Chapter 18

After I downed that healing potion, I found on the bulgavian, my bleeding had stopped, and I was recovering even if it was very slow. There was one other healing potion on the two, but I couldn’t take another potion for an hour after the last one. Taking one too soon would not only not have an effect but it would also cause potion poisoning. I just had to wait this out. I knew there was at least one more of these attackers, the one whose arm had been ripped off by Feerix. I was hopeful that he was dead already because I was in no shape for another combat just yet.

I heard a groan from Feerix who had now converted back from his werebear form to human. I had mistakenly thought he was dead, but it seemed that was not the case. I made my way to him and tried to wake him. It was a risk, but I decided to give the potion that was left to him and then he spoke.

“Don’t bother. That will not do anything for me at this time. My death is inevitable.”

He was struggling to breathe. His eyes had a glazed over look and blood squirted out from a couple of different wounds on his body. He lay partially on his side with his chest barely moving. I could tell just by looking at him that he had mere moments left as I suspected his lungs were filling up with blood. I was surprised to see he was alive after all that he went through and able to talk in any way. I suspected that he likely had a very high willpower.

“I’m sorry Feerix. Your wife and Grimlock sent me to come look for you. I had no desire to fight you,” I said to him.

“How is my love, my darling wife? Will you tell her I loved her till my last breath?”

“I will,” I nodded back though I doubt he could see me.

“You have to stop them.”

“Stop who?”

“The mages. The order. They are behind…” he coughed and vomited up some more blood.

“Behind the kidnappings?” I asked.

“Yes, and more.

“Tell me what you know, and I will do what I can.”

“I am…” he couldn’t finish. His life was over.

I waited there. Lying in a pool of blood. Much of it was mine but a lot more wasn’t. It was not safe for me to stay there in that area. There was that other assailant who I hoped was dead. Still, there was not much I could do in this weakened state. I had to wait for the hour to expire to take the second potion. When the hour did expire, I had already regained some of my health with my awesome healing along with stamina and mana. The potion was much weaker than the one I took previously but every little bit helped.

I was able to stand on my own now. My knees were almost completely healed. I needed to finish checking the cabin and see if I could find any loot on the bulgavians. Just then, I heard a sound outside and I grabbed the few remaining beads I had left. There were only Four, but they would have to do.

“Gatsby, you in there?”

It was Daniella’s voice. She had somehow made It here. But then, she was a ranger so maybe tracking me was not such a huge deal for her.

“Yeah, I’m in here along w a few dead people.”

She walked in, holding her bow with an arrow knocked, “You had a party in here and forgot to invite me?”

“I’m pretty sure I sent the invite. You must have forgot to RSVP.”

“What? Why would ‘Wee pee’ at a party? You otherworlders are strange.”

“I never said anything about pee at a party. It means…well, never mind, it doesn’t matter. Will you help me look around the cabin and see if these guys have any loot?”

“Looting is my specialty.”

I looked through the cabin to see if I could find any more clues or evidence about the kidnappings. I still had those papers that I had found earlier but they had partially become stained with blood. Unfortunately, the cabin was empty of any further such clues. Daniella finished checking the two Bulgavians at an incredible speed and was going to move to Feerix but I stopped her. We were able to wrap his body in clean cloth sheets I found in the cabin. I was not able to help him but at least I will be able to offer him proper funeral rites.

I would have liked to have brought Feerix’s body back to his wife but given his weight, the distance back to the city and the still existing goblin threat, it was decided that we would not. We lit a fire outside the cabin and cremated his body along with the two Bulgavians. There was another dead body in the forest of the third bulgavian, but we decided to leave that one for the wild animals. We had already spent too much time here and there was a good chance we might attract goblins or other monsters here soon.

“We are going to have to head back the long way. The goblins were no joke the way we came and since they will be patrolling the area near their camp, it’s best if we just try and avoid as much of that area as possible,” Daniella said as she was starting the fire. She was able to light up the wood with minimal accelerant somehow and on the first try.

“I’m fine with avoiding the goblin area as much as possible. I would however like to make another stop on our way back if you don’t mind. I will understand if you must head back though.”

“My mother would never forgive me if I let you be captured by the goblins and ogres and let you become their dinner or worse.”

“Or worse?”

“So where do we need to make a stop at?” She asked.

I brought a map out. It showed various areas on it including the cabin. What I was interested in was the small pic of tree split in the middle with another tree growing from the middle of it.

