The Imprisoned God

by Hans Bezdek

  "Hey guys," smiled Perkins. "Zane decided he's going to take a little walk, but he won't stray too far. He needs some alone time."

  "Understandable," said Farr, the rest nodding in agreement.

  "Grex offered to go look again," said Cupcake. "I could go, too. Four eyes are better than t-"

  "That won't be necessary!" Perkins half shouted.

  The others looked at him, stunned.

  "Um, it's just best if we put this all behind us," chuckled Perkins, picking up what looked like a purple apple. "It'll just make him more upset when he comes back and we have to tell him again about how there is no flower, you know."

  "But you wouldn't have to tell him," suggested Yri.

  "I couldn't trust myself," said the elf, shaking his head and raising the apple up. "I'd let something slip."

  Farr put a hand up. "I wouldn't bite into it like that!"

  The elf chomped down then dropped the purple apple, yelping and grabbing his mouth. "W-What in the world?!"

  "You've got to crack those open," said Khuwa, picking it up and breaking it with ease to show him. "The outside is hard as a rock."

  "I noticed..." said Perkins, checking his mouth for blood.

  "I'm sorry again about the flower not being here," said Farr, grabbing some food himself. "Do you think Zane will be okay waiting a few days before we leave for the wall?"

  "I don't foresee that being a problem," said Perkins.

  "Good," smiled Farr, relieved. While Zane had been a bit standoffish since they met him, he had grown to like Perkins company. "I was wondering, aside from helping your friends, what else is it that you do back in U'Raze?"

  "Oh, not too much," said Perkins, stretching out and leaning back. "For a couple of years, I was a well-paid mercenary for King Valdrick."

  "Sounds exciting!" said Grex.

  "That's what I figured when I started, but it didn't really turn out that way," replied the elf.

  "I suppose not much excitement happens in the U'Raze Kingdom, then?" asked Yri, the warlock taking a bite of a black orange and handing the rest to Cupcake. "I don't mean to offend, it's just that we don't get much news of your country."

  "No offense taken," shrugged Perkins. "There are certain things happening there that can be construed as exciting, I just found myself getting put on less and less important jobs."

  "Why is that?" asked Farr.

  "From what I heard, I depressed the other people I worked with, you know. Apparently, they didn't appreciate my existential dread and discussions on death."

  Farr thought back to when they were walking up to the cliff from where they found them in the forest. The elf mentioned being apathetic to living and dying a few times, but had otherwise been curious about The Delinquents.

  "You haven't talked about it with us very much," pointed out Farr.

  "That's because I'm preoccupied," smiled Perkins. "Helps keep my mind off of things. That was sort of the reason I became a mercenary in the first place. I found that fighting and encountering new things made me feel more in the present, and my thoughts didn't have time to wander, you know. Alas, even jobs that involved fighting or killing had a lot of downtime."

  "Are you still a mercenary for the king?" asked Farr.

  "Uh, you mean like right now?" asked Perkins, shifting on his arms. "I told you, I'm just helping Zane find a cure for his brother."

  Farr laughed. "No. I meant are you still under employment by U'Raze."

  "Oh," said the elf, relaxing. He looked up at the sky and considered the question. "In a sense, I'm available if needed. However, I'm not in it for the money. If the task doesn't seem exciting enough for me, I pass on it. I think that has angered some of the king's advisors, but so be it. While it doesn't really matter, if I had my way, I'd die doing something interesting rather than something mundane, like chasing down some merchant that hadn't paid his taxes on time."

  Farr could respect that. "What about joining a guild? Have you ever considered that?"

  "You offering?" asked Perkins, raising an eyebrow.

  "Not yet, just getting a sense for how you'd feel about it," said Farr, leaning forward. "The Delinquents are always looking to grow. We offer good pay. Benefits aren't too bad, either, so long as you don't require medical, financial, or other kinds of needs. Sounds like that isn't really what you're after anyway, though."

  "Not particularly," admitted the elf.

