Sleeper Of The Wildwood Fugue (Book 7)

by Charles E Yallowitz

  Delvin holds up his hand to have the adventurers stop when they come to a rounded wall of glass. A few stomachs rumble, prompting Timoran to hand out pieces of dried meat and sweet biscuits. While eating their simple meal, Luke and Nyx wander off to examine the curious barrier. They see the huge, circular conduit of the volcano and the light of the magma is enough for them to see across the opening. There are only more coffins on the other side, making the half-elves wonder how many people have died at the hands of their destiny. A few spurts of molten rock leap into view, causing them to back up several steps.

  “We must be pretty close to the bottom of Helgard,” Nyx mentions, glancing back at their friends. She can see Sharne resting on the floor with Timoran guarding her while the others look over a crude map of the crypt that Delvin is trying to make from memory. “By the time we leave here, I’ll be a full champion and my destiny will be nearly fulfilled. To think this is what I’ve been training for all these years. You know, I was a little jealous that you and Sari got your powers first. Can you believe how far we’ve come since you challenged me at Rainbow Tower, little brother?”

  “I think you mean when you attacked me,” Luke somberly points out with a half-hearted smile. His expression changes as he decides it is time to be honest with his best friend. “I feel bad about not going into the desert to rescue you. After everything we’ve been through, I should have been the first to rush into danger on your behalf. I’m sorry that I let you down, big sister, and I swear I’ll never do it again.”

  “You’re right. I did attack you first,” the caster agrees, taking a seat next to a metal coffin with Dwarven funeral markings on the cover. Nyx puts the scepter across her lap, ignoring the ruby’s angry hum. “As for you coming for me, I have a confession. I kind of wanted Delvin to do it. I give him a hard time about putting his life in danger for me, but it’s really sweet. Not sure why him coming to my rescue either drives me insane or makes me grin like an idiot, but you jumping into trouble on my behalf is somewhat normal.”

  Luke takes a seat next to her and gently flicks her shoulder. “Because I’ve been doing it since our time in Gaia and you’ve come to expect me to leap into the fire. I’m reckless and will always rush in to be the hero without thinking. Delvin is more level-headed, so him barreling into trouble has more emotional weight behind it. Don’t look at me like that, big sister. I can be deep and intuitive at times.”

  “I never said you couldn’t be,” Nyx playfully argues. For a few seconds, she is mesmerized by the magma rising above the level of the glass wall. “I believe you’re right about Delvin. He’s always calm and collected unless he thinks I’m in danger. Yet he’s kind and attentive when we’re not in battle. Unlike you, he has an off switch for his heroism.”

  “It helps that you’re so in love with him that you had a dream about marriage.”

  “Why did Dariana tell you that?”

  “I was joking.”

  “Oh . . . I was joking too.”

  Luke puts his arm around Nyx’s shoulders and gives her a tight squeeze. The moment she relaxes, he pokes her in the ribs and flicks the bottom of her ear. She bites her lip to avoid making noise while the warrior mercilessly teases her. Unable to take it anymore, the caster binds his hands with a spell that makes it impossible to pull them apart. When Luke tries, they clap back together with enough force to rattle his knuckles.

  “So why don’t you tell Delvin the truth?” the warrior asks, offering his hands to be released.

  “I swear I’ve been over this before. I’m scared,” Nyx admits as she frees Luke from the spell. She takes a peek over the coffin to see that Delvin is talking to Timoran, his chainmail-covered back to her. “If I tell him that I love him and it gets to the point of marriage then we have something to lose in the fight with the Baron. Imagine us being engaged and I die in that battle. He’d be crushed and I’d be the same if the roles were reversed. As soon as I tell him the truth, we won’t be able to take it back and everything else will follow. I’m simply not ready for taking that big a step.”

  “I know I’m not one to talk about relationships since I’m in a mess, but I think you’re playing a dangerous game,” Luke suggests, putting a comforting hand on the caster’s leg. He smiles at her and reaches out to push her mouth into a smirk. “You’d hate yourself if he died and you never told him the truth. I’m not saying you should tell him now, but don’t wait until after we fight the Baron because it might be too late. Besides, he probably already knows since you’re about as subtle as a drunken dwarf.”

