Chapter 17: Axes and Blood
The tunnel leveled off about forty feet from the enlarged basement. Violet would guess they were about thirty feet underground, but she couldn't be sure. It continued in a straight line, more or less, to the northeast and appeared to have been hastily dug; the walls, roof, and floor were rough and uneven causing the group to have to watch their steps carefully as they followed it. In places, roots from the trees above poked through, smaller ones hanging loose, like tangled hair, brushing against Violet and the others as they passed. Thicker roots had been crudely hacked off as they protruded into the tunnel. Those most recently cut still oozed sap like open wounds.
Vorn led the way with his torch followed by Milya. Jael followed behind Violet with another torch and several more shoved into a sack slung over his shoulder. Being in the middle of the group made Violet feel safer, but after the attack in the cottage, she knew that safety could be fleeting at best. She vowed she would hold on to her daggers better if it happened again.
Looking down at her feet to avoid a large root, she nearly barreled into Milya's back. Both the half-elf and Vorn had stopped. Looking past them, Violet saw why. Up ahead in the tunnel there was a faint flicker of light.
Vorn dropped his torch and stomped it out as did Milya and Jael, leaving the group in darkness. Straining to hear, Violet could make out guttural voices ahead, but not what was being said.
"I count at least three," Milya said quietly.
At that moment, a foul smell drifted down the tunnel to them. Violet covered her nose and was glad the darkness hid her expression.
"Orcs," Vorn growled.
The light grew brighter as the Orcs came closer.
"Violet, you go to the back of the group," Milya told her. "These things are bigger and tougher than goblins. If any get through the three of us, they should be wounded enough for you to finish off."
She had to admit that strategy made sense, but….
"I have another idea," she whispered back, aware the light was getting closer still. "Let me go out in front and I'll cast a spell that will hit all of them at once, then you guys can wade in."
Violet could hear a rustle of cloth but couldn't see who moved.
"Do you think you can?" Vorn asked.
"Yes," she said with more confidence than she felt.
A second passed.
"Alright," Vorn decided. "Everyone get against the wall to stay out of sight for as long as possible. Violet, wait until just before they see you, then do your thing."
Violet leaned against the rough wall. Waiting for the light to get closer was excruciatingly hard on her nerves. As it grew brighter, the voices of the creatures grew louder, and she realized they were speaking in a different language. Like Milya, she could make out three distinct voices in the approaching group.
As the creatures took shape in the light, she realized there were four in the group. The one in front was much shorter than the other three but took up nearly the entire width of the tunnel. She breathed slowly in and out and said a silent prayer to the goddess that her plan would work. She was just about to step out into the tunnel in front of them when one looked their way and said something in their language. They were still a little too far away for her comfort, but her advantage was about to evaporate.
Stepping out, she raised her hands and focused on the short, squat leader, "èist fiadhaich ionnsaigh!"
Lightening shot from her hand, lighting the tunnel like the sun. The creature in the front raised the front of its grotesque body up and flailed four of its eight legs just before the bolt struck it, then leaped to the orc closest to it. The other two jumped back as their two companions sizzled and convulsed.
When the lightening died, the orc dropped dead and the spider was nothing but a bloated, smoking mass with no eyes or legs left. It wasn't quite dead, though; its mandibles still snapped open and closed and it twisted, trying to bite anything nearby.
Vorn launched himself past her at the two remaining orcs, Milya right on his heals.
"Well done," Jael said moving past her also.
The fight was over quickly between the two Harpers and the orcs, with Milya suffering a nasty bruise on her left arm from of the orc's maul. Jael used his staff to deliver the killing blow to the spider, putting it out of its misery. A quick search of the bodies turned up four of the red potions of healing and a strange orb just a little bigger than both Violet's fists clasped together. They gave the globe to her, and she dropped it into one of her pockets. The potions they split up between them, Milya immediately drinking hers and sighing with relief as it worked.
"Lass," Vorn slapped her on the back, nearly making her fall over, "you are handy to have around. How many more times do you think you can do that?"
"I don't know," she replied. "This is all new to me."
"You need to be careful, then," Jael came up beside them and handed Violet another small bag that jingled with coins. "You can easily burn yourself out if you don't watch out."
That, at least, Violet understood. There had been a page in Fínola Eachach's grimoire detailing what happened to a young, promising witch that attempted to cast a spell too powerful for her skills. The spell had burned through her and left her unable to feel or manipulate magic afterwards. She had taken her own life three months later when it became apparent that she would never regain what she had lost. The thought of the same thing happening to her made her blood run cold.
Leaving the bodies where they lay, Vorn led the way down the tunnel, only to stop when he came to a fork. The left branch continued in a more northernly route while the right ran eastward, straight towards Highmoon.
"This cannot be good," Milya muttered.
"No," Jael agreed. "With the Harpers gone, the city only has the city's guards for defense."
"How many?"
"Maybe two dozen right now."
