by Allan Joyal
The pincer felt to the ground, but it did not open. The warrior it had grabbed was dragged to the ground. The crab lunged forward using its carapace to knock the other warrior back.
The cloud of darkness flowed around the stone crab. Sparks of pure mana danced between the cloud and the crab. Faestari could feel the power of the cloud as it sought to destroy her last defender. It was a battle of titanic forces. Everyone still standing backed away as the cloud poured more mana into the conflict.
Faestari could see that Mardrew was starting to creep forward. She darted across the mouth of what was now just a depression in the side of the mountain. As she ran she picked up another stone.
“Are you running away?” Mardrew taunted. “I thought you were supposed to think of yourself as some great and powerful dungeon.”
“I just want to be free to live,” Faestari said. “I was happy until your father decided he had to own me.”
“Oh, he won’t own you,” Mardrew said. “I’ll be the one doing that. But don’t worry, I won’t be needlessly cruel. I might even allow you to create a new dungeon someday.”
“I like the one I have here,” Faestari said.
“But none of your creatures are here defending you,” Mardrew pointed out.
“I haven’t summoned them,” Faestari said as she looked over at the black gemstone that was the source of the cloud. “They don’t need to be here for this.”
“Oh?” Mardrew said. “Not even to prevent me from doing this?”
The young wizard pulled out a small crystal. It seemed to be both black and white at the same time. A beam of white light pierced Faestari’s side as he raised it into the sunlight.
“Now, your spirit will come to me!” Mardrew cried out in triumph.
Faestari felt a pull to go to the crystal, but her own heart crystal pulled harder. She looked at the crystal and then waved her left hand dismissively. “Begone,” she said.
The crystal flew from Mardrew’s hand and shattered against the granite face of the mountain. Mardrew roared in fury. “How? You should have been easily captured with that.”
“I felt a pull, but my heart has a stronger pull than that little crystal did,” Faestari said.
“How? You should be almost out of mana. That was why we did what we did,” Mardrew said.
Faestari ignored him and against aimed at the black gemstone. She threw the rock she was holding.
Her aim was a bit low. Rather than striking the gemstone her attack struck the three interlocked staves holding the gemstone up. Two of the staves twisted, and the gemstone broke free to fall towards the ground.
“No!” Mordlew called out desperately as the gemstone tumbled. It shattered upon impact with the ground. The cloud of mana it spawned froze. A small ball of light glowed in the air above the crab as the rest of the cloud faded away.
The light seemed to expand until it looked like a disembodied man. The ghostly figure glided over near Faestari.
“Faestari? Is that you my daughter?” the air around the spirit seemed to say.
“Daddy?” she asked. “What happened? That man says he’s your descendant.”
The spirit turned to look at Mordlew. Everyone was standing motionless. Even the crab had halted its attacks as the ghost gazed down the mountain.
“I had no children after you. I loved your mother so much. She was my reason for living,” the spirit said.
“You left her! You killed her!” Mordlew cried.
The ghost’s glow darkened for a moment. “No,” it said sadly. “I did not kill her. The wizards who captured me killed her.”
“She was dead by the time they captured you!” Mordlew shouted.
The ghost looked at him again. “You must be descended from one of the wizards that tried to capture her. Yes, I remember what happened. I’ve had an eternity awake and aware in that stone. Held fast by the hate of the two wizards who died trying to capture my wife.”
“You destroyed her stone!” Mordlew cried again. “All of the family records say you were the one who destroyed her.”
“I destroyed a stone,” the ghost said. “It was attuned to her, but it was not her heart stone. It was a warding stone. She used it to tie her life-force to the body she was using. Without it, she would have been nothing more than mana given intelligence.”
“And that means?” Mordlew said.
“Breaking it meant she could use her full power,” the ghost said. “But she would likely never be able to have a human body. She also couldn’t be sure she’d find a home at all.”
“Where did her heart stone go, Daddy?” Faestari asked.
