“Well, you seemed to have no respect for men when we first met,” Arius said.
“I hated you at the time.”
“Well, it is good to know that you don’t hate me anymore.”
“I never said I no longer hate you.”
“Remember when I said, that there are Dwarves more stubborn than him… well I stand corrected,” Stundroff said.
They had reached the hill’s summit, where Galoosh awaited in wolf form.
From there they saw it, a forest so thick no light was able to breach it and so vast not even Licius’s sight was able to find its end.
“Finally!” Licius exclaimed.
“Yes, we are finally here, but you may not seem so excited once we get inside,” the wolf said.
“That is why we bring you, our experienced druid guide,” Arius replied.
“I haven’t been inside the dark woods in over ten years and the terrain and flora inside change constantly,” the druid said.
“What do you mean, over ten years? I thought druids were supposed to live in the dark woods,” Arius said.
“Let’s just say I am not particularly popular with the druids that inhabit these woods,” Galoosh replied.
“This is something you could have mentioned earlier,” Licius said.
“Somehow, I don’t see how sharing that information in that particular moment would have been to my benefit.”
“Because it would have been a quick death for you, unlike the one you’ll experience if we end up in trouble because of you in there.”
“I see. Well, when you put it that way, it does sound like a benefit.”
“Be quiet, you’re not doing yourself any favors by talking,” Arius told the druid.
“Indeed, let’s just make our way there, before you all die of old age,” Licius said.
As soon as they stepped inside, it was as if night had fallen over the sky.
And they could no longer tell which the exit was. They pushed forward.
Stundroff jumped at every sound and constantly looked over his shoulder.
Arius was more relaxed, as his faith comforted him in times of need. But it was Licius who seemed the calmest, almost as if he knew something the others did not.
Once the forest grew thick enough, the ambient light was not enough. So raising his hammer, Arius provided some much needed light.
“Turn that off,” Galoosh said, as he noticed a white owl on a nearby tree.
“Why?” Arius asked.
“We are not alone.”
“I don’t see anyone,” Licius said.
“That doesn’t mean that they’re not here.”
“Who are they?” Stundroff asked in a trembling voice.
“The dark creatures that dwell inside these woods.”
“That’s nonsense!” the Elf said, as he pushed further forward through the woods.
Licius had noticed unusual noises. But he was confident that no matter what lurked around the corner, the three of them would be able to take it on.
They walked in the dark with nothing more than a dim light from Arius’s hammer, for what seemed a few days. They were tired and frustrated, as nothing in the landscape had changed from the moment they entered the woods.
There was nothing more than great thick trees, which blocked the sun as they walked through a swampy soil full of roots and rocks covered in mold, and nothing more than the whistling of wind through the branches.
“This place makes me nervous,” Stundroff said.
“I thought that after a lifetime living in caves, you would be more accustomed to the darkness,” Licius replied.
“It’s not the darkness that bothers me, Elf, but everything else in this god forsaken place.”
“I thought Dwarves don’t believe in gods,” Arius said.
“We don’t, but if a place as evil as this exists then there might be a chance for your heaven to exist,” Stundroff replied.
“No, my friend, this place holds nothing compared to the horrors that one must endure if you are destined for hell in the afterlife,” Arius said.
“If your plan is to make me like your faith with those words, I am sorry to tell you that it is not working as intended.”
“Will the two of you shut up; this place is boring enough without having to listen to the two of you ramble without end,” Licius exclaimed.
“Well excuse me, I am sorry if our conversation to kill time has somehow troubled you,” Arius replied.
Licius looked at the prince as if he was ready to attack, but as he clenched his fist he was interrupted.
“Now, now,” Galoosh said, “you are all just tired and ready to go for each other’s throats. All you need is some rest. And luckily for you, I have just the thing you need.”
They moved past a huge tree to see a log cabin. They immediately felt a sense of relief, for as for much as they hate to admit it, the druid was right. They were exhausted and in desperate need of rest.
Each mounted guard, as the other slept for a few hours, and eventually shared a moment alone with Galoosh, who when confronted with the question of why he decided to live with other Humans instead of his fellow druids replied each time with a different story about how he had been wrongfully accused of a crime he did not commit.
No one believed a word out of the druid’s mouth, but they had no other option but to trust he would not betray them, and they were confident he would fear them more than any other creature from the forest.
When they were all rested, Licius suggested they walk in the direction he considered it was west, but Galoosh strongly opposed the idea. But when confronted, he simply said it was a bad idea.
So Licius used his usual way of persuasion and held one of his retractable blades to the druid’s throat and forced him to walk.
They walked about a day and half westward without any visual progress until they reached a huge stone castle covered in mold and tree vines. They wondered how the castle had got there, as there were no rocks or stones big enough to be found in those woods.
