The Arcane Staff Trilogy Box Set

by Hans Bezdek

“He does,” laughed Sloane, her mood lightening. Kriket was probably right. If they kept their heads down and went quickly, they’d be able to overtake the fae.

  “It’s almost like trouble follows him,” continued Delvin. “I thought it was all of us at first, but aside from that roc, we haven’t really ha-”

  Sloane caught black movement off to her right but was too late to respond.

  Two demons jumped out at them, avoiding Kriket and Sloane, going for Delvin’s horse instead. The gnome cried out as the two demons pounced on his horse, sending him and his things tumbling across the road.

  “Delvin!” cried out Sloane, pulling back hard on the reins.

  Kriket was faster, turning his horse towards the creatures and quickly closing the distance.

  “I-I jinxed us!” shouted Delvin, scrambling to get away from the demons.

  One of them began feasting on the horse while the other turned its attention to the gnome. Its red glowing eyes narrowed as it stalked after its prey, a wicked smile forming in the black abyss of its face. The demon raised a clawed arm back as it towered over Delvin, bringing it down with all its might.

  Kriket just managed to jump between the claw and the gnome, both of his arms up and holding curved blades. The demon pushed its weight down on the lizard and let loose a roar.

  “Gah!” cried Kriket, taking a step back and lower his broken arm. He was now in a test of strength with only one arm against a demon. That wasn’t one he was likely to win.

  An explosion of bright light went off against the demon’s back, causing it to cry out and lose its footing.

  Luckily for Kriket, Sloane hadn’t been uselessly watching. Nocking a second arrow and muttering her incantation, she let loose another shot imbued with holy energy. This one struck the side of the demon’s head, staggering it.

  Kriket jumped up, bringing both of his blades across the demon’s neck in one swipe. The demon let out a horrifying gurgling sound and collapsed.

  “T-Thanks guys!” said Delvin, gathering up his things.

  “Not a problem,” grimaced Kriket, holding his broken arm close to his body but still clutching both of his weapons.

  Sloane hopped off her horse, approaching them and nocking another arrow. She looked over at Delvin’s dead horse but… the demon wasn’t there.

  She looked up at Kriket. “Did you see where-”

  The remaining demon rushed at Sloane from her left, batting her away with a backhand. Her bow and the arrow flew away from her as she tumbled to the ground, the demon fast approaching.

  Knowing she wasn’t going to reach her bow in time, Sloane took a risk and pulled out the Arcane Staff. Zeke had to learn to use his when he needed it most. If he could do it, hopefully she could, too.

  As she brought the Staff up, she noticed a green glow appear in the center of the head of it. She prayed that meant it was working and shoved it towards the demon.

  Vines suddenly shot up from around the demon’s feet, tripping it. The demon hissed as it fought to get back up. Sloane, guessing that this wasn’t some bizarre coincidence, again thrusted the Arcane Staff towards the struggling demon.

  The vines spread out all across the creature’s body, tightening as they went. The demon slashed at them as they grew, but was soon overwhelmed. The creature quickly found itself unable to move an inch.

  “Woah…” mumbled an astonished Kriket, walking up to stand next to Sloane. “I’ve never seen anything like this…”

  “Neither have I,” said Delvin, walking past them with his mace in his hand.

  “Wait, Delvin!” shouted Kirket. “We don’t know if the demon will be able to-!”

  The gnome swung the mace halfheartedly, the weapon smacking against the side of the demon’s face.

  There was a sickening snap as the demon’s head spun to the right, now hanging from its body in a very unnatural position. The vines suddenly loosened, and the demon collapsed.

  The three stared down at the demon’s body in silence for a moment, making sure it was really dead.

  “Maybe Zeke isn’t the only one that has a way of getting unwanted attention,” conceded Sloane, breaking the silence as she went to go pick up her bow.

  “That hit was really enough to kill it?!” gawked Kriket, his eyes wide as he looked at the gnome. “H-How are you strong enough to break a demon’s neck so easily!?”

  The gnome wasn’t paying attention to the lizardman. Delvin gagged several times as he walked away from the demon’s body, putting a hand over his mouth as he went.

