[Womb of the Dark Mage]

Chapter 25 / 05

Development of Darkness

Sparlyset’s shoulders were stiff from sleeping on the ground. Lamet had clearly exaggerated the power of the Sizzling Sticks. And her head was sore. Who could have thought that sitting in a cave all day and sleeping on the ground would be less than comfortable? She glared at Lamet as the blue woman arched her long back in a suggestive stretch. At least their clothes were properly dry.

The fires of Blistered Cleft were low at this hour, casting only a faint orange glow around the stalagmites. The scent of something cooking in the town that she did not recognise tickled her nose. Sparlyset was ravenous, but the Riteweaver insisted they chew dried meat as they walked rather than taking a proper breakfast.

“Hold on to those cravings, Sparly,” Richard said. “It’ll be that much better when we get to eat something good.” He knelt before her and she crossed her arms around his neck so he could lift her up. She wondered if his shoulders ached as much as hers from carrying her.

“I’m… awake,” Geoff mumbled. He was bent forward with his hands on his knees.

Lamet’s tail flicked impatiently at him. She practically slept ready. “Dorshemet can only cast Horizon Bound a single time each day. As far as I know, he has never worked to increase its usage. But he is not carrying others with him.”

“So he can go straight there, or at least as close as he knows to its location.” Richard reached into Sparlyset’s Bearing Bag and fished out a strip of cured bino for her to chew on. She grabbed it from him with her teeth. It was incredibly salty.

“Yes,” Lamet said. “I do not think he knows the exact location, but it is not as well hidden as Blistered Cleft and he is over a day ahead of us.” She held out her hand to Geoff. He took it, and Richard took his other.

The dark cavern walls and shallow pools vanished to be replaced by violet highlands. A low mountain squatted to their left, coated in grass and thorny cycads, while a vast meadow of low flowers spread out before them. Sparlyset would never grow accustomed to the way Lamet just… went.

They next appeared atop a hill, looking over a deep blue lake. The town of Garden Lake wrapped around the thin end of the water, surrounded by farmland. Then it was gone as Lamet cast again.

Suddenly a decrepit ruin of black stone loomed before them, pressed into a cliffside. Towers the width of houses flanked a cracked path that bubbled with dark liquid. Arches over the path dripped water that evaporated before it struck the ground, leaving streaks of vapour in the air. Between the wisps of mist, Sparlyset spotted the foggy silhouette of a woman watching them. She turned to walk towards the Tomb, her form billowing in the air. Others joined her, their bodies incomplete mannequins of mist.

The ruin groaned. The abyssal opening inhaled and Sparlyset’s hair was pulled before her eyes in the rush of air. She brushed the hair out of her face as the wind calmed. All of the apparitions were gone. Richard reached back and stroked the side of her head as her heart pounded.

Lamet’s ears drooped. “He has opened the Tomb of the Newborn.”

“Holy shit,” Geoff’s jaw hung open. “This is not what I think when I think of newborns.”

“Nothing like the apple trees you painted in Marinda’s room, eh?” Richard said.

Sparlyset peered at the cracks, the mist, and the long shadows that were not cast by the early morning sun. She could find no more sign of the apparitions. She cast Illuminate and held it towards Lamet. “What are the apparitions that haunt this place?” she asked.

Lamet accepted the orb with her tail curled nervously around her leg. “Spirits,” she said. “You can tell them from other apparitions by their misty appearance.” She sighed, and beckoned them to follow her as she walked towards the Tomb. “They were not here the last time I saw this place. They must have been released when Dorshemet opened the Tomb. If it is any consolation, spirits are incapable of harming us… but their presence speaks to horrors committed within that has bound them in suffering, keeping them from departing for Haantisha.”

“Good… Good to know.” Richard followed the Riteweaver.

“You mentioned other apparitions?” Geoff called after her. He trailed after Richard, but he spun around to watch every direction as if expecting something to jump out at him.

Sparlyset understood his fear. She doubted she could make herself approach the sinister tomb if she were not bound to Richard’s courageous back. She felt the Tomb of the Newborn’s chilling will against her skin, pressing to pierce her body and corrupt her soul. Defensive scales grew on her arms and legs, and she told herself they could keep the dark attention out of her heart. She felt a little better.