“You want to go to Artemis’s bolt?” Daniella looked at where I was pointing and asked.

“Is that what it’s called?”

“It was believed that Artemis, goddess of the hunt shot an arrow at the belly of a demon. The demon was killed but the arrow was forever left in the ground as a reminder and a guide. Some people believe that the arrow leads to a dungeon and others believe it’s a path to the underworld.”

I just nodded, “We need to go there. I need to check for something myself.”

“Are you able to move. You look pretty beat up.”

“I’m sturdier than I look,” I threw her a smile back.

“I believe it. I saw the devastation you left of the goblins in the forest on your way here. And then this cabin. I wouldn’t want to be in the wrong end of your magic wand. Well not the wrong end anyways.”

I smirked, “Did you find anything interesting on the bulgavians?”

“Several things actually,” she said as she started to take several things out of her backpack.

“You never mentioned your backpack was magical unlimited storage device?”

“You never asked,” she answered back, “besides, it’s not unlimited storage and it only stores weapons. Non weapon items take up regular amount of space.”

“Still pretty amazing.”

She took out two different crossbows. I could feel the magic in them with my mana sight though I could not detect in what way they were magical. Neither of us used crossbows so it didn’t matter a huge amount. Her brother Daniel did use crossbows and we agreed to give him one if he wanted. Other items were several silver knives though none were magical items. There were also two more healing potions of lesser quality. She said she had found these on the dead bulgavian with the missing arm. I’m sure he must have used a healing potion and just couldn’t use another due to the time restrictions. There was a magical scimitar on him as well. She had also found a document on the leader.

I looked at the document, “This is a bounty to bring back Feerix dead or captured.”

“Yes, and it seems they were hired by the mage guild through an intermediary. Why would the mages want him?”

“I’m not certain how but it has to do with kidnapping of women and children in the city somehow. These victims were being sold either as slaves or maybe experimented on by the mage guild. I can’t understand for what purpose. Also, the governor of the city may be involved somehow,” I brought out the papers I found in the cabin and showed them to her.

“This is not the governor’s signature. The stamp does belong to the governor but that is NOT his signature,” Daniella said after looking at one of the contracts.

“How can you be so certain? The stamp is clearly his and I don’t think that would be easily forged. In my past they were always made with magic and not something that could be replicated easily.”

“Trust me. This is not his. The governor’s signature goes on most official documents, and I have seen it many times on a few of our deeds. This signature is not his. The person who made this signature did not even bother to try and make it look similar. Anyone who took a second to look beyond the stamp that had seen his signature before several times could pick out the difference.”

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“So that means someone with the access to governor’s stamp, has been using his signature to do whatever they want.”

She looked at the other document, “I recognize some of these names on this list. These women have been missing for the past year. We had reports…I mean, my mother had multiple people complain of a family member going missing. We had investigated these people that were missing but were not able to find any substantial clues. In the end, we had no idea if they had run away or been killed by a monster or maybe even someone in the city.”

“We will have to bring this to your mother. It may not be proof of anything on its own, but it is a start. And if there is someone that is using the governor’s stamp and name to commit such acts then I’m sure he would want to know as well.”

“Taking to my mother seems like a good plan but I don’t trust any of those politicians in the least bit, even the governor. This may not be his signature, but he could not be blind to all that happens in his own city. Especially, since my mother has tried to inform him on many occasions.”

We had packed all that we could use from the cabin, which was not much and started off on our way to the site of the Artemis’s arrow. I thought Daniella may not want to stop there now but she had no objections. It was also just slightly off the path that we were planning to way back to city. The safe path that was away from the goblin camp. Daniella may not want to tell the governor about the documents that we found but I was sure that he would at least want to know about the goblin army that was amassing not too far outside of his city if he didn’t know about it already. I wasn’t sure if a goblin army could be considered a huge threat to the city that size but it was better that he knew about it none the less.

The travel took only a couple of hours, and I could see the enormous tree from miles away. We had left the forest and were in an open grassy plain. The tree had the appearance of an arrowhead with the center trunk being as wide as a house and the two branches sprouting off at an angle about half the size.

“Now what? There is nothing else here. Many people have looked for the entrance to the dungeon if there is one and found nothing.”

“Now we rest for the night. I’m not going to be able to find anything in this dark if there is something to find.”

