by A. D. Wills
Workal stopped a few steps behind both the husband and wife who stared with deadened gazes—frozen with fear and weeping eyes, as they heard Workal's whip slap onto the ground. It was as if their souls had long since left their bodies and waiting to receive their inevitable judgment like hopeless husks.
Workal cracked the whip in twisted teasing, and lashed and wrapped around both their necks. He tightened his grip, grinning the redder their faces became, hearing their desperate gasps for air they couldn't hope to take in as their eyes watered and gazed into each other's eyes. At the very least, they tried to take some of their suffering away with the sight of the one they loved, if only for a few more fleeting blurred seconds. With one snapping tug, their arms went limp, and eyes froze open.
“Here, a reminder that if you don't get your sorry asses producing me something to bring back to Lord Judocus, you'll be next.” Workal kicked them off the ledge, and spat down at the pile of bodies that now lay there.
Without even so much as batting an eye, Workal retreated back into his stone home, and slammed the heavy door behind him.
Every single one of the workers deadened themselves on the outside. They had to. If they didn't know already, they just saw what would happen should they step out of line. But it didn't stop any one of them from feeling anything other than pathetic and ashamed standing idly by. Even if it wasn't the first time, they still couldn't ever get used to it, or rather, they refused to become numb and calloused to it.
“I can't just sit here and watch...” Caden said in a fiery rage, standing up to his feet—ready to charge down there. He didn't care what chance he had of surviving. The only blinding thought he had was if he could take down Workal. Any shred of reason had escaped him.
“I know, but we can't yet,” Zasha snatched the back of Caden's shirt in time to stop him from running off on his own. “Trust me, we'll get him.”
Zasha lent some rare assuring words to Caden, holding the same boiling contempt as him, but the lid had to stay on the pot just a little bit longer.
“I thought there were some rats scurrying around here,” a menacing voice spoke up from the darkness behind Caden and Zasha.
Caden took out his boomerang. “Just try and take us away.”
Zasha didn't wait like Caden, and charged ahead of him, throwing a clean punch right under the guard's chin to knock him out in one shot.
“I could've handled that,” Caden huffed, and hooked his boomerang back onto his belt.
“Sure, whatever you want to believe,” Zasha knelt down to loop one of the guard's arms around her to carry. “Come on, help me carry him back.”
“Alright, but next time, I'll get the first shot alright?” Caden went over to help, as he and Zasha took the long way back so as to make sure they didn't run into any guards, just in case.
Chapter 20: Caden
Sappo, Snillrik, and Chryssa made it back well before Zasha, Caden. In the meantime, Snillrik went right to examining the city plans they found at the last builder's house, while Sappo sat in waiting by the window, worried how long it's already been.
“Do you think they're alright?” Sappo asked.
Snillrik didn't hear anything while they were looking over the plans with Achi firmly perched atop their right shoulder in case Snillrik missed anything.
“I'm sure they're fine,” Chryssa tried settling Sappo, but at the same time, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach.
On cue, Caden busted through the door without any semblance of conspicuousness with a guard between him and Zasha. “Hey, we're back!”
“Shh!” Sappo rushed over, pulling them in, and shutting the door behind them. “But I'm glad you're alright, the both of you. And you actually brought a guard back? This is a guard right?”
“Shut up, and calm down. Everything's fine, no one saw us, and we're safe.” Zasha shook her head, dragging the guard over with Caden to a chair to put him in. “Do you have any rope?”
Chryssa walked over, handing Zasha some rope. “Here.” Chryssa stared down at the unconscious guard with seething eyes. She wanted to kill him more than anything, getting some semblance of revenge and satisfaction. It didn't matter if she didn't know if this was the one who took her parents away. They were all the same monsters to her.
Zasha looked over while tying the guard up, just to make sure Chryssa didn't try anything out of nowhere, but she appeared under control.
“So, what'd you three find? Anything good?” Caden asked the room.
