Dragon Mage 3 Chapter 3: The Abyss (Patreon)

369 days until the Arkon Shield falls

I drew to a halt in front of a nondescript house in the village’s northeastern quarter, the same house in fact where I’d first met Thursten. Arneson had decided to seclude Jhaven in the village’s underground tunnel network to keep him away from prying eyes.

The shaman was bound to his service by a Trials-enforced contract, and physical restraints were not needed. Despite this, neither Thursten nor Arneson was comfortable with allowing him to freely wander the village. And in truth, neither was I.

I nodded in greeting to the squad of former rebels standing guard outside the entrance to the house. Recognizing me, they silently let me through.

Slipping inside, I made my way down the trapdoor and into the building’s hidden basement. From there, I slipped into the tunnels.

According to the former rebels, the underground network was a veritable maze extending the entire length of the valley. During Gorkin’s reign, the rebels had used the tunnels to hide from the gang, but even so, they had only explored a small portion of it.

The tunnels ran deep and reputedly contained strange beasts that had prevented the rebels from exploring too far. And while mention of the beasts had certainly piqued my curiosity, of more interest to Tara and me was that the underground network had a concealed entrance outside the southern end of the valley.

Before Doran’s Retreat had been destroyed, Arneson’s people had made good use of that entrance to leave the valley in secret and travel to the other settlement’s temple.

Nearing the cave Jhaven was being held in, I heard raised voices and a moment later, Lance rushed out. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“There’s a lair!”

I stared blankly at the other man. Lance had been transformed on the day of Earth’s destruction and no longer bore any resemblance to the gamer kid he’d been, but sometimes that kid still peeked through.

Like now.

Sierra’s second mage was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Slow down,” I said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “What lair? And where?”

He shook my hand off. “There’s no time! Arneson and the others are already on the way there.”

My burgeoning amusement fled. “What?” I asked in an altogether different tone. “When?”

“Ten minutes ago,” the blond youth replied. “They left the minute Jhaven mentioned it. Arneson means to claim the warren’s first clearance bonus for himself.”

“Dammit,” I growled. I knew allowing the man to question Jhaven alone had been a mistake. Now, he’d run off and was almost certainly about to get himself killed—and Sanctuary could ill-afford that. 

I could understand the man’s haste, though.

A lair’s first clearance bonus was certainly something to get excited about, and ordinarily I would not contemplate interfering. But Arneson was one of Sanctuary’s best fighters, and despite my sometimes-dislike for the man, I could acknowledge he was an effective and caring leader. 

If he died, morale would plummet. 

And there was little doubt that Arneson and whoever he’d taken along with him would die.

Because while lairs were generally smaller than dungeons, they were no joke. The brown spider warren we’d cleared during the early days of Sierra had been tough enough, and that lair had still been in its infancy. 

But more than thirty days had passed since the creation of the Human Dominion—thirty-one to be exact—and all the lairs in the region would have matured. Whatever lair Arneson and his people were heading to would be twice as difficult as the spider warren, if not more so.

And none of Arneson’s people had magic.

“What sort of lair is it?” I asked.

Lance threw up his hands. “I don’t know. You can ask the orc but there’s no time. We must leave now.”

My gaze flickered past the other mage to the room beyond. I could question Jhaven to learn more, but I doubted the orc had any specifics to share. After all, humanity’s Patrons were unable to enter any of Dominion’s dungeons and lairs just yet. 

Still, he might—

I shook my head, cutting off the incipient thought. Lance was right. Time was of the essence, and we could not stand here dithering. 

“Go,” I said, letting him pass. “Inform Tara and Thursten. Gather a squad to chase Arneson down, and make sure you go with them.”

Wordlessly, Lance dashed past but stopped after only a few steps. “You’re not coming?” he asked over his shoulder.

“I am,” I replied, limping in his wake. “But I’ll only slow you down. Go on. I’ll follow after with one of the scouts. I’ll meet you when you catch up to Arneson.” My face turned grim. “Or at the entrance to the lair if you don’t.”

