Her words brought back a few flashing memories of my terrible flight from Bittertown. I shook my head and muttered, “I’m so sorry, Arren. I’m not like you. It should have been me.”
My friend smiled and gently laid her hand on my arm. “You’re right; we’re not the same. You will become greater than I could ever hope to be. I just want you to remember that it’s alright to be who you truly are. We all knew your heart, Nora. Those of us close to you knew your good points and your darkness, and we would have still followed you anywhere. In fact, you still have friends in the Jackals, too. Please get better at giving people a chance, Nora.”
“You always told me I need to be less trusting,” I accused.
“Yes, but it’s obvious that part of you will never change,” Arren replied, chuckling. “I have grown, too and I give better advice now. Just trust your heart, my sister. But right now, you have to wake up.”
Wake up.
Wake up.
***
My eyes snapped open in the dark, my heart in my throat. The strange dream lingered in my half-awake mind. I wasn’t sure what had woken me up, but I stayed motionless. My instincts had never been dull since my unhappy childhood, but since I’d become an adventurer, they’d been getting even keener. My instincts in that moment were screaming at me, and I listened. I barely breathed.
Soon I heard a scraping and felt the ground slightly vibrate accompanied with more scraping, like stone on stone. The sound had been close. Then there was silence again for several minutes while I continued to think quiet thoughts. I felt another thump, then a few dull thuds with more scraping.
There was a sudden rumble, and it felt like the tunnel was coming apart for a moment. I could feel the wind as pieces of rock flew past me. One nicked my cheek, cutting it. Another piece of jagged rock hit my stomach, but I stayed still and suppressed my groan. I was terrified. Something big - really, really big - was nearby.
I thought it might be trying to get to me.
Waves of hot breath ran down the tunnel, lifting my hair. In my terror, I offered a silent prayer to the universe and wondered about my rotten luck. Shockwaves spiked through the ground, complementing huge bumps as something enormous moved near me, and I had a sudden delusional idea.
I activated my tremble-sense ability, letting the power guide me. Instead of trying to feel anything approaching, I attempted to see using the ground. It turned out my delusional idea hadn’t been so delusional after all.
The surrounding area appeared like a picture in my mind, only in miniature. I could still see out of my eyes, not that I could currently actually see anything, but the vision overlaid it, like a multitude of rainbow-colored wires.
Every time a new massive bang rocked the ground, or a huge impact shook the tunnel, as long as I concentrated, the vision refreshed. With so many powerful vibrations, I could actually watch the line-vision move.
I’d heard of golem demons before. My dagger, Vistvis, had called this one a large armed stony skinned gap toothed raging golem demon. Now that I could see it, even as a model in my mind, I almost peed myself.
The monster was huge, like a spiky hill with legs. It was knobby and misshapen, and seemed either made of rock, or covered in it. Its face was ugly, like the parody of a human, and its legs were stumpy compared to the rest of its massive body. Its arms were disproportionately large, and its stubby fingers were clawed.
It kept trying to lower itself down far enough to peer through the tunnel, but the creature’s body was so huge, it couldn’t get low enough.
I watched with icy fear running up my neck as the monster reached into my tunnel, but then it grunted when it couldn’t fit far enough forward to get me. The clawed hand still came at least ten feet short, wildly grabbing at the air. Being able to actually see my body in the mental model of my tremble-sense vision made the whole situation surreal and even more terrifying.
Now that I could see the spectacle unfolding before me, I knew I could get up and escape. The temptation to flee was strong. However, logic compelled me to continue staying still and silent.
I would probably need to pass this area to leave the dungeon. It was possible that I could explore the other tunnels, but like I’d thought of before, that might lead to even more danger. I was already starting to feel hungry and thirsty, too. No, I had to gamble.
The golem monster’s behavior made me wonder if it actually knew I was even here, and I had to hope that it really didn’t know for sure. My theory was it had seen the light from my magic torch before I’d turned it off and fallen asleep.
The creature destroyed portions of the tunnel around itself in its struggle to see into my tunnel, and I tried to find peace. Pulling outward from my tremble-vision, I began looking further down the larger tunnel, and I mentally shook my head. The golem demon really was stupid. It had never widened the tunnel farther than what was necessary to move forward and back. This was why it could not lower itself.
I scanned even farther down the tunnel and began to get a good idea of what the golem demon had been up to the last few hundred years or so. I was also able to see the rest of the dungeon’s layout and confirmed that this was my only way out.
The tremble-vision had given me an idea. I might have a chance. Of course, everything hinged on whether the golem demon actually knew that I was hiding in the tunnel or not, so I would need to endure the flying rock, imminent danger, billowing breaths, and icy fear as long as it took.
I really hoped I was right. My continued survival currently rested on my assumption that my enemy was stupid, and I’d heard a long time ago that doing so was foolish.
Hopefully, I could continue living as a fool after this. I gulped as the tunnel seemed to breathe, the huge monster panting as it kept trying to lower itself. Rock chips continued to pummel my body, and ancient dust filled the air. At least I couldn’t see anything; that helped a little bit. Unfortunately, darkness has a way of feeding the imagination, so I couldn’t help but imagine a giant stone hand closing over my body.
