Men were tense; the other specter that haunted their imaginations was who this mysterious third player might be. No fallen were seen who were not Pantathians or Saaur. The only human remains were those belonging to pitiful prisoners, dragged under the mountain to feed the Pantathian young. Whoever or whatever was warring on the Pantathians seemed intent on the same mission as Calis and his men: three breeding crèches had been found with infant Pantathians littering the rooms, all torn to pieces.
The more evidence he observed, the more Erik was convinced they weren’t looking for anything remotely like another invading force. Several bodies appeared to have been torn asunder, literally ripped limb from limb. Some of the young Pantathians looked as if they had been bitten in two. Erik couldn’t put aside images of some monstrous creature from an ancient fable, materialized here by a magician to destroy his enemies.
But when he had wondered aloud on this, Miranda’s only answer was “Where are the Pantathian magicians, then?”
Erik had heard some of Miranda’s speculations as they marched: the entire population of Pantathian serpent priests was out in the field serving the Emerald Queen. Even when she said it, Miranda didn’t sound convinced.
A scout returned and said, “Nothing ahead, but there are some odd echoes, Sergeant.”
Erik nodded and asked, “What do you mean by odd?”
“Nothing I can put a name to, but there’s something ahead, perhaps at a great distance, but it’s making enough noise we should be able to get very close without being heard.”
Calis was told and said, “We’re close to being ready to drop.”
Miranda wiped her forehead. “The heat down here is as bad as in the Green Reaches of Kesh.”
Erik couldn’t argue. The men were wearing the lightest clothing possible under their armor, and it had taken a lot of attention to keep them from throwing away the heavy fur cloaks, which were now rolled and stowed in the heavy backpacks they lugged. Erik took time to remind each man that once they were back out of the mountains, winter would be upon them and it would be as cold as it was now hot.
Calis ordered a break and rest, and Erik assigned men to keep watch, while others grabbed what sleep they could. As he reviewed every detail he could remember, de Loungville motioned for him to come to a distant part of the cavern.
“Some stench?” he offered.
Erik nodded. “Sometimes the sulfur makes my eyes burn.”
“What do you think?”
Erik looked confused. “About what?”
“About all this?” Bobby waved his hand around.
Erik shrugged. “I’m not paid to think.”
Bobby grinned. “Right.” Then the grin vanished. “Now, what do you really think?”
Erik shrugged. “I don’t know. Sometimes it seems to me we’ve got no chance of ever seeing daylight again, but the rest of the time I just keep moving, one foot ahead of the other, go where I’m told, keep the men alive, and don’t dwell on tomorrow.”
De Loungville nodded. “Understood. But here’s the hard part. That one-foot-at-a-time attitude is fine for the soldiers in the trenches, but you’ve got responsibilities.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do,” said de Loungville. He looked around to make sure no one else was listening. “Miranda has the means to get herself and one other out of here in a hurry. Special means.”
Erik nodded. He had long ago accommodated to the idea of Miranda’s being a sorceress in some fashion, so this didn’t surprise him.
“If anything happens to me, your job is to get the Captain out with Miranda, understand?”
“Maybe I don’t.”
“He’s special,” said de Loungville. “The Kingdom needs him more than a couple of sorry sods like me and you. If you have to, hit him over the head and toss his limp body at Miranda, but don’t let her leave without him.”
Erik tried not to laugh. The only member of this company stronger than Erik was the Captain, and from what Erik had seen over the last few years, Calis was significantly stronger than Erik. Erik had a pretty good notion that if he hit Calis over the head, it probably wouldn’t slow him a beat.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said noncommittally.
They moved out two hours later and Erik kept what de Loungville said in mind. He discounted the admonition because he didn’t want to imagine a situation where de Loungville wasn’t around to tell him what to do, and he didn’t think he could tell the Captain to do anything.
They moved along a long, narrow tunnel that seemed to slope gently downward. The heat continued unabated, but didn’t seem to get worse.
Twice they took breaks and scouts were sent ahead. Both times they returned to report the distant sounds they couldn’t identify.
Two hours later, Erik could hear the sounds they mentioned. Rumblings, the thunder faintly heard, with high-pitched keening, echoed from a great distance, or at least that’s how it seemed to Erik.