[Womb of the Dark Mage]

Chapter 28 / 08

Heart of Shadow

Sparlyset hurried into the next chamber. It was an expansive room in a reverse pyramid shape. Short steps ran down to a point deep in the centre. The steps were slightly slanted downward, leading her eyes to something at the bottom shaped with the familiar leaves and bunched vines of a riteseed. But it was bigger than her head, so she thought it might be a stone or crystal. She was not about to try her Floating Disc on the steps to go down and find out.

She floated around the edge of the room towards the sealed door on the opposite side. There was none on the left side, which would have taken her to wherever Dorshemet went. She would find Richard regardless.

She kept the Bound spell in the back of her thoughts. It would be difficult, but she had to admit that she might have to learn it. Even for a basic spell it would not be easy for her.

The grating sound of stone pulled her from her thoughts and she looked down the inverted pyramid. On each side, openings had appeared at the top and middle. Her heart sank and she decided she was unprepared to face whatever was about to happen. She spun around to make for the entrance. Dust poured from the cracks around the corridor as the walls shook as a slab of stone dropped with a crash to bar the path.

The force of falling stone shook loose the anxiety she had laboured to bury. She was sealed in the room, and now had to peer down to see what with. Extraordinarily large sipping serpents slithered into the chamber from the new openings in the pyramid. Their dark blue scales gleamed in her light. The closest caught her scent with its flicking tongue and turned its head.

Her jaw trembled. Sipping serpents had liquesing venom that would dissolve the bodies of their prey while they yet lived so the serpents could drink them down. Then they would swallow the bones to be digested in their vitriolic innards. One could eat prey of any size, and the more they ate the larger they grew, until eventually nothing was large enough to sate them and they starved.

That there were any here, and so large, told her they had access to food sources somewhere, but their nest must be close. Perhaps even within the chamber. She found herself wishing that she could cast Barrier and Bound as the serpent hissed at her.

None of her spells would be sufficient, the only harming one she knew was Flick of Fire and even if it could kill one, she counted nine in the chamber already. She was lucky most of them were tumbling to the bottom.

She remembered a moment before returning to Oval, when they were with Gunhilda and the Pillars receiving tools for the journey. One was crammed in her Bearing Bag with her wheeled chair and Bolting Bar. It was a weapon, delivered to them by the hairy Friar from a man named Barker.

With her eyes locked on the serpent, she stuck her hand in the bag and dug around blindly. She felt the rough metal and grabbed hold of it. As she pulled it, it caught on something and she stuck her other arm in to try and twist it free. The serpents explored the large chamber carelessly, except the one whose attention was locked on her. It began to circle her, never breaking eye contact.

The machine finally came free. It was a folded little weapon called the Little Good Boy Turret. A red switch on it was sheltered with a clear glass-like lid. She recalled the device’s directions, as written by Barker and trusted to Jaded Friar to shout at them. Just unfold it, flick the switch, and whatever you do, don’t stand in front of it.

She pulled the rods on the bottom and they folded out with a firm click into five sturdy legs. She pointed the end with the hole at the serpent and leaned over to set it down. It hissed at her with a flick of its black tongue.

The switch cover opened on a hinge, and she wiggled the switch until she discovered how it moved with a strong click. The boxy machine whirred to life. A cylinder grew from one end and slots opened in the back, venting burning hot air. She had to move her disc away from it for fear of searing her knees without realising.

It swivelled to follow the hissing serpent. Without further warning it fired a shot. The loud yip nearly startled her off her disc. It pierced the serpent through the neck and blasted a chunk of stone from the wall. After a minor adjustment, it fired again and the head flew off and tumbled down the steps, stopping part way down. The body slumped, oozing shiny obsidian blood over the stones.

The LGBT quieted and rotated to the left before making a jerky stop and rotating back. As it panned over the centre of the room, it began to whirr again and fired a series of shots that found their marks in serpents making their way lazily around the edges. Bloody flesh sprayed around the inverted pyramid as another serpent fell dead.

Three of them snaked up towards her, sticking their barbed tongues out menacingly. The machine locked its attention on the leftmost one. She was becoming vulnerable from the side. As she bent to grab the turret the rightmost serpent dove for her and she was forced to leave it and swing her disc out of the way.

