The Wizard (Dungeon Core Book 1)

by MJ Kaltenbrunner

  There was a round of applause and more laughter, plus cheering for the agitated warrior as he left through the front door. He looked Tehra up and down as he passed her, then was gone.

  The whole room had been watching the man leave, and they now lay their communal gaze upon the solitary elf. A few of them made lewd remarks to their neighbors, while most got back to their drinks. She waited for Jillis to see her, but the bartender slammed down a large wooden mug of something before the woman, drawing her attention before she had turned to notice the elf.

  "This is called dragon's breath," the bartender said.

  Tehra darted back out into the street. There she waited for a good hour, hiding in the shadows with a view of the tavern door. She finally caught site of Jillis leaving. She'd been the only woman in the building who was not working there, so it was easy to notice her. And she had by far been the drunkest person in the room, which made it doubly easy.

  As she stumbled out of the building, Jillis turned and shouted something utterly incomprehensible yet still somehow offensive back in through the open doorway. Someone came up from within and pushed her, sending the woman reeling backward and into the street. She tried to pick herself back up but kept stumbling over.

  Tehra felt sorry for her after a time and told herself that she was a good person who helped others no matter who they were. Then, when she went and helped the drunk woman to her feet and on her way, the elf tried to imagine she was only doing a good deed, helping her back home safely.

  "You, you're that, fuck you... dirty whore elf, bitch!" Jillis said as they walked down an alley away from any still-open establishments. “What do you want? Why are you following me?”

  “I need you to keep your mouth shut,” said Tehra. “Stop talking about what happened in the hills.”

  Jillis stopped and leaned against one of the buildings in the alley. “I’ll talk about what I want. You can just fuck off, elf. Tell you what, it’s all your fault I lost my job. Jillis turned and leered at Tehra. Get out of here before I teach you a lesson.”

  Face-to-face, Tehra was losing her nerve. She couldn’t hurt an innocent person just to protect herself. “You’re just a drunk anyway. No one’s going to believe your crazy stories,” she said, turning to leave the alley.

  “Bitch!” screamed Jillish, running up and jumping on top of Tehra. They rolled around on the cold ground, and finally, Tehra turned to face her assailant, who was sitting on top of her chest. “I’ll kill you, you pointy-eared degenerate!” the woman shouted down into her face, saliva bursting out of her mouth in her rage.

  Tehra struggled, trying to get her knife from its sheath.

  Jillish noticed this and quickly grabbed the blade herself. “I’ll kill you, and then Benevic will have to re-hire me.” She pushed the knife downward, and the elf only barely managed to stop it from plunging into her face.

  "Thank you," replied Tehra.

  "Thank me? For what, you pointy-eared cunt?"

  Tehra half smirked and felt like a ghost. "For making this easier on me." She grabbed the hand holding the knife and twisted the blade away from Jillish, then stuck it in the woman’s heart.

  31

  Mertho needed to make his dungeon seem more natural to someone coming from the outside. This was all so new to him still, and he had never considered how such a structure might need to work. That human rogue who'd been fired from Tehra's company had been able to work out that there was a magical presence below the surface of the hills, rather than just the lair of a monster. So, his plan with the ogre would not have worked anyway.

  Stupid beast, he thought. It had stunk up the lovely room with the natural water source, and piled in refuse as well. Mertho got rid of all that clutter, burying it beneath the soil and making the room vibrant again. This would help to entice people to enter, without worrying that they were going to be eaten by something nasty.

  He had read accounts of many dungeon diving quests and believed that he had a good idea how to make his structure like a true dungeon. He got rid of the traps that were in the entrance tunnel. Those only worked to halt people before they entered the proper underground structure. It would never fool anyone with experience, and might even give an experienced magic user enough magical information to interfere with or disable Mertho's own power, or at least track him down quickly.

  After the relatively short tunnel entrance, there was a turn off that went downward to the water room. Mertho focused and found aspects of gold and valuable stones in the deep down earth. He drew these up and placed them around just after the tunnel entrance, so they seemed like natural deposits. It wasn't until people went into the water room that he placed an unnatural looking small pile of valuables on the other side of the pool.

  Mertho wanted to try something he had never done before, which was conjuring a living monster. He was soon able to fill the water with fish, a variety with razor-sharp teeth that would strip down a human to nothing but their skeleton in only a matter of minutes. It seemed unlikely that anyone would voluntarily go into the water upon seeing them, so he created rocky hiding places full of aquatic plant life, where they would prefer to go to catch insects and small water life that should gather around there.

  There were plants throughout the area, and he summoned vines to rest around this gold, and at the edges of the water. He gave the vines life, so they would seek out anything that touched them and hold on. This would give him a way to drag people into the water. When he had finished, it seemed like a perfectly natural room without any magical traps. Even if someone were found dead in there, it would look like they simply tripped into the pool.

  Mertho had positioned himself along in the next room, but that wouldn't do. He had plenty more magic now, so he created a longer passageway between the water room and his altar room, then went down even farther. This left another room there linking to the water room via a passageway. In that second room, he placed the stone golems that had remained unanimated as of yet. A little thrill of anticipation shot through his core as he imagined them doing battle with some worthy opponents. They were rumored to be hard to fight, but then a powerful enough magic user would be able to disarm or repel them.

