"Excuse me," said Suzanne as she approached the two men. "We're looking for the owner of the pepper shop, would you know where to find him?"
"Shop's not open now," said the older man.
"Are you the owner?" asked Suzanne. The man gave an annoyed nod and Suzanne continued, "We've heard about your dilemma. Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Not unless you've got 200,000 gold to spare," replied the man. "The kidnappers asked for that in ransom. If I can't get that in three days she is as good as dead."
"We don't have the gold but we do have blades and magic and the skill to use them. Might we be able to rescue your granddaughter?" offered Suzanne.
At this point, the younger man spoke up, "These weren't regular thugs that took her. Six of them were knights from the Romalian Empire to the west. Their leader wasn't, but he looked as strong as a demon. Looked the part too, as his skin was this strange blue color. Our local authorities tried to stop them and the knights killed three of them. They were no match for them."
Suzanne persisted in her offer, "We've handled crooked knights from the empire before. I'm sure we can defeat them."
The younger man was angry at this point, "No! If anyone has a chance to save Tania it'll be me! I'll find her and I'll save her!" With that, he angrily stormed off.
"No, Galen! You don't know what you're getting into!" shouted the old man. Unfortunately, Galen ignored him and kept going.
"Damn it," cursed the old man. He turned his attention back to the group. "Forgive me, my name is Daniel. That man Galen is my granddaughter Tania's love. He's taken her kidnapping as hard as I have. I appreciate your offer, but I couldn't ask complete strangers to risk their necks to help us."
"Don't worry about it. Do you have any idea where the kidnappers are?" asked Suzanne.
"That's another thing. They're in a cave to the northeast, past the mountains. You could get there by taking the bridge a few miles southeast of here, than following the river to another bridge. It's almost straight west from there, just a little to the north. But there's terrible monsters in that cave," explained the old man.
"We've got experience against monsters too. We'll get her back. How long is the trip?" asked Suzanne.
"Two days," the man said grimly. "I have to leave tomorrow to get there by their deadline."
"We'll have to get moving then. Don't worry about anything, we'll bring her back safe," Suzanne assured him.
Suzanne and the rest of the group decided to head to the inn to discuss their plan of action.
"If we've only got three days, we can spend the rest of today resting up and gathering what information we can on the kidnappers," suggested Ron. "Then we can join the old man and ambush them at the exchange."
"I would guess they would expect that," pointed out Thomas. "They'll probably have a trap of some sort ready."
"What choice do we have Tom? Are we going to show up a day late?" asked Alice angrily.
"It won't do much good to show up on time if their trap involves killing Tania before we can get to her," pointed out Thomas. "Really, they don't even need a trap. All they need to do is leave Tania in the cave and refuse to tell us where she is. She'll be fending for herself while we waste time fighting them."
"So we'll go early," said Suzanne. "They've have to be keeping watch on her. They may not expect an early strike either. They won't leave her on her own and they'll be less likely to have a trap ready. We may surprise them. Anyone object?"
Nobody in the group objected. "One thing bothers me," said Ron. "He said six of them were from the empire. It seems that we didn't get all the crooked knights after all."
"There has to be more corrupt knights than what we fought," said Thomas. "Money and power are terrible influences on some people."
"We'll have to mention this to Emperor Vilisik when we get the chance. But for now, we better leave right away," said Suzanne.
It was about a day and a half's trip to the cave. Since it had already been midday when the group had found out about Tania and the kidnappers, they made it to the cave at night. The group decided to go right inside rather than camp outside for fear that the kidnappers might find them. Plus, they might have a better chance at surprising the criminals at night.
"Yet another search mission," pointed out Ron. "You have to love how we always go through dangerous areas without knowing where we're going."
"Be alert guys," said Suzanne. "If they see us before we see them, this could get disastrous in a hurry."
The group quickly went about exploring the cave. They found the cave was very structured and easy to search. It was made up of several large rooms with small passages in between each room. The catch was that there were several rooms to go through. The group found that anytime they came to a room the room had two or three more rooms to go to. Although it took almost no time to search each room, as they were all empty, it looked as though it would take a while to visit every one.
"You're keeping the map, right Alice?" asked Ron. "We could easily get lost or lose track of where we've gone in a place like this."
"Don't worry about a thing, I've got it covered," Alice answered.
The group came to a locked door. The group readied themselves to enter and strike, quick and hard. Ron got out the magic key and prepared to open the door. The magic key was quicker to use than Baker's key, even on doors without magical locks, so the group had decided to use the magic key instead. Ron unlocked the door and swung it open and the group charged in.
There weren't any humans inside the room, but there were monsters. Four winged cat creatures, similar to the ones they fought around Assaram, were in the room. Unlike the ones from Assaram, these were dark blue in color. Alice sent a strong stream of fire at two of the cats, the other two were across the room, and killed one while severely wounding the other. Thomas tried to finish the wounded one but it just barely dodged him. Suzanne and Ron ran at the other two creatures and Ron killed one of them with a great slash across its middle, literally cutting it in half. Suzanne's foe managed to react just in time.
