Stone Ram (Leopard King Saga)

by T. A. Uner

  “You’re not making sense, Ram.” Lager looked around and stretched out his arms. “If we stay here long enough we’re bound to succumb to something. These caverns aren’t known for their hospitality.”

  Fabian was torn between Marella and the mission. What do I do? He wondered.

  “You don’t look so good, Ram; put on your oxygen mask, before it’s too late.”

  Fabian pointed a gauntleted finger at Lager. “You don’t give the orders around here; I do.”

  “Fine,” Lager replied. “But, please, if you won’t do it for me, do it for yourself.”

  Fabian took his oxygen mask and hurled it into the air before smashing it against the wall with his staff. Lager looked at him morosely. “That was a foolish thing to do Ram.” Matilda looked up at Fabian concernedly and barked. Why are they turning against me? He thought.

  The corridor felt like it was moving around him, but he steadied himself. “I don’t need it.”

  “I think you do…you’re acting like a wild man.”

  “Perhaps you’re plotting to take over my command, Lager?”

  “Listen to yourself, Ram; the toxic air has begun affecting your reasoning.”

  “I can’t let you take over this Quest, Lager, it’s too important.” Fabian tossed his staff aside and drew his sword. A feeling of lightheadedness overtook him and he tried to shake it off. He exhaled and lowered his faceplate.

  When he looked up there were three images of Lager standing before him. “What in curses have you done? Another Earth trick?”

  “Don’t try anything stupid now, kid,” Lager said.

  “Kid? Not calling me ‘Ram’ anymore?” Fabian chuckled before charging Lager. He saw three blurs of the Earthman before raising his sword.

  Then, he lost his balance, and smashed into something solid.

  II

  When Fabian opened his eyes, a dull black void greeted him. He heard a panting sound before

  something furry brushed up against his face. Matilda. Fabian opened his mouth but the words did not come. What has happened to me? Someone had taken his helm; he wanted his vision back.

  “I’d rest if I was you, Ram.”

  Lager. He wanted to talk to his friend but speaking didn’t appear possible, at least not now.

  “You were suffering from Carbon Monoxide poisoning; it did a number on your brain and you’re lucky to be alive. I suppose that Spirit armor was what helped keep you alive; your entire system was shot. I’ve given you an oxygen pill, it’ll help, but we really need to find the little lady and get the hell out of this labyrinth.”

  Fabian felt Matilda’s warmth as she nuzzled him with the side of her face. Kindhearted Matty, always there when you need her, he thought before he closed his eyes and drifted off.

  ***

  “So I attacked you?”

  Lager grinned. “You came at me like a Ram ; ironic huh?”

  Fabian didn’t know what ‘ironic’ meant but he confirmed it with a nod before Lager poured him a cup of coffee. Matilda stood next to him, wagging her tail relentlessly. “I’m just happy that I didn’t do anything I’d regret later.”

  “This may sound strange but you crashing into the wall actually helped. It would’ve been much more difficult to get the drug inside your system with you fuming and posturing.”

  “I was a fool; not the behavior of a leader.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Ram, you were acting against your will; but we really need to get out of here…and fast.”

  Fabian finished his coffee and slowly stood up. He knew he wasn’t feeling his best but he felt well enough to continue his search for Marella. “Still no sign of her?”

  Lager shook his head. “Something in these caverns is causing the readings to go haywire, if we had a tracker on her, then I’d be able to pinpoint her, but as it stands now we should continue along our planned route.”

  “I can’t ask you to continue the search along with me, Lager; but I really cannot just leave her behind, even if she’s no longer alive.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that, Ram.” He finished the last bit of coffee from his tin mug.

  “It was wrong of me to advise you to cut your losses and leave Marella behind. That’s not how we do things back on Earth, or in the service.” He stood up. “So I’m with you…till the end of this journey, wherever it takes us.”

