Trek For Survival

Gia would never be able to stand anything floating in the air, ever again after this. While kind of beautiful, in a haunting way, watching them attach themselves to something was horrifying. They had root-like threads hanging from their underside, that when they came in contact with something, would wrap around it and into it within a matter of seconds. They gave off a faint green glow which made it easy to see and avoid, until they attached to something, and then the glow faded to the bright purple-blue of the surrounding mushroom trees.

A loud crashing erupted behind them, and they turned to see the spiked wildling running through the mushroom forest, attracting the sporelings in droves. Every time a tree was. .h.i.t, it would puff out hundreds more of the things, high into the air.

"That"s not good!" cried Truffle, drawing its attention. "We need to hurry!"

A tall mushroom man, wearing what looked like plates of armor made of leather, charged towards them from the other direction, cutting the sporelings out of his way. The green goo dripped from his cap, apparently no longer a threat once it was dead.
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"A mushguard!" cheered Truffle. "We"re saved!"

"Get these humans to the gates! There are more guards waiting for you. We received word that you were on your way. I"ll deal with the wildling!"

He was taller than even Vonn as he charged by them, his blades dripping bright green goo from all of the sporelings he had killed. The wildling had found the clear path, and was gaining ground on its rush towards them.

Gia pulled her eyes away as the guard ran up to one of its legs and cut it. The thing had enough legs, it didn"t fall, but the pain was enough to have it turn and stop its charge. Vonn handed her his mushroom, and had Tom climb on his back. With them pushing the sporelings out of the way, they picked up their pace, as best as they could, spying the dwarven gates ahead. Another tall mushguard stood next to the gate, cutting down any sporeling that drifted near the gates. On the other side, they could see short stocky forms watching from a safe distance.

The second mushguard was wearing fine green and brown clothing, but he stood taller than Vonn as well. The tall scepter he held was similar to Truffles, but his cap was tall and skinny, rather than fat and wide.

"You already have permission to proceed into the Dwarven Kingdom, humans. Truffle, your father, the king, requested you return to him, as soon as you are done here," said the guard in a deep voice.

"But I wanted to go to the sporing with Oyster!" pouted Truffle, stomping his foot in frustration. "Did he say why?"

Gia helped Tom climb off Vonn"s back, and helped everyone get their bags back in order after the rush. They were allowed through the gate, but then it was shut back, before any of the sporelings could get through.

"Ye"ll have to strip, to make sure ye don"t have any o" those spore things on ye," came a rough gravelly voice out of the darkness.

"What?!" Carla and Gia cried together, as Tom chuckled and turned towards Carla, wiggling his eyebrows.

Vonn stepped forward. "Good, sirs. I a.s.sure you, none of us are infected with those things."

"That"s prolly the case, but it"s the rules, boy. Strip to ye skin, or ye can go back into the mushroom forest."

The figure that was speaking stepped forward, into the torch light, exposing a wide man who stood about 4 foot tall. He had a beard that fell to his belly, intricately braided and decorated with little metal clips and beads. A hefty pickaxe hung from one side of his belt, and a huge axe hung from his back. He wore heavy metal armor that glinted in the dim light.

"All right," Vonn said, glancing back at everyone.

He set his bag down on the ground, and the dwarf picked it up carefully, as if it were contaminated, and examined it carefully, pulling everything out of it. Once he was sure it had no sporelings in it, he shoved it all to the side, near the wall, and motioned for Vonn to start.

Vonn sighed and started by pulling his shirt off. Gia struggled for only a moment, but then turned around so fast she almost fell down when he reached for the tie on his pants. Carla quickly joined her, when she realized what he was doing.

"I thought you were going to take off your boots first!" Carla complained as the sound of his pants. .h.i.tting the ground made Gia"s face hit beet red so fast, she almost fainted.

"Boots too, lad. We can"t risk any of those things getting into the kingdom. It"s me job!"

Vonn sighed as the sounds of him kicking the boots off came next. "Satisfied?"

"Alright, ye can get dressed. Let the little lad go next."

"I have to take my clothes off, too?" asked Mikey. "It"s so cold down here, can I keep my boots on?"

"Stop arguing, Mikey," said Carla. "The sooner we get done here, to sooner we can get somewhere warmer."

"Alright mom," he groaned, handing the dwarf his bag as he started taking off his clothes, too.

A dwarven shout rang out as Mikey"s bag went flying towards the gate, hitting it and sliding to the floor. The faintest green could be seen and Gia and Carla both freaked, swirling around to check on the boy. Luckily, Vonn had already pulled up his pants before they turned around. The sporeling was undersized, and had latched onto his bag. There was a faint thread on his shirt, so it joined the bag. Thankfully, it didn"t reach his skin.

"That"s why we check," grumbled the dwarf, as Tom went next.

Mikey joined Vonn with staring at the wall, as Carla and Gia went last. They couldn"t meet the dwarves" eyes, as they stripped and turned for them to see they weren"t infected. The humiliation was worse than the cold for her.

"Don"t be getting any ideas," chuckled Tom, holding Carla"s dress for her to put it back on. "I sure am."

"Ach," spat the dwarf. "We"re not interested in your women. They don"t have near enough hair on "em. Don"t know how you can stand them, being smooth."

Shoving the things back into their bags, and leaving Mikey"s bag and shirt behind, they followed the dwarves into the dark. The tunnel was very well constructed, but was barely above their heads. The smoke from the lantern they held tickled their noses as they followed.

One of the dwarves stayed behind, to guard the gate, while the other two escorted them through the tunnels. Gia couldn"t understand how they didn"t get lost. There were so many connecting pa.s.sages, and they all looked the same to her. She was hopelessly lost after only a couple minutes.

"The King said ye could stay for a week, but cause of some things, ye"ll have to move on after that."

"A week would be greatly appreciated," said Tom. "We"ve been on the move for a long time, it seems."

"Fleeing the fighting with all the humans on the other side of the mountain?" asked one of the dwarves, glancing back at them.

Carla kept a tight grip on Tom"s arm, to keep him from b.u.mping the sides of the tunnel, as he nodded.

"We managed to escape in the night, right before the army arrived. Some of the soldiers chased us into the forest, and some friendly creatures let us escape them by showing us a way into the mushroom forest," explained Tom.

"Are we really already on the other side of the mountain?" asked Vonn.

"Aye, ye will be when ye leave our kingdom. Though, I don"t know where ye"ll be going. The elves on the other side of the magical forest ain"t too kind to humans. The monsters in the forest will prolly eat ya before ye reach them anyhows."

"Well, that"s rea.s.suring," murmured Carla.

"We appreciate you allowing us to rest a bit," said Gia, as they approached an opening to a larger tunnel.

Stepping out of the tunnel, she looked up, expecting to find another tunnel but instead a vast underground city spread out before her. Tall stone arches reached so high into the air, she couldn"t see the top. A haze obscured the roof of the cavern. The houses and buildings that covered the s.p.a.ce before them were all made of stone as well. Arches and peaks, all made of stone, could be seen as far as her eye could travel. Warm glowing light emanated from the windows and openings, beckoning them on.

"We don"t normally get guests from this side, so we"ll have to take ye through the city before ye can rest. The inn over there will have beds and food. I don"t care for the ale there meself, cause I don"t get paid enough to afford it."

"Will we have to pay for the rooms and board?" asked Gia, suddenly worried, because they had no coin of any kind.

"We"ll figure that out tomorrow, when the king has a chance to deal with ye. Let"s go."