Chapter 7: Spelunking

Caden was asleep. Kadal watched the slow rise and fall of his chest as he lay upon his straw-filled blanket, his staff always within reach. She slowly rose from her prone position, slinking out of the mouth of the cave and into the moonlight beyond.

The firepit was still warm, its embers glowing, only visible from above. She walked past it, her footsteps silent on the sand, taking one last glance at the sleeping intruder before she set off into the reefs. Moving at night was always more difficult than in the day, she missed the heat of the sun, the energy that it provided her. For what must have been three hours, she made her way through the spires and corals, heading back in the direction of the wall. It soon loomed in the distance, Kadal keeping low to the ground, her senses perfectly attuned to her environment.

A sudden movement caught her eye, and she dropped to the sand, lying completely motionless. It was just a nocturnal desert mouse, the startled little creature hopping away across the dunes.

Kadal pressed on, climbing one of the reefs to get a better view of the foot of the towering megalith, its immaculate construction no less impressive. Under the light of the Moon, she could see movement near the heavy blocks at its base, Kadal slithering a little closer to peer between two petrified corals.

It was as she had suspected, there was a hunting party on their tail. They had followed the tracks to the breach that Caden had made in the wall, and tonight, they were making camp in its shadow. Without the Shaman’s magic that would imbue her with the ability to sense their auras, she could only rely on her naked eyes, but a lifetime of experience had made them uncommonly keen. Keeping out of their range, as they had probably been given potions of their own, she observed them as they slept. There were a dozen of them in sight, the moonlight reflecting off their scales, revealing markings that she didn’t recognize. These were not warriors from her village, they must hail from one of the tribes that the Shaman had called upon for help.

Conflict wracked her.

Should she climb down and alert them to the battlemage’s location? They could be upon him before he awoke if they moved with purpose, he wouldn’t be able to stop them all. They had been following the tracks of two people, however. One was an intruder, a battlemage, while the other was one of their own kind. These hunters were not members of her tribe, they didn’t know her, and they didn’t know her purpose here. Would they think that she had betrayed her kind, that she was helping the enemy reach his destination? What other conclusion could they come to? It was forbidden to interact with outsiders, and she had violated that taboo. The only mercy that she might find would be in return for Caden’s head.

That was her duty, it was the will of the Shaman, the decree of the Gods that had been upheld for untold eons. Yet something kept her from following through. What if he was telling the truth? What if his kindness was genuine, and not merely an act designed to deceive her? Her conviction had been so strong when she had set out, but now, she was wracked with doubt.

She was sure of one thing, at least. She did not wish to die by the blades of these headhunters, nor did she wish Caden to suffer that fate. There was time yet to find another solution. Maybe she could confirm that he was telling her the truth, or else find a way to deter him from his quest. If all else failed, then she would have to take responsibility, find another way to stop him if she could not defeat him in battle. The idea frustrated her, she wanted no victory over the battlemage that was not earned, or she would never regain her pride. Yet she had no other choice. If he was truly destined to destroy the world, then her petty pride mattered little, she must do her duty.

An idea came to her, an underhanded, but necessary contingency. Kadal might not have been able to defeat the battlemage, but the Eater of Bones certainly could. What if she were to lead him through the beast’s territory by posing as a guide? She did not wish such a grisly end upon Caden, but if she was not convinced that his motives were as noble as he claimed by the time they reached the creature’s lair, it might be her final chance to avert the catastrophe that she had seen in her vision.

Careful not to dislodge any loose rocks, she turned back, disappearing into the night.

Caden ate a light breakfast, noting that Kadal had gone off somewhere, probably to warm herself in the sun. It seemed to be a necessary part of her daily routine, she likely couldn’t function properly without it. He remembered the sight of her naked body splayed out on the rock, her curves burned into his mind like an afterimage, Caden catching himself daydreaming about her as he polished off a ration of beans and salted pork. He tried to drive the intrusive thoughts from his mind, he had far more pressing concerns right now than his confusing feelings toward the reptile.

