by Jamie Davis
They traveled about 500 yards along the edge of the cavern when they encountered the first building. It was a small stone hut with a single room inside. It might have been the dwelling of a small family. Cari couldn’t be sure. Based on its size, it might have also been some sort of a storeroom.
There was a wooden door fitted to the stone opening and even a small open window with wooden shutters built into the front wall. The back of the building was set against the wall of the cavern, using the cavern wall to form the rear wall of the building as well. Cari walked around to both sides to check for any signs of habitation. That’s when she saw the other buildings spreading out into the cavern beyond the first one.
“It looks like we stumbled onto some sort of abandoned underground village,” Francesca observed.
“I wonder who lived down here?” Percy asked. “I can’t imagine living underground like this.”
“Whoever they are,” Cari said. “They were a good deal shorter than us.”
Cari stood by the doorway to the small hut. She had to duck under the lintel as she opened the door to check inside. Looking around the single room, she saw a table and three chairs. They were all made lower to the ground than would be normal for a human adult. Cari wondered if some other race of people lived here or if they were just pigmy humans.
As in the cave outside, there was a thick layer of dust on the floor indicating that whoever had lived here, had been gone a long time.
Cari turned and called out to the others. “Come on in. There’s plenty of room for all of us in here and, if we close the door, we should have some measure of safety.”
The others came into the small room and settled down to get the rest of their camp together. After a meal, including the last of their venison, everyone unrolled their blankets and made themselves a place to sleep.
Cari detailed guard duty for the night after dinner, dividing up the time between herself, Helen, and Francesca. Percy objected, saying he deserved a chance at guard duty as well, but Cari overruled him. She knew he wanted to earn his keep, but she figured it was best to have the more experienced adults be on guard.
Cari was glad she’d opted to be cautious and sought out a defensible position. The night’s visitors from the caverns arrived in the middle of Francesca’s shift on guard. She had been the second to take over guard duty in the middle portion of the night after Cari. Helen was scheduled to wake up early and relieve her.
Cari woke when Francesca gently shook her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “I hear noises outside.”
Cari sat up. Peering around the room in the gloom. They left the lamp lit but shuttered it to keep it as dim as possible so less light would escape the confines of the small hut. Her eyes adjusted well to the darkness, though, and she was able to make out everyone else in the room as Francesca moved around to wake the others.
Moving to the door, Cari pressed her ear against it listening carefully. At first, she didn’t hear anything. Then, she heard what Francesca must have heard. It was a sort of shuffling sound followed by the clicks of something against the stone floor of the cavern. It was almost as if someone were tapping a cane or a staff on the stone, sort of like a blind person would.
“I hear it too, Francesca. There’s definitely something out there,” Cari whispered. “Part of me thinks we should see if it passes on by, rather than checking to see what it is. On the other hand, I don’t think we want something breaking in the door to get in here with us. It would be no fun having a fight in these close confines. Any ideas?”
“I am with you, on that one, Cari.” Helen pointed to the door. “If there’s something out there, we should probably have a look and see what it is. It might be some harmless underground animal going about his business. If that’s the case, we can all go back to sleep.”
Cari was skeptical about the harmless animal idea, but she agreed with Helen. They needed to find out what was out there and now was as good a time as any. Cari checked to make sure her pistols were loaded and settled her sword baldric over her shoulder. Everyone else had armed themselves as well.
“All right I’ll open the door and go out first. The rest of you follow me. Percy, you stay in the doorway with the lantern and guard Jaycee.”
“I want to come with you. I want to see what it is too,” Jaycee said. The little girl had drawn her belt knife and held it in front of her ready to come join the adventure.
Cari shook her head. “Jaycee, this is all about getting you back to the capital. If there is something out there that we can show you, and it’s safe to come outside, I’ll return and get you so you can see it for yourself, all right?”
Jaycee’s lower lip thrust out in a pout and she shoved her belt knife back into its sheath and crossed her arms. Cari decided that would have to be good enough. The little girl was unlikely to be happy no matter what she said. She didn’t have to be pleased with the idea of staying in here with Percy to guard her, she just had to obey Cari.
Gripping the latch to the door with one hand Cari prepared to lift it and swing the door open. “Everyone ready?”
The others all nodded, and Percy lifted up the lantern ready to open the shutters and throw light on whatever was outside. Cari nodded and thrust open the door, running out to stand to the left of the doorway and make room for Francesca and Helen to come behind her.
As soon as Percy reached the entrance behind the others, the lantern spread a glow of light out about 20 yards into the cavern.
Cari spotted the source of the sound instantly. She was also immediately sorry she’d decided to come out.
A quartet of enormous spiders spun around in place and froze for a few seconds, startled by the sudden light appearing in their midst. That didn’t last long, though.
With a screech like fingernails on a chalkboard, the four spiders leaped forward as one. Each was easily as big as a horse and they were going to be tough to take down.
