by Nick Harrow
I watched the pair of raiders scramble for one another and the walls as they tried to save themselves from the flood. I walked toward them effortlessly as the tunnel filled and the weight of the water pinned the raiders against the rope ladder that was their only hope of survival. But as Kezakazek and Sheth tried to pull themselves up the rope rungs to freedom, the rushing water plucked them off the ladder and plunged them beneath its roiling surface.
“You did your best,” I repeated as I climbed past the struggling raiders. “But it wasn’t enough.”
Sheth had managed to start the climb, but he was much slower than I. He’d only clawed his way a few feet above the water’s surface when I looked down at him from the safety of my burial chamber.
The rope ladder was taut where I’d anchored it to the sarcophagus, and I crossed my fingers and offered up a quick prayer to the god of luck that I’d interpreted the rules of this place correctly. My khopesh appeared in my right hand, and I swung its hooked cutting edge through the ladder’s support ropes.
The razor-sharp blade severed the ladder’s anchor cords like a cutting torch through a strand of cotton candy. Sheth shouted in surprise as he fell back into the water with a splash, then cursed as he bobbed back to the surface and his mouth filled with water.
“Holy shit,” I said with relief. “It worked. It actually worked.”
Apparently, while I couldn’t crush adventurers beneath a falling statue, it was perfectly within the rules to drop them into water as long as it didn’t immediately kill them.
“You all right?” Nephket asked. “I just caught a strong jolt of surprise from you.”
“I just love it when a plan comes together,” I said with an evil laugh. “I’m fine. How are you doing?”
With a grunt, I shoved the end of my sarcophagus across the pit in the center of the burial chamber. It didn’t completely block the opening, but it sliced the pit’s opening into two halves that were both far too small for anyone, even a skinny little dark elf, to climb through.
“We’re good,” Nephket said. “The raiders are still trying to break down the wall, but I don’t think they’ll get here in time. There are six wires that hold this thing together, and we’ve already removed two.”
“I’m almost done here, too,” I said. “I need a few more minutes, and then I’ll come join you if you need me.”
“I’d like you to be here when this ends,” Nephket said.
I peered down through the gap between my sarcophagus and the edge of the chute and saw no sign of Sheth. The weight of his battered armor and crappy weapon must have dragged him down to the bottom of the chute.
I did see Kezakazek, and her violet eyes practically glowed with hatred as she stared up at me. The water had filled the chute to the halfway mark, and the drow had so far managed to keep her head above the flood.
Apparently, dark elves could swim.
“Give up,” I said to Kezakazek. “Your companions have all perished or will soon. Their ka is mine, and yours will belong to me as well. There is no sense in your pointless struggle. You can’t escape from the doom you’ve brought upon yourself. The water will fill the chute, and I will watch you drown for your trespass.”
“I can’t give up,” she snarled. “I’ve sworn a blood oath of vengeance, and I’ll do whatever it takes to fulfill that quest. Release me and give me the core.”
For someone in her position, Kezakazek sure was bossy. She kept talking about fulfilling a quest like it was more important than her life. Poor drow probably thought her recall amulet was about to poof her out of danger and she’d skip on down the road.
“You’ve lost,” I said. “You’ll never finish your quest. You will die here, in the dark, alone.”
“You will gain nothing by killing me,” Kezakazek called up to me. “If I don’t claim your core, the extermination squad will. They’ll be here before long, and when they arrive you’re as good as dead. Give me your core. Let my quest continue. At least some good will come of your cursed existence.”
I laughed at the idea that I would give my core to this dark elf. I considered ignoring her and going on my way. She had no way to escape from the death trap she’d fallen into, and Nephket could use my help. But a small, dark part of my soul wanted this raider to know just how badly she’d underestimated me.
“The extermination squad isn’t coming,” I said. “My forces are dismantling the gate even as we speak. The raiders won’t be able to escape my wrath, and their allies won’t be able to come here to avenge their deaths. Your recall amulet no longer works. You will die. I’ve won, dark elf. Utterly and completely.”
