by Eric Vall
The Naga screeched and became furious, and I pulled the trigger.
The noise that followed was blood curdling and echoed through the tunnel so loudly everyone leapt to cover their ears. The beast flailed and screeched to the tunnel walls as thin purple blood spurted from the hole I’d blasted into its head.
I sent another shot into the skull to silence the beast, and it fell heavily to the ground, the body only halfway into the tunnel.
I was about to grin when I heard another furious snarl from the other side of the wall, and then I remembered they came in packs. I cocked my revolver but froze when the body of the dead Naga began to lurch. I realized it was being dragged back into its cave, and the sound of gnashing teeth and the peeling of flesh followed shortly after.
I gagged when I realized it was being eaten.
The idea of eating the maggotish and oozing Naga made my stomach churn, but not as much as the sight of the next Naga when it rammed its ugly face through the hole. It was just as hideous as the last, but this one had scraps of Naga flesh and meat hanging from between its teeth, and purple blood was splattered all over its snout and chest. The damn thing was mid bite, but he came after us anyways.
I took my aim, but before I could pull the trigger, the beast was flattened by another that scrambled through the hole, and then another showed its fleshy face. The three Naga blasted the last of the wall apart with their weight and sent a shower of rocks and dust all over the dwarves.
They scattered and backed away as they shielded their eyes from the debris, and I saw three of the torches go out. Jovion and Zerla hollered from my back, and all of us ducked to the ground as two giant boulders soared over our heads and crumbled against the skulls of the beasts.
That just pissed them off.
Their gurgling screeches wrenched the air and pierced my ears in a way that confused my vision even worse. Furious, I took my aim and fired, but the angry Naga whipped their heads blindly like snakes. The bullet missed and blasted a chunk of muscle from one of their shoulders, and purple blood and torn flesh splattered their yellow skin and the rock around them.
Thrungrig barked orders at the dwarves in his language, and then he ran forward to slice a toe from the closest Naga while they were confused. His torch scalded the neck of the beast, and it reared, slamming its skull into the ceiling of the tunnel. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling, and I immediately looked up to check that the rock bolts held strong, but no cracks had appeared.
The rearing dragon snapped its jaws with the flesh of the dead Naga still hanging from its teeth, and Thrungrig growled and goaded the beast with his flame.
I took aim once more, and this time my shot blasted a hole in the side of its head.
“Fuck yeah!” I shouted.
I was ready for the deafening screech that followed this time, so I just braced myself and aimed the second bullet into the other side of its head. Then I squinted and looked for the next dragon. With one dying creature now crushing the one beneath it, I was able to take the next out more easily, and I heard the dwarves cheer as its face split open from the force of the bullet.
Zerla and Jovion gave another call, we all ducked, and a massive boulder they must have lifted together found its mark on the head of the third Naga, which wriggled between the two dead lumps.
I took the opportunity to reload and heard Thrungrig’s howl echo around me.
“There ye are ye bastard!” he laughed, and I looked up just in time to see him slice straight through the neck of the confused beast with a single swipe of his sword.
My jaw dropped at the strength of the stout man, and the other dwarves quickly reformed their line, silent and at the ready.
We all waited.
I could hear snarls from the darkened cave in front of us, and the same juicy tearing of flesh continued. I began to wonder how many there were in a pack of Naga, and I kept my revolver cocked and aimed into the black. The smell of the dead beasts was overwhelming in the close quarters of the cave. I looked down to see the thin purple blood in puddles at my feet, with chunks of brownish flesh that floated in it.
I swallowed another gag, and then I suddenly heard footsteps echoing through the tunnel at my back. Aurora and the Ignis Mages appeared in the torchlight, and there was an angry sneer on the half-elf’s face as she brought flames to her fingertips and stopped at my side. Haragh and Pindor were close behind, and I could see heavy black circles beneath their eyes.
“What the hell is that?” Aurora demanded just before she gagged and clapped a hand over her nose.
