Grenab waits out of the guard’s sight near the queen’s apartment. As expected, a temple worker arrives with a breakfast tray. He emerges a minute later, and Grenab tails him to a kitchen on the sixth level. The kitchen feeds the two hundred senior clerics that live in the temple. In a secret passage Grenab sits until evening when he enters the corridor where the kitchen workers pass. Three workers come out of the kitchen carrying trays. One heads to the queen’s apartment. Grenab picks one of the remaining two to follow. The worker descends the steps to the fourth level and proceeds down a corridor, leading to the center of the mountain. He arrives at a closed door guarded by a single Blue Dagger. Grenab halts and watches the kitchen worker go through the door and continue down a long corridor. He can not see the final destination.
When Grenab returns to the catacombs, Myrel is waiting. She pulls out the map, and Grenab points to where the guard stood. Fortunately, one of the secret passages opens into a room at the end of the guarded corridor. They wait until after midnight, and make their way. They reach their destination, a closet, and listen for activity beyond the door. They hear nothing, so they open the door and creep in. It is dark, even for goblin eyes. Grenab goes first. He doesn’t see the blow that takes him from behind. Myrel shouts “Don’t! Please stop!”
***
“Myrel, is that you?” whispers Krage as he recognizes her voice. He lights a lamp. They spend the next few minutes reviving poor Grenab. Myrel suggests they leave immediately, but Krage first wants to know what she can tell him about the situation in the temple. Krage is reluctant to leave by the secret passage; he fears if he just disappears, his guards will suspect its existence. “They will tear the walls apart until they find it. If they discover one secret passage, they won’t stop there. They will tear apart the temple until all the passages are exposed, and we will have lost our hiding places.” Krage tells Grenab, “Circle back to the corridor and create a disturbance. Get the guard to chase you.”
Krage and Myrel wait several minutes for Grenab to traverse the secret passage and reach the corridor where the guard stands. When they hear shouting in the hall, they count to ten and then smash the door open. Leaving the door ajar, they crawl into the secret passage behind the closet. They hope the guard will return and think Krage broke the door and escaped down the corridor. The guard will search the rooms along the corridor and never think to explore the closet in the room where Krage was held.
Myrel leads Krage into the hidden passage on the fourth level and via the scriptorium into the catacombs. Krage, who was raised in the temple, is amazed by Myrel’s knowledge of the temple’s secrets. She shows Krage the map and the key. “I found these when I was undergoing my Initiate’s Trial.”
“It is clear that someone besides the four of us is aware of these secret passages.” For the rest of the night, Krage studies the map and the conspirators plot their next move. Krage is apologetic when he learns that Grenab spent more than half a year in prison. “Had I known, I would have sought his release.”
Myrel asks the question that is in the back of her mind since Grenab’s related his tale of the cross-breed that helped her father get through the Western Pass. “Father, when I was in the prison Grenab told me the story of how he met you in the Western Pass, and how a cross-breed tricked a squad of Blue Daggers into a trap. Could the cross-breed have been the lad I met in the temple whose name is Trak?”
“So, you met Trak. What did he tell you about himself?”
“Not much, actually. He was very tight lipped. He said he was a metal smith, but he seemed too educated to be a smith. I wasn’t sure he could be trusted. My friends warned me he was a sorcerer and dangerous. I decided to avoid his company,” Myrel replies.
“The boy is honest enough,” says Krage, “but trouble follows him. It is for the best that you stayed away from him,” Krage remarks in a fatherly tone of voice.
“Where is he now?” Myrel couldn’t keep from asking.
“Last I heard, he returned to the Isle of Uisgebeatha to aid Duke Amin in his fight against King Red,” Krage says before changing the subject. Myrel knows little of Trak, but with each bit of information she gleans, her curiosity grows. Krage considers for a moment revealing the truth about Trak’s identity, but decides to wait.
