Land of the Undying

by Dave Willmarth

  She kept an eye on him as she moved to the door and locked it. Then quietly placed an iron bar across it. Stepping away from the door she approached Mace and offered his dagger. Seeing that it was covered in bits of Justin’s brain, she quickly wiped it on the sheet and offered it again. Mace took it gently and sheathed it. She nodded toward the door “The guards will have heard his scream. But likely they will think it was me. He...” Her voice trailed off. Mace didn’t need her to finish the statement.

  “Do you have some clothes?” he asked. She nodded and moved toward the other side of the bed. Bending down she grabbed a tattered dress from the floor. Mace turned his back as she dropped the sheet and dressed herself. She spoke again. “There is gold. In the chest. And hidden in the statue.”

  Mace turned to find her pointing at the eight-foot tall statue in the corner. It was of a warrior in heavy plate armor holding a longsword in one hand. When he nodded, she moved toward it and turned one of the wrists. The warrior’s breastplate swung open to reveal that the entire chest cavity was hollow. Inside were bags of coins, and jewels, including a hefty bag of diamonds. As Mace loaded it all into his bag of holding, the halfling asked “What is your name?”

  Mace paused to turn toward her. She stood there, hands on her hips in her rag of a dress looking defiantly up at him. He couldn’t help but smile. She looked like an angry chihuahua. All of a sudden his smile disappeared as he made a connection. He was angry again. “I’m Mace. And I’m guessing you’re the one they called ‘dog?” he answered.

  Her face tightened and became angry. “Do NOT call me that! I am Lila!” she hissed. Mace didn’t press the issue. He was disgusted by what he’d found here. Instead, he said “Lila. Nice to meet you. And I’m sorry for what you’ve… been through here.” He bowed his head and her face softened a bit. Mace walked over to the nightstand and lifted the matched daggers. “You seem to know your way around a blade” he said as he nodded toward Justin’s mutilated corpse. “I think you should have these.” He handed the blades, then a belt with sheaths that lay next to them. She seemed to know the blades well, and slid them into the sheaths before putting on the belt. It fit her perfectly.

  “These were mine. He kept them here to taunt me. Said if I could get to them and kill him, I would be free.”

  Mace looked to the bed. “He was asleep. Why didn’t you?”

  “He had an enchantment laid upon them. While he lived, no other could lift them. He made a show of leaving them out to tempt me, knowing he was safe.” She spat on his corpse. “He would say ‘Go on, dog. Fetch them’ and his soldiers would laugh. Then he would beat me when I could not lift them from the table.”

  Mace wanted out of this place. He wanted to kill every guard between him and the door. Looking at Lila, he said “Look in the chest there. See if you can find some better clothes.” While she did so, he reached down and looted Justin’s body. He didn’t look at the item descriptions, just transferred it all to his bag. Then he waited while Lila pulled a padded leather shirt from the chest and put it on. It hung down to her knees, but she used her knife belt to cinch it around her waist. Then she rolled up the sleeves until her hands were free. She also found a pair of boots and a small bow inside. “These were mine as well.” she said as she slipped on the boots. Now she looked a bit like a tiny Robin Hood, minus the hat.

  While she dressed, Mace finished clearing out the loot inside the statue. Then he quickly searched the chest for anything of value. He found a sword that looked interesting, a small bag of holding with 25 slots, and a bag with several health potions. He gave both bags to Lila. As she strapped them on, he said “The guards were asleep when I came in. We might be able to sneak out of here undetected. I’m headed to a settlement called Lakeside, about a day’s walk to the southeast.”

  Lila nodded “I know Lakeside. My father took me there once.” Mace looked her over. She seemed in no condition to run. He said “You should drink one of those health potions now. We may have to move fast. And when was the last time you ate?”

  Lila looked sheepish. She took out one of the health potions and drank it down. As the bruises on her face began to fade, she said “A couple of days. I’m fine. I’m used to being hungry.”

