We spent the next three days doing serious training, trying to get Hope as strong as possible. When we weren’t training, we were mining as much Glasrock as we could. We eventually obtained enough for around three weeks of travel, which was about as much as we could carry alongside the rest of our supplies. Once we had what we needed, all the civilians agreed to stay at our makeshift camp while Ann, Julia, Al, and I decided to go looking for the prize Victor said should be in the area.
We made our way down the foreboding cavern that lay at the end of the chamber. We were moving cautiously, conscious of the dangers we knew lurked within this murky underground. But the possible benefit was too good to pass up, and I felt a little thrill of excitement every time I saw a little white rock poking out from the ceiling.
Our slow pace made the long passageway pass by in a crawl. The cave started to get even wider the more we travelled down it. It started to bend to the left. As we followed the curve, something strange began to happen. The cave was starting to get lighter, to the point that we no longer needed our lamp. The cavern was bathed in a pure white light that got brighter the more we traveled. Eventually the passage widened out, knocking us totally breathless with the resulting sight.
On the walls, smaller crystals shown with tiny white lights, like the stars on an inky night sky. The underground room was enormous, and the crystals were painted all around us, growing larger and larger as you looked upwards toward the ceiling. On the ceiling hung several enormous versions of the lesser stars, like a cluster of miniature moons dominating the subterranean territory. But the real attraction was in the center of the room.
A pool of silver sloshed around the central portion of the room. There was no wind, of course, but the water didn’t seem to care, droplets emerging from the surface of the pool and soaring through the air like fish, before plopping back down. The surface of the waters rippled in mercurial fashion thanks to all of this, and the four of us could do little else but stare at the glinting silver projectiles. Occasionally, another droplet would join the fray, falling from the ceiling and into the melee below. In all this chaos, not a single drop strayed from the roiling collective.
When we finally got over our shock, we eagerly went to work, taking out our waterskins and approaching the pool. Victor had warned us that the water of the Chillpool could be extremely uncomfortable and even damaging to get on our skin, so he had advised us to try to catch the droplets as they soared over the surface of the pool. This wasn’t easy, but it was very possible with our excellent reflexes, so we readied our waterskins and prepared to do just that.
The first droplet I caught wriggled in frustration at the bottom of the skin and only began to settle down slightly when I started to catch a few more. We started to make a game out of it, counting off droplets as we caught them, vying to get the most.
“12!” I called out, grinning slightly as I snared my prey, just as Julia called out 11 and Ann called 14. Julia was faster than me, but I compensated with superior technique, while Ann simply ran around like a maniac. Poor Al was still on 4 as Ann called out a triumphant 16 and set some boundaries:
“First to fifty wins!” She called gleefully, just as I answered back with 2 more of my own, putting me at 15 now. It was a tough race, with Julia kicking things into high gear to keep up and me constantly nipping at Ann’s heels. I got lucky and made it to 40 first, with an epic snare of three drops in a row, but Ann battled back to land her 50th while I was still on 48 and Julia on 45. Just as I grabbed my 50th, I heard Al call out 18 and suddenly yelp in fright.
“Incoming!” he yelled, and I whipped my head to the side, stoppered my waterskin, and drew my swords before seeing three white figures emerge from the cave on the far side of the chamber. Their heads bobbed in excitement as they let out a war cry.
In the split seconds after I saw them bearing down on us, I called everyone to convene around me on the opposite edge of the pool and cursed my own stupidity. We had let down our guard. But it was too late for regret as the trio reached the opposite end of the pool from us and prepared their flame breath. I called for everyone to get down just as the crimson tide was unleashed at us, only for something very strange to happen. As the fire passed over the silvery waters, they rippled curiously and leaped up, consuming the fire as quickly as they came, leaving the four of us totally unharmed.
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Ann was probably the first to get over her shock, and she stood up almost immediately after the fire vanished, rushing along the side of the pool and towards the shocked trio. However, the Neidyr reacted fast enough to her rushing attack, bringing up swords to block the incoming strike. It even counterattacked with a bite that Ann quickly ducked out of the way of. That, however, left an opening that Julia exploited. Following right on Ann’s heels, her staff snaked out towards the beast’s head. It wasn’t a clean blow, as the monster wrenched out of the way, but it still grazed the beast in the eye, provoking a howl and much flailing.
