The entrance to the Rim wasn’t far from the union hall. Kayden had seen Darris go off in this direction many times over the last few days but had never gone herself.
There was lots of traffic around this area with a constant stream of miners coming and going, so it was easy to follow the platinum haired woman without being detected.
The woman had a long and angular face that was accentuated by the fact that the sides of her head were shaved. Whatever she carried in the bag across her shoulder must have been heavy because she had to keep readjusting the single strap to stop it from digging into her shoulder.
When they entered the cave of the Rim, she immediately understood why it was given that name. It was a vast cave, bigger even than the central hub of the Lower Caverns, but much of the place was taken up by a huge hole in the ground that descended into darkness. Surrounding the hole were several mining outposts with tracks for mining carts leading to tunnels. There were paths all along the sides of the rim, descending into the abyss.
One thing Kayden spotted that she didn’t expect were people outfitted with weapons and gear suited for combat. They were located around one of the larger buildings.
At first Kayden thought they might be associated with Mistech, but they were hardly trying to stay out of sight and Darris would have mentioned them if they were connected to the gang. And they hardly looked like members of Mistech, they didn’t have the level of tech beyond what was average among the Lower Caverns.
Most of them hardly had any tech at all. They were outfitted like adventurers that Kayden had heard stories about from her childhood. She knew adventurers were a big thing in other places because of monster infestations, but that had never been a problem in Mitros because of where they were situated.
It was strange to see anything like that here, but she remembered what Darris had said about much of the Rim being unexplored. She supposed that could be the reason for the existence of these adventurers, especially if there were any type of beasts lurking in the depths that would prevent the miners from doing their job.
She didn’t get much of an opportunity to study them because the platinum haired woman was headed in a different direction. Perhaps if this didn’t lead anywhere, Kayden could investigate the adventurers more. Surely amongst them they might have some idea of where Mistech could be hiding, but she couldn’t imagine Darris looking over something so obvious. He had probably already questioned them as much as he could.
And Sorty would know about the presence of the adventurers. They wouldn’t hide Mistech where they could be easily stumbled upon. Still, mistakes were possible and someone could have seen something. Any little detail would help.
But that was a side issue. Right now she was concentrated on seeing where the platinum haired woman led her.
They were led to the edge of the outposts so Kayden had to be extra careful about going unnoticed as there were significantly less people around here. The platinum haired woman wove her way between two storage warehouses. By the time Kayden caught up, the woman had vanished.
She frantically looked around for any sign of her but there weren’t any doors she could have gone through. The warehouses were up against the edge of the rim with cranes that would allow them to transport cargo from the tunnels below more easily.
While Kayden was looking for where the woman could have gone, her investigation took her up to the edge of the rim where she could look down below, and that is when she finally caught sight of the woman’s platinum hair bobbing down a nearly invisible staircase. The only way to have seen it would have been from this exact spot and even then Kayden only spotted it because of the woman using it. It was cut into the side of the Rim so that the steps remained hidden. It led down a short way to a tunnel which the woman disappeared into.
For a hesitant moment Kayden considered her options. She should really head back now. She had already pushed her chances of getting caught. And she had discovered something that Darris could come back to explore. But that would mean giving up on finding out whatever else the platinum haired woman was hiding. Kayden decided to take the risk and continue her pursuit.
She quickly but carefully went down the steps that led into the tunnel. When she reached the tunnel it was dark but she could see a distant light flickering that must have been from a flashlight the woman was using. As long as Kayden had that light, the woman would be easy enough to track even if she kept her distance.
The darkness offered an easy way to remain undetected. The only problem was that it was so quiet here that her footsteps could be easily heard, so she let the distance between her and the woman grow enough that the woman wouldn’t be able to hear her.
The tunnel path was very uneven which meant this wasn’t man made from mining. It must have been naturally formed.
So far, following this woman was proving to be paying off. This was looking more and more likely to lead to the remnant of Mistech.
With each step, Kayden’s anticipation grew. In preparation, she reached out and summoned her shadow dagger. She couldn’t see the shadows that coalesced from it but she felt the weight drop into her hand and she wrapped her fingers around it. There was something that felt different about the dagger--not bad or anything that put her on edge--but almost as if it sensed her anticipation and was feeding into it. Now wasn’t really the time to look into it, but she realized that there was much that she didn’t know about her focus that she had left to discover.
