80AD

The Sudarshana

by Aiki Flinthart

Smashwords Edition

Copyright Aiki Flinthart 2011

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover Art by Jason Seabaugh of Avatar Art

Discover other titles by Aiki Flinthart at: http://aikiflinthart.weebly.com/

Discover 80AD Book One - The Jewel of Asgard - at Smashwords.

And

80AD Book Two - The Hammer of Thor at Smashwords

And

80AD Book Three - The Tekhen of Anuket at Smashwords

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80AD

The Sudarshana

Feng Zhudai paced the length of his room, his lean body stiff with barely-controlled anger as he stalked back and forth. The aura of his fury filled the small, stark space. The servant who had sought him out knelt on the floor and dared to clear his throat to remind the sorcerer of his presence. Zhudai stopped, sliding slender hands into the long sleeves of his black silk robe. Staring out a window, he ignored the exquisitely trimmed and tamed garden outside.

Surrounded by the opulence and extravagance of the Emperor’s Palace in Xijing, Zhudai chose to decorate his suite with nothing more than a large calligraphy painted on red silk, a low, black table and a sleeping mat. The walls were bare and the floors just well-scrubbed wood. He did it deliberately, knowing that his severity made the fat, overindulged servants of Emperor Han Zhangdi uncomfortable. They were frightened of him. Even the military men, lead by General Ban Chao, hesitated to come into the presence of the Emperor’s Advisor.

He spun to face his cowering manservant, scowling. “And you say that after he arrived from Luoyang, the Emperor met with Ban Chao for two hours this morning?”

The servant nodded, bowing until his nose touched the floor.

Zhudai began to pace again. “That man is getting above himself,” he muttered. “It might be time for a change of scenery for the General.” Annoyed he had spoken unwisely in front of a servant, he waved an impatient hand at the cringing man. “I want you to track the General at all times. I want to know everything he says and does. You will be rewarded handsomely. Present yourself to my secretary at once and tell him so. Do you understand?”

Visibly relieved, the servant nodded and bowed himself out backwards.

Zhudai frowned again, tapping long-nailed fingers on the sleeve of his robe. Perhaps it was time to have another chat with Baiyu. His childhood friend had once been close to the General and had been a Royal Tutor to the young Emperor. Perhaps he could be persuaded to give some insight into what Ban Chao was planning with the Emperor.

He had been away too long. Trying to prevent the otherworld travellers from reaching this land had delayed his plans. His absence from the Emperor’s capital in Luoyang gave Ban Chao a chance to worm his way into the Emperor’s affections. Zhang was only 24 years old: a mere boy besotted with his Consort, the new Empress Dou; still mourning the death of his mother, the Empress Dowager Ma; and not wise enough to choose his advisors carefully. He needed to be reminded to whose words he should be listening. General Ban Chao, and possibly the young Empress, might just have to be removed before the ri shi.

Smiling, Zhudai let the thought of that day calm him. Yes. On the day of the ri shi, all would be finished. The outworlders lured here by Baiyu’s pathetic attempt at magic would be too late and too weak to rescue Baiyu. By now they were stuck somewhere in India – where he had personally supervised the beginnings of a war between two kingdoms in their path. His agents were well paid to ensure the four interlopers would never make it through another portal. So, with Baiyu safely locked away and the General and Empress removed, there would be no-one to oppose Zhudai’s ascendancy into immortality…

CHAPTER ONE

Jade Lockyer stepped into a grey-lit world of thunderous noise. It wasn’t just noise. It was a shocking, almost solid booming that deafened and pounded the breath from her body. She flinched away. Her mare took instant exception and reared up with a whinny that was lost in the din. Only luck made Jade clench her hand in time to keep hold of the reins. The horse backed up and danced to one side, tossing her head. Her hooves slipped on the glistening black rock underfoot and she almost fell. Pulling the mare’s head down, Jade laid a hand on the long nose and gripped tightly. She yelled a command word into the animal’s ear and watched for a second to make sure she settled.

Glancing around, Jade took stock of her surroundings. Ahead, pale light filtered through a vast wall of water plunging past a huge opening. She seemed to be in a large, stone cavern, behind a waterfall. Her hair lifted as the white torrent pushed a damp breeze into the cave. Droplets of moisture clung to everything, making the floor slippery and the walls drip. Every breath she drew of the laden air smelled of moss and fresh water.

As soon as it was clear there was no real danger, she turned to help the others coming through the Portal behind her.

Phoenix strode through, looking every inch the barbarian warrior with wild black hair, a coarse brown shirt and iron-studded leather arm and leg guards. In one hand he held his mount’s reins, in the other he clutched Blódbál, the enchanted sword given to him by Thor. Five of the seven blood-rubies embedded in the handle of his Life-dagger, sparkled at his hip as he stepped past Jade. Smears of dried blood darkened his clothes and skin. He looked exhausted, but determined - a far cry from the cocksure, careless fourteen year old boy who had awoken just two weeks ago to find himself trapped in an unfamiliar body in an unreal world.

After him came Brynn, yanking on the reins of his frightened pony. The young Breton boy had never ridden before their time in Svealand and the pony knew exactly who was boss. Looking a bit like an undersized Jedi in his stolen monk’s robe, Brynn flinched at the onslaught of sound, shook his tousled auburn head and blinked in surprise. Recovering, he sent Jade a rueful, gap-toothed grin, pointed at his stubborn beast and shrugged.

The pony dug its front feet into the rock as it strained backward, brown eyes wild with fear. Only halfway through the glimmering portal, its rump would still be sticking out, into the Alexandrian dawn in faraway Egypt. Jade hurried forward. She commanded both his pony and Phoenix’s grey stallion so they could be led aside to let Marcus through.

The handsome Roman emerged. If the roar affected him, the only sign he showed was a slight clenching of his jaw. His dark hair was trimmed much shorter than Phoenix’s shoulder-length mop and his bare, soot-smudged arms were more tanned. His once-white Roman tunic was somewhat the worse for wear after their long night fighting in the Temple of Set. Dried blood crusted a shallow cut across his chest. Although obviously weary, he walked lightly and carried himself with his usual quiet dignity. He had fisted two sets of reins in one hand and held his long-bladed Svear sword in the other. A bow and quiver of arrows were slung across one shoulder and a short dagger sheathed at one hip.

