Chapter 1 The Journey Begins #2
“Snaglak needed a ham,” Helgrom shrugged.
“And when I heard that Declan required both Snaglak and Finley with him, I knew something was bubbling in the pot.” He brought up his right hand where a dark red jewel was set into the pauldron.
Similar to a ridwin, this was a Sending Stone that allowed the dwarves to send messages to others who had a Receiving Stone.
“And, don’t worry, Finley, I’ll send word to Lily about the game. We’ll reschedule.”
Finley nodded. “Yes, I’m so sorry about the trouble you’ve gone through to–”
“Ach, lad! They’ll eat and drink their weight in my inn tonight and then do it all over again in the park when you do hold your game,” Helgrom scoffed.
“Thanks, Helgrom.” Finley smiled broadly. “Besides,” and here he glanced over at Rhalyf, “I think I want to work a bit more on the scene with the Big Bad. I have something special planned.”
Rhalyf smirked only once, but said nothing.
“We are in your debt, Finley, for doing this,” Aquilan said as Helgrom spoke to Lily. “I would offer you–”
“Nothing,” Finley said with a shake of his head. “You owe me nothing for this. I’m happy to help.”
“You are too kind, Finley. I will remember this.” Aquilan inclined his head. He would remember it. While his Shadow was very skilled–he knew this to his bones–Finley was not a warrior. He was going into danger to help them. To help his family. “We will make sure that you are safe.”
While he was saying this to Finley, he was promising this to Declan. His Shadow understood what he was saying and gave a faint nod.
“We are truly grateful for the help. For, as I said, the ruins might be even more dangerous than usual!” Elasha then told everyone of what she had learned from her sources in more detail and why her brother had gone to the ruins in the first place.
If I had gone back to the palace last night and heard Darcassan’s concerns about the Levithan, could I have stopped this foolish expedition he went on? Aquilan thought grimly.
But he was wrenched away from those grim thoughts as, again, neither Finley nor Rhalyf looked particularly surprised by what Elasha was saying.
He wondered what was going on there. Evidently, they had gotten up to something that day.
In fact, both of them glanced back at the woods then towards one another and then towards the party.
“I didn’t see the rift to Illithor in Chicago though,” Finley said after she had finished.
“Yes, but Darcassan knew that the one you did see wouldn’t be reopening,” Rhalyf reminded him. “It being under the dome and all. So he had to go someplace where he knew there would be many rifts.”
“I suppose it is logical then that he would go to Chicago. If there was one rift to Illithor, there might be others and that’s where the majority opened,” Finley tapped his chin.
“Yes, logical indeed to think you could reach Illithor from there.” Rhalyf looked strange for a moment. A mixture of longing and dread crossed his handsome features. “On the one hand, while I’m glad you reported what you saw, Finley, I really wish you were wrong about it.”
“Well… isn’t he? I mean…” Elasha looked between Finley and Rhalyf.
“I saw his sketches of the city he glimpsed,” Rhalyf said. “It is Illithor.”
Aquilan frowned deeply. “That is dire indeed if true. While the Kindreth no longer dwell there, Vex is said to have left powerful magics to guard the city.”
“Magics which are not working as they should.” Rhalyf pursed his lips. “Maybe that is how the Leviathan broke through. If Illithor was found then things are definitely not as they should be. And then… Well, who knows what happened. But if the Leviathan are mucking about near Illithor then…”
Aquilan’s stomach clenched. He could not shake the fact that the Leviathan’s appearance on Earth was his fault. His failure to do or not do something. Or many things.
“Then what?” Elasha was pale as milk.
“Beyond the great magics that are supposed to guard Illithor,” Helgrom broke in, “it is said that if anyone attempts to enter it then the Night King will know.”
“And he doesn’t like sharing, does he?” Finley guessed.
“No, lad, he doesn’t.” Helgrom stroked his beard and muttered, “While the Levithan sticking their coils in Illithor is bad enough for an Aravae to do it…”
Aquilan felt a wash of cold go through him.
But also something else. His parents had gone on a peace mission to the Kindreth and had died on it.
