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From: eriadoriii@aol.comnospam (EriadorIII)
Subject: {ASSM} The Ring of Power Part Five
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Note from the author: Sorry it has taken so long to post the next part, try to
forgive me. Anyway, this section and the next have no sex, though Part Seven
will remedy the situation in a big way.
Chapter Four: Escape
The howling increased as Mercyn watched more and more black shapes slipping
through the darkness. The strength of the storm had increased in the last few
minutes, the rain was pelting the landscape and the lightning frequently lit
the sky. Thunder rolled and the wind chorused with the howls of the beasts to
create a frightening song.
"How many are there?" Liselle asked, trying to see around the warrior.
"One is too many," he grumbled. The elf still leaned against the front door.
She looked thoroughly soaked and her face was flushed as she fought to regain
her breath. If not for the grommen outside, Mercyn remarked to himself, he
might find the heaving of her bosom arousing. To be honest, he had to admit he
was enjoying the sight despite the danger. From her surreptitious peeks at his
naked body, he guessed that she was enjoying to view also. Liselle jostled
him, she was trying to see out the window, and Mercyn guiltily ripped his gaze
from the elf's breasts.
"How many do you think you could take?"
The elf looked down at her bow and then gazed through the wall in the general
direction of the grommen. She paused a moment, listening to the storm and then
she shrugged her shoulders. "Two, perhaps three if I am lucky and have the
time. Not nearly enough."
Mercyn looked at Liselle, who had moved away from the window. He watched her
slight form kneel next to her bag and begin digging through the clothes. They
were going to need every weapon they could get if they were to survive the
night. He pursed his lips and then he pulled out his dagger and offered it,
hilt first, to the girl. "You should take this."
Liselle turned away from her bag, a smile on her face and a wicked, curved
dagger in her hand. The dagger had no adornment; no gems imbedded into its
hilt, no fancy tracework around the pommel. But one look told Mercyn that the
blade was of excellent quality. "No thanks," she feigned disinterest in the
proffered weapon though the mischievous smile cracked through the façade. "I
have my own."
Erin laughed half-heartedly. "It seems you pulled quite the haul out of that
town."
Mercyn grunted and put his dagger away. He was glad he didn't have to part
with it. It had been good to him lately and he felt safer with it at his belt.
"Do you know how to use that?"
Liselle frowned at him and glanced down at the blade. "Just worry about how
to get us out here."
The elf stifled another half-hearted chuckle.
Mercyn obediently began to scan the small shack, trying to do exactly as he
was asked. He considered every item in the room, each time asking what that
particular item could do to help them. The broken table, the only piece of
furniture in the shack, had been reduced to nothing useful except for as fuel
for the fire. The stack of firewood next to the hearth was enough to last the
night, perhaps, but wouldn't be good for much else. Aside from that, there
was absolutely nothing in the shack except for the stuff that they had brought,
and most of that consisted of food.
"It looks like we may have to wait it out and hope they go away. They don't
like fire much, so they probably won't attack until the wood burns out. By
then, if we are lucky, the storm will be gone and they will, at the very least,
be somewhat weakened."
Liselle looked confused. "Why is that?"
"Grommen means storm hound in Old Hav," the elf answered. "They draw their
power from the storms. It makes them stronger, faster and far more intelligent
than normal wolves. Outside of a storm, they are just well-trained hounds."
"So, if the storm breaks they will leave?"
Mercyn nodded. "Maybe. Providing they haven't broken in before then.
Grommen tend to be aggressive and I think we can rely on at least one attack
coming. If we can beat that back we may have a chance."
Seeing nothing to do but wait, the trio settled down into a watchful silence.
Mercyn, now clothed, took the elf's place at the door and Erin stood by the
window, trying to keep her eyes on the sleek, black forms that flitted from
shadow to shadow. Liselle busied herself cleaning up the debris left from the
table and stacking it next to the hearth. All three tried not to let the
rising cacophony of howls dishearten them.
"What's this?" Liselle muttered to herself as she cleared the debris off a
small portion of the floor. She saw a strange seam in the floor, running
between to floorboards. She knocked on the floor with a piece of the table and
a hollow sound reached her ears. She grabbed her dagger and pried up one of
the floorboards. It came up easily. She grabbed a second and pulled it up
also. "I think we have something here."