Cari drew her sword in her left hand while she pulled out one of the pistols. Francesca and Helen both did the same.
All three weapons fired at the same instant.
Cari aimed at the center of the compound eyes stretched across the face of the horrible spider coming right at her. The pistol ball impacted and broke off a large chunk of the spider’s shell before ricocheting off into the darkness. The spider slowed for a few seconds, shaking off the blow, then continued on.
Helen and Francesca had both aimed at the same spider, and they had more luck. At least one of their pistol balls found something vital and the spider flipped over onto its back with its legs scrabbling at the air. It was clearly dying.
The other two spiders drove in at them however and soon all three of them were in a desperate fight for their lives.
Cari knew she had to finish off her spider as quickly as possible and help the others. That was easier said than done, though. Her sword kept bouncing off the spider’s armor. The thin rapier blade just wasn’t heavy enough to pierce the spider’s shell.
Dropping the first pistol to the ground, Cari drew the second. She pulled back the hammer with her other hand and fired it point blank at the spider as she danced around outside its reach.
The lead pistol ball once again missed any gaps in the armored carapace and ricocheted off into the darkness.
Cari drew her dagger. She realized she was going to have to get in close to do what she had to do. The broad, thick dagger blade had much more punch to it than her sword did. If any of her weapons stood a chance of breaking through the armor now, her dagger did.
The spider drove forward at her, swiping at her with both its front legs.
Cari dodged to one side, rolling to the ground and back to her feet as the spider stabbed out with one of its front legs. There were wicked talons at the end of each of the appendages and she didn’t want to think about what would happen if one of them got ahold of her.
Cari jumped back to her feet from her diving roll and dodged in to stab downward at the rear of the spider’s abdomen wi
th her dagger. She’d come up standing between two of the four legs on that side and was out of reach of the talons this close into the beast.
She realized she only had a second or two before she had to dive back out of the way again. It wouldn’t take long for the spider to spin and try to bring its venom-dripping fangs to bear at her.
Cari’s dagger blade skittered along the top of the spider’s tough carapace, but then the blade’s tip reached the joint where one of the legs entered the body. At the crease in the joint the dagger dug in and Cari leaned forward with all her weight pressed against her weapon. She shoved in and down for all she was worth.
The dagger sank in up to the hilt and the long, segmented leg beyond the joint stopped moving. She’d severed something vital and the spider knew it. It screeched and spun around to try and reach the source of its pain.
Cari yanked the dagger free and dove backward just as the spider’s fangs came around at her. She almost made it free but one of the fangs scraped a grazing blow on her lower leg just above the top of her boots. Despite being a minor wound, pain flared in her lower leg. A new message appeared before her eyes.
Health damage — health -6
Saving throw versus poison successful
She was right about the fangs; these things were definitely poisonous. They were all going to have to be careful. She didn’t know if any of them had a way to stop or cure poison.
Cari called out to the others. “Be careful, those things are poisonous. Don’t let them get a hold of you.”
As she yelled her warning, the spider forced her to back up as it charged at her. She circled around with her back to the cavern wall so that she could remain inside the dim circle of light. She didn’t want to fight this thing in the dark where it would be in its usual element.
The spider continued to charge in at her and Cari realized it was going to pin her between itself and the cavern wall. Looking to either side, she realized she’d backed into a curved notch in the cavern wall. There was rock to either side of her. She wouldn’t have anywhere to escape if she didn’t think of something.
Taking the only option open to her, Cari ran forward directly at the spider. She bounded upward at the last instant lifting her feet up under her to clear the spider’s attack.
The snapping jaws of the spider’s venomous fangs closed in the air where she had been standing a moment before.
Letting her leap carry her forward, she bounded off the top of the spider’s head with her boot, then ran across the spider’s back and jumped to the ground behind it.
Before the arachnid could spin around, Cari stabbed downward with her dagger. Once again, she tried to find a weak spot in the armored shell.
The spider lurched away from her as the dagger sank into the creature, finding a crevice in the shell with the heavy-duty blade. Cari once again pressed forward with all of her weight, driving the dagger in as far as it would go.
This time the spider screeched again and tried to spin around to get at her. Its movement had slowed down by a noticeable amount after the attack. It was sorely injured now.
Out of the corner of her eye, Cari noticed that Francesca and Helen managed to finish off one of the remaining spiders. They now worked together, fighting the fourth and final spider to face them.
Cari stood her ground, as the spider turned and came at her. The one she faced was the largest of them all but she’d managed to slow it and injure it. She had to finish it off quickly now that it was wounded.
She waited until it charged right up at her and lunged forward with her dagger, stabbing deep into the spider’s gaping maw, jerking her arm to the side and letting go of her weapon just as the spider’s venomous jaws closed. The fangs missed her skin by a fraction of an inch.
The dagger, now sunk to its hilt in the creature’s face, had already done its lethal damage. It must’ve pierced all the way to the spider’s tiny brain because, within a few seconds, it dropped to the ground and went still.