  Mace reached into his bag and pulled out some jerky. As she gnawed on it hungrily, he went to a decanter on the desk and poured her a glass of wine. While she ate and drank, he rifled through the desk, taking anything that looked interesting, including an account ledger of some kind. All of it went into his bag. When she was done eating, he said “Stay behind me. We’ll try to sneak past as many as we can.” She didn’t answer, just stepped behind him as he unbarred and unlocked the door. Pressing his ear against it, he heard no sound outside other than the occasional snore from one of the barracks rooms. He pulled the door open and stepped out.

  There were no guards, so he turned to her and whispered “Move quietly.” He stepped down the hallway, and was happy to hear only the slightest of scuffs from Lila’s boots as she followed. He passed the first of the guard rooms, then paused as he heard a slightly different sound from Lila. The sound of a boot turning on the stone. He looked back in time to see her stepping into the guard room.

  Dammit! What the hell is she doing? If she wakes them, we’re both dead. I already lost the xp for Justin by letting her kill him. If I lose a level… I could just leave her.

  He cursed softly to himself and followed her into the room. The first three guards he saw were laying in their beds staring blankly at the ceiling, their throats cut. Lila was working her way down the rows of beds, placing one hand over the mouth of each guard before slicing their throats. Mace watched for a moment, fascinated and terrified at the same time. Then his gamer instincts kicked in. He was losing xp by the second. He sent her a party invite, which she accepted, then he moved to the other room and began killing guards with his enchanted dagger. He was maybe halfway through when Lila joined him. Between the two of them, they finished off every one of them.

  Level up! You have reached level 40!

  You have earned one attribute point.

  A few dozen guards, the group of human hunters, and the drow scouts had finally been enough xp to gain him back the level he’d lost when the woman killed him after the centaur battle. Not to mention the lightheaded feeling of ecstasy from his dagger drinking so many souls. He and Lila looted the corpses, then moved on. Reaching the opening in the ceiling, they climbed the ladder and retraced Mace’s steps toward the exit. As they rounded the final turn, one of the two guards stationed inside the entrance caught sight of them. He shouted “Intruders! It’s a drow! And the dog?” before pulling on a cord next to him. A bell rang out, echoing through the tunnels.

  Lila didn’t hesitate, charging toward the guards as a primal scream burst from her throat. The nearest guard, the one who had raised the alarm, raised a shield and prepared to swing his sword. The second guard, having been rudely awakened by the first, was just coming to his senses and rising to his feet. Mace didn’t give him a chance. Equipping his bow, he put an arrow into the man’s face, knocking him back down.

  He was about to shoot the second guard when Lila dropped to the ground in a running slide. With one foot she kicked the side of the shield, a move the guard wasn’t prepared to resist. The shield shifted to his left, providing an opening for Lila to slash his thigh. Blood fountained out of the severed artery, and the guard dropped his sword to clap his hand onto the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Lila took advantage and stabbed the man’s chest and neck several times.

  An arrow struck Mace, biting painfully into his hip and grating on the bone. The remaining two guards outside had responded to the alarm. An archer was already nocking another arrow and aiming it at Mace. The second guard, a muscular orc, was running toward the entrance. Mace limped aside as the archer fired. The arrow passed him, speeding on down the corridor behind. Mace held out a hand, shouting “Infier!” and a fireball sped back in the direction the arrow had come. It struck the archer,
knocking him back and melting the string on his bow.

  Mace ripped the arrow from his hip, taking a chunk of flesh with it. His health bar dropped to about 70% and once again he was bleeding. Losing 10hp/sec to the bleed debuff. Looking up, he saw that Lila was hiding inside the doorway. The orc was rushing forward as the archer rolled around on the ground. Mace was raising his hands to cast an ice spell on the orc as he passed through the door, but he paused as Lila leapt out. She stabbed both daggers into the orc’s back and pulled herself up. Pulling one dagger free, she reached up and plunged it into the back of the orc’s neck. The dagger slid under the base of his skull and there was a slight pop as it severed his spinal column. The massive fighter dropped limply, his momentum making him slide across the tunnel floor as Lila leapt off, taking her daggers with her.

