Fear Among The Shadows

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The man was getting close.

He was starting to feel the adrenaline coursing through him, and a feeling of exhilaration as well as fear making his heart pound. He was still shaken up from his run-in with the Witch. It hadn't been particularly planned, but somehow it went surprisingly well. She'd just let him go? Even given him advice and told him to take the southern river, Fakh, to get to the Natin caverns. Tha plan had been for him to go through Lil, but she warned him that that would be a bad idea at the moment.

Good. It's not like I was eager to go to that place. What if she saw me?

Unfortunately, the man had many enemies in this place, too many people he was hoping wouldn't catch a glimpse of him. If they found out I was still alive... He didn't want to think about it; no need to fill his mind with the horrors they might put him through, or how much their powers must have grown these past years, or how much their hatred for him would have festered into something so deep and raw they'd probably kill him on sight, find a way to bring him back again, and then torture him.

Yes, he needed to stay hidden.

The little boat he was using sailed smoothly through the water. Thankfully, he was going in the same direction as the current, and didn't need to paddle. He crawled at a snail's pace to the caverns, but he didn't mind. He hunched down in the boat, choosing to sit on the damp floor instead of the benches lest someone spotted him, and studied his map. He had it memorized now, but he didn't want to take any chances. Only fools walked into Natin with no plan, and they usually ended up smashed to bits on the rocks.

It was a long time before his boat finally scraped up against the bottom of a huge cliff that bordered Natin. The river continued underground, eventually spilling out into the sea, but he needed the caverns.

He has arrived.

His arms were shaking even before he started pulling himself up the cliff. This was, luckily, one of the easier cliffs to scale, but he still had to keep his mind focused on not plunging to his death. He wasn't usually a physical person, but ever since he'd joined up with those people, he'd been forced to more and more feats like this. Not for long.

That woman might think this was all her plan, but he knew better. None of them had anything to do with it; these were the strings of fate she was messing with and he was certain that the outcome wasn't what she had planned. And if I just happen to nudge the strings into giving me what I want? Well, that would just make me clever.

When he got to the top of the cliff, he took a moment to catch his breath and surveyed the scene before him. Nothing but rocks and a couple of clumps of trees scattered here and there. Way in the distance, he saw the Miaj Channel, and he even thought he could glimpse smudges of the Kefin Islands in the distance. For a second, he wondered what it would be like if he just kept going; crossed over all the cliffs, dropped into the sea and made his way somewhere else where no one wanted to kill him, and no one ordered him around. It was a silly thought, he knew it, but one he had nonetheless.

He shook the distractions out of his head, and made his way down the other side of the cliff. Thankfully, it was less steep than what he'd had to scale to come up, but it was also more dangerous; more loose rocks he could slide on, more rocks that could impale him, and who knew what creatures dwelled there. He tried to stick to the paths marked on the map, where hopefully nothing would jump out at him, but the animals had a different idea. It wasn't long before a wild griffin pounced on him from on top of a rocky outcropping. He was prepared, though and quickly pulled out his dagger. After a short skirmish where his arm was badly scratched, he killed the beast and let himself have another moment's rest. If he'd used his sword he probably wouldn't have gotten injured, but he didn't want to do anything to dull the blade. It was forged for one purpose and one purpose only.

To slay one beast.

The man reached the road cut straight into the group of cliffs and was just about to cross when he heard the sound of carriages coming. Without thinking, he hid behind some boulders and watched as two carriages came into view. The second one was so large that it's sides scrapes against the rocky walls of the road. They both had the same insignia: a broken sword, dripping with blood.

Davian's symbol.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was scooting a bit from behind his hiding space. He knew it was completely idiotic, and what if Davian was inside? He'll see me! But for some reason, his body wasn't listening to his mind, and peeked out to catch a glimpse inside the smaller carriage that didn't have its curtains drawn.

The second he looked, he pulled himself back behind the rock so fast, it was a miracle he didn't get whiplash. His heart was pounding so hard, it was practically reverberating through the rocks. They didn't see me, they didn't see me, they didn't see me...

'They'... That alone had been enough to stop his heart. Davian and Jonathan were in that carriage. Aren't they still at war? What's going on? If those two decided to team up, then we have less time than we thought.

When the carriages left, he didn't waste any time. He quickly crossed the road to the other side and began climbing. Although he tried to keep his mind concentrating on the task at hand, he couldn't help but think about them. Where are they going, he wondered. The only thing at the end of that road was Ladth. Well, there was also Tull, but there were vastly easier ways to get there. Ladth. Nothing could possibly drive them back there.

Stop thinking about them.

He shook his head again, and even gave himself a little slap to snap out of it. He needed to focus. He was getting close, and now wasn't the time for distractions. On and on he went, climbing until his legs ached, his arms were perpetually shaking, and his hands were covered with blisters. He was starting to doubt whether the map had been wrong, and that there was nothing there. But then, he felt it. A deep rumble in the ground beneath him. The sound climbed into his body somehow, and shook his very core. He crept to the edge of the cliff, a steep drop into the sea and saw, a few feet down, a cave entrance.

Before he could think twice, he carefully climbed down until he reached the opening. The sound was louder now. A few loose pebbles were even shaking on the cave's floor. He peered in, but couldn't see anything. Yet, he knew it was inside. Chained, muzzled, or at least that's what the woman told him. Maybe she was lying and I'm about to be mauled...

No time to turn back now, though. He carefully pulled the sword out of its sheath, and stepped into the cave.

It was time to kill a beast.