“There are too many types of apparition to name them all and explain their natures to you in detail,” Lamet explained. She paused at the Tomb’s threshold. “As a ruin delver it is of course crucial that I study them carefully, lest I ever be unfortunate enough to disturb one. I have only ever seen three kinds with my own eyes though, and I have seen those three multiple times. They are known to be the most common, so I will warn you about those three only for the time being.

“Spirits are harmless. They are aware of us, even more than we are of them. Though they are not dangerous themselves, they exclusively inhabit places of ancient danger, so they serve as a warning.

“Phantoms are solid silhouettes of the dead that are fueled by hatred. If you see one, they intend to harm you, but their hate burns quickly and they typically cannot muster more than a brief tantrum.

“Banshees are born of women who died screaming themselves hoarse. Hearing their wail can damage your ears, curse you with nightmares, drive you mad, and kill you. All of these apparitions are harmed by iron and salt, they burn them like acid. Fire harms them as well, and I suspect Sparlyset’s Banish spell would do something, but what remains to be seen.” She met Sparlyset’s eyes. “Save your spells unless absolutely necessary.”

Sparlyset raised her hand to show her palm but Lamet did not wait to see it. She turned around and stared down at the puddle in the entrance to the Tomb.

“You said and?” Geoff asked. “It can do all of those things and kill us?

“Pray we do not see a banshee,” Lamet said. “Or worse… any apparition I have yet to face.”

The Riteweaver stepped over the threshold into the Tomb of the Newborn and shuddered.

Richard crossed next. It was like passing through a curtain of icy water. Every inch of her skin was chilled, and although more scales grew on her arms, legs, and chest, they did nothing to help. Her clothes did nothing to help. Not even the warmth of Richard’s body could break the chill.

As Geoff crossed the threshold, he shivered, and a cry sounded from deep within the Tomb. It was distressed like the cry of a babe taking its first breath.

“As I feared.” Lamet’s legs trembled. “The Newborn must be a maarte. It would explain why it was sealed here.” She took a step forward, her boots creating ripples in the water. Her arms were covered in thin blue scales.

They waited while she collected herself with a series of deep breaths. No one broke the silence even to ask what a ‘maarte’ was. When she was finally ready, Lamet walked forward clutching Illuminate tightly in her hand.

She led them through the tunnel. The black stone walls reflected very little light, giving the impression that they walked through a dark void that itself was cracked. It began to slope down, and Sparlyset could make out a faint orange flickering at the bottom.

“So…” Richard said. “I have a lot of questions. Like, what is a ‘maarte’?”

Lamet sighed. “It is the ghost of a newborn. I cannot say for certain what they do, but it is said the tragedy of their passing attracts other vengeful apparitions. Hence my assumption that the incessant noise we hear is a maarte, sealed here to protect the world from the dead that gather at its cry.”

“Alright.” Geoff gave a nervous laugh. “So this dungeon is haunted as hell.” He held his weapon tightly in both hands as they descended.

Scraping and rumbling stone shook the tomb from behind them. They all stopped to look back, but they were too far down to see the entrance.

“The Tomb bids us remain beyond our will,” Sparlyset said. She was only moderately concerned. As long as they could find the entrance, Lamet could Bound them out. They would be fine. The real concern was finding Dorshemet and dragging him back to Mount Flange so Coremet could scold his ears off. Oddly, the thought of being scolded reminded her of home and settled her nerves a little.

Lamet waved her hand dismissively. “It is concerning that the Tomb can seal itself in that way, but as long as I can Bound, we can leave. Even should I perish, if Sparlyset survives she could learn the spell. Maybe.”

“Are spells that hard to learn?” Richard asked. “What keeps someone from just learning all the spells they can? I have these images in my head of the barriers you create, but the only reason I don’t try to learn it is because I don’t know how.”

“Therein lies the answer,” Sparlyset said.

Lamet looked at Richard from the corner of her eye. “We have yet to see if you can even channel magic. Do not get ahead of yourself. ”

The end of the tunnel was in clear view now. An arched passage filled with firelight that let through a comforting warmth.

