Chapter 11: Ch 10. They are out of the candle light

Two bandits were patrolling the third level of the catacombs.

Originally this level was supposed to be a bunch of underground stockpiles, and later on it was expanded after the catacombs started to fill with water. Then they were expanded even further, when an underground river was discovered and the fourth level was established to collect all the moist and water from the tunnels.

Now it is the main area of underground activity: forbidden pleasures of drugs, gambling, and pedophilia were prospering under the outlaws’ control. Those who could pay the ‘safety fees' were frequenting here, and those who couldn’t - risk encountering one of such patrols and losing everything, life possibly included.

The patrol approached one of the side tunnels, but instead of seeing the bare rocks and mold, the light of their torches let them catch a glimpse of a child’s face.

The kid immediately hid in the tunnel, but the bandits couldn’t just let an opportunity slip by.

They turned around the corner, and were ready to catch the little…

Little…?

‘Hrrrrr…’

Or not so little…

‘HRRRAAAA!!!’

“URGH! Ha-ha-ha…” A bandit opened his eyes, and looked around.

He was no longer in the tunnels, instead he was somewhere Avern-knows-where.

He tried moving, but he couldn’t. He was glued to a wall, and could only move his head.

“HELP! HELP ME!”

“What…?” He looked to a side, and saw his companion, attached to the wall too.

“HELP! HELP ME! SOMEBODY!”

The other bandit too noticed that things were not going good.

While they were shouting, screaming, and crying, something approached them.

A little girl in rags approached them with a torch she just lit.

She curiously looked at them, and said: “Sleep not?”.

“Hey, girl! Get us out of here!”

“Talk! Me!” The girl pointed at herself.

“HEY! STUPID THING! WE ARE A BIT STUCK IN HERE!”

“Shtu-fid ti-ng.” The girl was trying to repeat his words.

“SOMEBODY! HELP US!” The girl was of no use, but there was a slight hope they would be able to get out of here. That stupid thing did find them, after all.

“Dead.” She pointed at him.

“GO F* YOURSELF, YOU STUPID…!”

“Argh! ARGH! AAAAAARRRGHH!!!” The bandit’s shouting was stopped by the screams of his companion, who suddenly started convulsing.

The convulsions were becoming stronger, until…

“GARH! Haaaeee…”

Something shot out of his chest, splattering blood everywhere.

A weird, worm-like thing fell out of him, and the girl approached it.

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“Dead.” She once again pointed at the bandit.

This time, he didn’t shout at her. He became terrified.

The girl nonchalantly picked up a bloodied something, and put it closer to the dead bandit.

“Talk?” The girl once again approached him.

The blood splatters on the young face clearly contradicted what one could think about a child’s innocence.

What he was seeing was not human. It was a monster. The terrifying being that calmly watched people die.

In his eyes, she no longer was just a stupid creature that got lost, she was the devil, the monster, the murderer.

At the same time, he felt something twitch in his chest…

“No…! No…! NO! PLEASE! NO!”

‘Fwoosh’

A tiny stream of blood flowed out of the wound.

“Nice shot!” Valerian patted his friend’s shoulder.

“Why, Your Highness? Tis but a deer. He-he-he!” Placid put down his bow, and the group stood up.

“What are we going to do with it? Are we going to roast it here, or save for later?”

“I am sooo hungry…!” Jeanne held on her stomach.

“It’s decided then!”

“Wow! Wow! How about we cook it later, after we set up the camp for tonight? I don’t want to search the entire forest for firewood, only to do it again an hour later.” Erbrun was not too keen on setting up a campfire, and Wolfgang nodded in agreement.

“Fine…! ‘Sooo hungry…’ The party’s mage had to yield.

“I doubt we would have a need to keep on searching through the woods, so how about we dismantle the corpse, and go find a nice place for a camp? I’ll be cutting off the hind legs.” Valerian pulled out a knife, and headed towards the deer.

While he and his party were busy dismantling the dead deer, Placid jumped up.

“What’s up?!” Everyone immediately prepared for a fight. After all, if the ranger’s attention is caught, it means something’s wrong.

“I felt like something watched us. It’s gone but I doubt it’s far away.” (P)

“Let’s get the Avern out of here then.”

The forest is filled with monsters, and adventurers risk their lives to eradicate them. The night is approaching, and monsters become more active.

The fact that there is one nearby means nothing good.

Valerian’s party picked up whatever they managed to cut off from the deer, and headed back to the capital.

When they walked out to a small cliff, they saw blood splattered at the ground below. Placid climbed down the cliff to investigate, while the rest slowly followed his trail. By the moment the party regrouped, the ranger already finished 

“Deer’s blood. It was not done by a hunter…” (P)

“Let’s keep going.” Valerian prompted.

The party continued their way to the capital, but here and there they were seeing similar traces of killed deers and boars, all of which were dragged away somewhere.

Somewhere in the direction of the capital.

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