XII

Together Yoreno and Dantera ventured further into the dungeon where the swordsman called Davy and his men had appeared. After passing through a series of corridors, they found themselves in another chamber walled with cages. Among them was a large steel cage at the center of the space.

“Look at this,” Dantera said as she approached. She touched the bars that were bent and broken outwards. “There was a powerful monster in this cage.”

“The lock is broken,” Yoreno added.

“Herokelus,” she said.

“Are you certain?”

“I know of no other monster on this island that can break a cage of this size,” she said. “But we do not have time to contend with this monster. Not now.”

“This place is empty,” Yoreno said. “Where are the other monsters?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps they were taken to the ship.”

“All dead now.”

She turned, a look of alarm on her face. “You think so?”

He shrugged. “I’ve never sunk a ship with monsters aboard before.”

“We should go back to the Minstrel’s Dagger, and quickly.”

Yoreno approached her. “Why are you so worried?”

She glanced about. The chamber was filled with wooden tables containing chains, locks, nets and other monster-capturing gear. “I do not know. I just have a bad feeling.”

“All right,” Yoreno nodded. He felt somewhat crestfallen that he wouldn’t be able to do battle with the monster Herokelus, but their situation was more dangerous than a simple rite of passage.

Together they left the dungeon.

Had it not been for the fact that they were on an island presumably inhabited by monsters and for the men who had come ashore, their night walk back to the ship would have been a lovely one. There were very little sounds apart from the breeze and the crickets. Dantera suddenly stopped in her tracks. Yoreno did the same as she glanced about silently.

“This is not right.”

“What’s wrong?” Yoreno whispered.

There was a long pause. Then Dantera turned to him suddenly. “Are they really on the shore, watching their ship burn? Why are they not coming to the dungeon to meet with their allies? Why are they not creating a ruckus?”

Yoreno wasn’t making the connection. Was there even one to make?

“We must hurry back to the ship, Yoreno. Run!”

He was breathing heavily, trying to keep up with Dantera. She was almost out of his sight as they ran making their way through the dead forest. The beach and the ship weren’t far.

The night sky which was a dark blue-black came into view overhead with bright twinkling stars as they came out of the forest. Had it not been for their haste and Dantera’s alarm the night would have been perfect.

Yoreno slowed his run as he caught up with her. She was kneeling in the sand up ahead. Trotting and breathing heavily, he came up to her. Sweat trickled down his back making him itch underneath his armor. He realized what she was hunched over. It was a body. “Who is that?”

“It is one of the crew,” she said plainly as she nudged the body, inspecting it. “It is hard to see, but I think…”

“Damn,” Yoreno said. “We left our torches in the forest. He stepped closer. “Wait—that’s Helis!”

“Yes,” she said. “And it is better that we no longer have our torches, Yoreno.”

“Why?”

She nudged the satchel she had stolen from the mage further onto her back, the one she had put the magical crystal into. Then she looked at him over her shoulder. “Because we do not need to make beacons of ourselves so the monsters can attack us.”

Yoreno’s heart was already beating hard, but it seemed to thunder inside his chest suddenly as a horrible thrill passed through his body. It made him shiver. “What are you talking about? We haven’t seen any monsters since coming here.”

“This man was killed by a monster.”

She stood.

“There is no mistaking it,” she added.

“We need to help the others!”

“Shh!” she hushed with a finger in front of her lips. “Keep your voice down, Yoreno. We could alert them to our presence.”

She looked about. And then suddenly in the distance—in the direction of the beach—a man cried out. They both jerked toward that direction as his high pitched howl boded of fear and death.

Yoreno breathed in sharply.

“They’re under attack!”

Dantera took off running.

“Come!”