Every second felt like an eternity as I sat there in the dark.
Glow in the Dark
One thing I realized during my enduring vigil, other than how overactive my imagination could be in the dark, was that the golem demon’s body emitted a soft glow. I hadn’t noticed at first because I had been too far away and didn’t actually look in that direction with my regular sight. Once I saw the glow, it kind of made sense, though. The monster might still need light to see.
Time all seemed to blend together before the huge golem gave up trying to grab anything or see into my tunnel. It chuffed angrily, lashing out at the tunnel walls in frustration. Each time it moved, basically every stomping step it took gave me another, updated view of my surrounding using my new tremor-vision ability. At this point, I honestly didn’t know whether the enormous monster had been attracted to my position by my light, or if it had felt my footsteps through the stone. That would have been ironic.
The golem demon roared and growled as it began gathering up the larger pieces of stone it had dislodged. Then as the huge stony beast stomped away, I watched it go using my tremor-vision. It didn’t turn around or seem particularly observant as it traveled.
Yes, I think my plan might work.
I had never been much of a schemer, but as plans went, this one was simple. The golem demon’s area was arranged simply. My tunnel continued on for a long, long way, eventually terminating in a dead end. Less than halfway along its length, it opened up into a large cavern that the golem demon must live in.
The cavern had a small trickle of water down one wall, probably how the creature sustained itself, but I didn’t know much about this kind of monster so I couldn’t be sure. On the far side of the chamber was a wide, deep chasm with a big tunnel on the other side.
The golem demon probably knew the tunnel was there, but couldn’t reach it across the chasm. Well, that or it had just needed a convenient place to dump the rock created from widening the tunnel it could r
each and expand. If its goal was to cross the chasm, that could take a while. Even after all this time, it really wasn’t very full.
The tunnel I was standing in told a story, too.
The far side was probably a dead end, so if adventurers came upon the golem demon, they could try to keep running forward into the other tunnel, but eventually be trapped. Then they’d have to either die of starvation or head back towards the golem monster—which would be waiting for them. It was a sinister layout. I wasn’t sure if the far side of the tunnel was trapped too, but it would not have surprised me.
The golem demon’s excavation history was obvious to me by the amount of detritus it hadn’t cleaned yet in the other tunnel. It had been working there. I was fairly certain I knew what had happened. The monster had been working on widening my tunnel for hundreds of years, but it had never been able to get low enough and close enough to look through to the other side.
As a result, it had worked until it had almost escaped, but the process had taken so much time, it must have decided to start working on the other tunnel. The beast was so stupid; it must not have understood that adventurers didn’t originate out of the other side. Either that or it had forgotten.
I shuddered to imagine the enormous monster roaming free around the lake.
To enact my plan, I needed to make a distraction. My side of the tunnel was relatively clear of rock. Now that I’d confirmed how the golem demon was moving, and that it was heading back to its home, what I really needed was to create a mess.
With the last of the monster’s ponderous footsteps close enough to use tremor-vision again, I generated a new wire model fresh in my mind. Then I carefully studied the area of tunnel near where I still silently sat. I paid careful attention to the ceiling and smiled when I found what I was looking for about ten feet past the lip of the tunnel I hid in.
Now I just needed to wait a while.
I scooted over as quietly as I could, placing myself deeper into my narrow tunnel. There was no need to court unnecessary danger, after all. I was already swimming in it.
After finding a comfortable place to sit, I settled in to wait.
***
About two hours later, and after a short nap, it was time to move. The tunnel, and by extension the entire dungeon was as silent as the grave. I couldn’t tell for sure where the golem demon was anymore, but I could imagine it was waiting in its lair, resting and watching the tunnels just in case there might be some adventurers to kill. I thought I could catch a glimpse of a tiny glowing spec in the distance, maybe its head, but I couldn’t be sure.
Either way, it didn’t matter.
I needed to catch the monster’s attention, but I couldn’t let it know for sure I was there. That meant I couldn’t use my magic torch. I wasn’t sure if it would even notice the glow, but I couldn’t risk using my light at all.
This was why I’d memorized the layout of the tunnel before. There had been one thing, in particular, I’d been looking for, which I’d found, and now I needed to locate it with my hands. The possibility that the golem demon could sense the vibration of my movements was a problem, but I had thought of a way around that.
When I got up, I used my Flight ability to lower my weight to a fraction of what it normally was. In the last few minutes, I had decided to name this ability feather-stepping. I feather-stepped out to the widened cavern, my spine tingling and sweat forming on my upper lip. The sense of danger was so thick, it felt like static electricity on my skin.
My injuries hurt, but not as badly as they might have. My Flight ability was taking a lot of strain off my body - a fact I was thankful for. I was still stiff, so I would need to proceed with care.
Especially since I couldn’t see a damn thing.
Measuring my paces carefully, I turned and walked to an otherwise indistinguishable part of the tunnel. I carefully searched for handholds on the wall—the rough, pummeled rock offered plenty of platforms to climb with.
