by D G Palmer
Daniel wasn’t ready to give up, though. All he needed to do was reach out and touch Finn. The number sequence he had in his mind could be wrong but at least it would give them another chance instead of certain death at the hands of the Chimaeras and Manticores if they just stayed here without taking the gamble.
He almost had her. Daniel stretched his deadening arm out. Finn urged him on and gave her friend encouragement. The tips of their fingers almost touched. But the Chimaeras attacked. The blast wave from all of their fireballs threw Daniel clear over the barrier.
Finn took only a second to decide on her next course of action. Then she closed her eyes and kicked herself away from the wall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It was either a moment of stupidity or a moment of complete, blind trust. Finn would find out exactly which one it was that made her decide to plunge headfirst, down a seemingly bottomless cavern, after her friend, who could be unconscious at that moment. All without any definite way of saving themselves.
That was the gambler in her. She liked long odds. And if she was being honest with herself, the odds couldn’t be much longer than they were. Then a fireball whizzed pass her.
‘You have got to be vekting kidding me!’
She could hear the leathery wings of the Manticores beating and hear their roars as they chased their prey. There was nothing for it, she needed to get to Daniel fast. Luckily, she had an engineer as a step-father, so she knew all about aerodynamics and Finn took up a shape as non-resistant as she could, so she might cut through the air more efficiently.
Her assailants, however, had wings, so no matter how fast Finn was catching up to Daniel, the Manticores were closing in on her faster.
Even through the sound of the wind whistling in her ears, Finn could still hear the jaws of one of the creatures slamming shut over and over as it tried to take a bite out of her legs.
‘Daniel! Can you hear me? Are you awake?’ She could see that Daniel was still unmoving, his arms and legs loose, and the levels of the bank vaults continued to rush by, with no end in sight. They still had time, she didn’t know how much, nor if it would be the bottom of the bank that would finish them or one of these blasted Manticores.
Finn could almost feel the beast at her back. But that was exactly what she wanted. She took one of her guns out and flipped over, hitting the creature hard in the head with the gun butt. The Manticore let out a cry and shook its head. Finn was half expecting to feel heat from its fiery mane but it seemed as though the flames were just for show as she wasn’t burnt by it.
Finn’s assault did little more than to anger the hybrid animal, unfortunately, and it folded its wings back and entered a dive. It ploughed into Finn’s body, forcing the air out of her lungs. The two of them barged past Daniel which flipped and spun the young man, but ultimately helped him regain consciousness although he still felt partially numb from the poison tipped quills of the Manticores.
Daniel could see that he and Finn were in a dire situation. He remembered reaching down to grab Finn so they could be transported to what he hoped would be the correct vault. Then he remembered hearing the fireballs from the Chimaeras exploding behind him, but then nothing. And here he was again, plummeting to his imminent death (presumably, he still could see a bottom to the bank cavern). The difference between this fall and the one over Almedia city was that he had Nyriel there to catch him.
On the face of things, that could be a fundamental difference in deciding if he and Finn would survive this time.
He knew that the magical cloak that got him in to the trouble last time was in his satchel, but he also remembered that Finn’s enchanted guns failed to work. He recalled what the gnome had said, that the bank was protected against unauthorised weapon and magic use; that ruled out the cloak and his own. If they were to get out of this alive it would be down to him, no magic, no enchantments and no Mortokai.
He sighted Finn and was initially taken aback by the fact that she was actually fighting the monstrous beast, hitting it repeated with her guns whilst it tried to bite her. The girl had no quit in her, he admired that.
With renewed determination, Daniel tried to guide himself towards the two of them. Since they were more focussed on fighting each other and not about wind resistance, it’s wasn’t long before Daniel was slamming into the winged creature. He bounced off of its muscular back and was rolling away when he reached out with his good arm and grabbed a handful of Manticore fur. With an almighty effort he pulled himself up and sat astride the beast.
Daniel smiled, happy with his achievements but he couldn’t celebrate for too long as the other two hybrid creatures swooped past him, and was forced to duck. He crawled up the Manticore’s back, evading the scorpion tail swipes of the other two as he went.
