The main cave was shrouded in dust and smoke as they reached it. Dawn expected to see spiders scuttling around, but saw no moving shadows anywhere. She had bound one of her shirts in front of her mouth and nose, so she didn’t breathe in the dust.

Cautiously they entered the main lair. Of the webs formerly hanging from ceilings and walls, only charred shreds remained. Boulders had fallen down from the ceiling and stone columns had toppled. It was hard to walk, rubble covering the ground everywhere. But all in all Dawn saw less destruction than she had expected after the ground shook like it did. Where were the demons? And the Kharlins? She saw no cocoons hanging or lying around and sincerely hoped that none of the paralyzed villagers had been killed in the fire and the cave in. Maybe that was a forlorn hope.

Suddenly she saw movement a little distance to her right. A demon lay on the ground, it had been struck by a boulder and seemed dazed. Its legs moved slowly, grabbling on the ground. With a shudder, Dawn drew her sword, approached it and hacked wildly at the spider. Her first strokes seemed to have no great effect, the chitin resistant. She redoubled her efforts, striking at the demon again and again. She was furious and out of control. All the fear, helplessness and despair of the last days expressing themselves in her mad attack. Finally the spider’s legs stopped moving. It was dead. Dawn stopped, breathing heavily.

Level up!

Nature’s Shadow level 10

You have 2 free stat points to distribute.

You have 1 free skill point.

She was level 10 already. That certainly had gone faster than she had expected. She grimaced, slower leveling and less demons would still have been preferable. But she had gotten another skill point. That was great. No time now to look at her skill list. Somewhere, other demons had to be alive. Maybe even the queen.

They had passed the side cave with the queen’s den already. Dawn had no intention to investigate it right now. Even if she never met the demon queen again, it would still be too soon for her.

The water level in the cave seemed higher now. But maybe it was just her imagination. Slowly they rounded the bend and passed the side cave where she had burned the demon eggs and the other one with the empty animal pens. Where was everyone? A few minutes ago the caves had been teeming with spiders. Where had they gone? She remembered the ceiling suddenly and looked up, half afraid to find one of the spiders hanging above her. But her gaze met nothing but emptiness. Together with Ankou she weaved through further fallen boulders and came to the side cave that had served as their hide-out. Dawn risked a short glance into the front room. Empty. For a moment she was tempted to go down to the lab, investigate it further, sort through all the books and alchemical instruments there. But she shook the thought off. When they neared the exit into the underground passages they finally saw the whole extent of the damage. The cave-in had closed off the exit completely. Big boulders and rocks blocked the doorway.

How had the Kharlins managed the cave-in that precisely? She was sure it had been them. Those caves and passageways had been standing for centuries. They would hardly fall apart at precisely the time when the Kharlins and she were around. There was no chance to get through here. Even if she had invested a lot more stat points in strength she wouldn’t be able to lift those rocks. No way out through the underground city either. The portcullises were down. For a moment panic threatened to overwhelm her. Then she remembered the underground waterways. Not a comfortable way to get out of here, but far far better than none.

They retraced their steps, Dawn growing more and more puzzled. It made sense that the Kharlins had gotten out of the caves and blocked the exit behind them. They probably had thought she was already dead, and they had almost been right. How exactly they had managed to get their villagers out and to close the exit behind them was still a mystery. But what about all the demons? Surely they couldn’t all have been in the underground passages when the rocks came down. She knew very well that at least some of them had to be alive. If all of these gods-forsaken spiders had been dead, her quest to get rid of them wouldn’t still be around. And when she checked on it, it was still very much an open quest.

Nevertheless, she had time now. She needed to eat and drink, her throat was parched and all that dust didn’t exactly help. She would take a break at their hide-out, look at her stats and skill list and maybe investigate the old lab a bit more. She could always enter the underground waterway later. She dreaded the entry anyway. Might as well put it off for a while. Ankou wouldn’t be best pleased to take that way out either. Almost the thought made her smile, as she imagined his indignant face at the request to enter the water once more.

Dawn felt better after her break. The water she had taken from the river had been a bit silty, after all the rock that fell down stirred it up, but it was still drinkable. Food and drink had done both of them a world of good.

Now for her new skill. She called up the list.

Available class skills

Entanglement (Spell)

Nature will come to your aid and entangle your enemies. Use plants and roots to slow down and trap beasts or humans.

