by F. P. Spirit
Glo lost it at that point, his curtain of fire completely failing. With it gone, a multitude of black clad figures poured from the temple entrance. They rushed down the steps just as the entire front of the building collapsed.
Huge boulders crashed to the ground, the earth shaking from the impact. A cloud of dust rushed outward from the site, sweeping over the companions like a wave.
Glo and the others covered their heads and waited for the wave to pass. The rumbling finally subsided. Glo peeked out from beneath his robes. Dust still filled the air, but it was slowly settling back to the ground.
When the dust finally dissipated, they saw that their plan had worked. The temple entrance was completely gone, hidden behind an avalanche of stone. Not a single cultist had made it out of the temple in time. The few who had tried now lay buried beneath a rocky tomb.
Kalyn whistled in amazement at the sight of the devastation. “I think somehow Glo won that last contest.”
“Definitely beat his record at the lighthouse,” Seth commented wryly.
Glo cast a scathing stare at the halfling, but Seth was grinning. “Not that I’m complaining or anything.”
Glo just shook his head. “I’m never going to live this down, am I?”
“Nope,” Seth answered with a wide smirk.
Slaves of the Serpent
Another figure was chained to the post in the middle of the small cavern.
Seth was amazed their plan had worked. He thought for certain they were goners after Lloyd cold-cocked that guard. He had hoped they could slip through town and make it to the north end of the hollow unnoticed. However, Lloyd’s keen sense of righteousness had dashed any chance of that.
Still, he supposed he couldn’t completely blame the tall warrior. The abusive guard did have it coming—and beyond all hope, they had somehow managed to seal most of the cultists in their own temple. With any luck, they would reach the caves before any of them managed to extricate themselves.
Aksel seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He motioned for everyone to gather around. “We need to move quickly. Seth, you keep an eye out for any rogue cultists. Kalyn, Martan, you two go and scout the road ahead. The rest of you stay put so I can heal your wounds. As soon as I’m done, we’ll move out.”
Kalyn and Martan took off, while Aksel tended to Lloyd, Donnie, and Cyclone. Once they were all healed, the group headed north out of the small village. Seth led the way until they met up with Kalyn and Martan.
“We’ve got good news and bad news,” Kalyn drawled in that thick Deepwood accent of hers.
Seth just couldn’t resist asking the obvious question. “So what’s the good news?”
“There’s nothing between here and the cave except for a few snakes,” Kalyn answered almost too nonchalantly, though he detected a slight tremor in her voice. The young woman still hadn’t gotten over her aversion to the slippery creatures. He wondered just how she’d react when they came face to face with that snake-man in the cave.
“So what’s the bad news?” Donnie just had to ask.
“There are a lot of folks guarding the front entrance,” Martan answered this time.
Elladan pursed his lips together. “Just how many is a lot?”
Kalyn and Martan exchanged a brief glance before she replied. “We counted about twenty.”
“Almost sounds like they were expecting us,” Donnie wisecracked.
Seth fixed the slight elf with an acid stare. “Ya think?”
Aksel stepped back, his face scrunching up with concern. “This is not good. That’s far too many for us to handle at once.”
Glo steepled his hands together in front of his chin. “What we could really use is some sort of distraction.”
Elladan snapped his fingers together and wagged one in the air. “I think I have just the thing.”
All eyes turned to the bard as he reached into his pouch. The dark-haired elf pulled out what looked like a small piece of wool, then weaved his hands in an intricate pattern. He ended the incantation with the words, “Perfecta Deceptionem.”
Seth watched with fascination as Elladan’s face began to bubble. It popped and twisted in a few different directions until its entire shape changed. The bard’s body followed suit. In mere moments, he transformed into the spitting image of the dark mage, Paine. When Elladan spoke, his voice even sounded like the smug man. “Ah, you must be the Heroes of Ravenford. So good of you to offer up your lives to our goddess.”
