Rhania felt her blood rush to her face. She knew that she couldn’t have given a poorer account of herself. The elves, on the other hand, as far as Rhania could tell, had slaughtered their foes easily using only sound to locate them. Ildin gave her a final look of disdain before turning his attention to the creatures he had just killed.

They were the size of an adolescent child with the largest standing roughly a head shorter than Rhania. They wore only filthy loin cloths, and they were covered in pale green skin. Their weapons were crude, and the two that had charged them were armed only with clubs.

“Goblins,” Ildin spat with distaste.

“Not ordinary ones, though,” Rhania said as she studied one. “Look, their eyes are milky white, and their ears are larger than normal.”

Uldria crinkled her nose with distaste. “Deep Goblins. Unleashed no doubt by the dwarves of Ukh Darnin.”

“I find it hard to believe that Aldarin could be ambushed by the likes of them,” Ildin frowned as he picked an elvish arrow that he found on the ground nearby.

“They likely caught him off guard and overwhelmed him with their numbers,” one of the archers remarked as he approached them holding a leather quiver holding five elvish arrows. “This belonged to him.”

“We did think it was a human who somehow broke free of the maze when we sent him here to investigate,” Uldria pointed out.

Ildin scowled and turned his attention to Rhania. “I suppose this solves the mystery of your murdered human. You can report back to your masters now.”

Rhania shook her head. “Now my concern is if these goblins came from the mountains like you said, then how did they get this far south?”

“And how, precisely, does that concern you?” Ildin asked thinly.

“We both know that where there are goblins, other greenskins could be close at hand,” Rhania shot back, uncowed by the swordsman’s icy tone.”

“You can leave the matter to us,” Ildin said. “We will keep your human town safe.”

“That’s generous of you,” Rhania remarked dryly. “But I can’t leave it at this.”

Ildin glared at her. There was a fiery zeal in his eyes that caused Rhania to take a step back. “Our chieftain swore an oath to the humans of Vinton that we would keep their town safe for as long as a Venyirilan elf remained in these forests. We keep our oaths, even if the ones we swore to protect have forgotten them.”

Rhania could sense no guile nor bitterness in the elf’s voice. It was as though he were simply stating a fact. “All the same, we need to find where these things came from. I can help.”

“Can you?” Ildin asked caustically.

“I believe I have discovered where they came from Captain,” one of the archers said as he approached from the east.

“Show me,” Ildin ordered.

The elves moved swiftly and silently as the archer led them to a knoll that was covered in dense underbrush. Rhania followed a distance behind, not wanting to give their position away with her footsteps that sounded like thunder to her ears. At the base of the knoll, they found a dried puddle of blood next to a hole in the ground that was partially obscured by thorny brambles.

“That is not greenskin blood,” Uldria observed, looking troubled.

“Aldarin,” Ildin murmured.

“Perhaps he is still alive,” one of the archers offered hopefully.

“If he was taken by the greenskins, he is better off dead,” Ildin said before tearing his gaze from the blood and peering into the inky blackness of the hole.

“It just descends,” one of the archers remarked. “How far down, I cannot tell. I thought it prudent to summon you before investigating further.”

Ildin nodded. “You did well. Escort the Whisperer back to the village. I will investigate it alone.”

The archer’s face turned pale. “But Captain…”

“There is likely to be a warren beneath our feet. Archers will be at a disadvantage,” Ildin said gravely. “And the Whisperer is too valuable to risk down there.”

“So are you!” the other archer protested. “Who knows what is lurking down there? We should return to the village and organize a proper party to explore it.”

Ildin shook his head. “We need to discover how extensive the warren is and what their numbers are. The village is at risk. Besides, if Aldarin is still alive, he will not be able to wait that long.”

“Then at least let one of us accompany you down there!”

“No, get the Whisperer to safety,” Ildin ordered.

“I can help,” Rhania offered.

“Can you?” Ildin asked caustically.

“She can,” Uldria said. “She can sense them using the Flow.”

Rhania jumped when she realized the Whisperer had been staring at her the whole time. “You could sense them, couldn’t you?”

Rhania nodded.

“That makes her showing back there all the more woeful,” Ildin snapped. “What possible use could I have for her?”

