by Kory Shen
"We're not going into the Ruins," I said. "The meeting's at the entrance. A large cavern to the south. We'll rest for now, then head out in the evening. Kuri, can you find us horses? We want to arrive before anyone else."
Kuri nodded. "I can attend to the horses. But what's the plan? Surely we'll be outnumbered in a fight?"
It was true. Lexley would probably bring knights to watch over the Valorian armor while transporting it. At least a handful of mercenaries would also be present.
There were countless other questions. How many wagons or carts would Lexley bring? Would any other Champions travel with him?
But I was confident I could pull it off.
"We're not going to fight them. We're going to steal from them." I looked at Kuri, then Genna. A two-man, or rather, two-woman crew. It was smaller than I was used to, but I'd make it work. Everything Vimm had taught me, everything I had trained for had prepared me for this job.
"I got this. We got this," I said. "Now get some rest. We'll wake when the sun goes down."
By unspoken agreement, Genna had taken the single bed in the room. She stretched and yawned. Kuri had curled up on the floor in front of the door, her back to us. Genna pointed a finger at me, then at the bed, cocking her head with a question mark.
I shook my head in silence. I needed Kuri on board. I couldn't risk her getting jealous. Although I had to admit, the idea of snuggling next to Genna was certainly tempting.
Genna smiled, then closed her eyes.
I sat down next to my armor, leaning against it.
"Mira," I whispered. "Can you wake me up when the sun sets?"
"Certainly," Mira whispered back.
In moments, I was fast asleep.
* * *
"Jakson."
My right arm tingled with a strange sensation. I opened my eyes, annoyed. The room was dark. I rubbed my right arm, where it was touching my armor.
"Was that you, Mira?" I asked.
"The sun has set," she said.
"Already?" I sighed and stood. The others were sleeping, their breathing soft and steady.
I considered putting on my armor and waking them but changed my mind. There was something I could do on my own first.
"Mira, wake up the others in half an hour. I'm heading to Vimm's old place."
Mira murmured her acknowledgment. I grabbed a cloak to cover myself and left the room.
The streets were somewhat busy, but I made my way to Vimm's place without catching anyone's attention. It was risky, but I had to do this on the off chance that tonight's job didn't go as planned. This would be my last opportunity.
I stood across the street from the building, watching for any signs of trouble. Satisfied that there weren't any guards or lookouts, I slipped into the building through a side window, like a respectable thief.
I stepped cautiously through the dark room and made my way to the cellar's entrance set into the floor. I opened the double doors and made my way down the wooden staircase.
It was dark and dusty in the cellar. My head brushed something soft, likely a spiderweb. It took me a minute to find a candle as well as steel and tinder to light it. Candle in hand, I approached the east wall Vimm had mentioned. The wall was made of cheap wooden slats with slim gaps between them.
I pried the slats off the wall using an iron poker I found nearby. While working on the first slat, the poker's tip scraped against something metallic behind the wall. I could make out a thick metal strip behind the slat. I quickly removed three of the wooden slats, revealing an iron-bound chest, large enough to hold a man, nestled into a hole. I removed the chest and set it on the ground.
I had worn Vimm's golden key around my neck ever since the day he had given it to me. I took it off now, its weight heavier than I remembered.
The key fit the chest perfectly. I twisted it, and the chest's lock clicked, unlocking.
I paused, then slowly raised the chest's lid.
For a second, I couldn't make out what I was seeing in the dim candlelight. Then, I recognized the familiar outlines.
It was armor, or rather pieces of armor. I pulled out a pair of gauntlets. When I held them, they pulsed softly with a weak blue light.
I gasped. Sentinel-class armor. Power Gauntlets.
How had Vimm gotten hold of these? They must have cost a fortune, even for him.
Inside was another item, a helmet. I took it out carefully, examining it. A Zeal Helm.
