016 - NEVER WORK FOR FREE

“Get your shit on,” Buck said, “We’re burning daylight.”

“No daylight in the dungeon, Buck,” Joy said cheerfully, saving Conrad the need to remind him and giving him and Karina a good laugh at Buck’s expense.

Buck rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean, let’s go.”

Conrad hurried to put his chitin greaves on, the rest he could do while walking. When they arrived at the spiral staircase the adventurers loitering around it gave him approving nods and a few thumbs up. Not wearing trash, apparently, was good for your reputation. The breastplate, bracers, gorget, and shield all being of a set couldn’t hurt either. It let them know he had faced down Royal Guards and come out the winner.

The armored man who had recognized him on his first trip down these stairs called out, “Glad to see you still among the living, Border Zone!” Taking the nickname from Conrad’s parents’ shop.

Conrad sent back a quick thumbs up and the band made their way down the stairs. Floor one, two, three, five…then floor eight.

It was as Conrad had remembered it, which was good, if the dungeon had gone through any significant growth it could very well have reorganized the floor or adjusted the King’s position but it had really only been, what? Fifteen or twenty hours since Conrad had last been down here? Things still ought to be in place as he expected.

“OK, Merchant,” Karina said, “We’ve arrived! Eighth floor. Now what? Just wander around till we get ‘lucky’ again?”

Conrad shook his head no, “Had some time to spend down here while I was recovering from wounds. We got caught unaware last time because we didn’t understand where we were camping. One clearing looked as good as any other and we had the river… anyway, what’s special about that spot isn’t important. It’s how the Lizard King treats the floor.”

“Spill it then,” Karina said, and glancing at Buck smirked, “Daylight’s burning.”

“I think we treat him, the King, too much like a monster. We’re used to finding them waiting around for us, just sort of existing in the dungeon waiting to either kill or be killed.”

“Cause that’s what he is,” Buck said.

“No,” Conrad replied, “That’s the mistake. To the Lizard King this is his kingdom. He moves from floor to floor not because he likes to be hard to find, but because he is looking in on his land. And when he reaches a floor to look in on, he wants to both see and be seen. So he patrols. And I think his path is predictable.”

“How in Chaos’s name could you figure something like that out? And why should we take it seriously for even a second?” Buck asked, “Guy disappears in the dungeon for a few days and thinks that means he just knows things nobody else does?”

Tone icy, Conrad asked, “This group ever leave you for days in a dungeon, Buck?”

Buck snorted, “Left you? You broke formation and jumped in the water. Probably thought a little distance would snap the contract magic.”

“Broke formation!?” Conrad was thinking of the lizard that nearly took his head off, of almost drowning as his rags and scrap metal tried to drag him to the bottom of the river, of the waking nightmare of his poisoning…

He took a deep breath, “I can explain it to you in detail,” Conrad said, unable to mask his impatience completely, “About how its learning things that let me survive down here. I could Talk to you about the picked out places for new buildings, the civilian type lizardkin and their nesting grounds, and the rest of it. OR!” The frustration spilled over, “You can take my Chaos damned word for it and we can kill this thing, Pyromancer.”

Buck cocked his head and took a step forward.

“Trying to take command eh, Merchant? This isn’t your operation,” Buck growled.

“Course not, Buck, I’m just the idea guy,” Conrad said, pressing the advantage, “Somebody has to be.”

Buck squinted at him and looked around at his companions, “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Best plan we ever followed doing what you say came from Joy,” Conrad growled, not holding back as he mocked, “Kill the monster, get the treasure!”

He needed Buck angry. Off balance. Focused on Conrad and not this dive. And that comment hit home, stunning Buck into momentary silence.

“So I’m trying to set us up with an ambush because, as everybody already knows, you’re useless if we’re surprised,” the last fight with the king had nearly cost Conrad his life and likely the others hadn’t escaped completely unscathed either.

Conrad was banking on that resentfulness Karina carried with her. She wouldn’t forgive something like that so easily, and if he could get her to agree then Buck would follow. Karina had always kept him on a tight leash.

