Borne of Fire

Chapter 19

The cavern they were in was enormous.

The four of them stood near to the ceiling having dropped from the passage above onto what was in fact a wide path which circled part way around the inner wall before leading down to the floor of the chamber. A number of similar pathways crawled around the walls leading to other openings like the one they had just dropped through but what lay beyond them Braxter could not even begin to guess.

Didn't want to guess.

Naturally worn steps had been created over time in places allowing access to even more darkened holes, even more unknown destinations. Some were rough areas of loose earth and strewn with debris, others comprised of steps which were practically worn smooth from use and dipped slightly towards the centres of each one.

Uniformity was none existent in the cavern with no two paths identically crafted, no two steps the same size or distance apart. Everything displayed a naturally occurring if well used appearance, albeit an extremely old one and one which had certainly seen more affluent times.

As Braxter looked around he realised two things. The first being that had he shuffled more than a few more feet to the side when L'non had dropped through the hole, he would have fallen off the edge of the path and plunged to death on the cavern floor a full two hundred feet or so below. The second thing he realised was why it had taken Ja'aris so long to return to them. A room this large could not be searched in just a few short moments. Indeed, even in the amount of time Ja'aris had been gone he doubted he had managed to search it fully.

And all those doorways!!

There was no way that even someone as fleet of foot as Ja'aris, with his incredible dexterity and agility, could have carried out a thorough search of all those passageways.

Braxter knew that for the moment they may be safe from the monsters which had chased them through the woods above, but down here they were far from out of danger.

"What's wrong boy?" Ja'aris spoke from the other side of Randyl, "Were you expecting a home from home?"

"What is this place?" Braxter managed to find his tongue at last and didn't even bother to try keeping his amazement from soaking through each word. L'non spoke up in answer, taking a few steps ahead as if to lead the way along the path which curved slowly and gradually down to the bottom of the cavern.

"We call it a Rigorass, but more commonly you would probably call it a crossroads. From here you can reach all the main locations surrounding Brookdale. Some might even say all the most well-known places in Kreaton one way or another, but that may just be what some people say." The watcher turned and smiled briefly at the open mouthed expression of astonishment on Braxters face before looking around to get his bearings. "We don't use these places all that much anymore. Sometimes they can be more trouble than they are worth but at one time they were used to get from one place to another without the..." He paused for a moment as his eyes wandered. "...complications that travelling above land can bring." Then he smiled again as if remembering something fondly.

"Plus there's the Rushala which was always useful" said Ja'aris, his tongue rolling over the "R" sound and lingering on the "L". Braxter turned at the sound of his voice to see that, of course, he was smiling sardonically once again.

"The Rushala? What's a Rushala?" he asked.

"Now there's real magic boy" Ja'aris chuckled.

"Wh-?"

"He means that sometimes Braxter," L'non interrupted before the young man asked anything more, "the rules which apply above ground to location and distance, space and time, do not always carry down here." He spoke sincerely enough but Braxter remained confused and Ja'aris picked up on his puzzled expression, eager to capitalise on the younger man's ignorance even more.