Death Flag

  There is a chance that Alyanna and Erin made it away. There is a chance Warren survived. There is a chance that weapon didn’t belong to Shayna . . .

  Madison swallowed hard against his raw throat and made his decision. He needed to get out one way or another, and if this creature was someone surviving down here, there was a good chance that there was a way out.

  It has access to air and water from the river, but it also has to have access to food as well. There is a chance it’s living off fish it catches, but it’s far too large to make that a likely possibility. It has to be able to catch larger prey somehow. The best thing I can do is wait and follow it. If it really was a dagger, I’ll get a look at it from behind once it comes back up. If it’s not, I can just follow it for a while and see where it goes.

  Madison sat and waited, listening for some sign that the creature would return. After what seemed like forever, he saw the pale blue illumination coming up from the pit as the creature made its way back. Its large, gnarled knuckles grasped the edge of the ledge, and then it effortlessly hoisted its grotesque body up and over the ledge before once again dragging its body past with its shuffling gait. Once it was gone and all signs of illumination disappeared, Madison stood up and stepped out from behind the large rock structure.

  That’s definitely a dagger. There’s no mistaking it now.

  He pounded his fist against his thighs in an attempt to get some blood moving. He had sat in the same position for so long while he waited that it felt like his legs were going to cramp, but he managed to stay upright and start moving. He was slightly wobbly on his feet, and his legs tingled as blood flowed to them again, but before long, he was sneaking along behind the creature, moving as quickly and as quietly as he could while staying just out of sight. Whenever possible, he kept hidden behind either a wall as the tunnel twisted and turned or a rock formation, hoping that it wouldn’t see him on the off chance it heard him or turned around.

  The creature moved along at a steady pace without ever slowing down. Its twisted leg didn’t seem to hamper it much, and Madison gathered that it must have been from an old injury since it didn’t favor the leg at all. The tunnel remained the same the entire time, never really changing in size except to accommodate the rock formations, and while it twisted and turned, it never branched or split off in another direction. As far as he could tell, it was just a simple, straight shot. The only notable difference was that more and more of the luminescent lichen began to appear on the walls the further away from the river he traveled. There was never enough to brightly light any one area, but it gave off enough light that he was able to navigate his way ahead even when the creature wasn’t in sight.

  He lost track of time as he followed along, carefully picking his way behind the monster until he heard its shuffling gait stop abruptly. It had disappeared around a corner and out of sight for the time being, but he was certain that it was no longer moving.

  Carefully, Madison crept ahead until he came to the turn in the cave and peered around the corner. The passageway continued for a short distance and then opened up into a larger space. He silently moved up to the edge of the larger chamber, instantly spying the creature in the far corner of the room. The chamber itself was about forty feet long and around twenty feet wide, and the walls were lined with moss, giving him a decent view of everything that was going on.

  The creature was up to something in the far corner. Its stubby neck was thrust forward, and Madison could hear a smacking sound as if it was licking something there. It stopped and reached up with its long arms after a moment and carefully smoothed down whatever was hanging there before it started started licking it again. It repeated the procedure several times, and without anything else to do, Madison backed off down the tunnel, crouched down, and settled in to wait.

  He heard the creature start moving again after a while, this time coming back toward him, and Madison reflexively tensed up and started backing away. Madison listened intently, instinctively fearing the worst as horrible scenarios played out in his head. He had no idea how fast the creature might be if it decided to chase him, but he was fairly confident he could beat it back to the river as long as it had to drag its leg around. Then, the creature stopped again.

  He could still hear its rattled breath clearly, but it definitely wasn’t moving any longer, and after several long minutes, Madison settled down into a crouch again and waited. Time passed by slowly in the dark with nothing to do but listen to but the sounds the monster made as it inhaled, and when those began to slow and become even more rhythmic, he realized that it must have fallen asleep.

  Madison moved ahead cautiously once again while listening for any change in the creature’s breathing. He made it all the way to the entrance and risked sticking his head around the corner for a good look. As he had suspected, the troll-like monster had fallen asleep in one corner of the room, propped up with its back against the wall. He tiptoed into the chamber and past the sleeping beast, holding his breath so that he wouldn’t have to smell its foul odor as he moved past it, and then made his way across to where it had spent so much time.

  There, suspended in the corner, was Shayna. Her small form was unmistakable, and Madison felt a pang of guilt and emotion hit his heart like an arrow the moment he laid eyes on her. She was deathly pale and unmoving, and she had been plastered to the wall with some strange yellowish-green substance. Madison reached out tentatively and touched it, quickly retracting his hand as he felt the sticky, semi-hard substance. It was still wet from where the creature had licked it, and long trails of the phlegm-like ooze stretched off in trails as he pulled his hand away.

  That’s what it was doing. It must secret this stuff from its mouth. I guess it stored her here for later? Like a spider wraps up flies and keeps them until. . . Ugh. The thought made Madison sick to his stomach all over again.

