Mika hoped that the blackness would not really be as dark as it seemed. But it was. It was Stygian, without even a hint of light. His heart began to thump against his ribs and his throat closed tight as the door closed behind them.
There was a scratching sound, and then another. Mika's eager senses caught the scent of smoke, then a tiny pinpoint of light. Mika focused on the small flame and sighed deeply, relief flooding his mind like rain on a parched land.
"Where are we?" asked Hornsbuck, his deep voice echoing emptily.
"Shh," whispered the boy. "We're not safe yet. A litde while longer."
The diminutive flame showed them brick walls on three sides and a lowering clay roof above them. The boy moved forward, and Mika saw the tiny candle dip. With a sinking heart, he realized that the path they must take lay underground.
Mika was not fond of underground passages. He had traveled them before when necessary, but nothing good had ever come of them. Monsters and ghosts and other horrible things lurked in such places. He silently loosened his sword, promising himself that he would not be taken unaware.
As though sharing his feelings, Tam and the princess pressed close against his legs, evidently no more enamored with the dark passage than he was.
But Hornsbuck and Lotus Blossom, untroubled by the darkness and what it might conceal, followed the boy closely. Mika grasped his sword more firmly and ventured forward, fearful of a trap, but even more afraid of being left behind.
The path underfoot was clay, hard-packed as though trampled by many feet. It led down a gentle angle and then leveled off after only a short descent.
Mika sensed that the walls had drawn back and that they were now passing through a large open space. The boy carried the only light, and it illuminated only a small area directly around him. Mika guessed that even that meager beacon was more for their benefit than the boy's, because the urchin seemed quite certain where he was going.
Another wall appeared, this one consisting of rotting bales of hay, no longer of any use as feed. The boy moved a bale to one side and manipulated something concealed behind. Once again the wall swung aside, carrying the bales of hay with it and revealing a large, low-roofed room. Astonished, Mika realized that it contained a large number of people in various attitudes of repose.
A sharp cry rang out and the peaceful scene erupted into violent action. Men raced for their weapons, women and children rushed out of sight, mothers dragging tiny gaping children away by force and scooping babes off their blankets.
Mika, Lotus, and Hornsbuck stood in the doorway, the boy before them, holding up his hand and shouting words that no one stopped to hear. Their wolf companions bristled in readiness, for friend or foe.
Women and children tucked out of sight, the men turned to face them, shifting nervously and waving an odd assortment of weapons, wooden broadswords whose edges were nicked and chipped, spears with stone points, and a variety of staffs and heavy cudgels.
Mika stared at the men, then relaxed his grip on his sword as he noted that few of them appeared to be in their prime. Most were very old or very young and seemed far more afraid of the three of them, even though they numbered several score.
"Father, they were about to be taken by the priests," cried the boy, interrupting the tense standoff. I brought them here, for surely they need our help."
Slowly, the men lowered their weapons and glanced at each other, still very anxious and uncertain over the presence of armed strangers in their midst.
"It's true, what he says," boomed Lotus Blossom, as she unstrung her bow and placed the arrow back into its quiver. "We arrived in Exag but a short time ago and almost immediately found ourselves surrounded by old men in white robes and guards who meant us harm, although we did nothing to offend them. This boy appeared out of nowhere and showed us a path of escape, bringing us to this place. You have no cause to fear us, but if our presence offends, my friends and I will leave."
The men seemed to waver. One by one, their weapons were lowered, and then one who seemed in charge drew near, studying them carefully all the while.
"You have arrived only this day?" he queried sharply.
"Aye," said Hornsbuck, "but a short time ago. We entered the gates and had no more than turned to watch the procession when all the trouble began."
Low murmurs broke out among the men as they spoke among themselves.
"Why did you come to Exag?" asked the apparent leader as the boy moved to his side.
"It's a personal matter," said Mika, unwilling to discuss the demon and the king with strangers, despite their timely assistance.
The man, whom Mika took to be the boy's father, stared into Mika's eyes, judging his words. He was small, rising no higher than Mika's shoulder, and was dressed, as were they all, in a ragbag of nondescript clothing obviously culled from the cast-offs of others or the garbage heaps.