  “Damn.” Mace said, sincere admiration in his voice. “That was some serious ninja stuff right there. How did Justin ever manage to capture you in the first place?” he asked. He felt Minx settle back onto his shoulder. She must have leapt off at some point during the fight. Her tail wrapped around his neck, and she said “Sharp claws. Pretty. Like Minx.”

  Lila looked sideways at him, wiping her daggers off on the orc’s shirt. “There were twelve of them. They attacked my father and I in the forest. Only seven were left when they killed my father and knocked me unconscious. One of those I killed was Justin’s brother. That is why he didn’t sell me with the others.”

  Mace’s attention was pulled outside as the archer got to his feet. His bow useless, he drew a short sword and advanced. Mace put away his daggers and equipped his bow. Five seconds later the archer lay dead, three arrows in his chest. Turning to Lila, he was about to suggest they run before more guards showed up. Instead he was interrupted by an alert.

  Alert! You have captured an enemy stronghold!

  Maintain control of the stronghold for ten minutes to claim ownership.

  You have captured an enemy stronghold.

  Experience points: 5,000

  Your Reputation with the Black Flame has decreased 500. Your status is: Hated

  Mace could see from the look on Lila’s face that she could see the alert as well. She stared at him for a moment, not speaking. Mace grinned at her. “So? Do we want a stronghold of our very own?”

  Lila snorted. “What would we do with it? Start our own slaver business?” She smirked at him, then looked back down the tunnel. Mace followed her gaze. “I don’t know. Sell it? Use it as a hideout? Open a bar and call it ‘The Cave’? Serve drinks with little umbrellas in them?” Mace joked. Lila actually smiled at this. She was really quite lovely when she wasn’t all bruised and swollen.

  Despite his making fun of the idea, neither of them left the mine as the ten-minute timer counted down. Mace took the opportunity to check out his character stats.

  Character Name: MaceClass: SorcererLevel 40

  Race: DrowSpec: DarkbladeExperience: 7350/12,000

  Health: 3900/5200Mana: 1100/1200Attribute Pts Avail: 1

  Stamina: 16Wisdom: 22Charisma: 11Life Regen: 16/sec

  Strength: 14Intellect: 24Dexterity: 11Mana Regen: 5/sec

  Agility: 11Luck: 11Armor: 85Skill pts avail: 0

  All the running, fighting and killing over the last few days, and he was basically right back where he’d been at the kobold village. His health and mana were recovering from the fight, and he didn’t see a need to waste a health potion.

  While they waited, he decided to get to know Lila. “You’re pretty good with those daggers. Trained as a rogue?” he asked as he sat down with his back against a wall. Resting would increase his regen rate. Lila shook her head, sitting across from him. “My father was a bladesmith. When I was little I wanted to be just like him. He said before I could understand how to make blades, I needed to understand how to use them. I was too small for a sword, so he made me a set of daggers. I practiced with them every day.” Her voice was sad as she remembered her father.

  Mace looked away. “I’m sorry. About your father. And about what you have suffered here.” he waved a hand down the tunnel. “If you like, we can seal this place off, or collapse it…” Lila shook her head again. “I sort of like the idea of taking everything he had. Including this place. Eventually the rest of his guild will come looking for it, though, and it’ll be hard to-” Suddenly she jumped up. “Prisoners! By Yondalla! There might be prisoners down there waiting to be sold!”

  Mace restrained her as she made to dash down the tunnel. “Wait! There are no more guards here, or we would not have received the alert. Any nearby guards will be coming through this door. Let us wait here and defend it until the timer runs out. Then we can free any prisoners. It’s only a few more minutes.” Lila looked annoyed, but didn’t run away. Instead she began to pace. Mace thought it over for a while, then with a sigh said. “Alright. Hold on while I seal the door. Then we can go.”

  Facing the door he held both hands out together, and uttered the trigger word “Frigus!”. Ice began to form in the doorway. Mace moved his hands apart and upward, and the ice expanded until it covered the doorway. He kept channeling the spell until a block of ice six feet thick plugged the door and tunnel inside. Lila watched admiringly, and when it was done, she said “You’re a handy guy to have around, outworlder.”

