by C G Gaudet
“Down.”
Willow glances at me as though to ask if I have any ideas. I respond with a whole lot of sweat and a barely audible whimper. Whatever bravado Willow might have mustered is gone when she sees how scared I am. Her eyes widen and her hand clasps around her neck. After another moment’s hesitation and a much sharper jab to my ribs that definitely broke the skin this time, we fumble our way into the barrel and down the stairs.
I look up at Heather’s bland expression as strands of her stupidly silky hair falls over her face just as the cover slams shut, blocking out all view of her and our possible freedom.
“Well, that happened,” I say, unsure what to do next.
Willow holds her light up to take a better look at the seal on the barrel lid, but just as she does, the candle flickers once, twice, then out.
She turns to me, her face cast in deep shadows, yet I still know she’s going to ask me to hand over the remaining source of light. I gently pass it to her, but the moment her fingers make contact, it too flickers out.
I’m not sure what Willow does other than sigh, but I freeze in the darkness and will my eyes to adjust, though I know it’s a foolish wish. We are well underground. There’s no chance of even a sliver of sunlight down here to help my eyes, and I don’t have so much as a match left in my apron. Human eyes aren’t so lucky as to be able to see even broad shapes in such darkness, and I am decidedly human.
Or maybe not.
There, clouded in shadow, is a tall figure. It seems impossible I can see it, and when Willow complains about needing a light, I know I’m the only one to have had something change within me to give me this sight. This must be from being touched by Kesarre, though it seems odd Willow doesn’t have the same ability. It feels like the strength he gave me, so maybe it has to do with my being a reaper and her a scholar that decides which of us are able to see in darkness.
What has Kesarre done to me?
“There might be another button.” Willow gropes around in the dark, oblivious to the figure watching us from against the nearby wall. “Are you sure you don’t have any more candles in your apron? Though I suppose we’d still need a fire source to light it, so maybe that wouldn’t be so useful anyway. Do you feel anything that might be a button? Or maybe there’s another way out, though like you said, it might be dangerous exploring a new area without any source of light. Hmm. What to do. What to do.”
Ignoring Willow’s nervous rambling, I focus on the third figure, and my eyes adjust further to the lack of light, giving me more details. She looks to be female from the unnaturally thin frame and long hair that falls straight down to her bottom. Held close to her chest is a long stick about six feet tall that curls around a clear gem at the top. Between long strands of hair are strange shapes it takes me a moment to understand to be ears even though they’re in the same place as mine. Their length and odd point at the end tells me she’s clearly not human.
Tall? Skinny? Pointy ears? She must be an elf! Finally, I get to meet a non-human. Kesarre doesn’t count. I wonder if they’re the terrifying monsters everyone always makes them out to be. So far, she does seem a bit ominous.
“Hello,” I say when I can’t think of anything more intelligent. “Are you trapped here as well, or down here to kill us?”
“Oh, no! I mean, yes! Or, um…could you ask the question again?”
Willow jumps at the sound of the third person in our dark pit and spins around trying to find her, but she never quite manages to look in the right direction.
I concentrate on the tall girl and as I suspect, symbols appear above her head.
Frejha – Champion of Saffero
Level 1 Caster
Abilities
Magic: Blast
Magic: Elemental Magic
“Saffero,” I repeat the god’s name out loud trying to think of where I might have heard it before. It feels recent, though I was positive it wasn’t the same patron as the reaper’s upstairs. “So, you aren’t working with Heather?”
“Saffero, the goddess of mist, is currently ranked two hundred and eleven in the competition of gods. No known affiliations.” Willow gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. Giddily, she speaks between her fingers, “I don’t know if I can get used to having facts like that suddenly pop into my head and out of my mouth. It’s so odd.”
“So,” I repeat even though the other two have made the fact clear already. “You’re not with the one upstairs, then.” I focus back on the girl in the shadows as she shakes her head in response. “Then, are you going to attack us to help raise your god in ranking?”
“No. I mean yes, but no.” Frejha sighs and I give her a moment to think about her answer, though my fingers are twitching to feel the cool ivory of my scythe once more. She has one last chance to convince me not to kill her, and even then, I’m not entirely sure I can quell the urge to attack. “It’s my job to raise the status of my deity by fighting other champions and completing tasks to grow stronger, same as you. And just like you, I heard the rumors of a possible job and thought I might be able to earn a few coins.”
Willow is absorbed in the girl’s story, but my focus is on my pillow, forcing it to stay soft for the moment. I’ve never had much desire to murder before, especially people I’ve just met. I wonder if this is another lovely trait Kesarre passed to me.
“There were others,” Frejha continues with a hitch to her voice. She swipes the back of her hand over her nose and continues. “Some thrown down before me and some after. None of them lasted long. They were all badly beaten by the reaper and died shortly after arriving. I only survived because I didn’t try to fight her when she told me to come down here.”
An urge to nudge Willow and tell her ‘See! I was being clever and not getting us killed,’ comes and goes before I’m silly enough to act on the notion.
