The Alchemist's Apprentice: and the Ogre's Curse
Chapter 5
The serpent Tunnel
I found the journey in the transport more terrifying than anything else I had ever experienced. Being a Wood Rider I have never been in any sort of vehicle before, very few of us ever had and by the look of Godwin he hadn't either. I was being thrown from side to side without being able to see outside and I was beginning to feel sick, Godwin looked a bit green around the gills too. Brock sat next to the alchemist staring at me constantly, making me also feel nervous. I felt awkward and insignificant sitting opposite this massive creature, he was all muscle and looked like he could crush me with just his finger and thumb. When I thought back to what I was told about Ogres, they were nothing like what was sitting in front of me. I was told they all dressed in rags, lived in caves, carried clubs and were incredibly stupid. Well this Ogre was well dressed in combat fatigues with plenty of weapons holstered about his person, there was even a chain around his neck with what looked like a picture of him and another Ogre dangling at the end, I didn't think they were stupid either considering they were driving this vehicle; I wouldn't even know where to begin.
"You no like Ogres?" Brock finally asked.
I didn't know what to say, he had put me on the spot and that giant hammer he was fiddling with worried me, what if I gave him the wrong answer? "It's not that I don't like Ogres," I said hesitantly. "It's more that I don't know that much about Ogres other than what I have been told." I hope I said the right thing and he wouldn't squash me with his huge weapon.
"You have been told bad things about us." He said looking to the floor of the transport, he looked a bit hurt.
"Yes," I replied somberly. "I have."
"We are not all bad. Some earn money in other realms because we strong can do things others can't. Sometimes that gets bad reputation."
I was surprised to see him look sad. "That is the same as all races; we all have our bad eggs."
Brock looked confused. "Me no like eggs." He said.
The journey came to an abrupt halt sending me flying forwards and crashing into the front of the vehicle. Brock opened the side door and the wonderful sun beamed in, Godwin was first out and throwing up his last meal besides the transport's tracks. I clambered out last rubbing my sore shoulder. We were at the base of the mountains on a dirt track that continued on into the distance.
"We must be careful from here; the warlord controls most entrances to Kalth." Brock said. He pointed further up where there was a break in the mountain creating a valley through. "That is way we come. Can't go back that way now, warlord Ogres now there."
"How do we get through?" Godwin asked wiping his mouth.
"There is path that leads through, warlord not know it. We go that way." He got the other Ogres to get the case and move on ahead on foot.
"What are we getting into here?" I asked Godwin.
"A whole heap of trouble, that's what." He replied brushing partly digested food from his tunic. That will teach you not to eat so much for breakfast I thought.
We didn't have to walk very far before we came to a pathway that lead up the mountain side, if the Ogres didn't point it out we wouldn't of seen it at all, it blended well in to the rocks. We followed the path up for about twenty minutes, it was hard going as the path thinned in places so we had to proceed with our backs to the wall and carefully shuffle along, there were also places where the path had crumbled away a long time ago, here we had to leap gaps to get to the other side. The large frames of the Ogres didn't hinder them at all; it was like a gentle stroll for them. We soon reached a cave entrance set in the rock a few feet up. "We go in there." Brock said watching the other two Ogres climbing up and disappearing in. "We use it before. We call it serpent tunnel." He then started to climb up.
"Err, serpent tunnel? That doesn't sound good." I said a bit alarmed.
Brock looked back down, "lots of snakes live here. Watch where feet are put."
"I don't believe this. It's my second day on the job and now I have to deal with snakes!" I said worrying.
"Alchemist's work isn't all boring. Just don't forget to take notes." Godwin said then scrambled up the side. That reminded me to ask him how he was so fit for an old man, I was more shattered then he was. I followed them up.
The cave was dark and lead to a tunnel, the lack of light was not a problem for the Ogres they have very good night vision, but for us it was pitch black. Godwin once again went to his many pocketed tunic and pulled out thin glass tubes filled with a white liquid. "Datura, musa, heiracium auranticum and crocosima." He said as he shook the tubes, they started to glow bright white lighting up the tunnel a few metres around us. He passed one to me and set off after the Ogres. "Don't forget to jot it down." He said over his shoulder. I sighed.
