After a few hours, Lowen had discovered the goblins hideout and had already returned to Bren and Roland"s side. After discussing for a while they decided they needed to act as soon as possible. Although they didn"t know what the goblins wanted with Clovis, they knew that waiting was not an option. Roland, however, would not budge unless the plan was solid, so the three quickly came up with a plan. Lowen told them the layout of what he had found deep within the forest. The goblins had completely crossed human territory and set up a base on the inside of a nearby mountain. How long they"ve been there no one knew for sure. Lowen had snuck close to the cave and saw that the entrance was being guarded by a few goblins. Using his earth sense, he could see 50 ft within the cave. What had shocked him however was that just 10 or so feet into the cave, it naturally split into multiple paths, twisting and turning. If the rest of the layout of the cave was even remotely close to what the entrance of the cave looked like, then this cave was truly a maze.After telling the two the setup and the location, Lowen thought about how they would rescue Clovis. The initial plan would be to immediately immobilize the few guards at the entrance and then rush In but if they did that they would be going in completely blind. With hundreds of goblins inside as well as a second circle goblin mage was hard enough already, add the fact that they had to face the goblin leader who could potentially control Bren and that just increased the difficulty to a whole other level, one in which they weren"t quite sure on how to deal with. The three continued to think but after a while, Roland added another disadvantage to the plan.
"There"s one more thing you two should know. Even if I do come with you, there"s absolutely no way I"m going into a cave."
Lowen and Bren turned to him at the same time and nearly screamed. Bren"s voice sunk low, each word he spoke was one filled with irritation and annoyance.
"What the h.e.l.l do you mean you"re not going in. If you don"t go in, then we"ll be losing one of our most powerful pieces. Tell me, what other selfish reasons do you have not to go."
Roland, however, shook his head.
"It"s not like that, it"s not like that at all. If I go in I can"t use any of my magic."
Lowen just now realized the problem as Roland continued on.
"I use fire remember. If I go in there, my flames will have too many disadvantages. The cave, it will be narrow and tight In many spots. If I launch my flames in there, not only will I hit the enemy but the chances of me hitting you two or even myself, increases by manyfold. Not only that, my flames will sap the air out of every nook and cranny in only one or two spells, no one will be able to breathe. Also, when I go in there I won"t be able to defend myself properly, I"m not good at hand to hand combat and if we"re cornered I guarantee I"ll be the first to die. So no, I"m not being selfish, instead, I"m being absolutely reasonable and logical. I"m not going in there because I know if I do I"ll die. I can"t take an arrow and have it just bounce off my body like it would the two of you. I can"t go face to face with a sword or a spear. So if you need me, all I can do is wait outside and provide support."
Bren looked up at the sky and thought.
(This can"t be happening. Just what the h.e.l.l are we supposed to do now?)
Lowen, however, now took this into consideration and one idea did come to mind.
"Roland, tell me something, how many times can you use your fourth circle spell, Rippling Inferno?"
Roland didn"t hesitate and answered.
"Once, after that, I"d need around 10 or 15 minutes in order to use it again, why do you ask?"
Lowen ignored this and signaled for Roland to lend him his ear so he could whisper something. Roland was a little annoyed but still leaned his head forward to listen.
"Roland, what about your amulet? If I fill it up with energy, how long would it take you to absorb enough to launch another Rippling Inferno?"
Roland now understood exactly what Lowen wanted to do and he appreciated that Lowen spoke about his treasure indiscretion. He thought for a moment before whispering back. Lowen hearing his answer, nodded his head in understanding. Bren, however, was growing angry seeing these two whispering in secret and immediately shouted.
"Just what the h.e.l.l is going on? Why are you two whispering? Is there actually something that you can"t say in front of me at this point? Are we or are we not on the same side?"
Lowen wasn"t offended by Bren"s anger and with a calm reply, Lowen said.
"Bren, relax, I believe I"ve come up with something but it carries a huge risk. If we do this, there"s no guarantee that it will succeed and worst case scenario we all die."
Bren, hearing that there was a plan started to regain his calm and nodded in understanding, completely ignoring the mention of death as Lowen continued.
"I think at this point we don"t have a good time frame but I know if we wait, it may be too late for whatever the goblin plans to do with Clovis. Our best bet, in all honesty, is a hit-and-run tactic. With this, I would have Roland wait outside while you and I roll in like a storm. We b.u.m rush them and cut through them as quickly as possible. With my Earth sensing ability, I can only see 50 ft around me so that"s 50 feet ahead. With our speed, as long as we move quickly enough, none of them should be able to even catch our shadows. In this way, we could quickly search for Clovis and when we find him we don"t wait around, we grab him and then we"re gone like the wind.
When we get out, that"s when Roland can launch a Rippling Inferno into the cave killing hundreds of them essentially crippling them. After that, you can take Clovis and immediately leave from there, that way, even if the goblin leader makes an appearance, he won"t be able to control either one of you. I and Roland will wait around for them to come out and then Roland will launch one more Rippling Inferno. When that"s over we"ll retreat back to the town of Jizhen where we"ll meet you two. You two will gather people, making as big of a force as possible and then you"ll march all of them back here to fight. The goblin leader seems to be able to only control one at a time but just in case, before the battle begins I will seal your hearing as well as Clovis"s. If his power does work like that, then he will no longer be able to control you two. With you and Clovis, me, Roland, and the force we gathered from Jizhen, we"ll destroy them all. "
Bren now understood why Lowen said the plan was risky. This all relied on two big factors. The first was that Lowen would be able to properly scout the cave while rushing forward at his fastest speed. The second was the a.s.sumption that the goblin leaders power did, in fact, work the way they thought it worked. Even if those two things were facts, it still didn"t guarantee a successful mission but at this point, there was just no time. Bren asked.
