The cave went on and on, and Alex began to worry. He didn’t have any idea how long it would take him to reach Nethrom, and the deeper into the cave he went, the more nervous he became. Suddenly, he stopped short, catching himself against the cave wall as bits of rock flew out from his feet into empty darkness.
He had stopped at the threshold of what appeared to be another chamber, but this one seemed to have no floor. A dim light shone upward from deep below, but even with the extra light, Alex could not see the far side of the chamber. He put his sword back in its scabbard and leaned against his staff. He was breathing hard from his journey into the mountain, and he had to force himself to relax and breathe slowly and think.
As the sound of his beating heart slowed in his ears, Alex heard a new sound, the sound of digging far below him. Carefully he moved toward the edge of the cavern and looked down into the dim light. Far below him, he could see movement, like hundreds of ants digging in the earth. He watched the shapes moving about until he realized what they were. Hundreds of long-dead dwarfs were digging at the roots of the mountain as if that were the only thing they had ever done. Nethrom was using his own dead people to mine for him, and somehow that was more evil than anything Alex had expected. A feeling of rage began to grow inside of Alex.
Alex looked around for some way down to the miners. He did not know what he would do if he reached them, or what they might do to him, but he wanted more than anything to give the dead dwarfs the rest they deserved. The path he had been following turned sharply to his left as it came out of the cave mouth, moving down the face of the cliff. The path was narrow but well made, and Alex hurried down it.
He tried to calm himself as he descended the cliff wall, but his outrage burned inside him like a flame that would not go out. Alex wondered at how evil Nethrom had become, and at how he could have changed so much from the dwarf who had once helped the people of Neplee. That the same dwarf had enslaved the dead of his own people was too much for Alex to understand.
When he reached the bottom of the cliff, Alex turned to face the miners, wanting to speak to them and tell them that he would return them to their rest. He was surprised to find that the miners had all stopped working and were moving toward him like moths to a flame. He gripped his staff, wondering if the undead dwarfs would try to stop him from reaching Nethrom and if he would have to destroy them to end their torment.
“Hail, great one,” one of the dwarfs called out to Alex. “We have heard the clap of doom, and we know our time here is short.”
“You know?” Alex questioned.
“Your coming was foretold long ago.”
“Foretold by who?” Alex asked.
“It is not for us to say,” the dwarf answered. “It is enough for us to know you have come, and that our deliverance is near.”
“Quickly, then,” said Alex, not wanting to give Nethrom any more time to prepare for him than he had to. “Where do I find the necromancer? Which path leads to him?”
“Do not fear, he does not know of your coming,” said the dwarf with what might have been a smile. “We are bound to dig for him, but we are not bound to do more.”
“How could he not know I am here? You heard the thunderclap—” Alex started doubtfully.
“We blocked the sound from passing,” the dwarf answered. “The evil will not know you have come until you show yourself to him.”
“Then I am grateful for your help,” said Alex. “I will give you back your rest, but I must act quickly.”
“There is one more guardian you must face before you will find the dark one,” said the dwarf. “A golem made of stone. It is bound to guard the entrance to the dark one’s prison.”
“Prison?” Alex questioned.
“Nethrom is not the evil,” answered the dwarf. “He is only a foolish dwarf who did not know what he had found until it was too late. He is controlled by a greater darkness. He has nearly escaped in the past, but the evil needs Nethrom’s form to have power in this world. The evil fears what will happen if Nethrom ever escapes.”
“I understand,” said Alex, considering the dwarf’s words. “Is there anything I can do for you—apart from destroying this evil?”
“If you will,” the dwarf said slowly. “In life, I was named Set, lord and defender of the dwarf realm of Thraxon. My heir, Thorgood, now rules Thraxon, but he rules without my crown. My crown was broken when I died in this place, binding the evil to these caves, but I have the pieces still. Will you take my broken crown to my heir? Give it to him so that all will know he is the true king.”
“You would trust me with your crown?” Alex asked.
“You were foretold,” Set replied. “Take my crown to Thorgood, but you must ask what promise he has made for its return before you show it to him.”
“I will do as you ask,” said Alex, bowing.
“You honor me,” said Set as he returned the bow. “You will find the crown waiting for you in the first chamber as you leave. Remember to ask Thorgood about his promise. Farewell, and may fortune smile on you always.”
The rest of the dwarfs parted to make a path for Alex to follow, murmuring words of thanks to him as he passed. Alex looked at their faces as he went, allowing himself to feel their sorrows and their hopes.
At the far side of the cavern, Alex found yet another cave opening. This time, though, there were torches in the cave, and the brightness of them dazzled Alex’s eyes. He rubbed his eyes as he stepped forward, trying to remain as quiet as he could. The dwarfs in the great cavern may have blocked the sound of his spell from reaching Nethrom, but Alex feared Nethrom would be searching for him just the same.
As the cave walls extended back into yet another chamber, Alex saw the stone golem standing in the center of the cavern, facing the cave mouth. It began moving as soon as Alex stepped into the chamber. The golem was a slow-moving creature, and it looked as if it took great effort to move its huge stone legs.
Alex thought he could easily avoid the golem and find the path to Nethrom, but even as slow as it was, the golem was relentless. Alex went to the far end of the chamber as he looked for the path, and the golem followed. When Alex moved to another part of the chamber, the golem moved with him. It seemed the stone creature’s only task was to attack anyone who entered the chamber.
The golem almost caught him once, but Alex was able to slip under its outstretched arms before it could grab him. The golem was quickly becoming a nuisance, preventing Alex from finding the path that led to Nethrom, a path obviously hidden somewhere in the chamber. With the golem continually following him wherever he moved, however, Alex had no time to look closely at the walls and find the hidden path.
“Fine,” Alex said as he tried to think of some way to destroy, or at least disable, the golem.
For the first time, Alex looked closely at the stone creature that was following him. Its face—or at least the features where a face should be—was roughly carved. The golem’s body was massive and appeared to be made from a single, solid stone. There were no cracks or marks on the stone body, and the rock seemed to bend whenever the golem moved its arms or legs.
Alex worked his magic quickly, encasing the monster in ice. He thought freezing the creature in place would be the simplest solution, allowing him to move past it and on to the necromancer. For a second, he thought his plan had worked, but the golem was much stronger than he’d anticipated. As the golem continued to try to move toward him, the massive block of ice started to crack, and in less than a minute it had shattered and the golem was free.
The shattering ice gave Alex another idea. He sent a bolt of frost from his staff into the golem’s body. The monster slowed, its movements becoming even stiffer than before, but it still didn’t stop. Knowing that the stone body was now much colder than any ice, Alex charged forward and struck the golem with his staff, hoping to shatter the stone the way he had shattered the bats. A few bits of rock broke away where the staff hit, and the golem seemed to vibrate, but that was all.