CHAPTER 18
DOWN BELOW
Just inside the small courtyard, the Faerie Oak appeared to be sleeping. All of its branches drooped and sagged. Not a single leaf stirred upon the tree. Amos knew better and gave the tree a wide berth as he skirted around the edges of the courtyard to get to the front door of the lodge. According to Jonah, this was now a distribution center for supplies to all of the mobile garrisons, but the place seemed utterly deserted. As he reached for the handle, the door suddenly flew open. This startled Amos so much that he almost transformed on the spot, but he kept his composure and it was a good thing that he had. Standing there at the door to greet him was a dwarf he had never met before. This fellow was a young chap, his beard just barely reaching midway to his belt. His rosy cheeks underscored a pair of merry blue eyes and there was no fear in those eyes when he looked upon Amos; a giant hairy man, robed in furs, looming at the door step. The dwarf simply bowed low at the waist and greeted him.
“Welcome and do come in, Torac at your service.”
“Amos, at your service,” the big man replied with an awkward attempt at a bow. “Where is everyone and what is a dwarf doing here in Faerie, much less answering the door of the lodge of Gazafar?”
“There are no others, it’s just me. I’m up above and down below, round-about and to-and-fro, but you have others with you. Where are they?”
“They are waiting for me outside the gates. How did you know there were others with me?”
“A little bird told me, of course.”
“Hmmm. You’re a very peculiar chap and I sense there is something very strange going on here.”
“You are quite right on that account,” Torac replied with a smile. “Go and fetch the others and I will wait for you here. I see there is much to tell you.”
Amos walked back through the gate into the meadow. He almost used his left hand to signal for them to come forward, but he remembered their arrangement just in time. He raised his right hand instead, high into the air, and waved for them to join him. Louise and Casey waved back to him and started across the meadow toward the lodge. When they got to the gate they besieged him with questions.
“What’s going on, Amos?”
“What did you find out?”
“Is everything okay?”
The big man held his palms up to quieten them. “Everything is fine, I think,” he replied. “Come inside and we’ll all find out together what is going on here.”
“What about my horse?” Casey asked.
Amos paused and thought back to his last visit here. “Let me see him,” he said, reaching for the reins. He led the horse over to the Faerie Oak. The big tree, which seemed to be sleeping, suddenly snatched the reins from Amos.
“Amos!” Casey cried.
Amos held up his hand. “Wait. Watch.”
The leaves of the Faerie Oak rustled as the tree gently removed the saddle and bridle and deposited them on the ground. The horse shook its head and neighed a friendly greeting to the tree before bolting through the gates to graze on the tender green grasses in the meadows below the lodge.
“How will we get the horse back if we need it?”
“The tree will call to it somehow and it will return here. Come, we have a mysterious host waiting for us and I am most curious to hear his story.”
Torac was waiting for them by the door and after a quick introduction, he motioned for his guests to follow him down the hallway. He led them to a room with a cozy fireplace. It looked to be a small, private study of sorts. A bookcase lined the wall opposite the fireplace and a couple of comfortable looking chairs faced the hearth, where embers from a low fire glowed bright and orange among the ashes. Torac walked over to the mantle and pressed one of the rocks below the thick hand hewn beam. There was an audible click and the entire rock wall, fireplace and all, pivoted to reveal a set of stairs leading downwards.
“What is this?” Amos asked.
“This,” Torac replied, retrieving a torch from the wall and lighting it from the small fire on the hearth, “is down below. Hurry now, let’s go!”
They followed the young dwarf down a steep flight of winding stairs. At the bottom, the stairs deposited them on top of a long platform overlooking a vast storage room, where rows of crates formed a maze of narrow passageways.
“It’s a warehouse!” Louise exclaimed.
“Yes, and a fine one at that,” said Torac.
“The elves have been working on this secret underground network for centuries now. With events in the final prophecy coming to pass, they hired some of the finest craftsmen, masons, and architects in Dwarvenhall to help them finish the project. All of the construction is complete, but they have kept some of us in their employ to manage the distribution lines and supplies.”
