The Eight Walls of Rogar: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Series! (The Lost Kingdoms of Laotswend Trilogy--Book One) Read Online Free Page B
now.
Working hard to ignore the dread that had crept into his heart, Andaris concentrated on hugging the wall and taking slow, tentative steps through the darkness. After some time of this, his efforts making him feel wholly dispirited, an idea occurred to him. It was so obvious, he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of it sooner.
Coming to a stop, he dug through his pack until his fingers closed around a small metal box. From the box, he pulled a rod of flint and a steel striker. Scraping the striker against the rod, he showered the space ahead with bright yellow sparks—fireflies to light his way. He grinned, feeling clever, for now he could see, after a fashion, and could hopefully distinguish where he was going from where he had been.
And so on he went, moving through the caverns, spraying an almost steady stream of sparks before him. Taking turn after turn, he walked down long corridors, in and out of echoing chambers filled with great spears of stone thrusting from the floors and ceilings.
At one point, he saw a series of small interconnected pools, the sides and bottoms of which were covered with luminescent moss. In addition to the moss, many of the pools contained a peculiar assortment of luminescent fish, most no more than two or three inches long, eyeless minnows swimming this way and that, locked in some kind of ritualistic dance. For a time, Andaris stood transfixed, watching the tracers of light dart back and forth through holes in the walls, their purpose unfathomable, twirling about one another with extraordinary speed and grace.
Perhaps they glow because they eat the moss, he mused, a faint smile kissing his lips. He knew eventually he must leave the pool behind, but felt extremely reticent to do so. Here was life…and light—reminders of the outside world--a world he could only reach by cover of darkness.
To be sure, the green ambiance was pretty to look at, and…a real comfort to boot. The trouble was, it was not even bright enough to navigate this room by, much less beyond. Which meant, apart from aesthetics, it did him no good at all. Staying here would just delay the inevitable. No amount of wishful thinking would change that. Besides, for all he knew, this was some creature’s watering hole. What else lives down here? he wondered, looking around with concern.
The shadows shrank and stretched as he stepped away, as he sent the sparks arcing through the air, lending his surroundings an eerie, otherworldly quality. Flint won’t last forever, he realized, his stomach twisting with fresh anxiety. When he scraped it all away, what then? It would be difficult not to panic, lost and alone in the endless night.
At first, even in the midst of such dire contemplations, he managed to keep his spirits up. Just around the next bend, he kept telling himself. Not much farther. He was certain to find the way. It was only a matter of time.
Hours later, however, after having traveled ever deeper into the buried recesses of the earth, Andaris’ doubts greatly intensified. The caverns were immense—tunnels sprouting off of tunnels leading into chambers of varying shape and size, some no bigger than his bedroom back home, some hundreds of paces across. Most of these chambers were riddled with openings, but now and again he would come to a dead end and have to turn around.
Trying to make sense of it all, he began carving arrow marks into the walls with his knife, finding the rock to be quite porous, crossing through the marks when he had to backtrack. It was a good idea, which, once again, he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of sooner. The pool would have made a good reference point. He hadn’t refilled his waterskin, fearing that the pool was tainted. Now he was beginning to regret that decision. If his water did, in fact, run out, he’d much rather risk contamination than go without completely.
At the next intersection, he took a
Working hard to ignore the dread that had crept into his heart, Andaris concentrated on hugging the wall and taking slow, tentative steps through the darkness. After some time of this, his efforts making him feel wholly dispirited, an idea occurred to him. It was so obvious, he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of it sooner.
Coming to a stop, he dug through his pack until his fingers closed around a small metal box. From the box, he pulled a rod of flint and a steel striker. Scraping the striker against the rod, he showered the space ahead with bright yellow sparks—fireflies to light his way. He grinned, feeling clever, for now he could see, after a fashion, and could hopefully distinguish where he was going from where he had been.
And so on he went, moving through the caverns, spraying an almost steady stream of sparks before him. Taking turn after turn, he walked down long corridors, in and out of echoing chambers filled with great spears of stone thrusting from the floors and ceilings.
At one point, he saw a series of small interconnected pools, the sides and bottoms of which were covered with luminescent moss. In addition to the moss, many of the pools contained a peculiar assortment of luminescent fish, most no more than two or three inches long, eyeless minnows swimming this way and that, locked in some kind of ritualistic dance. For a time, Andaris stood transfixed, watching the tracers of light dart back and forth through holes in the walls, their purpose unfathomable, twirling about one another with extraordinary speed and grace.
Perhaps they glow because they eat the moss, he mused, a faint smile kissing his lips. He knew eventually he must leave the pool behind, but felt extremely reticent to do so. Here was life…and light—reminders of the outside world--a world he could only reach by cover of darkness.
To be sure, the green ambiance was pretty to look at, and…a real comfort to boot. The trouble was, it was not even bright enough to navigate this room by, much less beyond. Which meant, apart from aesthetics, it did him no good at all. Staying here would just delay the inevitable. No amount of wishful thinking would change that. Besides, for all he knew, this was some creature’s watering hole. What else lives down here? he wondered, looking around with concern.
The shadows shrank and stretched as he stepped away, as he sent the sparks arcing through the air, lending his surroundings an eerie, otherworldly quality. Flint won’t last forever, he realized, his stomach twisting with fresh anxiety. When he scraped it all away, what then? It would be difficult not to panic, lost and alone in the endless night.
At first, even in the midst of such dire contemplations, he managed to keep his spirits up. Just around the next bend, he kept telling himself. Not much farther. He was certain to find the way. It was only a matter of time.
Hours later, however, after having traveled ever deeper into the buried recesses of the earth, Andaris’ doubts greatly intensified. The caverns were immense—tunnels sprouting off of tunnels leading into chambers of varying shape and size, some no bigger than his bedroom back home, some hundreds of paces across. Most of these chambers were riddled with openings, but now and again he would come to a dead end and have to turn around.
Trying to make sense of it all, he began carving arrow marks into the walls with his knife, finding the rock to be quite porous, crossing through the marks when he had to backtrack. It was a good idea, which, once again, he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of sooner. The pool would have made a good reference point. He hadn’t refilled his waterskin, fearing that the pool was tainted. Now he was beginning to regret that decision. If his water did, in fact, run out, he’d much rather risk contamination than go without completely.
At the next intersection, he took a
Readers choose
Katherine Kurtz
Parker Ford
Kelley Armstrong
Åke Edwardson
Ross Gilfillan
Eden Winters
Alfred Alcorn
Megan Smith
John R. Maxim
Phil Hester, Jon S. Lewis, Shannon Eric Denton, Jake Bell