Part 14

Kole and Kalisse looked to each other and nodded, acknowledging the seriousness of their situation. The bogen, too, shared a fundamental psychic link, and now alerted to the guardians' presence in the caverns, they will become aggressive.

Kalisse disappeared into a dark room. Together, they had been scouring this tunnel - Kole on the right, Kalisse on the left. Kole entered what was once a bathroom. Tiles still clung to the walls. Trickling of familiar water could be heard. Kole had discovered a few bogen in this room during previous cleanings. The ancient plumbing still carried a tiny stream into the room, which emptied into a hole in the floor. He had caught several creatures lapping at the stream. He knew that if there were any bogen in this room, they would know he would be coming, and would be poised for attack. He raised his bonesword and rounded the first corner, stepping as silently as Shinn can.

The room had twelve stalls, any of which could hide a creature of moderate size. The bogen are typically no taller than a man's knees, but given enough power, or if the bogen decide to merge together into one being, their size is limited only to the room in which they had to move. Judging by the stench of the caverns, anything was possible. He checked the first stall. Empty.

The seventh stall is the one from which the stream emerged. Kole could see tiny rivulets of water along the side of the stream. These could have been caused by a random fish flopping its way through the path of the shallow water, or by a creature drinking sloppily and heartily. From Kole's own experience traveling through the gateway, he did find that it caused a great thirst in him. The second stall was empty. And the third.

Kole often relied solely on his own senses, but Jhebon, the entity inhabiting the bonesword, would alert him to other dangers which Kole may not have felt. Kole had spoken in depth to Jhebon about his warnings, Kole asked that he refrain from warning him, unless the danger were mortal. Kole's reasoning was that if Jhebon were to alert him to every unseen threat, Kole's own senses would dull, relying upon the bonesword's insights. Kole thought he felt Jhebon become slightly offended at Kole's request, but the entity, he knew, was far above such a petty emotion, and what he felt was simply a new structure rise up to re-channel the connection between them. Jhebon had honored his request, and in this moment, when Kole was "hunting", relying on purely his own senses and modest connection to the Gnosis, he felt as if he was hard-wired into his surroundings.

The walls were appendages of his body, the floor, an extension of his skin. The ceiling...

Kole felt the mass fall upon him. The ceiling. It had been on the ceiling. A leathery shroud enveloped him, and he felt Kalisse through the mindlink, assuring him that she would be there shortly. In a few more seconds, he thought, he would be injected with venom and his organs would begin to liquefy. Kole fought the urge to strike blindly, and reached out for understanding of his attacker. His perception expanded to include the creature. Its form did not yet have a name. The bogen were, by nature, shapeshifters, and rarely kept one shape consistently enough to be named.

This creature did have venom sacs, which Kole knew either instinctively, or by scent, and the injecting barb was moments away from plunging into his shoulder. Kole knew that the barb had not yet been extended fully, and until it was, Kole had a chance. He shifted his weight and rolled so that his shoulder was pressing on the unextended barb, making it impossible to inject him. This unexpected position caused the creature distress, foiling its attack. It began to struggle, trying to reposition its potential prey.

One part of the Shinn training that Kole mastered was the use of his own body in defense. His sense of his own balance and weight distribution was understood to the ounce, and allowed him to maintain his pressure against the folded barb. The creature fought desperately against his weight - four legs, each connected by the leathery webbing and tipped with a single curved claw began to strike out at the floor, and at him. Kole soon realized that the creatures breathing orifice was directly connected to the venom deliverer. He was smothering it with his weight.

The claws tore at his clothes, and ripped at his flesh as he continued to press into it. Kalisse arrived and swiftly cut off its claws. The bloody cartilaged stumps began to thump against Kole, mixing its blood with his. Kalisse located the creatures brain, and drove her blades into it.

The creature convulsed twice, and Kole was free. He stood up surveying what remained of his attacker. Kalisse checked his shoulder for any punctures. There were none. She stepped back and whistled. "You're a mess, sweetheart!" and smiled. Kole took a deep breath and reflected her smile.

They continued their sweep of the bathroom, dressed Kole's wounds, then returned to the hallway.

