Soldiers of Ruin by Stephen L. Nowland

Author:Stephen L. Nowland [Nowland, Stephen L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It was a short journey to the candle shop, wherein the secret passage into the depths of the mountain was hidden. The sounds of distress echoing through the streets indicated that a greater battle was being fought elsewhere in the city, but Pacian couldn’t do anything to help them now. He had something more important in mind.

The candle shop was as he had left it, with the front door locked and the secret passage covered so that nobody within would ever have known he was there. It only took him a moment to unlock the front door and head inside, where he quickly pushed the lever to open the wall and reveal the staircase beyond.

“Look, fresh blood,” Sayana remarked, pointing to a stain on the stairs at their feet.

“We’re probably right on their tails,” Pacian replied with satisfaction, reaching up to make sure the trapped stairwell was safe. The mechanism had already been deactivated, so he hurried down the stairs with Sayana right behind him.

Although impatient, he slowed and softened his footfalls as they approached the bottom of the immense staircase. Placing the goggles over his eyes once more, Pacian could see they were arrogant enough to leave nobody to guard the stairs.

Sayana pressed a hand against his shoulder and stepped around him, conjuring a small sliver of flame that danced in her extended palm. Pacian flinched from the brightness that lit up like a bonfire in his enhanced vision. She carefully examined the stone of the cave for further signs of their passing and then crept forward, shielding the light from the flame as best she could to prevent them being detected. Pacian would have preferred the light to be out completely, but Sayana’s eyes, although sensitive, were no match for his lenses.

They passed the smaller offshoots from the main tunnel Pacian had seen earlier, the dull rumbling of distant underground activity echoing along the stone passageway and the faintest hint of orange light from somewhere ahead. When they reached a fork in the road, the sorceress stopped and looked back and forth between them, apparently confused by what she found.

“The tracks are easy to follow because of the dirt,” she confided when he leaned in closer. “A dozen dwarves went past here recently, dragging Nellise with them. They split into two groups at this point.”

“Which one took Nellise?” Pacian hissed, wondering why there was even a question of which path to follow.

“I can find no sign of her tracks anymore, so they might be carrying her,” Sayana explained. “Only three of them went down the left fork and they seem to be heavier impressions, so my guess is they carried her that way.”

“That’s where I’m going then,” Pacian said. “Just to be safe, keep following the other group, and if you run into trouble, yell and I’ll come running.” Sayana nodded, and the two of them silently crept down the separate tunnels.

There were signs of excavation on the walls along this route, something Pacian hadn’t noticed on his last visit.

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