The air was thick and permeated by choking, fetid stench. The calls of thousands of unseen insects filled Orin’s ears. The warrior watched as the rock eater’s mouth quivered and twitched threateningly as it cocked its head. It looked as though the creature was disoriented in its new surroundings. Orin could see no eyes on its head. However it was tracking them, it wasn’t through sight.
An arrow struck the creature in the mouth before bursting into flames. The creature let out a low pitched hiss of irritation, before snapping its jaws shut around it. Rus’ arrow had proven little more than an irritation to the gargantuan beast, but it had created a distraction. One Orin wasn’t going to let slip.
The warrior ran towards it with sword in hand. His feet seemed to sink in the soft, waterlogged ground underfoot as he ran, slowing him down. The creature sensed his approach and whirled around to lunge at him. As it did, Orin swung upwards with his sword to intercept the creature’s attack from above.
When he planted his foot, it sank into the unstable ground, throwing the timing of his strike off. The creature, too, sank unexpectedly as it shifted its weight to strike, causing it to fall on top of Orin’s sword, impaling itself on it.
Orin gasped at the unexpected weight and struggled to keep it positioned upright and drove it through the thick scales that covered the rock eater’s body. He felt the blade begin to buckle under the immense strain but continued forcing it upwards nonetheless. His blade began to bend, but he felt the creature’s scales buckle and gritted his teeth before making a final push.
The creature let out a roar as the tip of Orin’s sword broke through a scale to pierce the flesh underneath. The creature went limp, and Orin felt his blade bend again as he heaved the creature’s bulk to the side. It landed on the soft ground with a thump. The warrior leapt back when he saw it twitch, before eventually growing still.
After a few long moments, Orin raised his sword, and his heart sank when he assessed the damage. The blade was badly bent, throwing the balance of the weapon off, and its tip was blunted. Fighting with it would be dangerous.
“I never thought I would see the day when the Raging Demon place the lives of others before the welfare of his weapon,” a voice said.
Orin whirled around to see a slender, unassuming looking old man standing in the marsh that lay beyond the tunnel’s exit. He was unarmed, and his eyes twinkled with amusement.
“That’s Urgal, the master of this level,” Lana gasped as she distanced herself from the man.
“Not this level,” the man said, shaking his head. “You’ve made it to the swamp. I came straight here when I saw that you had entered the tunnels.”
Orin hefted his ruined weapon, trying to get to grips with its imbalanced weight and glowered at the man.
“No need to look so ferocious,” the old man chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender. “I have no desire to fight an unarmed man.”
“We can make it a fistfight if you’d like,” Orin said, incensed by the perceived slight.
“Oh,” the man’s eyes turned reptilian for a second as he took a step forward. “Do you think that would tip the odds in your favour?”
“I do not need to resort to tricks to win fights,” Orin spat indignantly.
“Hey, meathead!” Rus shouted from behind the roots of a mangrove tree. “Look at his feet!”
Orin’s eyes widened when he saw that just walking had caused the man to sink down to his shins in the soft ground. The warrior, meanwhile, had only sunk a half inch in the muddy soil. Just how much did this man weigh?
The old man smiled impishly. “I shall let you go for now. I look forward to meeting you again when your weapon is reforged.”
The prospect of receiving mercy from this stranger boiled Orin’s blood, but he saw the pleading look on Rus’ face and forced himself to remain silent.
The amused smile on the old man’s face broadened, and he pointed into the distance. Warily, Orin looked at where he was pointing and saw a wisp of smoke spiralling up into the sky.
“Until we meet again.” The old man stepped backwards into the swamp where the water came up to his ankles. He waved at Orin, and the water began to bubble before pulling the man inside. Moments later, he had disappeared.
“I am impressed with your restraint,” Rus remarked while Lana checked on Gronthil and Darla.
“How are they?” Orin growled.