"Okay, so when do we start?"
Lowen, eyed him curiously, for Bren to accept this mission with zero hesitation shows just how loyal or maybe just how much he cared for Clovis, either way, it was nothing but a good thing in this situation.
"Right now."
The three all nodded in agreement and then Bren picked up Roland and they followed closely behind Lowen, off to the goblin mountain. It originally took Lowen hours because he had to slowly track and follow the goblins but now that Lowen knew where their base was, with his and Bren"s speed they arrived within minutes. Standing behind a few trees in the forest, they spotted 5 small goblin guards waiting outside the entrance. After Bren put Roland up high in a tree he then landed back down beside Lowen, the two looked at each other and waited for a moment. Giving a nod, the two separated to flank the goblins, Bren sneaking on the left and Lowen sneaking on the right. When the two were both around 20 feet away, that"s when they made their move. Bren leaped at a few goblins to tear out their throats while Lowen instead, simply picked up a few rocks and with precise aim, imagining the fish he caught in the river, he threw the rocks forward with Incredible speed.
*Swish Slash*
*Thwack Thwack Thwack*
Bren tore out two of the goblins throats while Lowen put three rocks straight through the other goblins heads. With the twos speed, the goblins were dead instantly. Bren looked at Lowen with interest, he"d never seen someone kill others by throwing rocks through the head, this was something he had never even thought of. With his strength, he wondered if he could do the same. Right now though, it was time to go to work, Lowen immediately rushed into the cave with Bren right on his tail. Making their way through the cave, Bren could barely see 6 feet in front of him. Lowen on the other hand, with his heightened senses, he could see slightly further. Not only that, with his earth sensing he could see even better.
As the two made their way through the cave, there were many twists and turns, every 50 or so feet they would run into more and more goblins but with their incredible speed, each and every one of these goblins was slain before they could warn the others. Soon, Lowen and Bren found a long hallway filled with iron doors. On each of these doors, there were small slits so you could see into the rooms. When Lowen and Bren came to this hallway, they immediately slowed down, the noises they heard coming from each one of these rooms sounded very familiar. Behind one of these doors, Lowen and Bren could hear someone softly crying. The two slowly approached the iron door and curiously looked in. Inside the room, a woman laid on the floor with her arms chained to the wall. Seeing this, Lowen immediately became shocked. He went to reach for the door to open it when Bren suddenly grabbed his wrist. Looking him in the eye he shook his head back and forth and in a small quiet voice, he said.
"We can"t, Clovis is our objective, we have to find him first, nothing else matters."
Lowen was on the spot and he didn"t know exactly what to do. Using his earth sense, he felt inside some of the rooms in this long hallway and each one of them he could feel more and more people.
(Who are all of these people? Why are they all being held here?)
Lowen whispered back to Bren.
"Bren, we"re running out of time, this cave system is bigger than I originally thought. If we continue on like this then we"ll get nowhere and we may be only putting Clovis in even more danger. If they find out we"re here and we don"t have him, then whatever their plans are, they may move them up or they may even move him and we"ll never find him again. I say we ask this lady, maybe we"ll get something from her."
Bren thought for a moment and then nodded an agreement.
Seeing how all the goblins we"re around Lowen"s height the slide where you can see in was at his eye level. Looking in once more, he whispered in a hushed tone.
"Woman, pssh, woman, look over here."
The woman hearing this faint voice slowly raised her head, looking over at a small human child, the dullness in her eyes begin to fade and she was both shocked as well as terrified, she quickly whispered back.
"Run, you must run away from here child. If they get you it"ll be too late, please hurry and flee."
The more she spoke the louder her words became, Bren, looked in and said.
"Hush woman, lower your voice, if you attract the guards you"ll ruin everything."
The woman seeing Bren once again became shocked, then her eyes grew excited. Nodding her head in understanding, her voice suddenly lowered and she pleaded.
"Help me, please help me get me out of here, those goblins, they, they."
The woman, recalling all of her experiences in this nightmarish h.e.l.l couldn"t finish her sentence. Lowen and Bren did not know what she had been through but a woman being held captive by all these males, Lowen and Bren both knew what most likely happened and they felt their stomachs twist in disgust.
Lowen looked at the terrible state this woman was in, covered in dirt, grime and all kinds of filth, her clothes torn and tattered, her wrists bound with chains, hair clumped together, scratches, bruises, anything, and everything, this woman seems to have suffered them all. Lowen looked at this poor woman and gave her solemn promise.
"I know you must have suffered a thousand tortures here and I know how terrible this must have all been. I swear to you, we will get you out of here, we will see you free from this place but first I need to ask you some questions and you need to answer them all honestly and quickly. If you can do that, then we can do this."
Lowen took his sword and touched its point to the hanging lock on the iron door, with a thought, his sword seemed to melt like b.u.t.ter. Pushing his flexible sword in until it filled up the lock completely, he again willed his sword. Using his earth sense, he felt the dirt on the inside of the lock and willed his sword to harden to specifically fit the locks chamber. With the tip of the sword formed into the appropriate shape, Lowen gently turned his sword and with a small *clink* noise, the lock fell from the door. With a quick grab, Lowen caught the lock before it could hit the ground and make any noise. Lowen turned the handle and then slowly opened the iron door to prevent it from creaking. As the door opened, the woman stared at Lowen and Bren in shock. The lady wanted to clasp her hands in prayer but they were chained, instead, she whispered.
"Miracle."