As the snake tried to shake Roland off its head, it relaxed its hold on Vena. She gasped for air, her vision spotty, and she tried to get her bearing. She wasn’t sure what she was seeing.
Meanwhile, Roland was being flung back and forth by the snake which was trying to dislodge him. Roland was trying to hang on for all he was worth to get another strike in so he would have another hand hold. He was flung forward and the snake was able to bite onto Roland’s leg. Constrictors aren’t poisonous, but they still can hurt you when they bite. The bite broke his leg and immediately Roland knew he was in serious trouble.
Roland’s Dwarven knife came out of the snake’s head as soon as the snake bit into Roland’s leg. He was dangling by his leg but he still held onto his knives. The snake deftly flipped Roland up and into his mouth to eat. When Roland landed in the snake’s mouth, he launched another attack. This time the knife blade went straight up into the roof of the monster’s mouth. The snake clamped down, desperately trying to eat the menace that was inflicting pain on him. Roland continued cutting up through the roof of the snake’s mouth and into his brain.
Finally, the snake stopped moving and collapsed into the crook of the tree. Vena was finally able to crawl out of the snake’s limp grasp. She had seen the snake eat something but wasn’t sure what it had been and she didn’t understand why it was dead. The head began to move as if something was trying to get out. Then Vena saw Roland’s hand shoot out of the snake’s mouth holding the Elven knife. Shortly after his head burst out and Roland gasped for breath. He was covered in blood and gore. Vena hurried over and tried to help him, but every time she pulled on Roland he screamed.
“Vena, don’t pull on me! My leg is broken and I’m kind of still stuck in this thing’s head. Let me cut it up a little more so I can pull myself out.”
She gave him his space and let him hack away. If it wasn’t for Roland coming to her rescue, she would have been a snack for the snake. He hacked and groaned as he worked his way out of the snake’s grip. It took several minutes before he was clear of the snake’s head. His leg was badly broken. Vena straightened Roland’s leg out before she cast heal on him. She could not heal a broken bone without setting it first, otherwise it would heal crooked. Roland was in agony until she cast her heal. It took two rounds of heals because it had been a very bad break.
They remained up in the tree to cut chunks of the snake apart, dropping them down to the camp below. The thing was so big it took almost two hours to complete this task. Roland was able to grab some vines and lower himself and Vena down into the camp. This swamp was not what he bargained for. This bow that Gnorbit was making had better be worth the pain they were going through.
The team waited for Roland and Vena as they descended from the tree. Shadow was there to greet Roland keeping close to Roland for the rest of the evening. He had thought he might lose his human bond. The team thought both Vena and Roland had been killed, until the chunks of snake began cascading down from the tree. After they cleaned the blood off of themselves, they began cooking some of the meat for dinner and Roland cleaned a piece of the snake’s hide. He wasn’t sure what he would do with a snake’s hide, but he wanted a reminder of how big a snake could get. When he finished, he attached the skin to his pack.
The fog was beginning to clear away and they could now begin to see beyond their little campsite. They packed up and started to move along the solid ground which appeared to be some type of island in the swamp. As they moved away from the campsite they were caught by surprise.
Right in front of them was what looked to be a rock wall of hewn stone. The rocks were large and precisely cut so that they fit together perfectly. How could someone get rocks into this swamp? The only soil they had seen was muddy and it didn’t have any rocks in it. Who would have brought such large hewn rocks into a swamp? It must be a piece of the Lost Empire.
They followed along the wall until they found a gate. There were large broken rocks all around this area. The gate had been broken down. Only pieces were left of what was probably a magnificent gate. They discovered stone statues that were now broken and covered in moss and lichen all around the gate. Who could have cut such large and beautiful statues? The next question was who could have destroyed such a massive gate? That was a question Roland didn’t want to find the answer to.
Vines were covering the rock walls, along with a deep layer of moss and lichen. Plants were growing from between the crevices in the rock. The fog was dissipating quickly when they noticed that the ground they were walking on was made of rock perfectly laid out. They entered through the gate.
Once inside the wall the group discovered what looked to be an old city with most of the buildings now fallen down. There were a few buildings still standing that looked to be in fairly good condition. There were areas where trees grew and bushes and plants extended out of the crumpled buildings. They all moved to the first broken-down house to take a look. The walls of the house were made of the same rock that made up the roads and the wall into the city. There was a doorway in the front of the house and another one in the back. It looked like there may have been windows on all four sides of the house. The roof was long gone.
Roland picked up a sliver of rock that had chipped off one of the bigger rocks. It was filled with swirls of color, the primary color being a reddish color. A blue grey tint seemed to be the secondary color but there were also accents of white, black, and tan as well. The walls and roads had a beautiful look to them.
