New Objective: Bring the five relics to the Vault of the Magi. Apparently there are some important vestments you can get.
Devon raised an eyebrow. “So, uh, if someone were to hypothetically have the five relics, could you show them the way to the Vault of the Magi?”
The Mistwalker hissed in amusement. “She speaks like an Esh, referencing the self in a strange tense. This one knows she has the relics. Though this one fails to understand why she would place such treasures inside such a garish vessel.” Aijal nodded over Devon’s shoulder to indicate her backpack.
Devon clenched her jaw when Jeremy snickered. “Guess she went there,” the troubadour said.
“I liked you better when you were…actually, I’m not sure I ever liked you,” Devon said.
“I hope you do not intend to take from Devon what she has rightfully won,” Torald said, stepping forward to stand between Devon and the Esh. “Because I would consider that a harmful act, and I will not hesitate to defend her. My vow of peace lasts only as long as you uphold your part of the pact.”
The Esh shook her head in amusement. “This one came to offer aid. This one wishes to offer the champion guidance. If she does not believe me, she can bring forth her blade, that which was crafted by this one’s hands.”
Oh, crap! Devon laughed. She’d actually managed to forget about Night’s Fang for a while. “I guess you’ve been watching us for some time.”
“This one answered the call of the relic when it was brought back into the territory so near the ancestral home. This one and others of my kin traveled together, following the wind. It is unfortunate that the Rovan also felt the pull and arrived through burrows and cracks and holes in the earth. The Drivan will deal with the rest of them while you claim the city. The barrier is down, and vassals may now enter Ishildar. This one’s kin will defend your back against attack.”
“So about that…” Devon said. “You’ll lead me to the Vault?”
The Esh nodded. “But she must retrieve the relic she has stored.”
“Ah, crap, right.” Devon thumped her forehead with the heel of her hand. The Blackbone Effigy was still inside a niche in the Shrine to Veia, bolstering the city’s defenses against demons. Fortunately, now that she’d visited the nearby bindstone, she could teleport to and from Stonehaven and this point.
“Mind waiting here for a few?” she asked.
Aijal inclined her head. “This one is patient, Champion.”
Chapter Forty-Five
“OKAY, DISINTEGRATION IMMINENT,” Devon said as she leaned her bike against her thigh and began casting her teleport spell. At the thought of returning to Stonehaven, her fingers tingled. Finally, she would enter the settlement having accomplished what she’d set out to do even before the townsite had been found. Well, almost, anyway. She still needed to fetch the Blackbone Effigy, then hurry back into the city to do…whatever it would take to unlock the Vault of the Magi and claim her title. But still. Victorious return and all.
With a shimmery sound, the spell took hold, ferrying the group through the aether and depositing them in the grass surrounding the Shrine to Veia. Before opening her eyes, Devon grinned and inhaled deeply, smelling warm scents of grass and sunbaked stone.
But when the first shouts reached her ears, her smile melted away.
Devon’s eyes snapped open as she dropped her bike in the grass. Her gaze shot to the walls where archers lined up shoulder to shoulder, firing into the fields beyond. In small clusters between the ranged fighters, casters from the newbie levels up to the mid-twenties from the player camp shot Magic Missiles and called down Flamestrikes. Beside the main gate, a horde of melee fighters stood ready in case of a breach.
Heart in her throat, she squinted into the sunlight and saw imps hovering high above, unable to land because of the protections offered by the Shrine to Veia.
But they were waiting. Ready to dive the moment an assault weakened the barrier.
“Shit,” Hailey cursed.
Devon nodded.
The demon horde had arrived.
Shouting to the party members to follow, Devon sprinted toward the settlements’ main gates. Along the way, she pounded through the central square where the windows were now shuttered and boarded, the flower pots pulled inside. No one chatted or walked along the hamlet’s paths. If they could fight, they were on the walls. If they couldn’t, they were likely sitting fearfully behind locked doors.
