The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4)

by Jonathan Brooks

  “Ok, that explains – in part – how two more dungeons were destroyed, but what of the last. Is this dungeon starting to lose it and is destroying its competition when it has a chance?”

  Now Echo was starting to lose her temper. “Seriously? After everything that this dungeon has done for—”

  The Elder cut her off again. “For us? Is that what you were going to say? This dungeon hasn’t done anything for us other than cause trouble. This new development is going to cause some massive problems relatively soon, and I don’t know if we’ll even be able to recover from it. This is the last thing we needed right now. What could’ve possessed this cursed dungeon to want to destroy another of its kind?”

  Echo took a deep breath before she answered. “Sandra technically didn’t destroy the Undead dungeon near the Gnome’s territory. I’m the one that fired the shot that shattered its Core.”

  To the young Elf Ranger, standing surrounded by her fellow Rangers and one irate Elder, the world seemed to pause and take a collective breath at her revelation. She waited for the proverbial axe to fall on her head at the announcement, so she closed her eyes and swallowed nervously, waiting for some sort of punishment to be doled out. Destroying a dungeon was sometimes necessary when they became too powerful, but they were usually done by Elites under the authority of the King and Queen; to do otherwise was to invite retribution upon yourself.

  “Oh…well, I guess you can’t be all bad if you helped to erase that scourge from the world,” the Elder said, slightly more accepting of her role in the destruction of a dungeon than she expected. It’s probably because it was an Undead dungeon; a lot can be forgiven when one of those are involved. The older Elf turned to Kelerim and asked him something else in Orcish, which she assumed was about whether or not Echo was telling the truth, and seemed satisfied at the shorter man’s answer.

  “Come; you must tell me all about what happened, where it happened, and why it was necessary to happen – though with it being an Undead-based dungeon, we can forgive any explanations there,” Elder Herrlot said, beckoning them forward and turning toward the center of the village where her home was located. “Everyone else, keep on high alert and travel in pairs if you can; there’s no telling what has happened overnight with this news. Even I may be forced to venture into the forests to help cull their numbers if it is as bad as I fear.” Dismissed, the Rangers took off for the forests to start for the day, running in pairs as advised by their local authority.

  Echo backed up and put her hand on Kelerim’s arm, pulling him forward so that they could follow the Elder. He allowed her to guide him forward, though she could see a blush forming on his ruddy-colored cheeks as he stole a glance at her that he wasn’t particularly good at hiding. What did Herrlot say to him? The communication barrier was frustrating, which prompted Echo to resolve to learn as much Orcish – as well as Dwarven and Gnomish – as she could in the future.

  It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the Elder’s arborent, which looked almost identical to every other dwelling in Avensglen. They didn’t follow the older Elf into her home, though, but instead spoke with her just outside, where the other villagers were looking at them both curiously as they went about their daily tasks – as well as listening to Echo describe all that had happened over the last few days in greater detail.

  Two hours later, and after countless questions from the Elder – which both she and Kelerim answered, even though he didn’t have quite as much knowledge of events because he arrived later – she had finally explained everything she could without revealing too much about Sandra herself. While she had no particular overwhelming loyalty to the dungeon core or requirement to hold certain information back, Echo felt a bit protective of the dungeon that had done so much for them – for her, especially. Since Elder Herrlot had already shown signs that she didn’t trust the dungeon all that much, Echo didn’t want anything to happen to Sandra and consequently hurt everyone’s chances of surviving the threat that the other nearby dungeons now represented.

  “—and now I’m going to be heading to the capital soon, to inform them of this situation and to negotiate on the behalf of Sandra for help. She said that the Elites that she had let go after they had invaded her dungeon had promised to cooperate with her in the future, and now is that time.”

  The Elder was abnormally quiet after Echo mentioned that she would be visiting the capital. “How are you getting there? On one of those Pegasi you were riding when you arrived?” she finally asked.

  “No; Sandra has been able to create a massive bird, an Aerie Roc, I believe she said—”

  “An Aerie Roc? My, this dungeon of yours has grown quite strong, hasn’t it?”

  “For the last time—” Echo said, exasperated— “Sandra isn’t my dungeon. She used to be a Human and now she’s a dungeon core; she still has the thoughts and memories of who she was before, and the way that you’re talking about Sandra like she’s a…a…possession or object is demeaning.”

  Rather than angry, the Elder just looked amused. “Human? That explains a lot.”

  Echo wasn’t exactly sure what that was supposed to mean, and she didn’t bother to find out. Just like she was struggling to move past her own prejudices against Gnomes, Dwarves, and Orcs, it seemed as though the Elder had one for Humans as well.

  “Enough of this talking. When are you leaving for the capital? If you are somehow being transported by…Aerie Roc…then that means you’ll arrive there quickly; I need to go with you if that is the case.”

  “I don’t know exactly when we’re leaving, but from what I understand it won’t be today. I’ll have to ask Sandra if it’s possible for you to ride along; it may be that you won’t be able to ride on the back of the Roc unless you’re bonded to the dungeon,” Echo responded, trying to think of a valid excuse to prevent the Elder from going with her. While she didn’t care for the older Elf on a personal level, she would follow her orders if she insisted on going; however, she also sensed some sort of ulterior motive behind the Elder’s demand to accompany her there.

