Aleira Brightleaf's Arc

Chapter 17 of 18

The green glow swelled in the tunnel ahead. Footsteps came fast, many of them, filling the narrow dark. Aleira threw out an arm and stopped Hazel and Morwenna behind her. There was no way back. The surface was heat and death. The only path led straight into that light. She drew her knife and set her feet. "Necromancers," Morwenna whispered. She backed against the wall. "My kind. They found us. They found us. Their fire, that green, I know it. Run. We can't run. No, we cook up there. Trapped. Trapped again." Her dead staff shook in her hands. Aleira watched the glow spread across the rock. She counted shapes now, robed and hooded, a dozen at least. Too many to fight. She could not outrun them. She could not go up. So she chose the only move left. She stepped forward, into the light, and raised her empty hand. "I have your kin here," she called. Her voice cracked off the stone. "Powerless and afraid. You want her? Then hear me first." The footsteps stopped. The green light held. From the front of the pack came something small. It walked upright and slow, red-skinned, curved black horns on its head, gold thread bright on a dark robe. It came only to Aleira's waist. Its purple eyes glowed in the dark. The robed figures dropped to their knees the moment it passed them. "You stand in my roads," it said. The voice was soft and pleased. "Under my wastes. In my dark. And you make demands." It smiled up at her. The smile did not reach its eyes. Morwenna made a thin sound behind her. "That's not a necromancer," she breathed. "That's the one they answer to. The Supreme Leader. Azrathoth. We're dead. We're dead." Aleira's plan bent under her. These were not raiders tracking Morwenna's magic. This was the throat the necromancers spoke from. She looked at the small horned thing and understood. It ruled the ground beneath Hell itself. It ruled the road she needed. She did not kneel. She lowered her knife instead and spoke plain. "I lost my throne to your lava. I want a road to the surface to build a new one. Give me passage. I'll give you a thing worth more than one frightened girl." Azrathoth Infernus tilted its head. It studied her without blinking. "A queen with no chair," it said. "Bold. I like bold. It breaks so nicely." It lifted one small hand. The kneeling necromancers rose. "Walk with me, throneless elf. We'll speak of your road. And of my price." The green fire turned and flowed back down the tunnel. Aleira had no choice but to follow it. She had traded a wall of enemies for a single deal with the ruler of the dark below, and she did not yet know its cost.