At the gates, she skidded to a halt and called out for Jarleck. A shout from the wall answered her call, and she spotted the man up on the wall-walk, spyglass in hand. Devon sprinted up the stairs, the steps shaking under her feet, and stopped beside him.
The savanna outside the curtain wall was black with writhing demon flesh. Fiends paced and howled, hurling spears toward the ramparts and attempting to lay logs across the moat and against the curtain wall. Imps fluttered in shrieking groups while hellhounds paced like caged lions. Unlike the last attack, these demons were organized in squads. They worked together. Near the drawbridge, now retracted and sealed tight against the iron gates of the curtain wall, a group of perhaps twenty were busy hauling over the trunk of an acacia tree, no doubt intending to use it as a battering ram.
“How long have they been here?” Devon asked.
“Arrived this morning. Between our fighters and the shrine’s protection, we’re holding,” Jarleck said.
Devon exhaled in relief. “When I heard the shouts, I freaked out.”
But the man pressed his lips together, shaking his head to indicate he had more to say. “If it were just these, I suspect we could hold indefinitely—provided we could keep the town fed. But, Devon, we sent Blackbeard to scout.” He paused, brows drawing together. “I’m afraid this is only the vanguard. At least four times this number are marching in from the coast now. We’ll be overrun by the day after tomorrow.”
“Damn,” Devon muttered under her breath. Down in the field, a small imp fluttered up from the grass and tried to fly across the still-dry moat. A crossbow bolt skewered it through the eye, and the creature fell into the trench, dead. Devon glanced over and saw Heldi pump her fist as she reloaded.
“There are so many. Even if we killed them all…” She glanced into the moat and the corpses that were starting to pile up. “They’ll fill the moat,” she said. “And I don’t think they’ll hesitate to climb over their own dead.”
Jarleck nodded. “Already on it.” He pointed, and Devon saw a newbie rogue creeping through the moat and touching his dagger to the bodies to activate decomposition. The rogue crouched and quickly scooped up the loot, only to have a fiend jab a long spear into the trench and skewer him through the back of the neck, severing the poor noob’s spine. The player’s body vanished seconds later, and Devon turned to see him respawn at the shrine. Quickly, he started up the path that zigzagged along the cliff face, then scampered along the rim before downclimbing the far edge of the cliff outside the wall.
Jarleck sucked his teeth. “I didn’t give those trainers enough credit. I never would have thought of using the inexperienced starborn as an expendable resource.”
“I know, right? When the only death penalty is getting teleported back to your bind spot, it’s like the ultimate zerg rush.”
“A zerg…what?”
She shook her head. “Never mind. So listen, I got the final relic—”
Jarleck grabbed for the wall when his knees wobbled with relief. “I was certain you’d failed when I saw your party appear at the shrine. I didn’t want to say anything...”
Devon grinned and pulled the Starlight Rod from her backpack. Gripping it, she focused on one of the demons out in the field. A shaft of light lanced from the sky and pierced the mob through the heart.
“Not bad, eh?”
Jarleck stared in amazement. “Can you… I mean, it might take a while, but I don’t suppose you can do that to the rest of them?”
Devon sighed and shook her head. �
�The cooldown timer’s too long. But listen… If we can’t hold when the main force comes, our only hope lies in bringing Ishildar’s power to bear. But to do that, I need to take the Blackbone Effigy into the city.”
Jarleck winced, not the reaction she was hoping for.
“I’m guessing it won’t be so easy to hold them back without the Effigy.”
The man’s jaw worked as he stared down at the field. “The truth is, I’m not sure. It will be difficult. But there’s definitely no point in keeping the Effigy here, I suppose. If you don’t finish the quest, we’re lost anyway.” He looked up at her and straightened his shoulders. “We’ll do everything we can to hold on until you get back.”
She’d known that would be his answer, but Devon felt better hearing him say it. Clapping the man on the shoulder, she nodded. “I’m leaving the rest of my party here to help you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Something along the wall had already caught Jarleck’s gaze, and he gestured toward one of the archers to snag her attention.