“If others were here, where are their bodies?” Willow asks without a hint of doubt about the story. She leans down to touch the ground, then snatches her hand up at the last moment as she thinks better. “Are we surrounded by them and I just can’t see, because that would be upsetting. Also, surprisingly not very smelly.”
“They vanished.” Frejha sounds surprised we don’t already know. “All champions vanish once they’ve been defeated and then are returned to their life before the war. Didn’t your deity tell you that?”
“Our deity’s a bit of a useless idiot,” I say in the same moment Willow bristles and says, “I’m sure he had his reason not to tell us.”
“His reason is that he’s an idiot.”
Willow scowls in my general direction and I shrug back, not that she can see me. She might believe he’s awe inspiring, but I saw him rolling around in the dirt for no reason but his own amusement. Though maybe she’s right, and he did have a reason. Maybe he believed if he told us, particularly me, I might seek out my own defeat and return home to enjoy a well-earned nap.
Part of me wants to find a way back upstairs and throw myself at Heather’s blades so I can do just that, but I wave the thought aside. Whether I might come back to life or not, I have no interest in dying. Not now, not ever. And I certainly have no interest in wasting away down here for the rest of my life either. It’s time to find a way out.
“Tell me,” I say, “do you have the ability to blow up buildings with that staff of yours?”
Chapter Ten
Teamwork
Frejha shies away from me and clutches her staff to her chest protectively.
“I can’t…or won’t,” she says. “I mean, I shouldn’t. It would end very badly.”
Her non-answers are starting to frustrate me, and I’ve only met her minutes ago. My fingers are once again twitching for my scythe, though this time I’m sure it’s my own annoyance causing the murderous vibes rather than whatever Kesarre did to me. She reminds me of some of the indecisive customers who’d come into my shop and waste my time humming and hawing over whether they want the lemon scented candle or the original. Do you want a smell or not
? I can’t make that decision for you. Just choose and leave me alone already.
My hand squeezes the pillow and I can feel it harden against my palm at the same time as a soft chuckle tickles my mind. Surprised by the disembodied sound, I nearly drop my pillow.
‘For not being interested in being my champion,’ Kesarre purrs inside my mind, causing the same calm as when he touched my forehead, ‘you certainly are eager to use your skills.’
‘She annoys me,’ I respond silently.
‘And she’s useful,’ he says. ‘Try to wait until you have a way out of your current situation before you cause problems. I know how rash you can get.’
The calm is gone and fresh annoyance billows through me like a storm cloud. ‘You don’t know anything about me. I’m not rash. I’m perfectly sensible and sane.’
From the way the two girls are turned toward me, I think I might not have said all that last bit in my head.
Another chuckle fills my mind and I swat it away with an imaginary hand.
“It’s not an unreasonable thought,” Frejha says tentatively, “I had it myself of course. But if I use magic to open the door, I’d have to use a blast and those are very dangerous, especially in an enclosed space. Likely it would kill us all rather than free us. But if I did manage to open the latch, the noise would certainly alert the reaper upstairs, and none of us are a match for her.”
I twitch at the one definitive statement she’s made since meeting her and how of course it had to be an insult about my fighting abilities. Sure, I was afraid to fight Heather for the same reason, but I didn’t need it thrown in my face like that.
“Maybe we can’t defeat her individually,” I say, “but perhaps all together we might have a chance. Three level ones must equal a single level three.” My gut tells me this isn’t even slightly true, but once again, Frejha decides to throw my lack of skills in my face.
“Um, actually,” Frejha pipes up loudly, is startled by her own volume and quickly lowers it to be nearly incomprehensible. “It’s just, I might have sort of seen that not work. Well, not exactly seen, but heard. I have very good hearing and I’m able to listen to everything said in the room upstairs…”
“Your point,” I growl when it’s clear this could go on for hours.
“Right, well, um.” She speaks more quickly, though even quieter so I have to lean in to hear what she says. “There was a group of four first level champions that tried to defeat her and she took them all down in seconds.”
“A group of four?” That doesn’t sound promising. “How many others has she killed?”
Frejha take a moment to count, her fingers moving in the air as though she’s pointing at each image in her mind. “Thirteen. Plus the three of us, but she didn’t kill us so I didn’t include us in the thirteen. I think there were others before I arrived as well, but I’m not sure. There was something she said that made me think there were more, but I can’t remember what it was.”
That’s a lot of people. How long has she had this trap laid out, and why?
“Are there many champions sitting around waiting to kill off the ones that stumble upon her like this?” I ask out loud, though the thought is mostly directed to Kesarre. He must know the answer, but he doesn’t say a word.
Just as strange is the fact she’s leaving us alive, as though she has a plan for us. Like a spider wrapping up flies that fall into its web. I squeeze my pillow, suddenly needing the extra comfort of its softness as I imagine a multitude of eyes and hairy legs sprout from Heather’s body. I wasn’t particularly afraid of spiders, but I don’t much fancy meeting a monstrous humanoid one any time soon.
“Olerra is one of the high-level gods,” Frejha says as though it explains her behavior.
