This Life of Sin

A Fitting End

Chapter 18: A fitting End

It took nearly all of Kassidy's mana and another forty minutes before she would let me get to my feet. Even then it hurt, and I was told to just ride on Vendaval's back; as Vale said it 'was pathetic to see a grown woman hobble about so much', and it would save them all some hassle if I let the wolf carry me. It was annoying but I was hurt too bad to argue. I had told the lot of them to go on ahead and get the staff, as surly that would make healing me easier in the long run. But Roran gave me a dirty look and said that it was a stupid idea if I ended up getting eaten because I was too hurt to protect myself while the others went ahead.

As it turned out, the lights we saw were, indeed, torches. They were evenly spaced in the earth and made a path for us to follow, deeper into the seemingly endless vine web.

"Shouldn't there be, I don't know, supports of some sort in here." Asked Kassidy in a hushed voice. She walked along next to Vendaval, looking pretty worn out. I'd say, between healing the others mid battle and healing me in the aftermath, she was tapped out, mana wise. "How is this not all falling in on us?"

"Magic most likely, isn't it?" I asked, hungry and tapped out as well.

"Most likely." Agreed Markus. He and Vale were in the lead, taking us from one torch to the next. Roran was in the back this time. He would be no good if there was an ambush, but we were all so beat that no matter who-was-where we would be in a bind.

"Hey, look up ahead. I think I see something." Vale gestured to the light up ahead of us.

I had just assumed that it was another torch, but now that I focused, I could see a different quality to the light. It was not flickering, and it was far less yellow than a fire light.

"Its coming from the ceiling." Said Roran. "A sky light."

I looked up and saw that he was correct: there was a hole in the vines far above our heads and it was filtering down to the earth. Every step that brought us closer made our destination clearer to me. The light wasn't just hitting the ground. There was something else there as well. A pedestal or table of some sort perhaps. It was up off the ground, whatever it was.

"I think it's safe to say that that is our destination." Said Vale. Given the fight he just had he seemed to be the one in the best condition. His cloths and armor were a mess but other than a few cuts and bruises he didn't seem to be all that hurt. "I assume the staff we seek will be there."

"About time." Groaned Markus. "Kassidy lets agree now that we will be much better prepared next time we take on a dungeon. We clearly underestimated this place..."

"Yeah." Replied the healer.

"It was more a lack of information." Said Vale. "Had it just been the usual monsters and the average bosses that are found here we should have been fine. It wouldn't have been easy, but we would have made it out alright. But I had no clue there was an entire spider's nest here with the mother of all spiders inside. I figured we would be fighting single or double monsters out in the sun light. Not swarms of spiders in near total darkness inside a giant web of vines." He smiled and looked at the other man. "But yes, more fore thought would not have been amiss either."

"Sometimes you talk like an old man." I said, more of a mumble really. My face was pressed into wolf fur so I couldn't see him, but I could feel Vale glaring at me and I smiled.

"Looks like a table or bench." Said Kassidy, drawing all eyes forward once more.

She was right. It appeared to be a low table of some dark, rich colored wood. We were about fifteen feet away when I slid off Vendaval's back, and stepped up to the others so we were all facing the table. And on that table was the prize that we had fought so hard for: the staff.