“And give up our hard-won rewards for a waif who should have known better?” the leader scoffed. “We warned her about the risks and she begged, begged us to let her come. We did the best we could, but dungeons are dangerous places. If she’d only listened, she would have come out alive.”
Pawly yowled, her fur standing on end as she stalked up to stand beside Stern.
“She doesn’t believe you,” Stern said gravely. “Neither do I.”
“I don’t care!” the man spat. “We did what we could, she failed, we came out. Period.”
“You left a fellow Walker, a member of your crew, fractured. Do you think that it won’t matter? Look behind you. Look at the faces of the others. Leaving a member behind is an affront to what Walkers do. When you fight with a crew, you do the best you can and do your damnedest to bring them back out.”
Looking at the other people present, the sneering man’s face contorted. “What are you looking at? You’d listen to the words of a blighted? To the deranged ramblings of a beggar? I’m the mayor’s son! You should all know better.”
The majority of the crowd looked away quickly, but a handful of others, clearly not from the city, continued to mutter.
With a snort of disgust, the man led his entourage to the guards.
Stern looked at the people who hadn’t looked away. “Who will help pull her back out? I’m going to bring a shard back with me, but I’m alone.”
The other groups all looked away from him.
“None of you deserve to be saved,” Stern snorted as he turned back to the woman. Kneeling, he met her eyes. “I’ll pull her out, even if I have to go in all three times. Just give me some time. Where can I find you when I’ve finished?”
“Here,” she sniffled. “I’ll wait for you here. Thank you...” She kept repeating “thank you” as Stern stood up.
He made it a few steps away before someone coughed to get his attention. “Uh... we’ve talked and we’ll pull two shards out, but we think that’ll be all we can do.”
Stern looked at the speaker. A woman with wolf ears stood in front of three others— a male dwarf, a male elf, and a second wolf lykian. “When you do, wait here for me. I’ll pay you for doing it since she can’t.”
All four of them looked shocked, but the leader smiled. “We were going to do without the pay, but we won’t turn down your offer.”
“Safe run,” Stern said. “Her name was Cyra, so you know which shards to collect.”
“Safe run,” they replied.
None of the others still waiting looked his way, and Stern snorted. He walked over to the guards, who eyed him warily.
“Sir, Skippy really is the mayor’s son,” the captain on duty said. “You’ve bitten off more than you know.”
Stern smiled darkly. “Have I?”
“Yes,” the captain said grimly. “Even if he doesn’t do anything, his father is going to be pissed that someone called his son out like you did.”
“And?” Stern shrugged. “He can’t stop me from running the dungeon.”
The guards looked uneasy and the captain shook his head. “We tried to warn you.”
Stern met the man’s eyes and the captain shivered. “Captain, the mayor of this town doesn’t matter to me. The mayor’s son doesn’t matter to me. The only thing that matters right at this moment is rescuing the soul of a Walker who was left dead inside a dungeon.”
The guards stepped away from the sides of the well.
Stern looked over the edge. Seeing the ladder heading down, he whistled. Pawly came rushing over and sprang onto his back. Once she was in place, he descended down the ladder. Reaching the bottom, he found a surprisingly large room with one wall holding the white swirl of the dungeon.
Pawly let out a soft yowl and bumped into his leg. Stern grinned at her and used both his perks to increase her size and give her tentacles.
“Time to do what we always said we were going to do, and shut that fucker up. When she gets restored, she’ll be able to tell people what really happened. I wonder if he thought about that?” Without saying more, Stern stepped into the mist.
Chapter Twelve
The cave was without stalagmites and stalactites, but still had a natural quality to it. Patches of glowmoss gave a dim light to the room, and Stern sent a silent thank you to his mother. Pawly chuffed once and nudged his leg. Stern patted her back, squatting to look at the opening out of the room with her.
“Same as before— nice and slow until we see what we’re dealing with. This is the third dungeon, so it will be harder. They scale up, depending on how many marks you have. If we do this slowly and carefully, we should be fine.”
Pawly chuffed again and stalked forward. She kept her body as low to the ground as she could, her tentacles flat against her back. Watching her go, he followed her, staying crouched as he went.
The tunnel was smoother than the first dungeon, limiting the chance of something coming out of the walls unexpectedly. Stern made sure to check the ceiling as they progressed.
People always forget to look up, his father’s voice said in his mind. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have something land on your head? No, and you don’t want to, either, since it’ll normally be trying to eat your face at the same time.
Not seeing anything, he followed Pawly with the quietest stride he could maintain while crouching to be as small a target as possible. The tunnel came to an end at another archway, leading into a room. Pausing, he saw something he hadn’t expected to see until he was at a higher rank— slimes.