“Wait, first, how did you manage to bring back a guard? And what did you see?” Sappo turned it around.
“We didn't get any information, other than bearing witness to the horrors in that quarry,” Zasha bluntly replied. “We're going to get everything we need from him when he wakes up though.”
“Are you sure he'll talk?” Sappo asked.
“I'll worry about getting him to talk. Just leave him until he wakes up, trust me, it will be worth it,” Zasha directed her eyes over to Chryssa, making sure she got the message loud and clear.
“What've you got there Snill?” Caden asked, but Snillrik remained focused, ignoring all of Caden's calls. “Hey, you there?”
Snillrik jumped out of their seat, tumbling back, and falling on their back in shock. “Oh, excuse me...” Snillrik gathered themself—their heart racing upon being snapped back to reality.
“Is this what you found?” Caden asked, leaning over Snill in awe, but really, he didn't understand a single line of it.
“Yes, but thanks to no shortage of luck...and bravery,” Snillrik alluded to the builder refusing to relent, taking this secret to his grave. “It's the plan of the city, and while it is a little tricky to read due to the archaic methods here, I've begun to decipher it. For instance, these steam vents, they appear to have been all dug out in such a way that they direct all the steam out in one efficient manner. It's quite genius actually...”
“Just get to the point if there is one,” Zasha cut in.
“Just a little bit rude...” Snillrik cleared their throat. “But yes. I digress. I don't see anything in here about any dungeon, or even anything about the quarry in particular either.”
Caden groaned in defeat.
“However, one of the shafts is close to the quarry's walls.” Snillrik pointed down at the plan, encouraging everyone to lean in to look. “As things stand, no steam pressure shoots in that direction, but if we were to redirect it, then in theory, it might be enough force to blast a hole directly into the quarry.”
“Nice going Snill! I'd say I can't believe it, but I already knew you were smart.” Caden gave Snillrik a brief squeeze of an embrace over their shoulder in congratulations.
“With time, and resources, I'm sure anyone could have eventually come to said conclusion perhaps,” Snillrik, clumsy as ever, fumbled over every word with an obvious bashful blush from Caden's flattery. “Oh, and there is this odd little symbol on the bottom right corner, but I've never seen it before, have any of you?”
Snillrik held the city plan up for everyone to glance at, showing them a smudged letter 'a' wrapped in what looked to be vines.
“Nope, sorry,” Caden shook off.
“It doesn't matter as long as the Vessi found this much,” Zasha declared.
“M-My name is Snillrik, how can you not know that by now?”
“But we still need information...and help,” Chryssa remarked.
“She's right. Just blasting in there doesn't do us any good either way just yet,” Zasha continued pouring the cold water on Snillrik.
“Um, sorry to interrupt, but I think he's waking up!” Sappo raised his voice in a panic upon noticing the guard groaning, and wriggling around.
The guard quickly realized he was being held captive, noticing his different surroundings in a panicked haze, and thrashed around to try wiggling out of his restraints, courtesy of Zasha.
“You're only going to make those tighter the harder you struggle.” Zasha knelt down before the guard to address him
with a bit of enjoyment on her face.
The guard didn't listen to Zasha, and continued to struggling in foolish determination. Soon enough though, he seized up as the rope around his neck began to choke him as he gasped for air.
“I told you,” Zasha relished the sight for a couple of long, sapping seconds. “Help me get him upright,” Zasha asked Caden, who helped Zasha lift the guard's chair back up.
“Uh, he kinda looks like you should loosen it a bit,” Caden pointed out, watching the guard nearly turn purple in the face.
In what seemed to be the last moment before the guard might keel over, Zasha twisted a knot that couldn't be reached behind the guard, and the rope loosened just enough to where he could breathe.
The guard desperately gasped for air, wheezing and spitting up everywhere with his bloodshot eyes widened as far as they could go.
