The Dungeon Con: One Foot in the Grave ( Hank Grave Book 1): One Foot in the Grave (Hank Grave series)

by Marty Myers

  Finally, she said, “ you moved the oubliette yourselves?” “ Yes, Alastor chewed me out as I had not talked to him about it beforehand and he had to back me up all of a sudden when he realized what I was doing.” She looked green as she heard this. “ Don’t you understand how dangerous that was?” Hank said, “no not really at the time I didn’t have a clue. I thought I either just could or couldn’t move something with my talent at that point.” Hank winced and said, “ Alastor yelled at me later about how it could have instead been much worse and destroyed us or our talent for teleportation. I have been being more careful about it since.” Llywelyn said, “ okay at least I can see that your imp did impress upon you the dangers involved in this folly.”

  “ While we are talking about my teleporting I have something else to tell you. But it has to remain a secret. Only Alastor knows about this, but not long after that I was finishing setting up my kitchen and the ghost chef I brought back was bemoaning his lack of spices and seasonings for the food. I just wanted the whole thing done with and to hurry up and get back to more important things than feeding the guards stationed here. So you see, well I reached out and got him some spices.” Llywelyn looked at him without comprehension. “ I mean,” Hank said, “ I don’t even know what spices are here in this world since I no longer eat or have any idea where they would be found, instead I reached out and grabbed the only ones I did know right off where they were without thinking. I brought back my own spice rack from back home.”

  Now he could see the dawning realization cross her face. “ Yes, apparently I have inherited some form of Alastor’s dimensional teleport talent as well as his regular teleportation talent. He thinks there are a couple different factors involved. Including me straining and stretching both our talents just before with moving the oubliette and with him having just recently developed his own dimensional teleport by arriving in my realm just before he met me and brought me back here. The fact that we are almost always combining our talents on big projects might also help explain it. He said each being has an innate attachment to their home dimension which would make it easier for me to reach there.”

  For the second time in a few minutes, Llywelyn was struck temporarily speechless. Seeing this Hank continued on, “ I know this could be very bad for my home realm. I figure if the Darkness figures it out he could want me to snatch many things for him from home including even more people who aren’t under the bans. I don’t want to be responsible for more of us being enslaved and experimented on. I haven’t said anything to anyone else or even done it again since then. I put the information in a hidden compartment in my mind like you showed me.”

  “ I even emptied the spices out and sent the spice rack back home so it would be less weird for Francis when she found it.” The mention of Francis snapped Llywelyn out of it. Here Hank was spilling powerful secrets to her left and right and she was repaying his trust by keeping secrets from him. She felt guilty about it but could not bring herself to reveal what she knew just yet. She needed more time to be absolutely sure that Hank was her’s and the opportunity the Darkness was giving her with these portal trips to teach Hank and be together with him were just too precious to waste. She dreaded to think what false hopes Francis being here would stir up in Hank. No, she decided she would not reveal Francis whereabouts to him just yet. She needed to get a report back from her spies soon to see where they might be. As soon as she was done here she resolved to check on them. Llywelyn always kept a part of her mind portioned off from the rest. She put these thoughts deep inside that closed off section so that she would not share them with Hank.

  Then she said, “ you were right to be afraid of what uses the Darkness would put your new talent to. We must keep it hidden for as long as possible. Now as far as the oubliette goes, it too is a danger to you. I know you have claimed it so there is little to do except keep it hidden. Now, how and why were you using it to dump pure darkness into yourself.” “ I was draining it off that unhinged black guard captain who wants to fight with me above all else. He has been getting loose from the other guards and attacking me every so often.”

  “ Right, getting loose from them,” Llywelyn muttered angrily, “ more likely they let him go every so often to see if he can damage or weaken you while having some deniability to shield themselves with. Idiots, like the Lord Darkness would accept such an excuse after what he just said when he punished you both. Its no wonder these morons have been relegated to guard duty. Sometimes I think the Darkness truly does have to hand out his over the top punishments so often just to keep his moronic minions in line. Thank goodness most of mine have grown smarter than that.”

  “ Anyway,” Hank said, “ I got tired of it and since the Darkness said he was mine to do with if he had not regained his senses by now I dropped him into the oubliette and began draining off the excess darkness that was still leaking out of his aura and killing him after his last attack. I figured I could drain it off slowly and become more powerful at the same time.” Llywelyn shook her head. “Hank, you saw what it was doing to him and didn’t think it would be bad for you too. You need to be much more careful. It looks as if I caught it soon enough that it hasn’t done too much irreparable harm, but I am afraid it has further darkened your essence and your overall outlook on life. Literally, it has made you just a bit colder, and less caring than you were before you took it into yourself.”

  “ Serving the Darkness does this over time if you’re not careful. But your psyche cannot handle being twisted so quickly as this. It would have soon caused you to develop mental aberrations if left unchecked. I can now see that there have been too many more sudden changes both great and small within your core and your essence lately. I think we need to review your memories of all that has happened since we last saw one another so that I may sort all of this out and see if there is anything else that you may have left out that requires my attention. Then we shall continue the tour of your dungeon and education. Lastly, we shall get to our long delayed tryst.”