Before long, all five horses were standing quite calmly, as though they couldn’t even hear the tumultuous booming that shook the chamber. In the few minutes it took for their eyes to adjust to the light, Jade noticed her friends all looked as tired as she felt. Maybe they should have stayed one more night in Alexandria. No, she dismissed the thought with regret; they had only 5 days to finish this Quest. They couldn’t afford to waste any time.

She and Phoenix had already been trapped as Players in this 2000 year old game-world for two weeks too long. There was no telling how much time had passed in the real world. Any day now, the real-world game would be opened to the public domain on the internet and they might be swamped with other Players. She wondered if there would be any way of telling when the game was opened to the rest of the world. Would there be some sort of sign in the heavens? Some sort of awareness that they weren’t alone any more in a demo version? Or was this world actually real, as they’d been told back on level One in Albion. Jade glanced around the damp cave. It certainly felt real enough. In fact, she realised, she’d long since stopped even doubting it.

She sighed. At the beginning of this adventure she’d been quite hopeful that they’d be home in a few days. It had now been two weeks and things were tougher each Level. It never seemed this hard in the books she read. They still had to finish Level Four and Five in order to get home, and they were all exhausted.

Jade pressed her lips together and adjusted the hood of her cloak. Out of habit, she touched the half-amulet that hung about her neck. It was safe. The two halves had drawn her and Phoenix into this realm and she was fairly sure they’d need them to get home again – assuming they ever managed to get to Level Five and defeat Zhudai. If they didn’t, she and Phoenix could face a lifetime, trapped in this other-world of ancient violence.

She shuddered and screwed up her nose in an effort to prevent the sting of tears. She’d started this game as an escape from her ordinary life; a way of diving into the sort of adventures she’d read about for years; a way of being something she was not. Actually being transported into the computer game had so not been part of her plan. Now she was stuck in a fantasy-world-real-world version of 80AD, somewhere deep in India, with a Quest to complete that she had no idea how to even begin.

Maybe she was just tired. She’d used a lot of energy up during the battle to save Brynn and release the Goddess Anuket in Egypt. With little sleep over the last forty-eight hours and days spent away from the forests her Elven heritage craved, she was worn out. Unfortunately, knowing why she felt miserable didn’t mean she could help feeling that way.

Ignoring Marcus’ disapproving gaze, she pulled out her herb bag. St John’s Wort for depression and some barley grass for energy. That should do the trick. Marcus might think she could handle anything without the help of her herbs, but she knew better. Her half-Elven avatar needed the herbs to supplement her magic. Without them, she just wasn’t good enough to cope with this world.

Jade put the bag away and readjusted the weight of her backpack. Inside was the Hyllion Bagia – the bottomless bag that now held Sudarshana, a silver, disc-shaped chakra weapon. Anuket had told them to return it to its rightful owner on the last night of the dying moon, so that’s what they had to do.

Regrettably, Anuket had been big on cryptic predictions, but a bit short on details – like who the rightful owner was; what broken thing would it fix; what person who had done wrong would be redeemed; and whose Empire it would unite. There was no way of knowing. All Jade knew, from previous game instructions, was that the Quest had to be completed in the city of Punya-Vishaya, in India. Even that didn’t help much. Wandering about a foreign city asking for the owner of a slab of pure silver was about as smart as wearing a sign on your forehead saying “please mug me”.

No, they would have to find a more subtle way of tracing who it belonged to. Actually, first they’d have to find the city of Punya. OK, no: first they had to find a way out of this cave – if a way out even existed ….

She shivered at that thought and hurried to join her friends. The shimmering Portal had vanished. It was now simply three stones in the shape of a rough doorway, standing up against the cave wall. Jade whispered a dozen little green lights into existence and floated them over her head. Using basic hand signals, the companions split up and began to search for an exit. With this illumination, it took only moments to discover that, short of going blindly through the waterfall, there appeared to be no other way out.

She, Marcus and Phoenix gathered at the white wall of water and stood, staring into it in forced silence. Phoenix tapped her on the shoulder. He pointed at the waterfall and shrugged. Next he pantomimed running and jumping, screaming, falling and dying. Then he twirled one finger in a circle around his temple. She nodded. Through a few gaps around the edge of the flow of water, they could see a river valley, far below. Too far. There was no way they or their horses would survive an excitingly-heroic jump through the cascade.

Jade scowled, pondering on the sort of sadists that must have programmed this game. Who on earth made the entrance to the fourth level of this digital world appear inside a dark, wet, exit-less cave? This was even worse than emerging into the airless offering chapel of Snefru’s Shining Pyramid in Egypt last time. At least then they’d had Thor’s hammer to help them get out of the building. Even if they still had it, the Hammer wouldn’t get them out of here.

Brynn vanished somewhere into the darkness with his usual independence. Jade peered into the gloom, wondering where the orphaned ten year old had got to. He was better at getting himself into trouble than he was at getting out of it.

As though her thoughts had conjured him, Brynn appeared at her side. He waved a hand at her. His thin face split into a wide grin and his dark eyes sparkled with excitement. Jade sighed. He’d either found a way out or he’d found some treasure to steal. She followed his wiry figure into the depths of the cave, treading carefully on the slippery, broken floor.

There it was. Right at the very back of the cave: a tunnel. Mostly hidden by a rockfall that would have to be moved before the horses could get past, it certainly looked like the best chance to escape they’d found so far. To make sure, though, someone would have to follow it. There was no point in leading the horses into dead end.

Brynn tugged on her arm and pointed to himself then to the narrow gap at the top of the rockslide. Jade sent him a dubious look, shrugged and sent four little lights to bob around his head. Their glow cast a weird, greenish light on his eager young face.

The boy grinned and pulled a new leather sling out from under the oversized monk’s robe he still wore. He didn’t seem to regret the loss of his sword in Egypt, but since he was better with a rock-sling than a blade, that wasn’t surprising. She knew he must be more upset at losing his sophisticated set of lock-picks and reminded herself to get them replaced at the first opportunity. Having someone in their team who could pick locks was handy – especially considering the number of times they seemed to end up imprisoned in this insane time-space.

