Tribe Master 5: A Fantasy Harem Adventure

by Noah Layton

  The dark-elves moved either side of me, and as their torchlight cast onto the room, the final chest lit up.

  ‘Woah….’ I muttered.

  ‘Gods,’ the dark-elves whispered in unison.

  Towards the back of the room, set on a large stone pedestal, was the final box.

  Our instincts had been right about the progression through the metals; bronze, then silver, and finally this.

  But this wasn’t just a small golden box like the others.

  This was a huge golden chest.

  The dark-elves approached it in an effort to shed more light on its shapes and details. Unlike the others its surface was bare and smooth, containing no intricate symbols or carvings.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of its immaculate, glistening exterior, and neither could the dark-elves.

  ‘Master Garrison will be pleased,’ one of the dark-elves said. ‘This is a bountiful treasure…’

  ‘This is not the true treasure,’ the other elf said. ‘If this is simply what holds it, imagine the prize that lurks within.’

  From the other side of the room I watched the dark-elves as they marveled at the golden chest.

  Something was wrong about this.

  It wasn’t the fact that my wives were captive outside.

  It wasn’t the possibility of Garrison getting his hands on the agrarium, either.

  It was the fact that this was all so… Easy.

  Maybe this was a brief moment of relief after almost being killed by a doppelganger and skeletal assailants and locked doors and collapsing columns.

  But I wasn’t buying it.

  ‘No…’ I muttered to myself. ‘No, this can’t be right… This can’t be the end.’

  ‘Quiet, human,’ the bow-wielding dark-elf muttered. ‘We will need your help in bringing this back to the surface. You will assist us if you hope to see your women alive again.’

  The dark-elves marveled at the huge golden chest. I could practically see the glimmering yellowness of its sides reflecting in their eyes, even with the fire behind them.

  ‘Gods, what is this?’ One of them asked, looking to his feet and kicking out.

  Mounds of dust were piled in heaps around the edges of the chest. Scattered around them were rotten scraps of leather and cloth.

  ‘But the steps to your reward may not appear what they seem,

  For the final levels dwell deep in danger.’

  The dark-elves reached out to touch the handles at the edges of the golden chest.

  And then I realized what that line really meant.

  ‘Wait…!’

  Even though these bastards were part of the tribe that was holding my wives hostage outside, the sudden realization of the meaning of the riddle made me call out involuntarily. It was an uncontrollable reaction.

  But it was too late.

  The elves both pressed their hands to the surface of the golden chest. The moment they did, a sharp jolt of blue light burst from the surface.

  It was like a spark, resonating into the hands of both elves.

  They quickly withdrew in shock, checking their hands.

  ‘What was that?’ One asked. ‘Did you see… Oh, gods, your hand!’

  The other elf looked to his hand in confusion. Where the spark had struck, a terrible change was taking place.

  The dark-elf’s hand began to crumble from his fingertips. Inch by inch, it was racing up his hand.

  His body was turning to dust.

  ‘No,’ he called out. ‘NO!’

  The other dark-elf howled out, holding his own hand by the wrist now. The very same transition was taking place.

  ‘HUMAN!’ One of them yelled at me. ‘HELP US!’

  They both turned to me as their arms fell apart, scattering into ashes upon the ground.

  They staggered towards me with moaning howls, but it was no use.

  All I could do was watch as they collapsed forward together. Before my eyes they crumbled into dust, leaving nothing but weapons and heaped piles of clothes among the mounds of ashes.

  ‘Holy shit…’ I exhaled deeply, gulping.

  The golden box glowed with energy for a few seconds before subsiding, taking on the same quiet importance that it had in the firelight when we had first arrived.

  For a long time I didn’t dare move or make a sound. I could practically feel the threat that the chest was giving off, its power emanating confidently from where it sat.

  The dust and the scattered rags that surrounded it now made so much sense.

  This pair of dark-elves hadn’t been the first ones to fall to the effects of the chest. Countless others had collapsed to dust around it, and resided down here now, unknown and forgotten.

  I approached it carefully, watching my footing with every inch I shuffled.

  If I tripped even slightly, I would easily crash forward and touch the surface of the golden box.

  After seeing what had happened to the dark-elves I couldn’t imagine a worse fate.

  Of course, the ceiling still had plenty of time to come crashing down on my head.

  There had been no hint of such a thing happening yet, but I wouldn’t put it past Kalgunri.

  I examined the golden chest further. There were still no markings on its surface that I could see.

  I fished the clue from my inventory and read it back to myself.

  To grant passage to the final realm, simply speak: alundra.

  This was another test. Even an explorer that had braved the first two challenges and acquired the clues would still be likely to race forwards at the sight of the golden chest in order to open it.

  But I wasn’t going to.

  To grant passage to the final realm, simply speak alundra.

  I dwelled on the final two words.

  Speak alundra…

  ‘There’s no way it can be that easy,’ I said to myself.

  I searched the room one last time, closed my eyes and spoke the word.

  ‘Alundra.’

