CHAPTER 25

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[Sigurd]

The stairs were just as icy as before, but it seemed we had grown more familiar with the terrain as it took barely five minutes to reach the entrance to the next level. This time, what greeted me upon descending the last step didn’t fill me with shock, awe and apprehension. No, this time, what greeted me gave me a relaxing familiar hug as a narrow tunnel stretched away from me. I sighed in relief. There was a sense of closeness and safety that being in a tunnel gave off.

With a huge cavern, an attack could come from anywhere and you had to stay alert in all directions, you couldn’t just focus on what was coming up. Less to focus on, less to be distracted by, more safety, especially for the support like Jenna. Behind the shield of Jackson, she was safe, and monsters would have to get through the front-line fighters to reach her. With a cavern that was not the case.

There were also only choices on where to go when you reached a fork in the path, but with a cavern you could go anywhere, see anything, do more and see more. Frankly, it was overwhelming, most everything about this dungeon was overwhelming. So, the sight of a narrow tunnel that restricted all of these things was a breath of fresh air.

However, the fact that this was the dungeons first level like this raised the question of why?

What was different now? What was the trick with this floor? I wondered to myself.

It seemed the others were also wondering this. Because Sebastien soon talked to us.

“Everyone, stop a sec…” He commanded. “It’s a tunnel now”

“Yep, like normal” Kael muttered back

“So, something is probably up with it? Some trap or quirk that’s gonna be really dangerous. So, we need to be especially aware until we uncover it. Ok?” he said nodding to himself as if puzzling it out then and there.

I nodded and the others replied similarly. He smiled.

“Things are getting harder now and if the dungeon continues for a while then we’re gonna turn back. We really aren’t prepared for a hardcore delve so I’m not gonna push the boat out too far the first time. Frankly, I get the feeling that we’re not gonna complete it this time anyway. Which is good, as a group we’ve been searching for another dungeon to project and this one is unique enough and out of the way enough that it won’t be too crowded for a while.” He continued.

“Sounds good” Jackson replied in his gruff voice.

“Yep” lore chimed in.

Jenna just nodded in her typical quiet manner, and I kept silent as well, not knowing if I was included in the proposal for further delving. I felt like it was going well enough that I might be invited, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to invite myself. That was not for me.

Taking our first steps felt like bursting a balloon, our conversation at the entrance having increased the pressure enough that I was nervous. But, as soon as we walked forwards, I felt that excited adrenaline rush that always accompanied exploring a dungeon surge through me. I relaxed and embraced it, knowing that an enhanced state of perception would soon fall over me, like a soft blanket.

Sure enough it did, and the group fell into formation and marched onwards.

The icy floor slowed our progress, but thankfully, as with the other floors, the ice was roughed up enough, or coated with snow deep enough, to ensue sufficient grip to walk on, though the ever-present threat of slipping was there.

The ceiling was of a rough rocky nature and it blended seamlessly with the white reaching tendrils of snow that climbed up the walls in irregular patterns, as if some spell had frozen the floor in an icy bath.

The first chamber we entered was empty and it presented the option of three different paths, one that climbed off to the right, another that sloped downwards to the left and then curved back to the right a short while later, the rest of the path being obscured by the tight turn. The last path went straight forwards, with no elevation change, before gently curving left so as to prevent us seeing beyond the tunnel.

Sebastien decided that we were going left, and we tentatively descended, hesitant with the slope. I thought it could be a trap that would slide us to our doom, but it wasn’t, and we soon reached the turn that would bring us out of view from that initial chamber. Upon rounding the corner, we faced a short stretch of tunnel before another chamber, though this time the chamber wasn’t empty.

Yellow glaring eyes stared us down, oozing hatred and anger. Stark vertical slashes cut through the yellow, looking like portals to another world. They were big eyes, and the dark coat of whatever they belonged to showed harsh and patchy against the empty white background. From so far away I couldn’t distinguish its form, though I was taken aback at just the eyes. A raw malevolence exuded from them that shocked me and I was nervous. I hadn’t ever been so nervous in this dungeon as I was now, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Sebastien stopped us as we got closer in, within twenty-five metres of the cat, I could see it was a cat now. It had black fur, dark as night, interspersed with sharp white metallic spines, like those of a porcupine. A cat porcupine cross over, I thought to myself almost snorting aloud. It stalked backwards and forwards, never taking its eyes off us as it glared its menacing glare.

“Right, its gonna be fast as most cats are and those spines look wicked sharp so make sure to avoid them. Jenna stay just inside the doorway on the left, Lorelei on the right and reign support. Jackson, I want you to charge forward and engage it, the rest of us will follow. You need to be the biggest threat so as to force it to engage you first. Because it’s so fast, it’s important that you draw agro otherwise it could get at one of the girls.”

“Sure, thing Seb” Jackson responded, and we all agreed.

“Right, good. Sigurd, I want you to circle to the left to stop it rounding on us to get to the girls and I’ll take right. Kael, you follow Jackson through so that you’re in the middle, but make sure to stay left a bit so that Lore can reign down fire on it.”