We made a small fire and sat around it. Daniella killed a small boar in the dark with little effort. I offered to skin and cook it and she just laughed. She brought out a skinning knife from her bag and within minutes that boar was roasting over a fire. The ranger was making me look like a newbie city boy. Fortunately, my ego was not the type to be bruised so easily. I was glad to have someone who knew how to survive in the woods with such ease.

We sat in front of the fire watching the boar being roasted. The goblin threat seemed to be out of our mind at least temporarily.

“I’m surprised to ever see you in the city considering how much at home you are out here.”

“I’m only in the city because of my family. As much as I love being out here AND this place is like home to me, I could never abandon my family for long. I have too many memories of growing up in that house. Memories with my mother and father spending the day sitting out on a picnic, of growing up with Daniel. Of watching the other kids grow up. Daniel and I used to play hide and seek all the time…that is before he grew up to be such a peckerhead.”

“I can understand that. It’s hard to be far away from the place that you grew up in. No matter how far you go, that place and its memory go with you.”

She smiled and nodded, “My father and I used to play this game where he pretended like he was a monster chasing me around. I’m not sure how old I was, perhaps seven or eight. We would run around all over our grounds, and I would climb trees to avoid him. He was never able to climb up a tree to catch me so I would always end up winning. Many years later I saw him climb this tall tree like he was a professional climber to get a little kitten down and I realized then that he just let me win all those times.” She let out a slight chuckle, “Here I was thinking all that time that I was the only one who could climb a tree in the whole world.”

“You were very close to your father?”

“Yes. I was my father’s girl. Daniel on the other hand was always a mama’s boy. I guess you can say he still it,” she said with a laugh. “My mother did not want me to become a ranger at all. She said it was not a proper thing for a lady. Can you imagine her dictating to me what is proper for a lady when she was walking around like a holy warrior in full armor. My father supported me no matter what. He was the one that talked my mother into letting me join Merrick’s camp.”

“Merrick’s camp?”

“It is training school closer to the capital for Woodsmen, Hunters and Rangers. Really any class or profession that has to do with woods in some way or another.”

“I’ll gladly join if they can teach me to skin and cook a boar like you do.”

“They will teach you how to skin but cooking like me takes time and lots of spices from the south market.”

“You have added just the perfect spices.”

“I had a feeling you thought I was hot and spicy of just the right amount.

“You caught me. I’m falling for your spices.”

“You are a terrible flirt you know?” she bluntly told me.

I shrugged. I couldn’t argue with the truth. It had probably been a decade since I last held a lengthy conversation with a woman outside of combat before recent days.

“So, what is it that you are expecting to find at the Artemis’s arrow?” Daniella asked, changing the topic just in time.

I looked behind me at the giant tree that was called Artemis’ arrow about thirty feet behind me, “That is an arrow, but I think it belongs to a different god. And I suspect there is a dungeon under it which I hope to uncover and get through.”

“Which god if not Artemis?”

“It may also be a symbol for Artemis, but I know it also is for another god and he goes by different names at different times. Before when I knew him, he called himself Paheli and then it was Knossos and then Rubik. Now who knows but it could be any one of those names or something completely different.”

She thought on that for a few moments, “But doesn’t his worshippers get confused with him changing the name around all the time?”

“You would think but no, they love it. Unlike many other gods, he keeps his cultists and believe me they are a bunch of cultists, aware of what he’s changing it to. He also loves to keep tabs on what’s going on in this world. Not just that but he’s also a huge fan of the modern culture that we have back where I’m from.”

“I have not heard of him, but he seems like a fickle god.”

“Although he has an ego, he doesn’t have his followers build temples and such. He likes to be known but doesn’t announce it to the world.”

“Are you not afraid that he will hear you saying such things about him given that he likes to keep knowledgeable of this world?”

“See, that’s the thing, a lot of people believe these gods are Immortal, omnipotent, omniscient beings but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They are powerful certainly but even they have hierarchies of power. The are not Immortal and thus can be killed. They are certainly not all powerful or all seeing. Now where we are and where these gods are in power is the difference between an ant and a dragon, but it is still a measurable difference.”

“Are you certain? I have never seen an ant defeat a dragon before.”

“I was close to ant before and I managed to defeat a few of them in my previous life.”

“So, what is this god a god of? And what do his worshippers do if not build temple and worship?

