The tunnels twisted and turned in the torchlight. Spongy white mushrooms, faintly glowing crystals, and small deposits of exposed iron ore littered the tunnels within. Fritz ignored them as he continued on. The tunnel's ceiling pressed close. Hunching forward, he proceeded through the underground.

The hideout was quiet. Fritz's footsteps barely registered any sound as he snuck forward. For a moment, he wondered if the mushrooms helped prevent echoes within the tunnels.

From ahead, Fritz could hear several voices. Placing his torch down on the tunnel floor, he inched closer to the voices. Turning a corner, Fritz was met with a large chamber just below. A short ladder led down into the open area below. A central makeshift throne dominated the room. The throne was a heavy high backed wooden chair covered in bear furs. Several smaller tables were arrayed down the center of the room.

Large casks of ale, water, and liquor were situated near the walls. Torches and candles illuminated the opened area. Mushrooms mixed with the stalactites in the ceiling of the chamber. Twenty beastkin lounged within the area below Fritz. Peeking down from his vantage point, Fritz watched the kidnappers below.

A black haired catkin sat looking bored upon his throne. Beside him, Fritz's carbon fiber crossbow sat drawn and ready. Aluminum bolts sat nearby waiting for use. Several large beastkin stood menacing nearby. Groups of other henchmen sat around the tables within the chamber drinking and eating. Their voices were subdued as they secretly listened to their boss speaking to a strange set of guests.

Two tall, lithe cloaked figures were conversing with the man on the throne. The catkin sat on his throne looking simultaneously bored and agitated. Rings of different colors adorned his hands as he drummed into the dark wood of his chair. He wore a neat dark black shirt, along with brown leather pants.

The two strange figures wore long dark green cloaks obscuring their bodies. Their hoods were drawn. Two openings on each hood let a pair of extremely long pointed ears through. Their arms were hidden underneath their cloaks.

Moving stealthily, Fritz moved closer to listen into the conversation.

"It is not our concern. Our agreement stands. Will you strike down the defilers? The forest bleeds." One of the cloaked figures spoke up. Her voice was subdued, formal, and feminine. Underlying her words were the faint hint of annoyance at her audience. Her hooded face regarded the seated beastkin, waiting for his answer. An aura of tension bled throughout the room, as the others waited for their leader to speak.

"Calm yourself, elf." The leader spoke. His voice dripped with malice towards the two hooded elves. "Make no mistake, our deal stands."

"Then do not delay any longer. Do what we have paid you to do. Fight against the defilers! Claim your freedom!"

"Ethira's silence is worrying. Do you know anything? Perhaps she ran into a band of marauding elves? The guards were not involved. This I know." The man spoke confidently. A shiver of anticipation ran through the cave as every beastkin within waited for the elves to speak.

Fritz could see the slight movement of the two hooded elves, as they regarded each other.

"We know nothing. None of us would do something so foolish." To the right of the throne, a beastkin vibrated with anger. Unable to contain herself, she exploded with anger.

"Liars! We should rip their fat tongues out their mouths! Knife ears! Lying cutthroats! They cannot be trusted. We should kill them, and be done with them!" The beastkin to the right of the throne roared out as she reached for her weapon. The hooded figures responded in kind. Several seated beastkin raised their voices in response, sitting up for a fight.

"Stop!" The leader raised his hand. The beastkin in the room paused. "Patience! Peace! Do not jump to conclusions! We haven't confirmed anything!" The seated man shouted out.

"They're lying! They killed them! Ethira has never missed a check-in!" The beastkin to the right of the throne spat out. She clenched her weapon tighter, as she stared daggers into the two elves. She raised her weapon up. She tried to step forward. The catkin sitting on the throne stopped her with an outstretched hand.

"No!" He shouted. "Stand down! All of you!" Silence reigned in the cavern below. "Peace!" He looked for signs of disobedience in the gathered throng. Finding none, he turned towards the cloaked elves. "Our plan will continue." He said to the two hooded figures.

"Good. I will report back to our Queen your acquiescence. She will be most delighted." The elf said through gritted teeth.

"Our plan will continue. Yet, the situation has changed."

"Changed? You have been compensated! Generously! Perform your duties! Fulfill your contract!"