Accepting mercy was shameful, and he wanted to move past it quickly. Something was changing within him. Was it caused by the dungeon, or something else?
“You did the right thing,” Darla croaked as Lana helped her sit upright. She glanced over at Gronthil and furrowed her brow with concern. The dwarf was bleeding from a nasty wound on his head and had not stirred.
“Can you heal him?” Lana asked.
The cleric shook her head feebly. “Not in my current state. He needs to be stabilized until I recover enough strength.”
Rus frowned and looked into the swamp. “We can’t stay here. I can feel eyes on us.”
Orin followed his gaze and felt his hair stand on end. A low growl came a moment later. The warrior looked down at his sword and his heart ached at its condition. However, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it as a bludgeon if he had to.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I’ll fashion a stretcher to move him,” Rus said before placing his backpack on the soft, marshy ground. “I also have a roll of bandages in there. If nothing else, we need to keep his wound clean, which will be life saving in these conditions.”
Insects were beginning to swarm, and Lana had to swat them away from the dwarf’s head wound while Darla tended to it. Orin stood guard over the trio without having to be told while Rus gathered firewood, keeping a wary eye on the water and the trees.
Soon, the makeshift stretcher was ready. They decided that it was better for Orin to have both his hands free in case they encountered anything hostile, so Lana and Rus were the ones to carry Gronthil while Darla was forced to walk unassisted.
Their pace was excruciatingly slow. They were staying out of the water while maintaining as straight a course to the smoke as they could, but the ground was strewn with exposed roots and abrupt sinkholes that were hard to see in the rapidly dwindling light. Meanwhile, Darla’s strength was flagging. To make matters worse, it soon became apparent that they were being stalked.
Every now and then, Orin would see a flash of movement in the distance. Then, a howl from an unknown beast. Moments later, an answering howl came. And then another. And another.
“Sounds like wolves,” Rus remarked. “And they have our scent.”
“Wonderful,” Lana breathed.
“Perhaps we should go into the water,” Darla suggested. “It will be easier to see them coming from there.”
Rus shook his head. “I saw crocodiles in there. We would be easy prey such as we are.”
The hunter spotted flashes of movement off to the side and frowned before looking around. “We are being flanked.”
Orin felt the blood rush to his head. They were being toyed with by beasts. He would show them. The warrior stalked forward.
“You are falling into their trap!” Rus cried. “They are trying to lure you away so that they can attack us.”
“Then put Gronthil down and fight,” Orin growled over his shoulder.
“I’ve counted at least six of them,” Rus warned. “I will be one against five, and I will have to cover a wounded man.”
“Are we going to turn the initiative over to a pack of beasts?” Orin demanded.
“Dungeon wolves are far more intelligent than those found out in the overworld,” Lana pointed out.
“How did you deal with them?” Darla asked weakly. “When last you came through here.”
The sorceress shrugged. “With fire. Though they may be more intelligent, they still fear fire. Unfortunately, that option is not available to us at this time.”
“If they’re so smart, that’s all the more reason not to turn the initiative over to them,” Orin objected.
“As I said, you going out alone out there would be playing into their hands,” Rus pointed out.
“Paws,” Lana blurted and winced upon receiving dirty looks from both Rus and Orin.
“This really isn’t the time or the place,” Darla suggested softly.
“I don’t think there is a time or a place for that sort of thing,” Rus scoffed.
Orin grunted in agreement and Lana sighed. “Well, if we’re done ganging up on me, I have a suggestion. We can barely see our feet. We will need to stop for the night and build a fire which should keep them away.”
“I might have a better idea,” Rus began. “Oi, take over for me, will you?”
“Mind your manners,” Orin growled before taking the stretcher from the hunter.
“What are you doing?” Lana ventured, craning her neck to see.
“Take this,” Rus said, handing Orin a dried branch, which obliged him to carry his end of the stretcher with one hand.
