Excerpt 6 from the Third Diary of Terrahex the Dwarf
“All right, girlscouts.” Fischer took a commanding tone with us. “This field trip is over. I need to get our guide back in jail and fight to protect this hellhole.” She grabbed Talvi’s arm and pulled her toward the cavy hole.
Urist, a look of astonishment on his face, exclaimed, “We can’t just leave after coming so far!”
“There’s nothing we can do now.” Fischer replied. “We know Vanya could’ve survived, but there’s no way to get down and check. We’re leaving.”
“There is one way down.” Urist pointed out. I looked over the edge at the lake so far below us. Talvi whimpered, her arm still in the bone-crushing grip of our coronel badass. She looked like she was not having a good time.
“Absolutely not.” Fischer yelled. “Not only do we not know if the drop is safe, but we also don’t know what’s waiting for us down there. Even if your friend survived the drop, she’d’ve been eaten for sure.”
“I’m going to find her.” Urist said adamantly. The two of them glared at each other with looks that seemed to electrify the air between the two of them.
“Well, then let’s go find her.” Rose butted in. “Standing here does nothing for us. We have to move forward, and you have to protect Spearbreakers.”
“You don’t even know if the drop is safe!” Fischer yelled angrily.
“I do.” I said. “I’ll prove it, too.” I started down the slope when Rose caught my hand.
“Over my dead body!” She pulled me back. “I’ll go first.” I grabbed her arm. It would be so, so simple just to use To Dust on her so she wouldn’t risk her hide for me. It would wear off soon enough. I refrained from it though. Rose was my friend and I could never do that to her. I nodded my consent.
“You will not jump.” Fischer commanded.
“Well it’s just too bad that you’re not my commanding officer isn’t it?” Rose smiled that sweet, toothy smile that made her look like the most innocent little thing that ever existed. Without warning, she ran down the slope and plunged off the side.
“Armok damn that girl.” Fischer grumbled. I ran down the slope and caught the edge, watching Rose’s small body, lit by her glowing hammer, fall the immense height. Her vocal chords were producing what I thought was a wail until I realized it was just a long, drawn out, ‘Woohoo.’ She hit the lake dead-center, fast and feet first.
After she hit the water, I couldn’t discern her from the rest of the cave surroundings, but I knew that she had to have survived. Sure enough, a couple tense minutes of waiting, her voice carried up through the caves.
“I’m alright!” She yelled. “That was the funnest thing ever!”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I realized that even I hadn’t totally believed that I was right about the lake. Behind me, Fischer grumbled some more about Rose, but pushed Talvi toward the cavy hole.
“Don’t come crying to me,” She said as a goodbye, “when something eats you.”
“We won’t.” Urist promised. “I swear to Armok.”
“And it’s up to you three to find a way out.”
“I know a way out.” Urist nodded. Fischer and Talvi disappeared into the hole, leaving Urist and I alone together. “Well, friend…” Urist started as if he was going to say something. A long time ago, I would’ve relished the word ‘friend,’ but a lot had changed since then. I wanted to help him, true, but I didn’t need another friend. The first friend I had turned out to be, at the very least, an attempted murderer. I could only hope my other two wouldn’t follow the same path. I trusted them dearly, but I had trusted Talvi dearly as well.
“I’ll jump first.” I said, turning away from him.
“Have I offended you?” He asked, irritation dripping in his voice. He was too wrapped up in his search now for him to really care about anyone who wasn’t himself and his query, but I didn’t blame him for that. I knew that if Rose went missing, I’d never stop searching until I found her.
“No.” I replied. I jumped.
The first thought that went through my head was that Rose was a dirty rotten liar. I was not having fun at all. It took all my willpower not to scream.
My second thought was about how fast I was going. The air rushed by so quickly, tearing and clawing at my skin and clothes like the spawn tore at a fallen soldier. It almost felt like it was supporting me, like it was blowing me upwards and I would soon crash into the ceiling of the caverns.
My third thought was short. It consisted of a curse word repeated several times to express my doubts as to whether or not I would land in the lake.