I was careful not to make any sound as I climbed, and other than a few tiny pebbles, I didn’t dislodge any other pieces of stone. When I reached the ceiling, I carefully swung across hand-over-hand. Even being wounded, the effort to move this way wasn’t too bad since I currently had so little weight. I was beginning to feel some strain from maintaining my Flight ability, but I could deal with it.
I had to feel around for a while on the ceiling of the cave until I found what I was looking for. Then I smiled in the dark, my expression probably looking more grim than amused. If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what else I could do.
With one hand holding myself up, my fingers in crevices of the ceiling, I dropped my other hand to my belt and drew my blessed steel dagger. Vistvis wasn’t going to like this. Hopefully, she still couldn’t speak to me.
I activated my vib-blade ability through the blade and slammed it into a crack in the rock. The ability helped sink the blade, which helped since I had such terrible leverage as I hung. I quickly ended the ability once the blade was in the stone in case it might give my presence away.
Then I used the dagger as a lever and twisted. Any normal knife probably would have snapped in seconds, but Vistvis was made of blessed steel and was enchanted to boot. I felt a little guilty about risking the dagger so much, but this was the only plan I’d been able to come up with. If sacrifices had to be made, so be it.
At least she hadn’t been nice.
Luckily, the dagger held, and with a few more sharp spikes of pressure, I was able to get the outcome I’d been hoping for. A large section of the ceiling that had barely been attached suddenly broke off. The heavy mass of stone crashed down to the floor below.
I could feel the displaced air and billows of dust for a while. Hanging up on the ceiling of the tunnel made me feel incredibly exposed, and it was an effort of will not to immediately jump down. I really couldn’t afford to fall or get hurt, though.
With care, I sheathed Vistvis and used both hands again to hold myself aloft. Displaced rock was still settling on the ground when I began to feel rapid footsteps. I reflexively used tremor-vision, and could actually see the golem demon approaching my position as I hung from the ceiling.
I was terrified, but I took calming breaths and kept waiting until it was safe to jump down, alighting on a pile of stones with hardly a rustle. Then, without being jerky, keeping my motions smooth as possible, I crept back towards the narrow tunnel and safety. I could have run, but that might have given my position away.
By the time the golem demon arrived, I’d barely made it back into shelter. My lungs burned, my wounds felt like fire, and I desperately tried to keep my breathing quiet. My lungs demanded to rasp for air, and every second was a struggle.
Using tremor-vision had let me see where I was going, strange when I was viewing myself within a model, but it had also let me know how close I’d come to being discovered. Let’s not do that again, I thought.
Then I crept in the tunnel and watched as the golem demon examined the area, chuffing and bending close to things, probably due to the lack of light, bad eyesight, or both. During this time, I canceled all of my special abilities, trying to rest my power. Eventually, the huge monster acted exactly as I had hoped it would, picking up the majority of the stone I’d dislodged and ambling away.
I sprang into action, activating my feather-step ability and swallowing my fear. I tried to be as stealthy as possible, following the golem demon using a combination of its huge, dimly glowing form, and the little model in my mind from tremor-vision.
Even though the creature was obviously taking its time, it was still difficult for me to keep up, especially while staying silent. All my wounds ached, and the one in my back randomly created shooting pains. The chase was agony, but I gritted my teeth and focused on my task. I needed to stay focused, or the sheer weight of my fear could lead to something stupid.
When the monster slowed for a moment, I almost screamed, imagining it would turn and see me. Instead, it merely shifted its burden and scratche
d its stony ass before picking up the pace again.
I paused for a moment, closing my eyes, and after a couple calming breaths, I hurried forward in pursuit again. Putting one step in front of the other was taking a toll, and my head was starting to hurt from using all my abilities at high level for so long. I really had no other choice, though. If the golem demon turned and saw me, even if I could get away...what then?
Failure was not an option.
At some point during my mad, silent, weightless dash, my wounds had opened and started bleeding again. I could feel the warm wetness and smell the coppery blood even over all the dust swirling through the air. Hopefully, the golem demon couldn’t also smell it.
After what seemed like an eternity, I started to see more light. I hadn’t considered that the creature’s den would have a light source, but I probably should have assumed so. It didn’t really change my plan, though.
I followed the enormous monster into its lair and bit my lip. Light from a nearby fire, maybe a natural gas fire lit the cavern. In the glow, I actually got a good look at the golem demon for the first time with my own eyes, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Seeing the monster with my tremor-vision was one thing, but actually seeing it was like a splash of cold water on my courage. To this creature, I would be like a bug. I could only see the monster from behind, but that was enough.
My basic plan had been to follow the golem demon all the way to the chasm where it dumped debris, then somehow get across to safety. But then when the beast suddenly turned, time seemed to slow down. It dropped the rock it had been carrying, and moved towards a tiny waterfall against the wall.
Why would it get a drink before being done with the rock? Oh no, oh no, oh no, I desperately chanted in my mind. The monster turned, and while it headed to one side of the cavern, it happened to swing its ponderous head around. Then it saw me. My saucer plate eyes met the red-glowing balls of hate set in its inhuman face. I felt myself take two breaths before the creature chuffed explosively, like a steam engine. Then it turned so fast it shattered a rock under one foot.
Mitigating Risk (Nora Hazard Book 1) Page 15