Dasart and Bal entered an area where the subway tunnel system had collapsed. A river had worn its way through the stone and concrete, and now an impressive waterfall roared its way down into the darkness. The bottom of the waterfall could not be established. The guardians knew this area simply as the "falls".

They separated and made their way around opposite sides of the falls. The noise was deafening, but Bal kept their link open and clear. Dasart's armor and bulk dictated that he take the wider route to the left. Bal was used to navigating along the narrow path to the right, but she still had to focus on the slippery rocks. More moss had grown since her last excursion.

Dasart reached the first cave. He readied his blades and entered. Bal stopped and scanned the area. It was quiet.

She visually took an inventory of the falls. Phosphorescent lichen provided ample light here, so she could see beyond the range of the blue-green glow of her gelpack. Across the chasm and above was another area that was the upper level of the collapsed tunnel system. The path she was on led up and around to it, and Dasart would continue on in the tunnel beneath. They would not meet again typically until the area was secure - two or three hours. She took a deep breath and continued climbing. Despite her abilities to sense Bogen from a distance, it unnerved her to be separated for so long. Dasart emerged from the first cave and waved.

Bal sent him a message then, "Idiot! If I wave back, I will fall!" Dasart paused for a second, then entered the second cave. Bal exhaled a sigh of mock annoyance and continued to climb.

Saka was working her way along an old catwalk, making sure to stay parallel to Jek's movement below. Her symbiotic helmet painted him in patterns of green, purple and orange as he walked delicately and directly down the center of the pitch black tunnel. Each footstep he took created tiny eruptions of purple ripples on the floor for her. Saka crept along silently, the Ythkyde soles of her boots absorbing any sounds she would otherwise make.

She could see the tunnel easily in green texture lines, and any heat patterns in shades of pale orange. Jek could see nothing... not by the traditional definition of sight. His sense of the surrounding tunnel was based on sound, air pressure, and the elementals of Earth and Gnosis. He was feeling his way through - his consciousness reaching into the dark spaces like antenna - brushing across the rock shapes, focusing on any heat sources or movement. He stopped moving for a moment.

Saka stopped as well. She crouched with her arm blades ready. If it was a large bogen, she would drive one of the blades into its skull. Long neck, a scissoring movement with both blades would behead it. Smaller creatures just get a heavy foot. Jek moved closer to the area under Saka. He crouched. Her leg muscles twitched.

Something shot out in front of Jek and ran across the floor. Saka focused on the motion and targeted it for a sonic stun dart from her gauntlets. Jek stopped her with a quick message.

"Rat."

Saka relaxed. Typically, once a creature is identified as hostile, the texture outline of the creature that she saw through her symbiotically enhanced vision turned bright orange. In any melee, this made it easier to determine which limbs are human, and which are "other". The rat maintained its green outlines and pale orange heat-glow until it disappeared into a crevice on the other side of the tunnel, leaving a trail of purple sound-ripples in its wake.

Jek began to move again. With bent knees and steps no wider than his shoulders, he walked in a stride that gave him the optimum center of balance at any given moment, ready for any attack. Saka continued to parallel his movement.

Through the part of the caverns where the old machinery lay rusting into brown dust, Trest and Bannute made their way. The ceiling was low. Bannute's levshield had to be readjusted at an angle, and still occasionally scraped off some built-up lime deposits. Trest's annoyance at having to duck through this section was not spoken, but his unfiltered emotions leaked into the mindlink.

It was one of the most difficult areas to maneuver. Between the low ceiling, and the maze of rusting machinery, there was little room to move in a fight. This area was usually taken by guardians with projectile weapons, so close combat could be avoided.

Somewhere on the other side of the room, a chittering sound alerted them. Trest raised his shieldarm and held his breath. Bannute crouched behind the shield. The noises continued.

The two of them triangulated how far ahead the creatures must be, and it fell on the other side of the room. If they moved up to the next block of machines, there was an open area where they could be in a position to have a clear shot if the creatures emerged.

Trest curled around the side of the machine in front of him, his shieldarm readied for a rapid pulse of shock darts. Bannute ducked under some equipment and swung his levshield out sideways - a notch on top cradled his railgun as he maneuvered into position, aiming at an opening between the machines on the other side of the room. More chittering.

End Part 14