The Ogre

Subsequent glances were a marvel to Darius, as much as the first. Everywhere he turned he saw beauty abound. The waterfall, the lights, the pond; all were exceptional things in this faerie world. He looked up to the ceiling which he thought must be the source of the light. There, its gold smoulder shone down like Devywar. And many of the beetles seemed entranced by it, and so too did Darius.

A sudden hand was placed on Darius’ head, forcing his gaze downward. To explain his actions Jakob replied, “Don’t stare too long. It may be beautiful, but it is deadly.”

“What would happen?”

“Time would pass by. What would seem like seconds to you would turn out to be years. And you wouldn’t feel anything but the grasp of peace and warmth surrounding you, but something or a hundred somethings like these insects would feast on you. Pick at your flesh. That is the effect these faerie lights have.”

Darius shuddered at the thought.

On the right-hand wall there was another cave. A cave where all those pretty things dared not cross the sill. It seemed to pulsate, and was the absence of the light at the ceiling. It looked even darker than any shadow Darius had seen before.

Jakob broke the stunned silence at last, “Ah, there they are.” He pointed to the far wall behind the sheen of falling water. Darius and Etan followed his finger and saw an array of jewels set into the rock. They looked so dull, and natural adhered to the wall Darius thought it was a feat to have seen them.

“But how do we get to them?” thought Jakob audibly.

Not merely suggesting, Darius was about to walk into the puddle, when Jakob both prevented and interrupted him mid-step and mid-speech  “Can’t we�"”

“No,” declared Jakob curtly. But he softened his tone, and chuckled slightly, “No. As tempting and as easy as it would be to boldly storm in, we should restrain ourselves from doing so. I sense a trap.”

“What trap?”

Darius then watched as Jakob reached for the leather pouch on his belt. He slipped his fingers inside and removed a pinch of the iron flakes. He knelt down, and sprinkled the shavings onto the water’s surface.

Temporarily, though immediately the room vibrated. The pond rippled, fish floundered, bugs zoomed and brightened, closeby fungi released toxic chemicals… and the dark passageway to the right grumbled. All of this made the men shiver, and their skin arase.

“Very well,” said Darius trying to wipe away his goosebumps, “What is the plan?”

Calling for silence, Jakob said, “Let me think.”

As the wheels in his head turned, Jakob looked about the room and the hallway they stood in. Studying, possibly searching for some piece of the puzzle. Though notably he looked at the sides of the cavern.

Most of the cave system was not formed naturally, and the walls were sheer and polished. And running horizontally around the room several feet above the water, was what remained of a ledge. A ledge that had broken in numerous places after the stone had been weakened by the dripping water. Broken, Jakob suspected, because others had attempted to cross before them. And further up there were many more tiers possibly to the roof, but Jakob didn’t look up that high.

Yet pockmarked throughout the grotto were thousands of deep holes bored into the walls. And none of them appeared in any way marred.

Jakob replied as though on the edge of epiphany, “Those amethysts are not Fae. And neither are the pores they’re resting in.”

His comments made little sense to Darius, but he didn’t wish to interrupt his train of thought.

Keeping his balance of the wet floor, Jakob tread on the lip of the hallway and angled his arm around the corner, into the room, to which there was no cataclysm. Then, he slowly brought his hand to the wall of free-flowing water and made contact with his fingertips. This too had no adverse effects on the room. So Jakob pulled his hand back, ready to formulate a plan with his companions.

“I suspect that whomever dares place a toe into this pool will activate the trap. And any intruder would be killed.”

Etan asked Jakob what they brought with them that could help in this situation, to which Jakob replied, “None. But we don’t need any equipment for this. I’ll scale along the wall to the gems, and pry them out.”

“Jakob, perhaps I should?” interjected Darius. “As a skilled climber, I think I may be better suited.”

Jakob turned to Etan, whose expression told him he was in agreement with Darius.

“Fine,” acceded Jakob, “but be wary. And don’t put your faith in the ledge; use the dimples in the wall.”

