Grobert and Anna had been moving through the thick jungle for about a week, not making a whole lot of headway. The thick undergrowth wasn’t the only obstacle to travel in this jungle.
Hidden by the tree cover were numerous crags and juts of rock that needed to be bypassed as it would have been too time-consuming to tunnel through them all. At least the rock formations made good shelters and places to construct his teleportation network. He had placed another one of his teleporters down the previous night.
Then there was the wildlife. While Grobert was confident in his ability to take on the feathered beasts, that Norman referred to as dinos, it was not always possible. Especially with Anna tagging along with him. So instead of attracting more trouble, they would hide when the larger creatures appeared.
Their passage through the jungle had become quiet, with Anna no longer trying to engage him in conversation and instead looking weary and on edge.
He didn’t blame the woman for her current state. She had almost been eaten the previous day when the duo stumbled into a sleeping dino. Grobert had quickly dispatched the creature, but not before it had nearly bitten her in two. After administering Norman’s potion, she was all better within a minute, but near-death experiences tended to change people. So it wasn’t a surprise that she noticed something was off before he did.
Anna stopped and glanced around nervously. Clued into a change in their environment, Grobert tried to pick out what she had noticed. It didn’t take him long. An oppressive quiet had settled on the jungle. Not making a sound, he lightly tapped Anna on the shoulder and pointed off to the side.
She knew enough not to speak, slowly changing her direction to where Grobert had indicated.
It was obvious by the quiet that a dangerous predator was near, but Grobert wasn’t having any luck picking it up through the thick foliage. He could usually sense things out to about a hundred yards thanks to his calling, but this jungle was weird. The farther they got inside it, the less he could see ahead. It seemed to mess with his ability somehow. That was why they had stumbled into the dino the previous day. He had completely missed it until they were literally within the clearing it had made.
There was a roar behind them and Grobert didn’t have to communicate the urge to run, Anna was already shoving her way through the jungle in a panic to escape. Grobert knew it wouldn’t be enough though.
Something large was smashing its way through the trees, and for a brief moment, He caught sight of many legs.
“By Grothlo!” he cursed. Why did they have to stumble into one of the territories of a basilisk?
“Keep running, I’ll slow it down!” He yelled as he pulled out his enchanted blade and teleported.
He appeared on the rampaging creature's back and stabbed down, but the animal twisted sideways under his weight, throwing off his strike and causing him to stumble. Before he could fall, Grobert teleported away, rolling on the ground.
He quickly got up, but the beast swept the area around it with its magic. Grobert clenched as he felt the powerful magic take hold of his body. So Norman wasn’t exactly correct, the creature didn’t need to see you to petrify you. You just had to be close enough. Those thoughts were little consolation as Grobert’s entire body turned to stone.
***
Anna knew she was in trouble. Even if she somehow managed to outrun whatever was attacking them, she would never survive in this jungle without that crotchety old dwarf. So she did something that was very stupid and circled back through the jungle to where she last saw him.
She had heard the creature and felt an unfamiliar tingle of what must have been magic. Then the thing continued its rampage in her direction. The fact that it was able to do this meant Grobert lost.
The pair had talked a few times over the last week and she had managed to find out what he was here to hunt. While the man hadn’t come out and said it, she was able to piece it together. It helped when they came across one of the creature's previous victims. She didn’t know why the gron wanted to hunt a basilisk and she didn’t care. But she had read many stories about creatures that could turn others to stone. She had been a huge nerd before her change.
One of the common themes within those stories was that the process didn’t kill the victim, but trapped them, forcing them to live locked within the stone for eternity. Another common theme was that breaking their statue would kill them.
She hoped that was true and not just some random made-up fact from a fairytale or she was screwed.
Anna stumbled out of the jungle and into a flattened area of grass and trees. It was clear this is where the short fight had occurred. Her eyes darted left and right, trying to find Grobert. But she could only see the path the creature made to and from the location. No wait… she spotted what looked like disturbed vegetation off to one side. She rushed over and pushed aside the vines and plants, all the while aware that the monster that was chasing her was already circling back. The sounds of its approach were getting closer.
Her guess turned out to be correct. She found the man, completely turned to stone, holding a glowing blade in his hand.