✵ ✵ ✵

The next hour passed in a blur. 

Lance and Tara left before I caught up with them. Wisely, they’d chosen to travel light, taking no one except a pair of scouts to track Arneson and the ten men accompanying him.

Unfortunately, that forced me to wait while Thursten assembled a much larger squad, one capable of dealing with any threats we encountered along the way or at the lair’s entrance.

“Do we even know where we’re going?” I asked testily as I waited for the Sanctuary’s leader’s preparations to be completed.

“Down,” he replied absently before turning back to the men awaiting his orders. 

Thursten had been furious when he’d heard Arneson had run off on his own, and he’d agreed we needed to stop the man. In fact, Thursten was so angry he’d insisted on accompanying me and the rest of the team despite my objections. While I wouldn’t exactly label Thursten frail, he was seventy years old, and this was not a task I thought he should take up.

“Down?” I prompted when the other man didn’t elaborate further. “You mean we’re headed into the tunnels?”

“Yes,” was the terse response.

I frowned. So, the lair was beneath the settlement. That was intriguing if not really relevant at the moment. 

“Do we know how far down?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

But Thursten surprised me. “At least half a mile beneath the surface,” he replied. “The underground maze beneath the valley can be broadly divided into three sections: the tunnels leading north, those going south, and finally, the ones delving deeper into the earth. It’s the last section we’ll be heading to.”

My eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?” Lance had been less well-informed.

Thursten turned around. “One of Arnie’s men told his wife they were heading to the Abyss,” he said. 

“The Abyss?” I asked, not understanding.

“All the tunnels from the settlement that dive downward into the earth lead to the same place,” Thursten explained. “A cavern we’ve nicknamed the Abyss. It’s a huge chasm that none of us have seen the bottom of. There is a bridge that spans it, though. And according to what Joyce was told—that’s Arnie’s man’s wife—that’s where the lair starts.”

“I see,” I murmured. “I take it no one has crossed the bridge before this?”

“Correct,” Thursten confirmed.

“And the reason for that?” I asked, knowing there had to be one.

Thursten sighed. “You’ve heard about the monsters that haunt the tunnels?

“The rumors of strange beasts? Yes, I’ve heard of them.”

“They’re not just rumors,” Thursten said flatly. “The beasts exist. I’ve lost too many men to the things to question their existence. And as far as Arnie and I could tell, the creatures originate from somewhere across the bridge—which is why we forbid our people from venturing that way. We had enough trouble dealing with Gorkin and his people to want to borrow more.”

I held my tongue, not questioning the decision Thursten and Arneson had made. The pair’s caution was understandable. However, their inaction had only let the lair mature. It was likely still not a threat to the settlement, but it would become one if not dealt with.

Which Arneson's impetuous decision was forcing us to do immediately.

“Right, I get it,” I said, moving the conversation on. “What’s the plan now?”

“We’ll head straight to the Abyss instead of trying to follow Arnie’s trail. My men know the way.”

“Good,” I said, relieved. “When do we leave?”

“Now.” The old man’s gaze flickered over me, taking in my backpack, staff, and armor. “You ready?”

“Yes.”

He turned around. “Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

✵ ✵ ✵

Thursten and I set off, accompanied by a squad of twenty fighters. The old man had correctly described the tunnels beneath the settlement as a maze, and it was not long before we left the small section I was familiar with.

Not even thirty minutes into our journey, I was thoroughly lost. Not so, Thursten and his men. They navigated the tunnels with ease, selecting left and right forks with confidence, and I could only be grateful I was not making the trip alone.

The terrain was uneven and difficult, and much of the journey involved scrambling over loose rocks or squeezing through narrow crevices. Dragon leap was of little use in such an environment. Nonetheless, flexibility counted for more than speed in the narrow tunnels, and despite my foot, I did not slow Thursten’s men as much as I feared.

“Have the scouts spotted any sign of Arneson or Tara yet?” I asked at one point.

Thursten shook his head. “They haven’t,” he replied. “But that’s no surprise.”

I stared at him blankly. “Why?”

