When Rustic entered the area, he saw a massive, gray-colored creature hunched over Gilex. The hairless monster stared down at his prey, then unraveled its forked tongue and began running it up and down his body. Rustic glanced over at the others and saw them motionless; he wasn’t sure if they were dead or asleep. He needed to act. He threw a dagger, hitting the monster’s left shoulder, grabbing its attention. The creature turned its large, narrow head in his direction and glared at him with black, soul-less eyes. The creature then retracted its maw, exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and let out a hideous screech, which sent chills up and down his spine. Rustic knew what was coming and gripped his ax so tight that his knuckles turned white. The beast dropped to all fours and charged at him with extraordinary speed and agility. In one instant, the creature was across the room, and in the next, it was directly in front of him, rising up on its hind legs, matching Rustic’s height and ready to strike.
Rustic anticipated its attack and ducked under its sweeping arm, narrowly being missed by the monster’s razor-sharp claws. The mighty paw slammed into the sidewall, tearing away solid earth and sending chunks of clay flying in all directions. The creature lashed out again, aiming for Rustic’s head, but he ducked and moved past the beast while slicing its underbelly. The creature’s tough leather-like skin slowed the ax long enough to allow the beast to turn and strike him with its left paw across his shoulder. The sharp claws tore through his armor, like it was parchment, and bit into his flesh, causing Rustic to scream in pain and drop his ax. The beast flicked its powerful paw, sending Rustic sailing through the air and then immediately dropped to all fours and charged after him. Rustic landed with a thud and despite banging his head, he had enough of his senses to bring his arms up defensively against the creature’s attacks. His thick bracers gave way after a few swipes, followed by his leather jerkin shortly thereafter. Rustic blindly punched the creature square in the nose with his left hand and frantically reached for his dagger with his right. After the second punch, the creature paused for a brief second, and that’s when Rustic plunged the dagger into its left eye. The creature moved backward in pain, frantically trying to dislodge the weapon.
Rustic was exhausted from blood loss. His left arm was useless and he struggled in a great deal of pain, trying to unsheathe his sword while regaining his footing. He freed the blade at the exact moment the creature removed the dagger, which still had its eyeball attached. The monster looked directly at him with its one good eye and began moving slowly, and methodically, toward him. Its maw was open as saliva dripped onto the ground. Rustic waved his blade in front of his body in a defensive manner. “This is it,” he thought.
As the beast was about to pounce on him, a spearhead ripped through its powerful chest. The beast thrashed back and forth for several long seconds before falling over and dying. Rustic’s head swam in confusion; his vision blurred, and his legs finally gave way as he crumbled to the ground. The last thing he saw before passing out was Utar standing over the creature, pulling his weapon free.
Utar ordered Perahn and Clay to help Rustic and Gilex while he surveyed the area, trying to figure out where the beast came from. He followed the footprints until they ended against the wall opposite the entrance of the room. Puzzled, he got on his hands and knees and poked at the wall with his spear. Dirt began falling away in chunks, revealing a hole large enough to service the size of the creature. He was about to look further in when Clay appeared.
“Rustic is unconscious, and Gilex has some pretty bad wounds. That creature bit him in several places.” Clay said.
Utar paused. “Give them the rose-colored vials. That should speed up the healing process.”
Clay knelt down to see what he was doing. “What did you find?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s the hole the creature used.”
“I hope there isn’t any more of those things.”
“I’m going to find out. Tell Gilex when he wakes.”
“Will do.”
Activating a glow rock and placing a dagger into his mouth, Utar entered the hole and descended into the darkness. Gilex recovered faster than expected. He was up and walking around, surprising Clay and Perahn.
“Are you okay?” Perahn asked him.
“Yes, why?”
“You were wounded pretty badly.”
“I feel fine. What did you give me?” Gilex rubbed his head.
Clay handed him the empty vial. “Utar said to give it to you.”
Gilex looked at the label. “I remember Broc saying this would speed up the healing process tenfold. What happened?”
“That beast over there attacked us while we were sleeping. Rustic arrived and fought with the thing long enough for Utar to wake and kill it.” Clay explained.
“Where is my second in command now?” Gilex glanced over at the dead beast.
“He found the hole the creature used and went down into it to investigate,” Perahn answered.
“How long has he been gone?”
“A couple of minutes.”
“We’ll wait an hour. If he doesn’t return, we’re moving on. Make sure you leave markers for him, so that he can find us easily. Did anyone talk to Rustic before he fell unconscious?”
Clay and Perahn both answered in unison, “No.”
Utar descended into the narrow hole quickly. He came to an opening that appeared to be much smaller than the creature, which made him wonder how the beast could have fit through. He listened carefully and when nothing stirred below, he extended the glow rock into the opening and looked around. The first thing he noticed was that he was at least nine feet from the floor of a room that was circular in shape and cluttered with boxes. The only other way out was an open doorway at the far end of the room.
