Crownsmith Chronicles

It wasn't that Benj didn't believe Lucia had seen a map; it was that he didn't trust the map itself. A lot of things could go wrong when deciphering a map from a vision from several millennia in the past. So much could change in that amount of time. Landscapes shift, trees grow or die, and rivers change course. Either way, he liked the idea of exploring the home of the first person to inscribe his name on Mount Asvin. He just didn't have high hopes of finding it.

He had asked her to describe what Ziles Kalizar looked like and what he was doing. She explained that he appeared middle-aged but she couldn't get a clear view of his face. She described his tattered clothes and the dangling bits hanging from his belt. She believed that Kalizar was calling the lightning to charge the runes.

The runes on the mountain, drawn with some sort of chalk and somehow charged by lightning, were not how he had imagined it all began. However, it was a tangible story, and he was relieved to learn that his original thought of a dark mountain sacrifice was incorrect. Lucia was unable to describe what happened after the lightning struck or whether Zilez survived the explosion, which added to the mystery.

The further they walked down the mountain, the more foliage they had to navigate around. Lucia kept needing to take breaks to touch things and explain what everything used to look like, and Benj couldn't help but to feel a little jealous. He was happy for her, he just wanted to see what things used to look like too. However, he was content and excited to be on an adventure he could only dream about.

His dream became a reality as the first checkpoint on the map came into view. Deep within the valley, a massive ravine sliced through the ground for miles in both directions. If there had been any doubts about Lucia's abilities before, this landmark erased them. At the very least, it confirmed that Lucia had correctly read the map in her vision.

The ravine was too wide to cross, at least for Lucia, so they decided to head left in search of a place to get across. They were looking for either a shallow area or a spot where Benj could jump over and bring back a rope. The ravine spanned the entire valley, and it took them a while to find any potential crossing points.

"What do you think caused this ravine?" Benj asked, wondering if Lucia had touched anything that gave her any clues.

"Everything I touch shows this ravine was already here," she said, throwing a rock over the cliff. "Does your village have any lore on it?"

"No," Benj replied, picking up a rock to toss it down the ravine, too. "We didn't even know what caused Asvin. You officially know more in one day than my entire village who was born and raised there. It's a little unfair if you ask me."

"You're right; it is a little unfair," she smirked. "Got any other secrets you want me to unravel?"

Benj wanted to know more about his mother, but he didn't have anything that belonged to her. He wondered briefly if the tavern she worked at had anything, but he decided to let it go. He was only vaguely curious and didn't want to use Lucia to invade anyone's privacy, even if there was a chance to get answers.

"Look up ahead!" Lucia exclaimed, pointing at what appeared to be a bridge.

As they approached, the bridge came into view, revealing its unusual shape. It began triangular, featuring a single walkway supported by two handrails. As they moved toward the center, the handrails sloped downward and merged into a thin surface before tapering back into a triangular shape on the opposite side. Beneath this thin surface, a single support beam connected the bridge to the bottom of the ravine.

"How old do you think this bridge is?" Benj asked as he stepped a cursory foot and put some weight on it. He put a hand on each rail and then shook back and forth. "It seems sturdy. I'll go first to see if it's safe. If it crumbles under my weight, well, I hope you warn everyone about their lack of privacy around you because I won't be around to do it."

"I almost hope it crumbles," Luicia retorted, placing her hand on the wooden post at the start of the bridge. "Then you can tell me what's down there."

Benj stepped further onto the bridge while Lucia investigated the bridge post. It didn't seem to be made with nails but rather pieced together with roughly cut slots and divots. She saw two markings that formed an arrow on the post. Brushing her fingers across the grooves, all she needed to do was look a little deeper, and she could see, among other things, what caused it. She saw a myriad of different things. The one that caught her eye was a young woman whose knife carved into the beam.

"Do you think they'll see this, or should I make it more visible?" Lucia saw a girl ask, pointing to the markings with her knife. She had a pack slung around a shoulder supported by strips of leather. Her clothes had a crude quality that made them look like home-spun fabrics.

"This is the only bridge I've seen all morning," said a boy who was younger and dressed very much the same way. He also had similar features to the girl. "If they don't see the bridge, we have bigger problems on our hands. Who wants to cross first?"

