Chapter 285: 285: House of Geroch

The gateway had closed and Luthera's eyes widened in disbelief, as slow realisation and fear gripped at her heart.

They were stuck here.

No help was coming.

Luthera immediately panicked as she regretted not crossing through immediately. It was better to face shame on the surface than spend years searching blindly for the next gateway, all while being picked off by monsters.

If only she knew! 

"What just happened?!" Undrenn hissed, his foul breath wafting over her face. "Where did that thing go?! What are you not telling us?"

Luthera swallowed her nerves, the stinging pain in her arm bringing her back to attention.

"Let go of me!" She grimaced.

However, the thief helf firm. After glimpsing the full range of terror on her face, he knew something was amiss and Luthera felt the pain in her arm increase, accompanied now by a dagger pointed at her throat.

"If you try to lie again, I'll jam this blade into your throat!" Undrenn threatened menacingly. 

He pressed the dagger against her neck and she felt a sharp pain followed shortly by the warm trickle of blood. 

"How dare you!" Luthera yelled angrily, despite her body trembling in shock. The blade was cutting into  her neck and she was afraid if she moved haphazardly, her throat would be sliced open. 

"Step back, or you will have an arrow in your head before you could even move a finger." Fennelis glowered, the tip of his arrow now pointed towards the thief's head.

However, right then, the barbarian charged towards him with a loud cry, his axe raised up high, forcing Fennelis to divert his attention. 

When Undrenn saw this he immediately slipped behind Luthera while holding the dagger to her neck. Then he leaned in closer and menacingly whispered into her ear.

"Do you know what I think…? The two of you have been lying to us this whole time…"

Luthera was frozen stiff – she'd never come this close to a mortal before, and as she felt his heavy breath, she realised something frightening.

This mortal was really thinking of killing her. 

"Get away from her!" Fennelis snarled, as he looked back. 

She knew Fennelis couldn't hold everyone back on his own, so she tried to remind everyone of the consequences of rebelling. 

"The moment you hurt  me, my master will know." Luthera declared, keeping her voice as steady as she could. "And he will come after you. Your family. Your comrades. Your country. Even the riff raff you pass on the street. He will not stop until he has destroyed you and everyone you care about. If you don't want them to come to harm, you will releas– AH!"

An arrow was let loose, but it missed its mark and Luthera screamed as she was thrown to the ground, her ear throbbed with pain where droplets of blood fell.

The thief leapt away to evade the arrow which then lodged into a rock. 

Luthera gasped, her body trembling as she reached to touch the side of her head, only for her hand to come away with more blood, and she realised the tip of her ear was now missing.

"You ignorant, filthy creature!" Luthera shouted in a fit of rage. "What have you done?!" 

But her outburst was cut short when an axe soared through the air, aimed at Fennelis. Fortunately, he dodged and fired two arrows as the axe smashed through the rocks of the archway decimating one side completely.

He then turned around and released another arrow at Undrenn. The arrow lodged into the ground at his feet while the barbarian on the other side had fallen after taking an arrow to the knee.

However, that didn't seem to deter him much as he was already rising back to his feet.

Fennelis was about to shoot another warning shot but was forced to aim his arrow at the thief when he started stalking closer to Luthera again.

"Your master has abandoned you." Undrenn yelled angrily. "Was there ever an army? Or did you make it all up to have us follow you?"

"I said they would be here!" Luthera seethed in rage, immediately setting out to heal her wound. "They must have come through before we got here. We need to find them!"

However, the barbarian stared them down, his hand snapping the arrow from his leg like a twig, while the thief licked his blood stained dagger, a piece of her ear in his hand.

Luthera shuddered and Fennelis landed next to her after firing another warning shot before the two elves began to retreat as they tried to figure out what to do next.

"You need to contact the Grandmaster." Fennelis said.

Her words were not convincing to the group, and he wasn't optimistic about  their fates after the gateway closed, although he tried not to show it. 

