by Darkbringer
Being extremely careful, I slowly sensed the earth all around for the different holes that the other team had opened into the mounds. After a few moments, I led my own tired group to a small mound that I could tell didn’t connect to the tunnels beneath us.
The mound itself appeared to be nothing more than a natural rise in the land, covered with blackish grass and wilted shrubbery. Working our way around it, we found the hole that the others had dug before us – a small pile of excavated earth on the side of the mound that was scarcely large enough for a person to crawl through.
“Here’s our destination for the night,” I told the others.
“In there?” Jess asked, shivering. “Are you certain it’s safe?”
“It’s just a small cavern sort of place,” I told her reassuringly, “and there’s no movement at all in there. It doesn’t connect to any of the other tunnels around here, so it should be a safe place for us to rest tonight. As safe as anywhere can be in this place, I imagine,” I said with a shrug.
“Dino, would you like to lead the way for us?” I asked, casually.
“Me?” Sounding shocked, he held up his hands and shook his head from side to side.
“It’s either got to be you, or it’s got to be me,” I told him as calmly as I could. “It’s going to be dark in there and only the two of us can make light easily with our magic. You just need to decide – do you want to be the first in there, or the last out here, bringing up the rear?”
Paling at his choices, Dino swallowed down a lump in his throat and then slowly moved over to start crawling into the tunnel; a small flame hovering and floating before him. For a change, he didn’t argue, complain, or whine. Maybe there was some hope for him yet.
Once I could feel him inside the mound, I nodded over to Jess. “Your turn, dear.”
Turning almost as pale as a sheet, Jess slowly approached the hole and whimpered. For a few moments, she simply stayed on her hands and knees and stared into the darkness, while her arms and legs trembled as if she was ready to collapse at any moment.
Sighing, Crystal finally walked over and firmly kicked her in the ass and half punted her into the hole. “Get in there! We don’t have all day to wait out here. You’re putting My Lord at risk by just being a damn lump on a log!”
Looking back and glaring briefly, Jess finally scurried on in the rest of the way by herself.
“Wasn’t that just a little harsh?” I asked Crystal.
“Nope.” She shook her head from side to side, completely unapologetic. “Sometimes folk need a good swift kick in the ass to get them moving. This was one of those times. Now, do you need one, My Lord?” Arching an eyebrow, she stared hard at me and pointed to the entrance. “You next.”
“I was going to bring up the rear,” I tried to tell her, but Crystal just snorted and pushed me towards the hole.
“No need to argue, My Lord. My blade helps turn and shatter these things, so it simply makes sense for me to go last.” Tapping her foot impatiently, she just stared. “Do you really want to sit out here and argue over this all night long, while it keeps getting darker out here? Or do you want to get your ass on in there, like a good lord?”
“Fine.” Sighing to myself, I crawled on into the hole and wiggled my way down the short passage to join Dino and Jess. Sometimes, I have to wonder exactly which one of us is in charge – me or my slave! Really, I don’t guess it matters that much; I’ve always had an uncertain relationship with the women of this world, ever since I was reborn here.
Shaking my head to clear my drifting thoughts, I took a moment to glance around the cavern as soon as I was out of the tunnel. Dino had a small flame floating in midair, and it was bright enough to illuminate the small one room chamber we were in. The floor we were standing on was stone, as well as the walls and ceiling, so overall the place gave a sort of stone storehouse feeling.
From the outside, the mound had grown over and looked completely natural. Inside, though, this was obviously man-made – or made by intelligent creatures at least, I reminded myself, thinking about the lizard tails which were such a prominent part of the dead we’d seen so far. The floor was smooth stone, and the walls and ceiling were cracked plaster-covered stone. I could almost imagine this being a bright and almost cheerful place back before it housed the dead.
As for the dead inside the mound, there simply wasn’t any. I had no way of knowing if they’d gotten up and crawled out to become part of the swarm we’d been dealing with all day, or if they’d simply rotted and decayed naturally over time. All I knew was this place was completely empty of everything now – no dead, no loot which might’ve been buried with the dead, no anything. We were simply standing in a small, empty, stone room with a single crawl hole leading out to the surface.
“This looks like an excellent place to hold up for the night,” I told everyone as Crystal slowly crawled into the chamber with us.
“I guess,” Dino replied, sounding uncertain. “It certainly isn’t a five-crown tavern, but it seems like it’ll be safer than trying to set up the tents and camp outside with the dead walking around everywhere.”
“Not that I really feel safe anywhere, since we entered this area,” Jess finished with a slight shiver.
“Honestly,” I admitted, “I feel almost the same way, Jess. The taint and corruption are all around us and this place makes my hair stand on end. I don’t like it any more than you do, but it’s the best place for us to rest tonight. That’s a small entrance for the dead to be able to approach us from, Crystal can place her sword there to help repel any that try to enter through that way, and Dino and I both need a chance to recover some of our energy before we start into the tunnels later.
