by Jez Cajiao
“It’s fine. Thank you for that, Arrin.” I dismissed him, and he went back to join the others, watching over the group of prisoners.
“Who are they?” I asked, and Yen spoke almost absently as she tried to rewrap the bandages on Bane’s arm.
“The researchers for the Narkolt party. The noble Joshua apparently brought them down on pain of death; they were to find whatever was of value, or they’d be left here.”
“Figures,” I muttered, examining Bane and finding that he was down to forty health again, before starting to heal him.
I spent a hundred mana, boosting him back up to almost two hundred health. I left the majority of his wounds alone, concentrating specifically on those left by the dagger, as they were the most life threatening.
“Okay, he has two hundred and fourteen health now, and he’s losing fifteen points a minute. That gives us, say, twelve minutes to get moving; then we stop and heal him again, or I meditate and keep refilling more mana, then boost him higher and higher…” I muttered, thinking fast.
“The gnomes,” Yen interrupted.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The gnomes were coming. We’ve killed the Lich, so there’s just escaping and killing the asshole nobles left. With the Lich dead, there shouldn’t be anything between the gnomes and here… and knowing gnomes, they’ll have made things to carry everything…”
“Go,” I insisted. “Go as fast as you can. Find them, get them here fast. We can ride their machines, I can meditate and keep Bane alive, and then we just need to find that ship and escape. I want that noble’s head, but I want Bane alive more. Between Nerin and Hellenica, they’ll be able to save him.”
Yen nodded once and tore out of the cross corridor, the illusory walls long since vanished. As she went, I settled back down and called to Arrin to join me again. As he hurried over, I looked up to Grizz.
“Grizz… Lydia, Bane, and Tang are all out of action. I need to meditate, so I need you to deal with all this shit. I want to know what the hell is going on down here, so ask the questions however you want. Find out where the nobles went and why they came down here, instead of behaving themselves, and most of all, why the hell they decided to join with Himnel and attack us,” I finished irritably. Grizz moved straight to the others, spreading them out to guard Arrin and I as we meditated, and then he went to work on the researchers.
I heard a rude response to his first question, something about him being ‘just a Legionnaire,’ then the sound of a fist hitting flesh, the crunch of cartilage being broken, and a wail of denial. I filtered it all out after that.
“Okay, Arrin, let’s go over the meditation again…” I said, speaking slowly and calmly as I led him through the simple steps.
The next fifty minutes were enough to make me want to murder someone, but by the time Yen returned, both Arrin and I had gotten in some good meditation, and we’d hit Bane over and over with healing spells, getting him up to a decent amount of health, despite his remaining injuries and the speed at which it was constantly draining away.
We’d also managed to spare enough to fully heal Tang back to consciousness, and he’d set off scouting again, absolutely furious over being taken down.
Arrin was just finishing his turn at healing Bane when a noise started up in the distance, rapidly growing louder as the minutes passed.
We readied ourselves, just in case, but it was quickly obvious that it was the gnomes, both by the crazed speed they were approaching, and by the feeling of the bond with Yen getting noticeably closer.
I blinked when I realized that, as I should have sensed the injuries to Bane and Tang, and their location as well. My HUD showed them as they were now, after all, so that meant that the magic that had been used to take them out and to trick us was even stronger than I’d thought.
The lights and noise in the distance soon resolved into five sled-like contraptions, each with multiple wheels. The sleds were all of totally different designs, with gnomes hanging on all over them. As they pulled up and stopped, I shook my head at the sheer volume of crap the gnomes had secured to the vehicles, and I wondered how they’d respond to being told to dump most of it so we could ride.
When Yen arrived back, the first thing she did, after bringing the Elder to me, was to pour a bottle of ‘Legionnaires’ Might’ into Bane’s mouth. It damn near choked him, solidifying as it did, but she managed to get it down him a little at a time. She followed that quickly with a ruby red healing potion that practically made him glow with health for a few seconds.
