Tartarus Beckons by Edmund Batara (reading an ebook .TXT) 📕

then whatever information they could get would be of tremendous help. A few minutes passed and then Magna went to him.

“The first part praised Freyr and dedicated the outpost to him. The second mentioned something about the cave being a passageway under the mountains back to Skaney. Quite helpful too – it said a journey of five days. The last section was scratched out and replaced by dokkalfr runes. It must be the ones who destroyed the outpost. The runes are archaic. An older form of our current ones. It warned that the tunnels have been collapsed and there’s no way out,” narrated Magna.

“Now that would have been helpful if our scouts learned that before. Sford too,” replied Tyler testily, keeping his expletives in check.

“I doubt it, First Mage. The runes and languages of the Vanaheimr were not familiar to most races.”

“Well, we just need to make our own way then,” said Tyler. “The ruins down on the plain are not an option right now.”

“Good decision, First Mage. From what I heard, that reinforcement host is mighty indeed. Probably includes hundreds of their mages. Even a First Mage might find it difficult.”

Yep. As I have always said, especially for a half-baked one, thought Tyler.

Chapter Fourteen

Spider Realm

Tyler carefully examined the waiting, unknown underground system, praying that he’d find signs that the rogue and the mage were still alive. If he had known how infested the place was with the monstrous arachnids, the mage would have taken the chance of letting the conflict resolve itself on the plains below despite the odds and the constraints on his magic.

With a feeling of relief, he sensed two specks of energy ahead of them, one a blazing font of magical power. It was a surprising discovery for Tyler, he didn’t expect Sford to be so powerful. But he could also feel the exhaustion in the mage. The power was there, but the capability to wield it was almost spent. Sford had been close to his limit after his rearguard action and had only a little time to recover before testing the patience of the giant arachnids. Alarmingly, some distance away from the two, numerous flecks of energy were gathering. Too many to count, and Tyler knew the vast number of creatures each clump represented. Strangely, the swarms kept their distance from the pair. Farther back of the constellation of angry hordes was more of the same display, culminating in a massive collection of glimmering spots with a large shining dot roughly in the middle of the assembly.

Must be the main colony, thought the mage. Tyler turned to Magna.

“Any idea how many spider colonies inhabit this part of the mountains?” he inquired.

“No idea, First Mage. It had been ages since a dokkalfr set foot in these parts. Before… or when the plan to bring you here was made, I went over our lore, and it does show that dokkalfr don’t return from such expeditions or if they do, the mad survivors had to be put out of their misery. After a number of such missions, it was decided to stop sending explorers and limit our expansion up to the Stronghold of Kunigunda,” replied the warrior after some thought.

“I appreciate the information, Magna.”

Tyler faced Orm who, for a change, had a knotted forehead.

I would be worried about my friends too, thought the mage.

“The good news is that they’re alive, and the bad news is that there may be more spiders than we can handle.”

The large barbarian grunted and slightly bowed to show his appreciation.

“Bad idea to fight spiders in their tunnels. They get to attack from all directions. We usually lead them out to the open. Easier to kill. But I guess we’ve got no choice,” said Orm. The mage noticed that that warrior’s hands kept on grasping the handle of his weapon, shifting it from one hand to the other.

At least I am not the only one who’s getting stressed out, thought Tyler.

“Hopefully, we won’t reach that level of fighting. Let’s go and save our friends, and avoid a pitched battle if we could help it. Twisting and crooked tunnels and passageways also don’t work well for magical spells.”

With that comment, the mage strode toward the entrance. As Tyler came closer, followed by his companions, the smell of burned spider became stronger, mingled with smoke from fire spells. The ground was still warm from Sford’s magical destruction. From what Tyler could determine, multiple fireballs or blasts had been unleashed by Sford. Even the rocky ceiling of the cave was blackened by the fiery fury unleashed by the mage. He could just imagine the numbers which greeted the mage to elicit such a violent and vigorous reaction. It must have rained fire when Sford and Kadir were attacked.

“Sire, let me take the lead,” he heard Habrok say. “My hunting senses would serve us well amidst this noisome reek of destruction and death.”

Tyler momentarily stopped and let the ranger go to the front. Tyndur followed Habrok while Orm guarded the rear. On the flanks were Kobu and Astrid. Suddenly, the party heard a large explosion. They increased their pace as Tyler checked again. Nothing significant had changed. The specks of energy remained where they were, though the large groups had moved back a little. As he wondered about the blast, the party finally entered the depths of the cavern.

A large dark corridor led the way down and true to its fortress roots, the route was paved with stone. Magical lights promptly appeared among some members of the group, forcing Tyler to ask them to turn them off. There were too many and the illumination bothered the eyes even if the brightness didn’t greatly affect their night sight. But it wasn’t an ideal solution. Instead, the mage cast a light spell several feet in front of Habrok. It was bright enough to reveal any waiting arachnid clinging to the walls and the ceiling, but not too much as to interfere with their vision. At the same time, the