He wasn't being followed, as soon as he had retreated past his previous kills the rats had seemed to have lost interest in him. El-Vador found this surprising considering the fury they had attacked him with and the incentive to follow that their dead comrades should have inspired. Why had they given up now? Was it a territorial instinct that demanded they not stray too far from their home?
The pain silenced his queries and made him double over, his hands finding purchase underneath the cool water on the edge of the flow as he vomited bile.
'So fragile, so easily subverted.' the deep voice chided him, adding to the pain racing through him without a care. 'Your work here is incomplete, I shall aid you further in your exploration. You need not fear detection through these tunnels, the reason shall become apparent.'
El-Vador barely heard the words with the pain racking his body, then their import sunk in as it receded, the voice somehow dampening his autonomic reflexes to this insidious wound.
'Will you aid me?' he managed to ask the voice, slowly rising from the water and tentatively touching his side with a wince.
A chuckle was the response. 'You would not be standing if I was not already aiding you. Go forth and unleash that which you crave upon these vermin, and then onward to a greater challenge.'
El-Vador didn't ask what the voice meant by a greater challenge, the tightening in his head was receding in a manner that indicated a cessation of communication with the being inside of him. It would be futile to force the issue as it simply wouldn't listen to him, instead he had to trust that the fading pain was indication that he had also been imbued with enough power to deal with these pests.
He strode forth without any pretence at stealth, his sword loose but ready in his eager grasp and a new sense of vitality coursing through his limbs. The voice would not lie about his efforts not being monitored by any Orcish guard and his targets already knew exactly where he was. There was a tightening of anticipation in his chest at the potential gift that had been bestowed upon him that he tried to fight down without any luck.
As he passed the corpses he heard the familiar scurrying sound once more, and in spite of the previous encounter he felt no trepidation at the noise. A familiar confidence had him in its grip, an eagerness for the creatures to show their faces once more and dare attempt to charge him.
It was instinctive as the first one came bounding toward him, time seemed to slow and instead of bringing his blade to guard in a defensive position he felt the impulse to stick his arm forth and hold it in the air.
Undeterred by its victim's change in tactics, the rat led its kin as it charged directly at El-Vador, some of them aiming for the legs and others attempting to leap for the midriff.
A pulsing blackness jetted out from his fingertips, slapping the first of the rats aside effortlessly and killing it instantly. Its dead weight landed with a considerable splash in the waters and the Elf shivered, somehow invigorated by the death as the new energy coursed through him.
They couldn't get close to him, the inky substance continued to seep out and strike down any further attacks, each inevitable death sending a pulse of energy back into the Elf's body until he felt his pale skin would burst open at the influx of power.
The final body fell with a splash and it ceased, leaving him with a yearning that outstripped any of his baser cravings and necessities.
The water churned over the soggy lifeless corpses of the dispatched vermin, heedless to the dark power that had been unleashed mere moments ago.
Its progenitor strode onward purposefully, his mind clear and focused in spite of the ecstasy that trilled through him.
Eventually the small underground stream joined a larger tributary from other unknown parts, he followed this to its conclusion, what looked to be a large lake roofed by a huge cave-like dome.
A bubbling sound issued from the centre of the watery mass, something was in there and it wasn't happy at the intrusion that the Elf presented.
It was in that brief moment of clarity that El-Vador realised the greater challenge that the voice had spoken of before.
XXXVII
A position of required mercy is one I hope to never benefit from. To place myself in such debt sickens me and I will not offer quarry to those who submit themselves to it.
El-Vador skirted the lake with a growing caution and mistrust at its strangely bubbling centre which had yet to issue anything threatening. He had been watching it patiently for a number of minutes now and while the sense of menace wasn't in doubt, there seemed no further retribution for his intrusion. The cave seemed without any noticeable exit that his newly-enhanced sight could detect, all except for a small grate that the sheer and impenetrable walls sloped up toward. A grate that hung directly above the pool of bubbling water that he had been so keen to avoid.
The air was thick with a vile odour that seemed to issue forth from the waters, assaulting his nostrils and making him raise a hand ineffectively to cover them.
Save for the vermin that his powers had dispatched he had not encountered any resistance, as the voice had implied. The positioning of the grating above the pool of water seemed indication enough as to why there was little need for defence of this area. The Elf still thought that a number of men with grappling hooks and the skills to climb could infiltrate this place at will. It must be something about the pool that prevented such efforts, rendering all attempts at snaking up to the grate useless. With a sinking feeling he realised that in order to breach the Orcish burrow he would need to find out what.
Part of him wanted to track back and follow the other tributary to see if it led to an alternate entrance, but something warned him against such a course of action. He had no idea how long his new sight would last and couldn't be left floundering about in the darkness in an unfamiliar place should it fail him. He had to press on and find a way up to that grate.
He studied the ceiling of the chamber he was in, hoping to catch sight of a series of handholds that could aid him in scaling his way to the grating, none seemed apparent. A growing feeling that he was running out of options had begun gnawing at him. He had no rope or hooks to scale such a surface and there seemed no other way to proceed, yet surely the voice could not have led him to a dead end after all this?
