Dawn and her companions followed the underground waterways for hours, partly climbing over rocks, partly wading in the stream and, on unfortunate occasions, sometimes even swimming in the ice-cold waters when they were confronted with low and narrow sections. They nearly despaired of ever finding a way out of the underground.

“At least water isn’t in short supply,” Dawn joked, as she waded out of a low channel where they had had no choice but to swim, and straightened herself, shivering.

Ankou, who had taken the lead, looked back at her and tossed her a thoroughly disgusted look. He stood still for a moment and shook himself off energetically.

“Not a fan of swimming, I know,” she said soothingly.

The ceiling widened overhead in the area in front of them. The stream was bordered by irregular rocks here, they could stay out of the water and feel their way over the stones. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, their surroundings grew lighter as they trudged along and when they rounded the next bend they were finally greeted with the welcome sight of an opening to the outside.

Scrambling, they almost ran to the opening and peered out. They looked down from a height of several meters on a rocky creek. The water next to them fell out, passing down over several ledges into a small pool at the bottom of a steep shady gorge. To the left and right of the water high mountains rose up into the blue sky, early morning mist wafting in the air. The sun was blocked off from reaching the ground by the mountains.

Eagerly they started to climb their way down to the bottom of the gorge. Dawn felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She could see the sky overhead! Finally they had found a way out of the darkness. Once they had reached the ground, they followed the stream farther down the gorge. Dawn would have dearly loved a fire to dry and warm up, but there was not enough space on the shore of the stream, nor could she see any firewood in the area.

“Kharma, come on,” she called impatiently, lapsing into a run. The Kharlin was following after her a bit tentatively, silver eyes wide open, ears flickering nervously as he looked around.

The gorge stretched on for several miles, but after much scrambling over slippery rocks they reached an area where the crevice opened up, the steep walls on both sides decreasing slowly and finally opening up into a rocky hillside, generously dotted with small somewhat stunted trees and shrubbery.

“First order of business: starting a fire,” Dawn stated eagerly. She went looking for dry twigs and branches, rapidly collecting a bundle of both. For good measure she topped it with a few pine cones.

Soon, her fire was crackling merrily along. Ankou had made himself scarce in the meantime, probably hunting some mice or rabbits. Dawn shrewdly suspected he would be eating better than Kharma and her.

She prepared a bit of porridge seasoned slightly with a bit of wild chive and thyme. After the porridge was done, she rolled the last of her potatoes into the embers. Though the food was bland, she and Kharma ate greedily and sat in companionable silence afterwards for a while.

“What will you do now, Kharma?” she asked. “Go back to your tribe?” He looked at her a bit bemusedly. “Will have to find way back. May be hard to find.”

“We can search for your way home together,” she offered. “If you don’t mind some company.”

“Company good. But maybe tribe afraid of human.” “Do I look that dangerous?” Dawn smiled, unable to imagine anyone being afraid of her.

Kharma shook his head. “Maybe not look. But are.”

“Dangerous? Me?” Surely, that was ridiculous.

“Dawn fight demons.” Kharma just said.

“And we all saw exactly how well that turned out!” she retorted, exasperated.

“Who is fighting demons?” a dry voice asked from behind them. Spooked, Dawn scrambled to her feet and turned around to see a tall stranger looking at them. How had he approached them this closely without them noticing? The man had short-cropped black hair and grey eyes, his skin was weathered and the right side of his face was taken over by an ugly scar. He was clothed in well worn boots and robust brown leather trousers and a jerkin, carrying a bow and quiver over his shoulders and a sword in a plain scabbard strapped to his side. “You startled us,” she said a bit breathless.

“I was a bit curious to see a human girl and a Kharlin sitting around a fire in the midst of the wilderness. Not exactly a sight you come across very often. And talking of fighting demons, to boot.” The stranger retorted.

“It’s a long story,” Dawn said with a sigh. “Do you want to sit down? You’re welcome at our fire, though I’m afraid we are all out of food at the moment.”