The sorceress’ eyes widened when he pulled an arrow from Fire and held it to each branch until it caught fire. “My, that’s useful. Where did you get it?”
“Forest Lake,” he replied. “In the village.”
“The village?” Lana’s eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t think there was anything in there worth a damn.”
“Neither did I,” Rus admitted. “Stumbling across it was quite fortuitous even though it almost cost us our lives.”
“It could fetch quite the fortune from the right person,” Lana remarked.
The hunter turned to Lana and winked. “Aye, but the trick is getting out of here alive to sell it.”
“You want us to keep going by torchlight?” Lana ventured.
Orin raised his branch, and the flames cast long shadows out into the swamp. Then, he saw four pairs of eyes reflecting the light in the distance.
“There they are,” he murmured.
Darla, meanwhile, was looking at Gronthil with concern. The dwarf’s face was as white as a sheet, and she placed a hand on his cheek. “He’s cold. He won’t make it through the night like this.”
“Right then,” Rus breathed before nocking a fire arrow. “Let’s see how they react to this.”
The hunter released the arrow, sending it flying towards a pair of eyes. The wolf yelped as the arrow struck it between the eyes before falling over and bursting into flames. The fire illuminated another brown furred wolf, and even though he could not remember ever seeing one before, he was taken off guard at just how large it was. It stood almost as tall as Rus at the shoulder, and its head was as large as a horse’s.
The illuminated wolf snarled before charging at the group. Rus felled it with another arrow. By now, the fire from the first wolf’s corpse had spread to a nearby tree, illuminating more of their surroundings. More glowing eyes became visible, and Orin felt his pulse quicken. A slaughter was about to take place.
“Set him down,” he said to Lana. “We are going to have to make a stand.”
“So much for being afraid of fire,” she said. Her voice was quiet as she peered into the darkness around them.
“That’s right, we forgot to tell you that the rules had changed since you were imprisoned,” Darla remarked.
“The two of you should stay close to the dwarf,” Orin ordered before handing the burning branch to the sorceress and drawing his ruined sword. “The hunter and I will do our best to keep them at bay.”
Lana tried to keep a brave face and nodded, but her hands trembled as they clutched the burning branch. Orin turned around and placed himself between them and a wolf that had stepped into the light. The creature snarled, revealing a mouth full of teeth that were the size of daggers.
Orin heard a wolf yelp in pain behind him and turned his head as though to see. His bait worked, and the wolf in front of him charged. He swung his sword but was dismayed at how off balance the crooked blade was. His swing was slow, and though it ran contrary to his every instinct, he was forced to let it fly out of his grasp so that he could bring his hands up to deal with the lunging wolf. He jammed his gauntleted hands into the creature’s mouth and used brute strength to rip its mouth apart.
The creature yelped and writhed at his feet, but before he could deliver the finishing blow, he saw another barrelling towards him. He grabbed this one by the neck as it flew at him and snapped its neck as they fell in a heap.
As he lay on the ground, he saw that the trees around them were all ablaze thanks to Rus’ barrage of fire arrows, turning night into day and revealing dozens of wolves that barred their teeth while they circled the group.
Before Orin could scramble to his feet, another wolf leapt on him. It was all Orin could do to keep its snapping jaws at bay when another clamped its jaws around his thigh. The creature’s fangs pierced the steel armour, and Orin gritted his teeth against the pain as he struggled for purchase against the one trying to rip his throat out.
As the jaws came ever closer to his neck, a roar of thunder echoed over the swamp followed by a massive explosion that shook the ground Orin was lying on. The sound distracted the wolf long enough for the warrior to grab it firmly by the head and twist it backwards, snapping its neck. Lana then shoved her burning branch into the eye of the wolf that was savaging his leg. The creature shrieked before going limp, and the warrior leapt to his feet to find the remaining wolves had scattered into the night.
“What was that?” he gasped.
“Are you idiots trying to burn down my swamp?” a voice boomed out of the darkness.