I remembered Torrance pointing out one of the boarded-up caves that supposedly led to the underdark. I had a good memory for such things and knew the spot to be about a half a mile down the road. All I had to do was get there in one piece.
When I reached the spot, I leapt off the horse and raced over to the blocked off entrance. Whoever had barricaded up the cave did a half-assed job, and I easily tore down the shoddily constructed planks and started throwing the stones aside.
As I worked, the ground shook with the thunder of two dozen horses, and a horn blared from what sounded like less than a hundred yards away.
They were getting close, so I kept ripping at the wood.
“Hey you, stop!” I heard a voice cry, but the wood was almost down, so I didn’t bother to turn around.
“Get him before he escapes!” someone else yelled from behind me.
“Shoot him!” another voice shouted, but then the cave was open, and I leapt through the hole I’d made and tumbled over the stones piled in the entrance.
A second after I’d made it inside, an arrow whizzed right by my head and twanged off the stone wall. I ducked down behind a rock and gave a glance at the entrance. The group of townspeople were there with their dogs, but the animals whined at the entrance and didn’t seem to want to enter.
I scrambled to the back of the cave to get out of the range of the bowmen and turned on my flashlight. My heart hammered in my chest and the adrenaline left me a little shaky. I was glad to have escaped the mob, but now I was faced with the dreaded underdark.
I tried to tell myself that the people were superstitious, that there were no monsters down here, but the dogs didn’t even want to venture into these dark haunts, and that left me more than a little spooked.
Were there really monsters living in the caves of this strange world?
It was time to find out.
Chapter 3
I moved deeper into the cave and pulled my M17 from its holster. The dogs were still howling back at the entrance, and the men offered up curses and threats, but they were all too scared to follow after me.
I was safe for the moment.
My flashlight revealed rough rock walls and a smooth floor that descended into darkness. I had only two options, either stay near the entrance and wait out the angry villagers, or else delve into the mysterious underdark. I figured that the villagers would post lookouts near the entrance, or else board the cave up again, and that ruled out ever going back that way.
As the adrenaline from the chase began to wear off, I started to get groggy. It had been one hell of a day, and I would have liked nothing more than to lay down and sleep for a week, but I pushed back those feelings and let my military instincts take over. I had all the gear in my pack memorized, every soldier did, but I wanted to calm my nerves a bit, so I decided this was a good time to take an inventory of my supplies. Then I moved a bit deeper in the cave until I couldn’t hear the sound of the dogs and villagers before taking my pack off.
I pulled my kevlar advanced combat helmet out of the molle pack and set it aside, along with my collapsible spade, gasmask, and six MRE’s. The waterproof bag inside my pack contained the extra pair of camo pants, t-shirt, patrol cap, and wool socks that I had worn during dinner, along with black gloves, a poncho liner, an extra pair of combat boots, a polypro top for cold weather, waterproof matches, winter gloves, and a fleece cap.
In my map pocket was another pair of socks, camouflage paint sticks, insect repellent, a razor, soap, and a towel. There was also a protractor, map markers, and a calculator.
I checked my right-side sustainment pouch, and confirmed the presence of another pair of socks, chemlights, a wet weather top, and a poncho. The left side sustainment pouch held rappel gloves, fifteen feet of sling rope, a five-hundred foot long 550 cord, numerous carabineers, electrical tape, and a roll of 100mph tape.
Aside from my gun, my pistol belt held an ammo pouch with two fresh magazines for my M17, two camelbacks currently full, a lensatic compass, a first aid kit, and a survival kit.
I opened the two-sided survival kit. On one side it held a finger ring saw that would come in handy if I needed to cut firewood, and a snare wire that I could snag small animals with if need be. There was also a candle, plastic bag, survival blanket, and a fishing kit that could also be used to procure food. The other side contained a pocket knife, a signaling mirror, a whistle, a smokechaser compass, and a magnesium fire starter. All of it was useful, and I was suddenly thankful that the Army made me carry the heavy backpack.
