Path of Dragons

Book 8: Chapter 21: The Descent

By all rights, Miguel had no business being included among the scouts. He was a Warrior by archetype, and his Green Warden class hadn’t given him anything like a stealth ability. In addition, the terrain didn’t lend itself to his nature attunement, which seemed to be much weaker away from forests and other flora-rich environments. The cave had plenty of life within it, but for whatever reason, he didn’t connect with moss and fungi like he did trees and bushes.

Plus, he’d been forced to leave Trevor behind. Taking an animal his size into a subterranean tunnel just wasn’t smart, partially because he simply couldn’t fit into some of the tight spaces, but also because he just wasn’t built to traverse such terrain. That showed itself in the clear anxiety he felt in any cave, much less the system of tunnels that honeycombed the area.

Thankfully, Trevor had understood, and he’d been all too happy to be left topside. Meanwhile, Miguel and the rest of the troop of soldiers from Ironshore had bypassed the fortress – leaving a token force behind to man the stronghold – and headed into the tunnel it guarded.

That had been three days ago, and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight.

Miguel and the other scouts were tasked with finding a way through the tangled mess of tunnels and caverns, and though he was uncomfortable, he endeavored to do his job to the best of his ability. He might not have had an ability that helped him evade detection, but he could still move as silently as anyone. So, he kept to the deepest shadows as he stalked the underground caves.

Along the way, he saw plenty of fauna in addition to the alien flora. Mostly, they were lizards and insects, but he saw a few mammals as well. Rodents, moles, and even a creature that looked like a feathered bear – there was no shortage of life beneath the surface.

But for now, Miguel remained still as he studied a campsite from afar. When he’d first caught sight of it, he’d assumed that the bodies were simply sleeping. But the longer he remained in place, the more he suspected that they were dead. Six of them, all lying around the spent remains of a fire – they almost looked peaceful.

However, when he caught a flicker of movement coming from the other direction, all sense of peace vanished. And when he saw what it was, Miguel very nearly let out a gasp of surprise.

It was a mushroom, not so different from any amanita he’d seen aboveground – at least in terms of shape. The coloring was off, but it still possessed the same stalk and cap characteristic of a typical mushroom. However, the green-and-brown figure was also at least as tall as a man, with a cap that extended to more than four feet in diameter.

Bouncing on its stalk, it descended upon the camp. Once it reached the bodies, it let out an ear-splitting shriek and flipped its cap back, revealing row after row of sharp teeth. What followed was one of the more gruesome sights Miguel had ever witnessed, and within only a few moments, the monster had completely devoured the corpses.

Miguel readied the Blade of the Green Warden, though he remained entirely still. He had no clue how powerful the bouncing fungus was, and he had no wish to find out in the middle of a battle. So, his only hope lay in remaining unnoticed.

The creature bounced around for a few more moments, clearly searching for more food. However, it wasn’t long before it gave up and thankfully turned back the way it had come. Even so, Miguel didn’t dare move. He could see a decent distance down the tunnel, so he knew the fungus-monster had left the area far behind. But he didn’t know what else was out there.

His caution was rewarded a few minutes later when he saw another flicker of movement in the center of the camp. This time, it was no fungus-monster. Instead, another body suddenly appeared amidst the scene of the mushroom’s mastication. This one was still alive, though, considering the way they writhed in obvious pain, only barely.

Miguel watched, and he waited. As uncomfortable as it was to see someone suffering like that, he refused to sacrifice his own safety just to end his enemy’s torment. Not until he was certain it wasn’t a trap – or that the monster wouldn’t return. Still, he didn’t lack empathy. If he could have done so without jeopardizing himself, he would have put the dark elf out of their misery.

After twenty more minutes, Miguel felt reasonably sure that the creature would not return. So, he crept forward, sword in hand and ready to respond with violence should a trap present itself. No such thing happened, and he reached the dark elf – which turned out to be a slight woman with jaw-length hair and a gruesome gash across his face – without incident.

The dark elf flinched away when she saw Miguel.

“Who are you?” the enemy demanded, her voice strained.

“What happened here?” Miguel responded. He wasn’t there to answer questions. Rather, he needed to know what was going on. If something could kill a half-dozen dark elves in their own territory, he wanted to know about it.

Stolen story; please report.

“I…help me, and I will tell you. Get me a Healer.”

Miguel stood there for a few moments as he tried to decide what to do. However, at the end of the day, it wasn’t his choice to make. For all that he was used to acting alone, that was not currently the case. He answered to Katis, which meant that she was the one who needed to decide the dark elf’s fate.

“Can you be moved?”

“I don’t know,” the enemy answered.

Miguel peered down the tunnel, then back the way he’d come. It was less than a mile back to where he’d left the others at an intersection. He could carry the elf that far without any issue. The only problem was that the enemy soldier might take that as an invitation for an attack. The last thing Miguel wanted was to get a dagger in his neck, so he contemplated simply going back to get instructions or ignoring the risks and carrying the elf to the Healer.