The Ogres set a fast pace, me and Godwin couldn't keep up with them, we were being cautious watching out for the snakes we were told lived in here, we had been going for half an hour and still no sign of the serpents, as the tunnel descended I was starting to think there wasn't any of the creatures in here after all. "I haven't seen a snake yet. Have you? I think they are mistaken." I said to Godwin.
He turned around and shone his light on me. "Yes I have, just the one." He said.
"I must have missed that one was it big?" I was shining the light around the walls.
"No not too big, you will see it soon, it's making its way up your back and peeking over your shoulder."
I stopped dead and slowly turned my head to the side and came face to face with a snake's head that was flicking out its tongue tasting the air. "Get it off me!" I said through gritted teeth trying not to startle the serpent.
Godwin had no time, as he was about to come to my aid a large snake burst out of the ground in front of him and struck at his thigh only just missing biting him on the leg by an inch, he couldn't keep his balance as he tried to avoid the attack and fell backwards on to his rear, as he landed another of the creatures burst out of the ground and bit him on the arm, it's large fangs digging into his soft flesh. He screamed in pain as he grabbed the snake's head and threw it away from him. I slowly reached up to the snake on my shoulder and with a shaky hand grabbed it behind the head, it immediately bared its fangs and tried to strike, I managed to throw it to the ground and stamp on it hard, Godwin was trying to get up, I rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. We ran as quickly as we could, with every other footfall a snake would appear from out of the ground and strike at us, it was terrifying. I called out Brock's name for help as we pounded along the tunnel. I heard him call back.
"I'm here! What's wrong?" Brock shouted. We now hit a junction in the tunnel, Godwin was leaning against me the pain showing on his face.
"Which way do we go?" I shouted out.
"This way!" Brock shouted back. Well that didn't help; the sound echoed around the tunnel, it could have come from either tunnel. There were snakes now gathering behind us, there were lots of them all slithering over each other getting closer.
"My pocket," Said Godwin through pained lips. "Take the yellow ones!"
A snake struck at me and I kicked it away as I rummaged in Godwin's pocket and found a packet of the yellow goo he made back in The Pig's Belly.
"Throw it hard." He said.
I did just that into the mass of writhing serpents, the effect was instant, there was an explosion that nearly deafened me and we were both covered in snake remains. What was left wasn't recognizable; there was just a pile of slush, but still I could hear the snakes coming for us.
I took a gamble and headed down the left tunnel, we carried on for five minutes before I thought we had gone the wrong way, Godwin was starting to get heavy and I wasn’t sure I could carry on much further without a rest. I heard a loud hiss coming from the dark in front of us, this hiss sounded different from the other snakes, it sounded a lot bigger.
“Turn back Lemon.” Godwin rasped on hearing the sound.
I was getting into a panic now! I didn’t think I could venture back into the mass of w
rithing snakes behind us. “No, we carry on. I would rather deal with one big snake than hundreds of small ones.” I said defiantly.
We carried on into the darkness ahead, the hissing sound still echoed out in the tunnel but there was no sign of any giant snake, I felt a slight bit of relief at that. There were still plenty of the smaller ones snapping at us as we passed by them hidden in the ground. Eventually a glow of daylight appeared in front of us as we rounded a bend, we were nearly out. The snakes hadn't relented on trying to bite us though; if we slowed we would get struck again. Brock and the other two Ogres were waiting for us as we ran out into the sunshine. Thank the lord I thought.
"He's been bit!" I shouted helping Godwin to lay down on the grass, he was groaning with agony clutching his arm. Brock just looked down at him.
"Do something!" I screamed at him. The Ogre just looked at me blankly.
"Should I suck out the poison? Or what?" I was panicking now; I didn't want to be left alone in the Ogre Kingdom.
"He will be good, serpents not poisonous." Brock said as he pointed down at his bare ankles, they were covered in bite marks. I looked at Godwin; he had stopped rolling around and was listening.
"Well it was very painful, like two daggers penetrating my soul." He said as I helped him back to his feet.
"You're being a bit dramatic." I said.
"When you get bit apprentice, we will see how you react," he was back to the grumpy alchemist again. "We need to get to somewhere safe so I can make some more potions for you." He said to Brock.
