by DB King
To his great satisfaction, it worked. The murgal’s ward vanished, and Ella flung her last stone right in its face, hitting it in the eye. The monster batted at its face and swung the spear wildly, but Ella flew back fast through the air and out of the way.
The monster snapped after Ella with its jaws, and Marcus leaped in while the murgal was distracted by Ella.
He felt his Ultimate Stealth spell wearing off as he closed with the murgal. At that moment, the monster must have seen him clearly for the first time, because it roared out in rage and turned its full attention on him.
Too late. Marcus was in under the monster’s guard, and its flailing spear was useless against him at that range. The murgal snapped its jaws at him, but he dodged swiftly to the side, and the razor teeth just snapped the empty air.
Then, Marcus’s two knives were in the creature’s twin hearts, smacking in and out of its chest cavity with quick, sharp blows. Blood poured from the wounds, and Marcus leaped back in disgust as it splashed over his hands and onto his boots.
The murgal toppled over and landed on the ground with a flat, wet thud.
All was quiet in the tunnel suddenly, and Marcus’s breathing sounded loud in his own ears. That last snap the murgal had made at his face had been a bit too close for comfort. He straightened his back, looking down on the corpse of his fallen enemy.
Spell: Charm and Disarm Level 4
Level increase: 4%
Progress to next level: 56%
Spell: Ultimate Stealth Level 1
Level Increase: 12%
Progress to next level: 23%
“Those are big level increases!” Marcus said. It made sense. Using spells in battle increased the potency of a spell, pushing it faster toward the next level.
“That was a good use of your ward breaking spell,” Ella said. She seemed a little shaken, but she was smiling as she flew down to hover by his shoulder.
Marcus nodded. “Odd to find a murgal this far into the Underway, though,” he said. “I don’t like it.”
He crouched by the corpse, looking for the monster’s belt-pouch. When he found it, he slit it open and let its contents tumble out onto the floor.
“Not much,” he said, shuffling through it with the tip of his dagger. “A couple of bits of silver, some bone counters, and… what’s this? Dried fish! A couple of days old, too!”
He had uncovered a package of fish that had been dried out and then wrapped in crude twine. The rations were damp, and one portion had been half-eaten.
“What does that mean?” Ella asked. Her voice was steadier now, and she just sounded curious.
“Well,” Marcus replied slowly, “it means that this murgal was out here on a planned expedition. The murgals are stupid, but they do have some magic, as we saw. They also have language and the ability to plan ahead and think. They eat fresh fish most of the time, but they dry fish rations out when they’re planning to take a trip away from their lairs by the sea.”
“And…?” Ella prompted.
“And,” Marcus went on, “if this murgal came out this way with a couple days’ rations in his pouch, that means he was here for a reason, not just wandering. He’d planned to be away for a few days.”
Marcus stood. “I think he was scouting. Probably looking for the Gutter Gang’s base. There’s nothing else to find in this part of the Underway except the Gang. In fact, considering the direction he came from, he’s probably already scouted out the entrance to our area and was on his way back when he encountered us. Just as well we finished him off. If he was a scout, that means someone—the murgals or some ally of theirs—is looking for the Gutter Gang. That doesn’t bode well for any of us. Come on. Let’s get rid of this body and get back home.”
Marcus hauled the body down the tunnel a little way until they came to a point where a steeply sloping shaft dropped down from one side of the tunnel. Marcus shoved the murgal’s corpse in and gave it a push with his boot, and the monster slid off into the darkness. After a long ten seconds, there was a far-off splash.
“We’ve seen the last of him,” Marcus said grimly. “Come on, let’s get back to base.
Soon after, they came to a place where a wide, echoing brick tunnel divided into four smaller passages, each going in a different direction.
“This is our way,” Marcus said, pointing at the rightmost exit.
They headed in, Hammer dropping back to walk at Marcus’s heel. He seemed content with his lot, sniffing the walls here and there as he went, and stopping to raise his leg to mark the corners. Once, he nearly caught a rat, but it was too quick for his snapping jaws.