‘Well, did you have a nice sleep?’ Finn said when she saw Daniels head pop out over the Manticores shoulder. ‘So nice of you to join me.’
‘It looked like you were having so much fun,’ replied Daniel. ‘I wasn’t sure if you wanted to leave or not.’
‘Get me the vekt out of here,’ she said as she continued to repeatedly strike and defend against her would be devourer.
Daniel reached out his arm just as the Manticore tipped forward. The action flipped Daniel head over heels off of its back, but the youngster had the wherewithal to grab hold of Finn’s overalls. The extra weight of her friend jerked her down slightly in the creature’s paw grasp. As small as it was the movement was enough so as to restrict his arms from swinging enough to defend against the mouth that was wide open above her head. She could feel the hot stench filled breath and spittle as the Manticore literally salivated at finally getting to eat its prey.
The creatures mouth slammed shut on nothing but air as Daniel and Finn vanished once more.
39469NH63763WT713. This had to be it, Daniel thought. He could already hear the Chimaera climbing down to their level and it wouldn’t be long for the Manticores to home in on them either.
They helped each other to their feet, and like the walking wounded, Finn dragging her numb leg, leaning on each other, they hobbled towards bank vault 713 for the fourth time.
The pair reached the large round metal door just as they heard the snarls, growls and hisses of the Chimaeras that forever stalked them.
‘You know we’re vekted if this doesn’t work, right?’ Finn said as she looked deep into Daniel’s yellow-coloured eyes. Even though she had seen him suffer from self-doubt a few times, that was only when he had time to think. But when push came to shove, he always did his best, did the right thing, gave it his all to help his friends, to help strangers, even to help his enemies. And now looking into his eyes Finn could see that he wasn’t about to give up on her or himself. She never really knew if he loved her, she had never really asked him the question, and she wasn’t even really sure of her own feelings, was she truly in love with him, or was it just infatuation. But in that singular moment of time, she knew one thing for sure, that Daniel would do anything to save her. She kissed him as if it would be the last time.
Daniel smiled back at Finn, pushed the key home and tried to turn it. But it wouldn’t budge.
Both of their faces dropped as the realisation hit them. The Chimaera stalked them. It was over. The feline hybrid monsters readied themselves to pounce on their prey. Then Daniel noticed that there hadn’t been any flash. No more beasts had been ported in, which could only mean one thing.
‘It is the right door!’ Daniel yelled.
He gripped the key again and with renewed determination and all the strength he could muster he tried to turn the key. He felt It move a little, not much but just enough to confirm it was finally the right vault door. Daniel turned it anti-clockwise and then forcibly clockwise. Over and over he did it and each time it turn just that little bit more.
By this time the three chimaeras were jostling for position to get to their live prey first. Finn had seen the progress Daniel was making and not being sure if he would get it open in tim
e had taken up a position back to back ready to defend him if the beasts ever made an attack. She didn’t have to wait long before the hierarchy had been established and they charged the two friends.
Finn loved a fight; anyone that knew her knew that, but she was starting to flag. Wrestling with that Manticore whilst falling had taken a lot out of her and the effects of its poisoned darts were still evident as she couldn’t put any weight on her left leg. It may have been a hopeless cause facing off against the three Chimaera, but just as she knew Daniel would do anything to save her, so would she to save him. That was the foundation for any kind of solid relationship.
The first Chimaera leapt at them but Finn swatted it aside with the butts of both of her revolvers. The other two hybrids, seeing that there was still some fight left in this prey, were more cautious. They slowly walked forward, widening the gap between them, intending to flank her. Then they charged. Finn glanced at one then the other, trying to decide which one to defend against first. The one that would get to her first was the obvious answer but they were both coming at equal pace. But with a little patience she suddenly saw her opening. The Chimaera to her right had its mouth wide open, eager to get the first bite of this tasty morsel.
