Chương 39: Strange visitors
Things were calming down in the forest north of Brine City, while Chris was deliberating on how to best impress Mia.
The three Gnoll camps were eradicated, and Cat, Titus and Carl were preparing their next tasks.
"We did pretty good." Commented Titus as he checked the injuries report. "Fifteen light injured, three that need medical attention right away and no deaths."
This was on par with their expectations. The Gnolls were half the size of humans and were quite bulky. Their speed was already lower than that of humans and their reach was lower. If you added to that the surprise attacks, they did not have much chance.
"Boss, the badly injured already received basic treatment and are already on their way back to Brine City". Reported Carl.
"Good." Said Cat and Titus at the same time. They both reacted to the word 'Boss'.
Sparks flew between the both of them.
"Oh? This is my operation." Said Cat.
"But Carl is my underling." Answered Titus. "And I am ranking above you."
"Are you now?" She answered with a smile filled with derision before adding in a mysterious tone. "I wonder if Petunia knows her pony is actually a donkey?"
"Hng. That's dirty!" Complained Titus as Cat had hit home. "Fine you win. But you can't use it for another month!"
"Haha." She laughed. "Now that we are clear, let's prepare for our other orders. We need to clean the forest of most dangerous beast. Luckily this one isn't big. We also have... 'That' to do."
The three of them nodded and prepared the next step. The three hundred soldiers were divided in 10 groups of 30.
The first 8 groups would patrol the forest while following tracks and other signs of large dangerous animals or Gnolls stragglers. Each group had a few hunters to do the tracking.
The ninth group was set aside for the dungeon job. They had to bury it in order to hide its existence until the time was right. For this they needed trustworthy and smart people. Because this was such big news that a single slip of the tongue was enough for it to spread everywhere.
And the final group was made up of the lightly injured, their job was to prepare camp for the night. The forest was small, but they would not be able to finish scouring it in a single afternoon.
Preparations were done, and everyone was starting to leave for their own tasks.
But Cat called out to Carl. "Carl, a messenger, came from Brine City. The message mentioned you by name."
Carl was surprised. [Why would it mention me?]
"A group of 350 refugees joined Brine City this morning. They came from the west. Our Lord said he will take it upon himself to investigate if there is any 'Jane' in the lot." [1]
"Jane?" Titus repeated the name while searching his memory.
"Who is that?" Teased Cat. "A sweetheart?"
But Carl didn't give them time to enjoy the moment. "Come on boss. Let's pick up our gear and lead the way!"
"Ah!"
At his words, both Cat and Titus rushed to take the lead position.
Carl successfully evaded Titus and Cat's questioning but he was still nervous. [Please, don't do anything embarrassing my Lord...]
**** ****
They reached the entrance in less than half an hour. This was much faster than it took Cat the first time she found the ruins as she knew the way this time.
The ruins were still standing in the small clearing. There were no Gnolls praying this time. This area did not see any battles so it would not have been strange to see some left around, but they were most likely dead or fleeing right now.
Cat put down her gear and signaled to stop.
"So, this is the place." Commented Titus as he looked around.
Cat nodded and gave her orders. No one but her, Titus and Carl were allowed to go down in the ruins.
Everyone here was trusted, but the less they knew the better it was. So the soldiers all waited at the surface while the three of them went down to check if the entrance was still there and intact. This time, Cat had a lot more time to check her surroundings and she noticed many details she had missed before.
The stairs were made of solid marble, there was not a single crack on them. It was as if they were part of the dungeon and were preserved that way.
She ran her fingers on the walls. She could not feel a single bump or imperfection. They were of a blue-ish tint and at times, slight golden light pulses could be seen running along the walls from the top of the stairs down to the bottom, as if guiding them. She could feel a little heat and some tingling when the golden light passed by her fingers.
She noticed both Titus and Carl were silent. It was as if they were holding their breath and only the sound of their steps could be heard.
Next, she noticed something intriguing yet so anodyne that it had completely escaped her notice the first time. The steps, the height of the roof, the width between the walls. It was all perfect for humans. Was it a coincidence? The size of each races varied greatly in this world. What were the chances the dimensions of this dungeon fitted the humans so perfectly?
If these were Gnoll ruins, they would have built it with a lower roof and tinier steps. If it was a Kunall or Dragon ruins, the roof would be much higher, and the walls would be much further apart.
She knew there was no way for humans to make dungeons.
But if someone else created it, who were they, and why did they model it for humans? Could it be this was their Goddess' work?
On the other hand, the dungeons could, perhaps, manifest on their own. Did this one choose the human race on it's own? Does it, perhaps, adapt to its visitors? Or is it just pure randomness?
