She shook her head. “No, but it’s obvious. He betrayed you. He has to pay. Just be careful.”
Terran kissed her back, enjoying the softness of her lips, the caress of her golden hair against his face. As he pulled away, he almost asked her to come to Gneiss Glen, but remembered the dreams he’d been having about the place of power, where Andelain the Mother Tree had been born. If everything went as he thought it would, he wouldn’t be returning to the Glen. He left her standing there beside the abandoned keg, lips flat, eyes rounding.
As they cut through the alleyway, Zara, who had both axes strapped to her back, nodded back towards the Golden Kumquat. “She’s nice. More than nice.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “You’re still stuck on Chanterelle.”
“It’s not that...well, it is that, but also, I worry about what Chanterelle would do,” said Terran, remembering their conversation on the rooftop. His hand went to the place where she’d clawed him. The wound had healed but a lingering ache remained.
Luna growled softly. “Let’s focus on Estabario.”
Terran nodded, thankful to have the conversation move away from his lady troubles. Not long after they reached the street where the Pit was located and peered around the corner. Two guards in full chainmail, holding short swords and shields, stood at attention, scanning the street with menace.
“I don’t think we’re going to intimidate our way in,” said Terran.
Zara cracked her neck. “Luna, you distract them, and I’ll take care of the door wardens.”
The gray lynx slipped into the shadows and within moments appeared on the roof, leaping and running across the high line, until she was directly above the two guards. A low rumble in her throat brought the chins of the guards up, until they were staring at the shadows on the roof.
Zara removed the axes, one glinting with a razor-sharp edge, the other made of night, holding one in each hand.
“Which one are you going to use?” whispered Terran.
As she strode across the street towards the distracted guards, she looked over her shoulder. “Why not both?”
The guards startled upon seeing her, the first one reaching towards the door as if to ring the alarm, but Zara brought both arms down, flinging the heavy axes to spin through the air, knocking them both off their feet. Before either could dislodge the weapon from their chests, Luna dropped off the roof and dispatched them with her claws.
“Nicely done,” said Terran as he opened the door wide.
“Do you think he knows we’re coming?” asked Zara, as she yanked her axes from the dead guards. They quickly crossed the entryway, the sounds of a raucous party echoing against the inner door. Zara raised her eyebrows as she gripped her axes menacingly.
Terran clicked the handle, pulling the door open slowly, hoping Estabario’s crew was deep in their cups, but what they found was nothing like the noises had suggested. Rather than a great hall filled with drunken thugs milling about in distraction, they found tables tipped over, men and women with bows and other weapons of war using them as cover.
Luna growled. “I think they know we’re coming.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The first barrage of arrows blasted them cleanly, chipping Zara’s chitin armor and dealing a small chunk of damage across the three of them. As the thugs readied a second volley, Zara, with arrows sticking from her thigh, dropped the shadowshard axe, ripped the door off the hinges, and held it up as a shield. Terran threw himself behind it, right as it collected a quiver’s worth of arrows.
“I’ll distract them,” said Zara, grunting as she held up the door. “You do your teleporting magic.”
Peeking around the side, Terran searched for dark cubbies where he could easily blast the archers from a flanking position. Curiously, the edges of the hall lacked any lights, making his task easier, but there was a nagging suspicion that not everything was right.
“Come on, hurry up,” said Zara, grunting.
Terran picked a cubby and trigged his pathway traveling, appearing moments later in the shadows.
“Got him!”
Hidden behind the tables, a trio of thugs jumped out, grabbing him before he could get a Vocal Blast off. Estabario had anticipated his move and placed his men accordingly. Before they could drag him away, Terran placed his feet against the wooden wall, using the climbing ability of the spider climb ring to leverage away from the thugs. By the time he was hanging from the ceiling like a bat, they barely had a grip on him. He held his staff to his lips and hit a perfect F-sharp.
The vocal impact knocked the thugs to their knees. Blood ran from their ears as they held their hands to the sides of their heads. The confined space of the cubby had amplified his sonic damage.
“He’s loose!” someone cried as Terran strode into the light. He’d flanked the archers, who numbered about twenty. From this angle he could see other teams hidden from view, ready to snatch him if he’d landed in their spot.
The bonus damage from the cubby gave Terran an idea. Rather than focus his Auditory Assault at the thugs, he projected his voice towards the angled ceiling, which only amplified the noise. He put everything he had into the spell, and his combat log filled with damage notifications. Some of the archers dropped their bows in agony, while a group of toughs pulled their weapons and charged him.
Terran thought he was going to take a sword blow to the chest, but Luna leapt from behind, taking the thug in the throat. The second and third thug managed to swing, forcing Terran to end his song and dodge away. As the archers turned towards him, pulling taut their bows, Zara charged into their midst with two spinning great axes. The distraction allowed him to resume his song, which steadily brought their health low as Zara and Luna cleaned them up.
[You have increased the skill Battle Song]
Skill: Battle Song 22 (CHA)
They come from the land of the leaf and bough.
[You have increased the skill Bardic Endurance]
Skill: Bardic Endurance 14 (CHA)
World champion bubble blower.
