Chapter 22

“You call this a fire? What am I supposed to do with this?” Xavi pointed angrily with his long, clawed finger at the small fire Kara had made with pieces of the damaged shelving and logs purchased from the hunting camp, “This is more smoke than flame. I could brew something warmer than this pathetic matchstick after eating rancid meat for a week. Master, you promised me a fire, and I demand a fire, now!” He shouted while he pulled the heavy pelt tighter.

“Oh, sit down, you blasted imp,” Antony shot. “We are wasting precious supplies on you, so the least you could do is shut up and wait. If you don’t like it, you are more than welcome to go back outside and gather your own wood, you ungrateful little shit.”

Xavi smiled wickedly at Antony, “Remind me again, oh mighty bowman, who saved you from that nasty slave mark? Who led you and my master to save your precious hatch mate?”

Antony looked confused at Kara from across the room before turning back to Xavi and whispering, “Did you just say hatch mate?”

“Yes, of course. Or, sister,” he said sarcastically, “as you humans like to call it. I know all about the reproduction of your filthy world.”

Antony opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the words that best approached the subject. “Xavi, let me tell you something about where babies come from…”

The imp sat slack-jawed for several minutes while he detailed the reproductive cycle of mammals.

Xavi scoffed at him and shook his head, “That can’t be real. I was told all about your world’s hatchlings long before I arrived here. There’s no way you’re speaking the truth.” He looked over to Kara, who gave him a half smile and a shrug. Xavi slowly sniffed in her direction before his eyes went wide with surprise. “Disgusting!” He threw off the blanket and leaped into the air, wings beating in a panic while searching for Silas, “Master! Master! You’re no longer allowed to mate with the lady Kara! I will not be stuck in a cart with a litter of humans while there is still so much blood to be spilled! We must leave now!”

Antony burst into a deep laugh while Kara giggled, then slowly, it became a chuckle as he processed what he said.

Silas stepped into the room from the hallway and tossed a small fireball into the fire, causing it to blaze. “Antony, would you join me for a moment? I found something I would like you to see.”

“Now that’s more like it,” Xavi said as he dropped closer to the fire and wiggled his toes in the open flame.

Antony cleared his throat as he stood, “Yes, gladly.”

He looked back at Kara, who was sharpening a blade as he followed him into the hall. The two walked fifteen feet away down the pitch-black hallway to where Silas had indicated. Silas bent down low and pointed to a small indent on the wall, illuminating it with his mage light, “What do you make of this?” Reaching out and touching the marks, causing the glyphs to flair. “Have you seen anything like this before? Specifically, while you were here last?”

“Not that I recall,” leaning in closer. “I’m not the expert, unlike my sister. That’s not to say much; I could have passed dozens without knowing it on our last trip here. I also wasn’t looking for them either.” He moved closer to the wall, leaning on the ground, “This looks exactly like the glyph work on your paldrons and that book of yours. What does it mean?”

“What does it mean? That I don’t entirely know. As for the placement? I have a feeling it is a marker meant for someone like me to find whatever was left here,” he looked up at Antony from the spell book resting on his knee, “It could have been the soul stone you retrieved from here, but something inside me says there’s more to be found. I can’t explain why; it’s just a feeling I have. A draw, almost.”

He nodded in agreement and stood up, “I hope your feeling is correct. It would be a great boon if you found more trinkets, not to mention profitable.”

“What did you find?” Kara asked as she stepped out of the room.

“You tell us, sister. I’m going to warm up by the fire and try not to think of new ways to murder our small companion.” Antony walked back to their camp, leaving the two alone.

She knelt next to him to inspect the markings and gave him a nudge, “That was close back there—and quick thinking on your part with that fireball, too. You need to muzzle that bloody creature before they kill each other. Now let’s see what we have here.”

Silas smiled as he watched her work. Poking and prodding with her glyph tools as she studied the image, “We should tell him and get it over with. I don’t feel right keeping it from him. It’ll only make things difficult if he finds out on his own or, worse, from Xavi.”

She gently placed the crooked rod she had been using on the roll and gave him a hesitant glance, “I have been meaning to talk to you about that, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. I think it’s time we tell him as well. I don’t like keeping secrets from my brother, and yes, it will be worse if he finds out later. It doesn’t have to mean we are rushing; he just needs to know something is there, and we are discovering what it is.”

He brushed a stray strand of her hair from her face, “How about after we eat before we go scouting? That way, he has time for himself afterward. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said, sealing the promise with a kiss. “Now, before we go, I’d like you to push Mana into this while I run more tests.”

He nodded through a restrained smile and circulated mana from his core. Slowly, he trickled mana into the glowing green glyph, just like when he tried to power the glyph battery. This time, however, the reaction was completely different. The lines brightened and grew until they were the size of his head. From there, they stabilized and began to pulse.

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“Incredible. These are true works of art. Just a little longer if you would please.” She grabbed several other tools and placed them in a pattern below the glowing lines.

He pushed a tiny bit more mana into them to help maintain the glyph while she worked, but as soon as he did, a new horizontal line appeared and began to stretch down the length of the hallway. It was as thick as a finger and bright as the rest. It moved quickly down the passageway for fifty feet before stopping and igniting another glyph. The ground across the hall illuminated in a soft green glow.

Kara gasped and stood, looking down the hallway. She cut off her mage light, saying, “Stop pushing mana into it and see if it stays lit.”

He cut off his mana, dismissed his own mage light, and stood, basking in the ethereal green glow.

“SKREEEEEEEEEE,” echoed through the hallway from the depths of the ruins.

She drew her blades and looked to Silas, “That can’t be good.”

Antony burst around the corner, bow drawn, “What in the hells was that?”

