----------------------------------------
Mira pulled some chairs out of her Talisman’s storage and slowly gave Borador a recap on what she knew. The Knight was aghast to discover the massive passage of time and horrified regarding his own demise. He seemed particularly upset upon seeing his reflection. It hadn't been obvious to him initially that he was now a skeleton. He had pulled off his gauntlets and looked at his finger bones in morbid fascination, flexing his fingers one at a time.
“My Lady Savior, as horrible as my fate may be, I do thank you for restoring my mind. I’m eager to return to the world and see what has become of it. Can you assist me? I admit that I don't even know where I am.” Sir Borador said with his courtly demeanor. Mira smiled. She could certainly use his help getting out of here, but first, she needed that godly artifact.
“Of course, Sir. I would be very grateful if you could accompany me in recovering a lost artifact from the grip of the unscrupulous Magus who lords over this deadly dungeon. Once I have secured the item, we intend to return with haste back to my Tower in Thallesadra, not far from your High Reaches.” Mira said. She could pour on the distraught maiden routine when it suited her.
“My senses assure me that you are truthful. I have many times confronted Mages whose lust for power has eroded their honor. You will find that my Aether Steel armor and this sword, Terminus Aught, is a fair remedy to their uncanny skills and dastardly plans.” Borador boasted.
“I know. It came close to remedying my neck. And by the way,” she said looking at the twisted wreck of her travel tub where it had landed, “You owe me a new tub, Buster. That one you backhanded against the wall isn't going to work anymore. Look at it, all twisted and bent. Ok…let’s go collect this fabled Staff of Law and then we can skedaddle out of this joint.” Mira said, slipping slightly from her courtly mannerisms.
Mira led the way, pointing out the boundaries of magic wards and traps. This close to her goal, she didn’t want anyone to accidentally cross one. Rounding the corner, her target became obvious. In a focal point at the far end of the circular room, a large display dominated the view. An extremely large golden staff, embossed with ancient runes, stood under a powerful light spell and encased in glass. Mira’s special sight could see that the pedestal teemed with glowing arcane sigils which both contained and protected the staff. The divine Aether energy was both radiating and being pulled into the staff.
“Oh, my word! There are runes of a Cacao-Demon, Withering, and Blight…Arrays of Thaumaturgic Continuity...and a Mandala of Akasic Unity. Hmm. This is well protected and so tightly bound with all these scripts tangled upon one another. I’m not even sure where to begin.” Mira mumbled to herself.
“No worries, Lady Mira! My sword has always been, and always will be, proof against ALL magic!” Borador was already bringing his sword down on the pedestal before Mira could object. A great arc of light bloomed above the godly artifact, but it quickly deformed and was sucked down into the greedy void that was Terminus Aught. Mira whistled softly, that sword was indeed a monster in its own right.
Mira crouched low with her hands up ready to cast, waiting for the expected trap to trigger. No alarms. No monsters and no more visible enchantment traps. Borador’s sword was still embedded in the Staff’s casement. With a powerful yank, he pulled his sword free. Mira’s eyes widened as the Staff casement slowly tipped and crashed to the floor with a resounding thud.
“Damn it, Borador. You could have killed us all or alerted the Magister!” Mira yelled.
“I fear no magics or those that use them with ill intent! That casement, however, does seem to be rather durable.” Borador declared with a righteous tone. Mira stepped to the staff’s case looking closely at it. The damn thing was indeed quite intact and still holding her prize.
“Whelp, if your sword didn't bust the case. I'm not sure what I can do without more research. Let's just tuck this problem away for another day.” Mira said and tried to pull the whole thing into her Talisman’s storage. Her sense of the talisman felt like it was trying to lift a mountain and it was failing. The talisman had always seemed to have a near-infinite amount of storage space, but pure power carried a specific weight and volume that also counted for magical devices. It seems she had finally found the limits of the Talisman’s space. Mira vented and swore.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Bibi’s BLUE B…ah…Blue Barnacles.” she corrected herself. Borador seemed far too strait-laced for her normal incendiary exclamations. She calmed herself and considered the problem.
“Sir Borador, would you be able to lift the staff for me? I think we have what we came for. We just need to haul it a few stories down this floating castle's air docks.” Mira smiled as sweetly as she could.
