“Alright, go and grab your things. I’ll be waiting.”

Amellia crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the cobbled street of Peace and Quiet, casting glances over her shoulder, as if she were expecting company to join them.

Tay thought she looked rather out-of-place anywhere she went, but something about the dim candlelight of Peace and Quiet made her seem less strange and less against-the-grain. That was the magic of this part of Duskborough, he supposed. And it had worked its magic on himself for quite some time now.

But no longer could he remain safe within its borders. Rantho knew where he was and the man was determined to exact his vengeance now. No, it was time to leave.

Which was a point he didn’t want to bring up to Cari or Sally so badly that he nearly forgot it as he passed through the door. It was also hard to remember these important things with Sally squeezing the life out of his legs. When she was done, she began bouncing up and down next to him as he paced his way into the room.

Quincy was against the far wall of the home, sat at his desk with Cari standing next to him. He had bags underneath his eyes and he looked like he hadn’t slept properly in weeks, which was probably fairly accurate.

Cari looked slightly more well-rested, but even she had bags and her hair was a mess—frizzy, uncurled, and sticking up in so many directions that it was probably easier to think about where it wasn’t pointing than where it was.

“We heard already,” Sally said.

Tay shook his head in disbelief and then looked out through the window and down toward the waiting Amellia. “You did?” he asked. “But how?”

“There were runners in the streets,” Cari said, crossing her arms. “They spoke about how Tay the Brave smote down the champion of House Polamund. How you pulled through a duel that seemed hopeless and created a name for yourself. They’re probably in the darkest parts of Duskborough by now, still spreading word of your so-called glory. What happened, Tay?”

Tay held up his hands, and then winced when he saw his bandaged right one. He lowered it and kept his left hand up. “I won,” Tay said.

Sally clapped her hands together rapidly. “I knew it! I wish I could’ve seen it. You’re going to have to show me what revenants you used, Tay. I want to know everything.”

Tay grinned and said, “There will be plenty of time for that later, Sally. But right now, I need you and Cari to come with me.”

Quincy scratched at his balding head. “Why’s that?”

Tay had hoped that they would come without questions but he supposed that he wouldn’t have left without knowing anything either. So, he slumped his shoulders and spoke.

“My opponent was the champion of House Polamund, and Ranthomandir was his sponsor. He knows now that I’m still down here in Duskborough, and he wasn’t too thrilled about having his champion lose to a bottomsider.

“Amellia and I got here as quick as we could, but we’re going to need to leave now. I don’t want them finding where we are and getting anyone in danger.” Tay looked at Quincy. “I think you’ve helped us for long enough, Quincy. They shouldn’t bother you if I’m not here.”

Quincy gave that a nod and then said, “Why not leave the girls here then? Does this Polamund know you’ve associated yourself with them?”

“I don’t think Rantho does,” Tay said. “But I think his assassins do. I can’t take the chance that Rantho won’t harm them just to get to me. We have to leave now. Amellia’s waiting outside with her carriage. We’re going to come live with her for the time being topside.”

Cari was shaking her head, but Sally seemed eager enough, going wide-eyed. Tay had to admit that he had a bit of an ulterior motive too. He still wanted to be able to buy them both a place to live and he wouldn’t get the chance to do that if they parted ways.

“What about the money you won at the tournament?” Cari asked.

“Amellia’s collecting it from the organizers,” Tay said. “There wasn’t time to wait around and distribute the coin. We’ll get it later.”

“You’re sure?” Cari asked.

“Amellia would never leave coin lying on the road.”

It wasn’t like they had a lot of things to pack up, but even still, they made sure to grab everything they owned. For Tay, that was a ruined pair of shoes, some old clothes that belonged to Mond, and single Runicka card that had materialized only moments after his transformation into a revenant had begun. Once they’d gathered their belongings and various objects that Quincy had made for them, they said their goodbyes to their friend and left the room atop the botanist’s shop.

While Amellia seemed completely at home in Peace and Quiet, her carriage did still seem out of place among the washed-out buildings and darker colors. It was white with pink and blue paints as trims along the sides. Two white stallions pulled the carriage, and the driver had pieces of iron armor along their body and as a helmet.

Amellia stood by the door as the three of them funneled into the main compartment of the carriage. Sally hopped up and in, while Cari took her sweet time.

“This is awfully nice of you,” Cari said.

