by Noah Layton
We were going about our mining indiscriminately. Any ore that was on hand nearby was to be harvested and collected, and the mine was offering it up in abundance.
I ascended the wall along precarious ridges until I could not climb any further, retrieving a final patch of gold ore before taking a seat on the high point and resting for a moment.
I drank deeply from my canteen and looked down from a height of ten or eleven yards on the mine below. I could see the shapes of Cass and her brothers working away far off, and couldn’t help but smile.
Alone we were hard workers, but together we were a formidable force.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked below at the route I had traced. Over to the right were a few more sub-chambers, their innards exposed by a few feet every time a nearby torch flickered.
But there was something else, too.
Something unnatural.
Wooden beams and stone slabs had been commonplace in the mine. The fox-man had said it himself.
This was different. A series of panels were bolted into a section of the wall, with further panels to reinforce it.
I thought back to what the Ash had said back at my land.
‘There were a few boarded-up sections down there. Probably just shafts where his guards had been digging before we arrived.’
‘Hey, guys!’ I called over to my three companions, ‘Come take a look at this.’
Steadily we all arrived at this small, barricaded passage. Upon closer inspection several layers of wooden panels had been bolted into the rock wall.
‘What the hell is it?’ Cass asked.
‘I’m guessing you’ve never seen anything like this before.’
‘No. It was common practice back in the mines in Grayholde to board over emptied sections so that nobody would go wandering down them, but this is different.’ She kneeled before it and examined the wood. ‘Why go to the trouble of adding more than one layer to it?’
It was only five feet wide, likely with ceilings low enough they would require me to bow my head to get through.
Clunk.
We had been stood in silence, but in that instant our breathing collectively stopped. We all shared a look, even the brothers, that said I heard that too.
I shot one last glance around the main section of the mine, then crouched down by the panels and pressed my ear to the wood with bated breath.
Nothing.
‘We all heard that, right?’ I asked them, they providing nods in response. ‘I can’t hear anything now…’
‘You think we should open it up?’ Cass suggested.
‘Couldn’t hurt to take a look. I just hope it wasn’t Werger’s dumping ground for bodies…’ It was a possibility, but I was too curious to turn back. I looked around at Cass and her brothers. ‘Grab your pickaxes and let’s pry this thing open.’
Over the next few minutes we struck at the panels until the heads of our picks became lodged in the occasional beam. From there we used the leverage to snap the boards out of place. There were several layers present, and ten minutes of hard labour had passed by the time we had created a hole big enough to peer in.
It was completely dark inside, but as we quietened once more and listened, a scuttling began to sound.
‘Probably just rats,’ Aden said. ‘Nothing to be afraid of.’
I nodded in agreement and we cleared the final boards, creating a hole big enough for us all to climb through.
We all took new torches and made to start inside, when a shape began to rapidly move towards us.
‘What the fuck is that…?’
I backed up, setting my torch down and holding up my pickaxe to defend myself.
Just as Cass had said, a rat came scurrying past. It was followed by several others that scurried past us and into the mine, disappearing from sight quickly.
‘What are they doing down here?’ I asked openly.
‘I hate rats…’ Aden muttered simply. ‘Functionless creatures.’
I picked up my torch and started along the unblocked channel. I had to crouch for a short distance, but eventually the passage began to steadily widen by a few inches with every yard that we cautiously took in our stride.
I attempted to draw a deep breath from the stuffy atmosphere around me and found that a damp stench had begun to pervade the air down here.
The further we went, the more a vapour seemed to hang in the air that latched to my skin.
‘Did one of you two let one rip?’ Cass asked, looking between her brothers. ‘This air reminds me of the Mites.’
‘What are the Mites?’
‘They were a group of miners that worked in the mines years ago, back when we lived in Grayholde. We knew a few of them, even drank with them on occasion. Then, one day, they all went missing. Rumours were around for months after, word that they had killed somebody and skipped town, that they had joined a tribe…
‘The only thing that changed after their disappearance was the air in the mines. A vapour hung in the air, just like this one. It drifted in slowly, becoming worse and worse. We thought that a bear had climbed in through a shaft somewhere and died, but nobody could find it.
‘Then, one day, a few miners were exploring a new channel in an excavated reach of the caverns. We had to hand over 80% of our haul to Alder, so groups were always searching for new areas to dig in search of more precious ores. Taking risks and whatnot. And that was when they found the Mites.
‘The Mites weren’t actually the name for the group of miners; they only got that name after their corpses were found suspended on a cluster of sharpened stalagmites that formed at the bottom of a collapsed pit. Their weight had cracked a patch of stone that was already under pressure. Their bodies had been rotting down there for months, and with little fresh air getting in… And that was when we realized, we had all been breathing in their decaying flesh for the last few months.’
‘That’s a damn good story,’ I remarked. ‘Doesn’t make me feel so great down here, though.’
‘I was just reminded of it. That’s exactly what this air feels like.’
