Chapter Eleven

"I'm not sure I want to use magic in the little space I have here," came Knave's voice, distorted by the crate he was still in, but otherwise ironical, as per usual.

They had all waited tensely for a while, once all the crates had been landed and the noises of that move had ceased. The ropes themselves had been carelessly dropped behind, their swishing against the wood unmistakable.

"Just let me do the job, as it always happens to be," Torri mocked cruelly, struggling and squirming, in order to somehow bring herself to draw one of her swords from its sheath. The elongated form was rested closely at the side of her leg, and it was quite a difficult feat to perform given that she could barely free up any space at all. Finally, however, she managed to do so, and used an intricate sequence of turn-arounds in mostly diagonals, until she could hold the blade's tip upwards, aiming at the crate's lid. A few careless stabs were enough – the wood wasn't solid at all, and most definitely not when it came to standing against a fine elven sword.

However, further on she just sat back and blinked... several times. Peeking out over the edge, she had to remember to close her mouth when she actually realized her jaw had dropped; she tried to figure the reason why nothing changed concerning the total and complete absence of any light. Even her elven infravision worked poorly here, only revealing a darkened purple environment made of cold stone, and giving her surroundings just enough of a shape for her not to stumble and fall at every step, should she attempt to move through. The entire layout looked wild and chaotic enough for her to realize it hadn't been touched and reformed by any hands, human, elven or other alike.

"This had sooo better not be what I think it is," she muttered grimly while pulling herself out of the crate, and stretching as she straddled the edge and jerked away. Her boots touched the type of solid ground she had expected, that held firm below her full weight.

The moon elf proceeded to letting the rest of the others out of their crates, the ones she freed up first helping her speed up the process and release the rest. Soon they were all gathered together, more by sensing and hearing than by sight, keeping close to each other. Nirra's cold hand reached to find Torri's and, by the feel of it, Knave was on the gold elf's other side.

"It's the Underdark, isn't it?" the moon elf pressed, shaking her head, her attitude too devoid of emotion not to betray how terrified she was to face that perspective.

"As far as I can tell, yes," Knave grimly admitted, putting too little effort in trying to convince her otherwise.

They could hear the men shifting uneasily all around them, their little circle now complete. "Now what?" asked one of the impatient ones.

"Now we..." - Knave shrugged, quite helplessly – "... walk."

Torri's reply came as a displeased grunt, but she did not object when they all clasped hands and proceeded forward one by one, guided by what little sight the two elves still possessed, in opposition to the human's complete blindness.

Torri had already voiced her concern a few minutes before, when the silence around them had been breached by a trudging sound which had more than clearly resembled a pair of footsteps quite close to them. By the squeeze of Nirra's hand, she could tell that the gold elf shared her worry, although she and Knave had hurried to vehemently deny that they had heard it, too, in order not to strike panic among the men.

"What was that?" one of the sailors eventually fell out of line, when they all heard it again, louder, closer; the entire procession had to stop and wait for him to overcome fear.

The man didn't seem to intent on doing that, though, he just backed off into the nearby wall, shaking his head frantically and trembling. "Something's coming," he kept muttering. "It'll be here soon."

"I'm afraid it's not just 'something'," Knave broke out of the line himself, to hover in the man's general direction. "By the now regular sound of those steps, cautious though they may be, this is a drow party."

His words, not an all too wise thing to say at that point anyway, mind you, made Torri shudder. She had probably known that before him, but she had not dared to voice it, not even inside her own mind – the perspective terrified her. Nirra sensed it, apparently, for she bulked at her side at once, draping an arm around her waist. The moon elf was grateful, and smiled, although her companion could not see, at this little amount of warmth received in a time of trouble.

"Drow," the men began to murmur all around them, and some were quick to flee in all directions.

"Run for your lives!" the shouts echoed dismally.

It was awkward and almost unbelievable how quick panic could come at work and steal every bit of ration away. Soon, the mage and his two elven companions were left alone completely, all directions now filled with frantic footsteps, rendering them unable to distinguish a thing. Soon, terrified screams came to join those sounds, and that seemed to wake the three up from deep revelry.

Knave was the first to speak, and what he had to say gave a slight shock to both of the elves, but the decision in his tone had been too sincere and selfless to contest. "Go," he urged them. "The same direction we've been heading so far. I'll remain behind and ensure they don't come after you any time soon."

Torri turned halfway though leaving, without any further objection, but Nirra stayed her from performing it any further. "We cannot just leave without you!" she hissed an outraged whisper. "It would be..."

"Nirra, let's GO!" Torri tugged at her hand, and the gold elf lost her balance for a second. She steadily tugged right back at her friend the very next moment, though, once more holding her in place.

"As I know them, they'll rather capture than kill," Knave continued, quickly. "Save yourselves, and you can worry about rescuing me afterwards. Any risk will have been mine, in any case."

Nirra rose to protest yet again, but Torri's desperate and incessant pulling drew her away in a heartbeat, her now eroded reluctance made a far easier obstacle to surmount; they began to run, while the human mage stayed in place, preparing his spells. The gold elf was dragged against her will and kept defying any of Torri's efforts to keep her from looking behind them all the time, despite the fact that they could not see anything anyway.

They both knew the drow had the advantage, not only over Knave, but over them as well. There wasn't much time to spare, and Torri urged her companion further and further through the tunnel. Not just rarely did they happen to trip and stumble, but one was always at the ready to support the other and put her back on track. However, in the end, it was clear that they were being pursued, just as it was clear that said pursuers were catching up quickly.

Torri came to a sudden halt, causing Nirra to almost lose her balance in the moment of surprise. "We need a place to hide," the moon elf whispered.

At once, she had spotted one. She shoved Nirra between some rocks and some giant mushroom-like vegetation, if it could be called so, quite unceremoniously. "Do NOT come out until I call on you," the moon elf commanded, and there was no room for defiance.

Then, gathering the last remainders of her conscious rational mind to form a barrier against the paralyzing effect of fear, Torri dived over to the other side of the corridor, where she shrunk and curled up between some rocks herself. A desperate method, with little hope for success, yet it was better than simply running when you knew for sure the pursuers had the upper hand.