by C. M. Carney
Vonn dodged left around the Lex club, and then right under an attack by another arm. His white blade lashed out, removing the arm. The Jabberwock hissed at Vonn and its spear-tail lashed towards the rogue, whose luck had run out.
Gryph watched in horror as the jagged tail rushed towards Vonn, knowing he could do nothing to stop it. Just before it skewered the templar, it stopped, held fast by several strands of webbing. Agarathon had joined the fray, and his timing could not have been better.
The Jabberwock sputtered in anger and reversed the angle of its tail. It flew back and punctured the side of Agarathon’s thorax. The spider collapsed, blue ichor pouring from the ragged hole in its side. The gibbering monster returned its attention to Vonn and swung Lex underhand towards the rogue.
An ear shattering BOOM filled the valley and the Jabberwock’s shoulder exploded in a cloud of gore. Lex, with the Jabberwock arm still clutched to his ankle, flew head over heels and disappeared into the forest. The Jabberwock looked at the missing limb and gibbered inanely. The squelching noises rose once more as the arm started to regenerate, but this time Vonn did not wait.
He leapt up onto the creature’s knee, pushed off, spun and with a clean slice, removed the Jabberwock’s head. The beast fell to its knees as Vonn rolled off of it. Its head bounced several times and came to rest near Gryph. Its eyes stared up and glared pure hatred before speaking one last time.
“Galumph,” it said and then its foot-long tongue unfurled from its mouth and flopped atop Gryph’s boot, leaving a slathering of goober filled saliva. He grimaced and kicked the head away. It flew into the trunk of a tree, bounced to the ground and went silent.
32
Gryph’s head snapped around, looking for the source of the booming gunshot that had likely saved all their lives. The sound was so familiar to Finn Caldwell, yet so foreign to Gryph and his life in the Realms, that his unease surged.
Atop a jutting rock face perhaps a half a mile out, stood the silhouette of a woman, hand on her hip and what looked to be a rifle casually braced on her shoulder. He could not make out any features, for the twilight shadows obscured her face. Without taking an eye off of her, Gryph sent Raathiel aloft.
“Find Lex and heal him. But stay low. Until we know who that woman is and what she wants you are not to make yourself an easy target.”
Raathiel trilled and launched herself skyward. She shared her telemetry with the party and soon found Lex. The Ordonian was alive but unconscious. Several of his limbs were bent at odd angles and blood poured from gashes on his head. Golden fire erupted from Raathiel as she coiled herself around Lex, pouring healing energy into his body. The wounds on his head were the first to close. Then with gentle constrictions, Raathiel eased Lex’s broken bones back into position and filled them with more healing light. The NPC moaned, but did not open his eyes.
He will live.
Thank you Raath, Gryph said. Stay with him. We will be with you soon.
Gryph turned to see Errat kneeling next to the prone form of Agarathon. The crystal arachnid did not move and Errat hung his head in sadness. Vonn knelt next to the spider and placed a hand between his eye clusters.
“Thank you,” he said and then stood, eyes brimming with tears. “Should we do something for him?”
"It is but a husk," Ovrym said, knelt and cut into the spider’s abdomen. The others stared at him in stunned silence. It seemed wrong to desecrate the body of a fallen comrade in such a way, even if it was a giant arachnid. After a few moments of grizzly work, Ovrym handed Gryph three large sacks. “His soul has already passed beyond the gray veils,” Ovrym said. “His kind care not for the body left behind. We need do nothing else but remember him, but these may come in handy.”
With a deep sigh, Gryph added Agarathon’s name to his growing list of fallen comrades. “We will tell his mother what he did here today. His name will live on.” Gryph reluctantly accepted the loot that Vonn identified as Empyrean Spider Silk Glands. With a grimace of distaste, Gryph stashed them in his satchel.
Vonn closed his eyes and sighed heavily, like a man trying to control his emotions. He walked to the corpse of the jabberwock and sunk his blade deep into the beast’s chest, where he guessed the heart should be. He gave no explanation. They all feared the regenerating monstrosity was not dead. The blow was almost symbolic and one by one the others joined the templar’s ritual. When they'd finished, the jabberwock corpse lay in several pieces.
