A Strange Tale

by James Somers

  It was Sir Bane that Percival spotted first. The knight stood just outside a cave set within a large hill, waving to him as he and Baanna charged through the Wood on the black stallion Percival had created. They had ridden at as furious a pace as the horse could muster, but still, after five minutes, they began to hear the cries from the Lycan pack. The cows had been a mere appetizer to the real feast still to come. The Lycans were closing in again.

  When Percival pulled the reins up hard before the cave where Sir Bane stood waiting, he realized he had misjudged the size of the opening. “Come on, Percival, we must hurry inside before the werewolves get here,” Bane said. The knight had shed much of his armor before Percival arrived and was down on his knees crawling through the entrance. “The Lycan won’t be able to get inside this burrow.”

  So that was it—not a cave at all, but the burrow of some kind of animal. “A fox hole?” Percival asked. They were certainly smaller than the Lycan, but in Horrif-I who knew how ferocious a fox might be.

  “Big rabbits, I think, but we haven’t actually seen anything yet.” Sir Bane said from inside the waist high, inner tunnel. “It’s probably been long abandoned.”

  Percival dismounted the horse with Baanna close behind, sword at the ready. He knelt down, beginning a crawling trek back into the hill. The stallion Percival had created would hopefully have enough sense to escape the approaching pack and fend for itself.

  Once they had crawled about twenty yards in, the tunnel opened up much wider. Percival stood up, only having to hunch over to clear the roof of the tunnel now. Bane, as the tallest of their group, had the most difficulty, but still managed.

  “Not a bad place to hide, at least until we’ve rested and come up with a plan for reaching the Render’s Lair,” Sir Bane said.

  “I just hope we don’t get trapped inside,” Percival said. “How far is it to the Render’s Lair?”

  “I’ve only seen it once—I’ll never forget it,” Sir Bane said. “If I’m not mistaken, we should be within a mile of the Lair, by now.”

  Percival turned as Baanna came through the smaller portion of the tunnel. “This place seems built just for you,” he said. Baanna’s head easily cleared the roof at his full height. Percival had meant it jokingly, but the orangutan looked troubled. He passed Sir Bane, heading down the tunnel, presumably toward the others.

  “I guess he’s leading the way,” Bane said, following the ape into another section of tunnel.

  Percival lingered only long enough to bend down at the entrance tunnel, listening. He heard snarling and digging. Percival had noticed a fair amount of rock in the tunnel wall coming in. The huge Lycans could dig all they wanted. Unless they could claw through rock, they wouldn’t get inside the burrow.