Dungeon Walkers 1

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “It’s a nice dress,” Stern said. “Red really works for you.”

  “If I had longer hair, it would be even better, but helms and long hair are a pain.”

  “I like you with the short hair,” Cyra said. “I don’t exactly have long hair, either.”

  “Still longer than mine. I can get my hands in yours.”

  “Trish, Mom has a haircut very similar to yours for the same reason. Some women can make it look good. You’re in that number.”

  Trish rubbed a hand along her head. “Well, if you both like it...”

  “We do,” Cyra nodded.

  “Just as we both like Cyra’s short hair,” Stern said.

  “Funny that you have the longest hair out of all three of us,” Trish snickered.

  “Unruly, as my mother called it,” Stern said. “But if I cut it short… I don’t like it.”

  “We won’t ask you to cut it,” Cyra said, seeing the flash of discomfort when he’d spoken.

  “Not at all. Better for me to hold you in place,” Trish winked.

  Stern coughed, his cheeks heating. “Yeah, I thought you’d say something like that.”

  “I do have to ask something,” Trish said seriously. “Virgin?”

  “No,” Stern said, looking even more uncomfortable. “I… uh... visited a place once. It didn’t go well. She didn’t like the way I looked.”

  “Well, we both do, so no worries there. Cyra’s a virgin, so we’ll both have to go slowly with her.”

  Cyra flushed, not meeting their gazes. “I refused the offers that were made to me when I lived on the street. I wanted it to be special.”

  Stern felt his heart skip a beat. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “Besides, we’ll make it special,” Trish said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Special twice, in fact.”

  “You obviously aren’t,” Stern said to Trish, trying to pull the conversation away from Cyra’s uncomfortableness.

  “No. The first few times, it was special, though,” Trish said, a hint of sadness radiating off her.

  Stern set his spoon down. “To change the topic, I had a question, but it might be something you don’t want to talk about.”

  Trish raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

  “Steve?”

  Trish inhaled slowly. “Steve was part of my old crew… can we change the topic for now?”

  Stern blinked at the heartache that welled up inside of her. “Of course. We’re here for you when you’re ready.”

  “Yes,” Cyra said, covering one of Trish’s hands with hers. “We want to help you, too.”

  Trish’s lips twitched at the corners as she looked at Cyra’s hand. “Okay, but later.”

  “That’s fine,” Stern said. He’d felt the heartache fade when Cyra covered Trish’s hand. “We did pretty good today. Some things to work on, and we have six more days to do it.”

  “With the crossbows, we won’t have the same problem with the birds,” Trish replied, leaving her hand under Cyra’s. “I’ll be working on staying closer to you both so I can use my perks more effectively.”

  “I need to figure out when is the best time to use my healing,” Cyra admitted.

  “Combat, when it looks like it’s going to take us time to deal with the monsters,” Trish said. “We have salve for afterward, and we can even use a healing potion or two while we’re fighting. Your healing will be best used when things are hot and heavy.”

  “Agreed,” Stern said. “Your healing is what can turn something horrible into something manageable.”

  “I feel a little useless, at times,” Cyra admitted. “Just standing back there, waiting.”

  “I can understand that,” Stern said, “but you’re our lifeline. If you want, we can see about you using the crossbow instead of the staff?”

  “We could, but I still want her to appear non-threatening,” Trish said. “Hard to do if she’s killing things.”

  “Between Pawly, you, and me, I don’t think she’ll be seen as the biggest threat,” Stern said. “We can give her a go with the crossbow in the next few days and see how it goes.”

  “That’s fair,” Trish agreed.

  “And now, I have dish duty,” Stern said, getting to his feet. “Thank you for the meal.” He moved over and kissed Trish, then stepped over to Cyra and bent to kiss her cheek.

  Cyra turned her head and kissed him on the lips instead. “Good night,” she said before suddenly getting up and going quickly to her room.

  Stern watched her go, wearing a smile on his lips. “I felt that...” he whispered.

  “Hmm... She might need me,” Trish said as she stood up. “See you in the morning. I’ll make sure to get you up... and wake you up, too.”

  Stern snorted as he collected the dishes. “I doubt you’ll ever have trouble with either of those.”

  “I hope not,” Trish grinned.

  Chapter Forty-four

  Soft lips and warm hands woke Stern. Blinking sleep away, he found Trish lying in bed beside him. “Good morning,” he mumbled.

  “Good morning, indeed,” Trish murmured, watching him.

  Sleep faded away and Stern recalled what Trish had said she was going to do when she woke him. He met her eyes, but he didn’t see lust, nor did he feel it from her. “Trish? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just remembering. Sorry. I came in here to get you up, and even out of bed in time.”