With the mortals demanding answers, Fennelis knew he couldn't protect her on his own. 

But then, an unexpected third voice came to their rescue.

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"Wait." The Pelagian captain called out in a weary voice. "If she dies, then we are truly lost. She has a way to contact the surface. I don't think they will speak to us without her."

The mortals looked at her with eyes filled with distrust and Luthera jumped on this lifeline immediately.

"Rodin is right. I have a way to contact them. And like I said before, the Grandmaster will know everything that happens here if you kill me. So you better think your actions through before you do anything irreversible."

Then Luthera glared at the Barbarian and Undrenn, while Fennelis tightly gripped his bow, ready to let loose a slew of arrows. But would that be enough to convince them?

Rodin, being the more reasonable of the group, approached Undrenn to stop him from making matters worse.

"Put away your weapons." He said. "Lets not lose our patience now after everything we've been through. Incurring the wrath of a Grandmaster isn't worth it."

Undrenn was reluctant at first, but eventually he lowered his dagger. The barbarian also retrieved his axe, before settling down to glower at her. "So, what is the plan now?"

Luthera simply stared at them, her mind still in turmoil.

She was grateful to Rodin, but deep down she was happy they didn't know much about Labyrinth gateways. If they knew it could take years to trace where it had vanished to – she would die here for sure.

But, what happened to the reinforcements her master promised?

Luthera found it hard to believe he hadn't sent anyone and she wondered if there was some sort of delay. Either way, she had to salvage the current situation somehow.

"I will contact my master." She replied, retrieving the amulet from her satchel with shaking hands.

However, with so many eyes staring at her, she felt very uncomfortable.

"I need to do it in private." She said, but the mortals immediately drew their weapons.

"You're not going anywhere." Rodin replied dangerously. "You will contact him here and now."

Luthera swallowed nervously, her heart thudding in her chest.

She took a few steps back, turning her back to Fennelis who stood watch. However, as the amulet lit up in her hand, Luthera noticed several flying creatures approaching them from the rocky horizon. 

She immediately put the amulet away as she recognised the winged mounts only the elves possessed, and immediately alerted Fennelis. 

"They're here!" Luthera exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Rodin grumbled, but when he spotted the approaching flying creatures he immediately drew his sword.

"Put your weapon away." Luthera said to him, her voice full of happiness. "Our reinforcements are here. I told you, my master always keeps his word."

The mortals stared at the creatures with awe.

They had broad wings, their bodies a cross between a bird and a lion with four muscular legs, an incredibly tough beak and long feathered tails. All the creatures were clad in plated armour, their front legs sprouting vicious claws that could maim with a single kick, while their back legs were hooved.

They were monsters, but not quite, as these creatures were specially bred and had been trained over the years to serve the elves. They were even named after the elf that had bred them, Martezain Elceran.

When they landed, Luthera rushed over to the rider at the very front, wondering if her family had sent someone. The other creatures had no riders, and she assumed the other mounts were meant for them.

However, Luthera was surprised at the elf rider's attire.

The rider wore dark armour from head to toe and it bore no markings – no different from those of a mercenary, instead of an elf soldier with rank.

But even as Luthera noticed these details, she shoved them all aside, because the rider was an elf! 

She was much safer with him than the vile mortals in her party, and she approached his mount as soon as it stopped.

"Where are the others?" She asked. "Did the Grandmaster come himself? Take me to him!" 

However, the elf didn't respond and glared at her instead. "I only answer to the House of Geroch. As an Elceran, you can't give me orders."

Luthera immediately let go of the armoured creature, as her eyes widened in shock.

"What is an elf from Geroch doing here…?" She muttered, but the rider strode past her without another word.

But she didn't have to think hard to realise what was happening. Her master had another disciple under him and he was her rival and arch enemy. 

Unlike her, Caligar Geroch was a first rate disciple. 

If her master had sent him to complete her mission, she was as good as done here.

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