“I believe in you, Mayor,” he said, eyes still on his soldier. “If anyone can save us here, it’s you.”
***
Back down at the shrine, Devon stared at the Blackbone Effigy for at least a minute. Even if this was the only solution, she could scarcely bring herself to make Stonehaven vulnerable. As she finally reached for the little statuette, Hailey stepped up beside her.
“I’m going with you,” the woman said.
Devon paused, hand on the statuette. “Okay. But why?”
“Because someone has to watch your back, right?”
“Jarleck could really use your healing abilities at the gates.”
“Really? Because what I see now is a standard siege. The demons haven’t even made it over the curtain wall.”
“They may soon,” Devon said as she pulled the Effigy off the little shelf in the shrine.
“Maybe,” Hailey said, her glance straying to the shrine as its aura dimmed. “And what happens if you run into trouble? I can help. Here, my puny heal over time isn’t going to make much difference when the real army comes and spills over the walls. Stonehaven is like a rotten apple waiting to get hit by a sledgehammer.”
When Devon grimaced at the image, Hailey shrugged in apology. “Okay, sorry, bad metaphor. What about a nice juicy strawberry?”
Devon blinked. “I think it was a simile, actually? I didn’t pay that much attention in English. And strawberry is a little better. I guess.”
“She’s right, you know,” Bob said after a moment. “You might be the so-called champion, but you’re not invincible.”
Devon met Hailey’s eyes and held them. Both the woman and the wisp made good points. “Okay,” she said at last. “You need to log first or anything?” Speaking of, Devon had been online for around sixteen real-world hours. She should at least pee and grab a small snack before the final push.
Hailey just shook her head. “I’ll go see if there’s anything I can help with the wall until you’re ready,” the woman said. “Just yell when you’re set.”
Devon nodded and dropped to a seat in the grass. “If you’re not here when I return, I’ll figure you decided on a bio break after all.”
Hailey waved away the concern. “I snuck away last night. Don’t tell Greel I abandoned his sorry NPC ass to whatever jungle dangers lurked.”
Devon laughed as she logged out, even though something in the woman’s tone seemed a little…off. And she was pretty sure Hailey had been sitting beside the campfire the whole night. Anyway, it wasn’t her job to police her friend’s biological needs.
Chapter Forty-Six
WHEN DEVON AND Hailey reappeared in front of the Mistwalker, the long-limbed creature gave an elegant bow. “Invite this one to her party, and this one should be able to journey with her safely.”
The Esh’s speech patterns were kind of confusing, but the meaning was clear enough. Devon fumbled through her interface until she found the option to add the Esh to the group, and moments later Aijal’s health and mana bar appeared at the edge of her vision.
“Many of the details of the initiation of a new Keeper are lost to time,” Aijal said, “but by this one’s understanding, a representative of each of the vassal societies formed a procession with the newly selected leader through the streets to the Vault of the Magi. Along the way, the stone guardians formed an honor guard that lined the streets, assuring that none would try to harm the initiate. The histories suggest that the initiate halted upon passing each golem and used the command spell to form a bond.”
“Yeah, so, I haven’t had a whole lot of success with that so far,” Devon said.
“She has tried already then. Between the curse and her possession of a limited number of relics, it’s surprising she was brave enough—or even able—to attempt the spell.”
“No one ever accused her of keeping a strong grip on reality,” Bob muttered. “I notice you haven’t yet thanked me for my part in keeping her alive thus far.”
The Mistwalker simply stared at the wisp for a moment, her liquid eyes inscrutable. “This one is sure the wisp will receive whatever credit is due for its…service. Such a difficult trial it must have been to ride around on the champion’s shoulder and make sarcastic comments.”
Devon grinned. “That was kind of a burn, you know,” she said to the wisp.
Bob huffed. “I don’t remember asking your opinion.”
