Distasteful

Lantern filled, packs loaded, we departed into the unknown. We decided that I would be the vanguard, but go side-by-side so that I could intercept anything that also tried to ambush us from behind, and Amparo would carry the lantern. Even though it would attract the big gremlin, she still wanted it as a source of comfort, and I wanted to keep both of my hands free in case we did get into a fight.

In her free hand she kept her sling, loaded with a stone, although I insisted she have her dagger drawn. "I’m accurate with the sling a little farther than where the light reaches and I reserve the right to stone anything we come across."

"If we get attacked, it’ll most likely be from behind, and they’ll be too close for the sling by that point." I countered.

"I’ll make sure to turn around every once in a while and throw a stone behind us to spook any would-be stalkers." She responded, "There are rocks everywhere. I swear to you, Loiel, I will make sure every suspicious thing is pelted with rocks."

"Fine."I conceded, and pointed to the knife strapped to the belt at her waist. "Just be ready to draw that at a moment’s notice."

We went through the labyrinth, continuing to follow the leftmost path. Thanks to the lantern, the small creatures and things that would normally be stalking me were kept away. At every intersection we laid down more chalk markings so that, if it ever came down to it, we could head back. As one hour turned into two, then three, that seemed less likely. We did manage to find more empty rooms that hadn't caved in to possibly shelter in, but we didn't find any other strong rooms like before.

The initial uncertainty and fear slowly melted away into a relaxed anxiety. We remained on a razor’s edge, easily spooked by any slight sound or movement, but we had become accustomed to the fear. At least enough that Amparo began to make little snide comments at little oddities we found, like ‘This room has caved in. It is sad that it has no father to raise it,’ and ‘There must be a lesson here.’ That slowly began to escalate into small talk that kept threatening to rise into an actual conversation, and each time I had to shut her down. I kept having to remind her that the noise we made could lead to our deaths. Things could track us down by sound, or that by having a conversation we’re less able to notice our surroundings.

Each time Amparo would apologize, and then the cycle would start anew at snide comments. By the third time we’d gone through the routine, I realized that Amparo was a real chatterbox who dealt with her anxiety by talking and talking. Besides that problem, I was a little troubled that we were not running into anything that she could kill and level up on. I wanted her to be as strong as possible while our enemies were still weak and easily dealt with, so that when we did inevitably run into something terrible, like that large monster or worse, the huge woman, we might stand a chance. I was just about to discuss my concerns with her until we ran into a group of three gremlins, feasting on a corpse. We had found them at the end of a short hall, just around the corner that led into a fair sized chamber, large enough that we could only dimly see its edges.

The monsters were most likely too absorbed in their feasting to notice us until it was too late. It was like catching a skunk in the dead of night, they all turned to snarl at us, showing an unusual courage I hadn’t seen before. It must’ve been their unwillingness to surrender their kill that led to their bravery. Unexpectedly, Amparo immediately wound up her sling and launched the rock in mere seconds. There was a manic, terrified look in her eye, as though she were loading all her stress and fear into that rock.

The stone struck the lead gremlin in the eye, downing it instantly. As it writhed on the ground in pain, this cowed the other two, who were wavering. I charged forward to carry the momentum of the attack, executing the downed gremlin as Amparo shot another stone at the two wavering gremlins. This rock was less effective, as it struck one of them in the head, stunning it briefly. The third gremlin, driven either by fear or hunger, struck out at me, and I narrowly parried its claws away with the sword. Countering with a shallow cut across its chest, it redoubled its fury and again scratched at me, this time joined by the other gremlin. I retreated a few steps away from their relatively short range, which bought Amparo enough room to sling another stone, stunning the same gremlin.

Taking advantage of this additional room, I advanced and cut the throat of the stunned gremlin, sending it sprawling backwards, clutching at its throat and gurgling on its own blood. That left the remaining gremlin, which realized the error of its courage, and began to flee. Or at least, it tried to flee. Amparo shot it directly at the back of the head, where the neck and head met. It fell to the floor writing as it convulsed, seizing. I looked to Amparo, who readied another stone and shot it again, this hit skipping off the stone and striking it in the throat. Now seizing and wheezing, I watched as she wound up one last shot and loosed it. The rock again skipped off the floor and went into its temple, and it finally went still. I went to finish it.

"You’re better than I thought." I said, plunging the sword into the gremlin, but it was, in fact, already dead.

"Thanks." She said, although the grin on her face disappeared as she appraised the body the three monsters had been eating. "Is that…"

"Yes." I said, as I realized that the sprawled out corpse had once been a human child, probably a little younger than me. Their face was gone, and their torso had been torn open, leaving them a gory mess. Identification was impossible. The only thing that remained untouched were the shoes, which looked to be about my size.

"What are you doing!" Amparo inadvertently yelled, only to realize instantly what she had done and cover her mouth. Once more, barely above a whisper, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"They don’t need the shoes." I said, wrenching the shoes off the body and fitting them on, "I need the shoes."

"You can’t do that, that’s theirs." She weakly argued, as I started fishing through their pockets for any belongings. They had nothing besides a spent torch still tightly clutched in one hand. "You’re desecrating the dead. We need to bury him."

"I know that it’s distasteful, but we need to make use of anything we can find." I said, now going to each of the gremlins and fishing out the magic gem close to their hearts. Glancing up, I still found her bitter, and I wondered if maybe it reminded her of the death of her village. "Once I’m done, we can find a room to put him in and use whatever stones we can find to make a cairn for him. It’ll be easy for any monster down here to dig him out, but that’s the most that we can do right now."

She maintained a sour look on her face, but before she could protest further, we heard a thunderous crash boom through the halls. It was terribly loud, almost deafening after the near total silence we’d endured so far. As the ringing faded, I could pick up the faint echoes of fighting and yelling.