Darius gave a nod of understanding. and immediately went to the task at hand. Like Jakob before, he turned his arm around the corner, but inserted his fingers into the holes in the rock face, and not atop the ledge. As if that’s what they had been made for. He made sure his fingers were firm in the apertures and wouldn’t slip out. And he eyed around the bend where he needed to put the fingers of his right hand.

Taking a few last breaths to expel his uncertainty, he jumped off the floor into the room�" angling and twisting his body as he did�" and placed two of his fingers into one of the holes in the wall.

He grunted and winced in pain as he landed. Darius managed to hold on somehow and keep the soles of his boots against the wall and not dangling into the magic pool below and set off a trap. He looked down to see exactly how close his feet came to the water’s edge, and then slid them slightly further up the side of the wall. Though, it was more likely that his feet would slip in such conditions, so he merely curled his knees, and let his legs dangle. Immediately he felt the strain on his upper body, but he was used to it.

Looking back into the hallway he had leapt from, he saw Jakob and Etan gasping their sighs of relief. Darius grinned to himself, and prepared himself to continue scaling along the wall.

Quickly,  he removed the fingers of his left hand from their place so that all of his weight was hanging from his right, and surged his left arm forward, ready to grab onto the next set of fingerholds.

His arms were crossed now, with one over the other. He repeated the procedure so that hung from his left hand now, and moved his right hand again. Surprisingly the boreholes were very strong considering the weathering they had experienced. Darius wondered if they had been reinforced.

And so, Darius continued this strategy to climb along the side of the wall. Using only the muscles of his arms, he reached the far wall of the faerie room and hung directly in front of the amethysts.

In the lighting, the jewels looked black; so worthless and ordinary, Darius wondered why anyone might go to the trouble of taking them from the grotto. Or for that matter, why anyone would bother hiding them.

Nevertheless, Darius set to work and was dangling again, so he could grab the dirk tucked into his belt. And he held the knife in his palm in such a way that once he had cut the gemstones out of the rock, he could catch them in the same hand.

One by one, Darius wrested the amethysts, placing them in a pocket on his tunic until he had collected all nine of them. He put away his blade, and briefly looked over his shoulder at his comrades. Jakob and Darius watched with mixed feelings of terror, anticipation and glee, and the two men held faces which revealed as much.

Slowly, Darius began his return, visibly pleased with his accomplishments, and his companions looked about ready to laud them. And indeed, Darius returned to his starting position without incident when Etan reached out to offer him support.

Graciously Darius took Etan’s massive hand, and once he was sure both grasps were firm, Darius tore from the wall, aiming for the passageway. Simultaneously, Etan pulled the man in, and Jakob even grabbed Darius’ collar when he was near enough.

“Gentlemen… I have them,” said Darius.

“Well done,” said Jakob patting the man on the shoulder.

The three men had ear-long smiles; each of them were tempted to shout wildly in triumph, and could barely contain themselves. Yet somehow they managed. Though as they were about to go on their way, something fell.

A parcel of iron shavings tied too loosely to Darius’ belt suddenly came undone, and fell into the faerie pond. Each man heard the splash clearly despite the rushing water.

The iron sunk rapidly, and once again, everything around them began to shake. Only far more severely. Everything that was peaceful turned frightening. The fish writhed about, and the insects flew madly, puffs of poison shot from every mushroom or leached out of the lichens growing on the wall.

“Cover your faces!” Jakob cried, referring to the fungus.

Both Etan and Darius complied with Jakob’s instruction, shielding their faces from the cloud of cancer. And as the room continued to shudder and quake, the dark cave to the right of the faerie room gnarred and groaned.

“Jakob…” Darius let his words trail with worry. But Jakob knew what he was trying to ask.

“Do you remember the way?” to which Darius answered with a nod.

Jakob drew his sword now, holding a defensive stance. “Run.”

A massive stern face peered out of the darkness and glowered as the flooding water billowed down its black callous skin and off its long curved tusks. How it looked at Jakob with beady angry eyes. Hungry eyes when it snorted steam and bared its sharp teeth.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? RUN!” shouted Jakob.

Etan and Darius began to run, and not a second passed by that the beast hurriedly rumbled forward. It’s roar a testament to thunder.