'Are there any other miners near?' The druid feared another confrontation.
One of the slaves nodded, then stared beyond Galvin at Brenna and Wynter, who were just emerging into the chamber. 'The miners are all over,' he said flatly.
'And what about the creatures? The darkenbeasts?' the druid asked, lowering his hands and realizing the miners didn't fear him. 'Are those winged creatures all around here, too?'
The slave miner nodded yes.
'How about Maligor? Is the Red Wizard Maligor here?' Brenna questioned.
'Maligor controls the mines now,' came the slave's emotionless reply. The gaunt man explained how Maligor and his minions descended on the mine, slaughtering the guards and taking over the complex. 'He controls the creatures, the things you call darkenbeasts.'
'Does he control you?' she posed.
'We serve Maligor.'
The enchantress turned to Galvin. 'They're charmed, I think. Just like I charmed the guard in the orchard.'
The druid scowled and began to pace nervously. 'Has Maligor been here long?'
The slave scratched his head. 'A few days,' he said after a pause. 'Two, three days. Maybe four, but not more than that.'
'Where is he?' Galvin demanded, his voice rising.
The slaves backed against the wall.
'Where?' he persisted.
'We-we shouldn't tell you,' one answered. 'The master would be angry.'
'I'm angry. And I'm here,' the druid snapped. 'Where's the Red Wizard?'
'Deep in the mines,' came a slave's monotone reply.
The druid scrutinized the miners. The slaves appeared tired, and they were thin from lack of food. He realized telling them to leave the mines would be pointless. Maligor's servants wouldn't leave, unless, perhaps, Maligor was dead, the druid thought.
The slaves continued to stare at the Harpers and Brenna, then after several minutes, they resumed loading ore into the barrels.
'Damn!' the centaur cursed. 'They're not like real people. They've no free will. We've got to get them out of here, Galvin.'
The druid looked up into his friend's pained face. 'After we deal with Maligor,' he said simply, then turned to a slave. 'We need to find our way back to the main shaft. Tell us how.'
The slave gestured back the way they had come.
'Not that way. Is there another tunnel that links up?'
The slaves looked at each other and shrugged. 'Hundreds of tunnels,' one croaked. 'The widest ones lead to chambers below. Others lead to the main shaft.'
Galvin whirled and trotted back down the tunnel. Brenna stayed even with him, but the centaur was having an increasingly difficult time maneuvering in the sloping shafts. The next two crosscuts led to dead ends and more slave miners, who also seemed to lack any will of their own. But the third tunnel twisted down into the depths of the mountain and angled back toward the main shaft. The tunnel ceiling was lower here, forcing the centaur to stoop.
Ahead and off to the right, they heard a series of clinking and thudding sounds, mixed with the cries of the darkenbeasts. The druid began to run through the shaft, intent on discovering the nature of the confrontation ahead.
He rounded a sharp corner and gasped as he spotted a wispy cloud bearing down on him. The cloud hovered, its tendrils becoming arms and legs, and a mass of white forming a fleshy face with a wild tangle of black hair. Maligor willed himself to solidify into his human form as the druid stood, unmoving. The wizard's red robes looked like dying embers in the light of a distant torch.
The Red Wizard's dark eyes held the druid, and with a gesture, Maligor drew the air away from Galvin's face, leaving the druid breathless.
'You'll die, meddlesome Harper!' Maligor spat, weaving his hand in the air, then pointing his fingers at the druid's chest. Red shards of energy shot from the wizard's hand and sunk themselves in Galvin's abdomen.
The druid doubled over in shock, just as Brenna reached his side. She stood transfixed, staring at the symbol of Myrkul on the wizard's forehead and realizing it was Maligor they faced. As the wizard glanced past the druid, straight at her, she quickly composed herself and began a spell.
'You!' Maligor roared, remembering the face of the woman in the clearing, the woman who had killed his darkenbeast many days ago with a bolt of lightning. Furious, the Red Wizard directed his next spell at Brenna, hurtling her small frame backward against the tunnel wall with an unseen force that left her crumpled like a rag doll.
Galvin struggled to his feet and drew his sword, slashing at the wizard just as Wynter came upon the scene. But the wizard was too fast. With a quick gesture, his fleshly form became intangible, ghostlike, and the blade passed harmlessly through him. Maligor lolled his head back and laughed, a deep, throaty laugh that sent chills racing down the druid's spine.
The centaur charged forward, cleaving his pick through the wizard's intangible chest.
'Harper fools!' Maligor bellowed, becoming solid again and casting a magic daggerlike shard into the druid's chest. 'I'll not waste my time on you! The mine and my creatures will kill you!'
Galvin fell to his knees and watched with disbelief as the Red Wizard gestured grandly with his hands, transformed again into a wispy white cloud, and floated down the corridor.
The druid forced himself to his feet and started after the wispy trail, but the centaur's hand held his shoulder. 'Don't go after him, Galvin. That's what he wants. He'll lead you to the darkenbeasts-or worse.'
Brenna steadied herself against the wall and felt the back of her head; she was bleeding from being slammed against the rock. The enchantress was dizzy, but she fought the sensation and made her way toward Galvin.
'We have to stay together,' she stated flatly. 'Otherwise he can pick us off one by one.'
The druid nodded his agreement, then glared down the corridor. Dimly, the clang of metal and the cries of the darkenbeasts could still be heard. Galvin strode purposefully toward the sounds of battle.
As the distance melted away beneath their footsteps, the sounds of fighting lessened, then ceased altogether, plunging the mine into an eerie quiet. Unnerved, the trio plodded forward for an interminable time until the shaft opened into an immense, well-lit chamber. The shaft continued beyond the natural room, but the passage was of no concern to the Harpers. Hugging the shaft of the tunnel, they stared at the floor of the chamber.
The broken bodies of skeletons and zombies lay strewn about. Their slayers-a mass of darkenbeasts-floated like a thick, black cloud above the hellish battlefield.
Judging from the numbers on the cavern floor, the druid assumed Szass Tam's army had been eliminated at the claws of Maligor's creatures, and the darkenbeasts were stationed here to prevent Brenna, Wynter, and him from going farther. He was certain other darkenbeasts were searching the tunnels for them.
Galvin clenched his fists, and for the first time in many long years-since he was a child of seven watching his parents hang-he truly feared death. Alone, Wynter, Brenna, and he couldn't take on Maligor and his darkenbeasts. Nor could they run; Szass Tam would find them.
The druid feared he would die deep in the bowels of the gold mines. If only he could save Wynter and Brenna, he thought, if somehow he could buy time for them to leave…
Beyond the sea of darkenbeasts, which stretched from one end of the chamber to the other, the walls glistened. Thick streaks of gold flashed in the pale light of crystals whose blue gleam illuminated the room.
Brenna cringed behind the druid, horrified by the gruesome scene. Galvin turned to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
'You and Wynter need to get out of the mines. I'm going to find Maligor and end this,' the druid stated softly.
'No!' Brenna gasped. Quickly Galvin moved a finger to her lips to quiet her.
'I can get past the darkenbeasts. You and Wynter can't. If you stay here, sooner or later the darkenbeasts will see you. You have to find a way out.'
'We won't leave you,' she said in hushed tones.
