Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 012 - Cave Fighting 101

Breathe on these.

Kaen held two branches out toward the front of Pammon’s mouth.  He took a moment, and then a small tight stream of fire hit the top of the sticks, causing them to burst into flames.

Pammon stopped the stream of fire after he knew the branches were lit.  He only had around ten seconds total of flame before he would need an hour or so to recover completely.

Kaen handed a torch to Hess, who traded him a hammer for a torch.

“Think of them like a moving rock you want to mine.  You will naturally know what to do if you think of it like that.  Aim for their bodies also.”

Kaen nodded and shifted his hand around on the handle of the hammer.  This thing was three feet long!  It had a massive head on the end of it that reminded him of something a blacksmith might use to pound metal.  With his increased strength, he could carry it and swing it easily, but Kaen knew most people would struggle to be able to use it as he or Hess could.

Ready?

Yes!  Stay behind me.  I will protect you two and call out as I see them.

Pammon led the way as they entered the cave.  The stench coming from inside was far worse than the pile of bones outside.  There was a layer of filth and a slick film on the stone cave floor.  When Kaen held his torch lower to the ground, he realized the floor of the cave was covered in shit! The goblins apparently crapped wherever they wanted!

“Ignore it and focus on what is ahead!” Hess snapped at him as the light of the outside faded behind them.  “Watch your feet and tell me the moment Pammon sees something.”

Kaen nodded even though Hess was not looking at him.  Their torches were sending shadows all around the cave.  They were not the greatest of lights, and he hoped the two branches he had stuck in the back of his belt would not be needed.

A few minutes passed as they walked deeper into the cave. The sound of goblins echoed off the walls all around them.

Two ahead! Pammon called out suddenly.

“Two goblins ahead!”

Hess grunted and threw the torch as far as he could.

As it flew end over end through the tunnel, the light of it dimmed from the air rushing against the flame.  It almost died before it clattered to the ground, and the flame lept along the pitch-filled wood. Hess saw the two goblins who were not that much further past it, squinting at them from the torchlight.  Each held a bow and shouted and pointed arrows at them.

Get them! Kaen ordered.

Pammon lept forward through the cave.  Kaen could not see them as Pammon blocked his view, but Hess could.

“Careful! Do not rush ahead!” he shouted, but it was too late.  Pammon was already past the torch and upon the two goblins.

They screamed, and both pulled back their bow and let go of the arrows.

Hess sprinted toward Pammon, but all of this was happening so fast that Kaen felt like he could not even react.  Suddenly the roar of Pammon echoed through the cave.

Metal arrows! I’m hurt!

Crap!

Pammon cried out in pain as one arrow embedded itself in his right shoulder.  The other arrow missed completely, flying over Pammon’s head into the cave behind him.

Pammon stumbled for a moment but stayed true to his course. When he was just a few steps from both goblins, he spouted a flame from his mouth and moved his head from right to left, igniting both goblins on fire.

Their screams reverberated through the cave, the smell of burning flesh replaced the foul stench of rot and waste for a moment.

Kaen was running toward where Pammon was, struggling to walk on that right leg.

“Don’t rush off like that!” Hess hissed as he made it to the burning goblin bodies that lay crumpled on the floor.  “Let me know if more come, but I need to get that arrow out!”

Hess moved to the front of Pammon and dropped to his knee.  Kaen arrived a little bit after and saw Hess preparing to pull the arrow out.

“This is going to hurt bad!  Do not move!”

Pammon grunted and kept his head staring ahead down the tunnel.

Hess put one hand on the spot where the arrow was embedded, and the other hand gripped the shaft as close to the body as he could.

“On three!”

“One!”

“Two!”

Pammon roared when Hess yanked the arrow out on two.

He said on three! He lied!

Kaen wanted to laugh, but he was too worried about Pammon right now.  Hess had done that more times than Kaen wanted to remember when he had something stuck in him.  Hess had even gone on one once.

He did that so you would not move. Now stay still for a moment!

Do not yell at me! You told me to get them!

Kaen realized that Pammon was right.  He had ordered Pammon to attack.  This was his fault.

Sorry.  I should have let Hess give that order.  I am sorry you got hurt.

Kaen reached out and set the torch on the ground near where Hess was working.

Hess had pulled some stuff out of his pouch and was spitting into it to make a paste.

“This will hurt a little, but you will be ok in time.  Please do not rush off for now unless I tell you to.”

Pammon nodded and then turned and gave a glare at Kaen.

“It’s my fault he did that, I told him to get them,” Kaen admitted as Hess put the paste on the injury of Pammon.