The rushing water had risen almost to the level of the sarcophagus. Kezakazek was close enough I could have reached down through the gap and stroked her raven hair. She watched me with haunted eyes, and I saw something strange flicker across their surfaces.
Hope.
“The gate is booby-trapped,” she said. “The raiders aren’t stupid enough to leave it unprotected with a dungeon lord so nearby. If they dismantle it, that trap will destroy your forces.”
“You’re a liar,” I said. The water had pushed Kezakazek up so close to the coffin she had to tilt her head back to keep her nose and mouth in the small pocket of breathable air that remained. “You’d say anything to save your hide.”
“There are six wires that hold the crystal to the gate,” Kezakazek said. She had to pause to push her face up into the gap beside the sarcophagus. “It’s a dark elf design. I helped my father build them when I was a child. I could help you disarm it, but not if I’m dead.”
“You’re lying,” I said, but the fact that she knew there were six wires bothered me.
“I’m not,” she gasped. Water splashed over her face, and she choked on it, spluttered, and then continued. “I’ll tell you how to disarm it if you let me go. I won’t come after your core again. But I have to continue my quest. I can’t die, not here. Not like this.”
“Why?” I asked.
But the water had risen too high for her to speak. Her nose was still out of the water, but her eyes and mouth were submerged, and panic had transformed her face into a mask of terror.
I didn’t want to believe Kezakazek, but I couldn’t doubt her. I needed to know what she knew, because I couldn’t risk losing Nephket, Zillah, and the wahket if she was right. But I also couldn’t trust her. The dark elf was every bit as treacherous as a pit viper, and if I turned my back on her, she’d bury a knife in it.
Unless there was some way I could ensure her loyalty.
I summoned the Tablet of Guardians and quickly looked at the challenge ratings for a second-level dungeon. The poetic irony of what I found was almost too much for me to bear. I glanced at my arm and saw a single ka vessel had illuminated. Sheth had finally kicked off this mortal coil. Poor guy never had a chance.
“Welcome to Level Three, dungeon lord,” a sepulchral voice echoed through my thoughts.
I wanted to take a quick peek at the tablets to see what new abilities going up a level had earned me, but there wasn’t time for that. I needed to deal with Kezakazek.
“Will you serve as my guardian if I free you?” I asked Kezakazek. Despite the water around her ears, I knew the dark elf heard me by the way her eyes went wide and her mouth became a thin slit as her fear transformed into rage.
For a moment, she stared at me, as cold and still as the grave.
And then she nodded. A single, brisk motion that was all the confirmation I needed.
A familiar draining sensation ran through my body and the ka vessel went dark.
“Leave the wires alone,” I said to Nephket.
“I don’t understand,” Nephket said. “We’re almost—“
“It’s a trap,” I said. “You need to get the wahket up into the chamber and ready to fight if the raiders come through before I get to you.”
Kezakazek’s coal-black hand thrust up out of the water and clawed at the side of the sarcophagus. Two of her nails snapped
off and peeled away from her fingertips like wet decals as she desperately struggled to survive.
“Hold your horses,” I said and dragged the sarcophagus away from the pit. “Don’t be so impatient.”
The dark elf’s head burst through the water’s surface the instant the coffin was out of the way. She gasped for air, and her hands scrabbled at the chute’s edges. She shuddered as a deep breath filled her lungs, but her muscles were weak from the ordeal, and she began to slide back into the depths.
“I should let you drown and then respawn so you’ll remember I’m the boss,” I said. “But luckily for you, I’m a nice guy. Also luckily for you, I don’t have time to waste on such petty fuckery.”
I lifted the drow out of the chute by her wrists. She weighed almost nothing, despite her curves.
