Pasha could be annoying, but she was a loyal friend and comrade. Nicole took the question seriously and basically decided to tell her everything she’d told Diore and Thato. “It actually turns out that I didn’t have a Dolos orb, I had a Duanna orb. They work similarly. Instead of working while I slept, it instantly put me to sleep, which was alright since I was ready for bed anyway.
“The next thing I knew, I was meeting my orb controller, an alligator in a top hat named Benny.”
“An alligator?” asked Pasha. “What’s that?”
“It’s an Earth thing, sort of like a reptilian river monster, the ones near the mountains on the Tolstey side.”
“Got it.”
Nicole continued, “I had ten points to spend, and my controller let me sit in front of a computer screen with all of my choices listed, and I could decide how to spend my points on powers.”
“That sounds sort of like what Diore has done before,” Pasha said. “She got a book instead of a computer, though, probably because we’ve never seen a computer.”
“Probably. So Benny, my orb controller, gave me some advice about what to pick, and I made some decisions. I actually made choices based on what I thought was best for now, and what would be a good foundation for new ranks in the future. Energy Blasts are my core ability.”
“I would have been able to guess that after practicing today even if Diore hadn’t said anything.” Pasha threw a rock as she spoke, and in the distance, Thato drew closer.
“Diore told you?”
“I asked some questions during the craziness and travel over the last few days. Things have been...not normal since Action, you know that.”
“Definitely. Anyway, I chose Energy Blasts, and I actually bought Energy Blasts again, as a second ability. This means I have two completely different foundations for the same ability, and because I specialize in it, it will cost me fewer points in the future to upgrade both of them. I also made myself tougher, stronger, heal faster, and now I can focus to make my hearing or sight sharpen.”
Talking about her abilities again reminded her of when she’d told Thato about her choices. He’d gotten a wistful expression and told her that one of his old comrades had also had a Duanna orb and had specialized in Energy Blasts. A year ago, he’d heard that this old friend, the Energy Fox, had actually died, and Thato was planning to find out more about it now that he wasn’t hiding in Action anymore.
Maybe Nicole really was spending a lot of time with the man. Too much time, she thought sourly.
“Rotting shiny.” Pasha patted the sling across her body. “If I didn’t have my lightning rifle, I may be jealous.”
Nicole nodded seriously. “If you hadn’t been there in Action, we’d all be dead, and every single person who’d lived there would be demon food by now. Half the country would likely be overrun.”
Pasha looked slightly downward, and did a good job of hiding her embarrassment, but her fingers drummed on the stock of her rifle. For such a loud, spunky, occasionally obnoxious person, she was not very good at receiving sincere praise. Pasha asked, “So having two different types of energy blasts is why you can shoot rocks, and also push them away?”
“Yes. I thought about my role in the team for the last few years, and also how things might change or get harder since Bentru retired now. I also thought about the demon attack, and how my pellet pistols didn’t penetrate very well. My first type of energy blasts have the ability to be very accurate and penetrate so far, I would be able to kill multiple enemies at once in a big charge like the one your lightning gun took down. Their cold nature lets them be effective even if they can’t penetrate. The other type of blast will push enemies away, maybe even throw them around. It’s defensive and can help keep me alive.”
“Makes sense.”
Nicole made a face as she thought. “You know, when you get an orb, you should try to get one that will increase your agility. Since you already fight with two swords, and you have that lightning rifle, speed or agility would be the best fit, I think.”
Pasha laughed. “You keep talking about this subject like orbs are going to fall out of the sky. They’re rare and super valuable, Nicky. How many have we actually seen in a dungeon? Also, since when have you become a Dolos orb expert?”
“She’s right, though,” said Thato.
Nicole glanced up to see the irritating man less than a stone’s throw away. He could move incredibly quietly when he wanted to.
He looked a lot different now than he had when she’d first met him. His hair had been cut and styled. The unkempt beard had been shaved, and was now neat, trim, and accentuated his jaw line. Today he was wearing a light-blue shirt that complemented his dark skin tone, and showed off his broad shoulders and slim waist. He really did seem to have a good sense of style, which was annoying, and he’d had almost a complete, expensive wardrobe stashed away under his house in Action.
“Oh hi there,” said Pasha, tucking her hair behind her ear while she gave Thato a big smile.
Nicole rolled her eyes at both of them. “What do you want, Tom?” she asked, using his fake name for Pasha’s benefit, but putting a slight emphasis on it.
“What makes you think I want anything?” Thato’s eyes glittered, and his full mouth was set in his usual smirk. He really did look like he’d probably be a good kisser, but Nicole wanted to punch him in the mouth instead.
Her frustration was made worse by knowing that she wouldn’t actually come close to hitting him if she tried, and he’d probably just make her look stupid in the process. Of course, if she went around trying to punch people who could fight an army of demons on their own, she’d probably deserve to be clowned on.
Arrogant, shady bastard, she thought. Out loud she said, “So you were just coincidentally walking directly toward us this far outside the tiny little village we’re staying in?”
“It could be I just wanted to see you,” he said, smiling wider.
“See? I told you so,” said Pasha, a trace of sadness and accusation in her voice.
