The Dreadful Hunt

by J. E. Thompson

  “Someone stole them,” Vexx explained, glancing at a dead man lying facedown on the sandy beach. “Did you have any problems like that?”

  “None I couldn’t take care of. A few midnight snacks, you could say. But I suppose we should cast off soon. I don’t know what passes for law out here, but in my experience, they tend not to see the self-defense aspect with succubus killings.” Shy shrugged. “You mortals get touchy about these things.”

  “Let’s go, then,” Vexx said, pausing as Kaylin knelt by one of the corpses. “What are you doing? Come on.”

  “Maybe I can wear this…” Kaylin had turned the bloody corpse over, and the man thudded into the sand. “No,” she muttered. “But hey, a few of those gold pieces!”

  “You didn’t loot them?” Vexx paused, then hurried over to another fallen dungeoneer. Shyola shrugged, languidly swinging her legs atop the ship’s wheel.

  “I forget you mortals like those things. I don’t need anything, really, so…”

  “Right,” Vexx said, scurrying over to the last corpse, his hands quickly patting the man down, producing a few coins along with some odds and ends. “Well, we’ve got some witnesses in the distance…” Vexx trailed off, taking in a few assembling parties of dungeoneers. Several of them stared at them, clearly unimpressed.

  He made his way to the boat, joining the others as they pushed it down the beach and into the water. Then they scampered aboard as the fishing boat slowly drifted away from the island.

  “Back to Oerchenbrach, Master?”

  “No,” Vexx said, adjusting the ship’s wheel. He winced as they almost collided with another boat. A few crewmen looked over in alarm as he passed by. “I heard talk of one of the islands not receiving much in the way of visitors. That seems like our best bet. Blackscale Island, they call it.”

  The sun blazed hotly in the sky by the time they banked around the largest island in the archipelago; a crescent-shaped island with a long, rocky slope. Even from a distance, they could see the glint of sunlight on the metal of dungeoneers clambering over the mountainous areas. Vexx even suspected he saw a bit of fighting from a distance, though he couldn’t say just who was doing what. Instead, he focused on the dark, ashen island in the distance. The entire island seemed to be scorched.

  They passed a tightly packed ferry as they made their way over, as well as a few fishing boats that were similar to their own. He assumed that those must have been commandeered or hired from residents in Oerchenbrach. But as far as he could tell, none sailed toward Blackscale Island.

  We really might be on our own, he thought to himself as they rounded the bend, approaching the curved beach of Blackscale Island. His spirits sank, however, as he took in two longboats and several other fishing craft crowded along the beach. “Oh, you’re kidding me! Here too, huh…”

  “There’s something odd about these boats,” Kaylin said, staring at the beach as Vexx slowed the boat, narrowly avoiding a longboat that had been sent adrift.

  “Yeah, they’re parked by a bunch of morons,” Vexx snapped, tense as he strained the ship’s wheel from left to right, scanning the beach for a good place to bring in their craft. He brought their boat toward an open spot and slowly ground onto the beach. “I’m no sailor, but at least I can do that.”

  “I hate to say this, but the elf is right,” Shyola said. She paused at the edge of the boat, pointing toward a few bundles of rags that Vexx suddenly realized were bodies. “Look! The beach is littered with the dead.”

  Vexx stood there, shivering at the sudden chill when he took in the corpses around him. When he looked closer, he noticed that a few arrows stuck out of the boats and dotted the sandy beach, which was speckled with crimson blood and fallen weapons.

  “Great!” Kaylin said enthusiastically as she hopped down. The half-naked elf hurried over to a scorched hulk and tied a rope line to their fishing boat to keep it in place.

  Shyola snorted. “You’re brave, elf, I’ll give you that.”

  Vexx and Shyola hopped down and the dungeoneers inched forward, scanning the heights around them. “What do you think did this to them?” Vexx asked, kneeling beside a corpse. The swordsman felt cold to the touch. Part of his face looked burnt, but somehow, the rest of his face wasn’t charred. Vexx stared at him for a moment, then quickly patted down the man’s pockets, grinning as his hand closed around the swordsman’s coin purse.

  Well, he isn’t using this anymore.