  If Mertho really did possess dark magic, it was likely that a mediocre holy magic user would be able to detect and disable his magic. Then, he thought back to his lessons of beguiling and illusion as a youth. This was not a subject that interested him greatly, as it seemed dishonorable to trick someone out of their wits just to best them. If a magic user came here, such as a holy warrior or white wizard, it might be the perfect thing.

  Mertho imbued his golems with a spell of beguiling that would make them seem as though they were the guardians of a holy dungeon, with the goal of stopping people from seeking out the holy artifact within. Most dungeon divers looking for loot and glory would still wish to pass them and steal the artifact. But anyone from a holy order should hesitate about trying to fight the golems, in which case they could get the jump on them.

  Mertho also created magical links with the bats, reptiles and snakes, and insects that were all over the place and in the nearby hills. He could quickly summon them when people were coming close, and order them to swarm and attack people.

  After the golem room, there was a deadfall downward. Stairs would make things too easy, and it would look odd in a supposedly natural cave, as the golems would tell people. Anyone who could get that far would have a method of climbing, most certainly.

  When they reached the lower level, they would come to a vestibule attached to Mertho's altar chamber. Here, he created spike traps, exploding flint shrapnel traps, and heated the very rock on the floor until it was at a melting point. He then buried this molten rock below him, all around his altar like a very deep moat. Then, he built up a floor over the lava, creating intricate tiles of the stone. He had always lived in a dignified and practical home, not some dirty cave. Why not keep that the same now?

  On the walls around him, he crafted the faces of grim warriors,
and in each of their eyes, he cast a rare green gem that would glow with the magical aura emanating from his core, the skull floating above the altar. It would create a terrifying effect, hopefully giving pause to even the most battle-hardened adventurer and experienced dungeon diver. Then, he would unleash his torrent of vicious, yet primitive, traps.

  Mertho felt exhausted, as though this had all taken far too long. He was having trouble focusing now that there were so many factors at play. He wanted to take the time to focus, to think deeply about things, and to learn to become one with this new dungeon core magic, as he had come to start calling it. But everything was going too fast now. The elf, however endearing and intriguing she was, had brought too much down upon him. Mertho was looking forward to simply existing as a pure being of magic and learning how to use this power without worry.

  True, he couldn't very well do that if he didn't have a source of magical energy: souls. And he had also been given some great ideas about how things worked, and the challenges set forth to him were making him better at using his dungeon core to its fullest extent. He only wished that time would not have to go so swiftly for him. Being linked to Tehra was making him painfully aware of how time flowed through the universe. It was even worse than when the ogre had been dwelling within his dungeon.

  He missed the solitude of his first year as a dungeon core. Perhaps that would return one day, when this had all died down. Time was something he felt he had. For now, the future involved helping Tehra take care of a particularly disturbing individual. Maybe that would help take Mertho's mind off things. Some justice in the form of violence.

  32

  You have had a big night, said Mertho to Tehra. She was waiting around where the guards were known to congregate when they were off their shifts, behind the corner of an alley where some old crates provided the perfect hiding place. It was a tavern, of sorts. Mostly, it was known for the prostitutes who worked there. They were less common than the usual type and didn't mind giving guards discounts just to have the law enforcers there in case a customer became violent with one of the workers.

  And it's not over yet, so shut up. She was still out on the street and back to communicating with her mind.

  I think I'm warming up to the idea of killing this guard. The taste of deserving souls is somehow better, I imagine. Not that I have consumed any particularly innocent ones. What did you say his name was?

  You might be hard pressed tracking down any completely innocent souls in this city, Tehra replied. His name is Cedric. I hate that name too. Someone came out of the brothel, but it was not the captain of the guards. "Shit," said Tehra. Look, you need to stop popping up in my head and saying things when I don't expect it. You're going to distract me at the wrong time, and I'll make a mistake.

  Very well, but I will be watching.

  Fine. The elf sounded perturbed by that, but Mertho could sense that she was actually relieved to have a partner in crime in this. It was well into the small hours by the time Cedric, the captain of the guards, showed his face at the door of the brothel. He seemed to have been drinking, judging by his relaxed walk and flushed red face. The harsh over-confidence was gone from his demeanor, leaving something that resembled a genuine human being with real emotions. Tehra seemed surprised by this.

  Are you having second thoughts? he asked her.

  No. Just let me take care of this. I'm serious, don't talk to me while I'm doing this. I would rather you weren't even watching, to be honest.

  Mertho didn't reply, but had no intention of removing his attention from Tehra's mind and senses. He was increasingly curious as to what she was planning to do to lure the guard to the dungeon. Remember that I want this one's soul. You can't just gut him in the street.

  Tehra sighed in exasperation. I know that. And you think I'm stupid enough to be as careless with someone who people would actually miss?

