Chapter 10: Chapter 10 – Spat

Chapter 10 - Spat

I had a nasty rope burn in the crook of my left elbow, I discovered. That, combined with my recent scrape with the tree, had left my arms a rashy mess, and I had to hold them out awkwardly from my torso lest chance accidentally brushing my sides. The recent ordeal with the… thing from below had left us a little worse for wear, I feared. Between the two of us, however, I had gotten off easy. Jax had a string of sucker marks wrapping around his torso and again around his ankles. Each of them was bleeding faintly in the middle from where the tooth in the center of the sucker had dug in. On top of that, each of these wounds was ringed in one hell of a hickey. He looked like he had been whipped by a string of firecrackers.

Taking in our condition, I sighed. “I’m going to have to take some kind of healing skill… if we can live long enough to get another level.”

His head jerked up, “That were an option?”

I shrugged, “Hopefully. I haven’t checked.”

“An’ why not, ya howlin’ gowk?” he growled between his gritted teeth.

It would appear that Jax is still in a bit of a mood.

I sighed, “Jax, calm down. You keep slipping back into your native tongue.”

“Don’t change the subject!”

“Who’s changing the subject? I can’t understand what you’re saying.” I took a breath, “What’s got you so upset anyway?”

“What’s…? I be upset because I were dropped inter the reekin’ drookit and nearly et! No thanks ter ye!” he seethed.

Now I was starting to get a little heated. “Did I not risk my life to pull you out of there?” I pointed to my elbow, “And I’ve got the injury to prove it!”

At my outburst, his eyes widened and he inhaled rapidly, almost panting. Blinking a few times, he shook his head, and then slowly, he crossed his arms in a sulk, “A-Aye, maybe so. But who’s fault be it we be here in the first place? I were just fine until ye dragged me along on this merry traipse!”

I was a bit confused by his reaction, but his words egged me on, “Oh, okay. Sure. If by ‘just fine’ you mean bleeding out and coughing up blood!”

“Hah!” He looked like he wanted to argue more, but then he looked away.

Standing up, I dusted myself off and heaved a great sigh. “Whatever, Jax. Being angry about it isn’t going to get us out of here any sooner.”

He sat silently for a moment before he shuffled to his feet with a huff. “True enough, that.” Frowning he continued, “I be sorry, Donum. It no be yer fault.”

I shook my head, “No, you’re right. I bear some responsibility.” I was trying to be conciliatory, “You are bound to me, after all.”

He snorted and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then he seemed to change his mind. Instead, he said, “Aye. Where you go, so goes me ownself. A lilim’s got the right ter complain about it, though!”

I smirked at that, “Yeah, I probably would, too, bud.” I jerked my head at the pedestal, “Come on, let’s see what all of this was for.”

Atop the pedestal was a fancy red pillow with a lining of yellow trim and nice little tassels at the corners. Resting in its middle was a deep blue gemstone cut into a lovely trilliant about the size of my thumb knuckle. I did not know much about precious stones, mind you, but I would bet that that little rock could at least pay off my student loans… or come close, anyway. Resting next to the gem, on either side, were two green glass-like beads, each about the size of a pea. I had not noticed them before.

“What are these?” I indicated the beads.

Oh. Okay. I had not meant to ask my menu, but it decided to respond anyway.

I looked over my shoulder at Jax, “Two of them. Almost like it’s specifically for us.”

He shrugged, noncommittally.

“Well, no time like the present,” and I reached for one of the little beads.

“Wait.” I stopped at Jax's warning. “Could it be trapped like yon floor?”

“Hmm. Possible.” I considered, “Better to be sure, I guess. What do you propose we do?”

He heaved a great sigh. “Stand back. This be me own work.”

Nodding, I moved to the edge of the room to watch.

Jax slowly circled around the pedestal, looking over every detail. Carefully, he poked and prodded at the gems, the pillow, and the top of the pillar. Then, drawing out his dagger, he gently slid it underneath the pillow and through the other side. Finally, seemingly satisfied he said, “I think it be clear.”

Edging forward, I said, “How confident are you?”

“As confident as a puggled lassie at her first formal with every braw’s eyes on ‘er tits,” he replied.

I blinked a few times. “I… see.”

“Not confident at all, ya roaster,” he huffed. “It’s not like I done this before. I ain’t even thought o’—” He interrupted his tirade to listen for a moment.

“Well… I guess I got a little bit o’ skill to me name, now,” he said with a touch of smugness.

I gave him a polite golf-clap, “Well done, chap. Well done.”

He swept an arm to the side and curtsied, “Thankee, yer lordship.”

We had to laugh at ourselves after that little display. Sometimes, human stupidity is at its peak at the worst of times. I would call it a coping mechanism. Others would probably just call us morons.

