Chapter 25 A Child of Ebrus

"Wenna!"  Grilk shouted, but again there was no reply.  Talia was crying, and Rique was trying to convince Callan to let her climb down after her friend.

"Look I feel for you, but she is either dead or trapped down there.  We have to find that crystal to save everyone else, or have you changed your mind about why we came down here?"  Callan said, keeping his face emotionless.

Rique went to protest but was interrupted by Azmil.  "We came down here to destroy the queen's crystal and save everyone.  No matter what the cost."  He was looking straight at Rique.  She sighed and found herself nodding.  She knew Lowenna still had magic, and there was a chance she would have survived. Wasting what little time she had going after her would not help.  She would still be alive, Rique knew this, and to save her the source of the queen's magic had to be destroyed.

"Wenna!" Grilk shouted down into the darkness again before turning and grunting and Rique.  He led the way through the other doorway, keeping quiet with the rest of the party following.

They walked for a while in silence, heading down a long tunnel.  Rique was keeping her eyes on the floor looking for more traps, but couldn't stop thinking about Lowenna.

At the end of the tunnel, they entered a large round room with nine openings.  A strange blue fire, sitting in a large dish, suspended from the roof, lit the room.  "Grilk took a long sniff and then coughed.  "Fire stink of magic, masking other scents," he said and then coughed again.

No one else was worrying about the fire they were worrying which way to go.

Azmil suddenly pointed to the fifth opening from the left "Lowenna said we had to take the fifth passage."

"How would she know that?" Edge said, sounding annoyed that they were still listening to a Lowenna’s advice.

"She can dreamscape," Rique replied, and Edge scoffed.

"There is no such thing as dreamscape!"  He stated as he stormed off through the first opening.

"Get back here," Callan shouted, but the man didn't return.  Azmil and Callan slowly went through the opening and around the bend saw Edge skewered by a spear trap.

"The fifth opening you say?" Callan said as he turned and walked back, trying not to think about what had just happened to edge.

"Yes," Azmil replied, fully believing Lowenna’s production.

They all went down the fifth passage, which got steep very quickly.  Rique suggested using the rope, and everyone held on to it.  Azmil used his gauntlet to light the way, as there were no glowing rocks or blue fire to illuminate the long tunnel.

Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a large cave lit by pillars with blue fire, which was pouring a thick misty smoke that covered the floor.  They could make out a large murky lake as the mist magically stopped at its edge.  Massive stalagmites and stalactites covered most of the ceiling and floor even protruding through the murky water and mist.

Grilk took another deep sniff.  The air had a smell of death about it.  He glanced at the nearest wall, which was splattered with blood.  It was eerily quiet.  He looked back at the lake his old eyes seeing a bubble, "Something coming," Grilk whispered. 

There was a ripple in the water, and a deep thud echoed through the cave.  Suddenly something raised Talia into the air.  A long arm-like appendage had wrapped around her leg.  Nox was suddenly pulled off his feet and was dragged screaming into the murky water.

Azmil shot the appendage that held Talia, and she fell to the floor.  Grilk had been grabbed and was also being dragged towards the lake.  He hacked the thing with his sword, but more appendages flew from the water attacking the party.

Rique and Azmil were shooting as many as they could, Callan had taken a position to defend Talia, using his magic to keep them away, while Sunil cut any appendage that got close with his axe.

Rique saw movement in the water and pointed her ring at it, "I will save my friends!"  She thought before a bolt of light shot from it, hitting whatever it was beneath the surface. 

The tentacles stopped and started to slide back towards the water.  There was a pause, followed by a loud screech and a scaly, one-eyed monster burst from the lake.  More tentacles now flew at the party.  Grilk cut one but two more grabbed his legs lifting him into the air.  Rique was also grabbed and pulled off her feet.  She used her magic to free herself.  "Ebrus's Tide!" she shouted, before shooting her loaded arrow at the beast’s eye.  The arrow flew true, but bounced off the creature, not causing any harm. 

Nox was suddenly thrown out of the lake high into the air, screaming.  The scream stopped as the creature caught him in its giant pincers and cut him in two.  "Angelous help us," Callan whispered, as he launched a stream of flames towards the creature.

Azmil was fighting two tentacles, which were stopping him from using his bow, "Get these things off me!" he shouted, and Callan stopped his fire attack and now pushed his hand towards the lawman.  The fire burnt the tentacles, making them back away, and Azmil drew his bow, lightning erupting from gauntlet and the arrow he let fly.

The arrow hit Erbrus's Tide in the neck, and it screeched in pain, the lightning coating its whole body.  The tentacles released their targets and fell to the floor twitching.  The creature disappeared under the water, and silence returned to the cave.

"Let's get out of here!" Callan shouted, and everyone started to run, but suddenly Talia was pulled off her feet and thrown into the air screaming as the child of the Demon-God rose from the water again.

Rique didn't hesitate.  She grabbed the end of the rope from Grilk spun around, and launched herself towards the beast.  Her ring erupted, showering the deadly demon sporn, with hundreds of sparks, forcing it back.  She grabbed hold of Talia in the air and pulled back on the rope.  Grilk pulled the other end as hard as he could, but the creature had Talia in its grasp.  Grilk dropped the rope and threw his sword as hard as he could at the creature, the sword embedding itself in the creature’s chest.

