by Edward Brody
“Yes!” I said cheerfully.
“Looks like you were right, Ambassador,” Adeelee said.
We both stepped under the bell to have a look at what was down the hole. There seemed to be light down there, but it was impossible to see anything other than more ground.
“Let’s wait until Liam is back, and then we’ll explore it,” I said.
We turned around and started to walk out from under the large bell when there was a loud clank, and the heavy bell came rushing back down, booming when it hit the ground. Thankfully, the bell didn’t seem to have a tongue, or else one of us could’ve been killed. Hell, if we had taken even a couple more steps, we would’ve been crushed by the outer lip of it.
Adeelee and I both ducked and flinched reflexively when the bell came down, and then we realized what had happened. Though the use of the lever was timed, the amount of time the bell hung in the air must have been timed as well.
I wasn’t too worried about being trapped. Having played MMOs in the past, I was certain there had to be another way out, and even if there wasn’t, I now had the Recall Home spell, which would allow me to recall me to Edgewood if I needed to. That wouldn’t be convenient at all, and I’d have to hurry back to get Adeelee out, but at least there were options.
But whatever the case, we weren’t going to be able to wait for Liam. We’d have to proceed on our own.
Chapter Fifteen
2/10/0001
“I guess we’re trapped,” Adeelee said.
I shrugged. “The bell would’ve dropped no matter what we did. We’ll find our way out.” I leaned over the hole. “Let’s just go down.”
“You seem overly confident all of a sudden. Is Liam rubbing off on you?”
I smirked at her, feeling offended by the idea that Liam’s eccentric, cocky attitude might be rubbing off on me or maybe feeling a bit jealous at how he had been flirting with the Princess since he met her. “Yeah, well. You two seem to be getting along well.”
“He seems alright.” Adeelee seemed oblivious to the negative connotation of my comment.
I rolled my eyes, shook my head and started for the ladder. “I’ll go first.”
Adeelee looked confused but then she just shrugged. “Well, okay. Be careful.”
I held tightly as I climbed down the tight passageway, wondering if it were more difficult or easy for a gnoll to grip the metal bars with their furry paws and claws. When I was halfway down, Adeelee started her descent from above, and I felt a strange energy from somewhere below.
The energy was similar to the energy I’d felt when Darion had cast the location spell or when I was near the Omnicron in the Mages Guild. It was magic, and whatever it was, it made my skin crawl.
When I reached the end of the hole, the ladder extended all the way to the ground, but as soon as I stepped into the room and before making it to the floor, I immediately got hit with something shocking and painful on my hip, causing me to release my grip of the ladder and fall hard to the ground.
I groaned, grabbed my hip, and looked down to where I had been hit. There was a small dark mark on my robe. Knowing I was in danger, I tried not to focus on the pain and looked up to see a tall gnoll with a patterned kilt and a necklace with several teeth draped around its neck. It was standing in front of a wall covered with shelves and filled with potions and empty potion jars. It seemed that I had entered some sort of alchemy lair.
The gnoll snarled, showed its teeth, and moved its hands out to each side. It growled low, and as it growled, electrical energy began forming around its claws.
You have failed to inspect your target!
Oh shit, I thought as the dangerous looking creature rushed towards me.
Lightning danced between each of its claws as its bottom feet pattered rapidly on the ground, and not knowing what else to do, I immediately raised a Fire Curtain in a circle around me.
For a second, I thought I was safe and would have a moment to gather myself, but incredibly, the gnoll came hurdling over top of the flames, lunging at me, claws first.
I rolled to the side, dodging one of the claws, but taking a light slice on the side of my shoulder by the other. The pain of the slash was intensified as the lightning from its claws entered my wound and seemed to shock the entirely of my body. Worse, I rolled so quickly, that one of my hands fell into my own fire.
I screamed at the two sources of pain at once, and was disoriented enough that the gnoll would’ve gotten in another attack if Adeelee hadn’t dropped down in the circle of fire right then.