The girl put her knife away and took several tentative steps onto the bridge. "It feels sturdy enough for us. Are you coming?"

Lucia watched as the two youths ventured further onto the bridge, with the boy holding back a few paces. When the girl got to the middle part without handrails, something made a loud noise deep in the ravine, causing the bridge to tilt slightly. The sound happened again, but this time, the bridge didn't just shake; it pivoted sideways, dumping the girl off the bridge.

The boy cried as he held onto the railings, but the sound came once again, causing the bridge to turn on its axis. Lucia finally saw what was causing the noise. Inside the ravine was a bulky and hairy creature using the support beam to tilt the bridge. Realization struck her as she understood that what she thought was a support beam was actually a lever designed to tip the bridge over and throw anyone on it into the ravine. It wasn't a bridge at all; it was a trap. Lucia had heard of bridge trolls and always thought the stories were amusing, but what she was witnessing was anything but fun. She let go of the post, and before her vision refocused, she yelled a warning. "Get off the bridge! It's a trap!"

Benj had almost gotten to the middle part when he heard Lucia call after him. At that moment, he knew he could either continue forward or turn around and go back. With his bulky pack and no time to think, he ran forward, trying to outrun whatever trap Lucia was warning him about.

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It didn't matter what he did because as soon as Lucia yelled, he felt a powerful force hit the structure he was standing on. Momentarily off balance, he recollected himself and continued forward. As soon as his hands were free of the support rail, the whole bridge tilted downward, and he was dumped into the ravine. His ability instantly activated as he was flung into the dark abyss. Air rushed past his ears, muffling Lucia's next words. She was warning him about something, but he wasn't sure what she said.

He instinctively looked for a good place to land, but everything below him was shrouded in shadow. He glided forward, ready to lean back and stop his forward momentum if dangerous terrain appeared ahead. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out what was below him. That's when he saw it. Chasing behind him was something so large that he thought it was a trick of the light.

There were no tricks, and something four times his size was lumbering after him with a quick pace. As his body entered the shadow of the cliff, he could see more clearly. For a brief moment, he saw bush-like hair falling around a monumental-sized nose. Long spidery fingers curled and uncurled as it ran with comically large feet. Its pale human features mixed with monstrous features struck panic in Benj's heart. When his feet touched the ground, he ran for his life.

The sound of his arrows hitting against one another as he ran reminded him that he did have the ability to defend himself. He un-slung his bow and pulled an arrow out, holding each in his hands. By the quieting sound of the troll's running, Benj knew that it was falling behind. Still, he wasn't ready to stop just yet.

The walls on either side of him towered straight up into the sunlit world. He looked for a good place to climb and saw several, but none he could climb fast enough to be out of reach of his pursuer. Several times, he passed areas with cracks in the walls and considered hiding, but the risk of getting caught was too great. He would only hide as an absolute last resort. Besides, by the look of the troll's nose, Benj concluded that it wouldn't matter where he hid; it could probably smell him wherever he went.

Climbing a shallow mound of rocks, Benj nocked an arrow and aimed to the best of his ability at the monster behind him. When it came into view, he released his arrow and missed, most terribly. He took another arrow and tried again. His shot went wide. He cursed for not practicing more when he had the chance. Without enough time to prepare and fire another shot, he turned and resumed sprinting down the dark corridors.

Benj stepped in puddles of water, soaking his legs up to his knee. His water-logged boots and the weight of his backpack were starting to slow him down. Water boots or not, he was also losing energy and speed. He tried controlling his breaths, breathing in his nose for a certain amount of time before exhaling out of his mouth for the same, but he couldn't manage it. His breathing was chaotic and unstable. He needed rest, but there was no time. Instead, he dropped his backpack and charged forward.

The passage curved to the right and then left again. He decided that if he was going to try to climb out, he should do it sooner than later. He might never find it if he waited for the perfect place to scale the wall. Also, he didn't want to deplete his stamina and be unable to climb out later.

