by DB King
“Ugh, that’s horrible!” Marcus said, feeling disgusted and angry at the same time. “The Diremages are really rendering faeries down to eat them?”
“They generally sell the powders,” she said. “Once they have bathed in the blood of the fae, there’s little left to gain for them.”
Marcus was horrified. “That’s so evil!” he said. “If I’d known that was how the Diremages were operating, I’d never have taken the powders in the first place.”
“Of course not,” said Ella. “But you didn’t know. Only the Diremages and the fae people know about it, and some in Doran. Faeries are captured in the borderlands of Doran and shipped here to be ‘treated’. The Diremages get the power, then make extra cash by selling on the powders, and a fat share of the profits flow to unscrupulous faerie hunters in the borderlands, encouraging them in their trade.”
Marcus thought for a moment. “I went to Diremage Xeron’s house because I’d heard a rumor that he was receiving a delivery of Magic Dust. But I’m starting to wonder if that was not a mistake. The boxes of dust in Xeron’s basement, that seems more likely to have been his own creation, and the rumor that got out was either a mistake or a deliberate distraction. You were the valuable cargo he was expecting, not dust.”
“And if he had so many packs of dust ready to go,” Ella said, “then that means he’s consumed the power of many faeries. He must have a great deal of magic power by now. I suspect that he was actually planning to ship the dust away from Kraken City on the next tide, and that’s why the box was sitting there ready to go. The rumors must have got confused.”
“That makes sense,” said Marcus. “Where would he be shipping it to, I wonder?”
“Oh there’s a market for it in the Isles of the Sun, and in the Gronwold, too, where the orks live. People will pay a lot of gold for magic, but it’s the faerie people who pay the real price.”
“Well,” Marcus said, looking Ella in the eye, “I’m sorry. If I’d had any idea…”
She held up a hand to stop his words. “I know,” she said. “It’s all right. Hopefully together, we can do enough good with the power of the dungeons that it will at least partly make up for the evil of Xeron and his wicked plots.”
Chapter 8
Instead of going back to his small room high up in the entranceway wall, Marcus chose to take a sleep in the grove. He laid his cloak out under the trees, and Ella flew up into the branches.
Marcus had noticed that as he grew tired, the sky changed from late afternoon to dusk. He never actually saw the sun move, but without him noticing, the light dimmed and the whole feel of the grove changed. When he lay down to sleep, the grove had changed again from dusk to evening. Stars in strange, unfamiliar constellations swung across an inky sky above him, and the fat yellow moon hung above the cliff.
Marcus smiled, looking up at the dark sky above, and dropped off to sleep contemplating his good fortune.
When he woke in the morning, the first thing Marcus noticed was a feeling of vigor and new strength running through his limbs. His whole body seemed to crackle with energy.
Shouldn’t I be tired and stiff? he thought. After all, I’ve had a heavy couple of days. Instead, he felt a new man.
He sat up, yawning and stretching. The light in the grove was bright and clear. It felt like the early morning. The sun was low above the horizon, and little fluffy white clouds dotted the blue sky. Ella’s head appeared from the branches above, her wild haystack hair sticking out all ways and her eyes blinking sleepily.
“Sleep well?” she asked, dropping out of the tree and flying gently to the ground, where she stood, looking up at him quizzically.
“Yes,” Marcus replied. “Actually, I feel better than I think I ever have.” He stood. He felt—if that was possible—taller and more solid than he had the day before. “Yes, I feel different!”
“Something certainly looks different about you,” Ella agreed. She looked him critically up and down. “You are different!” she exclaimed after a moment. “You’ve changed!”
Marcus walked over to the pool where the waterfall gurgled pleasantly into the water. At the edge of the pool the surface of the water was still, and he leaned over, seeing his own reflection clearly against the pale blue sky above.
He laughed out loud with amazement at what he saw.
Marcus had never been out of condition. He was an active man in his prime, and he’d had a good foundation of training through his years in the guild, and yet he’d never been bulky or had a great deal of brute physical strength. The spare diet and hard lifestyle of the Underway dwellers didn’t leave much extra for building muscle, and Marcus had always been used to being more sinewy than muscular.
Now, all that had changed.
He looked down at his reflection, seeing his now-broad chest and shoulders. Even through his clothing, he could see the change in size. He flexed his arms, feeling strength rippling through his arms and shoulders.
“I look like one of those statues of the old heroes that they have up in the Merchants’ Town,” he exclaimed.
“Or like the figurehead on a pirate ship,” Ella added, laughing delightedly.
“Do you think this is some side-effect of the power of evolutions?” Marcus asked, straightening up and stepping away from the reflection in the pool.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Ella replied. “I didn’t expect this to happen, but it makes sense. You’re going to have to get used to the power of evolution improving and changing things around you, and changing and improving you as well.”
Marcus leaped up and flexed his arms and shoulders. “I can get used to this! I feel like I could fight 10 men or run 10 miles!”
Ella threw back her head and laughed. “I’m sure you could! And you will have enhanced powers in battle, too, I’d guess. You were always pretty fast and light on your feet, weren’t you? I’ll bet that you’ll find that you’re even faster when you go to fight your new dungeon chamber!”
