The Heir of Depths

Everything around them was dead silent. The night was cold and calm, the fire had consumed itself hours ago, leaving only the ashes to provide some sort of light. The dark sky complemented the water, only distinguishable for the stars that ended where the horizon touched the sea.

The four of them where submerged in a deep sleep, when Arline felt a big, rough hand covering her mouth, almost slapping her. She opened her eyes and saw a tough man, dark red hair with a bushy beard of the same color. It was one of the hunters she saw the day she arrived on the island.

Her scream was muffled by the rough hand of the man. Thankfully, Calix had a light sleep and woke up instantly, being too fast and grabbing his knife. Then he analyzed the situation, and it wasn’t looking like a joke.

“Let her go” Calix loudly demanded, causing his friends to wake up.

“I told you” the man holding Arline said “We have unwanted visitors in our lands”

Arline was as terrified as the rest, it just happened that the boys were better at hiding it.

“Nothing to fear beautiful” one of the other hunters brushed one of his fingers against her cheek, making her violently move her head as the boys tensed, filled with disgust and fear.

“These are free lands gentlemen” Larsin stood up carefully “Just return our friend and we will leave elsewhere” he was bargaining, trying to keep them calm as long as he could.

“I think you’ll just leave and let us take care of your little friend” the big man chuckled “That sounds better”. The boys didn’t find it funny and Arline was growing desperate. She started to move and try to escape his hold, but he was way too strong for her and his temper started to get worse.

Tears of fear started forming on the corner of her eyes, when suddenly she felt the tight grip loosening and finally letting her go. Before she could turn around, someone grabbed her arm, making her get up and directed her to the woods “It’s me Arline, don’t worry, we are safe” Zeroun assured her, but they were running away.

“For now” Calix let out.

“We need to get into the mountain” Larsin advised.

They kept running. Jumping above fallen, rotting logs and avoiding sharp branches. The base of the mountain seemed hundreds of kilometers away.

They heard a gun shut fly past them, which made them stop and took cover behind some thick bushes.

“What are you doing?“Arline asked Larsin in a whisper. He didn’t respond and just placed his index finger in the middle of his lips and smirked.

The hunters weren’t far away and were sneaking in between them, but couldn’t see them. Larsin positioned himself, taking a wide stance and shot an arrow aiming for one of the hunter’s chest. She couldn’t tell if it hit him or not because they continued running.

When they arrived, they were exhausted. They heard another gunshot and a few other voices “Oh please, don’t tell me they brought the entire crew” Calix was furious and exasperated “Let me end this Zeroun” he begged his friend.

“Don’t you dare” Zeroun shook his head and signaled to continue their path, Calix just rolled his eyes.

How could he end this?. She was confused but didn’t have the time, energy nor oxygen to debate this. She’ll ask him later if they made it out.

They held an advantage over the hunters, very slim. When they reached the top, their legs were cramped but had enough energy left to turn right and get inside a cave.

“Great, we are trapped” Larsin finally spoke.

Arline was calming her breathing and took a moment to look at the cave with the first rays of sunlight appearing in the sky. It had, what she assumed, runes all carved around the walls. Some were as simple as water drops or stars, but others were more complicated. But she did recognize one, it translated to either “home” or “refuge”.

“It’s a Ptelea Cave” the realization hit her and began inspecting the walls, with a dizzy head and a blurry vision.

“How do you know?” Larsin was shocked and impressed and started looking for something in the walls as well.

“The runes” she signaled at them “Technically there should be a slot, if you open it, it directs the visitor to a chamber in the base of the mountain” she exposed as if she was reading it from a book.

Calix widened his eyes. He couldn’t believed how well-versed their new friend was in the subject.

“We’ll need more eyes if you want to find the slot in time, it’s very well hidden” she suggested, trying not to sound bossy nor desperate. But the hunters were getting closer, the four of them could hear their footsteps as they approached.

They started looking but couldn’t find anything. They could sense the floor moving as the barbarian men were climbing up the mountain, when Calix slightly jumped “I think I found it” he was looking at it, cleaning the entrance.

