Spellbound & Hellhounds, page 14
part #1 of Coven Chronicles Series
“I cannot deny it. I most certainly did,” he admitted.
“Please tell me the candles all didn’t light on their own,” she begged in a whiny voice.
“Well… I mean…” he motioned around them by circling his hand palm down in front of his body like he was washing a small, imaginary table. “At least it was the white candles.”
Her expression looked less than amused by his statement. However, he had a point. Had all the darker candles in the room ahead burst into flame she would have turned on heel and abandoned any further investigations.
She slowly turned to eye over the spread of candles and nodded so much that her head felt dizzy with the action. “Yeah. Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” The confidence that she once had in her steps were now drained from her footwork. As they inched closer to the next room, she walked slower than before and was ever constantly craning her neck to see in areas up ahead or looking back over her shoulder to the endless void of the black abyss behind them that lead to their only escape.
“I’m right here, Vanessa,” Bobo whispered, and she snapped her vision from the ink-black behind them to his sincere gaze. Who would have guessed that an ogre’s eyes could calm the swelling fear she was faced with?
Letting go of a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding, Vanessa nodded to him and turned to face the mouth of the hall, dumping them into the summoning room dead ahead. A few steps pulled her further and further from the comforting glow of the white candles and the soft scents of lavender. She stood just past the entrance. Nothing happened.
The deafening heartbeat that suffocated her thoughts ebbed, the tension in her shoulders lightened, and the illumination spell grew in brightness. Scanning the summoning circle, she took note of all the deep colored candles and the mounds of wax puddles that they had been reduced to. Some candles were lodged into the mound of another – long since dead – candle. Others were submerged in wide-spread dark pools of wax from countless previous candles. Unlike the hall, these candles had been used and replaced numerous times. Soon her eyes were fixed on the dreaded corner where the hellhounds had last appeared from. Nothing came. Not a sound. Not a light. Nothing. It was blissfully … silent.
As soon as Bobo left the white candle hall and came into the room, the candles in the corridor went out. Snuffed by winds not felt by the duo. Bobo jerked and turned on heel to stare back into the hall and gulped before turning back to Vanessa to whisper, “Well, that wasn’t ominous in the slightest.” The event had rattled them both, but his joke managed to somewhat lighten the mood and enabled Vanessa to find the courage to march on toward the catacombs.
When Bobo and Vanessa reached the entrance for the tunnels, there was a light breeze coming from deep within the winding shafts. It smelled of dewy and rich, dark soil that had never seen the sun. They feared that they would smell sulfur, or some other tell-tell that there were hellish things within, but it never graced their noses. There was a minor spell over the tunnel. Nothing that would be terribly hard to remove, but it was enough to stop them from heading further in without thinking.
“It’s like a tripwire spell. It’ll leave someone dazed if they try to go in or out,” Bobo said while looking at the entrance with a furrowed brow.
Vanessa was crouched on the other side of the tunnel and eyeing over the magical essence. “It’s not concealed very well, but if we hadn’t been looking for a spell, we would have activated it.” She glared at the entrance and at the forcefield that couldn’t be seen.
“What are you thinking?”
“It’s just a hunch, but I think … it might be mixed with an alarming spell. A spell that will notify the caster that somethings passed through. Regardless of if it’s in or out.”
“Should we go back then?”
“No!”
“No need to snip, Mrs. I-Seek-Danger. It was just a question.”
She stood dusting off her hands on her robes. “We’ll just make a rip in the spell. We’ll pick a spot that you and I will remember, and we can slip in and out unnoticed.”
“Banish a banshee, you’re going to use your sneak spell, aren’t you?”
“Why yes. Yes, I am, Bobo. It’s the perfect spell for this!” She started to dig through her pouches.