With a jaunty salute, Brynn clambered up the rockpile and slipped through the opening. The glow of his witchlights faded and Jade was left to wait and exchange worried looks with Marcus.

A little way away, Phoenix slumped against a curving rock wall. Jade glanced over and saw him push off the rock, wiping irritably at the cold water that must have dribbled down his neck. He grimaced and looked around, probably for a dry place to sit. There wasn’t one, so he slouched over to join her.

She smiled wryly at him. From her point of view at least, it was better than the endless, sand-storm ridden desert they’d been thrown into in Egypt; or the icy northern forest of Sweden. Briefly, she longed for the cool green hills of England – modern or ancient – before dismissing the thought as pointless. They were in India – hopefully.

They had to focus on the here-and-now; not the past or the future. Getting herself and her friends through this game level was all that mattered. At least Phoenix was taking it all more seriously now. He had begun this as though it was the sort of fun adventure every gamer dreamed of. Losing lives had changed him. As had Blódbál.

Jade looked down at the magic blade. Even now Phoenix’s hand was wrapped around its hilt as though it was part of his body. He caught her look and glared back, his fingers tightening as if afraid she would try to take it off him. She turned away, uneasy. Although Thor had promised Phoenix would be able to control the sword’s bloodlust, she doubted it would be simple. His impulsiveness and distrust of others was magnified by the sword’s thirst for battle. He didn’t think straight when he was under its power. She wished they could throw it away, but they needed all the magical help they could get in this world. She would just have to keep a close eye on him and try to help him control his temper.

A quick look over at the tunnel entrance showed Brynn returning from his scouting mission and waving eager handsigns at them. She gathered he had found the path to be wide enough for the horses. So now all they had to do was move the rockslide that blocked it.

It took the better part of an hour to move enough small boulders to let the horses edge by. More than once, Jade wished they hadn’t returned Thor’s hammer. It had been so useful for breaking things. Now, they were forced to use pure physical labour. Phoenix, whose avatar’s strength was impressive, looked exhausted; Brynn’s face was pinched and even Marcus appeared close to the end of his endurance.

As she almost dropped yet another basalt block on her toe, Jade realised it wasn’t just physical effort that was making them weary. They had spent most of the last twenty-four hours sneaking through the streets of Alexandria, fighting the priests of Set and generally causing havoc and destruction.

Things were getting ridiculous – or ridiculouser, if there was such a word. They couldn’t keep going like this or they would be too worn out to deal with whatever badguys the game threw at them. The minute they got down to open, dry land, they had to rest. she had no idea what time of day it was, but it felt like a great time to sleep.

Finally, the task complete, they lead the horses up to the half-exposed entrance. Brynn tugged on Jade’s arm, pointing up. Following his finger, she shivered. Above the curved tunnel opening a hideously life-like carving was etched deep into the black basalt rock: a snake: a rearing cobra, its hood spread wide; fangs bared. It seemed so real in the shifting half-light that she almost expected it to strike down at them.

What did it mean? Was it a warning or just some sort of street-sign saying “Snake Alley”? Maybe there were people living in these caves and this was their way of naming the tunnels. It was possible.

She glanced at the others and they exchanged rueful shrugs. It wasn’t like they had a choice. They either went down this tunnel or they sat here forever. At a nod from Phoenix, Jade sent five of her little witchlights floating ahead, down the tunnel.

They revealed a man-made structure slicing deep into the mountain. Chisel marks were clearly visible in the black walls. Here and there were crude carvings of snakes – poor copies of the masterpiece above the entrance; perhaps done by workers laboriously hacking out the passage. Water dripped from cracks in the roof, staining parts of the stone an ominous, rust-red. It looked as though walls were bleeding. Jade shivered.

As though catching her feeling of apprehension, the horses balked at the opening. She was obliged to command them again before they would walk into the darkness. Leading, Phoenix drew Blódbál and nodded to Marcus. As the group stepped into the passageway, Jade paused. Her vague anxiety deepened to a cold, heavy sense of foreboding; a feeling that some ancient, malevolent power had somehow been awakened and disturbed by their presence.

Her warning cry was lost in the roar of the waterfall. Before she could do anything, the horses panicked, rearing and striking out with sharp hooves. Around them, the earth trembled. Behind them, a new rockfall tumbled down in a cloud of dust, obliterating the tunnel entrance under tonnes of stone.

CHAPTER TWO

“No!”

It was the first clear word any of them had heard for awhile and the four looked at each other in surprise as Jade’s cry rang out in the sudden silence following the earthquake’s end. The waterfall’s roar was muted to a dull rumble by the mass of rock blocking the tunnel.

Phoenix coughed, raked a hand through his unruly, dark hair and eyed the tumbled pile of stones with regret and resignation. Several enormous chunks had fallen, making clearing the opening again impossible.

“It’s not like it makes much difference, really. We’d already decided to go this way, hadn’t we?” He spoke the first few words in a normal voice and then dropped instinctively to a whisper as the sounds echoed back at him.

The others glanced around, nodded and heaved a collective sigh.

“I just don’t like the idea that we’re stuck in here,” Jade voiced what they were all thinking.

For awhile, they stood, staring at the jumbled black rocks in silence. Then Brynn looked up at Phoenix, grinned and punched him lightly in the arm.

“I don’t think this counts – it’s an accident. Remember, too, that I got shoved into the cells of Set’s temple, so you and I are even now: five-five.”

Phoenix laughed, explaining to the others. “Brynn and I were comparing how many times we’d been stuck in prisons so far. We’re up to five each, apparently. You two are on…um… three each, I think.” He grinned at Jade who frowned up at him in bewilderment.

“Uh-huh,” she blinked and shook her head. “I’m sure the importance of that will hit me soon and I’ll be amazed. In the mean time, can we get on with it? Just before the earthquake, I was going to tell you that there’s something down this tunnel. Something awful. I can feel it.” She glanced into the darkness.

He sobered. He knew better than to ignore her ‘feelings’. In this world, Jade was a half-Elf; attuned to all things magical and natural. Her senses had warned them several times so far and he’d be stupid to dismiss them.