“That should keep him going for now,” she said, grimacing. “I didn’t think about it until I was halfway there, but the healing is creating the blood he needs from his body. To do that, it’ll be stripping him of everything else: muscle mass, fat, all his reserves will be gone by now. The ‘Might’ potion won’t make up for that, but at least it’ll help.”
“I was worried about that,” I admitted. “But I didn’t dare stop healing him.”
“We came as fast as we could, Lord.” Frederikk said, stepping up and bowing his head to me, clearly unsure as to what he was supposed to do now.
“Thank you, Frederikk,” I said simply. “I see you managed to make some transports?”
“Basic, shoddy things that they be, but yes, my lord.” he said proudly, looking up at me. He barely came to my waist, but he was easily ten foot tall in suppressed insanity and vibrating with energy. “The Legionnaire said you needed us, and fast, so we left a lot of the salvage we needed, but we took the bare essentials.” Frederikk sadly looked over the sleds that were piled high with random-seeming metals and mechanical parts.
“I don’t suppose you found a stash back there?” I asked carefully.
“Oh yes!” he said, a truly manic grin threatening to split his head, it was that wide. “Speakin’ of which…. Your Legionnaire there, she took it. Said it wasn’t to be used right now, but maybe a little pick me up? It’d help us out… focus us well...” he continued quietly, glancing around. “Or, if you’re worried about things getting out of hand, just a little for me…?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“He means the drugs,” Yen said disgustedly. “I got there just as they found the old lord’s loot stash, and barely managed to get to it before they all drugged themselves into insensibility. I told them it was your order that they load up the loot, and I forced them to leave the rest. I’ve heard nothing else but reasons why they should be given ‘just a little’ since leaving.”
“Wait, you mean they spent ages back there tearing the place apart, looking for drugs?” I asked grimly, fury filling my voice.
“No, you told them to find the ‘stash’, so a few of them did that, while the others joined the damaged Badunkas together to make the sleds. They loaded the majority of the ‘Master’s’ looted gear into the rear one, and I took what looked the most valuable…” she clarified, reaching for her pouches.
“Keep it for now,” I said holding one hand up. “Unless there’s anything that can help us, we don’t have time to fuck about with it.”
“There’s a dozen healing potions and three mana,” she said quickly, pulling the vials out. “There’s a load of others, but little that is immediately useful, beyond the healing and mana. There are also three health rings; each only gives an additional plus fifty health, but…”
“Put them on him.” I said, nodding, and she went to work, slipping them into place. “Frederikk, thank you again for choosing to follow me.” I nodded to Giint, who grinned maniacally back at me. “And you, Giint. Now, as you can see, I have wounded, and both Arrin and I need somewhere to sit where we can meditate, but most of all, we need to go fast…” I said, pausing when I saw the look of glee on the old gnome’s face, and the look of utter horror on Yen’s.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her under my breath, as Frederikk spun around, lifted both arms into the air, and shouted something I didn’t understand.
The other gnomes looked overjoyed and starte
d piling off the vehicles. They began working together, tearing some of the outer strapped gear off, discarding anything that wasn’t clearly magical, and integrating more and more into the devices.
“You never, ever, ever tell a gnome you want to go fast,” Yen said bleakly. “You spend all your time trying to make them go slow, and you just… I don’t… I mean…” She shook her head in a mixture of horror and amazement.
“Lordddd, we neeeeed a littlllle… extrrrrra?” Giint said, sidling up to me and holding his hand out hopefully.
“What does he want?” I asked Yen, and she scowled.
“He wants some of the drugs they developed. They speed up the heart rate, the mind, everything, but the crash afterwards…” She met my gaze appealingly. “It’s seriously dangerous, Jax.”
