David Bishop and the Mystic of Creation T.C. Crawford (icecream ebook reader txt) 📖

The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, twisting and turning before branching off in various directions every few hundred feet.  It was proving to be a difficult task to track where they were and where they had already been, let alone which direction they were heading.

Fortunately for them, Holzer was a quick study with the map he had found and seemed to be confident in the direction he was leading them.

The only light they had to see by was the light of a few burning torches carried by Reingard and David, and that of Tyrius’ staff – which he had somehow magically illuminated to help provide a wider and less blinding light source for the travelers. Eventually the torches burned out, and all the light that remained was from Tyrius, and suddenly David was very thankful he had decided to come along.

They walked on in silence for miles into the depth of the mountains, sometimes traveling downward, other times they took passages that were rising. It was extremely difficult to determine how far they had come, or how much further they seemed to have. All they came to know was the eternal darkness that surrounded them just outside of the circular boundary of light illuminating from Tyrius’ staff.

As they walked along through the darkness with little else to look at, David took notice of the textures of the walls. The pathways had apparently been carved out of the mountain itself, hundreds of thousands of chisel marks etched in the rock wall, leaving a disorienting texture that was smooth in some areas, while mostly ridged and rough in others.

As he ran his fingers along the cool, moist stone, he could almost see the images of what must have been hundreds of workers, constantly chipping away at an impossible task for days, weeks, even months on end as they tunneled through the heart of the mountains, never knowing when or even if they would reach the other side.

He imagined the look on the workers faces when they first saw the thin shafts of light peeking through a small hole in the wall as they finally broke through to the other side, signaling the end of their journey had finally come, and the relief that would have flooded through the workers at such a sight. To see the light of day after having endured such infinite darkness would be enough to bring a grown man to tears – and David was eager for the moment when he, too, would see the light of day again.

After what felt like an eternity of hiking through the darkness, they finally decided to stop in a wide natural cavern so they could eat and rest. It seemed to stretch on forever in each direction, opening up into a large chamber filled with great hanging stalactites across the ceiling and enormous stalagmites protruding from the ground all around them. The sound of a steady but distant dripping followed by the distinct plop of impacted water indicated that they were near an underground pond or lake, so Tyrius headed off into the darkness to seek it out.

Erin had set up a small fire to heat up a pot of water and make some tea, while Reingard and Holzer passed around some dried meats and bread for everyone to take and fill their growling bellies.

They suspected the journey to take at least a day or two, maybe more, before they would reach the other side. The only problem was within the depths of the mountain, there were no indications of how much time had passed, and therefore, the party had no real way of measuring how far they had come or how far they still had to go other than markers left on the map and the growing emptiness in their bellies and aching of their limbs.

This cavern was one such marker. It indicated they were nearly halfway through the tunnel. Their next marker would be a large, horse shaped rock formation at which they would have to veer right before reaching their final downward trek through a long corridor that consisted of what was once a vital salt mine for the Southern Kingdom.

Holzer explained that the Southern Kingdom bordered the great South Sea and was littered with similar salt mines – a precious commodity that had become a stable of the once prosperous kingdom.

“What exactly happened to the Southern Kingdom after the war with the North?” asked David, curious to know more about the lands they were headed to.

“Well – we don’t know too much since they stopped all trading with Ravenfell nearly ten years ago. At first, we would try to send merchants through these tunnels to commence their trading in the old mining village that rested on the southern side of the mountains, but over time, these trips proved to be more difficult than the bounty was worth, and we shut down the trade route for good.” replied Reingard.

“What do you think caused the people to stop trading?” asked David.

“Not sure, really.” said Reingard. “The truth is, everyone was kind of wondering the same thing – considering the kingdom had fallen and all. You would have thought they would want to continue trading with us to keep up the supply chain, not shut us out. After all, many of the folk in Ravenfell had come from the Southern Kingdom and still had family who stayed behind, but that communication had eventually stopped as well, but not before the letters started becoming more and more hostile.”

“What do you mean, hostile?” asked Erin, helping herself to another small piece of meat.

“Well, people in the South, they started to blame us for their misfortunes, claiming if we hadn’t left, the kingdom would have been able to rebound after the wars. That kind of thinking seemed to spread like wildfires down there, and eventually it festered into a kind of hatred towards anyone who lived in Ravenfell or beyond.” said Reingard, “My own