Paul Collins - Swords Of Quentaris

He found Tulcia around a bend. She was staring at what first appeared to be catacombs, but were in fact niches carved into rock. In each nook sat a bejewelled skull. Even in this meagre light the jewels sparkled and spat light so that both walls exchanged beam-like reflections. Tulcia ran her hands through them, cutting the arrow-straight beams in two.

'It tingles,' Tulcia said. 'You should try it.'

'I'd rather not,' Rad said, wearily watching the needle-sharp lights disperse at Tulcia's touch. He crept closer to the nearest skull. Its perfectly preserved teeth gleamed white, while its eye

sockets swam with green from emerald and blue from sapphire.

'Truly these people were gods,' Tulcia said.

'With so much money they lavished gifts on their dead so that they could live like kings and queens in the afterlife!'

Already Tulcia had her dirk out and was about to pry open an eye socket that held a shimmer-'

ing ruby.

'Don't,' Rad cautioned.

Tulcia stopped in mid-prise. 'Rad, what's got into you? There is more wealth here in two eye sockets than I would need to live without ever having to muck a stable again.'

'I hear something,' Rad said, cupping his ear.

'A warbling sound. Like a bird in distress.'

'I heard it when I first found the skulls,' Tulcia said. 'What do you make of it?'

'Who could fathom such a sound?' Rad said despondently. 'Before, I felt the walls move.' He looked fearfully back along the way they had come. 'There's a dead man back there. You must've stepped right over him.'

Tulcia wedged the point of her dirk into the eye socket and began levering out the ruby.

'Rad. You'll always find skeletons in old caves.

I'm surprised there aren't more in here, actually.

Ah, now that wasn't too hard.' She pocketed the egg-sized ruby and began work on its matching socket.

'We shouldn't be desecrating the dead,' Rad said. A morbid fear was beginning to rise within him. The trembling he had felt earlier was now permeating the floor beneath him as though the entire cavern was in fact the insides of a giant worm and they were its latest victims for digestion.

Rad said as much to Tulcia.

'Let's hope it doesn't regurgitate us until I've filled my pockets with these gems, then,' she said, working hard on yet another skull. 'Look. There's some writing on the wall. Go read it and make yourself useful.'

Rad went reluctantly. 'Only the humble shall pass,' he read. 'Well obviously that's not you.'

'I'm humble enough,' Tulcia said, jabbing her dirk into another skull.

The vibrations were harsher now. Even Tulcia had cause to stop her excavations and take a quick look about. 'Tell you what, Rad. You keep guard and I'll let you take one quarter of whatever I dig out of these old skulls.' Another gem popped from its socket. Tulcia wasn't even looking at the false eyeballs now — she had become quite deft at simply digging her dirk in at a'

certain angle, jerking the steel, and popping the gem. Each new treasure disappeared within her leather pouch.

Movement caught Rad's eye. Was it his imagination or were the walls closing the gap between them? He stood there spellbound as the impossible became reality. Walls did not move. Not unless an earthquake made them. He waited expectantly for nonexistent tremors. 'I have a rotten feeling about this,' he mumbled.

Crunching pebbles and a low grating noise broke Rad's trance. 'Tulcia!' he screamed.

Tulcia cast a quick look at him. 'One more, Rad. One more. I've almost got it!'

Rad rushed forward and grabbed Tulcia from behind. He dragged her savagely away but it was

too late. The length of the corridor yawned away into the distance. They would never make it.

'Run!' Tulcia cried.

Rad cupped his ears to stop the noise and to concentrate. The walls were at his shoulders now.

'Only the humble — I shall not be greedy, I shall not want what my brother has ... I renounce all ego ... I give up worldly possessions!'

The walls shoved him sideways. Up ahead Tulcia had stumbled and become stuck.

The Order of the Humble! Rad spun around and walked backwards. Faster and faster he went, his shoulders now crunching — until he came upon the fallen Tulcia.

'They've stopped,' Tulcia breathed. 'Oh my Odd Gods! What happened?'

Rad watched the walls recede. 'The Order of the Humble,' he said. 'They really did descend from the Hamil, like their scriptures say.' He pulled Tulcia up. 'Don't you see? By walking backwards and renouncing everything, the walls sensed that I was of the Order of the Humble!'

Tulcia eyed the walls warily. 'Whatever. It worked. And that awful noise has stopped.' She

started back toward the skulls but Rad pulled her back.

On sudden inspiration, he said, 'The map, Tulcia. Let's take a look at it.'

Tulcia couldn't take her eyes off the gleaming skulls. 'It got us here. It's done its job, Rad.'

'Give it to me,' Rad said.

Something in the authority of his voice swayed her. 'If I give you the map can I get back to collecting stones?'

Rad unrolled the map. It was as he suspected.

The map no longer showed details of the Quentaran ranges. Rather, it focused on the Scar.

Tulcia checked her leather pouch. 'I've lost a couple,' she panted. 'Curse you, Rad. Aiyee! What have we here?'

Rad bent over the now gleaming map. 'It's showing us another cave. I think we should follow it.'

'Leave the thinking to me,' Tulcia said.

'Whatever,' Rad said. 'The skulls are booby trapped somehow. That terrible clanging noise started the moment you prised the first gem —

then the walls almost squashed us flat.'

'If that's the booby trap,' Tulcia reasoned,

'then it's already been sprung. So we should be safe. Right?'

'All well and good in theory,' Rad agreed. 'But a house of horror has many instruments of torture.'

'Perhaps you should call your sword Doom Sayer. An apt name for its owner. Aiyee! That's two tests that we've passed. There's always three tests, right? That means we only have to pass one more and all the treasure is ours!' Grinning, she prodded the map. 'All right, we'll do it your way. Let's follow the map.'

Rad shook his head and followed her. 'I've already named him, as a matter of fact,' he called. 'From this day on, my sword shall be known as Death Bringer.'

'Outlandish,' said Tulcia. 'Well, bring him along then. With luck some hapless creature might happen upon us and you'll have a chance to display Death Bringer's mettle.'

'I don't suppose you've wondered where all those skulls came from?' Rad said, hurrying after her.

'They're the ancestors of the Hamil, of course.'

Rad thought about that. 'It's just that the skulls don't all look as though they've been there for centuries. In fact, some of them look posit-ively new.'

Tulcia stopped in her tracks. 'Well, that's not right,' she said. 'Maybe someone comes along and cleans them.'

'Now you're being ridiculous,' Rad said. I'm thinking that perhaps there's something in the sacrificial human business after all.'

'And why would the Hamil replace the eyes with gems? Out of reverence for their dead, of course. They wouldn't bother placing gems in the skulls of people they've just slain, would they?'

'It all depends on whether the gems are real or not,' Rad reasoned. 'Or whether the gems are worth as much to the Hamil as they are to us.'

Rad swore as he bumped into Tulcia's back.

Tulcia shrugged him off. 'I don't remember a fork here,' she said. She withdrew her sword and prodded the craggy walls. Her steel met with solid rock. After a quick inspection of the map she looked up. 'Did you hear something?'

Rad looked behind him. 'No,' he said hesitantly. 'But that's not the way we came!'

The alarm in Rad's words made Tulcia's skin prickle. The single corridor was now forked with two passages. 'No it's not. And I definitely heard something — voices. Something or someone is following us.' She pulled at Rad but he resisted.