Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2)

by Scot C Morgan

  Nithia leaned in. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah." I rubbed my shoulder and tipped my head from side to side, to get the tension out of my neck. "Hang on a second."

  I grabbed the upper section of the post, which dangled at an angle. I could see the top had almost completely separated from the horizontal beams above it—and one of them was cracked too. Making sure I had enough room behind me to move backward, I yanked on the hanging post, breaking it loose. I stepped back as it fell down and forward. It settled against the giant foundation stone in front of me. I dropped the end I had, letting it fall to the dirt. The cracked joist beam supporting the flooring gave way at the same time, crashing down beside the leaning post I'd freed. Several broken pieces of the flooring planks fell too. The whole space filled with dust, as everything hit the ground and splinters of wood scattered.

  When the dust cleared, Tara came back in first. "That was impressive." She patted my chest, then looked up at the hole in the floor. "Now we have a door."

  I peered through the opening, checking to see if anyone was up there. I didn't see anyone, but I couldn't see the entire room.

  They'd have done something by now. It's empty. Hopefully, no one heard.

  Over the next five minutes, I hoisted everyone up the angled post so they could reach the opening and pull themselves up and into the room. I went last, running halfway up the slanted post, then jumping to grab the wood edge to the hole.

  The whole ordeal involved way too much clanging noises and groans, but we had our weapons, as well as a little bit of gear on us. So, the sounds were almost unavoidable.

  After lifting myself clear of the whole and rolling onto the solid floor, I got up and and stood quietly for a few moments. Everyone else did the same.

  "I don't hear anyone," I said, moving my hand away from the hilt of my sheathed sword.

  Alara stood closest to the one door in the room. She held her staff, and the jewel on top glowed, letting us see well. I'd passed her staff up after giving her a boost up the post. "So, now what?" she said.

  Tara was right. We were in a cellar. A few grain sacks leaned against the wall opposite the door. There was a large table in the center of the room, but no chairs or stools. Shelves filled with glass bottles and root vegetables took up most of the rest of the room.

  She grabbed a carrot and chomped the end from it.

  We all looked at her.

  "What?" she said, carrot bits in her mouth distorting the word.

  "Just try not to do that when we're sneaking around," I said. "Okay?"

  She took another bite. "Oh, I wouldn't do that."

  I stared at her for a second, wondering if she really wouldn't.

  Gulny grabbed a couple of carrots and stuck them in his pants pocket. "For later," he said, looking as if he needed to defend his actions.

  Nithia shrugged and took a root vegetable of some sort. It was reddish brown and bulbous. She sniffed it, then put it into a small leather pouch tied to her belt.

  I moved to the door, taking a spot next to Alara. "Everyone done with the vending machine?"

  I got blank stares.

  I looked at Gulny. "That drawing of yours doesn't give a layout of the rooms, does it?"

  He shook his head.

  "Alright," I said. "We go in quietly and together. Nithia, Gulny, you two stay in the back. Tara, if you have room to work your bow, keep an arrow ready. Alara and I will take the lead." I turned to Gulny again. "With any luck, we'll find your father before anyone knows we're here."

  Alara sighed. "You really think we'll be that lucky?"

  I wanted to say yes, but I just shrugged and reached for the door. "Ready?"

  Alara and Tara nodded. Tara shrugged and took one last bite of her carrot before tucking the remainder under her belt. She drew an arrow and notched it. Gulny pulled out his short sword, but I could tell by the look on his face, he was probably hoping desperately that he wouldn't have to use it.

  With my sword ready, I opened the door. The next room posed no trouble for us, and neither did the one after that. The last one appeared to be the foyer—if that's what it's called in a tower. There was a door on either side and a spiral staircase ahead of us. A window high above the door let in starlight—just enough to see without Alara's staff, I thought. The door on our right had flat black metal supports running over the wood. It had an eye-hole too, or at least a block of wood cut and hinged so it could be lifted to look outside.