"That would be enough to hold the gates with a little help from the townsfolk," Milya said thoughtfully, "but if this tunnel comes up behind the walls…,"
"It would be a massacre," the priest finished grimly.
"Let's see how far they've gotten," Vorn said from several feet down the east branch.
The rest of the party followed him down the tunnel towards the city, worried about what they would find.
As they went down the tunnel, they began to hear a faint noise from ahead of them. At first, it was hard to make out, but as they continued, it sounded suspiciously like someone or something was pounding on rocks. After going straight east for a few minutes, the tunnel veered slightly to the right and a faint light appeared. The group slowed and hugged the walls to keep from being seen and used rudimentary hand signals to communicate as the noise drowned out all other sounds and they would have to yell to be heard. From time to time, Violet thought she heard a high-pitched yelp or squeal, but it could have been some form of speech she hadn't encountered yet.
Closer to the noise and light, they could see that the tunnel ended in a wide opening that led into a large chamber like the one under the farmhouse and figures could be made out inside. Milya waved at them to stay where they were as she crept forward to get a better look. With the light in front of her, Milya quickly became merely a silhouette then blended into the shadows against the walls visible only because of her movement. Then Violet blinked and lost sight of her even though she strained her eyes looking. Giving up, she settled back against the rough wall to wait. It seemed like the Harper was gone for too long and she started to imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios where she and the others met their end at the end of a club or rusty sword. But the others didn't look concerned, so she swallowed her panic and waited impatiently.
A slight shift of the shadows was the only warning Violet had before Milya appeared by her side once again, startling her. The Harper held up three fingers and then motioned with her hand a height about mid chest on her. Then two fingers and a height slightly above her head. Finally, one finger and a height around her knees. The others nodded solemnly as if they understood her perfectly and hefted their respective weapons. She pulled out her two daggers and gripped their handles tightly.
Violet swallowed nervously as Vorn and Milya led the way followed by her and Jael. Near the opening, the two fighters paused to let everyone's eyes adjust to the brighter light and exchanged a silent message. Milya pointed to Vorn and to the right and then to herself and straight ahead. Motioning to Jael she pointed to the right side and he nodded his understanding. Violet waited for Malya to give her an assignment, but the woman looked at her for a moment and just shrugged and pointed at Jael which Violet figured meant to just follow the priest. She nodded and Malya turned her attention back to the space. Vorn raised his axe and bellowed a challenge as he charged into the area, Malya by his side. Offering a prayer to her goddess, Violet followed on Jael's heels.
Despite taking the time for their eyes to adjust, Violet's still took a moment to bring everything into focus. The first thing she made out was a giant rat rushing at Jael. Its size was still shocking to her and she didn't think she would ever get used to it.
A shrill, warbling shriek startled her, and she turned towards the sound at a goblin raced towards her with its pickax raised over its head. She raised her daggers and held her ground despite every instinct telling her to run. As it neared her, the goblin appeared to stumble and fell face-first to the rough floor, dropping his axe and skidding the remaining feet to stop just short of her feet. Without thinking, Violet drove both daggers deep into its back. The creature tensed, then made a wheezing noise as its last breath left its body, then went limp under her.
As she pushed herself away from the smelly, dead goblin, a heavy weight landed on her back, pushing her down on top of the goblin and pinning her there. A hiss in her ear was the only warning before the rat on her back bit her shoulder. She gasped in pain, reaching behind her to try to dislodge the giant rodent, but it was an awkward angle. Instead, she groped for her daggers still in the dead goblin.
The rat hung onto her shoulder with its teeth and used its claws to rake her back and legs, ripping her dress and leaving ragged gashes. Violet screamed in pain from this attack. She bucked under the weight of the rat, trying to dislodge it and escape, when one of her daggers came free in her hand. Twisting her body, she plunged the dagger into the side of the rat.
The rat, startled by her attack, scrambled off her and put some distance between them. Realizing this might be her only chance, Violet pulled the other dagger loose and heaved her protesting body up and around to face the disgusting beast. She could feel blood running down her back and buttocks and snarled at her adversary in a combination of pain and anger.
Before she could launch an attack, though, Milya stepped up behind it and, with a slash of both her swords, nearly cut the animal in half. It collapsed at the fighter's feet and lay still.
"Are you alright?" Milya asked her, not being able to see the condition of Violet's back.
Violet looked around and realized that the fight was over and none of their foes were still standing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she collapsed to her knees and bowed her head.
"Hey," Milya knelt beside her and put a steadying hand on her uninjured shoulder. "You don't look too good. Hold on."
The woman dug into her bag and came up with a bottle of the healing potion.
"It's a good thing we found these," she said, popping the cork off and held it out.
Violet took it with a shaking hand and swallowed it down quickly. Again, her stomach filled with a warmth that quickly spread through her body. The bites and scratches from the rat burned furiously for a second, making her suck in her breath, then the warmth replaced the sting. Before more than a minute had passed, the pain was completely gone, and she felt like she could stand.