  "Since we're working our way up the guild hierarchy, we get a wide array of jobs," continued Farr, putting on his best salesman smile. "While we have some downtime occasionally, we try to complete the tasks as quickly as possible. And if staying in the U'Raze Kingdom is a deal breaker, I'm sure we could talk about expansion."

  Perkins was quiet as he stared at the campfire. "You're too kind."

  "Again, not an official offer," said Farr, trying not to pressure the elf too much and scare him off. "We can discuss this more on our way back to the wall in a few days, once this mission is complete."

  "Are you allowed to recruit?" asked Yri, giving Farr a hard look.

  "I'm able to recruit as much and whenever I'd like to," said Farr, puffing his chest out and crossing his arms.

  "And you don't have to talk to the rest of the guild about it?" asked Khuwa, the orc looking uncertain. "That doesn't sound right..."

  "I mean, anyone I recruit would have to ultimately pass the judgment of the officers before they are officially made members," admitted Farr. "But that's mostly just paperwork!"

  "Sounds a lot like you can't recruit people, then," said Cupcake.

  Farr was temporarily deflated, but then remembered what was coming. "Maybe not right now, but once we finish making sure the Lundori don't release Aodh, I'll be promoted."

  "You're getting promoted for this?" asked Perkins, the elf sitting up straight.

  "Somehow," said Yri, rolling her eyes.

  "Hey..." said Farr.

  "Farr is a good leader," said Khuwa, getting up and stretching as she smiled at Perkins. "This is his final test."

  "I... I see," said Perkins, glancing at his feet. "What will happen if you fail?"

  "I wouldn't worry about that," chuckled Grex. "We have a fairly good record."

  "So this would be a hard loss, then," mumbled Perkins.

  "Oh, definitely," nodded Farr. "Not only would I lose out on becoming an officer, but we'd probably be responsible for letting loose a killing machine on the whole continent. Can you imagine?"

  Perkins' face paled slightly.

  "Hey," said Khuwa, pausing in mid stretch. The orc was squinting and had her hand over her eyes. "I think I see something at Aodh's prison."

  "The Lundori?!" asked Farr, jumping to his feet along with the rest of The Delinquents.

  "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," said Perkins, slowly standing up as well.

  "No, there's just one person there," said Khuwa.

  Farr could see it now. On the mound down and across from them stood a single figure, a brown scroll out in front of him. He appeared to be reading it aloud, occasionally glancing down at the chains in front of him.

  "That's Zane!" exclaimed Grex. "What could he be doing?"

  "Uh... Looking for flowers, probably?" offered Perkins.

  "It looks like he's the one that's trying to unbound Aodh!" growled Yri, spinning on Perkins. Cupcake hopped off of Yri's shoulders and began circling the elf. The pig did not look happy.

  "C-Calm down, everyone," said Perkins, keeping his hands up. "I'm sure there's a, you know, perfectly reasonable explanation of what he's doing. In fact, I-I think that was the scroll the witchdoctor gave us!"

  "The witchdoctor gave you a scroll?" asked Grex.

  "You know, he did," nodded Perkins quickly. "Zane must be looking through it to see if we missed something about where the flower could be."

  "And he's reading it out loud?" scoffed Yri.

  Perkins hesitated. "Zane's a bit of a weirdo, in case you didn't pick up on that yet."

  "You'r
e lying, he's unleashing the Mad God!" shouted Yri. "Cupcake. K-"

  "No!" shouted Farr, jumping between Perkins and the warlock.

  "Excuse me?" asked Yri, the warlock looking furious.

  "We don't know for sure what he's doing, and we don't know that Perkins is part of it," said Farr. "I'm telling you to not attack Perkins until we know more."

  Yri opened her mouth, but Khuwa spoke first.

  "I don't think Perkins is really going to matter right now!" called out the orc, gesturing around the mound.

  Farr followed her finger to see at least fifty Lundori coming out of the forest and approaching Zane. Even from a distance, he could tell they were focused on the chains in front of him.

  "Oh no..." said Grex, shaking his head. "If Zane doesn't finish the spell, it looks like the Lundori will!"

  "Come on," said Farr, sprinting to get to the side of the cliff. "We've got to get down there. Now!"

