by Dante King
I placed my palm on the obsidian and started to feel my body being drained into the travel stone when a firm hand clamped over my shoulder. I withdrew my hand and saw Bertha standing beside me.
“There’s something I want to ask of you,” she said. Her emerald eyes carried a seriousness I’d never seen before, and it was clear she was worried I might deny her request.
“What do you desire?”
Abby frowned from the other side of the travel stone. “Bertha, this really isn’t the time for a little romp. Dom has things to—”
“Quiet, little spark,” the half-troll said, and Abby promptly shut her mouth. “When theses Sap Lords come, I want to fight them as a true champion.”
“And you will.”
“I don’t believe you understand. I desire to fight with them without your help. Allow your traps, minions, and champions to do as they’re designed by the gods. Wait in the Throne Room. If these Sap Lords prove too powerful for your other creations, then Von Dominus can fight them.”
Bertha’s proposition seemed like a great risk, one I wouldn’t have accepted willingly a few weeks ago. But I cared for the half-troll, and it was clear how much this request meant to her.
“What do you think of this proposition?” I asked Abby.
“I’m with Bertha. I was a dungeon before, and now I’m something else. Not quite a dungeon core and not quite a champion. I want to know what it’s like to be a true champion. I figure it’s no trouble if I die; you can always resummon me.”
I set my jaw. “And if you lose, and Von Dominus can’t stop these lords? What then? Will Zagorath’s core be given over to our enemies?” We all shared a look before I burst into laughter. Bertha and Abby laughed along with me, and I wished I could have taken them all then and there.
But a menage a trois would have to wait for another time.
“Thank you, Master,” Bertha said. “We will show you how far we’ve come since joining Zagorath.”
“I know you will.”
Bertha and Abby hadn’t ventured far from the dungeon since I’d brought them here. Letting them prove themselves would be the intelligent decision. It would keep their motivations high. I refused to torture them or force them against their will, so this kind of intrinsic motivation could work wonders.
“I’ll be back shortly. I may come with the Sap Lords on my heels. Be ready for my return.”
I stretched out both my arms and took hold of the Gorengar Travel Stone. My body tore apart and reassembled on the other side. A canopy of trees and moss-covered rocks greeted me. The scent of dew and rotting leaves filled my nostrils.
Where was the most likely place to find Puck and Ralph?
Elderwood House.
17
Interlude
Ralph flexed his new muscles and felt them brimming with power. Ever since Von Dominus had evolved him, every part of him had increased in size. The cloak his master had given him could barely hide the little thorns on either side of his head or the ridges that grew along his spine. He was now a monster, like every other member of Zagorath.
But he couldn’t be happier.
He remembered his upbringing on Cothslar and how the other villagers had laughed at him. His mother had said he was special, that he would become something one day. And here he was, a man who’d become a demon, an adventurer who’d become a dungeon champion.
Yet, there was someone else who’d promised him that he would do great things. An old man with a white beard, who wielded a staff with a light crystal cradled at its top. Who was that man?
It mattered little now. He had a mission.
“Are you going to knock? Or did the master evolve you into a half-wit?” Puck asked from beside him.
Ralph let his thoughts pass as he rapped on the doorframe.
Bolnir opened the door, and his pipe flew from his mouth as his eyes took in Ralph’s new form. The dwarf reached behind the door and grabbed his axe.
“This hulking brute is Ralph,” Puck explained.
“What happened to him?” Vaughn asked from behind the dwarf, his voice edged with concern.
“My master provided me with greater power,” Ralph answered. The words seemed a little strange coming from his mouth, and his tongue had trouble forming them around his large canines.
“Von Dominus truly has power beyond imagining,” Quinn said as he approached the door.
“You got that right.” Bolnir eyed Ralph warily.
“You don’t need to fear me,” Ralph said. “I am as loyal to my master as ever. He promised that you would not be harmed, so you won’t be.”
“Now that everyone knows that the stable boy has become a giant demon,” Puck began, “shall we discuss our plan for tomorrow?”
