by Dante King
“Of course,” the redhead said smoothly. “That’s perfectly alright, Anna. We all have things we’re not comfortable with. But if you’re really that wigged out by insects, you might want to turn around and head back to the town.”
The color drained from Anna’s face. “Why?”
Lyra sighed. “Because that’s far from the only Rust Beetle we’re going to see,” she said kindly, gripping my girlfriend’s shoulder.
I could see the instinct to flee on Anna’s face. She glanced back at the corpse of the Rust Beetle, shaking herself several times, then the fear dropped from her face. “I’m fine,” she said, as much to herself as to us. “Really. I got this.”
Lyra nodded with understanding. “Alright, well, hold on tight. Take us up the mountain.”
Our group was quiet after that. The path through the forest gradually gave way to the hills, winding up and up into the mountains where the town of Jinshu had been built. I knew from Lyra’s explanations about the area that mines had been bored into these hills like holes in swiss cheese, as the mountains of this region were chock full of various types of metal ore. Technically all of this was under my jurisdiction now, which meant I could profit off it mightily.
I wasn’t thinking about greed then, though. It was only a few more minutes before we ran into our second Rust Beetle. This one squatted on a ramp leading to the mountain path, as if it had been placed there by a prankster. Anna took one look and swallowed hard, her face paling, but she didn’t protest or ask to turn around. Lyra’s water spells made quick work of the beast, along with a stab from the snake spear’s tip.
We ran into three more by the time the path evened out. They had a way of sneaking up on you, so that by the time you noticed the beetle coming down the hill or peeking out from behind a tree, your vehicle was already in range of its projectiles. Clumps of the strange earthen material slammed against the cart, doing no damage to the wood but rusting the metal spokes and rivets in an instant. Years of wear and tear appeared on Lyra’s vehicle in seconds, threatening our trip up the mountain.
“Go, damn it!” Lyra yelled, whipping the oxen into shape. “Kill as many of them as you can, Eric! Get the ones in front of the cart!”
What was a leisurely stroll through the woods became a mad dash in short order. The cart climbed and climbed, under attack from all directions as the road to Jinshu cut through the mountains. Lyra transformed back into a snake spear in my arms, and a well-placed Hydro Blast was enough to sweep the Rust Beetles from our immediate path. More beetles crowded in on all sides, spitting corrosive material all over the cart.
“There’s so many!” Hazel yelled. The warrior had used up her entire stock of throwing daggers on the Rust Beetles, and now she was trying to slash through the ones who got too close with her dao sword without it becoming rusted through. “We can’t kill them all!”
“Get to Jinshu!” I commanded, watching as Anna spurred the oxen on with all her might. “Trample the fucking things if you have to!”
The cart let out a high-pitched whine as its gears ground together, the metallic spokes and rivets of the construction just barely hanging on. The oxen no longer needed to be whipped. They took off in a fright, trampling through the thick carpet of Rust Beetles. I could barely even see the damned ground any longer—this close to Jinshu, there were more Beetles than empty space! This wasn’t a small problem the Hollow Frog Guild had decided to ignore—this was a mass infestation!
The wheels crunched Beetles beneath them, the black ichor covering them as we rolled. The creature’s blood seemed to have the same properties as their projectiles—getting it all over the cart was only eroding it further. Hold together, I thought, stabbing through a half-dozen creatures with the snake spear. Just a little bit farther.
There! The silhouettes of buildings loomed in the distance. “Jinshu!” I cried, gesturing with the snake spear. “We’re almost there!”
The carpet of Beetles had become a fucking ocean. In many places they climbed on top of each other, settled like dumb rocks until they noticed the cart passing nearby. Once activated, they mindlessly spit corrosive projectiles at us, rusting everything to shreds. The cart passed onto the main thoroughfare, the line of Beetles almost coming to the rim of the driver’s seat. Anna stood up, ready to climb onto an ox and bolt if necessary.
