Boneswulf...Part 5

Herne insisted on descending first, Fang went down next, follwed by myself and then Ravyn. Once we were all down the ladder, Ravyn dispatched another floating ball of fire to illuminate the area better. Each of the two seemed to have minds of their own, floating about in lazy, hazy circles, but always seeming to be where we needed them at the moment.

My previous trail was pretty obvious, the dark, syrupy liquid from my ‘veins’ had congealed into sticky puddles.

Herne saw the trail and motioned for us to come together briefly. “Fang and I will hug opposites sides of the walls. Rusty I want you to follow the trail, taking no care to cover any sounds. Just like that valley in the desert, I need you to be the distraction. This thing is likely expecting you to come back.”

“What about me?” Ravyn was looking a little peeved that she had to speak up.

“Babe, I know better than to give you directions. You can follow behind Rusty, that’s probably the safest place, since this thing seems to kill with its claws and teeth and doesn’t use any weapons that we know of. However we are going to need to drop the fireballs soon, that kind of magick will attract this thing. I would like us to be the hunters, not the hunted.”

“Hmmph. Wll alright then.” With that the fireballs winked out of esxistence and the soft darkness of this unlit tunnel descended. “I’ll stick close to Rusty. Once the fighting starts I will light things back up to prevent any additional surprises for sneaking up.”

‘Very well then, let’s roll. Rusty, don’t worry if you don’t see us, we’ll be there. Fang and I have some non-magickal tricks up our sleeves to stay hidden until the right moment.”

My lenses quickly adjusted the near total darkness of the place, so I was able to weatch as Fang and Herne slipped away in opposite directions and then completely disappeared from even my enhanced vision. Ravyn was shifter on her feet nervously. I reached out and gave her arm a freindly squeeze, to reassure her that we would be OK.

“Can you see at all?” I whispered to her.

She managed a wan smile, “Don’t worry about me, you big lummox. I just hate being cooped up in this small, dark place. I’m fighting very hard against the urge to light this place up like the Fourth of July! Now get moving before I lose that battle!”

I gave her one more squeeze and then turned to follow the trail of my own dried up ‘blood’ to find Grendel and have our little rematch.

I walked loudly down the hall, keeping more to the middle this time than I did the first time. I felt more than heard Ravyn following behind me, a few paces back. After a hundred feet or so, I came to the first intersection where I had turned down the first time. This would lead to a much smaller hall, with hardly any room for Herne or Fang to be hidden to the side, so I hesitated before proceeding. I was just about to say something, when a sickening wet ripping sound and a gurgled half-grunt cut me off.

Ravyn gasped, “What was...”

Fang’s headless body crumpled to the floor about twenty feet away to our right, blood gushed out in a showering fountain from the stump of his neck.

I immediately dropped into a battle ready stance, snapping my wrist to drop my baton into place. I reached behind me with one hand to make sure Ravyn wasn’t exposed.

A form rushed out of the darkness from the other side of the hall straight towards the darkness that still stood over Fang’s lifeless body. Silently, Herne had drawn one of the two blades he carried and leaped towards the form, trying to bury the knife in its side.

One bloody clawed arm lashed out of the darkness and caught Herne just as he was leaping to the attack, catching him under his extended arm and spinning quickly to throw him solidly into the wall. With a crashing clang, and the sounds of something snapping, whether it was bone or blade, I wasn’t sure. Herne sunk to the floor, seemingly lifeless as Grendel turned towards us.

With a fierce, defiant cry of “No!” Ravyn leaped past my protective arm and launched a massive bolt of fiery red flames at the creature.

The bolt of flames lit up the hall in a blinding flash, and splashed harmlessly off the chest of Grendel who was now clearly quite visible, standing there with Fang’s head in one terrible, bloody claw.

In the quick glance I had of him before the fire dissipated, I could see that Herne was still alive, but was clearly dazed, if not unconscious.

Seeing that Ravyn was not going to play it safe, I rushed forward as the darkness descended yet again. I passed her easily and put myself between her and the creature.

It saw me and dropped into its own battle crouch, apparently it remembered the damage I inflicted upon it before and was taking a more cautious approach with me now. We circled as we closed on each other, allowing Ravyn to rush towards Herne to see she could help him.

Just as I was about to make the first move, the creature reared back and faked throwing Fang’s head at me, before hurling it at the darting form of Ravyn. I tried to call out, but it was too quick, the head struck her in the side with a sickening thud and slammed her up against the wall.

I lashed out at that, hoping at least to get an advantage on this damn creature. I landed what I hoped would be a solid blow on its shoulder, only to see my baton slam into it and shatter like it was glass.

Uh oh...