Chapter 5: Fire in the Mountain

A horrible snapping sound rang out in the tunnels, stopping our party in its tracks. It was faint at first, rising and falling in intensity like the will of the tides. It came from all around, echoing through the side tunnels and even from the crystalline caves behind us.

 

“That doesn’t sound like wind.” I said, the thought of a reaper tugging at the back of my mind. “It sounds like something’s in here with us.”

 

“Like a reaper.” Feanin said, the earlier mirth now replaced with a stony seriousness.

 

Auro looked terrified, and even Justeo looked unnerved as the sound droned on around us. My nerves weren’t the most intact either, to be sure, but still something stopped me from believing Feanin’s guess, like the fact that we were in a group.

 

Or that it would be way too bloody convenient after I told that story. There was no way my luck was that bad, right?

 

“It could still be nothing.” Fredrick said, though I noted that his hand lay upon his hilt. “We should continue, carefully.”

 

“Yes, you and I should take the lead.” Andril agreed. “While Justeo and Feanin take up the rear.”

 

“Why do I have to be in the middle?” I gestured towards Justeo. “Justeo can take my place.”

 

There was no way I’d just let someone else take the more dangerous position after all. I mean, I had a dragon with me after all, Justeo was barely armed, and I had close combat experience. I was by far the best choice!

 

“Wait, why do you think I’d let a lady do that?” Justeo glared at me. “Do you think me a coward? Or weak? I don’t need some feeble twigling guarding my back and barking at shadows.”

 

“And why do you think of ‘some girl’ as helpless?” I shot back. “I can handle myself in a fight.”

 

I could feel Gideon sighing above me, but I really didn’t want to have the reputation as ‘some helpless girl’ following me around while I was here. I mean, sure, the body was looking a little weak right now, but that deficit could be made up with some hard won experience, right?

 

“Maybe against a small dog.” Justeo huffed. “Not an actual fight.”

 

“Why you…”

 

I stepped forward ready to start throwing hands when Fredrick placed a hand on my shoulder. 

 

“My Lady, you look like you’re four steps from collapse.” Fredrick said, somehow managing to sound reliable. “I’m sure you’re terrifying with a full night of rest, but It’s not so bad to accept help when you need it.”

 

“I…” I felt my legs ache again and conceded defeat, stepping back with a sigh. “Fine. But only because we have to climb back up those damn stairs.”

 

Fredrick nodded seriously.

 

“Of course.”

 

Andril coughed, getting everyone's attention.

 

“Ahem. Then let’s get going already.”

 

…

 

 

 

We were only moving for another couple minutes before we slowed again, eventually stopping when Andril raised his hand.

 

The sounds of scuffling was loud both in front and behind, overshadowed only by the harsh snapping of wind cutting into our ears. By now even I had my heart in my throat as I watched for any sign of movement in the shadows beyond us. This couldn’t actually be a reaper, could it?

 

I looked towards the front of our group to see that Fredrick and Andril had spread out a little and were staring bravely into the black. He’d set the lantern down in the centre of the group and Fredrick had drawn his sword. As I examined our makeshift front line, I suddenly realised that Andril didn’t actually have a weapon on him like Fredrick and Feanin did.

 

“Why’d Andril put himself in front?” I asked myself, not really expecting an answer.

 

“The princes are lucky.” Auro whispered. “They’re allowed to train in thaumaturgy.”

 

I almost cracked my neck turning to gape at her. Gideon did the same.

 

Wasn’t that magic?

 

Magic?

 

“As in… magic?” I asked, not daring to believe it.

 

“Well, yes.” She said. “He should be able to protect us…”

 

Instantly my worries began to slide away, and even the snapping in my ears quieted for a time. Real, proper magic? Suddenly I couldn’t wait for whatever was coming to approach, for if the prince knew how to activate magic it would probably be a cakewalk! Why had anyone even been worried, with a caster on the field?

 

More importantly, I now had a link to learn it myself, which would improve my quality of life here by sixfold! It didn’t matter how weak or feeble a body was, after all, if it could use a strengthening spell.

 

I was still fanboying over magic when the air suddenly grew quieter, the snapping and plodding and blowing all going out over a period of ten seconds. The air grew colder around, and a chill went down my spine at the change.

 

Andril, however, did not appear alarmed.

 

“Show yourself, creatures of the depths!” cried Andril. “You trespass in the tunnels of the Everstar.”

 

Nothing happened.

