by Hugo Huesca
“I heard about him,” said Alder. “Dungeon Lady Vaine’s older brother, wasn’t he? A real monster, that Heines. It was good to hear about his execution, or at least I think it was. My mother was relieved when news spread about his capture at the hands of Sir Harun’s Silver Company.”
“I remember that fight,” Lavy said, her gaze fixated on the firelight.
“How did you survive?” Alder went on. “You must’ve been my age when he was around, right? He sacrificed children to build his dungeons, and you lived in one…”
Ed almost choked on his rabbit, but he managed to hide his surprise and instead, focused his attention on the Witch.
She appeared reluctant to speak further, but at the same time, she also tried hard to fake nonchalance. Ed had seen that kind of reaction before. It was how he had acted after his experience in the morgue, when his family had found him. He had pretended that he wasn’t scared—that it hadn’t been that much of a deal.
“It wasn’t much of a deal,” said Lavy, tossing what remained of her skewer into the fire. “Lord Heines thought I was his daughter. My mother was one of his consorts, and many of them bore him children. He was anxious for an heir, since he and his sister were all that was left of his bloodline. He wanted a male, but he kept his daughters, hoping to marry us off. In the end, all his dreams amounted to nothing. The knights managed to trap him far from his portals, and that was it.”
“I’m sorry,” said Ed, automatically, even though he couldn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for a man who had killed children.
“Ah, don’t be.” She flashed him a crooked grin. “Alder is right. The man was a monster, he deserved the Inquisition’s attentions. And I’m not his daughter. My mother lied to him. My real father was one of Heines’ advisors, a Wizard. He was little better than Heines, but he was kind to me, sometimes. He taught me my first spellcasting rank.”
Ed couldn’t think of anything to say to that. Lavy’s life—and her attitude to it—was a reminder that Ivalis existed in a very different era than Earth.
Kes, for her part, lost some of the hardness in her eyes.
“Your parents,” she said with a soft, dry voice, “were in Heines’ party when the knights captured him, weren’t they?”
Lavy’s grin gained an edge to it. “That’s war, mercenary. You must know how it goes.”
“Yes,” said Kes, holding the Witch’s gaze. “I know war.”
Lavy nodded to herself, looked away, back into the flames, and finished her story. “After Heines’ capture, I escaped, along with the surviving members of Heines’ minionship. We were near Heiligian borders at the time. Due to Sephar’s Bane, there was no chance of us going into civilized society, so many went into the service of new Dungeon Lords. Kael found my group when he was retreating from his failed incursion in Eynsworth Valley. His Warlock, Master Chasan, needed new apprentices, and I was already trained in the basics of Witchcraft. And here I am.”
Ed clenched his teeth and let out a barely contained breath.
I was an asshole, he realized. He had misjudged the Witch’s reaction yesterday, when he had asked her about human sacrifice. He had done to her the exact same thing he had complained the Light-aligned people—such as Gallio and Ioan—were doing to him: judging him without knowing him or his intentions.
Now that he knew her better, he could fathom a new interpretation of her earlier attitude. She acted defensive to his questioning because she feared he wanted to start sacrificing people on his own.
He took a deep breath. He wished to forget about the entire thing, to bury his shame somewhere deep inside him and try not to think about it again. But if he did so, he would be always recalling that confrontation, and he would never let it go.
“Lavy, I owe you an apology,” he said. “For yesterday, when I asked you about human sacrifices. I thought, since you were a Witch and a former minion of another Dungeon Lord, that you saw nothing wrong in murdering innocents, and that maybe you had done it before. Sorry I misjudged you. I was wrong.”
The Witch’s grin slowly evaporated and was replaced by a thoughtful frown. “That’s strange. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Dungeon Lord apologize before, much less to me. Well, I misjudged you, too. When you mentioned the human sacrifice issue, I thought that you wanted me to teach you how to perform one. Because I’m a Witch, my powers come from entities of the Dark, but that doesn’t mean I’m subservient to them. Those entities are just tools to me.”
