Lair of the Skaven Read online

  Elio touched his own birthmark. He didn’t feel any kind of power, he never had. But the marks had drawn them together, had led all five children to the Arbour, and to Vertigan. Clearly there was more to them than he’d ever suspected.

  He dropped to the edge of the sinkhole, slipping in beside Kiri.

  ‘Let me try.’ Elio held the device, gripping his birthmark with his free hand. He felt a tingling beneath the skin, a sense of power radiating along his arm. The Light of Teclis seemed to tremble infinitesimally, sending vibrations up into the central moonstone. Then a pale light emerged from it, a narrow beam in which tiny motes of energy gathered and spun.

  Elio crept forwards, training the Light on the end of the tunnel. He took another step, and another, and suddenly he saw that his arm had disappeared up to the wrist, now the elbow. ‘Look!’ he said. ‘It’s working! Come on, follow me!’

  He started forwards but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

  ‘Wait,’ Kiri said. ‘We’ve got no idea what’s on the other side. We need to think before we do anything.’

  ‘What’s to think about?’ Elio demanded. ‘Vertigan’s through there. We need to get him back. That’s all that matters.’

  ‘But there could be a thousand Skaven on the other side,’ Alish said, dropping beside Kiri. ‘There could be vampires or orruks or a lake of fire, or anything else horrible that you can imagine.’

  ‘Stay here, then,’ Elio snapped. ‘Stay where it’s safe. But I’m going, with or without you. Vertigan gave us purpose, he made our lives mean something. He protected us, now we have to do the same for him.’

  ‘We could use these.’

  Kaspar squatted on the edge of the sinkhole, eyes bright beneath a grey hood. He had wandered off last night, right around the time they found the book. Elio wondered where he’d been, but this wasn’t the time to ask.

  Kaspar held up a pair of cloaks, ragged and torn at the seams. Elio recognised them – Skaven robes, presumably torn off during the fighting.

  ‘There are all sorts of helmets and bits of armour up here as well,’ Kaspar said. ‘Should make decent enough disguises.’

  Elio grinned. ‘That’s perfect. We’ll sneak through and see what we can find out.’

  ‘And what happens if they catch us?’ Alish asked. ‘What happens if we’re not sneaky enough?’

  Thanis dropped into the hole, laying a hand on her shoulder. ‘I’ll look after you,’ she said. ‘But Elio’s right, we have to go after Vertigan. He’d do it for us, wouldn’t he? And besides, I’ve quite started to enjoy thumping Skaven. Their fur’s nice and soft.’

  Kiri nodded too. ‘I agree. We may not know everything about Vertigan’s mission and our own purpose, but we know it was important for the city, maybe for the realm. He was a soldier in the war against Chaos, and it’s our time to fight too. Alish, you can always stay behind if you–’

  ‘No,’ Alish sighed, wringing her hands. ‘I want to get him back as much as any of you.’

  Kaspar put a hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m scared too. Like, really scared. But as long as we’re together I think we’ll be okay.’

  Alish placed her hand on his, and seemed to take strength from it. She nodded firmly.

  ‘We’re agreed then,’ Elio said. ‘Let’s round up some disguises. Oh and it’s going to be dark down there – maybe we should think about bringing a tinderbox of some kind.’

  At this, Alish’s eyes flashed. ‘You know, I think I’ve got just the thing.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  Into the Dark

  Elio wrapped the stinking Skaven robe around his shoulders and raised the hood to hide his eyes. Under the cloak he wore a small satchel crammed with healing supplies and a few strips of dried meat. He had gone through Vertigan’s notes on the Skaven again, memorising as much as he could. This was unlike anything he’d ever done before, walking straight into the mouth of danger. But he felt as prepared as he could possibly be.

  The others huddled behind him in the tunnel, strapping on ragged bits of boiled leather armour and wrapping foul rags around their faces. The disguises might not stand up to close inspection – none of them had fur or fangs – but hopefully they’d blend in.

  ‘I’m going through,’ he said, tucking Vertigan’s staff under his arm and holding up the Light of Teclis. The device was awake, its pale beam reflected in their fearful, excited eyes. ‘If I start shouting or flying about, pull me back.’