He appeared none too healthy, his hair lank and dull and hanging about his shoulders in ragged clumps. His ribs were clearly visible as were the knobs of his shoulders and elbows.
His dark eyes had the hot, burning intensity of a zealot or a man who had not eaten adequately for a long time. His skin was pale and unhealthy looking with a single bright red spot in the center of each cheek. It was obvious to Mika that the man was in very poor health and he thought it unlikely that the fellow would make old bones.
The man looked at them with a puzzled expression. "Only fools and those wishing to die come to Exag," he said slowly, shaking his head and staring at them as though trying to decide which category they fit into.
"Why?" asked Hornsbuck. "Is it not a city like any other?"
The man laughed, a brief choking sound that contained no humor. "Exag is like no other city that I know of, excepting perhaps in Hades. Come, my poor unfortunates. Come sit by the fire and I will tell you what you have gotten yourself into."
"I knew I was right," muttered Mika, more to himself than to anyone else. "I knew I didn't want to come here."
The man led them to the center of the room, where a large fire burned in a wide fire pit. Here was the heart of the place. A number of cooking containers, mostly broken or dented in some manner, sat atop flat rocks at the edge of the fire, their contents simmering and bubbling quietly.
Tattered rugs and forlorn little toys lay scattered around the edges of the pit. As the women and children crept back to claim them, Mika could see that none of them, not even the babes in arms, appeared in much better condition than their poor possessions.
"What is this place, and who are you people?" asked Hornsbuck. "Why do you live underground like starved rats rather than bask in the sun above?"
"Better to live underground like a starved rat than feel the sun on your face and die," said a thin man with a twisted leg. "Soon you will be one of us and you will understand."
"Understand what?" roared Hornsbuck, shaken. "Are you all crazy?"
"Crazy? Perhaps," said the boy's father as he sat down on a broken chair close to the fire and gestured at them to seat themselves. "But mostly desirous of life. We do what we can and perhaps it will not always be like this. We have plans."
Lotus Blossom seated herself on a low stool that creaked beneath her weight as Mika and Hornsbuck hunkered down on their heels, waiting for the man to explain.
"We, all of us whom you see here, except for some of the children, were chosen ones." He looked at them expectantly, waiting for them to understand.
Mika, Lotus Blossom, and Hornsbuck looked at each other blankly to see if the others had understood, then looked back to the man, no sign of understanding on their faces.
"Chosen ones?" said Mika. "I guess we don't understand what you're trying to tell us."
"Here in Exag we worship the sun god," the man said patiently. "Every day, one whose birth was on that day is sacrificed to the sun god so that he will find pleasure in us and shine his beneficence down upon us. However, others who have been unfortunate enough to offend the priests are often chosen, as well."
"How-how, do they know when you were born?" Mika asked with a dry mouth.
"The citizens are forced to wear tunics that designate the month of birth," said the man. "And the very worst time is now, as we approach the time of the dawnstar, when the sun is eaten by the moon at daybreak on the last day of Sunsebb.
"Here in Exag the dawnstar is also known as the deathstar, for all those born under its sign are born for death. It is they whom the priests sacrifice to make certain that the new year turns in its cycle."
"The dawnstar does that? Surely you are mistaken," said Mika. "Everyone knows that it is the Great She-Wolf, mother of us all, who sees to the turning of the new year."
"Here in Exag, the dawnstar is given that honor," the man said with a wry smile.
"I, uh, I was born under the sign of the dawnstar," said Mika in a low voice.
"I know, I heard!" the boy said excitedly. "That is why I brought you here. I, Margraf, heard you tell the guards the date of your borning. Did you not see the look that passed between them?"
Mika was forced to admit that he had not. Nor, in fact, had he seen the boy. He wondered briefly if his powers of observation were slipping as well as other manly abilities.
"Not only was he born under the dawnstar," cried Margraf, "but I heard him boast that he was born during a sun-eating!"
There was a sharp intake of breath and then excited murmurings broke out all around him. Margraf s father raised his hands and shushed the crowd. "Is this true?" he asked, his eyes glittering brightly.
"Yes, it's true," Mika said shakily. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"Not if you are ready to die," said the man. "You must know that there will be another sun-eating this turning. The priests have been unable to find one who was born on such a day. The whole city is in an uproar, for the priests say that unless such a person is found, the cycle will not turn and the world will surely end."
