“Seriously?” Avraniel bit back a snarl. Was someone trying to test her temper? “You’re the boss of this area? They have a damn minotaur running the place? No wonder it’s a mess.” The minotaur charged, and she drew her bow. It wasn’t even worth burning. She shot the minotaur through its right eye, the tip of her arrow jutting out through the back of its skull. It toppled to the ground and landed facedown in front of her. Avraniel picked up its club and kicked the minotaur onto its back. Strange. It was still twitching. Well, she could fix that. “Nice club.” She brought the club down – and then once more for good measure.
At that very instant, a mage in intricate orange, yellow, and red robes emerged from the shadows cast by the torches that lit the hall. There was a broad smile on his face, and he clapped enthusiastically.
“Impressive, elf. You managed to make it through my labyrinth and defeat my minotaur. No one has ever done that before.” He stopped and stared at the three-headed dog wagging its tail behind her. “And you also managed to tame… that thing. Alas, this is where your heroism ends. I am Lord Valance, and your puny arrows are no match for my fire.” He gestured grandly, and the flames of the torches leapt and danced. “But before you die, I must know. How did you survive my furnace? I designed it myself and imbued it with my magic. No mortal creature could possibly withstand its flames.”
Avraniel couldn’t stop herself. She laughed. He made a sound of outrage, but she couldn’t help it. This was good. This was way too good. He was the dickhead who’d come up with that pathetic furnace, and he was threatening her with fire? Oh, this was going to be so funny. “You think you know what fire is? Please, the only thing that sucked more than your furnace was your crappy labyrinth. A hydra missing half its heads could have come up with something better.”
“You dare mock me?” Lord Valance snarled. He clawed at the air, and every flame in the hall rushed toward him. His face was illuminated in the fire, and his lips curled in contempt. His magic surged, and the fire grew hotter, pulsing in time with his heartbeat. “Perhaps this will teach you some respect, elf. Burn!”
Avraniel yawned as the attack thundered toward her. She wasn’t worried about this guy at all. Spot’s fire was almost as hot as this. Oh well, she’d have to be careful since she didn’t want her rat or her new dog to get burned. She shoved the flames to either side of her and stepped forward. Lord Valance gave a horrified shriek, and he took a step back, scarcely able to believe what had happened.
“Fire?” Avraniel cackled. “You call that little spark a fire?” She raised her hands. Flames brighter than the sun swirled around her. “I’ll show you fire.”
A few seconds later, Avraniel was staring at a pile of ash on the ground. Wait… “Damn it!” She punched a nearby pillar in frustration. “I forgot to ask him the quickest way to the treasury.” The guard she’d spoken to had known a way, but places like this always had secret passages and crap like that. The rat on her shoulder nudged her cheek. “Oh, you want to go look for the other rats? Fine. I guess they must be with the others, and it’s not like I can rob the treasury without Gerald.” She took one step and then stopped. “If you can sense where the other rats are, just tell me which direction they’re in.” She lifted one hand, and fire blossomed to life in her palm. “I don’t know if there are any shortcuts around here, but I can always make my own.”
* * *
Gerald followed Spot as the dragon ambled down one corridor after another. Every so often, they would run into an acid blob, and the blob would meet the same fiery death as the first one they’d encountered. It had gotten to the point that he was actually starting to feel a bit sorry for them. However, things took a turn for the different – and the strange – when they walked through a large doorway and found themselves in the middle of a vast hall. Acid blobs of various sizes lined the edges of the hall.
Spot’s gaze darted from one side of the hall to the other. He bristled. Careful.
Gerald moved closer to the dragon. There were enough blobs here to overrun them, even with Spot’s fire. The dragon, of course, would be fine. If worse came to worst, he could fly away. The same could not be said of Gerald and the others. But the blobs made no move to attack. Instead, they rolled toward the far end of the hall.
