Chapter 231: Tunnel Vision

Chapter 231: Tunnel Vision

“You think this is the same tunnel?” Jay asked Kerr, disbelief coloring her voice.

“No way to know for sure,” Kerr grumbled from where she crouched low to the stone floor. “But what are the fucking chances of there being two tunnels on this gods forsaken, demon infested corner of the world that look like this? Or if it is the same tunnel, what are the odds of us finding it again?”

“My kind of odds,” Jay said under her breath.

“I find it hard to believe these could be the same tunnels you and your companions were lost in,” Willa told Dys where they stood a little further away from Jay and Kerr. “Besides, you said you came out of the tunnel further to the east.”

Jadis had spared a few moments to fill Willa, Jaxton, and Landry in on her team’s experience in the tunnels. Bridget had already gotten the story some time ago. Willa, as it turned out, was already well aware of Jadis’ underground exploits, at least the version of the story that had made its way around the city. The particulars of this long tunnel had been mentioned, though not in great detail.

“We never reached the end of the tunnel,” Dys said, shrugging her shoulders. “We left the caves once we found one offshoot that took us out. The tunnel kept heading north, though, through the Great Southern Forest. It also curved to the left. The west, I mean. Not a big curve, but it did. It’s possible it could reach all the way out here...”

“Why not?” Jaxton proclaimed in his deep, cockney-esque accent. “The gods made the broken hills. They could have made this rubbish as well.”

“Come off it,” Landry scoffed. “The gods don’t do everything. Probably the work of some great beast dragging its scaly arse through the ground.”

“I didn’t say the gods do everything, I said they could have done this.”

“They could have made my shoes, too, but you don’t see me speculating on it since I knows they didn’t cause that’d be stupid.”

“We know who made your shoes, Camden did. Point is, we don’t know who made these tunnels here and it could have been the gods.”

“Toss the shoes out, you’re missing what I’m saying. You don’t always have to—”

Jadis tuned the rest of the conversation between the two quarrelsome orcs out. As much as she liked them, especially since they reminded her of Aila’s two uncles Gerwas and Ludwas, she had more important things to focus on. Primarily, the things that Kerr was pointing out about the ground.

“Scuff marks,” Kerr said as she traced the stone. “Hard to see tracks in stone like this, but there are marks here that didn’t come from any beast.”

“Bandit tracks?” Jay asked, bending to look over Kerr’s shoulder.

“No, wheel tracks. These lines here were made by wheels.”

“Wheels?” Jay exclaimed, her surprise drawing the attention of the rest of the group. “What kind of wheels?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Kerr huffed. “They’re wheels. Probably wooden.”

“Let me see,” Willa said as she crouched down next to Kerr.

The two examined the tracks, seeing things in the stone that Jadis didn’t know how to interpret. Once it was pointed out to her, she could see that there were some faint tracks and scuff marks of some kind, she just didn’t have a clue what they meant. They meant something to Kerr and Willa, though. Even Jaxton and Landry stopped their bickering to take a look. Bridget kept next to Syd, though, not bothering to examine the floor.

“I’m a shit tracker,” she whispered to Syd in response to her questioning look. “Like, I’ve had the training, I’m just not that good at it. I won’t have anything to add that they won’t see.”

“Fair enough,” Syd shrugged. “But don’t sell yourself short. You never know what an extra pair of eyes might see that the experts miss.”

Eventually, the consensus between Kerr and Willa was that the tracks were from a cart of some kind. Likely more than one, in fact. The more they looked, the more scuff marks they found, indicating either multiple carts, or the same cart passing through the area many times. There were also the signs of boot prints, most of them either too disturbed or too faint to be easily identified, but there were a few that were clear enough to tell that there was a decent amount of traffic moving through the tunnel going in both directions.

“Alright, it hasn’t been that long yet and we still need some evidence,” Jay said as she stared into the dark that stretched to the north. “Let’s keep going.”

“Keep quiet,” Kerr told them all as she moved ahead again. “And put those lanterns to their lowest. We don’t want them hearing or seeing us coming. Not a lot of places to hide in this tunnel.”

With lanterns shuttered so that the light was barely more than a glimmer, the group carefully made their way forward down the tunnel. They went slowly, not wanting to alarm any potential criminals that could be further along, but also to make sure they didn’t stumble headfirst into any dangerous monsters like the cave spiders or giant salamanders. Or worse things that existed in the dark depths.