A moment later, it was no longer unnecessary, but impossible. A horrible groan came from the back wheels of the cart as the axle fused together, caked with rust. The oxen tugged the reins, and something snapped. The back side of the cart toppled, the rear driver’s side wheel giving way with a sickening tear of timber. Barrels of beer rolled onto the ground, crushing Rust Beetles and giving more a target to attack with their projectiles.
“Get up front!” I roared. The beetles were climbing into the rear of the cart, skittering amongst the barrels remaining above the ground. “Everyone together!”
All of us clambered together in the driver’s seat, trapped. Tens of thousands—no, probably hundreds of thousands—of Rust Beetles covered the town of Jinshu like a shroud, transforming the vibrant streets and hills into a carpet of black chitin.
“This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” Anna whispered, her face as pale as a ghost. “What do we do now, Eric? The cart won’t move any more… we can’t get out of here!”
She was right. We were trapped.
We heard a sound over the chittering of the beetles.
At the main intersection of Jinshu, where the street that ran from north to south met the street running east to west, there stood a well for the citizens to draw water. On top of that well was a small pagoda-like roof—and on top of that roof stood a man. A man in crimson robes who, unlike everyone clinging together on the dubious safety of our cart, looked to be having the time of his life.
A fire spell erupted from the man’s fingers, destroying two of the Rust Beetles nearest the well. Over their cries, I heard the man’s voice.
“Back, you foul beasts! I, Bao the Cultivator, will wipe you all out!”
“Oh God,” I said, slapping my forehead with a hand. I knew that voice. I knew that man.
It was the cultivator who thought he’d ‘helped’ us defeat the Armored Boar. What in the world was he doing here?
Chapter 8
“My stock is ruined,” Lyra groaned, watching as the thick carpet of Rust Beetles corroded the bands around her beer barrels. One by one, the boards gave, flooding the street around the cart with thick, sudsy ale. The Rust Beetles hardly noticed. They kept on hitting the cart’s wheels with their corroding projectiles, like a man who refuses to stop beating a dead horse. “Wonderful.”
“Eh? Hello?” The cultivator on top of the well did a double-take as he realized he was no longer alone. “Why, it’s you! Eric Hyde! And your team of cultivators, of course. What brings you to the fabulous city of Jinshu, young man?”
Fabulous? Whatever condition the town was normally in, it would be hard to give it that moniker at the moment. “I’m the new Governor of this region,” I announced, cupping my hands around my mouth. “I came to visit your town, but it appears there’s an infestation.”
The man laughed. “And how! I’m very pleased to see you again, young man! Jinshu is as well, although most of its residents are not here to tell you. They are all holed up there…” he pointed, “…and there.”
I followed the cultivator’s finger. Most of the buildings in the town of Jinshu were a single story tall, but there were two major exceptions: the tavern where Lyra was looking to sell her beer, and the village’s church. Both of those were two stories—and crucially, the Rust Beetles didn’t appear to be able to climb stairs or aim their projectiles high enough to attack anyone that far from ground level.
“Everyone’s in those buildings?” I asked, watching the cultivator nod. “That’s a relief.”
“Safe behind wooden barricades,” the man explained, “as the creatures will inevitably disintegrate even the strongest metal lock. A few
were killed before they could make it to safety. Mostly the elderly, but every death is felt as a loss.” He glanced down at the Beetles for a moment, then brightened. “Perhaps it is fate that sent you to me, Eric Hyde. After all, you do owe me a favor.”
Is he serious? I shared a look with Anna, who seemed just as confused as I was. “What do you mean?”
The man laughed loud and long—a belly laugh, with real mirth. “Come now, you so easily forget! When you struggled to defeat the Armored Boar released by the coward Jalen, was it not Bao the Cultivator who weakened the beast with his legendary fire spells so you could damage it?”
That’s not how I remembered it. I clearly recalled ‘Bao the Cultivator’ kicking up a tiny fireball, then getting kicked into an alley by a charging boar. If anything, he’d probably hurt me more than helped me.
But at the same time, it wasn’t like I had any ideas how to get my group out of this one. I could use all the help I could get.
“I’m willing to help, if I can,” I said, calling across the carpet of Rust Beetles. “Our cart won’t move any closer—the Rust Beetles have destroyed it.”