  She had an idea come to her then and had Hank change their mindscape surroundings until they were both sitting upon his old couch holding hands and watching tv as she had seen in his memories from his own world. Then she had Hank bring forth and replay all his memories for them to view since their last encounter. Many times she watched in amazement and dread as Hank took dangerous risks she was sure he had not properly sensed or understood and even sometimes when he had recognized the danger he had gone ahead and gambled on his emerging unscathed.

  She was also amazed at witnessing his teleportation talents growth and reach for herself. She thought he might be developing into a rare offshoot of dungeon kind which hadn’t been seen before, becoming a true dimensional dungeon of the dead. Each dungeon was unique in itself but shared several general traits granted from their ritual origins and their original souls. She wondered how much longer they could conceal the true extent of his growing abilities from the Darkness and what they would do when they were finally revealed.

  Thanks to their talk earlier she was ready to watch his finding of the oubliette but as the memory played out she was aghast to see that so many more people knew of it than what Hank had told her of. Alastor his familiar she had known about obviously, but each of the others who had been involved were another danger to Hank. Birch, and the chef and his wife were at least sworn into his service and should be able to be counted on to keep quiet about it although she intended to check each of their bindings for herself before she decided what if anything to do about them.

  But the vampire he had so cluelessly released into the wild was a total unknown that Llywelyn would absolutely need to hunt down and silence as soon as possible. At least she thought it likely that the haughty thing had given Hank its real clan name. Vampires were notoriously vain and using a false name would likely not have occured to the beast. That would give her someplace to start off the hunt to silence it. There were some other interesting and hair raising moments in his memories like his bargaining w
ith Manuck, the Lord of the Seas.

  But it was not until Hank searched for survivors of Skarlock’s doom that Llywelyn got another real shock. She was sad to see the destruction of one of her favorite sons but she had known of his passing for many many years now and had prepared herself to see it. But when Hank found the remnants of the damaged core she just about jumped up off the couch they were sharing. “ Hank,” she said as she restrained herself. “ I want to see this core just as soon as we are done here.” Hank could feel sadness, shock and a host of other strong less defined emotions coming off of Llywelyn as she requested to see it and said, “ yes of course.” They reviewed the rest of his memories but Llywelyn was distracted with thoughts of the tiny crystal core.

  She rechecked Hank over once she was caught up and looked at the addition of so much water, darkness and light essence within him. She said, “ the light within you should gradually diminish if you do not encourage its presence. As long as you don’t take much more of it in and as long as the water essence is acting as a buffer between it and the darkness I think you should reach something of an equilibrium soon as it settles down and then diminishes within you.”

  “Taking on Chronolith into your service as a minion is an incredible feat onto itself. Were he at his peak it would have been impossible for you to have done such a thing. A master normally has to be close to equal if not superior to his vassal’s power for their ritual swearing to take. The fact that your auras were of a dissimilar make up at the time definitely has caused you some of the discomfort you have been feeling.” She spoke several chants over Hank working to smooth and soothe his troubled aura and calm his disturbed core. “ Now she said standing up. I have done as much as I can for the moment to restore you to health and balance without a much more thorough going over.”

  “ We must proceed to the reason the Darkness is granting us this time together and assess you and your dungeons readiness to house more minions and grow your horde. You must be ready to repel any invaders and protect the altar room at all costs for that is all the Darkness really cares about here. Hank,” she said, “ you have definitely been making real progress with collecting minions. For instance, I am impressed with what I saw of your dwarfs when I arrived.”

  Hank transported them down to the dwarfs hall where the hundreds of skeletons of the untiring dead stood. “ Its too bad they have all but been eradicated as a people,” he said. “ Getting them to agree to be reanimated is a big stroke of good fortune for you,” Llywelyn replied. “ Few others have ever managed it since the dwarfs are so set on being laid to rest properly. Without their brethren’s support, you would have likely not been able to raise many of their stubborn bones for your cause.” Hank said, “ yes but its because I promised them a warriors death on the battlefield surrounded by their slain enemies. It’s likely that after they have truly fallen in battle a second time I will not be able to raise them again.” “ Still,” she said, “its more than most other necromancers have gotten out of them. They are hardy fierce warriors and it will take a lot to put them down for good. Having champions like those wights among them will further bolster their toughness and fighting prowess.”

  They flew through the level with Llywelyn pointing out a few improvements he might make here and there. Then they swept upwards going floor by floor assessing Hanks progress since her last visit. Hank had cut out a few more floors and had added chambers and space to the dungeon’s heart where the altar room, portal room, kitchen, guards barracks, training hall and great hall was located. While they were passing through the kitchens she checked over the ghosts there and carefully checked their bindings to ensure their silence in the matter of Hank’s ownership of the Oubliette. He took her to the pirate’s cavern and then down a bit to the goblins new level. Looking it over she made a few suggestions to improve upon it and then took a look at the two examples of the goblins Hank had brought here.

