by David Greer
Chapter 24
“Now that's not a friendly sight.”
It looked daunting enough from a distance but when the bearded hunter stood in front of the Tunnel of Lights it looked absolutely menacing.
The Northern Wastes, where the three hunters were trying to reach, was separated from the rest of Arlynd by the simplest of natural barriers: mountains. Steep jagged mountains kept travelers and adventurers from attempting to scale the range. There was only one passage through. At a certain spot two high rocky peaks guarded the entrance to that passage. Here the rock face became a sheer vertical cliff, which towered high into the sky. At its center was an enormous crack which ran from the ground all the way to the top of the precipice. It looked as though a great force had pried the rock apart and left just enough room to dare the bravest of souls to enter. No sunlight reached into the cavernous split leaving it an ominous pitch black. Here is where the three hunters stood. Leo read about this place and knew it to be the Tunnel of Lights. When or how the passage came by that name the islander did not know but everything he had read about how to find the tunnel matched what was in front of him.
Grimey inwardly hoped there was a way to climb above and avoid entering the tunnel. Something about being swallowed up by a large rock didn't sit well with the hunter but as he craned his neck back to observe the rock his hopes were dashed. A sheer vertical rock face, unsure handholds, and smooth gray stone that may be easily loosened under a man's weight. Climbing was definitely not an option. Going through the black was the only passage.
“So you know anything about what's inside there?” Grimey asked. Leo shook his head. “Really? After all the time you spend in the archives buried in them books you never read about this place?”
“No I read about it. What it looks like, where it is, how to recognize it. There just aren't any records about what's inside.”
“Why not?” Grimey couldn't believe Leo had no knowledge of the tunnel after hearing all he knew about stars, other towns, and the legend that they've been chasing after.
“Few have ventured here and braved the tunnel passage. None of them returned. Nobody ever came back to tell the tale. Therefore, no records.” Leo said.
Grimey did his best to peer inside the tunnel but to no avail. All he could see was blackness. No light entered this place. It would be a wonder if they could see at all while in there.
“You know for a place called the Tunnel of Lights it's damn dark in there.”
Leo pretended not to hear the comment and made for the tunnel. Kane, stoic as always, followed his cousin.
“Hope them glowing eyes can see in the dark.” Grimey muttered to himself as he followed.
The transition was immediate. One moment, Grimey was in the sunlight walking into the tunnel. The next moment all light was shut out and, as though a veil was cast over all light, he was in total blackness.
The tunnel walls were close enough together the hunters could lift their arms to their sides and feel rock. They felt their way along the tunnel walls to navigate through the pitch black. Sight wasn't needed. It was missed, but not needed. Although Grimey couldn't get over how dark it was. He couldn't see his own hand in front of his face let alone his feet. It didn't matter where he looked he saw the same black nothingness. It was oddly disorienting.
The bearded hunter carefully shuffled forward, not daring to let either of his feet leave the ground in fear of stepping into a pitfall. He leaned his upper body back so not to smash his face into an unseen wall. The tunnel walls echoed with the sounds of shuffling feet and heavy breathing. The sounds themselves were soft but in the confines of the tunnel the noise rang in the bearded hunter's ears. His knees became shaky and beads of sweat formed on his brow. It felt as though the darkness spun round and round. He imagined points of blackness moving, swirling about his head. One of them darted upward, another arced down in front of his face. He couldn't differentiate them from the rest of the dark that made up all his vision but his eyes believed something was there. Pretty soon Grimey was sweating profusely and breathing heavy as he spiraled further into disorientation. He thought he heard a draft pass by his ears. Then another which carried a faint howl just like a buzzard howl. Shrieks and screams began to fill his ears mixed with a torrent of clashing steel and cruel laughter. Louder and louder the wicked sounds grew until they blared in his mind. The bearded hunter was losing it.
