Trapped

                  Enok and Rune roamed the tunnels through the dim light, looking for clean water. They passed several muddy pools, although Enok hoped to avoid the use of stagnant water. They eventually found a small waterfall.

                  “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”

                  Enok used the falling water to clean Rune’s battle wounds. A few cuts looked rather nasty despite the thick upper scales of the Ruundyr. Some of the softer, less scaled sections of Rune fared much worse. Enok did his best to look around for healing plants, but this far into the sunken city, his options were limited. The underground city lacked the variety of plants from the jungle above. Only the hardy basic plants and long extending vines made their way down into the depths of the valley.

                  “If I could take you back to my place, I could get you properly fixed up my friend.” Enok cleaned up Rune the best he could.

                  Rune huffed.

                  After the momentary rest for health, they continued their way. Rune sniffed the tunnels, selecting the way as Enok followed. The farther they traveled, the darker the tunnels became. Enok would vocalize his thoughts to Rune as they trekked deeper into the valley.

                  “At some point, we’ll need to make a torch. You might be able to see down here, but us humans are not the best at seeing in the dark.”

                  Enok began collecting various organic materials, hoping to make a torch.

                  “You know Rune, I’ve been thinking, if there are larger creatures down here, there’s going to be more. Or even worse monsters lurking in the shadows. I think I took your size and strength for granted. I thought nothing in this valley could contend with a beast like you, yet this valley continues to surprise me. I’m just saying, the sooner we can find our friends, the safer we can travel. Then we can help protect you, as you help protect us. I can’t wait to show you to my friends. They will not believe it.”

                  As they followed the tunnel, they emerged into a dimly lit circular room that looked like a crossroads of tunnels. Various tunnels and corridors split, some leading up, some leading down, left, and right in a confusing maze. Several balcony structures appeared to be built around the room, providing access to the higher tunnels.

                  Rune stopped. He sniffed the air. Rune looked behind him and in front of him.

                  “What? What do you smell?”

                  Rune sniffed again, then slowly started walking forward. Enok could tell Rune acted more alert. He believed Rune could smell something more than the location of the girls. Rune continued his careful slow steps forward. Enok followed, looking around for any signs of the dragons they fought earlier. As they passed through the center of the room, Enok noticed some of the masonry on the floor felt loose.

                  Suddenly, the rocky ground they walked on rumbled with strange grinding noises below. The floor began to collapse! Rune jolted upward, trying to leap to safety, yet his lower body lacked any solid ground, and he flailed about, falling with the floor. Enok leapt to the side of the collapsing floor, clinging to some nearby vines. Rune fell with the collapsed floor, landing in a narrow pit of uneven rubble. Rune let out a roar as he tried to regain any balance on the uneven surface of the pit.

                  Enok looked for an explanation, and a way to help Rune. He noticed edges of timbers that looked like they should support the floor were missing, but not broken. Looking into the pit, a sandy surface angled to a point at the bottom, disabling Runes’ ability to get a firm foothold and leap out. Each foot hold or hand hold slipped along the steeply angled surface, pinching his body and limbs beneath his weight. Enok couldn’t explain the strange structures when his mind suddenly realized…

                  A horde of screeching hisses echoed from above.

                  … it was a trap!

                  Several primitive looking nets dropped from above covering Rune. Rune fought to rip free from the nets while struggling to find any form of balance. The funnel below him made it difficult to get a higher foothold against the pressing weight of his body. Rune flailed about, trying to find any form of escape. More nets dropped. Then several of the dragon-like creatures emerged from side corridors and the upper tunnels and balconies.

                  Enok looked around to assess his vulnerable location. The dragon creatures looked like much smaller versions of the monsters that Rune fought before. Large upper body build, more humanoid looking, yet dragon born. Some with wing-like arms, others with no form of wings. Despite their differences in appearance, they all looked to be hideous, monstrous creatures intent on violence. They all screamed and hissed at Rune.

                  The dragon creatures threw large rocks at Rune. Rune roared, shaking his head, trying to protect himself with his horns and thicker scales along his upper back. The Dragon creatures hurled more rocks. Some threw crudely fashioned wood spears.

                  “I have to do something! I have to help!” Enok looked around. He realized he could climb up to the balcony that the dragon creatures came from and fight them from above. He began climbing the vines.

                  A loud cracking nose rang out from above, the rumble of grinding rock echoed through the scene with a loud crunch and snapping of wood. Enok whipped around, looking upward to the source of the sound. A pile of massive rocks and debris held wedged directly above Rune. It looked as if an additional set of timbers above were designed to pull back, dropping the massive boulders on the trapped Ruundyr below. The wood logs appeared to be jammed by the rocks above, catching on the breaking timbers, temporarily preventing the deadly execution of the nefarious trap.

