Chapter 396: A Fortified Cavern

“Holy Heroes, it’s good to have you back with us.” The priest bowed to Cedric, Drestra and Hart. “Though…I must say, your presence here is a little irregular.”

The holy man adjusted his spectacles and peered at the three Heroes as though they were obscured in fog. “I see you are without your entourage and the Holy Saint this evening, has something dire befallen them? As out of the way as the Traveller’s Cave is, it’s rare that news of the goings on in the wider realm reaches us.”

Armour clinked nearby as soldiers leaned in.

Drestra’s eyes flicked toward them. There were six standing at attention on either side of the room; she mentally calculated about three paces separating them from her.

‘Look at how quickly things have changed. I would have never considered checking the distance between me and the kingdom’s soldiers before.’ She let out a tense breath. ‘And it never would’ve occurred to me that they might be here to do someone’s secret bidding, not help and ‘protect’ us.’

It was easy to suspect the worst after the revelations about dungeon cores, but also hard to reconcile since they were now in the presence of Uldar’s priests and these dutiful Thameish soldiers.

Cedric, Drestra and Hart had arrived at the Cave of the Traveller late in the evening and found it significantly changed. In many ways, it was unrecognisable. Where there once was an unassuming hole in the side of a hill in the middle of the Forest of Coille, now a small fortress of wood, earth and stone stood. Some three hundred or so yards of vegetation had been cleared away from the cave mouth, the trees were milled and the lumber used to erect an intimidating log wall that stretched around the hill.

A trench—lined with rows of wooden stakes sharp enough to pierce Ravener-spawn, cultists or any other enemy seeking entrance to the cave—lay in front of it. Two watchtowers soared above either side of the solid gates, each well-staffed by sharp-eyed guards who had immediately ordered the barriers be opened when the three Heroes had appeared. Once inside, the Chosen, Sage and Champion were greeted by soldiers and priests who fawned over them in a way so servile that Drestra longed to be away from their attention.

The camp—awash with tents, wooden barracks and guardhouses—had exploded into activity when word spread of the Heroes surprise arrival, and by the time they had been escorted to the fortified office beside the Cave, the head priest was back at his desk still in a nightshirt hidden under a colourful robe.

Even as he spoke, the expression on his sleep-creased face hinted at…something like worship.

‘All this attention,’ the Sage thought. ‘But what’s behind it? Are you serving us? Or are you puppeting us?’ She glanced up at the dark ceiling. ‘Or are you puppets too? And what happens if your strings are cut?’

The thought of fighting people they were supposed to protect—people who’d helped them before and seemed to have all of their hopes pinned on them—sent a pang through her.

‘Killing our own people isn’t what mother and our kin sent me to do when I was Marked,’ she thought. ‘I’ll do it if I have to, but I’d rather it didn’t come to that.’

“Well, we ain’t got too much news fer yous,” Cedric replied to the priest, while Drestra marvelled at how smoothly he’d lied. Only a slight stiffness in tone hinted at any tension, and if they didn’t spend so much time around each other, she never would have noticed. “We had t’meet up wit’ the Generasians 'cause some trouble cropped up wit’ them bloody cultists that needed sortin’, now we gotta check the Cave just in case.”

Another clink.

Drestra’s eyes flicked back to the guards. Two exchanged glances.

‘Are you planning something?’ She wondered. ‘Is there a conspiracy?’

“Ah, the Generasians.” The priest didn’t hide his displeasure. “Fancy folk who think they’re too good to let our church aid them. Are they even of any help? As I said, we get very little news here, Holy Heroes.”

“Yeah, you could say they’re helping,” Hart’s voice was smooth.

“Well, at least there’s that,” the priest’s tone was less than enthusiastic. “But why do you have to check the cave? We’ve been briefed on the cultist threat, I understood that their activities were mostly confined to the coast.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Hart said. “We want to make sure they don’t use some portal out there in the world—one we might’ve missed—to start ferrying demons into Thameland without us noticing… ‘til it’s too late.”