Many long minutes passed since they entered the tunnel. It weaved downward for a while before leveling off. There were several forks to other tunnels, but Kayden kept careful track of the way back in case she had to make a hasty exit.
Finally, the light stopped moving. When Kayden grew closer, there were several other lights and she heard a conversation in progress.
“It will have to do.” Kayden couldn’t get too close to see who was speaking, but this voice was a woman’s so it could have been platinum hair’s. “I can’t keep supplying you with any more tech until things have cooled down. Adoc is keeping their eyes out for this sort of thing.”
A raspy voice answered hers. “You will do as the Tenebrex commands.”
“If adoc tracks me down, then this whole operation is blown,” the woman said desperately. “Please, give it a little time, then I will be able to get my hands on a lot more than this.”
“You think we are afraid of a few Uptown dogs?”
Kayden heard what sounded like a slight scuffle and then a scream.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I will do whatever you want! Please, stop!”
There was a gasp, followed by someone falling to the ground, then sobbing.
The raspy voice once spoke over it. “You will do well to remember your place, or the abyss will take you.”
“Forgive me. Forgive me,” platinum hair gasped out in between sobs.
“We have use of you yet. Return to those vermin in Sorty with a reminder of who it is we serve. Glory to Tenebrex.”
“Glory to Tenebrex.”
There was a shuffle and then one of the lights began to move toward Kayden. She quickly retreated back to one of the forks and hid down a side tunnel.
Platinum hair hobbled passed and Kayden saw that she had a long gash in her arm which she clutched to stem the flow of blood pouring from it. She no longer carried the bag.
When she passed Kayden’s hiding spot, Kayden looked back the way she came. The other light was going further into the tunnels.
Kayden had another choice. She could return with the information she had gathered or she could continue to follow the other light further into the tunnels. For a brief moment she considered following the light deeper into the tunnels, but knew that she was already pushing her luck. The smartest option was to return.
Kayden was so close to her goal. She stabbed the wall out of frustration. Her shadow dagger plunged into the earth like it didn’t even exist, leaving not a mark.
*****
“Are you crazy!” Darris raged at Kayden.
“I couldn’t give up this opportunity,” she defended for the hundredth time. “And it paid off.”
They were in the room that Kayden had rented. After she had returned from the tunnels, she found Darris waiting for her at their hiding spot across from the union hall. When she had begun to reveal what she had found, he brought her here to yell at her for running off when he had explicitly told her to stay hidden.
“We’re calling this off. We’ll alert the police to what we found and let them handle the rest.”
“No! I have to do this. Who’s to say they will even believe us. Besides, I’m not even sure if that was Mistech. They didn’t use the name, and I only have a general location, nothing specific yet. We have to go back down there and find out exactly where they are hiding.”
Darris shook his head. “I’ve never heard of Tenebrex, but it does not sound good. Listen, I was happy to help you on your revenge quest because I thought Mistech was gone and we wouldn’t find anything. I thought after a few days of chasing down dead ends, you would give up the search. But this--this sounds like something that is way more than the likes the two of us can handle. It sounds downright insidious.”
“Then we’ll just have to hire some adventurers to help us.”
“Even if you could hire a group of adventurers. You are forgetting that they primarily form contracts with Sorty. Do you really think they will go against their main employer?”
“We don’t have to tell them that. Sorty has no public connection to Mistech. There is no reason for the adventurers to turn us down. And I can afford to pay adventurers.”
“No, I refuse to help you on this suicide quest.”
“I paid you to help me find Mistech, and you have not yet fulfilled your contract. You have to help me.”
“And what’s to stop me from walking away right now. It’s not like our contract is legally binding.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t think you will do that.”
They silently stared down each other, both refusing to concede defeat to the other, but there was nothing that Darris could do to stop Kayden. She was dead set on following this through to the end. Even if he did leave, she would go on without him.
He could see the unflinching determination in her eyes. “I’m sorry girl, but I’ve only gotten this far because I don’t rush headlong into something that is likely to get me killed. You knew this when you hired me.”