  “Is it that obvious?” Mace asked as they began to walk down the tunnel. Lila looked at him as if he were kidding. “You’re a drow. Yet you didn’t kill me back there when we met. You showed me mercy. Allowed me my revenge. Gave me food and clothes and my weapons. No true drow would do such a thing.”

  Mace thought about that as they walked. Lila knew where the cages were, so he just followed her. Going to have to keep that in mind in the future. I’ll need to act more like a drow in certain situations. Think drow. Think drow! Be the drow! He grinned at the reference to one of his favorite movies. He stopped walking when Lila did, looking up to see where they were. It was a large oddly-shaped room cut into the stone of the mountain. There were metal rails and wooden rail ties stacked to one side, as if someone had planned to build a track for mining carts. Several broken crates and empty barrels lay rotting along another wall. Lila was pointing at a row of cages along the opposite wall. Torches stuck into the wall gave off a flickering light.

  There were six cages, each about ten feet square with a ceiling at about six feet high. Mace would barely be able to stand upright inside one of them. An orc would have to crouch. Three of the cages had occupants. One held a dozen kobolds who were standing at the bars looking at Mace. The second cage held eight minotaurs packed together like clowns in a car. They were seated around the outside with their legs sticking into the middle, and looked very uncomfortable. The last occupied cage held six halflings.

  Lila cried out upon seeing the halflings and ran to the cage. “Miri! Auntie!” she sobbed as she reached the bars. “How are you here? Did they raid the village?”

  Mace left her to her reunion, moving to the cage full of minotaurs. He spoke quietly to them, asking “Is there a leader among you?” They all shifted their gaze to one who was larger than the others, with hints of silver in his black mane. His horns were carved with runes that Mace didn’t recognize. “I am Brahm.”

  Mace bowed his head slightly. “My name is Mace. Lila there and I have just killed all of your captors. If you swear that none of your people will try to harm us, I will set you free.”

  The elder minotaur looked at him suspiciously. “You are drow. You will simply free us in order to hunt us. It is bad enough your people burned our village and killed most of my people! Give us weapons and we will give you a worthy fight!”

  Mace shook his head. “I am an outworlder. I have no desire to hunt you. I came here to kill their leader in order to protect some friends of mine at Lakeside. He is dead. You are free. IF you swear.”

  Lila had already opened the halfling’s cage, and they had gathered around behind Mace. She looked at Brahm and said “He speaks the truth. He could easily have killed me,
yet he freed me, armed me, and helped me kill every Black Flame in this place.”

  Brahm looked from Lila to Mace, then nodded his massive head. “I swear that my people will not harm you. We seek only to leave this place.” Mace smiled and pulled out a pick, opening the lock in just a few seconds. While the minotaurs worked themselves out of the cage one at a time, Mace moved on to the kobolds.

  Before he even spoke, one of them said “You friend to kobolds. Let us free?” Mace grinned at him. “Yes, I am a friend to kobolds. And I will free you, if you promise to behave.” The kobolds all nodded their heads vigorously, and Mace unlocked the cage. They practically exploded from the open door and rushed toward a ragged hole in the floor. The whole group was out of sight in a matter of seconds. “You’re welcome.” Mace muttered.

  Your reputation with the Halfling race has increased by fifty. You are now Neutral.

  Your reputation with the Minotaur race has increased by fifty. You are now Neutral.

  Your reputation with the Kobold race has increased by fifty. You are now Neutral.

  Mace felt a hand the size of a catcher’s mitt on his shoulder. Beside him, the eight-foot tall Brahm spoke. “We owe you a debt. I know not where we will settle, but if you are ever in need, you can come to us for aid.” He dipped his majestic head in acknowledgement.

  “I have an idea about that.” Mace said, looking at Brahm first, then at Lila and her halflings. “I’ve been working with the people of Lakeside to rebuild their settlement after a recent battle. A battle where they lost a number of their comrades. They could use talented warriors, crafters, and those with nimble hands to help them rebuild. I’ll take you there if that interests you.”