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The Ratmen
17. Spirit of the Lake

17. Spirit of the Lake

That night King decided we could take the next day off.

He was very content with how things had been going. Finding water had been a stellar find and he was also happy with how we decided to take care of the orcs. Clementine might have had an issue with our moral compass when it came to adventuring in the labyrinth, but she would never disagree with the big guy.

As for him? He didn’t care for relations with small orc tribes and I told myself that he knew there wasn’t a relation to be had with monsters.

Suddenly we had a lot of free time and even my magic training was cancelled, so I could actually go to bed at the same time as the rest instead of studying through the whole night. Not that I would go to bed early.

I had plans after all.

In the last few days I noticed something in a particular room in the labyrinth which I wanted to check out, but I couldn’t do it tomorrow during the day or Brynn would demand she go with me, since she couldn’t get out by herself.

Now don’t get me wrong. Most of the time I’d rather have her with me, she’d have my back, but not tonight. I’d been psyched to go out by myself for a few days now. To just walk in silence while thinking and have some time to myself.

That’s why I had to sneak to one of the walls that the big guy had raised, paying close care not to be seen. Especially by Brynn, which was nerve wracking. I’ve seen her sneak up on a rat from above and grab it with her bare hands, so I knew, that if I didn’t see her, it didn’t mean she wasn’t there.

Once I was almost certain that the coast was clear I created my passage. By now, I could do this in a matter of seconds. It had taken effort, but the manipulation of the earth came almost naturally now after my teacher kept an eye on my training. Four eyes, to be exact.

Only after closing the hole, looking in every direction and not spotting any oversized rats, I relaxed.

A week ago the labyrinth had been such a scary thing. Now the scary part was getting into the labyrinth without being noticed by my family. A weird feeling of nostalgia filled me, and for some reason I kept thinking about orphanages.

Lost in thought, I followed the directions we’d carved in the walls during the last week, slightly surprised at how calm the labyrinth was by night and how well I could still see even though the lights were nearly off. I vaguely remember thinking King told me that was because of fairies in the light, but the memory was a bit hazy. Still, I expected the day-life switch to nightlife to be more dramatic. Brynn, Bart and I never explored during the night so I didn’t know what to expect. Usually there was always the few sounds of animals tiptoeing on the stone canvas, or a fight between predators in the distance, but now… nothing.

I walked through the silent tunnels heading towards my destination. I didn’t walk fast or slow. I just walked. Thanks to the symbols on the wall and my internal map there wasn’t a real need to hurry. I knew how long it would take for me to get back from there and I knew I wasn’t going to spend hours looking for something that might have been a figment of my imagination.

How curious I might have been about what there might be, it was actually about the walk. The solitary thinking. Thinking about the last week. About how my brothers and sisters were doing.

And about the conversation I had with Belial. Basically, except for the big guy, Belial and me, my siblings didn’t think of themselves as human. Maybe some of them did, but it didn’t feel right to ask. I didn’t speak to King about it either. Maybe I was afraid of what they’d say. Maybe they’d break down. Or maybe they’d shun us for being different.

Well, who knows if it really even mattered. They were still the same people, just with fur.

In the end, I reach my destination without coming to a real conclusion, but that wasn’t so important. At least I got some time to clearly think about it. Now it was time for something more exciting.

I entered the room where the underground lake lay. Every time I’d been there I would see a shimmer in the water that disappeared whenever someone else came close. The first time I didn’t really notice, but when we were hauling water multiple times one day it somehow caught my eye. As if someone was looking at me.

Absently, I looked around.

The lake was huge after all. It was definitely the largest space we’d ever seen in the entire labyrinth and only after paying closer intention did we notice just how deep the lake was. The water was extremely clear, but you could still not see the bottom, or fish.

Across the lake a big lizard sipped from the water, and a sudden question almost made me stumble over into the water.

‘So you actually came alone this time?’ A girl’s voice asked with a mocking tone.

‘How? What?’ I desperately ran in circles trying to find the voice that asked the question.

‘I’m here, stupid.’ She giggled and I followed the sound coming from the lake. When I looked closer I could see that shimmer again and then suddenly the elegant blue visage of a small girl raised from out of the water like a mirage. She smiled magically and then put on a fake upset face. ‘How dare you steal water from my lake.’

Then she laughed heartily as I gaped in disbelief.

‘Who are you?’

