The Black Shriving (Chronicles of the Black Gate Book 2) (2 page)

"First things first," said Tiron. "Everyone place your water skins and food in the center. Don't even think about holding anything back."

Audsley unhitched his small leather water skin and sloshed it by his ear. Half full. He dropped it next to Tiron's, and the other three guards did the same. It made for a dismal pile. The consequence of leaping unprepared through a Lunar Portal.

"Well, this is a cock-eyed expedition," growled Tiron as he picked up first one skin, then the next. "No food to speak of? Great." He tossed the last skin down and leaned back. "Enough water for perhaps a day if we ration ourselves. Which makes finding more our first priority. We won't last more than three days after that if we don't."

Bogusch stared at the water skins with his arms wrapped around his shins, his melancholy face growing even longer. "There's mist. Must be water."

"What about doors?" Temyl looked from Tiron to Audsley. "How come there are no doors here? What kind of place is this?"

"Well," said Audsley, moving his fingers down to tickle under Aedelbert's throat. The firecat raised his chin obligingly. "I have some theories, but they are of course tentative at best. Let us begin with the pillars. You've noticed that they're covered in Portals, yes?"

Temyl shot a look at the closest one, which loomed up out of the mist just ahead of them. "Are you suggesting we go through the first Portal that opens up, Magister? Get out of here?"

"No," said Audsley. "I'm not. At least, not yet. What I was indicating was the lack of a ramp or ladder to reach the higher Portals. What does that imply to you?"

The four other men frowned at the pillars. Audsley fought the urge to shake his head. Had they not asked themselves that most basic of questions? But he shouldn't fault them. They were here to wield sharp pieces of metal. He was here to wield his mind.

Meffrid opened his mouth, hesitated, and then asked quietly, "They, ah, could fly?"

"Precisely," said Audsley, beaming at the young man. "Anybody who could construct such marvelous pillars would possess a wonderful power far beyond anything we can imagine, and would probably eschew the need to go walking across this room and up to their desired Portal like we're doing. No, I daresay the lack of ramps and stairs indicates that they would simply fly right to their desired entrance and pass through."

"And that helps us how?" Tiron leaned back against the wall with a wince. His wound, Audsley could tell, was worse than he was letting on.

"Well, if our erstwhile hosts made a habit of flying, then we can conjecture that the doors - or entrances, to be exact - wouldn't be flush against the floor. Thus I would imagine that the entrances to the chamber, if there are any, would be located higher up these walls."

"If there are any?" Bogusch sighed and settled his chin on his knees. "That sounds promising."

"Why wouldn't there be any?" Temyl's voice grew even more strained.

"We're in a room filled with hundreds of Portals," said Tiron, closing his eyes. "Maybe it's just an isolated chamber. A nexus for travel. People come, people leave. They don't stay."

"Precisely," said Audsley. "Which would make a wondrous sense but for one thing. The bodies. You said they lie as if they died taking a last stand. But why, when they had these Portals at their very backs?" Audsley tapped his chin. "Fascinating, is it not? A mystery! For whoever made the attack didn't clear away the bodies. Did they not wish to use the Portals? Was their objective then simply to kill those who did? I would guess - but only if forced, mind you - that there are mundane entrances to this room. That this chamber isn't the entirety of what there is to see."

Meffrid was gazing about the dim room, searching its recesses with a fierce stare. "So, how do we find these doors, then? And even if we do find them, how do we get up to them?"

"'Cause last I checked, I don't fly," said Temyl, and then he caught himself. "Magister."

"One step at a time," said Tiron, and then coughed wetly into his fist. "Doors first. Audsley?"

"We have with us a secret weapon." Audsley smiled. "Though one I am loath to deploy without every caution. Erudite, sophisticated, he is at once an excellent conversationalist for those with the ear to hear, and a canny hunter. I present you Master Aedelbert."

"Your firecat?" Bogusch shifted his weight and rubbed at his lantern jaw with dubious hope.

"Yes," said Audsley, rising to his feet. Aedelbert scampered up his arm and back to his shoulder. "Now, Aedelbert, listen very carefully."

"Does his firecat really understand him?" whispered Temyl to Bogusch, whose shrug Audsley caught out of the corner of his eye.

"He understands my intent, if not my words. Now. Aedelbert. You're to search for an exit from this chamber but to exercise extreme caution at all times. Am I very clear?"

Aedelbert eyed him and gave a deep-chested purr.

"I'm serious. No foolishness. Are you ready?" Aedelbert licked the tip of Audsley's nose with his sandpapery tongue and chirped. "Very well. Have at thee, chamber!" And Audsley cast Aedelbert up into the air.

The tawny firecat immediately snapped his wings open and beat them swiftly, rising in fits and starts until he could latch on to the side of the closest pillar about ten yards up. He furled his wings and hung there, head swiveling as he took in the room.

"Is that it?" Temyl had risen to his feet and stood beside Audsley.

"No, no, he's scoping out the lay of the land. Your average firecat is never hasty, always precise, and Aedelbert is a supreme hunter even amongst their number. Give him a moment."

Aedelbert scooted up so that he could curl up on the precarious ledge at the base of his arch and wrapped his tail around his hindquarters.

"Looks like he's going to sleep."

"He is
not
going to sleep. Aedelbert!" Audsley pitched his voice into a hiss. "Fly! Avast! Hunt!"

The firecat watched Audsley's arm waving with curiosity, and then let loose an inquisitive
Mrrkhao?