After setting out again, she caught up to him after a couple of hours, just as he had expected. She was like a cat, coming and going as she pleased. Her ability to track him through the desert was truly remarkable. If he were tasked with accomplishing the same feat, he would probably lose all trace of her after about twenty feet.

“There you are,” he said, raising a hand in greeting as she appeared from between two reefs. “I was starting to wonder if you were coming back. What kept you?”

“I was merely ... basking,” she replied, matching pace as she walked along beside him. It seemed that she was no longer keeping her distance, perhaps their shared meal the night before had convinced her that he posed no threat.

“Not much of a breakfast person, are you?” he asked.

“I ate my fill last night,” she replied.

“I’ll say, you practically polished off that whole turtle by yourself.”

“There is something I have been wondering,” she began, Caden using his staff as a walking stick as he navigated a steep dune. “You must know that you are being tracked. What is your plan if your pursuers should catch up with you?”

“I figured as much,” he replied, his boots sliding a little in the red sand as he descended the other side. “Your people were far too determined to give up after just one fight. But let me ask you a question in return. Earlier, you told me that ‘others would take your place’ when you failed to kill me. What did you mean by that, exactly?”

“There are other tribes besides my own,” she replied, clearing the obstacle with far more grace. “There are other villages, with other warrior-shamans. When I failed in my task, the Shaman sent word to them, asking them for help.”

“Hang on,” Caden said, his blood running cold. “You mean to tell me that there may be more like you coming after me? More warriors armed with enchanted weapons and magic?”

“Certainly,” she replied. “There are likely several hunting parties from different villages tracking you.”

“More hunting parties, I can probably evade,” he grumbled. “I haven’t run out of tricks just yet. But fighting one of you was hard enough, I don’t plan to make a habit of it.”

“You had a head-start,” she continued. “But they can move faster than you, and they know the terrain well. They cannot be more than a day behind you by now.”

“Why are you suddenly so concerned about me getting caught?” he wondered, giving her a sideways glance. “Isn’t that exactly what you wanted?”

She looked away from him, her body language somehow colder than it had been the night before. They had shared a meal, they had even laughed together, but he got the distinct impression that something had changed. Before he could ask her what was on her mind, she interrupted the thought.

“I have come to the decision that ... perhaps you do not deserve to die,” she replied reluctantly.

“Oh. Well, thank you for giving me your permission to keep living,” he muttered, hoping that the translation magic would convey his sarcasm. “What about you? If they catch up to me while you’re here, what would happen to you? Would they consider you a traitor?”

She cocked her head at him, Caden wondering what about his question had confused her.

“I just mean, maybe you should think about hiding if they’re so close,” he added. “I’ll bet you know all kinds of ways to conceal yourself.”

“I warn you that headhunters are on your heels, and your first thought is about ‘my’ safety?” she asked.

“Hey, you’re the one who’s following me,” he shot back. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“I might be more inclined to believe you if you had not been walking in the wrong direction for three days,” she added, Caden turning to glare at her.

“Wait, what do you mean? I’ve been following the sun!”

“You may start off following the sun when you wake, but by midday, you start to stray North as you lose track of its arc. It may not seem like it to you, but you will probably have walked so far North that by the time you find the far shore, you would have to trek South for miles before you reach the sacred city. It may add days to your journey.”

“Gods damn it, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he demanded.

“I thought that you might give up and turn back if you arrived at the shore, and found no city,” she admitted. “But you will never make it that far at this rate.”

“How do you even know that?” he continued, scowling at her from beneath the shadow of his cowl. “It’s not like you have a working compass, and I doubt that your tribe has somehow invented sextants before shoes.”

“The lichens,” she replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Lichens?” Caden repeated, spreading his arms in frustration. He had no idea what she was talking about.

“Have you not noticed the colorful lichens that grow on the rocks in the Coral Sea? They prefer shadow, and so they cling to the crevices where the sun does not reach them. Find a suitable boulder, and you will see that they grow only on its North and South faces, leaving a band of bare stone from East to West where the sun passes overhead.”

