Tales of the Wolf: Book 02 - Enter the Wolf

by A. E. McCullough

  Odovacar nodded. “Aye. Let’s get busy.”

  The three warriors moved off to begin the retreat, hoping beyond hope that their friend was still alive and that the snows would hold off for a few more days.

  Chapter 5

  Hawkeye and Kang moved slowly through the new corridor. There weren’t any signs of life but there were plenty signs of death. Scattered bones, tattered clothing and a few rusted swords littered the area. Kang seemed to be particularly on edge and jumped at every sound; from the scrape of a boot on the rocky ground, to the occasional drip of water falling into a hidden pool somewhere close.

  Rounding a bend in the corridor, Hawkeye paused.

  It was pitch dark. The luminous lichen he had used earlier to light the way wasn’t present in this corridor and the light from the lava pools was blocked by the bend in the corridor. Without either light source, Hawkeye couldn’t see and he was reluctant to proceed further.

  Kang had moved about twenty feet ahead when he stopped and turned back to face his barbarian friend. It was their separation at that very moment which saved their lives.

  Hawkeye and Kang had been extremely careful in their passage through the cavern, looking for any signs or tracks of whatever creature had feed on the owners of the bones. What they hadn’t done was looked to the roof of the cave. If they had, they might’ve noticed that they were being followed. When they separated, the creature was at a loss on which one to attack and paused. When Kang turned around, it dropped from the ceiling to land gracefully about midway between the two and immediately attacked the diminutive gnome.

  In the darkness of the corridor, Hawkeye couldn’t make out the fine details of the creature which dropped in between them but he knew it was big and judging from its actions, wasn’t friendly.

  Immediately stringing his bow, he began firing arrow after arrow at the creature. Unfortunately, most of his first projectiles just bounced off the hard exoskeleton of the creature without causing any major injury.

  Kang was paralyzed with fear the moment he saw the creature.

  It was a monster out of his cultural folklore and one he never expected to encounter. It was known as a girtabilu or a scorpion-man. The upper torso was that of a gnomish warrior, tattoos and all, while the lower portion was that of a large scorpion. Kang saw the gleam of sweat reflecting off the girtabilu’s tattoos and knew at that moment that his life was over. He didn’t even get a chance to defend himself before he felt the sting of its scorpion-like barb enter the flesh around his left shoulder and from that moment on, Kang was beyond caring.

  Hearing his companion’s scream suddenly cut off, Hawkeye knew at that moment that he was alone and at a severe disadvantage. Taking several steps back into the more lighted part of the corridor he paused in his firing. He didn’t want to waste any more of his arrows until he had a clear shot. It was only a few heartbeats but it seemed like an eternity before the creature emerged into the light and Hawkeye got his first chance to study it.

  The creature was the size of a small pony and its four pairs of legs moved it quickly across the rocky ground. The gnome-like upper torso was covered in the same hard exoskeleton plates which protected the rest of its body. It didn’t have hands but instead two rather large pincers which clicked open and closed in eager anticipation. Its face was contorted in a mockery of a grin as it advanced on the barbarian.

  However, Hawkeye’s attention was fixed on the large tail hovering over its head. Its barb still dripped with a mixture of poison and blood, informing him of his friend’s fate. Seeing the tail tremble ever so slightly, Hawkeye dropped his bow and leapt backward. The lightning-swift strike of the girtabilu’s scorpion tail missed him by mere inches. Continuing his backward motion, Hawkeye shifted into his hybrid werewolf form and leapt into the air as another strike hit the ground where he had only been seconds before.

  The two predators began a grand game of cat and mouse in the lava chamber. The girtabilu’s eight legs allowed it swift movement along the ground or walls, while Hawkeye’s werewolf reflexes and hyperacute senses allowed him to dodge and leap like no other creature the scorpion-man had ever hunted.