‘I’m the spirit of the lake silly and you should not be able to see me.’ She was beautiful. Translucent and blue she hung above the lake like mist. She looked human and shone bright when she spoke. ‘Must be because of that lovely blessing. I’ve been here alone for sooo long, so you better entertain me.’ I stood dumbstruck. Her smile vanished and she splashed water on me. ‘Entertain me I said, before I get bored of you. Should have known not to ask favors of a rat.’

‘Uhm uh, sorry.’ I stumbled, ‘Do you want me to dance? I’m quite good.’

She looked at me dumb and laughed. ‘Watch you dance? Please, if I want to see a dance, I whip this lake upside down and watch the droplets bounce together in a cacophony of water.’ She looked at me, a hungry grin crept across the corners of her mouth that sent shivers down my spine with fear and desire. ‘Or will you dance with me, rat? You should know that a dance with a fairy is a great blessing, but an everlasting commitment, an immortal one.’ As she drifted closer to my face she asked, ‘Do you want that?’

To me this message seemed both invitation and warning. A warning that the cost was large and something deep in me, a childlike instinct told me to heed it. Another part of me, a much older part, reminded me that fairies are batshit crazy, not to be fucked with and I made a grave error coming here. Something on my face seemed to give this away as the fairy of the lake looked at me with disgust.

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‘You are a disappointment, little rat. Just because of your blessing I give you a chance and you don’t rise to it. You spit in my face, rat. You only had to entertain me, just for a moment.’

‘Look, I think I made a mistake coming here,’ I said nervously, ‘I just wanted to know if there was more to this place, but I’ll go…’

She looked at me with wide eyes. ‘You dare interrupt me.’ she stated, and the air seemed to tremble, and I slowly walked backwards.

‘Please I just want…’

‘You dare contradict me!!!’

‘I don’t me…’

‘YOU DON’T FUCK WITH ME.’

Behind the fairy, bursting with fury, a wave appears. I try to fall back to the tunnel, but the water is too fast and washes over me with violence. The water is icy cold as it seeps into my fur. Viciously, I choke.

---

Above a lake a fairy seethes with anger. Her lake seems bigger now, almost like the water expanded itself and on the edge of it some stray animals swim to the exit tunnels on the side of the rooms. There is however one animal that does not swim. The rat. Simply because the rat is not there anymore. The fairy never wants to see the rat again and some magic goes a long way to make that reality, or as close to reality as fairies get. She send him back where he belongs. In a way, she thinks to herself, she showed great kindness today. And that too goes a long way. Her rage subsides and so does the lake. Contently she floats back to the center of her domain, until she notices a remain of the rat. She looks at it and finds a sword, stuck with its tip in the ground. Curiously, to it she floats, touches, screeches, ‘AAAAAAARRRRRTRGHHHHH’ with pain.

---

I’m seeping wet and don’t know where I am. The walls look a different, darker grey. The light looks a different blue. My instincts tell me I’m so far away from home I might as well give up on seeing the face of my cute family. My reason tells me I just had to fuck with fairies. My body is shaking uncontrollably as I run around in a frenzy. Honestly, I am fucked. My. Sword. Is. Gone. And this place is ridiculous.

I run.

And I run.

Till I see shadows in the distance. Moving confirmations of life. Moving Confirmations of threats. I ready myself for combat. Nothing here could kill me so far, nothing but the minotaur and these shadows seem too small. I spring into action and run across the corridor and spring myself at the shadows, only to stop myself before them.

They wore a black fur and ragged, yellow teeth. Their hands and tails were pink. These were ratmen. They are, but look different. Less well kept. Less thoughtful. Less healthy.

I stare at them until their confusion turns to anger. In a guttural language they shout at each other and spring at me, brandishing knifes made of fang and bone. The first one to reach me breaks his nose on my fist, so hard he collapses. The next one blends his black fur with the dark grey of the walls to sneak at me, but my eyes see everything in the dark and my foot crushes his neck. From behind me a shape appears to stab me, but my tail is swift and wraps around his wrist. The wrist snaps wetly and the rat screams. Now there is only one left. Short seconds passed since I arrived and his eyes dart, wanting to run away from me, but my tail is swift and with a turn of my hip his friend slams into him causing them both to collide into the wall with a crunch.

A silence returns to the cave and my breathing steadies as I look at the death around me. When I see my claws, they are dirty with blood and the pink of my hands turns to red before it connects to my grey fur. I rip a part of fabric from the rats to clean myself with. Rat blood can’t be healthy for you.