"But, but, that's nonsense," stammered Mika, looking at the circle of pitying eyes. "And besides, if it's true, why did they just let me pass like that? Why didn't they say something or grab me then? Why would they let me wander around loose?"
"And where would you go?" asked the man. "You and your friends stick out among us like dragons among sheep. Do you think that you would be difficult to find? Had Margraf not brought you to us, you would have been theirs for the taking."
"We are not that easy to take, little man," growled Hornsbuck. "We can fight our way out of most anything, and failing that we could always go over the wall."
"There are many more of them than there are of you," observed the man in a soft voice. "And the wall, no, I do not think so, for it is no ordinary structure of stone or clay. It cannot be climbed."
"All walls can be climbed," said Mika.
"This wall cannot be climbed," said a litde weasel- faced fellow with bright, glittering eyes. "It's a trapper wall!"
Mika turned to Hornsbuck for explanation and saw that his friend's normally ruddy face had paled noticeably.
"Hornsbuck?" he said softly. "What's a trapper wall?"
"It be a foul thing," said Hornsbuck, his forehead breaking out in a sweat, "usually found in subterranean places, caves and suchlike. Trappers mimic walls and floors and ordinary things that you would never suspect. Then, when you step on them or pass them by, wham, they grab you and crush you to death.
"Swords and weapons don't hurt them, not much does, save magic. I've never heard of one able to stand the light of day, but I suppose anything be possible. One almost got me once… it was a close call." The big man shuddered.
Mika looked away, deeply disturbed at the sight of Hornsbuck's distress. Never before had Mika seen Hornsbuck exhibit fear. If Hornsbuck were afraid, then Mika was doubly so.
"This wall," he said tremulously, "has no one ever climbed it?"
"Never," said the weasel-faced man. "We who know stay far away from it. The priests see to it that it gets a fair portion of those sacrificed each moon, but it is always hungry and satisfies itself whenever it chooses by grabbing those who pass too closely. You could not even get near it, much less climb it in safety."
"What are we to do?" Mika asked Hornsbuck in a low tone. "I have no wish to spend the rest of my life hiding under the ground like vermin."
"Patience, Mika, patience," cautioned Horns- buck. "We can learn much from these people and when the opportunity comes, we will be ready. And do not forget, there is always the stone."
"How could I forget?" muttered Mika, his hand going to his neck. Then, his eye was caught by a sideways, scuttling movement. Mika wondered briefly what it was, but it was not repeated and he soon returned to the matter at hand.
"I am known as Lufa. I, or rather, we, as I have said, were till chosen ones, those picked by the priests to feed the hunger of the gods," said Margraf s father. "We chose not to die and so we have made our home here, fighting the priests as best we can. As you see, the world has not yet come to an end, despite our actions."
"Are you the only people who feel this way?" asked Hornsbuck.
"Everyone but the priests feels as we do, but they are afraid to act. If a person speaks out against the priests, he is chosen to be sacrificed when the right moon comes. Many who would join us are afraid to do so for fear of what might happen to them and their families," said Lufa.
"Well, then, what we need is a really massive revolt," said Mika. "Maybe we can convince people to turn against the priests and really change things around here."
"Great!" said Margraf, his eyes sparkling. "How are we going to do it?"
"Uh, I don't know," said Mika. "The usual, I suppose. We'll create a diversion-noise, fire, something like that. Then, while the priests' attention is on that, we get the people on our side and revolt! It's simple."
"The usual? Have you ever done anything like this before?" asked Lufa.
"Uh, well, no," said Mika, "but how hard can it be?"
For a moment there was silence and then a babble of voices broke out, each striving to be heard above the others.
"Quiet!" yelled Lufa, holding his hands up. Turning to Mika, he said, "It would have to be a massive diversion. We are still few, and the soldiers of the priests are many."
"Do you want to live better than you do now?" replied Mika in challenging tones. "Anything would be better than this."
"And get rid of that damn weird wall and let folks come and go in Exag as they please. And free enterprise, got to have that, a few taverns, gambling pits, dog races, liven things up a bit," added Lotus Blossom.
