Curse Breaker Omnibus by Melinda Kucsera

Author:Melinda Kucsera [Kucsera, Melinda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780997214185
Publisher: Melinda Kucsera
Published: 2018-03-19T06:00:00+00:00

The Twice-Dead Still Breathes

Before something else went wrong, Jerlo inserted the key into a rusted lock, and it squealed as he turned it. Cold water dampened the soles of his boots as a wavelet rolled across the narrow stone apron in front of the door. Clasping the handle, Jerlo pulled and cringed at every squeak and squawk until he could squeeze through the gap.

Glad to shut the door on those snakes, he leaned against it and just breathed for a moment as he got his bearings. Dust choked the stale air, and he doubled over coughing while he fumbled in his pocket for a handkerchief. Breathing through that square of black linen, he sank to his knees and tried to catch his breath. The ground was bone dry here. Surprised, Jerlo turned the lumir stick’s bluish glow on the door. Could it form a watertight seal?

While Jerlo waited for the dust to settle, he felt along the jamb. The ancient caulking felt sound. No snakes, no immediate danger of drowning, things were looking up. Too bad the grimmest part of his errand waited somewhere in the darkness like a spider in its web. Lowering the handkerchief, Jerlo tested the air. I should have brought a candle. He shook his head at that lapse.

When he didn’t keel over from bad air, Jerlo rose and pocketed the handkerchief. Particulates still floated about, but they no longer choked him. The lumir stick he clutched illuminated a narrow, twisting tunnel bare of cells or ornamentation. Its cold gloom beckoned to him. He shuddered but set off anyway.

Each step dimmed the lumir crystal’s light. Shadows forced its waning glow to contract around Jerlo. When he turned the first corner, it winked out. Jerlo shook it, but the stone remained dark. Just great and Sarn wasn’t around to magically rekindle it.

Well, he’d be conducting this interview in the dark then. It seemed fitting after the hellacious journey to reach this place. His shoulder bumped something hard. After copping a quick feel, he determined it was a torch. Crouching, Jerlo felt for loose stones he could strike and started when his fingers ran along narrow grooves cut into the rock. Were they scratch marks?

Jerlo spread his hands wide seeking more, and his fingertips brushed across more symbols hacked into the floor. Upside down stars were circumscribed by circles. Beside them were carved fishes, rams and an arrow pointing to where the oubliette must be. Jerlo cursed when his hand knocked loose pebbles sending them clattering down the tunnel. Something was very wrong here, and he might have just tipped off whatever was waiting for him.

“Who goes there? Who walks this lightless gloom?” asked a voice hoarse from disuse. Metal clanged against metal.

“Why does the lumir cease to glow here? I’ve never known it to fail.” Jerlo eased off first one boot then the other and secured them to his person. Flexing his bare toes, he felt for loose debris—anything that might give him away—and avoided them. Not a whisper of cloth signaled his approach when he slid from hiding.

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