Chapter 8

 

 

For several hours Eldor led the small party through the tunnels that crisscrossed beneath Rethan. Jena lost count of how many they turned into or passed. She knew she would have got quite lost here on her own. But Eldor seemed to know where he was going.

 

They came across rusted iron ladders climbing the walls into narrow shafts. Jena thought they must lead up into the streets of the city. They also came across the odd arched doorway and she thought these must lead up into other buildings. Eldor passed these by until arriving at one he seemed to know.

 

He took them up the stairs and to the ground floor of a building. Through some windows they could see a street outside lit by moonlight. He then gathered them close.

 

‘This building is a short walk from the park where the Stardust Fountain used to be,’ he said. ‘We shall enter and see if it can tell us where the fountain was moved to.’

 

‘What will we do if the Shiver sees us?’ Nyssa asked nervously.

 

‘Jena’s magic will hopefully give us some protection from being discovered,’ Eldor replied and looked at her. ‘I want you to cloak us in a shield that hides us from being seen, Jena. Do you think you can do that?’

 

Jena had never been asked to do something like this before. But she thought she could so and nodded. She concentrated on her bracelet and watched it glow brightly as she willed the magic to surround them. She put an image in her mind of a bubble around them. A bubble that nothing could see through. When she felt she had control of it, she nodded at Eldor.

 

‘It’s done,’ she said.

 

‘Good. Now you must keep your concentration, no matter what you see or hear around you. The Shiver is a terrible sight to behold if we come across it, but you mustn’t let the magic slip.’

 

‘I won’t,’ she replied, though she was very nervous.

 

‘Then let’s be off,’ Eldor said.

 

He led them out of the building and onto the darkened street. Here were many more people turned to stone, frozen in place in whatever they had been doing so long ago. They walked down the street a short way, then turned left down another. Ahead they could see the park filled with slender trees and flowerbeds.

 

As they reached it Jena saw that starflowers even grew here. But then to her horror she saw the stone figures of fairies lying on the ground beneath them… victims of the Shiver.

 

Eldor hurried them through the trees till they emerged into a small clearing. A small stone pergola stood in the middle. It was open to the sky and Jena could see a large stone block inside.

 

‘Wait here,’ Eldor whispered to them and stepping up to the pergola, he slipped inside.

 

Jena watched his shadowed form do a thorough search inside. Then he rejoined them, his expression grim.

 

‘This was where the fountain used to be, resting on the stone block,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Unfortunately there is no clue as to where it was moved.’

 

‘Where shall we look now?’ Rena asked.

 

‘I…’ he began to say, but his words were smothered by a sudden shrill wailing.

 

It cut through them like a knife and the spun around. The saw the Shiver hanging in the air just beyond the park. Jena could only stare at it in fear. It was a huge cloud of writhing darkness… a darkness rolling like thick oil. Then she noticed that it was not totally dark. Silvery shapes twisted about in it and she realized they were the trapped spirits.

 

Jena held onto the magic barrier to keep them hidden. The Shiver hadn't appeared to have seen them yet and Eldor whispered urgently.

 

‘Move back into the trees! We must get back to the building and underground again.’

 

They backed out of the clearing slowly, edging into the cover of trees. But as they turned and began to slip through them, Jena suddenly smelt something in the air. It was the sweet scent of flowers, something she hadn’t noticed before. Neither had her nose and she suddenly sneezed.

 

That was enough to break her concentration and the magic hiding them vanished. The Shiver quickly sensed them, a terrible shriek coming from it, cutting them through them like a knife.

 

‘Run!’ Eldor bellowed and they sprinted off through the trees.

 

They cleared the park and dashed onto the street. From Nyssa’s shoulder, Jena could see the Shiver moving quickly toward them. She felt sure it would catch them.

 

But terror drove them and they tore into the street where the building lay. They charged into the room and down the stairs. Into the tunnels they fled, running as fast as they could and turning down several. Then Eldor finally brought them to a halt. They did so and all bent over, gasping with exertion.

 

‘Okay… rest… rest now!’ he stammered as he fought to get his breath back.

 

‘Good dwarves, that was a near thing!’ Rena said. ‘It almost had us!’

 

‘I’m sorry for sneezing,’ Jena said, feeling a bit of dill for doing so. ‘It broke my concentration.’

 

‘That’s all right, Jena,’ Eldor replied with a weary smile. ‘It’s a bit hard to avoid a sneeze when it comes.’

 

‘Will the Shiver try to find us down here?’ Nyssa asked worriedly, looking back down the tunnel.

 

‘I don’t think so, at least not yet,’ he replied. ‘But it knows we are here now, so we will have to be extra careful.’

 

‘Will we spend the night down here?’ Jena asked nervously, a little spooked by the inky darkness.

 

‘No, we’ll find a building to rest in,’ Eldor replied. ‘I know of several that are safe. Then we will start our search.’

 

* * *

 

For the next two days they searched Rethan for the Stardust Fountain. From the tunnels Eldor led them into building after building in search of it. Sometimes he left them in a particular building whilst he crossed a road to search another. At other times he took them with him and they searched a variety of places. Temples and halls, warehouses and even a great palace.

 

Several times they were almost caught by the Shiver again. Crossing a street here and there and slipping into a building as it came flying over the roofs with a shriek. And once it appeared to have been lying in wait. It came boiling out of an alley by a building they were in, Eldor saving them by some inner warning.

 

It was in the early evening of the second day that he took them to the top floor of one tall building. Broad windows in the walls gave them a wide view of the darkened city and here they stopped to eat.

 

Eldor had been gruff and ill tempered all day. The frustration of not finding the Stardust Fountain showing itself. To make matters worse, their food was running low. There was barely enough left for another day.

 

‘We could go out into the hills and hunt for some food,’ Rena offered as they ate. ‘Nyssa has her bow, so we could catch something quickly.’

 

‘It would be too dangerous with the Shiver knowing we are here,’ Eldor replied. ‘I’m afraid we must face the fact that we could spend weeks searching here. We have looked in all the places I thought the Stardust Fountain might be. The longer we stay here, the greater the chance the Shiver will finally catch us.’

 

‘You’re not going to give up, are you, Eldor?’ Nyssa asked in dismay, knowing that it would doom the fairies.

 

‘I think we must, Nyssa,’ he replied in dejected tone. ‘It was a great risk coming here even when I thought I knew where the fountain was. The longer we stay, the greater that risk becomes.’

 

‘We should set a time limit then,’ Rena said. ‘Tighten our belts and go hungry for a couple more days. If we haven’t found it by then we will have to return home.’

 

‘But we can’t just give up!’ Jena exclaimed.

 

‘Nothing will be gained if we fall victim to the Shiver, Jena,’ the dwarf replied bluntly. ‘We may have already lost Lore and Dom to the quest. To lose all of us would be too high a price to pay.’

 

Jena could see her reasoning, even though it hurt.

 

‘I suppose if we must, we must,’ she murmured, her tone miserable.

 

‘Very well then, another two days,’ Eldor said. ‘Then we must leave here.’

 

With that he rose and the others joined him with dejected expressions. They knew that even with two more days their search would probably prove fruitless. They headed toward the stairs, their hearts heavy.