Stahl had awoken alone over two hours before the human had, feeling a bit sore from the fight, but nowhere near as drained since she hadn't been the one shielding against everything the demon threw their way. As the shewolf's mind filled in her memory, a grip of fear encased her heart. She was with Aster and her prince, but they were nowhere to be found.
Alarms sounded in her mind as she assumed the worst, her mind playing dark tricks on her as she imagined her human and her prince laying slain before the demon, bleeding out in the large arena. The thought provoked a harsh shudder from the beast. However, she tried her best to push his panic aside, and work on what she could do about her current predicament.
Stahl stood, having to crouch from how low the cavern ceiling was, while making her way to anywhere but where she had awoken. The walls were close together where she was, and the she-wolf feared she may even be trapped between some of the more narrow places, but she managed to squeeze through where was needed without even losing her armor.
She noticed the stench of sulfur combined with the staunch heat, and felt the warmth emanate from the very walls of rock that seemed to close in around her. She wasn't able to move quickly because of how narrow and small the passage got for her at times, but she progressed steadily enough until she reached an open area.
She had been moving for well over half an hour by her guess, but this area was the first real drastic change she had seen, a good sign that she was at least making progress and out of such tight quarters where she couldn't even defend herself in if needed. Suddenly, something caught the she-wolf's eye as out of place in this new area, and her mind surged back to the endless possibilities of unknown, and cruel fates.
Hanging from the ceiling, or rather from partially inside of the ceiling, was the humanoid bat she had been fighting alongside. The creature was affixed up to its torso in rock, a single arm hanging down limply from the embedded body. The familiar glaze of death glossed over his eyes and his mouth hung agape, his tongue already drying up from the extreme heat.
Perhaps it was only bad luck for the bat, but it seemed the teleportation had its own risks, as the evidence hung down above her. It would appear one wouldn't necessarily be moved to somewhere they could survive. Stahl had a wicked thought strike her mind like hot iron in a forge.
*What if I find Aster like that next?* The panic had returned, hammering a sense of dire urgency deep into the she-wolf. She needed to get out of here, and find him, or she might perish alongside that bat from the madness of assuming the worst before getting to Aster. The she-wolf quickened her pace, sprinting through the now wider tunnel with increased vigor.
It wasn't long until she saw an opening ahead, allowing her first glimpse at possible escape. *Aster's not weak, he might have found a place already.*
As the she-wolf ran to it, her hopes were quickly crushed. The small hole was barely big enough for her arm to reach through. Stahl considered trying to force it open wider, but knew the stone would likely only destroy the edge of her sword, if it didn't break the steel outright. Instead, she figured she could at least try something else before moving on. The noble she-wolf took a deep breath of the arid air in, and shouted as loud as she could muster.
"HEEEEEEEEEYYY! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? ASTER! PRINCE TYFIN! ANYONE OUT THEEEERE?"
The warrior heard no response. Worth a shot anyways...
"KSSSSSSS."
Suddenly, there was a sharp hissing coming from behind the she-wolf. As Stahl turned to meet the creature, she was shocked to see a scaly, winged serpent gliding across the dirt. It was large, nearly 12 feet long, and a sickly, vibrant green color with a jagged, orange stripe running down its spine. The fangs on the creature were bared and sharp, as its front half hovered and bobbed in the air on leathery wings. It secreted a venom that sizzled against the very earth when it fell from the agape maw in thick droplets.
Stahl drew her swords immediately as the creature drew its head back sharply with a gust of its wings, and tucked them in as it dove at her with blinding speed. Stahl crouched and rolled forward in a somersault, going below the strike and dashing forward. She used her left-handed sword to slice open a decent sized groove in the lower scales as she did so.
The serpent drew back in pain before it could be gutted completely, and spat a mouthful of acid at the she-wolf. Stahl couldn't move fast enough to fully dodge, and soon heard the creaking and groaning of metal buckling from heat as her bracer began dissolving immediately after barely managing to swing it up in time to protect her eyes. Despite the rancid smell of a little fur melting alongside the armor, the battle-experienced she-wolf kept her eyes mainly on the creature as she unbuckled and dropped the melting steel from her arm. She couldn't afford a direct hit of that stuff.
"SOMEONE DOWN THERE?" Stahl about jumped out of her pelt when she heard the booming call from somewhere behind her. She couldn't afford to avert her eyes from the battle before her, but still, she shouted back her answer, happy to know she wasn't alone.
"Yes! Busy with not dying though." The serpent struck again, this time the she-wolf accurately gauged its movement, and sidestepped the strike while bringing her longer sword down, slicing the head from the creature as its body spasmed below. The she-wolf gave a smirk towards her handiwork, and turned back to the opening in the ceiling.
She couldn't see much through the small hole, but she could discern a massive black hoof that connected to a light brown, furry leg. Stahl knew who she was talking to. The minotaur was in the formation around the prince in the earlier battle, and a mentor to the she-wolf of sorts in the King's Army days.
"Captain Rix, that you up there?" A loud, deep yell resounded soon enough.
"IT IS ME! WHY ARE YOU DOWN THERE?" The she-wolf let out a sigh. Leave it to the captain to somehow overlook what had happened, insinuating that she wanted to be down here.
"Oh, you know, training. Thinking of having a nice picnic in such a calming setting..." All traces of the sarcasm were lost upon the thick-headed minotaur.
"NO TIME FOR THAT! GET UP HERE!" Stahl felt her eye twitch, recalling from her two years of prior service how impervious to her snarkiness the bull was from sheer density.
"...Yeah, working on it... HEY! Can you break that wall? It would help me get there faster." The she-wolf heard no response, but when she saw the minotaur's hooves move back from view through her window, she also moved away.
A moment later, and the broadside of an impossibly heavy axe shattered a good portion of the stone, allowing more rays of golden sunlight to shine through. As the dust settled, Stahl looked up to see the great hulking mass of the brown minotaur that was Captain Carcer Rixator looking down at her with a smirk.
"ASH PELT WOLF! GOOD! ANOTHER STRONG FIGHTER!" The she-wolf groaned to herself at the bovine getting her name wrong once again, but was relieved to hear there were apparently other strong fighters already gathered up there. Maybe even Aster.
"Aschefell... But good to see you too, Captain... Any idea where we are by chance?" Stahl wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised when the large beast nodded, and offered a hand down to assist the warrior up and out of the sweltering, stale cavern air.
***