  After collecting their gear they proceeded down the corridor until it branched off toward a north easterly direction. The tunnel started widening until they found themselves inside a large cavern room. Overhead stalactites hung ominously like blades while the walls sparkled. “Mineral deposits, a geologist’s dream.” Lager scanned the room while Fabian led the horses toward a narrow stream that cut through a section of the cavern and disappeared through a small water cave opening on the far side. “There’s a large grotto on the other side of that cave opening,” Lager said before he ran a quick scan over the water and nodded. “It’s safe to drink.” But before anyone could take a drink, the ground rumbled, sending bits of dust and debris raining down on them. Matilda started barking. Then, it ceased.

  Fabian and Lager looked at one another confoundedly. “I don’t like the sound of that, Lager.”

  “Quite odd, as I did not detect any fault lines or possible seismic activity.”

  The tremors returned; this time more powerful. It scared the horses; they started whinnying and kicking. Fabian was able to calm Starspeed down but the brown courser that belonged to Marella, took off through the entrance they had come through. A few more ticks later and more debris started raining down, this time raining heavier pieces of rubble before a loud explosion shook the cavern room.

  At first Fabian only saw two black eyes floating through the air before noticing they were connected to leathery stalks that resembled thick tentacles attached to a slimy body. Underneath his feet Fabian felt the ground swaying left and right before Lager pushed him out of the way. The tremor was so loud it felt as if the whole cavern was tearing itself apart. A large sinkhole appeared where only a few moments ago Fabian had once stood, swallowing up both Starspeed and Lager’s horse. Soon another large slimy head appeared and Fabian eyed the second creature. Starspeed, the noble horse that had been his father’s favorite, now dead because of this ungodly beast. He screamed and drew his sword; before Lager could intervene Fabian slashed a cut across the creature’s left flank. Green blood stained his blade and gushed out of the wound, but it barely stopped the creature. Fabian nearly slipped and fell amidst the pool of blood that had stained his torso, but Lager was able to grab his arm and drag him away from the creature’s path.

  The two creatures eyed Matilda and Lager fired a warning shot that stunned one of the creature’s eye stalks. The black eye blinked twice before closing. Fabian, still dripping with the creature’s blood, scooped up Matilda. He hated the fact that they would be leaving their supplies behind, plus the loss of the horses was nearly irreplaceable. He made his dash toward the river and hoped his armor wouldn’t weigh him down.

  Lager picked up on his motives and nodded. Behind them the two tunnel slugs were advancing, fast. Fabian muttered a prayer for Starspeed before diving into the river.

  III

  Fortunately Fabian’s fear was unfounded; his Spirit armor did not weigh him down, quite the opposite his staff helped him float atop the river’s current. Much to his surprise it was not a strong current, but just enough to flush him and his band out of the cavern, leaving the tunnel slugs behind. At first the darkness of the tunnel made it difficult for him to see his surroundings, but the tunnel’s overhead reflected the light that was present at the end of the river.

  “Lager?” Fabian called out. He kept his and Matilda’s head atop the water and its steady current did not pose much threat.

  The end of the tunnel came sooner as expected and Fabian used his arms to cradle Matilda before he scraped past a jagged crag fixed within the middle of the river. It was one of the many times he was glad La
ger had made him his armor.

  The current started to lessen as they entered another cavern. When he figured they were safe, Fabian released Matilda who began swimming toward shore. Fabian followed suit and, grasping his staff, used the front crawl swimming technique to reach shore.

  When Fabian crawled out of the water and onto the cavern’s sandbar Matilda had already reached dry land and was shaking excess water off of her fur. Surprisingly Fabian’s armor hadn’t leaked any water and he wondered what other secrets it would reveal.

  The oxygen pill was still working, but like Lager said, they needed to get out of here. But where was Lager? Fabian didn’t see his Earth friend in the water, they must’ve gotten separated inside the tunnel after they had escaped from the tunnel slugs. Now his thoughts were plagued with both Lager’s disappearance and the loss of Starspeed. He lifted up his faceplate and rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t panic, that wasn’t the mark of a leader, and definitely not one who wished to elevate himself to hero status.

