Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred

by Blaise Corvin

  “I see,” said Liangyu. Then she said formally, “And Mistress Biivan, would you like us to return the device you dropped?”

  Biivan raised her front lip in an approximation of a smile. “No, that is fine. I am much too busy with my experiments right now. I don’t know where I’d put it. However, I could use another test subject. That would definitely keep me busy, much too busy to take the device back.”

  Liangyu smiled but inwardly she grimaced. The shameless creature was demanding another child. Well, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She felt disgusted, but one did what one had to; it was like a strand of cow hair amongst nine cows. She said, “Raquel can help with that later. Raquel, please continue your report.”

  Raquel lifted her nose in disgust, but realized Biivan was watching and quickly tried to school her expression. Biivan merely smiled. Raquel blanched, but spoke like nothing had happened. “We’ve already emptied out the nearby dungeon. We didn’t find much treasure, only some magic stones and some random items from the Terran and Areva homeworlds. The dungeon was populated by a handful of those cat creatures with big pincers, like the one you delivered our notes on.”

  Liangyu absently nodded. “What are they actually called?”

  “I think they’re something like ‘short-furred, spined beetle cat demons.’”

  “That is correct,” confirmed Biivan.

  Liangyu waved a hand. “Very interesting. Now I’m sure the corpses you have procured are all lined up in the usual place, correct?” Raquel nodded. “Good. I will be out there later today to grow our little army. Speaking of which, Ghinsja, please report on our targets.”

  The Areva orb-bonded wearily stepped forward. “I have some conflicting news. Last night, my mist form was still able to roam around unmolested, but the members of Aodh O’Breen’s group I’ve seen use magic are using it less now. Plus, the group has slowed down. I don’t know if they can see my mist form or if something else tipped them off, but they appear to be acting more wary. However, they haven’t changed direction.”

  “They’re still heading down the road towards our ambush point?” Liangyu asked.

  “Yes,” replied Ghinsja.

  “Excellent. If they changed directions, we would need to terminate the ambush and find a different target, or perhaps find this group later.

  “So, what is the tally of powered individuals in the group now?”

  Ghinsja replied, “As you know, I can’t hear much while in my mist form. However, the closer they get to us, the more detail I can see and the more easily I can read lips.

  “Aodh O’Breen still shows no evidence of any powers, although he keeps strange devices on his belt. It’s very possible he is an enchanter, water mage, or some other orb type we haven’t seen before. That said, he is fairly young and always looks nervous, so despite him being our primary target, he is likely not the primary threat.

  “The dark-skinned girl named Mareen and the Asian man Henry both have power and they are probably orb-Bonded, especially the girl. The man usually wears armor that could be enchanted, but he uses Earth school magic, so he is at least a mage. Luckily, Earth school is weak.

  “I have looked for Hero marks on the Mo’hali but haven’t found any.

  “The other man who leads the group with Henry—I believe his name is Jaceen, the tall one—I haven’t seen him use any magic. He seems to get made fun of a lot, too. I have no idea whether he is orb-Bonded. He also usually wears armor and he carries a really pretty sword. He could be using enchanted equipment.

  “In fact, you’ve heard my rundown of the entire group before. I still cannot see scrolling confirmation of any of them being orb-bonded. I don’t see it with Aodh O’Breen, either. We know he is Bonded. This means at least Aodh is noble or well connected; others could be too. This is even more likely since the red-haired Terran girl and the Hispanic Terran man remind me of Berber mercenaries.” Ghinsja turned towards Raquel and her group, smiling apologetically. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” said Raquel.

  Liangyu produced a fan from a hidden pocket and tapped her chin while she pondered. There was a bit of a conundrum to think through. The fact the group was continuing despite apparently feeling impending danger was worrying, but at the same time, she needed them to head into the ambush point.

  The likelihood that the group was an escort party for a noble or two was high since they were heading towards the Tolstey capital by road. The presence of nobles made the job personal for Liangyu, but she didn’t want to make stupid decisions based on emotion. She asked, “What are your suggestions? First Ghinsja, then Raquel.”

