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

by Christopher Johns

  We went through the same process this time, and the ring turned to dust, again.

  “Fuck!” I growled, then I turned on Maebe. “How much mana are you putting into that spell?”

  “Only as much as I use,” She shrugged, then began to calculate. “I think about, roughly six hundred mana?”

  “Ding ding!” I breathed a sigh of relief; glad it wasn’t something I had done. “Do you have to use that much mana if all you’re doing is passing along the concept? Because I’m adding mana as well, and that’s not going so hot.”

  “I use as much mana as is necessary to significantly hide myself, but if you require I use less, then I can do so.” she looked a little shy for a moment. “I’m sorry for making you do so much extra work.”

  I waved it off, “You didn’t know, and all you were doing was what you know to do, it’s understandable. Let’s get to work, yeah?”

  She nodded, a look of pure focus on her face as I dug out the next ring. This time, it worked. And exceedingly well, in fact.

  Fae’s Band of Glamour

  Allows the wearer to use a small mana sacrifice to appear as something they are not until the spell is dismissed or the ring taken off. Cost: 1/4th of wearer’s mana. Warning! Certain creatures and people may be able to see through this illusion with natural abilities or spells.

  “That’s badass!” I tossed the ring to Yohsuke, who deftly caught it to observe.

  “A fourth of my MP could be bad in a fight.” He frowned as he tried to choose which ring to take off, before finally just picking one and putting the new one on.

  He focused for a second with his eyes closed, then loosed a held breath and allowed his hood to fall down. He looked human, with a deep tan, and his eyes were slightly less yellow and browner and a little brighter than normal. His features were much the same as they had been, but his ears were more rounded. Except for his horns, he was human.

  “I’ll take the horns off if needed, but the added look is still dope, so fuck everyone else.” He looked pleased with himself and smiled at me. “All is forgiven, vassal.”

  Maebe froze, and I put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s a joke, brother to brother. Something we have been saying to each other for years.”

  She let out a breath and nodded, Yoh ignored her. He wasn’t about to change for anyone. That was just who he was.

  “Do the Braves need any?” I called to Manly and company with a huge, shit-eating grin firmly in place. “I’ll give you a good discount!”

  “The Braves’ll be fine, Zeke.” Manly’s eyes glinted with mirth. “Ours is a hard-fought reputation. We’re all set. Thank you, though! Mighty kind of you, I reckon.”

  “Suit yourselves.” I laughed as I turned back to Maebe. “Let’s get the rest of these done then, eh?”

  She nodded, and we got back to work. Eventually, we were able to perfect it and get each of them a ring that made them appear human. James, with his wings and Muu with his tail, would have to wear cloaks because even with Maebe’s perfected control, the materials we had just wouldn’t allow for that much depth of power, but that was fine.

  When we moved out, Maebe and I began to practice my work with shadows. And so far, it did seem more instinct than it had been. It hurt me less to use them over prolonged periods.

  Granted, if you focus on anything for hours straight, it gives you a mother of a headache.

  Speaking of headaches, seeing Balmur’s interest in magic reminded me of a certain little dwarf who had been gifted serious power by the Primordial Earth Elemental.

  When we took a quick break from traveling for a bite, I decided to see about calling for some aid with the Flame Primordial. He and I had a good rapport so far, and it would be something that might be up his alley.

  I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the tattoo of the flame that he had given me before calling, Primordial Flame? Can you hear me?

  A warmth pressed against my chest, and the presence of the flame was there.

  I am here. It is strange for you to seek me, little flame.

  It is, I envisioned myself nodding, it was weird, so I stopped. I wanted to know if you had need of a mage, blessed by your hand?

  There was silence, then, I have you.

  I smiled, his trust was nice, but I knew we all needed to be stronger for what was to come. Just me wouldn’t cut it.

  I have a friend, an azer dwarf, who is beginning his tutelage as a wizard, and he could likely use some love. I frowned, how was I going to manage this one? If there were some way that we could prove to you that he’s worthy, would that be okay?

