Illengond Page 3

  Braga now turned to his left. “Krag and Kreeg,” he said, pointing to one, and then another. They looked to be the oldest of the Undeani. They had matching brown eyes, graying hair and beards, and similar large ears. One of these two had stayed behind with her and Amark, though Tienna couldn’t now tell which. “And despite the look,” Braga added with a slight smile, “they are not brothers.”

  He then turned to the last figure, standing behind him—the only one, other than Amark, who did not have a beard. “This is Regon,” Braga said, with a slight nod of his head. The last member of his small band stepped shyly from the shadow into the torchlight. “She is my—” Braga began, and then he cut himself short. Whatever he was going to say, he kept to himself. For the first time, Tienna notice Regon’s slight curve of figure and softer facial figures, and realized she was a woman, the only one in Braga’s company. Regon was also the only one of the Undeani whose arms and face were not painted—another detail Tienna only now noticed.

  Tienna looked at them all, now. Her rescuers. The ones to whom she now owed her life. The Undeani were a stocky folk, muscular and dense, with round white faces and dark eyes. Braga stood the tallest of them. The rest of them were about the height of Theo, though with the exception of Regon and Amark they were twenty pounds heavier. In their thick concealing sheepskins little distinguished one from one another, at least to an outsider. Even their earthy voices were similar.

  When Braga finished, Bandor reciprocated by introducing his companions. Bandor and Theo from the Andani highlands. Noab, his brother Noaem, and Anchara, the three Ceadani highlanders. Aram, Hrevia and Cathros, the remaining Anghare Northlanders who had not fallen in the previous battle. Tienna’s fellow Plainsfolk: Nahoon, Beth, and Keet, along with Nahma, the last of the Amanti. Falien, who along with Elynna represented the Fisherfolk of Westwash. And Lluach, the soldier from the Southland.

  The rest of their original company now lay dead. Except Thimeon. Where was he now? Tienna wondered. Would she see him again? She was sure that if he still lived, he would do everything he could to return. Wouldn’t he?

  Yes. He would. But she could use some of his faith in the All-maker now.

  3

  DARK WATER

  “We have delayed long enough,” Braga said. “Let us go. The journey will be long. We should save torches. If they all go out—” again he left the end of his thought unspoken. He turned and said something to his followers, and immediately three of the torches were extinguished. “Arreg found the passage. He will lead the way with me. The rest of you follow as you can.”

  Braga took a torch from one of his men and handed it to Bandor. Then he and Arreg, who held one of the still burning torches, started across the chamber toward the wide arch that was their chosen exit. Elynna and Cane followed, with several others of their company trailing behind.

  Tienna was about to follow when she remembered the tiger. She glanced around anxiously for him, but her concern disappeared when she saw a pair of eyes watching from one of the side tunnels. She turned and followed the group a few strides behind Elynna and Cane, in the mingling of shadows from the torch ahead and the torch behind.

  Reaching the far side of the chamber, Tienna passed with the others beneath the arch and into a tunnel about twenty feet wide. Though the rock walls were rough-hewn, the floor was level and polished and made for easy travel. Braga did not wait. They walked at a quick pace for about an hour before they came upon the ruins of the boat that Arreg had spoken of. It was just a shell of wood, rotted by many years—perhaps decades or even centuries if the underground air and absence of sunlight had somehow preserved it. Yet it still held the rough shape of a shallow-hulled boat about twenty-five feet long. An old oar hung out from one side. Braga and his folk gathered around it and talked excitedly among themselves in their own tongue for a few moments while Tienna and her companions took a brief rest. Then they continued on.

  From there the road began again to slope gradually downward. They had gone only twenty minutes past the boat when Braga pulled up short and gave a low whistle. Tienna joined the crowd gathering around and behind him, and her heart sank. Some ancient earthquake had collapsed part of the tunnel. A pile of rubble, eight feet high at the lowest, blocked their path from side to side.

