Content warning: this story contains some violence and a bit of gore. Enjoy!
"This is as far as I go," Willem said solemnly.
"You sure you don't want to go further?" Armond asked. "We could use another number."
"I haven't survived all these trips by going into her lair."
Johan chuckled, his broad shoulders bouncing from his laughter.
"All the glory for us then!"
"I don't need glory. I'm happy to have safety."
"Good for you," Gareth said drily.
"So, we just head down here and there's a way into the lair?" Dunn clarified.
"Yes. At the end down there, turn right. A few yards away there's a crack in the stone on your left. Big enough for you to slip through. Even Johan."
The burly adventurer chuckled again.
"And you won't need the torches. Her lair is well lit. She keeps her own torches burning."
"How do you know so much about the lair?" Gilbert asked.
Willem hesitated.
"Some years ago...I came here with a few companions. The plan, much like yours, was to kill her. Before we knew it, she was picking us off one by one. I almost escaped, but she caught me. I spent a month with her."
"It didn't eat you?" Dunn asked.
"Sometimes, she likes to play with her prey. Keep them captive. Let them marinate in their despair for a bit. And feed parts of them to her hatchlings. Like she did with me."
With a wry smile, he held up the stump that had been his left hand.
"Well, if we find it quickly," Gareth said, "and strike hard and fast, we should be able to avoid a grisly fate."
"Funny. Every other group I've brought here said some version of that."
"You've survived coming here all these times," Gilbert pointed out.
"Yeah, because I stay here."
"Alright then," Dunn piped up, "stay here and wait for us. We still need you to get us back safely."
"Got it."
The quintet slipped past him, headed down the passageway.
Dunn took the lead, carrying one torch, his other hand on the pommel of his sheathed sword. Armond went second, his bow already readied with an arrow. Gilbert was third, wielding another torch. Gareth followed in the fourth spot, also nocking his bow in preparation. Johan brought up the rear, carrying the third torch. The flickering flames cast shadows on the cave walls as the group crept along.
"I don't know why I thought he might come with us," Armond muttered.
"He's a coward," Johan said simply. "And smarter than us."
"I wonder how much coin it would take for him to come with us," Gareth spoke up. "It took a lot of convincing for him to even bring us here."
The crack in the wall he had mentioned was visible once they were near it, thanks to a thin stream of light shining through it. Dunn peeked through the crack, but only saw more cave on the other side. Handing the torch back to Armond, he eased himself into the groove in the stone.
As soon as he stepped out into the lair proper, he unsheathed his sword and looked around quickly, taking in the high ceiling, the unevenness of the floor, the cragginess of the walls.
"All clear," he whispered back towards his companions.
One by one, they slipped through the crack, with him standing guard, and joined him on guard once inside the lair. Johan was the last in, and although he took longer than the previous four to get through, he nevertheless managed to fit his bulk through the crack.
The quintet slunk forward as a unit.
The lair was quiet and bright, the torches Willem had mentioned burning helpfully, the placement seemingly random. Little holes marked the walls here and there, while higher up towards the ceiling were larger holes, some connected by ridges. Dunn kept his eyes moving, leading his companions deeper into the lair.
After a few minutes of careful navigation, the quintet making sure they could remember the way back to the crack, the thin passageway opened into a wider space. Small stones and little bones littered the floor, occasionally broken up by the presence of a larger rock, a few even man-size. A part of the floor, near the center of the space, looked like a natural ramp, slanting up from a wide base to a platformed top. An eerie silence filled the space.
A loud, wet, crunching thud rang out behind him, the sound rendered louder by that silence.
He spun, bringing his sword smoothly up into a defensive position.
Johan lay crushed underneath a large rock, his upper body having taken the brunt of the blow, his lower body twitching uselessly.
"Oh fuck," Gilbert whimpered.
A hiss came next, building in the high-ceilinged space.
"Stay ready," Armond whispered.
"Oh fuck, Johan's dead..."
The hiss built louder.
"We will be too if we don't keep our eyes peeled," Gareth said.
Horror crept into Dunn's heart, but he kept it at bay, relying on his combat experience and well-honed survival skills to stay cool and calm.
"Anyone see anything?"
"Nothing," Gareth replied.
"Nothing," Armond repeated.
"Fuck, he's dead," Gilbert groaned. "Crushed like a grape."
"Snap out of it, Gilly," Gareth growled. "Keep your eyes peeled."
The hiss stopped. Its echoes trailed off slowly until there was only silence again.
Dunn crept forward, sweat cropping up at his forehead and underarms.
A shriek cut through the silence. He spun, seeing only Armond, who had been facing away from the sound and had spun back along with him, and Gilbert, crouched over Johan's crushed corpse. A clatter had followed the shriek, the cause of which, Gareth's bow, was on the ground, the arrow laying nearby.
"Gareth!" Armond shouted, looking around on the ceiling.
The stories the quintet had heard about the snake demon came rushing into Dunn's mind. Horror and death had been the main themes. Even the few survivors of forays into its lair had been traumatized by their ordeal. Willem was not immune either, his habit of disappearing for days and sometimes weeks at a time attributed by the townsfolk to his immense guilt over the grisly fate of those he had led to the lair.
"We need to get out of here," Armond murmured.
"Agreed," Dunn said, the duo slinking back towards Gilbert, carefully looking around.
Another hiss sounded, building again in the space, making a fearful shiver run down his back.