Two pale white slimes slowly moved around the room, seemingly at random. He watched them for a few minutes, but he couldn’t see a pattern to their movements. Pawly looked at him, waiting for his advice.
Leaning in closer, he whispered, “They’re supposedly blind, but they can detect vibrations. Getting close will be nearly impossible. Their bodies are fluid… you can see the black orb floating in them. Their core needs to be removed or cracked, but you have to be careful. Their liquidy innards are mildly acidic— when you cut them, you’ll get hurt.”
Pawly almost growled, but stopped herself. Tentacles rose off her back and she waggled them.
“Those are part of you, so it’ll still hurt. When the fight is over, I’ll dismiss and resummon you, but you’ll be hurt during every fight.”
Pawly sat down and stared at the slimes before crouching and wiggling her butt.
“Be careful, okay?” Stern asked as he drew his daggers, wishing he had a longer weapon. He was about to go when he settled back, thinking.
Pawly glanced at him and she stopped her wiggle.
Stern held out one of his daggers, then mimed an underhanded toss.
Pawly nodded and went back to her pre-pounce wiggle.
He tossed the dagger in his right hand into the middle of the room and got ready to throw his second. The moment the dagger clattered on the floor, both slimes rushed for it. Stern had to check his throw, as he wasn’t ready for how fast the slimes suddenly were.
Pawly went streaking into the room. Just before she reached the slimes, which had covered the dagger, they both created pseudopods and slapped at her. She leapt over them, her tentacles swiping down. With a yowl of pain, she kept going after she landed.
Both slimes had gouges torn in them and were leaking, but the drainage was quickly slowing as they turned to follow her. With a hard throw, Stern watched his dagger cut through the air and strike one of the slimes. For a second, he thought he’d missed its core, but then it splashed to the ground with no cohesion.
The second slime lashed a pseudopod backward when the second dagger hit the ground, but it was still chasing Pawly. It reached the far side of the room, angling to follow the running cat.
Stern whispered, “Go home.”
Pawly became insubstantial and faded away. The slime lunged at where she’d last been, leaving her eyes and teeth briefly inside the slime, making Stern shudder in horror. The slime hesitated, feeling around as if lo
oking for something.
With a deep, slow breath, Stern resummoned Pawly to his side. Appearing beside him, Pawly growled before she cut it off.
The slime quivered and started to slowly come their way.
Stern increased her size and gave her tentacles again before motioning her to walk in and away from the slime. Pawly ducked her head and did as he asked. As she entered the room, she yowled. The slime rushed toward them and Pawly backed away, letting out another yowl.
As the slime crossed in front of the door, Stern stabbed with his third dagger. The core rocked away from the point of the dagger and the slime lashed out at Stern, but he ripped the dagger free. As the blade came out, tearing a large gash in the mob, the core flowed out. The moment the core was outside the membrane, the creature splashed into a puddle.
Stern backed quickly up to avoid it hitting him. He looked at Pawly, who was staring at him. “One room down... more to go,” he said. “Need to gather and clean my weapons.”
Pawly chuffed and walked away from the slowly spreading puddle.
In the next room, Pawly didn’t wait for him— she rushed in, yowling loudly. Both slimes darted for her, and Stern cursed as he threw the dagger from his left hand. It hit, but failed to find the core, though it did slow the slime down. Pawly launched herself at the other and used her tentacles to rip it wide open. With a louder yowl of pain, she spun and attacked the second mob.
Stern quickly dismissed her as the second slime oozed over the ground. He had her resummoned a moment later and stared at her in anger. Pawly stared back at him as he seethed. Before he could form the words, she headbutted his leg, and his anger subsided as he felt her emotions.
Swallowing hard, he picked her up and held her to his chest, sitting back against the wall. Pawly purred loudly and snuggled against him. Minutes passed as he held his friend close.
“I hate that, but you’re right...” Stern said eventually.
Pawly purred and pushed her head into his chin.
“I love you, too, furball,” Stern whispered. “It’s going to hurt me every time you get injured.”
Pawly chuffed and slammed her head into his chin again.
“And you would feel worse if it was me,” Stern said. “I get it.”
“Grouping with others is going to be even harder. They’ll want to use you in ways that’ll get you killed.”
Pawly put a large paw over his mouth and meowed softly.
Snorting, he breathed out against her toebeans, making her snatch her paw away. “You are too damned smart. Smartest cat in the world.”
Pawly preened at his praise.
“Deadliest cat, too,” he added, chuckling as she preened further.
“Best cat,” he finished. Pawly chuffed, headbutting his chin one more time.
He sat there petting her for a few more minutes before she wiggled in his arms and he let her go.
“Right. We have a quest, even if it isn’t really a quest. We’ll do it your way.”
Pawly chuffed and headed toward the next archway.
