T Lain - City of Fire

“I’m not sure,” Naull said. “I’ve heard of creatures that live at the borders between worlds, but…” She slapped her forehead lightly. “I should have known there’d be something like this. The City of Fire is on another plane. There’s bound to be strange things in between.”

Krusk blinked his mismatched eyes and groaned, forestalling any more of Naull’s self-recrimination.

The wizard smiled, then winced. “I think it broke one of my ribs,” she gasped painfully.

“Here, let me see,” Alhandra said.

She helped the wizard down onto her back as Krusk shook himself off and stood guard with Regdar. A warm feeling moved through Naull’s body and she felt the slicing pain in her side ease. It was still there, but reduced to a dull ache. She noticed that the cuts on her arms were closed up as well.

“Thanks,” she said, allowing Alhandra to pull her up. The paladin winced in pain, though. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Naull said contritely. She remembered the massive blow Krusk had struck her in the back. “Get that breastplate off. Let me look at it.”

Alhandra shook her head and rubbed her back. “No… I’ll be all right. Let’s look at the door.”

Frowning, Naull let the matter drop. She wasn’t a healer, anyway, but she wanted to do something. Still, her spells killed two of them. How could she tell the rest of the group she had nearly exhausted her store of spells again? She was still thinking of what to say when Krusk drew out the key.

The disk blazed to light immediately, as brightly as they’d seen it yet. A sigil inscribed just above the lock answered by turning fiery red.

“Well, go ahead,” Naull said.

Krusk stuck the key in the lock. It went in about three-quarters of the way, so he could still hold it in his big fingers.

The outline of the emblem on the door glowed brightly and a long, straight crack appeared in the opening. The door split in two and swung open.

Bright light spilled into the torchlit hallway. Each adventurer blinked and Krusk raised one thick forearm to shield his mismatched eyes. The light was brighter than Naull’s new spell, brighter even than true daylight.

“Stairs,” Regdar said as his eyes acclimated.

The others looked and saw a flight of sandstone-colored steps leading up into the bright light.

“Do you see anything else?” Naull asked. She still shielded her eyes with her hands. Peering into the light was painful.

The fighter shook his head and moved forward.

“No,” Alhandra said, “it’s my turn.”

The paladin, her armor shining brightly in the clear light and her sword held before her, advanced toward the light.

The others followed at a short distance, Regdar second, Naull third, and Krusk bringing up the rear. Of all the adventurers, the half-orc seemed to have the most problem with the bright light and he didn’t lower his arm away from his eyes.

Naull found as soon as she stepped onto the stairs, however, that the light became more bearable. She still couldn’t see the top of the flight, but as she slowly ascended, the light bothered her less and less. By the time she’d climbed a dozen steps, she could see normally. She looked back and Krusk was no longer shielding his eyes. His heavy brows still squinted against the dazzle, but he peered around more or less normally.

“I… I think I see something,” Alhandra said, pausing on the stairs. The others stopped behind her, but the paladin started moving almost immediately. “It’s… it’s…”

Standing on the top step, Alhandra lowered her sword and looked around in amazement. The others followed her example. Naull gasped audibly, and Krusk growled.

“It’s the sky,” Regdar said.

“It’s a sky,” amended Naull.

Beyond the stairs the adventurers saw an open expanse above them. It was red, however, not blue, and the few wispy clouds swirling quickly through the air high above them seemed almost bright pink in color.

Naull shook herself out of her wonderment and said, “That passage

…” The wizard hesitated. How to say it without panicking anyone? “That passage must have been the link between our world and the plane, the pocket dimension, that Secrustia Nar resides in. We’re somewhere between our world and the Elemental Plane of Fire.”

Turning in place, Regdar gaped at the wizard. The others looked at her.

“We walked to another plane?” Regdar asked.

Naull shrugged, palms upward, in answer.

“Oh,” he continued, “I thought there’d be some big, swirling gate filled with fiery energy or something, not just a hallway.”

Krusk thumped Regdar on the shoulder, who looked at the barbarian, and asked, “What?”

Pointing one finger over the fighter’s armored shoulder, Krusk nodded. Regdar turned.

“Oh,” the fighter said simply.

The sky still swirled red above them, giving off light with no sun, but all around the land looked much more familiar—flat, unremarkable desert. That is, except where Krusk pointed. Perhaps a quarter mile distant—it was very hard to judge distances—stood what looked like a huge arch. It was sandstone in color, like the stairs, but an immense emerald-colored stone flashed in the keystone at the top.

Within the arch, reddish-orange flames rippled.

“Well, isn’t that nice?” Naull commented dryly.

Regdar frowned, but then grinned at her.

“Let’s go,” the fighter said with mock exasperation. “I want to get this over with.”

The others followed.

“I thought it was supposed to be harder than this,” Regdar whispered to Naull.

Alhandra took point again, and Krusk walked with her over the hot sand. All four sweated furiously.

“You complaining?” she asked, but privately agreed. She took out the papers that came with the key and shuffled through them as they walked. “The key,” she said. “It must be because we have the key.” She looked down at a picture on one of the sheets. “Either that, or…”

“Or what?”

“A lot of this stuff,” she said, shaking the papers and wiping sweat off her forehead with her sleeve, “has to do with the city itself. I thought it told of the dangers and tricks for getting in, but…”

“But it talks about the dangers in the city.”

Naull wasn’t certain, so she shrugged almost apologetically. “It really is a weird code.”

Regdar stopped, and Naull halted alongside him. “Naull,” he said quietly, facing her. “No one expects you to know everything or to be able to figure it all out. We’re getting swept along here, and you’re figuring things out as you go.” He reached out to her and she took his gauntlet in her hand. “You’re doing great.”

Nodding, Naull smiled up at her partner.

Yes, she thought, we’re definitely going to have to have a talk when this is over.

“Thanks,” she said.

The two turned and continued walking, and the party reached the gate sooner than they expected. It loomed large in front of them, but not as large as they’d supposed from the end of the stairs. It stood perhaps forty feet high and was easily thirty feet across—nearly a semicircle, jutting up out of the sand.

“Heironeous protect us!” Alhandra exclaimed, holding up her shield. “It feels like an oven!”

It did. The flames in the gate weren’t just for show. The adventurers felt as if they stood in front of a well-stoked forge, if that forge was the size of a large city gate.

But there was no city beyond the gate. They looked on either side, and after a few moments of arguing Krusk actually walked all the way around the arch.

“Here!” Krusk exclaimed.

Just above head-height on the left side of the arch they saw an emblem that looked exactly like the key. Krusk pulled out the golden disk and raised it, but Alhandra shouted for him to stop. On the other side of the arch was a second emblem, identical to the first. After a few minutes examination, they found two more, each on an opposite side.