“I didn’t see Callidus, but I don’t know how far he’s leveled in Stealth. He could have passed through the end of that passage and is still going or he could have just been standing there invisibly watching me.”
“What’s in that stretch of ravine?” TexBadass asks.
I shrug. “Flowers. Big purple flowers really high up. I’m not even positive they are in the ravine. They may just be growing down from the grass above us. But that’s not to say that there aren’t triggers and traps and things in there. I just didn’t see them.”
“I think we should press on,” SteelFeather says. “I’ll take the lead. It might be a risk since we don’t know what happened to Callidus, but we’re not going to find anything out just standing here.”
“I agree.” I look at Erinocalypse. I’m not trying to challenge her, but she’ll have to choose between agreeing with me—which she hates—and staying in place—which she also hates.
She meets my gaze and nods. “Yeah, but let’s go slowly. One by one. We can’t risk whatever happened to Callidus happening to all of us.”
I stand to the side of the ravine and let SteelFeather squeeze past me. He pauses at the bend in the path before continuing, gripping his sword, shield held in front of him, ready to battle whatever might be lurking in the shadows ahead of us. After a few moments I don’t hear or sense anything amiss, so I follow. I hold my bow at the ready, arrow nocked, but I still don't see anything between us and the end of the room, where the ravine winds to the right. Two steps in. Four. Ahead of me, SteelFeather also walks slowly, cautious of disturbing some unseen foe. I hear what almost sounds like a faint sigh, and a light dusting of yellow pollen falls down through the air on to him.
He sneezes. He pauses.
SteelFeather whirls around, his eyes flashing. I freeze and in that split-second when our gazes meet, it’s clear to me that something has happened. Something has changed. Some effect has taken hold of him. Our tank is not the same quiet, easy-going guy that joined us at the beginning.
He locks on to me and raises his sword, yelling and charging at me. I have no time to plan or strategize. My only concern is keeping this wild creature from the other three in our group.
As SteelFeather runs the final steps toward me, I activate Stealth again and manage to dodge him while still invisible. I only have a few precious seconds with this skill, so I use it to get as far from him as possible, hurrying to the far end of the passage.
High above me I hear the same faint sigh again. I look up, and a light coat of yellow pollen floats down through the air and lands on my face.
I blink two, three times, trying to brush it away with my fingers, but I can’t get it all. It’s sticking and tickling my nose. I sniff to try to clear my nostrils.
It feels like there’s a spark inside of me that is being fanned into a flame. My heart rate quickens and I can’t think about anything beyond how mad I am. I’m furious. Livid. There aren’t enough words to describe how angry I am at this moment.
I can’t quite remember why I’m so mad, but I’m sure it’s SteelFeather’s fault. I turn around and see him fifteen or twenty feet back down the path. He looks like a fool. He has tossed his shield aside and holds his sword with both hands, swinging it back and forth. Calling for me. Calling me a coward, taunting me to come out of hiding.
I only have a couple seconds of Stealth left to take him down without being seen. I take aim—haphazard, but in the general direction—and fire an arrow. It lodges into the tank’s forearm, just above his gauntlet, and he yells in pain.
That’s the only shot I get off before I pop into view again, but I don’t care. My ranged weapon gives me the advantage.
I face my enemy head-on, aiming for his throat. I shoot but he dodges cleanly. This only makes me more furious. How dare he? He needs to suffer.
As I’m taking aim a third time, a knife jabs up into my back. I instinctively jerk away from it, accidentally loosing my arrow into the sky, wide and to the right of SteelFeather. Twisting away from the knife, I turn to see Callidus standing behind me, his Stealth no longer activated, with the same manic look on his face that is on SteelFeather’s.
Abandoning all thought of strategy, or even weapons and sanity, I drop my bow and arrow and hurtle myself at Callidus. How dare he? I don’t even feel the pain in my back anymore. My anger fuels me. I don’t need health points. I have rage.
I have at least thirty or forty pounds on the kid and when I throw myself at him, he stumbles backward and falls to the ground. I pin him down, straddling his chest, his arms under my knees and punch him hard in the face.
