The House of the Griffin

Chapter 3

In the beginning, the cave was narrow and resembled a tunnel. After about 200-300 metres, the tunnel opened into a large cavern. The cavern took up a major portion of the Griffin's Roost, as if the mountain had been hollowed out to make space for this. The cavern should have been dark, but it wasn't due to the glowing gemstones placed at equal intervals in the walls. They filled the space with an eerie blue light. There were stairs at the end of the tunnel that led down one floor. At the centre of the cavern lay the corpse of the Arachnid. It's insides were gone, decayed, but it's exoskeleton still remained. Even centuries after, the shell of the Arachnid remained, the only indication that someone had killed it inside that mountain.

Some parts of the shell were missing, taken by the many descendents of Hart Grieves proving their strength and their worthiness to be the next successor of the Griffin sword technique.

Cal cautiously approached the carcass, wary of any dangers or traps that may have been set there. Unknown to him, someone was indeed watching him from the shadows. When he was close enough, a smell reached his nostrils that he could not identify. He looked around, but could see nothing that would be the cause of the smell. He surveyed the Arachnid's shell carefully, looking for a weak spot. Choosing a point that looked weak to him, he swung his sword. The impact made a sound as if metal had been struck with metal, and the sword bounced back. There wasn't a scratch on the shell.

Cal continued to swing at the shell with all his strength. He did not think that the test was going to be easy, but he didn't think that it would be this tough. While training, he had been able to cut through leather armour and had pierced even iron shields, but the Arachnid shell was proving to be too much for him. Even after what seemed like hours to Cal, the shell was intact. He had not been able to make one dent in it. He was ready to give up, but decided to give it one last try. Cal held the sword in front of him with both his hands. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind of all thoughts. He calmed his nerves by taking deep breaths. Raising his sword above him, he thought only of the blade in his hands and the shell that he had been striking for so long. Opening his eyes, he swung down with all his might.

As the blade struck the shell, sparks flew off. Cal would have been happy that he made progress, but there was no time for it as he was thrown back by an explosion. He hit the ground hard, his breath knocked out of him. He tried to stand up, but his muscles did not listen to him. Darkness started to surround him. The last thing he saw was a figure coming closer to him. He was able to make out the face of the person. He tried to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. The last thing he saw before passing out was the sole of a boot coming at his face.

                                                                                        *

Semola Grieves had known about the test, and had handed her daughter a vial of fluid she got from a friend to make it easy for her. She had even bribed the one who had inspected Fria before the test had begun. After trying relentlessly, Fria too had not been able to cut the shell, and had thus decided to take the easy way. She had just doused the carcass with the explosive fluid in the vial and was getting ready to ignite it, when she was interrupted by Cal.

She heard his footsteps and retreated to a dark corner of the room. She had watched him as he had unsuccessfully tried to cut the shell and had gained satisfaction from it. She watched as a spark from his blade had ignited the fluid and create an explosion. After he was knocked back, she came close to him and kicked him in the head a couple of times to knock him out. She then picked up a shard of the Arachnid's shell from the ground and turned to exit the cavern. On her way out, she collapsed the tunnel with some of the leftover fluid. Smiling to herself, she started walking back to the city of Grieves, concocting a story to tell her father and the other elders about how Cal had been killed by an orc.