“What are they doing?” Gerald whispered. He gasped. The blobs weren’t simply rolling toward the same spot. They were rolling into each other and combining. Blob after blob joined the steadily growing conglomerate, and there was a flash of blinding light. When Gerald could see again, a huge, vaguely humanoid figure stood at the opposite end of the hall. It was enormous, so big its head almost brushed the low part of the ceiling. It had to be at least thirty feet tall.
Spot snorted. Bigger target. The dragon drew his head back and belched a bolt of black flame. There was an explosion of dark fire, but instead of simply disintegrating or boiling away like before, the blob giant simply weathered the blow, a faint mist rising from its body at the point of impact before the acid condensed again and re-joined its body. Somehow, by combining their powers, the blobs had gained the ability to reform after being hit by Spot’s fire. The dragon snarled and unleashed a much hotter blast, but the blob giant handled it in the same manner as the first attack although more acid mist rose from its body before condensing back into a liquid.
“What are we going to do now?” Gerald cried as the blob giant raised one massive fist – a fist that was made of acid.
Spot shrugged. Dodge.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.”
Gerald scrambled to one side as the blob giant smashed its fist into the place where they’d been standing. Acid splashed everywhere, and the stone floor buckled. Gerald yelped as acid splashed onto the ends of his cloak, and he tore the garment off and ran toward one of the nearby pillars. He glanced back. The blob giant could make itself much more solid than the other blobs. It had left a crater in the floor with its punch.
“Have you got anything that can help?” Gerald asked the rat that had joined him behind the pillar.
He’d lost sight of the other rats, and Spot was flying around the hall, peppering the blob giant with black fire. Unfortunately for the dragon, the blob giant didn’t seem at all perturbed by the fire. It lashed out with its arms, and its limbs elongated crazily before snapping off and hurtling toward Spot like liquid arrows. The dragon managed to dodge, and the acid splashed onto the ceiling, which was made of the same acid-resistant stone as everything else. However, it wasn’t more than a second or two before the acid flowed back toward the blob giant.
The rat squeaked and held up one claw. Ice formed around its claw. Gerald cheered inwardly. Ice magic could work. He doubted that simply freezing the thing solid would kill it, but it should slow it down.
“Can you freeze it on your own?” The rat shook its head. “What about the others? Do they have ice magic?” The rat shook his head again. This was bad. The rats were at their best against opponents made of flesh and blood. A blob made of acid was not up their alley at all. “We have to do something. This hall isn’t big enough for Spot to keep away from it, and –”
Gerald cried out as the blob giant scooped up a lump of stone from the crater its fist had left and stretched its body to fling it at Spot like a giant sling. The dragon did his best to dodge, but he wasn’t quite able to get out of the way. The stone clipped him, and the blob giant swiftly launched another. This stone landed squarely, and Spot hurtled back to thump into one of the walls with enough force to crack it. The dragon gave an anguished yelp and fell to the ground, twitching once and then falling still.
The blob giant stalked forward, its fists raised to finish the job. Gerald trembled. He didn’t want to go out into the open, much less get in the way of that monster, but Spot was out there, and the dragon was hurt. He couldn’t leave Spot alone, not now, not when he couldn’t even defend himself. Giving a scream of his own that was half terror and half a desperate attempt to bolster his own meagre courage, Gerald sprinted out into the
open space of the hall.
“Hit it with something!” Gerald wailed. “I’ll get Spot!”
The rats must have heard him because there was a rush of icy wind, and the blob giant’s right foot froze solid. An explosive arrow slammed into its shoulder a moment later. Acid sprayed everywhere. The blob giant teetered for a moment, unable to regain its footing as its right foot broke off at the ankle. It toppled onto its back. More acid spilled across the floor, and Gerald gave a high-pitched shriek as he was forced to vault over a large puddle of the stuff with the aid of a hastily summoned pogo stick. He’d asked the rats to buy him some time, but not like that! Couldn’t they have done something a little less likely to accidentally kill him? As the blob giant regathered itself – the puddles of its acid scattered across the floor flowing back toward its main body – Gerald reached Spot.
“Spot!” Gerald shook the dragon. “Spot, you have to get up!”
The dragon whimpered.
