I cursed and gagged as bile rose in my throat, nearly falling to my knees in nausea. The earlier kills had been pretty clean I'd just beaten the monsters to death without them cracking open. This last kill seriously made me rethink every violent video game I'd ever played.
“Are you okay?” Breena asked, fluttering between my face and shoulder.
“Yeah,” I coughed. “That was pretty gross though.” After another moment, I had pulled myself together. “Why were they killing one of their own, instead of letting him raise the alarm and be ready for us?”
“At this level,” Breena began as she also eyed the body in disgust. “They're too primitive to do things like raise alarms, or to stop themselves from turning on each other at the first sign of weakness. It takes the more powerful species of Horde to keep Ilklings under control, and there should be only one of those here.”
“So,” I began. “Because of their catastrophically bad genetic defects, we have three more Ilklings dead and still retain the element of surprise?”
“Yeah,” Breena said thoughtfully. “Pretty much.”
Huh.
“Whatever,” I said with a shrug. “I'll take it.”
We kept walking forward. This time I had chosen to hurry. It was a risk, maybe even a fatal risk, but I felt like I finally had a handle on just how perceptive these things were. Aside from their disgusting habits and creepy wall art, these creatures pretty much felt like a beginner challenge in one of my sister's campaigns. I wasn't going to start running, shouting, and banging my club to a beat, but I was choosing to err at least slightly on the side of haste rather than the side of not reaching the captives in time. I figured I would find out very quickly whether or not that was a bad idea.
I was right.
The hallway turned into another corner, leading to a hallway with even better lighting and more black stains all over it. My eyes had adjusted pretty well, and I could see that this hall had a row of two or three openings along it, probably leading to other rooms. But at the end of the hallway was a much larger room, and I could clearly see what the Ilklings were doing in that room.
I wish I hadn't.
Mixed in with three Ilklings were several small, brightly lit figures, either writhing on black patches of the floor or trying to crawl away from their captors, who were hissing in delight. One monster was was hunched and growling over a tiny yellow spark that kept trying to crawl or flutter away. After a moment the Ilkling suddenly slammed its foot down on the tiny glowing figure's left arm and wing. There was a high-pitched, slightly masculine, and very agonized scream from the little glowing figure, and the Ilkling over it began cackling and grounding its foot onto the figure's wing, spitting on it afterwards. Another wrinkled monster was holding a blue-lit figure over its drooling mouth, and I could hear the little blue light make tiny, feminine sobs. The nasty thing lowered the sobbing little fairy into its maw, closed its mouth and made as if it were to swallow her whole, then suddenly spat her out onto a hard spot the floor, cackling at the pained screams that tore out from the tiny sprite. The third monster held a green figure with torn gossamer wings by its feet, one that was constantly pleading in yet another high-pitched feminine voice. The Ilkling licked its captive with its disgusting tongue, smiled at her, then suddenly lifted the little green woman high up and slammed her onto the ground, cackling at her agonizing shrieks.
I got a sense that the monsters had been torturing the poor sprites for some time and were being just careful enough to avoid killing their victims. I also got a sense of what the hell is wrong with you things and kill these little shits with fire right now!
Breena gasped by me. I was about to lose it right there, but my brain tackled my rage and held it down for two and a half seconds. In that time, I came up with a quick plan.
Then I acted.
“HEY!” I half-shouted, half-roared out. “ENOUGH!”
The Ilklings were close enough for me to see what they were doing, but just far enough to be running distance away from me. For a second the three looked at me, two still holding their fairies, while the one stomping on the male fairy had his foot raised in the air.
“I SAID ENOUGH!” And with that, I fired off three of my tiny finger bolts. The magic of each bolt made them fly true, thankfully striking in exactly the way I wanted. Each one struck the Ilkling just hard enough to knock it away from its captive. More hisses came, these in anger, and when they looked back at me their ears flared and they began charging on all fours.
“Heesh!” the one in the back half spit, half snarled.
“Mine!” the one in front slurred, surprising me by speaking an actual word.
“Mine!” another screeched, and soon the word was taken up as a chant.
“Mine!”
“Mine!”
The chant came from two of the other rooms as two more small Ilklings came charging out, one carrying the bloody femur of some small animal. But the chant only intensified as they stared at me and Breena. “Mine, mine, mine.”
Then their time was up.
The distance had been just enough for my purpose. While they had been chanting and spitting and charging, I had been working another act of Earth magic as fast as I dared. I had just finished when they were halfway to me, then I thrust my hands at the floor before me. I probably wasn't pointing to the perfect spot, but the magic apparently knew enough of my intent to turn the ground just in front of them into slippery mud.
“Breena!” I shouted quickly. “Distract them!”
The first one slipped one clawed hand on the mud and fell face first, snarling as it fell and slid. The next slid into him, snarling angrily as its pack-mate became an obstacle. To my surprise the two began shoving each other and wound up striking the third Ilkling who had almost picked its way pass the muck. The remaining monsters tried to push their way past the brawling pile. Their shoves were violent enough to start pushing the entire ball of squabbling Ilklings out of the enchanted muck.
