The Deadliest of All

Guzol stretched and yawned, cracking his back and knuckles. The new mission had sounded... interesting, to say the least. When he had first read the mission briefing he had nearly tossed it out with the trash and requested another one, as disappearing people were not all that interesting or uncommon when monsters were close. But then he read the rest. Mysterious disappearances were a lot more interesting.

But the main reason for Guzol to go along on this mission (save for the fact it was an actual order of his superiors, who were not going to put up with 'I don't feel like doing this today') was that there would be an unfamiliar face. A new recruit. The bearded man had not yet heard of or seen his new colleague, as he had been on a particular challenging mission in the desert before.

Right now, Guzol was stomping down the stairs, humming to himself and wringing his hands in excitement, eager to meet his new comrade. When he reached the door to the common room of their barracks, he flung it open with a big grin.

"Good morning!"

Guzol was startled for a moment when he saw the new recruit. He had expected someone big, or at least someone who looked like they were able to hold a sword and swing it. Definitely not someone so... scrawny.

He stood in the door opening for a moment, before laughing and jovially slapping his new colleague on the shoulder.

"No need to call me sir! I might be your senior in age, but here in the squad we're all... well... We don't really have ranks or anything as far as I know. Never asked really. But anyways, welcome! You still look a bit tiny, but I'm sure we'll buff you up with a few missions, don't worry, kid!"

With a big smile, Guzol went over the gathered equipment, which had been laid out before, and started donning his various pieces of armour. He was halfway through pulling on his gloves when he suddenly stopped, as if he remembered something important.

"Oh, right, names. I'd nearly forget them."

He stuck out the non-gloved hand.

"Guzol Jocasta. Pleased to meet you!"

"Ah, that's good to hear, I'm looking forward to see what you can do." Guzol said with a smile. Perhaps the kid had some hidden talents that he might show later on. He continued putting on his armour and packing up his equipment after having introduced himself.

"Well... I don't know where you come from, but it's not improper here. But whatever floats your boat." He didn't add that being called 'sir' made him feel old.

After having finished gearing up, he stretched his back again, checking if everything was in order.

"Aye, all ready, the wagon should be outside."

Guzol got into the carriage after Leo, pulled the door close and knocked on the side to let the driver know they were ready. Then he pulled out his lute and quietly started to tune the strings, repeating each note a few times to make sure it was correct.

"So, is this your first mission out of town?" He asked, pausing his work on the instrument. "Always exciting to go someplace else, though I have to say I'm not sure what to expect... Monsters tend to be quite noticable, as do brigands. Then again, I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

He plucked the strings again, nodded to himself when he was content with the tuning, and took the lute in a hold to play, starting a gentle tune.

"Hmm. It's kinda... empty."

They might very well have been dropped off in the middle of nowhere, as the road was the only sign of civilisation around. Guzol tapped his chin, looking around before speaking again.

"You know, I really expected there to be... something, at least. A village, or something." He shrugged. "Well, I guess that means we'd better start looking for anythi-"

A sudden shout interrupted him. Guzol whipped around, tightening his grip on his spear. From behind a group of large boulders appeared a woman, looking slightly panicked and slightly dishevelled. Her hair looked like it was in desperate need of a wash, as did her dusty and dirty clothes.

"Guards! Oh thank the goddess..." She muttered, out of breath. She stopped right in front of the two soldiers, trying to catch her breath. "We've run into trouble. Our... Our caravan's leader disappeared last night, but there's no trace of her anywhere! No signs of monsters or bandits, nothing! All her belongings are still in our camp, so we thought she hadn't gone far but we can't find her anywhere."

Guzol stared at the woman, mouth slightly agape at the stream of information. Then he grinned at Leopold.

"Don't worry ma'am, we're here to help. Looks like we might have our first trace here, kid!"

Guzol looked at Leopold with raised eyebrows. Then he smiled and nodded approvingly.

"Good job there." He softly said to him, patting his shoulder, before addressing the woman. "Ma'am, we'd like to know more details about your leader's disappearance. The time she left, where she was last seen, anything that could give a clue to what happened actually."

The woman looked at the guards as if the very question deeply confused her. Then, suddenly, she straightened herself, as if she just remembered something.