“Right, let’s stay on our toes then.” He faced the shadows and gripped Blódbál trying to ignore its insidious message. As always, the magic sword urged him to use it; to spill blood; to give in to its lust for battle. He was almost accustomed to it now, but if he wasn’t careful, he’d get overconfident. If he did that, it would take over his body and turn him into a killing machine unable to distinguish friend from foe. He grimaced, remembering how near he had come to murdering Marcus. A wry smile twisted his mouth. Actually, Marcus had been well able to defend himself, even against Blódbál’s enchanted expertise. Still, he had to be on his guard. Next time he might pick on Brynn or Jade and their weapons skills weren’t nearly as good as Marcus’.

They paused for a moment as Jade insisted Brynn exchange his cumbersome monk’s robe for normal clothes and they all eat something. Whether it was from tiredness or uneasiness, Phoenix wasn’t sure, but nobody protested the delay or her mothering. They ate quickly and sparingly from the supplies given to them by Heron’s housekeeper in Alexandria. Afterward, feeling a little refreshed, they once more turned toward the blackness.

“We need a torch,” Marcus peered along the dark tunnel.

“But we have Jade’s lights,” Brynn returned, defensive of her Spellweaver abilities.

The Roman raised an eyebrow at the youngster. “A flame will tell us which direction air is flowing through the caves. We can follow it to the outside.”

“Oh,” Brynn pulled down the corners of his mouth, considering. “Makes sense, I guess. I put some torches into the Hyllion Bagia back at Heron’s place.”

“Brynn!” Jade sounded scandalised. “Heron helped us. What else did you put in?”

The boy shrugged. “Nothing he’ll miss much: a few extra skins of wine; a couple of pillows; a spare toga or two for Marcus; a cloak for me; a nice little crystal prism; a hammer; a…”

“Enough!” Phoenix interrupted. “I can’t believe you did that. How could you steal from him?”

“Hey!” Brynn managed to look both offended and amused at the same time. “I traded stuff with him. I don’t steal from friends. I gave him some of my Egyptian treasure, but it was probably wasted on him – he just wanted to study it, not spend it.”

Phoenix exchanged uncomfortable looks with Jade. They’d both assumed their little thief had stolen the goods. Face flaming, Jade apologised and pulled out the Bag. Sure enough, when Phoenix thrust his hand into its black maw and muttered ‘torch’, a long wooden shaft slapped into his palm.

Within a few moments, they had a smoky flame going and moved down the tunnel. Phoenix led, holding the torch out at chest height, trying to gauge air movement by its flickering. There was a faint, but steady stream flowing toward them.

The tunnel went straight and slightly down for awhile before they reached a junction. A second shaft now branched to the right, its floor angling downward. The left-hand branch sloped up. Phoenix stopped, holding the torch toward each in turn. Surprisingly, the flame burnt strong and straight toward the left, but was almost extinguished by a blast of air from the right.

Hesitating, he looked at the others. “Does it make sense to go downward to follow the airflow?”

Jade shrugged. “I’m not getting any more ‘feelings’ about either direction, so I can’t help.”

“The waterfall was quite high up,” Marcus reminded them.

“Let me send a few lights to the left, just in case,” she wafted three foxfires along the upper passage. They stopped about twenty metres along and danced uncertainly in front of a large cave-in. The tunnel was blocked.

“What is it with us and rockfalls?” Byrnn muttered.

“OK,” Phoenix pointed with the torch, “down it is.”

As they descended into the depths of the mountain, a strange, musky scent wafted up the tunnel. The horses reacted to it, jerking back on their reins and whuffling nervously. Jade had to again command them into obedience. She laid a hand on the side of her mare’s head and closed her eyes for a moment. Opening them, she shook her head.

“I can’t understand what’s wrong. She’s afraid of something, I just can’t tell what.”

“And you don’t get any sense of anything big and nasty up ahead?” Phoenix tried to see beyond the circle of torch-light.

Jade hesitated then tapped her temple with one slender finger. “I…I don’t know. It’s like there’s something blocking me. It feels like my Elven senses are being smothered, somehow. Maybe it’s all this rock. I hate being so far inside a mountain.” She tugged her cloak closer about her shoulders and gazed upward as if imagining the bulk of the hill over her head.

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t think about it or you’ll get claustrophobia. We have enough to worry about already. Let’s keep going.”

The musky smell got stronger until it made even the humans feel uneasy. It seemed to tweak some primitive instinct in their brains; an instinct that said ‘run away!’. Determination and desperation made them ignore it, but their hearts raced and sweat began to bead on their foreheads as they strained to hear or see invisible dangers ahead.

Distance and time became difficult to judge. Black-and-blood walls slid past without any indication of how far they’d travelled. The tunnel sloped steadily downward. The torch guttered and sputtered in a musk-scented breeze. Hooves clopped on the smooth floor.

Brynn reached out and touched the basalt. “The walls are dry. We must be far enough away from the river.”

“The walls are also a lot closer than they were before,” Marcus pointed out with a nod.

Jade sent lights ahead. Sure enough, the walls, floor and ceiling were all approaching each other. Even worse, in a few more metres it narrowed to a slender opening through which the horses simply would not fit.

They were stuck.

Once more, it fell to Brynn to slip ahead, into the narrow passage, to scout. When he returned, he shrugged. “As far as I can tell, it keeps going, but the horses are too big, even if we could get them through this.” He nodded at the constriction.

“Great,” Phoenix groaned. “We can’t take them back and we can’t take them on. What do we do, leave them here to die?”

“No!” Jade was outraged. Marcus frowned at him.

Phoenix waved them back. “It wasn’t a real suggestion. We need ideas. Don’t suppose you can transform them into something smaller can you, Jade?”

She shook her head. “You know my magic is limited. I could cast an illusion of smallness, but there’s no way I could actually change them into something smaller.”

“Can you, maybe, wish them outside?” He waved his hands in the manner of a Las Vegas magician.

She sent him a scornful glance. “If I could teleport a horse, don’t you think I would have just teleported all of us outside?”

