Delver Magic I: Sanctum's Breach by Jeff Inlo (read novels website .TXT) 📕
"Yes, yes," Consprite said quickly. He turned a pen in his fingers. "This is very true. We would not waste time or effort in the less lucrative areas. Any delver worth his salt would surely give us a great advantage." He looked up with a nod of acceptance. "I heartily approve."
"I oppose the measure," Cofort said sullenly. "I do not trust delvers. They always require large payments and no one can ever really tell if they do what they say they do. No one can follow them, no one can check up on them."
"I realize that delvers are expensive," Consprite admitted candidly, "but that's because no one can do the job they can do. I realize that it is difficult to check on
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“What are you talking about?” he questioned.
“I’m talking about what happened here. I stepped right into a trap. You talk of how Mappel trusts me. Now you see how I repay that trust.”
“Hey, ease up. I barely noticed the hole and I’m a delver. I should have seen it long before you fell in.”
“I am an elf guard. I can not afford to make such mistakes.” Her voice was cold and bitter.
Ryson shook his head vehemently. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It is not ridiculous. What if you had fallen? If I had lost you to this thing, how could I have explained it to my captain, to Mappel?”
Ryson could not accept the harsh self judgment. He pointed to the remains of the creature with near ferocity. “Do you even know what that thing is?” he demanded. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I doubt you have either.”
“I do not know what it is,” Holli answered with a near lifeless tone.
His pressing eyes bore down upon her. “Then how could you have been prepared for it?”
“I must be prepared for everything,” Holli responded quickly. “I was warned to watch for the unknown, the unexpected. I did not fulfill my duty.”
Ryson heaved a heavy breath. He was determined not to allow the elf to hold on to such a perception. “What is your duty?”
Holli answered swiftly, and with more than a hint of self-disdain. “To protect you, to see to the safe conclusion of your mission.”
“Was I hurt?” The delver’s simple question echoed through the tunnel.
Holli remained silent.
“Was I hurt?” he asked again. His expression demanded she speak the obvious answer.
“No,” she allowed.
“Then you have not failed in your duty. You were told to watch for the unexpected. That’s a very vague instruction. You dealt with this monster better than I could have. And neither of us got hurt. I can’t ask for more than that.”
For a moment, Holli appeared slightly relieved. Her sternness, however, returned quickly. “Be that as it may, I can not allow such a thing to happen again. As you have said before, yours is a mission of great importance. If we must face such unexpected obstacles, then I must heighten my awareness.”
She checked her ire long enough to apologize for what she felt was previously inappropriate behavior. It was the duty of an elf guard to remain watchful over those they escorted. They would give orders when safety was at risk, take command when danger presented itself, but they were to always remain in control. They were also to give continuous respect.
“By the way, forgive me for shouting orders at you, but I needed my right hand. I could not free my left. I believed that the sword was my only hope.”
Ryson waved aside the apology. He took no offense at the time, and none now. “I would have yelled, too. As for the sword, it looks like you thought right.” Ryson’s gaze locked upon the shimmering blade of the sword. Strangely, it did not hurt his eyes to stare directly into the glowing metal that brought near daylight to this dark tunnel.
“That sword seems pretty special,” he remarked with obvious interest. “It even gives off its own light.”
“It is not a source of light,” Holli confessed, “it simply magnifies the light around it. That is part of its enchantment. Do not underestimate that power. It can catch the faintest gleam and offer enough light for travel into the darkest of caves. For example, it can catch the light which flows through the hole in this tunnel from a great distance. We could walk far and deep. We could turn corners and descend steep banks. We could reach a length where are own eyes would sense no light at all. The sword, however, would still capture the light which flows from that opening. It is only in an enclosed place where light is completely blocked will the sword fail to offer illumination.”
“I see.” Ryson took a moment to glance down the long tunnel. The light from the sword lit the passage way with greater depth than the brightest of lanterns. It allowed Ryson to inspect the walls and to follow the path. The tunnel twisted and turned for a great distance before the path curved out of sight. “I wonder how far this thing goes.”
Holli showed no interest in the tunnel. “It is of no concern to us.”
She stepped back to the opening and passed an expectant glance at the delver. She obviously wished to exit the tunnel and continue with their original quest.
Ryson’s curiosity would not be so easily contained. He meandered within the walls of the tunnel, taking deep longing stares down the enclosed corridor. He offered his own opinion. “I don’t know about that. We don’t know what that creature was. You said so yourself. Maybe this tunnel holds the answer.”
Holli’s response was coldly logical. “The creature must be a result of the tainted magic which now swells over the land. The sphere emits energies which can alter creatures in unthinkable ways. It might have been nothing more than the egg of an ordinary spider that somehow became mutated. It’s a surprise we haven’t come across something like this sooner.”