“Right,” Bolnir said as he beckoned the dungeon champions inside.
That evening, the plan to waylay the taxation convoy began to take shape. Ralph listened to the Deadeye Guild’s scheme and how they could assist in the destruction of the tax collectors without breaking their oaths. It was a simple plan, and one that Ralph would happily enact. Except all he could think about was how delicious these adventurers looked. The mere scent of them caused his stomach to groan, and the roasted pig they offered did little to satiate his hunger. Only after snatching a rat as it scurried across the table and swallowing it in a single gulp did he feel satisfied.
This evolution thing was a whole lot stranger than he’d first anticipated.
As the night wore on, the last of the plans were set in motion. Together with Bolnir, Puck and Ralph ventured into Grynwild Forest. Unlike the last time he’d entered the verdant landscape, Ralph felt an itch beneath his skin, and the aroma of sap and pollen made his insides coil and twist.
Was this the reason Puck hated the Nature Realm so much? Now that Ralph was more than human, this strange land irked him something fierce.
“You’re on your own from here,” Bolnir muttered as they came to a clump of bushes. They were a rock’s throw from a well-worn track.
“How long will the tax collectors be?” Ralph asked.
“An hour, at most. They’ll be traveling from Avalonia, and they’d have left half a day ago. They’ll have themselves a few armed guards. “The Harrowbark brothers have laid out several thick logs across the road to block the convoy. They’ll be right pissed and wondering who blocked their path.”
“And we’ll give them their answer,” Puck said.
Ralph held out his hand to Bolnir. “Thank you.”
The dwarf clasped it and smiled through his beard. “Wish I could stay with you, Ralph. I’d like to see what this new version of you can do.”
“Your oaths come first,” Ralph said, and he held the dwarf’s hand for a few seconds longer than necessary. He desired to crush it in his massive hands, to crumble the bones to dust. Ralph shook off the feeling and released Bolnir’s hand.
The dwarf looked at him with concern but didn’t say anything.
“Wait for the signal,” Ralph said as he tried not to think about harming the dwarf. Why did he have such a deep-seated desire to harm him? Bolnir had befriended him and given a warm welcome to the guild house.
Was it Ralph’s new form that made him feel this way?
“We will,” Bolnir replied. “May Eveline watch over you.”
“Bah!” Puck spat. “Lilith is the only goddess whose gaze we care for.”
The dwarf chuckled. “Light the signal when you’re done.” He turned and vanished into the undergrowth.
Ralph ran over the plan for the ambush in his mind. Bolnir had given enough details to know what to expect from their visitors. Their weapons held basic sigils that boosted their injury recovery. The dwarf suspected that their magic didn’t increase their speed or their strength.
“Now, we wait,” Ralph murmured to the silence of the forest.
“Yes, my favorite part,” Puck snorted. “I will scout ahead.”
The Shade disappeared and left Ralph alone to his thoughts. He hadn’t sle
pt a wink the night before, but his new form didn’t seem to need much sleep. The chirping of birds and wind rustling through the trees didn’t feel so compelling anymore. He’d loved this land only a day ago, but now, it grated on him.
Something scurried behind him, and his hand lashed out to catch a squirrel. Ralph peered into its eyes as it squirmed in his grip, but a swift chomp ended its struggles.
As Ralph gobbled up the rest of the squirrel, Puck glided out of the shadows as his nigh-invisible cloak of magic slid away from him. “Are you ready, Kraus?”
Ralph nodded. “More than ready. But I am hungry.”
“The dozen eggs and two suckling pigs you ate for supper didn’t satisfy?”
“They overcooked them all.”
“The last suckling hadn’t even been roasted.”
“Like I said, overcooked.” The memory of the squirrel he’d eaten mere moments ago seemed almost forgotten. And there was something else in his mind. Something that itched at him. A name. Alax—
Before his mind could piece the name together, Puck spoke.
“I saw the convoy. One covered wagon, two horses, perhaps six armed guards. Torches to light the way.” He shook his head. “I’m surprised they don’t have a bard and a bugler to announce their presence.”
