Seven Into the Bleak Read Free Page B

the oceans. The Bleak's wickedness was total and forever.
     "Harlan, leave this plan," I said. "There are tourneys to be won and villains to be slain on the surface. Let the Bleak rot."
    He smiled, a gentle smile, and shook his head. "I cannot, Tamik Two-Knives. This is my destiny."
    I grimaced at the fool's choice of words and Karn said flatly, "Need you that gold and those gems, then, squire?"
    Harlan handed over his share of loot happily. The bars and coins and jewels seemed like so much deadweight now, but Karn grinned wide enough when he put the knight-errant's share in his own pack and marched back up our original path. Seeing that arguments were futile, I grasped Harlan's hand and mumbled farewell. Galdur and Filki entreated him to come with us, but I knew their pleas would be ignored. Harlan had been looking for a noble way to die since we had met.
    We watched as tightened his belt, flung his frayed cloak over his shoulders, and marched deeper into the Bleak to follow his heart.
     
    . . .
     
    For days after, we listened for Harlan. Galdur and Filki hoped he had changed his mind while Karn, the cynic, wished aloud that he'd lure the fiends away. For my part, I wondered if Harlan had actually stumbled upon the true way to the surface, as our path--though it had climbed steadily for many hours of marching--returned to a twisting, winding trail into the depths, taking our spirits with it.
    A week after Harlan's departure, we were camped by the muddy light of Filki's fire, eating a meal of rock fungus and plate beetle. Galdur was lecturing Filki on the technologies and cultures of the Delven, the ancient race that had supposedly ruled the World Under the World. We had come across their outposts and small shrines--or so Galdur had claimed--but we had yet to see the Delven cities that the sage had promised, with their golden halls and marble columns.
    "Admit it, old man," Karn said with rough humor from his bed roll, propping himself up on one elbow. "You wouldn't know a Delven if it bit you in the arse. We've been in the gods-damned Bleak for three seasons or more and we haven't seen more than a Delven piss-pot, never mind a gold throne or a chest filled with rubies."
    Galdur was not a physical man and was usually careful to avoid disagreeing with Karn, but he drew himself up, his face pale with anger. "You grunt like a rutting boar. It is my learning that has kept us alive this long, my research that has made this expedition possible--"
    "Thank the gods for that," Karn said, grinning, amused by the old man's fury.
    "Ridiculous man, obsessed with gold when the secrets of the Delven might be in the very next cavern. It is only by the worst of luck that we didn't find their deepest vaults. If it hadn't been for me, you would've been back in that reeking tavern where I found you, lacking even the few riches you did unearth."
    I sat up and looked over at Karn. The amusement drained from his face as Filki frowned and said, "What do you mean if it hadn't been for you, Galdur?"
    The sage, wise in so many ways, allowed his mouth to wander. He looked at Filki with contempt. "Do you think the rockfall happened by itself, idiot? You brainless band of children. Skipping and dancing into the Bleak, happy to pry the tin off a Delven tombstone when a world of power and wealth were an arm's length away."
    "What did you do, old man?" Karn said, rising to his feet.
    Sensing he'd made a mistake, Galdur scowled and said, "I did what I had to insure that you would make good on your promise to help me find the cities of the Delven."
    "And?" I asked.
    Stubborn and defensive, Galdur looked at me, then back to Karn. "I needed assurances--"
    "What did you do, sage?" I said.
    "I…I collapsed the cavern behind us as you slept off the wine you'd brought. The Delven were engineers with a mind for defense. Ancient texts I had studied showed it was easy enough to remove the pins and bolts from any of the supports. And so I did."
     "Gods damn you, old