190 Infectious Determination

"Doevm," a voice said, pulling Doevm out of his chasm of memories. He turned away from the broken bed. Everyone had finished scouring the building with nothing to show for it, so they went out the back. Past the sunken graveyard, whose headstones had been erased with time, was a mountain. Doevm held up the map and nodded. "We're here."

The side of the mountain was mostly overgrown with brownish-green vines and ancient trees. Roots stretched into the smallest cracks in the stone mountain. Everything was just how Doevm had remembered it; everything except for the holes. Some of the ancient trees had been ripped out, exposing dark, circular entrances, caves matching the description of Doevm's map. Glancing at the few trees at the base of the mountain, Doevm found fungi running down the decaying trunks.

'This couldn't have happened long ago,' he thought. 'Maybe a month ago, maybe two. I can't believe I missed this. The question is: how should I go about this?' he glanced back at his companions.

"Are we going up?" Elero asked, pointing to the cave entrances above them. "Or do you want to keep staring at trees?"

"I vote to go up," Thomas said before Doevm could respond. Since he couldn't climb the sheer cliff face, Thomas lept from one ancient tree to the next until he arrived at the closest entrance, where he turned and waved for the others to follow. "Come on. It's clear." The rest sighed and followed after him.

As they ascended, Doevm narrowed his eyes. "Be ready for anything. Just because we were told about venomous salamanders, that doesn't mean that they are the only creatures we will find."

"See. What did I tell you?" Thomas said as they reached his level, just before Frey socked him in the arm.

As Thomas rubbed his arm, Frey shook his head. "Don't go off on your own. I thought you were more of someone who cowered in the back."

"I'm not…" Thomas hesitated. "Ok maybe I just wanted to climb the trees because it looked fun, which it was." He rubbed his arm again. "I think you broke it."

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" Frey said. "Oh wait," he glanced at Doevm, who was staring at the vines around the entrance. "I don't want to invade in your territory." Doevm didn't respond as he reached into the vines. "Doevm did you hear me?"

"Yeah yeah." When Doevm pulled his hand back, he held a piece of paper. He flipped it over, discovering it was blank except for some black powder. He sniffed it and his eyes widened for a second. 'I knew it.' He cursed under his breath and put the paper into his spatial ring. "Let's go."

Immediately after stepping inside the cave, their lungs drew in stale, cold air. Doevm pulled out a light crystal to illuminate the dark passage. While its light didn't reach the end of the cave, it was enough for them to make out the surroundings, a passageway of stone as black as the Colosseum.

Thomas wiped his hand along the wall. "How come it's so smooth? Did people make this?"

"I doubt it," Doevm said as he also ran his hand along the wall. "Environments like these are rarely made by humans. More likely, it was by magic or a creature who spends their entire life in the dark, carving their way through the stone. My best guess is dwarves, but they wouldn't be here. This kingdom wouldn't accept their help even if they were faced with death. And no dwarf would allow themselves to live a life in the Underground."

"What is the Underground?" Thomas asked, but he never got an answer. The group drew their weapons and got into position. All of their gazes focused on the irregularity in the path ahead. The dark "bump" was as tall as their waists. Its uneven surface had a slight sheen to it. The closer the group got however, the more they realized it wasn't a bump. This was especially true, when it moved.

The first thing that came into the light was its yellow spots, going all the way from the two holes that made up its nose, past the two mud-colored bulging eyes poking out of its flat head, continuing down its slender, scaled body, and ending at its long tail. The only place the spots did not cover was its pale underbelly, which had much smaller white dots. Four short, stumpy legs at its torso were the only things that told it apart from a snake. It was staring right at them. It's body, longer than all of them were tall, slowly lifted off the ground. Frey tightened his grip on his shield and went deeper into his stance. Life essence appeared around his limbs. The salamander cocked its head to the side, inspecting each of the three behind Frey, before turning around and fleeing down the cave. Its small feet slapped against the stone, growing fainter by the second.

