The blackness quickly closed in around Lieut, Vythe and Fairris as they moved deeper into the tunnel, but before any of them could suggest lighting a torch, a crystal hanging on the wall began to glow. It was faint at first, but as Lieut continued to walk it grew brighter, and soon another crystal further down the tunnel joined the first. Although the glow was dim, the light it cast was more than adequate for Lieut to see where he was going. The tunnels of the mines were quite wide and the ceiling fairly high, but oddly enough there was no evidence that something had clawed its way out from the depths of the tunnels. This was reassuring in many ways and seemed to make Vythe’s explanation of a Magi causing Gul’s annihilation more plausible.

It was an easy trip through the mines, but both Vythe and Fairris still felt anxious so they talked little. As they did not come across monsters lurking in the darkness their trek was agreeable enough.

Several times on their journey Lieut cautiously led the way along narrow paths where to one side a deep hole had been cut down into the earth with thin trails spiralling down its sides. But the sinkholes were few and most of the time he was leading the trio through square-cut tunnels with sharp turns and crystals glowing dimly intermittently along the walls.

Every now and then they would come by an anti-chamber, where Vythe insisted on looking inside for lost treasures.

Surprisingly, as Lieut led them past another door it was instead Fairris who was the one to check inside. She barely spent two seconds inside the room before she rushed back out with tears in her eyes.

“Curious,” Vythe remarked softly as both Lieut and Vythe looked inside the room. “But there is nothing in here, only an old table and chairs like all the other rooms. Well, I suppose the lack of a king’s treasure is enough to reduce someone to tears.”

“Here,” Lieut remarked and he pointed to one of the room’s wooden supports.

On the beam carved into the wood was Fairris’s name alongside several others.

“I see. This must have been where Fairris and her friends stayed during their recruitment for the prison she was telling me about,” said Vythe. “An understandably painful memory considering their recent deaths.”

Lieut did not reply and he left the room.

Back in the corridor Fairris had continued on without them, but she had not gone far. Around the next corner Fairris waited for them, her eyes rimmed with moisture, but she wiped away the tears and motioned for Lieut to continue to lead.

Lieut had not gone far when they came across another door, which of course Vythe insisted on checking in.

“You will not find anything,” Lieut said in annoyance.

“How can I know that if I never look?” Vythe winked at him as he moved through the door.

“You will not find anything, because there is nothing to find,” Lieut replied irritably. “All that is left in this place is rotting wood and dust. So let us move on quickly and be rid of it.”

“It is odd that you should say that there is nothing to find.” Vythe smiled as he ducked his head out the door. “For I have in fact just found the perfect place to rest for the night.”

Lieut let out a growl of frustration as he followed Fairris through the door. “I should just leave the two of you behind,” Lieut said with a sigh as he sat down at the table.

“You should,” Vythe replied as he looked about the small room for treasures, “That way you can only blame yourself for getting lost in these tunnels. Fairris is the only one of us who knows the correct path through the darkness, but, like myself, she cannot walk tirelessly for days on end. So, if you want to be certain of getting out of this place I suggest you stay with us and wait whilst we rest. But honestly, are we really that bad a company to have?”

Lieut did not reply and Vythe went back to looking about the room. Lieut stretched his neck in frustration and turned his eyes to Fairris as she moved to the cast iron stove to light a fire using the rags of the tattered old bunk bed in the opposite corner.

“How interesting,” Vythe mumbled as he held up a stone and grabbed Lieut’s attention.

“Ebonite ore in an ebonite mine,” Lieut felt compelled to remark sarcastically. “What a remarkable treasure you have found.”

Vythe glanced at him before looking back at the stone. “Your sarcasm is unfounded, Lieut,” Vythe replied dryly. “For, if I am not mistaken, this is not just ebonite, but ‘ebonesium’.”

“What?” Fairris asked curiously, walking over from the lit fire.