“Come on, Spot!” Gerald cast a fearful look over his shoulder. The rats must have decided that using explosives was a bad idea because they had resorted to throwing an assortment of weaponry at it, none of which was having any effect. At least the rat with the ice magic was having some success. He froze the blob giant’s foot again, and the creature responded by shooting parts of its body at the rodent. The rat, however, was quick on its feet, and it was always half a step ahead of the deadly barrage. “Spot!”
Finally, the dragon stirred. His silver eyes blinked slowly. Gerald grimaced. Spot still wasn’t in any condition to move, and the blob giant was turning toward them again. If only he’d been able to tap into more of his astral dragon heritage, Spot might have been able to turn intangible. But what was Gerald supposed to do now? He bit his lip. Spot wasn’t quite six feet long yet and – oh. Never mind. He grabbed Spot as best he could, hoisted him up onto his back, and staggered away.
The blob giant lifted one hand and fired off spheres of acid. Gerald bit back a curse and summoned something with his magic. A wall of shields appeared. The acid hit with a dull hiss, and the shields immediately began to smoke and warp. They’d been designed to withstand normal attacks and magic. Acid was another story. But the shields bought him enough time to get Spot behind another one of the pillars. As the rats renewed their attack on the blob giant, Gerald heard the crack of what had to be lightning. He wasn’t sure how effective lightning would be, but it should buy him some more time. He fumbled for his cloak. No! There had been a healing potion in his cloak, but he’d thrown his cloak away after it had gotten acid on it.
“Come on.” Gerald searched through his magic. He had to have another healing potion stored away. Yes! Timmy had given him a whole bunch of healing potions earlier. The necromancer had said that Gerald should hold onto them since he was the one most likely to need them. Gerald summoned a healing potion and poured it into Spot’s mouth. The stone had hit Spot very hard. There had to be some damage. The dragon groaned and made a sound of displeasure, but Gerald responded by summoning another potion and pouring it into Spot’s mouth too. “Come on, Spot!”
The blob giant had found them. It peered around the pillar and brought one hand down. Gerald froze – and then he was racing backward. Spot! The dragon had gotten his bearings back, and he was flying away with Gerald clutched in his claws. Spot landed as far from the blob giant as he could.
Thank you. Spot huffed as he studied the blob giant intently. Need bigger fire.
“I know.” Gerald was certain that Avraniel would have been able to completely evaporate the blob giant with her fire, which probably would have killed it. However, she wasn’t there to help them. “But where can we get a bigger fire from?” He had a few explosives stored away, but the demolition rats had put their big explosives on the zombie pirate ships Timmy had used to attack the enemy fleet. All he had left were some smaller ones and some bits and pieces… “Hey!” Gerald shouted to the demolition rats that had tagged along. “Tell me how to build a bomb!”
The rats didn’t need to be told twice. They scurried over to Gerald.
“Spot, try to keep the blob giant occupied.” Gerald did his best to summon what the rats needed as they rattled off the list of ingredients and components they would need to build a bomb capable of multiplying the effects of Spot’s fire without bringing the whole hall down on them. Gerald searched his mind for anything else that could help. He had a couple of golems left, but they wouldn’t be any help against the blob giant’s acid. Right. There was the crystal Timmy had given him to use in case of an emergency. He wasn’t entirely sure he could use it properly, but he didn’t have any choice now.
The crystal appeared in his hand. “How does this work again?” Gerald wanted to bang his head on a pillar in frustration. What a horrible time for his mind to go blank! However, he was broken out of his panic when he noticed the small note attached to the other side of the crystal. He read it aloud. “Break the crystal to summon the wraiths. They should listen to you.” Gerald praised the gods for giving Timmy the foresight to write the note. He hurled the crystal at the ground. It shattered, and half a dozen wraiths appeared, their ghostly, skeletal forms shrouded in icy mist. “Get the blob giant!” Gerald jabbed one finger at the creature. “Get it!” The wraiths hastened to obey, and Spot trailed after them. “Okay.” He turned back to the demolition rats. “How do we build this bomb?”
