Chapter II - A Brief Interlude

The light from the fire illuminated Elvis' face as he slept peacefully on the ground with his back to the wall.  'How did he know?' thought Shyne to himself as he stared at Elvis' ruggedly handsome features.  'Such perfection...' he sighed as he pulled his own blanket up over his shoulders to protect himself from the cold. 

To his left Slobba stood rigidly with both hands gripped tightly around his shaft.  Ever the professional he took guard duty very seriously; they were at their most vulnerable at night and he was all that stood between his friends and an unseen enemy.  His body ached from the recent fight and he longed for the rest that he desperately needed.  It had been a good idea of Shynes to send his familiar to scout the way ahead.  The Imp had returned with news that there were undead in the caves.  With such knowledge Slobba knew which spells he would ask his God to bless him with after his morning prayers.  It was important that they were able to sneak past the undead and Slobba was confident that he could help his friends to do so.  With a yawn he looked down at the sleeping figure of Illona and wondered, not for the first time that night, how such a small woman could snore so loudly.  'And what is with all that drool?' he thought.

The next morning Reginald Arthur Wesley-Smyth the 3rd flew silently through the tunnel towards the cavern that he knew was at its end.  Until recently Reginald had lived a long, happy and relatively mundane life.  He had an attractive if slightly neurotic wife (but aren't they all he chuckled) and two moderately intelligent children.  He had a stable job scaring human kids in Larencia City that brought in a modest wage.  Yes things could have been a lot worse for Reggi (as his mates called him).  Two weeks ago that had all changed.  One minute he's stealing money from a fat kid that he'd just beaten up in the Glade of Contemplation and the next he's a familiar to a Wizard of less than impressive power. 
'There was just no justice in life' he thought.  Oh sure the Wizard had a bl**dy big sword that he was quite good at stabbing things with, but with regards to magic he was a bit of an amateur.  That wasn't the worst of it though, not by a long shot.  No it was the fact that the Wizard had named him Gimp."Gimp says that there are 3 skeletons and 3 zombies in the cavern ahead" said Shyne. 

"There are three other exits to the room and the Orc is in the one to the North" he concluded. 

'What sort of name was Gimp?!' he fumed as he veered slightly to the left to follow the tunnel.  'I'm the bl**dy Captain of the bloody Imp National Chess Team and he goes and names me bl**dy Gimp!' he snarled to himself.  'Life sucks'.

"Hmmm" said Slobba, "My Hide from Undead spell will keep us concealed from them for just on 20 minutes.  That will give us plenty of time to sneak past them and into the Orcs cave". 

"Sounds like a plan" said Elvis as he tossed his head to one side causing his hair to bounce around his shoulders as if in slow motion. "Let’s move out".