“We can use the secret passages to undo the events Lord Lizardthroat has set in motion. You say there is only one guard on the queen’s door?” asks Krage. “Our first task is to rescue the queen and ruin Melkerei’s plan to return her to King Red.” They sleep during the day, and at night, they proceed through the secret passage up to the sixth level. Myrel steps into the corridor first. She is to distract the guard so that Krage and Grenab can then overpower him. They are too late. The guard is gone, and the queen’s apartment stands empty. Krage grabs traveling clothes and gear for his companions and a few books from his study. Disappointed, the conspirators return to the catacombs.
Krage concludes, “I believe remaining in the catacombs is risky. Eventually, someone will enter and we will be discovered. We should shift our hiding place to a room in the secret passage that connects the fourth level with the caverns deep in the volcano. If we hear someone coming, we can hide in the dark passages below the temple. The fourth level is also the street level. It is the hiding place closest to the exit into the city. Hide the map and key to a sarcophagus at the other end of the crypt. We don’t want to return and find them missing. We need to determine where the queen has been taken.”
During the day, the conspirators position themselves where they can remain hidden and catch fragments of conversations. Krage finds the passage near Alrik’s private quarters to be the perfect spot. From there, he hears Alrik in his office giving orders and receiving visitors.
Krage listens to Alrik discuss the situation with Lord Lizardthroat. “Somehow he must have slipped passed the guard who was busy chasing the intruder. The intruder also escaped. It is clear that Krage has supporters who are helping him. They are probably hiding him somewhere in the temple. I have ordered a search of every room. I will continue searching until I find him. You were wise to move the queen into the palace. The palace dungeons are more secure than any room we have in the temple. What news do you have about Krage’s offspring?”
Melkerei replies, “Of course, King Red already has the son. The daughter walked out of the prison three days ago and hasn’t been seen since. She apparently had help from a deserter who escaped at the same time. I should hear from King Red in the next day or two. I intend to send his queen back to him, with or without the daughter.”
In the hidden passage, the four escapees set up housekeeping. They smuggle in items to make themselves more comfortable: cots, food, water basins. Although they have excellent intelligence on what Lord Lizardthroat is planning, they are unable to create a workable scheme to rescue the queen or the deposed king.
After three days, they overhear Queen Meriem will be sent to the border in the morning. Myrel laments their effort to rescue her mother has failed, but Krage believes there is still a way. They will leave the temple and intercept the escort party as it travels the coastal road.
“Are we just going to walk out the front door?” asks Myrel.
“Actually, that might work. Once we are in the city, Melkerei wouldn’t dare send his henchmen to attack the Thaumaturgist in public, but I think we are better off traveling unobserved. I know a clandestine way out of the temple. Myrel is not the only one who knows a temple secret. They make ready the traveling packs that Grenab stole from the dormitory. Krage guides them into the caverns toward the volcano’s core. He follows the trail taken by Trak several months before. They stop a moment to look down the chasm and watch the lava flowing far below. Krage is pleased that it grows more intense. The four continue down the side tunnel into a second cavern, the same one Trak visited. Myrel and Alexia look up at the giant goblin sculpture. Krage informs them, “A millennium ago this cavern was the center of the goblin religion. It is widely believed that the stone sculpt
ure is a likeness of Septan himself. In the past flowing lava illuminated this space.” He gestures toward the five standing stones that surround the goblin sculpture and says, “Those are the Sacred Stones of Septan. The old stories tell of captives sacrificed on these rocks, but I doubt the stories are true. Sacrifice is not part of the religion.” At the point where Trak turned back, Krage guides his companions down another winding tunnel. A league farther on, they pass two side tunnels. Krage warns, “They are to be entered only at great peril. They lead to dangers deep in the earth. It was from these tunnels that our ancestors emerged in the beginning of time. If you travel down the tunnels for an hour, you will come to the ruins of an underground city, Ardonbrae, the original capital of the goblin kingdom. That is as far as I have ever been. To go farther risks awakening the evil that sleeps in the earth.”
Myrel scoffs, “You don’t take that story seriously, do you, Father?”