Vonn knelt and sawed the spear-tip protrusion from the beast’s tail and handed it to Gryph. Gryph tried to Identify the loot’s properties, but his Identify talent, yet another gift of his Prime Godhead, was not available. Trusting Vonn’s instincts, Gryph secured the tail barb in his satchel. He suspected someone back in Dar Thoriim could make use of it.
That’s assuming we make it out of this place alive, he thought to himself.
The group made their way to Lex, and Gryph ordered Raathiel to scout forward and monitor their mysterious benefactor. But stay hidden. I don’t want her to think you pose a threat. That gun is vicious. Gryph felt Ovrym tense through the link and turned to the xydai. The xydai said nothing as he returned Gryph’s gaze. Realizing there were larger concerns, Gryph tucked that curiosity away.
Errat was the first to reach Lex. He sat cross-legged and cradled the NPC’s blood matted brow in his lap. The giant warborn caressed Lex’s face, wiping some blood away. Lex moaned and leaned into the touch.
“Hmmm, yes it is as soft as a baby’s bottom Yrriel,” Lex mumbled, barely conscious.
Errat’s belly laugh shook the slumbering NPC to wakefulness, his eyes wild and his mind alerting him to the abnormal situation. “Uh, buddy… whatcha doing?”
“Soft like a baby’s bottom,” Errat repeated, plucking a bit of dried blood from Lex’s beard. Lex surged upwards with a grunt of pain. Gryph extended a hand and lifted the Ordonian to his feet.
“Thanks,” Lex muttered and Gryph knew he was not speaking of the hand up. “Oof, everything hurts. Did that fucker really use me as a club?”
“It did friend Lex, your husky girth made an excellent club.” Errat grinned, failing to understand that his words were not the compliment he intended.
“Yeah, uh thanks I think.” Lex stretched, trying to ease comfort back into his tender muscles. “At least tell me Vonn chopped off that crazy bastard’s head.”
“I did, and I must say with your husky girth out of my way the task was much easier. I had much more space to maneuver”
“Glad I could help,” Lex said, refusing to take the bait.
“We’re being watched,” Ovrym said and pointed to a cluster of bushes. The branches shuddered and a small brass sphere bearing hummingbird fast wings hovered from the shadows. The center of the sphere bore a large eye, whose iris darted from one of them to the next, before settling on Gryph. It stared at him unblinking for several seconds, winked coyly and then zipped off towards the mystery woman on the hill.
Raathiel, do you have eyes on her yet?
Yes Menaaire, sending visuals now.
The vista atop the bluff popped into the Adventure Party’s vision. It revealed a raven-haired elf woman, who was rather short for her species, topping out at perhaps 5’4”. Her ragged, dusty road clothes made her look like an extra in the hip weird western films that had become all the rage a decade ago on Earth. She wore a small-brimmed hat reminiscent of an Australian outback hunter, leather breeches and jerkin, and a colored shirt. On her hips were a pair of familiar, if oddly constructed, revolvers.
She stood casually, not having moved much since Gryph had spotted her. The rifle still lay casually across her shoulder, as if she had not a care in the world. The weapon reminded him of a Civil War era carbine, its barrel covered in intricate runes. Gryph didn’t know what made the gun work, but he knew it somehow involved magic.
He felt Ovrym tense further through the link.
What is it? he asked the xydai.
I know those guns, and the man they belong to.
Before Gryph could comment, the woman looked directly at Raathiel’s hidden spot and spoke. “You coming out Gryph? I promise, I don’t bite, much.”
To his left Lex gasped in shock and shared his Analyze with the group. The Ordonian turned to Gryph, a confused grin on his face.
“Eris,” Gryph said, returning his NPC’s surprise. Eris, also known as Milena Ortiz “Mo” Yeung, was from Earth. A woman who’d helped Gryph and Lex enter the Realms, given them their mission to save Brynn. She’d told them to look her up upon entering the Realms and given them the map to the starter dungeon in Harlan’s Watch where they could have earned some easy loot and XP.
That was before the High God Aluran had shown up and screwed up their entry into the Realms, separating Gryph and Lex. Gryph had ended up trapped in the Barrow where he’d faced off against an undead revenant who fed on souls. Lex, meanwhile, had become trapped in a time loop where he’d gone a bit murdery, but he’d also met Vonn who was the reason they were all alive.
