Julien can’t make heads or tails of the mixture of raspy snarls and trills that his captors exchange over the thunderous roar of a waterfall. The occasional prod tells him to keep moving and not try anything. As if he would. With his hands tied behind his back and flanked by salamanders, he has no choice but to descend into a humid darkness.
The sound of Julien’s chattering teeth and the wet slaps of his feet on rocks accompany the steady dripping from stalactites. It is a sad and desolate theme if ever there was one. The very thought of being forced to return to the hazardous underground intensifies the shivers already plaguing his slender frame.
Seeing hardly further than the next step, Julien carefully tries to feel his way forward. The lizards are having none of it. An impatient prod forces a hasty step. He slips and, without the aid of his arms to windmill for balance, a thud and groans follow Julien’s cry of alarm. Rough, scaly hands pull him upright. His new lizard friends seem to have no issues with the slippery ground.
In the diminishing light, he notices that his health and magic bar give off a faint light that allows him to see his feet if he bends forward far enough. Julien’s world shrinks to that small circle of light, the goosebump-inducing, cold air, and the occasional flapping and shrieking of bats.
One question arises from his poorly lit bubble of desperation. Why? Why am I still alive?
He had not dropped his sword. When the three closest Komodo dragon salamanders had jumped him, he had attempted a Crescent Slash. But lacking the required magic energy, the semicircle of death had not appeared. Only the salamander in the centre had failed to evade the blade. His impalement, however, had effectively seized the weapon, and the others had viciously chomped on his shoulders until he let it go. Then a solid whack on Julien’s head had turned everything dark.
He had woken to the sound of water crashing on rocks and a light spray showering him periodically. His eyes opened to twilight. To his surprise, his shoulders were no longer in pain, but they had bound his hands behind his back. The journey into the dark had started not long after.
“Stop here.” He recognizes the raspy voice of the leader as a rough tug on his bonds forces him to stop. “Open mouth.”
What?
“Now!”
Does he have a choice? A smooth and small, round orb lands on his tongue. Julien feels puzzled. He closes his mouth, swirling the orb around, along with the idea to spit it out. Hardly noticeable, he spies a sliver of his magical energy returning. He greedily swallows the little pellet, and in a heady rush, he feels it all coming back. An inner force gives him the confidence that he can take out all these tongue sniffers if he can just get his sword. His Maegic returning to him, Julien realizes what has come of his precious Migaera pearls.
“Now summon Fool.”
Julien is flabbergasted. How did they know? But most of all, why?! He plays dumb. “Fool? Call an idiot? I don’t understand.”
Two spears dig into his back in quick succession. He sees his health dropping slightly. “We know. You’re a strong warrior. Defeated great, devouring plant. Our strongest warriors could not. You must be Fool-warrior.”
“I don’t know…”
“Yes, you do!” A shallow cut on the inside of his legs makes Julien jump. “Do it! Or next cut is higher.”
Julien’s reaction is immediate. “Synthisa Activa.”
He shrugs. The last time he had tried, he had been ignored. This time, however, a grid of lines lights up and rapidly spreads over his body as the Fool suit appears. It bathes the surrounding cave in a soft light. Not long after it materializes, Julien hears a familiar voice.
“Took you longer than I expected. Finally got rid of the…hangover?” The Fool trails off as he takes in the scene – a hands-bound Julien and the menacing salamanders. “Wait, are we underground again?”
Two spears immediately pierced him as the glaive cleaves him from head to toe. But the weapons harmlessly pass through him. The lizards try again. And again.
Julien sniggers at his captors’ attempt to harm the Fool. “You can’t touch him,” he says eventually.
“So it is. You are the Fool-warrior. We have succeeded my sisters!”
What? Sisters?
The lizards raise their heads and emit a piercing trill. The pink salamanders growl in a counterpoint. The result is a strange harmony that rebounds from the cave walls all around them as it travels further down into the deep, where it dies.
The Fool looks at Julien. “How is it that whenever I leave you alone, you find the biggest pile of shit to jump into?”
“Don’t look at me. I tried, okay? I tried my hardest to get somewhere safe, but no matter where I turn, there’s always something lurking around the corner. Just waiting to sink its teeth into me. Literally! I–”
“Quiet!” Lizard Warrior Princess snarls.
Julien shuts up.
About a minute passes in complete silence. Just when Julien is about to ask for clarification, he hears the strange harmony coming back to them from the deep.
The lizards pass soft clicks and trills back and forth. Their jaws display sharp teeth in an expression Julien can only categorize as a smile. “Honor is ours. Now walk, Fool-warrior!”