  “Fine; if that’s what it takes, then I’ll get this…bond.”

  Now that was unexpected; the way that the older Elf had spoken of the dungeon earlier, she thought getting bonded to it would be the last thing the Elder would want to do. It might make things easier, at least. Echo wouldn’t have to explain Sandra’s motivations anymore – the dungeon core could do that herself.

  “Ok, I’ll take you there later, as well as anyone else that wants to go,” the young Ranger offered, even if she weren’t quite sure that Sandra would approve. “There’s a special bond that Sandra discovered recently that I think you might benefit from. I have to warn you and anyone else that wants to come, though; I’ve heard the process is extremely painful – as in, any pain you’ve experienced up to this point in your life would pale in comparison. Fortunately, it only lasts a few seconds.”

  “I can handle pain, girl – have no doubt about that. After the sun sets and everyone is back, we’ll take some of the Rangers to get this…special bond…of yours,” Elder Herrlot mentioned off-handedly, as if it weren’t a big deal. “In the meantime, you’ll have to tell me a little bit about it. Before that, though, I just have to know what it is that you are holding. It doesn’t look like any bow I’ve seen before; I mean, it doesn’t even have a string!”

  The Elder seemed quite excited about her bow, which confused Echo until she remembered hearing that Herrlot had been a Ranger in her youth. While she had other means to defend herself now, the older Elf obviously had a love for a meticulously crafted bow or two. Not that her bow was anything approaching a work of art or anything, as it was more form over function, that didn’t mean it wasn’t incredible.

  “Absolutely! I would love to show you how it works; why don’t we join the Rangers in the forest, and I’ll show you what this baby can do. We’ll stay near the edges in case there’s an emergency here, though I know Sandra has been keeping an eye on things and will alert us if ther
e’s a problem,” Echo said, gesturing and looking up into the sky. It was hard to make them out, but she could see the light glint off of a couple of Sandra’s floating Shears patrolling over their village’s valley.

  “I see; so your dungeon—sorry, Sandra—is spying on us now?”

  Echo rolled her eyes, though she made sure she was facing away from the Elder. “Of course not; she’s making sure she can respond to a sudden attack if it occurs.”

  “Fair enough,” the Elder said, though she didn’t sound convinced. “Let’s go then and show me this bow of yours.” With that, the revered older Elf started walking out of the village and towards the southeast, where the beasts from the dungeon there roamed the forest. Naturally, Echo started to follow, before she realized that Kelerim was following.

  “Stay here, Kelerim; the forest isn’t safe for you there,” she said, even knowing he couldn’t understand her. She pointed towards the central fire in the middle of their village, though she felt bad treating him like some sort of child that couldn’t venture out of the safety of their arborents. He looked a little hurt at first and she nearly relented and let him come, but she knew it would be too dangerous for him, especially since she had found out he wasn’t any sort of fighter. She slid up close to him, put her hand on his chest, and whispered, “Please stay here; I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  Whether it was her presence or the tone of her words, he seemed to understand. He smiled and said something she couldn’t understand, before blushing and turning away towards the center of the village. She watched him go and sit down on a bench that was coaxed out from one of the nearby arborents when it was initially grown, before turning to her and waving with a strained smile on his face. Echo couldn’t decipher exactly what that meant; all she knew was that he was staying and would be safe there until she returned.

  Hurrying to catch up to the Elder, who seemed to be able to walk quickly enough that it seemed like a run, she felt excited that she would be able to show off what she had helped Sandra craft in the core’s dungeon. Echo thought it would be good to be able to connect with someone other than those that temporarily lived in the dungeon, considering that most of the other Rangers only tolerated her presence now. Maybe if they get bonded too, some of that camaraderie will come back.

  So focused on her bow and hoping to impress the Elder with how it could easily take down a monstrous beast with enormous power, Echo somehow missed the interested and predatory glances of the other village women as they watched the exotic “beast” within their midst.

  Chapter 11

  It didn’t take long to locate Kelerim, at least; using one of the Shears she had monitoring the area around the Elven village of Avensglen, Sandra found the Blacksmith surrounded with what appeared to be some admirers. At least four Elven women were sitting very close to him, touching him surreptitiously on the arm or on his back, and stubbornly trying to start a conversation with the poor man. The Half-Dwarf/Half-Orc didn’t seem to really understand what was happening, as he couldn’t understand them and had no way to communicate in return; Sandra brought her construct down to listen in and possibly even translate, but once she heard the subject of their quite forward questions she decided against that.

  For his part, Kelerim just smiled at them with wide, trapped-looking eyes, obviously not used to such attention. From what Sandra knew of his upbringing and life so far, that didn’t surprise her all that much; when she was human, she hadn’t had much experience with such personal attention because of her disfigured hands, but she certainly had seen enough of it throughout her days as a merchant that she recognized his naivete immediately. What she couldn’t understand, though, was why the Elves seemed so…drawn…to the skinny, scruffy Blacksmith.

