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Chapter 6: The flawed plan

“This is stupid. This is stupid. This is so stupid.” Yandré muttered softly, “Agh! Why did I even think of doing this…”

     But everything he started thinking of dropping the plan, the fact would pop up. All of their food was gone. Their water supply too.

     The clock was on the move. Something had to change.

Yandré took a deep breath.

     “Okay… Let’s do this,” He said loudly.

     “Did you say something?” A voice called from up top.

     “Shhh! It’s bad enough trying this, never mind the idea of it coming early. So please be quiet, Eria.”

     He shook his head as the woman apologetically stared down. With a shrug, he continued to fasten the sturdy rope to the foundation of the column Eria was situated on. Luckily they had come prepared before this all started. Yandré tugged at the knot and hoped the thing would be able to hold, even after adding another line and twisting it for strength.

     But it would have to do. There just wasn’t time for systematically sneaking around trying to find food and water with the knowledge that just one misstep could cost them their lives…

     No, this had to happen.

     Yandré pulled at the second knot and signalled up to Eria that it was sturdy. The two ropes were strung taut between the columns.

     Now came the scary part. Yandré slapped his cheeks a couple of time before he looked up to Eria, where she was preparing the other part of the plan. They exchanged a lingering glance and then he was off, to go lure the monster.

    His hand slid over the smooth rock as he slowly slipped around a bend. The growls of the quilled beast were all too present throughout the tunnels. But was worrisome, was the fact that there were periods of silence. Too long to be sure that it had not come closer too fast. It only made the tension in the air worse. If he bumped into the monster without knowing it was there, he was done for. It was way too fast to outrun without obstacles hindering its passage.

     And the closer Yandré got, the worse those silent periods became. It was almost maddening. The fact that his headlight was more off than on, was grating his nerves raw.

     He slid around the corner and squinted into the dark, trying desperately to see if anything was there. His heart beat lifted up a notch. The seconds ticked by slowly and no movement shifted in the dark.

     After a minute, Yandré relaxed somewhat, though, the terrifying moments that he faced around every corner was waging war on his mind. He slowly let his breath go and moved on to the next corner about twenty metres away.

     As he approached the corner to again start his sequence, a distant roar sounded. Yandré jerked. It sounded at least a kilometre away!

    What, how?

There was just no way… No way that it could have moved that distance so fast. Yandré almost groaned. If it was that far, it clearly moved far enough out of their area to breathe a little.

    But still, he wanted that sword!

An audible groan finally slipped out of his mouth.

     Then from around the bend that horrifying clattering of quills echoed.

Crap!      

Yandré swiftly plastered himself to the cave wall and froze. The beast was right there. The sounds of its breathing stirred the air. The thought of having been heard drummed against his skull.

      If it came now…

Yandré assessed his chances, thinking back on his trek through the specific tunnel. It only caused his heart hammer in his chest.

     There was no side passage for at least three hundred metres!

Wet drops of sweat slipped down the side of his face, even though it wasn’t warm at all.

     He had made a mistake…

All he could do was hope it didn’t sense his presence.

With as little movement as possible, he inched backwards, careful to test each step before making it.

     A minute passed and no movement.

     Yandré slid back a few more metres.

Still, nothing came.

The next foot bumped a pebble and it scraped on the rock. Yandré’s muscles pulled taut as he prepared to run.

     The cave remained silent and he moved around the bend. Within seconds, he moved as quick and silent as possible to get some distance between him and the monster.

     For a moment he considered luring the quilled beast right then, but one thing was certain, the tunnel had too little options. He needed to be closer to the intersection before he set in motion the next plan.

A few minutes later the small hub came into view, it held only two alternative passages, but Yandré didn’t take either. He paused looking back into the tunnel he came from. From there on, it would be winging it for the most part. There would be no second chances if something were to go wrong.

     He took several deep gulps of breaths and cringed as he started to deliberately bang two metal clips against each other loudly.

Okay, here goes…

     Within seconds he could hear the roar and the clattering of the monster’s quills as thundering footsteps resounded out of the tunnel.

    Yandré flicked on his headlamp and ran down the closest passage, leading back to the place where Eria was waiting with the traps.

