“And by them, I mean the Battleguards and the dvergar. As soon as we’re outside, we whistle the mounts. Gilda can ride with me.”
“Sounds good.” Meritus nodded his approval. The others murmured in agreement.
Frost signaled to Raynor. “Ready whenever you are.”
“Good.” Raynor’s face brightened. “Follow us.”
Raynor led them through winding tunnels, the braziers becoming few and far between, the way darkening, the stench of dragonwood sitting heavy on the air. As before, Frost had the feeling of something or someone on their trail. And as before, his Echolocation played tricks on him, the sense of a presence fading the moment he picked it out. His heart rate sped up.
Soon, they were in utter darkness. Their breathing was loud to Frost’s ears, as was the shuffle of feet, the rustle of clothing, the clink of armor. They halted.
“We are here,” Raynor whispered a few steps away from Frost. “Get ready.”
Two forms detached from the group and moved ahead. Something creaked. Light flashed in the blackness, framing a door. Silence and darkness became lovers once more.
Standing in the dark, Frost might have been worried, fearful, if not for his Echolocation. Instead, an electric tingle crept through him. A surge of adrenaline in anticipation of the pending battle.
The creak sounded ahead again. Light framed the door and a dvergr. The dvergr waved them on.
Frost leaned over to Saba and whispered, “I’m gonna tell you to stay here, but you Conceal and go on ahead instead.” Out loud, he said, “Saba, wait here and guard this area.”
“Okay.” Saba moved to the side.
Quickly and quietly, everyone else surged forward. In minutes, they had gathered in a hallway where bloomglobes hung, their light revealing sandstone bricks. When everyone was through, they proceeded deeper into the dungeon, Frost making certain his map catalogued their path. With his Echolocation he picked out Saba’s invisible form as she scouted ahead.
They reached another series of halls. Two dead guards were on the floor. It took but a moment for Frost to notice the cells. Cells occupied by dvergar, who crowded the bars, hands held out as they pleaded for help, eyes hopeful.
Some of the dvergar warriors hurried to the cells, imploring the captives to be quiet. They gripped the hands of their loved ones, tried to hug them despite the bars. Tears flowed. The sight tore at Frost.
Raynor tugged at Frost’s arm. Sweat trickled down the dvergr’s brow. “This way to the ones they infected and the torture chamber.” Raynor strode toward another hall.
A coldness settled over Frost. His mind conjured images of Gilda’s suffering. Of the dvergar’s suffering. Anefet’s suffering. He could fulfill so much if he killed Setnana now.
The Comm Orb dinged. It was Saba.
“I found Gilda, but she’s in a bad way. Not just torture either. She looks sick, like one of the corrupted.
“And that’s not all. It’s an ambush. Setnana and her Battleguards are waiting for us near a damned Genesis Engine in middle of the room you’re about to reach. I can free Gilda, throw her on my back, and make a run for it with my Aura of the Pack buff, but you guys will have to go all out to distract them.”
The mention of Gilda’s condition left a sour taste in Frost’s mouth. He hoped Saba was wrong. “We got you. Place a couple traps near the hall.” Heart a drum, he raised The Stunner, his finger caressing the trigger. He nodded to Ryne, Dante, and Meritus. “Ass-kicking and name-taking time.”
The end of the hall drew closer. The dvergar slowed. A scout peeked around the corner ahead and signaled for them to halt.
Frost pushed his way among the dvergar until he was directly behind Raynor. He pressed The Stunner’s muzzle to the back of the little man’s head. “Why set us up?”
Raynor froze. He raised his hands slowly. “I do not know what you mean.”
“Don’t play with me.” Frost jabbed Raynor’s head with the muzzle.
Snarling, the other dvergar backed up with their weapons drawn. A few bows pointed at Frost. Glows appeared around the weapons or hands of casters.
“Move again and he’s a dead man.” Frost stared them down.
Dante strode up to Frost’s right. His crimson skin flared to scarlet. Meritus took up the left. His three Servitors towered around him. Ryne appeared just ahead of Dante. The goblin had summoned a Nightmare and two Defilers. The Nightmare was an ethereal black mass, but slowly it changed shape until it took the form of a giant lupine.
