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Goblin Dungeon
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WHEN NIGHT FELL, MY small band of warriors stopped in one of the larger hallways to make what passed for camp here. Brownies cleaned our clothing, armor and weapons and conjured up food and beverages. They were the only beings who were allowed to use magic, apart from the Finlarc sorcerer we’d encountered earlier today. I’d wracked my brain for weeks trying to figure out a way to get around the block that stopped me from being able to cast any kind of spells, but had come up blank.
Hexam gobbled down chunks of meat that appeared on a huge platter. All three heads wolfed down the fare, snapping at each other angrily when they tried to steal some food from their rival. I watched the hound in amusement. It was a nightly ritual that was still strange to watch even after so many weeks trapped here.
Eventually, everyone settled down to sleep except for the couple of guards who were keeping watch. We all took our turns standing sentry duty, but tonight I was scheduled to rest. With my back to the wall, I closed my eyes and tried to sink into sleep. Hexam lay beside me. I knew he would smell anyone approaching long before they could reach me, but I couldn’t drift off.
Probing the area mentally, I found another one of the strange anomalies I’d come across a few times. It was hard to describe what they were, but they felt like pinpricks between the spells that dampened magic here. There was one just down the hallway. If it had been larger, I had a sneaking suspicion it could be used as an escape route. But it was so small it wouldn’t allow any of the inmates to get out. Nothing larger than a pixie or a sprite would be able to insert themselves into the holes. Even Hexam would struggle to fit if he shrank himself down.
My eyes snapped open at that thought and I turned to the hound. Sensing my sudden tension, the beast opened the eyes of the head that was closest to me. His tail thumped hesitantly as he tried to figure out what the problem was. He knew I wasn’t the same man I’d been when I’d first arrived in the dungeon. I was colder and harder now. The affection I showed him was perfunctory and was aimed at keeping the beast loyal. He counted me as a member of his pack and was willing to accept me even now that I was a full Unseelie fae.
“What’s wrong?” Dacrith asked softly from across the hall.
“If all magic is suppressed here, how can Hexam change size?” I asked quietly.
The warrior shifted and his armor clanked as he contemplated my question. “The Cerberus isn’t from this world,” he mused. “The beast was brought here from the Underworld. Perhaps his magic differs enough from ours that he is still able to utilize his talents.”
“The Underworld is real?” I asked skeptically. “Is it different from hell?”
“It is a dimension that is separate from the others,” he confirmed. “It is a strange place and the denizens there keep to themselves.”
“Do you know what sort of abilities Hexam has?”
“Not really. He is the only Cerberus I’ve ever seen.” Able to see me clearly even in the dimness, he studied me curiously. “What are you planning, Jake Everett?”
He knew me well enough to know when I was deep in thought. “I’m not sure yet,” I said. “I’ll let you know once I’ve figured it out.” My intuition was niggling at me, hinting that these tiny holes I could sense were the key to unlocking our freedom.
Finally succumbing to sleep, I woke to find breakfast already waiting for me. Yaren had somehow gotten his hands on the fae equivalent of coffee. Dacrith and the other Unseelie warriors had taken to drinking the strong, bitter brew as well.
Alert and ready for action, we went on the move. Our dishes and mugs disappeared even before we began walking. Hexam started to growl low in his throat a few minutes later. I sensed it as well and shook my head. “More of those Finlarc magicians have appeared,” I reported to the others.
“How many are there?” Dacrith asked in an unconcerned tone.
“Six as far as I can tell.”
“We can’t take on six of those things at once,” one of the Unseelie warriors said flatly. “Not even you two are good enough to best that many. Not when they can cast magic.”
“He has a point,” Dacrith said regretfully. While he enjoyed battling the creatures that had been sent into exile, he didn’t have a death wish.
“They aren’t that hard to beat without their staffs,” I pointed out. “Without their magic, they’re easy enough to kill.”
“Getting one staff away from its owner wasn’t exactly easy,” Dacrith replied. “How do you propose we relieve six of these beings of their weapons?”
Rudy had proposed an idea of how he’d intended to deal with them and I voiced it now. “We’ll steal them,” I said with a smirk.
“How?” one of the other warriors asked. “They’ll zap us as soon as they see us.”
“The trick is to not be seen,” I said as if the answer should have been obvious.
“None of us can make ourselves invisible,” another warrior muttered, but we all heard him clearly.
“He can be, when he wants to be,” I said, hiking my thumb at Hexam. The hound was watching me with one head, the hallway ahead with another and the third kept swiveling around to check behind us. “Do you want to play fetch, boy?” I asked and gained the undivided attention of all three of his heads. I was pretty sure the Cerberus had never played fetch in his life, yet he was instantly intrigued by the idea.
“What’s fetch?” someone asked.
“Dogs love to chase after things, usually toys or sticks,” I explained. Hexam’s tail began to wag harder. “We can turn this into a game. When he’s retrieved all of the staffs, we can move in and kill the Finlarc warriors.”
“What if they blast the hound to pieces?” Dacrith asked doubtfully.
“He’s too smart to get zapped,” I said and Hexam grinned in agreement. He’d proven more than once that he could understand me. Now it was time to see just how clever he was.
I led the way towards where I could feel the purple magic users clustered together. They didn’t share my ability to feel foes approaching. None of them noticed us peering around the corner far down the end of the huge hallway. “What now?” Dacrith asked as he eyed the six gigantic sorcerers.
“Now Hexam plays fetch,” I replied. The hound went on full alert with his attention on me. “See the black sticks, boy?” I asked. He wagged his tail in response as one of his heads peeked at our adversaries. “Get me one of the sticks!” I commanded and he obeyed.
Staying out of sight, Dacrith and I watched as the Cerberus shrank down until he was the size of a mouse. He scampered towards the massive monsters. Unseen and unnoticed, he reached the first sorcerer and suddenly grew to the size of a horse. With shouts of alarm, the other creatures lifted their staffs to attack him with magic. The hound launched himself into the air, grabbed hold of the staff by his mouth, and yanked it out of his foe’s hand. He shrank down to his usual size as he landed, then turned tail and ran, dodging the spells that were being fired after him.
Laughing hard at the Finlarcs’ consternation, I called the hound to me. Tail wagging madly, he skidded around the corner a moment before five spells zoomed past him. I took the staff from him and smashed the crystal on the ground. Just as I’d hoped, the magic drained out of it, rendering it useless. “One down, five to go,” I said then sprinted away.
My companions weren’t used to running from a fight, but they weren’t stupid. None of us were going to risk being blasted apart by magic. We would have to level the playing field before we could even think of facing our adversaries. I just hoped whoever had sent them here wouldn’t send them more staffs, or my plan would fall apart.
