The Guild Core: The Complete Saga Boxset: A LitRPG Dungeon Adventure

by TJ Reynolds

  “Yes. It is. Am I speaking to—”

  The gruff soldier who’d retrieved cut her off with a hiss. “Quiet, turn cloak.”

  Her interrogator nodded to the soldier and smiled. “Thank you, Dastovan. You may go now.”

  After a deep bow, the man retreated, making Rhona just a little bit more comfortable.

  “Yes, you’re speaking to the commander of the Hintari Fist. I receive my orders directly from the ruling council, and have authority over all matters of security.” The man paused to wet his lips. “Does the name Tembar Bowe mean anything to you?”

  Rhona’s blood chilled. “If you mean Tembar Knightsbane, then yes, it does.”

  “I’ve been called that before, but only by the Brintoshi. Well, it is fair you know who I am, for I know of your father. Unless of course, you’re not the daughter of Drystan the Destroyer.”

  Tembar accentuated her father’s title, making such nicknames seem foolish as well as unavoidable.

  Rhona’s silence proved confirmation enough as the man proceeded with his questioning. “Royar has relayed your story to me. So far, none have been sighted approaching the border. Normally, I’d have called your bluff long ago and sent you down the mountain by the quickest route. But why would Brintosh send you? Seems a valiant mistake. I could ransom you for a few gold coins or torture you till I knew how every officer you served with liked their tea.”

  Wanting to cut through some of the man’s discourse, Rhona added, “Or throw me to your men for a week till my hips gave out. But we both know you won’t do that. And you have at least a suspicion that I’m telling the truth.”

  Tembar’s smile was colder than his gray eyes. “Aye.”

  Quicker than she’d expected, the man changed course. “Tell me of the man who killed the Earth Core. How is that possible? How did he do it?”

  Here we go, Rhona thought to herself. You wanted to stop bandying about, so out with it, girl.

  Rhona began by restating some of the “facts” she knew they’d still be struggling with. She’d been in the company of a half dragon and his Earth Core. They’d fought a basilisk and restored Imogen’s dungeon. Then they’d stolen away to the border with the core, fleeing from the Vermillion Guard itself.

  Tembar wanted to know more of the half dragon, but she told him simply that they’d parted ways before crossing.

  The commander stood and turned to Royar.

  With a weary sigh, the ranger spoke up. “I told him, Rhona. I follow orders, when it counts at least. So I mentioned that a young man riding a crazed lizard dog traveled to the Sunken Keep. He’s being followed, but don’t worry. He won’t be attacked unless the boy tries to do something foolish.”

  Rhona had suspected such was the ranger’s plan. Hearing it admitted out loud was no comfort either though.

  Soon, she’d been asked another question, and she found herself describing the moments leading up to Imogen’s death.

  Her heart raced as she recalled the immense gyre of emotions. “I bonded with her, you see. I even received an Accolade that says as much. So when the soldiers crushed the last of her resistance, Kai, Ban, and I were all pulled in with her.

  “Hastings is young for his rank. I don’t know him or of him, but I saw his eyes. He’s as cold as you are, Tembar, but sleeps easy at night. I saw no remorse when he did it.”

  Tembar pursed his lips and stared at the ground. “How, Rhona? How did he do it?”

  “I haven’t a clue. His gauntlet, though, was the tool he used. It somehow channeled the ether of the core directly into his own body. I think he killed the dungeon and used it to increase his own core.”

  Whispers broke out among the officers who’d remained silent all the while. Tembar, too, looked flustered. “It was a crime for the Brintoshi to have shivved the Earth Cores. To use one to ascend is worse yet. This man must be stopped.”

  Rhona held Tembar’s gaze. His eyes were like chips of flint. Though his hands were covered in blood, she knew she’d done the right thing in coming here. “I’m glad you think so.”

  Tembar smiled. “And I’m glad you betrayed your own people though I don’t know why.”

  “I’ve betrayed none but the king and his army. The people of Brintosh like war no more than anyone else. I was trained as a soldier but learned better. I now walk the Path of the Bleeding Tiger.”

