Deltora Quest #5: Dread Mountain

Gnomes crawled around the giant, collecting in great glass jars the slime that dripped from its skin like thick, oily drops of sweat. They all wore gloves and kept well away from the oozing drops, handling the jars with care.

The slime must be poisonous, thought Lief. Then, with a jolt, he realized that here must be the source of the venom that made the gnomes’ arrows deadly.

As he watched, two other gnomes scuttled forward, bent under the weight of a huge golden bowl heaped high with what looked like black, glistening berries.

They knelt before the toad, heads bowed. Its long red tongue snaked out and curled in the black mass, scooping up a quarter of the contents of the bowl. As it lifted the feast to its huge mouth, scattering fragments carelessly over the gnomes and the treasure at its feet, Lief’s stomach heaved. The food was not berries, but flies. Thousands — tens of thousands — of fat, dead flies.

In moments the bowl was empty. The toad gave a rasping growl of anger. “MORE! QUICKLY!” it roared.

The two kneeling gnomes cowered, glancing at each other fearfully. “Your pardon, great Gellick,” faltered the one on the left, a wizened old man in a tattered brown jacket. “But — it may take some time to collect more from the breeding caves. The ready supplies are gone.”

“WHAT? GONE? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?” grated the toad.

The old gnome was trembling all over, but finally forced himself to speak. “It is just that you have eaten rather more today than usual, great Gellick,” he quavered. “We were not prepared. We —”

His words were choked by a shriek as the toad spat at him without warning. He fell to the ground, writhing in agony. His terrified companion, wailing in grief and terror, dropped facedown beside him, clasping him in her arms as he died.

The other gnomes watched dumbly. On some faces Lief saw guilty thankfulness, because it was the old gnome who had been attacked, not them. On other faces there was sorrow and anger. But on most there was simply dull, blank hopelessness.

“Things on Dread Mountain are not as we thought,” said Barda’s voice behind him.

Startled, Lief swung around. Barda and Jasmine were standing near him. He could see them quite clearly, though they were shadowy and their outlines seemed to waver. Jasmine, for once without Filli and Kree, who had not drunk the dreaming water, was pale with disgust and anger.

“This is a vile thing,” she muttered. “This Gellick rules the gnomes as the Wennbar ruled the Wenn in the Forests of Silence. But it is much worse. It kills not for food, but for spite alone.”

“The gem we seek must be here,” Barda said. “But how are we to find it? The cavern is piled high with precious stones.”

Lief shook his head, amazed that he could have forgotten their quest, even for a moment. But forgotten it he had. The toad Gellick had absorbed all his attention.

Now he could feel that the Belt of Deltora had warmed against his skin. The fifth gem was here, in this cavern. But where?

“We will not be in a position to find the gem at all, if we do not get out of the prison they have us in!” Jasmine whispered fiercely.

“We must wait, and listen,” Barda answered. “That is why we are here.”

They watched as the body of the old gnome was dragged away by his sobbing companion. Slowly the other gnomes went back to their work of attending to the glass jars that collected the toad’s slime. As each jar was filled, two gnomes carried it between them through a door near to where the companions were standing.

“Once we were a proud people,” Lief heard one of these gnomes mutter disgustedly, as she passed. “Once we owned this treasure, and the Mountain was beautiful, fruitful and ours. Now we are slaves on a nest of thorns, farming flies for a toad.”

“DID YOU SPEAK, GLA-THON?” The harsh voice filled the cavern.

The gnome who had spoken spun around hastily. “No. No, great Gellick,” she lied. “Or, at least, if I did speak, it was only to say that the intruders — the intruders we told you about — are safely locked in the tomb-tunnel, and will not escape.”

“THEY MUST DIE!”

“Oh, they will die, my lord,” said another gnome, stepping forward and smoothing his red beard. “The simpler ones among us have been watching them, enjoying their feeble efforts to escape. But the sport has ended now for they have put out the light. By morning they will be dead through lack of air. Then we will drag them into the breeding caves, and the flies can have them.”

He beamed, bowing low. “And soon you, great Gellick, will have the flies,” he added. “It is a fine progress, is it not?”

The giant toad almost seemed to smile. “You are clever, Ri-Nan,” it growled. “But not clever enough, it seems, to ensure that my food is brought to me on time, as was the bargain.”

Its voice was low now, and husky. But somehow this was even more terrible than its loudest roar. Its eyes gleamed with malice. The red-bearded gnome backed away, the smile that still lingered on his lips stiffening into a snarl of fear.

“You deserve punishment, Ri-Nan,” rasped Gellick softly. “But you are useful to me, so perhaps I will forgive you. Or perhaps I will not. I will think on it. In the meantime, take the rest of these miserable slaves to the breeding caves and work there with them for the rest of the night. Tomorrow there will be flies enough — or you will suffer for it.”

