“Necromancy? Oh. Oh. Are there...undead mages in there?” Desa asked, her stomach suddenly growing slightly queasy. “Have they been in there since the Godsrage?”
Sistina shrugged at her questions, and turned to leave, her mouth a thin line. “Dangerous. Waiting.”
“Right, that makes sense.” Desa replied, then paused, and inwardly groaned. “Ah, damn it. Now we have to climb all the way back up right away. Right after finishing the climb all the way down? Kill me now.”
“No.” Sistina’s voice was absent, but a hint of amusement came in her next words. “Phynis hurt me.”
“Traitor.” Desa muttered, beginning to follow the dryad back up the tunnel again as the light faded against the stone barrier behind them.
Several minutes later, there was the faintest scraping sound against the stone wall. It persisted for several minutes before the sound faded away.
* * *
“Francis, no!” Eileen yelled as the man staggered back under the attack from the massive humanoid bush. Her warning came a moment too late, though. Eileen cringed as her companion’s foot hit the center of the plant patch, and two spiked leaves of the plant trap snapped shut like an enormous bear trap. The crunch of bones snapping was audible even in the midst of battle and she shuddered in horror, stepping back beside Eric.
They couldn’t reach Henry, whose face was turning purple as he dangled from the vines choking the life out of him. He was still struggling, but his axe was on the floor and his tugs at the vines were growing steadily weaker.
Sayla finally managed to sink a dagger into the throat of the wolf attacking her and fell back, her arm bleeding from where she’d been savaged, even as Arnold cut down the remaining bush with a spouted series of swear words. The bush fell, but the last, whimpering howl of the wolf was answered by faint howls from deeper inside the caverns.
“Dammit, fall back, Arnold!” Eric shouted at the man. “There’s more of them coming! We have to get out of here!”
“No way! Henry’s still alive, we can save him!” The big man retorted, gesturing at their nearly unconscious leader.
“Arnold, come on!” Eileen begged him, helping Sayla wrap her arm in rough bandages as howls came closer.
“I’m not leaving him.” Arnold growled, and began to climb one of the trees to try to get in reach of the vines.
“We’ve gotta go, Eileen.” Eric muttered, glancing at the two women. “Agree, Sayla?”
“Yeah...we’d...ow. I don’t know that I can...make it.” The woman gasped, pale from blood loss.
“Then I’ll carry you. Let’s go!” Eric grunted, dropping his spear and picking up the smaller woman. He gave Eileen a grateful look as she took the spear, and they rushed back toward the exit. She focused on ignoring the screams that came from behind them, then cut off less than a minute after they made their escape.
Reaching the exit, though, Eileen took a deep breath of the air outside, almost falling to the ground panting. But she started when she heard a calm voice. “Let me have a look at her, I can help.”
Looking up, Eileen saw one of the adventurers from the tavern gently pushing Eric away from Sayla. Joseph’s manners were relaxed as he took Sayla’s arm gently, and the golden glow that surrounded him as he began to pray made Eileen’s eyes go wide when the wounds starting to close. She’d heard about the power of powerful clerics before, but she’d never actually seen them put to use before. But near Eileen was a tall, powerful looking brunette who smiled gently.
“Looks like you got lucky, getting out when you did.” Penelope said with a sympathetic smile. “We were afraid all of you would die in there. Obviously some of you have good survival instincts.”
“That didn’t help...the others…” Eileen huffed, shaking her head.
“Well, that’s how things go. Dungeons are dangerous, and you all underestimated this one.” The adventurer replied calmly, shaking her head. Nodding at Eric, she added. “How about this, though. Since you all show some promise, how about some mentoring while we wait for other adventurers to show up? I get bored, and could use the distraction.”
Eileen looked at Eric, taking deep breaths to calm herself down, and Eric looked back at her. And then he stood up straight and nodded to the woman. “That would be very much appreciated, after that little...incident. I’m Eric. This is Eileen, and that’s Sayla.”
“I’m Penelope. We’ll see if we can’t get you three sorted out.” Penelope replied, her eyes glittering.
Eileen had to wonder why it was that the cleric winced at Penelope’s words.
Chapter 38
Alone in his office, Jared looked at his reports and frowned at them, murmuring. “Well isn’t this an unpleasant situation?”
Reports had trickled back from his spies in Sifaren which were less than pleasant. At least that was Jared’s opinion. They’d finally informed him that General Fairbrook had died about a month before, and the vague information surrounding his death was extremely bad as well. Even those hints meant that years of careful planning and positioning of resources to support the general’s plans had just been rendered utterly meaningless. It was annoying, and how little he’d heard just made it worse.
It was unfortunate that Princess Phynis had escaped to begin with. That she’d managed to escape the general was aggravating. That she had also apparently vanished after that was worrying. It gave him a sinking feeling in his gut that Jared had learned to listen to. That, he had learned, meant that something bad was coming.
On the other hand, the sound of what was going on with the dungeon was much better. The guild adventurers had been close-mouthed about what rewards they’d retrieved from the dungeon, but Lord Evansly had reported that they had additional guild adventurers on their way, which was promising for its future. He’d also learned that some non-guild individuals had entered the dungeon and lost half their number thus far, including a few bandits that Jared had previously had a bounty on. If it weren’t for the fact that the town was supposed to be open to adventurers, the guards would have taken them in. At least he didn’t have to pay the bounty in this case.