“Lamentable,” Bao said, shaking his head. “How many are there in your group, Eric Hyde? I count five of you there on the cart, is that correct?”
Huh? “Yeah,” I said. “Me, Anna, Lyra, Hazel, and Regina. Only three of us are cultivators, though, Bao.”
The man nodded sagely. “That may well be enough. Do you have any idea what’s happened in the town of Jinshu, young Eric?”
I shook my head. “I’m guessing it has something to do with the mine?”
“Correct! There was an earthquake a little over a week ago. The rumble of the earth caused one of the blockages placed by cultivators to crack, allowing a flood of the creatures to gradually overtake the town. If we are able to fight our way to that break and repair it, we can cease the flood and begin taking the town back from the Rust Beetles.”
I looked up the hill toward the mine. It was a long way—probably a ten minute walk if the path wasn’t covered in rust-spitting monsters. Could we fight our way through that many creatures?
“Why did you not send for help?” Lyra asked, cutting through my thoughts. “If these creatures have been spreading for a week, surely someone should have taken action by now!”
Bao chuckled darkly. “We did send for help. To the Hollow Frog Guild. They sent a cultivator to examine the situation.”
“And?”
“The boy took one look at the Rust Beetles and bolted,” Bao said with a bitter laugh. “I should not have expected more from him—he was even younger than you, Eric Hyde! And you are only so great at cultivation because you have Bao the Cultivator to aid you when you are in trouble!”
I ignored that last part. It was the first that made the wheels turn behind my eyes. “A young cultivator, huh? Blonde, kind of girlish looking, with a bad attitude?”
“Ah, I see you know him!” A Rust Beetle somehow managed to get on top of the roof covering the well. Bao pulled a staff from his side and wedged it beneath the creature, flipping it onto its back and to the ground. “A most disagreeable lad!”
“I’ll say,” I grumbled. So the Hollow Frog Guild had sent Seth to Jinshu after our meeting. I wondered if he was still nearby.
Clearly, I wasn’t the only one thinking that. As soon as Bao mentioned a younger cultivator, Hazel stiffened like a statue at my side. “That bastard,” she growled, her hands balling into fists.
Shit. Maybe I could forestall what was about to happen. “You don’t know what happened to that young cultivator, do you?” I asked, forcing out a jocular tone. “Was he eaten by Rust Beetles, perhaps?”
“It would be a better fate than he deserves,” Hazel grunted.
If I’d hoped to cool her anger with the question, Bao’s response only inflamed it. “I have no clue,” the man said with a shrug. “He left only a short while ago. In fact, I thought your approach was him at first, having realized what a coward he was! If he lives, he must be somewhere nearby.”
That tore it. “I’ll be back,” Hazel said, glancing at a nearby rooftop. Most people could never have made it from the cart to the shingles, but Hazel wasn’t most people. “I’m going to track that bastard down—”
My hand came down on her shoulder. “No you’re fucking not,” I growled, turning the young woman to face me. “I didn’t let you come all this way with us so you could abandon the group and go chasing after someone who personally offended you, Hazel.”
“You didn’t let me come at all,” she shot back, tugging her blonde braid. “I chose to. And now I’m choosing to go kick Seth’s ass and feed him to those Rust Beetles.”
Hazel twisted out of my grip, one leg already on the back of the driver’s chair. She sized up the ledge jutting out from a nearby building, judging how far she’d have to leap to make it with her fingertip. I reached for her, but I was too slow.
“Hazel, please!” It was Regina, who sounded on the verge of tears. “Don’t leave us here! We need you!”
Hazel paused on the threshold, glancing back between the ledge and the group. “You’ll be fine,” she tried to say, a catch entering her voice on the last word.
“Eric, Anna and Lyra are all cultivators,” Regina said, her eyes wide with fright. “They’re going to have to help Bao push to the mine in order to stop these Beetles. Which means if you leave, I’m going to have to stay on this cart all alone with those things trying to climb up onto me!”