The stranger mustered her critically for a moment. “You look strangely bedraggled, and ill prepared for a stay in the wilderness.” He finally sat down next to the fire. “My name is Nathan.”

Dawn colored. “Uh, forgive me. I was so surprised I totally forgot to introduce myself. I’m Dawn and that is Kharma.”

Kharma just nodded guardedly.

Nathan nodded. “Now, I would be very interested to hear that long story about fighting demons.” He said.

Dawn thought for a moment and tried to put her experiences of the last few days into some semblance of order in her head. The story came out in a very basic and somewhat redacted manner.

“Well, uh, it all started when I ran away from home because I didn’t want to marry the man my parents had chosen for me,“ she began a bit diffidently. Nathan raised his eyebrows at that but nodded to her to continue.

“My parents sent some hunters from the village after me to bring me back and I was hiding from them and stumbled over this underground passage into the mountain by accident. And then I was exploring a bit and there were these gods-awful huge spiders running around, but they were called demons too. And I wanted to get back out but the way back was blocked. And so I tried to find another way out and then I found Kharma, who was half-dead. The spiders had spun him into some cocoon and at first I thought he was all the way dead.”

The stranger had listened to Dawn’s ramblings quietly up to now, the corners of his mouth twitching a bit at her narrative style.

“So these demons were in fact enormous spiders?” he asked. “But why do you call them demons, then?”

“Analyze called them grey demons. I don’t know why it didn’t just say spiders.” Dawn stammered.

“Analyze! Of course, you have analyze.” The stranger said a bit wryly. “Please continue.”

“We were still looking for a way out and then I did something a bit stupid and the spiders were hunting for us. And then I ran straight into their trap and the only way out was through the water. I almost drowned, but I got out of the cave somehow and we followed these underground waterways for ever and ever, and then, I think a few hours ago, we finally got out of there and landed in this gorge. So here we are.” Dawn was a bit breathless after she ended, the words had come faster and faster as she was talking.

Of course, she hadn’t mentioned the underground city and her stupidity in burning the demon eggs. For some obscure reason she didn’t want anyone to know about the city and she felt ashamed of her rash action with the eggs now. It was the reason she and her friends had almost died.

Nathan looked at her thoughtfully. “I have never heard of grey demons before. Spiders I have seen aplenty, but not quite ones of the size you described, I believe.”

Dawn shuddered. “They were really, really huge. And I will be deliriously happy if I don’t ever see a grey demon again in my life, believe me. They were very much not stupid, they were laying traps for us and closing up all the exits when they were hunting for us.”

Nathan seemed a bit incredulous at that. Kharma, who had been very quiet since the stranger had arrived, piped up in the face of his skepticism: “Demons not stupid. Very dangerous hunters.”

Suddenly there was movement in the shrubbery. Nathan sprang up and in an instant was holding his drawn bow, an arrow cocked.

Dawn cried out frantically: “No! Stop! It’s only Ankou. He’s my friend.”

Slowly, he lowered his bow and looked at her a bit strangely. Ankou was slinking in their direction, carefully. Ears halfway flattened, eyes slitted, he was obviously unsure what to make of the stranger. The cat lay down at last, a little distance away, between Dawn and Kharma.

“Your friend. First a Kharlin and now a mountain lynx. You keep strange company, little Dawn.”

Nathan sat down again, keeping an eye on the big cat.

“You know, you never told us what you are doing here, all alone in the wilderness.” Dawn was a bit piqued he had called her little.

“I am a ranger, the wilderness is my business, so to say. I’m traveling through here on my way farther north.” Nathan retorted.

“I wish I had more time, then I would try to check out these grey demons of yours. I’m expected up north, though.”

Dawn looked at him incredulously. “Please believe me, you don’t want to meet any demons. They are very bad news.”

Nathan smiled a little crookedly and said: “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. I have fought and killed more beasts than you will ever see in your life, Dawn. Anyway, I don’t have the time right now. But I’m going to report back to my superiors once I have arrived. They will send someone to check it out soon.”