Kezakazek shivered in the dungeon’s cool air, but she refused to show me any sign of weakness. The instant her feet touched the stone floor, she stood straight and wrenched her wrists from my grasp. She was as naked as the day she was born and soaked to the bone. Her coal-black hair hung down her back well below her waist, and water dripped from it to puddle on the floor between her feet. The drow’s proud eyes blazed at me, and her full lips were set in a stern frown. She held her spine straight and her shoulders back, her ample breasts thrust forward like a challenge.
“Is this what you want?” Kezakazek asked. “A slave to serve your every whim?”
While I couldn’t deny she was as attractive as any woman I’d ever seen, I shook my head in disgust.
“I just saved your life,” I said. “I didn’t have to, and I could sure as hell have used that ka for something less aggravating. A little gratitude would go a long way toward making me not regret this decision.”
“You didn’t save me out of the goodness of your heart,” the dark elf said with a sarcastic snort. “Whether we like it or not, we need each other. Show me the way to the gate, and I’ll help you disarm the booby trap before your harem of cat women blow themselves sky high.”
“There’s a scorpion queen, too,” I muttered, but Kezakazek pretended not to hear me.
I gestured toward the open passage on the west wall of the burial chamber. The drow nodded briskly and marched past me without a sideways glance. She walked with the confidence of a conqueror, not the naked slave that she actually was.
As I watched her hips sway and her ass bounce its way out of my burial chamber, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d bitten off more than I could chew with this one.
Chapter 15: The Final Blow
NEPHKET’S PANICKED words crashed into my thoughts like a bird into a window.
“The wall is cracking,” she said, her voice high and tight. “We’re running out of time before the raiders enter the chamber. Are you sure I shouldn’t try to break the gate and retreat?”
“No,” I said. “Hold the raiders off. I’ll be there soon.”
I wanted to pull Neph and the rest of my people out of that chamber, but I couldn’t. We had to disable the gate before the extermination squad arrived, or we were screwed. If they retreated now, the raiders would surround the gate with every sword and spellslinger they had at their disposal. Then the extermination squad would arrive, and that’d be the end of us.
I also needed to steal the passageway volume from the end of the tunnel closest to the gate in order to get Kezakazek through the tunnel on the dungeon side faster. If she had to crawl for half a mile, we’d never make it to the gate in time. That meant the wahket had to stay in the chamber until we arrived.
Sometimes, being a dungeon lord meant making the sucky choices. This was one of those times.
“We have to hurry,” I said to the dark elf. “The raiders are trying to push my people off the gate. We can’t let that happen.”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” the dark elf snapped. She jogged a few yards, then stopped and limped a bit, then jogged a few more yards. “I lost my sandals when someone tried to drown me. The stone floor is beating my feet to pieces.”
A cold anger flared up inside me. I wanted to tell the dark elf that she was lucky I didn’t beat her to pieces, let her respawn, and then do it all over again. She’d been a thorn in my side since the moment Nephket had summoned me, and if I didn’t desperately need the knowledge inside her skull, I’d have flayed her alive the instant I made her a guardian.
But as much as I wanted to tell her that, I didn’t. I bit my tongue and tried to be the better dungeon lord. I wanted all of my guardians to respect me, to defend my dungeon because they wanted to as much as because they had to. Threatening them with torture, dismemberment, and worse wouldn’t accomplish that goal.
“Just do the best you can,” I said. “I don’t want any of my people to suffer needlessly. But we have to make better time, so I need you to step it up.”
The drow stared at me as we walked together. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion and then widened with surprise when she saw that I was serious.
“That is not what I expected,” she said. “Dungeon lords are horrifying monsters to be feared. Why are you being so reasonable?”
“Because I can afford to be,” I said with a smirk. “Being an asshole never accomplishes anything. You’ll notice I whipped the shit out of your people without being a jerk.”
“I guess it depends on your point of view,” she said. “Your scorpions stung my cleric to death, I don’t know how you killed the rogue, but I bet it was ugly, and you drowned Sheth before you tried to drown me. Those are the kinds of things a jerk would do.”
