First Comes The One Who Wanders (22 page)

"This is a special entrance known only to the dark masters who dwell here. No one will see us enter the city."

Garabaldi disappeared into the large opening. Leilas, with more than a little trepidation followed him. The tunnel was wide for someone of Garabaldi’s stature. Leilas had to traverse it bent over and her shoulders were close to the sides of the tunnel. Garabaldi had conjured a small light. But Leilas still found herself stumbling on the uneven floor.

"We're trying to sneak quietly into the city," remarked Garabaldi, when she tripped again. "If you keep making all that noise, everyone in the city will know we're here."

Leilas was about to retort when they stepped into an open space above the main cavern of the city of gnomes known as Crysalis. The sight of the city drove the retort from Leilas’ mind. Every wall of the cavern dazzled from the lights of the city, all the crystal, naturally embedded there, reflecting the lamplight. There were thousands of gnomes scurrying to and fro, going about their daily business. It could have been a city anywhere, except for the small people swarming and the lack of any natural sunlight.

"Welcome to Dark Crystal." Garabaldi turned to watch her reaction. "I believe that's an accurate translation of Crysalis. What do you think?"

"I’m overwhelmed," replied Leilas honestly. How could she put into words everything she was thinking and feeling?

"It is beautiful, isn’t it? Not a more beautiful place in the world, with the exception of the Crystal Caves of Anhjou. But very few have had the pleasure of going there."

Wondering why that was, Leilas looked around again. The buildings were all stone, most encrusted with jewels. She recognized the diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies. But there were countless others she didn’t recognize, though all were beautiful and cast enchanting lights and shadows as they caught the flashing of the lamps. Indeed, the whole city appeared to flicker and dance in the eerie light of the cavern.

"This way then, Sky crafter." Garabaldi grabbed her arm and began to wind his way down to the floor of the cavern taking a route that would be hidden from view by those on the floor below. Do try to be quiet. We don’t want to announce our arrival."

Leilas nodded and did her best to move down the incline as quietly as she could. Once they reached the streets of Crysalis, Garabaldi quickly herded her into a narrow alleyway that appeared to be used for trash collection. Leilas’ large steps easily kept up with the smaller stride of the gnome as they picked their way through the trash. Rats were feasting on the rotting food and the stench was causing Leilas’ empty stomach to turn. Garabaldi didn’t seem to notice.

Although initially the cave had felt cool after the warmth of the sun beating down on them in the canyon, now it seemed warmer, almost sweltering. Leilas was sweating by the time they reached the end of the alleyway.

Garabaldi stopped briefly, looking around to ensure they wouldn’t be seen and then led her out of the alley and up a slightly less offensive street. There was still garbage lining the path and scurrying animals, but the air moved a bit and the odor was bearable. Leilas wondered how long you had to live in such conditions before you didn’t care anymore.

Turning up a basalt stone path, Garabaldi stopped at the door of a small stone cottage, fished in his tunic to retrieve the key and opened the door. Leilas had to duck to avoid hitting her head as she went through the doorway into a dark, gloomy room. Even though there were windows, they only looked out on the glitter of the city and did nothing to dispel the gloom within the house.

Garabaldi lit a lamp and sat it on the table, then moved in the direction of what appeared to be a kitchen. "I imagine you're hungry. Please make yourself comfortable. It shouldn’t take me too long putting something together." He took in the elegance of the clothes Rengailai had supplied. "I’m afraid it won’t be quite as fancy as the fair Rengailai supplied."

"I’m used to eating plain food," replied Leilas, thinking of the lizard and cactus pear that had been her only meal of the day more often than not. Garabaldi grunted and disappeared from the room.

Other than the gloom, which she was already beginning to despise, it was easy to make herself comfortable in this little man’s home. He hadn't scrimped on the luxuries. There were several overstuffed chairs, a bit too close to the floor. There was a beautiful wrought iron and agate table, with books strewn on top. Counters of the same stone as the table held statues and icons. The walls were covered in maps and murals.

Leilas spent the time Garabaldi was preparing the meal studying the murals. They seemed to all belong together and told the story of a great battle. But try as she might, Leilas couldn’t place which battle or who was involved in the struggle. Still, she studied the faces intently, memorizing the intricately detailed features. The scene evoked a memory in her mind, or was it a vision? Garabaldi found her standing in front of the mural, lost in thought, when he returned bearing some kind of edible substance. It was nothing Leilas had ever seen before.

"What is it?" She picked up a chunk of the meat from the bowl of stew and smelled it. She wasn’t even going to attempt the glowing vegetation floating in the broth.

"Better not to ask," replied Garabaldi with an evil grin.

Leilas took a deep breath and shoved the morsel in her mouth. It took all her willpower not to spit it back out again. "It won’t kill me, will it?"

"I hadn’t even considered that possibility," remarked Garabaldi, spooning a portion into his mouth. "I suppose it could."

Leilas choked on the substance in her mouth and was barely able to swallow it. "Thanks for the confidence booster."

Garabaldi cackled. "You can always stick to the bread if you’d rather."

The bread was brown, stale and far preferable to Leilas. She contented herself with bread and water, after a taste of the wine that Garabaldi had set out. It had a vile taste and burned hotly as it went down. Garabaldi indulged in whatever delicacy he'd prepared. Leilas had endured a great deal of lip smacking and satisfied belches before he'd finished.

"And now some rest, I think. We have work to do tonight, so you should sleep while you can."

For some reason, Leilas had thought it was night. But then, it would be very easy to lose track of time in the bowels of Crysalis. Following Garabaldi, who retrieved the lamp and headed for a slightly darker corner of the room, Leilas watched as the darkness transformed into a doorway that had two bed chambers. Garabaldi stopped in front of the first door and opened it. Leading the way, he led Leilas into a large room with a small bed, a desk and a chair. He lit the two lamps in the room. "I hope you will be comfortable here. I'll call for you later."

