The Tale of Davy Fireskull

[Tiberius Fireskull]

In my opinion, this is my most action packed, and dramatic chapter yet. Enjoy!

Chapter 19: Into the Catacombs

The group snuck off the ship just before dawn. Nobody saw them, and The Shadow King made it safely away from the harbor before the Navy fort could spot them. The group that left to land consisted of Davy, Sam, Will, Kate, Luckie, and Zolina; the Shadow Sorcerors Officers. Matt stayed behind to captain the ship in Davy’s absence. They would all be needed for this dangerous mission.

Davy knew that Billy was in the Catacombs somewhere. He also knew that the Catacombs were infested with skeletons. When Jolly had attempted an invasion of Padres and failed many years ago, the remaining skeletons fled into the Catacombs of Padres Del Fuego. With every death that occurred on the island, more undead would rise in the caves, slowly building up the forces of Jolly Roger on Padres Del Fuego. It was almost *******, attempting to go into one of Jolly Roger’s strongholds. Nobody had ever left the caves alive.

The Sorcerors snuck through town, not making a single sound. The entrance to the caves was towards the back of the town, near the graveyard. It would likely be quiet there, as nobody ventured near those parts. Sightings of skeletons were not uncommon there. After a half hour walk, the group reached the graveyard. Kate glanced around nervously.

“I feel it too,” Davy said, looking at Kate. “Something is not right about this place. Come on, lets get to the Catacombs. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Aye, I never liked Padres. It’s a skeleton infested wasteland if you ask me,” Sam said. “Ready your swords mates. Some of us may not come out of this place alive.”

The group walked towards the hole in the side of the mountain, surrounded by burnt out torches. They all stood at the opening of the tunnels that would take them to the Catacombs, and then headed inside the dark cave entrance.

The cave was dark, but not damp. If anything, it was dry and hot. Unfortunately, it would only get worse as they headed deeper into the cave system, closer to the core of the volcano. The walls were made of solid stone; a mixture of granite and other volcanic stone. Stalactites hung above the Sorcerors, fifty feet above them, and stalagmites towered next to them, like stone towers. As they walked through the cave, they passed by small trickles of magma, and soon it seemed like off to the sides were entire rivers of molten rock. The temperature continued to raise, and soon, the group was coated in sweat. After the first hour and a half or so of walking, it must have already been close to forty five degrees Celsius. After two hours, they met their first skeletons. The group all hid behind a large boulder, and Davy watched the group.

“It’s a fairly large group,” Davy whispered to his friends. “I would estimate, oh, twenty to twenty five of ‘em. Armed with swords and daggers. A few look like they are undead gypsies, so they will be using voodoo dolls. Assuming that they count about twenty five, that would mean us six would be against twenty five.”

“Normally that would be a problem,” Will said. “However the undead tend to not be as good of fighters as us. They rely on surprise and fear when fighting powerful foes such as ourselves. If we can jump them fast, while they have their guard down, we can take out at least half of them before they are ready to actually fight.”

“He’s right,” Luckie said. “They are also just sitting down and taking a rest. Guess boneheads have to take rests too. They are unprepared and we can take them. Unless we have underestimated their strength, which would be our downfall.”

The group prepared to draw their weapons, but Sam held up his hand quickly. “They will notice us if they hear swords being drawn,” He said. “That would be our downfall. I have a better idea.”

Sam gestured upward, above the group of skeletons. A large stalactite hung over them. “If we can bring that stalactite down on them, it can kill most of them. The rest will be knocked down or stunned. That’s when we attack.”

“How are we supposed to bring that giant piece of rock down?! Its gigantic!” Zolina said. It was Davy who answered.

“If we all focus on it, maybe we can bring it down. I want everyone to focus all their strength on dislodging it from the roof of the cave. Once its dislodged, allow it to fall, and while the boneheads are looking at the piece of rock in shock, draw your swords. Once it lands, attack.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kate said, as the others nodded in agreement.

“Alright, on my mark,” Davy said. “Now!”

The group shut their eyes, and concentrated on the piece of rock. At first nothing happened. Then, the roof started to rumble, and some small rocks began to fall. One small rock fell and hit a skeleton on the head. He muttered a cry of pain, then, rubbing his head, he looked up, along with his group. What they saw was a massive stalactite falling down on them. It hit, reducing a chunk of the group to dust. Then the Sorcerors charged.