I was about to respond, but Pindor didn’t stop in time, and he slipped in the pool of purple blood that slicked the floor of the cave. He fell with a hard slap, and I saw his head hit the rock full force.
“Shit!” Haragh crouched and dragged the young mage from the purple mess.
“Get him to Shoshanne. Now!” I ordered. “We’ve got this.”
The half-ogre didn’t argue, and he easily hauled the limp man into his arms before he disappeared back down the tunnel.
I turned to the Ignis Mages. “They hate fire, give ‘em hell,” I told them, and they swiftly took their stance behind the line of dwarves.
The snarling was growing louder now, and finally three gaping mouths emerged from the darkness.
I heard a sound of disgust come from the lips of the mages just before they hurled three orbs of blue flames into the ugly faces.
The Naga screeched as the flames broiled their flesh, and the dwarves were forced to cover their ears once more. The chaos brought on by the assault of flames made the tunnel unbearably loud, and my eyes shut themselves in response.
I couldn’t think straight and stumbled as I crashed into the wall of the tunnel.
“What the hell,” I growled and tried to sort out my vision. I couldn’t tell if it was the lack of sleep or the disorienting shrieks, but I couldn’t seem to get a grip on my mind all of a sudden. My head spun, and my eyes wouldn’t open. “Godsdamnit!”
Aurora called to me from somewhere in the tunnel. “What’s wrong? Mason!”
I didn’t answer, just kept trying to get my bearings. Then another screech came, and everyone hollered at once. Thrungrig screamed orders to the dwarves, but I couldn’t hear much more beyond the screeching. I got my eyes open a crack and squinted hard.
Then I realized Thrungrig was saying my name.
“Now, damn it!” he growled.
I propelled myself from the wall and aimed blindly into the torchlight. I forced my eyes open another crack and could barely make out a mass of yellowish flesh clambering from the wall. I couldn’t tell one body from another, so I just started shooting. I unloaded a full cylinder of bullets into the mass and heard the flesh of the Naga get blasted into tiny pieces.
Flames shot from the mages, and the smell of boiled flesh filled the tunnel. I fumbled for my belt, and then I realized I could use my magic to reload the gun. I let my eyes close again, and envisioned the chamber and the bullets neatly falling into their slots. Then I rubbed hard at my eyes and forced them open once more.
I heard Cayla’s voice coming down the tunnel. Then Jovion and Zerla hollered to the group. Seconds later, rock shattered near the opening of the wall. I could see the shapes of everyone, and I breathed hard to keep at least this level of focus. Cayla spoke again, but I couldn’t make out the words in the echo of the tunnel. A shot went off, and I recognized the crack of a rifle. I could tell she’d hit her mark by the gurgling that followed.
Then the dwarves let out a collective warning. Aurora answered it, and I sensed something was going wrong. The sound of the growls was only getting louder.
I turned to take my aim, but a giant tail swiped across my vision, and I saw the shadows of the mages fly up into the air and slam against the wall of the tunnel. I fired, and warm blood splattered across me. I fired again, and then I heard a distant screech near the opening of the wall.
Cayla shot at my side, and the sound clapped in my ears so loudly t
hat I stumbled. Then someone screamed my name, and the air left my lungs as I flew backward and landed in a pile of rubble with a hollow crack in my ribs. Pain jolted through my center and shot straight into my head and arms. I groaned and clenched my fist, but there was no gun in it anymore. The tunnel echoed, and shadows flashed across my vision, just before I blacked out.
The dark was cold, but if felt better than the boulders under my back had. I couldn’t feel anything anymore, only a sense of emptiness that stretched from me in every direction. Something stroked my beard lightly, and the voice of the goddess whispered from some distant place.
“Nemris,” I mumbled, but I couldn’t tell if the words had made it past my lips.
“I’m here, my love,” came the gentle voice.
I tried to move, but nothing happened. “Am I dead?” I asked the darkness.
“No,” Nemris answered, and I realized I could feel her hand more firmly now. “You live, Mason. Wake up.”
I wanted to, but the black and empty place felt so good. It wrapped around my body and held me suspended.
