then move on.”
“I don’t think that will work,” disagreed Jeni in her dreamy voice, which drifted above the crowd.
All eyes turned to where the peculiar Daergar girl stood, rocking from one foot to the other, undulating her hips as she moved.
“I bet the compass won’t let us stay here very long at all,” she said.
Bradok reflexively put a hand to his pocket then hesitated. He liked the idea of staying in the fantastic city, and he wasn’t sure he wanted the opinion of Reorx’s compass. Before he could extract it from his pocket, however, Corin spoke up.
“Why do you say that?” he asked Jeni, narrowing his eyes. “What do you know? Have you discovered something you haven’t told us about?”
Jeni shook her head, pointing to a pile of rubble at the base of the clock tower. Bradok had been staring at the tower for hours and hadn’t noticed anything odd, but as one the group followed Jeni’s pointing finger and approached the rock pile.
“What are you getting at, girl?” Kellik demanded.
He opened his mouth to say something else, but the words died in his throat. There, in the center of the pile, everyone saw the same thing: covered in dust and looking for all the world like a rock was a skull. Once Bradok could see it, he also saw what looked like an armored chest and arm, ending in a long, curved spike.
“What is that?” Rose said fearfully.
Bradok pushed his way to the front and picked up the skull. What had made it so hard to see before was that it didn’t look like a skull, at least not like any he’d ever seen. There weren’t any holes for eyes, just a smooth, curved surface all the way across the front of the face where the eyes should be. Two vertical nostril slits sat high in the center of the forehead, and the upper jaw held a double row of backward-facing, needlelike teeth.
Much bent down and picked up two long, curved bones from the floor, holding them up close to the skull. They were long enough to be arm bones, but everyone could see they were wicked, curving teeth.
“This jaw bone is two separate pieces,” Much said, holding the huge teeth in place against the skull in Bradok’s hands. “The bottom part must be missing.”
It was the largest jaw anyone had ever seen or imagined. The sight sent shivers up Bradok’s back.
“What was it?” Bradok asked Corin.
The Daergar reached out and took the skull, pouring water from his bag over it. As the dust disappeared, the skull took on a green hue, like bottle glass. Even more disturbing, Bradok could see Corin’s hand through the side of the skull.
“It’s not bone,” Corin said, holding the skull up for everyone to see. “It’s chitin.”
“What does that mean?” Lyra asked in a small voice.
“Chitin is what insect skeletons are made of,” Urlish Hearthhome said.
“That’s no insect skull,” Chisul said. “It looks human or maybe elf.”
“Only if humans had no eyes,” Perin said.
While the others argued, Bradok studied Corin. The dwarf’s normally easygoing manner had hardened, and his left eye was twitching.
“Tell me more. What do you know about these chitin creatures?” Bradok asked.
“He doesn’t know anything for certain, I’m afraid,” Xurces cut in. “There are old legends, nothing more than bard’s tales really, of a race of humanoid insects who burrow deep in the earth.”
“This is no legend, Xurces,” Corin said, holding up the skull. “This is real.”
“Well, what do the legends say about these insects?” Chisul asked.
Xurces sighed as if he didn’t believe he was having such a preposterous conversation. “They’re called the Disir, or at least that’s what I’ve heard them called. They’re supposed to be deep-dwelling insects with armored bodies, swordlike arms, and ravenous appetites. They’ll eat just about anything, even some rocks.”
“That’s it?” Kellik said.
Xurces shrugged. “Until five minutes ago, it was just a story to frighten disobedient children,” he said. “I never really paid attention to the details.”
Kellik brought out his hammer and a crowbar and began clearing debris. Bradok, Chisul, and Corin helped until half an hour later they had uncovered all the rest of the skeleton.
Kellik whistled, glancing at Xurces. “The next time someone tells that story, you can tell them it ain’t a story,” he said.
The skeleton had four legs attached to an oblong, tail-like piece that Urlish called the abdomen. Above that, a massive chest sprouted two arms that ended in serrated, swordlike blades. They assembled it partly on the ground, but even so, its size was enormous.
“I would not want to meet that monster in a dark alley,” Much said once they had all the pieces laid out.
“Dark,” Xurces said, snapping his fingers. “I just remembered something else about the legend. The Disir are blind. They prefer the dark. They hunt with sound, like bats.”
Much and Bradok looked at each other then turned slowly, looking up at the clock tower above them where the cogs, shafts, and gears were churning merrily away. It suddenly seemed like an awful lot of noise.
Watching them, Chisul also looked up and felt terror. “Turn that thing off,” he yelled. “Turn it off now!”
CHAPTER 19
It took ten full minutes to get the water drive out and stowed. In the silence that followed, the only thing that could be heard was the ragged breathing of the survivors. Every ear strained to hear something, anything. No one knew what, exactly they were listening for, but everyone knew they would recognize it once they heard it.
“I don’t hear anything,” Xurces said after what must have been a full half hour of silence.
“Maybe they didn’t hear us,” Lyra said in a frightened voice.
“If there’s anyone left to hear anything,” Kellik said.
“I don’t want to stay and find out,” Bradok said, pulling out the compass and staring down through its crystal top.
As the light-gathering machine shut down, the stream of twilight from outside ceased. The only light that remained were the giant crystals that had bounced the beam around the cavern. They seemed to have the ability to store some of the light that passed through them and they glowed, pleasantly dim, shedding enough light to see by but still giving the impression of night.
“What’s down there?” Bradok asked, pointing down the lane of dead trees.
“A couple of big doors that lead to a rough tunnel,” Rose said.
“All right,” Bradok said, rechecking the compass and shouldering his pack. “Let’s head in that direction.”
The doors at the end of the tree-lined hall were large and ornate. They looked almost decorative, but Kellik pointed out the massive iron bars that could be dropped from a hidden slot in the ceiling. Once in place, the bars would keep the doors closed against just about any menace. The fact that they were still slotted in their holes in the ceiling made Bradok wonder again: Just what had happened to Galoka and his followers?
The passage beyond appeared to be a natural tunnel, like the ones they’d followed all the way from that first beach where the skeleton of Silas’s boat lay decaying. With a sigh, Bradok pressed forward. Kellik was closest to him, trailed by Much, Perin, and old Marl Anvil. The rest of the survivors followed at a short distance.
“Well, this is interesting,” Rose said, coming up beside Bradok. “Evil mushroom people behind us and killer insect creatures ahead. Never a dull day here in the underground.”
“What makes you think the killer insects’re ahead of us?” Bradok asked.
Rose offered a thin smile. “No reason,” she said. “That just seems to be the way our luck’s been running.”
Bradok nodded with a humorless smile.
“What do you want to do when we get out of here?” Rose asked as they walked along with the others.
