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

by J. E. Thompson

  Vexx hefted the huge sword, wincing at the thought of lugging that all the way back, much less fighting with it. That paladin must have been unbelievably strong. He looked over at Shyola and frowned, dropping the weapon.

  “That’s not looting, Shy. That’s disrespectful.”

  “What?” Shy dropped the tunic she was peeking under. “I was just curious. Some of these chaste sorts, well, you can understand why, but—”

  “Enough.”

  “Yeah, I’d say it is.”

  Vexx shook his head, moving on to the cleric, keeping his footing despite his exhaustion. He gave the lower half of Brother Bernard a cursory once-over. He’d already rummaged through it before, but that had been a matter of life and death. He took the time to investigate now, finding little else beside a few herbs, a half-eaten loaf of bread, and a couple holy trinkets that might fetch a few coppers.

  Just when he was about done, he looked over to see a rolled up scroll tightly clenched in the cleric’s left hand. Vexx uncurled the cleric’s stiff fingers and pried the scroll loose. He wasn’t expecting much, but paused as he read the title.

  Spell for Banishing Demons to the Lower Realms.

  Banishing a demon! The cleric was about to cast this when Shy killed him. Would it have worked?

  Vexx cast a furtive glance at Shyola.

  This could come in handy. He hated himself for the thought, but stuffed it into his pocket all the same. I can’t trust her, for sure. They seem to be getting along now, but what if we fall into the worst case scenario? If Shyola tries to drain Kaylin’s soul again?

  Vexx bit his lip. I’m not sure exactly what I’d do, but at least I have the option now.

  “Find anything?”

  “Nothing,” he replied hoarsely, then coughed. “S’cuse me. Nothing besides a few trinkets and a couple potions.”

  Kaylin emerged from down the slope, a few arrows in her hand, and she raised them in the air in triumph. “I can use some of these again!”

  “That’s great,” Vexx replied, moving back up to the paladin’s corpse. Shy prodded the sword with her heel.

  “I don’t much like the idea of bringing that back,” the succubus said.

  “Me neither.”

  Vexx stared down at the lifeless body of the paladin, unsure even where to start. Well, it worked with the cleric, and he’d been cut clean in half. He put his palm just about the paladin’s chest armor, closing his eyes in concentration, sending a surge of magical energy downward. He opened his eyes.

  The body was silent for a moment. Then it twitched, a groaning rumble forming, one elbow dug into the ground as it struggled to rise to its feet. Vexx leaned forward, helping support the undead paladin as it clambered to its feet. Strange that I’m helping it now, after all that fighting. He stepped back a pace.

  “What are you doing, Vexx?” Kaylin asked, a satchel on one shoulder. “Let’s get out of these damn hills already.”

  “I don’t know about you,” Vexx said, stepping back carefully as the undead paladin rose to his feet, almost falling over. “But I’m not carrying any more than I have to. Let’s use him as a pack mule for a while. Besides, the melt value on his armor alone has to be worth a pretty penny.”

  “Good thinking, Master,” Shyola called out, hauling her satchel over. “Hey, zombie. Stand still, will you?”

  The paladin shifted impatiently as Shyola carefully strapped her satchel full of gold artifacts onto its back. She grinned, grabbed Vexx’s bag and added it to the weight. The zombie let out a low grumble. Kaylin approached, eagerly holding the satchel in her arms.

  “Yeah, this will make it much eas—”

  Kaylin slid on some loose pebbles and stumbled forward before awkwardly sprawling into the armored zombie. The undead paladin simply grunted, barely rocking at all, and Kaylin looked up sheepishly.

  “Heh…whoops.”

  “Stop playing around and get it loaded,” Shy snapped, helping Kaylin attach the last satchel.

  Vexx nodded in satisfaction. He still felt drained from that fight and from wandering around the Lifeless Hills for hours. “Zombie Thurmon, lead the way back to Cloudbury!”

  The paladin took one confident step forward into empty air, then lurched forward, falling all the way down the rest of the hill, clattering and rolling noisily until the body slid into a tree at the bottom.

  Vexx gritted his teeth. “Well, he has the right idea, anyway. Let’s go, you two. It’s just through the forest and as long as he doesn’t bump into any trees, we’ll be just fine.”