I landed in the lake not quite as gracefully aligned as Rose did, flailing about the way I was prone to do when falling from a height that could have killed me. For a panicked second, I didn’t know which way was up or down or left or diagonally up and to the right by 3 degrees. I opened my eyes but all I could see was the muddy water in front of me.
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my midsection and I felt myself break the surface of the water. I breathed hard, trying to blink the mud from my eyes. I looked to see who my savior was and wasn’t surprised to see Rose’s smiling grin again.
“Heya.” She greeted, letting me float in the water. “You seemed a bit turned around so I decided I’d lend a hand.”
Urist landed in the lake without a hitch, and we were all on shore soon enough. While Rose was wringing out her red hair, I found a couple of branches of fungiwood and, with my back turned to my companions, lit one on fire with Circuit and spread the fire to the others. They released a terribly rotten smell, but fumbling around in the dark for evidence wasn’t something I wanted to do if there was only a remote chance that there was a dead body.
I handed out the fungiwood torches.
“Just another skill of the amazing Terrahex, I assume.” Urist lifted his eyebrows. I didn’t reply.
“Let’s get searching.” Rose said, shooting Urist a disapproving look. “I don’t like the way these caves feel.”
I didn’t like it either. As I walked around the perimeter of the lake looking for a body, a shoe, a tooth, anything, I routinely looked up and scanned the threatening darkness around us. The darkness felt like more than just darkness. It felt alive, sentient. It was watching us, squeezing in on us. Our rings of light around each of us protected us for the most part, but that darkness had a way of making my breath short and my mind on high alert. Not liking the place wasn’t quite the way I’d put it.
We searched in moderate silence. The sound of scuffing boots on muddy stone filled my straining ears along with far-off dripping. It added to the sense of wrongness. Anywhere and everywhere in Spearbreakers you can always hear the sounds of the heart of the fortress. Sounds covered the entire fortress like a blanket; the forge, the masons, the engravers, the soldiers, even the Spawn. Every one of them made noise at every hour of the day. Time held no meaning underground and around the clock was sound of a bustling, underground city. The silence that such a large cavern had seemed to produce a sound of its own.
Urist began whistling at one point but stopped quickly when the silence seemed to fight back against him. Sound even felt wrong. Everything was wrong.
“Guys?” I said, spotting something odd while searching at the end of the lake opposite where we came ashore. “Did anyone come over here yet?”
“I didn’t.” Rose said back. It was odd, not having to yell over such a long distance, but sound carried far with nothing to absorb it.
“Neither did I.” Urist said hopefully. “Did you find something?”
“Come here and you tell me.” I beckoned them over.
“Footprints.” Rose stated when she reached me.
“Vanya’s footprints.” Urist sunk to his knees, examining the footprints. “They can’t be anyone else’s right? No one’s been down here for… well no one’s ever been down here.”
Something on the other side of our lake caught my eye. It was vaguely humanoid, but the chill going down my spine told me that it was anything but human.
“I don’t see who else’s it could be.” Rose answered Urist, oblivious to our company.
“He might have the answer.” I took out my crossbow, signaling the figure on the other side of the lake. They immediately saw what I was worried about, drawing their weapons as well.
“You!” Rose yelled in a deep tone that reminded me of Fischer. “Speak your name and business!”
When he opened his mouth, flames licked his teeth as if they were the bars of a cage holding them in. He responded in a language that brought chills down my spine. It was the same language that was in the necromancer tomes.
“Puny dwarves. The name of your killer will be Ugeth, living flame.” His mouth began glowing brighter and brighter.
“RUN!” I yelled loudly. It echoed through the cave once before Ugeth exploded into a great ball of flame. We turned tail and began running up the slope that surrounded the lake, abandoning our torches. At the top, I ventured a look back. I saw Ugeth, a great humanoid shaped firestorm, making his way around the lake at an alarming rate.
We ran through the cave, the sounds of our huffing breaths and roaring flames filling our ears. The glow from Ugeth behind us illuminated our surroundings menacingly, glowing brighter as Ugeth gained on us.
“We need to get out of here!” I said, looking back to see Ugeth had crested the hill. Ahead of us was the maze of stalagmites that reached skyward that a hundred dwarves with joined hands could not wrap around.