Buck was angry immediately, “You shit eating little-”

“You’re barely useful in a straight up fight! Burned the hell out of me in the last one and if Joy wasn’t so handy with his shield he’d be bald and smoldering in every fight you two were ever a part of.”

Conrad watched with pleasure as Karina held out a restraining hand on Buck, who had taken a menacing step forward.

“Practically the only time you’ve been useful, and I’ll give you this one Buck because brother, you’ve earned it, is when we have the drop on them,” Conrad finished, “So let me get us set up in an ambush, and you can shine instead of spending the fight hiding behind Joy’s shield waiting for a chance to send off a second Fireball.”

“I’ll kill you you fucking miserable little indenture!” Buck snarled “You’re nothing! With your little cudgel and a couple Fighter abilities you–”

“BUCK!” Karina yelled, “He’s out of line but he’s got the right of it. You’re a killer when we get the first shot off.”

“Put him in the thick of it and let ‘em swarm, I’ll show you how many I can take down with a one shot!” Buck yelled back.

“Could be that’s sound strategy,” Karina said, “Or, could be we need another arm to keep em off us while we focus on the King,” she focused on Conrad, “It’s two years now, indenture. Lead on. This ambush point better be pristine.”

Conrad snorted derisively but nodded and turned with a gesture to follow.

“Thank you, Karina,” he said, adding in his own head, “I’ll kill you last.”

They followed him into the gloomy light of the dungeon jungle. The land bridge was a couple of miles hiking from the stairwell and the trip wasn’t without small breaks for fighting. This was the eighth floor after all. But, thankfully, the enemies they found were common and dispatched quickly.

Conrad had told the truth about the King, or at least, the truth as he believed it. It was how monarchs and nobles behaved on the surface so why shouldn’t the dungeon do the same? It had to have passing familiarity with human customs after having lived in such close proximity to them and having adventurers in it near constantly. Modeling its own creatures’ behavior after the things they clearly were meant to model in shape made sense.

But even if he was right, he could have missed something in the dungeon and could, with terrible luck, lead them directly into the King and miss this chance.

Some time later though, Conrad saw what he was looking for. He pointed to a plateau with one main way up. Not too high to jump from, but too high and steep to climb. It was the ideal ambush point for a Pyromancer like Buck, who could probably get two whole Fireballs out before the first of their enemies made it up the path along the side to the top.

The only problem was the thicket that was in their way to get to that path. And going around it didn’t present any easier or shorter options. Which was exactly as Conrad had intended.

“This,” Karina said, nodding, “Is pristine. You actually delivered, Conrad. I’d take some time off that indenture for good behavior but just the thought of losing you to another band… I am much too jealous for that.”

She rubbed her hands together eagerly, “And where’s the King ‘sposed to come by?”

“Just below the ridge, there’s a sort of road worn through and around but it doesn’t swing back toward the river for miles, so we’ll have to get through here,” Conrad said and he gestured for them to follow.

“Karina,” Buck said, stopping the group.

“What is it, Buck? You’re not still sore about the whole ‘useless’ comment are you?” Karina said, noting the obvious tone Buck had going.

“I don’t like it,” he said.

“Well? Get over it,” Karina said, walking away.

“He’s gone for days! Days! And he comes back with a perfect plan?” Buck said, and Karina stopped this time.

“He knows our strengths, he knows the contract, Chaos take me, Karina,” Buck said, becoming animated, “we talked about this, he’s been feeling around the edges! Looking for loop holes!”

“Loop holes, Buck?” Joy asked.

“Joy, stay with me, right next to me,” Buck said, “Karina–”

“NO, BUCK!” Karina yelled, “There is nothing he can do and we have talked about this! Conrad knows the deal and he’s dealing, as Merchants do, isn’t that right Conrad?”

“Hate to say you’re right, Karina, but you’re right,” Conrad said, tone level.

“He says the King is coming through here, he says he understands why, said there would be a perfect spot for us to take him. Why’s he doing it, Buck? Because he has to! And sorry not sorry for talking about you like you’re not here, Conrad dear, but Buck! It’s our game he has to play.”