“Happy, Hammer?” Marcus asked. The dog looked up at him, lolling his tongue out as if he was laughing.
“Best fight I’ve had in a long time,” he said.
Marcus grinned and scratched Hammer’s ears.
They had not gone far up the tunnel when suddenly a bright light was shining out of the darkness onto their faces. Ella flew forward and landed on Marcus’s shoulder.
“Who goes there?” called a harsh voice. A suspicious face peered over the edge of a rough barricade made of wooden planks that spanned the tunnel.
“Jonno! It’s me. It’s Marcus!”
The face withdrew, and there was a grinding noise as two planks were rolled back.
“Hello, friend,” said the guard cheerily. He was a squat, ugly man with a scarred face and a shaved head. His left eye, or where it used to be, was covered by a black leather patch. He held a short recurve bow in one hand. In the other, he carried a burning torch, but he jammed it into a sconce as Marcus came through the barricade.
The guard’s eyes widened when he saw Ella. “What’s this?” he asked hoarsely.
“Oh, just a friend I made while I was out,” said Marcus nonchalantly, obviously enjoying his friend’s surprise. “Jonno, this is Ella. Ella, this is Jonno One-Eye of the Gutter Gang, my good friend.”
“Pleased… uh… pleased to meet you,” stammered Jonno, his single eye as wide as a dinner plate.
Ella gave a little bow from her perch on Marcus’s shoulder. “Pleased to meet you, too,” she said smoothly. Marcus chuckled and turned to leave.
“Old Jay will want to see you,” called Jonno after them. “He’ll want to meet your friend.”
“I’ll want to see him as well when I get the chance. We fought a murgal out on the approach.”
“A murgal?” Jonno said. “So far from their home?”
“Exactly,” Marcus said with a nod. “And so close to ours. It was well-supplied, too, with rations for several days.”
“A scout for a larger force?”
“A scout, at least. Let the others know, and tell Old Jay that I’m back when you get a chance, will you?” Marcus called. “I’m going to get Ella settled in first.”
“I’ll let him know once my watch is done,” Jonno replied.
Ella looked around as they made their way up the tunnel. At the end of the corridor, the tunnel led to a wide square chamber. The chamber was brightly lit by torches in wall sconces and tallow candles burning on long trestle tables that lined the walls. Thirty or forty people sat on tables or on the floor, working on various things, or just talking together quietly. There were men and women of all ages there, and children too, even a couple of babies. Everyone looked careworn and poor. Their clothing was ragged, and their faces were hollow, and all eyes were turned on the newcomers.
Chapter 5
Marcus took Ella and Hammer through the main hall and down another winding corridor. Doors led off either side. Most were closed, but one opened as they passed, and Ella turned to peek inside and Marcus decided to give her the chance to have a look. There were rows of bunks three high, with figures sleeping in most of them. The space was lit by a tallow lamp on a low table.
“This is where most of the gang sleep,” Marcus explained as they made their way through the corridor, “but I’ve got my own place down at the end of the corridor. I like my privacy.”
&
nbsp; At the end of the corridor, they turned and made their way up a twisting flight of steps to a landing at the top. They were in a tall, square room with four walls, but there was no sign of any exit other than the door they’d just come in.
“Look up,” Marcus said with a smile, pointing up at a narrow opening fifteen feet up on the wall to the right of the corridor.
Ella looked up. “Is that…?” she began.
“That’s my room,” he finished.
Hammer found a corner by the door, turned around a few times, and then lay down heavily. “This’ll do me,” he yawned, and went immediately to sleep.
Ella looked up, then looked at Marcus inquiringly.
“What?” asked Marcus.
“I don’t see a ladder,” she said. “I thought you couldn’t fly?”
Marcus chuckled. “I can’t,” he replied, “but I’m good with a rope.”
