David Wells - Linkershim

“Sometimes I think Mage Gamaliel has contributed more to this war effort than any other person,” Alexander said, climbing up into the entry hall, marveling again at the giant stone fir trees that served as pillars holding up the ceiling hundreds of feet overhead.

Jack stopped a few steps inside the hall, looking around and whistling to himself. “I could take notes on this place for an hour.”

“Probably not the best day for that,” Alexander said.

“Right … pity, though.”

They hurried across the enormous hall to the corridor entrance on the opposite wall. Alexander opened his Wizard’s Den midstride, snatching Luminessence from just inside the door, and lighting their way with his staff, illuminating the artistry of the corridor-a forest road covered over by branches of trees grown together, yet done completely in stone. He raised the light considerably once they reached the balcony overlooking the great chasm at the heart of the underdark.

Although most of the bridges across the chasm appeared to be broken, a few in the distance still looked intact, and the remnants were enough to demonstrate great power at work. A variety of stone buildings and balconies were set into the walls above and below stretching out as far as Alexander’s light could reach.

“And I thought the entryway was impressive,” Jack whispered. “Please tell me I can write about this place.”

“Most of it,” Alexander said.

McGinty seemed to ooze up out of the floor right in front of Alexander and take form: a three-foot-tall humanoid made out of mud, yet with reasonably lifelike features.

Jataan started to move, but Alexander stopped him with a gesture.

“You brought other fleshlings,” McGinty said.

“Yes, these are my friends.”

He seemed confused for a moment. Then he asked, “What is their purpose?”

“To help me navigate the underdark,” Alexander said.

Jack leaned forward a bit, giving him a sidelong look.

McGinty paused again.

“I take it you two have met before,” Jack said.

“In a manner of speaking,” Alexander said.

“I sensed the memory, but only briefly,” McGinty said.

“Yes.”

“Bring it quickly. Come to the well alone,” McGinty said, oozing back into the stone floor, completely vanishing into the cracks.

“The memory?” Jack said.

Alexander shook his head very deliberately.

Jack nodded reluctantly.

“We’re going to the other end of the chasm,” Alexander said. “The cliff walls on each side are riddled with passages and chambers; some are passable, while others are caved in. Also, there are things living down there.”

“What kind of things?” Anja asked, grimacing.

“Let’s just do our best to avoid them,” Alexander said. “Now, that staircase looks like the most promising way in.”

There were several staircases leading up and down along the walls on each side of the balcony, as well as a number of bridges arcing away, then ending abruptly, broken a few dozen feet over the black of the chasm.

Most of the stairways were also crumbling, but the one Alexander chose was solid, though worn by time. It led down a hundred feet along the right side of the underdark, then transformed into a corridor with a four-foot railing made of stone but fashioned to look like a row of cornstalks separating the pathway from the dark of the chasm. Pillars that looked like tree trunks interrupted the railing every hundred feet or so, joining the outside edge of the corridor floor with the overhanging ceiling ten feet above.

Jack stopped to inspect the railing, smiling in wonder. “This is really remarkable. I’ve never seen such intricate work. The buildings in the city have the same grace but nowhere near the detail.”

The voices of overseers shouting from the balcony above filtered down to them.

“Right … best be going,” Jack said.

Alexander dimmed his light and led the way, passing a number of doorways, ignoring them all. Most of the doors were closed and secure, made from stone and perfectly set into their frames. From the footprints on the floor, it was apparent that others, probably agents of the Babachenko, had recently been down here, no doubt looking for more Linkershim to power the forges.

A few footprints turned through a door that had been broken in half. Alexander peered inside the room, but saw no signs of life so he pressed on, sticking to the path cut into the chasm wall. As far as he was concerned, the less time he needed to spend wandering around the myriad passages riddling the massive underground cliffs that defined the chasm, the quicker he could finish his work here and go get Isabel.

The downside to traveling along the chasm wall was that they were exposed and visible, even at a great distance since they needed light to travel by, and light in the underdark could be seen for a very long way.

The overseers were well behind them when one of the wizards launched a bright white flare out into the chasm. It seemed to move slowly, traveling in a straight line until it hit just below the cornstalk railing a few dozen feet ahead of Alexander, sticking to the wall and continuing to shine brightly. It didn’t do any damage, but it did mark their location. The overseers quickly began filing down the staircase from the balcony.

Alexander stopped, leaning against the wall for a moment while closing his eyes and reaching out with his all around sight. Unfortunately, it was so dark that he couldn’t see enough to be useful. If he wanted to have a good look around, he would need to use his clairvoyance along with some illusionary light, and there just wasn’t time for that right now.

He pressed on, choosing the quick and easy path toward his objective, even though that made him far easier to track. The underdark was vast, so the more distance he could cover toward the well of memory, the better.

His chest hurt from his wounds. Every step, every breath, every movement brought a new jab of pain. He tried to focus on it and master it as he had so many times in the past, but his mind wouldn’t cooperate, so he just endured it, step-by-step.

They came to the first bridge arcing away from the corridor … it was broken just a few feet from the railing. It looked like it was made of stone, but had no supports and was only an inch or so thick. It was railed on both sides with a perfect replica of a grapevine, down to the last detail, yet done in white marble. They passed more bridges that arced away from the path, but none were intact.

At each locked door, the footsteps marring the ancient dust moved on, while each open door appeared to have been investigated. If the overseers were careful observers, they would be able to track Alexander no matter where he went, given the layer of dust caked onto the floor.

“I can see their lights behind us,” Jack said.

Alexander pressed on for over an hour, staying well ahead of the overseers, and maybe even gaining a little ground on them. Then the pathway simply ended, falling off into a fissure in the cliff face that had ripped a five-floor section wide open. It was three floors down to a level where they could traverse the fissure. He noted that the footprints stopped here and turned around.

“We either go down a few levels on ropes or back to the nearest door and into the underdark,” Alexander said.

“Perhaps both are in order,” Jack said.

“You want to split up?” Alexander asked.

“No. But opening that last door we passed might send the overseers off in the wrong direction while we disappear below.”

“Not a bad idea,” Alexander said. “You get the ropes set.”

The door was about a hundred feet from the fissure. The overseers were close enough that Alexander could see them with his all around sight. He trotted up to the door and slashed through the locking mechanism and frame. It lurched slightly, then swung wide open. An insect of some sort tumbled out. It was three feet long with spiked chitin in five sections along its back and nine-inch pincers on either side of its maw. Two more insects tumbled out on top of the first, which was struggling to right itself.