The River Ghasts of Lid and Other Stories

Ancient and Dangerous - 4

The three were crouching in a chamber. They had been slowly mapping the complex, Jonit through magic and the elf and Pigeon simply by crawling down the tunnels. Under them, scratched in the earth, was a map of the tunnels, nearly filling the floor.

The elf had gone from sullen to merely grim, but was obviously hugely curious about them both, and was finding that curiosity hard to contain.

'Shaman, what spell are you using? I have never seen it before.'

Jonit glanced at Pigeon, who shrugged. Taking that as permission, he answered.

'It's a wind charm. I move the air, and taste the shape of the things it hits.'

The elf nodded. 'So you can feel the shape of the tunnels. We felt some fey wind when we were hunting you. That was you, wasn't it? You can use it to track us at a distance.'

'Only fey wind was from your arse, mate,' interrupted Pigeon. 'Now, look, this tunnel is different from the others: it's mostly a single long spiral, and everything else branches off it. That means there might be something interesting in the middle, or maybe something interesting at the edge. The middle looks like a big chamber, right, Jonit?'

'Yes, but with some things in it. And I can't see far enough to know what happens at the edge of the spiral.'

'Right. It's these things that worry me. So, we'll go out, not in.'

He looked up at the darkening sky.

'I don't fancy another night down here without food. Come on. Let's go.'

It was slow going. Although Jonit was the smallest, his shoulder wound meant he could go no faster than the other two. So they crawled and crouched and hunched as quickly as they could, cursing as they stubbed their toes or banged their heads. Initially Pigeon was worried about getting lost, but the main spiral tunnel was actually noticeably bigger than its offshoots, and they were able to keep going in the half light. It was never completely dark, either; pale wisp fire floated above them, wandering randomly above ground.

As they progressed, the tunnel straightened out. After maybe an hour of this, suddenly they saw the trench end, and a gap in the roots.

'Alright, lads. Easy does it. We don't know what's up there.'

'I'm not one of your lads,' replied the elf, haughtily.

'Shut it, twinkle toes. Jonit, want to check it out?'

Jonit nodded, and they waited as he weaved his magic.

'I think we are near a river. I can't see anything. But I can't sense those floating fire things anyway, so they might be around.'

Pigeon nodded. 'Right. I'll go first. Elf, you're next. Jonit, take the rear.'

And so out they crawled, out into the open air, ready for trouble.

Nothing happened.

'Oh, it's nice to stand up again,' said Pigeon, stretching his back. 'Right, where's this river?'

And there it was, a huge silent expanse of water. It was properly dark now, and the river was lit by the wisps that floated everywhere, their pale fire reflected in the black water.

Pigeon looked at the trees nearby, found a suitable one, and stripped a long, thin, straight stick from it.

'Can either of you make a fire?'

Jonit shook his head, but the elf nodded.

'Excellent. Find some firewood, and get one going. I'm going fishing.'