  Tienna turned toward Braga and saw dismay on his face. “Legends say nothing of any other route to the lake. If this way is blocked we are lost.”

  “What do we do?” Elynna asked, panic in her voice.

  Braga lifted his hand as though to silence her. He took the torch from Arreg, stepped forward and held the torch up high. Tienna saw what he was looking at. There appeared to be a narrow gap at the top of the pile of rubble. Braga dropped his pack, and still holding the torch he scrambled up the pile of rocks. At the top he leaned forward on his belly and thrust the torch forward. The torch wavered in a current of air.

  Braga pulled his head back. “There is a way through,” he announced.

  Tienna was not the only one to breathe a sigh of relief. It took them several minutes to all scramble through, but the gap was bigger than it looked from the bottom. Even Cathros was able to get through without having to crawl. Eventually they all stood on the far side, dustier and a little scratched, but ready to continue on. Tienna looked back. The tiger had not come through yet, but she had confidence it would be able to make it.

  They marched another two hours and then stopped for a rest. Tienna began to feel thirsty, but she did not say anything. They continued on. The tunnel grew narrower. Tienna took a drink from the water skin that was passed around. It was nearly empty. She barely wet her lips. They would need more soon. Braga had promised they would find some, but they had passed nothing.

  The tunnel began to widen again, slowly at first, but then the ceiling rose sharply and the walls on the sides disappeared. They walked another fifty steps when somebody in front gave a low whistle, and everybody pulled up short. Tienna almost walked into Braga before she recovered her balance.

  They were standing on the shore of the underground lake in the midst of a vast cavern. The water was so black and still that Tienna might have walked into it had not those in front with the torches come to an abrupt halt. Braga’s toes were right on the edge of the water. The rest of the company soon gathered around on both sides, and they all looked wide-eyed across the dark flat plane.

  Tienna gazed all around and into the distance. She could see the wall behind, and a faint glimmer of ceiling some thirty or forty feet above. But ahead and on both sides the lake disappeared into the darkness beyond the reach of the torches.

  “This is it,” Braga proclaimed. “There cannot be two such lakes.”

  Something stirred. Tienna turned to look. Braga’s words had not caused it. The tiger had reappeared and the Undeani were quickly moving away. The tiger strode up, sniffed the water, then backed up without drinking.

  “Can we get around?” Elynna asked. “Or across?”

  Tienna looked around her again. Remembering the old boat and considering the width of the lake, she did not think it would be shallow enough to wade.

  “Let us rest here,” Beth said. “I can’t go another step.”

  “Yes,” Braga agreed. “We will find the path soon enough. We must find water, too.” He looked down at his feet. “But I would rather not drink this. Let us rest.”

  Tienna’s companions needed no urging. Several of them dropped to the ground almost at once. But Braga still studied the cavern. He grabbed Arreg’s torch and set off to explore the shore along the right side. Arreg went with him without being asked. And to Tienna’s surprise, Bandor followed along wordlessly as well.

  Tienna considered joining them, but then the tiger leaned against her shoulder almost knocking her over. It gave a low chuff, almost a growl. Noaem came up beside her. “He is thirsty,” he said. “Does not like smell of this water.”

  “Neither do I,” Tienna
replied. Was it her health sense? Or some other instinct? Theo and Amark had already pulled out their water skins and were leaning down by the shore as though to fill them. She put a hand on Amark. “Let us not drink this unless we must,” she said. Amark understood. He smelled the water, wrinkled his nose, and corked his skin without filling it.

  Tienna stood for a moment absently rubbing the great cat’s head. She considered going in search of water. They had seen nothing along the tunnel behind them. But surely such a great lake must be fed by some source. If they were lucky, they’d find springs coming off the walls.

  She looked in the opposite direction that Braga and the others had gone to explore. Cathros, whose face still looked hollow and defeated, stood looking out over the water. She turned to Theo. “Come with me,” she said. She took Amark’s water skin from him, grabbed one of the other torches, and with Theo and the cat behind her she started following the wall along the shore.

