Chương 55: Bats!

The bat howled and shrieked, then followed up with a series of clicks which echoed around the opening. Whilst it didn't have any eyes to open, it pointed its long, wide face around at the various people as if it was looking at them. Aaron was desperate to use his power to calm it down, but had been warned of the consequences of doing so. Instead, he stood quietly and froze, looking around at his party. They were all doing the same. Except of course Giddeon.

He was pushing himself up from the floor back to his feet and hadn't seemed to notice.

"Giddeon, Shhhhh," Aaron whispered. The bat's head turned to him and it blasted a few clicks in his direction. Giddeon turned around as if to scold Aaron, but he pointed upwards at the bat and he was instantly mollified. His anger turned to dread as he looked up at the army of corrupted creatures lying dormant from the ceiling. Although Aaron knew the rage was coming back later, shortly followed by "I told you so", or "you should have listened to me." Giddeon silently pointed to the entrance they came in from.

There was a clear path where the cobwebs had been cut. Aaron nodded and turned around, echoing his gesture so Alex and Tim could see. But Tim barely reacted. Something was wrong. He was holding his hands over his ears and shaking his head as if trying to block something out.

"Tim," Aaron whispered, "We need to go." Tim opened his eyes and looked at his brother. They were bloodshot with deep, sagging black bags underneath them. Tim didn't move. He stood, frozen on the spot and clearly very agitated. Aaron tip-toed closer. He was careful to make as little noise as possible. The bat above was still clicking and moving its head around the room, like a bloodhound sniffing for meat. But it wasn't making any more noise, and the other bats all looked comfortably asleep.. For now.

"Tim, let's get out of here," He whispered carefully in his ear. Tim jolted as if someone had shouted at him. Aaron put his hands firmly on his brother's shoulders in reassurance. They felt sharp and bony. Perhaps more so than before.

"Aaron, help me," he said, in a voice louder than Aaron felt comfortable with, but weaker than a normal speaking voice. Tim looked scared, and his eyes were glazed over and rolling upwards into his skull.

"I'm here, Tim. You're okay!" He said, as he held his face in his hands, hoping the contact would ground him in reality.

"We really need to get going." Alex joined over and put his hand on Tim's shoulder, presumably using some sort of emotional influencing spell on him. His brother's reassurance and Alex's spell seemed to do the trick. Tim took his hands away from his ears slowly and lowered them down to his sides. They were stiff and slow as if they had a mind of their own, fighting Tim's will. They all crept out of the cavern, with Alex in front, shortly followed by Aaron and Tim.

Aaron kept a reassuring hand on the back of Tim's shoulder. Just as they made progress, an unsettling rattling clunked around the back of the cavern. The corrupted skeletal guard had climbed to his feet, but without his head. The broken plate chestpiece clunked around the floor as the skeleton stumbled around it. The monster's chest was bare and exposed. There was still a small amount of flesh and muscle present, but it was patchy. Any skin left was loosely attached and flapped as it walked.

There was still some muscle present on top of the ribcage, but it was grey and rotten. At certain angles, Aaron could see a reflection of light on the plate mail on its back shining through the ribcage and out the hole at the front. Most striking of all, beneath the ribs, the heart was intact, beating away.

"This isn't a corrupted creature, this is Necromancy," Aaron whispered loud enough for Giddeon to hear him. The beating heart was characteristic of his magic. The monster clumsily lurched forwards one leg at a time and bent down to pick up its head. It placed it on top of its shoulders. It clicked as it snapped in place. After flexing its jaw side to side and rotating its head around, the creature unsheathed a sword from its belt and called out, "HELP!"

Unlike the party, the undead man didn't care for noise or waking the bats. It clambered along towards them, raising each leg comedically high with each step as if it was a deer learning to walk. Its platemail banged together as it splashed through the puddle in the centre of the room. It lunged forwards and brought its sword down towards Paige's head with a heavy overarm strike. Paige bashed it to the side with her sabre, pinning the sword against the rocky floor.

The striking of metal echoed around the room as the blades connected. With its free arm, the skeleton punched Paige in the chest, staggering her backwards. As she fell off balance, it yanked the sword up off the floor, lifting against Paige's sabre. She toppled backwards, struggling to stay on her feet. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. With another heavy blow, the skeleton swung the sword in a wide arc towards Paige's side.

She jumped backwards as the sword barely missed her stomach. Paige reacted by swiping her sabre down onto the creature's arm. It made a loud crunch as it sliced through the corroded plate guarding its upper arm, but it didn't break the bone. The skeleton barely flinched and struck again with a backhand swing. The clumsy move was slow and easily avoided as Paige jumped backwards again. Lurching forwards with its long arm, the skeleton reached and grabbed Paige by the front of her tunic and pulled her forwards.

It drew its sword back, ready to execute her. All she could do was grab its hand and try to wriggle free. Giddeon sprinted in from behind Paige and jumped towards the creature with his glowing green dagger in hand. He plunged the blade through a gap in its ribs, directly into the creature's heart.

