Brothers

by Viktor Zólyomi

  *

  We didn't speak much after his less than encouraging comment about my predecessors. We only got into any real conversation when we arrived at the dungeon. It was a small crypt on the outside, made of stone and decorated with various carvings. Some seemed like magical symbols that I did not recognize.

  `Is this the place?' I asked.

  `Yeah.' replied Zack, nodding. Then he pulled two wands from his belt, holding one in each hand. That surprised me.

  `Are you actually going to use two wands at a time?'

  `Of course. I have two hands, after all...'

  `But I always thought that you needed to use some activation word to use wands. How can you use them at the same time?'

  `It doesn't necessarily need to be an activation word. A skilled enough wizard can activate a wand merely by focusing on it.'

  `You can do that? You can even focus on two wands at a time?'

  `I told you, I learned my lessons well.' he said. Then he raised his foot and kicked the door open.

  *

  That is, he tried to. To his misfortune, the massive stone door provided quite the resistance. He fell, and started swearing.

  `Fucking piece of shit stone door!' he screamed, as he slowly stumbled to his feet.

  `Let me handle that.' I told him, suppressing a smile. I stepped to the door and examined it. It certainly was a massive stone door, and I really wasn't sure which way it was meant to open. I pressed my shoulder against it, but I felt that it wouldn't budge. Then I tried to slide it upwards, but it didn't move. Then I noticed that the door had a very narrow crack along its left side, and that there was air moving through it, suggesting that the gap was an opening. I tried pushing the door to the right, and after a while, it moved an inch. That left me some space to slide my hands into the gap and get a firm hold on the door, and started pushing the door aside. Not much later, the way was open before us.

  `Impressive.' he said. `I brought you along for a reason, it seems.'

  We stepped inside, and Zack took the lead. After a few steps, we couldn't really see anything, so I lit a torch. The crypt was small and contained just a single stone casket in the center. Zack knelt beside it and examined the markings thoroughly. After a while, he stood up and pressed some of the symbols on the top of the casket. A moment later, the casket started sliding backwards, revealing a set of stairs leading down.

  `There's our entry!' he exclaimed. `Let's go!'

  He took the lead again as we descended the stairs. It was pretty dark down there, and I could not see too far, even with the torch. I started to wonder why Zack didn't have a torch of his own.

  `Are you sure you can see well enough in the dark?' I asked.

  `Yeah. I have activated a spell that lets me see in the darkness.'

  `Wow!'

  `It's a simple cantrip, any mage apprentice can do it effortlessly.'

  `Hey, can you cast that spell on me, too? Then I can dump the torch and have both hands free when we fight.'

  `Sorry, but this spell only works on the caster. You just go and thank Harvey Matuak for this. If I had access to higher level magics, I would be able to help you.'

  I frowned and said:

  `That Matuak sounds like a really big asshole.'

  `He's a fucking big asshole! But let's move on.'

  We wandered around in the dark corridors of the dungeon beneath the crypt for at least half an hour, taking twists and turns every now and then, and passing through mostly empty rooms here and there. Zack was scribbling some kind of map on a piece of paper as we moved forth, while I was trying to take a mental note of every turn we made.

  In a while, we arrived in front of a large wooden door with some kind of magical markings on it. Zack examined it for a while, and then he stepped back, like he was about to kick it open.

  `Don't you want me to handle it?' I asked. He shook his head.

  `It's got a magical seal on it. I have to break it open.'

  Then he raised his hands and silently started chanting some magic words. A while later, his hands began to glow, and he pointed his palms against the door. A faint humming sound emitted from the door, and Zack smiled in satisfaction.

  `Done!' he said, and he moved forwards and raised his foot.

  *

  This time, the door gave way to his kick. He stepped through the opened doorway, with a wand in each of his hands. I followed him, but soon I froze in my tracks.

  The walls of the chamber were covered with shiny metal adornments, and that helped the light of my torch illuminate the room fairly well. So, I could see the rotting corpses laying on the floor.

  `Yech... Disgusting...'