 

Andril stepped forward, drawing a length of wood from his coat pocket, one I recognized as a small casting wand made of white wood. Raising it in front of him and whispering a spell, I heard what sounded like a flare popping as a red and orange light shot off into the cave beyond. It sailed through the air, exposing the area around it for a brief moment until it dissipated into the wall further down.

 

The floor was alive with a carpet of fur, claws, and malice. Jet black eyes reflected the light of the flare as it passed, and many of the monsters blinked in surprise.

 

No one said anything for a few seconds.

 

Then the cave exploded into a horrid cacophony of noises, of growls and snapping and great bellows of wind. So loud was it that several of us threw our hands to our ears and I felt Gideon writhe in pain on my head before jumping down to the ground with a small roar.

 

“O-Orthungs?” Feanin shouted over the din, horror evident in his voice. “What are these doing underground?”

 

“They’re over here too!” 

 

I looked over to where Justeo pointed, and found a few too many eyes reflecting the red light of the lantern for my liking.

 

“Don’t despair!” cried Andril. “Just thank the Star it’s not a horde of reapers! Orthungs burn and bleed as well as any other beasts!”

 

While it might’ve been better than a ghost, I quickly found myself wishing it were a beast I actually knew anything about rather than the alien monsters that slowly crept into the light of the lantern.

 

They were unlike anything I’d seen on earth, the closest thing I could compare being a small mountain lion. Their fur was white and gray, a deep contrast to their large eyes and the caves around. Huge claws topped their paws, and sharpened burrs sprouted at the ends of their knee caps and on the tops of their feet. Their twitching tail was long and flattened like that of a beaver, though a bit narrower. Finally, the head was the most alien, looking like that of a salmon covered in fur. 

 

The snapping and growls died a little as they approached, leaving only the stares of two dozen predators to fuel our worry. Somehow, the relative quiet was more frightening to me.

 

“Fredrick, help Feanin and Justeo.” Andril said, not taking his eyes off of the encroaching horde. “I’ve got this side.”

 

Fredrick nodded without complaint and took up a position next to Feanin and Justeo, who held up an axe and a small dagger respectively.

 

Standing without any weapon besides the shards of crystal and rock we held, Auro and I hung back between the two fronts. Auro looked terrified beyond belief while I prepared myself for the coming fight, but some of the boys didn’t look much better.

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“B-by the star, there must be two dozen of them…” Feanin said, a slight shiver evident in his arms.

 

“Consign me to Tresti…” Justeo muttered.

 

On both sides, the beasts seemed to stop for a moment, lurking at the very edge of the lantern light.

 

“Don’t worry about their numbers.” Fredrick said. “We have many a gift at our side as well.”

 

He lifted his sword above his head and ran his left hand down the blade. A shimmer followed behind it, warping the steel behind what looked to be an ultra-thin layer of water. 

 

“I never thought I’d live to see one of Balefron’s blades.” Justeo spat. “Woe to me for the misfortune.”

 

What? What did he just do? I couldn’t remember any magic quite like that, was it some sort of enchantment?

 

“Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection!” Feanin stood up straighter upon seeing the shimmer of the blade, the fear somehow falling from his limbs. “Of course you are that Maverick, one of the swords of Summark!”

 

Despite the danger, I had to madly chuckle as I looked to my left and right. How quickly had my perception changed! Just a minute ago I had doubted magic had even existed here, but now…

 

Well now it was looking downright common!

 

Still, that happiness was quickly replaced by the familiar determination I always felt before challenging a villain. Now that the threat was known and the skills of my allies elevated beyond ‘has a pulse’ I was feeling pretty confident about them winning. And I probably wouldn’t have to do a thing to help.

 

Finally done with their threatening skulking, a cry went out among the beast and the horde surged forward at once, a tide of teeth and fur thundering into the lantern light.

 

Andril made the first move, launching off a prepared spell with a quick muttering, and from out of his wand tip exploded a massive burst of fire and flame. 

 

It met the edge of the beasts to a chorus of horrible screeches as at least four of the monsters had their heads burned to charcoal. On that side the ‘Orthungs’ drew back with no small amount of alarmed yelps.

 

On the other end grunts of effort and screeches of pain began to ring out as the horde met their blades, but in the middle Gideon and I could only gawk at the scene that had just unfolded in front of us.

 

It wasn’t the blast that surprised us though, it was what the blast had been made of.

 

Did he just use fire? Gideon thought.

 

“He just shot fire…” I said at the same time.

