The Dreadful Hunt

by J. E. Thompson

  A crack sounded, and Shyola darted forward to guard their rear, lashing out to catch the Lizardfolk who had dared to step foot on the rocks and boulders behind their position. Several arrows soared out to glance off the boulders, but Kaylin didn’t seem to be firing any back.

  “Can you shoot them?” Vexx snapped, sending out another Ethereal Screech and pausing to take a long swig of his mana potion.

  Nearby, Kaylin was struggling with a spring-loaded trap, which she set on the slope. Beside it were a few partially concealed spike traps, and Kaylin kicked a bit more dirt and debris over them before grabbing Vexx’s shoulder.

  “I will,” she promised, hauling the protesting necromancer back. “Let’s give some ground first. Shy!”

  Vexx fired off another salvo of icicles at the advancing group of dragon cultists. One of them broke away from the rest, gaining on the dungeoneers when it suddenly faltered, skidding to a halt and shrieking as a spike trap pierced its left foot. Shyola appeared from out of nowhere, joining them as they backed away from the slope overlooking the gathering. They formed a rough defensive line in the cave entrance, and Vexx caught one last glimpse of the other party of dungeoneers, completely surrounded by an endless sea of dragon cultists.

  Did they not see how big the group of Lizardfolk was? Vexx wondered vaguely, as bolts of lightning continued to pierce the sky, sending small bands of dragon cultists scattering every time they touched down. Or did they really think they could handle them on their own?

  A few more dungeoneers emerged from the other side of the foothills, illuminated on the ridge as they looked down. Vexx could imagine them debating whether or not to join the battle. If he had a choice, he certainly wouldn’t have joined in. As it was, the Archmagus had forced his hand.

  “Let’s hold inside the cave,” Vexx yelled. “I…I think I can create an ice wall that might keep them…”

  “Not just yet!” Shy snarled, snapping her whip forward to slice through a dragon cultist’s neck. There was a sudden break in their onslaught, even as claws continued to scrabble along the edge of the slope. “We’re all here for the dragon egg, after all, and it’s just over there! I’ll go invisible, steal the egg, then make my way back here.”

  Vexx blanched at the thought. “You’re kidding! It’s too dangerous!”

  Rather than reply, the succubus charged out of the cave, stepping on the head of a Lizardman and launching herself forward. In the distance, the clearing where the chanting had been centered was now all but abandoned, though the chief of the cultists still paced back and forth, chittering to himself and waving his staff around.

  But Vexx had more immediate problems to deal with. With Shyola gone, the two dungeoneers were hemmed in. Kaylin shot arrow after arrow as she backed away. Vexx created an ice wall with a rush of magical water that hardened in place, beginning at the bottom of the cave entrance and working its way up. But it only went about midway before a spray of acid spit from charging Lizardman melted a large hole into it. Then, a trident stabbed through the half-formed ice and water, splattering liquid onto the dungeoneers, and the wavering wall began to melt as more dragon cultists surged forward.

  One vaulted over, instantly felled by Kaylin’s precise shot, and it collapsed to the ground. Vexx jabbed his staff into the face of another approaching cultist and fired a burst of flames that incinerated its head in a single blast. The pointed edges of a trident caught Vexx in the left arm and chest, and he fell back, his dissolving ice wall barely holding together. Vexx turned to the fallen Lizardman beside them, quickly reanimating the creature. It slowly rose to its feet, grasping its fallen trident and turning to jab outward at its former companions.

  Vexx backed away just as a glob acid spit splattered onto his chest, and he groaned in agony even as he slapped it away, spraying himself with a blast of wind and water in panic. He fumbled at his robes, grabbing a health potion and wincing as he splashed it onto the burned skin of his chest.

  “Shit,” he muttered, collapsing onto a boulder and staring at his undead Lizardman, who was currently impaled by three different tridents, and his scaly skin sizzled as it was doused by acid spit. “Shit,” he grunted again, stopping only to chug another health potion.

  “Vexx, I don’t know,” Kaylin said, loosing an arrow to strike a charging cultist in the eye. “Running low on arrows,” she noted, mechanically aiming and firing as the ice wall finally gave way. The undead Lizardman collapsed in silence, trampled under the feet of his former comrades.

