THE SEVEN FOLD CONVENANT

The Hidden Passage

Kaelen grabbed the map from the table and shoved it into his coat.

"Books. Grab what you can carry."

Dorn stared at him. "We don't have time to read."

"We don't have time to argue either. Take the closest shelf. Stuff your pack. Move."

The dwarves moved. Fen grabbed a stack of scrolls. Dorn pulled books from the nearest shelf and shoved them into his bag without looking at the titles. Aldric stood frozen, staring at the door.

"Aldric."

He blinked. "What?"

"Is there another way out of this room?"

"I don't know. Your father never mentioned one."

Kaelen scanned the library. Round walls. Shelves floor to ceiling. One door. No windows. No side passages.

Then he saw it. A gap in the shelves near the back. Not a door. A seam. The wood was newer than the rest. Recently repaired.

He crossed the room and pushed on the seam. Nothing. He tried pulling. Still nothing.

The boots were closer now. He could hear voices. Moran's voice, sharp and impatient. "Spread out. They're in here somewhere."

Kaelen pressed both hands against the seam and pushed sideways. The shelf slid. Just an inch. Then another.

"It's a sliding panel," he said. "Help me."

Aldric and Fen ran over. Together they forced the shelf to the side. Behind it was a narrow passage, barely wide enough for a man to squeeze through. Cold air rushed out. Fresh air.

"Go," Kaelen said.

Dorn hesitated. "What about the rest of the books?"

"Forget the books. Go."

Dorn went. Fen followed. Aldric looked at Kaelen.

"You first."

"No. You know more about what's in this library than I do. If something happens to me, you need to get the records to someone who can use them."

Aldric's jaw tightened. But he nodded and slipped into the passage.

Kaelen turned back to the library. He grabbed one more book from the nearest shelf. Leather bound. Thick. The same symbol on the cover. Then he followed Aldric into the passage.

The shelf slid back into place behind him. The seam disappeared. In the darkness, he heard Dorn let out a breath.

"That was close."

"Not yet," Kaelen said. "Keep moving."

The passage sloped upward. Rough stone, narrow walls. Kaelen had to turn sideways in places. His split boot caught on a loose stone and he stumbled, scraping his shoulder against the wall.

Behind them, muffled through the stone, he heard Moran's voice. "They're gone. Search the shelves. Find the passage."

They moved faster.

The passage twisted twice, then opened into a larger tunnel. Not natural. Not dwarven. The walls were smooth, carved with the same symbols as the library door. Circles within circles. Lines crossing at angles.

Fen stopped to look at them. "What are these?"

"Old writing," Aldric said. "The language of the first civilization."

"What does it say?"

"I don't know. Your father was trying to translate it, but he never finished."

Kaelen caught up to them. "We can worry about translations later. Which way leads out?"

Aldric pointed at the symbols. "These marks. They're directional. I recognize some of them from your father's notes. This one means 'up.' This one means 'water.'"

"Water?"

"There's a river above us. If I'm reading this right, the tunnel should open onto a ledge near the eastern gorge."

Kaelen did not like the sound of that. "How near?"

"Close enough to fall."

They kept moving. The tunnel grew steeper. The air grew colder. Kaelen's breath came out in white clouds. The symbols on the walls glowed faintly now, a soft blue light that pulsed like a heartbeat.

Fen reached out to touch one.

"Don't," Aldric said. "Your father said the symbols respond to contact. He didn't know what they did."

Fen pulled his hand back.

The tunnel ended at a stone wall. No door. No opening. Just a wall with a single symbol carved into the center. A circle within a circle, with a line running through it from top to bottom.

"Dead end," Dorn said.

Kaelen studied the wall. The symbol. The way the blue light pulsed faster here.

"It's not a dead end," he said. "It's a door."

He pressed his hand against the symbol. The light flared. The wall split down the middle and slid apart, revealing a narrow ledge outside. Below them was a gorge, a hundred feet deep, with a river at the bottom.

And across the gorge, maybe fifty feet away, was another ledge. Wider. With a path leading up to the surface.

"Jump?" Dorn asked.

"No." Kaelen looked at the gap. "Rope."

He pulled the rope from his pack. It was the same one he had used to trip the soldiers in the forest. Thirty feet. Not enough to bridge the gap.

"We need to climb down and then across," he said.

"That's insane," Fen said.

"You have a better idea?"

Fen looked at the gorge. At the river below. At the soldiers who were probably still following them through the tunnel.

"No," he admitted.

Kaelen tied the rope to a stone pillar beside the ledge and threw the other end down. It did not reach the bottom. He had maybe forty feet of rope, and the gorge was twice that.

"It won't reach."

"We don't need it to reach the bottom. We need it to reach that ledge." Aldric pointed at a narrow outcrop about twenty feet down and to the left. "If we can get there, we can traverse across."

Kaelen looked at the outcrop. It was barely wide enough to stand on. The rock was wet from the river spray.

"You first," he said to Aldric.

Aldric did not argue. He grabbed the rope and climbed down. His movements were slow but sure. He reached the outcrop, planted his feet, and waved up.

"Send the dwarves next."

Dorn went. Then Fen. Kaelen untied the rope and threw it down to Aldric.

"Tie it off. I'll go last."

He turned back to the tunnel. The blue light was pulsing faster now. Faint voices echoed from deeper inside. Moran's men were getting closer.

Kaelen grabbed the rope and climbed down. His shoulder ached. His hands were raw. He reached the outcrop just as the first soldier appeared in the tunnel opening above.

The soldier saw him. Raised his crossbow.

Kaelen dropped. The bolt cracked against the rock where his head had been. He swung on the rope, hit the outcrop, and rolled.

Aldric grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Move," Kaelen said. "Now."

They traversed the outcrop single file. Aldric led. Kaelen came last. The stone was slick with spray. Twice, Kaelen's boot slipped. Twice, he caught himself on the wall.

The ledge on the other side was wider. A path led up toward the surface. Dorn and Fen were already climbing.

Kaelen stopped at the edge and looked back. The soldier in the tunnel was reloading. Another soldier appeared beside him.

Then Moran stepped into the opening.

He did not raise a weapon. He just looked down at Kaelen. At the gap. At the path.

"You're resourceful," Moran called. "I'll give you that."

Kaelen did not answer.

"But you're running out of places to go. Kaldren is three days east. I have men there already. They'll be waiting for you."

"Then I'll find another way."

"There is no other way." Moran's voice carried across the gorge. "You have something that belongs to my employer. He wants it back. Give it to me now, and I'll let your friends live."

Kaelen looked at the case under his arm. At Aldric, halfway up the path. At the dwarves above him.

"No," he said.

Moran shrugged. "Your choice."

He raised his hand. The soldiers behind him raised their crossbows.

Kaelen ran.

Bolts cracked against the rock around him. One caught his coat. Another grazed his arm. He kept running, up the path, around the bend, until the gorge and Moran and the soldiers disappeared behind him.

He found the others waiting at the top. Dorn was bleeding from a cut above his eye. Fen was breathing hard. Aldric was pale but standing.

"The case," Aldric said. "Is it intact?"

Kaelen looked down. The leather case was still under his arm. The pages were still inside.

"It's intact."

"Good. Because we have a bigger problem."

"What?"

Aldric pointed east. Kaelen followed his gaze.

Smoke. Rising from the horizon. A lot of it. Too much for a campfire or a single burning building.

"That's Kaldren," Aldric said. "Voss got there first."

Kaelen watched the smoke rise. The records he needed. The answers he had spent nine years searching for. Burning.

"I'm going to kill him," he said.

Dorn spat blood onto the ground. "Get in line."

They started walking east.