Chapter 33

Rest and Recovery

You can only push your body so far before it gives out. Fear and adrenaline will take you past your breaking point, with magic taking you further than that, nut everything will catch up with you in a moment free from danger. That’s when you collapse…when you succumb to your body’s weakness.

Just beyond the entrance to the Abyss, flying carpets littered the dungeon floor. The sorcerers who had flown through the Abyss lay passed out on top, filling the tunnel with a harmony of exhausted snoring. The threat of death had faded with each floor we ascended, but they only felt safe enough to collapse after we reached the dungeon.

Nothing would rouse them now.

So, I stood near the top of the tunnel, planning our next confrontation. Sir Trent was there with all twenty-six of Carolyn’s guards who had taken my oath. Gregory was next to him with dozens of his strongest death lords, the ones with death and necrotic resistance. Mother and Father each supported one of their groups, while Dalin and his small order stood to the side guarding the most dangerous members of the faculty.

Our escape through the Abyss had strengthened everyone, giving us a real chance of driving off the ancient vampires if they showed up. However, our odds were still fifty-fifty, and I preferred we never meet.

As I laid out my plan, Carolyn interrupted. “You can’t just tell the students to pick a direction and fly once we reach the surface.”

Too many nodded their heads in agreement.

“I can and I will,” I replied. “It’s their best chance of survival. Tracking someone through the air over a significant distance takes time, even for my kind. Depending on their head start, the vampires can only capture and turn between ten and three hundred each. Worse case, half of the students die because of this plan. Best case, less than one hundred.”

She glared at me. “Those are unacceptable losses.”

“That doesn’t stop it from being necessary, Princess.”

“It does when we’re significantly stronger than we were.”

More heads nodded.

“I don’t deny we’re stronger. But when we left Darksmith, we couldn’t survive a confrontation with two ancient vampires, let alone four. Now, our odds of winning against four are fifty-fifty. Those odds go down outside a confined space, where we can be targeted by hit-and-run tactics.”

“So, you’ll let them die?”

“No. I’m giving them a chance to live. Sometimes that’s the best you can do.”

I watched her ball her fists as anger and frustration overwhelmed her. The time she’d spent alone with Luke over the past few months was beginning to show through. Like my conversations with my son, their discussions outside her lessons mostly revolved around morals and ethics. The thought of leaving people she thought we could save didn’t sit well with her. It was a good change to see, even if her feelings were misplaced.

A good person did their best in life. Sometimes, their best wasn’t enough to solve the problem. Knowing you couldn’t fix everything was an important part of growing up. Knowing that just because you couldn’t fix everything didn’t mean you shouldn’t try was an even more important part.

I was trying to save these people. I was going to fail some of them, and that was okay. The world would be a better place because I tried.

Everyone politely closed their lips and looked away as they waited for Princess Carolyn to regain control of herself. She was in a situation no one her age should have to face. She would also one day be their ruler, so none of them wanted her to remember a situation where she felt they embarrassed her.

I didn’t care if she felt embarrassed.

Luckily for them, a distraction appeared.

Everyone turned their heads as Marin’s racing carpet shot down the tunnel towards us, carrying a handful of students who had been reconning the dungeon. Marin slowed at the last second, bringing the carpet down smoothly beside our group. We could have come out in only a handful of dungeons based on the distance we had travelled, and the students he was flying around all knew what those dungeons looked like and had maps in their storage pouches. Hopefully, one of them had figured out where we were.

Baris leapt off the carpet, leaving the other students behind. “We’re in Necropolis’s dungeon,” he shouted excitedly. “I’m completely sure of it.”

Everyone gave him their full attention.

“What can you tell us about it?” I asked.

“It’s the second biggest dungeon in North and South Murdell, with the most convoluted tunnel system for several kingdoms. We’re about half a day from the fortress, even if we use the flying carpets.”

A lot of people swore.

Half a day was too long.

I turned to Gorgath.

He was sitting against the tunnel wall, receiving overdue medical treatment. The kid had been exposed to so much life’s bane that it had seeped into his flesh. I could smell him breathing it out with every breath. Davina was standing on his knee, trying to remedy the situation with holy magic.

“Gorgath, how far to the nearest dungeon?”

Gorgath turned his head towards us. “Not far. But we must pass through the third floor to reach it. If we travel higher, the nearest dungeon is half a day’s travel.”

Before anyone could protest, I ended my line of thinking. “Everyone is too exhausted for that.”

Everyone closed their mouths.