  Vexx fired a Scorching Fireball at close range, scattering the Lizardfolk that clustered in the narrow corridor and setting their rags ablaze. He quickly retreated, joining Kaylin as they backed further into the cave. The dragon cultists dusted themselves off, growling and hissing as the smoke from their burning shrouds filled the narrow tunnel with acrid smoke.

  Vexx blasted them with as much frost magic as he could manage, the wolf-head staff quickly shifting from radiating necromantic energy back to frost. A high-pitched whistle sounded as steam sounded from the tip. Vexx felt about as exhausted as his staff did, patting his robes for a mana potion, almost dropping it as he uncorked it with his teeth and brought it to his lips.

  “Last one,” Kaylin announced as her bow thrummed behind him. She set her bow on her back and drew a knife in a flash even as the dragon cultists continued to push their way forward, their eagerness to kill clear in their eyes. “Vexx, I think we should—”

  The Lizardfolk stumbled to the ground, suddenly cleaved in half by a flashing orange whip, which disappeared at once. The dragon cultists collapsed in smoldering heaps as Shyola strode through and stepped over their corpses. She raised her left hand to reveal what looked to be a smooth rock.

  “Thanks for waiting,” she said casually. “The head cultist had this…until I sliced his head off, anyway. I very much doubt it’s an actual dragon egg, however.”

  Vexx blinked, fear fading away to relief and quickly progressing to shock. “Really, you think it’s fake?”

  The succubus shrugged her shoulders. “I’m no expert, but—”

  “Give it here!”

  The high-pitched, annoying warble of the voice tore at Vexx, and he rose at once. Shy and Kaylin looked over in surprise as the Archmagus stepped over the fallen bodies of dead Lizardfolk, lifting his patterned blue and black robes so they didn’t trail over their stinking bodies. Then, he fixed his stern gray eyes on Vexx, frowning even as he stroked his salt and pepper beard.

  “Oh, look who it is! Mr. Plays-With-Corpses. I should have known you’d be among the dungeoneering rabble. Give me the egg, Vexx, or I shall end you.”

  The Dragon Egg

  “Never!” Vexx spat at the stern Archmagus, instantly rising to his feet. “We won it fair and square.”

  “Oh, I remember you moaning about fairness,” the Archmagus’s lip curled in disgust. “Saying that it wasn’t fair to have a cemetery next to a magical academy. Do you know how many students we’ve had who have never resurrected corpses? All of them, Vexx! Besides you!”

  “They lacked curiosity,” he shot back. “And drive. Stick to your lectures, Archmagus. I’m the dungeoneer here, not you.”

  The older man frowned at them. “I am only here to further my research into dragons. I have no interest in dungeoneering. Give me the egg, and I will let you live.”

  “Sir!” a voice interrupted as several swordsmen stumbled in behind the Archmagus. They were smeared with soot and blood, and Vexx could clearly detect the fear in their eyes. “We’re overrun. The rest of the dungeoneers are pulling back. We lost our leader and thought that—”

  “Hold the cave entrance,” the Archmagus snapped, not even looking at them.

  “But the cultists—”

  “Did you not hear me?”

  The man gulped. “And you’ll split the reward money with us?”

  “Of course, of course.”

  The fighter nodded, and the swordsmen pulled back to form a shield wall at the entrance. Howls and
snarls echoed as a fresh band of Lizardfolk charged in, and the sound of clanging metal was everywhere around them.

  “I really must insist,” the Archmagus said, spinning his silvery-blue staff in the air and pointing it directly at Vexx. “You know what I’m capable of, boy.”

  “You’re wounded,” Vexx spat back, pointing his wolf-head staff at the man. “And I’m not alone.”

  “I suppose you wouldn’t have the honor to duel alone,” the Archmagus sneered. “Nor the honor to—”

  A fireball sizzled through the corridor, slamming into the Archmagus’s chest even as he belatedly raised a magical shield. Vexx followed it up with an Ethereal Screech, risking the netherworldly explosions in the cramped corridor, knowing he would need to bring his full might to bear if he had any hope of defeating the Archmagus.

