only rocky outcropping he saw.
“This is the entrance.”
“There’s nothing here,” Master Kasil said.
“It’s underground.”
“But the soil beneath our feet is drenched in water,” Jymoor said. “How can anything be underground here without being flooded?”
“It is flooded.”
“What? You do know we need to breathe, don’t you?” Master Kasil demanded.
They’re so bound by limitations. And fear of the unknown, poor creatures.
“It’s not completely flooded. There’s a very clever system to harvest and pump away the water. That alone is a fascinating aspect of the place. I don’t quite remember—”
Jymoor cleared her throat. “I believe time is of the essence, no?”
“Of course. Follow me.”
Yeel led the way up the modest rise. They neared a cluster of rough, pocked boulders. A tall stand of grass, with blades as wide as a human hand blocked their way.
Yeel smashed it down and looked beyond.
A wavy black barrier obscured the way between two large boulders.
“There it is,” he said. “Just as I remembered.”
Jymoor stepped through the bent grass camouflage and looked at the foreboding black curtain.
“What’s that made of?”
“The hide of a null dragon, perhaps,” Yeel said. “Or it could be a photonic curler sheet.”
“Forget I asked. Let’s go.”
“Wait but a moment…I have to get something ready first.”
“Yes?”
“It’s a defensive measure.”
“Of what kind?” hissed Master Kasil, joining them at the curtain.
“Sometimes the best defense is a really good reactive defense.”
“What?”
“A defense so good that it kills anyone on the offense. Since we lack any real workers of magic, it seems wise to employ powerful antimagic means.”
Yeel recovered three silver spheres from his pack.
“These are vlure eggs. Each houses a nascent vlure, a creature that feeds on magical energy. Each time we encounter a mage of the Meridalae, I’ll release a vlure. The creatures are rather nightmarish, actually. They will mature within seconds of being exposed to magical effects, and, once active, they typically proceed to draw a mage’s brain right out of the skull. It’s very unsettling to watch, by all accounts.”
“They deserve it, if they’ve caused all that destruction on two worlds.”
“Oh, more than two worlds, I assure you. But that’s good for us. They’re stretched thin.”
“So, how do we go in?”
“Not yet. First an offensive measure.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Yeel took a small bottle out of his pack.
“Tuluk’s poison. Though most was spent, there was still a little left in his body. He can serve us one more time.”
“Its effect?”
“Violent spasms, hallucinations, and death.”
Everyone put some of the poison on their weapons. Jymoor filled up the sac in the end of her fenlar. After listening to Yeel describe its dangers, the Companions stood a bit farther apart, holding their spears and blades more carefully.
“Can we go in now?” Jymoor prompted again.
“You go first.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Well, it’s simply that you’re wearing heavy armor. Better than any of the knights we have here among us. I’ll go in behind you. Actually we should arrange the Companions so that our heavily armored fighters are in front. The more…agile ones can follow behind.”
Yeel tried to pull aside the edge of the black sheet, but his tentacle simply slipped through it. It didn’t hurt. Yeel grabbed a rock and slipped it through then retrieved it.
“Here, we go,” he said, and slid through.
The stone stairs beyond were slick with moisture and slime. Yeel moved easily down but Jymoor slipped and fell behind him, causing a thump to echo ahead of them. Master Kasil followed, and fell herself as she tried to help Jymoor up. Kasil swore.
Her vocabulary is more colorful than the other females of her species, Yeel thought.
Yeel got to the bottom of the stairs perhaps fifteen feet below. A long stone chamber lay ahead, lit by holes in the ceiling. Square pools of water hugged the walls to the left and right. A straight stone path led through the center of the room to a dark archway at the end. A stone balcony overlooked the room from the far side, just above the archway. Yeel spotted a second exit from the balcony.
He waited for more Companions to join him at the bottom of the stair. He tested the water with a tentacle. Cold, but pure.
As people began to press on the stairs behind, still slipping and falling, Yeel moved forward down the walkway. Jymoor and Master Kasil followed behind. A knight that Yeel knew called Groylvir drew his longsword as he came down the stairs. Yeel had given the man a special ring. Anyone struck by a weapon in the hand wearing the ring lost body heat rapidly. The attacking weapon became hotter,