Arkus couldn't see a thing. He could hear Nadred, at least he hoped it was Nadred, scurrying about in the darkness, his hands rasping along the rough stone wall as he searched for the secret door. The friends were in the drains of Shishari Nasar, a large sprawling city on the edge of the great eastern desert, Tyrtan, and as expected the sluice was bone dry; it hadn't rained in over 13 months and Arkus was thankful he didn't have to worry about what he was kneeling in.
"Remind me again why we can't have any light," Arkus asked.
"Because, there are Dernoth down here, can't hear a thing but if they see as much as a match head of light, we would be ripped to pieces in a matter of minutes," Nadred replied.
Dernoth were more or less rats but grew three times the size, with razor fangs and retractable talons the over-sized rodents could make short work of any man. Arkus decided he could live with the darkness for now. Anyway, Nadred's night vision seemed to be working fine, even though it was taking him forever to find the door.
"Are you sure it's down here, Arkus?" Nadred asked.
"As sure as I can be with information bought from the thieves guild," he replied. "Anyway, you assured me there hadn't been a secret door built that you couldn't find."
"I did, didn't I. You really should have learned by now to take everything I say with a pinch of salt. Especially when I say it in a tavern," Nadred continued.
"Are you telling me..." Arkus began but a loud snap cut him off.
"How good am I?" the Mage boasted.
There was a terrible scraping sound of stone on stone and Arkus winced, fearful of being heard, but beyond was just as dark as the drain. He felt Nadred grab his wrist, pulling him towards what he hoped was the door.
"You need to crouch..." Nadred started to say but the dull thud of Arkus' head on the door lintel told him it was too late.
"Could have warned me a bit earlier, "Arkus hissed through clenched teeth.
Once inside, the mage pushed the heavy door shut and summoned a small flame in his left hand. He held the swirling orange orb between his middle finger and thumb, stretching the fizzing globe ahead as he peered into the gloom. Arkus blinked, his eyes adjusting to the glaring light and found himself staring into the empty eye sockets of a crusty, mummified head. He instinctively stepped back, hearing a loud crunch beneath his foot.
"Watch what you're doing, Arkus. The spirits don't take kindly to people dancing on their remains," Nadred whispered, frowning at the large man.
They were obviously in the crypt under the Temple of Karadish, exactly where Arkus wanted to be. The tight, dusty passageway was crowded with long hollows, chiselled into what looked like solid bedrock. The scores of graves stretched into the darkness, every one stuffed with either a simply wrapped corpse or stacked tight with tier upon tier of sooty bone. It was obvious that no-one had passed this way in some time, the floor and walls thick with dust.
Arkus stuck his hand under the breast plate, producing a small map he had purchased at the thieves guild the night before. Problem was, it was either fake or just plainly wrong as the two got lost almost immediately. But after thirty minutes of stumbling, nauseating crunching and much muttering from Nadred, they eventually found some stairs.
"Praise the Gods," Nadred exclaimed.
"If the Gods had anything to do with this, I think they were hindering rather than helping," Arkus commented.
Slowly, the two climbed the worn stone steps until they reached a rusting metal gate, dim torch light shining at the end of the corridor beyond. Nadred extinguished his fingers and pushed the gate. The hinges screeched alarmingly but with a wave of his hand they fell silent. The two men crept along the plain, dark corridor, pausing at an archway as Arkus produced a second map. The Mage frowned, gesturing at the piece of parchment but Arkus just shrugged, unsure whether this plan would be as useless as the last. This time though, it appeared to be correct. They quickly made their way through the cool, roughly hewn corridors of the temple, only encountering one surpirsed worshipper as they went, who Arkus easily dispatched with a solid punch to the nose. Finally, the two men reached the inner sanctum at the centre of the huge building, the entry blocked by a heavy set of wooden doors. Strangely though, they were barred from the outside.wn
YOU ARE READING
Darkspur
FantasiIn a land where magic was once the norm, it has taken time for the people to adjust to its absence. In the eight years since a plague took most of the land's Magi, the people of Darkspur have worked hard to put the dark days behind them. Now, after...
