“Get up,” I told him. “We have to move now while we still have some small advantage of surprise.” And before I lose my nerve, I added mentally. I could easily imagine falling into panic, a panic that would end with us screaming in the dark while they hunted us down.
“What did you say?” asked the other wizard incredulously.
Chapter 37
“I said we’re going down that tunnel and get rid of that thing while we still have the initiative,” I said with a calm I didn’t really feel. “If you don’t think you can walk in there with me then you’re welcome to remain here,” I added. Motioning to Harold we began walking down the tunnel. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to turn around and run the other direction but I had learned the lesson of conquering my fear several times over now. It still didn’t make it any easier.
After traveling a short distance I heard Walter running to catch up, though he was now invisible to my magesight. I was slightly relieved to have his company. “I’m coming with you,” he said from the dark behind us, “but I’m going to stay invisible. I don’t have any way to fight those things without a staff.”
I nodded, “That’s fine.” I had to admit he was right. He was walking into something terrible alongside us, and he had no reasonable way to fight, in many ways that took more courage than what I was doing, depending on how you looked at it. “Let’s pick up the pace.”
We began moving down the tunnel at a light jog and Harold’s armor began an almost musical symphony of sounds as he ran. We definitely wouldn’t be surprising anyone. I began casting spells as we ran, leaving glowing balls of light hanging in the air behind us every twenty feet or so.
“What are those for?” asked Walter.
“Once we get down there we’ll likely be distracted facing whatever it is in that cavern. You mentioned that you think it’s calling for help. If any shiggreth come down the tunnel behind us the lights will start going out, giving us some warning,” I replied.
“If you’re still fighting that thing there isn’t much you’ll be able to do about them,” he observed.
I opened my pouch and pulled out three of my deadly iron spheres and handed them to Walter. “Use any spell to damage them, or just crush them with something and they’ll explode. Hopefully you can bring down the tunnel ceiling without collapsing the entire cavern on us.”
He held them in his hand as if they might catch fire at any moment. “You want me to use these after we get inside?”
I shook my head, “No, only if the lights start going out. No sense in risking a cave-in unless we have a reason.”
“Why not just toss them in and collapse the ceiling on whatever is in that cavern?” pointed out Harold.
“Three reasons,” I replied, “One, I don’t think that would kill whatever this is. I strongly suspect it could escape one way or another. Two, I need to know what it is. Leaving now just leaves us with more questions and I’m already drowning in things I don’t know.” I slowed down since we had reached the entrance to the final cavern, twenty feet or so and we would be inside.
“What’s the third reason?” Harold asked.
I paused and glanced in Walter’s direction, “This should be good. You can watch from here, just make sure they don’t follow us in there if the other shiggreth come running.” I looked back at Harold, “I want you to lead the way inside. There are two rather large four legged things in there… try to keep them off of me until I’m done with the little one.”
“What’s the third reason?!” Harold repeated stubbornly.
I strengthened my shield and lowered my staff in front of me like a spear. “I don’t like being afraid of things!” I shouted at him, “Now move your ass!”
Harold had already put his visor down but I heard him laugh inside his helm as he leapt forward. Fear and anxiety had given his voice an edge of hysteria but he didn’t give in to it. “Let’s make them afraid of us then!” he shouted back.
Harold charged into the cavern as though he was going to meet an army and I followed closely behind him. As I entered I pointed my staff at the ceiling fifty feet above and created a burning orb there to light the room. I could only hope it was high enough that the shiggreth wouldn’t be able to quench its light.
Light bloomed in the darkness and the room was filled with brilliant radiance as my spell took hold. Sitting on a carved stone throne at one end of the chamber was what appeared to be a small boy. If he had been alive I would have judged his age at around six or seven based on his size and appearance. Next to him on either side were two enormous bears, and they too were undead. That was a bit of a shock to me since I had never considered that the shiggreth might also be able to convert animals.
Harold’s charge came to a faltering halt as we reached the middle of the room and our eyes took in the scene. None of the enemy had moved yet and I was considering my next move when it spoke, “Hello Mordecai.”
A shock ran through me as I realized I recognized the creature’s face. It was Timothy, the little boy that Father Tonnsdale had murdered back in Lancaster. Penny had been the only one to see him commit the evil deed and the body had vanished inexplicably… until now. “Hello Timothy,” I replied with a confidence I didn’t feel. “Or do you have some better name for me to use?”
“Whatever my name was it has long since vanished from the time before I slipped into the void, Timothy will do for our conversation,” it replied. Unlike the many shiggreth I had seen before now, this one smiled grotesquely as it spoke, making an effort to project a more human expression. The attempt only made it look more unnerving as there was something subtly off about the facial muscles.
“Very well, Timothy it is,” I answered. “How did this happen to you?”
Timothy’s eyes glittered in the light, eyes that ignored the brilliant light above, eyes that were obviously blind. “Do you want to know how the child that was called Timothy came to be like this, or how I, the being that resides in this body now, came to be an undying creature of the void?”
The distinction was obvious and yet it hadn’t occurred to me before, and the answer to either question would be of interest once I considered it. “Both,” I said loudly.
“You are bold to come here demanding answers Mordecai. What would you offer in exchange for that information?” said the undead boy.
“I didn’t come to barter. I came to clean this den of the filth residing in it. It is your choice whether you wish to delay that reckoning by answering my questions,” I responded.
Timothy laughed… a dry rasping sound that set my teeth on edge. “You make several erroneous assumptions wizard. Your first is that you are capable of threatening me. Your second is that I do not have information more valuable to you than your own life. Your ancestor was similarly ignorant.”
The implication that this thing had once spoken to one of my ancestors was unsettling. Even worse I suspected it was telling the truth, in which case I had to wonder why it was more interested in talking than adding me to its collection of walking corpses. “I have nothing to give. What sort of information would you have that might interest me?”
It smiled again in its disturbing way. “I see you might be civilized. I propose we exchange questions, one for one, until one of us refuses to answer.”
I gnawed my lip in uncertainty, but eventually I came to a decision. “Fine, answer my first question and I will exchange questions and answers with you.”
“Which part of that question?” it asked me cleverly.
“All of it, in both senses, if you would show good faith in this game,” I shot back immediately.
Timothy frowned, “You drive a hard bargain but I will answer, even though that is truly two answers. Timothy, the human boy became this way when Millicenth drew his spirit out and opened the way from the void for me to enter. She did this using the man you know as Father Tonnsdale as her agent, what you would call a ‘channeler’.” It paused after that, as if unsure how to continue.
The statement that Millicenth, the goddess of the dawn had been directly involved in the recreation of the shiggreth was a shock to me as I had previously assumed it to be the work of Mal’goroth, but I hid my surprise.
