by K V Deal
Charlie smiled and let out a small laugh. We all turned to look at her.
“Sorry,” she said, blushing. “It’s just that up till now I had that little voice in my head telling me this wasn't my problem, and I just realized that it was gone. Ya have no idea how nice that is.”
Axle grinned at her and squeezed her hand. He turned back to Carah. “Alright. Well, that isn't all that great. What else?”
Carah sighed. “Not much. Everything seems to be in a holding pattern. Cyrus’s got a few people scouting around the west river district, but they haven't reported back yet. A lot more people are going after that gang Edward was a part of. Not a whole bunch of luck there, though.”
“Shouldn't we be focusing on the Inquisitors?” Rachel asked.
“Actually,” Carah leaned back, “that’s the strange thing. Cyrus barely talked about them at all. Everything seemed to be about this gang.”
I did not like the sound of that. I swallowed my current mouthful. “But they haven't done anything.”
“That’s not really true,” Rachel spoke up. “Sure, the Inquisitors are the big threat, but the Chosen have been making a nuisance of themselves around the marina for a while now. Some muggings, a few thefts. Still, I wouldn't consider them on the level of the Inquisitors.”
Carah shrugged. “For some reason, Cyrus is rating them higher. And on that note, we have new orders.”
“That’s not a good way to introduce them,” Axle muttered.
Charlie frowned at Carah. “Are ya trying to tell us we’ve been assigned to try and find out more about the Chosen?”
“That name is so cliché,” I muttered, taking a bite. Probably shouldn’t have said it, but I just couldn’t help myself.
“Oh yeah,” Carah nodded at me. “I mean ‘Chosen’? How are we supposed to even take them seriously with a name like that?”
“Alright, focus,” Axle broke in. “Carah, what’re our orders?”
“Actually, it’s got nothing to do with them,” Carah admitted and shrugged.
“Alright,” Axle sounded relieved. “So, Inquisitors then?”
“No. Not quite.” She grinned at him.
Charlie raised an eyebrow at Carah in annoyance. “Carah. I may be feeling a little better, but that doesn't mean I'm up for playing twenty questions with ya.”
“You ARE feeling better,” Carah grinned. “So, this is a good news, bad news kind of thing. The bad news is we’re going to be working outside of the city again.”
I couldn’t help groaning at that. “I JUST bought a new house!” That was a whine. I’m man enough to admit it.
To myself, at least.
“You actually bought it?” Axle raised his eyebrows at me.
“Congratulations!” Rachel smiled.
“Is it that one you were talking about? When can I visit?” Carah leaned across the table eagerly.
“Come on, ya’ll. Don't make the sick woman try to keep ya in line.” I glanced over at Charlie, who was just shaking her head.
“Sorry,” I said.
Axle coughed into his hand shooting her an apologetic look. “Of course. So, what’s our job, Carah?”
Carah reached down and pulled a small wooden jewelry box from under the table and slid it over to Rachel.
Rachel looked down at it in confusion before flipping it open.
I leaned over to take a look. It was a…hair band? Red and fluffy, it had a small metal flame charm hanging on it. This close, I could feel the magic in it without even trying.
“Courtesy of Cyrus. You’re gonna want that where we’re going,” Carah told her before looking back at me. “Funny you should break the news about your new house just now. My good news is we're finally heading back to your old place.”
I froze in my seat. “You’re joking.”
“Nope. Gear up, big guy. We’re going on a dungeon run.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Chapter 4
My house.
I’d bought it before the change. It’d been my refuge when the shit in my life had hit the fan before all of this. And then, as soon as I had left it after the change? This new world had eaten it.
Kinda.
As I stepped through the front door and moved to the side, I couldn't help looking around.
This should have been an entryway, a nice little spot to take off your shoes. Instead, the entire interior of the two-story house was now just one big room. The floor was a tan thing that felt kind of rough under my feet. It was stone, probably made from blocks of the Ohio sandstone that used to be quarried around here.
The walls were of the same stuff. They stretched up--massive stone-block-after-stone-block--until they finally reached the arching, untreated, wood beams of the ceiling and the thatch that the beams held aloft. There was no mortar either. They were simply held together by the weight of the stones and gravity.
In the center of the room was a massive staircase that led down into darkness. The constantly emitting stream of hot air gave a hint of what to expect below.
The light in the room came from ten windows. There were three per wall except for the front of the building, where the door took up a spot, and the rear, where one window had been heavily boarded over. That was the one I’d broken the first time Carah and I had been here.
Thinking back on that, I glanced over at her. I hadn't really considered how it would affect her to be back here again. This was the place where she’d had to kill her uncle after all. She’d done it to stop him from killing us first, but still, not a good situation.
She must have noticed me looking at her since she gave me a big grin and walked over to stand next to me. “I'm okay big guy. Thanks for worrying, though.” She gave me a hug around the waist that sent my heart into overdrive. I reached my arm around her to give her shoulder a squeeze.
“Axle?” One of the people assigned to guard the dungeon, called out, waving to the half-elf.
