The Land: Alliances (Chaos Seeds Book 3)

CHAPTER 15

Richter ran through the forest his heart pounding. His shoulder was definitely dislocated, but thankfully nothing white and jagged was poking out of his skin. That did not mean that his arm didn’t feel like a tic tac box with shards of glass in it. Because it did!

His Night Vision spell kept him from running blindly into trees, but he was running fast enough that he still fell multiple times. The pain in his arm flared with every misstep, almost making him pass out a time or two. The sound of the rock giant crashing through trees behind him though, always brought him back to his feet.

He knew he wasn’t running as fast as he could have because of his shoulder, so when he got a fair lead, he decided to do something about it. Running up to the trunk of a stout tree, he screwed up his courage. Giving himself a few test swings, he practiced slamming his shoulder into the tree Lethal Weapon style. He counted off, “One, Twooo,” a faint whimper escaped his mouth with the word ‘two.’ He didn’t stop his rhythm though, and with a mighty surge he slammed his shoulder into the tree and said, “THRREEEE!”

The pain that had felt like a constant horrible burn exploded like a supernova. Waves of impossibly hot plasma like pain assaulted his consciousness and stars colored his vision. He dropped to the ground as an undignified and somewhat ladylike scream ripped itself from his throat. Looking over at his shoulder which still protruded forward awkwardly, he wailed to the heavens, “Well that didn’t work at ALL!” Another whimper escaped his lips, but the sound of breaking branches and a heavy tread reached him, and he knew it was time to run again.

Even injured, Richter’s magic enhanced speed exceeded the rock giant’s despite their disparity in size so keeping ahead was not a problem. Unfortunately, this was a marathon, not a sprint. His endurance just couldn’t keep up with the rock giant’s relentless pace. Struggling to do so precipitated several near death experiences during Richter’s bleak flight through the dark forest.

Once, he made the mistake of looking backwards to see how close the giant was. When he looked forward again, he slammed his face smack dab into a tree branch and fell to the ground, dazed. The monster’s thuds grew ever closer and by the time Richter was back on his feet, it was barely ten yards away. As he started running he had to dive forward because it threw its tree at him. The monstrous club flew wide thankfully and crashed into a stand of evergreens. The brush with death was close enough that it felt like his heart was trying to leap free of his chest and put just a bit more space between it and the giant. The pain in his shoulder had flared again when he hit the ground, but his adrenaline let him keep going. Richter got back up and kept running with the disappointed howls of his pursuer driving him to greater speeds.

A second time, the rock giant put on an unexpected burst of speed, and made a swipe that caused Richter’s cape to furl from the near miss. He only saved himself by blindly throwing himself down an embankment. He rolled faster and faster until he landed with a bone jarring, breath stealing thud. As he fell, he heard the rock giant tumbling down the slope after him, no more in control of its descent than he had been.

His breath had exploded from his lungs upon his landing and try as he might he couldn’t get back up immediately. As he worked to inflate his chest, he expected to be crushed at any moment by a giant rocky hand, but it didn’t happen. When he could finally breathe again, he looked over and saw the giant flailing about. Its incredible weight had driven its legs into the ground up to its waist. It struggled and strained to free itself from the mud. Still laying on his back, Richter began to laugh, no more than a few yards from the giant. No more than a few yards from what he had come to think of as death incarnate. It wasn’t just the absurdity of the situation that brought on his temporary insanity, it was also that his shoulder had struck a large rock while he was bouncing down the hill. Amazingly, the collision had driven the bone most of the way back into the socket! Even partial relief from the constant excruciating pain was enough for him to want to celebrate!

He laughed in weak sputters, as the air in his lungs still wasn’t up to the task of a full chuckle. Getting back to his feet, he gave the giant the finger. There was no way the monster could have understood exactly what the gesture meant, but it obviously still took it as an insult. With a mighty roar, it put both hands on the ground and pushed. One leg came partially free.

