orcs? And what in Thor’s name are they? Are they native?”
“Goblins or orcs we call them,” Ittisana said dryly. “There are tens of thousands of them living in the edges of the Vastness. These are tribes Ban hires, but you saw the Scardark army had some as well. The jotuns are from Jotunheimr. There’s a tribe of them, no doubt, remnants of some adventurous group. There are hundreds of them scattered around the land. Some serve the kings and the queens.”
“Shit,” I said. “Can they shape change?”
“Some,” Thak said unhappily. “And yes, the orcs can smell us, if we get unlucky. Don’t take a piss or a shit. And don’t eat anything. Keep our food hidden and covered.” He looked at the tunnel, where a slight wind ruffled some dark plant-life on the walls. A sulfurous odor reached my nose. “Maybe should go now,” he said. “I don’t like the Jotun.”
“They are settling in,” Cosia noted. “They are Ban’s troops, not that queen of Scardark who is hunting for us. They don’t know about us. They’ll move at some point. But I agree with the giant.”
“We have two days,” I whispered. “Shall we wait, or is there another way?”
Kiera turned to look at the strange-smelling tunnel. It led somewhere far and unpleasant, and she thumbed the map. Thak came to sit next to her. He was whispering to her, pointing his finger at a route, and in the end, she got up. “We can still make it there, but the ways are longer. We have to be there in two days, and so, we should go. Or we shall wait awhile, and go the faster route? I think we shall wait. Opinions? Not you, Cosia.”
Cosia shook her head, staring balefully at her.
Thak grunted. “Fine. We wait for a while.”
“Ittisana and Ulrich?” Kiera asked.
I stared at Cosia, and didn’t trust her. For some reason, I didn’t trust the others either. There was something strange going on with them and I hated the fact I didn’t know the plan. I thumbed the Iron Trial on my belt, half thinking it was my only reliable ally, and that spoke of the hopelessness of the situation. I kept a hand on it, and brooded. I turned to look at the monsters in the hall. The jotun was still sitting, vigilant, ever ready, and the army was sending patrols north and south, unhappy orcs with tired feet. The middle of the enemy army had planted a huge flag of black fangs on white, and I thought I had seen such in the battle of Himingborg. Ban’s banner indeed. They were putting up a camp. Some were lighting fires to cook food, and many had fallen asleep.
Ittisana crawled next to me, and looked at the shadows around the walls. “It takes just one of them, just one, Ulrich. Be careful.”
“Can you cast spells to conceal us?” I whispered.
“The Ban’s svartalf are maa’dark,” she said. “They might sense something. I say we wait a moment and be careful. Do you agree?”
I despaired and stood up to gaze at the enemy army. They showed no signs of moving. The doors would close soon in Scardark. We had but one day to spare if we wanted to play it safe. If that. We’d fail miserably, get to Itax, the Under Lord, and he’d shake his head and sell us to the highest bidder as lizard feed. The doors would be closed. Shannon would fall, we would fail, and the Nine Worlds would suffer miserably.
Perhaps it was fine. Dealing with the Masked One would likely go sour as well.
I sat back. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. “We wait. Just for some hours.”
Kiera shrugged and looked at Ittisana, who nodded and Kiera made the decision. “Fine. We wait a moment.” She looked furtively at the shadows around us, and probably missed her hunt.
Thak settled to sit and guard, and Ittisana walked to the other doorway, and looked inside. A weak wind was still blowing from it, rustling the snakes on her head.
We waited.
***
We sat there for hours, at least four, then five. Then we waited until eight had passed. And I fell asleep.
What I awoke to, was panic. “Ulrich!” Ittisana whispered. I turned to look around. I saw Thak turning, his eyes round with alert. I looked inside the cavern. I noticed the wind from the tunnel had picked up. It was howling gently, and there, on the edge of the enemy army, three orcs were staring our way, speaking agitatedly, having smelled something. One rushed away, while the other two got up with axes and weapons to come and check out the tunnel.
Kiera appeared out of the shadows near them, and her sword flashed once, then twice. She twisted away and hid in her spells of darkness.
The orcs fell dead after she had disappeared.
Kiera appeared near us, looking behind with concern. One orc, pulling on a helmet stared at the dead ones, aghast, its small eyes gleaming with disbelief. “Fargiiii!” it screamed, and I assumed it could only mean ‘alarm’.
The jotun, despite its great size was up in an eye blink, taking steps. The creature roared.
What followed was like an anthill being kicked by an elephant.
