Jack raised an eyebrow. “Are stubborn and stupid my only choices?”
“Far as I can see. I think you still are coming to terms with what it means to be a healer. The power that you possess. The way you are able to heal while fighting is special. Most healers have to rely on a weapon or gear to give them that kind of healing ability. You can do it naturally. That allows you options that most will never have. The ability to heal and be a major damage dealer. That is a powerful combo and it allows us to do unique things. Did you ever notice that Instructor Brazee trained us differently than he did other teams?”
Jack shook his head. “I didn’t know he did that.”
“It’s true. And it is because of you. So, no more doubting your abilities. We are going to make our quota today because there is no other option. There is no room for self-doubt. Not today.”
Jack understood what she was saying. Today the stakes were higher than ever, the pressure to succeed had never been higher and the dangers had never been higher. The unknown dangers of the temple that Mage Nowak had warned them about. The thugs hired by the Dixon family to stop them. Everything was against them, even time. But the reward was right there for the taking. He took a deep breath. He was ready.
Almost as if she was reading his mind, Talia popped her head around the corner. “Is he ready?”
Jack tilted his head towards Lana.
She shrugged. “We might’ve talked about you needing extra sleep and a pep talk before the day started.”
Jack couldn’t help but laugh. His friends seemed to know him better than he knew himself. He looked over at Talia. “Yes, he is ready.”
“Now let’s go kick some ass,” Stann said as he came around the corner.
…
It was halfway through the afternoon when Jack stopped the group. They’d spent the better part of the day roaming the city, going house to house, building to building, and it had gone OK, but they needed more. At the rate they were collecting items they would fall short before the end of the day. “It’s time to head to the temple.”
Stann shook his head. “One more. That one down on the end of the street.”
Jack looked down the street to the building Stann was pointing to. “Why that one?”
“It reminds me of an orc barracks.”
If it was a barracks, that meant weapons and armor. “One more it is, but after that we’re jogging back to the temple.”
“It will be worth it,” Stann said. “I have a gut feeling.”
Since they were gambling everything on the one trip, Jack thought it was appropriate that they should trust Stann’s gut. “Lead the way.”
Stann walked with a determined gait, as if he was willing there to be treasure in the building. When they reached the doors, they were open.
Smelling the air, Stann frowned. “I smell shit.”
“Time for stone-body,” Jack said.
Stann nodded and used his magic. They walked into the building and entered what appeared to be some sort of lobby. There were several hallways. Stann led them down the left hallway. They were halfway down the hallway when a creature came around the corner in front of them. It looked like a cross between a wild cat and a lizard. It had the body of a cat but was covered in thick scales.
“Skraal,” Stann said.
“Good kitty?” Jack said.
Stann shook his head. “Bad kitty, hard to kill, travels in packs.”
From behind him, Jack heard another growl.
“There’s two back here,” Lana said.
Another skraal joined the one in front of Stann. Suddenly both of them jumped at Stann.
Stann roared and swung his axe. He struck one of the skraal, sending it flying back, but the other one landed on top of him. It bit into Stann’s shoulder and was slashing him with its feet.
Stann’s health started to fall rapidly. Jack started healing him.
Using his shield, Stann smashed the skraal in the head until it let go. The catlike creature took a step back.
“Left,” Jack called out and Stann pushed himself against the wall of the hallway, giving Jack a clean shot.
Using a full solar burst, Jack fired at the first skraal. The blast caught the beast in the belly as it tried to leap at Jack. Behind him, Jack heard a screeching sound. One of the beasts behind him wasn’t faring well. He glanced up and to the side to see his magical stats, both girls’ health were still fine. He returned his focus to the front. Stann had charged forward and was slashing the second skraal with his axe. The skraal tried to leap on Stann again, but this time Stann slammed up with his shield and the top of the shield slammed into the head of the beast. It cut deep through the scales. Jack fired an icy blast into the creature, slowing it down, and Stann finished it with a vicious overhand chop of his axe.
With the first two beasts down, Jack turned and saw that the other two skraal were also down. The first one was still smoking from the fireball that Talia had hit it with, and the second had an arrow through one of its eyes, and Lord Scratches was chewing on the other.
“Good job, Lord,” Lana said. “Way to chew on that ugly beast.”
They kept going down the hallway until they reached a large room with a raised platform on the other end.
Stann groaned.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“This isn’t a barracks. It’s a courthouse. This is the main courtroom.”
“Waste of time?”
“No. I don’t think so, just not as good as a barracks. But there would be more elite warriors and guards here.”
They went through the courtroom and found nothing, but when they opened a door off the side of the room, a pair of ghouls woke. Instead of charging at the ghouls, Stann dropped down to one knee. This gave Jack, Talia and Lana a clear line of sight. All three fired at the undead. It took several shots before one of the fell to the ground, and the second looked like it was going to charge forward when Stann threw his axe, finishing it off. The rest of the room was clear of undead.
They had just started searching when Stann pumped his fist. “Yes.”
“What is it?” Jack asked.
Stann pointed to one of the corners of the room. There was a stand with a set of armor on it.