“So I have hunters chasing me, and I have no idea where I’m going,” he grumbled. “That’s just great.”

“I may have a solution to both problems,” Kadal said, Caden waiting for her to elaborate. “I know a passage to the East where my people will not follow, but it is ... dangerous.”

“You would lead me there?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. “Why?”

She looked away again, as though it pained her to speak the words. Was it embarrassment? Was her pride so wounded, or was something else on her mind?

“As I said, I do not believe that you deserve to die.”

“You said it was dangerous, why is that? What makes your people so wary of going there?”

“If we continue in this direction, we shall encounter an impassable barrier,” she explained. “There is a ridge, a natural obstacle that would have cut off your advance. The headhunters know this, and were no doubt hoping to drive you towards it with the intention of cornering you.”

“Couldn’t I just have gone around it?” Caden asked, Kadal shaking her head.

“The headhunters would catch up to you, they are already close.”

“I don’t suppose we could climb it without the appropriate equipment? It may come as a surprise to you, but I’m no mountaineer.”

“Unless you have some spell that will allow us to walk up its face, I doubt it. There is a pass in the ridge to the South where we might make our way through, but we cannot outrun our pursuers. There ... may be another way, however.”

“Great!” Caden said, quickly noticing her hesitation. “What’s the issue?”

“There is a cave system that leads beneath the ridge and appears to emerge on the far side.”

“Appears to emerge?” Caden repeated, giving her a skeptical look.

“Nobody has ever been deep enough to find out, it is darker than night in there, and as cold as the grave.”

“I guess your tribe doesn’t have torches or illumination spells,” Caden mused. “So, our choices are to face the hunting party and probably take on another warrior-shaman,” he grumbled as he flipped back his cowl and ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation. “Or, we can enter a completely uncharted cave system and hope that we don’t get hopelessly lost.”

“It is a risk,” she conceded, “but the hunters will not follow us into those tunnels. It is the only sure way to evade them.”

“Indeed,” he replied cheerfully, “there’s no reason to hesitate! Of course, it has occurred to me that you might be deceiving me. This could be some kind of trap or an attempt to lead me astray.” The comment set Kadal’s frill fluttering, and he worried that he had offended her, quickly continuing. “The alternative is to stay the course and likely be butchered by a pack of giant lizards with axes, however, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this occasion.”

“I am glad to see that trust blossoms between us,” Kadal added sarcastically. “Come,” she said, changing direction. “This time, it is you who will be following me.”

“Well, that’s a big hill,” Caden mused. He was standing at the foot of a small chain of mountains that jutted like a giant row of teeth from what had once been the seafloor. Its size might have been unimpressive compared to an actual mountain, but it was still at least a thousand feet high in places, maybe more. That wasn’t high enough for there to be snow capping its jagged peaks, but it was enough to make climbing it an ordeal. It was so vertical, the slope was incredibly steep and uneven, covered with impressive coral formations that almost resembled the shelves of a library. Time and exposure to the elements had weathered its face, but it still struck him as a structure that could not have formed outside of the ocean depths. It seemed to extend into the distance in both directions, forming a natural barrier.

“Curses,” Kadal hissed. “I did not think that we had strayed so far North.”

“I don’t think I can knock a hole in this,” Caden muttered, turning to glance up at her. “Where is the cave you spoke of? Don’t tell me that we’ve cornered ourselves?”

She glanced over her shoulder, her head swiveling on her flexible neck, uncertainty creeping into her voice.

“We should make haste,” she urged, growing impatient as they stood out in the open. She kept glancing back at the nearby reefs as though afraid that the headhunters would be upon them at any moment. “Come, the caves are not far.”

They soon reached the yawning maw that led into the cave system. It was made of corals, much like the others that they had come across, but it was far deeper. The tunnel of jagged rock extended beneath the earth until shadow shrouded it.

