Chapter 30: Dungeon Keeper Drow

I was hoping that Faye could confide in me the obvious attraction between us, but she was bent on things going back to the way things were. Not to say that it didn’t call for some awkward moments, like her jumping when her hand accidently touched mine as she grabbed my breakfast plate this morning, or when she bumped into me by the door on our way out. It was cute, but hilarious, watching her fluster up only for her to insult me after. I went along with it, because Emera had been right—all of that tough talk was just us flirting together.

We disembarked to find our last artifact, Averoo in Uto, Reggadon. In Wrath’s nation, it was last spotted as a collector’s item for Wal, a blacksmith and Ironmonger. For our last hit, we needed to do a little B&E, my specialty. And since I had the most experience, I wanted to go it alone.

But of course, my merry band wouldn’t let me.

Maelise didn’t want to miss an opportunity to loot the bastard, and Emera didn’t want to miss out on the action. Luckily for us, we didn’t have to deal with any type of surveillance, Wal not even opting out for men stationed around the perimeter of his grand estate. But not so lucky for us, we needed to do this at night, the same night that Onessa was scheduled to be executed.

We were definitely pushing it, and for this final milk run, we needed to be stealthy, quick, and efficient. Onessa was still three hours away from a public scorching. And despite the last mission here looking seemingly easy from the outside, I had my doubts.

I ordered Pochi to park it down the hill, where I caught a glimpse of the medieval looking mansion up close. Still, no signs of any funny business, or people living in the estate for that matter. Emera was also skeptical, yet my party and I pushed forward regardless. I told Pochi to stay here as our lookout, and screech if we had company. Once we made it past the front courtyard, suitable for Vlad the Impaler given the rotten corpses on high spears, Emera sucker punched the entrance door, where the darkness of the foyer swallowed us right in.

“Oh great, another area opposed to central heating,” Faye sassed. I saw goose bumps growing on her skin already, and noticed the air passing down my nostrils. Demons, they sure liked it cold. And Wal was no different. Except as we continued to search throughout the estate, we soon realized that it was not only stark but empty. And it had been for months. Dust piled up on surfaces, cobwebs hung on corners, and rats scurried down the marble floors.

“We don’t have much time,” I whispered to my girls. “We’ve searched this place top to bottom. Maybe Pothesly’s lead ran sour.”

“My mother is rarely wrong,” Emera defended.

“Do you think it was moved?” Maelise asked.

“Why would they move it? Unless they knew someone was coming for it, right?” Faye added.

“Well, I only ask because this whole place is empty,” Maelise said.

“That may be, yet, the furnishings and personal items haven’t been moved,” I replied, then darted my eyes to a faint door along the stairway. We had missed it before, the one in the foyer, because it bled into the darkness pretty well. There was power in the mansion, but Faye insisted we didn’t turn them on, believing doing so would trigger a chain reaction we didn’t want. By the sounds of it, she watched too many horror flicks in her adolescent years, and hell, to be honest, so did I.

“It’s open,” I said, pulling down at the dusty lever made out of gold, my girls following me in.

“How about a little light, Mae?” I asked, my footing realizing the set of stone steps before me.

“I’m not really good at holding fire with my hands, not like my cousin Rhea, who is a true mage. But since I’m an archer, I can use my arrowhead to guide us.”

“Just as long as it can carry us long enough to search this place,” I said to her, then Maelise immediately pulled one out from her quiver and lit our path.

The spiral steps went on for longer than I expected, which meant that this sub area had some height to it. Once we reached the last step, the skull sconce lights lit up on their own, Faye yelping behind Emera as they flickered. Fire, it had to have been some type of spell, although, as I looked around, I couldn’t pinpoint the source of it.

“Faye, stay behind me,” I whispered.

“I think I’m fine where I’m hiding,” she said behind Emera. “After all, she is the strongest member of our party.”

I snickered. “Keep burning me, princess.”

“This place is huge!” Maelise cried, and she wasn’t lying. It was the size of an abandoned warehouse factory times ten, plus the ghastly and looming vibes. In fact, this place looked more like a dungeon with its dark colors, stone structure, and musty smell. The further we walked inward, the wearier I became. And when my ears picked up an extra set of feet tapping along the floor, I jerked my head behind us, where I saw an ivory haired woman with four white eyes and a long whippy tail.

Friendly wasn’t the first word that came to mind when I saw her. When my girls took notice, they prepared to defend, but the tall woman donned in a black long sleeve leotard and leather knee-high warrior boots appeared unthreatened. She had long pointed ears, dark bluish skin, and black fingernails two inches long.

“Good evening,” her silky voice greeted us, and I immediately noticed the sharpened fangs behind that threatening smile.

“Demon drow,” Maelise grunted.

“I have a name,” she snickered. “Gez. Wal’s keeper.”

“You mean his house-sitter?” I smart mouthed. “This entire court is empty. Exactly what the hell are you guarding but a bunch of prized possessions?”

“As if it’s any of your business. I don’t have to answer to intruders.”

“No, I’d rather you answer to my blade instead,” I threatened, brandishing my Executioner.