Jack frowned. Why was Stann so excited about this set of armor? “Identify,” Jack said before walking over to touch the armor. As soon as he touched the armor, Jack understood why Stann had been so excited. This was exceptionally good armor. It gave 20 health and 20 mana. It also had additional spells attached to it that improved dexterity and strength. There was another spell, but for whatever reason the identify spell wasn’t able to describe it, only that it had a high mana cost.
“Put it on,” Stann said.
“Me?”
“That is dwarven armor,” Stann said. “It sure ain’t going to fit anyone else here. And in case you didn’t notice, that isn’t normal armor. That is blessed armor. The same as your gauntlets.”
Jack looked at it again. He couldn’t see any markings, but that would explain the stats and the additional spell. Jack removed his own armor and put on the new ancient armor. His stats immediately went up, and by more than just the amount of the armor. Stann was right, he was getting a stats bonus for having two pieces of Rahmann-blessed gear.
“Looks good, now let’s get moving,” Talia said.
Stann opened the next door and they ended up in a holding cell. They found a couple of crossbows and several swords. After that they went through several more rooms. They found a half-dozen swords and three more pieces of armor, none as good as the one Jack was now wearing, but it had been a good haul. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any more of the skraal. It wasn’t enough, but they were inching closer by the minute.
Leaving the courthouse, they started jogging towards the temple. It was time to find out why Mage Nowak had brought them here.
41
The temple of Rahmann reminded Jack of the first temple of Chante that they’d entered when they first became questers. Of c
ourse, that temple had been covered with vegetation—the jungle had creeped back reclaiming those lands. Here there was no vegetation, just dust. The pyramid structure was also larger than the temple of Chante. Jack wondered if that was because of the size of the city or if the dwarven builders intentionally built temples to Rahmann bigger than other temples to signify they were closer to their god. It was a useless question to ponder, but sometimes Jack had little control over the thoughts that popped into his head.
Like the temple of Chante, there were stairs that went all the way up the temple to the top. They walked up the stairs until they reached the opening.
“Anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu?” Lana asked.
“Oh yes. Back when Jack couldn’t read a map properly,” Talia said, giving Jack a wink.
“Hey, I read the map right, I just didn’t account for the jungle swallowing the temple.”
They walked into the temple room. There were no outer doors, just a wide corridor that went six feet into the pyramid before opening up into a large room. The room was dark, with only a little light making its way into the room from the corridor. Jack used his magic to light the room. There were three large statues in the room. Each was of a dwarf; one was holding a massive war hammer, the next was holding an anvil over his head and the last one had his hands pressed together as if he was in prayer.
“Interesting statues, I wonder what they mean?” Jack said.
“You don’t know dwarven heritage at all, do you?” Stann said.
“I know more orcs and elven folk than I know dwarves.”
“A man should know his heritage,” Stann insisted. “Those are the three faces of Rahmann. The warrior, the craftsman and the pious.”
“How do you know so much about a dwarven god?” Lana asked.
“I know more dwarves than Jack does. One of my trainers was a dwarf.”
“Really? An orc taking lessons from a dwarf? I’d like to see that,” Talia said.
“You wouldn’t see it. Orcs only train with outsiders in private, and the outsider has to have special skills to be invited to train with us. My trainer taught me how to fight with an axe. He also told me much about dwarven culture, so that if I ever went to Nurangaurd I would know how to act.”
“If I ever go to Nurangaurd, I’m taking you with me,” Jack joked. It seemed ironic that Stann knew more about dwarven people than he did, and a little sad. Jack decided then that he’d make an effort to learn dwarven culture. But before he could do that, they had a mission to complete. “Anyone see a door?”
They searched the room.
“Over here,” Lana said. The dust in the room gave away a hidden door that was just slightly recessed from the rest of the stones.
Stann pushed on the door and it moved back, revealing a hidden passage that went a few steps before leading to a set of stairs. “Once more down into the creepy temple we go.”
Normally, Jack would think that was a complaint, but in Stann’s case it was excitement. Creepy temples meant danger and action: things that made Stann happy.
They went down three flights of stairs before they reached a wide open room. It had four large pools of water in the middle with a fire pit between them. The walls of the room were recessed. Jack didn’t recognize what it meant right away but Talia did.
“This level is a tomb.”
Sure enough, as soon as they stepped into the room, ghouls and skellies rose out of the shelves on which they’d been laying.
“Keep it tight,” Jack said. “We don’t know how many or how strong they are.”
Stann grumbled a little. He wanted to charge forward and smash everything, but he stuck to Jack’s order. The four of them went into the middle of the room. As the undead woke, they sensed them and charged.
The skellies were easy targets and took only one shot to bring down, but the ghouls were strong. Two of them were fighting with Stann, while more were coming towards them. Jack ignored the ones fighting with Stann and concentrated on the ones coming after him. He fired his solar burst. From the corner of his eye, Jack saw a ghoul trying to flank him, but an arrow smashed into the ghoul, bringing it down.
The undead kept coming. They fought at least thirty of them before they finally cleared the room.
Stann looked around and smiled. “That’s more like it.”
