Read Online The Fabled Beast of Elddon by David Barber - Free Book Online Page B

follow. “Stay close.”
    Crossing
the threshold, they entered an immense hall. Massive stone pillars were set
into the walls at regular intervals, with carvings of heroic figures, some
wearing robes, others armored and holding raised swords, occupying the spaces
in between. The floor was made of massive slabs of granite, fit together so
carefully that the seams were barely visible.
      “This is strange,” Loth said, moving across
the hall. Here there were barrels of pitch and piles of green branches and leaves,
along with a dozen or more clay bowls as big around as wagon wheels. An acrid
odor hung in the air, as if something had been recently burned. There were musical
instruments as well; huge drums as big as beer barrels and a six-foot long horn
fitted with a copper mouth piece at one end.
    Ander
appeared beside him. He used flint and steel to ignite a bit of bracken in one
of the bowls, then fished out a branch from the pile and coated the end of it with
pitch. He stabbed the branch into the fire, turning it as the end caught and
raising it up. A warm glow spread out across the floor around them.
    “What’s
all this, then?” Ander said, examining the horn.
    “The
kerram have a great love for machines and devices. Perhaps they are musical as
well.” Loth tapped a finger experimentally on one of the drums, producing a
deep rumbling sound.
    “Let’s
just find Ryia,” Tristan said, glancing about nervously. “There is an
unwholesome feel about this place.”
    They
continued across the hall and entered a passage on the far side. It went back a
long way, past portals to other chambers and halls. A short time later they
emerged onto a terrace, the front portion of which had fallen away. Across from
where they stood, on the other side of a deep chasm, was another opening, a
doorway much like the one they had just passed through. Loth scanned the rock
face, seeing other doors and windows directly across from them. A long walkway
ran along the cliff edge, just above eye level, disappearing into the gloom on
either side.
    “Look,
down there,” Ander said, pointing.
    Loth
looked and saw several bridges, all of them broken, but there was one that
still remained intact.
    “We
can cross there,” Loth said. “We passed a landing with a stair several yards back.
That should take us where we need to go.”
    They
retraced their steps, taking one of the side doors and descending a narrow
staircase. The stairs let out into another passage parallel to the one above.
At the end of it they came out onto a second terrace, much like the one they
had just left. Here a solid bridge spanned the chasm between the two cliff
faces. Loth started across the bridge, with Ander and Tristan close behind.
They moved swiftly, scanning the wall in front of them, alert for any sign of
movement or attack, but nothing stirred in the long dead city.
    On
the far side of the bridge, they entered through another door and continued
down a long hallway. Before long they came to an area that appeared in use and
was lighted by oil lamps. There they paused, lingering at the edge of the darkness
and exchanging wary glances. Loth could hear a distant rumbling sound and smell
a faint animal odor. Ibridion was not so dead after all. There was life here
and there was danger.
    “Wait
a moment,” Ander said. “I hear something.”
    The
Northman handed Tristan the torch, then unslung his shield and raised his sword,
moving forward into the lamp light. He had only gone a few paces when a small figure,
a faint, ghostly apparition, slid from the shadows of a doorway. The figure
gripped a staff of some sort and aimed it at Ander’s chest, twisting the end of
it. Ander tried to bring the shield up, but not fast enough. A ball of flame struck
the Northman high on the right side of his chest. The force of the blast lifted
him off his feet and he came down hard on the stone.
    “Ryia!”
Tristan said, dropping the torch and launching himself at the girl.
    Ryia,
for