Chapter 19: 18: The Lowerment

He was in a large cavern. Immediately his foot touched the floor of the cavern, the glowstones flares brighter, revealing arcane runes. This scared him further. With his eyes always moving to the next runic shape, he continued his on his path forward.

In every direction, he could see great chambers of countless statues carved from the same ancient stone as the walls. He had been here before. So, he knew where this path would eventually take him. It was the same pattern every time, but still he walked through unknown chambers, always hoping that the next turning will be the way out.

Then he noticed. Instead of the path spiralling upward, it descended into the darkness below. He followed the direction until he reached a place where the air felt thicker. Before him was a thick wall with a narrow crevice. Lindley squeezed through a passage in the stone wall and found himself staring at a dome of four symmetrically curved pillars of Palladium rocks containing the runic symbols of faded throbbing lights, joined together at the top, far above a small amber vortex.

From inside the shimmering energy came a deep voice. "I see you."

Startled awake, Lindley opened his eyes breathing heavily. He saw a pair of Scavens, holding some sort of glowing devices. The nearest one had a cluster of tattoos covering the left side of his face, strange symbols similar to those Lindley had seen carved on the stones at the cavern entrance. Engraved shells wove in and out of his plaited gray hair and clicked faintly when he stepped forward. Lindley sensed power in the Scaven, carefully contained but unmistakable magical energy.

The other Scaven was much younger, with a bald head and no tattoos, but there were strong echoes of the other Scaven’s features in his face. They had to be related, probably father and son.

“Where am I?” Lindley demanded.

"Aha, welcome back to the land of the living, humanling. Since you're unaware, then let me welcome you to our world." The older scaven replied in general language. "The Lowerment."

"You speak the general language?" Lindley was surprised to hear the Scaven spoke in the general tongue. The other Scaven warriors were using Scavish to communicate, so he thought they all speak Scavish.

"Do I?" The old scaven asked thoughtfully. "Well, I guess I do."

Lindley tensed as the younger scaven stepped forward. He said nothing, but he held a huge battleaxe comfortably in his hands. The bladed weapon bore three faintly glowing runes carved along the wicked pointed edge. Opposite this blade sprouted three obsidian spikes that tapered to gleaming points like the horns of a beast. The scaven’s father carried an identical axe on his belt. These two seemed to be different from the earlier scavens. He tried not to stare at the magnificent and deadly weapons.

“What am I doing here? Where are the other hunters?” Lindley asked in panic. His voice slightly raised.

"Easy now, humanling. We don't want to attract unwanted guests now, do we?" The older scaven asked with a raised eyebrow. After receiving an acknowledgment from Lindley, the scaven gave a nod in return. "You mean the scavens that brought you here?"

"Yes." Lindley replied in a lower tone.

"They left as soon as they dump you here." The scaven regarded Lindley for a few seconds before continuing. "You're lucky to be alive, humanling. The injury was a grevious one. It took me time and great energy to heal you. A few seconds late, and you would've been standing before the god of death at this time."

"Thank you for saving my life, elder scaven."

"You were brought here by my own kind. They regarded you for them to that. So, I have to do my best to keep your legs out an early grave." The scaven coughed and threw a seed into his mouth. "Moreover, I'm a paladin. It's what I'm bound to do."

"Still, I owe you a debt of life." Lindley said, staring appreciatively at the scaven paladin. The scaven's words reminded him of the message of his oath. He would always have one leg in his grave. He stretched his left arm, flexing his shoulder blade. "I remembered something piercing my back before losing consciousness."

"Claws of an emissary of the spider queen. A few inches to the right, and she would have punctured your heart." The scaven sighed. "You're one lucky humanling. It was a low-level carrion emissary with no poisoned claws. It could have been a different matter...."

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"Argrhug bu pavhd rhuf davi ghu." The younger scaven voiced absent mindedly.

“What did he say?” Lindley asked the father.

"He said our shift has ended." The father paused for a second before continuing. "We've been here for three days, and its time to go below."

“Below?” Lindley didn’t like the sound of that. “How deep do these ruins go?”

“Deep into heart of darkness itself.” The scaven said, pointing to the passage ahead of them. He waved his hand. "You come with us now. We’ll take you to the king. He'll decide what to do with you.”

“Is it necessary for me to disturb the king?” Lindley asked politely. "I mean, I can just be on my way now, unnoticed."

“dvra yighu bha—” He couldn’t finish. He held the side of his neck where a small shard-like claw had pierced him The cloying scent of blood and a burning substance filled his nose as he gritted his teeth. The younger scaven choked at the unexpected poisonous shard.

Lindley looked at him curiously—the older scaven in alarm. Lindley obviously smelled nothing missing.

“What is it?” The older scaven took hold of his shoulder with his free hand, but the younger scaven shrugged him off.

"What's wrong?" Lindley asked in apprehension. It seemed as if something bad was about to appear from the thin air.

“Something’s near—gods, that’s awful.” The older scaven looked around the torchlit darkness but saw nothing. He exchanged anxious looks with the other scaven.

Then they all heard it. The scrape of stone and a stirring of air overhead made them look at the ceiling. That brief glimpse was the only warning before a large, hairy body dropped from the ceiling and landed on the younger scaven’s back. A second weight slammed into Lindley and drove him to the ground.

Lindley caught himself on his hands, but the breath whooshed out of him. The light holder beside him rolled away, sending sparks and fractured light in all directions. When Lindley looked up, a black cage surrounded him, but the bars of that cage were not made of iron. They were jointed and covered with stiff black hairs.

Rolling onto his back, Lindley suppressed a scream. The reflection of his prostrate form shone in the glassy black eyes of an immense spider. Its mandibles hovered directly above his head. Blood from the last unfortunate creature it had encountered stained those mandibles and dripped from its glistening black body.

A thick, greenish liquid mixed with the blood, and the scent of burning poison rose in his nostrils again. Lindley shook his head to dispell the odour so he could breathe, but it was impossible to tear his gaze away from those soulless black orbs.

The older scaven lifted his hands and cast a fire spell that came to his mind. He spoke the arcane phrases swiftly and his fingers glowed and flames erupted from them, shattering his reflection and blocking out the spider’s eyes. The creature recoiled, legs scraping across the stone, tangling in Lindley’s hair. Panic and revulsion rose in him. He had to get out from under the thing before it speared him to death with his claws.

By the light of the scaven fire spell, Lindley saw the older scaven viciously slashed the spider’s body, trying to draw it away from him. He danced aside as the monster turned and tried to take a bite out of him. Dropping to his knees, he pitted his weight against the monster and yanked aside one of the spider’s legs. The scaven reached through the gap, and he hauled Lindley out from under the creature.

“Watch out!” Lindley shouted.

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