26 The Underground Warden

Galahad kept walking, his mind and body were oblivious to all outside distractions. He made it nearly twenty steps before he felt a shooting pain drill right into his undamaged shoulder.

"Oww, what the hell?" Shouted Galahad as he awoke from his trance. He looked at Solteer who was flying off his shoulder. "Did you just stab me with your claws? Why?"

"Did you not realize what was happening?" Solteer asked right back. "You were walking straight into a den and it didn't look like you were stopping anytime soon."

"Oh, I didn't know . . ." Galahad's tone became a bit sheepish after understanding his blunder. "What is this smell? Its so sweet, that I couldn't help myself from searching for it."

"You smell something sweet?" Solteer sounded confused at the idea of the smell being sweet. "I don't think its sweet at all."

He flew back onto Galahad's shoulder, a big splatter of blood was growing where his claws had puncture Galahad. He seemed to ponder at something for a moment before cursing underneath his breath.

"I truly hope I am wrong about this, otherwise we are going to find ourselves in a situation that is much worse than I anticipated." Solteer spoke in a very grave tone, making Galahad want to walk away from the cavern all together. Too bad the hawk was his only defense, and he really couldn't think any other way to obtain mana orbs to save his friends.

At the edge of the tunnel, Galahad knelt low to the ground to see inside. The cavern wasn't much bigger than the pavilion in the Gate back at the town. The ceiling was dome-shaped with red veins falling down like thick tree vines in a jungle. The walls were encased in red veins that were even thicker, some were twice as wide as Galahad's arm that spiraled along the walls.

On the floor of the cavern, a bunch of dark-bottomed pits were splayed out and in the very center was a pool of rosy pink water. The thickest of red veins seemed to be coming from the pool, making Galahad assume that was the source.

He caught a glimpse of shadows moving beneath the surface, indicating some life below. Meanwhile a lot of life was active above the pool as well.

A dozen little goblins were moving around the red cavern with some purpose, each one carried very crudely made tools. Along side the goblins, another dozen little demons were moving between them, performing various tasks of their own too.

The other monsters were the same size as the goblins, but instead of the dark green skin and hairless features, they were very different. They were a very tan human color with thick grey beards that grew all around their tiny bodies. The only thing exposed from the immersive beards were their eyes, arms, and feet.

It was a cluster of gnomes, working with goblins in moving little containers in and out of the tunnels connecting to the cavern. Some carried weapons, others were moving bowls and puddles of water, while the rest were chattering about.

"This doesn't seem too bad, are you sure this is a warden's den?" Galahad asked.

"Look carefully at the center of the pool, that's our problem." Replied Solteer, his eyes never parted from the shadows under the body of water in the center.

Galahad looked back at the pool and saw brown hair drifting up from the water and stretching lazily around the surface. He thought maybe a hairy mammoth was just taking a bath, until he had a glimpse of the most beautiful being emerging to the surface.

The hair belonged to a pale skinned woman that stood up from the water as she let the long brown hair drop down past her ankles. Her luscious hair was the only thing to provide cover as she was not wearing anything inside the pool.

Each movement she made was captivating as droplet of pink would run down her very naturally curved body. Her facial features seemed so acute and delicate, Galahad was mistaken and thought it might have been a porcelain mask for moment.

Galahad felt his eyes drift along her body like it was tracing her figure into his memory, something Heath would be real proud to hear.

'What the hell is a pretty woman doing in the middle of the dungeon, taking a bath all alone and clearly lacking company.' Galahad had to look away as he felt that warming scent wrap around his mind and start clouding it like the painkillers did before.

He was able to break the alluring spell thanks to the puncture wounds in his shoulder. They were still keeping him checked into reality with pain, courtesy of Solteer.

"Why does she keep throwing me off," Galahad whispered. "I can't focused. Even as she just stands there, just smelling like Black Rose."

"It's a goddamn Succubus, these things are designed to lure in easily susceptible prey like you into places they can violently feed on your corpse in peace."

Galahad furrowed his brow with a questionable face. "She doesn't exactly strike me as violent, especially since she is barely my height."

The Succubus was indeed a small creature by comparison. she was nearly two inches shorter than Galahad with no real way to defend herself. He was gonna start arguing to not fight, but he threw away his next argument once he saw one of the little goblins make a mistake in front of her.

The goblin carrying a roughly made rock bowl tripped over a red vein and spilled its contents all across the floor. It was regular water that just barely didn't make it to tub of the Succubus's pink colored pool.

The Succubus turned around and looked at the mess with unmoving eyes, then Galahad was really happy to be facing away from the scene as it quickly change to a more darker tone.

When the Succubus turned around, Galahad watched it swell in size. It went from six feet tall to eight feet tall in an instant, changing into something no longer beautiful.

The arms grew longer and wrinkled into very old, leathery looking skin. The nails on each finger seemed to age rapidly as well, every one of them grew into one-foot-long dagger shapes with sharpened ends

Galahad didn't she her face, he only heard her banshee like laugh from behind, as plunged her nails into the little goblin. Over and over she swiped her long fingers in it's little body, barely stopping to breathe between the maniacally disturbing laughs.

After a few seconds, she seemed bored of tearing apart its body and cut off the goblins head from its small neck. She flicked the two severed parts near one of the pits in the ground.

The headless corpse bounced across the floor twice before falling into one of the many pits. The Succubus continued to chuckle at the sight as she shrunk back down into her smaller form. She sat down in her pool and began leisurely washing the black sludge off her body and fingernails.

The smile on her face would have distracted Galahad once again, but now he had seen exactly what this thing was. It was no longer a beautiful distraction leeching at his mind.

"A damn Succubus, I've definitely underestimated the severity of this den. We need to return to the surface, I am going to need another one of the Kings to help with this."

