The tunnel opened out into a cavern filled with hideous shapes. Skeletons hung chained to the walls, and an old wooden torture rack lay broken and rotting on the floor. A skeleton shrouded in sackcloth sat in an iron cage. The cage dangled from the ceiling at eye level, its door half-open to let the skeleton's hand trail the floor. Giving the skeletons a careful berth, Henry padded over to check the three exits from the room.
Each one gave off a distant, ringing sound of chains. Each one echoed to faint hoots and giggles. Henry could see no movement, nor find marks on the floor that might have been brand new footprints.
With a polite cough, Benelux shimmered inside her scabbard. I can sense evil up ahead, child. A very great intensity of it. Try the doorway to the right.
"Oh." Henry never quite knew what to say to Benelux. She always made him want to tug his forelock and bow. "Uh, thank you. Thank you, Ma'am."
Over at the left tunnel, Polk suddenly scrambled backward in fright, hissing, "Son! They're coming, son! Thousands of them! I can hear them marching up the tunnel!"
More rattling chains sounded from the way behind. Chain monks had followed down the same route Polk and Henry had just come. Polk dashed beneath the old rotten rack. Henry looked wildly about, then leaped up and caught the iron cage, wrenching open the door and bundling himself inside. He threw the old bones out of the sackcloth and wrapped himself and Cinders inside the reeking shroud. He sat there, the cage swaying and swinging, as the first chain monks marched through the room.
Two columns of the creatures shambled past, giggling and shrieking like maniacs as they walked. The creatures dragged their chains along the floor, making an atrocious din. One line of a dozen monks came from the left. A full score more came from behind. Henry's face was hidden, his body covered, and the monks never gave the terrified boy a glance. They shambled off down the right-hand tunnel, hooting and screaming at each other in the dark.
The instant they were gone, Henry slid out of the cage. His hands shook as he pressed them against his head, trying to reassure himself that he was still alive. He kept an eye on the right-hand tunnel and sidled over to another set of cages. He wrenched the feet from two dangling skeletons and removed the chains that had once bound their legs together.
"Polk, stay there! Open up the hole and check the others. I'm going to follow the monks and steal the crystal ball."
"Right you are, son!" Polk was buried under the old rack and showed no inclination to emerge "I'll just keep an eye on your back. Watch the rear! Guard your blind spot!"
"Right." Henry pulled the sackcloth over Cinders's head, hoping he now looked like a chain monk. "I'll be back."
He walked in a silly stagger, dragging two lengths of chain out of his sleeves and trying to titter like a maniac. Somewhere up ahead, cacophony reigned. Henry tried to stop his knees knocking together as he followed the great shaft downward, finally seeing the backs of chain monks as the creatures shuffled slowly out of a congested tunnel mouth.
The silvery radiance shone brightly ahead. It came from farther on within the broad, vaulted cavern that opened outward from the tunnel. There was a lapping sound, as though a huge, slow lake washed itself against an unseen shore. Henry shuffled behind the monks, his eyes darting as he tried to keep his head down and make sense out of the caves.
Fifty of the mewling, screeching chain monks had entered the cave. At the cavern's heart lay a great pool of silver liquid-like a quicksilver lake that shone and glowed. The lake gave off a more intense version of the radiance that spilled from the walls. Far more disturbing was the way the quicksilver fluid moved and quivered, as though it were a living entity that breathed.
Tielle stood on a rock outcrop beside the eerie pool. Her monsters had gathered in a mob that fell quiet as Tielle scathed them with her glance. Henry attached himself to the back of the mob, now so deep in trouble that he felt light-headed. Tielle glared up the side tunnels, making sure that all her minions had gathered, and then planted her fists on her hips and gazed at them all in disdain.
"You let them get away."
The monks cringed a little, and Henry followed suit. Furious, Tielle flicked open her wings.
"Which of you idiots was holding Escalla and the sphinx in the city? Which one?"
Half a dozen monks shuffled slightly then lifted their chains, hooting like children trying to mollify their nurse. With a snarl, Tielle flung her hand at the nearest one and spat out a magic spell. Ice darts blasted through the monk. It staggered, blood spraying from its skin. Tielle snapped her fingers, and hooting, joyous chain monks pushed their injured comrade straight out into the pool. The bleeding monk screamed and thrashed as its blood was sucked from it. The wizened corpse sank out of view, while the entire lake suddenly took on a sinister red glow.
Watching, laughing, and screeching in glee, chain monks leaned over the pool's edges. Annoyed, Tielle put her hand out and received a drinking horn from one of her minions. The horn sucked up red liquid from the pool, gallon after gallon flowing inside.
"Evil blood to burn the good. Good blood to burn the evil!"
Tielle shook the rod clean. "Right, so now it's evil water. Which out of you idiots is injured? Hurry!"
Some of the monks were damaged-cut by the Justicar or with broken limbs or damaged throats. Tielle used a common kitchen ladle to scoop red water from the pool and pour it over the creatures' wounds. The injuries flashed and disappeared. Knocking out the last drops from the ladle, the faerie rose fluttering into the air, followed by a chain monk bearing her crystal ball. The other monks dispersed, some following after Tielle, and others going off into alcoves at the far side of the cave. The hoots and hollers drifted in the cavern like sounds from a nightmare.
The lakeshore was quiet. Henry blinked and edged closer, trying to pierce the gloom and see whether he truly was alone. The boy licked his lips and fumbled with his helmet buckles. He pulled off his helm and cradled it carefully in his hands, then walked swiftly over to the ladle Tielle had left lying by the shore. He gave a quick look over the caves, then knelt and scooped the heavy, silky liquid from the pool. He filled his helmet with as much as it would take and then carefully set the ladle aside.
A scream came from behind him. Henry left his helmet and hurled himself aside. An instant later, a chain smashed down where he had once knelt, shattering limestone. A chain monk stood screeching and yammering, looming over Henry as it whipped its chains at his head.
Henry dived and rolled, drawing Benelux with the smooth, lightning-fast motion he had learned at the Justicar's side. He hit the monk beneath one arm and felt Benelux's edge shear through three whole thicknesses of chain. Chain links and manacles went flying, and one of the creature's massive arms dealt Henry a blow. He flew backward, falling and skidding on his back. Henry's hair touched the hideous red liquid of the pool. There was a sucking sensation at his neck, and Henry jerked his head up and away in fright.
The chain monk threw itself at him, two manacles streaming as it prepared to crash them down onto Henry's skull. Henry saw his own rusty chains lying an arm's length away. He dropped Benelux and snatched a chain, whipping it at the monk's legs as he rolled wildly aside. Flails crashed into the stone beside him; Henry felt his own chain go tight, and he gave a ferocious tug. With a huge crash, the heavy chain monk tumbled down, its legs entangled and its arms flailing wide. Henry planted his boots against the monster in panic, gave a mighty shove, and the monk spilled so that its arm fell in the pool.
The monk screamed as blood was sucked from its body and into the lake. Lashing its chains, it tried to smash Henry's skull. The boy shoved it with his boots again, and the monk fell into the silver-red fluid, its mouth open in a silent scream. It fought wildly, draining white before Henry's horrified eyes.