The ghost of Feldmar frowned. “She didn’t have one at the end. She wanted so much to be human and to love that she consumed the stone to give herself to things. A body and a daughter. She loved you so much.”
“I miss her,” Faestari admitted. “I miss you.”
The ghost looked over at the stone crab. “I see you have learned well how to make stone move. Your mother loved to change the dungeon while people were in it. Walls would shift or rooms would rotate. She had a playful nature.”
Faestari felt tears in her eyes. “I still have the rabbits she created to hide me. Except the last one with the letter. It crumbled to dust when I took the scroll from its mouth.”
“How long?” Feldmar’s ghost asked.
“I don’t know,” Faestari admitted. “I slept in my heart stone for a long time. I only woke two winters ago.”
“What?” Mordlew cried. “Two years and you have this much mana?”
Feldmar laughed. “You have her mana stones don’t you? Those had been trophies from her dungeon. Some thieves stole them from a wizard’s academy. Your mother insisted we move to that valley because she knew the stones were there.”
The ghost paused and then looked down. “She said you would need them someday.”
“You loved her very much,” Faestari said. “You died for her.”
“I was dead before I broke the stone,” Feldmar admitted. “The wizards brought some archers and they had riddled my body with arrows. It took all the strength I had left to crush the stone with a hammer.”
Feldmar seemed to start fading. “I cannot stay,” he said. “I wish I could, but no power can keep me here, and I hope that I get to meet your mother in the fields of Arcadia. Remember me, my lovely little Faestari.”
Faestari choked back a sob. “I will Daddy. I will always remember you and Mommy.”
The spirit faded away. The mountainside was silent. The few adventurers left standing had expressions that mixed astonishment and horror.
Salene was the first to try to move. She struggled again to break free of the magic that bound her. “You lied again Father!” she spat. “We aren’t her relatives. In fact your family were the ones who murdered her father and mother.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Mordlew screamed insanely. “I will have her power! It has been denied to my family for too long!”
Mardrew thrust his left hand forward. Three new ribbons of orangish-green shot from his fingers. Two wrapped around the pincer of the giant stone crab and locked it shut. The third weaved into the mouth of the crab.
The stone creature staggered. It oriented its eyes to look at the young wizard and charged on its five remaining legs. The locked pincer was extended in front of the creature like a lance as it tried to reach him.
The crab was still some distance away when the carapace of the creature cracked and fell away. Its legs collapsed.
“Yes!” Mardrew shouted in triumph as the creature crashed to the ground. It kept sliding forward and a moment later the pincer stabbed the young wizard in the stomach.
Mardrew’s body collapsed onto the pincer. He looked over at Faestari. “Unfair,” he croaked out and then sighed his last breath.
The mountainside was silent again. Faestari walked over to the destroyed stone crab. “I’m sorry,” she said to her now destroyed defender.
“Sorry?” Mordlew yelled? “For what? Why be sorr
y for some stone creature you created.”
“Why shouldn’t she be sorry,” Salene said as the magical bonds keeping her from moving vanished. “It defended her. It protected her from you.”
“I will have her!” Mordlew said. He reached into a pouch at his waist. “She must be out of mana, and her last defender is gone. Come to me spirit!”
Mordlew held a clear piece of crystal above his head. It was cut in the same disk shape as the heart stone Faestari had left buried far beneath the mountain. She felt a very slight pull, but nothing strong.
“It’s not my stone,” she said simply. “I’ll remain where I am.”
“You must be close to it!” Mordlew insisted. “I’ve seen the size of your domain. It can’t be far enough away to hold you. This stone is perfect. It should overwhelm yours!”
“So it has a limited range,” Faestari said. “That’s nice to know.”
“It has enough range to reach your chamber. And it should be the more powerful stone!” Mordlew said again.
“Oh, but I don’t live near my stone,” Faestari said. “My stone was originally in a chamber higher up on the mountain. But as my domain expanded I sent it deeper into the earth.”
