B2 Chapter 209: Fear, pt. 1

The noise cut through the silence like a knife.

It was shrill, high pitched, and desperate. Hells, it was barely loud—a squeak of surprise that had been stifled quickly. Far from anything that could be described as a clamouring rallying cry, bringing down the whole warren on their heads.

That didn’t stop the wave of dread that rushed through his chest, binding his lungs and throat in barbed wire.

Heart racing, Kaius lurched to the noise before he’d even finished processing what had caused it—sword pulled back for a stab.

A boggart came into view—still as a statue, a haunch of smoked meat held halfway risen to its fangs. It was crouched low, eyes frozen wide as it stared at them in uncomprehending shock.

Kaius’s kick off the ground sent him racing towards it, approaching with the full weight of his swiftness behind him.

It lurched, realising that it was under attack as its surprise faded. A great, heaving gasp expanded in its chest—lungs working like bellows.

A building scream.

Kaius touched the ground in front of it, rolling his shoulders into a desperate stab. Fine and sharp, the point of A Father’s Gift ripped through the intervening space. Flesh and bone parted with a meaty thwack and a kick of resistance, his sword erupting from the back of its head.

**Ding! level 50 Boggart – Scavenger slain – Experience Gained!**

Blood dripped from its point as he let go of his blade, sweeping forwards to wrap the body in his cloak, catching its dead weight in his arms. Heaving the body up, he raced back to his team.

“Leather storeroom—now!” he hissed as quietly as he could, ears straining for any sign that the noise had been caught by the bugbears only a few bends down the tunnel.

As a single unit, they raced to the next room—only fourty or so sides away. Slipping into the room, Kaius hurriedly dumped the body—grimacing as he felt that tacky wetness of blood that had soaked into the fibres of his cloak.

Moving quickly, he pulled hides off the pile that reached up one half of the wall, covering the evidence of their deeds.

With blood roaring in his veins, he moved to the door, pressing himself deep into the heavily shadowed wall. Porkchop was directly across the doorway from him, Ianmus safely hidden behind his bulk.

Unless a bugbear poked his head straight into the room, they were hidden.

Waiting in tense silence, Kaius shifted his blade into a high stance, ready to cleave through anything that stepped through the door. From his angle, he kept his eye on the pantry.

He couldn’t believe it. What on all that was holy was their luck? A thieving boggart being the one to catch them? It felt ridiculous, after all the time and care they had spent creeping their way through the nest.

Swallowing through a dry lump on his throat, he kept his ears sharp for any sign of approach. The bugbears were definitely close enough to hear the shriek, even if it had been quiet enough that he doubted it would have been heard by the boggarts further through the tunnel they had yet to explore.

Staring at the sight of their discovery, Kaius’s eyes went wide as he realised that the haunch of dried meat the boggart had been eating was still sitting in plain sight of the door.

Evidence that something unscrupulous had occurred—even if it didn’t give away everything.

He hardened his heart, readying himself to dash from their cover and secure the meat that might incite further curiosity from any investigators.

Only to hear the sound of approaching footsteps coming from further up the tunnel. Multiple sets of clomping footfalls, echoing on the hard stone.

Bugbears.

He grit his teeth, sharing a look with Porkchop.

“Can you tell how many?” he asked through their bond.

Porkchop nodded. “Four.”

Kaius scowled. If it had been one or two, they would have had a decent chance of taking them out unawares before an alarm went out. With four, it was all but impossible.

Their moment of stealth might have come to a premature end. Still, he wanted to try. If there was any chance they could continue to thin the herd, or get a decent look at the full numbers of the plague, he wanted to give it a shot.

“Steady yourself—we lose nothing by waiting until we’re discovered. There’s still a chance that they just think it’s a thieving boggart.” he said, wishing that hope alone would be enough to secure such an eventuality.

The steps grew closer, a new light reflecting off the far bend of the tunnel. Torches. The bugbears were close.

“And if they leave, searching for the offender, and stumble across the dead bodies?” Porkchop asked, tilting his head at them.

“Then we follow—try to take them out far from the tunnel we have yet to explore, and hope that the sounds of our clash do not travel. Fill in Ianmus.”

Porkchop nodded.

With their plan set, Kaius fell back to watching the approaching figures closely, nerves stretched to a breaking point. It was a strange sensation—one that Kaius hadn’t expected.

They’d been handed this mission specially by the guildmaster. Sure, it would push them in ways different than they were used to, and he had an inkling that it was supposed to be as much of a learning experience as it was a true mission, but he had full confidence in their abilities to see it through.

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It was just…stressful, not knowing if they would be discovered or not. He was trying to treat this whole enterprise with a little more care and intention than he normally would, and knowing they might be discovered fell a little too close to something that felt like failure for comfort.

The bugbears rounded the corner—four of them, just like Porkchop had said. Two were holding torches up high, the group searching the hallway for signs of what had made the disturbance.

Much to Kaius’s relief, they weren’t moving with the urgency he would expect if they had thought there were intruders. Instead they looked bored, and annoyed. Like leaving their fire to investigate the noise was a chore.

A good sign—hopefully they would see the half eaten meat, and write it off as a thieving boggart scaring itself in the middle of its heist.

Still, even if they weren’t aware of his team’s presence, the bugbears were still ready for trouble. The two holding torches were armed with clubs reinforced with bands of what looked like iron scavenged from a barrel brace, while the others held spears with wicked stone points. They’d clearly been crafted with far more care than the weaponry of the general rabble—even the stone spear-tips looked like they’d been made from some sort of mana-imbued stone, the glinting firelight throwing off a faint green sparkle.

Sweeping their eyes across the cavern, the bugbears marched straight for the larder. Kaius held his breath as they looked in, worried that even the faintest noise would give him away.