Chapter Eight
The dark leader of the warriors stood beside the Queen’s old wizard staring into the glowing orb as it died when the adventurers disappeared into the bowels of evil. The elder gently wrapped the sight giving treasure in a dark velvet cloth and placed it in a small silver chest on a high shelf.
“My counterspell was effective, but it hasn’t hindered their progress,” the wizard said,
“If anything, it has aided them,” the younger replied, sitting down at the long stone table. He slammed his fist onto the table in frustration.
The darkness of the chamber swallowed the echo of his fist. A small candle in the center of the table cast a dim shadow on the elves as they discussed their newest threat. “The barbarian did not change, but is the most affected.” The elder frowned, stroking his long, thin white beard.
“And the elf is Woodland,” the younger cautioned. “That was not expected and is a great concern. They could succeed. “
“No, the troll will turn. His true nature will soon surface.”
The younger pushed back from the table picking up his sword as he rose. “They will not reach the cave.”
“There is much you do not understand,” the elder called out to the tall Dark Warrior as he disappeared into the shadows.
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The hallway seemed to stretch on forever. The further the adventurers traveled into the tunnels, the more uncertain they became. Before them lay the black void of total darkness. The only sound they could distinguish was that of their own controlled breathing. The stench grew in strength, nearly choking them with its potency. The walls of the tunnel were made of large stone blocks, which never changed. Occasionally it gave way to another long corridor to the left or right with no promise of discoveries or escape.
Jack grabbed Nicole’s arm holding her from another long tunnel. “We’re lost.”
“No, we’re headed in the right direction, I can feel the magic, it’s all around us. I can tell it’s a talisman... and something else, something that isn’t right,” she insisted.
“Nothing is in here, except the stench we’re swimming in,” Jack snarled, glancing past her.
Nicole jerking her arm away and turned to continue. “We can’t just stand here in the dark.”
“We’ve been walking for miles,” Sarah said, “I’m taking a break.” She sat cross-legged on the black stone floor and leaned back against the wall. Hopper joined her, producing a small pouch of their breakfast berries. Jack sat across from them, extended his hand, and looked up at Nicole. “Sit down. A few minutes delay won’t take the edge off the adventure, I promise.”
The small group sat quietly in the purple halo of Sarah’s torch eating berries and trying not to think about the source of the stench. Finished with her snack, Sarah opened her book and searched for something that might help.
“There’s nothing in here about finding talismans. What exactly did the boy in the stables say about the treasure at the falls?” she asked, glancing up at Jack and Nicole.
“He said we needed it,” Jack answered, shaking his head.
Sarah’s face screwed into a knot of confusion, “he didn’t say why?”
Jack shrugged, “sorry, he wasn’t too articulate.”
“And he smelled like sour horse dung,” Nicole added. “Pretty much the same as this place.”
Staring down at the floor, Sarah concentrated on what the deception of the tunnel could be. Finding a large crack running across the floor, she ran her fingers along it absent-mindedly. A silent gasp escaped her as long-legged brown spider slipped through the crack and skittered across the ground. Glancing around, she realized their mistake.
“Todd, which way did we turn at the first side tunnel?” she asked.
Hopper paused a moment straining to remember. “Left, I think.”
“Go back down the hall and take a look to the right,” she ordered, scrambling up from the floor.
Hopper rose and jogged back down the corridor to the first open hallway and peered around the corner. “It’s the steps up to the shack,” he called back to them.
Following him, Jack and Nicole studied the same stone steps they had used to enter the tunnel. “How can that be? We haven’t made enough turns to have reversed direction.” Jack scowled, “Right?”
“We were never more than a few meters from the entrance the entire time,” Sarah announced, from behind them. “We’re caught in some kind of illusion.”
“So what do we do?” Hopper asked, pushing past Nicole and Jack as they moved to join Sarah.
“You see this large crack in the floor? It runs across the hall. Maybe it’s what we’ve been looking for all along,” Sarah explained. “I saw a big spider climb out of it. I bet there’s another passage below us.”
Kneeling down to examine it, Jack held his hand over the crack and nodded. “I can feel the breeze.”
“How do we get in?” Nicole questioned, starting to examine the walls around them.
Hopper raised his club over his head. “Stand back.” He hammered on the floor for several minutes with a massive tree limb before surrendering, exhausted.
“Not a mark on it,” Jack said, tracing the border with his fingertips. “The edges go under the walls, there’s no way to pry it up.”
“Then it’s got to slide to one side or the other,” Nicole added, still examining the walls. “I can’t find any loose stones that might trigger it.”
“There has to be some way,” Sarah said then started, gagging as the stench suddenly grew overwhelming.
“Behind you!” Hopper shouted, pushing Nicole to the floor in his attempt to reach Sarah.
