Chapter 11
The party of adventurers awoke feeling quite refreshed after the previous day’s excitement. The forest of Fairthesal was staring at them menacingly.
“I have no desire to go back in that place.” Rhyll said, showing a hint of anxiety for the first time.
“You have been in before then?” John asked.
“This is where I had to do my trial.” Puzzled expressions forced Rhyll to elaborate. “The trial is undertaken by the barbarian who gains the most kills in the hunt. This year it was another barbarian and I that killed the same number. The trial is used to select another leader. If a person can spend one night alone on the Cursed Isle, without being slaughtered, then they adopt the mantle of tribe leader.”
“So what happens if two of you survive?” Cohen enquired, interested in the hierarchy of another race.
“Both men have to return to the camp the following day. If both make it back they have to enter into a contest; a fight to the death to determine who will become leader.”
“So does this mean that you are the leader of the barbarians?” John asked, intrigued to be in the presence of yet another leader.
“No.” Rhyll stated flatly. “If one man decides he does not wish to adopt the role of tribe leader, he can forfeit his right and the title is bestowed upon the other.”
“Why did you give up the chance to become the leader of your people?” Cohen asked with a bemused expression. He could not understand someone not taking the chance to gain personal power.
“Being the leader would have stopped me doing what I love the most; adventuring.” Rhyll explained. “I would have been forced to stay with the tribe at all times, commanding and giving guidance where necessary. That is not the way of life for me.”
“I think you must be mad.” Cohen started. “Think of the things you could gain from becoming leader; power, money and respect. These are things you will not find in adventuring.”
Rhyll locked a stern gaze upon Cohen and said, “Not everything in life can be measured by wealth and power. The measure of a man is in his soul; his spirit if you will.”
Cohen maintained eye contact with Rhyll as the barbarian continued, “The man who does not first find value in his own heart, in his own life, will never truly value anything at all.”
Cohen thought about the statement Rhyll had just made. It touched a nerve and he unlocked his gaze from Rhyll’s; feeling as though he had just been scalded by a truth he did not wish to hear. Rhyll may not have used his statement to indicate any one person but Cohen knew that it referred to him.
“What can we expect to find in this forest, Rhyll?” Anree asked, changing the subject.
“I encountered Goblins. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. Under the forest runs a network of tunnels. I didn’t get chance to explore them because the Goblins were in pursuit. However, I did stumble upon the passageway leading down to their living areas and wherever else it leads after that.” Rhyll then remembered the clearing he had found. “Oh, and one more thing; somewhere in this forest there is an altar to the gods. It has some sort of magical power that can help those with faith. I used it to escape. Only people worthy of the gods praise may use it and it can only be used once.”
Anree’s expression changed to one of deep thought. The others looked at her trying to determine what was going on in that mysterious mind of hers.
“I think we should split the group.” She said after a long pause. “If we are going to infiltrate the tunnels, a group of this size will be noticed fairly quickly. However, our master thief here should have little trouble in scouting around undetected.”
Conrad seemed to be keen on the idea but Rhyll had a concerned expression on his face. He was beginning to develop a friendship with Conrad. They had only known each other for a short time but they found each others’ company to be both relaxing and reassuring.
“I am not happy about sending Conrad in alone. I think another should go to cover his back.” He said with an authoritarian tone.
“I am more than capable of scouting some tunnels on my own.” Conrad stated confidently.
“The tunnels run long and straight with very few places to hide. The Goblins will spot you coming with ease.” Rhyll continued.
“I agree with our barbarian friend here.” Anree proclaimed. “Goblins are not like humans. They possess senses that we do not. There is little way of knowing how successful your sneak tactics would be. That is why I propose that Cohen goes with you.”
“Cohen?” John said inquisitively.
“A person of Cohen’s status will have had a lot of practice at remaining inconspicuous. He may lack the thieving skills of our master thief here but I bet he can hide in the shadows with the best of them.” Anree explained.
Cohen retorted, “You are making some serious assumptions about me and my life, Anree. Would you care to qualify your statement?”
A little smirk rose from the corner of her mouth as she began, “My good Prince, you have spent many years defying orders and sneaking behind your Father’s back. Everything you have done up to this point has been for your own gain. I know people, Cohen, and these people have reported many things to me.”
“Like what?” Cohen asked in an angry tone of voice.
“Your dealings with the rogue traders of the city have been no great secret. I understand that you were dealing in illegal substances, providing chemicals to the rich folk of Thorvale. And all for money I assume. There are numerous other activities I know of; should I go on?”