  66

  Act Natural

  Vexx winced at the sound of branches scraping against metal as the undead paladin staggered past yet another tree.

  “That is not a pleasant sound,” Shyola remarked as she stuck her fingers in her ears. “Let me steer this thing. It needs to stop bumping into trees.”

  “Don’t touch… me…” the undead paladin rasped, jerking its gauntlet away as Shyola reached for it. “De… mon…”

  “Well, that’s rude,” Shyola said. “I’m just trying to—”

  “Shush!” Kaylin snapped, her ears twitching.

  “That’s also rude,” Shyola grumbled.

  “There’s a party of loggers coming down the road,” Kaylin explained. “They’re going to see that his head is all…gone.”

  Vexx fumbled with the paladin’s damaged helmet and hurried over, hastily putting it on the paladin’s neck. “Just act natural,” Vexx muttered through gritted teeth.

  Shyola snorted. “How natural do you expect a half-naked elf, a necromancer, a succubus, and the reanimated corpse of a paladin to act?”

  “More natural than you’re acting!”

  The dungeoneers clenched their teeth and waved at the passing party of bemused loggers. They walked a few paces forward, and then a moment later, the paladin’s helmet toppled off his moving body. Vexx scrambled to pick it back up and place it back on the dead paladin’s head.

  “Shit, do you think they saw?” he hissed.

  “No,” Kaylin said, glancing back.

  “We can’t keep doing this,” Shy said. “We’re almost at Cloudbury by now.”

  “It just...it won’t stay on,” Vexx grumbled, trying to get the ruined helmet to stay in place. “It’s so much harder when he doesn’t have a head!”

  “This isn’t going to work anymore,” Shy insisted. “We’ll have to carry the rest on foot. Or maybe leave him here.”

  “But the melt value of the armor alone!” Vexx grumbled, then widened his eyes. “Oh, I just thought of something! Brother Bernard had an unopened strength potion. I’ll pass it around as a bit of a pick-me-up. Take a swig each and it should last us to the reliquary.”

  “Fine,” Kaylin said. “But I’m drinking first. I don’t know where Shy’s mouth has been,” she said, taking a sip and handing it over to Vexx, who drank another third.

  “Oh, so many places,” Shy purred and took the potion. “Bottoms up,” she said, putting the potion between her lips and jerking her head back. She tapped the end of the potion and then pulled it out, winking at Vexx. “I like to make sure I swallow everything.”

  “Great, great,” Vexx muttered, feeling vaguely uncomfortable, stuck between Kaylin’s disapproving stare and Shy’s sly smirk. “Let’s just turn this quest in already.”

  “Hmm, why don’t you two support the paladin on the way in. As for me, Master,” Shyola said as she hefted the bag of relics, “I’m more than willing to take your big load on my back.”

  67

  The Melt Value Alone

  “That’s right,” the priest was saying to the growing crowd, and judging by their assortment of weapons and armor, they were an adventurous bunch. “Quite a lot of relics, and we suspect they headed in the direction of the Lifeless Hills. 100 coins are in it for you if you bring…back…” Gaius trailed off, now noticing the approach of the dungeoneers, the paladin supported between them. “What is the meaning of this? Why have you come back?”


  “Got your relics,” Vexx wheezed, struggling to catch his breath as the crowd grumbled in annoyance. A line formed for them as the crowd began dispersing, disappointed would-be adventurers already leaving the square, now that the quest had been completed by someone else.

  “I told you not to come back here,” Gaius grumbled. “Who…” he blinked. “Is that…”

  “The holy knight, Mantaneal Thurmon. Apparently he’d been killed, along with a cleric, but I thought it best to bring him back here. He was a renowned paladin, you know, and I thought…a stately burial here…” Vexx tapped the platemail. “And the melt value alone…well, what I mean is, we’re charging extra for the corpse.”

  The priest frowned. The square outside the reliquary had just about cleared away by now, the last of the dungeoneers leaving to find new quests. “That isn’t very…pious of you.”

