by Simon Archer
“Perhaps the Record may give us a clue,” Amalthea said helpfully. “Or maybe I can smell them out?”
“Hopefully, your nose is better than mine,” Shikun said in defeat. “I can’t make anything out in all these salty smells.”
“Keep your eyes open,” I told the group. “They’re definitely here.”
As I scanned the walls, one particular spot seemed off. It was the same color as the rest of the stone, but it was slightly elevated. The closer I got to it, the more intense the rotten fish smell got.
If these latopi were similar to the octopi back Upland, they could probably camouflage themselves the same way. And if that were the case, this chunk of the wall was a latopus.
Without hesitation, I drove Libritas into the spot, and the camouflaged latopus squealed a slimy and piercing cry that flooded the tunnels with noise. I winced a bit as I pushed the Brand through with a twist, and the squealing stopped.
But after that squeal stopped, about five more started.
I brandished Libritas, keeping her between me and whatever we were about to fight against. Large spots on the wall, similar to the one I killed, started moving around all of us, crawling on the ceiling and scaling the walls in circular motions.
“Prepare yourselves,” Amalthea declared as she spread her wings out. The mystic runes of the Khalati Record flew out from her, floating over each of our heads. They each emitted a glow that illuminated the entire tunnel, making it easier to spot where the latopi were on the walls.
“Why did I even bother with the wyrm-fire when you had these magical baubles on reserve?” Reggie shouted at Amalthea, just as Petra shot a vine straight through a latopus like a bullet before doing the same to another in quick succession.
“You never asked,” Amalthea coyly countered, “and I didn’t think it was a bad kitty’s position to step on a hunter’s moment.”
“I apologized!” Reggie said, firing at one of the latopi. “I apologized on the Khalati Record!”
“A woman’s record is far more challenging to inscribe upon,” Amalthea said. “I hope you’ve come to understand.” With both her claws, she wrenched a latopus apart, spilling its liquid guts through the water we waded in.
“Where do you find these women, William?” Reggie put a final round into the latopus he targeted, putting the beast down with a booming report.
“Are you saying you don’t want a giant magical sphinx with all the written knowledge of the world at her claw tips to be helping us?” Shikun asked Reggie in a tone that almost sounded serious. She twisted her foot into the wall where a latopus took its last squishy breaths.
Reggie grumbled as he pulled a custom speed-loader from his bag and expertly twisted a new set of rounds into his Webley. He really could not catch a break today.
I spotted two more, and with a couple of quick jabs with Libritas’ Brand, I ended them quickly. While I was glad that we were taking out these wild latopi with relative ease, I noticed a distinct lack of a latopus I would have called Atroclus.
Worse, after I was finding it hard to spot any more. As I looked to my circle, it was clear that they couldn’t find anymore, either.
And that’s when I saw it. A couple of dozen feet away, another latopus showed itself. Unlike the others, it just laid there, barely cresting the water. I kept Libritas in front, ready for anything this thing would throw at me. It rose out of the waves on long, black tentacles, and the bulk of its body changed from the dirt browns of the wall to a sickly red. As it inflated to its full bulbous girth, a tendril popped out from underneath it. At the end, a moist beak that kept grabbing at the air slithered its way to the front of it. Its eyes opened, and I could see its giant purple eyes and triangle-shaped pupils.
This was an ugly one, let me tell you and absolutely had to be the famed Atroclus. It squealed louder and lower than any of the other latopi as it rushed us.
On reflex, I quickly dodged underneath one of its tentacles, and the barbed spikes tipping it narrowly missing me. In a blink, I scanned the bottom of this tentacled beast but couldn’t find the Black Rune. In the same fluid motion as the dodge, I jabbed the giant latopus at the base of its beak tendril, and it screeched in pain. Unfortunately, the tendril wrapped around my arm as I finished my thrust into its base. I thought that would make it let go, but to my surprise, the tendril didn’t let up an inch, and the beak kept snapping at me.