“Hold on,” Kerr held up hand for silence. “Just wait.”

They all waited in silence for another ten minutes before Kerr lowered her hand.

“Okay, they’ve settled,” she said, looking back at Jay and Willa and the rest. “There’s definitely activity up ahead, but it’s calmed down. But I can absolutely hear the sound of hammers and picks on rocks.”

“Alright,” Willa nodded. “Let me sneak up there. If I can witness them in the act, I can testify what I saw to the Magistrate and in court of law.”

“Go slow,” Kerr warned her. “Slow and low. The rest of you stay back. The more that come, the riskier this merde is.”

“I’m coming,” Jay told her in no uncertain terms.

Kerr sighed, shaking her head.

“Fine, whatever. Just be quiet.”

The three of them crept forward, taking their time as they approached the source of the noise. It took some time, but Jadis had no trouble taking it slow. She did not want to alert the soldiers to their presence, especially since she didn’t have her armor or weapons with her. She was certain that she could handle a bunch of soldiers at her level, especially with her greatly increased stats. But all it would take was one soldier like Nora to take her down in a flash.

When Kerr abruptly dropped low, belly on the ground, Jay followed suit, as did Willa. It took a brief moment, but after a second, she spotted what the archer had seen. A distant light had come into view around the gentle curve of the tunnel. Within that light were two soldiers, clearly standing guard.

“Now what?” Kerr whispered, barely audible even in the stillness of the cave.

“We can’t get close,” Willa said, “not without them seeing us.”

“Then they see us,” Jay said with a determined set to her jaw. “They just won’t be telling anyone else.”

Jay pulled herself along the floor of the cave, pushing past Kerr and Willa. The two tried to stop her, but neither could do much without making a noise, even if they had the strength to hold her back. Both followed behind as Jay crept closer to the guard, keeping as low to the ground as she could, yet also making sure she was constantly on the balls of her feet.

Having shortened the distance by a few dozen yards, she could hear the men talking. Neither were paying much attention to their surroundings, their boredom evident. They were both in full armor and had shields and spears. The light was coming from a lamp hung from a spike overhead, meaning neither man had a light in hand, just their shields and spears. They were standing to either side of another side tunnel entrance, this one decently wide. Wide enough to fit a cart through, Jadis realized. All the noise they were still hearing, the sounds of tools being used to break rock and dig, were coming from inside that tunnel entrance.

“Do you hear anyone else close?” Jay whispered back to Kerr.

“No,” she shook her head, “but I can’t be sure!”

“We’ll have to risk it,” Jay said, then turned her attention back to the two slacking off guards.

Activating Knight’s Daring Charge, Jay launched herself forward with all the speed she could, entering the full glow of the lamplight.

The man further away saw her first, the human’s eyes going wide as he saw Jay close the distance at an impossible, inhuman speed. He managed to let out a choked yelp for half of a second before Jay was on him and the guard with his back to her. She launched herself through the air and grabbed the closer man from behind, an elf she guessed by the reddish ears sticking out from his helmet. With her left arm wrapped around his neck, she carried him forward, grabbing hold of the human with her right. She took hold of him as well, her forearm tightening around his neck and cutting off all sound as her leap carried her past the cave entrance. Twisting in midair, Jay brought both men with her as she squeezed them tightly against her body before slamming hard into the ground.

There was some clang of armor, but Jay’s body muffled the majority of the crash, enough that it was barely distinguishable from the noise coming from the tunnel.

Jay lay there, the human man struggling against her right arm as she held him in her grip. He made gasping noises as she pressed her forearm against his neck, cutting off his air to keep him from screaming. Strangely, the elf wasn’t fighting back at all. Looking down at him, she quickly realized why.

The elf’s head was twisted the wrong way around, her leap and grab at the unsuspecting man apparently so fast and powerful that she’d snapped his neck. The whole attack had taken less than two seconds.

Sitting up, she let the dead man’s body flop to the ground as she held onto the weakly struggling second guard. The man was clearly losing consciousness thanks to the tight grip she had on his throat. With her free hand, she waved Kerr and Willa over, though to their credit both women were already scurrying up to meet her.

“Valtar’s hairy tits, Jay! What are we supposed to do with these two?” Kerr asked as soon as she caught up with her. “Shit, is that one dead?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Jay replied in a hurry as she motioned towards the cave opening. “What’s down the tunnel?”

“Very, very clear evidence,” Willa said as she stared into the now unguarded entryway, “of illegal mining.”