  There’s no way I can leave her like that. I’m responsible for this . . . He glanced around the room until his eyes landed on something that might be useful. Quietly hurrying over the corner adjacent from the sleeping troll, Madison picked up what looked like a long, black stick. Once it was in his hand, however, he instantly realized that it was actually some kind of weapon. The entire thing was about five feet long, and one edge was chipped away with something—most likely a rock—and fashioned into a rough sort of edge that came to a thin point. The opposite end, which served as a grip, was long and worn smooth from use, and despite the weapon’s length and seemingly-solid structure, it was actually incredibly light.

  I guess this is what that thing’s been using a weapon . . . Madison looked at the sleeping creature, debating whether or not he should just kill it outright while he had the chance. It wouldn’t be hard to launch an attack while it was asleep: the problem would be finishing it off in a single blow. He had no idea how tough its skin was, and he could only guess as to where the vital organs were located. If he didn’t kill it outright, he would be sucked into a fight, and there was no telling what the outcome would be.

  In the end, he gritted his teeth and walked away, deciding to retrieve Shayna’s body instead. He couldn’t do much else, but he owed it to her not to let her be eaten by some bizarre creature. Even if he had to dump her body back in the river, he was going to at least do that much. Gripping the strange weapon in both hands, Madison started hacking away at the strange casing. He was afraid to hit it too hard for fear of making noise and waking the creature, so he was forced to stab and poke and pry away at it a little at a time. He stopped every so often and cast a glance over his shoulder, and he made certain to listen for the creature’s breath in between strokes, just to make sure that the beast hadn’t awoken.

  He stripped off one side first, and then the other, and at last, Shayna’s body peeled away from the wall. It started slowly, with her body tipping forward just slightly, and then the entire saliva shell gave way as she fell forward. Madison had just enough time to drop the weapon and grab her in order to stop her from smashing head-first into
the ground. He caught her body and eased her down gently as the long weapon clamored to the ground, bouncing back and forth before finally settling in a spot.

  Damn it. Madison cursed himself for not being prepared. I should have known that was going to happen and been ready for it.

  The troll jerked awake behind them with a confused moan and a startled growl, and Madison knew the moment that it laid eyes on him because of the savage howl it let out. He hastily propped up Shayna’s body against the wall and dove for the weapon he had dropped, coming up into a defensive stance the moment it was back in his hands. He laid eyes on the troll just in time to watch as it rocked back and forth as if gathering up momentum before springing to its feet in a single fluid motion. It started for the corner, as if going for its weapon, but stopped short when it couldn’t find it. It looked around in confusion, clearly searching the floor for the purloined weapon, and then let angry warble that echoed down the long corridor when it realized that Madison had stolen it. And then it charged.

  The creature actually turned out to be much faster than Madison expected, even while dragging its clubbed foot behind it. It barreled across the room by using its elongated arms for additional balance and speed, and it threw itself at Madison with one final horrible scream. He barely managed to roll out of the way, hurling himself to the side and coming up into a crouched position just in front of where he left Shayna, and he heard the creature collide with the wall behind him even as he came to his feet.

  Madison held his makeshift weapon up in front of him defensively and watched as the troll shook off the effects of slamming head first into a cavern wall. Such concussive force would have left any other creature stunned, but it barely seemed to faze the brute, and it was pushing itself back to its feet within seconds. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Madison lunged forward and stabbed out toward the creature with his weapon in a two-handed attack. The stubby point of his weapon struck cleanly into the troll’s shoulder and lodged there, causing the monster to jerk back violently from the sudden flash of pain. Madison gripped the weapon as tightly as he could, but the troll’s sudden movement threatened to rip it right out of his hands. There was a brief moment of uncertainty as he fought to maintain control, and then the entire end of the weapon snapped off, leaving a small tip lodged in the beast’s right shoulder.

  Damn it! Madison stumbled backward and readied himself again, quickly looking up the length of his blade to spy how much of its length had been lost. The creature thrashed about in pain for a moment, slamming his massive fists into the stone walls and floor in a fit of rage, and then it pushed itself back up and swiped out with his huge fist. Madison tried to receive the blow across the blade of his weapon, but the troll simply had too much strength. He threw the blade up in time and even shifted his hand to brace the blade, but it wasn’t enough. Madison was thrown backward, tripping over Shayna’s prone form as he tried to recover. His feet tangled up, and he landed on his rear up against the wall with a hard thud that sent reverberations up and down his spine.

  He rolled off of her as quickly as he could, pulling his legs up to his chest and then twisting around so that he could scramble forward on his hands and knees back over her body. The troll shambled forward and raised his fist up above its head, slamming it down in a powerful blow that Madison barely managed to avoid. There was a loud crack as the creature’s fist slammed the ground, and a stalactite cracked loose from the ceiling and came crashing down, narrowly missing Shayna.

  That’s twice that her body was almost completely smashed in as many seconds. I have to find a way to draw it away from her.

  Madison jumped back away from the creature and toward the center of the room. He was hesitant to leave her body lying there, but he knew that it was the best option if he wanted to defeat the creature. He couldn’t keep fighting and protect her at the same time, and staying in that corner severely limited his mobility. His only option was to keep its attention and hope that it wanted him dead more than it wanted dinner.