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  "At least let me kill Zane!" demanded Yri, chasing after Farr as they raced to get to Aodh's prison. Cupcake flew a few feet ahead of her, checking to see if any Lundori were trying to flank the group.

  "No!" growled Farr.

  The Lundori were closing in quickly, but Farr believed he and the others would get there before the humanoids did. While they were severely outnumbered, he had to believe they could fight them off. There wasn't time to come up with any other plan.

  There was also the problem of Zane. If he was reciting a spell to unlock Aodh, they were probably too late anyway. However, there was the possibility something else was going on. Maybe Perkins was telling the truth, and Zane was simply reading the instructions from the witchdoctor out loud to see if they overlooked the flower? After all, why would a paladin of Nera possibly want to let loose the Mad God?

  "How should we fight?" asked Perkins, running beside Khuwa as she carried Grex.

  "You aren't joining in," insisted Yri.

  "Of course he can," said Farr, shaking his head. "And to answer his question, we've got to stop them from getting to the center by any means necessary. Unfortunately, that will mean we have to spread out in order to cover as much of the area as we can."

  "Got it," nodded Perkins. The elf looked to Yri. "Don't worry, you've got my word I'll help."

  "How can we trust you?" demanded Yri.

  "I don't think the Lundori intend on letting me live either way," said Perkins.

  Cupcake spun around to face Yri and nodded. "He's got a point."

  Yri glared at Perkins. "Don't get in my way."

  "You know, I wasn't planning to."

  "We've got to get their attention," said Farr as they reached the base. "We need them to waste time fighting us before they can get to Aodh."

  "Cupcake, grab their attention!" ordered Yri.

  "On it," oinked the pig, flying up at an angle. When the demon decided he was high enough, he began to quickly fly in a circle. As he did so, green flames erupted from him, spurting in every direction and creating a kind of circlet of fire.

  That got their attention.

  The Lundori slowed to a stop, their handful of archers taking shots in an attempt to quickly take the demon out of the fight. As they were distracted, The Delinquents struck.

  Farr was the first to reach a Lundori. Calling a fire of his own, orange flames shot from his right hand and took the shape of a sword. The Lundori somehow heard him and brought his mace up and around as he spun. The mace connected with the sword, which held as firm as any real blade.

  The blademagus brought his weapon back and made several strikes at the Lundori, who blocked each one without much effort.

  Unfortunately, Farr had always been more interested in conjuring magic and using it to benefit others. This meant he hadn't spent much time learning the art of sword fighting himself.

  Fortunately, Perkins had.

  The elf lunged forward, the two blades in his hands whistling as they sliced through the air. The Lundori worked as quickly as he could to block the attacks with his mace, but was too slow. With a flourish of blades, Perkins dropped the humanoid.

  "Nicely done," nodded Farr as the others spread out. "I would've had him eventually, though."

  "I figured time was of the essence," grinned Perkins. He looked at the center of the mound. "More seriously, I'm worried about Zane."

  "He seemed capable of protecting himself before," said Farr.

  "But he isn't moving."

  Farr looked up and saw the elf was right. The battlefield was loud and distracting, but the paladin continued to stare down at the scroll and hadn't moved.

  "I think something strange is happening to him," said Perkins.

  "I'll get to him," nodded Farr, running for the top of the mound.

  As he did so, Cupcake flew for some of the Lundori to the far north side, letting loose a spray of green fire. Two of the Lundori dropped, while the others chucked spears and shot arrows at the flying pig. Cupcake easily flew over and around the projectiles, cackling as he went. He circled overhead briefly, then came back down on the same group of Lundori.

  There was a little squeak as the tiny pig flew face first into an invisible wall of magic.

  "They're bringing those shields up again!" cautioned Grex, just a dozen feet behind Yri.

  "I'm on it!" called out Yri, jogging toward four Lundori that had their hands up and in Cupcake's direction.

  The pig let out an annoyed grunt then tried to fly around the invisible shield. There was another squeak as he flew into a wall on his left. Then another to his right.

  "Uh oh!" shouted Cupcake, attempting to fly away.

