The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The Giant let go of the Roc, which flew upwards at Violet’s direction, as it used both hands to try to stop the bleeding, but it was too late. Not wanting to go without a fight, it sat up and kicked out at the approaching Gnomes on foot, catching 4 of them with an enormous foot, sending them flying back towards the main perimeter, where they sadly flew through the Burning Darkness barriers, frying to a crisp in less than a second.

  That last bit of defiance at its fate was all that the Giant had in it, however, as it quickly bled out and collapsed backwards, dead before it hit the ground. It disappeared moments later, leaving the remaining Gnomes on the battlefield stunned at what had just occurred.

  The groans of the wounded still within the perimeter broke Violet out of her shock; shock at the carnage she had witnessed, and the shock of still being alive. They had brought with them a few Healing Amulets, small silver circles that had been enchanted with Holy energy to speed up the rate of recovery in those that were injured, though they had a limited number of uses. The Amulets could even repair broken bones if given enough time, but if there were too many injuries – or extremely serious internal injuries – the healing could end up killing them.

  Without thinking, she grabbed one of them from the small case near the front of the Hauler and then slid down the ladder to start healing those that she could find. It wasn’t hard to locate them, luckily, as all she had to do was listen for the moans or screams of pain. She found one of the Defensive Force members buried under a plank of wood that originally belonged to a Hauler, and she pressed the Healing Amulet just below the shank of wood sticking through his upper shoulder.

  “This is going to hurt,” Violet warned, but he just nodded. Pulling the wood out of his wound caused him to scream out in agony, but the Amulet was enough to help stop the bleeding enough to keep him alive, and the wounds slowly started to knit itself back together. As soon as the injury had repaired itself enough to keep him stable enough to survive, she took the Amulet away – though he was already unconscious. The healing took a lot out of those who received it, which was why it would kill those with massive injuries.

  Just as she was about to start on another wounded Gnome, one of those with massive injuries was carried back inside the defensive perimeter. Violet rushed over to them, tears in her eyes as she looked down at the battered and broken form of Princess Celeste being gently lowered to the ground by a quartet of Defensive Force members. Somehow, despite the broken legs, broken right arm, and what were likely multiple internal injuries, the Princess was still conscious.

  “This is nothing, I assure you,” she coughed out. “I’ll be back up in no time. Did anyone grab my axes?”

  Looking up at those near her, she could see the same thought she had reflected on their faces. She wasn’t going to make it. Based on the injuries she could see, she doubted the Royal Gnome would last more than a few hours, and she estimated that there was a 99% chance that trying to use one of their Healing Amulets would kill her. If only we had someone that had some healing spells, like the Elves, or—

  Looking up, she saw the Roc circling overhead again, no visible signs of being worse-for-wear after its near death at the hands of a Giant. Glancing down at the Princess again, she wondered if they had enough time.

  “Do it, Violet,” said a voice from behind her. She whirled around and saw Felbar, limping a little, but otherwise okay. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, thankful that he had survived, but feeling guilty for being happy when so many had perished. The Warmaster patted her on the back, before continuing what he was saying. “We’ll be okay. I think we still have enough here to stop any other small attacks, and it’ll take those dungeons a while to recover from this loss and field another horde of monsters like that. Go…and bring back some more Energy Orbs or even Cubes for us – we can really use them now,” he said sadly.

  Violet knew exactly what he was talking about. While they didn’t have enough Master Enchanters anymore to create more War Machines, that didn’t mean that production of the constructs had halted. At the moment, there were literally hundreds of them completely built and ready to go – the only thing they were lacking were enchantments. And Warmasters to pilot them, because they were becoming scarcer; fortunately, the way Sandra could enchant them meant that they could be piloted by anyone, not just Warmasters.

  Without a moment to spare, she got everyone who could help moving. Calling down the Roc, she had those available strap the Princess as securely to the massive bird’s harness as they could; luckily, she had passed out a minute or so before, so all of the ministrations that were likely causing more pain were missed. After getting herself strapped in as well, she ordered the Roc to take off and fly to the northwest. It was only when they were thousands of feet above the ground that she realized she hadn’t been scared in the least during the takeoff, and her fear of heights was currently pushed to the back of her mind.

  It was probably because all of her concentration was on getting to Sandra as soon as possible, and utilizing the healing of the Dungeon Core’s drones in time to save the Princess.

  Chapter 24

  Echo followed as silently as she could behind the lead elements of what she was mentally calling “The Rebels”, because it made her chuckle internally thinking of the strict, proper Elder Herrlot as a “rebel”. It wasn’t really fair to label them rebels, she knew, because they weren’t really “rebelling” against the King and Queen; nevertheless, they were looking to subvert the technical authority overseeing the Elven people (even if it shouldn’t be the Chamberlain). If that wasn’t rebellion, then…well, she really wasn’t sure what would qualify as a rebellion.

  To make their whole plan of action even worse, Echo still didn’t know if she should be doing it.