I closed my mouth to a slit, breathing in as little as I possibly could at the thought of inhaling vaporised decaying flesh.
There was no way… Was there?
The tunnel continued along a single passage, descending on a slight decline for thirty yards before we tapered off left on a steady curve.
The air became thicker with vapour as the tunnel straightened out again. I raised my torch and scanned the space that it lit.
Spores were clustered in the air now. They hung like drifting cobwebs loosened from their holdings.
A trio of rats rushed from the darkness and darted around our feet.
The darkness was crushing, and our torches only gave onto the few yards ahead.
The cave suddenly opened up too quickly into a huge chamber. Our footsteps echoed off the walls and returned to us in rebounding attacks.
I raised my torch and looked ahead as we edged forwards, and that was when I laid eyes upon it.
A flicker of my torch illuminated the overbearing shadow of a gigantic shape thirty yards ahead.
At first I thought that it was just a rock formation, but the closer we got the more I noticed the minute details of its shape. A large shell surrounded it on a lopsided angle, as if it had collapsed to the side, and protruding from its side were a multitude of spindly legs, measuring several yards in length, some outstretched and others constricted.
I brought our group to a halt as I scanned the shape.
‘What the fuck is that?’ I muttered. My heart was racing madly, but the creature wasn’t moving – if it was in fact a creature.
The vapour clouded the air now. The scent of rot and damp was overwhelming.
Even if it was stifling, though, a huge reprieve came in the form of the literal hidden gems in the walls.
Our torchlight cast over the rock walls, illuminating a vast array of pockets of shimmering blue light.
�
��More bluestone,’ I said. ‘I think I saw a request for this back at the riverside trading post.’
‘No,’ Cass said, ‘that looks like sapphire. Much, much rarer.’
There were pockets of it scattered everywhere, and that was only in the first quarter of the cavern.
I couldn’t imagine the plentiful bounties that lurked further along.
But there was still this huge, unmoving thing waiting ahead.
‘That thing has to be dead,’ I said. ‘That’s the smell. It was probably the reason that the Werger closed this section up in the first place. Now it’s starved to death down here and we can take advantage of what they couldn’t.’
‘I think we should get out of here,’ Cass said. ‘This doesn’t feel right.’
‘You guys stay here. I’m just going to check this out. Be ready to run.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘If this really is some giant monster and it hasn’t actually keeled over, I still can’t have it living underneath the land. It might be trapped down here now but that doesn’t mean it won’t pose a problem later on. This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with a legendary creature of the forest.’
‘Remind me again how you killed that mother wolf?’
‘A Vicious Harpoon Cannon.’
‘And do you have one of those with you now?’
‘No, but I’ve got my power stones. They can hold this thing off while we make a break for it. As long as we can make it to the tunnel we should be fine. It’s way too big to come after us.’
‘If you say so,’ Cass nodded, holding back with her brothers at the tunnel entrance. The fire they carried drifted away as I moved onwards, and then I was alone in the cavern, a single light clinging to life.
I checked my surroundings for any sign of movement, then focused in on the husk of the creature ahead.
I was convinced that was what it was – it had to be.
And I was right.
My boot-clad feet tapped against the dirty stone floor as I approached, the body of the monster seeming to grow larger the closer I got to it.
There was no movement to indicate breathing, and the closer I got the worse the smell became, and the thicker the vapour became. It was one of the most rancid things I had ever smelled in my life.
I retrieved a patch of cloth from my inventory and fashioned a makeshift mask from it, tying it tightly around my mouth to relieve my senses a little.
I stayed at a distance of ten yards, rounding the shell of the husk, balancing my legs carefully in an attempt to silence my footsteps.
After circling to the other side of the creature, I saw what laid within its shell.
An exoskeleton of bone and framework lay within. For something with such a gigantic shell its innards were surprisingly small and fragile; its real intimidation laid within the number of dead appendages that spun out within.
But not just that… It was how completely it had rotted away. Nothing was left beyond its bone structure, which was cracked and broken, leading up to a squashed face at the peak of the shell – two tiny eye sockets, an almost circular mouth with some semblance of razor-sharp, fanged teeth within, and slits for its nose.
It stood five yards tall, even on its side. I had little doubt that it would have been a fair match for the mother wolf that Cass had reminded me of.
I just didn’t understand how something like this had rotted away so quickly, especially down here where little oxygen presided. Damp conditions would have helped, but…
A shimmering blue light suddenly glowed down upon the shell, reflecting brightly off of it. I glanced up at the cavern wall to my right and raised my torch.
One of the pockets of sapphire was shining of its own volition. It was too high up to be reflecting the light of my torch, and it was way too bright.
And it was… Moving.
That was when I realized that the pocket wasn’t a pocket at all; it was pulsating orb of organic matter, around four feet in diameter, and growing larger in its beats by the second.