  For several dozen yards the wall bent closer to the shoreline until the gap narrowed to a few yards. Tienna feared she would not be able to continue without getting wet. She did not want to enter into the dark water. Fortunately, the wall and the water soon bent away from one another and within a minute the lake was no longer visible by torchlight from the wall. She was glad to have some distance from the water. Ten minutes later she got a glimpse of what she was looking for. Torchlight reflecting off the wall gave a hint of wet black rock. A slow trickle of water came down the wall and spread out along the rocky floor.

  “Is it safe, do you think?” Theo asked.

  Before Tienna could answer, the tiger began licking water off the rock. “I would guess so,” Tienna replied. “But I don’t think we all want to drink that way.”

  It took her and Theo nearly an hour to fill the skins. Pressing the mouths of the skins tight to the wall, they got only a slow drip to flow in. When hers was half full, Tienna drank it all down and started over. Theo did the same thing. “We’ll have to send the others back here to get more,” Theo said.

  “Yes. Unless Braga returns and tells us there is some along the other route.”

  When the bottles were full, they turned and hiked back to where the others were waiting. Everybody was able to get a small sip of water, and then Theo and Amark gathered more of the skins and heading back to the spring.

  This time, Tienna remained with the others. Many of her companions now rested. They had left only a single torch burning and the cavern was dim and silent. Jama and Breanga chatted softly in their tongue, and they seemed excited about something. After getting a drink of water, each unslung from the side of their pack a flexible rod made of saplings woven together. The rods were only about the length of their arms—a third or a quarter the length of the rods used in the Plains to catch Kellen in the Gogga River—but Tienna guessed what they were for. Pietr and Falien had brought some of the longer rods with them when they left they Great Lake, and apparently had caught some fish one night on their trip north before Tienna had rejoined the company.

  Now Pietr was dead, and the rods were lost. The unexpected memory brought a sudden lump to Tienna’s throat. She turned her attention to the two fishermen. They attached to their rods large wooden spools wound with heavy thread, ran the thread through three loops on the rods, and then tied to the end of the threads a shiny object much like a spoon but with curved hook dangling from the end.

  Tienna stood at the water’s edge to watch. She tried to speak with Jama and Breanga, but found they knew only a little of the trade tongue. “Fish,” they said, pointing. “We catch.”

  “Here?” Tienna wondered aloud. They nodded. She sat down by the shore.

  Elynna came over too and sat beside Tienna. “I saw some of these poles for fishing when we were on the Plains. We use nets in the Westwash. And seines. And weirs. Nothing like this.”

  “Nets are more efficient, I think,” Tienna answered.

  Jama was ready first. He flicked his wrist, and the metal spoon sailed over the water and disappeared into the darkness with a plop. Breanga followed a moment later, casting his spoon off to the other side. They both waited a few seconds, and then began to retrieve the spoons by spinning the spools on pins to wrap the line back in.

  Nothing happened.

  Tienna had heard of men catching fish on threaded rods, but in all her years on the Plains she had never seen it done, perhaps because she spent little time by the lake. “Your people catch fish,” she said Elynna. “What is this supposed to do?”

  “We use nets. Remember?” Elynna replied. But a moment later she added, “I think the fish is supposed to try to eat the spoon. And the pointy hook catches in its mouth.”

  The two men repeated the process again, casting the spoons just a little farther, or off to a different side. Still no result. Eventually Tienna lost interest. She looked around for the tiger. It was gone. She leaned back and laid her head on the rock, closed her eyes, and dozed off almost at once.

  A loud shout woke Tienna up. Whether a few seconds or several minutes had passed, she did not know. She jumped to her feet, fearing first an attack, and then wondering if Braga had returned. Jama stood in front of her at the water’s edge yelling. She looked to see his rod bent over almost double with taut line disappearing out into the deep. He kept yelling something in the Undeani tongue and Breanga jumped up and down excitedly. Soon all eyes were on him, and for the next several minutes he wrestled with his line before he succeeded in pulling to shore a monstrous eel, about four and a half feet in length and fifteen inches in girth. He was very excited as he brought it back to the others and killed it with a knife. The other Undeani shared in the excitement. “Very good for eat,” one of them said.