  “You give good advice for being in such a mess,” Nyx says, reaching out to move the forest tracker’s mouth into a grin. They let go of each other and chuckle, stopping when she punches him in the arm a little harder than she intends. “I’ve been meaning to ask you a question for a while. Now seems as good a time as any.”

  “I don’t know what to do about Kira and Sari,” the forest tracker claims with a tired sigh. “I thought about it a lot and I’m in love with both of them. Each one appeals to part of my nature, which drives me nuts. Kira has the stability and the deeper understanding of how I grew up with expectations while Sari is a wandering adventuress who is always up to something exciting. I fear that I will either get bored with Kira if my wanderlust stays or grow out of Sari if it disappears. With everything that happened in Bor’daruk, I don’t want to hurt Kira any more, but I can’t ignore what I feel for Sari.”

  “That’s terrible, but I was actually wondering why you aren’t scared of transforming after being trapped as a chimera,” Nyx awkwardly mentions. She gets to her feet and stretches her arms over her head, freezing when she turns to find Delvin standing on the other side of the coffin. “Is everything okay?”

  “I was only checking on you two,” the smiling warrior says, walking around to join them. “I walked in while Luke was rambling. Did either of you happen to hear a strange thud a few minutes ago?”

  “No, which is strange since it’s been so quiet,” Luke replies, drawing his sabers and scanning the area. All he can see are the images of his friends and the occasional coffin when it is touched by the dull breeze. “I don’t see anything out of place. Though I’ve been worried about all these bodies coming to life. By the way, Nyx, the answer to your question is because I’m not scared of it happening again. I made a mistake with the Sword Dragon and I know not to make it again if I try to become a chimera. It’s all about control and the spirits not being malevolent or too strong for me to handle.”

  “It isn’t like nearly dying stops Luke anyway,” Delvin interjects before they hear a soft knock on a nearby wooden coffin. “I was really hoping to avoid zombies. They’re more of an annoyance than a threat, but I’m not in the mood.”

  “Remember to tell them that, so they’ll go away,” Nyx snidely replies.

  Shattering the stone floor, a bronze coffin erupts beneath the three adventurers and hurls them into the air. Luke lands lightly on his feet while Delvin uses his shield to cushion his fall against a wooden casket. The lid of the hovering coffin opens to reveal nothing, but crimson lining. The mysterious object turns to Nyx and sucks her inside, closing and plunging back into the floor. A chorus of exploding wood and metal fills the crypt as the other caskets violently open. Ghosts rise from those bodies that are nothing more than dust while rotting zombies emerge from fresher coffins that fall apart with ease. Armored skeletons and floating revenants join the swarm as Luke and Delvin race back to the others. Nothing has to be said as they sprint through the bursting coffins, the adventurers slashing and dodging undead on their way back to the portal.

  “Fizzle make all you go poof!” the drite screams.

  He darts through the air to blast a red-robed Lich with a disintegration spell. The undead caster’s top half is erased, but it still unleashes a bone dagger spell that cuts Sharne across the back. She cries out in pain and stumbles, holding the bleeding wound that drives the nearby zombies into a frenzy. Fizzle soars through one of the creatures wh
ile Dariana beheads the other three with a flurry of powerful kicks. A shadowy ghast leaps at the injured woman who is plucked out of the way by Timoran. The barbarian hacks the creatures in half with one swing and whirls around to decapitate an undead knight.

  “We have to save Nyx!” Sari shouts as she helps Luke clear the path ahead. Wielding studded clubs of ice, the gypsy dances and flips through a group of skeletons that are left broken in her wake. “I say we go back and try to get her out!”

  “That coffin disappeared as soon as it went back into the ground. We’d never find her before the undead overran us,” Luke argues, making short work of the zombies. He swings at an Elven ghost, but his blades pass through it and he ducks its grasping hands. “Focus on the ghosts, Fizzle. I can’t do anything about them anymore. Something tells me Sutter’s rule about magic jewelry was a lie and he wanted to make this harder for us.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Just fight back to the vortex,” Delvin says while protecting the group’s flank. He neatly destroys all of the physical undead that come near, but the ghosts force him to fall back and lose his momentum. “Once we get back to Cudgel, we’ll make a new plan and return for Nyx. Maybe we can send a few big spells through the entrance when these things group together.”

