about your bloody maudlin Kell's Legend. Which just goes to show what a barrel of donkey-shit those songs really are.' He grinned, a sour grin. 'Maybe there's no danger after all?'
'Funny,' said Kell, and threw Saark his pack. 'Believe me, there's danger all right. So empty yourself now; this is no place to be needing a shit break. Let's go.'
Shivering even more, and far from pacified by their talk, Nienna followed Kell, and Saark brought up the rear. The aroma of their blood twitched his nostrils, more tantalising than ever, now. He scowled, eyes narrowed. Damn this curse, he thought bitterly. Damn it to the Dark Halls! Damn it to the Bone Underworld!
The archway was small, and carved in a blank wall of rock with no other noticeable features. It would have been easy to miss the opening, if you hadn't known it was there.
Saark stood back from the black arch and looked up at finely carved script. His brow furrowed. 'I've never seen lettering like that, before,' he said, then wrinkled his nose. 'Gods, it stinks in there.'
'The leski worms,' said Kell, voice soft.
'Have you even seen one of these worms?'
'Only once. From a distance. They have teeth as long as your forearm – but that's all I saw, I was too busy running in the other direction. They have a poisonous bite, lad, so don't get too close.'
'That's comforting. What does the writing say?'
Kell shrugged, and started removing unnecessary kit from his pack. 'Empty your pack of junk. You're going to need to travel light. There are some narrow places in there, tight places. Places a man could get easily trapped.'
'But I thought you said the worms were big? Fangs as long as a horse's dick, or something?'
'They are, but they compress their bodies to squeeze through narrow apertures. Like a rat, Saark.' His eyes twinkled. 'You should know all about that kind of vermin, coming from your Royal Court background. And anyway, to answer your question, the script reads, 'Seek Another Path'.'
'That's it? That's the warning?'
'That isn't good enough for you? With a stench of death like Dake's arse pumping out?'
'You have such a way with words, my man.' Now, with his pack somewhat lighter, Saark drew his rapier and ran a finger along the blade. He re-sheathed the weapon. 'Let's get going. Before I change my mind.'
'You can always head back. Woo those vampire killers with your charm.'
'What, and have them bite me, turn me into one of them? That would be insane!'
'Yes,' said Kell, eyes glinting, 'we wouldn't want that, lad, would we? Then I'd have to cut your head off!' He gave a low rumble of laughter, and slapped Saark on the back.
As they moved to the entrance, and Kell stooped to enter, Ilanna before him, Nienna touched his arm. 'Grandfather?'
'Yes, monkey?'
She smiled at that. 'I'm scared,' she said.
'Don't be. I'll protect you.'
'I know you will. But… I'm still scared.'
Kell turned, and righted himself. He lifted Ilanna, looked at her curious matt black butterfly blades – so unlike any other weapon he had seen. She was older than the mountains, so the legend went. And indestructible. He kissed the blades, then bent down, and kissed Nienna on one cheek. 'Just stick close to me, little lady. Don't be frightened of the dark. Kell walks beside you.'
Nienna nodded, eyes full of tears. Her adventure was not quite what she'd expected. Not when so much blood and death was involved. Not when good women like Katrina had to give their life for nothing; for the honour of thieves and murderers. She sighed. And followed Kell into the gloom.
The Valentrio Caves were dark for perhaps a hundred metres, and then the floor seemed to shine with a very pale, sickly light. The darkness closed in fast, with claustrophobia in one fist, and haunting echoes in the other. Within minutes Saark had closed the distance from his rear guard, and was almost treading on Nienna's heels.
'Kell,' he hissed, after perhaps ten minutes where they followed a level, winding passage.
'What?' said the old warrior.
'The light. On the floor. By Dake's Balls, what is it?'
Kell grinned, face a skull in the pale, ethereal glow. 'Slime. From the worms. They must secrete it. Or something.'
Saark's face fell. He looked ill. 'Shit,' he said. 'I wish I'd never asked.'
'Don't worry,' soothed Kell, seeing Nienna's face from the corner of his eye. 'This tunnel system is vast; it stretches for hundreds of miles under the mountains, vertically as well as horizontally. You can travel here for weeks and never see a worm. The leski are primitive, they have no understanding. They just eat and breed.'
'Sounds a bit like us sophisticated humans,' muttered Saark.
'Come on. Let's get moving. We have a long way to go.'
They walked, boots making odd sounds on the sticky, luminescent ground. Saark realised, unconsciously, that he had his rapier drawn. He cursed himself, and sheathed the weapon, frowning. At least his rising fear and claustrophobia were good for one thing; they were taking his mind off the sweet, cloying smell of Nienna's blood, distracting him from the everpresent rhythmic thumping of her heart. He shook his head. What are you becoming, Saark? he asked himself, and didn't like to consider the answer.
They moved for hours, and sometimes the glowing floor would end and they would ease through deepest gloom, guided by mineral veins in the rock and marble walls. Sometimes, the corridors would narrow as Kell predicted, so that both Saark and Kell had great difficulty squeezing through and only Nienna was able to pass with ease. Occasionally, they came to areas where huge boulders had dropped, crushing part of the tunnel and making it near impossible to pass. Several times they had to squeeze beneath a chunk of mountain that, if it shifted, would crush them like an ant beneath a boot. At one point the crushed section was extended, and Saark found himself on his back, scrambling along with limbs scratched and dust falling in his eyes and his panting coming in short, sharp bursts. Panic was an old friend clutching his heart, and he was coughing and choking and pushing up at the immeasurably huge rock above and wondering if he was going to die until Kell's rough hands grasped his scruff, and hauled him the rest of the way under the obstacle.
Saark sat there, choking, covered in grey dust and looking pathetic. He wiped his sweating, dirt-streaked face, and glanced up at Kell. 'Thanks, old boy.'
Kell gave a single nod, and stood, stretching his back. 'It's going to get more enclosed ahead.'
'Just what I need,' said Saark.
'I'm just warning you.'
'Well, don't! I'd rather have a sour, nasty, bad surprise.'
Again, they picked up the trail of glowing passageways, this time rising steeply until the tunnel emerged onto a small platform overlooking a cavern. As they approached, they could see the slime-glow increase in intensity, and this warned the group; they moved slow, hunkering down as they broached the rise. The small platform was just wide enough for the three of them; and what they saw left them crouched in stunned silence.
Below, in what appeared to be a naturally carved cavern, a massive affair strewn with stalactites and stalagmites, there were pods; corrugated, white, each pod about the size of a horse and divided into six or seven bubbled segments. They lay, motionless, not glowing but pale white, almost luminescent. And there were hundreds of them. Thousands. Littering the cavern, many of them packed in tight, crammed together.
'What,' said Saark, with a completely straight face, his voice low and carefully neutral, 'are those?'
'I don't know,' said Kell.
'But you said you've been here before!'
'Yes, but I've never seen those before!'
'Are they, you know, something to do with the worms? Maybe they hatch, or something? Like eggs?'
'Possibly,' said Kell, giving a small shiver. If they hatched, the group would be immediately overrun.
'Look,' said Nienna, pointing. Kell lowered her finger.
'I can see it, girl.'
They were pulsating. As if they were breathing.
'What now?' whispered Saark.
'I reckon we could go down there and cut one open,' said Kell. 'Then we'd know exactly what was inside. Exactly what we're dealing with.'