“And, maybe from here, I’ll be able to sense which tunnel the other group is in. Those catacombs are winding all around in the forest between us, and I couldn’t sort them out from a distance earlier. I’m hoping that now that we’re here, I can make a little more sense of them and locate the others. If not,” I admitted, “I don’t really don’t know how the heck we’ll find them and get them out of here.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, My Lord,” Crystal said encouragingly as she shoved Heartblade into the stone floor directly in front of the opening. “For tonight, let’s simply eat, rest, and try to relax as much as possible. We’ll deal with the morrow, on the morrow.”
With everyone too mentally tired and stressed to argue with her, that’s exactly what we settled down to do for the evening.
The Path by Fire
That night was very quiet and creepy, and everyone’s nerves were on edge fearing the worst, but nothing happened. If the dead circled close to us, Heartblade’s aura at the entrance kept them far enough away that we never knew they were there. The feeling of them being around was ever present, but we never actually saw any signs that they were near – which might’ve been worse as it left the threat solely to our imaginations.
I think everyone had nightmares that night.
The next morning, Crystal was already awake when I woke up, and she was staring diligently out into the early morning darkness. “All good?” I asked her; wanting to be certain she didn’t see any forthcoming dangers before I tried to seek for the other group with my magic.
“It’s clear, as far as I can tell, My Lord.” Glancing back at me, she smiled wearily in reassurance. “It’s just my nerves. They seem to be on edge this morning for some odd reason, but I don’t actually see any troubles that you need to worry over.”
“Besides the very ground above, below, and around us being tainted with an evil that wants to corrupt us, steal our magic, and turn us all into another set of those walking dead things, you mean.” I corrected.
“Well, besides that of course, My Lord.” Crystal curtsied slightly while a slight smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.
“Just checking,” I bowed and weakly returned her smile, before settling down cross-legged on the smooth stone floor. Slowly, carefully, I began to p
ull strands of the earthen energy to me and feel the surrounding landscape.
The dead were roaming all over the surface once again, and even though we had cleared so many of them, it seemed as if their numbers had replenished and perhaps even increased over the night while we slept. There were several small burrows like the one we were holed up in, and I could tell that the bodies inside them were moving. Clawing and scratching, they were trying to dig themselves to freedom and the surface.
Ignoring the surface as much as possible, I focused more on the energy and the tunnels beneath and around us. Catacombs twisted and snaked in a maze-like pattern with dozens on interconnect entry and exit access points, but there were just as many tunnels and paths that were completely independent of each other. Not quite certain what I could look for that would scream, “We’re here and not dead!”, I wasn’t having any true luck with the search.
“I don’t know,” I told Crystal and the others who were just now waking up. “I just can’t sort out how to tell the difference in the dead and the living in the tunnels beneath us. How am I supposed to know if the dead is what I feel lying on the ground, or if it’s someone alive and sleeping?”
“Did you check for their cook fire?” Dino asked, yawning. “If they’re like us, they’ll probably be trying to start a fire if they can to cook whatever they still have for breakfast.”
“Besides,” Jess added, “the fire has to give a lot of warmth and comfort if they’re underground. I’d hate to be stuck down in the dark for who knows how long, without it.”
“Umm…” Trying not to blush, I nodded in agreement. “I’ll look for anything like that. Give me just a few moments.” I can’t believe I didn’t think of something so obvious! For once, Dino had a good idea before me. I guess he’s not completely hopeless.
Breathing deeply, I centered my concentration once more and pulled on the strands of the tainted earth to help me identify the caverns, tunnels, and pathways in the ground around us. This time, I also searched the flows of fire in the tunnels and searched for any areas with hot spots. The other group may not necessarily have a campfire of some sort going -- they might not be able to make one no matter how much they wanted -- but as long as they were alive their body heat alone was something for me to look for.
For several long minutes, I slowly searched and ever expanding circular area from where we were currently entrenched. Amazing enough, there was life down in the catacombs that the dead didn’t seem to be bothering to attack and kill – small, four-legged creatures, which I could only assume must be rats or rodents of some sort.
There was an odd heat source that seemed to cover a section of the walls and floors that was much too large to be the other team, which I had no idea what the heck it actually was. If the temperature would’ve been greater, I’d assume there was a fire of some sort in the tunnel, but it wasn’t that much warmer than the surrounding stone. It almost seemed as if that whole tunnel segment was alive. Perhaps there was some sort of moss or fungus growing that was giving off heat in that area; I don’t know for certain. The only thing I was certain of was that there was no dead walking in that tunnel, but I wasn’t even positive if that was a good thing or not!
Sensing on outwards and downwards, I finally came across a room which seemed to have the proper warmth to it. Three large sources of warmth were huddled together, leaned up against what was probably a stone door, with countless dead moving and scraping on the other side. The dead are drawn to the living, and this was one of the areas that was packed lightly with the dead. It only makes sense that they were somehow sensing the same thing I was and trying to get to it.
“I think I may have found some of them,” I said smiling brightly. “At least, I’ve found a room where it appears three people are still living and holding a door which the dead desperately appears to want through. If it’s not them, it’s the closest thing I’ve found that makes it think it might be them,” I told them all, exuberant for even a spark of hope at this point. With all the dead we’d seen walking and moving so far, I honestly had begun to believe that we were chasing a fool’s errand.
