Delvers LLC- Surviving Ludus

by Blaise Corvin (ed)

  When the thug stopped struggling and hitting at his head, Cal pulled back, lungs begging for air and looked down. He was covered in blood; it was everywhere, visible in his magically enhanced sight.

  He tossed the bloody knife away like it was biting him, staring at it as his mind assigned the inanimate object terrifying powers.

  “Calvin, help Euphe!” Lydia screamed at him, shaking his shoulders so hard his head whipped back and forth.

  “What?” he gasped, blinking as the world spun.

  “Euphe can’t beat that rotting monster! He’s just playing with her and the rest of the bandits are killing everyone!”

  Struggling to comprehend, Cal grabbed the mage’s hands and let her help pull him to his feet. He staggered briefly, eyes already studying the battleground.

  The moment he was standing on his own, Lydia let go, hurling another bolt of fire at a distracted bandit. The flaming missile hit the man’s back, making him scream as he fell to the ground, his dirty clothes on fire.

  A bloody brunette woman wielding a mace waved a weary hand toward Lydia, then turned and brought the blunt weapon down on the burning man’s head. Cal winced, looking away as the thug’s skull exploded, his brains spilling out.

  Euphe was still locked in combat with the orb-Bonded bandit, who was now naked from waist up. Why did he take his armor off? wondered Calvin. Not understanding what he was seeing, Calvin searched about until he spotted the discarded bronze brigandine and padded armor. Now it was in a pile of smoldering ash and flickering flames, and he quickly realized Lydia had likely hit the bandit leader with her magic until his gear had caught fire.

  How can Euphe still be losing? The panting swordswoman was running out of steam, and it really did look like Rufus was toying with her. The brute even turned his back on her, chopping an arm off the nearest townswoman struggling against his bandits.

  As the woman fell screaming, Euphe brought her short bronze sword down on the back of Rufus’ neck.

  The strike was perfect, and she followed through as best she could, then whipped the blade back up and dragged its sharp edge along the man’s ribs, catching him in the underarm.

  Cal stared in disbelief at the damage, or lack of it. Thin lines of blood welled along the wounds she’d inflicted. I’ve seen paper cuts bleed worse than that!

  Whether Eupheme had seen her enemy get back up, or just felt him watching, she turned back to stare at him for a long second. The gorgeous warrior-woman still looked lethal and strong, but fear was growing in her dark-blue eyes. Calvin hated the look of weary despair on her face.

  He mentally checked on his magic, trying to figure out how much power he had left. It wasn’t much, but he thought he might have another spell or two. Just binding the orb-Bonded menace with shadows wasn’t enough; the bastard was shrugging off anything they did to him.

  When Rufus turned away from Eupheme again, aiming at another woman who’d just put down a bandit, Cal realized what to do. “Euphe!” he cried out as loud as he could. “Keep Rufus busy, I’ve got a plan!”

  Turning back to Lydia, he shared a nod with her before she rushed to support her sister. Now to see if I can turn the tide before it’s too late.

  Instead of recovering his bow, Cal unsheathed the bronze sword he’d looted back at the camp. He reached into the part of his mind where the magic seemed to come from and invoked another globe of shadows around himself. This time he made it much thinner, creating a tall, narrow spheroid and charged the nearest bandit.

  His first target wore a thick bronze breastplate, along with forearm and shin guards, but Cal didn’t care. When he got close enough for the magical darkness to envelop the man, he grinned wickedly as the blinded bandit screamed in terror. The criminal was still screaming when Cal’s sword cleaved through his neck.

  As the dying man collapsed, his head tumbling to the side, he fell out of the surrounding darkness. Cal saw the mixed look of terror and gratitude warring in the green eyes of the townswoman who’d been fighting the bandit seconds earlier. Her makeshift spear had been notched all over, and wouldn’t have survived much longer.

  Calvin gave her a little wave despite knowing she couldn’t see it, and headed for the next human-shaped monster in need of exterminating.

  That’s right, this isn’t murder, it’s not even killing people. You’re just exterminating pests, vermin. Repeating the idea in his head like a mantra, Cal rushed up to the next bandit.

