Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4)

by Christopher Johns

  The city hadn’t changed much since we had last been here, the high wall of the Governess’s home protected by guards who looked even more active today. More than a score of them stood lining the pathway inside as if begging us to fuck about and do something wrong. They weren’t close enough for me to see their levels, but that was fine.

  I’d wager they weren’t all that high anyway.

  The moat around the wall had since been added to; wooden, metal-capped spikes randomly placed around the place. The wall was covered in murals of roses and flowers, but some of the flowers looked a bit like skulls. This was not how I remembered it. Shit was about to get weird.

  The others were brought out one by one as well, and none of us had manacles on, much to the lead guard’s chagrin.

  “These prisoners should be bound.” He grimaced at Manly as if she were garbage, she just eyed him stoically back.

  Kayda had fluttered out and landed on my shoulder, she had been fine, as Nick had said, and she was looking a little plumper in her parrot-sized form.

  We all still cool with these guys? Everyone okay? I asked the others.

  Yohsuke responded first. Nick’s cooking was pretty good. We even traded recipes. The poor bastard ain’t getting my famous jambalaya recipe, though.

  They treated me well, Nick even took a shine to Tmont while we were holed up. Bokaj stretched, and some of the guards put their hands on their weapons as a precaution. Although, Bonnie kicked the shit out of me at cards. Lost about fifty gold to her. Fucking crazy.

  The others looked to be alright, though not as talkative, except Jaken, who spoke out loud, “Thanks, Manly. I know that you guys are good folks. Let’s get this over with.”

  Manly, who had been about to tear into the guard in front of her, her face an angry mask flipped a switch. “See? They ain’t gonna run, no way. Shut your gob and take us to the Governess. Now.”

  That last bit had been a barked order as the others in the group gathered around us.

  It was Bonnie, scantily clad and bubbly, Nicolas, tired and irritated, Manly at the fore guiding us and Dawn and Nick in the rear.

  As we walked through the guards, their contempt became even more evident.

  Guard Lvl 15

  Guard Lvl 16

  These guards weren’t the highest level, I didn’t think, which likely meant that the governess would have the best around her.

  Once over the actual moat itself and into the walls, the yard was immaculately cared for, with trees and shrubs of all sorts inside. More guards were stationed in the inner walls, and as we walked through, they hissed and booed openly.

  “They really don’t seem to like you guys,” Muu observed aloud with a dispassionate glance at the rest of us.

  “Us?” Balmur eyed him uncertainly. “I wasn’t even there, why not you, too?”

  Muu grinned. “Because, bitch, I’m adorable.” He flicked his hand over his shoulder, tossing his hair, and the rest of us laughed. Bonnie snorted, and Nick chuckled openly.

  “Professionalism, you two, if you would,” Dawn’s clipped tone bit at Bonnie and Nick, but as I looked over my shoulder at her, she too had a smile on her lips.

  We walked into this small castle of a building, entering through the front door and going through a long hallway covered in portraits of what I took to be a long line of governors. Men and women of all ages in various modes of dress.

  The hall was nice, and a maroon carpet led us into a long ballroom with guards lined up along the wall. The closer we came to the platform at the end, more of them had their weapons bared.

  “We have come to deliver our bounties, ma’am,” Manly announced proudly. “The Braves o’ the Thorn always get their marks.”

  I snorted and Nick smacked my arm lightly. “I suggested tha’, lad. Show some respect, aye?”

  “Sorry, Nick,” I grumbled in return.

  A figure stood from a chair behind the platform, a rotund woman with a severe face, beady eyes, and a formidable group of chins. Her clothes were black, like funeral garb, and her face angry.

  “You seem to be awfully chummy with criminals,” she observed, her voice deep and attempting to sound more authoritative.

  Side point, lemme explain. You ever meet one of those people who somehow ends up being in charge, and you can just see it going to their head? Then, when they talk, they have to constantly try and remind everyone that they’re better?

  Yeah this was her. Back to the show!

