Sorry not sorry for that cliffhanger! This chapter answers a lot of our character's questions...

ooooo

Leos held the spluttering pine pitch torch ahead of him, so that the orange glow illuminated the narrow cave tunnel in a flickering, fluttering motion. Every crack and bump in the wall's texture stood out in deep shadow. He heard his own rapid breath and the sound of his heart in his ears. Leos would be lying if he said he wasn't on edge.

He reached another fork in the path. Straining his ears, he heard some commotion that sounded far away, but the source could be from either direction. Going with his instincts he took the left route and set off at a jog.

The young man fervently prayed to the World Spirit that no harm had come to Renn, whom he had come to see as his mate-to-be. Kanuk had promised him the previous evening that she'd be kept safe from any harm whilst he carried out his plan to get the spirit walker to defeat the terrorising demon, but he had been feeling very uneasy since he'd helped the Mage tie her down on the altar. He didn't want to put her in danger; but he had trusted Kanuk – it was for the good of the clan that Torak be captured with her as the bait. Then the demon could be banished back to the otherworld and all would be as it was before. He wanted to be a good leader, he wanted to help Kanuk.

After he'd assisted the Bear Mage, he'd been told to wait in a cave nearby until Kanuk called him. The Mage had said to him, 'under no circumstances must you come back in here Leos. The spirit walker is powerful – and only I, a Mage of many years, have a hope of controlling him and protecting the girl. If you come in, you could very well be killed.'

But the second he'd heard Renn's scream, obedience fled him and he couldn't be idle anymore. He had to ensure she was alright. In his haste Leos had rushed in the wrong direction – and was now utterly lost in the vast tunnel network, trying desperately to find his way back to the central cave, and the woman he had chosen as his mate.

He reached another fork, and this time took a right, straining his ears and trying not to panic. The passages were identical, and the darkness was absolute. Leos tried not to think of what could be hiding in the deep black that surrounded him, or what could happen if his torch went out.

Leos was about to keep going past an adjacent path on his right, but a faint noise coming from deep within a cave recess stopped him in his tracks. It sounded almost like... a human.
Fighting off an instinctual urge to flee, Leos stepped cautiously into the tunnel and held the torch out, trying to see down the path, but it was far too dark to make out more than a few paces ahead of him.

Curiously, he stopped again to listen.

Faintly, but undeniably, under the distant roar of the water above and the rush of blood in his ears, he heard a succession of mutterings and wails coming from deep within the rock tunnel. His mind immediately flashed to the stolen children – were they being kept down here? Were they alive?

'Hello? Is anybody down here?' he called down the sloping tunnel, hearing his voice ricochet as it travelled.

Almost immediately a faint reply came echoing back to him, the voice was muffled by the walls, but the desperate urgency could be easily detected in their cry for help.

Leos considered the danger of going down to rescue the stranger, or possible strangers. He knew very well the demon could be wandering about down there. The voice might even be a trick of the monster, trying to draw him closer so that he could be captured as well.

When the voice started to sound as if it were crying and begging for help, Leos knew he could not abandon whoever was down there. He couldn't ignore their cry for help. He started off down the path, gripping his knife in his free hand in case of an attack.

'I'm here to help you, don't worry!'

'Please, please get me out!' the voice became steadily clearer and louder as he made his way in the dark. By now Leos could tell that the voice had a rich quality to it – it was definitely not a child's voice. The young man kept following the sounds, until he found himself in small room. There were several slabs of stone propped up against the wall, and the voice could be heard from the one closest to him.

He pushed with all his might at the slab, until it rolled just enough for him to see inside. The torch illuminated a deep pit dug out of the earth, some ten paces down. Leos looked down incredulously at the sight at the bottom.

A haggard, half dressed man was lying on the muddy ground, staring up at him with red, gummy eyes that mirrored his own disbelief. He was incredibly malnourished, with his bones showing stretched under dirty, unwashed skin. He had a long, unkempt beard and greasy dark hair that went down to his shoulders. He wore filthy leggings as well as a tattered piece of hide so full of rips and tears that it could no longer be called a jerkin. But most intriguing of all were his shoes – strange long pointed shapes that looked to be fashioned out of stiff hide.

'Please tell me – are you real or am I imagining you?' he asked with a voice hoarse from crying out. The look in his eyes was fearful of the answer, yet simultaneously full of wild hope.

'I'm real, don't worry.' Leos was astounded at the existence of this man, so far underground. He had thought the demon only caught children – now there are adults as well? 'Tell me, who put you in here?'

'A huge, evil man, as big as a bear and just as strong. He has never told me what his name is – but he must be a Mage.'

'Kanuk? No, you must be mistaken – he can't have done this. A demon put you here.'

