Dungeon Deposed

by William D. Arand

  At this point, the queen, Adele, and Claire had turned to look as well.

  “The dungeon sends greetings to the queen,” said the quest walker. The words were only slightly halting, almost as if it were an accent, which Ryker felt a bit of pride in. The simple fact that he’d mashed it all together from memories was pretty amazing.

  The guardsman stared at the quest walker, who stared back at him unblinkingly.

  “You have a message from the… dungeon?” Queen Lauren asked.

  “The dungeon sends greetings to the queen,” said the quest walker in the exact same tone and words.

  “Let… let him through,” Lauren said.

  Ryker opened up a control spell and slipped into the mind of the walker as it walked up to the queen.

  Weapons were drawn as the quest walker, armed and in full plate mail, stood in front of Lauren.

  Ryker activated the first dialogue he’d prepared.

  “The dungeon sends greetings. The dungeon sends troops. They will arrive from the north. Your people should remain in reserve. Please put all spirit cores in the dungeon that you can spare,” said the quest walker.

  Everyone froze. Several people sucked in hissing breaths. Adele and Claire held their breath.

  Lauren was the first to react.

  “I thank the dungeon for its assistance. Would it be possible to speak after this? I’d like to work out an agreement,” said Lauren.

  “Speak with the mayor. We name him arbiter,” said the quest walker, pointing at Ryker. Without another word or waiting for a response, the quest walker left. Heading towards the north.

  Adele, Claire, and Lauren were all staring at Ryker. He shrugged his shoulders at them.

  “I made a deal with it a while back. Part of it was that I don’t talk about the deal. My end of it was to provide it with a steady stream of dungeon divers and cores. I was to get personal protection out of the deal. Apparently that means Dungeon gets the same protection since I live here,” said Ryker as nonchalantly as he could.

  This was the risk of course. If they believed him, all was well.

  If they didn’t, that was the problem.

  After several seconds passed, Lauren smiled genuinely at him.

  “Ryker. I think we’re going to need to have a long talk about what you and Dungeon can do for me,” she said.

  Adele shook her head and looked away.

  Claire had her plastic smile etched onto her face.

  Ryker suddenly felt worried.

  Chapter 12- Confessions -

  “Why does it want cores?” Lauren asked. They’d relocated to a building nearby that had a second story. She was now peering across the field at the enemy army.

  “I don’t know. I just buy them and leave them in the front room whenever I can,” Ryker said. At least now he had an excuse for why he bought every core he could. One less thing to worry about. They weren’t something he could create in the dungeon since the item was exclusively created by creatures with a soul.

  The queen didn’t respond to that. Only she and he were up here right now. Claire, Adele, and all the guards had been sent down to the first floor by the queen herself.

  “Anything else I should know about the dungeon?” she asked, taking a moment to snare him with her eyes.

  “No. It’s pretty much what you expect. It just exerts a level of intelligence unheard of. I’m not sure it would be wise to spread that information either. In fact, I’d almost say it could be dangerous,” Ryker said.

  “Agreed. The guardsmen I trust, and Claire and Adele, while troublesome in their own way, won’t be mentioning this. I’m not sure what our dear friends over there will say,” Lauren said, gesturing at the enemy.

  “They won’t say anything. I imagine the goal of the dungeon is to kill them all, with no prisoners, and no escapees. It’s no different than any other dungeon as far as I can tell. Every death empowers it,” Ryker said.

  In fact, he could almost guarantee that the goal was total annihilation.

  Wynne had been quietly building solid thirty-foot rock walls. They were all behind the enemy army, and would be preventing anyone from getting away.

  Lauren didn’t say anything. She was too busy watching the enemy army as it marched towards her guardsmen.

  “And you’re confid—”

  There was a rumble from the north. Then Gnolls and Hobgoblins came over a small rise. They were moving in line. In formation.

  And they were moving very fast.

  In fact they were sprinting.

  Behind the Gnolls and Hobs came the human army, also sprinting. Slower than the first wave, but still moving swiftly. The vast majority of them were all outfitted in heavy plate mail.

  “By the gods,” Lauren whispered. “That is… frightening.”

  Ryker couldn’t help but agree. When he realized he could set all of their commands to coordinate with each other, and work as a system, he was a touch overwhelmed.

  Everything inside of a dungeon’s territory was the domain of the dungeon, and inside its domain, the dungeon was the lord and master of all.

  “The fact that it can operate like this… means that we’re all within the dungeon’s sphere of power,” Lauren said.

  Swift, that one.

  “Yet it didn’t act against the town. It didn’t spawn monsters, or try to cause deaths. It sat in its dungeon and waited. It only revealed itself when it felt you were in danger,” Lauren continued. “This dungeon… is very much not like any dungeon we’ve ever heard of. And it’s here… in my nation. I’m not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse,” Lauren said.

  “All things considered… Both?” Ryker ventured. “It’ll provide great rewards, but it’ll also give others a reason to invade. I could ask the dungeon if it was possible for it to depart. It did mention it chose this location.”

  “No! No. I’ll take this curse and wield it to my advantage. This is the type of curse that you read about in the stories of great nations and their forging. No, I need only to grab hold of this.”