  `Draw your sword.' he told me, and he aimed both his wands at the corpses.

  `Why? These are just... corpses.'

  `They're zombies. They're just comatose.'

  `Zombies?'

  `This place has been locked up for centuries. Do you really think these bodies wouldn't have decomposed by now? Trust me, those are undead. They can smell us now. Soon they will rise, and then you can show me how good you are at chopping heads off.'

  Sure enough, the bodies on the ground started to stir not much later. As some of them began to slowly stand up, Zack fired his wands at them. A bolt of lightning was fired from each wand, and they struck the rising zombies with deadly accuracy.

  The bolts passed on and struck a few other zombies in their path, until the lightning dissipated. The zombies that were struck began to convulse, but they didn't seem like they were about to fall. Zack fired his wands at them again, and this time the power of the lightning set their clothing on fire. Zack then aimed his wands at other targets, but by then, just about every zombie was standing. There had to be at least thirty of them.

  So I unsheathed my sword and waited for them to come. I didn't have to wait long. By the time Zack set another four of the zombies on fire with his lightning wands, there were at least ten zombies closing in on us.

  I lunged forward with a loud battlecry, and swung my sword towards the nearest zombie. I was aiming for its neck, but it was moving like a drunkard, and it slightly stumbled just before my sword cut into it, such that I pretty much cut off the top half of its head. But this proved to be pretty effective, as the zombie fell and didn't move any more.

  I took another zombie with the next swing of my sword, but then I saw two more of them getting dangerously close. Out of reflex, I jumped back to gain some space. Then I struck towards one of them with my sword, while I stuck the torch into the other one's face. The first zombie was impaled on my sword and stood in place without moving, while the other one just kept moving closer, even with its face on fire. I pulled my sword out of the first one and swung it towards the second one's neck. I was able to chop it off, and the burning zombiehead fell to the ground. The first zombie was advancing on me once again, as if being impaled on my sword just moments ago had meant nothing...

  I took several steps back and looked towards Zack. He was diligently shooting lightning from his wands, and over half of the zombies now had their clothing and flesh burning, and many of them were convulsing from the lightning attack. But as far as I could tell, only about five-six of them collapsed to the ground since the battle started.

  `There's too many of them!' I exclaimed, as I tried my best to keep the zombies back.

  `Lure them out of the room!' said Zack, as he kept shooting lightning at the zombies.

  `What good will that do?'

  `Just do it, fuck you!' he screamed, and he backed out of the chamber. I followed him, and the zombies slowly started moving after us.

  Outside, he stuck his wands in his belt, and turned to me.

  `Give me the sword!' he said.

  `Careful, it's heavy.' I told him, as I handed him the sword. He ignored me, and grabbed the sword in a way that made it clear to me that he had never held a sword in his hand before.

  Before I could have asked if he knew what he was doing, he pressed his left palm against the blade, and
chanted some magic words. A few moments later, the blade of the sword was set on fire.

  He gave me the sword back.

  `Now you can dump the torch, and start hacking!' he said. I put the torch out and dropped it, then grabbed the hilt of the flaming sword with both hands.

  `This is awesome!' I exclaimed, and I swung the sword a couple of times. The flame made it look very impressive, and fearsome.

  `Just try not to burn yourself with it.' he said, and then he grabbed his wands again and stepped back. The zombies were now at the doorway.

  `Now! Attack them! No more than two of them can fit through the door at once! Cut them down fast!' he exclaimed, and I did not hesitate.

  `Zombies! I'm coming for you!' I exclaimed, and I stepped close to the doorway and started hacking at the zombies with my sword. Their bodies were immediately set on fire, and it seemed to damage them greatly. A few slashes of my sword made the first one fall, and then I put down the other one in similar fashion. As the door was cleared, I could see that a whole bunch of zombies were lined up on the other side.

