Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Slowly, Barak shook his head.

"No, I just... I feel uneasy. Let's get these pigs back and meet up with the others."

Slinging the sow over his shoulder after pulling his spear free, Merrick trotted through the forest after Barak. It was an impressive feat to see the thin spirit warrior carrying three hundred pounds of pig meat at a steady jog. When they arrived back at the edge of the canyon, they took the time to butcher the pigs, cutting their skins away to get at the choice meat that lay inside. They still had the goat skins that they had picked up earlier, and they used those to wrap up large chunks of boar meat, and then packed them down to the canyon below.

Altogether, they had gotten nearly two hundred and fifty pounds of meat, enough to last them the entire trip back, and it was with some excitement that they made it to the spot where they were going to meet up with the others. Deciding not to wait, they started a fire and began to roast the meat, eating it as soon as it became ready. It didn't take long for them to eat their fill, and still, the others had not arrived. Once again, Barak stood up and surveyed the landscape.

"There's something off about this place," he said.

This time, when Merrick looked around, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. There was a certain richness to the air that he had never encountered before, and every breath felt as if he was pumping extra energy into his body. The lush plants and vegetation in the canyon reminded him of the deep basin into which he had fallen a few weeks earlier, but there didn't seem to be any pressing threats.

"Shall we find the others?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath, Barak nodded.

"Yes. I think that's a good idea."

Though they didn't know exactly what the prospectors were looking for, Merrick and Barak knew the path they had used to get into the valley so they headed in that direction, paying careful attention to any sign of the prospector’s passing. After searching for a while, they finally found a partial track of one of Vale’s boots leading deep into the canyon. It appeared that the prospectors were focusing their efforts around the canyon walls, so Barak and Merrick traced their path as they kept close to the wall. Looking around as they moved through the tall grass around the edge of the canyon, Merrick was reminded of the basin he had fallen into. Both had the same intense, verdant feeling. The basin had been full of thick forest instead of the mix of tall grass, shrubs, and small stands of forest that filled the canyon. The plant life was lush, rich, and vibrant, and the animals seemed to have a strange lack of fear of him and Barak. Faintly, he could hear running water in the distance, and looking towards the middle of the canyon, saw a thin band of silver glittering in the sun.

"Do you think they went near the river?" he asked.

Barak shook his head.

"No, I suspect that they are looking for a way underground."

Once again, Merrick was stunned by the insightful sense of the older spirit warrior. Barak didn't know the language the prospectors spoke, and Merrick had not mentioned any of the conversations he had overheard to the older man, yet Barak seemed to have an instinctive understanding of what the prospectors were trying to do. When he noticed Merrick's inquiring gaze, Barak shrugged.

"There are many tribes that value the gleaming stones held in the earth," he said. "Our tribe is not one of them, but that does not mean they don't hold value for others. I suspect the prospectors are looking for shining stones."

As they traced their way along the canyon wall, they started to run into more signs of the prospectors' passing. After almost an hour, they finally saw someone up ahead. It looked like Evan was sitting with his back to an outcropping, resting as he looked out over the canyon. As they got closer, Merrick saw that the outcropping of stone was perched above a deep gorge that cut into the ground, running into and below the canyon wall. A large cave entrance appeared there, and he wondered if the prospectors had found what they were looking for.

Lifting his hand, he greeted Evan, and when he got no response, every fiber in his body went haywire, screaming of danger. From beside him a heavy force slammed into his side, throwing him down into the small gorge. As he tumbled across the rocks, trying desperately to catch himself, he heard the sharp buzz and crack of a rifle. There was a scream of pain, though whose he couldn't tell, and then he slammed into the hard dirt.

Shaken, he pushed himself up to his knees as fast as he could, wincing as he put pressure on his left leg. Though it wasn't broken, it was very badly bruised, and there was a deep laceration where he had bounced off one of the rocks.

"Merrick, run!"