“Are you coming, or you gonna make a girl wait all day?” Eris said with a crooked grin.
With no other choice, the party made their way towards Eris.
“Typical woman, always wanting us guys to come to them,” Lex muttered. “Am I right fellas?”
“What do you know about women?” Vonn asked, his words bearing a question mark though his tone did not.
“What? Me? Tons man, I’ve seen like every romcom ever made.” He held a hand out in Eris’ direction. “Eris here is a girl all alone in the world. She sees a guy she thinks she can trust with her heart, but she isn’t sure she’s really into him, cuz he is so not her normal type, but she keeps finding herself drawn to him and despite all their differences, eventually we all know they’ll end up together.”
“Are you delusional enough to believe that you’re the ‘guy’ in this absurd fantasy?” Ovrym asked.
“Of course not. I’m kinda maybe in a serious relationship,” Lex said with mock irritation. “Though Yrriel has made some hints.” He stopped, realizing he’d said too much, and to his credit, Vonn let the matter go.
Several minutes later they reached the base of the hill. Gryph and Vonn had dipped into Stealth and moved to the edge of the clearing. Eris stood in the same spot, her rifle now held gently in both hands, staring at their hiding spot. Her stance was not threatening, but told Gryph she was ready, and able, to defend herself if Gryph got any ideas.
Might as well get on with it, Gryph sent and then stood and advanced towards Eris. She gave him the up and down, just as she had when he’d stripped down to enter the neural integration rig to enter the Realms. A jolt of nervous energy hummed through him. Was his body still in the NI rig? Was it, was he, still alive? And what of Doc, the disgraced medical doctor who’d been his only companion during the last few hours of his life as Finn Caldwell?
“I’m surprised by some of your choices, but overall I gotta say well done Finn.”
“Call me Gryph,” he said warily and watched her eyes widen.
“The gryphon always does what’s right,” Eris whispered.
The others fanned out behind him and Raathiel came in for a smooth landing curling around his upper arm and shoulders. Eris couldn’t take her eyes from the shimmering coatl. Ovrym walked past Gryph and drew Eris’s gaze. Her eyes held on Ovrym for several long moments before switching to Vonn and then Errat. She showed the barest hints of shock when she saw the warborn but held her surprise in check.
“Quite the motley crew you’ve assembled about yourself, Gryph.”
“Nice guns,” Gryph countered, ignoring her remark and nodding at Eris’ firearms. “Not exactly standard issue. Mind telling me where you got them?”
Eris returned her gaze to Ovrym. “You must be Ovrym. Durnal told me all about you.”
Gryph didn’t recognize the name, but the xydai did. Ovrym returned her gaze, his calm breathing masking the agitation pouring from the man. Tension built as the silence stretched. As often happened, Lex’s inability to endure silence triumphed over social graces.
“Who the hell is Durnal?”
“He is my partner. Not long after our arrival on Korynn we were separated. He was a vigilant, one of an organization of independent law officers who worked frequently with my order, the Adjudicators. Together we came to Korynn in search of my mentor, Master Zyrrin.”
“The adjudicator who came searching for a Prime Godhead, my Prime Godhead?” Gryph said.
“Yes,” Ovrym said, and turned to Gryph, his eyes filled with despair, betrayal and anger. “Durnal was the only one willing to risk his life to help me.” He turned back to Eris. “He’s dead isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Eris said, her tone hard, like one struggling to resist difficult emotions. “He died saving my life. When we have time, I will tell you of his sacrifice.” The xydai eyed her for several heartbeats before nodding.
Over the next several minutes Eris and Ovrym explained how Durnal’s, now Eris’, guns were both Soul Bound and Cyphered, and likely the only three on all of Korynn. Gryph was already familiar with the concept of Soul Binding, for his satchel bore that enchantment. It prevented anyone from accessing his bag without his permission, making it his own private Fort Knox. He had learned the hard way that no locks were 100% safe when the Aberrant had broken into his satchel. But that effort had come at great effort and nearly killed the one-time Prince Regent of Sylvan Aenor.