 

 “That crest on your hand. I see that the legend holds true…” she said with a mischievous grin, the expression on her face wanting to say more.

“Be careful, Serrian, she is the strongest foe we’ve encountered so far,” Emera whispered over my shoulder.

“I don’t care for small talk,” I said to the drow with an attitude, glaring at her. “And I don’t have the time to act like I give a rat’s ass about your villain monologue.”

“Oh? But I insist.” She snapped her fingers, a strong lengthy lightning bolt smashing into the pavement behind her. My eyes went huge as the whipping wind and smoke started to spiral, the height of the enclosure making my girls take a step back. When all of the flashiness was over, out came a huge one-eyed behemoth, a naked mole rat with no front legs, but gargantuan hind feet, and a unicorn horn on its forehead.

Faye gave a shrill cry behind me, and to be honest, she had a good reason to—this growling, foaming at the mouth, grotesque thing wasn’t anything pleasant to look at. It had a foul odor, its buck teeth yellow and crusted with caked flesh. It looked like she’d disturbed his dinner, and summoned him to tango with us instead. The enlarged veins on its skin branched out from this single crystal on its broad chest. And whenever it breathed, it gave a faint glow.

Great. I already saw a weak point.

But for now, I had no choice but to hear what she had to say. She was keeping that behemoth tamed, so whatever she wanted to share with the class must be important. “Lady Lust’s blood squire. I wonder, if the legend is true, if the prophecy would carry as well.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You are traveling with Litheenian women, aren’t you? Don’t they know? Didn’t they tell you?”

“The prophecy is a stupid tale that you all whipped up as a way to snipe Onessa,” Maelise retorted.

“And I’m interested in who told you that?” Gez asked. “Was it the queen herself?”

“If you’re referring to the blood squire being the new ruler of Litheenia, then yes. She did,” Emera cosigned, making my throat tighten up.

New ruler of Litheenia?

Gez’s eyes smiled. “You must be foolishly ignorant. Of course she would say that. Anything to keep her followers from believing she is grossly incompetent.”

“Onessa has done plenty to protect us!” Maelise barked at her. “You have no right to stand here and tell us otherwise!”

“And yet, her body count continues to stagger. It’s painfully obvious that she is in no shape to run an entire region. The power of lust…” She scoffed. “There’s only so much of that she could spin before it becomes redundant enough. We have counter spells for her poison, and more and more of our warriors are coming back with the heads of your women. But, a man with a unique kill system… now that is true power. The other sin gods might not see it now, but you can become a real problem to them soon. They aren’t paying you enough attention.”

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“Why tell me all of this?”

She shrugged. “Self-satisfaction, I guess. That way, you’d know your true purpose here, before I spread your bones and flesh along my dungeon, then have my pet lick up your remains.”

“All right. It’s about high time I shut you up!” I checked her stats, and she was definitely final boss material. She also had a couple of items on her list that I wasn’t familiar with, which could easily bite me in the ass. As for her pet, he was at Emera’s level, but he had some bothersome specials. I gave my order, sending Emera, Maelise and Faye out for the behemoth, while I handled Gez alone.

The strat wasn’t selfish, just smart. If I had three girls on the lower leveled monster, then they could finish him off quicker. After which, we could all focus on Gez, granted if I could keep her preoccupied long enough.

She was an illusionist, judging by her special skills. That meant that she was an expert on fucking with my head. In no time at all, she demonstrated her tedious talent, and I saw how quickly the walls were closing in on me. They were on gears, the clacking and cranking amplifying with speed. The little mind games were easy to ignore once you knew they were coming, especially when I had a decent amount of willpower to help me pummel through her annoying illusions.

The only problem was that once I made it through the wall, the erupting pillars from the ground, the flying spears, and the tsunami wave, I still couldn’t find her. Instead, I saw the behemoth’s eye beam from the fight not too far from me, barely reflecting the edge of it with my sword.

Nice save. I didn’t even know it was resistant…

Gez was slippery. She kept feeding me an obstacle course, trying to drain my stamina. She was using the illusions to hide, and now, to strike, trying to land cheap shots at me with her magic dart gun.

The drow was doing her best to poison or drug me, not kill me. I figured she had other plans for this blood squire, and it was nothing good. Whenever I’d turn around to strike her, she’d have enough time to disappear, and repeat the entire act again. The only good thing about this was that her gun was slow, and she had to fire at me close range. As for my crippling disadvantage, I was a tad slow myself with my sword special, but I couldn’t opt in for my shotgun, not without letting my party feel the aftermath of my bullets.

So I improvised. I remembered her brawl points were low, Gez relying on her illusions, her speed, and her pet to seal the fight. I put away my sword, and tried a different approach. When she got close enough to me for the shot again, my speed didn’t stagger. I flung my wrist at her, lifting her armed hand upward and followed up with a gut punch. She crouched down, and I snatched her weapon, but when I fired, all I saw on the other end was a giant wood-carved teddy bear.

“Come on.” I gritted my teeth, getting tired of these illusions.

