The Darkness Below
A new chapter of The Impossible Apothecary
For anyone that just stumbled onto our story through this chapter, I linked the table of contents below so you can go back and start at the beginning of our cozy fantasy adventure with Fluidity, our favorite little goth witch. And make sure you subscribe for chapters every Thursday, and possibly bonus releases on off days that you wont want to miss!
Chapter 11
The Darkness Below
Fern was doing her best to keep up as Flu followed her directions. Despite standing a full head taller than Flu and having a longer stride, Flu was quicker than she looked. Pausing at the tree line, she wasn’t even winded as she turned back to Fern.
“Are we close?” Flu reached into one of her apron pockets, producing the small twisted stick that was her wand.
Fern caught up and bent over, her hands braced on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. “It’s about forty yards that way.” She pointed, indicating the direction. “How are you so fast?”
Flu looked in the direction Fern had pointed, her wand at the ready. “There are a lot of unpleasant things in the woods back home. If you weren’t quick, you didn’t last long. Are these caves tall enough to walk standing up?”
Fern remained bent over, still trying to recover from the run. “You aren’t actually going to go down there, are you?”
Flu was focused, her mind running through scenarios and possible needs. Taking the wand she drew a jagged line in the air with the tip. A trail of purple flame marked the tear in reality, and she plunged her arm inside, pulling out a canvas bag that she slung over her shoulder. Despite her physical distress, Fern found the energy to look at the hole hanging in mid air with awe.
“Someone is hurt.” Using the wand she traced the line of the portal upwards, like she was pulling up a zipper, and closed the tear.
“The goblin you mean?” Flu stood, finally having regained some control over her breathing. “You know they live in packs, right? There are probably more down there if this is where it went.”
“Clans,” Flu replied as she checked her bag, doing a mental inventory.
“What?”
“Clans. Goblins live in clans. They don’t have family groups so much as work as a collective.” Flu’s attention was still on her work as she prepared. “You should go back to town now. I have it from here.”
“But the goblins. You can’t go down there alone,” Fern said.
Flu gave her a soft smile and drew her wand, gripping it in the middle. The wood lengthened in her fist, mushrooms and skulls blooming along its surface until the small wand had become a staff nearly as tall as she was.
“I appreciate it,” Flu said, “but I’ll be fine.”
“Those caves are a maze. You’re going to need me.”
Fern’s hands were shaking around the edges of her map case, but she had already started toward the cave.
Flu looked at her for one long second. Then she sighed. “All right. I don’t have time to argue. Keep your eyes and ears open, and stay behind me.”
As they entered, Flu tapped her staff twice against the stone floor. The jewels set into the carved jawless skull flared to life, casting a soft red glow across the cave ahead.
“Have you mapped these caves before?” Flu asked, keeping her eyes forward.
“No,” Fern replied. Her voice was shaky, though Flu could hear the effort she made to hide it. “But I don’t get lost.”
“Everyone gets lost sometimes.”
“Not me.” There was no boast in it, only fact. “I remember every turn, what was around it, how it connects, how I got there. Things like that.”
Flu nodded, keeping a careful but steady pace as they descended deeper into the caves. “That explains why you make maps.”
Fern glanced toward the dark ahead. “So how are we supposed to find one little goblin? Do we even know he came down here?”
“Oh, he’s down here. I can see the path. We’re following the blood. Sort of.” Flu stopped and gave her staff a slow wave. “I’m going to put out the light for a moment. Give your eyes a second to adjust.”
The red glow vanished.
Darkness folded around them, close and absolute. Fern went very still beside her.
A breath passed. Then another.
“Wait,” Fern whispered. “I think I see something. Like a blue glow.”
“That’s the fungi checking out the blood,” Flu said. “That’s what we’re following. He’s definitely down here. The trail is fresh.”
She brought the red glow back, soft and low.
Fern blinked at the cave floor. “And you can still see it with the light?”
Flu chuckled and started forward again. “See might be the wrong word. Let’s just say I can follow it.”
Fern sounded as if she was about to ask another question when a chittering sound echoed in the dark further down the tunnel. They both froze, waiting to see what happened next. A small splash in an unseen puddle and whispers in the dark.
Flu looked back at Fern to see fear creeping over her face, and the wheels turning, trying to decide if she should run.
“It’s ok.” Flu reached over and felt the warmth of Fern’s fingers, gently taking her hand. “We are getting close. Just don’t make any big moves or run.”
Fern jumped a little at the contact, and her eyes flickered with recognition, though they stayed locked on the darkness ahead.
“Are they close?” Fern’s voice was a whisper, her body frozen. Her hand was shaking in Flu’s as she tightened her fingers around her hand.
“Promise not to panic?” Flu matched the quiet tone.
“No.”
“That’s reasonable. We are surrounded.”
Fern almost jumped at the words as her breath came in heavy pants, but Flu tightened her grip.
“Don’t. It’s ok. They won’t hurt us. But I can feel the injured one ahead. He’s fading.”
Tugging gently at Fern’s hand she stepped forward a few paces, her light illuminating a shape in the darkness. The silence of the cave was only broken by Fern’s heavy breaths, and the fading ones coming from the goblin lying prone on the ground in front of them.
Flu released Fern’s hand and slowly knelt beside him. The goblin lay on the damp floor, his breathing ragged, and a filthy rag soaked with blood wrapped around his arm. She could see his eyes were closed and his shallow breaths came in a steady, but raspy rhythm.
As she reached toward him she heard scratching movement in the darkness. Looking up from her patient, she turned the red light of her staff to a gentle white, and shone it down the stretch of the cave. Fern gasped and pressed her back to the wall. Dozens of pinpoints appeared in the darkness, catching the stafflight and reflecting it back at them. One of the goblins hissed and they crept closer, encroaching on the women by inches.
