Ancient Ruins

by Benjamin Medrano

  Several spells flickered through her mind, but the simplest one was probably the best. Forming the same spell as she’d used against General Fairbrook, Desa took a deep breath and let it out, spindling her mana tightly within her. Strangely, there seemed to be more of it than she was used to.

  * * *

  “Watch your step, this is pretty slippery,” Jared told the men behind him as his feet slid along the surface of the tunnel burned through the mountainside.

  “Thanks for the warning, milord,” the man just behind him replied, flashing a brief smile.

  “You’re more than welcome.” Jared chuckled. “What’s your name, anyway?”

  “Ahh… I’m private Derek Mason, milord,” the man replied hesitantly. “Are you sure you don’t want us to take the lead, sir? You in the lead is making me nervous.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Derek. I’m not taking the lead, they are,” Jared replied with a laugh, nodding at the women in front of him. “And once we’re on solid ground, they’re going to put up a shield like you wouldn’t believe could exist. Should get us right through all of the fire I heard the others ran into when they encountered the princess’ guards.”

  “As you say, milord,” Derek replied, obviously not putting a whole lot of faith in the explanation, which caused Jared to laugh.

  “Just wait and see, Derek. My Jewels are incredible.” Jared grinned, stepping over the last few feet of glassy stone and onto the cracked stone that the women had cooled off, which cracked loudly under his feet. The Jewels were waiting for him, and Amethyst spoke softly.

  “The mana levels in the tunnel are elevated, Adjudicator.” The woman spoke in a soft voice, looking troubled. “I suspect that we set off a number of defenses or warnings.”

  “Oh? Well, get the shield up, and move down the hall far enough to let in everyone else. Once the troops are all past the entrance we can go hunt down our rats,” Jared ordered, smiling thinly. “I wonder how they’ll react to all of you?”

  “As you wish, Adjudicator,” Diamond acknowledged, and the seven began to concentrate and murmur the words to bring up their shield.

  * * *

  Sistina watched the group of soldiers and mages enter the caverns with great interest. Compared to the previous group she’d seen, these were much better armed and armored, and they seemed to be moving more quickly and easily as well. Their crossbowmen all carried enchanted bolts that would make things more difficult for the defenders, and their weapons had temporary enchantments as well.

  Even more interesting were the eight at the front, though. Seven elven woman in skimpy outfits, little more than skirts, brassieres, and jewelry, were weaving mana with breathtaking skill, and she could feel immense mana reserves from them. Each also had a brightly glowing golden slave brand as well. It also intrigued her that the dawn elf women all looked quite similar, almost like sisters, save for their hair and eye colors, which matched the color of a jewel set in their brands, their clothing, and even the jewels in their jewelry. The most powerful of the women was the one with almost crystal-white hair, and that one was forming the spells with the aid of the other six. She’d have to split them up. She adjusted the ground slightly in front of the cave exit, making certain that it would be easy to move the women where she wanted. It would be more accurate to say she'd toss them, but it was a minor distinction at most.

  The last one had even larger mana reserves than the other women, but the human didn’t bear a brand like the women did. No, she felt a complex sigil underneath his clothing on his right arm, a sigil similar to the one on the Enforcer she’d killed back when she’d rescued Lily.

  But this time she had a reason to keep him alive. So she smiled and waited for them to walk into her trap.

  * * *

  “Get ready, they’re coming…” Desa murmured, tensing as she saw white light begin to illuminate the entrance of the tunnel.

  All around her, the other soldiers began to brace themselves for the coming assault. Desa’s eyes narrowed at the shade of light, though. It was much brighter than torchlight, and even a magical light likely wouldn’t create something quite that bright. So she shifted to the side, trying to get a better angle to see down the tunnel. The angle didn’t really help much, but she did see a shimmering barrier, immediately followed by—

  Her eyes widened at the sight of the seven enslaved spellcasters, all holding the barrier in front of them. The barrier looked like it’d started as a simple shield of light, but she’d never seen one that brilliant before. As the women stepped out, she opened her mouth to warn the others, but at that moment, the defenders unleashed their attacks, just as she’d previously ordered.