“I’m sure the Dark feels the same way about you,” Kes pointed out. “And they’re better at manipulation than a human woman.”
Lavy made a dismissive gesture, without any anger to it. “Sure. But we all spend our lives being manipulated by someone or something. Even the Light does it. I may as well choose the terms of my employment. Gain something in return.”
That was something that Ed could understand very well. He passed a distracted hand over his chest, atop his new heart, and felt it beating beatifically there, enjoying the food and the warmth as much as he had.
After a pause in the conversation that seemed like it would extend until they drifted to sleep, Kes said:
“It appears like I’ve stumbled my way into a strange company. A Witch that doesn’t pray to the Dark, a Bard that’s tied into minionship instead of roaming free, and a Dungeon Lord that swears he is no friend of the Hungry One. What’s your story, Edward Wright? What are you doing in Ivalis?”
That’s a good question, Ed thought. He realized he had an audience. Beside the expectant faces of his companions, a couple batblins had discreetly wandered closer to their fire and were studying him with rapt attention.
But, could he really tell them the truth? He was Kael’s killer, and the reason Alder and Lavy were in such dire straits.
His first instinct was to lie to them to protect himself. But Lavy had been honest with him, and what would it make of him to respond to honesty with lies?
“You aren’t going to like this,” he started, looking poignantly at the Witch and the Bard. “I should have told you since the beginning. I guess I was overwhelmed. If you don’t want anything to do with me after hearing this, I won’t do anything to stop you if you want to cancel our pact…”
He told them all about his last few days on Earth. About Ivalis Online—he had to pause to explain to them what a videogame was—and what he had done to Kael Arpadel, last of his name. Ed told them about Ryan, about meeting Kharon and hearing his proposal. About the gamble they had made, and about the vision of Murmur, and how Ed had sworn to oppose him as much as he could. Finally, he told them about Kharon’s decision to drop him in Hoia Forest to save Alder and Lavy, to grow in strength, and to find out the truth behind Ivalis Online. When he was done, the night was deep, and the fire was shining straight into his eyes, transforming his companions’ faces into ineffable scowls, hidden by dancing shadows.
“And here I am,” he finished, eyes downcast, not daring to meet his friends’ gaze. “Now you know the truth. Your situation is my fault, as is Kael’s death. I don’t know about Murmur’s plan for the mindbrood, if there even is one, but I’ll help Burrova as much as I can. If you want to help me, I’ll appreciate it, but if you don’t—”
Alder extended a pleading hand at him.
“Wait, Edward,” the Bard said. “One moment. I hoped your story would answer some of my own questions about you, but I think whatever you answered has only given me more questions. I’ll need time to process all this. But before I go to bed, I want you to know one thing. I don’t fault you for Kael’s death. You had no idea what you were doing, and you were clearly being manipulated by someone. It’s just like Lavy said. At least now you know you are being manipulated, but have gotten something out of the deal.”
“Dungeon Lord Kael was at war with the Light,” Kes added, before Ed had a chance to reply. “He knew what he was risking, and he would have done the same to you, had he known about you. This is how life is when kingdoms go to war, and you’d do best to get u
sed to it.”
Ed nodded. His mouth was dry, and the sips of warm, recently boiled water did little to clear his throat.
“Thanks,” he told Alder and Kes. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
He looked at Lavy, whose expression was hidden by the flames. “What about you?”
The Witch stood up without a response, her face still covered in shadows. Her voice, though, was as dry as Ed’s. She said in a whisper: “It’s late. I’d better go to bed.”
And she left without another word. The three remaining humans kept a gloomy silence. Ed stared at the stars and at the strange moon, at the shadows that danced in the trunks of the trees, at everything but the other members of his group.
The batblins, on the other hand, yawned and commented to each other:
“That was fun story.”
“Reminded me of Shaman Virp’s tales, before the serpent dined him.”
“Ah, good old Virp. Good old times. Hand me an insect, Klek, this batch is juicy.”
