Children of The Underground

Chapter 19: Man of Brass

Elektra led the five vedmaks, down the tunnel, their babbling voices trailing behind her. The one who spoke the loudest, the quickest, was the one who shot her. The dark one, Dragomir.

"We think we can make something that'll eliminate the anomalies," he said. "But we need orichalc. A lot of it. Enough to criss-cross that whole damned city"

"We have orichalc," replied Elektra. "But what of it?"

"I'll explain later."

"We also need maps," Vera interjected. "Do you have any maps of The Dead City? Those would be really helpful for us, too."

"I think we can get you someone to bring you into the archives. As for what's in them, I don't know. Now can you explain your plan?"

"They'll create a massive crucible." Said Misha, cutting right to the mother truth. "A large device that would be capable of neutralizing the artifacts and forging a path right into that Kremlin of yours."

Elektra stopped, and turned around. Drazhek nearly ran into her. She cocked in eyebrow in what would be comic incredulity, if not for the circumstances."

"Are you pulling my leg? I may have had half of my face blown off," Drazhek turned away guiltily, but Elektra wasn't glaring at him. "But my brain's still intact. You want to steal orichalc, is that it? Or maybe pilfer secrets from the archives?"

Misha replied just as quickly

"If that's what you think's worth stealing, then you really have it bad." She yawned. "Speaking of which, do you know where we can spend the night around here?"

"What's 'night'?" Elektra asked.

It was Misha's turn to cock an eyebrow. But she could find no trace of sarcasm in Elektra's silver, pupilless eyes.

"Night's when it's dark out, and there's no sun..."

"Now what's a 'sun'?" Elektra looked positively puzzled. Misha turned helplessly to her comrades, who looked equally nonplussed. Except Vera. Vera was smiling like as though Elektra was a very young, but very inquisitive child.

"The Sun's a big floating ball of fire in the sky that shines on everything. It makes plants grow. If you stare at it you'll go blind."

Elektra's face, twisted by both horror and befuddlement, explained everything that Misha could ever want to know about these Mavs.

How could you explain day to a creature that lives where it is always night?

"We need a place to spend to sleep." Drazhek finally said. That brought everyone back to reality. "Do you know where we can stay while we figure out how to make our crucible?"

"I suppose we can take you back to the monastery." Elektra replied

Before anyone could ask if there was an inn to stay at, they remembered that they were in a smallish town beneath the Earth, whose only major city was an anomaly-strewn hellscape. So of course there were no travelers, or anything of the sort.

Everyone let out a sigh. There really wasn't much else they could do, considering the circumstances. They had no choice but to take refuge in the monastery of those strange underground folk, who prayed to a strange underground god that had most decidedly abandoned them.

As they returned through the corridor whence they came, back into the garrison, another group of Mavish men, deathly pale, with the same silver-white hair and pupilless eyes, approached them.

"Weapons, please," asked one fellow. He was a model of masculinity, with broad shoulders, a squarish jaw and cleft chin. He was also dressed in armor similar to Elektra's. A shortsword hung from one hip, and a bow was strapped to his back.