Darkspur

Chapter 23 - Sunrise

Far-Naeborn was a bustle of activity. The halls and walkways were packed with darkly clothed Darnach ferrying supplies in a seemingly never-ending flow. A group of four guards had arrived to escort Tari to Gorothan at the main entrance hall and she was now being marched down level after level of the huge city. The apprehension she felt was far outweighed by the excitement that was coursing through her body, so anxious was she to get outside for the first time in what she now knew was decades.

As they walked past one of the many dark rooms she caught a glimpse of a face looking out from the gloom; it was a woman, something Tari had never seen before in her whole time in Far-Naeborn. Of course, she had always wondered why, as with so many other questions, but she had never once asked Gorothan, choosing long ago to interact with her captor as little as possible. The woman to had the red glowing eyes of her male counterparts but she was emaciated and hunched, leaning weakly on a stone pillar with a haunting, defeated expression. She stared at Tari, her sad, pleading eyes fixed on the Priestess' face. But then she smiled, a thin, weak, almost heartbreaking smile that said so much to Tari in that short moment it was as if the two had know each other all there lives. One of the guards saw the woman, striding over, his hand on his sword hilt. The thin apparition shuffled away onto the darkness and the guard took his place again beside Tari.

The main hall was huge. Great stone buttresses, sculpted with massive Dwarven figures, thrust up into the vaulted roof hundreds of feet above. All around the fevered activity continued as laden carts were being hitched to uncharacteristically quiet ogres. They stood, dumbly looking forward, ignoring the commotion that was going on around them. It was only then Tari noticed the red, jagged crystals impaled in the animals foreheads, blood still seeping from the deep wounds; the Darnach obviously had control of the beasts.

Gorothan appeared through the throng, the sea of Darnach parting as he and his group made their way towards Tari.

"Greetings Priestess, I trust we are ready for the journey?" he asked, with a crooked smiling.

"I am, Gorothan, can't comment on how ready you may be. Care to tell me where we are going?"

"In time, in time. Please take this," he said, handing Tari a dark scarf. "It will protect your eyes, you will need it in the morning when the sun rises."

Tari's heart skipped, 'when the sun rises', such a simple statement but it meant so, so much to her.

"Now, please follow me, it is time to leave," and he turned, again the crowd parting before him.

Tari followed Gorothan through the crowded hall towards the huge city gates. All the while he quietly gave orders to those around him, who then in turn would run off or bark some command at a subordinate. Her heart pounded in her chest, hands uncontrollably shaking as she waited desperately for the doors to open. There was a solid clunk and gears started slowly turning as several soldiers began heaving at chains connected to the heavy lock mechanism. Six large metal bars began to inch apart as the chains hauled them away from their freshly greased housings; it must have only taken minutes but to Tari they moved achingly slow. There was a metal on metal screech and the rattling chains fell silent. Eight men ran forward, two heaving a huge bolt from the bottom of one of the gates, freeing a large metal guide wheel. They all began to pull.

Instantly Tari felt the rush of cool air as the two foot thick gate rumbled open; beyond did not lead to the outside though. An immense tunnel gently sloped up into the darkness and Tari peered through the widening gap in the hope of a glimpse of the outside. She pushed past Gorothan and several of his underlings, desperately searching the gloom. A guard made after her but Gorothan stopped him, his twisted smile showing his pleasure at Tari's desperation. She stumbled free of the crowd, now standing on her own in front of the fully open gate, eyes straining to see along the dark tunnel. All she could hear was blood rushing in her ears, a hammering in her chest until suddenly, silence, her heart seeming to stop as the clouds temporally parted and for the first time in almost half a century, she saw the stars.