“How deep?” Roquel asked.
Faestari shrugged. “I don’t keep track really. My goal has always been to limit my visible domain to about the size it is now. I never wanted to make it larger than that.”
“You lie!” Mordlew said as he started to walk towards her. He still held the crystal high above his head. “This is some trick. I know if I touch this too you, I’ll be able to finally…irk!”
Mordlew’s body crumbled to the ground. Salene stood right behind him. Her sword was covered in blood. She gazed down at the man she had called father for years. “No more,” she said. “It’s over.”
Chapter 31: Aftermath of a Revelation
Faestari stood silently as Salene took a couple steps away from her fallen father. She dropped to her knees and started crying. The veteran adventurer’s wails echoed over the mountain as everyone else just stood in stunned silence.
The young dungeon avatar rushed over and put her arms around Salene. She said nothing as the adventurer cried out her anguish.
Dared ran up followed by several of his guards. “What has been happening? I saw the ring of fire, but by the time I could gather my guards, it was gone. Now I have dozens of people burnt or dead on the mountainside.
“Mordlew happened,” Betrixy said. “He didn’t leave as you ordered.”
“I’ll execute him and his whole family!” Dared snarled. “If he angered the dungeon or destroyed it, we lose our best chance to build a successful town.”
“The dungeon doesn’t seem angry,” Betrixy said as she pointed to Salene and Faestari.
“I recognize the warrior girl, but wasn’t she one of Mordlew’s children? And who is the elven maid? I thought no elves had come to the valley yet. Not even as adventurers,” Dared said.
Faestari glanced over at Dared. Salene had dropped her sword and was clinging to the little dungeon avatar. The grip made it difficult for Faestari to move to acknowledge the local noble.
Betrixy stepped forward, trying to avoid the bodies that seemed to litter the small area of mountainside. “Faestari?” she asked. “Are you angry about what happened?”
“How could she not be angry?” Salene said. “My father was revealed to be… to be.”
“I man of uncommon evil,” Betrixy said quietly. “But I remember Gee’if saying that Ioutos said you were a good person when he looked at you up on the mountain that one day.”
“He said she had a pure and noble heart,” Faestari said softly. “Which is why she is so devastated. Did Luniri survive?”
“She’s dead. It looks like one of Mardrew’s spells cut her in half,” Gee’if said from where he knelt over the body of the fallen woman.
Dared’s face had grown pale after Betrixy spoke. He turned to look at Faestari. “You are the avatar of the dungeon?” he asked. “But…”
“My domain is spherical,” Faestari said. “I made sure it encompasses the mountain, but the shape of the mountain means that it extends above the mountain. I can walk here.”
“But you never,” Dared said.
“It was not safe,” Faestari said. “Men like Mordlew made me wary of revealing myself.”
“What did he do?” Dared asked as he looked at the remains of the spells the wizards had cast. And where did the crab come from?”
Salene giggled. “The crab belonged to Faestari. My father got two wizards to cast some kind of flame spell. They wanted to melt their way into the side of the mountain.”
Faestari looked back at the mountainside. She had closed up and healed the damage already, so it was difficult to see where the break-in attempt occurred. “They would have reached the chamber I rest in.”
“So the mephit told the truth?” Salene asked.
“That I threw him out? He threatened Aylia when he showed up in my home,” Faestari said firmly.
“Aylia?” Dared asked.
“She’s a water sprite that lives in the dungeon,” Salene said. “At least I believe that is what she is. When we met Ioutos at the entrance to the dungeon, there was a blue haired woman with Faestari. Ioutos said she was a water sprite.”
Faestari nodded. “She lives deep in the dungeon. Other than Thumas and his team, no group has gotten that deep into the dungeon.”
“There are more rooms?” Dared asked.
Faestari nodded. “I have nearly seventy rooms with monsters and challenges now. I could add more, but I am waiting to see what monsters are attracted to the dungeon this winter.”
