Читать книгу The Great Horror: Discovery - Patrick Mew - Страница 5

Chapter 5

The clearing before them was massive; it encompassed an area not less than three hundred meters in diameter. Within it, various crude buildings made of mud and clay, formed in great spherical shapes, dotted the ground and fused with one another as more structures had simply been tacked onto existing ones. Fires, large and small, blazed all around the clearing to provide warmth and light for the settlement. Windows, no larger than a child's head, were punched out of the walls with no pattern to them and doors opened haphazardly, a hand's height above the ground, in most of the buildings. From inside gleaming red eyes peered out, illuminated by torchlight, and surveyed the party. Some darted away and others chittered in confusion. After a moment a booming voice arose in the compound, speaking in common.

“Intruders in the hive! Slay them all and take whatever they have!” Without time enough to blink, around two dozen of the ugly creatures poured out into the clearing from behind huts and through trapdoors on the roofs. They jeered and hurled insults, both in their own tongue and common, and brandished spears, scimitars, and short bows. Others in the buildings either ran for cover or readied armor and weapons from inside their walls.

“Charge!” Algan shouted, drawing spear and shield as he rushed forth. A hailstorm of arrows and javelins peppered his armor, one or two grazing his exposed skin or finding gaps between the metal scales. He grunted and kept moving ahead as Riun barreled up next to and then ahead of him, massive blade in hand. He cut down several with one slash and slung blood and gore across the outermost buildings, painting them with barbaric graffiti as he roared in revelry. Rusga and Kida picked off several on the rooftops with their bows while Kunya began work on her protective spells, chanting in the background and grinning as her allies' wounds healed before their eyes.

“Press forward and keep your eyes open!” the wizard commanded, eyes frantically darting from one side to another even as she focused on her magic. After the goblins disappeared from the building tops the two animalfolk added to the lookout, watching for any sign of movement or listening for the smallest noise around the commotion of the battle ahead. The two warriors grinned madly as the creatures fell before the steel and splinter of spear and sword. After a few minutes the compound fell quiet save the occasional whimpering or whining of what sounded like young goblins in the homes. Neither warrior concerned themselves with checking the small buildings on the edge of the hive. The central building, much larger than the rest and constructed with sturdiness in mind, was now the only source of any activity that might be related to the battle. Among the windows shadowy figures passed to and fro, hauling supplies of various kinds. Armor and weapon racks clanked and chimed, giving away the presence of better equipped warriors within.

“Seems that they have quite a militia within, probably much more capable than the ones we've seen or heard of in the various raids or ambushes in the wood,” Kida stated, her ears erect for any sound that might pass by. “Are we sure we can handle this?”

“It should be simple enough,” Algan answered. “Move in and bottleneck 'em so they can't flank us or approach by surprise. Leave no stragglers; make them retreat or kill them. It's almost like attacking a keep or fortress. If you're be caught by surprise on the offensive then you'll suddenly be defending yourself instead.” The wizard nodded in agreement.

“He might not be worldly but his understanding of battle tactics is solid indeed. He is right; we have to make it impossible to flank or approach from a direction that we are not defending. If we do that it should be a simple fight. However... I am concerned about the possibility of magic being used against us again. Algan and I tasted that when we cleared the smaller den to the south, and not only from a goblin. I believe that there may be orcs within this keep as well.”

Rusga made his way back from the side of the building where he'd been studying it for any possible way to scale the wall. “Orcs or goblins, no matter. I'll finish my mission to prune their numbers or die trying.” Kida snickered a little at that.

“You're always up in arms against these things. It's amusing but also inspiring,” the kitsu said with a grin. “I have your back, buddy.” She murmured a few words and a glimmer shined in her eyes for a brief second. “And I won't miss them, either.”

Kunya chuckled softly. “A sorcerer? I was not aware that you could use magic as well.”

“It comes in handy. I can hit a bulls-eye from a half kilometer without much trouble thanks to it, and I use that same tactic on my enemies, heh heh.” Kida beamed and nocked an arrow as they readied for the door to open.

“On my mark, Riun... NOW!” Algan cried as the doors flew open, creaking on their shoddy hinges. Goblins scattered both toward and away from the doorway as steel cleaved flesh and bone into piles of meat. Volleys of arrows and javelins pelted Algan and Riun alike but were mostly ineffective. Two goblins in robes stood in the back of a room across from the doorway, chanting softly, but their presence went unnoticed in the chaos before the party. Several bolts of crackling blue energy spiraled through the crowd, two striking each of the warriors and leaving them winded. Rusga and Kida responded with their own arrows, striking two of the spear-wielding goblins near the front.

