by Dale Britton
"How many guards?" Ollie asked, trying to force the conversation away from Lylor's daughter.
"I can't be certain," Lylor said. "I was not shown the entire mine at once, only flashes here and there. I would estimate at least thirty, maybe more, and several of those are major demons."
Ollie nodded, considering. Could they handle that many? It would be tricky, but with a good plan... Ollie almost laughed out loud. Here he was actually thinking about attacking a hoard of demons. For real. How on earth had this happened?
"Tell us more about the secret entrance," Sarah suggested.
"The mine is spread out over a wide area," Lylor said. "The main entrance is only about a hundred yards beyond the demon's tower. The pool showed me another passage nearly a mile distant. It joins the mine through an abandoned tunnel. It appears that the demons are unaware of this alternate egress."
"So, we could come up on them from behind, and they would have no warning," Ollie said.
"But we would have to go through the entire mine to reach the tower," Sarah said. "And by the time we did that, the demon lord would have to know we were there."
"And for the talisman to work, we have to be pretty close to the portal," Ollie said. "The demon lord has to be close to it too if we want to force him through."
"How do you know all that?" Sarah asked.
"I read through the book this morning," Ollie said. "There was a page written in code that describes the method of using the talisman. After I broke the code, I found the incantation for activating the spell."
Sarah laughed. "'After I broke the code.' You're pretty incredible, Ollie. And such a nerd."
Ollie was offended. "It was a really simple code. Just a Caesar Cipher."
"Stop. You're not helping your case."
"Well, anyway," Ollie said, turning slightly red, "it's still at least three hours until we get there. That's plenty of time to come up with a plan."
Chapter One Hundred and One
Johnny stared at the small opening mostly hidden between the huge rocks that littered the hillside. Great. Another tunnel. The mountains towered above, casting dark shadows across the frozen landscape. Johnny shivered.
Lylor pulled a few torches from his pack. "We must take care to extinguish our light before we get too close. We must not alert the demons to our presence."
Johnny nodded. That would definitely be bad. For Ollie's plan to work they would have to be as quiet as possible. They needed to get as close to the demon lord as they could without him knowing that they were there. Ollie wasn't sure of the exact range of the talisman, but he didn't think it was very large. A big part of the plan depended on Johnny and his bow. He tried not to think too much about that.
"Are you alright?" Johnny hadn't even noticed that Jordan had moved up to stand next to him, but here she was. Johnny thought about asking Jordan about the pool again but decided against it. She had already made it perfectly clear that her vision was "private." Still, he was really curious. Both Jordan and Ian refused to talk about their experiences, but where Ian seemed afraid or embarrassed to talk about it, for Jordan it was completely different. When she talked about the pool, she always smiled and took an almost reverent tone. It had been a good experience for her. Johnny would give anything to know what she had seen.
Johnny realized Jordan was waiting for him to answer her question. It took him a second to remember what it had been. "I'm fine. Just a little nervous."
"Not surprising. I'm scared to death, and I'm not even supposed to go anywhere near the demon." Jordan's job was to lead the freed slaves to the back tunnel and try to keep them quiet. This was assuming they were able to get any of them free, of course. "You know, that was really cool how you saved Ollie's life. I don't know what I would have done if..." She shivered and her voice trailed off.
Johnny shrugged. "I didn't really do anything. The pool used me to save him. I wish we knew more about that thing. I really think it was trying to help us. Except maybe for Ian..."
Jordan smiled, and it lit up her face. Johnny would like to see her wear her new dress and that smile at the same time. It would probably be stunning. "I'm sure whatever Ian saw was something he needed to see."
"Maybe," Johnny said, "but he seems so... " He hesitated, looking for the right word. What was it with Ian exactly?
"Moody?" Jordan suggested. "Angry? Anti-social?"
"Yeah," Johnny agreed. "That works."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but he's kind of always been like that. It's just more obvious since we got to this place."
Johnny nodded. "Yeah, maybe. But I think it might be more than that."
Lylor ended their conversation. "Listen," he said in a voice just loud enough for everyone to hear, "does everybody understand what they are to do?"
He was greeted by silent nods and nervous glances.
"Very well," the elf announced. "It is time."
He held up a lit torch and led the way into blackness.
Chapter One Hundred and Two
Lylor took the lead, following the path shown to him in his vision. The tunnel the group followed wasn't really a tunnel at all, but more of a narrow fissure that cut through the wall of stone. Occasionally a sliver of sky could be seen far above, but never for long. The path was only wide enough to walk single file, and at several points, it became so narrow that the party members had to turn sideways to get through. There was one section several yards long where they were forced to crawl until the ceiling rose once more.
Ollie listened carefully as they moved, searching for any sign that the demons were aware of their group, but all he could hear were the shuffling of feet and the breathing of his friends. The journey went on forever. Ollie kept expecting the passage to close up and block their way, but there was always a way to get through, even if it meant squeezing oneself between the two massive walls of stone. At one of these narrow sections, Sarah, who was following just behind him, reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly enough to hurt. When Ollie glanced back at her, he saw that her face was pale and covered with sweat. She was clenching her teeth tightly and had a wild look in her eyes. Claustrophobia. Ollie gave her a reassuring squeeze and mouthed the words "it's going to be fine." It didn't really seem to help. Sarah just shook her head almost violently and forced herself to continue forward.