“The Bag!” Brynn snapped his fingers. “We survived for at least a day when Jade put us inside the Bag, remember? If we can, so can the horses. We’ll put them into the Hyllion Bagia and carry them out.”

Phoenix looked at him speculatively. “Will they fit into the opening? I didn’t think it was that big.”

Jade dragged it out of her pack again and tugged on the drawstring that held the shimmering black material closed. She pulled the cloth experimentally and nodded.

“It’s pretty stretchy. If you three hold it and I command the horses in, I think it’ll work.” She handed the Bag to Marcus. Brynn grabbed at one side and Phoenix a third. Slowly, they backed away from each other, pulling the mouth of the Bag wider and wider until it resembled a huge, black hole suspended horizontally between them. Light fell into it and showed nothing. Jade put a hand in and muttered, ‘torch’. Another wooden torch emerged as she withdrew her hand. It still worked.

“Just don’t tear it,” Brynn warned. “From what I hear about these things, if they get torn, everything inside comes out – all at once. We only know what we put into it. It could be hundreds of years old. There could be entire households in there.”

Phoenix swallowed and tried to hold the slippery material firmly, but gently. “So how do we get the horses to jump in?”

“We don’t,” Jade made a tilting movement with her hand, “If you turn it vertical, they can walk straight in.”

So they did – carefully. Marcus and Phoenix stood on tiptoes to stretch the top as high as they could, while Brynn held the bottom against the floor. Jade firmly commanded the horses to walk and they did. Only a certain wildness in their eyes showed their animal instincts were fighting her magic every stiff step of the way. One by one, the horses and all their gear vanished into the gaping black maw of eerie nothingness.

When it was done, they gingerly turned the hole horizontal again and brought the mouth closed. Tying it shut, Marcus handed it to Jade. She hefted the small, silken thing in one hand, tucked it into her shirt and shook her head in amazement.

“It doesn’t even weigh any more than it did. Who would have thought? Good idea, Brynn,” she smiled at the boy.

He grinned back at her. “I just hope they don’t poop all over my treasure.”

Laughing, the four squeezed through the narrow tunnel mouth and continued their downward trek.

Without the unwilling horses, their progress was much faster. The musty scent grew more powerful, until their eyes were watering and they were coughing from the catch of it in their throats.

“What is that smell?” Phoenix demanded, not really expecting an answer. “Can you shield us from it like you did in the sewers in Alexandria, Jade?”

Jade smacked herself in the forehead. “Yes, of course I can. I’m sorry. Here.” She muttered a few Elvish words and outlined a circle in the air. Four shimmering, swirling globes of purple-blue light appeared around their heads before fading into a barely-visible distortion.

Brynn took a tentative breath and looked surprised when he realised the air was no longer tainted. “That’s amazing!”

Marcus poked gently at the globe, watching with interest as little sparks and swirls of purple-blue appeared at his fingertip. Brynn followed suit, delighted.

“Just a variation on the shield spell,” Jade shrugged, but she was clearly pleased by their approval. “It won’t keep out weapons, just bad smells and poison gases. If you keep prodding at it, Brynn, it will collapse and I’ll have to do it all over again.”

He snatched his hand away and sent her a cheeky, guilty grin.

They continued walking and Jade fell in beside Phoenix. “I know I’ve smelled that scent before,” she said, “I just can’t think where.”

“What about your Elven senses,” he tapped the bubble next to his forehead. “Any luck there?”

She shook her head. “Still nothing. I don’t know what I sensed just before the rockfall. It was sort of….like something had just realised we are here and was really angry at us.”

“Sweet,” he said, mock-cheerfully, “because we needed someone else to be out to get us.”

She sighed. “Well, that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it? Beat up the badguys; the henchmen and then the big bad guy - Zhudai. May as well get on with it.”

“We’re certainly getting lots of practice,” he laughed, “You’d think the dudes who wrote this world would have run out of ideas for badguys by now, wouldn’t you? I mean, we’ve had Roman soldiers, Trolls, wolves, Gods, giants and walking-dead priests. What else can they think up?”

Beneath his feet, Phoenix felt the texture of the floor change. A strange, brittle crunching sound came from under his soles as he strode along the corridor. It felt like he was walking on potato crisps. Surprised, he looked down.

Beside him, Jade gasped in horror. She turned wide, alarmed eyes on him and gulped. Marcus moved back a pace, his face pale. Brynn stepped up and slapped Phoenix on the shoulder.

“You had to ask, didn’t you? Well, there’s your answer,” he pointed at the withered, dried thing that stretched far beyond torchlight, into darkness. Crushed beneath their feet was an impossibly-wide, horrifyingly-long, twisted, and desiccated snake skin.

CHAPTER THREE

“Oh,” Jade stared at the gruesome relic, “this is really, really not good, is it?”

“Y’think?” Phoenix’s sarcasm annoyed her but she ignored it.

“I must admit,” Marcus murmured, “I’m not fond of snakes.”

His three companions turned to look at their super-cool companion in amazement.

“Did I hear you confess to being afraid of something?” Brynn jibed.

Marcus raised his brows at the youngster. “Only a fool ignores fear. Of course I get scared. I just don’t let it paralyse me.”

Brynn screwed up his nose as he considered the words. “I’ll let you get away with that, I guess.” He flashed Marcus a grin and pulled out his sling and dagger. “Shall we keep going?”

Jade groaned. “Do we have a choice?”

“After you, oh great leader,” Brynn bowed mockingly toward Phoenix.

Phoenix didn’t respond but swatted the boy lightly on the shoulder as he passed by. Unfazed, Brynn snickered.

Behind them, Jade fell into step with Marcus, her staff held ready. They had gone perhaps another thirty or forty metres when she stopped and grabbed Marcus’ arm.

“Wait,” she called. Phoenix and Brynn turned back.

“I hear something,” she explained as they looked at her. Her half-Elven hearing was better than a human’s so they all waited as she concentrated on sorting out the faint noises.

“It’s echoing oddly, but I think…I think it’s voices,” she finally said, surprised. “Oh!” A new noise spiked so loudly that the others heard it, too. “That was a sword hitting rock. Someone’s in trouble.”