“Where do the supplies come from?”
“All twelve of the cities on Faerie have places where food supplies are stored; things such as grains, rice, nuts, flour, salt, dried fruits and meats. There are armories too, full of bows, arrows, knives, swords, and spears, not to mention clothing and medicines. Everything that would be needed in preparation for the dark days ahead has been stored away. Those dark days are on us and what you see here is just a small part of the network. There are tunnels that lead from each city to this central location. These are not small tunnels either, they are wide tunnels designed to move a lot of people very quickly.”
“Why people?” asked Casey.
“Because, they are not only supply routes, they are also escape routes. Most of Faerie’s population has been evacuated to Camelot. Only the armies remain and, for now, they are hidden away at remote locations until they are needed.”
“This is amazing,” Amos marveled. “Although it doesn’t surprise me. Castle Twilight was raised with astonishing speed.”
“The elves lack our building skills,” said Torac, “but what they lack in skill, they make up for in endurance. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but they are tougher than us dwarves! They are absolutely tireless and able to work for hours and hours on end without pause or rest.”
“Hey, if this network has tunnels to each city, then we should be able to approach Jupiter completely undetected if we travel below. This would give us a perfect means to slip into the city and rescue Marcus.”
“That’s a distinct possibility and certainly one that I’m sure will be discussed when the others get here.”
“You know about the rest of our party?” asked Louise.
“Yes, shortly after you left the garrison, Jonah sent word by way of an arrow hawk. I am to make you comfortable until the others arrive, so follow me and I’ll show you your quarters and get you some hot food.”
Amos, Louise, and Casey followed Torac back up the stairs to lodge above. In the kitchen, Torac whipped up a pot of stew and baked a fresh loaf of bread to go with it. As they sat around the table eating, Amos plied the dwarf with more questions.
“You are the only person we have seen here, surely there are more. I mean, how can one person manage all of this? Where are the others? How does this operation run?”
“It runs like clockwork,” Torac beamed, “but here is how we are set up. Beneath each city is a staging area. When the cities were evacuated, all of the supplies were moved to the staging areas below each city. There is exactly one dwarf that manages each staging area so, to answer your question, there are twelve others that help me run this whole operation. I maintain a schedule and a master inventory list here. When supplies are due to be shipped, I have them ready on the floor below. If I’m running low on anything, I’ll send an arrow hawk down the tunnel with a list of what I need. Then I’ll hitch up the wagon and drive to the staging area and the supplies will be pulled from inventory and waiting for me when I get there. If it’s a big load, the dwarf at the staging area will help me load my wagon and I’ll help him load his wagon. Then, both of us will drive back here and unload both of our wagons down below. After everything is s
quared away we’ll visit for a spell and then he drives back.”
“How many arrow hawks do you have on hand?” Amos asked.
“We have twelve; one hawk per city.”
“So you could send a message to all twelve dwarves at once if you needed too?”
“Yes, but I can’t imagine why I would ever send out all twelve hawks at once. I only have one wagon!”
“It is a very efficient operation,” said Louise. “How do you move the supplies from down below to the armies in the fields? You don’t move them upstairs by yourself, do you?”
“Good gracious no! We dwarves are stout, but we do have our limits! The shipments go out on a regular schedule. Whichever garrison is due for supplies will send a small company of elves to retrieve the supplies.”
“What do you feed the horses down there?” Casey asked. “That seems cruel to keep an animal underground.”
“Ah, you have just hit on the worst part of this job,” Torac moaned. “We have ponies here, not horses. Our ponies are rotated out every week. There is a passageway that leads to a cave on Gazafar. That is how we get them in and out of the tunnels. While they are not being used, they are kept in stables and pens. Most of our time is spent caring for them; making sure they have fresh water and plenty of hay, making sure their pens are clean and their stalls are mucked out. I wish we could have two dwarves stationed at each site; one to manage the supplies and one to manage the ponies, but alas, the elves think two dwarves would be too noisy for such a covert operation.”