Finally, Lylor stopped. The fissure continued on past their current location, but the elf lifted his torch and pointed at the wall on the right. There was a jagged hole that opened up into a much wider tunnel. The demons' mine. Ollie strained to listen but could detect no sounds from the opening. This section of the mine was abandoned, just as Lylor had seen in the pool.
Lylor waited until everyone had climbed through the opening, which required scrambling over a jumble of rocks and debris. Ollie could see why the demons were unaware of this entrance. From here inside the mine, it looked like a solid wall beyond the opening. There was no reason for anyone to think that the fissure would lead all the way to the outside.
Sarah was shaking as she climbed out of the passage, and Ollie reached up to help her down. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing herself to relax. Ollie raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question, and Sarah nodded, mouthing the words "I'm okay." Ollie wasn't convinced, and he stayed close to her just in case. Sarah had a crucial role in the plan, and if she wasn't able to function down here it would make things a lot harder.
After the last person had entered the mine, Lylor signaled for everyone to come near. The group crowded around him, and he spoke to them in a voice that was barely a whisper. "There is a turning ahead. We will need to put out the torches before we reach it, or our light will be seen. After that, everyone must follow the plan. Stealth is of the utmost importance. We must be silent from this point on. Are we all prepared?"
Everyone nodded. Well, almost everyone. In the dim light, no one noticed that Ian had only stood silent, staring off into the darkness.
Chapter One Hundred and T
hree
Ian felt like he was walking in a dream. The torchlight flickered on the walls of the tunnels, casting sinister shadows that he half-expected to come to life and attack him. The walls of the mine lacked supports of any kind, which meant the whole thing could collapse at any second. The mine smelled horrible, like rotten eggs, and it made it hard to breathe. What am I doing here?
This was crazy. They were planning to attack a demon lord. This was the most powerful creature in the entire game. It was designed to be impossible to defeat. That's why Ian had picked it for his last campaign. He had wanted an incredibly difficult challenge. Well, that sure backfired. In his mind, almost morbidly, he went over the demon's stats. It had a hundred thousand health points, making it virtually unkillable. It had the strength of a hundred men. It had a death stare, which could kill any creature instantly. It was immune to fire, cold, lightning, and poison. It was a powerful magic user. And of course, it had hordes of lesser demons under its control.
And with every step, they were moving closer to this monster. Ollie thought the talisman would banish it, but they needed to get close to the demon to use the device. Even if it somehow worked, there was no way all of them could survive. Every bone in Ian's body screamed at him to just get out of here. Just get as far as he could from the certain death that waited ahead.
But then the vision from the pool returned to his mind. His friends screaming in pain, begging him to help.
Ian gritted his teeth and kept walking.
When the group reached the bend in the tunnel, Lylor gave the signal to line up and put out the torches. Ian reluctantly dropped the torch he was carrying to the ground and smothered it with a damp cloth. Lylor and Johnny did the same with their torches, and the tunnel was plunged into darkness.
But the darkness wasn't quite complete. Ian noticed a soft white glow coming from the scabbard of his sword. He slid the weapon out a few inches, and the light grew slightly brighter. It was not very intense, really just a hint of brightness, but somehow it made him feel a little better. Now we're in The Lord of the Rings again. Maybe demons worked the same as goblins. Lylor reached over to him and gently pushed the sword back into the scabbard. Even that small amount of light might be enough to give them away.
It took a few moments of maneuvering, but the group managed to grab each other's hands. If all went well here at the beginning, Lylor would be able to light another torch, but for now, they needed to make sure everyone stayed together. Ian was between Jordan and Johnny, and he made sure his grip on their hands was tight before Lylor began to move.
It was awkward, especially with the need for silence, but the party moved slowly deeper into the mine. Lylor led the others around the bend, and suddenly torchlight appeared in the distance, flickering from several different locations. The tunnel opened up into a much larger area up ahead–practically a cavern, judging from the spacing of the torches. Ian could hear the guttural sounds of the demons speaking. It sounded like spiders crawling across his brain.
Noticeably absent was the sound of miners working. No tools clanking off of the rock, no grunts of the slaves exerting themselves in their labor. No crack of whips. It seemed the mining was done. Ian felt a chill. He could guess what that meant. Alakabal didn't need any more silurnium. There was no need to mine any more of the rare metal. The portal was complete, and now the sacrifices would begin. This night the portal would open, and the demon army would once again be unleashed on the world.
Chapter One Hundred and Four
The light in the mine was faint but was enough that the party could safely let go of each other's hands. They still had to stay close in order to see each other, but it was much better than the pitch blackness they had just endured. Lylor surveyed the huge cavern and focused on a group of torches that was somewhat separated from the others. He pointed at them and the others nodded in response. They had found their first target. It was time to begin the assault.