  I will confer with the other Primordials. There is much that I do not know of our offerings, but that you have been the only one to have earned our trust in the prime realm.

  Before the crackling flames receded, I offered, The Earth Primordial has gifted a dwarven child named Fainnir his support at the request of the god Fainne. His power is amazing, and I know firsthand how awesome your element can be.

  There was a longer pause followed by intense heat, the crackling voice searing along my mind, This is news, a child of dwarves with earth magic, I see. And there are still trying times ahead, I am sure. Let me think on this, and I will be in touch after I have spoken to my brothers and sister.

  The heat left me, and I felt cold, and more comfortable for it. It would have to work.

  I didn’t want to say anything to Balmur just yet, but if it worked, I could see about bridging the gap for some of the others, perhaps.

  It could take a few quests, but that was much better than being hogtied and shipped to a city for a crime we hadn’t really wanted any part of.

  Quests for rewards? We could do that.

  We ate lunch and moved on, more training with Maebe and the shadows around us, with Kayda scouting the area ahead for us.

  She sent me images of farmlands protected by a low wall, and farmers working the fields. The majority of them were human, but the ones who weren’t were orcish.

  “We should probably appear human soon, we have farmers about an hour out from here,” I warned the others, then took my human form. It was a little easier on the riding.

  The others did the same. Each of them assuming human forms close to their current looks. The mounts would attract attention since it seemed that they were somehow reflections of those who rode them. Normal looking humans riding wicked-looking mounts and things like that seemed a little farfetched, and we would rather have erred on the side of caution, so we began to travel on foot shortly after.

  Farmers eyed us from a distance, some of the children venturing closer to see the newcomers, but the majority of them just went about their work when they gathered we weren’t an immediate threat.

  It was another few hours before we came into sight of the city walls. At the pace we were moving, we could probably have made it to the city gates by late evening. So, we skipped dinner and kept trucking along.

  The houses that I could make out from the road were well built and functional. The barns that stood close by, stout, likely to keep the winds at bay.

  As the light of day fell in the western sky, we were in line to get into the city. Things were moving slowly, no matter what the people seemed to be trying to get through with, their goods, their belongings, and sometimes even their persons were subject to extensive searching and questioning. Then there was paperwork to be done for the declaration.

  All of it was tedious, and the guards looked to be enjoying making the process last as long as they possibly could. Looking around, it was easy to see why they might.

  “Reckon I know what they’re hoping to do,” Manly growled angrily. “See that inn yonder? I’d put coin on them being on the docket, more ‘customers’ they send to the inn the more coin they grease their hands with.”

  “Is that illegal?” Jaken eyed the group of guards as they thoroughly inspected a man’s fruit cart.

  “Prolly not,” Nick said sourly as he watched. “More’n likely tha’ the guard sergeant had his
hand greased too so tha’ the guard captain ‘n the crown donae find out.”

  “Because complaints go through the sergeant.” James snorted, his arms crossed in contempt.

  It was the elderly couple in front of us that pissed me off the most. Not them, mind you, but the way the guards treated them.

  “State your business,” the eldest guard, and the fattest, droned on in a bored tone. His green and white checkered uniform looked slovenly, and his stubble signaled he hadn’t shaved in days. He wasn’t even looking at them as he eyed the sun setting. The motherfucker.

  “We’ve come to see our grandchildren and our sister.” the little old lady’s head shook as she spoke.

  “Anything to declare?” The guard droned again.

  The couple looked at each other in confusion, before the man answered, “No?”

  “Stand by for a search of your person.” The guard nodded to the two goons waiting over to the right side of the gates. As soon as they were there, one drew a sword and kept it loose in hand as the other began to pat the two of them down.

  As having been trained to do this sort of thing before, the guy was professional about it. Simple, no excess movements, but he wasn’t exactly gentle about it.

