Broadswords - 7. The Cave

Broadswords

Chapter Seven
The Cave

In the early hours of the morning, well before the sun was set to rise, Kep and his brother departed the tiny living space that occupied the attic of Street Inn. They were off to gather hollowshrooms, a mushroom that retained the majority of its flavor if picked just before dawn. Leaving as early as they were gave them plenty of time to reach their destination. The prime picking time for the hollowshrooms was doubly beneficial, as it also granted them enough time to travel back home with time to spare before needing to open the inn.

The brothers had long ago found a cave deep in the woods to the north of the kingdom that was plentiful with the fungus. As children, they had no desire to assist their father at the inn. Even if they had, he'd almost always shoo them out of the kitchen so that he could attend to his customers without distraction. Though they rarely played together growing up, it was on one of those infrequent occasions that they had discovered the cave.

They had located a few sporadic mushrooms at the mouth of the cave, and upon further investigation had located a plethora of them deeper within. While disinterested in their father's business, they knew he had a passion for cooking with mushrooms and thus stuffed their pockets as full as they were able.

Upon returning to Street Inn, their father had explained that they were called hollowshrooms and taught his sons of the most advantageous time to harvest them. Although they had found these ones at midday, he said they'd make for a decent sauce for his braised turnip recipe. He'd commended the boys on their find and acknowledged that the locale could provide lucrative for the restaurant if undiscovered by other eateries in the area. He was always on the lookout for unique dishes for his menu, and hadn't been aware there were wild ones anywhere in the nearby vicinity.

Since then, he'd sent his two boys out semi-regularly to gather the shrooms, utilizing the knowledge he'd imparted on them. He'd send them on their way when the sky was still dark, even as young children. It would make men out of them, he'd claimed. And several times throughout the year, they'd make that same trek.

Even after his death, things hadn't changed. They still went several times per year. Now, it was no longer out of being ordered to do it by their father but out of necessity to keep the business afloat. Many of the plates on the menu consisting of the hollowshrooms were their best sellers. If they discontinued the tradition, they could almost guarantee closing their doors for good.

In current times, they kept the practice of making the journey on foot. It would be quicker on horse, which they utilized on their hunting trips to the plains that lay further north than the woods. However, since they were able to reach the cave and return before opening time, they couldn't financially justify renting horses from the stables.

As per usual, there was little conversation between the two. This time around, Sal took the lead while Kep trailed behind. There were approximately twenty-five or thirty paces separating the brothers, which was fine with Kep. He had a lot running through his mind and the distance was welcomed.

The previous afternoon was an interesting one. The squire, whom he'd met on just two occasions but could also verifiably be referred to as his newfangled fascination, had swiftly gotten drunk and darted out of the inn before Kep had a chance to stop him.

He'd downed three ales in less than fifteen minutes, and finished another three over the next hour. Between the rapid succession of drinks, Birten's smaller frame, and the emotional state he was in, it wasn't surprising that the alcohol had hit him so hard.

Although Birten had assured Kep that there was no romantic involvement with his slayer, Kep wasn't sure he believed him. He knew he shouldn't feel the way he was feeling, but he couldn't seem to shake it. He'd gotten lost in his own head for a while as Birten rambled on, and by the time he finally came back to the present, the squire had vanished. His seat, though immediately before Kep, was somehow empty without the barkeep having realized that it had been vacated.

Stepping outside, Kep asked a few people on the street if a man had just exited the inn. Eventually, a woman sweeping the stoop at the bookshop across the way told him that a young man matching the description had wandered out of the inn and down the street almost ten minutes ago.

How he had managed to tune out for so long without realizing his surroundings had changed was beyond him. But it was certainly too late to go off in search of him. Even if he knew which way Birten had turned after reaching the intersection, he would have no way of knowing which way he would go after that. He didn't know where Birten lived, nor where his slayer lived. He could only hope that he made it home safely.