  Lauren looked away as the dungeon forces crashed into the enemy.

  “And that’s where you come into play, Ryker,” she said softly. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

  “I’m not sure I understand. I’m just a citizen,” Ryker said, unsure of what she meant.

  “A citizen. Yes, you are indeed a citizen. But you’re a citizen who’s the mayor of a city with a dungeon who struck a personal deal with it. If you decided to make a kingdom of Dungeon, there is little I could do. That,” she said, pointing out at the field where the dungeon forces were quickly overwhelming the enemy, “is strength no army can match. As soon as those constructs die, they can be replaced. Immediately. I’m no fool. This dungeon cares not at all for me. It cares only for your wellbeing. Because you defer to me, it defers to me. Because you sought my approval, it sought my approval. I am queen in Dungeon by your consent.”

  Ryker hadn’t thought about that. He wasn’t great with politics, planning, or anything of that nature. He was a violent, petty man, who up to this point was only a decent farmer.

  “So… what should I do?” she asked him again.

  “I don’t know. I was a failed dungeoneer that became a farmer. My talent in single spells and control is without peer. My stamina though… I have perhaps three spells in me before I’m spent,” Ryker said, looking away from the queen and to the battle. Walking over he stood beside her and watched as the human part of his army smashed into the melee.

  “That’s actually how most assassins tend to be. Perhaps not the control, but the ability to only use a few spells. They only need one spell after all. You’d have made a good contract killer with your skillset,” Lauren said.

  He caught her movement out of the corner of his eye as she turned her attention back to the fight.

  “If I commanded you to marry Claire or Adele, would you?” Lauren asked.

  Ryker couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him.

  Lauren la
ughed at his response.

  “They are rather painful at times, aren’t they. Adele is a blessing for how forthright she is, but she can’t hold a polite conversation for longer than a minute. Claire is the exact opposite. I worry sometimes that if she should ever wonder what she’d be like as queen, I’d have to have her removed,” Lauren said. “I treasure my family, but sentimentality won’t keep my crown.”

  Nodding his head, Ryker definitely could understand that.

  An enemy is an enemy, whether friend or family.

  “It’s not as if I wouldn’t marry them, I’m just not interested in them. I don’t think I could handle either of their personalities for long without having to leave the home for a walk,” Ryker said. “Or several drinks. I mean, I caught Adele picking her nose, and she just stared me down. Claire… I think Claire would pretend she doesn’t take a shit and would make sure I wasn’t home to hit the bathroom.”

  Lauren coughed for a second, and then started to laugh loudly. She clapped one hand into the other with a sharp pop as she kept laughing.

  “Ah, that’s the right of it, I suppose. Creeping around at night to use the toilet when you can’t catch her,” Lauren said. “That’s what the family gets for leaving the branch families so far apart.”

  “Better than inbreeding, I guess,” Ryker said.

  Lauren snorted at that, shaking her head. “That’s true. Ah, I haven’t laughed like that in a while.”

  “How come? A farmer’s view of the nation is that we’re on the rise. All things are good, and the economy is doing well.”

  “My country is doing quite well. I… am not.”

  Huh. Didn’t expect her to actually confide in me.

  “The peerage is pressuring me to marry. Before I’m unable to provide an heir, they say. Anyone I marry will try to fight me for control over my own crown. They’ll also do their best to get rid of me once I produce an heir. They’re more or less trying to get me to swallow a poisoned pill.”

  “I see. I’d imagine that you should marry someone from a neighboring nation then. Perhaps a prince who relinquished their title?” Ryker offered.

  “We’ve gone through all the eligible bachelors. There’s a few that meet the criteria I need. They’re older than me by a significant margin, though. Is it so terrible to want someone handsome and my own age?” asked the queen. “Or at least not horrible looking?”

  “No. It sounds reasonable. Though I suppose that’s a sacrifice a head of state has to make. You could always abdicate.”

  Across the way, the dungeon forces were slaughtering the army of Adelona. There was no quarter given, despite white flags being waved. For their part, the guardsmen had been ordered back into town, and to keep everyone indoors, away from windows.

  Anything and everything to keep them from finding out what was happening to the east.

  “I could. Though any of my female cousins who I’d give the throne to would be put in a similar position. I don’t think they have the mental fortitude to survive the pressure either. I think they’d cave to demands, and be dead within a few years,” Lauren said.

  And that leaves her with the blame of giving up the throne to an usurper and killing a family member.

  “And what would your ancestors do in this situation? Or better, what did they do? The crown has been passed from daughter to daughter as long as the Queendom has existed.”

  “They marry the old princes from other nations. Historically, at least. I’ve been dragging my feet, hoping for an out, but it isn’t likely to change,” Lauren said.

  Ryker fell silent at that. Awkwardly, he reached over and patted the queen on the back gently, then began to gently rub his hand back and forth across her shoulder blades.

  She flinched under his hand at first contact. Then her entire body shuddered. Finally, she relaxed under his touch as he continued to rub her back consolingly.

  ***

  The forces of the dungeon cleared the field. It took a little under an hour from start to finish.