By the time he went to sleep, Ed was so tired that he thought of his straw bed as the most comfortable bed he had ever laid upon. He fell asleep almost instantly, all his body aching with the exertion of fighting and escaping and working on his dungeon.
He dreamed of ever-increasing stats, of finding new, powerful spells, of dungeons whose hallways extended past the horizon.
Which is to say, he had a happy sleep. He didn’t dream of evil gods, or crawling horrors from the Vast Wetlands.
A noise woke him up. The oil lamp by his bed had gone out a while ago, and he was surrounded by total darkness. Here, deep inside the ground, it could have been the middle of the day and he would’ve no idea. Still, he guessed it to be a little past midnight.
The curtains of the room fluttered, and he sat up on the bed, his hands fumbling around for a weapon. He was about to sound the alarm, but then a voice whispered at him:
“Shh. It’s me.”
That wouldn’t have been helpful at all, but he happened to recognize her voice.
“Lavy?” he whispered back, still mildly alarmed. “What’s going on?”
He was as blind as a bat, but he still felt her how her weight dropped at the feet of the bed.
“What’s going on? Are you for real?” she told him, annoyed. “In your world, are there many reasons why a woman would go to a man’s bedroom in the middle of the night?”
Well, he thought, feeling his throat instantly go dry. I can’t think of many right now.
“Move,” she told him while her hands fumbled over the rough, hemp bedsheets. “It’s freezing out here.”
“Uh,” Ed said, but he automatically did as asked. Soon enough, he could feel Lavy’s warm body drop next to his, inside the protection of the sheets. She fought with them for a couple seconds, shivering a bit, until she seemed satisfied with their position.
Then, she turned to Ed, and he could feel her breath very close to his face. Her body scraped against his clothes, the two close enough to leave little to imagination. Her hair carried the scent of violets, rabbit fat, and smoke, and of something else that made Ed very aware of the way his blood coursed through his veins, faster and faster.
The Witch said nothing, but Ed could feel her eyes staring at him in the dark. The silence was as overwhelming as the darkness, and he was still confused by being woken up so suddenly.
“I thought you were angry at me,” Ed said, finally, when the tension was too much to bear. “For what happened to—”
“I am,” she whispered back. “Furious. You should know I loved Kael Arpadel, even if he never looked my way. While I don’t hold you responsible for his death…you were involved. I spent a while, tonight, thinking what I should do about it. This was the best solution I could come up with.”
Ed felt Lavy’s hands grab a hold of him by his waist, and she pulled herself closer to him. He felt the waves of soft heat emanating from her body, doing more to warm him than the sheets could, and he felt her breasts pressed firmly against his chest. A long, slender leg slid between his own, almost in a caress, and then her thigh traveled upward, slowly, until it was caressing something else entirely. Her thigh was naked, and Ed’s hands traveled quickly across the soft, warm body to confirm that, at some point before her entering the sheets, Lavy had managed to lose all her clothes, if she had worn any at all.
Ed’s body responded, and the part of him that still had a hold on rational thought began to panic as his self-control slipped.
“Wait,” he whispered, “wait. I don’t understand. This is your solution? Why?”
Her thigh paused. Lavy softly pushed Ed on his back, and then she was on top of him, the thick, hemp sheets around them both, like a royal cape, and her hair falling in a cascade on Ed’s face. She was still so close to him that he could feel her warm breathing on his neck and chin, and the hard points of her nipples pressed against his chest. And he could definitely feel her legs pinning his waist firmly under her.
“What of it?” Lavy whispered. “I can cope however I want. Your only concern, my Lord Wright, should be—”
She placed one hand on Ed’s chest, for leverage, and lowered her face to his neck, where her lips traveled upward, slowly, until they reached his ear in a way that made goosebumps travel all over his skin.
“—are you the kind of man,” she went on, whispering into his ear while her free hand lazily pulled open his shirt, and caressed his torso, “who is capable of rejecting a woman that throws herself in his bed, because she might be vulnerable and making rash decisions?”
