Dungeon Imperiled: Dark Dungeon 02

by D. R. Rosier

  I relaxed slightly, she made a good point. Even the guild coming for me wouldn’t be an all or nothing proposition. Not many things in life were, except this battle came close. I couldn’t allow the gods of Jennesar to double their worshippers, not if I had a chance of stopping it. I could rebuild somewhere else, start a new dungeon, I could probably even pretend to be a light dungeon, but if that came to pass my job would be twice as hard as it was now.

  “Lila, make sure the princess and her cousin are safe if the betrayal happens. I imagine the royals will be the first targets if this is all actually true.”

  Lila kissed my neck, and slid on top of my body, “Yes master,” she said sultrily.

  Oh good, more of that relaxation coming…

  Chapter Sixteen

  Catalina was in a foul mood, but tried not to show it as she inspected the fortifications built over the last two weeks. They only had three weeks left to finish, and she needed to gauge their progress. She also couldn’t appear as spooked as she felt, or it would impact the morale of the troops around her.

  It’d been a week since her father had gotten that letter, and had sworn everyone in the room to secrecy. She could hardly believe what was in it. Emotionally, she trusted Carlton’s word far more than anything that left Ennis’ mouth, but the accusation had been poisonous. She also admitted to herself, that she’d had a crush on the older man. He was powerful, confident, and had a way about him. She’d even tried to seduce him once upon a time. Had that affected her judgement?

  The king’s response had been clear. Carlton was to be killed on sight, and the accusations were ridiculous. The problem was, if it was true, they’d already lost. She also realized that it would be an excellent way for the enemy to create infighting, but to her the idea of Carlton working for Jennesar was far harder to believe than the entire church of light being rotten.

  There was also the matter of the forty-three paladins and clerics that had disappeared. She didn’t know what to do, and while it felt suicidal she’d no choice but to obey her father, and her king. Still, she’d be on the lookout during battle for any signs of betrayal.

  Lila had implied that if it was true, her benefactor would step in to help. Although she thought Lila’s power was incredible to have fought the way she had, and that her benefactor and the one she served must be more powerful. There was just so much one person could do in a battle with thousands. Wasn’t there? Except, Lila seemed extremely confident, although the woman seemed confident about everything.

  There were walls, pits, breastworks, and of course the two forts spread across the valley. They were doing a good job filling in the gaps, and in such a way that several gaps were closing all at once. They were closing it off evenly, as opposed to building from one side to another. That way if the enemy surprised them and came early no one path would be perfect, or safe.

  The forts themselves were done, stone walls all enchanted to prevent other earth mages from simply using a spell to make them fall, as well as other protections. There were almost enough bows for the men that would be in the fort, as well as siege engines in the courtyard to break any rushes.

  The rest of the width of the valley was choked with other obstacles to slow them down. Breastworks in front of six-foot-deep pits with sharp stone spikes. Behind the pits were fifteen foot walls of stone, similarly to the forts, they were protected by enchantments. It would slow them down a lot, as they needed to not only climb out of a six-foot pit, but over a fifteen-foot wall.

  Any enemy making it over, would be out of formation and relatively alone. Easy pickings for three thousand soldiers outside the forts to pick off.

  She may have been in a foul mood, but it was all about the church of light problem that seemed to have no solution in her mind. The progress out here clearly showed they’d be ready in three weeks. The most time-consuming part was the breastworks and the enchanting. The pits with spikes and walls took seconds for the Earth mages to conjure.

  It was all designed to bleed the enemy, and overcome the four to three odds, which it would do very well once it was finished. She’d be far more confident, if she hadn’t known what she knew.

  “Good work, how’s the training coming along?”

  The colonel replied, “As well as possible princess, we’re running them hard. Though there’s only so much we can teach in five weeks. They’re all getting basic sword instruction, but we’re concentrating more on the bow, and we’ll assign a lot of the new conscripts on the walls. Some few have a natural aptitude with the sword, and are being trained to repel any coming up the walls to protect their fellows.”

  “Keep up the good work, dismissed.”

  When the colonel left, she felt Mina’s hand on her shoulder, and for a moment she wanted to give in to the urge to lean back into her lover, and take comfort in her closeness and touch. But she was a princess, and apparently in charge of this mess until her father and the king took the field. Well, Jerrold was helping too, but she was heir to the Tenemin Duchy, and they were in her duchy. Second king’s son or not, Tenemin’s soldiers and recruits all looked to her first. She was theirs.

  It was funny how it worked out, but Jerrold was with the forces sent down from the king, and supervising those soldiers and training. Suzy was over there with him, which meant it was just her, Mina, and Lila right now as they watched the slow progress. She trusted the latter even more now, saving her life had gone a long way, but being around Lila constantly for a week had formed a bond of friendship and trust. She just didn’t believe someone could fool her for that long, if Lila wasn’t what she said, she’d have noticed in that time.

  Oh, Lila had her secrets, like her mysterious benefactor, but she didn’t believe the woman’s secrets were a threat to her, or to Nysten.

  “So, how did you learn the sword, and magic?”

