Asher the Insane

44 - The Party's Preparation

"Company HALT!" Mine yelled out, raising his fist.

The elf and the dwarf continued on while the orc and the goblin stopped abruptly.

Asharis crossed her arms impatiently and turned around as she passed in front of Mine, asking, "What?"

She caught a hold and pulled on the collar of the dwarf, who wanted to walk on still.

"Let go, yer little..." he swore under his breath.

"Listen up," Mine exclaimed, while spreading out a map, "we're almost to the cult's temple, and before we do anything, we need a strategy. "

"I'Z GOTTA PLAN," Yam yelled out, almost deafening Mine who was standing right beside him.

"Ah want to know the orc's scheme," roared Thakin with laughter.

Asharis also had a quiet giggle.

"It's fantastic that you have a plan, Yam, but is it anything other than killing everything in sight?" Mine asked Yam as he turned to face the orc.

"UH...." He thought for a second, "NAH."

"That might be Plan C," the human moaned. Pulling out a map from his backpack and spreading it out on the ground, he said, "their temple is right here."

"I see it," Asharis said.

His fingertips were still resting on the map as he said, "Yes, right here."

"No, I mean I can literary see it," she affirmed once more.

"What, where?"

"Right there in the distance, east," she pointed.

Mine strained his eyes, but try as he might, he saw nothing.

Everyone else also tried but failed to see what Asharis was pointing at.

"Sorry, I always forget that the lesser races are even lacking in eyesight," she said with a clear feeling of superiority.

Mine remarked, taking out a telescope and looking in the direction the elf pointed to, "If you can see anything, then tell us about it."

Even with the telescope, the cult's temple was scarcely visible, despite the fact that it appeared to be in the elf's line of sight.

"The entryway is clearly built into the mountainside. It must cut deep into it. It is not made of typical stone or metal; whatever it is composed of is quite dark."

"Anything else? Do you see anybody?" Mine tried to gather more information. "Enemy soldiers, sentries, scouts, hideable positions, set-ups for ambushes, traps, anything? Anything at all?"

Though Asharis was getting annoyed by the orders of Mine she made an effort to respond, "No, I don't see any, there's no one there, nothing much to hide behind or below too. There simply isn't much to learn simply from an entryway alone."

After giving it some thought, Mine muttered, "Great, we'll leave tonight under the cover of darkness."

Without much occurring, time passed.

Vethra and Yam quickly became friends and engaged in casual conversation, which would have been brain-numbing if anyone else were to be listening.

That made sense because many people believe that Orcs and Goblins are distant relatives of one another; that they were of one race that divided into two ages ago.

Thakin triple-checked everything that he had stuffed in his bag, bombs of all kinds, from explosive to distracting, and the shells and powders which they were made of. He also polished little machinery; nobody except him knew what they were supposed to accomplish, and the single parts which they were made of.

Mine held pen and paper to write while struggling to think of the appropriate course of action, but ultimately scratching out everything he had written down, unable to think of a plan since he lacked sufficient knowledge about their intended destination.

And Asharis was meditating, which is how dark elves often passed the time when there was nothing that urgently needed to be done.

Everyone of them was prepared for when the sun had totally set.

It took some time and a considerable distance for everyone to eventually notice the entrance because of how far they were from the cult's hideout.

Mine dispatched Vethra to survey the area near the entrance; her set of skills making her an excellent scout, but not a single person was to be found.

As Asharis had reported, everything was covered in dark and seemingly unnatural material which bore a resemblance to stone though it was unnaturally dark.

The entrance had no doors; it was just an opening into the mountain with stairs leading down into a dark, unlit abyss.

"TERE IZ NO FITE," Yam tried to say in a quiet voice, which by most everyone else was still considered screaming.

"Shut yer gob, will ya? And I don't mean the goblin," Thakin whispered, "do we hafta go down there?"

"Why? Is the little baby scared?" Asharis rubbed her eyes in a mocking, crying motion.

"That's exactly why everyone despises you elves!" The dwarf entered the darkness first, attempting to show that he was not at all frightened.

Everyone else followed suit.