Chapter 5

The fearless warriors were fighting with a medium group of zombies who swiped their hands at them, clawing at their flesh. Using their powerful weapons the warriors fought and defeated the zombies. The demons all collapsed in heaps.

"Look the stairs to the second floor!" Adrianna called out, as another group of Fallen Ones advanced on them. Adrianna shot three fire bolt arrows at the advancing group. Three Fallen Ones collapsed. The others quickly retreated but came on just as strong again. Adrianna had decided to use fire arrows with flames on the tips to defeat these demons. Derek used his sword and sent a chain of lightning through five Fallen Ones. Daniel's mace whacked through two Zombies who fell in pieces from the impact. Holy Bolt shot five skeletons and they fell in a heap. It looked like Lothar liked his new staff as he continually blasted oncoming skeletons. She saw wind blow Zombies to pieces. The wind swirled around her lifting her long hair from its place at the back of her head. Jayalm had just used his new weapon. Adrianna saw one last skeleton. She aimed and fired hitting the skeleton in the skull. It collapsed in a heap. Each took a deep breath and walked towards the stairs cautiously. They had checked out the entire floor now and there shouldn't have been any more demons. They just wanted to be prepared. The group of five walked down the slimy green steps and found them selves surrounded by small little creatures they nicknamed scavengers. For they bit them and then went to eat from patches of flesh from fallen townsmen that lay scattered on the ground. These creatures were about the size of a raccoon, with bony skin that was a splashed colour of red and purple. Their claws allowed them to rip flesh. They walked on all fours. There were about five dead townsmen. She looked Derek's way. He glared back at her and leapt forward killing two scavengers with one foul swoop. Just as that was done, more lunged their way including skeletons carrying two small axes each. Adrianna shot her arrows and got three. The warriors battled this foe until they reached a small crack in the wall. Beyond the crack was darkness. Adrianna with her good sense of hearing heard the sound of running water. It had to be the water supply. She beckoned for the others to follow her. They traveled down into a cave like area. They were attacked by more small demons that looked like Fallen Ones except that they were a dark blue. They called them Carvers. As they ploughed through them, they came across three passages. They decided to split up.

"Okay, Derek and I will go one way and you three go another and then we will meet up with you for the third, okay?" she asked the four men not thinking of who she was going with. They all nodded and Lothar, Jayalm, and Daniel headed down the path to the right. Adrianna and Derek took the path to the left. Derek had been the first name to come to her mind. She hoped she wouldn't regret her decision. The cave walls were rock. The rough surface looked to be granite, but Adrianna could not be sure. The walls were covered with moisture and green moss that crept up the walls in many places. Adrianna noticed it was cold down here and with a shudder hastily headed down the passage, Derek following at her heels. At the end of the passage she saw five demons that looked to be half man, half goat. They walked upright and walked on hooves. They had two horns sticking out of the top of their heads and actually wore torn leather pants. The goat men were brown. They had small snouts that resembled that of a goat. They wielded spiked maces and they were running towards the two warriors. Adrianna aimed and missed one Goat man. Not deterred by the miss Adrianna re-aimed her bow and felt a hard object hit the back of her head. Fortunately, her circlet protected her from a severe head injury, but it was enough to stun her for a few moments. Derek charged the demon and the clang of the two metals rang throughout the cave. Adrianna rose, ran and aimed again as another goat man prepared to hit Derek. She fired and got the demon in the chest yet he still kept going. She fired again and twice more after that before he finally fell. At that time Derek had killed another goat man, three more to go. Derek was attacked from behind surrounded by all three demons.

"I call upon the earth lightning bolt", Adrianna called out for the power of lightning and sent chain lightning through the three demons twice before they fell.

"Aye thanks" Derek said thankfully. "You really know how to use that bow". He seemed rather timid at admitting this. She was a Rogue was she not? Of course she could use a bow.