  Lila smiled, “Lots of work, and a whole lot of time. War-mages are more abundant in the elven races, since they have the time to take both paths with centuries of living. Still, even at adept you’ve got a couple of centuries ahead of you at least. You could do the same.”

  “Are there benefits, outside of battle I mean?”

  Lila replied, “If you mastered both, you still wouldn’t live any longer than a millennium at most, but you’d be more likely to reach that limitation to its fullest, and there are other benefits. Warriors train in focusing the life force within, and as that grows so does their speed, strength, and other abilities. Mages obviously focus outward, converting their life force to their magical affinity so it comes back stronger. They still have healthier bodies, but not as hardy as a warrior’s. It takes longer, but learning how to use power internally in your body and the discipline involved, will help you to be a better caster as a mage. Being a mage that can enchant, you can improve your ability to fight with weapons. Will you really have time for that sort of thing as a princess, it would take you a lot longer to master both disciplines.”

  She sighed, “I was mostly curious, but now I’m suddenly very interested.”

  Lila laughed, “Good for you, it’s not easy, but I’d say it was worth it. You also don’t have to do both at once, you can master your air magic first.”

  She nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  As the day started to wane into the afternoon, they headed back to the city. It was the last place she wanted to be right now, of all the things her father could have done, he had decided to host a ball tonight. She used to love them, but with the threat of invasion it seemed so unimportant to her. She did realize that was an illusion, politics and the appearance that all was well was even more important than ever. She just wished she didn’t have to be there.

  Although, it would be nice to see Mina in a dress again, they’d just been wearing the robes the last week or so. The best part would be removing it from her later that night…

  Carlton felt guilty. There were thirty-nine paladins and eight clerics on the farmstead, including himself. He knew to go to the battle at all would be suicid
e. Not only wouldn’t they have a chance against their brethren, which would number close to two hundred or so, once they betrayed the regular soldiers, mages, and warriors, there was a very good chance he’d be seen as the enemy by the very people they would’ve gone to save.

  His plan was smart. Move in afterwards, strike from the shadows, harass the enemy, and then disappear. What else could they do? A straight on fight would be suicide. They needed time to regrow, and at best could fight a delaying action as Jennesar took them over. His plan was also cold and heartless, and it made him feel guilty.

  His mind was going round and round, in a pointless circle as he tried to find a solution he feared didn’t exist.

  He got up and walked through the room, focusing on his students. He and Selwyn were teaching the other six clerics, of which one was an initiate, four were journeymen, and one adept. Diana and Cory were doing the same for the paladins. He noticed only a couple of their light spells were flickering, one of those two was the initiate, which wasn’t a surprise. However, the journeyman should have this down by now.

  “Enough,” he said quietly, and the lights went out.

  Then he said, “This is important for control. Always control how much magic you put into a spell, if you practice enough that control will be sub-conscious. That’s important, because if your control is that steady and automatic, you won’t lose control when faced with someone trying to kill you, or trying to get past your protection spell. You need to learn to put just enough magic behind a spell to maintain the spell-form, and not one bit more. If you panic, you can cut off the magic and spell on accident, or worse, panic and let a surge of magic out and destabilize the spell itself. The latter danger is worse because the shield could disperse chaotically, and actually harm you.

  “You can just cast a spell with a lump of magic behind it, and let it go. That works very well for things like mage bolts, or other offensive spells with no duration. But for defense, you’ll want to continually feed your spell, so it doesn’t fail at the worst time possible in a battle. It will also help conserve your magic, as you can release the spell at any time after the fighting, and not waste any magic doing so. It’s harder leaving a spell open like that and active, but it’s worth it in the long run, and required if you ever want to make adept level.”

  He looked around a minute, “Any questions?”

  One asked, “Is praying really necessary to refresh the magic in our bodies?”

  He shook his head, “No, but some believe it happens faster that way. I believe that, but I couldn’t prove it. We use our life energy and our affinity for light, cast spells and our abilities automatically convert that life force to magic which fuels our spells. The opposite is also true, it’s how we recover and grow even stronger, as the gods are the source of light magic that we absorb and convert back to life energy. No, you don’t have to. Can I assume that question was aimed at our traitorous brothers, who still obviously wield their magic? Magic gifted from the very gods that they are about to betray? Sometimes I wish the gods would judge, but they are forbidden from interfering, or stopping someone from converting.”

  The questioner just nodded.

  He said, “You don’t have to pray, but I think it makes you better if you do. Strong of conviction, and it’s a reminder of who we are to keep our natural ambition healthy but in check to the more important things in life. We made an oath of sorts when we chose our gods. The price of support is our worship, which in turn gives them more power to share with us. Unfortunately, humanity is the only one capable in that scenario of betraying the trust. I want all of you to practice the simple light spell, without tying it off with its own magic. I want you casting it constantly, as you work, rest, eat, study new spells, chat with your friend, pray, and bathe. When you can maintain it for a full day wake-up to sleep, you may stop. Obviously, do this within the limits of your magic, a light spell is cheap magic wise though, and most of you can do a day. For those few who can’t, don’t do it until you pass out. Any more questions?”