  Three fireballs followed a bolt of lightning that arced through the chamber, the deafening crack of its passage all the louder for being in a cavern. Behind those magical attacks came a furious hail of arrows, hissing through the air with deadly intent. Mentally swearing, Desa launched her own volley of a dozen dense spears of ice into the wake of the others, hoping that she was wrong about that shield.

  The fireballs exploded against the shield with furious detonations that created clouds of smoke, obscuring the tunnel for a moment. The hairs on the back of Desa’s neck rose as the glowing shield emerged from the smoke unscathed. Arrows bounced off like raindrops off a glass dome, and even Desa’s spears shattered uselessly against the shield. Disbelief coursed through Desa at the sight. How could any mobile barrier be that powerful?

  Ignoring all the attacks without the slightest ripple in their expressions, the seven elven women spread out as they exited the tunnel and the shield spread with them, forming a glowing dome that protected a broad arc in front of the tunnel. Just behind them was a man in chain armor with a sword sheathed at his side. The smug expression on his face was chilling, and a shiver went down Desa’s spine as she saw the soldiers file out of the tunnel and move into formation as though they had all the time in the world.

  “Captain! Orders?” Lieutenant Vander, the leader of the platoon guarding the researchers called out, looking desperate.

  “Fall back to secondary positions! They can’t hold a shield like that over a large area!” Desa ordered, quickly falling back as she added, “Move, quickly!”

  But when she glanced toward Sistina, she saw that the woman’s smile had only widened since she’d last seen it. And Desa had only a moment to wonder why before the dryad made an idle gesture.

  The light above flickered, and Desa turned just in time to see a massive figure fall from a gap she hadn’t noticed near the cavern ceiling. The figure fell into the middle of the clearing past the berm, and an explosion of fire rolled across the cavern floor.

  Staring in shock, Desa realized that the exit had vanished. And a few moments later, so did the barrier, amidst a chorus of screams.

  * * *

  The berms had been perfectly placed, Sistina decided in satisfaction. They had contained the exact area of the fire blast she’d expected the golem to produce. Unfortunately, the shield created by the elves held under the magical blast, though it hadn’t shrugged it off nearly as easily this time, as the seven elves staggered under the sudden strain.

  Standing up from its crater while the flames began to ebb, the golem stood tall and intimidating, the granite surfaces of its body almost covered in a glaze of glass. And the entire surface of it was covered with glittering runes of power, seemingly producing veins of pure flames.

  It was time to test her golem, and Sistina couldn’t be happier as she smiled broadly. But first to get the seven mage slaves out of the way. They weren’t all quite near enough to the chutes, but that was why she’d adjusted the ground earlier. With another surge of mana, she opened seven pits simultaneously, and those women who didn’t find themselves standing on nothing let out shrieks as the ground launched them toward the nearest pit.

  * * *

  “Shit, a golem?! Where the hell did that come from?” Captain Andrews demanded, taking a step back as the ancient war construct stood f
rom its impact crater. Jared couldn’t really blame the man’s shock, considering how imposing the war machine was.

  “Easy, captain! We have magical support with us, and they stopped its opening attack. We knew that this area had the ruins of an old kingdom, they must have reactivated it,” Jared called out, trying to reassure the man through his own shock. A golem was something he’d only heard of in magical texts, and the making of them had been long lost. And the things were incredibly resistant to damage, even when they weren’t magically augmented. The fact that this golem looked like it was augmented worried him somewhat, but his confidence recovered as he remembered his Jewels.

  Fortunately, the shield had been in place, which had kept them from likely losing half their force to the flames. Taking a deep breath, he ordered, “Surround it and contain the golem, captain! Diamond! Maintain the shield! Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, focus your power and destroy the golem!”