Jack didn’t share his friend’s enthusiasm for battle, but he certainly agreed that this was what they needed. They collected the weapons and armor from the ground before continuing across the room. They came to a smaller room filled with ancient vases.
“For those that were cremated,” Talia explained.
“We’ll leave those alone. I won’t disturb the ashes, that’s not the same as destroying an undead.”
“Agreed,” Lana said.
“I doubt the vases are worth anything anyways,” Stann said. “Who would collect ancient remains?”
Jack was sure someone, somewhere, did, but that probably wasn’t a person they wanted to do business with anyways. They moved onto the next room. The room was empty except for a stone door on the side. It had three wheels on it. A small one in the middle of the door and then a bigger one around it, followed by the last one. Each ring had a small triangle above it.
“It’s a puzzle trap,” Talia said. “Align the wheels properly and the door opens. Do it wrong and bad things happen.”
“Bad things?” Jack asked.
“Things that make you die, like poisoned arrows, quicksand, explosions. The ancients took protecting their most valuable possessions seriously.”
Stann nodded. “Especially the dwarves. They like puzzles.”
“So what do we do now?” Jack asked.
“Look for clues. There will be something in the room that hints at the answer.”
While the others looked for clues, Jack studied the wheel. Each wheel had ten symbols on it. The symbols were the same on each wheel.
“There,” Talia said. “On the ceiling.”
There were rows of symbols on the ceiling, but they weren’t all the same as the ones on the door.
“There are three symbols that match,” Lana said excitedly. “Those must be the right ones.”
“Good, but in what order?” Jack said.
“I don’t know,” Lana said.
“Me either,” Talia said.
“I got nothing,” Stann said.
Jack studied the ceiling; he couldn’t figure it out. “Should we just guess?”
Lord Scratches’s tail smacked Jack in the back of the head. The little dragon then flew over to the door and put his claws on one of the symbols on the middle ring. It was one of the symbols from the roof.
“I think Lord Scratches figured out the puzzle,” Jack said.
“Well, don’t just stand there, turn the dial,” Talia said.
Jack grabbed the center dial and turned it so the symbol that Lord Scratches was touching was right under the triangle symbol.
Lord Scratches jumped to the second dial. Again, he’d landed on one of the three symbols. Jack turned the dial. Then the little dragon jumped onto the last symbol. Jack nervously grabbed the dial and turned it until the symbol was under the last triangle. He heard a clicking sound and then all three dials started turning. There was a loud thud and then the door lifted.
“Thank you, Lord,” Talia said.
The dragon landed on her shoulder and she gave him a kiss on the top of his head. Lord Scratches purred contently.
On the other side of the door was a short corridor that opened into a large room. The room had an intricate floor design of cut stone, with multi-colored tiles. Along the side walls were a series of stone statues, and on the other side of the room there was a raised platform. The items on the platform seemed to glow with magical energy.
“Treasure room,” Stann said excitedly.
“Be careful,” Lana said. “I’ll bet there are more traps.”
Jack nodded. “Stann.”
“Ya, I know. Stone time,” Stann
cast his stone-body spell.
Jack cast a group healing spell and waited for Stann to lead the way. They cautiously made their way across the room. Nothing popped out or attacked them. When they reached the platform, they saw that it was filled with magical items.
“The motherlode,” Stann said.
He went to touch one of the items, and a spirit appeared above the platform. It was an ancient dwarven warrior. “These are the sacred treasures of Rahmann. I am Gorgon Clawhammer. Who dares enter this temple? Identify yourselves.”
Jack gulped. “I’m Jack Vance, and these are my friends, Stann, Lana and Talia.”
“Why have you entered this sacred temple, Jack Vance?”
“We came in search of treasures,” Jack said. He wasn’t sure what the right answer was, but he figured if he was honest it might work in their favor.
The spirit shook its head. “That you’ve made it this far means you’re worthy of anything you’ve found thus far, but these treasures must stay here. The consequences if they were to be touched would be catastrophic.”
Jack looked at the others. Did they risk upsetting the spirit? Was his warning legitimate, or just another barrier they needed to cross to get what they needed? The spirit wasn’t angry with them for taking what they already had. It just seemed that this treasure was not meant to be removed. Jack trusted his gut feeling. “We’ll leave these treasures where they are.”
The spirit nodded in approval.
They turned and started walking back out of the treasure room.
“So close, yet so far,” Stann said with a sigh.
“It was the right thing to do,” Talia said. “When an ancient spirit tells you not to touch something, it isn’t a bad idea to listen, especially when the gods are involved.”
Suddenly the spirit started talking again. Jack looked back and there was a mage standing at the platform. He grinned at them and grabbed one of the items on the platform.
The dwarven spirit roared. The stone statues started moving.
“Stone guardians,” Talia said. “This is bad.”
The mage fired a fireball at them.
Jack swore. Some of the stone guardians were attacking the mysterious mage, but the rest were charging towards them. Stann hit one of the guardians and his axe bounced off of it, while Talia fired a fireball that bounced off another.
Menacing Misfits: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Darkthorn Academy Book 1) Page 44