Return of the Rat

Chapter Two

By the time Gill awoke his father was already at work. Rozt hadn't slept, however, and they decided that now was as good a time as ever to go on their expedition.
Hydren's Isles consisted of two Islands connected by a very long wooden bridge. The first island was where everybody lived and worked. The second was reserved solely for Hydren's temple. A huge, towering and ancient marble construct with long pillars hoisting the roof closer to the heavens. The deity Hydren was represented by the image of a flying sperm whale, and the symbol which adorned many of the doors and walls was a crude representation of this: A triangle with semicircular wings jutting out either side.
"It should be safe to go in," Gill said to Rozt as they arrived at the temple. "I timed this specifically so that everybody would be at the trial."
They stepped further onto the steep white steps. "Didn't your Dad only tell you that yesterday?" Rozt asked.
"He doesn't know that my mother already told me. I was humouring him yesterday. Anyway, I knew it would be safe for us to come here today. Everybody in the City is going to be at a trial if it's for something as strange as a crazy Warlock."
Today, Gill was wearing sleek leather armour he had stolen from his attic. The longsword which usually sat on his mantelpiece was now holstered at his hip. On his back hung his heavy cello and its bow. Gill had prepared armour for Rozt as well, but Rozt had vouched to wear his normal attire - arguing that his shell could give far more protection than leather ever could. Rozt had his grandfather's rapier at his side the same as Gill, and his harmonica on a makeshift rack comprised of an old coat hanger hung over his shoulders.
"So why do you want to do this uh 'heist' anyway?" Rozt inquired. They reached the top of the staircase and slipped into the main hallway.
"It's a big forbidden temple," Gill replied "I just have a feeling there might be some cool treasure! We can be like the adventurers of old! There's no point in me training to make magic music if I'm only ever going to use it to help you get over on your boat everyday."
Rozt swallowed a lump in his throat. He hadn't thought about the destruction of his boat or how he was going to get home until now, and the thought began to weigh on his head.
"You know Gill: I'm not too sure that I want to be like an 'adventurer of old...'" his words echoed around the hall. They double checked to see if there was anybody else around but the place was quite hauntingly empty.
A sea green carpet woven with intricate and careful swirls lead up to an unused altar. Where there should have been pews for people to sit at the sides of the carpet there was nothing, almost like this temple was never meant to be used in the first place. Gill went around tapping the walls to find weak points, his ear-hole pressed tight against it. Rozt found a banister to lean on. He looked about worriedly and then he looked at Gill, who by now had given up on his search.
"Rock solid." Gill said.
"Hmm." Nodded Rozt. He felt uneasy about this. Something about it didn't fit right in his stomachs but as far as he was concerned, Gill was his friend and he would go anywhere with him. Even if it meant he would get into trouble. Rozt lent a bit heavier on the banister and as it folded down, for moment he thought he had broken it. And then... as it clicked into a certain place... something started to happen.
A trap door under the altar slowly cracked open inch by inch revealing a steady stone stairway descending into darkness. Without hesitation Gill started to follow it. Rozt reached out both of his left arms with a harsh gasp and his lips spat out something which sounded like a trail of "no"s but he quickly came to the realization that he wasn't going to stop Gill, and he felt it wasn't his place to boss him around. He followed Gill's example and with trembling feet snuck down the cold steps.
"This is cool!" Gill smiled at Rozt over his shoulder with furtive nervousness.
"Uh-huh," Rozt stammered, his upper right hand holding onto the hilt of his sword for dear life.
The stairway fell and fell for what seemed like miles. The 'heroes' could see in the darkness as though it were just dim light due to their primitive senses but something about this particular darkness was off. Gill jumped a little and held still as he heard a subtle squeaking like "chik-chik" coming from below. They stopped and listened for a few moments. Sometimes the squeaking would cease for a while but then in would come back more sounding more worried. More persistent.
"I sounds like," Rozt whispered "A larvae... Maybe not my kind of larvae but an animal one." He listened out again. "It sounds like it's searching for its mother and is just getting more distressed."
"One of your kind?" Gill replied.
"No... No I just said that. It's not a Beetle like I am. It's a beetle like the mindless insects. It could be a maggot... like a fly larvae but I can't be too sure."
"That's disgusting" Gill chuckled. Rozt was slightly offended, but he kept it to himself.
As they delved deeper, the stairwell began to become more steep and ramp-like, and the air began to get more brittle. Gill and Rozt could feel the cold stroking them with the occasional breeze. By the time they reached the bottom, the 'larvae chirping' as Rozt put it, had ceased, and now in front of them stood a towering stone door with the emblem of Hydren haphazardly painted on it. Gill stepped towards it first. It was a solid double doorway with no handles. There were no levers either side of it or any switches which would grant somebody entry. Rozt looked around the room, but all that was there were stones and small, lifeless rock pools.
