Magenlune smiled in a nasty manner. It was hard to ascribe emotions to such an alien creature, however Roan guessed that the smile was sarcastic in a way, as if she was actually angry. She arched her black silken brows at Tyrean.
“The lady does not lie, and she does not resort to gimmicks. She has no need of such things. We, her servants, give their souls to her willingly. Though I should warn you that you may not like her advice. She has never been wrong to my knowledge, and she has never led anyone astray.”
Roan turned away from both Magenlune and Tyrean. He stared out at the webs and the black water, pretending angst. His Daggerland soul was worthless to him. He had been coming here for a year simply as a way to see Amanda. If she were to die, he would never come back.
“Let’s say I believe you, Magenlune,” he said, still with his back turned. “What are your demands?”
Her answer came without hesitation. “Your soul for eternity.”
“No. I might consider five years, but eternity, that’s too long of a stretch in my opinion.”
She reached out one of her legs and turned him around with a strength that was terrifying. “That’s because you don’t know what I am offering. I am not just offering you a way to save your girlfriend. I offer much more. I’m going to tell you how to stop Atticus Arching once and for all.”
“I already have that,” he answered. “He is rotting in prison on the other side and when I give my testimony in two days’ time, he’ll never get out again.”
“Are you so sure?” she asked, bending her eight legs, folding them beneath her, so that she knelt looking somewhat like a cat. “Why do you think the assassins took her and not you? They’ve known who you were for a few days now and they played with you like you were a puppet. They pulled a string and you went here and they pulled another and you ran there. They kept you busy going in circles, thinking that you were getting close, but really they were after sweet Amanda.”
Roan knew she wasn’t lying. “And you will tell me how to save Amanda from the Infinite Assassins and help me stop Atticus Arching?”
“In exchange for your soul, I will.”
“In that case, I…” She leered over him with such open desire that he paused, letting the moment drag out until the leer turned to fierce anger.
“Yes or no!” she raged. “You’re not just wasting my time, you’re wasting the last seconds of Amanda’s dwindling life. Which is it, yes or no?”
Roan was quite literally selling his soul to a devil and he hated the feeling. But what choice did he have?
“I accept,” he answered, and then when he heard Cricket suck in her breath and saw Tyrean’s face grow hard, he added, “with conditions.”
Chapter 36
The Slums, Oberast
Magenlune leapt up so that she stood tall over Roan. Her entire body was shaking and her black eyes were flared wide in outrage. “People do not demand conditions of me! They accept my deals, or they do not. There are no conditions!”
Roan remained calm. He was so calm that it felt weird. He was normally the bristling angry type and to see the tables turned had a relaxing effect on him. “I have conditions and it will be you who can take them or leave them.”
The drider’s insect-like face went through a series of quirky adjustments as if her spider side was battling with her human side. Finally, she said, “No.”
“But you haven’t heard my conditions yet.”
“I categorically deny them. No to every one of them.”
She was so strangely angry that it was a moment before Roan realized what had her so upset. “I get it now. You weren’t expecting this. The seer in you was blind. Interesting. Very interesting.”
Her odd angry smile came back, telling him that he had been right. “Perhaps. But now I see what you would like. You wish for this Cricket to be freed from my web…she and her mother. I am right, aren’t I?”
He wiped the smug look from her face, saying, “You are, partially. I wish for her and her mother to be escorted safely to the Pelinores, where they will be left unmolested by you or your agents.” Magenlune expected this answer and her face remained utterly neutral. But he was not finished. “And I wish that Tyrean be the one to escort them to the Pelinores, where she will remain as guardian until her time under your thumb is over.”
Tyrean’s head spun around quickly, her brown hair waving like a fan behind her. There was unexpected hope in her eyes. Roan knew that anything, even a dull guardianship in the Pelinores, had to be better than serving this creature in her foul slums.
“No,” Magenlune answered flatly, her breathy voice as cold as could be.