Erin broke away from the door and moved over to the growing hole
in the floor as Liselle had removed four more of the boards and revealed a dark
hole about ten feet deep. The elf kneeled by the hole and then turned to
Mercyn. "It looks like the entrance to a cave of some sort. There is a chest
or something at the bottom, too."
Mercyn smiled. "Perhaps we won't have to wait."
The elf set her bow down and lowered herself into the hole. The
floor of the hole was solid rock and had little give. "It's a tunnel," she
called back up to the others. The light from the shack glowed dully at the
bottom of the pit, allowing her to see a short distance in each direction. The
tunnel wasn't very wide and the walls were roughly hewn. "It goes two
directions from here and it is big enough for us to stand. It reminds me of a
gold mine."
"What's in the trunk?" Liselle asked.
The trunk was fairly non-descript with no discernable markings.
The chest was only about three feet long and one foot deep. It was made
completely of wood with iron hinges and an unlocked iron latch. There was a
touch of rust on the hinges and the latch, but the trunk was still in pretty
good condition. Erin kneeled and opened the moldy trunk. Inside were a coil
of old, dry rope and a handful of pieces of wood. "It looks like we got some
torches and some rope."
Liselle looked up at the warrior, who nodded without hesitating.
"We will try it."
At that moment they heard a loud thump, followed by something
scrambling at the roof. "Quickly, grab our stuff and get down there," he
shouted at Liselle, his heart beginning to race. The girl scrambled to her
feet and quickly gathered their bags and tossed them down to Erin. The elf had
lit a torch and was peering down each tunnel. She grabbed the bags and tossed
them a little ways down one tunnel.
The scrambling grew louder and the ceiling began to creak. The
storm chose that moment to increase its furor yet again. The wind began to
attack the shack itself, picking up loose pieces of the landscape and hurling
them at the walls. Something large slammed into the door, nearly knocking
Mercyn off his feet. He planted his weight and held against the weight of the
creature outside. "Hurry", he grunted, straining as the grommen slammed into
the door again.
Liselle threw the last of their belongings to the elf, just as a
loud crack sounded throughout the room. Both Liselle and Mercyn stared at the
ceiling as at first nothing happened and then part of the roof collapsed,
sending a giant hound crashed to the ground.
Liselle screamed in shock as the grommen slammed to the ground
between her and Mercyn. It was as big as a pony and its hide was blue-black
and slicked back from the rain. The wolf regained its feet and snarled at the
girl. It eyes were as black as night and its huge yellow fangs glistened with
saliva.
Mercyn darted in from behind and slashed the beast along its
flank, drawing a yelp of surprise. The beast whipped around and faced the
warrior, growling its displeasure. Liselle used the opportunity to slip into
the relative safety of the tunnel. The grommen, ignored her and leaped at
Mercyn, its jaws agape and aiming to snap at the warriors head. The warrior
whipped up his sword and managed to catch the beast's head with the hilt,
knocking it off balance and fouling the leap. Unfortunately it also knocked
his sword free. Silently the warrior vowed to get the grips changed on his
weapon; he was dropping it way too often.
The hound rolled to its feet and snarled. Mercyn distracted the beast by
launching a kick at the wolf, his foot smashing into the side of its head. It
yelped but quickly followed up with another leap. By this time the warrior had
his dagger ready and, as the wolf leapt, he slid beneath the leap and struck
out, ripping a huge gash in the creatures chest and abdomen. With a crash the
wolf's leap came to an end by the hearth, where it crumbled to a heap, its head
in the fire. It whined piteously until its fur caught fire and the beast died.
Mercyn went to recapture his sword but another wolf crashed
through the door and he could hear the claws of another grommen on the roof.
With a last look at his discarded sword, he adjusted his grip on his dagger and
he dove into the tunnel. It was far shallower than he thought and he crashed
painfully into the ground. Reacting solely on instinct he rolled onto his back
and was able to watch as the grommen followed him into the hole.