Betrixy smiled. “An adventurer could spend a lifetime delving here.”
“I hope so,” Faestari said. “It has been interesting watching the town grow.”
“So you aren’t angry at us?” Dared asked desperately.
“I will fight to protect myself from any more attempts to destroy or capture me,” Faestari said. “And should the Kindred set up a hall in the town I would be inclined to try to destroy it. I have little liking for that group.”
“No Kindred, and no dungeon killers,” Dared said. “I believe everyone here can agree on that. What else can we do for you?”
“I try to make it easy for adventuring groups to leave once they decide they have gone deep enough for a delve. I can do that as long as only one group enters at a time. If you are going to have a gatehouse on the mountain, can you enforce that?” Faestari asked.
Dared nodded. “That I can do, what else?”
“Nothing,” Faestari said.
“Nothing!” Dared asked. “But you bring so much to us!”
Faestari smiled. She still had her arms around Salene. “I’m a dungeon. I don’t have to eat or sleep. I will likely still be alive after everyone alive in the town today is long dead. The only thing I need to live is mana, and I gather that many ways. I do like having adventurers enter, as I gain more mana from them, but it isn’t necessary for me to live.”
“You ask for so little,” Betrixy said.
“Asking for anything probably will anger the other dungeons,” Faestari said. “I’m sure some will think me mad to have allowed you to see me. Many don’t even use avatars.”
Salene gave her arm a squeeze. “We could be friends.”
Faestari thought about it. “I can’t really leave my domain.”
“You can’t?” Betrixy asked. “I am reading your mana signature, and now that I see it, I could swear I’ve seen it before.”
Dared turned to Betrixy. “What?”
Faestari giggled girlishly. “I have some ability to send my sight and hearing beyond my domain. Or I can send an avatar, but the avatar’s body has limits outside my domain. With Mordlew and his friends around, I tried to avoid revealing myself.”
Betrixy nodded. “And a rat makes a nice avatar then.”
“What?” Salene said.
Betrixy pointed at Faes
tari. “This little innocent dungeon was watching all the announcements last night. She snuck in disguised as a rat.”
“No,” Faestari said. “That was a real rat. I just possessed it.”
Dared was looking back and forth between Betrixy and Faestari. “Could someone explain it to me?”
Betrixy looked over at Faestari who nodded back at her. Betrixy sighed. “I guess I must,” she said.
“If you must, you must,” Faestari replied.
Betrixy turned to Dared. “I’ve learned from Gee’if and Roquel that a dungeon has great power inside their domain, but very limited power outside. Faestari here has been watching what goes on in the town, mostly just by using mana to look past the domain. However, she can take over a rat and then see and hear everything the rat does. That’s what she did last night at the meeting. She had a rat sitting in the rafters of the tavern.”
“I liked everything you said,” Faestari added. “That’s another reason I’m not mad. I know you never intended what happened today.”
“That was my father’s idea,” Salene said. “If he was my father.”
Faestari offered her a gentle hug. “I’d offer my father as a replacement, but he’s….”
Salene gave her arm another gentle squeeze. “Sisters in spirit then? Perhaps I can bring you some food. I’m sure you remember eating.”
Faestari laughed. “I could be convinced to meet with you and others up on the plateau occasionally. But for now, I believe we all need rest.”
Betrixy nodded. The female wizard knelt down and put a hand over Salene’s shoulder. “Come, let’s get you back to Jyxton. He’ll bring a smile back to your face.”
Faestari allowed Salene to be coaxed to her feet and led from the mountain. She then stood up and looked back at her crab. The body of the monstrous golem had been smashed and shattered. She shook her head. The granite quickly responded to her summons and absorbed the pieces.
“What?” Dared said as he stepped back.
“I don’t need it here,” Faestari said. “I don’t believe anyone in the town is going to try to cause me trouble. And I can build a new one tonight. It’s not like there are adventurers about to find it.”
