The Keys to Paradise, page 56
Several more tried convinced him that he was trapped in the room. He was neither tall enough nor strong enough to catch the ledge. He sent as powerful an image as he could to Petia. Then he sat, rubbing his sprained ankle.
Anji went cold all over when he realised that Petia was much too large to come through the tunnel. He was a prisoner in the room and couldn’t expect help. With tears in his eyes, he picked up handfuls of sand and flung them in frustration.
* * *
Onyx’s words froze the three companions. They sounded so close that Petia was sure that he stood next to them. They might have been better off if he had been present. Onyx had loosed some terrible beast into the tunnels, and she had little doubt that it would find them.
‘Bluffing,’ Giles said. ‘Onyx may know that we’re in here somewhere, but I think he’s only trying to frighten us. Still, its always good to be prepared.’ He handed the sword to Petia and took a firm grip on his halberd. Keja took the hint and pulled his sword from his belt.
A blood-chilling howl echoed through the passages. It started with a roar, deep and robust, and ended in a high-pitched shriek which set their teeth on edge.
‘By the gods,’ Petia breathed.
The howl began again and came at them from every direction. Petia grabbed Giles by the sleeve. ‘What about Anji?’ she asked.
‘We’ll have to take one thing at a time,’ Giles said. ‘Just remember, we defeated the ice demons and Onyx’s steel men. Don’t lose your courage now. It’s only another obstacle to overcome. Whatever this thing is, we’ll kill it.’
‘You’re a mountain of confidence,’ Keja said sarcastically.
Giles grinned. ‘Why shouldn’t I be? The stalwart companions who have been through so much together, what’s one more little beastie to worry about?’ he turned his head, trying to sort the real voice of the beast from the echoes reverberating through the endless tunnels.
The howls confused them, coming from every direction. Keja turned to face the way they had come, while Giles took several steps forward in the direction they had been walking when they found the bas-relief. In truth, he thought, I don’t know if there’s one or a dozen nor from which direction they are coming. Where’s Anji? If the boy were here we could retreat. In spite of his outward calm, his apprehension mounted.
He glanced at Petia. Although she clutched the sword, her mind was on Anji. She crouched by the hole in the wall, shouting his name. She wasn’t going to be of much use in the coming battle, with her mind torn between her own preservation and the boy’s predicament.
Giles went to her. He had to shout in her ear in order for her to hear over the roaring that surrounded them. ‘What of Anji?’
Petia held down panic as pain showed in her eyes. ‘I don’t know. I don’t get any images. I don’t know what’s happening to him.’
Giles put his hand on her elbow. He glanced back at the passageway. In the distance two red eyes glowed in the dark. They moved closer, and another roar shook the tunnel. At Keja’s end, he saw nothing but Keja’s startled face, looking back over his shoulder and staring down the tunnel.
‘You’ve got to reach Anji,’ Giles shouted. ‘Concentrate.’ He turned and gripped his halberd. ‘Never mind the battle. Keja and I…’
The roaring ceased; all they heard was snorting and pawing. Unseen claws rasped against the stone floor. Keja came to Giles’ side and stood, his sword ready.
‘Giles. Anji is trapped,’ Petia cried. ‘He has the key, but he can’t get out.’ Giles turned one ear to listen, not taking his eyes from the red eyes which glowed ever closer in the darkness. ‘He jumped down into a room and now he can’t jump high enough to reach the ledge and get back to us.’
Giles cursed beneath his breath. ‘Concentrate on Anji. You’ve got to figure out some way to rescue him. We’ll do what we can with Onyx’s little friend.’ He shook Petia’s arm. ‘You can do it. Never mind how the fight is going. Just put your mind to getting Anji out of there.’
The sound of claws against stone came closer. The red eyes looked larger than saucers. A deep-throated growl sapped at Giles’ faith in defeating this unseen creature.
‘Come on, beastie,’ he said. ‘We’re ready for you.’
He hoped that would prove true.
* * *
Petia crouched by the hole, ignoring the snorting and pawing from the other end of the passage. She followed Giles’ advice and cleared her mind, focusing on Anji and the room into which he had so foolishly jumped. She went back over his route to the room, remembering the pictures he had cast back to her. It was impossible for her to follow him through the twisting tunnel. It had been difficult enough for a skinny cat Trans boy.