  After all, she only had the word of the Elder and Churven as proof that the Chamberlain was doing all of this. True, there was the whole deal with him not allowing Energy Orbs to be distributed to all of the Elites. Plus, the fact that she had been apprehended as soon as she arrived without explanation was a bit suspicious. Additionally, not having seen either the King or Queen in more than a brief visit over 20 years ago to the Royal Tree, Echo couldn’t say if the Royal family was acting strangely or not. Those things, added to another 3 or 4 incidents she heard about over the years, were all pointing toward the Chamberlain pulling the strings of authority.

  All of that could be explained, however; she could think of a half-dozen reasons for each individual thing happening the way it had. The problem was that everything had happened together, which was entirely too much for coincidence. At least, that was what the Elder and the others wanted her to believe. She couldn’t disprove any of it, though, especially when she was stuck in a hole in the ground at the back end of nowhere.

  So, she would accompany The Rebels to their destination, mainly because it ultimately led to her purpose of coming back to the heart of Symenora in the first place. She would see the Royal family one way or another, she figured. Either she would be saving the King and Queen from the Chamberlain’s machinations, thereby bringing the Royal couple to Sandra’s dungeon to see first-hand how things were going to quickly spiral out of control unless they did something to stop it. Or, which she still thought possible but hoped wasn’t true, the King and Queen were perfectly fine and this was some sort of coup as she figured; at that point, she would at least try to pass on her message before they were all killed. It was the least she could do to save as many of her people as possible, and if she had to die to get the word out, so be it.

  Naturally, she did not want to die, but this was bigger than just what she wanted; if her people fell to the dungeons, which would be tragic enough, the world was likely doomed in the near future, as well. Not that she thought that the Elven people were the only thing keeping the world from collapsing to the might of the dungeons, but many of their people had been around long enough to know how even a single powerful dungeon could threaten everyone. One didn’t have to look any further than t
he wastelands to see that truth; if the Elves fell, there would be an entire land filled with dungeons that no one was culling or keeping small enough to be very little threat.

  The entire world rests on my shoulders…or is that being a bit too dramatic? She wasn’t sure where all of these nervous thoughts were coming from, but it probably had to do with the fact that she was currently involved in sneaking into the Royal Tree…in broad daylight…with over 35 Elves that were technically non-rebellious rebels…hidden by the shadowy ability of one of their number.

  “Tell me again why this wouldn’t have been better at night?” she whispered ahead of her, barely able to make out the form of Winter ahead of her in the darkness covering him. She wasn’t sure why they had put her so close to the one person she was nearly convinced would betray their cause, but the Elder had been adamant about the arrangement of their group.

  “Keep your mouth, shut, Ranger. They might not be able to see us, but they can certainly hear us.” While she couldn’t see it, Echo heard the sneer in his voice, but she was learning to ignore it – along with just about anything else that came out of his mouth.

  Besides, she already knew the answer, but she couldn’t help but speak out from her nervous energy. She was nowhere near the strength of those that were infiltrating the Royal tree, nor the strength of those they were trying to infiltrate; all of the Royal Guards were Elites in their own right, and The Rebels had already proven they were worthy of their Elite designation. Echo felt like a tiny mouse walking among giant Agorphiers, the six-legged monsters she had helped to kill back near Avensglen with the Elder’s help.

  That, and there hadn’t been an Elf-on-Elf war in over a millennium; the Ranger was worried about what would ultimately happen today. Every Elven life was precious to their people, because there were so few of them compared to the other races – especially the Orcs. From what she knew of them from talking with Kelerim, they held very little value in individual lives, because there were almost always more Orcs around Orcrim than the society could easily support. So, if they were forced to take a life of one of their own today (other than that of the Chamberlain, whom she was pretty sure was on the Elder’s kill list), it could have greater repercussions than what the Chamberlain was doing. (Or not doing; Echo was still undecided on that point).

  If they were forced to take more than one life…then how was what they were doing going to help? Sure, they might free the Royals from this mind-control thing the Chamberlain was doing, but at what price? Would they slaughter all of the Royal Guards, who were Elites that could potentially be the only thing that would hold back their eventual destruction? Killing unnecessarily today would only hasten their demise as a people – it was bad no matter how you looked at it.

  Peering out from her darkness shroud, cast at great expense to cover the entire group by an Elite named Mordecai, she saw that they were already at the base of the Royal Tree. No one saw them, despite a big black cloud of shadows moving in coordination, because no one further than 5 feet away actually saw a big black cloud of shadows. Instead, what they were seeing (or weren’t seeing) was a slight distortion, as the Nether energy used to power the spell took the simple sunlight streaming through the treetops and used it in a way to make them invisible. It was very similar to how Echo could bend that light using her Holy energy, so she understood the idea; unlike her special spell, this shadowy spell twisted and practically destroyed the light so that they wouldn’t show up to the naked eye.

  Unless there was a much brighter light nearby, which would overpower the Nether energy in the spell and highlight them easily – which was what happened during her “rescue”. Light shadows helped to hide them even more, but dark shadows, such as what they would see during night-time, only seemed to emphasize the dark cloud of shadows that hid them. This was one of two reasons why they had to move during the daytime instead of at night.