“Arneson is likely taking the easier and more roundabout route to the Abyss.”

My gaze flickered to the steep cliff face where the rest of the team was descending. “Huh. I guess we’re not doing that.”

A smile flickered across the other man’s face. “We’re not. We’re taking the most direct route.” He wiped away the sweat beading his forehead. “And the most difficult. It should save us time.”

I nodded slowly. “Enough to beat Arneson there?”

Thursten shrugged. “Maybe.”

Stowing my staff across my backpack, I took hold of the rope the others had been using and began my own descent. “Well, then, let’s see if we can’t speed this up.”

✵ ✵ ✵

We reached our destination a few hours later, thankfully, without suffering any greater mishaps than a few broken bones and sprained ankles—all of which I’d healed before they could become problematic.

“We made it,” Thursten murmured to the echo of relieved sighs from the rest of the column as we exited the tunnel and entered the Abyss.

Too exhausted to do anything but nod in wordless agreement, I hobbled forward into the cavern, my eyes widening as I finally beheld the Abyss. 

The underground cavern was everything the village leader described. A dark stygian hole in the center of the earth, it was as large as Thursten had said and reeked of menace and dark secrets. Even with my night vision, I couldn’t fully penetrate the darkness nor see what lay at its furthest reaches. 

Our party had entered the cavern somewhere on its eastern perimeter. A rocky shelf, some twenty yards in diameter, rimmed the chamber and extended as far as I could see to the left and right. Inching forward cautiously, I made my way to the edge of the rock shelf and peered down.

And found myself staring at nothing.

Just empty darkness. Or at least, I hoped it was empty darkness.

“What do you see?” Thursten asked in a low voice as he joined me at the edge.

“Nothing,” I replied in the same hushed tone that the surroundings seemed to inspire.

“Oh,” he said, sounding disappointed. “I thought what with your magic, you might be able to see more than we could.”

I shrugged. “Night vision works exactly the same way as the gift of sight I cast on you and your men. I can see as much as you can.” I glanced into the chasm’s black depths again. “I could send Ash down to explore but…” I shook my head. “Somehow I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Better not,” Thursten agreed.

I turned my gaze upward. The underground cavern was huge, but its roof was not entirely shrouded in darkness, and I could just about make out dull gray rock at the very edge of my vision. “Perhaps I should send Ash to—” 

I broke off at the slap of running feet and swung around in time with Thursten. 

“Report,” my companion barked as the two scouts he’d sent ahead came racing back. 

“There are people on the bridge,” the first gasped.

Thursten stiffened. “Arnie’s people?”

The second scout nodded. “Yes, he and all his men are accounted for.” His gaze slid to me. “Your people are there too.”

“That’s good,” I said, relieved. My gaze slid to the sliver of grayness extending outward from the rock shelf some five hundred yards to my right. Protruding into the chasm itself, its far end was hidden from sight.

The Abyss bridge.

The structure was naturally made. Whatever ancient phenomenon was responsible for the gaping hole in the earth had also seen fit to leave behind a thin sliver of rock to span the chasm.

“But where are they?” I asked. “I don’t see anyone nor any torches.” And I should have. The bridge was in plain sight, after all.

“They’re already on the far side of the bridge,” the first scout replied, confirming my fears. 

I swung around, making for the bridge myself. “Then we better hurry before someone does something stupid,” I said grimly.

And by someone, I meant Arneson. I was sure Tara and Lance were doing their best to convince him not to enter the lair, but short of force, I wasn’t sure the pair could stop the stubborn village leader from going ahead with his fool plan.

“There’s no need to hurry,” the second scout said, surprising me. “

Pausing, I looked back. “Why not?”

“By the looks of it, they’ve been there a while,” he replied.

My brows drew down. “How could you tell that?”

“Except for the two standing on guard, the rest of the men are sitting down or sleeping,” the scout answered. “I think they’re waiting.”

It was Thursten’s turn to frown. “Waiting for what?”

I shrugged. “Us probably. Come, let’s join them before Arneson gets tired of waiting.”