Chương 14: 13. Tunnels

"Stop this," Tavian said. Braun's men stopped in the process of dragging Jarden toward the Kingdom Core.

"I have another question before we kill him." Braun pulled the gag from Jarden's mouth.

"Thank you, merciful lord," Jarden said.

"I can be helpful to you. I'll answer all your questions. I'll tell you anything—""Can you use the tunnels to get from the vault to the gatehouse?"

"Yes, yes, you can!" Jarden said.

"Please, I can show you the way. I'll lead you there myself." Tavian cursed.

"Don't kill him yet," he said and walked away, turning his back on the gutless man. Jarden continued begging for his life and lavishing sycophantic praise on Tavian.

"What are you doing?" Braun asked, approaching.

"You're not seriously believing this man's lies."

"There are probably people in the gatehouse," Tavian said.

"We would never be able to rescue them, not the way things are now. Anarvians would cut us off before we could get back. We would have to sift everything we just got from the treasury to claim the tiles we'd need; and even then I'm not sure it would work." Braun rubbed the back of his neck.

"Some of the gatehouse guards live there, with their families," he said, seeing the issue.

"If there was a hidden tunnel that we could sneak everyone through…"

"He's a liar, though," Braun said.

"But there is a tunnel," Tavian countered.

"It goes somewhere."

"I think we should just kill him."

"Everything is a resource now," Tavian said.

"We may not trust him, but we might be able to use him. Keep an eye on him, and let me know if he tells you anything useful." Tavian returned to where Calli was sorting the treasures. She'd made two piles; one was quite large, the other, little more than scraps and a chest.

"Let me guess," he said, using his toe to push over a tapestry that had recently been hanging in a nearby hall.

"The big pile is the stuff you want to save."

"There are so many treasures here," Calli said.

"Look, one of these is great aunt Savvy's tea collection!" Tavian sighed.

"Does Master Jarden have a daughter?" he asked.

"Yes, he does," she said.

"She's younger though. Fifteen maybe. I heard something happened to her, a few months ago. Ran off or something. They say she wanted to marry a boy but her father disapproved."

"Jarden says she was carried off by Lord Anarvia."

"He already has a wife."

"As leverage," Tavian said, rolling his eyes.

"To force Jarden to let Anarvian soldiers into the tunnels beneath the fortress."

"Why?" Calli asked.

"Father just let them in."

"Not that many," Tavian said.

"They must have wanted to smuggle even more in. I don't know, that's just what Jarden said."

"His daughter was a nice enough girl," Calli said with a shrug.

"But I don't know anything directly."

"What about tunnels?" Tavian asked her.

"Catacombs, a maze like structure with demonic beings below the keep?" Calli's eyes widened.

"Oh," she said.

"That makes sense. If what Jarden is telling you is true, there's probably a miasmic dungeon below the fortress. That's what's causing the miasmic surges. Tavian, don't go down there, it's dangerous."

"Did Master Coresmith Halin ever speak of this?" Tavian asked.

"Surely he would have known."

"Never," Calli said.

"But… why would he tell me? What could we do about it? If it's true, it would explain a lot of things." Her gaze wavered, and she stared at the ground.

"I hope he's alright." Tavian Calli's mentor would have a lot of explaining to do if they ever found him. He suspected the man was deeply involved in all this. Tavian rose, not sharing his suspicion. He realized that Calli wouldn't be able to do more than speculate.

"I don't believe Jarden's telling the truth. But I want to use what he knows. I need a way to verify what he's saying." If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Tavian found Uncle Erond, resting in the shade near the triage. His leg had been splinted and might need to be amputated. He seemed to be in reasonably good spirits, considering the situation.

"You're doing a great job," Erond said as Tavian approached.

"I've never been prouder of my nephews." Tavian couldn't help but smile.

"What's the problem?" Tavian explained the situation to Erond.

"A miasmic dungeon…" Erond mused.

"I don't think so. But I've been in the escape tunnel," he said.

"There's a false flagstone in your father's chambers, and it leads down into a route that takes you outside the city. It seems old, older than the palace, and there were other openings that have been all blocked off. It winds chaotically through the darkness, like the product of a crazed mind. I can imagine that if you found yourself lost in there, it would be easy to imagine miasmic creatures around every corner." Tavian sighed. Maybe Jarden was telling the truth.

"My lord!" a man called, jogging over.