“You see your problem is that you sent Tyrean to find the last good man in the slums and you found him. If I’m going to sell my soul, I want it to do all the good it can. If you will not allow these minor conditions, then I suppose our negotiations have come to an end. Dwarf!” he yelled. “Bring back the boat!”
Magenlune smiled that angry smile of hers. “Fine. Go then. But know this, she will die without my help and Arching will get away. Is that what you want? Do you want him to get away? You know that with his assassins, he’ll soon control both worlds and you will be hunted from one end of it to the other. Think about that and then choke on it.”
He already was thinking about it; it was all he could think about, and yet he clung to this last bit of goodness that he felt he could do. “You certainly seem upset,” he said. “With every word you utter, you cement my decision not to trust you.”
“My word is my bond,” she seethed. “And my deal is fair.”
“As is mine. I will pay for the trip to the Pelinores, all you would have to do is agree. A simple nod of your head and this back and forth will be done. You will have won, yet again.”
She sucked in her breath from both sets of lungs, but did not commit. She only stared down at Roan as if she could break him with the weight of that stare. He would not be broken. His mind had been made up. Had this been his actual soul they were talking about with eternal damnation on the line, he would have asked for even more.
The two remained silent for so long that the edge of their situation wore off. Tyrean yawned and Cricket began to fidget. Roan was all set to call the dwarf a second time, this time in earnest, when Magenlune unexpectedly relented. “I agree,” she said in a much softer tone. Roan waited, thinking he would have to sign something formal or maybe shake Magenlune’s hand or leg or whatever. The drider considered the deal sealed and said, “You are mine, now.”
“First the information you promised. Where is Amanda?”
When Magenlune smiled this time there wasn’t anger, there was only maleficent glee. “It seems you did not listen. I never said I would tell you where she was.”
Tyrean groaned as Roan began to splutter, “Of-of course you did. I wouldn’t have made the deal if you hadn’t.”
“No. I offered you a way to save your girlfriend, and I said I would tell you how to stop Atticus Arching once and for all. And I will, but first…” Roan’s head had been spinning and now he thought he could expect some sort of physical punishment for his temerity.
Magenlune demonstrated that she could be more cruel in her punishments than simple torture. “Tyrean, you have been a faithful servant. As a reward, I release you early. You are now free to go where you wish.”
Tyrean’s mouth fell open in complete shock. “I’m free? I’m free?” She was bewildered by the suddenness of it all and turned around in a circle, blinking back tears.
Roan was bewildered as well and it was a moment before he realized what had happened. With a word, Magenlune had turned the tables on him. Tyrean’s part in their deal had been nullified and now Cricket would no longer have an escort out of the city. And there was nothing Roan could do about it. He didn’t have time to save Amanda, fight off the assassins, destroy Atticus Arching and get Cricket to safety. And even if he did, he knew Magenlune would not allow it. She owned him and there was no way she would let him to go to th
e Pelinores or anywhere else for that matter.
Cricket was once more doomed to the miserable life of either a serving wench or a happy girl on K Street. The little girl was the slowest to catch on that a promise of a new start had been torn from her for the second time in a week. She dropped down into the soft webbing and cried.
The sight of those tears infuriated Roan, and Magenlune’s smarmy smile was enough for him to forget himself and he had his sword half-pulled before Tyrean grabbed his wrist. “Don’t. She is too strong.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Magenlune said. “You should be angry. Indeed, you should be furious. Arching isn’t just trying to kill you, he’s trying to own your soul. You think you can escape from me by crossing the veil, but the other side will be a thousand times worse. Living day to day, hiding in seedy motels, running from cover to cover like a rat. That’s how your life will be if you do not take down Arching. He is the king and once he’s dead the rest will crumble.”
“I know all of this already,” Roan shot back. “Tell me something I don’t know, like how do I stop him?”
Her smile widened. “Oh, that’s simple. All you have to do is kill the last bit of goodness in you. Burn it to cinders and then choke on the ashes until you are angry enough to do what you know has to be done. You want to win? You want to stop Arching once and for all? Then become what you came here to become. Become a true assassin.”