Many questions went through her head, and she finally came back to her senses when they reached the bottom.
The stairs lead to a large room, it was completely empty except for the portal on the opposite side of the room.
The inside of the room was much larger than the stairs leading down to it. It was at least 15 meters in length and width and the roof was at least 4 meters high.
Titus and Carl were awed and a single 'Wow' escaped their lips and echoed in the empty room.
Cat had already seen this place, so she was much calmer.
The portal was a huge circular device with a diameter of 3 meters. It was quite massive. It was fixed on the ground and on the wall behind it.
The circular edge of the teleport appeared to be made of the same material as the walls. It was however much more intricate with runes all over, the golden pulsating lights that ran over the wall were all converging on these runes.
The inside was completely dark. The same darkness you would find in the night sky if you removed all the stars. It was such pure black that people would lose their balance after looking at it too closely for a while.
Carl hesitated but extended his right arm to reach the portal, slight ripples appeared on the portal as he got closer.
But his hand was grabbed by Titus. "Don't. We don't know what's inside. It could be dangerous, and we could be stuck in there without a way out."
Cat nodded. "We have confirmed the target is still here. Let's go we have one last thing to do."
They all left and with the help of the outside troops, they buried the entrance using the shovels and handcarts they brought with them for the task. They did not need to mark the site as the outside ruins did the job perfectly on their own.
The job was soon done, and the squad was packing up and preparing to go back to the main camp. Titus waited for the three of them to be alone and murmured to Cat and Carl. "No wonder the Gnolls worshiped this place."
Both of them nodded and turned to the now buried entrance. Their faces showed a mix of worry and excitement.
"Let's go!" Finally ordered Cat.
******
Somewhere north of the Windtide. ( Windtide is the Old Human Capital https://www.dropbox.com/s/gdznfolzfex0m6t/First%20Map%20%28Chapter%202%29.jpg?dl=0 )
"How did your patrol go? Did you notice anything strange?" Asked a tall and slender man.
A young woman in light armor bowed slightly in front of him. "We did not. We found many small refugee camps peppered in the mountains, it seems that a few of those settlements have grown in size lately but there is nothing strange there. We have also found a few bandits hideouts which were expected."
"But there is not much we can do without knowing more about what we are looking for. The human territory is on the smaller side, but it's still too big for us even when using magic. The northern part of the kingdom is all we can cover with our current troops."
The man had an apologetic look, he could sense some slight reproach in her tone. After all, she was made to run around with her subordinates without a clear goal. "I'm sorry, but I am also in the dark on this."
He recalled the orders he received a few weeks before. He was kneeling in the throne room.
He was addressed by a woman exuding majesty, it was his Queen and her first sentenced shocked him. "Mother Denera [2] spoke to me in a dream."
Contact with the Goddess was very rare. Only the Queen was worthy, and it still only happened once every decade in average, sometimes they heard nothing from her for centuries. This was certainly important.
"She said to watch out for strange happenings in the human territory."
The man had an empty look on his face. "What kind of strange?"
The Queen had a little apologetic smile, the same he had just shown to his subordinate, as she answered. "She did not say. You will have to find out by yourself Camus."
"Take little Lilac, a few mages and an armed escort and see if you can find something." The Queen added before dismissing him. "Remember, until we know more, act peacefully."
Camus was now back to the present, and he could feel a headache coming. His subordinate was right. Unless what they were looking for was a ground shaking event, finding it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Just then, a small fairy sat on his shoulder and offered advice. "Our current efforts are clearly inefficient. Why not chose a few specific targets that are very likely to be involved in whatever is coming , and watch them?"
"Good idea Lilac!" Exclaimed Camus. "Let's see. That would mean spying on the Kunalls in the south east. We know they have a scout camp and a fortress. We can have two groups checking them out and see if anything weird happens there."
Lilac nodded but added. "We need to check on the humans too. This is their territory."
"The humans too?" Camus was doubtful. "But which ones? There are thousands of refugee camps."
"We can leave a few of our people to check on the biggest settlements in this area? If nothing comes of it, we can just call them back." She offered.
"Very well! Everyone you heard Lilac. Let's prepare!" Shouted Camus.
After this, the strange group split into a few groups that each went it's own way. Most of them went south east, they were moving at extraordinary speed.
New visitors had arrived unbeknownst to Chris and his subordinates.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
Pastare
Pastare Chapter not yet edited
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[1] Remember her? She was first seen in chapter 10. She, her brother and his wife were attacked by skeletons and saved by Carl and his group.
[2] This is how this particular race calls their god. So far we do not know for sure which races this is. But maybe you can guess?
Next chapter this week!
Please leave a vote for the novel if you enjoy it :).
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