"Follow it," Doevm ordered. He didn't have to tell them twice. They practically trampled over him as they hurried after it. Soon they could see the shadow of its long tail flailing around. Compared to its relatively silent sprint, the group's clinking armor and weapons were like a storm closing in. The salamander slowed a bit as it went down a sudden drop in the floor. Just before the symmetric caves split off into branches, there was an open, circular area. Stalactites and stalagmites poked out of both the gray stone ceiling and floor, formed from centuries of water dripping down. The salamander dove in one of many shallow pools between the mess of stalagmites and shook itself around.

Doevm took the opportunity and chucked light crystals down the many branches of the beginning cave. The salamander, having just finished its quick bath, flinched away from the sudden light. It scanned down each branch while skittering about the room. It tried and failed to approach the light. Out of options, it turned towards the group and crouch down in the water. From its long, slender body erupted sharp, jagged bones, its ribcage. When the fluid covering each bone dripped down into the water, it changed its opacity, like oil and water mixing.

"Don't let those ribs touch you and don't touch its skin," Doevm warned as they slowly moved around it. Since it was still trying to back away from them, they took their time to get into position. It alternated its gaze between each member of the group, trying to decide who to attack first. Frey raised his spear overhead, but he didn't act yet.

"Are we going on my mark?" he asked, his shield tight to his chest. Doevm nodded. "Three." Elero put her weight against the backwall and held her sword overhead, ready to push off at any moment. "Two," Doevm played out scenarios in his head, trying to predict where the frightened salamander would go. "One," Thomas huddle behind Frey and did his best to act confident. "Go!" Frey roared as his spear whistled through the air. Blue life essence erupted from the salamander's skin, and the spear bounced right off. It lept and slammed the length of its body into Frey's shield. While Frey held firm against the blow, he didn't see its tail wrap around his ankle. He cursed but Thomas's spear severed its tail, which writhed on the floor. The salamander let out a silent screech. Then its bulging eyes constricted as a light source approached. Doevm and Elero charged at its sides.

Elero jammed her longsword straight through one of its eyes, popping it like a grape. As it reeled back, Doevm aimed for its exposed neck. It bowed its body and the blade sparked off one of its scales. It clamped its fangless mouth around the spear and chucked both it and its wielder into the wall.

It focused its one remaining eye at Frey, who had not wanted to get in his companions' way as they fought. It twisted itself in order to roll clear over Frey's shield and at the unsuspecting Thomas behind him, who turned and ran. He didn't get far, only a dozen or so feet before he realized he didn't hear anything chasing after him.

Doevm groaned as he got to his feet. 'Nothing's broken at least.' He walked over to the battle. Elero yanked her longsword out of the salamander's head. Frey tore off a piece of his shirt, wrapped it around his hand, and pulled his Kopis from the salamander's neck. Its single eye was wide, and it twitched every so often.

"I've seen that trick before," Frey spat on its corpse. "Is everyone alright?" Everyone nodded. "This…" he picked up his spear. "This was easy."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Thomas asked. "We work together and are stronger for it."

"I know that," Frey sighed. "But then, we don't grow. If we faced this salamander alone, it would have been challenging. It would have pushed us and we would have grown from it."

"What do you mean to say?" Elero stepped forward, a curious glint in her eyes.

"Don't we need to get stronger?" Frey said what everyone was thinking. "This doesn't do that. This is just busywork, wasting our time. When we go attack that group, won't the same result play out? We can poison them in initiation, but they can still beat us when we...when you guys begin the academy. I don't like to lose."

Everyone looked at Doevm. He shrugged, picked up the light crystals, and chose a tunnel to go down. No further words were spoken. They walked a little faster than normal, their eyes a little more narrowed than usual, and their chests a little tighter. The recent defeat were fresh wounds in their minds, and Frey had just rubbed some salt into them.