by Victor Kloss
Still, it was no dragon, so Ben didn’t understand Charlie’s concern. After raising his spellshooter, he concentrated and fired off a fire lance, aiming at one of the creature’s wings. If he could injure it badly enough, it might turn tail and run before things got any worse.
Except that, as Ben watched, his spell struck the manticore’s left wing and bounced harmlessly off.
Ah. Now he remembered Charlie going on about the manticore once when they’d been studying legendary monsters. Poisonous tail, eerie cry, haunting eyes, razor-sharp claws and teeth, able to fly.
And immune to magic.
That, Ben had to admit, was a problem.
“Run!” Charlie screamed, having already gotten a head start.
This time the others listened. But even as they turned to flee, the manticore leapt into the air, flapped its wings, and soared overhead. It landed on the other side of them, cutting off any retreat. A wing tip flung Josh to the side, and another nearly struck Natalie, though she sidestepped just in time. One of its enormous paws flicked forwards and batted at Charlie, knocking him back towards the others.
Ben noticed his best friend wasn’t bleeding. Battered, yes, but he bore no other wounds, no great gaping holes. Apparently the manticore, in batting at him, hadn’t used its claws.
The way its eyes narrowed and its mouth widened into a grin showed that it knew exactly what it was doing.
It was toying with them.
Ben raised the sword — even though it was magic, it might still be able to hurt the monster — and was contemplating charging when he heard a sound behind him that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
It was Natalie’s wolf. And she was howling.
Ben had never heard a sound like it before. He had heard dogs howl, of course, but that was like comparing a toy car to a bus, or a tank. This was wild and free and powerful.
From somewhere behind them came a faint echo in return, only the echo continued and grew louder and then multiplied.
Then, suddenly, there were five large furred shapes bursting through the trees and charging the manticore.
“Wait, there are more of them?” Josh asked backpedalling quickly to keep from getting stepped on. “Not that I’m complaining!”
“It’s her pack, and she’s called it to help us!” Natalie replied, smiling up at their furred protector.
They were definitely helping, Ben thought. The wolves were darting in at the manticore, nipping, then pulling away before it could retaliate. They kept dancing around it, shifting back and forth, making it difficult to keep track of any one wolf — or to attack them. But they were able to attack it, and each nip drew a little more blood, which weakened it that much more.
It wasn’t going to be enough, though. Ben could tell that much already. They were annoying it, and keeping it from going after him and the others, but that was all. Their teeth just weren’t strong enough to pierce the manticore’s tough hide in most places. If it got in a good shot with that tail — Ben remembered Charlie’s explanation of manticore venom being one of the deadliest poisons in the Unseen Kingdoms. He shuddered.
Ben wasn’t sure just how much damage his sword could do, but he decided he was about to find out.
As he slipped in between the wolves in an attempt to get close, one of them slammed into Ben and sent him flying. He scrambled up again and frantically looked around. The sword had slid away from him and was now between two vicious wolves and the deadly manticore. Ben looked around for inspiration, and saw Joshua nearby.
“Josh, cover me!”
Joshua immediately came forward, shield at the ready. Ben stepped behind him and together they pushed through. Before Ben could reach the sword the Manticore spotted him, and must have seen him as a threat. After smashing its way through two huge wolves, it unleashed a wicked swipe of its tail.
The tail came at Ben like a bolt of lightning, and Ben threw himself back. He wasn’t going to be fast enough! The tail rushed down straight at his head and slammed into Elizabeth’s Shield. Joshua crouched over Ben, grimacing with effort as another strike smashed down.
“Get the sword, Ben!”
Throwing himself into a roll, Ben moved past the manticore. Scooping up the sword, he quickly found himself facing the manticore — and had a sudden flash of inspiration.
Back when he’d been sleeping over at friends’ houses, he stayed once with a schoolmate who had a cat. One morning while still half-asleep, Ben had accidentally stepped on that cat’s paw. Remembering that now, he raised his sword and stepped right up to the huge beast.
“Come on, you ugly excuse for a monster! Hit me!”
The manticore let out an ear-splitting roar and swiped down hard, like a cat would swat a mouse. Ben leaned into the attack and jabbed Elizabeth’s Sword directly into its paw, the sword going in almost to the hilt.
The shriek that erupted from nearly flattened him, and Ben found himself tossed onto his backside as the creature howled and leaped into the air, yanking its injured paw free in the process. The wolves were quick to go after their now airborne foe, biting at its dangling limbs. Each wolf jump resulted in another small wound and, without grounding, the manticore lacked the leverage to strike with its tail or even to effectively use its claws.
After a minute or so of this, the manticore evidently decided it had had enough. It shrieked again, beating its wings so powerfully the ensuing wind hurled the wolves away, giving it enough space to rise well above them. Then it wheeled about, spreading its leathery wings and flapping them quickly to carry it out of sight and deep into the forest.
“Wow,” Ben said, rising to his feet and retrieving the sword again. “That was intense.” He turned to Joshua. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have said this a year ago, but you’ve got balls of steel.”
