by A. Giannetti
“There is no way around the cliff in front of us,” said Elerian wearily to Ascilius, who was looking fruitlessly for some way around the precipice in front of them. “We will have to go back and climb back up the mountain.”
“Of all the foul luck,” grumbled Ascilius, looking longingly down at the edge of the tree line that was now only several hundred feet below them. There was no way to climb down to it, however, for the outside margin of the ledge still ended in a sheer cliff.
Elerian paid little attention to Ascilius, noticing for the first time that there was a small, inconspicuous cave entrance at the base of the cliff. He eyed the cave mouth suspiciously, finding something unsettling about it, as if unfriendly eyes were watching them from that dark recess.
“Ascilius!” he whispered urgently, “there is something in that cave. I can feel it.”
“More than likely, it is some animal,” said Ascilius wearily. He was not looking forward to climbing back over all the ground they had just descended with so much effort.
The sudden harsh braying of a horn caused both Ascilius and Elerian to start. Dozens of black clad mutare suddenly boiled out of the cave entrance like a swarm of angry bees. Growling like a pack of hounds, the changelings sprinted straight for Elerian and Ascilius. Some ran on two legs while others traveled in great leaps, running on all fours like beasts. Elerian and Ascilius looked wildly about for a way to escape, but the situation appeared hopeless. If they fled back up the ledge, they were sure to be overtaken in short order. If they tried to stand and fight, they would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of mutare.
To buy them some time, Elerian called for his ring. The mutare abruptly stopped their advance, drawing back in surprise when Elerian and Ascilius disappeared before their eyes. They milled about in bewilderment, muttering and growling among themselves as they tried to puzzle out where their enemies had gone. Elerian knew their confusion would not last long. Keen scented as hounds, the changelings would find them by smell once they recovered from their surprise.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” thought Elerian to himself grimly. Snatching up a surprised Ascilius onto his left shoulder, he ran lightly around the agitated mutare and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel behind them.
“Have you lost your mind,” whispered Ascilius in a horrified voice as he struggled to regain his feet. Elerian set the Dwarf down and promptly shoved him up against a wall of the tunnel, which was easily wide enough for a dozen men to walk abreast. Before the Dwarf could say a word of complaint, another pack of noisy mutare swept past them, followed by several dozen Mordi. Trusting to Elerian’s invisibility spell to hide them, Elerian and Ascilius held their breaths, flattening themselves against the wall of the tunnel. Although they could have reached out and touched some of the changelings and Goblins that rushed past, they remained undiscovered. In the depths of the mountain, more horns rang out, and war drums boomed like thunder.
“We are in a proper mess now,” groaned Ascilius, when it was safe to talk again. “It galls me to be caught so near the border of this cursed land.”
“They have not got us yet,” said Elerian grimly as he watched the mutare out on the ledge. Their earlier surprise had faded, and several of them had gone down on their hands and knees, loudly snuffling the ground where Elerian and Ascilius had stood when they vanished.
“They will be on our scent in a moment,” whispered Elerian to Ascilius. “We must run for it. Lead the way Ascilius. I will follow you with my third eye.”
“This is madness,” said Ascilius softly, but with no other choice available to them, he began to run deeper into the Goblin holding. Despite the lack of any light, he ran confidently down the tunnel, guided by a lifetime of living below ground. Somehow sensing a side tunnel in the darkness, he slowed, vanishing into an opening in the right hand wall of the tunnel. Following the golden glow of the invisibility spell that covered Ascilius, Elerian also entered the tunnel, which angled sharply down, carrying them toward the roots of the mountain. The uproar behind them faded away.
“We may still escape,” whispered Elerian to Ascilius, but then, behind them, he heard the howling of the mutare begin again.
“They have got our scent now,” said Ascilius gloomily. “We may as well begin looking for a place to make a stand. There will be no escape for us this time, and it is my fault. I should have listened to you up on the mountain.”
“We may yet escape,” said Elerian, refusing to give up hope, “but if it comes to a fight, I mean to take a good number of them with me before I make the last journey.”
