Syline sniggered back, thinking about the prince briefly. Her family was close to the king’s, in fact King Drahzan was her god-father and she’d spent the day with him a few times when she was younger, and listened to him and her parents relive old stories whenever he came to their home. The prince had always had a thing for Kat; he’d even had Syline give her an anonymous letter once. She wondered how he was getting on, how everyone was getting on, if she’d ever see them again… She forced herself to stop thinking about it, before she spiralled into despair.
With none of the three against the idea, Thelonious started leading the way off towards the hole, Amberly in quick pursuit, sword drawn already. Syline refreshed their lights before chasing to catch up. Coming closer to the hole, Syline sent one of the lights down into it so they could get a proper look. Now that they stood around the rim, they could see the hole looked as if it had been broken into the rock, likely by something humanoid considering the debris lying on the floor below and jagged pick marks on their level. It was very definitely a floor as well, for down below was worked stone, floors, and walls that looked fit for any castle. Syline exchanged a look with Amberly as Thelonious dropped to his knees, grabbed the lip and began to lower himself.
‘Are you… I know I was all for it a moment ago, but it looks like this place belongs to someone,’ Syline said.
‘As far as I know, there are no deep races living here,’ Amberly said. ‘If they did, chances are the island would have more signs of it, and the border guard would have no need to clear it. This place has probably been abandoned for a long, long time.’
Syline nodded, but she couldn’t deny her unease. Perhaps it was just the way the air coming from below felt warmer, or the worked stone, or whatever else preyed upon her nervous mind, but something just felt off, here. ‘You’re right–’
‘Syline!’ Thelonious interrupted from down below. He held his arms out. ‘Jump down and I’ll catch you, then you, Amberly.’
‘Er, just a moment!’ Syline threw her axe and the staff down, Thelonious jumped a bit to the side to avoid them catching his foot. He only had a moment or so to look grumpy before Syline followed them, landing in his arms with a little squeak. Thelonious gave her a little grin before depositing her on her feet and catching Amberly next. The trio took a moment to look around the long hallway they were now in. There was a doorway to their left nearby, but what lay beyond was still too dark to see. In the other direction, the hallway slowly curved away, making it impossible to know how far it went just yet.
‘Which way do you think?’ asked Syline, summoning the globes of light back to her shoulders.
‘Let’s follow the hall, see how far it goes, first. We can check that room on our way back. I’ll take the lead. Amberly, watch our backs. Syline, keep the globes between us.’
With that, Thelonious set off. Syline thought he seemed quite confident down here in the unknown. She knew he had much more of a history of adventuring than her. She wondered how many tombs and catacombs like this he’d explored in the past. Walking through the hallway was quite a different experience from the caves above. They were deep enough now that they could hear and feel nothing of the storm anymore.
It was actually quite warm down here, if not a bit musty, like burnt dust. It reminded Syline of a library, in its own way. That made her feel a little bit better. The hallway went on for another two minutes or so of walking without a word. The place had a certain solemnity to it that seemed to kill any urge the three had to speak to one another. Thankfully, they did eventually escape the hallway, stepping out into a much larger room. The fact that this was under an island was astonishing, though the leaks in the ceiling and pools of water on the floor hinted how far from the island they had actually wandered.
The room seemed as large as the grand library’s grand foyer, but with no bookshelves, it seemed to stretch on and on, with four great pillars holding up the ceiling. The centre of the floor of the room dipped down into a bowl shape, full of water, though none leaked from above. Each of the pillars gave off a soft, blue light from runes inscribed into them, easily lost in the beautiful artwork scribed into each one were it not for that glow. The edges of the room had stone desks, ones that came up to around Thelonious’ chest, meaning they were around head level for Syline. Behind them, in alcoves worked into the walls, were old books.
Whilst Thelonious and Amberly’s interest went to the pillars, Syline practically sprinted for the alcoves. The idea of ancient, lost tomes sent a thrill through her. She had to work hard to hide her disappointment when, upon opening the first, the second and the third book, most all of them had been ruined by water damage. She hadn’t noticed until now, but the stains along the walls hinted that this place had been flooded more than a few times in the past. She could barely make out anything in these books, and no mending spell she knew could fix damage like that. Not with so much time having passed.
‘Syline!’ Amberly called, waving her to come see one of the pillars that she had wandered over to. ‘I don’t suppose you recognise this language? The runes definitely look elven but I’m having a hard time reading it. It reads like gibberish when I read it as elven, and I doubt whoever built this place was illiterate.’
Syline bounced over and looked the text up and down before shaking her head.
‘No, no, I can’t read it, either. I mean, I almost surely speak less elven than you. But, I might be able to figure it out. I did a little study on cryptology. There’s something familiar about this handwriting.’
Amberly nodded as Syline mused upon it and stepped back to let her get closer. Syline beamed at her, before stepping in, pausing to think. Syline felt a fair bit of pride. She was doing proper exploring and, for all her fears of what they might encounter down here, right now, it just felt like they were discovering something. Perhaps someday, she could come down here with proper linguists or a spell of…
She opened the archmage’s spell-book and began flipping through the pages. Surely, there would be something for this in here; what kind of archmage wouldn’t have a utility spell like that? He’d never taught her, but she knew for a fact that Anatoly had one like it. A spell of language! She settled down to work through the book, enjoying this little mystery.