The black monster landed on the man, driving most of the air from
his lungs and causing his left shoulder to snap like a twig. It was all Mercyn
could do to grab the creature's head in both hands and hold the teeth at bay as
the beast tried to rip out his throat. Immense pain coursed through his left
shoulder as he felt the broken bones scrape against each other. The grommen's
rear claws began to rend at the man's torso and blood began to flow from
several cuts and wounds.
The man and the wolf struggled for a moment, the grommen's teeth
slowly descending towards the man's face, when abruptly the struggle ended.
The wolf went limp in the man's grip. He rolled the dead beast off of him and
scrambled to his feet the best he could. The blood pouring from two huge gashes
across his ribs combined with his broken shoulder to make him suddenly
light-headed and dizzy. Someone grabbed him and steadied him as he blindly
grabbed for something to hold onto. He opened his eyes and saw Liselle, bloody
dagger in one hand, snake her arm around his back and pull him down the tunnel,
away from the pit. Erin pushed past them towards the pit, a torch in hand.
She pulled the wooden chest and the corpse of the wolf into the mouth of the
tunnel and lit the chest on fire. Flames crackled to life and a miniature wall
of flame burst into being as first the trunk and then the dead grommen caught
fire.
"Let's move, that won't deter them long," she passed the torch to
Liselle, who had slid her dagger into her belt, and pushed the two humans down
the tunnel before her. She followed, watching the tunnel behind her, bow ready
to fire.
The tunnel wasn't wide enough for two people to move abreast, so
Mercyn soon had to take his own weight and make his way. He had recovered from
his initial dizziness but he was still losing blood rapidly. Liselle handed
him a shirt from her pack and he tried to bandage the wounds. Moving, with a
broken shoulder and with only a flickering torch for light, he had little
success.
"We need to stop or he will bleed to death," Liselle stopped and
took the shirt from Mercyn.
As if in answer, a chorus of howls echoed down the tunnel. "I
don't think that will be possible," the elf responded. The tunnel had curved
slightly and they were out of sight of the fire. Erin took a couple steps back
down the passage. "I think the fire went out."
"Go," Mercyn pushed Liselle away from him. She had wrapped the
shirt around his waist, covering the wounds. Mercyn clenched his teeth and
pressed his left arm against the makeshift bandage. In his other hand he held
his dagger. "This will have to do. Move."
Liselle and Mercyn hurried down the tunnel, another howl echoing
through the darkness. They hadn't gone far when they entered into a larger
cave. Circular, there were three round exits leaving from the room.
Stalagmites pointed towards a ceiling that was perhaps thirty feet in the air
and matching stalactites dotted the roof. Mercyn figured they must be under the
hill. Small piles of rubble dotted the floor. Next to one of the piles laid a
rusty pick.
"Right. We should go right," Mercyn hissed between clenched teeth.
The pain in his shoulder was immense as he pressed his left arm against his
abdomen, but every time he relaxed the arm he could feel the blood begin to
seep around the sides of his bandage. He pointed with his dagger. "Grab that
pick."
Liselle gasped as she looked over Mercyn's shoulder. Quickly he
spun, but nothing was there; not even the elf. Mercyn swore and was ready to
run back to get her when she came pelting through the tunnel.
"They put out the fire ... somehow," she wheezed. Her hands on her
knees, she gasped for breath. "I got the first one who came down. It took two
arrows but ... between it ... and the other corpse ... it blocked most of the
passage."
She gulped for more air. "The next one tried to crawl over ... but
I shot it, too. I think I just wounded it."
Mercyn nodded. He grimaced through the pain and looked at each of
the exits. "Let's go right. If we get separated, we will always go right at
every turn. Remember that."
The first passage to the left was even narrower and shorter than
the original tunnel. It instantly began to slope downwards and curve to the
left. The ground was not very even and, frequently piles of rubble and large
stalagmites forced them to squeeze past. A howl signaled pursuit behind them
and they hoped the obstacles that delayed them might halt the hounds. The
tunnel split again to the right and the trio followed it.
This passage began to slope back up and the group could hear a dull
roar in the distance. The tunnel emptied into another large cave. The roar
belonged to an underground river that entered through the wall on the right,
crashed down a short ridge and then raced through a shallow ditch and out the
other end of the cave. The far side of the cave was invisible in the dark
murk. The torch hissed from the river's spray when Liselle stuck it out,
trying to get a view of the far wall. Quickly she pulled it back and shielded
it from the water.