In the end, it came down to one simple fact – if he left and came back, there was a good chance they’d only find a corpse. Or if the fungus-monster came back, they wouldn’t even find that waiting for them. No – the only real option was to carry the Illythiri to safety, even if it meant that Miguel put himself in some degree of danger.

To mitigate that, he searched the elf for weapons, finding a brace of daggers and a shortsword strapped to her back. Miguel tossed those aside, then sheathed his sword before reaching down, hooking his arms under the elf, and hefting her slight form onto his shoulder. Then, he started back at an easy jog. ȐА𐌽ꝋBĘṣ

With his attributes, carrying a body wasn’t that difficult, though the dark elf did squirm quite a bit – probably from the pain of being jostled while grievously wounded. Part of Miguel wished the elf would simply cut it out, but then he realized that if she did, that would probably mean that she’d died.

And even if Miguel didn’t care about the dark elf’s life, per se, he definitely cared about the information she’d so far withheld.

After only a few more minutes, he reached the temporary camp. They hadn’t gone so far as to erect defenses, but the group of Ironshore natives had formed a perimeter against the threat of an attack. So, when Miguel arrived, he was forced to explain himself to one of the soldiers.

Once they knew what was going on, they let him through. It wasn’t long before someone took the elf and bound her with enchanted rope that wouldn’t break even under tons of pressure. Once she was secure, the Healer stepped in and spent the next hour tending the Illythari’s wounds.

That it took so long was a testament to how thoroughly the elf had been injured. In addition to the gash across her face, she had suffered multiple broken bones, a laceration on her torso that went all the way to the bone, and more bruises than the Healer could count. There were also some internal injuries there, which was the first thing the Healer addressed.

While that was going on, Miguel reported to Katis and Colt, explaining his actions and what he’d found in the tunnel ahead.

“You weren’t followed, were you?” asked Colt.

Miguel shook his head. “I don’t think so, but there’s no way to be certain,” he admitted. “I’m not sure there was anything to follow me. When I got there, the camp had been abandoned for a while. Maybe a day or more.”

Katis nodded.

“We’ll know more in a bit. Get some food and some rest, and we’ll –”

Just then, the ground shook, and Miguel struggled to maintain his balance. More distressingly, a sound like an avalanche echoed down the tunnel, coming from the direction of their descent.

When the shaking stopped, Colt ordered Miguel, “Go. Check it out. See what happened.”

Miguel wasted no time before gathering a few other soldiers and heading toward the sound they’d heard. It was in the same direction as the surface, which was more than a little distressing.

As it turned out, their fears were well-founded. Only a few miles away from their current position, the tunnel had completely collapsed, cutting them off from the surface.

Miguel raced forward to find a path through, but the second he came within range, he saw the rocks shift. He dove to the side just in time to avoid being crushed by a boulder the size of a beach ball.

He rolled to his feet only to get hit by another one. He flew backward, then skipped across the ground before hitting the other fighters who’d accompanied him. They all went down in a heap of tangled limbs, and it was a lucky thing that none of them stabbed one another.

By the time Miguel pulled himself free, he saw something that defied his notion of reality.

It was vaguely humanoid in shape, but that was where any similarities to normal creatures ended. As tall as the tunnel’s ceiling, the thing looked like someone had bound a collection of rocks together into a unified whole, and it exuded enough power that Miguel knew good and well that he was not equipped to fight it.

“Retreat,” he breathed. “Now!”

The others didn’t need much encouragement, and in the space of a moment, they were all sprinting down the tunnel. For a while, the rumble of moving earth followed them, but after half a mile mile, they left it behind. Another couple of miles, and they arrived at the camp.

“What happened?” demanded Colt. “Is anyone hurt?”

“I’m fine,” Miguel said. Gesturing to one of the others, he added, “But Darik probably broke his arm.”

“Gonna have to deal with the pain for a bit. Lala is out of ethera after healin’ the elf,” Colt stated, referring to the group’s lone Healer. It now seemed an oversight that they hadn’t brought another, but Miguel knew that Healers who were willing to go into combat situations were a bit thin on the ground. Most preferred to set up shop in clinics and temples, healing people within the safety of cities. That the defense force could even spare Lala was surprising, and Miguel expected that it was because the gnome had insisted. She had a bit of an adventurous streak.

Whatever the case, Darik was escorted to Lala’s tent, where she would tend to his broken arm when she regenerated enough ethera. In the meantime, Miguel reported what he’d seen. “The tunnel is completely caved in,” he stated. “But that’s not the biggest problem. It’s guarded by some rock monster that chased us for almost a mile. If we go back that way, we’re going to have to deal with it.”

“Dammit,” Colt spat, yanking his hat off his head before raking his arm across his forehead. “Between that and what the elf said, we got problems. Big problems.”

“What do we know?”

“You remember that troll?”

Miguel nodded.

“Well, this is worse. Much worse. Those elves weren’t just out for a stroll. They were runnin’.”

“From what?”

“War, kid. War. And we just stepped in it.”

“Orders?”

“Katis says we fortify this intersection and wait on the other scouts to report back,” Colt answered. “Meantime, we keep questionin’ the elf. Maybe she’ll give us somethin’ we can use.”