Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 21 (Patreon)

The echo of the rifle shot was just fading from the cavern as Dugan's body slammed into the floor below. The rifle that he had clutched fell with him, clattering against the rocks, mixing with Merrick's sharp gasps. Adrenaline was raging through his body and though Dugan was dead, Merrick found the burning anger in his chest had not calmed down in the slightest. He gripped the blood-soaked spear tightly as his eyes turned back towards the tunnel.

Soon silence reigned, and for a moment he remained still, listening carefully. Vale was still out there, and he wasn't about to let the dark-haired young man go. With careful steps, he began to trace his way back down the passage, descending until he reached the crossroads. There Merrick hesitated before turning to his left and taking the short passage out to the cavern once more. He wanted to recover the rifle and see if Dugan had anything on him that he could use. The memory of Vale's pistol was still sharp in his head, and recovering Dugan's rifle would go a long way to evening the fight. There was also the matter of Evan's rifle, which no doubt Vale had taken.

On silent feet, he entered the cavern, making sure to stay low just in case Dugan had somehow survived the 60-foot fall. The stench of blood and the acrid smell of burnt flesh filled the air, and it wasn’t long before he discovered the body, smashed apart on one of the stalagmites that rose from the cavern's floor. Before he searched Dugan's corpse, he looked around for the rifle, finding it some distance away. It had been battered by the fall, and there were a number of marks on the barrel that he didn't like the look of. Still, he brought it with him, after watching it warily for a few moments to make sure it wouldn’t explode

This was the first time he had held one of the manatech rifles, and as soon as he touched it, he could feel the power it contained. Going back over to Dugan's body, he did a quick search, turning up a long steel blade and a number of other odds and ends. Most of Dugan's pack must have been outside of the cavern. The problem was, that's where Vale was watching. After he had gathered everything that could be salvaged, he hesitated for a moment, trying to decide which way to go. It was safe to assume Vale was watching the entrance to the cave, so Merrick decided to make his way deeper into the cavern.

Going back out through the entrance would put him face to face with Vale, and while he now had a manatech rifle, he didn't actually know how to operate it. As he walked, he tried to figure it out, and remembering how the others, the prospectors, had placed their fingers on the manastone on the side of the rifle, he tried to mimic their action. When the manastone remained unresponsive, he frowned. The rifle was no good to him if he couldn't actually use it. Further tests seemed to prove Evan’s words right, that he wasn’t capable of activating the rifle, but if that was really the case, then why would he have the option to unlock the Manatech skill? Strapping the rifle tightly to his side, he continued further into the cavern where he saw a few other passages. After considering them, he chose one that curved around to the right. His hope was that this passage would lead back to the canyon, allowing him to make his way around Vale and ambush him from behind.

Slowly, the passage grew narrower as it began to angle up, and for a moment, Merrick thought about retracing his steps. There was a deep impatience that burned in him, fueled by the anger he felt over Barak's death, but he tempered it, taking a moment to stop and breathe. As he did, he suddenly smelled fresh air, and his eyes sharpened. There was an exit up ahead. The air of the cavern was wet and smelled deeply of earth, but he could smell the fresh scent of the plants outside, which meant that there must be an opening.

Spear in hand, he made sure that the rifle and steel dagger were tightly secured and then crouched and moved forward through the ever-narrowing passage. The walls and ceiling continued to grow closer and closer together, until he had to crawl on his hands and knees, but still he pressed forward. The earth squeezed in around him, and he began to feel suffocated, but a glimmer of light up ahead revealed that there was a crack just large enough for his body to squeeze through, leading out onto the edge of the cliff of the canyon wall.

Carefully studying the crack to make sure that he could scoot backwards if he needed to, he began to inch his way forward. At times, he could only move himself forward with the tips of his fingers and toes, scooting his body inch by inch through the passage. Carefully, slowly, he made his way to the crack, peering out of it as best as he was able. He was about two hundred feet from the larger cave entrance, and as he looked around, he didn't see Vale anywhere in sight.

The earth seemed to be collapsing in on him, and he very much wanted to get out of the narrow passage he was in, but Merrick forced his beating heart to slow, taking careful breaths. He continued to scan the area around the entrance to the cave, slowly widening his search as he looked for viable places to hide. Not seeing anything, his brow furrowed. There was no way that Vale would simply have left, and it was unlikely that Vale would have entered the cave. Instead, Merrick fully expected Vale to be camped out somewhere, with Evan’s rifle in hand, as he watched the entrance to see who would emerge.

Though he didn't see Vale right now, that didn't mean that the young prospector wasn't watching. Closing his eyes for a moment, Merrick forced himself to pause, shifting his paradigm. Where would he hide if he had a weapon like a manatech rifle, and was waiting for somebody to come out of the cave? Slowly, carefully, he looked over the landscape once more, this time searching for the best hiding spots possible. He narrowed it down to three places. One, near the rock where Evans stood, which would be good for the shorter range pistol, but not as good for the rifle. A second, in a small stand of rocks and trees that stood about seventy feet away from the entrance down along the canyon floor. This would provide a good middle range distance, allowing for the use of both the pistol and the rifle. And then a third, high up in the rocks, where two large boulders created a V-shape that would make a good place to steady a rifle.

Thinking about it, Merrick quickly understood that he would have chosen the furthest position, but he was not Vale, and Vale's impatience was clear to him. It was unlikely that the prospector would have gone far, making either the first or the second position much more likely. Reaching down and squeezing his arm back, Merrick took a moment to rub his hand against the dirt in the small passage, coating his hair and face with it, trying to blend into the rock as much as possible.