It took an act of will to steady himself against the narrow walls and keep from falling. A deep breath. Then another. Okay, it's dark. The walls are narrow. A deep inhale. Let the walls be a guide. His mind began to quiet. A deep exhale. The noise is only shuffling of feet and breath, which means Kane and Leo are nearby. A deep inhale. If they're nearby, they're up ahead. No need to fear a blind fall. A deep exhale. His knees became steady. A deep inhale. It's all in your head lad, he told himself. A deep exhale.
The sweat beads retreated back into their pores. Grimey realized he was okay. He held his hands out wide to keep contact with the tunnel walls and began moving his feet again. Steadily, he navigated through the darkness.
He was doing well until the walls left his fingertips. Panic threatened to rush in once again but Grimey checked himself. It's just dark. That's all. Keep one foot in front of the other and that should hold a straight line. Right foot first. Step. Left foot in front. Step. From the sound of things Kane and Leo had adopted the same method of moving. Grimey felt like he was doing pretty well. Left foot, right foot. And they were landing directly in front of each other. Very pleased with his progress Grimey continued to watch his feet shuffle and step in a perfectly straight line. That's when the hunter realized it. He could see his feet! Not too far ahead was Kane, and a bit further he could just make out Leo's shape in the dim light. Something emanated a faint glow. Grimey looked up at his surroundings and the sight caught his breath. Now he knew why it was called the Tunnel of Lights.
Dazzling. That's the only thing that came to mind. Dazzling. The three hunters had followed the left side wall and they now saw that the tunnel had opened into a wide cavern. The right wall, now about twenty meters away, was dotted with jewels that radiated their own brilliant light like a starry sky on a clear night. Shining blues, sparkling purples, glittering golds, bright reds, gleaming pinks, splendid oranges. The glowing crystalline jewels provided enough light the hunters could make out their immediate surroundings. Between them and the glowing wall, the ground was littered with rocks and stalagmites. Ahead of them, a rudimentary pathway wound through the tunnel closer to the left side wall and into the darkness ahead.
Leo, completely mesmerized by the sight, halted in his tracks. Such vibrant colors like a wall of stars. The islander was lost in the brilliance.
“Leo.” Kane said as he nudged his cousin.
“So brilliant.” Leo whispered. He tried to step toward the wall but Kane put a hand on his shoulder and kepr him firmly planted. A familiar tingle crept up the back of Grimey's neck. Something wasn't right with that place. He let his senses take over. The air was still and musky. There were sounds other than their own breathing and Leo's rambling whispers about the sparkling wall. The bearded hunter turned his focus to the wall. That's where it was. The jeweled rocks sparkle but some of them completely winked out. Some of the lights were turning off. Some came back on. Always in pairs.
They were eyes.
Now Grimey could see them. A pair of what appeared to be two yellow jewels side-by-side in the rock very slowly but surely moved. They slowly slithered down the wall toward the ground. Then he spotted a pair of purple eyes blinking at them. Some of the wall was made up of glowing jewels but the rest of it was alive and silently moving toward the hunters.
“Lads, we need to go.” Grimey said. Leo remained frozen. “We got lurkers all over the wall.” Kane picked up on the urgency in Grimey's tone and looked around. He saw the eyes as well and drew his spear. The muscular islander kept his eyes on the wall and shoved his cousin ahead along the pathway.
Glowi
ng eyes descended from the wall like teardrops. Kane, who continued to shove his mesmerized cousin, kept his eyes peeled on the jeweled wall. Grimey, however, turned his attention away from the wall and kept his eyes on the ground. The glowing wall gave enough light to make out their pathway but little else. The glowing eyes vanished from sight once they descended the wall but the bearded hunter sensed the monsters were merely behind unseen rocks and were closing in. Then he saw it. Two glowing topaz orbs slid across the ground straight for him. It didn't matter if he couldn't see anything other than the glowing eyes, Grimey brought his axe down between them. He felt it land in soft flesh. There was a shrill cry and the topaz eyes faded out.