  However, Hawkeye wasn’t content just to avoid the creature, he wanted it, nay needed it dead. As he would change directions, rebounding off the walls, several of his passes would take him directly over or under the charging monster. The first two passes, Hawkeye left his tomahawk and knife buried in the monster’s exoskeleton. After that, he would just lash out with his claws leaving long gouges in the creature’s flesh.

  * * * * *

  The girtabilu was confused.

  Never in its short life had it not incapacitated its prey in the first few seconds of battle. Nothing had been able to defy its swift and deadly tail; at least not until now.

  This strange fur covered creature had not only avoided his stinger but had been able to pierce his armor time and time again. Survival being the upmost priority in its mind, it shifted its course back down the corridor to grab up its first victim. Scooping it up with its large claws, it began climbing back into the darkness of the cavern ceiling; knowing that its den and the promise of safety that it offered wasn’t far off.

  Just as it crested the lip of the ledge which was its lair, the girtabilu felt a sharp pain at the base of its skull as its head was thrust forward violently. It stumbled two more steps into its lair before collapsing. Glancing around briefly at its treasures, it closed its eyes for the last time.

  * * * * *

  Kang’s whole world was pain; that was all he knew.

  It was as if his very blood was on fire. All the heat and pain radiated outward from the wound on his shoulder. As bad as the pain was, the inability to move or scream was worse. Kang was paralyzed. Not with fear this time but truly paralyzed by the venom of the girtabilu. However, slowly his darksight was returning and the pain was lessening. Not that it was gone but the scout found that he could turn his head slightly and flex his right hand; two things that he couldn’t do several minutes ago. Hell, a few minutes ago he didn’t have an organized thought due to the overwhelming pain.

  Slowly and carefully, Kang looked around.

  He was in a small alcove of rock. Along the back wall seemed to be a bed of bones. Shifting his head in the opposite direction, Kang nearly fainted when he saw the looming figure of the scorpion-man. When it didn’t move, he studied it further and noticed that an arrow was protruding from the back of its skull. Kang called out. “Hawkeye?”

  From somewhere below, he heard an answer. “Thank the blessed sisters you’re alive.”

  Kang crawled to the edge of the ledge and gazed down. It had to be over a hundred feet to the cavern floor. The barbarian was sitting cross-legged and whittling on what appeared to be an old bone. “How…how long was I out?”

  Hawkeye shrugged. “Who can say for certain? Ten…maybe twelve hours. It’s been awhile. I was beginning to lose hope.”

  “You will discover that we gnomes are hard to kill.”

  “I am glad to see that. Without a guide, I am quite lost down here.”

  Kang tried to move his left arm but found that it still didn’t want to work properly. “Speaking of down, let me look around up here and see if there is anything that will help me get down.”

  Hawkeye answered with a grin. “Take your time. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  Kang stood up slowly. Every muscle in his body ached but if this was the price of being alive, then he was happy to pay it. Moving around the ledge, Kang began to pull out anything that looked valuable. Within minutes, he had a pile of backpacks, weapons, two small boxes and one large chest.

  Rumaging through the packs first, he found the standard camping items one would expect to find; cooking utensils, flint and steel, a couple of canteens filled with water, two hooded lanterns and several flasks of oil. Most of the weapons were rusted except one short sword and a large knife. Both seemed to be made of steel and still had a sharp edge on them. Tucking these away, he turn
ed his attention on to the small boxes.

  One was about a foot long and the other about half that. Both were made of an ornately carved reddish wood that seemed as hard as iron. Kang guessed it to be ironwood; a tree found in the lower parts of the Highlands that when cured properly, had the strength of iron, hence its name. Both were locked. Pulling out a pick and tension wrench, he set to work picking the lock. It was only a matter of minutes until he had them both open. Inside the larger of the two was what he had been hoping for…rope. But this wasn’t just any rope; this was a rope made of spider-silk.

  Spider-silk was actually a dark elf invention. Using a well-kept secret process, they milked the large spiders found throughout Subterreth and used its webbing in crafting a lightweight but unbelievably strong rope. On one end was a large ball-like device which Kang recognized as a grappler; a magical device which upon command would extrude a gel-like substance that would stick to anything. By simply giving it another command, the grappler would release. This was a great treasure and one that he knew would allow him to escape this ledge.

