A New Beginning: A Fantasy Adventure (The White Chronicles Book 1)

by J. E. Thompson

  “Not exactly,” Vexx replied, “but never mind that. We’ll put him down for good.”

  The baron smiled wanly. “It warms my heart to hear that. You must be some of Don Kordo’s mercenaries. He sent word that he’d send someone to solve my little problem.”

  “Ah. Dungeoneers would be the term, my lord. We raid for ancient loot and solve problems for the townsfolk.”

  “Indeed?” Baron Hardringa’s eyebrows rose. “Well, I suppose I am just a simple city dweller by now, and my home has fallen into ruins. Help me, brave dungeoneers, and I will be forever in your debt.”

  Vexx cracked his knuckles and flashed a cocky smile. “Never you fear, Baron. Vexx White is on the quest!”

  51

  Clearing the Hardringa Estate

  The first skeletons emerged before they had even passed the ruined gardens, a surprisingly quick spear thrust took Vexx by surprise. He swore and dodged aside, then slammed the reanimated skeleton with a fireball.

  “Where the hell did he come from?”

  “Perhaps he was a gardener,” Shyola replied, slashing through the overgrown hedges with her whip. It provided a better view of the ruined exterior of the Hardringa Estate. An ornate marble fountain had partially collapsed in an outside plaza, which was further marred by bird droppings and vegetation in various stages of rot. Vines scaled their way up the walls of the manor building, a shed by the side had been left unattended, and the beginnings of a small tree emerged from the cracked tiles of the nearby plaza. It must have been impressive, once. But that time had passed years ago.

  “I wish we could just burn the place down,” Vexx grumbled.

  “You just want to burn everything down,” Kaylin pointed out.

  “It does make things easier.” Vexx sighed. “Let’s go through the ground entrance there,” he said, jerking his chin at the rotting door nearest to them. It had been painted a garish yellow, but it had faded away from the constant battering of sunlight and now sported what looked like deep gouges from wild animals. “We’ll work our way to the top,” he added, heaving an internal sigh as he looked up at the three stories of the ruined manor. “That goes up pretty high.”

  Kaylin snorted. “No, it does not. By human standards, maybe, but in an Elven tree village, you could be many spans higher. Up in the clouds, practically. This is nothing.”

  “For once, I agree with the elf,” Shyola said. “You should have seen the spires of the Old Empire, Master. They circled their way into the sky—but that was before the devastation that came afterward. That I…” she paused. “Ah…I shall save those stories for another time.”

  “Huh, are you saying that you’re the reason the Old Empire fell?” Vexx laughed at the thought, but Shyola’s expression was unusually serious.

  “It has been said of me,” she said diplomatically. “But never mind that. Let’s destroy some skeletons in the ruins of a ruined Empire.”

  Vexx tilted his head, unsure how to process this new information, but finally nodded. “Shyola, why don’t you go first? We’ll cover you from behind.”

  “Certainly, Master,” Shyola said, sauntering towards the door. “You can cover my behind.” She sped up as she neared the door, slamming into it with her shoulder, and strode into the ruined manor. “Oh, skeletons! Damned souls!” She snapped her whip into existence. “Come out and get me!”

  “Well, that’s one approach,” Vexx muttered as he and Kaylin squeezed in after her, hearing rumbles and hisses from every direction. The gleam of white caught his eye, and he cursed as a pair of reanimated skeletons shuffled forward, cudgels in their hands. Shyola slashed forward in a flash, severing them both in half. She stepped forward into the open, a few spiraling staircases visible on both sides, and spun around with a feral smile fixed to her face.

  “Come out and play!”

  From the upper floor, a shambling horde of skeletons approached in both directions. Vexx turned to face the left side and downed one with a quick fireball. “Kaylin, guard the right,” he snapped, noticing that she’d kept her bow strapped to her back. The elf was swinging around one of her net traps, but this one was weighted down with a dozen stones. “What are you doing?”

  “Arrows are useless against those things,” she replied, swinging the net around. “Trust me, I’ve got this!” Kaylin flung the net up into the staircase, catching a few skeletons inside it, and with a shout that echoed throughout the room, she yanked back. The skeletons fell tumbling to the ground floor, their fragile bones shattering from the impact. Kaylin grinned as she began swinging her net again. “This thing works great!”