Beyond the matters of the adventurers, the town was also progressing well. Supply shipments had started reaching the town, and the road was passable by this point. The mage engineers working on the road were now focusing on building up the town, which he really needed to name at some point. The mountains were largely granite, so perhaps Granite Point would work best. He’d probably go with the simple name in the end.
But sighing to himself, he went over some of the information on Yisara instead, frowning as he looked over what they knew about the upcoming fall. After a few minutes he began drafting orders, murmuring to himself. “Well, at least we have an opportunity at a different princess. I wonder where Princess Phynis ran off to? I’d like to get her back if we could. She’d be a good bargaining chip at the very least.”
* * *
Diamond opened her eyes and let out a breath of relief, smiling at the others. They smiled in return, relaxing as each of them let go of their grip on their magic. This session had gone well, and in spite of their situation Diamond enjoyed the feeling of advancing her magical knowledge, a sensation she’d long-since found slowing to a crawl as she’d progressed further in her arts.
The seven priestesses had managed to initiate the connection of the ritual that Jared had required easily enough, but actually using it had proven much more difficult. Every day they practiced during the hours when Jared worked on his most sensitive documents and with reports that he knew had to be kept private. It had surprised Diamond that he actually took the security of his reports so seriously with them being his personal slaves, but Jared was quite careful about what he said most of the time. Almost admirably careful, in fact, which didn’t help her attempts to hate him. Of course, she was also quite certain that the inability to fully hate him was another change he’d made to her mind, but she couldn’t be certain.
But they were making progress at last, and Di
amond was startled at the sheer power that she and the others could supply to spells and still control the effects. Working in concert, the seven of them could produce as much power as ten spellcasters of their strength, though it was limited by the fact that they actually had to work in concert for that degree of power. In smaller groups of three, two, and two, they were only marginally more powerful, but they could also support each other more easily and cast spells faster than a normal caster could manage. That allowed them a distinct advantage in most situations, though she wouldn’t count on it being enough.
But she let out a deep breath and nodded to everyone, speaking softly. “Well, that went much better than normal. Does everyone agree?”
There was a chorus of agreement, and Amethyst added after a moment. “Yes, but I was curious if others noticed that I seem to have a slightly easier time melding magic with Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond?”
“That’s odd. I actually feel like mine merges best with Opal, you, and Diamond.” Ruby replied thoughtfully.
“I’d guess it has something to do with the entire color scheme.” Opal interjected, her voice soft. “Each of us can connect most easily to the...adjacent colors of the spectrum, for lack of a better term, and Diamond since she’s the focal point.”
“That does make sense.” Diamond agreed, tilting her head slightly as she considered it. “I hadn’t noticed any of your issues with melding magic, actually. But on the other hand, that’s also probably because I am the focal point, and meant to be equally compatible with all of you.”
“True enough.” Amethyst agreed.
“So now that we’ve started being able to merge magic properly, what do we work on first?” Emerald asked, looking at Diamond expectantly.
“Shields. Jared wanted us to work on defenses before anything else.” Diamond replied, shaking her head with a wry smile. “For some reason he doesn’t want us to be in danger. I suspect that he also expects us to protect him as well.”
“Oh, of course not. Then he’d have to abduct a whole new set of priestesses.” Topaz rolled her eyes, sighing. “Is it wrong that I half hope we fail at some point and someone shoots him?”
All of them laughed bitterly at her morbid humor, and then Diamond shook her head. “Well, that’s enough complaining. We have our directions, so let’s give a basic shield of light a try.”
“Yes, Diamond.” They chorused in return. As they settled down to concentrate, their breathing unwittingly fell into the precise same pattern.
* * *
“That’s odd.” David murmured, looking at the ground and frowning. After a moment he crouched down to get a better look at the marks he’d noticed.
“What are you talking about, Dave? Is something the matter?” Edward asked, glancing over from the tree he was using for cover.
“Come over here, would you? Do these look like tracks to you?” David asked, looking up at his partner.
“There’s plenty of tracks up here.” Edward replied, slowly approaching. “What’s another pair?”
“Well, I don’t know of many humans or the like that wander around up here except us scouts, so we could have someone else up here.” David counted, gesturing at the faint marking he was examining. “I’d rather not get taken by surprise, you know?”
“People? Let’s take a look at it, then?” Edward knelt down and took a closer look. David settled back, knowing the other man was the better tracker overall. Edward could pick out a single horse’s shoes from a group of twenty if shown their tracks.
David had to admit that if they were real tracks, they were probably old. The faint smudges in the dirt were questionable, but Lord Evansly wouldn’t want them to ignore the possibility of other people up here. It was entirely possible that a group of overly ambitious bandits might decide that the town was easy pickings, or worth the trouble. Avoiding the possibility was why Lord Evansly employed scouts, after all.
