The small party looked in great wonder at the Mines of Andora. They were famous for a reason. The large cavernous entrance branched out into many pathways. The walls glittered with large purple flowers, growing in profusion, here underground. The veins in the rock bulged and glittered, with a promise of riches untold from the rock. So many thousands of miners and whisperers had spoken to the land and created pathways in the rocks. It was the result of hundreds of years of hard work.
Azriel looked around in wonder and then a gravelly voice spoke out to her, "Welcome princess.....welcome whisperer, welcome Phoenix Saviour of the Lands, welcome Ancient One!"
She started. Who was speaking to her? Who was the Phoenix? Who was the Ancient One?
The Book responded to her questions, "The Mines of Andora are welcoming you Azriel...you must greet them back. It is customary."
She wondered if she was dreaming and pinched herself. But, no here she was trotting on her horse, traversing the cavernous entrance of the Mine to the actual branches.
"Thank you...." she whispered back hesitantly.
"She speaks....she speaks to us.....," suddenly the gravelly voice became a million voices in her head.
"You are a whisperer as well as a Phoenix. The blood of both Andora and Irismus runs in you Azriel... you must be wise and careful." she heard the silvery voice of the Book. It seemed very happy to be here.
"Aren't you scared of the Blight?"
"The Blight should fear us!", the Book replied smartly.
She felt a giggle rise in her throat, but she held her counsel. The mission was too grim for any kind of frivolity.
Ahead of her Duke Asheer and the other men stopped in front of a rather large branch . They handed their horses to one of the Irismian soldiers and waited for them. Suddenly Ashmeer, moved upto her, "Mia Kara," he said, "Come get off...it's time to go deeper into the mines."
Azriel was rather taken aback by his sudden attention. "You remembered me after a long time," she bit back at him.
His face twitched and then he smiled, "Nothing like that. My brother watches us like a hawk doesn't he? And through the entire ride, he didn't leave your side. How could I spend time with you?"
She kept quiet and joined Eva and the others as they let the horses go.
"This is it, my friends, " said Duke Ashdeen. "This is as far as the horses go. From hereon the journey will be on foot."
Azriel gulped and looked at Eva in fear. She heard the murmuring of the stones here, more disgruntled than at the entrance, the sapphires were chittering, the rubies were smashing and the emeralds were hissing at her. They were afraid. The Book, said sadly, "Terrible....terrible...terrible."
Duke Ashdeen looked at the party and said, "The mine shaft is here....we need to go to the fifth level. Thats where the origin of the Blight is. I'm tying this rope around each and everyone of you. Don't lose sight of each other. We will walk in the blight, two to a track, and stay as close as possible."
The three whisperers were shivering and shaking by now. Azriel could literally smell their fear from where she stood. She felt sorry for them. Unlike her, they had families and kin waiting at home for them. This wasn't their war.
"Let them go Duke Asdeen," she whispered.
He shook his head. I can't risk it Azriel, we will have no whisperers left if I do."
"I.....Andora's mines speak to me as well, Duke....I guess there is a whisperer still among you."
He looked at her in surpise, "So thats why the stones are dancing?" he finally said. Now it was Azriel's turn to be surprised. "How did he?"
But the Duke was gently steering her and Eva along to the shaft. "Be careful," he said, "The shaft is somehow intact yet, but don;t be surprised if it gives way anytime. Hold the sides as tight as you can."
Eva looked white as a sheet as she stepped onto the shaft, nodding grimly at the others. Azriel followed her. Even Ashmeer was no longer smiling. He stood close to Azriel and squeezed her hand. She wondered why she could no longer reac h his mind. She tried pushing into the void, but he spoke out sharply, "Not here, Little Bird. The Blight hears all!"
"I do, as well, unfortunately." The Book muttered to her.
She nodded, and squeezed Ashmeer's hand back, suddenly glad to have him join in her in this terrible journey. She wondered what awaited them at the end of the shaft. The shaft moved down the first level, slowly with a creak. As they entered the second level and moved below, the whispers began to increase. Azriel placed her hands over her ears, the voices were too terrible..."Help me, I bleed.....I rage....free me...nooooooooo...pain....", the land was calling out to her all around. It was too much to bear. She would go mad with the litany of pained voices.
"Focus...." rang out the Book, clearly very corss with her. "Of all the mages in the world, I get this rookie creature...who has no knowledge of anything."
Azriel felt tears running down her cheeks. The shaft kept going down, now passing the third and fourth level. The noise in her head had become deafening. She was crying now and Ashmeer held her in his arms. The three whisperers were in equally bad shape. By the tie they crossed the fourth level, a female whisperer jumped across the shaft railing into the dark depths below. The rest of the party looked in stunned silence. Then suddenly, they hit the fifth level, and all the wires holding the shaft gave way. they began hurtling down into the darkness till something steadied the shaft and held it in place, even as they landed into the soft ground below with a thud, flinging them all on the ground.
Storng arms lifted her up and Ashmeer held her asking, "Are you hurt Little Bird."
She shook her head adjusting her eyes to the terrible darkness around her. But that was not what shook her. After the terrible litany of voices for the past few moments, here the fifth level was only silence. Stone deaf, silence, as if the land itself had died.