  The soldiers began to move, and it was at that moment that the shield abruptly vanished as though it had never been there. Several female screams rang out from behind Jared, and he turned just in time to see Diamond vanish down a funnel-shaped pit that had appeared beneath her feet. Three more of his Jewels fell down similar pits, and Jared saw Emerald flailing in a panic as she was literally thrown through the air toward another pit she’d been near. The upthrust ground beneath the last three Jewels had launched Emerald, Opal, and Amethyst sideways toward nearby pits, and in moments, all seven Jewels had vanished into the maws of the pits.

  Jared started toward the pits, utterly stunned. But before he could take more than a step toward them, they closed as though they’d never existed.

  With a sound of grinding stone, the golem chose that moment to charge. Its immense, oversized fists were surrounded by a wreath of flames, and the shriek of tortured metal echoed sharply through the chamber as swords snapped and armor caved in under the weight of the monstrous machine. But Jared paused, his shock deepening as he murmured, “Where’d the exit go?”

  He almost didn’t notice when arrows began to rain down on his attacking force again. Instead, he drew his sword, taking a deep breath to steady himself and his resolve. And he studied the golem ripping through his soldiers for a moment, looking for an opening or weakness as he murmured, “I will not fall so easily.”

  And in an instant when he saw an opening, he charged.

  * * *

  Diamond let out an involuntary scream as the ground beneath her feet opened and she fell into darkness. The shock cut off both her concentration and her connection to the others, and in that moment, the barrier spell shattered. An instant later, her feet hit a hard, slick surface, and she found herself slammed into what felt like a glass slide covered in grease.

  The light from above cut off all at once, and she found herself descending at a dizzying rate in utter darkness. Desperately reaching out to try to arrest her rapid acceleration, Diamond found that she was in a tiny tunnel no more than three feet across, and all the sides were as slick and smooth as the part she was sliding down.

  Terror grew as she rushed down the slide in a trip that seemed to last an eternity, though whether that was just the shock, lack of knowledge of what was happening, or a lengthy trip, she didn’t know. But all at once, the journey came to an end.

  Diamond came flying out of the stone slide and bounced off a soft, forgiving surface. It absorbed most of her momentum, and she fell directly into what felt like warm, thick water with a splash. No, not water. Water wasn’t so thick or viscous. Her feet settled down onto a soft, spongy floor beneath several feet of fluid as she climbed to her feet, spitting up the liquid. It was oddly sweet, but she reached around her, searching for an exit. Soft, smooth walls surrounded her, and she was up to her thighs in the thick liquid, though the way she’d entered meant that she was almost fully covered in it.

  “What is this?” she murmured unsteadily, shaking as she took a deep breath. The air was warm, almost soothing, and she took another breath, and then slowly cast a spell to create a globe of light.

  The light revealed a small chamber with verdant green walls tinged in places with pink, while she herself was in a pool of amber liquid. Feeling dizzy, Diamond looked up to see that the way she’d come in was almost a flap, or a leaf, covering an entrance some eight feet up.

  For a moment, Diamond couldn’t place what she was in, stunned and dizzy as she was. But as she took another breath, her eyes widened and a sense of lethargy began to overcome her.

  “P-pitcher… plant,” she mumbled, thoughts beginning to slow down. “Have… have to get out…”

  Diamond tried to mouth the words to a spell, but her tongue felt so large, and the mana started slipping through her grasp. Her fingers clawed at the walls of the plant several times, but she just felt so tired. So sleepy… and content…

  She barely blinked as a female soldier fell through the flap with a clatter. The woman spluttered as she mirrored Diamond in climbing to her feet to look around, but Diamond’s light was fading as she slowly sank backward against the pitcher plant’s wall.

  “Where am I? No, no, don’t let the light go out! You have to help me get out of here!” The other woman’s voice was oddly muffled, but it faded as the soldier began to succumb as well, and silence filled the plant once more.

  Diamond slowly drifted off to sleep, not even noticing when a pair of vines slipped down the throat of the plant to keep the two women from falling under the surface of the liquid.