When I looked up, she had her sword stuck deep in the back of the gnoll and was virtually riding it as the gnoll stood up straight and tried to swipe behind it with its electrified claws. The gnoll yelped, laughed, and panted with each swipe, but its thick, muscular shoulders didn’t give its arms a full range of motion. Each scratch towards Adeelee’s head missed by several inches.
The gnoll stumbled backward, hitting my Fire Curtain, and burning both Adeelee and itself in the process.
Adeelee cried out as she passed through the flames, and I quickly focused on trying to lower the curtain to both see what was happening and prevent any more accidental damage.
As my flames dispersed, I saw the gnoll flailing its arms wildly and backpedaling until it slammed into a wall filled with potions. Glass shattered, and liquid splashed all over Adeelee and the monster’s back. Her eyes jolted open, and she was clearly hurt from the impact, but the potion liquid seemed to put out the lingering flames that were burning her.
Adeelee fell to the ground, leaving her sword lodged in the gnoll’s back. The gnoll staggered away wildly, still fruitlessly swiping for the sword behind it.
I picked myself up and grabbed my staff, unsure if I should run to check on Adeelee or confront the gnoll, but fearing that the gnoll would stabilize and attack again, I chose the gnoll.
Laughs. Gnoll laughs from behind.
I turned around and saw three more gnolls, each holding spears, running from a hall connected to the room. Again, I cast a Fire Curtain, this time across the hall, hoping that they wouldn’t be able to jump it like the wild, kilted one that had attacked as soon as we had arrived.
I ran for the injured gnoll, shooting a Fireblast at it on the way, then a spark of energy from my staff. The gnoll was moving so crazily that my Fireblast missed, but the spark from my staff slammed into its chest and almost seemed to wake it up.
The gnoll flinched at the impact, shook its head, and snarled as it looked up to me. I swung my staff at the gnoll’s head, and it made a thwacking noise when it hit its skull, but the gnoll only flinched from the blow. It swiped a claw at me, but by then, the claws were free of their electricity. I ducked and shot a Fireblast right at its gut.
This time, the gnoll didn’t just flinch. It wailed and pawed at the area where the Fireblast hit, and while it was distracted, I swung my staff around and again smacked it in the head. By its briefly dazed expression that hit seemed a little more effective than the first.
The gnoll lunged at me but tripped and fell face forward.
I was a bit confused as to what happened, but when I looked up, I could see Adeelee across the room, soaked in potions but holding a hand out. She had cast her rooting spell.
I slammed my staff down at the neck of the gnoll, causing the gnoll to try to roll over on its back, but as soon as it tried to roll, it wailed as the sword still lodged in its body sunk further in. It turned back to its face-down position, and I used the opportunity to grab the hilt of Adeelee’s sword and twist.
When the gnoll wailed out in pain, I stabbed the bottom of my staff down at the side of its neck, then tilted to top down and shot another on-cast effect at its face. The gnoll stiffened and groaned, and I knew that if it wasn’t dead it was on the verge.
You have reached level 3 in Staves!
You have gained 7000 XP!
Knowing there were gnolls approaching from behind, I yanked out Adeelee’s sword and was about to throw it to her, b
ut I was pushed forward and tripped as a sharp pain entered my back.
I turned on the ground, grabbing for my wound, and much like the gnoll we had just defeated, I was greeted by more pain when the spear stuck inside of me met the ground. Approaching was not three gnolls, but six, and when I glanced back over to the wall, Adeelee was barely picking herself back up.
Everything was happening so quickly that I hadn’t even checked out our status bars, but when I finally looked up, I could see that I was already down to around 30% of my health, and though Adeelee appeared hurt, she had only lost about a third of hers.
“Adeelee!” I yelled and awkwardly slid her sword across the ground. It fell short of making it to her, and she was still busy shaking off her daze to respond.