  The bruise on my shoulder ached again, at the realization we could have walked in the front door. It's got to be locked. I felt a little less stupid after that thought.

  "Which way?" Alara said.

  I looked at the stairs. "Most of the tower is above us. There's a good chance he's up there somewhere." And Ms. Thompson, and whoever's helping her.

  "Could be a dungeon," Tara said, eyeing the door to our left. "Or at least a few more rooms. We might want to check those out first, so nobody gets behind us."

  "Good point," Nithia said.

  "Right." I walked back to Tara. "You stay on this side of the room and keep your bow trained on the stairs. If anyone comes down who looks like they might turn us into toads or otherwise ruin our day, shoot them." She nodded. "And yell for us as loud as you can. One of us will keep you in sight too." I looked at Gulny. "You stay in the doorway, in case she needs help before we can get back here."

  He looked nervous.

  "Don't worry, kid," I said. "Odds are nobody will come down the stairs until we get back."

  He nodded, but still looked nervous.

  "What should I do?" Nithia asked.

  Would she be safer here or with me clearing the other rooms, I wondered.

  Alara put her hand on Nithia's shoulder. "Why don't you come with us?"

  Nithia nodded.

  Alara turned to Tara. "You good with this?"

  Tara drew the arrow back with the string of her bow, aiming it at the stairs. She eased the arrow back to rest. "Yes. I'll be fine."

  With everyone assigned a place, Alara, Nithia, and I set out to investigate the other rooms. I drew upon every ninja and Batman movie I'd seen to go into super stealth mode, though I think most of my skill was in my imagination. As we moved into the third room, I glanced back to Alara, to make sure she and Nithia were still close behind.

  Alara smirked. "What exactly is it you think you're doing?"

  "Hiding in shadows," I said, using old RPG language.

  "Uh huh." She stuck her arm out, her hand upturned. "Don't let me stop you."

  Feeling a little self-conscious after Alara called out my ninja skills, I stopped crouching and went into the last room without walking on my tiptoes. A minute later, having encountered no one, we returned to Tara and Gulny.

  I offered for anyone who wanted to wait downstairs to do so, but everyone declined—the consensus being safety in numbers. I pointed out there was a good chance we'd run into trouble upstairs, but nobody changed their mind.

  After putting my foot on the first step, I turned my head back to Alara. "Your energy good?"

  She took a deep breath and let it out. "Yes." She glanced up the stairs. "It is going to be like that. Isn't it?"

  "We weren't invited," I said. "You're still feeling that bad mojo. Aren't you?"

  "It's been all I could do to keep it to myself since we got close to the tower."

  I nodded. "We'll get out as fast as we can…as soon as we find his father." I gave her a once over with my eyes and smiled. "Trust me. I don't want us to hang around with a pissed off magic user."

  "You talking about your girlfriend up there?"

  I knew she was kidding. "Yeah. Or whoever the hell has been teaching her party tricks."

  I glanced back to the others to make sure they were ready. Everyone gave me a nod, including Gulny, who was in front of Nithia.

  After coming around the fourth spiral of the staircase, I wondered if there were any rooms in the middle of tower, or if we were just heading straight to the top. I ho
ped for a floor before then, knowing if only the top rooms were left, we would certainly run into Ms. Thompson and the Voldemort she was shacking up with.

  After several more steps, we came to an opening in the stone wall which surrounded the stairs. I figured we were at the halfway point to the top. We stepped into the hall. Torches lined the walls, but their flames had a green haze. I moved a little closer to the one on the wall next to me.

  "It's not warm," I said after holding my hand closer to confirm my suspicion. I turned around to Alara. "Can you do that?"

  She held her staff close to my face. "I can show you what I can do with this if you like."

  I glanced at the magical flame. "It's not that impressive anyway."

  "Hey, you two." Tara stood in front of a closed door halfway down the hall. "I hear something." She leaned her ear against the door. A moment later, she nodded, then stepped back. "Gulny, I think your father's in there."

  He rushed over to the door. "Are you sure?"

  The rest of us hurried down the hall to join them.