  “I… I think I might get sick…” coughed Delvin.

  “What’s wrong with him?” asked Kriket, looking worriedly at Sloane.

  “That’s probably the first time he’s killed something,” she shrugged. “His mace is filled with the strength of ten giants.”

  “Twelve,” corrected Delvin as he took some deep breaths. “Twelve giants.”

  “So you have an insanely strong mace,” said Kriket, pointing at Delvin before pointing at Sloane. “And you have an Arcane Staff. Why didn’t you two mention that earlier?”

  “Didn’t really seem important,” said Sloane, picking up her bow and heading back for her horse. “Neither of us had gotten to use them yet.”

  “If you told the people at Burston you had an Arcane Staff, they would’ve followed you without a second thought!” he exclaimed.

  “Ugh, you’re right!” she said, smacking her forehead. How stupid of her, she should’ve thought of that! “They wouldn’t have needed all that gold we promised them! Dang it!”

  “Uh… yeah…” said Kriket, giving Delvin a look.

  “We all have things we’re working on,” shrugged the gnome.

  “I can see that,” mumbled Kriket. “Did Zeke know you had an Arcane Staff, too?”

  “No, we found it later,” said Sloane, trying to remain vague. She didn’t want word getting out that she and Delvin knew where the Lost Citadel was. The last thing she needed was people going after it while she was off trying to kill Lord Kutarm.

  “Where?” pressed Kriket.

  “Um,” hesitated Sloane. “It’s kind of a long stor-”

  “The Lost Citadel,” explained Delvin.

  Sloane groaned.

  “O-Oh! Are we n-not supposed to tell people?” asked Delvin, concerned that he broke an unspoken rule.

  “Of course you found the Lost Citadel,” wheezed Kriket with laughter. “Why does that not surprise me? How in the world are the three of you finding all these things?”

  “We need to keep moving,” said Sloane, getting back on her horse. “Delvin, you need to ride with Kriket now that we’re down a horse.”

  “Aw, I wanted to hear more about your adventures,” chuckled Kriket as he approached his horse.

  “Don’t worry,” said Sloane, giving Delvin a look. “Now it’ll be easier for Delvin to blabber all our other secrets to you.”

  “M-My bad,” mumbled Delvin, his head low as he followed after Kriket.

  Chapter 6

  “I don’t see why we need to ride the same horse,” whined Zeke.

  “Really?” asked Xylona, the first word she had spoken in over an hour. “After that little stunt you pulled back there?”

  Xylona had not found Zeke’s attempt to escape amusing. After dragging him out of the inn, it took a lot of convincing by Zeke to not end up bound from head to toe in her magic circles. She explained that if he tried to escape again, she would knock him out and keep him bound until they reached Kutarm.

  Zeke decided to play nice for the time being, but had no intention of not attempting to escape again. While they might both want Kutarm dead, that didn’t mean she was someone safe to travel or fight with. He had never heard of a fae working with another race and figured that was because they always turned on them.

  “I don’t see why I need to be behind you, though,” said Zeke. “It’s embarrassing.”

  “How’s it embarrassing?”

  “I feel like a little kid,” he c
omplained.

  “You don’t know where we’re going,” she said.

  “You told me!” he laughed. “Right in front of that guy with the squeaky armor! You said we were going to Stedforge.”

  “And have you been to Stedforge?” she asked.

  “Well… no,” he admitted. “But I saw a sign that said to just follow this road there.”

  Without saying a word, Xylona led their horse off the road and into the forest to their left.

  “Why are we getting off the road?” asked Zeke, looking around. Was she doing this just to prove that she needed to be the one guiding the horse?

  “Just keep quiet, okay?” mumbled Xylona.

  That was the last thing Zeke wanted to do but decided to keep his mouth shut. He knew he was getting dangerously close to getting handcuffed.

  Xylona led their horse easily through the trees, keeping it at a slow pace. While it was still stepping on twigs and making noise, the rest of the forest wasn’t particularly quiet either. Various kinds of birds were calling to one another all around them, rabbits and squirrels occasionally running from tree to tree. The sun was setting, and a cool breeze passed through the trees around them.

  After a half hour of riding, the horse slowed to a stop.