“Please, I can’t afford to have my new champion have his throat slit the night of his victory,” Amellia said. “And he wouldn’t agree to come under my protection so long as the two of you were down here too. If it were up to me, we wouldn’t have even returned to Duskborough.”

“That makes more sense.” And Cari hopped into the carriage.

Amellia all but strongarmed Tay into the carriage too, saying, “That took far too long. You better hope that Rantho’s assassins have no idea where you are.” She tapped her hand against the side of the carriage and the horses yelped as they were pushed into motion.

Tay watched out the window on the door as they left Peace and Quiet behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Tay had returned to Peace and Quiet, their carriage ride had seemed so brief because all he’d wanted was to make sure that Cari and Sally were safe. Now that he knew they were and they were with him, the ride back up seemed to take forever. He couldn’t keep himself from tapping his foot against the ground and twisting his left hand about his right wrist.

Sally watched the world fly by as they wound their way through the tunnels leading all the way over to the Jar.

“I don’t remember the last time I left Peace and Quiet,” she said. “It’s dark out here.”

Cari said nothing and lurked against the opposite side of the carriage, but Tay more than made up for her lack of smiles and watched the world flicker by with Sally. Amellia sat toward the driver, and whispered things up to him between two little slits in the wood every now and again. She kept her eyes on Tay though, squinting most of them, like she expected him to have something to say to her.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

But was Sally who grabbed onto Tay’s tunic and gave it a good yank. “Do you hear that, Tay?”

Tay turned his head, but he could hear nothing but the grunting of the horses and the spinning of the carriage’s wheels.

“They’re talking,” Sally said. “Someone’s talking.”

A coldness gripped both of Tay’s ears—a coldness that he hadn’t felt in a while. They’re on your tail now. I can hear them too.

Amellia suddenly leaned back and Tay could hear the carriage driver talking in a panicked voice. He was saying something about wolves. But there weren’t wolves down here in the bottom of the world?

The carriage lurched as they picked up speed and Cari now sat up at attention. Tay could hear the barking of what did indeed sound like wolves now.

“What’s happening?” he asked Amellia.

Amellia rolled her eyes and then leaned over to the side of the carriage to peer out one of the windows. “You took to long, is what,” she said. “It seems we have some company.”

The carriage shifted to the side as it felt like something had collided with it. Tay couldn’t see anything, but he could just barely make out shadowlight pluming up from beneath the window. He could also hear the pounding of many different feet just outside the carriage.

Which meant these weren’t wolves—they were revenants. It was Purvon. Tay knew it was Purvon. He was the only runekeeper Tay currently knew that played with Chaos dogs.

Coldness gripped his ears again. Let me out and I will deal with you little problems.

Tay’s hand fell to his pocket, where he always kept Garudigas stowed, but then retracted his fingers. He didn’t need to call upon the Rune Wyrm, especially not after what happened last time. Even if it didn’t exacerbate his transformation, he didn’t want Sally to see the sort of destruction that Garudigas could bring.

The whole carriage hopped and Tay had to held up his right hand to keep himself from smacking into the ceiling of the carriage. With his left hand, he hooked his arm around Sally and kept her from flying out of her seat.

This time, Tay heard what the carriage driver said. “They’re attack the wheels! They’re going to bite right through them.”

Cari rose to her feet, but Tay pushed Sally forward into her sister’s lap. “You should protect your sister,” he said. “Whatever it is, I’ll handle it. It’s my fault they’re attacking.”

Cari’s amber eyes glossed over, and as Tay pushed the door to the carriage open, he could hear her mutter, “No. No, it isn’t.”

But he didn’t have too much time to worry about that because a whole pack of shadow-wreathed hounds were on the tail of the carriage, biting and snapping at the wheels. If they managed to break through even one of them, the carriage would be rendered useless and they’d all be done for.

So, Tay climbed up to the top of the carriage and flicked a card into his hands. He closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled, focusing his thoughts inward to try and realize who he was. He was Taygion Ardwella, and he needed to protect his friends.

When he opened his eyes again, shadowlight coiled around his body, pushing away the light of Duskborough and fighting against the pluming smoke coming off of the hounds. He threw the card out into the air, and felt the fingers in his left hand go numb as the act of summoning pulled energy directly from his body.

The card transformed into a small figure that was about half of Tay’s size. It had a oval-shaped face with ears that together were probably bigger than the rest of its head and pointed on the ends. An arrow-headed tail reached out and kept it tethered to the carriage as it dangled off of the back over the pack of hounds. The whole time it cackled to itself.

