Limitless Seas 2, Chapter 13.

Chapter 13.

“Well, I think we’ve found your portal,” Ibn said, stating the obvious. They hadn’t faced any additional attacks as they approached the hill at the center of the island, and once they got close, Larson could see a wide cave opening that steeply descended. About thirty feet from the surface, the passage gave way to a glowing swirl of energy that Wrend confirmed was a portal of some sort. The portal was huge, easily wide enough for a pair of wagons to pass through, and it was even tall enough for Bug Bartholomew to walk through without having to crouch. Composed of gold and grey lights, the portal gave Larson the same sick feeling he had felt when looking at Wrend’s map. This time, it wasn’t as bad, but he could feel the wrongness of the magic that had created this thing.

“Yeah, but I don’t exactly see any way to shut it down from this side,” Wrend said as his troops inspected the cave around the portal.

“We could just cave in the ceiling, it’s reinforced, but I can rig something up in a day or two,” Bug Bartholomew offered, his two heads already working out the engineering needed to accomplish the task as he took a crack at the problem.

“Nae, with the imp’s magic, they might just reposition the exit when we leave. As much as I hate to do it, we have to go in there and take care of the problem at the source,” Wrend said.

“Woah, if we go in there and find some way to shut down the portal, how are we supposed to get out?” Larson asked. He was more than willing to help out the soldier, it was what he had agreed to, not to mention that his portal was even more of a threat to Stratwall Harbor than the distant Imperium cities. Despite the threat, being trapped belowground for who knew how long, was not on his agenda.

“Our runesmiths gave us a little trinket to take care of that. We only need to throw this little thing on the ground and ‘poof’ we get back to the surface,” Wrend said, pulling a tightly sealed case from his pack. The case opened with a hiss, and inside were a pair of slightly glowing runestones.

“Okay, but how do we know where we’ll wind up once we use them? What if it dumps us on the other side of the world? Larson argued.

“Not a problem, we leave this one out here somewhere and that’s where we’ll return to. I’ll just need one of your crew to keep an eye on it and make sure someone doesn’t move it from where we want it to go,” Wrend said, carefully pulling one of the runestones from the case, the runes on it began to glow in a different pattern once it was separated from its twin. “Don’t worry, the dwarven runesmiths that made this are legion soldiers, and they know their business,” Wrend said, sealing the second stone away and placing it back in his pack.

“Very well, we agreed to help you and we’ll keep our word,” Larson said.

“Don’t worry yourself, Captain Larson, I’ll do right by you, and don’t forget, any loot we might find is going to be in there, so it’s in your interest to join us,” Wrend added. He was right, Larson wanted to profit from this voyage, and if that meant placing his trust in the Imperium sergeant, he was willing to take that risk.

“How exactly do we do this? I’ve never used a portal before,” Larson asked.

“No worries, just follow us. First squad, through the portal and form a line. Once they’re in, second squad will follow. Larson, once we’re through I expect you to be hot on our heels,” Wrend ordered. As the first squad ran through, the swirling light seemed to pull at them once they touched it. After the second squad ran through, Larson waved his crew forward, leading the way with his shield thrust forward.

“Defend yourself, Captain,” A soldier shouted as Larson touched the portal and instantly found himself somewhere else. He couldn’t get a good look at where he was, since he had apparently landed in the middle of a battle. The soldiers were forming an arc in front of the portal, pushing forward through a swarm of creatures that were trying to smash them with clubs. A system prompt told him these were troggs but gave no other detail. Larson suspected the system might not have even given him their name if Wrend hadn’t mentioned them before.

The troggs resembled a twisted version of primitive man, complete with bone clubs and hide-covered shields. They wore scraps of clothing and had no armor to speak of, but their knotty skin looked like it was as thick as leather. About fifty of the creatures were pressing their line, but despite the numbers, Wrend’s soldiers seemed to be holding them back just fine. Wrend was on the line with his soldiers, their limited numbers meant they could only have a single rank facing the enemy.