“Answer the question.” Frost prodded Raynor once more.
“I-I had no choice.” Raynor’s shoulder’s slumped.
“Explain.” Frost growled.
“Th-the zhua.” Raynor took a deep breath. “Nomarch Setnana Botros has a mystic with the spells to save my people. She showed me. All she needed was your zhua.”
Frost opened and closed his mouth. His thoughts whirled with the idea of someone else already possessing the spells. Someone in Setnana’s employ.
“How’d she know I’d come asking for your help?” Meritus inquired.
“She did not. Nakada was to send me to you on the pretense of offering his help to rescue the girl. But then you showed up asking on your own. It was simple, then.”
“Nakada. That bastard.” Meritus spat to one side.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Frost said. “You and your warriors are gonna walk into the room as if nothing’s changed. Your casters and marksmen will attack Setnana’s guards. Just like we are. Once my friend makes it back here with the girl, we all get out of here. We’ll rescue your people on the way out.”
“But what of the corrupted?” Raynor faced Frost, eyes wide. “They’re on the other side of the dungeon. My wife and daughter are among them. They don’t have much time! They have been corrupted for at least two days already.”
“We’re gonna help them too, but my girl comes first.”
Tears brimmed in the dvergr’s eyes. His hands shook. “Thank you.”
Frost disliked tricking the dvergr, but it had to be done. He would keep his promise, though. That, he knew.
Raynor turned to his warriors. “We do as he says.” The other dvergar bowed to Raynor.
They edged close to the end of the hall. Frost’s heart was thumping now. At a signal from Raynor, the dvergar flooded into the room, walking and talking as if nothing was amiss. The casters and marksmen opened fire.
Selecting Homer, Frost held down the trigger, charging the ability, and moved into sight. The hall opened into a large room.
Toward the middle of the room was the Genesis Engine, a large barrel-shaped glass container. Cyan aether swirled within. A company of Battleguards and one woman clad in royal blue stood a few hundred feet ahead of the Engine. The same woman from Imanok Sanctum.
Nomarch Setnana Botros.
Frost aimed at the Nomarch, lock-on registering a moment later. He released the trigger. Eight Aether Missiles shot forth. Frost followed them up with a Concussion Blast and an Aether Bomb.
Setnana Flickered away from the Missiles. But they still followed. She threw up an Aether Barrier, a luminescent globe surrounding her entire body. A Battleguard leaped in front of her moments before the Missiles’ impacts. Explosions rocked the dungeon.
The Concussion Blast and the Aether Bomb landed seconds apart. The Blast erupted in a circle of white light, staggered a few of the Battleguards, and tossed them into the air. When the Bomb struck, a blue incandescence erupted, setting men ablaze. They careened about, beating at the greedy flames.
The enemy’s surprise lasted but a moment. Within seconds, the Battleguards countered. Spells and cannon fire hurtled back across the threshold. Setnana had also recovered. Mimics of herself coalesced and added to the onslaught.
The air between the groups lit up like
a battlefield. Fire, Ice, and Shadow Globes zipped back and forth. Electrical Arcs rippled through the air, tearing rents into the ground. Nether Lances and Shadowflame left black afterimages. Flame Walls sprang up. So did Aether Shields and Aether Barriers. Chain Lightning fell on one group or the other, knocking men or dvergar aside.
Meritus and his Shaman flung Mikander’s Tears or Blood to heal as needed. The dvergar mystics also had their Servitors out to assist.
An all too familiar screech echoed behind Frost.
He frowned. RnB?
Even as the thought crossed Frost’s mind, his Echolocation picked out an invisible form, hurtling down the hall. He knew it was RnB, but his mind refused to comprehend the conclusion. The form barged between them, sending a few dvergar sprawling.
“Look!” Meritus pointed as his Duelist cast Fire and Ice Globes.