"We're here." Kep was suddenly shaken from his thoughts, which seemed to be a common occurrence lately, when his brother spoke. Sure enough, they had approached the edge of the wood. He knew they had work to do, and had to focus on getting to the cave, and so he forced himself to stop thinking about the squire. At least for now.

While the brothers had gotten this far with nothing more than the moonlight to guide them, they couldn't rely on its dim glow as they made their way through the trees. Everything up to this point was flat ground, not even a stray rock existed that would have impeded their path. But conversely, the woods were hilly. There were unexpected changes in the level of the ground in various areas, as well as the obvious obstruction of trees in every direction.

Given the number of times they had done this, they had a devoted spot in which to start a fire. A divot in the earth which had been devoid of grass for some time now, they always covered it with a series of stones to ensure their pit wasn't discovered by passersby. While many people travelled north of Jhirdyr, there were dedicated paths connecting the kingdom to other cities and villages. The area in which the cave was located was less travelled, and they hoped to keep it that way. If someone were to notice that remnants of a fire were just outside the wood, it might trigger them to search the area.

While Kep wasn't dense enough to believe that nobody else had ever encountered the cave, he knew it was deep enough into the trees that there were far more that weren't aware of its existence. The fewer people that knew there was a nest of hollowshrooms so close to the kingdom, especially rival chefs, the better. Most other restaurants in Jhirdyr that had hollowshroom dishes had to have the fungus shipped in from other regions, which added a loftier price to the menu. As a result, few places chose to include it in their repertoires. And having an exotic array at affordable prices was one of the few things Kep and Sal had going for themselves.

While Sal shifted the rocks around and began starting a fire, Kep fished the torches out of his bag. He wrapped the top of each in three feet of linen gauze and tied it off tightly. He dipped both in a small can of pine resin, careful not to use too much. He scraped the excess back into the can and closed the lid securely.

Sal was a quick fire starter, and had already gotten a small flame going by the time Kep had finished the torches. And a small flame was all they needed. They dipped the wrapped end of the torches into the heat until they caught fire. Immediately afterward, Sal stomped out the embers and kicked on some loose dirt for good measure. He pressed his boot into the pit and pushed down to ensure the fire was completely out and that the dirt remained packed. Kep moved the rocks back into place.

The silence between the brothers continued as they entered the cover of the trees, with the only sounds coming from the snapping of twigs beneath their feet and the crackling of the flames as they bit at the air.

Years of this routine allowed them to find the cave with minimal effort. It was barely visible from the surface, just a small gap peeking out from the bottom of a ravine. But as they made their descent into the slight valley that housed the gorge, the sky was ever-so-slightly beginning to lighten, and they knew they had to get picking soon.

About five hundred feet into the cave, the floor sloped down to create a sharp fall into a large crevasse. When they were in their early teens, Sal had slipped on a loose rock and come too close to the edge for comfort. Since then, they avoided going that far into the cave. They didn't know where it led, nor did they plan to find out.

The furthest Kep was willing to go was about a hundred feet from the edge. It may have been overly cautious, but there were more than enough hollowshrooms between the entrance and where he was that it didn't matter.

As he bent down to gather a particularly large cluster, he thought he heard something in the depths. He hesitated, unmoving as he sat on his haunches and looked toward the darkness. He stared for quite a few moments until he was convinced that his ears were playing tricks on him.

He stood, stretching out his thighs and calves which had grown tense from squatting. Just as he was getting the last of the stiffness out of his calves and thighs, another echo sounded from somewhere deeper within the cave. This time he was certain he heard it. "Sal, did you hear that?"

Sal, closer to the mouth of the cave, grunted something of a reply. He didn't seem to fully be paying attention to Kep, but it could never really be told with him.

Kep heard the sound again, this time slightly fainter but audible nonetheless. "There it was again."

"It's probably bats. Now come on, we've got plenty of the shrooms. We need to head back," Sal said, hoisting the strap of his bag over his shoulder.

As they left the cave, Kep shot one final glance into the dark chasm as they stepped into the dawn.