“No, you do not need to. I see that you have a greater knowledge of my life than most. I think that you should tell me the names of the people who informed you of my activities.” Cohen said giving Anree a cold stare.
“I dread to think what ill fate may become them if you ever discovered who they are.” Anree replied. She then addressed the group, “I hope you can all now see why I selected Cohen for the job.”
The party nodded in acknowledgement, a stunned silence holding their tongues.
“It is settled then.” Cohen proclaimed clapping his hands together to try and lighten the mood and to save face. Cohen felt slightly disgraced at hearing someone else talk of his actions. He was starting to realise that he had many faults and that he had done many bad things. This would be his biggest test so far and he wanted to do this task well to prove to the others that he could be trusted. He could feel the butterflies in his stomach. The nagging feeling that he would somehow let the group down had yet to disappear.
“What will you be doing?” Conrad asked Anree.
“The rest of us shall attempt to find this altar. I have read about something similar in the library at the temple. If this altar is similar to the one I have read about, we should be able to find out where the child is being held.”
“I am with you on this one.” John said to Anree with a hint of hope and excitement in his voice.
“First we should help Conrad and Cohen to find an entrance into the tunnels.” Anree stated.
The group spent the next hour searching the ground and looking for trees that had hollows leading into the tunnels.
“There is no way down.” Cohen said sounding very frustrated. “How did you get into the tunnels last time?” He enquired speaking to Rhyll.
“Well, I sort of….” He paused, “fell out of a tree.” Rhyll flushed with embarrassment. A snigger spread through the group.
“I was being attacked from all angles.” Rhyll said defensively, trying to save face.
“I can just picture the scene.” Conrad began. “The barbarian climbed the tree with the grace of a squirrel. He leaped from branch to branch with the agility of a monkey. His silhouette glided across the night sky with the elegance of an eagle.” The rest of the group were trying to contain their laughter at the mental picture Conrad was painting.
“Finally,” there was a pause whilst Conrad allowed the tension to mount, “he crashed to the ground like a big fat elephant, shattering the su
rface and dropping through, into the dark pit.”
The group were now laughing heartily.
“I think we should have a demonstration.” Conrad continued. “Choose your tree my light-footed friend.”
“Why you…..” Rhyll started as he stepped forward to rough Conrad up a little. A chase ensued. Conrad darted in and out amongst the trees.
“When I get my hands on you….” Rhyll continued. The barbarian moved with incredible speed for such a big man but he lacked the agility. Conrad teased Rhyll like a matador teases a bull. Conrad stopped in front of a small tree. Seeing his chance, Rhyll charged towards Conrad to tackle him. At the last second, Conrad leaped high in the air. Rhyll disappeared under him and crashed into the tree. A creaking noise was heard by all. Rhyll stood up and dusted himself down. He looked up to see what was making the noise. The tree toppled. As the roots ripped out, a large hole in the ground could be seen. Rhyll looked down it.
“I found a tunnel.” He proclaimed in a surprised tone.
The others gathered round to have a look. Conrad stood alongside Rhyll. He looked down the hole. Patting Rhyll on the back he said;
“Well done, my friend, you seem to have found the entrance.” He let out a little chuckle. The sarcastic tone in his voice stirred Rhyll up again but before he could reach out and throttle the cheeky little thief; Conrad had jumped down the hole.
“Come on, Cohen.” He shouted up. “We haven’t got all day.” Cohen duly followed.
“We will meet you back here an hour before sundown and for crying out loud, be quiet. You have probably woken most of the Goblins with your constant shouting.” Anree whispered down the hole.
“How the hell are we going to know when sundown will be? We are in tunnels. We will meet you back at the camp when we have finished.” Conrad whispered back.
Anree said one final word before turning away, “Guess.”
Conrad looked at Cohen and said, “Well, wasn’t that a helpful comment.”
Cohen smiled and let out a little chuckle.
“Come, let’s get moving. Remember, tread quietly and stay in the shadows.” Conrad instructed.
With that, Conrad and Cohen disappeared into the gloom.
The search for the altar was to be a fruitless one. The surface party searched all day and discovered nothing. As the sun’s rays began to fall, Anree, Rhyll, and John made their way back to camp.
In the tunnels, the gloom had been lifted by Conrad’s light crystal. He had been impressed with Cohen’s talent as a sneak. They had managed to get past a number of Goblin guards without being noticed.
“You can come and work for me when we get out of here.” Conrad jested.
The pair had been scouting the tunnels for a couple of hours now. Tunnel after tunnel led nowhere. As they went along, Conrad was jotting notes and diagrams in a small notebook. He was trying to plot the layout of the caves so he could best determine where they should be going. Suddenly, loud noises could be heard coming from all directions.
