Camu, can you see anything?
Cave, north-east.
Lasgol looked in that direction, and made out the cave behind a group of trees.
I think we’ve found where our quarry has its lair.
Yes, lair.
Right then, we’re going to get close to it carefully and in silence. I don’t want it to know we’re coming. The wind’s in our faces, so it won’t be able to scent us. Let’s take our chance now, before it changes. Not a sound.
Not a sound. Camu agreed, and Ona stopped growling.
They went very carefully down the wide gorge. A river ran to the west, and Lasgol glimpsed three forests that filled all they could see of the hollow they were in. They went through the first stealthily and in silence, and as they approached the mouth of the cave Lasgol began to feel nervous. He had no idea what he was about to face, and this gave him an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. He remembered his good friend Gerd, who suffered panic attacks whenever he was faced with something unknown and dangerous, and how the big guy fought to stop his fear until he succeeded. He had to do the same thing. He breathed deeply through his nose and let the air out slowly several times, and felt better.
I’m going to place the traps at the entrance. You keep watch, he communicated to his two friends.
I climb tree. Keep watch, Camu replied.
Lasgol went up to the entrance warily, crouching, without making the slightest sound. He checked the direction of the wind again to make sure that it was not blowing from behind him, so that his scent would penetrate inside the cave and he would be discovered. Luckily the gentle breeze was still blowing in his face. Very carefully, he put the first trap in place, then secured it and held it with both hands while he summoned his Gift. He searched for the pool of energy in his chest and called upon his Trap Hiding skill. A green flash ran through his arms as far as the trap, and a moment later it vanished from sight.
Quickly he set the other two traps and hid them, using his skill to make them invisible to non-magical eyes. He was always surprised at the effectiveness of this skill, one of the first he had developed while he was still a small boy. At the time he was always in the forests on his father’s estate, trapping rabbits and small birds. He remembered, as if it had been the day before, when he had succeeded. He had made a great effort to hide his traps so that his prey would not find them out, but they always did, especially the birds. This frustrated him greatly, so that he spent countless hours trying to get better at it. One afternoon, trying to hide his last trap, he concentrated on setting it with extreme care and covering it with leaves. Even so, a small part of it was still visible. He touched it with his hand to push it down and hide it, his frustration growing, when suddenly a green flash flowed down his arms and through the trap. To his immense surprise, it vanished before his eyes. Thus, was his skill born, a very valuable one in situations like this.
Now he checked that the three traps were not visible, ready for when the quarry came out of the cave. He prepared to go back to the forest when Camu’s message hit his mind like a bolt of lightning.
Careful! Monster! Mountain!
Lasgol looked at the entrance to the cave. There was no monster there.
Up! came Camu’s mental message of warning and danger.
Lasgol looked up, and then he saw it. An enormous creature was coming down the rocky wall above the cave.
It was a Mountain Ogre!
Chapter 5
Lasgol was frozen to the spot. The enormous creature was coming down the wall, clinging to it with its thick, strong fingers. It placed its huge, shapeless feet on the rock ledges with an agility which seemed unthinkable in a monster of that size. Huge though it was, it was not as big as a Mountain Troll, but on the other hand it looked more monstrous, less human and more deformed: like a mixture of man and monster, with a bloated body. Lasgol had never seen an Ogre before, although he knew of their existence from the tomes on wildlife he had had to study. Unlikely though it might sound, this creature was known to live in certain areas of Tremia.
As the Ogre descended to its cave, it turned its head and saw him. It gave a deafening roar. Instantly Lasgol came out of his state of astonishment and armed his bow in a swift movement. Ogres, according to what he had read, were solitary cave-dwelling beasts which lived in areas far from human habitation. They were deeply territorial and killed any predator which came into their territory, including humans, for whom they had a particular aversion. This was thought to be because of the hundreds of years that men had chased and killed them, driving them back to remote and deserted places. It showed that they were intelligent, and recognized their natural enemies.
Lasgol’s shot caught the beast in the back. The arrow went through the furs the beast was wearing over its torso, back and lower parts. A second roar followed, this time one of rage. Lasgol was surprised to see that the monster