  “I leave piety to prophets, and profit-less piety is poverty. Just think about it!” Vexx said. “Here rests the brave Sir Thurmon, legendary paladin. Felled by goblins while on a holy quest. Think of the pilgrims! Think of the tithes you’d get from visitors!”

  “Hmm…” Gaius nodded. “Alright. Three gold coins.”

  “What? Ten, at least. The melt value of the armor alone—”

  “Melt value!” the priest sniffed in disdain. “What are you, a dwarf? Five, and we keep the armor. A holy knight should be buried in his armor. It’s only fitting.”

  Vexx grimaced, then let the paladin clatter to the ground. “Fine,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m through with carrying him.”

  “I still can’t believe you hauled him all the way down from the Lifeless Hills,” the priest said. “And you, a scrawny kid.”

  “I’m stronger than I look,” Vexx muttered.

  “Sure you are,” Gaius sniffed. “No doubt you’re half-doped up on strength potion. And you, foul creature,” the priest added as Shyola approached with her overloaded bag.

  “Here are your decorations,” the succubus replied, setting the heavy load on the ground. “I’m a succubus, darling, I can handle a big package.”

  The priest barged forward with a wide smile, the dungeoneers making space for him, and he spread open the bag and looked inside. The smile dropped in an instant.

  “What!? These are scorched! How could you let this happen!?”

  “They’re not that scorched,” Vexx protested as the priest raised a few burned golden items in the air, checking them over carefully before setting them aside. The priest shot Vexx a glare.

  “What happened?”

  “Look, I don’t know,” Vexx said, spreading his arms out wide. “I couldn’t tell you what the goblins were up to. I was just…I was just healing people. I had nothing to do with any of that.”

  “Ruined,” Gaius muttered, setting more of the artifacts to the side. The normally gleaming gold artifacts were charred either black or a dull copper.

  “They’re not,” Vexx said, creating a small ball of ice at his fingertips and grabbing a large golden scepter. He rubbed the ice against it, getting a bit of the black flakes off. “Look, it just needs a bit of polishing. That’s all. Can we take our 100 coins now?”

  “No, I’m only giving you half. Some of these parchments are burned to a crisp. The holy spear of Farnarius is just a blackened stick with a bit of metal at the end.”

  “Well…you could say he killed a dragon with it.”

  “I don’t need your marketing advice.”

  “Half?” Vexx muttered, glancing at the other dungeoneers. He was rewarded with shrugs. I guess the priest has a point. “Fifty-five coins, counting the paladin.”

  “Fine,” Gaius said, setting the last artifact down. He extended his hand, though his scowl remained. They shook on it, the priest exerting more pressure than was polite, but Vexx used his boosted strength to squeeze right back. The priest’s eye twitched, and he retracted his hand. “I’ll get your money.”

  “We’re so happy to work with you,” Vexx piped up cheerfully.

  I think it’s about time we got out of town.

  68

  The Quest Completed

  They waited in silence as the priest left, Vexx slowly feeling his surge of strength fading away and being replaced by exhaustion. “I’ll need a drink after this.”

  “At least we can afford it,” Kaylin said cheerily. “Right, Vexx?”

  “Right.”

  “Some new clothes too,” Kaylin said, examining the tattered leather that still somehow clung to her body. “This is just a mess. Still, I look nicer than Shyola,” she added with a smirk.

  Shyola frowned. “That is absolutely absurd! You! You?” She snorted. “Oh, there’s a certain trashy attraction some lower classes of species might have to you,” Shy said. “Which brings me to the idea of a potentially profitable money making enterprise. Listen to this, Master. Just imagine, a somewhat innocent woman wandering the road in those rags, just begging for some horny bandits to ambush you? Then, Master, we could spring out of hiding to loot the corpses and—”

  “Would Kaylin be one of the corpses?”

  Shyola paused to consider. She shrugged. “I don’t know exactly how it would play out. I’m a succubus, darling, not a prophetess. But, Master, I think we should seriously consider—”

  Kaylin snorted and stomped away. After a few moments, she came up to Vexx, a scowl on her face. “Vexx, normally I’d say we split it fifty-fifty-fifty, but with Shyola, I think we should only give her a third,” Kaylin whispered to Vexx.