He had never gotten a straight answer as to why they had done this.
Why seek peace with a people no longer there?
The Kindreth were long gone from the top levels of the Under Dark.
To find them would have required his parents to delve deep into the layers of the nighted plane.
Danger would have lurked around every corner.
The Sun–and its attendant power–would have been out of reach.
His parents had, undoubtedly, brought Sun Stones, but they were no replacement.
Yet they had pursued this insane course of action for what benefit he had no idea.
And they had died.
In the dark.
For nothing.
Had they reached the Kindreth? Had Vex destroyed them?
Or had they died from one of the many dangers the Under Dark held?
Before the Leviathan, he had been certain that his great and powerful parents could only have been taken out by Vex himself.
He’d been so certain of it that he’d destroyed the Night Elves that had dared to enter his realm without hearing a word from their lips.
Why was I so quick? Why didn’t I ask them why they were there? Why did I not restrain myself?
But his grief and pain had risen up in him upon seeing their white hair and red eyes like a tidal wave.
Skulking into his empire! Trying to slip through as if he wouldn’t know the moment they passed through the veil…
Well, wouldn’t Vex know just the same when Darcassan crossed into the Under Dark near Illithor?
Would he turn his face up towards the surface at that breach?
Would he march with his Kindreth against the Aravae? Would another war start?
“We should not delay any longer,” Aquilan said grimly, which had Declan glancing over at him concernedly. “I do not think there is any time to waste.”
No longer was it just his beloved nephew’s life at stake, but it could be so much more.
If Vex senses Darcassan near Illithor… no! I must stop this before it starts!
“You can ride with me, Finley,” Rhalyf said just as Declan had opened his mouth, likely to offer.
“I’m not very good on horses.” Finley looked a little uneasy. “Michael has offered to teach me, but…” He shrugged.
“No worries. Silveril is gentle as a lamb,” Rhalyf said.
“If you are half as good with her as you were with Glom, you and Silveril will be quite happy together,” Aquilan assured him.
His best friend lightly threw himself onto Silveril who greeted him with a happy toss of her head. He held his right hand down for Finley. The young man took it and Rhalyf lifted him up onto the horse behind him. Aquilan noted that Declan watched all of this. Carefully.
“Now, where do we think Darcassan would have gone to look for rifts to Illithor?” Aquilan asked.
“The Pedway,” Finley answered without hesitation.
“What is that?” Aquilan asked, frowning.
“It’s a system of underground tunnels and bridges that link nearly forty blocks of Chicago’s old central business district,” Finley explained. “It covers over five miles. Darkest places in the city. If I were the Leviathan, I would have the majority of my rifts linked there.”
“I remember hearing about that place,” Rhalyf said with a creased brow. “While the Protectors went down there a few times, the truth was that it became too dangerous to fully clear out. Another reason to reclaim those ruins no matter what the Separatists think.”
Aquilan nodded slowly. “I recall this myself. All of the cities with their underground subway systems were problematic.”
“It encompasses five miles?!” Elasha pressed a hand over her chest and her eyes widened. “How will we ever find him?”
“Glom find!” Snaglak suggested.
“I don’t believe we have another ham,” Rhalyf responded dryly. Both Snaglak and Glom looked disappointed. “Do you have something of Darcassan’s on you, Elasha?”
She nodded and reached into a pocket pulling out a rawhide necklace with a purple stone attached. “He hasn’t worn it in some time. But we made these together. I would wear one and he would wear the other.”
Rhalyf took it from her. He closed his hand around it and let his eyelids drift shut. “Yes, yes, this will work. When we get closer, I believe I will be able to hone in on his location.”
“Then let us ride. The Sun is already well past its zenith,” Aquilan said and lightly kicked Erendriel’s ribs to get the horse going towards the ruins of Chicago.
They kept to the even, white stone roads of the Aravae for as long as possible, winding their way along the edge of the lake. They didn’t speak. Every one of them were simply intent on riding.
Aquilan leaned forward over Erendriel’s back so that they were a more aerodynamic design and the horse flew faster.
