“I think the language we heard was Tharaxic,” Fig continued as the three of them made their way down the tunnel. Arclin didn’t mind Fig talking since it was better than the silence of the deep; he just wished he understood what the man was even talking about. “The records that archeologists have discovered suggest that the Tharaxic were a civilization that disappeared over six thousand years ago during the Shadow Era. Only a few samples of their writing and language have been found, but now that I have confirmation of how it sounds, perhaps I can…”
Arclin wordlessly tuned Fig out as they walked. He still nodded at the right moments, but otherwise he gave himself permission to check out.
The moss-covered walls had been perfect for leading the way, and the wide hall made it so that they could comfortably walk side by side, but whatever creature they had encountered at the underground lake had shaken him. The others had not seen it very well, or at all, but he could’ve sworn that he saw the creature had approached them in the dim light of the moss, and was sure the writhing mass before them was that of an octilid. If it hadn’t tried communicating with them, he would’ve told them what he had seen, except he didn’t want to sound like a crazed lunatic.
Octilids didn’t speak. They were a seafood delicacy that the rich could afford when wanting to eat a fancy meal, and the dumb things only grew as big as his head, with tentacles as long as his arms.
And yet he had just witnessed two of them try to kill him, Fig and Ryzen, and they were twice as big as he was. And that was when he had shifted! Arclin shivered involuntarily as that thought came to him again. Giant octopus-like spiders roaming the land, hiding in plain sight, just waiting for the chance to pounce and eat their victims.
He shuddered again and tried to worry about other things. Like how to get out of this mountain.
Fig continued to ramble about language and history, and Arclin tried to focus on where the tunnel was leading them. He kept reviewing over and over the warning his family had taught him as a little child, but nothing in its two verses mentioned anything about what they had just gone through.
“Are you guys even listening to me?” Fig asked loudly.
“W-what? Of course we are,” Ryzen said stupidly, apparently coming out of her own daze. Then, with a punch to his shoulder, she added, “Right, Wolf-boy?”
“Yep. You’ve got it,” he answered through gritted teeth.
Fig just shook his head with a sad smile. “I am sorry that I am such a bore. I think I will not trouble your mind with such details at the moment.”
“I’m sorry, Fig, I really am,” Arclin apologized sincerely. “It’s just that ever since we’ve entered this place and came out of the water, everything seems just so, so…”
“Weird?” Ryzen offered.
“Bizarre,” Fig added.
“I guess? I don’t know. It’s hard to say for sure,” Arclin said, clenching his fists. “I just feel like the warning didn’t give us enough information. We’ve been walking for what seems like forever, and who knows how deep this cave actually goes. Are we going to get out? Are we even going to see the light of day again?”
The other two lapsed into an awkward silence, and Arclin felt another thing add to his plate of worries. Great, now I’m stressing them out too.
“It will be okay, Arclin,” Fig said, suddenly pointing to the floor and the walls. “Look, see. The slope of the floor and the cavern walls are straighter than they should normally be in a natural cave, and the floor itself is slanting back up, not down.”
“Which means someone made this place,” Ryzen said, nodding her head in agreement. “And it means that if we keep following this tunnel, we’ll eventually come to a space that can lead us out.”
A smile touched his lips as he realized they were right. “Do you guys mind if I try something?” he asked them.
“Like what?” Ryzen asked skeptically.
“I want to scare the moss so it stops glowing.”
Ever since they had left the underground lake, they had tested it a few more times and confirmed that whenever one of them touched the moss; it stopped glowing.
“You want to plunge us into complete darkness? Really?” Ryzen asked with a raised eyebrow. “Why would we want you to do that?”
“Because then we can see if there’s any other light up ahead,” Arclin explained. “If the moss is still glowing, it's harder to see any other lights up ahead. But if we make it stop, then we can see if there’s any light at the end.”
“Ah, but what if the tunnel curves?” Fig said thoughtfully.
Damnation. He hadn’t thought of that. Arclin cursed his luck and said, “Never mind. It was a dumb idea.”
“I never said it was dumb,” Fig replied. “I only meant is that since we don’t know if the tunnel curves, we may not see any light at the far end.”
“Do you want to try it then?” Arclin asked.
“I’m saying let’s give it some time. Then we can test it out and, I think, find out if it works or not.”
Ryzen agreed with Fig, and a weight lifted from Arclin’s shoulders. They wanted to give it another five minutes before trying out their plan. With a plan in place, Arclin grinned, appreciating the soft greenish light of the moss that helped guide them forward.
The smooth hall continued further on, and slowly, their soft green moss light began to dim more, and large swaths of empty patches became more abundant.