His panting breaths came in quicker as he stormed down the path. He didn’t even look back or worry about the monster not losing him. Instead, a gnawing worry was settling in him that it would catch up to him before he reached the trap. The reality of it was slowly creeping its way into his mind.

     Yandré growled and pushed his body harder than he ever had. His arms flung in sequence as he powered himself forward. But still… The almost deafening noise that the monster made, with its mad dash, came closer each step of the way.

     Yet just as the grunting breaths of the creature were within metres of him, the familiar small passage that led to the crystal cavern came into view. He screamed into it as he ran.

“ERIA! Get ready!”

At first, no reply came, and fear flared up inside him, but then a moment later Eria shouted back.

“RIGHT! GOT IT!”

     Relief washed briefly over him but fled as he pushed himself to get to the trap before the creature got him. His legs were long since burning with the effort.

     A few seconds later the glowing cave came into view and he spotted Eria standing ready up top on the column, rope in hand.

“This better work!” He yelled at her.

“Duck!” Eria shouted and Yandré desperately ducked as the air whooshed over him with a swipe of a claw from the creature.

     Off balance, Yandré scrambled to get back up right, he glanced back and his eyes got wide as the monster slammed both of its powerful three metre long arms down at him. Instinct drove him to side step and he watched the rippling muscles of the monster’s arms swing past him, crashing into the floor with a loud bang.

     Yandré didn’t wait around.

     He ran for the trap at full speed and the lumbering steps of the creature right behind him.

    He jumped over the rope, hoping beyond all hopes it would work.

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    As he landed on the other side, he threw his head around just as the creature lifted its arm for another swipe at him. Then, the twin ropes hit the legs of the monster.

    Yandré drew in a massive breath. The scene almost seemed slow. It was the adrenalin, he was sure.

    Creature lost its balance and Yandré almost cheered when the first rope snapped.

    It whipped around with immense force and struck him in the side, sending him flying a few metres to the ground.

    Dazed and winded, Yandré sat up coughing, trying to catch his breath. But fear quickly overpowered him. The rope had snapped!

    He flung his gaze over to the columns and to his relief the second rope had held and the monster hurtled down onto the rock floor with a loud boom that shook the ground.

    Yet it seemed only confused as it tried to prop itself up. Eria had been right. This fight was far from over.

    Yandré gritted his teeth and got up. He was sure he had a cracked rib. But that was the least of his worries.

    In his head, he had planned to jump over the rope and as the thing tripped he would jump on its back to retrieve the sword. But the rope snapping had thrown all that out of the window. Eria’s plan came into action now, though if it would work was the real question.

    He glanced up just as she pulled at the two knots that held the stalactite in place. It had taken hours to secure the ropes around it alongside using counter weights to make sure it would break off. He held his breath as Eria broke the hold of the counterweights—two rocks— and they immediately dropped. Nothing happened.

    Then the stalactite broke off from its base and in seconds fell down on the monster, just as it had gotten onto its knees. The sharp rock pierced the side of it, slicing into those powerful muscles like it was nothing.

    A piercing roar burst forth from the monster as it collapsed on the floor again. And with a few shudders and groans, it stopped moving.

    Yandré hobbled over to it and eyed it nervously, the monster had haunted him since the first time he saw it. With more than a little reluctance, he approached it and finally tried to get onto the thing, but his broken rib was sending painful jabs inside his body, slowing his ascent to a crawl.

    Still, he climbed, even though Eria swung down from her perch and was already on the monster’s back.

    Yandré considered just stopping, letting Eria yank the sword, but the thing stuck fast and she grunted.

    “Ahg…uumf, I can’t…get it…out!”

    Yandré groaned and finished climbing up the huge body of the quilled beast.

He fought through the pain and approached Eria at the sword.

    Surprisingly, it looked as if the wound where he had stabbed the monster had healed completely except for where the blade was stuck in the flesh. The monster truly was an insane piece of work. It was fast, it was extremely powerful and it healed remarkably quickly.

    He shook his head and took the hilt of the sword in hand from Eria.

But the moment, he yanked, a large amount of pain surged in his chest, and he dropped to his one knee gasping for breath.

   “You’re hurt…” Eria said, deep concern breaking through in her voice.