  A few other skeletons had emerged from rooms in the ground floor, and Shyola darted forward to meet them, but Vexx focused his attention back on the staircase to his left. He carefully fired fireball after fireball, making each shot count this time, taking skeletons full in the chest and smashing them to pieces. With a roar, he quickened his pace, downing a half-dozen in just a few seconds, then paused to drink one of his magic potions. With the haul from Barnabus Lowrie, Vexx saw little reason to ration them, and he belched as the potion worked its way into his body.

  A bit of spearmint would help the flavor, he thought, recalling Doctor Fansee. But it’s the boost in stamina it gives me that really helps.

  Vexx’s hands shot forward, his fireballs knocking down another half-dozen advancing skeletons. Shy’s whip cracked, and he heard Kaylin’s grunting, followed by the smashing of bones on the ground. Already, the advancing skeletons thinned down to no more than twenty, and with each one smashed to bits, they dwindled further and further in ranks.

  Easy money, Vexx thought, just as Kaylin screamed.

  Vexx knocked a few of the last skeletons back before turning in alarm. “What is it?” he asked, then saw a flash of black and red.

  “A hellbeast!” Shyola cried out, turning to face the right staircase, a pile of smashed bones littering the ground around her. It was tangled in Kaylin’s net, but the hellbeast roared, an unearthly howl that shook the very foundations of the manor. The net began to smolder and burn. Vexx turned and fired, watching as his fireballs slammed into the hellbeast. It leaped through the air and Kaylin sprinted aside, her frantic fingers fumbling at the strap of leather holding her bow in place. Shyola’s whip cracked just above the hellbeast as it ducked low to avoid her attacks.

  The creature leaped up in the air at Shyola, one huge paw slamming her to the ground as she tried to dodge away, shattering the tile floor below her. The beast roared its demonic howl again as it pinned her down. An arrow sunk deep into its flank just as Vexx ran over, switching to frost magic, and he fired a burst of frost into its mouth just as it went for Shyola’s neck. The succubus screamed in fright, but the ravenous jaws of the hellbeast froze into place. A moment later, the ice began to crackle.

  I hate frost magic, Vexx thought, rushing close. But how else do I kill that thing?

  Another arrow took it in the jaw and a whimper echoed over the snapping of the ice. And when Shy wriggled herself free, she slashed her whip upward. Against its thick, scaly armor, the whip didn’t appear to do a thing—but she slashed again and again, even as the frost cracked away. Vexx stuck both arms forward, feeding more magic into the ice, keeping the hellbeast stuck fast. Then Shyola slashed again, tearing it clean through the heart, and the hellbeast slumped to the ground.

  Vexx let out a long sigh as Shyola slithered free from under the beast’s corpse.

  “Vexx, behind you!” Kaylin snapped, and in an instant, he turned around, magic readied.

  A walking corpse confronted him. Or…not quite. Vexx blinked and took a second to take in the aged and gaunt appearance of Baron Hardringa. The old aristocrat frowned as he looked around.

  “This is not as it used to be,” he muttered.

  “We’re working here,” Vexx snapped, glancing around. “Come back later.”

  “I think we’ve got them all, darling,” Shyola said, flicking a spot of dried blood off her skin. “Though I did not ex
pect a hellbeast in this realm.”

  “Oh yes, my dear old foxhound,” Baron Hardringa said sadly. “So that’s what happened to you, you poor old thing.”

  Vexx grunted. “We’re off, then. I trust you’ve paid Don Kordo.”

  “Every last penny.” The baron paused. “Well, you’re going to help me clean this up, aren’t you?”

  Vexx laughed as he turned to walk up the dilapidated stairs. “We’ll take a few things, but that’s it.”

  The baron grunted. “Common folk. I will never understand you lot.”

  52

  Agreeing to Disagree

  “I put three arrows into that hellbeast,” Kaylin insisted as they walked through the streets of Cloudbury, liberated coins and trinkets jangling as they went along. “Not to mention, I was the one who trapped it in the first place.”