  “Hey, check it out, Vexx!”

  Vexx looked over, his eyes widening as he saw Kaylin waving excitedly at him, wearing a mage’s glimmering purple robe that dwarfed her slender frame.

  “Do I look like an elf mage?” she twirled in place, giggling as the robes flowed around her.

  “Can you keep it down?” Shyola groused, looking from ridgeline to ridgeline. When the elf fell silent, Vexx snapped out of it, finally realizing just how quiet it was. There weren’t any signs of wildlife, there was nothing but the steady splashing of the tide against the sands. He padded his way past the beach and into the rocks that constituted the heights around them.

  “Shall we go up?” Shyola asked quietly.

  “Hmm…” Vexx eyed their surroundings, finally settling on a cave entrance. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched, but there was no sign of any hostile creatures. “Let’s go explore the cave over there. That should provide a choke point if we get ambushed.”

  The dungeoneers moved forward. Kaylin looked downcast as she picked up a knife from a fallen dungeoneer. Vexx didn’t fancy their chances if whatever had killed the dungeoneers at the beach ambushed them too.

  But what other choice do we have? It’s the dungeoneering business, after all.

  Shyola was first to reach the cave, ducking as she entered, and the others soon joined her in the dim interior. The sound of dripping water echoed from within, along with what appeared to be a low humming. Vexx cautiously lit a small fire on the end of his staff and pushed it forward to provide them with light. It bounced around on the solid stalactites and stalagmites, and the flame illuminated a few purple mushrooms that provided their own faint glow.

  The sound of low humming continued as they made their way forward, keeping their steps light and cautious to not disturb any of the rocks. Shy shot Vexx a meaningful glance, and he nodded. At once, she disappeared into nothingness. Vexx and Kaylin both waited in silence as Shy trotted forward, her progress marked by a few small stones shifting as she made her way deeper into the cave. Kaylin wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.

  “We’ll get you some armor, Kaylin,” Vexx whispered.

  “Is this just my fate in life?” she replied softly. “To be toyed with by the whims of destiny? That witch’s curse must be ended.”

  “Can you tell me anything about her?” Vexx asked.

  Warmer now, Kaylin lowered her arms and shrugged. She looked thoughtful, lit by the flames of Vexx’s staff.

  “She didn’t seem old like that hag we killed, but her witchcraft seemed to be similar. I think I must have gotten on her nerves somehow, but I couldn’t really say why. Some witches and warlocks roam around the forests sometimes, and it’s not too unusual for them to stop by Elven villages for supplies or to provide healing services. I’ve never seen her again since being cursed.”

  “Would you recognize her if you saw her again?”

  Kaylin thought for a moment, nodding slowly. “I think…yes…”

  A few stones shifted ahead of them, and Shyola materialized once again. Her worried expression was bathed in the dull violet light of a nearby patch of luminescent cave mushrooms.

  “We’ve got a problem. There’s a pack of Lizardfolk here, and from what I can tell from their chanting, they appear to be worshipping a dragon god.”

  “Is that what that noise is?” Vexx asked. There were no pauses in the low droning of the cultists.

  Shy nodded.

  “Really, you speak Lizard?” Kaylin asked with a frown.

  “Hard
ly, but I know a few words. When you’ve been around as long as I have, you pick up a thing or two.”

  “You should see a healer for that,” Kaylin suggested, and Shyola scowled at the elf.

  “Why, you—”

  “We’ve fought Lizardfolk before,” Vexx broke in. “And we were the victors. Maybe they swarmed the dungeoneers on the shore, but in these cramped quarters, I like our odds.”

  “I had a bow back then,” Kaylin pointed out.

  “We don’t need her, Master,” Shyola replied. “You’re right, though, there are about twenty of them, and they’re all wearing shrouds. I don’t think they even have weapons besides their claws and a few scepters.”

  “Mages, you think?”

  Shy nodded.

  “It hardly seems fair to attack them when they don’t have any weapons and armor,” Kaylin said.

  Shy snorted. “Fair? A strange thing to talk about when it comes to fighting. Besides, your opinion doesn’t count, since you were lazy enough to lose your gear. Let’s go, Master. We will send these cultists to their god.”

