VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:59:42 04/14/03 Mon
Author: Gelan, Leila, Adaron, & Brage
Subject: They go within
In reply to: Adaron, Leila, Gelan, & Brage 's message, "Into the darkness of Kraggen-cor" on 19:55:45 04/10/03 Thu


"But that is on the other side of the Grimwall!" cried Brage, one arm flailing over his head while the other's hand held onto the lantern. "And I do not know the way."

"Then we must find a way. Adaron, you said you came here in your youth, do you remember nothing of this place? Or can you remember enough to lead us through to the other side?"

"Indeed I strode these halls long ago, and but once." Was the only answer that the Elf gave as he gained his feet. One hand was held onto his chest and he breathed slowly, but it was obvious that Adaron suffered a distress beyond that of punished ribs. Boom!

"Yet we have no other choice." said Gelan. "We now must try to pierce the length of the Black Hole and escape through the Dawn-Gate, for the Dusk-Door is closed to us. And we must be out and away ere the Ghola can ride over the Quadran Pass and carry word of us to the Gargon, else that evil Vulk will seek us out." Boom! Boom!

"What you say it true, Gelan King," softly said Adaron, his thoughts elsewhere, voice distant as he moved to the packs that Leila had dropped along with the Elven blades. Bale was retrieved and sheathed while Bane was taken over to Leila. Both weapons flaming still for the Helarm's was just without, still banging upon the Dusk-Door of Drimmen-deeve. Then without another word, he turned back and went to the packs, picking up one before starting for the stairs.

Quickly Brage ran to catch up to him, holding high the lamp, already carrying his pack.

She sheathed Bane upon her hip and then lifted her own back and slung it over her back, following after Adaron and Brage. "We should be quiet as mice," she warned in a voice barely above a whisper. "Especially the farther into this dreary place we escape to, for we do not want to draw unwelcome attention."

Into Black Drimmen-deeve they strode, into the halls of the Dread, while behind them knelling down the ebon corridors the enraged pounding went on: Boom! Boom! Boom! Up the long staircase they climbed, Brage and Adaron first with the lantern, Leila and Gelan after. At the top of the steps they paused, catching their breath.

Brage leaned against the wall, his back to it. "Two hundred treads." His chocolate eyes on the Elf. "It is odd that a trade route would start with such an obstacle as a two-hundred-step rise."

The stoic gaze of Adaron fell upon the Dwarf. "Nevertheless, Drimm Brage, this is the way I came. Mayhap heavy goods are borne by a train a different way, perhaps out through a level passage from the chamber below; yet when we trod under the Grimwall through Drimmen-deeve those many years past, this is the way we were led."

Leila continued to follow along, taking a deep breath when they finally crested the stairs. The respite from the wind was quite welcome, and though her eyes worked only as those of a human in this light, she felt comforted by the silence that mostly surrounded them save for their footsteps and the soft voices that passed between them.

Brage merely grunted in response to the statement. Boom! Boom! Boom! "Let us move one, else the Maduk may jar loose the hidden linchpins to bring these passages down upon on."

Onward they went, along a high, curving corridor, passages and fissures alike boring blackly off to either side. The floor was level and covered with a fine layer of rock dust, and no tracks could be seen in it except those they left in their wake. Boom! Boom! Behind the Kraken raged on, the rolling echoes fading with distance as the four stroke forth: boom . . . boom . . . oom . . . until finally even Adaron could hear the savage hammering no more. The floor had begun to slope downward, and still corridors and crevices radiated outward, away from the passage-way the comrades followed. But Adaron stayed in the main tunnel and did not turn aside. Down they went, deeper under the dark granite of Grimspire Mountain, and the pace was swift. Four miles, five miles, and more, they marched away from the Door, their hard stride carrying them onward.

For as Gelan put it: We must be away from this Black Maze ere the Ghola can bear word to the Gargon that intruders now walk his Realm."

