Darkness: Chapter 15 - Predator

When that dreaded bow is Strung... and only then...

He repeated the phrase in his head, even now using it so harden his resolve. It had become his mantra, a source of strength. His prey had been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of that newfound belief, both that swine Quilboar and dribbling troll had been dispatched in the dark tunnels of this place. Both had to be subdued with various methods.

Three and four.

The swine had been a simple matter of drowning. When he’d come to drink, a swift boot into the hind quarters sent him into the drinking pool. He’d assumed correctly, Quilboar don’t know how to swim, and a lax of air did the rest.

The troll was a messier ordeal, he’d taken a hand full of the pigs’ quills and made a primitive shank out of them. Creeping down into his side cave he, like Vrex, had been sleeping off his meal. However, unlike the Kor’kron, he had an instinct for when danger was immediately near and had leapt to his feet sensing an attacker.

Much good it did him.

With deft grappling, and a degree of rabid punching he eventually managed to thrust the quill-shank deep into the side of that skinny throat, using the trolls own tusk to hold him down while he bled out. But he didn’t leave the body there, no, he’d make use of this one.

He was heavier than he looked...

With some tired effort he had dragged the body as quietly as an exhausted Orc could, to the centre of the main chamber. And there it lay at the water’s edge, ready in full view when the light next poured down from above to illuminate it.

An easy meal, hard for anyone to ignore, least of all a mother and hungry child.

This was perhaps the most calculated move so far. She and the pup had become feral, but they still had sense, they wouldn’t leave easy pickings to rot. No, she’d come and grab the body and drag it away for later. She’d also need the pups help to move it quickly, they’d both be there as soon as everything descended back pitch black, sitting ducks.

...At last your immortal song shall be sung.

He sat now, running the phrase through his mind, crouched at Vrex’s old ledge. They would not see him here, but he would be able to hear them. Laying there on that flat, cold surface he considered what he had to do.

No mercy, or quarter. Not for them, not for me. Either they die, or we all die down here.

The thought of this place being his tomb angered him, this pit of savage beasts. But equally too the idea of killing a youngling, but there was no other way, no other way.

Click!

The grinding of stone began, an explosion of light was thrust down, banishing the dark to the shadowy corners and tunnels. It was maddening, but he did not need to look so he shut his eyes and waited. The splash of discarded garbage hitting the water sounded that his meal had arrived for later.

I will need every morsel.

He gripped his make-shift weapon tight, the rags he had torn from Vrex bound the pointed swine needles together. They would be watching, he hoped, taking note of the gift he had left. They would consider how the troll came to be there, and take the risk. His heart began to race, soon he would commit the ultimate misdeed, just to survive...

Scraping commenced, the Kor’kron above had begun shutting the entrance while the light shrank and faded to nothing and less. When pitch black had returned he strained to hear, listening for even a whisper or a noise.

He heard it, a shuffle of bare feet on stone, a scrape of a hand on rock, the grasp of skin on skin, and the clear sound of a body being dragged. His hands and feet worked in response, clambering down from the ledge silently, every footing and grip memorised as he reached the bottom, turned then circled toward the noise...

Make it fast, make it painless...

As he drew near, each footstep without a noise, he could hear them whispering. One spoke of assurance and requesting assistance, the other of fear and questioning their luck.

You are wiser than you know child. Your mother should have listened to you.