  Thanis nodded and Elio reached out, finding the place where the Light vanished into the soil. He took a deep breath and stepped forwards.

  At first he could see nothing. The air was warm and close, and there was a foul, mulchy smell. But there was ground under his feet – hard earth, packed down. He shone the Light around, illuminating two walls and a low ceiling. He was in another tunnel.

  He turned the beam back to the wall he’d just stepped through. Thanis’s gloves appeared first, then her cautious face, then her armoured torso. The others emerged one by one, staying close to the wall and to each other. Elio looked up and down the tunnel, but the shadows were deep in both directions. And as he stepped away from the gnawhole the Light of Teclis flickered out too, plunging them into darkness.

  ‘It must only work where the realm energy is strong,’ he said as he slipped the device back into his pocket. ‘We shouldn’t carry a light, anyway – Vertigan’s journal said that the Skaven can see in the dark, they’d know right away that we couldn’t.’

  ‘So which way?’ Kiri asked. ‘Elio, you’re the leader, you decide.’

  ‘I’m not the leader,’ Elio said. ‘Am I?’

  ‘Someone needs to be,’ Kiri said. ‘This was your plan, you should probably take charge.’

  Elio felt his cheeks flush, and was glad she couldn’t see him. But perhaps Kiri was right – someone needed to make the decisions, and he might be the best suited. He’d known Vertigan longest, and he was a lord’s son too, trained in the ruling arts.

  He took a deep breath. ‘That way,’ he said, gesturing. ‘I think I felt a breeze.’

  ‘Um, we can’t actually see you,’ Alish pointed out.

  Elio blushed again. ‘Of course. Sorry. How about I go first, Alish can hang on to me, Thanis to her, and so on. We’ll go in a line.’

  ‘Sounds good, boss,’ Kaspar said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Let him smirk, Elio thought. He wouldn’t be laughing when they tracked down Vertigan and brought him home.

  Elio moved along the tunnel, his hands held out in front of him. He could feel warm air flowing towards them, carrying with it a musty stench of rot and rat droppings. He felt sure they were heading the right way – towards the heart of the warren, not away from it.

  Then Alish squealed and let go of his cloak, and for the briefest moment he was alone in the dark. His feeling of certainty fell away. What if something had grabbed her, what would he do then?

  He jumped as she returned to his side, pressing something into his hand.

  ‘This was on the floor. I think it’s a glove.’

  Elio squeezed the object between his fingers, hearing the creak of soft leather. He put it to his nose, inhaling the scent of pipe smoke. ‘It’s Vertigan’s.’

  ‘Could he have dropped it on purpose?’ Kiri asked. ‘Left it for us to find?’

  Elio felt his hopes rise. ‘Yes, I’m sure that’s what happened. He knew we’d come after him.’

  Thanis took the glove. ‘So at least we’re going the right w–’

  ‘Hush,’ Kaspar broke in suddenly. ‘I heard something. Behind us in the tunnel.’

  Elio listened for a moment, but all he could hear was his own blood pulsing. For a moment he felt his wrist tingling, as though his birthmark was waking. It must be because we’re all here together, he thought.

  ‘What did it sound like?’ he asked Kaspar. ‘Is someone following us?’


  ‘Or something,’ Thanis muttered.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Kaspar admitted. ‘It sounded like footsteps, then it just stopped. Hang on, I can hear something else, though. The other way. Coming towards us.’

  Elio looked around, feeling closed in. Had the Skaven found them already?

  ‘I think the wall’s shaking,’ Alish said. ‘What’s happening?’

  Elio put a hand out. He could feel the vibrations, growing stronger. He could hear the noise, too – an irregular thud up ahead. Whatever was coming it was much heavier than a man, let alone a scurrying Skaven.

  ‘Everybody, hit the wall!’ Kiri hissed. Elio threw himself back, Alish’s hand grasping his. The floor trembled as something charged towards them, galloping along the narrow passage. It passed just inches from Elio’s face – he smelled earth and damp fur, and somehow the darkness became even darker. Then it was gone.

  ‘After him, Krat!’ a shrill voice shrieked, and Elio lowered his hood as more footsteps hurried past, a pair of ratmen pursuing the first creature.