In the aftermath of the destruction, Zara leaned on her shadow axe with the other casually lying across her shoulder.
“I don’t see Estabario,” she said.
Terran gestured towards the door leading deeper into the Pit. “I’m sure he was happy to use his thugs as a shield. I just hope he hasn’t fled the city.”
“With your traveler ability, I don’t think that would be smart of him,” said Zara.
Terran pushed through the door and crept through the passages, checking rooms along the way, finding them deserted. Most of them were living quarters, but there were a few places for weapon storage and a large kitchen. At the back of the main level, they found stairs heading into the depths.
The wooden steps creaked as they descended. Zara had the lead. They found more empty rooms, including a fighting cage with bloodstained sands, and a supply closet. They finally came to double doors painted with the scene of a battle in a mine, clearly showing the moment Estabario earned his freedom. He was in front of the slave rebellion, his soot-stained face crying out as he hit a foreman with a whip.
“Come in,” said a voice behind the door.
Terran wasn’t surprised to find Estabario and Cross-eyed Mary together in the room, the latter without her trademark ocular affliction. He sat behind his desk, while she stood at his side, hands on hilts, looking as formidable as ever. Both of them were level 23 elites, and while it was three on two, the confidence on the crime lord’s brow gave him pause.
“Did you always know?” asked Terran, gesturing towards the woman who’d been the Tavern Killer.
“No,” said Estabario, “but I wasn’t about to throw away such a valuable member of my team. She nearly bested you, and now she’s more appropriately equipped.”
A second glance proved his words. She wore black leather armor and held a short sword and dagger, both of which looked deadly and were probably enchanted. The way she stared at Terran gave him pause, but he was
too focused on Estabario to give it more than a passing thought.
“My only regret was giving you her ring, but that was necessary for the deception.” He tapped idly on the desk. “Moving out of the shadows into the halls of the oligarchs takes more than just gold. They were starting to see me as one of their own until the Arena. I still don’t know how you beat Heavenly Death.”
“Which is why you should hand over the book,” said Terran. “I’m not your enemy, despite everything that’s transpired. While I don’t agree with what you do here in Dagrath, I understand where you’ve come from, how you’ve battled your way from slavery to your current position. I don’t have to destroy you.”
Zara raised her eyebrows, but kept her mouth squeezed tight.
“I think you have misinterpreted your position,” said Estabario, the corners of his lips rising slightly. He pulled an ornate box from his lap and set it on the desk with his hand on top. “Inside this box is your book, Places of Power. If anyone other than I opens the box, it annihilates the contents, destroying the very thing you need. For you, there is no book.”
The mention of the title made Cross-eyed Mary stand taller. She stared at the box with a hunched forehead. Terran leaned on the desk.
“I’ll pay you,” said Terran. “I made a killing in the Arena. That windfall can be yours, help you pave the way into the halls of the oligarchs.”
“It takes more than money to cultivate power, which is why I’ve been working them for a long time. Until you beat Heavenly Death, I thought I was a sure thing to join their ranks,” said Estabario, scowling.
If greed wasn’t enough to sway the crime lord, he needed to make him understand the bigger picture. He checked back with Zara before continuing. “I need that book, or specifically, information in that book that will maintain the Rock Leaf Elf Empire. If I can’t get it, the fragile empire we’ve created will crumble. We’re the only thing between the Howling Wind and Dagrath. If they have free run of Belevar, they’ll take everyone in this city prisoner.”
“That is exactly why you’re not getting the book,” said Estabario, nostrils flaring. The news about Howling Wind didn’t seem to faze the crime lord. He tapped on the ornate box. “This tome details places of power throughout the continent of Belevar. Once there were such places on Moranne but they’ve been corrupted or destroyed. That makes this book more valuable than mere gold.”
“You think they won’t just kill you and take it?” asked Terran.
“They won't for the same reason you aren’t. If you did, you would lose what you came to find, and trust me, I’ve read this book. You’d never find these places on your own. You might walk right by one a thousand times and never realize it. The only ones that know where they are are the gods themselves, and they aren’t going to tell anybody,” said Estabario.
Terran straightened. He’d come to the Pit expecting to fight for the prize he needed. What he hadn’t expected was a conundrum he didn’t know how to solve. Terran was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see Cross-eyed Mary move next to Estabario until it was too late. The crime lord was equally focused on him. Cross-eyed Mary leaned over and snapped the clasp off the front, quickly opening the box before anyone could stop her. An explosion tore the room apart.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Terran found himself across the room, lying on a broken rack of scrolls, the contents smashed beneath his body, as smoke and lingering eldritch energy swirled around the room. Something was poking him in his ribs, but he was too dazed to move just yet, glancing to his right to see Zara on her hands and knees, coughing, while Luna had been thrown clear.
The desk was shattered. Estabario had taken a direct hit, but survived. He climbed to his feet shakily, while in the opposite corner, a figure emerged where Cross-eyed Mary had once stood. For a brief moment, the woman’s face remained, but then like smoke dissipating, the illusion disappeared, revealing Chanterelle.
Estabario looked confused about the new person in the room, but not Terran. In his gut, he knew he should have figured it out before.
