by Atlas Kane
“Latsi?” Cade asked, unfamiliar with the name.
Havasham gave him a critical look. “For Archon, there are too many people who you have yet to introduce yourself to. Latsi though,” he admitted. “Is a bit of a recluse. She has a Mechanical Technician Occupation, and might be the only one in town capable of using these resources.”
“I will amend my oversight then, as soon as we are done with this.” Then, wanting to cement whatever thread of goodwill he’d forged with this man, Cade extended his hand toward Havasham.
The man examined the offering but a moment before accepting. They shook and shared a more solemn smile.
“This does not change everything, Cade.”
Nodding appreciatively, Cade responded. “I know, Havasham. But it might also be the start of something good.” Gesturing around the room, Cade added, “You are a fine leader. I can’t imagine we would have survived had you not brought your team in with us. Thank you.”
When the moment faded, Cade called out, “Let’s loot these things thoroughly. I’d like a summary of every part or piece that is found. Seems like Latsi will be having a nice Christmas present when we return. Then I think we should continue. The floor is obviously not finished, and though that last battle was… trying, I think us capable of completing what we started. Anyone disagree?”
A few shook their heads, and a handful more looked to Havasham. The councilman waited till all the others had a chance to speak up before speaking himself. “I am in favor of your plan, Archon. Let’s see what else lies in wait for us.”
Cade’s suspicion that a bridge had been formed between them, tentative and fragile though it may be, was confirmed.
The XP was vital. Already, he was almost halfway to the next level, and that split between ten fighters. The loot promised to be game-changing. Who knew what they could build with these mechanical parts?
But the most valuable resource they’d found in this dungeon was the beginning of a true alliance.
Camp Casmeer needed to become a place where everyone felt comfortable, welcome and wanted. Cade knew Cha didn’t have that luxury. For what reasons, he had no clue. But if Havasham, who worshipped the ground she walked upon, could be brought into a friendship, then there was hope she could be appeased as well.
Cade looked about at the men and women who walked around the room, placing their hands on the remaining bots and looting them one at a time. These were his people, and though he struggled, he would find a way to lead them fairly.
Then as the task was finished, Cade exchanged a look with Havasham, and both parties strode toward the nearest of the two paths. What lay beyond, none of them knew, but they’d face it as allies.
6
Ghoul in the Machine
Havasham sent Vrin ahead. As agreed, both groups would leap frog for as long as possible.
That turned out to be a lot shorter a period of time than any of them had imagined. Vrin stepped forward down the path, and a large, hidden pressure plate sunk into the ground audibly.
The well-trained soldier crouched in preparation to dodge some trap, but the only thing that happened was the passageway sealed shut.
He looked back, and everyone gave the universal look of confusion.
Vrin backtracked, walked over to the second passageway, and the same thing happened, sealing the portal before he could move forward.
“Damn,” Cade cursed, upset at how effectively the dungeon design had split their party.
“What is it?” Ronden asked, his own mental acuity shining in the heat of battle more so than with the application of puzzles.
Havasham explained, his voice a growl. “It wants us to split our forces. My guess is that the pressure plates will nullify one another as long as both paths are taken simultaneously.”
“Exactly,” Cade said. Then, shrugging, he said in as easy a manner as he could summon, “I’ll take the right!”
With Sholl in the lead of their party, both groups began walking down the corridors leading further into the dungeon.
As expected, the pressure plates held the doors in place, and in moments, Cade’s group emerged into another chamber, alone.
This room was a perfect cube. The walls were blank, and nothing stood in the center of the floor except for a small pedestal. Cautiously, they strode towards it. Confirming a hunch, Cade noted that it was a puzzle.
A simple one too, though that by no means meant easy.
A picture had been scrambled, a grid of squares with a single square missing allowing for the pattern to be shifted.
“Okay, so we move this around until a picture emerges, and then something awful happens,” Cade observed.
Polde came up to stand at his side. Her feathered hands moved to the board, seeming to do so instinctively. She pulled back and glanced to Cade.
“No, by all means. I hate puzzles. If you have any aptitude, please, do us all a favor.”
As soon as she touched the game board, additional lighting flared to life throughout the chamber. Ronden and Dan stood back to back, guarding the front half of the cube while Cade gave Sholl a meaningful glance. They guarded the rear.
Behind them, the swift clicking of tiles moving about was the only thing that broke the heavy silence.
After perhaps five minutes of patiently waiting, Cade nearly turned around to inquire about her progress. But a ratcheting sound filled the air. He spun on his heel and saw Polde’s surprised expression. One quarter of the board had been solved, and the image of a golem made entirely of interconnected spheres was displayed.
And here comes our host, Cade thought dryly, looking back to the walls around them as two large doors opened to either side.
“Dan, Ronden, hold that side. Yell if you need help!” Cade commanded, squaring off with the golem that entered from their side.
Ronden barked out a laugh loud enough to kill a bird in flight. “You call us when you need help. We’re fine!”