“Do you just carry that rapier at your side for decoration,” Kayden said angrily.
“It’s a last case scenario. I only use it when running away isn’t an option.”
“You’re a coward.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Yeah,” he said shamelessly.
With nothing else to discuss, they broke apart to collect their meager possessions that they had stored in the room. Despite what he said about leaving with the money that Kayden had paid him, he tried to give her it all back, but Kayden only took a portion back. He may not have fulfilled the contract, but she would never have gotten this far without him, and she didn’t really need the money anyway.
As they left the room and were about to go different ways, Darris stopped her. “Remember what I told you. Don’t hesitate.” His eyes were serious.
She knew what he was talking about. It was the advice he had given to her on their first day in the Lower Caverns. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
They split ways without any backward glances.
*****
Kayden led the way through the tunnels with Sacha walking beside her and Dvoral and Lester following behind. They were the group of adventurers that Kayden had hired. It had been surprisingly easy. At first when she visited the aventuring outpost at the Rim, she had been mostly ignored.
There was a board posted with all of the jobs. Most of them had been given from Sorty and involved clearing out monsters from tunnels so that miners could get access, but anyone could post a job. There were some for alchemists who needed materials gathered, menial jobs for businesses in the city, anything that couldn’t be handled by regular means.
As soon as Kayden figured out how to get a job posted, though, she had been swarmed with offers for her contract to be picked up because of how much she was offering. She had chosen Sacha’s group because they seemed the most trustworthy and competent out of anyone else.
Kayden had learned that there was a ranking system in place for adventurers, and Sacha and her group were ranked as silver, which was the highest anyone around here had achieved. There were two other ranks above that--gold and platinum--but they were supposedly incredibly rare. There were a couple gold ranks, but they mostly worked out of the Gelgine Wilderness.
As far as Kayden was able to glean, there was only one platinum rank in Mitros and she was retired and living Uptown. Supposedly she was married to Plenthis Ultbright the judge of mercantile law. Kayden was surprised she had never heard of someone so powerful married to one of the judges, but Judge Plethis was known for being extremely secretive. Most of his responsibilities were delegated to his subordinates and he rarely made any social appearances.
But there was no way Kayden could hire someone like that, and she didn’t want to waste time trying to get a gold rank, who she wasn’t even sure would take her job. That meant silver rank was all that was available to her.
She chose Sacha’s group because she felt more comfortable with there being another girl, but the main reason was because Sacha was an expert tracker. She had been adventuring in the tunnels around the Rim for years, and would be able to follow any trail--or so she said. That would be put to the test soon as they were approaching the area where Kayden had followed the woman with platinum hair.
Sacha wore a cloak that blended in naturally with the rocky tunnels of the Rim, and had a bow and two short swords. Dvoral wore leather armor styled after some foreign military and spoke in an accent she didn’t recognize. He carried a shield and spear. Lester was the oldest among them. He must have been in his forties compared to the other two being somewhere in their late twenties to early thirties. He wore a cloak similar to that of Sacha’s and had short premature gray hair. Kayden could see no signs of weapons on him so she had to assume they were hidden.
They had to be careful not to make any noise because they had no idea who or what might be lurking around here. Just because there were people using these tunnels, that didn’t mean that they were monster free. Since these systems of tunnels weren’t part of any known map they would have to be extra careful. Instead of this information frightening her, Sacha seemed incredibly excited to explore a new area. Kayden would have bet she was more pleased with that than even the money Kayden was paying her.
Kayden had already relayed all of the necessary information to them, such as the fact that they were hunting down Mistech. They didn’t ask her why she didn’t go to the police. They were well versed in not prying into their employers business.
When Kayden had told them what she had overheard between platinum hair and whoever she was meeting with, they had paused at the mention of the name Tenebrex. None of them recognized it, but they all agreed that it did not sound pleasant.
“It could be some kind of cult deity,” Lester had suggested. “Mistech is known for pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in order to achieve their goals. Perhaps they discovered some type of powerful, named beast in the tunnels and are worshiping it in exchange for power.”
