When Faust and Nazari returned, the party stepped into the shadows. “How far are we underground, do you think?” Faust asked, he asked and put his hand on the inner wall of the silent tunnel. Bits of earth came loose in his hand and fell against his boots.

“Deep.” Brunwaeld said from her crouched position. “I don’t like this, I can’t use my weapon here, and I have to walk like a duck.”

“Me neither.” Faust answered, “It’s like walking in a grave. I hope there are no monsters or guardians down here, my sword will be all but useless.”

“I have extra knives, if you’d like to borrow one.” Nazari said as she slipped to the front of the line, moving with the smoothness of water in a riverbed, she slipped around her comrades without so much as brushing against them and took the lead position. “I will lead now, my eyes are better for this.”

“No thank you, I’m not that good with knives, if I have to, I can use my bare hands.” Faust said it passively, but it was no idle boast. His training as Deirdre’s bodyguard included ample grappling training by the master of the guards. “But I still don’t like it.”

“You say that, but I don’t hear you objecting either.” Belladonna pointed out. “Now just keep your hand on my back so you don’t lose track of where we are.”

“Right.” Faust put his hand on her back, which in turn had hers on the back of Freydis, who in turn had her hand on the back of Nazari. Brunwaeld remained in the rear, grunting with annoyance at every few steps as the soft earth gave under every pace.

“This tunnel is… very long. Very well preserved.” Nazari noted, “The late King might have been a coward, but he knew how to build. It’s like in Auxkos.”

“How so?” Freydis asked, and Nazari reached up to the ceiling, after running her hands along the gentle curve, she explained.

“It is arched. Arches are very strong, my people discovered the structural power of the arch long ago, it is used in all designs meant to last. Also, perhaps you cannot see, but there are plants here, weeds we use in our underground structures that hold the soil together. It keeps cave-ins at bay when we must dig deep.”

Freydis frowned in the dark, “Auxkos does this, you say?”

“They learned from us when we were conquered centuries ago. They took our knowledge with them for their great buildings. It’s unusual to see it here. But good, it won’t fall in on us at least.” Nazari’s relief was at least something of a positive endorsement, and the rest of them breathed gentle sighs of relief.

“How far out does it go, can you tell?” Freydis asked as the minutes continued to march past with each cautious step.

“No. I see a stop, but even I can’t tell in the dark how far that is. All we can do is go forward. I can say that there are no traps here, and that is good enough.” Nazari’s word was such that neither Faust nor the others questioned it, and between the sensitivity of her eyes and ears, they were content to trust that she would know with plenty of time to spare, if some other danger lay ahead.

What they were not prepared for, was how time passed in the darkness.

Step after step onto soft ground that gave beneath his boot without even a crackle or crunch of broken little clods of earth, Faust could hear his own heartbeat, and the flow of his own blood, and the sound of his own breath.

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Wrapped in a cloak of darkness, the world itself seemed to have disappeared, it was almost like ‘floating’ through an endless sea with no idea where the tides were carrying him.

This was a familiar feeling. Many nights he’d lain awake in a soft bed, only one room over from the Princess, his thoughts, dreams, carrying him away from reality, the darkness became the canvas for his boyish dreams.

A hero of the light of the divines… slaying in single combat an enemy commander, becoming a noble, winning a triumph that would make him her equal so that he could say… ‘Give me the hand of the Princess, that I may make her happy, that is the only reward I want…’

Or lying wounded in her care, confessing his love for her, and hearing her say, ‘I love you too, Faust… perhaps in the next life…’ or of being reborn in some other world like in the popular romances that consumed the minds of both royal court ladies and maids alike. Those were common thoughts, finding her in some other world where he was free to love her as a man with a woman… not just as a servant to his mistress.

Only in the darkness, drifting through minute after minute, could he clearly see what he longed for most. ‘She’ll never see me like that though. I’m only her faithful Faust… even if she did, all I could ever do is ruin her future.’ That knowledge weighed heavily on the knight, and so to still the rumors, he remained formal with her, confining himself to acts of devotion, courage, and steadfast formal reverence. He could not help but look at her the way he did, but… ‘Nobody will ever see that, nobody is that perceptive…’

Faust did his best to quash such rising thoughts and focus on the matter at hand, letting the minutes drift, punctuated only by the occasional uncomfortable grunt of Brunwaeld as she struggled to walk in the most uncomfortable way possible.

It seemed as if their walk might go on forever.

Until it didn’t. As the long dark corridor finally opened up, their attempted steps faltered when Nazari came to an abrupt halt.

Before they could ask, Nazari answered. “The end.” She was abrupt in what she said, and then began to feel around. “Search for an exit.”

This, thankfully, took very little time, as when Brunwaeld stood up, her head struck it. A solid ‘thock’ sound rang out not of skull versus rock, but of head versus wood. “Damn it!” She swore and reached up to feel the cause. “I should have left my helmet on…” She grumbled as she scraped and scratched against the space she’d struck while the others gathered around.

“No, your hard head is more useful this way.” Nazari said with a chuckle that was quickly followed by the others. They laughed in the darkness as the roots were cleared away, and the cause uncovered.

“Is it locked?” Freydis asked as Brunwaeld felt around.

“No, it’s got a simple sliding bolt from one side to the other holding it closed, otherwise, there’s nothing, it feels soft, like copper. You don’t see that much.” She added and slid the bolt back.

“I suppose the old king was worried about rust.” Freydis guessed. The trap door swung down, and down came a cacophony of rocks crashing and clattering against one another, falling around their feet.

“A trap?” Belladonna asked.

“No. I don’t think so. They’re too small. Maybe… an alarm?” Nazari guessed, “There’s no mechanism, and those won’t hurt anyone beyond a few scrapes. It must be why my spell didn’t detect it.”

“Stop.” Belladonna hissed and grabbed Brunwaeld before the warrior could climb up.

“There’s undead up there… I can smell them.” She whispered. “We may have just found a nest of vampires…”

“Filthy animals… foul creatures… disgusting wretches… or sad unfortunates… whatever the reason they exist, they must be purged.” Freydis hissed, and then added, “Follow me, and we’ll go kill them all!” She gritted her teeth, and jumped up into the gap with her hand already reaching for her sword.