They ran. Elisha was in front, he had a lot more speed than any of them. Zoey too. She moved unnaturally, unlike she’d ever moved before. She felt less fatigue and her chest didn’t burn any more. David had Chloe in his arms, the weight dragging him back a little but letting Chloe run herself would be worse. Besides, she had a clear view of what was behind them.

“What is it?” David asked.

“They are like dogs?” Chloe said, unsure of what she was looking at. David couldn’t blame her for that. Nothing was exactly how they seemed in this forest. At least, nothing was as they knew it. He gritted his teeth, wishing he could use that sword again. It would have made a whole lot of difference. And he liked it. The power it gave him came with a rush.

“Should we fight it?” Elisha asked from the front.

“Are you crazy?” Zoey asked. She looked back and then made an effort to run harder. David couldn’t look. The added weight was making him wheeze already. He hadn’t quite recovered from what he did against the centipede. There was still so much that they didn’t know and he wished they could get the time to learn it all.

“At least scan for somewhere to hide,” David said. Zoey looked at him, her eyes telling him how much she disapproved of what he was doing. He didn’t like it either. Chloe was old enough to take care of herself, but the truth was she couldn’t. She’d be the first to get eaten if she was left to fend for herself.

The three-headed beast behind them howled and roared and barked at the same time. It was furless, its skin was covered with scales and spikes, as if it was a crossbreed of some kind. David stopped himself from thinking about it. He could hear the heavy thuds of its paws hitting the forest floor, probably digging up moss as it gave chase.

“I think I see a cave opening,” Zoey said. Hope flared up in David’s chest. He felt Chloe’s grip on him loosen a little bit. Zoey swerved left, calling Elisha to follow. She slid under a fallen branch and Elisha did the same. David held his sister tightly and leapt, sailing over the branch but taking a hard hit against the ones on top. He pushed through, spitting as he rejoined his siblings.

“Did it follow?” David asked.

“Yes,” Chloe answered and David swore. He knew it was unlikely that it would leave them just because they took a turn, but he’d wished for a miracle.

“There,” Zoey said, pointing to the opening. It was covered in debris and had been opened recently. Cleared by something, or someone. David wondered how Zoey had seen it from where they were before. Then he reminded himself that there was a lot she could do that they wouldn’t understand.

Just like you held the sword of fire.

He pushed the thought away from his mind. He caught a movement in the darkness beyond the mouth of the cave. The shape solidified into the form of a human. A woman. She looked to be in her thirties, dressed in full leather armor. Her arrow was nocked as she pulled the bowstring, her face straining with the effort. David cursed, coming to a stop.

“Keep running!” The woman yelled at them and David realized the arrow was not aimed at them. She let the next arrow go and it flew past David, whistling in his ear as it blitzed by. The beast behind him whimpered when the arrow hit. It howled, turning on them again. Another head roared, shaking David to his core. The woman nocked another arrow, her bow curving with her pull.

Elisha vanished into the cave as did Zoey. David passed the woman just as she let the arrow fly. There was no roar this time, only a cry of pain and the beast stopped. David stopped just beyond the threshold, watching the woman nock another arrow.

He could see the beast now and it was dreadful. The spikes were red tipped while its scaly skin was pitch black. There were parts where its scales had been pulled off, wounds and old scars. One of its heads made a long whining sound as it tried to pull out the arrow that the woman had lodged in its eye. The other head stared at the woman, watching her pull at the string on her bow. Then it turned and fled.

She staggered back and David caught her with one hand, steadying her. She turned and gave him an appreciative nod before pushing past him to get into the cave. It was cold inside, almost as if the inside was a different world.

“You kids are lucky it didn’t eat you,” the woman said, walking further into the cave. David stared at the entrance. The door wasn’t big enough for any of the monsters to get in, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that leaving it open like that was unsafe.

“David,” Zoey called. He turned and realized they’d walked some distance and it was dark. He couldn’t see their faces; he only got a feeling of where they were, like he sensed their individual positions. “You can drop her now.”

Chloe shuffled down and then stretched like she’d been out on the beach or some other fun place. She looked scared, but not in the way David had expected. They followed the woman silently, as if she’d always been a part of their family. Yet, no one spoke. The silence was both comforting and strange.

“What was that?” Zoey asked. They’d been walking for so long she was beginning to wonder if the darkness was ever going to end. Then it did. A light appeared some distance away. It was tiny at first, but it grew as they got closer. The woman ignored Zoey’s question so no one asked another.

When they were just about to reach the illuminated place, the woman turned around and gave them a queer look before hissing.

“You can stay one night,” the woman said. “One night and off you go. I will show you the way out through other openings. You can go face your trial.”

“Can you show us now?” David asked. The woman’s face changed in a way David couldn’t interpret. Irritation or pity. She shrugged.

“Your funeral,” she turned back and kept walking. “That beast has caught your scent and it might keep on hunting you.”

Stolen story; please report.

“How do you know that?” Zoey asked.

“She’s been here longer,” David said. He’d noticed it in the way she stared at the three headed wolf, like it wasn’t a freak show. She’d been in the dungeon long enough to see beasts like that as commonplace. The woman gave him a nod.

“Smart head on you,” she said. “I have been here for three months. Me and my friends. Although I don’t think it is as long outside the dungeon.”

“It’s not.” Elisha yawned and Chloe made a face at him for his poor manners. The light they saw was a small fire crackling in the middle of a large cut-out in the belly of the cave. The space was wide and ragged. Whatever had made a cave out of this place had done a rough job of it. Sharp edges protruded from walls and above.

There was another woman near the fire, and a small pot hanging atop the flame. Whatever was cooking in the pot smelled unfamiliar, but the woman seemed eager to eat. The other woman spared them a brief glance and then whispered something to her friend that made both of them smile.