But Sacha shook her head at that idea. “Mistech has never displayed supernatural abilities. If it is some type of powerful creature, it isn’t gifting them with magic. Although there are other things it could be giving them so I can’t rule out the possibility completely.”
“In my country,” Dvoral said in his heavy accent, “when one says glory to something it is not always associated with a deity, it could be a country or political figure.”
“I don’t know of any place or person named Tenebrex,” Lester said.
“Mistech is a politically motivated faction, no?” continued Dvoral. “Perhaps it is a place that does not yet exist, their way of declaring legitimacy. It happens often in my country. A new leader will come forward who doesn’t like the way the old leaders have been running things, and they will set themselves apart by claiming to be an independent nation.”
“It could be,” Sacha mused. “But it is pointless to speculate with what we know. There is only one way to find out.”
And with that they had ceased their conversation and headed out to explore the tunnels. This was only an initial expedition to gather information. They would come up with what they planned after they had located Mistech’s base and uncovered their plot.
Kayden didn’t care anything about Tenebrex or what Mistech could be doing. She only cared about finding out if Mistech had guns, and if any of them had used one to murder someone Uptown. But the adventurers didn’t seem to care what she wanted even though she had hired them. They were amped up over the prospect of uncovering the secrets of some nefarious cult that had made their home in the tunnels of the Rim.
Adventurers were very strange people, Kayden was coming to realize. They seemed to live for battle. Sacha and Dvoral especially seemed to be excited at the prospect of a fight even though this initial expedition was supposed to be free of any confrontations. Lester seemed to be the most level headed, but that was only because he was usually quiet unless his input was needed. It could be that he was simply hard to read and was just as bloodthirsty as the other two.
“This is the spot?” Sacha asked in a whisper when Kayden brought them to a halt.
“Yeah.”
The place she had brought them to was a small cavern that acted as an intersection for several different tunnels. It took Sacha only a moment to determine which path to take. She said that all of the paths appeared to see some traffic, but one in particular saw the most which made it a likely candidate for leading them to Mistech’s base.
When Kayden looked down to see if she could spot any sign of tracks, she couldn’t discern much. It all looked like rocks and dirt to her, but when Sacha caught her looking, she pointed something out, the corner of a boot print in some of the softer dirt. It was hard to spot in the dim light offered by their flashlights.
Now that they had reached the point beyond what Kayden had explored, Sacha took the lead with Kayden in the middle so that she could be protected if anything should happen. This was a term that she had been forced to agree to when they took her contract. Kayden was to leave all of the fighting to them, and only engage when necessary.
They moved a lot more slowly. They didn’t know when they would come upon the base so it was best to be as stealthy as possible. Sacha also needed time to study the prints when they came to intersections.
“Some of these footprints look really heavy,” she whispered at one point.
The three adventurers exchanged looks.
“What?” Kayden asked. “What does that mean?”
“Mistech is all about body augmentation,” Sacha explained. “Augmentations are made out of metal so it adds to their weight, but this goes well beyond any small enhancements like a leg or arm being replaced.”
“Tech zombie,” Dvoral said.
“What is that?”
“It is a type of transformation someone can undergo,” Sacha said. “They can abandon their body for a metal skeletal frame that they animate. Only a member of Mistech would be crazy enough to do it. Tech zombies are powerful and hard to kill, but anyone who undergoes the transformation loses all semblance of their personality and are little more than puppets to whoever controls them.”
“Have you ever faced one before?”
They shook their heads.
“They are a silver rank monster, so it is within our capabilities to defeat it. Still, it is probably stronger than anything we have faced.” Was it just Kayden’s imagination or did Sacha sound slightly excited about the prospect of battling such a creature. These adventurers really were insane.
“Could this be the Tenebrex they spoke of?” Dvoral asked.
“No,” Lester said. “Tech zombies are not something they would follow or worship. They are tools, nothing more.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see what we find at their hideout,” Sacha said. “Let’s keep moving.”
The party continued forward until gradually they began to hear the sound of running water and the tunnel opened up to a cavern with a river running through it. There was an opening to the cavern that led into the abyss and the water plunged over the edge into a misty waterfall. A fortress stood beside the waterfall.