“Great!” Dino laughed at the news and hugged Jess tightly.
“I expected nothing less from you, My Lord,” Crystal said calmly, as if in fact, she really hadn’t expected anything less.
“How’s our breakfast coming anyway?” I asked looking around.
“I haven’t actually started it yet,” Jess admitted, and then immediately shifted the blame over to Dino. “Magey hasn’t turned the fire up high enough to cook on yet!”
“Hey! It takes a lot of effort to make and maintain a fire large enough to cook on for half an hour or whatever,” Dino asserted in his own defense. “I was just waiting for you to get everything ready first.”
“Well, Dino’s ready now. You’re ready now. And I’m hungry. Hop to it, Jess!” Leaning back against the cool stone wall, I could understand Dino’s point completely. In a place like this, conserving and utilizing energy in the most efficient way and resting as much as possible was just plain good sense. Being a healer, with magic of her own, Jess should understand that as good as anyone.
“Here,” Crystal eased up and tapped me on the shoulder, “sit up, My Lord. You can rest against me for a while, instead of the cold, hard wall.”
“Like your chain is any warmer, or softer?” I joked.
“It comes off easily enough, My Lord,” Crystal whispered as her chain robe tinkled to the ground around her legs. “And,” she leaned forward to whisper slightly in my ear, “I can assure you that what’s under it is much warmer and softer than the wall.”
Laughing slightly, I slid forward a foot or so, and she sat down behind, wrapping a long leg around either side of my body. Slowly, I leaned back against her and she wrapped her arms around me and gently stroked my hair. Rubbing her legs, I had to admit – her leathers were quite a bit warmer and softer than the wall. I could only imagine, at the moment, that what was underneath them was even softer and warmer. Slowly, I relaxed and almost drifted back off to sleep, caressed by her gentle pampering.
* * * * *
“Foods done!” Jess’s yelled jerked me back fully awake, causing me to blink and look around stupidly for several moments.
“Is someone going to hold and pamper me like that now?” Dino asked, sounding like he was half pouting.
“Well, if you really want me to. You did do a good job keeping the fire going all that time,” I told him jokingly, holding open my arms wide. “Come on. Lean on up here. I’ll stroke your hair for a bit if you want.”
Snorting, Dino simply flopped in a corner and nibbled forlornly on what looked like a biscuit of some sort. Seeing me raise an eyebrow, curious what it was, Jess told us, “It’s just bacon biscuits. We don’t know how long the other group is going to stay where you found them, or even how long they can hold out against the dead. I thought something quick would be good this morning.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her as I got up and dusted the bottom of my pants off. “I don’t think they’re going anywhere, but the sooner we get to them, the better. That’s actually good thinking, Jess.” Walking over to her, she passed me two biscuits and smiled weakly while staring at Crystal. Was there some sort of jealous rivalry building between the two of them? I really don’t know, but I hope it’s not something that will interfere with the mission. I’ll have to talk to Crystal later and make certain she lets Jess know that she’s not interested in Dino.
We sat and ate in silence, and I created a small stream of fresh water with my magic for us to drink and wipe down our hands and faces quickly with. “Are there any dead outside that we need to prepare for, My Lord?” Crystal asked me as she slid her chain robe back on and fastened it tightly closed.
“There’s oodles,” I confirmed. “More than we want to deal with, I honestly think,” I told her.
“Then we’re trapped in here too?!” Immediately Jess jumped to the strangest conclusion.
“Not at all. Wh
at makes you think that?” I asked calmly curious.
“If… if we can’t get out, then…” Jess let her question trail off while she chewed slightly on her lip.
“Then we take a short cut and go to jail, go directly to jail, we do not pass go, and go directly to jail.” They all blinked and looked at me stupidly. Crystal looked concerned. It was all too much and I burst out laughing, feeling much better for some odd reason. “If we’re ready, you’ll all see,” I told them, smiling mischievously.
“I…” Dino glanced around at everyone, frowning slightly, “… I guess we’re all ready.”
“Good!” Waving my arms with a flourish, I yanked on the power of fire and pulled it up from the earth below us and channeled a conduit between the tunnels below and the corner of the floor in this room where no one was standing. In seconds, the room began to heat rapidly and I had to channel the hotter air out the small opening while bringing cool fresh air from outside in, so we wouldn’t bake inside an oven.
The ground in the corner turned red, began to steam, and soon the stone bubbled and melted, moving down and opening a tunnel to the deeper catacombs. A moment or two to hold the magic long enough to make the tunnel large enough for us to slide down, and then I sucked the heat out of it and cooled it into a smooth obsidian shaft. Another blast of heat into the tunnel we entered from was too much for it, and it collapsed, blocking the way out completely.
Everyone was staring, mouths agape as I bowed deeply. “This way, if you please.” I waved my arms in a flourish, half curtsying to hide the large smirking grin on my face. I might not be able to manipulate the earth here directly without the taint flowing back and assaulting me, but I could still use pure fire to simply burn my way in and out if I wanted to.