She cast Flick of Fire by pouring magic into her fingers and snapping them. The flame came with the sound, igniting her thumb. With her index finger she flicked a fleck of flame at the serpent as it bared its long fangs. The tiny ember scorched it between the eyes and she skirted around the room. It reeled with displeasure. The long serpent advanced on her as she fled. She flicked another flame at it, but it struck low and failed to impede it. She could only flick twice more for this cast, but they were not exactly helpful.

The turret finished slaying the other two angered serpents. Their bodies, abound with blood, flooded the slanted steps. The machine adjusted itself and fired at her with a sharp yip. She ducked low on her disc as the walls burst and debris rained over her. She rounded the next bend. It peppered the walls dangerously close just over the back of her neck and showered her with dust and stone. As she approached it, she prepared to roll off her disc and let it shield her, but the turret turned its aim to a serpent that wandered too close. She thanked the gods as she approached it.

She twisted around to shoot her last two flicks at her pursuer and a good hit to its eye staggered it. The turret perforated it until its wounded flesh could no longer support its weight and it sagged into a twitching, leaking heap.

The weapon adjusted itself again, just as she slipped out of its view. It blasted another serpent as it coiled up towards her. The three that remained eyed her with ravenous curiosity, bobbing their heads with their tongues flicking to taste her scent.

The air around the machine was sweltering. It aimed at the serpents, but all that escaped from it was a pair of clicks before it curled back up and leaned motionlessly. Sparlyset bent to pick it up by the legs. The body was so hot it was steaming and she was forced to hold it away from her.

They approached. She was without weapons now, and would be powerless to stop them from supping her liquid flesh if she did not find a way out. Even with the layer of scales that covered much of her for defence, she could not endure the sipping serpent’s sharp fangs and deadly venom.

She remembered the riteseed in the room as one of the serpents grew bold and snapped at her, clearing her view down the steps. It was flooded with blood. Blood that still dripped from the ruptured corpses.

Her disc matched the pace of the serpent’s advance as it chased her around the edge of the room.

It had not occurred to her that there might be a way to open the door; she had been so occupied with survival. Riteseeds most often required the blood of two. If she added her own… Sparlyset took a deep breath. The LGBT was cool enough for her to endure, so she tucked it quickly back into the Bearing Bag. Two of the serpents hesitated on the steps.

They would require some encouragement. She took another deep breath and cast her second Flick of Fire. If this did not work, she would have to learn to cast Bound on the spot.

She bit into her other hand, ignoring the stinging pain, and let the blood begin to pool. The first flame she flicked missed and splashed into the pooling blood with a sizzle. Frustration was beginning to mix with her fear. Her emotions were so muddled now that her head ached.

“Decamp the pit, you thought-deficient worms!” she shouted as she flicked another flame. It struck one in the body ineffectually. Thankfully, it hissed with irritation and slinked towards her. She led her two predators around the room. Once she reached the other side, she could take a chance and slide down into the pit. She trembled from the thought.

The next flick missed. She growled at her own failing. The last flame found its mark on the serpent’s tongue and it responded by spreading its jaw wide and displaying its fangs.

Her heart beat so hard in her chest she would not have been surprised if the serpents could hear it. As they closed on her the area around the centre of the inverted pyramid became clear. The closest pair of fangs should be just out of reach, she prayed.

Sparlyset aimed herself along the side and shot down the slanted steps at the floating disc’s maximum speed. She poured magic into the blood, willing power into it, and swung down her cupped hand to toss the blood as well as she could towards the large seed at the bottom. The silvery fluid flew in every direction. She did not have time to watch exactly where it went.

She took the side of her disc with both hands as she sped slanted along the sloped edge. With a firm tug it lifted enough to avoid getting caught on the steps at the corner of the pyramid and she glided up to the top. Before she could stop it she crashed into the wall and tumbled to the ground with the disc landing on top of her.

The serpents hissed aggressively. Sparlyset lifted the disc off her head so she could see. The floor blocked her view of the pit, she could make out the serpents. They lowered their heads and coiled their tails in warning to something thrashing below. A long vine rose vertically into the air and darted for one.

They lashed at each other, and the serpent’s fangs caught the thick vine even as it wrapped around it. The sounds of bulging, tearing plant matter filled the room as the seed swelled. The serpents hissed their aggravation. As it grew large enough to fill the pit its coiling vines snatched the serpents up. One vine melted from the venom and dropped its prize, but the wound burst with new life. The fresh vine reclaimed its catch.