Rique and Talia fell into the water.  "Get out of there!"  Callan shouted.  Both women swam as fast as they could.  Azmil readied his arrow, but tentacles were swarming at them again.  Callan raised his hands, and fire and shock waves battered them back, but his magic was weakening.  "Can't keep this up.  Move Talia move!"

"The rope!” Rique shouted as she grabbed it.  Grilk understood and picked up his end.  Rique grabbed Talia and went under the water.  Her feet touched the bottom, and she launched herself and Talia as high as she could, breaking the surface of the water. 

Grilk yanked the rope as hard as he could, and Azmil fired a bolt of flame, not at the creature this time but at the cave’s roof just above, where Erbrus's Tide stood.  The arrow exploded sending stalactites crashing down on the creature

Grilk caught Rique and Talia, turned and started charging towards the exit.  He noticed Rique wasn't complaining about being upside-down this time, but he knew that she would once they were safe.

Azmil helped Callan to stand before they to started to run towards the exit.  Callan was struggling to keep up as he was out of breath.  Azmil turned and shot another tactical and another, but when he went for another arrow.  He realised it was his last, turned and ran.  One of the appendages grabbed his foot, dragging him back.  He loaded his last arrow and focused his magic into it.

The creature lifted Azmil and slammed him into the water and then held him high above itself, its pincer-like claws ready to cut Azmil into little pieces.

Azmil had not lost focus.  He fired his last arrow into the water right beside Erbus's tide.  The creature screeched, in triumph, at the miss.  Moments later the water started to glow.  Ice began spreading outwards, coating the surface of the water and the creature.  It screeched again but this time in pain as the ice spread over its wet body, freezing the lake and the Tide.  The ice followed the tentacles and Azmil closed his eyes as the ice covered him imprisoning him along with the monster.

"No!"  Rique shouted as she took a step back into the cave before Grilk pulled her out again as more of the roof collapsed, burying Azmil and Erbus's Tide, sealing the doorway.

"Brave lawman," Grilk said.

"He saved us all," Talia added.  "Just like the Lowenna saved me."

Callan huffed but was shaking his head  "We have to keep going.  If we don’t stop Darcariel, Nox, Edge, the Lowenna and Azmil would have given their lives for nothing."

Rique fought back the tears, was Lowenna really gone?

Grilk grabbed the axe of Sunil.  He went to protest, but the look Grilk was giving kept him quiet.  Grilk started down another passage, without saying a word.  The others followed, hoping that their goal would soon be in sight.

Lowenna slowly opened her eyes.  She was hurting, but nothing seemed broken.  A large piece of stone appeared to be propped up against the wall and had sheltered her from the falling debris.  She felt very lucky.

She crawled out from under the stone, noticing the large rock pinned her cape.  She wrapped it around her fist and pulled as hard as she could.  The corner ripped, and Lowenna fell backward onto her bum.  "Ouch," she thought as she stood up and rubbed it.  She opened her hand her crystal was still in it, but the cord that had held it around her neck was nowhere to be seen. 

She tried to rip a strip from her cape, but it was too strong.  The stone pulsed in her hand keeping Darcariel’s image far in the distance, but Lowenna knew she didn’t have much time.

The crystal looked grey, with just a hint of pink.  "You saved me again," she said with a smile.  Although magic had been used, the crystal seemed to know exactly how much to use, saving her from the fall.

Lowenna rubbed her head.  It still hurt before making her way along the wide corridor and through a doorway.  She noticed some pillars with blue flames on the top, and some of the rocks were glowing again, lighting the way, but she couldn't see the floor.  A thick mist was covering it.

She stopped, at the first turn there was a skeleton propped up against the wall.  Lowenna didn’t want to get too close but saw some string, which was twisted around his wrist.  Carefully Lowenna took the cord and tried to slip it off the dead man's wrist, but the skeleton toppled over leaving Lowenna holding the string, with the hand still attached.  She grabbed the hand and dropped it quickly, trying not to think about what she had just done.

The cord wasn’t that long, or strong, but would do.  Lowenna slotted her crystal’s clasp on to it but then paused.   Was she still going to fight the visions she had been having or try to overcome them?  She tied the cord to her wrist making sure she could flip her crystal into her hand at a moments notice.  "If I am going to die down here, it was my destiny.  I’m not going to cheat my fate, by placing my crystal on the other wrist."  She said this out loud hoping that it would help her nerves, but she felt like destiny was already written.

She continued down the path until she came to a large clearing overlooking an amazing view.  There in the distance was a large floating crystal with lightning erupting from it, just like she had seen in the mural in the church. 

Between her and it, was a giant maze, some of it covered, so she couldn't see exactly which way to go.  She was close.  All she had to do was get there and destroy the crystal before she ran out of magic.  "Easier said than done," she whispered to her crystal, which pulsed back in reply.

There was a long steep ramp leading down to the maze, and as Lowenna looked around, she saw several other entrances or exits to the maze.  Then she saw movement.  People were entering the maze from another point, "It could be the others," she thought.

"Rique!  Grilk!"  Lowenna shouted, but no sound came back, she might be too far away, but if that was them, they were on the right track.

Lowenna looked around.  She saw some large dishes with blue flames high in the distance.  They seemed to be lighting the way, but smoke or thick mist was pouring from them covering the floor, making it hard to see.

Lowenna took a step, but then the sound of stone scraping against stone stopped her.  She turned around to see a part of the wall rising.  Then she heard a lion roar.  Lowenna started to shake as fear gripped her.  She turned and ran as fast as she could knowing The Lion was real and it was coming for her.