Wild shadows danced on the tunnel walls painted in yellow light in front of Deron's eyes, and the long tunnels stretched into the darkness on either side. Only the section where he and his band were resting had light illuminating from the torches in the tunnel. A stinky smell assaulted his nostrils. It was the water in the canal before them.
Deron could feel the hard, flat surface under his hips; The stone floor had weeds growing out of the cracks. He was confused for a moment and ran his hand through his hair. But it perplexed him even more; he could feel a flicker of happiness in his mind when he felt his two horns.
Strange, I never felt happy before for having two horns.
Deron looked around. Only five members remained, Neg and Ryne among them. And they carried new scars on their bodies. Initially, they had ten members. He looked at Neg, hoping she would answer his queries. She noticed her mate's eyes before he called out her name. A slight smile appeared on her face, and she crawled toward him.
After a moment, she sat beside him and laid her head on his shoulder.
With a sigh, she started speaking.
"You are back!" Even though her voice was low, she carried a hint of excitement in her words.
Deron hesitated for a while before resting his hand on her head and started stroking it. He looked at her and asked.
"How long was I out, and what happened?"
Neg lifted her head and locked her gaze with him and then spoke.
"You passed out after killing that husk; those were the husks, the informant talked about them."
Deron nodded as he thought.
Oh, so they are husks. No wonder it was easy to kill that one.
Deron remembered the information they gathered from a ducal servant. He initially refused to speak and threatened to report them. But as soon as he saw gold coins, his mouth began to spew all the information he knew about the dead city.
He told them about a few creatures inhabiting the city, one of them was a husk; they were non-sentient and had deformed bodies. They were the easiest to kill, but still posed a threat in large numbers.
Next, he told them about wraiths. Estranged souls set loose. If one were to encounter these… it was better to lie down and reminisce about one's good memories.
At last, he told them about apparitions that exist within the spires, but nobody dared to investigate them.
However, Neg pulled him away from his thoughts.
"After you passed out, a horde of husks appeared in the distance. Ryne ordered someone to carry us. And then we all started running."
She paused and sighed.
"The city was no different than a maze; it took us three days to reach the tunnels, and thankfully, we did not encounter wraiths." One of the torches flickered as she said.
"Only hordes of husks, but we lost five members to it."
Deron looked down in disappointment. If he were conscious, the losses might not have been so drastic.
I am useless!
Deron was already battling with his newly earned title, Disgraced, after all, it was his weakness and inability to fight that caused him to earn this title, or so he thought. Now, the toll on his band due to him is putting salt on his fresh wound.
If only I were awake.
Before he could finish his thought, Neg interrupted him again,
"But there is good news too, we are near the chapel. A day from now, we will be able to reach it and obtain the gold." After she finished speaking, she buried her head, closed her eyes and spoke one last time before sleeping. "Sleep, we will move later."
At once, the disappointment and self-wallow of Deron disappeared as he heard the word gold; his formerly regretful eyes were shining with excitement. A greedy alien thought formed in his mind.
Gold huh.
I wonder how much is in that vault.
The corner of his lips turned up.
However, Deron dispelled these thoughts, as he recognised that it belonged to the strange voice. He needed gold, but he was not greedy. With a sigh, he looked back at Neg and noticed her leg with a wooden stick strapped to it.
I forgot, she lost her leg.
He tried to speak, but stopped. An unknown confusion seeped into his mind, and his words were stuck.
What do I even say? I can't just say sorry you lost your leg.
Deron realised this was not him, he apologized in their relation many times. So, why was he struggling now to apologise? He couldn't understand this, and finally decided against it.
I will apologise once we get what we came for.
He turned his head back at the wall and closed his eyes.
…
It has been a few hours since the band has slept; now they all woke up and dusted off their armour and bags. The tunnel was old and had a lot of cracks on the walls, so naturally, a lot of dust fell.
Deron swatted his bag a few times, each time small clouds of dust emerged from the bag. His armour was also covered in dust, but he shrugged it off.
It was time.
The long-awaited destination for their vacation in this hell was about to appear, and they were only a few miles away from it. Everything will depend on their strength now, if they can defeat the entity and claim the gold in the vault. Their lives would take a new turn, one which they anticipated.