It hit me, then, what Vimm must have been doing. He had been buying up armor, piece by piece. The chest was large enough for a full suit, and he must have hoped to fill it with a complete set one day. There was no reason for him to do that, except for one. He had been buying the armor for me.
I set the helmet gingerly on the ground. I didn't need Vimm's armor anymore, not with Mira and my suit. But he had still managed to give me one last parting gift from beyond the grave.
My inheritance wasn't a chunk of enchanted metal. No, my inheritance was the knowledge that I had a true father. One who loved me.
Even with the upcoming job, with Lexley's stupidity, and all the shit I had gone through—for a moment, I let everything go. I didn't care about being a tough guy, smart ass, or lady killer. I just wanted Vimm and the boys to be back.
I had never felt sorry for myself. I had never complained. But I hadn't realized until I found Vimm's gift what I had been missing. And what was now gone again.
Fucking hell.
I had already cried once for my dead family. I was done with that—I had a job to do, damn it. I placed the gauntlets and helmet back into the chest, but I bumped a small object in the corner that I hadn't noticed earlier. I pushed the other pieces of armor aside and glimpsed something sharp and straight. A dagger.
I took out the dagger. It wasn't a Sentinel weapon, just a plain dirk, a thin spike, really. I recognized it now. This was Vimm's old weapon. He said it was the first blade he used to kill a man, and also the last.
Why had he left it here? Was it a blessing or a warning? A plea for vengeance?
I took the dagger, hiding it within my tunic, then closed the chest and locked it again. I replaced the chest and false wall, trying to make it appear as it had before. The wood was slightly marred, but I had to get back to the others. I dragged a barrel in front of the wall, scuffed the ground to clear any footprints, and returned back upstairs.
I slipped back onto the street, leaving my family's home for perhaps the final time.
* * *
Kuri were waiting for me outside the tavern when I arrived, along with three horses.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Kuri asked.
"Yeah." I glanced at the three beasts. "Nice. Did you steal them or buy them?"
"I asked them to join us," Kuri said in a deadpan voice. I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not.
"Where's Genna?"
"She just got back from her errand before you arrived."
"Errand?"
I spotted Genna walking out of the tavern and toward us. She spoke without waiting for my question.
"I stopped taking the snakeroot," she said. "I should be stronger now. And before you ask, don't worry. I have this."
Genna pulled out a small green gem that sparkled even in the early dawn's light. It hung from a short golden chain, like a pendant.
"A focus gem?" Kuri asked. "Where did you get that?"
Genna nodded before tucking the gem back inside her cloak. "From the Temple. The High Priestess loaned it to me."
"The same one who kicked you out?" I asked.
"It's complicated."
I shrugged. "Well, as long as you know what you're doing. What's a focus gem?"
"A focus gem is a training tool," Kuri said. "Experienced mages use them to increase their power, but they can backfire if mishandled." She shook her head. "This is dangerous."
"More dangerous than what you have in mind?" Genna asked.
Kuri closed her mouth.
"Kuri?" I turned to
Genna when Kuri didn't reply. "What's she have in mind?"
"She wants to boost her power, too," Genna said.
"Boost her power?" She was already the scariest fire mage I knew. Well, she was the only one I knew, but she was already terrifying at her full might. How much stronger could she become?
"Much stronger," Genna said. "She's been holding back."
"What does she need? Another focus gem?" I asked.
Genna chuckled. "No, something simpler. Tell him, Kuri."
A pink tint colored Kuri's cheeks. "What is it, Kuri?"
Kuri looked down at her feet. "I can burn hotter and for longer if I…" she hesitated.
"It's fine, Kuri. I won't laugh," I said.
"…If I drink hard liquor," she said in a rush. She patted a small bag hanging from the side of one of the horses.
A fire mage fueled with alcohol? Despite what I had promised, a chuckle threatened to escape from my lips. I coughed, instead.
So my mind mage and fire mage had both boosted their powers while I was gone. And I had Vimm's dagger.
Perfect.
I went inside to put on my armor, then wrapped the cloak around myself once again.