Elerian’s words heartened Ascilius. Lighting a small mage light, he began to run even more swiftly down the tunnel, now that he could see clearly. The passageway continued to take them down toward the base of the mountain, where, if they were fortunate, they might find an exit to the valley they had seen from the saddle.
Behind them, the noise made by their pursuers continued to draw closer, but Ascilius and Elerian abruptly stopped in their tracks. Before them was a stout iron door that barred any further progress down the tunnel.
“This is strange,” said Ascilius in a puzzled voice. “This looks like the door to a cell. See, there is a slot in the bottom to push food through the door.”
“Whatever it is, we must risk it,” said Elerian, for behind them, their pursuers were steadily closing the gap between them. “We passed no side tunnels, so there is no point in going back.” Lifting, one at a time, the two heavy iron crossbars that barred the door, Elerian set them on the floor of the tunnel. Next, he cast an opening spell at the door lock, which gave a sharp click as it opened. Cautiously, Ascilius grasped the rusty, iron door handle, pulling the door open with a loud squeal of rusted hinges.
“If there is anything in there, it knows we are coming now,” he said glumly. Once they were both past the door, they pulled it shut behind them, and Elerian locked it again with a closing spell.
“By the feel of it, I think we are near the roots of the mountain,” said Ascilius as he stared suspiciously at the narrow tunnel before them. They could both see a good distance down it by the light of Ascilius’s mage light.
“Judging by the smell, something has died down here,” said Elerian, choking slightly, as a heavy odor of decay, mixed with a rank animal smell, swept over them like a fog. Gripping their weapons tightly, they moved cautiously down the tunnel until they came to a cavern too large for Ascilius’s small light to illuminate completely. The smell grew worse, as if they were approaching its source. Behind them, they suddenly heard the howling of the mutare and then, unmistakably, the clang of the crossbars being dropped into their slots. The howling was replaced by wicked laughter and taunts from the Wood Goblins accompanying the mutare.
“Come out,” called the Mordi. “Come to the door and perhaps we will let you out if you beg hard enough!”
“They are not following us,” said Elerian uneasily to Ascilius. He was facing the tunnel, for he had turned that way when he heard the crossbars drop. Ascilius did not reply. Instead, Elerian felt a light tap on his right shoulder. He turned and saw that Ascilius was standing still as a statue, staring into the depths of the cavern. Elerian looked, too, and deep in the darkness, beyond the reach of Ascilius’s mage light, he saw a pair of huge eyes burning like pale green lamps. The sound of heavy breathing came to his ears, as if something enormous waited in the darkness.
“What sort of monster have the Goblins imprisoned down here,” wondered Elerian as he took his bow off his shoulders and set an arrow to its string. Beside him, Ascilius took a firmer grip on his ax, moving away from Elerian so that he would have room to swing his weapon.
“Try a brighter light,” whispered Elerian. “Maybe it will be frightened off, whatever it is.”
Ascilius promptly extended his right arm, and the spark of white light hovering above him blossomed into an orb the size of a fist, illuminating every part the dark cavern, which proved to be irregular in shape, about sixty feet long and twenty
wide, with a high ceiling. The walls and floor were rough and broken, indicating a natural cave. What held both Ascilius and Elerian riveted, however, was the monstrous shape the light revealed, standing less than forty feet in front of them.
The creature was slightly hunched over on its hind legs, but even so, its massive head was a good seven feet above the floor of the cavern. It was covered with coarse black fur, and its face had a wolfish cast, with upright, triangular ears and a long muzzle filled with cruelly pointed teeth. Its mouth was slightly open, the lower jaw dripping ropes of saliva onto the stone floor of the cavern. Long arms hung loosely at its sides, the short, powerful fingers on its paws tipped with long, hooked claws. Although the creature’s green eyes were narrowed against the glare of the mage light, it seemed otherwise unaffected by it.
Elerian saw a fierce hunger in the creature’s eyes, and he noted that its strong bones stood out beneath its skin, as if its meals had been few and far between of late. It reminded Elerian of a mutare except for its size and the intelligence displayed in the eyes. Here was a creature that could think and plan.