“They are probably right on that account,” Amos laughed.
“Hey! I am scheduled to pick up a load tomorrow morning. Would all of you like to go with me?”
Amos looked at Louise and raised his bushy eyebrows.
“We’re not expecting anyone back tomorrow, so we might as well. I think it’d be fun. What about you Casey?”
“Well, I don’t want to sit around here all day with nothing to do, so I’m definitely up for it.”
Louise turned to Torac. “We’d be delighted to go with you. We can help load the wagons too and we’d might as well help you with the ponies while we’re here.”
“Splendid!” Torac cried. “Now, if everyone is finished eating, I’ll show you where to bed down for the night. I think you’ll find the accommodations quite comfortable.”
The next morning, Torac roused everyone at the crack of dawn. Louise and Amos were early risers anyway, but Casey struggled to get going. After a hearty breakfast, one that Hob, Gob, and Nob would have been proud of, they followed Torac down to the warehouse area. The dwarf confidently navigated his way through the crates until he came to an open area near the far walls, where a low-slung buckboard wagon was parked. Just beyond the wagon was a short passage that led to another open area. This room was closed off with a swinging gate and, like the warehouse, was well lit with torches. In the center of the room, three shaggy ponies were gathered around a pile of sweet smelling hay. The dwarf whistled and all three ponies came running to the gate.
“This is Toby, Champ, and Chief,” said Torac, introducing the three ponies as if they were fellow dwarves. The three ponies were exactly identical, so much so that it was impossible for Louise, Casey, or Amos to tell them apart. The dwarf slipped a halter on the two ponies he identified as Champ and Chief and led them through the gate into the passageway. Toby tossed his head and ran back to the pile of hay to continue munching.
“Why do you have three horses down here, if you only use two to pull the wagon,” Casey asked.
“Sometimes I have to make a trip to one of the staging areas when a wagon is not needed and I always want to keep two fresh horses on hand for the wagon. You know, in case an emergency need arises and I can’t fill an order from our stockpile here.”
Torac hitched Champ and Chief into the harnesses and climbed aboard. Louise and Casey sat on the front seat with the dwarf and Amos sat cross-legged in the wagon bed, directly behind them.
“Are we getting a big load?” Amos asked. “Because if we are, there will not be room for me to ride back!”
“No, no, we are just getting a barrel of barley for the lodge. We’re running low and I always feed the supply runners when they come in to pick up a load. This will be a very quick trip.”
“To which staging area are we driving? Jupiter?”
“No, this time we are going to Venus. It’s the closest one and I’ve been given specific instructions to stay away from the staging area below Jupiter. We do not want Bellator to find out about these tunnels. They may very well be the only element of surprise we have against him.” Torac picked up the reins and clucked to the ponies. He drove them around the crates and into a large tunnel that slopped gently downward.
“Why are we going down even deeper?” Louise asked.
“If you remember, the lodge is at a much higher elevation than the cities. This tunnel gradually goes deeper and deeper, with many switchbacks, until we get to the hub.”
“The hub?”
“Yes, the hub is where all of the tunnels from the cities converge. We’ll reach the hub in about an hour and from there it will take us another hour to reach Venus.”
The lanterns hanging from the pole attached to the side of the wagon swung back and forth as the ponies plodded on their way. These were elfin lanterns and they lit the dark tunnels with a bright cheerful light that looked much like silvery moonbeams. Torac talked nonstop until they reached the midway point.
“So, this is the hub,” Amos mused. The room was almost as enormous as the warehouse below the lodge. It was round, like a wheel, and like spokes from a wheel, twelve passageways branched off in different directions. “Which way is Jupiter?”
“That one,” Torac answered, pointing toward one of the tunnels. Carved into the stone over the entrance of the tunnel was a great throne. Also carved into the stone and embedded in the seat of the throne was the sword of legend; Excalibur.
*****