  The Cult of the Dragon God

  The Lizardfolk never saw it coming. Their rhythmic chanting echoed off the cave ceiling, and they prayed in earnest when suddenly, they were ambushed. Vexx struck first, blasting the group with an Ethereal Screech that slammed through the middle of the Lizardfolk with detonations that split the cultists apart. The others scrambled to their feet, and then out of nowhere, Shyola’s whip slashed outward, decapitating two at the same time. Kaylin darted out from the shadows, plunging her knife into the back of a Lizardman, who hissed as he tried to slash backward with his claws. Kaylin wrenched her knife out of its thick hide, slashing at the Lizardman’s arm, and then she backed away to take cover behind a cluster of rock.

  Sparks of light emanated from the scepters held by three Lizardfolk. They had moved closer together, readying an attack now that they had recovered from the surprise. One shot a fireball at Shyola, knocking her back as it exploded on her right shoulder, while two others launched fireballs at Vexx. He thrust his staff forward, summoning a surge of flames that dispersed the attack. By the time the flames faded away, he could see that one of the Lizardfolk mages was rolling on the ground, cradling the bloody stump of its arm.

  Shy cackled and slashed at them again, delighting in the heat of battle even though the burns on her chest still bled. After a moment, Vexx blasted them with fireballs of his own, slamming one back and then moving on to the other. He casted another exploding fireball, knocking the second Lizardman into the cave wall, but the Lizardman immediately stood, seemingly unaffected. Then Kaylin darted in, stabbing the Lizard man’s throat and jabbing the blade up to its hilt in its gut for good measure. The final Lizardfolk collapsed among the pile of fallen corpses.

  “Damn lizards burned my shoulder,” Shyola spat, grasping it and wincing. She reached for a health potion, drinking from it thirstily, then she splashed some on the reddened shoulder and grimaced as the concoction sizzled.

  “They like fire, Vexx,” Kaylin pointed out as she wiped her bloody blade on the black shroud of the last corpse. “Throwing fireballs at them just tickles them. Use something else!”

  “Yeah, yeah. I like fire,” Vexx muttered, prodding a fallen cultist with his foot. “Think I should reanimate a few?”

  “I didn’t notice any others here,” Shyola said, leaning back against the cave wall. Her wound was already visibly healing as her healing potion worked its magic. “They didn’t have anything to say about an egg, either. All they had was that,” she said, gesturing at what Vexx now noticed to be a silver statue of a dragon in full flight. He whistled as he approached, bundling it up into his rucksack.

  “Guess we’re eating well tonight.”

  “The cave continues up ahead,” Kaylin announced, poking deeper into the cave, her purple robe trailing on the ground behind her. “Maybe we can find some more treasures. I don’t hear anything back there.”

  Vexx nodded. “You alright, Shy?”

  “Never been…better.” The succubus gritted her teeth as she gingerly rubbed her wounded shoulder.

  “Let’s go, then,” Vexx replied, leading the way deeper into the cave and summoning a larger flame to light their path. The passageways used by the Lizardfolk seemed clear, now that he used his flames to illuminate the wide area inside, and he followed what appeared to be the largest route. There were a few of what seemed to be hollowed-out rooms, but their investigation didn’t reveal anything useful, besides an old rope that Kaylin excitedly collected for her traps.

  She sniffed as she stuffed it into her rucksack, swinging it onto her shoulder. “I smell water and pine trees up ahead.”

  “Stay on your guard,” Vexx said in a low voice as they continued toward the exit, where a faint light could be seen. The path became a slight incline, and as they walked closer to the light, Vexx could smell the pine trees too.

  “There must be enough Lizardfolk around to take down the dungeoneers on the beach. Let’s be cautious, alright?”

  The others nodded.

  Finally, they emerged from the cave exit, spreading out and warily surveying the area around them. The sea breezes drifted by, rustling the branches of a grove of pine trees ahead of them, but there was nothing else to indicate life. Vexx clenched and unclenched his fist around the smooth wood of his staff, thoroughly uneasy with the situation. He pointed his staff toward the grove of trees, pressing forward with the others trailing behind. Through the branches, he caught glimpses of a freshwater pond that reflected the sunlight above, and finally, the first signs of life! Seagulls flew overhead and occasionally drifted down to soar over the pond’s still waters.