"Thanks, let's go the other's will be waiting for us", she said turning and running down the passage, choosing not to respond to his rather silly comment other than a thank you. Derek lumbered behind her. Unfortunately he was not as agile as Adrianna was. She had always been a fast runner.

Adrianna felt wind so strong it hit her like a wall and she threw her arms up to cover her face but was thrown back sending her arms flying back away from her face. She stumbled back and crashed back into Derek. The force of her hitting him was also like a wall and she cried out in pain as she hit the hilt of his sword. She heard him grunt with the impact. He pushed her upright and wincing, walked ahead of her. She saw flickering light the flames flowing from Lothar's staff. She continued walking her back ached slightly. At the end of the other passage, she saw Daniel finish off a goat man with a wave of water, Lothar fired at two Carvers and Jayalm hit at another goat man with a tornado. The demons fell and the three men looked up at the out of breath Adrianna and Derek as they ran up.

"Looks...like...you took...care of ...them" Derek said breathlessly. Adrianna just nodded.

"Yeah let's go check out the other passage," Daniel said eagerly. "Oh by the way you and Jayalm are good fighters," he said turning to Lothar and Jayalm.

"You ought to take some lessons from them Adrianna" he said in a cocky voice. She gave him the nastiest look she could muster. She didn't say anything though. There would come a time, when she would have to save him. Then he would see her skill. Still he looked to be enjoying the excitement. Yes Daniel knew nothing of the wars fought in the East, but perhaps the two new warriors would. The others just nodded and followed him through the winding passage. They reached the central passage and Adrianna pointed in that direction. They all headed down the passage. Adrianna noticed a strange familiar yet unpleasant smell.

"Yuck! It smells like...Raw Sewage! It's the towns water supply!" Adrianna cried out. Just as she said that they reached a river that was the same sickly yellow water as in the town's well. Several goat men descended on them. Adrianna saw an arrow fly and realized that on the other side of the river there were two goat men shooting arrows. The arrow slipped through the air and hit her foot.

"Ouchh!" she cried out and responded by shooting lightning arrows at the stupid demons. One fell and she focused on the other. When he fell, she turned her attention to the others who had their hands full. She was too angry with embarrassment to notice the small pain inching its way up her leg and the sticky blood seeping between her toes. She aimed and sent chain lightning flying through two goat men. Derek did the same and killed two more. Daniel killed another. Jayalm and Lothar finished off the last demon. Instantly the icky water turned a sparkling blue that reflected off the cave walls. The horrible smell was replaced by the fresh smell of clean water.

"Ahhhh. That's much better," she said as she leaned down to pull the arrow out of her foot. She winced as it came out tearing her flesh further. The wound didn't go deep. She was used to the pain. After all she had to do that on the battlefield. She had to forge on and forget the pain. Noticing her pain may cost her, her life. She pulled her boot off and bent by the river to wash out the wound. Derek moved and picked up her boot.

"Look at this. The arrow melted away the metal". Adrianna knew of a substance that was used on some arrows that ate through metal, a type of acid. She wrapped a white bandage around her foot to keep dirt out until it healed. Adrianna then took her boot. She pulled a rune out of her bag and placed it on her boot. There was a white glow and the damaged part of the boot was repaired instantly. The men stared in awe.

"It is called Reparall rune, it temporarily repairs items until a blacksmith can repair it", she said looking at Derek. Lothar and Jayalm nodded pulling out similar runes. The runes were tucked away and the group made their leave after having a refreshing drink from the fresh running water. It tasted wonderful and clean.

The second floor had been cleaned out, the floor littered with the corpses of demon spawn alike. All that remained was a medium sized room. They had guessed it was the Butcher's room. Under the door they could see blood that had stained the floor. It had seeped between the cracks in the floor and spanned about three feet in front of the door. The foul smell of death drifted in the air. Adrianna had the feeling of nausea. Never before had she smelt such a foul smell in such high concentration. Adrianna stepped up to the wooden door. All the doors in the cathedral seemed to be wooden and were curved on top. They looked like Roman arches. In some doors the wood was rotting from the moisture and cracks had formed in them. This door however had scratches that ran the full length of the door as if someone were trying to escape, but escaped instead into death.