"Yes, it is wearing off, Brock feels sleepy. We have safe place for you, then we plan to get ingredient for cure." Brock said.
"Yes, yes no time to waste, let's go." Godwin replied still rubbing his arm and removing bits of snake flesh from his clothes.
Then all hell broke loose!
A massive snake burst out of the tunnel and collided with one of the Ogres knocking him to the ground. The snake was huge; its girth was that of a fully grown elm tree. The sudden appearance of the snake shocked us all; Godwin dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and covered his head with his hands. Brock and the other Ogre turned and began firing at the beast, That was enough of a distraction to stop it eating the Ogre on the ground whole. It reared up hissing loudly with its fangs bared ready to strike out at the nearest thing to it. To my surprise I didn’t run away, instead I ran towards it with my blade in my hand. Brock was keeping its attention letting off shots aimed at the snakes head, most were just bouncing off its scales doing no damage, but it was distracted enough not to notice me running for its tail that was now only just coming out of the tunnel entrance. The beast must have been thirty foot long! As I reached the tail I brought my glowing blade down in an arcing motion slicing through the tough scales, I hacked and hacked while screaming, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me. The snake writhed in agony catching me with its flailing body sending me flying backwards to collide with Godwin. Brock finally made the shot he was after, he composed himself while the other Ogre continued to fire wildly at the beast, then he calmly brought his weapon up and fired one shot directly into the snake’s bright red eye. With its last death throws the serpent collapsed into a coiled pile on the floor.
Godwin helped me to my feet with a grin on his face. “I never knew you had it in you boy!” He said surprised.
Brock came over to us. “Very brave or very stupid. I havn’t decided yet.” He said.
This was all getting too much for me, I know I never wanted to be an alchemist's apprentice, it sounded so boring going round sick people's homes and rubbing ointments on their persons, but this was at the other end of the scale, the boring part sounded good to me right now.
"Come on Lemon! Stop straggling." Godwin called already marching off, I sighed then followed on behind the Ogre carrying the case.
We were taken to a small building on the outskirts of the warlord's territory, it was stone built like all the buildings in Kalth, this was still strange to me why others would use such a heavy and awkward material when the properties of wood were so much better, maybe that's just the wood rider in me talking.
It was getting chilly as the night drew closer; I wished we didn't leave the other case back with Blaze as it had some warmer clothes inside it. Brock took us into the back room where a table and heating equipment were set up. "We got you what you asked for." Brock said.
"Excellent, I will get to work making some potion to help with the curse and then we must deduce a way of getting the moss." Godwin waved at the ogre carrying the case to set it down on the table. "If you could start setting the equipment up Lemon, I shall make the tea." I wouldn't have minded much if I got some of the tea, he only ever made it for himself.
We went through most of the night making up the potions for the Ogres, I actually got quite good at it with the alchemist's supervision and eventually we took it in turns so we both got a little rest. By morning we had made one hundred and twenty packets, we had to stop because we were running out of the ingredients.
"We need to save some for the cure," Godwin said. "A lot of the ingredients you cannot find in these parts."
Brock had sent the other Ogres off to distribute the packets of powder while he stayed to help formulate a plan to get the moss for the cure. He placed a data slate on the table and started tapping it with his over sized fingers. I found this quite amusing as I didn't associate Ogres with technology; to me I only knew them as cumbersome, strong and a slightly dumb race. I was learning something new every day, it was like the alchemist said back in his home - don't judge a book by its cover.
The data slate showed a map of the warlord’s castle and the surrounding area. The castle was situated on Eastern side of the mountains and sat atop of a massive cliff. Brock tapped some more and a holographic image of the castle appeared above the table. The Ogre turned the image around to show the cliff face where the moss they needed grew. "Above the cliff is a fighting platform." He zoomed the image in to show the platform that overhung the cliff. "Ogres like fighting." Brock said.
"That we know," Godwin replied. "The rock face is too sheer to climb; the only way to get to the moss would be from that platform."
I was a bit skeptical about the plan forming in the alchemist's head. "So, we have to get into a well guarded castle, make our way to the entertainment area, and climb down over an abyss collect some moss and get out alive! Is that what you're saying?"
Godwin looked at me. "Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying and also without being seen."