Songs Left Unsung part 9.2: Looking to the Future (continued)
Few among the living dare to enter the ancient tombs that lie beneath the graveyard district of Athkatla – and even fewer return to tell the tale. Those who built this place in centuries past left many a devious trap and magical ward to ensure that the graves of their ancestors would go undisturbed by treasure hunters, and the only beings who can walk the tunnels safely are the living dead, who prowl the dark passages hungering always for fresh meat.
Garrick’s travels with Yavana have taken him to many a dark dungeon in the past, but he has always preferred adventuring under the sun’s light, and despite rumours of great treasures hidden in the tombs he is not eager to explore them. But now that the Shadow Thieves have reported that it is in these tombs that Bodhi and her vampires have made their lair, Garrick knows that there is nothing he can do to dissuade Yavana from descending into the gloomy depths in search of her foe.
It takes him a great effort to muster enough courage to descend the rusty ladder that leads down to the lower tombs. The others have gone down ahead of him and he hates himself for thinking about not following them…but if he goes down that hole he may never come out, may never see the sun again…he will die down there in the darkness, where rats will nibble his corpse and ghouls will gnaw his bones.
He shudders convulsively at this thought…but the alternative is to let Yavana walk into danger without him, and he feels almost as anxious for her as he does for himself. Still he hesitates, unable to bring himself to take the plunge…but then he hears Yavana calling him, and the sound of her voice strengthens his resolve for an instant. Even before he reaches the bottom of the ladder he is wishing himself back at the top, but by then it is too late to turn back.
The tunnel is cold and draughty, and eerily silent. There is almost no background noise, and little sounds like the rattling of armour or the soft tread of boot on stone seem ten times louder than usual. Garrick even finds himself trying to breathe quietly.
As they leave the sun behind them, the darkness quickly becomes almost impenetrable, and only the magical light that Yavana summons allows Garrick to see where he is going. There can be no more thoughts of running away now – to be down here at all is bad enough, but to be alone in these tunnels would be a hundred times worse. He walks in the middle of the group, trying to be as quiet as possible and feeling his heart jump at every sudden sound. Any minute now the vampires will come for them, and then he is going to die…
His only comfort is that he is not the only one who is afraid – no one admits to it, but he knows his friends well enough to be able to tell that they are nervous. The way Yavana’s fingers twitch as she walks along, the way Jaheira constantly adjusts her helmet, the way Yoshimo talks quietly to himself as he checks their path for traps – all of these things are giveaways, and they make him feel slightly less bad about his own fears.
The first attack comes as they enter into a small, square-shaped chamber, and Garrick barely manages to stifle a scream as two vampires leap out at them. For a brief moment he stands frozen in horror, certain that this is it, that his worst imaginings are about to come true…but Minsc and Jaheira are alert to the danger and manage to block the initial attack. Outnumbered as they are three to one the vampires prove relatively easy to despatch once the advantage of surprise has been lost, and Garrick even recovers from his shock enough to unsling his crossbow and assist his friends. When the fight is over he feels just the tiniest bit happier about himself - so far, at least, he has not let his friends down.
There are several more skirmishes as they move deeper into the tombs, and Garrick experiences a moment of heart stopping terror at each fresh assault. He manages to avoid melee combat, though, and as the tally of defeated vampires mounts he allows himself a sliver of hope – maybe, just maybe, there is a chance that they may yet walk out of here alive…
He can sense that the others are feeling more confident as well, but just as none of them spoke openly of their fears before, now no one dares to voice aloud the hope they are all harbouring in their hearts. Things may be going well so far, but somewhere up ahead Bodhi is lurking, and if she proves as powerful as the Shadow Thieves have warned then fighting her is a far more fearsome prospect than fighting small groups of her vampiric minions. By now she must know of their presence in her lair, and Garrick wonders uneasily what she is planning.
The next chamber they come to has no obvious exit, and they pause for a few minutes whilst Yoshimo moves slowly around the room checking for hidden doors. Garrick chafes at the delay – the longer they wait the more the tension builds up, and the more time he has to dwell on his fears. He tries to distract himself by watching Yoshimo as the thief carefully scans the walls and floor with an intensely focused expression on his face. After a few minutes Yoshimo concentrates his attentions on a particular section of wall, and Garrick wanders across the room to join his friend.
“Aha!” Yoshimo grins, and beckons him closer. “You see it?” With a flourish the thief places his hand on the wall, and a section of stone slides silently aside to reveal an opening. Garrick peers through it and sees a narrow passage, but it is too dark to see where it leads. He takes a step forward, but Yoshimo’s arm suddenly blocks his way.
“Be wary, my friend.” The thief points to a flagstone just inside the passage, which to Garrick’s eyes looks identical to all the other flagstones. “A trap most devious for the careless of foot. See how it is raised a little above the rest? A nasty surprise doubtless awaits any who step on it.”
Garrick’s imagination quickly supplies several possibilities for what that ‘nasty surprise’ might be, and he shivers. He has been so busy worrying about the vampires that he had not given much thought to other potential dangers – but the prospect of being killed or mutilated by a trap is not an appealing one. He starts to thank Yoshimo for the warning, but even as he does so there are shouts from behind him, and he turns to see vampires rushing in through the entrance at the other end of the room..
