by Steve McHugh
“New species are found all the time, who’s to say a large spider isn’t amongst them.”
I suddenly had an itch on the back of my neck. “Yeah, great. Thanks for that. Can you close that entrance we came in here from? I’d like to give those lions a hard time to catch up, if possible.”
She placed her hand against the cave and the entrance was squeezed shut until it appeared as if it never existed. “I can’t make it permanent,” she said. “But it should last a few hours before moving back.”
Using alchemy to make changes permanent is a skill learned through experience; the lack of contact with other alchemists had left her abilities much less powerful than they should have been for her age.
I knocked something with my foot and bent down to retrieve the item that dislodged. It turned out to be partially submerged bone that had been in the mud and grime, and I washed it off in the small stream. “If we’re still here in a few hours, we’ll have more than lions to worry about. This is a human thigh bone.”
I passed the bone to Caitlin, who squinted in the light of the fireball as she examined it. “Did the lions do this? There are teeth marks.”
“No idea.” A small gust of air moved more of the grime and exposed several more bones. “But whatever stripped the flesh from these bones is not something I want to meet down here.”
“We should keep moving then.”
I wiped my hands on my jeans and picked the furthest right of the three remaining tunnels, primarily because water tricked from it into the stream. Caitlin and I trekked down the claustrophobic tunnel for what felt like miles, but was probably only a few hundred yards, until we arrived at a second chamber.
It was smaller than the one we’d left several minutes earlier, but full of huge boulders that I wouldn’t have been able to lift with or without magic. The smell of the bats had long since gone, and was replaced with the stench that had done its best to override the bat smell. It was a strong odor, a mixture of feces, urine and blood. A lot of blood.
“I’m going to extinguish the flame,” I told Caitlin in hushed tones.
Her eyes widened in fear. “Are you fucking around?”
“Can you smell that? There’s something down here.” I moved the ball of flame so that it hovered a few inches over the ground and saw the dozens of bones that were littered across its surface. Some of them human in size.
“Holy shit!” Caitlin managed to whisper.
“Stay here, don’t move. I’ll be back in a second.”
She nodded and I removed the small ball of flame, plunging our surroundings into pitch darkness. I squeezed Caitlin’s hand and then set off to scout our next path, my magic-enhanced night vision the only magic I dared use. Even though my glyphs only light up on the initial use of magic, and the fact that I was wearing a coat that covered by arms and chest, I still had to watch my step; I didn’t want to accidentally step on a fragile bone and alert whatever was there to my presence.
There were two paths that left the chamber, and I decided to try the one that was partially hidden by a huge bolder. I took two steps inside and froze. I concentrated for a second and allowed my necromancy to activate, and I was astounded as dozens of spirits all drifted into view. I tried to reach out to any of them, but couldn’t, so stopped using it and continued on.
The path was short, but I was never going to finish going through it. On the other side lay a cave troll. It was easily fifteen feet tall and weighed as much as a truck. I moved back very slowly, making sure that I put my feet down in the lightest way possible.
It took me a lot longer to get back to Caitlin than it had to get to the troll—fear makes you extra careful. And make no mistake, I was afraid. Fighting a cave troll in an enclosed space, such as an underground tunnel, was suicide. There was no way to get space between you and the thing that would easily tear you in half and feast on your remains.
“Did you find anything?” Caitlin asked as I returned to her and made sure she knew it was me.
I told her about the cave troll.
“What the hell is a cave troll?”
“Big, pissed off, people eater. We’d better hurry, I don’t like the idea of facing one in his own cave.”
“Can you put the light on?”
“Too risky. You’re going to have to be piggy-backed.”
To her credit she didn’t argue; instead, she allowed me to move her into position and then up onto my back. Her arms were wrapped around my chest and her legs around my waist.
I took two steps when an almighty roar came out from somewhere in the cave. The werelions were somewhere behind us—they’d probably found the blocked path—but the noise sounded as if it were happening right next to me.
I didn’t wait, I just sprinted toward the second path, ignoring the sounds of the bones as they splintered and broke beneath my feet. But as we reached the tunnel there was another sound. It was something I’d heard out in the open many years ago, and even then it was a terror-inducing noise. But underground, in an enclosed space, with no obvious place to hide or escape…Well, right then I was pretty sure I knew how Jack had felt the first time he’d heard the giant. Although in my case it was much worse than a giant. The cave troll had woken. And as they always are, it was very, very hungry.
CHAPTER 13
I grabbed Caitlin and ran with her through the nearest tunnel, re-igniting the ball of flame so we could move quickly without the need for me to carry her. It didn’t matter if the troll saw the light, it was going to be able to smell that we were inside its territory. It couldn’t have pinpointed exactly where by smell alone, but it wouldn’t have taken long to find us; a cave troll can see in absolute darkness better than they can in the daylight.
The winding tunnel ended in yet another boulder-infested large cavern, but there was no obvious way to go any further. Fortunately, the tunnel was too narrow for a cave troll to easily fit down it.
“So, what do we do now?” Caitlin asked.