‘Think, Petia,’ she murmured to herself and pounded her fist on her knee. A memory flitted through her mind. She recalled one of her less successful attempts at thievery. She had been careless enough to wake the householder of a house she was burgling and had left hastily through a window. Not hastily enough, as it turned out. She had found herself trapped by the night watch in a narrow passageway between houses. She had stood frozen, then remembered the feline part of her Trans nature. Catlike, she had escaped while the watch stood scratching their heads.
‘Rope, Keja!’ Keja’s head swivelled. He tugged at a rope around his waist. He pulled the end free and unwound it quickly, handing it to Petia and resuming the grip on his sword.
Quickly Petia rewound it around her own waist so tightly that it hurt to breathe. Then she dropped to the floor, closing her eyes and focusing on the hidden part of her nature. She felt the changes and waited. Patience and impatience warred within her. The rope became looser. Never had Petia gone this far with physical transformation. Always before she had adopted cat trait, but never the full physical aspects of a true feline.
She saw Keja glance at her, close his eyes, and shake his head. Petia knew that he was still uncomfortable with this part of her Trans heritage.
Petia took one last look at Giles and Keja, standing ready for battle. murmured, ‘The gods be with you.’ and disappeared into the hole, her sleek cat body easily fitting the tunnel.
* * *
Ulinek cowered in the corner of Lord Onyx’s bedchamber, his head throbbing from his attempt to locate the intruders. An impossible task, he knew, but Onyx insisted that he keep trying.
Soldiers filled the chamber. The guard captain arrived, accompanied by two lesser officers. Young recruits stood ready to act as runner, carrying messages from one end of the citadel to the other. How could he concentrate on a probe with so many people, talking, running here and there, their minds causing a continual buzz? Feet tramped the hallways, adding their hollow echoes to the din.
The ache in Ulinek’s head moved up behind his ears; he rubbed his fingers over the heavy mastoid bones, massaging them in a vain attempt to relieve the pain. If only Onyx would provide him with the silence he so badly needed. He switched to rubbing his temples and forehead, then inspired, he sent a recruit for Actina, a serving maid.
When she arrived, Ulinek explained his distress and asked her to rub his neck and head. She had done this many times before and set to work with good will. Ulinek groaned with relief as Actina’s soothing fingers massaged the cords at the back of his neck, brushing upward behind his ears. Of all the servants only Actina seemed not to notice his diminutive stature.
At last Onyx issued orders for all who remained in the citadel. Ulinek waited until he subsided, then lifted his hands in a plea for silence. ‘Please, my lord. No intrusions for a moment. I beg of you.’
Onyx scowled, then stomped to a chair near his bed. He sat, frowning, chin in his hand, but he remained silent.
The serving woman continued to massage Ulinek’s neck, and a measure of tranquillity filled the dwarf. He closed his eyes and probed again, for the first time in nearly an hour able to focus his mind. Up and down the passages, quickly now, before another disturbance.
He found the companions and knew that one of them had the key. ‘My lord?’
‘What? I thought you wanted quiet.’
‘I have found them, my lord. One has the key.’
Onyx threw back his head and laughed. ‘Have they found it then? I never would have believed it possible, but never mind. I have sent the beast for them. There will be no escape this time. As for the key, a small enough matter, for a small enough advisor. Is that not right, my dwarfish friend?’
‘I do not take your meaning, my lord,’ Ulinek said. But already fear of Onyx’s next words was upon him. He knew what the Black Lord meant and dreaded what he was about to hear.
‘I think you do, Ulinek. You, a little one, are small enough to recover the key for me. Is it not so?’
Ulinek fell to his knees, and Actina drew back, embarrassed for the little man. The dwarf touched his forehead to the floor, grovelling towards Onyx. Ulinek’s muffled voice pleaded, ‘No, my lord. Please. Not the passages!’
He looked up to see Onyx’s black eyes fixed on him. He found no pity in them. He could plead for ever, but in the end he would be sent into the passages – the passages – for the key. He closed his eyes, shuddered once, and collapsed.