  Ahead of them was a wood shack. It looked like it was built hundreds of years earlier and hadn’t had any upkeep since then. Wood panels were broken and rotted all over, with the left side of the shack being covered in vines and fungi. Zeke would’ve assumed it was abandoned if not for a faint light coming from one of the open windows.

  “We’re here,” said Xylona, sliding off her mount.

  “I’m not going in there,” said Zeke simply.

  “Uh, yes you are.”

  “No way,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re bringing me to some crazy witch in the middle of nowhere who’s going to try to eat me.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so hellbent on thinking I’m trying to kill you,” she sighed. “If I was trying to feed you to a witch, I could just kill you now.”

  Zeke thought about that. “Or… the witch only wants to feast on the flesh and blood of the living.”

  “So now she’s a vampire?” asked Xylona, narrowing her eyes.

  “Why can’t vampires be witches, too?” asked Zeke.

  Xylona growled, her hands clenched into fists. “Shut up and get off the horse!”

  “But-”

  Xylona reached out towards him threateningly. He quickly put his hands up defensively and got off the horse.

  “Fine,” said Zeke, holding his head up and looking away from her. “But know that I’m doing this against my will.”

  The fae looked like she wanted to murder Zeke on the spot. Instead, she let out a furious breath and stormed off towards the hut. The elf wisely followed after her.

  Xylona knocked on the door three times, then opened it up. The two of them walked into the shack, which was surprisingly roomy. A magic source of light sat in the middle of the room, two beds set up on either side of it. Some rations were spread around the room, but it was otherwise barren.

  “Well, well, well,” came a woman’s playful voice. “Took you long enough. And it looks like you brought a friend! That’s unlike you.”

  Zeke spun around as a woman stepped out of the shadows of one of the corners. It was another fae.

  Her purple skin was lighter than Xylona’s, and she stood half a foot shorter. Her eyes appeared to have more starry specks than not, to the point where it looked like she hardly had any darkness in them at all. Her hair was bright green and went nearly down to the floor.

  Zeke wouldn’t admit it, but he didn’t hate looking at her.

  “This is Zinovia,” said Xylona, gesturing towards the other fae. “She’s one of my contacts.”

  “Zinovia?” repeated Zeke. “Why can’t fae have normal, easy to remember names?”

  Zinovia let out a giggle and nodded. “I can’t disagree with you there. And who might you be?”

  “I’m just an elf,” he shrugged.

  The fae met Zeke’s eyes and smiled. Zeke suddenly felt short on breath.

  “I doubt that very much,” she said, pointing at the Fourth Staff on Zeke’s back.

  “I’m just an elf with an Arcane Staff,” he shrugged.

  Xylona rolled her eyes as Zinovia laughed.

  “Funny, and kinda cute for an elf,” smiled Zinovia, leaning in close to him. “Come to think of it, I’ve never had an elf as a special friend before…”

  Zeke gulped louder than he wanted to.

  “Enough. You’re scaring him,” said Xylona, growing impatient. “Do you have any updates for us on Kutarm’s movements?”

  “We’ll have to continue our conversation another time,” Zinovia winked at Zeke. She turned her focus to the other fae and cleared her throat. “I’m assuming you are aware of the human’s defeat at Burston?”

  “I am,” nodded Xylona.

  “After that, word traveled far and fast,” explained the fae. “The news of Burston along with the news of some of the northern cities being taken back by the Linsuk Resistance has caused many in this territory to wonder if Kutarm’s empire is on its way out.”

  “Northern cities have been taken back?” asked Zeke. He hadn’t heard about that. He wondered if Sloane and Delvin had a hand in any of it.

  “It’s been going on for a couple of weeks,” nodded Zinovia.

  Zeke made a noncommittal noise. That meant it wasn’t his two friends, then. It was still good news, though, he supposed.

  “The people questioning Lord Kutarm must be doing wonders for his self-esteem,” smirked Xylona.

  “Which leads me to the next bit of news. Kutarm has decided enough is enough, and has left the capital to head east.”

  “He left!?” exclaimed Xylona, eyes widening. Zinovia smiled as she nodded.