Spinning around, he looked for the source of the voice and saw, to his horror, that Barak had fallen face-first next to him. The veteran spirit warrior lay unmoving, and blood pooled around him, soaking the dirt crimson red. There was a gaping hole in his stomach that had punched out through the back of his body, severing his spine in two. It was clear that Barak knew he was dead, and yet his last thought was for the young spirit warrior by his side. With supreme effort, he lifted his body and threw something at Merrick's feet. It was one of his short spears, and it clattered to a stop against Merrick's foot.

"I said, run!"

With that, his strength was spent, and the fallen warrior breathed his last, his eyes glazing over as he collapsed to the ground. For the briefest of moments, Merrick crouched there, unable to process what was going on, and then, like a thousand screaming voices in his head, his instincts kicked in. Scooping up the spear, he dove backward as there was another crack, and a beam of brilliant light roasted the air where his head had just been. Everything that had just happened replayed in his head as he scrambled, sprinting for the cave entrance. Every ounce of his energy and power was poured into his legs until his muscles screamed with agony, but he didn't care. He could feel the sharp rocks brushing against him as he half ran, half crawled out of the open and into the darkness of the cave.

The entrance wasn't that large, only six feet across and five feet high, forcing Merrick to duck low. Again, his senses triggered and he dove forward just before another beam of light punched a hole in the rock at his feet. Ignoring the cuts on his palm from the sharp stones, Merrick scrambled deeper into the cave, his eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. It was a moment before he could see properly, and he slammed into one of the walls, skinning his forehead. As drops of blood started to drip down his face, he brushed them to the side, making sure they didn’t get into his eyes. He had to get out of sight, which meant pressing deeper into the cave.

Everything had changed so rapidly he barely had any time to react, but that's not what mattered right now. What mattered now was surviving, and that meant getting as far away from the cave entrance as he possibly could. To his relief, the cave curled around, the passage moving to the right and then back to the left. The prospector's rifles, though deadly, could only fire in a straight line, which meant that as long as he could keep himself around a corner, there was no way for whoever was shooting to hit him. Still, he didn't like his chances. Gripping Barak's spear tightly in one hand, Merrick felt a dull pain in his chest. The veteran spirit warrior had seemed so strong, so powerful, and yet his life was gone in an instant, snuffed out by the fierce light from the manatech rifle. The pain soon gave way to a deep and burning anger that told him to turn around and tear out his enemy’s throats, but Merrick forced himself to concentrate.

Continuing deeper into the cave system as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he came to a branching spot in the passage. One side led up and to the left while the other curved down and to the right. There he paused, quieting his harried breathing as he began to listen. Mostly, he was listening to see if anyone was following him, but he was also listening to make sure that he was not going to run headlong into one danger while trying to escape from another. He didn't like the idea of being underground, but currently, there was no other option. As his heartbeat began to calm down, he heard a slight noise from the passage behind him and knew that somebody had come to the cave entrance. On silent feet, he began to move forward again, taking the left passage that led up. He was afraid that he was going to find a dead end, but at this point, he didn’t have a choice.

“I can’t believe you missed.”

He heard Vale's voice in the distance, faint, echoing from the cave walls.

"I can't believe I missed either," Dugan replied. "That young one's slippery."

"I told you, no witnesses," Vale said. "So get in there and finish the job."

"You got it, boss," Dugan replied, though from the tone of his voice, it didn't seem like he relished the idea.

Figuring that there was a fifty-fifty chance that Dugan would take the passage heading down and to the right, Merrick quietly made his way up the leftmost passage. It rose for some 200 feet, sloping slightly upward as it curled, and as Merrick got towards the end of it, he felt a slight breeze on his face. There was a current of air somewhere up ahead, but he didn't hurry, instead keeping his ears sharp for the sound of Dugan coming behind him. He could hear the man's footsteps, hard boots creating soft clicks on the stone floor of the cave, but because of the echo, it was hard to tell exactly where he was. Creeping forward while clutching the short spear, Merrick saw that the tunnel opened up considerably into a large cavern. When he emerged, he stopped, staring at the steep drop in front of him.

