by Jez Cajiao
“Not me?” I responded, looking around and getting a variety of head shakes in response. “Nobody?” I asked, a faint edge of irritation flooding my voice as I turned and started in that direction, thinking to do it myself.
When I rounded the table to approach the corpse, though, I found a thick streak of blood, the robes, and a few piles of meat I tentatively identified as organs.
Or I would have, if they weren’t blackened and clearly rotting.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, and in seconds, Bane and Tang were by my side, as the entire group went on high alert.
I pulled up my notifications when they started to flash madly at me, and I felt my heart sink when I read them.
BEWARE! Due to the death of the ‘Master,’ this portion of the quest is still classed as completed, HOWEVER… the SkinWalker that possessed the ‘Master’ has fled and will now attempt to claim a new host… be wary, for such a creature can beguile the mind and feed on the unsuspecting.
“Motherfucker!” I shouted in fury, sweeping up my naginata from where I’d leaned it against the wall earlier and channeling a spark of fire into it, making the room grow instantly brighter as I started searching.
It didn’t take long for us to follow the trail, which led to a small crack in one wall, and then down into a pipe, through a hole that was far too small for any of us to follow, leaving a clear trail of dried blood.
“So, what, the goddamn thing is alive, even though Giint put a bolt through its brain, and it dragged itself off into the fucking sewer system?” I snarled, feeling furious at myself. All damn night, I’d felt something watching me, and it must have been this thing; plus we’d lost any fucking loot it had!
We quickly searched the area as Bane moved to the outer balcony and looked down at the gnomes that were closing in on us.
“Bane? What’s happening?” I called after we found the health and mana potions I’d left out, drained, and I had to grit my teeth to keep from snarling as a few seconds later, Bane’s voice floated back to me.
“They’re still coming, but… I don’t see the frantic aggression we had with the Badunka Riders. Giint appears to be leading them…”
“They coming by choice?” I asked.
“Possibly, possibly not. I can’t be sure from up here.”
“Fine; let’s go find out, I guess then. Grizz, you and Lydia okay? Ready to flank me?” Grim nods came from them both. “Good. Grizz, on my right, Lydia, on my left. Jian, you’re with Lydia. Miren, Stephanos, Arrin, you’re behind us. Stay as high as you can and blast them if a fight starts. Yen, you’re our trump card; stay hidden, and be ready to use the Spears if we need it, as high powered as you can. Bane, Tang, stealth… be ready to jump them and gut anything you can.” I snapped out orders as I headed across the room and towards the stairs.
I knew there were things hidden in here, I just goddamn knew it, especially with the way the corpses in the cage were dangling; the whole place just screamed out ‘hidden treasure,’ but I had neither the time nor the ability to loot it properly. We’d gotten a good supply of gold, silver, and jewels, ironically the things that had the least value to us, and the thing that was the most valuable, the portal, and any hidden magical gear, we didn’t have time to attempt to disassemble or find.
It was galling, but I didn’t even dare use the ability that Jenae had given me to find the hidden room; it was a strictly once a day ability, and I couldn’t risk using it now when I might really need it later, and when I’d considered it last night, I’d not known if ‘once per day’ counted as the rise and setting of the sun, or a twenty-four hour period. I resolved to talk to Jenae about it later.
I grumbled to myself as I jogged across the floor, kicking a small, broken section of the ceiling out of my way and sending it flying out into space, before hearing it clatter to the ground three floors below.
I jogged down the stairs, the rest of the team following me, and by the time we’d reached the lowest balcony, Giint and his people were in sight, crossing the outermost edge of the building and heading inside.
We reached the ground floor at about the same time as he led the first of the gnomes into the atrium, and I stopped a few stairs up from the ground, with the rest of the group spreading out around me, ready for a fight.
“Lorrrrd Jaxx,” Giint called up to me, bowing awkwardly and glaring at me before spitting on the floor. “I findsss my peeeople. Bring them for healiiiing. You do thisss… they sssswear, like Giint.”
