Chapter 14: The Laire

He found himself in almost complete darkness. Panic nipped at him like a rabid dog. 

 

“Tunk?!”

 

A few feet away in the darkness, Tunk responded. “Yes, yes, wait a heartbeat. Ah, there it is. We’ll have some light soon ‘nough.”

 

A buzzing sound grew louder with each second, until it roared from beneath and exploded into the darkness. Hundreds of small glowing white bugs emerged from a hole in the ground; they flew to Tunk, and buzzed around him in neurotic circles and parabolas. They seemed particularly attracted to a red paste he now had smeared over his arms.  Their shining white bodies provided a surprising amount of light, and allowed for David to see where he was. The space they were in was fairly small, about the size of a large closet; the illumination of the bugs reflected against the blue crystal walls that surrounded them. Somehow, Tunk, or this ‘Ormer’ he spoke of, had hollowed out the inside of the huge crystal. Peering at the hole in the ground where the bugs came from, David saw ladder rungs that extended as far down as he could see. 

 

“Leave your pack and the tunk here. I’ll go first so ya can see where yer goin’.” 

 

Tunk moved to the hole, the bugs following, and began to climb down. With trepidation, David set down his backpack and the dead tunk. He waited until he had room enough, and started his descent. 

 

His palms started to sweat. The more he thought about his sweat, about the possibility of slipping and falling down, the wetter his hands got. Each rung seemed more perilous than the next. He focused his mind on other things. Hunger in his stomach. How Tunk had attracted all these bugs. What an ‘Ormer’ was. He would ask Kleymon that question later. 

 

Finally, they reached the end. David gently stepped off the ladder and onto a wooden floor. 

 

His first instinct upon seeing Tunk’s home was to run, running in this case meaning climbing back up the ladder as fast as possible. This, of course, was not much of an option. He had no doubt Tunk could catch him, and even if he made it back up, he wouldn’t be able to leave. The glowing door Tunk had opened into the crystal, had immediately closed after David entered. He was trapped.

 

From what he could tell, Tunk’s home was one large room. In the center of the room, there was a small wooden table, and one wooden stool. The floor was also wooden. All of this was regular enough.

 

At the far end of the room however, was a giant glass tank. It looked like the type clones or grotesque monsters are grown in. Inside, were thousands of the glowing white bugs. They were buzzing around red flowers David had never seen before, which grew at the bottom of the tank. 

 

To his right and left, the walls were lined with wooden shelves. On them, a menagerie of jarred body parts, from eyeballs to hearts to intestines. There were other smaller jars filled with varying colored liquids as well. Armed with limited anatomical knowledge, David thought, or perhaps hoped, that most of the body parts were inhuman. As he stared at the mad scientist shelves in horror, Tunk examined some of the smaller tinctures, clearly looking for something. 

 

“Have a seat. Just lookin’ for some jewel berry to put on after I take out those teeth.”

 

"Uh…right." David sat down on the stool and positioned it so that he could see Tunk. 

 

"There! Always mistake em’ for Blag cream. Wouldn’t wanna put that on ya, HUHEAHEHAHA!”

 

Tunk brought over a small clear jar of golden paste and set it on the table. 

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“Well, tak yer…whatever that is off, and let's’ git this done quick.”

 

David took off his sweatshirt and shirt in one fast motion, partially because he did not want to be blind near Tunk for long, and also due to the fact that the fabrics brushing up against the teeth in his back caused an immense amount of pain. 

 

Tunk moved behind David and inspected his back.

 

“Doesn't look too bad. These teeth stayed in ya much longer though, and they’d start to break, go ta’ places in yer body ya don’t want teeth in. Happened ta’ lotsa’ poor lads in town. A few teeth get stuck in em’, they don’t take em’ out quick, few days later they can’t breathe or can’t move their arms.” 

 

Tunk sighed. “Well, you’ll be fine. I’ll take em’ out, put some of the jewel berries on, and you’ll be right as Roderick in the morn’.”

 

“What exactly are these jewel…AGH, FUCKING FUCK.”

 

Rapidfire, Tunk yanked the teeth out, causing David as much pain as he had felt when they had punctured him initially. In a matter of seconds though, it was over, and Tunk spread the jewel berry paste over the wounds. It had a tingly cooling effect, relieving some of the stinging pain that remained. 

 

Tunk gathered the bloody teeth and brought them over to a wooden trunk just below one of the shelves lining the right wall. David picked up his shirt to put back on. 

 

“Wouldn’t wear that if I was ya. Them guards at the town wall don’t like those comin’ from past the Ash, and if they don’t like ya, they’ll throw ya in a cell for walkin’ too slow, or lookin’ at ‘em funny. Here.”

 

From the chest he grabbed a ragged green tunic like his own and threw it David’s way without even looking. 

 

Still a bit dazed from the teeth removal, all David could think was that Tunk must have excellent peripheral vision. 

 

“Best get some rest now. Gotta lot more hills ‘fore we git ta town.”

 

With that final comment, Tunk laid a blanket of what appeared to be Tunk fur next to the table and went to sleep.  He was snoring in less than a minute. The glowing bugs that followed him had dispersed, and aimlessly flew around the room.

 

David quickly changed into the tunic he was given and rested against the trunk, wedging his sweatshirt in between his back and the wood for a minimal amount of comfort. 

 

It was warm in the room, he was unsure how Tunk managed that, possibly the glowing bugs he used as a light source. Exhaustion and the comfortable warmth eventually overpowered his fear to fall asleep, and he drifted into a strange dream where he was playing poker with raskers in suits.

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