From a shadowed corner, Marcus took a long coil of rope. He squinted up at the opening, then swung a loop of the rope around his head and launched it up at the opening. It caught on a big iron hook beside the opening, and Marcus immediately swarmed up the rope as skillfully as a sailor. Ella seemed impressed.
“You’re good at climbing,” she commented as she floated up to join him.
“Comes with the training at the thieves guild,” he replied with a small shrug.
“You trained there?” she asked.
Up in the recess, it was pitch dark. Marcus moved around the little space, finding a lamp and striking a spark to its wick, filling the room with pale light.
As he worked, he quietly explained to Ella about his start in life. He told her of the thieves guild, and how he had ended up being exiled from the guild and returned to the Underway. It was an easy progression to begin talking about his ambitions to leave the Underway, escape the bounty, and make a new life for himself over the sea.
Marcus could see that Ella was looking around the little room as he talked. She was perched on the edge of his small table. Having the faerie in his room made him see it with new eyes. It was a humble space, he thought. Humble, but cozy. He kept it scrupulously clean, and there were cushions, pillows, and blankets all stacked in a corner on a wooden bed frame. He had a cupboard in another corner, closed up tight, and a little iron stove near the bed. A rug stretched over the floor.
As he spoke, Marcus unpacked his loot from the robbery, counting out his packages on the bed. He was talking about how he would find a ship and go to Doran, and how she could come with him, when she interrupted him.
“You don’t sound very happy about the idea of leaving,” she said bluntly.
Marcus looked up at her quickly and frowned. “I… I suppose I’m not, not really. Kraken City has always been my home, and my friends are here, the gang. I’m not keen to be leaving the place I’ve always known, but I can’t stay here anymore. I’d hoped for a career in the thieves guild, but that’s not going to happen now.”
“What if there was another way,” she said, “something else you could do here that meant you didn’t have to leave? A way you could raise up your friends in the Gutter Gang and build a new career here in Kraken City?”
Marcus looked warily at her. She sat on the chest where he kept his clothes, near the entrance, swinging her bare feet against the wood.
He shook his head and moved over to start the fire in the stove. “If I could, I guess I would,” he said as he crouched in front of the stove and began to pack it with kindling. He raised the flint and started to strike sparks in. “There’s not much chance of that happening though, is there?”
He wasn’t looking at her. A spark caught, and he began to blow on it. Ella hopped from the chest and walked over to him. She reached up and placed a hand on his arm.
“There could be,” she said.
“What do you mean?” he said, leaning back from the crackling flames and closing the stove door over. “How could there be…?”
The power flowed from Ella to Marcus in one massive wave. His breath caught in his chest as heat coursed through his body, and he sat down heavily on the rug. Bright light, white, green, and gold flashed through the air between them.
In his mind, Marcus saw a rapid succession of wild visions: huge lizard monsters lumbered through a rank jungle, tall knights fought each other on a wind-swept plain. Rain fell on a burning city, a grim-faced king stood looking at a giant map of a continent. Blades met in battle, and stacks of gold coins gleamed in the candlelight. A fleet of ships coursed through a heavy sea, their sails billowing, their crews crawling over their rigging like ants as they worked to make the most of the wind.
Marcus came up like a swimmer gasping for air. The little faerie stood in front of him, her hands on her hips, a cheeky smile on her face.
“Wha… What was that?” Marcus asked once he’d managed to catch his breath.
“I told you I had another gift for you,” she replied. “And now I have given it.”
“I don’t understand? What’s this gift?”
“It’s the power of the grove faerie. The power to create evolution chambers. The power to level up those around you by your very presence.”
“Woah, woah, hold on a minute!” Marcus said, sitting up again. “Evolution chambers?”
She nodded. “Have you heard the ancient legends of the living dungeons?”
Marcus thought for a moment. Her words brought up an old memory, of stories from long ago, told in hushed whispers in dockland taverns by old sailors who had spent their lives at sea.
