It was unfortunate that Princess Phynis had escaped to begin with. That she’d managed to escape the general was aggravating. That she had also apparently vanished after that was worrying. It gave him a sinking feeling in his gut that Jared had learned to listen to. That, he had learned, meant that something bad was coming.
On the other hand, the sound of what was going on with the dungeon was much better. The guild adventurers had been close-mouthed about what rewards they’d retrieved from the dungeon, but Lord Evansly had reported that they had additional guild adventurers on their way, which was promising for its future. He’d also learned that some non-guild individuals had entered the dungeon and lost half their number thus far, including a few bandits that Jared had previously had a bounty on. If it weren’t for the fact that the town was supposed to be open to adventurers, the guards would have taken them in. At least he didn’t have to pay the bounty in this case.
Beyond the matter of the adventurers, the town was also progressing well. Supply shipments had started reaching the town, and the road was passable by this point. The mage engineers working on the road were now focusing on building up the town, which he really needed to name at some point. The mountains were largely granite, so perhaps Granite Point would work best. He’d probably go with a simple name in the end.
But sighing to himself, he went over some of the information on Yisara instead, frowning as he looked over what they knew about the upcoming fall. After a few minutes, he began drafting orders, murmuring to himself. “Well, at least we have an opportunity at a different princess. I wonder where Princess Phynis ran off to? I’d like to get her back if we could. She’d be a good bargaining chip, at the very least.”
* * *
Diamond opened her eyes and let out a breath of relief, smiling at the others. They smiled in return, relaxing as each of them let go of their grip on their magic. This session had gone well, and despite their situation, Diamond enjoyed the feeling of advancing her magical knowledge, a sensation she’d long since found slowing to a crawl as she’d progressed further in her arts.
The seven priestesses had managed to initiate the connection of the ritual that Jared had required easily enough, but using it had proven much more difficult. Every day they practiced during the hours when Jared worked on his most sensitive documents and with reports that he knew had to be kept private. It had surprised Diamond that he took the security of his reports so seriously with them being his personal slaves, but Jared was careful about what he said most of the time. Almost admirably careful, in fact, which didn’t help her attempts to hate him. Of course, she was also quite certain that the inability to fully hate him was another change he’d made to her mind, but she couldn’t be certain.
But they were making progress at last, and Diamond was startled at the sheer power that she and the others could supply to spells and still control the effects. Working in concert, the seven of them could produce as much power as ten spellcasters of their strength, though it was limited by the fact that they had to work in concert for that degree of power. In smaller groups of three, two, and two, they were only marginally more powerful, but they could also support each other more easily and cast spells faster than a normal caster could manage. That allowed them a distinct advantage in most situations, though she wouldn’t count on it being enough.
But she let out a deep breath and nodded to everyone, speaking softly. “Well, that went much better than normal. Does everyone agree?”
There was a chorus of agreement, and Amethyst added after a moment, “Yes, but I was curious if others noticed that I seem to have a slightly easier time melding magic with Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond?”
“That’s odd. I actually feel like mine merges best with Opal, you, and Diamond,” Ruby replied thoughtfully.
“I’d guess it has something to do with the entire color scheme,” Opal interjected, her voice soft. “Each of us can connect most easily to the… adjacent colors of the spectrum, for lack of a better term, and Diamond, since she’s the focal point.”
“That does make sense,” Diamond agreed, tilting her head as she considered it. “I hadn’t noticed any of your issues with melding magic, actually. But on the other hand, that’s also probably because I am the focal point, and meant to be equally compatible with all of you.”
“True enough,” Amethyst agreed.
“So now that we’ve started being able to merge magic properly, what do we work on first?” Emerald asked, looking at Diamond expectantly.
“Shields. Jared wanted us to work on defenses before anything else,” Diamond replied, shaking her head with a wry smile. “For some reason, he doesn’t want us to be in danger. I suspect that he also expects us to protect him as well.”
“Oh, of course not. Then he’d have to abduct a whole new set of priestesses.” Topaz rolled her eyes, sighing. “Is it wrong that I half hope we fail at some point and someone shoots him?”
All of them laughed bitterly at her morbid humor, and then Diamond shook her head. “Well, that’s enough complaining. We have our orders, so let’s give a basic shield of light a try.”
“Yes, Diamond,” they chorused in return. As they settled down to concentrate, their breathing unwittingly fell into the precise same pattern.
* * *
“That’s odd,” David murmured, looking at the ground and frowning. After a moment, he crouched down to get a better look at the marks he’d noticed.
“What are you talking about, Dave? Is something the matter?” Edward asked, glancing over from the tree he was using for cover.
“Come over here, would you? Do these look like tracks to you?” David asked, looking up at his partner.
“There’s plenty of tracks up here,” Edward replied, slowly approaching. “What’s another pair?”
“Well, I don’t know of many humans or the like that wander around up here except us scouts, so we could have someone else up here.” David counted, gesturing at the faint marking he was examining. “I’d rather not get taken by surprise, you know?”