“Magi in the Er’athore Laboratories in Aierthian created ebonesium by subjecting ebonite to high levels of condensed Fog,” Vythe explained. “It is the only way to form the metal, and yet here it is, seemingly to have formed naturally. See how the Fog flickers within its depths? A clear indication of ebonesium, and its obvious outward appearance is so very different to manufactured ebonesium.”

“You know as well as I do that naturally formed ebonesium is a foolish concept,” Lieut replied seriously.

“Is it?” Vythe looked at him. “Have a closer look then, Professor.”

Vythe tossed the fist-sized stone to Lieut, which he caught without taking his eyes off Vythe. Holding it up before him, Lieut looked closely at the black rock, the edges were smooth and within its crystalline surface the Fog shimmered. Lieut was unimpressed and tossed the rock back to Vythe who passed it to Fairris.

“Still consider it foolishness?” Vythe asked smugly.

Lieut did not answer.

“Is your sword made of ebonesium, Lieut?” asked Fairris as she sat down at the table across from him.

“No,” Lieut replied.

“What is it made from then?” Fairris persisted curiously as she gave the rock back to Vythe.

“A metal.”

Vythe cursed quietly as he took up the last chair by the table. “You and your secrets Lieut.”

“We are three of a kind then,” Lieut replied as he stared hard at Vythe.

“I think I begin to understand you somewhat Lieut,” Vythe said genuinely, causing Lieut to scoff.

“You once asked how I ended up in the prison.” Vythe looked at Lieut and then Fairris. “I will tell you both. I was betrayed and wrongly accused of murder. My family is a noteworthy house in Port Na’brath but that provided little influence and I was imprisoned at the Gaia Mountains Penitentiary. A tragic tale, but that is it and it cannot be changed.”

“I had no idea,” Fairris said quietly when Vythe had stopped.

“I told you I was innocent.” Vythe shot Fairris a smile that made her laugh a little.

“And that is the whole truth is it Vythe?” Lieut asked sceptically.

Vythe narrowed his dark eyes. “Mostly the truth.”

“Mostly.” Lieut smirked.

“Which is still more than you,” Vythe was quick to say as he glared at Lieut.

“I …” Fairris stammered quietly, grabbing both Lieut’s and Vythe’s attention. “The reason why I was at the prison …”

Fairris paused.

“I used to be in the Elestarl Guard. One day we were tracking a small band of Darian raiders though the desert.” Her delicate finger began to draw swirls in the dust that had gathered on the table. “I … the Darians ambushed us. My entire squadron was killed. I led my friends to their deaths.”

Fairris paused again, and quickly wiped away a tear on her cheek. “I was the only one left alive, but I could not return to Elestarl. So, I ran, far from Cientrasis, far from their deaths. But death continues to follow me, and still I run.”

Silence filled the room as Fairris stopped abruptly, her face falling into her palms and her red hair falling about her face.

“It was not your fault, Fairris,” Vythe said quietly.

“But it was,” Fairris replied sadly.

A few seconds passed in silence, as Fairris quietly dried her tears.

Vythe looked at Lieut. “So why were you at the prison, Lieut?”

Lieut fixed Vythe with a hard stare and did not reply.

“Come on Lieut, tell us something about yourself,” Fairris implored as she looked intently at him.

“Fine,” Lieut said irritably, “if it will stop you both pestering me. My sword is indeed made of a metal.”

Vythe let out a disgusted sigh.

“I was not finished,” Lieut was quick to say. “Also known as A-Grade metal, created from a Zodiarc stone.”

“What is that?” Vythe asked curiously.

Lieut paused and hesitated. “It is a rare metal found in the Zonaris Abyss, a deep crater at the bottom of the Ja’car’is Sea which was formed long ago when a meteorite collided with M’Aierth. Only four stones have ever been found in that crater.”

“Ja’car’is Sea?” Vythe looked surprised. “In Nevārance?”

Lieut nodded casually.