It wasn’t as huge as the castles in the Mansion District, still, it was surprising to find anything close to it residing in an unexpected location such as this. It was made from stone that matched what was naturally occurring around them, and was box-like in construction with a single tower in the back left corner. There was a watermill that the river churned, connected to some type of factory with steam and smoke rising out of it. The area was filled with men working at forges and pounding metal. There were tracks for a mining cart that went off to one of the tunnels and a crane that hung over the edge of the cliff.
“An illegal mining operation,” Sacha said.
What drew the most of Kayden’s attention was that the people around here--mostly men, but there were some women--all had some sort of body augmentation. There was no doubt that they had found the base of what remained of Mistech.
“There are too many,” Dvoral said.
It was true. Whereas it was obvious that Mistech had certainly been reduced significantly, there were still dozens of people here. There was no way that they would be able to handle this alone.
Kayden wanted to scream in anger. She was so close to her goal, she could feel it--the murderer had to be hidden in there somewhere--and yet there was no way she could reach him without raising some kind of alarm and bringing the whole place down on top of them.
“How are they keeping such an operation supplied without anyone noticing?” Sacha asked.
“They must have other ways of entering this place beside the path which Kayden found,” Lester answered. “There is a whole network of tunnels we passed which could lead anywhere Cliffside. Who knows, maybe they even have some paths that lead Uptown as well. If the police found out about this place, they would raise the whole thing to the ground.”
“We can’t let them do that,” Kayden said.
She could easily go to the police at this point and let them handle the rest, but that would mean stepping to the sidelines, and she couldn’t allow that. She was the one that had to find her father’s killer. She had to look him in the eyes and hear it from his own mouth why he had done what he had done. And there was still the possibility that the police were connected to this somehow. No, she couldn’t turn to the police no matter what.
The adventurers nodded their heads. They didn’t ask why Kayden refused to go to the police. This was part of what it meant to be an adventurer.
“There is a bounty on any members of Mistech,” Sacha said. “This is a treasure trove of opportunity, and that’s not even counting what we could salvage from this mining operation and sell to Sorty. An option worth considering is organizing a large force of adventurers.”
“How expensive would that be?” Kayden asked. She had plenty of money, and she would pay whatever it took to bring this place down and find her father’s killer, but still, a part of her winced at the prospect of paying so much.
“Nothing. They would be more than willing to participate for the bounties already available and the prospect of all this wealth. The problem is that we would have to reveal the existence of this branch of tunnels to the rest of the world. We would lose our chance to explore them without interference.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“You should. Any new mining sites located by adventurers, entitles them to a finders fee. Mistech has handily already located one for us, but there are potentially dozens more we could find. We could make a fortune off of this.”
Kayden squinted suspiciously at Sacha. If this was true, why hadn’t she mentioned it earlier? Most likely she had been planning on keeping it to herself, and when their contract was fulfilled, she probably would have returned for her own expeditions. That way they wouldn’t have to involve Kayden.
But Kayden let it go. That wasn’t what was important. She didn’t care about getting any wealthier. She only cared about catching her father’s killer.
“That’s not what is important to me,” Kayden said. “And even if it was, it isn’t like we could bring down Mistech on our own.”
Sacha sighed. “You’re right. If we really want to explore these tunnels, we will have to bring down Mistech first. Looks like we will be starting ourselves a little war.”
“Unfortunately, that can’t be allowed,” a raspy voice said.
The group whipped around to find an unnatural creature behind them. None of them had heard it approach. It was a skeleton made out of black, sleek metal with runes inscribed all along it. The bones of the skeleton were sharpened to deadly edges, and it had sharp protrusions which it could use to stab. As they turned to face it, its eyes lit up with a fiery flow which must have been suppressed so they didn’t notice it sneaking up on them.
The creature spoke with that same raspy voice which Kayden recognized from when she had followed platinum hair, its voice echoing around them despite it not moving its mouth. “I don’t know how you found us, but I can not allow you to leave. Surrender your weapons and we can talk.”
In response, Sacha knocked an arrow to her bow, Dvoral brought his shield up with the spear pointed forward, and Lester produced long daggers as if from thin air. They fell into battle formation around Kayden.
Sacha grinned viciously. “Looks like we found the tech zombie.” Then she loosed her arrow.