But each one of the four was weary, exhausted by the long pursuit before they had set food into Black Drimmen-deeve, and so, when they came to an enormous, long hall, nearly four hundred yards in length, perhaps eighty yards wide, set, according to Brage, some seven miles from the Door, Adaron called a halt. "We must rest and eat, and let me study the ways before us." said the Elvenhome warrior, waving a hand at the four major portals gaping blackly into the chamber, "for I must choose the proper path."

"How many days will it take us to pass through here?" she asked Adaron in the softest of whispers. "That is, after you choose the way we are to travel." Leila sat down slowly once they had called a stop to the what seemed to be ceaseless marching. Her legs were sore and much needing of food and sleep was she, as were all who had traveled so far that day.

"A day, two at most." was the Elf's soft reply. After a moment of eye locked silence he turned to Brage and nodded and the two went and made the rounds of the exits, peering down each and discussing the paths that they saw.

Leila looked up at Gelan then, though she could not see him whenever Brage and Adaron disappeared down a path. "Are you all right, my King?" inquiring more about his mental well being that physical.

Steel-gray eyes lifted from his biscuit to Leila. He nodded once and then waited till he was finished chewing before he spoke. "I am well enough. As to yourself, how do you fare?" It was just when Gelan had finished speaking that at last the Dwarf and Elf came and sat beside the Man and Woman and took food for themselves.

A slight smile as she looked to Adaron before her eyes turned back to the King. "As well as can be expected, sire, for it has been so long since I have seen the sun that I grow weary just from the darkness. Praise be the day that High Adon's ban is restored to this land."

Brage wolfed down his ration in what seemed like a matter of seconds. "Elf Adaron," now Brage sipped at his canteen, "be there water along this path of ours?"

Adaron yet seemed pensive, troubled and but barely had touched his food before setting it aside. "Yes, if I step it out true." And that was all he would say.

But then Brage spoke up again. "Elf Adaron, while we rest ere we go on, you said you would speak of some events of long ago, after the Chakka abandoned Kraggen-cor. How came the drawbridge to be up? The Door to be closed? The Black Mere to be made?"

Adaron slowly leaned back until he touched the wall behind him, his eyes coming to a close for a moment only to reopen, hands lifting to clasp and rest over his lower abdomen. "I did promise you that tale. Here me, then, for this is what I know: When the Dread broke free of the Lost Prison, the Drimma fled Drimmen-deeve, and some Elves fled Galion Forest, for such is the Gargon's horror. Drimma fled east and west, turning north and south: so, too, did the Eldalie that ran. "With the Drimma gone, Rucha and Loka began to gather in the Black Deeves, coming to serve the Garon in his dread-filled realm. Many were the skirmishes with the Spaunen, and the Elves set watch upon the portals: Dusk-Door, Dawn-Gate. The Rupt, too, set wards at these entrances, though why they guarded this place, it is not known: yet guard it the Spaunen did. Perhaps they feared the Elves would enter, yet even the Eldalie cannot withstand Gargoni: it was but through the power of the Wizards of the Black Mountain of Zian that these dread creatures were held at bay during the Great War of the Ban. And had there been more Gargoni, even the Wizards would have failed. Yet the Spaunen guarded the Door, though none else would enter, and the Elves watched patiently as the seasons passed into another and the years flowed by. Then came a time five centuries past when to great Trolls came each night and quarried stone, building a dam across the Duskrill. A year they labored, until it was done at last. No longer did the Duskrill tumble down the linn in a graceful waterfall; instead, the water was trapped behind the Troll-dam. And a Black Mere--the Dark Mere--grew swiftly and soon filled all the swale up under the Loomwall. Another time passed: one more year, I think. And then in the dark of night a might Dragon came winging. When the great creature winged south from the Nothern Wastes, at first we thought it was mighty Ebonskaith, but then we saw that instead it was Skail of the Barrens. And he bore a great burden--a writhing burden--something evil and alive, and he dropped it in the Black Mere." Adaron's eyes held a distant gaze, staring absently at the wall across from him as he spoke. And his face was yet expressionless, his voice holding no tone except for that of a slight eerieness. "After Skail dropped the burden he winged north, anxious to be safe in his lair ere the Sun arose. And with this Monster now in the waters, when daybreak came, the Elves saw that the drawbridge was up and the Dusk-Door closed; the Rupt no longer stood watch at this portal."