  “You’ve learned more Black Arts?” the older wizard sputtered, the side of his face splashed with blood, more of which dribbled from his left ear. A flash of lightning was all Vexx saw before he found himself on the ground, writhing in agony. But at the very least, the detonations of his skulls continued, and he could hear the older man’s groans.

  “Vexx!”

  “Master!”

  The two dungeoneers appeared at once, looking down at Vexx in utter dismay. He groaned, or tried to, choking as blood spilled from his mouth. His vision swirled, and all he could think of was the dreams he had once had. They were puny things, really. The desire to learn everything about magic, to experiment on the undead, and to learn the magic that the stuffy, old mages in the Magical Academy of Fallanden had banned in their ignorance. Then, to become a dungeoneer…once, even to dream of meeting Dred Wyrm and perhaps even working together.

  But those dreams faded along with his very spirit.

  “Drink!” Shy insisted, and Vexx felt someone prying his mouth open.

  “Don’t bother,” he tried to say, but instead, he choked and gulped down a huge mouthful of health potion as the succubus forced it down. He distantly heard the sound of his own flesh sizzling as Shy splashed the rest on his shredded, burning torso.

  He groaned from the fresh waves of agony.

  “Just sit tight!” Shy said, disappearing. Dimly, Vexx realized he heard Kaylin yelling something. But his vision clouded once again, and he closed his eyes, losing touch with the world.

  When he came to, Vexx was struck by the strange silence around him. He groaned, sitting up and wincing at the pain and effort that one motion took. He felt around for his wolf-head staff, sighing in relief when he found it. When he regained his strength, he fed it with enough energy to create a flickering flame.

  The front of his robes was charred and burnt, yet they somehow remained in place. Tenderly, he felt his stomach, grimacing as pain lanced through him. But when he removed his hand, there was no blood.

  The health potion must have knit me together. Gods above and below, I was on the verge of dying right there. And that was just with one hit!

  Vexx rose to his feet, leaning heavily on his staff.

  “Vexx?”

  He heard Kaylin’s voice and slowly turned to face her, limping toward where she sat on the cavern floor. She rose, and beside her was the bloody corpse of the Archmagus.

  “You killed him,” Vexx rasped in surprise.

  “With Shyola’s help,” she said, wavering in place. Kaylin swirled the liquid inside a half-empty vial of health potion and took another gulp before tossing it aside.

  “Where is she?” Vexx asked, approaching the dead Archmagus. He prodded the man’s blue and black robe to verify that the old man really was dead. Somehow, it scarcely seemed possible.

  “She’s…” Kaylin fought back tears. “She’s gone.”

  Vexx’s jaw fell open. “Gone? I thought she’d outlive us both,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, she probably will,” the elf replied in between tears.

  Vexx paused, tilting his head. “What?”

  “Most likely she will,” Kaylin repeated, wiping away another tear. “Gods, everything hurts! Anyway, she went to check on the cave entrance.”

  Vexx stared at the elf for a long moment. “I thought that…oh, never mind.”

  The sounds of shifting rocks echoed down the corridor as Shyola suddenly emerged, limping and clearly favoring her left leg.

  “The guards at the entrance are dead,” she said, spitting down at the Archmagus. “Just like this bastard. But there’s still no shortage of those Lizardfolk. We need to get out of here before more arrive.”

  Chittering echoed from the cave entrance as the succubus approached.

  “Are you alright, Master? Can you walk?”

  “I’m fine,” Vexx said, pointing his wolf-head staff downward at the fallen Archmagus. A glow of green magic shone from the end. After a moment, the old wizard clambered to his feet, turning to fix his glaring green eyes at him. “Hold this position for as long as you can,” Vexx ordered.

  “Great idea, Vexx!” Kaylin said with a grin.

  “Wait,” Vexx ordered, clasping a hand on the Archmagus as he turned away. Vexx gulped, then forced himself to ask.

  If not now, then when?

  “Why did you expel me?” he asked softly. “We sorcerers are meant to seek the unknown, are we not?”

