Don Callander - Mancer 03 by Geomancer

Author:Geomancer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-06-05T13:45:35+00:00

Chapter Fourteen. AMostSurprising KindofWzard

THEY waded into Litholt’s Mountain along the tiny bum, bent almost double—except for the Otter, who went on all fours or swam happily in the rippling current.

At first it was as dark as Marbleheart had said, and Douglas had to light their way with a flame floating in the air over his forehead. After a quarter mile straight into the rock, a dim, soureeless glow from the ceiling and walls made the flame unnecessary. The glow became brighter the farther they went. The tunnel ceiling rose to three times the Journeyman’s six feet.

“No signs of habitation,” commented the Otter, looking around curiously.

“You wouldn’t expect signs of life in an aqueduct, would you?” snorted Bryarmote. “Which is what this obviously is—Besides, you’re wrong. This tunnel may be natural, but there’re touches of good harorock chiseling here and mere.”

He pointed to a high water mark well above his head on the tunnel side. “Just as well it’s not spring,” he observed. “With the snowmelt, the water must get pretty deep through here.”

They found their way easily down a shallow cascade and around a catch basin below. The stream disappeared into a narrow cleft in the rock, too narrow for even the Otter to follow. To one side of the catchment was a landing, however, and a steep, narrow rock-hewn stair mounted upward to and through a hole in the ceiling.

They climbed through several levels where passages branched right and left. Douglas led them upward.

“How can you be sure this is the right way?” asked Wong.

“The Feather Pin,” Douglas explained. “It guides its wearer through underground places. It served us well when Mym rescued me from the erupting Blueye, you’ll recall.”

“I recall,” said the Magician. “Do you sense, as I do, we are very close to our Wizard? The emanation is remarkably powerful. Twice what I would normally expect, actually.”

They came to an iron grille that blocked the stair before them.

Said Bryarmote, “Here, my blade will hack it down in no time!”

“Wait,” Douglas urged. “Don’t damage the Wizard’s property, if you can help it. You yourself taught me lock picking—something every Wizard should know, you said. Let me see if I can get it open.”

He examined the grille carefully. It was set right into the rock on top and sides, without a handle or visible hinges or lock mechanism.

“On the other hand …,” he started to say to Bryarmote.

There was a startlingly loud clang behind them. A second grille dropped heavily into place, trapping them on the steps between the two gates.

“Now can I smash it?” yelled Bryarmote, whipping out his bright Elvensword.

“I guess you’d better,” replied Douglas, skipping nimbly out of the Dwarf’s way.

“Hist! Listen!” whispered Marbleheart as Bryarmote raised the sword. “Someone’s coming!”

“A Wizard cometh,” warned Wong.

“Wrong, Wong! Two Wizards’” said a familiar voice.

Flarman Flowerstalk pressed his round, smiling face against the other side of the grille.

“I was right to let them in, you see,” the older Pyromancer said to a figure standing in the shadows behind him.

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