“You have been to The Land of a Thousand Isles?” Fairris too looked surprised.

Again Lieut nodded.

“Last I heard they were not too fond of foreigners,” Vythe remarked raising an eyebrow.

“They are not,” Lieut replied flatly.

“That is a lot to go through just to get some metal for a blade,” said Fairris, shaking her head.

Lieut did not reply and shrugged slightly.

“And it is this Zodiarc stone that allows you to control your sword through telepathy?” Vythe asked very curiously.

Lieut did not reply.

“If it is true, it is very intriguing,” Vythe said softly, stroking his chin.

“You being in Nevārance explains the craft you crashed in,” Fairris remarked. “It is said they have great technology there.”

“So what takes you to Port Na’brath?” Vythe asked. “A ship across the Western Oceania, back to Nevārance perhaps? I do not know how you will get through the Divenarn Band though.”

Lieut looked at Vythe, but still he did not reply.

Vythe rubbed his brow. “You and your secrets.”

“I believe we have been here before,” Lieut said as he rose to his feet, and Vythe and Fairris let out a small laugh.

“I will take the watch,” Lieut remarked as he moved towards the door of the room.

“I doubt there are any fiends in these halls,” Fairris called after him. “There is nothing here, only death and decay.”

Lieut did not reply and he closed the door behind him, shutting off the light of the fire and resting his back against the stone wall.

“Perhaps I said too much,” Lieut said quietly to himself. “The little they know the better, for secrecy is my ally. So why did I say anything at all?”

It mattered little, Lieut realised, what secrecy there was disappeared when the Regional Command of Gaianaus destroyed his air craft. The High Commission knew he was here and they knew something was happening that they did not agree upon. What did it matter if two wayward individuals knew a little about him? Vythe was a hunted criminal, and Fairris was running from her past, what threat could they possibly pose to his mission?

Lieut stretched away the stiffness in his neck and brought his sword down from his shoulder. Sitting down with his back against the wall, he placed the sword across his lap and waited for Vythe and Fairris to get some rest.

Lieut woke Vythe and Fairris when he reasoned it was dawn, though Vythe complained that it was not morning yet and took his time getting ready. Thankfully they were on the move soon enough, with Lieut hastily leading the way, hoping that he would see the end of the tunnels by the end of the day.

This day of the journey was the same as the last, black hallways with only a few crystals to light their way, but even they seemed to be coming at a lesser frequency. The corridors became less worked, the turns more curved and natural, and the wooden support beams seemed to stop altogether.

By Lieut’s estimates it was now past midday and the tunnels did not seem to be ending any time soon. He could still feel the thousands of tonnes of stone above his head and the air was still stale and heavy. A distant sound of trickling water of an underground stream filled his ears and lazy clouds of Fog had begun to drift through the walls, casting a glow along the corridors.

As Lieut turned a corner he was met with complete darkness. No crystals floated along this tunnel and it seemed as if they would come across no more.

After the brief surprise Lieut strode confidently into the darkness, and as he walked along he noticed that it was not completely pitch black. Small fungi grew in the cracks and crevices in the stone around him, casting a soft bluish glow throughout the corridor. Every now and then a cloud of Fog would drift through the tunnel, illuminating the area more which allowed them to walk without stumbling on the uneven floor.

The tunnels continued to twist and turn through the mountain, rising and falling with the naturally smooth stone.

“This path was likely once an underground stream,” Vythe remarked, his voice echoing down the tunnel. “Listen, you can hear it.”

“We will come across what is left of it soon,” Fairris replied absently as if she was lost in her own thoughts.

As Lieut turned a corner the sound of the distant stream echoed louder throughout the tunnel, bouncing off the rock walls and unnaturally reverberating in his ears.

“These tunnels feel different to what I remember,” Fairris remarked with concern as they continued along.

“Perhaps it is because you were with a larger company back then,” Vythe offered positively.

