Curse of the Shadowmage - Mark Anthony [105]
"Go!" Morhion shouted, blue eyes blazing, his voice cold and commanding.
Ferret caught Kellen in his arms and dashed down the pinnacle's spiraling steps. Mari and Kshar followed close behind. At the base of the pinnacle they spotted a narrow crevice that led to a small cave.
"This is where we get off," Ferret announced. He helped Kellen slip into the cave, then turned to give Mari one last wink. "If I don't see you again in this life, I'll you in the next."
Despite herself, Mari grinned. "I'm beginning to think you have nine lives, Ferret." Impulsively, she kissed the thief. He gave her a bemused look, then disappeared into the cave after Kellen.
Mari turned to K'shar. "Let's go."
The two started off across the vale at a run. Mari could not keep up with the fleet half-elf, but the blocked fissures were not far. She reached the outcrop a few seconds after him. The shadevari had ignored them. Whatever Morhion was doing, it seemed to be working.
"What do you think we'll find down there?" Mari wondered, peering into one of the lightless crevices.
"There is but one way to find out," K'shar replied. Pulling a coil of rope from his belt, he looped an end around a rocky protrusion, then tossed the rope through largest of the three holes. "I'll go first." Without wait-ing an answer, he slid into the fissure and vanished from sight.
Mari took a deep breath, then followed the half-elf through the gap. Hand over hand, she lowered herself through pitch blackness until she wondered if she would run out of rope before she ran out of shaft. Without warn-ning a pair of hands gripped her waist, steadying her as her feet struck hard rock. She turned to see K'shar's golden eyes glowing in the darkness. They had reached the bottom of the shaft. After a moment, Mari realized she could see more than just the half-elfs uncanny eyes. Here and there, spurs of rock defined the mouth of a horizontal passageway. A faint crimson illumination hung on air that was uncom-fortably warm and acrid with the stench of sulfur. "This way," Kshar said, moving into the tunnel. Mari followed on his heels. The passage was large enough for her to stand upright, but K'shar was forced to stoop. Thee walls of the tunnel were formed of irregular but strangely smooth black stone. After they had walked but a few minutes, the passage forked. K'shar squinted his sensitive eyes. "The glow is stronger in the left-hand tunnel." Mari peered that way. "It seems to lead down a bit, too. that could be a good sign." K'shar gave her a curious look. "How do you know that, Renegade?"
She wiped a sheen of sweat from her brow with the back of a hand. "We all have our talents. You have sensi-tive eys, and I happen to have an excellent sense of direction. By the way, K'shar-you're helping me, so that means you are a renegade Harper yourself. Don't you think you should quit calling me Renegade and start calling me Mari?"
K'shar grinned but said nothing. They plunged into the left-hand tunnel. After that, the path forked numerous times, and once they came to a natural rock chamber into which a half-dozen passages opened. At each diverging of the ways, K'shar used his sensitive drow eyes to deter mine in which direction the ruddy light was strongest. In turn, Mari made certain they were not backtracking or moving in circles in the underground labyrinth. Neither questioned the judgment of the other.
As they went, the crimson illumination grew brighter and the stifling heat fiercer. They shed their cloaks. Soon after, Mari tossed aside her green velvet jacket; her thin white shirt clung to her body, soaked with sweat. K'shar stripped down to his black leather breeches. Ruddy light gleamed off his sinewy arms and chest. Each breath seared Mari's lungs. She wondered if they could survive much deeper.
Abruptly, they rounded a corner and found themselves staring into a gigantic cavern that was a nightmarish fantasy of dark stalactites and stalagmites, all half-melted into grotesque shapes eerily resembling tortured souls. Crossing the center of the cavern floor,