“Let’s go then!” Phoenix turned on his heel and jogged away, carrying their torch like an Olympic runner.

The others exchanged looks and began to hurry after him, trusting in Jade’s dim lights to show the way.

“So why are we running toward a fight?” Brynn panted when they caught up.

Phoenix glanced down at him, laying a hand on Blódbál and grinning. “It’s what we do best?”

Brynn sent him a sardonic look that spoke volumes. “So how will we know who’s friend and who’s foe?”

“He has a point.” Loping easily beside the boy, Marcus was barely out of breath as he spoke.

Phoenix shrugged. “Let’s just get there first and hide. We’ll work it out.”

Jade had to bite her tongue to stop herself commenting on his tendency to jump in without planning. With Blódbál singing songs of glorious, heroic death in his head now, it’d be impossible to make him stop and strategise instead.

They ran on, their footfalls reflecting back sharp slaps off the rock walls. The clamour of fierce battle grew louder. Cries of at least two people mingled with other, strangely-sibilant, sounds – all weirdly distorted by the tunnels. Whoever fought, they sounded desperate. Sword strikes rang with bell-like clarity through the rock, echoing until it sounded like a dozen swordsmen striking in quick succession. The companions picked up their pace, running recklessly along the straight passageway.

The tunnel took a sharp left and they skidded around, barely managing to avoid crashing into the wall and each other. Ahead, a massive, archway marked the end of the tunnel and the entrance to a large, dimly-lit chamber beyond. Jade doused her lights and the torches. On silent feet, they edged up to the entryway and peered around.

Beside her, Jade felt Marcus stiffen and heard him choke back an involuntary cry. She didn’t blame him. It was all she could do to stop herself from gasping aloud at the sight.

A huge, vaulted cavern lay before them. They had emerged on the lowest level. Above, the curving walls were honeycombed with dark, gaping entrances like the one they sheltered in. A few, smouldering torches cast a flickering, ruddy light in patches here and there, but there was more darkness than illumination. At one end stood a pair of massive thrones, carved from the rock itself. On those thrones reclined a king and queen unlike any the friends had ever imagined.

Glittering crowns of gold and jewels rested in stately fashion upon handsome human heads. The heads rested upon perfect human shoulders and torsos. Below that, though, was the stuff of nightmares. Curled up on the throne seats were not legs, but massive, mottled snake-bodies. The king and queen were half-human; half-snake.

That was not the worst. In front of the throne lay a real snake so huge it defied belief. Its thick, blue-grey body was coiled three times around the thrones. The twitching tip of its tail rested in the lap of the snake king. Its blunt head, the size of a washing machine, swayed, hood expanded, tongue flickering as it stared fixedly toward the middle of the throne room.

Jade followed the cobra’s gaze and saw two humans fighting fiercely against more snake-men. The humans were armed with short broadswords and daggers. Not only did the snake-warriors wield lethally-sharp sinuous blades in each hand, they also bared long, poison-tipped fangs, between which forked tongues flicked each time they hissed at their victims. They moved with gliding ease across the smooth rock floor; more and more of them swarming toward the beleaguered humans. The warriors fought valiantly, but sheer force of numbers would soon overwhelm them.

“I think we can guess who’s friend and who’s foe,” Brynn whispered. “Any plans?”

“Jade?” Phoenix didn’t take his eyes off the room.

She nibbled the tip of one finger, frowning. It always seemed to fall to her to come up with some sort of brilliant plan. She studied the situation, trying to ignore the nervous self-doubt fluttering in her stomach.

“They seem to be trying to get over to that exit,” she pointed at the far end of the throne room, about thirty metres from their own hiding place. Indeed, the two humans were doing their level best to hew a way through the reptilian bodies to get to one, specific door.

“Maybe that’s the way they came in – and the way out,” Marcus suggested.

Phoenix nodded. “Worth a try. Can you even the odds, Jade? Marcus and I are good, but we’ll still be outnumbered.”

She bit her lip. “I can’t blind them the way I did the Priests of Set, because that would blind the humans, too. Besides, snakes can ‘see’ by scent so they’d probably be fine without vision.”

“How about an illusion?” he prompted. “But make it fast. I don’t think they have much time.”

“OK,” she agreed. “I’ll send in the cavalry and we’ll use it as cover to rescue them. Hopefully they can lead us out of here. What do snakes hate?”

“Cats?” “Dogs?” “Eagles?” “Ferrets?” The suggestions came quickly.

Brynn blinked at Phoenix. “What’s a ferret?”

“It’s kind of like a weasel,” Jade explained, “but here in India it’s called a mongoose. How about we send all of them in? Give me a few seconds. It’s going to take a lot of concentration, though. I won’t be able to fight.”

“Brynn, you stay with Jade and lead her around the edge of the room to that exit. Protect her as best you can,” Phoenix gave the boy’s shoulder a squeeze.

Brynn nodded, loading a small rock into his sling and hefting his dagger.

A cry of pain from one of the humans echoed around the chamber. He staggered and his companion caught him up, still fighting one-handed as the snake-people closed in. Jade heard Phoenix growl low in his throat and saw his fingers tighten on his sword. If she wasn’t fast, he’d dash out on his own and fall under the spell of the blade’s desire for blood.

Quickly, she muttered an Elvish incantation, picturing the animals in her mind. Beside her, Brynn yelped as the illusory zoo streamed silently out into the chamber. Belatedly, she added noise and substance to the images - and all hell broke loose.

A cacophony of yowls, barks, screelings and weird yelpings assaulted their ears. The snake-men recoiled in fear at the sight of a hundred, larger-than-life predators galloping and flying toward them. Every shape, colour and size of cat, dog, ferret and eagle Jade could imagine bore down on the enemy with fangs and claws bared.

Under cover of the chaos, Phoenix and Marcus dashed out to join the human fighters, slicing their way through.

Jade hardly felt Brynn grab her hand and lead her into the chamber. It took most of her attention to keep up such a detailed illusion. He squeezed her hand as they crept from shadow to shadow along the wall.

“Why are there more eagles now?” he whispered, apparently fascinated by the show. Sure enough, the number of birds clawing and shrieking at the snakemen had doubled, but there were fewer dogs.