Fifteen
Giles had time only for a glance at Petia as she disappeared into the hole in the wall of the passageway. The glowing eyes commanded his full attention. He did not know what foul creature Onyx had sent against them, but he had no doubt that the Black Lord intended that it should rid him of the intruders for ever. He chuckled.
Keja gazed at him in the dim candlelight. ‘You’re crazy, aren’t you? Death stares us in the face and you laugh.’
‘Exactly,’ Giles answered, continuing to watch the luminous eyes in the dark corridor. ‘If we die, Onyx will have an impossible time of it getting the other four keys from the Callant Hanse. He’ll never do it without destroying that ancient merchant house. Sometimes our mysterious man in black, god or not, doesn’t think too well.’
The beast roared again, then grew quiet. It stopped pawing and scratching at the floor.
‘Watch for it, Keja. It will pounce soon.’
Giles heard the sound of the beast churning towards him out of the darkness. The feet drummed faster and faster as they came. The eyes glowed larger and redder. Giles thought fleetingly of runaway wagons. ‘Back against the wall as the beast charges past.
The candle-flame wavered in the breeze stirred by the charging beast. Please don’t go out, Giles prayed silently. In a pitch-black tunnel, there would be no battle at all.
The beast turned at the end of the tunnel and ambient light from the intersecting tunnel showed Giles and Keja what they fought. It spun on all fours and reared onto its hind legs, standing as tall as the two men. Lizard-like, with short, massive forelegs and a thick body, it reminded Giles of an ocean amphibian he had seen from the ship that had carried them to Bandanarra. The captain had told him that the beasts were vicious and had been known to kill and eat humans.
Its flat face, long slender, contained wickedly sharp teeth. A harsh rattle came from the beast’s throat. The eyes blinked, then opened to glare at Keja and Giles. It dropped to all fours and pawed once. ‘Here it comes again,’ Giles warned.
The beast did not charge, however, but lumbered towards them, an unstoppable juggernaut. Giles heard the talons of its claws scratching the stones with every step. Its thick tail, saw-toothed along the edges, lashed back and forth.
He thought quickly. ‘Watch the tail and the claws, Keja,’ he said quietly. ‘Can you build a loop with your rope?’
Keja immediately caught the sense of Giles’ question. He loosened a second rope from his waist, and awkwardly worked.
Giles took several steps towards the beast to give Keja the time he needed. He held his halberd ready and watched the lizard creature advance. Several feet away from him, it reared onto its stubby hind legs. Talons seemed to grow longer before Giles’ eyes, and he knew that he faced a dangerous weapon.
He stepped quickly towards the beast, thrusting the axe-edge of the halberd at the palm of one claw. He felt the cutting edge bite into the flesh, and turned the shaft in his hand, withdrawing to use the point. Blood gushed onto the floor. The creature snorted in pain and swung its claws wildly. Giles stepped back quickly and the blow met only air.
The beast gave a hoarse grunt. Giles smelled the beast’s foul breath and wrinkled his nose. There was little room for him to move – except back. He stabbed again at Onyx’s pet; the creature retreated. Although Giles’ weapon did not reach the animal, it gave him time to manoeuvre. He glanced over his shoulder at Keja and saw that the loop was nearly ready.
The beast extended its arms once again and attacked Giles. The man’s world filled with the grime of its claws, dirt and filthy decay of meat ground between pad and talon. If those claws drew blood, Giles knew, his death would be a slow one. He had seen disease run rampant during the War from lack of sanitation.
Keja joined Giles, laying the loop on the ground. The beast balanced on its tail, confused by two people. It’s small brain decided both might die as easily as one. It lunged forward. Keja brought the flattened loop up in an overhead gesture. The loop fell short but settled over one outstretched scaly limb. Keja pulled the loop taut and planted his feet solidly on the floor. He leaned back against the rope, straining to contain the beast.
The beast struggled against the rope, then fell to all four feet to pull against the restraint. It’s tail lashed from side to side. It opened its mouth, changed direction, and rushed Keja.
The small thief leaped into the air but kept hold on the rope. He came down on the beast’s tail. The tail lashed once and threw Keja against the wall. Stunned, he gripped the rope and staggered aside in time to avoid the tail once again.