“What!” The priest paled. “They can do that?”

“They’re bringing demons from elsewhere in the world and from other planes,” Drestra said. “We wouldn’t want them using a portal and overwhelming us with their armies. So we thought we should be cautious and check the Cave to see if there are any portals we missed. As long as we know what’s on the other side of them we’ll be fine.”

“So yeah, was the entire Cave complex explored yet, or could there be something down there that’s not been accounted for?” Hart watched for the alarmed priest’s reaction.

The man frowned. “Not all of it, admittedly. It travels deep into the earth beneath the portal chamber. There are numerous side tunnels down there that might be miles long.”

Drestra and Hart looked at each other.

“We were surveying it, but found monsters and their young settled in different areas down there—not Ravener-spawn mind you—and some caves narrowed the deeper we went, so we couldn’t chance going further. They need the attention of experienced members of the delver’s guild to get through them,” he explained. “So until that can be arranged, we gated off the deeper tunnels and posted soldiers at their entrances. You, of course, are welcome to have a look if you need to.”

He swallowed. “Cultists, by Uldar!”

“Aye, we’ll get down there nice an’ quick then an’ get things all surveyed out fer yous,” Cedric assured him.

“That would be a relief.” The priest looked at the guards. “We're all at your disposal, of course. Captain, please take your guards and guide Uldar’s most welcomed into the lower tunnels.”

“Yes, sir!” the guard captain snapped to attention. “Right this way, Holy Heroes.”

###

“As you can see, we've added some fortifications.” A guard indicated as they passed through a thick wooden gate. “If Ravener-spawn want this place, they’ll have to bleed for it.”

“Things look a lot different than when we were here last,” Drestra’s voice crackled.

The ‘temple chamber’s’ high ceiling loomed above, lit by a sky-portal hovering in the middle of the room. Wherever the sky was, it was night there: moonlight poured through the portal, pooling on the temple floor. The air filling the space was fresh and clean, leaving those in it feeling refreshed and surprisingly comforted.

What wasn’t comforting was what stood on the two pedestals by the large, stone doors at the back of the chamber. Statues in Uldar’s likeness had been raised on each pedestal, each smiling down with an air of sweet benevolence.

Drestra took no pleasure in the statues, her jaw hardened behind her veil.

‘What’s hiding behind those smiles?’ She looked away.

A brief inspection of the floor showed all signs of rubble had been long cleared out, leaving the Thameish god’s temple pristine.

As the guards passed by, they paused, clasping their hands in reverence to the statues and bowing their heads before leading the Heroes through the open doors at the back of the chamber and down the stairs to the massive cavern below. Wooden blockades had been built on the wide steps, each guarded by a squad of soldiers wielding crossbows. Ballistas also fortified the winding stairway, each angled upward, positioned to pepper spears or arrow clusters at any invaders foolish enough to charge from the top of the steps.

If any attackers came from outside, they’d pay a high price in blood while they were trying to break through to the central chamber.

“We’re well protected from anything coming from the mouth of the Cave,” one of the guards said. “…by Uldar, we have good defences against anything dropping through the portals, but not extensive enough to repel an entire army. We’ve had to deal with beasts on occasion, but nothing more dangerous than that so far.”

Hart looked at the guard sharply. “Beasts?”

“Oh yes,” another guard spoke up as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “Strange creatures: predators I’ve never seen or heard of before. I’m guessing they come from different places all over the world.”

“Holy Heroes, have you heard about the exploration talks?” the guard captain asked.

“Exploration talks?” Drestra said, feeling the strange mana tickling the air as they approached the enormous, portal-filled cavern. “What’s that about?”

“I’ve only heard rumours,” the captain continued. “You know, my pay grade’s not high enough for specifics, but there was a big argument between Baron Arturius—he’s the local bigwig lord, by the way—some of the priests, and certain representatives of the king.”