  The commander whistled. “I suspected something like that. Arriving at an enemy’s border without a sword or armor isn’t usually a smart way to survive. A monk though…”

  Tembar didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he produced another stool and sat opposite Rhona. He folded his hands in his lap. “Are you willing to divulge information regarding troop numbers and locations?”

  “I am.”

  “Are you ready to tell me of the current tactics and plans of your… previous commanders?”

  Again, Rhona agreed. “I am.”

  “Very good, but are you likewise prepared to swear a core-bound oath?”

  Rhona and Tembar had spent hours together. The other officers kept notes and asked questions of their own.

  Most spoke Brintoshi, but others needed a translator to get their questions across.

  The experience ground away her stamina and any sense of pride, but though her actions stood a chance to hurt those she’d served among, she felt it might do the world some good.

  Balance, after all, was a fine thing.

  The stars were out, and her head throbbed when they let up.

  Tembar had been a good host. Rhona had been fed during her interrogation and given three cups of spiced mead. Again, her body fought to deny the exotic food, but her hunger had won out.

  It was Royar who accompanied her to the stables when she was released.

  The two wove through camp until they found her boy, well-groomed and fed as Tembar had promised.

  Royar whistled idly, giving her some space while she scratched behind the horse’s ears and dug through her saddle bags for a treat. “You’ve done a fine job today, Honor. Didn’t bite or kick anyone. Here’s a carrot for a good boy.”

  “He is a fine horse,” Royar offered. “Most soldiers prefer muscle-bound brutes with less wit than a mayfly. Yours is smart and light of hoof.”

  “Aye. He is,” Rhona replied.

  She patted Honor down and pulled out a snack for herself as well. Then she turned to her friendly captor. “Shall we go back to the cell?”

  “No cell for you, dear. No, sir. We don’t treat allies in such a fashion.”

  Rhona bit her lip. “No cell? You’ve so much trust in a core oath?”

  Royar’s smile faded. “Yes. As we should. Rhona, the oath you gave will bind you. If you deny it, your core will break, and you’ll be dead in a second. I’ve seen it happen once, and I’d not wish it on the Brintoshi devils that come for us.”

  She chuckled. She’d so recently been one of those devils.

  The ranger led her out of the stables, and they walked until they found a line of individual tents. He held out a hand, pointing to one. “This is my tent. I have finer digs elsewhere, so don’t go thinking I’m a common grunt. And this one here,” he said, pointing to the one next to it. “This is your tent. Don’t go anywhere without me, okay? If you need, make water in the pan inside. If the circles below your eyes are any indication, you’re as tired as I am. Goodnight, Rhona.”

  She watched the man duck into his tent and out of sight.

  Rhona followed suit, lifting the flap and finding a small but comfortable space for the evening. She removed her boots and got comfortable before taking a bite of the apple she’d taken from her bags.

  “Fine digs, for a turn cloak,” Rhona muttered to herself. Though the sleeping pad and blanket she’d been given were plenty, sleep eluded her. “Better than a cold cell or a swift hanging though.”

  Her exhausted mind kept replaying the day’s events, from when they’d been held up by the rangers at the border all the way up until Tembar had invited an old crone
into the tent. The woman’s job had been simple. She had clutched a gemstone the size of a goose egg in one hand, and placed the other on Rhona’s chest.

  Rhona’s oath had been simple: I will never seek to destroy the kingdom, soldiers, or commoners of Hintar.

  The oath echoed in her head, each word perfectly etched in her memory. Perhaps it was the surge of ether that flashed from the gem, filling the crone’s eyes with blue energy before passing into her chest. Or perhaps she was the kind of woman who took her oaths seriously.

  When she’d signed up to serve in the king’s army, she’d taken an oath as well.

  She was no longer a soldier though, and her first oath had been fulfilled.

  The Brintoshi oath had a single tenet that surpassed a soldier’s enlistment. Rhona whispered it aloud. “I shall protect the people of Brintosh with my own life.”

  That’s what I’ve done. Isn’t it? she asked herself.

