Chapter 9: The White Queen's Caverns

Baltus and Pirotess lead their sundry team further and further down the shadowy passage. They used crudely thrown together torches they'd borrowed from the nearby forest to light the way down. It had been several minutes since they entered the cave and they hadn't found any further traces of Ashram or his abductors.

As Pirotess tread downwards through the gloom, she spotted faint light coming from deeper down of the tunnel. She sped up her pace. As she got closer to the light she discovered it was coming from several wall-mounted torches in a large cavern.

In the cavern, the tunnel split into three separate paths. Pirotess stopped and looked to Baltus. He looked back at her and they both immediately knew what to do. Baltus turned to the rest of the band and spoke.

"We're going to have to split into three groups." He announced. "Since there are twenty..." He looked closely at everyone "...five of us, we'll split into groups of eight. You eight go left, you eight take the right, and everyone else is with me down the middle."

Baltus motioned for the teams to move on. The other two groups separated and disappeared into their respective right and left sided tunnels.

Pirotess, Arodon, and Loganos were all in Baltus' group, which was no coincidence. Baltus wanted to look after Loganos and he knew Pirotess and Arodon were the two strongest elves in the party, so he wanted them at his side. His choice of strategy was old; it went all the way back to his schoolyard days. He had learned long ago to pick the toughest kids first.

Together, with the other various members of the group, they continued to venture downwards through the center tunnel. The cave was surprisingly dry. It appeared to be mostly made up of dug out stone.

"Well, this isn't a naturally formed cave. That's for sure." Arodon's hands ran along the walls as he walked, tracing a mark that was obviously made by a cutting tool of some type. "Someone took the time to dig this all out. It must have taken forever."

"It smells musty in here." Loganos complained.

"No doubt due to the amount of time this place has remained undisturbed." Baltus noted. "I don't think much wind gets down here."

"How much longer do you think this tunnel is?" Arodon asked Pirotess.

"Hard to say for sure, the old stories are vague at best and they never covered this part." She replied. Pirotess was doing her best to hide her anxiety for finding Ashram, but she wasn't being completely successful. Not knowing if he was dead or alive was starting to eat away at her. "This could go on for..." She paused in mid-sentence. "Arodon, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Baltus looked around confused. "I don't hear a' thing."

"Yes Pirotess, I can hear it." Arodon answered, ignoring Baltus. "It's like a soft whisper echoing though the tunnel. What do you make of it?" He asked. "I can't understand what the voice is saying." He added as he tried harder to listen.

"It's a spell chant of some type." Pirotess answered, her eyebrows sharpened crossly. She could feel the same aura of magic start to stir in the air of the cave as it had before outside.

"A spell chant?" Baltus asked. "What kind of spe...Aaarrrh!" Baltus suddenly fell to his knees holding his head in his hands. "No... It's all my fault, I...have failed!" He shouted wildly as if he had lost complete control over himself.

All of the men in the group followed suit, dropping their weapons and falling to their knees one by one, and holding their heads just like Baltus. Only Pirotess and Arodon were left standing. The two elves just watched as the rest of the party suffered from their imposed paralysis. Pirotess quickly realized what was happening and evoked a counter-spell as hastily as she could.

"Vechara, spirit of night, shed these false images from the minds of these men. Become a shield to protect them." She chanted. "Vechara, spirit of night, shed these false images from the minds of these men, become a shield to protect them." She continued on until Baltus and the rest of the men stopped writhing and their pain gradually ceased.

"Someone is casting spells against us." Arodon declared as he helped Baltus to his feet.

"Don't worry. Whoever it is won't be able to do it again. Vechara is now protecting us against their magic." Pirotess said confidently. She was breathing slightly harder than normal from the effort of invoking her spell.

"Are you ok?" Baltus asked her.

"Yes, it just takes a lot of energy to repel a spell of that kind." Pirotess replied.

"Well, I have to say I'm very glad you came along for this trip Pirotess." Baltus brushed off some of the dirt from his knees. "Whatever that was, it was awful. I saw a vision of the Emperor; he died because I was unable to protect him." He picked up his sword.

"I saw a huge dragon breathing fire at me from above." Loganos said getting to his feet. "And I couldn't get away from him, no matter how hard I tried. It was like something out of a nightmare."

"I saw myself captured during a battle and executed by Valisian troops." One of the other soldiers spoke up.

