Disturbing Discoveries

                  Hjalmar Geir traveled a fair distance into the cavernous valley. After exploring the initial cave, he discovered how vastly open and connected the collapsed buildings and tunnels were throughout the valley. As he realized the possibility of getting lost in a maze of caverns, Hjalmar Geir mentally made notes of every step and turn he took. His memory mechanisms for exploring the endless caverns differed little from the techniques he used while hunting in the thick forests of his home kingdom. He even backtracked a fair distance to ensure he could find his way out before he traveled too far below the surface.

                  The expanse of the caverns was much greater than he ever imagined, with many options to travel, and many tunnels connecting rooms and caverns. He assembled a torch to explore the deeper and darker areas of the caverns. Hjalmar Geir occasionally found tracking evidence of different creatures in the underground tunnels, although he struggled to find any evidence of Yerik and his companion. He hoped following any form of life might help him locate the two lost men.

                  Every turn, every new tunnel and room, came with the new hope that the missing men may be around the next corner. But room after room came up empty. After a while of navigating the caverns, regret slowly sank in. Hjalmar Geir felt like he chased ghosts. The nature of the valley made it extremely difficult to find any direct line of travel. The intellectual capacity to keep track of every tunnel, every room, every direction change became more and more mentally exhausting.

                  Hjalmar Geir stopped a moment, realizing he may have pushed too far. He figured if he could find Yerik and his friend, even if it meant returning to the youth a little later, it would be worth it. Hjalmar Geir then recognized the underground labyrinth could easily draw him too far away from the youth on the surface. His priorities shifted towards the youth. He couldn’t let them down, nor leave them alone.

                  He heard something. Hjalmar Geir’s ears popped up. Voices! Movement!

                  Hjalmar Geir moved fast toward the noises, hoping to find the source before they stopped. He climbed through several more caverns and connecting tunnels when he heard a large amount of movement and commotion, and possibly a shouting voice. The noises invigorated his drive, and he leapt through the caverns as quickly and directly as he could.

                  Finally! Hjalmar Geir found a moment of success, a sign of life below the surface. A faint orange glow came through an opening of large fallen rocks. Hjalmar Geir held his torch back to avoid being noticed by the wrong entity and crept his way toward the edge of the light emanating from the rocky wall tunnel.

                  The opening lead to a lookout area high above a large cavernous room. Hjalmar Geir approached the edge, looking over the open cavern. Yerik and the other man! They sat tied to a rock slab. They looked hurt or injured, possibly dead. Hjalmar Geir quickly surveyed the situation. Several dragons conversed in the corner, with several other strange and odd-looking dragon-like creatures walking around in the surrounding shadows. Some looked smaller, some much larger, with a thick and muscular upper body build.

                  These dragons did not look hospitable. Hjalmar Geir quickly surveyed the entire room, preparing for a potential battle, looking for an entrance and exit to the room. Convinced of his successful rescue plan, he turned back to navigate his way to the lower levels.

                  Hjalmar Geir used a variety of tunnels and corridors, navigating his way closer to the lower levels when he entered a large, dark room. He could tell something or someone else was in the room. Something was breathing, moving. He drew his axe, holding his torch out to light the way. Nothing reacted as he moved through the room. Hjalmar Geir took slow, quiet steps, yet nothing approached him, although he could still hear the raspy breathing. He continued toward the noise, and he could hear additional life, movement, possibly more breathing. Still, nothing approached him. The room was divided into many other rooms, a maze within itself. Hjalmar Geir carefully navigated toward the sounds. He approached the area where he could hear the raspy breathing.

                  To his shock, a large dragon-looking creature lay on the ground, apparently wounded or ill. The creature looked larger than Hjalmar Geir. It had a much larger upper body than most dragons, with large human-like arms, large horn growth and a dragon looking face. The dragon creature’s eyes shifted, looking directly at Hjalmar Geir, causing him to jump back. The dragon creature did nothing. It stared at him, with its raspy panting breathing. It gurgled a slight growl, lifting an arm and a claw, but the creature could hardly move.

                  Hjalmar Geir looked for a wound, but found no blood, only splotches of mucus. He struggled to see what ailed the creature in the darkness. Hjalmar Geir’s torch light slowly revealed the back of the creature, exposing large blistering pustules, and polyp growths all over its back. They varied in sized, some larger than its head. He noticed some of them had burst open, leaving a gaping hole in the creature’s back filled with puss and infection.

                  He pulled back in disgust, covering his mouth to avoid any form of contagious infection. Hjalmar Geir recognized the creatures he found in the valley were not friends, yet he didn’t like the idea of anyone or anything suffering. He drew his dagger and slit the creature’s throat. A few seconds and the creature bled out, ending its raspy breathing.

                  Hjalmar Geir held for a moment, thinking through such disturbing discoveries. He now knew why he felt so uneasy about the valley, realizing the diabolical activities at hand. Then he heard some movement. It came from the dead dragon creature. The movements grew with strange noises, like a small goat bleating. As he looked closer, the polyps on its back moved! The movement increased, the polyps jostled as movement from within pushed against the blisters, when one burst open, and a miniature, partially developed creature came tumbling out in a sack of skin and liquid. It let out a soft, screeching noise. Then another burst open and another. Small, partially developed, infant like creatures flailed around as they emerged from the creature’s back.

                  Horrified, Hjalmar Geir stepped back. He knew he needed to leave before the noise drew the attention of others.

                  Click… clang. The room behind him illuminated with a dull torchlight.

                  The unfortunate consequence of traveling alone meant he did not have eyes behind him. Hjalmar Geir stepped out of the enclave to confirm his premonition. Several of the strange dragon creatures stood at the end of the hallway, watching his every move. They looked dragon, but had the body build of a human. Some with small wings, some without. Several of the dragons stood on their hind legs, carrying weapons. The creatures looked odd for being dragon, but Hjalmar Geir had little time to make a detail observation, other than enough to plan for a proper defense.  

                  Hjalmar Geir tried to reason with them, hoping they were more intelligent and civilized than they looked.

                  “I’m just trying to get to my friends. I don’t want to hurt you.”

                  The dragon creatures purred with a clicking noise, some of them letting out a hiss as they lifted their weapons stepping towards Hjalmar Geir.

                  “I don’t want to fight you. Please, can you take me to my friends?”

                  The dragon warriors seemed to either not understand Hjalmar Geir or did not care, as they did not react to any of his requests. They slowly stepped closer and closer. Hjalmar Geir reaffirmed his grip on his battleaxe. Then suddenly one brave dragon warrior let out a horrific screeching yell and charged Hjalmar Geir with its lifted sword.

                  Hjalmar Geir furrowed his eyebrows.

                  “A fight it is, then.”