“No. No, I’m not alright,” Sina replied sharply. She paused briefly before continuing, more softly. “Sorry, Daniel. My brand vanished a few moments ago. That means that Sistina…”
Her voice trailed off mid-way, and Daniel’s eyes went wide. For a moment he was elated. If Sina’s brand was gone, that meant she was free! She could do whatever she wanted without fear of being ordered by anyone, which made his happiness surge, only to be quenched by the knowledge of what else she’d just said. If the dungeon was dead, that meant the city was in danger. What was to stop Kelvanis from enslaving her again? What would protect them? His voice was soft as he spoke hesitantly. “Oh. I… I’m sorry.”
Daniel was about to say more when he heard the footsteps himself, and he tensed, calling on his spirit for aid. Hope’s light filled him, imbuing his body with additional speed and clarity, just as a pair of individuals rushed into the room.
It was hard to make out anything about them. Each was wearing a gray cloak that blurred their bodies, while their faces were shrouded by what looked like fog or mist. The one in the lead paused only an instant as they entered the room, then began gesturing, rapidly chanting the words to a spell in a female voice, while the other figure shot to the left, ducking behind the golem as they pulled out a dagger.
The other adventurers acted before Daniel could even begin to move. One threw up a shield of water that blocked the tunnel behind them, while another fired an arrow surrounded by crackling lightning at the spellcaster. The others moved forward, most of them with melee weapons, and their opponent managed to finish her spell, launching a bolt of blood-crimson fire at the adventurers as she dove to the side.
Darak deflected the bolt of flame with his axe, grunting as the arrow curved, punching into the woman’s shoulder. An instant later, the arrow exploded with a deafening sound, and the woman screamed as her arm went flying through the air. The other person lunged out from behind the golem in a blur, and Daniel gasped as he saw their opponent was flying!
“Oh, no you don’t!” Albert growled, his staff sparking with azure lightning for a moment, before a brilliant blue beam shot through the air and struck the figure, wreathing them in blue for an instant before they fell, cursing in a male voice.
As the man hit the ground, Eric swung at him with his axe. The man ducked the attack, lashing out with a punch that sent Eric staggering back. As the attacker began to swing his dagger, time seemed to slow down for Daniel, as he saw the trajectory of the blade. In moments, it would cut Eric’s throat.
Panic surging through him, Daniel lunged forward, calling on Hope and forcing the world around them to slow to a crawl. It was a crawl for others, but Daniel couldn’t stop his own lunge, only redirect it as he thrust his sword toward his friend’s attacker. The world sped up an instant later as Daniel’s sword pierced the man’s chest with such force that he was sent flying backward in an explosion of blood, the dagger clattering across the floor. Panting, Daniel stared at the man in shock, having used the attack against another person for the first time.
“T-thanks, Danny. That was close,” Eric murmured, his voice shaking as he swallowed. “Another second, and I’d have been bleeding out.”
“You wouldn’t die, Eric. Not with me around,” Joseph spoke from behind them, clapping a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and giving him a nod. “Still, good job, Daniel. Remember, your team is like your family.”
“Joseph! Get over here and heal this woman,” Albert snapped, his normally cheerful face drawn and looking angrier than Daniel could remember. His glower as he looked at the injured woman was fit to kill as he said, “I have questions for her, and don’t want her to die before answering them.”
Joseph nodded, giving an encouraging smile to Daniel, then walked over to keep the woman alive. As they did, Daniel looked at the two people who they’d just stopped. Both of them had moved with professional skill, casting spells far more quickly than any mage he’d seen in the military, and yet they’d both fallen in seconds. Looking at Eileen, he saw the shock in her eyes, and he murmured, “So… is this why other nations don’t want adventurers getting involved in their affairs?”
Farris strained herself to her limit, trying to control the spell she was casting. She’d only barely managed to comprehend the spell which Sistina had used to save Phynis from death the previous year, and even with everything she’d learned while within the dryad’s sea of knowledge, she’d underestimated the spell.