I groaned.
“Wake up, Mason. You must,” the goddess ordered. Her voice hit me like stars washing through my skull, and light began to bloom behind my eyes as bright as the sun as it slowly took over the black around me.
“Wake up, my love,” she said again.
I felt the warmth of the goddess’s breath on my lips just before she kissed me, and an electric force sparked straight through my body like lightning. I willed my arms to reach out for her, but the brightness overtook my senses, and suddenly everything was pain.
I cringed and wrenched my eyes open, and the smell of death and burnt flesh smothered me immediately. The mottled tunnel ceiling was above me, and it flickered with yellow light and shadows.
“Mason,” I heard once more.
This time it was Aurora’s voice, and I finally processed that I wasn’t dead. I was in the tunnel, and the memory of the Naga attack hit me like a ton of bricks. I jolted to rise, but I was met with a sharp pain that ripped through my center as I spasmed involuntarily for a moment.
“Don’t move,” the half-elf ordered. “Don’t do anything, just … just be alive, okay?”
I grinned through the pain and nodded. “Deal.”
I could hear her sigh and knew that she’d probably rolled her eyes. With a deep breath, I fought the throbbing behind my eyes and opened them. They slowly adjusted and brought the rocks back into focus, along with the three faces above me.
Cayla, Aurora, and Shoshanne came into view.
Their faces were shadowed, but I could make out the worry in their eyes and the purple blood splattered across the beautiful planes of their cheeks.
I struggled to grin.
“That’s a sight that’ll revive the dead,” I muttered.
Cayla immediately smiled, and her eyes sparkled.“Half dead, and you’re still a shameless flirt,” she laughed.
“Damn right,” I chuckled, then winced at the pain that throbbed in response. I groaned and shut my eyes.
“Alright,” Cayla sighed, “enough of that. Shoshanne is tending to you, but don’t move. You’re badly injured, Mason.”
“The Naga?” I asked with my eyes still shut tight against the pain.
“They’re dead,” Aurora assured me. “The dwarves and Haragh are working to clean up the mess, then they’re gonna continue the tunnel and get us the hell out of here. They have a mine on the other side.”
I went to respond, but a cool finger touched my lips.
“Don’t,” Shoshanne ordered. “Just lay there.”
I couldn’t help the coy smirk. “Yes ma’am,” I murmured to the soft fingertip.
The three giggled, and I heard a shifting against the rocks as Aurora’s voice faded into the tunnel with Cayla’s.
“Now, I need to put some poultice on your wounds Mason, and I need to shift you slightly to do it,” Shoshanne warned. Her voice was soft, and I realized I’d never heard it so close to my ear before. It was soothing and had a slightly husky timbre.
I wanted to hear more of it, but before I could say anything, my shoulder was propped up, and pain shot through my skull. I shouted in response, and everything went black again.
When I woke this time, I was mostly upright. My vision didn’t fight me anymore, and my head didn’t spin. I looked around and saw I was propped against a pile of rubble with blankets at my back and bandages wrapped around my exposed torso. Purple blood stained my skin, and I could see blackened bruises bloomed from beneath the edges of the bandages. I flexed my feet, and relief washed over me as I found I could move my legs. I tested my arms, and they responded painfully, but obediently.
I grinned. “Hell yeah.”
I could move, and I could see. Life was fucking good.
Now that I knew my body wasn’t destroyed, I looked at my surroundings and could see the dwarves up on makeshift ladders with Haragh and the other Terra Mages dispersed between them. Everyone moved and gave instructions, and the walls of the caves flickered in the light of the Ignis Mages’ flames. Shoshanne’s voice came from my side, and I turned to see the caramel beauty crouched on the blanket.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Like a million bucks,” I chuckled. The motion didn’t hurt as badly as it had before, and I smiled at the confusion on the Aer Mage’s face. “Never mind. I feel much better, thank you.”
She smiled back, and her cheeks turned a sweet pink. “Good.”
Shoshanne began to check the poultices she’d stuffed beneath the bandages, and I held my breath as my injuries flamed against the strange herbs.