Kalyn giggled at the bard’s imitation. “Dang, that’s really good.” The young woman sniffed the air. “You even smell like him.”
Seth squinted an eye at the lady archer. “And just when were you smelling Paine?”
Kalyn fixed him with a wicked stare. “It’s not like it was on purpose or nuthin’. I just needed to get all them arrows back that I shot at the creep.”
Seth let out a short, closemouthed laugh. “Humph. Sure, ya did.”
“Anyway,”—Aksel interjected shifting their attention back to Elladan—“what exactly did you have in mind?”
“How about this?” Elladan cleared his throat and waved his hand in the air, pretending to shout in a soft voice. “You! Guards! The sacrifices are getting away! Quick, follow me!”
Soft chuckles sprung up around the gathered group. The corner of Seth’s mouth twitched with appreciation. “Not bad. That just might work.”
The companions put their heads together and swiftly laid out a strategy centered around Elladan’s disguise. In the end it worked like a charm. Elladan drew most of the guards away from the cave entrance into the trees. There, they were able to pick them off in small groups. When they were done, only a small contingent remained in front of the caves.
Donnie, Cyclone, and Lloyd doffed their disguises and pretended to be captives. The others walked them up to the entrance. Once within striking distance, the companions made short work of the remaining guards. Aksel healed some minor wounds they had incurred, then Seth led the way into the cave.
The inside was exactly as Seth remembered it. Torches lined the rough-hewn walls at periodic distances, nicely illuminating their way. The tunnel angled downward for around three hundred feet, then opened into a small cavern. The chamber was empty except for a few torches spaced evenly along the walls. Three more tunnels branched off from there, one directly in front of them and one to either side.
Low moans drifted up from the tunnel on the left, reminding Seth of the last time he was here. Seth felt the blood drain from his face at the memory of what he had seen down that tunnel.
“What’s all that racket?” Kalyn whispered softly.
Seth cast a glance at the lady archer. “I’m not sure you want to know.”
“So which way do we go from here?” Aksel prompted him.
Seth peered at his cleric friend, torn as to what they should do. Common sense dictated that they continue along the main path, but somehow Seth couldn’t bring himself to ignore all those tortured souls he had seen.
The halfling closed his eyes and shook his head. Damn it. All these goody-two-shoes must be rubbing off on me.
His mind made up, Seth turned down the path to the left, motioning for the others to follow. He put a single finger to his lips as he went and whispered, “Quietly.”
Seth led his companions down the short tunnel until they reached the tall portcullis that blocked the passageway. A few gasps escaped his friends when they saw what lay beyond.
Seth’s own stomach turned once again at the sight. Another figure was chained to the post in the middle of the small cavern—a woman this time. A few snakes were already wrapped around her and Seth could see the bite marks on her body.
She moaned and writhed in pain as the black-hooded figure stood before her, chuckling with obvious delight. Someone gagged behind Seth. He cast a gl
ance over his shoulder and saw Kalyn blanch, her face turning deathly pale.
Seth held a finger to his lips and shook his head. The halfling returned his gaze to the small cavern beyond the gate. Three of the cages were filled with humans; Seth counted a few dozen of them. The last cage held about ten of those weird-looking half-snake beings. The creatures hissed and slithered, but they seemed far more docile than the last time he had been there.
Seth backed away from the gate, motioning for the others to follow. They retreated a short distance down the tunnel until they were out of earshot of the dark torturer.
Once they stopped, Lloyd whispered in outrage. “We can’t just leave those folks there.”
For once, Seth agreed with the tall warrior. “We’re not going to… but we can’t just rush in, either. If he releases those half-snake creatures, we’ll have a heck of a fight on our hands.”
Aksel’s expression was dreadfully somber. “What do you propose?”
Seth eyed Lloyd speculatively. “How fast do you think you can lift that portcullis?”
Lloyd’s expression was positively grim. “Lift it? Heck, I’ll smash through it if I have to.”
