Happenstance Found (Books of Umber #1) Read Free

where the others waited.
    “Did you feel that?” asked Oates.
    “No, Oates,” Umber said gravely. “All of my senses suddenly departed me, leaving me unable to detect an earthquake.” Sophie laughed, but dropped her brown-eyed gaze when Hap looked her way.
    Hap stared at his new surroundings. Until that moment, all he consciously remembered was what he’d seen in the plain little chamber. Now as he looked around, the fountain of knowledge bubbled to life again and eagerly supplied the names for the strange sights before him.
    There was a long, wide tunnel, crudely hacked from porous rock. The roof was so low that Oates had to move in a perpetual crouch. On each side the rock had been gouged away to uncover doors, windows, and alleys. Hap peered into the gloom and saw other, narrower tunnels intersecting this one, creating a—he waited for the word to come— maze in the stone.
    “Do you know where we are, Hap?” Umber said.
    Hap shook his head. “You called it the buried city.”
    “Yes, but it has another name: Alzumar. Sophie, why don’t you tell Hap about it?”
    The girl saw Hap looking at her and hid her damaged arm behind her back. “That’s all right,” she said, so softly it was hard to hear. “You do it, please.”
    Umber smiled at her and nodded. “Of course, dear. Hap, Alzumar was the wonder of its age, centuries ago; a thriving city of dazzling wealth, peopled by artisans who imported precious metals and jewels from the corners of the world and wrought them into all manner of glorious things. Kings and queens still wear crowns and wave scepters that were crafted here. But sadly, its founders built Alzumar in an ill-fated location—in a valley, at the foot of a volcano called Mount Ignis. Do you know what a volcano is, Hap?”
    Hap waited for the knowledge to come. “A mountain of fire,” he replied. The moment he said the words, a stronger tremor shook the underground city, echoing down the intersecting tunnels. Somewhere out of sight, a chunk of rock fell.
    “We should get out,” said Oates, eyeing the rough-hewn ceiling.
    “I suppose,” Umber said, pulling a loose thread from his vest.
    Oates raised a finger and jabbed it Umber’s way. “Hold on—you’re wasting time on purpose! You’re keeping us here because you want to see that worm.”
    Umber pretended to cough, but Hap saw him cover his grin with one hand. “Well, I was hoping to catch a glimpse. But I don’t think the beast is here after all.”
    “It is here,” Hap said. He bit his lip when the others spun their heads his way. “Something’s here, anyway. It’s big. With a lot of legs.”
    Umber gave a happy squeal and clapped his hands. “Wonderful! You actually saw the worm?”
    “I heard it,” said Hap. “Just before you got here.”
    “Now I’m sure we should go,” said Oates, turning to look over his shoulder.
    “It sounded … scary,” Hap said.
    “I should think so!” Umber rubbed his palms together. “Still, I suppose Oates is right. These quakes do rattle the nerves. We’ll go—but who knows, perhaps the worm will pop up before we reach the light of day. If we’re lucky.”
    They walked down the craggy tunnel. The glow of Sophie’s lamp washed over half-exposed walls. Hap saw parts of columns and hints of friezes with images of men and women dancing and leaping.
    “Hap, I didn’t tell you about the terrible fate of Alzumar,” Umber said. “When Ignis erupted, tons of ash fell, filling the valley to the brim and burying the city. Some folk managed to escape, but many were trapped here, along with Alzumar’s legendary wealth. The whole city was hidden under solid ash, intact but entombed. Before long, men returned to recapture the gold and jewels. They excavated the streets and tunneled into the doorways. It took hundreds of years, but finally almost every byway had been explored, and most of the wealth was found again. Still, people came searching for more. But sometime in the last fifty