Brilliant green symbols raged before her, the threads of the spell twisting and warping in her grasp. Phynis was clutching Farris’ hand tightly, the elven queen’s face pale as could be. Farris struggled to direct the spell and mana into the stump of Sistina’s tree, but it just wasn’t working. It needed direction, and Farris couldn’t provide it. If the tree had been an elf, human, or any one of a dozen similar species, she could have helped, but a tree? She’d never studied trees as a healer.
“Farris, we’re starting to lose her,” Topaz called out, the seven priestesses all perspiring profusely as they held Sistina’s soul together. “If you don’t manage it soon, she’ll break through the barrier.”
“I’m trying, I just… I just don’t know enough about trees,” Farris ground out, her concentration wavering ever so slightly. “I don’t know how to rebuild her body! If they hadn’t burnt her, this would be easy, but…”
“C-could I help?” A faint, hesitant voice came from behind them, and it took Farris a moment to recognize Lily. “I d-don’t know what happened, but I w-want to help. I know about trees, at least a bit.”
“Lily!” Desa exclaimed, the exhausted mage standing up again. “I don’t know… Farris?”
“Maybe… Lily, I’m close to losing the spell, so move quickly. Just… just touch the trunk and imagine it growing like it should!” Farris urged, falling to a knee as a tangle of threads nearly escaped her grasp. “It might not work, but it’s the only chance we have left.”
“O-okay.” Lily gulped loudly, passing them with her panther in her arms, the limp feline’s oversized paws over her right shoulder.
It shouldn’t work, Farris knew. Lily wasn’t in command of the spell, but there was another possibility. Lily almost seemed like a natural druid, able to command the growth of plants unconsciously, so she might be able to guide the spell by guiding the tree itself. It was Farris’ only hope, and she spared a moment to pray that it would work.
Lily was unsure of what to do, despite Farris’ encouragement. The others had been in shock from what had happened, even she could tell that much, but the sheer devastation of what had happened to Sistina was a heavy blow to Lily. This was in many ways her sanctuary, her final place of safety. That it had been violated felt wrong on so many levels that Lily would have found it impossible to describe to others. She wanted Sistina back, and for this place to be back to a glade of vibrant, peaceful beauty once more.
Taking a deep breath, Lily reached out with trembling fingers and laid them on the scorched, mauled bark of the stump. The charred wood was still largely intact, and touching it, Lily could feel the faint life pulsing within, empowered by the brilliant green web of power Farris had laid over it. The life needed direction, purpose, and Lily finally smiled, ever so shyly. That much she could give a tree.
Others might have difficulty imagining a tree growing to its full height, but they weren’t Lily. She’d spent two winters in Sistina’s caverns, and had watched trees grow with unnatural speed, from the moment their first shoots broke the earth to when their boughs gave shade over dozens of yards. She’d cared for them, watered them, and pruned them. Lily, more than anyone else, knew Sistina’s tree as it was. So she closed her eyes and let her imagination do the work, showing the magic how to restore Sistina to her former glory.
Almost joyfully, the magic answered her call.
“Shadan’s golden sigils!” Albert gasped out an oath, coming to a sudden halt, only to be knocked forward when Darak ran into him, since the dwarf out massed him almost three times o
ver. Albert gave the dwarf a brief glare, but only for an instant as he drank in the sight before him.
Although it was in disarray, the artificer quickly saw the way that the cavern was laid out, how the gardens were each precisely placed to allow mana to flow more fluidly. The crystal patch on the roof reminded him of a fountain in the palace, the mermaid statue which was made of brilliant crystal itself. The devastation of a fire at the center of the chamber would have made him flinch, if it weren’t for what he saw there.
“What are they doing?” Penelope asked.
“Those priestesses are trapping a soul, keeping it from passing on,” Joseph said, his voice filled with respect. “That’s not an easy task, I might add. Souls want to pass on, and stopping them is hard. I don’t know what the others are doing.”