“If you insist on trying,” Lamet continued, “Focus your mind on your colour, and aim to see it glow within your hands. It sounds simple, but I must warn you it is an exhausting effort. If you do succeed, do not continue until we leave the Tomb or you will find yourself weak and fatigued while dangers still lurk around every bend.

Geoff cupped his hands and began grunting at them immediately. “How do we know what our colour is if we’re not purens? Are we brown?”

“There is a way to tell,” she said absentmindedly as she stopped in the arched opening and squinted into the light. “But I may need the spell for other things, so I will not check until we are done with this tomb.”

“Cool,” Geoff shrugged, but he kept staring at his cupped hands.

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The tunnel opened into an enormous chamber of pitch black stone. Tall braziers burned throughout the room, but Sparlyset could see little of anything else. Every surface was so dark the braziers could not illuminate them, and they appeared to float above an impossible void. On the far side of the room was another opening, visible only by the light of two braziers casting a faint glow across the archway’s edge.

“As I feared.” Lamet reached into her Bearing Bag and withdrew an iron longsword in a leather sheath. She fastened the harness across her back and drew the blade.

Geoff looked up from staring at his palms. “I know you don’t need that thing to hurt somebody. You purens don’t usually even carry weapons…”

Lamet turned her palm down. “Not in the mountain region, no, we favour sorcery to weaponry. The iron blade is to conserve my spells against apparitions… but I suspect I will want something to prod the ground in this chamber as well. Do not step anywhere that I have not.”

She tapped the ground with the tip of the blade, making a gentle ring. She continued tapping across the width of the path before taking a single step into the room and tapping again. They could not see the stones she stood on, but they followed her slowly. Eventually she was far enough in that they all stood in the chamber behind her, and soon they reached the large brazier directly before them.

Lamet tapped the sword all around the brazier until she found a spot where no sound was produced. “Here,” she said. “As I thought. Step off the path, and fall into darkness. But the path is nearly invisible, even with the braziers bathing them in light.”

“You can kind of see the very edge in the light,” Richard said. He was right; Sparlyset could see it as well. There was a faint golden trim around the edges of the black stone, but the brazier here was not as bright as the two that shone at the exit and the edge was not as clear. “I’m guessing your brother lit these fires then.”

“He has fewer spells than I,” Lamet said with her palm up, “so it makes sense he would want to walk the path rather than Bound across.”

Richard took a careful step back from the ledge. “Can you Bound us across?”

“I’d rather not have to walk this either,” Geoff added.

“No. It is too far to the exit. I would be willing to cast it two or three times to get us across… if only we knew where it was safe to land.” As Lamet poked around the side of the brazier platform, she discovered a path forward. Bits of stone crumbled beneath her foot and tumbled into the abyss as she tested it. She sighed and continued making her way around. At the opposite side, she stopped. “There are two paths,” she finally said.

Richard clicked on his light and waved it back and forth across the first path Lamet had found. The faint edge of light shifted subtly as he did, highlighting the way forward. “It isn’t that hard to see,” he grinned, from relief she suspected. “I guess whoever built this challenge couldn’t foresee us having Illuminate and flashlights to really show those edges.”

“Surely not,” Lamet agreed. “This place will be full of such puzzles and traps. The people who build these things, to protect or seal one thing or another, do not want someone unworthy to discover what they hid. They are tests to ensure any who reach the depths are either worthy of the treasures within, or capable of facing the threats they would unleash by their trespass.”

“Makes sense,” Geoff bobbed his head. “If we can’t get through this, we aren’t ready for whatever is ahead. So using our flashlights isn't cheating, it's like being prepared.”

“Exactly, this is why the path is clear to the first brazier, with no drops. If you can make it to the brazier, what to do next is obvious. The challenge then is how to reach the others to keep the path lit. Anyone who cannot do this simple thing should either turn back, or perish.”

Richard took a deep breath. “Which also means this is the easy part.”

Lamet turned her palm up. “I will go this way with Geoff. I trust you can find your way down that path with Sparlyset?”

Geoff frowned and crossed his arms. “Do we need to split up?”

