Konrad

For the fifth time, Konrad stood waiting at the gate to enter the hellish caverns below Burly Mountain. Joining him for this attempt was a big man called Edward, who had cracked teeth and held a formidable-looking mace in his hand that glowed with a faint, sickly green color. Hanging back some distance was a nervous-looking boy who held a battered sword in his shaking hand.

Konrad knew that only a summer ago he had looked just like that boy. A cruel twist of fate had given him a leg that didn’t work, and he had spent his days gutting fish for a few measly coppers. If it weren’t for his friends, he would have been killed a long time ago, either in a cell beneath Tajar or on the coldest mountain. But now he had the gifts of the gods, and he was ready to face the collapsed tunnels of Rhendra’s Falls.

"What’s your name?" Konrad asked the young boy, keeping his voice low. The things that waited inside had excellent hearing.

"Idred," the boy replied.

"When we get inside, Idred, you need to stay behind me, okay? You’ll want to run off, but don’t," Konrad set down the huge pack he carried and pulled out a length of thin rope. "I can tie you to me if you like?"

"I don’t need any help," Idred replied, standing straighter and pulling his shoulders back. "I know who you are, you know, Champion of the Gods. I won’t slow you down."

Idred was only repeating the rumors that swirled among the adventurers camped in the valley outside the mountain. A champion blessed by the gods had attempted the caverns more times than anyone else save the famed Grand Archavist, but each time his group had been overwhelmed and forced back.

Konrad knew that if he could keep the same group for more than one attempt, he might have a chance of making it through, but although he was well known and in possession of impressive powers, they still didn’t listen to him, and no one who survived one attempt wanted to go back in. He wished he was a leader like Rolo or Athir, inspiring others to follow him, but the best he could hope for each time was to keep them alive while he tried to figure out how to defeat the entities that guarded the cavern.

"Are you all ready?" called a dwarf, safety hidden behind a boulder far behind them.

Edward shouldered his way roughly past, sparing a disdainful glance back at the huge pack that Konrad was struggling back on. "I’ve heard about you, Champion. You can take half of the mountain in with you in that bag, but what this job needs is a steady hand on good weapons."

Edward had only arrived at the mountain a few days ago, but he brought with him a fearsome reputation. He was at least seven feet tall, and his long limbs were corded with muscle. His dark hair was twisted into a half dozen complex braids that hung around his head, and his eyebrow was as thick as Konrad's thumb and joined in the middle like a great hairy caterpillar.

The big adventurers' attention turned to the gate as a complex system of ropes and pulleys rattled around them and two of the four adventurers who had entered before them stumbled out now, their eyes wide with fear.

"How far did you get?" Edward called, but they could only jibber. They had lost all of their weapons and gear and looked very similar to Konrad the first three times he tried going in.

Edward made a dismissive sneering noise and darted into the darkness before the gate had fully risen, but not before a dark gray blur that trailed shadows. Each time they had entered the caverns, Spirit had ventured deeper than any of them, searching for Rhendra’s falls and the Grand Archavist.

The first tunnel had been carved out by an underground river, where a thin pathway had been cut into the rock. In places where it had crumbled and eroded, they were forced into the waist-deep and slightly warm water, and it would have been an ideal place to bathe, except that the whole place smelled like rotten eggs.

Edward had gone off ahead of them, and they heard a shout and a crash of weapons.

"He’s fighting; we have to help him!" Idred cried.

Konrad held out a hand to stop him. "The first few waves are illusions; you’ll just get lost in the caverns trying to fight them."

Sure enough, they began to climb and found Edward leaning against a wall, panting. Two black, leathery creatures dropped from the ceiling causing Idred to scream and swipe madly with his sword. Konrad just let the images pass through him and dissipate on the floor.

"How did you know they wern't real?" Idred asked, dumfounded.

"I learned the hard way. The next part is a little more difficult, but easier if we don’t fight," Konrad explained. He rummaged around in his pack and pulled out some fine wool that he began to stuff into his ears.