“Oh, I remember that,” another guard joined in. “There sure was a lotta shouting that night. All kinds of talk about ‘rights to this’, ‘exploration that’, ‘law this’, and so on. Rumours say they want to fund folk to go exploring through the portals, but command wants to wait until the war’s done. No need stirring up new enemies, if we don’t have to.”

“Aye, tha’s all we need, I mean—” Cedric paused. “Oh.”

Drestra stifled a gasp and Hart was silent.

They’d stepped into the immense cavern; the portal chamber. It was now a fortress.

Dozens of portals shone in the air, each leading to a scene of strange wildernesses, burning wastelands, or breathtaking waterscapes. The portals were familiar, but the dozens of fortifications carved into the surrounding stone weren’t.

A scaled-down parapet—patrolled by scores of protectors; archers, priests, and even court wizards deployed from the capital—had been chiselled from the rock running along the spiralling path leading deeper into the earth. Ballistas were strategically positioned, pointing at specific portals. It seemed the soldiers were ready for predators or anything else uninvited that wandered into the cavern.

Yet, what really drew Drestra’s attention wasn’t any fortification, it was an inviting stone shrine—shining with divine light—standing where the Traveller’s body once lay. As the Sage took in the details of the Traveller’s shrine, her senses felt the Cave’s unique mana.

It was comforting, warming and welcoming her, and for—a few peaceful moments, she was lost in it as it pushed away her inner turmoil.

‘God, church, kingdom…’ she thought. ‘All of it feels insignificant here. Ironic, considering this place was once a Saint’s. If only mother and the others could be here…they’d…they’d…’

She frowned.

Why did the Cave’s power have a familiar feel to it? It hadn’t felt like this the last time they were here. What’s changed?

“We built this up good,” a guard interrupted her thoughts, leading them deeper into the earth. “We had to after that forest beast crawled out of a portal. Nasty thing. Killed some good folk, I hear. I wasn’t here at the time, though. Back then, we were still stationed in Alric.” He looked at another guard.

“Right after that, some of us got called to help shore up the Cave’s forces, and we’ve been here ever since. Maybe Command forgot about us, eh?” He punched his companion on the shoulder. “Well, at least it’s an interesting post. Portals are really something to look at.”

Hart was peering into the deep shadows at the bottom of the cavern. “What’s down there?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

###

It was a long trek to the bottom of the cavern and—by the time the Heroes and soldiers finished the trip—light from the portals high above was barely visible. The guards provided illumination from small candles in metal lanterns on their belts, while Cedric and Drestra cast forceballs to brighten the way.

In the glow of flickering flame and magic, they reached one last—extremely well-fortified—guard station. Two dozen soldiers, three priests and a Thameish wizard all garrisoned the station, with several sentries keeping watch on a number of tunnels.

The cavern’s lowest level was honeycombed with passageways going off in all directions into the pitch-black beyond. Most were sealed by heavy gates whose massive hinges were secured in stone, but there were three barricaded so thoroughly, it would take a battering ram at least the size of a mature tree to break them down.

“These are the tunnels we haven’t finished exploring yet,” the guard captain pointed. “Monsters, tight spaces, potential cave-ins, or all three, take your poison.”

“Then that’s where we’ll be lookin’,” Cedric said, eyeing the barricades. “Hmmmm, if there’s potential for a cave-in, we better not all go down the same tunnel.”

“Yeah,” Hart agreed. “If someone gets trapped down there, the others can still help.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Drestra said.

“Oh, but you can’t each go off by yourselves,” one of the guards said. “Let two of us escort each of you.”

The Heroes looked at each other, their faces unreadable.

“Well, can't really see a reason to refuse,” Hart said.

“Aye,” Cedric agreed.

Drestra didn’t answer, letting her silence stand as her agreement. She didn’t want anyone accompanying her, but there was no subtle way to refuse the guards’ offer.

So, in the end, two guards were paired with each Hero and…as misfortune would have it, she got the two chattiest ones.

“Well, if we’re going into the breach together, I suppose we’d best introduce ourselves proper,” one of the guards said. “The name’s Peter.”

The other guard smiled. “And I’m Paul.”