“Locating accurately enemies using the Flow takes time to get used to,” Uldria said. “Besides, you will be blind down there.”

Ildin hesitated and Uldria continued. “We can ill afford to lose you either at a time like this.”

She then turned to Rhania. “I am entrusting our Captain to you. If it looks too dangerous, I want you to drag him out by the scruff of the neck if you have to.”

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Rhania nodded her head vigorously and Ildin scowled. “Just don’t get in my way and know that I will not hesitate to leave you behind if you falter.”

“I won’t,” Rhania promised as she inched closer to the hole and scrunched up her nose when she smelt the foul stench wafting up from it.

“Vindrel is a capable leader,” Ildin said to the archers. “Listen to him and support him. I will return in two days at the most.”

“And if you do not?” one of the archers asked worriedly.

“Then assume I am lost,” Ildin replied. “Seal this entrance and double the watch on the southern woods.”

The archer swallowed and nodded.

“Ergon watch over you,” Uldria said as she raised her hand. Ildin knelt before the Whisperer who then touched her hand to his forehead, completing the blessing. “May He deliver you safely back to our keeping.”

“And Aldarin,” Ildin added.

“And your brother,” Uldria sighed. “When I get back home, I will pray for both your safe returns at the temple.”

“Thank you, Whisperer,” Ildin said.

“Here, take this, Captain,” one of the archers said as they offered him a pair of satchels. “Our supplies for this hunt. I wager there won’t be much forage to be had down there.”

“Thank you,” Ildin said. “Remember, two days, then seal the hole. No one else is to descend if I do not return. Not until our northern borders are secure.”

As they spoke, Rhania suppressed a shudder as she stared into the void. Something was amiss about it, but she could not tell what.

“Having second thoughts?” Rhania looked up to see Ildin looking at her closely. “I won’t think less of you if you don’t want to join me.”

“I have the feeling your opinion of me couldn’t be lower,” Rhania blurted without thinking.

A wry smile twisted Ildin’s lips. “That is a fair observation. Follow me.”

The elf drew his weapons before descending into the hole carefully. Rhania felt a ball of ice form in her stomach as the swordsman was swallowed up by the darkness. She stared at the seemingly bottomless pit, transfixed until she felt a touch on her arm.

She jumped and turned around to see the remaining elves staring at her curiously. Uldria was the first to speak. “I understand if you’ve changed your mind about going in with Ildin, but you should let him know if you’ve changed your mind.”

It took a moment for Rhania to be able to grasp words and at length, she replied. “No, I’ll go.”

She took a deep breath before following Ildin. The hole was steeper than she had anticipated and had partially collapsed obliging Rhania to contort her body to pass through. The stench soon grew overpowering. It was the stench of decay and excrement, and she had to take a moment to stop herself from throwing up. She then frowned and hesitated as she turned her attention to the tunnel itself. The tunnel’s width and height were haphazard. Whatever had made this tunnel was not adept at building them.

Rhania winced as she felt something squelch under her foot. A moment later, a foul stench that overpowered the tunnel’s pervasive odour assaulted her nostrils. Her stomach turned and it took everything she had to prevent it from emptying its contents. She took a step forward and slammed nose first into something hard, causing her to fall into the foul thing she had stepped in earlier.

“There you are,” Ildin’s voice was soft, but she heard it as clear as a bell in her ear. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

Rhania heard relief in the elf’s voice and was about to make a snide remark but what came out of her mouth instead was the contents of her stomach.

Ildin's sigh cut through the darkness. “I suppose I can’t blame you. This place is most distressing.”

“Let’s get going,” Rhania said as she got to her feet and pushed past him, wanting to be away from the stench as quickly as possible.

She could feel whatever she had sat in seeping through her trousers and into her undergarments. She would have to burn both at the first opportunity, but for the time being, she had no choice but to soldier on. To her surprise, the stench seemed to grow less file the further she descended, and she had to take a moment to ensure that it wasn’t just her nose getting accustomed to it.

“Curious,” she murmured.

“What is?” Ildin asked sharply from behind her.

Rhania jumped. The elf had been moving so silently that she had forgotten he was behind her. “There isn’t any refuse here,” she began.

Ildin shrugged. “Even greenskins know better than to foul their own nests.”