Alright, so this one was a little thicker than the others. I could still work with that. No one was invulnerable, not even this giant monster. But I also hadn’t found this thing’s mark. Something like that would be hard to hide. I decided to think about it as I kept jabbing at the thing’s underside.
Its tentacles began to lash out at the group. Petra took a gash across the leg as a tentacle tore through her bark armor, and Amalthea collected a slice along the shoulder, but thankfully, Shikun’s scales were too thick to penetrate. Amalthea didn’t say anything about poisonous barbs or anything, so at least, we didn’t have to worry about that. Just the usual deadly death.
But then Atroclus began to wrap itself around Petra, and its oozing suction cups fondled her all over her body. As much as her vines tried to tear herself free and her spiked thorns dug against rubbery flesh, the monster kept tightening its wrap around her as she cried out in pain. It took the beak tendril off of me and brought it towards her, ready to take a bite at her.
I saw red. I heated Libritas’ tip as hot as I could in that one moment, and with one swing, I slammed it into Atroclus’ body, the heat forcing its suction cups to release Petra. As I carried the swing through, the latopus flew across the tunnel, landing far away from my girls.
Despite my fury, I had a feeling about where Atroclus’ Brand was. It would be hard to hide it anywhere on the outside except for the bottom, and I’d already been there. That meant it wasn’t on the beast’s hide, so there was only one place left: down its throat.
Or maybe I just wanted to see him suffer more. Either way, I was going to end this.
It rolled a couple more feet from the impact of my blow as I ran over to meet it. While the creature was still trying to recover, I grabbed the beak tendril and shoved Libritas’ Brand inside of it, feeding it through the meat tube like a wet sock on a foot. Eventually, Libritas reached the base of the latopus, with my hand down its lengthy throat, and I forced the Brand all the way to the back of Atroclus’ bulbous body. As I heard its muffled searing and screeches, I couldn’t help but smile just a little bit.
Even if Atroclus survived his rebranding, I didn’t think I would let him live after what he’d done to Petra.
That’s when I felt the Brand connect to the Black Rune like a magnetic lock, guided by some unforeseen magic I still barely understood. When I sensed that Libritas’ work was done, I pulled her out. Her bronze shaft and my whole arm glistened with purple slime. Or was it mucus? It was gross, either way. The Great Beast simply lay there, its bloated head slowly inflating and deflating.
I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed in his survival or not. All of its actions, however dark or savage, were compulsory. He didn’t choose to become a Great Beast or to become corrupted. They were forced upon him. But he was free now. No matter what happened next, whether he succumbs to his wounds or manages to live, he at least had that.
“Sorry to have to do that to you,” I apologized to the revered Brand of Freedom as I caught my breath a bit. “That was very unpleasant.”
“It had to be done,” Libritas called back to me, glowing hot to steam off the purple sludge upon her. “An interesting place to place a Brand, wouldn’t you say?”
“Definitely,” I responded. “Tactically brilliant. The Baroness was really thinking long term when she placed these.”
“It certainly would hide his true nature from those who did not know about him,” Libritas commented. “A royal animal protector would be the first target of an assault to breach the Marches’ defense, but no one would think twice about a random creature before it was far too l
ate.”
Our mental conversation was broken up as Shikun strode over to my side. “That was amazing! Even I’m a little jealous at your strength.”
“You never cease to astound me, Will.” Petra came to my other side, grabbing my arm. “Never a dull moment around you.”
“Truly, you are full of surprises, my savior.” Amalthea nuzzled against my back. “I did not know Uplanders were capable of such feats of muscle.”
“We are certainly capable, but...” Reggie walked over to the exhausted latopus. “I know a few strongmen who would absolutely soil themselves at the sight of what you’ve just accomplished. Where could you have been hiding such muscular resilience all this time?”
That was a good point. I didn’t realize it in the heat of the moment, full of rage at what Atroclus had done to Petra, but there was no way I could have normally done that. It reminded me of the battle Petra and I had with the great rock wyrm when I’d hurled Libritas right through the immense monster.