  Opening the smaller box, he found a pair of goggles. Holding them up, he gazed through them but nothing happened. Placing them back in the box, he peeked in the large chest and felt his stomach catch in his throat. It was full of treasure. Gold, jewels, rings, coins and necklaces filled the chest. Being ever practical, Kang grabbed a handful of the treasure and filled one of the leather backpacks. Stuffing the rest of the camping gear and small boxes in the other, he moved back to the ledge.

  “I found some rope and items we might find useful for our journey. I’m going to lower them down.”

  “Okay,” came Hawkeye’s reply. “Do me a favor; see if you can retrieve my tomahawk and knife. I left them with our friend.”

  “Will do.” Tentatively moving toward the corpse of the scorpion-man, Kang spied the tomahawk and pulled it free. Tucking it into his belt, he looked over the body. Hawkeye’s knife was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging his shoulders, he moved back to the ledge and lowered the packs down to his companion.

  Kang studied the grappler and took note of the two words etched there. Speaking the first command word, “Capto,” he watched as the gel-like substance covered the ball. Touching the grappler to the rock wall, it held fast and he slowly lowered himself to the cavern floor.

  Hawkeye was more relieved to hear the gnome’s voice than he cared to admit. Partly it was because he was completely lost underground and Kang was his best hope for getting out but mostly it was that he had come to like the scout. He seemed to be a man of principles and that seemed to be lacking in the gnomish society.

  Hawkeye couldn’t hold back his grin at seeing his friend lower himself to the cave floor. “I’m sure glad to see you.”

  Kang nodded. “It is good to be seen. I thought I was a gonner when that Girtabilu attacked.”

  “Ahh. That’s what it’s called. That’s good to know.”

  Kang looked around. There were fresh gouge marks all over the cavern wall and floor. Looking back at the barbarian, the gnome just raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question.

  The barbarian just shrugged and went back to his whittling.

  Handing the barbarian his tomahawk Kang said, “I couldn’t find your knife, it must’ve been on the underside of the beast.”

  “No worries.”

  Kang dumped out the backpacks, including the one with all the treasure. “But look what else I found.”

  Even though Highlanders do not trade in precious metals, that didn’t mean he was beyond the beauty of their sparkle. Pushing them aside, he pulled out the smaller ironwood box.

  “It has a pair of goggles inside; nothing special about them. Seems like a waste to me to have something so ordinary inside such a well-crafted case.”

  “Indeed.” Pulling out the goggles, Hawkeye held them up to his eyes and recoiled at the brightness. “Whoa.”

  “What?”

  Removing his wolf headdress, Hawkeye slipped on the goggles and looked around. Everything was bright. It was as if the mid-day sun was shining inside the cavern. The corridor he had paused in earlier because it was so dark was clearly lighted. Hawkeye whistled. “These are incredible.”

  “What? They don’t do anything.”

  Hawkeye shook his head. “Not to you. You already have darksight.”

  “Seriously? You can see down that corridor?”

  Hawkeye nodded. “Aye. It’s as clear as if I was standing under Hyperion’s chariot.”

  Kang whistled. “Now I know why they were inside that ironwood case. I guess they are worth more than the box.”

  “Way more.” Pulling them down around his neck, he replaced his headdress. “You don’t mind if I use them, do you?”

  Kang shook his head. “Nay. They are yours. I’ve no need for them.” Pulling out the short sword and large knife, he laid them on the ground between them. “These seemed to be the only weapons of any worth up there.”

  Ignoring the sword, Hawkeye pulled out the knife and admired the workmanship. “Dwarvish, unless I miss my guess.”

  “I agree. Too well crafted to be anything but.” He looked up at his barbarian friend with a grin. “Of course, I’ll deny that I said that to my last breath.”

  Hawkeye chuckled and gestured with the knife. “You mind? Since I left mine in the belly of the scorpion thingy, I’m one weapon short.”