Mana cost: 50 MP

Alchemy

Use plants, animal components and minerals to brew potions, medicines or poisons.

Cocoon Of Shadows (Spell)

Envelop yourself in a cocoon of shadows that absorbs a part of your enemy’s strike against you. Absorbs 40 HP of damage.

Mana cost: 70 MP

She didn’t know what to choose. Alchemy was the skill that would help her most on her path to become a wise woman. Dawn had traveled far from that path in the past days and weeks. She had lost sight of her goal.

Entanglement would help her in a fight with several beasts. Well, if she was not fighting in a cave with almost no plants at the time, she thought wryly. Cocoon of shadows might keep her alive in a hard fight. But any way she looked at it, another spell would make her mana situation even worse. She hardly had enough for healing and her lightning spell. With Alchemy she would have to prepare beforehand, but if she did, it was a powerful tool. Certainly more powerful than a spell she couldn’t use for lack of mana. And of course, in the long run she wanted a way to earn her living. Lightning spells, though fancy, were quite useless in this regard.

‘Well Alchemy it is,’ she thought wryly. ‘I may become a wise woman yet.’ Nevertheless, she didn’t choose the skill just yet. It wouldn’t hurt to keep her options open until she was out of the caves. Just in case something else happened.

Once she again she split her free stat points between wisdom and intelligence. When she was finished she looked at her status screen for a moment.

Status screen Name Dawn Trakam Path Nature's Shadow Level 10 Exp 335/2500 HP 120/120 HP Regen 1.2 HP/Min MP 170/170 MP Regen 12 MP/Min SP 120/120 SP Regen 12 SP/Min Free skill points

1 Stats Strength 11 Willpower 11 Vitality 12 Perception 19 Endurance 12 Intelligence 17 Agility 19 Wisdom 12 Dexterity 10 Charisma 7 Class Skills Nurture Level 5 Shadow Play Level 6 Dark Sight Level 8 Call The Lightning Level 2 General skills Cleaning Level 1 Analyze Level 2 Sewing Level 3 Hunting Level 1 Climbing Level 3 Trapping Level 1 Knife fighting Level 2 Cooking Level 4 Sword fighting Level 2 Swimming Level 3 Bow fighting Level 2

Leveling up took a lot more experience now. It would probably take her a long time to get the next few levels. Halfway satisfied with her decisions and still mulling over her potential skills, she stood up and went down to the old laboratory. If she picked alchemy, some of the equipment down there would certainly come in useful.

Dawn packed some of the tools from the lab, certain it would save her a lot of money later on. Then she rapidly thumbed through the old books that had been kept there. Most were rotted through and fell apart when she touched them. A few were still good though. Mostly archaic treatises on runes and advanced alchemical volumes. Nothing she could use, but maybe she could sell them somewhere later.

Dawn put everything in her storage. Her signet ring was practically filled up with all kinds of stuff now. She would have to sort it out once she had found a place where she could stay for a time.

No reason to put it off any longer. She entered the front room of the cave with a deep sigh. “Time to get out of here, Ankou. We need to get out through the water. All the other exits are blocked.” Ankou threw a thoroughly disgusted look her way. She was hard pressed to keep from smiling, even though she didn’t like the idea of squeezing through the narrow fissure under water herself.

When they got back to the main cave she was alarmed to see that the water level had definitely risen in the meantime. One of the outlets for the river must have been blocked partly by fallen rocks. It meant they would have to dive deeper to find the exit. Once again they entered the icy water. It took them some minutes to find the fissure they had squeezed through the last time. It wasn’t any easier to get out this time. But at least they were sure there was an exit now.

When they landed on the shore of the lower level Dawn was panting and wheezing. Ankou lay down next to her in a miserable sodden heap. Though she would have liked to rest a bit, she stood up after only a few minutes. They needed to get out of these gods-forgotten caves.

Finally, after hours of wandering they found themselves in the gorge. It was dark out there, obviously they had gotten out in the middle of the night. They tiredly went on for some hours until they stopped at the location of their former camp. How long had it been since they had met Nathan here? It seemed long ago and yet Dawn suspected it must have been no more than a week. They lay down without making a fire, completely exhausted. Tomorrow they would start on their way to Kharma’s village. She needed to see he was alright. Maybe they could stay with the Kharlins in their village for a time. She craved a period of peace and stability, preferably demon-free.