Chapter Fifty – The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep by Kelly D. Tolman
Posted by admin on September 7, 2009
The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.
We discovered that a second city had indeed been built in the depths beneath Darnuth Keep, probably as much for protection from invasion as anything. We managed to piece together enough of the layout to recognized residences and community areas as we stumbled about hoping to find clues.
Although we faced trials at nearly every step, not everything in those dangerous dungeons was horrible. The initial rooms were merely larders and cellars beyond which lay the great underground city. Within the city, buildings were marked with pillars, usually with a family name or crest, but often these marks had been removed. Remnants of ancient artwork, either of stone or crystal still decorated many homes. Some vast crystal gardens remained. Untended in centuries they had formed a wild beauty unmatched by human skill or imagination.
The open spaces of the city proved to be both more dangerous and at the same time easier to navigate. Many portions of the city were lighted, either by glowing fountains, iridescent mushrooms, or patches of moss that grew like ghostly lawns emitting a soft red or yellow light. None of the living, moving inhabitants ever carried a light, so we naturally followed suit, hesitant to attract attention. We moved about very carefully in the city, trying not to betray our presences in that foreign world. Fortunately the remaining inhabitants of that place were equally wary. Nothing moved about without great silence, and we often witnessed violence between various unsavory creatures.
In the center of that city lies a great fountain surrounded on all sides by a wonderful garden of strange and exotic mushrooms. At all times the water of that fountain glows with a soft green or blue light. We later determined that the shifting color matched the strength of the sun, green for day and blue for night, but to us at that time it was simply a beautiful refuge in an otherwise unfriendly and very dangerous place. At regular intervals the fountain shot a wild spray high into the air that would fall down in a radiant shower of sparkling light. The pool at its base was perhaps a meter in depth and six meters across. All around the courtyard stones had been worn smooth from the falling water drops, and a few tiny channels had been worn where the water collected on its way to the hidden drain. Most of the local inhabitants seemed afraid of any light, and we found the relative calm of the place a welcome respite from our journey.
I felt lost in another world as I sat, resting beneath the stalk of a mushroom as tall as a tree. Everything around me bathed in a pale green light. As usual the quiet seemed to stifle even my thoughts. The only sounds I heard were the rippling of the water and my own breathing. My family seemed so far away, a world, a lifetime in the past. I pulled my knees to my chin, holding in my body’s warmth, though it was not particularly cold. In my right hand I held my spear. As always, my sword was buckled across my shoulder. I still preferred to use my spear, but Pascalli had ensured I thoroughly understood the use of the sword. My bow lay beside me. In addition I hid a balanced throwing knife in each boot, and my hunting knife was tied down in a scabbard on my left. My weapons were so much a part of me that I hardly noticed them, but I never took them for granted.
A few meters away Pascalli sat, smoking a pipe, and taking in his surroundings. “Where do you think we should go now, Scratch?” he asked. His voice was a muffled whisper, but I knew the sound would carry a great distance in the empty darkness.
“If I knew what we were looking for, I might have an idea,” I replied. Then I rested. My dreams were fitful, almost nightmarish. The smothering darkness made me all around uneasy. I felt an unseen power watching me with hatred, beckoning me to enter some as yet hidden trap.
Later I woke and traded with the wizard. As Pascalli rested, a few creatures came to drink at the fountain. I remained still and silent, careful to always keep our scent away from possible danger. Once, a large lion attacked one of the scaly green creatures and killed it. As the lion dragged away its meal, a little pouch fell to the ground, and I heard the distinct jingle of coins.
That there would be treasure here I did not doubt, though at the moment I had no use for gold. When I moved to retrieve the pouch, one of Pascalli’s eyes opened, but he did not try to stop me.
The pouch held an assortment of coins that I did not recognize. In addition I found a few bits of bone and hide, as well as a small piece of iron poorly shaped into a half moon with a spike in the middle.
Since Pascalli had awakened, I tossed him the piece of iron and asked. “What do you think that is?”
“Think,” laughed Pascalli, with a wink. “I do not think it is anything. Rather I know exactly what it is, although how it came to be here, or perhaps the better question would be why it came to be here is more of a mystery.”
“Well what is it?” I asked as my frustration mounted.
“It is the symbol of Delvor, an ancient evil god who delights in bloodshed and pain.” His face darkened as he spoke. “I fear the evil here may be more potent than I first imagined.”
“Well, whatever those creatures are,” I said. “They are at least intelligent enough to worship. And at least some of them understand the value of money. All of them that I have seen were wearing nothing more than a loincloth, but this one had a sort of robe.”
“Which suggests what?” prompted Pascalli, his eyes gleaming slightly in the darkness.
“My guess is that this one was a priest of some kind. This means that either these creatures came here at the direction of an evil outside force which knows how to organize, or that they were already here and then enslaved and corrupted by such a force. It also suggests that they have some central leadership, as well as a temple or shrine of some kind.”
“Very well done, Scratch, you’ve come a long way.” Pascalli’s rare compliment seemed genuine, and I admit a grin slipped onto my face. “So, if we want to find the source of the curse, what do you suggest?”
“We should either look for the temple or the treasury,” I said. After a moment of thought, I added, “Although they are probably the same place.”
“Lead on,” replied the wizard. “I think we’ve risked too much time resting in one place already.”
Naturally I had no idea where to go. In essence we were following the same wild chase we had been following before, but at least now we had a clue. I decided to try to backtrack the creature’s approach to the water. It had to live somewhere, and I figured that the more organized groups would be living somewhere in larger numbers. They would probably use the large city buildings, and it would likely be reasonably close to water.
Pascalli agreed with my reasoning, but was hesitant to make a light to track with. “Telling the world we are coming may not be the best course of action,” he argued. “We know they outnumber us, and after our recent attacks they are probably already looking for us.”
In the end he consented. We didn’t really have any other options. “But only until we have an idea which direction it came from,” he cautioned. “I still don’t want to walk into an ambush.”
Telling direction beneath ground was never a great strength of mine, but I had made a few mental landmarks. Pascalli had brought some paper and ink, and I began making a crude map, using the fountain as a reference and judging which way we had come. I called the entrance stairs ‘south’, and put the fountain as ‘north’. In any event, the tracks went off in the direction I had decided was west.
Determining where the creature had come from turned out to be a rather simple affair, as our dim light showed the tracks merging onto a small path that headed generally westward.
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman
On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Fifty One
Back to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Fourty Nine
Welcome back to Darnuth Keep.
Feel free to make a Paypal Donation to support Darnuth Keep!If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