Wrend blew into a whistle that he had clenched between his teeth, the sound was a signal for the soldiers to push hard with their shields. Muscled honed from hours of drill tested themselves against the primitive strength of the troggs. Training won out over brute force and the shield wall pushed the enemy back a step. The soldiers’ short swords shot forward to stab into the flesh of the stumbling troggs in front of them.

“Larson, push your crew to our flanks as we move forward,” Wrend ordered. Following the advice of the experienced soldier, Larson moved with Ibn and three marines to hold the right side of the line, while Bug Bartholomew and two marines covered the left. A lucky club strike downed a soldier in the center of the line and before the others could shift to close the gap, Shada rushed in. This was the type of fight she had trained for, and she fell back into the familiar rhythm of a legion shield wall with little trouble.

Whether or not the soldiers to her flanks cared about the traitor joining the line, Larson couldn’t tell, and he wasn’t able to ponder if further as the mass of troggs began to leak around the line of soldiers and move toward Larson’s crew on the flanks. Larson may not have had the training to fight in sync with the soldiers, but he was more than able to hold his own. A quick thrust of his spear dug deep into the throat of one trogg while he blocked the blows of another on his shield. The bone club rang out on the bronze surface of his shield, and it felt more like he was being hit with a club made of heavy stone instead of porous bone.

The marine next to him blocked a blow on his small wooden shield, the blow cracking the shield and forcing him back, but not before he lashed out with this cutlass, cleaving the arm from his attacker. The wounded trogg howled in pain and pushed his way back through the line of attackers, disrupting them long enough for the marine to recover. Several troggs shot toward Ibn who was holding the end of their line, a marine to his left and the cavern wall to his right. He had spaced himself an extra step from the marine next to him, and the troggs sought to capitalize on the gap he had opened.

It turned out Ibn wasn’t making any errors and just needed more space for his dual scimitars to do their work. The blades moved in a whirl of death, slashing any trogg that approached to pieces. Stone clubs were deflected with a metallic ting, and it didn’t seem the mob of attackers were able to land a blow on him. Larson thrust forward with his spear, taking down another attacker before the pressure on their line started to lessen and Larson could see the troggs begin to back away from the fight. They may have looked like pre-historic morons, but the troggs were smart enough to know they were losing the fight. Half the enemy numbers had been slain and the only casualty was the single wounded Imperium soldier whose place Shada had taken.

“They’ll be back again, make ready lads,” Wrend ordered. Larson finally got a chance to look around at where they had emerged. It was a huge cavern, almost the size of a small town, with the ceiling hundreds of feet above them. Several tents were strewn about the open area, and more troggs and other creatures Larson couldn’t identify were pouring out as word of their arrival spread.

To Larson, it looked like a full-blown invasion was going to take place sometime in the near future, given the size of the encampment. Despite the number of tents, the flow of attackers soon stopped, and while their numbers were impressive, it was far less than Larson would have thought a camp this size would be able to hold. Like Wrend had mentioned, several small figures, that he assumed to be imps were haranguing to retreating troggs, pushing them back into formation while new groups of the creatures joined from the camp.

“How do we shut down the portal? I don’t think staying around to fight an entire army is the best option,” Larson said.

“Hold on, we’ll figure it out in a second. Whatever they’re using to keep this portal open has to be nearby,” Wrend replied. One of his soldiers pulled out a scroll which glowed briefly with energy before disintegrating. He pointed toward a nearby section of the cavern, where a wide tunnel was seen.

“There’s the target, form up and move out, Larson, your forces need to keep them from flanking as we advance,” Wrend ordered. Larson nodded his agreement, happy to let the more experienced soldier guide their underground battle.

The portal had been positioned against the solid wall of the cavern, allowing one of their flanks to be somewhat covered by its bulk, but there was still enough space for a few enterprising Hypogean forces to sneak their way past. On the open flank, Wrend’s soldiers formed two lines and jogged toward the tunnel opening that the soldier had pointed at. As they moved, a small band of enemy troops that had been housed closer to the tunnel opening was able to get between them and their objective.