  “Right. I was thinking the same thing,” he replied, and Kaylin grinned, putting a finger to her lips.

  Vexx turned back to see the tall priest emerge from the door with a heavy sack of coins, several servants trailing along with him to collect the satchels laden with the golden artifacts.

  “Here it is!” Gaius snapped, “You know,” he added with a scowl. “I’m growing skeptical of your story about Sir Thurmon. A handful of goblins overpowered him? Sir Thurmon, one of the most legendary dungeoneers in the land?”

  “That’s right. Where he failed, Vexx White succeeded. Remember the name, priest.”

  The priest sneered. “He must have killed most of the goblins first. I just don’t know what to make of this.”

  “So what are you saying?” Vexx snapped, leaning forward inquisitively. “Do you really think we could have killed him?”

  Gaius scoffed. “Of course not.”

  “So there you have it!”

  The priest grunted, tossing the sack of gold coins on the ground. “Now begone, you…witches.”

  “Until next time.”

  “No! There will be no next time.”

  “Well…” Vexx shrugged, counting the coins. “We’ll see.”

  “We will not see. There simply will be no next time. Should you show up again, we will have you driven out and—”

  “Looks like it’s all here,” Vexx said, satisfied with the fifty-five coins. “See you later!”

  The dungeoneers turned around, clanking with their coins, smiling as they made their way to the tavern while the priest glared behind them.

  69

  A Round for the Dungeoneers

  “I got nothing for you,” the barkeep said immediately as the dungeoneers approached the counter. “Look, you’re capable enough, I’ll give you that. I’ve already heard plenty of talk from more than a few pissed off adventurers on their way out of town.”

  “The poster board is empty outside, too,” Vexx added.

  “I heard people have been ripping the posters off to get rid of the competition.” Pollander shook his head in sadness. “I don’t know who would do such a thing! Well, at least everything’s quiet now. It’s nice and peaceful, aside from a bit of shady business with the logging companies…but I stay out of that nonsense.”

  “Yeah, nice and peaceful. Bit of a problem for us,” Vexx said, “but right now, I just want that round of ale you promised.”

  “You remembered that,” Pollander said, his eye twi
tching. “You know, I got to thinking, once I heard all the chatter about goblins stealing the holy artifacts. Seems you figured killing goblins would solve both problems.”

  “Was I wrong?”

  “No,” the barkeep said, filling up a mug. “You’re a sneaky bastard, I’ll give you that.” He passed out the mugs to the dungeoneers, Kaylin opting to take one this time, and Vexx found them a table of their own. The elf and the succubus settled into their seats without comment, and for a moment, Vexx entertained the delusion that after all they had been through, the two were finally getting along.

  “We’ve been doing well,” Vexx began, grinning at the two of them. “They say nine out of ten dungeoneers die before their tenth quest. It’s not an easy life, but we’re living it.”

  “Have we done ten quests though?” Kaylin asked, leaning back in thought. “We’ve fought plenty, but as far as quests go…”

  “Ah…I suppose not.”

  “Dungeoneer,” Shyola mused beside Vexx. “That still takes some getting used to. I suppose it’s entertaining enough, anyway. For now.”

  “A toast,” Vexx said, raising his mug. “To new beginnings! You know, I felt I had fallen as low as I could ever get, coming back to Cloudbury. Kicked out of the Magical Academy at Fallanden, my father dead, no place to live…but you two have both taught me something.”

  Kaylin nodded. “There’s never really a bottom. You can always keep falling. Unless,” she said, gesturing with her mug, the froth dribbling off the edge. “There’s a net to catch you. And trap you.”

  “Uh…yeah.” Vexx blinked. “Anyway, I’m glad to have met you both. To our next adventures!”

  They all raised a mug in salute. Vexx drank deeply, ignoring Kaylin as she coughed and sputtered.

  Shyola set her mug down and tut-tutted. “Adventures are all well and good, but new beginnings mean cutting out old ties and starting afresh. I’m telling you, Master, that elf has to go. I want you all to myself! Besides, there’s no point in keeping her around when there aren’t any quests available!” Shy leaned in close. “You and me, let’s take some time off. I can su—”