Somehow this development did not make her feel safer.

It was a mass of thrashing serpents and vines melting and regrowing as they bit it desperately. The riteseed swelled until it pressed against the ceiling. Two fat leaves bulging with veins of obsidian blood parted to expose a dark, beady eye. It watched her as thorny gaps squelched open in its body and devoured the trepid serpents whole.

She reached into her Bearing Bag and withdrew the Bolting Bar. It was no weapon, but she had little else. With the rod gripped painfully tight against the wound in her left palm she focused her magic to cast Banish with the other. Her fear was diluted by burning determination. To live, and rescue Richard.

It lashed out at her and entangled her body in vines. Tiny thorns punctured her scales and drew her blood. As it dragged her away she grabbed the Illuminate orb from the ground. It carried her high. Dark blood was sprayed across everything, and little roots at the base of the monster still wiggled across the ground to slurp it up.

The maw gaped, a tunnel of razor sharp thorns that would shred her like soft cheese. Sparlyset gulped and tossed Illuminate at the eye. It recoiled and a leaf uncurled to shield it until the orb tumbled onto the blood-soaked steps. As it flinched from the light the monster's entire body twisted, bringing the eye close. She waited for the leaf to peel away and jabbed it with the Bolting Bar.

With a pained ripple through its body, it released her. She fell to the ground with a horrible crack from her ribs that inflamed her chest with pain. The monster seed smashed its heavy vines through the pyramid steps, spraying bits of stone across the chamber. Its eye squirted dark fluids.

Sparlyset extended her hand and took hold of the membrane between worlds with her magic. She tore it to expose the void and cast the monster inside. It pummelled the steps aimlessly as the darkness swallowed it. When the void sealed, the chamber went silent.

The only sound was the grinding of stone against stone as the corridors opened and the holes in the pyramid sealed.

Her entire body was wracked with every sort of pain. Her arms throbbed, her chest burned, and her head ached. She coughed, and her mouth filled with the sweet-sour taste of her silver blood as it dripped over her lip and down her chin.

She cast Heal upon herself, humming her tune to guide the magic through her body. She curled instinctively from the pain as her ribs snapped back into place. Then the sharp agony in her heart faded. Her eyes welled with tears.

For a moment, she allowed herself to lay uncomfortably across the slanted steps to catch her breath and clear her head. She was alive. Another ridiculous chamber conquered and one step closer to saving Richard. In truth, she knew Dorshemet could simply kill her if he wished, but… what else could she do but try?

She slid down to fetch her Illuminate, then clambered up with her arms and pulled herself aboard her Floating Disc.

The spirit of the woman appeared before her. “The Heart of Shadow should not remain here,” she said. She started towards Sparlyset, but seemed to be looking through her. “It should have been left beneath the Seal.”

More cryptic words that she might never comprehend.

Sparlyset followed her down the new corridor. “Are you aware of my presence?” she asked. The spirit did nothing to indicate it heard her words.

The next chamber was filled with platforms blocking beams of light emanating from deep in the stone walls. The spirit vanished. A door on her left was open. Another on her right was also open. She floated to the middle of the chamber and her sense of dread lightened as she realised whatever puzzle the room had held was already solved. The beams of light were reflected into an image of the moon above the right corridor.

Had Dorshemet gone that way, or was he back to the left, the direction she had been longing to go? Surely, the open path was forward, and Dorshemet was not travelling back…

She sighed and zipped out of the room by the right exit.

It led her to another chamber with a square pool rippling in the corner. The stones around it were soaked. A trail of water sparkled in her light, leading to another path. She followed it.

The next chamber had rough ground, horribly demolished by the tenacious weeds sprouting from every crack. It was irritatingly bumpy as her disc kept adjusting itself over the damaged stones.

She froze at the sight of a wooden structure at the far end of the chamber, hidden in shadow until she grew close. Something leafy was coiled around it. The thing was suspended from the gaps in the damaged ceiling above a glittering pool of clear water that ran into the collapsed corner of the room. A leafy mass rose into the air, and two reflective eyes opened to regard her. She brandished her Bolting Bar.