"Yes, the wall," murmured Lufa. "It is a symbol of our repression. But how can we get rid of it?"
"Fire," Mika said with a grin. "We'll destroy it with fire."
"Fire," mused Hornsbuck. "Yes, fire would do it, I think, if the blaze be big enough."
Slowly, smiles crept over the faces of the adults as they began to believe that their freedom might indeed be in sight. The children, unused to expressions other than depression and grim-lipped determination on the faces of their parents, suddenly clapped their hands and laughed. All appeared happy except for the little weasel-faced man who watched them with a look of suspicion and cunning in his dark, skeptical eyes.
The women, perhaps unable to express their joy in any other manner, turned to their meager supplies and made themselves busy with much clanking of pots and rattling of pans. Soon, good smells rose from the cooking fires.
Later, over pipes and tiny allotments of homebrewed honeyed-ale, Hornsbuck and the leaders of the underground people worked out the final details of Mika's plan, which they had decided would be carried out the following night. At last, even the weasel- faced man seemed persuaded, and the assignments were given out with enthusiasm. The underground people smiled at each other, knowing that if their plan succeeded, Exag would never be the same again.
As they made ready for sleep, unrolling their cloaks next to the fire, Margraf called out, "Good night, Mika. Sleep tight, and don't let the rusties bite!" All around the large room others echoed his words.
Mika smiled, thinking it some quaint local saying, and nodded in agreement. Tam and the princess curled up near the fire at his feet and were soon sound asleep. RedTail slumbered next to Hornsbuck and Lotus Blossom, who were locked in their usual embrace. Mika placed his sword and knife alongside his cloak as was his custom, readily available should there be trouble in the night. Soon, he, too, was fast asleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night Mika began to dream of birds. Or maybe it was crickets. Or locusts. The sound so troubled him that the iln ч same passed away, leaving him almost uncooacaoas, wrapped in his cloak, more than half asleep bat listening to a peculiar chirping noise that fit no category he could identify.
He lay there for a moment more, half listening to the soft, chittering noise. It was a happy, non- threatening sound, almost like a pleasant murmuring carried on with oneself while occupied in a pleasant task. Sort of like humming. Mika almost fell back asleep, so pleasant was the sound. Then he heard the scuttle of feet and the rasp of metal on stone, and the soft sounds began again.
Mika's eyes blinked open. Feet. Movement. Metal. He whirled over, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. His hand met with something else. Something hard and chitinous. There was a moment's pause, and then the thing squeaked in alarm and scuttled away, chittering loudly.
Mika groped for his sword and knife, cursing audibly as the strange little creature made its escape. Mika had never seen anything like it before in his life. Since he seemed to have frightened it away, he gave up searching for his weapons and watched as the creature disappeared into the darkness.
The thing was about the size of a wolf but rounded, its body a mass of something that closely resembled metal-plating. Two long antennae protruded in front of the creature's body and waved back and forth as it trundled along on four bony limbs. A long segmented tail arched over its back and ended in a strange windmill-like protuberance.
Mika watched it go with a bemused smile on his face. What a peculiar little thing! The last of its alarmed squeaks had all but faded away when Mika turned to look for his sword. But it was nowhere to be found. Nor was his knife. He leaped to his feet in alarm and threw the cloak aside, thinking that perhaps he had rolled over the weapons in his sleep. But there was nothing to be seen except a small pile of rusty detritus.
Tam and the princess got to their feet and snuffled among the folds of the cloak. Tam sneezed and sat down on his haunches and yawned. The princess merely looked puzzled, curled up on the cloak, and closed her eyes.
"Great protector you are!" Mika yelled at Tam. "Someone sneaks in here and steeds my sword and knife right under your nose, and you sleep through it. What good are you? Why are you here? All you do is make moon eyes at that stupid princess. I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her. Thanks a lot, friend. I get the trouble and you-you get the girl!"
Mika was working himself up to a fine rage, almost beside himself at the loss of his weapons. Nervous enough about being trapped underground against overwhelming odds with nought but a bunch of half- starved losers to help him, the loss of his weapons seemed the fined blow.