My first aid pouch, perhaps the most valuable of my gear, held a medic card and Sharpee used to log treatments performed in the field, along with a bolin chest seal that would usually be used to treat gunshot wounds, but would come in handy if I was hit by an arrow or sword. The kit also contained my CAT tourniquet, gloves, gauze, an eye shield, hemorrhage control bandages, a strap cutter, and a nasopharyngeal airway tube. There were empty pouches inside for soldiers to add other supplies, and I had always elected to include Quik-clot, a bottle of Aleve, another of ibuprofen, and extra gauze.
Satisfied with my inventory, I shouldered my molle pack once more. I had already known everything in my pack by heart, but the act of taking inventory had helped to calm my nerves, and my mind was now focused on planning my next steps.
If I had been on Earth behind enemy lines, my first step would be to determine a route back to safety, but I had no idea how or if I could get back. My next step would be to secure a defensible location so that I could rest if need be, so I set out to map the surrounding area.
The cave I was in narrowed into a tunnel that continued downward for maybe a hundred feet. I could see a soft glow in the distance, so I clicked off my flashlight and approached cautiously with my M17 in my hand. The glow emanated from an opening to the right, and I crept to the threshold and peeked around the corner. A cavern nearly as long and wide as a football field opened before me, and I took a quick survey of my surroundings.
Stalagmites more than fifty feet tall grew out of the uneven cavern floor, and reached desperately toward dripping stalactites emerging from the ceiling. A soft blue glow issued from long crystal formations that jutted out from the floor at odd angles. Some rose more than twenty feet high. They pulsed softly, and I wondered what their power source was. The villagers obviously believed in magic, and though I really hadn’t seen proof of it yet, the humming crystals made me second guess my beliefs.
Hell, I was on another planet, and it seemed that I needed to be prepared for anything.
Mushrooms littered the large cavern as well, and grew not only beneath the crystals on the floor but also along the walls and even the ceiling. The scent of frogs and moss mingled with fungus in the stale air, but there was another smell. It was faint, but it was easily recognizable as an animal. The scent was a cross between wet dog and camel, and I listened for a good minute for any sign of the mysterious beasts. The cavern was dead silent, except for the steady trickle of water that came from the other side of the cavern and the occasional drip from the stalactites.
I couldn’t see any tunnels leading off from the main chamber due to the tall crystals that blocked my view, so I entered the cavern and moved to the right. I picked a path close to the wall so I wouldn’t get lost in the forest of crystals and stalagmites.
There was strange writing on the walls that reminded me of ancient runes, and crude artwork that depicted hairy little beasts subduing a giant snake. I didn’t like the idea of running into hairy creatures or giant snakes, so I kept my eyes peeled and continued my way around the chamber. There were small cracks in the craggy walls and places where rodents might have hidden, but no tunnels large enough to accommodate me. The sound of crashing water became louder as I moved to the other end of the cavern, and soon I found the source.
The waterfall was twenty feet high, but it only trickled over the rim, falling through the floor to a pit of darkness. The rim of the pit looked unstable, and I could see where large chunks had crumbled off ov
er time, so I kept a wide berth around it and moved between the crystals.
The hairs on my arms rose up and gravitated toward the towering crystal formations, and I dared touch the smooth surface of one of them. A zap like static electricity hit my finger, and I jerked my hand back. Then I prepared myself for the shock and touched the crystal again. The weird gem definitely had a low voltage electrical current, and I wondered if they could be used to charge my flashlight batteries. I had to continue searching for a way back to the Earth, but I also had to consider the possibility that I would never be able to go back, and if so, such crystals might come in handy.
I moved through the glowing crystals and edged around a wide stalagmite. When I came out on the left side of the waterfall, I continued around that side of the cavern back to where I had started. There seemed to be only two ways in and out of the cavern, the cave I came in through, and the lip that the small waterfall poured over. It had been large enough to accommodate me, but I had no idea where it led, if anywhere at all. Unfortunately, it was my only option, so I made my way across the cavern once again. This time I walked through the middle and searched the crystal formations and stalagmites for holes or hidden tunnel entrances. The cave art and the stink of animal suggested that something lived in here, but my search proved fruitless.