The three of us were soon on horses riding towards the Ruins.
* * *
The moon was high overhead by the time we reached the Ruins. The forest had turned into a rocky wasteland as we neared the borders of the cursed land. Boulders and craggy formations replaced trees and bushes. The land was uneven, as if the earth had suffered a violent wound and never recovered. At the bottom of a sunken depression lay the dark mouth of the Ruins themselves. That sinkhole was where Lexley was supposed to meet with the mercenaries.
We dismounted a good distance away from the sinkhole in case anyone was nearby. Kuri whistled two short trills. The horses flicked their ears and trotted away to the forest's edge.
"They'll wait for us," Kuri said confidently.
I hoped Kuri was right, although I wasn't counting on the horses to make our getaway. Lexley would need to bring the stolen armor swiftly and secretly, which likely meant he would arrive with a team of horses and a wagon. We would steal the wagon and race away, lightening the load if necessary by dumping most of the armor. Even several suits of stolen armor would be enough evidence.
We hid ourselves in the shadows of the rocky landscape and waited. The others kept their plain cloaks on to hide their more colorful clothes. I had Mira alter my armor's appearances to match the surroundings.
"You look like the Rock Knight," Kuri whispered.
"He'd fit right in here, wouldn't he," I replied. I hoped Lexley wouldn't bring too many of his knights, but I wasn't too worried about the slower ones. Tonight we would be stealing, not fighting. I had dealt with plenty of lumbering idiots in the past, even without my armor.
"Shush," Genna whispered. "I hear someone."
Mira buzzed in my ear. "Confirmed. I'm detecting movement to the south." When I turned to look behind us, Mira highlighted a group of dim figures in the distance with a red glow.
"I see them," I said. The figures moved slowly in the dark, blending into the land. Without Mira's help and Genna's warning, I would never have spotted them.
"Four men," Kuri said. "No signs of a wagon or transport. Must be the mercenaries."
We watched silently as the figures descended into the sinkhole. A single sloping path led to the bottom of the sinkhole, wide enough for ten men to march side by side.
I motioned to the others, and we crept closer to the edge of the sinkhole, looking down on the four men. I could see them clearly now.
They were rough, hard men, all of them with full beards and long hair in the style of the mountain men. They wore simple leather armor but moved with the steady, measured calm of people who bought and sold death. I shivered. These were professional killers. Suddenly, a mere forty of them in Sentinel-class armor seemed much more dangerous than I had previously thought.
There was no sign of horses. How had they arrived? Were they camping nearby?
I turned to Genna. She wore a headpiece with her focus gem nestled on her forehead. Her eyes were closed in concentration.
"Can you get anything?" I asked.
She shook her head, her eyes still closed. "No, their thoughts are too foreign, even more so than usual. I can't make anything out."
But she could hear them? It had to be at least a good hundred yards to the sinkhole's bottom from our hiding place. I was impressed. Even Mira couldn't feed me any sound from that distance.
"I'm not used to this," Genna said. "The thoughts are louder but also more slippery."
"It takes months if not years to master a focus gem," Kuri whispered.
"But you think you can do your part?" I asked.
Genna nodded. "With the focus gem, at least five or ten seconds, I'm sure. I tested it on someone while leaving the city."
That was news to me. "What about you? Are you ready?" I asked Kuri.
She took out a small canteen from under her cloak and brought it to her lips. She swallowed the contents in one long drag.
"I am now," she said, wiping her lips on the edge of her cloak. She gave me a defiant look, daring me to make a comment.
"Good," I said.
The plan was simple. Once Lexley arrived, Genna and Kuri would distract the knights and mercenaries. I would position myself as close to the wagons as possible beforehand, then steal it and get the blazes out of there. Genna would make sure I got to the wagon. Kuri would make sure the wagon got away. I would pick up Genna and Kuri on the way out.