Gelan stuffed away his unfinished mian. "There was no need, for the Krakenward now guarded this entrance. Now we know why the Ghola attacks us not: they feared it. Vile Monster lurking in black waters, waiting to snatch innocent victims." And then Gelan fell silent for a long moment, his eyes to his lap. "I loved Jet."

Leila looked to Gelan and offered a half-smile. No comfort could she really offer, for she had not the words to ease such pain.

Still no one spoke for long moments, and even Brage seemed stricken by the death of the horses who had striven to their uttermost limits only to be cruelly slain by a hideous creature, for Brage said, his voice husky, "No two steeds could have given more."

With a final sigh Gelan stood at last, saying, "Be there ought else, Adaron? We must press on."

Adaron followed the movements of the King, standing as well. "Only this, Gelan King, the Monster was put here at the behest of Drego, for none else would do such a vile thing." Ocean blue hues bore into those of steel-gray. "There is this, as well: the power of the Evil in Gryn must be vast to cause a Dragon to bear a Helarms from the Great Maelstrom to here, and to cause a Helarms to suffer being borne."
~*~

Once more they set out on their journey, striding to reach the Dawn-Gate before they could be detected. And the deeper they strode into Drimmen-deeve, the more uneasiness could be felt. The corridor that Adaron chose continued to slant downward, and less than a mile from the "Long Hall," as Brage called it, they came to a wide fissure in the floor, nearly eight feet across; the passage continued on the other side. And from the black depths of the crack came a hideous sucking sound.

Adaron stopped a foot from the fissure, ocean eyes gazing down into the darkness. "Now I know we follow the path I trod long ago, for this crevice I remember well. Yet there was a wooden span when we crossed it."

Leila rested a hand upon her forehead for a moment and sighed. "I can not go on much longer," she said in a low voice, almost apologetically. "My legs have been refusing to walk for the last mile, and still we press onward. I know not how much longer it will be before I have no choice but to stop."

Brage rocked back on his heels, grunting softly. "A whirl of water makes the sucken, I think. Had this place a name, Elf Adaron, when you last were here?"

Adaron merely shook his head, his gaze staring to Leila. "Think that you can leap this?"

She just stared at the distance for a moment before she looked up at Adaron and shook her head softly. "Another day I could, but not today, I would fall greatly short." He better not toss her again.

"Then I will toss you." His attention left her to gaze first to Brage and then Gelan, nodding to each of them.

Brage stepped back away from the crevice and with three running strides, he sprang across, easily clearing the span.

Gelan went next. Getting a short running start he leapt across, turning in time to catch the packs that Adaron had tossed over.

"Oh no...do not even think about that again. I would rather take my chances!" Her hands firmly planted on her hips.

Well she had already said she could not do it, and would not convince him otherwise. He stepped up behind her and placed his hands upon her waist, just under her own. With ease he lifted her up off the ground and stepped to the fissure, he swung his upper body back once before, with a grunt, he tossed her over the eight-foot-wide crevice into the arms of the awaiting Man and Dwarf.

Leila yelped, and fortunately was caught by the King and Dwarf. She turned and glared at Adaron something furious. "I do not like you very much right now," she informed him before she dusted herself off and hefted her pack back onto her back to await the Elf's crossing so that they could continue.

Well that wasn't very nice. He just stared at her for a moment, his expression stoic before leaping over the fissure himself. Once on the other side, he addressed the three. "We should yet go further. Leila, if need be, you will be carried."

