An Awkward Patrol
“I hate this place,” Aisha said. She squinted at her shin guards that were getting dusty.
“It’s not that bad,” Fath said.
“Not that bad? They don’t call it the Dead Valley for nothing!”
“Well, stick to me and the duty will soon be over.”
Aisha rolled her eyes.
“Sticking to you is what has landed me here in the first place. Patrolling the Pits!”
“It’s not that bad,” Fath repeated.
Aisha stopped and pointed a finger to him.
“Now don’t you use that tone with me, mister! Us being here is entirely your fault!”
Fath simply kept walking, his armour plates shining under the relentless sun. He veered left, looking for the mountainside shadow.
“Well, I don’t recall forcing you to follow me in my… adventure. Perhaps the wine had something to do with it?” he smiled back at her.
“I’ll kill you someday, Fath,” Aisha said. “But you shouldn’t have done it. The Colonel didn’t like finding his clothes all soaked in the morning.”
“Ah, but the laughs! And you, dear lady, could have stopped me. But you didn’t.”
Aisha opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. She cursed him silently.
They walked a bit longer, until they reached the first Pit. Aisha looked over the border. The Pits were large rectangular holes in the ground, with stairs winding down on their sides. No banisters or railings were on sight, and she couldn’t see the bottom.
“These things give me the chills,” she said.
A ball of light flew beside her and fell down the Pit.
“Fath! What have you done? You’ve done no chants!”
“I just threw a ball of fire down there,” he said, looking casually down the Pit. “The chants are just for show, and you know it.”
“But…” a dull roar and a blue flash coming from the Pit interrupted Aisha.
“You see?” Fath said. “It’s sealed.”
“But the chants…”
“Unnecessary. I told you, stick to me and this will be over soon.”
Walking by the next Pit, he generated a ball in the palm of his hand and tossed it casually inside. A few seconds later, the roar and blue flash followed.
“Working fine,” Fath said.
“Just how many times have you been sent to patrol the Pits, Fath?”
“Bah, a few ones,” he said. “At first I did it by the book, you know? Full chants and everything.” Another ball tossed, a roar, a blue flash and a nod. “I had to start at dawn and it took me all day. I missed all the meals. And one day I thought, what if I just let the ball fall inside and see what happens? And voilà. There it is.” The next ball he lobbed with a flourish.
Aisha winked at the ensuing flash.
“You are a walking danger, Fath. After today, I’m going to keep my distance.”
“As you wish,” he said, and he generated a new ball and chucked it into the next Pit.
Aisha shook her head and followed.
“I’m still not convinced,” she said. Fath sent a new ball down a Pit. Roar, flash.
They stopped.
“Wait a second…” Aisha said.
“The one before the last…” Fath said.
There came a whine that raised in pitch from that Pit. Not a muffled roar.
“Damn” Fath said. Both he and Aisha grabbed their halberds with both hands. Aisha had already invoked the correct spell and her weapons shone green. Fath did the same.
The whine had become a wail. They felt a shadow lurking within the Pit.
“Aisha, go. Run! I’ll stop them here.”
“I’ll stay with you!”
“There’s no time for this! I’ll hold them back for as long as I can, but the City must be warned. Go!”
Aisha ran, casting a spell on herself to make her more resilient. Behind her, she heard Fath cast a guarding spell.
She dared to look back for a second, and she saw a translucid copper dome surrounding the Pit. A large black tentacle had appeared over the rim and was crawling towards Fath. It touched the copper barrier and pierced it.
The last thing she saw before sprinting away was Fath striking a defensive posture, his halberd in his hands.
~~~~
This is my accompanying entry for the Weekly Writing Exercise: July 17–23, 2017 at the Writer’s Discussion Group on Google+. I am responsible for creating the prompts for the Exercise, so I don’t take part, but I still like to write a story each week.
This week I just couldn’t get an idea I liked to go with the prompt. Until I got it (the Pits), laying in bed before sleep, and the story started building itself from there.