  This time the man didn’t scream, instead reacting quickly and dodging to the side. It didn’t help when he saw that he was facing an impenetrable darkness with a sword.

  Cal grimaced, still struggling against exhaustion as he worked to overwhelm the more skilled man. Despite being all but blind, the bandit parried him five times before Cal surprised him and cut low, lodging his bronze blade in an unarmored knee.

  The armored bandit screamed, collapsing to the side, and Cal didn’t bother to finish him, just left him for the townspeople to finish off.

  Cal looked around again and began to feel optimistic—there were only three more bandits standing. He didn’t see Rufus, though. Did they… get him?

  He spun around in place, desperately searching for Euphe and Lydia. As the seconds mounted, and he didn’t spot either of the eye-catching twins, icy claws of panic lanced through his guts. Still searching, eyes wide as he stared, Cal barely spotted the flash of light headed his way.

  He instinctively raised his arms to shield his face, screaming as a wave of fire washed over him. The intense heat scorched the surrounding air, searing his lungs, and he crumpled to the ground, rolling about madly like he’d been taught in school as a child. His head throbbed as he screamed.

  Once he realized what he was doing, he snapped his mouth shut and drew a deep breath. The air was still hot, but his throat felt only mildly raw, so he hoped the fireball hadn’t inflicted any serious damage.

  I just survived getting hit with a fucking fireball!

  Intense pain across his chest alerted him to the fact he hadn’t escaped uninjured. He looked down and winced at the sight of angry red burns centered on his solar plexus. Now that he was down again, he felt his body sag, the last dregs of adrenaline withdrawing, leaving him barely conscious.

  He hoped he wouldn’t pass out and be useless again.

  Friends and Enemies, Chapter Nine

  “Cal!” Euphe screamed.

  How can I hear her over the…

  As she called his name again, he opened his eyes and looked around; the fight was over. “I’m over here,” he said, lifting one arm feebly into the air and waving.

  “Cal!” she called again, sounding slightly relieved. Euphe rushed over, sliding to her knees at his side and grabbed his limp hand.

  “Are you all right?” he asked as she opened her mouth to speak. He inspected her as best he could, noticing the blood trickling down the left side of her face, partially concealed by the bronze helmet she wore.

  “I’m fine, but they grabbed Lydia!” she moaned.

  Remembering the horrific scenes they’d found in the bandits’ camp, Calvin’s mind immediately leapt to a vision of the young mage being sadistically brutalized. Despite his nerves screaming in agony, he sat up, clenching his jaw and forcing the pain from his thoughts.

  “Cal, what are you doing?” Euphe gasped, moving to help support him.

  “We’re not letting that fucker get away,” he growled angrily.

  “Once we find him and rescue Lydia, we kill him. Then we figure out who he sold Melody to,” he continued, his eyes moving to his wounded chest.

  “But you shouldn’t move right now,” Eupheme said, her voice torn between concern for him and the obvious desire to rush after Rufus. “Besides, how would we kill him?”

  Cal sagged slightly at that, but shook his head. “We’ll think of something. He can’t be invincible, otherwise he wouldn’t be a petty little tyrant out here in the ass end of nowhere.”

  The Nordic woman ruefully smiled at his state
ment and nodded. “True, if he was a really powerful orb-Bonded, he’d be somewhere with a lot more wealth.”

  “Wait, did you get that ‘orb info’ on him like you did when you saw me the first time?”

  Euphe tilted her head, then shook it slowly. “No, now that you mention it, I didn’t, did you?”

  “No,” Cal said.

  It took them a few minutes to verify, but no one in the square had noticed anything like that when they’d seen the bandit. A couple women said they’d gotten the sound and the text with some travelers they met, but not with any of the bandits.

  Cal was tempted to take his helmet off and see if the weird HUD thing was still working, but Euphe shook her head firmly, and he stilled.

  “But he is orb-Bonded, right?” Eupheme asked. “Did you see how many times I hit him? And then there was that arrow to the face he laughed off.”

  “Yeah. Maybe he knows how to conceal it. Or perhaps all orbs don’t have the same information available.”

  Eupheme chewed her lip. “I feel like he knows something we don’t know.”