“I am guessing that it must be close to sundown.” Cohen said.
“Rhyll mentioned that they all go out into the forest to play.” Conrad replied. “We need to find a place to hide whilst they pass. If we are lucky, we may even find the direction we should be heading. The tunnels had very few places to hide. They were perfect for mounting a defence. Cohen and Conrad looked around frantically for a small enclave to sit in. The sound of the Goblins approaching was getting louder and louder. Cohen was starting to panic.
“What shall we do?” He asked in a hushed voice.
The instinct of a master thief took over. He had spotted some tree roots sticking out of the ceiling and running the length of the tunnel.
“Follow me” he replied.
The tunnel was heading towards where the sound was emanating from. They arrived at a junction. Five tunnels intersected. Conrad looked at the Ceiling again. The roots had fallen through far enough for someone to climb up and hide. Conrad jumped up first. He offered his hand to help Cohen up. Cohen took his hand and began pulling himself up. The sound of footsteps could be heard from one of the tunnels. Cohen had just pulled his leg up on to the root when the first goblin emerged from a tunnel below. They both watched carefully as the goblins passed by, blissfully unaware of the humans. Conrad continued to write in his notebook. All the goblins come out of the same tunnel. This was a good indication where to start looking.
Once the noise had died down, Cohen and Conrad jumped down.
“That was a close one.” Cohen said breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
“At least we have an idea where we should be going now.” Conrad replied.
It wasn’t long before the two adventurers stumbled upon the first room that Rhyll had encountered. They swiftly moved through. Three tunnels all descended deeper into the ground. They followed the left tunnel figuring that they may as well just pick one. They emerged a couple of minutes later into a low room. The room was very long and very wide but the Ceiling was only about five and a half feet high. Conrad had no trouble walking through here being of his small stature. Cohen had to hunch however. His six foot frame was too tall for this room. The room was filled with boxes that had dirty blankets in them. Conrad lifted a blanket from the nearest box.
“These are like coffins.” Cohen said disgusted by the filth and the smell that was in the room.
“I think this is where they sleep.” Conrad stated. He quickly counted the number of boxes.
“There must be at least one thousand boxes here.” He said.
They had a look around. At the end of the room opposite to where they had entered, another tunnel led somewhere else. They continued through this tunnel into another room that was identical to the last.
“Another bedchamber, barracks, or whatever it can be called.” Cohen said.
“It looks like there is yet another room ahead.” Conrad said spotting another tunnel. There were four interconnecting rooms altogether. Each one housed about a thousand occupants. Conrad noted the layout and the numbers in his book. They went back up to the three tunnel intersection. They chose the middle tunnel this time. This tunnel seemed to go on and on. The light faded after a couple of minutes and everything went pitch black. Conrad unveiled his light crystal. It illuminated nothing. It was as if a black mist had descended all around them.
“What is going on?” Cohen asked feeling the panic rising from within his stomach.
“I don’t know but it can’t be good.” Conrad stated.
Boom, Boom.
A sound like slow heavy footsteps could be heard.
Boom, boom.
It continued again. Cohen was really starting to loose his mind. He did not know if he would be able to contain his feelings any longer. Rational thought was fading, rapidly replaced with animal instincts.
“Come on, we need to get out of here.” He said as he turned to run.
Conrad shouted after him, “Wait, you don’t know which direction you are going in.” He followed. Suddenly a scream echoed down the corridor. Conrad pressed on blindly. Then, as if a gust of wind had blown the mist away, he could see again. He was confronted by the sight of a giant snake with huge spider legs coming out of its body. They had entered into a large cavern that was at least twenty foot high. The room was square and the walls, roof, and floor were all made from rock, mud and tree roots. A strange orb of light hovered near the ceiling emitting a bright light. Cohen was pinned down in a corner. He had managed to avoid the creatures surprise attacks and scramble to relative safety behind a number of large, tangled tree roots. Cohen was using his crossbow to fire bolts into the creature. They didn’t hurt it at all. The snake lunged forward again, tongue lashing out to pump its prey full of venom. It missed Cohen by a matter of inches. Conrad had an idea but it would be difficult. He shouted at the snake but it didn’t react. It was too focused on Cohen. It was now trying to snap the roots that Cohen was hiding behind with its legs. Conrad had no choice. He ran up behind
it, sword drawn, and hacked at one of its legs. The sword made no impression at all. The creature still didn’t react and it was breaking through the roots at an incredible pace. Conrad looked around the room, frantically searching for some way of defeating the creature. Near the wall farthest away from the entrance, a number of what seemed to be eggs lay unattended.
