Search & Scrutiny XII

Tanasha stood at the entrance to the mine. She took a torch and ignited it with a snap of her fingers. "Are you afraid of the dark, Ssil?" she asked the girl.

"No" the girl replied. "I grew up there."

It was the morning after the old shaman had helped the girl with a Séance. She had sung with the villagers - all former slaves - and they had their fill of food and stories. Tanasha had taught the girl how to read a "map" of the tunnels. It was made by knotting strings of different lengths and thickness together to form a sort of schematic of the tunnels with barely any regard to direction. The girl bought some last rations and an additional water skin, allowing her to last at least four days without refilling. Her backpack got heavier and she got more determined to push on.

The two women travelled down a horizontal tunnel. Left and right more tunnels branched off, but they kept on going, until they came to a spiral ramp. Like the tunnel, it had two groves chiselled into the floor.

"These tunnels were dug by thousands of slaves of the course of over a thousand years. The mine has many entrances, but most have been blocked by rubble, especially during the Great Sundering. We cleared many tunnels of the rubble and fortified them, either ourselves or with the help of the spirits."

They eventually came into a large hall dominated by a wooden platform that they arrived on. The torch cast light barely reaching to the end of the platform, and with the exception of a few glistening spots, the walls and ceiling were utterly black. The girl said how she could see warmth, but this place was as cold as the fathoms of winter to her. Their bodies shone like suns, she said.

"This is as far as I can take you. Many tunnels run through here and maybe one day, we will come here in search for more silver or other treasures, but your path lays far beyond. Do not be afraid to consult the spirits, they bear no ill will to you. I hope you will fare well. I hope we don't need to meet again."

With these words Tanasha handed the girl three torches and ignited one of them.

The girl bowed and exclaimed "I cannot thank you enough. May you forever be safe and loved." it was a way of saying good bye the girl had heard from the other villagers. Tanasha answered in kind.

The woman was gone and so was the warm light of her torch. The girl stuffed the other two in her backpack and got out the ash map from the séance. The ash had been fixed with a thin layer of wax, to protect it against smudging. She looked at it again. Her face showed strain as she tried to make sense of all the lines and shapes.

"Try to imagine the large spot in the centre to be the place of power." Aaka told the girl. "Around it, the view of the spirit is oriented."

The girl's strain only grew. "It doesn't seem to make sense."

"Of course it doesn't. It's a spirit's view."

"Then why don't you help me?" The girl's voice showed irritation and resentment.

"I can't help you too much. And I already told you that geography is not what a spider would usually understand. Maybe ask a burrowing animal like a-"

"Unless I can actually find any animal spirits on or in this forsaken rock, I don't need to know about any damn burrowing animals." the girl snapped back at Aaka.

The girl got back to looking at the map. She sighed and inhaled deeply. She took another look at the map. There was no strain on her face this time. "If the centre is the place of power, then these must be ley-lines." She ran her fingers over two dominant lines that seemed to get wider as the approached the edges of the map. "The thickness of the lines could refer to strength or to closeness to our world, but then they would be thickest at the place of power, which they aren't." The girl seemed to finally get an epiphany. "Therefore, they must relate to position within space relative to ours. So, the lines are... flowing out of the paper, towards me...?" She thought for a few moments. "IT'S A SHADOW!" She suddenly exclaimed, her epiphany echoing back from the stone walls. "It's like a shadow of an object on a wall. Depending on how the object is oriented, some parts may look bigger!" She was almost jumping with joy.

"So, do you know where we must go?"

The girl thought for a while "...no." Her joy had vanished from her face.

"So, let's see. If I could determine the ley lines, I could... no, the ley lines could run far past me, I'd search for days to align myself with them from here..." She tilted her head first left, then right, then left again. "Maybe if I assume my current position..." She put the paper down on the ground and weighed down the edges. She walked in circles around the paper and tried to make sense of the lines in their new orientation. "I cannot find anything to line the map up with."