  The ground rumbled, and before me the golden box crunched.

  A crack spread suddenly through its center, then another and another. In no time it had turned into a golden sheet of opaque glass, covered in cracks until some unknowable part of its structure gave.

  The whole box suddenly collapsed inwards, crumbling into miniscule pieces that shattered into dust the moment they struck the floor.

  But there was no floor beneath the box.

  Instead, a final set of stairs led down to a lower level.

  Once more I thought back to the legendary explorers of Earth as they plumbed unknown reaches and discovered long-lost tombs.

  But something told me that this was it.

  I took the steps down into the dark, lighting a torch after traversing several yards and igniting the way ahead.

  By the time I reached the bottom of the cold, dusty descent I guessed that I had to be forty or fifty yards beneath the surface of the forest.

  I couldn’t imagine the amount of rock, dirt and roots that hung over my head.

  Hell, I didn’t want to imagine.

  But as I approached the bottom, something else came to light.

  Literally to light – a blue glow, emanating from the passage where the stairs ended.

  The glow was so luminescent and bright that if I were back on Earth I would have little doubt that it was nuclear in nature.

  I put my torch out and abandoned it, switching my grasp to the handle of my sword and keeping my gaze fixed on the path ahead.

  As I reached the bottom of the steps I crouched and looked to the passage ahead.

  It spanned a length of twenty yards. I could see the distance clearly in the source of the blue glow.

  ‘What the hell…?’

  The walls were covered in blue vines that shimmered with a magnificent luminescence. They stretched along the stone in overlapping strands, covering the walls either side of me, the ceiling overhead, some even spanning the floor.

  The whole passageway w
as shining.

  If I’m already dead this doesn’t look like a bad passage to heaven… But heaven is usually up, not down.

  ‘Hmmmm…’

  The whirring sounded again.

  I walked along the corridor, carefully moving around the blue vines that intertwined and scattered across the ground before me.

  Finally I reached the end, and I entered the final chamber.

  This was different to all of the others.

  In the center of the chamber was a heavy stone chest. It was a marked step down from the precious metals that the others had been made of, but that didn’t matter.

  From the cracks of the chest’s huge lid, a bright blue light emanated. Along its edges, the blue vines that had stretched to the passageway all traced their way back to it.

  It was all coming from this… Thing.

  But that wasn’t the only thing of note in the chamber.

  Scattered about the chamber were seven dwarven skeletons. They were slumped against the walls and upon the ground, still wearing their garbs that had likely once been well-kept but were now tattered and ragged by the passage of time.

  Dwarven blacksmiths, I thought to myself. It’s them…

  But how did they die?

  I moved carefully through the chamber, checking the bodies. They were all wearing the same blacksmith’s garbs, with rusted pouches of elaborate tools clipped at their waists.

  As I rolled one over, I noticed a rusty knife in his skeletal hand.

  I made my way around each and every one of the dwarven skeletons, and found each holding the same knife.

  They ended their own lives…

  The final skeleton was sat up against the stone chest, slumped against its side. The blue vines had grown over his body; if they could, they would probably have begun to absorb him into their structure.

  Grasped in his skeletal hands was a tattered leatherbound journal, with one word embossed into the cover.

  Kalgunri.

  ‘It’s you…’

  Suddenly it all made sense.

  The dwarven blacksmiths and engineers, led by Kalgunri, had discovered the nature of the agrarium’s power. They had built the challenges in an effort to prevent anybody from attempting to access it.

  The challenges had to be completed in order to reach this point.

  I had completed them, and now I was here standing among their bodies.

  And that was why they had chosen to end their own lives.

  They knew that only one person could ever discover its location.

  And if they were alive to know where it was, there was always the risk that one of them would return for it.

  It is a power that only one man can possess.

  Only one man. I still didn’t know if that meant it had to belong to one man alone, or they had one man in mind.

  But I was here now, and even if this thing held power beyond belief, I had come too far to turn back, even if countless bodies had stood between me and the prize.

  I was going to see this thing through.

  I moved before the stone chest and pressed my hand to its lid.

  Thankfully I didn’t get turned into dust, but the light within glowed brighter with a sudden surge as I made contact.

  I gripped the edge of the stone lid and shoved it. The swollen fingers on my left hand didn’t help, but a simple stone lid wasn’t going to come between me and the agrarium.

  ‘AGHHH!!!’

  I pushed with all of my strength until it tipped over the edge, the weight giving and the slab slamming to the ground.

  The whirring sound was louder than ever.

  The image of the stone skull in the forest suddenly flashed in my mind. I didn’t know why.

  The light contained within the chest burst out. I stepped back and guarded my eyes.

  It subsided quickly as if it had finally relieved itself of the energy contained within.

  I gripped the edges of the chest and looked inside.

  The whirring sound vanished, and the whole chamber fell silent.

  Sat within a bed of glimmering stone was a huge broadsword. Its oversized blade, measuring at least six inches thick from edge to edge, glowed with the same blue light that filled the chamber and the passageway behind me.