“I think you’re right. These are definitely tracks, but given the weather...maybe two weeks old?” Edward decided, looking around them. They were up behind the mountainside where the dungeon was located, where no one really traveled. He frowned again before adding. “I’m not sure, but we’d best report them. It’s up to the Captain what he wants to do about it. With them being this old, I don’t think we can track much of anything.”
“True enough. Finish our circuit, though?” David asked, brushing himself off and standing up again.
“Definitely. Last thing we need is to get chewed out for jumping at shadows.” Edward replied with a laugh, shaking his head.
The two continued onward in their circuit, leaving the faint elven footprint behind them.
Chapter 39
“Seriously? Is that all you four can manage?” Penelope asked somewhat incredulously. “I’m not even out of breath!”
Daniel was panting on the ground in front of her, wincing at the bruises forming where he’d been struck by her practice sword. Around him were the other three who’d taken her up on her offer of training; Eileen, Eric, and Sayla. Daniel was fairly certain that the three were all bandits originally, but he hadn’t exactly been able to pick and choose who to train with.
And Penelope was hardly the benign instructor he’d expected. She was fast and deadly as a striking snake, and yet she was also incredibly strong. He’d expected her to be incredibly difficult to deal with, but someone of her height being able to move that fast was just unfair, especially since she was utterly merciless in her attacks.
“You’re not being very nice, Pen.” Joseph called out from his seat next to the small training ground they’d set up. “They’re all just beginners, you know.”
“Bullshit.” Penelope sniffed, shaking her head. “All of them are trained with weapons. Sure, they’re a little slow compared to real adventurers. And I guess they’re nowhere near as strong as I expected, but they should have at least been able to cooperate and hit me. Instead all they managed was to give me a bit of a warm-up.”
“Agh...we’ve never even fought together before. How could we possibly cooperate and fight you?” Daniel managed after a moment, slowly sitting up as he winced.
“You should have talked about that before we got started. All of you introduced yourselves to one another, then just chatted about nothing important before training.” Penelope smiled thinly as she added. “Instead of flirting, you should have thought about actual tactics to use. But you took me lightly, and thus we come to our rather predictable result. All of you beaten soundly.”
“Wasn’t...flirting…” Sayla managed to say, her voice faint as she tried to get up.
“Mmm...doesn’t matter. The important thing in a dungeon is staying alive, especially in the worst situations.” Penelope replied with a dismissive grin. “Now that we’ve got the latter situation set up, you have thirty seconds to get yourselves together, and then we start the second round. Maybe you’ll manage to make me work up a sweat!”
Daniel wasn’t sure who it was that whimpered. He was fairly sure that it wasn’t him. At least he hoped not.
* * *
Desa stood up and looked out the window. Phynis and Sistina were nowhere to be seen, so she sighed and walked over to the door, opening it and looking at the other guard there, Alissa.
“Alissa? Do you know where the princess and Sistina got off to?” She asked mildly, a tone that was completely at odds with the conflicted feelings welling up inside her.
“They were going to the library, Captain.” Alissa reported easily, shrugging and smiling slightly. “After the messenger arrived, Phynis read her letter and threw it in the fire. Then she asked Sistina to help her with researching some of the old records about the Constella family in Everium.”
“I see. Thank you, I’ll just have to talk to her later.” Desa replied, smiling slightly as she closed the door, then let her smile fade as she walked back to her desk and picked up the letter to read it again.
Captain Desa Iceheart,
We have read and contemplated both yo
ur report and the letter from Our daughter. We have sent a letter to Princess Phynis instructing her to return to Vara’Sel at the first opportunity. The explanations that you have sent Us have left Us concerned that she may not acknowledge Our instructions, however. And if this is the case, We cannot afford to leave Our daughter in the hands of one whom can influence her, no matter how benevolent they may appear to be.
Thus, if Princess Phynis has not undergone the process to remove her feelings for the dungeon, We have instructions for you. We order you, Captain, to return Princess Phynis to Vara’Sel by whatever means you must, and remove her from the influence of the dungeon known as Sistina.
By Order of Her Majesty, Queen of Sifaren,
Calath Iris Constella
The letter felt almost poisonous to the touch, even though Desa knew it wasn’t. She had a few options, but none of them were ones that she actually liked. And the fact that Phynis hadn’t come to speak with her about what Her Majesty had requested meant that either the queen hadn’t sent the information she’d spoken of, or that the princess was willfully ignoring it.
Based on what she’d discussed with Phynis, Desa was grimly certain that the princess had simply decided to ignore what the queen had ordered. And Desa wasn’t certain what Phynis had written in her letter to Her Majesty, but she was coming to the conclusion that it had not led the queen to have faith in Phynis’ judgement. And that brought to mind the discussion with Phynis, when she’d said that she simply couldn’t trust Desa or anyone else. And so she looked at the orders, feeling almost utterly helpless.
This was a test. She knew it was a test by the queen to see if she could trust Desa to still be fully loyal to her oaths to the crown, even though her brand had been claimed by Sistina. It was also a test to see if her loyalty lay with Phynis or the queen. And that was...painful, as she wrestled with her own thoughts and desires. She had to make a decision, and no matter what she did, she was going to betray someone.
Ancient Ruins (Ancient Dreams Book 1) Page 29