That feels right. That’s what he deserves.
I hear yelling behind me but I can’t make any of it out. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I punish this damned kid for what he has done to me.
I hit him a second time, and a third. His nose is probably broken and his lip is bleeding all over my knuckles. Before I can land another hit, armored hands grab my shoulders and pull me roughly off of Callidus. I shake myself free, but my attacker swings his fist into my jaw. The pain is incredible and for a moment I’m too stunned to react, still half pinning down the teenager, and half resting back against the wall of the ravine. I try to get to my feet but get tangled up in Callidus’s legs. Before I can regain my balance, SteelFeather body slams me back on to the ground.
I can feel bruises forming, but that only makes me angrier. Dust tickles my nose and I sneeze. SteelFeather hovers above me, pulling back to kick me in the ribs and I notice droplets of sweat cutting paths through the yellow pollen coating his dark face. He seems furious with me, but what right does he have to be angry? He is the one that did it to me.
I try to roll away from the kick, but the path is too narrow. I find myself on the ground, face pressed to the white rock with the tank kicking me in the back. Twice. Three times.
Then it stops.
Chapter Fourteen
I wait just a moment, sensing a trap, then roll back painfully to face my attackers again. But neither Callidus or SteelFeather are coming after me. They glare at me, or switch to glare at each other, but neither moves. I move slightly away from the rock wall and am just about to get to my feet when I’m hit by a chilly blast of energy.
I try to turn to see who is attacking me now, but am unable to move. Not my feet, my hands, even my neck. I can look around, but that’s it. All other muscles are frozen. I even try to yell something but my mouth and tongue are frozen, so instead I let out an inarticulate grunt.
“Shut up, Asher,” three voices say in near-perfect unison from somewhere down the path to my right. I can’t turn my head to see who it is, but I can guess. Those other three. Those traitors. The ones who are always working against me. I forget how, but I’m sure there’s a good reason I am angry with Balderdash13, Erinocalypse and TexBadass.
“Okay, boys, this is how it’s going to be.” Erinocalypse yells at us from the end of the passage. Coward. Why doesn’t she come over here and say it to our face like a man?
Or … uh …
“You all are acting crazy and we’re pretty sure it’s the effect of the pollen that is falling on you. I’ve frozen you to keep you from hurting each other. You’re welcome.”
Yeah right. She’s just making excuses. As soon as this spell wears off I’ll get her too.
TexBadass’s southern drawl cuts through. “I don’t even know why y’all are even bothering to explain this to ‘em. It’s not like we’re givin’ ‘em a choice.”
“He has a point,” Balderdash13 says quietly.
Erinocalypse continues. “You will stay frozen until we can block you from more pollen and remove the effects of it. Don’t bother to struggle. You won’t be moving until I say you can.”
Regardless of what she says, I still try. I struggle to move my arms, to twist at the waist, even just to lean to one side, but none of it works. It just makes me angrier. I hear footsteps coming toward where the three of us are frozen on the gro
und and after a minute, Balderdash13’s feet and legs are in my line of vision.
From somewhere to my left, Erinocalypse says, “You take SteelFeather, you Callidus.”
Wait. They’re leaving me?
The other two mumble their agreement and I watch Balderdash13’s legs disappear to my right. With my head locked in place I only catch glimpses of what they’re doing, but it seems like Balderdash13 and TexBadass are forcibly, physically moving the frozen bodies of Callidus and SteelFeather. Erinocalypse must be casting or maintaining a spell. They must really believe that pollen can do something. What idiots. What overreacting, delicate, soft, know-nothing morons.
All of a sudden I realize I am totally alone—frozen and helpless.
They don’t return. Minutes go by. Hours. Ok, maybe not hours, but I am completely abandoned and I don’t hear them any more and maybe they did just leave me on my own to suffer. How dare they? If I could just move one limb, I’d show Erinocalypse what happens to people who mess with me. They are going to pay for this.