As if in answer to his question, the bubbling from the pool intensified, he heard a wet, sucking noise, and an unnatural squeal sent a chill down his spine. He readied his sword just in time to make out a form of nightmarish horror rising from the centre of the lake.
It was huge; its heaving, slime-coated bulk rising from the bubbling waters with a series of tentacles propelling it upward. Its maw opened wide to reveal a serrated beak as it splashed toward the edge of the lake directly where El-Vador stood.
Instinctively he moved back, trying to stay out of its reach. He considered readying his bow but the speed of the creature's advance dispelled that idea. It was repugnant and nightmarish in form: a lumpy, spherical-shaped body sporting a dozen or so of the long tentacles, each one glistening and bright on top but covered with darker, spongy suckers on its underside. Without warning, one of the tentacles lashed out like a whip. El-Vador avoided its sweep by leaping upward and clear, hoping that another one had not shot out to pinion him.
Gathering his feet from the roll, he crouched motionless in the chamber but for an instant before springing back to evade other tentacles arcing toward him through the air. He was not as fortunate this time, their reach had been extended by the creature's increasing proximity and writhing out after him they coiled tightly, seizing his leg and waist like a vice to crush him and draw him closer simultaneously.
As the creature dragged him toward it, El-Vador was given further opportunity to see the freakish monstrosity holding him in its deadly grip. Clumps of bulbous flesh, in various sickly hues of green, bulged from its mottled hide, covering wrinkled, pebbly, pinkish-white skin. In addition to these pustules, growths of green weeds and hardened barnacles were attached to its skin, looking like noxious bo
ils. The creature’s mouth extended further now, wide enough to swallow him whole and emanating a strange gurgling of pleasure.
The tentacle around El-Vador’s waist flexed, abruptly squeezing him with crushing force. The constriction shoved the breath out of his lungs, and spongy suckers on the tentacle’s underside slurped at his skin like hundreds of greedy, round leeches. The circulation in his left leg was fading quickly as the tentacle continued to clench with increasing pressure. He chopped viciously at the tentacle encircling his waist with his sword, and on the fourth time of asking, the blade bit deep, nearly shearing through. Howling, the beast withdrew the injured member and yanked unexpectedly at El-Vador’s leg.
Pulled off balance, he went down once more, striking the back of his head solidly on the hard stone floor, the impact causing his sword to be jarred from his grasp.
Realising that he had been disarmed, the creature began dragging him toward its gaping mouth again. With his enhanced sight he was able to see the pulsing sides of the creature's inner mouth, working in expectation of some ghastly digestion to come.
Bracing himself against the wall with his free leg, he tried futilely to prevent the beast from dragging him further toward its slavering orifice. He groped on the floor for finger holds, but his hands found no purchase to prevent the inevitable descent into the creature's innards.
El-Vador grasped for his sword but it lay beyond his reach, this left only one option remaining.
Fighting down a rising panic he closed his eyes and focused on the source of power gathered within him.
The beast seemed to vanish as he forced his senses to concentrate upon the energies within, instinctively he clamped one palm over the back of his other hand and raised his arms as if aiming.
His eyes opened, and the ghost of a smile spread over his face, he could feel the energies coursing through him, chomping at the bit as if he held the reigns of a thousand wild horses. The monstrosity before him no longer held any fear, its visage had been transformed in his power-riddled mind from a potential threat to a potential source of advancement.
He sent a blackened tongue out in the shape of a tentacle from his palms, straight at the offending limb that presented the only remaining danger to his form. It shot out and slapped against the appendage like a striking snake, clamping itself upon the slime-coated limb and greedily sucking forth the life that pulsed inside.
The creature gave a shriek that nearly split the Elf's fragile eardrums, leaving a ringing sound and causing his power to momentarily wane. Instead of retreating from the onslaught it chose to attack, slapping a vicious tentacle out at the Elf, this time with the intention to crush and kill rather than draw him into its gaping mouth.
El-Vador was wary of the beast's striking speed now though, and a blackened tongue of power licked out to slap away the offending limb with a resounding crack followed by a gurgling howl as the energies latched upon it once more.
Realising that it was outmatched, the monster attempted to retreat into the safety of the waters but El-Vador, now the aggressor, was having none of it. He pressed his advantage and closed the distance between himself and his injured quarry, the life force of the creature ebbing now and its tentacles no longer showing aggression toward him.
With a final pulse and a groan, the creature keeled over to its side and was still. The tongues of dark energy flickered at the corpse and then retreated back into the Elf's hands, all that was left was the stillness of the huge cavern over the now placid lake.
His head ached with an agonising throb as the swirling forces within him searched for an outlet that no longer existed, as they subsided they were replaced by the mirthful laughter of a familiar deep voice.
'Good, good.' it said, somehow managing to infer a smirk in its tone. 'Your first taste of being bathed in true power rather than the simple drips of energy you have been teased with. Tell me, my pawn, how did it feel?'
El-Vador looked down at his now plain hands and discovered that they were shaking in the ecstasy of the moment. 'It felt... good.'
