The door to his dank cell opened with a grinding squeal, the guard captain and Ingrid standing just beyond.
“Come on, time to go meet your friends.”
----------------------------------------
It felt good to be back in the wilds, the reassuring weight of his daggers returned to their proper places. Even navigating through the trees towards certain conflict, lit only by a waning moon through the canopy, Tommy felt more comfortable here than in the city. He could do with a change in company though.
Ingrid was an enigma, wrapped in baggy robes, tight-lipped and unwaveringly confident. Her hair smouldered like a flame mage but the dark roots beneath spoke of something much worse, a second affinity perhaps? Maybe an unusual skill? Either way he needed to be wary. Then of course there was her race, looking human but the proportions were subtly off. All the time spent cooped up had at least left him time to think, and he had a good guess, but if he was right, that raised more mysteries than it answered.
The guard captain had at least proved useful already. It was almost comic just collecting their effects and walking out of the jail, guards offered assistance but none were willing to question their captain. He resisted the urge to chuckle, some day they were going to have a rude awakening, illusion skills were rare, and those who could properly use them were much rarer still, but they did exist. Then again, after tonight maybe they’d be more cautious.
The clanking of the extermination squad rang through the trees shortly before they became visible. Dwarves, for all their fondness for battle, had no talent for stealth or actually making the damn armour they loved so much. They’d been too bloody reliant on Aurumcrest for all their shiny toys, but then getting shafted by their reliance on that dungeon was pretty much the hallmark of the race at this point, arrogant bastards.
----------------------------------------
The dwarves hadn’t been thrilled when they heard who the captain was, and that his cost was not killing any guards, but now they were being waved through the palisade on his orders, grinning. Of course, both sides were still tense with hands near weapons. Being inside the walls meant being surrounded, and even the daftest guard knew that dwarves only entered dungeons to destroy them these days. If trouble was going to start it would be from the plate-clad man with the giant tower shield stepping in front of them now.
“Sergeant, I thought Jenny was on duty tonight?”
“We exchanged shifts, she owed someone a drink and schedules hadn’t lined up.” There was forced lightness in the tone, everyone could tell this wasn’t a usual situation. “I’m surprised to see you here Cap, and more so by your companions. What brings you all here?”
“We’re going into the dungeon.” The captain stated flatly.
“I wasn’t aware the Lord had changed his decree on Dwarves entering,” He spoke cautiously not taking his eyes of the group. “We can confirm with the scribes or send a message to confirm, can I interest you all in a seat and – “
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Let us pass sergeant, that’s an order.”
Tommy could feel the tension in the air ratchet up a notch and started frantically glancing around trying to work out who to be wary of when things inevitably went to shit. They were inside the walls so they could probably just rush the entrance, a pity that sergeant was in the way. Then he saw a woman in a mottled cloak raising a hand to her mouth, he pointed and hissed,
“There!”
The dwarf beside him didn’t hesitate and unloaded his crossbow into the ranger, the heavy bolt impacted her chest and knocked her off her feet. Technically she wasn’t a guard, not that Tommy cared, and he suspected few others did either as chaos erupted around him.
He rushed towards the dungeon as bolts, arrows and spells flew, he was an agility fighter, he was supposed to dodge hits not take them, and that was harder when surrounded by midget sized tin cans. His longer stride quickly taking him to the front of the pack and into the handful of guards between him and the dungeon, attempting to give the captain and sergeant a wide berth. He sidestepped a downward slice and scored a gash on the wrist of the offending guard. The guard’s sword tumbled from his weakened fingers and he brought up his shield as he instinctively tried to defend. The attempted block might work against someone of a similar level but Tommy was much too agile, his blade snaking round the shield to strike towards his throat only to clang against a slab of metal that appeared in the way.
He quickly backpedalled, avoiding getting slammed in the face by a shield that probably weighed more than him, not that it seemed to bother its bearer. A quick glance showed that the captain was now knocking out a handful of other guards, his death effect absent from the warflail, it didn’t seem there would be help from that front.
“I’ll deal with this one! Take who you can and rush for the second floor. If we can get it closed it will delay them at least an hour until it resets!” Sarge ordered before barrelling towards Tommy.
“Stop that one!” Tommy shouted as he danced around the opponent, too distracted to do much more.
He could barely dance around his opponents blows; this guy was irritatingly good. His own blows skated off the armour, unable to pierce it or find purchase in joints despite the fluid movements of the sergeant. Realising at the last moment he’d fallen for a feint he jerked back, his opponent’s axe creating a deep gash through his leathers across his chest. It burned, but if he’d been a moment slower the axehead would have crashed through his ribcage into his heart. He wasn’t being given any moment to think. The sergeant pressing the advance, threatening to cleave him with the axe or clobber him with the giant shield. Time to use his trump card. His scorpion tail shot from beneath his tattered robes, aiming for the eyes even as one of his daggers dived for a kneecap. A colossal force crashed into his side just before either could hit as the shield slammed into him. He’d been clipped by a wagon once, this felt similar. The force sent him tumbling a few feet through the air. He scrambled on the ground to prepare a defence, ignoring the bruising as his opponent was above him axe at the ready. Then he simply disappeared.
A howl of agony from a dwarf nearby who had been pressuring another guard before the sergeant appeared blocking their strike and driving his axe through their clavicle solved the mystery of where to. Tommy picked himself up. Things were going their way, the levels of the dwarves and being inside the walls too much to overcome, but it was closer than Tommy expected. The space filling rapidly with bleeding and wounded from both sides, but where the dwarves had come to die the locals had a few priests running around stabilising people where they could.
The guards between him and the dungeon were gone, but getting out afterwards was going to be a shit show. The sergeant seemed to be heading towards him again. He could slip away but it would have to be now. As long as the dungeon was taken out the dwarves would never know. After all, apart from Ingrid their extermination team wouldn’t risk returning lest they were cursed. A whoosh of intense flames halted the sergeant’s advance.
“We enter now, a few will give their lives to buy time.”
Ingrid had gotten far too close without him noticing. Then again, maybe she’d never been far away. Either way, he couldn’t run.