“Gaaaahh!” Richter exclaimed. He extended his hand and cast Charm again and he tried Troubled Sleep, but the enchantment spells had no more effect this time than the last. The giant had one knee up on the ground now and was straining to free its last leg. Richter screwed up his face and gave it the finger again before taking off once more.

He ran as far and as fast as he could. Initially, he tried to head east, but fallen trees and irregular terrain made that impossible. At one point he had to turn north and then west as a sheer rock wall loomed in front of him. He would stop when his stamina began to deplete and move forward at a fast walk. During these times he tried to consult his map and come up with a game plan, but the giant was never far behind. How it tracked him, Richter had no idea, but even though he continually gained a small lead it followed him unerringly. When he could hear the snapping of branches he knew it was time to sprint again. While he sped through the night, all he could think about was surviving and not falling. In depth examination of the map was impossible with his breath coming out in wheezes and lava circulating in his legs. He just kept running.

Richter burned through the stamina potions he had taken from Orvin over the course of the night. He tried to space them out and just let his stamina recover naturally, but the rock giant’s pursuit was as sure as taxes. The lead he obtained with his greater speed was never enough to replenish his stores when he rested. He was forced to drink the green stamina potions with greater and greater regularity.

Only two stamina potions were left when he noticed something out of the ordinary. His new tracking ability had shown him the passage of many creatures during his flight. He was down to his last two green potions when he saw a track that caught his attention. The tracks of the animals glowed ever so faintly. It would never be enough to see by, but it made it much easier to see and follow specific tracks. These tracks glowed as well, but a touch brighter than the others he had seen. There was also something familiar about them, though he didn’t know where he had seen them before. With no other option presenting itself, he decided to follow the trail.

Richter only paused for one moment to determine which direction the tracks led. The creature’s prints had claw marks on one end so he followed that direction. It led him north and east which was generally where he wanted to go anyway so he took it as a good sign. The giant caught sight of him and roared. Its footfalls came faster. A quick analysis showed that it had more than half of its stamina left. Cursing, he took off again.

“Futen,” he panted.

A disembodied voice answered, “Yes, my Lord.”

The fact that the remnant was able to keep pace without feeling the agony Richter was living through made him hate Futen just a bit. He pushed that down though. “Look ahead and see if there is a place for me to hide. Come back quickly!”

Richter heard another ‘Yes, my Lord.’ After that nothing, so he assumed that the grey orb had moved off silently to do as he was bid. Alma continued to fly above him through the trees. At first, she had dive bombed the rock giant unleashing Psi Blast, but it had barely slowed the giant. After one close call where she had narrowly avoided being caught in its huge hands, Richter commanded her to just fly above him. It wasn’t worth the risk.

Richter continued to follow the tracks. Over the next half hour, he used almost all of his stamina potions. Futen came back several times to report he had found nothing and each time Richter sent him forwards again. He was looking around for a place to make his last stand when Futen spoke.

“I have found a cave, my Lord.”

Richter didn’t have much left inside him so he simply gasped, “Show me.”

The grey orb appeared. Richter cursed as the soft light burned in his Night Vision enhanced sight. Luckily, Futen’s inner glow wasn’t bright enough to blind him. He dismissed his spell and continued to run. After another few minutes, he was greeted by an amazing sight. A black hole was set into the side of a rocky hill. The cave opening would be way too small for the rock giant, he thought with the glimmer of kindling hope.

The thuds grew louder behind him. His stamina was nearing depletion. He had found that he couldn’t actually run himself unconscious, but his low stamina made him feel like it was a constant and imminent threat. He had been running on ‘E’ for the past minute or so and the rock giant was closing in for the kill. Richter didn’t hesitate. He ran up to the hill and dove through the black opening, hoping it was empty.

