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The Path of Starless Night offered a darkness beyond anything that Brynn had ever known, deeper even than the blackness of the peat JJL cave Walking the tunnels, descending under the an to understand a second ele, a quiet so intense that it numbed the ears and oal ahead, tried to find strength and determination in the realization that this dark path marked the end of her journey hoht, they would look upon To-gai, the grassy steppes of her hoainst the pounding silence, stifling and seelass-and-wood creations of the Doc&039;alfar, all glowing bluish white But even the light seemed uncomfortable there, di-low, it occurred to Brynn that their laht them to predators more than they revealed any predators to them
The air arm and still - so still that it settled about the down their steps
The tunnel was broken and uneven, so that even they, two elves and an elven-trained ranger, had to take care with every step not to stub their toes or trip and fall Sis of stone all about, casting oht
"How ht of a fla the stillness so starkly that both Juraviel and Brynn jumped ?With each flicker, the shadows co past, before we learned the secrets of the fazl pods Those who traveled these paths beca of the shadows that when real danger presented itself, they were caught unawares" R nn regarded her glowing scepter, its carved wood handle and the d class ball set at its top The light was fairly constant, but in looking 1the ranger did note that there were so about rtthin the frosted sphere
"Fazl pods?" Juraviel asked, as if reading Brynn&039;s mind
"Small centipedes of the deep peat," Cazzira explained ?They lowing low forunder the h wood and I doubt we&039;ll find any down here!
The conversation died at that, and the trio went on They came to many forks in the trail, and intersections, and crossed a feider chambers, so confidence that she knew the way, and it took Brynn a long while to catch on to the secret: all choices in the path had beenelven script deli-cately carved upon the walls
"Your people come down here often," she said, and she winced, for her words sounded as an accusation
Cazzira looked at her hard, as did Juraviel, the Touel&039;alfar silently signal-ing for Brynn to tread cautiously
"You know the way, because the passages have beenhard to keep her tone nonconfronta-tional ?Your people are not strangers to the Path of Starless Night, I would assume ?
"We used to co pause ?Once, o, Tymwyvenne was comprised of two settle-ments, the one you have walked and one in here"
"Why was the second abandoned?" Juraviel asked before Brynn could, the elf apparently past his trepidation at broaching the subject
"The reasons are s crawl along these corridors, and after a few more days in here, you will understand e prefer the open air"
"I understand it already," Brynn rereeh the rest of the day - to the best of their esti their glowing laically in the corridor outside, so that whoever was on watch would see the approach of a threat before it saw them
Ihe next day went the sa the silent blackness The second day, Cazzira showed the! that they could eat, and some other mushrooms that they would be wise to avoid On and on theywallted, and oftentimes crawled in corridors too low for even the tes, and th?n set a similar camp
ihe next day was much the sameand the next after that, and the next after that, where the only highlight was the discovery of a small stream where they could refill their waterskins, and even bathe a bit Brynn was glad of that, very glad, but despite the clear water, every day they got a bit dirtier and a bit smellier
On and on they walked, and the paths were so winding, left and right that they had to wonder howto the south At tile that they had to clier- and toeholds At other times, the path dropped so dramatically that they had to take out the fine silken ropes Cazzira&039;s kin had provided, and slide down
None of the one foot in front of the other
So s did Brynn, Juraviel, and Cazzira see in the days to co at the shore, dis-turbed so unseen and unknown; an underground waterfall, tu like tumultuous e and beautiful for and turning into exotic, shin-ing shapes as they becah another wondrous place, a three-tiered plateau of gigantic e oak and thrice Brynn&039;s height, when they came to know, for the first time, that they were not alone
It ca of darker shadows at the edge of Brynn&039;s consciousness
The woet her staff up to intercept the rushing creature as it ran past her, but she did let out an alare, Belli&039; hi his feet again, he noted the shiny line of a thick blade, slashing through the air where he had just been He started to call out to Cazzira, but saw that the Doc&039;alfar was already exploding into motion