“What’s going on, master? What did you f… oh no. No, no, no, what have you done?” Xavi backtracked slowly. “Why would you activate that?”

Silas turned and gripped Xavi by the shoulders, forcing eye contact, “What do you mean, Xavi? Speak plainly.”

“I know what this place is or was rather. This was a challenge temple meant for ascending to a higher rank of warlock. You are only a novice, master, and this is an apprentice challenge. You are not ready to complete this.”

Silas growled angrily and released his familiar, “Seriously, Xavi? Now, there are ranks? I’m really fucking tired of being in the dark on all this.” He took a deep, calming breath to center himself before continuing, “Ok, so how do we turn it off?”

Xavi shook his head, “You can’t, master. When you activated the glyph, a timer began. We need to reach the next area to stop it.”

Kara spoke before Silas, “How long do we have, and what happens if we don’t reach the next stage?”

Xavi looked down the hallway and closed his eyes for a moment, “Twelve hours to fight our way through multiple waves of conjured foes, and if we do not reach the next area in time, our souls will be removed from our bodies for not being worthy of the power given.”

“What the fuck!” The twins said in unison.

“Calm down,” Silas said. “We can do this. Xavi, store the cart and our supplies. I’ll take the forward position with Kara. Antony, take the rear guard. Drop anything that gets past us or anything you have a clear shot on. Xavi has support and healing in the middle on Yuki. We move quickly and tightly but slowly enough that if we need to retreat, we can still do so. Let’s move.”

Everyone burst into movement to gather their weapons. With a nod, Kara pulled up her half-mask and set off to scout ahead while the others got ready to head out. Silas pushed his senses to the max to track her and watch for anything headed in their direction. They had no idea what would be conjured, so they had to be ready for anything.

A few minutes later, Xavi rounded the corner on top of Yuki’s Harry shell, “We are ready, master.”

“Perfect. Kara is on her way back. Hopefully, she found our path forward. Antony?”

The twin walked out the doorway and wiped his mouth before securing his half mask onto his face. “Here. I couldn’t let good food go to waste,” he laughed and tossed Silas a bread roll. He sent another over his shoulder into his sister's waiting hand as she stepped out of the shadows.

“The way seems clear, but I hear movement further down. There is another outcropping that will make a decent defensible position if we hurry, but that was as far as I made it. After that, the lights dimmed too much, and I did not want to risk igniting my mage light alone.”

Silas nodded, “Good work.” He turned to face the group, “Everyone knows their role, so let’s keep to the formation and stay vigilant. If you see something, call it out.”

They all nodded in agreement and headed out.

They passed several more glowing glyphs along the wall close to the floor. After a hundred yards, the glyphs started to dim, as Kara had said, so Silas bent down and fed more mana into the closest one. It created another chain reaction further down the corridor, brightening more of their way. Thirty yards after, they reached a wide, empty room built like a teardrop. The room narrowed as they moved into the next hall when Kara called for them to stop.

“Listen.” She said as she knelt, placing a hand on the ground. “Whatever is coming for us is moving fast and in great numbers. They don’t sound large, but it’s hard to tell with this stone. I have an idea: if they fight in melee, let every third pass for Antony, Xavi, and Yuki to handle. We will kill the rest. If they fight with spells, you and I will cycle shields while they rain hell over us. Deal?”

Silas nodded, “I like it. We hold shields first to be ready; they are closing in. I feel at least one hundred beings almost upon us, though I still can’t tell what.”

Silas and Kara stepped forward and called their shields just as a dark, poorly constructed arrow bounced off, landing harmlessly on the ground. Shuffling footsteps grew louder, followed by incomprehensible calls. The next moment, a four-foot-tall, brown-skinned creature dressed in bone armor ran out of the darkness further down the hallway. Huge green eyes covered the top half of its noseless face with a wide mouth full of pointed teeth. It swung its crude sword wildly with its long arms while shouting in an unknown language.

“Goblins!” Antony shouted as his eyes flashed from behind.

“Melee formation, watch for arrows,” Silas called. “Don’t pull in your shield until the last second. Here we go.”

The hallway was flooded with goblins as soon as the words left his mouth. Bloodthirsty screams echoed off the walls as they approached, causing him to wince at the sound. He quickly shut it out and circulated mana from his core.

“Shadowflame”

The first twenty goblins squealed in pain as they were engulfed in blackened fire. They were pushed forward as they slowed, directly into their waiting blades.

Kara’s scimitars bit into flesh as she danced around their crude weapons. Whenever she dropped low to dodge a heavy swing, an arrow found a goblin heart. Silas’ sword hand never stopped as the living wall of death clashed against their shields. Every swing of his blade was followed by a fireball blast, sending viscera and appendages flying in his wake.

As they had planned, every third goblin was allowed to pass into the death trap set by Xavi and Yuki. Yuki stomped her enormous feet, easily crushing the tiny creatures under her massive weight. Each stomp sent waves of energy through the ground, stumbling attackers, giving every member of the party openings to spill more blood. Xavi laughed maniacally as he hovered in the air above her, sending green balls streaking into the kill box in front of Silas and Kara.

“Push forward!” Silas called after ten minutes. “Another wave is coming, and we can’t afford to hold this position.”

Thunderous stomps from behind drew his attention. He stole a look back to see Yuki prancing in a circle with glee as Xavi rode one-handed on her back with Antony, “Out of the way, master! Yuki! Charge!” Xavi cackled loudly as they rampaged down the hallway. Antony fired streams of arrows, forcing Silas and Kara to hug the wall as they passed. The unlucky goblins closest to them were flattened immediately, sending the rest into a full retreat.

Silas smiles at Kara, “She seems to be enjoying herself.”

She smiled back, “Let’s hurry up so she doesn’t have all the fun.”

He nodded in return, and they shot down the hall.