(20) Vilefume Prankster Unstable

If this card is drawn outside of the Draw Phase, you may summon it for no cost instantly.

Uproar: target foe revenant loses its auras and -1 Power.

Echo < 2

The Prankster had long claws that ignited with orange flames, and it chucked fireballs down at the dogs that were chasing the carriage. One fireball caught one of the hounds in the side, and caused it to keel over onto its side, whining all the while. The Prankster only laughed and kept trying to pelt more dogs with its fire.

Tay took the small reprieve to reinforce his footing on top of the unstable and fast-moving carriage. He got a good look at some of the dogs. They seemed like the Mourncrest Hound that Purvon had used before against him on the day that he’d lost Mond, but these were smaller.

(5) Mourncrest Pup Unstable As long as you control another Mourncrest revenant, this revenant’s Volatile effect doesn’t trigger. Volatile < 1

Noticing that they were indeed Mourncrest revenants meant only one thing—Purvon was behind this attack. If Tay hadn’t come back for Sally and Cari, then these hounds would’ve gotten them.

But knowing who was behind their attack didn’t really help him all that much currently, because he couldn’t actually see Purvon at the moment. The nature of summoning revenants meant that Purvon had to be nearby though, or else these pups would’ve turned back into cards though.

Tay whipped his head about and tried spotting the his former opponent, but he couldn’t find Purvon. They were in the middle of a narrow tunnel that fell away on one side to the expanse of Duskborough. All Tay could make out was how deep Duskborough truly went. It was the darkness that Mond had plucked him from on his first adventure in Duskborough, fleeing from the guards that Garudigas had done away with.

Two of the pups managed to snag their teeth and clamp their jaws down over one of the rear wheels. The whole carriage lurched and Tay almost lost his footing. He managed to snag his right hand against some railing atop the side of the carriage though. His revenant hadn’t been so lucky.

The Vilefume Prankster came loose from the back of the carriage and the Pups quickly saw to tearing the revenant to shreds. When Tay picked himself back up again, he absorbed three cards into his body. He wasn’t about to lose his friends now, was he?

Tay resolved that he would do anything to protect Sally and Cari and threw three cards out behind the carriage. These were the Demonic Trio that he kept in his deck, and were stronger when they were all played together—the Unspeakable Horror, the Unknowable Abomination, and the Unthinkable Fiend. Each had tendrils and tentacles sprouting from its body in places were they shouldn’t have been. These were truly the creatures that haunted the nightmares of children after dark.

And each had a total of 7 Power while the others were nearby. They swiped at the Pups and cleared the roar behind the carriage so that the driver could get them moving again. Then, in the blink of an eye, all three demons were transformed into golden statues, which then crumbled into dust as the carriage pulled away from them.

From the darkness beyond Tay’s sight, there came a whole horde of shadow-wreathed individuals all lead by a woman in a bonnet cap. She too seemed to be a revenant, as she was running faster than the horses could currently pull the carriage. All around her, other Mourncrest revenants fell out of the shadows. Some were obviously thieves wielding daggers, while others had longswords and crossbows.

How could Purvon even summon all of these revenants at once? There had to be more than one summoner, if only Tay could figure out where they were.

And then he felt the rushing of wind behind his neck.

Tay spun around to see Purvon rising up from the darkness of Duskborough, carried upon the wings of a Gargoyle. And next to him was none other than the familiar man with spiky brunette hair and an emerald coat—Ranthomandir. And on the back of his Living Shadowstone, no less.

“I told you that you were going to regret what you did,” Rantho called out.

There were other assassins on the wings of Gargoyles, each probably accountable for a whole swarm of Mourncrest revenants. The whole horde of Chaos warriors overtook the carriage as Tay heard screams from the cabin below. Snowy white light plumed out from the windows.

Before anything emerged though, something caught Tay in the back. A Gargoyle had snatched him up in his talons, bringing him over horde of Mourncrest revenants and straight to Ranthomandir. Then a tentacle caught it, and Tay saw his Unknowable Abomination—completely covered with more Mourncrest Pups and warriors of Chaos—still trying to fit for him. The tentacle tightened and the Gargoyle evaporated into a burst of darkness.

Tay heard Rantho shout, “No!”

Then he plummeted. Tay fell all the way into darkness. And then, he just kept on falling.