- Chapter 16 -

The winding escape tunnel suddenly came to a stop, at the edge of a deep canyon, possibly part of Deepscar Rift, doubled back on itself. The darkness was alive with the hissing of concealed monsters, and the ominous flapping of numerous sets of wings.

"There", announced Mararen. "There he is..."

On the far side of the canyon, in the shelter of a crudely hacked-out cave, lurked the Dravwyrn, with two of its slaves crouching in the shadows of his torn wings. The whole scene was unusually brightly lit for an unexplored subterranean cavern, light coming from a chamber at the other end of the crude passage the monster's great bulk almost filled. It was the light of countless jewels, glittering as though they were bathed in sunlight.

"But why is it just sitting there?", wondered Sshraada.

Marishanna said nothing to begin with. She was watching the Dravwyrn carefully, looking out for precisely executed gestures, and mouth movements indicating the recitation of words of power...

"I know exactly what he's doing", she reported anxiously. "He's spellcasting...!"

The adventuress did not wait for Mararen's advice. Uttering an incantation of her own, she hurled a ball of roaring flame across the canyon...

...but a Dravwaeri, scraps of Reclamationist warrior's uniform still clinging to its body, flew up out of the rift, into the path of the spell. The fireball erupted with a sun-bright flash and a boom like a thousand thunderclaps, amplified and echoed by the walls of the chasm, and the charred remains of the monster, none larger than a Hu'Man head, were hurled in all directions.

"What kind of magic is it?", enquired Mararen. "Can you tell what he's casting?"

Marishanna gave no reply. In all the battles she had fought, the first rule was to take out the enemy spell-casters. One well-placed fireball could decimate an army, and now that she had announced her presence, the Dravwaeri were sure to come after her.

The monsters did not keep her waiting. Eight of them launched themselves from the shadows of the rift's depths, shrieking with hatred, brandishing fang and claw. Marishanna let loose a flash of lightning, which struck one monster, then forked and arced over to strike two more, and one monster, struck clean in the head, fell from the air, unconscious or dead. The adventuress did not care which, for that still left her with two monsters, and five after that, to face.

Something dark flashed overhead, and suddenly the canyon was filled with howling wind. The five other Dravwaeri, following the original spearhead of three, found themselves caught in wildly swirling air-currents, and all their efforts to break free were futile. They had only just realised how much danger they were in when the wind smashed them against the cavern walls with such force that every bone was instantly shattered.

Surprised by the sudden wind, the two wounded Dravwaeri changed their approach, giving Marishanna and friends two more seconds to prepare. It was all they needed - when the monsters tried to land on the ledge the warriors occupied, they were met with a field of bared steel, and neither of them set foot on the ground. The only ground they encountered was the side of the chasm as they plummeted back into the darkness, heart pierced or head severed.

"Call the ship", called out Raven as she flew back to the ledge, the magical wind from her wings having proved most effective, and hovered there. "Strides-Tall and two Murgands should be at the harbour by now, waiting to be picked up!"

"Good", snorted the Salvandireen warrior-sorceress, and she reached for the transmitter device on her belt. She had no love for fancy machinery - that had been the domain of the humans on her home-world, Deva'Ath, and the basis of their claim for rulership of that world - and it came as no surprise that she had forgotten to switch the thing on.

The moment she did so, the transmitter burst into life. "Captain! We have to leave - now!", shouted Kol-Rasmen shouted. "The Reclamationists have sent some kind of bomb! It's due to go off in less than three minutes!"

"Our task seems to be about to be completed for us, my friends", said Marishanna cheerfully. "Shall we depart...?"

"No", muttered Mararen. "Not yet...I have to know..."

The adventuress laughed, and it was a cold, unfeeling sound. "Are you mad?", she snarled. "If you want to stay, then you stay alone!"

Marishanna started to cast the return portion of her previous translocation spell, but the moment she began, she knew something was wrong. "It's not working", she gasped. "Whatever power that thing is calling upon, it's distorting the magical aura of the surrounding area. I can't get us back to the ship!"

"Then we have to stay here", said the Waeribane. "If the rumours are based on fact, then the Dark One is our only hope. Now, let's get across this gorge!"

Raven led the way, her wind holding back the flock of Dravwaeri emerged from the chasm to stop them. Marishanna flew on her own, hurling lightning down into the monsters' faces, but for every one she send spiralling to its death on shadow-cloaked rocks far, far below, three continued on their death-dealing course.

Mararen had his eyes on the Dravwyrn constantly, and he was first to see the monster turn and head into the chamber of lights. "He's leaving", the warrior exclaimed.

"What do you mean?", queried Sshraada. "Another secret tunnel?"

"Of a sort...", said the wingless Dyal cryptically.

The two Dravwaeri who had been standing guard over their master were ready and waiting for the intruders, and stormed up to the edge of the precipice to drive their enemies back. Again, the wind from Raven's mighty wings was against them, and held them back just long enough for Mararen, Sshraada and Marishanna to gain a foothold on the ledge.

