The darkness provided little opportunity to see anything of the city as they walked across an empty square, where various seemingly temporary shacks stood, each closed up for the night, wooden signs indicating food or drink were sold there. Stone buildings that reminded him of an “old town” in Europe flanked the courtyard. He didn’t see a moon. The night air smelled and felt like spring, making Matt wish he knew more about this world, from how many hours in a day there were, or days in a week, to which continent they were on. He knew from the map that they had seen that they were in the southern hemisphere. They needed to start asking about these things, but it was hard when more important details were thrust before them.
Prince Dravo led them a few blocks away through empty, narrow streets, the group moving quietly, but not enough to prevent curious citizens from sticking their heads out of windows to silently watch the procession go. A few saw the dark elf and cursed, one even throwing a piece of bread that missed. The group passed under a stone bridge between two hills, a doorway in the base of one, and this is where the elf led them, two guards remaining behind. Matt brought light forth from the staff, others bringing their burning torches, as they descended steps and into the cellar of a building. From there, a hidden door led into a roughly cut stone stairway leading down through earth and stone. It wasn’t the most secure tunnel, but neither did it look like a collapse was imminent. Within minutes they had reached a level floor of dry earth, a puddle to one side of a room too small for all of them. Three hallways disappeared into darkness from it.
“The catacombs,” remarked a guard.
“Yes,” said Dravo. “The king may want to secure it more now that he knows it leads to a magic portal. This way.”
They followed him through various branching corridors, through small empty rooms, and down flights of stairs, the air growing musty and colder than outside. Sometimes they passed a discarded item like broken pottery, an empty scabbard, and part of a skeleton, usually an animal but once a human. Matt suspected they were hundreds of feet below the surface and felt uncomfortable about finding his way back. Had the guards brought enough torches to light the way? Was someone marking the trail? They passed a sinkhole that had collapsed a wide area of earth to create a cavern, and here they had to climb over the fallen stones to reach a partially blocked stairway, which led to the buried dark elf city below it.
“No wonder no one knows it is here,” remarked Ryan.
“There is little to see,” observed the prince.
They followed him another ten minutes as they moved through crumbling rooms of what was obviously a long buried and abandoned settlement, the elegant designs apparent despite the age. Faded paint remained on walls and floors, carvings revealing they were in the elven city, whatever it had been called. They finally came to a wider room, the ceiling partially caved in to one side. The far wall had a carving of a doorway on it, with various symbols around it like a wide frame or border. Matt saw trees, stars, moons, castles, and a few animals he didn’t recognize, but two silhouettes of elves stood out. He read the words carved around the door silently.
Here to the Land of Kiar this pathway leads
For elven kind or those in need.
Prince Dravo moved to stand before it as others kept their distance, but Matt joined him and spent a few moments learning the spell. It wasn’t complicated, which was why a dark elf with limited magic talent like Dravo could perform it. The magic worked the same from this side or the other, and to ensure they could return even if something happened to the prince, Matt made sure the other two wizards also knew it before he cast the spell. The letters glowed green as the stone door faded and disappeared. Through it they saw bare earth with tufts of grass, a cascade of vines, and darkness that their torches pierced.
“We should go without light,” said Dravo, Matt turned off his staff, others leaving torches behind.
The prince and wizard went first, Ryan, Eriana, and Eric following. A half dozen guards dressed for stealth came with them to assist the freed prisoners so that the Ellorians could fight if necessary and not have to worry about the hostages being led away while they did so.
The night air felt as warm as before when Matt stepped onto the earth. He moved to the thick, leafy vines obscuring anything beyond. He looked back at the portal as Prince Dravo spoke a few words and it closed, the soft green glow fading. They listened in silence but heard nothing, which didn’t surprise Matt. The dark elf had explained their location in the cliff-side city of Avaran.
Only the royalty and those who served them likely knew of the ancient portal because it stood near an area reserved for them, which meant few others went there. But even the elves, who lived for hundreds of years on this world, didn’t have memories that lasted forever. Overgrown and forgotten near a part of the royal enclave that had suffered a rockfall long ago, the portal hadn’t been used in a thousand years. As he had told the champions, Prince Dravo only knew of it because he had long made a point of studying the defenses as one of the most strategic thinking generals of Kiarven. He had stumbled upon it. He had told no one what he’d found or of his explorations of the underground world on the other side under Thiat.
“Which way?” the wizard
