Back in the village the group noticed something was amiss straight away. The door to The Griff was open and a small group of locals were hanging around the entrance. Recognising Freen, Roocal moved next to the Chester and asked what was going on.
“It’s Chico. He’s gone mad,” Freen stated, “He came in the inn, took one look at Jinkle and Carb laughing together and lost it. He knocked out Carb with a spell of some kind and then enchanted Jinkle, making her follow him out of the inn back to their house. When Carb came round, he went running after them but no-one has seen them since. We are all so worried.”
Roocal glanced at the others. “Seems we have more work to do. Any complaints?”
All eyes inevitably fell on Scar, who started saying, “I’m guessing those looks mean you don’t want me to come. Don’t worry-”
But she was interrupted by Cherry. “Actually, it seems like this Chico is a magic user. I would prefer it if you came along.”
Bigs and Groog nodded their agreement. Roocal concealed a small smile to himself. No matter how disagreeable she was, the others were starting to realise her value to the group.
“I suppose I could come,” Scar said, “Besides, there might be an opportunity to set Cherry on fire,” smiling at the healer.
Roocal wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not but either way, he was happy to see Scar snapping out of whatever melancholy funk she had been in for the past few hours. He couldn’t also help notice she called Cherry, “Cherry” too. Not Cupcake or Princess or something similar. Progress.
“So it’s decided,” Roocal said, “Let’s go.”
Once they arrived at Chico’s house it was easy to see where the three villagers had gone. The basement. The door was still open and several sets of dusty footprints led off down into the darkness. Roocal’s safe zone sign on his hand winked out as he made his way down the rickety old staircase. He expected nothing less, now.
They walked quietly and carefully down the steps, the way down continuing on for a surprisingly long time, none of them really quite sure what to expect when they reached the bottom.
Cherry jumped as a spider webbed brushed her hair and proceeded to frantically brush her fingers through her hair looking for whatever made the web. Something then touched her ear and she screamed and flailed her arms wildly, screaming, “Get if off!”
But all she saw was Bigs laughing and pointing at Scar.
Cherry took a deep breath and turned to Scar, “Please don’t do that again.”
Scar shrugged, “Do what?” and continued on down the steps.
Cherry shuddered.
Roocal watched as Bigs disappeared off into the gloom ahead. As the rest of them followed on behind more slowly, the atmosphere became thicker and more tense. There was a smell of decay in the air, mingling with the dust. And the sound of their footsteps echoing in the silence only seemed to add to the tension.
Roocal had no doubt they were going the right way. There were recently broken cobwebs in every direction he looked. Webs that had obviously lain previously undisturbed for a very long time before that.
Cherry was having a hard time continuing. Spiders were definitely some kind of phobia for her. She seemed on the verge of panic and wasn’t quite sure where to look or walk, jumping at every little movement that caught her eye and trying desperately not to show how scared she was.
They had stopped descending but what had originally been a manmade corridor had changed now to a more natural tunnel. Roocal wasn’t sure when the change happened but he was sure they were no longer in a basement. But the walls and ceiling all around him were covered with cobwebs, so making any kind of assessment of where they were, was difficult.
YOU ARE READING
Echoes of Before
Fantasi[Completed] Roocal doesn't know where he's from or how he got here but as events unfold around him, he starts to suspect there is more to his being here than meets the eye ...