  ‘Trap it, Scowlish!’ the second Skaven screamed as they sprinted past. ‘Don’t let it go, yes-yes!’

  There was a crash and a cry of surprise, then the noises faded.

  ‘What was that thing?’ Thanis asked breathlessly.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Elio admitted. ‘But it was big. And fast.’

  ‘The disguises worked, at least,’ Kaspar said. ‘The Skaven didn’t even slow down.’

  ‘Well they were sort of distracted,’ Kiri pointed out.

  They moved on, following the flow of warm air. Elio could feel passages opening on either side and wondered how big this warren was – according to Vertigan’s book some of them could contain thousands of miles of tunnels, excavated over centuries. If they lost their way they could die of thirst before the ratmen even found them.

  No, he told himself. Thinking like that wouldn’t help. They’d come this far, they’d even found Vertigan’s glove; he couldn’t believe they would fail. True, he had no idea where their master was or how to free him. But he’d take each challenge as it came, and conquer them one by one. He was the son of a great family, he reminded himself, descended from a long line of noble lords. He could do this.

  Then the tunnel opened out, and his jaw dropped in amazement.

  The cave ahead of them was large enough to swallow the city of Lifestone three times over. Jagged black walls rose like mountain slopes, meeting far above their heads to form an arched roof studded with stalactites the size of temple spires. In the very centre a huge crystal structure jutted down from the rock, emitting a pale, pulsating light that illuminated the entire cavern.

  Below it was another natural structure, a black mirror image of the white crystal. It rose from the cavern floor, a monolith of volcanic rock with high, sheer sides. At the base was a series of boreholes, circular openings leading down into the earth. But they weren’t what drew Elio’s eye.

  Because on the black pillar’s flat, plateaued peak a building had been constructed – a huge, untidy edifice of stone and wood. For a moment it reminded him of the Arbour, a crumbling pile with sprawling wings and ramshackle turrets. But this was almost a mockery of that noble palace, a rickety sprawl balanced on the spire like a crow’s nest in the top of a tree.

  It was ringed with glowing braziers, casting a sickly green light into the cavern. Between them Elio could see figures moving, the emerald light reflected from their bronze armour.

  ‘That’s where Vertigan is,’ he said. ‘That’s where they’re keeping him. I know it.’

  Kiri looked uncertain. ‘How?’

  Elio pointed. ‘That green glow is warpstone, a sort of magical crystal that the Skaven are obsessed with. I read about it in the journal – it’s like gold is for humans, a symbol of their wealth. But it gives them real power, too. It has all these unpredictable mystic properties. So that building must be where their packlord sits, this Kreech. It’s where he’d take Vertigan, it stands to reason.’

  ‘I believe you,’ Alish said. ‘But how are we meant to get past them?’ She gestured downwards, and Elio felt his hopes plunge.

  Ever since they’d emerged from the tunnel he’d been aware of a noise in his ears, a low roar like a distant storm. Now he realised it was the sound of thousands upon thousands of Skaven, all chattering at once. The floor of the cave was boiling with them, a teeming mass of furry, verminous life. They clambered over one another, swarming between mounds of soil where the ground had been tunnelled to make nests and burrows, scurrying through structures of wood and stone. He saw forges and factories spitting fire and smoke, machines and scaffolds where the ratmen were working to enlarge the cave.

  ‘These disguises won’t be any use down there,’ Alish said. ‘We’ll be too close, right, Kaspar?’

  She turned, and Elio saw her face fall. Spinning around he realised Kaspar was no longer with them – he’d simply vanished.

  ‘Where’s he gone now?’ Elio asked, exasperated. ‘Honestly, you take your eye off him for two minutes and he just–’

  ‘Stop!’ a cry sounded, back along the tunnel. ‘Get back!’

  Kiri drew her catapult and Thanis raised her gloves, marching back into the dark. Elio gripped Vertigan’s staff, his heart thundering. In the dark he could hear the sounds of a scuffle – Kaspar cursing angrily, and someone or something else growling like a beast.

  ‘Can anyone see him?’ he asked. ‘Kaspar, where are you?’