"As such, we should renegotiate our terms...." the seated man said. "Until we can confirm the status of Ethira's group we cannot proceed. Our plan relies on their camp. We do not have the manpower to continue, unless...."

"There will be no more money! Delay no further! Do as we have agreed upon."

"Our plans have been upset. We will need to pivot. We cannot continue on with our original plan. I am still committed to ruling Trira, but I cannot proceed at this instant." The seated man retorted.

The sound of footsteps came from the tunnel behind Fritz.

"What's a torch doing here?" The sound of strange voices behind him floated to Fritz's ears. He gritted his teeth, as he wondered what to do. The strangers were coming closer. The tunnel was too small to hide within. In a few seconds they would see a prone Fritz, spying on his kidnappers below. Only a second passed, before he determined a course of action.

"Fuck it!" He grumbled. Jumping up to his feet, he descended the ladder into the chamber below.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Hello! Ladies and gentlemen!" He shouted cheerfully. All eyes immediately glared at him.

"A human?" The hooded elf asked in confusion. Her large green eyes wandered over Fritz.

"Greetings, one and all! Apologies for the sudden entrance!" Fritz said with a bow, as he left the ladder. "I was wondering what all the hubbub was about." He flashed the room a friendly smile.

"Who the fuck is this?" The gang leader asked. He looked to his second in command for some semblance of an answer.

"My name is Fritz, and I've found myself in quite a strange set of circumstances. I was hoping I could talk to the person in charge. That is you isn't it? The man with my carbon fiber crossbow." He pointed towards the throne. "Quite a fine piece of work, wouldn't you say?"

"Blackfang, that is the man we grabbed earlier! He shouldn't be here! We tied him up!" A beastkin seated away from the two hooded elves shouted. He stood up and pointed to Fritz.

"Ah, yes, Holly explained the circumstances. But I couldn't sit still. Especially so, once I heard you have plans for my comrades."

"What the hell is he doing out here? Why is he interrupting?" Blackfang asked his second in command.

"I'll grab him, throw him back in the holding room. Teach him a lesson too." The beastkin to his right snarled. Fritz quickly held up his hands.

"Wait just a moment! If you would be so kind as to listen first! All of you seem like sharp business orientated beastkin. Surely, we can work something out here? I have resources to spare for such negotiations." Fritz offered all of the confused beastkin in the chamber his most winning smile. A twisting inner anxiety wormed within his gut. It threatened to bubble up, destroying his chances at any negotiations. Suppressing it, he continued on with his act. The man on the throne scoffed loudly.

"Please, Mr. Blackfang. Hear me out. I have quite the supply of expensive and exotic jewelry on my person and hidden in rather hard to find areas. I could give them up, if you say let me leave with my companions safely."

"I don't want any jewelry that's been in your prison pouch." Blackfang snarled. The cavern erupted in laughter. Fritz blinked in confusion, before continuing.

"We've already search you!" Blackfang's second sneered back. "You've got nothing."

"Give me a moment! I'll prove the opposite!" Fritz made a show of reaching into his pant's pockets as he searched for something. "There, there, no there it is! These blasted pant's have the deepest pockets I swear."

Fishing out a newly conjured golden ring, he displayed it proudly to the audience in question. With a glint in his eyes, he tossed it towards the seated woman. Her second in command snatched it out of the air before giving it a tentative sniff.

"Well, I'll be Boss. The man does got some deep pockets. Smells like real gold too." She said, as she flashed the simple golden band at her boss.

"No deal." Blackfang said. "I am busy. I don't have the time to deal with another idiot. I think I'll just kill you."

"Ah! A pity." Fritz replied with exaggerated ease. His expression fell flat. His heart was pounding, as he forced his shaking legs to stop. "I also couldn't help but overhear about you wondering about your comrades. A shame."

Subtle growls from different beastkin, resounded in the chamber.

"Someone, bring me his head!" Blackfang shouted. Slowly he started massaging his temples. Swords, daggers, spears, maces, axes, and bows pointed directly at Fritz. Nearly everyone within the cavern was edging their way towards the human. Holding up his hands, Fritz back towards the stone walls of the cavern.

"I stumbled across their camp! Dead beastkin everywhere!" Fritz yelped out in panic. Shouts filled the cavern.

"You what?!"

"What happened?"

"He's lying!"

