Let us go back a bit and see how our other pair of travelers are doing.

While Twist told his story, Lionel and Klamka kept up their tracking through the tunnels. Klamka kept a lit lantern high to light the way.

Then Klamka stopped dead in her tracks, so fast Lionel bumped into her.

“What’s up princess?” he asked.

“There is something else in these caverns.” She replied, placing her lantern down.

“Hmm you don’t say? Almost as if monsters are here” Lionel replied sarcastically.

“This is no joking matter, listen”

Lionel listened. There was the sound of heavy footsteps. Very heavy footsteps, like stone meeting stone. It sounded like an avalanche.

Then suddenly the tunnel echoed with a horrible noise, like a wolf’s howl but deeper and more penetrating.

“I get your point. It sounds big and it isn’t by itself.”

Lionel quickly unsheathed his sword and Klamka did the same.

“Could you use that sacred flame to fend them off?” Klamka asked.

“Nope! It must be a bigger fire and it can’t really move too much.”

The pounding feet got closer.

“Some help your magic is then” Klamka bitterly said.

“Hey princess, I specialize in fire magic” Lionel boasted “I can set anything on fire.”

The source of the feet came into the range of the lantern’s light: it was a pack of wolf-like beasts the size of horses, their beady red eyes rested in eerily human-like faces. They had no fur, nor really any skin to speak of, they were made entirely out of stone.

“Almost anything” Lionel admitted.

These were barghoulders, foul stone mastiffs that roamed in packs around Lethes. They normally only ate minerals but were not ones to shy away from warm and fresh meat.

One of the barghoulders leaped toward the two knights, its maw open. Klamka swung her sword at the beast, leaving a shallow cut in its jaw. Then the creature shuddered, its eyes flickering as it backed off.

“They are magical in make-up” Klamka said, “My sword can not only hurt them, but perhaps even render the magic animating them inert.”

“Thanks for the good news” Lionel remarked.

Two more barghoulders leaped at them. Klamka cut one, causing it to run off as it nearly fell apart. The other found itself impaled at the end of Lione’s long sword.

The barghoulder glared at Lionel and attempted to bite and claw at him. Klamka readied a slash at this impaled beast.

“Stop! Back off! I got this!” Lionel shouted, Klamka stepped back in surprise.

Lionel teetered and dropped the barghoulder to the ground, his sword still stuck in it.

“Big dumb beast of stone, have flames inside to explode!”

His sword glowed a bit, but then dimmed. The barghoulder got traction with its four feet and ran, taking Lionel with it.

“You call that a rhyme?” Klamka said in disappointment.

“You try writing poetry when you got this thing staring at you in the eyes!” Lionel retorted, flailing in the air as the barghoulder ran around the tunnel to dislodge him.

“Fire and flame, don’t let me down! Blow this thing up like a balloon from a clown!”

The sword glowed and there was a small explosion inside of the barghoulder. Cracks formed on it and smoke came from its mouth, but it didn’t slow down.

Klamka ran in and cut it with her sword. The lights from the beast dimmed and it fell apart into a pile of rubble.

Lionel fell onto this pile of rubble, then gave Klamka a thumbs up.

The princess sighed and turned back toward the other barghoulders. They had retreated into the deeper darkness of the tunnel, but kept a close eye on their quarry.

“We must move and get away from these wretched beasts before they gather enough courage to attack us again” Klamka said, grabbing the lantern and then Lionel’s hand. He pulled him along.

“Nice sword you got there, what enchantment does it have?” Lionel asked, more than a little dazed.

“None, I believe I’ve made it clear I don’t use magic” Klamka snapped, “It is a sword of pure iron.”

“Ahhh nice! That’s right, pure iron damages magic and magical beings, good thinking. Too bad its also fragile”

Klamka was about to retort, then she looked at her sword. Slicing those stone beasts had left it beat up.

“That is a fair point” she said, “I had gotten too caught up in the fight to remember that”

“Ain’t this your first adventure? There ain’t any shame in admitting you are still learning the ropes.”