A sneak spell was a one of a kind spell that was of Vanessa’s own making. She learned it from a collection of magic users at the orphanage and mixed it with knowledge she had gained from the academy. It would make a tear in the spell that the user made and after two passing’s the spell would mend the tear and return the original spell back to its normal state. It would allow her and Bobo to go in, search the tunnels, and then come back out without triggering the spell and without leaving a trace that they had ever been there.
“If I didn’t know you any better, I’d swear that spell was dark magic.”
“Hush, I need to concentrate.”
“Well, this is going to take all night,” he grumbled.
“Shhh…” she hissed.
Vanessa slowly wrote with a charcoal stick onto a small piece of paper a few runes and then sprinkled gold dust onto it. As she rolled it up, she recited a few words to fuse the two spells together and then spoke the spell out loud as she held the mini-scroll a hairs distance from the spell guarding the entrance. “Rip in the spell, only a tear just for me and my friend, I’ll slip right on through and be back soon, mend upon return so no one can tell, we were here or made this spell.” She slammed the paper forward and it was like her hand hit a brick wall. The paper made contact with the previous spell, and the middle of the scroll started to burn yellow and then burn in an orange shimmer until it was slowly consumed into the barrier of tripwire/alarm spell.
“Really, that was the incantation?”
“I was ten when I made it, cut me some slack.”
Very slowly, a rip started to grow and made a hole large enough for her to pass through. Bobo cleared his throat and eyed over the hole. “There is no way.”
“I thought you were on a diet,” she teased. He flushed and growled. “Calm down, big guy. The spell will enlarge for you and me to pass through and then will become small again until we return.”
“Very well then,” he said, flattening his tie against his chest and making sure it was clipped properly to the front of his button up shirt. “However, Vanessa…”
“Hmm?”
“Crack a joke at my weight again and only one of us will be passing back through here.” He grinned wildly and motioned for her to go first. “After you, my dear.”
“Could you say that without the battleax in your hand and a creepy grin on your face? Sheesh…”
She stepped through and then waited for Bobo. As promised, the spell grew to match Bobo’s size and then shrunk to a pinhole size when he was completely on the other side.
“The easy part is done,” Bobo said in a hushed tone. “Yeah, now we have to locate what they are hiding down here.”
They both turned to face the long tunnel ahead and sighed heavily. This was going to take them a little while. It was going to be harder than prying an ale from a clurichaun. But, with hope and careful steps, Bobo and Vanessa traveled through the tunnels searching for possible clues. They felt like they were making no headway in their travels as all the tunnels looked the same. Some were narrower, others shorter, and then some were a mix of width, but, somehow, they all seemed the same to them.
A little over an hour passed inside of the passageways before Bobo and Vanessa started to feel the frustration eating at them.
“We’re lost.”
“No. We aren’t. We can find our way out easily,” Vanessa stated in a heated whisper.
“There isn’t anything down here,” Bobo almost sounded upset about it.
“There has to be. I know it.”
“Admit it. This has been a wild goose chase, and now we are lost. Fish out a useful spell from one of your pouches and let’s be done with this already.”
“I refuse to give up just because the answer isn’t falling into my lap.”
“Well, pardon me, my dear, for bursting your bubble but we aren’t exactly finding anything rummaging through these cold, and musty I might add, caves.”
“Oh, ye have little faith—” her comment was cut short by a humming sound coming from one of her satchels.
“Please tell me you did not bring your crystal ball down here…”
“Of course, I did!” she spat back hoarsely.
“If there is anything down here, you’ll get us killed with a crystal ball call.”
“Good thing for us, like you said, there isn’t anything down here. So, we should be golden,” she said and swiftly stuck her tongue out at him.
“A whole lot of nothing is going to kill us, mark me, Vanessa.”
“Besides,” she started, fishing the crystal ball out of her pouch, “I’d rather have it on me in case of an emergency.” As soon as the crystal ball was pulled out, she concentrated on linking her power to the ball and a picture came to life. Leon’s face was so close to the ball that Vanessa held it arm’s length away and gave a nervous smile. “Oh. Leon. It’s you…”
“Don’t you act like you are all innocent. Where are you?”