The young warrior set his jaw as he retrieved his warhammers from Elladan once again.
“Be faster if we both do it.”
Everyone turned to gaze at Cyclone. Seth found it surprising the dragon hunter suddenly wanted to help. Lloyd did as well.
“I thought you ‘didn’t do hammers’?’”
The dragon hunter roughly grabbed one of the hammers from Lloyd’s hand and brushed by him. “Humph. Let’s just get this over with already.”
Seth exchanged a brief glance with Aksel. The little cleric just shook his head, his expression mystified.
The party followed Cyclone down the tunnel, and on Aksel’s signal, warrior and dragon hunter each swung a large hammer at the gate.
The twin strikes hit the portcullis so hard that it sounded like a gong had gone off. The rock holding the gate in place split in half and the metal structure fell into the cavern beyond with a loud thud.
The black-hooded torturer was taken by surprise. It whipped around, the hood falling from its head as Alana and Donnie charged into the room.
Seth momentarily froze as the torturer’s identity was revealed. It was a bald-headed woman, her skull and face covered with snake tattoos. She immediately grabbed the snakes off her victim and threw them to the ground between her and her would-be attackers.
“Get them, my petsssss,” she hissed in a weird, snake-like voice.
Four large cobra-like snakes sat on the ground between the companions and their target. Alana and Donnie stopped to deal with them. Lloyd and Cyclone swiftly joined them.
While they were preoccupied, Seth stole around the inside wall of the cavern. He was not sure the tunnel was not the only way out of this cave, and he would be damned if he let the torturer get away.
Yet the black-robed woman seemed to have other ideas. While the fighting went on, she slowly inched her way toward the cage with the half-snake, half-human creatures.
Kalyn must have seen it the same time as Seth. Her warning reverberated across the cavern.
“Watch out! She’s gonna set them critters loose!”
The lady archer might not have a clear shot, but Seth had worked his way far enough around the cavern wall. He drew a thin black blade from his belt and flung it with deadly accuracy. The sharp blade flipped end over end as it sailed across the small cave, striking its target square in the chest.
The black-robed woman halted in her tracks, her hands going to the knife suddenly protruding from her torso. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, landing on her side, all the while still grasping the hilt of the knife. A moment later, she went completely still.
“Nice one, short stack!” Kalyn called from the cavern entrance.
Yet Seth paid her little heed. The others had finished off the deadly cobras. Miraculously, no one had been bitten. Seth led the others over to the cages with the human prisoners. The halfling swiftly unlocked all three and let the captives out. The prisoners turned out to be from all over the surrounding area, including Deepwood.
A couple of them seemed to recognize Kalyn. They exchanged greetings with the lady archer, Kalyn even hugging one or two of them.
“I never gave up on ya! I told the others you guys hadn’t up and ran off, but they wouldn’t listen to me,” Kalyn exclaimed. “I knew I wasn’t crazy!”
“Debatable,” Seth noted, the corner of his mouth twisting upward.
Kalyn squinted at him darkly, but then returned her attention to the captives. “When you all get back to Deepwood, you tell ‘em I was right and set their butts on fire!”
Elladan tapped Kalyn on the shoulder. “Sorry to interrupt this touching reunion, but we should get them out of here as soon as possible. No telling what will happen to these caves when we confront the cult leaders.”
Aksel nodded in agreement. “Go ahead and escort them out of here. I want to see if there is anything I can do for these human-snake creatures.”
“Good luck with that,” Elladan said, his expression clearly skeptical. He then motioned to the freed captives. “This way, folks.”
Elladan, Kalyn, Martan, Alana, and Donnie escorted the people out of the caves. Meanwhile, the others turned their attention to the cage with the half-human half-snakes.
Abruptly Seth noticed something was missing. The torturer’s body was gone. The halfling practically kicked himself. He usually checked his victims to make sure they were indeed dead. I must be slipping.
