15 – Delving Interlude

Andy and his little team of intrepid explorers, along with about a dozen volunteers from the trailer park, dragged most of the giant rat corpses up the steps, down the long, downward-sloping tunnel to the waterfall, and threw them over. It was a messy job, and a little morbid, but they were hopeful that, in a day or two, most of the corpses would be picked clean or dragged away by the denizens of the desert. Volunteers would build a bonfire for whatever remained.

Meanwhile, Bea went up to the spring to refine some of her “miracle water” into the stronger tinctures that seemed capable—Andy was a testament—of curing even critical wounds. At the same time, Bella went up into the settlement to talk to other “fighter-types” about posting a guard in the stairwell room so their group could descend again without worrying about something getting past them.

After dragging the last of the giant rats off the ledge, Andy returned to the scene of the battle and, using his Smoke Sight to ensure nothing dangerous was lurking in wait, descended around the bend to where the archer who’d shot him had been. He saw the gray-scale outline of the body immediately when he moved past the first landing, and, after scanning the stairs in both directions, canceled his vision spell so he could see in full-colored detail, thanks to the lamp Tucker had placed on the landing.

The “Frontier Steward” had put it there while they were cleaning out the corpses, saying that, if there were stragglers lurking in the darkness of the tunnel, they’d probably avoid the light. Andy didn’t know if he was right, or if there just weren’t any rats brave enough to approach the scene of their comrades’ slaughter, but so far they hadn’t seen any more. In any case, when Andy canceled his spell, he saw the archer’s corpse clearly in the light: it looked like a small man with rodent-like features.

It wore dirty, torn clothes that, in all honesty, looked like business-casual attire—a red polo shirt, badly stained, and khakis with shredded cuffs from which hairy ankles and long, clawed feet extended. Its arms looked almost human, save for the abundance of hair; however, above the neck, things took a very strange turn.

The creature had massive front teeth that protruded from fur-covered lips; its eyes were large and black, and its elongated snout sported bundles of long, wiry whiskers. In death, the poor thing clutched a small, green-and-black compound bow, but the quiver that hung from its shoulder was stuffed with primitive arrows much like the one that had pierced Andy’s side.

“Weird,” Andy muttered, stooping to examine Lucy’s arrow, standing proudly from the ratman’s chest. It was a perfect heart shot. He wondered whether Lucy had saved them all with that shot. What would have happened if this little archer had managed to incapacitate Bella or Jace with an arrow like the one that had hit Andy? Would the horde of giant rats have overrun them? He slung the bow over his shoulder, grabbed the ratman’s collar with one hand, and dragged him up the stairs behind him.

In the circular stairwell room, he found a crowd had gathered, but conversations grew quiet as he approached, dragging his grisly prize. Lucy and Jace were standing near the tunnel leading to the waterfall, chatting with Tucker. Andy started toward them, but then a familiar face stepped out of the larger crowd and approached—it was Omar.

“Damn, so it’s true. They are turning into rat-people!”

Andy looked at the man, his gaze immediately drawn to his eyes—Bea hadn’t been lying when she’d said they were wolf-like. They were pale amber in hue, narrowed and glinting with a distinctive, predatory focus as he stared at the corpse at Andy’s feet. “Hey, Omar. You feeling better?”

“I feel great thanks to our Water Witch.” He looked over his shoulder. “Not sure where she is, but I’ll be thanking her until the day I die.”

Andy nodded. “Yeah, she’s great—saved me for the second time tonight. Everything…cool, otherwise?”

Omar snorted a short laugh, reaching up to clap Andy on the shoulder. “I’m good, man. I know my eyes look different. I can see better in the dark, too.” He shrugged. “Other than that, I haven’t noticed much. The System told me something, though. I was half out of it, but it was something along the lines of ‘the werewolf’s bite has awakened a lupine bloodline.’ Yeah, and I can see it on my status sheet. Nothing else has changed.”