It wasn’t until I inspected the waterfall closer that I discovered another tunnel behind it. I should have felt excited by the find, and I would have been, were it not for the bones that littered the entrance. I approached carefully, M17 held out in front of me in my right hand, and flashlight ready in my left. With a quick peek around the corner I discovered no glowing crystals, only darkness. If something was waiting to ambush me inside the tunnel, my flashlight would give me away, but I figured my scent already had, so I turned on my light.
The tunnel was full of bones, but most shocking of all was the thirty-foot-long snake skin coiled on the right side, nestled among the skeletons. I almost shit myself when I mistook it for a living snake, and I took a moment to let the shock pass and focused on keeping my breathing even.
I shone my light down the tunnel. But it revealed only more bones. The eyeless skeleton of a man stared back at me as I inspected the den. Most of the bones appeared to have belonged to small animals and a few birds. Aside from the lone human skeleton, however, there were other large creatures that I couldn’t place. One looked like a cross between a dog and a bull. Its body was four feet long and protruding from its skull were two six-inch-long horns.
Another skeleton was similar to a human’s, but rather than two arms it had four, and they looked like they must have hung down to the creature’s knees when it was alive. I found other bipedal skeletons as well, and several strange skulls. But the den didn’t smell like death, and I figured that the snake must have moved on some time ago.
It was time for me to do the same.
I tried not to crunch the bones on the floor, and kind of slid my feet through them to cause as little noise as possible. The den soon led to a fork that offered three choices. One went to the right, another continued straight ahead, and the last would bring me to the left. I checked my compass, but the damned thing spun around aimlessly, and I figured the strange electric crystals or the iron in the walls were messing it up. With any luck, I would find an underground river or a passage that led to the ocean, and from there I could plan my next move. I wasn’t a huge fan of enclosed spaces, and though there was an angry mob after me up on the surface, I would rather take my chances against humans than a thirty foot long snake.
Torrance had said that monsters lived in the underdark, and the many skeletons seemed to back up his claims.
I swept my flashlight left and right as I ventured through the tunnel I had chosen. When it began to incline my hope rose with it, but then it dipped downward at a steep angle, and I reconsidered my route. I would have to scoot down on my ass, but I would be able to climb back up easily enough if need be, so I continued down the tunnel. To my relief, the chute was only twenty feet long, and I soon came out onto a level path.
Then I heard a woman’s scream.
Her voice sounded angrier than it did scared, and it came from my left. I shined my light around the small antechamber that I had dropped into and saw two possible routes. The chamber was devoid of glowing crystals, but another soft glow issued from the left tunnel, and it sounded like the woman’s voice came from that direction as well. Animalistic grunts and growls answered the woman’s cry with an enthusiastic chittering that made my skin crawl, and the gentleman in me saw red.
“Let me go you stinking kobolds!” the woman yelled as I approached the tunnel quickly but cautiously. My light revealed a short passageway that led to the source of the glow. I could see more crystals in the new chamber, so I put my flashlight away to save my precious batteries and crept to the chamber opening.
As soon as I made it to the mouth of the cavern, I pressed my back against the right side of the damp tunnel wall and inspected the left side of the chamber. The woman’s voice echoed in a way that left me unable to pinpoint her exact location, so I relied on my eyes and nose. That wet dog smell permeated the air, but I saw nothing among the stalagmites and crystals to my left, so I glanced to the right around the corner and saw shadows on the distant wall. The dark shapes moved quickly, so it was hard to see their form, but I thought I saw the silhouette of a woman fighting off small bipedal creatures. By the sounds they made they might have been rabid racoons. However racoons didn’t talk, and these creatures did. It was a guttural language, but the closer I got the more noticeable it became.
The woman sounded like she was holding her own, but it was apparent by the sound of her voice that she was becoming tired.
Then I saw the woman who was fighting off the group of monsters.
