They went back to entrance of the cave and retrieved Roland’s backpack. He ingested some elixir to help replenish his mana and began to meditate as Shadow ate some dried meat and kept an eye out while Roland meditated. Shadow was healed, but he needed to recover his energy. He could lay down while he kept watch.
After a few hours of rest, Roland was up and they reentered the cave. So that they could see more clearly, Roland added some more wood to the fire in the cave. The fire had gone almost completely out. They walked through the cave to the rear exit or entrance, whichever it was. It led to a small valley up in the mountains. The Ettin must have come from this valley or beyond. They didn’t see any more Ettin and were very thankful. They headed back into the cave and removed the four heads, dumping them down the cliff above the centaur camp. Then they headed back down the mountain.
They arrived at the centaur camp after night fall. The guard that spotted them sounded a loud horn and then escorted them into the camp. The camp must have been asleep because it took some time before any centaurs began to show up. The four heads were on spears around the central campfire.
Wenham came forward with Manfred walking behind him. Wenham spoke first. “Welcome back, friends of the Centaurs. We would honor you for serving us. We had no idea there were two Ettin causing us problems. You completed double what we expected of you. How you completed the task and returned alive is beyond amazing. I am giving you not only a necklace that will be a symbol of our friendship, but I have added something else to this necklace. I have added +5 endurance and +5 strength to the necklace. It is called the Centaur Amulet. Wenham placed the necklace around Roland’s neck.
They gave both Roland and Shadow food and then allowed them to get some much needed rest. It wasn’t until the next day that the festivities really begin. They celebrated for three days. The story of the fight was told and retold. If it were anyone else besides Roland repeating the story, the facts would become inflated.
The day Roland and Shadow left to finish the original quest, Manfred spoke to Roland. “Listen Roland. I’ve been to the Painted Desert several times. I would like to give you some advice. The desert is very dry but the mountains have lots of snow on them. The water going down the east side of the mountains seeps down into the ground instead of staying on the surface. If you stay along the base of the mountain, you will find caves that hold pools of water. The rock at the base of the mountains is very porous. Keep a nose out for these caves. This will allow you to stay in the desert for longer periods of time.”
“You will also be able to go further south than you normally would. The lizards you are looking for like the dunes found to the south. Remember, if you find a good cave with water close to the dunes, you will be able to stay for a good amount of time. There are plenty of snakes, lizards, and scorpions you can kill for food. Don’t eat the lizard you’re trying to find. Magical creatures aren’t to be eaten. They will harm you, but the non-magical creatures will be fine to eat. I myself like the giant scorpions. They have a white meat on them that is just hard to beat. Happy hunting and thank you again Roland.”
They shook hands and went their separate ways. Roland and Shadow stopped early that night. They were still recovering from the exertion and emotional stress. Almost losing Shadow was more than Roland was willing to think about. When Eli said that losing the bond would be a terrible thing, Roland hadn’t thought much about it. Now, it was a different matter. The bond had truly taken effect. When the time came, and the bond broke, he now knew that it would be a horrendous feeling.
As they ate their dinner that night, Roland decided to check his status. Surely killing two Ettin had to help his status.
Status Panel
Level
23
Age
18
Health
320
Title:
N/A
Mana
615
Heath Regen
0.001/Second
Stamina
425
Mana Regen
0.0005/Second
Vitality
32
Stamina Regen
0.01/Second
Strength
30
Race
Half-Elf
Endurance
55
Bonus
Dexterity +2 per level
Dexterity
80
End +5 and Str +5
Wisdom:
68
Active Status Conditions
Intelligence
55
Animal Bond
Charisma
10
Available Points
5
He had gained a level. He was getting close to level 25. He was determined to stay out in the desert until he reached his goal. Who knew how many lizards he would have to kill, but he would do it. He had a goal now. He would need to put his points into some area. He was thinking intelligence. He needed to increase his mana level some more. That last fight was the first time it had lowered his mana so much. He never wanted to be so low that he couldn’t heal Shadow. That would put his intelligence up to 60 and put his mana up to 640. The most amazing thing, he thought, was that he gained another level in Charisma.
They rounded the end of the mountains and were headed south southwest along the base of the mountains. They kept a steady pace, but the further south they went the hotter and drier it became. They started traveling at night and holding up during the daytime. The base of the mountains had large rock formations surrounded by sand. The only thing they saw to the east were sand dunes, which seemed to go on forever. It was like seeing a sea of giant sand waves.
They started to run low on water, so Shadow went off after they made camp. When the sun began to rise, Shadow searched for these supposed caves with water in them. The mountains on the east side looked like solid stone. It wasn’t until, at a much higher elevation, trees could be seen. The trees that were in the mountains were few and far between. The solid rock showing along the mountains was a variety of colors. There were stripes appearing along the stone face. The stripes differed in color and texture. The colors seemed to be primarily reds, oranges, greys, and browns. It looked as if someone painted stripes on the mountains.
Shadow came back shortly after sunrise. Did you find anything Shadow?
