The Song and the Serpent

Hours crawled by.

The passage continued straight into the mountain with very little change in direction.

“I thought we would have reached the maze by now,” Kian said.

“As did I,” Adan replied. “But I suppose the map didn’t say where the maze was actually located in the pass.”

“Assuming we’re in the correct tunnel.”

Adan shivered. He didn’t relish the thought of having to go back and find another tunnel on that mountainside.

Another hour passed.

Adan and Kian were forced to tear more of the cloth from their tunics to keep the torches bright.

After another hour of walking, Kian sighed.

“We can’t go on like this for too long. We need the torches to see in here and I don’t want to end up naked by the end because we used our clothes for the fire.”

Adan almost laughed. “What? You don’t like your new garments?”

Kian looked down at the stolen tunic. “The ones that make me look like a guard from Undelma? A raging lunatic who sacrifices people to a demon god? Of course I like them. I love them. I hope I can wear them forever.”

“You smell like you’ve been wearing them forever,” Adan added.

“Speak for yourself! I thought some foul beast lay ahead of us in this tunnel before I realized it was just your glorious stench.”

Adan smelled himself. “I must admit, I am a little more… pungent than I usually am. I’ll take a dip in the next river I see.”

“A dip in a river sounds like paradise,” Kian sighed again. “When will we get to this blasted maze?”

”In about ten paces,” Adan replied.

Kian looked ahead. “Eh?”

Adan held his torch higher in the air and pointed.

Ahead of them, the straight path they were following forked into two different directions.

“About time,” Kian muttered as they approached the first branches of the Morkil.

They came to a stop, and both took a long drink from their water skins.

Kian removed the scrap of parchment containing the map of the maze from his belt and they both examined it.

“We need to choose which way to go,” Adan said. “The more direct path, which is crossed out, or the longer road that avoids the center of the maze.”

Kian studied the map and frowned. ”We have no way of knowing which is the right way for sure…”

Adan nodded silently.

”But I would expect the central path, the shorter one, is marked with an ‘X’ so that people will avoid it.”

Adan nodded again.

“But then again, we only have so much time before our torches die and the central path would be faster. And the ‘X’ could possibly mean that we should go that way.”

Adan nodded a third time.

Kian looked at him. “What do you think?”

“I really have no idea, beyond a guess, and your guess is as good as mine.”

Kian looked back at the parchment and shook his head. “A lot of help you are.”

“Kian,” Adan put a hand on his shoulder. “I know you don’t know how to proceed, but just know that I will follow you, without complaint, whichever way you choose, even if it’s right into a trap meant to kill us.”

Kian looked into Adan’s eyes for a moment, and they both nodded.

“Now that actually was a lot of help,” Kian said, looking away with a smile.

“Good,” Adan said. “So, which way?”

“We’ll take the central path,” Kian said, looking ahead at the right fork. “Time is of the essence, and not just because of the torches.”

Adan nodded. “Aye, m’lord,” he said, without a shred of jest or sarcasm in his voice.

Kian led the way as they turned right and began winding through the intricate labyrinth of the Morkil.

Like the passage before, the rough hewn walls rose up on either side of them, disappearing beyond the light of the torches. No matter how high they held their fire brands, they couldn’t see any kind of ceiling or roof of the cavern.

The map led them in many different directions, twisting and turning and doubling back on itself. The path they chose may have been the more direct way, but that didn’t mean it was straight.

After a very short time, Adan had lost all sense of direction. He thanked the Maker for providing a map that they could follow. Otherwise, he was certain they would have never found their way.

After a series of twists and turns Adan looked at the map.

“How far have we passed through?”

”Less than a quarter of the way,” Kian answered, without looking up.

Adan gave the torches a nervous glance. “We should probably pick up the pace then.”

“I don’t want to hurry and risk a wrong turn.”

Adan drew the curved scimitar on his belt and sliced away at the bottom hem of his tunic.

Kian stopped and they wrapped the extra cloth around their torches just beneath the existing flames. They took another draft from their water skins, and then went on through the tunnel.

After another hour of tromping through the maze, Kian came to a halt. He stood still, looking down and holding his torch out in front of him.

“What is it?” Adan asked, stepping around him to look.

Kian put a hand out to stop him from walking any further.

Adan looked ahead and saw that the path dropped away and plunged down a steep incline, steep enough that they could easily lose their footing and slide uncontrollably downward.

“We’ll need to take this slowly,” Kian said, lowering his hand. “I can’t see how far down it goes, or if the path levels out further down. It could lead to the edge of a chasm.”

