Chapter Forty One

Cinna knew that if hostile necromancers were on her and Lilia’s trail if would only be a matter of time before they realized Lilia was herself a necromancer. They may have already, in fact. No mortal horse could run as fast and as long as Lilia’s familiars. If anyone knew the capabilities of undead horses it would be a necromancer. Just pushing the horses this hard was a clue, but conversely, those least likely to know the abilities of a living horse were necromancers as well.

Gambling on the enemy being incompetent or ignorant was the mark of a poor strategist, but Cinna had decided after much consideration that either of her options amounted to that to some extent. Pretending the horses were alive and giving them breaks would have only worked if Lilia’s identity remained a mystery, and after the encounter with Javert, the only way it would was if he’d had no way of keeping in touch with his allies.

When presented with a choice between pushing the horses hard and hoping the necromancers searching for Lilia wouldn’t put two and two together or acting like the horses were alive while assuming they didn’t already know, Cinna chose the former. It had the least chance of backfiring. The worst case scenario would be that the necromancers both already knew and were already pursuing them using their own undead horses, so Cinna chose the course of action that would but the most time even then.

She would likely never know precisely how effective that decision had been. Maybe Javert hadn’t contacted anyone. Maybe his allies had somehow failed to identify the coach as Lilia’s escape vehicle. Maybe Cinna’s policy of stopping only for meals and bathroom breaks had kept them just far enough ahead of their pursuers.

Regardless of the reasons for their success, Cinna and Lilia arrived in northeastern Selkarc without encountering any organized resistance after a few days cooped up within their coach. As they neared their destination, Cinna took a seat on the coach’s bench and guided the horses directly for the last stretch of the journey. After navigating around the final town along the way, Cinna drove the coach into the foothills of the Geirarjötna partway between Dvergafjall Castle and Roland’s Redoubt.

The roads gradually became less maintained the further they travelled, but the coach’s wheels and suspension proved just as effective on these weathered roads as they had on the main ones. She didn’t stop even once the actual road ended in an old, abandoned village that had reached the end of its life so long ago it hadn’t been marked on the map. Instead Cinna continued to drive the undead horses onward, navigating the rocky hills and cliffs carefully until finally coming to a stop against a sheer rock face with a faded symbol painted onto it.

To most that symbol would have meant nothing at all. It blended into the strata so completely that its edges could have been mistaken for shadows cast by the uneven rocks. Cinna had an identical symbol marked on her map to compare it to, though, so she knew with absolute certainty that this was the right spot.

“Are we there?” Lilia asked from inside the coach.

“We are,” Cinna replied as she stepped down. She looked up. Several more birds had joined the first over the last few days, but there was nothing they could do to stop her now. The door to the coach opened and Lilia stepped out carefully, rubbing her butt to restore circulation. No matter how plush the cushions, they couldn’t entirely erase the fatigue of staying seated for hours on end.

“Oh, good. Mr. Bearbones must be quite tired of staying still for so long. Isn’t that right?” Lilia said, reaching up to pet the skeletal bear curled up on the coach’s roof. She had to climb halfway up the coach just to reach.

“…a word of warning, before we enter. I believe it would be best if your friends don’t enter the Warm Roads,” Cinna cautioned. Lilia turned to her with a look of hurt on her face, almost losing her balance in the process.

“I can’t just leave them here!” Lilia argued.

“This is for their sake, not our own. I told you the Warm Roads are deep underground, correct?” Lilia nodded. “They lay so far beneath the surface that the very blood of the planet runs along them. The temperatures there are high enough to cook flesh and cause flammable materials to spontaneously catch fire. Mr. Bearbones might be fine, as bone is hard to burn, but Cyclops and Directions will be cooked by the heat.”

“Um…won’t we be in trouble, then?” Lilia asked nervously.

“The Deepfolk have cloaks they use when they are forced to venture near the surface. They’re enchanted to maintain the wearer’s body temperature and protect them from the effects of breathing in air far colder than what they are used to. It will not be a comfortable trip, but so long as we provide the cloaks with mana they will keep us alive,” Cinna explained.

“Oh! Then Directions and Cyclops can hide inside mine!” Lilia replied with an excited clap.

“That won’t work unless you can carry Cyclops’s entire body weight the whole time we’re down there,” Cinna pointed out. Considering that Lilia couldn’t even carry all of her own belongings, Cinna didn’t think she could haul a full-grown cougar across half of Selkarc.

“But…how is he going to catch up to us?” Lilia asked, looking disheartened. Seeing the her looking so heartbroken, Cinna sighed.

“If you can make enough space in one of your bags to fit Cyclops and convince him to remain still until we reach the other side of the Warm Roads then I’ll place the bag beneath my cloak. That should keep him safe from the heat,” Cinna proposed. Immediately Lilia’s mood reversed.

