Robert Keller - The Heart of Shadows

But Jerret wasn't listening to Lannon. His gaze was focused on the pit. "I'm going to see what's down there. Who's with me?"

"It would be foolish to enter that pit," said Aldreya. "We should just wait for the Knights to return and free us."

Jerret shone a torch into the hole. "Nope, I'm going in. There might be prisoners down there. We came here to rescue them, right?"

Lannon sighed in frustration. "You're just hoping to encounter Goblins."

"Either way," said Jerret, "I intend to carry out my duties. And did you even search the pit to see if the villagers went that way?"

"I tried," said Lannon, "but I encountered too much evil sorcery. It makes it hard for me to see other details."

Jerret nodded. "Then you can't rule out the possibility that some of the villagers are down there-perhaps injured or starving."

"I guess we'll go scout around down there," said Lannon. He didn't want Jerret going into the pit alone, and there was a chance it could lead to a way out.

"I don't like the aura of that pit," said Aldreya.

"Nor do I," said Lothrin.

"I'm ready for whatever is down there," said Prince Vannas.

"An obvious trap," Saranna reminded them.

"Why should we worry?" said Jerret. "We have the Eye of Divinity and the White Flamestone." With that, he started down the iron ladder.

Lannon climbed down after him, scanning the pit. The others followed, except for Darius, who remained in the tunnel above. Lannon could sense no traps in the pit or any sorcery that might be concealing traps, but the dark magic below was immensely powerful. The sorcery was ancient and dormant, not likely to be a threat unless provoked. As Lannon climbed down, he could also now sense traces of humans and Goblins having passed that way.

At the bottom was a square chamber with a murky pool at the center. The pool was encircled by a long serpent statue, greenish with mold and with fins like a fish. The dark sorcery was radiating from the water-from the corpse of some great beast that lay below the surface. The beast was long dead, but the magic that infested it was still potent. The beast had suffered an endless hunger, an illusion that both sustained and tormented it. It had needed constant motivation to justify its bleak existence and keep it from wandering into the eternal fog of Tharnin. Each devouring of a victim had been unique-something to relish and fuel the burning desire for the next feast. But when its Olrog masters had left the underground city, and the centuries had passed with no new victims, the beast had slowly starved to death-chained by its illusion until the bitter end. But the presence of its hunger remained, a yawning mouth beneath the pool still festering with dark sorcery and still waiting to be fed, an abomination leftover from an age when the Grey Dwarves were slaves of the Deep Shadow.

As they gathered at the pool's edge, Jerret reached out with his sword to poke the murky water, but Lannon seized his wrist.

"Don't disturb it."

"Why?" asked Jerret. "What do you sense in there?"

"Dark sorcery," said Aldreya, her eyes wide as she gazed at the pool. "Incredibly powerful. Can't you feel it, Jerret?"

"I feel something," said Jerret. "A heavy gloom."

"Maybe I should deal with it," said Vannas, raising the White Flamestone. "Such evil should not be allowed to exist in this world."

"No," said Lannon. "The beast is long dead. If we disturb the pool, we will disturb the ancient sorcery as well. Just leave it alone."

Vannas nodded. "I trust your word on it, Lannon."

"This pool has the stink of the Bloodlands," said Saranna. "And the water looks like the black blood from the Mother Trees."

"We're not done here yet," said Jerret, pointing at a single tunnel that led from the chamber. "That could be our way out."

"What about Darius?" said Saranna.

"Let's check the tunnel first," said Jerret. "If it's a dead end, there is no point in bothering with your wolf. If it leads to a way out, though, we'll come back and lower him down by rope. Fair enough?"

Saranna nodded.

Jerret started forward but Lannon grabbed his shoulder. "I'll lead the way, Jerret, so I can search for danger."

Jerret nodded. "You're getting quite bold, Lannon. I like that."

"I don't want to see you blunder into a trap," Lannon explained. He respected Jerret's combat skills, but he had no faith in Jerret's ability to detect traps or move silently. Jerret hadn't received enough training as a Blue Squire to warrant him taking the lead anywhere but on the battlefield.

"I don't blunder into anything," Jerret muttered. "While it's true that I'm trained mostly as a Red Squire, I'm not some bumbling oaf."

"Lannon is right, though," said Aldreya. "You're ill prepared for sneaking along tunnels, Jerret. I suggest you take the rear."

"I'm not taking the rear!" said Jerret, glaring.

With a shrug, Lannon started along the tunnel. The others followed. It led them to another square chamber-this one larger than the last. As they emerged into the room, the torchlight revealed crates, barrels, and other supplies-some broken open and their contents spilled out. The smell of wine was strong in the air. A pile of gnawed beef bones lay in one corner, and a half-eaten cheese wheel sat atop a crate. Another smell hung in the air-the stink of Goblins.

Into the circle of torchlight stepped two Goblin Lords-Priests of Tharnin with runes painted in crimson on their foreheads and holding dark, twisted staffs. They wore black leather armor that was also adorned with crimson runes. These humanoid Goblins grinned when they saw the Squires. An aura of powerful sorcery surrounded them, reaching out to Saranna and the Squires and demanding submission.

"Look here," one of the priests hissed, pointing. "Fresh meat."

"It is Lannon Sunshield!" the other priest replied, his voice tense.

With that, the two Goblins attacked, swinging their smoldering staffs at Lannon. They moved so swiftly he barely had time to defend himself. He seized both of them with the Eye of Divinity and halted their charge. He drew his sword and lunged forward, beheading one of the priests.

But as the Goblin Lord's body toppled over, dark tendrils sprouted from both head and neck, and the head began trying to reattach itself. Lannon severed the tendrils, then blocked a blow from the other priest. But the tendrils sprouted again, pulling the head toward the neck.

Then Lannon remembered that the Goblin Lords created an illusion of being invincible, and he used the Eye to see through it. The Goblin Lord hadn't been beheaded at all. It was fully intact-standing back and in the process of casting some foul spell with its staff.

"Burn its heart, Jerret!" Lannon ordered.

But Jerret, still confused, attacked the illusion of the fallen, headless Goblin, his sword striking the stone floor. Aldreya, however, was able to see the truth thanks to her training, and she hurled a fireball into the chest of the Goblin Lord that was casting its spell. Its sorcery disrupted, it howled in pain and fell to one knee, clutching its chest. She threw another fireball and finished it off.

Saranna ducked a blow from the remaining Goblin Lord and cut a deep gash in its shoulder. However, the gash healed instantly-the priest's dark sorcery knitting the flesh back together without so much as a scar. Jerret hacked off the Goblin Lord's arm, but the arm sprang up from the floor and reattached itself.

Jerret's eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible!"

"Stand aside, Jerret," Prince Vannas commanded. Jerret leapt out of the way, and Vannas blasted the Goblin Lord with white fire, burning the creature into a pile of ashes. But the ashes swirled about and regenerated into living flesh, and an instant later the Goblin Lord stood fully intact and grinning.