“Nor do I,” Albert admitted, admiring the immense green glow surrounding what looked like a white tree growing rapidly from the center of a hill, next to a scorched stone building. “Garret?”
The dwarven druid was unassuming, thinner than most of his kin and beardless, which made most people mistake him for a short human, but the brown-eyed nature mage shook his head, awed. “I’d need a lot more time to study the spell, Guildmaster, but that looks an awful lot like an incredibly high-powered regeneration spell. At a guess, they’re healing the tree so they can put the soul back in.”
“Well, it looks… oh!” Joseph gasped as the tree almost exploded upward, as if growing ten feet in a few seconds had been too slow, the trunk thickening and growing up to where it almost brushed the ceiling, motes of golden light scattering around it like fireflies as the branches fell outward in the curtain of a weeping willow, leaves budding and unfolding in mere moments.
As the tree grew to its full glory, the priestesses guided the glowing orb of white back toward it, their barriers around it fading away one by one. The orb floated into the tree and vanished without a trace. Moments later there was an immense, bone-deep throb that rumbled through the cavern, almost as if the air itself had come alive. Albert let out a breath of combined relief and shock as he realized that something that he hadn’t realized could be done had happened.
The handful of women surrounding the tree had resurrected a dungeon.
Chapter 20
Sistina woke exhausted. She’d nearly died, she knew that much. In fact, if she were to be accurate she had died, as she at least vaguely remembered the Jewels holding her soul together as her spirit had tried to dissolve into the aether. The combined efforts of those she loved and trusted had saved her, but it had been a very near thing, and now she was weaker than she’d been in a long time.
Farris and Phynis had exhausted a large portion of Sistina’s mana regenerating her tree, leaving her reserves low once more. She honestly didn’t blame them, as if they hadn’t done so, she wouldn’t be doing anything ever again. Worse in its own way, every last brand Sistina had claimed had snapped when she died, freeing the men and women who she’d claimed from their brands in every way. While she was grateful that they were free, it meant that her mana regeneration had been suddenly slashed to a fraction of what it had been. Where before she could confidently craft three golems a week, now she’d be lucky to manage one each month.
She honestly shouldn’t be concerned about that, though. She’d died, however briefly, and she still couldn’t risk poking her mind out of her tree. That strange, mind-crushing chaos in the aether was still roiling around her, though it was calming slowly. Her body might be a complete loss, though Sistina hoped not.
With nothing else to do, nothing else she could do, Sistina tried to rest and relax. It was incredibly hard when she had no knowledge of what else might have happened while she was incapacitated, and without her connections, she couldn’t find out. Still, she had to be patient.
“Guildmaster Windgale. What might you be doing here?” Phynis asked, her voice icy as she saw the adventurers approaching the tree. There were a rather lot of them, and considering what had happened earlier, she didn’t entirely trust him, even if he was looking grim.
“I guided him here, Your Majesty.” Sina spoke up, looking nervous as she met Phynis’ eyes. “He came out in a rush, saying that someone was trying to kill the dungeon. I led the way, and we ran into a couple of people who were fleeing, who had been delving as non-guild adventurers. They captured one of them, but insisted on seeing if there were any more.”
Phynis’ eyes narrowed and she turned to Albert, her voice cold. “How did you know that someone was trying to kill Sistina?”
“The Adventuring Guilds do more than just arrange delves into dungeons or sell off items found within them, Your Majesty,” Albert said, more formally than normal, which suited Phynis perfectly in her current mood. “When a dungeon is considered malevolent, or deliberately out to kill anyone who enters the dungeon, the Guild also focuses on destroying the dungeon. In only the rarest of cases have we ever failed, in part because we have closely guarded tools we use to target them. Even I don’t know how to build them, they’re so secret, but I have devices intended to detect the most potent of them. An aetheric disrupter has no purpose but to render a dungeon vulnerable, and the moment I detected it, I knew what must be happening, and the group that entered had some of the items that the Guild uses.”
“What?! Your Guild decided to kill Sistina?” Phynis demanded, her anger flaring white hot as she focused on him. As her friends focused on him as well, Albert paled and took a step back, quickly protesting.
