Chapter 116: Witchcraft

“So the witch?” Tom questioned as they walked back towards the entrance cave. “Did she just make acid and throw it at us?”

“No, she must have had it in a jar or something. She just hurled it at us,” Dakota replied in a very sour tone.

“Can Linkosta do that?”

“Yes, Tom, she could melt you alive if you give her a jar of dragon acid.” Tom got the memo to perhaps leave this for another time. That was interesting though. He needed to find out more about these rituals; they were apparently Linkosta’s specialty after all.

“Remember when Dad used a translation circle on you?” Dakota questioned after a bit, sounding a little sorry for snapping at him.

“Yeah, that was an… experience.”

“Remember the runes on the floor? That is the ritual. It’s almost like an enchantment, it’s just not permanent. With that, she can perform pretty much whatever magic she wants if she knows how to set up the ritual. Often making the effect even more powerful too.”

“Wait… so like what the inquisitor did, Linkosta could do that too?”

“You will have to take that one up with her. I don’t know. Dad can do translation and some very basic mind-reading. If you don’t want him to see, though, he can’t force you. And you need the materials too, of course.”

“Right…” Tom replied. At least that made sense as to why they hadn’t used it for interrogations before.

“Next time we meet a witch I say we throw one of these bad boys,” Jacky added, patting the satchel grenade on her hip.

“If we had more space then yes. I’m no demo expert, but that would probably have killed us all.”

“Stick it up her ass when we go back there,” Jortun sneered, his friendly demeanor utterly gone. “Then you can have your test fire.”

“Don’t wanna send her to heaven by accident,” Saph protested halfheartedly.

“No way that piece of shit is getting in,” One of the other guards responded.

“Closed, barred, and shut,” Another one added solemnly, glancing back the way they had come before nervously looking back ahead, clearly still on edged. They were not out of the woods yet.

“I just don’t get it. Why didn’t she run into the ‘secret’ corridor to escape?” Balethon questioned, currently in the lead and sounding rather nervous.

“Cause then we would have looked for it and found it,” Jortun replied. “Whatever is in there they don’t want us to find it.”

“I might not be that quick, but why not go somewhere else so we would go there?” Jacky questioned.

“Maybe they knew we had a sniffer. Maybe they were running with the young and we caught them. Who knows?” Dakota replied with a shrug, not taking her attention off the tunnel ahead.

“Maybe they were just damn proud of their little trick. Would it hurt if they fucked up too today?” Jortun added, looking to Pablo, Tom looking to Dakota expectantly.

“Yes Tom, she could likely make that too, but since it stayed up after she died then it wasn’t her,” Dakota replied after a second of silence.

“Enchantment then?” Tom questioned.

“Or another witch.”

Tom really didn’t want to run into another one of those bastards. The only one here who had even a chance of taking a hit like that was Jacky, and he really didn’t want to have that theory tested. They had been first back to the entrance cave, the elements that had been left to guard quickly getting to work helping out with the wounded. The healer from Jortun’s crew, called Kulk was, luckily enough, very experienced with burns. She had stayed behind so they had a healer with each group, Dakota filling the role for their party.

Antidotes for pjeltor poison were also retrieved. It was apparently not a very fast-acting poison, instead being meant to break you down slowly and make you easier to eat as well as somewhat pickling you for storage. A notion Tom didn’t find comforting for some odd reason.

Neither Jortun nor Dakota were looking particularly brilliant, the major having picked up an acid burn on his foot too, but Pablo was by far the worst off. Despite their efforts, he looked awful. He wasn’t even able to speak, and large patches of skin were blackened and falling off. The hasty work of Dakota and the potion had formed a sort of translucent skin over the burns. Tom had given the guy a painkiller, not daring to go for two even if he really looked like he needed it right now.

“Tubs, Oleg, and Pila… Victoria was right I see. Just an easy trip. Two lancers and a brilliant swordsman dead in a fucking cave,” Glira spat angrily. Jortun looked up at her without saying a word. “What’s next? Are you gonna die on me too? Or perhaps Pablo? And what about you lot? Some mighty fearsome warriors you are, what happened? Got too close to your own bomb?”

“A witch got us in an ambush. Not much to do at that point, and those crazy bastards scored more kills than us,” Jortun protested, flinching at the pain as his armor was delicately removed from the burned areas.

“Yeah, what the fuck is that thing even?” the unwounded rearguard questioned, putting aside the Major’s armor pieces. “My ears hurt like hell when you fire that thing. It’s so damn loud!”

“It’s a shotgun. Very handy down here. Light, nimble, and can put anything on its ass if it isn’t too heavily armored.”