The rats reeled off a long, complicated series of instructions. Gerald blinked slowly. The rats made an exasperated sound and started assembling the bomb, squeaking loudly whenever they needed something else. Gerald was forced to focus solely on the task at hand, but he could hear the crackle of electricity, the whoosh of ice, and the boom of fire as the battle continued behind them, Spot and the wraiths aided by some of the other rats. After what felt like forever, the rats with Gerald had finished. The device was about as long as Gerald’s forearm, and one of the rats twitched and pointed behind him.
“What?” Gerald turned. “Oh.” The blob giant was right there.
The bureaucrat grabbed the bomb in both hands and ran as quickly as he could, barely escaping death as Spot dove in and blasted the monster with as much fire as he could muster. The blob giant stumbled back, and Spot banked away sharply as the creature hurled more bits of stone at him.
“How do I use this?” Gerald shouted. The closest rat waved its arms around frantically. “Wait, really? That’s it? I throw it at the blob giant and have Spot hit it with as much fire as he can?” Gerald leaned out from behind a pillar and then jerked back as a stray spray of acid almost got him on the shoulder. “Spot, I’m going to throw this at the blob giant. Hit it with as much fire as you can and then get clear.” Gerald hesitated. The blob giant was moving around a lot, and he wasn’t sure he could hit it with the bomb even if it was standing still. His aim was not good. “Can you do something about the blob giant? Freeze it in place if you can.” The rat with ice magic and the wraiths attacked together. They couldn’t do more than freeze the blob giant’s legs, but that was enough to hold it in place. Gerald took three big steps and hurled the bomb at the blob giant. Spot took a deep breath and unleashed a river of black fire that hit the bomb perfectly.
Nothing happened.
Both Gerald and Spot made choking sounds. The rats that had built the bomb waved their arms around frantically and scampered behind a pillar. The translation was simple: it had a built-in delay to give them a chance to get behind something. Spot dove for cover, and Gerald did the same.
There was a roar like a hurricane, and Gerald saw a flash of black. When flames didn’t wash past his pillar, he chanced a quick peek. So that was how the bomb worked! The bomb had somehow managed to increase the heat and force of Spot’s fire while also concentrating it into a sphere, which just barely contained the entire blob giant. The raging storm of pitch-black fire devoured the magical creature, boiling away the acid and giving it no chance to reform. When the sphere and the flames finally receded, the few puddles of acid still scattered aroun
d the hall made no move to join together. They’d done it. They’d won.
“We did it!” Gerald laughed. “We did it!”
Spot trilled happily. Win! The dragon tackled Gerald to the ground and licked his face enthusiastically as the rats gave cheers of their own. The wraiths were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they’d been caught in the explosion.
“Hey, hey. That’s enough.” Gerald sat up. “We still need to get out of here –”
The wall closest to them exploded. Melted stone and shattered rock flew everywhere. Gerald and Spot got back to their feet, but the rats signalled for them to relax. A moment later, Gerald saw why.
“So this is where you are, idiot. And you’ve got Spot too.”
Avraniel stood in the hole in the wall, one fist still wreathed in flames. Behind her, Gerald saw a succession of walls with holes in them. Well, that was certainly one way to get around. While he and the others had negotiated the twisting corridors with utmost care, Avraniel had simply blasted her way toward them. They must not have noticed all of the explosions since they’d been fighting for their lives.
Spot immediately bounded toward Avraniel before screeching to a halt as he caught sight of… by the gods, what was that? Gerald almost fainted. There was a three-headed dog the size of a warhorse behind Avraniel.
“Oh, don’t worry about him, Spot. I picked him up along the way. He’s going to be your new friend.” Avraniel glared at the dog. “Right?” The dog nodded quickly and padded forward. The dragon and the… dog sniffed each other for a few moments before apparently coming to some sort of agreement. “By the way, what did I miss?” The elf looked around the battered hall. “It better not have been a fight because this one looks like it was actually fun. The dumb bastard I fried was no fun at all.”
Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire (The Unconventional Heroes Series Book 3) Page 43