It kind of irked me that there were other people camped out here, but the feeling was manageable. I think I’d had enough time now to somewhat let go of the concept that this place was mine alone. I still felt ownership, but it was also a city resource now.
Axle walked past me, raising a hand in greeting to an orange-skinned woman with fire-red hair. Probably the leader of the forty or so heavily armed people who were guarding this place. That was twice as many people as last time we were here, and the shiny metal armor was new, but that wasn't really a surprise considering we had found all of the last group dead not too long ago.
I took a moment to note that they had somehow gotten the smell of blood out. Now the place smelled like some sort of flower that I couldn't recognize.
With a sigh, Charlie came to stand next to Carah and me. She looked tired but had her crossbow strapped to her back, ready for action.
Honestly, I didn't think that she was ready to be up and fighting just yet. Sadly though, I didn't get a say in the discussion that she and Axle had about it.
I let go of Carah and crossed my arms.
“What?” Charlie looked up at me.
If it wasn't for the fact that our orders specifically stated that she was supposed to come along, I would have been arguing that she shouldn't be here. Instead, I decided to take a different tack. “How are you feeling?”
She looked up at me, and I wondered if I was going to get an actual answer out of her. But she sighed and shook her head. “Tired, but I’ll make it.” She reached up to touch her chest, bringing my attention back to the wound.
I blinked.
It was almost gone already, with only a scar left in its place. Now that was some scary fast healing. It had only been about three days since the operation.
Rachel walked up behind Charlie, derailing my train of thought. For once, she wasn't in disguise. Her face was thinner, but what really drew the eye was everything else. Instead of a nose, she simply had two slits for nostrils that sat over a mouth that stretched far too wide. I knew from experience that when that mout
h smiled it was damned creepy.
If you’d looked at her from some distance, she probably would have seemed calm and composed. As she got closer, her gray eyes showed otherwise. There was near panic in them, and I wasn't sure if the sweat rolling down her face was from the heat or nerves.
Carah stepped away from me to put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey Rachel, you okay in there?”
“Fine! I'm fine.” She took a deep breath and smiled at Carah. It looked genuine enough, but hey, she used to be an actress. I could see her hand fidgeting with the hilt of the sword she had strapped to her waist.
“Deep breath,” Carah said, with a smile of her own. “Remember, you have us here, and we're old hands at this, as much as anyone can be. Hell, we found the first dungeon!”
Rachel nodded back, but I wasn’t sure how much Carah's pep talk helped.
“Ya know, that hair band works a lot better if ya actually wore it,” Charlie said dryly.
“Hair...? Oh, shoot?” Rachel began digging around in a leather pouch on her belt.
I glanced over at the stairway.
If she’s forgotten it and we have to head back, I'm not sure how I’m going to handle it.
Axle walked back over to us. “Alright. Were good to go.” He stopped as he saw Rachel frantically going through all her pouches. “Missing something?” He asked with some trepidation.
“I can't seem to find…”
“Rachel?” Charlie waved a hand to get the other woman's attention. She gestured at the hilt of Rachel's sword.
I followed her gesture. There, around the hilt of the sword, was Rachel's fire-charm hair band.
“There it is! Okay! I'm ready?” She put the charm on with a nervous grin that went from ear to ear.
Literally.
This must be how people feel when I smile with teeth.
“Good. Well, everybody ready?” Axle said, rubbing his hands together.
We began our descent, moving slowly and carefully into the dungeon. As we walked down the stairs the blocks of sandstone gave way to a deep red marble. First in patches, then changing to a solid, smooth piece that formed both walls and stairs.
Where the light from the surface began to dim, a new flickering light reflected down from the ceiling, bathing everything in a creepy red glow. Looking up, I saw there were long trenches full of flames, that were set into the wall just below the ceiling. They stretched down the winding stairs before looping out of sight. I didn't remember that from the last time…
“Damn it!” I couldn't help myself. My shout echoed into the quiet, making Rachel jump and the rest turn to look at me.
“Did you see something?” Axle asked quickly, turning to survey the stairs ahead of us.
“No...” I grumbled. “Just remembered something.”
“Did ya leave your oven on or something?” Charlie drawled in exasperation.
Carah giggled. “Nope. I'll bet he finally noticed his lamp was gone.”
“Somebody stole your lamp?” Axle asked worriedly. “Jake, you should have…”
“Nobody stole anything,” I snapped.
“He didn't have it when he showed up at the hospital,” Carah added.
“Lemme guess, ya left it at your new home didn't ya,” Charlie sighed.
“Shut up,” I muttered, eliciting another laugh from Carah.
“Well, it’s not like we can go back right now.” Axle said. “We have to map as much of this place as we can.” He glanced over at Charlie. “You ready, miss cartographer?”
“Ya bet I am.” She patted a roll of parchment that was slung on her back next to her crossbow’s quiver. To reach it, her arm bent bonelessly into a U shape. I'm not sure if she even noticed, either. Probably was like my tail. Only noticed it if someone or something brought it to her attention. I was pretty sure that I shouldn't bring it up. With her already still not feeling all that great from her operation, she didn't need to be distracted by her limbs bending funny.