  “That’s a good thing?” clarified Zeke.

  “Very,” said Xylona, rubbing her hands together and taking a few steps away. “The capital is the most defended city in all of Linsuk. Kutarm won’t be as protected now, and we could potentially catch him off guard. On top of that, it’ll cut down our travel time.”

  “Do you know where he’s headed?” Zeke asked Zinovia.

  “I do, as does most of his territory,” she nodded. “He’s moved with a large chunk of his military to Stedforge.”

  “Stedforge!? How perfect!” cheered Xylona.

  “That… That’s pretty close,” laughed Zeke nervously. He assumed he’d have had weeks, maybe even a month before he’d have to come face to face with Lord Kutarm. Now it wasn’t going to be more than a few days, if that. He really needed to figure out if the Fourth Staff was going to work again or not…

  “There’s more,” smiled Zinovia. “The group at Burston must have been invigorated after their defeat because they are moving towards Kutarm’s territory as we speak!”

  “They are?” said a surprised Zeke and Xylona in unison.

  “Will you stop being so surprised at my news?” groaned Zinovia. “It’s tiring.”

  “I bet this had to do with that lizardman…” muttered Xylona, shaking her head.

  “Lizardman?” asked Zeke, turning on the fae. “You’re talking about Kriket, aren’t you? How do you know about him?”

  Xylona hesitated as she tried to come up with a reasonable answer.

  “Did you kill him?” demanded Zeke.

  “I didn’t kill him,” said Xylona with a roll of her eyes. “I’ve not killed anyone since we’ve met, I’ve got no idea why you think I’m so bloodthirsty.”

  “In his defense, you’ve killed more beings than anyone else I know,” interjected Zinovia.

  “But he didn’t know that!” said Xylona defensively.

  “Kriket must’ve come back for me,” said Zeke, thinking aloud. “He must’ve seen you, and if you didn’t kill him then maybe he gathered the Resistance to come and save me!”

  “If that’s the case, I definitely should
’ve killed him,” said Xylona.

  “Then why didn’t you?” asked Zeke.

  “He claimed to have known you, and I thought it’d make you less likely to work with me if you found out I killed a friend of yours,” she shrugged.

  That made sense to Zeke, even if it didn’t make him particularly comfortable. With what Zinovia mentioned about her killing so many people, Zeke really needed to keep on his guard. There was no telling if or when the fae would turn on him.

  “Can we be done with all this?” asked Zinovia. “I’m getting tired, and night is fast approaching.”

  “Sure,” nodded Xylona. “Thanks for all your help, Zinovia. As always.”

  “Don’t mention it. Also, I’m happy to house the two of you tonight,” said Zinovia, turning towards Zeke. “Unfortunately, I only have two beds. I guess that means one of you will need to keep me company through the night…”

  Zeke choked on some spit and burst into a coughing fit. It looked like Lord Kutarm wasn’t his most pressing concern.

  “No need,” said Xylona. “With Burston on the move, it won’t be safe for us to spend the night here. We’ll need to get more distance between us and Westdale.”

  Zinovia pouted at Zeke.

  The elf was beyond relieved.

  “You should consider moving as well, Zinovia,” said Xylona. “If anyone in the Resistance finds you, they’ll probably try to kill you.”

  “I can handle myself just fine,” she shrugged.

  Zeke believed that.

  Chapter 7

  Sloane and the others arrived in Westdale without any more demon surprises. The town wasn’t very large, and while there was a clear Kutarm presence, it wasn’t as large as she expected it to be.

  Still, the lizardman and gnome garnered quite a few looks. Nearly everyone was human except for the two of them, and the people gawking didn’t always look to be the friendliest. Sloane was confident the three of them could handle themselves if push came to shove. Kriket had proven himself to be a decent fighter, even with the broken arm.

  The three of them spent a few hours asking around town for any sight of an elf accompanied by a fae. Unsurprisingly, they hadn’t gotten much. Even if Zeke and his captor had come through here, the fae woman would probably do whatever she could to keep a low profile. The average citizen wasn’t going to pay much attention to a fae escorting a prisoner, and even if they did, there wasn’t much incentive to help the three outsiders.