A Record of Ash & Ruin: The Grieving Lands

Chapter 26: The Darkest Hours

Most of the creatures found in the deep places of the earth are best left undisturbed. Most of those underground denizens are pale and blind, living their lives in eternal darkness. Many of the creatures found there are of fearsome aspect; their other senses of smell, hearing, and touch enhanced to a murderous degree. The most fearsome of which is reputed to be the Great Crawler, though no adventurer or explorer has ever laid eyes on the beast. All that is known about the beast is that as it carves out great tunnels in the rock and earth, it causes great quakes on the surface. Perhaps these are the earth dragons that the uneducated country bumpkins speak of.

- Monsters of the Mortal Realms by K. D. Fidditch

I was awoken by a rough shaking of my shoulders.

“It’s all right lad,” I heard a familiar gravelly voice say, as a solid hand shook my shoulders, bringing me from the depths of my bad dream.

Groggily I rubbed my face awake to see Durhit’s ash-gray eyes looking intently at me, cold in the Zajasite’s blue light. Turning to my left and right, I could see Kidu now standing arms crossed, hulking and taciturn in the gloom. Elwin Tucker the Rogue positively jumped up when he saw that I was awake.

“Can you do it?” he asked almost childishly, like a young one before Christmas, desire glowing in his eyes and written in the dark lines of his face.

I checked the bottom left of my vision, confirming that my Mana had risen, but not to full.

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Answering Elwin’s question with one of my own I croaked, voice dry, “How long did I rest for?”

“About an hour I would say,” Durhit answered, “Even for us it's hard to keep track of the time when you're in the earth’s embrace.”

“Hrmm…nothing related but I always wondered, why do they call you dwarves stone-eaters?” Elwin asked offhandedly.

Even in the gloom, Durhit’s scowl could be clearly seen, “Because you manlings believe that such is a dwarf’s greed that he would rather eat stone than pay for food!” he harrumphed at the Rogue’s derogatory question.

“Your collar, I can do something to it. Break its mechanisms I think,” I all but blurted to change the subject, unwilling to let the situation escalate.

All attention suddenly turned to me, and I felt the full onslaught of their gazes. Kidu uncrossed his arms and tried to speak quietly, but ended up booming and echoing in the darkness, “It is true then, you have a way? You have the truth of it?”

I nodded in response and replied placatingly, “Try touching your collar, please trust me. Not you Elwin!” I quickly snapped as Elwin made to touch his collar, stopping just before making contact. Gingerly Kidu touched the collar. I knew for a fact that I had cast Rust on his collar once before, albeit at level one. Hiding my panic as best I could, I realized that I should have cast Identify on his collar before urging him to touch it. I breathed a mental sigh of relief when he suffered no ill effects.

“Now, many of the Tide will die, thanks to you Gilgamesh the god-touched. For this gift of freedom, I swear from this day forth we are brothers. My life before yours, always,” he vowed solemnly, looking me steadily in the eyes.

“Alright, now how about me?” Elwin chimed in, raw eagerness lacing his voice.

“This might hurt a little...well actually to be honest with you this may hurt a lot. You will want to be seated for this,” a cautioned worry echoing in my voice.

Elwin acknowledged my instructions and sat down on the rocky floor. Anticipating the potential pain, he ripped some fabric from the short sleeve of his tunic, rolled it up, and bit on it before nodding to me. Looking to Kidu to restrain him, I looked the Rogue once more in the eyes.

“You sure of this?” I asked, knowing his answer before I had even finished. He nodded emphatically, eyes steady with resolve. Drawing my magic towards me, I heard the familiar dark whispers, as an oily feeling of wrongness pervaded my body. The energy felt almost gleeful now, as if wishing to be released. Holding my dominant left hand forward, I unleashed the pent-up energy into Elwin’s slave collar.

Black energy roiled across the metal, swirling ever faster in a crescendo of movement. At first, Elwin looked as if nothing was wrong, until his eyes opened in what must have been great pain. A muffled scream reached his lips as he bit down. He closed his mouth tight against the rising heat of the collar as energy was released by the oxidation. A slight tinge of ozone laced the air as esoteric energies devoured the metal, releasing great energies within. This continued for long moments. The energy released from weeks of oxidation, compressed into such a short time frame, was weakening Elwin. Eventually, the roiling energies subsided to a soft thrumming, and the Rogue’s head lolled, his mental and physical endurance at its limits. The smell of lightly charred flesh filled the small space. Durhit, in his wisdom, splashed some precious water from a scavenged canteen across where metal met the skin of the man. It hissed as it hit the hot, now inert, metal and caused Elwin to wake up with a resounding scream that could be heard even through his gag.

I moved quickly then to his side, placing both hands around his neck to cast Heal, which at first seemed reluctant to follow my will. Nonetheless, after tense few moments, I was ultimately able to channel the positive energies into the struggling man, the warm power ameliorating his pain and suffering. His cuts and bruises along his face visibly healed before our eyes, even in the dark gloom.

Finally, as the spell ended, he spat out the wad of cloth and took great deep breaths, like a man who had come too close to dying on a distant shore. The hulking Kidu looked at me then, nodding in affirmation to his own wisdom.

“By the ancestor spirits, you truly are god-touched. Now I know that I was right to join my spear to yours,” the hulking wildman Kidu proclaimed proudly.

Durhit looked confused, conflicting emotions warring across his features, before he said a single word with the impact of a gunshot.

