Chapter Thirty-three

A Battle with Stone


Once we had all rested sufficiently, we decided to go over the river. I scouted ahead on my broom, avoiding the ceiling. The wall curved around, and the ground started to descend. It looked like this would be the best way to make it down from the shelf we were on.

I landed and looked for any tracks that Kima may have left. There were more creature tracks, but I didn't see any of the boot tracks we had seen before. It started to turn more rocky, tracks became less visible.

I let the party know what I had seen. We started to jump over the river. Ari'yasa asked for some help across, it was a bit far for her to make it. I helped her over with my broom.

We heard the occasional clatter of rock from above as the creatures walked on the ceiling. We quietly and stealthily made our way down the slope. The river covered enough sound though that we could have some short conversation.

Sindus walked up beside me. "Hey, you know how Lorcan had that stuff that exploded? What if we put that on the end of an arrow?"

"Hmm, that could be useful. But we don't know what he had to do that. I do know how to contact him, but it will take a couple of weeks to hear back, once we can get to a town again."

"That's true, but it's a thought!" I liked the idea. Anything to make my arrows more effective as a weapon was welcome.

The cavern started to flatten out again, and we found ourselves approaching a settlement of some kind, possibly Dwarven, though it seemed to be in ruins. We started to see stone statues of creatures and dwarves the farther into the settlement we got. These statues were incredibly lifelike. There was even one of the bug creatures in stone.

We decided to skirt around the left side, continuing along the cavern wall, rather than going through the ruined settlement. Someone brushed the wall and knocked some rock to the ground. It wasn't that loud, but loud enough we worried it could draw attention to our location.

As we got nearer to the back of the cavern, I noticed a chasm that divided the cavern. It was at least as wide as a stone's throw. I couldn't see the bottom as I glanced over the cliff edge.

We came around along the side of the chasm, and saw a long bridge spanning it. It was made of rope, but had wooden planks lining the bottom. It looked as though a cart could go across it. A large statue of a stone warrior stood near the bridge.

Sindus pointed to the bridge. "Keothi, do you want to race to it?"

Keothi agreed. I shook my head. "Quietly!"

They took off towards the bridge, Keothi easily taking the lead. When they were about halfway to the bridge, the large stone warrior started to move towards them.

Keothi turned to a defensive stance, waiting until provoked to attack. Naidaroe ran forward. "We come in peace!"

The statue made no hint of recognition. I'd rather not fight a giant rock, especially after the lesson from the sphinx. "Somebody shout it in Dwarvish!"

Ari'yasa also ran forward, her arms in a defensive position. The statue moved towards Keothi and raised its arms to strike. Keothi smashed his hammer into an arm, but it still came down with the same amount of force. Keothi buckled. "I think we should go across the bridge!"

Sindus ran to the bridge and shot his crossbows. Both of his bolts bounced off of its shoulders. "Run to the bridge!"

I stamped my foot in frustration. Normal arrows weren't going to do much to this thing. I woke my bowstring and fired an arrow. A flaming arrow crashed into its side, breaking off a sizable chunk. I dashed towards the bridge.

Melima threw a bolt of energy at the statue and took off. She paused and looked away from where she was running. "Avert your eyes!"

Keothi moved away from the statue, and there was a feminine grunt. Someone else must have shown up.

While the same bolt of energy stayed connected to the statue, Melima also threw a lightning bolt at it. More of it crumbled to the ground.

Vines started to crawl up its legs, but it ripped them from the ground as it walked towards Sindus and I at the bridge. I wasn't fast enough to dodge its fist. I felt lucky that no bones were broken.

Sindus had gotten away, and I was alone by the giant. I put my mark on the statue and pulled out my quarterstaff. I hit it, but not as hard as I'd have liked. I swung again with all my might at an angle that should have caused its leg to buckle, but nothing came of it. "Guys, I can't do anything to it with my quarterstaff!"

I tried to dodge and weave away from it, but another fist blowed into my back as I ran from it. That was going to leave a colorful bruise.

I could see what Keothi had taken off after. A woman in robes and wearing what seemed to be a crown. What was most unusual about her was her hair seemed to move of its own accord, lashing out at Keothi.

Keothi hit her as he dodged her hair. She slashed Keothi twice with a sword and started walking towards us. I felt a strange sensation in the back of my mind, like something was trying to slow me down, as well as my thought processes.

Keothi ran up from behind her and smashed into her back with a flurry of blows from his hammer. She keeled over and snarled at him. Her hair, which I now realized were actually snakes, hissed at him.

A ball of lightning flew from Melima's hand and hit the woman. She jerked and jolted, but remained standing and hissed back at Melima. She then shook her head and moved away from us, but towards Sindus. The strange feeling in my head dissipated.

"Sindus, think of all the wealth we will find after this!" Naidaroe said. The stone giant was upon him, crushing him with its giant fists. He dodged away just enough to avoid his head getting crushed. He shook his head and glanced away from the woman. She had a strange magic about her.

He slashed at her with both his rapier and a dagger, cutting off one of the snakes' heads. I jumped on my broom and shot into the air. Using my magical bowstring, I fired at the statue. My arrow just glanced off of its shoulder. If only magic could harm it, I was going to do very little to this thing.

I fired at the woman instead. In my frustration, I just missed her. She ignored my arrow and slashed at Sindus. She connected with one sword, but her second swipe missed. Her hair also snapped at him. He was starting to wear down.

Keothi came to Sindus' aid with his hammer. In distracting the woman, she was getting at some odd angles to avoid the full brunt of his blows. Surely she couldn't last much longer. I nocked another arrow and noticed Naidaroe pointing at me. "We need you! We cannot survive without the help you give us!"

Focusing on helping my friends, I took aim. I dropped my mark on the statue and spoke to my arrow so it would splinter into thorns. Another lightning ball flew past the statue as he raised his arms again to strike Sindus. I fired at the statue as its fists came down on our rogue.

Sindus crumpled beneath the first fist, and went completely limp under the second. The shards errant shards of my arrow were nothing compared to the beating he just took. From where I was in the air, I couldn't tell if he was still breathing. Ari'yasa shouted to him with a healing tone, "Sindus! Remain with us!"

Switching again, I shot at the woman. My arrow grazed her shoulder and she snarled at me, pulling out a longbow. I dodged the first arrow, but her second one stuck in my leg. I screamed out at the unexpected pain. So much for staying out of danger in the air.

Keothi took advantage of her distraction and uppercut his hammer into her chest. She flew backwards about an arm's length and crumpled to the ground. Her hair stopped moving.

An arc of energy reached between Melima and the statue. It was starting to crack slightly, but seemed as determined as ever to take us out.

Ari'yasa and Naidaroe ran over to Keothi, casting spells. They touched him over and over again as he fought with the statue. Each time they touched him he seemed renewed. Between his blows, Melima's lightning spells, and my splintering arrows, it finally came crashing down. It fell towards Keothi, but he pushed it away from him and it broke into hundreds of rocks.

I flew down to Sindus to check for a pulse. He hadn't moved at all since the last blow of the statue. If he was dead it would take a long time to forgive myself. He would have died on my watch.

How had I treated him the past few days? I felt that hadn't been too kind. The memory of him digging around the giant bug and telling him to wash in the river played back in my mind.

Reaching his side, his pulse was faint and his breathing was shallow, but he was alive. He groaned and sat up. "Did we beat them?"

The others had gathered around as well, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Several of us were pretty beaten up. We agreed that we'd find a decent ruin to conceal ourselves so we could rest and recover.