‘Jack…?’ Cass’s voice echoed up the cave towards me. ‘What the hell is that thing?’
Another blue orb on the lowest level nearby suddenly lit up and began to pulsate. This one’s movements were much sharper and quicker, and within seconds the fleshy orb began to crack and tear open.
A sudden release of pressure gave, and a disgusting liquid spilled out over the rock and down to the ground.
These definitely weren’t sapphire pockets.
They were eggs.
The creature within the deflated pocket tore apart the material around it and crawled out madly.
It was a smaller version of the gigantic one that I was stood right next to.
I pulled out my sword and brandished it before me, my torch still held high in the other.
The creature was hunched over, its husk of a shell cover its body for several long seconds.
‘Jack…?!’
Then it arose to look up at me with glowing green eyes.
It didn’t scream, didn’t growl or make its body seem bigger than it was.
It just clattered towards me as a terrible hissing sound emitted from its fanged mouth.
I couldn’t believe how fast it moved. Its elaborate system of scrambling legs brought it scuttling towards me at a supernatural speed.
And still, not a single sound other than its legs hitting the stone ground.
Shit.
I dropped my torch to the ground and took the handle of my sword in a two-handed grip. I knew the shell would be too tough to break, but in approaching me its inner workings were exposed.
There was no time to execute a jab.
I swung in a sharp, short arc from left to right with a grunt. My blade struck its inner body workings, its blood spraying onto my overshirt in the process.
The creature fell to the side, landing on the back of its shell in an off-balanced falter. I prayed to god or whoever was listening in that instant that it would be stuck like a turtle, but it rolled over sharply onto its front and jolted back upwards, forming a short arc and hurrying back at me.
This time I was ready.
I shifted my grip on the handle and jabbed the blade forwards with a yell.
My sword plunged into its torso, and the creature’s body immediately tensed up. It kept its gaze focused upon me the entire time. Finally it released a new sound; a throaty clicking noise that ticked over as it continued to press towards me, even with the sword embedded within its body.
I bent by arms as my biceps tensed up powerfully, putting all of my might into keeping control of my weapon.
The blade slice upwards, inch by inch, through the creature’s fleshy innards. Its face only a foot away from mine, it released a final click before it released its weight and its body went limp.
The weight of the drop almost tipped me over. I backed up and wrenched my sword free, and the creature slammed to the floor face first, leaving nothing but its shell facing outwards.
‘Jesus fucking Christ…’ I muttered, panting for breath as my heart pounded. ‘You guys okay down there?’
‘We’re fine, are you?’
‘I think so. Let’s get the hell out of here.’
‘But what about the other one up there?’
I looked to the blue orb that I had first noticed on the higher ridge. It was still pulsating, and its movements were becoming more violent.
‘I’ll use one of my power stones to light him up before he gets to us.’
I had passed the gigantic husk that I had first seen upon arrival when Aden spoke.
‘What about the others?’ He said deeply.
‘What others?’
‘Those…’
I could see their faces by now in the light of the torches they were still holding. Confusion had formed, but it quickly turned to total horror.
Then, from the corner of my eye, that blue glow began again.
I spun around and looked up to the walls.
Twenty
of the orbs on either side of the cavern were flickering in the darkness, turning on and off like fading light switches coming in and out of power.
Down below it was like looking up to the audience of an arena – an audience that was about to jump out of their seats and maul us to death.
‘We need to run,’ Cass said quickly.
‘No,’ I replied sharply, ‘they’re too fast. They’re small enough to get through the passage and they’ll catch up with us in no time no matter how fast we run.’
‘So what’s the plan?’
The one that had been moving since the beginning suddenly exploded from its orb and scrambled for the ledge to move towards Cass and her brothers.
It reached the edge and aimed to jump down, but fell messily and madly from ledge to ledge until it crashed down onto the ground with a crunch.
It’s shell was slightly concaved from the drop as it rolled on its back, but it was getting ready to topple itself over.
‘Get up to the top level!’ I yelled. ‘We need to fight them from above.’
I dashed towards the end of the cavern where my companions stood.
Cass was a skilled acrobat thanks to her nimble figure. She leaped up to the first and second ledge effortlessly, landing right next to one of the eggs in the process.
She brought up her pickaxe above her head and smashed the end down into the squirming flesh of the egg. The tip pierced it and sent liquid spilling down the ridges, alongside a high-pitched squeal from the creature that didn’t get a chance to hatch.
It had been on its back, and the tip of the head had pierced straight into its centre.
That was its weakness.
‘Move!’
I sprinted hard towards them, arriving just as Aden and Oden were clambering onto the third level. Their size meant they couldn’t move as fast as their sister, and I was right behind them.
Eggs were bursting all around the chamber, releasing a cacophony of scuttling legs and crunching shells as the creatures made towards us. Those on our side were hurrying along the levels in our direction.
Climbing to the fourth and penultimate ridge, I heard that sound of scrambling feet move behind me too close.