  Conversation had been kept light after Lauren’s revelation. Simple farmer stories, bad jokes, and gallows humor. By the time the dungeon forces were moving all the corpses back into the dungeon, Lauren seemed rather chipper.

  “They’re not going to eat them or anything, are they?” Lauren asked, watching as a morbid train was set up to pass off corpses and equipment back to the dungeon.

  “No. I imagine they don’t want to leave evidence behind. All the gear will be reabsorbed by the dungeon to be used later on,” Ryker said. “Personally I’m appreciative of it. Leaving that many corpses to rot would be a death sentence for Dungeon. Burying them would make the ground over that way a problem for a while. Especially if a solid rain comes through. Could wash them up.”

  “Good points. I think it’s about time we head down. I’m sure the guard thinks you’ve raped and murdered me by now,” Lauren said.

  “I somehow don’t quite believe that,” Ryker said, moving over to the hatch.

  “Well. People have tried the latter, though the first one would have been new,” Lauren said.

  Flipping over the hatch, he found himself staring down into Claire’s upturned face.

  Eavesdropping, were we?

  “Cousin,” Lauren said, looking at Claire with a smile. She didn’t wait for a response and got her boots onto the upper rungs of the ladder and started coming down.

  “Majesty,” Claire said, scurrying to one side to let her down.

  “Everything is over,” Lauren said. “Did we deliver the cores to the dungeon?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty. We paid for every single one in the town. From every shop and every person. There isn’t a core left in Dungeon,” said a guard off to one side. “They were all put in the entry area where quests are gotten. They… vanished within seconds.”

  “Good. Now, I imagine the runner we sent to—”

  “People heading this way!” called a guard from the front of the building, interrupting the queen.

  Ryker frowned for a second. Half a heartbeat later and he knew what it was. It was his dungeon fairy squad. They were apparently returning directly to him for some reason.

  “Those are your fairies. They’re coming your way to relay some information, then they’ll head back into the dungeon. They did well. Be nice,” Wynne said in his head.

  Moving to the door, Ryker opened it and stepped outside.

  As soon as he felt like he could reasonably identify them without being suspicious, he turned around.

  Lauren was behind him, peering out at the incoming squad of fifteen armed and armored women of various races.

  “They’re from the dungeon. I’d call them the vanguard if I had to name them. They’re probably the strongest entities in there,” Ryker explained.

  Lauren nodded at his explanation and then took the position directly to Ryker’s right. She didn’t walk beyond him though, as he expected she would.

  The queen is playing this very tight, and very safe. I’m sure I’d bumble my way through this and have to set someone on fire.

  “Ryker,” said the Elven warrior maiden in front as she got within speaking distance. It was the same one he’d worked with before.

  Ryker nodded his head to her, yet said nothing.

  He didn’t actually know her name.

  The troop came to a clattering halt in front of him. One and all they looked lethal. Decked in equipment that could only be classified as high-end and blessed with experience they didn’t earn, they had the demeanor of a sharp sword pointed at one’s throat.

  On top of that, most of them had gone for insanely beautiful and bodies that weren’t quite appropriate for a battlefield. A few could only be described as “top heavy”.

  As one, they bent down on one knee to him and lowered their heads.

  “Dammit, Wynne. This isn’t the time,” Ryker thought at her angrily

  “I forgot! I’m sorry. Whatever, it’s done. It’ll help give you influence,” Wynne thought back, dismiss
ing his annoyance.

  “We scoured the dead for intelligence. This was a securing force, not their holding force. It is likely they plan to send another army at some point,” said the Elf.

  Ryker wrinkled his nose.

  It made sense. This would have been more than enough to sack, loot, and destroy Dungeon, and hold the dungeon until another force could arrive that would take over.

  “Was there any sign of church members? Light or dark?” Ryker asked.

  “No. They had a priest, but he was there for services. There was nothing that would indicate this was anything other than an attack by Adelona.”

  Turning his head, he looked to the queen. This was her domain after all, not his.

  His goal in life was to kill Rob and all those who had mocked him. There was little else for him in this life.

  For her part, Lauren took his deference without a word, and then turned to face the kneeling Fairy avatars.

  “Please station scouts on the eastern border and relay any movements back to the royal guardsmen headquarters here,” Lauren said.

  Ryker had expected her to say more, but he wasn’t going to argue with her.

  “I suppose that cuts my tour of Dungeon rather short,” Lauren said. “I’ll head to the border city to the northeast and petition a meeting with the Adelonians.”

  Ryker shrugged his shoulders at that. “Best of luck, Lauren. Chances are they’re not going to believe every single one of their soldiers was slain. We’ll just have to feed the dungeon again.”

  Wasn’t really his problem, but he’d wish her luck with it.

  The queen blinked once, then gave him a lopsided grin. “You’re probably right. But I still have to try.”

  “Figured. Anything you need from Dungeon before you go?” Ryker asked.

  “Actually,” Lauren said, turning to face him fully. She leaned in close and whispered for his ears alone. Ryker found it pointless since there was an Elf over there in the avatar party. Their hearing was on a level unheard of. He wasn’t going to correct her, though.