In the Valley of a Thousand Footprints

[xvii] Cavern Scuffles and Surprises

Ellian fell fast and hard, flailing in and out of the downward stream of water. He fell for a few seconds before coming crashing down into another wider, but shallower pool of water. Submerged, he began to move in the direction of the current, towards a opening in the rocky walls of the pool which presumably dropped down into another at a lower elevation. 

He let himself be pulled along by the current and at the final moment, burst out of the water and grabbed onto the edge, just before the opening. But just barely. His fingers trembled on the slippery rock that he was caught flush with, as faster flowing water buffeted him on its way into the lower pool. Pulling himself up, the boy collapsed onto the edge of the upper pool and rose to his feet, huffing hard. 

He stood on what amounted to a small cliff, overlooking a large grotto. Here too, the wall's bioluminescence allowed him to see the slippery rock that made up the confines of this undercroft that he had found himself in. Large pillars of rock connected from the ceiling to the floor. Stalactites and stalagmites were unevenly distributed. There were a few torches spread out here and there. The air was cold. Ellian was grateful for the poncho, even though it was wet, it gave some protection for his arms. Although, ruefully, his pants weren't long enough to cover his ankles. The constant submerging had left him shivering. 

Straining his eyes, he continued his examination of the grotto. Old wooden structures had been built along the walls, short scaffolding and beams were plentiful. He then saw a man run in from somewhere, and following him with his gaze, he was led to the company of men in black cloaks. That's them! They're the ones who ruined everything! Rage boiled up inside Ellian as he remembered the torment they had put him through. Then he saw Winfraeid. 

Or rather, he just about made out the outline of the captain. He was on his knees and his hands were probably bound. The anger within him surged, and as he watched, the visibility became better and he could see the captain clearly. Without questioning it he crouched and quickly surveyed the area. Both Efa and Clytyn had told him to properly identify the battlefield before going in for a battle. 

Winfraeid's on his knees, probably bound by rope, he's probably being tortured or interrogated. There's only a few men in here, about seven, three are guarding Winfraeid, and three were pacing around, one of them is off to the side; he's probably thinking of something so he'll be preoccupied. And the messenger who just ran in, he's talking with the interrogators. I can't take all of them in a melee, at best maybe two or three at once. Gotta kill them off quietly. They all have torches so their visibility is only within a certain range. Should try and find a dagger on one of them. Right that's enough planning, here's hoping I don't die.

He took a deep breath, locked onto the man who was off to the side, and did a dive into the pool of water below. Surfacing, he crawled out of the water. Any noise he made would be covered by the falling water, but he'd still have to be careful. He creeped his way to the man who had been separate from the others, crouching low and freezing every time something moved. The man walked behind a large pillar and Ellian dashed, drawing his sword and pouncing towards the man's cloaked back. In the span of heartbeats, he had locked his legs around the man's torso, clapped a hand over his mouth and shoved the cold hard steel blade sideways through his skull, the point shining with brain matter where it had exited. 

The man toppled to the side and Ellian leapt clear, leaving his sword still in the man's skull. He quickly patted the man's boot and sure enough there was a small dagger in its sheath. He took it and went to work freeing his sword from the man's head. He managed it with a lot of leveraging and pulling. His poncho was speckled with blood and his boots were too, it had pooled onto the rocks, making it slippery. 

He celebrated his success for a brief moment before moving onto the next victim. He looked around for an easy means of assassination. Noticing the scaffolding that was around one rocky pillar, he scaled it and hung precariously, getting a good look at the other's locations. Two of them were slowly walking towards Ellian, conversing in low tones.