“Actually, I do,” replies the Thaumaturgist. “One day the evil presence that sleeps in the Underworld will awaken and threaten to annihilate not only goblins but all surface creatures.” His conviction and somber countenance cause Myrel to shudder.
As they near the exit on the north side of Holy Mountain, they see the glow of the setting sun illuminate the rocky field beyond. They are discussing where to spend the night when six Blue Daggers step in front of them and order them to surrender. The Daggers stand ready to cast their spears. Krage thrusts a hand at the guards. A bright flash accompanied by a deafening explosion bursts in their faces and temporarily blinds them. Krage turns on his heels and yells, “Run!”
The conspirators have a head start. It takes the Blue Daggers a few moments to recover their vision and longer still before they can see their way in the dark tunnel. Krage runs back to the junction that leads to the underground city and plunges down its steep tunnel.
Myrel cries in alarm, “You said we should avoid this tunnel?”
“I said enter only at great peril, and our situation requires something drastic.” He leads them recklessly down the dark, steep slope and broken, worn stairs. Why can we still see our way, Myrel wonders? It is then she notices the blue glow radiating from Krage’s torso. It is the same glow that emanated from her hands in the catacombs.
At the third fork they encounter, Krage turns the party into a side tunnel leading to a large cavern, dimly lit by an orange glow. Krage seems excited to find the chamber lit. “This is amazing,” he says out loud. “The last time I was here, this chamber was completely dark. The earth is awakening.”
They journey several hundred strides across the chamber and halt at the top of a broad staircase carved in the rock. They listen and hear sounds of the pursuers, but only silence from below. Krage informs the group, “The city lies in a cavern at the bottom of these steps. We must hide until we determine the city is unoccupied. It is possible that Lord Lizardthroat positioned soldiers in the city to waylay us if we came this way. Also, it is possible that inhabitants of the Underworld lurk in the city.” He directs them to a fissure in a dark corner of the cavern where they are able to observe the staircase.
They hear the clatter of the approaching Blue Daggers before they see the yellow glow of the torches they carry. A hundred Daggers regroup at the top of the staircase. The commander of the force says, “Below us are the ruins of Ardonbrae. Take no chances. Kill them if they resist, and remember, there are fouler things in the depths of the earth than escaped criminals.” He orders his troops down the staircase and into the city.
***
The city is dimly lit and heated by flowing lava. “Extinguish your torches and save them for the return,” the commander orders. The tops of the ruined buildings are silhouetted by the orange glow of the lava flowing in a distant chasm. The city resembles a world in which the sun is perpetually setting. All goblins have heard of the ancient city of Ardonbrae, the first goblin capital, but few imagine the city buildings still stand. The soldiers are dumb struck by what they see. For the illiterate soldiers, it is a trip back to a primordial time before the Earth Spirit guided the goblins out of the earth’s interior to the sunlit world above. The commander must order, “Focus on the task at hand. Find the traitors.”
He sends his squads to search various quadrants of the ancient city. “They will be hiding. You will have to check every hole.” After two hours of searching, it becomes clear that the city is vast and the number of possible hiding places inexhaustible. The commander wanders the town, checking on the progress of his squads. He marvels at the dwellings carved into the walls of the cavern. They are elegantly equipped with spiral staircases and spacious balconies. In the city’s center stands what appears to be public buildings. The tallest are five stories high. All appear to be made from basalt quarried from the cavern. Their windows mostly face the chasm where the red glow emanating from the flowing magma illuminates the building’s interiors.
Sculpted facades decorate the most opulent edifices. Scenes depict battles and legendary events. On one structure, a hero drives his spear into the chest of a troll. Over and over, the Blue Dagger captain sees the same image carved above doorways and in plaza floors. It is a snake entwined about a flaming sword. It must have been the sigil of the city’s ruler, the commander speculates. He strolls to the far end of the cavern and peers at the orange lava flowing far below. The air is hot on the ledge where he stands, but not unbearable. He strolls into some of the dwellings that have been hewn out of the mountain. They are stacked one on top of the other and form an interlocking maze.
