by Dave Hazel
The men carried the bodies of the two dead men back into the room and secured the door. The men didn’t have to be told to take the ammunition and supplies from the two dead. While Mykal introduced Towbar to the Elves, Nordad and his men, the rest of the men ensured all the doors were secured and passed the new rations all around.
The two dead men were laid beside each other near the wall opposite where they just re-entered the room. Mykal looked at the two pair of black combat boots. They were laid out stretched straight from feet to head. Mykal felt overwhelmed with sorrow for the two who died providing support for Towbar’s arrival that would enable them to depart. Those two men would never see their families again. Those two pair of combat boots carried those men through everything they encountered so far, but now the journey of those boots came to an end.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ Mykal wondered at the incredible sadness he wrestled with. ‘I should be over flowing with joy and happiness that Towbar is here to rescue us. What’s causing me to feel such-’ His mental monologue ceased when he realized he fingered the gold band around his middle finger. ‘Could it be the magic ring is just screwing with my emotions?’
“Please do not be offended that we stare at you, O mighty huge one,” Nordad said while he held up his staff of light to look closer at the giant. “We have never laid eyes on one so large.”
“Nor we,” Starling agreed. “Are all the people where you dwell as large as you?”
Their conversation brought Mykal out of his silent distraught and touched him with a slight sense of humor at their amazement.
“No. I am the only one.”
“Come on Mykal, let’s get out of here,” William requested though it came across as a demand.
“We must wait for a short period of time, at least to allow my body to recover,” Towbar uttered.
“What are you saying? Are we not going back?” William complained and his shoulders drooped like a little child who didn’t get his way.
“William, chill out and let’s hear what Towbar has to say,” Mykal said and fought not to come across as hostile
“Get back into position,” Diaz called to the men. “If we’re not leaving right away, I want the doors guarded and I do not want to be caught unprepared.”
“I feared we would never cross paths again my friend,” Towbar said and gave a slight smile. “It is good to see you are safe, but I can see some are injured and there are men who are no longer present.”
“They’re dead,” Mykal said and looked to the floor as if he blamed himself. “About a third of the men died. You wouldn’t believe all the shit we’ve gone through after we disappeared. When we have some time I need to talk to you,” he said implying he wanted to talk privately. He wanted to share with Towbar his finds in magic. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and hoped Towbar would be able to detect magical properties.
“Yes my friend.” Towbar changed subjects. “It seems odd the green fog appeared just then to take you away. Would you agree?”
“I don’t think it was random,” Mykal said. “Don’t say out loud the evil Overlord’s name, you know, that guy, Mr. Z, you know the guy I call Ziggy Stardust.” Mykal nodded his head referring to Zizmon-Tarl. “Nordad thinks if we speak his name out loud he can pick up on that. Just before we were transported we had mentioned his name and then the green fog appeared right on us. Then while we were in the green fog, we all heard an evil voice saying that he was going to kill us.”
“This is fascinating,” Towbar frowned. “Though not good. Many of the myths and stories of the one must have some truth to them. His powers and his reach must be greater than my people have ever given thought to.”
“And so you know,” Mykal continued. “We’re on the other side of the world and we’re close to his land. Since we thought we’re lost for good, Boris wanted to find him and take him out.”
“I was just thinking, ‘let’s make the most of this situation and help you and your people out,’ since things didn’t look good for us,” Boris said with a wink.
“You are a good man Boris,” Towbar said and smiled. “I am so fortunate to have such good friends. Where is Kim? The one with the funny eyes?” He asked as he scanned the group.
“He died Towbar,” Diaz answered.
“Ah, this is sad. Kim will be greatly missed. I am grateful and fond of the men named Silent Killers,” he said to Finley.