She caolden-wood club flying at the end of one extended limb She whipped it past the dark attacker, too far away for a strike, but with enough of a whipping sound to freeze the creature in place for an instant
That was all Brynn needed As the creature jerked upright, the wo her boeen its widespread legs She caught the leading edge of her boith her now free hand and continued on, low-ering her shoulder as she lifted with both hands, sla into the crea-ture, which was so bow took away its balance
Down it went, crashing to the floor
Before Brynn could pursue, she noted other movement, all about, and ,amst a sec- came up just in time to set herself in a defensive posture !" Juraviel yelled, as a pair of the creatures rushed through a t area, their ugly features showing clearly The elf leaped toward then fell into another roll to avoid the thrust of a pair of spears &039;Ijrynn shifted her bow out toward hi the ht past her, to dive yet another roll that brought him up between Brynn and Cazzira, and 1 ser to the Doc&039;alfar He started toward her, alarmed, but realized almost t once that Cazzira needed no help at that tiraceful, and beautiful as bi&039;nelle dasada, the elven sword dance She twirled about, spinning on a pointed toe leaping and kicking, and all the while shifting her s it flow out from her, an extension of her perfectly con-trolled body
She seeoblin rushed in at her back, spear leading
But Cazzira spun and the spear went past her turning back, and the gob-lin got too close, inside the reach of her club
The crack was so pronounced that Juraviel and Brynn figured the Doc&039;-alfar&039;s club must have split apart, but when the strike was finished, Cazzira continued her dance, intact weapon in hand, and the goblin skidded down and lay very still, the side of its head caved in
Cazzira&039;s club swiped past another goblin, which hunched back out of range, then came on, for it seemed clear that the di could have been further fro harmlessly past, but the Doc&039;alfar flipped it over to her other hand, her left hand, weaving against the flow of her body as she turned right to left
Her left turned under and handed the club back to her right, reversing the weapon so that Cazzira took its thick end
Out snapped that right hand, stabbing the thinner, handle end of the club into the face of the attacker, whose own oblins down and the dance went on
Bellidance of Cazzira nearly cost hi at hi other than their intended prey
Lne elf got his sword out in front to parry one spear and force the welder of the second to hold back its thrust Then Breynn was there right behind the attacking pair, her bow-staff mentally before her idespread hands She punched out, left right, soblins hard toe on the back of the head, on the shoulder, and both stumbled forwlrd
Where JuravieJ&039;s fine-tipped sword stabbed them, one-two, one-two
The elf spun about, and Brynn leaped up beside hi and shouting, shadowy for into the darkness
Both Brynn and Juraviel spun about to regard Cazzira, who seemed stuck in place, like a statue fashioned after a dancer caught in a pose, one arm ex-tended above her head, her weapon held perpendicularly to it, back over and across her head, and her other ar instrument She was up on one foot - on one toe, actually - with her other leg looped about the supporting lioblins approached; no goblins, save those on the ground about her, were to be seen
"We hter tunnels where goblins cannot throw spears at us from the shadows!"
"So to the two elves, they did not reveal it
"Away! Away!" Juraviel dedown one narrow corridor
Around the first bend, Juraviel, in the lead, caoblin, its sickly eyes ith surprise
A fine sword slid into its belly; a club came past Juraviel&039;s shoulder to smash it in the face
The three ran over it as it fell back, sto of wide goblin feet in pursuit so her bow as they ran, and when the sound closed in at their backs, she turned suddenly and let fly, her arrow disappearing into the darkness She knew not if she hit anything, or if her arrow skipped harmlessly across the stones, but the sound of pursuit stopped for a bit, and the three ran on
They crossed a large cha near to the wall, then turned into the first opening, only to hear goblins,and the third, as well Then, using nothing ed down the next In the di lae of a precipice She fell to her knees, watching in horror as a few loose stones fell before her, dropping out of sight
Seconds later, the three heard the echoes of the stones bouncing along the deeper rocks
"Back!" Juraviel yelled ?Quickly, before the goblins cut us off!"