Each one of them looked at the others as they stood ready with their weapons and bags strapped. Deron shared his gaze with Neg, and they both nodded at once.
All of them began walking forward, their torches lit and painted the walls before them in yellow. The water level in the canal was getting lower as they kept moving. When they started, the canal was filled with stale and stinky water, but now only a thin strip of liquid flowed. The algae and weeds along the floor also decreased; it was as if nothing lived in the south.
Air around them began cooling, and each of them rubbed their arms as if the thick leather armour on their body was not enough.
Deron looked beside him. Neg had got accustomed to walking with the stick and held his hand. She got closer as the air got colder and spoke.
"Isn't it cold?"
Everyone turned their eyes toward her, and they had a look of agreement on their faces. However, only Ryne spoke,
"Yes. It is indeed cold. We may be approaching the chapel."
Deron exhaled and kept walking. The stone walls around them started turning black, as if they were burnt by something. Ryne and the others slowed down; their faces carried worry.
"Walk with caution. There might be a green flame nearby," Ryne looked back and addressed Deron.
He only addressed Deron because he did not witness the horrors of the city and had to be informed. Deron looked at Neg and raised his eyebrow. She could understand his confusion and spoke.
"Sorry, I forgot to tell you about the green flame." She kept whispering as they walked.
"While we traced the path to tunnels, we encountered a pale, lifeless green flame. But something about it was strange. It did not blanket its surroundings with heat. Instead, we felt chills."
She paused for a moment and continued,
"Whatever it touched turned into ash and mixed with the air. The fog we saw before was ash."
She sighed.
However, Deron did not reply; one of the bandits looked toward Neg. When she sighed, her breath was visible. It was white and misty. Her eyes widened; they were indeed in the vicinity of green flames. Silence followed the band as no one spoke.
As they kept walking, green light painted the walls. The light from their torches clashed with the green light and failed miserably, and only lit a small section around them. Their torches flickered as the coldness deepened.
Even though Deron's internal organs recycled infernus, producing enough heat to fight the cold inside him, his skin, however, was not a beneficiary of it. The cold assaulted his skin relentlessly, even though Neg was practically attached to his left side with her whole body rubbing onto him. But instead of heat, something else rose in him.
Deron's mind started playing with him again, his mate's full breasts rubbed on his chest, and his palm wrapped around her waist. He could feel the round and soft flesh on her chest while his palm felt the stiff muscles on her waist. His cheeks turned red instantly; the heat produced by his organs and leather armour was inferior to the heat radiating out of his groin.
What the kluck am I thinking?
He kept thinking about torn limbs, broken skulls and much more to ease his tension. Finally, it disappeared slowly; however, it was too slow, forcing Deron to stay silent for a while.
Ryne halted suddenly, his eyes staring into the tunnel forward. After a moment of searching, he spoke and addressed everyone,
"Wait here."
With that, Ryne moved forward. Deron and the rest of the bandits stood at their places and waited. Ryne walked back with controlled footsteps. His face, however, betrayed his pace. His eyes widened, and pupils shrank. A frown was plastered on it.
Deron looked at him in bewilderment,
What did he see in there?
Deron couldn't hold back and spoke.
"What did you see?"
Ryne exhaled and looked at the band. In a low voice, he finally spoke.
"Not something we will like, follow me."
However, his voice pitched up in the end. Making him sound frightened.
For a second, everyone was perplexed; they all looked at each other before following their leader. Deron, however, kept his mind calm due to the tension in his groin. He refused to think about anything else to give the strange voice in his mind a hook to disturb.
But his plan failed, and the strange voice began dissecting their leader's words.
If the dread on his face was real, and the fear in his voice was true. Then it might be a horde of husks, or a chasm with green flame. Of course, if our fate is worse than it already is, it might be something worse.
Shrugging off these useless theories, he kept following the leader, and finally they reached.
The green light now covered everything, their red and orange skins now turned green, and the dark charred rock around them was now painted in green light, even the cracks and crevices. The ever-stretching tunnel was now opened into a giant pit, and green flame danced everywhere in it, almost reaching the roof in the centre.