  The man was first, and he was visibly shaken. The older woman was next, and to the guy’s credit, he was markedly gentler. He even put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, “My apologies, ma’am, just protocol.”

  It had sounded sincere, but the smirk on the head guard’s face said it all.

  “Sorry, folks, gates close at sundown!” His smile made me want to rip his fucking throat out. “Come back in the morning to get in.”

  “But we can't afford to stay at the inn,” the old man scowled, if he had been younger, it may have been something, but right now, the guard just laughed.

  “Not my problem, old-timer.” He turned, then stopped as the old man muttered something that made me grin. “You got something to say to me? Huh?”

  He paced forward, his features contorting in anger, his left hand falling to the hilt of his sword.

  Jaken stepped forward until he looked over all three of them, growling. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?”

  “You threatening a guard?” The fat thing jiggled his chins threateningly.

  I snorted. “Ugly and stupid.”

  “Seems we have a group of people who don’t want to get into the city.” One of the younger guards came forward to try and salvage things. “That or they want to spend a night in the city jail?”

  “Sure thing, sweetheart.” Muu fluttered his eyes at the guard and puckered his weird-looking human lips in a kiss. “But I have to warn you, I’m not a cheap date, so if you’re going to try and take me out, you’re gonna have to work for it.”

  The guard went to draw his sword, but Bokaj stepped over with his winningest smile, and put his hand around the guard’s to stop him. “Hey, woah, let’s just ease it back here, right? Look, you’ve had a long shift, we’ve been traveling for days. We’re all a little on edge. Here’s a gold coin for you. Have a couple rounds on me tonight.”

  The guards scowled at all of us, but they let go of their blades and turned to walk away.

  The elderly couple turned, defeated looks on their faces. “Thank you for your kindness, strangers.”

  “We’re sorry that they were like that, even though we can’t help it, there’s no excuse for it.” Jaken smiled reassuringly and put a hand on each of them. “You both must be tired. Why don’t you come with us for a meal?”

  “That would be nice, but we should really find somewhere to stay for the night,” the man grumbled with his brow furrowed.

  “Well, the drinks may have been on me tonight, but your meal and board”—Bokaj grinned, producing a small coin purse with a wink and a flourish—. “Is on the guards.”

  The old man stuttered for a moment, but his wife took it with a grateful smile. “Thank you, young man.”

  “Always happy to help.” Bokaj smiled reassuringly as he led us toward the inn.

  We sat with the couple and ordered whatever food was available. There weren’t many large tables around, so we scooted a couple together, which didn’t seem to bother the wait staff any. Bokaj went to see about the rooms for the night and came back a few minutes later.

  “Luckily they have three rooms available.” He glanced over to the elderly folks with a kind smile. “You two took the fourth, and the Braves I think are staying in their cart, right?”

  Manly nodded, and the others did the same, so he looked back to the others. “Zeke and Mae get one, me and Balmur in another, and I know that James and Yohsuke are cool together. Jaken, who you want to bunk with man?”

  “He can bunk with us.” Yohsuke winked at the happy paladin. “We know what we need to do tomorrow, right?”

  “Hope that guard doesn’t realize he was hoodwinked?” Balmur offered helpfully before taking a sip of his drink, grimacing. “Oh, that may as well be piss.”

  “Specialty of the house, I’m afraid,” a young waitress said tiredly as she joined us. “Your food will be out soon. Can I get you something actually worth drinking?”

  I blinked; she was a good one. “Yes, please.”

  She bowed her head once and moved away, swatting the hand of what I hoped wasn’t an off-duty guard away from her ass as she walked by without so much as a glance his way.

  “Seems like the guard here want to get dead.” I watched as the guard lifted his tankard to his lips and leered after her, waiting for her to come back.

  A hand touched my shoulder and I glanced at Maebe. “She seems capable. Do not act unless you think it absolutely necessary, but if you do kill him, make it look like he started it.”