I did find some water. It is in a hole in the ground, next to a rock formation. I found it by accident. We will need to dig out some sand to get down to it. Now that I know what to look for, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. We probably passed several places where we could have found water, but we shouldn’t have too hard of a time finding water from now on.
Any sign of the lizards?
No, or at least I don’t think so. It is hard to tell where all the scents I’m smelling are coming from. I believe there is a scorpion in the hole where we are going. There was a strong smell down there.
We should get some sleep then. They stayed under a rock overhang. It gave protection from the heat of the sun, but the wind was hot and dry.
That evening they ate some dried jerky. Shadow was hoping for a kill tonight. He liked fresh kill much better than dried meat.
They found the hole in the ground. It took some time for Roland to dig the hole big enough for them to easily slide into. The hole turned out to be a small cave. Roland pulled out his small oil lamp and lit it. The cave was cool and moist. They could hear drops of water dripping. That was a good sign. There was also signs that something else was down there with them. They detected tracks along the sandy floor. They were big tracks.
Roland strung his bow and started down the cave towards the sound of water dripping. The sound of movement caught both Roland’s and Shadow’s ears. They stilled, trying to detect which direction the movement was coming from. They rounded a corner in the cave, spotting a small pool of water on the left side of the cave. The tracks went to the right side of the pool, along wet sand. The tracks were very obvious
. Somewhere, something was waiting for them.
The sound came again and they both saw the movement. It came from the back side of the cave, behind some rocks that had fallen from the ceiling. Roland laid down the oil lamp and cast shadow illusion on both of them. There was a slight breeze in the cave and this caused the small light to flicker and gave the shadows movement. It also gave them the ability to move across the cave almost completely undetectable.
Roland was very close. It was a giant scorpion. Well at least it was about the size of a large dog with a tail double its length. The look of the thing was off though. It was dark in color but on its back looked to have growths that were a much lighter color on it. Roland looked a bit closer and then it dawned on him that the scorpion had baby scorpions on its back. They were the size of rabbits. There were five of them. Roland wasn’t sure but he figured that each one of those things could probably kill a man with its sting. Or a wolf for that matter.
They decided to go about this in a methodical way. They would kill the big scorpion first. They didn’t know if the little ones would run or stay attached to the mother. Neither Shadow nor Roland knew much about scorpions except to stay away from them. Neither of them knew that they grew this big in the desert.
The whole event was anticlimactic. The mother died with one shot and the babies didn’t go anywhere. It was just gross and a bit creepy. If one didn’t know scorpions were in the area and they stung, it could easily have turned out the other way around. Roland and Shadow would have been the easy kill.
The water was cool and refreshing. The pool was about three feet deep. They filled up the canteens and then tried to dissect the scorpions. The mother scorpion had a large venom sack that Roland removed. The little ones had sacks that were just too small to use. Shadow claimed the meat was good, so they packed up some meat from the large scorpion and they departed.
They spent the rest of the night heading south. They were getting deeper and deeper into the Painted Desert. As morning neared, they found another cave. This one was smaller than the first, but it did have a pool of water. This time, they were the only ones using the cave. Thankfully, they didn’t have to fight anything for the use of the water. They blocked off the entrance as best as they could. The underground cave was actually nice and cool. The water in the cave made sleeping conditions very comfortable.
The next evening, they continued to head south. They hunted and kept a good supply of scorpion meat as they were plentiful. The meat, when cooked, was a white meat. Roland thought it tasted like pork, while Shadow thought it tasted more like chicken. Shadow seemed to think everything tasted like chicken sometimes.
Roland determined that they had traveled about halfway down the side of the Painted Mountains. This would put them in the deepest part of the sand dunes. Stun Lizards were supposed to be located in the deepest part of the sand dunes. They would find a good cave and then begin the search for lizards.
They seemed to find a cave every night now. The Centaurs were right about there being lots of caves and water, if you knew where to look. However, not all the caves were very big. If they were to begin killing large amounts of lizards, it would be nice to have a bigger cave. Roland hated bending over all the time in the smaller caves. They also wanted a larger pool of water.
On the second night, they finally found a large cavern. It was the largest space they had located so far. This one had been used by lots of different animals over the years. They killed a few more scorpions. The cave system went back further than they wanted to explore. They would need to be careful and always check for unwanted visitors in this cave system. They found a nice stalactite on the ceiling where Roland hooked his rope. He pulled his pack up and away from the floor so no animals could get to it while they were out hunting.
The first night of hunting, Roland took his bow and two quivers of arrows. After the Ettin fight, he had lost enough arrows that he was down to just the two quivers. He had been able to recover the arrowheads, but the shafts and the fletchings were destroyed. He had a few healing elixirs as well as a few antitoxin elixirs. Since this was his first-time hunting Stun Lizards, they were going to have to be cautious.
