CHAPTER 11 THE DUNGEON

Scene 1:

Pinks looked at me in surprise, and questioned: “You know this guy?”

I clenched my fingers as I said: “Technically, he knows about me. This is not the first time I meet those snakemen. We had a fight before, and I won easily.”

Then I gave her a glance. Meanwhile, the snakeman who tried to assault was now suffering pain from the lightning chains.

“You call them snakemen?” Aezo asked. He still turned his phone side to side, in case we got backstabbed.

“Yeah, they look like a man, but not human. Half-man, half-snake, that’s why I call them snakeman. They’re the dominating inhabitant in this cave.” I explained.

“Sounds like a supervillain’s name.” Pinks commented.

But meanwhile, the snakeman chained by my trick started to scream: “Please! Please…let me go…I…I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean…I don’t know you’re…the man…”

Then I let him go, but kept a sparkle of lightning bolt upholding in my hand.

“They’re not supervillain, neither superhero. They’re just the inhabitant that happens to live here.” I added.

“But this crazy shit just tried to kill us! They may even wanna eat us!” Aezo screamed.

“The kid is right. The beast wants to slay us for dinner, and…something very filthy and nasty…” To my surprise, the starseer really concerned and raised a voice, but maybe for her own sake only.

I thought for a moment, and then said: “We go with him.”

“What!?” Aezo and Pinks shouted at the same time.

“What’s on your mind? Did you just come up with…with a plan or you just wanna go for troubles?” Pinks questioned.

“Well, trouble gets me.” I gave her a glance to remind her that she was the one who made us end up here.

Then I took a breath, and spoke to the snakeman: “We need a place to rest, just for one night. So I want you to do me a favor.”

The snakeman crawled on ground, still hurt, while replied: “O…of course…yes, I can show you the way…and I will tell the elders that…that your highness is here…”

I nodded, and then looked at the others.

Pinks, Aezo and even the starseer, they all looked at me with so much disbelief.

I rolled my eyes and shrugged: “Come on. He’s just a scout. It is his duty to go patrol on clan’s territory, and don’t forget I once f#ked them up. He just called me highness.”

But Aezo and Pinks still doubted. However, the starseer made her way forward. When she came up to me, she simply gave me a look and then turned around to say:

“He is not lying. I saw it in his memory.”

WHAT THE HELL?

I was totally speechless, and could not help wondering: how much did she spot in my memory? It felt like there were a hidden cam in my mind which recorded my thoughts and memory and then uploaded all online for entertaining.

“Are you a voyeur?” I asked as I pointed at her, and warned: “Don’t you do that again!”

But she simply showed a flickering smile that I could have missed because of her covered face under the hood and long silver hair.

I was standing still, totally impressed that she actually knew how to smile. But just when I was trying to memorize that smile and figure out what it meant, I heard the nervous voice of the snakeman:

“E…excuse me, your highness, please come with me. I will lead you the way to the elders.”

I waited for a second, and then said: “Fine. Let’s move.”

Scene 2:

We met a lot different kind of snakeman on our way to visit the clan. The most impressive one was called “lizard rider”, a heavy armed snakeman warrior riding a big giant lizard which is as large as a Nile crocodile but taller than it.

Back to the days when I had a fight with snakemen, I had never seen anything like that.

The scout told me that these riders could move faster than the horsemen both underground and in water, perfect for ambush, but more often used for guard.

“Is it just me or everybody feels hot?” Pinks asked.

“It’s not just hot. It’s getting sweaty. Feels like we’re going down to the core!” Aezo added.

I was ahead, along with the scout, and he said: “No, ma’am. It is the torch that we set on fire. There are many torches along the hallway, not for its lighting but for its heating. We’re cold blood as you can see.”

“Well, that’s true.” Pinks commented and gave me a complaint look.

We kept walking for a while and finally came to the nest of snakemen, an oval hall inside cavern, guarded by a whole pack of lizard riders, and the ceiling remained unknown, high above in darkness.

There were many crisscross paths connected the entrance with many other exits which were all around on the rock walls.

But the chief of snakeman clan, so as his throne were in the middle of a plat which could only be reached by a single straight path, a bridge across over the hall.

“Please keep an eye on your steps.” The scout reminded us as he led the way to pass the bridge.

I went first, then Aezo and Pinks in the middle, the starseer following behind.

As we traveled through the bridge, someone appeared over us and projected a long skinny shadow on our way.

Then I looked up, and found those snake eyes flickering in the shadow of exits on walls. There were seven or eight of them, the elders. As we approached to the throne, those elders showed up on the paths overhead, watching us.

We followed the scout up to the plat where the chief was sitting in his chair. In fact, the entire throne things were made of bones which looked like a skull of some monster serpent, and the whole setting was somehow terrifying.

The chief got up when we just arrived. He was the strongest and probably the mightiest snakeman I ever met: over 7 feet, well-built, with so many muscles tiered up, almost like a hulk, but not that big and looked more streamlined.

I noticed that he actually got two crocodile-like tails, swung like a cloak behind. He was also fully armed by tough scaled skin which had a similar color of turquoise, and the crown made of two sharp fangs which looked like demon’s horns even added to his satan personality.

“Are you sure this guy won’t eat us?” Aezo whispered behind.

Meanwhile, the scout knelt on his chief, and said: “My lord, the red flash and his kin are here.”

We stood by. Aezo whispered again: “Are we gonna kneel too?”