“Perhaps.” Fairris shrugged. “But I am not so sure. There were no Fog clouds the last time, and can’t you feel the malice in the air Vythe?”

“Your imagination, I’m sure,” Vythe replied unconvincingly.

Fairris did not reply for the eerie stillness in the shadows and the unnatural sound of the stream spoke volumes.

The noise of the stream greeted Lieut loudly around the next corner, but his ears had deceived him. It was not a large running river bouncing over the rocks, but rather a small trickle loudly falling into a cold dark pool.

The still pool was at the side of the path as it led into a gigantic cavern with great stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites shooting up from the floor many times joining in the middle. Scattered throughout the cavern, climbing on the stalagmites and growing close to the stream were more glowing mushrooms, but here they were growing much larger and more vigorously. Many of the glowing fungi come up to Lieut’s head, with crowns the width of a large boulder. And among the mushrooms grew other fungi, long tentacle-like plants, similarly glowing and stretching into the air and ending in round bulbs.

“Does this look familiar to you, Fairris?” Vythe asked quietly, but his voice echoed loudly throughout the cavern.

“Yes,” Fairris replied, her voice also echoing uncomfortably loud. “The other recruits and I challenged each other to see who could stay in that pool the longest. We all nearly got hyperthermia.”

A slight embarrassed smile came to the elf’s features, but it quickly vanished and tears filled her deep blue eyes. Fairris sucked in a deep breath and turned towards the pool, kneeling down by its edge.

“We should not linger,” Lieut said, uncaring for the loudness of his voice.

“Give her a moment,” Vythe replied quietly, and Lieut stretched his head to the side.

Suddenly they heard a splash and a scream, and Lieut turned to see a pale white hand with black fingernails seize hold of Fairris’s wrist, trying to pull her into the dark water. Before Lieut and Vythe could react and rush to her aid, Fairris summoned a Fog weapon to her free hand and severed the arm that held her.

Fairris staggered back from the pool’s edge, her weapon still in hand, as the water of the pool began to bubble.

Lieut drew his sword, but his attention was caught on Fairris’s interesting weapon. It looked like a cross between a gun and a sword, with a long blade protruding from the underside of a half metre gun barrel. Lieut felt the desire of his sword to absorb the Fog in Fairris’s gunblade, but he stopped it from doing so, for he knew from the bubbles forming in the pool that she would need her weapon again.

Vythe had pulled a metal shaft from one of his satchels, and with a flick of his wrist it extended into a seven foot, double ended spear.

“Finally things are getting interesting,” Lieut remarked as Vythe regarded him, a slight smile coming to the dark-haired man’s face.

From the water, a pale grey and bulbous head appeared, and as it reached the edge, its black fingernails clawed at the stone of the bank. Yellow eyes stared at them unblinking as its lanky form clambered out of the pool.

“‘Aquis Necrophilia’; a Drowner,” Vythe said sourly, and the bulbous headed monster smiled widely, water gushing from between its blackened and rotten teeth.

Several more drowners clambered from the waters and stared at them before the first drowner let out an ungodly howl, its mouth opening unnaturally wide. Its howl was suddenly cut short when its head exploded in a shower of blackened blood. A second shot came from Fairris’s gunblade, knocking it backwards into the foaming water, where a dozen more heads were starting to appear.

The other drowners looked at each other in surprise, before letting out their own screams and charging at Fairris.

With a smile, Lieut lunged to intercept, his black sword leading the way. A drowner swiped at him, but he split the hand down the middle to the elbow, and then he split open the necrophage’s head. As he lopped off another head he noticed that another gunblade had come to Fairris’s other hand and she was now spinning around the drowners, sending their limbs and blackened blood flying. He also noted that Vythe had stayed back from the fray and was killing any of the beasts trying to flank them.

Lieut found himself smiling as he realised how well the three of them fought together, complimenting each other’s abilities. But it also made him think about how well he and his brothers used to fight together, which led him to thinking about how confused he was. That in turn made him angry.