  “Vexx trapped it,” Shyola replied, “my cunning Master saving my life with such skillful frost magic! Oh, I won out in the end, cutting my way free and felling the beast. But I can’t take credit alone.”

  “I just don’t know why you keep saying I’m useless,” Kaylin said darkly, frowning over at the succubus. “I do plenty of things to help us! To help you, even! Tell her, Vexx.”

  “I didn’t say you’re useless, elf, I said that you’re baggage. I imagine we could get some coin for you.”

  “Knock it off, Shy,” Vexx said, finally losing his patience. “You make a good team, despite it all, so stop pretending that you don’t.”

  The succubus sniffed, but said nothing further. Kaylin stuck her head out, blinking. “Hey, Vexx! There’s something on the board by the inn. Want to check it out?”

  “Really?” Vexx perked up. Ever since they had returned to Cloudbury, he’d never seen any bounties posted, or at least nothing he was authorized to carry out. Vexx hurried over, the other dungeoneers right behind, and they crowded around the bounty that still smelled of fresh glue. “The Church posted this,” Vexx said, skimming through it. “Stolen goods? Last night?”

  “This is horrible!” Shyola declared, and Kaylin and Vexx both looked over in surprise. “What? It really is horrible! The bounty is posted out here, available to anyone! Let’s tear it off, Master, so no one else gets a chance to get the reward.”

  “Tear it off?” Kaylin sputtered. “Why, that’s…that’s…” she blinked. “An incredibly good idea,” she said as she quickly grabbed the paper and ripped it off the board. She rolled it up and handed it over to Vexx. “Good thinking,” she added.

  Shyola smiled uncertainly. “Ah…thank you.”

  “It’s a bit light on details,” Vexx said, glancing over the bounty in his hands. “But apparently, a group of thieves stole the golden artifacts from the reliquary last night. The Church wants them back and is offering quite a lot for it. Oh, this is great!” He rolled it up and favored the other two dungeoneers with a wide smile before sticking the paper in his robes. “Things are going really well for us lately! We do this job and we might as well call ourselves the next Dred Wyrms!”

  “That’s a terrible name, Master, and I won’t be calling myself that anytime soon. That said, we should do this quest at once.”

  “I agree,” Kaylin added happily. “With both of those things.”

  Shyola shifted her feet. “Stop agreeing with me,” she muttered. “It’s weird.”

  “It is a little weird,” Kaylin agreed again. “But when you’re right, you’re right.”

  “Let’s go to Don Kordo first,” Vexx said, lost in thought. “Someone might have sold it to them. Then, we can ask around at the reliquary. I’m sure they have a few clues.”

  The dungeoneers rushed through the traffic to make their way back to Don Kordo. Brundisio greeted them at the door, a fresh bandage on his torn ear. “Ah, the brave dungeoneers have returned! I heard you cleared out Baron Hardringa’s manor just this morning. Will your adventures ever end?”

  “No,” Vexx said, pushing his way past and slowly opening the door, feeling the tingle of the magical enchantment. Don Kordo looked up from his desk in surprise.

  “Back so soon? I just gave you the baron’s reward not an hour ago!”

  Vexx unrolled the bounty poster, tapping the scroll. “Golden artifacts from the reliquary were stolen last night. Do you know anything about that?”

  “What? No. I mean, I’d be interested if the price was right. But I’ve been plenty busy sorting out this Lowrie Gang business.”

  “Hmmm…” Vexx nodded. “Well, if you hear anything, let me know.”

  “What are you doing with that bounty poster?” Don Kordo asked in puzzlement.

  “Oh, we just tore it off.”

  “You’re not supposed to do that,” Don Kordo sputtered. “What if someone else wants the job?”

  Vexx sighed. “You’ve been very helpful,” he said, turning to leave. “Come on, off to the reliquary.”

  53

  Helping the Church

  “This is…” the stern, hawk-nosed countenance of Gaius flickered between confusion and outrage. The tall priest just shook his head after a moment. “Most…irregular.”

  “What’s irregular?” Vexx asked, radiating innocence, spreading his arms wide.

  “Your family name isn’t exactly held in renown, White boy. And this elf here—”

  “Why does everyone keep calling me that…” Vexx muttered.