The fortress stood alone in the darkness and it seemed as it had been uninhabited for thousands of years, yet something gave an eerie look to it, as if it hold a great peril inside.
“Well, this is definitely different to the usual landscape,” Arius said.
“Yes, almost too different I would say,” Licius replied.
“Yes, and that is why, I am definitely not going inside that place,” Stundroff added.
“I agree with the Dwarf, there is no way I am stepping through those gates,” Galoosh said. .
“And why is that? Does the merchant of death reside inside?” Arius asked.
“No, he roams through the woods and I am sure he is not inside that fortress. So I am not setting one foot inside.”
“Then I suppose the ones inside are your unhappy druid friends,” Licius said.
“No, as far as anyone knows, no one lives inside, but what it is known is that no one who steps inside ever makes it out.”
“You are going to have to give me something more than a druid’s silly legend, if you actually pretend to prevent us from going inside,” the Elf said.
“I don’t care if you believe me or not, I am not going inside. So you can go ahead and kill me now if you like.”
“Well, we are going inside and we are not leaving you alone here. So weather you like it or not, you are coming with us,” Arius said.
Galoosh transformed into a huge brown bear and sat on the ground with his front paws crossed in disapproval.
“Fine, if you don’t walk, we will carry you…Stundroff,” Licius said to the Dwarf.
“Well, I am not so sure if we should go inside either,” Stundroff replied.
“Come on, you don’t seriously believe any word that comes out of his mouth?” Licius asked.
“Don’t worry, Dwarf friend, the light will protect us. But if you want to stay and watch over the druid in the dark, I won’t force you,” Arius said.
“Alone,
here… in the dark… on second thoughts, I will be accompanying you.” The Dwarf lifted the huge bear over his head with one hand and proceeded towards the entrance of the castle.
But as they approached the entrance, the druid, seeing he was unable to match the Dwarf’s strength decided to transform again into an elephant. This did not stop Stundroff from carrying him, but there was no way an elephant could go through those doors in one piece. So the Dwarf placed the elephant on the floor and looked back at his friends as he wondered what to do.
Licius was tired of the situation so he ran at full speed towards the elephant druid and unsheathed his blade, but the druid didn’t move an inch, even when Licius held the blade to his throat and began to slowly cut him.
Arius began to be seriously concerned, as he was sure now that the druid would not move even if it cost him his life.
“Are you crazy? He will kill you.”
“I have no doubt about it, but at least this way I’ll know how I die. But if we go inside that place, I have no idea how much I will suffer before I meet my end. So go ahead and end my life now, it makes no difference to me, since we are all dead either way.”
Even Licius was surprised by the druid’s actions and after giving it some thought, he decided to retract his blade and walk inside.
The other two stood there for a moment, pondering the situation.
“Well, my Dwarf friend, as I said before, the light will protect us,” Arius said, as he started to walk towards the entrance.
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this,” the Dwarf said reluctantly, as he joined his friends inside.
They found themselves in a dark and humid great hall, with no more than a few chairs and a table completely covered in dust and spider webs. The stone walls were moldy and a cold breeze touched their skin.
They couldn’t see further than a few steps in front of them, so Arius lit his hammer. But it was as if the light emanating from the hammer was being swallowed by the darkness in the room.
“What is this?” Arius asked, baffled by what was going on.
“It’s dark magic for sure,” Licius replied.
“Think we can still turn back?” asked Stundroff.
“No, Dwarf, we must press on!” Licius said.
As they walked towards the exit at the back of the room, Licius noticed trail marks in the dust behind the chair legs, as if someone had used them recently. Yet he chose not to share this information with his friends, as he thought they were already too nervous.
At the back of the room they found not one but three even darker hallways. “What should we do?” Stundroff asked.
“If we split we could cover more ground faster,” Arius suggested.
“No, there is no way to know what waits for us ahead. Our best chance is to stay together and move carefully,” Licius replied.
“Yes, I completely agree with the Elf on these one.” Stundroff shivered.
“It is agreed then. No matter what, we will not split up,” Arius said.
They began to slowly, yet carefully, make their way through the central hallway, gently pressing their fingers against the walls to help them get a sense of where they were going, as it was too dark to see anything.
Arius, frustrated by the darkness, tried to focus more energy towards his hammer, in order to make it shine brighter, but to no avail.
They had advanced around twenty feet from the entrance, when the Dwarf pressed too hard against the wall, dislodging a small brick.
Suddenly it sounded as if gears were turning and a trap door opened in the floor beneath Stundroff, who began to fall into a dark pit, only to be stopped by Arius, who caught him as he fell.
“Quick! Pull him up,” Licius shouted.
“It would be quicker if you helped me!” Arius looked down at Stundroff. “You know, for such a small fellow, you are really heavy.”
Then, the walls next to them began to close in on each other slowly threatening to crush our heroes inside them.
