“I can understand why,” said Kormak. “I cannot understand why you do not.”
“Because not all of the Eldrim turned against us. Some sought to aid us, to preserve us. They warded us through the plague, saved those they could, fought the ones who would destroy us. They protected us and we kept the faith with them. It is what we were bred to do. We are sworn to serve and it is not in our nature to break our oaths.”
“What became of the Old Ones who protected you?”
“They fought a long grinding war against those who would exterminate us. Eventually all save the most determined fell away on both sides, leaving behind only a few committed utterly to the conflict. The war tore the City in the Deeps apart. They warred with dreadful sorceries so potent that even if they did not destroy outright, their targets were crippled for centuries or longer. The plagues they unleashed began to change even the Eldrim, crippling them, twisting them, driving them mad. In the end only two were left to fight, the rest grew weary. One of those was Graghur. The other was... well, see for yourself!”
They had entered a great chamber. A dozen gigantic statues of Old Ones stood around the walls. In the centre was a great stone sarcophagus with a crystalline lid. The dwarves all knelt and made a complex symbol over their hearts before they advanced up the stairs to it. Kormak knelt and from force of habit made the Elder Sign of the Sun then he rose to approach the coffin in which the Old One lay. The others did the same.
Looking down, Kormak saw the face of a dead goddess. She resembled the dwarves in some ways but her features were finer. She was beautiful and strange, with her long hair like filaments of spun glass and eyes black as the pits of night. She was garbed in a robe of fishscale silver with runes of iron on her shoulders. A staff marked with symbols of power was across her chest. On her brow was a circlet bearing the sign of the first-born children of the Moon. A great wound marked her chest, a single drop of blood emerged from it, redder than any human blood would have been.
“Behold Morloqua,” said Guttri. “The Mother of Dwarves, our creator. She did not abandon her children. And we will not abandon her. She lies sleeping until she can heal from her wounds. We watch over her still.”
He made a complex sign over the sleeping goddess with his right hand and then led them from the chamber. They walked in silence through the empty halls.
Chapter Twenty-Two
THEY SAT IN Guttri’s chambers, on benches that had clearly been made for the comfort of dwarves, not humans. A bed of stone inscribed with runes stood in one corner. At its foot was a chest. There were no other furnishings.
“What happened to the Mother?” Karnea asked. Her voice was very quiet and there had been a note of almost religious awe in it since she had seen the Old One.
“She was wounded by Graghur. She withdrew to her stasis coffin to attempt to purify herself and there she has remained. Graghur’s sorcery is strong though and she has not been able to heal herself of the poisonous effects.”
“Why has Graghur returned to seek vengeance now?” Karnea asked.
“We do not know,” said Guttri. “He and the Mother fought their final battle millennia ago. He was terribly wounded and fled before her. She drove him out of the city and ordered the gates sealed with runes of warding and concealment so that we would not be found again by our enemies. She was so badly depleted herself that she collapsed thereafter and was placed within her sarcophagus. The process has taken longer than any of us ever expected but still we keep the faith. Graghur abandoned his spawn in the depths and we have warred with them since.” Kormak struggled to understand what the dwarf was saying. The word depleted clearly had some significance he could not quite comprehend.
“When did Graghur return?” Sasha asked, after what had been said was explained to her.
“About sixty moons ago,” said Guttri. Karnea translated.
“That would have been about the time the Elder Signs on the gates were smashed,” Sasha said. “He would have been able to get back in then.”
Guttri said, “New interlopers entered the city before Graghur returned. They were men, other fallen servants of the Eldrim, and we assumed they were of the Shadow. We avoided them but we could not avoid Graghur. He came himself wearing the shape he had of old, resembling a mighty dwarf. We held parlay with him in the great plaza beyond our gates. He spoke fair words and said he had repented and begged to see the Mother again. We refused them, though some like Utti thought it blasphemy.”
“We would not open the gates for him and he departed into the depths and shortly thereafter goblins and other evil things started to multiply. Great monsters were unleashed in the Underhalls.”