After waiting a couple of minutes, Utar jumped down and scanned the room again. Feeling safe, he began quietly rummaging through the boxes. Most of the items were worthless except for six razor sharp, barb-tipped arrows, several low-grade red gems, and two self-igniting oil flasks. Although they were only half-filled, he thought they should still provide a nice, fiery surprise. He’d just finished placing the gems into his pouch when he heard a clicking noise coming from the corridor up ahead. He turned his attention toward the entranceway, then toward the hole, and then back at the boxes. He determined that he wouldn’t be able to reach the hole, even if he stacked the boxes on top of each other. The noise grew louder and closer, leaving him with no other option than to stand and face whatever was coming his way.
He crouched, and while waiting, he remembered an effective tactic that might prove useful in such a situation. Quickly, he placed the activated glow rock behind several boxes near the hole and ran over and hid behind boxes near the entryway, where he waited with a dagger in one hand and a flask in the other. The clicking noise drew closer and then stopped just outside of the doorway. From where he was, he could hear the beast sniffing the air. Utar needed to draw it into the room, so he tossed his dagger, hilt first, into the boxes across the way.
A few seconds later, a creature, similar to the one from upstairs, entered the room. It noticed the light behind the boxes and shuffled toward it. Utar listened patiently as the clicking sound inched closer. He waited until the monster was close enough to the boxes before pushing on the plunger on the flask and igniting the oil. The flame danced on top of the liquid. Once the glass was warm, he took aim and threw the flask, hitting the creature in the back of the head, shattering the thin glass container and spraying the beast with oil. Immediately, fire raced up and down the creature’s body. It howled in pain for several seconds before turning around and seeing Utar. The creature was about to charge when Utar pushed the plunger on the other flask and threw it directly at the creature’s feet, shattering the glass and spraying it with even more oil, which added to the already intense flames. The beast burned, flailed and fell to the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. Utar grinned in delight as he watched the monster futilely thrash about until it was finally overw
helmed by the fire and stopped moving. He held the last flask in his hand and waited for several minutes before leaving.
“Rustic isn’t awake yet; it might be a while,” Clay said to Gilex.
“We don’t have much time. Did you give him the same healing vial you gave me?”
“No you had the last one. We did give him the blue one though.”
“Give him another one and let’s get going,” Gilex said. “If he doesn’t wake up, carry him.”
“What about Utar?” Perahn asked.
“He’ll find us.”
The decision to move on was a difficult one for Gilex; Rustic was unconscious and Utar was off investigating where the creature came from. With their numbers dwindled down to three, they packed up, lit some torches, and descended further into the unknown. Gilex led the group, followed by Perahn, who carried Rustic over his shoulder, and Clay, guarding the rear. When they came across another corridor leading west, they stopped. Gilex sent both men to investigate to avoid anything sneaking up on them. They returned a short time later to report that the corridor came to a dead end. Clay checked on Rustic, who was beginning to wake.
“Where am I?” Rustic asked.
“Are you okay?”
“My head feels funny, but otherwise, I guess I am okay.” He tried rising, but Clay held him fast.
“Take it easy.” Clay forced him back down.
Gilex and Perahn joined them.
“It’s good to see you awake, my friend, and thanks. I heard that if it wasn’t for your bravery, we’d all be dead,” Gilex said.
“Just doing what anyone else would have done.”
“I’m guessing you want this back.” Clay handed him his dagger.
“Where did you find it?”
“Next to the dead creature with an eyeball attached to it,” Clay snickered.
“Where is Utar?”
“He followed the tunnel the beast used and hasn’t returned.”
“Gilex, there are more of those creatures down here.” Rustic said.
“Hopefully Utar can find out where, and we can avoid them. Are you able to travel?”
“I think so.”
Clay helped him up.
“Let’s go. Keep an eye out for Utar and leave him some signs along the way.”
They came to the same crossroad Rustic had found earlier. He warned them about the cold corridor ahead and the direction where he heard the clicking sound. Gilex took out the map and studied it by the torchlight.
“We need to go straight ahead, so hopefully we won’t run into anymore of those creatures.”
They were about to continue when they heard someone say, “Where’s everyone going?”
Startled, the men turned with weapons at the ready.
“Relax, it’s only me,” Utar said as he came into the light.
“What did you find?” Gilex asked.
“Another one of those creatures.”
“Where is it now?” Clay asked.
“Dead. Here take these arrows.” Utar handed them to Clay, Perahn, and Rustic.
“Where did you find them?” Perahn asked.
“Where I killed the creature.”
“Let’s get going. We have a ways to go,” Gilex said
It didn’t take them long to encounter the strange coldness that Rustic did. Gilex told his men to wave their torches back and forth in front of their bodies to help ward off the chilly effect. The passageway continued on for another five minutes before going upward slightly and then leveling off. The temperature grew warmer, and the men stopped waving their torches. The corridor eventually veered toward the left and then slightly to the right and left again. They’d just turned the corner and stopped immediately when they saw a group of cave wolves eating several unrecognizable carcasses. The big animals’ feast was interrupted as they looked up in unison and stared at the intruders.
“What do you want to do?” Perahn asked.
“Back up,” Utar ordered.
“There’s no other way through.” Gilex said.
“You don’t want to mess with them. Their fur is said to be so thick that they can withstand numerous attacks and I heard they can unhinge their jaws wide enough to engulf a human’s head. We need to regroup.”