Ri-Nan scuttled for the door, stumbling over the piles of treasure in his haste, beckoning to the other gnomes to follow him. In moments, the cavern was still.

Satisfied, the monster settled itself more comfortably and licked some stray flies from its lips. It half-closed its eyes and lowered its great head.

And it was then that Lief saw the dull green stone sunk into its brow and, with a thrill of horror, knew it for what it was.

The emerald. The symbol of honor. The fifth gem of the Belt of Deltora.

The companions woke together in the heavy darkness of their prison. It was like waking from a nightmare, a nightmare they had all shared. And yet — they knew only too well that what they had seen was real.

“Did you discover anything of use?” they heard Prin ask eagerly, as she heard them stir.

Jasmine crawled to her feet. “One thing we learned is that before we put out the light the gnomes were watching us,” she said. “But how? I am sure there is not a gap or hole anywhere in this accursed cell.”

Feeling her way, she began examining the walls, the roof, and even the floor again, leaving it to Barda and Lief to tell Prin the rest of the story. They told it as gently as they could, but by the time they had finished the little Kin was again shivering with fear.

“Never have I heard of such a thing,” she whispered. “My people know nothing of it. So this is why the gnome-rests and paths are so badly overgrown, and why the gnomes look so sickly pale. They are underground almost all the time, collecting this toad’s poison for their arrows, and serving his needs.”

“I think you are right,” muttered Lief.

They heard Jasmine stamping her foot in anger. “I can find nothing!” she hissed. “Not the tiniest crack.”

“If there was a crack, there would be air,” said Lief drearily. “And there is no air.”

“But they watched us!” Jasmine insisted. “It sounded as though many watched at once, laughing at our foolish efforts to escape. That gnome Gla-Thon spoke of it as if it was as easy as staring through a window!”

Barda gave a muffled cry, and scrambled to his feet. “Why, perhaps it was!” he whispered.

“What do you mean?” Jasmine demanded. “There is no window here!”

“No window we can see,” said Barda. He edged past Lief to put his fingers against the mirror.

“I once heard a traveller tell of a miracle he had seen: a glass that was a mirror on one side and a window on the other,” he said. “I thought he was just making up tall tales to earn free drinks at the tavern. But perhaps I was unjust.”

“There is only one way to find out,” Lief said quietly.

“Quite so,” Barda agreed. “And there is no time like the present. Draw your weapons and stand back.”

He set one of the bark shields against the mirror, drew back his heavy boot, and kicked with all his strength. The mirror shattered, crashing out into a room beyond the cell. Dazzling light flooded through the gap — light, and air, and a smell so foul, so disgusting, that the companions choked as they stepped forward blindly, broken glass crunching under their feet.

“What is it?” coughed Jasmine, pressing her arm to her nose. “And what is that noise?”

But already their eyes were growing used to the light, and their stomachs churned as they saw what the room contained. Vast, netted cages lined the walls. And inside the cages were millions upon millions of flies, buzzing around stinking piles of rotting food.

“It is one of the breeding caves,” said Lief. “Let us leave quickly. The gnomes may appear at any moment.”

They hurried to the door and let themselves out into a dim tunnel. The sickening smell of decay still hung in the air. They could hear voices echoing from somewhere to their right. They turned to the left, but had not gone far when a door in front of them was thrown open and two gnomes came hurrying out, each carrying one end of a large wooden box.

The companions froze, then began backing away.

One of the gnomes, who Lief recognized as the red-bearded Ri-Nan, looked around, saw them, and yelled, dropping his corner of the box. His fellow stumbled and roared in anger as the box fell, hitting the stone floor sharply and splitting open. Dead flies spilled from it in a hideous, glistening stream.

“The intruders are escaping!” shrieked Ri-Nan. He threw back his head and gave the high, gobbling cry that the gnomes had used on the Mountainside when they were shooting at the Kin. Instantly the tunnel was filled with the echoing sound of pounding feet, coming from both directions.

“Back!” shouted Barda.

They ran for the door of the breeding cave they had just left. It was very near, but by the time they reached it both ends of the tunnel were filled with running gnomes, raising their bows, closing in on them.

Arrows had already begun to fly as Lief and Barda pushed Prin inside the cave and hurled themselves after her. They were safe, but Jasmine was not so lucky. As she leaped through the doorway she gave a shriek, and the gnomes howled in triumph.

She stumbled into the cave and fell back against the door, slamming it shut. Barda sprang to slide the bolt home. Lief caught Jasmine and dragged her aside as she slithered to the ground, pulling the quivering arrow from the palm of her hand.