The Sword of Retribution

The Caves of Shanathin - Part 3

     “No,” said the slaver, however. “We cannot delay that long. I intend to return home as quickly as possible, without pausing for trivialities. I am prepared to wait here for a few minutes, in case you think of a quicker solution, but delay any longer than that and you will complete your journey without me.”

     “Why don’t we make camp here?” suggested Matthew. “The sun's rising, so we’d be looking for a place to make camp soon in any case. Maybe the creature will have expelled the sword by the time we're ready to move on.”

     “Sleep this close to a giant amoeba?” exclaimed the cthillian, its proboscis quivering in disbelief. “Only a human could possibly propose such a stupid and dangerous idea.”

     “No, what I meant was that we make camp a little distance away, with guards awake and on duty in case it wakes up early. I didn’t mean that we go to sleep right next to it, obviously.”

     “No,” replied the slaver. “Now that we are underground, I intend to spend more time travelling and less time sleeping. We will not make camp until we reach the crystal cave, which is still five hours travel from here. We will leave immediately, since it is obvious that none of you has any idea how to recover the sword quickly. Let us go.”

     “No, wait,” said Thomas. “I’ve got an idea. We can get that sword out in five minutes. Give me one of those lengths of rope, Shaun.”

     “What are you going to do?” asked the soldier as he handed it across.

     Thomas took a strip of dried beef from his supplies and tied the middle of the rope around it. “That thing must be pretty hungry after all the punishment it’s taken,” he said as he made sure it was secure. “I’m sure it would appreciate a little snack. Here, hold this.”

     He passed one end of the rope to Shaun, and then stepped back until it hung between them like a fifty foot long skipping rope, the bit of dried beef hanging in the middle. “Everybody stand back in case it wakes up,” warned the wizard. “Okay Shaun, I’m going to creep past it as quietly as I can, and I want you to follow, but keep the rope tight between us. Okay?”

     “Okay,” agreed the soldier dubiously. “Be careful, though! If it wakes up suddenly, you could be in big trouble.”

     “I don’t think there’s much chance of that,” said the wizard as he started to walk towards and past the creature. “Such a primitive creature can’t really be said to be either awake or asleep. It’s gone into a dormant state while it heals its wounds and won’t become active again until it’s done so. Still, better to be safe than sorry.” He stopped when he and Shaun were on opposite sides of the amoeba, an equal distance from it. The rope dangled just a few inches away from its jelly-like skin.

     Thomas then moved his end of the rope towards the right until the bit of dried beef touched its skin. The amoeba immediately recognised the feel, or taste, or whatever, of food and formed a small pseudopod to swallow both it and the rope. Currents in the protoplasm carried the bit of meat deep inside its body, and a loop of the rope was pulled with it.

     Shaun’s face lit up as he realised what the wizard was doing. Thomas pulled his end of the rope this way and that, guiding the loop of rope inside the amoeba so that it passed close to the hilt of the sword. A few more tugs were all that were required to loop it around the hilt, and then he tiptoed back past the creature to stand beside Shaun again.

     "Okay," he said. “Now pull very, very gently.”

     The rope caught on the hilt of the sword, which began to move as they pulled. Thomas had to keep telling Shaun not to pull too hard in case they disturbed the creature, but it seemed completely oblivious to them and soon the hilt broke through the skin, shining wet with digestive acids. Unfortunately the acids were also working on the rope, slowly dissolving and weakening it, and as Shaun gave one final tug, intended to free the sword and send it clattering down onto the cave floor, it snapped, making them stagger back a step or two.