More eyes came into view. “Watch the ground. Here they come!” Grimey shouted to Kane, who was still watching the wall. The muscular hunter noticed a pair of sapphires closing in on him just in time to ram his spear into it. Another shriek and the blue faded to black.
Another lurker scurried across the ground aiming for Grimey. This time the eyes leaped through the air. Although it was too dark to see, Grimey was sure there were sharp teeth thirsting for a taste of his neck. The hunter raised his axe just in time to catch the beast. It fell to the ground, its glittering eyes faded out. But the monster fell in a spot illuminated by the glowing wall and Grimey got a look at what was after them. The lurker was a gangly beast about the length of Grimey's arm that crawled like a lizard on six legs. Four towards its head and two at the rear. Thin spines protruded from the top of its head and ran down the back of its neck. A long, flat snout contained a mouthful of small sharp teeth. The lurker also had a thick tail to help balance itself on the wall while stalking unsuspecting victims. But nothing about the lurker was as fantastic as its glowing eyes which matched perfectly with the jewels in the wall. Positioned at such an angle, a lurker's eyes could look forward or directly upward without moving its head. They were ideal for watching anything or anybody that passed through the tunnel while perched on the jeweled wall.
More were coming. Dozens of radiant eyes floated through the darkness toward the hunters. The monsters scurried quickly now and their rapid footsteps echoed in the cavern. Grimey covered the rear where the majority of lurkers attacked from. Leo was useless. Not even an attack could shake him free of the hypnotizing spell the tunnel wall cast on him. He merely mumbled to himself about the beauty and elegance of the lights and only moved when Kane shoved him forward. This was how the hunters progressed through the tunnel. Kane and Grimey would fight off waves of lurkers and between attacks Kane would shove Leo along until the next swell of lurkers closed in.
There was no end to the glowing-eyed beasts. Grimey's axe was getting a workout. Sweeping arcs took out monster after monster and didn't allow any glowing eyes to get near. The darkness of the cave no longer bothered the bearded hunter because the darkness made the glowing eyes stand out that much more. Easy targets. He shuffled his feet so as not to trip as he moved backward, swung his axe, and kept moving toward the sounds of Kane shoving Leo along. It was working well. Until Leo fell.
Still mesmerized by the glowing wall, Leo did nothing to break his fall when his foot caught on a small rock. He was sent crashing into the dirt landing hard on his face and shoulder. The upside was the impact was enough to break the spell he was under and Leo returned to his senses. The downside was there were several lurkers stalking in the darkness just ahead of the hunters waiting for such an opportunity. The glowing-eyed beasts swarmed on the islander before Kane could pick him up.
The tunnel echoed with screams of pain as lurker teeth sank into Leo's flesh. One bit down on his shoulder. Another latched onto a leg and a third grabbed hold of his hips. The beasts snarled as they clamped down on their victim and began dragging him away from the pathway into the darkness. Kane lunged at the beast on Leo's leg thrusting his spear through the glowing eyes. Another step forward and the spear found the body of the next lurker. The third lurker let go of Leo's shoulder and snapped at Kane. The muscular hunter sidestepped out of the way before shoving his spear into the beast. Then the large islander felt a searing pain shoot throughout his right leg. He drew his short sword and cleaved the lurker that had bit down on him. When he looked up another pair of glowing eyes were flying at him through the darkness. He recoiled backward while turning the blade of his sword such that the monster skewered itself as Kane fell onto his back. In the dim light of the tunnel Kane just made out the small razor sharp teeth just inches away from his neck. More glowing eyes were coming his way and Kane scrambled to his feet.