“I figured,” Hess mumbled as he worked.  “I said that out loud so both of you would know better.  Now get your torch and move behind him again.”

The three of them moved back into their original position.  Pammon was walking with a slight limp.  Kaen could feel that Pammon was trying not to limp, even though he could feel the pain somehow through their bond.

How bad does it hurt?

Bad enough.  I am just glad it did not go through my wing.

That statement smacked Kaen in the chest like a mule kicking someone.  Had Pammon been shot through the wing, he could not imagine how long it might take to heal an injury like that.  If it even could.

I will be fine.  Whatever Hess used has numbed the pain some, and I can feel it causing it to heal.  I think he used something special on me.

Kaen could only imagine what Hess might have used.  He was still not certain where Hess had pulled all of this equipment from.  Was there a secret part of the house he was not aware of?

A few more minutes passed, and they heard noises up ahead. The cave was turning to the right, and Pammon had informed him that he could not see anything yet since the cave had turned like that.

“Cave turns.  Pammon cannot see anything about thirty yards ahead where the bend is.”

Hess grunted.

“Be careful at the turn.  Try to hug the opposite wall.  Trade positions, so I’m on that side.”

Pammon moved to the left side of the cave, and Hess moved to the right side of Pammon.  The cave wall would not trap Hess if something came out.

“Slowly,” Hess whispered.  “Protect yourself as you look.”

Pammon slowly arched his head and glanced around the bend.

The cave goes on for about thirty yards, and I see a large open area.  A woman appears to be tied up in the middle of the space.  I can smell them.  There are more in there.  I can hear them too.  I think there are at least three more hiding inside.

“Pammon says there is a large cave area inside.  A woman is tied up in the middle, and he thinks at least three goblins are in there.”

Hess let out a sigh.

“Give me the hammer back, and then light the other two torches.  We need to have all four lit and throw them in there.  It will blind them for just a little bit.  It will help us to see.”

Hess turned and took the hammer from where Kaen set it down so he could get Hess’s torch.  Kaen saw the look on Hess’s face. He was concerned.

“How dangerous is this?”

Hess snorted.

“If that woman were not in there, I would have probably said we need to leave and dealt with the problem later.  Right now, we have no choice.  We could die here if things are bad enough.”

Kaen felt the worry coming from Pammon.

“How much more fire does Pammon have?” Hess asked as he helped light the other torches.  “We don’t want to waste it when we already have a fire.”

I have a little over six seconds.

“Six seconds.  Maybe just a little more.”

Hess nodded and kept holding the sticks together, turning them to get them to burn better.

“Save it if you can, Pammon.  We get the woman, and we leave.  I’ll deal with the rumors, she might say.”

Kaen had not even thought about that. If they did manage to rescue this woman, she would see Pammon.  She could tell everyone that he had a dragon!  How would they keep him a secret, then?

Hess saw the look of worry on Kaen’s face.

“Do not worry about what she might see or say.  If she lives, no one will believe anything she says after what they have done to her.  I pray that her mind is not so destroyed it won’t matter if we save her.”

Hess finished getting the last two torches lit and handed them to Kaen.

“Now, Pammon, lead the way.  Tell us when you say we are close enough to throw them inside.  Once you see them tell Kaen which side they are on.  Everyone ready?”

Pammon grunted, and Kaen nodded.  Hess regripped both hammers and motioned for Pammon to lead.

Throw them!  I can hear them, but I still cannot see them.  I think two are off to the left, but I also think there are more than two on the right.

“He cannot see the goblins, but he thinks there are two on the left and maybe even more on the right.  I’m throwing the torches now!”

Kaen had been holding two torches in each hand.  Dropping one of the two from his right, he reared back and threw it into the cavern Pammon said was ahead.  As soon as he let it go, he grabbed one from his left hand and repeated the throw aiming a little more for the right side of the room.

Shrieks and growls erupted from the room as the torches landed on the rocky ground.

The woman Pammon had described was naked, but they could see her lying on the floor and not moving.

“Throw the third!” Hess ordered Kaen.  “Pammon, start to move up, I will cover the right!”

Kaen tossed the last torch, trying to get it a little further into the room.

Stalagmites and stalactites were connected to each other from what he could see.  There were plenty of hiding spots for the goblins.  They also had no idea how much further the cave went.  The room was only maybe twenty feet tall that he could see.  From what he saw right now, they could fit their whole house in there.

Kaen took his bow from his back, bent down, and grabbed his dropped torch.  He would toss it when the time was right and then try to help support Pammon and Hess like they had talked about in the woods.

The moment they entered the opening of the cave, four goblins wearing leather armor and carrying shields and swords rushed them.

The worst part was the monster that came from behind them.