“Thank you!” Lilia said as she rushed off to pull her bags from the back of the coach. Cinna had initially planned to suggest that Lilia’s familiars travel above ground to the coast and make the crossing that way. As undead they didn’t need to worry about breathing, and they could likely use their connection to Lilia to navigate.

But Cinna hesitated after seeing how broken up Lilia became at the thought of being separated from her only friends. It made Cinna consider what might happen if Lilia’s familiars ran afoul of Selkarcian soldiers on the way without anyone to vouch for them. They would be attacked and possibly destroyed, especially if they encountered Leo. Only Directions had any chance of passing for a living animal and he could fit within Lilia’s cloak anyway.

A few minutes later Lilia and Cinna stood in front of the rock wall with Lilia’s baggage split between them. Cinna, after all, had only her weapons and the armor on her back. As they had no way of taking the horses with them and Lilia hadn’t bonded with them yet, the necromancer chose to release them the same way did for any other undead she encountered.

“I forgot to ask, but how do we get in?” Lilia questioned, looking up at Cinna.

“We hope the Deepfolk have not left this entrance unguarded,” Cinna answered before stepping up to the wall and placing her hand on it. She didn’t know how this part worked, but she’d been told by her father that she needed to be physically touching the wall in order to be heard. “I am Cinna, Crown Princess of Selkarc! In accordance with our treaty, I entreat you for safe passage through the Warm Roads in my time of need!”

It wasn’t a prearranged set of phrases or a password. Cinna had simply identified herself and asked to be allowed in using somewhat more formal language. The rest would depend on if anyone was listening. So Cinna stepped back from the wall and waited for the door to open. When she did, Lilia looked between her and the wall as if wondering why nothing had happened.

“I thought—”

Barely had Lilia begun speaking when the wall melted away like snow in the sun. The tunnel on the other side was neither clad in brick nor carved from the mountain with tools. It looked as if it had been shaped from the raw stone in the same way a potter shaped clay. Smooth, yet unnaturally even and straight. No sharp edges or flat surfaces. So large was the passage that, if it weren’t for the intense heat further down, Cinna likely could have driven the entire coach inside.

“Do we just…go in?”

“It would be best if we wait until we’re invited in.”

While Cinna meant what she’d said, she would have preferred to do as Lilia had suggested. Even now more birds were gathering overhead. More scouts, perhaps, or maybe they were massing for an attack. It worried her regardless. Fortunately the Deepfolk didn’t keep them waiting for long. A section of the wall down the passage dissolved into the ground like the entrance had, and a moment later a robed being stepped into the hall. Another followed shortly after.

The Deepfolk were slightly shorter than Lilia but easily twice as wide. They were dressed in cloaks made of dyed leather. One wore a yellow cloak, while the other wore one that had been dyed blue. Their big, glowing eyes were so bright that they cast the faces around them in shadow. The deepfolk looked like nothing so much as floating orbs of light hiding their lack of corporeal bodies with robes.

Each step the deepfolk took belied that appearance, though. Their steps echoed down the passage like stone slamming against stone. As they grew closer, Cinna started to make out a grinding noise that accompanied their every movement. She’d heard accounts that the deepfolk were made of the earth itself, but now she came to realize these stories were truer than she’d ever assumed.

“I hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long!” the yellow-cloaked deepfolk called ahead, its voice ringing with a certain metallic quality unlike anything Cinna had ever heard.

“I told you it was a good thing this post was kept active,” the other deepfolk grumbled.

“No, you didn’t! You’re the one that asked to abandon it!”

“Well, that’s not how I remember it.”

“This is why I hate you, Gratht.”

“Pardon me, but may we enter? I suspect we’re being pursued, and we shouldn’t stay out here for too long,” Cinna interjected.

“Oh, yes, please do come in! Selkarc has always been so kind to us, how could we possibly say no!” the firest deepfolk replied, waving Cinna and Lilia in. With permission secured, Cinna entered the passage, Lilia only a half-step behind her. Mr. Bearbones brought up the rear.

“Kind! Bah! What, so they don’t hunt us down to take from our corpses and suddenly we owe them?” Gratht objected.

“Ours is the only cluster on this continent that hasn’t spent the last millennium fending off raids from the surface, but I suppose you think it’s just a coincidence we’re the only ones still holding off the cold ones, don’t you?” the yellow-cloaked deepfolk replied with a metallic growl.

“…so it’s as I suspected, then. You’re dealing with your own undead problem just like us,” Cinna observed as the passage sealed shut behind her.

“They have souls,” Lilia pointed out in an awed whisper.

“That we do, soft child,” replied the friendlier one.

“I’m not a child, I’m Lilia,” she corrected.

“Well, I’m Klicksun. How nice to meet you. I’ve never met a Surfacefolk before!”