Seeing that the light did not deter the creature, Ascilius dimmed it once more, even as Elerian raised his right hand and cast a destruction spell at the creature. As his spell flashed across the cavern, a fine, silvery script shone through the dark fur around the creature’s neck, and Elerian saw for the first time that it wore a thin iron collar. A red film of light spilled from the collar, covering the creature an instant before Elerian’s spell reached it. With disappointed eyes, Elerian watched his spell flare futilely against the creature’s shield spell before fading away.
“The magic of its collar is as powerful as my own,” said Elerian tensely to Ascilius.
Before the Dwarf could reply, the beast shambled closer, walking awkwardly on its hind legs, until it was barely fifteen feet away. Ascilius immediately sent his mage light up to the roof of the cavern so that it would not give away his position.
The monster, however, was not deterred by the invisibility spell cast by Elerian’s ring. Although it could not see them, obviously, it could smell them and hear them breathing, for it kept turning its head from Elerian to Ascilius and back again. It seemed to be in no hurry to attack them, and Elerian supposed that it looked upon them as a diversion as well as a source of food. He wondered how long it had sat alone in the dark cavern with nothing but its thoughts and its hunger to occupy it. The beast licked its teeth with a long, red tongue.
“Run!” it said in a voice so low and hoarse that both Elerian and Ascilius started in surprise. “Amuse me with your screams, and I will let one of you live a little longer.”
“Let us pass and we will not slay you,” said Elerian boldly.
The creature laughed horribly. “I am proof against any weapon you carry. Run or I will tear your living flesh to pieces now!”
Despite the threat, Elerian and Ascilius stood their ground. With a disappointed growl, the creature leaped at Ascilius, covering the distance between them so quickly that it had the Dwarf pinned beneath its front paws before he could swing his ax. As he lay helplessly on his back, Ascilius felt the beast’s warm, rancid breath blow over his face, and the gloating, green eyes seemed to fill all his sight. Elerian shot his arrow, but he was not surprised to see it rebound from the beast’s neck as a shield spell again covered the monster with a red cloak of light. Without hesitation, he cast aside his bow and arrows, fearlessly leaping upon the creature’s broad, hairy back. Seizing one of the creature’s long ears in each of his hands, he twisted them with all his considerable strength.
With a roar like a thunderclap, the beast rose up on its hind legs. Forgetting about Ascilius, it reached wildly for Elerian who had already jumped off its back to land lightly on his feet. Ascilius immediately sprang to his feet and ran. The chamber now became a scene of intense activity as the monster chased the two invisible companions from one end of the cavern to the other. Ascilius was in the most danger, for he was far slower than Elerian, but each time the Dwarf was hard pressed, Elerian sprang upon the creature’s back and twisted its ears painfully. Fortunately for the two companions, the lack of regular meals had greatly weakened the beast pursuing them. Although they had many narrow escapes, the monster failed to lay even a single claw on them. Finally, chest heaving, it slowed to a walk as it pursued them.
Elerian began to taunt the creature, shouting insults at it while Ascilius stealthily crept up behind it. Snatching up the monster’s short, hairy tail in his powerful hands, he twisted it, eliciting a tremendous roar of pain from the creature. When it spun around to defend itself, Ascilius was already out of its reach. Snarling viciously, the creature backed up to a wall of the cavern so that Ascilius and Elerian could not come up on it from behind. Sitting on its hind legs, it panted heavily for a time, its green eyes filled with thwarted rage and a ferocious hunger. Then, it spoke once more, its harsh rumbling voice filling the cavern.
“The two of you may as well give up, for you are only delaying the time of your death. You may hurt me, but you cannot injure me, and eventually, you must sleep. When you finally close your eyes, you will find me in your nightmares.”
“He is right,” whispered Ascilius to Elerian. “This cannot go on forever.”