Each dwelling he enters is like the last. Personal possessions lay strewn across the floor as though the inhabitants departed in a hurry, abandoning their belongings. The commander mutters, “My soldiers are expending more energy searching for abandoned treasure than pursuing fugitives.” He passes through an ornately decorated portal into a darkly lit interior. Something crunches beneath his feet as he steps inside. Looking down, he discovers he is walking on old, brittle bones. From the cut marks, he deduces the occupants were slashed to pieces by a heavy blade, possibly a cleaver. He backs away from the grizzly scene and heads in the direction where the nearest squad is searching dwellings. As he approaches, he hears shouting and clashing metal; he runs to investigate.
He enters a large room to see his men pinned to a wall, defending themselves against two-dozen of the whitest goblins he has ever seen. They are naked except for their swords and the black tattoos on their bodies. Several of his soldiers are down. He wades into the fight, chopping down several white wraiths from behind before they know he is there. His attack allows the trapped Daggers to break out of the encirclement. They race toward the staircase leading out of the ruined city. Other search parties see the commotion and rush to their support. The Blue Daggers create a defensive formation at the bottom of the staircase. The commander uses the steps to gain a height advantage over his foe. The white goblins are on them in a moment, attacking recklessly. The Blue Daggers dispatch them easily. The wraiths’ crude, bronze weapons are no match for the Blue Daggers’ steel. Just when the commander begins to relax, thinking he has control of the battle, hundreds of naked, white goblins swarm out of the chasm on the far side of the cavern. The Daggers are vastly outnumbered. In a moment they will be overrun. The commander orders, “Retreat,” and leads the flight up the stairs.
On the level above, Krage frets. He is considering making a dash for the surface. Perhaps most of Lord Lizardthroat’s soldiers are preoccupied in the city below. He weighs his chances of sneaking past the guards above and escaping the mountain. He needs to be on the surface to rescue the queen before she is handed over to King Red. Krage feels certain that by now the Blue Daggers have informed Melkerei of his whereabouts. The commander will send more troops into the underground tunnels. He looks at his companions who are noticeably tired from their hasty escape into the depths of the volcano. Prison conditions have left them in no shape to run at full speed up the ascending passage. He can’t leave them. He has just decided to aband
on any attempt to break for the surface when he hears shouting and clashing metal in the city below.
The commander of the Blue Dagger squads flees up the steps followed by his soldiers. They are in a complete rout. Ten heart beats later, several hundred white goblins emerge and pursue the Blue Daggers across the dimly lit chamber, disappearing up the tunnel. The Daggers don’t have time to light their torches. They are forced to run in single file and feel their way up the long tunnel while trying to stay ahead of the wraiths. The white demons systematically pick off those in the back until only the commander and a handful of his soldiers escape.
The Thaumaturgist seeks to calm his companions. “We should be safe in this fissure for some time. We must stay in hiding until the fighting in the tunnel is over and the white goblins have again descended into the city. It is fortunate we waited to see if the city was occupied before entering. I expect that some of the Blue Daggers will escape to tell Lord Lizardthroat of the threat in the mountain. He will not press the fight, but will take measures to augment the forces he has guarding the exits. His precautions will make it more difficult for us to get past his guards.”
“What are those white creatures?” asked Alexia. “Where do they come from? There are enough white devils to overrun the temple and kill all its occupants.”
“Yes, and you are only seeing a small portion of their number. They are the subterraneans. Some call them the ‘Unworthy.’ There are tens of thousands living in the earth. They have always been there. They prefer to stay to themselves,” Krage explains. “These are the people the prophecies foretell will be enslaved by the evil presence that lives deep in the earth. With his army of subterranean goblins, the evil one will threaten all life on the surface.”
“When will that day come?” asks Myrel.
“The prophecies aren’t specific. Perhaps today’s events are the very catalyst that initiates the apocalypse.”