They decided to find a building in the area that was still in good repair and planned to use it as a campsite. The whole group was discussing the possibilities that could be found here. All of them except Roland.
“Hey, Mateo. I thought we were trying to find my amber slime?”
“Roland do you realize where we are right now?”
“I have no idea.” Roland was really not too interested in this place. It was a place that would be nice to explore but he just wanted to get his amber slime and go home.
“Roland, this is the Lost Empire. Adventurers have been looking for this place for hundreds of years. After having looked for this place as many times as I have, I was beginning to think this place was a myth. But I’m standing in it and it is almost too much to hope for. I don’t know anyone who has ever been here. We might be able to come up with some ancient magical items. Who knows what is in here? This could make us the richest people on the continent. We can’t just walk away from this for some amber slime. I will make sure you get your slime but I want to explore this place. I can’t just walk away without doing some exploring.”
“Well if it is that important to you then I’ll help you explore this place. Just promise me we will get my amber slime before we head back.” Roland was insistent on this point.
Mateo had an even larger smile on his face, if that was possible. “I promise Roland. I should be thanking you. You were the one to get us here. Without you, we would have never found this. I would have walked by that grove of trees. I am hoping you are putting down a navigation point so we can find our way back here.”
“I set a point when we set up camp so we can always get back here if we need to.” Roland was glad because if he ever returned to this place, he had a place to stay out of the water.
Mateo put his arm around Roland’s shoulders and gave him his usual big smile. “Roland, I don’t think you realize what you’ve done. I have been in the swamp quite a bit, but have never been this far. Usually my group goes in and stays for a few days, then we get out. This experience is great and we are leveling faster. The amount of beast parts purchased from the alchemists are great, we have made quite a bit of gold. This is totally different. The Adventures Guild will talk about you as the man who found the Lost Empire. You are going to be famous.”
Mateo walked away like the world was never better. For him it might seem great, but Roland really didn’t want to be famous.
Twice while searching for a place to stay in the city, they were attacked by both b
lack and green slimes. The green slimes were more dangerous than the black because they were acidic. If their slime got onto the skin, it would begin to eat the skin away. Vena was healing more than she had ever had to on any previous adventure. It was good they were mostly small injuries. With all the slimes in this place, maybe they would find an amber slime too.
The adventurers finally found a large building that had a roof made out of large slabs of stone. The building was very solid. It took them a while to clean out the slimes as well as several large rodents. They set up some stones to barricade the doors to keep any wildlife out while they rested. Thankfully, they had cooked plenty of meat from the constrictor and ate some of that for their meal. They were also able to dry out their clothes which had been wet for weeks. It was a good place to get refreshed.
Roland put out the bat repellent as usual that night. They had heard the Screech Bats roaming this area of the swamp. When there are Screech Bats there are Vampire Bats. The night sounds were loud and something banged up against their door on several occasions during the night so it was good to have a barricade in place.
The next morning before anyone was up, Roland awoke and felt so much better. He had needed this rest. The idea that they could be attacked at any moment had taken a bigger toll on him that he thought. Now that he was rested a bit he decided to open up his status panel.
Status Panel
Level
27
Age
19
Health
340
Title:
N/A
Mana
765
Heath Regen
0.001/Second
Stamina
485
Mana Regen
0.0005/Second
Vitality
34
Stamina Regen
0.01/Second
Strength
38
Race
Half-Elf
Endurance
59
Bonus
Dexterity +2 per level
Dexterity
88
End +5 and Str +5
Wisdom:
78
Active Status Conditions
Intelligence
75
Animal Bond
Charisma
12
Available Points
10
Wow! Traveling through the swamp was great for experience. He had already gained two levels. The constant attacks by the wildlife out here really had boosted his experience. He was sure killing that giant constrictor snake helped a bit too.
He decided to check his skill panel to see what had changed.
Skill Panel
Tracking
Expert Level 8
Archery
Expert Level 3
Herbalism
Experienced 8
Toughness
Experienced 9
Illusion
Expert Level 8
Meditation
Experienced 4
Knives
Experienced 3
Security
Beginner Level 5
Another surprise. Well, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. His toughness had increase by two levels. His tracking had also increased and he was sure that was due to his constant casting of navigation. Knives had increased, which he expected. He couldn’t kill as many creatures as he had and not gain more experience with his knives.
The question for him now was where to drop the available points he had accumulated. His mana was up over 700. Did he need more? More was always good, but after spending so much time in the swamp he thought it might be better to use it for endurance. After much deliberation, he put half the points toward endurance and the other half in intelligence.
