A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 651 The Last Gambit - Part 2

He called out his observation to Cormrant, though neither seemed to think that the mechanism for it still worked. Oliver was of the same opinion. It was terribly rusted. Still, it begged the question of 'why here?'

Why, when they'd used wood for the gate, would they spare a stone tower and a portcullis just for this little entranceway into the cliffside? It was nothing if not foreboding. Faced with no choice, though, they passed under it nonetheless, straight into the passageway that awaited beyond it.@@@@

Northman carried the torch, illuminating the way as Oliver walked beside him. The entrance into the cliff was hard to track. It was hard to tell that transition from a man-made structure to that which was natural, for the way was lined entirely by stone brick for a good while. The floor, the ceiling and the walls, they were all laid with stone.

Yet again, Oliver asked himself why they didn't spare those defensive efforts on the front of the fort. They clearly had the resources for at least some of it.

Or perhaps they had? Perhaps it was simply the case that the stone bricks came from an even earlier time than the rotting wood? It was not inconceivable that a stone fortification had initially been built, only to be destroyed again, and then reformed by later settlers of the area.

Whatever the case, Oliver didn't feel like asking. Something about those stone walkways, angling downwards as they were, it all invited a sort of solemnness that he was unwilling to break.

After a little while, the stone bricklaying ended, giving way to what was unmistakeably natural stone, though this too was worn smooth beyond the point of which was natural, still angling down, at an evermore increasing rate.

Finally, Oliver asked it, once the tunnel had continued downwards for longer than five minutes. "What is this place? Why tunnel so deep into the side of a cliff?"

Oliver shared a look with Northman, his hand hanging from his sword. He began to pay more attention to the walls, noticing more marks, more careless blows of a chisel that seemed to have ended half-heartedly. More flecks of paint too, some of these still carrying fragments of pictures. A strange-looking blue face here, and then a sword and a spear over there.

The patterns extended to the floor, after a time. There would be ridges, here and there, seeming to be purposefully placed. Oliver's feet would brush them, once or twice, then almost expect the third that soon came after. It was as regular as a language, all of it bearing a warning, or at least some sort of suggestion.

Then the passage started to grow lighter, from a source that was not their torches. A bluish light crept down the walls, battling the orange of their flames. They could not have hoped to make it more foreboding.

The passage turned again, and the blue light seemed to disappear. It made a man question just where it had come from. The soldiers had been growing tense, preparing for battle, anticipating some sort of cavern or wide open room that they were sure was about to come up. There was none of that – merely more passageway.

Then the passageway turned again. The blue light returned. No cavern still. Oliver tried to track it this time, to see if he could spy where it came from. Even as he looked, he couldn't find the source... unless it was coming from the rocks itself. That seemed too silly a suggestion to be true and Oliver didn't have the time to check it out.

Again the passageway turned, and the light again disappeared.

Then again, once more, as if to spin them in a full circle, the passageway turned again, the steepest curve that it had forced them in since arriving, and now the blue light was strong enough to wash away the orange light of their torches. Now it was strong enough to illuminate all that was in front of them.

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Now it was strong enough to reveal an ominous half-open gate, three times the height of a man.