Chapter 323: Bandit Hideout
She slipped into the cave entrance and listened for their minds. She could not dive deeply into their minds. But she could feel their minds and the activity present in them. So as she came up to a door she already knew there were a few people inside.
Two of them were sleeping, one of them was semi-conscious. Then the last was far more alert. So as she moved past she made sure to quietly suggest to his mind that he should relax and go to sleep.
After moving through the cave for a few more feet she came to an opening. Inside were several other exits. Three of the other exits from the circular room were all natural cave paths. But there were two not so natural mine paths. As she stood there considering where to go she heard some voices. So she backed up into the path she came from and listened as they approached.
"Where are we meeting with the boss lady?" One of the bandits asked someone else as a pair of footsteps approached. She could hear splashing like there were puddles of water. Which there probably were. That would make it a bit more difficult to sneak around.
"We are meeting her up there by that... thing." The second person sounded exasperated as they responded. "Hey, have you taken a turn to watch the prisoner? I am on prisoner watch tomorrow, but I have heard some strange things."
"Do you mean if he talks about something that drives a person mad? I wish I could say they were lying but I heard what he has talked about before. It almost drove me nuts. Thankfully I was brought to that ’thing’ and put through it. I do not understand it but you should probably wear some earplugs." The other man responded as they walked through the intersection and stopped. "Damn, which way are we going?"
"Upwards. Remember the symbols in the rocks?" The other bandit waited a moment and then scoffed in annoyance. "Stars lead upwards to the war room and that other room. The dynamite leads to the crevice. The jagged shapes are the mine paths that lead deeper to where someone was mining. Then the half moons are the living areas, where there are bunks and other things to sleep on. The circle is the exit."
"Ohhh... right. Sorry my mind is a little foggy." The other guy said as they started walking away.
"That’s right you went out earlier. Getting too far from the ’thing’ makes it difficult to focus... well at least on this side. Hey did you hear about..." Their voices got quieter as they walked away.
Salem waited another moment before moving into the intersection. She looked around the passages and noticed the emblems the bandits mentioned. Now she just had to figure out where she should go. It did not sound like the others had even been noticed yet so she still had some time.
Half moons, the living areas, they might have the prisoner but it was unlikely if his talking was literally driving people mad. The mine paths and the crevice sounded like they would be too exposed and dangerous to have a prisoner. They would not keep him near the exit. So that left the war room they mentioned. It sounded like it was also the location of a gathering.
She quietly went up the path that led to the war room. She moved up the slop and could faintly hear people down the tunnel. It curved in a spiral until there was another hallway branching off. It was labeled by a half moon. She only glanced down before moving back up.
But a second later she could hear footsteps coming her way. Coming down the spiralling path. So she backtracked and hid behind the wall where the living areas were located. She waited and listened as they came down and then entered the area, going right past her as they yawned.
She waited another minute to make sure there was no one else coming before she slipped back out and went up the spiral climb. But she stopped at another exit that was not even labeled. It was just an empty room. She stopped not because of the empty rooms but she could hear shouting further up and it was getting louder.
She moved back and slipped into the empty room and waited. Then for the next minute she could hear angry shouting as people ran past. Talking about the enemies at the front gate. It would seem that her teammates had been discovered and were being as much of a distraction as she hoped they would be.
It was a full three minutes before there were no more people running down. She would have to go help them after this. There were far more bandits than they originally thought. She glanced down the ramp and then began moving up the ramp.
But as she turned to do so she ran face first into a body and stumbled back. She blinked in surprise as she looked up to see a large figure in front of her. It was a heavily muscled man that was twice her height.
She and him locked eyes and he blinked in surprise before she could see the light of understanding dawn on his face. He growled and reared back a fist to punch her. But she kicked the side of his knee and then unloaded several lasers right into his chest as he fell to a knee and unbalanced.
His shielding unit flared for a moment before popping with crackle. He was already pulling himself up but Salem slammed his head into the side of the wall and he slumped down. Falling unconscious, but not dead this time.
She could hear shouts coming from both further down and further open. They might have heard the ruckus. So she hurriedly ran up for a few more seconds until she skidded to a stop at the entrance to the room. But as she did she flinched in pain.
Something was not right. Something was off like she was missing something.