“Dammit! This better fucking work, or I’m going to haunt your ass for eternity.” She tried wrenching the knife out of the hand, but it was held firm.
Looking around in panic, she spotted a rock. She hefted the rock in her hand and began bashing at the statue's hand. The fingers eventually cracked allowing the knife to break free. She didn’t try to grab at the glowing blade, letting it fall to the ground. She reached down and quickly picked it up. Anna couldn’t help letting out a manic laugh at her success. As she stood, she heard a quiet growl behind her.
She swallowed the terrified lump in her throat and stabbed the knife into Grobert’s skull a moment before she felt the horrible wash of magic engulf her body. Locked in that last desperate lunch to plunge the dagger into Grobert’s skull, she could only scream internally as she felt her body being devoured by the creature.
***
When Grobert woke up in the cave with the teleporter, he cursed. “Stupid girl!”
He had realized he was in trouble when the petrification finished and he was trapped in his body. But he wasn’t all that concerned. Soon enough the creature would return and consume him, releasing his soul. He wasn’t worried about his soul dying or anything silly like being trapped for eternity. In the end, the basilisk was a beast. It hunted to eat and wouldn’t leave food it could consume alone for long. And he knew from Norman’s tests that souls were pretty robust. If a necromancer couldn’t figure out how to destroy a soul, he doubted some magical beast had that ability.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
So there was no reason for Anna to risk her life to come back for him. He questioned whether her motives were self-serving or she had an ulterior agenda in mind. Or perhaps she just didn’t know.
But now he had a problem. He had seen the creature approaching, there was no way Anna had escaped from it. Leaving her dead would simplify his life. But he suspected Norman wouldn’t be happy that he did. Grobert also didn’t want to owe her a debt due to her actions. So that meant reviving her.
Grobert had the spell memorized, so he could easily do that, assuming he had a sample of her blood. And that was the problem.
After centering himself by taking in a deep calming breath, Grobert set out to the location where they were attacked the day prior. He had to hope there was still a trace of blood there or this plan would be a complete waste of time.
He made quick progress back to that location, despite having to be extra cautious since all of his weapons and clothing were now gone. His rapid progress was mainly because he could teleport past the obstacles they were forced to divert around the previous day.
Of course, nothing is ever easy. As he approached the clearing, he could hear at least a few dinos feasting on the body left behind.
Remaining hidden, he slowly pushed aside a section of brush so he could get a clear view of what was going on.
There were three separate groups of dinosaurs tearing into the body. One large one that would snap and hiss any time the others got too close. Then a group of medium-sized ones. These were the ones that liked to hunt in packs. These kept trying to dart in to tear small pieces away from the corpse when the larger one was busy. The last group was a dozen or so small carrion eaters that were happy to lap up the blood around the clearing.
The last ones posed the biggest problem because Grobert could see they were also cleaning up the blood from where Anna had been injured. The red blood stood out in stark contrast to the orange blood of the dinos. The fact that there was still blood was a good sign, but Grobert couldn’t wait until they finished eating before he acted.
With his senses, he teleported a bunch of rocks to the far side of the clearing. The noise drew all the dinos’ attention and the little ones even scattered into the nearby underbrush. Grobert didn’t waste the opportunity as he teleported in and scooped up a handful of bloody forest debris. Before the creatures even noticed he was there, he teleported back out.
Why didn’t he just teleport the leaves out without exposing himself? Well, he couldn’t. Not with the forest messing with his ability. The rocks had been easy because they were all within a few feet of him, buried underground. And as long as he could see the end point he could still teleport stuff to that location. He just couldn’t lock onto it unless he could sense it first.
After retrieving Anna’s blood, he quickly returned to the cave that contained the telepad. He didn’t resurrect Anna immediately. He set the blood aside and used the telepad, returning to Ashvale in his birthday suit.
Nobody noticed his arrival thanks to the semi-completed teleporter building as well as the fact that he instantly teleported again as soon as he appeared. His second teleport ended in his room inside the castle. Grobert retrieved some clothes, another knife, and a replacement phylactery, then he teleported back to the cave.
This wouldn’t have been possible without his ability as it allowed him to use the teleporter as an anchor when it wouldn’t work for anyone else. The reason for that was simple, the teleporter in Ashvale was incomplete. It was decided to leave it that way until he returned from Grothlosburg.