"Maybe we should turn back." Rozt suggested. It fell on deaf ears.
It wasn't until Gill mindlessly knocked on the door some ten minutes later that it began to slide open with a trembling earthquake. It was obvious that this door was sealed magically some thousands of years ago. The room that greeted them on the other side was damp, haunting and labyrinthian. The twisting walls were covered from top to bottom in gooey sacks full of fresh eggs the size of a Gill's dainty fists. Some of these were cracked open, and the produce writhed in the hallways. Grubs. Bright red maggots with some tiny hairs on their underbellies acting as legs. They made the "Chik-chik" sound and squealed in unison. Gill shuddered at the sight of the thousands of foetal insects plaguing the corridors. As one drew closer to him he readied his sword and swung in primal fear. It hit the ground in front of him. Sensing danger, the maggot spat out a stream of spit which attached itself to his leg and burned. He yelped and shook it off, the slime hitting the wall to his left like a whip. In his friend's defence, Rozt stabbed down at the maggot with its rapier, piercing and killing it.
"Th-thanks." Gill said
"'Like the adventurers of old'" Rozt mocked him. They shared a nervous chuckle and carried on into the first room with careful footing over the flagstone floor. The room was held up by four pillars, one in each corner. Rozt stepped on a floor tile, and much quicker than it opened, the door from whence they came slammed shut, crushing two maggots. Rozt looked back at them with compassion, and then looked at Gill. They let out an "oh fuck" in unison, and much more nervous than they would have before, looked around the room to consider their options. There was the closed door behind them and three more ordinary doors. One in front of them and one on either side.
"West... I guess," Gill suggested "This one." and pointed to his left.
Rozt followed without a word. The western door opened easily. The room on the other side was lined with wooden barrels upon barrels. Gill opened the barrel closest to him carelessly, using his sword as a crowbar. His eyes widened in shock as a small crack appeared above the hilt of his blade, and the barrel creaked open.
Inside were thousands and thousands of tiny dried leaves and sticks. It looked as though they had been here for hundreds of years. Gill picked one up, sniffed it and watched it crumble easily between his fingers.
"What is it?" Rozt piped up, coming over on his tiptoes to investigate.
"Smells like pipe tobacco maybe." Gill shrugged "Been here a while." He sneezed harshly and his eyes watered. "It smells bad"
Rozt didn't have a nose and wasn't exactly too clear on what smelling was in the first place. He turned around without saying anything and scanned the rest of the room. The maggot squealing started again. It was coming from whence they came.
"I feel kind of bad for those grubs, you know? They must feel so lost without their mother."
Gill shrugged him off. "They're only bugs, Rozt. Like you said: They aren't like you are. When I met you you were a little grub like them and you weren't so slimy and disgusting."
"I suppose," Rozt thought "but they're still animals with feelings. Seeing as we're kind of stuck down here maybe we should help them find their mother?"
"Shit man. We are stuck down here," Gill realised. He closed the barrel after shoving a handful into his bag. "Maybe we should go deeper. There will be another way out I'm sure."
Rozt nodded slightly and headed for the door they came from. This time Gill followed him. The entrance room was unchanged and this time they chose the Eastern door. Through it was a hallway which seemed to twist and turn. Eggs concealed in slime plastered the walls. They got thicker and more dense as Gill and Rozt continued down the hall.
"I think we're on the right track" Rozt whispered to Gill, and sure enough at the end of the hall was a circular chamber containing the lair of a humongous magenta beetle suckling a barrel of tobacco for sustenance. It looked sickly and as though it was barely surviving. As the two entered the room, the Beetle turned to them and hissed. It began to flutter its wings and came swooping down for Gill.
Rozt readied his saber. Gill's was already out. He swung for the beetle and it bounced of his shell. The beetle again gave a harrowing hiss and turned to Gill. It hurled some acidic spit which had been gurgling in its grotesque mouth at him. Gill screamed and shook it off. It burned a small crooked hole in the left breast of his armour. Rozt ran forward at the distracted beetle and stabbed it hard in its underbelly. The sword sank deep letting free some blood. The beetle's hiss was a screech this time. Rozt stabbed again and Gill hit it bluntly on the head with the hilt of his sword.
The mother beetle slumped to the ground, wings twitching sadly. Rozt felt bad for it, hot guilt washing over him. Before he could say anything, Gill lodged his sword into the crease behind the beetle's head. He cracked the beetle's head off. It's whimpering screeches we're silenced.
"Now that was like the adventurers of old!" Gill said. He held up hid hand to high-five Rozt, who reluctantly returned it.