  Zack waved his wands, and two bolts of lightning were fired right at the approaching zombies. At least ten of them got caught in the path of the lightning bolts, and they all started convulsing. Zack did not show them mercy, and in a quick succession he fired his wands five more times at them, effectively showering them with lightning. I had no idea it was possible to fire wands so fast, but Zack was certainly able to do it. The zombies that got caught in the lightning were now not just convulsing, but burning as well.

  Zack then stuck his wands in his belt, and started casting some spell. A few moments later, a transparent white sphere appeared between his hands, and he hurled it into the group of zombies on the far side of the door.

  As it hit them there was a sudden flash of bright light, and the zombies stopped coming. They all just stood there, doing nothing.

  `They're dazed now.' Zack told me. `You have about a minute until the spell wears off. Chop them to pieces!'

  `One room full of zombie minced meat coming right up!' I exclaimed, and I rushed into the room.

  I raised my sword and hacked away at the dazed zombies as fast and as powerfully as I could. To be honest, I quickly lost track of what I was doing. Limbs were flying, that much is certain. By the time the minute was up, most of the zombies were beheaded, or chopped in two or more pieces. Zack stepped into the room after me when the minute was over, and we faced the remaining zombies. There were only five of them left.

  Zack made his hands form a cone shape, and aimed at the nearest zombie with them. He spoke a few magic words, and a jet of flame erupted from his hands and got the zombie right in the chest, setting the undead creature massively on fire, much more so than Zack's lightning bolts ever did. I also did not hesitate, and moved in to take down another zombie. I hacked towards the neck of my target, and a moment later the zombie was decapitated and it fell to the ground. I moved on to another one, and by the time I chopped off the head of that zombie, Zack had set all the others on fire. Not much later, they collapsed to the ground, their bodies unrecognizable pieces of charred flesh. The zombies were all defeated. We were victorious!

  `Minced meat, well roasted. The specialty of the house. All we need now is some potatoes and wine, and we can open a tavern!' I exclaimed, as I lowered my sword. Zack laughed.

  `That's a good one!' he exclaimed. `But let's see what's in here.'

  He stepped into the depths of the chamber, and I followed him. He was looking for something on the far wall, but after a while, he just shook his head.

  `Dammit, this is the wrong place!' he said.

  `Wrong place?'

  `There should be a door here.'

  `How are you so sure?'

  `Here, take a look!' he said, as he gave me the scribbled map he made on the way, and showed me another piece of paper with a very well detailed map of a dungeon on it. Parts of them seemed to match, but just vaguely.

  `Here, see?' he said, as he pointed to a certain part of the detailed map. `This room should have an exit on the far side, but there's nothing here.'

  `So maybe this is the wrong room?'

  `Worse. This is the wrong dungeon. Again...'

  `Huh?'

  `I am seeking a particular dungeon with a specific layout. I have this map which shows me all the details of it, but I do not know where it exactly is. All I know is it's in the forest here somewhere. I have around ten candidates in total. This is the fourth one, and it's still not the one I'm looking for...'

  `Are you saying we came in here for no reason?'

  `Well, I wouldn't say that... For one, we now know that this is not the right place. For another, there has to be something interesting in here. This room was sealed magically, and filled with zombies. There must be something noteworthy in this room. Let's look around!'

  He put the maps away and we started looking around. Some minutes later, he found a trap door leading down. We opened it, and found a ladder. We descended it, and found ourselves in a relatively small room with a pedestal in the center. There was something shiny placed on the pedestal. A triangle shaped metal plate with a small gem inside.

  `Is that thing made of gold?' I asked.

  `It might be.' said Zack, and without hesitation, he took it in his hand and examined it. Moments later, we heard a loud noise from above us. Zack blinked. Then he blinked again. Then he exclaimed:

  `Run!'

  He put the thing we found in his pocket and ran up the ladder swiftly, and I followed him. As we reached the room above, I could see that the room was now much bigger. The old walls on the two sides of the room were gone, revealing two additional chambers. There was some movement in the darkness...

  Zack ran for the door, and I went after him. From the door, we looked back, and I saw that there were humanoid figures coming steadily towards us. They were not zombies. There was no flesh on their bodies. All that was left were the bones. They were animated skeletons...