"I will not be carried," she said curtly before turning and continuing their journey. Tenacious thing that she was, but her strength would not hold out for long, it was already all she could do to keep from breaking down and crying because of the screaming muscles in her legs and back.

Deeper under the dark granite of Grimspire they strode, the path ever pitching downward, corridors and branchings splitting outward from the passage they trod, unexpected cracks yawning in the floor, though none the width of the previous fissure, that Brage had then named the Drawing Dark.

The farther they went, the more Gelan's, as he was sure all of them, heart pounded in vague apprehension.

Softly came Adarons voice, having noted the perspiration beaded upon the High King's lip. "It is the Dread. We stride toward him now, and the fear will grow."

Onward they went through the shadowy maze, coming to a great oval chamber. "Eleven miles from the Door." declared Brage. This hall, too, was enormous: nearly three hundred yards in extend, two hundred at its widest. Straight across the floor they strode, and out the far side.

Still the passage pitched downward and now Gelan felt most weary, his steps beginning to lag themselves. Long had this 'day' been, for it had begun many hours past with the for it had begun many hours past with the attempt to cross Quadran Pass. "When next we come to a chamber, we will rest, for worn-out legs will not bear us swiftly if fleetness ever becomes our need." But they tramped four more miles through the black tunnels, downward past splits and forks and joinings, before coming to another chamge, this one also huge.

When Brage held high the lantern a slight smile of relief passed over Adaron's face. "This, too, I remember, for here is where we stopped to take water." The chamber was nearly round and two hundred yards across. And by the phosphorescent glow of the Dwarven lantern all could see a slow stone bridge crossing above a clear stream that emerged from the wall to the left and rushed through a wide channel cutting across the west end of the chamber to disappear under the wall to the south. Several low stone parapets beringed the room.

Leila paused and looked between the three. A hand came up to wipe at her eyes before she just sighed and turned her back to them, staring into the darkness. Everything hurt: physically, mentally, and there was no comfort for any of it. The ground was cold and hard. The one person she needed most she'd kept distant from her during the last hours--not even a word spoken between them. Surely they did not mean to press on? Her head bowed and both hands came to cover her face, just resting there as she fought with the fear and hopelessness that was only magnified by their proximity to the Gargon; she fought to remain calm, to restrain tears, but it was a battle she was losing miserably.

"This is called the Bottom Chamber." Announced Brage, looking about the nearly round chamber. "Chakka lore speaks of this bridge o'er the drinking stream. Sweet has been this water in all the Chakka days."

"Sweet, too, was the Duskrill ere the Dark Mere came to be, " said Gelan. "But now that water has been spoiled by the Kraken, and it is foul to the touch. Let us hope the drinking stream remains safe and pure." Across the carven arch Gelan and Brage went, stopping long enough at the far side to stoop and test and then drink deeply and refill their leather water bottles with the cold, clean, crystalline liquid, having not noticed the weeping woman.

His chin dipped as he looked down at her. Slowly did one arm lift to wrap about her shoulders to bring her close to him. Attempting to comfort her, still unsure of how to go about it. He was silent, and said not a single word as with one arm he gently hugged her to him, the other gently resting upon her upper arm.

Brage glanced back at the two and grunted softly before gesturing Gelan over to a small stone parapet, readying for their meal before they would sleep.

Following Brage's gaze, Gelan, too, glanced over his shoulder at the Elf and Woman and then turned to follow along behind the Dwarf; setting the packs down once the Dwarf was satisfied with a resting place.

Leila rested her head lightly against his chest, which was the most convenient place with his arms in their respective position. No more words were spoken, she just closed her eyes for a moment and took comfort in the fact that he was there beside her. After a few moments she spoke barely above a whisper. "What troubled you so earlier? You looked utterly stricken in such a way that I have never seen."