"Is Jami dead? Tell me!"

"Silence!" Blackfang shouted as he drowned out the other voices. "Talk, human! Now! Before I kill you myself!" A deep guttural growl filled the air, as he waited for Fritz to answer.

"Now! Before I start I just want to say something! Neither I nor my companions, had absolutely anything to do with your friends death. I am totally innocent in their deaths!" Taking in a deep breath, Fritz started his explanation.

"We were travelling Deep in the night, we were running through the woods. Wolves snapped at our heels. Exhaustion and fatigue pulled us down. Yet no matter what, we couldn't stop. Wolves were herding us to something. There was a clearing next to a river. Two undead were before it. An onyx blade had carved rivers of blood into the area. I saw no survivors and I couldn't stay long, because immediately we became the vampires next prey. She chased us into the night, fully prepared to add us to the dead. The camp was attacked, everyone there must have died to the vampire."

Fritz finished his story.

"Vampires attack them?"

"I could only confirm one vampire." Fritz responded. Blackfang looked around him. Suddenly, a smile wormed it's way over his lips. Giggling overtook him as he shook like a leaf. The other beastkin within the cavern erupted with laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" Fritz yelled out trying to silence the mocking beastkin.

"There are no vampires this far from Gris, human. You are foolish to lie in such a manner. Ethira did not die to any undead." Blackfang growled out.

"I am telling the truth." Fritz retorted trying to maintain his friendly composure. Slowly he started trying to inch himself along the walls of the cavern.

"Enough. I will hear no more of your stupidity. Kill him."

"Wait! Stop!" Fritz commanded. He held out his right hand. Within his hand was a small glass orb. A murky cloudy white liquid distorted the color of the glass. "You're going to escort me out of this god forsaken tunnel or I will kill everyone in here." Fritz commanded.

"Hah! The balls on him! What are you gonna do with that?" Blackfang sneered. "Think were afraid of a little smoke?"

Another chorus of laughter erupted. Standing perfectly still, Fritz waited for the laughter to die down. His eyes darted around the room, searching for any sudden attacks. The two hooded elves regarded him with unease. Their excited flashing hands denoted some sign language he could not decipher.

"I'm deadly serious. In my hands is a deadly neurotoxin, capable of killing anyone with the slightest inhalation. Man, woman, child, it doesn't matter. What I hold in my hand will kill everyone here. You'll choke to death on your own spit within minutes. Your muscles will seize up suffocating you. Flesh eating bacteria will grow upon your skin consuming everything down to your bones! Don't make me use it! Let me leave in peace! If you do, I promise to disarm it safely!"

"Uh huh, shut up! You're a terrible liar!" Blackfang stood up, from his makeshift throne. Grabbing the crossbow he lazily loaded it and aimed in Fritz's general direction. "Bring him to me! I'll chop his head off myself!"

"Wait!" The hooded elf held out her hand, interrupting the leader.

"What? Don't tell me you're afraid of some smoke?" Blackfang taunted. "Whatever poison he's lying about doesn't exist."

"Let us take him! Surely he has no value to you?" The hooded figure hissed.

"Hah! He's ours. Found him ourselves. After all of his disrespect, he's ours to set straight! You've no right to interfere!"

"I am not lying!" Fritz yelled above the others. "Escort me out this instant or everyone dies! Horribly dies!"

"Shut up hoo-man! We know your lying!" A drunk beastkin shouted.

Blackfang and the two elves devolved into an explosive argument. The remaining beastkin were inching closer to Fritz.

"Where's the exit?" Fritz yelled. "This is your last chance!" Rapidly looking around the room, Fritz searched for an exit.

"All right, I lied." Fritz muttered to himself. He breathed in deeply before throwing the glass down onto the ground.

An explosion of smoke enveloped the room. Panic immediately ensued. Sounds of shouting, and the clank of metal echoed within the chamber. Locking onto the exit, Fritz stumbled over chairs, tables and coughing beastkin as he made his way towards the exit.

The faint glow of an orange torch within the chaotic smoke guided him to a different passage. Stumbling into the passage, Fritz created a glowstick in his left hand, before running forward into the unknown. Searing pain spread through Fritz, as an aluminum bolt embedded itself into his ass. Fritz screamed like a little girl before quickly limping deeper into tunnels.