“Forget helping me, do something about the walls!” Arius screamed in desperation, as he began to consider that letting the Dwarf go might be their only option.
Licius had no idea what to do.
Well, armor you seem to read my mind, so if you have any tricks I could use, now would be a great moment to show them.
As soon as that thought finished crossing his mind, a small compartment in the back of his armor opened releasing a small Bronium tube no more than an inch wide and six inches long.
Licius elven reflexes immediately acted, as he caught the tube.
Now what? The Bronium tube grew, becoming a staff, and jamming itself against the now very close walls, stopping them in their tracks.
“I had no idea you could do that, but I’m glad. Now help me with our fat friend,” Arius said.
“Hey! I am not fat, it’s all muscle.”
But the walls began to move again, faster than before. The staff was swallowed by the stone.
Seeing there was no way he could stop the walls, Licius ran, and with sadness in his voice, he said.
“You have to let him go, there is not enough time.”
But Arius was not ready to let go yet.
“We said we wouldn’t split up no matter what.” The prince replied.
So in a desperate attempt he raised his holy shield around him and the Dwarf, hoping it would stop the walls from crushing them. But the walls kept coming.
Arius was using too much power to maintain the shield and had no strength left to pull up the heavy Dwarf with only one hand.
Stundroff realized the Prince would die trying to save him before letting go. So he did the only thing he could and opened his hand letting go of the grip he had on Arius’s arm.
“What are you doing?” Arius screamed at the Dwarf as he slowly slipped away from his fingers.
“Don’t worry, save yourself, no matter the fall I will heal and meet with you again.”
Once free of the Dwarf’s weight, Arius slowly stood up and carefully walked towards Licius, holding the shield up to stop the walls from crushing him.
And as he reached the Bronium staff, it retracted and became once again the small tube that had detached from the back of Licius’s armor. The prince caught it and handed it over to the Elf.
“I believe this is yours.”
Licius reattached it to the back of his armor.
“Do you think he’ll be alright?”
“Yes, he is tougher than the two of us and the light will guide his path now. I am confident we will meet again.”
“Understood, let us make our way through this hallway with care. I doubt that is the only trap this place has in store for us.”
They kept walking for few minutes, until they reached a big room with no floor. Across the room, Licius could hear wind coming in through a door.
“Great, what do we do now?” Arius asked.
“There’s an exit on the other side of the room.”
“Great, but how do you plan to make it to the other side? Our Dwarf friend isn’t here to toss us anymore.”
“I’m not sure yet, but we’re not turning back now.”
“Why shouldn’t we? I’m beginning to think the druid was right and that we shouldn’t have entered this place. Because up to now we’ve lost a friend and faced clear danger for no reason whatsoever. So unless you have a strong reason to push forward, I’m turning back while I still can.”
And before the Elf could answer, the prince turned around and began walking, when the same mechanical sound that they heard before, reached Licius’s elven ears.
Licius grabbed Arius by his armor and pulled him back.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m saving your life.” He pulled Arius out of the way just as the floor collapsed.
The floor had disappeared, the same way it had when it swallowed Stundroff; they were left standing on a small ledge.
“Thank you,” Arius Said.
“Don’t worry.”
“Not sure yet, but I doubt jumping would be an option. But something tells me that we must keep going, as if this is a test we must complete.”
“A really messed up test, if you ask me.”
The Elf unsheathed one of his blades and sliced a small piece of the wall, which he then threw into the seemingly bottomless pit in front of them, waiting to hear a sound that never came.
“How can that be? It’s like it has no bottom,” Arius exclaimed.
“More black magic I presume, but regardless, we must focus on finding a way out.”
Arius noticed that there was a very thin ledge that ran around the room. It was too narrow for the both of them to use it at the same time, but one after the other could work.
He turned to Licius. “We could use that ledge.”
“Well, there’s no point in waiting here.” The Elf began to shuffle along the ledge, but by the time the prince began to follow, the ledge behind Licius had crumbled and was falling.
“I’ll go the other way,” he said.
Licius made it all the way across the room without falling to the pit.
“You’re going to have to move quickly to make it across.”
“Not everyone is as swift as an Elf,” Arius replied.
But as he started to make his way along the ledge, he noticed that it didn’t crumble.
When he was about halfway round the room, Licius ears picked up another sound.
“Don’t move,” he yelled at the prince.
“Why? What’s the matter?”
“I hear another trap moving.”
“Can you figure out what it is?”
“No, but it sounds as if something big is moving your way.”
A trap door opened in the ceiling of the room, releasing a giant iron ball that came swinging straight at the prince.
“Look out!” Licius screamed at his friend.
Arius knew he didn’t have time to get out of the way, so he concentrated all his energy and raised his holy shield around him, just before the iron ball hit.
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