Alma flew in after him and Futen floated in as well. The remnants light showed Richter that his first assumption was wrong. He wasn’t in a simple cave. He had entered the mouth of a tunnel. Even if the sun had been out, it would have been an easy mistake to make because directly in front of him was a blank wall. The tunnel continued through a large crevice in the floor. A black chasm, two feet across, was located at the back of the cave. Richter couldn’t see anything, but he could hear wind whistling as it traveled ever farther down the tunnel. It registered to Richter that if he could see the inside of the cave, then anyone or anything could, which meant…

“Futen! Turn off your light!”

The cavern went dark at the same time that a rocky hand plunged into the tunnel.

Richter flattened himself against the wall and the giant’s hand felt around blindly for him. Luckily it started too shallowly, a good three feet from his position. Remembering its aversion to fire, he cast Flame. The result was not what he had been hoping for. Rather than retract its arm, the giant just roared in anger and reached further in. There was only one place for Richter to go.

He shouted for Alma and Futen to go ahead of him. The dragonling flew down the chasm and Futen floated into the crack. Richter shoved his body into the crevasse in the floor. Bracing his back on one wall and his hand on the other, he strained to keep himself in place. Now Richter wished he hadn’t made the remnant extinguish the light because he couldn’t see how far of a drop it was. That didn’t matter though because the giant had found him!

A rough and rocky fingertip reached him as the giant strained to push its arm as far as it could into the tunnel. The finger traced down Richter’s face, producing both blood and a scream, when he felt the thin skin on his forehead tearing. The monster roared in triumph at finally being able to touch its quarry. The hand drew back slightly then surged forward again as the giant slammed it shoulder against the lip of the tunnel. The rocky opening crunched slightly, but it still couldn’t get any further in. Richter edged himself a few more inches down the crack in the floor. The rock giant yelled in frustration and its dark grey fingers waggled only inches from his face as it strained to reach him.

Holding himself in place was almost beyond Richter considering that he was already so exhausted. As the monster rammed its shoulder into the cave mouth again Richter called out that he needed light. Futen’s glow showed that the drop was only a few feet, but the floor beneath him was sharply sloped and continued until it passed under a ledge. Richter couldn’t see where it led. Dropping now wouldn’t hurt, but he doubted that he’d be able to stop himself. If that slope ended in empty space… well, that was game over.

Richter’s arms quivered and one knee slipped before he caught himself. He knew that the option of whether to go deeper into the crevasse was about to be made for him. That was when the giant’s arm withdrew however. Richter couldn’t believe it. After being chased for hours, was he finally about to gain a respite?

The answer was no.

While the mouth of the cave was stone, the roof was just earth in certain places. The rock giant began pummeling and tearing apart the hill above the cave. Each blow made dirt fall onto Richter. The blood flowing from his forehead mixed with the falling particles and made a dark paste on his face. He didn’t even notice that however, because after the third blow, a hole appeared in the ceiling. By the fifth blow it had widened to the size of a basketball. On the seventh, a large portion of the ceiling collapsed and Richter found himself staring up at the rock giants grinning face. He quickly tried to shuffle lower into the crevice as it reached its hand into the cave.

His strength gave out and he fell.

Richter had been right. After falling the few feet to the slope below, he couldn’t stop himself and continued to roll for another twenty or thirty seconds. When the incline finally leveled out he was laying on a cold stone floor. He could hear water dripping somewhere in the distance and his Tracking skill showed the same clawed prints he had been following outside. Futen’s light showed that the tunnel continued in only one direction and still sloped downward, albeit at a much gentler incline than the slope he had just fallen down. Alma sat on a nearby rock looking at him in concern.

The bones of small animals littered the floor of the tunnel. Some of the animals had not been completely consumed and the smell of fetid meat hung thick in the air. More powerful than that, however, was another scent. That smell provided the answer to what type of tracks he had been following. He had only smelled this particular stench once before and it had been fairly recently. Grimly looking on into the darkness that extended past Futen’s sphere of light, he quietly said one word, “Kobold.”