“We can do it, my lord.” Frederikk piped up, nodding earnestly. “Your Legionnaire doesn’t understand. Yes, other races have… issues… with the gnomes, but we get things done! We’re the greatest crafters the realms have ever seen, and it’s been many, many years since we had more than a taste of the substances of life… we can do this, make it faster, stronger… but we need our mana to do it, and to do that…”
“Fuck it, time to toss the dice,” I muttered and gestured to Yen, who covered her eyes with one hand, sighed, and handed a small bag over to me. I peered inside and found a single medium bag of what looked to be icing sugar, but it glittered strangely, making me think it was the ‘other’ kind of sugar, and dozens upon dozens of sticks of something. I pulled the bag out and, after Yen confirmed that was probably the lesser of the substances, I handed it to the gnome elder.
He took it with a huge and slightly disturbing grin, before darting off.
“You know you’re going to regret doing that, right?” Yen asked me, and I shrugged.
“If it keeps our people alive, I won’t,” I replied.
“Oh, believe me, you will,” Yen muttered, then snorted, patting me on the shoulder.
“Frederikk, how long…” I started to ask him, and he spun around, his eyes unfocused, face looking like he’d had a kilo of flour stuffed into each nostril. He huffed at me, coughed, and blinked, as though trying to see where and who I was.
“An hour… no more!” he managed to wheeze out while facing a pile of rubble and clearly thinking that was me. Then he collapsed onto his back and started to giggle, even as other gnomes did the same.
“Oh, fuck no!” I snarled, learning that in under thirty seconds, they’d gone from frantically working to off their tits on the floor.
“Don’t panic; they’ll be down for a minute or so, that’s all; or at least, that’s the normal response. Then… just stay out of the way, I guess,” Yen explained, shaking her head again. “Oh, and Jax, I won’t tell you ‘I told you so’. Others might, in this situation, and even more so, considering you’re going to be riding a magical construction built by drugged up gnomes soon. Hell, some people would be telling you that you’re a lunatic, and that they warned you about just this very thing, but I won’t.” she said calmly, turning to walk over towards Grizz. “I’m a much bigger person than that!” she called back over her shoulder.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” I replied sarcastically, then I nodded to Arrin, and we started meditating again and taking turns to heal Bane.
After fifteen minutes, I stirred, ready to take my turn, only to find Tang hurrying to me, and I let out a sigh of relief. The older gnomes were working at a speed that was beyond belief now. Even if they did occasionally giggle or zone out.
“Jax, we’ve got a problem,” he said simply.
“We always do,” I retorted, and he chuckled.
“That’s true; it’s certainly never boring being with you, but I mean the noble who attacked us. I found him. More to the point, he’s found the Lich’s home. There’s a sealed Vault that he’s trying to get into, and whatever the Goddess wanted us to find, I’ll bet it’s in there…”
“How far is it?” I asked, glancing at Bane and Lydia, then at the gnomes. Half of them still hadn’t come down from whatever hit they’d had. The other half, though… they worked with a speed I couldn’t believe.
The way they pulled sections of the vehicles apart and rebuilt them was like watching a gifted child with Lego.
They added things on, then tore them off, putting them in back to front, adding bits, then revising, as though working to a shared blueprint that was constantly updating.
It was mesmerizing to watch, but I shook myself free and looked to Tang as he responded.
“Ten minutes, maybe a bit more, depending on who comes. That’s at a full run, by the way,” he said, and I nodded.
“Okay then, team! Fall in!” I shouted, and they looked blankly at me. “Gather around, I mean,” I clarified, and they obeyed, as I grumbled about shared history and missing memes.
“Right. Tang found that dickbag noble. The gnomes are going to be at least three quarters of an hour, so I’m going for it. I need some of you to stay here, both to protect our people and the gnomes, and because I don’t trust those assholes.” I nodded toward the group of researchers huddled dejectedly on the far side. “So, we’re down to eight; seems fair that I’ll leave half and take half. Arrin. stay with Bane and keep him as stable as you can. Yen, you’re in charge of the team that will stay. Miren, you’re staying with them, and so is Jian; no!” I raised a quieting hand as they all started to speak up. “No time for fucking arguments! Tang knows the way we need to go, so I need to take him. The only other person here that can do stealth is Yen, so she stays to watch out for others. We need a healer to keep Bane going, so Arrin stays, then both a ranged and close-in fighter, so that’s Miren and Jian. Stephanos, Grizz, you’re with Tang and me, but leave the Golem behind,” I said to Stephanos, aware of how slow the damn thing moved.