This is no small group of enemies, but a concerted attack, and this time it is he and his friends who are outnumbered. He fumbles for his crossbow, but already two vampires are rushing towards him and Yoshimo and he realises that this is it - this is death coming for him…. Instinctively he steps backwards, dropping his crossbow and reaching for his sword. The lead vampire snarls as it charges at him…and then as Garrick takes another step back he hears a tiny clicking sound, and barely has time to realise his stupidity before his world explodes in fire.
Flames envelop him. The very air seems to be burning – he gets just a brief glimpse of an orange haze before he slams his eyes tight shut As the force of the blast throws him backwards Garrick feels like he is falling into a raging inferno – waves of heat pass over him, suffocating heat that scorches his flesh.
He hits the floor with a jarring thud that knocks his sword from his hand and sends it skittering off across the floor. It feels as though his entire body is on fire – he rolls over and over, hands patting frantically at his hair and clothes. The heat is easing a little now, although the pain remains – he risks opening his eyes, but before he can take anything in there is a rumbling sound, and the secret door slams shut with a loud crash. Garrick is plunged into darkness.
As the echoes of the crash die away he lies there unmoving, staring in horror at the black nothingness all around him. He waits for the door to open again, but nothing happens…
It will open. It must open. It has to open. Ignoring the pain, he gets up onto his hands and knees and crawls forward, groping with one hand to locate the door. It has to open…He pounds on it until his fists are sore, throwing caution to the winds and shouting his friends’ names as loud as he can. He pounds on the passage walls, hoping to find the switch that will open the door from this side – but to no avail. He is screaming now – panic-stricken, desperate screams as he begins to comprehend the full horror of the situation. But he is tired, and his hands hurt, and slowly his screams give way to sobs, and he ceases his pounding on the door and just sits back against the wall crying softly.
How long he spends like that he doesn’t know. He finally comes back to his senses to find himself lying curled up on the floor, shivering as the chill of the cold stone beneath him seeps through his body. For all he knows his friends could be dead, killed by the fireball trap or slain by the vampires. Even if they are alive, the fireball must have damaged the mechanism of the door, and he has no way of knowing how long it will take them to find another route to this place. If there even is another route. And in the meantime he is here in the darkness, blind and weaponless and easy prey for any vampires that happen upon him…
It is the pain of his burns that first brings him back to himself. He touches his face gingerly, and winces as his fingers encounter blisters and painful patches of raw skin. He longs for some cool water to splash on his face, but he has nothing - no water, no healing potions, no food, nothing.
He comes to a decision – he cannot stay here. Anything, anything at all will be better than sitting alone in the dark waiting for death to find him. He can feel his hysteria building again, and he knows that if he doesn’t do something to distract himself he will probably wind up a quivering wreck.
He gropes around, searching for his sword, but can’t find it. Garrick doubts that even with it he would survive long in a fight – but somehow it would feel reassuring to have a weapon in his hand. He has a few spells memorised, but he is hardly in the calm, focused frame of mind required for successful spell casting, and besides selecting the correct spell components and performing the required hand movements will not be easy in the dark.
He is still trembling all over as he staggers to his feet and slowly begins to make his way down the passage, shuffling along so as not to trip up on anything and keeping both hands in contact with the walls. With each step he takes he wonders if it will be his last, if he has attracted the attention of an enemy or blundered into another trap – it requires an effort of will to keep himself moving, but at least he is keeping alive the hope, however faint, of finding his way back to the light.
The passage seems to go on forever as he stumbles blindly on, twice stubbing a toe on uneven flagstones and having to stifle a yelp of pain. But eventually he comes to a place where he can no longer touch both walls at once, and realises that he has reached another room. Feeling very exposed, he creeps out of the passageway, praying the exit from this chamber is not a concealed one.
He is aware of an unpleasant smell in the air – a sweet, spicy odour he feels sure he should recognise, but can’t scent strongly enough to be sure of what it is. He stops every few steps to listen for approaching enemies, but all he can hear is his own breathing, gasping breaths mixed with the occasional sob of terror. He is doing his best to keep his sense of direction and to create a mental image in his mind of where he is, but it is difficult…the disadvantages of not being able to see are suddenly emphasized as his knee collides painfully with some unseen object in front of him, and tears spring to his eyes at the shock and pain of the impact.
He nearly falls, and has to clutch at the wall and at the thing in front of him for support. It appears to be a low stone barrier, about waist high…his fingers touch something wet, and his heart leaps as he realises that it is a pool – he has found water! He plunges his hands in eagerly, letting them soak as the cool liquid soothes his bruised and burnt skin. He bends over, meaning to plunge his head in and drink deeply, but as he does so the smell grows stronger, becomes almost intoxicating, and suddenly he realises what it is. He reels back, horrified. The pool is not filled with water, it is filled with blood.
He sits down hurriedly, for the smell has made him feel faint and dizzy. There seems to be no end to the horrors of this place. Pools of blood…he wonders how many people have died to fill that pool. Maybe before the day is over his blood will be mingling with theirs…
From across the room he hears a soft chuckle, and he freezes in terror. Has someone been in here all the time, watching him? There is a long silence – perhaps he imagined the noise? But he knows that he did not. He looks frantically around him, but everywhere he sees only blackness.
The chuckle comes again. “Are you sure you do not wish to drink? Be my guest, there is plenty for all of us.”
A fresh wave of terror rises up inside Garrick, for he recognises that voice.
“I am flattered that you are so frightened of me,” Bodhi purrs mockingly, “but you can relax. I am not here to kill you – at least not yet.”
Well, that's it for now - hope you liked it. We'll find out what Bodhi wants with Garrick next weekend (ish
).