"But I thought you would wait till a last resort to contact them."

"This is a last resort. That monstrosity is a rare breed on its own, what's even worse is it learned to function as a warden. We need to leave before one of its minions discovers my scent."

Galahad didn't really know how rare it was to find a Succubus. He read almost every beastiary in Teramore's library; all he ever saw on Succubus and Incubus (the male form) was they were like a mix of spriggan and dryad. They had powerful magic that attacked the mind, and vegetative bodies that would plant itself in a location to host themselves.

'If the red veins are a part of her then, we really are standing in a monster's gullet.' Galahad was grossed out at that thought and then inspired to use that to his advantage.

"Might I make a suggestion before we retreat?"

"I hope it will go better than the last plan you devised."

"Hey, the plan technically worked. I just didn't know the black orb was going to explode when I grabbed it." Argued Galahad

"You need to be quick. If we let her parasitic roots grow out into the forest, she can suck the life out of everything like it was simply nutrients."

"Don't worry, we just need to severe her servants and roots first." Galahad said while the trying to work out a path of attack.

Solteer stared at the odd human with a very clear tone in his eyes. 'I regret this decision already.'

*****

The Succubus was almost done removing all the black sludge from its nails when she caught a whiff of something on the air. She leaned forward and flared her nostrils, she could practically taste the very unique prey wandering in her tunnels.

She clicked her tongue to get the attention of a handful of goblins and gnomes. They stopped what they were doing and stared at their goddess. Ever since they found themselves in this cavern, they never left what they believe was an absolute goddess to serve and protect with their lives.

She lifted a smooth and delicately-shaped hand towards the tunnel she could detect the smell from, gesturing for them to find it for her.

A portion of her fledglings ran off to find what she wanted, their goddess needed something done and they would the ones to do it.

'If they overrun my dinner in numbers, they can bring it right to me. If my dinner kills them all, then it will come looking in here for the source, I win either way' chuckled the Succubus to herself, enjoying her own clever thinking.

Now two thirds of the goblins and gnomes remained, working tirelessly at meaningless tasks assignedt to them from the Succubus. She liked to toy with their feeble minds and watch the tiny bodies struggle at every turn, it was her entertainment.

As the little monsters hustled at every whim she was forcing upon them, she smelled something else enter from another tunnel entrance. It was somehow familiar and foreign at the same time; the Succubus spun around in her pool to see what had managed invaded her territory without her noticing.

'Perhaps this one won't be food, it might be something I can actually find pleasure in commanding.' She ran her tongue along her teeth and lips at the idea. Her pupils expanded to the point that the white of her eyes seemed to disappear in the blackness.

The darkness of the tunnel hid the figure, but the smell grew more intense and began combating her own. Stepping into the light was a tall and thin human with black hair and green eyes, he looked like a mess with dirt and scratches all along his clothing. She began inspect the strange human, but stopped after seeing all the burns and damage spread across his face.

The Succubus sighed in disappointment. 'Ugh this one is broken, I have no use for such playthings.'

She pointed a finger at the human that appeared as a sad sight to her eyes, it seemed she would have to just eat the human instead of toying with it first. The rest of her servants looked at her and then back at the human with full on intent of getting him. Most of them drew out makeshift shivs and clubs to begin their attack, it was about to get messy.

Galahad looked at the crowd of beady eyes with regret of sharing this plan with Solteer. 'Maybe we should have gotten another king. Even if the forest lost some life, I certainly wouldn't be performing this dumbass stunt.'

Galahad sprinted straight into the cavern, confusing the enemy but not nearly enough to stun them. The horde of them screeched and chased after him the intent to please the goddess.

He didn't look behind himself because he heard all the thralls following while he dodged and weaved between them and the bottomless pits randomly scattered throughout the room. As he was circling the room to gather the servants, the Succubus watched from her pool with no intention of getting out. She seemed to be enjoying the events with a childish smile on her face.

'Hurry up you fucking chicken roast, I'm the one risking my life.' Galahad's plan was to occupy the cavern while Solteer worked on the group sent off to find him. Once Solteer was done, Galahad would draw the servants out of the cavern so Solteer could have a one-on-one showdown with the Succubus in the center.

Galahad did the best he could while trying not to exhaust himself too quickly. Both of his shoulders were burning and each step was sending waves of pain into his head. He barely made one full rotation of the cavern before nearly dying at least four times.

By the third time he circled the cavern, he felt it was going to be last run. He tripped on a red vein and stumbled a bit too close to one of the pits.

Just when Galahad was about to collapse inside, he saw a golden light come flying into cavern. Solteer had entered the battle.

The Succubus was enjoying herself at Galahad's useless struggles, but the light of magic was exploding into the room was interrupting. It whipped its head around and saw a massive glowing hawk come flying through the room with its giant talons aimed straight for her face.

Anger filled her heart and the water in her pool began to bubble. She grew larger again and attempted to swing her dagger nails in Solteer's flight path, but she was too late.

Solteer had closed the distance in an instant, giving him the chance to graze his black claws across her face and feel flesh tear.

Galahad was cheering internally with newfound energy to run back into the tunnels. He needed to draw away the little monsters before they used their numbers on Solteer. The plan was turning out almost exactly as he had hoped for.

Galahad pushed himself off the floor and tumbled his weight toward the nearest tunnel exit. It was time to start phase two of his plan. Then he suddenly felt his weight shift to the left, and a burning pain rip across his leg.

A gnome had focused his intent on getting Galahad that it jumped straight at Him when the hawk entered the room.

The gnome proceeded to jam an arrow head shaped rock into Galahad's thigh with all of its weight pressing. They both fell into direction of the pit without realizing it was so close.

Solteer could only watch from a distance, as Galahad and the gnome silently tumble into one of the inky black pits. Solteer was on his own now.