Bearing his teeth in frustration Lieut spun under the arm of a drowner, taking its leg with him and impaling the next drowner through the face. The monsters continued to fall around him and his companions, but still the pool bubbled and still more drowners climbed onto the bank. He had no trouble with an endless fight, but he knew that both Vythe and Fairris could not hope to continue with such ferocity, and eventually they would fall.

Strangely that thought concerned him.

A drowner suddenly launched itself off a stalagmite intending to tackle Lieut to the ground, but the fiend clearly did not know its opponent very well. Lieut saw the jump and lunged away from the creature and quickly stepped back in, his sword swinging upwards to meet the drowner’s descent. The impact from Lieut’s sword split open the drowner’s head and sent it flipping over backwards and into two others.

Suddenly a stone-splitting roar boomed though the cavern, making all combatants stop and shrink under the power of the bellow.

Lieut was the only one that continued to fight, and the stunned drowners fell like wheat being cut for harvest. The remaining drowners soon gathered their wits, but instead of continuing the battle they turned and fled back into the water of the pool.

As quickly as the dark waters of the pool had begun bubbling, it stopped, but the tremendous roar continued to reverberate. Vythe and Fairris covered their ears in an attempt to reduce the noise while Lieut glanced around the cavern at the shadows in between the stalagmites and stalactites in search of the source of the sound.

But as the sound died down, no adversary lunged out from the darkness, and Vythe and Fairris glanced around nervously.

“Well, whatever made that might be interesting,” Lieut remarked after many moments of silence.

Both Vythe and Fairris looked at him in disbelief as Lieut’s eyes sparkled. He flicked the blood from his sword and returned it to the clips on his shoulder guard.

“At least we now know what destroyed Gul,” Vythe remarked with a small laugh. “Disgusting Necrophages.”

“The drowners would have eaten the bodies before hibernating in the pool,” Fairris said seriously. “But they could not have wiped out the entire town.”

“It was a hope,” Vythe replied despondently. “But it seems the fiend responsible is yet to come.”

“Or has already left,” Fairris said. “I hope.”

“That would be disappointing.” Lieut smirked as he moved from the pool along the trail leading into the forest of stalagmites making Vythe and Fairris jump to catch up with him.

“Are you eager to die, Lieut?” Vythe asked when he caught up.

“I will not be the one dying,” Lieut replied simply.

“You would not stand a chance against whatever made that thunderous roar,” Vythe replied, shaking his head.

Lieut did not reply and continued to stride ahead.

“A glorious death,” Fairris remarked vaguely.

“The only way Death is getting me is if he comes himself,” Lieut replied as he shot Fairris a curious glance over his shoulder.

A smile at the possible challenge ahead displayed openly across Lieut’s face as he followed the winding path through the cavern with Vythe and Fairris close at his heels.

The trail undulated with the terrain, spiralling up the sides of huge stalagmites and across narrow stone bridges that arched over small gullies filled with running water. For many minutes they walked through the cavern, sometimes it was wide open with great natural columns of limestone formed by dripping water. Other times they were forced to squeeze through narrow gaps between rows of thin stalagmites. All the while the sound of running water filled the air, the glow of the large mushrooms lit their pathway and the anxiety as a result of an unknown devilry hung heavily around them. But Lieut did not slow his pace, in fact he increased it, excited to meet the unseen foe, revelling in the thought of what a great challenge it would pose.

Though, as the minutes turned into hours Lieut’s excitement and Vythe’s and Fairris’s anxiety lessoned, as it seemed that the beast that had made the monstrous roar would not appear.

“Let’s rest here,” Fairris requested as they walked into a small grotto illuminated by many fungi.

Reluctantly Lieut stopped and Vythe and Fairris had a few bites to eat and a few mouthfuls of water.