The crime lord reached to his hip, producing a wicked blade. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you’re going to pay for what you just did.”
A calm Chanterelle stared back ambivalently. “It is you who is going to pay for your betrayal. You would sell this continent to our enemies in exchange for a thimbleful of freedom.” She turned towards Terran. “You can still join the Lady. There’s time yet for you to decide.”
There was something more in her gaze. A promise, a question—but the message was lost when Estabario’s lunge was easily blocked away. The crime lord looked confused by the ease of her defense. Terran wasn’t sure if he should join the fray, but when billowing smoke in the shape of dark wings blew behind Chanterelle, he knew it was time to leave.
Terran grabbed Zara, dragging her from the room, and scooped up Luna, who was injured but alive, as Chanterelle took the form of a shadow dragon to battle the outclassed Estabario. When Chanterelle had said she no longer needed the Nightblade, he now knew what she meant. She was the Nightblade. It wasn’t a blade, but the form of the dragon.
With Estabario’s screams fading behind them, and the quest that he’d come to Dagrath for in ruins, Terran rushed his friends towards the streets. In the great hall, Luna squirmed in his arms.
“You can put me down.”
Relieved to be unburdened by Luna’s weight, he paused as everyone collected themselves.
“Chanterelle was the Tavern Killer,” said Zara, screwing up her face. “But why?”
“I don’t think she was before. She must have taken Cross-eyed Mary’s place to get close to Estabario and the book. The Lady of Shadows wishes to be the only force on this continent against the invasion of the Howling Wind. Plus she saw the oligarchs as a danger, because they might throw themselves in with the Howling Wind.” Terran shook his head. “It’s the best I’ve got.”
“It makes sense,” said Zara, memories passing across her gaze. “You didn’t see what we saw. There was no stopping them. They will overrun this place if we’re divided. What we saw in the temple, they’re probably trying to convert the city, or something.”
Terran glanced behind him to make sure that Chanterelle, in the form of the Nightblade, hadn’t followed. His bones still ached from the explosion, but it was the loss of the book that hurt more. Did Chanterelle also destroy it to force him to join her?
“What are we going to do now?” asked Luna. “We came all this way for that book and now it’s gone.”
“I don’t know,” said Terran as they made their way out of the Pit, heart heavy from the implications of what had just happened.
But he had no more time to contemplate it, as they found a host of shadowy creatures waiting for them in the street, including three enormous Shadow Morphs in the shape of giants. What was worse were the two humans, huddled against each other, dark blades against their throats.
“Terran!” said Della, the cry for help trailing off as if the shadows had sucked the words away as she held Isabella against her hip to keep her eyes hidden.
Chanterelle stepped forward, no longer in her dragon form. It could have been the shifting light, or his own desires, but Terran was certain she looked pained by the circumstances.
“Your defiance ends here,” said Chanterelle, chin held high. “Join the Lady of Shadows or they die.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nighttime in the city was unlike in the Rock Leaf Forest. The glow of lanterns, torches, and floating magelights created a faint nimbus across the skyline. Framed behind the horde of shadows, the tall Watch Owl towers of the Northam district could be seen, but those were far away. They might as well have been on the continent of Moranne. Estabario had picked the location of the Pit well, as away from the main thoroughfares, prying eyes were rare.
“The Lady will not wait forever for your answer,” said Chanterelle. “Even if you wished to fight, you cannot stand against us. We’re far too numerous,
you’re far too few.”
Zara looked over at Terran, frustration in her gaze. They were massively outnumbered. There had to be at least thirty shadows, not counting the Shadow Morph giants and Chanterelle herself. He’d lost the book, and Andelain would fall, leaving the continent to the Lady of Shadows.
“We should leave by your pathways,” said Zara under her breath. “We can’t fight this.”
“I fear she’s right,” said Luna, looking up at him.
Terran didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer.
“You’re not thinking of joining her, are you?” asked Zara, forehead knitting at the center.
He didn’t speak right away, until her eyes widened, so he said, “No. I can’t.”
But that wasn’t entirely the truth. He could barely hold the crystalline staff—his limbs had been drained of their energy by the circumstances. With everything lost, he wanted to give up, give in, join Chanterelle in the shadows. It would be convenient that he would be saving Della and Isabella, at least until they were converted.
“No,” said Terran, almost to himself. “I didn’t come here to give up.”
Zara took a relieved breath and turned her focus back to the horde of shadows.
“You won’t kill them, and we’re not joining you,” said Terran. “In fact, you’re leaving this city tonight, or I’ll root you out, every one of you, destroy you.”
In the pause that followed, Luna quietly said, “Okay, sounds great, but how are we doing this?”
“Figuring that out still,” replied Terran under his breath, but as he glanced across the battlefield, a plan started to form. Not a great one, but a chance. The biggest wild card was Chanterelle. He assumed that her Nightblade form could only be used sparingly, but if he was wrong, and she chose to fight, they would likely lose quickly. At least they’d get sent back to the Gneiss Glen.
Zara loosened the shadow axe from her shoulder. The horde recoiled from the weapon, as if they understood its purpose.
Champion's Prophecy: A LitRPG Adventure Page 17
