Seventh Talon_Dragonrider's Fury

by James Patton

  A little while later, and several hundred spell casts later, she went to sleep.

  Boh

  Chapter 11

  The Crypt

  I had a friend who loved to hide in closets. I asked him why, and he said he was terrified of air. I started laughing before I realized that he was not kidding.

  -from Boh, Audio Roll 1074

  Why was she awake? It was early, she just felt it in her bones. Two days in a row she dreamed about a place she did not recognize. She started calling it the Nightwalk but had no recollection of how she came up with the name. The Nightwalk felt alive, like a benevolent life force.

  Other Champions were there, but she could not focus on them. Occasionally she felt her body outside the dream, tossing and turning on the inn’s hard bed. Realization started to dawn on her; this was a warning. She was in danger.

  The thought brought her fully awake from a dead sleep. The wood on her door was splintering by someone with a lot of strength. The bar across her door was holding, but now she worried the metal brackets were going to break away.

  They were not going to be denied this night and made no pretense of stealth. She moved the cover aside on the spy hole and took a peek into the hallway. On the other side was an orc that had to be close to seven feet tall, but the asshole from yesterday pushed the orc aside.

  She must have alerted him by moving the cover on the spyhole. Her heart was pounding as she decided her best course of action, and came up with a crazy idea that was bound to fail. The pistol in her hand lined up with the spy hole, and she waited barely daring to breathe. When she did, it sounded so loud in her ears that she struggled to hear anything in the hallway.

  “Give it to me girl. And I might let you off with maiming. Don’t let anyone say I cannot be reasonable.” There was a moment of silence as she could hear more commotion out in the hallway. “I know you are there. I can see you peering out—”

  She pulled the trigger, and she might be a horrible shot, but she was good at working with her weaknesses rather than against them. The thump in the hallway told her that she got someone.

  “Shit. Boss?”

  She almost started laughing hysterically. That should not have worked and yet something was looking out for her.

  “Sonuvabitch, he is going to kill us.” Another voice spoke up. “That is twice within a twenty-four period. He is going to be all kinds of messed up when he gets back.”

  “How high is her luck? Some of our men say they saw her hand shaking and that she is a horrible shot, and yet she downed the boss twice.”

  “Boss put the gun to his chest. Even the worst shot cannot miss at that range.”

  “Knock it off. We got a mission, and we are going to do it.”

  “Are you here for the spoon?” She called out to them, hoping it was the mission and not her.

  “Yes,” the unmistakable voice of an orc spoke. “Give it to us, and we will go away until the boss is back.”

  “I don’t have it. Gave it to Red, and he should be off the island by now.”

  She could hear them cursing, but could not make out their words. The situation was tense, and she could see cracks in the door. If they wanted to come in, she was not going to be able to stop them.

  “Are you lying?” The orc asked.

  “No. Red said your guy stole it, so I gave it to him.”

  “Let us in, and if you are telling the truth, we will leave you be until the boss gets back.”

  “Not happening.” She fired back. “You were trying to break into my room in the middle of the night. I’m not a dumb ass.”

  Her door rattled in its jamb, but it only happened once. She wanted to peer into the hallway but didn’t want her same trick used against her.

  “I don’t want to hurt a woman. So we are going to go away for now, but once the boss is back—just know it's not personal.”

  Not personal? She almost screamed because she hated that phrase. Nothing personal, but I’m going to kill you and wear your skin as a dress. I just really like the color of your skin, but I have nothing against you.

  When the porridge licker came back, he was not going to hold back anymore. If she didn’t finish the Trials today, then other accommodations would have to be found. Maybe the innkeeper would give her a different room, one with another exit?

  “I understand. Nothing personal if I kill him again, bastard should learn to keep his fingers out of places they don’t belong.”

  She felt the feral grin slicing across her face, lip pulled back, and nose scrunched she waited for them to try again. One of the people on the other side of the door was whining, but he was shut down by the big guy.

  “We are leaving. I recommend you hide, far away from town.” The loud thumping of the giant leaving was enough for her to gather up her stuff and the bag of berries for the innkeeper. No one was in the hall, so she moved to the front, hoping the giant had control. The innkeeper was behind the bar. She gave him the sack of berries.

  “Can I get all my days as Vees? It turns out this place isn’t so safe for me anymore.”

  “I can do that.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a small stack of the Vouchers and counted out ten. Then wrote out a small note and slid it to her.

  The warehouse has a side entrance. Just knock and tell them I sent you.

  She tucked the Vouchers into her pocket and nodded at the man. The innkeeper did what he could for her, but even she could not ask him to risk more.

  “Thank you. One last thing, do you have a mundane item I could have.”

  The innkeeper opened a drawer and dug around for a few minutes until he pulled out a silver button, a copper brooch, and a ribbon. “Any of these do?”

  The ribbon did not stand out enough, and the button did, but it was too small. “The brooch should work,” she said, and he slid it across to her. “What do I owe you?”

  “Heh, nothing. All of this is junk left in the rooms.”