  The other reason was because they needed the Chamberlain and the King and Queen in the same room in order to sever the tie correctly between them all, ensuring that the Royal family didn’t die right then and there; during the daytime, they were almost guaranteed to be in the Royal Bowery, where they held court. Or, at least, that was what Churven had told them. All of these possible-truths and unknowns are messing with my mind. I honestly don’t even know what to think anymore.

  They passed by dozens of people, individuals going about their business in the capital as they made their way to the Royal Tree. It wasn’t hard to find, as it was in the center of the tree-city, positioned away from all of the other trees nearby so that its magnificence wouldn’t be marred by anything in close proximity. Either that, or its roots were so large that they literally prevented any trees from growing within a certain distance of its base. The latter felt more likely to Echo.

  Before she was prepared, they arrived before its awe-inspiring presence; Echo looked up and up and up, seeing the Royal Tree with new eyes. She thought back at her capture and “imprisonment for her own safety”, as well as her second capture and escape by the Elder, and she realized she had never really taken in the sheer magnitude of how large the Tree was. It soared over 700 feet into the air, was at least 2,000 feet at the widest portion of its base, and had miles of branches lovingly nurtured into thoroughfares for those living and working within its expanse. Hundreds of rooms just like the one she was confined within dotted the trunk of the Royal Tree, coaxed into existence over many years because actually damaging and physically altering the living tree was almost an impossibility.

  The branches could be trimmed and altered with some work, however, which was how they had been changed to create a living community within its trunk and upper branch sections. Yet, for all of the space within the trunk of the tree, and the branches above, when Echo’s gaze roamed over all of it, there were very few people visible. The evidence that the Elven race was slowly dying out from the constant attrition by the dungeons was in full display. I wonder what this place would’ve looked like had there been as many of us as there reportedly used to be, centuries ago.

  Sadly, it was only a shadow of what it used to be, and was also one of the reasons Echo had gone along with this plan of The Rebels. She didn’t want her people to die out, and it was only through the will of those in charge that they could use the tools available to ensure they didn’t. On the good chance that the Chamberlain was the one stopping the use of the Energy Orbs…well, then he had to go.

  The Royal Guards were sparsely populating the grounds around the Tree, though they had a greater presence along the branch pathways leading upwards. Some of the patrolling Guards were surely going to see them, wouldn’t they? She hadn’t been told the entire plan, only that they had contingencies in place if they required them, which was another reason why she didn’t fully trust the Elder and what Churven reported was true. Otherwise, why not tell her everything that she needed to know?

  Unless…they didn’t trust her, either. She hadn’t actually thought of that, but everything started to make a bit more sense when she considered that The Rebels thought she might defect and warn the Chamberlain. Which, honestly, I had considered at one point, so that is certainly a fair assumption.

  Regardless, she still inwardly grumbled at not having all of the plan, but she was committed now – no going back. Trying to warn the Royal Guards now would likely just end up with her getting killed, as well as The Rebels; whether or not they were telling the truth, she really didn’t want any more people to die than had perished already. So, she held her tongue as they passed the two bored-looking Royal Guards stationed at the bottom of the main thoroughfare upwards, easily slipping by without any sign that they had been detected.

  They traveled up the main branch that wound around the entire Royal Tree dozens of times on its way upwards for nearly 10 minutes, walking carefully yet swiftly, completely silent in their traveling cloud of darkness. A few times they had to nearly hang off the side to avoid being intercepted by unknowing patrols, but they managed to squeak by withou
t anyone the wiser. In fact, it was getting to the point where Echo thought it was too easy, but then again, she really didn’t know what she was expecting.

  Suddenly, as they turned around another bend in the Tree along its back side (or at least the side they hadn’t seen from the ground), they encountered their first obstacle; two pairs of patrolling Guards were talking to each other, blocking nearly the entire pathway upwards – and they didn’t appear as if they were moving anytime soon. Looking to either side of them, there was no way they could slide by without revealing themselves. They were stuck.

  Or so she thought. From the front of The Rebel group, which she could only see because she was part of the Nether spell hiding their presence, came a commotion. Before she could see what was happening, the 4 Royal Guards were suddenly encased in ice up to their heads, and then vines sprouted from seemingly nowhere, wrapping them up as tightly as Echo had been when she had been carried away from the Royal Tree. A fine yellow dust surrounded their heads before they could shout for help or even use any spells, though they all looked too shocked at what had happened to react; a moment later, their eyes closed, looking for anything like they had fallen asleep.

  What the—? Echo watched the vines move as if they had a mind of their own, carrying the slumbering Royal Guards to the side of the branch they were walking up on the Tree side, where they disappeared as if they were never there. Echo inched along the edge of the pathway and looked down in worry, only to see that the vines had attached themselves to the branch and stuck there, keeping the Guards out of sight to anyone walking along, as well as anyone below. Only if they were specifically looking for them like Echo was would they be found…which was a bit worrying. What if they fall while still asleep? What if the spell keeping them there is canceled—?

  “Don’t worry, they will wake up in about 2 hours with a little headache and no other side effects,” Echo suddenly heard whispered close to her ear. She jumped and reached for her bow, but she realized a moment later that it was just Winter sneaking up on her. “If we’re lucky, they won’t be found and all of this will be over before they come to.”