“Oh, I’m just—”
“Before your lips even think about producing a lie, I’ve been to Tasgall’s, the salon, Merlin’s, and I even made a pitstop by the Coven. You don’t have friends, so don’t try to use that as an excuse…”
“Ouch,” she mumbled.
Bobo whispered into her ear, “The truth hurts, my dear. Embrace the ugly truth.”
“Spill it, Vanessa!” he barked.
“Shhhh!” She looked around nervously as his voice echoed through the tunnel.
He pulled back and then she saw his eyes darting around. Instantly, she pulled the crystal ball in toward her chest, clutching it closely and letting her hair drape around the orb as she looked at it from above. “I’m just walking around before the blizzard hits,” she lied.
It was too late, though. Leon had seen where she was. “You idiot. Tell me you aren’t where I think you are.”
“Don’t tempt her,” Bobo mumbled.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she whispered and giggled.
Leon’s gaze darkened. “Vanessa, how long have you been down there?”
She said nothing. Her heartbeat was slamming against her chest like a war hammer, and her mouth felt as desperate as Aeristria’s grasslands after weeks of being deprived of rain. He knew where she was, and she couldn’t lie her way out of it. She cursed in her own head. Well, she was already this deep, right?
“Oh…” she waved the orb from side to side as she attempted to shake the man up and make it appear more convincing that she was losing the crystal ball call. “Wha…t…wa…s…tha…t?” She shook it even harder.
“Stop that,” Leon’s unamused voice commanded.
“You…re… brea….king...—”
“No, I’m not.”
“—up. I’m…. los…ing…. conne…ction…” She waved it even more.
“I can see you just fine,” he remarked in the same deadpan tone he had the whole time she tried this little connection charade.
In a panic, Vanessa tossed her crystal ball over her shoulder and stared at Bobo like it was the best option that she had and that he should agree with her course of action. Only, Bobo’s eyes weren’t on Vanessa. They were steadily watching the crystal ball as it bounced off the shallow ceiling of the tunnel, clanked against the wall, and hopped further behind Vanessa until it rolled to a half-stop and then began to roll back toward her.
They were on a decline…
Before long the crystal ball rolled back and through Vanessa’s stance until it came to even ground. Which was, you guessed it, directly in front of Vanessa. His expression was zapped of anything that could be remarked as his usual approachable self. “You are in the basement of the academy, aren’t you?” Leon’s disappointment seeped from his gaze and dripped from every word spoken.
The witch’s eyes were everywhere but upon that cursed orb. She dodged his question with silence and avoided making any eye contact with the crystal ball and the very angry face of Leon peering through it. “Vanessaaa?”
She looked to Bobo and fake gasped. “Do you hear something, Bobo?”
“I can still see you…”
Vanessa bit her lower lip and cringed before looking through one eye at the crystal ball on the ground. Instantly, as soon as her eye was on it, a handkerchief was tossed over the glass ball. “Don’t say that I don’t do anything for you, darling. I’ll be offended and remind you of this moment,” Bobo warned with a sigh.
She smiled, only to have that smile snatched by the snarling voice under the cloth by her feet. “I can still hear you!”
Again, Vanessa panicked, and she reared her leg back and kicked the orb full force. Roll back now, you cheeky piece of junk!
The orb flew like she was a professional runeball player. From down the hall there was a sound that was most unnerving to both Vanessa and Bobo. The crystal ball flew a short distance before clattering on every wall and bouncing with high-pitched tings off the rocky ground below and then bounced on something hard, only this didn’t make a sound like rock. The sound was more like a grunt from a person … or creature … being slammed with a heavy crystal ball unexpectedly. In fact, the duo was almost sure that is exactly what that sound was.
Two yellow eyes peered from the furthest reaches of the tunnel. A rumbling growl reverberated off the stretch of space and rolled over the witch’s skin like thunder sweeping its warning over the plains. Vanessa took a single step backwards and froze before the icy touch of chills walked up her spine. The eyes belonged to a creature with a voice that lacked a higher level of intelligence, which told the pair that the owner couldn’t be reasoned with.