All of the others men started clamoring about their own story. Each was unique to the individual, no two were alike. Every man had a vision of his own personal waking nightmare.

"Yes, that spell was meant to prey upon your worse fears." Pirotess started to explain. "It pulls you into a trance where they seemingly come to life. It's really little more than just a simple mind trick. But this one was particularly strong."

"It didn't seem to bother you two much." Baltus pointed out, referring to her and Arodon.

"It would have affected Arodon and myself the same way if we were human. However, since we are Elves, we are naturally more resistant to spell magic trickery." Pirotess answered him, unaware that she was being watched at that very moment.

From her main chamber, Mistress Paulden peered into a large mirror that allowed her to see whatever she desired. The mirror was much like a pool of water hanging off the wall. It rippled from the center to the edges when she touched it or whenever a new image appeared. Paulden's white eyes were focused on Pirotess' image.

"Your friends could be a problem." Paulden turned to Ashram who was lying flat on his back on her white bed, unconscious. His armor and shirt had been removed, exposing his upper body's brawny physique.

"That elf is especially irritating. She managed to vanquish my pavor-nocturnesspell. It would seem that she is quite resourceful, wouldn't you say?" She asked Ashram in a rhetorical fashion. He was not able to answer her or even hear the question due to the fact he was still under her spell.

"It is no matter..." Paulden stared back at the mirror and back at Pirotess. "I still have many more surprises ready for your friends. They will suffer for their intrusion into my domain." Paulden turned back to Ashram again and smiled, she admired her helpless captive.

"Oh, my dear Ashram, you have no idea how much it pleases me to see that you're just as well built as your armor would have people believe. As soon as your friends are dead, I will have you all to myself." Her pearly eyes glistened with lustful anticipation.

Meanwhile back in the tunnels, Baltus, Pirotess, and the others were on the move again, more determined, and cautious, than before.

'I wonder if the other groups are having any more luck than we are?' Baltus thought. 'This little funhouse has got to be the most unnerving place I've ever been. My worse nightmares come alive here and one of them could actually become a reality if we don't find the Emperor soon.' He wiped sweat from his brow as he continued to walk. 'Why wasn't I more careful?' He asked himself. 'We were camped in an unsecured area in unfamiliar lands, we should have been more cautious. I should have at least had someone standing watch.' Baltus clenched his fists with frustration. 'I must make up for my failure, I must prove myself worthy.'

"General, there is something up ahead." Arodon announced from the front of the party. "It's a very large chamber about... eighty yards down the tunnel in front of us."

The group quickened their pace. As they approached the chamber, they could see a single white marble pillar in the center of the room. It was an odd thing to find in the middle of a cave. The pillar had a huge chain attached at its base. The chain was about a foot and a half thick, about quarter in height of an average man. The room itself was enormous and very dark. There were a few candles here and there along the walls, but they only illuminated small patches of the room.

"What do you think this is used for?" Loganos voice echoed as he bent down and touched the enormous chain. He couldn't resist the urge to pick it up. He tried to lift it, but its weight proved far too heavy for him to budge.

"I don't know but I don't like the look of it." Baltus muttered. "Leave it alone, we need to hurry and move on, I have a very bad feeling about this place. We shouldn't linger here."

"I think we should go straight back the way we came." Arodon suggested. "This situation can only get..." Arodon was interrupted by a low tone growl. "...Worse."

"Where is that sound coming from?" Loganos whispered.

"I'd say the question of from where is not as important as the question from what, look!" Pirotess pointed to the chain, which was moving. Loganos looked down at the chain and then back up stunned. Something was moving in the shadows behind him.

A huge bald ogre stepped out from behind the shadow of the pillar. He was at least three times taller than the tallest man there. He was a good twenty feet tall and easily 4,000 pounds. The ogre let out a grand yawn, as if it were just waking. It hadn't noticed them yet. Its breath carried on the air a stench that was less than pleasant. It was somewhere between bad fish and death.

"Damn, what's that thing been eat'n?" Loganos covered his mouth and noise for a moment, forgetting the peril he was in.

"It's going to be you if you don't stand still and be silent boy." Baltus hissed to his nephew, but it was too late. The ogre looked down at them and his big, brown, bloodshot eyes narrowed on Loganos. The boy was smart enough to run away, getting just out of its reach.