  Calvin shook his head firmly. “Maybe. Actually, it doesn’t matter. The only important thing right now is to rescue Lydia.”

  “Your chest doesn’t look too good. Think you’ll heal enough to fight before we catch up?”

  He rolled a shoulder. “I intend to find out. Now help me up and let’s run that coward down.”

  ***

  They picked up the bandits’ trail pretty quickly, since several townspeople had seen them heading to the east. There were only a couple fighters still standing when the pair set off, and none of them had wanted to accompany them into yet another battle.

  On the one hand, Cal was furious that they weren’t willing to help rescue the abducted girl, but when he considered the fact that almost all the warriors in the small town were female, he remembered that their culture wasn’t the same as his.

  He thought, I need to get Euphe to teach me more about this world. Every time I think I’ve got a feel for it, I realize I was just ignoring the obvious.

  The swordswoman had been right about his injuries, which hurt, but were visibly improving as they stalked through the nighttime forest. Thanks to his Darksight ability, they were making good time, despite Euphe having to hold his hand as he guided her through the night.

  In any other situation, he would have greatly enjoyed holding Euphe’s calloused hand, but for once, he could control his butterflies.

  If it hadn’t been for how clearly he could see, they’d have lost the trail within minutes. One of the escaping men, or possibly Lydia, was bleeding enough to leave a steady guide. Even still, Cal had to pause several times to find more blood splatters before continuing on.

  After an hour of stalking through the moonless night, Euphe squeezed his hand tight. He froze, listening. When she squeezed his hand again, he grinned; he’d heard it too.

  Readying his bow while Euphe carefully drew the mace she’d borrowed, they crept closer. The voices were still indistinct, but he thought he recognized Rufus arguing with another man.

  Please let us be in time!

  He and Eupheme spent an agonizing few minutes crossing the last hundred feet separating them from the bandits. When he got close enough to spot them, Cal sighed in relief.

  Rufus and two other bandits were standing in a small clearing; Lydia lay at the feet of the one holding his sword and a crude torch. “Why are we bothering to bring this bitch with us? Even if you carry her, she’s still dead weight,” the only unarmored bandit, a woman, said, leaning wearily on her staff.

  “Her sister might come after us, all reckless, and allow us to bag some rotting twins, you idiot,” Rufus said, glancing down at Lydia. They’d bound her up tightly, a cloth gag in her mouth, but hadn’t bothered to strip her so far.

  When she tried to wiggle away from the leering bandit, Cal glanced over to Euphe. Now that they were close enough, she should have enough light to see. He looked at the bandits again.

  Rufus dug through a large cloth bag, rummaging about inside. “Rotting hell, why didn’t I bring more armor,” he groused.

  “Is that rot still worth carrying along with the girl?” the staff-wielder asked.

  “’Course it is! I’ve got all the best loot from that last dungeon run. The place wasn’t nearly as rewarding this time though. Might not bother again. Still, I’ve got that fancy bow and arrows, plus a few other things. It’ll be worth a fortune.”

  “You had all that on ya? Thought you left the loot back at the camp,” the armored man said, sounding concerned.

  “Nah, was planning on meeting Yanef and trading it all for some useful stuff. Good thing too,” Rufus said, finally abandoning his search in the back and just pulling things out. “If you didn’t notice, a bunch of those rotting bitches that attacked us used to be prisoners.”

  “You sure?”

  “’Course I’m sure, I’m not a rotting moron like you,” Rufus snarled. “That’s why I’m the boss and you do what I tell you to.”

  Cal tuned out their argument as he leaned closer to Euphe.

  At least one of them has to be a mage. I’d guess the one with the staff, but the one closest to Lydia could threaten her and panic Euphe. He whispered, “I’ll take out the one next to Lydia first, you distract Rufus and watch out for the last one.”

  Euphe nodded, her face a grim mask. “I think he’s the mage that burned you.”

  Reminded of the painful burns on his chest, Cal glanced down but resisted the urge to touch the wound. It had healed rapidly, but he knew it would hurt like hell when he drew the bow. Doesn’t matter. If we live through this, my fancy orb superpowers will heal it. If we don’t, then it won’t matter.