I looked around and pointed toward another tunnel about forty-five feet above the ground, at the far end of the cavern. I could have probably climbed up there with my magic, but it would have been impossible to carry Caitlin too.
“How are we meant to get up there?” she asked.
“You’re going to create some steps for us.”
We jogged over to the far side of the cavern. “There’s a lot of rock to shift around,” she said after examining the area. “If I pull too much out of the rock here, it could cause it to collapse somewhere else.”
“Is there a better way?”
“Pulling it from the ground would be easier, but again, I have no idea how far beneath us this rock goes. If there’s a giant cave under us, I could cause a few extra problems, like us falling through it. Alchemy isn’t easy when you can’t see exactly what you’re working with.”
“How about one of those boulders?”
She walked over to the ten-foot boulder and examined it. “Yeah, I could use this. I’d have to collapse the boulder here, spread it across the ground, and then re-shape it near the tunnel. It’d be a strain, but certainly possible.”
“You have a few minutes to move several tons of rock then.”
“How far behind us is the troll?”
As if on cue, a huge roar sounded out from somewhere in the darkness that we’d just left. The troll was now coming for us, but hopefully it wouldn’t get through until Caitlin and I managed to escape.
Several tons of rock screeched and groaned as Caitlin went to work collapsing the boulder and moving it slowly across the cavern floor.
While Caitlin worked, I searched the rest of the cavern and found several more piles of bones. From the look of it, the troll had been underground for years. I found several pieces of clothing and a few rucksacks that had been torn apart.
I searched through them, but found no IDs, which was strange.
It was unlikely that the troll would have eaten the wallet if it had taken the time to remove any clothing before feasting on its victims. I searched for a few more seconds, but found nothing to tell me who any of the people were.
“There are a lot more victims here,” I told a heavily sweating Caitlin, who had managed to move half of the bolder across the cavern.
“Anything more than bones?”
“Trolls eat everything except for the bones, so no, nothing to go on. It’s weird that there are so many bones here, though. It can’t be easy for the troll to get in here, not through that tunnel.”
“Is there another way in?” Caitlin said, her nerves showing even through gritted teeth.
“I’ll take a look.” The idea that we were vulnerable once again made hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I immediately set about searching for any entrances big enough for a troll to come through.
I walked the entire circumference of the cavern, but found no obvious way in which a cave troll could get to us. It gave me a measure of ease, but didn’t answer why there were so many bones. I concluded that the troll had probably eaten them when he was younger and could fit through the tunnel with ease.
Another roar of anger sounded throughout the cavern, and the rock groaned as huge fists pounded against the inside of the tunnel.
“Can you hurry up?” I asked. “I don’t think the troll is keen on waiting for his lunch.”
“Nate,” Caitlin said.
I turned around to find a large lion standing in the mouth of what was meant to be our exit. It dropped down to the cavern floor with barely a sound and changed from lion to a werelion beast form, in two steps. At well over seven-feet tall, it towered above both Caitlin and myself.
“I guess I found my rabbits,” it said. The beast form of a werelion is similar in appearance to any other were’s beast form: long muscular arms, with razor sharp claws on the end of each elongated finger, their faces still resembling a lion’s, but it’s a horror version of a lion, with an exaggerated mouth and nose that’s much larger than a normal lion, and teeth that could carve through flesh like it was a Sunday roast chicken.
“You’re in our way,” I said as Caitlin moved back from the nearly finished boulder and rejoined me. “I think you should move.”
“I think I’m going to skin you both and hand you to the troll.”
“You’ve been dumping the bodies down here, haven’t you?”
The werelion’s brown, rage-filled eyes fixed firmly on me. “We throw them down, and then they get to wait. And wait. And hope that they can reach the ledge. And then the troll comes through and we hear them scream.”
“So, what happens when that troll comes through and finds you in here?”
“I won’t be here.”
He made a grab for Caitlin, but she was too far back and managed to avoid his attack. I used his off balance to slam him in the chest with a blast of air, which took him off his feet and threw him toward the rear of the cavern.
“Get the exit finished,” I told Caitlin. “I’ll deal with our feline friend.”
Caitlin ran off to finish her alchemy while the werelion found his feet and stood up to his full height.
“That meant to be imposing?” I asked. “Because I have a list of things that have impressed me. It’s pretty short and you’re nowhere near it.”
Unfortunately, letting loose with my magic would have meant removing the ball of flame that hovered around Caitlin, bathing her in darkness and prolonging our escape.
The lion darted forward, swiping wildly, trying to catch me with his claws. There was no skill to it, just power. I dodged aside for a few seconds, while the lion continued to throw punch after punch, trying and catch me with its strength or claws. After half a minute, the werelion was beginning to anger and the small measure of patience he’d portrayed during the first attack had vanished. He charged forward, closing the distance between us and meeting my first wrapped in dense air, which I used to slam into his temple. The werelion went down to one knee, and a second punch sent him onto his back.