As we turned our eyes back to the three gems, I said, “So what do you think? Snatch and grab?”

“Right.”

“On three,” I said.

We readied ourselves, hunched over and poised like sprinters waiting on the gun.

“One… two… three!”

Like a streak, we both dove forward and fumbling briefly, we snatched up a gem or two and then dove away.

Nothing happened.

“Well… I feel stupid, now,” I said.

“Pure dead brilliant, mate.”

We decided that Jax would keep the blue gemstone, seeing as how my pack was… damaged. The strap had ripped clean off, and there was a hole big enough to put your fist through. It was still almost functional, though. As for the gem, the menu had identified it simply as:

With its appearance, I had no idea how the bandits had mistaken my keyring for a ‘Dungeon Key’ beyond stone cold ignorance. Although, I could definitely see why they would stoop to kidnapping on the mere suspicion that I might have some in my possession. I would have to watch for that in the future. With no other details to go on, we turned our attention to the two experience crystals.

As there were just the two, it was a simple enough divide. I handed one to Jax saying, “Bottoms up!”

He frowned down at the little pebble in his hand and decided, “I’m sellin’ mine.”

“What?” I was flabbergasted by this turn.

“It’s me right!” he said defensively. “We called it fifty-fifty, did we nay?”

“Naturally, I’m not debating that,” I began. “Jax, we’re in the middle of a dungeon. The Dungeon. We desperately need to gain strength to make it through this.”

“Aye, we do,” he growled. “But it’s still my gem, and I ain’t givin’ it to yer!”

I was utterly lost. “I’m not asking you to give me your gem. I’m asking you to eat the damned thing!”

His pupils dilated and he closed his eyes for a moment before he pushed on. “It’s the same thing, ain’t it? I ain’t givin’ you me Gem o’ Power!” he yelled, breathing rapidly.

“What the f—” I stopped. “Please, explain how you eating your own Gem equates to giving it to me.”

He looked surprised at my question, and his anger evaporated almost instantly. “You mean She didn’t tell yer? You did nay know this whole time?”

“Know what, Jax? Stop jerking me around.” I was still pretty pissed.

“All the Gems I consume go ta you,” he explained, stepping closer. “The Power of ‘em, anyway. She told me about it when we got them other’ns.”

I blinked, “What? That doesn’t make any sense. How are you supposed to gain any levels?”

“That were what I been wonderin’,” he shrugged. “Felt like the rug been slipped out from me feet, too, let me tell yer.”

I stepped back, “So… what? You thought you were just going to be level one forever? And you didn’t say anything about it?”

He put his hands to his hips, “I were pretty crabbit about it, aye. But it were better’n what I had. I can still sell the Gems.”

I put my hands in the air and turned around, “I… I can’t. Hold on. Let me see if I can find what you’re talking about.”

“Uh… Menu, show me…” I floundered for what to say for a moment before I just came right out and asked, “Why does Jax not gain any experience?”

“Core layer gain. Okay, what is that?” I asked.

“What?! Who ever thought of that as a feature that needed…” I stopped. Tapping my finger on my lip, I started thinking about it. Chosen was the key word. If I were interpreting this correctly, then it was possible that I might be able to gain… well, I did not know exactly. But at least one additional lilim slot seemed likely. And then using this, I could divert all of our experience gains to them for power leveling purposes. I frowned then, “No, wait, that doesn’t make any sense. I could just feed them all the Gems if I wanted to do that.” I rubbed my face. There had to be some reason for it. I was just not seeing it now.

Hastily, I disabled the ‘feature’ and turned around, “There. That should do it. Try it now.”

Jax was listening intently to his status update and then he grinned widely, “Chuffed ta bits, I be. Chuffed! Why yer not a bad sort, t’all, M… Mr. Donum.” He seemed almost choked up.

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I smiled, “I hope you’ll trust me in the future if something is off about your situation. This is all new to me, after all. Just let me know, and I’ll try to fix it.”

He nodded happily, “Aye. I’ll do that.”

Did this menu… just manufacture this whole scenario specifically so that I could get a loyalty bump? That seemed… devious. I shook my head. No, no. It was probably just the default setting for some reason, and it worked out that way.

Jax was looking at me, his smile gone. “What She be sayin’ to yer, lad? I can see it on yer face.”

I sighed, “She was telling me… how much you appreciated my being fair with you.”

He narrowed his eyes, “What exactly were Her words?”

“I was paraphrasing, but if you insist…” I looked at him questioningly. He nodded in affirmation, so I read aloud my most recent pop-up.

“Accepting? I ain’t accepted nothin’!” he growled. “How much ‘loyalty’ do I got then, since she be puttin’ a number to it?”