Its’ comrades had chosen to circle around their compatriot to strike at the girls, but they were forced to dodge its’ angry and panicked swings. Still, though, the uninjured duo bore down on the two humans, just as I arrived. Their initial attacks were carefully blocked and dodged by Ann and me while Julia tried to take advantage of what openings she could find. They were cautious, though, and they deflected any counterattacks we threw back at them. Both parties entered a stalemate, where no one was willing to overextend themselves to try to finish the opposition off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw their injured comrade making his way along the other bank of the river, attempting to flank us. The Neidyr only had to wait for him to kill Al and reach us to break the stalemate, and it was only a matter of time before they recharged their fire breath again. I could feel Ann and Julia looking at me in a slight panic, waiting for a new plan. But I already had a plan.
As the creature approached Al, he held aloft an impromptu torch that he had constructed earlier, using some of our firewood. He waved it menacingly at the incoming creature, staring imperiously and tilting his head upwards slightly:
“Back, foul creature, back! You know not what you do!”
This imposing call was undercut slightly when he took a few steps backward upon its’ undeterred approach. It stopped suddenly, though, scrutinizing Al with its’ one good eye, then looking at the ground. All over the ground glinted the lion’s share of Al’s caltrop supply, given away by the lights all around us. It looked back up at Al, whose face had gone pale, hissed in irritation, and proceeded to carefully walk around the trap. As it did so, however, Al’s composure quickly righted itself and he tossed his torch right at the creature’s feet. Where black powder had been poured while everyone else had been distracted.
The Firelily powder caught well and began to burn merrily, the fire quickly spreading to the creature’s feet. It screamed in agony as it hopped away from the fire at its’ feet, but its’ legs remained ablaze, the powder that it had kicked up had stuck to its’ legs and caught fire. Its’ brethren were shocked once more at the sudden plight of their comrade, and I took full advantage, blocking a swing and lunging forward to deliver a decisive attack on one of their legs. It tried in vain to counterattack, but I had already shifted towards dealing with the other enemy, keeping it distracted while Ann and Julia focused on the creature I had wounded.
I had just dodged a retaliatory sweep from my opponent when I heard Ann’s sword hitting flesh. I knew what had happened, especially when my enemy’s eyes widened with fear, and it made a quick retreat. I turned around to see Julia and Ann standing over the headless corpse of their opposition. In the middle of the Chillpool was something even stranger. The flaming Neidyr had decided to try to cool its’ feet off by jumping into the pool and now it was shrieking as it stood frozen in place, its’ upper body thrashing around. We were forced to get down as it spewed its’ fiery breath harmlessly into the air around it. There was a sickening crack and splash, and we looked up to see white and unmoving legs with no torso attached. Enemies settled, we hurriedly removed the fire breath glands from our recent quarry and Al gathered up as many of his caltrops as he could. We waited for him for as long as we dared before urging him to leave and sprinting back down the passage we came from.
We arrived back at the camp out of breath and told the others what had happened in as abridged a fashion as possible. This sent everyone into a packing frenzy, throwing everything of value into our bags before getting up and heading to the surface. Everyone was anxious to get out of this underground death trap. Our food was far from unlimited and, if our journey out of Corynth really did take 3 weeks, we would have to start rationing eventually. If it took longer, then we would be in danger.
We gulped greedy lungfuls of healthy air when we finally reached the surface. It was hard to tell, of course, but it seemed like midafternoon, and we were grateful for the light and the relative warmth it brought. Victor was the first to speak, gazing off into the distance and scanning our surroundings:
“We’ll head southeast for a while, but we shouldn’t get too close to the Manichean Mesa. They shouldn’t be able to see us but…” He trailed off mid-sentence, his gaze fixed on something further out in the fog. Just then, Al spoke up as well:
“Guys, we may have bigger problems than the Manicheas.”
Victor’s head snapped around, fumbling for a rock in his pack while speaking:
“Ignore what I just said. Al’s right. We need to go now! Head north!”
We moved to follow the orders, rushing towards the northmost corner of the perimeter. As we did, I looked south, trying to follow Victor’s gaze. I could barely make out tiny pinpricks of light, far in the distance. Flecks of green fire dotted the misty horizon and steadily started to grow larger. I could have sworn I saw angry purple eyes fixated on us.
We left the mine behind as the sky around us began to fall.