“What do you think you're doing?!” The guard's blurred vision regained focus seeing the strange sight of a Vessi, Borean, two young humans, and an Ursine before him. “Oh I see, you're those adventurer's we've been told about,” the guard let out a demeaning chuckle.
“What's so funny about that?” Caden asked, stepping in close.
“Seeing you here still. No one bothers doing a damn thing about this place, but I guess someone stupid enough actually decided to show up and stay a while,” the guard continued belittling them. “You do realize Workal knows all about you being here, right? Even if we thought you were just passing through, he hears about every last thing in this place.”
“Then why hasn't he done anything about it?” Caden asked.
“You're just not worth his time is all,” the guard spat back with a cocky grin even in a situation like this. “What can a patchwork crew of adventurers like you do against us? Even if you tried causing a mess—even if by some ridiculous stretch you managed to accomplish anything, we'd snuff you out in the end. That's why no one bothers. You're against Divines here, kid.”
“Who cares about some Divines I keep hearing about, but never see?” Caden looked down through a focused angry gaze, curling his fists at his sides. “He'll regret thinking we're not worth his time, We're going to run him and the rest of you out of this city.”
“What'll happen to all those perfectly good slaves then?” The guard teased.
“They weren't slaves before Workal got here!” Caden snapped back, grabbing the guard by his collar.
“They may as well have been” the guard thrived on getting Caden worked up, but more so, he noticed Chryssa in the corner of his eyes. He could tell she was from here, as he tried to pour on the sting she was all too familiar with.
Chryssa was about ready to let her tongue loose that she had been biting this entire time, trying her best to not get baited into the guard's dirty tactics of angering them. She wanted nothing more than to squeeze the guard's throat—to make him apologize for what he's said, and make him pay.
“Dirt poor, filthy and without a cause. What else would you have us do to them? As far as I'm concerned, Workal did this place a favor by coming here, he gave them purpose at least.”
“Anyone should have the chance to do what they want with their life. Who cares if they're not rich like those Divines, it doesn't mean they can't be happy.” Caden's memories of being with his parents back in Stonehill flooded back to him. “You, Workal or anyone else don't have a right to take that away. But we have a right to give that chance back to them, and kick his ass out of here.”
“Oh that's rich...” the guard spat down onto the floor again. “And how do you plan on doing that? May as well entertain me since I'm here, and tell me your plan.”
“I'm glad you asked, because you're going to help us with that, whether you like it or not,” Zasha cut in, sick of hearing the guard spew his venom.
“Go on, torture me all you like,” the guard accepted. “If I go back now, Workal will just kill me anyway. Even if I didn't for some reason tell him what happened here, he'd sniff it out. I'm already dead.”
Zasha didn't bother dignifying the guard with any kind of response, and palmed his face, holding him firmly in place.
“What're you going to do to him?” Caden asked.
“I'm going to make him tell us everything we want to know. I'd rather not use my marks unless I have to, but making this pig squeal will be worth it,” Zasha smirked in the guard's helpless face.
A few seconds passed, when an odd marking began glowing on Zasha's arm holding the guard's face, burning its way through her flesh behind her pained cringing.
“Hey, you alright?” Caden down at her arm.
Zasha didn't say a word, and remaining honed in on the task at hand, squeezing the guard's face. When she pulled away, the guard's face took on a lazy empty expression, as though he was a mere empty vessel sitting lazily in his chair.
Shortly after, the glowing marking on Zasha's arm disappeared, and not so much of a trace of it was left behind on her skin.
“M-May I ask what it was you just did?” Snillrik was the first to speak up, as they and Achi both recoiled a little bit out of nervousness.
Zasha wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead, and caught her breath for a second. “He'll answer anything we ask him truthfully, but not for very long. We Boreans can make use of powerful runes marked on our bodies at birth, but it doesn't come without cost. I meant it when I said I didn't like to use them unless I had to. Using them too frequently or close together at the very least is exhausting, and could end up being fatal.”