Rooms came and went and Stern felt his heart clench every time Pawly yowled in pain. She killed all the slimes by herself— his only contribution was throwing daggers. They eventually found the boss room and hunkered down outside to plan.
The room was larger than the others, and there were six slimes wandering around it. The slimes here were more opaque than the previous ones and, when they got close to one another, they would quiver and turn away.
Touching Pawly’s neck, Stern crept away from the room. When they were down the hall, he spoke quietly, “I think they’re going to combine. Dad said slimes could do that. When they combine, they can do more things... create more pseudopods, spit acid… it depends on the type of slime. These must be basic slimes, as the ones he talked about had affinities for elements or metal.”
Pawly watched him intently.
“We need to kill as many of them as we can before they combine. If all six do… it’ll be bad. That means I have to go in, too.”
Pawly growled lightly.
“Yeah, I understand, but the acid is weak. It stings like hell, but doesn’t make my flesh melt off. It should only scuff the leather a bit, so it’ll be just my hands and head to worry about. I still have salve, so I’ll be fine with small injuries. We need to make sure that no more than three of them combine.”
Pawly was still growling softly, but her emotions were controlled.
“You go in and to the left, and I’ll go right. I think the slimes will try to merge before they come for us... at least, I hope so. I could be wrong and they’ll just mob us. Six could easily overwhelm you or me. If we do it right, it’ll be three at the most still alive after our first attack. You’ll be in a lot of pain, but once they all die, I’ll send you to heal as quickly as I can.”
Pawly chuffed, staring at him.
“Once we kill the ones we’re going for, we’ll have to adapt to what happens, whether they’re combined or separate. ‘Contact with the enemy,’ like Dad says.”
Pawly headbutted his knee.
He rubbed her head for a moment. “This is it. Kill them and I’ll collect my perk and the shards. I’ll summon you once I’m out of the shaft. Dinner will be a feast to celebrate a soul reborn.”
Pawly turned toward the boss room, then looked back at him.
“Let’s do it,” Stern said, drawing two daggers.
At the entrance, Pawly crouched and wiggled. Stern slid around the corner and stayed as close to the wall as he could. The longer he had to get into position, the better it would be. Pawly, seeing him, copied his idea. She slinked carefully, her tentacles up and poised to strike.
Stern settled down in his chosen spot and waited— three slimes were heading to the middle of the room, and he wanted them split apart before he attacked. Pawly was crouched and waiting, watching him for the signal.
When the trio of slimes turned away from each other, he looked at the one heading for him and the two closer to Pawly. This is probably the best it will be, he thought, readying his throw. He was aiming past the slime he was going to lunge for, hoping he’d get a second. Seeing his arm go back, Pawly began to wiggle, ready to pounce.
Arm snapping forward, Stern rushed a second later, drawing his last dagger as he went. Pawly leapt when the dagger left Stern’s hand, her two tentacles lashing out to strike the slime closest to her.
The dagger flying past it had the slime go from wandering aimlessly to charging for the middle of the room. All the slimes moved at the same time, turning for the center. The dagger hit its target hard enough to punch into the amorphous blob and send a gush of liquid out of it. The core poured out, having been cracked by the dagger’s blade.
Pawly tore into her target with a yowl of pain— its shredded exterior was unable to keep it stable enough for the core to stay inside. She spun to her second target, but it was rushing for the middle of the room. With a hunting yowl, she lunged after it.
Stern was unprepared when the slime he’d been going for rushed away from him at speed. He grimaced and stretched his legs out to close the distance. Instead of trying to bend to cut it as he’d been intending, he planted his leading foot and kicked. He caught the slime on the upswing, sending the blob flying. A pseudopod shot out, trying to find purchase, but there was nothing near it.
Two other slimes in the room suddenly surged into each other, becoming a larger slime with two cores spinning around each other inside of it. It turned to Stern and three pseudopods lashed out at him— they were longer, thicker, and glistening with acidic secretions.
Jumping aside, he slashed down at the closest tentacle. His blade cut through it cleanly, but the piece he’d hacked off became fluid, splashing against his hand. Screaming in pain, he barely held onto his dagger as his hand tingled, turning red. Its acid was far stronger now.
Pawly slammed down behind the second mob she was going after, her tentacles carving through it as it tried to reach the bigger slime. It burst like a ballo
on, and she looked up just in time to leap aside as the slime Stern had kicked slammed into the ground close to where she’d been. The impact splashed the now dead slime out over a few feet.
When she saw Stern trying to get distance from the big slime, his hand pulled back protectively to his chest, Pawly roared. She rushed it with her teeth bared and her claws out, no longer feeling the sting of the acid.
Stern was surprised by the strength behind her roar, his eyes widening as he watched her rush the boss. He stumbled, but the tentacles didn’t hit him— they were already withdrawing and new ones were extending out toward Pawly.
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