“Looks like your idea is gonna be tested soon,” Ryzen said pointedly as they all came to a stop. “The moss is showing up less and less.”
“That makes sense,” Fig answered her. “As we stray away from the source of water and humidity, the less there is for moss to grow on.”
“Which means no more light,” Arclin added quietly. He hadn’t thought of losing the light permanently when he had shared his idea, but now that prospect lay before him, he wanted to stay where the light was.
“Perhaps we can see now if there is light up ahead,” Fig said with a look that seemed to understand Arclin’s worry. “Since we won’t have the light soon, it would be beneficial for us to know what might lie ahead.”
Without waiting for any other confirmation, Ryzen walked over and slapped the moss. In an instant the light was gone, disorienting Arclin from the sudden lack of vision.
“That was not what I had in mind, Princess,” Fig said rather dryly.
“I was tired of talking about it,” Ryzen said with a dismissive air, sounding closer to Arclin and Fig now.
“Well, maybe I would’ve like to have kept talking about it before just doing it?” Arclin said. Secretly, he was glad she had done it because it could have been longer before they had decided, but her presumption in deciding for their small group irked him so much he couldn’t describe it.
“Well, it didn’t seem like you needed time to consider what would happen when you shoved me down that hole earlier,” Ryzen retorted. “So which are you then, a thinker and a doer, or are you a doer then a thinker? Because if you really thought out that shove, then to me it sounds like you wanted to start a fight.”
Arclin gritted his teeth. Who did she think she was to pick a fight with him? He didn’t have to explain his reasoning to her, and he shouldn’t need to. “Well, I—”
“Shh,” Fig said loudly, and Arclin felt a hand tap his side roughly.
“Ouch, what was that for?” he asked, feeling hurt that Fig was now ganging up on him with Ryzen.
“No, shh,” Fig said again. Then, in a soft whisper, he added, “Listen. There is something at the end of the hall.”
Arclin calmed himself and tried to listen to what Fig had heard. At first, he couldn’t hear anything, but eventually, he heard a noise that made him feel like he was back in the freezing lake.
Voices. Voices not belonging to any of them were coming from down the hall. It started out faint, but steadily Arclin could eventually make out what they were saying.
“I’m tellin’ you, you’re wron’,” a man said with a thick accent that Arclin recognized from Darithane. “The Rathi don’ have one.”
“But it’s true,” a second man answered with an accent Arclin couldn’t place. “I traveled with ‘em, and I heard stories that were just like ours.”
The voices were getting closer, and panic made Arclin freeze. He needed to step out of the way, if lucky, they might not step over him, but that was an enormous gamble. The tunnel could fit him and his little group comfortably enough, but with these men coming in the dark, could he avoid them and remain undiscovered?
With a start, he let out a little gasp as a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him against the wall. The moss hid any noise he had made from the impact. “Quiet,” Ryzen whispered urgently in his ear so only he could hear. “If we’re lucky, they’ll pass us without knowing we’re here. Just get down and stay low.”
“And I’m telling you it’s true,” the second man said fervently, sounding as if he were ten feet away. “Just because they don’ call it the same don’ mean they ain’t the same. In my hometown, Mehlri stories are the same, we just have different names for them.”
“Would you jus’ drop it already,” the man from Darithane said, sounding exasperated and standing just a little past where they had been a moment before. “We’ve had this conversation a ‘undred times. They aren’t the same, and I don’t think they’re even comparable to the boss, so stop wastin’ my time with it. Now, haven’t we gone far enough? I don’t like walkin’ down here without a light and I’m tired of arguin’ with ya.”
It was silent for a moment before the Mehlri man answered. “Yeah, we can go. The boss said they wanted us to check and we have. Don’t know why the moss isn’t lit up. I can feel it, but maybe your loud mouth startled them.”
“Me! Why, if you hadn’ been blubbering away then we would’ve had more light to see with,” the Darithane said, and now it sounded to Arclin like they were walking back the way they had come.
“Jobar, I swear by my mother’s hat that if you don’t shut your trap, I’ll shove it down your gullet for you.”
“Oh, right, and what’ll you do then? Run back to your momma and cry like a baby? By the one true god, Berry, it’s about time ya grew a pair and get over yerself.”
There was a smack, and the Darithane named Jobar swore so loud that Arclin, Ryzen, and Fig all jumped in surprise.
“Berry, I’ll kill you for that, ya little twerp. Get back here.”
There were heavy footfalls as both men ran back down the tunnel, their yells and screams echoing off the walls.