‘This one isn’t elven,’ Thelonious called, waving Amberly over. As she passed through the small zone of darkness between Syline’s light and the one at Thelonious’ shoulder, a chill went down Amberly’s neck, even though this place was almost uncomfortably warm. She really wished Syline had given her one of those as well, but considering she’d seen the girl collapse, she wasn’t sure how far they should try and push her.
‘It’s Teuflisch. I can read it,’ Thelonious said as she reached his side, leaving Amberly feeling a little out of place, seeing as both her newfound friends were able to translate – or at least try and translate – these pillars, but she pushed that down for a more pertinent question.
‘Why can you read Teuflisch? I thought you said you never knew your father and didn’t truck with devils.’
Thelonious gave a light shrug, rubbing along one of his horns.
‘Just… always been able to. Met a warlock once who wanted to hire me as a bodyguard. Probably for the image of it. Didn’t take the job, the man didn’t wash, but while I was there, he had me look at some scrolls. I could just… It’s not even like I look at the words and read them, I see them and I just sort of understand.’
‘Hmm… well, I have heard that almost every hellblooded gets some curious natural talent. I’ve met ones who can turn invisible or talk to insects. With that in mind, I guess reading Teuflisch is probably about as mundane as they could come.’
‘And I don’t have any want to know what a fly’s last words are before I swat it,’ he said, giving her a little grin that she returned. ‘So, do you want to know what it says?’ he asked, getting back to the point.
‘Well, go on then.’
Lo, gift bringer. Icaria, Scholar of Ascension, holds dominion below these frozen lands. If it is knowledge thoust seek, a parley mayhaps, but woe, if thine tribute is unworthy, foul attentions thy shall call. Warned thus, leave now if thine gift is wanting. If thine heart fills still, call I, thine steward, thusly, call me with my name, Daidallos.
Thelonious paused. ‘I – er… I think I should probably stop reading,’ he said. He looked up and over to Syline, who gave him a vaguely concerned look.
‘This one says the same thing. I think we should leave these things alone. This is court mage business,’ Syline said, a little unsettled; she swore she could see a silhouette inside the pillar when the light caught it right.
‘A parley,’ Amberly mused. Syline stood up and padded back to the pair of them. Corax was quivering in her scarf. Something about this place was making the bird very uncomfortable, and he was letting Syline know as much through the impulses he sent her way.
‘Shhh, it’s okay, Corax,’ Syline cooed to her familiar, petting him as she rejoined them.
‘This place seems… a bit beyond us; let’s leave before someone touches something they shouldn’t,’ Thelonious said to Syline’s nodded agreement.
The pair of them had a bit less experience in sunken ruins and old catacombs than Amberly. There was a shift in the air, like a door opening far away and a fresh breeze rolled in. Syline wasn’t sure why, but that terrified her, sending hairs raising all across her arms as she retreated to stand beside Thelonious. She didn’t seem to be the only one who noticed it either, as both her companions instinctively drew their weapons, looking around with a new wariness.
‘We should get going back the way we came,’ Syline said just a bit too loudly, as if she were addressing someone unseen in the room, or whatever lurked in these tunnels, letting them know they wouldn’t hassle them anymore. ‘The… the blizzard will surely have passed by now.’
The other two were all too happy to go along with that plan, and all three began moving with a bit more haste down the hall the way they’d come. Their fear was proven all too warranted when, about halfway back, an unearthly roar shook the hall. It sounded like a man’s scream, echoed and distorted a thousand times down a tin pipe. It shook their very bones.
‘Run!’ Thelonious roared loud enough to compete with the sound, shoving at both girls backs to hurry them forward with more haste.
The trio reached the hole with the sounds following close at their backs. Whatever the source of the sound was, it was definitely getting closer and it wasn’t their only problem. When they reached the hole, they found that eerie, pale green lights had lit in the room they had meant to check on their way back. Inside, they could see silhouettes. Dark, humanoid figures, their bodies far too thin and heads far too large to be human. Some seemed to have horns curling up from their heads, others had tendrils rising from their backs and shoulders which shuddered in unseen winds. The lights were at their backs, and in a slow, shambling gait they were coming for the trio. As they approached, a horrible smell, which brought up Syline’s gorge, grew with them, the stench of rotten eggs and infected flesh.
‘How are we getting back up?’ Amberly demanded, facing the oncoming beasts as Thelonious faced the hall they’d come from.
‘Syline!’ he said. ‘Find us some kind of spell that’ll get us up there! Flight, levitation, a ladder, whatever! We don’t have time for me to push you two up. We’ll hold them!’
Just as he finished his command, the source of the roars rounded the corner. It was just as hideous as they’d imagined – no, far, far more so than that. It had the silhouette of a dragon, but in place of legs, it had long tentacles, with the texture and colour of a rat’s tail. Its wings were tattered, each hole in them weeping pus. Its face was the worst of all: terribly human, still possessing a mop of brown hair, stretched down its neck like a mane. It looked as if someone had taken a human face and stretched out their jaw, like so much putty, until they looked more akin to a horse than the dragon or whatever mad god had made this beast, must have tried to emulate.