“Pretty lady,” the deep voice said as the creature removed the handkerchief from its snout.
A set of cloven hooves pranced and dug excitedly at the ground beneath the furry legs and man-like torso. Bulges of muscle stacked on top of each other made up the broad-shouldered, barrel chested creature before them. A set of horns jutted out from the top of its large, hairy head and the face mirrored that of a bull, and it shook its head from side to side. Spurts of hot air protruded from its nostrils as it snorted in the cold confines of the tunnel. “Pretty lady, stay with me.”
“Oh, dear. Look at that, Vanessa. You have an admirer.”
“Pretty lady,” the minotaur grunted.
“I do believe he’s speaking to you, Bobo,” Vanessa urged.
“Pretty lady, stay. You die.”
“No. No. I think we are seeing your future husband, and you know me, I won’t stand between two young lovers. Go. Greet your lover with a warm embrace. I give my blessing to you.”
The minotaur roared and then barreled through the tunnels, and Bobo and Vanessa tripped over their feet as they spun around and scrambled through the halls. “You really shouldn’t leave your man waiting,” Bobo said, pulling Vanessa back behind him, so he could take the lead as he started to run as fast as he could.
Vanessa squeaked as she was dragged behind Bobo. She spared a look over her shoulder only to regret the action. “You no trespass,” the minotaur snarled, and she fumbled with her pace before she found herself spurred by the image of the monster racing his way through the tunnel in hot pursuit of them. Nostrils flaring, eyes wild, and a deep guttural howl echoing off the rocky walls.
“Move your butt, Bobo!” Vanessa pushed Bobo and saw a tunnel up ahead, she switched from pushing to tugged at him and forced the ogre to follow her lead. They tumbled into the tunnel toppling over each other just as the minotaur raced by and slammed his horns into the wall. The sound of his horns scraping across the solid stone screamed out like nails on a chalkboard, but worse. A lot worse.
They wasted no time. The two of them rapidly got on their feet and ran further into the tunnel. “He doesn’t turn very fast!” Vanessa yelled to Bobo.
“A lot about the creature is slow, dear,” he said. “Let’s use that to our advantage.”
“Right.” She strained her eyes. In the near pitch-black of the tunnels it was hard to tell a dip in the wall from a possible opening to another tunnel. Grabbing and fumbling over dusts wouldn’t help either, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate long enough to make a worthwhile spell. There was always her staff, but she’d have to find somewhere to hide and meditate. There was no time for that now. Even if the minotaur was sluggish in turns and speech, it was still fast and full of brute strength. Vanessa couldn’t last two minutes without Bobo to back her up. Still, the light spell wouldn’t be worth the injuries they would, without a doubt, be inflicted with.
“What in the bloody hellfire is a minotaur doing down here anyway?” Snapped Bobo between attempts to catch his breath.
That was a good question…
Why was a minotaur down in a series of tunnels that seemed to have absolutely nothing contained in them? Minotaurs were a type of scroll summoned guardian that were task based. They guard a specific item or place and upon completion of their duty, the spirit disappears. Minotaurs, sphinxes, gorgons, and nagas were all types of scroll summoned guardians and were a spirit form of their free roaming relatives. The only reason one would be summoned down here would to be to guard it, and right now the creature was doing that in aces.
With that in mind, it would mean that this one was summoned, and recently, to guard either the tunnels themselves or the secrets they contained. A living one wouldn’t have roamed down here and claimed the tunnels as their own. Vanessa had a hunch that it was keeping guard of the secrets the tunnels had tucked away. Her attention was snapped back as she and Bobo skidded and slid on the smooth surface of the ground and clambered over themselves to dodge another blow from their pursuer and dive down another opening.
“This way!” Bobo barked, and they were at full speed again.
