The Elder Lands

Chapter 36: Thinner Than a Hair

Their descent was slow but true. The Labyrinth’s slope wasn’t as steep as that of the earthen ramp that’d led them into it, but the Labyrinth never straightened out. The inclination was so slight that Lucan might not have noticed it had he not known it was there.

They came upon multiple forks and splitting passages as they traversed the sea of glowing green provided by the moss, treading hard rock blacker than pitch with purpose. Lucan had decided that they would pass a few of the forks before branching off to one of the side paths, since that would give them more chance of exploring areas that weren’t thoroughly cleaned of their inhabitants. They would mark their passage of course, so they could find their way back. But even should they lose their way with no markings to guide them, there was one rule to the Labyrinth that none forgot. Go upwards. The slope of the Labyrinth was ever present, and it always led up to the Elder Root. And while the Labyrinth spanned all of the Elder Lands, you were unlikely to get lost unless you traveled so far that you ended up in another Root’s territory. Or if you went down one of the shafts, never to be seen again. Lucan hoped they wouldn’t even see one of those from a distance.

When they came upon their fourth fork in the path, Lucan decided to take one of the branching passages. It was a little narrower than the original path but not enough to affect their formation. Ryder left a mark on the wall where they passed and Lucan noted no other marks nearby. According to what he’d read, such marks faded from the walls of the Labyrinth with time. There was no way to know whether this passage had been traversed before or not, at least not without company.

The passage curved to the right and continued to loop in that direction as they went down for a considerable amount of time. Eventually, they came upon their first oddity. The passage straightened out into a patch of darkness ahead, lengthy enough that the light beyond it was a subtle glow that was difficult to parse. There was no moss stuck to the ceiling ahead of them. It seemed that the moss’s growth had ceased–no–wrong. The moss had been eaten, Lucan realized as his eyes adapted to the darkness. Something was flitting in the darkness.

“Do you see that thing?” he asked.

Clifton shifted back a bit, perhaps instinctively. “No, I see many things.”

Lucan focused and stifled a curse. His man-at-arms was right, there were multiple flying creatures in there. “Step back slowly. We’ll want to fight them in the light.”

“What if they refuse to come out of the darkness?” someone asked.

“Then we’ll find another passage,” Lucan answered without hesitation.

As though intent on disappointing them, the creatures flitted out of the darkness to present themselves in all their glory. Large, thin wings, not unlike those of a dragonfly, carried a serpentine body that grew thicker towards the head. The head itself was reptilian with grooves and ridges, reminding Lucan of an illustration he’d seen of the alligators of Hamodeus.

The creature as a whole wasn’t too large, only as lengthy as an average dog without the legs, yet its ability to fly made it a grave threat.

“Careful, it could fly over us and towards Lilian,” Lucan yelled. “Cordell?”

The man-at-arms grunted, discarding his shield to get the best use out of his heavy spear with both hands. “I’m ready.” he stepped back further from their line to skewer any flyer that attempted to dive on their mage.

Lucan discarded his own shield as well, happy that the circumstance allowed him to be rid of it. He two-handed his sword, ready to meet a quick and agile enemy. The enemies seemed to have mastery over their flight and he didn’t doubt that they were capable of maneuvering in combat. The shield’s coverage wouldn’t be as important as staying on his toes.

Their bodies slithered in the air whilst their wings carried them, creating a smooth, almost natural, movement. More than a dozen of them flew out of the darkness, and Lucan wasn’t certain that there weren’t more.

He heard the shifting of feet from their rear. He glanced back and saw their two rearguards glancing nervously at the flying adversaries. “Don’t bother,” Lucan commanded. “Watch the rear, lest something surprises us. Don’t interfere unless she’s attacked.” He nodded at Lilian. Heath, the larger of his two men in the rear, pressed his lips and set his jaw, resolving himself and giving Lucan a firm nod. Then he gripped Ryder’s shoulder and twisted him to face the rear once more while doing so himself.

Lucan took a deep breath and donned his helmet. He hoped the flying beasts were as weak as their size suggested, considering their numbers were already threatening.