“Anyway,” Devon said, “I guess we’ll hope that a procession with a descendant of one of the vassal societies, a semi-reluctant champion and her starborn friend, and a really annoying wisp will be good enough for the stone golems. Ready to lead us to the Vault?”
Aijal inclined her head gracefully. “Quite.”
With that, she set off with long strides, her robe dragging the pavestones. Devon caught Hailey’s eyes, shrugged, and hurried to catch up.
They made it three blocks before the first Stone Guardian woke and stepped to bar their path. Far from standing at attention like an honor guard, the giant glared down at the small group.
“Well, I guess I’ll just pretend that it’s waiting to bond with me. Fake it till you make it, right?” Closing her eyes, she wrapped her hand around the Greenscale Pendant and activated Ishildar’s Call. Awareness of the golem sprang to life in her mind, and this time, her understanding of the creature was much deeper. She felt its bottomless loyalty to the city, its unending patience and unbreakable desire to defend Ishildar for as many centuries as it might take before a new master to come.
She also felt the creature’s confusion as Devon stood before it. Here was someone with all the relics, but only one vassal representative stood beside her. She sensed that the Stone Guardian perceived her insecurity as well, something former Keepers had probably never felt. With a deep breath, Devon forced away her fear and straightened her shoulders. She lifted her gaze to the deep eye sockets of the Stone Guardian where tiny flecks of light shone.
“I mean to restore Ishildar to greatness,” she said. “I mean to rule over and care for this ancient domain, and it is my deepest desire to return the city to what it once was.”
Her words seemed to echo in the golem’s mind, turning over and over and falling back on themselves as if spoken in a deep cavern.
Devon jerked in surprise when Hailey’s cast bar lit up. Crap. Was the woman going on offense? But before Devon could protest, the buff landed. Self-actualization. Of course. The spell strengthened Devon’s abilities—including Ishildar’s Call.
“I’m the Keeper you have been waiting for,” Devon said, forcing herself to speak the words with conviction, and in doing so, she even began to believe them. “After a thousand years, I am the first and only person to have gathered all five relics. I will be a just and wise master of the city, and I will bring Ishildar’s light to all the territory it once commanded.”
“And I and my kin will support her,” Aijal said as she set a hand on Devon’s
shoulder. “Many of the vassal societies have disappeared, but the Esh stand with her, as do the Felsen from the Argenthal Vassaldom.”
“Did you hear that?” Bob muttered. “She spoke normal English. I think the weird this one stuff is an act to make her seem more mysterious.”
Devon didn’t miss the glare that Aijal shot toward the wisp. Really? Did that mean Bob was right?
Either way, the Stone Guardian still stood before them, a low grumbling raising from somewhere within its chest.
Devon gripped the pendant harder, focusing every bit of awareness she possessed on that bond it created with the golem.
“Please,” she said. “If ever there was a need for Ishildar’s power, the world requires it now. Demons are on our shores. I must turn Ishildar’s light against them.”
As she spoke, she felt the golem’s heart shift, first to anger at the mention of demons, and then to…acceptance? The silence held for another long moment until she felt the Stone Guardian decide to grant her allegiance.
Going down on one massive knee, the Stone Guardian bowed its boulder of a head. After taking a shaky breath, Devon stepped forward and laid her palm against the giant’s forearm.
“The threat is real and present. Can you carry us to the Vault of the Magi so that I might take possession of the city?”
With a rumble, the Stone Guardian nodded assent, and within a few seconds, had scooped up the three women. The golem carried them cradled close to its stone chest, as high as most of the rooftops. Devon watched in amazement as, from this vantage, she witnessed stone giants raising their heads all around the city. One by one, the golems came to life and converged in a procession behind them. Around ten minutes later, the guardian deposited her in front of what looked like a vast cathedral. A high archway led into the main chamber, and in the back, lit by a shaft of light falling through the window, she spied another stone door. This interior portal, carved with intricate symbols, was set with a heavy iron panel. A dark keyhole was barely visible in its center.
Vault of the Magi: A LitRPG Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 5) Page 26