"Sir! It is not the wolfs fault," said a small voice. Mika looked down and saw Margraf standing at his side. All around him were wakeful, watchful eyes. Looking around him, he saw with embarrassment that his diatribe had awakened nearly everyone in the room.
"It was the rusties, sir. I warned you about them," said Margraf, his small face looking up at Mika with an earnest expression as though Mika might blame him for the loss of his weapons.
"Rusties?" asked Mika, remembering now that the boy had warned him not to let the rusties bite. He had thought it but a quaint colloquialism.
"Yes, sir. Rusties. Rust monsters," Margraf said helpfully, peering up at Mika. "They live down here, sir, and they eat metal, turn it to rust, they do. It's almost impossible to keep them from it. That's why none of us has a metal weapon."
Mika looked down at the tiny heap of rusty flakes, the remainder of his sword and knife, and groaned. Only the fact that he had been sleeping with his hand tucked beneath him had protected the gauntlet. So that was what he had seen; the peculiar litde creature he had frightened away was a rustie.
A terrible thought struck him and filled with panic. He rushed over to Hornsbuck and began running his hands over the nomad's great, blanketed bulk.
Lotus Blossom wakened with a screech and Hornsbuck with a snort, his snores halted abruptly. His arm shot out, and he grasped Mika with a powerful hand.
"It's me! Mika!" squalled Mika. "Where's your sword?"
"My sword? Why, it's right… right… Why it's not here!" mumbled Hornsbuck. "What's this damn dirt doing in my blankets? Trouble with caves… dirt everywhere…"
"It's not dirt," Mika said in despair. "It's rust. Something called a rust monster lives down here. Eats metal, so it seems."
"You mean we've no weapons?" roared Horns- buck. "Damn its mischief. I'll kill it if I get ahold of it. Where is it?"
"It's gone, Hornsbuck," Mika said wearily. "Saw it run away myself. Didn't realize what it was or what it'd done. Wouldn't have done much good if we had. What would we have done, stomped it to death?"
"I'll fix you up with a club in the morning, sir," said Margraf. "Clubs work read good, and the rusties don't like 'em."
"Clubs," muttered Hornsbuck. He growled at RedTail, who closed his eyes and yawned, not at all disturbed by the rage of his bonded companion.
But curse though he did, it made no difference, the weapons were gone to rusty flakes. Lotus Blossom did her best to coax Hornsbuck back to sleep, to the relief of the goggle-eyed underground people.
After a time, Mika lay back down and, sighing deeply, managed to fall asleep once more.
It seemed that he had barely closed his eyes when he heard Tam barking and a second wolf, probably the princess, yapping shrilly. He opened his eyes, thinking that perhaps the rust monster had returned for a second course when he felt something sharp poke into his throat. His eyes opened wide and there, standing over him, was a guardsman! He started to rise, but the point of the sword pricked him painfully, convincing him that it was better to lie still.
All around him Mika heard the sounds of defeat, curses, frightened cries, and the sobbing of women. The wolves continued their harsh barking, and then there was the sound of a blow. Shrill "ki-yi-yiing" echoed through the cave, ending in a tiny whimper.
Mika stared up into the black eyes of the guard, feeling the hate building within him, knowing thai the princess had been hurt, but not knowing how badly. All thoughts of past angers dropped away. In that moment, the princess became one with him, an extension of him as was Tam, Hornsbuck, RedTail, and probably even Lotus Blossom. He knew that whomever had hurt her would pay for it.
But that seemed very unlikely at the moment. The guard motioned him to his feet and herded him together with the rest of the inhabitants of the underground room.
It was so easily done, reflected Mika. They had been captured with no chance of resistance, betrayed by the little man with the weascly face. It had taken no more than two score of guards. But the guards appeared in good health and were well-armed. Sitting with the rest of the men, hands on top of his head in front of the dying fire, Mika saw that their plan had been doomed from the first. They would never have succeeded. But he would rather have tried and failed than to be captured while sleeping.
The guards had no such problems, however. Using a lightweight, silken cord that Mika knew would be nearly impossible to break, the guards took special care binding the nomad, Hornsbuck, then Lotus Blossom. Prodding the underdwellers to their feet with none- too-gentle jabs, they started them walking along the trail that would take them to the surface… and to certain death.