“That is possibly the least inviting thing I’ve ever seen,” Caden muttered, leaning in to look down the passage. He could hear his voice echoing, bouncing off the walls, slowly fading in the dark depths.

“Might your magic be of help to us?” Kadal asked. She was shifting her weight from foot to foot nervously, looking even less enthusiastic about going down there than he was.

“I can light our way, certainly,” he replied. “Perhaps there are other spells that could help us navigate. I would really prefer not to end my days lost in the bowels of the earth.”

“There is another problem,” Kadal added, Caden turning back to see the concern in her yellow eyes. “My kind cannot function without sunlight. If we are exposed to darkness and cold for too long, we become ill, and can even perish if we do not find a source of heat in time.”

“There may be spells that could help,” he considered, “I’d have to check my book. I know that I can create fire without kindling or fuel. Still, I’m not sure that-”

He stopped, sensing something at the limits of his perception. A sudden bestial cry rang out across the desert, Caden and Kadal spinning around to see a figure atop one of the reefs maybe two hundred feet from them. It was a reptile, a female, her arm raised in the air as she brandished a spear with an obsidian tip. She repeated the cry, her braying chilling Caden’s blood. From behind her emerged a dozen more, clambering up over the corals, primitive weapons clutched in their scaly hands. They began to charge down towards the sand, moving with such speed and grace that they almost seemed to flow through the rocks like water.

“Too late!” Caden yelled, starting to run. “The decision was just made for us!”

“They will not follow us into the caves!” Kadal replied, quickly outpacing him on her long legs as she raced into the tunnel. “Hurry, Caden! We must get as deep as we can!”

He glanced over his shoulder to see that the reptiles had already covered half the distance, their sharp fangs bared, their litany of stone blades raised in challenge. A fresh burst of adrenaline sent him practically flying into the darkness, his boots pounding on the sand. As he ran, he lifted his staff, his heavy breathing making reciting an incantation twice as difficult. He had to cast an illumination spell, or they wouldn’t be able to see a damned thing. It was a simple one that had been easy to memorize, one of the first that the Master had taught him, but he had never tried to cast magic while running for his life before.

“Caden!” Kadal pleaded, beckoning to him as she stood beside a bend in the uneven passageway. They couldn’t be more than ten feet beneath the surface, but he could already feel the bite of the cold wind that was blowing up from the depths.

She shielded her eyes, blinking at him as the bronze figurehead on the end of his staff lit up like an oil lamp, a glow that seemed as pure and as bright as starlight pushing back the inky darkness. He blazed past her, and she followed behind him, glancing back as the sound of reptilian hissing filled the tunnel. They took a few more twisting turns, their pursuers holding back, too afraid to brave the depths without a light source of their own. It wasn’t cowardice that kept them back, however. Nor was it courage that drove the pair down into those winding tunnels.

They ventured ever deeper into the cave, not stopping to rest until they could be sure that they had evaded their pursuers. The tunnel had opened up quite a bit, affording Kadal ample headroom, Caden waving his staff around to illuminate the uneven walls as he caught his breath. They were damp with moisture in stark contrast to the dry desert above, their shine picking out the finer details as they reflected the bright glow.

The curved walls and ceiling of the tunnel were covered in a dazzling variety of corals. Their diverse shapes ranged from sponge-like structures that were pocked with tiny holes, to intricate patterns that almost looked like brains, to tubular and branched formations that still retained their shapes. There were fossils embedded in the rock, too, visible between the corals in places. He could make out seashells, some of them impressively large, many of them forming beautiful spirals. The ground beneath his feet was more silt than sand now, it likely hadn’t been disturbed since these tunnels were submerged untold eons ago.

“Are you alright?” he asked, turning to Kadal. She already looked cold, her arms tightly wrapped around her torso, as though the very air itself was sapping the heat from her body.

“For the moment,” she replied. “We should move quickly.”