  The pommel was imbued with a large, perfect emerald, while the grip was bound with the tightest, firmest leather I had ever felt on a weapon in this world. The chappe was a spiraled, elaborate construct, hand-carved and possessing the image of what looked like a dragon’s face.

  The blade shimmered fantastically, and in the blue light its metallic edges almost seemed to swell with the glow.

  This is what they had created from the agrarium; a weapon carved and painstakingly cut from the legendary ore they had found buried deep in the mountains.

  The blue light suddenly seemed to emerge from the blade like a swarm of circling sea snakes. They spiraled from the base of the blade and down the handle, swimming around my closed hand.

  A cautious part of me wanted to let go, to drop it.

  But another part wanted to cling on, to feel the power that this weapon pulsed with.

  A final part wondered whether I could let go.

  This thing seemed to have a mind of its own.

  I lifted the sword high before me as the spiraling blue light swam over the blade.

  This was the very substance that the gods had used to create their weapons, and now I was holding it in my hand.

  ‘Cage Breaker…’

  A whispering voice echoed through the chamber suddenly, bringing with it a gust of wind.

  I turned rapidly, searching for the source.

  The wind quickly subsided and settled.

  I could see no one – not an undead dwarf uttering the words through their skeletal jaws, or an armed figure ready to confront me.

  If anybody arrived now they would think that I was alone, but it didn’t feel that way to me.

  Who the hell said that?

  The strange thing was that I didn’t feel intimidated by the voice. It sounded like… A friend.

  Even though I didn’t recognize it.

  Now I had what I wanted, what I had risked my life to acquire.

  But my women were still in terrible danger.

  I snatched up the journal from the hands of Kalgunri and dropped it into my inventory.

  I peered into the stone chest, and among the roots and vines whose blue lights were starting to die out was one more thing; a huge sheath, sized perfectly to the measurements of the blade.

  I lifted it and examined its surface. It was inscribed with the symbols that had appeared on the first box; warrior, agility and mind.

  I carefully brought the tip of the blade to the sheath’s opening and slid it in.

  As it pushed inwards, the dwarven symbols lit up with a glow as strong as that of the blade itself.

  I clipped the sheath at my waist and then turned back to the passageway through which I had entered.

  The shimmering vines had died now; there was nothing else to power them.

  But my agrarium sword would light the way.

  I had no idea yet of its strengths.

  But I was about to find out.

  ***

  ‘Which of your fingers do you value most, ladies? If your husband complies, I promise that will not be the one that I cut off. The others, of course, I cannot make any promises for… That’s assuming that your man makes it back alive at all.’

  Kali’s cock-sure voice came within earshot as I moved up the final few steps.

  I knew that he could see me coming.

  All of them would. They would see the blue light before I even arrived.

  I emerged from the tunnel into the cold light of the forest, locking eyes with my enemies.

  The girls were still on their knees ten yards from the edge of the ruins, while Kali and his six dark-elf guards stood by them.

  And then there was Morok… The goblin piece of shit that had threatened to murder m
e, stalked me, ratted out my tribe to my enemies and was responsible for holding my women hostage…

  My jaw tensed at the sight of him.

  He, Kali and the six dark-elves cast their eyes upon me as I arrived in the clearing.

  I brandished the sword in my hand, steadying my grip upon it.

  They looked as if they wanted to make some patronizing quip or intimidating command, but none of them could muster the words.

  Their attention turned immediately to the weapon. They were captivated by the sheer sight of it.

  I didn’t need to tell them that this was the treasure.

  They already knew.

  Behind the dark-elves, Ariadne and Talia both gazed at the sword in awe. But that wasn’t their focus; I was. They looked to me with an expression of relief and desire the same way most men want to be looked at.

  I focused upon Kali. He was the man in charge of this unit right now.

  And the man in charge always had to look like he had the situation under control.

  His expression didn’t tell me that. Dark-elves were supposed to maintain a calm, stoic temperament according to Mariana.

  He looked nervous.

  Kali quickly caught himself, looking to me.

  ‘So you found it,’ he remarked, trying to maintain a confident smirk that was already faltering. ‘I must say, I’m impressed. Where are my men?’

  I held a stony poker face, cold as ice.

  ‘They didn’t make it,’ I replied calmly. ‘Things got a little too dangerous down there.’

  ‘No matter,’ he shrugged. ‘We got what we came for. Now hand it over.’

  ‘Hand it over?’ I repeated confidently. ‘Why don’t you come and get it?’

  ‘Careful, tribe master,’ Kali said with a calculated tone, ‘You don’t want any harm to come to your women, now, do you?’

  ‘If any harm comes to them, I’ll rip you to shreds with my bare fucking hands.’

  Kali stood behind the girls, his grey hands and sharpened nails gripping their shoulders.

  Just like his tribe master, he held everything in regard to ownership.

  In this moment, in his eyes, my women were his. Objects.

  A bargaining chip.

  The only thing stopping me from rushing forward was a droplet of better judgement.