  “These are good people, Governess Belltree, and I think that you will find that their innocence is evident and their involvement circumstantial,” Dawn strode forward to stand next to Manly as she spoke. “They have been nothing but honorable, and as a humble servant of—”

  A large bag of coins smacked onto the floor in front of them.

  The woman, I assumed she was the Governess, raised a dismissive hand. “Your presence is no longer required. You may leave.”

  Dawn growled softly, and Manly put a hand on the other woman’s hip before speaking, “Thank ya for yer patronage. We would be delighted to stay and offer our assistance with the dispensation of justice. It is, after all, what my friend here was about to offer as a humble servant of Seraestar.”

  “If you wish to bear witness, so be it. You may step aside.” She waved them aside and the group left us. “The trial of the accused begins now; all of you are accused of aiding a known criminal in evasion of the authority of this city, murder, obstruction, evasion, and use of magic.”

  That last was hissed, and the guards around us growled like savage dogs.

  “How do the accused plead?” She raised her chins as if daring us to defy her.

  “Not guilty, your honor.” Bokaj stepped forward with his hands to his sides, showing her his palms. “If you would allow us, we can explain everything.”

  “How do I know that you will speak the truth?” She tilted her head sarcastically, almost as if it had been planned.

  “I can provide the truth, your ladyship.” Dawn strode forward once more. “With the use of a simple ability that my goddess has allowed me, I can force people to speak the truth.”

  I was worried then about the others, you guys gonna be okay with this?

  She did the same thing with all of us, we’re ready, Jaken answered, she’s thinking, pay attention.

  “Magic is not welcome here,” the governess growled.

  “It is not magic; it is divine providence.” Dawn lifted her chin in return.

  “My providence is the only one that matters here.” The larger woman spat before turning her glare back at us. “Speak, or I will pass judgment.”

  “We didn’t know that she had done anything wrong when she approached us as we were leaving.” Bokaj hurried to fill her in. “When we had gone to her to request that she train me in the ways of the bard, we found someone had been about to kill her in her room. When she came to us the next day, we had assumed she was fleeing someone trying to kill her.”

  “And when my brothers came to seek her out for justice?” Shouted a guard who stepped out of the line to our left, he looked young and untested.

  “Silence!” Belltree howled, and the guard looked cowed. “I am asking the questions!” Her glare turned to us. “Who was it who cast the spell that slew my guards.”

  “Pharazulla.” I stepped forward, my friends trying to stop me, but I shoved them aside. “She used her magic to take away my reasoning and caused those men to die!”

  “I was unaware that she had the capability to use fire magic, and through someone else’s hand, Killian!” She barked, and another guard, older and more trained, stepped forward and knelt at her side. “Tell the court what it was that you saw.”

  “I watched from a distance as our suspect whispered something to the man there, who is a kitsune, and he then cast some sort of fire spell that killed our men. Then she gave him a command, and he attacked the others and another known subject to this court, Zhavron. I made my escape before they had the chance to kill me
, as well.”

  The large woman tapped him comfortingly on the shoulder, and he visibly cringed.

  “Is this true?” She allowed her voice to sound almost sweet.

  “Yes, but as I had said, her magic robbed me of my reasoning and made me cast that spell, and then she made me attack my brothers,” I reasoned. The others stepped closer to me in solidarity.

  “Magic among us is a great sin, and what she stole from me is more precious than anything.” Tears of rage gathered in her eyes. “You helped her escape. You killed my guard. You allowed her to escape you. You are all useless. And you are all guilty.”

  “That’s bullshit, and you know it!” Muu shouted, and the guards stepped forward.

  “You had no intention of seeing justice done here this day!” Dawn’s voice rang out over the din of the armored guard surrounding us. “You only wanted to punish someone for your failings! Didn’t you?”

  A small tingle ran along my skin, like ants crawling all over me, and then it was gone.