“But what if he’s found something? Set something up on that hilltop to trap us or kill us!” Buck reasoned.

Karina sighed, “Conrad.”

“Yes,” Conrad said, dutiful, ready.

“Have you set a trap on that hilltop?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Setting a trap would be a deliberate act to harm a party member, and as I’m sure you know that is not allowed by the contract. So if you tricked yourself into thinking a tripwire or dead man’s drop would be okay because you made ‘em for monsters, well you’d have to tell us because it is a violation.”

“There’s nothing like that up there,” Conrad said, arms crossed and calm.

“Are there monsters up there we can’t see that will jump out and get us?” she asked, tone patient and kind.

“No, to my knowledge it’s nothing but grass and maybe some rocks up there. You can see almost the entire thing from here. There’s another rise over there we can climb and check it if you’re not sure.”

“See Buck? There’s another rise over there we can climb up and use to check,” Karina said, “And I’ve made the terms of the contract clear. Conrad, bless his black swindling Merchant’s heart, isn’t lying.”

Buck stood silent a few moments, eyes moving from the hilltop to Karina to Conrad and back again. Joy stood next to him like a stupid statue, ready to do whatever his brother wanted.

“You good now?” Karina asked, “Can we get set up on that plateau so that you can use that outrageously powerful magic of yours to kill that Chaos taken Lizard King?”

Buck sighed in defeat. He gestured to Joy and the two of them started forward toward the plateau. He shoulder checked Conrad on his way past, holding out his arms, “Well then? You were going to show us the way through.”

Conrad glanced at Karina, who nodded, “Lead on.”

The whole thicket really gave meaning to the word. The vegetation was so thick that to actually walk through they would either have to cut a path, or find one that existed naturally. He walked up to the thicket, putting on the appearance of thinking about where he needed to go, then pointed. There was a small gap, ground rubbed raw by passing animals.

He led the way through and the rest of the Seekers followed. The flora pressed in from all sides, forcing them by turns to turn sideways and squeeze through or drop to all fours, vines and forest detritus scraping and cutting at them as they went.

“Keep ahead and where I can see you,” Buck said, wary, “Ow, damn it. And not too fast. I’m stepping where, ow, shit, stepping where you step. ”

“You’re in charge, Buck,” Conrad said.

He led them through the winding animal path and from behind he heard the gripes and moans of the rest of them. Joy’s pained idiot expletives, Karina’s higher pitched squeaks, and of course Buck’s curses. But after a minute they were through and Conrad began leading them up the path.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

“I said not so fast,” Buck said, breathing heavily, “This path is… steep.”

“Order forsaken dungeon air,” Karina said behind him, “Can barely breathe in this place.”

Joy just grunted and followed his brother. And Conrad continued ahead, feeling lighter than he had in a long, long time.

They reached the top and it was as Conrad had described it. Grassy, some rocks, a little bit of scrubby vegetation, but no surprises.

“See?”Conrad said, “Nothing to worry about up here, Buck.”

“Somethings wrong with me,” Buck said, words beginning to slur.

“I don’t feel so good,” Joy said, collapsing onto a rock to rest. Karina joined him, collapsing in a heap against his legs and moaning like she had just come out of the fight of her life.

And to be fair to her, and to the rest of them?

They had.

“It was down in the thicket that you had something to worry about, Buck,” Conrad said, voice deadly, “Joy.” And with all the venom and hatred he could muster, “Karina.”

“The hell you talking about?” Karina said, “Asked you about traps. There wasn’t nothing.”

“Not nothing. And not traps. I didn’t set any traps for you Karina. I didn’t do a damn thing off contract. But the dungeon? I can’t be held responsible for you not having the same skills I do.”

Conrad held up his scratched up arms. Arms scratched from the tight squeeze through the patch of Thorny Midnight Arrows they had passed through to get here.

The Seekers collectively looked down at themselves. Every patch of exposed skin was scratched, and Conrad knew from experience, even skin covered by cloth or thin leather could be pierced by the poisonous thorns.