  He felt like a fraud, hiding here, but kept it out of his voice, and out of his eyes. One thing he knew was if they were to do any good, he needed to maintain a confident front. Even if he felt far from confident at times.

  When no one asked anything else, he said, “Very well, good night then.”

  He sat and closed his eyes a moment, and prayed for guidance, though he knew he would get none. His goddess wasn’t there to tell him what to do. Yet, it always helped too, centered him and calmed him so he could figure it out himself. When he opened his eyes, and looked up, everyone but one person was gone from the ad-hoc training room.

  Really, it was just a mostly empty and stripped outbuilding on the farm which had been enchanted to prevent any magical accidents from destroying the building.

  Liren was standing a few feet away. She was nine years younger than him, just twenty-three, and he’d known her since she was sixteen when she’d joined the church of light in Tenemin. He believed she was a journeywoman level four or five now, but he wasn’t positive. He also struggled to keep the neutral look on his face. He’d seen Liren grow into a woman, but he’d always seen the sixteen-year-old girl. At least, he hadn’t noticed her change in truth until he’d gone away for six weeks, and been through all he’d been through.

  Liren was petite at five foot two, but curvy and obviously a fully matured woman, with reddish brown hair, and warm brown eyes. Her face was adorable when she was younger, but with womanhood her fair face had thinned and was very attractive. Beautiful was the wrong word, she was strikingly attractive, with a bold and slightly mischievous look, at least she was to him. Even the smattering of freckles on her nose seemed to enhance her beauty in his eyes, and he wondered at times how he’d been blind to it.

  Maybe he was only noticing, because of his jealousy of what Cory and Diana had. He’d decided back on the road he wanted something like that in his life. Somehow, he’d been blind to Liren before that. It wasn’t just looks either, the girl… no he corrected himself, the woman had presence, a forceful assertive nature yet not rude, and she was hungry and confident about her studies and learning. In short, she was exactly his type in looks and temperament, he found much to admire about her.

  He wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, but he felt like a damned schoolboy with his first crush since they’d gotten back. Whenever she was in the room, he had to force himself not to stare at the petite gorgeous young lady. Plus, her voice was… extremely pleasing to the ears, and brought to mind things best left unsaid. The truth was though, he was high cleric in his little rebel cell of sanity for the church of light. He had a position of authority, and she was younger than him. Possibly not too much younger, but he feared any actions on his part would be wrong. Which is probably another reason he felt like a schoolboy with a crush, she was perfect for him, and forbidden fruit at the same time.

  “Did you have a question Liren?”

  Thank the goddess his voice didn’t just crack, or betray his nerves at being alone with her. One thing he was good at, was covering all his doubts and other issues with a mantle of authority. Including inappropriate ones.

  Liren tilted her head a little and bit her lip, “Its personal, I was wondering if I could ask your advice. I have a problem I’m not sure how to resolve.”

  He cleared his throat, “Take a seat.”

  The room was filled with crude wood benches, and her soft smile and the fact that she chose to sit next to him on the one he was on took him by surprise. Dear goddess, she smelled divine.

  He felt her magic surge and a privacy spell came up.

  Liren said, “I hope you don’t mind sir, it’s a rather private matter I wouldn’t want others to hear.”

  He swallowed, “I quite understand, I’ll keep what’s said strictly between us.”

  Liren smiled, “Thank you. When I came to the church, discovered my magic, I was a very nervous sixteen, and frightened. One of the teachers though, he was compassionate, and strong. I
have to admit, I had a rather large crush on him for a few years. I’d even entertained a few fantasies where he’d come to my room and… well you get the idea. I was young and inexperienced, and he was… well, amazing comes to mind.”

  He wasn’t quite sure where this was going, “I see, and what’s the problem?”

  She looked away, “It took me months for me to figure out this man wouldn’t ever take advantage of a sixteen-year-old girl’s crush. Eventually, I realized he didn’t see me in that way at all, though I continued to admire him, and in a platonic way, I even loved him.”

  She looked thoughtful, and he just remained silent and waited for her to continue. She was usually bolder than this, but he got the idea personal issues were a whole other kind of thing.

  She said, “But after you rescued us last week, I noticed right away he didn’t look at me the same. I could see the attraction and hunger in his eyes, and the way his gaze caressed my body when he thought I wouldn’t notice. I hoped he’d do something about it, because his gaze rekindled some of those fantasies I’d mentioned. I’m not one to chase a man, I want a confident man to chase me. Does that make sense? This time it didn’t take months to figure out, just seven days. The man would never take advantage of his position over me, which means he would never pursue me even if he was brave enough, and inclined enough, to do so normally.”

  His heart beat a little faster, was she saying what he thought she was saying?

  He opened his mouth to speak, but she put a finger over his lips.

  She said softly with feeling, “So I wondered how I could let him know all this, that it was okay for him to take me if he wished, that I longed for it, without pursuing him, and I decided that it wasn’t really possible. I’d have to compromise. Somehow, I’d have to let him know it was about him, and who he was as a person, and not about his position. That if he made a move I wouldn’t feel at all pressured by his authority and standing.”