43 The Unkown Underground (1/2)
They took only a few hours of rest before they heard the sound of a key opening a door nearby. A very dim light was showing the dark silhouettes of a few men, including the shady innkeeper. Even with such a low amount of light, neither Meridiana and Davion had any problem noticing the lustful eyes staring at the bed where they were supposedly sleeping. The effort at being silent made by the humans was pretty pathetic and even a normal woman could have been awoken by it. What would have followed would have been a dagger in the throat of Davion and a terrible, and maybe last, night for Meridiana.
Instead, the succubus decided to waste a few minutes to reduce the potential noise that otherwise, would have been made. She quickly seated and put her hands on her chest, like she was protecting it. Her entire attitude was reminiscing of a small rabbit cornered by a fox and that made the men very excited.
”What are you … no, please … don't do anything to him, I beg you … I … will do anything you want!” Her small speech allowed Davion to retreat to the back of the room and appear less menacing. Both of them saw the incoming thugs speaking among themselves and soon, the innkeeper approached Meridiana with a very big smile.
”Ok, if you do anything we want, I will let you go.” His eyes were showing a totally different story, however, and only a fool would have believed his words. Right after that, the man tore apart the clothes of Meridiana, immediately angering her. She had taken great care of them and now, she will have to cross the mountains with even less protection than before. She showed nothing of her immense hate and still looked like she was a shameful young girl that fell at their mercy.
THOMP
The innkeeper fell right in front of Davion. He had already lost his ability to speak but was still conscious enough to see the hood falling. A blue head appeared right in front of him and the last thing his pathetic eyes ever saw was the two large hands coming near him. The rest of the group was laying dead around the succubus that was desperately trying to fix her clothes. The state of the corpses was similar to the one of the soldiers, mere mummies. Without any other choice, Meridiana took the upper garment of one thug, even if it was less comfy than the one created by Malakov.
They left the building in flame soon after and heard the numerous shouts resonating in the silent night. But since they were in the poorest area of the city, they had no trouble leaving the crime scene without getting caught. By the time they arrived at the eastern gate, the fire was easily visible and spreading even more, turning the dark night red. The guards were so preoccupied with the incoming disaster that they barely checked anyone leaving the city.
Right after they met the first snowy peak on their road, they noticed a cavern nearby. Since they were still unsure about the deadliness of the underground, they approached carefully the place. Inside they saw numerous colorful paints and totems encroached on the stone walls, proving that a more or less intelligent race was occupying that part of the cave.
”Goblins?” Meridiana asked Davion about the nature of the threat since he was older than even Leilade. He also was the one recognizing the trolls and even being able to talk with them quite easily. However, the number of intelligent monsters that liked to live in a dark environment and building such items was not that high and the most common was the goblins.
The orodil nodded at her words and carefully kept walking. They were not using any type of light but had no problem noticing the forms and even some colors. Because of this, he noticed that while the presence of paintings was important, they were always very old and slightly washed up. Meaning that whatever tribe was living nearby was gone since a year or so. Noting in his mind the tunnel they took, they finally arrived in a large room. Inside it, they saw a good amount of broken barricades, torn clothes, and bones laying around.
None of them were stupid and they realized that the goblins didn't leave because they wanted it. Davion called Meridiana and made her look closer to one of the mark left on a wall. Four deep ravines were shown, probably caused by four big claws. To be able to even impact the stone wall was impressive and this caused the two demon commandants to reconsider walking under the mountains. At least, in the above, they were capable of easily escape those threats and even see them from afar.
The succubus got closer to the marks and began to touch them. Raising her head a bit, she noticed that similar deep pits were pierced on the wall, leading to the ceiling. She kept looking on the ceiling and saw the same marks all over it. As she began to lower her head, however, she noticed that something was stuck on the stone and was definitely not natural. Touching her companion and showing him the deformation, both of them examined it. Even in the dark, they were barely able to differentiate it from the environment but that form had a black form with a dark purple mixed in it.
They were extremely silent during their investigation, meaning that it was entirely possible that this monster was sleeping or not aware of their presence. To prove that point, the succubus cast a small flame in her hand and waited. For a while nothing happened, but then, they saw an enormous green eye with red veins in it looking at the flame. To their surprise, the monster only looked at it, without moving. Getting in front of the succubus, Davion approached it without any fear.