Instead of pinning them in place and waiting for the massive army to finally close in, the small band of enemy troops, led by a pair of diminutive imps, pushed their forces into the tunnel. They seemed focused on something other than fighting Wrend’s soldiers and only cast a few glances in their direction. The main Hypogean army started to move after several of the reluctant troggs were hacked to pieces by larger versions of their kind, finally deciding that facing the Imperium troops was less dangerous than facing the wrath of their leaders. With their head start, Wrend and Larson’s forces would reach the tunnel well before the enemy did.

“Be ready once we head inside, first squad will lead to breakthrough any ambush. I want Larson’s team following them and then second squad will bring up the rear, delaying the attackers. Their numbers won’t matter so much inside that tunnel, Wrend ordered. Larson expected the enemy troops that had rushed into the tunnel before them to be waiting, but once they arrived, the tunnel was empty.

Glowing patches of moss shed about as much light as a string of torches would have, making it easy for them to navigate. He hadn’t had time to think about it, but out in the main cavern, it had been nearly as bright as a cloudy day on the surface. It did seem that many of the plants and fungus that grew down here gave off light. This would be an interesting place to explore if he wasn’t being chased by an army.

The tunnel ran a quarter of a mile before opening up into a larger chamber. The rocky ground gave way to an underground lake, just a few feet away from the tunnel opening. Tracks from the enemy that had preceded them stopped at the water’s edge, and given the damp stones around that area, it looked like they had jumped in.

“Now that’s exactly what we didn’t need,” Wrend complained as he entered the chamber.

“It looks like we’ll need to take a swim,” Larson said.

“Hold on, we’ll need to shed our armor if we have to go in there,” Wrend said, not looking all that pleased at the option.

“Sir, we don’t have time, they’re here,” One of the soldiers called out. They could hear the enemy approaching down the tunnel as the squad holding the rear engaged them.

“Larson, can you and your crew take it from here? We’ll hold off the army until you can deal with the portal,” Wrend said as he ordered the rest of his troops back into the tunnel. If there was a fight to be had, they would be better served fighting in the narrower confines of the tunnel rather than spread out in front of the lake. Larson didn’t like the idea of just him, Ibn, and a few marines going it alone, but there didn’t seem to be much of a choice.

“We’ll do it, just don’t get any ideas about leaving without us,” Larson said.

“Don’t you worry about that, we need this mission completed before we can leave, and I know you’ll come back since I’m holding the runestone that’ll get you home. As some additional insurance, I’ll keep Shada here with us as well,” Wrend said.

“We stays too, no wanting to sink in lake thingy,” Bartholomew said, the more eloquent Bug was silent but nodded in agreement.

“The more the merrier, now get going Larson, we can hold them off for quite a while, but not forever,” Wrend said, moving back into the tunnel with Shada, toward the sounds of the fight now underway between his soldiers and the Hypogean army.

“Right, let’s get moving, I’m assuming everyone can swim. If you have any trouble, just flag me down and I’ll help. Get rid of your packs and anything other than weapons that might slow you down. I’ll lead the way and guide us in the right direction,” Larson ordered. None of them looked too pleased to be jumping into a dark, underground lake, but they went ahead with it anyway. Most opted to remove all but their pants and a weapon belted to their side, but both Larson and Ibn opted to bring everything along, though he wasn’t too sure how Ibn planned to swim in robes.

The water was as cold as he expected it to be, his human-like upper body shivering as he submerged, but the scaly lower half seemed a bit better insulated. Once under the water, his Sense Disturbance ability kicked in and he could sense both his men entering the water nearby as well as the thrashing strokes of the Hypogean group that were ahead of them. He wasn’t going to have any trouble following them, but what he would find when they finally caught up was still a mystery.