The group that moved in around him were a mixture of the noticeably young and the very old, with only Giint seeming an able-bodied adult; still, I let out a sigh as I relaxed. I’d been hoping they were coming to join us, now that the more… rabid… of their people were dead, and the asshole that had been controlling them was gone, but still. Hoping and having it confirmed were two vastly different things.
“Okay, Giint, you brought them here to swear to me. Do they understand what this means?” I asked, and he nodded hesitantly, so I went on, looking out at the group that shuffled around, glaring at me and each other in equal measure.
I didn’t have to count them; the Quest from Jenae had said there were twenty-seven in total that could be recruited, and this was obviously them. Despite the filth that coated them, and the borderline madness that shone in many an eye, I knew what had to be done.
Not only could I not leave them, but I also damn well needed them, each and every one, if I was going to find their old ship and get it flightworthy again, not to mention figure out how the hell it worked.
“Giint says you have come to swear fealty to me, in exchange for healing and being taken off the island; is this true?” I asked, my voice echoing around the atrium.
They looked at each other, and slowly in ones and twos, then more, they nodded or spoke up to agree.
“Good!” I said. “First, then, the good news. I can heal you all, and I can get you off this structure, leading you up into the sky and to a home that, while not safe, will be a damn sight safer than this place will be.” I waited, seeing relief on the faces of some and hostility on the faces of others.
“The bad news is that there is an enemy fleet heading here now. My own forces are leaving, by my orders. The only way we can get out of here, and escape with our lives, is if we clear out the undead, kill the Lich, and reach your old vessel. I know roughly where it’s hidden; do any of you remember it?” I asked, and the older members of the group nodded, most of them, anyway.
A tiny figure shuffled forward, his right eye covered by a monocle and a scruffy cap perched atop his head. Dozens of larger and smaller lenses decorated it, clearly ready to be pulled down at any time to be looked through. He wore pants and a tunic that once must have been smart, and probably black. Now they were an off-grey, with patches that covered older patches, and I suspected the original garment was a distant memory at this point.
“I remember it,” he wheezed, and I frowned, hearing a rough, but cultured accent and clear diction, as opposed to the way that Giint spoke. I glanced to Giint before I could stop myself and back at the elder. “You offer to heal us… and in return, we swear our lives to you, something no gnome has ever done…” He glared at me suspiciously.
“Wrong,” I said without thought, hastily going on when I saw the glare grow deeper. “You think no gnomes have sworn fealty before, yet your ancestors swore fealty to the Empire, long ago.”
“Bah,” he said, shaking his head. “They had no choice.”
“No, they didn’t…” I replied, my mind filled with fragments of memories. Of wheeling clouds and dragonfire, screams of pain and roars of triumph, thousands of bolts being lofted into the air and soaring past, as Amon and Shustic dove under them. Dragonfire flashing out to destroy defenses…. “But that’s what happens when you invade your neighbors.”
“The records show it was in self-defense! The island of Reshi was plotting to attack, so we simply did it first,” he cried, shaking a fist at me.
“Really? Because
the Emperor couldn’t find any evidence of that,” I said calmly. “Look. You’ve got a choice here. You want to be left here, to be trapped on the Prax when the SporeMothers arrive? Be my guest. We’re leaving, and as the only way you can make it to your ship is if we clear the way for you, you must choose quickly.”
“What SporeMother?” The elder growled, and I smiled coldly.
“The one that the Goddess Jenae warned us about. Some assholes are flying it here in the fleet that is heading our way. I don’t have time to fuck about, so let’s make this as clear as possible. I have the mana to heal one or two of you right now. That’s it. Those I heal, like Giint, will probably go through all of their leveling at once. He was unconscious for hours. We have six hours before the fleet arrives, so I’m not doing that for anyone, as I’d have no mana, and they’d need to be carried. You want to come, you swear the Oath now. If not, I’m leaving you here,” I stated flatly, before starting forward to Giint.
