“Bah!” Oarly barked and shrugged off his pack. “We’re finally out of the fargin cold and safe underground. Do I have to listen to the banter of daft folk thrice my age?” He gave all of them a good, hard stare. “You can change a person’s skin, and you can erase some memories, but you can’t change the nature of who someone is.”
“That was profound, Oarly,” Phen said seriously. “That liquefied lotus bud you’ve been drinking seems to have unclouded your head.”
“Bah!” Oarly barked again. He pulled a little flask from inside his coat and took a long pull. Then he unbuckled his battle axe and started off ahead of Phen, letting the boy’s orb light his path.
“He’s right,” Hyden observed from behind them. He’d had the archers and Jicks put down their gear and ready their weapons. Jicks was moving to the front of the procession near Oarly, as Hyden indicated for him to do.
“It does make sense,” Phen said. “We are who we are.”
“It’s kind of warm in here,” observed Hyden randomly. “Let Jicks and Oarly take the lead. If something attacks, those in the middle drop down so that we can loose our arrows over you. This passage is tall and there might be openings up high, as well as low. Keep an eye out for pitfalls, Oarly.”
Corva let his pack drop to the floor and drew his longsword. He told Dostin to lose his burden and be ready with his staff. The monk nodded, his face a mask of silent fear.
“There will probably be nothing until after the poisoned fountain,” Phen said knowingly. “Up ahead it will open into that chamber. There’s no mention of branching tunnels or halls.”
“Old caverns crack and shift, lad,” Oarly said, using his jeweled axe to point at just such a fracture, which was big enough for a man to squeeze into. “A thin wall might have crumbled through, or such, since then.”
“Aye.” Phen nodded and prepared a spell, up until its final command word.
No more than a thousand feet from where the cavern bottom turned to carven floor, the passage opened into a beautifully detailed room with a ceiling done in a pattern that resembled a woven reed basket. In the center of the floor was a wonderful triple-level fountain. The water flowing through it was burbling and tinkling away. There was a pyramid formed of life-sized stone mermaids spouting crystal clear water from their pursed lips. They looked to be frolicking inside a rippling, knee-high walled pool. An ancient mound of bones sat amid a pile of rotted clothes against the retainer wall. It had been there so long that some of the bones had begun to crumble. Beyond the fountain, the passage continued into the darkness. Out of the shaft, Talon came fluttering in and landed on Hyden’s shoulder excitedly.
“Not this one, Talon,” Hyden said. “Fly ahead and once your eyes adjust, see if you can find another fountain, or anything else.” The hawkling cooed his understanding and took back to the air.
“I doubt it needs to be said, but no one drink the water here. Jicks, you and the boys go fetch our packs while we set up camp. We will explore deeper into the passage after we have gotten out of these heavy clothes.”
Jicks had Phen light a torch with his fire finger then led the two archers back up the tunnel for their gear.
No sooner had they gotten out of earshot than Talon come shrieking back into the chamber. Hyden felt his familiar’s alarm flashing in his brain and saw the reflection of firelight in a distant pair of big, glassy eyes. He was about to warn the others, but it wasn’t necessary. The long, low rumbling of an angry growl filled the chamber.
Oarly started toward the dark opening from where the sound was originating. Corva left Princess Telgra with Phen, and he and Hyden both hurried to the dwarf’s side. Hyden nocked his bow as Talon flew past them and wisely landed on Phen’s shoulder.
Spike jumped from Phen’s pocket when the Gwag growled again. The lyna cat hunched its back and hissed at the sound, then scampered off toward it.
“This is bad,” Oarly said.
“What?” Hyden asked. He wondered if Oarly was having some sort of dark premonition.
The Gwag growled again and the sound was massive. It was getting closer.
“What is it, dwarf?” Corva asked through his fear.
“It’s a terrible thing to have to face that fargin Gwag,” Oarly cursed. “I haven’t even had a chance to get good and drunk yet today.”
Just then, a horrible scream erupted from behind them. It came from one of the archers. The sound was accompanied by a different kind of roar. It didn’t sound like another Gwag, but whatever it was, it sounded just as big.
Chapter 42
Phen turned to see what he could behind them. Jicks and one of the archers were scrambling back toward the fountain chamber, each carrying a couple of supply packs. Their torch was nowhere to be seen. Both were pale, wide-eyed, and moving very swiftly.
“Beware!” Jicks called ahead of them. “A troll got Mort.” He fought a sob and the power of his emotion carried in his voice. “Got him good, it did.” He stopped speaking when he saw that Hyden, Oarly, and Corva were in readied battle stances facing the other direction. As he glanced over his shoulder, Mort’s wailing cry caused him to shudder. Throwing the packs down, he drew his blade and turned to face the way he had come. “I don’t think it followed us, but we have to be ready.”
“It’s fargin eating Mort,” the archer sobbed as he nocked his bow.
“Cover that passage,” Hyden commanded over the Gwag’s approaching rumble.
Spike growled back at the sound and ran between Oarly’s legs toward it. It took only a few heartbeats for the lyna cat to disappear into the darkness beyond the range of Hyden’s magical light.
“Guard Telgra with your life,” Phen told Dostin. “I’ll be right back.” Talon flapped from Phen’s shoulder as he moved away. Telgra nearly didn’t let go of him when he started toward Jicks and Krey. Phen walked right past them. The sudden lack of his orb light in the larger chamber dimmed the space considerably. Talon landed on Telgra’s shoulder and settled as she and Dostin watched Phen and his light fade toward the entry.
Not sure what to do, Jicks and Krey eased in behind Phen and followed him.
Suddenly, a snarling, toothy head shot into the light of Hyden’s orb. It was big and furry, like some giant fox or wolverine. It was lightning quick, for it attacked so fast that it caught them all by surprise. Corva was caught in the retreating beast’s mouth and screamed. Hyden instinctually tried to call out to the beast, but in its enraged state the effort was wasted. Oarly darted toward it and, with a leaping swipe of his axe, caught the monster with a glancing blow. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to cause the Gwag to let go of Corva before it pulled back completely into the darkness. Oarly went to help the elf to his feet while Hyden loosed arrow after arrow, hoping to keep it off of them.
“It’s a giant snaker,” Oarly announced fearfully. “A mongoose, I think. Big bastard.”
Corva had been punctured by several dagger-sized teeth and was bleeding profusely. He managed to stand upright and limp toward the others. Oarly, helping to steady him, didn’t see the Gwag lunging back at them.
Hyden saw it, though, and he put an arrow right in the creature’s melon-sized eye, but not before it had its teeth around the dwarf.
Oarly tried to yell, but a sickening crunch of bones cut the sound into a grunting wheeze. The creature shook its head violently from side to side as it backed away, but it didn’t let go. Its eye looked ruined. Thick, milky fluid slung from the wound as the Gwag shook its dwarven morsel. Bright red blood, lots of it, sprayed and splashed from its mouth. Through eyes welling with tears, Hyden loosed more shafts at the beast. They found flesh again and again, but the creature didn’t slow down. Within the span of a dozen heartbeats it had taken Oarly and disappeared back into the darkness. Hyden started to chase after it, but when he saw a long, bushy, squirrel-like tail whip around and bound out of sight, he realized it was pointless. The crunch he’d just heard was still reverberating through his head.
Phen was oblivious to the action taking place behind him. He could hear it all, but chose not to pay it any