“Handy indeed,” Jortun replied, looking to Tom. “I’m guessing that isn’t for sale either?”

“Nope,” Tom replied, checking to make sure the gun was on safe before leaning it against the wall. “You know the deal.”

“Yeah yeah, untold death and destruction. Still beats me how that thing could do that, it’s not that good. Don’t worry though, I’m not gonna try to steal it.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

It had taken close to an hour before Victoria returned with her group, the colonel stopping to stare at the mess in front of her as she stepped into the cave.

“What the hell happened?!”

“Witch,” Jortun replied, Victoria’s face turning furious.

“Those conniving little dung rats! Did you at least do the decent thing and kill it?”

“Oh she’s dead,” Jacky replied, wiping off a bit of non-existent filth from her halberd’s blade.

“Found a secret door too. And they didn’t want us down there,” Jortun added.

“Idiots should just have gone somewhere else,” Dakota added. “Led us right to it.”

“Secret door to where?” Victoria questioned, looking to Pablo. He was lying on the ground still, being tended to by Kulk, the healer from Victoria’s group getting to work on Jortun.

“Don’t know, some kind of corridor. We needed the smoke and acid to subside before going down there.”

“You used grenades underground?!”

“What would you have done? Throw people at the problem till we were all dead? We are going back down there to get the dead and figure out where that door goes.”

“That we are, did you make sure they are not coming back?”

“They were practically a puddle by the time we left. They are not fixing that.”

“Good. How many wounded?”

“Just four, I’m good though.”

“As a medical professional you are ordered to stay here,” the healer protested almost mechanically.

“Not a chance. Fix him up, we are gonna need him,” Victoria countered. The healer just nodded, looking back to the burned arm.

“Can’t hunt witches without a witch hunter,” Jortun joked with a strained smile.

“I’m staying here,” Dakota let out from her spot leaning against a wall. It wasn’t a hard sell when her face was covered in wet bandages. Tom had volunteered half a painkiller for her too. The fact she took it spoke volumes about just how much it hurt.

“Ray, would you rather stay here? Might need an assistant if I’m to fill in for Kulk,” Dakota questioned. The scrawny woman contemplated for a second before nodding silently, looking a touch ashamed. Dakota just pulled a smile. “Nothing to be ashamed of. I could use the company.”

“Very good. Dakota and Kulk stay here and tend to our wounded. Revi you’re coming with us,” Victoria ordered, looking around the room. “We have a job to do, people. Five-minute break. Grab what extra gear you need and let’s go kill the bastards!”

Saph questioned to herself whether it was worth it to try and get a spot tending to the wounded like Ray. A bruised tail wouldn’t be much of an argument though. ‘No, I’m not a damn coward. I can do this,’ she cursed, looking around at the others getting ready to move again once Jortun was considered sufficiently fixed up. Taking a deep breath, she went over her kit one more time just to be sure, checking that everything was in order, which of course it was. She still had one of those special arrows left. She had to give it Jacky: it had felt damn addicting to fire the previous one.

Tom and Jacky seemingly had a little talk in private, Tom not seeming very pleased at all. Saph guessed he probably had objected to going back in there, but it was pretty clear what Jacky’s position would be on that subject. There were no objections from Tom, though, when they moved out, but he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic either. Jacky, though, was definitely still on a mission, Tom sticking as close as he could get away with.

As they made their way back down the tunnels they were on their guard all the way down, yet nothing bad happened. It was perfectly quiet. The bodies were all still there, everything being as they left it. They dragged their dead out of the corridor, putting them in the room with two sentries to watch over them until they returned to take the bodies back with them. It had been at least two hours, and most of the acid appeared to have eaten itself into the rock, even if the bodies were still making a sickening sizzling noise. They had brought more soda, getting the corridor mostly safe to traverse. Victoria and her crew had at least taken point from here on in, and with this many people down here it did feel a lot safer, even if it also meant Saph couldn’t have fired at anything if she had to, and Tom definitely couldn’t have done so with his shotgun.

Going through the wall was a touch odd, but on the other side it quickly led into a much larger tunnel, the two meeting in a T junction. It seemed almost like the smaller tunnel had been dug into the big one. The floor was smooth, and there were even remnants of what might be wheel tracks in the stone, as if there had been a lot of traffic here back in the day.

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They had moved out to secure their entry point, Balethon going to have a sniff. “A lot more people going this way,” he went, pointing down the right.

