Drummen sat on the deck as he watched the coastline start appearing in front of him. He took a long drink from his wine skin and looked at Cliffhopper with a smile. "We're almost there brother... I can't wait to feel earth under my feet." He looked down with a grin. "I don't think I can survive as a sailor... I'd miss the ground too much."
"Well you and your brother are about to get wet." He turned and looked at the captain with a worried look. "What do you mean?"
"This is as close as we get to the coast and the city... The rest is all up to you... You better save them... If I hear word of your success I'll come into port, and I'll take you to the next city." He cursed as he watched the captain turn and walk to the wheel. "I hate swimming... Why do we have to swim?"
"How else are we going to save the people in the city?" He saw Stannir and his fire eater unit preparing to move, with the priestess and Harnio looking at the shoreline. He sighed and nodded. "Come brother... We have to go save them, and kill those beasts." He stood up and wiped his mouth with his robe and stood on the railing. "Are you all just standing there... We have people to go rescue."
"Wait... We have to make sure we can land safely, if we're caught in the water we're an easy target." He nodded at Stannir, waving his hands at him. "Fine than..." He cursed and looked at him. "Sooo, what's the plan than?" He watched as Stannir turned to the priestess. "Your up outrider... Show them why your a guard." He sighed as she climbed up the rigging and looked at the shoreline. "Shore is empty... Nothing to see here at all... Seems like this is where the smugglers used to land."
"Hahahaha... She's right... How does she know?" Drummen smiled at the captain. "She can see a lot... Its her special trick."
"Yes... Makes sense, since she bested me as a pilot of my own Princess... Be safe all of you, and save them... That is if there are still people in the cities."
Drummen nodded and looked at Stannir. "Since she said its clear... Can we move now?" He saw his nod. "Lets go." Drummen cursed, tied his wine pouch to his belt and jumped into the water with the others. He looked around as he treaded water, cursing loudly. "Its cold... No one said it was going to be cold... What would women say if they saw my package after its been in this cold water." He watched as the priestess swam effortlessly past him. "Makes sense, a hairy man and a drunk scared of a little cold water." He smiled. "At least I'm wearing appropriate clothing."
"Ouch... Why did you kick me?"
"You shouldn't be looking at my chest... Instead you need to be hurrying to the beach... There may be patrols around... Especially if this is a known smugglers port to the city." He cursed and started swimming after them. He turned and saw Cliffhopper flying over the water. "Brother, why didn't you do that to me?"
"You already jumped before I had a chance... Anyway, from up here, I don't see anyone yet." He cursed and started swimming again heading for the beach. As he was able to stand up he started to smile. "Sand... Help me out a little." He felt his body move through the water at a fast speed until he was standing shaking the water out of his hair, smiling at the others as they walked up to the beach. He looked as Cliffhopper returned to his form. "Show off..." He turned and looked for his wine skin cursing. "My blasted skin... You better get here." He put his hand on the ground smiling. "There you are... Come to me."
"Kill it... Its near... You need to kill it..."
"What are you smiling about?" He looked at the priestess. "I'm waiting for something important for me... Ahh there it is now." He bent down and picked up the wine skin, carryful making sure it wasn't going to fall out of his robe again. He turned to Harnio with a surprise. "Don't tell me, that you didn't have to swim at all?"
"Are you listening to me? You need to kill the beast... If you don't listen and keep ignoring me, I'll really do something to that manhood of yours."
"Why swim, when I can walk?" He cursed as Harnio walked in front of him. He turned to Cliffhopper. "Why haven't you taught me about skin changing yet?"
"When are you going to do the trial?" Drummen nodded. "Good point."
"So why should I teach you, when you already know the answer." Drummen nodded, and took a long drink from his skin. "Ahh. Still delicious... It warms me up."
"Everyone quiet and get off the beach... We need to cover our tracks, so if someone comes they won't see anything... Harnio." He watched as Harnio started to write in the air as wind blew across the small beach covering the tracks that they had made.
"Finally you're going to listen to me Drummen... You stupid druken monk... I'll start shouting in your ears now."
"Lets go inland, and find this place." Drummen smiled putting his fingers in his ears with a pained expression.
"You can't block me out like that Drummen..."
"I can tell you where it is. I can feel the stone..." Drummen's mouth dropped open. "What is it monk, have you found something?" Drummen nodded. "I found out how these beasts got here..." He cursed and turned around walking deeper into the island. "Quick follow him... Unit make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Your acting is terrible... At least your listening... You'll get to keep your manhood after all."
He ignored those around him and kept walking until he stopped and cursed. "Over there... Amongst the trees and rock is where we'll find how they got here, and how they were able to take those other cities..." He shook his head. "Last time I didn't feel this at all..."
"You didn't feel it because you weren't listening to me... Idiot. See what happens when you listen to me?"
"Brother what is it?" He pointed. "Go have a look for yourself... I can't feel anyone walking around ahead... Not sure about the air, but the ground is clear."
