| Marcus stared at the mouth of the cave. Had been doing so for almost half the night now. The fire light from inside throwing shadows about. His men were inside, they stumbled on the cave yesterday. Darnius spotted it only because of the water that ran from under the boulder that covered its entrance. Most of the day was spent turning that boulder to rubble.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxNYG950N7 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtHrjWGFyd Marcus, and the ten men he had with him had been out raiding a caravan this day. You see, Marcus is a bandit. Worse than a bandit, he was Marcus the Red, scourge of the Roman frontier. He had murdered, raped, and pillaged from the shores of Gaul to the sands of Persia. He struck fear in thousands the world over, and now he too felt fear. Stories told to him by his grandmother came back to him bit by bit.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8apvmq8pWm 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAMRd1xa4Q Stories from her childhood in the hills of Tuscany. About a cave that was the entrance to hell. The very maw of the earth, filled with devils and demons. Children her age would vanish from the village and their screams could be heard through the night. The village sent emissary after emissary to emperor Augustus. They were all ignored.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw33YYxILhD 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZw7KtLfMuu Then, one day, a band of German mercenaries camped outside the cave. That night the fiends set upon the Germans. The mercenaries lost many men but pushed the devils back into the cave. They then rolled a boulder over the entrance.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpMoLHaeUN 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH82C1lEqGP The reason for all of this coming back to him is that this is the cave.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGA2QuNi45A 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3v8zYMTud6 "Marcus, what ails you? I wish to dice with Janus and win back my coin."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlalDRu3BjQ 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtdpnh3Is7 "Of course, lets take the horses to yon copes of trees, tether them there and then retire for the night." Marcus said with a shaky voice. They walked toward the mouth of the cave and heard laughter and shouting as the men jeered each other over dice and ale.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡackuTiSu0q 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3X3hfoLmrt The light from the fire dazzled their eyes when they entered the cave. As their eyes adjusted to the glare all were shocked and swore on many different gods. The fire was so bright not due to wood, but because of the bodies. Two score men were strewn about the cave, all burning with a bright fire. Marcus and his remaining men could still hear them in revelry. As they took it all in the sound changed from merriment to that of slaughter. Screams of terror an clashing steal peeled through the cave.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYz2omyxSQ 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUU8xcJwx3 Aurias was the first to come to his senses, he turned and ran for the mouth of the cave. Rocks came pouring down on him as he reached the entrance, crushing him. Nine others whirled around to see the rocks pile up and cover the entrance. Three others rushed to start pulling the rocks from the entrance when maniacal laughter split the air. The three laboring with the rocks paused in their efforts and looked about the cave. Marcus and the other five men had been busy making torches and these they waved about, looking for the source of laughter. Marcus's eyes wondered up to the ceiling of the cave where the great teeth hung from. On those teeth he saw skeletons hanging, pierced though rib cages by those teeth.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJTs02Zlj5 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPNEDJfhyi Suddenly the men at the mouth of the cave gave a yell. The rock pile had somehow become a solid boulder again, trapping their hands within. Then the cave began to rock, as if an earthquake were taking place.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXnuGdmyYB 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQuBHIFsX7 Marcus realized what was happening and yelled for his men to get back as he ran deeper into the cave. He slid down a long slope and when he hit the bottom he heard an unearthly crash behind him. The screams from his men reached his ears as the mouth closed and chewed them up. Then he was knocked off his feet as two others crashed into him. He could not see who they were, but he heard their panicked breathing. They stood and stumbled deep into the cave. Deeper they went when the cave walls seemed to suddenly start to glow. Talas walked toward the wall and discovered it was a fungus that grew there. He reached out and touched it. The other two saw him stand there, mouth agape and shaking. Smoke began to come from all over him as he seemed to melt. Soon he was a smoldering puddle.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9zin31up6 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfr4N7XQUk0 "I know, I know. Don't touch the walls." Dargus said as the two traded glances.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFw7gJCAZT0 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwH3bX7fqR8 They walked further on, lighted by patches of the fungus. Turning a bend they saw a stunning sight. There was a slope that ran down to a large cavern. At the base of the cavern was a river illuminated by thousands of fungi. There where large mushrooms, taller than a man, that let off a red glow. It was an eerie mix of reds and blues that surrounded them as they walked down the slope.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeoUmKjBv9 448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0X5gajPbi Cautiously they walked to the river, stepping over the blue fungus. As they reached the shore Dargus brushed up against one of the giant mushrooms. It released spores into the air causing both men to cough uncontrollably. The noise caused the other mushrooms to release their spores, a lot of them landing in the river. Bubbling up, the river released a foul odor into the air. So many spores filled the air that they could not see and they fell into the river. The river erupted in a great wave and bubbles. Slowly it calmed and in the slowing eruption two skeletons surfaced. |
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