  Stern reached out and gently stroked the back of her head. “Why don’t you tell me, instead? I can feel it and, while there is interest there, something’s weighing on you.”

  Trish started to object, then sighed. “If I’m going to tell you, I’d rather tell both of you at once... But this isn’t entirely fair to you.”

  “I’m kind of used to life not being fair,” Stern told her. “Besides, right now, someone I care for needs me to be here for her.”

  Trish met his eyes and kissed him. Softly, her lips touched his, trembling as the heartache burst from her. Stern pulled her close. He held her as their kiss lingered, even when he felt and tasted the tears flowing from her eyes. Their lips were barely touching, but Stern didn’t push the kiss; he was just there to comfort her.

  After a minute, Trish pulled back enough to hiccup a rough sob. “Sorry...”

  “No,” Stern said softly, rubbing her back in small, gentle circles. “You have no need to apologize to me. You’re helping Cyra, and I’m here for you.”

  Sniffling, Trish tried to get ahold of her emotions. “Do you… do you recall the first time you came into my shop?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I didn’t fear or hate you.”

  “I remember.”

  “Because I’d known an irregular before...” Trish whispered, closing her eyes and staying where she was in his arms.

  Stern held her, soothing her as best he could. The door cracked open an inch and a single green eye met his. He crooked a finger at Cyra and she opened the door all the way before moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

  “I heard crying,” Cyra whispered.

  “I failed...” Trish sniffled. “I was looking forward to what I was going to do, but then…”

  “Who was the irregular?” Stern asked softly.

  “Steve,” Trish whispered. “I met him in the academy. No one would talk to him. They shunned, hated, and feared him. I spoke to him when we got to the mock dungeon portion of the class and went in with him. The two of us formed a crew for the class and did the first dungeon together.”

  Cyra joined Stern in rubbing Trish’s back, listening.

  “We formed a bigger crew, and I invited people. We lost a lot of them when they met Steve. He always felt horrible about it... he was constantly apologizing. When we hit the first tin dungeon, we had a full crew. We did amazing— we celebrated that night and we all drank a lot. That was the first time that I slept with him...”

  Stern swallowed hard. Her emotions had consumed him, and he was crying along with her as he soothed her. Cyra
wiped his tears with one hand, rubbing Trish’s back with the other.

  “On the way to the fifth dungeon, Steve and I had started a relationship. The time between dungeons, traveling between them, were some of my happiest days. After the fifth dungeon... the group fractured. Three of our crew had picked up perks they wanted from the start and were done. That left, Steve, me, and Abigail.”

  “But you ran the next one,” Cyra said softly when Trish paused.

  “I got two others to join us,” Trish whispered. “We went in, so full of ourselves, having breezed through the last two. An open-jungle dungeon with hunting cats and snakes... Steve, Abigail, and I all died.”

  Stern was surprised— she had told them previously that she’d cleared the sixth dungeon.

  “The remaining two registered with the Walkers to have us retrieved. They put up what they had, but it wasn’t a lot. The payoff was on the low-end of the scale. When I was reborn, I found out that I’d been dead for three years.”

  “You’re reborn? Like me?” Cyra asked, surprised but also a little happy that someone else understood what she had gone through.

  “Reborn,” Trish nodded. “Abigail was the first one brought out. She got money from her family and upped the pay-out... Not for me, just for Steve.”

  Stern felt the spark of anger and had a good idea of what she was going to say next.

  “When he was reborn, she was there for him, not me... I don’t blame him. Abigail was good-looking, the fucking cunt that she is. She promised him she’d try to get more money together to increase the reward for collecting my shards. In the meantime, she had him move in with her. Time passed and he grew to care for her.”

  Cyra hiccupped, tears starting to flow. Her heart ached for her lover.

  “When I was reborn, they were there to greet me... They had their baby with them.” Trish said, the anger dying off. “I didn’t fight for him. I thanked them and left. I learned later that Abigail had never increased the reward for my shards. Did you know that you don’t age when you’re a shard? I’m only a handful of years older than you physically, but I’m nearly a decade older than you by birth.”

  “That doesn’t matter to me,” Stern murmured. “Do I remind you of Steve?”

  “A little, because of your condition. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t hate you at first sight. Getting to know you, though... I found out you’re very different than he was. I like you for who you are, but coming in here this morning brought back the memory of my first time with Steve.”

  Stern exhaled a shuddering breath as her emotions lost their hold on him. “Okay. Not today.”

  “I’m sorry...” Trish said softly. “I feel like a bitch. I know you were looking forward to this morning.”

