I’d mentioned it just to be safe, but I’d forgotten that this kind of dangerous journey was a first for Al.
I re-explained in a way that was easier to understand. “Menel and Ghelreis are watching what’s ahead and on the ground, and Reystov is keeping an eye out behind us, so we should focus on what’s happening above and to the sides. The stuff about surprise attacks is just something to bear in mind. This will get pretty tiring, so we’ll take little breaks from time to time and have someone stand on watch.”
“Right!” Al nodded enthusiastically. He really was quick on the uptake, and his close-combat skills were improving rapidly as well. I was sure that he would get used to the tried-and-tested techniques of exploration just as quickly.
The straight path continued. We all pushed forward in silence.
Every so often, Menel would stick a palm out behind him to stop the rest of us, and spend a moment listening out or disarming a trap. Deterioration over the years had already rendered the bow guns in the walls harmless due to lack of tension, but the same couldn’t be said for the pitfalls and spike balls. Menel discovered those kinds of dangerous traps effortlessly and neutralized them with a practiced hand by either disarming the mechanisms or marking the spots that would trigger them.
As Ghelreis watched him work, he said briefly, “The Rock Hall soon. After that, it branches terribly.” Then, as an afterthought, he said, “This has been unexpected.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yes. There weren’t any demon ambushes. ”
There hadn’t even been one. We’d clearly been discovered by the dragon, yet there was no sign of any of them coming to intercept us.
“Does that, um, mean that the dragon and the demons aren’t acting as one?”
“Can’t be sure of that yet. Rock Hall’s coming up. They’re probably all waiting there, right? Hoping to surround the enemy in a wide, open place and finish them off with a full-scale assault. Usual stuff.”
Drawing the enemy deep into your own territory to encircle and destroy them was certainly an effective technique.
“On the other hand, if there isn’t an ambush in the Rock Hall…”
“Yeah. Al’s right if so.”
Ghelreis had said that the path branched terribly after Rock Hall. Once we made our way into one of those branches, the demons wouldn’t be able to track us completely. There was no way that whoever was leading the demons would choose not to send his forces to intercept us at Rock Hall. If something like that happened, the only possible interpretation could be that the demon leader hadn’t noticed our intrusion in the first place. In other words, it would be the surest possible proof that Valacirca, almost certainly the owner of that murderous stare, hadn’t teamed up with the demons at all.
“Wait…” Menel held a palm out behind him and stopped everyone. He listened out for something at the other end of the gently curving passage.
“What?”
“Noise. Something metal jangling. And footsteps, back and forth.” He spoke in a hushed voice.
“Is there an ambush?”
“Can’t tell. Something’s there. That’s all I’m sure of.”
“Rock Hall is very close,” Ghelreis said.
“Um, so… doesn’t that mean… this is… um…”
A demon ambush was probably a safe assumption. We all nodded together and gripped our weapons.
“Ghelreis and I will go in with our shields up and test the waters.”
We took the large shields off our backs. If we covered each other with these shields which could cover the vast majority of our bodies, we would be able to endure their attacks even if they had us half-surrounded and fired on us all at once the moment we left the passage. After seeing how much power they were packing, we could decide our course of action according to the situation. For instance, we could withdraw, barrage them with magic, or retreat slowly into the passage as we dealt with them.
“Menel, you provide support from the end of the passage. Al and Reystov, stand by. Use your judgment and attack when it looks right.” Keeping it short, I told everyone their roles. We reorganized our line, cut down the amount of light from our lanterns, silenced our footsteps as much as we could, and continued along the passage in deadly silence.
Stopping just before the Rock Hall, I made sure everyone could see my hand
— the hand gripping my spear — and I raised one finger. Then I raised a second.
And at the instant the third was raised, Ghelreis and I started charging forward, our shields held in front of us.
Once we entered the wide-open space, the miasma thinned.
It was a vast cylindrical space with a very high ceiling. A spiral staircase ran up the wall, similar to the inside of a screw hole, and at countless places along it I could see passages going off in different directions. And also—
“Ohhh!”
“Dwarves! Dwarves are here!”
“Humans, too, and an elf.”
“Did Lothdor not fall?!”
“Are you alright? Did you have to run?”
“Are you injured? Don’t worry, my brothers, this place is safe!”
Many voices echoed around the Rock Hall.
Ghelreis’s face crumpled. I, too, unconsciously grit my teeth.
“How is the war going?”
“Come over and talk.”
“You must have had a hard time.”
A large number of skeletons were calling out to us.
Gathered near a sturdy defensive barrier, they stood wearing armor, with axes in their hands and shields on their backs, full of the will to fight. They had been reduced to undead, their rational minds probably half-consumed by the attachments they had held in life, and even now they still continued to fight, not even understanding what had become of themselves, to protect their already long-lost homeland.
Ghelreis pressed his lips together tightly and breathed in and out several times before he finally managed to squeeze out one word. “Everyone.”
“Ohh!”
“You, you’re Ghelreis!”
“I thought you escaped.”
“What about the people? Are they safe?”
“Why are you here?”
Having no eyeballs, the skeletons had no normal sense of vision. They must have recognized him through some supernatural sense.
“Could it be you snuck away from the group and came back?!”
“Hahaha. How very like you.”
“You’ll be in for it when the Captains hear about this.”
“But you have guts.”
“Indeed. Having you will be a tremendous help. Come, let us fight together.”
The skeletons laughed loudly. Ghelreis tried to say something, but the words caught in his throat. Nothing else would come out. Who could blame him?
I should probably send them on, I thought, and went to take a step forward when someone grabbed my shoulder. I turned around.
“Al…”
Al — Vindalfr was there. He had a serious expression unlike any I’d seen from him before. In his eyes dwelt a dignified light. “Let me. I think I should be the one to tell them.”
I watched him walk towards them. There was no need to lend him a hand.
That was how I felt.
“My lord?”
“Lord Aurvangr?”
“No, but it can’t be. His Highness should be in the throne room.”
Al stepped forward in front of the murmuring skeletons.
“My name is Vindalfr!” He struck the long handle of his halberd against the stone floor. “I inherit the blood of Aurvangr, final ruler of the Iron Country!”