Orcslayer (Gotrek and Felix Book 8) by Nathan Long

Author:Nathan Long [Long, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2011-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They came to the Undgrin at the base of a long descending ramp, down the centre of which two large-gauge sets of cart rails were laid. The system of winches and pulleys that had lifted and lowered the carts up and down the slope still stood, dusty and rusted, but the carts themselves were gone.

When they stepped through the wide curved arch at the bottom of the ramp, Felix stared, gape-mouthed. The scale of the thing was staggering – a gargantuan tunnel at least forty feet wide and sixty high, its granite walls so polished that the dwarfs’ lamps reflected in them as if they were mirrors. A double road of rails ran down the middle of the tunnel, glinting like sword blades until they disappeared in the darkness. On either side of these were raised walkways down which ten dwarfs could have walked side by side. The floor was covered in a thick layer of undisturbed dust. No one had travelled the underground road in decades.

The Rassmusson brothers grinned at Felix.

‘Told you you’d know it when you saw it,’ said Ragar.

‘Not bad, eh?’ said Arn.

The idea that a tunnel this large had been built, not just between Duk Grung and Karak Hirn, but between almost every dwarf hold from the Worlds Edge Mountains to the Black Mountains was difficult for Felix to comprehend. ‘It’s… it’s astounding,’ he said at last.

‘This is only a tributary road,’ said Galin. ‘The real Undgrin is twice as big.’

‘Too bad Duk Grung isn’t running any more,’ said Karl. ‘The steam train ran then, taking ore up to the smelting room at Karak Hirn. We could have hopped it and been at the karak in a day.’

Ragar sighed. ‘Those were the days. Ten days at the workface, a day up to Karak Hirn for a good bath and two days of slap and tickle with Iylda, a day down again on the Undgrin and back to work.’

‘Aye,’ said Arn. ‘Two days with a lass is about the right amount.’

‘With a twelve day break in between,’ agreed Karl.

‘Mining at the karak, we see them every night,’ said Ragar, glum.

‘See them every night and they start talking about things,’ said Arn.

‘Weddings, for instance,’ said Karl.

‘And babies,’ said Ragar, swallowing.

‘Hope the chief finds a new mine soon,’ said Arn.

The other brothers nodded fervently as the dwarfs started to the right at a brisk pace, lanterns swinging from their belts. The brothers began singing an old dwarf marching song, and the others soon joined in. After the sixteenth verse, Felix started to get a headache.

‘Aren’t they worried about drawing attention any more?’ He asked Gotrek out of the side of his mouth.

‘Nothing lives down here,’ Gotrek said. ‘Too deep, no water, and nothing to eat. Not even insects.’

Felix’s wonder at the Undgrin faded quickly as the party marched along its unchanging, unending length for mile upon mile. It was the safest, least difficult leg of their journey by far – a flat, dry, smooth roadway without bends or junctions – and consequently, the most boring, at least for Felix.

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