Finn jammed her gun into its mouth, forcing it to stay open, but as she turned to face the other Chimaera it pounced on her, she barely had enough time to bring her arms up in defence and grab its mane to hold it back from biting her head off. The situation was so dire now, Daniel couldn’t leave his friend to fend for herself and longer. He directed several kicks at the Chimaeras head before it turned and attempted to bite his leg off then the snake headed tail took over as the lion head of the creature returned its attention back to Finn.
‘Don’t worry about me, just get that vekting door open!’ Finn cried as the Chimaera clawed at her.
It was hard for Daniel to ignore the cries of pain from his friend. Several times he almost stopped to try and rescue her but each time he heard what she had said and went back to forcing the key.
The hopelessness he felt at not being able to help and the anger that welled up inside of him was exactly what Daniel needed and the key finally turned all the way.
The key melted into the lock and a golden glow shone out of the keyhole. A light appeared around the edge of the vault door and it grew larger and larger as the massive door slowly swung open. The Chimaera, its jaws inches away from Finn’s face immediately stopped its attack and reluctantly cowered away, as did the one that had pounced first. The remaining one, with Finn’s gun in its mouth, waited obediently for it to be taken out. Daniel gingerly reached into its maw to retrieve the obstruction. Once he had the creature joined the other two and one by one, they disappeared in a flash of light.
Daniel helped Finn to her feet and they hugged. They were both bloodied and dishevelled but also deeply grateful to be alive convinced that they had just escaped death. As they entered Daniel’s bank vault neither one could believe their eyes, perhaps it had been all worth it after all.
The vault was a lot bigger than they had expected. To one side there were stacks of gold doubloons, silver ingots and copper geldings. It was more money than Daniel had ever seen, more money than Finn had seen.
‘There must be thousands here, hundreds of thousands,’ she exclaimed. ‘The spoils of your dad’s questing, I suppose. Just so you know, it’s fifteen geldings to an ingot and five ingots to a doubloon.’
It wasn’t just the coins that impressed them, there were gems and jewellery too. On the opposite wall we’re more artefacts, weapons, and armour. Finn’s jaw dropped as she recognised many of the items and called them off one by one; the ring of stamina, the lightning pole-arm, the dragon scale shield. She was like a kid in a candy store.
The first thing she picked up was a pair of goggles, much like the ones she already wore, Daniel thought, but these ones were completely black, even the lens. ‘Do you know what these are?’ Finn asked, giddy with excitement. However, she continued before Daniel could even answer. ‘These are the goggles of night vision! Skelmin the giant used them in his underground lair with his huge Mephisto worms! I wish I could try them... Oh, Goddess!’
Another item from Eric Mondragon’s adventuring days caught Finn’s eye. A brown ridged spiral horn that looked perpetually wet, with little puffs of smoke coming out of it.
‘The pirate queen, Captain Jane Wain’s horn of fog! Blow this and it’ll create a thick fog. Blow it again and the fog returns to the horn,’ she said holding it in reverence. ‘The Captain used it many a time to hide her dealings and her comings and goings. Your dad actually used the goggles to finally catch her.’
As Finn was about to put the horn back, Daniel reached over and took it from her. She watched him with wide eyes as he placed the horn in his satchel. ‘You’re taking it with you?’
Daniel was incredulous. ‘Are you kidding? Of course I’m taking it! I wasn’t expecting all of this cool stuff, besides, I’m kind of interested to see the affect.’
‘Really? In that case...’ Finn said as she saw an opportunity to try some other things and she grabbed them off the shelves ‘Let’s take the goggles, the pole-arm and these.’ She held up two strips of purple cloth, each one had golden embroidery on them. ‘These were given to Eric by Kay Haichi, master swordsman from Gorias.’
‘The cloth and the goggles are fine,’ Daniel said as Finn placed them in the bag, ‘but I’m not sure about walking down the street with the spear.’
‘This Ariest not Earth, so it’s fine, but if you’re a bit self-conscious about it, check this out.’ Finn held the weapon out in front of her and gave it a short sharp jerk and it shrank down to the size of a pencil.