  He smacked into a final wall, then collapsed into the invisible cage above them.

  "I'll take care of this!" announced Yri, summoning green flames into her hands.

  "Don't!" shouted Khuwa further to the east, kicking a Lundori in the chest and sending him sprawling back into another two. "You'll burn up Cupcake, too!"

  The warlock hesitated, then dispelled the flames with a curse. She turned her attention to the Lundori spellcasters and ran for the nearest one. Pulling a dagger from the side of her robe, she lunged at him.

  The Lundori jumped back, keeping his hands pointed up at Cupcake. He shouted in a strange language, clearly calling for some other Lundori to come and help him. Unluckily for him, everyone close to him was engaged in a fight of their own. Yri continued the assault, striking out closer and closer as he continued to hop out of the way.

  Finally connecting with the spellcaster's chest, the Lundori let out a cry of pain as Yri quickly stabbed and yanked out her sharp blade, kicking him over for good measure. The magic he was contributing to the spell broke, and Cupcake slowly fell to the ground. Yri ran to the pig and dove, catching him before he hit the ground.

  Meanwhile, four Lundori circled Grex, two of them with swords and two with spears. The gnome looked back in forth in a panic as they slowly stepped closer. All four attacked him at the same time, shocked as their weapons clashed against one another's.

  A tiny gnat flew from the midst of them, transforming back into Grex several feet away. The druid turned back and thrusted his hands out. Vines shot out of the ground and quickly trapped three of the Lundori. The fourth one was too fast, and was able to hack his way out of the vines. The humanoid stumbled toward the gnome, pulling his weapon back.

  The floor fell out from underneath him with another wave of Grex's hands, and the gnome hurried off.

  Farr reached the top of Aodh's prison before any of the Lundori had. Zane was staring down at the scroll, eyes unblinking as he muttered under his breath.

  "Zane, what are you doing?!" shouted Farr. He looked to his right and saw a particularly large Lundori stalking toward them.

  The paladin didn't respond.

  "Whatever you're doing, this isn't smart!" continued Farr. "Your brother wouldn't want you to die like this, would he?!"

  More muttering.

  "Zane!" shouted Farr again. The large Lundori pul
led his spear back and chucked it with all of his might at the stationary paladin.

  Farr jumped into Zane, tackling the man out of the way of the Lundori spear. The two of them tumbled to the ground, Zane moving slowly and acting stunned.

  "W-What's going on...?" mumbled Zane.

  Farr got to his feet, feeling a slight sting on his left side. He looked down to see a mild cut and a small amount of blood coming out of it. The Lundori spear must have nicked him.

  "The Lundori are here to try and unleash Aodh," said Farr, pointing at Perkins. The elf's blades sparked with electricity. He was surprised for half a second, then smirked and tried them out on the nearest Lundori.

  Zane held his head as he got to his feet, appearing to not have heard Farr. "That was so strange... I went into a trance while I read that scroll."

  "From the witchdoctor?" asked Farr, confused as to why that would have happened to him.

  "No," said Zane, shaking his head carefully. "To break Aodh free."

  Farr's heart dropped.

  The fighting around them slowed to a stop. Farr looked over his shoulder to see that all the Lundori were staring at the top of the mound. Their weapons were held loosely in their hands now, and there was a distinct look on their face. It wasn't excitement or joy... but fear.

  Farr spun around to see the top of Aodh's prison. The chains were glowing bright yellow and throbbing.

  "What have you done?" whispered Farr.

  One of the chains cracked in half.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Zane watched in awe as several more of the glowing chains snapped in half. He hardly remembered reading the scroll that caused this, and it sounded like it had somehow put him into a trance. While he wished the king or his advisors would've mentioned that to him when they first gave him the scroll, the deed had been done.

  The Delinquents grouped up next to him, along with Perkins. The Lundori paid them no attention. All of their eyes were locked on the glowing chains.

  Then suddenly... the chains stopped glowing.

  A deep silence covered the mound.

  "Huh," said Farr, running a hand through his hair. "Is that it? Maybe it wasn't enough for Aodh to-"