“Not necessary, just stand by and watch.” I said.

The chief was coming down. Now he looked even taller than he was on the throne.

He stopped right before the scout, barely lowering his head, and gave us a fairly arrogant look.

“The red flash? What the hell is that?” It could be one of the most horrible voice I ever heard. He sounded like a howling T-Rex.

“He…he is the man…the…” The scout muttered in a nervous voice.

“I know it’s a man. I’m asking what do you mean by red flash?” The chief added.

But instead of the scout speaking, I interrupted and spoke for myself:

“I am Han Cang, if you’re quite familiar with that name or…I can help you to recall the day how your people perished because of a blast of lightning bolt, with a new blast of even bigger lightning bolt.”

This talk became so quiet in an awkward way since what I just said. Pinks even reminded me in a lower voice: “Are you serious? We came all the way here for a break, not for another fight!”

Honestly, I didn’t care much if I would piss off the chief. Neither did I trust him. As long as we stayed cool and be nice to each other, he and his clan would be fine. Otherwise I was just gonna blow them up one more time.

Shortly after everybody remained in silence, the chief showed a crack of smile on his horrible look, which now looked even somewhat horrific.

“Han Cang, the Boogeyman?” He seemed to recall.

“Yeah, you remember now?” I nodded.

“But you’re not like him.” The chief said as he recalled.

“He had a long red hair, like a blaze of fire, and he moved faster than lightning, like a flash of light.”

I nodded: “Yeah, that’s why this dude calls me red flash, right?”

“Yeah, yeah…” The scout also nodded, over and over again.

“Then where the long hair goes?” The chief questioned.

“Well, I cut them off, and I dyed.” I explained.

The chief came closer. For a second, I thought he was gonna punch me, so as everyone else did. Pinks and Aezo, they even stepped back in case being involved.

But to everybody’s surprise, the chief raised his hand to show welcome, and said:

“Such a pleasure, my dear friend. I am King Fang, the 13th leader of Clan Venom.”

“Seriously?” Pinks whispered.

I disregarded her question and took Fang’s hand: “How’s going, big Fang? Sorry about your dad, you know…so many of your kin died in that fight, and I might have just killed him, by accident, of course.”

But he didn’t care at all and simply shook my hand as he giggled: “No, no, no…Ah! That was totally fine! Anyway, he was just gonna die if I became the king, game of throne, always, you know…”

“Yeah…” I could only nod and smile to ease the awkwardness added to this weird talk.

“So what brings you back? I thought you’d just disappeared and not gonna show up anymore.” Fang asked with curiosity.

I explained: “Well, I…am on a visit to Jia Gu. You must know him. Actually, I just came back a few hours ago. Since it’s kind of late in the night, I may take a power nap first and then we’ll go up, me and my friends.”

“Go up? You mean up to the ground?” He frowned.

I nodded: “Yeah, up to the ground. Cause I just said I have a visit with Jia Gu, the merchant in Underworld.”

But Fang took a deep breath and sighed: “I’m afraid it won’t be that easy, my friend. The way outward has been blocked for months. We don’t even stand a chance to hang out for a tanning since then.”

He sighed again, in deep regret.

I wondered: “How? What happened?”

He took a breath to calm down, and then said: “The bloodsuckers! They block our way out, cutting off our supply for food, and try to hunt us for feeding their children, as a training of predator.”

I frowned. But before I could say anything, Aezo whispered: “Is he talking about vampires?”

“Vampire? What the hell is that?” Fang asked.

I had to stop Aezo before he asked something even worse than stupid. So I coughed to draw attention and said:

“When you talk about bloodsucker, you actually mean another clan of some beasts?”

Fang nodded: “The Clan of Dark Wings. They are those flying monsters usually hunt in the night, afraid of lightness, and live in cavern like us. But they dominate the sky. We’re on the ground.”

“So these bloodsuckers are trying to take over your territory. You and your kin are endangered.” I concluded.

“They are eating us.” Fang corrected.

“Then why don’t you guys just fight back? I mean, you have a lot of army and they really look like some badass and they’re cold blood, right? Like a blood-buster, they’re not supposed to be scared off by some bloodsuckers.”

Before I could even raise a voice, Aezo already screwed it up in a few seconds. He was such a talkative shit that made me really regret to have him in the journey.

But Fang seemed not offended at all, he even answered Aezo’s questions: “To be honest, we’re not matched. They’re hiding high above in nowhere. Whenever we send out scouts, they are ambushed by those flying monsters, and our armaments are not suitable for dealing with rangers and air force.”

“Well, that really su…ouch!” Aezo wanted to say something again, but stopped in mid-sentence. I guessed it was Pinks who warned him.

“Ok, I get it. You know what? I’m gonna take a nap first and then I pack up to hunt those bloodsuckers. I’ll blow them up for you, as a favor of old friend.” I made an announcement.

“Really?! That’s so kind of you! My friend!” Fang was gonna give me a big hug. But his open arms looked more frightening than friendly, so I quickly raised my hand and said:

“No, not a big deal. I’m really tired now, so would you mind to show us the bedroom?”

“Yeah, of course!” He looked so delighted and lowered his arms, ready for service.

“Come with me, please.” Fang said, and he was going to show us the place where we’d rest tonight.

But when he just turned around, I heard Aezo speaking again, in a much lower voice:

“Hey Doctor, had you been a long redhead before?”

“Shut up.” Pinks and I said spontaneously.

(To be continued…)