  “How does it live down here?” Elynna wondered aloud, as she leaned over to look. “What does it feed on?”

  Jama did not understand her. He shrugged helplessly, then returned to his task. Soon Breanga caught an eel nearly as large as his brother’s. He had barely gotten it to shore and killed it when another loud splash came from somewhere out in the water. “Aiee,” Jama yelled, as his rod bent almost in two and his spool started spinning furiously. Breanga yelled something back at him and ran to his side. Jama put his fingers on the spool to keep the line from going out, then yelped in pain and withdrew his hand. There was a loud snap and he fell backward. His line was gone and his spool empty of thread. He looked out over the water, then turned with wide eyes and stared at Breanga. Both of them shook their heads in awe.

  Others were also staring out over the water. “Whatever that was, I’m glad we didn’t catch it,” mumbled Falien. Several of the companions agreed. After that, both fishermen retired to rest.

  Tienna did not remember putting her head down again. She hadn’t felt tired. But some time later she woken again, this time by a gentle shaking of her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Anchara leaning over her. “Braga back,” Anchara said. “We go soon.”

  Tienna looked around and saw that the others were already standing, and some were in the process of putting on their packs. Tienna rose stiffly to her feet. She looked around for Elynna or Braga and saw them in a huddle with Bandor, Cathros, and two of the Undeani.

  “There is no passage in that direction,” Elynna explained, when Tienna approached.

  “Not without a swim,” Braga added. “I walked more than an hour. The ceiling drops lower and lower. I tried crawling. Eventually it reaches the water. The only way through on that side is to swim.”

  Tienna thought about the dark water. Then she thought about whatever had broken the fishing line. She did not want to swim. “Where are we going, then?” she asked. “Did you explore the other direction.”

  “I did not,” Braga answered. “But we have no choice. We can send somebody to explore, but if they find a way we lose more time waiting. We must go and hope. Or turn back.”

  Nobody replied. Tienna already knew that turning back meant
sure defeat. At that moment Breanga approached. He carried a bundle in his hands. In the torchlight, Tienna recognized it as eel.

  “How did you cook it?” Elynna asked. Tienna wondered the same thing. She looked around but saw no sign of a fire, nor of anything that might be used for fuel.

  Breanga shook his head. “Not cook. Eel not need cook,” he said.

  Tienna cringed with disgust. But she was hungry. She reached out and took a large slice. It smelled strong and felt slimy in her hand, but she bit into it at once before she could change her mind. Though she did not like the texture, it tasted surprisingly sweet and mild. She finished her piece.

  Three minutes later the company, now with only two torches burning, began to work around the same shoreline where Tienna had found the water. The going proved difficult. They made good progress for the first thirty or so minutes, pausing only to refill a few of the skins. After that, though, the travel grew more difficult. At one point they were forced to either wade through the lake or scramble over a field of jagged boulders. They chose the latter.

  Two hours later Braga, who led the procession, gave a cry of relief and broke into a jog. A few seconds later they all stood at a low arch of light gray stone marking the entrance into the darkness of another a tunnel. Tienna did not think she would be relieved to leave an open space and enter into a closed passage again, but she was.

  They took a short rest at the mouth of the tunnel. Then on they went again.

  The passage began to rise at once, and ran for a long time straight ahead. The company marched for at least three hours and then rested. Then marched again. Then rested. There were no more side tunnels. No arches or lakes. No decisions to be made. Only march then rest; march then rest; over and over until Tienna lost track of how many rests and marches they’d had. There was a monotonous rhythm to the journey, with no count of days, no morning or evening. Her senses felt numb. The tiger had come up beside her and she kept her hand on its head.