  “Lucas, thanks again, for everything. See ya around.” The brooch went into her pocket next to the scale.

  “Yup. Stay safe.” The innkeeper went back to polishing the wood, and she went and grabbed a bowl of porridge before she headed out. She wasn’t sure when her next meal would come and wanted to save her rations.

  Once she was outside the inn, she headed towards the mayor’s house and spotted the little girl outside. “Can you tell the mayor I finished the first Trial or is that a breach of etiquette?”

  “I’ll tell him. Good luck in the crypt.” She waved her little hand and went back to her gardening.

  Every time she saw the girl she had a strange sense everything in the Mayor’s household was just off. It left her uneasy, but she could not do much about it.

  The road narrowed into a trail past the Mayor’s house and followed it towards the crypt. Towering trees with branches overhanging the road stood like sentinels. Hesitating, she looked up to see if any aya-ayes were going to jump down on her. It did not matter if they were harmless because they were freaky as hell.

  The trees ended after a few miles, and on one side of the open space was a bluff that jutted out over the sea. The other side sloped down to a rock covered beach. Tombstones in various degrees of disrepair littered the entire slope.

  Overgrown trails led to the beach, but they had not seen any recent use. Some of those paths branched off to mausoleums that were in much better shape than the tombstones. Early morning fog rolled off the sea and covered the lower areas, hanging close to the ground.

  The overcast skies picked that moment to release a light drizzle, and she shivered as water slid down her neck and under the collar of her shirt. Graveyards never bothered her, because she spent a lot of time in front of her mother’s grave.

  Shaking off the dark thoughts, she stayed on the main route and picked her way up the hill to the crypt. At the top was an old chapel that had collapsed upon itself, but next to it was a set of stairs leading down into the ground. Stone lined everything, and the door at
the bottom of the stairs had sconces mounted on either side of it. The door itself was broken into pieces and scattered across the stairs beyond.

  “Look, Hurk. She is using the main entrance. That is pretty dumb.” The guy from the beach called down, and she was so jumpy her gun was in her hand before she could stop herself. The guy dove out of view and Hurk stood there laughing.

  “Ignore Levi. There are other entrances, but the traps are insanely tough.” Hurk had one hand on his opposite shoulder and massaged it while he rotated his arm. “Sorry about the other day, but dying affects me more than most, and I get stuck in the respawn loop for days.”

  “No problem. Any advice?” She asked, but her eyes had gone back to the dark entryway.

  “Getting in is easy. The traps are not even deadly most of the time. The aya-ayes do not show up all that often either. They are slow so if you do see one either shoot it or just run away. Safer to run away. If they hit you with that middle finger…”

  Her head snapped up to look at Hurk and Levi, and neither of them seemed like they were kidding. “I thought the aye-ayes were harmless, that's what those forest guys were telling me.”

  “Aye-ayes are nocturnal. During the day they are harmless and stay out of the way, but at night you do not want to be in their forest. Down in the crypt, it is always night, so they are always hunting.” Levi liked talking, that much she could tell, and Hurk did not seem to mind. “Ignore Hurk’s advice about killing them. The way you shoot you are more likely to hit a trap and bring the roof down on yourself.”

  Despite the fact she was just made fun of, she started laughing and holstered her gun. Grinning up at them she said,

  “You are right, I am much better at stabbing things,” she replied with that dangerous grin on her face. Both of their eyes widened as a knife magically appeared in her hand. High agility was nothing to joke about because the blade’s appearance startled her even.

  “Why? Why did they give you any weapons?” Levi said, and Hurk just shook his head at her. Hurk at least was smiling and seemed to be enjoying the show.

  “Well gentlemen, it's been fun. See you after while.”

  “Doubt it. Getting out of this place is a real pain in the ass. I swear the moment you pick up an item the entire crypt changes.”

  She just waved at them and walked through the doorway. As she crossed the threshold, she felt a step shift and was about to curse those two out when the entire stairway lit up, and the two sconces outside the door flared up.

  Welcome to Osprey Harbor’s Crypt!

  Inside this crypt, you will find many Remnants of Power, but you may only choose one. Do not touch the item until you are sure.

  The debris around the door forced her to move slow. It would suck to twist an ankle at this point. The winding stairs inside the doorway disappeared around a bend and she moved cautiously. It was going well until the stair underfoot rotated, and she felt herself flailing.

  Boh

  Chapter 12

  Allies

  My father loved dragons the way some people love their children. I did not know his fascination was because of Gwen, my mother. I was five when I found a box of her stuff, and there were hundreds of drawings. All of them were of dragons.

  I did not know it then, but that was the day it became my fascination too.

  -from Boh, Audio Roll 0001

  Her fingers scrabbled across the stone walls, but the slimy surfaces offered no purchase. An arm wrapped around her slim waist and pulled her back, but she nearly attacked her helper out of shock.

  “Forgot to warn you about that step,” Hurk told her by way of apology. “It does not do much except toss you down the stairs, but it's still not fun.”

  “T-thanks.” She said breathlessly, and her heart was still pounding in her chest. “You can let me go now.”