“Anyway Towbar, Nordad told us we’d probably not succeed in trying to take out Ziggy Stardust, the Mister Big of bad guys,” Mykal paused referring to Zizmon-Tarl. “Cuz they believe he’s not human and so on. But after we met up with Nordad and the Elves we were trying to get through this mountain to get to the land of the Elves and decide what to do from there, but we got detoured and as you can see, we’re stuck. These doors,” Mykal pointed to the one they just re-entered and turned to the opposite wall and pointed to the door they entered the room in and the third on the same wall. “All go in three separate directions, but they’re all guarded with a shit load of Goblins and after we killed a bunch of them, they wanna kill us as punishment.”
“I must make it known,” Towbar looked to Nordad, his men and the three Elves. “When we depart this place we will go back to my land which is far from here. I assume you will not wish to stay here, am I correct?”
“This is correct Towbar,” Starling spoke softly. “We will trust where you take us. Mykal only speaks of you in the highest regards. We knew before meeting you, you are an honorable and trustworthy,” he paused for the correct word. “Giant.”
Towbar gave a nod of acceptance to Starling’s praise. “I would not call myself a giant, rather, I would say I am a large man,” the giant said which made everyone laugh. “After we are back at our home I will do my best to return you to your land. However, I can not make any promises. I assume Mykal has made you aware of the war we are in?”
“Yes we understand the situation your country is facing. We have been unsuccessful in removing our party from this place, this underground maze,” Blair said. “We wish not to be left behind.”
Leeno continued. “We will be happy to travel to your land if it means to depart the horrors of this underground maze.”
“As for us, large one,” Nordad said, his gruff voice commanded the attention of everyone. “We are a band of merry adventurers. This will add to our adventurous lifestyle. Yea?” He turned to his two men left standing. They agreed. “And if the situation should present itself, we will raise our blades with you, O’ large one. Your friend Mykal and all these magnificent men with him saved our lives the day we met.”
Jumbdex started to cough which caught their attention.
William stepped forward to interrupt before Nordad could ask for help with Jumbdex’s injuries. “Towbar, I don’t mean to come across as rude or pushy, but could you tell me why we can’t leave yet. We need to leave this place as soon as possible,” he said. Most of the men rolled their eyes or shook their heads. “These filthy little creatures, the Goblins, have been trying to kill us and we’re trapped.”
“My friends, listen to my words,” Towbar said and raised his hand to get everyone’s attention. He paused until he knew he had everyone’s undivided attention. “I do not hope to disappoint you my friends. I know all of you have been through a tremendous ordeal. However, we can not depart right at this moment. I nearly died when I arrived here.”
“What!?” William gasped and rolled his head over his shoulders like a spoiled child preparing to throw a temper tantrum type of fit. “Why not? We need to leave this wretched place. We’re going to die here,” he whined loudly and didn’t care how he came across to the younger men.
“I almost died coming here,” Towbar said again as if William didn’t hear him. “My head and my body felt like I was crushed. I think any normal man would have died under the pressure I felt.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that Towbar. When the green fog appeared I thought for sure my hand and arm was being crushed. I ne
ver felt such pain like that before. Boris brought up a point that may be a valid reason. He said that every time we’ve been in the green fog it had been out side in the open. The only thing we experienced then was just tingling and dizziness. But this time it was in a small enclosed area. It musta compressed whatever it’s made of. I honestly thought I was gonna lose my arm.”
“That sounds logical. For the time being I can not put myself through that again. I do not think I could survive that a second time. More importantly, I fear for your smaller bodies.”
“What the hell? Does that mean we’re just stuck here until we die?” William’s raised voice sounded accusatory.
Towbar looked taken aback by William’s response. The giant couldn’t understand William’s combative impatience. “I would not have said such a foolish thing,” Towbar said and glared at William. “I did not intentionally come here to prolong your misery. I am not referring to just a minor discomfort. I nearly died and I am a very strong person. I need time to recover,” Towbar added and it sounded like a threat to William.