“No! I discussed things with the other Guildmasters, and we unanimously agreed she wasn’t a threat, Your Majesty! What was done is horrible, and almost worse to me is that someone stole Guild secrets with which to do it,” he explained, and his eyes hardened as he added, “I must add that if they did steal the items, or if someone provided them, the Guild will not stand for it. We pride ourselves on our neutrality, but we will break it to hunt down traitors. Please, give us a chance to make things right. We didn’t want this to happen any more than you did!”
Phynis’ anger cooled ever so slightly at his explanation, and she looked over the other adventurers, considering them for a moment. One of them, an older, balding man, stepped forward and spoke. “Your Majesty, the Guildmaster is telling the truth. The Guild manages dungeons, and your… your Sistina has been one of the most reasonable I’ve seen in my years. She’s not as deadly as most others, and what she gives in return is downright generous, all things considered. None of us would want her gone.”
There was a chorus of agreement from some of the other adventurers, and Phynis felt her rage finally recede to a manageable level. Nodding, she spoke after a moment, her voice still cold, almost distant. “Very well. I will give you your chance, Guildmaster. However, should I learn that your organization was complicit in this attack in any way, I will do everything in my power to expel you from the region.”
“That is entirely fair, Your Majesty. Thank you,” Albert replied, looking relieved as he bowed his head.
“Umm… I don’t know if it’s important at all, but I found this on the stairs when I came down from the palace,” Lily offered, picking up something Phynis hadn’t noticed before, what looked like a brass lamp without the section for the wick or a chimney. Her panther cub was finally starting to stir as well.
“That… oh, damn it all. I’m not sure which I was more afraid of, that someone stole Guild secrets, or that someone else had developed the devices on their own.” Albert’s relief seemed to vanish as he rushed toward the young elf. He took the device from her hand, turning it upside down and groaning. “It’s a Guild disrupter alright. Damn it. I’m going to have to contact the other Guildmasters.”
“How long will the effect disabling a dungeon last?” Desa asked, approaching from the other side of the tree.
“Hmm? Well, I’ve never used one before, but from everything I’ve heard, between half an hour and an hour. I’m certain you heard it activate, as they aren’t subtle,” Albert explained quickly.
“I se
e. So, about half an hour until Sistina’s back for certain,” Phynis murmured, feeling tears well up in her eyes as she reached out to stroke the tree’s bark. Her connection to Sistina was gone, but it almost felt like she could feel the life pulsing through the tree. Almost.
“Phynis? I just wanted to mention, one of the branches, when it fell, knocked the doors of the tomb open,” Desa murmured, nodding toward the old mausoleum. “What would you like me to do?”
“I… just leave it for the moment, Desa, I’d like to look inside.” Phynis blinked, brushing away her tears for the moment, and looking at Sina. “Sina? Would you please escort the adventurers out of the dungeon before Sistina wakes? I’d rather not have something untoward happen to them.”
“Of course, Your Majesty!” Sina replied, looking relieved to have something to do. She was standing close to a sandy-haired young human, which only slightly surprised Phynis. That must be her rumored boyfriend, Daniel. After nearly losing Sistina, Phynis couldn’t do anything but mentally wish the young woman the best. The Queen found her attention attracted to an elf whose eyes were fixed on Sistina’s tree, an expression of awe on her face.
“Hmm? Oh, of course.” Albert quickly looked up from the device and nodded, hastily moving to follow as the adventurers started gathering once more. Following Phynis’ gaze, he barked, “Nirath! It’s time to go, snap out of it!”
It took a few moments for the dark-haired woman to respond, and even then she moved away only slowly, as if tearing her gaze away was the hardest thing in the world. The woman also possessed much paler skin than any other elf Phynis had seen, which made her stand out. Eventually a group of the others began to escort the woman out, and Phynis frowned for a moment, before finally shrugging and letting out a sigh. Only once the adventurers were on their way did she turn toward the mausoleum.
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