Chapter 89

The doors were giant windowless slabs of gray stone and they did not swing open upon the group's approach as Jay had thought they would. Instead they remained shut tight as the group gathered in front of the doors.

“Shouldn't we knock?” Aiden asked curiously.

Glenda laughed, “They know we are here.” she said in a complete sentence that startled Jay for a moment and he whipped around to face her and was about to say something when the doors made horrible screeching sounds as they scraped across the ground and opened outwards. Jay's group took a step back to give them room.

As the massive doors swung open a misshapen man stood inside just over the threshold waving them inside, “Come, come, hurry!” he said. “We don't have much time!”

The group quickly walked through the doorway and the doors began to close once again. Jay turned to his left to get a better view of the man who had invited them in.

The misshapen man was thin from the waist down with two thin legs rising to a thin waist but that is where things began to go wrong. The man's upper body appeared normal from the front. From the back however it was plain to see that the man had some kind of growth on his back, a hump perhaps, or maybe something else.

Whatever it was was thick and lumpy and strained at the shirt the man was wearing over it.

“I know, disgusting right?” he said as he caught Jay's glance. “Not much I can do about it. Follow me!” he insisted as he turned and ran.

Glenda shared a look with the rest of the group before they began to chase after him. He was the only one holding a lantern, the rest of the interior dark and impenetrable without dark vision of some kind. The lantern swung as the man ran throwing wild shadows careening across the walls and ceilings as they went.

The man didn't wait or slow down – he was running. He led them on a winding path and Jay would never be able to find his way back to the entrance even if he tried. The group ran on, led by the strange man, and they were quickly joined by horrible sounds. Scraping and gnashing of teeth, howling, chattering. The noises grew closer behind them and numerous times sounded ahead of them. When that happened the strange man would lead them down a side tunnel or through a side door to another location before reorienting himself and continuing on.

After a few minutes of this the man knocked open a door with his shoulder as he charged it and the entire group ran through quickly before the man slammed the door behind them and locked it with a heavy cross bar.

The door rattled as things on the other side slammed in to it over and over again. A puddle of some viscous red substance was spreading from beneath the door and the man leapt back away from it. He turned and took out a wand and blasted it with a fiery bolt. The red substance lit on fire and burnt for far longer than Jay thought it should leaving a thick black sludge in its wake.

The man then turned away from the burning puddle and nonchalantly walked over to a table. “Have a seat, I'll get us some wine. Haven't had visitors in forever!” he mumbled to himself as he busied his hands with gathering cups from a side shelf and taking a bottle of wine off of a rack in the corner.

The group all sat at the table, some of them looking very nervous.

“What was that? What were those things?” Norri asked as the others looked on wide eyed.

“Evil.” answered the man with the hump as he sat down. He had a stool instead of a chair with a back on it for the simple reason that his hump needed the extra room. “They come for anything that is not a book in here. They especially enjoy eating people with classes for some reason. The magic is delicious to them it seems. Any of you have a class?” he asked.

The entire group nodded.

The man laughed “Well that explains it then. Your group must smell terrific to them. They'll give up after a while but it's going to be a bit.” he finished as the monsters outside renewed their scraping and banging at the door.

Norri visibly startled and Aiden patted her on the shoulder in comfort. “The door will hold right?” Aiden asked, looking over at the misshapen man.

The man laughed. “Probably. Name is Koots by the way. Who are you people and why are you here?”

The door continued to shudder as monsters threw their bodies at it from the outside. It made it difficult to concentrate on anything but getting the hell out of there.

They each introduced themselves and Jay answered his question.

“I'm pretty sure we're here to return an overdue library book.” Jay said trying to lighten the mood.

“You have a BOOK?!” he asked, looking at Jay with an unreadable crazy expression.

Jay nodded.

“Well drink up then. You're going to need it.” Koots said with a laugh as he filled everyone's glasses halfway.

Everyone drank. It was halfway decent wine and Jay was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed it.

“Suppose I should tell you a couple of things now that you're here. I'm Koots, I sort of run the place? I mean I help people out when they become stuck in here. No one runs Ashagi but Ashagi if you catch my drift.” he said with a wink as he took another sip of wine, his hump wobbling behind him as he moved.

“What do you mean by stuck in here?” Aiden asked seriously.

Koots chuckled. “Getting in to Ashagi is easy. The doors just open right up. Getting out is the tough part. I can't tell you how many people have died in front of those doors waiting for them to open while being chased. No, you only leave Ashagi if Ashagi lets you leave.”

The group looked to Glenda questioningly – are we really trapped here their eyes seemed to ask. Glenda shrugged. “Must return book.” she said simply. Trapped or not they had to return the book.

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As they sipped their wine Koots explained, “After we finish our wine and the monsters let us alone for a moment I'll run you to the next room, the map room. It has what you'll need. A map mainly. You'll need to make your own copy of it. If you don't have a map you're dead in here.”

“Can I use my Class Abilities in here?” Jay asked, thinking about Glenda's earlier stricture against doing so.

Koots chuckled, “Sure. Oh sure. Just understand that it will draw every monster around to ya. These monsters love people with classes. The only thing they love more is people actively using class abilities. So if you have to use a class ability I recommend you only do so behind closed doors – or really, really, close to a door you can close.”

“Is now a good time?” Jay asked carefully.