“Yes,” he said slowly, “actually I have. That’s where people used to go to kill monsters and find loot—they could earn renown and riches by killing monsters in underground chambers… wait a minute… underground? You said that being underground was good—are you telling me that these evolution chambers are dungeons?”
Ella smiled. “You’re quick. That’s exactly what I’m telling you. I’m able to grant you the power to create evolution dungeons here, in this underground space you call the Underway. It has to be underground, there’s no way around that, but we’ve got a perfect place for it here.”
“But how does this work? How can you just give me this awesome power?”
“Each kind of faerie,” she explained, “has special native powers. There are all different kinds of faeries out there—shadow faeries, elemental faeries, luck faeries, and many others, but I’m a grove faerie, one of the rarest fae kinds there are.”
“A grove faerie… and how does that link in with this evolution power?”
“Well, each faerie acts as a vector for the power. They don’t wield the power themselves, but when they create an alliance with a mortal, the mortal ally gets access to the power so long as they stay with the faerie. In this way, the faerie gets to fulfil her true nature, and the ally gets the benefit of the true power.”
“And we’re allies now, is that what you’re saying?”
“We’ve been allies since the moment you freed me from that cage, Marcus, from the moment that my blood touched your skin. Did you not know? That’s the meaning of the blood-oath.”
Excitement filled Marcus. “Wow, no, I didn’t realize. I knew that the faeries had something special about the blood-oath, but I had no idea it was so powerful. We use the blood-oath here in Kraken City, too, you know, but it’s just symbolic. There’s no actual binding or transfer of power involved.”
“Well, for the faerie peoples it’s very special. It creates a magical, two-way bond between you and me. Now, I have given you the power to create evolution dungeons, and to use them to create new and unimagined monsters in their depths. And from you, I will get new powers too, based on your abilities. You’ve already seen that I’ve gotten a new invisibility power since we have been joined.”
“Can you make evolution dungeons?” Marcus asked.
Ella shook her head. “That’s not how it works. I can give the power, but I can’t use it for myself.”
“Right,” Marcus said thoughtfully. “But you said th
is is a reason not to leave Kraken City? How is that true?”
She shrugged. “It’s something new for you to do here, isn’t it? A dungeon can make a lot of money, because you can bring adventurers to run it and take a cut of the gold that they get during their runs. You can become like the dungeon’s guide, and it’s up to you where and when the dungeon is activated. You can even hide within your own dungeon if you need to, and if you do that, no one will ever be able to get at you because you’re the dungeon master, and you’re the only one who can control the opening and closing of the entrances.”
“I could carve a new path for myself here, in Kraken City’s Underway,” Marcus mused. “It could be a whole new life for me, and it could benefit my friends in the Underway as well…”
“That’s right,” Ella agreed enthusiastically. “You can distribute the wealth you gain, and use it to build up the Gutter Gang. Maybe you can even move them out of the Underway at some point.”
“All right!” Marcus said decisively. “I’ve made up my mind. We’ll do it, at least for a little while. I won’t be Marcus the Exile anymore—I’ll be the…”
“The master?” Ella suggested.
“The master,” Marcus said, grinning. “The Master of Dungeons. And, hey, if it doesn’t work, we can always just take our powers elsewhere, can’t we?”
“Of course,” she said. “But I think this is a great place for it. Over in the Kingdom of Doran, people are less accepting of dungeons and grove faeries. The dungeons tend to cause disruption, attracting teams of adventurers and causing low-born people—especially ones good at killing—to become very rich very quickly. For that reason, grove faeries like me are prohibited in the Kingdom of Doran. If we went there and started a dungeon, we could be asking for trouble, but from what you’ve said about Kraken City, I don’t think we’ll get much interference, at least at the beginning.”
“Or at least,” Marcus suggested, “until it’s too big to be stopped!”
He stood up in the cramped little room and grinned excitedly at Ella. She grinned back at him, her bright teeth shining in the firelight.