"Forget it." Pirotess said as she drew her throwing knives. "There's no turning back now, he's already seen us. This fight is on."

The ogre picked up a huge mace that was resting on the cavern wall and moved ominously closer to the group. It was dressed in the white pelts of several animals stitched together. His most distinguishable feature was an unattractive uni-brow on his forehead. He also had several warts on his cheek and a snaggletooth that protruded out of his mouth and a couple scars.

"He doesn't look too friendly." Loganos said as he pulled his bow off his shoulder and grabbed an arrow from the pouch on his back.

"Really...? Whatever could have given you that impression?" Arodon said sarcastically. "Is it his lack of a gentlemen's demeanor or is it the two hundred pound mace he's fixing to smash us with?

"Watch out!" Pirotess shouted at Arodon. "He's heading your way!"

The ogre made a sluggish lunge at Arodon, bringing his mace down where he was standing with a thunderous echo. The whole room seemed to shutter on impact. To the ogre's surprise, Arodon had easily managed to escape his blow. The floor, however, cracked under the power his swing.

Pirotess let her knives fly. All three struck her enormous adversary, but its thick, rough skin prevented them from sinking in very far or doing any serious damage. The ogre simply plucked them out like they were ticks.

"Perhaps we should try to slow him down a little before going for the kill, eh Twig?" Arodon said to Pirotess before dashing towards the colossal ogre. He slashed at the ogre's right ankle with his rapier drawing a stream of blood.

The ogre struck back at Arodon, but once again he was far too slow to hit him. Arodon's assault was successful in slowing the ogre down. He limped on his wounded leg, angrily trying to avenge his injury. Baltus and Loganos barely escaped being crushed. One of the other men wasn't fast enough. The ogre swung hard and the force from the impact of mace killed him instantly. The man flew into the stone wall of the cave, then back down to the ground.

The soldier's breastplate was dented inward more than a foot from the force of the mace. Baltus ran over and tried to help the man, but he could see from the moment he looked at him that it was no use. Blood poured out of the soldier's mouth from internal wounds. There wasn't a single spark of life left in the man.

Unfortunately, by going to his fallen soldier's aid, Baltus ended up putting himself in the position of being cornered by the ogre. He was stuck between the cave wall and the ogre. It was a real life version of the old proverb, being stuck between a rock and a hard place. The ogre, though simple-minded as he was, recognized that he had the advantage. It raised its mace high above its head, preparing to strike with crushing force.

"Uncle, no!" Loganos shouted, he quickly took aim with his bow and let his arrow loose. The arrow streaked towards the ogre's head and struck him in the temple. The arrow sank deep within the ogre's skull. The brute dropped his mace behind him, just before he was about to swing. The ogre let out a brief grunt, then it stumbled forward one step before falling sideways to the cave floor. It was dead on impact.

"Are you o.k. Uncle?" Loganos called to Baltus.

"Fine, just fine." Baltus grumbled. "I'm just glad the ogre fell that way and not onto me."

"How did you manage to bring down an ogre with just a single arrow?" Arodon questioned Loganos suspiciously. "I've seen you practice with a bow, you've never hit the bull's-eye. You don't even hit the target most of the time."

"Well." Loganos began. "I was using a different bow in practice. This is not a typical bow. My father specially crafted it." Loganos presented the weapon. "It took the combined strength and concentration of both him and my uncle to string it." Loganos put his hand on Baltus' shoulder. "They gave it to me years ago."

"Yeah, and you're only now strong enough to use it properly boy." Baltus joked hitting Loganos on the back. "It was made from some rare type wood that only elves like to use. It's really hard to use, but once you're strong enough to pull it back properly it's far more accurate than the average bow. That's why the short guy here hasn't practiced with it much before now, but I think he's finally ready."

"Also." Loganos continued. "I'm not using the standard issued Marmo arrows either. These are razor sharp, three-foot long iron tips, the best help an archer can get." Loganos held one out for everyone to see. "It has extra Ogre stopping power!" Loganos joked.

"At about double the price though." Baltus pointed out.

"Yes." Loganos sighed. "That reminds me." Loganos ran over to the ogre's body and strained to pull out the arrow. It finally came out with a sickening sucking sound. "Waste not."

"Very impressive human." Arodon commented sarcastically. He was perhaps a little jealous of the boy's impressive kill.