“Judging by the color of the puss coming out of some of those scratches, you guys have got it bad.”

“Fucker!” Karina said, and a potion manifested from her inventory. But before she could fumble the lid off Conrad was there, taking it from her weak hands.

“Let me help you with the lid,” he said, ‘accidentally’ pouring the liquid out on the ground, “Oops. I’m sure you have another.”

But he knew she didn’t. There was only one poison antidote in the deep dive dungeon kit she had bought so long ago at his parents’s shop. And poison? It was usually so mild and rare in these parts that most adventurers didn’t bother stocking antidotes anyway.

Always sold terribly in the shop. They almost couldn’t give them away.

“You’re a dead man,” Buck said, standing up straight, hands brimming with fire as he prepared his favorite spell.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Conrad warned, but just in case he stepped back a few paces and put up his shield, “You must be seeing double by now.”

“Well I’ve got two hands!” Buck said, splaying his fingers and preparing to launch the dual-cast Fireballs.

But then they vanished.

And Buck began to scream.

The fire magic seemed to absorb right back inside the hands meant to send it straight into Conrad. And as it did his hands glowed from within with terrible heat, skin crackling and turning black as the magic moved up his arms, burning Buck from the inside. Out in the open air the magic would explode, but inside a person after a spell was disrupted, it had nowhere to escape, nowhere to dissipate. The ferocious power of the backfired magic flowed throughout Buck’s body and soon his screaming turned to sputtering as the fire within him burned even the air he tried desperately to draw in.

It was over in a few seconds of drawn out screaming horror. Buck collapsed, looking for all the world like cinders leftover in a fireplace.

“Should have checked your status. Severe spell disruption is just one of the side effects of Midnight Arrow poisoning,” he sighed and, guard now relaxed, shrugged, “Guess it was just your turn to give back to the dungeon, Buck.”

For a moment the plateau was silent. Then Joy’s cry rent the air. The big man lurched to his feet as if pulled by invisible strings and stumbled, almost drunkenly, straight for Conrad. His battle ax was in two hands and Conrad knew in the moment that he fully intended to kill him with it.

And knowing this, Conrad felt no compulsion not to defend his own life against deadly force used by a band member. As Joy came on Conrad took no chances. He activated Adrenaline Rush, now all the way at level four and increasing his speed and perception by 100%. He watched Joy, so slow it was like he was moving through chilled honey, raise his ax in both hands, high, high above his head in a swing that could split Conrad in two.

He darted forward and with one hand held the ax up to prevent it from falling, and with the other poised Mara’s dagger for a thrust right through Joy’s heart. The man’s face stopped him - his dull eyes and expression of pain pushed beyond endurance held some note that felt familiar to Conrad. In the last moment before his knife connected, Conrad turned the point aside and changed what would have been a thrust into an uppercut. His fist clenched tight around the hilt of the dagger slammed into Joy’s jaw, jarring the man instantly into unconsciousness.

His limp body hit the ground before time returned to normal for Conrad.

“You were always nice to me, Joy,” Conrad said, “This is their fault.”

“Our fault?” Karina said, slurring and trying something between a sob and a laugh, “You killed Buck! You’re killing me!”

Conrad put on a face of mock confusion, “Buck killed Buck,” then, voice hard, “All I did was obey the contract.”

“What now?” Karina said, “You can’t kill me. I’m no threat. Just sitting here…” she laughed, “Looking pretty.”

“Now? We deal,” Conrad said, “I can help you. See, what’s happening to you, it happened to me. And I got out of it. And I had a lot of time to think while I was down here doing the getting out of it.

“Had to ask myself, what is the one thing you would trade for my freedom? I knew it wasn’t treasure, nothing material. And it was only down here on the edge of death myself that I realized. It’s your life, Karina. The one thing every adventurer makes every deal in order to save or extend. So here it is, I’m offering it to you. And since we’re old friends, I’ll give it to you for a special price. Your life in exchange for my freedom.”

Karina spit and nodded, no thinking was apparently necessary, “Buck’s got it. I can open his inventory as a long term bandmate.”