Off to the left, Saba was galloping toward them. Gilda was on Saba’s back, head down, clutching Saba’s mane. Even as Saba’s legs churned, she pointed her bow toward the Battleguards and loosed arrows. Nock. Loose. Nock. Loose. Wooden, elemental, and Aether Arrows blurred through the air.
“Cover her.” Frost aimed at any Battleguard targeting Saba and fired off Aether Shots and Korbitanium Projectiles.
Nomarch Setnana’s attention snapped toward Saba. A cloud of blackness suffused her hand, standing out against the backdrop of the Genesis Engine’s aether. Frost brought his weapon to bear, but he knew he wouldn’t be in time. The world slowed, Setnana’s hand rising.
Something unseen slammed into the Nomarch. She went flying to the side.
RnB appeared. The drake’s momentum sent him careening into the Genesis Engine, knocking it over.
Mouth agape, Frost could only stare. Saba arrived moments later.
“Go! Run!” She flung her hand out, buffing their group with Aura of the Pack, increasing run speed by twenty-five percent. The buff duration was for an hour.
Chest heavy, Frost turned to run. A last look revealed aether spilling from the tipped over Genesis Engine. The power swirled into the air. RnB’s wings flapped above the Engine, the drake unable to extricate himself from the outer struts and supports protecting the glass cylinder and the power inside.
Battleguards loosed spells and cannon fire at the drake. Before the attacks struck, the ground caved in with a sound like thunder, darkness swallowing the Engine and RnB. Cracks raced from the fissure. The Battleguards scrambled away.
Frost and the others fled.
With Saba leading the way, they sprinted down the halls. Frost tried to understand what had drawn RnB into the dungeon. Had he been following them the entire time? His eyes widened with the realization and horror that the earlier sensation of something on their trail had been the drake.
The group reached the cells. Frost found himself caught up in the act of freeing the captive dvergar.
A new quest opened and completed beneath Save The Kaigake Dvergar, one named Freeing the Dvergar Captives. It granted twenty thousand exp and five hundred LDC.
While the dvergar warriors led the old, young, and infirm to the tunnels first, Frost took a look at Gilda. Though her only clothes were underpants soiled with blood and dirt, it wasn’t her nakedness holding his attention. That was reserved for the welts, the half-healed wounds, and most of all, the gray splotches marring her normally beautiful cerulean skin.
Something inside him almost broke. A part of him knew she was dying.
“We’re gonna heal you.” He reached over and stroked her hair. “I promise.”
Her eyes were empty. They saw right through him. Somehow, she managed to nod. “I know.” Her voice was a hoarse thing, a raspy whisper almost devoid of life’s vigor.
“Time to go.” Saba trotted toward the doorway leading into the tunnels.
The thought of healing Gilda reminded Frost of the missing empowered spells. But at least he had Benediction. He looked into his inventory. And gasped.
Benediction was gone. Frost spun in a circle, immediately looking for Raynor. The dvergr was no longer with them. Frost cursed himself for not Blessing the zhua, for handing it to the enemy.
******
I have lost everything. Setnana’s ears pounded. She wanted to scream.
Fists clenched, she stared down into the chasm, its bottom lit by bloomglobes and glimmerwands. There was no sign of the Genesis Engine or the drake that attacked her. The beast had to be dead. And the Engine was surely buried beneath the rubble.
She became dimly aware of a power surge within her, of aether energy crackling like lightning around her fists. To think that Drelan Frost and his band of sceeves had escaped her trap. She had them all here. And Benediction. Now, she had nothing.
Ihuet approached in that gliding walk of his, sky-blue face as expressionless as ever. “Perihy is almost at Apur. I have ordered Major Neferna and the Sky Swords to prevent him from entering the Crypts.”
Those were the last words she wanted to hear at the moment. Setnana shook with the effort to calm herself.
CHAPTER 21
Tightness gripped Frost’s chest. “We gotta go back. Raynor stole Benediction.” He made to take a step down the long hall when a Battleguard company appeared at its far end.
“Run!” Saba ducked around the corner into the tunnels.
Snarling, Frost brought The Stunner up, but the Battleguards were not yet in range. Growling, he turned on his heels and sprinted after his friends.