“Number twenty-eight,” Willow announces abruptly before biting her lip and grinning at the surprising knowledge.
“Which means she’s only one of many champions.” Frejha continues thoughtfully as though my question never occurred to her before. “There are probably groups of champions all over the world, working for their god in their own ways.”
“If her goal is to defeat champions,” I say, “Then why didn’t she kill us the moment we walked in? Why the game?”
Willow’s smile fades and her head tilts down as she thinks through the question but doesn’t come up with an answer. Frejha doesn’t contribute anything further, leaving the thought dangling like a string of spider’s silk from a web.
“I’m not willing to wait around and find out her plan.” I slap my pillow to knock off any dirt that it might have collected while we stood around in this dank pit. “Frejha, your power’s the only one capable of getting us out of here quickly. I saw it destroy a building before, I know you can get us out. So, time to do it.”
Frejha pulls as far away from me as she can in the cramped space, and I resist the urge to grab her arm and force her to move her staff around like I saw Gordon do before throwing his blasts at me.
“I really don’t think, I mean, I know…” She shakes her head vigorously. “It’s not safe.”
“From the nearness of the various buildings we saw above,” Willow says with a renewed excitement, “as well as the assumption that most, if not all, buildings in the city use similar water and sewage systems as we have in Vassraly, then we must be within a few feet of some type of underground system we can use a magical blast to break into. Then we won’t have to fight Heather at all. We can escape out the tunnels and she’ll never be any the wiser.”
Frejha has not stopped shaking her head since Willow started talking and I’m about ready to grab her head to force her to stop.
“Unless you have another idea,” I growl, “you need to work with us on this.”
“Here.” Willow turns vaguely in our direction with a proud smile. She thuds her fist against the wall at a seemingly random location, but she seems sure about the position. I’m going to have to assume it’s because of her knowledge ability and not just because she’s guessing as I would be. “Aim your blast here and I’m sure you’ll be able to open up a hole into a sewer system that runs under the entire city. We’ll be able to go anywhere from there.”
Frejha still makes no move to lift her staff and it’s making my eye twitch.
“What about the debris from the blast?” Frejha wrings her hands together. “If we’re hit by enough rocks, it could be as bad as an attack from a champion.”
As much as I hate to admit, she’s probably right. With a sigh I concentrate on my pillow, turning it into an oversized heavy metal shield. The weight of it is too much and it drops out of my grip and into the dirt at my feet. I try to lift it onto my arm, but no matter how much strength I use, I can’t carry the shield.
Shield of Kesarre – Epic item Level 1
Attack – 1
Defence – 4
An iron shield used for protection against melee and long-range attacks.
Can only be used by those proficient with shields.
“Typical,” I mutter.
One bruised shoulder and a whole lot of grunting later, I’m able to dig the pointed bottom into the dirt and balance it so all three of us should be able to use it for protection.
“Quickly.” The word comes out as a grunt and I’m not sure it’s recognizable as a word at all, though the others twist themselves up behind the shield with me, so it must have sounded like something to them.
Frejha takes a deep breath and I’m sure she’s going to refuse once more, then her eyes flash a light much like lightning and the top of her staff lifts above the shield. A swirl of white light gathers around the gem and I squeeze my eyes closed instinctively as she flings the magic out from around the back of the shield to where Willow suggested she aim.
Chapter Eleven
They Were This Big!
The world seems to scream in my ears as I try to adjust to the quiet after the explosion. Dust and grime fill my mouth and nose and I hold my breath for fear of sneezing and losing hold of my shield. Without it, I�
��m sure we’d all be unconscious with clumps of dirt and rocks lodged into our skulls. The pressure from the explosion is nearly enough to knock me flat and bring the shield down on top of us.
Willow peers around the edge of the shield before the debris finishes showering over us, though I know she can’t see anything more now than she could previously, but she’s too eager to find out the results of the blast to wait.
I focus my thoughts into turning the shield back into an easier to carry item. The pillow might be lighter, but it feels important to carry a weapon when travelling through pitch black sewer systems, assuming that’s what we’ve blasted into. The scythe is too cumbersome in the small space, so I’ll need something small enough I can tuck it into my apron and not be hampered if I need to attack. My thoughts wander back to Heather’s twin daggers and I grimace at the realization the easiest solution is to copy her.
Dagger of Kesarre – Epic item Level 1
Attack – 4
Defence – 0
A slim blade preferred by those looking for quick movement and limited resistance.
The blade is smaller than those she held, which makes it easy to slip it into one of my pockets for safe keeping.
“Did it work?” Frejha lifts her arm she was using to protect her face and peeks at the wall where Willow is already carefully patting her way over to the damaged area.
A few inches to Willow’s left is a gaping hole with stone and earth crumbling from the ceiling to land by her feet. The faint trickle of water filters through my ringing ears and a distinct odour flows through my nose down to my stomach where it attempts to lift the little contents there up and onto the floor.
“I can’t believe I was right.” Willow presses the back of her hand against her nose to block the smell. “Let’s go. The reaper will have heard that and be coming for us, I’m sure.”