  “Nay. I’ll keep the sword unless you want it also.”

  “No. These two items will serve me well.”

  Kang pointed at the treasure. “Half of this is yours. I wouldn’t be alive if not for your skill at the bow.”

  Hawkeye shook his head. “I have no need for such baubles. Keep it. Use it to start over away from Backfang’s influence.”

  “I’ll do that. But first, we must get you out of Subterreth alive.”

  “I like that idea.”

  Gathering up their possessions, Hawkeye donned his enchanted goggles and the two friends moved off in search of a way to the surface.

  * * * * *

  It wasn’t long after the two friends departed the cavern with the lava pools when another creature entered. It was small, heavily cloaked and walked with a pronounced limp but it moved through the lighted chamber with a purpose. Stopping directly below the girtabilu’s corpse, it looked up and sniffed the air with its furry snout.

  Muttering to itself, it waved its hands as it cast a simple spell and floated upwards to the deceased monster’s lair. Disappearing inside, when it floated down several minutes later it was carrying a backpack which jingled with gold. As the creature made its way back into the lava pool chamber, it muttered again and sprinkled some sort of grey powder across the floor of the entire corridor.

  Satisfied with its spell, the creature limped its way out of the lava chamber using the opposite opening the companions had used earlier.

  Chapter 6

  Hawkeye paused and studied his surroundings as Kang had taught him.

  They were in a dry cave, which meant a large opening or chamber without any sign of water. No running stream, no springs or drips of water present. This also meant no stalactites or stalagmites; he still had trouble remembering which was which. Focusing all his attention to the floor of the cave, he noted that there were faint scratches in the rocks near the back.

  “Here.” Hawkeye pointed at the marks. “Something hard was placed here.”

  Kang moved forward and studied the scratches. “And what does that tell you?”

  Hawkeye thought about it. Reading signs and tracks was something he had been doing since he was a young child and he was as skilled a tracker as there was in the Highlands. But reading signs in the rocky surface of Subterreth was something completely different. He felt like a complete novice again. Instead of being frustrated about it, Hawkeye embraced the confusion and enjoyed the lessons.

  “Whatever was placed here was then,” pointing at a faint mark on the wall, “leaned against the wall. I would say that a traveler set his axe h
ere, blades down, as he rested.”

  Kang nodded. “Good. Two questions; what type of creature was it and is it safe for us to use to rest?”

  Hawkeye shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea about the creature but it should be reasonably safe to use. It is off the corridor and we would have our backs to a wall.”

  Kang shook his head. “No, never rest in an alcove. Yes, we have our backs to the wall but then we would die with our backs to that same wall. There is only one way in or out and we are not far enough off the main corridor for someone to not notice us. Besides, there is no water or fungi here; this is nothing more than a death trap for the unwary.”

  Hawkeye nodded and filed away the information. He had a lot to learn about survival in the underground world of Subterreth and he knew it.

  Kang moved over to one area of the dry cave and pointed at a slight discolorization of the rock wall. “I would say the traveler was an ogre. He used this area to piss in and was here about ten-days ago.”

  Hawkeye studied the discolorization and flaked off a bit of the rock to smell. The odor of urine was ever-so faint. “An ogre? What’s that?”

  Nodding his head, Kang led them out of the cave and back into the corridor.

  “They are another creation of the dark elves. They wanted stronger guardians and slaves. Where they used mighty magic to blend a giant scorpion and a humanoid to create the girtabilu, they used more subtle magics to force captured jotens to mate with their strongest female orc slaves. Their offspring are known as ogres. Larger than orcs but smaller than jotens, they can be a deadly opponent. Luckily, they are not numerous and not entirely smart but they are unbelievably strong.”

  “An ogre? That’s new. I have so much to learn.”

  “If you wish to survive down here you do. Keep in mind; we are only in the Subterreus region. This is moderately tame compared to the Infernus.”

  “Subterrues? Infernus? What are those?”