“We’ll need to stop for a while so that I can check my book for spells that might be of use to us,” he replied, setting down his pack on the silt. “I had hoped to take some time to prepare before even setting foot in the caves, but it looks like our hand has been forced.”

He pushed his staff into the ground, standing it upright, fishing in his pack for his leather-bound spellbook. He sat down cross-legged, opening it in his lap, angling the pages towards the light as he pored over them.

“There are a thousand spells in this book,” he mumbled, licking his thumb before turning another yellowed page. “There has to be something in here that can help us make it through the caves. I couldn’t find any navigation spells that didn’t depend on the alignment of the stars, and my compass doesn’t work in the Coral Sea, but there must be a way around that...”

As he searched, Kadal sat down beside him, her head drooping as she closed her eyes. Was she conserving energy, perhaps? Preferring not to disturb her, he continued to flip through the pages, intent on finding them a way out of their predicament.

Caden was starting to despair, he hadn’t been able to find anything in his book so far that would help them. The most that he could do was leave a glowing trail on the ground to mark the path that they had taken, which would at least prevent them from unwittingly doubling back on themselves.

He glanced over at Kadal, seeing that she was still sitting there, motionless. She hadn’t moved a muscle in all the time that he had been reading, and he was relieved to see that she was still breathing. He was about to ask her if she was alright, but thought better of it, letting her rest.

He turned back to his book, scouring the index once more for something that might lead them to safety.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, jolting Kadal awake.

“I hope you have found what you were looking for if you are disturbing my meditation,” she grumbled.

“Dweorh’s Boon,” Caden announced, reading from the passage. “A spell that will lead its caster through mines and underground labyrinths by following the imperceptible air currents that circulate through the passages. It looks like this will lead us to an exit.”

“Thank the Gods,” Kadal grumbled, struggling to her feet. She already looked stiff and awkward, the grace that he had so admired now absent. She waited as he began to recite the incantation, gripping his staff in his hands, its figurehead still shining brightly. It was a rather complex spell, Caden referencing the book every so often, his voice echoing through the caverns. After a few minutes, it was complete, and something began to happen. From the glow at the tip of his staff emerged a small, shimmering shape. Threads of magic weaved together to form a little butterfly that fluttered away into the air, the two of them watching, mesmerized as it flapped its shimmering wings. It seemed to float on a breeze that only it could feel, flapping against the current. As they watched, it turned around, fluttering back up the tunnel the way they had come.

They stood there in silence for a moment, then Caden lay his face in his palm.

“Right,” he sighed, “it leads us to the nearest exit. Of course it would take us back the way we came, Gods damn it...”

“Then ... it will not work?” Kadal asked.

“No, no,” he replied with a shake of his head. “It should still work, we just need to venture deep enough that a different exit is closer to us. I guess we should just ... start walking.”

Their footsteps echoed off the stone walls as they made their way deeper into the earth, the winding passage guiding them far beneath the ridge. It was like stepping into a different world, the heat of the desert left far behind them. These tunnels were downright chilly, it was a welcome reprieve from the blistering heat of the sun. Gone, too, was the dry climate. Down here, every surface was slick with moisture, dripping from the ceiling to form dangling stalactites that resembled icicles of rock.

Eventually, the tunnel widened, emerging into a vast underground chamber. It was like stepping into a cathedral made from flowstone. The ceiling was so high above their heads that the light from Caden’s staff could barely reach it, the far walls so distant that they were shrouded in shadow. The whole chamber must have been fifty feet across at least. The stalactites here had joined with the stalagmites to create towering pillars of stone that seemed to hold the ceiling aloft, the endless dripping of mineral-rich water making them slick and bulbous. It was beautiful in a way, if a little eerie.

“This chamber is so huge!” Caden marveled, spinning on the spot as he looked up to admire the rock formations. “To think that all of this was once underwater!”

“What are those ... growths?” Kadal asked, her scaly face twisting into an expression of disgust.