Temyl sighed and sat back down.

Audsley put his hands on his hips. "Don't tell me you're still mad about earlier, Aedelbert. Now is really not the time."

The firecat shook out his wings once more and closed his eyes as if settling down for a nap.

"Alright, I apologize, both without reservation and from the depths of my heart. Now, please? A little scouting?"

Aedelbert cracked open an eye.

Audsley felt his face burning. He didn't want to even imagine the looks on the other men's faces. "I mean it. I'll write out the whole apology later, but for now, let it suffice. Yes? Please?"

Aedelbert stood up haughtily and opened his wings. He licked his nose, looked around, and then dove off the side of the pillar and disappeared into the gloom.

"See?" Audsley turned to the others triumphantly. "Just as I said."

"Uh-huh," said Temyl, but now he was watching Meffrid, who had moved to Tiron's side. "Ser. How bad is it?"

"Stop fussing," said Tiron. "It's a cut. I've had worse."

"We should check," said Meffrid, but he stopped when Tiron cracked open an eye. There was in Tiron's gaze something utterly forbidding. "All right. As you command."

Audsley turned back to the gloomy depths of the massive chamber. Where did all these Portals lead? A nexus for travel, he marveled. Who knew what far-off lands or hidden corners could be accessed from here? This was a find to beggar the imagination. Oh! Wait till he brought word back to Nous, till he could regale the Academy with his discovery, the greatest find in centuries! But first there had to be rigorous examination, with each and every mystery being mercilessly interrogated and ultimately elucidated to his own satisfaction.

Who could have built this chamber? Had the secret of building Lunar Gates vanished with the deaths of these defenders? But then, how could men and women of such power have been defeated? Audsley was positively dying to learn more. Why couldn't there be a convenient shelf of diaries or the like placed innocuously over to one side, complete with maps and index?

Aedelbert came gliding around the far side of the pillar and swooped down toward Audsley only to bank at the last moment and land on Audsley's outstretched arm.

"Did you find something?" Audsley rubbed the firecat's head eagerly. "Yes?"

His firecat rumbled deep in his chest in pride, then leaped down to the ground and scampered a few steps before turning back, only the tips of his wings emerging from the mist.

"Hurry!" Audsley turned to the others. "Come! Let's see what he's found!"

The others rose to their feet, and soon they were striding after Aedelbert, who slunk ahead till he reached another wall, slipping around corpses as if the slumbering dead bothered him not at all. When they reached the blank wall, he crouched and leaped straight up, snapped out his wings and beat them strongly to gain altitude, then quickly disappeared into the murk overhead.

"Well, that's not much help," said Bogusch.

A tongue of flame flared into view up above them, perhaps ten yards high.

Tiron leaned back and stared, then pursed his mouth. "Reckon that's a tunnel?"

Audsley nodded. "I think so."

Meffrid stepped up to the wall and ran his fingers over its smooth surface. "As smooth as glass. How do we get up?"

"When I was little," said Temyl, "there was this circus that would come by, and they would build a human pyramid that was six people high. Maybe we could do the same here? You know, go climbing up each other to the top?"

Everybody hesitated, trying to imagine, and then Audsley shook his head. "Even if we could find a way to support each other's weight, I fear we'd still be too short. A good idea, however."

"Belts," said Meffrid. "There are enough dead here to furnish us with all the climbing material we need. We could create a rope from belts and torn robes. As many ropes as we wish."

"To what end?" Temyl looked scornfully at his companion.

"Audsley," said Tiron, sinking down again to sit against the wall. "Could Aedelbert fly up a rope?"

"I - why, yes."

"Ser," said Temyl. "I've never heard of no firecat that could tie knots."

"Well, no, he can't tie knots. But he's a cunning fellow." Audsley gazed up at the shadows that claimed the heights. "He might find some other way to lodge the rope. Or - I don't know what he might do. But it might be worth a shot."

"Do it," said Tiron, closing his eyes. "Men, gather ropes and belts and whatever else. Bring them back here. Now."

The three guards saluted and hurried out, only to slow down as they searched the mist for corpses. Soon they were crouching down beside each one, moving them rudely as they stripped them of what they needed.

Audsley moved over to where one body lay and knelt beside it. It was hard to tell if it had been a man or a woman. The skull was wrapped in parchment-thin skin, the eyes mere hollows, the teeth grinning in a ghastly manner past withdrawn lips. Lying face down, the corpse was covered in a white cloak that collapsed into sections and dust when he touched it. Reverently, feeling a sense of melancholy and wonder, he turned the body over. It weighed as little as a bundle of twigs and moved just as stiffly. A large gash had laid open its chest, and Audsley leaned down to examine the wound. It was hard to make out, but he thought he could see broken ribs beneath the cloth, whose edge was slightly darker with long-disappeared blood.

Something glittered and caught his eye. A pendant was clasped around its neck on a slender chain. Audsley picked it up and raised it as high as he could, the links going taut. A small sunburst, he saw, of rich red gold. He blinked and stared off into the middle distance. He'd seen the like during his studies. An ancient symbol, but from where?

It was on the tip of his tongue. An order. An ancient collective.

Oh.

Oh.

Audsley dropped the necklace and rose shakily to his feet. "Tiron?"

The knight raised his head, face pale, lines carved deeply into his face. "What is it?"

"Tiron, I just discovered something." Excitement pulsed through Audsley's stomach. Excitement? No, terror. "I think I know where we are."

CHAPTER TWO