Down below, he could see where the other tunnel came out, and his heart fell. The ledge that he was on was 15 feet wide and about 5 feet deep, and fell off sharply, dropping nearly 60 feet straight down to the rock-covered cavern floor. There was no good way to come down if Dugan came out behind him, and worse, there was no cover if Dugan walked down the other path and happened to look up. If the cavern had been filled with darkness, that would have been one thing, but a dreamy light filled the cavern from thousands of stones that peeked out of the walls and ceiling. It only took a glance for Merrick to understand that this was what the prospectors had come to look for. This manastone mine was, no doubt, what had gotten Evan and Barak murdered. And if he didn't do something quickly he would be next.

Assessing his situation, Merrick found himself at a complete loss. He couldn't go down, and from the sound in the passage behind him, he couldn't go back either. He didn't fancy his chances against the manatech rifle, especially in close quarters, and the memory of the blast Evan used to clear the snakes on the mountain was fresh in his mind. At the same time, staying and doing nothing was equivalent to giving up, and he wasn’t about to do that either.

Unsure what to do, he suddenly remembered he still had a minor blessing to spend. As quickly as he could, he called up the status screen and looked over the skills in the skill tree that he could acquire. Gaining knowledge of survival and manatech probably wouldn't matter, probably wouldn't help him all that much, which meant that his only option was with the Warrior's Knowledge Tactics skill. He had no idea how a greater knowledge of tactics was going to be helpful, but there wasn’t any other choice apart from praying to the spirits. Taking a deep breath, Merrick selected the skill, spending his blessing to learn it. Immediately, information flooded through his mind, bringing with it sharp pain, but Merrick simply gritted his teeth, carefully breathing in through his nose as he tried to regulate the pain. Thankfully, the sudden spike of pain passed quickly, leaving behind just the knowledge that the skill contained.

Immediately, Merrick looked at the situation with fresh eyes. Dozens of examples from the life of the warrior he had dreamed of began to flash through his mind, allowing him to see situations in which the warrior had been similarly trapped. Looking around, a faint flicker of an idea appeared to him, and Merrick acted as fast as he could. Turning, he jumped, his powerful fingers catching the rocks above the tunnel's exit. Swiftly and silently, he pulled himself up, doing his best to avoid loosening any rocks as he climbed further up the cliff, until he hung above the cave's entrance. There was a risk to this, but it was a risk he had to take.

Listening carefully, he heard the sound of Dugan's footsteps getting clearer, along with a faint muttering as the prospector carefully made his way up the passage. Thanks to his excellent hearing and the Warrior’s Observation skill, he could see a faint picture of where Dugan was based on the sound of his steps, and when he estimated that Dugan was a few feet from the passage’s exit, he turned his body as best he could and threw his spear with all his might, aiming for the other entrance down below.

The sound of the spear cutting through the air must have alerted Dugan, who rushed out, skidding to a stop right before he fell over the cliff, looking down into the hazy darkness. His rifle was held ready, and as the spear clattered down at the entrance below, Dugan swore and lifted his rifle to fire. He couldn't see well in the darkness, and the flash of the rifle sending out a beam of energy that pierced through the rocks where the spear clattered to a stop, lit up the cavern, blinding him further. As the crack of the shot echoed loudly in the cavern, Merrick, who had shut his eyes to avoid being blinded, sprang into action.

Dugan was entirely focused on the location of the spear and it was in that moment that Merrick struck, jumping down from his perch, the short spear in his hand stabbing straight through the back of Dugan's neck. Though he wanted to roar in rage, Merrick knew better. Instead, he simply ripped the short spear free, tearing out the side of Dugan's neck while delivering a heavy kick to Dugan’s lower back. With a choked hiss, Dugan tumbled forward, falling down the sharp cliff, his rifle clattering along with him.

[Ding! Ten experience points.]