13
Early morning found them waiting once more just within the clearing while Willow and M’Baddah searched for enemies out in the open. They lay low for a while when Willow signed he could hear things flying overhead, fairly low to the ground.
“They may be stirges,” he whispered “Small but unpleasant.”
Unpleasant, he calls the nasty bloodsuckers, Eddis thought, and wrinkled her nose. Each was as long as her arm, and enough of them attacking a woman her size could leave her dead and completely drained of blood in no time. After a while, the elf stole back into the clearing, listened, and motioned them on.
Furtive noises and rustlings followed them as they worked their way toward the south ledge, where another cave loomed dark and forbidding. Blorys touched Jerdren’s arm to get his attention.
“I think this might be the cave Zebos described,” he whispered. “All that prickly brush around the entrance and that fallen tree—the forked one—see?”
Jerdren nodded, then beckoned the others close to pass that on.
“Keep in mind what he told me,” Blor added quietly. “There are lots of long passages and guards everywhere—even where you might not expect them. Goblins and orcs and possibly hobgoblins.”
“And remember what we discussed about prisoners,” Eddis added. “Rescuing prisoners here is a high priority, right?”
Kadymus looked as if he wanted to disagree with her. She quelled him with a hard look.
Jerdren nodded again. “Sure. Any prisoners would be grateful to us, and that could mean a reward. Or they may know where their captors have hidden treasure.”
The little thief brightened at that.
Unlike the previous day’s cavern, this seemed to be a naturally formed cave—at least for the first part of it. Here, it wasn’t entirely dark. Eddis could see faint light far down one corridor, enough that they could walk at a good pace. It was quiet for some distance, but as M’Baddah started into the main passage, he pulled back, gesturing urgently for his companions to get out of sight. Moments later, Eddis heard guttural-voiced beings come clomping and grumbling up the passage from her left. Two burly, shadowy forms passed the entry without slowing. The sound of their footsteps slowly faded. Willow eased into the open briefly to gaze after them, then came back to whisper.
“Goblins. Taking messages and food to guards on duty up there. The guards are orcs, I think. One of the goblins asked, ‘How’s old Bear-face?’ and a guard cursed him.”
The elf moved silently into the passage once more, then beckoned. “It is all right. They kept going that direction, away from us.”
“Then we’ll go the other way,” Jerdren indicated the long passage with faint light at its end.
It took time, moving quietly down the rough-hewn way and making sure they weren’t seen or heard. They could hear others, though. Harsh, guttural voices echoed along the stone ceiling. Several of them. They could make out moving shadows, cast by the dim light.
“Guard room,” Eddis murmured, and Willow nodded. The swordswoman checked to make sure Flerys was staying close to M’Baddah and nocked an arrow.
Light shone on the left-hand wall of the passage, and another step would bring Jerdren into view. He met Eddis’ eyes, indicated the right wall with a jerk of his head as he moved that way. He edged along in shadow for several steps, back to the wall, bow drawn partway. Eddis was right behind him, and M’Baddah came after her.
Five steps, six. Jerdren threw himself across the passage and into the light, firing three arrows rapidly and seemingly at random into the chamber beyond. Fire flared up in there, casting dark, long shadows in all directions. Startled yells filled the corridor as Jerdren pelted back out of sight, and Eddis took his place. She could make out little because of the light and commotion—creatures running in all directions—but she fired two arrows into the confusion and ran. M’Baddah was already in front of her, shooting with his usual deadly precision. Willow and M’Whan faced a volley of spears and arrows, but none of the weapons came anywhere near them.
Eddis stiffened as a squat, nasty-looking creature came into sight, sliding along the shadowed wall, spear in one hand, and braced itself to charge.
“M’Whan, your right!” she shouted and drew back her own string.
The orc’s head snapped her way, and she could make out an evil gleam of teeth as it grinned, and shifted direction—toward her. Her arrow buried itself deep in the brute’s eye, more by luck than aim, and the orc sagged to the floor.
There was a sudden silence in the chamber, except for a pained whimper. What are they up to? she wondered. Running feet alerted her, but the sound faded, going away. M’Whan darted into the chamber, bow clutched in one hand, a throwing spear in the other. Eddis threw herself after him.
She drew her sword as she came into the chamber, but there was no need. The low-burning fire against the far wall showed dead and dying orcs. There was no sign of M’Whan, though. She turned on one heel as the others came up. Flerys had a tight grip on one of her spears, and her eyes went wide as she gazed around the room. Blood ran across the floor and pooled in low places, and now several of the Keep men moved from orc to orc, finishing off the wounded. Aside from the bodies, there wasn’t much in the room: a barrel of water, a table and benches, a barrel full of spears. Eddis could see a passage in the far wall that led into darkness.
“M’Whan must have gone that way,” she began but stopped, as a breath later M’Whan came into the light.
“Passage there,” he gasped, out of breath. “Goes down, around a corner. More stairs and a closed door at the top. The one I followed went through it.”
“And may bring others back here,” M’Baddah said. He, Willow, and two of the Keep men went back the way they’d come to keep watch, and Mead took up a position just inside the lower corridor.
“Or it might’ve just run,” Jerdren said. He retrieved his arrows, tossing aside one that had snapped against the wall and another that had fallen into the fire pit.
“These don’t look like rich goblins to me. Ratty clothes, lousy leather bits for armor—nowhere to hide a bag of gems in that, and nowhere in this room, either. I say we go back the way we came and on up where those guards were before we worry about that runner. No sense getting caught between two bunches of goblins, even if they aren’t much to fight. Besides, if the guards are eating, they’ll be as easy as this bunch to catch off guard.”
“Not much to fight,” Blorys said dryly. “They just sneak up on you and ambush you. No danger of dying from that, is there?”
“Don’t make assumptions like that,” Eddis added flatly. “We’ve been blessed lucky, two fights in a row. Only a fool would think they’re all going to be as easy as this was.”
Jerdren rolled his eyes ceilingward and led the way back out, beckoning M’Whan to join him. The rest followed.
Near the end of the passage, where they could see light from outside, Eddis called a brief halt for water and a rest. When they moved on, she and Willow were in the lead, several paces ahead, the elf listening intently for the sounds of goblins or other creatures moving around the passages. For now, there didn’t seem to be any, and within moments they reached a four-way branching passage. A faint light flickered straight ahead—perhaps a candle or oil lamp in a deep niche, Eddis thought. Otherwise it was quiet and dark that way and utterly dark to their left. She glanced at Willow, sent her gaze that direction.
The elf listened and sniffed cautiously, then whispered, “It’s a dead end, I think.”
To their right, however, came a sudden burst of coarse laughter. They’d found the guards. These were laughing at some joke, or maybe simply drunk—she couldn’t tell. Ruddy light flared as though someone had tossed a log on a fire, and by that she could make out that the whole south wall of the chamber—a large chamber—was open to the passage. Great, she thought. We won’t be sneaking up on anyone here. She and the elf drew back to describe the layout to the others.