"HELP!" it called out one last time as Paige pulled away, ripping the creature's bony arm out of its socket. The skeleton collapsed in on itself and spilled into a disorganised pile of bones on the floor. The metal and bone made a racket as they bounced around. As the echoes cleared, they were replaced by a deafening storm of noise from above. Hundreds of clicks were being fired from the bats above. Looking up, Aaron saw a sea of wings flapping around the ceiling and thousands of razor-sharp teeth.

"RUN!" He shouted. Alex led the way in a panicked sprint, followed closely by Tim, who'd thankfully snapped to his senses. They ran straight back to the way from which they came and continued uphill towards the intersection on the main path. Aaron desperately wanted to command the bats to leave. They were in close proximity and only small creatures, so it would have been easy enough to call them off through his aura. But it would only risk attracting something more dangerous.

A dart of black shot over Aaron's head and towards his brother. It flared its wings out to slow down and extended its talons towards his back. Aaron sped up and slashed twice in an X shape across its back. It let out a high-pitched whistle and fell to the floor. It crunched beneath his boot as he trampled over its head. Giddeon fired out a powerful wind spirit behind them, sending a raspy whistle through the tunnel. It sounded like a gale in a forest.

"Run to the crossing and turn left," he shouted back at them. The bats were all stuck behind the wind spirit, unable to fly against the air current. It became difficult to run as air was sucked down the tunnel against him. As he panted, he felt his open mouth being forcefully opened and stretched by the wind. Giddeon created a large red orb containing a flame and released it back towards the bats. Aaron realised at that moment what he intended to do. The cavern was full of sulphurous gas and bat faeces.

It was highly flammable. He managed to dig up some extra strength to run up the tunnel, pushing his hands against Tim's back to give him a boost. Boom The explosion echoed up the tunnel and hurt Aaron's ears as it reached him. The sound was replaced by a high pitched ringing in his head which drowned out all other senses. It was so loud that the entire tunnel shook and small pebbles dropped from the ceiling. The wind in the tunnel stopped. Giddeon must have dropped the spell to give them time to run.

Aaron made it around the intersection and turned left as requested. Paige followed shortly after and started to channel wind from her hands. Aaron peered around the corner. Giddeon was sprinting at full speed with a cloud of fire and dust shooting up the cave behind him. The bats screeched as they were engulfed in flames. Aaron reached his hand out towards Giddeon as he sprinted towards them. The flame was only a few paces behind him and advancing many times faster than he could run.

Giddeon grabbed his wrist, and Aaron pulled, swinging him around the corner. As soon as he swung round, Paige put up the wind spirit, creating a wall from floor to ceiling in front of her. The fire roared as it shot past and hit the side of the tunnel. Unable to breach the wind wall, it fired down the opposite way. The flame shot past for several heartbeats. Aaron lay on the floor behind the wind spirit. His face stung from the heat of the flame running past them. The tunnel darkened as the flame passed.

Where the walls lit up red from the fire, they were now white from Giddeon's ball of light. Where the wooden beams supporting the tunnel were rotten and broken, they were now charred and black. The floor was clear of dust, and the shiny minerals glistened in the light. A remnant of metal track on the floor had been completely cleaned of rust and was shiny as if it had been freshly polished. There was silence in the tunnel. Not a shriek, whistle or click from the bats. The only sound was a gentle caw from Cuthbert.

"You're crazy!" Aaron said to Giddeon. Giddeon smirked. This was the first time Aaron thought he had seen him smile. And it was from a near-death experience.

"And you're crazy for not listening to me," Giddeon replied. Aaron rolled his eyes. He didn't feel he was wrong for insisting on investigating a call for help. He never thought undead creatures could speak like that to attract victims. Although he'd been expecting a scolding from Giddeon. Dust and stones started to fall from the ceiling above. The explosion must have destabilised the tunnel.

"Move, it's going to cave in," Giddeon shouted as he ran down the tunnel, away from the intersection. Aaron and Tim followed. Aaron stood up and ran, but quickly stopped when he noticed Paige wasn't moving. He ran over to her and helped her to her feet. He pulled her arm over his shoulder and started to walk with her towards Giddeon. Tim ran over to help, grabbing her other arm. The rumbling in the mine intensified into a roar. Rubble and dust shook from the ceiling, making it difficult to see straight ahead.

"Look out," Giddeon shouted. He threw his palm forwards and a strong gust of wind smacked them in the chest, sending Aaron, Paige and Tim flying several paces backwards. Aaron landed on his back, rolling over his shoulders and onto his front. He spat out some dust from his mouth. The ceiling in front of them completely collapsed. Rubble tipped down like a waterfall. A cloud of dust washed over them. He covered his face, but not before his eyes already stung from the grit.

Aaron got up as the rumbling stopped and the dust settled.

"ALEX? GIDDEON? TIM?" He shouted.

"Aaron, is everyone okay?" Giddeon said. His voice was distant and muffled through the pile of rocks between them.

"I think Paige is out of mana and is unconscious, but neither of us were hit by the rocks," Aaron replied.

"And Tim?" Giddeon said. Aaron's heart sank. He had completely forgotten in the heat of the moment that Tim was helping Paige. As his head cleared and he focused, he heard footsteps running down the side passage.

"Aaron, answer me!" Giddeon shouted."Hang on a minute," Aaron said as he sprinted down towards the footsteps.