2—
“And then what?” Roan asked. She didn’t answer, which only added to his fury. “Become an assassin and kill who? Who has Amanda and where are they keeping her?” Magenlune remained silent and gave no indication that she had even heard him other than the hideous alien smile of hers.
“Magenlune, damn it!” Roan yelled. “You have not fulfilled your end of the bargain. Tell me what I need to know or the deal is off.”
With shocking speed, she lashed forward with one of her eight legs and nearly knocked him off the floating disc(Damage -6HP). She stood over him with one leg pressing down on his chest, pinning him into the webbing but not crushing him.
“I have said what I have to say. The rest is up to you. Only an assassin can win now. You will be back here in thirty-six hours and you’ll beg my forgiveness…if you’re still alive that is.” She gathered her bulk around her and then sprung sixty feet into the air, catching one of her web ropes that hung from the unseen ceiling.
“Son of a bitch,” Roan hissed, getting to his feet. “I don’t care what she says, she’s cheating me. Become an assassin? And then what? Amanda will fall into my arms and Arching will fall off a building?”
Tyrean had been staring off into nothing. “I think you should trust her. She’s had me as her servant for the last four years and I’ve seen her visions come true more frequently than not. Sometimes this is her way, giving only hints. Sometimes she will say a single word to someone and it’ll have meaning. Maybe not right away, but eventually.”
Roan cursed again, this time under his breath, because Cricket was looking at him, miserably. “Well, she struck out this time. How can she demand my soul and only tell me to keep going? Or don’t give up, you’re almost there?”
“You came here to find out how to kill this Atticus person. I say take it as a confirmation and move ahead. Now, about my debt to you.” Roan started to shake his head but she spoke right over him, “Yes, I owe you. I will take the girl and her mother to the Pelinores and I will set them up however you wish.”
He was floored by her generosity, while somehow, Cricket looked even more miserable. She dropped her chin so that her lank hair fell in front of her face. She explained in a little voice, “I-I’m sorry, Mister Ratchet, we lost all the gold. The orcs took everything we had. If you want, I-I can maybe work for Rinely again until I can pay you back.”
She was being earnest with her offer, which doused Roan’s anger somewhat. “No. I have plenty of money,” he told her. With one hand, he brushed the hair out of her eyes and with the other he reached into his bag and brought out ten golden wheels. The sight of them shocked the tears from Cricket’s eyes. He handed the gold to Tyrean. “Set them up with a business. The M-O-M may not be able to handle much, but Cricket has gobs of common sense. I think you can trust her.”
“Oh, she can trust me, I swear,” Cricket exclaimed, wiping away snot with the back of her arm. “Can I hold the gold? Is it heavy? It looks heavy. Boy, I never ever saw that much in my life.”
“Not just yet,” Roan said, standing and patting her head. He felt a strange father-like sensation. “Okay, where can we find an orc with green teeth?”
Tyrean whistled for the dwarf and as he paddled into view, she said, “It’s Skag. For some reason, he likes spinach. He eats it with every meal. And yes, I know where he is. With fresh meat, he’ll be moving out of the tunnels very soon. There’s a woman who will slap a minor illusion spell on this one’s mother long enough to sell her. If the dwarf hurries, we’ll be able to catch up.”
“I don’t hurry for the likes of you, Tyrean. And, judging by this lad’s look, I guess that he is one of us, now. It means I’m untouchable. Tell him, Tyrean.” She answered by pulling her sword and smacking him smartly on the top of the head with the flat side of it. The dwarf cursed and looked back with hate in his eyes. The look turned to wonder. “Magenlune freed you? How? What did you do? What happened?”
His eagerness was somewhat unsettling. “If you get us to the Brake Street Tunnel in ten minutes, I will tell you,” she answered. This lit a fire under the dwarf. He worked his paddle with such gusto that he ended up soaking Roan and Cricket. The little girl giggled at the spray. She was all smiles, while Roan went back to glaring.
He was not happy at all with his trip into the slums and with every second he spent under the earth wasting time, he felt his anger build. And it wasn’t just his anger, either. He felt the evil inside of him burn white hot. If it kept up, he would have no problem becoming an assassin.
