Chương 34: Spelunking
-Markos-
Markos led the way towards the pit, with the brambles cleared it reminded him of the yawning mouth of a beast with jagged rocks on either side of its maw. He pulled a pair of light spheres from his pocket and taped them to initiate their illumination. They floated down into the cavern's mouth and revealed emptiness below. "Get the ropes. We'll secure the line and climb down."
Emilio offered Markos a rope without comment. Markos took the ropes and securely tied it around two thick trees before tossing them into the pit.
"Climbing ropes in armor, no wonder you've become so disagreeable." Emilio commented dryly. It caught Markos off-guard but it was like his old friend to make light of hard situations.
"Not still scared of the dark, are you?" Markos asked as he checked the firmness of the knots.
Emilio scoffed. "I think you're cuirass is too tight. Let's get down there and get this over with." He wrapped the rope around his hand and eased his way down into the cavern. Once he was on the bottom, he waved Markos down. "Come in, the water's fine"
Markos smoothly repelled into the hole and stepped away from the rope, drawing his sword. This part of the cave was remarkably dry and feed into a wide tunnel that terminated here. He cast his eyes upward, they were at least 10 feet below the entrance. "All joking aside, have you ever been inside one of these before?"
Emilio shook his head. "No. Most of what I've been to have been above ground or temples." He paused and drew his sword, uncertain. "Think the helmets are going to do much good down here?"
Markos weighed the risk versus benefit of crawling around the cave system with their vision partially impaired for the safety it provided if something were to happen. "Better to have it on. I don't know how big these things are or if they're armed."
Emilio looked after the floating light spheres. "I'll suffer. Hate to get smote for removing my helmet."
Markos chuckled and leading the way through the damp left tunnel. "I don't reckon there's much lightning underground, even if gods can be righteously spiteful." The large formations dripped down from the ceiling in thick red stalactites as they ventured after the guiding light of the spheres. Sinister, long shadows scattered around them but only the squish of their boots in the mud greeted them.
The formations flowed down in glittering pink, stone waterfalls joining with the stalagmites jutting up on the ground. Beyond the dripping water and squishing of mud, Markos strained to hear the demons lurking somewhere in the tunnels. The seriousness of the situation appeared to finally hit Emilio who's posture grew more stiff and his head kept moving, searching for knot holes as Markos was. He was relieved that Emilio had learned that much from the temple.
A cold gust of wind whistled through the caverns around them from a northward tunnel. Markos picked his way through the jutting teeth toward the noise.
"How far down do you think?" Emilio quietly asked, shifting nervously. It seemed that Emilio upon learning the things that lurked in the dark found a truth behind his childhood fear.
Markos knew that Jo was likely watching the cavern entrance, it was too dangerous for a whisperer to descend into an uncleared pit. The woman was courageous but she was not foolish enough to follow him this time, or so he hoped. "Can you sense them?" The question was soft, and dangerous in the unspoken conspiracy. Did Emilio know?
Emilio stared into the unexplored tunnel partially concealed by rock formations that resembled a dragon's jagged teeth. "Something deeper in that direction, beyond the edge of the light. It makes my skin crawl."
Markos smiled behind his helmet — it was a start, he wasn't sure how far to probe or how much to reveal to Emilio. "Focus on that feeling, even if makes you uncomfortable." He commented as he slipped past the lower teeth, advancing one of the light spheres forward. "They can cancel themselves but it helps to be aware of where they are." Perhaps that was enough of a hint to keep Emilio alive. He didn't wish Emilio ill will, he didn't want to paint a target on his friend by revealing the secrets that Caelyn had entrusted him with; secrets that put them in danger from the Order.
Emilio followed behind, his posture relaxing, he was still alert but less tense. The notion that Emilio could detect the demons had relieved some of the man's fear. They continued down the tunnel in silence as it narrowed, forcing them to slow their pace and draw closer. "I was wondering..."
"... I don't think anyone is listening here." Markos offered.
"What happened? There are rumors all but no one seems to know what really happened in that temple north of the Wall." Emilio asked softly.
Markos sighed, it wasn't surprising since Emilio had asked about his relationship with Iliana earlier too. He'd been carrying the truth alone all these years only the three of them knew the truth. "It was a flooded temple of Mara. The water flooded into the lower caverns from a hot spring but the creature we found... It's hard to explain." Markos remembered thinking about how large and sharp the teeth were as they crashed down toward him. Something scraped against stone in the shadows beyond. He stopped and raised his hand to Emilio.
Markos reached out with his power to brush the threads of power that connected all living creatures of Jord to the Word. He felt an uncomfortable warmth from his maraium armor but he pushed beyond it until the threads wove together and overlaid on his vision, forming a gridwork that mapped out the tunnels despite the limitations on his line of sight in the dark. Emilio was behind him, the orbs floated in the air, in a pool in another chamber were tadpoles, and deeper still were the demons. The creatures were larger than he they should be, they weren't the typical aphotic he normally encounter nor were they the monstrous wyrms that lurked further north. He tightened his grip on his sword as the creatures stopped and look in his direction. He inwardly cursed, he'd pushed too hard and attracted their attention by drawing too much magic from the Word. "They're coming, we'll set up a choke point here and fall back to the larger cavern."
"What's the risk of collapsing the cave with the rifles?" Emilio quickly asked. Markos was pleased, with the comment, it meant Emilio was using his head.
"They aren't that unstable. We'd need something more powerful to drop the cave on top of them." Markos quickly commented.
"What happens if you shoot a light sphere?" Emilio thoughtfully asked. Markos turned to look at Emilio. It was an interesting question. Heartstone was precious and great care was taken to not damage it but it was a magical energy source. There had been stories of accidents but Markos had seen what would happen.
"It'd explode." Markos nodded. "Let's set-up, we'll pick them off and lure them back. It's narrow here but we don't want to drop the tunnel too early.... you ready for this?"
Emilio lifted his visor with a wink. "Not at all, but let's do it."
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