“Will, you need to chill the hell out. You’ve gotten on everyone’s nerves and I can see you’re gonna get on Towbar’s nerves too. And that, I’m telling you, you don’t wanna do,” Mykal warned him.
“Are there any options to leave this room?” Towbar asked.
“Yes,” Diaz said with excitement now that Towbar reminded him. “We know for sure these three doors have the enemy waiting for us,” Diaz pointed to each exit. “Except for this secret door the Elves found.”
“This is a secret door that we have not opened,” Starling pointed to the hidden door following Diaz’s cue.
“We may be able to leave without having a confrontation,” Lieutenant Finley suggested. “It may not solve our problems with the Goblins but it should be able to buy us time and put some space between us and them.”
“We don’t know where it’ll lead to though,” William complained. “And as brought up earlier, it could possibly be just a little closet or a small room like a storage room. We don’t even know if it is really an exit.”
“That’s right Sir,” Jake said politely. “But we do know where the other three doors lead to. Right into the arms of the Goblins, Sir.” Jake’s voice showed a growing impatience with the constant complaining captain.
“I would think we must find an open area. It would not be wise to produce the fog in this confined space. Have the Goblins tried to gain entry into this room while--”
“You already survived it once Towbar,” William rebuffed the giant’s explanation to everyone’s surprise. It became clear William desperately wanted to vacate the mountain and the underground prison.
“I am confident I will survive it again though the pain will be great. However, I am concerned you will not survive it,” Towbar counterpunched. He looked perturbed that William interrupted him.
“I wasn’t even in the green fog and I thought I was gonna lose my arm cuz it hurt so bad,” Mykal said and unconsciously rubbed his arm where he experienced the pain. “It felt like I was being crushed. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be in the green fog.”
“Damn it,” William raised his voice and stomped his foot.
“What the hell’s the matter with you?” Mykal barked. “Stop acting like a kid.”
“I just want to get out of here,” William raged and looked like he neared a mental break down. “No matter what we do we just can’t escape the walls of this confinement. Not just this damned mountain, but this entire journey we’ve been lost in. I can’t take it anymore.”
“Do you think we wanna be here?” Mykal asked. “We all wanna get outta here. Quit making things worse.”
“How? How am I making things worse?”
“Look at you. We’re trying to come up with a plan and you’re fussin’ and fightin’ like a little kid. Just shut the hell up,” Mykal raised his voice and his emotions of anger rose as well. “Every time we’ve run into a problem you’ve been the biggest friggin complainer. Every time I’ve asked you and Boris to put aside your differences and get along, you’re at each other’s throats. You’re a captain in the Air Force and I feel like I’m dealing with a little spoiled bastard. Now I’m starting to get friggin irritated just talking about it. You’re here because of you!” Mykal accused William with hostility in his words. “I even told you to get on the damned helicopter when they came to pick us up and you refused to leave. This is on you so shut your friggin mouth cuz I’ve had it with you,” Mykal snarled and his hand unconsciously grabbed the handle of his .357 magnum.
Dead silence filled the room. No one dared say anything because of William’s rank, and this was the first they had seen Mykal’s anger pushed beyond the boiling point, though it seemed everyone agreed with Mykal. Boris smirked and wanted to laugh but he saw Mykal’s anger. Jake placed a hand on Boris’s shoulder and gripped it tightly to keep Boris from speaking.
Diaz broke the silence. “Let’s take a few minutes and come up with a plan. We will get out of here men, but we just need to find an open area for our own protection. Am I correct Towbar?”
“That is correct.”
“Excuse me Sir,” Marine Private First Class Chandler left his machine gun and rushed to Diaz. “It sounds like the Goblins are trying to communicate with us through the door again. We can hear a faint yelling at the door. I assume they’re pissed off.”
“They’re pounding on the door now,” Private First Class Ferria yelled, but they all heard the pounding.