  Cedric approached the side of the street where the alley was located. As he did, Tehra noted where he was heading and ducked back down the alley, coming out the other side. She followed him in this way for a number of blocks, waiting until they were away from the brothel and in an area that was mostly occupied by empty stores and storage warehouses. This wasn't the worst part of the city by any means, but there were no brothels in the very nice areas either.

  The pretty young elf was wearing a skirt and blouse now, instead of her leather armor. Mertho hadn't paid much mind when she had gone home to change, assuming it was just a matter of comfort and blending in. When she untied the top of her blouse and revealed the tops of her breasts, it was clear she had a specific method in mind for beguiling this guard captain.

  "Excuse me, sir," she said in a girlish voice, "can you please help me?"

  "What?" he said shortly, then some warmth came to his face that must have been from the booze.

  Tehra put her leg forward as though to walk toward him, letting her skirt slip and show her lean, tight calf muscles and part of her knee. She was wearing leather sandals now instead of boots. "It's just that my mother is very ill. I've never done anything like this, but I am so desperate for money. Can you help me?"

  "You want a handout? Go to the poor house up the street."

  Tehra got closer, and the man didn't back away. "No," she said, "I want to earn the money honestly. Would you be able to give a few coins few helping you out at home? I can cook, sew... polish anything that's dirty." She reached down with sleight of hand and grabbed softly at his crotch.

  Her face genuinely lit up as a bulge grew in his pants. It was unclear to Mertho, as he looked on, whether she was excited at touching his genitals—or the idea that her plan to murder the guard captain was looking to be working.

  The sensual aura coming from his connection to the elf made it hard for Mertho to focus. He did not know what to do with his thoughts of arousal, not having a body. By all rights, he should not have been driven to lust for a woman at all. The elf was sexually interesting to him for some reason.

  As though he'd lost himself for a moment, then rediscovered where he was in the world, the captain went from elated to mad. "Fuck off, you elf bitch, and your whore elf mother too." He pushed her aside, and she did not allow herself to be taken by surprise this time.

  Tehra grabbed his arm and spun him partially around away from herself, then her eyes caught on his fancy ornate sword. It must have been given to him as a gift by some corrupt noble, or perhaps a politician who needed his dirty deeds swept away down the drain instead of into the light of the public. She grabbed the sword with expert dexterity and vaulted directly backward away from the guard.

  "If you want this back, you'll have to catch me, unless a woman disarming you doesn't bother you because you have no honor," she taunted, then ran away just fast enough so he could still come after her.

  Tehra had no trouble getting to the docks without the guard captain catching up to her. He made no effort to call for help. It would have been impossible to live down if anyone learned that a young elf woman had taken his sword right from his belt and made small of him for the entire journey to the docks. Tehra got into a rowboat that was moored by the docks and took off.

  The guard captain yelled for the ferryman, who was nowhere to be seen. A dog barked at the noise, and someone shouted something about being quiet from one of the shacks by the edge of the docks.

  Tehra laughed heartily, feeling powerful like she was doing the best thing in her life. It was like being drunk but still having her lucidity and being able to properly enjoy the euphoria of it. "Say goodbye to your sword, you prickles nancy boy!" she yelled out in between bouts of raucous laughter.

  "I'll cut your fucking tits off, you whore!" he shouted back across the water, with such aggression that his voice began to tear as though his throat bled from the force. He eventually found another boat to take across and was soon frantically rowing, faster than Tehra with his larger physique, even though he was drunk.

  When he got to the other side, Tehra was waiting in the darkness some
ways up the hillside. "I like your sword. I'm going to keep it!" she shouted out to get his attention, then ran up the hill a bit, allowing him to almost catch up to her before repeating the same sequence. Each time, the guard captain seemed to draw upon a fresh source of rage to add to his already mouth-frothing state.

  "You are dead!" he shouted, before adding, "Pointy-eared pile of shit!" and "I'm going to fuck your corpse, bitch!"

  "Oh my!" Tehra shouted back, putting on an extra blasé voice to taunt him further. She was astounded that someone with his experience could not see how unusual the whole situation was. It should have been a giant warning sign that she was choosing to go somewhere so isolated, but the man was drunk, both with drink and with unadulterated hostility toward women.

  They went into the cave, which was lightly lit so that the human could see well enough to follow the elf. Again, he did not notice how strange this was until they were through the tunnel and at the first room. This was where the natural looking pool was.

  Tehra stopped there and positioned herself by the edge, but not too close. Mertho wondered if she perhaps didn't trust that his creations would leave her in safety.

  "You stupid little elf," the guard captain grunted at her. He was strong and in good shape, but running that far while drunk had left him a steaming mess of deep breathing and reddened skin. "Nowhere to run now, is there?" He took a knife from his boot and held it ready for a stabbing motion. "You think I wouldn't actually hurt you? That was the last mistake you'll ever make."

  Tehra looked down at the guard's feet. The man was already dead, and he didn't even realize it yet. "You know, I don't understand how your parents could have thought Cedric was a good name. It's ideal for a type of flower, perhaps, or a sick dog. Suits you then, I suppose." She laughed and deftly stepped back from him, staying away from the pool.