The little beasts were no bigger than three feet tall, reptilian, and looked to weigh no more than thirty pounds. Their scaly skin ranged from rust-brown to reddish black, but they all had red glowing eyes, snouts like a crocodile, vicious little teeth, long claws, and pointy ivory horns. Rat-like tails wagged as they bounded around the woman, who they had backed into a corner.
“Get away from her!” I bellowed, and my voice echoed through the cavern.
The group fell silent, and they turned their beady red eyes on me with surprise. Now that I was closer, I could see that they wore scant armor made of bones over their iguana-like skin, and some of them held little two-foot long spears fashioned with crude stone heads.
Then they all peeled back rough lips to expose rows of tiny pointed teeth.
I took a step forward and leveled my gun on the group, but they stared at the weapon with confusion. The woman they had been attacking sat in the corner beside a crystal, and its light made her skin look green.
The woman stood about five foot ten inches, and had long somewhat-wavy red hair tossed back to the left. Her eyes shone like brilliant emeralds as they looked up at me filled with hope. She stood from her crouch and eyed the kobolds wearily, and that’s when I realized that it wasn’t the light, her skin was indeed green, and she wore what can only be described as a moss bikini. Her body was tight, her muscles well defined and firm. Her perky right breast tested the strength of her tight bikini top, but the other side of the top had been ripped and hung low. A pointy nipple surrounded by a dark green areola the size of a quarter was revealed by the torn cloth, and the curve of the muscles below her hips suggested a tight, pert ass. She had the physique of a fitness model, and despite her green skin, I was instantly attracted to her.
Our eyes met, and her gaze beckoned for me to help.
I took another step forward, mindful to keep the gun on the little monsters, but distracted a bit by the beautiful green woman. One of the kobolds lunged forward and tossed a net at me, but I sidestepped it and blew the top half of the little freak’s head off.
The gunshot reverberated through the chamber like thunder, and everyone stopped to watch their comrade fall dead. I didn’t want to waste
a bunch of ammo, so I kept my gun trained on the group with a small hope that they might all run away.
But the most heavily armored kobold walked over to their fallen brethren and gave the corpse a kick. The beast leaned in and put a finger into the cracked skull, then he held it up for everyone to see and said something in a language I didn’t understand. The beast sounded like a Klingon with peanut butter in its mouth, but whatever he said must have been hilarious, because the group started laughing hysterically.
I fired again and blew off the joker’s head, and the laughter turned to hisses and growls of anger as the group of them turned back to me.
They didn’t look the slightest bit afraid of my handheld boom stick.
The green woman used the distraction to her advantage and grabbed one of the kobold’s clubs. She swung like Babe Ruth going for a homerun, and the screaming beast sailed across the chamber. The kobolds let out a collective gasp, and then several of them growled and stabbed at her with their spears.
The others rushed me as the green-skinned woman defended herself with her club, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to shoot them all. The little beasts leapt on my head and climbed up my body like demented toddlers. They piled onto my molle pack like ants trying to take down a beetle, and I pulled my knife and stabbed one kobold who had latched onto my face until he let go. Another strike took a kobold in the right eye as he leapt at me, and I twirled around to dislodge the little bastards on my back. One of them latched onto my boot, and I went down beneath a sea of thrashing scales.
The green woman let out a primordial cry of fury, and I felt her added weight on top of me. We all rolled into the corner in a heap, and I scrambled to my feet as the woman helped kick them off my back. Then I hacked and slashed at the little monsters with my survival knife until their dying bodies gave us a bit of space.
When I was clear, I reached around and grabbed my spade off my pack and batted aside one of the thirty-pound terrors so hard that his head exploded and painted the far wall with dull green gore. I chopped at another kobold with the business end of the spade and cut clean through his neck. The head flew into the air in front of me, and I charged through the raining gore. I used the pickaxe attached to the side of the short spade to impale my victims as I passed. When I reached the far wall, three of the critters hung limp from the spike.
Monster Empire Page 5