One of our main advantages was that all three of us could attack from a distance, which most knights couldn't do. Once we put some distance between us and any pursuers, we'd be safe as long as there weren't any bowmen. Knights weren't fond of bows, and most bows did little against Sentinel armor. Even if we were going to be wading into the midst of bloodthirsty mercenaries and foolhardy knights, I wasn't too worried, just cautious.
At least until the wyverns showed up.
CHAPTER 35
"Warning. Incoming threats detected."
I looked all around me. "Where? I don't see anything."
Kuri spotted them first. "They're flying," she gasped.
Three dark shapes moved in the sky. I wouldn't have given them a second glance except for Mira's warning. "Scope mode," I said.
The dark shapes grew larger in my vision. They were flying creatures, but their shapes didn't match any bird or bat. They had long sinewy tails, and each creature had two large hind legs with grasping claws. They carried men and what looked like heavy crates on their backs.
"Fuck," I muttered.
Since when did Lexley learn to ride wyverns? If most knights hated the open seas, they absolutely despised the idea of riding on a winged beast. It was deemed cowardly, insane, not to mention unlucky and in bad taste. Knights slew dragons and their kind; they didn't befriend them. While the monsters of legend were all but extinct, their smaller wyvern cousins still roamed nearby lands. A few mountainous tribes to the west tamed the creatures, which were roughly four times the size of a horse.
Like everything else Lexley had done, it made no sense. Flying stolen goods on a wyvern was the exact opposite of a stealthy approach. It was the kind of flashy idiocy that only a sixteen-year-old would dream up. There was no way even Queen Priss would have known about this.
Lexley's unpredictability made him a liability, not only for himself, but for us as well. Just like that, our plans were thrown to the wind.
I desperately tried to think of another plan.
"Normal sight," I said. My vision returned to normal.
"Kuri," I whispered. She was staring at the flying creatures. I assumed they were as uncommon in her kingdom as they were here.
"Yes?" she replied.
"Can you talk to wyverns? Like you do with horses?"
Kuri pursed her lips. "I…I don't know. I've never met one before."
I had a crazy thought, but Genna shook
her head.
"No," she said. "I can't talk to horses or wyverns. If the mountain men's minds are foreign, animals are pure gibberish. I don't get anything from them."
Rats.
"Do you think they'll be spooked by fire?" I asked Kuri. I silently wondered whether they could breathe fire.
"Possibly," Kuri said. "I might be able to calm them." She finally looked away from the sky. "You know they don't breathe fire?"
"Of course." I glared at Genna to keep her mouth shut.
"Their bite is poisonous," Genna offered. "It's how they hunt."
Kuri had been about to speak, but she scowled at Genna.
"That's rude," I whispered to Genna.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Stealing thoughts. But nevermind." I needed a plan. Could a wyvern carry all three of us? No, it was too dangerous, even if they could. I would go alone. My suit might protect me if I fell. Might.
"Mira, would I survive a fall from the sky?" I asked.
"While I might survive, you are unlikely to," Mira said. "Although, I have observed a number of unlikely occurrences since meeting you."
In other words, no. I sighed.
"Alright, slight change of plans. Genna, Kuri, you'll have the same roles, except I'll be the only one on the wyvern. Watch my back, but as soon as I'm in the air, run and hide."
Genna nodded. Kuri shook her head.
"Do you know how to ride a wyvern?" Kuri asked.
"Uh…the same as a horse?" It couldn't be that hard, could it? I glanced at the approaching figures in the sky and gulped.
"I should go with you," Kuri said. "Even if I can't speak with the creature, I can soothe it if needed."
"You got it," I said immediately. She had a point. There was no use arguing.
"Will you be okay?" I asked Genna. I didn't want to leave her defenseless with armed knights and mercenary searching for her.
Genna tapped her focus gem. "With this, I can play hide-and-seek better than anyone else. It'll be impossible for anyone to sneak up on me in the dark."
"What if they spot you and run you down?"
"I can pull my own weight."
I hesitated, still uneasy about leaving her behind.