With my body frozen the one thing I can do is pull up the in-game resources—character sheet, stats and all. The game clock notes Erinocalypse’s spell effect and I realize I’ve only been frozen for about ninety seconds. I guess it just feels like forever.
Two sets of footsteps return to me, and one of the other players nudges me with their foot.
“You’re lucky I’m a big guy, SirAsh3r. Wouldn’t want to drag you.” TexBadass squats down, places his hands under my armpits and hoists me up, carrying my whole body half over his shoulder and half tucked under one arm. As he lifts me, Erinocalypse comes into my line of sight, effortlessly casting some kind of wind bubble spell up over us, shielding us from air above.
Thank goodness the end of this passage is so close by. Since my body is frozen this is the most awkward way to be carried by anyone and all I want is to be set down. I use all my mental energy to try to kick out and wriggle out of his grasp, but the spell holds me firmly. The whole situation is embarrassing. I cannot believe Erinocalypse thinks this is okay. I can’t believe they would treat me like this. Me! Ugh. As soon as they unfreeze me I’m going to show them what I think of them.
TexBadass carries me around the bend in the path where the ravine opens a little wider and the light loses its purple tint. He drops me roughly on the ground, where I tip over, lying on my side, not able to see anything but the rock in front of me.
I feel the familiar cooling sensation of my wounds being healed and my health points being restored, but I still can’t move. I am about to try to yell at them again when I am practically drowned by a torrent of water, blasted all over my face, head, cloak. I’m completely soaked and still frozen in place.
What the hell are they playing at?
Someone rolls me over on to my back so I’m staring up. Erinocalypse’s face appears above me.
“How do you feel? I’m going to unfreeze you, but you should know if you try to attack anyone at all, Balderdash13 is literally right by your head with her axe, ready to bash your head in.”
Her voice is so calm and matter of fact that I wonder if she’s kidding.
I decide she’s not.
“Since you have no way to indicate if you agree or not, we’ll just have to trust that you don’t want to be frozen forever. Ready? Here we go.”
She steps back and soon I regain feeling in my limbs. My joints ache and I groan as I stretch my legs out and unfold my arms. I close my eyes but stay lying on my back on the ground.
A memory of my hands around Callidus’s neck flashes. A memory of SteelFeather aiming a kick at my head. A memory of bleeding from my side.
We could have killed each other.
And I realize … while we might irritate each other or lose patience, I don’t think any of us genuinely want to kill another one. I sit up and open my eyes. Erinocalypse has been watching me warily.
“Thank you.”
“What?” She sounds suspicious.
“Thank you. You did the right thing. I’m sorry I got mad.”
“Oh, gee, SirAsh3r. You approve of me not letting you all murder each other? How generous of you to deign to recognize someone else’s choices.”
I don’t know what to say. I’m sure I deserve that.
“Yeah, um. So … uh …” Erinocalypse and I gaze at each other, waiting to see how the other will react. “What now?”
She rubs her eyes and looks at me a moment as though contemplating something, then turns to address the group as a whole.
“We’ve already had quite an ordeal and have a ways to go. You’re all healed and rested? Are we ready?”
We get to our feet and reform in the order that we first approached the dungeon. I remain in the back, letting someone else take the lead. Not trying to do this by myself.
Through the ravine, around a few caverns, brushing past more ferns and squeezing past jutted out rock, we soon reach another chamber where the path opens up slightly wider to give us space. The feeling is slightly ominous, maybe because we don’t know quite what to expect, or maybe because the light has dimmed.
I wonder if the sun is going down already and look up to the opening at the top of the ravine.
“Oh, no.”
Chapter Fifteen
I elbow TexBadass and point up into the ravine.
“Aw, holy hell,” he mutters. “The wasps that live in that nest must be as big as my fist.”
“You guys,” I call softly.
I don’t know yet what will wake the creatures inside and don’t want to rouse them too early. I point up toward the top of the ravine. From wall-to-wall, ten or maybe even fifteen feet across, is a gray, stone-like structure. Spherical, though not perfectly round, it looks like a child’s paper mache project, newspaper strips clumsily wrapped around a balloon. A small hole at the bottom offers me a glimpse of hexagonal cubbies within. Now that I realize what I’m looking at, I can hear a low buzzing hum.