Raven looked back across the chasm, and saw many of the surviving Dravwaeri regaining the bearings now that the wind had ceased. The illusionary second pair of eyes opened on her forehead, but she did not need to unleash her fire at once, for the monsters were struck from behind by more lightning, this time mechanical rather than magical in nature.

On the ledge the warriors had only just vacated stood a huge figure, larger even than a Murgand, clad in battle-scarred plates of metal armour. Raven recognised it at once from Strides-Tall's description - it was the Reclamationists' war-machine, turning the air above the canyon into a killing zone with the lightning-guns mounted above its shoulders.

Raven smiled briefly - then was nearly knocked out of the air herself by a particularly large Dravwaeri as it swept past her. The two guards had been defeated, and the three warriors were heading through the tunnel into a chamber that appeared to be lined with blunt spikes of rainbow-hued crystal, with Marishanna bringing up the rear. The warrior-woman looked round just in time to see the monster throw its shadow over her...

Brossganth was growing nervous. "That ship isn't coming any closer", he said, gazing out into space, and Strides-Tall merely moaned weakly in reply. He glanced at the girl in his arms, and he shivered as he saw dark scales starting to form on her face, and around the place where she had been bitten.

"But what's that?", asked Broxka, leaning up against a support pillar. She pointed into space, and the young heir to the throne of Cinderbeard caught sight of a huge dark shape, its vast form blocking out stars as it drew nearer.

"Another ship?", he said uncertainly. "Don't see any sails..."

 

Marishanna turned to check that Raven was following, and found her field of view filled with a swooping Dravwaeri. Her height saved her - the dragon-monster dared not fly too low - and the adventuress punished her assailant for daring to force her off her feet. Silver Death formed a glittering blur, slashing through the air then passing with equal ease through the tightly-packed muscle of the monster's thigh.

Mararen was first to see Marishanna's predicament. His blade was next to taste the Dravwaeri's flesh as it faltered in the air, and he did not flinch or recall his own mutilation when his sword chopped through one of its wings, bringing it down.

The Salvandireen adventuress pounced on the stricken creature, her thirst for vengeance still unsatisfied. The Dravwaeri snapped its jaws closed not far from her face, and she brought Silver Death down through that threatening snout, trimming the jaws by half a foot.

The Dravwaeri went wild with pain, writhing and thrashing on the ground. Marishanna tried to throw herself clear, but her long, loose hair caught on the creature's flailing claws, and she was dragged along as the creature, driven by an instinct that went deeper than pain to seek the sanctuary of the darkness far below, pulled itself towards the rift.

Raven darted down to help, but she was too late. The Dravwaeri pulled itself up onto its feet at the edge of the chasm - and the war-machine, over on the other side, blasted it in the face and chest with twin streams of artificial lightning. The dancer was but inches away when the dead monster toppled forward and over into the rift, pulling the struggling Salvandireen woman in with it.

Raven pulled her wings in close, and started to dive down into the chasm, but Mararen called out to her. "There's no time!", he shouted. "Come - now! This is the only way out!"

Reluctantly, the dancer turned back and rejoined the others. She did not even have time to try and save Marishanna - any attempt would have gone some way to help Raven live with what had happened. She came here because I asked her, was all she could think as she rejoined the others, now on their way into the chamber at the opposite end of the crude tunnel, and look what her fascination with me earned her. I didn't even try to go after her...

Being an empath, Raven felt emotions more profoundly than anyone lacking mental powers, but even her deep dismay and self-disgust could not stop her from being amazed by what lay within the brilliant cave. The walls, the ceiling - even the floor - were covered by a forest of crystal, shining with an eerie inner light that, reflected and focussed over and over by countless facets, verged on the blinding, but the one thing that captivated the warriors' attention was the sphere of darkness at the heart of the cavern.

"It's true", murmured Mararen, peering into the blackness. "They do move through The Darkening."

Raven did the same, and she soon saw that the darkness was not total. There were suggestions of red mingled with the dark, contours of what could be rocks... "You know what this is?", she asked.

"There's no time to explain", said the Waeribane, steeling himself with a deep breath. "We have to follow."

Mararen dived head-first into the darkness. The surface of the sphere rippled slightly, and the warrior vanished. A half-second later, he reappeared, barely discernible in the dark world within, performing a forward roll across the floor of the cave the others in the world of brightness could barely see, then picking himself up. He glanced around, seemed satisfied that the area was safe, then beckoned to the others to follow.

Sshraada did not hesitate for long. Neither did Raven, who took one glance back along the tunnel to the chasm, then dived through as the cavern became suddenly and disturbingly bright and hot...

Brossganth squeezed his eyes shut as the floating monolith suddenly flared up brighter than any sun, natural or man-made, that he had ever known. For a moment, he swore he could see the doors to the Refuge of The Ancestors, the final resting place of all Murgand souls, swinging open to welcome him...

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