He was ten points shy of hitting 800 points in mana. The only reason he would need that much mana was for some kind of wild and crazy illusion. With his illusion level as high as it was, he wished that he had brought his mother’s folio, but it would have probably been destroyed in the constant moisture. He would need to spend time when he got back working on his illusions.
Now that they were all well-rested and had dry clothes on, it was amazing how much better the group’s attitudes was. They all ate well and huddled together to form some kind of plan for exploring the Lost Empire city. They ultimately decided to stay together. Too many attacks had occurred in this swamp to risk splitting up now. They had entered the city on its far south-eastern edge and the buildings on this side of the city were spaced out equally. After every four buildings was a road going north and south.
There was also a road going east and west after every four buildings. That made 12 buildings per city block with a central open space behind the buildings facing the road. The further north they traveled, the number of buildings per block dropped to eight, and they were much bigger. Finally, the buildings became four per city block. The buildings were getting much bigger and they had much more space around them.
Inside the buildings they found mostly rubbish, along with slimes and large ugly rodents. They had found shards of pottery all over the place but they didn’t find any in one piece. Most of the broken pottery looked to be from what was once large containers. With the buildings getting bigger as they went north, they decided to continue to the north side of the city to see if they could locate any important buildings such as religious or government buildings.
The last row of buildings covered the whole block. Someone with a passion for perfection obviously designed this place. It was the only time anyone in the group had seen a city intentionally built to an exact plan. Everything was square to the cardinal directions. Roland liked things neat and in their place, but even this was a bit much for him. As they stepped out from the last block of large buildings, the road leading out arched around a circular lake to a large building located behind the lake. In the middle of the lake was a great statue of what looked to be some type of dragon but it seemed different than the dragons Roland had ever seen in books. He was wondering what it was when Odelia spoke up.
“It’s a water drake,” she explained. “It isn’t a full dragon but it is still dangerous. The beast had to be of great significance to these people because we haven’t seen any other art in this city. Normally, most cities would have some type of art showing. In the capitol, you can find statues throughout the city. So far this is the only art we have come across. Everything is perfect here. The roads and blocks make perfect squares. The houses and buildings are all perfectly square, but this lake is a circle.”
Mateo was the next person to speak. “If we are going to find anything of value, it has to be in that huge building across the way. It is either the king’s palace, or it might be a temple. Either way, if we are going to find something of significance, it has to be in there.”
They started towards the massive building. The lake in the center had an edge surrounding the water made from the same rock that everything else was made from except it was rounded and stuck up out of the ground by at least a foot. The rock around the lake acted like a levee, holding the water back. While the buildings made of rock had fallen down all over the city, some type of magic must have been cast in order to keep this rock wall around the lake preserved. They might not have found any magical devices, but there was magic at work here.
They walked within a few feet of the lake’s edge and Roland decided to take a look so he stepped over to the edge to peer into the lake. As he leaned over the rock ledge, he could feel the magic. It was slight, but he felt it. Odelia was alongside of him and Roland knew she felt it too, because she gave a slight shiver. The water inside the lake was crystal clear. It wasn’t like the water in the swamp that was murky and emitted a bad smell. Looking further, Roland noticed that the bottom of the lake was made of the exact same rock paving. The bottom had to be at least 20 feet deep. They couldn’t see further into the lake because of the reflection of the sun coming off the lake. None of the group
could see anything living in the lake.
They proceeded up the small rise and around the lake to the huge building which had a porch around it. There were three steps leading up to the porch and 12 equally spaced Doric style columns holding the roof up. Centered on the front of the house were two large open doorways leading into the building, but neither had doors. The group spread out as they entered the building.
Rows upon rows of pews made up of the same solid rock. Did they have to use that stuff for everything? Roland was thinking that at least whoever had built this place could have used wood from the trees in the swamp for pews. The ceiling was at least 20 feet high and the front of the building had a raised platform with a podium made of the same rock. If they could have brought this much rock into the swamp to build everything, Roland thought that at least they would have chosen a different type of rock to make a nice contrast. It was more than monotonous.
The only item of interest in this room was a statue identical to the same water drake seen in the middle of the lake outside. Two doors on each side of the raised platform could be seen. As they were drawing near, a man stepped out from the left side of the room. He was covered in a grand outfit befitting a high priest. The outfit was white with a large amount of gold buttons. The man wore several necklaces and rings adorned every finger and he wore a conical shaped hat decked out with a gold water drake on the front. He carried a staff and on the head of the staff was another water drake. Roland could feel Shadow give a rude comment. Do you think this might be a religion of water drake fanatics? Roland could only chuckle. This caused the group to look back at him with curiosity.
Caged: Book 2 Of the King's Hand Series Page 18