“It’s what they’re most afraid of. The more they believe, the stronger the illusions get.” Jade said through clenched teeth. “Their fear is feeding power to the spell. If they’re scared enough, the illusion can actually hurt them – it’s psychological.”

“Syco-what?” Brynn deftly flung a small pebble with his sling, knocking one snake-man unconscious.

“Can we talk about this later? This is hard enough to do without you distracting me. Just get us out of here!” Jade gripped her long, wooden staff, hoping she wouldn’t need to use it. She could feel energy draining from her body like water, pouring into the illusions.

She spared the others a quick look. Phoenix and Marcus reached the two humans and entered the fray enthusiastically. With Blódbál in hand and Marcus watching his back, Phoenix looked unstoppable. The only thing they really had to worry about was being bitten by one of the snakemen. Both of the other warriors were on their feet again, although the wounded one, an older man, looked shaken. With a quick nod of acknowledgement to the newcomers, they closed ranks and struck out at the enemy.

Jade kept half an eye on Phoenix as he slashed at a snake tail, cleaving it in two. Its owner shrieked and fell over, thrashing on the ground. Two of his companions dragged him aside, leaving a temporary gap in the wall of bodies. The humans used it to gain a few more precious steps towards the exit.

A raucous cry from above made the two strangers flinch, but Phoenix and Marcus stayed focussed. They must have realised it was just her illusion eagles. Sure enough, three birds soared down, claws raking and wings battering at the faces of the enemy. Brynn’s handy sling took down another snake-man as he slithered up behind Marcus.

Blódbál bit deeply into reptile flesh, its unholy blood-lust reflected in Phoenix’s face. Jade gasped as Phoenix barely avoided a wild sword-thrust. He grabbed the snake-man’s hand and jerked it forward, using his enemy’s own forward momentum to bring him within striking distance. Blódbál slid between ribs without a sound and the half-reptile gaped in shock before slipping to the ground, dead.

She heard Brynn choke back a warning as yet another enemy tried to sneak up on Phoenix from behind. Somehow, he saw, snatched out his dagger, and managed to turn aside a blade aimed at his head. Striking low, Blódbál connected. His expression grew harder. The light of battle flamed in his eyes. He shook his head as though trying to shake the sword’s song from it. Jade wondered if he would give in to it and strike out at Marcus and the others.

A quick glance showed Phoenix’s three fighting companions also still on their feet and at his side. The exit was closer, but there seemed to be an unending supply of the enemy. Metre by metre, the four fought their way toward the tunnel, leaving a bloody trail of wounded and dying snake-warriors behind.

Steel rang on steel; sibilant, hissing screams and triumphant eagle-cries tore the air. Stone after stone from Brynn’s sling caught snake-men in the head with deadly accuracy. Phoenix’s arm was a blur of movement as he sliced, turned, sliced, jabbed and hacked at the enemy without mercy. Marcus fought coolly at his back, his expression grim and determined. From the nearby shadows, Jade dared to think they might actually make it.

Brynn tugged at her arm and pointed. She glanced up. Emerging from many of the tunnel openings overhead were dozens more snake-men. They slid and groped their way down to the floor before rearing up on those muscular tails and heading for the fight. There was no way the human warriors could possibly defeat that many, illusions and magic swords or not.

Reaching a quick decision, Jade focussed her thoughts on two of the eagles, making them split off from the massive flock that now soared about the chamber. With a frown of concentration, she sent them arrowing straight at the king and queen of the snake-people. The huge golden birds shrieked and dove, with vicious claws extended, right toward exposed faces.

As she’d hoped, the royal pair cried out in fear and flung up their arms. The eagles raked them, leaving long, red welts before flying off to circle around and attack again. The enormous cobra at their feet hissed and struck at the diving birds, missing. With their king and queen in immediate danger, over half of the warriors attacking Phoenix and Marcus slithered away. Jade sent the eagles in again and again, feeling ill as the curving claws and beaks tore at snakeman flesh and skin. Obviously snake-people feared eagles more than anything and their fear had given the illusion real power. The claw-wounds being left were deep and bloody. More of the warriors left the fight and went to help their leaders.

Brynn shook her arm. “We’ve made it to the exit and so have the others. Quick. C’mon.”

Jade took one last look at the chaos of the throneroom. The eagles she’d created were now so solid that they had taken on a life of their own. They were no longer her illusions: they were real animals, given life by the power of belief. Swooping and diving at the snake-men, hundreds continued to cause havoc, covering the escape of the humans. Marcus, Phoenix and the other two ran past, sweeping Brynn along with them into the tunnel exit.

She glanced at the thrones, feeling a twinge of regret for so many deaths. More and more eagles were winging toward the royal couple. A forest of waving swords sprung up around them, trying to prevent more diving attacks. None of the snake-men bothered to chase her friends any longer. It was time to make a getaway.

As she turned to leave, an island of stillness in the midst of so much frantic movement caught her eye. The enormous snake, coiled at the kings’ feet, now stared in her direction, its black gaze turned, unblinking on her. One soulless eye fixed on Jade as she stood in the tunnel entrance. Its large head lifted higher, the hood expanded; tongue flickering out toward her as though tasting her scent.

Once more a sudden feeling of foreboding took hold of her, followed by a sense of extreme anger and a merciless desire for revenge. The eye seemed to grow larger, as though the great snake had crossed the room and entered into her mind without moving a muscle. Darkness descended. The throne room and everything in it disappeared. All she could see was that eye. Jade swallowed hard, trying to turn her head; trying to break the connection. Sweat broke out on her forehead, but she couldn’t move a muscle; couldn’t even blink.

Her whole body trembled in an effort to fight the cobra’s mental hold over her. Against her will, her hand opened and the oaken staff she cherished clattered to the ground. She tried to open her mouth and cry for help, but nothing happened. Then, slowly, her leg began to shake. She took a small step; and another; and another. It felt as though she had run a marathon. Her heart thundered in her chest.

She took another step, longer than before; and another.

The only problem was: each step took her toward the snake, not away from it.