He kicked out, catching me in the ribs, sending me flying back several feet. I landed on some sharp rocks, slicing open my arm once again.
The werelion got back to a standing position and smelled the air, taking a long deep sniff.
“Caitlin,” I called out. “Don’t move.”
I extinguished the flame and a second later sent out a torrent of fire magic, which rushed over the werelion, causing damage and pain to every part of it. The lion screamed out as the fire ignited its fur, and it dropped to the ground, rolling around to try and put the flames out as I reignited the small ball of flame and moved it back over to Caitlin.
“Well that was quick,” I said and remade the ball of fire that hovered around Caitlin. “You’re new to this whole werelion thing, I assume? You fight like a human, not using your speed or strength and just wildly throwing punches.”
“And you only pay attention to what’s in front of you,” the werelion said with an approximate sneer as its flesh began to heal.
The roar from behind me was deafening and accompanied by a crash as part of the cavern fell from the wall onto the ground and exploded, peppering me with small shards of razor-sharp rock.
At the far end of the cave was a huge boulder, something I had originally decided was immoveable without dynamite. The cave troll rolled it aside with the effort of a starving animal getting to a meal, revealing a second path beyond. But the troll wasn’t starving, it just liked to kill and feed, and if it wasn’t hungry, it would kill for fun. As the beast turned its head to look at Caitlin and then me, it grinned. To the troll, our deaths would supply food, but it was going to enjoy itself.
The troll darted toward Caitlin, its speed unnatural for a being of its size. Caitlin unloaded her gun into its chest and it stopped running, not because of gunshot wounds, the bullet holes had barely bothered it, but because of the explosion of sound that bounced around the inside of the cavern as if it were directly in my head. The troll clamped its enormous hands over its ears and roared in pain.
I gathered all of the rock shrapnel up in a whirl of air and threw it at the troll’s face; some of it sunk into the inside of its mouth. It didn’t do much damage, but it did take its attention from Caitlin to me. Which suddenly felt like a very stupid thing as it turned on me and charged.
I rolled behind a nearby boulder and the troll tried to turn, but while it was fast in a straight line, it also was about as maneuverable as a moon. It crashed into a nearby stalagmite, adding yet another noise to the never-ending cascade of sound.
“How long?” I shouted, using my magic to ensure that the words met Caitlin’s ears.
“Few seconds and we’re done.”
The troll brushed itself off and stood up to its full height, its murderous eyes boring directly into me.
“We don’t have that long,” I said and slowly moved so that I was stood between the troll and the werelion, who was just beginning to get back to a sitting position, its seared flesh quickly healing itself.
The troll stalked forward slowly, ensuring I wasn’t going to escape behind another boulder at the last second, and when it was certain I couldn’t move aside, it dove for me. I used air magic to push myself back behind the werelion, which was in the way of what the troll wanted to tear in half.
The troll slammed into the werelion as if he were a toy, grabbing his leg and tossing him up into the air before smashing him back down onto the rock, removing the werelion’s leg from the knee down. Blood poured out of the wound, spraying all over the troll, who stopped moving and licked the stump of the leg, while the werelion screamed for help.
I ignored his pleas and darted back to Caitlin, who was starting to climb up the steps she’d made. “Nate, are you going to help that guy?”
I turned to watch as the troll grabbed the werelion, w
ho screamed and pleaded for help. The troll placed one hand on his pelvis and one on his chest and tore him in half with a sickening sound.
“Oh my God,” Caitlin said.
“Vomit later, let’s go.” I almost had to pick her up and carry her up the newly made stairs. Once at the top I made Caitlin look at me, while a draft of fresh air made its way down the tunnel. “You need to drop all of the steps. We can’t have a cave troll getting out.”
Caitlin glanced over toward the sounds of the troll feasting on the remains of the werelion.
“Blood drives it nuts,” I said. “It’ll be transfixed for a while, but once it’s finished, it’ll look for another meal. And if it can get out of here, it’s going to find a whole town full of them.”
Caitlin nodded and knelt down, placing her hands against the top of the steps. The rock groaned and then collapsed all at once. “It’s easier to remove something than make it,” Caitlin said and slumped against me.
The noise gained the troll’s attention and it dropped the fleshy remains of the werelion and darted toward us, roaring with anger the entire time. But we were too high up and all it could do was impotently rage at us.
I picked up Caitlin and carried her up the tunnel, and the second we stepped outside and into the darkness of night, I placed her on the soft grass, where she rolled over and threw up.
I couldn’t leave the tunnel open, I couldn’t risk anyone else getting in there, so I created a sphere of air magic in my hand, spinning it over and over again, pouring in more and more magic, until it was a powerful blur. And then I sunk it into the rock around the face of the tunnel and released the magic. The result was spectacular as the entire tunnel imploded, collapsing in on itself and burying the exit under several tons of earth.
“You okay?” I asked as I sunk to my knees and took in a deep breath. I’d first used the sphere just over a year ago and it almost tore a werewolf apart. It was incredibly powerful, but also took a lot out of me.
“It ate him, ripped him to shreds.”