The girl was lost in thought again. "I helped Elissa with asking the spirits for the best day of harvest lots of times, it was easy." She began to tell. "We set up the paper with runes, like this one, and sprinkled the ashes, just like Tanasha did. The ash settled in dots that represented important stars and constellations. That way, we could tell what the sky looked like at the morning of the day of harvest. Of course, we needed to mark where north was so we could orient the scroll accordingly. North on the map would be where north was during the séance. That means, the orientation of this paper must align with that during the séance. Which I don't know and isn't noted down here... why didn't they note that down." the girl's hands started to tremble. "COME ON!" She got out her compass. "Maybe I can tell. The place of power should be roughly in front of me." The compass needle turned and twitched wildly, pointing in different directions as the girl moved it around. "WHAT? HOW?"

Aaka felt she needed to calm the girl down. "The minerals and ores in the mountain are confusing the compass. They didn't note the cardinal directions down because the compass would be useless anyway."

The girl sighted again.

Aaka tried again to lift her spirits. "What about the tunnels? What if you go only by the ley-lines instead of tunnels?"

Nannade hummed and tilted her head. "Hmmmmm. Maybe... wait. Even if I could read the tunnels, where would I find the exit that I need?" She squatted down to the piece of paper. She found a thin line close to the edge of the map. It didn't look like any of the tunnels. It wasn't straight in any way, rather jiggly. "This must be the mountain's outline, seen from the point of the séance. Again..." The girl seemed to sink only deeper into despair.

"I mean, what if you tried to use the tunnels you know to orient the map accordingly?"

"But I don't know any tunnels."

"The ones we just passed through. And the spiral ramp."

The girl looked closer on the map. "I guess I can see them, yes. They're like a shadow within a shadow, but I think they're around here." The girl pointed to a section to the top left of the map, covered in different lines and broad strokes. The waxing process had blurred some of the finer shapes and especially the areas of denser ash within less dense ash lost detail, but it was still workable.

The girl picked up the map, oriented herself accordingly and looked to the path ahead of her. "I guess I should go this direction for a while." She set off into the darkness that seemed to almost embrace her, where it not for the torch keeping it at bay.

They had been travelling down the far hall for what seemed to be ages. The tunnels that led away from the large hall were extremely narrow and at some points too low even for the girl. A man like Garrett would get stuck with shoulders and head, but small and young slaves would have been able to push their narrow mine carts along the grooves in the ground. Eventually, rubble that had come loose from the walls or ceiling needed to be stepped over, but all major blockages had apparently been cleared out. Some places were still reinforced by wood, but the path led the girl mostly over rocky ground. Her boots were making their price proud down here. The girl started to mention hunger, but she continued on. Markers would occasionally show up at intersections, pointing down the tunnels and naming directions such as "greater vein", "northern access" and "dead end". They were set up recently by the former slaves, that much Aaka could tell. At one intersection, the girl got the map out again and looked into it. She traced the line she travelled so far and determined the exact intersection she was at. "If I go this pathway up, I should come to a way out." She took a tunnel going in a slight slope upwards.

Time faded into eternity and the first torch ran out. The girl didn't light the second. She said she wanted to "try it without light." and she did fairly well. She barely if ever stumbled and could guess the height of the ceiling correctly, but sometimes she would miss things until they were close, like openings to other tunnels or a spider's web. She still went on, becoming accustomed to the darkness. She strode through it with sure steps where other people would carefully set one foot ahead of the other and try to feel their way along the walls. "The light distracts from what is important." The girl began to tell at one point. "When I'm blind like this I can see the one thing that's important: the path ahead. My goal." She continued on and Aaka could see the exhaustion the steady slope upwards caused her.

The girl's sure stride came to an end when the girl arrived at a pile of rubble blocking the tunnel.