'No, that man put me here. He put it in my head!' he spat out in disgust. With a suddenness that made Leos jump; he violently hit his own head and gripped his scalp with both hands, as if he had a headache.

Leos was anxious and confused, and something was bothering him about the man's feet. Why were his shoes designed like that? They were long and pointed on either end, like a willow leaf. He couldn't stop looking at them.

The demon tracks around the camp.

Suddenly, Leos felt as if he were going to fall forward straight into the muddy pit. The world began to spin a little as the truth assaulted him from all sides. He pointed at the man, barely able to form a sentence.

'You! You're the demon! Your shoes made the tracks! I've seen those marks around camp.'

'Yes, my feet made the tracks. But I'm not the demon – the demon's in my head, that crazed mage put it in me to control me! I can hear it inside me as we speak. I've been living like this for six moons, unable to escape. It's driving me mad, please,' tears began to flow from his eyes and his voice cracked, 'please, help me.'

Six moons. It was six moons ago when the first children were taken. 'I will, I promise. Just tell me first, how does he control it?'

'He starves me and leaves me in here so I am weak, then he takes me to a big cave and ties me up in a stone circle. After chanting and revealing a glowing red stone, the demon takes over me, and I can't control what I'm doing. I have to see myself taking children, unable to stop myself.' The man was crying now, his voice almost too hoarse to understand what he was saying.

Leos breathed in a long shaky breath, trying to get his head around all this information. If Kanuk was controlling this man to steal children, and convincing the clan it was purely a demon's doing – why was he doing it? And why did he need Torak to defeat the demon when he was the one who created it?

If this man was telling the truth, then Leos realised that he had been completely and utterly deceived by the Bear Mage. He had known Kanuk for as long as he could remember, and betrayal shook him deeply. Before he could dwell too long on his turbulent emotions, he recalled why he had been wandering in the dark in the first place – Renn was in danger. And if this man was being sincere, then she could be in even more danger than he had previously thought.

'I am so sorry that he has done this to you. It's a long story but my future mate and her friend could be in danger, once I get you out do you think you'll be able to find the main cave?'

He nodded, 'I've been there enough times to know the way.'

After some difficulty, Leos managed to hoist the thin man out of the pit, and gave him all of the spare food he carried with him. After wolfing down some strips of dried elk meat, a couple of salmon cakes and a long drink from his water bag, the man instantly gained a bit of colour on his cheeks and a steadier stance. Leos learnt that his name was Dari, that he used to be Bison clan, and lived in the south. He had been on a journey north to meet new clans and trade, before he was captured by Kanuk and brought to the pit.

Dari spoke with earnest gratitude, his mouth still full of salmon cake. 'Thank you so much. I owe you my life.'

'We're not out of here yet.'

As they turned to leave, they heard a commotion coming from down the passage.

Sharing a look of terror, they both froze, and were about to hide in the gloom when a large grey Wolf bounded into their midst, knocking Dari to the ground and baring before him a ferocious, glistening set of fanged white teeth.

Before Leos even had a chance to react to the extraordinary situation, eleven small children came rushing in following after the Wolf. At seeing their leader illuminated by torchlight, they all ran to him, their eyes large and tearful. The children clutched at his jerkin and all tumbled over their words in haste to tell him what had happened to them. Their bodies and clothes were filthy, with the exception of little Dakati who was somewhat cleaner than the others around him.

Momentarily overwhelmed with the scenario Leos tried to calm them and glanced over at Dari, wondering why the children had been chasing the wolf and not the other way round. The man was still on the floor, looking paralysed with fear, but the Wolf was standing above him now, growling at some unseen presence ahead of him in the dark. The large canine snapped his teeth and chased something away, disappearing for a moment into the gloom, before returning with a large smile on his face and his tongue hanging out.

'It's gone!' Dari cried, holding his head in his hands and moving into a sitting position. Leos could barely hear him over the commotion of the children around him, who were still clamouring for his attention.

'What's gone?'

'The demon in my head! I can't hear it any more! The wolf must have scared it away,' he began, looking at the carnivore with a sense of fear and awe, but most of all of gratitude. He stood on his bony, shaky legs and bowed as best he could to the predator.

Leos was still completely stunned from the turn of events and was trying to think of something to say when the grey wolf turned to stare at him dead in the eye. Fighting off his fearful urge to look away, he saw in their golden depths a mysterious assurance. It reminded him of the stillness of a lake. He found himself wondering at that moment whether the wolf was a spirit sent to guide them, perhaps it was part of the spirit walker's magic. The spell broke when the wolf gave a low bark, then suddenly started off down the corridor. The children urged him and tugged at his clothes to make him follow.

The stunned Bear Leader, the exorcised man and the rescued children hurried to follow the wolf.