“Flu.” Fern’s voice shook as she whispered, her eyes darting from one set of glowing eyes to another. “I don’t think they want you to touch him.”
Flu looked up cautiously from her patient and held up an open palm.
“I’m a healer,” she said into the darkness. “Your clan mate is dying, I’m here to help.”
Multiple goblins hissed in reply from both ends of the tunnel, and claws scratched at the stone. She could see several eyes moving closer in the dark, and she could make out the shapes of goblins, their long pointy ears sticking out from the sides of their heads. The closest goblin bared its teeth in the dark.
Flu slowly leaned her staff against the cave wall, and placed her hands on the ground as she knelt, and she spoke.
The language was old, and rarely heard by human ears. She didn’t raise her voice, but her words resonated within the living stone, and all movement from the goblins ceased. They froze in place as the guttural words filled the space.
The goblins collectively gasped as small glowing mushrooms began to sprout from the floors and walls, dimly adding illumination to the space. Making the goblins slightly more visible, which was not a comfort to Fern.
The goblins still snarled here and there, but backed up slightly, their expressions impossible to read in the darkness. The nearest goblin’s snarl faltered. Its ears flattened, and it backed away half a step, claws still ready against the stone.
“What did you say to them?” Fern’s back was still pressed to the wall and she didn’t take her eyes off of the silhouettes in the darkness.
“It’s not important.” Flu said as she turned back to the injured goblin. Reaching down slowly, she moved the goblin’s injured arm. He was still clasping something in his hand. It was a small gardening trowel that seemed to have a crack running longways down the blade. Fern risked a glance down as Flu gently set it aside.
She managed a curious expression before turning her attention back to the looming threat in the darkness. The goblins were staying put, but one would occasionally snap its jaws at them, appearing as if they wanted to lunge but held back.
Flu’s hands worked carefully with practiced ease as she removed the dirty makeshift bandage. As she took various items from her bag, she kept her movements visible and non-threatening.
“This will get infected if it isn’t cleaned,” she said to herself as she rummaged in her bag, pulling out fresh bandages and various bottles. She worked to clean the wound, and pulling out a needle and thread, made a few small and strategically placed stitches to hold it closed. When she was done she bandaged the wound and tilting his head back, she gently poured a tonic into his mouth.
“There. Wound cleaned, bleeding controlled, and that should help restore his blood volume.”
Looking into the darkness she held up a small bottle.
“Replace the bandages and have him take a drink of this with every sunrise and sunset,” she said to the darkness and set the bottle on the ground in clear view along with a few clean rolls of bandages on a clean cloth. “It is medicine and will keep the fever away.”
The goblins remained in place, as did their unwelcoming glares. Slowly standing Flu picked up her bag and took up her staff.
“If he gets worse, come find me at the cottage on the edge of the dark wood.” Her voice was confident, but gentle to avoid sounding like a command as she pointed in the direction of her cottage.
“It’s that way,” Fern corrected, pointing in an entirely different direction, her eyes still locked on the goblins.
“The cottage on the edge of the dark wood,” Flu repeated, pointing in the correct direction.
Then, taking Fern’s hand once more, she began leading her back the way they had come. The goblins in that direction receded into the dark to allow them passage, which was not as comforting as one might think.
Neither of them spoke. This time Fern took the lead, trying to make a quick exit without running. The result fell somewhere far from either goal.
When they reached the exit, Fern released Flu’s hand. Once they were a little distance from the cave opening, she fell to her knees in the grass, finally able to breathe.
Flu watched with a small smile, then approached her adventuring companion and patted her on the back.
“You did great in there.”
“I think I’m going to throw up.” Fern lurched a little bit as if she was going to heave.
“Yeah, goblin caves can smell a little weird but I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“Not the smell.” Fern looked up and gave Flu a look that wanted to ask if they had even experienced the same thing together. “That was terrifying.”
Flu let herself plop down on the grass next to Fern. “Yeah,” Flu said, considering. “It was scary. But you didn’t run away. You stayed, and that matters.”
Fern finally seemed to have control over her stomach again and rolled onto her back, lying in the grass. “Did you see what he was holding? A little garden trowel. All that for a broken, rusted garden trowel. I don’t understand the goblins.” She stared up at the sky as her breathing began to slow.
“It’s been this way ever since they showed up a month ago. Taking weird things, digging through trash… what do they want?”
“Food,” Flu replied, a twinge of sadness entering her voice. “Did you get a good look at them?”
“Not really. I was trying not to become food myself. Why?”
“There were adults and juveniles in there. The young ones seemed to be in decent health, if not well fed, but the adults…” Flu choked a bit on the words. “They were giving most of the food to the children.” Flu’s voice tightened. “The adults are starving.”
Fern considered for a moment and rolled onto her elbow to look at Flu.
“Then why aren’t they taking food? I’ve seen the reports in the office. It’s always stolen tools or rummaging through garbage. Nothing about food.”
Flu smile down, the weariness of the day starting to show on her face. “You really don’t know anything about goblins, do you?” The question was honest, no tone of mocking. Only a gentle surprise.
“We don’t get them much around here. Why, what am I missing?”
Flu just gave a weary smile and stood up, offering her hand to Fern, and helping her up.
“Let’s go back to the cottage. I’m sure Nana had some information about goblins in the library.”
Fern stood, dusting the grass from her trousers. For the first time since leaving the cave she looked at Flu. “Oh, your new dress. It’s a mess.”
Flu only chuckled, too tired to worry about some mud. “It’ll wash out.”
Flu set off, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.
Fern watched for a moment before finally speaking up. “You’re going the wrong way.”