  “She should not be in the presence of a holy site. But even worse…” Gaius shook his head in disbelief. “Does that harlot have blood on her bosom?”

  “Yes…” Shyola purred. “Would you like to lick—”

  “On second thought,” Vexx snapped, raising a hand in front of Shyola. “You do have a point. But look here!” he said, producing a loose sheaf of paper. “We saw your bounty posted and ripped it down. It says some of your gold artifacts were stolen just last night. We can handle—”

  “You what!? That was for bounty hunters to pursue!”

  “Right…but what I’m saying is that we’re bounty hunters. Anyway, it says some gold artifacts were stolen from the church and—”

  Gaius’s hand whipped forward and snatched the poster away from Vexx.

  “Hey!”

  “I’ve had just about enough of you,” he huffed. “Why, you—”

  “One moment, sir,” Vexx said, brandishing his scrolls. “Are you still in the market for literature and curios?”

  The priest hesitated a moment, emotions warring on his face. His glare fell a fraction. “Perhaps.”

  “Check this out,” Vexx said, unfolding a scene of erotic dryad art. “What a lucky satyr he is, with all the dryads—”

  “Leave this place and never come here again!” Gaius shouted as he quickly ushered them out and slammed the door behind them.

  “Okay, we’ll come by later!” Vexx sniffed, glancing at his two companions. “That could have gone better.”

  “I thought you did wonderfully, darling,” Shyola said as she patted his arm. “Only, perhaps we could kill them next time? That strapping young priest had the most wonderful smell of innocence about him.”

  “I became a dungeoneer to kill monsters,” Kaylin said in a small voice, shaking her head in sadness. “Have I become a monster myself?” She raised her hands in the air. “What evil have these hands caused in freeing you from your cage?”

  “Oh come now, dear, those hands are not evil hands,” Shyola said, in a tone that sounded strangely like genuine kindness. It was ruined a moment later. “But they do look delicious. Could I just have a nibble—”

  Kaylin jerked her hands away. “No.”

  Shy bit her lip. “Perhaps I’ve been too harsh to my Master’s helpful assistant. It was the hunger, I suspect. You’re not yourself when you’re hungry.”

  “That’s true,” Kaylin said with a nod. “But I’m no assistant, and I’ve never been helpful to anyone. Just ask Vexx.”

  “That’s true. We’re partners,” Vexx added.

  Shy scowled. “No, I don’t like that. I don�
�t like that one bit.” She sighed. “Where to next, Master? It seems this is a dead end.”

  “Hmm…” Vexx pursed his lips. “I suspect the barkeep may have found out about his dead sheep by now…and I doubt he’s forgiven us for breaking his chair. Though it was the dwarf’s doing.”

  “Strange what you two were up to before I came along,” Shy said thoughtfully. “Though in my experience, it’s always best to blame a dwarf. Hang on, though, something has occurred to me. These priests, they don’t actually need to agree, do they?”

  Vexx frowned. “I realize you’re a succubus, but consent is important.”

  “No, what I mean is, we can just find the artifacts and return them. For a hefty reward! Oh, you think their Supreme Leader will let me take the priest as a reward?”

  Kaylin and Vexx exchanged skeptical glances.

  “You know, Vexx, she has a point about the artifacts. If we can track down whoever did this.”

  “Right. They don’t have Supreme Leaders, though. I think you’re thinking of death cults,” Vexx pointed out.

  “Ah…well, I have much more experience with them than with these church types. You see that bakery just across the way?” Shy pointed across the street. “Bakers begin their mornings very early. They’re great for a midnight snack! The, uh…bread, I mean. Anyway, perhaps one of them saw something.”

  Vexx whistled. “Well, now! It’ll be great not being the only one coming up with ideas! Let’s go.”

  Kaylin grinned over at Shy. “Vexx has always been good at ideas.”

  54

  The Bakery

  The powdery-whiskered gnome in charge of the bakery nodded once as Vexx made his request clear. “Sure, Maug and Linda were here overnight. They might have seen something; they’re farrenweed smokers and take pretty regular breaks. Great workers, though,” the gnome mused.