I shot a Fireblast at a gnoll, an Arcane Missile at another, then tried raising another Fire Curtain across as many of the gnolls as I could. When the gnolls all managed to jump out of the way before taking any significant damage, I knew we had a problem on our hands.
Fuck it, I said and reached for my sword. I wanted to stick to my magic training and use staves and ranged abilities only, but we had entered a moment of survival, and I wasn’t about to let Adeelee get killed because I was training.
Boiling Blood, I thought.
I dropped my staff, dislodged the spear, and rolled out of the way as one of the spearmen lunged at me, then jumped up and dashed for Adeelee as I felt the heat taking coursing through my body.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
I grabbed her sword off the ground, and when I reached her, I wrapped an arm around her and squeezed the back of her neck. She seemed startled by gesture, but it also seemed to immediately wake her out of her daze. “Here,” I said, handing her the sword.
I turned and shot a Fireblast with my now free hand at the closest gnoll in range. I ran forward, slashing my sword across the chest of the same gnoll, twirled and stabbed another gnoll in the gut, then spun and simultaneously ducked, severing the leg of another gnoll as I twirled my blade.
I reached my hand out and cast another Fireblast, smacking another gnoll in the face, and feeling myself on a roll, I made a motion to use an Arcane Slash on the other two.
As I swung my blade in front of me, expecting energy to fly out, nothing happened. Confused, I held a hand out and tried to cast a Fireblast in its place, but again nothing happened. When I glanced up, I saw that I had actually run out of mana, and my Boiling Blood icon was starting to blink as well.
I cursed under my breath, realizing how powerful I was as an Arcane Blade, but also realizing how limited that power was with a small mana pool and no on-cast effects to keep me at range. Growth as a mage was going slow, but Darion and Eanos were right about my need to put all my focus into magic training.
I lunged forward with my now slowed pace, and the gnoll I attacked blocked the blow with its spear and counterattacked with a strike of its own. I tucked my hips in and jumped back, avoiding a hit. I ducked again when the gnoll beside it stabbed its spear towards my face.
Behind me, I heard Adeelee grunt as she started attacking the gnolls as well, and that motivated me to fight harder.
Clumsy, I thought, focusing on the same gnoll, knowing I had just barely enough mana to cast that spell. I twang rang out in my ears. I swung up at the Clumsy-affected gnoll, and this time when it tried to block, it lost grip of its spear. My attack powered through and cut it deep across its snout. It whined loudly, grabbed the wound and stumbled back.
I jumped backward when the other gnoll lunged its spear at me, but I wasn’t quick enough. The bastard landed its weapon tip right in the same painful spot on my hip where I had been shot upon entering the room.
I grunted, grabbed the long handle of its spear, and rotated my body towards it as I stuck my sword out straight, connecting directly in the center chest of the gnoll. It looked down at where it had been hit, then made a single, subtle spasm as it fell to the ground.
I released my grip on the spear and ran forward, jumped, and slashed my sword three times across the midsection of the gnoll that was still caring for its snout. The attack was enough to drop him. When I turned around to face the rest of the attackers, I saw Adeelee pulling her sword out of a fallen gnoll, and none of the others were alive.
You have gained 5500 XP!
My shoulders slumped in exhaustion and relief that we had survived. I was glad that Adeelee seemed relatively unharmed. I took heavy, deep breaths as I put my sword away and ran over to Adeelee, throwing an arm around her when I was in range. “Are you okay?”
She nodded lightly and flinched when I squeezed. “Owww.”
I pulled back and removed my arm but noticed a sticky residue on my hands. I peeked behind the Princess and noticed part of her hair had melted, and part of her skin was seared and gooey. Her leather top was also partially burned. “What happened?”
“Must have been one of the potions that spilled across my back,” she said. “It nauseated me, and I felt like I was boiling alive.”