Hastily, I looked up the exact number, “Uh… looks like 37% total.”

That mollified him somewhat. “That’s not so much.” He looked me over, “What happens when… if it gets to a hunnerd?”

“I haven’t got a clue,” I said truthfully. “I had just assumed that would mean we’d be good friends at that point. You know… stalwart companions. That kind of thing,” I explained with a half-hearted fist pump. Or, more accurately, you might say it was ‘wild speculation’. “Jax, it’s clear something has been bothering you since we met. Maybe it’s time you shared?”

“What’s botherin’ me is that I ain’t yer…” He deflated, “No, that ain’t fair. The truth is that the Lady been… makin’ remarks about the nature of our relationship, if ya take my meaning.”

I shook my head, “I guess I don’t. Explain.”

That pissed him off, for some reason. His lips quivered like he was desperately resisting telling me off.

“I’m not going to be able to fix this if you don’t help me out. What do you mean about the ‘nature of our relationship’?” I tried to placate him.

“Don’t be givin’ me commands! I ain’t yer bleedin’ servant!”

This guy was as thorny as a porcupine. Ever since I had pulled him out of that hole, he had been itching for a fight. “I’m not…”

“Yes! Ye did!” he raged at me. “Yer not seein’ it, that’s clear though.”

He tried to calm himself down before continuing, “Donum, this thing we got goin’… it be magical in nature, ya follow?”

I nodded. He was trying to explain something important right now. I had never been all that keen on dealing with other people’s emotions. It always left me feeling awkward and off balance. This whole conversation had left me wanting to flee, but I stuck with it. Where would I go, after all?

He resumed, “When ye be handin’ out commands… explicit commands, mind… I be compelled to obey.”

My eyebrows rose at that. “Really? When did I…”

“Jus’ now. You told me to explain. Ye didn’t ask it. It were a command.”

Having it spelled out for me, certain things started to click into place. I stepped back. “I think I see. But surely you must realize that I didn’t mean…”

“Nay, I know it,” he interrupted. “But it do no matter. It were a command whether ye meant it or no. And the worst of it… the worst be that it be gettin’ harder not to jump to. Without my even thinkin’ about it. Fer little things, anyway. Ye ken?”

I understood. This was… insidious. “Jax,” I said seriously, “if, at any time, you want me to release you, just say the word. No questions asked. This… I’m not sure anyone should be given that kind of power over someone.” I scrubbed at my face, “Are you even sure that being… my lilim… partner… whatever. Do you think it’s worth it? If you have that kind of thing looming over your head?”

He looked at me, seriously considering my question, for a long time. Finally, he said, “Aye. To be able to walk into a town proper without a spear at me back? Aye. To be able to sleep in a bed in an inn with a belly full o’ bread ‘n mead? Aye. To be able to hire a whore without her worryin’ I’ll slit her throat of a morning? Aye. Maybe. If…” Here he poked me a bit roughly in the shoulder, “It do indeed be worth it, if you do nay treat me like some flamin’ slave o’ your’n.”

That was a lot to take in. When it came down to it, it was the age old question of security versus freedom. For most, it was a long slide of minuscule trades, a freedom exchanged for that extra bit of surety, the cost merely a line that took just that little bit of extra time. Lots of little things that, after a while, added up to a lot. Jax, it would seem, had had his fill of freedom but was starved for security. He was ready to cash in his chips. I nodded sighing, “I will do my best to live up to that kind of trust, Jax. I swear to you. But, that’s…”

“I ken yer thinkin’, lad. Honestly, most round these parts would be overjoyed to have a shiny new slave they did nay have to catch ‘n collar nor buy the same. Why do ya think I were so reluctant to talk about it? Here you was, spankin’ new to yer class and did nay know what were what… I weren’t about to tell you long as I could,” he explained. What he said made some sense. If our positions were reversed, I would probably have done the same. But that opened up another question…

Slowly, I replied, “Since we’re being all open and honest with each other… I did suspect, at first, that I might be making you a slave of some kind. The phrasing of the Binding was a little…suspect? But you didn’t act like it, so… I don’t know. Things can be interpreted a lot of different ways. I guess I just forgot about it. Why did you decide to admit this to me now?”

“I dunno,” he answered. “We was gettin’ heated, and it kind o’ slipped out. Felt it fer the best. Yer a kind-hearted, poofin’ numpty, ye are. I guess I figured…” he paused in thought. “I guess I figured you’d nay treat me like I had thought. Like a whippin-boy.”

I snorted, “Are you kidding? Me treat you like a whipping-boy? You’d peel my skin off with your swearing alone.”

He howled at that, “Aye! You bet yer swingin’ bawbag!”