  Governess Belltree rose up on her feet and tottered forward, her massive body now fully visible, and she growled victoriously. “I have no intention of allowing magic users to go free, and someone must pay for the crimes against me!” Confused for a moment, she stared blankly at us, her jowls shaking.

  “You had no intention of letting them go if they proved their innocence, did you?” Manly asked, stepping closer to the guards who now stood between everyone and the platform.

  “Never!” Spittle flew from her great maw as she laughed evilly. “I will rid this world of them, and their cursed magic. The only justice they will know is death.”

  Get ready for a brawl boys, Balmur warned. They’re moving on us from the rear.

  “Braves of the Thorn!” Dawn roared, all motion ceased. Her fist was raised high above her head, “To me! To see justice done!”

  Nick’s eyes rolled, and Bonnie began to laugh and move about.

  “Seize them all!”

  The fight was on.

  Move toward the door, Yohsuke ordered.

  The governess was still shrieking on her podium. Someone shut her the hell up! Bokaj growled.

  Want me to kill her? Balmur asked sweetly.

  “No!” I shouted out loud, before thinking. If we kill her, then we’re no better than she is. No better than the minions and generals of War.

  Fine. She can live. Balmur grumbled as he began to sweep his daggers over kneecaps and thighs.

  Better try not to kill any of the guards to keep things safe, Jaken advised.

  Manly had ducked under a guard that I push-kicked away from me and grinned at us. “Well boys, reckon we’re in for it.”

  “Yeah.” Bokaj grunted and fired an arrow into the guards that had gotten ballsy enough to group together and move on us.

  “Let’s get back to the cart then.” I grunted as I socked a guard in the nose and tripped him on his way back. “I can probably get us out of here.”

  “Works fo’ me!” Nick called as he took the brunt end of a wooden spear and smacked guards in the face as if it were a machine gun. “This is the exercise I been needin’!”

  A crowd of guards shouted lewd comments, “Demon bitch.” Bonnie threw two guards into the air and her hammer rocketed toward them.

  “Don’t kill ‘em, Bon!” Manly called, as she shot arrows into people’s legs and arms with sniper-like accuracy. “Reckon y’all can keep up?”

  I grinned at the challenge, and we worked our way toward the doors with Jaken and Muu taking the front. The Braves moved through the guards like wrecking balls, except for Nicolas, who seemed content to join us and freeze the occasional person solid.

  “Do you see how I move my hands in this manner, Balmur? The motions are very important to wizards.” the human smiled as he gave his lesson.

  Balmur, more than a foot away and weaving through projectiles and short swords, snorted. “Do I look like I have time to pay attention”—he ducked under a sword and jabbed his blade into the guard’s foot—“to your hands?”

  “Yes.” He blinked, nonplussed, “combat is an excellent place to learn.”

  Muu laughed, and I had to admit, it was funny. One guard got too close, and I decided it was time to let loose.

  I took my ursolon form and used Predator’s Call. The guards in front of us froze in fright, several more backing away from me.

  “That’s a scary lookin’ bear,” Manly commented as she slammed her knee into one of the female guards’ junk, her cry of pain turning into a gasp.

  I used the backs of my paws to swipe the frozen guards out of our way, and we were into the hallway in seconds.

  I charged the guards in front of us with Muu and Jaken covering our exit, and they fled full tilt, knocking into each other in their hurry to escape the gigantic beast pursuing them.

  I immediately took two spears to my shoulders as I cleared the doorway and roared, my health falling by 14% total.

  Guards Lvl 23

  That explained the damage I’d taken, the metal digging into the bones of my shoulders painfully as I roared my displeasure.

  Muu took his hammer and bashed the guard on my right in the stomach and sent him careening into a group behind him. He reached back, yanking the spear from my body, and threw it so that it pierced the wall next to an archer’s head and stayed there. I lost another percentage of HP but was alright.

  The other guard twisted his spear with a roar, 20 HP drained from my health bar, and he called, “Kill this thing!”

  “Not a nice thing to say at all!” Bonnie took her hammer and cracked him in the head, his body crumpling and the spear breaking. I shifted, the weapon still hanging from my fox-man arm, grating the bone.

