Delver Magic I: Sanctum's Breach, Jeff Inlo [buy e reader .txt] 📗
- Author: Jeff Inlo
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A hand on his shoulder shook him. The swirling red cloud disappeared and the form of Shayed again stood before him. It was Holli’s hand upon his shoulder.
“Are you alright?” the elder elf asked.
Ryson was about to proclaim what he had seen but fog swept into his mind. He was no longer sure of what he had witnessed or even who he was looking at. He blinked his eyes fiercely and finally even the fog cleared, but he had no recollection of what had happened.
“Yes, I’m fine,” he stated simply. “I’m not against letting Jon use the sword at all.” With a quick pull, he fully unsheathed the blade. A blanket of soft white light covered the entire mountain top. It was now as light as dawn, yet even the most sensitive eyes of the dwarves could look directly into the blade without causing the slightest pain. It magnified and intensified the barest light. Even with dark clouds overhead and the sun well past set, there remained light enough in the sky for the blade to supply ample illumination. Ryson carefully placed the sword upon a rock near Jon. “Move it as you need it.”
“Would I have to move the sun at noon day?” the dwarf said with a tooth filled grin. “It is fine where it is. The honor of holding such a blade should be yours and yours alone.”
With that said, the dwarf went quickly about his work. In the new light of the blade, he quickly measured the level precipice they stood upon. He walked back and forth mumbling to himself before honing upon one particular section of the summit. He kicked at the loose debris and quickly came upon solid granite. He dropped to his knees and glided his hands over the smooth surface. Occasionally, he knocked upon the rock. The small thuds sounded much the same to those that watched, but they revealed much to the dwarf prince. Still upon his knees, Jon fumbled through his own pack before pulling out a metal rod no longer than the span of his hand. At the end, a blue and white gem sparkled in the amplified light - a dwarf rock-cutter. He tested the gem with the tip of his forefinger before applying it to the stone.
He jabbed and scratched deftly at the smooth rock in front of him. He held the rod at slight angles as he pressed the gem downward. The gem would slide across a small section before Jon would pull it away. The longest cut was no greater than the length of Jon’s pinky, and the dwarf appeared to leave long spaces of rock untouched before moving on to the next area. Intermittently, he patted the surface with his palm.
After making several marks upon the granite with the stone cutter, he retrieved another tool from his pack. It appeared as nothing more than a miniature version of the mace he carried at his belt. A thick wooden handle, shorter than the metal bar of the stone cutter, led to a compact round stone at the top. The stone appeared gritty and rough at the surface. Its black exterior was covered with gray specks.
With the stone cutter in his right hand and the rounded hammer in his left, he began working again. He pounded the mace-like tool upon the granite. Amazingly, with each impact, a tiny crack appeared in the stone. It broke through the granite as if guided by a straight edge. Jon worked with such precision, that he soon had two right angles of a square formed in the solid rock. He extended the breaks with equal precision, and the full outline of a square soon formed. Before long, the crack grew deep enough that a large section began to shift.
Jon smiled with satisfaction as he placed the two tools within his pack only to retrieve one last, a flat bar. It was longer than the other two, but it was not made of wood or metal. It glistened with greater brilliance than the gem tip of the stone cutter, for the entire bar was impossibly one long gem.
Stephen Clarin could not withhold his amazement or his curiosity at the sight of such a jewel “How is that possible?” he blurted out.
Jon’s smile grew bigger, his own teeth now flashing with almost as much brilliance as the gem. He allowed a moment of pride as he held aloft his tool. “Large gems can be cut into many useful devices. It takes careful cutting, but it can be done. The gem that produced this bar was cut into four others, though this was the longest.”
“It is the longest known,” Tun added, allowing his brother to garner even greater awe. “Given enough time, Jon could have broken through the base of this mountain.”
Jon bowed thankfully to his brother’s kind remarks, but he spoke humbly to those that watched him. “I doubt I would live long enough for that, but it can lift rocks hundreds of times its weight without breaking, and I have used it to chisel through diamond clustered walls.”
As if to display the power of his tool, he flashed the flattened edge down into the crack he had made in the stone. It plunged into the rock as if the granite were nothing more than warm butter.
“Normally, I would construct a pulley system to lift the rock, but since we have Dzeb with us, I doubt that is necessary. Would you honor me, cliff behemoth, by jarring the stone free?”