As they slithered closer, Lucan heard a feminine voice from behind him. “I can help.” Followed by whispered chanting. Soon enough, the creatures' flight became unsteady, their bodies dipping down and struggling to rise to the zenith of their previous height. At the same time, Lucan felt a chill coming from behind him, seemingly focused on the beasts.

“Good,” he muttered. Then the first of them descended on him.

Lucan had to take a quick step back as it snapped its jaws at him. He got a glimpse of innumerable tiny but sharp teeth that he had no doubt could shred through human flesh and bone. He countered with a quick whip of his blade, splitting the scales on the beast’s head. Bluish blood gushed out instantly. In response, the beast let loose an infuriated roar that sounded more akin to a scream. Then it pounced on him. Lucan saw another one coming behind it as he tried to parry its head away from his body. By mistake, he clipped its wing, and its flight became more uneven than it was before, making it easy prey for him. Swiftly, he decapitated it with an overhead swing, thanking the Elders that it was as weak as he’d imagined and preparing to face the next one.

The next beast slowed down its approach until another joined it, and Lucan had to face both at the same time. The chill made them slower, but they were still a threat. He didn’t know what they could do to his armor and he didn’t want them latching onto the softer bits where there was no plate. So he waited until they were too close to slip away from him, then he charged forward, ramming the one on the left with his shoulder. His steel pauldron collided with its maw, driving it back in a painful squeal. As the other one tried to opportunistically bite down on his arm, he slammed it into the passage wall with his gauntlet, nearly crushing one of its wings between the wall and its body. However, the beast had succeeded in latching onto his forearm. He felt several pinpricks of pain on his skin before he drove his sword into the beast’s upper body. Thankfully, its jaw loosened instead of tightening, letting go of him as he leapt back to meet the one he’d just driven back.

The beast was already halfway to him, but Lucan was ready for it, feinting to the right, where it easily followed him, then shifting to the left with his body and blade, and slicing halfway through its vulnerable neck. I’m getting used to this, he thought as his third adversary fell from the air.

And he had. That was why he lunged forward when a fourth attacked him. He clipped its wing with the tip of his blade before recovering backwards as quickly as he’d lunged, avoiding a counterbite from his adversary. The beast lost its balance in the air and he finished it with two strikes to the head.

He was panting, but his lungs weren’t burning. It’d taken effort but not all he had. Lucan glanced to his left and saw Thorley finishing the last of their enemies, stabbing his sword through the grounded beast. He’d fared worse than him though. Lucan saw a gash on his right arm, below the shoulder. The mail was torn open as though something had shredded its way through the rings.

“Are you well?”

“It’s nothing but a flesh wound,” Thorley ground out, kicking the corpse of the beast away.

Lucan said nothing. He was at least grateful that the young man hadn’t failed to cover his flank.

“Everyone well?” Lucan repeated to the others, and they all yelled back their affirmation, including Lilian who he glanced back at to find whole and well.

“Very well,” he continued. “We ought to retreat farther back, then we may check our Blessings.”

They fell back in short order, keeping an eye on the retreating patch of darkness.

Once they were a sufficient distance away, Lucan let most of them seat themselves. “Cordell, Heath, Ryder, keep watch,” he commanded before taking a seat himself and calling up his Blessing.

You have slain a lv1 Kewmer Wyrm and absorbed part of its Vital Essence.

You have slain a lv1 Kewmer Wyrm and absorbed part of its Vital Essence.

You have slain a lv1 Kewmer Wyrm and absorbed part of its Vital Essence.

You have slain a lv1 Kewmer Wyrm and absorbed part of its Vital Essence.

Lucan hummed and glanced at Lilian who seemed busy with her own Blessing. He assumed that she’d shared in the Vital Essence since she’d assisted by weakening all the beasts with her spell. He had gained neither level nor Skill proficiency from this encounter, though he was nigh-certain that he was close to the former due to a partial feeling of fullness inside him.

He sighed, dismissing his Blessing and waiting for the others to be finished with theirs. Soon, they’d have to get up again and traverse their way through that darkness with torches in hand. There were likely no more beasts in it, but if there were, they knew better what they were dealing with now.