My Second Life Is A Heroic Power Fantasy 197 Those Who Fight Part 4

The next pathway led to a small circular cave room which was completely bare save a handful of large wooden posts driven into the dirt ground. Each one of them had a chain that extended from its top to a collar that hung to the ground. All of the collars hung locked except for the center one, which hung open. Where it hung, and the area immediately around it, was stained with what looked like patches of dried blood, and ruts that looked like relatively recent movement. Prisoners were kept here, and maybe even tortured here, from the looks of it. A vision of Ellie writing to escape while the collar in front of him choked her flashed into his mind, and he snarled angrily before turning and stomping out of the room, past the rest of the group.

The remaining corridors led to similar sites, with more posts and more chains, more signs of struggle, but no bodies or living beings in sight. The whole thing struck Jack as more than a little odd, even given the circ.u.mstances. Perhaps there was a more permanent holding cell somewhere further in to the camp.

Or maybe they've all been killed. Ellie included.

He drove the thought out of his mind. He would absolutely not accept that as a possibility. Ellie was too clever and resilient to just let herself die like that.He had to believe that. How else was he to avoid despairing at the thought?

Finding nothing else in any of the other paths, and lacking any other clear way forward from this direction, the group backtracked back to the central hub, and took the other path that Farlo indicated. It descended gradually, before slowly curving to the right and rising again, rather steeply.

As the group of them rounded a sharp bend, they ran smack into a small contingent of gnolls who seemed just as surprised to run into an enemy as they were. After a brief scuffle, the gnolls were dispatched, and their bodies looted. Once again Jack found himself having to tell Dawson the Daring that an enemy was considered dead once their face looked like stomped-on lasagna. The black knight seemed utterly unperturbed about the whole thing, stopping with his same chipper demeanor utterly unaffected. Jack didn't know whether to find the whole effect hilarious or deeply disturbing. He finally settled on a mixture of both.

Finally, after another turn light was visible at the end of the corridor up ahead. It looked like cave opened up into something ma.s.sive, and the path they were on led out onto some sort of ledge. For the first time, Farlo put his hand out and stopped Jack from taking the lead. Holding a finger to his mouth, he motioned for everyone to wait. Getting low to the ground, he crept noiselessly up to the mouth of the entrance. Once there, he peeked to check if the coast was clear before dropping down to his belly and peering over so slightly over the edge of the ledge. After a moment, he slid back, regained his feet, and returned to the others. For the first time since Jack had seen him, Farlo looked a little pale.

"Well," he said, "we've found their main hideout."