  He focused on the positives: he was still alive, dry, and had his beloved Matty. Not knowing how much carbon monoxide he had inhaled he snapped his faceplate shut. Now he would begin his search for Lager. He turned to Matilda.

  “Matty, can you help me find Lager?” Matilda barked once while Fabian described the Earthman using gestures he hoped his dog could pick up on. She stared at him intently and barked again before she leaped onto a nearby rock and started poking around for clues.

  Fabian used his Ram Staff like a pickaxe as he lifted himself onto the rocks toward a landing where another tunnel opening stood. “Did you pick up anything?” he asked the Herder.

  Matilda didn’t answer. “I didn’t think so.” It had been some time since Fabian had last eaten, and his stomach juices were causing discomfort. Food is the least of my troubles now, Fabian thought.

  He thought he heard some loose stones falling from the rocks below and looked up instinctively. There were two more tunnel openings above the ledge of the tunnel he was standing in front of. Probably my nerves, Fabian thought.

  Then something hit him in the front of his helm. At first Fabian thought a rock had hit him from above, but when he touched the exterior of his faceplate with his gauntleted fingers he recognized it as the acidic deposits he and Lager had stumbled upon earlier. Even though it hadn’t done any apparent damage to his armor he wiped it off against the surface of the tunnel. It felt hot inside his Ram helm; Fabian wanted a quick breath of fresh air. After removing his helm he tried ascertaining how the acid deposit had found itself on his faceplate when another acid glob hit him in the left cheek.

  It burned and his skin felt like something was gnawing it off his skull. Matilda started barking furiously in the direction the sludge had been hurled from. He turned around, his cheek still sizzling. Hoping it wouldn’t reach his left eye he flushed the residue with water from his canteen, stemming the acidic flow. He then donned his helm and shielded Matilda by standing in front of her.

  More stringers of gunk landed at his feet and splattered onto his greaves. His ears picked up a sound. He thought it was whispering, but sounded more like chains being dragged over a floor. Matilda’s barking increased. “What is it girl?” She must’ve picked something up, the scent of an outside presence.

  Then, a plethora of stringers slammed into his chest. He cursed out loud and called out to anyone that would listen. But the strange chain-dragging noise returned. He hated to run from adversity, that was the sign of a coward, and not someone he aspired to be. But the acidic gunk made it difficult for him to move his leg and he did his best to wipe it off, he had a feeling that if it hardened he could be stuck in a compromising position.

  When Matilda had ceased her barking he figured it was time to go find Lager.

  ***

  With Matilda beside him Fabian plunged into the dark tunnel. He felt exposed, as if he didn’t have his armor. The only light was the sparkling mineral deposits that would offer a glimmer of light before blinking out. Strange as it was he was able to navigate the tunnel corridor without colliding with the walls.

  He heard another sound. This one wasn’t whispering, but rather yelling. Not of fear, but, anger. A trace of a smile appeared on Fabian’s lips, it had been the first time since losing his beloved Starspeed. If he ever made it back home to his parents he would have much explaining to do—the horse was a part of the family.

  The sound got louder; he felt his chest tightening with anticipation, but anticipation of what?

  The bright light at the end of the tunnel got larger and when he and Matilda arrived at it he nearly had to duck as another stream of gunk exploded against the opening of the cave.

  “Come out and fight like soldiers, not cowards you slimey bastards!” Lager had taken refuge behind a boulder and was firing his ion weapon at two green creatures composed of stringy mucous resembling the gunk that had been hurled at him in the previous cavern. His reunion with Lager was bittersweet, as more of the creatures appeared next to the duo, who were positioned on a rocky ledge, giving them the advantage of higher ground.

  “Lager!” Fabian called out. At first his friend was too busy cursing and returning fire to hear his calls, but then he turned his head around and noticed him. Lager stood and fired off a wide-spread of energy projectiles, giving Fabian and Matilda the cover they needed while dashing toward their comrade.

  “Am I glad to see you, Ram.”