“Better make it several someones,” Dawn recommended. “There are a lot of these monsters in the underground caves. Of course you have to find them first. I don’t think you can go back the way we came out. I almost didn’t make it through in one passage, it was so narrow. I nearly drowned there in the river. I don’t believe anyone could manage to get back through against the current.”

Nathan shrugged. “If my colleagues can’t find a way in, then these demons can’t find a way out. But better to be safe than sorry.”

“You seem not really the type to survive in the wilderness on your own, Dawn. Wouldn’t it be better to return to your parents? You must have realized by now that the dangers are quite real, out here away from other people.”

Dawn retorted angrily: “I won’t go back. I won’t marry that big lump, Beran. Absolutely not. You can’t make me.” She clenched her fists and scrambled away from him.

Nathan sighed: “Calm down please. I’m not in the business of making people do anything against their will. I neither have time nor inclination to drag you back to your family by force. But I fear you won’t survive a month out here on your own.”

Dawn said: “It’s harder than I thought. I just want to become a wise woman. I need some time to develop some skills and to learn.”

Nathan said: “As I said, I don’t have much time, but I will take a day and teach you some basics about hunting and trapping. And I will hunt some game for you, so you have food for a day or two. That’s the best I can do.”

Dawn gushed: “Oh, thank you, thank you for helping me.”

He rose: “Now then, let’s be about it. Time is wasting.”

Hours later, a thoroughly exhausted but very satisfied Dawn sat at the fire. They had made some sling-traps and set them, and Nathan had hunted some fowl and a rabbit with his bow. He had given her a fishing line and some hooks, taught her about good places to fish and what bait to use and taught her how to dress a kill. And he had shown her how to spit the rabbit and the bird over the fire. It had been the first tasty and satisfying meal she had eaten in days.

Drowsily she gazed into the flames, Kharma sitting next to her and Ankou draped against her back.

Pensively, she asked: “Nathan have you ever heard about the stoneblood fold?”

Nathan looked at her, astonished. “Now wherever did you hear of stoneblood folk?”

“Just some stories they told in the village,“ she answered evasively.

“They are the stuff of myths and legends. There are many stories about them. Supposedly, they were Masters of rune crafting and artifice and great scholars. But nowadays, most people think there’s no truth in the legends. They are just stories. I was a bit of a scholar in my misspent youth, before I realized I wanted to be a ranger. I read a lot of old stories and legends then. It makes for fascinating reading.”

“I can believe that.” Dawn said. “Can you tell me a bit about the legends?” she asked.

“They were supposed to have made some great works, runes that were magical, water flowing freely in their cities, ovens that didn’t need wood or coal. It is said they erected huge buildings with multiple floors and a wondrous great library where they collected all their knowledge and secrets. They were living in peace and harmony with all their neighbours, and nobody was hungry in their cities. It all sounds a bit too good to be true if I’m being honest. Allegedly they all died because of some curse or other. There’s some cryptic song or prophecy about them coming back someday in the stories.”

“A song?” Dawn asked.

“Yes, I think I can even remember it. Give me a moment.” He said, thinking for a while and then reciting slowly.

Old blood will rise in the mountains

hope for the forgotten and lost

Be careful with prayers, child

All answers come at a cost

Stone city lies sleeping in ruins

Waiting for someone to come

Darkness holds ages of secrets

Old ways open up only once

An enemy rising

Vile beasts roaming wide

Beware mountain folk

Keep your children inside

For unmindful actions

You pay heavy price

Take care in your dealings

A word to the wise

Grow up child and see

Even heroes will fall

In dark desperate hours

Stonefolk answer your call

Tricked, trapped and broken

You’re hearing the knells

Of a quiet deathly ringing

Will you answer the bells?

“I think it goes something like that. All very cryptic and diffuse.”

“It sounds interesting,” Dawn said. “But very mysterious, you are right.” She wondered who had written that song.