“I know a way out. Sorta.” Urist said. “There’s a small pond that Vanya and I fought some gorlaks at once. Mr Frog bailed us out. He has some sort of cave system independent to Spearbreakers and cavies.”
“Sounds like you two had some adventures.” Rose panted. We reached the stalagmites and ran through them. I stuck close to Rose and her glowing hammer. I knew that Ugeth was gaining on us.
“Where is it?” I asked frantically. “We don’t have much time.”
“I’m not sure.” Urist replied.
“You’re not sure?” Rose yelled. “How are we supposed to get out of here?”
I looked back. Ugeth was within shooting distance now, especially close in these tight areas where the stalagmites fought for space to grow. “We shouldn’t have left the lake.” I said.
“Let’s double back.” Urist suggested. We did, barely managing to keep ahead of Ugeth, scrambling over rocks and fallen tower caps in the process. Only now did we notice that everything around us seemed to be scorched.
“We’re never going to make it!” I conceded, breathing hard. Ugeth was too fast. Ahead of us between two needle thin pillars of stone was the clearing that had the lake in it.
“Then let’s kick his ass!” Rose yelled with more pep than I thought the situation warranted. She turned around and ran suddenly at Ugeth, catching it by surprise. She swung her hammer quickly and struck its head hard, causing him to crash backwards onto his back. “Is that all you got?” She taunted, sticking her tongue out at him.
I could’ve sworn I saw it smirk. I readied my crossbow and shot. The first bolt went wide to the left of the recovering forgotten beast, but the next two sunk into its stomach, making it flinch. It shot out its hand and a stream of fire came toward me. I jumped to the left and Urist ran around the back of it, stabbing his spear into the back of the creatures head. He pulled it out and stabbed through its midsection, the iron point poking out his stomach.
Ugeth croaked as the spear sunk in. I lowered my crossbow, thinking the battle was over, but the flames roared even louder. Ugeth began laughing. It sent out a shockwave of fire, knocking over Urist before he had a chance to pull out his spear. Rose screamed as the fire washed over her, raising her arms to protect her face. Temporarily blinded, I raised my crossbow and moved in after the shockwave subsided, stepping into the shadows instinctively. Rose was patting out small bits of her singed hair, retreating for now but always keeping her front to Ugeth.
Ugeth yanked the spear out of its back and threw it off to the side into a pile of mushrooms. It smiled a twisted, insane smile and turned its attention to the stunned Urist.
I shot three more bolts in quick succession, the intricate mechanisms Mr Frog made years ago whirred and clicked and pulled, seamlessly loosing bolt after bolt. Two struck his arm before he turned to search for me as I advanced the heat intensifying step after step. The third bolt struck his leg and went all the way through. He roared then and let out a massive, all encompassing burst of fire from his mouth. I jumped to the ground, pulling my cloak’s hood over my head as the fire dried whatever moisture was left in it from the lake.
I heard the guttural cry of Rose followed by a sharp crack and the fire disappearing. I guessed correctly that Rose once again came to my aid. That Armok damned girl was my guardian angel. I looked up to see her doing that deadly dance with Ugeth, the latter of which took hits like a champ but more often than not seemed to move out of the way of Rose’s hammer just in time. I could see that sheen on Rose’s face. She was sweating hard from the heat of her adversary and probably couldn’t keep it up for much longer.
A loud, ear-piercing bang suddenly rang out and the caverns echoed it back. Ugeth stumbled back, clutching its flaming chest. Rose quickly recovered from the initial surprise and went in to lay her hammer against its head, but Ugeth let out a wail and fire erupted from his mouth, pushing the redhead back.
“And I thought I was crazy for carrying this thing around.” Urist laughed, coming up next to me. He was pointing some sort of small, metallic object at Ugeth, Rose retreated further as the flaming breath continued, but Urist pulled the trigger on the object and another bang echoed around us. Ugeth’s flames flickered for a second and the forgotten beast clutched at its arm.