He stood, looking from me to the elder, and the rest of the group remained in stunned silence. Clearly, he’d been expecting that I would wave my hand and make them all well again.
“Giint, I’m sorry,” I said apologetically, looking down at him. “I’d planned on healing any I could, and using the Manastones to power my magic, if I could figure out how, but that choice has been taken from us, I’m afraid. Do you know the way out of here, to the undead, I mean?” He nodded, and I let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I’d been worrying we’d waste time finding out how to get there.” I straightened up and took a deep breath, my grip tightening on my naginata as I faced the Elder and the small group that stood around him, arguing.
“Elder, I wish there were more time, as I desperately need you, and your people. I am Jax, Scion of the Empire and Lord of Dravith. I give you my Oath that I intend you and your people no ill will, but I can’t waste time here convincing you of the truth of what I say. We’re leaving. If you want to come with us, then I ask that you strip this place of anything we can use in the war effort and bring it to the ship. You have to get there no later than five hours from now, as I can’t imagine that the ship will just start up for the first time without problems.” I paused, forcing mana into my Oath, and seeing the look on the Elder’s face as he registered it.
“I… see… You have seen that we are not what we once were,” he said, gesturing to the group that surrounded him. “The eldest were high enough leveled already that we staved off the worst of the effects of the spells and poisoning, but we are none of us what we should be. We exiled the most unstable to the Badunka Riders, and many more actively roamed the streets, fighting and… feeding… off of each other. Those that are left, well…the youngest are unstable at best, and several are actively rabid, attacking any that come close. You ask us to leave them to their fate?” he said, his voice cold and pain filling his gaze.
“No. If you would bring any others, you can, but…!” I said, holding up one hand to stop him from speaking. “They must be restrained; if they attack me or mine, they die. I cannot afford to take the risks right now; thousands of lives are at stake. Those who want to come either swear the Oath, or they are restrained and watched over by those that have sworn. That, or they stay here.”
“You leave us little choice,” he growled, and I snorted out a laugh.
“Man, I’ve given you lots of choices; you just don’t like them! Here…” I said, and I concentrated, grunting as I pushed out the Oath to the group before me. It’d become easier, much easier than it was before. Back at the Tower, I’d needed to draw on its mana to do this, even for smaller groups, but as I grew more proficient, Oracle and I had found we didn’t need to use a hammer; a scalpel was enough. It cost me ten mana per person to perform the Oath, and five to offer it, so if they all took me up on it, it’d cost me twenty-six times fifteen mana, or three hundred and ninety mana.
Unlike when I activated the Legion Oath, or when I’d taken Amon’s Oaths as my own, this was because, with that small amount from me, the Oath was being sworn by the other person… so it could use their mana!
When we’d done it back in the Tower, I’d basically paid the mana debt for them, and it was only when I was unconscious and Oracle had tried to give the Oath out, not thinking about it, that she’d realized the truth. It was one of many things she’d told me over the last few days in idle conversation, mainly as we laid in each other’s arms on a night.
At five hundred and forty points, my manapool was high enough now that I could afford to use it for this, and with the glares some of the group were giving me, I didn’t expect I’d have many takers, anyway.
I was surprised when over half of them began to give the Oath, the words rippling out, starting with the elders, and moving to the younger ones as they were nudged or glared at by their parents and friends.
Half a dozen actively refused, with one leaping at the elder who’d spoken up, a dagger flashing through the air for his face. Fortunately, Bane was there, watching quietly, and the gnome was booted in the face, slamming him to the floor, unconscious.
As the remaining five glared at everyone, one of them spat on the floor and turned, running into the darkness. The others followed her, leaving me with one unconscious, one already sworn, and twenty that took the Oath, costing me three hundred mana.
“I swear to obey Lord Jax and those he places over me; I will serve to the best of my ability, speak no lie to him when commanded otherwise, and treat all other citizens as family.