"They already have!" cried Brynn
"There is a way!" said Cazzira, pointing to the right, past the precipice
Peering into the gloo trail that seemed full of loose stones She was about to point out &039; h rious danger there, but Juraviel and Cazzira weren&039;t waiting, with the far leaping out and beginning her controlled slide, and Juraviel hop-it behind her, his wings flapping furiously so that he put as little Sit on the unstable slope as possible
Brvnn turned and let fly another couple of arroanting the other two be far below before she tried the slope with her greater erly, and lay out on her side, using her bow like a guiding oar she slid down, down, into the deeper blackness
She caught up to Juraviel and Cazzira at an apparent dead end: a lip overlooking a deep, deep drop
The torking furiously - to set up soured at first, but she looked on curiously as they unpacked the fine silken rope, Cazzira taking one end and handing the bulk of it to Juraviel
With a shared nod, the Touel&039;alfar leaped out into the blackness, wings beating furiously He disappeared froging at all gave Brynn hope that his descent was controlled, at least
"He has found footing," Cazzira told Brynn a few seconds later
Brynn glanced back to see Cazzira tying off the rope around the stub of a stalag the rope in both hands, the Doc&039;alfar set her feet against thethe slack as much as possible
"Use your belt," she said to Brynn, then she looped her own belt over the rope and swung out, sliding away into the darkness
Leaving Brynn, who had given her laoblins approaching
The wo down to her knees, groping her way to the stalagmite mound and the taut rope She had no time to pause and consider what she was about to do, no time to yell out and make sure that Cazzira was clear and she could come on, no time even to shout and ask how far she would have to slide She just looped her belt over the rope, grabbed up her precious bow, and slipped out, tucking her feet defensively as she blindly slid over the riuide her in on the other end, the pair standing on a landing, with a dark tunnel behind therabbed up the rope and gave a deft twist and tug that detached it across the way
If hey pulled it in and ran on, and this ti the way behind theoblin pursuit Tthey went on for a long, long time, until sheer exhaustion stopped iem
They made their camp in as defensible a position as they could find, set their order of watch, and, despite their nervousness each of them slept soundly
Theythe only tunnel available to theh Cazzira admitted that she had little idea of where they were "In Ty that e," she told the to be huht it
They seeht direction, south, as far as their instincts could tell, butdownwith each passing hour The next change caradually that it took them all many, many steps to even notice
Juraviel stopped, and the other two glanced at him and were held by the curious expression on his face ?The tunnels are not natural," he explained ?They have been worked"
Both Cazzira and Brynnaloft their respective lights to study both wall and flooring Sure enough, they found crafted supports along walls and ceiling, and worked blocks flooring the somewhat even slope beneath their feet
Brynn and Juraviel inevitably turned to Cazzira for some explanation, but the Doc&039;alfar had none to offer
"There are no cities down here, no settle-ments at all, that the Tylwyn Doc know of," she explained ?Unless these are goblin tunnels"
Juraviel was shaking his head before she ever finished that last, ooblins made these,"
he said with some confidence ?Goblins tear down, they do not create"
"The world is a wide place, Belli&039;mar Juraviel," Cazzira reminded ?By your oords, not all hudoai-ru Perhaps the saoblins"
Juraviel considered the words briefly, but shook his head again Not goblins
"We should know soon enough," Brynn put in, and she started away, the other two falling into step beside her
The worked tunnel went on forfi-nally into a wide cha out froht, and with a narrow doorway set in the ht, the trio moved up to the door, to find that it was not fully closed, and inging unevenly on its old and rusty hinges
Juraviel took the lead, gently pushing it open, studying the stonework i left and then spinning around to the right, looking past the door
Then he looked back to his co a corridor of stonealls, six to feet high, all the way to the wall, and finding only a dead end, with no &039;her doors or openings apparent &039; raviel looked at his co jher, a short gave hiht would illuet there, the elf came down almost immediately
A s, but at op-osite ends of each successive corridor ?