“Right it is then,” Victoria replied, the formation swinging around. In the larger tunnel, they could actually form a proper formation. It helped that they had the numbers this time around. Coming to a junction there were actually signs hanging on the wall.

“Huh, well would you look at that,” Victoria let out in surprise, looking at the rather ruined sign.

“Signs… but for who?” Maiko questioned, scratching his ear a little.

“Old Miners I guess? Look, the letters are all funny,” Jacky replied.

“It’s ancient. People spoke funny back then,” Victoria clarified, pointing down the left tunnel. “It says storage hub… 42… I think, whatever that means.”

“That’s where the trail is going,” Balethon confirmed, Victoria nodding as they made their way down that tunnel.

As Sapphire walked past she had a look at the odd sign. It definitely looked old, and it was rather hard to read, but it was still rather fascinating to see writing this old.

“Storage for what?” Tom questioned, receiving a shrug from Victoria.

“I bet it’s gems or gold,” Jacky replied, actually sounding a little excited. She had always liked exploring, so it kinda made sense. It wasn’t as cramped in here either, but Saph still didn’t like the thought they were walking into a trap or might have been surrounded already. If it stored anything it was likely to be filth anyway. Whoever built this place was long gone, and whatever might have been worth something would be long gone too.

Going down the corridor, not much changed until they got to a section of the tunnel that looked like it might have been a door frame once. There wasn’t really anything left except the nicely cut hole in the stone that led to a large room. This, though, was definitely a room rather than a cave. Real work had gone into smoothing the walls and carving out paths in the floor, several tunnels all of a similar size to the one they had entered through leading off in all directions. There wasn’t much in there though.

“Well, there have certainly been people in here,” Balethon said as the formation spread out, still wary although there didn’t seem to be many places to hide in here.

“Why would there be a hidden entrance to this place? It’s just a mine right?” Saph questioned, looking around. Surely this wasn’t all supposed to be secret. “It was very narrow too. This place is big.”

“I don’t think they are the same age,” Victoria replied. “It doesn’t feel that similar.”

“Think they have been digging for something?” Jortun replied, clearly pondering the idea.

“The forelegs on those beasts can definitely dig,” Tom added. “Just look at what they did to Jarix’s back.”

“Warm-blooded too. They can just keep going,” Sargeant Kolinki added, looking to Tom.

“So this is the old mine… Why didn’t they just find the entrance… There’s no way they could have dug for this if they didn’t know roughly where it was,” Victoria let out, clearly confused by all this. Sapphire had to agree; she didn’t see any good reasoning either.

“Maybe it’s been blocked off?” Jortun added. “That begs the question. What is down here?”

“Is this gonna be one of those stories where an evil thing was locked away and shouldn’t get out?” Jacky questioned as if that was something very familiar to her. Sapphire glared at her, trying to convey ‘Do not say that’ as clearly as possible through staring alone.

“If that is the case, it’s a safe bet the evil bastards are trying just that. Which way did they go?” Victoria asked, looking to Balethon, who started moving around the room. A few guards stayed with him just in case.

“Someone’s coming,” one of Jortun’s crew let out, pointing to one of the far side tunnels. “Down there. Marching feet on stone.”

“Spread out and cover that entrance. Make an ambush, no loud weapons,” Victoria ordered, all of them moving to give whoever was coming a bad day. After a minute or so Sapphire also picked up the sound. There were quite a few, but it was hard to tell with the echoing stone.

What emerged was a small group of four darklings who had apparently completely failed to figure out the ambush they had just walked into. Bows and crossbows filled them with shafts before the front line moved up to finish them off. It was a very clean takedown, and none of their party even received a scratch, most of the darklings not even getting their weapons out.

“Very good. Let’s find out where they came from,” Victoria ordered, gesturing down the tunnel.

“Is it normal to have this many in one place?” Tom questioned, looking to the four dead rather worriedly.

“If there is another witch around, I expect a lot more,” Victoria replied.

“That’s comforting,” Tom replied, clearly on edge. Sapphire just kept her mouth shut, focusing on what was ahead, trying not to think about the details.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Secret doors, old mines, and shit that’s been locked away and shouldn’t be touched. What was this, dnd or something? Tom cursed to himself, remembering some of the mortality rates from back in the day. ‘No you idiot, ‘shut up and soldier.’ Clear the bastards out, let the guards do the lifting, and get home safe.’ That was all he had to worry about right now.

For now, that meant finger on the trigger and goggles down, ready for anything. It turned into quite the walk as he pondered just how big this system was. In the other tunnels, they had to move slowly and carefully over the rough and at times slippery floors. Here, though, it was mostly just a pleasant walk.