“This is Jelly,” the first woman said. “My name’s Patty. Come, let me show you out.”

They walked another few minutes, taking a few turns until they came up to another opening. Patty stopped before the threshold and nodded for them to keep going.

“You want to hurry on with the quest? I understand, we did too. Lost two of our party. I can tell you where to find the Eternal.”

“The Eternal?”

“Ifyr,” Patty said. “You would have ended up at it anyway, but the cave is a shortcut and it saves you the melee with some of the smaller monsters.”

“Why haven’t you beaten the Eternal?”

Patty smiled and waved the question away with a shrug. She turned to David, her eyes getting darker as she spoke.

“Ifyr is more cunning than she is strong. She is the ruler of this place but she doesn’t have complete control over it. That is all we know right now. She can influence the plants, but not the beasts. She is born of the earth herself. You will find her there,” Patty said pointing out of the cave to a tree that was different from the others. It was tall, with color splashed leaves. But what really made it weird was the shimmering haze that crowned the tree.

“It is so…obvious?” Elisha asked. Patty chuckled.

“You will see why there is no reason for Ifyr to hide.” Patty looked at Chloe and her lute. “You are a Bard.” Chloe nodded. “I wish we had that when we faced Ifyr. And I hope you can help your friends.”

“Family,” Zoey corrected and Patty nodded.

Zoey turned to leave first and Elisha followed. Chloe clung to David and he was waiting for what he knew Patty was wrestling with herself to say. She grinned when their eyes met.

“It is obvious you are the oldest,” she said. “I wish I could tell you more, but I remember nothing else from our battles against her, only that we have fought her and lost. This place is cruel.”

David frowned. “Your memories were altered?” Patty nodded, she suddenly looked weak, terrified.

“I am not sure of anything, except that I have lost friends. Be careful,” she said. She waved him to get going and turned away. Chloe was sniffling when David picked her up and ran. She held on tightly, her face buried in his neck. Pity, David thought. That was what he felt. Somehow he’d been able to see through the woman’s veil of strength and control. He’d thought she was being dishonest, but she was just scared.

Elisha and Zoey were waiting for him. He told them what Patty said as they jogged forward. He stopped abruptly, his heart hammering loudly in his ear. He couldn’t guess when, but he’d started to feel the fear too. Perhaps it was seeing Patty like that, or maybe it was just Ifyr’s influence affecting him.

“What?” Zoey asked. David shook his head. He looked up, catching the light of Ifyr’s tree through the patch of breaks in the canopy of trees.

“Why are there no monsters?” Elisha asked and Zoey hushed him, “No, I just imagined that we’d have to fight some more monsters to get to the main boss.”

“Not when she isn’t even hiding,” Zoey said. David frowned, he thought he heard something. He was about to speak but Zoey put a finger up, asking them all to be quiet. David nodded.

“What is it?” Elisha whispered.

“Battle,” Zoey confirmed. David nodded. He could hear it too. And something else. A whisper. A call. Something, or someone, was calling to him. It was a sweet, serenading voice telling him to come forward, just past the trees.

A shrill cry erupted, tearing through the din of steel clanging and murder. David was about to take a step forward, but Zoey pulled him back. He turned sharply, his fingers folded in a fist. Zoey dodged the punch and twisted to give him a backhanded punch in the chin.

“Chloe! Any help?” Zoey screamed.

“I am trying! I don’t know anything about guitars!”

Chloe groaned. She could see Elisha’s shadow stretching like mist, but she’d tied him down. The problem was David. He was seriously strong and whatever had affected Elisha had affected him too. She swerved away another punch, ducked when he made a flawless round-house kick. She stepped into his space, brushing his right fist away and punched him in the gut. David groaned, staggered back and snarled at him.

“Snap out of it you damn idiot!” Zoey snapped. “Chloe! Think about your ability, I am sure something will pop up.”

Chloe tried, her eyes closed and her heart thudding like pistons. David had almost killed her and he would have if Zoey hadn’t saved her. She shook her head, trying to push the fear away, but it just wouldn’t go away. Her mind was filled with David’s wide eyes, dull and terrible. And his fingers wrapped around her neck.

“Think of anything to clear your mind. You are a Bard! This is what you should be…”

Chloe saw it then, the bright blue of her notification spreading before her. Her eyes raced through what was written and then she unstrapped her lute. She didn’t know what she was about to do, but she trusted what Zoey said. She could try. Her finger touched the string, just a few notes of a random tune, and her fears vanished, what she had to do crystallized in my mind.

Spell: Night’s Ripples

Essence consumption: minimal

Night’s Ripples was composed by Helex, elf priest of Ishtair. It grants buffs and fortifies the mind, repelling mental curses and bindings temporarily.

Potency: Mid-Ring spell

The words came to her and her fingers moved on the strings. Her voice spread from her, visibly. Dozens of tiny sparks of light burst forth, crackling like micro suns exploding. They flew up, shattered and sprinkled down like pixie dust.

David stopped moving for a moment. Zoey was still poised to attack, but David turned to Chloe, and then Elisha who was wrapped in some kind of rope. He seemed confused for a moment, and was going to ask what happened when they saw Chloe fall back. David rushed to her, picking her up. He looked up at Zoey, his eyes asking the question he couldn’t find the words to ask.

Zoey bent over Chloe and sighed. She sat down heavily, leaning back and staring at where the sky would be.

“She is alright,” Zoey said. “Probably used too much essence on that spell.” David nodded. Zoey turned toward the opening beyond the trees. The fighting had stopped. She dreaded what that meant, but she knew they would have to go there.

“You can still hear her, right?” David asked. Zoey nodded.

Ifyr was calling them—pulling them to their deaths.