  "Hold on," I said. "And try to keep it down. How do you know it's him and not…somebody we don't want to talk to."

  "I'm not sure," Tara said. "But he sounded friendly."

  Alara gave her an are-you-serious look.

  "Why would you say he sounds friendly?" Nithia asked.

  Tara put her ear to the door again. "He's singing."

  "Really?" Gulny pushed past me and put his ear to the door, his head beside Tara's. "Yes! It's him!"

  He reached for the handle, but I put my foot in front of the door. "Hold on." I looked at Tara and nodded my head to behind her, to get her to move back.

  After she'd stepped back, I readied my sword and removed my foot from in front of the door. "Okay. But stay out of the way, until we know for sure it's him."

  He nodded, then swung the door open.

  A man sat with his back against the far wall. He had a heavy metal clasp on one of his ankles and a thick chain connected it to a large ring on the wall beside his head. He stopped singing when he saw us at the door. "My son!" He reached toward Gulny with both arms.

  "Father!" Gulny ran to him.

  The room was small with nothing but the Balinite, an empty bowl near his feet, and a bad-smelling hole in the floor in the corner.

  I followed the young Balinite inside. As he embraced his father, I used my sword on the metal ring fixed to the wall, smashing the ring with the pommel. After striking it a few times, the stone around it was cracked and chipped. I gave the loop a hard kick to knock it from the wall.

  "We found him," I said, "but if we don't get moving, all of us might not get out of here."

  The older Balinite nodded to me. "Thank you. You're right."

  "Can you walk, father?" Gulny helped him stand.

  "They've made me weak," his father said. "But with your help, yes."

  Alara stuck her head inside the room. "I think she heard someone in the stairwell."

  "What?" I asked.

  "Nithia." She looked down the hall. "She's halfway down the hall. She went up the stairs a moment ago to be a lookout."

  Shit.

  Chapter 21

  I feared someone might get to Nithia before we caught up with her. I grabbed Gulny's father by his upper arm and practically dragged him to the door, with his son scrambling to stay with him.

  "Come on," I said. "We need to get down those stairs fast!"

  I ran down the hall toward the Nithia, only glancing back once to make sure everyone else was coming. "Hurry up!"

  Nithia looked panicked. She gestured repeatedly for us to come to her. Clearly, she meant for us to do it faster.

  "From upstairs?" I asked as I got closer to her.

  "Yes, but they're coming down."

  I realized if she heard whoever was coming down, they probably heard us too. "Go!" I passed her and took a position on the stairs, with my sword ready to swing at anyone who descended on us. I knew I might be doing little more than jumping in front of a magical freight train, but I had to make sure the others got to safety. My sense of concern for them somehow overwhelmed my fear for myself. I felt a surge of energy. My sword felt weightless in my hands. As the others rushed past me and made their way down the stairs, I listened to each footfall above me lightly striking its step. Then, my confidence—or brazen foolishness—drained out of me.

  "You feel that?" Alara stood beside me, holding her staff with the jewel top pointed up the stairwell. The glowing white jewel quivered, and I ran my gaze down the staff to see the movement came from her hands.

  I did feel it, a strange contact, as if someone reached out and scratched my soul. In the split second after she asked me, my arms again felt the weight of my sword, and my legs seemed less sturdy. My adrenaline rush shifted into a feeling of overload, and my stomach churned with nausea.

  I kept my balance, but I had to double my effort to keep my sword blade up.

  "What the hell is that?" I said.

  Alara staggered, nearly tumbling down the stairs, but she braced herself with the wall beside her. I saw fear in her eyes when she looked up at me. "Den, we need to get out of here."

  I completely agreed with her, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't move a muscle.

  She went down a few steps. "Den! Come on!"

  What the fuck is happening?

  I tried to speak, but nothing happened.

  "He's mine!"

  Holy shit! That's Ms. Thompson!

  Her leg came down into my view—a thigh-high black boot and the curve of her ass in purple pants.

