Chapter 14
Deax led them calmly enough down the tunnels but very agitatedly. His shoulders were tensed and if they so much as kicked a rock he would stop suddenly and hiss through his teeth. "Are all dwarfs hot-heads?" Myra whispered to Martin.
"Yeah, they take everything seriously." Martin said. All of the sudden he started to laugh wildly. Deax whirled around and stared at Martin angrily. "Naughty dwarf your not supposed to look people in the eyes!" Martin gasped through his laughter. Deax clenched his fists and ground his teeth.
"Shut up!" He squealed. "You don't know! How could you know?" He began to cry, which is a very unmanly thing to do.
Martin stopped laughing, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"
Deax wiped away a tear with his short stubby fingers. "I wasn't talking about the eye thing!" he angrily squealed.
"See what I mean… their hotheads" Martin whispered. Lorain smacked him in the back of the head.
"Shut up!" she hissed, "What were you talking about then?" She asked Deax.
"You see, Uncle Orlo is the only family I have. My whole family was wiped out by the sickness. It killed everyone in my family as well as killed half the population. I moved in with my uncle and he has taken care of me since then. I remind him of my mother and I'm weak; he thinks I'm just a big baby. That's why I was guarding you guys, Uncle decided to "tough" me up a bit with ranger duty. I had to go into the unknown caverns and look for trespassers and dangers."
"Grax told me about the plague but… I never knew that it was that bad" Martin exclaimed after Deax was finished.
"Wait… how do you-" Deax exclaimed. He counted the number of people and stared at Martin. "You weren't with them when I got them from Grax. How do you know Grax?"
"All in good time, Deax. All in good time." Martin chuckled as he patted his shoulder, "Now how about we get out of here?" Martin said as he motioned for everyone to follow him.
"How do you know where to go? Is anyone else confused?" Deax groaned, "Your going the wrong way!" He shook his axe menacingly, "If you get us lost I'll kill you!"
"Pfft, I could never get lost! I know this place like I know the back of my hand!" Martin snorted.
"It's official I am going to kill you; you are going the wrong way!" Deax exclaimed as Martin slid though a small crack in a cavern wall motioning everyone to follow him.
"I am not! I go through these shortcuts blindfolded!" Martin laughed, "Not that I could see anything anyways!" The company followed him nervously though the crack with Deax at the back grumbling the entire time.
"Are we almost there?" K'linne said with a huff. "Some of us are old and tired!"
"You humans are weak." Deax exclaimed. "I heard that you don't even make it to one hundred! A healthy dwarf can live to maximum two hundred!"
"Ha ha ha! Your kidding me right? Grax is close to three hundred and your what only thirty four?" Martin said as he continued to lead them.
"I'm thirty six!" Deax hissed, "What's it to you?"
Lorain and Myra glanced at each other; each other's faces mirroring the same surprise. "Wow" they both exclaimed, Deax didn't look thirty-seven. Deax looked like he was a very short twenty year old with a thick beard.
Suddenly Martin stopped, "Here we are!" he said. He was standing in front of a hole in the small cavern ceiling. There was a rope ladder hanging down. "It leads to one of the rooms in the Inn."
"Grax is so going to Jail for this; dwarfs are not to go to the surface!" Deax exclaimed.
"Alright let me tell you why that statement is wrong; number one, Jail is dead. Number two; Grax could never be caught by the likes of you and number three; I'll kill you if you do!" Martin exclaimed.
"Jeesh, and you call me a hot head!" Deax exclaimed.
"All right, I'll go first." Martin whispered as he mounted the ladder. Everyone followed with K'linne now in last place instead of Deax. At the top he lifted a trap door and went up.When Myra reached the top of the hole she felt something grab her from behind. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand covered it.
"Be quiet, it's just me!" Martin hissed, then he pointed to the bulky figure laying on the bed. "Normally, we don't rent out this room; we must be full up."
The rest of the company slowly made it up with K'linne at the end wheezing and huffing, "Ah, we are done at last!" he exclaimed. The figure on the bed began to snore making Myra wish she was in a bed of her own and sound asleep. How long had it been since she had slept last? How long had it been since she had eaten? How long had they been in those caverns?
Martin closed the trap door with a loud squeal and sighed. The figure grunted and slowly rose. "So, I have you at last!" he boomed. The figure was six feet tall and large and muscular.
Lorain seemed to shrink from the imposing figure. "Go away!" she whispered.
"Pretty little Nariol, you know I can't leave you alone. You are forever mine!" he growled. He grabbed Lorain and threw he over his shoulder. Lorain had been standing next to Myra so she caught a glimpse of his face; he was terrifyingly beautiful. He was sickly pale with gaunt features and his eyes were dark and full of malice.
"What you looking at?" the man grinned showing two pointy teeth. Vampire Myra thought as she stared at his pearly whites. He slowly moved to the window. Desperately Myra looked him in the eye making him stagger backwards. He grinned even wider, "Guilt doesn't work on me… I don't have a heart!" He laughed wildly as he climbed out the window into the dark world outside. Myra stared at the place he had just been and collapsed into heap.
"Oh, what did that girl see? The horrors she must have seen!" K'linne said as he stared at her immobile body.
"Did I miss something?" Deax said as he crawled out from underneath the table he was hiding under. "What just happened?"
"Coward!" Martin hissed, "You shouldn't have hid! Now Lorain is gone and Myra has fainted!"
"I didn't see you do anything Mr. I'm so brave!" Deax growled. Suddenly they were on the floor in a fistfight. "I'll kill you!"
"Oh, just wait until I get my hands on you!"
"Die scum!"
"Is everything-" Greg suddenly appeared at the door. "What happened? Where's your niece and my customer? Why is your apprentice on the floor and who the heck is this? There had better be some explaining for this mess!"