  Llywelyn said, “ I am glad you decided to follow my advice and bring in the spiders and goblins to expand upon the variety of minions you command. Although I must say the goblins you have found are a bit unusual looking and so very very poor as specimens.” The goblins cringed at hearing this. “ hopefully you can improve their condition with training and the gear you have promised them.”

  “ Their affinity for the dark is their only advantage as far as I can see, “ she said. “ Are you actually thinking of trying to train them in its use? Most of us don’t bother to do so as goblin lives are so short and their potential generally so low. Only their numbers and willingness to serve us make them suitable as horde stock.” “ I was thinking about it,” Hank said, “ they seem to have the potential to learn. “ Don’t spend too much time upon them,” Llywelyn advised him, “ as you have far more important tasks to accomplish. At least their remains will be well soaked in the dark’s essence and should at least perform better than most other goblin’s skeletons for you,” she said after studying them some more.

  Haman and Barlow slumped a bit at her low assessment of them and their people. Seeing this Llywelyn said, “cheer up you two, it’s unlikely that Hank shall take my advice in this matter. He has been displaying quite a talent to find and empower his minions to be unusually potent thus far and since your some of his first minions he will likely coddle you a bit too much before he grows callous as the rest of us dungeons are towards our lowly foot troops.” Hank said, “ I will be back for you two later, keep working on preparing your new home for your people while I am gone.”

  Chapter 39

  As they continued their tour passing through the solid rock as easily as the previous tunnels Hank said, “ okay so I wanted to talk to you about the spiders and where I should put their floor, I suppose it should be here just below the goblins level so that the two of them can interact as you described it to me. Get a rivalry going between them,” and Hank shuddered a bit as he said, “ as a nearby food source for the spiders.”

  “ Yes,” Llywelyn said. “But before that, we should bargain with the spiders and bring their leader in on the planning. I have found that no one plans better than the spider folk. If you let them help plan this floor with us you will not regret it.” Hank said, “ okay so how do we go about this.” Llywelyn said, “ I have already arranged for us to have an audience with the spider queen via a scrying. Normally she requires a personal visit from most supplicants, but she has long made an exception for us dungeons due to our circumstances.”

  “ Remember to be polite, concise and honest with her majesty. Also, do not be alarmed by the sight of her.” Llywelyn stopped to share a memory with Hank of a vast web covered chamber with an equally enormous spider hanging within it. A man screamed hysterically on entering the chamber and seeing the monstrous arachnid and when he continued his fit of screaming he was swiftly swarmed by many heretofore unnoticed spiders of more normal proportions and silenced forever. He was wrapped up and hung nearby the queen before the scene faded.

  Hank took a moment to let that sink in and then took them to the scrying pool and allowed Llywelyn to take charge of the casting. Shortly their view changed to the same chamber he had seen in llywelyn’s memory. The Queen was every bit as big and scary as before. It was hard to tell exactly how big she was but he felt confident that she could have touched both the front and back of a school bus if one had been handy. She was predominately black but ripples of changing colors could be seen moving across her form. Seeing Llywelyn project her image across to distance he followed suit and then copied her bow to one here who was definitely the queen of all that she surveyed.

  “ Greetings to the Queen of Spiders,” Llywelyn said. “ I the Mistress of the Dark Citadel do come calling upon thee your majesty as we had agreed upon on behalf of my fellow dungeon Hank Graves who is also with me. May we approach?” “ You are both welcome here Llywelyn,” the spider spoke. “ I acknowledge your long friendship with my kingdom and myself. Hopefully, in time your fellow will have likewise earned such an accomplishment as you have.”


  “ I generally like your kind because there is no temptation for me or my kin involved with dealing with those who like you who would provide no nourishment in themselves to us. Then it becomes a much simpler question of where else the benefit to the interaction is to be found. Indeed I have found it makes it a much more pleasant experience on both sides of the equation.” Hank would have been sweating bullets at this point if he was still capable of doing so. Still, the reminder that he wasn’t going to be the main topic at dinner today did steady his nerves somewhat. He had been wondering if the giant spider queen had any sense of humor whatsoever when Llywelyn had been cautioning him on how to deal with her. Well now he knew the answer was yes she did have one and a gallows humor it was that the queen apparently possessed in spades.

  Hank reminded himself to follow Llywelyns advice and said. “ I look forward to being good friends with you and your kingdom. I have come to bargain for some of your subjects to come live within my dungeon’s chambers if you will agree to it.” “ Many times the servants of the Lord darkness approach me asking for the loan of my servants to them and each time I ask what advantage there is in it for me and my kingdom. To some requests, I agree and others I deny as is my right.” Hank thought about it and hesitated to answer. “ I see that Llywelyn has not coached you in an answer.” “ As we agreed to beforehand Hank’s answer to you shall be his own,” Llywelyn said. “ This is good and shows you why Llywelyn is a friend to us. The Spider Queen remarked”