He waved at her and coughed.

   “I’ll live, but damn… that hurt.”

   “What about the sword?”

   Yandré eyed her immediately and said, “After all that?! There is no way I’m leaving the sword. You pull and I’ll help as much as I can, okay?”

     He looked at where the entry point was, and an idea popped up. He pulled out a small utility knife and pressed some of the quills on the creature’s back to the side, and dropped his knee onto it, to keep it from getting in the way. A paused a moment deciding where to begin and started cutting at tough skin that had healed. It was like cutting through bark. But he persisted until finally the knife slid through and he got to working it around the sword.

    It took longer than he expected, but a few minutes later Eria was able to yank the sword out, huffing at the effort.

    Yandré eyed the huge monster, and chewed at his lip. He then made up his mind and asked,

    “Give me the sword for a minute… I just need to make sure.”

Understanding washed over Eria as she nodded anxiously and handed him the sword. Yandré walked over to where the broad neck of the thing was and shoved the sword into its skull. It took more effort than he expected, but it drove in after a few seconds. The impact sent another jolt of pain through him, but he soldiered through it.

    He turned to Eria, who was pulling out a few spines. She had the right idea. In such a situation, you got to use every tool available to you. He smiled briefly.

    “I can’t believe we pulled it off.”

    “I know right. Still, we need to be more careful…” She said while glancing at the broken rope and where he was holding his ribs.

    Yandré wanted to make a joke, but he stopped, thinking of laughing with a broken rib. But he did say, “I guess meat is on the menu?”

    Eria smiled warmly at him.

   “Yeah, I guess it is. I’ll get some dry twigs from the trees. How insane is this place… Monsters and trees in caves. I can’t wrap my head around it…”

   Yandré nodded soberly as he eyed the crystalline cavern with its own little ecosystem.

   As Eria moved towards the closest brush, panic popped up in and he shouted after her.

   “Oi! Eria! Whatever you do, do not piss off those fox-like fur balls with the long ears. They make insane amounts of noise.”

   The woman spun back, eyeing with curiosity, but he just shook his head and said, “You don’t really want to know. But I’ll tell you later.”

    Yandré dropped to his knees and started cutting out slabs of monster meat. He looked at the flesh and was glad to see it was red. Meat was meat. And in a survival situation, you can’t always guarantee the next source of food. So he sliced away, taking enough for a few days.

    He stopped himself from chuckling as he realised that the thing could feed a small army. And in the case of the three-metre monster, it was absolutely true.

   Ten minutes later, as he sat back and pulled the sword out of the creature, a sudden ring filled the air. It wasn’t loud in the truest sense, but it was high pitched, hurting slightly. He glanced at Eria to see if she could hear it too, and sure enough, she was holding her ears looking around anxiously.

    It was then that the light from the crystals started pulsing in constant beats. The ringing got a bit louder, but not dangerously so. Warmth enveloped his right hand and looked down immediately; only to see the blade of the sword start glowing and small mist-like particles pulsed away from the sword in a certain direction. He turned to sword away and still the particles flowed in only one direction.

   “What is happening?” Eria asked from the side, having made her way over.

   Yandré looked around and shook his head uncertainly.

  “I… don’t know. But I think we better grab everything and get back to Haven’s Scar quickly.”

  “Agreed,” Eria said, looking at the strange events. “Let’s hope it’s not something bad.”

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Hi! Hope you enjoyed the read, I have some time this weekend,  so the possibility of another chapter is there.

But if not, I will add one again by Friday next week.

And seriously, if someone wants to help proofread the stuff, I'd be so grateful. I'm busy working with my publisher to get my bigger story published, so it is kind of difficult at the moment. 

But anyhow, thanks for reading and thank you so much for taking the time to for it. Means a lot for me. As always, please feel free to provide feedback. With it, I can make the story even better. Wink [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/wink.png]

I'll keep you updated on my main project. I'm super stoked! Tongue [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/tongue.png]

Have an awesome weekend everyone.

P.S. Can anyone tell me why when I copy paste my post from a word document, that it throws it out in bold when I post it. Even when I try to unbold it in the edit, it throws it out as bold sometimes... It's confusing, to say the least. Any suggestions how to fix this?

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