“You’re greedy,” I heard her voice say in a room that grew whiter by the second. “All I want is to bring you to my king, Wrath, so he could properly drain you.”

 I smiled. “You had a change of heart? What happened to mopping the floor with my guts?”

“Don’t worry. Wrath takes all types of torture requests.” The room suddenly grew dark, Gez blinding me. I couldn’t see a damn thing, but I could sure as hell sense her. It looked like she didn’t think that my senses were sharp enough, because she had the unpleasant surprise of me grabbing her tail. I slid my footing and began to heave, swinging the bitch a couple rounds over before tossing her into the dungeon wall.

I dashed toward her while she tried stammering her way up. With my dagger equipped, I started slashing at her, Gez barely missing me every time. Until my last swing where she wasn’t so lucky, my blade slicing her right at her arm. Resilience was my strong suit. I leaned my body in to follow up with a clean slice through her neck, but she did something I didn’t expect.

“You’ve become a real pain in my ass!” she grunted, then grabbed my head. It was strange, and I didn’t know what her angle was with that risky move. I sliced into her arm, Gez wincing back. Again, I closed in to kill her, until I froze, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of her.

Lenore?

“Please, don’t kill me, brother!” she cried. She appeared frail as she curled up and begged for me to spare her on the ground, my sister holding her spilled guts with her trembling arms. The smell of blood engulfed the room, as did the sound of the cannibal’s smacking lips. I was horrified, this memory like knives plunging inside my back. I could hear squelching echoing in the air, keeping me from moving past my nightmarish past.

The sight of my sister sent chills down my spine. But before I could convince myself that it wasn’t her, I felt a sharp sting inside my gut, my blood curdling from a fist digging inside of it.

“BUTCHER!”

“SERRIAN!”

“You gotta love these rare Relo items,” Gez boasted, and the meaning behind that imposter veil item I had seen in her stats made itself known. “A strength power boost, followed by a nice touch of imposter veil. I’d say they’d both served me well!”

“You little bitch!” Emera growled. She dashed at us, just as I heard the beast they were fighting charge up a beam.

“Emera!” Maelise cried. “Get out of the way!”

But she didn’t listen. The beast was targeting me, even though Gez’s fist was still deep inside my guts. The behemoth was reckless, and maybe a tad mindless too. So as Gez tried to unlodge herself from me, I capitalized, and snatched her by her throat.

“You’re not fucking going anywhere!” I seethed, my body seized with sweat and shakes. Regardless, I didn’t let her go, and when Emera grabbed my shoulders and turned me around, she turned Gez along with us.

Emera had no fear. She used Gez’s body to block us from the high beam. Before the beam unleashed itself from the monster’s gaping mouth, she reached into Gez’s stash, and stole one of her items.

Gez didn’t get to say two words before Emera smashed a vial into her mouth, causing Gez to turn into stone.

And right on time, too. Emera pulled her hand out right as the spell reached her extremities, allowing her to grab me in her arms and tumble roll us out of the way of the beam. Part of Gez had blocked us from the beam until she disintegrated, making the monster roar with rage. He’d just killed his master, and he was after the girl who made him do it.

“You’re bout is with us, rat breath!” Maelise cried, and I realized she finally got a clean angle for her arrow attack. “Explosive flame arrow! Fire in the hole!”

“Good god! Everyone duck for cover!” Faye shouted, and then not a second later, Maelise’s finisher zipped right inside the beast’s mouth. There was a delay, and Faye used it to run as fast as she could toward us, while dragging Maelise with her. The fucker was going to explode, and when he did, Faye had us covered with her Light Shield.

Guts, blood and body parts flung in every direction. As her Light Shield was being showered, Faye didn’t hesitate to patch me up as soon as possible. She was an amazing and prompt healer, my skin sealing up nicely after she had rearranged my guts. I gave her a tired smile and a wink, causing my cute little white mage to blush.

“Emera, that was crazy!” Maelise cried. “If your plan backfired, that huge rat would have cooked you and our Serrian!”

“But it worked, and that’s what matters,” I said, finally getting up on my feet. 

“That last shot tapped me out! I’m gonna need about four mana bars!” Maelise sighed in relief, then began to rummage in my sash and snatch my bars.

“I could have sworn you had your own?”

“Yeah, but you have more,” she said as she stuffed her face.

I snickered.

“Did anyone ask for a lovely artifact that could freeze time?” Faye said, who had enough time to leave us and end up at the other side of the dungeon. She was standing right next to some type of sacrificial altar, and skirted along the altar were gifts, Averoo being one of them.

“Well, at least finding it was easy, all things considering,” I scoffed. “Now, let’s move.”

“Wait! What about the loot?”

“What about it? We don’t have time to sit around and search this place for treasure,” I said.

“Come on! We should at least search a little!” Maelise insisted. “I highly doubt Wal had that creepy drow and her behemoth pet guard a simple artifact. It’s ultra-rare, but Averoo is useless without Ruu and Cotha.”

“I say we follow our Serrian’s lead,” Emera said. “We are pressed on time. Lady Lust is our first priority.”

 

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