“Libritas?” I sent over to the Brand, almost completely clean at this point. “Did you do this somehow?”
“I do provide a release from physical limitations, but that acts more as a slight increase in strength,” Libritas answered. “It cannot allow you to do the impossible. No, this titanic power suggests something else at play here.”
So, these surges of superhuman strength combined with my shoulder healing faster than it should be made three instances of unnatural abilities I’d experienced since coming to Etria. Something strange was going on, above and beyond everything else, and I needed to find an answer.
The only explanation I could think of was my mother, Laurelin. I knew absolutely nothing about her, save for the few times Dad had mentioned her. Every time he did, though, it was about how beautiful and strong she was. I thought that was about speaking about her strength of will, but maybe he was referring to something more literal.
“Amalthea,” I called over to my magical bookworm sphinx. “What can you give me on races in Etria with amazing strength and fast healing?”
“I will consult the Record,” Amalthea said as she spread her wings out.
“Maybe not here, friends.” Reggie sloshed through the waters to the way we’d come from. “We should retreat to somewhere we can address these wounds the nefarious Great Beast has dealt. Besides, who knows how many more of those latopi are skulking around to give us more?”
I nodded to Reg’s wisdom as Shikun hung onto the arm I held Libritas in. “What are you thinking, William? Are you not from the Upland?”
“I was raised there, definitely,” I told her. “But I was born here, and I’ve never known my mother.”
“So there’s no telling what you could actually be,” Petra said, a tinge of excitement in her voice. “Half Uplander, half… elf? Orc? Maybe even a cat-woman? Like a mighty lion cat-woman! Oh, this is going to be fun!”
“I’m glad my mysterious genetics make you so happy,” I said with a smirk.
“How could it not?” Petra cooed in my ear. “Life has so many unique and interesting things to show us, and you could be an entirely new form of life!” She walked her fingers across my chest, finishing with a flick of my nose. “Think of what kind of achievement that means for Shikun and me.”
Damn, these girls were relentless. If we were in almost any other situation besides an underground tunnel after a bloody battle, I would have taken them there and then.
Those thoughts were interrupted by slimy slaps on the water, and we turned around to see Atroclus desperately trying to stand on its tentacles. It let out a low gurgling growl, like a dirt bike motor made out of steak. The tentacles lashed about frantically, pulling its support out from underneath it. We all backed away slowly as it manically continued to kick up the water in its sad attempts to attack us.
“Let’s end this quick, you big oaf.” Reggie pulled ahead of us, loading a round tipped with something purple into his revolver’s chamber. Probably the special wyrm-fire he mentioned before. I wasn’t sure now was the best time to test it, but it was too late to stop him to check. “You’ve caused all of us enough trouble as it is. Go find some peace.”
He pointed his Webley right at the latopus and fired. The shockwave shot through Reggie, and even through us, knocking the British marksman into the shallow waters. Hell, I think I was pushed back half a foot. The sound pounded through the tunnels, blasting thunder right into all of our ears. It was all I could do just to cover my ears to muffle the sound a bit.
Atroclus practically disintegrated at the shot. His guts smeared every corner of the tunnel up to the next intersection, purple slime now oozing from the ceiling. The only thing left intact were the barbed ends of the latopus’ tentacles and its beak, which floated to the surface of the water we all stood in.
Sir Reginald stood up, also covered in Atroclus’ remains. We were fortunate enough that the purple wyrm-fire’s blast propelled most of the fluids forward, sparing us the same fate as the shooter who was too close. He shook as much off of his hands as he could, trying to wash his off-hand clean in the waters.
“What in the Rotting Wood was that?” The pissed-off dryad massaged the sides of her head. I assumed the Rotting Wood was the dryad version of Hell, where I’m sure she wanted to send Reggie to right now.
“Your weapon has never been so… explosive.” Shikun’s fiery wings sizzled dry as she shook them. “Was that wyrm-fire?”