Wheeling around, Sarah could see only darkness beyond their dim torch light. A large black claw reached out, and snatched the Book of Incantations’ from her hands. Hopper dove over Sarah’s shoulder, shoving her to one side as he slammed into the large, hairy creature. They disappeared into the darkness, grunting and squealing. Jack snatched the torch from Nicole and rushed forward, drawing his sword. Stopping abruptly near the far end of the corridor, Jack found Hopper lying unconscious on the stone floor, his chest covered in blood.
“Todd!” Sarah screamed. Rushing to his side, she pulled the torch from Jack’s hands and knelt over Hopper to check his wounds. There was a large slash across his chest and a deep wound on the side of his neck. Handing the torch back to Jack, Sarah tore at her robes and applied pressure to the flow of blood coming from Hopper’s throat.
“He’s still alive.” Sarah grabbed Nicole’s hand and placed it on Hopper’s neck. “Keep the pressure on it until I get the bandage secured.”
“What was it?” Nicole looked up at Jack, as he explored the darkness around them.
“I don’t know, but it was big, almost as big as Hopper. I’m going after it.”
“No, we need you to help us get Todd up the stairs,” Sarah ordered as she slipped one of her makeshift bandages under Hopper’s back and across his chest. “I think he may have some broken ribs.”
Jack tossed his sword to Nicole and handed Sarah the torch. He grabbed Hopper by the shoulders and started to drag him toward the stone steps. “Keep your eyes open. It may come back.”
Sarah handed the torch to Nicole, picked up Hopper’s large feet and followed Jack. As they reached the steps, the stench grew worse, Nicole spun around and brought Jack’s sword to bear just as the creature reached her. She thrust out and upward and severed the clawed hand from the creature. An ear-piercing screech sent the torch flying. The creature fell to the ground, squirming. It looked like an enormous mass of writhing brown hair. Behind him, appeared another creature of equal size and strength. It hesitated for only a moment before charging Nicole.
Using all his might, Jack laid Hopper on to the floor at the top of the stairs and dove back down the stairs to help Nicole. Jack pushed Sarah up toward Hopper as he passed her. “Get Hopper out of here!” he yelled while yankin
g Nicole’s short sword from her belt to attack the nearest of what seemed to be an unending stream of smelly monsters converging on the tiny stairwell.
The creatures dove sporadically at the pair of warriors, lashing at them with their enormous claws then disappearing into the darkness. Jack and Nicole were unable to force them backward. Their best effort barely kept the creatures from overtaking them. Backing up toward the stairway, the monsters tore at their legs as they fought to escape. Sarah appeared at the top of the stone steps chanting. Suddenly a bright purple light flared between them and their attackers, giving them a clear view of the creatures. Nicole gasped and stumbled up the stairs. The creatures screeched in agony as the flames reached them. Jack crawled up the last few steps, and Nicole pulled him free.
The two warriors scrambled for the doorway of the shack as Sarah slammed the small door closed and shoved as much debris as she could find in front of it. She found Nicole and Jack lying next to Hopper’s still form. They rested under an unusually thick stand of gnarly trees some distance from the shack. Sarah began to tear at the arms of her robes, making bandages for the deep gashes Jack and Nicole’s arms and legs. As she finished tending their wounds as best she could, Hopper moaned and tried to raise his head.
Sarah rushed to his side. “Todd? Can you hear me?” Tears welled in her eyes. “It’s Sarah.”
Hopper opened his eyes and stared up at her. “It was... sick,” he murmured, reaching for his neck.
“The tunnel trolls; there was something wrong with them,” Nicole clarified. She leaned back against a small tree they had taken shelter under; her eyes were no longer glowing.
“They were trolls?” Sarah stammered. “The smell, it came from them.”
A sense of worry came across Jack as he thought of the implications. “This doesn’t sound good. If they’re sick, they could have infected us.”
Nicole looked at Sarah. “How can we tell?”
Staring back at them, the young sorceress shook her head, dumbfounded. She turned back to help Hopper sit up and checked his wounds. “How do you know they are sick?”
“The smell, for one. That’s not the way I smell,” Hopper answered. He arched his back to test his injuries. “He felt hot and greasy.”
“They were covered in large sores. It was hard to tell what they had once been,” Nicole added.
“Then how can you be sure they were trolls?” Sarah reasoned jumping up and moving toward the horses.
“They were trolls alright.” Jack followed her, slowly, wincing from the pain of the slash wounds on his arms. “They were almost the same height as Hopper and wore the same type of fur clothing, right down to those furry boots of his. Add their enormous heads to the mix and what else could they be.”
