“Cho!”
Vaelin and Cho-ka wheeled their mounts around at Kiyen’s shout. Assuming the two Vipers had chosen this moment to attempt their betrayal rather than risk whatever lurked in the Tomb Road, Vaelin’s hand flashed to his sword. However, the stocky outlaw’s attention was fixed on the northern horizon. Despite the gathering gloom, Vaelin could make out the roiling silhouette of a large group of riders, accompanied by the sound of dozens of horses at full gallop.
“Tuhla or Stahlhast?” the taller Viper asked, peering into the gloom.
“What does it matter?” Cho-ka said, jabbing his heels into his horse’s flanks to spur it forward. “Ride!”
Vaelin soon gained an appreciation for the impressive scale of the Emperor’s Mound as Derka brought him closer. The feature’s grass-covered slopes rose to a height of at least a hundred feet and extended towards east and west for over a mile. In the fast-gathering gloom, however, he could see no sign of an entrance.
“This way,” Cho-ka called out. Vaelin guided Derka in pursuit as the outlaw led them towards the eastern slope. Rounding a corner brought the realisation that the mound was in fact a pyramid, the thickness of the grass that clothed it and the irregularity of its surface speaking of something constructed centuries ago. Cho-ka reined in at the base of the slope and dismounted to slap a hand against his horse’s rump, sending it into a gallop.
“Horses can’t walk the Tomb Road,” he told Vaelin, starting up the slope with a rapid stride. “Best set him loose, lord.”
Vaelin quelled his reluctance and climbed down from the saddle, drawing a confused huff from Derka who evidently sensed his intention. “You’ll find me again,” Vaelin told him with a sigh, unfastening the ties on his bridle and taking the bit from him mouth. “Or I’ll find you.” He smoothed a hand over the stallion’s neck before stepping back, looking intently into his eyes. Derka snorted and stamped a hoof to the earth before wheeling about and galloping away into the dark.
“Lord!” Cho-ka called to him from above as the thunder of fast-approaching hooves grew ever louder. Vaelin scaled the slope at a run, flanked by the dismounted Vipers. He found Cho-ka standing before what appeared to be a miniature temple of some kind. It was partially ruined and degraded by the elements, the pillars that supported its triangular roof cracked and weathered so much that the script inscribed into the stone had long been rendered illegible. It lacked any doors and Vaelin peered into its darkened opening, gaining an impression of unfathomable depths. Cho-ka spent a few seconds rummaging through the rubble at the base of a pillar before grunting in satisfaction.
“Still here,” he said, hefting aside a chunk of masonry to reveal an ironshafted torch. He tore rags from his shirt to cram into the torch’s basket, soaking them in oil from a small flask on his belt before striking a flint. Moving to the opening, he paused, Vaelin watching the light from the torch glisten on his sweat-beaded brow as he swallowed. “Keep your eyes on the flame,” he said, voice hoarse. “And it’s best not to speak unless you must.”
He straightened and stepped into the opening, Vaelin waiting to regard Kiyen and the other two outlaws with a pointed stare until they followed Cho-ka into the gloom. Vaelin allowed a decent gap before proceeding into the entrance a few paces, then called for them to wait as an obvious problem rose in his mind.
“We can’t tarry, lord,” Cho-ka insisted.
“What’s to stop them following?” Vaelin asked, inclining his head at the unbarred opening.
“Good sense,” Kiyen muttered.
“This place is greatly feared,” Cho-ka said. “With ample reason.”
“By your people,” Vaelin pointed out. “The Tuhla and Stahlhast may not share the same fears. Or may fear the Darkblade’s wrath more than anything that lurks below.”
He turned and pressed his shoulder to the nearest pillar, feeling it give a little under the pressure. “Help me,” he told them. Cho-ka muttered a curse and handed the torch to Kiyen before moving to join his strength to Vaelin’s. The pillar’s stones leaked ancient mortar and groaned in protest, a sound soon swallowed by the shouts of many voices from the base of the slope. “Hurry!” Vaelin grunted, renewing his efforts. The other Viper pressed in, adding his weight, and soon a loud crack sounded from the base of the pillar.
“Back!” Vaelin said, pushing them into the passage as the pillar toppled. The templelike entrance collapsed an instant later, birthing a dense cloud of dust that flooded the passage and sent them all coughing.
“Shit!” Kiyen exclaimed as the dust swallowed the torch’s flame. The darkness that claimed them was near absolute save for faint glimmers of moonlight leaking through the remnants of the entrance.
“Give it here,” Cho-ka said. A few moments of cursing and jostling followed by the sound of a striking flint and the torch burst into life once more, revealing a descending passageway and steps several times the width of the entrance. It reminded Vaelin of the entryway to a castle rather than a tomb, its dimensions being sufficient to allow the ingress of at least twenty men abreast.
“How many people are buried here?” he asked Cho-ka.
The outlaw descended the first step, extending his torch into the gloom, his reply echoing long despite the softness of his voice. “Just one.”
The clatter and scrape of shifting stone drew Vaelin’s gaze back to the rubble-crowded entrance, hearing the muted murmur of voices. “Stahlhast,” he said, recognising the language if not the words. “They’re digging through.”
“Then let’s not linger,” Cho-ka said, starting down the steps.
By Vaelin’s reckoning the passage descended well over a hundred feet into the earth before coming to an end. The space it led to was truly huge judging by the length of the echo raised by their footfalls, but Cho-ka’s torch illuminated only a few paces in either direction, leaving Vaelin with the sense of being lost in a sea of darkness. Looking down, he saw that the floor consisted of perfectly flat tiles of finely worked granite, their smoothness and lack of cracks indicating they had barely been touched since being set down.
“What in Heaven’s arse is that?” the tallest Viper asked in a tremulous whisper, peering into the gloom as the light caught the edge of something several yards away. It was hard to make out with such meagre illumination but Vaelin gained the impression of a stunted horselike shape before Cho-ka’s voice snapped his gaze back to the torch.
“Eyes on the flame, remember! And don’t talk again. You don’t want them to hear you.”
Vaelin stopped himself asking the obvious question and followed as the outlaw led them on, keeping to the rear of the group. His distrust of this pair hadn’t abated and he was unwilling to show them his back. However, their treacherous intentions seemed to have been overcome by fear, at least for now. Whilst he kept the bobbing flame of the torch firmly in the centre of his gaze, he caught flickers of movement from the Vipers as their eyes strayed repeatedly into the surrounding gloom. Their breath came in short, shallow gasps and Vaelin could smell their sweat. Despite their terror, he heard no particular alarm from the black-song. The steady ache in his head had changed a little but held no note of warning. If anything, the impression it gave was one of recognition rather than danger. The Dark knows the Dark, he thought. That’s what lives in this place.