"But the map implied this path was cleared! This isn't fair, the tunnel intersected with the mountain's outline! It should go out here!" She wanted to get the map out, but couldn't see a thing in the darkness. She tried to flip through her palm book, but again, in the darkness, she couldn't read any of the spells. She searched for her flint and steel and ignited the second torch. Using its light, she searched for a few light or fire spells first and tucked them under her belt "Just to be sure." she said. Then she looked at the map.

"It should be HERE!" she pointed to an intersection of a straight line and the mountain's outline.

Aaka offered her to help. "I can try to crawl between the rocks to see how far it is. Maybe you can use some spells to clear the way. If I feel a draft of fresh air, I'll let you know."

The girl calmed her breathing and then nodded. "Thank you, Aaka."

Aaka started to crawl between the rocks, trying to cling to the floor to make sure she was still going uphill. Her safety thread stuck to the floor would make tracking back easy, so she was not concerned about getting lost, just getting nowhere. She squeezed through the cracks and crevices and crawled upwards along the floor wherever possible, hoping to find a way out soon.

Aaka was getting tired and she still hadn't gotten anywhere. She felt no draft of fresh air and saw now light anywhere. She decided to turn around, following her thread back. She arrived back in the tunnel and found the girl sleeping. She was rolled into her sleeping bag and breathing slowly. Aaka decided to go to sleep as well and start fresh in the morning.

The two of them awoke and exchanged news. Nannade was not surprised but still let down by the bad news. She also told Aaka that she could not figure out how to bring the map of ash and the map of strings together into a single coherent map.

The girl started to explain "I tried suspending it from gravity with a spell and aligning the knots with the intersections and then brought the strings into the positions of the lines, but so many were always off and I-" she started to talk faster and faster, before Aaka cut her off.

"Don't try to do that. The point of view of the map isn't just a singular point. Spirits see the world differently."

"I know, but... I just... I just realized I walked so far into the mountain with no real plan. Garetas would be furious with me." she rubbed her eyes.

"Eat something, girl. You'll need energy."

The girl ate her ration. Aaka was happy to live off pill bugs while they were down here. They were slow and their hard shell no match for the smart Aaka.

They sat out again, with no light. The girl returned to the last intersection and continued down the direction she was going into before going up the slope. They knew that the straight tunnel would continue for quite some distance. That much both maps agreed on. Eventually, they came by a tunnel leading downwards. The girl stopped for a moment.

"What is it." Aaka asked her.

"I hear something. Something is happening down there."

"Are you sure going down increases your chances of getting to the surface?"

"Have you even looked at the maps? It's a mess down here, who knows where any of these tunnels lead?!" She lit what remained of the second torch. "Just to be safe." she said.

The girl walked down the slope. As they got closer, Aaka started to hear something too. It was dripping water. They got closer and soon, the girl stopped. She stood in the exit of the carved tunnel and before her was a vast hall. "I can't see the walls anywhere." she said and waited for another moment. When her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, her chin dropped. She quickly put out her torch and let the darkness flood back into the cave. After a moment Aaka too saw what the girl was on about. Above them, the ceiling was covered with pearls on threads glowing from within and painting a starry sky above them. The green-blue light was bright enough to reveal a glory beyond human creativity. The wet walls and ceiling glistened, stalactites and stalagmites grew from above and below, and where they met, pillars kept up a ceiling too grand for any building of mortals, dotted with millions of glowing dewdrops.

Both the girl - ignorant of most of the world outside of Sturreland - and the spider - travelled far and wide with insights into deep mysteries - were speechless at the sheer majesty of this place. The girl walked on, deep into the hall that would make the emperors of old envious, on a small path that wound through it. The path was slippery and the girl had to be careful to not fall into any of the many pools of perfectly still and clear water around her. Pale fish and blind newts slowly moved in the ponds, white spiders and bugs crawled on the walls, flies like bleached paper fluttered through the air, and occasionally would steer too close to the starry sky, where they were caught in the glowing threads and pearls, struggling against the sticky light.