Adan agreed, and they slowly stepped forward. The uneven rock floor held several crevices where they could get an easy foothold, and they kept one hand firmly on the wall beside them for balance.

“Do you think the ‘X’ on the map may have referred to this?” Kian asked.

“I don’t know. But if so, there are certainly worse things that we could have encountered.”

Kian nodded. “I just hope this doesn’t go on for too long. We may lose precious time moving this slowly.”

“We’ll have to risk that,” Adan replied. “Doubling back doesn’t make— Oh dear.”

Adan cursed as the stone he stepped on gave way underneath him. His foot slipped and he fell backwards and began sliding down toward Kian. He grasped at the smooth stone walls as he hit Kian and swept his legs out from underneath him.

“Blast it!” Kian exclaimed as they both skidded down the steep passage. Their attempts to stop themselves were vain as their speed increased.

Adan kept a firm grip on his torch as they fell, but they were sliding too fast to see what was coming. He held his other hand up to his face, to protect himself from hitting his head on something unseen.

They pebbles and stones rattled as they flew down the passage for several heartbeats.

Then, all at once, the passage leveled out, Adan heard a slash and they came to an abrupt stop in a pool of shallow water.

Adan’s torch was extinguished in the pool, which was up to his chest while he sat on the floor of the underground reservoir. The water was freezing and Adan jumped to his feet.

He heard Kian curse and sputter in the water next to him.

“Cold! Very Cold.”

“Are you alright?” Adan asked.

“Of course I am,” Kian replied. “I just slid down a hole into a freezing pond. I’m more ‘alright’ then I’ve ever been.”

“Well, look on the bright side. We probably smell much better.”

”Very true. You said you’d jump into the next river you found. Good to see you’re keeping your promises, my friend, but maybe next time, don’t take me with you without prior consent.”

Adan laughed and shivered at the same time. The laughter died on his lips when he looked around.

He could hear Kian’s voice next to him, and when he looked in Kian’s direction, he found that he could see his outline, standing knee deep in water.

“Kian,” he said, “Can you see me?”

He watched Kian’s head turn, and he could barely make out the surprise on Kian’s face. Both of the torches had been extinguished in the water, and they were buried deep in a maze underground, and yet they could see each other.

“Yes,” Kian replied. “I can see you. But how…”

They looked around and stood still with amazement.

They were able to make out the walls of the tunnel around them, and the water at their feet which stretched down the tunnel ahead of them. When they looked up, they could see that the tunnel walls rose up twenty paces and then ended with no ceiling.

A vast, open space above the walls could be seen, and a dim light was shining in the open space and filtering down in the passage below. Adan couldn’t see the source of the light, but it shone bright enough to see the roof of the cavernous space, more than twice as high as the walls of the passage in which they stood.

“That can’t be daylight,” said Kian. “We weren’t even halfway through the Morkil yet.”

“Maybe there’s some kind of window in the cavern roof.”

Kian took a step forward. “Maybe. Let’s see if we can find out.”

They both took several careful steps forward. The water beneath them was black, and there was no way to see if the floor sloped down into deeper waters. Several steps later, they grew more confident and strode quickly through the water.

Kian had held onto the parchment as they fell, and had managed to keep it mostly dry. He held the map close to his face in the dim light in order to see where they should go.

The passage continued straight for several paces before turning left and leading to another fork in the road. They followed the map as it continued to guide them through the labyrinth of passages. The passage began slowly rising upward as they walked and the light grew brighter and brighter.

Within less than a hour, the water was only up to their ankles, and the light was bright enough that they could see the floor of the passage. The water was clear as crystal and as pure and cold as a mountain spring. The water looked so clean that they both refilled their water skins, topping off the small amount they had already consumed.

As they walked, Kian looked up from the map he had been watching and looked around. He came to an abrupt halt, and Adan stopped directly behind him.

“What is it?” Adan asked.

Kian held a hand up for silence and tilted his head. “Do you hear that?”

They both listened and Adan began to notice a distinct sound that had been drowned out by the splashing of their feet.

A low hum, like the droning of a quiet instrument, seemed to vibrate through the cavern above them. The sound didn’t change or fluctuate as he listened. It simply continued to hum in the distance.

”What do you suppose that is?” Adan asked.

Kian shrugged and looked down at the map. “We’re nearing the center of the maze.”

”You mean the part with the giant ‘X’ in the middle?”

Kian nodded. “Right, that part.”

Adan put a hand on his sword hilt.

“It’s possible,” said Kian, “that the mark on this map was meant to warn people about the slope we just slid down.”

“It is possible. Do you really think that’s why?”

Kian shook his head. ”Not for one moment.”

Adan sighed. “Neither do I.”