Chapter 5: Burland Tunnel

The rest of the trip through the valley went without further incident after Ragnar's encounter with the beetle-men and he was able to make it to the Burland Tunnel just as twilight had begun to settle. The entrance held an old, rocky arch above the path that was carved right into the ground, a steep path leading down into the moldy depth underneath the river.

Pulling a kerosene-soaked torch from his pack, the solider used his flint to light it. Its flame instantly revealed his surroundings.

Before he entered the tunnel, Ragnar noticed something by the entrance with his torchlight. There were several small bones leading into the entrance, probably from some rodent animals or rabbits. He didn't notice any campfire pits nearby, so humans did not eat these animals. Ragnar knew of only a few other creatures that could create so many bones in such a small area: slimes and healers. That could mean the monsters were becoming daring enough to venture into the tunnel.

The soldier didn't like the way things were beginning to look. If the beetle-men became daring enough, it was possible that they too would start to inhabit the tunnel as well and traveling between Izmit and Burland Castle would become a very dangerous venture. If armed escorts were going to be needed, Burland's defenses were going to become stretched to the limit.

Still, this was the only way to get to Izmit. Sword in hand, Ragnar entered the tunnel.

The ground was quite muddy and Ragnar had trouble keeping his balance as he walked down the steep path underneath the river. It wasn't too long before he came across flatter ground, however.

The tunnel was quite dark with Ragnar's single flame lighting the interior. Still, the soldier was able to make out several tributary paths along the main one, probably made from flood waters carving them out during heavy downpours (a sometimes too common occurrence in the country of Burland). If any monsters were to ambush someone, these tributary tunnels would be ideal hiding places. Ragnar steeled his senses and strained to listen for any kind of movement. He could hear water dripping in several places, and the faint roar of running water high above, but the tunnel was otherwise silent.

As he ventured further into the tunnel, Ragnar began to notice a strange smell in the air. At first he guessed it may have been just some sort of mold growing on the muddy walls but as the stench grew stronger, the soldier began to identify it with much greater ease. It was the smell of rotting flesh. Something had made a kill but Ragnar's torch revealed no blood on the ground. Either it was brought in from the other side of the tunnel or it had died in here.

The soldier rounded a corner and nearly passed out from the stench that assaulted him. The ground in front of him was littered with the corpses of healers. Skittering among the dead monsters were several slimes. The tiny, jelly-like creatures had a veritable feast for them here.

Although not really dangerous, slimes were very brave if they were in large numbers and were known to attack humans should they feel threatened. Ragnar decided it would be best to scare the little monsters off. Grabbing the shield strapped to his back, the soldier began banging his sword against it and rushed forward, roaring like a wild beast. The slimes immediately scurried away from the dead healers and into the shadows of the tributary tunnels.

Ragnar approached the corpses and picked up one of the dead healers. Healers were sort of like a jelly-fish, except they could float on land due to an incredibly light gas naturally produced inside their bulbous head. They also had a knack of quick recovery. If you slashed at a healer but didn't kill it, its wound would often close in an instant in the way a 'Heal' spell would do it for a human, hence being called healers. Like slimes, they were not really dangerous but a large group of healers could mean trouble if they latched on to you with their tentacles.

After studying the corpse, Ragnar found out that it was killed by a sword slash, and recently too. A quick examination revealed the same cause of death by the rest of the healers. Someone had been through a bit of battle here.

Ragnar couldn't tell if it had been the work of the other royal soldiers but it still showed a sign of just how bad the monster activity was starting to get. If there were this many healers in the tunnel (and maybe more, Ragnar didn't know), then the slime and babble infestation could be just as bad. He had already seen a dozen slimes but he had been able to scare them off easily. Ragnar hoped the dead healers would attract any slimes or babbles away from him.

As Ragnar left the corpses, he noticed the slimes were timidly returning to their feast. Good, he thought. At least they aren't following me.

The tunnel continued on a steady but relatively flat downward slope and Ragnar noticed a few streams running down. Eventually, he came across a small underground lake. The soldier noticed that it seemed to have shrunken of late, seeing a dry bed around it. This was obviously the very bottom of the tunnel for several small streams of water spilled into it from the surrounding tributary tunnels.

From the far side of the lake, Ragnar noticed a flicker of light sparkling off the dark water. The soldier instinctively went into a crouch and shielded his torch. Someone else was in the tunnel as well. While it could be nothing more than a traveler coming through, it was possible torch carrying beetle-men may be lurking in the tunnel. The soldier approached cautiously, remaining as hidden in the shadows as possible.

As he drew nearer, he was able to make out more of a figure. Whatever it was, it was definitely humanoid. It seemed to be floundering about in the edge of the small underground lake, its splashing in the water giving no indication that it was trying to hide its presence. Even disgruntled grumbling could be heard.

The closer he got, the more detail Ragnar was able to discern. It was a human. In fact, Ragnar was shocked to see just which human it was: Sir Denuve, covered in mud, and fumbling about to fish his sword out of the lake.

"Hey, Sir Denuve!" Ragnar called out as he rushed over to the royal soldier. Denuve, not expecting anyone, jumped out of shock. He then slipped on some mud and fell on into the water. Clumsy as ever, Ragnar thought bitterly.

Ragnar walked over and helped Denuve up. "Thank you, Captain," he said. The younger soldier tried to brush the mud off to appear presentable to his captain but realized the futility of it and gave up. "I'm sorry that I look like such a disgrace."

"That's all right," Ragnar said, more concerned with the soldier's well being than his appearance. "Are you fine?"

"I've been better," Denuve replied, his head a little low. "It has not been a pleasant past few hours." He then resumed fishing his sword out of the water.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking," Ragnar said, trying to help his fellow soldier, "but you wouldn't happen to know why there's several dead healers back there?"

"Great work, huh?" Denuve said, smiling broadly. "Yeah, they tried to ambush us but we took care of them in no time."

"Who's 'us'?"

"Me, Darnell, Mandrake, and Sandor," Denuve replied.

"Where are they now?"

"Well, um...you see..." Denuve began hesitantly.

Ragnar didn't like how this looked and grabbed Denuve roughly. "What happened to them?" he demanded.

"I...don't know," Denuve replied shakily. "During the attack, I chased after a pair of healers down a tributary, and, um...got lost. By the time I made my way back to the main tunnel, they were gone."

Ragnar couldn't believe what he was hearing. Three royal soldiers abandoning another during a time of battle? Such a thing was unheard of in all of Burland's history. "When did this happen?" he asked.

"I guess half a day ago," Denuve shrugged. "I was lost for quite some time."

Ragnar didn't know what to do next. Just the thought of royal soldiers abandoning another made him sick to the stomach. He thought about going back to the castle to report this but the King probably wouldn't like the idea of Ragnar putting off the search for the children. No, it would be best to continue on to Izmit and confront the soldiers there.

"Come on," Ragnar said. "I'll buy you a new sword at Izmit. Right now, I think we should get out of the cave with nightfall upon us. If there were that many healers in here during the day, I dread to think of what could be lurking in here at night."

Denuve sighed and nodded. The two royal soldiers began to make the climb out of the tunnel.