“Gunne,” he said, almost in a whisper.

“Gunne, son of Gudlaug, swore a blood feud against my brother, under what obligation was he to help that brat? Better to die free, than to die as a slave,” snarled Kidu, fierce in his protectiveness, like a mother bear.

“He was just a child, who had fallen in with a…” Durhit stammered, surprised at Kidu’s sudden unequivocal defense.

“Healing...like this...expensive,” wheezed Elwin, slowly recovering from my ministrations. He touched his collar for confirmation, breathing a sigh of relief when no lightning pain paralyzed him. He continued, “Gil here was under no responsibility to help the boy, you know that the good brothers at the temples charge a fortune for his kind of healing!”

“Just…we could have saved him,” the dwarf said sombrely, looking sad as his shoulders sagged in surrender.

Seeking to clear up the situation, I decided to say my piece.

“Durhit, I truly believed the boy was beyond saving. The healing you think could have saved him, I simply could not do it.” I looked to Elwin for confirmation before continuing, “I simply could not have done it with the energies I had at the time.” Oh, how so easily the lie came to my lips.

“I have known many a liar, and I would stake my life and immortal soul on it that Gil here speaks the truth,” Elwin was able to say before taking a breath, which seemed to come a little easier now, “As Kidu says, better he died quick and clean than the slow tortured life of a slave. Besides, what else was he to do?”

I looked at Durhit then, challenging him to disagree. But he said nothing. This must have been a test of some sort, as I received a notification that I had gained another point in Charisma. The old dwarf then just took a sip of water from a canteen before passing it around to the rest of us. We each greedily drank in turn, the stale water having a slightly leather taste as it cleared the palette.

The dwarf reached into a wicker basket and produced a single loaf of bread which he divided into three equal pieces, handing out a single chunk to each of us. We ate this humble repast in silence, the recent events on our minds.

“Well, what do we do now?” Elwin broached tentatively in the silence, looking to Durhit for direction.

With no answer forthcoming, I gave a suggestion, subconsciously taking leadership of the group. “First, we break these chains,” I said steadfastly, holding up my manacled hands and pointing down to the chains at my feet. Even Durhit perked up, my proposal giving us all clear purpose.

Placing my hands on a sharp boulder, I turned to Kidu and asked “Will you do the honor of breaking my bondage?” Grinning with almost childish glee, Kidu picked up a heavy pickaxe. Lifting it overhead at its apex, he brought it down in a massive swing that crushed through the iron links. A mighty clank echoed down the shaft, and his pickaxe gouged a few inches into the hard rock. The others stared in wonder at his prodigious strength. Smiling down at me, Kidu gestured for me to place the chains of my legs on the rock, as he struck down once again with his great strength. The chains had been weakened by my Rust spell, and they split apart like ripe fruit, freeing me. At long last, freedom.

Even in the blue gloom, I could have sworn that the eyes of the others brightened a little. Next, Kidu solemnly placed his own chains on the rock, almost reverently gesturing for me to break his chains. I picked up another scavenged pickaxe, and unsure if my unaided Strength would be enough, I raised the mining tool above my head and silently released a Power Strike. The results were suitably impressive. Not only did I utterly obliterate the chains, but I also shattered the rock beneath them, almost splitting the small boulder in two with a single blow. Wiping my brow and feigning greater fatigue than I truly felt, I smiled at my companions with my bravado.

They, however, were more focused on the business of becoming free. Kidu thanked me quickly. Knuckles facing outwards, he touched the place between his eyes with an open hand, which I gathered to mean a sign of respect and gratitude. He then turned to help Durhit find another suitable piece of rock.

Eventually, we were all able to break our chains. Elwin’s bonds had proven to be particularly resistant, the dwarf and the wildman having to take turns to smash the links. We were all free at last. Though the remains of our manacles still ringed our wrists and ankles, our spirits were much lifted.

As we rested in the blue gloom, Durhit made sure to gather up some fallen Zajasite stones, asking Kidu to smash one carefully from the ceiling. He handed us each a glowing blue stone, allowing us all a source of light.

“I hate to sound annoying, but what do we do now?” asked Elwin to the group, though he looked mostly in my direction.

The dwarf suggested, “We need to find water. The area around here is known for its underground streams and rivers. If we can find one, deeper down, we may be able to find a way out of here, but…”

“There is always a ‘but’ though isn’t there?” said the Rogue saucily. “By all means speak on sir dwarf. I am just delighting in my newfound liberty for a moment.”

“In the deep places, a few workers had been said to go missing. Strange tunnels were formed that no Overseer was responsible for digging.” The dwarf paused. “I believe the deep places are dangerous and that we should proceed with caution, but it could be our only way out. Coming back the way we came would take almost a lifetime digging through that mountain of rubble.” He finished, looking each of us in the eye wearily.

“I’d rather try for it, than standing around here waiting to die of starvation. I say that we go for it!” chirped Elwin.

Kidu simply grunted. I just nodded to the dwarf, giving him leadership of the group. “Lead on, I bow to your expertise. I have no understanding of these deep places as your people do.”

“Thank you,” Durhit answered back, “Given this old dwarf a little bit of hope back,” some of his earlier confidence returning to his voice.

Low on Mana, I thought to ask the group for another rest, but their eagerness to leave was infectious. And with that, we gathered up what equipment and scant supplies of water and food we could, and ventured deeper into the earth.