He trudged forward in the damp and cold depths of the long abandoned mine. The still, silent air felt as heavy as the rocks that surrounded him. The crystal in his hand weakly illuminated his way, shining on old equipment and the occasional skeleton donned in tattered armor. His ears strained to hear any sound but was only greeted by the loud silence.
He scoffed, he was beginning to think that the old man had been lying to him. There was nothing down here!
Weeks.
He had spent weeks traveling to this forsaken corner of the realm to find this mine. Countless days delving into its depths to find the secrets that lay within.
And he had found nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
“Damn it,” he cursed, “Damn it!”
With a shout of rage he kicked the nearest skeleton over; its armor crashed to the rock as the bones crumbled to dust. The metallic clang echoed through the tunnels and shafts and he listened to the sounds become quieter as they echoed further and further into the tunnels. It would take him forever to explore this complex – years and years that he didn’t have the patience for.
He had been promised that there was a treasure that awaited him. A solution to all his problems.
“Damn it,” he whispered. He leaned his back against the tunnel wall and slid to the ground.
Silence joined him once more.
He’d have to get out of here eventually – the hounds the academies had sent after him would find his location soon enough and he’d need to move before then. He’d prove his worth in another way.
He stood up and froze, his ears picking up on a shuffling noise in the distance. A lesser man would have run but not him… not when he may have found what he was looking for. He held up his crystal and walked forward; he didn’t have to go far.
Darkened creatures appeared out of the shadows in front of him and shuffled ever closer. He couldn’t make out their details given the dim lighting but he could see the glint of armor and weapons. The creatures made no sound other than their shuffling steps and their ragged breaths.
The man felt a cold finger of fear trace its way down his spine and he took a step back. Behind him he heard more shuffling noises and he turned to see the other way was blocked – how had they managed to get behind him? Did he miss another tunnel in this blasted labyrinth?
Either way his path to escape was blocked and he mustered his courage. This was what he was waiting for. No need to be scared, right?
Right?
“Stop,” he said with a shaky but commanding tone. The creatures stopped but for a moment cocking their heads slightly to the side like a pack of confused dogs. He’d have laughed if he weren’t terrified.
Their pause lasted for only a moment; one of the creatures raised a cruel looking blade, covered in black and rust. As if it was a signal to the others, they resumed their shuffle towards him.
“I said STOP!”
The light from his crystal brightened to the intensity of a small sun, practically blinding him and forcing the creatures back. They retreated into the shadows and he lowered and dimmed the crystal. He blinked away the spots he saw in his eyes, “That’s better.”
He looked at the two groups of creatures and said, “Believe it or not: I think you and I have the same goals.”
He was greeted by blank stares and he finally realized his mistake and he kicked himself for using the language of the topsiders. His tongue struggled to weave its way around the next sentence but he hoped its meaning was clear:
“I can help you get what you want.”
The creatures startled, as if unused to hearing their language spoken for the first time by a topsider. They stared at him and then each other and one of them finally spoke. Their words came out in a harsh, painful rasp like stone grating on stone.
He couldn’t exactly blame it – these poor, wretched things had been born centuries ago and probably hadn’t communicated with their compatriots in more than monosyllabic grunts.
“How?”
He puffed out his chest and put a hand on his hip, “Let me live and I’ll show you.”
The creatures exchanged glances again before the one that spoke nodded slowly and jerked its head back as if beckoning him further down the tunnels.
He followed, distinctly aware this could be a trap but given that he was being followed by the other group he had no other choice. Anyway – if this was a trap, he was more than capable of stopping these simple beasts.
He smiled as he walked slowly down the tunnels with them.
In the back of his mind he remembered what the old man had told him: Find the Elders and return to the surface, to him. He shook his head to clear that niggling thought away, ‘I don’t need him. I’ve got my army right here.’