Joshua barked a laugh. “I need them, seeing as how I’ve got a partner who is slightly mad!”
“No kidding,” Charlie agreed from off to the side. “How do you think I feel? That was clearly one of his less amazing plans. We were nearly all manticore food. They swallow their victims whole, bones, bags, weapons, and all!”
“Good thing we had some help,” Natalie pointed out. She turned and wrapped her arms around the wolf, hugging the enormous creature. “Thank you.”
The wolf yipped at her, licking her face one last time, she turned and stalked back into the forest with the rest of her pack.
Natalie was obviously a bit upset to see them go.
“Come on,” Ben said finally, resting a hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “We need to keep moving. That town may not be as close as it looks, and we’re going to want to get there before nightfall, just in case.”
She nodded and swept away her tears before turning resolutely towards the city. Taking the lead, Natalie marched out of the forest and onto the long expanse of rolling hills and gentle valleys, in one of which was the small city that was their current destination.
— Chapter Twenty-Three —
The Lord of the Underworld
“Okay, how do we want to play this?” Josh asked as they paused at the top of a hill. They’d covered more than half the distance to the city, and could see it clearly from here.
And it was quite the sight.
Ben liked Taecia quite a bit, but he had to admit that it had always felt like a small town to him. This, below, was a real city. It might not be as big as London — not nearly — and certainly it didn’t have buildings of the same stature, but it was the largest place he’d encountered in the Unseen Kingdoms and he was more than a little awed by it. It stretched on for miles. What he could see of it was mostly brick and stone, with some wood and metal and even glass mixed in. Smoke was thick in the air, pouring out from various chimneys along the way. Even from here he could hear the sounds of people, not in terms of specific voices but just the general murmur of a large population moving about. It was nearly sunset, so most likely people were starting to finish up work, close up shop, and head home for the evening.
“We could just walk up and say hi,” Charlie offered. “Hey, how’s it going? Seen any dark elves around?”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, maybe not.” She tugged her hair back and into a loose knot.
Ben clambered up to a slightly higher point so he had a better view of the small city. “Well, one way or another, we’re going to have to scout it out. With a little luck the others are down there somewhere; I’m sure with Krobeg they would have had less trouble in the wilds. Of course, they could be behind us, since we don’t know how long their route was.”
He climbed back down and sat on an outcrop on the hill. Pulling out some sort of fruit that felt and looked similar to an apple but was purple, he took a bite.
“Okay, I’ve got a plan.”
Charlie groaned, and even Natalie arched an eyebrow.
Surprisingly, Joshua backed him up. “Okay, let’s hear it, then.”
Ben scowled at his two best friends. He didn’t know why there was any concern about his plans; they almost always came out all right in the end.
“Well, it’s simple, really. Two of us go down there, from different directions, and do our best to keep hidden while gathering info. One stays here to wait in case the others turn up, and the fourth comes a bit closer to keep an eye out in case there is any trouble. We all wear our cloaks, and Natalie can do one of those more basic illusion spells that makes it hard for others to focus on us.”
Natalie nodded. “I should be one of the ones who goes on ahead and scouts it out,” she suggested. “See how we can get in with the least exposure. It just makes sense, with you boys having a hard time seeing in the dark or at any long distance.” She gave a half-smile to them all.
“I see how it is.” Ben chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, fair enough. I think it would be right for me to go, too. The sword seems to hide me sometimes when it’s really dangerous. Plus I’ve got some serious spells ready to use if I need to.”
Joshua stood up. “Well, no use in waiting. It’s getting dark and, as Natalie pointed out, she’s the only one who will be able to see soon.” He smiled briefly. “Charlie, why don’t you stay here and I get a little closer?”
Charlie was already getting comfy. “I thought you’d never ask.” He pulled out a large apple he had been saving and took a bite.
Ben laughed. “Unbelievable!”
Lining up, Natalie shot them one by one with a basic illusion spell — a slight blur covering each of them. They then put on their cloaks, making them almost impossible to focus on.
Charlie sat back again. “Wow, I can hardly see any of you even from this close.”
They started out, and by silent agreement Natalie went one way and Ben the other. Joshua followed them a bit before crouching down between some bushes, making himself even harder to see. Under his breath he muttered as they both crept out of sight, “Good luck, guys.”
*
It was fully dark before Ben got back. He’d largely remained unseen but had been forced to take out a few guards at one point, and then find a place to hide them. Limping a bit, he came into the small clearing Charlie had stayed in and found Natalie wasn’t back yet. Charlie came up to him, but Joshua was still out. “Any sign of them?” Ben asked.
Charlie shook his head. “No, it’s been pretty much uneventful since you guys left.”
They both sat down. “It looks like a pretty normal city. I managed to get an idea of the perimeter, and the calibre of their guards,” Ben said.
Charlie brought him some water, which he drank gratefully.