"Stay with him if you like, boy, but it’s going to be me that gets to the falls first and the reward. Come with me and when we bring back the Archavist, the dwarfs will shower us in gold!" Edward called, his voice charged with charisma.

Idred gave Konrad an apologetic shrug and darted off after Edward.

Konrad took his time putting the wool in his ears, and he also pulled out a net made of tough threaded fibers that was weighted down with stones in the corners.

He emerged into a large space lit with glowing purple seams of crystals embedded in the rocks. A stone bridge with no side rails crossed a chasm that appeared bottomless. Although the wool in his ears muffled the sound around him, Konrad had no protection from the foul smell of decay that wafted from the bottom of the cavern.

Edward was nowhere to be see, but the young boy, Idred was walking calmly towards the edge of the precipice, and Konrad knew that he was enchanted by the song that rose from the depths. He gently stopped Idred from moving forward, as an immense and filthy bird with the face of a haggard old man rose from the depths, beating its dirty wings. The old harpy opened its huge mouth, and Konrad felt the pressure of his shrieking voice even through the wool he had jammed in his ears.

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"Don’t make me use this again!" Konrad yelled, holding up the heavy netting.

The old Harpy fluttered back slightly out of range, then its mouth moved, and Konrad realized it was trying to talk.

"I’ll take them out, but don’t try anything," Konrad warned. He was taking a risk this early in the caverns, but he knew that one sharp blast of the Cold Bite would be enough to send the Harpy back down to the depths. The problem was he needed to save as much as of that power as he could for what was to come.

"Are you going to let me pass?" Konrad asked.

"Let’s see, your dog attacked me, you almost froze me to death, and last time you threw a net at me while I was in midair. See this? That’s you that’s done that." The harpy indicated a large lump on his elbow that had swollen to the size of a grapefruit.

"You did try to make me walk off the edge," Konrad countered.

"Part of the job, isn’t it," the harpy sniffed.

"I just want to get past. Perhaps I can help you; you can’t be happy here."

The harpy looked offended. "Not happy here? This is my home; took me years to get the smell just right down there."

Konrad tried not to gag. "There must be something that you want in exchange."

The harpy rested his chin in his hands, his lips pouting slightly. "If you’re offering, I want a title—a proper fancy one, keeper of the bridge, or something like that."

"Okay, I name you keeper of the bridge."

"In who’s name?"

"In the name of the small gods."

The harpy made a dismissive gesture. "Pah, small gods? No, I want it from them up there. Those dwarves need to recognize the work I do down here. Can’t have anyone just wandering about; they could hurt themselves."

Konrad had personally seen at least three adventurers tumble into the harpy’s lair, but he decided not to bring that up. "If you let us pass, then I will promise to get the dwarves to grant you a title."

"Fair enough; I’ll take the lad as collateral, though, just until you get back."

"Deal," Konrad said without hesitation.

Months ago, he wouldn’t have made such a choice, and he worried perhaps his adventures were making him too hard. But then again, Idier was safer down there than in the deeper caverns, and he truly believed that he would be able to rescue Idier, so perhaps it was just a newfound sense of confidence.

The winged creature clasped Idiers arms in its dirty talons, whisking him down into the depths as Konrad made it across the thin stone bridge and found himself in a stone corridor. The walls and floor were smooth stone and covered in the same dark tendrils that pulsed with red light. Since Konrad's last attempt several days ago, the abyssal substance had grown substantially, seeming to bring with it more creatures from the abyss.

Konrad extracted a metal buckler from his pack. It was as wide as his palm and polished to such a shine that he could clearly make out his reflection in it. Keeping the buckler held high, he advanced slowly down the corridor, seeing separate tunnels branching off in all directions from the main trunk and hearing the sounds of scratching noises coming from them. Although he expected it, he still tensed when the light was sucked from the tunnel, but glancing at the buckler, he was relieved to see that the reflection in the polished metal showed the tunnel as it really was.