  The skeleton of an orc knight charges at Delvin and swings its mace into his shield, driving him to his knees. Sensing an easy target, the other undead rush forward only to be pushed back by Dariana who moves too fast for them to react. She turns half of the skeletons to powder and tears a ghoul’s legs off before she slows down enough for the undead knight to take a swing at her. Delvin knocks her out of the way and tries to parry the mace, but he can already see that his angle is wrong and his blade is damaged. Deflecting the weapon, his longsword shatters with several shards piercing his and Dariana’s skin. The pain is minor, but the blood roils the undead to the point where some of them attack their brethren out of confusion. Refusing to give up, the brown-haired warrior swings his shield with all of his strength and knocks the skeletal knight’s head off.

  “Stay near me,” Dariana whispers, grabbing her friend by the wrist. She stops when she turns around to see that they have been cut off from the others. “We wasted too much time. Get on my back and I’ll jump us to the others.”

  “Catch up to the others and get to the vortex,” Delvin demands, bashing a few zombies with his shield. “I’m not going to die here or get you killed. Tell Luke not to stay on this side of the vortex because I know he’ll try.”

  “But you’re unarmed.”

  “Actually, I’m not.”

  Delvin reaches into his bottomless pouch and draws the cursed bastard sword, the weight too heavy for him to use with one hand. He drops his shield and takes out two skeletons in one swing while Dariana hurries to the others. Unused to the weapon and feeling its dark energy run up his arms, the warrior keeps his swings precise and short. He is relieved when the blade tears a ghost to shreds with a single touch, the spirit’s agonizing screams ringing in his ears. With his friends out of sight, Delvin starts swinging wildly to hack his way through the horde. The zombies, skeletons, and some undead that he does not recognize close in, even stepping on the remains of the fallen. The creatures reach for the sword, its dark energy mesmerizing them and making them docile enough to kill without a fight. Even with the lack of resistance, Delvin can feel his arms and back about to give from the heavy bastard sword. He can barely lift the weapon when several ghasts in front of him are cleaved in half by a great axe.

  “Never try to fight like a barbarian, my friend,” Timoran says with a smile.

  “I promise to leave the swarms, mobs, and hordes for you.”

  The pair ignore the undead behind them and work to hack their way to the vortex. Delvin focuses on any ghosts that swoop down at them while Timoran savagely hacks through the screeching crowd. A few times Fizzle passes overhead to unleash a wave of lightning or fire on the creatures nearing his friends’ flank. When they see the exit, Timoran lifts Delvin over his shoulder and charges with brutal swings of his great axe. He leaps through the vortex with Fizzle right behind him and crashes on the stone path in front of Cudgel. The opening closes with a loud sucking sound, preventing them from returning to the crypt.

  “What about Nyx!?” Luke asks. He leaps over Timoran and Delvin in the hopes of the vortex returning, but it remains closed. “How are we supposed to save her if we can’t get back there?”

  “I’m sorry, but the portal closes when there are no living beings in the crypt,” the dragon helplessly replies, sinking up to her nose. “If you finish the tests without her then you can retrieve the body.”

  “That’s if we can figure out where it went,” Sari mutters while she presses a large healing patch on Sharne’s injuries. She moves on to help Dariana and Delvin remove the metal shards from their skin, the gypsy using scraps of cloth when she runs out of bandages. “Luke said the bronze coffin disappeared.”

  With a curious snort, Cudgel rises out of the sand and leans forward to get a better look at the blonde warrior. “Bronze coffin? If she was swallowed by that then she’s not dead. Maybe. At least she’s not in the crypt and all you can do is continue with the tests. I heard the door to the greeting chamber open while you were gone. As long as your friend passes her personal test, you’ll see her again.”

  “Then let’s push forward and finish with this damn place,” Delvin growls as he replaces his broken sword’s sheathe with that of the cursed blade. The warrior sheaths his new weapon with shaky hands and heads for the stairway, leaving Timoran on the ground. “Hurry up or I’m leaving you behind!”