The creature rumbled. “The Lightweaver,” he said warmly. “Fear me not, and waste not your words. I am Isamdureet, here only to rest in quiet… until recent events that is. I know a little of your plight, exposited to me by your companion, Geoff the Human. He has taken the other path in pursuit of Dorshemet.”

Richard and Geoff, she thought, thank the gods!

“My thanks,” she said, and as he advised she wasted no further words. Her disc carried her quickly down the next path. And the next. It was a long series of open corridors, leading finally to a steep stairwell into pitch blackness.

She descended with only moderate trepidation in her heart.

At the bottom was an incredibly vast chamber under a domed roof. Fires were lit near the centre around an altar, where Geoff stood flashing his metal torch in Dorshemet’s face. His other hand was tight on his weapon. Richard still lay upon the Floating Disc.

Dorshemet turned his attention from a black stone tablet on the altar as she approached. He carried himself with the tired enthusiasm of someone getting out of bed early. “Sparlyset, I thought you would drown,” he said coldly.

Geoff looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “We were just talking about how he’s not getting away with Rick. This is a dead end. We know he can’t Bound out of here and take him along. Glad to have the backup though.”

“I am no substitute for the support Richard could offer you, but I will carry my own weight,” she said.

“It’s true,” Geoff laughed, “There’s no way you can back me up like Rick could.” The words stung. Did even he think she was useless? His tone was different as he continued. It was playful. “What you can do is hide that light.”

The light? She could not imagine why he would ever want her to obscure it, but if she took the time to think it out, Dorshemet would be offered that time as well. She stuck the orb in her Bearing Bag.

Geoff clicked off his light as well, and a strong gust suddenly battered them, suffocating the flames and plunging the room into deep shadow. She held up her arm to shield her face as ash and embers scattered in the wind.

A choking gurgle sounded in the dark. Geoff’s light clicked back on revealing Dorshemet coughing in the crook of Richard’s muscular arm. Sparlyset’s heart bathed in relief seeing him well. Seeing him fight. Being with everyone. Tears welled in her eyes again.

Dorshemet Bound away. A gleaming blade of ice appeared slashing horizontally, nearly taking his arm off before he Bound again. Geoff found him with the light immediately. Sparlyset withdrew hers as well.

Lamet was suddenly illuminated as she took the orb entrusted to her from her own bag.

Dorshemet looked panicked. “That could have killed me!” he shouted to his sister.

“Prove you deserve better!” Lamet spat.

Sparlyset had misjudged Lamet again, she admitted to herself.

Richard drew his own weapon and fired it at Dorshemet. The shot struck his Barrier and flared into a shower of bursting sparks. He put it back in its holster with a frown.

Dorshemet Bound again, and Richard reached out with his Grasping Glove, taking him by the throat. Lamet appeared beside him and ran her brother through the side with her iron sword.

His eyes widened in horror as she twisted the blade and pulled it out. Blood splashed over the dark stone. He Bound to the altar. His mouth bled over the light-devouring tablet. He coughed, his face bearing the look of a man whose death was written in stone.

Writing appeared across the tablet’s surface. “Yes,” he choked out a laugh. “Of course…” He Bound again, and this time he was nowhere to be seen in the expansive chamber.

A sense of calm came over the room as they understood they were done facing Dorshemet for the moment. Richard dragged his feet to her side and kneeled next to her. She smiled at him. He was a bit damp, but her Warmth spell was already drying his clothes, and it amplified the comfort his touch brought her as he held her face in his hands. He wiped the blood from her lips with a moist sleeve.

“You must’ve been through so much,” he said. “You got here alone, and you’re covered in I don’t even know what. Your clothes are full of holes…”

“I was desperate with worry,” she cried. “I slew… six… nine,” she was unsure how many serpents to take credit for. “I slew nine sipping serpents, giant enough to swallow a man whole… if that was how they fed. I am beyond relieved to feel your warm touch.”

Lamet ears angled towards them. She paused her patrol of the room and looked at Sparlyset. She hesitated before giving her an approving nod and continuing her patrol. She was glad to be wrong about the Riteweaver. She thought Lamet might be thinking the same about her.

Richard’s dark eyes stole her attention back, glistening with tears. He brought her face close and kissed her. It was their second kiss, and it was sweeter than the first.