“Shut up and start walking faster, we need to find a place where the barghoulders will leave us alone.”

Klamka and Lionel traveled fast, resting only briefly as the barghoulders kept pursuing them. Finally they arrived at the cave Twist and Tenacia encountered the Kerberos. At this point most of the water had drained away, the lantern made the wet walls glisten.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“I think we’ll be good here! Rock monsters never like water” Lionel said, looking around.

Indeed, the lights of the barghoulder’s eyes were no longer following them.

Klamka sighed and sat down.

“That is a relief… We really need rest” she panted.

“I’ll get that protecting fire goin’, then we can look after our weapons and armor.”

Klamka nodded, taking off her armor to clean and polish it, as well as look after her sword.

Lionel did the same. He got out a bright orange bottle filled with a foul smelling substance, with a towel Lionel wiped his sword twice, then put it away.

“I’ve noticed you don’t polish your sword as much as I do” Klamka said, watching Lionel.

Lionel snickered “Heh! You sure you want to go on record saying that?”

“You know what I meant.”

“Well, this is a special sword you know, made by a smithy of the magi knights. Enchanted artifacts tend to decay more slowly than regular stuff, but this sword especially is extra durable and doesn’t really need to be checked for rest and scratches. It will probably outlive me!”

“So, what were you doing then?”

“Refilling the fire runes, you could say, that bottle I have is filled with concentrated fire vis. I wipe it up and down with my sword, and voila! Fueled up for another day or so.”

“Handy”

Lionel unsheathed his sword and went to work on his armor.

“Unfortunately I just got regular and boring mercenary armor, so I need to look after it as usual”

Klamka nodded, “I have some extra special supplies if you need it, including a polish that will help with durability”

“Heh, thanks princess” Lionel said, giving Klamka a warm smile.

Eventually, Klamka took off her helmet and walked to the shallow water to wash her hair.

“Do you happen to have any soap or oils?” she asked.

“Wow, you really are a princess aren’t you!” Lionel laughed, “Do you want some perfume and a new dress to go along with that?”

“A simple no would have sufficed…”

“Hahaha! Sorry Klamka, couldn’t resist. I do have some soap, smells decent too.”

“Thank you”

They took care of the rest of their weapon and armor management and went to sleep, Lionel’s campfire keeping all monsters away.

With Twist continuing to heal, Klamka and Lionel were finally starting to catch up. Their next obstacle though was a doozy: the cavern of stone towers.

Or at this point, just a big dark cavern with a few stone towers in it. There wasn’t even a path left for Klamka and Lionel to go across.

“You sense the noctav’s magic through here?” Lionel asked, dreading the answer.

“Yes I do, it just goes right through, as if he walked on air” Klamka says, clenching her fists.

“He does know air magic, but air walking is a tough spell” Lionel said, “Can’t help but think there used to be some sort of road here.”

“Regardless, we need to turn back and found a new route to our quarry” Klamka grimly said, turning around to go back from where they came.

“I was afraid you’d say that” Lionel sighed, “Here’s hoping we figure out this stupid labyrinth.”

The two would try to form a new path to find Twist and Tenacia. It would be another day before they got on the right track, though it would be a long and winding road.

“We are kinda running low on rations” Lionel announced sadly at another campfire.

“Indeed, we had best get to hunting some of the local beasts” Klamka replied, munching on some hard tack.

“I ain’t eating rocks, so we better go look for one of those lakes and catch some fish.”

“Do you know how to fish?”

“Sure do! I can give you some pointers too, princess.”

“I am intrigued… I believe we passed an underground lake just fourth a mile ago.”

After some quick backtracking, the two found the underground lake. It was especially huge thanks to the rains a few days ago, there was very little land to walk on around it.

Lionel rummaged through his backpack, then he pulled out two fishing rods and handed one to Klamka.

“Here you go your majesty! The best fishing rods around, crafted by the best wulver craftsmen. Now we just need bait.”

“Bait?” Klamka wondered aloud.

“Yep, I doubt even eyeless fish would willingly bite on a hook without something to munch on.”

