Belly of the Beast by Warren Thomas (story books for 5 year olds txt) 📕

            “I just need enough to draw a rune. Maybe a palmful.”

            The witch nodded, pulled her belt knife, and sliced into her left palm. Dark red blood welled up inside her cupped hand, filling her palm as he watched. Joelle muttered a spell the whole time, looking tense, but then relaxed.

            “I hope that’s enough,” she said.

            “More than enough. Thank you,” Tane said, dipping two fingers into the hot blood. 

            He quickly painted the Rune of Power upon the bronze door, while quietly chanting the prayer that came to him in a rush. Being a swordsmith mean a need for a certain amount of artistic ability. Yet, it felt like another was guiding his hand as he drew the sacred rune.

            The door popped loudly the second his prayer ended, swung open under the weight of the rocks, and caused a mini avalanche inside. Tane and Joelle cried out as they were borne down atop that wave of stones.

            “Joelle! Are you hurt?” Armin cried.

            “I’m fine,” she grumbled.

            “So am I,” Tane said. “Thanks for asking.”

            Joelle did a double-take, and grinned. He heard Raven’s amused snort above. Armin rushed down to his wife, knocking Tane to the side. Raven and Quinn quickly joined them.

            “Looks dark,” Raven said. “We should go up to the city first, and steal some light crystals.”

            “Steal?” Armin asked. “Why is your first thought thievery? Why can’t we buy light crystals?”

            “For one, they are expensive,” Raven said. “And two, how much money do you have? That priest stole all of my coin. Didn’t he take yours, too? Yes. There you go. Vindication.”

            Tane looked at Raven, then Quinn. “I’ll never understand how her mind works, but I think she’s right. But, we cannot go up into the city. It would be death.”

            “You don’t know that,” Raven said.

            “I do,” he said, and everyone stared at him. He turned to Joelle. “Can you provide light for us with your magic again?”

            “Yes,” she said, and then her eyes glazed over for a moment. “I have a spell that’ll be more helpful.”

            The witch closed her eyes and started chanting under her breath. Tane watched her, a little uneasy. Since leaving home he’d experience more magic use than all his life growing up. Not all of it good.

            Joelle’s ice blue eyes popped open – glowing. She reached down and touched her sword belt’s buckle, and it began to glow brightly. Then she touched Armin’s buckle, and Tane’s. As their buckles grew brighter and brighter, she turned to Quinn and Raven. Soon all five of them had sources of light.

            “Is there a way to stop it if we need to?” Raven asked.

            “Yes. As soon as you unbuckle the belt, the light will die. Or you can pull the buckle away from your body to stop it. It will not come back on afterwards until I recast the spell.”

            “The spell is fueled by your life energy,” Armin said. “So it needs to be in contact with you at all times.”

            “Two finger-widths from your body will kill the spell,” Joelle said.

            “Thank you, Joelle,” Tane said. “Follow me.”

            Tane led the way down the narrow corridor. The width wasn’t the issue, though. Tane, Armin, and Quinn all had to stoop over. Joelle and Raven could walk upright, but the ceiling hung close above.

            “This must be an escape tunnel of some sort,” Quinn said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it leads to the king’s palace.”

            “No,” Tane said. “That doesn’t sound right. Besides, the tunnel is angling downward.”

            At some points, it spiraled down pretty steeply. And it proved long. Dreadfully long. After a while, Tane felt the walls pressing in all around. He’d never been in such a tight place for so long. His friends became subdued, even Raven.

             “Thank the Gods!” Tane cried when they emerged into a cavernous chamber.

            Everyone stopped to look around in awe.

            “Dwarves,” Quinn said. “No one builds in stone like the dwarves.”

            The light barely reached the soaring ceiling, but Tane made out some stonework he’d never seen before. The ceiling looked like domes atop domes all the way up to a golden peak. More impressive, was the sheer vastness of the chamber. He didn’t see a single column holding up the ceiling. How did the dwarven architects deal with such a wide span? Or was it a natural cavern that they dressed up with carvings to make it look like they built it?

            “You could put four Grand Temples in here, with room to spare,” Raven whispered.

            Tane noticed murals painted on the ceilings, but they were faded with age, or soot. He couldn’t make out what they depicted.

            Boom. Boom. Boom, echoed through the chamber.

            “That was that?” Armin cried. “We’re not alone in here.”

            Tane’s shoulders tightened, heart racing. Then he saw Raven roll her eyes.

            “Grow a spine,” she said. “And use your head. We passed those zombies digging out an entrance. That’s probably them pounding on the door, trying to break inside.”

            His breath caught. More runes came to mind, and how to use them.

            “We have to stop them,” Tane said, turning toward the source of the sound. “I need time to complete my task.”

            “And what task is that?” Armin asked.

            “Make a Rune Sword, a Sword of Power,” he said. Everyone stopped to stare at him. “It’s to use against Dakar, not the Arisen.”

            “I don’t want to fight a God!” Quinn cried. “Are you mad?”

            “Probably,” he said. “But we don’t have to fight Dakar. I have an image of a bright well in the floor, and I just have to lay the Sword of Power across it to stop Dakar.”

            The other four gave him doubtful looks. Tane shrugged. It really wasn’t clear in his mind yet. The compulsion to make the sword overrode everything.

            Tane continued on, the others falling in behind him. None