  Alara grabbed my wrist and pulled, but I felt my muscles hold stiff and all she could do was cause my arm to extend a little.

  "Den!" She sounded desperate and I was horrified that I couldn't do anything to help her, or myself.

  "You can't have him," Ms. Thompson said, taking another step closer to us. "I need him." A whirl of black smoke circled her right hand, which held something. A chain dangled out of the bottom of her fist. Wisps of the smoke stretched out from her hand toward me. The smell nauseated me.

  "Oh! You bitch!" Alara's eyes lit up with white light so bright it hurt my eyes, which I could barely move. She pointed the jeweled end of her staff at Ms. Thompson, but my evil magic-wielding English Lit teacher waved her empty hand toward Alara's staff and, though she didn't touch it, the staff flew back.

  The blast of white energy burst from the jewel but struck the stone surround to the stairs. Chunks of stone blew out from the wall and I felt smaller pieces pelt me. Ms. Thompson dropped the object she had, which must have been the source of the black smoke. It dissipated as what I saw to be a medallion fell down the small circular cavity in the middle of the spiraled staircase. I felt control over my muscles return.

  I glanced at Alara. She had an arm up, shielding her face from the wall fragments. Her staff was still in her other hand.

  Ms. Thompson reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out her hand, flinging sparkling dust out past me. Alara began to choke. She dropped her staff and reached to her throat with both hands.

  I swung my sword to cleave Ms. Thompson through her taut stomach, but my blade came to a dead stop an inch from striking her. She looked shocked at nearly getting sliced open, and the magical dust fell onto the steps.

  Alara coughed as I tried to push my sword against Ms. Thompson, but this time it was the sword that was frozen, despite my arms putting out tremendous force.

  "Is this the one you've been going on about?" The man was in the stairwell, above Ms. Thompson. He looked like he was in his sixties, maybe older. He wore a hooded cloak.

  Fuck. It's Emperor Palpatine.

  His hand was pointing at my sword. He flicked his fingers out and I felt a strong push on the blade, but I squeezed the grip tighter and kept the sword from moving away from her. Then she stepped back up the stairs, just behind the old man. I could see a twitch under his left eye. The tendon in his neck raised and a vein bulged on his forehead. A moment l
ater he dropped his hand and the force against my sword went away.

  I raised my sword overhead to swing at him, but Alara had picked up her staff and she put her arm against my stomach as she moved beside me, heading down the stairs.

  "Come on, Den!" She pushed me into a slight turn as she hurried down the stairs.

  What? I was-

  My swing had been fouled and the old man must have used the moment to try his force move again. It flew from my hand and down the same way the medallion had gone. I heard it clang against the stone somewhere down below. I made a snap decision that facing both of them without Alara and without a sword would be stupid. I hurried after her. We rounded the curves of one floor before I glanced back to see if our geriatric wizard and my spell-casting sexpot professor were on our tails. She was, but evidently he wasn't the running sort.

  We rounded the curve past another floor but kept our pace. Alara was taking two, sometimes three steps at a time, with the occasional help of her staff. I bounded down just as fast, trying to stay a little to her side, to avoiding bumping her.

  "What's going on up there?" Tara shouted, her voice echoing up the stairwell.

  "Just go!" Alara said.

  We made it all the way to the bottom floor. Nobody had listened to Alara telling them to get out.

  "What's going on?" Nithia asked.

  I looked back, expecting Ms. Thompson in her tight purple pants to round the last curve. I scanned the floor and spotted my sword. "We don't want to be here! All of you, get out!" I ran over to my sword and picked it up, rushing back to the bottom of the stairs. I wanted to make sure everyone had time to get out. I heard them going to the front door, but I didn't look back for fear Ms. Thompson would hit me with a fireball or magic missile while I wasn't looking.

  But she didn't come down. I waited a few seconds. I could hear talking up the stairwell, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

  "It won't budge!" Tara said.

  I turned and saw her and the boy trying to get the door open. Nithia was helping Gulny's father, letting him lean on her a little.