“The dungeon chamber!” Marcus said excitedly. “I’d almost forgotten about it! It’s going to have evolved a lot by now, don’t you think?”
There was no way to tell time in the grove chamber, but instinct told him there was something exciting to find in the chamber.
Ella’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Yes!” she said. “It certainly will have! Let’s go and check!”
They walked back from the pool to the trees, then on toward the cliff where the entrance to the dungeon lay. Ella flew along beside him, her head at the level of his shoulder. As they moved across the grove, Marcus looked around. It struck him that the space seemed to have expanded and developed while they slept. It was definitely bigger, and the waterfall seemed broader. There was a deeper growth of moss on the rocks around the pool, and the tree they’d slept under was no longer as young as it had seemed before they went to sleep.
It’s evolved, he thought. It’s become a better version of itself. Just like me!
Sunlight still shone down from above. Marcus smiled as he pulled his boots on and took Ella’s arm to walk toward the entrance to the dungeon chamber. This was amazing. He could never have imagined such luck. Even just to have such a nice place to come to was a blessing for someone from Kraken City. Up above, the city streets were crowded, dirty, and the air was always tainted by the thick fogs that rolled in off the sea or the smoke from charcoal fires. To have a pleasant, bright, green grove to sit in was something not even the highest nobles in the city had.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked.
When he told her, she looked sad. “That’s such a shame for the people of Kraken City,” she said. “Where I came from, nature and green woodland were all around us. My whole life was about being part of nature. As a grove faerie, I’m completely connected with the trees, the waters, the mosses, and the plants. For the people up above, it must be very hard.”
Marcus had never thought about it like that, but now he realized she was right.
“Perhaps,” he sa
id thoughtfully, “once I’m the ruler of Kraken City, I’ll make gardens through all of it.”
She looked at him seriously. “The ruler of Kraken City?” she said.
“Well, why not?”
He had only been joking, but she seemed to be taking the idea very seriously.
“Do you want to be the ruler of the city?” she asked earnestly, stopping and turning to face him, and taking his hands in hers. The answer to the question seemed to mean a lot to her, so Marcus stopped joking and thought carefully about it before replying.
“You know,” he said after he’d thought about it for a moment, “actually I think I would do a good job. I’ve grown up in the hardest of lives in this city, and was probably only rescued from an early death by the thieves guild adopting me when I was eight years old. If that hadn’t happened, I don’t know what would have become of me, but it probably wouldn’t have been good. The only thing that the rulers of the city are interested in is profit, and maintaining order in the city so that the profits keep flowing upward. They charge high taxes on the ships that come in, and keep the money for themselves. The merchants and artisans of Merchants’ Town get some benefits—the city watch, for example—but most of the people who live in Kraken get nothing but a pittance of wages for their work.”
He shook his head sadly, then went on. “It’s true what you say, Ella, most of the people in Kraken City live short, hard, unpleasant lives, surviving through crime or backbreaking labor. The lucky ones might get a berth on a ship or go to be soldiers, where they can get regular meals and perhaps even escape the city for a new life. But most never manage to leave. If I were in charge, things would be different. I’d make it better for the people, that’s for sure. I’d make it so that they didn’t have to leave to find happiness and prosperity.”
He glanced at Ella and saw that there was a knowing smile on her strange, green face. “I’m so glad to hear you say these things,” she said. “With the power of the dungeons, I believe these things would be possible. There’s a story of a dungeon master from long ago, a good but simple man who wanted only to raise up the poor people of the fishing village where he lived.”
Marcus looked at her. Her eyes had taken on a misty, far-away look.
“Go on,” he urged her. “What happened to this fisherman?”
She looked back at him and gave a small smile. “He got his wish. The dungeons he created in the hills near his home village brought adventurers, who gave him a share of the gold they earned in the dungeons. He collected the gold, saving it and investing it in the people of his village, and he collected the power of the dungeons, creating new chambers and new experiences that brought more adventurers. His powers improved the fisher folk, too. Their catches improved. The health of the villagers improved, and so did their lifespan. It wasn’t long before the village became a town, and the town became a city, and the fishing village became a port, where ships would come from far and wide to trade and to fish in the legendary waters of Rafe the dungeon master.”
“Rafe?” said Marcus in amazement. “But Rafe is the name of the founder of the Kingdom of Doran, our nearest neighbor! You’re not saying that Doran City was founded by a dungeon master, are you?”
Ella nodded, seeming pleased by the way her story had affected Marcus. “That’s right,” she said. “Rafe the Rich, the legendary founder of Doran City, was a dungeon master. And there can be no doubt that he was so successful at what he did because his intentions were always pure, and he used his dungeons only for good.”
“How long ago was this?”
“So long ago that everyone except the oldest and most obscure loremasters have forgotten it. These days, as you know, dungeons are not encouraged in Doran, because of the destabilizing effect that they can have. But we faerie people keep the stories of even the ancient dungeon masters in our long memories. There are many valuable lessons to be learned.”
