Page 65

"The tracer somehow missed a hidden passage here." Nar pointed at a section just past a tunnel, where a narrow opening could be seen. "It was well-hidden too. If the tracer didn't pick it up the first or second time, something must have been blocking it."

"And whatever was blocking it," Xilya continued, "wasn't doing so when the tracer was searching for a third time."

Ryziel glanced at them both and then back at the map. "Are you saying you think someone or something is intentionally keeping it hidden?"

"That's exactly what I think," Nar said. " In fact, if you notice how the minerals are clustered in a pattern, not scattered like the others were, that shows us that they aren't just sitting in the rock like that naturally. They are being stocked."

"Stocked." Ryziel's eyes narrowed. "As in..."

"Someone or something is hoarding them," Xilya said.

They each studied the map, not speaking as their minds turned over this alarming piece of information.

"Whatever it is, it's smart," Nar stated, breaking the silence. "Real smart."

"It can't be any of the miners, could it?" Xilya asked.

Ryziel crossed his arms. "No, they likely wouldn't have survived long enough to hoard that much, and we certainly would have seen someone or at least traces of someone by now."

"How about one of your kind, Nar?"

Nar shook his head. "No way. I might be out of the dens, but even I would have heard about it. And that would have taken a lot of urks. No way that would have been kept secret, and they wouldn't go hoarding it away from the dens, especially so far from them."

Ryziel stared at the map, thinking. "Then it is something from the Keep or far below. Something that has been down there for a long time."

"Great," Nar said.

"Your people have tales of older things in the deep, correct?" Xilya asked Nar. "Since the time of the ancients?"

Nar rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "There are always tales or rumors of things. But that's all they have been."

"Doesn't mean one of them couldn't be true."

"I'd prefer if they stayed untrue," Nar said.

"Xilya, didn't you say that the rainwater would eventually flood the whole area?" Ryziel asked.

"Yes," she answered. "And that part should be no different."

"So, that means when it floods, this hoarder shouldn't be able to get to the minerals."

"Not unless they can breathe underwater," she said.

Ryziel and Xilya looked over at Nar, who stared back at them. "I mean, there are, like, dozens of species that could breathe in both air and water and just as many that can hold their breath for days," Nar said, throwing up his hands. "But I'm fairly certain none of them are smart enough to do this." He waved a hand at the mineral clusters.

"The tales of things below," Xilya said to Nar, "do your kind have written claims about them? Or are they only through word of mouth?"

"If there are written stories," Nar said. "They would probably be in the urken archives."

"Do you have access to them?"

"No, but I can," he said confidently. He swiped the holographic image of the map aside and brought up a set of data written in the urken language. "They've been serializing everything digitally since one of the libraries got destroyed by a cave-in. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes to crack into it."

"Good," Ryziel said. "Once you have access, start looking for all mentions of myths involving water-based creatures."

"Got it," Nar said, continuing to sift through an urken database.

Ryziel brought his gaze over to Xilya. "You and I are going to go investigate."