They’d faced lasers, spinning swords, acidic gas, and mega cannons. When the golem picked up its hefty fist and swung at them, Cade was as surprised as he was relieved.
A melee fight, that we can handle easily enough. Wanting to make the most of the fight, Cade shouted an Alpha’s Call followed by using Wyrm’s Wrath. He’d need to avoid damage at all costs, but his increased movement speed and power would make up for that easily.
Sholl side-stepped the first attack and scored a hit on the golem’s face. His spear struck dead center, but glanced off. It left little more than a scratch.
“Keep it busy! I can do some damage while you dance,” Cade said, grinning savagely.
Behind them, Ronden roared, the sound of his hammer striking metal ringing through the room.
Ignoring the others, Cade focused on the enemy before him. Sholl dodged another blow, this one a two-handed slam that would have killed any of them on the spot.
Cade experimented by using Culling the Pack. His hammer struck the golem, denting in part of its center sphere. The skill failed to take hold though, and it spun on him with terrible speed.
As I’d feared. Most of my skills won’t work on the mechanicals. Brute force it is then.
He only managed to partially dodge the golem’s counter attack. Its great fist grazed the side of one of his greaves, knocking him to the ground.
Rolling to the side to avoid another two-handed slam, Cade bounced up. His ears popped at the shock the impact sent through the air. He couldn’t afford another close call like that.
Instead, he made the thing pay. He waited for the golem to attack Sholl once more, and when its hands crashed to the ground, Cade leapt up on top of them. Jumping off the minion’s hands, Cade targeted the golem’s head.
He slammed his hammer into the top of its spherical skull with the force of a thunder storm.
The machine’s head cracked, and whatever drove it to action within was destroyed. The golem powered down and grew still.
Cade grinned at Sholl, then called out. “Still having trouble
over there, boys?”
Ronden answered by smashing what was remaining of their golem to bits. A few hunks of metal skittered across the floor in all directions.
“Not likely. Ours is in more pieces, so we win, Cade,” the giant pointed out.
Sholl made a rare display of bravado by responding, “But ours was down faster. Try to keep up, will you?”
Polde gasped as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. They all looked this time and saw the image of a hound. It appeared in every way to be a normal canine, long ears, tail, mouth full of teeth, but it was made of black metal.
The previous portals closed, and two new ones opened. A moment passed, fraught with tension, when two packs of metal hounds charged into the room.
Again, Cade ignored the urge to inspect the creatures. With so little time to react, it would only serve as a distraction.
Instead, he used the skill he’d been holding back, knowing its effect would be most devastating against numbers.
Triggering Electric Touch, Cade spun into the mob of hounds. Each time his hammer fell, crackling electricity ran over their metallic hides.
Disturbingly, the beasts yelped when struck, and even fell to the ground flailing.
Cade kept hammering away, however, knowing that his skill only lasted 30 seconds. Sholl made great use of his spear by sticking the creatures in their glowing, crimson eyes, putting them down.
Each hound was affected by Spasm, the debuff that caused them to shake on the ground uncontrollably. In moments, the last hound was dead.
They both spun to mock the other two but were confronted by cocky-looking assholes who stood amid a pile of twisted steel. “We win this time,” Dan said in his deep and humble voice.
Boasting was endearing to see coming from the lycan. It was so obviously against his nature that it made him seem almost more modest than he already was.
But the competition was far from over. Cade winked at Sholl, and they prepared for another assault.
The third portion of the puzzle clicked into place.
Cade expected another animalistic machine, a cloud of bots, an over-sized golem. What he didn’t expect was an image of a waterfall.
“What does that mean?” Vrin asked, voicing everyone else’s question.
Havasham opened his mouth to answer when a stream of water fell on the man’s head.
All around the room, water spilled from openings in the ceiling. At first, it was annoying. The water was ice cold, and immediately sent a chill down Cade’s spine when some of the water hit him as well. But then the nature of the third trap became evident. Already, the floor had six inches of standing water, and if anything, the rate at which it fell was increasing.
Polde made a high-pitched keening noise, and Sholl darted to her side. “You can do it,” he told her. “You’ve gotten us this far. Okay? Don’t worry, just keep working with the puzzle.”
The bird woman nodded and worked the final piece frantically.
Seconds tumbled away, and Cade felt his body struggling to fight the cold. The ice-water was waist high in a matter of minutes, and he knew that hypothermia was as much of a concern as drowning. He searched the room, looking for any sort of opening, air holes, or grates. It was perfectly smooth everywhere he looked.
The prospect of standing about and relying solely on Polde’s savvy was foolish. Cade fastened his axe in place in its back sheath, then ordered the group to search the room. “We can’t just wait about. Touch the wall panels, push, shove, punch anything. There might be some other way out of this. Let’s go!”
Once more, he discovered the quality of these people who were willingly serving under him. Everyone was as cold as he was, just as afraid, and yet, there they were, wading through the room toward the walls.
The sound of splashing water, hands shuffling along the paneled walls, and muffled curses covered up the tense silence in a way Cade found most agreeable.
