The Tunnels

“Don’t you think it was a good idea to consult with the rest of us before making alliances with terrorists?” Faelar snarked as he walked by my side.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision,” I sighed, then pointed toward Amber. “You didn’t have a problem with it, did you?”

“No, but I’m more worried about whether or not Lord Remus would agree to this,” Amber said as she narrowly avoided tripping over the root of a tree.

“Lord Remus and his house have been loyal to the crown for centuries,” Faelar replied. “It’s highly improbable that he would even entertain the idea of housing rebe—”

“Trust me, Faelar, that man hates Fredreich,” my words cut through Faelar’s nagging. “When he learns of everything that has happened and sees a possibility of ascending the throne, he’ll be sure to grab it.”

“It’s true,” Jaeger yawned as he stretched an arm upward, causing a branch to break. “He hates the royal family with a passion, and even the kingdom as a whole.”

“Still,” Faelar shook his head, kicking a pebble that appeared in his path.

“I understand you’re worried about Lianne, but don’t worry,” I calmed him down. “She’ll have all the help she can get in Luxion even if Remus doesn’t oblige.”

As we approached the giant mountains that towered before us, the idea of Remus assisting a coordinated rebellion against his own cousin was a gamble, but one that we had to take. My mind considered a thousand possibilities as we hiked higher and higher, making our way through the icy veins of Blutklamm, until Amber’s voice finally brought me back to reality.

“We’re here,” she said as what lay in front of us was nothing but ice and rock, and behind us, the view of the land we had just traversed. The trees that towered over us a day ago now seemed to be like undergrowth across a white field.

Amber raised her hand and placed it against the wall, and then… nothing. The only sound was that of the winds that grew colder and more fierce. However, just as I was about to question whether we were in the right place, the ground shook so violently that it threw me off my feet.

“Jaeger, can you light the lantern?” Amber asked as she stood before a passageway that was at least two stories tall and fifteen feet wide.

Jaeger complied and took out a lantern from the bag he was carrying, but seeing him struggle to carry it with his oversized hands, Faelar instinctively took it from him and lit it using an incantation.

Amber and Faelar led the way as Jaeger and I followed closely behind. The wall somehow shifted to close behind us. The air was damp, the tunnel stretching into nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see. The only positive thought I had was how much warmer it was here.

“We must move carefully,” Amber’s voice bounced off the high walls. “One wrong turn and you’ll be stuck here for eternity.”

Faelar’s hand brushed over the walls of the tunnel as we walked forward. “There seems to be concentrated magic in these tunnels.”

“This tunnel was said to have been built by the Elves from Ur,” Amber responded, her eyes peering into the darkness in front. “It’s said they used it to travel to the Great Forest for their pilgrimage.”

“Well before our time, then,” Faelar responded.

“Pilgrimage?” I questioned.

“Even I’ve only heard stories of it,” Faelar’s eyes darted through the tunnel, trying to take as much of it in as possible. “But it’s said that long before kingdoms existed, the Elves used to visit the birthplace of all races as a pilgrimage.”

“No one’s entirely sure where that place is anymore,” Amber added. “Some even doubt there was a pilgrimage site to begin with.”

“Don’t you Elves live for centuries? Why do you not have any historical documentation of it?” My curiosity grew, almost as if on a field trip, trying to get all the answers to questions that came to my head.

“I need not remind you that a war wiped out most of our civilization thousands of years ago,” Faelar snarked at my comment, causing me to shrink back just a little.

I tried to think of ways to shift the topic, sensing that I may have hurt Faelar’s sentiments, but before I could come up with a question like asking him what his favorite band was, Jaeger’s voice got everyone’s attention.

“When was the last time anyone used these tunnels?”

A part of me sighed in relief, thanking him from the bottom of my heart for shifting the conversation so effortlessly.

“This tunnel remained a secret to the Ashvale family for hundreds of years,” Amber responded. “I’m almost certain that even Alaric himself doesn’t know about it.”

“Why not?” Faelar asked.

“Well, his father…” Amber hesitated for a second, her voice lowered, “wasn’t the most faithful of lovers, you could say.”

Jaeger’s laugh boomed through the tunnels, even causing a few pebbles under my boot to shake. “So he’s a bastard?”

“Yes, something like that,” Amber sighed.

Faelar chuckled to himself, his shoulders shaking ever so slightly as he covered his face with his hand. “Reminds me a lot of Fredreich.”

Amber raised a finger as if to say something but then stopped herself before she could, choosing to walk in silence instead.

“Fredreich,” I said, “what kind of childhood did he have for him to be this screwed in the head?”

Faelar sighed, shaking his head. “Not a very good one, I can tell you that.”

He paused for a few moments, letting the silence linger as he seemed to reminisce over the past in his head.

“You see,” he continued in a solemn tone, “Elves weren’t ever given much status during his father’s rule. I came across him by chance around fifteen years ago.”

He laughed to himself again, shaking his head. “I was in the military, but I was nothing more than a guard at the castle when I found the poor boy crying in a corner.”

The way Faelar described Fredreich seemed more akin to a teacher describing a student as opposed to a subject describing his monarch.

“He was picked on by his siblings constantly—even harassed because he was born to a demon,” he continued. “Or that’s what they thought, at least. The boy was barely five and was asking me for a dagger so he could kill his brother for having tarnished his mother’s name.”

“My mother, they meant,” Amber said, her voice low and soft.

“Yes,” Faelar replied. “Being born to a consort and that too from Urian blood gave him no chance to reach the throne. But in the blink of an eye, that scornful, crying boy turned into a teenager that committed the most heinous of crimes.”

“Didn’t you try to stop him?” Jaeger questioned him as his heavy footsteps sped up to match my pace.

“Like I said,” Faelar remarked, “I was but a guard in the King’s quarters, and it was Fredreich who made me his personal guard after becoming the third in line to the throne.”

Before anyone had a chance to say anything further, Amber stopped dead in her tracks, pointing out into the darkness.

I tried peering into the darkness to get a better look, only to see figures emerging from the dark as Faelar instinctively grasped the hilt of his sword. They appeared in the lantern’s dim light.

“Oh my God…” Jaeger whispered.