"Enough show and tell, we're on a mission remember?" Pirotess pointed out impatiently. She was eagerly wanting to be with Ashram again. She could feel they were getting closer to their goal because the cave's defenses of were getting tougher.

"Sir, there doesn't seem to be any way out of this room." One of the knights announced.

"Great, we must have chosen the wrong tunnel." Baltus started walking back. "Let's backtrack and try another one."

"Wait, what about this?" Loganos pulled on a small rope he found half buried in the dirt.

"No, stop you fool! It's probably a..." A sudden rumble interrupted Pirotess. "…Trap." She added in a low tone.

"Everyone out now!" Baltus shouted as small rocks started to fall from the ceiling.

Most of the men were close enough to the exit to be out of immediate danger, but the floor beneath Pirotess and Arodon splintered and gave way. They fell through the floor and into the abyss below.

"Very interesting, apparently that elf isn't your only friend who is resourceful." Mistress Paulden addressed the still unconscious Ashram as she watched the mirror images of what had just taken place. "Although that boy doesn't look very imposing, he did manage to kill one of my favorite pets. Of course, the boy also just set off a very obvious trap." She watched Loganos pull the rope and the floor give way.

"Perhaps his shot was just a fluke?" She asked herself. "Crong did just wake up after all, he wasn't at his best." She waved her hand across the mirror and the images faded away like ripples across a lake. "I sincerely hope your friends enjoy the next step of their journey, because it shall be their last."

Not far away, Pirotess stood up and brushed dust off from her shoulder. She looked upwards to see where she and Arodon had fallen through the floor. It was too dark and too far up for her to see all the way to the top to where they had started from. One thing was certain, there would be no going back by that route.

"That was some drop, eh Arodon?" Pirotess looked around. "Arodon…? Where are you?"

"Get this crap off me!" A muffled voice came from under a pile of wood and soil that had been part of the floor that collapsed under them.

"Hold on, I'm coming." Pirotess lifted one of the wooden boards off of where she guessed he was, then another. Finally, she removed a long, flat piece of soil-covered wood and uncovered a very disgruntled Arodon covered in dirt and grime. She couldn't help but laugh at him looking that way.

"You think this is funny?" Arodon was growing even angrier. He was more or less the equivalent of a nobleman in Elvin society. To be besmirched in this manner greatly hurt his pride. His pale skin was turning a dark shade of pink.

"I'm sorry, but you've never looked so...undignified before. It may not feel so great now, but at least this stuff broke our fall." Pirotess stopped laughing and offered her hand to help him up. She still had a grin on her face though.

"Our fall? Maybe yours." Arodon rubbed his left hip. "You may have landed on top of that stuff, but it all landed on top of me. Remind me to properly thank that stupid human boy for the pain in my ass and to return the favor next time I see him." Arodon got back up on his feet with Pirotess' assistance and looked around. "Where are we now anyway?"

Pirotess looked up and saw herself in a mirror. She looked to her left; again she saw her image in a mirror staring back at her. All around her and Arodon were mirrors. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Looks to me like a new tunnel. The walls are made of some type of reflective crystals." Arodon tapped one of the mirrors. "Where is the light coming from in here?" Arodon asked. "It doesn't seem to have a source." The crystals all had a glowing bluish tint.

"It probably originates from another room." Pirotess answered as she was fixing her hair, using the mirrors. "It would pass through the walls and come into here without much problem. Come on, I have a feeling we'll find the way out of here at the light's source." Pirotess walked around the corner of the crystal wall.

"Well this is somewhat discouraging." She stopped.

"What now?" Arodon sighed, mentally preparing himself for the next jolly surprise.

"This isn't a tunnel, it's a labyrinth." Pirotess told him from around the corner.

"How can you tell?" Arodon walked around the corner to her side. "Oh, I see." From over Pirotess' shoulder Arodon could see from a slightly elevated view an immense crystal labyrinth and a doorway twenty yards in front of them leading into it.

"Well, that's the entrance there." Pirotess pointed. "We have little choice; we can't very well go back up the way we came. We have to go forward. We have to go inside." She sighed and started walking towards the entrance.

"Great, the only thing this place is missing is an Enter at your own risk sign to make it just a little more creepy." Arodon followed close behind Pirotess as they opened the doors and entered the Labyrinth. "But I guess we don't need a sign to know that much do we?" He added as they went inside.