Blood of the Red

Chapter 38 - Ingold

Chapter 38 – Ingold

Ingold hit the water hard enough to break bones in his face. When he came to, he wondered if he were blind. Velvet darkness enfolded him and would not break though he willed a flame. An image of a man wreathed in lightning swam into his mind's eye. A man in a circle of light, falling away. Ingold jerked his hands to his face. The splashing and a shower of drops explained the failure of his fire. He lay on his back in the shallows of a pool.

He tried to stand. The pain of broken cheekbones paled to nothing against the agony that lanced through Ingold's right leg. The leg grated as he moved it, fragmented bone crunched on fragmented bone. He collapsed from all fours into a sprawl, face half in the water, weeping and cursing.

"Seven shades of shit. You're not lying here Ingold. You're going to move!"

He dragged himself from the pool, panting through gritted teeth. Once clear of the water he made a fist, squeezing with all his strength. The heat built rapidly in his grip, and within seconds a single flame sprang from his hand.

The great sinkhole, into which he'd fallen, formed a rough circle in the roof of the cavern. A clear lake, several fathoms deep at the middle, filled most of the chamber. A stream fed the pool from a crack in one wall, and bubbled cheerfully down a low tunnel on the opposite side. The waters leaving the chamber were darkly mottled. At great cost Ingold edged himself closer. He rested for a moment, cheek against the stone, it was cool but not cold. The water – he noted – was warm, like the air. Gritting his teeth Ingold made light again. Some dark pollutant oozed from a single hairline fracture in the rock. Ingold knew it at once.

"I was right about the redfish, Gartus," he muttered.

Ingold bid his fire burn more fiercely, and the cavern laid its secrets before him. The only exit was a narrow fissure leading away, close by the stream's inlet.

"Had to be on the other damn side didn't you?"

Borrowing curses from the Stilt Town fisherman Ingold dragged himself back to his original position, and on toward the crack. As he reached the entrance the reek of Blood almost overwhelmed him. He felt it like pepper in his lungs; he felt it in his veins, like claws. The flame rising from his hand became a sudden inferno, reaching up his wrist, spreading along his arteries. Panicked he willed the fire to stop. The blaze had a will of its own! A will that proved the stronger, and his arm caught light to the elbow.

Ingold threw himself back to the water, his leg shouting its pain but unheard above the screaming terror of the fire. Under the icy water Ingold's arm still burned. A red heat consumed his flesh.

Think man think! It's feeding on your fear!

Ingold turned his head away. Refusing to look at the fire. With a quavering voice he began to sing. He sang the marching song he'd sung with Gartus, his voice strengthening at the memory. And slowly, very slowly, the fire receded.

At length Ingold stood, rising from the shallows, dripping wet. His leg hurt like hell, but it bore his weight. His healing had kicked into an unheard-of pace. He asked for light and instantly flames danced on the shore before him, obedient to his thoughts. He felt a rush of new power such as he had experienced only once before.

"I'm going to look like Gartus before I get out of here."

Ingold wondered if talking to himself was a dangerous step toward insanity. He shrugged and decided that he liked the company. Preceded by the fire and limping heavily, he made his way to the crack. It stretched for some fifty yards and grew so narrow that Ingold thought he would have to retreat, or risk being wedged in the depths forever. With his head bracketed by two sheer walls of rock he drove on and burst through into a new chamber. Here pale, faintly luminous fungi crowded every surface. Ingold let his fire die and waited for his eyes to adjust to the soft light. Although of many sizes, the formations shared a common shape, a delicate perforated cap upon a graceful stalk, some of them three feet in height.