I Want to Live, Part Eight

I didn’t mean to push him. As I said, my plan was to grab his tail and pull him back so that he wouldn’t hurt himself in a trap. I didn’t plan on shoving him down the chute so that his tail would get snapped off by the trap. He was suddenly a stub, as his tail was caught in some type of jaw trap that sprang shut on him, that was at the base of the slanted chute. We heard the snap and the scream that was quickly muffled, as the poor guy tried not to give away our position. I was pretty sure it was safe now, and not wanting to upset the other two Reds up here any more, I promptly went down the chute face first. I was about halfway down when I realized that this was a bad idea. The red Skcaen had lost his tail and gone down on his back. I might have been about to get a mouthful of tail today anyway.

Well, thankfully the trap had released his tail after he tripped it, and I came shooting out right into the unfortunate red Sckaen’s stomach. I believe that his head hitting the cave wall as he landed, rather than losing his tail, is what caused him to pass out, honestly. He may have still been very slightly conscious when the other two came down behind me, and also crashed into him, thumping his head into the wall twice more. I, fortunately, had moved out of their way. The dust from the multiple collisions settled as we slowly got to our feet, well, all but one of us, who was definitely unconscious now. The two remaining Reds put one of his arms over each of their shoulders, and began carrying him in the direction that Zoltuce had shown us in the dungeon. The Gathic capital of Brique-Odam was built like a maze. Tunnels overlapped each other, some twisted for endless feet down or up. Some seemed to turn in on themselves, always turning right but still somehow ending up three levels higher then where you began, without climbing one step or noticing one incline. How these people didn’t get lost just going from one work area to another was beyond me. Also, nothing in this cavern was natural; everything was polished and smooth, painted and adorned. No plain wall, tile, or ceiling could be found. For the most part, they were wonderous horizontal and vertical lines, or simple shapes layered into complex patterns. More than once we passed a wall or floor tile that had some scribblings, and a gorgeous, fist-sized gem cut into an octagonal shape. This gem could be a diamond, a ruby, an emerald, sapphire, or amber. I tried to pull more than one of them out, as they would make a brilliant trophy, but they were stuck fast in the rock and I couldn’t budge them.

We eventually turned a corner, not sure if we had gone down this passage yet or not, when we came to a large circular space. It must have been about fifty or so feet high, with a diameter to match. There were massive columns supporting the domed ceiling, that had been carved out of the walls and placed on either side of the four entrances that merged in this area. In the center were several well-armed Gol-Gathe and Hal-Gathe. The Gol-Gathe had short beards, with long faces and big noses. They kept their hair tucked under their helmets, except for one long braid down the right side that almost reached their waists. They wore heavy, tight-linked, metal ring armor, and the women could only be differentiated from the men by having their heads and faces clean shaven, having no braid or beard. The Gol-Gathe were armed with long metal poles that had a metal point about three feet long on one end, and a small round weight on the other, about the size of two of my fists. In the other hand, the Gol-Gathe had a large, round item that reminded me of a table with its legs cut off. It had a metal ring in the middle, and the edge was lined in metal as well. The Hal-Gathe, of course, were beardless and had short, curly hair that was barely poking out beneath their helmets. All of them, male and female, were stout and they carried a knife as long as my forearm. This knife didn’t have an edge, but did have a nasty spike on the tip of it. They also had those round objects, but smaller ones, and wore thick armor that appeared to be just clothing, rather than made of metal.

We, of course, froze when we saw them, not sure how we should proceed. So far, we had been lucky and not run into any other Gathe, but now we were face to face with armed Gathe and were way outnumbered, as there were like five of them. We had to do something before they looked over here and saw us just staring at them. So, I took charge and stepped forward, praying to Zoltuce that the disguise had also changed our voices. I yelled out to them that we had been attacked, one of the Wyrms had dug in behind us. I motioned for the two others to bring the injured one up so they could see. I pointed to him and I yelled again, “see look, we suffered terrible damages.” They just stared at me, not moving, like they had those stone shoes on. I swallowed hard, thinking that we were going to die before we could ever become heroes.