Conrad ran up to the eggs and hacked at them with his sword. They cracked easily and with a lot of noise. The long snake head of the creature whipped around to see what was happening. It gave out a piercing shriek as it saw one of its babies slain. The spider legs turned the snake’s body and it charged at Conrad.
“Run.” He screamed to Cohen. A second invitation was not required. He jumped from his hiding place and ran for the tunnel entrance. Conrad stood facing the creature as it raced ever closer. He removed two smoke potions from his belt. Just as the creature was about to strike, he threw the first onto the floor in front of him. He disappeared. The creature lunged but hit nothing. It looked around as a second vile hit the ground creating smoke further around the room. The creature looked confused. Then it saw Cohen in the entrance. It charged after him.
“Go, go, go.” Conrad screamed whilst sprinting towards the tunnel. Cohen turned and ran. As they entered the tunnel, the black mist descended again. They were running blind. The sharp tapping footsteps of the spider’s legs could be heard behind them; their sound amplified in the darkness of the tunnel. Time and time again Cohen and Conrad crashed into the wall where a bend occurred in the tunnel. They finally came out of the mist, the light slowly brightened. They stopped, looking into the black for any sign of pursuit. There was nothing. The tunnel at this end was too narrow.
“Phew, that was a close one.” Cohen said using his forearm to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Suddenly, the snakes head shot out of the black with one last lunge. Conrad and Cohen jumped backwards but were well out of the way.
“What the hell was that?” Cohen asked. He was trembling with fear and adrenaline.
“I have no idea but I don’t want to face that again. Let’s push on and get out of here.” Conrad turned to leave.
“I can’t do this.” Cohen proclaimed. “I am scared.”
Conrad turned back, a soft a sympathetic expression on his face.
“The very nature of adventuring means that from the beginning of a mission to the successful completion of it, you will be scared. Your first feeling is usually a nervous one as your mission is described. This then develops into anxiety then fear then panic and then instinct takes over as your brain shuts down. Every adventurer goes through this.”
“How do you control it?” Cohen asked.
“It’s simple; you don’t. You learn to let it control you. The only thing you need to learn how to do is not to lose control of your conscious thought. That is what makes a good adventurer, soldier, and thief; the ability to think under extreme pressure.”
Cohen nodded his head in understanding. He took a deep breath and said, “Shall we continue?”
They descended down the tunnel on the right at the intersection. The tunnel went on for a great distance but there were doors in the left and right of the hall.
“We will start at the end and work our way back up.” Conrad said.
There was one large room that was obviously where the Goblins eat. It was decked out with basic wooden benches and tables. The next few doors along were supply rooms and the kitchens. The rest of the rooms seemed to belong to officers.
“So the goblins have a chain of command do they?” Cohen asked rhetorically.
One of the rooms they stumbled across looked like a war room. It had a detailed map of the forest and a detailed map of the island.
“I’ll take these.” Conrad said with a shifty tone of voice. “For safe keeping.” He elaborated, winking at Cohen.
“Of course.” Cohen said sarcastically.
“There is nothing down here,” Conrad began, “let’s leave before the goblins return.” Cohen nodded in agreement. Conrad followed the map he had drawn. They managed to return to the hole they had entered the tunnel by, with little difficulty. The night outside was black. There was no moon. Conrad turned and spoke to Cohen.
“We will not be able to hide in the shadows. Goblins see at night better than we see during the day.”
“How can they do that?” Cohen asked.
“I don’t really know but I have a theory that they can see heat.”
“That would make sense. We shall have to move quickly then.”
They climbed out from the hole. As they stood up a loud shriek echoed through the trees. It was heard as far as the camp where Anree, Rhyll and John awaited.
“It sounds like the Goblins have spotted something.” Rhyll said. “I would not be surprised if it is Conrad and Cohen.”
“Should we go and help?” John asked, eager for a fight and also eager to help his comrades.
“We will only get lost too. We will wait at the forest’s edge.” Anree commanded.
Arrows whistled past their ears, footsteps could be heard crunching the leaves from all directions. Conrad had unveiled his light crystal so that they could see where they were going. A couple of goblins stood in their way. The edge of the forest was only meters behind them. Cohen pulled out his crossbow and launched a bolt whilst running. It pierced the eye of the first goblin that fell down dead. The second panicked and ran. They were out. Awaiting them, Anree, Rhyll and John stood with weapons ready.
“Let us make camp away from the forest tonight.” Anree said calmly as Cohen and Conrad gasped for air. They grabbed their belongings and moved swiftly away, the Goblins did not follow.
*****