Lylor had learned from the pool that the slaves were divided into groups, each chained together by their ankles and watched over by one to three demons. The first part of Ollie's plan was to attack the groups separately, without raising an alarm. This would be incredibly difficult. They would have to eliminate the demons before they were seen, and without alerting any of the other groups. They would also need to keep the slaves from reacting in a way that gave the rescuers away. If they were lucky, they might be able to work their way up from the back of the mine and free the prisoners without alerting the demons to their presence.
But as the party approached the first group of slaves, Ollie's heart sank. He could see his plan wasn't just going to be difficult. It was going to be impossible. There were just too many of the demons, and the groups were too close together. Already Ollie could see at least ten groups, and several of them were moving. They were heading towards the front entrance of the mine, and some of the groups had already joined together on their way out.
And Ollie knew where they were going. Had the sacrifices already begun? He listened intently for some sign that the demon lord had begun his ritual, but the only sounds were those of the demons herding their charges through the tunnel and the clanking of the chains. The tower was still too far away for Ollie to hear any screams from the victims.
The first group of slaves was now only about forty feet away, and Lylor signaled for everyone to stop. The party was mostly hidden by shadows, but the distance was close enough now to be risky. Ollie could see that there were eleven slaves in the group, watched by a single demon. It was an eight-foot-tall monster with bulging muscles and four eyes that burned red in the near darkness. When the demon barked its commands, it displayed a row of fangs that glistened in the torchlight. It carried a spiked club that it swung menacingly at its charges and wore a hooded robe that was black as midnight. Ollie shivered as he imagined an army of countless creatures like this one.
Lylor gave another signal, and Johnny released his arrow. As always, his shot was perfect. It hit the demon in the throat, which not only killed the creature but also made it impossible for it to shout and warn the other demons in the cavern. At the exact moment that Johnny fired, Sarah activated her ring. Even before the demon had completely fallen to the ground she was among the slaves, signaling them to be silent. This turned out to be mostly unnecessary. Most of the slaves just stared at her with empty eyes, showing no inclination to make any trouble. Sarah couldn't imagine what might have been done to them to bring them to this state, though she suspected they might be under the influence of drugs or maybe magic. She looked carefully, but while several of the slaves were elves, Yrabelle wasn't among them.
When the rest of the party caught up to Sarah, Ollie searched the fallen guard, looking for the keys to the chains that held the captives together. If they were going to have any chance of escaping through the narrow passage, the captives would have to be separated from each other. When Ollie touched the demon's body, a wave of dizziness came over him and he almost lost his balance. The pain in his leg flared. There was an indescribable sense of wrongness with the thing. It did not belong in this world. Neither do we.
After a moment Ollie looked up and shook his head. No keys, so it was time to move to plan B. It was George's turn. He examined the cuff on the ankle of the first captive in line, a man who looked like he might be a trapper or a hunter from the look of his clothing. The chains looked solid, but when George tried to pull the cuff open it snapped off almost immediately in his hands. He then worked his way down the line, ripping apart their restraints with almost no effort. Ollie marveled at George's strength. He thought it might have even increased since the day he drank the potion.
When all the prisoners were free, Ian and Jordan began to herd them toward the back of the mine. Ian would need to carry a torch to light their way since there would be no way to find the opening again in pure darkness. Ollie was a little worried the group would be noticed moving toward the back of the mine, but it was a necessary risk. He hoped the other demons were
busy enough dealing with their charges that they wouldn't wonder why one of the groups was moving in the wrong direction. It took some prodding and whispered encouragement, but eventually the prisoners began to move.
Ollie listened carefully as Jordan and Ian led the slaves to safety, but no alarm sounded. None of the demons noticed them, and why should they? There was no reason to expect a rescue party would arrive from the darkest reaches of the mine. Ollie felt a brief sense of elation. Eleven people saved! But then he looked out into the mine at the remaining groups of prisoners, and his spirits sank. They had freed one group, but there were dozens of others, and they were all leaving the mine. Even if it were possible to stay undetected, they just didn't have the time. They might already be too late.
Ollie jumped when Lylor put his hand on his shoulder and murmured into his ear. "I fear that our plan may no longer be feasible."
"I know," Ollie whispered back. How much worse this must be for Lylor! It was his daughter who was in danger, after all. "Let's move back to the bend. We'll have to think of something else."
Chapter One Hundred and Five
Lylor took charge, leading the group silently around the corner toward the back entrance, beyond the reach of the torches. The others followed, though it was clear they were wondering what was going on. Ollie thought about their situation. They didn't have the time to try to pick off the demons one by one. If only they knew what was going on at the tower right now! Had the sacrifices started? Was the portal already open? Ollie felt like he was racing against a clock, except he had no idea how much time was left, and at any moment a bomb was going to blow up in his face.
He forced himself to calm down and went through their assets again. They had Ian's sword, which so far had proved to be indestructible. They had Johnny's bow that never missed what he aimed at. Ollie had his two spells and a magic charm that worked against some monsters, but not so well against others. They had Sarah's ring and George's inhuman strength. And they had the experience of an elven warrior. When you thought about it, it was pretty impressive. But when you matched it against an army of demons and a demon lord, there was really no comparison.