“Don’t worry,” the healer assured me, her voice the same soft huskiness I had heard before I blacked out again. It soothed me instantly, and I looked to the copper curls that hung low over my torso. “The pain will ease in the next few hours. When we get to the mine, I’ll be able to tend to you better.”
“I look forward to it,” I said with a smirk.
The Aer Mage turned her head and sent me a coy look I’d never seen on her face before. Her lips smiled, and she sent me a cool, “Oh hush,” before she turned back to her work.
I didn’t know how long I’d been in her care, but she was hands down my favorite doctor.
Thrungrig called down the tunnel, and I looked up from the caramel beauty to see the lead dwarf leave his post and come my way.
“Alive are ye?” he asked, and he smirked as he approached.
I chuckled. “Apparently.”
“Good.” He nodded. “We’re just shorin’ up the last three hundred feet to be sure this end don’t close up. The mine’s a couple hours on.”
“Hey,” I cut in with a mock scowl. “What are you doing? It’s my tunnel.”
The dwarf chuckled at this and dusted his hands off as he came closer. “Aye.” He grinned and placed a calloused hand on my shoulder. “Your tunnel. Our dragons.”
I had to laugh at that. “Fair enough.”
The dwarf nodded and turned to Shoshanne. “We’ve got a cart free, let us know when ye wanna get him in it. Should be on our way in about an hour.”
“Perfect. Thank you, Thrungrig,” the Aer Mage replied with a smile. Her eyes looked to the dwarf as if he were her friend, and I was pleased to see the comradery that had begun to form amongst the dwarves and my crew.
The dwarf returned to his ladder, and I watched as everyone worked together to finish the tunnel. The stench of the Naga battle still lingered in the air, but I could tell Shoshanne worked to clear the air when she wasn’t tending to my injuries. Her hair shifted lightly and brought a breeze through the tunnel that at least diluted the rancid air a little.
I wondered how long I’d been blacked out and was about to ask when Haragh came over and dropped with a huff at my side.
“Well, ye missed the best of it, but it’s just as well. Didn’t need yer help anyways,” he chuckled.
“Oh yeah?” I asked with a lopsided smile.
/> “Yeah, they were nothin’.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Bunch of ugly bastards but blind and dumb as a pole. Nasty buggers, though.”
“How many were there?” I questioned. I hadn’t been able to make much sense of the scene, and I could only recall the wall of squirming yellowish flesh and the massive tail the flashed just before I was thrown backward.
“’Bout twenty, I’d say,” he answered. “Some were smaller, and about half of em were busy eating each other. That princess of yours is a hell of a shot with that gun. The dwarves decapitated a fair share. I finally got Aurora to stop melting the shit out of them, though, the smell was just too much.” He shook his head, and I laughed.
“That’s what that smell is?” I asked through my laughter.
“Eh, not quite. Thrungrig says their flesh starts to rot while their still alive, ‘cause they hold up in the caves and live in their own filth. Nasty bastards.” The half-ogre gave me a look of disgust, and I realized their flesh was probably covered in their own excrement.
I gagged again at the memory of the flesh of the fallen Naga dangling from their teeth. “What the hell.”
“Aye,” he laughed. “You’re lucky ye missed the rest of it. Pindor and I have been turning the rock over in that cave up ahead for hours. Tryin’ to bury the mess they left behind, but it ain’t pretty work.”
“Alright, I’ve heard enough,” I said with a shudder. “How is Pindor, by the way?”
The half-ogre laughed again and clapped a hand on my shoulder. The weight of his hand caused my ribs to crunch, and I winced.
“Oh, sorry,” he apologized.
“It’s ok,” I mumbled as the pain shot through my spine.
“Pindor’s on the mend,” he reported with a grin. “Lucky he didn’t break his head wide open. Think he’s mostly embarrassed if I’m being honest. But everyone’s alive, and I closed up the other end of the cave, just to be sure the train’s safe while we’re heading on toward the capital.”
I shook my head. “What would I do without you?”