“Got it”

“Ok” the big man said once it was clear Sebastien was done, “On my mark.”

“3”

“2”

“1”

“Go” Jackson roared and charged forwards.

What followed his tremendous bellow, was a lesson in trickery and blood. A reminder that plans can be defeated and that all the prep in the world can mean nothing if you’ve judged things wrong from the beginning.

And we had surely done that. Everything went wrong in the barest of seconds as soon as we crossed the threshold of the room.

Jackson ran forwards sliding on the ice as he brought his shield up, ready to bash the cat. His yelling obscured what I remembered hearing only now – after the fact – of a hissing coming from over my left shoulder. Nonetheless, at the time, I missed it.

Jackson, sliding forwards, yelped in surprise as the cat vanished, moving so quickly as to have teleported, and he continued forwards slamming into a block of ice and releasing a barrage of icy flechettes that cut him up. He grunted at the impact and at the pain that must be prevalent. It was extremely lucky that Jenna had gotten off her first healing, otherwise, I’m sure we would have lost him due to the events that followed I thought to myself, trying to recall what had happened.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I remember whirling around in surprise, searching for the cat that had seemingly vanished. Of course, now I realised that it hadn’t been in front of us at all and that it was nought but an image of the cat. From the beginning, it had been to the side of the room and like all natural predators, it hadn’t gone for the strongest, but rather the weakest. And in its’ eyes, it was the small unarmed girl that was weakest. And, as our unfortune had it, we had placed her closest to it.

As I turned around, I saw it leap, claws extended and jaws open wide, a shriek pouring out. It clattered into Jenna, knocking her back and opening a gash in her chest. The mages robes were not armour, but they held at least a small measure of protection against cutting attacks, and the tough fabric had held up to much of the damage.

Kael shot the cat with an arrow that sank in deep, though it only slowed the next attack that gripped her shoulder, the cat’s claws dragging her neck forwards towards the waiting jaws. Waiting to bite down and crush her life out.

As it darted forwards, a fireball greeted it, splashing over its sensitive snout and causing the cat to jump away, raking down Jenna’s bare front as it did so.

We killed it shortly after that, but the damage had been done.

Her robe was torn to shreds, held together by the blood and goo that poured forth from her wounds. Long dark slashes that ran from her left shoulder, across her chest and down to her waist, another set along her left arm that reminded me of the ribbons that I remember seeing as a kid in the capital celebrations. I winced.

“Jenna!” I heard myself scream, as worry swept away the adrenalin that had fuelled me. Weary tiredness set in and I felt like slumping down. My feet hurt from the walking, my hands hurt from gripping my weapon and my shoulders protested in agony from the armour and the fighting. My hips hurt from the weird walk I had been doing to balance on the icy floor and my mind was numb from worry. I was just hurt physically and emotionally.

“Shit” Sebastien swore, angrily. At himself I assumed.

“Guys, does anyone have any healing left at all” Lore said softly. But we heard her, and it set us into a frantic motion, as we rifled through our belts and backpacks in search of something. Anything that would help.

“I’ve got a bandage” I called out

“Another bandage”

“Gauze”

“Basic medicinal herbs”

“Regen tablet - scratch level”

“Numbing cream and sedatives”

The others all called out, though who said what I couldn’t say.

“Shit” Sebastien said again.

I thought fast, what could I do? There must be something.

“I’ve got a max strength healing potion at home.” I said.

They missed it in all the panic, so I repeated louder.

“I’VE GOT A MAX STRENGTH HEALING POTION AT HOME”

“Yes!” Sebastien exclaimed. “Kael cut away the fabric, Lore, lift her head and give her the sedatives and some water. Jackson?”

“Yeah”

“Get those herbs and grind them up in some water, make a paste”

“Got it”

“Sigurd, lets bandage her, then we’re going to run back to yours and get that healing potion, it’s a long run but I think we can manage it.”

We all set to work, worry for Jenna speeding our actions.

***20 minutes later***

“STOP!!!!” Sebastien called out.

“What? Why?” Kael questioned angry at the delay. Jenna was like his little sister and he was furious that he had let her get hurt.

“Let’s make a stretcher, its gonna be easier to carry her and hopefully it will speed us up a lot. I’ve got rope in my bag so get some wood”

We had made it back through the ice levels with difficulty and had nearly slipped and fallen in when crossing the ocean. Luckily, the ice run had a nice set of stairs that dropped us off at the top yet were hidden somehow, we didn’t have time to decipher. I praised the gods for that small mercy and wondered how we would have managed it without them.

We rushed onwards.

Making it through the safe floor and into the boss arena where Sebastien called for us to stop. Thankfully, the monsters hadn’t bothered us on our way back.

Stretcher? I thought to myself. Good idea, wood, we wanted straight pieces of wood. Branches.

We rushed off and soon had a small pile of wood that we quickly lashed together with Sebastien’s rope, it was thick braided rope, designed for descending cliffs and so it was not ideal for lashing together a stretcher, but we made it work. We all dumped our spare clothes on the wooden frame to make it far more comfortable and then we tied Jenna to our makeshift stretcher, she wouldn’t fall off.