  “I would actually suggest we avoid this target altogether,” said Ghinsja. “However, I know this isn’t really an option even if we hadn’t gotten a note from Dolos. So that being said, I would suggest you use your thralls to stop the caravan immediately, and split the target group up before I cover the area in fog.”

  “Isn’t that difficult for you to do, especially if we have to attack while it’s still light outside?”

  “Yes, but I can do it. There are small ponds and a lake. This is enough standing water to lessen the strain.” Ghinsja patted her water skin. “I’ll need to get full, uninterrupted rest while they’re still a couple days out so I can regain my strength, though.”

  “That’s fine.” Liangyu pointed her fan at her second-in-command. “Anything else?”

  Ghinsja nodded. “Yes. This probably goes without saying, but you should set some of your stealthiest thralls on the most problematic member of the group, taking care of them immediately.”

  “That is indeed what I am planning to do,” Liangyu assured. “Raquel, what are your thoughts?”

  “I agree with everything Ghinsja said, but there are a lot of unknowns here. It’s unlikely, but what if all these rotting aristos are Bonded? The random Mo’hali are weird, too. These ones are apparently not slaves and not being used as porters. They could be merchants, but then why do they have the little boy there?

  “I would suggest sending two of my group to target the Mo’hali and deal with them, whether they’re Heroes or not. A Hero can cut the strings between you and your puppets.” She gestured at a thrall in the corner. The undead thing used to be the commander of Tolstey guard post Liangyu had commandeered as a base of operations. The thrall still wore her armor and a simple bronze sword at her waist.

  Liangyu tapped her chin and thought carefully. She didn’t bother to ask Biivan’s opinion. The woman would be restrained by her mysterious rules from offering any advice even if she were the type to help, which she wasn’t. Liangyu thought carefully about how to phrase her next few words. She eventually said, “Without the object that Biivan dropped and we so luckily found, I’d be less likely to continue with this attack.

  “However, I will have dozens of thralls when the time comes. Dozens upon dozens. We will also have Ghinsja obscuring vision and offering support as I control the thralls. She will be able to give you better vision in the fog than our enemies will have.

  “There is also the fact that this is Tolstey. Even if there are other orb-Bonded in Aodh’s group, they’re probably first rank and have no idea what they’re doing.

  “The fact that Dolos’s note specifically mentioned Aodh O’Breen, who is a boy and is not in charge of this group, lends further evidence that he is a noble. As you all know, I hate nobles, and many of you do too. The opportunity of a payout this large while exterminating nobles is not something we can ignore. However, we are going to go about this as intelligently as possible.” She looked between her leaders.

  “We can always run away if things go bad,” Ghinsja said, nodding. “Plus, if we kill a few and escape, we will still be rewarded by Dolos for any Heroes or orb-Bonded slain.”

  Raquel snorted and said, “Just more reason to kill the animals right on the quick step. Just point us at things to kill. As long as you keep paying us, we’ll fight.”

  The rest of the mercenaries nodded…except for
Anz’wei. The big, reptilian Adom showed no sign she was even paying attention.

  “Good, then that’s settled.” Liangyu snapped her fan shut and put it away in her hidden pocket. “You all know your remaining tasks for the day. Our targets are still several days away. Let’s work to make sure we have every possible advantage we can get before they arrive. Realistically, there are probably at least three orb-Bonded in this group.

  “This is probably going to make all of us very rich, girls.” There were predatory smiles all around the room. “Dismissed,” said Liangyu.

  As all her subordinates filed out, Liangyu sat down again and thought back to a time when she wasn’t so lonely. Her daughter had been the only good thing she’d ever had on Ludus. It seemed fitting that Liangyu would be working to elevate her descendants to the nobility with funds gathered by killing nobles, nobles just like the one that had killed her daughter over one hundred and fifty years ago.

  The symmetry appealed to Liangyu, even if all the details didn’t. Dealing with Biivan was absolutely intolerable. She really wished the woman hadn’t been assigned as her overseeing High Priestess by Dolos.

  Supplying children to suffer whatever it was Biivan did to them was another dark mark on Liangyu’s soul. She was very honest with herself about this. She admitted she wasn’t much better than the noble who’d killed her daughter.