“People? Let’s take a look at it, then?” Edward knelt down and took a closer look. David settled back, knowing the other man was the better tracker overall. Edward could pick out a single horse’s shoes from a group of twenty if shown their tracks.
David had to admit that if they were real tracks, they were probably old. The faint smudges in the dirt were questionable, but Lord Evansly wouldn’t want them to ignore the possibility of other people up here. It was entirely possible that a group of overly ambitious bandits might decide that the town was easy pickings, or worth the trouble. Avoiding the possibility was why Lord Evansly employed scouts, after all.
“I think you’re right. These are definitely tracks, but given the weather… maybe two weeks old?” Edward decided, looking around them. They were up behind the mountainside where the dungeon was located, where no one really traveled. He frowned again before adding, “I’m not sure, but we’d best report them. It’s up to the Captain what he wants to do about it. With them being this old, I don’t think we can track much of anything.”
“True enough. Finish our circuit, though?” David asked, brushing himself off and standing up again.
“Definitely. Last thing we need is to get chewed out for jumping at shadows,” Edward replied with a laugh, shaking his head.
The two continued onward in their circuit, leaving the faint elven footprint behind them.
Chapter 39
“Seriously? Is that all you four can manage?” Penelope asked somewhat incredulously. “I’m not even out of breath!”
Daniel was panting on the ground in front of her, wincing at the bruises forming where he’d been struck by her practice sword. Around him were the other three who’d taken her up on her offer of training: Eileen, Eric, and Sayla. Daniel was fairly certain that the three were all bandits originally, but he hadn’t exactly been able to pick and choose who to train with.
And Penelope was hardly the benign instructor he’d ex
pected. She was fast and deadly as a striking snake, and yet she was also incredibly strong. He’d expected her to be incredibly difficult to deal with, but someone of her height being able to move that fast was just unfair, especially since she was utterly merciless in her attacks.
“You’re not being very nice, Pen,” Joseph called out from his seat next to the small training ground they’d set up. “They’re all just beginners, you know.”
“Bullshit.” Penelope sniffed, shaking her head. “All of them are trained with weapons. Sure, they’re a little slow compared to real adventurers. And I guess they’re nowhere near as strong as I expected, but they should have at least been able to cooperate and hit me. Instead, all they managed was to give me a bit of a warm-up.”
“Agh… we’ve never even fought together before. How could we possibly cooperate and fight you?” Daniel managed after a moment, slowly sitting up as he winced.
“You should have talked about that before we got started. All of you introduced yourselves to one another, then just chatted about nothing important before training.” Penelope smiled thinly as she added, “Instead of flirting, you should have thought about actual tactics to use. But you took me lightly, and thus we come to our rather predictable result. All of you beaten soundly.”
“Wasn’t… flirting…” Sayla managed to say, her voice faint as she tried to get up.
“Mmm. Doesn’t matter. The important thing in a dungeon is staying alive, especially in the worst situations,” Penelope replied with a dismissive grin. “Now that we’ve got the latter situation set up, you have thirty seconds to get yourselves together, and then we start the second round. Maybe you’ll manage to make me work up a sweat!”
Daniel wasn’t sure who it was that whimpered. He was fairly sure that it wasn’t him. At least, he hoped it wasn't.
* * *
Desa stood up and looked out the window. Phynis and Sistina were nowhere to be seen, so she sighed and walked over to the door, opening it and looking at the other guard there, Alissa.
“Alissa? Do you know where the princess and Sistina got off to?” she asked mildly, a tone that was completely at odds with the conflicted feelings welling up inside her.
“They were going to the library, Captain,” Alissa reported easily, shrugging and smiling slightly. “After the messenger arrived, Phynis read her letter and threw it in the fire. Then she asked Sistina to help her with researching some of the old records about the Constella family in Everium.”
“I see. Thank you, I’ll just have to talk to her later,” Desa replied, smiling as she closed the door, then letting her smile fade as she walked back to her desk and picked up the letter to read it again.
Captain Desa Iceheart,
We have read and contemplated both your report and the letter from Our daughter. We have sent a letter to Princess Phynis instructing her to return to Vara’Sel at the first opportunity. The explanations that you have sent Us have left Us concerned that she may not acknowledge Our instructions, however. And if this is the case, We cannot afford to leave Our daughter in the hands of one who can influence her, no matter how benevolent they may appear to be.
Thus, if Princess Phynis has not undergone the process to remove her feelings for the dungeon, We have instructions for you. We order you, Captain, to return Princess Phynis to Vara’Sel by whatever means you must, and remove her from the influence of the dungeon known as Sistina.
By Order of Her Majesty, Queen of Sifaren,
Calath Iris Constella
The letter felt almost poisonous to the touch, even though Desa knew it wasn’t. She had a few options, but none of them were ones that she liked. And the fact that Phynis hadn’t come to speak with her about what Her Majesty had requested meant that either the queen hadn’t sent the information she’d spoken of, or that the princess was willfully ignoring it.