When they had gone some ways into the tunnels, Frost turned back and aimed at the distant roof and walls. With a primal scream, both in rage and frustration, he opened fire. The salvo collapsed the tunnel. A cloud of dust gushed out. Coughing, he hurried after the group.
All Frost could think about was Gilda having the Gray Death, losing Benediction, and losing RnB. His plan had gone to shit. He might have rescued Gilda, but she would still die. He wracked his brain for ways to go back and retrieve the zhua, perhaps find RnB alive and well.
But he knew such hope was wishful thinking.
They raced along the tunnels, the dvergar putting out the braziers, leaving the way behind in complete darkness. Finally, they reached the staging area. The dvergar gathered around their loved ones, hugging and crying.
Frost grimaced, a part of him wanting to hate all dvergar the way he hated Raynor. But whenever he gazed upon some child, he lost his resolve. His heart softened. He despised Raynor’s deceit, but at the same time he understood.
With a snarl, Frost headed over to where Saba had placed Gilda on the ground among some straw. Meritus was focused on Gilda, brow furrowed, colorful streams of aether whizzing from his fingertips into Gilda’s skin. Both Dante and Ryne watched with forlorn expressions. The dvergar kept clear of them.
“How’s she doing?” Frost took in the gray splotches. They stood out even more with the improvement in Gilda’s light blue skin color.
“I healed the wounds, and cast Purifying Touch, Ameliorate, Suppression, and Rejuvenate on her, figuring since the empowered versions are needed, that the regular ones will help stave off the corruption. They did. But I got no clue how long it’ll last.” Meritus sighed. “I gave her some dreamweed so she can sleep. She’ll be out for another two hours. But eventually, the Gray Death will consume her. I can’t do much more. Not without the empowered spells and Benediction.” His shoulders slumped.
I’m such a fucking idiot, Frost thought. If I’d only listened and Blessed the damn thing. “How much longer does she have?” Frost said aloud.
Meritus shook his head. “I don’t know. Raynor said most infected people die after four days. Only Gilda can tell us when they infected her.”
Someone cleared their throat behind Frost. He turned to face them. A black-robed dvergr man bowed, his long hair and beard a deep silver.
“I am Elder Agnar, leader
of the Kaigake dvergar.” The Elder’s golden eyes shifted to Gilda and back again. His throat moved as he swallowed in fear. “I am sorry for Raynor’s deception. That is not the way of our people. And though he was wrong, and you promised to help us, you now have a corrupted among us. You risk us all.”
“You got some fucking balls,” Frost snarled.
“Bastard.” Saba scowled, her eyes little daggers even as she produced dark robes and a hooded black cloak from her inventory. With Meritus’ help, she slipped them onto Gilda.
Elder Agnar bowed. “I mean no offense, and if there was anything I could do to help you, I would.”
Frost opened his mouth with the intention to swear some more when flames roared up from the brazier in the middle of the room, causing the acrid stench to flare. He frowned, a spark on an idea forming. A way existed to heal Gilda. The chance was slim, but slim was better than no chance at all. He took a look at Benediction’s schema.
“There is something you could do to help.” Frost focused on the brazier and its contents. “I’m in need of dragonwood. About fifty pieces of it at least three feet long.” It was enough for twenty-five Benedictions.
“Will you leave if we provide the dragonwood?”
“Yes. And I’m gonna still return to heal your corrupted. I got a funny feeling Nomarch Botros won’t help as Raynor thinks.”
“Deal.” Agnar bowed. “I will send my people to gather the wood.” He hurried off to the other dvergar.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Meritus asked.
“Yeah.” Frost nodded, a glimmer of hope shining through. “If Nakada wasn’t lying about where we can get the rest of the mats and the spells, then we’re gonna craft a few Benedictions.”
“But they’re hierkas.” Saba turned her hands, palms up, eyes narrowed in confusion. “Which means we need hierkaneers.”
“Who’re pretty expensive to hire.” Dante added, looking equally bewildered. “Unless you feel one of us can pick up the profession.” He gave a dubious frown.
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