DARK WOLF BLACK CAVE (Part 2 of 3)

For about fifty feet or so he continued, the rocky structure manifesting itself to him as he neared it. Once he could see it definitively, he paused. It wasn’t part of any mountain or hill, it could very well be man made, but that seemed unreasonable given that it had no right angles or straight edges in its design. It was simply an enormous mound made of jutting, irregular, rock. There were no other rocks or mounds of any kind near it, just the eerie ancient wood twisting about it on either side. It appeared unnaturally natural, if that’s possible, and that gave Narna goose bumps. What sent a shiver down his spine was that the path he had been walking upon lead right into a large pitch-black opening at its medial point.

“What the...,” he said aloud. It suddenly dawned on him that this wasn’t the result of his curiosity leading him astray; he had been purposely led to this destination. He began to feel deceived, but how this could have been perpetrated was a mystery. Still, he could not turn away, he was hooked and he had to see what was inside this foreboding structure, even though the thought of entering it terrified him to no end. He approached the gaping maw of the rock mound. There were no ridges or cracks, and it was not a crevice or fissure, just an opening molded in the rock as though it were clay. Slowly, with deliberate steps, he entered the lightless hollow. He had a little flashlight on his key chain and he turned it on. Surprisingly it lit up a good amount of the darkness, even though reason argued against this possibility. But if Narna was going to listen to reason, he would have turned back long ago.

The walls of the cave were piceous, and a thick liquidly substance ran down its sides and dripped from above, but there were no puddles on the floor. Narna stopped and listened for sounds and heard nothing, not even the running liquid made any noise. No shapes formed in the light of his flashlight, the cave seemed to be flat and barren, but he decided to explore a bit further before turning back. A few feet more and he began to smell it, a thick, gamy animal pungency. He could see the floor ahead begin to incline slightly with every inch. He slowly edged forward, his eyes wide and aware of any movement, every shadow, his ears aware of every squeak, any whisper, as the smell amassed robustly about him. It no longer was a hint in the air, it had become the air, and now it mixed with another smell, almost as stark in emanation. Both these smells were familiar to Narna, and both sent caution signals racing through his brain and he abruptly froze in his tracks and flicked off his flashlight concurrently.

“Wolves!” Narna shouted inside his head. “Shit! What the hell am I doing? Stupid! So stupid!”

The other smell still hadn’t been identified yet, other then to signal strict vigilance. But as he stood there and concentrated on its aroma, it began to condense, a mixture of heat, moisture, carnality and decay. “Slaughter!” He could not tell the nature of the slaughtered animal, it could be because there was a mixture of different animal kills here, or that he was not familiar with this particular animal’s death smell. “Slaughter and wolves, the last two things I want to smell together at anytime. A wolves den. You stupid idiot. OK Narna, you can get yourself out of here, quietly turn around and go out the way you came.” Just before he could turn himself around, he heard it, a scraping in the near distance, and then the snuffling of a beast trying to pinpoint a scent. He had been discovered, and by the sound of it, this was no small wolf. He did not move a muscle and listened intently for the animal’s next move. He could only hope that it would not explore the intrusion, but lay back down to sleep again. Its claws rasped against the floor as it seemed to Narna that it had begun to casually pace, awaiting a sign of movement. It must surely smell him, although the smell of carnage was very strong and might be masking his odor. He had already slowed his breathing down as much as he could, which he was very adept at, a skill honed from years of hunting. Any movement on his part, while the wolf stayed alerted, and he would be taken down. There were surely other wolves here as well, had to be at least one other, but they must be sleeping or Narna would surely hear them. Any attack from the alert wolf would bring the others down on him as well.

His hunting experience would come to bear here; he could wait motionless for hours until the right moment for him to leave presented itself. That would be nothing short of hearing that wolf lie back down. For long, long minutes he waited before he heard the large creature flop back onto the ground with a loud thump. “A good sign,” thought Narna, “it sounds as though it has given up.” Fighting his deep inquiring need to turn his flashlight back on and take a look at what must be a humongous animal and its slaughter filled den, he slowly and silently began to step toward the exit. He turned around and saw that the opening was but a small bright light a number of feet away. He had journeyed inside this cave a lot further then he had thought. Again, disappointment in himself arose at the realization that he had proceeded whilst so unaware of his surroundings.

The opening got bigger as he approached it, the light beginning to discern itself as that of the sun. “Almost there. Not but twenty feet away.” Scratching! In the distance behind him, his heightened senses picked it up instantly; the wolf was back on its feet. Narna couldn’t stop right now, he knew he should, but the fear over powered him, the exit was so close, and instead of stopping, he ran.

(END Part 2 of 3)