"Well... It was late at night, it was her turn to be on watch so we were all sleeping. We only found her to be missing early in the morning... Wait, there..." She pointed over to the remnants of a campfire, the caravan's bedrolls still scattered around it. "That's were we slept, usually the one who's on watch duty also sits around the fire. ...I'm pretty sure she was sitting on that crate over there before I fell asleep." She added, the last part almost mumbled.

Guzol sauntered over to the place the woman had pointed out, dropping to his knee to inspect the crate and the earth around it. There were clearly visible tracks around the fire, leading away from the camp. He followed them, until they stopped near a wide ditch. Strangely enough, there was a collection of footprints, as if the person they belonged to had been turning around quite a lot, but after that the tracks stopped. Nothing leading back, nothing in the ditch either. Guzol checked the ditch for any sign of water which could have swept the traces away, but the ground was as dry as the rest of the area.

"Hmmm... That's odd."

Whatever trace of a smile had been on Guzol's face, it faded quickly, leaving only a grim expression when Leopold pointed out the sound.

Whatever was whispering, it certainly was not human. Guzol felt compelled to head to the source of the whispering, though it also filled him with a sense of dread and unease. He turned back to the members of the caravan, who had followed the guards to see if they had found anything new. They, too, had heard the whispering.

"D'you think they're there...?" One of them asked, looking in the direction from which the sound came. "It sounds like people... We could go have a look?"

Guzol frowned. They seemed pretty eager to come along all of a sudden. Perhaps it was the fact there were now to soldiers with them, though perhaps... He turned towards Leopold, shaking his head. Taking along civilians would be too dangerous. Right now he just wanted to go to the sound, maybe see if there was any new clue there.

Guzol nodded in agreement when Leopold gave directions to the caravan members. It seemed the kid was cut out for the job.

"He's right." He chimed in. "It's very likely dangerous and our job is to protect civilians, not endanger them by bringing them along. You stay here, wait to see if any of your group returns. We'll go investigate."

The soldier tried to ignore the voices, which seemed to grow only louder. It even seemed as if they were calling his name, calling him towards them. He was pretty sure he was just imagining it, but he was starting to find it hard to concentrate with the constant whispering.

"Right." Guzol said, much more steady and confident than he was feeling. "Let's go, Leo. We're the professionals, let's deal with it."

"Hm. Cosy." Guzol said as he looked at the entrance of the cave. The whispers had grown louder and louder the closer they got to the cave, though he still could not make out what the voices were saying to him.

The soldier shrugged, as if not bothered by the ominous cave and voices all around them, and gingerly stepped into the dark. They had best keep their morale up now, as it was unclear when and in what state they would come out again, if they even would.

Inside the cave was pitch-dark, the light from outside quickly disappearing as they went down a winding passage. Guzol knelt down to take a small lantern from his belt, lighting it with a few strikes from a piece of flint and steel taken from another pouch. The light it produced only barely illuminated the area around them, but at least they would be able to see any dangers or obstacles on the floor of the cave.

"Okay then..." He muttered, doubt creeping into his voice. "Now what could be hiding here?"

The sound had alerted Guzol as well, and he had grabbed his spear when Leopold struck out. When it turned out to be only a Keese, the older man laughed sheepishly, slightly embarrassed by his own jumpiness.

"It's this damn darkness..." He muttered, more to himself than to anyone else, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

Guzol had been in more than enough dark places before, but something about this cave made him feel more on edge than ever. His cheery demeanor from ealier had now all but disappeared. Then again, in the dark of the cave it did not matter much if he walked around with a smile or a frown, as it was hard to see either way. On top of that, the voices also seemed to be... moving.

At first they had simply seemed to come from deeper into the cave, but Guzol would swear he heard something whisper right next to him, even sweeping out with his spear to check, but the cave was still as desolate as before. Grumbling and cursing to himself, the guard focused on the ground in front of them again, trying to ignore the voices that seemed to linger just behind him. Normally he would hum or whistle to stave off the uneasy feeling or cheer himself up, but this time it seemed better if they were as quiet as possible.

After all, they could never be sure what they would encounter further down...