Douglas Niles - Circle at center

“Why?” he wondered, trying to see the answer in her eyes.

“Because I think there are things you can teach us,” she said, taking his young hand in her old fingers. “And these will be things that the people of Nayve have to learn.”

Karkald’s lungs strained for air and he could feel the weakness seeping into his legs and arms. The long, terrified run from the battery, the sight of Darann clutched by that hideous, silver-mawed Delver, now propelled him into a monstrous rage. Four of the Unmirrored already lay dead and bleeding on the floor.

But now he was nearly finished, and as more of the Dark Ones spilled into the den, he staggered backward, pulling Darann and himself against the wall. They faced a tight circle of attackers, and the sightless dwarves now stood shoulder to shoulder, presenting a solid front of whirling blades.

“I love you,” Darann said, touching Karkald on the arm.

He looked at her miserably, saw scratches and smudges on her face, fear and despair in her eyes. He knew that she was here on the watch station because of him-and he saw how that devotion would, in mere moments, get her killed.

“I’m sorry!” he cried. The wall of the den was behind them now, blocking further retreat, and the Delvers continued to close in.

“No!” she retorted furiously. “Don’t say that!” She picked up a coal poker from beside the burner and flailed the steel shaft at the nearest Delvers. “We’re going to fight!” The blackened spike clattered against dagger blades while Karkald stabbed with his spear, once more driving the tip through enemy armor, then twisting and pulling back to wrench the weapon free.

“Kill him! Bring the wench to me!” The leader, the one called Zystyl, shrieked his orders, and the ring of Unmirrored pressed closer.

Frantically Karkald looked around the den. Flames smoldered in the direction of the bedchamber, and in any event he knew there was no escape that way. The steel-jawed captain still shouted from the kitchen, while the main room was full of Delvers blocking the passage out to the portico.

Still, the latter seemed like the only chance.

Momentarily he missed his hatchet, which was still buried in the skull of a dead Delver. But he still had his knife and his spear. He tapped Darann on the shoulder, nodded his head once toward the door, and then hurled himself against the front line of Delvers.

Leading with his spear, he stabbed one of the attackers through the throat. That Delver fell and Karkald rushed into the gap in the line, thrusting with his long knife, driving the blade into the next of the Unmirrored. At the same time he felt a burning pain in his back as another of the Blind Ones turned to slash at the space that had been created. Hearing the clash, the rest of the Delvers closed in.

Karkald gasped as another whirling knife ripped through his thigh. He flailed and stabbed at the enemy all around, until he felt a firm push against his back. Darann was there, shoving hard, and then the two of them were through the ring of Delvers. Limping, clenching his teeth against the pain, the Seer now followed his wife into the entry passageway. He remembered the dozens of boats at the base of the pillar, knew that the island must be swarming with the Unmirrored-yet all he wanted now was to get out of the den.

Abruptly he smashed, face first, onto the floor. His initial thought was that his wounded leg had collapsed-but then the ground jolted under his feet with a violence that lifted him into the air. Darann screamed and tumbled beside him, and vaguely he understood that somehow the bedrock itself was moving, shaking and rolling in supernatural convulsion.

A shrill cry emanated from the den, followed by a thunderous crash and a cloud of dust that billowed and rolled across the two Seers lying on the floor of the tunnel. Darann was crying, and Karkald felt numbed by shock. He could see and feel the trembling of the ground, but his mind, all his experience and his learning, told him that such an occurrence was impossible.

Yet there was no denying the reality of the violence, the thunder of collapsing stone as rock spilled into the den, choking and crushing. A rock thudded onto the floor beside him, and a clatter of gravel spilled down the nearby wall. Terror clutched Karkald’s heart as he pictured them trapped in this narrow passage, buried beneath a thousand tons of rubble.

“Come on!” he urged, dropping his knife into the sheath at his hip, reaching for Darann. Together they scrambled toward the portico over the pitching, heaving floor. Twice, large rocks smashed onto Karkald, one banging his skull hard enough to stun him. But finally they tumbled from the den’s front door to sprawl on the flat portico jutting out from the side of the island’s cliff.

Even here rubble was scattered across the stones, and Karkald was stunned to see great waves rising and surging across the surface of the dark sea. Landslides spilled down the sides of the watch station, and several of the great beacons had been destroyed. At least two of the beams still swept across the dark water, highlighting the tortured expanse.

Karkald heard a crash from within the den. The sound was followed by a groan, and then a very foul-and lively-curse, proving that Delvers were still alive and active inside. Silently the Seer tugged at Darann’s hand, placing a finger on his lips to caution her as they made their way across the portico to the steep wall of the pillar. Fortunately the stairway to the nearest beacon remained intact, and only a few steps were obstructed by rubble that had fallen from above. He took care to step only upon solid rock so as not to make a sound as he led his wife upward, climbing toward the lantern that still blazed through the darkness.

Finally they reached a perch nearly a hundred feet above the portico. Here the two of them huddled on a narrow ledge beside the beacon of coolfyre, still too numbed and horrified to speak. Below them several Delvers were visible, crawling from the collapse within the den or gathering on the portico from other parts of the island. More and more emerged from various niches and ledges, until a hundred or more had gathered before the ruins of the Seers’ den.

The two Seers pressed back against the cliff, silent and afraid. Karkald knew they could not be seen by the Blind Ones, but even so he was reluctant to expose himself any more than necessary. Beside him, Darann was watching the lights of Axial, a bright swath across the sea. They could even make out some of the great pillars, outlined by coolfyre, that rose from the city to merge with the stone sky of the Underworld.

Neither of them was prepared for the next pulse of the earthquake, a jolt that rocked the pillar of the watch station harder than any of the previous shocks. They shouted in alarm and clung to each other, pitching perilously close to the precipice. Karkald snatched out his pick and curled the hook over the bar of the beacon’s frame. Once more the bedrock shivered, and they tumbled and twisted over the hundred-foot drop. Only his grip on the tool, and the half-circle of metal curled over the rod, kept them from a fatal plummet.

Below, the Delvers were shrieking in terror, and Karkald hoped the sounds of their panic had drowned out the sharp cries he and his wife had made. He had good reason to believe this, for it seemed as though the whole of the First Circle reverberated with sound. Waves crashed on stony shores, or pitched against each other in chaotic surges. Massive pieces of the ceiling plunged downward, and great chunks of the watch station broke away to tumble into the sea.