Nighttime in the desert was very active. That was when the wildlife were out in mass. Snakes were the most common thing they encountered. The second most common were the scorpions. They had become Roland and Shadow’s favorite food in the desert. Insects, small lizards, bats, and even birds were everywhere and because of that, hunting for Stun Lizards was challenging for the two trackers. They had always been able to identify what they were smelling and they knew how to hunt for what they were after. These Stun Lizards were a big unknown. Roland knew what they looked like and knew how dangerous they were. What he didn’t know was what they smelled like, how they should be hunted, where they hid, how they hunted, or what their main prey was.
The first few nights out hunting, Roland and Shadow used the process of elimination. They would track an unfamiliar odor until they found what was emitting the smell, eliminating it if it wasn’t the Stun Lizard. Then they would track another odor and try again. The worst animal they tracked was a medium sized lizard that seemed to swim in the sand. It moved faster than a squirrel with a wolf in pursuit. They never did actually catch the thing. They just got close enough to know what the association was between smell and what it looked like.
They went deeper and deeper into the dunes. There were fewer smells there, but they picked up on a few new smells. They were trying to eliminate another smell when one of those sand swimming lizards jumped out of a dune. Shadow snapped at the thing and was determined to kill the pest. Roland took the opportunity to take a rest. He was humored by Shadow’s irritation. Shadow wasn’t humored. He wanted to kill the thing.
Roland pulled out his canteen and was watching the area for movement, sniffing the air for new smells. He had picked up on a smell that he had come across a few times in the deeper part of the desert. He was having a hard time determining where the smell was coming from. It was near, but somehow it was masked.
He was in the middle of a sniff when the smell became a bit stronger. Whatever it was, it was close. The sand behind Roland exploded outward and an incredible pain hit him. He wasn’t able to think, it hurt so badly. The thing bit him on his hand. Roland’s whole body tingled. Then nothing. He could barely breathe. He was paralyzed.
A big lizard walked up beside him. Or at least he thought it was a big lizard. He couldn’t turn his head. He couldn’t focus his eyes either. The thing was dragging him away by pulling his leg. His head was hurting so bad and he had no idea where Shadow was.
He could hear a scuffle. Growling and yelps could be heard. Time was a blur. His major concern was to keep breathing. The pain was horrible but he was afraid if he lost consciousness he would suffocate. He just wanted to give up and fall asleep.
Sometime later Shadow came close and sniffed him. At least Shadow seemed to be OK. He wasn’t able to communicate with him. His mind link was gone. He felt abandoned without the link. Even with Shadow next to him. Shadow grabbed a hold of the shoulder piece of his armor and began dragging him. The dragging just kept going on forever and forever. They stopped at the base of a large rock in the dunes. Finally, sleep overtook him.
When he awoke, his lips were chapped. His head felt like someone had clubbed him over the head, except on the inside of the head. He was able to move. Not a lot, but some. Shadow was back in his mind. Thank you, Shadow.
The lizard got away. I wasn’t able to kill it but it couldn’t eat you with me trying to kill him either. It was a stalemate. I know what they smell like now.
I think I can find them now. They have been around. I’ve smelled them before. We just couldn’t put the smell with the lizard. I’m going to kill that thing.
Are you able to get up? We have a long walk to get back to the cave. It is early morning. If we stay out here it won’t be good for either of us.
I’ll try. Help me up. That poison is still working on me. I
’ll take some elixir. That should help.
Roland pulled out his elixirs. He downed the health elixir and the antitoxin elixir. The health elixir worked better than the antitoxin did. The heat was unbearable by the time Roland and Shadow arrived back to the cave. They stayed in the cave for a few days. Roland needed to recover. The feeling in the hand that was bitten didn’t return for almost two days.
Roland and Shadow decided to hunt after three days had passed. Roland was feeling much better and now they were out for revenge. Those Stun Lizards were animals of opportunity. They would attack and ambush their prey. They were big enough that they probably preyed on the scorpions and smaller lizards. Roland and Shadow, now having a better understanding of the Stun Lizards, were going to make them their prey.
They headed out early that night. Roland’s hand wasn’t quite healed from the bite, but it worked well enough. As soon as they got into the bigger dunes, the smell of Stun Lizards became strong. It was amazing how being able to identify a smell seemed to make the scent stronger.
They found their first lizard within the hour. They were surprised as they observed a scorpion passing by the Stun Lizard’s ambush. The scorpion didn’t have a chance. It was stunned and poisoned in seconds. Roland decided it was better to watch the ambush than be in the ambush. As the lizard drug the scorpion away, Roland and Shadow struck.
Roland hit the lizard behind the front leg. He was hoping this was where the heart was located. The lizard spun around and tried to grab the arrow that was causing it so much pain. He put two more arrows into the lizard, and it finally quit moving.
The dissection of this beast was a bit amazing in itself. The head had a concave look. The gland was directly behind the concave area of the forehead. There were two glands that paralyzed, one on each side of its jaw. Its heart was indeed behind the front legs. It would be a tricky shot to hit the heart because the front shoulder protected the vital organ so well. The skull on the lizard was so thick that unless he used one of his special arrows, Roland knew he couldn’t penetrate the thick plates.
Caged: Book 2 Of the King's Hand Series Page 8