  All the same, Vexx kept a watchful eye on the upper branches of the pine trees, remembering the ambush that a similar group of reptile men had sprung upon them while in the swamps outside of Golden Streams Landing. On this island, however, there was no sign of any more Lizardfolk. Just the creaking of the branches, the familiar scent of the woods, and…

  Vexx squinted.

  “Herbs!” he exclaimed, smiling broadly. Throwing caution to the wind, he hurried forward to a cluster of red herbs along the periphery of the pond that was mingled with cattails and some drifting pond scum. The others joined him, and together, they circled the pond, finding thriving bunches of the herbs Doctor Fansee had sent them to collect. Even while taking their time and checking their surroundings for threats, it took only a few minutes for the dungeoneers to exhaust the area of the herbs they’d been looking for.

  “What do you think, Master?” Shy asked, snatching up another bundle of herbs. “Shall we continue exploring?”

  “We got what we came for,” Vexx said, shaking his head. “All this talk of a dragon egg…well…I think too much ambition could easily be the end for us.”

  “Oh?” Shy grinned. “Don’t you want to impress Dred Wyrm?”

  Vexx reddened. “Well, it’s just that—”

  “Shh!” Kaylin said, raising a finger to her lips.

  The dungeoneers fell silent.

  After a moment, the elf pointed past them. “I can hear something moving along the rocky hills over there. Let’s head back.”

  Vexx nodded, taking them out of the silent grove of woods. “Lizardfolk?” he asked. He’d been straining his ears for some time but couldn’t make anything out.

  “Probably,” Kaylin said, sounding uncertain. “I can’t tell what they are, but we’re farther away from them now,” she said as they re-entered the cave.

  “Good. Let’s get out of here!”

  The dungeoneers hurried through the cave, retracing their steps as they made their way past the fallen cultists and reached the cave entrance. They dashed over the beach to their fishing boat, leaving the fallen dungeoneers behind, and they cast off—this time for Oerchenbrach.

  Nightfall in Oerchenbrach

  “Wonderful, wonderful!” Doctor Fansee exclaimed, all but dancing a jig as the dungeoneers dumped out their suppl
y of herbs on the gnome’s wooden stall. “I’ll be able to fix up quite a brew! I knew I could count on you.”

  “Great, we certainly need the money,” Vexx said, watching expectantly as Doctor Fansee added coin after coin to a growing pile as he diligently examined each herb, tut-tutting at every bent stem. “Roughing it didn’t exactly save us any money,” he added, glancing over at Kaylin, who huddled in the tattered mage’s robe she’d picked up for warmth.

  “Yes, yes, don’t worry about it,” the gnome replied idly, methodically moving through the herbs.

  “Do you know where we could get a discount bow, by the way?” Vexx asked, assessing the growing pile of coins.

  Doctor Fansee snorted. “I wouldn’t bother. The entire town has gone crazy with prices. You know, they say Dred Wyrm will be here tomorrow. It doesn’t matter to me, really, but I suspect I can make quite a killing with these potions, once I get to brewing. Hmm, but that will take hours yet…”

  Vexx scratched his chin.

  “I need some gear,” Kaylin insisted. “You really don’t know anyone?”

  “Well…there was a suspicious-looking gnome around here earlier,” Doctor Fansee mused after a moment, holding a root up to the fading light and squinting at it. He turned it around a few times, then nodded in satisfaction, adding it to the pile of roots on his stall.

  “A suspicious gnome?” Shy asked, raising her eyebrows. “I think I see one right now.”

  “He was talking about a few ‘special magical items’ he’d come across,” Doctor Fansee continued, ignoring Shyola. “I could send him your way if he comes by again. Claims to know a cousin of mine and wants me to help him sell what he has. It’s hard to get a stall in Oerchenbrach these days, with the town as full as it is.”

  “Rooms too,” Vexx added.

  Doctor Fansee shrugged. “You might have better luck there. Quite a few dungeoneers left town to search the islands, I’m sure that has freed up some rooms.”

  “And not all of them will be making it back,” Shyola added thoughtfully.