Night Lords

Part III Chapter 4

Part III Chapter 4

At the excavation site, Tasha and I checked every pit that was dug. One pit was part of the gravesite south of the boundary wall. The headstones had all but rotted away- no one could afford cut rock. Instead, the grave markers were made from wood. And sadly, unless you had the gravesite plan, no one knew who was buried.

Tasha and I spent a long time searching for something, but we were both irritated that we didn't see anything at the site. 'They must have taken their findings away,' Tasha told me, as we had roughly twenty minutes until sunrise. She and I were heading towards the cave, that fateful one that unleashed such horror on the town and to Shadows Watch all those years ago.

As we arrive there, Tasha and I are stunned to see that the cave is completely covered in ivy and other debris. Pulling the vines away, she and I duck in and move as far as possible to the back of the cave. Inside, nothing had changed, apart from several layers of mud and small pools of water.

I tried to make myself comfortable inside, but it was difficult. Tasha sat on a rock and was sighing every few minutes, which I tried to ignore, but it was exceedingly difficult. After three hours of this, I'd had enough. 'Alright, what's wrong?' I snapped. 'You've been sighing on repeat. Either tell me what's on your mind or keep your sighing to a bare minimum, please!'

Tasha frowned at me, 'You wouldn't have dared said that to me when we first met you.'

'Ha! Yes, I would have and have done.' I was about to shout again when I heard several humans approach.

Tasha and I moved deeper into the cave, which wasn't that far. At some point, since we'd left, they'd been a landslip, and a lot of boulders and mud had blocked the tunnel to the back of the cave. If someone came into the mouth of the cave, they would see us.

'I'm sure I heard shouting from in here,' a woman said.

'Don't be so silly,' a man replied. 'Who would be in a cave?'

Tasha and I looked around for cover, and within one movement, we jumped up to the ceiling and latched on for dear life as a human, covered head to toe in clothing, came into the cave. Upside down, I heard Tasha's hand slip. I turned quickly and saw a piece of rock hit the ground. When I turned back to the mouth of the cave, the woman was staring right at us. And. She. Screamed.

'No, no, no!' I jumped down and went to the mouth of the cave and stopped just before my hands went into the sunlight.

The woman had backed up and ploughed into the man behind her. Fumbling, she ran away screaming, saying there were monsters in the cave.

Tasha jumped down and sighed as we heard them run away. 'Well, now what?'

'We cannot be here when they return,' I told her. 'Although, where we go, that's going to be tricky.'

There came a cough just outside the cave. Tasha and I froze. We didn't hear the man leave. 'Hello?'

'Hello,' I replied, and Tasha hit me.

'Don't reply!' She whispered low.

The man then took a tentative step inside, 'Are you monsters?'

'Er, no. How do you define monsters?' I asked. He took another step and came face to face with us. 'Do we look like monsters to you?'

Dressed in light-brown trousers and a white shirt, he frowned at us and smiled. 'My wife appears to be mistaken. But why are you in a cave?'

'Allergic to the sunlight,' I replied, and Tasha hit me again, but I gritted my teeth. 'Unfortunate affliction. We were actually here about the excavation at what used to be called Stonehead Arrow.