Shadow - Monsters, Machines and Mad Scientists!: Episode CIV

Frostfire didn't let Sarah acclimatise to the vista for very long. He was already marching well down the slope by the time she had managed to focus enough on the here and now to notice. Dimsun stood nearby, eyeing first Frostfire and then Sarah rather nervously, as if he wasn't sure how much longer he should let this state of affairs continue. Sarah saved him the effort of working it out by putting one foot in front of the other, impossible though it seemed, and descending the mountain after Frosfire.

They were still in the midst of the city streets of Ashvault, even out here in the open and Stoneskin life and culture continued around them despite the apparent dangers of lava flow. A few hundred metres further to Sarah's left there was a trail of lumpy black rock where a previous flow had run through the city. The flat rooftops of a few larger buildings were still evident, poking out. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed that the volcano was smoking gently, neither threatening destruction, nor allowing complete peace of mind. Sarah decided that, whatever else happened, she'd be happier once they left Ashvault behind.

After about fifteen minutes they reached the densely built up area just inside the massive walls, which curved in towards the mountain, like cresting waves, as if more designed to keep molten rock in than invading enemies out. Here the gate was sealed and even more well-guarded than had been the tunnel leading from the magma chamber. Spiketails, Creepers, Grinders and even a Shaman or two could be seen patrolling along the top of the wall and Slatewings swooped down from the sky at intervals, making Sarah shudder at the sight of them.

Frostfire marched right up to the gate, moving as one with absolute authority in the situation and demanded that the gate be opened. There was some discussion of the matter, none of which was loud enough to reach Sarah's ears as she stood a little farther back with Dimsun. Eventually there was some movement and then a group of Grinders wearing harnesses chained to a complex mechanism of gigantic stone weights, wheels and cogs. It seemed to take a few moments before anything happened, so heavy was the gate, but as the weights lifted and the gears began to turn, the massive stone began to roll to one side. Despite the exertions of the Grinders, it only moved few metres in total, but it was enough to let Frostfire's small party out into the open world.

Of course, 'the open world' was really just more city, although Sarah realised quite quickly that, apart from a few hovels close to the walls of ashvault, apparently inhabited by more Stoneskins, the buildings of the district they were now entering were entirely deserted and many lay in a state of great ruin. As they passed through the streets, with their odd mixture of flat-roofed buildings and more familiar medieval European architectural styles, Sarah found herself wondering what had become of the district. It was like the after math of some kind of apocalypse. How much of this Shadow lay in ruins?

They reached a sort of square and as they passed the building which had once marked the corner between the street they had taken down from Ashvault and this more open space, Sarah saw that fully half of the building was missing; collapsed into rubble. She stopped and stared at the open facade, feeling like a voyeur when she realised she could see into all its ancient rooms, with the skeleton of all their walls and floors displayed. There were even some mouldy items of furniture to be seen and a patch on the wall which might once have held a portrait.

"What happened here?" she asked, forcing Frostire to turn around and glare at her, or, more precisely, at Dimsun.

"These are the forgotten districts, the places where the humans pulled out long ago for one reason or another," Dimsun tried to explain, his voice hesitant as he felt the icy heat of Frostfire's gaze, "This district was known as Crystalvale for the clear spring waters that ran down from the mountains, until Ashvault woke from its ancient slumber."

"Now only Stoneskins live here," Frosfire rumbled, "for the places where humans refuse to live are the only places left for us if we do not wish to be at war all the time." He turned his back on them and began to march across the square.

Sarah gazed thoughtfully at the building for a moment longer, until she felt Dimsun's craggy talons ushering her onwards once more.

The day was long and tiring. Frostfire was loathe to stop for any kind of break, although he conceded, after considerable argument from both Sarah and Dimsun, that a human recovering from injuries (however miraculously healed) and probable heat exhaustion may need to stop for something to eat at least once during the course of the day, if not more. They found a forgotten, ash-dusted park and Frostfire allowed them a lavish fifteen minute break accompanied by a trickle of water from a flask and some very dry bread.

Otherwise there were no breaks at all and the large valley district of Crystalvale proved to be unforgiving and largely uninteresting territory to traverse. The cobbles were particularly uneven beneath Sarah's uncomfortable and barely human-sized sandals, the air was dry and dusty thanks to the nearby volcano and the buildings were an endless procession that, even in their strangeness, soon ceased to worthy of Sarah's attention.

The only sights that seemed worth seeing at all in that dismal valley were the mountains which marked its distant extremities. Dimsun pointed them out to her as they walked. Ashvault, of course, lay behind, to the South-East. Due South, and far enough away to be mere shadows, lay Hallowpeak and Bittercrag, both flat-topped and foreboding in their immensity. To the west was the long range known as the Avenue, its ruined buildings visible as crenulations along the ridge, and to the North-West and considerably closer lay their destination, Riddlepike.

Riddlepike was neither as tall, nor as broad as the other mountains visible and it lacked the ominous veil of mists and smoke that made Ashvault so instantly recognisable, but what it lacked in overall size it more than made up for in prominence for its slopes were perilously steep and its peak was a jagged dagger thrusting into the sky. Sarah was astonished that, of all the mountains they should choose to ascend in an effort to carry them out of the valley it should be one as obviously inhospitable as that one.

When she admitted this to Dimsun he merely smiled a sharp-toothed smile and said, "all is not what it seems."

It took them several hours to cross the ruins of Crystalvale, the sun firm in its course across that pale green sky above. Sarah would find herself looking at it without meaning to, as if trying to disprove its existence, or paint the ceiling of the world blue once more, as it should be, she thought, even though she knew that what should be on Earth need not be so on Shadow. When at last the shadow of Riddlepike fell upon them and they began to ascend the mountain via a warren of steep little alleyways, it was almost a relief.

The narrow streets, the summit-eclipsed sun and the gradually fading day turned the world to a deepening twilight as they ascended, allowing Sarah's eyesight to adjust naturally. When the street suddenly vanished into a dark tunnel, however, she felt the urge to hold back.

"It's pitch black in there!" she announced when Frostfire glared at her from just within the tunnel, "and unlike some here I don't have eyes with built-in illumination."

"There should still be torches along the walls. Stoneskins use this pass quite often and, despite our eyes, we prefer other light." He gestured in towards the clustered darkness, before pulling a little tinder box out of the pack he carried, "I will light them for you as we go."

To prove this he ventured a few feet into the black, produced a few sparks and then at once the tunnel was glowing with light.

Sarah eyed him and the torch dubiously, then nodded slowly and took her first steps into the passage.

"How far does this go?" she asked, her voice echoing off the close walls.

"There are tunnels all the way through the peak," Dimsun replied, "hence its name."

“Oh,” Sarah replied.

“So, we’ll be travelling through them much of the night, stopping to rest somewhere within, and then most of the morning.”

Sarah stared at the torch lit walls and suppressed a shudder.

“Get used to it,” Dimsun added, “for it is all we’ll be seeing for some time.”