"We've found the secret entrance to the tunnels!" Tavian was accompanied by a fist of men as they descended to the vault. The vault guards ordered to search for a secret entrance had discovered a cleverly hidden door, behind a set of shelves in the vault room where the Anarvian soldier had disappeared. The shelves had been pushed aside, and a black hole now yawned in the wall. Foul air wafted out of the chamber beyond. It certainly had the atmosphere of a miasmic dungeon.

A black haze seeped from the hole into the vault, soaking into the stones. Tavian stepped through the portal, and the torch in his hand guttered. The room beyond was cramped and ancient, with cobwebs hanging thick in the corners. Several black passages split off from this location, and torchlight flickered as soldiers explored a short way into the darkness. The masonry here was old. In places, archaic runes were etched into the stone.

It was like Tavirost had simply built his fortress on top of whatever had been here before. So, there was an ancient maze beneath the palace. Could it really be the source of the miasmic surges? Why would Lord Anarvia be sending so many men into hidden tunnels? Something about Lord Anarvia's plan didn't sit quite right with Tavian. There was something he was still missing. Tavian traced his fingers along the wall. Something large had left gouges in the stone.

About the height of his shoulder, a deep score ran across multiple stones. A large cart, dragged down a narrow hall, perhaps? Tavian imagined stumbling into an ancient tomb, filled with golden treasures. He followed the gouge until it disappeared, a few meters down. Here, an ancient archway had been bricked over. It appeared to be recent work, or at least more recent than whatever had scraped the wall. Someone had painted black glyphs over the new masonry: "No."

Tavian moved deeper into the darkness, keeping an eye on the men exploring nearby. He'd heard that miasmic dungeons often shifted and changed, without rhyme or reason, trapping lost souls in labyrinthine halls. Another opening led to a small alcove. It stank of urine and sweat. A screech echoed in the darkness, and the hair on Tavian's neck stood up. He examined the alcove. Chains, as thick around as Tavian's wrist, were secured to a loop in the floor. Manacles lay nearby, stained with blood.

What would it be like to be imprisoned in this small room? Burned out candles left puddles of melted wax in crevices' along the wall. A stack of books rested on a shelf. Tavian examined them; and found he could not read the text. They were written in a language he did not understand. He wondered if Calli might know what they were. Someone seemed to have been studying them. He picked one up. A chain dangled from the cover. There were chained books in the library at the Temple of Ishtoran.

Were these books from that library? The chains were supposed to keep people from stealing them, but apparently that hadn't worked. A chill breeze whistled through a hole in the floor, about the size of Tavian's foot. He nudged a stone into the black maw, and listened for it to hit the bottom. He waited for a long time before a faint splash echoed back to him. Tavian picked up the books and stepped back out into the main corridor. All his life he'd imagined Tavirost Fortress as rooted to stone.

"Tavian," Lea shouted from behind him. He turned to see the ethereal Lepidoptera floating in the vault, peering into the darkness where he stood. That was strange to him, since she could simply manifest wherever she chose.

"Tavian, are you in there? That is a dangerous place!"

"What do you mean?" Tavian asked, emerging from the dark tunnel.

"Why?"

"It is thick with miasma down there," Lea said.

"Please, don't go back in there. I can't see into there."

"How do we clear out the miasma?" Tavian asked.

"Surely there's a way to purify this place?"

"In this age…" Lea hesitated.

"I'm not sure there is."

"Is it going to damage my Core?"

"Miasmic surges can cause lots of problems," Lea said.

"They can overwhelm your claimed tiles. Obstruct your spells modules, distort your Perks."

"I know that," Tavian said.

"I thought the Conqueror's Core would be different." Lea just shrugged.

"Please just get your men out of there."

"But… What if there's a way to deal with it? To solve the problem all together?"

"Tavian, please, they'll stir things up." Tavian remembered the stories he'd heard, of animals possessed by miasmic rages, or monsters created in black pits by evil forces.

"What kind of things?" Tavian asked.

"Evil," Lea said.

"I recommend you close this entrance. Miasma is seeping out of it, tainting these stones, challenging your Influence over this hextile. Seal it off." Tavian looked back into the tunnels and the mysteries they contained. He didn't want to simply ignore this problem, like his father had. He wanted to do something about it. Tavian bit a knuckle.

"Everything is a resource now," he said. Back in the courtyard, Tavian returned to Jarden. Everything the man had told him so far had turned out to be true, or at least plausible. One thing was clear. If the tunnels beneath the fortress really did connect to the guardhouse, Tavian was never going to find the route without a guide.

"We've found your hidden entrance to the tunnels," he said to Jarden.

"And I'm willing to make a deal with you."

"What?" Braun hissed.

"You're trusting him?"