“Ugh! More mages?!” Riun screamed in fury as his body surged into a frenzy. Battering his way past the warrior goblins and their pathetic blades he shoved his enormous sword through one, splitting it in two as the steel arced toward the other. The goblin ducked and found relief for a moment before a javelin planted itself squarely in the creature’s face and pinned it to the wall behind. Riun nodded toward Algan in acknowledgment but said nothing coherent as more of them fell to his fury. The clang of metal upon wood and stone created a deafening racket for several minutes more. Kunya's spellweaving kept the chamber alight with a soft glow off and on as she maintained shielding spells. The goblins' attacks were ineffective as Kunya healed the two warriors in kind.

“Keep moving, down the left hall!” the wizard echoed above the din. She moved behind Riun and Algan as they marched down the passage. The animalfolk brought up the rear, glancing backward to keep an eye out for any followers. After forcing their way down the narrow hallway it became much quieter with only the faint crackling of braziers set into the wall ringing in their ears. Windows, spaced about every six meters, were large enough for an archer to take aim from them but little else.

“Now it's quiet … where did they all go?” Rusga whispered, turning his head slowly side to side as the passage curved. The creak of wood under the dirt and dust in several places gave away that there were likely tunnels underneath with goblins waiting for them. “I don't like this.”

“Nor do I but this is how goblins operate. They strike and run, wait for you to look for them, and then strike again.” Kunya answered equally hushed. “We will encounter the runners again I am certain, in the tunnels below. They are not what I worry about though; if there is something directing them like I believe then we may have to tangle with that force as well.”

“Hmph. Whatever it is, it can't stand before my fury,” Riun grunted, brandishing his blade toward the front. The passage kept its turn toward the right as they walked on and it came back around to the front door. “Looks like we're back at the beginning. Time to go inside.”

Algan nodded and progressed into the large chamber that most of their numbers had spilled from. It was mostly empty, with a few log pieces that served as chairs or tables along the walls, the same brazier arrangements as in the outer ring, and piles of crates and sacks strewn about across the floor. The contents – food, cloth, salt, and coins – lay in piles that fanned outward from their containers. On the far side, embedded in the clay floor, were two large crudely made wooden trapdoors, about a meter and a half square. Rusty iron bands circled both and it was uncertain whether the iron was holding the wood together or the other way around.

“After you, Kida,” Rusga said, bowing mockingly. The kitsu inspected the two doors painstakingly and looked over every nook and cranny near them.

“Looks clear to me,” she said, sitting up and brushing the dirt off her armor. “I didn't find anything dangerous on either one.”

“How can you tell?” Algan asked, searching the doors for something that Kida had seen, or hadn't seen. “It just looks like an ordinary trapdoor.”

“If there are traps there's usually some sort of evidence of their presence. A javelin trap might have a tiny sliding stone panel to cover the hole where the javelin shoots out, while a magical trap might have runes or writing inscribed in the stone or wood where the trap is set to activate. It's all a matter of careful looking and training, so you know what to look for.”

The human shrugged and shook his head. “I don't really understand all of that. I'll stick to what I do best, heh.”

“Suit yourself, but the option is open! I don't like working alone on things like that. Or do I... hmm, if I work alone then I don't put others at risk if I fail and then...” she muttered to herself, trailing off into silent thought. She caught herself after a moment and came back to the present. “Oh, right! Well, seeing as the trapdoors aren't locked or trapped... after you!” The two massive humans groaned, Riun heading down the left trapdoor first and Algan following suit. Kunya followed with Rusga and Kida picking up the rear once more.

The tunnel down was rather wide for goblins and the ladder creaked and strained to hold them against gravity. Bits of earth and clay tumbled down the chute as the ladder moved and twisted under the weight, but it remained upright and anchored as they climbed down to the bottom. Like the previous den, torches lined the walls about every twelve meters and provided more than enough light for the five to see clearly. Shadows danced on the walls as they moved about in the landing chamber, painting the walls black and yellow like an overgrown hornet. The place was eerily silent, with only the collective crackle and pop of the flames signaling that anyone was home. The entire cavern system seemed to be holding its breath in wait for the plunge.

“Pick a tunnel and we'll go clear it out,” Kunya said, refreshing the defensive magicks upon the party. “This cave system probably fans outward in all directions anyway.” Riun grunted and hurried down one, his massive sword at the ready for anything that jumped out. A few screams echoed up the passageway but were cut brutally short by the tribesman in his hunt for blood. It seemed contrary to what the wizard expected and there was no large gathered force in this hall, but the passage dead-ended after about fifty meters with no side chambers or forks in the path. They rebounded and turned to the next path to the left, Riun once more taking charge. He easily cleared a path through their forces, leaving Algan to mop up the remainder with his shield wall. Each time they went through a tunnel the results were more or less the same. A half dozen or so goblins awaited the group through each path and a minor effort dispatched each cluster of opposition.