Much as I was worrying about her, I was happy to have her around. You could already see the difference in her mood. She was actually a little chipper.
It’s nice to see her grin again.
We got moving, heading further down the steps. The air began to smell of smoke. It wasn't thick. More like the light smoky smell of a barbecue starting up before any meat had been put on--just that burning, woody smell. I saw Rachel wrinkle the skin around her…nose holes? Not really sure what else to call them. Nostrils, I guess, would be the technical term. Either way, the smell seemed to annoy her. After a while, we finally reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Finally! Why do those feel longer than they were before?” Carah complained as she turned around to glare at the stairs.
“Well, you were being carried at the time,” I shrugged, “and you were bleeding.”
Carah grimaced. “Right.”
The way she said that...I should have kept my big mouth shut. What was I going to say next? ‘Hey! That’s where you had to kill your uncle.’
Thank god Charlie began talking. “Alright, I need ya to stay on the lookout while I pace this room.”
I had no idea why she needed to pace the room, but I happily hurried forward to settle myself in front of the large stone archway to the next room.
It was dark in there. No trench. At least, if there was one in there, it wasn't lit. As I peered into the darkness, I could’ve sworn I saw shapes moving in the shadows.
“Should light up when we go in. That’s what Emilia said at least.” Axle muttered from behind me.
I turned to look at him. Axle, Rachel and Carah were a few feet behind me, spread out as they watched the door.
Nice to know I got to be the human, or half-dragon, shield between-
“Jake!” Carah whipped up her saber as Axle drew an arrow back on his bow.
Oh, just great.
Something slammed into me from behind, knocking me to the ground. Two points of pressure slammed onto my back as something decided I would make a good foot rest while it hissed menacingly just a foot over my head.
Rachel screamed, a loud and piercing sound that maid my ears ring!
The hissing cut off, and I felt the thing shift its weight, claws on its feet scraping along my back cutting through my clothing but just scratching at my scales with no effect. Let’s see, claws, hissing like a snake and really, really hot breath—hot even in the heat of this place.
Salamander.
There was a whistling sound and then a meaty thwack. The thing on my back jerked and stumbled off. I scrambled to my feet and whipped out my dagger.
Yup. Salamander.
I'm not talking a little lizard thing that lives near water. Oh, no. I'm talking pony-sized Komodo dragon-like thing with a fearsome orange and black pattern on its skin. They had superheated steam for breath that could really cause some nasty burns without proper protection.
Oh, and they’re pretty much immune to my fire breath and my little heat inducing dagger. Why was I using it in a fire dungeon again?
There was an arrow sticking out of the shoulder of the Salamander, and it was eyeing Axle. I needed to get its attention back.
Charging forward, I aimed my dagger for one of the few spots where it could actually do a little damage. The eyes.
It really was a good thing these guys were so simple-minded. It opened its mouth at Axel in a challenging hiss just as my attack landed. The hiss turned into a screech of pain, and it thrashed its way backward.
Another arrow flicked out and slammed into its throat. At this distance, only a few feet away, there was no way that its scales could stop that shot.
The salamander thrashed its way down to the ground and then simply twitched as its life force began to fade away.
“Well, that was fun,” I muttered.
There was a sound behind me. Something muffled enough that I really wasn't sure what it could be. I turned with a frown.
Rachel was standing a few feet back, her sword drawn and pointed toward the salama
nder's remains. The sound I’d heard was the slight rattle of her sword against a ring on her dominant hand. Her hands were shaking as she stared at the big lizard with saucer-wide eyes.
Carah was by her side, saber still pointed at the next room, as she tried to calm the other woman down.
This...may be a problem.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Chapter 5
It took a bit for Rachel to calm down enough to lower her sword. Actually, it took Charlie and Carah working together. When she finally did put it down, she sunk to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees as Carah continued to whisper soothing words to her.
“Charlie, we got this. How about you finish mapping?” Axle said, sliding down to kneel next to the shaking woman.
I stayed where I was, both to try and make sure there wasn't anything else waiting in that next room to ambush us, and because Rachel probably didn't need a seven-foot-tall, scaled guy looming over her.
I could swear I just saw a shadow move! I really wish I had my lamp!
“Everything okay over there?” Carah asked from behind me.
“Fine. Fine. Take care of Rachel.” I said, waving my hand while keeping my eyes on the room ahead of me.
I heard footsteps behind me. Was somebody pacing?
Nobody seemed worried. What were they doing back there?
I really shouldn't look away, but my curiosity got the better of me. Charlie was pacing across the room, putting one foot right after the other. The heck? What was she doing? Also, there were two Carahs? Axle was still sitting there... Okay, one of those must be Rachel--the one in the middle.
The real Carah looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, a slight smile on her face.
I pointed at Rachel and then did an okay sign while giving her a questioning look.
Carah nodded reassuringly.
Good.
I turned back to watching the shadows.
I was sure I saw something move!
Fine. Rather than keep jumping at shadows, I stepped forward into the next room. Flames raced around the edges of the ceiling as the trenches lit up.