“No,” Rhania said. “I believe they would use refuse piles further in. Fouling themselves up in the narrow confines of the tunnel means they have to walk through it in their forays to the surface.”

“Do you think that they were fleeing something down here?” Ildin mused. “Perhaps they were driven to the surface in desperation.”

“Perhaps,” Rhania allowed. “But the attack on the man happened a week ago and they were still using the tunnel mouth as a base of operations at the very least.”

“Yes, that was around the time Aladrin went missing,” Ildin remarked darkly. “Perhaps it is better if they killed him on the spot.”

Rhania paused, troubled by the goblins’ strange behaviour. She felt a hand on her shoulder and then heard Ildin’s voice in her ear. “The answers to our questions lie ahead. We waste time tarrying here and if there are more parties on the surface than the one we encountered, we will be trapped when they return.”

Rhania broke out in a cold sweat. She hadn’t even considered that possibility.

“It gets darker below,” Ildin continued. “So dark that even my eyes can’t see a thing. Can you sense a way through?”

“Let’s find out,” Rhania muttered. She opened her senses and concentrated on the natural magic moving through the ground around them. From the flow, she could discern the walls of the tunnel as it wound its way deeper into the earth.

“Yes, I think I will be able to guide us,” Rhania breathed. “For a while at the very least. By the way, I can speak elvish.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Ildin said curtly, still speaking Ildruni. “We should carry on. Be ready for anything.”

Rhania nodded. The tunnel was too narrow for her to use her sword, so she drew the dagger she kept at the small of her back and began moving forward.

“What is it?” Ildin asked when Rhania came to a stop after they had descended for several minutes.

Rhania bent over to pick up the object she had stubbed her toe against and frowned. “It feels like a broken brick.”

“It feels like they made a hole in the side of a brick wall,” Rhania remarked as she touched the brick wall with her hands.

“Perhaps we have encountered an ancient ruin,” Ildin remarked.

“I’ll know more when I get through the hole,” Rhania whispered back.

She took a deep breath before stepping through the hole with her weapon at the ready. It was as silent as a tomb on the other side.

“It’s a tunnel,” she breathed, marvelling at what her senses were telling her was out there. “Perfectly straight, brick lined, and wide enough for four stout men to walk side by side, though the ceiling is a little low.”

“This is not the work of greenskins,” Ildin remarked as he stepped through the hole and felt the outline of the tunnel out with his hands. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say it is the work of the dwarves.”

“We must be three hundred miles from Ukh Darnin,” Rhania remarked. “This doesn’t appear to be a mine shaft. Why would they have built a tunnel all the way out here?”

“Why indeed?” Ildin growled. “The further we go, the more questions we have.”

“Which way do we go?” Rhania ventured.

Ildin fell silent for a moment before nudging Rhania in a direction. “That way. North.”

Rhania nodded even though it was impossible for Ildin to see and began walking slowly in that direction. “Do you want to keep your hand on my shoulder?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Ildin replied. “Your footsteps and breathing are loud enough for me to know where you are. I only hope our enemy’s hearing isn’t as keen as mine.”

Rhania swallowed a curse and began following the tunnel north. They hadn’t travelled far when she felt her foot bump into something soft. She stopped and cringed. Why hadn’t she sensed it earlier? Then, she realized why.

“It’s a corpse,” she said.

“A corpse of what?” Ildin demanded.

Rhania reached down to touch it and gasped. A wave of revulsion struck her as soon as her hand touched the dead thing.

“What is it?” Ildin hissed.

Rhania’s voice was hoarse as she struggled to regain her composure. “This creature was killed by the touch of a warlock. There is a servant of the Dark Gods down here.”

“A lieutenant disciplining their troops,” Ildin mused.

Rhania’s attention turned north down the tunnel before she realized why. Then she sensed it. Disturbances in the flow. At least two dozen of them.

“They’ve caught our scent,” came Ildin’s voice in her ear. “A large number of them based on the footsteps, heading right for us.”

The stench of sulphur permeated the air, sending a chill down Rhania’s spine. Rhania felt her hair stand on end as both elves whirled around to face the unnatural presence they had felt appear between them and the tunnel they had entered through.

“It’s the warlock,” she hissed. “We’re surrounded.”

“Yes, I’d gathered that much,” Ildin replied dryly.