  “This will not go well,” the barbarian whispers to himself.

  *****

  Nyx wakes up to a blinding light above her and leather straps holding her tight to a metal table. The scepter is on her chest, tied down with silver cords as it growls and hisses in frustration. She tries to use her magic, but nothing happens even when she focuses on her churning aura. Wiggling her fingers, the caster finds that each one has a smooth ring that makes her skin itch and burn. The sound of running water and clinking metal draws her attention. With some amount of effort, she slips out of the strap across her forehead and cranes her neck to look around the room. Nyx gets a glimpse at some terrifying machines that could only be for cutting flesh and bone before the band of leather yanks her head back down.

  “Welcome to my lab,” a hoarse voice says from the other side of the room. The gentle thud of metal tools being placed on a cart precedes the sound of squeaky wheels. “It’s been a long time since I had one of your kind. You’re nothing like Casandra, but she was truly one of a kind. I’m still surprised she lived for so long without aging a day. So what is the name of my new subject?”

  A gnome rises into view on a mechanical lift, her crimson and sapphire robes marked with dried blood. Her forehead is stripped of skin and the wand symbol of Celvaryn the Goddess of Wild Magic is etched into the exposed bone. Wisps of white hair stick out of the wrap around the top of her head, the garment nothing more than a white towel. Her large, dark red eyes squint in the light, which she turns down by spinning a metal rod in the air. She takes her time putting on her leather gloves and straps a telescoping monocle to her head. The lens moves in and out a few times, the screech of unoiled joints making the gnome curse under her breath.

  “Nyx of Rainbow Tower,” the half-elf replies to make sure she can still talk. “I’m also the champion of Helgard. Who are you?”

  “I’ve been called The Crafter, the first Palqua, and Nuerin,” the gnome answers while oiling the lens. She pulls out a notebook and writes as she examines the restrained caster. “I prefer the third name, but we’re not going to get very close. I’ll make an amazing beast out of you. Maybe even replace that archaic Ifrit. I never liked him, but he came with Helgard and I could only do so much to mess with destiny.”

  “If you’re a champion then let me out of here,” Nyx requests, struggling against the tight bonds. A numbing
spray descends on her from the black stone ceiling, robbing her of strength and sense. “How are you still alive after all these years? I thought all of the former champions died except for Dariana.”

  “Don’t even get me started on that sniveling creature. I’m glad we sold her to pirates on the way here,” Nuerin says with a cruel smile. She moves closer to Nyx and measures her face with wooden ruler, blindly jotting down information. “Nobody said I was still alive. My ultimate creation killed the other champions and ruined Palqua, but it gave me the opportunity to rid Helgard of those ridiculous monster challenges. Those made excellent guardians of my old scepter and my servants firmly believed my old companions were responsible for my great creation. Sutter certainly didn’t mind losing those headaches. I believe I was pretending to be male during that time, but it was so long ago and unimportant. Getting to the point, I led the Helgardians into the desert in the hopes they would use my scepter on the nearest city, which never happened. I would have done it myself, but the binding spells wouldn’t allow it. After they bored me, I came back here and took up residence to continue my experiments. I probably died a couple hundred years ago.”

  Feeling the strength return to her body, Nyx flexes her fingers when the gnome is looking at her feet. “Are you a Lich?”

  “Nothing so plain. I’m special.”

  “Aren’t all champions?”

  “Yes, but I left all of you behind when I cheated death and improved upon Gabriel’s prophecy,” Nuerin proudly explains, throwing her notebook onto a metal table. She picks up a long saw with two blades that glow red with heat. “I am the gatekeeper who chooses if a champion is worthy. The guardian of this temple was worthless and Sutter is nothing more than a glorified butler. I conquered Helgard and created a beast to destroy the Baron. Sure it killed the other champions and destroyed the town of my servants, but I survived. I could have continued my work if the gods hadn’t revoked my destiny. Still, I continue to make sure only the best will continue with Gabriel’s prophecy. Maybe one day someone will meet my approval and survive Helgard, but I swear it will not be a channeler.”