Another round of laughter. 'You have a talent for understatement, I know that you now crave more and in order to enact your vengeance upon this race you must accrue more accordingly.'
A feeling of intense rightness swept over him at those words, the voice was right. The idea of storming an Orcish burrow had seemed childishly naïve before, but as the power pulsed through him he felt invincible, as if he could take an entire army and leech it of its life if necessary. Yes, he would need this strength to subjugate and drive the Orcish people to extinction.
Then a throbbing in his head unlike any he felt before caused him to shut his eyes tightly, he could feel the energies slipping away from him now that they had no outlet.
'You are not a perfected vessel yet, but do not despair at the parting of this power, for there will always be a reserve left within you from this encounter.'
He could feel it then, deep inside of him like some roiling heat just beneath his veins and seeping into his core. There was something left, an indescribable force that lingered and with it came an itching desire to bring it forth into the open.
His vision blurred, darkness encroaching upon his sight as if someone had poured liquid night onto the edges of his corneas.
'Your constant burning of the power to maintain your vision has taken its toll, your body must rest now.' the deep voice informed him and then departed.
Staggering over to where his sword lay, he placed his fingers upon the grip and slowly lowered himself into a cross-legged position with its blade over his lap. Consciousness receded from him and for a time all was blackness.
He woke to the sound of a scream, a gibbering pleading coming from the grate above as it was slowly opened and sent streams of light into the cavern below. His vision reacted to it and slowly the cavern became visible once more, though he could feel the drain on his energies was more notable that before.
Rising to his feet, El-Vador was careful to avoid the dim illumination lest he be spotted by whatever was above.
Staring up at the near-blinding luminescence he saw a small cage slowly being descended on a large chain. Its occupant, clearly unwilling to be part of this, was howling up at the hatch from which he was being lowered but otherwise made no further attempts to escape his fate.
But where one man may have seen a grisly death, El-Vador saw an opportunity. He need just negotiate passage from what was undoubtedly meant to be the victim of the monster he had dispatched hours before. Then he could either ride the cage up to the top and spring a surprise upon whoever raised him into the inside of the burrow, if that was truly where this led, or climb the chain should the cage not be pulled up.
The chain continued to lower the cage further toward the lake, then ceased altogether with a jerk that sent the occupant flying forward. The frantic Orc scrabbled at the bars to maintain his hold on the cage as his legs splashed into the centre of the lake, sending panicked ripples racing over the surface. So focused was this would-be offering to the beast that he had not seen the Elf staring at him from the shadows, waiting this prey's next move to come about.
There was no movement from the cage though, the Orc simply sat there gibbering to itself, or himself, El-Vador wasn't entirely sure whether he could consider these beasts worthy of personalisation.
He tested his footing gingerly, wincing as he placed weight upon the leg that the creature had tried to snap like so much kindling. He had dispatched of the beast but it had not come without a price, how was he meant to best a burrow full of Orcs if he could barely stand?
Something within urged him onward, he couldn't distinguish whether it was a subtle manipulation from the voice or some semblance of his own resolve in the matter controlling him. Right now he needed to deal with the Orc in the cage, the grander scheme could wait.
Creeping as silently as possible with an injured leg toward the edge of the lake and past the hulking corpse of the monstrosity, he stared out across the expanse of water and
pondered how to cross without detection.
The figure in the cage moaned quietly to himself, cursing his misfortune with a guttural string of curses aimed at both the grate above and the water beneath him that rose in volume and defiance as they continued.
El-Vador knew that the captive was expecting something to come arcing through the water at him and would most likely be prepared to inflict lethal force upon anything approaching his cage. This made the idea of swimming out to him seem decidedly foolish, but there seemed no other way to reach the cage.
Then again, there were no ethical implications to weigh here. This was an Orc he was dealing with, and with that solid basis to work upon, El-Vador's plan became apparent. He crept back to a safer distance once more and set it in motion.
'The water is safe.' he called out across the lake in a disused and broken form of Orcish, causing the figure to turn his head in shock at the sound.
'Who goes there? What of the beast in the waters?' the Orc replied, his throat hoarse from his cursing.
'The beast has been slain, you may swim over and join me, I can show you the tunnel out of here that leads to safety.' El-Vador replied, dangling the faint hope over the doomed Orc's head and very carefully omitting an introduction.
A splash was the response he received, followed by a series of strong strokes that took the Orc to the edge of the lake from which he had heard the voice. The Orc's hearing was acute as demonstrated by his clambering out of the lake wet and dripping directly in front of El-Vador's sight.
He had no eyes for the Elf though, instead his sight was locked on the corpse of the beast, gazing at it in wonder and disbelief as it lay there unmoving.
'If you are truly the one who has slain the lake beast and I am not in fact dreaming or dead, I owe you a debt of gratitude.' the Orc finally said, peering in the direction of the Elf and clearly struggling to see him. El-Vador took a few quiet steps back just in case he proved visible, the Orc appeared to have a limited degree of night vision.
El-Vador's Travels Page 27