Arclin waited with the other two as the moss slowly lit up the tunnel with its pinpricks of light that grew until he could clearly see that the three of them sat huddled against the wall. Looking at the others, he saw their shocked faces staring right back at him.
“What in damnation is going on down here?” Ryzen hissed at them.
“And why does everyone I have met or heard about from Mehlri have fruit as part of their name?” Arclin added, turning to look at Fig.
“It is the way we are. Our culture,” Fig said, sounding embarrassed. “But I agree with Ryzen. Why are there men down here, and what are they doing?”
“Let’s find out,” Ryzen said, and before Arclin could react, she was up and running as silently as she could down the hall.
“This is crazy, she’s crazy, right?” Arclin said, looking desperately at Fig.
Fig shrugged his shoulders and stood up. “Wait for me, Princess.”
Shaking his head in bewilderment, Arclin stood up and chased after the booth of them.
…
“What do you think they’re doing in there?” Ryzen asked over the din of clanking and banging in the background, her head poking out from around the edge of the tunnel they were hiding in. “I can tell they’re mining; I just don’t know what it is.”
“I’m not sure either,” Arclin replied irritably. “Perhaps if I could see what was happening, then I could provide some input.”
After they had nearly run into the two men in the wide tunnel, Ryzen had chased after them, leading them almost straight into the midst of some mining operation taking place right in Aras Mountain. So far Ryzen and Fig and seen what was happening, but Arclin had been the slowest runner and had only just arrived and had Fig fill him in on what they had discovered.
Arclin glanced at the tunnel's entrance where light came flooding in from some high-powered lights that were brighter than he had ever seen before. What did they need such bright lights for, and who was mining down here?
Ryzen rolled her eyes and glared at him. “Fine then,” she growled, and she jumped back to make room for him.
Moving quietly, Arclin inched forward until the rest of the cavern came into view, and he understood why the place was lit up so as his jaw dropped. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, garnets, and every color of gem he could fathom were gleaming with a brilliance that was hard to look at, shining like little slivers of the sun that had taken refuge in the mountains. But in the middle of the great hall, there were four statues, each a giant stone replica of the gods sitting on top of Aras mountain. His eyes watered as he gazed over the scene, and deep down he wished Tirza, Annica, and Nichole were there with him.
The hall the crystals occupied was wider than any chapel or building he had seen, and all around men were on ladders, digging and picking the bright, glowing jewels that were embedded in the very walls themselves and tossing them into carts set on tracks leading down into another tunnel. Men who were not working on ladders, and wearing very familiar clothing, were shouting at those above and around them. Calling for them to “work faster” or to “hustle up” because it was almost quitting time. Squinting, Arclin tried to remember where he had seen that clothing before. Something about it made him uneasy, and he suddenly had the strange urge to run.
“Everything is right on track, Chief Emerald,” a man’s voice said just barely out of sight from Arclin’s view.
Pulling his head back a little to avoid being seen, he felt a chill as he recognized the title. Chief Emerald. Not only was she the director of the Enforcers who had taken down the aristocracy of the Drahl Kingdom, but she had been the one to lead the assault on his family’s castle in Drannogal. His eyes widened when she spoke, her words filling him with panic, and a desire to run.
“Good work, Captain,” Chief Emerald said in a stern voice. “After your cohort's failure to capture that shifter from Darithane, I had low expectations of what I would find here.”
“We do our best, mam,” the Captain said. “Our reports say that everything should be ready to ship in the next hour or two.”
“And the prisoners?” Chief Emerald said, her voice growing softer. “How many in the lineup will there be today?”
“Another two dozen, Chief,” the Captain said, his voice lowered too. “My men say they are near the end with how hard we’ve been pushing them. Doesn’t make sense to wait for natural causes to take them. Did you wish to attend?”
“Not this time, but make sure your men are ready for what they must do,” Chief Emerald said, her voice normal again. “I am in no mood to play games with any more shifters. Understood?”
“Yes, mam,” the Captain said, and Arclin caught the hesitation in the man’s voice as they moved closer. Ducking farther into the cave he watched as both the Chief and the Captain walked by the entrance nearly ten feet away.
“Now, let us continue with the reports, I…” Chief Emerald tailed off, and Arclin’s heart pounded in his ears as she looked from side to side.
“Is everything alright, Chief?” the Captain asked.
“I… never mind,” the chief said as a new set of footsteps made their way to them. “I want to hear what they have found in these old tunnels.”
“Nothing much, I’m afraid,” the Captain said. “Our crews walked down each one until they were sure they were empty. What is it, sergeant?”
“Reports from above, Captain,” a third voice said who must’ve been the sergeant. “The blimp flew out of sight, but our scouts say that two forms were seen flying to the top of Aras mountains and their ruins.”