I turned to Baris. “Give me your map and a pen.”

Baris handed them over. “Do you need to know anything, Sir?”

I scanned the map, memorising it, and making note of how big the dungeon fortress was. It filled the entire first chamber. I’d known it was big, but I hadn’t realised it was that big.

“Does Necropolis have any powerful holy relics, clerics, paladins, or warriors who could help us fight ancient vampires?”

Baris glanced at Gregory before looking back. “As far as I'm aware, we don’t have any powerful holy relics, and the church’s presence is small. The Head Inquisitor is an Old Monster with a lot of skill, but I don’t believe he could keep up with your people anymore. The Grave Diggers society discourages everyone from leveling too high, and the Darklord’s assassins take care of anyone who ignores their advice.”

“See if anyone in the Undead Enhancement Club knows anything you don’t.”

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“Yes, Sir.”

I turned to the group as Baris raced off, nearly blurring with his speed. “I’m extending our rest period. Our new plan is to dig in and hold this position until the survivors reach the fortress and escape.”

Carolyn frowned at the news. “Why are you changing your plan?”

“Half a day to reach the dungeon fortress drastically increases our chances of a confrontation. If we’re going to have to fight, I’d rather fight from a reinforced position.”

“And the students?”

“They’ll get a chance to recover. The healthiest townsfolk will pilot the flying carpets to the dungeon fortress. That will give the students half a day to rest and recuperate before they attempt to make their escape.”

Carolyn pressed her lips together but nodded.

I turned to Dalin. “I need multiple stationary barriers across this tunnel. Once you’ve set up the barriers, I need this place filled with every alarm spell the faculty knows. If they travel through the Deadlands, the barriers will force them to exit, triggering the alarms.”

“Why not traps?” Dalin asked.

“We don’t have the time to make a trap powerful enough to kill an ancient vampire, and their regeneration makes anything that doesn’t kill them almost pointless. Knowing they’ve reached the dungeon is the only thing that can give us an advantage. Get the faculty working on it.”

Dalin stepped away and began rounding people up.

I turned to Carolyn, marking three locations on the map. “After we’ve finished reinforcing this location, I need you to move ahead and manage the placement of barriers and alarms here, here, and here.”

Carolyn took the map and glanced at my marks. “Why those locations?”

“There are multiple ways to reach those points, but every path eventually leads to them. There is no point in alarming places they could bypass.”

Carolyn handed the map to Rupert. “If I’m going to build an early warning system, my people will need the help of all the faculty not participating in the fight.”

I would’ve suggested that eventually, but I wanted to see if she would think of it herself. She had the makings of a good leader. She just needed practice and to continue listening and learning from her advisors.

“Good idea. Dalin, make sure your people help her.”

There was the briefest shadow of a smile before Carolyn turned to her people and started giving instructions. Gregory figured out what I would order him to do and blurred away to order everyone to rest before I could tell him to.

I turned to Mother and Father. “I need your people to make this tunnel hallowed ground before filling it with as many holy wards as you can manage.”

Mother nodded. “We have no objections to your request but will ask the Necrosaint to confirm your request.”

I dismissed them with a wave of my hand.

Seeing I was temporarily unoccupied, Marin walked over and tilted his head slightly. It wasn’t quite a bow, but as close to a bow as someone in line for the throne was allowed to give.

“Thank you for saving my life,” he said.

“I don’t need your thanks. I need you to warn your emperor of the threat sitting on your border.”

“That will be difficult. I have no intention of staying and learning the full extent of this threat. When Baris returns with my map, I will be leaving with my guards. If you survive, you may write to me, and I will pass your warning to my mother.”

Marin and Carolyn had shared several conversations about me over our journey through the Abyss. Marin understood why she was my prisoner and the nature of my existence. He didn’t understand how I fit into his worldview but was pragmatic enough to be temporary allies until a better option appeared. Now that he could escape, he was going to.

“No need. Shadow, travel with Marin to the fortress and answer his questions.”

Shadow slid out of my coat, forming a black silhouette next to me. He’d grown stronger during our journey, drawing upon the life force I absorbed through my vampiric aura. His shape was more defined than when we left the academy, no longer just matching my body’s outline, but also my features. You could count the fingers on each hand and clearly see his nose.

Marin leaned closer to Shadow with obvious interest. “Your shade can speak.”

“Shadow is a true shade, not a poor imitation.”

