With Garlthik holding the torch high, the two of them entered the tunnel.
The red torch light flickered gloomily over gray walls. A layer of dust covered the floor, swirling up around their feet as they walked. For the first time since he had rushed into the city, J'role wondered where he was going. He had seen this corridor before, though he had never laid eyes on it. His memories folded back on' themselves. Yet something called him forward.
Garlthik looked down at him to see which way to go, and J'role indicated a left turn at an intersection.
They came up to pit in the ground, ten feet long, stretching from wall to wall. They peered over the edge. Below, two giant skeletons rested on spikes-skeletons of things J'role had never seen before. One was wide and long, with a tail that stretched halfway back up the pit, its bones resting against the wall. The other had a long snout and razor teeth.
"Horrors," Garlthik said. "The city's traps killed some of them. But not all."
The Horrors had reached Parlainth after all. Somehow the creatures had found the city, corrupted it. Even after all the elaborate magical machinations, the people sending themselves out of the very world in search of shelter, they had not been safe.
“Do we keep going this way, boy?"
J'role thought for a moment. Yes, though he couldn't remember seeing the pit. He nodded.
"Come on, then.” Garlthik tossed the torch across the pit. It skittered across the floor, but remained lit Garlthik placed his hands against the walls, searching for cracks and studying the nature of the wall. J'role started to do the same on the opposite wall. He slid his fingers between the stonework, and began to inch his way along the pit.
He glanced down once, saw the creatures, and thought again of all that the people of Parlainth had done to keep themselves safe. For nothing.
The thief magic seeped into his body as he moved, and the voices returned, sensations returned, the need to be alone, to trust no one, to put on a pleasing face for all. He tried for a moment to resist, for in the face of Parlainth’s failure such warnings seemed futile.
Who could ever be safe? But the sensations washed through his thoughts and muscles. As they took hold, once again J'role wondered how he could have been so naive as to believe he could be happy with other people.
The two reached the other side of the pit and continued on their way. They passed many rooms, some with desks, others with baths. Murals had been painted on the walls, but most of them had been ruined by what seemed to be claw scratchings. Garlthik remained silent, letting J'role lead them on. Neither one made a sound as he walked.
Despite the wisdom of the thief magic, J'role felt comfort walking alongside the ork. Here was his mentor. His …
The idea remained stuck for a moment.
Father.
He stopped, looked at Garlthik. The ork returned his gaze, his face startled, perhaps anxious. J'role smiled, and the ork relaxed. "You can sense it, can't you, lad?" Garlthik said. "The treasure nearby. The clues are all here. The pit to keep intruders away, the Horrors who died trying to reach it. Don't know what it is, but there's something of value here."
J'role walked on, and Garlthik followed.
At one point Garlthik put his hand on J'role's shoulder, stopping him. "Wait here," he said, and stepped forward carefully, examining the stones on the floor. Then he stood, withdrew his sword, and poked the tip at the ceiling above.
The ceiling cracked easily-far too easily-and after Garlthik poked a bit more, his work revealed it to be a false ceiling. In the flickering firelight J'role saw the tips of spikes pointing down. "Ahh," said Garlthik. "This is a good one." He leaned forward cautiously and pried at some of the stones in the floor. "The trigger is in the floor stones," he said, softly. "You step on them, and the spikes come down. But it hasn't gone off yet. Which means … Ah."
He found a stone that interested him. He took his dagger out and slid it against the stone's edge. After prying the stone loose, he pulled it out. He turned to J'role and handed it to him, then leaned back toward the hole he'd created. "Yes. Yes. The trigger's gone bad.
Look here."
He stepped back so J'role could see, leaning carefully over the floor to avoid setting off the trap. The hole revealed a series of chains and pulleys set behind the wall. "See here?
That wheel has come off the axle. It's completely jammed. But better to be sure." Garlthik picked up the stone he'd removed from the wall. "Better step back." J'role did so, and Garlthik tossed the stone forward. It clattered across the floor.
Nothing happened.
"All right, then. Lead on."
J'role looked at him, uncertain. Garlthik laughed softly, then stepped forward confidently, willing to show the way. When nothing happened, J'role followed.
Huge cracks ran through the walls, and J'role remembered the collapsed pillars and ruined walls above ground. As they walked on they saw Chunks of stone from the ceiling littering the floor. Soon it took great effort to walk over and around the stones. And then they came to a section of corridor completely blocked from floor to ceiling with stones.
Garlthik turned to J'role. "This way?"
J'role nodded. More than that. It was behind the stones, just a few steps away.
Whatever it was.
32
The thing was not in his head yet. He curled up in his bed The small sounds of his parents’ whispers, sometimes soothing, sometimes surprised and harsh, crawled into his ears like spiders.
"It says it can keep us safe,” said his mother.
"We can't…, " protested his father, then faltered "No one need know. It has promised it won't cause J'role harm It just wants us to give it a place to live."
His father did not answer.
Garlthik set the torch in a sconce and joined J'role in digging through the pile of stones.
For two hours they toiled to remove the upper layer of stones, rested a bit, and then set about their task again. Another two hours passed, and for J'role, the world above no longer mattered. He had no thought of either Releana or the dwarfs or the elves or the orks. All that mattered was getting through thee stones to what waited beyond.
His hands became raw with pain, his blood streaking the stones. J'role noticed, but did not stop.
They worked and worked until they could see a door, pressed tightly shut by the weight of the stones on the other side. Garlthik gave J’role a sly look and re-doubled his efforts.
When they'd finally removed most of the stones, J'role thought he heard something from behind the door. He listened carefully, but heard no other sound. Then he felt the creature sliding about in his mind, and decided he had confused the sensation of the creature with his other senses.
They rolled back the remaining stones, and the door stood naked before them.
"Hold," Garlthik said, and he approached the door, examining it carefully; the handle, the frames; the latch … Placing one hand on the doorknob, he drew his sword with the other. "Take the torch," the ork said. J'role did so, holding it high alongside Garlthik.
The ork turned the knob, but the door frame had been bent by the pressure of the stones, and it took several yanks to even loosen it. Garlthik opened it slowly, for the door would not move any faster. As he pried it open with a steady creak, torch light spilled into the room, revealing the shimmer of gold and silver. The light danced across their grinning faces as Garlthik and J'role stepped into the room and saw a treasure trove of jewel-encrusted boxes and silver statues piled high; swords with fiery red blades and buckets stuffed with gold coins.