A little reprieve.

All that Ariane had left was her sandals and the dark elf’s cloak. With her magic gone, it was Q’rin’s turn to cast a spell to light their path. He kept it fairly dim, as the dark elf’s already excellent night vision didn’t need a light as bright as a flaming torch. The sorceress’ arousal lingered a moment longer, but as the two of them continued down the passage, Ariane grew cold and her libido vanished. She wrapped the cloak around herself tightly, trying to keep some warmth inside.

They passed an old door, nearly rotten off the hinges. Looking through the cracks in the door only revealed a small storage closet.

‘Why don’t we look in here?’ Ariane said, stopping in front of it.

Q’rin turned and raised an eyebrow at her, ‘What would you want in there?’

‘I don’t know, maybe something to wear?’ Ariane rolled her eyes.

‘You really think there’s some dress in there? Ever if there ever had been one in there. Look at the door, it’d be a moth-eaten rag by now,’ Q’rin chuckled.

‘Okay, no dresses, maybe something else? I could at least wrap some rags around my feet, this stone is getting colder by the yard,’ Ariane said and grabbed the door handle.

The door complied and crumbled on the spot, giving Ariane free access to the room, ‘Well, that was to be expected. Come on, get your light over here,’ the sorceress waved at Q’rin and stepped inside. The dark elf only sighed and followed her.

The room was a mess of crumbling furniture and reeked of old wood.

‘See? There’s nothing to grab here,’ Q’rin said, as he looked around the sorry excuse for a storage room.

‘Let me just check,’ Ariane said and looked around. She spotted a chest that looked in a bit better condition than the other furniture. Kneeling in front of the chest, she found it unlocked and opened the lid. There were some dwarven clothes inside, a rough-spun wool tunic and piece of rope. They looked to be in good condition. ‘Oh, my lucky day. Look, I did find something!’ Ariane exclaimed proudly.

Q’rin went closer and looked over her shoulder, ‘Well, lucky you. Don’t try to get it ripped apart by the next creature we run into.’

Ariane stuck her tongue out to Q’rin and grabbed the tunic. She looked to Q’rin, ‘Turn around, will you?’

‘Like you are too shy to show your body to me, I saw everything in the last chamber, remember?’ Q’rin shrugged with a chuckle.

‘Not like I had a choice that time,’ Ariane rolled her eyes, ‘If you were any other man, Q’rin, I would gladly show my bare body to him, but since it’s you … c’mon, shoo!’

Q’rin sighed and turned around, ‘Hurry it up, we don’t have all day to find the others.’

Seeing him turn, Ariane slipped off the cloak from her shoulders, shuddering at the cold air for a second. Her rosy nipples stood erect from the cold with goose bumbs all over her flawless skin. She slid the rough tunic over her head and let it fall over her body. Her delicate skin was not used to the fabric, it itched her terribly, but it was better than freezing. The tunic was made for a dwarf and only reached barely past her buttocks. Reaching for the rope, she bound it around her waist, keeping the cloth closer to her body and straining it against her ample chest. Satisfied with the tunic, she grabbed the cloak again and wrapped it around her shoulders, fastening the collar closed.

‘Well, better than nothing,’ Ariane said and went back to the door to the passage, ‘Shall we continue?’

‘Yes, let’s move,’ Q’rin said and continued down the passage.

As they continued, the air grew damper and their fine ears heard the noise of running water coming from the passage ahead.

‘I assume you can hear it too?’ Ariane said to the dark elf beside her.

‘What do you think? My hearing is better than yours,’ Q’rin scoffed.

They continued until the passage gave way to great underground cavern. Q’rin guiding light revealed many stalagmites on the ground and the light was reflected in a pitch black pool of water filling in the cavern, the other end of the underground lake was out of sight. They could hear a small waterfall feeding the pool and water occasionally dripped from the stalactites down into the water.

‘Wow, it’s beautiful down here,’ Ariane marvelled at the sight.

Q’rin looked around, ‘I’ve seen enough underground lakes to last two lifetimes… problem is… do you see anyway to move on?’

Ariane gulped and shook her head, ‘No, I don’t. Damn it, don’t tell me this is a dead end.’

‘Maybe not, there is a waterfall over there… and the water must go somewhere,’ Q’rin turned to Ariane.

‘You don’t mean…?’ Ariane looked at him with fear.

‘Yes, we might have to take a dive,’ Q’rin sighed, not cherishing the thought of diving down into the darkness.