CHAPTER 65: Here bunny-bunny
Karato laughed at my insinuation that he only came to watch me getting beat up by the dungeon denizens.
“I’m there for when the monsters start stomping on your motionless body. Because after that, you’ll not be learning much more from the lesson.”
My confidence levels were sinking faster than the Titanic. Without any ceremony he simply waved us into the tunnel. Chiselled into the rock above the mouth of the tunnel, the chilling words, ‘Only the brave may enter’, did nothing to improve my confidence levels.
The dark mouth of the cave contained a simple stone-block arch that didn’t look particularly inspired. Surely there were coal mines with more soul stirring entrances. The stone-block masonry carried on for about fifty meters into the mouth where the natural rock walls took over. The tunnel had a wide radius of about thirty meters across and sloped gently downwards and to the left, into the darker depths of the large hill. I couldn’t see too far ahead because of the angled slope of the tunnel blocked the view.
A glowing quintessential moss covered the cave with a strange blue light. Why did all fantasy dungeons come with glowing moss I wondered? But I was the last to complain, at least we could see. I could smell the scent of damp earth, and at places I heard small rivulets of water running along the base of the rock walls and disappearing somewhere into the ground. In front of us, in the middle of the entrance lay a large ten-meter diameter circle of stone on the ground. It obviously wasn’t a natural feature, and I was curious about it. Karato realised that I was looking at the object.
“That is a portal stone, a return point for adventurers and there’s another on the fifth level. None of the portal stones are operational anymore, at least not for hundreds of years now. Something is missing from the stones to make them operational again and we haven’t been able to figure out what or why.”
Throughout the dungeon there were points in which adventurers who had advanced to certain levels could jump back to the point they left off. At one stage people had access to all those portals which allowed the experienced adventurers to skip parts that they had already covered. The next stone artefact was at the beginning of the fifth floor in front of the closed door that led to Bladetooth’s boss room. Adventurers had to make it through the first four levels, but I was soon to discover that it was easier said than done.
Fifteen minutes of walking brought us to a point where the dust in front of us showed fewer human footprints and more foreign looking spoor. Karato pointed to one particular print that stood out clearly.
“This footprint that looks like a small child’s foot belongs to a goblin. Although their prints are like ours, you can see the difference in the claw imprint at the end of each toe. Goblins are ambushers and are not likely to announce themselves before they attack. They usually come in single or in small groups and not restricted to any level. If you’re unlucky, they’ll come in a large horde in which case it’s better to run...probably.”
There’s that brimming confidence from Karato again.
“Monsters that are on the first level tend to be small but nimble. That is excellent training for a beginner like you. The other footprint you can see looks like two parallel bars. Those belong to the rabbits. They are the most prolific on the first level. Between them and the bats who obviously don’t leave footprints, they are the most common monsters on this level.”
Rabbits were just as weary of goblins because it wasn’t uncommon for goblins to eat rabbits if they got half the chance. Just because they were all monsters didn’t mean they cared for each other.
“If I were you Shane, I would get my knife out about now…because that rabbit over there seems to have taken an interest in you. Hana you can stay with me for now.”
I stopped moving and stared into the depths of the tunnel. Still as a statue, was the indistinct image of a rabbit standing on its hind legs and looking directly at me. It certainly looked like a rabbit, although bigger because its ears came up to my chest. I pulled out my knife and pointed it forward in the direction of the rabbit, not too sure what to expect.
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Karato had made it clear to me that learning to use a knife came first. He said that if I couldn’t learn to handle a knife properly it would be of little use to me when I needed it most. At that moment, I wished I had a wee bit more blade length between me and that rabbit. The action of removing my knife out of its scabbard seemed to trigger something in the rabbit and it suddenly bounded forward at an incredible speed.
“Bloody hell it’s fast!”
“Move!”
The voice of Karato commanded from the back.
Within three seconds the rabbit launched itself at me feet first aiming directly for my chest while loudly screeching. I honestly didn’t think real rabbits made noises like that. I barely avoided the thing as I twisted away and felt its feet nails scrape across my breastplate. I smelled the musty odour of rabbit fur and dust as its body knocked me sideways, off my feet. Heck, I was glad I had that armour on. If I survived, those rabbits would pay.
Expecting a follow-up attack, I turned to face the direction of the rabbit, but it wasn’t there anymore.
“Look to your left.”
Said Karato’s dry voice. I narrowly missed the rabbit feet again. Their feet soles are hard as stone and their nails are razor sharp. I wondered if he even felt excited.
“Rabbits are quick, but they tire just as fast. When you are an amateur…left side…it is better to tire them out first before trying to attack…behind you.”
The rabbits quickly became exhausted. While I kept dodging, they became slower, then and therefore easier to track, also easier to predict where it was likely to go.
“When you hold your knife always keep the sharp edge facing outward. Otherwise, you’ll only end up cutting yourself if a rabbit kicks your arm or hand.”
That bloody rabbit was getting on my nerves. It had launched itself right in front of me heading straight for my face, forcing me to dive for the ground to avoid a fatal nosebleed.
“You can kill rabbits by stabbing at the position you think they will be. They are so fast and humans’ reflexes so slow, that trying to stab them when you see them will only result in you hitting fresh air.”
Now why didn’t he say that from the beginning? The next time the rabbit launched itself at my chest and I stepped back while stabbing at the space in front of me. I felt the blade hit home, going through bone. The rabbit fell, lifeless onto the ground. Karato stepped closer and quickly stabbed the rabbit through the heart.
“Always confirm the kill. Some monsters are artists at feigning death and will attack as soon as your attention is elsewhere.”
Note to myself, never feign death. Especially when Karato was around. The rest of the morning was dedicated to the killing of rabbits. Besides getting myself beaten up a few times I not only had to trudge back, I had to also skin and clean each one of those things. Karato didn’t lift a finger, all he did was issue instructions. Complaining wouldn’t help besides the advice he was giving was invaluable, I just wish he would help me more. What? At least there was some money with the rabbits. Well, that’s at least what I thought.
It turned out the rabbit killing lessons came at a price. Each rabbit brought in fifty coppers at the guild, another fifty coppers from the skins made it one silver for a rabbit. Then there was the ten-copper tax for each rabbit taken out of the dungeon. With five rabbits I could get a room for the night at the inn and two meals. Pretty basic fare. I could see why this wasn’t the wealthiest of dungeons. Karato’s fee came in at five silvers per lesson which meant we needed eleven rabbits just to cover his costs.
Later, when I returned to the workshop I created a sword, something the old man would never forget. It was a thin fencing sword with an amazing handguard gilded with dead rabbit figurines. I made it to be particularly effective against rabbits and even added a wind attribute to it that would make the sword swifter. I didn’t know at the time, but I would meet this sword once again in different circumstances. I called the sword Dead-Rabbit. Please don’t comment about my naming convention, I was very emotional at the time.