Leo was still on the ground kicking at a lurker trying to snatch his feet it its jaws. The lurker managed to catch Leo's already injured leg and clamped down. The beast violently shook its head back and forth, yanking on the hunter's leg in an attempt to drag him away. Leo clenched his teeth to keep from screaming out again. He could feel warm blood pouring out of the wound. The single monster couldn't move the hunter on its own so instead it leaped up onto Leo's chest intent on delivering a fatal bite to his neck. Kane got to it just in time and stabbed the monster in the neck. Pushing the carcass off of himself, Leo tried to stand but the pain in his leg brought him back down to his knees. He tried again, this time supporting most of his weight on his left leg. He limped forward a few steps but was halted by the sound of several beasts snarling nearby. When he looked a pair of eyes were shooting straight for him. Leo braced for impact but just then the beast was cut down. In the dim light Leo made out the silhouette of a large man holding a small axe in each hand.
“Look!” Grimey shouted. Leo turned down the path and saw it. There in the distant darkness was a single point of light. They were almost out of the tunnel. “Can you move on that thing?” Grimey asked indicating the bite on Kane's leg. The muscular islander nodded. “Then get him out of here.”
Kane hooked his arm under Leo's shoulder to support his weight and the two took off as fast as they could move. Grimey stayed back to fight off the pursuing lurkers. He found that the monsters bled easily. Very thin hides. He didn't need the extra weight of his great-axe to take out a lurker. All he needed was a quick swipe from a hatchet. The lurkers also tended to attack by leaping. It made things convenient because he didn't have to aim low at the ground. The poor visibility in the tunnel no longer bothered Grimey. He simply made a game of whacking the glowing eyes out of the air. And it was game on as he took on wave after wave of lurkers single-handed.
Keep the blades moving, keep the blades moving. It repeated in Grimey's mind over and over. And he listened. The hunter swiped, ducked, swung, dodged, and took out lurker after lurker. In the brief moments between kills Grimey inched his way toward the light at the end of the tunnel. A pair of eyes leaped at him and he deftly rolled away to avoid it. He came up in a kneel and heard a loud snap to his left. Without looking Grimey brought a hatchet down and felt it sink into soft flesh of a lurker that had just tried to bite him. The eyes faded out but Grimey had no time to bother watching it. He was back on his feet slashing, hacking, and making his way through the tunnel.
Kane and Leo struggled to keep moving. Leo's leg throbbed in pain. It couldn't support any weight and Kane practically carried him. It didn't help that a group of lurkers had followed them. Kane spotted their glowing eyes off to the right. He waited until the eyes came near before slashing with his sword. The lurker kept its distance and Kane's blade only found air. Then Kane noticed more eyes. Three lurkers were tracking them.
All three monsters leaped at once. Kane restrained Leo's momentum and the two hunters halted on the spot letting the six glowing eyes pass in front of them. Kane wasted no time pouncing on the nearest one, thrusting his short sword and extinguishing the eyes. He hacked down the second lurker and quickly sidestepped to avoid the snapping jaws of the third. Kane squared off with the glowing eyes anticipating an attack. Then the eyes suddenly faded to black. In the dim light Kane just made out the gleam of Leo's blade.
“Let's go before more come.” Leo said. Kane again supported his cousin's weigh
t and the two moved as quickly as they could through the fading darkness.
The two islanders made it out of the tunnel without further attack. Little did they know that lurkers couldn't tolerate sunlight and gave up chasing them. In fact the monsters couldn't tolerate any celestial light. Moonlight and starlight were lethal to the beasts. The monsters were confined to the pitch blackness of the tunnel and its radiant jeweled rocks.
When the two made it out of the tunnel Leo quickly took notice of their surroundings. They had come to the base of a canyon about forty meters wide. Sandstone walls twelve meters high prevented them from seeing what lied beyond the rock walls. When the two hunters were clear of the tunnel, Leo signaled to a spot against the rock to their left. If there were any other monsters around at least the rock would guard their backs. Kane set his cousin down and got to work building a fire. Dusk had crept into the sky and the sun would soon leave completely. The muscular islander thought about charging back into the tunnel to find Grimey but quickly discarded the idea. There was no way he would leave his injured cousin unguarded and exposed in foreign territory.