Less than five minutes had passed since Grobert returned with Anna’s blood, but he quickly cleared out a space large enough for the ritual and drew out the magic circle. Soon the spell finished and Anna appeared dazed and confused inside the central circle. He didn’t have the time or patience to go looking for a dino to restore her to life, so she would have to remain in an undead state until he could make that happen. But he certainly hadn’t forgotten the blood oaths, adding them to the spell before he brought her back.
Grobert tossed her a set of his spare clothes. “Get dressed,” he added gruffly. He never got over just how ugly human bodies were. They were so soft and squishy. He suppressed a shudder and turned around to give the woman some privacy.
“Wha- What happened?”
Ah, yes. He recalled the first time could be a bit disorienting. “You did something monumentally stupid.”
“Wha… No, I remember, I saved you.”
Grobert snorted. “No, you didn’t. All you ended up doing is getting yourself killed and causing me to have to save you. I would have been fine when the creature came back to finish his meal.”
Anna glared at him. “Uh-huh. And what if it never did?”
Grobert shrugged. “Then I would have been there a while. It doesn’t change the fact that what you did was reckless and stupid. Did you ever stop to think how I would revive you?”
She paused, looking at Grobert with suspicion. “How did you bring me back? Norman said you couldn’t revive someone without a body.”
Grobert nodded. “That was true when he spoke to you.”
“Ok, so if you don’t need the body, how did you revive me?”
Grobert didn’t answer her as he went over to start a fire.
Undeterred by his silence, she asked the question Grobert knew she would. “Does this mean he can revive my brother?”
He turned around and put up his hand. “I’m going to stop you there. Norman’s magical secrets are for him to disclose. If he wants to tell you, he will. But even then, I doubt he would consider reviving your brother. And why would he? Your brother betrayed him every chance he got.”
Anna deflated at his words, but she didn’t cry. Instead, she looked resigned. “I know,” she said sadly. “What are we going to do now?”
“Now, now we have to kill the creature. It has our scent, if we cross its territory again, it’ll know immediately and come for us.”
“How do you propose we do that? Your first attempt wasn’t exactly confidence inspiring.”
“I always expected to fail at least once. And now I have. But I also learned what I needed to learn. Next time, I will be ready.”
***
It had been a few days since the basilisk attack and Grobert had used that time to prepare. The creature’s thick hide was an issue since all he had was the enchanted blade. While it could probably cut through it, it wasn’t long enough to cause a grievous wound. So that meant luring the creature and trapping it.
He heard the screams before he saw Anna. The girl was racing through the trail they had cut, leading the charging animal into the kill zone. Soon he spotted the basilisk. For a creature so large, it moved quite swiftly on its eight legs, seeming to grab onto trees and push off to propel itself through the jungle.
Anna ran through the kill zone below him and he sliced the first rope, causing a massive log to come swinging toward the creature. It let out a bellow of surprise, but dove below the log, practically flattening its body against the jungle floor.
It was what Grobert had been hoping for, he used his power to remove the rocks that kept the vine netting in place. As the creature’s bulk forced itself into the ground, the thin layer of dirt that had been held up by the net gave way and the beast fell into a deep pit.
Or that was what was supposed to happen. The damn thing managed to secure two of its stout legs against the side of the pit, keeping itself from falling into the sharp spikes below. It wasted little time and was already climbing out of the trap.
Cursing, Grobert cut the second and third ropes. Massive logs that had been suspended above rained down on the beast, finally dislodging it from the wall and forcing it down into the spikes below. It wasn’t enough to kill the creature though. Grobert felt the weak wave of magic even from where he was but he was far enough away to resist its effects this time.
The basilisk wasn’t done though, it kept struggling under the weight and releasing its magic as it flailed about. Grobert was waiting for it to tire itself out so he could go in for a killing blow.
It took a long time. Once the creature stopped casting its magic, Grobert teleported in and slashed it along its neck before teleporting back out and into the tree he had been observing from.
The basilisk reacted as expected, activating its magic again. But Grobert could feel even that was weakening.
It took ten more teleports to finally hit a vital part of the creature. Grobert smiled when it was finally over. He had done it, he had successfully hunted a magical creature, something no gron had done since before they had arrived in this world.