With their weapons drawn, they attacked the confused skeleton group. Davy, with the sword he picked up from the Shadow King, sliced and diced through the boneheads. Sam was a sight to behold with his cutlass, slashing through skeletons as if they were made of butter. Zolina, using her dagger, snuck up behind the confused skeletons and stabbed them from behind. Luckie blasted away with her voodoo staff she purchased from a gypsy on the way to the caves. Will and Kate, with their broadswords, danced with the skeletons, slicing off their limbs, and reducing them to dust. After just a few minutes, all that was left of the group was dust, and a gigantic piece of stone sticking out of the ground.

“Well,” Kate said. “I must say, that I haven’t had that much fun in days! Good job everyone!”

“Aye, but lets not get too confident,” Davy said. “We still have a long way to go, if we are to rescue Billy.”

The group moved on. They walked for another few hours, passing through the caves with little interest. It was quite monotonous. Just more rock, stalagmites, stalactites, and lava rivers. One time they ended up walking over a stone bridge, above a lake of lava hundreds of feet below them.

“Don’t want to fall there…” Sam muttered.

They rounded more corners. The cave was lit by the fires that burned within it, as well as several torches within the tunnels. How they were still burning was a mystery to Davy. The group stopped for lunch and a short rest, and moved on quickly. There was no time to lose.

Soon, it began to cool down slightly. It was still hot, but it wasn’t like walking around in a campfire. They stopped passing lava rivers, and soon, was just like walking around in a regular cave, rather than the tunnels of a volcano. The tunnel became slightly more twisty, and was going straight forward rather than slowly going down.

They soon began to hear chattering. The chattering of skeleton teeth. The group drew their weapons nervously. Thank goodness they did, because as they turned another corner, they came face to face with another group of skeletons. This one was about the same size as the previous one, but unfortunately, they didn’t have the element of surprise.

“GO!!!” Davy yelled. The Sorcerors charged, as did the skeletons. These skeletons seemed stronger. Davy locked swords with one, and felt his foes broadsword pushing against him. Davy pushed him away using voodoo, and charged him, stabbing him through the stomach. The skeleton collapsed and turned to dust. Davy heard the blasts of Luckie’s staff, and decided that he would pull his out too. He sheathed his sword, and pulled out his staff out of the sling he kept it on, on his back. He casted a ball of fire, which hovered right above the tip of the staff, and launched it at a group of skeletons.

The fire burned straight through them, burning them alive, or dead, as they were skeletons. They disintegrated, leaving nothing but dust and burning rags from what were their tattered clothes. The battle raged on for several more minutes. Finally, all the skeletons were defeated. The group hadn’t suffered serious injuries; however, Will got a decent gash across his left arm.

“No big deal,” he said through gritted teeth. “I use my right hand anyway. Just bandage it up and I’ll be okay.”

After it was bandaged, they continued on. They had been walking for what they guessed was at least seven hours. They decided to find a spot to camp soon. After another hour of walking, they arrived at a solid wall with a rusted gate blocking a path. The path lead into another cave, which sloped uphill after going a few meters.

“Lets stop here,” Davy said. “We are all exhausted, and it will do us well to get some sleep. After that, we can continue on. That has to be the entrance to the Catacombs.”

Sam nodded. “Its going to get real tricky after we pass through that gate. Even more skeletons will be there. Some in large groups, some in small. We will always be fighting, chances are. We have to be ready for that.”

“Billy will likely be deep within them, so we have to be moving fast,” Davy said. “We can’t risk camping out in those caves, so we have to move in, and get out.”

“From what I know,” Zolina said. “The Catacombs are fairly small compared to what we just went through. It shouldn’t be too difficult, unless we can’t move three meters without being ambushed by skeletons.”