  Yup! I know, right? My wife, everybody. Isn’t she just the best homicidal Fae you ever did meet? I know I feel that way. Back to it.

  “Where are you youngsters headed?” The older woman asked as our food was brought out to us. “Oh! I’m sorry, you helped us, and we haven’t even told you our names. I’m Lillian, and this old codger is Mic.”

  “Codger, she says.” Mic snorted and winked at us. “She’s older than I am.”

  She smacked him on the arm, and he just laughed and held up three fingers. It made me and a couple of the others laugh as well. Bokaj introduced us, then the Braves. Mic and Lillian seemed to know who they were and spent the majority of the meal having the group regal them with some of their wilier bounties.

  I took the chance to look around the place while we ate. There were a couple of bulkier men, likely the inn’s protectors since it was outside the city wall.

  How much you want to bet this place has a secret entrance to the city in it somewhere? Muu interrupted my thoughts, looking about furtively as I had been.

  You know there is, it’s flush with the fucking wall, man. I looked over to Yohsuke, who winked and pointed to the cellar door behind the bar area.

  “Hey!” The waitress’s annoyance reached us; her aggravation turned on the guard whose lap she now struggled in.

  “Come on, Terra, you know I’d treat you right, I don’t care that you’re nobody inside the city.” The guard, a beefy man who looked like he could bench a tank, tried to grope the feisty young woman as she continued to beat on his chest to no avail.

  The enforcers in the corner stood, but the light hand on my shoulder as Maebe moved around us quickly kept me seated and the enforcers paused. Terra’s hand rose and fell, slapping the brute across the face, making him angry enough that his hand rose. And it stayed there in Maebe’s crushing grip, giving the young waitress time to stand and move slightly away.

  At first, he seemed confused, the enforcers watched in the same mode of thought. But when he looked over into the fury that was Maebe’s being, he must have seen something the rest of us didn’t because the puddle forming in his lap spilled down to the floor around his ankles.

  Maebe’s voice was almost cold enough to make the man see his own breath as she sweetl
y whispered, “If you ever even think of touching a woman in the same manner again, the Unseelie will find you, and no matter where you look, you will see their red eyes staring at you from the shadows, waiting for you to stumble as you run.”

  She leaned forward, her head tilting as she did so, and stopped a mere inch away from him and uttered a single word that made the fur on the back of my neck stand on end, “Curse.”

  The man paled and began to buck and foam at the mouth as he struggled to remove his hand from her grasp, but the sweetly smiling queen only held tighter. When he stopped moving, the candles in the room dimmed significantly before flaring to life once more, and she let go of him. He slumped to the floor into the puddle of his own making and stayed there.

  The queen collected the frightened girl. “Do not fear me, child.” Her slim hand caressed the girl’s face, removing the dirty blonde hair from her eyes. “If a man ever treats you this way again, speak this.”

  Maebe leaned forward and whispered something into her ear that made the girl shiver and look at her in disbelief.

  “And you’ll come? You can do that?” Her eyes grew larger as the smaller woman nodded once, then leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Thank you.”

  “Go and clean yourself, child.” Maebe reached into her pocket, palming something that she handed to the girl and shooed her away.

  The queen returned to the table, all eyes in the room on her or the unconscious man on the ground before one of the enforcers thought it safe enough to drag the asshat out of the room and to bring a bucket of water and a mop.

  “And you said to make it look like an accident.” I snickered, her green-eyed gaze turning on me.

  “He will merely wish he was dead, but if he does what I told him not to, well…” She looked pointedly at one of the shadowed corners across from us, where a pair of crimson eyes blinked into existence, stared at me, then were gone.

  “You are terrifying.” I shivered, and she grinned wolfishly as if she knew. She did.

  “We will begin to practice as soon as your meals are finished,” She advised, looking me, Yoh and Balmur fully in the eyes as she spoke. “Enjoy yourselves now, but not too much.”