  “Hey!” Madison shouted, stamping his foot loudly against the stone floor. “You stink! Yeah, I’m talking to you! Hah! Come on, you dirty ape! Come on!”

  The creature snorted once, clearly unsure of how to react to Madison’s verbal taunts.

  “Let’s go! Over here!” Madison continued. “Does your mom smell as badly as you do?!” He kicked a rock at his feet as hard as he could, and it sailed through the air and struck the creature in the shin.

  That did it. The creature slammed the ground in front of it with both hands several times as if it were playing a set of bongos and then charged forward. Madison was willing to bet that the creature wasn’t too inventive with its attacks, so he shifted his weight to the side and prepared to jump out of the way. He turned his sword at the last possible second and threw himself to the side, and as predicted, the creature lunged forward at the last moment, trying to crush Madison with its weight just as it had before. This time, however, the blade of Madison’s pilfered weapon dragged across its upper arm, adding a second injury underneath the jagged tip that was already broken off there.

  Madison hit the ground hard and rolled over once before stopping his momentum and pushing himself back to his feet. He lunged forward as soon as he could, stabbing the sheared-off blade into the creature’s leg near its hamstring. Without a point, however, the blade simply couldn’t do much more than scratch the creature. It spun around at the waist, throwing a massive backhanded swipe at Madison before spinning around completely to face him. Madison jumped back out of the way and then lunged forward again. He brought his weapon around in a low, one-handed slash aimed at the creature’s shins, hoping that it was too large to jump effectively. The troll didn’t even make a move to avoid the attack, and the black blade connected squarely. There was a dull thud as the two connected, and his blade bounced off the troll’s shinbone harmlessly. It felt like he had struck a tree with a metal bat, and he felt the reverberations travel back up his weapon and into his arms.

  Madison’s eyes shot open in shock, and he barely remembered to dodge out of the way. The troll slammed both hands down at the same time in a type of axe-handle smash, and Madison actually felt the force of the blow from several feet away as the shock wave spread out through the hard rock.

  What in the world is this thing made out of?

  Madison took a step back and took stock of the hulking troll once again. His weapon couldn’t penetrate into its thick skin without a tip, his blade bounced off its shins harmlessly like he was striking stone, and so far, the only impact he had made was a cut along its upper arm along with the tip he had left buried in its shoulder.

  The creature twisted around to face him and swing its fist at him in another backhanded attack. Madison jumped back half a step, letting his blade drop down under the creature’s long arm and then whipped it back up at the last second. His blade cut into the troll’s forearm as it whipped past, and this time, a long trail of dark-red blood splattered out onto the stone.

  Aha! I can hurt it. I just have to catch it in the right spot.

  The creature howled in rage and confusion. It lifted its injured arm to its face, sniffed it a few times as if it had never seen blood before, and then started licking the wound. Within seconds, it had covered the long cut with the same yellow-green bile that it had used to encase Shayna when it had stuck her to the wall, and the flood of blood had stopped completely.

  . . . So, I have to catch it in the right spot and make sure that it’s somewhere it can’t reach. I guess that’s why it hasn’t sealed its shoulder shut yet: it can’t twist its head around to lick the wound.

  Madison hefted his weapon and took a half step forward, faking an attack. The troll dropped the arm it had been holding onto and lunged forward. It obviously had no concept of defense, only offense, and it was responding to a threat. Madison jumped backward, putting himself out of its reach, and then jumped forward again after its fist swung past. He stabbed forward with both hands, nicking the beast in th
e side near its waist, and then threw himself out of the way once again before it could connect with a follow-up blow.

  He actually managed to the exact same maneuver once more before the creature caught on. He faked an attack, leapt back, lunged in, and rolled out of the way. He felt like he was pressing his luck on the third try, but he went for it anyway. As it turned out, he actually was. The creature took its customary swipe after Madison faked his attack, but then it continued forward, swiping its other massive paw around from the opposite direction. Madison had already committed to his attack at that point, and the creature’s massive fist slammed hard into his chest.

  Madison was thrown completely off balance and went flying off to the side. He slammed into the ground hard and rolled over once before crashing into a stalagmite and coming to an abrupt halt. He sucked in deep breaths without moving as he ran through the mental checklist of things that might be broken. Out of all the things he had suffered through since coming to this world, he had never been hit that hard. Not even close. It left him in a sort of bewildered stupor where all he could do was watch and act on instinct as his brain ran through a preflight checklist of what should be working and what actually was.

  The troll loomed closer, slamming its fist down again, and Madison’s brain registered the danger just in time for him to fall out of the way. The creature slammed into the stalagmite that had stopped Madison moments before, and the rock formation shattered in a cloud of dust as tiny pieces went flying. His brain came fully awake again as it realized what was going to happen if he stayed put, and he was able to shake off the strange torpor. He rolled over onto his stomach and then scrambled around the creature, frantically doing everything he could to put some distance between himself and the troll. Once he was far enough away, he pushed himself back to his feet, albeit rather unsteady. It was almost as if his body wasn’t quite committed to the fact that it had to stand up and fight yet. He was amazed on some level that he still had enough breath left in him to fight, but he was so focused on the fight at hand that he barely gave it more than a passing thought.