"A defensive design," Cazzira noted ?To force ene hundreds of feet of narrow corridors merely to cross this one chamber"
"Then let us hope it is not now defended," said Juraviel, and he started along the corridor the other way, all the way to the far wall, where they found an opening that turned back into the second corridor All the way back to the other end, they found the entrance to the third
Entering that third corridor, Brynn juht the top of the wall, and pulled herself into a sitting position atop it ?My feet ache fro back toward Cazzira The Doc&039;alfar took her hand, and Brynn easily pulled her over the wall, while Juraviel flut-tered up and over to join the their way back toward the center of the room, and finally they came over the last of the thirty barriers, to find a series of carved steps leading between four fabu-lously decorated colureat iron door set in the chas on those columns told them much
"Powries," Juraviel said breathlessly as he inspected the worn reliefs He looked to Cazzira, who seemed not to understand ?Bloody caps Dwarves" The Doc&039;alfar shrugged and shook her head, even afterbeside Juraviel to see the fairly accurate depiction of one of the fierce powries sculpted into the colu pose, hooked sword at the ready and in full battle gear
If we go through that door to find a city of powries awaiting us, then we are surely doo grin on her face ?Yet you wish to open it aswashed over Brynn as she watched the two elves exchange smiles, a sudden intuition that so between the about it, just followed, her bow &039; hand and ready, as Juraviel and Cazzira walked up to the large iron , studied it for a few es creaking
A thin, glowing fog awaited the forward Just inside the doors \va landing, a balcony overlooking a wide cha down into the bowels of the er cos, sat on those various plateaus nected level to level by stone-worked stairways, all of it illuminated in d n white They saw the pockets of fazl pod colonies, dozens and dozens great living la in the uess So many were there, that few corners of the various plateau were hidden in shadows, and this city spreading beneath thee, level upon level upon level
But, they learned as they descended the stairway fro in decay Upon closer inspection, the trio noted that the stones of the various buildings were cruone What few items they found in the many houses, pots and clay vessels utensils and stone furniture, were broken and dusty, with no sign of any continuing society
They , down another stairway, then across a narrow stone bridge to a small section of what seemed to be more lavish houses
"Back!" Cazzira warned as soon as they had stepped off the bridge, and the other two froze in place
Following her gaze, they saw the threat, first one gigantic subterranean lizard and then another, slithering across an area of tu in a fluid,out before them
"The new inhabitants," Cazzira whispered
"But what happened to the old ones?" Brynn asked; and intending to find out exactly that, the three went down again to another level, then down froain
On what seemed to be the bottommost section of the city, in a chamber similar to the first they had crossed, full of defensible walls, and even with the rotted wooden remains of what seemed to be a ballista, they found their answers
The room was full of skeletons, piled at every portal
"Short and thick," Juraviel re up one broken femur ?Powrie bones" He shook his head in disbelief as he searched on, for the bones were devastated, smashed and clawed ?What could have done this to a colony of hardy powries?" he asked, and the other two, having no ex-perience with the powerful dwarves, didn&039;t truly understand the weight ot that state to a wide-open anteroom, where they found many more bones, but ounds very different
Brynn bent low and picked one up, holding it for the other two to see
on one side, as if some intense heat had blasted across it ndous force Likewise, one wall of the rooine could have done this?" Juraviel asked
wurm," came a quiet answer from Cazzira a few moments later, both Turaviel and Brynn looked at her directly, she added, aeon?" Brynn echoed, and she looked to Juraviel, her expression full Turaviel&039;s look dispelled those doubts, for he was nodding in agree too deep," Cazzira remarked ?Perhaps they uncov-ered that which should have been left undisturbed"
"Do you notice that so?" Juraviel asked, and the other two looked at him curiously
"Their weapons," he explained ?Their armor All of their treasures The entire city, as far as we have seen, has been picked clean"
"By centuries of pillagers," Cazzira reasoned, and they left it at that and went back to their searching
By the tunnel opening of the anteroom, Brynn found the next surprise ?This was no powrie," she said, holding up a longer and narrower fe-er bones, human bones, they seemed, were about it, some crushed, others just burned