The Infernals
Look to my friends. What on Neopia did that mean…? I struggled to wake but it was like moving through molasses. What had Shi'tri done to me? I could not wake. And I felt his presence behind it all. I sank into dreamless sleep.
I woke. I was bound, my hands pulled behind my back and tied to a wooden pole. My ankles were also bound together. I shook my head and opened my eyes. My friends were all arranged nearby, similarly bound in a semi-circle. Sabreur was to my right, a cut on his forehead.
"You're awake," he said dully.
"Wha-what happened?" I gasped.
"We were attacked in the night. It was Infernals, lots of them, and not just korbats. And you wouldn't wake up."
"It was Shi'tri," I said darkly, "He's the guardian of darkness. The one I fought in the realm of the Shadows."
"What's he got against you?" Sabreur asked, astonished.
"I don't know. But he's bound and determined to not let me get near Aldrai."
"I thought the guardians were just the physical manifestations of the different elements. They have a mind of their own?"
"Obviously. Don't you think they're human though – they most certainly are not."
I gazed around us. My friends showed various signs of combat and I frowned. Un-eairkagh was slumped to the side, apparently still unconscious. Infernus was breathing with difficulty and I guessed a broken rib or two. After I had inspected my friends I looked around our surroundings.
We were by the underground lake. It stretched out into darkness, a flat surface of pure black. The cavern was enormous, the ceiling stretching up into nothingness. Light emanated from clumps of lichen and moss that glowed with a pale green light. All around us were tents and the occasional small campfire. Pets moved around us, pale furless creatures with huge distended eyes and ears. I shuddered. The Infernals. Pets lost to the underground, never seeing the light of day.
"What do they want with us?" I whispered to Sabreur.
"I have no idea. They just ambushed us in the night. We did quite a good job fighting them off though. Especially Infernus. It took seven of them at once to finally drag him down."
I detected a note of pride in his voice and smiled grimly. A movement of white in our direction caught my eye. A techo was walking our way, a hunched creature with skin stretched so tightly across its frame that you could see the veins underneath. A massive collection of necklaces made of shells hung on its emancipated frame and bracelets rattled on its ankles and wrists. It wore a tattered loincloth and a headdress of leather and shells. A twisted wooden staff embedded with shards of glass was clutched in one bony claw.
"Betcha ten to one this is the shaman of whatever culture they have down here," I whispered as the creature approached us.
My brother nodded slightly. The techo stopped in the middle of the semi-circle we formed and glared at us in turn. A small crowd of the Infernals was growing around us and out of it stepped a massive furless kougra flanked by two gelerts. The kougra walked up to stand by the techo, the gelerts staying a respectful distance behind, like an honor guard.
"Chief," I whispered to my brother.
"Intruders!" the shaman hissed, glaring at us, "Intruders into the sacred grounds of the Infernals!"
"Are these the ones that were foretold?" the kougra said in a deep voice.
"Yes… I have seen them in my dreams. The elements have warned of their coming. They are not to pass! Kill them!"
"They have done no wrong," the chief replied languidly.
The shaman shot him a poisonous glance. Right then I realized that some sort of power struggle was going on. I quickly thought on how to best exploit it.
"They are intruders! We must not suffer them to live! The elements demand it! Kill them!" the shaman shrieked, waving his staff.
"The elements commanded no such thing," I said evenly, "Shi'tri only wants us to turn back."
The shaman turned to me, his eyes bugging slightly.
"She dares claim to have spoken with the elementals…" he hissed in outrage.
"Since when has someone other than the shaman speaking with the elementals been a crime?" the kougra asked.
I detected a soft smile on his furless muzzle and he favored me an appreciative glance.
"How is it that you even know the elements?" I asked the shaman, "I thought normal people could not communicate with them. Only very powerful wizards can detect their presence, much less allow them to manifest in physical form. And I sense no magic in you."
The shaman gaped at me like a fish and the chieftain chuckled.
"So you've seen them in physical form," he said, duly impressed, "That's something our shaman here cannot claim."
"I am their chosen voice!" he howled, shaking his staff ever harder, "I have journeyed to the Elemental Forge where the elements reside!"
"So the deeper you go the closer you get to the elements," Sabreur said lazily, "That's interesting. Well, Kiddo here has seen them on the surface of the earth. Can you beat that?"
The kougra burst out into laughter then and smirked at the shaman.
"No, I don't believe you can. Get on now, and remember who runs this clan."
The techo hesitated for a moment, then drew himself up violently and stalked away. The kougra then turned his large pale eyes on me.
"I am Chief Raitos. You have done me a small service today," he said gravely, "Ilk'nios has been causing trouble for years. That should keep him in his place for now. But the fact remains that you are intruders here and that the elements do not want you to continue on whatever quest you are on. You will be escorted to the surface by our warriors."
He turned to go and the crowd surrounding us drew back. Suddenly I heard frenzied shouts from a tunnel leading out of the cavern.
"Ni'cri! Almon duos frasi-ni! Kraim cios!"
The frantic cry continued as the furless acara neared us, panting. The crowd quickly drew back to allow him through where he collapsed at the chieftain's feet.
"Ni'cri. Almon duos frasi-ni. Kraim cios."
"Eios du?"
"Ai."
The reaction was instantaneous. Gasps of fear rippled around the assembled pets and a babble of voices burst out.
"SIRENE!" the kougra howled and everyone froze.
With the crowd settled the chief started barking out orders in their own language, almost too fast to follow. Pets started moving immediately, running to grab weapons and scattering throughout the cavern.
"What's going on?" I called.
One of the gelert guards answered me.
"A creature of the underground is coming," he said evenly, "You above-grounds have dealt with something similar before, I believe. We call it the kraim. You called it the monoceraptor. They are very rare. We have not had one come to the village in eons."
I turned and looked at the tunnel the acara had come running out of.
"Release me," I said softly.
The kougra chief turned to stare at me.
"What?"
"Release me," I repeated, "I'll fight it off. Might not be able to kill it, but I bet I can drive it away."
"You are mad."
"Perhaps. But if I succeed, I will have saved your village."
"And what do you want in return?"
"You release my friends. And I want you to take me to the Elemental Forge."