Chapter 4 Part 32

"Look out!" Norwind hurled himself forward. In mid-air, he executed a one and a half pike flip to land on his hands. The others scattered in other directions, but they were not quite fast enough. Before anyone could get anywhere, a net descended trapping all but the agile monk.

Norwind righted himself and turned around to face his companions. "What a fine catch of fish you are," he laughed. "Hey Keeneye, I think you missed a trap."

Keeneye cursed. "I wasn't looking for a..."

Norwind saw Keeneye's eyes look past him and grow wide. Instinctively, the monk dropped and swung his foot around behind him blindly. He felt his heel make contact with yielding but cold flesh. He completed the spin and came up to face his attacker.

"Troglodytes!" Samson exclaimed.

Norwind's foot sweep had knocked his attacker on the floor, but there were seven more running towards him. They were armed in various ways and a horrible smell was coming from their direction. Norwind backed up as his attackers slowed and began a forceful march toward him.

The man-sized creatures were reptilian and bipedal. The fact that neither he nor Keeneye had noticed any body heat indicated that they were probably cold-blooded.

Norwind shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. He could hear his companions struggling with the net behind him. He had to buy them time to get free.

He stood his ground. One of the creatures prodded at him with a long javelin. The monk twisted causing the creature to miss while at the same time grabbing the end of the javelin. He yanked on the weapon pulling the creature off balance, then shifted the force of his pull to cause the creature to topple sideways into one of its cohorts. He twisted the javelin, which immediately came free from the wielder's grasp.

Norwind sidestepped an ax chop and smashed the blunt end of the javelin against the axe wielder's head. He flipped the weapon over and the swung the sharpened end at the feet of another attacker causing it to lose balance and fall flat on its face. The attackers backed off.

Norwind had been holding his breath due to the smell, but now his body demanded oxygen and his lungs ached for a breath. He exhaled and inhaled. Then he fell to his knees. The stench was overpowering. Norwind felt as if he was going to be sick, but held his nausea in check. He rose shakily to his feet and held the javelin horizontally.

Again, the creatures closed on him. Norwind saw an axe coming from the right and a sword thrust from the left. He made like he was going for another blocking sequence, but instead, drove straight into the midst of the enemies' ranks. He ran one through with the javelin, then used his momentum to vault over their heads and land behind them. Landing on his feet, he spun around and placed a well executed chop to the back of a reptilian neck. He felt the vertebra snap under his blow. He then jumped backwards out of reach of their weapons.

All five remaining assailants turned to face him. They now considered him a serious threat. They rushed him as one forcing he began to back away.

Backpedaling, he dodged several spear jabs. Suddenly, one toppled face forward limply. An arrow protruded from the back of his skull. Norwind glanced past his pursuers. He saw Keeneye reaching for another arrow, but that is not what concerning him. Ultrecht stood legs apart with his hands raised and pointing in the monks direction. Norwind saw the mage's lips moving. A glow enveloped Ultrecht's fingertips and Norwind dropped flat on the floor.

He felt heat above him and heard screams of agony followed by the smell of cooked meat. When all the noise had settled down, Norwind lifted his head and looked around. "Well thank you Mister Pyromaniac," he snapped at Ultrecht playfully. "I think you singed my hair."

"You almost got your hair removed from you permanently," Ultrecht said. "Look behind you."

Norwind turned around. There on the floor was another troglodyte with an ugly double-bladed battle axe. He had been running backwards to keep an eye on his attackers and his friends. Had Ultrecht and Keeneye not acted as they did, he might have lost his head.

Norwind swallowed hard. "Thanks," he said sincerely.

"Don't mention it," Ultrecht replied. "You saved our sorry butts by holding them off," Ultrecht gestured to the fallen troglodytes.

"Peeeyeeew," Keeneye said as he rifled the bodies of the dead troglodytes. "These things really stink."

"That is a biochemical secretion," Ultrecht said. "For them it is kind of like adrenaline."

"Well, be that as it may, these guys were pretty broke. They have only about ten gold coins on them," Keeneye announced.

"Do you think they knew the way out?" Samson asked.

"I think we should be more interested in the notion of if there are any more of them," Ultrecht replied.

"I am sure they knew the way out," Keeneye told Samson. "If we are lucky, we will be out of there in less than a day.

In actuality, they were out of the cavern in less than an hour. Everyone was visibly relieved. "Well, we made it out," Norwind said, "but where are we?"

"On the western side," Keeneye said in response. "That much I can tell you immediately." He looked at the horizon directly in front of them. "The suns are going down."

"How do you know they aren't coming up?" Samson asked. "We turned so many corners underground you may have lost your sense of direction."

"Because the ground is warm, he explained. "It has been adsorbing sunlight all day long. If the suns were rising, the ground would be colder from having radiated its heat all night long."

"That make sense," Ultrecht agreed.

"So then, where is this great Glass Desert we have been told about," Norwind wondered. "All I see is grass."

"I don't know," Keeneye said. "Avery had the map. Maybe we traveled north in that cavern and it's beyond the southern horizon."

"Or possibly it is still a good distance west of us," Samson suggested.

"Well we know that we must eventually go south to Allentown," Ultrecht reminded them. "I suggest we just travel south until we discover differently."

"Not right now," Keeneye insisted, "I think we need to get down off this mountain and establish a camp." He adjusted his pack. "Besides I want to get some fresh meat for dinner before it gets too dark. I am tired of preserved meat."

"Hear, hear," Norwind agreed.

"Fine," Samson said. He patted Norwind on the back. "Lead the way."

Norwind tossed his pack to Samson who caught it and slung it over one massive shoulder. He knew that it was his responsibility to scout out a safe trail down the side of the mountain. He was the least likely to fall. So, reminding the others to watch their steps, the sure footed monk carefully made his way downward.