 

Back on Earth, and the grimoire had been very clear on this, there was no way to use casting magic that didn’t involve ice and cold. Sure, alchemy and biological enchantment were different, but I had never once thought about shooting something out of my wand that wasn’t made of ice and snow.

 

It was simply a cardinal rule of magic.

 

And this prince had just used fire as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and even now continued to summon great flaming blades and storms of sparks to rain down the tunnels..

 

Of all the events that happened today, and of all the sights I had seen, this was the first that truly hammered in just how far from home we really were.

 

Unfortunately however, this wasn’t really the time to be focusing on the crumbling rules of magic, being in the middle of a battle as we were.

 

Thankfully, the Orthungs weren’t suicidal. That was the main reason for Fredrick and friend’s continued survival under the horde on their side. Instead the monsters huddled at the edge of their range, only jumping forward when the fighter looked away to fight off another foe. But despite, or perhaps because of, their noble parentages all of them fought with well trained strikes and conservative blows.

 

Justeo had the worst of it, equipped with a knife as he was. They would surge and he would threaten, maybe trading a nick for a scrape on the beast. It was quickly becoming apparent that if any of them fell it would be him.

 

Who needed help against the ‘small dog’ now? 

 

Gathering up some rocks nearby, I jumped into action behind the chubby lord chucking them into the faces of the advancing fur fish. Justeo gave me a glare as the first connected with a skull and sent it to the ground, but he didn’t object to my help.

 

As it turned out, a childhood of organised sports and a few months of literally throwing spells at people helped hand-eye coordination quite a bit, and my rocks more often found their targets than not. Legs and faces were my primary target, and each one beat back one of the things with a new bruise while Justeo threatened off the ones who got past.

 

There wasn’t much time for conversation in combat, but as I gathered rocks after I ran out of the first batch I managed to steal a glance towards Fredrick, only to find that some two legged meat blender had replaced the guy while I was away.

 

He was covered in blood and viscera, the results of some three dozen swings. As I watched he lunged forward with a swing at the closest Orthung like a rattlesnake. The tip of his sword cut through it like he held a lightsaber, splitting it in twain as easily as I would’ve cut peanut butter.

 

Was that what the magic on his sword did? I had to admire the spell if so. It wasn’t easy to bind something so powerful after all.

 

I started sprinting back towards Justeo when suddenly it happened: one of the beasts got past. From Feanin’s or Justeo’s side I didn’t know, but when I turned back I found myself face to face with one of the fish eyed devils.

 

[Fuck!] 

 

In the split second I had I bent down to try to not get ragdolled and briefly closed my eyes in surprise.

 

But nothing happened.

 

Half a second later I realised that the thing had actually just run past me, and had locked onto Andril’s back as he cast thaumaturgies on his foes ahead. 

 

He didn’t seem to notice.

 

Acting from instinct, I scooped up a rock and threw it as I dashed off after it, but in my surprise it went wide.

 

“Behind you!” I cried as I ran, pulling out the crystal Fredrick had given me earlier.

 

Just about everyone turned their heads, and I immediately heard a commotion near Feanin, but I was only focused on the one who didn’t seem to notice. It seemed he couldn’t hear me over the crackling flames and shooting sparks.

 

Damn it you braindead prince! Get some spatial awareness!

 

Not seeing any other option left to me, I pumped the last of my power into my leaden legs and threw myself forward with the crystal’s sharpest point in front of me.

 

I slammed into the beast right before Andril and together we tumbled across the floor, the hand holding the crystal now swimming in blood from where I had stabbed the monster’s flank.

 

We struggled with each other on the floor, my blow not a fatal one. I attempted to gouge out an eye while it tried to bite and claw, and for a second it even looked as if I’d win.

 

My body, however, failed me. My arms, leadened as they were, obeyed me just too little and just too late, and soon enough the monster was on top of me. 

 

I tried desperately to hold back its throat and forelimbs as it bore down on me, but I could already feel my muscles losing and buckling.

 

His claws raked my flanks and chest, its teeth biting my shoulder, and the world began to darken and blur around me as I cried out in pain.

 

Already, just one day in, I would die. I suddenly knew it to be true as plainly as the sky was blue, but I felt only despair. There was no peace in this.

 

Even then as a small familiar drake flew into the monster with claws and teeth, I knew it was too late. The beast seemed to barely notice Gideon’s assault, simply batting him out of the air like a fly.

 

I thought it’d end differently, if I were honest.

 

“S-Sorry Gideon…” I muttered.

 

And as I lost consciousness, a blast of fiery wind overtook me, guiding me beyond.

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