Breena had started casting at the same time I did, but she had apparently been holding her spell until she could see what I was doing. I would have to ask her to show me how to do that. But then she completed her spell, which proved to be one she had taught me. A thin cloud of shimmering motes flared out, dazzling one of the Ilklings completely and briefly blinding the rest. The ones almost out of the muck shrieked and fell backward, clutching their eyes and causing the whole pile to devolve into a shoving match where the nasty monsters alternated between swatting at each other and the new flecks of light.
It wouldn't last. My magic mud was about to expire and Breena's magic glitter would end soon after that. But that was alright. The stupid things had been distracted long enough for my next spell to finish.
I completed the spell with an angry shout, slashing my right hand outward. A hot, curved current of air three feet wide blasted out just above knee-height for me. The sharp edge of my Friction Slash spell flew straight into the tightly packed pile of hissing, drooling idiots, taking the head right off the closest one. I heard a shriek as another one lost an arm, and a third one fell while clutching a badly damaged leg. Breena followed up my act up shooting a series of what looked like pressurized, sparkling water droplets into the monsters, and another of the closest ones fell dead.
But by then my mud was starting to dry up or sink back into the ground, and Breena's magic sparkles were fading from the air. The remaining three Ilklings were starting to pull themselves back to their feet, disentangling from each other as they did so. They were no longer chanting or leering at Breena. Actually, they were still looking at her, but their gazes were full of terror now, which really was a better look for the disgusting things. They seemed ready to bolt at any second. But the best place to run was where their tortured captives were.
I couldn't have that.
I rushed forward, using the gusts from my Quick Step spell to launch me forward in quick bursts. I was on them in seconds. Three or four loud cracks later, our enemies were reduced to a c
rumpled, filthy, and thankfully dead heap. As I whirled about, I saw what was in each of the rooms.
One room was empty, with just a few rocks arranged in key places. I gathered it to be a sleeping area. Another room looked to have a few random shiny objects, some small coins and other things that looked either mildly rare or valuable. I took it to be a treasure room, where the Horde-beings just dragged whatever caught their eye. The third room reeked, and was full of half-eaten animals, such several small rodents and what looked like relatives to the colorful bird that had warned us earlier.
“Breena!” I yelled. “We're clear up to here!”
But the little fairy was already darting forward. As I ran she zipped past me, fluttering over to the wounded fairies as she sought to find the most wounded among them. Up close, I could see more of their features. They were tiny, beautiful people even after the horrible abuse they'd endured, much like my childhood movies had insisted they were. The only difference was that they all looked like tiny adults instead of young children. They also wore sparkling clothing that looked to be made out of either leaves or some gauzy film I didn't recognize. As I reached the yellow-glowing male, my mind-screen informed me that the common name for his species was Pixie and that he was Badly Damaged. I immediately began casting Healing Wind. I thought about trying to use first aid, but I knew absolutely nothing about fairy anatomy, and I trusted magic to work better than my half-remembered health class lessons at this point.
Besides, I would need a special tool to set a fairy's fractured hip bone anyway and I didn't have it.
That random, impossible thought almost interrupted my casting. When I managed to pull the spell through anyway, the tiny glowing man looked a bit healthier, with his glow no longer sputtering and his breathing a little more normal. His left leg and wing still hung limply, and the tiny humanoid started sobbing again.
“It's okay, little brother,” I said softly, wincing inwardly at my choice of words. But it wasn't like I could call him 'dude' or 'bro.' “Breena's a healer. She can help get this fixed.”
At least I hope she could.
My little companion actually flew by at that point, looking down at the male fairy.
“Drat. Broken bones. The one thing Water Magic isn't great at,” Nevertheless she hovered over her broken kin and began rotating her hands and singing a gentle song. A soft blue glow fell over the tiny man, then, after Breena continued chanting, another glow fell over him, a green one this time. Breena's yellow colored kinsman began moaning much more softly.
“There. His pain should be less and his bones will mend correctly, although slowly. Can you take it from here?” She was looking anxiously behind her at the two other fairies still moaning and weeping on the floor.
I nodded, though in truth I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. I tried to speak more comforting words.
“There buddy, it's okay. You're going to get better now. Your two friends are going to be okay too.”
Again, I wasn't a therapist, and my only example of one back home totally sucked.
“No,” the little man squeaked softly, fighting through whatever pain-killing magic Breena had given him. “More than two...next room...sister...aunt...niece.”
With that, he sighed and closed his eyes.
I panicked until I saw that his chest was still rising and falling. Then I re-panicked when I processed what the little man said.
“Breena!” I shouted. “He's unconscious. There are more captives in the next room!”
And, I remembered, we hadn't killed all of the Horde in this place. It felt like all the Ilklings had already charged us, but their leader hadn't confronted us yet.