  * * *

  “I have to admit that he’s a brave bastard,” Evrial said, shaking her head in shock.

  “Agreed,” Desa replied faintly. “But where the hell did that golem come from?”

  The arrows had stopped a minute ago, when all but three of Kelvanis’ soldiers had finally fallen. Desa wasn’t certain where the pit traps that had engulfed the enslaved mages had come from, but they had vanished and the golem had ripped into the soldiers like an unstoppable juggernaut. Some of the soldiers had vanished into pit traps like the mages, while a few others had tried to run, only to be shot by her soldiers. A handful of soldiers had even surrendered to them rather than face the golem any longer. The golem was now scarred with numerous cracks and gashes, but it seemed barely affected by the damage.

  On the other hand, the only one still fighting was the man who had looked so smug earlier. Desa couldn’t help but admit that she felt a little put out that he’d managed to last this long. The human was scorched, his armor damaged from a close call. He also seemed to be favoring his ribs on his left side, while his left arm was dangling uselessly at his side, but the man was still trying to fight. She’d seen him manage to deflect blows away from other soldiers at least three times over the course of the fight, but it hadn’t changed the result of the battle in the slightest.

  “Alissa said it fell from an alcove near the ceiling. I have no idea how it got there, though.” Evrial answered Desa’s question with a slight shrug. “Seems insane to me.”

  “I was more meaning that it even existed. Do you think anything else Sistina has done seems all that sane? She didn’t even warn us she had a golem!” Desa demanded, gesturing at the fight. “I’m half wondering who this was a demonstration for! Them, or us?”

  “Whichever it is, I think the battle’s over,” Evrial interjected as the man was sent flying into the cavern wall by a backhand blow. “That had to hurt.”

  * * *

  “At least… I’ll die… honorably…” Jared gasped softly, coughing and wincing at the coppery taste that the cough produced in his mouth. He couldn’t move anymore, and pain spiked through him with every breath he took.

  The golem slowly approached, the steps thundering with its immense weight. But it stopped in front of him and he looked up, waiting to see his death coming for him. But to his surprise, it didn’t move, it just stood there.

  After a minute, he gasped out. “Just finish me… already, would you?”

  The golem didn’t move at all, and he slumped back t
iredly. Then he heard soft footsteps coming up from behind the golem. Stepping around it was a woman that he’d never seen before, a seemingly elven woman with a faint wood pattern to her white skin, golden hair, and deep, vivid emerald eyes. She studied him for a moment, then raised an eyebrow.

  “Death,” she said simply, pointing at the golem next to her. Then she pointed at him. “Surrender. Choose.”

  “Heh. Simple choice, eh? You didn’t give my men a chance to surrender.” Jared laughed softly, wincing as pain spiked through him. “Why me, and not them?”

  “Space. Attention. Importance.” The woman’s words were oddly clipped as she looked at him and shrugged. “A chance. Others live.”

  “Fine, fine… I’ll surrender. Just… don’t expect me to move on my own,” Jared gave in, shaking his head and letting out another series of coughs. Glancing past the golem, he saw a handful of demoralized soldiers who the elves had captured and recognized Derek Mason among them. At least the polite young man had survived.

  “Good,” the woman replied, smiling gently at him. Then she knelt down, placing a hand on Jared’s head. A slow, gentle warmth spread from her hand, and she spoke simply. “Sleep.”

  Without the slightest ability to resist, Jared felt himself drift off.

  Chapter 48

  Diamond slowly woke up, feeling warm and relaxed. She also realized that her arms and legs were restrained, and for a moment she was afraid that she was about to have the day when she’d been branded repeat itself.

  But when she opened her eyes, she found herself able to see. She was being held to a tree by thick vines, and warm yellow light was shining down on her. That seemed odd when she considered that she could see the cavern ceiling above her. She was still dressed, though the cloth looked damaged. It looked like something had eaten or dissolved parts of her skirt.