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
“Damn,” I said as flinched. I quickly started rummaging in my bag for a health potion. When I held it out to Adeelee, she raised her palm and shook her head.
“Bandage your wounds. I have enough mana to heal us.” She closed her eyes, placed her open hand near her head and cast Nature’s Regrowth on us both.
I took a moment to bandage my wounds as my health ticked up from her spell, and once the bleeding effect was gone, I shifted into a meditation position. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried about you. And thanks for jumping on top of the gnoll… the one with the kilt.”
Adeelee chuckled as she kneeled down beside me and place a hand on my shoulder. “I was just doing my part. I’m going to be looking for your help from here on out. You’re growing fast and will probably surpass me soon. When using your sword, you might already be my equal.”
I grinned and scratched the side of my head. “You think? I don’t know about that. You’ve got all these spells—healing, vines, that plant capsule thing, the birds. Your sword skills are—”
“Gunnar,” she interrupted.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Remember how weak you were when we first met?” She shrugged. “I mean, you were a very low level, so it’s understandable. But look at where you are now. You’ve grown strong at an astounding rate, I’m sure the Mages Guild will only make you stronger.”
“I hope so…” I said with a smile. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Adeelee was staring intently at me, and when I turned, our eyes locked. My heart skipped a beat, and while much had changed much since I first met her, my admiration for her beauty had not. At one point in time, all I had wanted was some alone time with Adeelee, and I was finally experiencing it. It wasn’t ideal circumstances, but I was enjoying myself, especially since Liam was gone.
Liam… I felt an uneasiness come over me at the thought of him.
I cleared my throat, swallowed, and turned slightly away from the Princess. “Do you have a thing for Liam?”
“A thing?” Adeelee asked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean… Do you like him?” I felt like a little kid back in middle school asking that question.
Adeelee shook her head and creased her brow. “He’s a bit strange and perhaps a bit greedy, but I see no reason to dislike him.”
“I mean like… ya know.”
Adeelee tilted her head in confusion.
I wasn’t sure how to explain what I was asking without it sounding cheesy. Boyfriend? If I asked her if she liked him as a boyfriend, I’d sound even more like a kid in middle school, and if I asked her if she had sexual feelings towards him, it would sound a bit extreme. “Like uhh… more than friends. Potential mate type thing.”
Adeelee grinned slightly then huffed as she fluttered her eyelashes. “You’re funny, Gunnar. I suppose Liam is qu
ite handsome, but I’d never considered him as a mate.”
“You seem to respect him quite a bit more than the others that I’ve seen you meet. You were kind to me when we met, but you sort of brushed me off.”
“When I met you, you were wearing a ridiculous getup and strange shoes. Of course I’m going to react to you differently.”
“Aaron too,” I insisted.
“Every time I look at Aaron, he’s staring at my breasts. It’s hard to take him seriously.” She sighed. “Liam is polite, respectable. And he was admitted to the Mages Faction, so he’s obviously doing something right.” She shook her head. “He’s a strong fighter as well, but I’d never consider him as a mate. Besides… he’s a human.”
“You wouldn’t consider him, because he’s human?” I asked. I looked down a bit, feeling a slight lump in my throat. Had the entire time I lusted after Adeelee been just a dream after all? Not just because she was a Princess, but because she was a High Elf who’d never consider a human anyway? “So then, I guess you’d never consider me either, right?”
Adeelee squinted, then slowly reared her head back. A slight grin crept across her face. “Are you… jealous of Liam?”
A nervousness fell over me, not expecting her to turn the tables of the questioning. “No, not really.”
“I believe that’s a lie, Gunnar.”
I gave a slight shrug. “I mean… Maybe I’m a bit jealous that you two seem to have connected a lot faster than you and I did.”
Adeelee chuckled. “To be honest, I thought you had little interest in me. Since you returned from the Sands, you haven’t treated me the same.”
“Because you blew me off.”
Adeelee shook her head. “I didn’t.”
