Abased - The Exiled Warrior

Chapter 11.1 - Smells

"Let's get this over with. The sooner we finish, the sooner we leave," said Tajar.

Alam, Tajar, and Clarisai grabbed what handholds they could on the door and pulled. It took a lot of strain to convince the rusted hinges to move. Once they had managed to squeak and squeal it an arm's length open Sapphire pushed past them and stepped into the darkness.

"Hurry," she ordered.

"Wait!" Alam replied. "We don't know what's in there."

He followed her and found himself in a rough carved tunnel with an uneven floor and a ceiling he would hit his head on if he jumped. There was no light other than the torches carried by the woman and man in white.

Sapphire stood still, with head tilted up. She was taking in deep breaths through her nose.

Is she smelling for something?

Alam took a deep sniff.

It smells like a cave to me.

Alam drew up next to her. There was a strange look on face. In the darkness is was hard to tell what it was.

Excitement, perhaps with a hint of something else?

She closed her eyes and a quiet groan came out of her throat.

This is weird.

Sapphire began walking forward urgently.

"Hold on!" Alam hissed as he grabbed her arm. "We can't just blindly stumble through dargu caves or we'll all get killed. We need a plan."

"Alam is big on plans," Tajar helpfully pointed out.

"I have already told you the plan," Sapphire growled.

"Well, it's a terrible plan that will get us all killed," Alam snapped.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Simple formations, for a start."

"Hurry up!" she snarled.

"Tajar, you're the quietest, you're up front, ten paces ahead; I will go next; Sapphire, you're right behind me; Clarisai, you're behind her; and you two..." He stopped and looked at the woman and man in white. "I don't even know your names. What are your names?"

They did not reply.

"Right. Well you're at the back. Your job is light. Keep the torches high enough that our shadows go down, but we only need one torch lit at a time. This will be our basic moving formation. If I say 'wall' it means we need to defend from the front. In that case Tajar will fall back next to me. If I say 'surrounded' I will fall back behind you two," Alam pointed the man and woman in white. If I say 'run', we run."

"Genius!" Tajar patted Alam on the shoulder as he crept past to take his position at the front. He drew is curved sword from his scabbard, raised his shield, and looked back to Sapphire.

"Which way are going?"

"Turn left at the intersection ahead," she answered.

Tajar crouched and padded forward.

Alam stepped in front of Sapphire. She was still breathing heavily, with her lips parted.

"Let's go," he whispered. "And quietly."

Tajar led them left, then straight, then left again, then right - as guided by Sapphire. Alam was completely lost. Passages branched off at strange angles; some heading either up or down; all of them swallowed by blackness.