"Are you ready?" she asked. The four nodded. Derek looked rather angry and she could feel his eyes boring down on her as she slipped her hand around the doorknob. Was he angry with her, or the beast that lay beyond? Her heart was beating a hundred times faster than usual. She felt a great presence of evil as she turned the knob. She opened the door...

"AHHHH! Fresh meat!" called a sinister and scary voice from the dark void beyond. Suddenly a huge hulking brute leaped out the door and slashed at Adrianna. Surprised, Adrianna dodged, lost her balance and fell to the ground. The huge fiend, bigger than a normal man reached down circling its huge bloody yet fleshy hand around her neck and lifted her up off her feet.

"Ahhh! Let me!" she said gasping for air the last words cut off as he wrapped his massive hand around her throat. Dropping her bow and moving her hands around his wrist and digging her nails into his bloody, pink skin in a futile attempt to make him release her. Turning to go into his room he grunted as though to say "heh, too easy". Unable to breathe, she could only but let him do to her what he will, a feeling of complete helplessness overwhelming her. Her life flashing before her eyes, she let out a stifled terrified scream as coloured lights blurred her vision. She struggled to break free, futilely, realizing then that she did not want to die, not here in this horrid death trap. Where was everyone? Where were those that were her friends or partners at least? And why were they not saving her from this horrid fate. Her vision began to blur as she felt her life being choked out of her. Just then she heard a terrified and angry voice.

"Put her down you Bastard!" called Derek as he leapt at the Butcher, driving his blade straight down on the demons wrist, chopping the monster's hand clean off. Falling to the floor too weak to move Adrianna's head bounced off the wall, her vision seemed to clear and then blur again as she felt a blunt pain travel down her spine. She was leaning against the wall and saw the other three men attack the evil beast. Lothar fired a deadly bolt of fire hitting the beast square in the gut. Jayalm and Daniel hit the beast in the sides as the beast roared out in pain. He finally fell with Derek driving his sword deep into the Butcher's chest. She could feel the ground tremble as he landed with a huge thud. Relief flooded her as she realized that she was safe from this beast. Derek moved to Adrianna's side. His face was different she saw through blurry eyes. He had a worried look about his face. Alas another side of him that reminded her of his long lost kind manner. He put his arm around her and brushed strands of hair out of her face.

"Are you alright? Adrianna talk to me!" he cried worriedly shaking her lightly. She saw the terrified look in his eyes. For the first time she realized that as angry as he was with her, maybe he did care for her and felt her guilt begin to rise as she remembered the pain she had caused him.

"I'm alright," she said in a whisper and he seemed to relax a little. She slumped against his arm. She felt weak. He looked at Lothar who picked up her bow and walked over to them.

"We should take her to town to see Lithious" he said quietly.

"Yes. I will carry you. I owe you for taking too long to take the Butcher down. The beast brought back memories."

"No it's me who owes you" Adrianna said in a whisper. Derek looked at her strangely and slipped his arms under her knees and behind her back. He lifted her up almost as if she weighed nothing. She was too weak to protest and leaned against his chest. He seemed to shudder as her head touched him. She looked up weakly and saw his cold stare. It looked to her as if he was thinking. Maybe he was thinking about his father. She felt tears well up in her eyes. She should have never mentioned his father. This was not the way a Rogue acted. But what was she going to do? She was too weak and tired, her guilt weighing her down like a heavy blanket. She looked up and said quietly to him,

"Thank you". He looked down at her and shrugged. His cold stare disappeared momentarily as he said,

"Your welcome" The group headed up to town, Lothar carrying her bow on his back while he, Daniel, and Jayalm kept a look out for any demons they could have missed. They reached the stairs to the first floor and quickly passed through to the stairs to the town. Adrianna finally fell victim to her pain. Exhausted, Adrianna fell into unconsciousness...