‘Pull, Keja,’ Giles shouted.
His head throbbing, blood running down his side, Keja planted his feet. He pulled the beast’s leg off the floor, exposing a soft spot underneath.
The beast turned its head towards Keja; Giles seized the opportunity. He positioned the halberd, and with the force of his entire weight, lunged with all his might. The point disappeared into the fold of flesh and sank several inches up the shaft. Giles shoved hard against the butt of the halberd and saw it sink even deeper into the beast.
The beast roared in pain and struck once again at Giles. He let go his grip on the shaft and backed away, weaponless. He retreated down the hallway with the beast, dripping blood, following after him. Keja was pulled along behind.
‘Use your sword!’ Giles yelled, searching desperately for something to use as a weapon.
Keja wrapped the rope around his wrist, then used his free hand to pull his sword loose. He took aim at the base of the creature’s neck, and thrust. The tip found the spot, but the blade bent and the sword slipped away harmlessly.
But the sword had done its work. Distracted again, the beast twisted its head, looking back at Keja.
Giles leaped towards the huge lizard and grasped the halberd shaft, twisting and turning it as he pulled it loose. The creature snorted and hissed. As it opened its mouth, Giles thrust the point into the back of its throat. The hiss turned to a gurgle and gouts of hot blood rushed from the creature’s mouth. Its tail lashed feebly once, but the spear had taken its toll. Bleeding internally from the first thrust and choking on its own blood, the beast’s head lowered.
Giles and Keja backed away and let it die. They stood, breathing heavily. Giles moaned, aching all over. His joints seized up on him, even though he had escaped unscathed. Keja’s wounds were minor and quickly bound. Only then did Giles turn to the hole in the wall and wonder how Petia was doing. He wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, then froze as Onyx’s voice echoed through the tunnels.
‘Having fun with my pet? No? Then you can thank me. I have something else. But I won’t send it yet. As host, however, I must see that you don’t lack for entertainment, am I not right?’ The laughter turned Giles’ blood into a frigid river.
* * *
Petia crept catlike along the tunnel, first to the left and then to the right. Unable to carry a candle, her feral-eyed pupils dilated to capture any available light. The dim light from the candle in the corridor faded within a few feet, and she made her way in total darkness. Every sense alert, she followed the tunnel to the right. Then she saw, many feet away, a faint ray of light.
Realising that the light must be from Anji’s candle, she crept towards it as quickly as possible. When the tunnel sloped upward and her hands clawed at the slippery stone beneath her, she couldn’t find a purchase. There was little need for caution now. Onyx, warned by his dwarfish advisor, knew that they explored the passages.
She called to Anji. ‘Are you all right?’
Anji’s small voice echoed as if it came from a barrel. ‘Yes, Petia, but I can’t jump high enough to reach the ledge.
‘I know. I’m at the slippery stone. How did you get through?’
Anji explained about the hand grips in the ceiling of the low tunnel. Petia told him to be patient, turned onto her back and felt along the upper surface until she found the holds. In a few minutes, she looked down into the room and saw a subdued Anji standing morosely on the floor below.
‘I’m sorry, Petia, I was so excited about seeing the key that I jumped down before I even thought about how I’d get back.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you out.’ She balanced on the narrow ledge and unwound the rope from her waist. She let one end of the rope down into the room. Anji took hold of the end.
‘What do I do now?’ he asked.
She coiled the extra rope carefully at her feet, then looped the rope over her left shoulder, and took up the slack in her right hand. ‘See if you can climb the rope. Try to lean back and walk up the wall.’
The boy looked doubtful, but he grasped the rope and put one foot against the wall. He leaned back and pulled himself up. He managed to gain a couple of feet before his arms weakened and he had to jump back down. ‘I’m sorry, Petia my arms are not strong enough.’
Petia knelt, rubbing the shoulder which had taken the boy’s weight. She looked at the leftover length of rope coiled beside her. It was nearly as long as the slippery tunnel she had worked her way through. Quickly she pulled the rope up from the room and knotted a loop at its end. Dropping the loop back to Anji, she said, ‘Stand in the loop.’ She explained what she was going to do. ‘When you get close enough to grab the ledge, try to take your weight on your arms and scramble up.’