Hazel hadn’t thought of this. “One of them can stay with you,” she shot back, nodding toward Anna. “Wait—why am I even arguing! I have a job to do.”
“Because,” Lyra said, cutting through the bullshit like a knife. “You care about us, young lady! Stop pretending you don’t! For the love of the Gods, quit hiding behind your pain! Can’t you see we love you, Hazel!?”
The words drew the blonde warrior up short. Her eyes widened like saucers, her feet balancing on the edge of the cart like a dancer. “You… what…?”
Lyra had had enough. She grabbed Hazel and hauled her back onto the driver’s seat, embracing her.
“Stay here with Regina,” she whispered, glancing over at the terrified young woman. “We will be right back once we find the right passage in the mine and close it. And then, once we solve this crisis, you are going to become a cultivator again and join our group!”
Hazel’s mouth worked soundlessly. I don’t think she’d yet gotten past the love part.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” Hazel said lamely. “You—”
Lyra kissed her.
Hazel was so shocked she nearly fell backward out of the cart. A flush spread over her cheeks as Lyra put her back into it, making out with the much younger warrior with gusto. Despite the danger of the situation, Anna let out a hoot of approval as she looked on. From his perch over the well, Bao the Cultivator’s jaw dropped.
“Don’t you dare lie to me,” Lyra said as she broke the kiss. “I don’t care if I have to drag you kicking and screaming into that bedroom myself, young lady, but you will fulfil your full potential! You will not spend the rest of your life wallowing in self-pity instead of taking what’s yours by right. You want to be a cultivator again!?”
The question came out of left field, shocking Hazel to her core. “Yes.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yes!” Hazel yelled, her bottom lip trembling. “I want to be a cultivator again!”
“Then you stay here,” Lyra said, gripping the woman’s shoulders, “and we will take care of that as soon as we get back. And once you’re a cultivator, Hazel, I’ll help you track down and kill that bastard right along with you. How’s that sound?”
A mad little smile tugged at Hazel’s mouth, as if she wasn’t sure whether this was all an elaborate prank. “That… that sounds good,” she blurted, beginning to grin. “Really good.”
Lyra gave her another kiss. “Good girl. Both of you stay!” She turned to me. “Are you ready, Eric? You
’re going to need my Spear form, I think. A little wall of water should clear our way to Bao, then we’ll fight our way to the mine.”
It was a long, long road—but Lyra didn’t look like she’d take no for an answer. Over her shoulder, Anna and I shared a look. The demonic girl shrugged, then grinned from ear to ear. “You’d better do what she says,” my girlfriend purred. “Otherwise she’s liable to get scary.”
As Lyra transformed into the snake spear in my arms, I knew what I had to do.
“Bao, stay there,” I told the man, twirling Lyra in my arms. “We’re going to fight our way over to where you are, then we’ll head for the mine!”
“I await you with open arms,” Bao said, spreading his hands with a knowing look. “Do not worry, young man! Should you fall in battle, Bao the Cultivator will rescue you!”
Yeah, fat chance of that happening, I thought, staring across the ocean of Rust Beetles. If we’re going to make it to the mine, we have to work together. I hope we have what it takes.
Lifting Lyra in my arms, I let out a battle cry and charged into the sea of beetles.
Chapter 9
Bao’s platform over the well was even smaller than it looked.
The five of us had just barely fit across the driver’s seat of the cart, but we’d been pushed together so closely it would’ve been awkward if we hadn’t already known each other so intimately. Only three of us left the cart, joining with Bao the Cultivator a short distance away, but his little platform hovering over the well provided barely a postage stamp’s worth of room for us to relax. My girlfriend Anna ground against me in ways that made me wish we weren’t surrounded by thousands of Rust Beetles, eager to bury us beneath mountains of corrosive projectiles.
The remains of a water spell lay behind us, leading back to the cart. Rust Beetles streamed in, filling the gap in a bare handful of moments. Behind us, Hazel and Regina stood atop what remained of Lyra’s cart, looking worriedly in our direction. I couldn’t even turn Lyra back into a human. If she transformed back from her snake spear form, she’d topple over the side and into the waves.