“Watch him,” said Elerian softly, “while I search the cavern for another way out.” While Ascilius kept a wary eye on the creature, Elerian quietly searched the perimeter of the cavern. He found that as long as he could see Ascilius, he could sustain the tenuous tendril of light that tethered them together, maintaining the invisibility spell that covered the Dwarf. Despite the foul odor that filled the chamber, the air remained breathable, and Elerian reasoned that there must be some opening that let in fresh air. Halfway around the chamber, concealed by a large boulder, he found a narrow fissure in the wall of the cavern. A steady stream of fresh air blew in from the small opening. Although it was far too small even for his slender frame, he quickly came up with a plan that might allow them to escape through it.
From his protected place against the cave wall, the monster was beginning to grow suspicious. “What is your friend doing?” he asked Ascilius. “If he is looking for a way out, he is wasting his time. There is no opening large enough to allow you to escape from this cave except for the door at the end of the tunnel and that is always barred.”
“You are quite right, I am afraid,” said Elerian, who had already returned to Ascilius’s side. “There is no way to escape,” he said, pretending to sound disappointed. In the faintest whisper he could manage, Elerian then spoke into Ascilius’s left ear.
“There is an opening behind the large boulder directly behind us,” he said softly. “After I transform you, go to it and I will follow.” Before the Dwarf could object, Elerian transformed Ascilius into a badger. After he got over the shock of being in a new form, Ascilius padded away, regretfully leaving his ax behind.
“What are you whispering about,” asked the creature irritably. “You may as well give up and let me eat you now. I promise that I will kill you quickly.”
“We were just wondering what you were before you assumed the form you wear now,” said Elerian, talking loudly to cover any noise Ascilius might make.
“I was an Uruc once, I think,” said the creature slowly as if searching deep into its memory. “The Dark King imprisoned me in this shape and locked me in this cavern as a punishment. I have sat here in the dark for many long years since then, with only my hunger to keep me company. My warders do not feed me well or often.”
Almost, Elerian felt sorry for the creature, but not enough to consider helping it. Abandoning his bow, but holding his knife between his teeth, he cast the spell that would transform him into a badger and padded silently after Ascilius. The changeling must have suspected that something was amiss, for it leaped across the cavern, straight for Elerian. Extinguishing Ascilius’s mage light to confuse the creature, Elerian scrambled into the fissure just ahead of its reaching claws. As he retreated deeper
into the fissure, a mournful cry rose up behind Elerian, so full of hunger and misery that it made him shudder. He wished that there was some way that he could stop up his ears so that he would no longer have to hear it. Ending his invisibility spell, now that it was no longer needed, Elerian traveled a short distance up the tunnel where a faint mage light revealed Ascilius’s stripped badger face and bright black eyes.
“You took long enough,” he said sharply, his voice all rough and snarly. “You should know better than to talk to such creatures. They are liars and treacherous to boot.”
Setting his knife down for a moment, Elerian said, “I wished to give you time to escape.” Another mournful howl filled the tunnel. “I almost feel almost feel sorry for him, doomed as he is to languish alone in the dark,” said Elerian with a shiver.
“With a little luck, he will starve to death soon, and his misery will be at an end,” said Ascilius callously. He had no sympathy for anything even remotely connected to Goblin kind. Turning around, he set off down the tunnel, followed by Elerian. The crevice grew steadily smaller, narrowing so much that they were forced to crawl on their bellies for an endless time through a twisting shaft that grew so tight that they could scarcely breathe. Dust and dirt choked them, and tiny, unseen creatures scuttled into cracks in the walls at the approach of their light. Ascilius could see their small, red eyes in the gloom ahead of him, just beyond the range of his mage light. He became haunted by the fear that the shaft would end, and that he and Elerian would not be able to advance or retreat, doomed to a slow death in the dark, while the loathsome creatures that lay hidden in the walls feasted on their flesh.
Ascilius was almost at the point of asking Elerian to change the two of them into some lesser beast when he suddenly came to a small opening through which he could see the night sky. He had a horrible time getting through at first, but Elerian came up behind him and used a parting spell to widen the gap, allowing the Dwarf to squeeze through. Elerian slipped out behind him, and they sat together resting by the exit, two small gray shapes that were barely discernable in the litter of rock scattered around the entrance to the tunnel.