“Watch it. That torturer’s still alive,” he warned the others.
Everyone froze in place. A moment later, Lloyd dropped his swords, his hands going to his head as he cried out in pain. Aksel and Glo both reacted to the young man’s sudden outburst.
“Lloyd, what is it?”
“What’s the matter?”
Yet Seth had a sneaking suspicion. The halfling swept his eyes across the cavern. There. Behind that cage.
Seth spotted the torturer. She was lying on the ground behind one of the empty cages. In her hand she held a wand. It was pointed directly at Lloyd.
The halfling immediately drew another knife and launched it at the woman’s arm. It struck her just above the elbow, forcing her to drop the wand. He immediately followed it with another knife. This one caught her right between the eyes. The woman sagged to the ground, dead.
Seth spun around to face the others. “Phew, that was clo…”
He halted in mid-sentence, his jaw dropping at the sight in front of him. Where Lloyd had stood moments ago, there was now something else. The top half still looked like the young man, but the bottom half was all large yellow-green coils, folded in and over themselves.
Andrella’s gonna hate this…
The half-man half-snake creature shifted its gaze toward Seth. The eyes were no longer Lloyd’s. There were black slits just like a serpent. The creature picked up the warrior’s swords and lifted them as it advanced on Seth.
“Seth, quick—turn invisible!” Aksel yelled.
Seth immediately grabbed his cloak and invoked its magic, disappearing from sight.
Having lost its current target, the creature halted. It spun on its large coils and then started slithering across the cavern toward Aksel and the others.
Cyclone pushed the others back and planted himself firmly between them and serpent-Lloyd. “I’ve been looking for an excuse for this. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt him too much.”
A moment later, Lloyd was on him, and sword met halberd in a heated exchange.
Lloyd vs. Cyclone
Lloyd’s black blade came around again, this time aimed directly at Cyclone’s head.
Glolindir watched in horror as Lloyd tr
ansformed into a half-serpent. The upper half of the creature still looked like their friend, but the lower half was all reptilian—large, scaly yellow-green coils that ended in a curved tail. At first, Glo had thought Lloyd might have retained his senses, but then the half-serpent creature advanced menacingly on Seth.
“Seth, quick—turn invisible!” Aksel had warned him.
Seth almost immediately disappeared, confounding the creature, but then it set its sights on them. That was when Cyclone interposed himself between them and what had been Lloyd.
“I’ve been looking for an excuse for this. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt him too much.”
Now the pair were locked in combat. Lloyd slithered up to the dragon hunter, swinging his twin blades with frightening speed. Still, his fighting style was not quite the same—the creature could not spin its body around the way the warrior normally could.
Cyclone held his halberd in both hands, expertly blocking all Lloyd’s attacks.
Meanwhile, Aksel had begun an incantation to change Lloyd back. The little cleric’s brow was knit with concentration, his hands weaving an intricate pattern in the air in front of him.
Glo could feel the magic building. It rose in power just before the spell was released.
“Nullam Depelle,” Aksel cried as his hands came together and the spell was cast.
A flood of mana filled the air, settling in a circle around Lloyd. The half-man, half-serpent halted in its tracks, its large tail twitching as the magic enveloped it. For a brief instance, the creature’s eyes changed back to their normal blue.
Lloyd looked from Glo to Aksel, his expression filled with remorse. “I’m sorry…”
The magic around him suddenly dispersed, and Lloyd’s eyes changed back to those of a serpent. The creature launched itself at Cyclone again with renewed vigor.
All of a sudden, the dragon hunter launched himself into the air, bringing his deadly halberd down in a wide-sweeping arc on serpent-Lloyd. At the very last moment, Lloyd brought his swords together and blocked the attack. Cyclone used the momentum to flip over the snake-creature, landing deftly behind him. The dragon hunter then immediately spun around and caught Lloyd in the tail with his sharp weapon.