“I have never seen you eat, Lieut,” Vythe remarked curiously as he tossed an apple core to the side. “Do you ever eat?”

“Let’s go,” Lieut dismissed the question as he headed along the path out of the grotto.

Another hour drifted by and still they continued to walk through the stone jungle. The beast that had scared the drowners away was still elusive, and Fairris seemed to be having trouble keeping the same pace that Lieut was walking at.

Soon the stalagmites and stalactites thinned and Lieut led Vythe and Fairris out from the stones into a wide area. As soon as Lieut stepped from the towering stalagmites he knew something was wrong. It was not just the crumbled piles of stone that littered the area or the areas where the stone seemed to have bubbled that worried him. It was a sixth sense, a warrior’s instinct that something was watching them.

“We should move quickly,” Vythe whispered, apparently also feeling the unseen threat.

There were only a few glowing mushrooms, so it was harder to see into the darkened corners and crevices of the cavern. Still Lieut’s golden eyes darted to each shadow as he moved swiftly across the floor. As he rounded a large pile of rubble, an exit from the cavern came into view. Just as he took one step towards it a massive form dropped in front of him, causing the earth to shake under the impact.

The beast stood over twenty-feet tall at the shoulders, and nearing on one hundred feet from its nose to the tip of its pointed tail. Its great leathery wings stretched out beside it as the beast reared on its back legs and roared. The sound shook the cave, causing a stalactite to fall from the ceiling and crash to the ground. The monster’s great body was covered in many colourful scales and around it wisps of the Fog seemed to manifest and glow fiercely. Its whole body was the colour of the Fog, except for its eyes, which were black with pale slits.

As the beast rested its front feet back on the ground it glared at them, its dark eyes making them feel as if their feet were rooted to the ground.

Lieut smiled and his hand slowly moved to the hilt of his sword.

“So much for dragons only being a myth, Vythe,” Lieut remarked dryly.

Vythe did not reply, nor did Fairris say anything, for they were both frozen in fear and cowering behind him.

“THEIVES!” the dragon roared and its head moved back as it sucked in a huge breath.

As its head snapped forward Lieut grabbed his sword quickly and brought it down as a shield in front of him.

A torrent of fire burst forth from the dragon’s toothy maul and enveloped them. Vythe cursed and Fairris gasped, but Lieut still smiled.

The torrent of fire crashed into his sword like a wave onto rocks and it circled around them. Vythe and Fairris covered their heads and crouched behind Lieut, but the flames never touched them.

Lieut’s arrogant grin widened for he had guessed correctly that the fiery breath of the dragon was pure Fog, just like the rest of the beast. Lieut’s sword ate the Fog greedily, sucking the flames into the Anther crystals. The fire that swirled around them changed colour and went grey as if all life had been drained from it and with the colour the heat disappeared too. In a flash, the fire disappeared, leaving Lieut, Vythe and Fairris unsinged. Lieut stood triumphantly, his golden eyes laughing at the dragon that pulled its head back in surprise.

Lieut never missed an opportunity and he sprinted forward, leaving both Vythe and Fairris to look around in bewilderment. The dragon was quick to react to Lieut’s charge and its toothy jaws snapped down at him. Lieut dove to the side at the last second causing the dragon to crunch into the stone. Agilely the great beast jumped to the side, lashing out at him with a clawed hand. Sliding under the swipe Lieut cut the dragon on the back of its claw. His sword sliced easily through the scales and bit at the Fog within making the dragon jump back further and roar in pain. Rolling to his feet Lieut moved to chase the huge monster down, but suddenly the point of the dragon’s spiny tail speared towards him. Lieut twisted quickly and used the flat of his sword to block against the sharp point, but the impact from the blow sent him flying backwards into a wall of thin stalagmites. Lieut’s head hit the stone and his consciousness flew from him.

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Stay tuned for the next chapter to see what happens. Is Lieut dead? What chances do they have against such devilry?

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