He had to get to Darcassan. He had to stop this disaster.
The wind whistled in his ears. Declan kept pace beside him.
His Shadow mirrored his posture. Elasha and Rhalyf were next in line and Snaglak and Hegrom brought up the rear.
They made good time even when the road ran out.
Until the ruins were fully reclaimed–and maybe even after–this land would not be completely safe and no Aravae roads would lead there.
Rifts would always appear more often there as the veil between the two planes was always thinner after many rifts had been opened in one place.
But the concrete and asphalt roads of the humans were still present.
“This is Lake Shore Drive,” Declan told him as the buildings started to loom up ahead of them and blocked out the Sun.
They rode in stretches of darkness and then sunlight.
His heart clenched everytime a shadow fell.
“I used to love driving along here with my parents. They’d take Finley and I into the city for shows or dinner.
There were tons of good restaurants and just lots of life. ”
He was surprised at the amount Declan had just said. But he knew then that there must be great emotion underneath it to cause his Shadow to say so much.
“Is this the first time you’ve been back since the war?” Aquilan asked.
Declan gave a sharp nod. “There was no reason to come.”
“The Separatists would disagree with you,” Aquilan pointed out. “My brother reported to me that they are often in the city… and, just as often, are dying there.”
“They’re holding onto the past. But it’ll become a dream soon enough. One they won’t even remember clearly any longer,” Declan remarked. His mouth flattened then as if what he’d said displeased him somehow. Or distressed him. “Memory isn’t reliable.”
They had to slow down as the amount of hulks of rusting vehicles became thicker on the roadway and they had to thread their way between them. Aquilan kept a sharp eye out. He noted that Declan did the same. There was nothing that his Shadow did not notice.
“We should take the Fulton Street exit!” Finley called up to them. There was a rusted sign, partially hidden by vines, that said “FUL”. Aquilan imagined that the rest was behind the greenery. “That will lead us to the business district where most of the entrances to the Pedway are.”
“I’ll do a location spell when we reach there,” Rhalyf offered.
“We’ll find him,” Elasha murmured, her knuckles turning white on the reins of her mount. “We will find him.”
“We will, Elasha,” Aquilan soothed her.
She gave him a grateful smile. He had to believe in what he said. He needed it to be true. To fail again was too much to bear.
As they threaded their way between the cars, Aquilan was keenly aware of all living things around them. Especially dark things. But he sensed no Leviathan lurking or any of the other creatures that had taken up in the ruins to nest and hunt. However, he did sense humans.
“Humans, up ahead,” he hissed and held up a hand to bring everyone to a stop. “Come out!” he called. “We know you are there!”
“It is your king!” Elasha added.
The humans who had been hiding behind and inside of vehicles emerged into the sunlight.
There were a dozen of them with rifles and swords, which were mostly useless against the creatures that inhabited Chicago.
They wore clothing that bore strange designs of brown, tan and black that made them somewhat meld into their surroundings.
“We’ve actually been waiting for you,” a woman said to Elasha. “You’re Lady Elasha, right?”
“I am.” Elasha’s horse danced beneath her as the human approached.
The woman had dark brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. “Cara sent word that you might be coming.”
“Cara did that?” Elasha’s cheeks flamed and her voice changed, becoming softer and sweeter somehow. “She always knows what I’m going to do.”
The woman gave a brief nod as if that was a very good description of this “Cara” and added, “She said that you were looking for Lord Darcassan?”
“Yes, have you seen him?” Aquilan asked.
The woman’s eyes were obscured by sunglasses like Declan’s were, but he felt her gaze swing to him. She gave another nod. “I did. Last night when I was on a recon mission. He went into the Thompson Center. I didn’t see him come out. And he hasn’t been spotted coming out of any other building.”
“The Thompson Center has an entrance to the Pedway,” Finley said.
The human grimaced. “If he went down into the Pedway, you might as well turn around and go back to Lightwell.”
“What? Why?” Elasha demanded.
The woman looked grim. “Because no one who goes down there lives.”