Paul Collins - Swords Of Quentaris

An image can't create a tunnel to travel down,'

Rad said. 'Therefore the fork must have been hidden by a mirage when we went past it.'

'But why?' Tulcia said. 'It must have been guiding us to a particular spot — obviously the one with the skulls. But why lead us to this treasure, when the map clearly shows a storeroom full of it?'

'Because it was booby trapped,' Rad said again.

'But the trap didn't get us the first time, so it's taking another crack at us.' Rad took another look at the map. And if you're talking about the ruddy glow in the centre of the map — it mightn't be a cavern full of treasure. It might just be a killing ground.' He unsheathed Death Bringer.

A sudden movement ahead galvanised them into action. They barely caught sight of the walls

as they shifted position and ground to a halt.

Now they were at an apex of two forks and four passageways.

'There's safety in numbers,' Tulcia said. She studied the map. 'It tells us to take the right tunnel.'

'We could always go back,' Rad said. 'If we can find the entrance.'

Tulcia scowled. 'I didn't come up here to give up and return empty-handed, Rad.' She patted her half-filled pouch. 'If you hadn't been in such a rush to get going, I'd have had enough gems to last a —'

'Quiet!'

From the left tunnel there came a dry crack-ling sound like wind-blown autumn leaves. It was not a loud sound, yet it filled the worm-like tunnel as though it was a part of the solid rock encasing them. As it neared, it became clear that it was not discordant, instead a rhythmic, organ-ised sound, like that of an army on the march —

though a rather light-bellied one, for the sound was not heavy-footed.

'Rodents,' Rad said, his feverish mind already

detecting a cluttering noise that was as imaginary as the illusions within the caves. 'There must be thousands of them. On the scent of blood, I bet.'

Rad's unease was infectious. 'Whatever it is, I don't like it,' Tulcia said. She struck her sword against the wall and scraped it along the stone as she quickly moved into the right tunnel. Sparks flew from steel against granite.

Rad brought his own sword against the right wall and together they moved away from the ominous marching sound.

Then Rad found the cross he had made earlier in the dust. He ran into the seemingly solid wall without hesitation. 'Tulcia!'

His companion was at once by his side in the alcove. They had barely disappeared through the image of the wall when an army rounded the corner. This was no mortal army though: the creatures were of bone and sinew, headless skeletal caricatures of what might once have been mortals, curved blades and leather bucklers held at the ready.

The warriors had a spectral blue light about them

— an aura that brushed every lump and curve of

the crumbling walls, creating darting shadows.

Rad and Tulcia moved back against solid rock.

'Ugh!' Rad croaked, his face ashen.

Tulcia's hand tightened on his shoulder as though to quieten him, although neither suspected these long-dead creatures could hear.

The column of headless skeletons seemed to have no end. Unaware of the fact that he had been holding his breath, Rad pulled Tulcia away from the mirage. 'What manner of things are they?'

'Magicked — whatever, I don't care,' Tulcia whispered back. 'They're obviously either looking for us or their stolen heads!'

'Or their missing eyes,' Rad observed, looking pointedly at Tulcia's pouch.

The tunnel was now full to the brim with the marching creatures. Although they were headless, Rad imagined he saw the nearest creatures turn to stare at them through the mirage. But the column marched inexorably on.

Rad's heart leapt. The ragged line wheeled about to face them. The scrape of bare bone on aeons-old dust made Rad's skin crawl.

He tugged Tulcia back from the facade but she

stood transfixed, her body almost intermingled with the wall mirage. With a quick flourish of her sword she marked out the size of the wall.

'We can hold them here,' she said falteringly.

'Two of us could hold this army.'

'How can you kill something that is already dead?' Rad hissed. He grabbed at Tulcia's pouch.

'Give them back their wretched eyes and maybe they'll let us out!'

Tulcia shoved him away. 'They're afraid of something,' she said. Feet wide apart, she waited for the creatures to charge.

'Now's our chance!' Rad said. 'While they're indecisive!'

'Aiyee!' Tulcia spat and charged forward.

'Tulcia!'

Tulcia leapt through the wall mirage with a tremendous war cry. She hacked and slashed but her sword met no resistance. A moment later Rad threw himself forward. Tulcia whirled to face him.

Rad was already swirling his sword around his head in a great scything motion. He brought the sword down slowly. The skeletal figures merely

wavered as his steel ran through them. Their bodies flickered, then faded, leaving an eerie afterglow.

'My blade went straight through them,' Tulcia said stupidly.

'Illusions. Just like the walls,' Rad panted.

Tulcia nervously fingered her pouch. 'But the gems are real enough.' She took a huge breath to calm herself. 'If everything in here is an illusion, then we're safe.' She smiled wanly. 'Nothing can harm us.'

Rad sheathed his sword. 'Nothing to be afraid of save whatever created the images,' he said.

'Something or someone is behind them.'

'Perhaps something long dead, and these are all that remains of its magic,' Tulcia scoffed.

'I wish you wouldn't —'

The ground beneath them rumbled like a waking giant. Tulcia steadied herself, her arms see-sawing for balance.

Rad braced himself by holding on to an outcrop of jagged rock. 'It's basic knowledge,' he said bitterly. 'You simply cannot laugh at the gods without paying a price!'

'Oh, so it's gods we face now,' Tulcia laughed nervously. 'Not satisfied with local or ancient necromancers — the gods themselves are at play here in these miserable catacombs.'

The cave floor bulged, spewing chunks of solid rock. Tulcia was flung aside as the ground opened up beneath her. She had barely landed when the walls squeezed shut like vault doors slamming.

'Tulcia!' Rad rushed forward, half expecting, half hoping, to run straight through a mirage.

Luckily he ran into the wall shoulder first. He bounced back and landed with spine-jolting finality. Horrified, he watched the hair-thin line between the opposing walls grind like a pre-historic animal's jaws tearing through meat.

'Tulcia!' Rad's shoulders slumped. His voice had gone flat, as though in a tomb. He scrambled up and tried to pry the walls apart. It was the kind of useless act that his friend Hulk might have attempted. He stood back helplessly, praying the walls would part, but knowing they wouldn't.

Now he remembered the stain he had seen earlier. The reddish-brown stain that seemed

superimposed on the two walls, and nearby, the crippled whitened bones of some long forgotten adventurer. This was no work of a local adept —

this was an evil Hamilian magic — an art forbid-den since the beginning of time.

He ran his hands over the rocky surface of the wall. If Tulcia had been crushed behind it, she would have had no chance of survival. Her death would be just one more statistic for the chroniclers to add to their ledgers, but Rad knew it would weigh heavily on him till the day he died. He spat and smacked the wall with his palms. Why had he ever climbed that pirate ladder in the first place!

He kicked the wall irritably and stood back to contemplate his next move. This abominable cave had more traps and detours than any Quentaran back alley. He was hopelessly lost and knew without doubt that this rift cave hadn't yet yielded up all its nasty tricks. More for comfort than for practical purposes, he withdrew bis sword.