And accompanying all this mundane glory was the whirring of the spirits that had witnessed this beauty over innumerable millennia. They sang songs like a thousand dripping stalactites, about the never-ending tranquillity and darkness. A tranquillity and darkness disturbed by picks and chisels of metal, torches spewing choking smoke, and loud voices rebounding off the smooth wet walls. They sang of their revenge upon the intruders.

Aaka remembered their purpose down here. "Where are you going, you shouldn't be here!"

"We're nearing the place of power, a ley-line runs through this place."

"I know, that's why you should leave. This place is not for your use, do not enter the stream of life force!" Aaka was afraid what the girl could awaken with her foolishness.

"We'll never find out if we don't get some overview of the mountain!" The girl pressed on. Aaka was not allowed to hinder or help her to such an extent, and she was not sure which one stopping her now would be. She could really find out easily, possibly even find hidden pathways if she got an overview like this, but the spirits would be angered. They liked their tranquillity and engaged with the villagers only minimally. The girl could even make it back out the cave without problems, if she was quick enough, but then the spirits could direct their wrath at the villagers.

They had come far into the darkness and the spirits grew more and more restless, calling out angrily against the intruders. The girl came to a spot where large pillars almost formed a solid wall, with only four narrow gaps between them. She had problems climbing up the slippery surface, but with a bit of force, her claws dug into the soft stone and she managed to peek her head through one of the gaps and beyond the wall of pillars. The great hall seemed to split off into three smaller tunnels, still dotted with glowing dewdrops and dripping stalactites, but smaller and leading further in. The girl checked the other gaps and came to the same conclusion.

"We need to take one of them further down." She said.

Aaka grew more concerned. "Why?"

"Because that's where the place of power is, the heart of the mountain."

"DO NOT ENTER THE PLACE OF POWER!" Aaka screamed with her ethereal voice.

The girl paid no heed and went on. Aaka considered calling out to Louissos. The chance of her dying here were high if the girl continued her reckless behaviour. Dying down here was sad, but if it was close enough to a place of power, her spirit could return to her master in time to be recaptured before it dissolved in the stream of life force.

The girl had taken her pick of which path to follow and headed further down. With the proper foot path gone, she had taken her boots off and used her hands' and feet's claws to avoid slipping on the wet and smooth stone. At points, the tunnel became awfully narrow, but the flexible crolachan managed to slip through any opening her head fit through, sometimes requiring her to take off her backpack and other equipment. The narrower tunnels allowed for less of the glowing worms to occupy the ceiling and so, the light dimmed, but the girl seemed to find her way nonetheless. "Something is back there, I can see it." she said. The serpent's senses, both mundane and ethereal, drew the girl to the fire of mystic energy. Eventually, Aaka saw it too. Around one bend, the walls of the tunnel seemed to be lit by another source of light. A stream of slightly warmer and more humid air was coming their way. They got closer and the light and stream became stronger, eventually accompanied by a slight humming of the walls. The girl cleared the bend and they saw the source.

Down there, behind a hole barely big enough for a human being to stand upright, was a cavern flooded with light. White opaque crystals, the size of tree trunks, lay inside a huge interior chamber, jutting in from all sides. The floor of the cavern was covered with water, just a few inches deep. Wisps and sprites slowly hovered over and under the crystals, doing laps around the interior space. The air just at the edge of the cavern was unbearably hot and humid. Cool water was running back into the cavern out of the tunnel and a few others like it also connected to the chamber, barely visible between the countless crystals.

Both of them just stared for a while, not daring to enter, just beholding the place of power that lay undisturbed for aeons untold, while many spirits were still doing angry laps around them, warning them, full of spite.

"Do you still want to enter?" Aaka asked the girl carefully.

"No. The spirits told me enough."

She sat down in the narrow tunnel and just watched for a while in awe and humming along with the walls. The spirits calmed down and the girl got out her flute. She played a few notes and although she stil was not good at it, she kept on playing until she was happy with it. Then she put her flute away again and got out the maps of ash to inspect it closer.