  Yet no matter how she justified her decisions, Rhona’s stomach still twisted in knots. The soldiers who pursued them would pay with their lives because of the information she’d given to Tembar. How many more will follow?

  Suddenly, a ghostly voice rasped in her ear.

  Rhona turned her head to see the vaporous form of Kai’s face emerge from a cloud of mist.

  She jerked away and let out a high-pitched squeal.

  Royar’s voice cut through the din of the camp. “Are you okay?”

  The floating Kai head rasped, “Sorry to scare you. It’s me, Kai.”

  Rhona sighed, mouthing No shite! before answering Royar. “I’m fine. Damn Hintari spider was all. Sorry.”

  She held a finger to her lips, then waited a few moments.

  When she heard Royar shift in his own tent again, most likely trying to fall back asleep, Rhona spoke with Kai’s phantom.

  “Is this your new spell?”

  Kai’s misty head nodded, an odd thing to see when his body refused to fully form. Rhona could see whirling ether below his neck, but it seemed the spell was too weak to do more.

  “Yes. Soul Projection is… strange,” Kai said. “Don’t have long. Are you safe?”

  “I am. Tomorrow I return to the border to fight the Vermillion Guard. Will be a nasty battle, but I don’t think they can overpower the Hintari forces here. Not yet at least.”

  Kai’s face evaporated a moment before solidifying once more. His face, eyes, and hair were gray and inhuman-looking. “Ban and I found the keep. We should arrive there tomorrow. I’ll reach out to you again tomorrow night. Will you…”

  Rhona waited for Kai to finish his question. At last, she prompted, “Will I what, Kai?”

  “Will you return with us when the fight against the Vermillion Guard is over?”

  Even through the spell’s ghostly imitation of Kai’s voice, Rhona could tell he was afraid.

  She wouldn’t lie to him though. “I don’t know. I will do what I must, Kai. I want to though. I really do. I hope that is enough for now.”

  Kai nodded, his flat eyes filled with sadness. “Very well. I’ll speak with you tomorrow. Goodbye, Rhona.”

  The figure disappeared. The ether that had formed his face evaporated until no mist remained.

  Rhona growled softly, guilt and frustration warring within her. Then she sighed, letting as much of the tension flow out as she could. Life didn’t always come with choices. She’d served her country honorably until the day she left.

  But despite how much her clothes and companions had changed, Rhona knew she would always be driven by duty and honor.

  9

  The Limitations of Power and Chivalry

  Rhona

  The only thing Rhona had bargained for, aside from Ban and Kai being left alone, was to fight in the upcoming battle.

  So, when Royar woke the next morning, Rhona was already prepared.

  The Hintari favored leather armor studded with brass or iron. It made for a faster unit but one less capable of taking a beating. The rangers preferred no armor at all, or if any, a simple leather vest.

  As Rhona mounted Honor, she felt strange surrounded by the unarmored rangers. These fighters are more akin to me now. Remember that, Rhona. It’s what you’ve chosen.

  The full weight of Tembar’s forces were positioned to ambush the Vermillion Guard well before midday.

  Then, as with any ambush, it had become a waiting game.

  Royar had explained the layout of the battlefield quite clearly. The border itself was little more than a trail surrounded by dense forest. The Hintari had kept it such so that any force passing through would have to do so four or five at a time. On horseback, as the Brintoshi would be, only two horses could ride undisturbed.

  The battle proper wouldn’t take place at the border. Only a score of rangers would be present during the first engagement.

  Their job was to take down a few soldiers and retreat.

  A quarter mile up the trail, the pursuing Brintoshi would feel the steel of Tembar’s resistance.

  The forest opened up, the trail growing into a road. The path sloped uphill and wound through the remains of a stone keep, a shattered wall running into the distance.

  The Vermillion Guard would need to weave through or around the ruins and assault a company of fifty heavy spearmen. These foot soldiers would stand in formation directly behind the ruins, acting as a barrier.

  Fifty more javelin stood behind, their lighter weapons and armor fit for ranged attacks.

  Royar and his best rangers were standing amid the scattered columns and structure of the ancient keep.