Koots shook his head and looked at him like he was crazy. “No! They'll never leave us alone if you do that! Didn't I just tell you that you all need a map? We'll never make it to the map room if you use an ability now. What do you even need to use an ability for anyway? You all look healthy and you've got wine in your glasses.”

Jay nodded, “Ok.” he said without explaining why he needed to use an ability. “I don't have to use it now, you've got a good point. When would be a good time though?”

Koots thought about it a moment before answering. “Right before bed once you're locked in to a bedroom. The monsters are worst at night, it's like they all wake up when it gets dark out or something. Since you'll be locked in your room until morning feel free to use your ability then. Just do it before you go to sleep and not in the morning or you'll spend the whole day waiting for the monsters to leave.”

“So no going out at night?” Aiden asked curiously.

Koots went a little white and shook his head. “We cleanse the passages with a special fire throughout the night to kill off as many of the monsters as we can but there are always more to replace them in the morning. We tried not doing the cleansing one night and that was a bad idea. The next morning the passages were thick with monsters. So now we do it every night.”

“You go out at night?” Norri asked with wide eyes.

“Oh Goddess no. We set the fire spells to go off and then lock ourselves in our rooms for the night long before they do so. No one survives being outside their bedrooms in Ashagi at night.” Koots insisted.

The ruckus at the door suddenly halted leaving a deafening silence in its wake that was almost as terrifying as the monster's noises has been.

It was a few seconds before anyone spoke. “Are.. they gone?” Norri asked.

Koots shook his head. “Oh heavens no. They're sitting out there quiet now hoping we'll pop our heads out of the door. Don't fall for it! Don't be duped!” he said as he got up and walked over to the door. He gave it a kick with one foot and the door immediately was impacted by three or four bodies from the other side before being replaced by a furtive scrabbling.

Norri jumped when the bodies struck the door.

Koots shrugged and walked back to his seat, the door still trembling from the impacts. “It'll be another few minutes.”

They waited until the door finally quieted down and then another five minutes after that. Koots stood up and kicked the door again with only silence for a reply. “Now should be good. Quick, we have to run before they come back.”

Koots didn't wait but left the room running. The rest of the group jumped out of their chairs and chased after him afraid of being left behind. Jay caught up to him fairly quickly and the others weren't far behind.

Koots took them through a long hallway and then stopped, motioning to the others to be silent. He slowly looked around the corner before seeing what he had been looking for. He waited a few moments before exclaiming “RUN!”

Koots took off down a side passage and Jay's group followed, Glenda taking up the rear guard as something moist dripping a thick substance behind it galloped after them. Screams and screeches soon sounded from all around them as if they were coming from only one or two rooms away. Scrabbling and stomping could be heard, small creatures sharing the hallways with large plodding creatures whose footfalls Jay could feel as the floor trembled with every step.

They ran towards a large wooden door with an iron handle. Koots grabbed the handle and gave it a mighty pull.

The door didn't budge.

“Frederick! Fred! FRED?!” screamed Koots as the scrabbling grew closer. The hallway behind the group began to dim as the light was sucked out of it leaving a dim grayish darkness in its place.

“GODDESS TAKE YOU FREDERICK OPEN THE DOOR!” Koots yelled. The hallway behind them was now almost pitch black and the scrabbling sounds grew closer.

The door finally opened and the group fell in to the next room before a young thin woman in a purple dress slammed it shut behind them.

Again the monsters threw themselves at the door and as it shuddered from the impact Jay and his group picked themselves off of the floor.

Fred was staring at them with a serious expression. Long dark curly hair flowed over her shoulders and her brown eyes peered at them as if frustrated. “I was studying!”

Koots laughed, “And we were running for our lives! Good Goddess woman!”

Koots went to a table at the back of the room and motioned Jay and his group over to it. “We've got visitors, need to get them a map.”

Fred peered at them. “More scholars? They don't look very.. scholarly.” she said with distaste.

“They're not! Wait, you're not, right?” Koots said before turning to Jay to check.

“No, just returning a book.” Jay said.

Fred's eyes sparkled at Jay's mention of returning a book. “Oh this I can't wait to see.” she said simply and left the group to return to a table in the corner of the room near the door where she had a number of books out and open. She sat down and returned to studying, putting Jay, his group, and Koots out of her mind and focused instead on her books.

Koots shrugged, “Don't mind her, that's just the way she is. At least she opened the door this time.” he muttered as Jay and his group sat at the back table.

On the wall the table was pushed up against was a complicated looking map. Koots handed out blank paper and writing tools. “Do a good job. You'll be depending on your map to survive. You'll be running from room to room while you're here. You run in to the wrong room and.. well.. let's just say you won't be running no more.”

Jay's group settled in. They were caked in sweat and mud, their clothing almost sticking to them at this point they were so dirty. Their hair was gnarled and filthy from laying in mud and dirt during their journey. They were uncomfortable and tired. Jay could clean them right up if it weren't for the fact it'd draw the attention of every nearby monster.

“I'll be back in time for bed to run you all to your rooms. Spend the time in between on your maps and I'll see you in a few hours.” Koots said as he stood up and walked to the door.

“Wait, you're leaving?” M'redith asked.

“Of course. I have other things to do too you know!” he half cackled as he kicked the door as a test. The door remained motionless even after he kicked it a second time. “See ya soon!” he said with a grin as he whipped open the door and ran out at full speed, slamming the door shut behind him.