"Thank you," she told Milya as the other woman helped her to her feet.
"It's nothing. Besides, I may need the one you have later," she joked before leveling a serious look at Violet. "But we need to talk about your technique."
"What technique?" Violet asked in surprise.
"The fact that you don't have one, lass," Vorn said as he came up beside her.
"Well," Violet stuttered, "I'm not a fighter like you guys. I have no training."
"So why are you running towards the fighting instead of letting us professionals handle it?" Milya asked gently.
Violet shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I couldn't let you guys take it on without helping in some way."
"You're a sorcerer, Violet," Milya told her. "That's how you help. You stay out of the way of danger and back us up with your magic. You can't just run into battle. Look at you," she gestured at Violet's tattered and dirty dress then at herself. "You don't have any armor to protect you at all. Vorn and I have armor for a reason."
"Jael doesn't have any armor," Violet pointed out.
"Yeah, but he probably has some kind of protection spell and he does have some combat skills."
"Oh," Violet said softly, turning pink and looking down in embarrassment.
"Actually, no," Jael said, joining them. "I don't have any protection spells, but," he held up a finger to stop Milya from giving him a dressing down also, "but, I usually do have something on me that helps out." He tapped a ring on his hand. "This gives me about the same protection as hardened leather armor."
Vorn threw his arm around Violet, "don't worry lass, you'll get the hang of it."
"Next time, hang back and use your magic, alright?" MIlya prodded her.
"But my magic isn't completely reliable yet," Violet said, her voice just short of whining.
"All the more reason for you to stay out of the middle of everything," Milya.
"And your magic won't improve without use," Jael added.
She nodded her understanding.
"Now what?" she asked the others. "Are we going to continue or go back and wait for backup?"
Vorn started to answer but stopped at a noise from the crates.
"What's that?"
Milya squinted at the crates haphazardly stacked on the right side of the space, "it's coming from there."
Vorn marched over to the stack with Milya on his heels. He kicked one of them roughly making the entire stack totter. From behind the stack came a high-pitched squeal. Vorn went around to the side to look behind them.
"What do we have here?" he thundered while reaching behind them and dragging out a kicking and squalling goblin.
"I thought there were three," Milya said with satisfaction.
Vorn dropped the struggling goblin on the floor and Milya held a sword to its throat.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"No-ting," it cowered on the floor at their feet, speaking barely intelligibly. "I just worker. I dig," it pointed at the wall. "No-ting else."
Edging around Vorn so she could get a better look at it, Violet studied the goblin. Even with its odd colored skin, it looked undernourished and unhealthy. Its clothes were little more than rags and it didn't even have shoes on its feet. She could see old scars and fresh lash marks and bruises on its back and arms. It was so pitiful, Violet almost felt sorry for it.
"You've heard something, I know," Milya shook her head. "Your kind are sneaky and like to spy on your betters." She prodded it with the tip of her sword.
"I hear no-ting!" it wailed.
"Tell us," Vorn put in, "and we might let you live."
The goblin seemed to think about it before shaking its head vigorously, "no, going to keel me anyway!"
Vorn snorted in disgust, "might as well kill it. We can't trust anything it tells us anyway."
Milya drew back to deliver the killing blow.
"Wait!" Violet cried out.
"What?" Milya frowned.
"You just can't kill it in cold blood," she said. "It's not even fighting us. If you kill it now, it's just murder, plain and simple."
"Pretty lady right," the goblin whined. "Donna keel me."
"You can't be serious?" Milya asked with disbelief. "It's a goblin. Killing it isn't murder, it's pest control."
"It's a living, breathing being that can think and reason, just like us," Violet argued.
"You can say the same about rats," Milya snapped. "Do you call killing a rat murder?"
"I'm not rat!" the goblin protested.
"Shut up!" Milya told it. "This thing is not a person. It has a black heart and would kill you in an instant if it could."
"Wouldn't keel pretty lady," it sniveled.
"I said, shut up," Milya kicked it, making it whimper.
"Stop that!" Violet stepped closer to put herself between the goblin and the fighter.
"Don't get too close to it," Vorn told her, reaching out to pull her back.
Using the distraction, the goblin jumped up and shoved Violet into Milya then bolted between his legs and towards the exit.
"Stop it before it gets away!" Milya shouted at Jael who was the only one between the goblin and its escape.
Jael stepped into its path and brandished his staff, "you're not going anywhere."
The goblin snarled at him, lunging to the right and, when Jael moved that way to block, darted back the other way and around him.
"Down!" Vorn yelled at Jael, who immediately dropped to the ground.
The dwarf hurled his axe at the retreating goblin. Violet watched in horror as the weapon landed with a sickening crunch in its back. The goblin's body was flung forward several feet by the momentum before falling to the floor with a thud.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Violet announced before turning her back and vomiting.