“Oh, come on!” demanded Nicole. “Just tell us what you want.”
Thato shrugged. “There’s no reason to be like that, Nicky, I’m doing everyone a favor, even you. I mean, if you really want I can just walk away without giving you the message—”
“What message?” sighed Nicole. “And don’t call me Nicky.”
“I thought you wanted—”
“What message,” growled Nicole.
Thato’s mock sincerity broke and his eyes twinkled as he answered, “Diore wants to see both of you. She said it’s important and I should find you if I could.”
She didn’t need to even ask how he’d found the two of them. Thato seemed to have an enchanted gadget for everything, and he kept quite a few in his pack everywhere he went. As her eyes narrowed, the man looked her directly in the eyes and smirked. He very seriously, deliberately smiled and winked at her.
The man was so aggravating, Nicole had a tough time controlling her emotions around him, and she hated it. Knowing who he really was and not being able to tell anyone other than Diore made everything worse. Thato was a living legend, revered in this world, and he was just...a conceited ass. She couldn’t believe she felt sorry for him sometimes.
“Was that all?” she asked.
“Well, not from Diore, but if you’re trying to have some girl talk, or need a potty break, or—”
Nicole interrupted with an expressionless face, “Because if you’re done finding us, then that means you can message your daughter and tell her that you’re alive, right?”
This was treading a thin line. She wasn’t giving away his identity to Pasha, but still attacking a weak point, and using personal information. When his expression fell she knew she’d scored a point. She really had spent enough time with the man now to know that he felt deep guilt about his daughter, that she believed him dead, and he kept putting off doing anything about it. Last she’d talked to him about it, he’d been trying to contact his
father but hadn’t got any messages back yet so far.
Thato’s eyes held real sadness as he passed, mumbling something about fresh air. Nicole’s heart spasmed, and she wondered if she’d gone too far. It really had been a low blow. But a few moments later, the man was already past them, trudging along like he’d been meaning to go there directly to begin with. Maybe he would end up using the cliff in that direction for practice too.
With a stony face, Nicole began walking back to the village again. She walked in silence for a minute or two before Pasha explosively sighed. “It isn’t fair.”
“What?”
“You get to openly flirt with the only man within a dozen miles of here who has all his teeth, much less such delicious muscles, and yet you’re so, so bad at it!”
“I wasn’t flirting.”
“Yes you were.”
“No, I really wasn’t.” Nicole glared daggers at her friend.
Pasha held her hands up. “Okay, fine, whatever. You two have to be at least somewhat close to be fighting like this a week after meeting each other, though. And that still somehow happened with most of that time dealing with a demon siege, or the town’s reaction to it, or us trying to get the hell away as fast as we can. I still don’t get why we ran away, by the way. I wouldn’t have minded being a hero of Action for a while longer.”
“Yeah, well, things happen.”
Pasha gave her a searching look. “You’ve really changed, Nicky, and I mean more than becoming orb-Bonded and all of that. What the hell happened to you?”
“The hellgate happened,” said Nicole grimly. Dark memories rose unbidden to her mind. She’d been having nightmares every night since fighting the demons, and she knew it would likely stay that way for a while—maybe forever.
“Yeah, I know what you mean, at least partly.” Pasha stroked her lightning rifle’s sling while she thought. Finally, she blurted, “What did you do that night, Nicky? When you went off with Tom, what happened? I know you told Diore, but all I know is that you left, there was lots of noise in the distance, then the red glow in the sky went away and you and Tom came back covered in blood. Oh, and you’ve claimed you didn’t do much.”
“That’s true, though,” said Nicole with a sigh. She really didn’t want to talk about this subject, but like the information about her orb, she felt like she owed it to Pasha. “My job was to carry supplies for Th—Tom. Most of what I did was hide while he fought. We had to make our way to the gate and shut it down, so when we ran into demons, I would run into a building, or a goat shed, or even hide in a ditch, and stay there, trying not to be seen unless Tom needed something I was carrying.”
“So you didn’t fight at all?” Pasha was openly skeptical.
“There were a few times that demons found me, or just stumbled across me, and I had to fight then. Most everything usually had its attention on Tom. He wasn’t exactly trying to hide.”
“Yeah, I heard. What was it like?”
“Scary.”
“No, I mean, what was he like?”
Nicole thought about how to put the experience into words. “You saw how it was in the town, but out there...it was insane. He was all over the place, shooting bolts of magic, blowing things up, and cutting things down. Some of the cultists were orb-Bonded or mages too, but they never stood a chance. In fact, it looked like they tried bringing some of the more powerful demons through the hellgate first, and that actually hurt them since Tom could kill them as easily as all the others.”
“Wow. It’s obvious that he’s orb-Bonded. What rank do you think he is?”
“I don’t know,” lied Nicole.
“So you really just followed him around with a bag of stuff? What kind of stuff?”
“Tools, extra weapons, that sort of thing.”
“And you really didn’t do much fighting,” asked Pasha. Her tone was skeptical.