Adaron's eyes slowly slid to a close. After a brief moment they opened again and he stepped back from her, gazing down upon the Gypsy. "I will tell you..." And with that he gently eased further away from, his arm still about her, and guided her in the direction of Gelan and Brage for a few steps before he let his arm fall. Upon reaching them, Adaron took a seat to the other side of Gelan and then silently waited for Leila to sit and begin her own meal.

Leila sat down then, pulling her cloak more tightly around her, but she had not the stomach to eat and was only able to pick at the mian that was before her.

After a time Adaron softly spoke: "Gelan King, I bear woeful news. I could not speak of it before; my grief was too great. Yet now I must say this while I can: I fear the mission to rescue the Lady Astariel has failed, for Eiron is dead."

"How do you know?" the Gypsy asked of the Fair One.

"The place where he stood in my heart is now empty." Adaron looked away from the three for a moment, silent, then spoke on, his voice but a whisper. "I felt his final pain. I heard his last cry. Evil slew him." Palms upon the "The place where he stood in my heart is now empty." Adaron looked away from the three for a moment, silent, then spoke on, his voice but a whisper. "I felt his final pain. I heard his last cry. Evil slew him." Palms upon the stone floor, the Elf rose up to his feet and walked into the shadows. Now it was apparently why the Elf had fallen to his knees, whelmed, crying 'Eiron!' in that dire instant when the Krakenward had struck.

After a moment Gelan, too, rose and went into the shadows, following Adarons steps. And they stood and spoke softly, but what they said, it not known. And then Gelan returned to take to bed, softly informing: "Adaron is warding tonight."

And Brage sat with his hood cast over his head.

So it was that Adaron stood guard while the others slept; and the sad eyes of the Elf watched the faint ruby flicker running along Bale's edges, the sword whispering of evil afar. After but six hours respite, once more they would take up the trek, but that was some hours off yet.

She had slept for perhaps four hours, and those were fitfully slept before she stirred awake. For a long while she watched the Elf remain alone in his thoughts before she pushed herself to her feet and walked up behind him quietly, though he would easily hear her approach. Lightly did both of her hands rest upon his shoulders in silent support for the loss of his brother, for she knew it brought incomprehensible sadness to him.

Indeed he had heard her approached but made no outward notice of it. Still did his cobalt hues remain upon the gently scarlet flaming blade, that was held in one hand, the tip of the weapon resting upon the cold stone beneath him.

Slowly she lowered herself down to her knees at his side, remaining close to him. "I can not fathom your pain," she said softly, "but still, if there is...anything I can do to make it less, please do not hesitate to speak it to me."

When he spoke he was whispering, yet still his voice came clear and unhindered and effortlessly. "There is naught that can be done, Leila. Though, surprisingly, your presence is a comfort to me. A comfort that I've not yet felt in all my years." His gaze lifted to hers of gold and green. "His life was just beginning." A deep look of utter sadness and torment dwelled in hollowness in the depths of his eyes. But then his gaze turned from her, falling back to red Bale.

She rested her forehead against his arm for a moment, releasing a sigh. "Your life too is just beginning, Fair Adaron. It breaks my heart into the tiniest shards to see such a depth of pain within your eyes." Her head lifted then and watched him in the dim light. "Perhaps you should rest yourself for a couple of hours. I know that surely you are weary in the mind more so than the body."

Again his gaze rose from the weapon to hers. "I am rested. Two more hours yet remain before we set out again. You were more weary than any other. It is you that should rest."

"My heart cannot rest when yours is so troubled," she said plainly before she rose to her feet. "But as you wish, so shall I do." Turning then to go back to her bedroll, perhaps a bit hurt that she could not help him, nor even allow him peace to sleep without him mentioning the fact that she was the weakest here and needed it the most. That wasn't the point. The point was she wanted to help him, and she could not.

He silently had watched her return to her bedroll. Of course the words were not meant to be hurtful. He, too, worried, yet for her and her health. Once she had laid down to rest he returned to his ward, his mind resting in peaceful memories. Memories of Eiron.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.