The stone rubble ruins of the ancient city known as Adiranthe lay two days trek away from the borders of Morpeth, the land Eleria currently called home. Through the blasted, grey, empty wilderness that most folk considered haunted.
There were rumoured to be underground passageways and cavern systems below in which some of the treasures of that fabled place still lay. However no one who had gone seeking them had ever come back with anything – if they came back at all! Several times Eleria had seen a knight or an adventuring warrior set off for Adiranthe and of those, only a female warrior had come back, unable to remember what the place even looked like, much less anything that might have happened there.
Well, Eleria had a trick or two that she bet none of the others seeking the lost treasures of Adiranthe had had. She could use a sword well enough – but she was better at stealth and silence, at breaking into the homes of fine nobles and stealing a treasure or two. And her purloined, highly illegal, magical crystals would give her an additional edge.
She let her dappled-grey Highland pony drink at a stream, then decided to rein him in and dismount here, well before the actual ruins. Far better to leave Dapples here, rather than at the very entrance to the caverns.
She unsaddled the pony and swapped its bridle for a rope halter, tethered it in a sheltered place amongst the brush, and fetched rations for it from one of the saddlebags. Satisfied that the pony would be comfortable, she drew a transparent crystal from a pocket in her sleek leather clothes.
“Shisimae,” she whispered, and blew on the crystal, aiming the breath towards Dapples. A soft shimmer appeared around the pony for a moment, then vanished.
Now Dapples would be safe. Unless anyone were specifically looking, no one - human or animal - would ever notice him. A subtle magic, but useful!
“See you soon, fellow,” she whispered, giving the pony a pat on its warm, grey-furred neck. Dapples snorted and kept eating.
With a chuckle, Eleria picked up the saddle and the rest of the tack, and carried it over to a sheltered rock and left it hidden there. Then she began to walk through the wilderness, towards the ruins of Adiranthe.
Rather than just stride through the rubble of the ruined city, Eleria crept silently from one hiding spot to the next, listening always for signs of movement, keeping an eye out for tracks or traps. She found no tracks at all. This struck her as a little odd, but it was supposed to be deserted, after all.
It didn’t take her long to find the entrance to the underground passageways she had heard about. The entrance was visible for all to see, tempting anyone to enter and risk meeting whatever traps or enemies lay inside.
It was going to be dark down there. Eleria pulled a different crystal out of her pocket, this one smoky dark grey, and attatched it around her neck with a ribbon. This would let her see, without having to light a torch and draw the attention of anyone or anything that might lurk within the labyrinth.
Silently and stealthily, Eleria entered the underground world.
* * * * *
Deep within, a hissing voice whispered words in the goblin tongue.
The goblin’s master stood up, smiling with dark amusement. “Another intruder…?”
No comments:
Post a Comment