  ‘Hang on,’ Alish said, rifling in her pockets. ‘Let me just–’

  There was a sudden flash of white, lighting up the tunnel. In its glare Elio saw Thanis and Kiri storming forwards, and just beyond them Kaspar against the wall, grappling with a small, struggling shape, too little even for a Skaven. Then the light was gone.

  ‘What was that?’ Elio asked. ‘That flash?’

  ‘They’re flares. Vertigan helped me make them,’ Alish explained. ‘I call them Bolts of Azyr.’

  ‘Well, do another,’ Elio said. ‘Quick.’

  This time he saw Kaspar’s opponent more clearly: wide, staring eyes over a pale, filthy face.

  ‘Thanis, help me!’ Kaspar cried, wrestling the figure back towards the light. ‘He’s getting loose!’

  She stormed in and together they laid hold of the struggling form, hauling it along the tunnel. Elio heard cries and whimpers, and heard feet scrabbling on the dry earthen floor.

  Then the tunnel opened and the light grew, and he found himself staring in disbelief. The figure wore a tunic of reddish-brown cloth. Green eyes stared from beneath a mop of mousy hair, and Elio saw marks on its cheek, like whiskers drawn with mud or paint. But this was no Skaven, or any other kind of beast. There in the tunnel, baring his teeth and growling at them, stood a ragged human boy.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Lost Boy

  ‘I heard him sneaking about in the tunnels,’ Kaspar said as he let the boy down. ‘I think he was following us.’

  The child crouched, glaring. His feet were bare and there were bruises covering his legs and arms. Alish took a step forwards and he snarled, showing his teeth like a cornered hound.

  ‘We’re friends,’ she said soothingly. ‘Friends. I promise.’

  The boy inched away from her, then he saw Thanis behind him and moved forwards again.

  ‘What’s he doing down here?’ Kiri asked.

  ‘The Skaven could’ve stolen him on one of their raids,’ Thanis suggested.

  ‘Or maybe he got lost in the caves,’ Kaspar said. ‘Just kept wandering until he ended up here.’

  ‘But where is here?’ Elio asked. ‘According to Vertigan’s book Skaven warrens don’t occupy normal space. We might not be in an actual realm, as we understand it.’

  Thanis shuddered. ‘That’s creepy.’

  ‘He’s so thin,’ Alish said, in
specting the boy’s bony frame. ‘We can’t just leave him down here, can we? We should take him home with us.’

  Elio dug in his pack, pulling out a strip of dried meat. ‘We came to rescue Vertigan, not some kid,’ he said, holding it out. ‘We don’t have time for distractions.’

  The boy sniffed uncertainly, but Elio nodded and he reached out a cautious hand, ready to snatch it back if this turned out to be a trick.

  Kiri gasped. ‘Look! His wrist!’

  They leaned closer, but somehow Elio already knew what he’d see. There on the ragged boy’s wrist was a black mark – a rune like an arrow with twin shafts. The boy snatched the meat from Elio’s hand then he jumped back, scoffing it loudly.

  ‘You’re one of us,’ Thanis said, holding out her arm. ‘You’ve got the mark.’

  The boy stared at her, looking from her wrist to his. One by one they each exposed their marks and the boy frowned, scratching his head with long, dirty fingernails.

  ‘It’s the seventh mark,’ Kiri said softly. ‘The one Vertigan’s been searching for.’

  ‘Now we definitely have to take him back,’ Alish said. ‘Don’t we?’

  Elio nodded. Then he held up both hands and stepped towards the boy, giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘You need to come with us,’ he said. ‘Just be calm and– Thanis, grab him!’

  Startled, she reached for the boy’s arm. But he was too quick, jerking back with a hiss and slamming into Alish, knocking her down. He scrambled to his feet and darted into the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness.

  ‘After him!’ Elio shouted and they sprinted back into the tunnel. The light from the cavern quickly faded and they were consumed by the darkness, their feet drumming on the hard earth.

  ‘I heard him,’ Alish called out. ‘He went down this way. Come on!’

  Elio followed her into a smaller tunnel, then an even smaller one, the ceiling scraping the top of his head. He tried to make a mental note of how many turns they took and in which direction, but it was hard to keep track. He felt his pulse quicken, unable to shake the feeling that they were getting deeper and deeper into danger, the kind he wouldn’t be able to lead them out of.