Chapter 10

The warriors were on the second floor of the catacombs looking at a book they had found on a pedestal, "The Chamber of Bone". Adrianna opened the book as she thought of that morning.

Adrianna had walked into town to see Lothar and Jayalm. They greeted her with warm smiles. Daniel came out in his usual scowl. He said not a word to Adrianna. Perhaps he was afraid to admit that he needed her help. Derek looked strange. A face that could only mean that he was deep in thought, and they all knew that she had saved Daniel and they were thankful. However, forgetting her thoughts of that morning, Adrianna began to read from the book, her voice echoing eerily off the stone walls.

"Death will come to those who seek to take the treasures secured within this room and will be doomed to protect the treasures that lie therein, so speaks the Lord of Terror and so it is written". The confused warriors decided to give it a try. They continued on looking for the chamber. The last room they found had a spiral staircase leading up. They climbed the stairs. Almost immediately three grey skeletons emerged from the shadows. They called themselves the "Horrors" and holding up shields and swords began to attack them. Lothar's famous Holy Bolt destroyed them. The warriors continued on. As they walked up one area they heard a strange roaring noise and a big horned beast charged them. The beast hit Derek head on. He was thrown several feet. He grunted as he hit the floor and clutched at his chest. His face cringed in pain as he gasped for air.

"Derek!" Adrianna cried and ran to him, taking a defensive position in front of him. Narrowing her eyes, she turned and called out, "Wave of water I call upon you" and shot an arrow of water towards the demon. The arrow was made of water and it hit the demon. Nothing happened. The others were attacking other horned demons. Adrianna remembered lightning and water together. She called out,

"I call upon water and earth" and shot a water arrow surrounded by lightning. It hit the beast and he fell dead as the lightning electrocuted him. Yet again the ground trembled as he fell. She heard another roar as another demon approached. She backed up and her heel hit something. Glancing down she saw Derek's sword that had been knocked out of his hand. The demon charged, knowing that she couldn't stop him with a bow. She bent down quick and grabbing the huge sword she brought it up in front of her just as the beast lunged at her. She heard a ripping of flesh as she was pushed back. She landed hard on her back; the beast fell on top of her. The sword, she realized had gone right through the demon killing it. She felt more trembles as the other demons fell. She tried with all her might to push the demon off her, but the beast was too heavy. Its weight began to crush her. The hilt of the sword was pushing into her stomach and a blunt pain surged throughout her body as it dug deeper into her gut. She gasped in pain. All she wanted was the weight to be removed.

She looked up through tearing eyes as she saw Derek come into view. He was injured but he pulled on the beast. Daniel joined him now as the beast slowly began to move. She heard Jayalm say for them to hurry up as more demons descended on them. The beast was pulled off the sword with much labour and Adrianna managed to roll out from under the demon. She still held the sword in her gloved hands. She pulled herself to her feet wearily dragging the now heavy bloody sword across the ground. She closed her eyes and calmed her breathing and listened and felt another demon run towards her. She thought of her parents and all the pain that had been caused. She felt a new strength as she pulled the sword over her head. The demon approached as she opened her eyes and stepped aside. The demon missed her and she plunged the sword into its back with a yell as it ran past. Blood splattered from the wound and she let go. The demon blindly crashed into the wall nearby, and became still. She turned towards her partners as they stared at her. Derek walked unevenly towards her. Her anger still surged through her body. He placed his hands on her shoulders as if to calm her. She ducked away from him shaking her head. Blood covered her armour, the blood of another evil creature. So much blood, how much more would be shed before this horrible nightmare ended? She backed away, her mind clouded by her anger. Derek stood back uncertain of what to do. Lothar bowed his head, as did Jayalm as if they knew what was going through her mind. Watching her companions closely, she went to the fallen beast. She pulled the sword out. It was covered in blood. She held it up. The blood on the sword ran down the sword and dripped onto her hands as she angrily spoke her vow.

"So many have died due to their hate of each other. In times of peace, however, great cities were built. Kingdoms flourished and people loved and lived. Small towns were created and simple people lived within them. Some had dreams of seeing far off places. They minded their business raising their young and then one day an evil erupted in the lands and destroyed all they worked so hard to build. One, a woman who lived in a small town saw so many beautiful cities, fought in many wars and made many friends. She returned home only to find all that she had fought to protect gone, dead, killed by demons commanded by a dark sinister force. That woman was me and I swear upon the graves of all who perished at the hands of this monster, that I will destroy him, whether it be the last thing I do". Adrianna brought the sword down and looked to her surprised companions. Bowing, Lothar and Jayalm walked up to her and placed their hands upon hers. She dropped the sword in surprise and it clattered to the ground. Derek feeling a sense of pride walked over and placed his hands upon the pile of hands. Daniel, giving in, then placed his hands on the pile. They all had silently agreed to help her. The source could run, but it couldn't hide forever. The anger drained from her heart as Derek picked up his bloody sword. He re-sheathed it and hugged Adrianna. The others hugged her too, minus Daniel of course.

The five warriors, each filled with a sense of pride explored the other side of the room being careful and killing the horned demons that had attacked them. They were as big as the Butcher. They had clawed hands and feet and a huge horn on the top of their heads. Their skin was grey and scaly. When they were defeated with much labour, the group moved to the centre room. Jayalm opened the door and they saw about a hundred skeletons in the small room. Jayalm quickly closed the door. Lothar created several firewalls in the room and heard several crunches of bone and groans from some other creature that was being killed. When the fire disappeared they ventured into the bone-covered room. Every creature within was dead. There were skeletons and the grey bent remains of Hidden within the room. They opened the door on the other side of the room and were immediately attacked by more horned demons. Adrianna saw a book in the middle of the room and while the others fended off the demons, she opened the book. Instantly several dragon-like creatures popped out of the ground. They had three heads each and shot fire balls at the horned demons, which helped kill them. The spell was called Guardian and all five warriors had now magically gained the spell. The five warriors left the Chamber of Bone. On their way to the stairs down to the third floor of the catacombs they saw the remains of the goat men from the Blazing Fire Clan. These goat men were red instead of brown like the ones in the town's water supply. There were also more Carvers and their brothers Dark Ones and demons called Hidden. They appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quick. They were small hunched demons that scratched at the warriors. They were grey in colour. They had been easy to defeat once you could see them. The warriors found the spiral stairs leading down to the next floor and crept down them into the cold damp darkness below...