Ralph stretched and considered the odds. His skill with a blade was sufficient to battle one or two men. He hadn’t tested his new form in combat yet, but he was eager to see it in action. Bolnir had said these guards were powerful, but could they really stand a chance against two of Zagorath’s champions?
The easiest way to defeat the convoy would be to wait until their wagon stopped and draw them out into the woods. If what Bolnir told Ralph was accurate, the tax collectors would be too proud to turn around and return to Avalonia empty-handed.
“How long do you suppose it’ll take the Sap Lords to hear of this?” Ralph asked Puck.
“It’s half a day’s travel from the city. But we don’t know their capabilities. Perhaps their magic allows the lords to monitor their tax collectors. Which will bring them to our clutches all the faster.”
“Is it. . .” Ralph hesitated. “Is it a stretch to warn Von Dominus that he could be biting off more than he can chew? If the lords are half as terrifying as Bolnir tells us—”
“Are you doubting the master, Kraus?” Puck asked in a cold tone.
Ralph shook his head. “Not in the slightest. I’m just wary of underestimating our enemy.”
“Zagorath has consumed and destroyed every adventurer who has ever stepped into its depths, with you as the sole exception. You’d do well to remember that. There’s not a challenge that Master cannot overcome. The Sap Lords are simply the next link in the chain on the way to Entropy.”
Ralph tried to relax as excitement charged through his body. Puck’s words had alleviated his worries. Besides, he was no longer an adventurer but a true champion of Zagorath. The horns and forked tail were just a bonus.
A flickering glow flared in the distance as the tax collectors and their wagon rumbled down the track.
The light grew stronger. Ralph checked his gear and appreciated the fact that the master’s cloak kept him hidden in the long shadows. These tax collectors thought they were invincible because they worked for the Sap Lords. The last thing that they expected was to be attacked enroute to a guild house.
The wagon approached, closer now, so that Ralph could clearly see it. Two draft horses drew the wagon that stretched 10 feet backward and five across. A green canvas covered its precious cargo. The cart driver appeared both unarmed and unarmored, but the man beside him had a longbow resting in his lap.
Two armored men marched ahead of the horses, their green and gold regalia glinting in the torchlight. Another pair of guards led the way on foot with torches in their hands. The final two lingered at the back and bore their own sources of light. The graceful step of the guards on foot indicated that they were elves. Each wore scabbards with curved elf-swords, but none carried shields. It would make the fight easier. Puck’s shadow-magic could take them out almost instantly once Ralph scored one good cut.
“Best time to strike,” Ralph dared to whisper, “is just before they halt the cart.”
The cart driver called out as he spotted the pile of logs blocking their path. The guards responded by baring their steel, and the forest rang out with the sounds of unsheathed swords.
Puck dissolved into a cloud of shadows and cloaked both himself and Ralph under the cover of darkness. The wagon’s guards paced around their cargo as they searched the forest for any sign of foul play.
With the darkness concealing him, Ralph drew his blade and ghosted through the wooded area. He paused behind a tree a few yards behind the wagon. The cloak of darkness completely hid the two dungeon champions from the dancing lights cast by the torches.
The shadows clinging to Ralph’s body seemed to twist and slip away from the light as he drew closer to the torches. He fixed his eyes on his first target and moved.
Zagorath’s Chosen gleamed as it claimed an elf’s head with a single swipe. Scarlet and black splattered the cart as the guard’s head spun away into the night. The second guard flinched as Ralph’s mouth pulled back into a feral snarl. The enemy’s face turned a pale white as Ralph drove his sword through the elf’s stomach. The guards half-drawn sword froze in its sheath as Zagorath’s Chosen took the life of yet another victim.