I inspect the bodies and apart from collecting some knives and a bag with dried meats I find that one of rats Is still alive. The gentleman my tail made acquaintance. I ask him where he’s from, but he simply growls more in a language I don’t hope to ever speak and tries miserably to spit in my face before he chuckles and breaths his last breath.

groggily, I try to wipe of all the water, using some of the savages their dirty rags. This leaves me dirty, but significantly warmer. The smelly garments are a bleak confirmation that there is other intelligent life in this cave. They were different from the orcs since orcs never spoke, and different from the fairy since fairies might not technically be alive, I think. It’s most alike to the lizards we met and killed long ago. They talked, grouped and used tools. The lizardmen, however, smelled a lot better.

I eat some of the dried meat, which is disgusting, and imagine everything here will try to kill me. I continue to walk while chewing on the gross jerky. A part of me wants to know what I’m eating. A more intelligent part tells me to not think about it. Rats really are disgusting. It doesn’t bother me enough. I am disgusting.

The corridors all look the same, but I try to find my way through. Everything will work out if I just find water. With my magic I can try make myself a burrow where I can safely spend the night. However, I cannot drink sand, or jerky, and I need to find a place that relatively feels safe.

In a next room I find a big lizard drinking sap from some plant. It hisses as it brandishes sharp fangs at me and I manage to kill it with a thrown knife. The knife's balance is horrid, but through strength and skill it hits through the lizards soft throat. I inspect my kill and the plant, a type of trunk with flowery branches, and roots stretching over the stone floor. I haven’t seen anything like this before in the cave, so I must be way off track. When I paid closer attention, there seemed to be more moss in these tunnels and a richer population of insects. I smell the plant and feel that it is safe to drink. It is weird to be an animal. So many strange urges and new sensations. Sometimes, I can honestly smell wherever Bart is coming from, or I if a spider is poisonous. So, I drink my fill and continue towards another tunnel out of the room.

I’m just about to exit as my nose tells me something else. I was not the only one hunting this lizard. Something dangerous is seeping from another passageway. I back off and skip to the center of the room as a giant snake slithers into sight. Bigger even than King. Brown scales shine in the blue light when it lifts itself up. Bright red markings edge from its chest to its large mouth. Shining yellow eyes dart from the the dead lizard to me as it slowly curls out to cover all the other exits. When it opens its mouth slowly, long fangs unfold from the length of its jaw, revealing itself a viper.

Wasting little precious time I whirl another knife, as hard as I can, and it crashes into its eye. The viper screeches and coils back at the unexpected lashing out of this rat, opening its mouth more fully, and before I can reach the next knife in my trousers, I see sparks appearing behind its fangs, and a hiss. Its large scales shine like gold before a large burst of light flashes from between its jaws. In a fraction of a second, I leap. Time slows to let my instincts interpret the world faster than I can comprehend. Still stunned and blinded, my body dives to the left. My vision begins to return as my little legs push on the vines to take me as quick as I can just before the sound of a small explosion reaches me from the viper. A horizontal pillar of flame scorches the earth where I just stood, setting vines on fire. This is not where I die, I think. Smoke burning my nostrils, I run. The heat of the pillar following on my tail as its deathly heat evaporates the last drops of water in my coat.

After eternal seconds, the flames stop, and I see the viper sink its chest slightly to let out a depleted sigh. I pull out two knives and flail straight at it, as fast as I can. Blind from one eye, it notices me a second late. It rushes its head forward to swallow me whole. By a hair's breadth, I dive down underneath its jaws, setting my legs into the stone with all my strength to lunge both knives deep through its red neck. My hands disappear in the flesh, twisting to slam the viper onto the ground.

It twitches for a moment but dies down while I pull out my wet limbs, the two knifes forever lost. I must have hit the spine through the throat, I think, breathing heavy while looking at the wound. The red of blood mixes with the red of the glowing markings on its chest and a slight hissing sound escapes from the whole..

A part of me feels deep discomfort, almost fearful, while looking at the intense red on the snake's corpse. Something instinctual wells up inside my chest, grabbing at my lungs. Something about red. Something about the viper.

My heart sinks as I see the red on the corpse glowing more intense, brighter somehow, and I jump away as far as I can.

A loud bang ruptures my ears.

Within a fraction of a moment, I see the large room fill up with flames. My back is set ablaze. A crushing force blows me brutally through the air to collide into the wall in front of me. A crunch reverberates through me.

As I fall to the ground, all I see is red.

Then all I see is black.