“The honor would be mine,” Dzeb spoke freely as he moved toward the area upon where Jon worked. His powerful fingers grabbed hold of the gem tool, and he steadily pulled back. A thick square slab of rock crumbled free from the surrounding stone. Dzeb took his other hand and placed it in the opening created by the action of the lever. Jon also guided his hands under the free stone, seemingly unconcerned over crushing his own fingers. With a surprising display of strength, the dwarf assisted Dzeb in pulling the stone free. They placed it aside from the newly created opening, and Dzeb returned the crystal bar.
Holli moved toward the opening first. “Ryson, bring your sword here.”
The delver followed the request. When his hand touched the handle, he felt no such reaction as previously encountered. He brought the shimmering blade to the square hole which was large enough for even Dzeb to enter. The glowing light revealed a set of stone steps that descended out of sight.
“Our entry is set,” Holli stated firmly, punctuated with as much dread as determination.
“Let me and my brother go first,” Tun commanded in his royal voice. “The rest of you should follow but do not step off the stone steps until I command. To do so will mean your death. It is that simple.”
Not a single member of the party said another word, though they all took in one last great breath before stepping upon the stone staircase, as if it was their last gasp of fresh air. Ryson kept the blade near the opening as the two dwarves descended through the newly formed opening. He entered at the middle of the pack so as to keep the light amongst them all.
As Lief was the last to enter and disappear from the mountain top, the true Shayed watched in angry desperation. The red chains bound her tightly. She screamed in futility, for both sound and light could not escape her prison, and neither could she. She could only watch in horror as a devious smile curled upon her imposter’s face.
Sanctum offered little to greet the apprehensive adventurers, mostly rock and darkness, but at least the stone steps provided an easy descent. They were built by the dwarves, part of the internal construction of the tiers in this once hollow edifice. Their purpose had not been to bring invaders down to the core, but to allow a path of exit. Once a particular race had completed setting its restrictions within its own tier, they would need a means of leaving Sanctum. It would not be wise to bury and seal the designers of the barriers with their inventions. The steps were nothing more than part of the foundation to serve that end. It was hoped they would never be used again, though now they functioned as a path of entry, a purpose beyond the aspirations of Sanctum’s creators.
The stone staircase cut through Sanctum Mountain at its very center. Four consecutive sections of steps, ten steps to each, led downward and broke at opposing angles. The final leg of the stairs ended directly underneath the opening which bore them entry. Thus, those that descended the stone stairway would reach a point exactly where they began, albeit forty steps lower.
Each step was carved from pure granite. Layers and layers of rock dust masked the flat footfall portions of the stone. The vertical edges, however, escaped the brown and gray powder and shined with ancient polish, a tribute to dwarf construction. Most steps passed the test of the ages without crumbling or succumbing to fissure. Only a random few suffered the scars of cracks, and these appeared recent, probably the result of the blast which freed the magic from this monumental tomb.
The steps themselves were fashioned wide enough to hold two side by side. The descending group used the great width to do just that, and they clumped together as close as possible, finding security in moving together.
Only two stood alone. Dzeb’s physical stature prevented him from moving with a companion at his side. His great size filled the width of a single step and not even the slender Holli would stand comfortably in the available room.
Ryson also stepped down alone. As the bearer of the only source of light, he maintained his position at the center. Five moved behind him as four lurched on ahead. Directly in front of Dzeb, Ryson held his sword high. It glistened through the gloom, giving off the light of five or maybe ten torches combined.
Ryson, as much as others within the party, continued to marvel at the sword as it continued to defy logic. It was now known to them all that the sword was not a creator of light but an enhancer of existing light. In this place, however, illumination was meager indeed. Darkness covered the sky outside the mountain, even the brightest stars were blanketed from sight. Now, they walked within the walls of Sanctum. Only the opening created by Jon kept them from being completely consumed within the rock. To be sure, the light of the sword dimmed when Ryson passed through the opening, yet the illumination burned strong enough to light a distance of near thirty paces.
The Sword of Decree’s ability to magnify such illumination was only part of its mystery. The light itself showed as an anomaly. It did not burn the eyes to look at, did not leave spots if anyone stared too long at the blade. It barely cast shadows, and certainly not sharp images. The light seemed to swerve around those objects in its path, thus even those that stood behind the cliff behemoth did not stand in his dark shadow.
The sword’s illumination also failed to affect Ryson’s night vision. Normally, when a delver stood within light, his sight could not penetrate darkness in the distance, but here, this was not the case. Beyond the radiance cast by the sword, his
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