“Of course, my lady. A small favor for my life is not an adequate trade, but I endeavor to balance the scales.” Borador grappled with the case, slowly maneuvering it across his shoulders. His feet cracked tiles as he stepped back, but he seemed to not be bothered by the weight.
“Please lead the way, Lady Mira!” The knight said cheerfully. If his skull wasn’t always smiling, Mira would have thought he looked cheerful.
The trio wove their way carefully back to the entrance, avoiding the wards and the damage from the earlier battle. The Vault’s door did not even require the key from the inside. Mira couldn’t believe her luck. Sir Borador’s assistance was going to make finishing this quest easy.
The massive door opened quite easily…to a terrifyingly large pair of angry golden eyes. Mira shrieked, her carefully prearranged code word to Tiamat to scatter, run, and hide. She dove left and Tiamat went right. Borador stood confused with his weighty luggage pressing down upon him.
He looked up as an onslaught of fiery Dragon fire engulfed him. Mira was aghast at the throaty bellows and quickly prepared a triple cast of the Water Spray cantrip. As the fire cleared, the unharmed knight’s exclamations clarified into raucous laughter. Mira held back her cast in wonder.
“Is that you Ver?! You are a very naughty lug. What did I tell you about firing before aiming? Did you learn nothing while I was …ah, incapacitated? Give me a hug, you massive cretin!” Borador dropped the heavy artifact and ran through the door colliding with the Dragon and grabbing a handful of scales. He held tight as the Dragon reared back in surprise and fell sideways into his pile of treasure.
After some joyous laughter and banter back and forth, Mira finally risked peeking around the Vault door frame. The Knight was on top of the Dragon giving him…a nuggie? The undead fright had the dragon in a very incomplete headlock and was rubbing the top of his head. Vercynath for his part seemed to not only be putting up with it, but also enjoying it.
“Sorry to interrupt you all, but is it safe to come out?” Mira peeked out and asked timidly, with Tiamat now perched tightly onto her shoulder.
“Hatchling Mage! However did you manage to restore Borador when the Magister could not?” Vercynath boomed.
“I have always been good at riding the tides of Fae, so you might say I had some significant help. I hope that maybe with this change, perhaps you don’t need your deal with Glaucus any longer.” Mira asked.
“You are more than correct, little one. The Geas has already faded. The false promises from that charlatan are no longer needed. A word of warning, Hatchling. The Magister is already on his way. When you defeated me, I informed him of your entry to his Vault. If you make haste, you might still evade his ire.” Vercynath’s overwhelming voice rattled the room.
“Borador, let us leave this place at once. I need to feel the air under my wings. We should investigate your liege’s kingdom.” Vercynath said, shattering the large door to the great hall with his tail.
“Lady Mira, I hesitate to leave your side. Will you be ok if I go? Should I stay to ensure your escape?” Sir Borador’s metallic voice echoed. Behind him, the great Dragon glowered at her. Its eyes promised doom should she even try to counter his plan.
Mira’s sight showed only black threads between her and Borador while golden threads beckoned along the east wall. If she tried to use him, the fates would not be kind to either of them. Nor would Vercynath, she was sure.
“Please go, Borador. You’ve done so much for us already. I’ve enjoyed our short time, but your companion is eager to go. No wise mage would dare stand between a Dragon and his desires.” Mira said.
“Well spoken, fair Mira. Lead the way, Ver! Until we meet again, my lady!” Borador leaped upon the Dragons back and the pair swiftly slithered down the hall. Mira looked about at the heaped treasure and the god’s artifact; the threads were still pointing to the room’s wall.
----------------------------------------
“This is stupid. T. Maybe we should just grab what we’ve got and teleport back?” she said.
“Oh, my fair lady Mira, you are the Fae surfer. You tell me.” Tiamat said with dramatic flair, tossing herself down on the ground.
“Stop! Don’t make fun of Sir Borador. His archaic speech is kinda cute.” Mira grabbed hold of both Tiamat and the Artifact and triggered her special Recall teleport spell. The Akasic energy surged but failed to engage and pull her Tower’s sigils and her spell together.
“Damn, this dude has some high-level protections to block a teleport. I shouldn’t be surprised. The faen kinda predicted it.” Mira took a second to consider the threads and built a picture of the palace in her head.
“I guess we’ll be doing this the old-fashioned way, honeybunch. If this is really our last run, we need to do it with style, right? It’s time to jack us an Airship!” Mira said, rolling up her sleeves.
----------------------------------------