When the canoe got close to the tunnel, Tyrean explained how she regained her freedom. “Bleeding lucky is what you are,” the dwarf grumbled as he spun the boat around and paddled backwards, shoving it onto the sandy edge of the tunnel.
Except for the dwarf, everyone hopped out. Tyrean bid him farewell and then rushed away up the tunnel with Roan and Cricket following close behind. If anything, the air in the tunnel was more rank that in any other part of the slums. It was the ugly stink of ghouls causing it. In a side room, someone had built a shaft from above where unwanted corpses were thrown down, and now there were dozens of ghouls lurking in the dark recesses.
“Keep quiet,” Tyrean whispered, even though Roan made no more noise than his shadow and Cricket wasn’t much louder. They tried to slip past the dank opening without being seen; something gave them away. From the darkness came a growl and then shuffling steps. “Swords out!” Tyrean cried.
The magic in the blades lit up the tunnel, showing them the dreadful creatures. The ghouls looked like the corpses they fed upon, rotted and foul; the only difference was their red eyes that gleamed hungrily. They attacked mindless of the razor sharp blades in their faces.
Tyrean was fast and attacked those in front before they could come up the slight incline. Roan was about to maneuver around to the side to get in an attack when Cricket let out a gasp of fright. There were more of the creatures coming up from behind. Cricket tried to point, only she turned green from the stench flowing from them and threw up on the dirt wall.
Roan went dizzy from the smell, which turned out to be some sort of special ability on the part of the ghouls. He read in his vision (Failed saving throw; Attack -2). Even with the -2 he still attacked at +10 for his first attack of the round and +5 with his second. He was able to connect with nearly every swing. And he needed the advantage because magic blade or not, the ghouls were tough.
When the sword bit into the rotten flesh, it didn’t come apart as easily as he expected. Although dripping gore, the flesh of the ghouls had the consistency of thick jerky. It took
him five swings to bring down the first(XP +95) and six to bring down the second(XP +95).
It was a horrible battle. The smell was bad enough but it was their diseased claws that had Roan reeling. With a single swipe, one of the ghouls sliced through his studded leather armor(Damage -6HP—Disease contracted: Verimon’s Strain; -1 to Constitution every hour until reduced to zero at which point the player becomes a half-level ghoul).
Now he had to deal with a growing weakness to go along with his spinning head. A minute later as he hacked through the neck of a third ghoul(XP +95), one came up from the side and latched onto him with its teeth(Damage -9HP Disease contracted: Crypt-Eye -1 attack. Player loses vision over the next ten minutes. -1 to attack per minute until healed.)
“Son of a bitch!” he roared, throwing himself against the wall and knocking the ghoul off of him. He hacked the thing into mush before it could stand(XP +95). Everything was beginning to blur and he nearly took Cricket’s head off as she danced around trying to avoid the ghouls and the hacking swords.
Reaching into his cloak, he grabbed the Dimension Bag and shoved it at her. “There’s a Cure Disease potion in there. Get it for me. It’s purple colored.”
She started digging in the bag and came up with something that definitely wasn’t a potion. “What’s this?” she asked, holding the Blizzard Wand he had picked up somewhere along the way. He had no idea what it did, but he was sure that having it pointed right at him wasn’t good.
A second before it went off, he sensed, possibly using his Improved Spirit Dodge, that something bad was going to happen. Unfortunately, his failing vision made dodging difficult and just as an explosion of intense and pure whiteness blasted from the tip of the wand, he threw himself to the side, only to slam into one of the ghouls.
He was able to dodge part of the blast. The magic struck him on the leg(Damage -22HP) buckling it so that he fell and found himself into a swirling snowstorm. The snow flying around was so thick that he couldn’t see anything only inches away and the cold so intense that it felt as though it was actually burning him. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he stumbled and crawled out of the blast area.
Infinite Assassins: Daggerland Online Novel 2 A LITRPG Adventure Page 34