"Stay hidden among the trees, and lets go check it out." Drummen nodded and started to walk in the direction of his feeling. He climbed on a rock and looked over, before cursing and sliding back. "I was wrong... On the surface, there's nobody, but under the ground is another story."
"What do you mean?"
"They've been digging..." He turned and looked at Stannir. "How did you know?"
"This place is perfect for keeping something underground safe." Drummen looked around and nodded. "If it wasn't for me feeling this place out, we wouldn't of found it. Even the treetop covers it very well."
"Brother... You're the show off now." Drummen smiled and nodded. "Maybe so, but we've got another problem... They're digging. I can feel it."
"Not just you, I can feel it too." Drummen looked at Stannir as he touched the ground. "How can you do that?"
"The ground is shaking... I don't know how many are digging, but there is digging happening right now." Drummen smiled. "I can answer that for you."
"Its one." He cursed and looked at Harnio. "How in the blasted hells did you know that?"
"I can sense those beasts... Using the information from the both of you I was able to guess... It is one giant earth eating borrowing beast." Drummen nodded. "Show off... Now at least we can kill it, and prevent the beasts from going any further."
"Good finally your going to kill it... Hurry before it escapes."
"The issue is that there are probably many more tunnels like this around... This can't be the only tunnel..." Drummen nodded in thought. "These tunnels have to link together... Which means that if they are linked, some of them won't just be the big ones tunneling around... We might have some of the smaller ones too." He turned and looked at the firewarrior. "Whats the plan?"
"We need to find where this trolaith is at the moment, and than we can plan from there." Drummen smiled. "I can tell you right now where it is." He pointed to the beach. "It's where we jumped off the Princess. It moves quickly."
"Kill it!"
"Can we drown it?" Drummen shrugged his shoulders. "I can move some things around and make that happen."
"No... If we did that, we wouldn't be sure that it would be killed... It could evolve again, and learn how to breath underwater... That would be a worse problem than we have now." He looked at Harnio. "Than what else can we do?"
"The best way will be to go into the tunnel and kill it there... We'll also be able to see it, and learn how to kill these things in the future easier."
"That doesn't mean you can go cut it up Harnio..." He looked at the priestess and nodded at Harnio. "She's right. We don't have time to cut up anything and learn about it... We have to figure out how to stop it before it reaches another town... Also to take back this town too."
"Kill it."
He looked at the firewarrior. "If we're going in the tunnel to have a look, we can go now... Since time is of the essence..." Drummen cursed and shook his head as Stannir stood their silently. He watched as he turned and looked at his unit. "Show time... Let's do what we did at the second test."
"It needs to die Drummen... Quickly kill it..."
He watched in silence as the fire unit started moving. He climbed back on the rock and stared at the large hole beneath him. He looked at Cliffhopper. "We can't wait for them brother, this thing will take another town and island..."
"Brother... We don't know what they're doing... If we go in there, we'll be on our own in the dark, and trapped... What if you helped them with their plans... It would be faster." Drummen looked at Cliffhopper and frowned at him. He grabbed his wine skin and took a long drink. He stood up and walked up to the firewarrior. "What are they doing? Maybe I can help speed things along a bit... We don't have time to be slow about this."
"Hurry... It's going to get away."
"He's right firewarrior... We must hurry... What are you planning?" He looked at the priestess and nodding. "Thank you for agreeing with me on this."
"What we're doing is building a tunnel... That one is one that goes down and than across... We are going to create our own and meet the trolaith inside before killing it." Drummen cursed. "Why didn't you say so... Everyone line up..."
"What are you doing?"
"I told you many times that earth is my friend... If you wanted a tunnel than you have a tunnel." He closed his eyes, and felt the earth move around them. "Brother is good at this..."
Drummen opened his eyes and watched as they started to sink under the ground. "Don't panic... I made a tunnel already. Its connected and all we have to do is break the end and kill the beast." Drummen looked around and put his hand on the tunnel he made. "No tracks or anything above ground. The beast is just down there."
"Hurry... Its moving. It can feel something is nearby."
"Why didn't you tell us you could do this sort of thing?" Drummen looked at Stannir frowning. "I've said many times, that I could... Also you saw me make those statues... and my staff."
"Sorry Drummen... I forgot about it." Drummen waved his hand at him. "Doesn't matter... Now you have seen it, you know I can do it." Drummen walked forward and formed his staff in his hand spinning it around. "Its this way... Hurry." He turned and saw Cliffhopper walking next to him. "Wow... I've never seen you worked up like this." Drummen looked at him. "What do you mean? There are people in danger about to be hurt, and we're going to stop it before it happens."
"Not the usual monk that I know of." He turned and looked at Harnio. "Sometimes I like to play and have fun, but when one of these is near, and I know what its going to do. We need to get rid of it... Even lady luck is saying the same thing."
"What? Lady luck is talking to you?" Drummen nodded. "Ever since we landed she hasn't stopped about killing it and wanting to castrate me if I ignore her, and go slow about it."
Drummen cursed. "I hope after this battle, I can get a moments rest from your nagging."
"Never... Hahahaha."