“Okay, then the sickness could be almost anything, ranging from Chicken Pox to an allergic reaction to fleas or the plague; any of which may or may not be contagious. I suspect that because we are a different species, and because we’ve had the normal childhood and diseases and inoculations should have nothing to worry about,” Sarah said as she grabbed her horse’s reins and led him into the shade of the trees. “Besides it’d be a bad business decision to kill off one of your adventurers off with a plague. Aren’t we supposed to die in battle?”
“Hopper’s the same species as they are,” Jack said. “And I’m not so sure Dr. Strong knows what he’s doing.” Jack took his horse’s reins from Sarah as she gathered the remaining horses. “What are you doing?”
“We have to get out of here before those creatures decide to come after us. We are outnumbered and injured. It’s crazy to stay.”
“I don’t think they’ll come out of the tunnels,” Hopper offered, appearing beside them. “They’ve been down there too long.”
Sarah reached up to touch the bandage at his throat. She couldn’t imagine life without him. “Todd, how can you know that?”
“I could make out some of what they were saying. Those creatures were scared. They attacked us because we came into their home.”
“All the more reason to leave them alone,” Sarah implored.
“They have your book.” Nicole’s voice came across the quiet clearing, through the deepening fog.
“And the talisman?” Jack asked.
“If we go down there, they’ll attack us again.” Sarah looked to Hopper for assistance.
Jack knew it was the only real option. He just needed to make Sarah understand. “I think that fireball of yours scattered them. Now would be the perfect time to try.”
“Todd,” she pleaded with him.
“He’s right,” Hopper shook his head swaying slightly.
“You’re in no condition to go back into that hell hole.” Sarah pulled him back toward the trees, down on the grass beside her, and checked the wound on his neck.
“I’m just a little dizzy, give me a couple minutes, and I’ll be fine,” Hopper said.
“The bleeding has stopped, but you need stitches. How do your ribs feel?”
“He’s okay, Sarah,” Nicole insisted and headed toward the shack. “We’ve got to get moving. The talisman is in there somewhere, and hopefully, your book is with it. They might have even made a nice little meal out of it by now. We know the trick to the maze. That is where we can find the talisman. All we have to do is locate the release for the slab.” She stopped and turned around.
“We looked everywhere, there isn’t one!” Sarah snapped.
“There’s one place we haven’t checked, and Hopper’s the only one that can reach it,” Nicole answered. “When we stood in the hallway, I could feel the magic; it floated up from the floor like a wave of tingling heat. It’s there, I know it.”
Sarah looked down, closed her eyes and shook her head. She looked into Hopper’s determined face and followed her three limping companions back down into the darkness. They filled the tunnel with torches from one end to the other. Jack and Nicole stood guard as Hopper examined the ceiling. In a manner of minutes, he located a small rock protruding further than the others and pushed it slowly. Hopper jumped back, knocking the others off their feet just inches clear of the gaping hole left as the stone slab broke apart and fell without a sound into the darkness.
Shoving a torch into the large hole, they discovered a small room surrounding a seemingly endless crater in the center of the chamber. Nicole grabbed the edge of the pit and swung herself into the chamber. She reached up and took the torch from Jack. Hopper insisted on guarding them from above. Jack and Sarah followed Nicole. A soft breeze came out of the dark crater brushing against the sky like the last breath of a dying man. They searched the remains of a small chamber, careful to stay clear of the abyss. Near the edge of the room was a series of small wooden shelves, filled with crumbling books and charts. Sarah froze when she spied The Rook of Conjugation, safely nestled in among the decaying texts. Could it be? A guide for her magic, so easily found?
She slowly pulled the book from the shelf and gently examined the rest of the books on the shelf. Each book disintegrated at her touch, giving no indication of whom or what had hidden them there. Nicole silently motioned for them to join her on the other side of the chamber. From under the remains of a small wooden bed, she produced a small wooden chest, similar to the one they found under the waterfall.
“This is it,” Nicole said. She felt triumphant, and her eyes began to take on the soft green glow once more. This time Sarah could feel the magic radiate out from a small wooden box. Nicole tucked it inside her belt reached up for Hopper’s hand and disappeared back up into the tunnel.
“Hurry, they’re coming,” Hopper called down and reached back into the pit. “They’re not afraid of the torches.”
Sarah climbed up beside Nicole, her heart pounding out of fear of coming face to face with the disease-ridden trolls. They raced for the steps while Hopper pulled Jack clear of the stone chamber. Snarls sounded from behind them as they reached the door and rushed into the shack.
&nb
sp; “Light it up!” Hopper yelled to Sarah as they ran for the door.
The same chant she’d used earlier in the pit came flooding back to her. Within seconds, the shack burst into flames as with screams of rage rose from within. Adrenaline pumping from their close call, they mounted their horses and galloped toward the crest of the glen. Night would soon fall. They were determined to be as far away from the sorrowful creatures of the tunnel as possible.