  “I can only say the same,” Fabian said. “I see you’ve met the occupants of these caverns.”

  “Ohh yeah, the booger men, charming fellows aren’t they.”

  Fabian noticed a thin gash across Lager’s forehead. “You’re wounded.”

  “Yeah compliments of our dastardly friends up there. Those stringy boogers they hurl knocked a bit of rubble into my face, I’m glad I still have one.”

  “I was afraid I had lost you, too.”

  Another barrage of slime flew over them, attached to it were bits of rock, it resembling a mucilaginous flail; the creatures had changed their tactic; perhaps trying to flush them out of their defensive position to finish them off. Was the spirit armor warning him again? The chain-dragging noise returned and this time Fabian tried focusing on it, seeing if he could make something of it in order to gain insight on his enemies’ thought patterns. “If we get out of this I’d like to know how you got here.”

  “We’ll make it out, Ram; but to make a long story short I got dragged in some sort of rip current which drew me into an undersea tunnel, I was then expelled into this cavern. Luckily I

  was wearing my oxygen mask when I got pulled under.”

  “Strange,” Fabian said, “the current wasn’t that strong.”

  “Strange seems to be the norm here,” Lager replied. “Between the carbon monoxide, tunnel slugs and these slimey bastards, no wonder survival rates for adventurers have been nonexistent within these caverns.”

  Fabian peeked around the rock and saw something that made his blood flow stop. “Dear Gods of Rek!”

  “What is it, Ram?”

  “Take a look through your binoculars, Lager.”

  “I lost ’em when those mother-hatin’ slugs crushed our beloved mounts.”

  “Then take a look.”

  Lager fired two more barrages which were quickly met by reciprocal ordnance from their opponents. “Ram have you lost your noodles? That slime’s bad news.”

  “Please, Lager,” Fabian said; he extended his hand, “I’ll cover you.” Lager handed him his weapon and peeked around the rock, one tick later his face was plastered with shock. “Marella.”

  Fabian nodded and handed the ion pistol back. “Dear Holy Sun, She’s been captured.”

  “Just seeing her trapped in that slimey web was enough to make me storm those monsters.”

  Fabian agreed. After their inadvertent transgression with Marella she had somehow stumbled upon this cavern and had been captured by these beings. But Fabian couldn’t tell if she was alive or not.

&n
bsp; “Storming their high ground isn’t our best option.”

  “Neither is sitting here and awaiting an undesirable fate at the hands of those booger beasts.”

  Fabian looked around and tried to come up with a solution. “Lager, for some odd reason, ever since I donned this armor it’s been giving me some sort of future sensory knowledge. First was when we encountered those mercenaries at the edge of Diamond Town and then a few tocks ago, when I first entered this cavern, it was if they were giving me military knowledge.”

  “Wow it took me four years at Star School to learn that stuff and right now I couldn’t tell you half of it; probably due to all the brain cells I’ve killed by boozing it up, so if you wanna take a stab at getting us out of here and rescuing Marella in one swoop I’m all ears.”

  Fabian thought hard. “But then there’s the problem of an escape route.”

  Lager grinned, a few ticks later another flail punctured a sheet of rock above them and rained down more dust and debris. “You let me worry about that, Ram.” Lager ducked as another string of mucous skirted over his head.

  Fabian pointed at the cavern roof. “See those stalactites?”

  Lager nodded. “Yep.” He smiled. “I think I’ve got an idea what you’re planning.”

  Fabian surveyed the battlefield. A slight incline lead towards the ledge where the mucous beings where utilizing their advantage. If his plan worked he would barely have enough time to cut Marella free from the slime web and make a dash out of the caverns, assuming Lager had their escape trajectory planned. He took another look at Marella, around her there were other slime webs, some containing half decomposed bodies and others with moldy skeletons, he wondered why he hadn’t noticed that earlier, but the sight of past victims made him even more determined to free Marella.

  Fabian turned toward Lager. “So you already have the escape plan ready?”