Rose retreated and stood by us, panting. She looked like hell. Her red hair was scorched in a dozen places and her shirt was soaked with sweat at the armpits and neck. “It was only toying with me.” She said to nobody in particular. “I could see it. Ugeth could’ve burnt me to a crisp at any time. It’s only playing with us... What the hell is that thing?” she asked when Urist made another bang peal through the caverns. Ugeth stumbled again, but roared even louder.
“A gun. It’s like a super crossbow. I’ve only got three more bullets though.” He clutched the gun tightly. “After I run out it’s useless.”
“Interesting.” Rose panted.
“So, we have no chance against Ugeth?” I asked. We didn’t actually need to kill Ugeth, just incapacitate him so we could get away. Urist’s gun seemed to be keeping it at bay for now, but it obviously wasn’t a permanent solution. With a pang of regret, I remembered the two spells that were still not deciphered. Both of them I already had a few hours sunk into, but not nearly enough to learn them. The name of one of the spells was Water Wall. that would’ve been useful.
Then, while on the subject of spells, a terrible idea came to me. Ugeth was a living flame, but underneath all that fire was something solid. I had seen it back at the lake before he lit himself. I yanked my sleeve back just far enough to see the first rune on my arm. If I could get to that solid part of Ugeth, I could use To Dust on it.
Urist shot Ugeth once more after it recovered from the last shot. Two bullets left.
“I’ve got a stupid plan.” I said, despite myself. I turned to Urist. “I need to get close to Ugeth. Can you cover me?”
“Do what you’ve got to do.” He nodded to me, running off around to the left of Ugeth to have a clear shot. I took up my crossbow. He didn’t ask any questions. He just trusted me.
“No!” Rose said, grabbing my hand. I pried her hand off and went running toward Ugeth. It saw me coming and that twisted smile returned to its face. It lifted its hand as if to shake hands with me, but I saw the charging fire in it.
BANG!!! One bullet.
Ugeth’s arm jerked upward and it howled animalistically. I continued running. Almost there. Ugeth recovered quickly and began breathing fire.
BANG!!! Zero bullets.
Ugeth roared. I shifted my crossbow to my left hand and extended my right. If Ugeth burned the runes on my left arm, countless hours of decoding and research would be waisted. I leaped at Ugeth, trying to make contact. Somehow, someway, Ugeth twisted away from my palm and I went tumbling to the ground just beyond where Ugeth was standing. Out of a hunch, I rolled and orange flames licked the stones where I had landed. On my back, I shot three rounds into Ugeth’s stomach before I heard a dreadful snap and click and whap of the string dry firing.
My crossbow was jammed.
I jumped at Ugeth, swinging my crossbow at his face with my left hand while reaching with my right. He dodged the crossbow and grabbed my right wrist, setting my cloak on fire. That wicked smile returned to its face, and its grip tightened on my wrist. I yelped in pain and I could’ve sworn I heard Rose screaming.
“I am going to burn you, puny dwarf.” Ugeth said in that same, cursed language, throwing a fireball at something I didn’t care to look at. I could feel that my cloak had burned through, that that flaming hand was on my bare skin. He threw me on the ground roughly, causing me to slam my head on the ground. I could see that dimness in the corners of my eyes.
Rose was screaming again and Ugeth was distracted momentarily, breathing flames from his mouth. I kicked as hard as I could at its knee, connecting brutally. I jumped at Ugeth, my right hand plunging into those searing flames. Pain lanced up my arm, but when I contacted the skin of the beast, I felt a sense of power run through me.
”Ugeth!” I shouted, adopting the language that I had learned all of my magical spells from. “I command you to TURN TO DUST!” Ugeth’s eyes went wide as my rune on my left arm flared brightly under the sleeve of my cloak. Ugeth roared and wrapped its hands around my throat as the process began. To Dust spread from my hand outward like a disease, but the flaming hands around my neck gripped me tightly, burning my cloak there as well.
”If I am going,” Ugeth roared, “You are following me, dwarf!”
“Get your hands off him!” Urist yelled, kicking Ugeth in the face. Its hands relaxed and Urist yanked me away from him, dragging me several feet away before Ugeth collapsed in a heap of burning sand.
“Wow.” Urist panted. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
I think some parts got fuzzy, but overall, I'm happy with how it turned out.
