The Sidekick and Confronting Monsters (Part 3)

Nora groans and takes a drink from her canteen. "It's so goddamn hot! Can't you get us there any quicker?"

I turn on her with a glare, my torch shaking violently atop my pack. "If you think you can do better, then have at it. This part of the dungeon is unexplored, so there's only vague landmarks on the map."

"Ahh..." Nora hangs her head. "Fine, then just try to hurry up."

I unfurl the corner of the wrinkled map, the humidity doing a real number on it, and tell the group to hang a left. We've gathered enough fish to lure the creature out. Now it's just the fact of finding where its lair is. All we know for sure is that it is in this cave somewhere, but with how many twists and turns there are, it feels impossible to navigate. It's more like a labyrinth than a cave.

Sweat drips down the back of my neck, among other places. It's hard to blame Nora for being grumpy. It's like a sauna in here, and my life is literally depleting before my eyes, a flash of red on the edge of my vision every few seconds.

Actually, I take that back. I can blame her. She's in a thin piece of cloth, and I'm walking around in an almost full suit of armor. She's got nothing to complain about.

We take a center path that increasingly gets steeper. I snicker as Ethan trips over a rock jutting out of the ground. The girls glare at me, but it's worth it. That's when there's a strange humming sound. It starts off quiet at first but gets louder and louder the deeper we go. Soon enough, it's almost ear-splitting.

"Jeez, that's so loud," Amelia says, stopping in her tracks.

Ethan presses on, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her along. "It should get better soon. That noise means we're about to trigger an event. If we're lucky, it'll be the boss fight."

"Oh, sorry." Amelia blushes a deep crimson. "I didn't know."

Ethan shakes his head. "I'm not upset or anything."

Nora punches me in the side like I'm somehow at fault for my best friend paying attention to the blonde. I flick her in the side. This doesn't sit well with her, and we're soon punching and flicking each other with no regard for how much faster we're depleting our health. I'm sure I'm taking damage quicker from the intense heat than her, but health bar be damned, I'll take this stupid midget down with me.

"Knock it off, you two. I think we're there," Ethan says.

Sure enough, there's a bright light visible at the end of this path. I don't know for certain whether the boss lies up ahead, but, regardless, I stop messing with Nora and extinguish my torch.

"Everybody should take a drink from their canteens too."

Well, look who's acting like a big-shot party leader. I take the last swig from my canteen, then return it to the holster on my hip. I feel replenished, and my vision is no longer blinking red.

We make it to the end of the path and step into the bright light. The noise immediately dissipates, and I blink away the sudden brightness and survey my surroundings. The first thing I notice isn't something I see, but rather something that I feel. The air around us is cooler, and it's no longer unbearably hot, which must be why the boss made this his lair. The second obvious thing is the bone pit in the middle of the room. The skulls range from being about the size of a human head to something I can only believe once belonged to a dragon. I gulp and glance upward, not wanting any unexpected surprises.

You don't forget screaming in terror when a monster drops from the ceiling in front of you. Also, Ethan refuses to let me forget either.

Fortunately, there's nothing of real interest up there. Of course, there's the gaping hole in the cave ceiling that's the reason why this place is so bright. There's also stalagmites covered in moss and vines that almost wind down far enough to touch the ground. I brush past one of those vines as I move near the pit. The stench is overwhelming, and I'm worried I'll get the poisoned status just by being around it. Bugs swarm around it, eating whatever remaining skin is still on them.

It's enough to make me want to hurl.

"So, what do we do now?" Amelia asks.

The brunette sneers. "Don't you know anything? Now we have to lay out the fish, so the boss'll show up."

Ethan strides over to us, growing bored with tugging at a vine. "You could have said it nicer, but you're right. We gotta put the fish down." He kicks at one of the skulls, sending the insects into a tizzy. "I'd recommend here since this seems to be where it eats."

He pulls off his pack and begins dumping the fish into a pile. The rest of us follow suit until we empty our packs. The pile ends up being pretty tall, sitting at around the height of my waist.

I swat at a group of flies who've decided to ignore the old bones in favor of fresh meat. "Where should we hide? There's not really any cover."

Ethan seems to consider that. "What if we pitched a tent?"

Pitching a tent? That sounded risky, but there isn't much else we can do given the circumstances. Hopefully, the dull tan color of the tent helps avoid the monster's attention. Nora is quick to set it up, and we settle inside. It's decided anything not necessary for combat is left here, so I dump my canteen and pack.

And we wait.

It's quiet enough now that the buzzing of the bugs is audible even from this distance. Yet, they're all I can hear. Shouldn't a huge dragon be making a ton of noise? Is it not going to show?

My fear is unfounded, as there a howl that sounds like dull knives scraping against each other. Then, the flaps of the tent start blowing in a sudden gust of wind until Ethan and Nora hold them steady. Amelia stares at the two of them with bated breath. Another howl and the wind stops completely, only to be replaced by the disgusting sounds of something tearing into the fish.

Ethan peeks his head out of the tent. "It's distracted. We gotta go before it can try to get away."

The blonde gulps. "Attack?"

Nora grins and pulls out her dagger. "Attack!"