10,500 experience awarded
Cari reached in and retrieved her dagger, then turned around to help her friends. Helen and Francesca had things well in hand, with their spiders. With a single thrust of her cutlass, Helen finished the final spider.
Cari called out to Percy. “Bring me the lantern.”
Percy ran over from the doorway to bring Cari the lantern.
Jaycee stepped up the look out the door and sucked in a gasp of what must’ve been a cross between excitement and fear. The little girl saw the spiders and covered her eyes with both hands, though Cari could see her peeking out from between her fingers.
Cari didn’t know why, but the image of the little girl peeking at the battle’s aftermath through the gaps between her fingers brought a smile to her face. Jaycee was a child, after all, and sometimes children did funny things. It helped to relax the tension of the desperate battle fought in the eerie, silent darkness of the cavern.
She took the lantern from Percy when he got to her side and walked a broad perimeter around the outside of the hut. Looking in the dust where the spiders had been. Cari looked and listened carefully but neither saw nor heard any signs there were any more of the creatures out there.
She returned to the others and handed the lantern back to Percy. “It looks like these were the only ones. I have to think there aren’t too many more like them around since these would’ve had quite a territory to cover to feed themselves down here.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get back to sleep at this point no matter what you say, Cari.” Helen shuddered as she cleaned the black goo of the spider’s guts off her cutlass blade.
“That’s all right, it’s your turn to be on guard anyway,” Francesca said. “I’m ready to get some sleep.”
“All right, let’s head back inside and close the door. We can try and settle in again to get whatever sleep we can. Helen, you take the rest of the watch. Wake us when you think it’s morning. We’ll have some breakfast and get back on the path.”
Everyone headed back into the hut, but it took all of them a while to settle down. The quiet conversations continued for nearly an hour about the fight and who might have lived down here with such creatures nearby. Soon, however, exhaustion from their flight into the mountains and down into these tunnels took over. Helen stood by the door, carving a design with her belt knife on a piece of spider shell she’d harvested. She remained awake and on guard for any further dangers while the others drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 12
The following morning came too fast. It was only a few hours after the fight with the spiders when Cari woke up and saw Helen tending the small camp stove in the center of the hut. She was heating up some tea.
“I’ll have some of that.”
Helen smiled, poured her some tea into a tin cup, and handed it to Cari.
Cari sipped at the plain black tea, wishing for some cream or even honey to sweeten it. When they were on the road like this, it was hard to find things like that. She’s gotten used to having it when on board a ship.
“Hopefully we don’t run into any more spiders,” Percy said sitting up from his bedroll and stretching his arms. “Those things looked nasty.”
“They were nasty,” Cari said. “We’re just lucky no one got poisoned.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure what I would’ve done if someone had,” Helen said. She had been the healer for Cari and her crew before she became the first mate. Helen knew what she was talking about. It forced Cari to remember to be cautious with getting into any fights down here in these tunnels. They wouldn’t be able to stop in the next town and try to purchase some healing potions while they were down here.
Francesca came in from outside. She must’ve been tending to some personal needs.
“Did you find someplace we can use as a latrine?” Cari asked the woman as she set the lantern she carried down by the door.
“There’s a fissure, in the ground about ten yards to the right after you leave the door. There didn’t
seem to be anything down there when I looked into it.” Francesca chuckled as she continued. “Certainly nothing complained when I went to the bathroom in it.”
“Good,” Cari said. “We can all take a turn using it. Let’s finish our breakfast and get moving again. I’d like to get away from those dead spider carcasses. They’re likely to draw scavengers and I’m not sure I want to find out what kind of creature scavenges in a place like this.”
“I second that,” Helen said.
The group gathered their gear after having a brief breakfast of the remaining cheese and some of the jerky. They’d finished off the venison they brought with them the night before. They were down to the trail rations they managed to gather together from the ship before they left.
“We’ll continue moving along the side of the cavern, keeping the wall to our right. My hope is to find an exit roughly opposite where we entered. That should take us on a continued path towards the other side of the mountains.”
“How can you even get a handle on which direction you’re going?” Helen asked. “I have no idea where we are down here.”
“I’m not sure where I’m going either,” Cari said. “I’m just trying to trust the process.”
Helen frowned at that but left it alone.
Once they all shouldered their packs again, they left the tiny hut in the small village behind them. They continued their path walking around the outskirts of the cavern to the right. As they went farther and farther, they encountered more and more buildings until Cari realized they were entering what amounted to an underground city.
The buildings were now much larger than the single-story hut in which they’d stayed the night. Most had two or three stories now. After traveling forward, Cari found herself walking down what amounted to a main thoroughfare with buildings and homes freestanding on the left of her in the open cavern and others stacking up like stairs leading up to the ceiling on the right, all built right into the wall of the cavern. It must’ve been magnificent living down here when this city was inhabited.