“Those are stalactites,” he explained. “Water carries minerals with it, and when it drips from the ceiling, it deposits those minerals. Over eons, they form those long, spindly fingers. Sometimes, they build up on the cave floor, too. You can see where those formations have joined together to create pillars. Gods, they’re as thick around as the trunk of a stout oak!”

“I don’t like this place,” Kadal complained, her teeth starting to chatter.

“Keep moving,” he suggested, urging her forward. “It will help you stay warm. Watch your footing, the ground is uneven here.”

He raised his staff to light their way as they weaved between the towering columns of wet rock. There were so many different formations, and once again, Caden lamented that he wasn’t undertaking this journey in a purely academic capacity. How he would love to sit and sketch the vista before him, the Master would have relished the opportunity to pore over his drawings.

As they passed by one of the round pillars, its uneven surface reminding Caden of a melting candle, he caught something strange out of the corner of his eye. He paused, Kadal watching curiously as he took a few steps back, waving his staff. There was something in the shadow that it cast, something that glowed with an odd, blue luminescence.

“What is it?” Kadal asked, Caden peering around the pillar.

“Don’t be alarmed, I want to try something,” he replied as he lifted his hand. He encompassed the bronze figurehead, blotting out its glow, plunging the cavern into absolute darkness. It was the most total blackness that he had ever experienced, going beyond closing one’s eyes, beyond the most overcast night. Without the light of the moon, or even a solitary star, he couldn’t see his own hand if he held it in front of his face. It was akin to blindness, the absence of sight.

“Caden!” Kadal wailed, her voice conveying her fright even if he couldn’t see her expression. Before he could reassure her that everything was fine, something began to shine on the ceiling above them, drawing his eye. It was as though obscuring clouds were pulling back to reveal constellations of faint, glowing stars. There were clusters of luminescent dots all over the rock, their off-blue glow seeming to pool between the stalactites, the pair turning on the spot as they took in the sight.

“What ... are they?” Kadal whispered, their beauty taking her breath away.

“Bioluminescence,” he gasped, “like a firefly! They’re all over the walls and ceiling, we just couldn’t see them in the glare of the staff.”

“Are they insects?” Kadal wondered.

“I think so, it’s hard to tell at a distance. They look like they’re moving.”

They stood there for a few minutes more, gazing up at the ceiling, only the sound of their own breathing punctuating the silence.

“They don’t provide quite enough light to see by, I’m afraid,” Caden whispered. He slowly removed his hand from the end of his staff, its glow bleeding between his fingers, the two companions blinking their eyes as they adjusted to the light.

“How are you doing?” he added, glancing over at Kadal. She was shivering, her arms wrapped around her torso protectively.

“Cold,” she grumbled.

Caden set down his pack and began to remove his cloak, Kadal cocking her head at him as he shrugged it off. He presented it to her, the reptile hesitating for a moment before reaching out to take it. She wrapped it around her shoulders tightly, the garment so small that it only just covered her torso, barely reaching her lower back.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, “but will you not suffer in its absence?”

“This is nothing,” he chuckled, jogging on the spot for a moment to illustrate his point. “I can withstand a lot more cold than this. I used to love playing in the snow when I was a child.” He stooped to pick up his pack again, gesturing with his staff. “Let’s keep at it.”

They walked across the chamber, soon locating passages that led deeper into the caves. There was some debate over which one to take, as there were three, and they seemed to veer off in wildly different directions. Caden suggested that they should keep going as straight as they could manage unless they encountered some kind of obstacle or impasse, and he cast a spell that would let him leave glowing marks on the ground at the touch of his staff, ensuring that they could find their way back if there was a need.

The winding cave system eventually led them into another chamber, this one sporting a pool of water in its center, so crystal clear that Caden could easily see the rocky bottom.

“This seems as good a place to stop as any,” he said, shrugging off his pack. “We should take some time to eat and sleep.”

Kadal was still shivering, even the abundance of walking seemed to do little to warm her up. She was clinging to his cape like a shipwrecked mariner to a piece of floating debris, her sharp teeth chattering as she exhaled clouds of condensation.