The path curved, and he turned to look at the wall of rock and dirt behind him. There were rough vertical slits and rough curves of stone, but nowhere with obvious handholds. He stuck his waterlogged boot in the vertical gap and grabbed onto anything and everything. With each new handhold that he found by touch, he pulled himself up a little further. When he was halfway up, he heard the clapping of feet behind him. He froze, hugging the wall the best he could without moving. Moments later, the bridge troll barreled past him, completely unaware of him, trailing behind a foul and sour stench.

Benj did not let out a sigh of relief; he held his breath as he probed for more handholds. He couldn't find one. Everywhere he felt, his hands slipped off a completely vertical stone. Without wasting time, he concluded that he would need to double back and try a different spot. He wondered if he would be able to relocate his backpack, but he decided against it. His biggest priority was to go up, and that was it.

He coasted to the ground, trying to be quiet enough not to draw the monster's attention, and started moving back through the curved passageway. The walls appeared climbable to a certain point. Still, all paths became distinctly unclimbable at a certain point near the top. At least, that was true for all but one place. Unfortunately, he would be completely visible when the troll gave up, turned around, and then came back through the twisting passage. He had no other choice except to climb.

The first half of the climb was relatively straightforward. The higher he got, however, made for more difficult climbing conditions. Fewer and fewer handholds became apparent. He was able to find them; it was just taking too long. When he heard the monster start coming back towards him, he felt around frantically.

When the monster came back, Benj did not stop. Instead, he started climbing sideways to try to get a better way up. When the monster came into view, it was moving slower and had a downcast look. It was looking at the ground, dejected, instead of looking up and around. Benj held his breath again as it passed just below him.

As soon as he thought he wouldn't be noticed, the monster inhaled through giant nostrils and stopped walking. It began making rapid breaths through its nose as if it could smell him. It turned, lifted its head, and then ran back further down the passage again. Benj was about to climb down and try a different spot but found a single handhold almost out of reach directly above him. He was able to grab it and pull himself higher as the troll came barreling towards him. He pulled himself up even higher, just away from the monster's long, spindly fingers reaching for him. The next two handholds he found failed, unleashing dirt and rocks below. When he noticed that the dirt and rocks were getting in the trolls' eyes, he pulled down as much dirt and debris as he could until he found his next handhold. He had climbed over four times his height and was gaining near the top. The monster below him shrieked and then ran back through the passages. Benj was worried it was getting a ladder or something, so he pressed further.

His time on Mount Asven had been helpful because it taught him how to scale walls. His experience guided him until he pulled himself up and rested an elbow on the top of the clearing. He swung his leg onto the top and lifted himself over the rest of the way before rolling onto his back. He lay there sweating and breathing heavily until Lucia found him.

"Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling beside him. "Did you get a good look at it?"

"Yeah," Benj grunted as he leaned forward to set aside his bow and quiver. "It was ugly. I don't know if we're safe here. We need to go."

Lucia nodded, stood, and helped Benj to his feet. "I think I saw something back here, I don't know how safe it is, but we might be able to cross over here,"

Benj followed Lucia to an outcropping from where they had come. On the opposite side of the gulf, a tall tree grew. Its branches almost stretched halfway across the gap.

"See," Lucia pointed to the tree. "If we could manage to get a rope over that branch, we might be able to swing across. It's a long shot, though; what do you think?"

Benj stared at the tree for a while before asking, "How much rope do you have?"

Lucia gave him all the rope she had. It wasn't long enough for her plan, but Benj hoped it would be long enough for his. He explained his plan, and Lucia agreed. Wrapping the rope around his shoulder, he stepped back and then jumped for the lowest hanging branch. He missed it, but he expected he would. Instead, he glided to the opposite side of the gorge, where the tree roots dug out of the walls, which gave him easy handholds to catch and pull himself up.

Once on the other side, he climbed the tree, connecting the rope to the strongest and highest hanging branch, and then, after a few attempts, he swung it over to Lucia. Benj could tell she was stalling, asking him how well he tied the knot and if he thought it was safe. But soon enough, they both knew that it was time. So, she took a deep breath and swung to the other side. Benj caught her by the front of the shirt before she swung backward again, but she was able to find her footing, and soon, they were following Lucia's memorized map again.