“You saw the edges of the path crumble. The less strain we put on the stones, the better. If we reach the end and Richard is stuck I will at least be able to use the route we found to Bound him across.” Lamet took a step onto the path, and stood where Sparlyset could not even tell the ground beneath her from the deadly drop. “If you disagree, you can go with Richard. Or… would you prefer to go first?”

He shook his shiny head and clicked on his light. “Right behind you, Lamet.” He looked over his shoulder, “Take care of Rick for me, Sparlyset.”

Richard nodded to his friend and turned his attention back to the precarious path before them. Of course Lamet had left them the way that was crumbly. He squeezed her hand and kissed her arm before taking a deep breath and stepping forward. The path held.

They came to a place where she could not see anything in the light before them as he waved it around. He must not have either, because he carefully turned to his right. There the edges were barely visible against the plummeting emptiness.

“Lamet is scared too,” Richard said, breathing heavily. “But at the same time, I think she finds this sort of test easy. She wouldn’t let us cross on our own if she thought we’d get hurt… right?”

“We are possessed of the tools to cross,” she agreed. Lamet’s implied confidence did nothing to drain the dread that rose steadily within her.

He continued walking carefully, never taking a chance when making his steps. The path took them around another brazier near the wall the entrance was carved in, but unlike the brazier in the centre the path did not travel fully around this one.

They walked towards the outside wall, towards another brazier just to their left. The black stone rounded this one as well, and led them north towards the exit far on their left against the back wall. She gripped him as tightly as she could without strangling him.

Sparlyset squinted at Lamet and Geoff in the distance. There was no way to know how far they were, but they kept a good pace. A bit faster than they were. Watching them did nothing to calm her own nerves.

As they approached the next brazier, Richard looked puzzled. “Is that the edge of a stone in front of us?”

She could see the edge he spoke of, parallel to where they stood, but there was no light on the sides. “No,” her voice trembled. “Travel around.”

Richard moved his light to his left hand and reached out with the Grasping Glove. The faint projection of his hand shot into the pit and bumped the stone wall before vanishing. “You’re right.”

He took them around the brazier, now checking the ground with the Grasping Glove with each careful step. The extra verification of the path stifled the dreadful feeling somewhat and her arms finally stopped trembling.

Two braziers flickered ahead of them now and she let out an involuntary squeak as she wondered which one they were meant to approach. The waving light showed the corner of a stone, and he shot out the Glove to find the path to their left. He sighed.

“Sparly, do you think those braziers could support our weight? The Grasping Glove could carry us right to them.”

“No!” she shouted. “Do not jest!” She sniffled as her nose tried to drip from holding back tears. She rested her head in his pillowy hair. Geoff and Lamet looked at them from the other side of the room.

“If that thought scares you, you should have seen Geoff and I on the outside of the Leviathan Train.” He chuckled weakly.

“No,” she said.

He stroked her scaly arms to soothe her before continuing. The narrow path ended at the next brazier. Richard stepped carefully around it, checking and double-checking to find the way forward, but there simply was none. The ground was just empty blackness with a slight reflection of light back the way they came. He used the Grasping Glove to test the path around them, but every projection fell deep below and was lost to darkness. She could feel that he was nervous to approach the edges for a better look. The stones were only three paces wide; she was nervous even in the middle.

If they could not find the path, they would need to find where it used to be. “Perhaps the stone has succumbed to age,” she said, pointing around the brazier. “Search this way.” She could not give Lamet the satisfaction of getting them across. They would manage safely on their own.

Richard looked the way she indicated, but was still hesitant. He raised his hand and grabbed at the darkness with the Glove and it shot out and bounced off a surface.

“Is that the wall? I kinda thought this darkness just went on forever.”

“It cannot be, my dear, aim higher. We must have discovered the missing path.” She was not as certain as she was attempting to sound. Worse, it was a long gap and she was uncertain whether she was powerful enough to close it.

Richard tested the wall again higher, and higher. On his third shot the spectral hand soared beyond the previous boundary and bumped something farther on. About three paces farther. “You were right, Sparly, it looks like the path is there.”

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

“You know that’s right.”

She tapped his chest three times. “I will cast Intertwine and pray that Earth can ferry us across. Should we fall…”

“I’m ready with the Grasping Glove,” he said.