I will work for the greater good, being a shield to those that need it, a sword to those that deserve it, and a warden to the night.”
“I will stand with my family, helping one another to reach the light, until the hour of my death or my Lord releases me from my oath.”
“Lastly, I will not be a dick!”
“I, Lord Jax, do swear to protect and lead you, to be the shield that protects you and yours from the darkness, and the sword that avenges that which cannot be saved. As the Tower grows in strength, so shall you,” I said, gritting my teeth as the mana was torn from me. Once it was done, and the group of citizens stood looking at me in trepidation, I sighed.
“I’m sorry, honestly I am. If there was a better way, I would take it, but there isn’t. How long will it take us to reach the ship from here, if we marched through with no interruptions?” I asked the elder, whose name was revealed to be Frederikk with a judicious use of ‘Examine’.
“About two hours, maybe a little more?” he said, unsure.
“Well, we know it won’t be that easy, and we’ll probably have to fight for every inch, but I bet you can catch up. Giint made a half Badunka, half sled before in a few hours. Could you make several devices that would carry you all?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Easily; there are many damaged Badunkas and other war machines that have been gutted over the years. We could make fast-moving sleds.”
“Then do it; you have an hour, then I want you to all follow us and catch up to us in the Lich’s domain. We’ll kill as many as we can to give you a clear path. Giint will take us to the path we need, and then he will return and help you. If you have any time left over once you’ve built your devices, for the love of god, search this building, take anything that is valuable and bring it. We came here looking for devices and Spellbooks, but now, thanks to the SporeMothers, we can’t take the time we needed to search this place properly. Anything you can find is needed, but in the Empire, the most valuable thing is life. I’d rather save you than anything else. I’m sorry that I haven’t the time to convince you of that, but it is what it is.” I nodded to them, then looked back at my people, and then down to Giint.
“Giint, lead the way,” I said, gesturing, and he nodded, moving through the crowd grim-faced. The gnomes made room for us, but the looks on their faces tore at me.
They looked lost, and in shock. They’d been given a faint lifeline, and now it felt like I had torn it away and was abandoning them.
We had less than six hours, maybe
five and a half now, and when we were going to have to fight our way through the levels back up to the surface, every minute was needed.
As I moved through the group, I saw the looks they gave me; some were excited, but they were in the minority. Most looked lost, or angered. Thankfully, Frederikk spoke up, sensing the group’s emotions.
“You heard the Lord. We don’t have time to grumble if we’re to survive, so grab your gear! Lars, Dawn, I want you to build…” His voice was hard, but not unkind, as he gave out the orders to the shocked remnant of their race. I tried to not think about how many of their families we’d literally slaughtered in the last day, and worse, how many of the survivors were thankful for it. The voices faded as we moved through the rooms, quickly getting outside, and I looked around the cavern, trying to imagine what it was going to be like for the children once they left. In here, you could see the far walls and the ceiling high overhead, so I could only imagine the way they’d react to riding an Airship.
I shook my head, imagining the mixture of panic and wonder, then I ruthlessly squashed the feelings down, concentrating on the path ahead.
“How many potions do we have?” I asked, and everyone checked their remaining inventory, making me growl in frustration. We had enough for two average healing potions, or three lesser each, once we’d redistributed them, and seven mana potions left. That was it.
I pulled Jian up for a quick conversation, then handed him the mesh glove to give to Miren, on the grounds that not only was she the only one with small enough hands to use it, but it’d also mean more coming from him than it would from me. He smiled and tucked it away quickly, winking at me when I told him that it was from him, not me, and he could make up any story he liked about it.
We passed around some dried meat and a kind of oatcake the Legionnaires had packed as we went, passing down the switchback and breaking into a jog across the cavern floor to move through the remains of the fungus fields and storage areas. I grimaced at seeing the water that was all that was left for the ferals to drink now, including the sheen of chemicals that floated on the top of it.