Jackson and Sebastien picked her up and we ran on, the short floor of the boss arena took only a minute to cross before we were going up the stairs again; just wide enough for them to go sideways with her.

It was slow, agonisingly slow, but with the healing herbs and the regen tablet I had hope. Jenna wasn’t getting worse and if we could make it back in time then we could heal her.

Exiting the stairs, we faced the jungle level again and the densely packed trees made fast travel untenable. Picking our way around the thick groves took a while and Lorelei and I focused on clearing a path. Burning and chopping our way through with reckless abandon.

Halfway through the jungle we slowed down again as Lorelei ran out of mana. Burning a path through the dungeon had really helped our progress and it took us another fifteen minutes to clear the rest of the jungle floor. Forty long minutes for the swamp, the chest high waters and dangerous fish lurking underneath making it treacherous beyond belief. Though we had found a path that kept us much drier this time around, and the few pools we did have to cross got boiled by Lorelei as we backtracked.

More familiar with the way back from this point on, I led us. Not taking any time to wonder at the stairs that grew up into the base of one of the trees in the woodland on floor two. Rushing through, we didn’t see any wolves or cats and as we climbed that first tree to the first floor, the snakes and birds didn’t bother us either.

The last obstacle was the thick grasses of the first floor, and we pushed through them in short order, rushing up the steps and into the wider world.

Despite the circumstances of our retreat, it felt good to emerge into fresh air and sunlight. Being underground for two days, two days of constant battle wore you down and as pleasant as the dungeon had been, there was a refreshing sense of relief that washed over me as the evening sun settled in the trees, cocooned in the branches like a precious egg in a birds nest.

I smiled for a second before the gravity of the situation lifted all the brevity of relief from me.

At a dead run, we leapt down the mountain, our strides confident and surreal as we dodged boulders, gravel and tree roots that would trip us under any other occasion. Yet guided by some sense of sure footedness we made hasty progress, as if the goddess herself was guiding us to Jenna’s salvation.

Shortly the harsh boulders and sharp stony ground morphed into the sparse barren treeline of the approaching forest. And it wasn’t long before the signs of civilisation approached.

Glancing back, Jenna looked rough. Where before the limited healing we had had staved off the wounds, these had long ago run out of effect and she had gone grey in colour, blood still leaking out of her wounds. The clothes that lined her stretcher were no longer fresh, but rather dark red and sopping with the blood that leaked out. It was a lot of blood and secretly I wondered if we were going to make it.

Thankfully, she was still unconscious.

First, we passed the hunters huts, little shelters and treehouses that camouflaged a person until the opportune moment to strike at the game that wandered the forest. Then the footprints of those out gathering food, long dried as summer began to set in, and the evidence of the rainy season evaporated.

The smell of smoke and fire floated around as we got closer to the edges of the forest, and then the ringing of the blacksmiths hammer would greet us, I was sure.

At this time of day, he would usually be working still, finishing up a batch of nails to send off to the guilds in the cities.

There was no ringing of metal on metal as we got to the walls, but I put it behind me as we rushed home.

Fumbling with the key, I unlocked the door and we rushed inside, slamming it closed.

“Quick, on the table,” Seb told Jackson as the two of them manoeuvred her around the furniture.

Meanwhile I rushed to the attic, up the rickety old ladder that the carpenters apprentice had made for me free of charge and across the boards haphazardly laid down on the cross beams.

In an old leather covered chest, I had my reserve supply of gear from adventuring, including my old axe, though it had seen better days, and a few healing salves and potions. As well as replacement leather armour pieces and a whetstone.

I grabbed one of the potions, looking at the dusty label that had been sun bleached long ago and squinted.

Yes

This was the one.

I turned, not bothering to close the chest and hurried to the table in the kitchen.

Jenna was lying there, still, and the others crowded around her.

“Move it, move it, make some space…” I growled out.

Lifting her head up gently, I unstopped the bottle and forced a few mouthfuls of the potion down her throat. Pouring a bit into all the wounds and then over the new bandages that Sebastien had out.

While he re-wrapped her wounds, I gave her the rest of the potion. It was slow getting her to drink the potion while still out of it.

Colour returned to her slowly and the sickly grey pallor of death that loomed over her receded, slowly at first as if keen to stay but it wasn’t her time yet. We’d made sure of it. I sighed in relief. Feeling the weight lift from my shoulders. She would make it; she would make it. I chanted to myself, easing my worries with every repetition.

Collectively we all relaxed as her chest started to rise and fall in an easier motion and the colour seeped back into her face.

“Good grief, that was close” Sebastien said, still panting from the run back, relief evident in his features.

“Too close”

“Way too close”

We lapsed into silence, watching her breathe. The souds of our heavy breathing filling the silence.

Once I’d caught my breath I smiled, getting up and making us all a cup of aeldra, we had earned it, that was for sure.

I handed a mug to all of the others when a sharp knock at the door startled me, making me jump and spilling some of my drink on the floor. Hard and fast the knocking came.

Shit, what now, I thought as I got to my feet.