"The Source Stone" by Maria Semenova, summary Automatic translate

This book is a grim chronicle of a young slave’s coming-of-age, written in 2000. The plot unfolds almost entirely in the penal dungeons of the Gem Mountains, revealing the hidden underbelly of prosperous empires that extract precious treasures at the cost of thousands of lives. The work has been adapted for television. The novel’s themes formed the basis for the 2007 television series "Young Wolfhound." The directors illustrated the protagonist’s early years and his survival among the overseers.

This book is part of the "Wolfhound" series, and is the third in the series to be published. Chronologically, the novel precedes the events of the main saga. The plot anticipates the events of "Wolfhound," "The Right to Duel," "The Sign of the Path," and "The Gemstone Mountains."

Caravan of the Doomed

A long line of slaves moves across a parched plain. The caravan of the enterprising merchant Xoo Tarkim is carrying live goods to the mines. The convicts trudge along the road, bound together by a single, massive iron chain. Among the slaves is an obedient Khalisun boy, Kattai. His master accidentally discovered that he possesses a rare natural gift for seeing hidden ore veins through the dense earth.

At the tail of the caravan trudges a cramped, two-wheeled cage. It holds two teenagers from the Venn forest tribe. The traders call them Wolf Cub and Puppy. The pup sits on a separate chain with an iron collar, resembling a captured wild animal. He stubbornly harbors thoughts of revenge against the kuns Vinitharius, who destroyed his family.

While climbing a mountainous trail, the caravan is caught in a rockfall. A heavy boulder crushes several slaves and cripples the leg of the Arrantian scholar Tirgei. The former teacher was imprisoned for arguing with courtiers. Tarkim attempts to finish off the useless, wounded man. Kattai falls to his knees and begs for the scholar’s life, promising to share his food with him. The Segvan driver, Ingomer, dies from a stone fragment that struck him in the temple.

Southtooth Dungeons

Upon arrival, the stern overseer Sharkut purchases the newly arrived slaves. Kattai receives a prestigious silver earring and the position of dowser under Sharkut. The wolf cub is taken into personal service by the senior overseer, Tseragat. The pup is sent to haul carts of waste rock to the waste heaps.

The pup works alone, refusing to team up with other tribesmen. A young convict, Sfengar, decides to bully a weak scavenger boy, Argila. The pup stands up for the weak Segwan. A bloody fight ensues, and the Venn smashes Sfengar’s forehead with a shard of granite. Tseragat orders the youth flogged for the murder. The pup is branded on his chest and sent down into the depths of the mountains to operate a water windlass.

On the seventeenth level, a battered Venn labors side by side with the crippled Tirgei and the mighty Monomatan Mkhabr. The mine air is thick with coal soot and acrid stone dust. Mkhabr dies of a painful cough, but manages to impart a measure of his ancestors’ spiritual strength to the Puppy. Tirgei reads Arrantian poems to the illiterate youth. The scholar explains the structure of the world and shares the secrets of the underground mechanisms. The slaves bond, finding solace in their mutual support.

Dangerous gifts of the mountains

Kattai finds glittering jewels for the Masters. The boy hopes to one day earn ransom for himself and his parents. He descends to the gloomy twenty-ninth level and finds a vein of fire opals. The depths generously yield stones, but the dowser soon begins to sense impending disaster. A hidden, monstrous voice from the mountains threatens to collapse the vaults.

Kattai asks Sharkut to lead the convicts away from the dangerous face. The foreman ignores the frightened youth’s pleas. Deadly blades — subterranean swords — erupt from the cracked stone. Hot steam pierces the rock. Sharkut runs outside in a panic and manages to slam the wrought-iron doors, trapping eighteen miners alive. Kattai rushes to the aid of the old Sakkaremite, Cairngorm, and remains with the doomed convicts.

Bottomless well

Overseer Gwalior learns of his distant fiancée’s infidelity. The girl didn’t wait for his return and married a shepherd. Gwalior, overcome with grief, drinks heavily and wanders off through the labyrinthine labyrinths. Tseraghat publicly promises freedom to any slaves who can descend into the Bottomless Well and rescue the guard. Tirgei and the Puppy, whom the slaves call Dog, are called to help. The hikers, with great difficulty, overcome sheer precipices, rocky gorges, and icy waterfalls.

At the very bottom of the well, they find the desiccated corpse of the legendary fugitive Ramaura. The myth of a secret exit to the surface turns out to be a lie. Rescuers discover Gwalior sleeping on the shore of a glowing, poisonous lake. Under a stone lies the untouched body of little Kattai, forever sedated by the toxic fumes. Tirgey and Dog pull Gwalior up through a smoky, red-hot hole, escaping the raging fire.

The return turns into a bitter disappointment. Tseragat flatly refuses to grant the slaves the freedom they deserve. He mocks their honest story and chains the Dog and Tirgei back to the heavy collar.

Payback for cruelty

Tirgey’s life force is drained. The scholar collapses helplessly onto the stones, no longer able to push the gate’s log. Overseer Bichet gives the order to finish off the sick slave. The order is carried out by the former Venn Wolf Cub, nicknamed "Wolf" for his loyalty to his masters. With a swift movement, he breaks Tirgey’s neck.

The dog flies into a rage, rips the forged spikes from the log with his bare hands, and lunges at his friend’s killer. In a brief fight, he crushes the head of the overseer, Linobat, with a chain. Wolf and Biceta brutally beat the bound Venn. Tseraghat prepares to crucify the rebel for the amusement of the mine, but Gwalior intercedes for the slave who saved him. The Nardarian buys the dog’s life by agreeing to work in the mine for a year without pay.

Duel

Twelve months later, Tseragat holds a traditional duel. The Wolf enters the arena with a long dagger and a whip. The uninhibited Dog, bare-handed, is sent against him. The guards and overseers await a bloody massacre of the exhausted slave.

The wolf strikes first with his dagger. The dog dodges, but suffers a lacerating wound from the whip. The overseer thrusts the sharp blade into the slave’s chest. The point pierces the flesh deeply, and the wenn coughs up blood. The dying convict makes a final lunge, gouging out the wolf’s eyes with his steel fingers and snapping the whip around his enemy’s neck. The wolf falls dead, his throat broken.

The crowd of convicts roars with delight, chorusly naming the victor "Wolfhound." Tseraghat reaches for his sword, wanting to kill the defiant hero. Gwalior presses a sharp knife to the senior warden’s waist, forcing him to retreat and spare the victor’s life.

The wolfhound walks slowly and heavily along the stone tunnels. His former fellow prisoners look at him respectfully. The heavy wrought-iron gates of the mine creak open. Venn emerges onto a blindingly white glacier under a scorching violet sky. Leaving bloody footprints in the clean snow, the free man leaves behind the mountain pass.