Wooo Chapter 3! Now for the true beginning of the adventure!

Oh, and Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this series...except for Prior...he's mine.

Prior: Yea, he owns me!

Word up.

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"So what now?" ,I asked our small guide Shihu-Danhu.
"Well, if we're lucky we can sneak our way out without alerting the trolls.", he piped in his high voice.
"Do we just go down here?", Kaorin asked and pointed down the stone hallway.
"Yep yep! This passage leads to one of the main rooms, I'm pretty sure." , our miniscule guide said.
'Pretty sure' wasn't going to cut it for me.
"Are you sure?", I asked, suspicious.
"Mhmm!", he nodded his head ferociously. He certainly was a ball of energy. He smoothed his straw blond hair and moved towards the tunnel. "C'mon!", he called.
I didn't quite trust him yet. Kaorin sure as hell did though. I can't blame her, he certainly is a cute little thing.
"What the hell is this place?" , I asked quietly, mopping sweat from my brow as we proceeded down the rock strewn passage.
'This is Halvung! The troll stronghold!", he said a little too loudly for my taste.
"Trolls?" , Kaorin said, taken aback.
"Yep! Those big goofy guys are trolls. I'm sure you've seen them before.", Shihu-Danhu said.
Kaorin shuddered at the thought.
"They're scary...", she managed to say.
"Some aren't too bad!", Shihu-Danhu pointed out. "It's not as bad once you've been captured a few times. Some trolls are nice. This one named Grakshak played cards with me last time I was here"
He certainly sounded excited about this.
"How many times have you been captured?" ,I asked, terribly surprised that such battles happen commonly.
"By the trolls or overall?" , he asked me in return.
Me and Kaorin simply stared at this odd creature. How could he have survived being captured so many times? It didn't seem like it could be true.
"You're not from around here are you?" ,he asked as he noticed our incredulous gazes.
We shook our heads silently.
Shihu-Danhu looked further down the passageway.
"Ok, nothing coming. Let me explain to you foreigners what exactly happens here. The city we were captured from, Al Zhabi, holds in it's grasp a splendiforous item. The Astral Candescence"
I was startled at that statement. Throught the universe Astral Candescences are well known as a source of limitless power. A city with one in it's posession could rule an entire planet.
"This Candescence," ,he continued, "has alerted the attentions of the Lamia, Trolls, and Mamool Ja Savages"
I connected the word 'Lamia' with the the half-snake people, so then the Mamool Ja Savages must be the lizardmen.
"A rare occurance happened in yesterday's attack. All three forces teamed up for an attack. Something odd is going on. I can feel it." ,he shivered a bit, even though the heat was oppressive.
"That's so...scary..", Kaorin blurted out.
Silence covered us for a moment.
"We should...continue." ,I suggested.
Shihu-Danhu gave one last look at us, the foreigners, and began the trek down the rocky hallway once more. After stumbling over countless small boulders that were in our way the passage finally opened onto a tremendous room. I was fully surprised at the dimensions of the cave-like room we occupied. Sadly enough, we weren't the only occupants. Pacing along the ledge at the bottom of an epic looking bridge over a pit of lava were two trolls. One wore only a loincloth and not much else. He didn't even seem to be carrying weapons. THe other looked more resolute. He was covered from head to toe in think drab green armour. His armoured helmet had eye guards that made his eyeballs look like those of an insect. A terrifying sight indeed. They hadn't noticed the three awestruck travellers standing at the peak of the upward slanting bridge yet and that was for the best.
When Kaorin noticed the troll guards she threw her hands over her mouth in surprise. What do we do?", she asked through her hands.
"We..umm...uhh..we...hmm.." ,Shihu-Danhu put his finger to his mouth in thought. "Do you have any ideas Mr.Prior?", he asked after a moment.
I grimaced. "You're the expert here"
"Yes, but, usually I manage to escape alone. I can sneak past them. They have pretty bad eyesight. YOu guys would be noticed though. Hmm.." ,he entered thinking mode once more.
"I have an idea." ,Kaorin piped in. "It's simple but,...", she picked up a stone from the rock floor and weighed it in her hand. A moment later she gave it a mighty heave. My breath caught in my throat as the missile sailed through the air. The sailing rock was lost to sight after a moment only to reappear as a small 'clack!' as it hit the rock below.
The troll in armour snorted and babbled a few unintelligable words to his companion before both ran off in the direction of the missile's landing point.
"Quick!", Kaorin warned and tugged on my sleeve.
'That worked surprisingly well.', I thought to myself as we shuffled down the dangerous bridge.
Upon reaching the bottom we stalled for a moment before taking the obvious route. The opposite way that the trolls had gone. Barreling through the resulting caverns and caves we were far too rushed to hear the slight skittering sounds from behind us. It was only when Kaorin let out a yell and seemingly fell to the ground that I turned to see our problem. What a problem it was. Keeping Kaorin pinned to the ground with one of it's sharp foreclaws was a nasty looking insectoid being. It's body was long and covered in ebony plates. The bright red sensor organs atop it's small head wavered in the dim light. It's clacking mandibles dripped a viscous liquid upon the ground.
"Kaorin!", I muttered through clenched teeth.
Kaorin was trying to struggle against the power of the insect, but to no avail. It had her shoulder pinned to the ground with incredible strength.
"That's a Wamouracampa.", Shihu-Danhu said, his voice floating up from below me.
"It could be the Lord of Evil for all I care! I'm gonna kill it!" ,I growled. I wouldn't let anyone die. Not while I'm still alive.
"I'll help..or at least do my best." ,Shihu-Danhu gulped.
"It's go time, ugly." , I said for the sole purpose of making myself seem more macho. I cracked my knuckles and charged at this foe. I planned on clobbering it with just my bare hands. It's not smart, I know, but it's what I did. It never occured to me at the time how tough of a battle it would turn out to be.

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OoOOoOooO! Suspense! Chapter 4 in the works. It only gets more exciting from here so stay tuned!