“Slowly move back.” Gilex ordered.
As they did, Perahn, Rustic, and Clay kept their bows notched and pointed at them, while Gilex and Utar held their swords and torches out in front. They managed to take only three steps before the wolves snarled and attacked. Clay, Perahn, and Rustic fired in unison, killing three wolves. The barbed arrows were sharp enough to pierce through their heavy fur coats and find their marks. Utar hit the closest wolf in the head with his torch, stunning the creature. Then he stabbed it under its jaw and through its mouth, killing it.
Another wolf charged Gilex. He sidestepped its snapping jaws and hit the animal in the side with his sword as it passed. The blow did little to deter or slow the animal as it turned around and came at him again. This time, Gilex was too slow as the wolf clamped down hard on his sword arm, tearing through the leather bracer, biting into his flesh, and breaking bones with a loud crunching sound. Gilex grunted through clenched teeth and slammed the lit side of the torch against the wolf’s enormous head. Instead of releasing his arm, the wolf clamped down harder and began shaking and twisting its head violently, knocking him off balance and yanking his right arm out of the socket. Gilex struggled to remain upright. He regained enough of his balance to hit the animal directly in the snout with the torch. The wolf released its grip, yipped and ran away.
Meanwhile, Clay went down under the weight of a wolf. As it was about to bite his face, Rustic shot the animal in the throat, killing it. Utar killed the last wolf, stabbing the inside of its mouth as the animal lunged for his throat. Rustic helped Gilex up.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, looking down at his bloody arm.
“My shoulder feels dislocated. I need you to put it back in place.”
Rustic grabbed the limb with both hands. “Are you ready?”
Gilex nodded and Rustic pulled hard. Gilex felt excruciating pain then relief, as his arm went back into place.
“How’s your wrist?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said and picked up his sword. He knew the bones were broken, but was surprised that he could flex his wrist. He contributed this to his newfound healing ability.
They ventured on through the twisting, turning corridors, always staying alert for pending danger. Eventually, they came to a dead end.
“Now what? The last turn we took was a mile back.” Clay stated.
Gilex took out the map of the cave and studied it for several long moments. “Strange, this wall wasn’t supposed to be…”
Human sized rat creatures, running upright, came rushing at them from behind. They wore armor, carried short swords and shields, and filled the corridor as far as the eye could see.
“Ambush!” Utar yelled.
For the next several rounds, Gilex and his men held their own, but they were losing ground and being pushed closer to the dead end. Gilex, knowing that it was only a matter of time before they’d be overwhelmed, yelled for his men to move out of the way and then went into a frenzy unlike any had ever witnessed. He was thrusting his spear with blinding speed and single-handedly drove the rat creatures back, allowing his men time to deploy their bows and kill more than three quarters of the group before they retreated. Gilex turned around, breathing heavy, and looked at his men, who stared at him in amazement.
“Don’t ask,” he said, then walked past them and searched the wall, while the rest retrieved most of their arrows and stood at the ready.
After searching, he found the latch that triggered a portion of the wall to rise upward, revealing a large, empty room with one door to the far right. They entered, used the lever on the other side, and closed the wall with a thud. Weary from battle, the men rested, while Gilex studied the map again. When they were ready, they opened the door and entered the corrid
or. It led them to another series of turns and ended at a junction going left and right. Gilex led them to the left until they were brought to a halt by a pair of giant-sized wooden doors. Clay walked up, listened, and when he was satisfied that nothing stirred beyond, opened one door and entered. The other men followed.
The room was big and appeared to be a large kitchen and eatery. There were shackles lining the eastern wall, an enormous table with chairs directly in the back, and a huge cooking pot hovering over an open flame with various cutting apparatuses and herbs placed on the table to the left.
“This must be someone’s cooking chamber,” Clay said, his voice almost a whisper.
“You think?” Rustic answered sarcastically.
“Get a load of the size of that cleaver,” Utar said, pointing to the cutting tool on the table.
“I’d hate to meet the…” Clay was saying when they heard a light snapping noise somewhere in the room, indicating a trap was sprung. The door slammed shut, and the sound of a bar sliding into place followed. Perahn ran up to it, trying in vain to open the door. A few minutes later, they heard something on the other side.
****
It was only a matter of minutes before Mersdal the giant received the warning that someone or something entered his cooking area. He rose from his sizeable-padded wooden chair, called for his pet bear, and made haste to find out who had entered his room, hoping that it wasn’t those stupid rat creatures again.
The giant was a mountain in comparison to the average human, standing nearly twelve feet tall, dressed in black furs, and carrying a very large spiked club that was at least as big as a human. All other creatures living within the cave, hid from him, and none dare challenged him. The giant arrived, along with the cave bear, to find the bar securely across the door handles. His trap had sprung just as it was supposed to do, which brought a wide smile to his bearded, dirty face. He walked to the door and listened, and when he heard human voices on the other side, he smiled in delight, exposing the three remaining teeth in his mouth.
A Demon's Quest the Beginning of the End the Trilogy Box Set Page 59
