Elowen sprinted toward the dissipating portal, quickly passing the slower moving mage. As she moved ahead, Ususi gasped out “Block it. If you stand in the opening, it can not close.”
Elowen willed herself to go faster. Almost… almost… but the portal was hardly even visible anymore, only a slight haze in the air. Without stopping, she willed a last desperate burst of speed and threw herself into the haze.
Darkness enveloped her.
CHAPTER 14
He’d reached the last flight of stairs. Marrec screamed again, “Make way! Fallon has kidnapped Ash. Get out of my way, damn your eyes.”
He was winded, but running full speed down stairs was far easier than running up. His shoulders were bruised from a few occasions where he’d miscalculated the distance to the landing, only to be brought up short by the wall. He could hear Gunggari still pounding down behind him
Finally he reached the main level. Yeshelmaar functionaries tried to get out of his way, and one had the presence of mind to work the gate mechanism, heeding his call from higher up, so that it gaped open by the time he and Gunggari reached it.
He saw the portal, a square of night intruding on the bright day. Only a hundred yards, he could make that easy.
As he raced closer, he saw that something lay half within the portal. Closer still, and he saw that it was Ususithe mage was stretched out across the hard ground, her lower half lit by the sun, her upper half thrust into the darkness. She was slowly being dragged forward.
Reaching her side, he saw that she was sprawled through the portal, lying half across that stone path he had come to dread on his last trip through the Nadir. Elowen dangled in Ususi’s grip, her face white with strain, hanging over the void.
“Help me, you idiot,” barked the mage, as Elowen’s weight dragged her forward another inch.
He reached down, grabbed Elowen’s free hand and pulled. The elf was as light as a feather. No, it was the gloves given him by the Nentyarchhis muscles were magnified to nearly twice their normal strength. Despite everything, he smiled as he set Elowen down safely in the center of the stone path.
Gunggari appeared in the door of the portal, the expression of concern on his face fading when his eyes found Elowen. He bent and helped up the mage, who was muttering and complaining under her breath.
Marrec looked down the path, into darkness. He sought any telltale sign of light. Fallon and Ash couldn’t be that far ahead… but all was dark, without any light to betray that the path was occupied by his quarry.
“Where are they, Ususi?” he asked.
“They’re out there, don’t worry,” replied Ususi, “but time may pass differently at the Celestial Nadir’s edges than it does in the Nadir’s deep. Though we saw them pass here but minutes ago, they may already be several hours ahead of us…”
“Then we must go now.”
Gunggari said in a quiet voice, “I’m ready. I have my gear.”
Still slightly out of breath from her near fall, Elowen said, “Fallon must be a spy for the Rotting Man or one of the blightlords. He is probably taking Ash directly to his paymaster. If we follow this path, we will find him. There are no side passages on the path, right Ususi?”
“Correct” said wizard, “but I am not ready to gothere are supplies I must get…”
“Then you can follow later. I must go after Ash,” interrupted Marrec.
So saying, Marrec strode down the path. Gunggari followed.
Elowen gave Ususi a small shrug and said, “The matter is decided. I’ll see you later, when we return.”
“Smoke and Fire!” screamed Ususi, frustrated. “That traitor has the Keystone. I won’t let him keep it. I’m coming.”
Still in earshot, Marrec paused until Elowen and Ususi joined him Behind them, the daylight grayed out and became black. Utter night encompassed them all. Points of light from distant motes of matter dotting the Celestial Nadir twinkled into visibility.
Ususi’s voice pierced the black, “We forgot to block the gate open.”
Marrec heard her utter a few arcane syllables. A light dazzled his eyes. Ususi had called magical illumination. Before Lurue’s silence, he had been able to do the same.
“Just like last time we braved the Nadir,” said Ususi, “the only way out is through. Let us hope the exit is not contested by the Rotting Man.”
“If he squats at the end of this path,” said Elowen, “our task will prove all the easier. We won’t have to track him down.”
Gunggari chuckled.
“Follow me,” urged Marrec, turning to continue down the path.
They hurried along the stone lane, suspended without strut or structure over the void. On their last trip through that path behind the world, Marrec had led several mounts. That meant moving cautiously down the stone path. He wasn’t so constrained any longer. None of them had mounts. The weight of his armor kept him from a run, even with the extra strength he felt trickling into his blood from the Nentyarch’s gloves, but they moved nearly twice as fast as they had before.
He tried to keep his eyes on the course ahead, scanning for any evidence of Ash’s passage and that of her kidnapper, Fallon. It wasn’t too long before such evidence appeared along the path, illuminated by Ususi’s light. Henri was a horse, after all, and his spoor was enough to raise Marrec’s spirits immediately.
“Watch your step,” he called to his friends behind.
After glancing at the droppings, Gunggari stated, “They are no more than thirty minutes ahead of us, if that.”
Marrec nodded and they were off again. When he got his hands on Fallon… Well, he hoped that he would have the luxury of just tossing the elf into the surrounding void. Of course, running the traitor through with Justlance wouldn’t be out of the question, just so long as Ash was safe. Lurue’s legacy had been entrusted him, and he’d squandered that trust. He tried not to think about it. He’d get her back. Failing was not an option.
“What’s that smell?” inquired Elowen from behind.
He paused and sniffed. He caught the barest tang of salt, like the sea, but the briny smell was not alone. Mixed with it was a smell of corruption, like spoiled fish.
“More relics come to haunt us?” asked Marrec, looking back to catch Ususi’s eye.
“Perhaps,” she answered, uncertain.
The advancing light brought into view a branch in the path. The main stone lane they had followed for so long appeared to continue on straight into the darkness, but a narrower way gave off to the left. Rather than stone, it appeared to be organic, not unlike a huge exposed root.
The tips of the root were entangled with the stone lane, piercing and growing through it, while the thicker portion of the root angled out and slightly up, leading toward to some unseen larger stem. The stone bridge was stained a dirty green, as the root itself seemed to ooze flaccid sap. It was also the source of the smell, which had become strong enough to wrinkle Marrec’s nose.
Gunggari moved to the edge of the root, kneeled, and ran his fingers lightly over the surface of the stone and root. Bringing his fingers up, slightly stained with dark green, he sniffed.
He said, “They took this side way.”
They walked on that thing?” asked Marrec.
“It may have been grown expressly for that purpose,” said Ususi. “Having held the Keystone, even for short a time, I have gained a slight sensitivity to the paths that pierce this place. This ‘root’ is not part of the system, yet Fallon, with the help of the Keystone, has allowed an outside influence into the Nadir, a powerful influence. This ‘root path’ may only be temporary. If we want to find Fallon, we should take it before it disengages.”
Marrec steeled himself, then carefully set a foot out on the root. He expected it to be slippery but was surprised when the green ooze caught and held his foot in place. However, when he removed his foot, the ooze gave up its grasp without complaint.