“Put the dagger in it” Zeroun said and Calix placed it in the slot, but nothing happened “Twist it to the right” he said while guarding the entrance of the cave. He followed his friend’s advice and it worked. The sound of rock sliding on rock invaded the cave and then a door appeared in front of their eyes.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go, they’re approaching quickly” Calix said through the door, Zeroun followed. Then Arline went in. Larsin pulled the dagger from the slot and rushed to the other side, leaving the door hide behind him. Everything went dark. No one made a sound. In the cave, the rest of the hunters just came in and realized they weren’t there and started cursing out each other. It didn’t take long for them to give up and leave. On the other side, they could finally breathe. Arline was thankful for those nerdy texts and her obsession with ancient structures when she was younger.

“That was close” Larsin could form a sentence in between his agitated breathing. They couldn’t see each other or where they were, but could sense their bodies were very close to one another.

All of a sudden, a bright light appeared in the cave but for Arline’s surprise it was coming from Calix’s hand. “Well done Calix” Zeroun couldn’t believe it and tried lifting his arms in exasperation. Arline couldn’t form a sentence and just stared at his hand, getting closer, but not so close, to examine this phenomenon.

“In all fairness, I didn’t think she was going to act any different” Calix smiled “It’s not flammable, don’t worry”

“How do you do this?” she finally said, way too shocked to move her eyes away from his hand.

“I’m not the only one that can do weird things here, Arline” he smirked to her and started to make his way across them to the beginning of the stairs.

“You two can also do this?” she turned around to face them. Calix chuckled, Zeroun didn’t say a word and Larsin just nodded, giving up “Can you show me?” she became shy.

“Once we come down the stairs they will” Calix assured her “I’m truly impressed on how much you know young lady” he preached their new friend. Arline formed an awkward smile, a light blush infested her cheeks and she dropped her head.

They started coming down the stairs, once they located it. It felt like a long trip down and it certainly was. They were slow and careful because of how inclined it was. When they finally made it to the base, it revealed a large cave that exited to the part of the island that was connected to the sea.

The first sight of the morning Sun were showing, and then realized how physically exhausted they were. Plus a warm and comforting air was really settling them to find a place to sleep, despite the huge open space of the cave, that let in a freezing breeze.

Arline intended to lay on the ground and sleep when she saw not one, but three gigantic creatures coming their way. The guys didn’t seem much affected by them, in fact they looked relieved and joyful to see them. One of them took sight of the intruder amongst them and started slowly approaching Arline, with a heavy stomp yet it seemed as if it was floating.

“Don’t worry Arline, she won’t hurt you” Larsin said stepping in front of her. Arline felt as if her limbs were made of jelly “Vatra, she’s a friend” he sounded calm and sure of his words, but deep down he felt his stomach clench when the creature started showing its teeth.

The creature snorted, letting out warm air. It was looking directly at her with those serpent like pupils, intimidating her. Larsin turned around to look at Arline “Can I have your hand?” he politely asked.

“Don’t tell me you want me to touch it” she looked at him as if he had gone insane.

“I promise I won’t let her hurt you” she trusted him and handled him her small hand. He gently took it by her wrist and put it in front of the creatures nose. Zeroun and Calix weren’t moving a muscle, staying alert in case of an accident.

The dark critter was hesitant. At first it moved its head away, but later it leaned in, smelled her, straightened its neck and closed it eyes. Then turned around and gathered with the other two beings. Both, Arline and Larsin took a deep breath.

“She trusts you” Larsin was impressed but tried to hide the tone of his voice to not alter Arline more.

“I have way too many questions” she said while sitting down, her legs were shaking.

“We owe you some answers” Zeroun admitted placing logs in front of her. Arline didn’t believe they owned her anything, but she wanted to know a lot.

“What do you want to know first?” Calix sat down and blew the palm of his hand, making sparks of fire appear in the logs. That burned instantly, once Zeroun twisted his hand, letting wind come through the bonfire.

“Showoffs” Larsin sat down next to her and rolled his eyes.

Arline got excited and tried putting her thoughts in order, she didn’t know where to begin.