  Stern shifted, placing a finger against her lips. “Life happens. Thank you for telling us.”

  “You ran the dungeon again?” Cyra asked, trying to distance the story from the reason Trish was apologizing.

  “A couple of months later. It took me that long to get out of my depression. I joined a crew that could take one more. It wasn’t a good crew at all. They fought with each other about stupid shit, but I didn’t find out until we were already inside. Half of them died, but we finished it. I grabbed my perk and pooled the rewards to get the coin together to have the dead reborn. The other two survivors left after that. I did quests and upped the reward for the shards so the dead wouldn’t be waiting for years. Once they were all reborn, I came here to start a life without dungeons.”

  “And now, you’re going back in,” Stern said softly.

  “With you and Cyra. Maybe I’m an idiot... I ran away from being a Walker once, died once, but now I feel excited to go with you... I’m a fucking wreck.”

  “But you’re our wreck,” Stern said.

  “Asshole...” Trish sniffled, then kissed him gently.

  “You’re our bulwark, lover, and friend,” Cyra said. “We all have problems, but together, we’ll overcome them.”

  “Thank you,” Trish said, tilting her head and pursing her lips.

  Cyra obliged her with a kiss. “I’m going to get breakfast started. Take your time, okay?”

  “Okay. Thanks, Cyra.”

  Cyra kissed her again, then left the room.

  Stern shifted slightly, but continued to hold her.

  “Is something wrong?” Trish asked.

  “My leg is numb,” Stern chuckled.

  Trish snorted, got off him, and wiped at her face. “So much for sexy fun.”

  Stern pushed himself up. He put a leg to either side of her, then wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “Yeah, but probably only for today. Besides, seeing this side of you just makes me love you more.”

  “Is it the snot? I bet it’s the snot.”

  “It’s the puffy eyes and the salty tears,” Stern said, deadpan.

  Trish snorted, then leaned back into him. “You know, don’t you?”

  “How much you love me right now? Yeah. It makes me happy. Besides my family and their closest friends, you two are the only ones who have ever felt this way toward me. I don’t want to lose it.”

  “I’m going to make this up to you.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Stern said. “I’m just glad to hold you.”

  “I’ll see you for breakfast,” Trish said, then tilted her head to the side of his. “Kiss my cheek and send me off?”

  Stern kissed her cheek and let her go. “Go on. I’ll be out once I get my stuff together.”

  “See you soon,” Trish said before leaving the room.

  Stern watched her go, then rubbed at his face once the door had shut. With no one else in the room, he was able to untangle his emotions. He still cared for her, more than he had last night, and sharing that piece of her soul had been intimate in a different way.

  Standing up, he gathered his things. Before we leave the city, I’ll tell them... They have a right to know if we’re going to try making this relationship work.

  Chapter Forty-five

  “I still need work,” Cyra said when they finished the last mock dungeon run for the day. “But I’m getting better.”

  “You are,” Stern agreed.

  “You’ll be good by the end of the week,” Trish said.

  “Agreed,” Velina added. “From the first run to the third, you’ve improved.”

  “Okay. I’ll keep working at it.”

  “I was curious as to that crossbow, Stern,” Velina said. “It fires quickly.”

  “It’s a new type,” Stern said, holding it out to her.

  “Stern, we’re going to pick up dinner and head home,” Trish said. “See you there?”

  “I’ll be along shortly,” Stern told her.

  “Can you explain it to me?” Velina asked.

  “Sure,” Stern said as Cyra and Trish left them there. “Okay, first, let me remove the magazine so we don’t have any accidents.”

  He spent the next hour going over the crossbow with her.

  Velina shook her head. “That’s going to change how people view crossbows. The mechanism behind it could be expanded to other things, as well.”

  “I’m sure the crafter is already working on some of them,” Stern said. “You don’t make something like this without seeing where else the basic idea could be used.”

  “That’s very true, but this… it lets you fire as quickly as a trained bowman, yet anyone can pick it up and use it.”

  “It’s just the cost that’ll keep it prohibitive,” Stern agreed. “Wouldn’t be surprised if Walkers turn to this as their preferred ranged weapon once they advance far enough to afford them.”

  “Agreed. Sorry for keeping you for so long. You three are starting to find your places together. It’s always nice to see. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, and we’ll be here.”

  Stern left the dojo behind, surprised that the sun was so low in the sky— he hadn’t meant to stay so late. He walked quickly, knowing the women would be waiting for
him if he took too long.

  “Stern,” Jensen called to him as he entered the hostel. “Question: Cyra said you’d be leaving in a handful of days. Is that right?”

  “A week, at the most,” Stern replied. “We’ll be done with training by then.”