“I was just thinking,” the embarrassed Brit began as he brushed his hand behind his head, “since I was running low on rounds from the surface, maybe I’d cobble up some Etrian-grade ammunition. With the different kinds, I thought I would experiment, try to find the equivalent powder grain yield of the different types. This time, I tried the purple.”
“Maybe not inside a tunnel?” I said as I walked over to check on him. A shot like that must have mangled his hand from the backblast, let alone what it could have done to his gun. Somehow, it was still in one piece. The end was warped open wide like a blunderbuss, but still functional otherwise. Not that I would have gone testing that.
“Maybe not inside a tunnel, Master William,” he agreed as he showed me the wounded hand. As far as I could tell, nothing was particularly broken, but he definitely couldn’t go shooting with that hand for a while.
“Allow me, my savior.” Amalthea walked over to Reggie and placed a paw upon his hand. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them to reveal runic symbols encircling her irises, clear signs of the Khalati Record. Her paw began to glow a calming blue for a second or two before fading away as she placed the paw back down. Reggie moved his fingers freely as he inspected his hand.
“Good as new!” Reggie clenched his fist in satisfaction.
“I’m glad that worked.” Amalthea smirked. “I found that spell in a tome of ill repute, The Magnus Chromagnus by Chromagnus Malfire. After cross-referencing the spells with more trustworthy records, this was the most promising one. However, some of the records said it may instead liquefy flesh.” She then trotted along towards the exit, satisfied in the terror she left in her wake. The rest of us followed shortly after.
“Why would you risk that on my shooting hand?” Reggie shouted back, trying to keep up. “What if it had gone wrong?”
“I thought we were all still wildly experimenting with dangerous and unstable materials we barely understand.” Her lion’s tail whipped very close to Reggie’s face to emphasize her point. “I was just playing along.”
“Is this still about my comment outside?” Reggie said, exasperated. “How many times must I tell you that I’m sorry?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Amalthea sighed a bit. “Maybe I am being too hard on you.”
“I think there’s a solution here,” Petra butted in. “If Reggie declares Amalthea a very good kitty a couple of hundred times, maybe that will fix this severe mistake.”
“At least that many,” Shikun added.
“William, please.” Reg pleaded to what he thought was a higher
authority. “Help me survive your girls.”
“Do have pity on the poor man.” Libritas giggled in my ear. “This may be far more than he signed up for in this adventure.”
“One hundred fifty,” I said as I rendered my judgment. “Then Amalthea has to give her mouse up.”
“I accept your terms, my savior.” Amalthea nodded, and she came up to my side and kissed me on the cheek.
“Amalthea is a good kitty.” Reggie put his hands up and started to raise his fingers one by one to count. “Amalthea is a good kitty--”
“Excuse me, what kind of kitty?” Shikun interrupted Reggie’s count.
“A very good kitty. Amalthea is a very good kitty. Amalthea is a very good kitty…”
We continued our pace back to the surface, listening to the dulcet tones of a British soldier’s apology as we went.
13
Baroness Solanna
Something was happening.
Something dark, something wicked… but also good. I didn’t really know anymore. It was so hard to think.
I buzzed around the golden halls of my throne room in the Solspire, drifting on my bumblebee wings through the black decorative banners hanging above the pillars that lined the edges of this vast empty space. A second stinging sensation pulsed inside of me, very uncomfortable, and I could not hold still anymore. Three of my drone guards fought below me, clawing at the gold trims of their black armor, trying to peel it off of each other to bite. Another guard sat against a pillar, banging his head against it over and over. A fifth gnawed on his spear, an elegant thing now covered in teeth marks.
And I held my Brand. This platinum rod with a gilded head. My Brand of Civilization. Or what is that? I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t remember anything. I didn’t remember the trim of my robes being so tattered. I didn’t remember the golden yellows and luscious blacks of my dress being so faded. I didn’t remember my hands being so dry.