Ralph twisted the blade deep into the guard’s torso and kicked the body off the point of his blade. Emerald light shone from carved sigils in the dead elf’s scabbarded weapon. He unsheathed the weapon with a swift pull. Now, two blades in hand, Ralph set upon a third guard. He slashed with every ounce of strength he had, and the elf’s head spun after it ripped free of his neck. Blood fountained as the detached skull bounced off the forest’s road. The smell of brimstone flared as Infernal magic filled the air, and Ralph absorbed the flow of life-giving Nature Essence into his new sigil. It felt like water to a dying man in the Black Sands.
“Demons!” The cry came from the cart driver. “Lilith’s Demons!”
A savage grin crossed Ralph’s face as he started toward the rest of the guards. Shouts of alarm rang in the dark as Puck distracted the others. A huge miasma of black smoke rippled free and snuffed out the sources of light. The darkness of Grynwild morphed into a suffocating prison of black. Except Ralph’s new form could see as if it were the height of day.
Ralph raced around the side of the cart as Puck ripped his long claws free of the driver’s throat. Scarlet spurted over the archer beside the dead man as the Shade wheeled away into the darkness. Puck’s voice crackled with malicious laughter.
An elf hurtled out of the dark as Ralph spun the two blades in his hands. A single thought crossed his mind. Why did this method of dual-wielding feel so familiar? Where had he learned how to fight with a weapon in each hand?
The green-cloaked elf struck, and the blade scraped past Ralph’s ribs. The champion cursed as the weapon punctured his flesh. He recovered and stepped with the motion as his opponent ripped the weapon free. The elf’s eyes widened as Ralph whipped his twin swords through the air, but the elf parried it and grunted at the strength of the blow. Ralph used the momentum and kicked upward into the elf’s groin.
The stables of Cothslar had taught him dirty tricks to use in battle.
The elf buckled as his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Ralph scissored his blades across each other and claimed his third kill in a shower of blood and essence. Another elf slashed at the circling Shade, and Puck mocked his enemy as he hurled spheres of dark energy.
The archer beside the driver spun and took aim. Ralph ducked as the shaft whistled past his pointed ear by an inch. Ralph leaned back against the wagon and felt it rock as the archer leaped off the cart. The elf loosed yet another arrow in midair. Ralph gasped as it slammed home into his calf. Pain exploded like a fireball in his blood.
He shoved off the wagon with a roar of defiance and bound
ed toward the archer. The elf abandoned his bow and whipped a knife free of his belt as he ducked under Ralph’s first strike. The elf’s dagger slashed across Ralph’s right flank and further crippled the young warrior. Roots sprang from the ground and coiled around Ralph’s legs. They climbed ever upward until they constricted over his entire body. With a deafening scream, he broke free of his bonds and charged the elf.
The pair met in a clash of steel, but Ralph’s swords outmatched his opponent’s dagger by far. He caught the enemy across the face with his stolen Nature blade, but it only nicked the elf’s cheek. Blood trailed from the guard’s face as he danced around Ralph, his speed almost a match for Von Dominus. More roots sprang from the ground, and Ralph jumped aside before they could ensnare him again. He saw a flicker of movement from his right and whirled around as the elf appeared. Zagorath’s Chosen found the elf’s heart, and the Nature sword hewed his skull in two.
After he’d staggered back to the cart, Ralph snapped the shaft of the arrow that had punctured his thigh. He gritted his teeth as he tore it free, and blood splattered over his gloves. The emerald seal crafted into his stolen blade shone in the dancing shadows. The Nature Essence inside his body traveled from his tattoo, into the weapon, and rested on his injured thigh. Rapidly, the wound stitched itself back together. The young adventurer took a moment to let the pain recede. The agony replaced itself with rage as he straightened up.
But there were no more enemies to satiate his bloodlust. Puck had felled the other three, and he now loomed over them, a figure bathed in shadows.
“Impressive, Kraus,” the Shade said. “You continue to surprise.”
Ralph sheathed his sword and examined the elf-blade in his hand. It was a far better weapon than the glaive he’d taken from Lucius, and it even outmatched the items he’d seen in the Infernal Realm. His master was a fine craftsman, but he could only do so much with the weapons that entered his dungeon. This one, however, would be quite the bounty to provide Von Dominus.
