“Damn,” said Proteus.
“Sorry,” said Sorus.
“Quiet,” said Jon. “There are some guards posted ahead. Strange creatures, darklings I think.”
Proteus looked up to the tall lad and spotted a heavy smudge of dirt on his cheek, a bruise already apparent above his eye, and a scratch on his cheek that didn’t bleed but looked painful. “What happened to you?” he said and reached forward with his now free hand to brush back the long sandy locks.
“I tripped coming down that passage,” said Jon as he pointed back towards the narrow entrance. “It’s trickier than it looks.”
Sorus smiled and almost laughed out loud but managed to stifle the impulse. “You youngsters always leap without looking,” he said and reached up to touch Jon on the shoulder.
Jon’s eyes flashed a momentary fierceness that caused Sorus to take a step back but then softened as his mouth opened in a wide smile, “Right you are, Sorus,” he whispered, “I could take lessons from a mature old knight like you.”
“What kind of creatures are they?” said Proteus, “how many, and how well armed.”
“I’ve never seen the like before,” said Jon, “I got lucky to see their light before they saw mine. It’s dim and red but I managed to get a pretty good look at them after I tucked my light under my cloak. They’re about fifty yards that way,” he continued in a low tone. “They look like bears mostly I suppose, great furry things, they have stone clubs. I saw two of them but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more.”
“Any chance of sneaking up on them without them seeing us,” said Proteus using Jon’s whispered tone.
Jon shook his head, “Not that I saw. It’s a pretty straight shot to a low arch where they’re waiting. I’d guess that beyond that is darkling land but who can say? Our best chance is to just charge forward and kill them. The pass opens up a little and there’s room for two of us to get at them at the same time.”
“Sorus,” said Proteus, “any suggestions?”
The young knight of Elekargul shook his head, “I don’t see anything else to do.”
“Agreed,” said Proteus. “Sorus, you had your glory up at the ambush point, do you mind if Jon and I take this one?”
Sorus frowned, “Well, if you put it that way, I suppose not. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Try to be as quiet as possible about it,” said Proteus to Jon. “If there are more of them back there we don’t want the whole tribe coming down on us. Sorus, when we get close try and shine the light stone in their eyes, darkling creatures don’t like it bright.”
Sorus nodded and then Jon looked at Proteus, “Ready?”
Proteus nodded and Jon turned and walked quickly around the corner with the older knight right behind. Sorus brought up the rear as they moved down the corridor to a narrow spot where Jon stopped for a moment and held up his hand. The young knight of gray looked back to Proteus and Sorus and nodded his head as he pointed around the corner. “A dozen strides maybe,” he said in a whisper and put his light stone in his pocket, “One, two, three,” he finished and suddenly darted out and around the corner. Proteus was right on his heels and Sorus, the light stone held high, dashed around last.
Coming around the corner the former brewer spotted the creatures right away. Just as Jon described, there were two of them under a natural rock archway beyond which a red glow emanated. Dark fur covered both creatures although the dim red light muted any hope of discernment of their true color. They stood about as tall as a man stands and wore only light cloth pants and a leather vest that gave them little protection. Both looked up at the approach of Jon, their eyes suddenly hugely wide as they grabbed heavy stone clubs that leaned against the archway to either side of them.
Jon was upon them even as they growled, a strange rumble sort of sound that seemed to reverberate through Sorus’s body, and moved forward to meet the young knight of Tanelorn. Proteus moved ahead also, and suddenly blocked Sorus’s view of events, which seemed somehow slowed down to a crawl, and he only managed to catch a flash of movment ahead before the Brokenshield moved out of the way. Sorus saw one of the bear creatures stagger forward to his knees as a gush of blood jetted from a wound along its neck. The second creature swung its heavy stone club at Jon who moved forward and was hit by only the very narrowest part of its shaft on the ribs although he gave off a great low grunt in any case. Jon lowered his arm swiftly and trapped the creature’s weapon under it as Proteus moved forwards as his own blade swung down towards the head of the beast. The creature looked at the descending blade and its eyes grew even wider as it tried to tug away. Finally, it simply let go of the club and raised its hand in a defensive motion. Proteus’s blade chopped the blocking arm off at the elbow and buried deeply in the forehead of the creature between the eyes. The beast plunged backwards with a convulsive movement and fell to the ground with a thump where it twitched a couple of times although it never uttered a word.
The second creature’s hand covered the wound on its throat, which did little to quench the spurts of blood, and watched open-eyed for a moment until Jon walked over and almost casually crushed its skull with a flick of his wrist as the flat side of his massive blade crashed down with terrible force.
The crack of the blow seemed to wake Sorus and events suddenly seemed to resume at their normal speed.
“Nicely done, Jon,” said Proteus and moved up next to the young knight. “Are your ribs all right?”
Jon lifted his arm and the club slipped out although Proteus reached forward with a hand, grabbed it before it hit the floor, and then lowered it gently to the ground. Jon stretched his left side over and pursed his lips, “I’m good,” he said, “it only hit me with the handle, hurt a bit at the moment though.”
“Quiet,” said Proteus and put his finger to his lips. “Keep the light stones away, we can see well enough. I’m going ahead for a second to see what’s there, you two wait for me and see if those creatures have anything valuable on them,” he finished and pointed to the two dead-bear like darklings on the floor.
Jon leaned over, gave off a little grunt of pain, reached into a satchel around the waist of one of the creatures and pulled out a flask, a small clam shell of some kind, and a beaker of some sort of liquid. He opened the flask, brought it to his nose carefully, and smiled, “alcohol.”
Sorus went to the second creature who wore a similar satchel around its waist and detached it with a quick motion. Inside was another flask much like the one Jon took, a small pouch that chinked when Sorus touched it, and another bag filled with something soft that smelled musky when the young knight brought it to his nose. “There are some coins here,” he said and looked up at Jon with a smile, “and more of that whiskey I’d guess.”
At that moment Proteus appeared at the entrance to the natural cavern, a strange look on his face. His eyes were open wide to see in the darkness, his teeth clenched, and his jaw tight as his eyes darted back and forth between Jon and Sorus.
“What is it, Proteus,” asked Sorus while Jon continued to examine the items found on the strange bear creatures.
“It’s like you said, Sorus,” said the knight with a nod of his head. “It’s a skeleton of some sorts, wearing robes, and a creature that looks like a human snake. They’re down the passage a bit. It’s darkling made for certain. The natural cavern ends not far past the archway here,” he continued and pointed to the natural formation above their heads. “I couldn’t hear them but they seemed to be arguing about something. There are more exits from where they’re at so if we want to attack them, now’s the time.”
“If,” said Jon and looked at Proteus with raised eyebrows.
“They look…,” started the older knight with a shrug his shoulders, “they look like they are perfectly capable of defending themselves. The skeleton wears a sword but the snake is a wizard or a priest I’d bet.”
“We could just follow them,” said Sorus as he looked back and forth to the two men. “They don’t know where the staff is either but they might lead us to it eventually.”
“Down here, among the darkings,” said Jon with a shake of his head. “It’s too dangerous, we’ll be spotted soon enough and have them down on us like a hoard of grasshoppers. We take them out now and see if we can get information from them after that.”
“I agree,” said Proteus the strange look still in his eyes, “Do you mind if I say a prayer to the Black Horse first, Jon?” he continued and knelt to the floor.
Jon watched him silently for a moment. Soon Sorus joined Proteus on his knees.
“May my steed be swift, my blade be true, my heart be strong, and my seat steady,” said Proteus from his knees and Sorus said the same. “There,” said Proteus and stood back with a smile at Jon. “My fate is my own.”