  Sandra could easily concede that he was attractive enough in a unique sort of way; on the other hand, she also had to admit that the Elven men were over and above attractive in an aethereal sort of way. Not only were they tall with flawless skin and athletic bodies, but they were also extremely talented in manipulating their elemental energies externally – which was impressive enough by itself. Being a Dungeon Core, Sandra didn’t really have the same sort of physical reaction to seeing attractive people as she would as a human; that didn’t mean she couldn’t identify them as being attractive in the first place, though.

  Then again, her father always said that beauty was subjective. One person might value a bejeweled and richly decorated dagger as the most beautiful weapon in the world; another might value a master-crafted dagger that was plainly adorned and sleek in its design as the epitome of beauty in a weapon. The same obviously applied to judging people because Sandra could also readily admit that she didn’t find Orcs, Gnomes, or Dwarves particularly attractive.

  * Kelerim? Do you…uh…need some help? *

  The Half-Dwarf/Half-Orc suddenly jumped up in surprise at her voice, to the consternation of the Elven women hanging all over him. “There you are! We were wondering what had happened to you all day,” he said, plainly relieved at Sandra’s presence in his head. “As for needing help…well, I don’t exactly know what’s going on here because I can’t understand anything they are saying. I’ve only met Echo before this; are Elves usually this…friendly?” After asking, he spread his hands around at the Elven women, who were looking at him as if he had lost his mind, speaking to the empty air.

  Technically, he was speaking to Sandra’s Shears, which were still about 50 feet above his head; she didn’t bring it down closer, however, because she didn’t want to startle or concern the villagers. Regardless, that was probably a good thing, because she was going to need her friends back soon so that they could help with the next stage of her plans.

  * Umm…yes? I’m not actually sure, because I haven’t known them that long. Speaking of Echo – where is she? And how was her message about the increased activity from the nearby dungeons taken? *

  “Well, Echo left me here in the hands of these…others, while she and some important-looking woman left for the forest.” Kelerim pointed towards the southeast and appeared to be a bit perturbed by the fact that he was left to fend for himself. “As for how the message was received, I’m not real sure, actually. Based on the questions that the important-looking woman was asking me – it surprised me when she started speaking in thoroughly accented Orcish! – she obviously knows about what exactly happened, though what she is going to do about it is a mystery.”

  That was good news, Sandra figured. Echo wasn’t there to take over the defenses or anything, but to let the authorities (in this case, the Elder of the village) know about the change and prepare for it. The Bonded Elf was needed for other things – and soon. Overnight, Sandra was hoping to have another Aerie Roc created and ready to go in the morning, where Echo would leave for the capital to let them know about the needs for cooperation.

  She told Kelerim to stay there a little longer while she looked for Echo; while she could find any of the Dungeon Monsters outside of her dungeon because they were connected to her, the Bonded people were a little different. Inside of her dungeon, she could locate them immediately and communicate with them with no trouble; outside, though, she found that she needed line-of-sight by one of her Monsters – even if that distance were miles away. Her Shears could see just about anything out in the open flying high above the wastelands, but the forest blocked the sight of Echo.

  The Blacksmith didn’t look very happy to be left alone again, though now that she was paying attention to him, she could answer if he asked another question. Besides, it wasn’t as if the Elves would hurt him; their words implied just the opposite. Granted, now that they had seen him talking to the air like someone not quite right in the head, they didn’t seem as eager to gain his attention.

  It took about 5 minutes of zipping through the southeastern forest to find Echo and the Elder crouching behind some foliage; the Elder, despite her lofty position, appeared to be right at home slinking about the forest on the hunt. Echo had one of the few extra bows that had b
een created before the assault on the Undead dungeon, and was apparently showing it off. Sandra was a little worried about startling the Bonded Elf, so instead of interrupting her in mid-hunt, she just floated her Shears a little closer and managed to hear their whispered conversation. It was a good thing that she didn’t interrupt, too, because there was a very large beast stomping through the trees without any thought of stealth.

  “I have to use one of my special bolts now; I know you said to hold off on those for now, because it will draw everything out here to our location, but there’s no way we can kill that thing without it,” Echo whispered faintly, though even if she talked normally Sandra doubted the beast would hear her over the raucous noise it was making all by itself.

  The Dungeon Core had to agree, because the Dungeon Monster stomping through on a parallel course to them was more than a bit dangerous-looking. The beast was at least 6 feet tall at its shoulder, which put it at near the same height as the two Elves, but that was the only similarity. At 30 feet long, the Monster was a strange cross between a big cat and some sort of crocodile, with six pairs of legs that stomped down and crunched the foliage along the trees with abandon.

  Its head was feline in shape, but also had a long mouth (similar to a crocodile’s) that hung open as it moved along, and Sandra could see that it was filled with dozens of sharp teeth that looked capable of rending apart the two Elves without difficulty. Unlike a crocodile, the jaw opened downwards, which would allow it to snatch things below it as it moved along. When she added in the knife-like claws on each of the feet, the tough-looking deep red furry hide along its outside, the…Cro-cat-ile…appeared to be extremely formidable. Her name for it wasn’t completely accurate, because it didn’t appear to be actually reptilian in any form, but she liked it.