An hour passed, the sun was a faint glow below the horizon, the moon had climbed into the sky, and there was still no sign of Grimey. Leo knew Grimey could handle himself but couldn't keep from thinking the worst. To take his mind off his worries Leo tended to his injuries. The bites on his shoulder and hip weren't severe. Lurker teeth were sharp but they were small and had only left a series of tiny cuts. No big deal. His leg, however, was a different story. The flesh was torn to shreds when the second lurker bit down and thrashed back and forth. He did his best to clean and bandage the wounds but he would need rest before regaining full mobility. Rest would take time. Time was something Leo did not want to lose.
Kane quickly snapped to attention, spear at the ready. Something had stirred in the darkness beyond the firelight.
“Easy lad it's just me.” Grimey strolled up and sat down against the rocks. “Good you made some stew. I'm starving.” He reached for a bowl and helped himself to a generous portion. The bearded hunter chewed loudly and relished the meal.
“Are you injured?” Leo asked noticing the many red streaks that ran down Grimey's face and body.
“Nah. Not my blood.” Grimey said between mouthfuls. “Don't worry I'll wash it off.” Leo marveled at the hunter. All those lurkers. At least an hour alone in the darkness with them. Yet not a scratch.
“What kept you so long?”
“I was having fun in there. Once you figure them out those things are easy to kill. Their mouths stick out about a foot beyond their eyes. More to hit.” Grimey swallowed a large chunk of meat. “Plus as I was making my way out I found a spot in the cave those lurkers won't cross. Like they're afraid of coming out. They just snarled at me.” Grimey shoved another spoonful of stew in his mouth. “I just stayed beyond that spot and hacked away.”
“Interesting. Well I'm glad you finally decided to join us.” Leo said.
“Your leg don't look so well.” Grimey reached for his pack and dug around in it. He pulled out a small white container, the healing balm Marian gave him all those weeks ago in Quarry after the kingpin hunt, and tossed it to Leo. “Rub some of this on. Be fine by morning.”
Grimey gave a quick smile then went off to wash himself. Kane was dozing off against the rocks. Leo slathered the balm onto his leg, deeply disturbed by his thoughts. He would have died in the tunnel if it weren't for the others. The jewels in the wall. The way they glowed was so hypnotizing. They grabbed him with an inescapable grip and wouldn't let go. The monster attack didn't register. Nothing else at all registered. He thought the others were fools for not seeing the true glory of those radiant stones. What were they doing darting around back and forth so quickly anyway? Why did Kane constantly push him and keep him away from those splendid jewels? Those were as far as his thoughts went while under the tunnel's spell. Everything was a blur. Was he in a trance for a few minutes or a few hours? Leo had no idea. The next coherent thought he had was filled with agony and he was on the ground. He didn't dare look at the jeweled wall again. Utterly useless. That's how he felt. He only killed one lurker and had to stab it in the back. Meanwhile Kane and Grimey killed countless lurkers to protect him. He gazed up into the starry sky and quickly found Orion's shape. How the legendary hunter would be ashamed of Leo for getting caught under the spell. Leo whispered a silent apology to the stars and hung his head low.
Away from the others Grimey splashed water onto his face careful to avoid looking at the ground remembering what happened the last time he washed off. Instead he sorted through his thoughts on the tunnel. It was a good time hacking away at lurkers, that much was true, but he left the cave not because of fatigue or concern over his companions. When he found the spot the lurker's wouldn't cross he could have stayed there all night killing those beasts and he knew Kane would take care of Leo. No, something in that cave spooked the bearded hunter. He was in the darkness slashing and hacking and wearing a large grin while having his way with the lurkers when suddenly all the monsters stopped advancing. The tunnel fell silent as dozens of glowing eyes remained fixed on their harbinger of death. What happened next halted the hunter and sent him retreating for the exit. The many pairs of eyes, a dazzling sea of sapphire, amethyst, emerald, topaz, and more all blinked into one single color. The cave became a glowing inferno of crimson.
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