We had at least one more foe in this place, and he was the strongest.
Breena looked up at me, then looked at the three other fairies in the room. The green and blue ones were still moaning and weeping horribly, and she bit her lip again.
“They're hurt pretty bad,” she hedged. “I don't know if I can leave them... and it will take time to stabilize them...”
It didn't take a genius to tell she was torn and didn't know what to do.
Which means you have to step up and act, son, my father's voice leaped into my mind.
And just like that, before I could argue or call him a hypocrite, I was acting on it.
“Breena,” I said, gently setting the little man down. “Keep an eye on him too.” I picked up my slightly damaged murder-stick, pointing it to the dark doorway leading to the only part of the nest we hadn't entered yet. “I'm going in.”
Her head snapped up at me.
“But you can't go alone!” She snapped, eyes wide. “You don't know what you're facing!”
“Yeah,” I said, still walking toward the doorway. “You said a bigger one should be here. Is he going to be more violent to his captives than these freaks were?” I hooked a thumb to the pile of dead, toddler-sized psychopaths in the hallway behind me. Breena nodded glumly. “And can his victims come back from the dead, like I can?” This time Breena didn't answer. I think she knew that only hearing 'yes' would have changed my mind anyway.
“Right,” I said. “I'm going in then.”
“Wes!” Breena called out one more time. “Be careful!” She bit her lip for a moment, before speaking again. “And don't go near the pit! No matter what!”
I nodded, still not knowing what the big deal was about that pit she kept mentioning, and still not having enough time to learn more about it.
I hoped that everyone was right about me coming back from the dead.
The hall behind the doorway was dark for a long stretch, but my enhanced feet traveled quickly. In less than fifteen seconds I reached the end. The entire room was lit, and easily several times larger than any of the other rooms combined. Here all of the stone on the floor was black, as if it had been coated several times over with Horde oil. I couldn't tell if the stone was worked or natural, but it somehow reminded me of both. Probably because it rose and fell evenly, but here and there I thought I could see a line for a tile or brick. The walls were high, easily reaching over twenty feet in height, far beyond what the tiny Ilklings would either need or be able to make on their own. At fifteen feet up more of the black oil torches flickered.
But all of that was superficial detail, compared to what was in the center of the room. A large pit of something writhed, bubbled, slurped, and burped. It looked like someone had combined the most disgusting elements of mud, tar, and slime, then mixed them all together into a goop pile that was colored black, brown, and snot-green. I half-expected it to stink, but thankfully it didn't.
I was also thankful that the three tiny people in black cages directly in front of the pit looked to be still alive.
I made one more glance, but I still didn't anyone or anything else hostile in the giant room. With that, I crept forward as quickly as I could.
“Hello?” I said quietly. “Do you understand me? I'm here to save you.”
The tiny figures kept rocking and crying for one more moment, until one lifted her head up in disbelief. She squeaked and chirped at the other two, then flew up to the front of her cage facing me.
All three of the little creatures were women and looked to be untouched. They looked to be even more beautiful than the three in the other room, and glowed silver, white and red respectively. They shouted excitedly at me, then start chirping again, pointing at the empty cage next to them, and at the pit behind them. I couldn't understand much of what they said, except for two words.
Hurry.
Help her.
As I came closer, I thought I saw part of the pit bubble more intensely than the rest. When I came to the very edge, I could tell that something was thrashing wildly inside of it.
And I could just barely, barely hear a tiny muffled scream come from a spot about eight feet away from the edge. Too far away for me to reach from the rim of the giant hole.
Feeling my entire body grow cold with horror, I raced around the cages, feeling my wind magic su
ddenly surge and spur me on much faster than it should have been able to. The rush of current let me leap straight to the edge of the pit, which I caught with one hand. Dropping my stick on the ground, and wishing I had a way to cover my nose, I vaulted into the disgusting sludge, hoping I was landing near but not on top of the tiny drowning figure in it. I didn't know how deep the pit was. I didn't know if the muddy sludge was acidic or poisonous or some other horrible property. I didn't know if I had just killed myself to save a tiny little person that couldn't be saved anyway.
I worried about all of those things. But what I hadn't expected at all was for the goop to suddenly splash away as soon as my feet touched it. The substance had only to brush against my skin for it to suddenly recoil guiltily away from me, as if it was alive, and somehow apologetic. I would have been flabbergasted if I thought I had time, but as soon as I hit the bare squishy floor I just stumbled over to where I thought the fairy was, still encased in the muck. The substance containing her pulled away with it when I came close, as if it were trying to keep her. I snarled at it and stubbornly reached for her, and then it spat her out at me. From what I could see, the little woman was pink in glow and hair color, like Breena usually was. Only she was coughing, sputtering, and trying to sob all at once. I covered her with my hands, then tore a corner of my sleeve off to wrap her when I realized she wasn't clothed.
Downfall And Rise (Challenger's Call Book 1) Page 24