“Paheli, is a god of puzzles and games. His worshippers appropriately enough, play games. They go around the world creating and solving puzzles. He doesn’t have temples, but his worshippers will often build large Labyrinths. There have even been some that have created dungeons.”

“That I know is not true. Are you misleading me? I know with certainty that Dungeons are only built by gods.”

I laughed. I almost said by scout’s honor but then caught myself realizing that she would have no idea what that meant.

“I’m not misleading you. The dungeons that his followers create are not the same as the one as the gods create. The ones that the gods create are with powerful magics and exist in other pocket dimensions with gates within them to other worlds. The ones that the followers create exist in this world though they can be quite impressive as well if strengthened by powerful magics.”

“I have never experienced a dungeon before. I may have to give this one a try.”

I nodded. I had a suspicion of what to expect from this dungeon if it was created by Paheli but no point in going into that now with her.

“I want to thank you for coming with me, helping me with the various things including showing me around the city, goblins and all that. I didn’t want to miss the chance of saying that to you unless something happens in the dungeon.”

“Well, you did save my life that one time, so I suppose I owed you. But now that I think about it, I have helped you way beyond what I owed you and I’m pretty sure you are in debt to me now. I think my roast alone was worth a saved life.”

“So how can I repay you what I owe you after that amazing roast that was worth a life? You are welcome to any of my possessions and even the shirt of my back.”

She looked me up and down while making a face like she was judging me with pros and cons, “mmm I have no use for your belongings. And your shirt is in tatters. Have you considered wearing things with fewer holes in them?”

“The holes are what make my clothes so charming.”

“So, it is settled, we will have you shop for new clothes when we get back to the city.”

“Are you not the one who is always hiding under a cloak most of the time?” I asked.

“The cloak is obviously magical and yes, I do like to hide my face in public, but I am not wearing my cowl up now, am I?

“Fair enough. We should probably get some rest. I can take the first watch, if you would like to rest.”

She did a slight bow while sitting, “You are too kind but I’m wide awake at this time. I can take the first watch. You also need to heal up further with rest. I’m not sure you would be able to take on my dead boar in your state.”

“I’m doing fine and more than halfway recovered. I understand what you are saying though. Fine, you can have the first watch. Wake me up in couple of hours or if you get tired sooner than that.”

She smiled and nodded and went back to staring out into the wilderness. The fire was minimally burning but still provided ample heat and light. I was afraid to have had the fire in the first place so we wouldn’t get any unnecessary attention. Not so much from monsters as much but rather from the goblins. Daniella had assured me that goblins would never travel this far away from their camp to scout. I knew that to be true as well, but I also knew that these were not ordinary goblins. They were much better armed, trained and worked in unison. They also worked alongside ogres which was unheard of unless they were both at the bidding of a much more powerful individual. Could they be under the control of someone powerful? That seemed like a much more likely scenario but who would it be and where was he or she?

I created a quick lean-to against the Artemis arrow tree with a long branch and huge leaves from the tree. It wouldn’t really be able to provide any protection at all from the elements, but it gave a feeling of being under a roof and that seemed fine to me. I leaned back in it and laid down though there was enough room under there for a short person to stand. I wanted to meditate and fall asleep at the same time. I decided to meditate because I was uncomfortable leaving Daniella out there on the watch. Not because I was thinking she would not be good at it but rather if there was something unexpected that happened. She was a ranger and had extremely keen senses but even she could be ambushed.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Meditation was not about saying a certain mantra in repetition or focusing on some strange image. Rather it was about controlling your breathing. It was about feeling the various channels in your body and guiding the essence flow throughout them. Essence was the rawest form of energy. Under the right circumstances it could be transformed into death energy, life energy or even Mana.

Not a long time had expired, but maybe an hour or so when I picked up some noise of movement nearby in my meditative state and I sprang up in sitting position. It was a singular figure at the mouth of the lean-to.

“Daniella, is everything ok?” I asked as her body stood at the entry way.

She crouched down and smiled back at me, “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No, it’s fine. I was just meditating and not asleep. Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s a quite night and the fire is nearly out.”

I looked out at the fire and then back at her and nodded, “You should rest, and I will take the watch.”

She gave a half smile, “I have a better idea. Remember how I said you owed me for cooking for you?”

I could see a wicked glimmer in her eyes. She walked in.

She unclasped a few items on her garments, and they all fell to the ground, “I think it’s time that maybe you let me collect on that debt.”

I smiled back. This was a debt I would gladly pay.