Lionel rummaged through his rations and attached a bit of white cheese to the end of his rod’s hook.

“Good old aged calacrondi! Can never go wrong with it.”

With a strong swing, Lionel lets the line go. The plop of the hook echoes through the cavern.

Klamka watched, expecting Lionel to immediately pull a fish back.

Then Lionel just sat there.

There was a long period of silence.

“Do you have a fish yet?” Klamka asked.

“Nope, not yet”

Silence.

“Can’t you just fling it back and you have a fish?”

“That’s not how fishing works. It’s like trapping an enemy, except you are the trigger. You gotta wait until you feel a tug at the line.”

“I see, that means a fish has bitten on?”

“Yep! Then I can try to reel it in”

Klamka sat next to Lionel.

“I am sorry if I seem impatient, but I do not want to waste too much time. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Lionel gestured toward his pack “Actually yes! Get a net ready in case I get a big one, that’ll help us catch it”

“Understood”

Klamka rummaged through Lionel’s pack and found the net. At that moment, Lionel felt a tug at his line.

“WHOA! Got a big one! Get the net open and ready to throw!”

Klamka ran over, Lionel was tugging on the line and bringing whatever was in the water closer and closer. The splashes were violent and large, neither knight could see the fish.

“Haha we’ll have plenty of rations now! Now that I bag this…”

With one more tug, Lionel pulled the fish out of the water.

“Puny little thing” Lionel said derisively.

A small and scrawny eyeless fish was flopping at the end of the line.

“Small but strong” Klamka remarked, sincerely impressed.

“Yeah, but not gonna feed us too much” Lionel lamented, scratching his beard.

“Should we throw it back in? Or use it as bait?”

Lionel snapped a finger “Haha! Good idea princess! This guy may be small, but he is bigger than that slice of cheese, and I bet he’s tasty to whatever else is in this lake”

Lionel made sure the fish was dead so that it couldn’t get off the line, then he threw the line back out into the lake.

Klamka sat next to him, vigilantly net at the ready. She realized fishing was a lot more interesting than she thought.

Minutes passed, then there was a bite at the line. This time, Lionel was nearly dragged into the lake. He was glad he had his greaves on to weight him down and get his feet firmly into the ground.

“Okay, now THIS is a big one” Lionel grunted. He pulled and pulled, as the splashes got nearer. The line bent greatly, but its superior craftsmanship kept it from snapping. There was no race better at fishing than the wulvers.

Klamka gulped and watched the splashing get closer.

A much larger creature was dragged out of the water.

“NOW!” Lionel shouted.

Klamka threw her net over the beast. The long serpentine creature writhed and struggled, getting more and more tangled in the net.

“Good job! Now this will give us a lot of food!” Lionel laughed, stabbing the creature with a knife to stop it.

Klamka looked closely at the beast before her. It was eyeless like the fish, but was far larger and longer. It was like a great eel with whiskers on its face and alongside its lean slimy sides.

“Do you have any idea what this creature is?” Klamka asked.

“No clue, but it looks like an eel, so we can probably prep it like one” Lionel answered.

“Do you know how to prepare eel?”

“I don’t… Do you?”

Klamka smiled.

“As a matter of fact, I do. I might be a soldier princess, but that still means I take all the usual lessons a princess must take. This includes cooking, and I know how eel should be prepared.”

“Oooh nice! I didn’t realize I had a master cook with me” Lionel replied, impressed.

“Oh, I am hardly a master, I just know enough to get by. I never actually realized it could be useful in the field.”

“You never do know in the Underworld, its all topsy-turvy”

"Do you think we should fish more?"

"Yeah! I'll let you use the rod too"

"I would appreciate that"

They caught three more fish, one was another tough scrawny they threw back, whilst two others were meatier fish they salted and kept for rations. Then Lionel prepared a campfire as Klamka cleaned the eel-like beast,. Soon the creature was cooked and their stomachs were full, with some leftovers for further rations. Klamka and Lionel went back to their search. The mission remained their foremost focus, though now walked a bit more closely and seemed more willing to speak casually with each other as they returned to their tracking.