“And what did they find?” Chief Emerald questioned, and Arclin heard the sergeant’s voice quiver a little when he responded.
“W-w-we haven’t heard back from them yet. I-I-I only just came down from our post to give this report.”
“Damn you all,” Chief Emerald snarled. “Get back up there sergeant and give me that report. I want to know more about who is searching the ruins.”
“Y-yes, s-s-s—Mam. Right away.”
The tunnel walls echoed as the sergeant ran off, and Arclin heard two heavy sighs from the Chief and the Captain.
“I will make sure to get a full report as soon as possible,” the Captain said, walking away from the tunnel entrance.
Chief Emerald’s reply was too muffled to hear, but Arclin was breathing fast and his heart was pounding in his ears as sweat trickled down his back. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Fig tapped him on the shoulder.
“Arclin, follow,” Fig whispered. Then he motioned back down the tunnel where Arclin saw Ryzen already receding further into the shadows.
Nodding his head in understanding, he trailed behind his companions. When they had gone far enough, Ryzen spun around. “They work for the Alakargk’s? The Enforcers of the Republic work with the Alakargk’s?” She nearly shouted, and both Arclin and Fig were glancing back down the hall to make sure that no one heard her outburst.
“Would you keep it down, and what is an Alakargk?” Arclin asked, trying to keep his own voice low.
Ryzen froze, and her jaw dropped. “How…how does he not…” she stammered, looking back and forth between Arclin and Fig. “This is literally the person who tore down his society, and he doesn’t know who she is?”
“Of course I know who she is,” Arclin hissed back, anger replacing the panic he had been feeling seconds before. “Chief Emerald was the one who destroyed my life. She’s the one who killed my parents. She’s the reason that my sisters and I lived on the streets and had to beg for food and water because the rest of society turned their back on us. Don’t you dare accuse me of not knowing who was responsible of that. By all the gods above I will never forget, or forgive Chief Emerald for what she did to me and mine.” By the time he had finished his tirade he was nearly shouting at her, his chest rising and falling like the day he had run from home when Chief Emerald had come for them so many years ago.
He and Ryzen glared at each other and he could barely see her face turn a dark shade of pink in the dim light of the tunnel. Fig, however, placed a comforting hand on Arclin’s shoulder and again Arclin nearly jumped out of his skin.
“I think, I speak for all of us, when I say that we understand your pain,” Fig said, his tone soft and warm. “We have a different name for the woman you know as Chief Emerald. Among the Revolt, she is known as Alakargk.”
“And what exactly does that word mean?” Arclin asked, lowering his voice again but still glaring at Ryzen.
“We don’t know what the word means, exactly,” Fig replied. “We only know that it’s used by the Mehlri when we have spied her and a few other Chief Enforcers work with them.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be the history guy of languages, don’t you have an idea what it could mean? And when did the Mehlri get involved with anything, I thought they mostly keep to themselves?” Arclin questioned, feeling his frustration returning.
Fig paused, his brow furrowed in thought. “A few others have theories about each of the questions you’ve asked, but we shouldn’t be focusing on that.”
“Then what should we be focusing on then?” Arclin spat out. “Last I checked it’s the three of us against a hundred of them out there. And I don’t see any harm in finding out what a name means.”
Fig took a deep breath before nodding again. “I understand, and yes I agree that there is no harm in knowing the meaning of a name. I have a plan, and if you are interested, I will share it will you after I tell you the meaning behind the name.”
Arclin let himself breath for a moment and realized he had been acting out irrationally. He had let his fear and anger towards Chief Emerald cloud his judgement, leading him to act out against Fig who had been nothing but kind to him during this venture. Ryzen, though. For that he felt his anger was deserved, but still… I need to learn to trust these people if I am going to find my family again. Shaking himself mentally he nodded at Fig.
“Go ahead. Tell me what you think the name means and then we can hear more about your plan.”
Fig gave him a warm smile and again Arclin felt guilty about his outburst. “While others may not know what the name means, I have done a bit of research. The name means ‘one with the dark.’”
A cold chill crept up Arclin’s back. The description fit. While he had watched her from a distance, Chief Emerald had definitely let off a dark aura that left him feeling uncomfortable. But it left him with more questions about her nature. If the Enforcers were supposed to be bringing about the end of an era and beginning a new one, why would they have someone as their leader with a title that literally means “one with the dark”? It left him feeling uneasy and Arclin decided to let the issue drop.
“So what about this plan you have then?” he asked.
Fig smiled mischievously. “How much trouble would you like to give the Enforcers?”