                  Rune let out a massive roar and fought harder to free himself from the nets and pull himself out of the pit. The wood logs jostled back and forth. Unsee foes worked to dislodge the timbers above, hoping to give the trap its final crescendo.

                  “NOOOO!!” Enok yelled out, climbing the vines faster.

                  These monsters wanted to kill the Ruundyr, and Rune couldn’t even defend himself. Enok grew closer and closer to the balcony, when he felt the pain of a large rock bounce off his back. Enok fell a short distance, barely grasping onto the vines again. A mutant dragon creature stood above him, throwing large rocks and stones. Enok grit his teeth and climbed all the faster, dodging the rocks as they flew past him.

                  The sound of cracking wood rang out. Enok looked up. Wood timbers keeping the giant rocks at bay splintered and gave slightly. The massive boulders dropped, then wedged again.

                  Enok furrowed his brow. He had to act fast.

                  Climbing up the vines in leaps, he dodged the rocks while looking for an opportunity to climb onto the balcony. He tried to pull his sword to fight the creature, but Enok could scarcely get enough time to approach the balcony edge before he had to swing out of the way to avoid the hurling rocks from the dragon warrior.

                  Enok could tell the vines began to give. He didn’t know what to do. He looked up at the vines; then looked over at the dragon creature hurling rocks; then looked up at the massive boulders above Rune splintering the timbers working their way downward. Enok shook his head. He lacked the instinct that Ella excelled at.

                  “Think! Think! Think!”

                  Enok looked down at Rune writhing in the pit, taking more spears to his back. Then one dragon creature succeeded in a successful blow to Rune’s face. Rune shook his head, yet did not roar in defiance. He looked dazed from the hit. Seeing Rune trapped and hurt sparked an anger within Enok. He hated people that treated animals poorly, and seeing Rune helplessly abused stirred an anger and hatred toward the hideous dragon creatures. Enok looked up at the dragon warrior attempting to throw rocks at him. Enok’s arms cramped.

                  Then Ella’s criticism shot through his mind. “You’ve been given a physical build like the Gods, but you refuse to use it!”

                  Enok narrowed his eyes.

                  “Screw it!”

                  Enok propped himself up with his legs, and hanging on the vines for support, he hopped away from the balcony, and then yelling out a battle cry, he ran along the wall hanging on the vines, then leapt towards the balcony, flailing through the air. He crashed into the battle dragon, tumbling to the ground. Enok didn’t wait and threw punches into the creature’s torso. The dragon creature leapt up, lunging for Enok. Enok grabbed the creature’s arm as it swiped for an attacked, and in one swift move vaulted the warrior dragon over his shoulder, slamming it to the ground.

                  The battle dragon rolled to its feet and lunged again, digging its claws into Enok’s armor. Enok grabbed the creature by the horns and threw it again onto to the ground. The creature tried to leap up again. Enok kicked the creature’s knee hyper extending it backwards. The creature hissed in pain. Then, with a swift lift of Enok’s knee, he sent the creature reeling.

                  Fueled by anger for hurting Rune, Enok scooped the dragon warrior up and tossed it over the balcony. The battle dragon bounced off the uneven rubble, landing on the back of Rune. Rune whipped around, and with a massive bite, comped the creature, then hurled the thing through the air, crashing into another battle dragon on the other side of the room.

                  Enok grabbed several of the spears nearby, taking out one of the dragon warriors attacking Rune on the other side. He threw another spear, hitting one creature in the leg, stopping it from throwing more rocks as it rolled to the ground, trying to remove the spear. Several dragon warriors screeched a hiss and ran toward Enok to attack. Enok furrowed his brow and pulled his sword.

                  “Now I get to use my sword!”

                  Enok took several aggressive steps forward to face the approaching creatures when he felt a strange tingle within his chest. He recognized the feeling as his body stopped. He couldn’t move. Enok tried fighting against it, but he couldn’t break free. Then, entering the room from a side corridor, entered several of the dark dragons with wings, one holding his hand out mumbling words. 

                  The dragon warriors approached Enok, hissing a growling chuckle. The other winged dark dragons of Myrr circled Enok, also growling a gurgling laugh.

                  Enok flexed every muscle with all the energy he could muster, and still could not break free. Another crack from the timbers above rang out. Enok couldn’t see what fates lie ahead, held paralyzed. He could only stare into the laughing faces of the horrible dragons of Myrr.