  “Oh. Yea. Sorry.” Hurk said releasing his hold on her waist, and she could hear Levi laughing from up behind them.

  “Such a gentleman our Hurk is.” Levi laughed.

  She felt herself laughing with him, but only because Hurk rolled his eyes at the comment and his exaggerated facial expressions were charming. Not that she intended on—

  “We can walk with you if you want,” Levi told her.

  “Look, we feel like we owe it to you. Yesterday was the best day most of us have had in a long time, and all because you killed Drater. There is a rumor that you killed him again this morning, which makes you kind of a hero among Champions.” Hurk explained to her and went into detail about how oppressive the Rough Rider’s regime had been for the last several months. It was terrible, and the suspected involvement with the Mayor only made it worse.

  “In summary, none of us feel like watching you get tortured and hurt. We want to help you get off the island, and maybe, just maybe, that asshole will finally leave too.” Levi said. “So we will help you piss him off so much that he comes hunting you. He has already passed the trials; he is just hanging around to be an ass.”

  “I get it. Enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. Alright, come along then.” It made sense, but she believed Drater was already angry enough that he was coming regardless of what these two did. It never hurt to have some help, but she wondered how far to trust people here. Everyone apparently had an agenda.

  The rest of the stairs posed no issues, and her shadows stayed near but said nothing. Once they reached the bottom chamber, she pushed open a door that brought them into a room with two large stone slabs in the center. On them were wooden coffins that were mostly rotted away. Thankfully, devoid of any corpses.

  Carved holes existed in a grid-like pattern on both of the side walls. Each hole was large enough store a coffin, but they were all empty. There was not even any rotted wood. She did not bother counting how many columns of these there were because these were not tombs. It was a massive storage room, and the broken tables against the wall once held jars of some sort, long since broken.

  “It is an embalming chamber,” Hurk explained. “Bodies were placed into these coffins and carried to their tomb. The coffin slides into the tomb, and they seal them over, at least for those that could afford it. Otherwise, they were buried in the ground out there. Or worse.”

  “How do you know all this?” She asked but did not stop moving through the room to the far door.

  “Before we all entered our Coffins and moved to live virtually, I was an archaeologist. Tombs and crypts were not my focus, but I assisted on occasion. If it were not for the Remnants, I would say this is more of a burial vault.”

  “Once you pass through that door, watch where you place your feet. You might stumble across a tripwire or pressure plate, and then we are all in trouble.” Levi said, and she stepped into a hallway lit by the same sconces as the entrance. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be oil lamps. The lighting was not great, but it was better the torches or the dark.

  Several small rooms and alcoves had tombs, which she picked out by the patterning of the bricks that sealed in the corpses. Hurk’s knowledge of crypts came in handy. Pedestals, nooks, and shelves all had objects resting upon them. An engraved plate gave details on the item, explaining it in more detail.

  “These are the Remnants. Just mind your footing, and we will wait in the hall while you explore the rooms.” Hurk said, and they left her to check around. It was similar to choosing a banner, but these items had specific details she needed to read.

  In the closest alcove, she saw a small staff made of a green stone. It almost looked like a child’s toy.

  Jade Staff - Affinity to Water and Nature.

  - Attribute(s): Cognitive and Agility

  - Known Properties: Healing, Rejuvenation

  - Potential Bonuses: Improved healing magic

  The Remnants were all over the crypt, and room after room she saw various objects of different materials and quality. A sapphire harpoon, a ruby talon, quartz dagger, bronze dragon coin, emerald helmet, and on and on it went.

  Reading everything, she ba
rely focused on the silence that reigned over the crypt. Even the occasional clicking of claws or scurrying of rodents did not bother her. The entire place held a reverence that made it feel more like a library.

  Out in the hallway, she could hear Levi and Hurk talking, but they respected the ambiance by speaking in hushed tones. They stayed alert while watching over her and never strayed far.

  After going through the objects in several rooms, she started realizing there were patterns. A room usually held items of a specific type or themes like the attribute, property, or even bonuses. The best-kept rooms were those that promoted strength, but she still struggled with the idea that Strength was her only option to gain a dragon.

  It just made everything feel one-sided, but that only strengthened her resolve to do what she thought was best. Doubt usually always plagued her in choosing a build for her role, but not here. Every choice or decision she made felt right, and this was no different.

  Rather than keep going through the well-maintained tombs and chapels, she found a narrow hall that looked unused. Turning down it, Hurk and Levi stopped her.

  “You sure you want to give up on the strength items?”

  “Yes,” she said. They both looked at each other and shrugged, so she continued down the hall with them at her heels.

  “With your low strength—” Levi started laughing. “Never mind ignore me. Was going to say something about being able to use a gun properly but we both know that won’t help you. Anyway. Carry on. I am not sure I ever went down this way. You have me curious now.”

  “You should know, I’m not going for a gun build. I want magic, so strength does not help me as much as agility or magic.”

  “Dragons are more important than any ability you have,” Hurk told her. “I’m not so sure this is the right choice for you.”