‘Wow, that’s pretty cool! Maybe I should get you to inventory all this stuff so I know exactly what they are and how they work,’ said Daniel.
‘Of course, I’ll come to imperial City with you!’
‘Huh?’
‘You’ll be going off to the academy soon and I’d need you to get into the bank. We could get the FTN from there and still work for Fungal!’
Inviting Finn to Imperial City wasn’t what Daniel had in mind but the more he thought about it, the more he saw the benefits of it. He would be in a new city soon, so it would be good to have a couple friends with him in Trinity and Finn, as long as they could get along, that is, without fighting. ‘Ok, sure! The Keep should have plenty of space.’
With the arrangement settled, Daniel turned his attention back to the principal reason they came to the bank in the first place. ‘So, how much money do you think I should take out anyway?’
EXITING THE ALMEDIA Bank vaults was as simple as Niflek had told them; hold hands and think of the circle in his office. They were both aware that the injuries which had been inflicted upon them by the banks “security system” had been completely healed when they rematerialised In Almedia. The gnome mage had informed them that it was a small time-reversal spell, courtesy of the bank. It was a spell Daniel hoped to learn in his studies.
With their satchel of magical goodies and a few bags of gold and silver, Daniel and Finn made the short trip from the bank to Hyasda’s Herb & Alchemy store. Daniel entered the shop first, his arrival signalled by the tinkling of the shop bell. He smiled as he gazed around the curio shop, happy at the chance to see something new and pleasant smelling in the city.
Daniel moved around the shop, investigating as many of the interesting contents as he could. He was so intrigued by the store that he hadn’t noticed that Finn was barely in the shop, that she stayed at the entrance somewhat pensive and nervous, and that those feelings escalated when the store owner made her appearance.
They could both hear the rhythmic sound of the elderly woman’s walking stick strike the stone floor and then her shuffling feet as she came out of the back to greet them.
‘Ah, if it isn’t the goddess, young Finn come to pay me a visit.’ Hyasda had seen her first because she hadn’t moved since arriving. The old woman thought the girl h
ad come alone, but then she saw movement behind some shelves. ‘and who might this be? A friend of yours?’
‘This is - uhm - this is -’ Finn uncharacteristically stammered.
‘I’m Daniel. Daniel Welsh,’ he said as he stepped out into the light.
‘Ah, the consort! It was a shame that Tristan and myself were unable to see the crowning ceremony; we had important business to attend to.’
‘He’s also Eric Mondragon’s son,’ added Finn.
Hyasda peered closely at Daniel. Looked at him with a hint of recognition.
‘Is something wrong?’ Daniel asked, feeling a little uncomfortable with the elderly woman’s stares.
‘No,’ replied Hyasda. ‘You just remind me of someone I once knew from my youth. He was the one that set me on my path of discovery.’ She fell silent as she reminisced about the days when she was Finn and Daniel’s age. ‘So, you’re the one they’re talking about?’ Hyasda eventually continued. ‘You’re the one they’re all scared of?’
Daniel shook his head. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘“The progeny of the champion shall bring death and destruction. The ghost of the dragon shall change Ariest forever. The Mortokai has come,”’ Hyasda recited as she sat heavily into a nearby stool.
‘What is that?’
‘The words of our dear Queen. When she awoke from her deep dream sleep, she made this prophecy.’
‘What’s it supposed to mean?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? They believe the Mortokai will destroy the world as they know it.’
‘And what do you know about the Mortokai?’
Hyasda scoffed. ‘You do not get to live as long as I have without hearing a thing or two. Suffice to say that the Mortokai is a being of great power but more importantly, it is a faerie with a soul.’
Daniel looked distant as he weighed up what he was being told. The champion could be his dad. The ghost could be the name that he has been tormented with all his life, the dragon could mean Mondragon and Daniel had already been told that he was the Mortokai, he had experienced its power but he couldn’t believe that he would cause death and destruction. ‘You must be wrong! I’m not a killer. I refuse to believe that this is going to be my destiny!’