  Rhona stood among them.

  Of the twenty rangers present, Tela had chosen to fight with Rhona. The woman still seemed to hate Rhona, but after swearing the core oath, Tela had at last introduced herself.

  She was indeed Royar’s lover, though how Tela explained it, the two remained open to other romantic possibilities.

  This statement made Rhona suspect only Tela needed the freedom of such an arrangement. Royar couldn’t have been more smitten.

  Even now, as Rhona hunkered below a portion of stone and mortar, Royar threw a wink at his love.

  Tela sighed and muttered to Rhona, “Why is it that when men are eager and kind, I always want to lose my breakfast?”

  Rhona giggled. “I don’t know. Might be that lingering stench of desperation.”

  The two fell silent for a time, the only sound wind playing across lichen-covered stones. “Tela, I must ask,” Rhona said at last. “Should we capture some of the Brintoshi… will they be held prisoner?”

  “Not likely. Best to kill them all. Not like they will have information you did not already give us.”

  Tela looked at Rhona and sensed her unease. “Tembar is not as cruel as they say. If an execution occurs, it will be brief and painless.”

  Rhona latched onto Tela’s words and remembered that it wasn’t Hintar who was starting a war.

  Not a minute later, the distant twang of a bowstring sounded.

  Fear and the thrill of battle filled Rhona’s limbs as she heard more arrows fired. A few cries of pain followed, and then naught but silence again.

  The retreating rangers broke out of the tree line and found positions behind the nearest cover.

  Then, distantly, a man’s voice called out a series of orders. Equipment rattled.

  Rhona could see it in her mind’s eye. The Brintoshi expected an ambush, and so rather than gallop in on horseback like fools, they were dismounting and forming up once more.

  Their greatest advantage had been removed, but had the commander of the Vermillion Guard insisted on treating his soldiers like cavalry, they’d have been cut down a few at a time amid the ruins.

  On foot, however, they’d be able to weave through the ruins and confront the spearmen directly.

  Sure enough, the crunch and stomp of marching soon followed, and the first line of Brintoshi emerged from the trees.

  Five soldiers abreast, the leading rank held large shields and moved at a s
nail’s pace.

  More and more ranks filed out, and still Tembar held back the ambush. The Hintari commander waited until their foes were committed.

  When fifteen ranks had come into range, Tembar’s voice echoed off the many walls of the ruins. “Attack!” he shouted in Hintari.

  Tela stood up near Rhona and took her first shot. The arrow leapt from the ranger’s bow and sunk into the joint of a lead soldier’s pauldron. Her attack hadn’t wounded the man, only ruined the range of motion of his right arm.

  The half dozen arrows that followed, however, sent the man tumbling to the ground like an empty set of armor.

  Even at a hundred paces away, Rhona could see the thick cloud of ether erupt from the man’s body. The sheer volume of energy spoke of the soldier’s ascension.

  These were not weak foes.

  Normally, the archers present would have fired timed volleys, peppering the enemy soldiers with waves of arrows. Now, however, they loosed their deadly attacks at will.

  Onward, the Brintoshi came, and more of them fell.

  Their armor shielded them effectively, though, and the lead soldiers entered the ruins shortly after.

  Rhona’s muscles screamed to be used and her hand felt empty without her long sword. This would be her first true battle as a monk, and the protection of mail and plate sounded delightful at the moment.

  She waited for her cue.

  Another minute went by, the tromping soldiers moving implacably into Hintar. Arrows twanged, careening off of armor or shields, and occasionally sinking into flesh.

  Then another shouted command came from further back. The leader of the spearmen bolstered his troops. Rhona only knew a few words in Hintari, but these she understood. “Stand tall! Do not fear Brintoshi dogs!”

  For the tenth time, the strange nature of her predicament struck home. Her very soul begged for answers. What are we doing? How did we get here? Who do you serve?

  Rhona didn’t have the time or energy to answer any of them.

  Instead, when the Brintoshi clashed with the front ranks of the Hintari spearmen, their shields pounding together with incredible force, she darted out of hiding.