“Have there been many dungeon masters over the years?”
“Oh, yes,” Ella answered. “Very many, though perhaps not as many as you might think. You know in Kraken City about the great cataclysm?”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, though here we refer to it as the Fall. It was the Fall—the great cataclysm, as they call it in Doran—that tore these islands apart and ended the civilization that lived here, long before Kraken City was founded.”
“The great cataclysm had less effect on the land of Doran than it did on the surrounding islands, but something changed then. After the cataclysm, the dungeon masters began to vanish.”
“To vanish?” Marcus said, feeling surprised. “What do you mean? You mean they died?”
But Ella shook her head. “No, they didn’t die—or at least if they did, we never knew about it. But they just began to disappear. One day they would be there, working with their dungeons and guiding adventurers, and the next day they would just be… gone. And their faeries too. It was only a few at first, and the great cataclysm had caused so many other problems that not much attention was paid to it. That was around 400 years ago, and I was just a young faerie then, still barely aware of the world around my clan’s hill. But I learned more about it later.”
She looked sad as she remembered the story. “That year, more and more dungeon masters vanished as if they had never been, with their dungeons and their faeries and often with anything that they had built up with their evolution powers. Whole villages and towns disappeared, and there was nothing the faerie community could do. Eventually, they were all gone, and there were only a few dungeon faeries left—faeries like me, who were young and hadn’t ever taken an ally. For a long time, we tried to find out what had happened, but we never did.”
“That must have been terrifying,” Marcus said quietly. A shiver ran over him at the thought of whole communities that had built up around the dungeon masters simply vanishing without trace.
“It was,” Ella agreed. “And for a long time, we swore we would not give dungeon powers to allies again. By then Rafe the Rich was long dead, and Doran, the city he founded, was already a large and prosperous city, the beating heart of the Kingdom. The rulers of the city had come to resent the competition that the dungeon masters represented, and they were not sad to see the end of the dungeons. They wouldn’t help. When eventually we did begin to allow dungeon faeries to seek allies again, we generally said that faeries should leave and journey to some other land to find an ally. We could never prove it, but we suspected that Doran had something to do with the disappearance.”
“Do you think it had something to do with the great cataclysm?” Marcus asked. “Or do you think that was just a coincidence?”
Ella shrugged. “Who can tell? It was all so long ago that many of the people who lived then are all long dead, and their children and grandchildren with them. I think it unlikely that we’ll ever know for sure what happened.”
“I guess the lesson about the founding of Doran is still important, though.”
“Oh, yes, definitely,” Ella agreed, nodding emphatically. “It shows that the evolution power can give a dungeon master a lot if he uses it right. If the good intentions of the user are pure, it may even help him to found a Kingdom.”
“I remember you saying that’s why the faerie people refuse to ally with the Diremages, because they desire power over others. But isn’t power over the lives of others what I just said I wanted? Isn’t that what Rafe the Rich wanted when he was still just Rafe a poor fisherman?”
Ella frowned and shook her head. “It’s not about power. Power is just power. Power in itself doesn’t matter—it’s how you use it that matters, and that’s why intention is so important. It’s what you want it for. Rafe the fisherman didn’t want to become Rafe the Rich, or Rafe the Ruler—he just wanted to lift up his people, the same way you do. But the Diremages want power over others so that they can dominate, and gain yet more power and riches for themselves. They don’t care about raising others up. Instead, they want to exploit others without consequence, but you… You would take
that same power to make people’s lives better, and that’s the key to success with this ability I’ve given you. Yes, I chose a good ally.”
“So from what you’ve told me,” Marcus asked thoughtfully, “I’m your first ally, is that right? You’ve never had an ally before me?”
“That’s right. I’ve never had an ally before. The alliances are for life, and if the faerie’s ally dies, the faerie dies as well. We only ever take one.”
“So that means that if I die, you die?” he asked.
“That’s right. The alliance is that deep.”
“What about the other way round? If you’re killed, will I die too?”
“That’s less certain. Faeries are very hard to kill. But the few times it has happened, it’s devastating for the dungeon master. Often he will die, but if he doesn’t, he loses all his power and is a broken man. Make no mistake, the ability to bring dungeons into the world happens because the faerie and the dungeon master are joined together by the blood alliance. Without that, nothing works.”
A thought struck him suddenly. “What happens to a dungeon master’s dungeons when the master himself dies?”
“That depends,” said Ella. “A dungeon master who knows his death is coming can shut his dungeons down. That uses an immense amount of power, and hastens the master’s death, but many choose to do it anyway, because dungeons that remain after the master's death can be… dangerous. Some dungeons will implode when the master dies, becoming fiery infernos that can cause a great deal of damage to the surroundings. And some can take on a life of their own. They become… not evil exactly, it’s more like they go mad. They cease to reward adventurers, but they can draw in the unwary and trap them, holding them prisoner. They have been known to move around of their own accord as well. Then other dungeon masters would try to capture them and bring them under control, but that took a lot of work. They were called chaos dungeons, because of their unpredictability and the madness and unpredictability of their contents.”