A Cyphered item was a new concept to him though. As Ovrym explained it Cyphering was a mystical process that locked an item, preventing others from learning how to build their own. The Order of Vigilants were the only group who understood the technology and knowing the power of their weapons, and the danger of unleashing them in the Realms, they had long ago locked the technology. To date, as far as Ovrym was aware, nobody had ever broken the technology’s protections, ensuring the Order of Vigilant’s monopoly on the weapons. Gryph commented that restricting access to armaments quite often led to tyranny.
“Which is why I have spent considerable time trying to break their encryption,” Eris admitted.
“You admit to violating the Vigilant Code?” Ovrym asked stunned.
“I do, but since I’m not a vigilant, at least not an ‘on the tablet’ sworn sister of the Order, then I need not abide by their rules.”
“Durnal always was a bit of a rebel,” Ovrym said, and allowed some of his pain to fill his voice.
“He said the same thing about you.”
“This guy?!” Lex yelped in shock. “A rebel? He’s the most strait-laced, by the books Joe Friday wannabe I’ve ever met. And I’m talking the Dan Ackroyd version, not the Jack Webb version.”
Ovrym gave Lex a look that said, ‘nobody knows, nor cares what you’re talking about’ and then turned back to Eris. “So, either Durnal willed his weapons to you, and trained you how to use them, or you’re a liar who can break a Soul Binding and a Cypher.” Gryph could see that the xydai wanted to believe she was on the up and up, but something held him back.
“Well, that’s enough for me,” Lex said. The others all turned to him, looking for an explanation. Lex gave them his patented ‘isn’t it obvious’ face. “Even our shitty luck ain’t so bad as to force us to meet two people who can break a Soul Binding. Then add in this Cyphering stuff, and those odds are astronomical.” Lex beamed like a lifelong C student who’d somehow swung an A- on his latest test, all without studying.
“I find myself in agreement with Lex’s logic,” Ovrym said, his tone sounding none too happy about that fact. He turned to Eris. “We have a detente, for now. But the moment you show even a hint of betrayal, I will kill you, and those guns will not save you.” Ovrym walked to the far edge of the hill, putting space between himself and the physical reminder of his partner’s death. Vonn followed and placed a hand on his shoulder. The xydai bowed his head in appreciation.
“Why are you here?” Gryph asked, turning his gaze back to Eris
“Same reason as you, I suspect,�
� Eris said and nodded into the distance towards the odd tower. “I’ve come to find the Forsaken God.”
“What the hell do you want with him?” Lex asked.
“That’s above your pay grade kiddo,” Eris responded and grinned at Gryph.
“Kiddo?” Lex muttered. “You do realize that we outnumber you-six to-one.”
“I like a fair fight,” Eris retorted and eased her hand onto her belt, her index finger tapping lightly like a gunslinger preparing to draw.
Gryph opened his mouth to calm the situation when a jagged bolt of lightning exploded from the perpetual layer of clouds above and punched into the same clearing where they’d arrived. Gryph threw his arm over his eyes and a moment later a crack of thunder flowed over them.
“Shit. I thought we’d have more time,” Eris said, fear painting her face for the first time. She reached into a bag at her side, removed a golden orb and tossed it into the air. It sprouted hummingbird wings and opened, revealing a searching eyeball. Eris looked from the arrival clearing towards the tower, all bravado and jest gone. “We have to go. Now!”
“Why?” Lex asked, and then the howl of a jabberwock filled the valley. “Oh, that.”
“It's not the jabberwock I fear, but who it was summoned to fight.”
“And who is that?” Gryph asked, talons of fear dredging through him.
Eris looked him dead in the eye. “It’s Aluran. He’s come for Cerrunos.” Then, without another word, she took off running.
33
Eris patched them into the telemetry coming from her Hawkeye Drone as they ran. What it revealed made them all run faster. A jabberwock rushed through the trees, all cackling madness. It spat some inane insult at the drone, but Eris made sure to keep the drone out of its reach.
The jabberwock burst into the clearing. At the center of another charred patch of earth was Aluran. He’d fallen to one knee, just as Gryph had after losing his own Godhead powers. Gryph smiled at the look of pain and shock painting the High God’s face.