I got a chorus of acceptance from them, and I nodded in satisfaction. “Believe me, I don’t like splitting the team either, but we have no choice. The gnomes need time to rebuild the vehicles to carry us all, and we’ve got a chance to both loot one of the Prax’s repositories and find that noble. If anyone knows how to stop Bane’s bleeding, it’ll be him. We can’t miss this chance,” I growled. “Lastly, there’s a dozen healing and three mana potions, right?” I asked Yen, and she nodded.
“Yes, you want them?” she offered, and I shook my head.
“No, give us one healing each, and I’ll take a mana as well. Keep the rest and try to keep the others safe. Hopefully, there will be more of them in the Vault.”
“What about the researchers?” Yen asked me suddenly, and I looked over to her with an angry glower. “They’re not all assholes, as near as I can tell. They were ordered to come and have stayed out of the way, basically,” She clarified quickly.
“Give them the choice; they can come if they can keep up, and they can swear the Oath; otherwise, they can wait for the SporeMothers…” I said grudgingly, and Yen and the others saluted, fists to chests, as we set off, Tang in the lead as we ran down the corridor he’d come from.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We moved as fast as we could, giving up on stealth entirely in favor of speed, with Tang filling us in on the details as we went.
“There were five of them; four soldiers acting as guards to the noble, all wearing good armor‒not the cheap shit the others had on, so need to watch them, they’ll be highly trained if they’re a personal guard‒they were trying to force the Vault open, but judging by the crap piled around it, it’s been sealed a long time. From what I could see, the Lich must have been living next to it.”
“What about the room itself?” I asked as we ran, jumping over scattered rubble and dodging around sections that were clearly flooded. Water down a dark side passage splashed, stirring as something headed away from our approach.
“It’s another large one, circular, with the Vault in the center. There were low walls around it, as though the room used to be more, I don’t know… central?” he attempted to explain, and then shr
ugged dismissively. “It’s a big dome, though; goes up almost as high as I could see, pitch black above, and a bit of light on the far side. That’s all I can say for sure; couldn’t make more out without giving myself away.”
“That’s fine; we haven’t got time for a sneaky approach, not if we’ve also got to find a way to open the Vault. Grizz, you’re lead on this. Full speed assault, that sound do-able?” I asked, and he grinned.
“Yes, Jax, we train extensively for this,” he said nodding seriously. “Stephanos, you peel off when we arrive, get to the best vantage point you can, and snipe them. Tang, stealth and flank. Use your ranged attacks. Jax and I will storm them full-on. Momentum is key; don’t slow, don’t stop, go all out and storm through any resistance,” He ordered crisply. “You got a Shield-Bash yet, boss?”
“Nope, not one of my options yet,” I admitted, and he snorted.
“Remind me to work on that with you. Do it enough, and you can develop it without that. For now, use that damn stick. I’ll be the tank,” Grizz directed, and I nodded in agreement.
We took the corners far faster than any we’d done so far. My insane level of Agility, Tang’s scout training and elven heritage, and Grizz… being Grizz, meant that Stephanos was falling further and further behind, when Tang called out over the sound of our running feet.
Two more corners, then we’re there!” he said, and Stephanos dug down, refusing to give in.
We sprinted along, the magelights on both Stephanos’ and Grizz’s armor sending crazy shadows bouncing, and the harsh breathing echoing in our ears as our steel-shod feet clattered and banged over the metal of the Sunken City.
There was a definite thick, salty taste to the air now, and as we broke around the final corner, we all slowed subconsciously before Grizz barked out to pick up the pace.
The room ahead of us was clearly huge, vanishing to either side and soaring above into the darkness. The sound of lapping water came from the right somewhere, and in the center, surrounded by concentric rings of low walls, stood a rounded pagoda that glimmered softly with ancient magic.