The girl turned it a bit and tilted her head. "I think I can see it now. When I close my eyes, I can see the lines, the knots and the intersections."

It was not uncommon to be able to perceive ley-lines so close to a place of power without actually touching the life force and elemental energy flowing within.

"Did you find a way out?" Aaka asked.

"Yes." The girl got out a pencil and carefully made a few markings on the piece of paper. Then she took the map of strings and suspended it from gravity directly above the map of ash with a spell from her palm book. She carefully bent and turned the strings into a specific configuration.

"There, they made a mistake there." She said, pointing to a very dense knot of strings.

"Who did?"

"The villagers. They should have added an additional short string, it's actually three separate intersections. Or they simplified it without telling me."

She stashed everything in her backpack and looked into the cavern a bit more. When the warm air got unbearable, she went back up. They soon entered the great hall again. The girl put her boots back on and left the way they came.

Soon, she arrived at the point where she took the wrong turn, got the map of ash out again and checked her bearings. They decided to have a short snack before heading into the direction the girl had picked.

She headed down a long, straight tunnel to the furthest point still marked on the map. They eventually came to a proper upwards bend. More and more rubble lay in their path and they came to a point, where it completely blocked their way. Aaka however could feel a light breeze blowing through the rubble. It was mostly large chunks, very little sand and gravel.

"I can almost feel the light behind the rubble." The girl said. The air smells fresher and a bit of warmth comes down here too. This must be the exit. No need to scout ahead.

The girl sat down and got out her palm book. "If I modify Garetas' Rock Grinder, I can clear most of the rubble. I hope it reaches far enough and that the rubble isn't keeping the tunnel from collapsing even further."

The girl looked at the rocks one last time, made sure all her equipment was sitting ell and cast the spell. Slowly, the larger stones turned to smaller stones, then gravel, then coarse sand. The sand ran down the sloped tunnel. A few cracks and thuds could be heard from ahead and the girl had to jump up and clamp herself into the tunnel with her arms and legs to dodge several larger rocks rolling down from above.

"It did keep the tunnel from collapsing even further." She yelled amidst the rumbling and tumbling echoing through the tunnels.

"Then run, now, before it all collapses! RUN!" Aaka told to her.

The girl waited for another rock to pass them by underneath, then dropped down and got to dashing for the exit. The sand was still trickling down, denying the girl's boots the grip she needed. She had to skip over even more hazards rolling her way. The rubble had cleared enough to let the light in the distance shine through, blinding the girl. With eyes squinting and hand shielding her eyes she kept running upwards. Suddenly, her boots slipped away on the sand, she fell forward, onto her hands. Another rock came hurtling down towards her. Aaka wanted to warn the girl, but it was too late. The rock hit her; a wet scraping sound could be heard. The girl seemed to lose consciousness, but quickly got up again, stumbling and staggering ever upwards, towards the light.

The girl shot out of the tunnel into the light. Blinding brightness enveloped them, she was still running at full speed, until her feet no longer met solid ground. Neither of them could see where they were falling. A hard impact and sudden wild flailing told Aaka, the girl had hit the ground. The world tumbled around her and she grass in her jar with all her legs and thread. She saw a stone on the mountain's side coming directly towards her, she would be squashed again, she braced for the pain and prepared to lose consciousness, but then the stone passed her by. The girl had finally managed to get her limbs under control and was skidding down the mountainside on her hands and knees, head first. Her claws looked for a hold on mostly flat stone, but failed. She suppressed a pained scream as the rough ground grated her palms and legs. She hit a rock protruding from the mountain's side. With a loud OOPH, the girl and the spider in the jar came to a stop, the girl's body burying the jar underneath her, but not shattering the glass. Aaka could hear a few more pebbles and stones trickle onto their stone perch, then all was silent safe for the girl's heartbeat.