The texture of the walls came as a surprise. They felt more like plastic than steel. He searched along with the rest, convinced he was simply doing something to prevent himself from panicking. But then he felt it. A panel in the wall shifted slightly.
He pressed on it harder, and at last, it clicked inward slightly. Looking at the ledge that was exposed, Cade saw tiny holes that he assumed might act as drainage.
Testing his theory, he scooped a handful of water and poured it into the grate. Slowly, it drained away.
“I found something! Search for panels that push inward. Might not be enough to stop it completely, but could buy us some time,” he shouted, moving along his own wall more quickly, seeking another temporary reprieve.
By then, the icy death had climbed to Cade’s ribs, and when he looked to see how Polde was doing, he noted she was working with her hands and arms submerged. A few others shouted, saying they too had found similar drains, but as the water was finally high enough to reach the drain vents, it only served to slow its advance, not stop it entirely.
“Hurry! We will die in here if you don’t finish soon!” Ronden roared, most likely feeling as impotent as the rest of them. Polde winced in response, her focus slipping.
Sholl told the giant exactly how far he’d overstepped his bounds, and thankfully, the man apologized. Yet the tension remained. They had less than a minute before they would all be swimming. As it was, Polde could barely work the puzzle any longer.
Cade dove, sweeping his hands lower on the wall than he’d checked before. After a few breaths, he found another panel, this one down on the floor. He rose and commanded everyone to do the same.
Soon, a half dozen more drains had been opened, and the water level stopped increasing.
As Cade and the others continued their search, Polde produced pitiful noises of anxiety and pain. His own hands were completely numb, so what the woman was enduring to still use them in such a dexterous manner was difficult to imagine.
More drains were discovered, and the water began to recede slowly, that is, until a massive spout opened directly above Polde. She squawked indecorously as the chilly water soaked her. Sholl ran to her side, but wasn’t tall enough to help shield her. He looked to Dan for help.
The tall lycan practically towered over Polde, so when he strode toward her and hunched his back over hers, she was given some reprieve from the deluge.
Still, the water rose rapidly, and Cade felt they were nearing a breaking point. Polde gaped for breath and ducked under the water to work the puzzle, gasping for air in between.
Cade was underwater himself, holding his breath and preparing to take over the puzzle work should Polde fail when it happened. A minute click passed through the liquid around him, and a final image appeared. Mercifully, it showed a blank cube. In seconds, spouts stopped pouring down and the water drained away through opened grates in the floor.
The transition was so violent that they all lost their footing. When it was over, they lay sodden and freezing cold, gasping for air. “Thank you so much, Polde!” Cade groaned. “I’ll make sure Sholl marries you within the year.”
“Better make it a month,” she replied, coughing after.
Sholl laughed, and then they all did, relief fueling their mirth more than anything.
When they managed to stand up again, and had regained some semblance of order, Dan passed out a handful of peppers. They were spicy as hell and after consumed, released a magical property. Within moments, everyone had stopped shivering.
“Onward then?” Cade suggested, and the group walked through a door that had opened up in the far wall.
As they moved cautiously forward, Cade’s group was soaking wet, beginning to feel the effects of fatigue, but hanging in with remarkable poise. What was bothering Cade though, and he was sure the rest felt the same, was that the dungeon they were in gave no indication regarding their progress. Instead, they had to trust it would eventually come to an end.
Trust is something hard won, and at this point, Cade had few reasons to trust the dungeon itself.
Again, they were left alone to face an empty room. This one was long and featureless, even the walls were composed of a solid piece of unbroken metal. It had a half moon shape, the wall to their left running flat and unbroken the entire length.
Behind, the door hissed and snapped closed. It was the sound of finality.
But nothing followed. No puzzle presented itself, no doors or panels to be touched or activated. It was empty, dimly lit, and felt like little more than a coffin.
“What do we do?” Sholl asked, anxiety sharpening his tone.
The others looked to Cade, and not for the first time since coming to Antinium, and especially upon taking the mantle of Archon, Cade felt the weight and responsibility of leadership.
In the service, he’d been an E4. Some civilians thought that to be a rank that came with a moderate degree of responsibility. Yet in his experience, and from the many soldiers he knew, E4s were often in charge of either themselves or a few other soldiers. And if so, those situations were rare.
He’d been a machine gunner. That alone merited great responsibility, but he certainly wasn’t the one making any of the important calls. Cade gave input when he noticed something off, he screamed or slammed around whatever numb-skull Iraqi was blundering the wrong way, and when push came to shove, he rocked the fuck out on his 240B. But he wouldn’t have called himself a leader.
Clearing his throat, he shouldered the responsibility, knowing they were here because of him, for him. “We search the walls and the floor. Touch everything and try to find some key or switch to activate. If we can’t find anything in fifteen minutes, we take an official break. Who knows, it might be triggered by time or by the progress of Havasham’s group.”
“And if we trigger some poisonous gas or a flood of endless water?” Polde asked, her eyes betraying how much their previous trial had taxed her.