“You can use magic!?” Caden blurted out with an excited wide eyed smile beaming at Zasha.
“I'll leave that to the mages in Belgdar. As useful as these runes are, we're pretty limited in comparison.” Zasha took another deep breath, and pulled up a chair to rest for a few minutes.
“Are you going to be alright?” Snillrik asked, approaching to see if Zasha needed attention.
“I'll be fine.” Zasha waved Snillrik away. “Stop wasting time, and ask him what we need to know. We only have a little while before he passes out from the stress I've put on his mind, and he's rendered useless to us.”
“Alright, I'll start then,” Chryssa took a step forward, a little nervous seeing the guard just sitting there like that, staring back through her with deadened eyes. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” the guard said in a mindless monotonous tone.
“Tell me, why is Workal here?” Chryssa cut to the core of everything.
“He seeks a relic inside the dungeon below. He seeks to bring it back to Lord Judocus.”
“I knew there was a dungeon here!” Caden shouted in childish excitement, despite the circumstances.
Sappo nudged into his side to settle Caden down, although it never worked.
“A relic? Do any of you know what a relic is?” Chryssa hadn't heard of it before, and asked Caden and the others.
Caden and the others only returned a shrug. Even Zasha didn't reply, as she shook her head in equal curiosity and confusion.
“What's this relic Workal is looking for?” Chryssa asked the guard for clarity.
“We don't know,” the guard began. “Workal doesn't tell us much other than he needs it for Lord Judocus. That's it.”
“Why doesn't he just go inside the dungeon then and get it himself?” Caden took over to ask. “Wouldn't it be easier that way?”
“Workal isn't worried how quickly he gets it. He sends in unarmed slaves to get him some treasure, seeing how far they can get for his own entertainment. He couldn't care less if they come out alive with the relic," the guard painfully admitted. Nothing special to it, no big reveal. Nothing.
“That's why this city's been under his control? That's why my parents are gone? All for something no one knows about, and his own entertainment...” Chryssa said with angry tears pooling up, but wiped away before they could fall. In a way she almost hoped there was some other grandiose reason Workal and his men were stationed here.
“Can you explain how all of you guards are distribute
d among the quarry?” Snillrik took over, something coming to mind as they furrowed his face in pensive thought.
“At night, the guards in the quarry move up to the top, and fan out along the edges to make sure no one leaves or gets in. The slaves work through the night, overseen by the few guards remaining below.”
“So their forces are indeed divided for a time, but not in a way that helps us, at least not as is...” Snillrik pondered.
The last reply sent the guard into a cold sweat, panting heavily, and twitching before his eyes rolled into the back of his head just as suddenly as he fell under Zasha's runes.
“He's unconscious now, but he won't be waking up for at least a couple of days. We don't need to worry about him causing a scene,” Zasha kept her words brief, appearing to sway on the brink of consciousness herself.
“But we aren't without answers,” Snillrik turned to the others.
“What'd you figure out, Snill?” Caden asked.
“He says that most of the guards outside of a select few are up on the surface, yes?” Snillrik said.
“Then how are we supposed to sneak past all of them up here?” Chryssa asked.
“Through the tunnel of course,” Snillrik began to explain. “If we can somehow draw out Workal's forces that are on the surface further into town, and distract them, we would have a clear shot into the quarry. And with the plans, we know how to blast our way in. What's more, there won't be many guards inside the quarry. Surely we would outnumber those below. It's our best chance.”
“They've got a point,” Zasha stood back up from her chair. “As long as we can distract the forces up on the surface long enough, we can get to Workal a lot easier.”
“But if we go into the tunnels, there's no way anyone would be able to withstand the steam, ” Chryssa brought up.
“No, but if redirected carefully, perhaps we might be able to create an untouched pocket. From the looks of it, there are three entrances into the shafts, one of them being underneath the Inn. At each entrance, there appears to be a switch for each vent to open or shut them, but I have to ask, does Workal have any guards around them?”