CHAPTER FOUR

Phoenix sprinted out into the open air right on the heels of the two warriors. Dusk had crept in to replace daylight. Pink and orange flares set fire to high clouds as a hazy red sun slipped behind the mountains. In the east, the sky deepened to rich purples.

Hoping they knew where they were going, Phoenix followed the warriors when they took an abrupt turn to the right and headed for a nearby clump of trees. Behind, he could hear heavy footfalls and harsh breathing. Since the snakemen had no feet, it was safe to assume the sounds were being made by Marcus and the others.

Risking a quick look, he was relieved to see a complete absence of reptiles. Seconds later, he skidded to a halt, his boots spraying up dirt and dust. Marcus swerved to miss him but Brynn couldn’t stop in time and ploughed headfirst into Phoenix’s stomach.

Gasping for breath, he shoved the boy aside. “Where’s Jade?”

Marcus and Brynn looked back. She wasn’t there.

“She was right behind me,” Brynn exclaimed.

“Well she’s not, now. Let’s go get her.”

“What about them?” Marcus jerked his chin at the still-fleeing humans they’d rescued.

Phoenix shook his head. “We don’t have time to ask them. C’mon.”

Even as they began to run back toward the towering black mountain, they heard hurried steps behind. One of the warriors had returned. He caught them up with easy, long strides.

“Your friend?” He asked.

Phoenix nodded. “She’s still in there.”

“Llew is wounded. He’s getting our horses. I’ll help you.” The man drew his sword again and they all plunged back into the dark tunnel.

Inside, they were forced to slow down. Without Jade’s guiding lights, the darkness was almost complete. Luckily, the tunnel was quite short and their new companion seemed to know which direction to take. He advanced without hesitation, sword ready. Soon, a faint, reddish light appeared and they knew they approached the main chamber.

At the tunnel opening, they flattened themselves against the shadowed walls and peered inside. Chaos still reigned. Jade’s flock of eagles battered and clawed at the snakemen, but several pathetic piles of feathers on the floor showed the battle was balancing out. Most of the snakemen were busy protecting their king and queen.

“What is she doing?” Brynn whispered. Jade was about ten steps away, walking slowly and jerkily toward the thrones. Her staff lay near to the tunnel, abandoned.

Phoenix shook his head. “Stupid question. She’s obviously lost her mind.”

The stranger nudged him and pointed at the great snake coiled at the base of the thrones. Its head was lifted off the floor, its eye fixed on Jade. “I think you might be right. There are rumours that the Naga snake-goddess, Manasa Devi, can control people’s minds. I think your friend is under her spell.”

A dozen questions popped into Phoenix’s head, but he decided to leave them for a more quiet time – whenever that might be.

“So we just go out and pick her up,” he took a step forward.

“No,” the stranger reached out to hold him back. “Manasa will make her fight us with everything she’s got. Either she will die or we will.”

Phoenix exchanged unhappy looks with the others. None of them wanted to face Jade throwing ‘everything’ at them. She had learned spells from that Svear wizard that none of them had even seen yet. There was no knowing of what she was truly capable.

“So how do we get her back?” Marcus demanded.

“Like this,” the newcomer drew a leaf-shaped knife from a belt slung across his chest. It was one of a dozen sheathed there. Expertly, he flipped it over until it lay, point-forward, flat on his palm and fingers. He pulled his arm back to throw.

Phoenix frowned, judging the distance between them and the snake. It was over forty metres away. “There’s no way you can..” he began.

The warrior threw with a soft grunt of effort. The knife flew through the air like a bullet, soaring straight toward the snake. A second later, the blade embedded itself up to the hilt in the cobra’s eye. A vast shriek of despair went up from the snake-people. The king leapt from his throne and wrapped his arms around the thrashing snake-head, holding the animal still. Tears streamed down his face.

Jade stopped walking. She stood for a second, swaying in time to the movements of the great snake’s body. Then she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Swearing, the strange warrior dashed out of cover with Phoenix, Marcus and Brynn close behind. In one swift move, he scooped Jade up in his arms and flung her limp body over a broad shoulder. Spinning, he sprinted back toward the exit. Phoenix followed, choking on the overpowering smell of musk now that Jade’s shield air-filter had vanished. Gasping, he grabbed her staff and trailed behind with the others, feeling inadequate and angry.

A great, sobbing and wailing arose in the cave. The sound followed them, echoing hauntingly in the tunnels as they made their escape a second time. Beneath their feet, the earth began to shudder. Small pieces of rock clattered and dropped around them. As they burst into open air again, a great rumbling sounded overhead. The companions picked up their pace, lungs straining for air as they raced to put distance between them and the mountain. Finally, the shaking and rumbling ceased and all was still.

It was almost full dark. Phoenix turned and looked back at the mountain. The tunnel entrance was gone – completely covered by an enormous landslide that had taken a huge bite out of the slope above. Dust wafted through the evening air. High above, a faint eagle-shriek echoed through the valley.

“Again with the rockfalls,” Brynn said.

The stranger appeared not to hear the comment. “We need to keep moving. That won’t hold the Naga for long and I don’t think they’ll be happy about what we’ve done today. Do you have horses nearby?”

Phoenix looked sideways at Jade’s limp form, thinking fast. “Yes. How about you go find your friend and make sure he’s ok, while we get our horses.”

“We’ll meet by the river and head downstream toward the village of Paud,” the warrior pointed east.

Phoenix shrugged, not wanting to get into an argument. “Sounds fine. See you in a minute.”

The man lowered Jade into Marcus’ arms and nodded. Turning, he jogged away into the gathering gloom.

Jade stirred, groaning. Marcus placed her carefully on the ground and ran an expert eye over her. “She doesn’t appear to be injured.”

Phoenix slapped her lightly on the cheek. “Wake up, Jade. We need the Bag.”

Marcus frowned at him and Brynn let out a wordless protest.

“Wha…?” Her eyelids fluttered and she stared vaguely at them for a moment before sense returned. She sat up, looking around with wild fear. “The snake!”

“It’s ok,” Phoenix assured her, “you’re safe outside, but we need the horses to get away fast. Give me the Bag.”

“Oh, yes.” With a shaking hand, she withdrew the Hyllion Bagia from inside her shirt and handed it to him.

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