All three looked back the way they came. Howling could still be
heard, though it sounded far away.
"If we can cross, we will probably lose our pursuit. Grommen are
not good swimmers," Mercyn stepped towards the river. In the murk he could
tell that it was only thirty feet or so across.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Liselle was at his shoulder
and she eyed the river. She had planted the torch near the entrance where the
elf had taken up watching down the tunnel.
"Can you swim?" he asked.
"Yeah, I grew up next to a river."
"What about you?" he called to the elf. Erin looked back and
nodded.
"Okay, I guess we swim."
"And how are you going to do that?" Liselle frowned at him. "You
can barely walk."
"You guys go first and then we'll tie the rope around me. If I
can't make it, you guys can pull me across."
Liselle's frown deepened and then she reluctantly nodded. "You
better be able to make it," she muttered.
She dug into her pack and pulled out the rope from the chest. It
looked sturdy enough, but mold was growing along the strands so its integrity
was in question. "Can you throw any of this across?"
"Let's find out." He picked up her pack and it wasn't too heavy.
He moved as close to the river as he dared and hurled the bag with all his
strength. The bag landed safely on the other side about five feet from the
river.
Howls echoed louder from the passage. The grommen had caught the
scent.
"Move it," Mercyn growled.
Liselle dove into the river, one end of the rope coiled around her
waist, the other around Mercyn's. The current was strong and the girl was
pulled about twenty feet down river before the rope began to pull taut. Mercyn
set his feet and pulled against the current. Using him as an anchor, she was
able to fight through the current and gain the far side. Another ten feet
downstream and she would have been swept under the far wall and away.
Erin handed the torch and her bow and quiver to Mercyn and then
dove into the pool. She was a strong swimmer but the current quickly grabbed
her and hurtled her body towards the wall. She struggled for a moment and then
burst free, pulling herself to safety at about the same spot as Liselle.
She climbed free of the water just as a grommen burst into the
cave. Its howl chilled Mercyn's blood as he turned to face the thing. The
wolf seemed to grin as it spotted its wounded prey. Assured of victory, but
still taught caution by the death of its fellows, it slowly stalked towards the
man.
Without thinking Mercyn turned and whipped the bow across the
river, followed quickly by the quiver. The weapons fell near the pack and the
arrows spilt onto the ground. The wolf leapt closer and Mercyn had to whip
back around quickly to defend himself. He waved the torch between him and the
black hound, fending it off. The flames bothered the grommen, it cringed from
the heat each time Mercyn pushed it forwards. The warrior continued to move
backwards until he felt the edge of the river beneath his feet. He waved the
torch at the grommen one more time, forcing it to back off.
Another howl blasted through the cave as another hound entered the
cave. The first grommen answered gleefully but his call was cut off as an
arrow suddenly caught it in the exposed part of its throat. Using the moment
to his advantage Mercyn rushed at the other wolf, waving the torch before him
like a sword. The hound flinched back into the tunnel.
Mercyn covered half the distance to the passage and then stopped as
the rope began to run out. He jammed the torch into a crack in the floor.
Turning back to the river he ran as fast as he could and leapt into the river.
He covered over half the distance before he crashed into the cold surface of
the water, feet first. The temperature came as a slight shock to the body and
it took him a moment to react as the current started to pull him down river.
He reached out with his arm and began to pull himself through the water. He
forced his left arm to respond and, despite the pain and the lack of strength
in the arm, he was able to pull himself to the other side.
He heard another howl turn into a yelp of pain and he turned to see
a grommen go down with an arrow in the eye. Two other wolves quickly fled back
into the tunnel and away from the elf's deadly bow.
Liselle had another torch lit by the time Mercyn joined them. "It's
our last damn one," she cursed angrily. She had only managed to grab a couple
from the chest and now they were almost gone.
The elf joined them, her bow still trained on the far tunnel. "I
only have three arrows left."
Mercyn cursed also, but his was in reaction to the pain in his
shoulder. "Let's get out of here."
--
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