Based on what she’d discussed with Phynis, Desa was grimly certain that the princess had simply decided to ignore what the queen had ordered. And Desa wasn’t certain what Phynis had written in her letter to Her Majesty, but she was coming to the conclusion that it had not led the queen to have faith in Phynis’ judgement. And that brought to mind the discussion with Phynis, when she’d said that she simply couldn’t trust Desa or anyone else. And so she looked at the orders, feeling utterly helpless.
This was a test. She knew it was a test by the queen to see if she could trust Desa to still be fully loyal to her oaths to the crown, even though her brand had been claimed by Sistina. It was also a test to see if her loyalty lay with Phynis or the queen. And that was painful, as she wrestled with her own thoughts and desires. She had to make a decision, and no matter what she did, she was going to betray someone.
But which should she choose?
* * *
Alissa’s own smile faded a touch as she returned to her post. Among the letters they’d received was one for herself, supposedly from her aging grandmother. The coded letter had told her that her own orders were unchanged, and that upset her. She liked the princess, and the last thing she wanted was to kill her.
But if the choices were to let Kelvanis get their hands on the princess or to kill her, Alissa would carry out her orders without a second thought. Anything would be worth keeping Phynis from suffering whatever fate the Adjudicators of Kelvanis would do to her.
And if she was forced to carry out her orders, she would do the only thing she felt she could afterward, and end her own life. If she killed her charge, what right did she have to continue living?
No one nearby would have been able to see even a hint of the sadness on Alissa’s face, as she put on a façade of boredom as she continued guarding Desa’s door.
* * *
“So what’re we going to do, Captain?” Evrial asked, looking anxious as she glanced at Desa while they patrolled the woods around the rear exit of the dungeon. Desa felt worn out, but she’d waited to explain things until they were well away from the exit, not wanting to warn Sistina of what was happening.
“I don’t see that we have much of a choice here. I don’t know all of the reasoning that led Her Majesty to the decision, but we have to assume she’s making the best decision for the kingdom’s survival.” Desa spoke confidently, in spite of her own misgivings. “But we can’t be certain that if the princess knew ahead of time she wouldn’t outright refuse. And if she asked, I suspect that Sistina would let her stay, and prevent us from forcing her to leave. So we don’t have many options, and I don’t like any of them.”
“Of course. What do you need us to do?” Evrial asked, glancing around the woods cautiously.
“I want you to spread the word among the Royal Guard on patrols like this, and stockpile the supplies we’ll need for the trip out here,” Desa told her, closing her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath, then continued. “One week from today, or slightly sooner if we have everything prepared, I’ll draw the princess outside for fresh air and we’ll take her home. I think that she’ll come quietly at that point, but we can’t be certain of that. I hope we don’t have to use force, but we don’t have many options that I can think of.”
“As you say, Captain.” Evrial’s unease seemed to ease somewhat as she nodded. “I think she’ll go along with it, like you said.”
“I hope so.” Desa’s voice was quiet, and she went silent for a moment before she sighed and shook her head. “I hate doing this, Evrial. Sistina hasn’t done anything untoward at all to Phynis, or any of us. She’s never given a single order or done anything else, and yet…”
“I know. But we gave our oaths, Captain. We’re not the ones with the big picture.” Evrial shrugged helplessly, looking down as she hesitated. Rather than speak further, the guard shrugged again, her face speaking volumes about her own unease.
“You’re right. But it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.” Desa sighed, then straightened. “But we do what we must. Get everything ready, and we’ll do as Her Majesty desires.”
Chapter 40
&
nbsp; “Okay, what in the hells is going on here?” Darak demanded angrily, pulling his axe bodily from the corpse of a giant ant nearly his own size. “We’ve cleared forty chambers. I’ve never heard of a dungeon that’s gotten this big before! And why does it seem like the enemies are just getting tougher?”
“I have no idea what’s going on, and it’s not your imagination. The enemies down here are definitely more difficult than up above,” Joseph replied, wiping his forehead and looking at one particular ant carapace distastefully. “But is it just me, or did this ant’s… shell glow with magical runes in the middle of the fight?”
“It isn’t just you. The carapace glowed, and then the stupid thing healed several wounds I’d inflicted,” Penelope interjected, glowering at the dead ant. “That wasn’t fun, considering the numbers of them we’ve run into down here. And the word is carapace, Joe.”
“Damn. That’s a nasty idea. What’re we going to do if those get more common?” Darak asked, frowning at the carapace in obvious worry. “I’ve heard of enchanted creatures like this before, and they’re usually really tough, but I haven’t ever heard of ants gaining magical abilities.”
“I don’t think they’re going to be too common, Darak. Tell me, does the next tunnel go downward again?” Nirath asked, stepping forward and looking at the carapace more closely.
“Let me check,” he grumped, picking up his axe again and heading toward the exit. Looking down the corridor, his frown grew and he called back. “It does head down. What are you thinking, Nirath? Seriously, I mean. This dungeon is starting to worry me.”
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