Perin looked distressed but said nothing else. Bradok had the distinct impression the human was afraid of the dark.
“I’m more worried about safety,” Much said. “We can’t see nearly as far in the dark as we can in the light. How will we keep a lookout for cave fishers and other dangers when the glowstones fail?”
The thought of bedding down under a nest of unseen cave fishers gave everyone the chills. Even Corin had no reply.
“We’ll use the stones as long as they last,” Bradok said. “In the meantime, we’ll harvest every glowing mushroom we find.”
“Chisul and I already collected the ones we passed,” Much said. “He’s cutting off the glowsacs and passing them out right now.”
“That won’t last long enough,” Corin said. “Once you pick those glowing ones, they only glow for about two days.”
“So we’ll keep harvesting,” Bradok said. “For now, that’s the only plan we have. I think we’d better get some rest.”
They all looked disappointed in his leadership, Bradok thought. “I can’t bless stones and make them glow,” he told himself.
If the Seer in the compass had any ideas, she kept them to herself, simply standing erect and resolute each time Bradok checked. The one bright spot was that her glowing image gave off a fair amount of light and could serve as a small lamp in a pinch.
As everyone bedded down, Bradok volunteered to stand watch with Thurl. An uneventful few hours later, Perin, Xurces, and Rose arrived for the next rotation. Bradok stretched sleepily then turned to go. But Rose grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.
“I told you yesterday, I need to speak to you,” she said urgently. “I’ve been waiting all day to get you alone. Now is the time.”
“Can’t it wait?” Bradok asked, weariness tugging his eyelids down.
“It’s already waited too long,” Rose said in a deadly serious voice.
Bradok sighed. “All right,” he said.
Instead of releasing his arm, she pulled him back away from the others and toward the tunnel.
“Where-?” Bradok began, but Rose hushed him.
When they were far enough down the tunnel that they could no longer make out the dimming light of the glowlamps, Rose stopped. Bradok had no idea what she might be up to, but suddenly he felt nervous in the dark with her. The image of her, standing naked in shallow water, came unbidden to his mind and, after letting it linger a moment longer than he should have, he pushed it away.
Bradok’s eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the total darkness, so he was surprised when a small light flared up between them. In her hand, Rose held a glowsac harvested from a Reorx’s torch mushroom.
“Hold this,” she said, passing the glowing fungus to him.
Then, astonishing him, Rose took off her cloak and dropped it to the floor of the passage. Abruptly Bradok found himself more wide awake than he’d felt in hours.
Not noticing the awkward look on his face, Rose took hold of her shirt cuff and pulled it up to her elbow, exposing her right forearm.
“Look at this,” she said, holding her arm out so Bradok could examine it.
He held the bit of glowing mushroom up to get a better look. Not discerning anything out of place, he took hold of her proffered arm. Touching her arm made him shiver curiously, though her skin seemed fine, a shade darker than he was used to, perhaps, but surface dwarves got more color than their underground cousins.
“What’s this?” he asked, noticing a gray blotch that looked a bit like a birthmark.
“That’s the problem,” she said. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. It appeared there a few days ago. I first noticed it when I bathed.”
Bradok touched the spot and found the blotch strangely spongy. “What is it, do you think?”
“I sure don’t know,” Rose said, “but whatever it is, it’s spreading.”
“Spreading!” Bradok asked anxiously, looking from the gray patch to Rose’s wide eyes, which reflected his own concern.
“It’s getting bigger,” she said. “And that’s not the worst of it.”
“What else?”
She tugged her sleeve down, covering the blotch. “This is the arm that the spore woman scratched.”
A chill ran up Bradok’s spine, though he tried to keep his rising fear out of his masked expression.
“I don’t think we can make any connections yet,” Bradok said hesitantly. “She scratched Chisul on the face, and he’s-”
All of a sudden another memory came flooding back to him. When they bathed, he’d noticed a strange gray blotch on Chisul’s back.
“What?” Rose asked, her voice insistent, verging on panic.
“Nothing,” he lied. “Right now we need to stay calm.”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for moment. “All right,” she said at last. “What should we do?”
“We should talk to Corin,” Bradok said. “He knew more than we do about those creatures, and he might be able to tell us what is happening to your arm. Yes, that’s what we should do. Talk to Corin.”
“Let’s go, then,” Rose said, taking a step back up the tunnel.
“Wait,” Bradok said, catching her shoulder. He nodded up the passage. “Most everyone’s asleep, but if those that are awake notice a lot of unusual activity, they’re going to know something’s up. I don’t want everyone to panic. Besides, this may be nothing.”
“Or maybe not,” she said, wringing her hands.
“In any case,” Bradok continued reassuringly, “let me go get Corin quietly and I’ll get him to meet with us back here.”
“All right,” Rose said. “I’ll wait here. Just don’t be long.”
“I’ll be as quick as I can,” Bradok promised, handing Rose the glowing mushroom sac.
He hurried back up the tunnel, remembering to slow down and act normally only when he passed Perin and Xurces. The Daergar gave Bradok a smile and a nod that seemed out of character, but Bradok barely noticed. His eyes swept the room and finally located Corin, rolled in his cloak on the far side of the cavern. Bradok nudged the sleeping dwarf with his boot, and he sprang awake instantly.
“What?” he said before he was even fully alert.
“We’ve got to talk,” Bradok said.
Corin sat up wearily and motioned for Bradok to sit.
“Not here.”
“Is something wrong?” Corin asked, rising.
Bradok didn’t answer. He led Corin through the mass of sleeping dwarves, past the guards, and down the tunnel to where the tiny light still glowing indicated Rose’s position.
“What’s all this mystery about?” he asked when they reached Rose.
“What took you so long?” Rose asked at the same time.
Bradok gestured for Rose’s silence and turned to Corin. “You know something about those mushroom people,” he began. It was more of a statement than a question.
“Surely you’ve heard of the Rhizos?” Corin said grumpily.
When Rose and Bradok didn’t answer, he went on. “It’s caused by a fungal disease called the Zhome,” he explained. “You’ve really never heard of it or seen anything like those afflicted people?”
Bradok and Rose both shook their heads.
Corin leaned back against the cavern wall, his mouth open in astonishment.
“I never would have believed it,” he said. “It must only occur in the deep caves.”
“What is it, for Reorx’s sake?” Rose demanded, her voice almost shrill.
Corin shrugged. “It’s a disease my people get sometimes,” he said. “It’s rare in most cases, but there have been big outbreaks.”
“And the infected people become those things we fought?” Rose said nervously. “Rhizos?”
“No,” Corin said. “People infected with the disease get gray patches on their skin; eventually, mushrooms begin to sprout from their skin. What you fought were Rhizomorphs, dwarves who have been completely taken over by the fungus. They can still walk and even talk, but they have only two desires: to eat and to infect others with their spores.”
“So what about the Rhizos?” Bradok asked. “Are they curable?”
“There are many dwarves who live with the disease,” Corin said. “Eventually it will take them over, but it can take years, sometimes decades.”