Again they set off, Jarlaxle lingering in the back. Judas strode ahead with quick, long strides. He bullied his way through everything; he broke apart crowds and made wagon stop in their tracks, following his course with a single-minded intensity. Entreri followed close behind, letting the irritable mage force a path for him through the crowd. Jarlaxle, because he had lagged behind, caught all the irritation and had to slog his way through the snarls of people that the mage left in his wake. He huffed and struggled to catch up with the rapidly disappearing mage.

"Where's the fire?" he muttered sarcastically.

They were soon out of town, and heading rapidly for one of the gently sloping valley walls. With the man's furious pace they made it in little over an hour. Entreri was a little concerned for the old man. He was obviously out of breath, but that didn't slow him down in the least. Resting only for a moment-eyes darting birdlike over the scene-he immediately started up the rock pile. The going was steep and treacherous, and Entreri stayed close by the man, keeping an eye on him.

"Where are we headed, my good friend?" Jarlaxle asked, striding effortlessly over the stones.

"Cave." He huffed.

A hidden cave? Jarlaxle grinned. Now they were getting somewhere.

They made it to a round hole in the rocky face of the landslide, gaping like a small mouth in the rocks. The mage stopped and looked it over, gradually getting his breath back.

"Rockslide happened a few years ago." He said. "Cave mouth was bigger; big clearing in front. Bramble and thorn trees kept people away. Found by accident."

"People could hide here?" Entreri hissed pointedly. He wished the mage would be quieter: if there was anyone in there they could easily hear them.

"Yes." He gave Entreri a condescending look. "I'm not stupid. This is a long tunnel; then there is a series of small chambers. The big one is too far back for anyone to hear us."

"Trapped, most likely." Jarlaxle fanned himself with his hat, looking over the entrance thoughtfully.

Judas nodded. "I have spells for disabling magic traps. You two?"

"I am skilled at disabling non-magical traps." Entreri stated.

"I have equipment for detecting both magical and non-magical traps."

"Detecting. Good." Judas smiled nastily. "Up front."

Jarlaxle waded in front of them, frequently brushing cobwebs out of the way. They went along with no light, the mage having cast a spell on his sight to see, and Entreri used his newly-gained shade vision. However, they all knew it was Jarlaxle that could see the best; his natural heat vision and being so at home in such an environment made him their best chance at detecting other people in the absolute darkness.

The air in the cave was damp and cold, and it smelled of staleness and mildew, like an old cellar. It was also cramped. The few small chambers that it opened up to were no bigger than a large closet, and the floor was lumpy and uneven. The tunnel wasn't very tall, forcing them to partially crouch, the rough ceiling scraping their backs. Other tunnels branched off from the original; most just narrow slots too small for even a child to squeeze through.

Jarlaxle wondered how extensive the cave system was. If it connected to the underdark, there might be a host of creatures waiting to kill them, not to mention the hostile, intelligent races. For all he knew it could be his own race that was making the villagers disappear; humans made intelligent, useful slaves. He paused, instinctively sensing an open space around the bend. He signaled to Entreri to stay, and went on ahead. Mercifully the mage picked up on the intent of the sign even if he didn't understand the meaning, and silently crouched, watching the drow move off.

He dipped the brim of his hat, and a wave of cold washed over him, shielding him from infrared vision. Then, he cautiously moved out into the entrance of the space, surveying the room.

It was a big chamber. Easily big enough to fit a city block with room to spare: and while it was peppered with stalactites and stalagmites it was mostly flat and open. He scanned the room, combing it for any sign of other people, noting the numerous tunnels that led off from the main chamber. While there may be an ambush or two down them, the main chamber was clear. He made a round and found no traps, and came back to the two of them.

"No traps, no people." He whispered, keeping his voice as low as possible; sound echoed in caves. He would have preferred to use hand signals, but he needed the mage's input. "What about the other chambers?"

"Small." Judas whispered back. "Family-sized rooms."

"How far underground does it go?"

"Wide, not deep. Parallel to the surface: spreads out under about half of the valley."

"Anymore opening to the surface?"

"None. Used to be."

"What about to the underdark?"

"Not deep enough."

Jarlaxle nodded: this seemed solid. Likely they would have to comb the cave system to root out any problems, but it seemed to him that people hadn't been here in a very long time: it had an unused, deserted feeling. Still, there were signs of people here; but he could have sworn some of the stalagmites had been removed; the too-flat stumps of them low to the ground like the stumps of cut trees. Some of them looked like they had been caved with primitive tools. Infravision was terrible for seeing details in anything that wasn't lit up with heat, and while the caves of his homeland constantly glowed with heat from the magma that flowed everywhere, these caves had very little warmth, making them dark and featureless.

"Have there been people here before?"

A strange look; almost eager, came into the man's face. He had a feeling the he'd asked Judas one of those questions that got the monosyllable human talking.

"Yes."

Neither of them was sure of this, but the mage had insisted. The were-light floated about them, casting a dull yellow glow. A small flock of bats fluttered about, confused and annoyed by the light; managing to nip them all once or twice in revenge. Entreri snarled; swiping out at them, and cut down at least five before the chittering things swooped away.

"Make this sightseeing trip quick." He snapped.

He immediately went to the largest stalagmite that was in the middle of the room. The light buzzed about the limestone column, finally showing them what Judas was so excited about.

The stone had been painstakingly carved; hacked into fantastic stylized plants and animals in shallow relief; washed out color showed that it had been painted in natural hues of brown, black, green, and yellow. A few of the animals were ones they recognized-a bull, deer, wolves-but others looked familiar but strange, like a bobcat with far too long fangs.*

The mage led them to one of the walls, and here were more paintings; with even more of the odd animals among the normal ones. There were herds of animals that looked like unicorns, with their spiraling horns, but they had bizarre arched muzzles and pig-like snouts. Also there were creatures Entreri was sure shouldn't be here; like lions and hyenas, and some very hairy rhinoceros and elephants. ** He'd seen them in some rich pasha's zoo once, and they were supposed to live in southern regions near his own city, on hot, arid grasslands. Not here, in a place covered in pine trees and had snow on the ground for more than half the year.

The paintings also showed scenes of life; stick figure hunters pursuing a bull, people carrying baskets of gathered food. And everywhere the silhouettes of human hands; the outlines drawn in charcoal.

"How old is this?" Entreri asked.

I'm pretty much biasing the animals on Pleistocene-era north America. For the paintings, the best example of what they looked like is the ones in Lascaux, France.

*Smilodon Fatalis; the infamous sabertooth tiger.

**That strange animal is a saiga antelope; still alive in Mongolia today, but extinct in America. Their also used to be the American version of hyenas, lions, cheetahs, etc. living alongside the woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros, before they died out with the rest of the big animals.