“Lets hope that’s not the case,” Davy said. “Now, lets get some rest. Good night all! Assuming it is night. You can never tell in these infernal caves…”

~~~~~~~~~~

The group woke. They were unsure of what time it was. For all they knew, they could have slept for six hours, or sixteen.

It doesn’t matter, Davy thought. All that matters is finding Billy, and getting him out of here.

The group got up, and stood at the gate. Luckie took out her staff, and charged up a spell. The released it, and the gates flew backward and slammed against the ground, making a loud, unnerving sound that probably just let every skeleton in the caves know that they were there. The whole group glared at Luckie.

“Hehe,” She said. “Oops?”

They walked through, stepping over the fallen rusty gates. They continued uphill, until they arrived into another tunnel, but it wasn’t any ordinary tunnel.

“It’s a tomb…” Will said

“Aye, that’s what Catacombs are. Burial places,” Kate said.

They moved through the tunnel. Soon they arrived in a large open room, with stalactites dangling above them. It was made of about the same stone as the Lava Gorge that they had previously went through, but it was less hot. The temperature hovered around thirty five degrees Celsius. The group walked to the center of the cave, but stopped suddenly. There was a sound of rocks tumbling down the cave. They turned, and saw something that chilled their bones. Clinging to the upper walls of the cave, were dozens of skeletons. They surrounded the cave, grinning without any sense of humor in their face.

A skeleton that appeared to be the lead skeleton made a chattering noise, and the skeletons began to drop to the ground. They landed, drew their weapons, and advanced.

“Davy…” Zolina said.

“Uhh… run?” Davy said.

The group needed no further orders. They ran like they never ran before. The skeletons continued dropping from the ceiling, and soon there were at least sixty chasing them.

“Sam!” Davy cried. He pointed toward a boulder lying on the ground. Sam knew what he meant. They lifted the boulder up using their voodoo powers, straining with the effort, and sent it flying towards the skeletons. It crushed a huge amount of them, but not enough to make it safe.

“That’ll slow ‘em down!” Sam said. “But come on! We have to keep moving!”

They continued running. Occasionally, one of them would cast a spell with their staff, taking down several skeletons. But more skeletons joined them, canceling out any that they defeated, and adding on to the enemy’s numbers. The group rounded a corner, leading them to a fork in the road.

“Which way Davy!?” Luckie cried out.

One side lead down a tunnel, similar to the one they were in before. The other, the one to the right, had a crumbling stone arch above the entry. Davy could sense that that was the right way to go.

Davy pointed toward it. “That way!”

They ran towards it, but were stopped by another group of skeletons dropping from the ceiling. About three dozen more skeletons dropped, blocking their way. Davy turned around, and saw the large group of skeletons that had been chasing them. They were getting close. He looked up, and saw several stalactites. He focused on a boulder nearby, and Sam saw what he was doing. He assisted him, and they lifted it up. Then, they sent it flying at the ceiling. It slammed against it, rattling the cave. Stalactites began to fall, crushing their pursuing skeletons, and blocking the path for the surviving ones.

“I think that you just blocked our exit,” Kate said in horror. “Now how do we get out?”

“That can be figured out later,” Davy said. “For now, there are dozens of skeletons surrounding us. Lets worry about them first. ATTACK!”

They charged the skeletons blocking the stone archway. They hacked and slashed. Luckie was forced to put away her staff and pull out her sword. The skeletons went down in large numbers, but they were tough. Davy got a gash on his leg that forced him to limp. A skeleton slashed Zolina across the face, from her upper jaw to her chin, leaving a cut that would likely scar.

“We can’t go on much longer!” Davy cried out as he dodged a skeleton’s sword, and then came back in, slicing him in half. “Run through that arch! I’ll collapse the cave on top of them!”

The group finished off the bonehead they were working on, and shoved past the crowd of skeletons. Slashing through any that dared to fight them, they finally made it through the arch. Davy and some other members of the group collapsed the ceiling, destroying the arch, and ceiling them into the tunnel.

“Billy is close. I remember this place from my vision,” Davy said.

They walked down the tunnel. It was fairly narrow, perhaps only four meters across. Small stalagmites crew out of the ground. The ground was more sandy than stony. It curved to the left slowly, and finally straightened out. After a few minutes of walking, they reached another fork. In one direction, the tunnel continued. In the other, it went into another passage that looked like it lead to a special chamber of some sort.

“We can exit via this tunnel, but for now, we have to go into this new fork. That’s where Billy is hidden. I know it. I feel it.”

The group drew their swords and followed him. It was quieter, almost deathly quiet. They were surrounded by the dead, who hadn’t been disturbed for many, many years. This tomb smelled dank and of mold and mildew. They followed the short passage, and arrived into a large burial chamber. Most likely, where the other buried people’s patron was buried.

“This is the place,” Davy said. “This is the place I saw in my dream. This is where Billy should be, where Jolly was torturing him…”

Davy walked forward, near the sarcophagus. Past it was the stone wall. There were broken chains hanging from it. The chains that had hung Billy in his vision.

“He should be here,” Davy muttered. Then in anger, he kicked a dented metal helmet on the floor, sending it skittering across the cave. “But where is he?!”

Click click. The group heard the sound of a gun being loaded. They all turned around simultaneously, to the source of the noise. Kate gasped, and the others stood in horror.

Standing just ten meters away from them, armed with a pistol, was Billy Fireskull. Davy’s own brother.

-----

DUN DUN DUN

I honestly can't wait to see your reactions to the ending of that chapter. Please post comments!