Part 29 (1/2)

They ran to the sound, and found where the earth had given way. Doremus was squatting by the hole.

'The mare's down there,' he said.

Rudiger needed no more. He scrambled into the hole, calling for them to follow.

'I can see down there,' Genevieve said. 'You can't.'

Balthus, part-way through some change, fumbled a tinderbox and a candle out of his pouch and struggled with them. His pawlike hands couldn't work the flint. Doremus took the candle, and struck a light to it.

Carefully, they let themselves into the hole. It was about twice as deep as a man is tall, and led into a tunnel.

'This must be an arterial route,' Genevieve said. 'It's tall enough for us, and for the mare.'

There were much smaller side tunnels, cobwebbed over, which neither man nor unicorn could have got through.

'An easy track,' Rudiger said. 'We just follow the broken webs.'

Balthus whimpered as a spider the size of a housecat scuttled out of its lair.

Rudiger took the point of his boot to it, and it squealed as he crushed it against the wall.

Rudiger was ahead again, and they were behind. This was going round and round, hunting the hunter hunting the hunter and being in turn hunted. Genevieve wanted it finished.

The tunnel sloped downwards, deeper into the earth. She hoped the engineers had built to last. Nearer the surface, things were falling apart.

These workings had been abandoned since the time of Sigmar. None of the higher races had set foot here for centuries.

'There's light ahead,' she said, feeling it in her eyes.

'That's impossible,' Rudiger snorted.

Doremus covered the candleflame, and they all saw it.

'Evidently not,' the graf admitted. 'My apologies.'

The mare had headed for the light.

It was cold down here, and wet. Water trickled down the walls and around their boots.

Their way was barred by a sparkling curtain, and the drumming of water was loud in their ears.

'We're behind the waterfall,' Doremus said.

It was true. Genevieve stepped forwards, and put her hand in the icy curtain, feeling the water splash onto her arm and face.

'The mare must have plunged through,' Rudiger said.

It was a pretty sight.

'Come on,' the graf grunted, holding his nose and throwing himself into the water.

For an instant, he was visible in the water like a bug frozen in ice, then he was swept away.

Doremus was startled.

'There must be a way through to the Cleft,' Genevieve said. 'He should come out with the mare.'

Balthus leaped after his master.

'Are you the kind that doesn't like running water?' Doremus asked.

'I didn't think I was yesterday.'

Still, neither of them made a move to the curtain.

'Can you hear the voice in the water?'

Genevieve listened, and thought she could hear something frail and pleading in the rush of the fall.

'I've been hearing that all day.'

'It must come from around here somewhere.'

Genevieve looked about. To a human, this would be almost as dark as night. To her, it was almost as bright as day.

'Douse the candle, I'll see better,' she said.

Doremus complied.

The rock chamber behind the waterfall became plainer. There were murals carved into the walls, depicting Sigmar wielding his hammer against the goblins. It was indifferent as art, but showed some dwarfish enthusiasm.

The noise was a mewling, singing, crying They found her in an alcove, mossy blankets pulled around her, face pale and thin, almost elfin.

'Sylvana?'

The woman didn't answer her name.