  “Against the rules,” the Archmagus managed to croak out.

  “But why?”

  The undead wizard shrugged his shoulders.

  “One last question. When I was expelled, you said I had no talent for magic.” Even saying the words pained Vexx. “That I would be a disgrace to the name of Fallanden Magical Academy. Did you… do you really mean that?”

  The Archmagus made no move even as the sound of the Lizardfolks’ claws became louder and louder.

  “Could be…very dangerous. Talent? Yes. Not the mindset of a wizard,” he grunted. “Not healer, not protector. Only death. Potential to be…very…dangerous.”

  “Oh!” Vexx brightened. “Thanks. Now, go kill them!” he announced, jerking his wolf-head staff toward the Lizardfolk congregating at the cave entrance. He winced as a bolt of lightning launched itself outward from the Archmagus’s staff. Then, the dungeoneers turned away and crept back through the caves.

  Meeting the Legendary Dred Wyrm

  “I come seeking Dred Wyrm!” Vexx announced, as the entrance to the finest hotel in all of Oerchenbrach opened to reveal an ogre in a blue footman uniform. A dignified human butler stood beside him.

  “There are many who come seeking our esteemed guest,” the butler replied. “Usually, they are better dressed.”

  “We come fresh from the battlefield,” Vexx announced with a savage grin, holding up the dragon egg. “Bringing the treasure that Dred Wyrm is seeking. May we see him now?”

  “You wouldn’t be the first to try to sell him a rock,” the butler stated dispassionately. “But I will see if he is interested. Wait here.”

  The butler departed, making his way toward the ascending staircase while the ogre guard merely watched them in silence. Shyola craned her neck, whistling as she took in the posh interior.

  “Nice place.”

  “You don’t think he’ll refuse to pay us, do you?” Kaylin asked, concerned. “Not after all we’ve been through? We nearly died there, fighting the Arch…” she trailed off as the others suddenly glared at her. “Um…the…cultists.”

  The creaking of stairs announced Dred Wyrm’s arrival. He made his way down the staircase, wearing plain leather britches and a single oversized pauldron on his left shoulder.

  “Well?”

  The dragonborn adventurer stood before them, towering over all of the dungeoneers.

  Vexx blinked, realizing he’d fallen silent upon seeing his childhood hero. On the other hand, Kaylin was completely indifferent to the dragonborn legend.

  “We got your rock,” she said, pointing at the dragon egg in Vexx’s hand.

  “It’s no mere rock,” Vexx stammered a moment later. “This is the dragon egg that the Lizardfolk cultists wors
hipped on Blackscale Island.”

  “Oh, you went there?” Dred Wyrm finally seemed mildly interested. “Yes, I thought that was the most likely location. One of my men even went to explore, but he hasn’t come back yet. Not too many dungeoneers have come back from there at all,” he added with a chuckle, clearly amused. “Well, if it’s a scam, at least you have a good story. But you don’t seem to be anywhere close to my level when it comes to dungeoneering. How did you get out?”

  “We strike hard and fast,” Vexx said with a grin. “Just the way you do.”

  Dred Wyrm rolled his eyes, then reached for the dragon egg and held it up. His eyes flashed yellow. “Hmm, well I sense that there’s magical power in it.”

  “We’ve sensed it as well,” Shyola added, and Vexx joined in with a nod. He couldn’t tell how much power was in the stone, and the succubus was more finely attuned to that skill, but Vexx did recognize that there was magic inside it. All the same…

  “If you could sense that, then I’m sure you can also sense that there is no essence of a dragon within it,” Dred Wyrm said said, frowning. “Why are you wasting my time?”

  “Look, I don’t know about all that,” Vexx protested. “But the head cultist was using that at the center of the gathering. The Lizardfolk definitely thought it was a dragon egg…or, at least, their leader did.”

  Dred Wyrm held the stone in his hands, still peering at it. “Oh, I see now. Their cult leader just pretended that it was a dragon egg. This has a very charismatic element to it, lending an extra air of persuasion to its wielder’s words.”

  “That makes sense,” Vexx agreed, relieved that Dred Wyrm seemed to understand the value.