Alice sent a fireball at the cat she had wounded and it finally died from its wounds. The other three tried to get at the one remaining, but it was flying around the ceiling of the cave in strange patterns. A star of green light came out of Thomas, signaling the loss of some of his magic. After that, the creature finally descended enough to be within reach of the group. Suzanne managed a jumping strike at the beast which wounded its wing, sending it down lower. Ron finished it off by decapitating it.
"More magic-draining enemies," Alice observed.
"Looks like we've got some treasure chests here," Ron said.
"Wait!" Alice warned. "I've done some reading. I know how to see whether or not these things are monsters!"
"Won't they attack once we walk away anyway?" Suzanne asked.
"They'll have no idea we're here until we open them or strike them. I don't need to touch them to use this spell and they have no sense of smell or hearing to sense us with," Alice explained.
They found some gold in one chest and found the other to be a monster in disguise. Thankful that they did not have to fight it, they moved on to the rooms to the west. They found that these three rooms were sectioned off from the rest of the cave by one locked door each. In the other rooms they found some gold, a phial of fairy water, a medical herb, and no monster chests.
The group proceeded through the rest of the cave cautiously. Since every room looked exactly the same, Alice's map was invaluable. They soon found themselves on the southern side of the cave facing another locked door. They prepared themselves for battle once again and opened the door. They did not find any enemies on the other side. They had found another section of rooms separated from the rest of the cave by locked doors.
As they explored this section they soon came across a group of one blue cat monster and two new monsters that looked like a small human wearing a robe of green skin and fat that reached to its ankles. Unlike humans, the monsters
did not seem to have faces. They did carry wooden staves in their hands. All three monsters came at the group while Suzanne, Ron, and Thomas met them in melee. Alice sent a strong stream of fire at the green monsters only to find it had no effect.
"Damn! They're resistant to magic!" Alice cursed.
Unfortunately, the monsters could also cast magic. One monster blocked Ron's coming axe with its surprisingly extra sturdy staff and sent a spell at him at the same time. He was overcome with yellow waves of magic and proceeded to stand up, looking around confused. Suzanne managed to strike her foe on its arm while it returned with a block to her head, though her helmet did wonders in softening the impact. This one also cast a spell while it fought in melee and the group was reacquainted with the familiar purple haze of an illusion spell. This time, Suzanne and Thomas managed to fight off the spell while Ron and Alice fell victim to it.
Thomas took some claws to his shield arm but returned with a jab to the creature's wing, sending it to the ground though not killing it. Alice finished off the cat creature with a bolt of ice. Ron inexplicably ran at and tried to hit Suzanne. Suzanne, not expecting the attack, was not able to defend herself from Ron but luckily the illusion spell combined with the confusion he was under made it nearly impossible for him to make contact. Suzanne finished off her foe with a slash on its head, which would have split its face in half if it had one.
The last green monster ran at and swung at Suzanne, getting blocked by her shield, and cast a spell at the same time. Alice found herself falling victim to the yellow waves of the confusion spell. Suzanne slashed the monster across the midsection while Thomas came over and finished it by stabbing it in the back. Ron was about to make an attempt at Thomas when suddenly, at the monster's death, he stopped, axe raised, and then looked around in a daze. Alice, who had been about to fry her friends with a spell, also looked around in a daze.
"Ron, Alice! We're your friends!" Suzanne yelled at the dazed two. "Do you recognize us? Are you alright?"
After shaking his head, Ron responded, "Yeah. What just happened?"
"A confusion spell," Thomas said grimly. "One of the most diabolical of all enchantments. It turns friend into foe."
"Oh my goodness, I was just about to fry you guys!" Alice cried in terror.
"I actually tried to kill you two!" Ron said horrified.
"You had no control over your actions. If Susie or I had been affected by the spell, we would have done the same thing," Thomas consoled.
"Thanks, Tom. It's nice of you to be so comforting for once," Alice said. Seeing Thomas frowned she added, "Just kidding, you're great."
"Those were very dangerous monsters," Suzanne said, changing the subject. "Not only did they have their confusion spell, they could cast spells and fight us in melee at the same time. I've never heard of such a thing before."
"Neither have I," said Alice. "If I could do that, I wouldn't need you guys to form a wall up for me every time we get into a fight."
The group continued their explorations and soon found a descending staircase. Preparing themselves once again, they went downstairs. They found themselves in a hallway with a split to their left. Both the path ahead and to the left had locked doors at the end of them. The group decided to try the one in front of them and, when they took the magic key to it, were surprised to find the door had been magically locked.
There were no enemies in the room beyond, but four treasure chests. After checking every chest, they found seeds in all of them. The group distributed the seeds amongst themselves, though Alice refused to eat the acorns of life they found. Thomas took the acorns instead and was met with similar pain as Alice had had when she ate them. The group then went back to the other door and once again prepared themselves.
They finally struck gold this time as they opened the door and found four knights inside, two guarding the door and two sitting at a table. As they had been told, the knights wore the familiar golden armor of the Romalian Empire. The two guarding the door had been waiting past the small entryway between the door and the large room the group was now in. As the group charged in, the two at the table quickly sat up and grabbed their weapons while backing away from the charge. The two guarding the door fell in behind the group, surrounding the group.