We both ended up eating our new Gems now that the ‘issue’ had been corrected. They dissolved in the mouth sort of like a jawbreaker. It was a slow and pleasant feeling, but instead of sugar it was some sort of energy entering my bloodstream and settling in that mysterious place in my belly. Not quite enough to accomplish anything yet. Or at least, I had not been notified otherwise. Jax, for his part, had decided against using his first Gem from the Gobs. We were still broke, after all.

When we returned to the hub room, we found it unchanged. The light blue ‘speaking’ gem, as I had taken to calling them, was still on its pedestal, twinkling merrily. The green door waited patiently. There was no sign of anything moving through the halls whatsoever. Besides that mysterious tentacled monstrosity below the Blue Key room, we seemed to be totally alone in here.

“What a weird way to build a dungeon,” I muttered.

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.” I nodded to the door, “Does the Key look like it’ll fit in one of those notches?”

Jax walked over and examined it closely before giving me the affirmative, “Should I slot ‘er in do ya think?”

I shook my head ‘no’, “Save it for now. I think there’s a puzzle involved here and we should gather the parts before we do anything else.”

Just then, my stomach decided to remind me that I had yet to address its needs since the night previous. “Do you want to stop? I could use a bite to eat.”

He briefly tilted his head, “Nah… I ain’t hungry. Could use a quaff, though.”

“Is your stomach still bothering you from the last tin?”

He shrugged, “Not really. Just ain’t hungry. Figure we got short rations, anyway.”

“True.”

After all the arguing we’d been doing, neither one of us felt particularly talkative. We neither of us were angry anymore, and I felt like we’d made some good strides towards… if not friends then at least a mutual understanding of one another. Still, when emotions have been running high, it’s good to take a little break.

After I had choked down a wad of pemmican and chased it with a lighter fluid cocktail, I was ready for the next challenge. “Pick a direction, I guess. These all look the same to me.”

Packing away the skin he had been slowly nursing, Jax got up from his rest and wordlessly started making his way down the next passage over. His shuffling taps lightly resounded down the empty corridors once again as we started down the new yet familiar terrain. As we walked, I looked over his wounds from behind, now beginning to scab. Those are going to make some gnarly looking scars.

At the end of the hall, we came upon yet another of those circular rooms. Yet again, there was a pillar just in the center. Atop it, still again, was a pillow cushioning a nicely glowing gemstone, though this time it was red. Neither of us made a move.

“I ain’t goin’ ter swim with yon beastie, again.”

“I sure hope not,” I agreed. “Do you see any differences in this room, at all?”

He slowly scanned the room and started to shake his head until he glanced up. Pointing, he said, “Do ya remember them being there before?” I followed his finger and saw, up at the lower edge of the vaulted ceiling, a ring of grotesques had been carved.

I shook my head, “I’m not sure. Honestly, I was a little busy at the time.” They were not dissimilar to the ones circling the four entrances back at the hub, so I had not noticed them at first. They were of many and varied descriptions and no two were alike, but one and all, they were horrid looking monsters. Of course, being a gamer, I was not unfamiliar with the concept of gargoyles springing to life against the unwary. Probingly, I mentioned the subject to Jax.

“Living statues?” he grimaced. “That be all we need. There be a lot o’ critters up in them rafters.”

“I’m not sure, of course. It could be just one among many. Or none, and I’m just being paranoid.”

“Or all,” he finished my thought. “Course, with our luck, while I’m starin’ up at yon ceiling, the floor’d drop me inter the drink again.”

I choked back a laugh at the thought. It was still too soon for any sort of ribbing on previous misfortunes. Maybe tomorrow. If we lived that long.

Trying to think constructively, I said, “What if I tied a rope around your waist?” He raised an eyebrow at me, “You know… just in case.”

He nodded firmly, “Good thinkin’.” And so, we retrieved the rope from his pack and looped the end around him with a firm knot. Handing the rest to me, he said, “Alright. Ya ready?”

I almost nodded, but then I remembered, “Wait… I lost my spear.”

“Yer spear? When did that happen?”

“In that pit. I threw it at the tentacle that had you,” I explained.

“With one arm? While ye were stretched to burstin’?” he asked incredulously.

“What else was I going to do?” I shrugged. “Anyway, it was a lucky shot.”

“Lucky?” he snorted. “Did yer skill at least improve fer it, I expect?”

“I don’t…”

“Okay, yes. Yes, it did.” I sighed, “Why did it only come up now, though?”

Jax just shrugged, “She must o’ been busy.” So saying, he handed me his own half spear.

“Wouldn’t you rather have it? I’m sure it would see better use in your hands.”

“Eh,” he said noncommittally, “I’m better with the dagger. Though, I do wish I had something with a bit more heft ta hand.”

I nodded with determination and gripped the little spear tightly, “Alright then. Let’s do this.”

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