“The System hasn’t said anything else? No, um, hints about your bloodline?”

Omar shrugged. “Nah, I don’t think so. Like I said, I was out of it. Anyway, the System isn’t exactly helpful, is it?”

Andy shook his head. “Nah. Damn thing isn’t exactly like an instruction manual.”

“So listen,” Omar said, leaning a little closer. “I was talking to Jace and Lucy. They say you’re going back down? Deeper this time?”

Andy nodded. “I wouldn’t mind getting some sleep, but I can’t rest knowing we’ve got some kind of monster infestation under our noses. Besides, if we need to take shelter down here for some reason, we don’t want to be fighting for space with these kinds of things.” Andy nudged the dead ratman with his shoe. More people had crowded close, and Bernice, whom Andy hadn’t noticed, cleared her throat, stepping forward.

“Do you think we’ll need to? Take shelter, I mean?”

Andy shook his head. “I really don’t know, but regardless, there’s a lot of room down here, and it’s under our feet—literally. I think that in this new world, unclaimed space doesn’t stay like that for long.”

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She nodded, turning to continue a side conversation. Meanwhile, Eduardo came forward, a notebook in hand. “I’m going to map the parts of the tunnel system you folks deem safe.” He pointed toward Lucy and Jace. “The waterfall is that way, right? Do any of the tunnels below go in that direction? I’m curious if there’ll be any water source down here—like if the spring has any offshoots.”

“Don’t know yet, Ed.” Andy nudged the corpse again. “These guys attacked us before we could go down any tunnels on the floors below.”

“So there are actual floors?” Eduardo looked at the stairwell behind Andy. “Are you going to clear the next level?”

“I guess that’s the plan, yeah.” Andy handed the little compound bow to Omar. “Can you give that to someone who can use it?”

“Yeah, I’ll pass it on. I was hoping I could join you, though.” He looked at the bow, then shook his head. “Too small for me. It’s like a kid’s bow.”

Andy shrugged. “Fine by me if you come.” He scanned the crowd. “Still waiting on Bea.”

The grizzled veteran medic, Frank Dunlap, stepped closer and took the bow out of Omar’s hand. “I, uh, could come with.”

“Oh no, you don’t!” Bea called, stepping out of the tunnel that led toward the settlement. “Trying to take my spot, Frank?” She was smiling, but there was an edge to her voice that Andy thought made it pretty clear she wasn’t joking.

Frank held up a hand, palm out. “I mean, I’m just trying to help.”

Bea thumped her walking stick against the stone as she approached. “You stay here and keep the citizens healthy. I’ve got a quest I’m working on.” This time, her smile looked a little more playful.

“Damn, Bea,” Frank said, turning to look at her more fully. “You’re surprising me more and more every day. Couple weeks ago, you were telling me your arthritis was keeping you from—”

“No more of that, Frank. Times are changing, and those of us who can

must step up.” She thumped her staff again. “And I can.”

“Easy, Bea,” Andy said, grunting as he stooped to grab ahold of the ratman’s collar again. “Nobody’s going to take your spot. Let me go do something with this guy, and then I’ll be ready.”

“Hold up, Andy!” Eduardo said. “Can you leave that one? I’d like to make some sketches. I’m sure someone here will help me take care of the body when I’m done.”

“Uh, sure.” Andy lowered the corpse, and when he looked up, Bella, Jace, and Lucy had approached. Bella grabbed Bea’s sleeve, hanging onto her as she leaned her cheek against her shoulder. The older woman didn’t seem to mind, gently stroking Bella’s dark hair. Jace folded his arms, expression cloudy, eyes distant. Andy was about to ask him what was up, but then Lucy stooped and started unbuckling the quiver on the ratman’s body.

“Those arrows aren’t any good, are they?” Andy asked.

“I think they’re enchanted. The one that hit you sure worked, didn’t it?”

Andy couldn’t deny it. “I thought maybe he used an, uh, ability or something.”