"So who would you be now?" asked one of the door guards.
"They're not guards, but they are pretty well armed. You guys thinking you want to join us?" asked one of the ones that had been at a table.
"Not over our dead bodies," replied Suzanne. "We know you've been involved in a kidnapping. Surrender now and you will be spared!"
The four knights laughed at Suzanne's words. "It's not us who need to be spared," said one.
Seeing the situation would not be resolved peacefully, Alice released the spell she had been preparing. The group was engulfed in a bright yellow light, reducing their vulnerability to physical harm. This came just in time as the two door guards ran at Alice. As they were surrounded and facing four opponents, it was impossible to form a wall around Alice. Thomas cut one off but the other got through. Thanks to her spell, she took only a cut to the shoulder. Thomas blocked his opponent's blow with his shield and got him in the side.
With better equipment and more skill since their last fight with Romalian knights, Ron and Suzanne met one opponent each and easily outmatched their foes. Both dodged or blocked blows from their man and returned with solid slashes to their opponent's arms. Alice desperately backed away from her foe and somehow managed to get another spell off, further raising the group's resistance to physical harm. Now when the knight fighting her slashed at her, his sword turned off her robe as though she were wearing armor.
The rest of the battle went pretty routine. Alice's two spells had made the group near impervious to the knights' attacks. With the reduced risk, the group was able to subdue the knights rather than kill them. Within a half a minute, the knights had all been knocked out. The group removed them of their armor and weapons and put them in one corner while they put the knights, who had also been tied up, in another corner.
"That went pretty well. Alice, your spells were great! That fool was no match for me at all after that!" exclaimed Ron.
"Keep quiet!" scolded Thomas. "There were four. According to what we've heard, there are two more knights and a blue-skinned man left."
The group proceeded into a hallway on the side opposite where they had entered the room and found a couple of cells blocked by large stone jail doors that had no keyholes or any indication they could be pulled or pushed open. There was a beautiful young woman in the one to the left and, surprisingly, Galen in the one to their right.
"Oh brave heroes, please save me! I am Tania of Baharata!" yelled the young woman.
Galen walked up to his jail door and said, "It's you, the ones from town. I'm sorry you had to come rescue us. The button that opens this door should be near the table at the end of the hallway there."
Sure enough, there was a button just where Galen indicated. The button made the stone doors lower. Galen and Tania ran at each other and embraced. The two exchanged a kiss and then Galen had a proposition.
"When we get back, let's get married!" he said to Tania.
"Oh, Galen, yes! Let's get married" replied Tania. The two kissed again and then ran for the exit.
"Wait!" called Suzanne. "Don't run off, we can teleport you out!"
The group ran after the couple only to find them blocked by two knights and a familiar figure. The blue-skinned man that Daniel had described wore the same sort of clothing as Kandar had. Indeed, when the man spoke, he spoke with Kandar's voice.
"Now that we're back, you'll never escape!" one of the knights laughed.
Tania screamed for help, "Save us, brave heroes!"
The group ran up to the couple's aid. "Leave him to us! Run! Quick!" she shouted.
As the couple ran away from the three criminals, Kandar looked at the group in disbelief, "You again! This time I'll finish ya off!"
Alice cast
the same spell she had the last battle. Strengthened against physical attack. Ron, Suzanne, and Thomas were able to keep the three men from going after Alice or the couple. Suzanne and Thomas engaged the two knights and just as before had little to fear from them. Ron engaged Kandar and found a different story. Kandar cut through Ron's armor and enchantment and dealt him a nice blow to the shoulder. Ron cut Kandar across his shoulder, but was amazed when the cut began to heal itself right before his eyes.
Alice helped out Ron by sending a fireball at Kandar. Unlike her other fireballs, this once exploded upon impact with Kandar. Kandar was knocked back a bit but both were amazed to see his burns heal before them. Ron gave him another slash, and that began to heal itself as well.
"What the hell!" yelled Ron. "His wounds are healing themselves!"
Ron took another slash, this one to his side, and stepped backwards a bit.
"We have to finish this quickly so we can help Ron, Tom!" Suzanne yelled at Thomas.
The two finished their knights as quick as they could and ran to help Ron. By this point, Ron had taken a blow to the leg. He was still fighting strong, but he could not take as much abuse again. Thomas sent his stronger healing spell at Ron, which closed up the wounds he had received.
What happened next was amazing. Seeing that Suzanne and Thomas were there to help Ron fight Kandar, Alice cast another strengthening spell on the group. Kandar was still able to deal blows through two enchantments and armor. Even more amazingly, he took blows from Ron, Suzanne, and Thomas while taking exploding fireballs from Alice and, although his wounds did not heal fast to make up for all the abuse he was taking, still fought on.
Eventually, Kandar's axe fell to the ground. "Damn it! I can't feel my arm! I'm no match for ya guys! Spare me, please!" he yelled. Just like last time, Ron put the blade of his weapon to Kandar's throat.
"So here we are again, Kandar," Ron growled at him.
Dragon Quest Novel Page 13