  But she didn’t care. All that mattered was ensuring her sweet Li Jing’s family, and Liangyu’s family by extension, were taken care of for the next few hundred years. Liangyu might not always be around to watch over them. The simplest solution was to make sure they had the resources and power to take care of themselves.

  Liangyu narrowed her eyes as she felt the surety of her purpose again. She’d do anything to accomplish her goal. She would paint the world in blood and sow suffering like seeds. She already knew she was damned; the god Yan Wang would have much to say after she died. What was more sin on top of what she already was responsible for?

  She calmed herself and willed a thrall to fetch her a fresh cup of tea. It was time to stop dwelling on the past, to think clearly on how best to kill her targets. It was a cruel world. The strong ruled the weak.

  She would be strong, strong for her dead Li Jing. Liangyu waited for her tea and tried to ignore her loneliness. She’d run out of tears one hundred years ago.

  Unraveled

  Henry was starting to feel a little more comfortable with being on the road. The weird shadow thing hadn’t been seen for a night or two, and overall, the morale of the group had improved. He’d rigged up a system of tubes from Keeja’s MP3 player that enhanced the sound all over the Battlewagon. Even those riding magicycles in front and behind of the Battlewagon could hear it.

  The caravan had spontaneously established a new rule that every member of the group could pick two songs to go on the playlist at a time. Henry was just glad Keeja had stopped playing like ten disco songs back to back anymore. He actually didn’t mind if she played Indian pop or any of the other genres she liked from Earth, but her disco songs needed to die in a fire.

  Currently, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was playing, probably requested by Mareen. It was one of her new favorite songs.

  Henry narrowed his eyes and scanned the forest to either side of the road. Traveling slower made him feel vulnerable, even though they hadn’t seen a monster for a couple days. He couldn’t complain that freaky, dangerous creatures with stupid names hadn’t tried to kill him for a while, but Henry’s gut was telling him something was wrong.

  The Battlewagon was entering a thin bank of mist, and Henry’s instincts were damn near shouting at him. He tried to scan more aggressively, but he couldn’t see much. Fog was a pain, but he’d been getting accustomed to it. Ludus seemed to have random fog banks from time to time. It was really weird.

  Up ahead, water was spilling out over the road, so much that it actually appeared to be part of a small lake. Henry was getting a really bad feeling. About that time, Keeja buzzed right over him, taking off into the air until she could no longer be seen through the mist.

  “What the fuck does she think she’s doing?” Henry muttered. He irritably adjusted his rifle’s sling before his brain started working again and facts clicked. Keeja had never buzzed over him like that before. On top of that, he could still hear Cyndi Lauper singing about what girls really wanted. Keeja didn’t take her music player.

  Henry thought about the last few days and also realized that, uncharacteristically, Keeja hadn’t left the group once. They’d had the music player the whole time, and now she randomly took off without taking it with her…almost like she was trying to tell them something.

  “Oh, fuck me…” Henry whispered. “Jason! Jason! Go the other direction. Turn around!”

  “What?” Jason craned his head from the driver’s seat to look back at Henry.

  “Turn around now!” Henry pointed in front of them and hissed, “It’s a trap!” Jason’s eyes widened in sudden comprehension and he snapped his head forward, his hands on the controls.

  While warning Jason, Henry had been hurriedly armoring his torso with steel skin. He had much better control over his abilities now, and he could deploy his steel skin with a thought.

  As the Battlewagon approached the pond, an enormous, shambling creature rose out of the water directly in its path. Jason desperately tried stopping the vehicle, but its inertia caused it to slam into the monster, albeit slower than they otherwise would have. Most of the creature seemed to be made of mud, and Henry realized they’d seen something like it a couple months ago.

  The fact the monster’s type was familiar was the last thought he had before an arrow buzzed out of the tree line unnaturally fast, hitting him square in the chest. To his side, the water exploded and an ugly, mantis-looking monster the size of a person leaped onto the Battlewagon. One powerful, bladed forearm slammed into Henry from behind so hard he flipped out of the Battlewagon’s turret.