  `Oh fuck!' exclaimed Zack, and he pulled out a wand from his belt.

  `Why don't we just run?' I asked. `We have what we came for, right?'

  `First, there may be other rooms to explore. Second, these things will chase us back to Ashkel if we don't take them out somehow...'

  `Oh fuck!'

  `Precisely!'

  `What do we do?'

  `Don't worry... I've got a plan!' he said, and he carefully leaned the wand against the wall just in front of the door, and picked up a heavy rock. `Can you throw this rock onto the wand from let's say twenty feet away?'

  `Sure.'

  `Forcefully? Such that you break the wand?'

  `Well... yeah. I think so.'

  `Do it.' he said, and he gave me the rock and started moving back in the corridor through which we came. I followed him, until he stopped and turned back.

  `This should be far enough.' he said. `Toss the rock, and cover your ears.'

  `Cover my ears? What will happen when the wand breaks?'

  `It will explode and collapse the door so the skeletons can't chase us.'

  `Groovy!' I exclaimed, and turned towards the door with the rock in my hand. I tossed the rock, and immediately covered my ears. As the rock hit the wand, the wand snapped and a massive explosion followed. The ground shook beneath us, and the doorway caved in, sealed by lots and lots of rubble.

  `Damn I'm good!' I exclaimed.

  `Now we can continue exploring this place in peace.' said Zack, and he pulled out the scribbled map from his pocket. `Let's see... I think that this direction may lead us somewhere interesting. Or maybe...'

  As he was examining the map, the ground shook again. He looked up from the map briefly, then returned to examining it. A few moments later, the ground shook again, more violently. Some rubble fell on our heads from the ceiling. Zack looked up and blinked. Then he blinked again. Then, the ground shook once again, and more rubble fell on our heads. `Run! Run, fuck it!' he exclaimed, and he started running towards the exit. I f
ollowed him without hesitation.

  *

  We ran as fast as we could, and not a moment too soon. The dungeon walls collapsed behind us as we passed by. When we reached the stairway leading to the surface, the sound of walls caving in was unbelievably loud. We darted up the stairs and ran out of the crypt into the forest. Just a few seconds later, a large cloud of dust followed us outside, evidencing that pretty much the entire dungeon had caved in behind us.

  Breathing heavily, I leaned against a nearby tree.

  `That was close... What happened?' I asked.

  `I think the explosion of the wand sent a shockwave through the whole dungeon and made it collapse.' said Zack, breathing just as heavily as me. `The walls here are very old, and apparently they were not that well constructed...'

  `Are you saying the walls were weak?'

  `Yeah...'

  `You mean we could have sealed up that door without blowing up the wand?'

  `Yeah, probably.'

  `Then why the fuck did you make me blow it up?!'

  `Just to be sure...'

  `Just to be sure?!'

  `Hey! Those skeletons aren't the kind of creatures that you'd wanna fuck with! Trust me, it's better this way.'

  I shook my head in disbelief, and thought, this was the last time I worked for this guy. But as we headed back to Ashkel, and I thought back to the battle against the zombies, I realized, that I enjoyed it. Sure, I didn't enjoy our exit from the dungeon, what with us almost getting flattened by tons of rock, but we made it out in one piece. In other words, in retrospect, I enjoyed this little adventure of ours.

  `Well, that was good fun!' he said, as we reached Ashkel.

  `In retrospect, I must say, it was indeed good fun.' I told him, nodding.

  `Yeah, we make a good team. You, the brawn, me, the brain, haha!'

  `Yeah, I guess.' I told him, not mentioning that if he's the brain, he could be a bit less reckless...

  `So, are you up for some more exploring, Danny Boy?' he asked.

  `Sure!'

  `Great! I'll look you up at the Fighter's Guild then.'

  `Actually, I probably won't be around the Guild Hall for a while. But if you need me, you can find me at my house. It's on the far end of Ashkel, and it's fairly small, but I'm sure you can find it.' I told him. Then we shook hands.