  Friends and Enemies, Chapter Ten

  He watched as Eupheme slowly crept around the edge of the clearing, working her way toward the mage. When she stopped and nodded, Calvin stood quietly and took aim at the man closest to Lydia. This would be an easy shot, much closer and more open than others he’d taken in the last day.

  The snap of his bowstring shattered the night like a firecracker. His target reacted instantly, standing straighter and searching around. The man shifted just enough that the shot took him in the cheek, shattering teeth, rather than between the eyes.

  Proving that he still lived, the armored bandit fell screaming, the wooden arrow shaft protruding from his mangled face. Not wasting time to watch, Cal had another arrow nocked and he loosed again, taking the screaming man in the unarmored back of his leg. “Shit,” Calvin cursed softly, already reaching for another arrow. This ambush already wasn’t going as planned.

  Rufus roared; the violent, half-naked man charged Euphe the second she rushed out at the staff-wielder. Cal glanced at the roaring ‘Bonded and decided to try conjured arrows again. Taking a deep breath, he drew the bowstring back and grinned as a translucent arrow materialized.

  After what he’d seen Rufus shrug off, he wasn’t going to waste his precious magical projectiles on the man’s naked chest. Boom, head shot! thought Calvin, somewhat manically. Holding his breath, he grinned and loosed the arrow. He’d already started drawing the string back again as the missile flew straight at the charging bandit’s face.

  Cal winced as the magic arrow took the orb-Bonded thug in the eye, but at an angle. His sympathy didn’t stop him from shooting the asshole again. This time the glowing arrow hit the man’s cheek directly and shattered. Damn, how is this guy so tough? Keeping his eye on the rest of the battle, Cal didn’t hesitate before drawing an arrow, switching his aim to the mage, and loosing another deadly projectile.

  His missile buried itself in the mage’s lower back, causing her to arch her back and clutch at the fletches. With the mage maybe down for the count, at least distracted, Cal turned his attention back to the armored man he’d shot already.

  He turned just in time to see the armored man’s gruesome face, the arrow having been ripped out, looking up at him with pure hate. Gritting his savage teeth, b
lood streaming from his face, the bandit purposefully started toward Calvin.

  Shocked, he drew back and released another glowing arrow. The motion sent waves of burning pain across his chest. However, the ravaged bandit got his left arm up in time to intercept the arrow. It tore through his armor and ripped into meat, causing the man to scream. He didn’t stop limping toward Calvin, though.

  Calvin was confident the next force arrow would finish the man, but he was suddenly out of time. After wasting a half-second in shock, he dropped his bow and scrambled for his sword. He got his blade out and up in time to barely parry the berserk bandit’s first strike. Off-balance, and mildly terrified at the revenant-looking monster before him, Cal gave ground.

  The armored thug wasn’t as skilled as some of the fighters Calvin had faced before, but even wounded, the relentless man continued to force him back. Every strike had to be parried or dodged; the bastard was strong.

  Calvin kept backing away, moving further from the sisters he’d sworn to help. Feeling rage slowly overshadow the terror and exhaustion sapping at his mind, Cal growled angrily. “Fucking die! You! Stupid! Piece! Of shit!” he screamed, punctuating each word with another full-power swing.

  To his relief, the bandit lost momentum, staggering more from uneven footing than the forceful strikes. On the fourth hit, both hands clasping the battered sword’s hilt in a death grip, Calvin actually batted the man’s sword aside. Grinning psychotically, he raised his sword overhead and brought it down on the bandit’s unarmored head.

  The blow definitely was mortal, so mortal that Calvin managed to get splattered with blood and brains. Breathing rapidly through his nose, he flicked his head back and forth like a rapid beast.

  Then he noticed the mage aiming for Euphe’s back and the woman cast a roaring spike of deadly fire at her. Cal screamed wordlessly, venting his rage like an overheated kettle and rushed the magical killer. His vision narrowed until the unarmored woman filled his entire view. Her brown hair, plain face, and sneer became his world. Numerous sounds rang out, demanding Cal’s attention, but he ignored it all, determined to see the mage die before it was all over.