6. Mazituz

SIX

Adistant scream pierces the silence, faint yet unmistakable. I rise swiftly, pulse quickening. Such cries never echo here unless something has gone terribly awry. This is no mere territorial skirmish or feeding growl.

"It's the sound of terror," I realize. "Who could it be?"

I navigate the winding tunnels with haste, my powerful frame coursing with lethal grace. That tortured scream still rings in my mind, fueled by unknown threats and perils. An icy unease mixes with my urgency as I intently follow the disjointed echoes down into unfamiliar depths.

I pause at the tunnel fork, tendrils waving gently, detecting subtle vibrations in the stones. Within me, two relentless forces war – caution bred from solitary centuries navigating this abyssal maze, and the insistent urge to discover the violator of those ageless boundaries. For no warm-blooded creature has ever deliberately breached this lightless domain"s far reach. Until today.

Closing my eyes, I attune all senses to the evidence echoing back. "The reverberations are coming from the left fork," I realize. "The left. That's where they are."

I plunge deeper, the glowing fungi that line my path receding as I near the caverns' uttermost extremities. These tunnels were not carved for men. Yet on I press, chasing those dissipating screams.

The electric scent of adrenaline hangs here almost palpably. I hasten down the dimly glowing path, markings of the deeper caverns closing around me. The familiar azure glow of fungi underfoot fades, leaving only my keen gaze to pierce the darkness ahead.

"Oh, what a smell!" I remark as the fear-laced aroma intensifies, confirming my course. Then, a snagged scrap of simple cloth catches my eye, saturated in the scent. She was here, the trespasser in my domain. Strange, to smell such mortal panic this deep within the abyssal maze.

"What misfortune delivered this delicate surface creature here?" I can't help but wonder. Curiosity kindles in my chest even as foreboding rises. The tunnels ahead promise the answer, be it benign or malignant. I must discover the source of this disruption.

Further down, the tunnel opens into sheer blackness – a deep vertical shaft with no visible bottom. Teetering on its brink, I pause, sampling the stale air with tentative sweeps of my receptacles. The screams have ceased, yet their sour resonance still pervades the void"s depths. Peril lurks below. But my intruder may as well. I must know what scene awaits in those unseen depths.

I descend steadily down the hazardous vertical tunnel. Then finally, I sense space open below me. I cling to the sheer rock face, probing blindly with a tentative limb.

A sheer ledge juts inches below, promising a more stable perch. I secure my holds and slither down, landing with lithe precision upon solid ground once more.

Crouched in the tunnel mouth, I taste the air again, homing in on the turmoil"s source. There, where the cavern descends into deeper blackness. But now, pinpricks of torchlight dance ahead. Voices drift through the stagnant air, speaking in snarls – the tongues of dark elves. Yet beneath that guttural din skitters a lighter voice – feminine, edged by fear.

That high, clear voice cries again. Then cracks a resounding blow. I bristle, claws extending. These caverns have known no law but my own for time immemorial. By what right do these invaders impose their savage will in my realm?

I slink silently to the chasm"s edge. The scene etched out by the flickering torchlight below ignites fury within my core. Two hulking dark elves loom threateningly over a petite fair-haired female. Defiantly she faces them, though terror lurks in her emerald eyes.

The brutes bark their twisted desires, their auras reeking of cruel intent. Still, the woman stands resolute despite her jeopardy, refusing to bend before their bullying mass. Such courage, to maintain dignity even when so helplessly snared.

As one of them reaches for her, intense rage sparks within me. Never before have I intervened in another creature"s affairs in the cold void beneath the mantle. Yet seeing this brute attempt to degrade his victim, I am in motion before forming any conscious thought. The desire to protect her overrides all rational thought.

I collide with the first dark elf, slamming his bulk to the unforgiving cavern floor. He howls in shock, squirming under my weight. His cries are abruptly silenced as my claws shear through the vulnerable flesh of his throat in a spray of hot blood.

I peel away, rising to attack his cohort, whose face contorts in scarlet fury. He charges straight for me, bent on vengeance for his fallen comrade. But rage makes him careless. I hurdle the corpse into his path. He bats it aside but not before my claws open ragged furrows across his chest.

The dark elf stumbles, then regains his footing with murderous intent etched across his face. He draws a jagged blade, advancing with a menacing purpose. I lash out to drive him back with ruthless efficiency – primordial survival instincts honed over lonely eons beneath the mountains.

He slashes wildly, seeking to dismember, to punish. But his haste blinds him. I am smoke between his broad swings. My talons find their marks in spurting crimson as I ply flesh from bone. He tries to grapple, to use his superior size against me. But my lithe bulk twists sinuously free.

In a heartbeat, I am upon his back, shredding through leather, skin, and sinew to unleash the scarlet flood within. It spatters over me, hot and oddly sweet, firing my predatory core. This one will never raise hands again, be it violence or violation.

At last, he lies gurgling. Behind me, the woman has slumped to the ground. She stares wide-eyed between me and the two prone forms leaking their last. Perhaps this is but the exchange of one monster for another in her mind. But looking into her stunned emerald eyes, I know given the chance again, my vengeance would surge just as fierce.