“Well,” Charlie commented, “hopefully when Natalie gets back we can work out a good plan based on your shared data.”
Ben felt the same worry he heard in his best friend’s voice.
A half-hour went by before he finally heard a rustling nearby. He was just starting to his feet when Natalie reappeared.
“It’s just me,” she said softly, stopping beside them. “I wanted to make sure not to surprise you, in case you decided to shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Yeah,” Charlie agreed. “I’m pretty dangerous when cornered.” He struck a classic gunfighter pose, making the others laugh and reducing the tension.
“What’d you find out?” Ben asked. “Did you find a way in?”
“I did,” Natalie answered, looking more than a little pleased with herself. “Though it’s not the nicest area.” She squatted down and traced a circle in the ground. “This is the city, and this is the front gate,” she explained, marking a spot on the side closest to them. “But over here” — she indicated a place perhaps a third of the way around — “is the port. It looks like they’ve got guard posts out on the water to stop any ships from just wandering in. If you’re on foot you can come around the side here, climb just a little, and then slip in right where the docks start. Then you have to get through that part of the city to reach the rest, but it’s a lot better than trying to sneak past those guards at the gate.”
“Great,” Ben told her, clapping his hands together. He briefly updated them on what he had found, and then they settled down to wait for Joshua. Thankfully he arrived only minutes later, appearing suddenly from the other direction. He had circled around to make sure no one was following.
Joshua rapidly filled them in, further solidifying the info they already had, and they quickly decided on the simplest plan.
“Let’s go.” Ben said. “We can get into the city now while there’re fewer boats and nobody out and about, find a place to crash, and then be walking around like we’ve always been there when the sun comes up tomorrow.”
The others nodded and they fell into line, following Natalie back the way she’d come. Ben let Charlie and Josh go ahead of him, and he brought up the rear.
They weren’t far from the city, but they couldn’t move very quickly in the dark. Natalie could see clearly, but the rest of them couldn’t, and stepping in a rabbit hole could snap your ankle, which wasn’t something they could risk right now. As a result, it took a while to reach the city walls. Then they had to creep around the side until they found the the docks.
Fortunately, the ground rose a little as it circled towards the water. The city was in a natural basin, which meant that at the wall’s lowest point Ben and the others didn’t so much as have to climb, they just stepped over it and then clambered back down the other side.
As it turned out, none of them had any problem getting over the wall. Not even Charlie, though he did sweat a great deal and grumble almost as much. Finally, they were standing together at the far end of the docks, smelling fish, water and oil as they looked out on the city that started just at their feet.
“Alright, we’re in,” Josh commented. “Where to now?”
“Now we find a place to get some food, some gear, and some sleep,” Ben answered. “Tomorrow we can ask around or at least listen in and see if anyone’s spotted Dagmar, Abigail, and Krobeg.”
“Yeah, I would kill for a decent burger,” Charlie declared, rubbing his ample belly. “And chips.”
The others nodded, groaning as each one of them evidently pictured that food as well. It was clear to Ben which of their three objectives would have to be first.
Before they could take a step, however, Natalie drew her spellshooter. “Hold still,” she warned the others. She shot Ben first, then Josh and Charlie, and lastly herself.
“What’re you doing?” Ben asked, but he wasn’t really afraid. He trusted Natalie completely.
Sure enough, his friend replied, “Keeping the people from hating us — I hope.”
And, as Ben watched, Natalie’s spell expanded to envelope him completely. He couldn’t really see what it was doing, and he didn’t feel any different, but when it was done he found his reflection in a shattered window
and almost couldn’t believe it. It was like a dark elf was looking back at him!
Josh and Charlie had transformed as well. Now three dark elves stood around a pretty elf girl like some sort of bodyguard.
“Okay, off to find some dinner,” Ben suggested. “As long as we leave enough time for equipment and sleep we should be good.”
They started off again. There weren’t that many people out and about at this hour, and their disguises seemed to hold up well enough because very few even bothered to look at them funny. For his part, Ben kept up a strong, steady pace, that of one who knew exactly where he was going and how to get there. Sure enough, the few people who did notice the quartet stepped aside to let them pass.
“Always act like you belong,” Ben could hear his Spellsword instructor saying in his head. “Most people will see that and decide that you must know what you’re doing, just on the way you walk.” It looked like he’d been right.
At least, he had been until a pair of particularly large and bulky shadows materialised out of the darkness in a particularly narrow alley.
As agreed, Natalie moved in front so she could talk to them. She was the only one that could talk without ruining the disguise.
“Can I help you?”
Of the three who had come at them the smallest stepped forwards, a nasty look on his face.
“You absolutely can my lovely.” He waved his hand, beckoning at someone behind them. Ben threw a look over his shoulder and saw a few other elves had moved in behind them, cutting off their only means of escape.
“You have conveniently entered his Lordship’s domain, and so of course must be bearing gifts for him, which I, his humble servant, will willingly accept.” He gave a particularly nauseating smile, eyes roving up and down Natalie’s body.