Ryson’s growing desire to explore the tunnel exuded from him like smoke from a fire. “But look at how long this tunnel goes. Who knows what we might find.”
“And you wish to explore it?” Holli’s expression was harsh.
“Of course. If the magic created this creature, it might have created something else.”
She frowned dubiously. “Yes, something more terrible and more deadly. I do not see the point in taking such a risk.”
“We shouldn’t just leave without inspecting at least a little further,” Ryson requested. “We may never have an opportunity like this again.”
Holli stared sternly at the delver. “How will this help us in our quest to find the algors?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what may be down there. That’s why I think it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.”
“This will not help our cause,” Holli spoke angrily.
Her tone finally caught Ryson’s attention. He stood confused over her adamant stance.
“What’s wrong?”
“You have been given a task,” she replied forcefully. “That task was to find the algors, or have you forgotten? We must find them and explain to them of what is happening. According to Mappel, even according to you, there are important decisions to be made involving the sphere. We have not the time to explore this irrelevant tunnel dug by some monster. We must return to this objective.”
“It won’t take long just to have a look around,” Ryson persisted.
“It will not help us.” Her hardened stare did not ease. “I know what is causing this. It is your natural instincts as a delver to explore that which is new to you. I must ask you to contain these feelings until we have accomplished what we have set out to do. Now, I can not find the algors on my own. That is your responsibility. But I also know that I can’t force you to do anything. I know enough about you that if you wanted to leave me behind you could do so in an instant. I can’t capture you or even keep up with you. I can only ask you to remember your pledge to Mappel, and to Shayed. Remember your responsibilities as I remember mine. We need to find the algors.”
Ryson grimaced at acknowledging the truth. He knew his desire to explore the tunnel failed to hold any true rewards other than satisfying his own curiosity. He cursed lightly under his breath before accepting the only true course of action. He looked to Holli requesting forgiveness with his eyes.
“Of course you’re right. This kind of thing just happens to me sometimes. It’s hard for me keep my attention focused with so much going on. I hope you can understand.”
“You do not have to explain further. Let us forget this matter and exit this tunnel. I will need a moment to clean my wounds. Then, we will return to what we must do.”
Ryson and Holli trekked without hesitation through the Lacobian desert. Holli, accustomed to the thick brush of Dark Spruce Forest, cared little for the sand or the heat. She would have welcomed the shady refuge of tall leafy trees, but only thin cacti appeared along their travels. She longed for flowing streams or small quiet ponds, but the desert offered only an empty ocean of sand. The sun poured down upon her and the hot dry wind from the south bit at her skin. Her arms and legs were accustomed to climbing and leaping, not struggling through these Lacobian dunes.
Holli ignored these pains. She concentrated upon the delver’s back and upon the surrounding land. As the sun and sand burned her eyes, she continued to scan the horizon as well as the very ground they tread upon. As she watched the delver move so effortlessly across this barren terrain, she remained always within arm’s reach, always ready to defend him. She bit back any stray thought which begged her to give in to the desert or to even request a moment’s rest.
She called upon her training to keep her from tiring and to keep her moving forward in these conditions so hostile to her race. Whenever she felt her strength diminish, she placed her hand upon the hilt of the Sword of Decree. Its presence at her side reminded her of the faith Mappel had placed in her. She affirmed to herself that she would not delay the search for the algors. She would not slow the delver or force him to rest when he did not need it. She would continue far after all her strength evaporated into the dry desert heat if need be. Her own will and determination would carry her to the end of this quest.
So true was Holli’s spirit, that Ryson did not even recognize her struggle. He stopped only when absolutely necessary. When he did, their pauses were brief. He also began to use the desert more and more to his advantage. He declared they would save all of their supplies and use only that which he could take from the land. He used his knife to coax liquids from hidden roots and from the innards of the surrounding cacti. After short breaks to complete such tasks, they were again on their way.
As Ryson moved through the desert, he opened his senses. He fought from focusing upon one item. Instead, he exposed his senses to everything around him. His mind turned back to the advice of Mappel.
Mappel had tried to explain how the algors lived based on his knowledge of elflore. They did not live in small camps like the elves, in towns like the humans, or in underground cities like the dwarves. They lived together, yet apart. Thousands upon thousands lived within the desert and considered themselves part of the greater community, but that community spread itself thinly over the vast desert. They dug dens in high sand dunes, they made homes in hollow cacti, they even found shelter in caves among the desert cliffs. They preferred a life equally split between solitude and group activity. As quickly as they would wander off into desolation, they would return to find kinship with other members of their community.
While each held a sense of strong loyalty to another, they fashioned their lifestyles upon individualism. It was a difficult prospect for outsiders to accept, for the algors appeared born with a natural sense of conformity; their desire to shed this inherent attribute led them to near split personalities.
As for their other habits, Mappel had described the algors
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