“You broke into my house and tried to kill my people, then you broke into my house again and tried to steal my core,” I said. “If we want to talk about someone being an asshole...”
“I’m a drow,” she said. “We are evil. That’s what we're supposed to do.”
“And according to you, I’m a monster,” I said. “I guess we both did some not nice things, and we can leave it at that.”
“You made me a slave,” she said. “That’s probably a lot worse than trying to kill a couple of cat women.”
“Is it?” I said. “Or is it a just punishment for the attempted murder of defenseless wahket?”
Kezakazek stewed in silence for the next few minutes but broke her silence when we reached my second stele.
“I didn’t want to say it before, but this is ambitious work you’ve done,” she said. She spread her arms wide to take in the chamber I’d dropped on top of the scarabkin temple. “Are all dungeon lords like this?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “From what I understand, I’m sort of an anomaly. Most of them just hunker down in their tombs and wait for raiders to show up on their doorstep.”
“And then they kill them,” Kezakazek grumbled to herself.
“Only if they come inside and try to take our stuff,” I shot back.
“What is that?” Kezakazek asked. She headed straight for the stele like a moth to a particularly pretty flame. She circled around it and eyeballed the runic inscriptions on its surface but kept her hands to herself. I guess if you grew up making booby traps for a living, you learned to be a little less grabby.
“The Buried Kings?” she asked. “I’d always believed those were bogeyman stories to frighten naughty drow children.”
I tried to imagine the sort of trouble drow children, much less naughty ones, could get up to. My mind was momentarily filled with images of little Kezakazeks running around and setting fire to one another’s pigtails and chasing down neighborhood strays to use in their vivisection experiments or demon-summoning rituals.
“They’re real, all right,” I said. “One of them tried to kill me.”
“I doubt that. Not even a dungeon lord would survive an attack by a Buried King,” Kezakazek stated flatly. She went on at some length about how unlikely it was that I’d actually seen a Buried King, since they were supposed to have the strength of a god or some bullshit.
“They’re in!” Nephket shouted in my mind. She showed me the battlefro
nt by the gate. The wahket had taken up defensive positions behind the barriers I’d created for them, and the raiders surged into the chamber through a narrow breach they’d smashed through my dungeon’s wall.
Unfortunately for the first-level adventurers, the wahket were ready for them.
Crossbows thrummed, and raiders screamed as the bolts punched through their armor and snuffed out their lives. Three of the intruders fell in the blink of an eye, but more had already poured through the gap and drawn their weapons to attack the wahket behind the defensive barrier.
The cat women’s spears held the raiders at bay, but I wasn’t sure how long that would last. Several of the raiders I saw through the breach had missile weapons of their own. When they came to their senses, they’d start firing back at the wahket and things would get bloody.
“Fascinating history lesson,” I said to Kezakazek. “But we’re out of time. We have to get to the gate, and we have to do it now.”
“My feet,” Kezakazek started, but I grabbed her around the waist and flung her over my shoulder.
The dark elf squealed in protest, but I didn’t have time to argue with her. I ran for all I was worth, which turned out to be quite a bit. Once again, the side effects of being a dungeon lord paid off in spades. I didn’t have to breathe, and I didn’t have a heart, and that meant I could run pretty much as fast as I wanted, for as long as I wanted. And as Kezakazek weighed almost nothing, it took no effort at all to carry her along for the ride.
“You’re. Bruising. My. Ribs,” Kezakazek grunted, her words forced through her gritted teeth by my rapid footfalls.
“Don’t be such a baby.” I tried to ignore the way her posterior bounced at the edge of my vision. Now that we were on the same side of this fight, she was a hell of a lot sexier than she had been when I’d been focused on keeping her away from my core.
“Don’t. Stare.” She pounded her small fists against my back.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said. I hadn’t been staring. Glancing, yes. Admiring, most certainly. It wasn’t every day I carried a beautiful naked dark elf over one shoulder.