There had to be several kilometers of these tunnels, and there was no way they could search them all in one go. That meant sniffer boi Balethon was on point. Kolinky could apparently only smell corruption on something that had been in a bit more contact than ‘a darkling walked here,’ though he did get a whiff of corruption from time to time. He assured them it wasn’t anything too bad.

“Noise ahead,” the guy from Jortun’s crew who apparently had good ears called out in a low tone, the formation coming to a stop to let him listen for a second. “Not marching… Might be digging actually.”

“I say we find out,” Victoria replied. “Quiet as can be.”

They moved forward slowly, Tom cursing the sound of their claws on the stone. ‘Quiet my ass.’ Not that he was silent himself, the interlocking plates making a slight clacking noise as he walked. It was still less than their damn clawed feet.

“How come the guy with the loudest weapon in history can move like a ghost?” Jortun questioned Tom, ironically enough, not having noticed the man moving up beside him.

“Good boots,” Tom replied with a shrug. “And I’m far from quiet right now,” he went, clinking the shotgun against the plates on his lower arm.

“Noted.”

“Boss that sign says ‘vault,’ ” one of the lead swordsmen let out, looking to another sign on the side of the tunnel where a smaller tunnel joined.

“I guess we know what they are working on then,” Jortun concluded. “Question is, should it stay in there, or do we want it?”

"Let’s stop them first then figure it out,” Victoria replied, continuing the advance.

It took them at least ten minutes of slow-moving before Tom could start to hear the digging sound too. It was still distant, but he could hear both picks—or maybe hammers—and what sounded like big bashes or something. It was definitely metallic too. Just in case, he reloaded with slugs. Buckshot likely wouldn’t do much against a fully grown night terror if that was what they were dealing with. Not that he could figure out how they might have gotten one in here. They passed several large doorways that all looked like they had been forced or battered open. Bits and pieces laying strewn around the place, The tunnel remained the same size but there were more decorations too as they passed through these doorways.

Then came a massive metallic thunk that echoed through the entire length of the tunnel, Tom looking to Saph and Jacky worriedly. “What was that?”

“Might have been the vault door,” Victoria let out, sounding like she was thinking. “They can’t have whatever it is. Quick march,” she ordered after a second, and so they did, going into a half run. “No one say a word. They might think we are the group form earlier.”

That sounded like a very far shot to Tom, but as they approached the sounds had stopped, meaning either the darklings were done or they had heard them coming. They got the answer as a black-robed figure came running around a corner about a hundred meters down the corridor, looking very surprised, freezing in place with a hand-held high as if they were gonna wave.

They never got the chance, as Saph fired, taking the target in the face and sending them screaming to the floor.

“Charge!” Victoria shouted out, the formation going into a full run. Tom struggled to keep up with them, the front line pulling away with ease. At least Jacky stayed with him and Saph was seemingly not in a rush either, drawing another arrow.

Jortun peeled off to deal with the robed figure as they rounded the corner. On the other side, they were faced with a disorganized force consisting of at least a dozen darklings and a fully grown night terror. The beast was wearing some kind of harness hooked up to a large metal door that was now lying on the floor. The front line spread out in the face of the massive creature, the ranged combatants taking aim. That thing could not be allowed to stay on its feet. Tom let rip with both barrels, Sapphire sadly having had a standard arrow nocked, burying it in the creature’s neck as the guard’s crossbows joined in peppering it with shafts. Jacky moved up, letting loose with the revolver, firing all six in one go before holstering the gun and standing her ground in front of Tom and Sapphire.

That clearly got the creature’s attention, as it strained against its harness, claws scraping against the stone, dragging the massive metal door along the floor far quicker than Tom had hoped. Sapphire sprinted right, Tom electing to stay behind Jacky, fumbling to reload his shotgun.

That was when Jacky charged, veering left and shouting “Let’s move it.” Tom scrambled to follow as she charged ahead at a flat sprint. ‘Stupid fancy legs,’ he cursed, finally getting the gun loaded again. At least the door was slowing down the terror as the guard kept peppering it with fire, the halberdiers moving in to further harass the beast as the swordsmen were engaging the darklings. Tom and Jacky still held its attention, though, as it strained against the harness to follow them, causing the massive door to swing around the far side of the room.

__________________________________________________________________________________

‘Right, boom arrow this time,’ Saph cursed as she nocked the heavy arrow, like she probably should have done right away, noticing only just in time where the door was going. She took a running jump into the air, driving her wings down hard to clear the massive slab of metal, readying her shot. ‘Lights out.’