She extended her hand and focused where she thought the stone had broken. It was so far. Her hand quivered as she hesitated. The only time she had cast Intertwine for this purpose had been inside the visions of the Rite of Light. Could she even summon the Earth? Could she call enough to plug the gap? She shut her eyes, there was little to see anyway.

In her mind’s eye she saw the gap whole, and as she held onto the image she cast her spell. A metallic crash startled her eyes open. She might have bounded from his back had she not been tied on.

Richard stepped back as a wide cylindrical machine teetered on a blocky base of torn metal. Sparks sprayed into the void amidst a myriad of snaking cords in different colours and sizes. The machine creaked in the broken wall until the stone beneath it cracked and a hail of debris tumbled below.

It slid off the lower, broken path and the sparking block clanged into the gap, scraping the unseen wall of the chamber or their right with an ear-assaulting screech. Her hands shot to her ears. Richard turned his head and raised his hands, but the machine stopped and sat seized by the shattered path.

Richard ran his light across the length of the dark-grey metal laying horizontally before them. Her eyes widened seeing that the cylinder nearly reached the centre of the room.

“Are you sure this is from Earth?” he asked.

Her heart was pounding and she shook so fiercely that she must have felt like a convulsing spider titan upon his back. “I… I do not know,” she admitted.

“Whatever machine this is from… it was attached when you took it. And it’s gotta be ten metres long. The rest of it might be bigger than the Leviathan Train. One of its cars, anyway.” He gave it a firm kick, and it resounded with a low metallic reverberation, but it held fast.

“I did not intend to damage or steal the property of others!”

“I know you wouldn’t do that on purpose,” Richard sighed. “Look, it plugged the hole, so let’s just get across.” He stepped gingerly onto the curved surface. “It’s like the blanket, right? We borrowed it, and it helped us get home. We’ll make it up to the owner if we ever find them so don’t worry about it.”

She took deep breaths. She wanted her heart to calm. In truth, the only opinion she was concerned about was Richard’s, so she felt a little better knowing he did not judge her for what she brought.

His boots fought him as he tried to walk. With each step they stuck to the surface of the tube and he had to yank his feet off with an unfortunate peeling sound. At the other end of it he tested the ground with the Glove multiple times before pulling his foot free and stumbling awkwardly onto the black stone path.

“What the hell is wrong with this thing?” he asked, bending his knees for a closer look. He shone his light over it again. A layer of vapour was forming over it, drifting upwards like unfurling wings. “It’s dead cold.” Moisture from the air was already crystalizing over its surface, turning it white.

Sparlyset did not know what to tell him.

“Whatever this thing is, it plugged that hole perfectly,” he said reassuringly. “You did great bringing it.”

She frowned as his praise made her blush.

Geoff’s voice called across the chamber. She angled her ears towards the sound but could not quite make out his words. They could see him waving in the distance, his dark skin hiding him in the shadows except for his left side where the flaming brazier cast its orange glow upon him. Lamet was not waiting for him.

Richard waved back, and nodded his head towards Lamet so Geoff would notice the widening gap between them. He scurried after her.

Sparlyset was finally beginning to feel calm as they reached the next corner and passed before the horizontal tube. She was surprised to see it was hollow. Filled with Richard’s light, she saw that spiralling grooves inside ran all the way to the back where long prongs, silver bumps and little squares were all bunched together.

Richard shrugged and walked away from it, and she was glad he did. She had no desire to keep the thing in her thoughts. They rounded another corner and it took them to the last brazier. There was a second very close and their combined light very slightly improved visibility of the shadowy stone path.

Geoff and Lamet were waiting there for them.

“You beat us,” Richard chuckled.

Geoff took Richard’s arm in his hand and squeezed it. “Yeah, but we didn’t get to… whatever you did with an… ice cannon?”

“Something like that,” Richard said. “There was a hole in the path, so Sparly plugged it.”

Lamet paused to stare at the metal tube and then marched towards the chamber’s exit.

As they followed her Geoff said, “I thought you two were in trouble a couple of times there, with all the noise you were making.”

“I might need new boots pretty soon,” Richard replied, “but other than that we were all good.”

Sparlyset let out a breath of relief as they stepped out of the room. Another black tunnel stretched out before them.