“I wouldn’t—” She trailed off and Nicole felt her eyes growing dull as she remembered her experiences. “There was so much going on, but by the hellgate, there were a lot more cultists. I kept shooting my air pistols, just reloading, shooting, moving, reloading, shooting, trying not to die. It’s all a blur now. I just felt scared, so scared, and tried to move faster and faster and faster. One time I almost got killed by a magic explosion. I think I killed at least a few cultists, and I just kept shooting. Always shooting. By the time the hellgate was closed—don’t ask me how, I don’t know how Tom did it—I was out of pellets.”
“Didn’t you have hundreds?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow.” Pasha shook her head. “So the true demons that attacked Action really weren’t from the portal?”
“I don’t think so. It seems to fit what we have been hearing over the last week, too, that there were similar attacks all over the country. None of them seemed to gain a real foothold, but a lot of people still died. It’s probably not a surprise that everything’s been a mess.”
“So did you get to see into the hell world?” asked Pasha.
“Get to?” Nicole laughed. “Thankfully, no, but I saw enough that— Just being near that thing made me feel...I can’t describe it. Even after what had actually happened in Action, the battle in the town— The hellgate was terrible. I saw things that shouldn’t exist, and huge things that sang to me in the darkness, even while Tom was cutting them apart. Right before the portal shut, an arm started coming through it, with fingers that were bigger than my body. The hand kept moving around even after it was cut, pulling itself towards me. I had to pin it to the ground with my spear and stand on the back of its hand before Tom could come over and burn it. We—”
Nicole coughed raggedly as a whine escaped her throat and she stopped talking. She’d been close to spilling her guts, telling Pasha everything, but her friend really didn’t need to know, and Nicole didn’t want to put everything from that night into words. As irritating as Thato was to have around, it was also comforting knowing that someone capable of destroying that much pure, distilled evil was nearby.
Her nightmares varied, but the worst one by far was of that hand getting hold of her and pulling her into the portal, to the other side.
Nicole had killed at least one orb-Bonded that night. After all the fighting was done, there’d been a flash of light and boxes had appeared in front of her and Thato. Once she’d read the short description for the orb she’d picked up, and the one in her pocket, she’d decided to keep the one she already had. She hadn’t told anyone, not even Diore, that she’d also pocketed a spirit stone that night, enough to reach second-rank orb-Bonded. Only Thato knew.
And nobody but her knew that Thato was wandering around with a fortune of Dolos orbs and spirit stones, either.
Pasha must have finally figured out how much it took out of Nicole to talk about the hellgate, because she nodded and thankfully stopped asking questions. There really wasn’t much left to say after that, so the two of them walked in silence until they reached the farm that their team had been staying at.
Missing in Action, Note
From the Author, Blaise Corvin:
This short story was written after a discussion on Patreon with readers about George and his family history. The fact Mareen is the daughter of a famous adventurer has always seemed to be of interest to readers.
The big reveal in this short story about one of the main characters in the Delvers LLC series will directly tie into Delvers LLC 4, Golden Handcuffs.
Missing in Action should also answer some of the questions that readers have asked about events proceeding Delvers LLC.
Blaise’s website: www.Blaise-Corvin.com
A Guiding Hand - Introduction
A Guiding Hand
By Raymond Johnson
Everything Peacehatchet ever cared about has been torn from him. Does an ork have a soul?
A Guiding Hand, Chapter One
It had been silent for hours, but then the dead are always quiet. Peacehatchet, one of the Plains People, opened his eyes and strained to see. I
t was dark, he supposed very little light could find its way through the pile of bodies that he was under, and so he was shrouded in darkness. The weight of the dead pressed down on him and he struggled to breathe.
His left shoulder ached; that was a result of the invaders and their magic. He had been struck by something small, small but powerful enough to rip a gaping hole through his thick hide that was the size of crunchy hand fruit. It had come at him so fast he hadn’t even seen it, and barely heard the thing as it cut through the air and into his flesh.
He’d felt it though. It had been strong enough to toss him through the air like a leaf on the wind, and before he’d realized what had happened the bodies of his fellow warriors had buried him with their torn and dismembered flesh. He had struggled briefly but the pain disoriented him and rattled his reasoning. All he’d wanted to do was sleep even though he knew, on an instinctual level, that sleep meant death.
He had been awakened by the sound of voices; voices of his people. He’d recognized one of them as belonging to their leader, SmartStrong, which could only mean that they had won. The interlopers had been routed and sent to whatever hell had been set aside for them. The voices did not last long, and he could tell that they were heading away from Yanbei Cavern. He thought he heard them find other survivors, but he could not be certain. He hoped others had endured the invader’s crimes. The sound of Smartstrong’s passing faded within moments and he’d been left to dwell on what had led him to this lowly state.
He prayed to Tartooth that a pain-filled pit would gift the attackers with never-ending agonies. Normally, Peacehatchet believed in giving his enemies a swift and painless death so that they could enjoy the wonders of their heavens. Not so for the ones that had just laid him so low. He found himself wishing his kin-folk had not killed them so that he could experience the joy of slowly choking them. He would watch their eyes bulge and their skin turn a more attractive blue before finally letting them die. Then, he would feed their bodies to the vermin, as he would not taint his stomach with their flesh.
Delvers LLC- Surviving Ludus Page 42
