Through Stone and Sea by Barb Hendee J. C. Hendee

Author:Barb Hendee, J. C. Hendee [Stone, Through & Sea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Vampires, Fantasy fiction, Horror, Quests (Expeditions), Fiction, Fantasy, General, Dwarfs, Epic, Occult & Supernatural
ISBN: 9780451463128
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Chane overtook Shade and led the way to Sea- Side’s outer cavern. Passing the turn into the tram station, he headed for the main entrance. Unlike Bay-Side’s larger one, there was no true market here, only a few scattered vendors with carts servicing patrons on their way in or out.

He stepped out of the huge archway and onto the mountainside street, and Shade pulled up silently beside him. The pair found themselves in the settlement’s surface district overlooking the vast western ocean.

Sea-Side was less developed than Bay-Side. The narrow main street switch-backing up the mountain appeared steeper and more haphazard by comparison. Still, it was lined with varied buildings of stone, built in thin- line fitted blocks or carved from the mountain’s rock. Directly ahead at the narrow plateau’s edge was another crank house and lift station.

Shade began rumbling as Chane steeled his resolve. These dwarven contraptions were the most unnatural method of travel he had ever experienced.

“Come on,” he rasped.

Shade’s ears pricked over a wrinkled snout, and Chane realized he had picked up Wynn’s habit of talking as if the dog understood.

He pulled out his pouch, pouring dwarven and Numan coins into his palm. He had no idea how much was proper for the trip down to shore level. As they approached the station, an impossibly wide dwarf waddled out of the crank house. How this whale of a stationmaster even fit through a dwarven doorway was a wonder. Wild hair tinted like redwood bark swung around his face, and a like-colored beard was dotted with oats. Perhaps he had been sharing a meal with his mules.

“Down?” he grunted. “How far?”

Chane held out his coins. “To the port.”

The stationmaster grunted again and plucked a dwarven iron “slug” from Chane’s palm. When he glanced at Shade, with a twitch of his bulbous nose he pecked out a copper one as well. He waved Chane toward the lift, not bothering to escort one lone passenger.

No one else waited to descend and Chane saw no passenger lift as at Sea-Side. There was only one large cargo lift, and he stepped quietly aboard. As he turned, about to close the lift’s gate, Shade was lingering on the stone loading ramp.

Her head hung low. Rumbling, with every slow paw pad, she finally followed. Chane had barely closed and pinned the gate when metal clanks sounded from the crank house. At the lift’s first lurch, he grabbed the rail with both hands, wood creaking under his fingers. An instant later, mountainside crags and gashes began rushing by.

Speed built quickly—too quickly—until they dropped far faster than the ride up to Bay-Side. Thunderous racket rose under the platform from its massive wheels boring along the granite road’s steel-lined ruts. It was not just the sound—the vibrations shuddered through Chane’s whole body. He felt as if he were being thrown down the mountain at the waiting rocky shore below. He thought he heard Shade gag over the lift’s raucous noise.

He did not want to look.

The lift passed two lower settlements, but neither had a station where passengers transferred to another lift.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.