“Maybe, but here, feel this.” Lucy held one of the bone-like arrows out, and Andy took it. Immediately, he knew what she meant; it tingled against his skin, almost like a low-voltage battery. It was exceptionally light, too, and he saw that the bone was carved with elaborate grooves where feathers on a traditional arrow would be.

“Did he make these?”

“No clue,” Lucy replied. “Maybe he had an ability that turned animal bones into arrows. Who knows?”

“That would be hella convenient,” Jace said, snapping out of his moody reverie.

Andy looked at Bea. “We ready?”

“I am,” she said, then gently slapped her staff against Frank’s work boot. “If you can get this old codger to leave me alone.”

“Old Codger? You’re fifteen years older than I am!” Despite how funny Andy thought the interaction was, Frank didn’t sound amused, and he supposed he couldn’t blame the guy; Bea seemed to have won the System lottery with her class and its ability to rejuvenate her.

“Anyone else object to getting started?” Andy asked, looking over the rest of the party.

Omar cleared his throat, jerking his thumb toward the tunnel that led up to the settlement. “I gotta grab a weapon.”

“Wait!” Bella said, handing him her spear, while patting the hilt of the sword protruding from her belt. “I want to try out this sword.”

“Do you have any clue how to use that?” Jace asked.

“Nope, but I didn’t know squat about spears a few days ago, either.”

“Huh. Good point.” Jace shrugged.

“We good, then?” Andy asked, motioning toward the steps.

Everyone indicated they were ready, so he began to descend. Bea picked up a fresh lantern as she passed by the short wall that separated the steps from the rest of the room. Combined with the lantern down on the first landing, the light was more than enough to brightly illuminate the remaining bloody gore from their earlier battle. After breathing the relatively fresh air above, the coppery scent of blood combined with the ammonia stench of urine and other stuff was enough to force Andy to hold a sleeve over his mouth and nose as he went.

At the first landing, he paused, waiting for everyone else. When they all stood on the landing, looking at him expectantly, he said, “Honestly, someone ought to stay here. We don’t want something to sneak up from below and get behind us.”

Jace sighed, shaking his head. “I take it that won’t be you.”

“I mean, I could, but I think I’m the best scout we—”

“Just busting your balls, man. It should be me or Bella…maybe Omar.”

Omar nodded. “I’ll guard the landing this time. We can take turns.”

Not for the first time, Andy found himself appreciating Omar’s team-player attitude. “Cool,” he said. “Just whistle if something comes.”

Omar hefted Bella’s spear, turning to face the descending steps. “Got it.”

Andy gestured to the dark tunnel leading away from the landing. “I’ll scout ahead.”

Lucy stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder. “I feel something down there. Like…stronger than what I felt before. I mean, when I told you about the stairs.”

Andy clenched his hands on his spear, nodding. “So, the rats weren’t the end of it, huh? I guess it was wishful thinking, considering the quest we all got.”

Bea cleared her throat, stepping up beside Bella. “I suppose I ought to come clean about my other quest.”

Andy looked at her, an eyebrow arching. “When you mentioned a quest to Frank, I thought you meant the one we all have.”

She shook her head, her white ponytail bobbing. “No, I have another one. There’s some kind of corrupted water down here, and I need to cleanse it. It may be that the two quests are related.”

“Don’t worry, Granny,” Bella said, earning a dirty look from Bea. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah.” Andy concentrated briefly, casting his Smoke Sight spell, then turned to stare into the darkness. “There’s a T-junction about fifty feet ahead. I’ll meet you guys there in about a minute, okay?”

They all agreed, and he started forward. Andy couldn’t know it then, but if he asked them later, any of the others would tell him that they tried to watch him go. They saw him take a few steps, but as he walked away from the lantern’s light, casting his Unseen Stalker spell, wisps of shadowy smoke seemed to pour out of his skin, wrapping around him, bending the light until everyone’s eyes seemed to slide off him, and he was gone—like a ghost.