“Leeno, would you go see what he wants?” Mykal’s mood suddenly changed and he couldn’t keep from snickering. “Yeah, we know they’re pissed,” he looked at Towbar. “We just killed a bunch of them to get out there.”
Leeno stood at the door and used the same odd sounding language to communicate. “Mykal, they demand to know why we killed many of their people. He says our attack was not provoked or something in that vein.”
“I don’t know, make something up. Tell him he’s full of shit,” Mykal cackled because he knew they had no answer. “Tell him his people tried to break in, no wait,” Mykal paused to make the lie more plausible. Mykal pointed to the door they originally enter the room from. “Tell him his people, his Goblins, or whatever the hell they are, from this side tried to break in and we thought we were gonna have to run for our lives so we came through this door to defend ourselves and then when they backed off on this side we came back into the room. Tell him to have his people leave us alone and this won’t happen again. Just tell him something along that line of thinking.”
Silence filled the room while Leeno tried to communicate through the door. Leeno turned from the door, his expression was hard to read for his lack of emotion. “It is not good news. The truce is over,” the Elf declared. “Because of our evil deeds we asked for war. He said they will break down the doors or they will remove the doors and they will destroy us.”
“He sounds like a cheerful little guy,” Boris tittered.
“Tell him he’s making a big mistake if he tries to come in here. All we want is to get out of here,” Mykal said.
Leeno spoke through the door and though the Goblin’s words could not be understood they clearly understood the manner and sound of his message. “He said we will never depart from this confinement. We will all die.”
“How the hell did he survive our last attack?” Jake sighed. “He must have left. He sounds like a hard ass.”
“Let’s call him Cat-man cuz this dude has got nine lives,” Boris snickered.
“Good name Boris,” Mykal said. “Leeno, tell Cat-man that your leader is standing here and wants to desperately resolve this problem. Tell him I would like to give him some gifts from our land to smooth things over. Tell him these gifts are rare and of great value where we come from. Then tell him I would like to buy our way outta here. See what he says.”
“He said that gifts will not bring his people or chums or comrades back from the dead,” Leeno said when he turned from the
door. “However, might I add Mykal, I detected a slight change in his mood. I suspect he would eagerly take our gifts.”
“Ah, so Cat-man sounds like a greedy little bastard, huh?” Mykal started to laugh. “Real quick, get some guns ready by the secret door. I want the door opened to see if the passage is clear. Quick, come on. I got a plan in my head.”
The secret door was opened and those in front looked down the long corridor. Nordad pointed his staff into the opening to shine light down the secret passage. Cobwebs lined the ceiling. The floor was covered in dust, dirt and debris. By the appearance it looked like it hadn’t been used for ages. Just inside the doorway were two wooden stools which could have been for guards a time long ago. Dust covered both three-legged chairs.
“What are those?” Finley pointed to fixtures protruding from the walls. They were spread out at long intervals along both sides of the walls. “Oh, they have to be for torches,” he answered his own question. “It looks safe from here. It appears nothing has used this passage way for many years.”
“Let’s send some men down there,” Mykal suggested to Diaz.
“We will inspect the passage,” Starling volunteered himself and Blair. “Our hearing and vision are different than that of human vision and hearing. Leeno will remain to communicate with the Goblin you named Cat-man.”
“Thanks,” Mykal then turned to the rest of the men. “After we know that way is clear, I want a few men to stay here while we make our way down the passage. We’ll go for about an hour or so, but I don’t wanna give up this room in case we do have to come back. I would like at least one M-60 to stay here, so if they try to bust through we can beat them back.”
“I’ll stay,” Boris quickly volunteered.
“I’ll stay too,” Private Wickey, the youngest member of their group swiftly followed Boris’s lead. “I like working with Airman Jones. Boris,” Wickey added and pointed to Boris as if Jake didn’t know who he was talking about. “Besides, I’d like another chance to put ol’ Betsy to work,” he chuckled and patted his M-60. “She’s a good ol’ gal.”