Carefully, he inched forward, his eyes constantly scanning the two positions that he had identified. Time ticked past slowly, each minute feeling like an hour. But Merrick remained in his position, moving as little as possible as he carefully counted out the time. Close to twenty-five minutes passed before he saw it, a slight flicker of movement next to the boulder where Evan's body remained propped up. Continuing to watch, he grinned to himself as he saw Vale stand up and glare angrily down at the cave entrance with a scowl. It was clear that Vale was starting to lose patience. But from the hesitant look on his face, it was also clear that he didn't fancy going into the cavern after his subordinate. Carefully watching from his position in the cliff, Merrick considered his next move. He could wait until Vale had backed up, heading further into the cavern, setting traps in case Vale did come in. Or, when Vale turned away, he could try to exit the cliff into the canyon from the passage he was in, attempting to sneak up and get closer.

Thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly felt a flash of knowledge coming, running through his head as his tactics skill kicked in. The most important thing was to survive, and his chances of surviving out in the open were much greater than his chances of surviving in the cave. Though Vale clearly didn't want to enter the mine, his superior weaponry would give him a significant advantage in the enclosed space. And Merrick wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could successfully ambush the young prospector like he had Dugan. There had been a clear chance that he would have been discovered, had Dugan not fired his gun, blinding himself and covering the sound of Merrick's attack. Had he been discovered, there was also a high chance that he would have lost that encounter, and he couldn't rely on luck to repeat it.

Once out in the wilderness, however, he could use his advantages to their full effect. Plus, Vale couldn't stay here forever. He would have to hunt for food, and he would have to leave the valley eventually. Merrick was considerably more familiar with the paths that Vale would take to cut through the mountains, and that would give him all the advantage he needed. His decision made, Merrick continued to wait patiently. Vale, undecided about what to do, would crouch down behind cover, watching the cave entrance carefully, and then after a little while, would stand up and pace back and forth.

Finally, feeling like he had to do something, Vale stood and climbed down to the cave entrance. Barak's body still lay at the bottom of the small gorge, and Vale barely glanced at it as he passed by, causing the anger in Merrick's chest to burn all the hotter. Watching as Vale slowly lifted his pistol and began to enter the cave entrance, Merrick quietly maneuvered himself forward, wriggling his body as he squeezed out of the hole in the cavern wall. As quietly as he could, he got down low, keeping himself in between the rocks as he examined the situation again.

The prospector's packs were sitting next to the large rock where Evan's body was located, but that was across the gorge, and Merrick wasn't sure that he would be able to make it across. After considering the risk, he decided that he didn’t have another choice. He would have to sprint past Barak’s body and quickly climb the other side of the gorge, hoping that Vale didn’t decide to come back out. It pained him to leave Barak's body where it lay, but until the threat of death was gone, Merrick knew he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Staying as low as he possibly could, Merrick moved swiftly to the edge of the gorge. He would have to go down one side, across thirty feet of open space, and up the other, before he could get to the packs. From where he crouched at the edge of the gorge, he peeked his head over, staying low behind some scraggly bushes as he looked into the cave. He couldn't see Vale anywhere, and after a moment's hesitation, he knew that he simply had to risk it. If Vale truly was entering the cave, it wouldn't be long before he discovered the body in the cavern, and knew that Merrick was still crawling around.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the gorge, Merrick dropped down, sliding along the dirt. With a spring, he sprinted across the open area, his eyes fixed on his goal. Passing by Barak's body, his steps paused momentarily and he bent down to scoop up Barak's other spear, holding it tightly as he raced the last few steps towards the other side of the gorge. With the short spears in each hand, he jumped, stabbing them deep into the dirt walls, and using them to pull himself upwards rapidly. Jerking them from the dirt where they had been buried, he used the momentum of his run to dig them into the earth at the top of the gorge's wall and jumped over the edge.

A glance back at the cave showed him the worst possible sight. Vale, his face pale against the darkness crouched in the cave’s entrance, staring at him in shock. Before Vale could lift the pistol he held in his hand, Merrick took off running, sprinting for the boulder where Evan's body lay propped up. He saw all the prospector's packs there and, making a rapid decision, grabbed Vale’s and Evan’s, slinging them across his back as he continued to sprint away.

A shout echoed through the canyon as Vale tried to climb up to where he was, but he knew it was unlikely that Vale would be able to climb straight up the steep wall, which meant he would have to spend a few minutes running down the length of the gorge until he could find a low enough spot. And so, Merrick focused on running. His legs burned, especially his left leg which had been wounded when Barak had knocked him out of the way of the rifle shot but he ignored the pain and continued to run for all he was worth. He needed to get out of range of the manatech rifle as fast as possible. Soon he entered the brush on the canyon floor, keeping the canyon wall on his right as his feet pounded across the ground. His goal was to get up and out of the canyon before Vale could stop him, but he knew he was playing a dangerous game.

Weighed down by the two packs he had grabbed, Merrick knew that his speed wasn't all that great but that was in comparison to his running speed when he wasn’t wounded. Unencumbered, he could run like the wind, but now he was carrying almost 150 pounds between the two different bags. He had no idea what the effective range of the manatech rifles was, but all of his instincts were telling him that he needed to create as much distance between himself and Vale as possible. His mind worked furiously, coming up with plan after plan for how to kill Vale, but for the moment, the simplest course of action seemed best. Just run.