A sea of heads shot up. They were a mix of alert, drowsy, angry, surprised monsters. Bestial faces looked for the source of the roar, and in a moment they all looked in the direction the charging jotun. They saw the dead orcs.
“Time to go,” Kiera said unhappily. “High time.”
Over two thousand eyes turned to look at the shadowy doorway we were in and they all got on their feet.
Thak slapped Cosia hard to get her moving. Ittisana rushed to me, as Kiera pulled me up. “Can you run?” Ittisana asked.
“No, thanks to Kiera. But I can try,” I growled.
“You will understand later,” Ittisana explained. “Now, things are going very wrong. Please hang on to the end, Ulrich. There is still hope.”
“By Odin’s shit, we must flee,” Thak said. “Stop blathering!”
Ululating screams echoed across the cavern. Enemy soldiers were probing ahead, spears out. Arrows fell on the wall near us and svartalf officers were pulling on their helmets. The jotun was braiding together a spell. The spell became apparent, as bright light shone in the doorway.
They saw us.
I pulled Thak, and Kiera with me, and we rushed into the darkness. Ittisana pulled Cosia along, the bitch laughing as she was pulled, and I wanted to kill her in some dank, cold corner, or leave her for orc feed. We rushed down the nasty, dark tunnel, and despite the spell of seeing, I had a hard time trying to make out the way ahead.
Worse, the way grew very tight. Perhaps the jotun would not be able to follow.
We pushed forward, our gear grating on the walls. Behind us, there were guttural calls, a horn was blowing brutally, calling the enemy to hunt. We came to a small chamber, and Kiera pointed out a way. Thak turned in alarm. A large lizard was rushing at us. It jumped at us with uncanny silence and speed.
Then it changed midair.
The jotun crashed in the midst of us, ten feet tall. Its shield glinted as it turned to slay us, but Thak was fast, and he grew to match its size. His black fist crashed into the jotun’s face so hard teeth flew across the floor. The jotun fell on its back. Thak’s sword flashed, but a spell of fire spun past us as a svartalf surged into the room. Thak kicked the jotun, his sword swung and the svartalf died in a mangled heap of bloody armor. Thak pushed us out. We rushed on and on along the tight corridor. The windy, tight channel went further and further down, and I felt dizzy with terror, my hand brushing the wall’s sides.
The tunnel ended abruptly.
We were panting in a circular chamber, where some creatures had died a long time ago. What was left were bits of skeletons, some dusty armor, and a feeling of dread. There was a distant slapping of feet. The alarming sound was coming closer and closer, echoing in the tunnels, and I heard the scraping of armor on stone. Ittisana turned around, and around, lost. There were many ways in and out. Kiera was fumbling with the map, trying to figure out a way. Cosia laughed at us pointed at one, near disdainfully. “There!”
“Why there?” Thak growled and pulled her chain. “Why, you demon witch? Answer, or you’ll end up like your tattooed pal Bilac. She tasted like shit, but it will be my pleasure to join you two again.”
“Easy,” Ittisana said, clutching the chain back.
Cosia glowered at him, and probably took the threat seriously since she spoke softly and with respect. “It leads the right way. It leads to where we are going. I know some of these tunnels. No time for maps!”
Thak growled. Ittisana pulled Cosia to her. “I
command
you to speak the truth. Is that the right way?”
Cosia opened her fangless mouth and struggled. She nodded her head towards the same tunnel. “Yes. You can trust me. You know why.”
“What is she talking about?” I demanded Ittisana, but had no time to get an answer.
“Ware!” Kiara said. She moved fast, shot past me and from her hands bright fire stabbed up the tunnel we had just travelled. A line of fire shot up the incline, and something screamed up there, dying horribly. Arrows fell amongst us, one hanging from Ittisana’s chain armor.
“This way, then,” Cosia said, and we rushed to the tunnel with no further argument.
Kiera and her secrets. The whole plan stank. So did the reason why she had stabbed me. There
had
to be a reason for it. Ittisana and Thak were mysterious, and
Cosia
couldn’t lie? Cosia was a key part of the plan. I was sure of it.
They had a pact of some sort?
We moved fast now. The tunnel was larger, easier to travel, and we huffed our way forward. I felt sick and vomited as I ran. We had lost sense of time and of place, but kept moving. There was another chamber, red as blood, ancient and painted with white hands. Here Cosia hesitated, just a bit, but Ittisana pointed at a sharply fanged opening, and in we went. We rushed again, and then Thak was in the lead, and we reached yet another chamber, one filled with a dozen openings.