  While in midair, time seemed to slow down like it had for him before in car crashes. Regardless of what anyone said, none of his crashes had ever been his fault. His thoughts were dreamy; everything was happening so fast. He absently wondered if he was going to die. He noticed the huge monster reach for Jason, who teleported away. Then the huge, shambling thing began to stomp out of the pond.

  Rark-han had been riding behind Bezzi-ibbi, but he was down in the middle of the road. The big man was unmoving.

  Bezzi-ibbi and Yanno-ibbi were both under attack. Yanno-ibbi was desperately trying to avoid a big woman with a huge sword. Bezzi-ibbi looked like he was running away from a giant lizard. A horde of monsters spilled out of the forest by the road. Mareen was screaming something. Something was attacking Gonzo and Vitaliya.

  The mist was growing thicker; Henry couldn’t see the sky anymore. Before he crashed into the ground with bone-jarring force, he thought, Well, isn’t this fucking lovely?

  * * *

  Mourad paused to clean her giant flamberge’s blade. The blessed steel shimmered again in the fading light after she wiped it clean of fresh blood. She gazed down at the fallen Mo’hali dispassionately. It wasn’t personal. At least he would bleed out in relative peace. She’d taken two limbs, and the middle-aged jaguar race man was breathing shallowly, his body in a heap.

  The wolf race Mo’hali man was down, too. Mourad was glad she hadn’t had to fight him. He’d looked like a big, mean bastard.

  The muscular woman spared a glance for Anz’wei chasing the Mo’hali boy into the forest. She sighed and thought, Poor kid. Nobody could run from Anz’wei. The big Adom was too fast and too good of a hunter. The boy was done.

  The fog rolled in unnaturally quickly as Ghinsja flexed her power, obscuring the entire area. Mourad knew she had a respite, so it was time for her to finish her second mission she’d been tasked with. It’d be a shame if any of their enemies somehow escaped on one of the smaller vehicles.

  One of the weird contraptions the Mo’hali had been riding had been bro
ken in half by Anz’wei. Mourad sighed again and started pulling the second one towards the lake. The sooner she was done and the sooner all these poor bastards were dead, the sooner she could get paid and hopefully get the hell away from Liangyu, the Death Witch.

  * * *

  Uluula’s mouth felt like parchment and her ears tingled. When the Battlewagon had crashed, she’d been thrown into boxes of supplies and came up bruised. However, any complaints she might have had died on her tongue. She really registered the huge, lumbering monster passing by the Battlewagon for the first time. The thick mist was already obscuring her vision, but she could see a large group of monsters emerging from the forest.

  Aodh, Thirsty, and Mareen were all with her in the back of the Battlewagon. Aodh was bleeding, not moving. Thirsty was crying and panicking, and Mareen was still dazed. Without thinking, Uluula grabbed Mareen and summoned desperate strength to pull her friend out of the Battlewagon.

  They needed to protect their vehicle and the people in it. Their group was obviously caught in an ambush. Uluula’s military training asserted itself and she began focusing on the problem. She needed Mareen awake to protect the others. The large, shambling creature that was heading for Gonzo and Vitaliya needed to be stopped. She briefly wondered why the monster wasn’t attacking the Battlewagon, but realized that if it had chosen to do that, it would probably just be getting in the way of the swarm approaching from the tree line.

  The thought chilled her.

  The group of attacking monsters were almost on them; there was no time to be gentle. She cocked her arm back, made a fist, and socked Mareen in the nose.

  * * *

  Mareen had been in a daze until she got punched in the face. She clawed her way out of her stupor in a fury, preparing to lash out with the massive hammer that she’d somehow held on to. Uluula’s eyes didn’t even flicker as Mareen got a hold of herself, slowly lowering the hammer instead of trying to kill her friend.

  The ground softly shook as the enormous, plodding monster that had stopped the Battlewagon walked off towards the rearmost magicycles. Before the fog obscured the last of her visibility, Mareen noticed that Vitaliya and Gonzo had somehow been thrown from their vehicles. They looked dazed.