"Thank you," was all Leilas managed to say around the lump in her throat. Other than the fact that she wasn’t in chains and had two lamps, this room wasn’t much of an improvement on the dark dungeon cell. The walls tried to close in on her and the dampness crept into her bones. Trying not to let the gloom invade her soul, Leilas removed her tunic and boots. After thoroughly inspecting the bed for uninvited guests, she surrendered to the fatigue that had been hounding her since she'd left Rengailai’s dungeon.

The images from the murals sprang to life in her mind as she slept. She was on the field of battle. The cold mist was hanging low. The horses blew steam as they stamped impatiently to face the enemy. There were so many men, on either side, mounted or afoot, waiting for the clarion call to battle.

It seemed as if the whole of Preterlandis was here in this valley. Men from every city, every county, were readying to go valiantly into war. For what? Power? Glory? Honor?

No, it wasn’t as simple or futile as that. The desperation on the faces told of more dire consequences. She'd seen some of these men before, dukes, counts, earls, some she'd never met. What a tragedy, war. Senseless, and yet it was necessary sometimes, for men to stand and be counted.

A warrior in golden armor moved among the men, calming them, encouraging them. The warrior she'd chosen to lead this perilous fight. He would lead them to victory or death, the battle was his to win, not hers. Clenching her fists in fury at her impotence, she waited with everyone for the call. Desperately, Leilas tried to discover the identity of the warrior. But he was hidden beneath the golden armor.

This battle was his to win, but there was another more deadly battle being waged while the men held on to give the others time.

"Leilas, time to wake up." Garabaldi knocked loudly on the door and Leilas practically flew out of her bed. Her sword was in hand before she knew what she was doing.

"Damn," she said, shaken, and put her sword away. She opened the door to the impatient gnome while she fumbled for her tunic and boots. "Your timing leaves something to be desired."

"Did I catch you in the middle of a pleasant dream?"

"Depends on your definition of pleasant, I suppose," grunted Leilas, pulling on her boots. Slipping into her tunic, she pulled her braids from beneath it. "Now, what important business do we need to attend to in the middle of the night?" she asked, pulling on the chain mail. She decided against donning the helmet. "Of course, I’m only taking your word for it that it is the middle of the night. How can you tell down here?"

"Another thing for you to learn," was all Garabaldi would say in reply. He offered her some more bread and a flask of water and headed for the door. Although Leilas could have done with a nice cup of tea and several sweet rolls, she took a bite of stale, brown bread and followed dutifully behind.

Garabaldi ignored her as he made his way to the edge of town and then skirted around the stone city, hugging the cavern walls. Leilas didn’t think they'd packed for a long journey, looking down at her half-eaten loaf of bread and half-filled water skin. But it was beginning to look like they were going on one. They must have already covered two or three miles. They were nearing the far edge of the city and Leilas could now see a road leading off into the darkness beyond the city.

She still wasn’t sure it was night. The city was just as full of gnomes as it had been when she’d arrived. The only difference seemed to be the accelerated pace of activity and the noise. Garabaldi’s face was grim and his steps dogged. Wherever they were going, it didn’t look like it was going to be fun.

"Once we're around the city and on the road, it's only a few more miles."

"What is only a few more miles?" Leilas tried again.

"Why the place to which we're going."

Leilas hadn’t expected an answer, but it would have been nice to get one. She'd put her life in the hands of this dark crafter and he didn’t trust her enough to tell her where they were heading and what they were going to do once they got there.

"Perhaps if you tried to read my thoughts, you might find some answers."

Leilas balked at the thought. She'd tried walking in other people’s minds. She hadn’t liked the experience.

"You must get over that fear, Chidra. You're no longer a child to be frightened by the thoughts and images of another. Frey tried with you too young, but he was right in suspecting you had the gift."

"Is there anything about me you don’t know?"

"I didn’t know you would hate rat stew with fungi," cackled Garabaldi softly, as he hurried on toward the road that led out of town.

"I asked you not to tell me what it was."

"No, I told you, you didn’t want to know."

"So you did," replied Leilas. "You were right, I didn’t want to know." Shuddering at the thought, Leilas kept step behind the gnome as the lights of the city began to disappear into inky blackness.

"A light would be too dangerous. You can hold my shoulder if you like."

Leilas nodded, unsure whether he could see in this darkness. Putting her hand on his shoulder they continued. Their footfalls were muffled by the packed dirt. The silence was as deafening as the noise had been in the city. Reaching out with her mind, Leilas looked for any thoughts out there in the darkness. Garabaldi had his thoughts shrouded and Leilas instinctively shied away.

"No, no, no," said Garabaldi in her mind. "Find a way around the shroud. Approach me and don’t let me know you are coming. You're about as subtle as a bull."

Leilas was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see her blush. He was right, though. She spent so much time trying to avoid reading thoughts that she'd never learned to do it properly. Trying to put aside her fear, she attempted to read Garabaldi’s thoughts again.

"That was better, but I still felt you. There's nothing here to distract either one of us. So, again, but gently this time."

"Is that why we're here? So I can learn how to do this?"

"No, it's just a happy coincidence we can practice along the way."

Leilas nodded and began again. Calming her thoughts, she sent them wafting on a current of air to find what other thoughts were out there. Picturing a gentle breeze in her mind, her thoughts a butterfly drifting, she moved closer to the dark crafter’s mind. The shroud was still there, covering all the entrances. Leilas paused then changed the image, not a butterfly, just the breeze. Her thoughts were the breeze. The shroud was still there, but it was no barrier against air. Leilas found herself listening to Garabaldi.

"So little time, so much to learn. Anhj I hope you are right and she is the one."