Chapter 33: The Treacherous Caverns

An hour later, Alcar was still walking, holding the smouldering torch up above him as he struggled onward through the passageway.

Progress had been slowed considerably by the fact that he kept having to awkwardly switch sides in the wide natural underground passage in order to find a dry area of rock to walk on. At least he had a proper, artisan-constructed pair of boots, he reflected. His father had been useful for something.

His father...

Brutus had twice had to paddle through especially deep pools, but for the most part the dog had proceeded unimpeded by the wetter, muddier conditions underfoot, and had easily bounded over several rocky ridges that had cut across the way ahead.

Alcar had walked on for the most part, but had stopped a few more times to collect interesting-looking samples of fungi or weeds. Would any of them even be useful? It remained to be seen. Somehow, it felt like everything had to have been put there for a reason. One smelled very much like snaggleweed, a herb that was popularly smokedn around Katresburg, but Alcar didn’t really know what it looked like in the wild. If it was the right stuff, at all, then it would be worth something. And if not...

At least there had been no further sign of warlike lizardfolk, half-orcs, or of the evil red-haired orc that he had tussled with back in the small room with the fireplace. And at least the time that had passed had allowed his robes to dry out, if only a little. He still felt damp – and he was getting colder by the minute.

The way ahead had been largely straight, but at the same time there had been a gradual and distinct drift towards the right. If what the lizardfolk had said was true – and presumably they knew their own domain better than anyone – Alcar assumed that this reflected the tunnel turning southwards away from the city and towards the Great Swamp.

Yes.

He was surely well away from the bounds of Katresburg by now.

“Wuff?” said Brutus, rising up onto a large, flat rock and having a shake.

“I know, boy,” said Alcar. “I know. Not long now – I hope.”

The area immediately ahead of them was rockier, at least, with a deep muddy channels in the center where muddy water was gradually flowing away from them towards some unseen destination. Feeling a little more positive, Alcar picked up the pace, glancing once more behind him and then moving quickly down the left-hand side of this area. It turned further, more sharply this time, and he was aware that they had turned almost right back on themselves, before it then twisted the other way. He was beginning to lose his bearings, he realized.

As he moved further on, the area underfoot became drier still, the route rising, and the ceiling also looked higher. Could he now be coming up under some kind of hill, he wondered? The area between Katresburg and the swamp always looked so flat, being dominated by a lake as well as large farms and gently sloping fields that ran down towards the marshy edge of the water. He couldn’t remember a hill...

Just then, as the tunnel took another twist, the area opened out into an enormously wide cavern. To his right, Alcar could see natural rocky shelves as well as natural-looking stone steps rising up from a stagnant green pool. Immediately above him, a sloping area of rock ran straight up the left-hand edge of the cavern, and led to... light!

Yes, he could see reflected daylight.

He was sure of it.

Brutus had spotted it too, and now surged ahead with an uncharacteristic rally of barks that echoed around the broad cavern. Just then, however, Alcar saw something that made his blood run cold, and he darted after Brutus. “Stop boy! Stop!”

Ahead, the round gap that led up and apparently out was criss-crossed by a series of glistening strands... spiderweb strands. But of no normal spider.

And as Alcar dashed forward, trying but failing to catch up, Brutus ran directly into the gap, then squealed in distress as he found himself caught. He thrashed, and then found his legs getting increasingly tangled, until he couldn’t reach the ground at all, and hung suspended a foot from the rocky ledge below.

And then, from a shadowy gap in the rock off to the side, the spider lunged forward. It was almost as large as the dog, bulbous and gray, and ran easily across the strands of web, its pincers dripping with some foul venom as it moved. Alcar dropped the torch as he ran forward, and then whacked out two-handed with his staff. But the spider was fast. It dodged his blow, recoiling, and then looked at him and hissed.

“I’m here, Brutus!” Alcar called, now reaching for his dagger.

“Alcar! Don’t do that!” came a familiar voice from below, and he stepped back and whirled around. Down below, near the stagnant pool of water, stood a female lizard warrior – and even in the gloom, it took Alcar only a moment to recognise the friendly archer from Maluhk’s tower.

“Lox’aar!” he cried.

“Don’t take your eye off the creature, kid,” she called up. “I’m coming – don’t let it get close. But don’t strike out. And don’t try to cut the web.”

“That’s a lot of things not to do,” muttered Alcar. But he released the hilt of the dagger again, instead raising the staff in his hands in a protective pose. The spider moved a fraction closer to him, and Alcar thumped down again in response, but missed again.

As he did so, he realized that the beast was much smarter than he would ever have given it credit for. It had feinted hi his direction... and now, as his staff smashed down towards where it had been moments before, he found it caught up in the web.

Now the spider emerged again, this time crawling onto the staff, which Alcar then had no choice but to release. He took a step back, and was at that moment faintly aware of a whoosh of air beside his cheek, and – a fraction of a second later – saw the spider explode into a shower of purple ichor and scraps of grey flesh.

“Oh my god! I am covered...” he began, as Lox’aar ran to his side, and then patted him on the shoulder. “Whew! Good job, Alcar. You got it just where I needed it.” With this pronouncement, the lizard warrior picked up the torch that Alcar had been holding, blew on it, and then reached forward towards the remaining strands of web.

“Wait,” said Alcar, grabbing her wrist and looking at his still struggling pet. “What about Brutus? I don’t want his fur getting singed.”

“Hmm,” said Lox’aar, nodding slowly. “Okay. I’ve got it.” She stepped cautiously towards the dog, then pulled out a waterskin and emptied the contents directly over Brutus, washing off several splashes of ichor in the process.

She then pressed the torch to the webbing, which ignited and quickly burned away almost to nothing. Soon, Brutus was free, and he hurried over to his master, who embraced him, patting the dog’s head and flanks in relief.

“I know that this looks like a good way to go, kid,” said Lox’aar, turning back towards Alcar and pointing up towards the way he had been going. “But there are webs and cave spiders like this all along the way. They know how to trap a meal. Come with me instead – I can show you a safer way out.”

Alcar looked down. “It’s not though that murky pool, is it?” he asked, pointing.

“That’s just to keep out the half-orcs,” Lox’aar replied.

“Oh. That’s good.”

“But yes – you will need to swim through it,” she added with a smirk.