noveltune Chapter 156: Sanctuary
Chapter 156: Sanctuary
Chapter 156: Sanctuary
The water was cool as it soaked my boots, then my socks, and my linen pants, working its way up my body. I was waist-deep, and a cloud of filth was spreading out from me, fouling the clear water. “Maveith, come on in! The water is fine!” Maveith stood on the shore, uncertain. “We saw the cockatrice bathing. There is nothing dangerous in the water.”
The tall goliath looked around the room, turning his head slowly. “I think I will harvest the cockatrices first. That way, I do not have to bathe twice. I will also retrieve my arrows.”
I rolled my eyes at Maveith. “Well, I saw some wild onion stems among the tall grass. You can dig them up as well.”
Maveith’s deep voice sounded hurt that I thought he could not spot the dark green stems of the onions. “I saw them too, Eryk. There looks to be some garlic as well. Did you see the garlic?” He challenged somewhat playfully.
“No. Is there garlic too? If you start pulling up the root vegetables, see if you can capture some of the worms the cockatrices were eating. I want to see if I can use the collector on them.” Maveith looked doubtful at that statement.
I started removing my armor, one piece at a time, cleaning it before tossing it into the grass to dry. Maveith focused on the cockatrices. I would throw him in if he tried not to bathe. We both smelled so foul that we no longer noticed how bad it was.
After my armor was off and cleaned to the best of my ability, I worked on my clothes,soaking and rinsing them repeatedly until they no longer produced clouds in the water. The dirty water quickly settled into the sandy bottom, filtering downward. Eventually, I was completely naked, so I produced my shaving kit to retrieve the small bar of soap inside. I then returned the rest of the kit. I scrubbed out every crack and crevice of dirt, dried blood, and sap. I used the entire bar of soap, but it was worth it. I moved under the waterfall and began to rinse my hair and scrub my face. I remained under the cascading water until my skin was puckered, pale, and perfectly clean.
I had spent two hours bathing, and Maveith worked the entire time. I might have felt guilty if I had not asked him to join me a dozen times while he worked. I pulled out clean underclothes from my storage and dressed. I only had one spare pair of legion boots in my space, and I was wearing them now. I no longer felt like a soldier on an infinite campaign. I felt almost human, if I was not trapped deep inside a dungeon that was trying to kill me.
Maveith had a tarp in the grass with a stack of bird meat and organs. There was a pile of small wild onions and a second pile of some pungent bulbous wild garlic. The onions and garlic would give our meals a lot of flavor in the future. After bathing for the first time in weeks, I was reluctant to dig them up. “Eryk, if you cook, I will bathe. We have about eight hours before we should leave.”
I nodded and was glad the goliath was tracking our time as well. The last thing either of us wanted was to be caught bathing when the cockatrices respawned. Maveith finally stripped and entered the water to wash himself and his gear.
I focused on cooking. I heated some bear fat in Maveith’s cast iron pan. I cut up several onions and two garlic cloves and cooked them. One of the cockatrice breasts was cut into thin strips, and I ground up some pepper. I seasoned each side with a little salt and pepper, then seared both sides of the bird meat, cooking it through. I folded the crispy meat like a taco and filled it with onions sautéed and garlic.
I munched on the first one, enjoying the texture and flavors. As I prepared the second, I called Maveith over. He came out of the water to get his cockatrice taco, naked. “Damn, Maveith, watch where you swing that thing!” He ignored me, and the taco was gone in two bites.
“It is a safe room,” I said to the relieved Maveith, who joined me. “It is going to take me a little while to decipher this. Do you want the dreamscape amulet?”
“I would be grateful for it, yes,” his deep voice intoned.
While Maveith made himself comfortable in the other alcove with the dreamscape amulet, I translated the ancient writing. Maveith soon started sleeping deeply, and I slowly figured things out.
The script indicated our location: we. were on the third level of the labyrinth in a special series of rooms. It warned of the cockatrices, fire bear, and shapeshifters. The dark room was the real prize in the corner of this dungeon, as it contained silver ore with trace amounts of mithril. Apparently, there were better places to mine mithril, as this was not a popular path due to the cockatrices and greater doppelgangers guarding it.
There was no reference to what was at the top of the stairs. My curiosity got the better of me. I would climb the stairs and check. Maybe there was another safe room at the top. The stairs corkscrewed as I climbed, and I counted the steps. It seemed to go on forever, and I worried I might not be back before Maveith woke.
I assumed I was heading toward the second layer of the labyrinth and getting closer to the others from the company. Perhaps the rooms on the second layer would not be as dangerous. I reached the top of the stairs and did not like what I found: an. oval chamber with a glass floor where giant eels swam underneath. No, it was not glass; it was ice. This room was a skating rink. There were two exits, though. The question was whether the eels were the monsters or if they were what the guardian ate.
I studied the room, but the only activity seemed to be under the ice. I was about to leave when movement on the ceiling caught my eye. The body of something had blended in nearly perfectly. The creature gave up hiding and dropped to the ice as I focused on it. Six thick legs, ending in terrible claws, scratched the glass-like ice, marring the surface and throwing chunks. The dark blue lizard-like creature was larger than a horse and growled at me, clearly unhappy with my presence.
It paced on the ice, its claws ripping up chunks as it went. I watched in horrific fascination, as if I were at a zoo and perfectly safe on the other side of the bars.
After twenty minutes of prancing for me, the muscular creature burrowed into the ice in seconds. I could see it under the ice hunting the large eels. It was not long before it scored a victory and burst out of the ice at a different spot from where it had entered. The ice appeared to be about six inches thick from the chunks that had been washed across the rink. I was curious about how the chamber was reset to make the surface of the ice smooth, but I needed to get back to Maveith. If only one creature existed in this chamber, then it should not be too difficult.
Maveith was still sleeping when I returned down the two hundred and six steps to the safe room. When Maveith woke, we needed to make a big decision. Would we leave this part of the dungeon with the familiar monsters and rooms, or would we go to the second layer and explore unknown threats while attempting to find the others?
© Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne
No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, , or , it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA.