Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Up near the top of the mountain, the trail turned off to the right, running along a rocky cliff, before cutting back to the left in a steep scramble up to the ridge. As they approached, Merrick's senses, which had been tingling every now and again, suddenly went haywire. The new danger sense that he had gotten as part of Warrior’s Observation skill started surging and he felt as if lightning was crackling up and down his spine. Looking around, the faintest of smells tickled his nose and he found himself freezing in place. Barak, who was a step ahead of him, sensed Merrick’s sudden change and stopped as well, looking back over his shoulder at Merrick. Behind him, Evan, who had been looking down as he climbed the incline, nearly ran into him, cursing as he stopped.

"What's the matter?" Barak asked, his voice low.

Before he responded, Merrick's eyes swung across the cliff in front of them. At first glance It looked just like any other cliff to the untrained eye, but Merrick's sharpened vision kept catching sight of something on the rocks, something that glittered in the hot afternoon sun. Though they were high up in the mountains, and the air was bitterly cold, the sun pressed down on them with heavy rays that danced across the cliff face as if it was made of water.

Even with his outstanding observational ability, it took a moment for Merrick to understand what he was looking at. Stretched out across the face of the cliff were hundreds of thousands of tiny glittering scales, catching the sunlight and reflecting back into his eyes every time he moved. He wouldn't have spotted them against the discolored gray stone of the mountain, but his heightened sense of observation allowed him to understand what it was he was looking at. The sight of so many scales, no doubt rubbed off of snakes as they slithered their way up the steep cliff, sent a shiver down his spine.

"Merrick, what is it?" Barak could see in Merrick's expression that he had discovered danger, and he took a step back, his eyes warily scraping the ridge in front of them.

"Snakes," Merrick said, his voice barely a hiss.

Barak breathed in sharply. This high, at this altitude, there was only one snake that they had to worry about. Unfortunately, it was a terribly dangerous one. The gray rock snake was known for its deadly venom, its incredibly aggressive method of hunting, and worse, for running in large packs. Merrick's next words brought even worse news.

"I think we just stepped into a nest."

As Merrick’s gaze swept the area around them, he saw more and more signs that pointed to the danger of their situation. Tiny bits of shredded, discarded snake skin littered the landscape, mixed in with the many scales that had been scraped off in the dirt. Rock snakes got their name not only from their dark gray scales, but from the way they liked to burrow through the ground. They were surprisingly fast and experts at ambush, able to lie completely still until their prey was right on top of them. Often, unlucky warriors and animals would step on them before they even realized that the snakes were there, allowing the rock snakes' fangs to pierce their bodies. Worse still, the venom that the rock snakes carried was so toxic it could down a bull from a single bite. Hearing Merrick and Barak talking quietly with each other, Evan flipped on his translator.

"What's going on? What's the problem?"

"Snakes," Merrick replied, "we're standing in the middle of a rock snake nest."

Though Evan had no idea what a rock snake was, he could tell from the way that the two soul warriors were standing absolutely still, that it wasn't a good thing. Lifting his hand to stop the other two prospectors from coming forward, he turned off the translator and relayed the information.

"It looks like we've stumbled into a snake nest of some sort."

Instinctively, both of them began to retreat, but a shout from Barak froze them in their tracks. Seeing him glaring at them, shaking his head fiercely, Evan quickly turned his translator back on.

"What's wrong?"

"Rock snakes are attracted to movement," Merrick said. "We need to back out of here slowly, carefully. The more we shake the ground, the more likely we are to be ambushed. And if you get bitten, nothing will save you."

After a white faced Evan conveyed that information to Dugan and Vale, the entire group started to carefully back their way down the mountain, trying to move as silently as possible. This was the only real path that led up and down the mountain, and as he retreated down it, Merrick began to see more and more signs that he should have noticed before. This path existed because it had been carved out of the rock face by the passage of thousands of animals, and now he was beginning to recognize the subtle ribbing where the snake coils had worked their way up and over the rocks, smoothing them after thousands of passes.

This reminded him that the system had said that there was a locked tracking ability, and he wondered if he would have noticed the signs earlier if he had the tracking ability unlocked. Stepping down from a rock, Merrick suddenly heard a rumble and blanched. Further down the path, Dugan had accidentally stepped on a rock that looked solid but wasn't supported from underneath. It had slipped and begun to slide, shaking other rocks loose as they cascaded down the mountain in an ever-growing rush. Though the rock slide only lasted a few dozen feet, Merrick knew that it was already too much.

Sharing a glance with Barak, both of them turned to look up at the top of the mountain. At first there was nothing, and then after a moment, Merrick saw what he was afraid of. A snake head slipped out from above the cliff, looking down the mountain toward them. For a moment Merrick and the snake stared at each other, neither moving. However, the single snake head was soon joined by a second, and then a third, and then dozens began to appear. It wasn’t long before there were hundreds of snakes staring down at them, and more appearing at every moment. By this time, even Evan and the others could see the snakes, and fear gripped their hearts. It was one thing to face off against a pack of hunting wolves, as they were big enough to hit with a rifle. But there was no good way to stop hundreds and hundreds of snakes. Worse still, more were appearing with every moment.

"We have to run," Merrick said quietly, and Barak nodded grimly.

Turning to Evan, the veteran spirit warrior barked at the prospector.

"We have to go, now. Follow me."

Without another word, Barak took off, racing around the side of the mountain. The mountain was dreadfully steep, and they'd only been able to climb it thanks to the well-worn path that they had taken to get up to the peak. Now he raced out along the steep side, leaning sideways against the slope, one hand resting against the mountain as he scrambled across. Evan, Dugan, and Vale all looked at each other, and then up at the snakes, who were starting to swiftly descend the cliff face. There was no way that they would be able to run down the mountain faster than the snakes could slither. That was clear. So following Barak seemed to be the only way. Scrambling after him as best they could, they tried to keep their balance, resting their hands against the mountain as they shimmied along, the snakes growing ever closer.

Merrick brought up the rear, trying to keep one wary eye on the snakes as he chased after the others. He was keeping a rough count in his head, though he gave up once he got into the hundreds. He had never seen so many snakes in his life and had not imagined that so many could gather in one place, but if they had stumbled upon a nest, it made sense. Snake nests could range in the thousands and the idea of thousands of rock snakes coming to attack him sent shivers down his spine. Still, despite the fear that coursed through him, he continued to move, occasionally helping Dugan who was in front of him. Vale was in the middle of the prospectors while Evan was out front trying desperately to keep up with the rapidly moving Barak who was heading around the edge of the mountain, hoping to find a better path to go down.

As fast as they could, they scrambled along, but the snakes moved faster. Slithering down the side of the rocks, burrowing their way through any dirt that they found, the snakes approached rapidly. Merrick even felt as if he could feel the vibration of the entire mountain as the rock snakes came their direction. His instincts were screaming at him that he could escape by running down the mountain, but suppressing the desire to abandon the prospectors and flee, Merrick continued to follow after them. Though he didn't know where Barak was taking them, Merrick trusted the veteran spirit warrior.

Finally, he saw it. There was a sharp cliff on the side of the mountain with a slight overhang up ahead, and when he spotted it, he knew what Barak was planning on doing. If they could climb down below it, the snakes would not be able to approach them from the slope without dropping past them down the mountain. Here, they could make a stand to allow the prospectors who were all breathing heavily to regain some energy before they continued to make their way along the side of the mountain. Without pausing, Barak continued along the side of the mountain toward the cliff, racing the snakes who were descending from the peak. When he arrived at the small cliff face, he scrambled up onto the wall so the others could get past and waved them to follow Merrick.

"Merrick, take the lead," he said, drawing both of his spears. “I’ll stop the snakes here while we rest.”

Nodding, Merrick slipped to the front of the group and kept his spear ready. Now at the back, Barak retreated along with the others, keeping a careful eye on the approaching snakes. After a few tense minutes, the rock snakes got to the top of the cliff and began to try to descend, only to find their bodies hanging out over the air without anything to support them. Unwilling to fall, they tried to find their way down the cliff, but there was nothing on which they could find purchase, which forced them to draw back up and go around to the sides of the cliff, following the same path that the team had followed. There they found Barak's waiting spears.

The first snake came within striking distance and lunged, moving so fast its head was a blur. Even faster was the tip of Barak's spear, piercing through the rock snake's head cleanly, and then withdrawing. With a flick of his wrist, Barak sent the snake's still twitching body tumbling to the side, just in time for another rock snake to lunge towards him. Stepping back and then moving forward in a deadly dance, his spears struck out, stabbing with astounding accuracy into the heads and bodies of the snakes, throwing them aside.

Up front, Merrick realized that some of the snakes had cut them off, coming around the front of the cliff and dropping to the path ahead of them. Readying his own spear, he waited until the first rock snake came close and stepped forward before it could strike, sweeping his spear from left to right on the thin path. His attack launched the surprised rock snake into the air and the snake desperately tried to coil around his spear. Anticipating the move, he shook it off with a twist of his wrist, flinging it down the mountain. Though it wasn't as good as killing the snakes, it would at least buy them some time. The next rock snake was already attacking, but Merrick had predicted its attack again and he stepped back, cutting its head from its body with a slash.

[Ding! Three experience points.]

More and more snakes began to come down the path, blocking them from the front and the back and finally, unable to stand the pressure, Evan unslung his rifle and began charging it up.

"Move out of the way," he yelled, and Merrick, knowing full well the danger the rifle posed, jumped to the side.

As soon as Merrick was out of the way, Evan moved forward, crouched, and let out a blast. This blast was different than the thin beams that had pierced the wolves the night before. Instead, the end of the rifle flashed as if with flame, and a wide cone of energy rolled out, tearing at the side of the mountain and obliterating all of the snakes that had gathered there.

"Are you insane?" Dugan yelled, staring at Evan. "You're going to ruin your rifle like that, and if it blows up, it's taking us all with it."

"Better than getting bit to death by snakes," Evan shot back.

Despite his bravado, Merrick caught the worried look in Evan’s eye as he examined the end of the rifle's barrel. Jumping down into the still-smoking crater that Evan's attack had left, Merrick got to work once more, his bone-tipped spear hacking through the snakes as fast as they came. The majority of the snakes were behind the team, still trying to break through Barak's defense, but any of them that came close were instantly skewered, split, or thrown from the mountain as his short spears blurred. Seconds ticked by, turning into minutes, and soon Merrick's arms began to tire. He could tell that there were fewer snakes now, but that didn't mean they were out of danger. From the faint vibrations, it seemed that some of the rock snakes were even trying to burrow into the ground to attack the others. Barak could sense the danger as well, and after a few more minutes, the veteran spirit warrior risked a glance over his shoulder towards the front of the group where Merrick stood.

"We need to move," he said. "They'll come up through the ground within a minute."

"I understand," Merrick responded, his eyes drifting to the sheer cliff wall next to them.

Rock snakes were known for their ability to burrow through solid stone, and he certainly didn't want to be there if this cliff suddenly started spouting snake heads.

"Follow me," he shouted and dashed forward.