The three of them must have been excellent with crossword puzzles. In a matter of moments after I returned and told them what had been written on the tombstone, they had determined that drawing a line from the two known statues towards the mountains was where we needed to go.
I looked up at the sun, it was already past noon and if I was to approximate the distance on the map correctly, it was still a few hours away in the opposite direction of town.
“Cheer up Tom, we’ll have plenty of time to get back to town,” Shan assured me with one of her big grins. I responded in kind out of professional habit, but I was beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable.
Vi pulled out the two promised coins as if reading my expression and handed them to me. “You do not need to come with us, we have got it from here.”
Thank Voth!
“But,” she said, pulling out 2 fresh coins, “ If you finish this adventure with us, I’ll give you two more.” She tactically twisted the coins so they reflected the sun. Vi, although quite pretty, was definitely manipulating me. She knew what it would take to get me to do what she wanted, the question was, why? Why have some random nobody come all the way out in the middle of nowhere.
Unless, they planned to kill me and take all the…
She interrupted my spiralling train of thought, “By the way we aren’t going to murder you or anything, it’s not like you are worth much. You’ve just shown your value a moment ago, and if we get into a situation in which we need a local, I would rather be found with one, than without.”
Still, something wasn’t quite adding up
But there they were, the two golden haired twins calling out to me and asking me to take them home.
It’s two more months that I could leave sooner. It’s two more months, it's two more months.
“Okay I’m in.” I let out with a sigh.
“Splendid, then let us get a move on then.” Vi replied.
Shan gave me a big toothy grin while Charles gave me a blank expression. Although most of his face seemed to always be obscured by some random piece of clothing, I had the distinct impression that he would be quite good looking.
By the time we reached the mountains two hours later, my clothes were drenched in sweat and my legs were killing me. Whenever I snuck glances at my companions they seemed to be nonchalant about the entire endeavor.
“Okay, Charlie my boy, what did the other clue say,” Shan said with an eyebrow raised at her companion.
Charles shot daggers out of his eyes, but eventually acquiesced in a melodic voice, “The path can be found by setting out directly south from the oldest home around.”
I looked around. There were no homes nearby. The mountains lay directly before us encompassing most of our field of view. There were some shrubs, other rock formations, some grass, flowers and a lonely tree.
Oh it’s the…
“It’s obviously the tree.” Vi pointed out.
Showoff
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
She walked over the southern side of the old oak tree, turned towards the mountains and began to march quickly. As we began to follow Vi, I was able to see a crack, not discernible from any other crack in the mountain. When we finally got close enough, it was apparent that this was not just a crack but a decent sized hole. The three of them began unsheathing their weapons, Shan in the front and Charles in the back.
“Wait here Tom, we will be back in a couple hours.” Vi said flatly.
I nodded in reply and the group set off.
The first hour that I was waiting, absolutely nothing of consequence happened. It was right at the two hour mark when I heard these occasional deep rumblings coming from below me. I stood up and put my backpack on in preparation for something. But nothing else happened.
At 3 hours the rumbling grew more intense and more frequent. I was beginning to get extremely worried. I had already separated myself from the entrance and stood out in the opening between the mountains and the tree but where I could still see the entrance.
After 4 hours of waiting, the sun was beginning to set so I had been gathering some supplies to make a fire just in case. Thankfully there were plenty of dried tinder and branches from the nearby shrubs and the tree. I ate a quick dinner and waiting for my 3 patrons to return.
Somewhere at about 5 hours I felt a deep rumbling and lost my balance and almost fell into the fire. The earth shook violently and the mountains seemed to yell out in frustration. Rocks near the top of the mountains began to cascade. The mountains nearby seemed to collapse inwards on themselves. I packed up the food that I had set out for the group and got ready to leave.
Money is not worth dying for
As I stood up I heard a deep scream. I hesitated while standing at the ready.
I'm leaving in 5 minutes no matter what.
But soon a huddling mass of figures came out of the Voth forsaken hole. To be precise, they limped and dragged over to my location.
Vi had Charles' body draped over her back, and Shan was using her giant axe as a walking stick. The earthquaking shakes had finally ceased so there was a momentary stillness over the situation.
“For Voth sake Tom are you going to help me with Charles or just stand there all night,” Vi spat out tiredly. I obliged and slowly put Charles to the floor. My hands came away with blood over them. I inspected the prone body to find matted blood and fresh blood all of his clothes but concentrated predominantly on his head.
“What happened?” I asked in shock. “Is Charles… dead?”
“He’s not dead… at least not yet, but if we don’t get him to the city he might be though.” Shan let out while wincing. I instinctively turned as she spoke to find that almost her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises. Dried blood matted almost the entirety of her arms and legs.
“What happened?” I asked again in disbelief. By this point Vi was quickly wrapping Charles' head with some white cloth bandages. They were immeditely stained a deep red.
“I will tell you later,” Vi winced as she continued her desperate work, “We’re going to have to try to get back to the city as soon as possible.” She looked me up and down, “ Drop the bag, I’m going to need your help carrying him.” I did what I was asked immediately.
“Shan, do you still have the heart?” Vi said, looking over to Shan.
“Yeah right here,” she said, showing a large glowing purple gem a little smaller than the palm of her hand. They both looked at me and said nothing.
“Okay let us go, we do not have much time.” Vi said quickly. Together we lifted Charles between the two of us and began towards the town. A straight shot from the mountains was at least 12 miles to the southern part of time. Walking at a normal pace would get us there in about 4 hours.
If walking the entire day was difficult, this was grueling. Carrying a fully grown man with some random pompous woman who was more than a head shorter than me. What was I even doing? Trudging through fields on this hot summer night with these crazy spelunking psychopaths that kill mountains.
They’re mountain murderers!
I looked over at Shan who was grimacing with each step, but she said nothing. Vi and I were both panting already.
This is going to be a long night
And it was a long night. Two hours later when I thought I would pass out from exhaustion I found a new will, a fire, a deep determination within me. It came in the form of a chorus of howls.
Voth dammit