Callidus looks back at the group; SteelFeather redoubles his grip on his sword. The six of us spread out under the nest, not sure what will trigger the attack. Callidus activates Stealth and disappears under the nest, scouting the rest of the cavern. This moment … this moment of quiet and watching, just before the battle begins … The unknown ahead of us, knowing we need to rely on all our skills and brains to conquer whatever is coming. My body sings with anticipation …
I fucking love video games.
Callidus deactivates Stealth once he is on the far side of the space. As soon as he is visible again the buzzing within the wasps’ nest gets louder, as though their attack is triggered by someone trying to pass through the room.
The first wasp emerges from the nest. Then the second. Then three, four, ten and I lose count. They swarm angrily.
I take a long slow breath. Here it comes.
Erinocalypse takes out a handful of them with her first fire bolt spell, but the cool down is too long for her to make a real dent in the swarm. TexBadass’s guess wasn’t too far off, but these wasps are bigger than my fist. Closer to the size of my forearm, actually. Big enough that I can try to take them down with my bow and arrow, but so fast that I’m afraid I’ll miss.
Name: Giant Bomber Wasp
Level: 21
Description: You can die by a thousand cuts, or in this case stings. The Giant Bomber Wasp seems manageable on its own, but watch for the swarms and being overpowered by their number.
I wait before firing. Watching. Trying to see the pattern so I can aim as well as possible. The bulk of the swarm goes after SteelFeather and Balderdash13, who are directly under the nest. They swing their melee weapons constantly, as they are attacked from every direction. I take aim at the mob above them and fire.
[+ 45 XP]
[+ 39 XP]
[+ 42 XP]
Our attacks litter the ground near the two warriors’ feet with corpses. As a group we are making short work of this mob. I wonder if that means we’re getting better at this or if it means we’re m
issing something. The buzzing from the nest gets louder. More and more wasps stream out, but that can’t be what’s making that noise.
I shoot off another arrow distractedly, still trying to figure out what is causing that ominous loud buzz. Unsurprisingly, I miss, but with my eyes focused on the enormous wasp nest, I’m the first of our group to realize …
“Oh shit,” I say to TexBadass, the only one within hearing distance. “It’s a boss. This is going to be a gigantic wasp boss.”
He looks at me quizzically and I point again to the nest that is now vibrating visibly and beginning to show cracks from the strain of whatever is inside trying to get out.
“Heads up,” he yells to the group, pointing at the nest.
I give up trying to shoot the little minions and instead focus on the nest. I want the first shot at the monster. The web of cracks spreads and widens, and gaps appear, revealing a dark interior. The angry buzzing gets louder.
Here it comes.
The wasp nest bursts apart, scattering dust and pieces of the nest through the air, which bounce off the walls of the ravine and crash to the floor. A piece lands on SteelFeather, pinning him to the ground as though he were under a door ripped off of a car. I’m vaguely aware of Callidus and Balderdash13 rushing to free him, but my eyes are glued to the thing emerging from the nest. The queen is bigger than my mind can comprehend, and her eyes gleam with unnatural intelligence. Her wingspan is as wide as the ravine and her stinger looks to be as long as I am tall. I swallow, quaking.
I fire my arrow and quickly examine its stats.
Name: Queen Bomber Wasp
Level: 24
Description: The head of the Bomber Wasp colony, this queen is all out of patience. She will do anything to stop you from passing through the White Rock Ravine. Watch out for her Rage Javelin Maneuver.
My first arrow hits. Erinocalypse and I are able to shave off a bit of the monster's health before it attacks. Flying down at our tanks, the wasp aims its stinger at SteelFeather, who dodges cleanly. But in his focus on the queen, he disregards the wasp minions and takes several hits. Balderdash13 is doing her best to defend him, but the swarm is overwhelming her, too.
Depths of Camlan Page 6
