Reckless

The sound of dripping water was everywhere, constant and inescapable, and the darkness revealed the miracles it had formed over thousands of years: waterfalls of petrified chalk-white froth, forests of stony needles hanging above them from the ceilings, and crystal flowers blossoming in the dark. In some caves, there was barely a trace of the Goyl — just a straight path leading through the thickets of stone, or a few perfectly square tunnel openings. Other caves had stone façades and mosaics that seemed to originate from earlier times, ruins among the columns that water had grown from the rock.



Jacob felt as if they had been traveling for days through this underground world, when they reached a cave with a lake. The walls were covered with plants that needed no sun, and across the water spanned an endless bridge that was barely more than a stone arch reinforced with steel. Every step rang out treacherously loud through the wide cave and sent clouds of shrieking bats swooping from the ceiling. When the pair had crossed the bridge halfway, Valiant stopped so abruptly that Jacob nearly stumbled over him.



The body that was blocking their path wasn't Goyl; it was human. The sign of the King was tattooed on his forehead, and his wrists were raw from manacles. There were gaping wounds in his throat and chest.



"A prisoner of war. They use them as slave labor." Valiant stared apprehensively at the cave ceiling.



Jacob drew his pistol. "What killed him?"



The Dwarf let the beam of the flashlight wander over the stalactites above. "The Guardians," he whispered. "The Goyl breed them to defend the outer tunnels and roads. They come out only when they scent something that isn't Goyl. I never had any trouble with them on this route before! Wait!"



The flashlight found a row of worryingly large holes in the cave's ceiling, and Valiant muttered a curse.



A chirping sound cut through the silence — sharp, like a warning cry.



"Run!" The Dwarf leaped over the body, grabbing Jacob's arm and pulling him along. The air was suddenly filled with the flutter of leathery wings. The Guardians of the Goyl dove out from the stalactites like birds of prey, pale and almost humanlike creatures. Their wings tapered into sharp talons. Their eyes were milky and blind, but clearly their ears guided them quite reliably. Jacob shot two in midflight, and Valiant killed one that was digging its claws into Jacob's back, but three more were already crawling out of the holes directly above them. One tried to swipe the pistol from Jacob's hand, but he slammed his head into the pale face and hacked off one of its wings with his saber. The creature screamed so loudly that he was sure it would alert dozens more of its brethren, but fortunately not all of the holes seemed to be inhabited.



The Guardians were clumsy attackers, but at the end of the bridge one of them still managed to take Valiant down. The bared fangs were already at the Dwarf's throat when Jacob rammed his saber between the wrinkled wings. Up close it looked like a human embryo, and even the body was childlike. Jacob felt nauseated, as though he'd never killed before.



They escaped into the next tunnel, their arms and shoulders torn, but fortunately none of the wounds were deep, and the Dwarf was too upset to notice the iodine Jacob dripped onto his bleeding hand.



"That gold tree had better last a good long time!" he said, growling as Jacob bandaged his hand. "If not, you just accrued a whole new set of debts."



Two Guardians still circled the bridge, but they didn't follow them into the tunnel.



The exertions of the fight hadn’t made breathing any easier, and the maze of dark tunnels seemed endless. Jacob was just beginning to wonder whether the Dwarf was playing another dirty trick on him, when the tunnel suddenly took a sharp bend, and everything seemed to dissolve into light.



"And here it is!" Valiant said breathlessly. "The lair of the beast, or the lion's den, depending on whose side you happen to be on."



The tunnel had ended high up in a cave that was so vast Jacob couldn't see where it ended. Countless lamps gave off the kind of dim light Goyl eyes liked best, and they seemed to run not on gas but on electricity. They illuminated a city that looked as if it had been extruded by the rock itself. Houses, towers, and palaces grew from the bottom of the cave and up its walls, like a wasps' nest. Dozens of bridges arched over the expanse of houses, as if there were nothing simpler than elevating iron through the air. The struts grew up like metal stalks from between the roofs. Jacob saw railway lines, streets, and footpaths, all crisscrossing the air above the city. Some of the bridges were lined with buildings, like the medieval bridges of his own world — floating alleyways under a sandstone sky. Higher up, above the houses and the web of bridges that looked as if it had been woven by a steel-spinning spider, hung a series of gigantic stalactites. The largest one was dotted with metal towers pointing downward like spears, and the whole structure glowed as if its walls had been saturated with the moonlight of the world above.



"Is that the palace?" whispered Jacob to the Dwarf. "No wonder they're not impressed by our buildings. And when did they build those bridges?"



"How would I know?" Valiant replied in a low voice. "They don't teach Goyl history at Dwarf schools. The palace is much more that seven hundred years old. Their King apparently is planning a more modern version, as he thinks it's too old-fashioned. The other stalactites are military barracks and prisons." The Dwarf gave Jacob a devious smile. "Want me to find out which one your brother's in? Your gold coins will loosen even Goyl tongues. As long as there's a little extra for me."



When Jacob produced two more coins, Valiant couldn't help himself. He stretched, then pushed his short fingers into Jacob's coat pocket.



"Nothing!" he muttered. "Nothing at all. Is it this coat? No, can't be; it also worked with the other coat. Is it something you do with your fingers?"



"Something like that," Jacob answered. He yanked the Dwarf's hand out of his pocket before he could find the handkerchief.



"I'll figure it out one of these days!" the Dwarf grumbled. He tucked the two coins into his velvet waistcoat. "And now keep your head bowed. You're a slave."



The trails that led down along the cave walls were even more impassable for a human than the streets of Terpevas. Some of the paths were so steep that Jacob's feet kept slipping, and he had to constantly clutch at doorframes and window ledges. Valiant, however, moved through them as quickly as a Goyl. The humans they encountered looked green for lack of sunlight. Most of them had the initials of their owners branded or etched into their foreheads. They didn't acknowledge Jacob, and neither did the Goyl they passed in the gloomy labyrinth of houses. The Dwarf by Jacob's side seemed to be explanation enough, and Valiant relished loading him with all the things he purchased from the various shops at which he inquired about Will's whereabouts.



"Bingo!" he finally whispered, after making Jacob wait for more than half an hour in front of a jeweler's. "Good news and bad news," the Dwarf continued quietly. "The good news is, I found out what we wanted to know. The King's most trusted man brought a prisoner to the fortress, someone the Dark Fairy apparently sent him to find. That's definitely our jasper friend, but it looks as if word hasn't spread yet that the prisoner has a jade skin."



"And what's the bad news?"