What she got was a small *thunk* as the arrow hit, did fuck all, and then fell to the ground and exploded right next to Kolinky, who was currently trying to climb onto the frenzied beast’s back.

“God fucking dammit Tom,” Saphire roared out in frustration just as the crack of his shotgun rang out anew, planting two shots in the terror's front. That did seem to do something at least. Now on the wing, Saph had a quick scan of her surroundings, just to make sure no one was lining her up for a shot. Of course, there were. Three darklings had taken up position at the opening to the vault, two of them deciding she was a good target.

There was not much room to maneuver as they both fired. She instead strained to bend their arrows up into the ceiling before drawing her own bow and nailing one in the throat just as Maiko made it to their position. The enemy melee fighters had been utterly routed in the chaos, many had not even carried weapons and had been fighting using picks and hammers.

The archers were not ready for a swordsman that close and were both cut down in short order, Saph banking into a turn to circle, flying over Maiko’s head. The night terror’s attention had finally been split by the multiple attackers coming at it from all directions, Kolinky doing his best to hang on as it bucked and shaked to try and get him off. One of the chains from the harness snapped, sending it whipping across the room.

In its frenzied attempt to shake Kolinky, it ended face to face with Jacky, who immediately tried to step back out of range as the terror took the opportunity to swipe at her with one of its massive forelegs, sending her flying into a wall. Tom let out a scream as he drew his revolver, firing once to get the creature's attention. Then he let rip with the remaining five, going for the face. One round whistled past Sapphire, taking her breath away for a second as she felt a puncture in her wing, looking at the small hole in the membrane wide-eyed.

The creature was mortally wounded, staggering back and raising up unto its hind legs, swiping wildly in front of it. It’s eyes likely done for as Victoria stepped in front of Tom, and then the crazy bitch charged. She was moving damn quick too as she deftly slipped past the terror’s clumsy swipes, almost like she was dancing through them. Making her way under the terror, she slashed away at the much smaller hind legs, her blade cutting deeper than Saph thought possible.

She didn't stop her charge though, carrying on moving back out from under the monster as it collapsed writhing around on the ground behind her, others moving in to finish it off, just in case it had any other tricks left. Saph held the turn, heading for Jacky, who had made it back up onto all fours, blood running out the muzzle of her helmet and onto the floor. Tom sprinted over too as Saph came down beside her.

“You okay there girl?”

“No...” Jacky replied as she weakly fiddled with her helmet, Saph moving to help her get it off. “Hurts.”

“Yeah…” Saph replied, looking to the cracks in the wall where she had hit. “That’s quite some armor though,” she admitted, trying to sound positive. That had been a killing blow if she had ever seen one, hell that might have been beyond even what Nunuk’s armor could handle, at least prior to reinscribing with unicorn horn.

“How are you feeling? Does your chest hurt?” Tom questioned, genuine panic in his voice. Jacky looked up at him with an expression that screamed ‘You serious right now?’

“Lay her down on her back, and don’t move,” Latori went, kneeling down beside her, helping Tom and Saph get Jacky onto her back as gently as possible. “In the future, going up would have been a more effective dodge.”

“Noted,” Jacky replied, pain clear on her face.

“Don’t speak, just rest. Victoria, she needs tending to.”

“As does this one,” Jortun shouted out, Saph looking over to see Balethon leaning against a wall. The major was busy tying off the stump where Balethon’s tail used to be.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ Sapphire cursed, looking at the bloody stain on the chain that had snapped. The healer from Victoria’s crew came over, kneeling next to Jacky, hurriedly trying to give her a once-over.

“Ribs cracked, internal bleeding... fatal organ damage,” the healer stated as she set down her satchel. “You are a fucking idiot.”

“Fatal!” Tom shouted out after a second of processing what had just been said, Saph just freezing in place, Jacky looking confused at the healer.

“If not fixed,” the healer clarified as if that should have been obvious, not looking up from her bag. “I don’t have time for you, drink this,” she continued with a hint of a sigh, bringing out a small red vial Saph recognized as the same stuff Pablo had gotten. ‘At least they aren't skimping on us,’ Saph thought to herself as she stared at Jacky, still a bit in chock. It wasn’t often you were told your best friend was gonna die. She kinda wanted to give the healer a verbal shit storm for scaring her like that, but that was hardly fair considering what that bottle likely cost.

She didn’t reach a decision before the healer was back on her feet, moving to Balethon after having administered the bottle, leaving Sapphire looking at the now thoroughly shocked Jacky. Tom looked like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to hug her, instead just taking her hand as she laid there silently, just like she had been told.