That was a very, very good question. She was definitely vulnerable, mourning Kael in one hell of a way, and she was definitely taking a rash course of action. What kind of man was he? The courteous route would be to send her back to her quarters, give her more time to think it over. While Ed thought about it, Lavy pulled away from his face, and her hand traveled farther down, past his waist, and closed her fingers around his erection, pulling it out of his trousers as she did so.
Ed’s lungs were not receiving enough air anymore, and all conscious thought disappeared from his mind.
He groaned and raised a hand, searching in the dark until he found Lavy’s breast. He cupped it firmly, pressing his thumb against the small, hard nipple, earning a soft moan from the Witch.
What kind of man he was? Not a damn monk.
At the last second, Lavy pushed herself up. “Wait,” she breathed, “do that eye thing.”
“What?”
“The fucking eye magic thing. Turn it on.”
At that point, Ed was well past the point of caring, or needing, any kind of explanation. If she had asked him to summon an entire crowd of drones to cheer them on, he wouldn’t have blinked. He activated his Evil Eye, and the Witch’s body was illuminated by its eldritch light, which was much more effective than any oil lamp at pushing the darkness back.
Her eyes were wide with desire, and perhaps a hint of madness, and her semi-parted lips itched to be kissed. Her respiration was heavy, with her breasts and chest rising and falling in a rhythm that hypnotized the Dungeon Lord. He passed his hand across and down her breast, over her firm abdomen, and over her navel.
At the sight of Ed’s Evil Eye, Lavy smiled in a way that was downright malicious, and heavy with desire.
“Ah, yes, that’s it,” she whispered. “Don’t turn it off.”
They went at it for an unknown amount of time, using the covers to stifle their grunts and moans, and lost in the sensation of each other. Covered by the eldritch light of Ed’s Evil Eye, Lavy looked like a woman out of a pagan ritual, wild and forbidden.
After they were done, Ed found himself laying next to his friend’s warm body, both of them as out of breath as the other. They stayed like that, drawing cold air into their lungs, without saying a word.
Finally, Ed’s rationality slowly regained control over his tired body, and the first pair of timid thoughts made their way around his mind.
“So, this happened,” Ed whispered hoars
ely.
“Yeah,” agreed Lavy, who had already recovered her breath. She sat on the bed and fumbled around in the greenish half-dark. “You know? I’ll be honest with you. This was only one idea. The other involved the knife I was hiding in my boots…but I’m glad I changed my mind. I would have hated having to use it.”
What could Ed say to something like that?
Lavy looked around. “Now, where in the Dark’s name are my trousers?”
She found them, and fumbled around some more until she was fully dressed, although there was no power on Earth or Ivalis that could do anything about her tangled hair.
She jumped out of bed with her boots dangling from her hand, cursed at the sudden bite of the cold, and turned to Ed just as she started shivering.
“Sleep well, Lord Wright” she said, and she patted him on his back before disappearing away into the darkness, gone as suddenly as she had appeared.
Ed was left alone, stunned and already fading back into sleep, too tired to contemplate the consequences of their actions, too spent to care. He turned off the Evil Eye, and in the darkness and the silence it was almost like he had dreamed the whole event. He turned to sleep, already blacking out as he moved—
“Fucking finally,” said Alder, his voice coming from behind the thin rock wall that separated his quarters from Ed’s. “Alita’s tits, I thought you were never going to let me fucking sleep.”
Ed groaned, and covered his head under the heap of blankets. As he did so, he dragged a hand under the roll he used as a pillow, grabbed the handle of his own knife, and tossed it out of the bed.
He was glad he hadn’t had to use it.
20
Chapter Twenty
What Lurks in the Darkness
A noise woke Nicolai from his drunken slumber.
The man passed a calloused hand across his forehead and grimaced. The tzuika’s sweet flavor had left an overwhelming residue in his throat, and his brain was spinning inside his skull. He suspected he was in that obnoxious point where he was both drunk and hungover at the same time.