He had figured out this particular trick after being thrown into darkness and attacked by chittering creatures he couldn’t see on his second attempt. In a panic, he had unleashed the Cold Bite and blasted the entire tunnel with a frozen wind. The attack bought him precious seconds, and as he had drawn his short steel sword and held it before him, cayching sight of the exit behind him in the reflection of the blade. He had barely escaped with his life that time, but now he was prepared.

Konrad took a deep breath and ran forward, his eyes locked on the buckler, which showed the true reflection of the tunnel he was in. At each moment, he expected to hear the chittering and clicking feet of the insect-like creatures pursuing him, but none came.

The darkness faded as he reached the end of the corridor, and he leaned against the heavy metal grate that stood slightly open, breathing heavily and feeling a growing sense of unease. Why hadn’t the creatures attacked? He cautiously re-entered the darkness and took a few hesitant steps, noticing a change in the sound of the chittering around him. Each of the other times he had entered their domain, it had been menacing and threatening, but for some reason the creatures hadn’t ventured out of their tunnels to attack him. To Konrad, the only explanation was that they had found another meal.

Konrad threw down his pack and summoned his etherial armor. This happened every time! The others didn’t want to listen to him; then they got into trouble, and he had to derail his careful plans to rescue them. At this rate, it would take months to rescue this Archavist.

It didn’t take long to find the right tunnel branching off of the main corridor; he just followed the sounds of excited chittering.

Konrad emerged in a small area that was covered on every surface by the dark abyssal substance. The enchanted darkness that had blinded him in the corridors didn't seem to work here, and in the dull red glow from the tendrils, Konrad saw bulging pods that were a sickly green and yellow color. One of them was writhing around, and Konrad crept up to it and prodded it with a finger.

"Edward?"

The angry, muffled curses that exploded from the pod certainly sounded like the brash adventurer.

"Be quiet; I'm going to get you out."

Konrad first cast a minor illusion at the entrances to each tunnel so that, to the chittering creatures, it would look like a group of hardy warriors were standing guard against them, then he used his small dagger to slice through the mucus membrane so that Edward slid out onto the floor in a pile of steaming fluid.

"Took your damn time; where’s the boy?" Edward snapped.

Konrad was surprised to hear Edward ask about Idier, and considered that he might have misjudged him, but there was no time to reply as the chittering noise around them grew to an angry clicking.

Edward plunged his hands into a mass of stinking mucus at his feet and retrieved his mace.

"Follow me," Konrad hissed.

The pair bolted out of the nest and back into the darkness, the angry insects close behind them. Konrad guided them through the absolute darkness of the twisting corridors with the aid of the buckler, and the pair squeezed through the open gate. Konrad unslung his pack and pulled out a stout metal bar that he jammed through the gate just as the first pack of insects crashed against it, their mandibles clicking in their fury to reach him.

"Wait," Konrad called out to Edward, but the adventurer ignored him and bolted off deeper into the caverns.

Konrad pulled out the thick length of rope from his bag, carefully checking the last item he had tucked away. It had taken him several uncomfortable days spent with the brothers Pouler and Horace to obtain it and he couldn’t afford for it to be let out too early.

The roaring sound of cascading water ahead pulled Konrad onward. The first time he had made it this far, he had approached with caution, but now he surged onward eagerly. The cave system ended abruptly in a sheer drop of hundreds of feet, and there stood Edward, so enraptured by the sight of Rhendra’s falls that he didn’t even seem to notice Konrad next to him.

The cavernous space before them wasn’t natural; rather, it had been carved out of the living rock, with colossal pillars left to hold the weight of the continent above their heads. In the center stood a great, three-sided pyramid made entirely of gold, with hundreds of steps on each side. The triangular top of the structure had been cut off, and a waterfall cascaded directly from a hole in the roof of the cavern into the open pyramid. The water and the pyramid seemed to shimmer with a golden light, and they bathed in its glow, feeling refreshed and revitalized.

"It's really here! Rhendra’s falls," Edward shouted over the thunderous pounding of water. "We're rich!"