“Where’s Jon?” said the older knight, a saddlebag over his shoulder but sword still one hand.
“In there,” said Sorus with a motion to the cave. “He went ahead and told me to stay and wait for you.”
“Makes sense,” said Proteus and with that pulled a small stone from his pack, tapped it twice, and then waited a few seconds as it began to glow.
“Does everyone have one of those except me?” said Sorus as he shook his head.
Proteus pulled a second rock out of the bag and handed it to the young knight, “Tap it twice to activate it and then twice more to turn it off,” he said. “Now you have one of your own.”
Sorus took the rock and copied the motions Proteus made and soon the little stone began to glow noticeably.
“Come along,” said Proteus as he ducked into the narrow opening. “We can’t let Jon get all the glory.”
Sorus watched him for a moment and then went in after, although he did not have to duck his head or turn sideways to enter. A moment later he found himself next to Proteus in a large chamber where sparkling lights seemed to glow in the rocks like stars. “Do you see him?”
Proteus lifted the hand that held the stone and pointed to a little glowing light that came from below them and seemed to bounce along like a ball across the ground. “Don’t call out; the noise can carry a long way down here. Watch your feet,” he continued as he pointed to a rock-strewn path that led down towards the bottom of the large cavern. “It’s easy to trip in the dark and I don’t want you cracking open that skull of yours again.”
“Right,” said Sorus with a smile as his hand started to go to his head, but the stone occupied one while his sword occupied the other, and he was unable to check on the bandages. “Forward then,” he finally said and started the treacherous descent. “We can’t let Jon get too far ahead, he’s a bit reckless that one,” he concluded.
Proteus laughed, “You could say that, but when you’re seven foot tall with a sword like that who can blame him for a little overconfidence,” he said and followed Sorus gingerly down the narrow pass. At a couple of spots rock overhangs seemed to show signs of work as if someone cleared the way just enough to allow passage but not enough to make it easy. After a few long minutes and a couple of near tumbles they arrived at the base of the cavern where long rock columns extended from the ceiling in glorius displays of orange and silver almost like a stone waterfall.
“It’s beautiful,” said Sorus as he stopped for a moment to gaze up and around in all directions. “The other cave wasn’t like this.”
Proteus nodded and pointed to a long walkway that lay in front of them. “Someone smoothed that out,” he said, “but keep cautious. These caves usually have centipedes so don’t just put your hand anywhere. They’re poisonous as can be.”
Sorus nodded and went forward as his eyes scanned to the left and right before he peered ahead. Down below he couldn’t see Jon’s light bobbing ahead anymore since the wall of the cave bulged out and blocked off the view. “I don’t see Jon,” he said as he moved forward steadily and almost ran headlong into the young gray knight as he came from the other direction. Sorus jumped backwards and smashed into Proteus, knocking the light stone out of his hand to the floor, where it skittered into a narrow crevice and vanished.
“Damn,” said Proteus.
“Sorry,” said Sorus.
“Quiet,” said Jon. “There are some guards posted ahead. Strange creatures, darklings I think.”
Proteus looked up to the tall lad and spotted a heavy smudge of dirt on his cheek, a bruise already apparent above his eye, and a scratch on his cheek that didn’t bleed but looked painful. “What happened to you?” he said and reached forward with his now free hand to brush back the long sandy locks.
“I tripped coming down that passage,” said Jon as he pointed back towards the narrow entrance. “It’s trickier than it looks.”
Sorus smiled and almost laughed out loud but managed to stifle the impulse. “You youngsters always leap without looking,” he said and reached up to touch Jon on the shoulder.
Jon’s eyes flashed a momentary fierceness that caused Sorus to take a step back but then softened as his mouth opened in a wide smile, “Right you are, Sorus,” he whispered, “I could take lessons from a mature old knight like you.”
“What kind of creatures are they?” said Proteus, “how many, and how well armed.”
“I’ve never seen the like before,” said Jon, “I got lucky to see their light before they saw mine. It’s dim and red but I managed to get a pretty good look at them after I tucked my light under my cloak. They’re about fifty yards that way,” he continued in a low tone. “They look like bears mostly I suppose, great furry things, they have stone clubs. I saw two of them but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more.”
“Any chance of sneaking up on them without them seeing us,” said Proteus using Jon’s whispered tone.
Jon shook his head, “Not that I saw. It’s a pretty straight shot to a low arch where they’re waiting. I’d guess that beyond that is darkling land but who can say? Our best chance is to just charge forward and kill them. The pass opens up a little and there’s room for two of us to get at them at the same time.”
“Sorus,” said Proteus, “any suggestions?”
The young knight of Elekargul shook his head, “I don’t see anything else to do.”
“Agreed,” said Proteus. “Sorus, you had your glory up at the ambush point, do you mind if Jon and I take this one?”
Sorus frowned, “Well, if you put it that way, I suppose not. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Try to be as quiet as possible about it,” said Proteus to Jon. “If there are more of them back there we don’t want the whole tribe coming down on us. Sorus, when we get close try and shine the light stone in their eyes, darkling creatures don’t like it bright.”
Sorus nodded and then Jon looked at Proteus, “Ready?”
Proteus nodded and Jon turned and walked quickly around the corner with the older knight right behind. Sorus brought up the rear as they moved down the corridor to a narrow spot where Jon stopped for a moment and held up his hand. The young knight of gray looked back to Proteus and Sorus and nodded his head as he pointed around the corner. “A dozen strides maybe,” he said in a whisper and put his light stone in his pocket, “One, two, three,” he finished and suddenly darted out and around the corner. Proteus was right on his heels and Sorus, the light stone held high, dashed around last.
Coming around the corner the former brewer spotted the creatures right away. Just as Jon described, there were two of them under a natural rock archway beyond which a red glow emanated. Dark fur covered both creatures although the dim red light muted any hope of discernment of their true color. They stood about as tall as a man stands and wore only light cloth pants and a leather vest that gave them little protection. Both looked up at the approach of Jon, their eyes suddenly hugely wide as they grabbed heavy stone clubs that leaned against the archway to either side of them.
Jon was upon them even as they growled, a strange rumble sort of sound that seemed to reverberate through Sorus’s body, and moved forward to meet the young knight of Tanelorn. Proteus moved ahead also, and suddenly blocked Sorus’s view of events, which seemed somehow slowed down to a crawl, and he only managed to catch a flash of movment ahead before the Brokenshield moved out of the way. Sorus saw one of the bear creatures stagger forward to his knees as a gush of blood jetted from a wound along its neck. The second creature swung its heavy stone club at Jon who moved forward and was hit by only the very narrowest part of its shaft on the ribs although he gave off a great low grunt in any case. Jon lowered his arm swiftly and trapped the creature’s weapon under it as Proteus moved forwards as his own blade swung down towards the head of the beast. The creature looked at the descending blade and its eyes grew even wider as it tried to tug away. Finally, it simply let go of the club and raised its hand in a defensive motion. Proteus’s blade chopped the blocking arm off at the elbow and buried deeply in the forehead of the creature between the eyes. The beast plunged backwards with a convulsive movement and fell to the ground with a thump where it twitched a couple of times although it never uttered a word.