  “Thanks,” I grunted and yanked the weapon from my arm, casting Renewing Flames on myself. My HP climbed slowly, and the wound started to knit back together.

  “Oh, happy to help a big teddy bear.” Bonnie beamed, and Balmur was there just in time to swipe a spear out of the air behind her. “Better get to the cart.”

  Fighting our way there was intense, and since I needed to conserve mana to get us out of there, spells weren’t the best idea, so Magus Bane got to come out and play. I used the less deadly, if only marginally, hammer side of the weapon to bat some of the guard’s legs from beneath them as arrows rained down around us. Jaken popped over toward me as a volley would have caught me in the shoulder and deflected them with his shield, an excited grin on his face.

  “Hurry it up!” He called and sprinted forward between two fallen guards, then broke right to save a man that had fallen due to friendly fire. He have heard something and rushed off back behind me, but I had to beat down another spear-wielding guard to keep from being gored.

  The majority of us were at the cart in seconds, Jaken lagging behind with Dawn in his grasp as she refused to leave many grievously injured behind since we wouldn’t be killing them.

  When we were all there, I took count. Our seven, wait, it was nine with Tmont and Kayda, and their five put us at fourteen people. Good. I was good.

  “I’m going to teleport us, so hold onto each other and the cart!” The others grasped hands, shoulders, and the wood of the cart before I picked the location of our teleportation and loosed the spell. The world around us lurched, and I felt a sharp sensation of agony in my abdomen. I grunted and gritted my teeth as we landed in the cave we had been in three days ago.

  The lance shaft in my stomach still vibrated, and I staggered.

  “That’s some fine spellwork master Ze—that’s a spear!” Nicolas gasped. “Oh, that’s no good. Dawn! We’ve got a bleeder.”

  Here in the cool darkness of the cave we had been captured in, I took my metallic hand and broke the shaft protruding from my stomach before I slid it slowly out of the wound from my back.

  Muu was kind enough to give me a thick piece of leather to bite down on as Jaken, Dawn, and I cast multiple healing spells on me. The agony receded, and I was able to think again.

 
; “Thank you.” I sighed and put my hand over where the hole had been.

  “No problem.” Manly grinned, then looked bashful. “Oh! You meant the healin’!”

  “Thanks for standing up to her with us as well.” Jaken offered the small woman his hand, and she took it. “We would’ve been in a tighter spot, I think.”

  “Nah, ye would’ve been fine.” Nick chortled. “Those guards were but sacks o’ grain. Were only so hard cause we weren’t tryin’ ta kill ‘em!”

  “Even more cause for justice to be done,” Dawn spoke, and all of us turned to look at her, her gaze burning. “The crown must hear of her wrongdoings. Manly, we must do the right thing.”

  “Aye.” Manly sighed heavily. “She was mighty rude, too, I reckon. Plus, ain’t right to be afeared o’ magic. Not at all. But do we really need to go all the way to the capital?”

  Dawn gazed at her and said nothing, but the other woman knew. “Alright then, to the capital it is! Only noon now, if we travel swiftly, we can be to the capital in…three days.”

  She hesitated, and eyed us nervously, meaning she was worried about Maebe. She should be worried. But, I figured I would help them.

  “I’ll talk to her.” I offered, holding a hand out to stop anyone interrupting. “She is a queen, first and foremost. Her word once given is law, and I’ve never known her to break it. We will speak about it.”

  “Good idea, but I don’t think moving this evening is a good idea,” Yohsuke advised as he looked around us. “Not that they would be anything more than a nuisance, but they’ll have search parties out, most likely, and other bounty hunters like yourselves. We should bunker down and plan for now.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Bonnie yawned lazily. “That was a good little stretch, but I’m hungry and a little tired.”

  She walked toward the rear of the cart and peeked out at us. “Wake me for dinner?”

  Manly held up a hand as affirmation, and Bonnie scampered off.