A look of wonder transformed his expression. “You really have kept your soul, haven’t you? I thought it was a lie to placate everyone, but you couldn’t make a true shade without one. I’ll do my best to ensure your soul shard returns to you unharmed. And I will pass along what it shares to my mother.” Maring glanced at his flying carpet collection, which was currently being used as bedding and sighed. “You may return my collection to me in the future or keep it as a token of my gratitude.”

“I don’t have any storage space for your collection. You would have to leave your master storage chest behind if you wanted me to collect them.”

Marin looked like he was trying to pass a kidney stone as he decided between leaving his entire collection to gain a chance of the collection being returned or immediately losing the better half of his collection with no chance of getting it back. His shoulders slumped. “You may borrow my master storage chest. I’ll travel faster without it.”

“That’s wise a decision. I strongly suggest you don’t stop until you reach your empire.”

“I don’t plan to. Now if you will excuse me, I need to find where my map is.”

Marin turned and walked back to his racing carpet to find Baris. I could hear the conversations Baris was having with the other necromancers. None of them had more insight into the city’s capabilities beyond mentioning wards and stationary defences that could help if we fought in the city.

It looked like reinforcements weren’t coming.

Angelica was front and centre with Sir Trent and his toughest fighter, ready for a surprise attack, so I had a moment to address my next problem.

I walked over to Gorgath.

Davina jumped down from where she had been scaling his chest, landing beside me. She still looked like a walking corpse but was much faster than when we left the third floor. A few more hours and she would be back to her old self.

She leaned against her staff as she turned and looked at her patient. “More life’s bane appears whenever I think I’m finished cleansing his skin. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong?”

“I told you it’s in his lungs. It’s coming out when he breathes.”

“How am I supposed to cure that? He’s resistant to all forms of magic. My spells won’t go deep enough. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“You’re overthinking this. Tie a rope to one of his teeth and climb down his throat.”

Davina made a face, repelled by the idea of being surrounded by so much monster slobber. “There has to be another way?”

“You said it yourself. He’s resistant to all forms of magic. You need to get closer to the source.”

She sighed, accepting that my method was necessary, and pulled her enchanted rope from her storage pouch. She’d made it during her enchanting classes because I kidnapped people and took prisoners often enough to need one. She threw the rope over her shoulder. “Gorgath, can you open your mouth for me?”

The kid opened his mouth as wide as possible.

Davina jumped and landed on his tongue. She secured the rope around a tooth before diving down the back of his throat. An expression I’d only seen on those experiencing heartburn appeared on the kid’s face.

“Don’t swallow her,” I said.

“Gorgath will do his best.”

“After we get everyone out of the dungeon, I’ll get you back to your people.”

So long as my people weren’t travelling with the students, I wasn’t concerned about their safety. They had nothing the vampires wanted. It made no sense for them to be attacked.

“This is the way,” he said as his mouth and nostrils filled with holy light.

The smell of life’s bane coming from Gorgath’s breath suddenly vanished. The holy glow radiated from his mouth continued as I smelled more stomach acid enter his breath. Davina had taken it upon herself to cleanse his stomach. It wasn’t necessary. The stomach acid he’d gained from the acid centipede’s bloodline broke down the life’s bane that reached it.

A few seconds later, Davina climbed out of the back of his throat covered in saliva, untied her rope, surrounded Gorgath’s body with holy magic to cleanse the last traces of life’s bane, and jumped down.

She landed near me, looking like a shiny drowned rat. She ran her palm across her face and flicked the saliva on the ground. “Yuck. That better have worked.”

“I worked. We’ll have to wait and see if it sticks.”

“Call me if his condition changes.”

A grin appeared on her face before she blurred towards me too fast for me to follow and then stepped to the side. Her manoeuvre flicked most of Gorgath’s saliva over me. I wiped the kid’s drool from my face.

Gorgath laughed at Davina’s antics as he pushed himself to his feet. “Gorgath no longer feels strained in the dungeon due to increasing his mana regeneration and wishes to know if he can visit the surface to tell his people stories of the sky.”

Gorgath now had more than twenty times the mana regeneration he’d had when he first started attending Darksmith. It made sense that he felt comfortable in the dungeon. It would also make sense that he could survive on the surface and his request could save me from having to walk him home.

“If you can survive on the surface, would you be willing to travel across it to reach a safer dungeon to enter?”

Gorgath nodded vigorously. “Gorgath would like that.” He excitedly turned to the survivors. “Gorgath will ask Arro if he can visit her home with her.”

I let him walk off. He was now someone else’s problem to deal with because I had vampires to prepare for.