“Really?” Conrad said, surprised. And the Merchant in him roared to life as he added, “Price just went up. Empty his inventory,” he waited a moment as if thinking, “And yours.”

“Black hearted bastard,” Karina mumbled angrily, “You expect me to be able to survive down here if you rob my blind?”

Conrad shrugged, “I don’t expect anything but that you trade with me - do we have a deal or not?”

Karina let out a sob of frustration. Unable even to stand now, she crawled over to Buck’s burned out husk and held out her hand. A few moments later, items began stacking themselves around him, and there, right on top, was a very familiar looking contract. Karina took it in her hands and held it out.

Conrad took it and examined the exit clause, “Says you can either sign or tear it up. You have a preference?”

She took the paper from him with shaking fingers and started tearing it to pieces. And as soon as she finished the first full length tear Conrad felt the compulsion, like a headache he had grown used to, simply vanish.

He took a moment and just enjoyed being free in his own head again, free from the necessity to think further on these awful people and be bound up in their games. Free once more to pursue his own path.

Karina crawled forward like a supplicant, reaching for Conrad in a plea. He kicked her hands aside in disgust.

She cringed back and looked up at him, “Don’t make me do it. Don’t make me give it all up. You’ve got what you need just… just help me a little and we can go our separate ways. Like you said.”

“What?” Conrad asked, “Make you? I’m not making you do anything, Karina. You made me come along, you made me fight through battle after battle without much better than a shirt to keep me safe, you made me give up everything I managed to get. You left me to die down here and I was made to come back for more!

“And you know what drives me absolutely nuts? You made me do it all for free! I’m a Merchant, Karina. A price was set and I intend to get paid!”

She started crying and, Order preserve him, Conrad felt bad for a moment! It was just a moment though, because in the next Karina started emptying her inventory.

“Don’t skimp,” he said, “I’ve been keeping a careful eye, and if I don’t see what I expect, if I don’t get paid then I don’t deliver!”

He was bluffing, of course, but Conrad wasn’t sure how to know if she really had emptied her inventory. Better to let her think he did, though. She knew he was smart, and that should be enough.

Karina didn’t have a lot. A few keepsakes, some weapon changes, but the gold. Conrad had always had the impression that the Seekers were living hand to mouth and he realized that must have been a very carefully cultivated and encouraged impression put up by Karina. Hundreds upon hundreds, maybe thousands landed in neat stacks around her.

She looked up at him, poisoned and green to the gills, tears and snot running down her face. She was a wreck.

“Well?” She said, “This is all of it. You’ve won, swindler’s son.”

“That’s right,” Conrad said, “There was something else.”

He knelt down and put a hand behind her neck, gripping her like she was an old comrade in arms, “That nickname. It wasn’t just that you did all this to me. My mother, the woman you can’t help but insult even now, would have told me to never sign that contract. Never work for free, she always said. And if I hadn’t, well, we wouldn’t be here would we? But it isn’t just that.”

He took out Mara’s dagger, letting Karina see it, letting her know what was coming. Her moaning pitched higher as she began to recognize that this time, the man who would have preferred to give her a fair deal had been pushed to be what she had always accused of being. A swindler. A man like her, whose only concern was extracting as much as he could with no intention of ever again coming to the negotiation table.

“The thing that really gets me about all this was that you did it all because you were angry at my mother. You small minded, petty bitch.”

He gripped the knife in his full fist, doing the same with the back of her neck, “You put me into slavery over a deal you never even had to take.”

She tried to stop him, but the poison had reduced her Berserker strength to nothing more than a child’s. It was impressive she was even still conscious.

He put the knife to her neck and pressed hard. Karina was a serious adventurer, had been for years, her Toughness was impressively high.

It made the cutting difficult. It made it slow.

But high Toughness wasn’t enough to stop sharp steel and a determined hand.

Conrad let her slump to the ground and gurgle out her last moments through her cut throat. He would have liked to let her live, or rather, the Merchant in him would have.

But the adventurer knew better. Karina would have been back. The kind of woman who would do what she did over something so small? She would follow him to the end of the world if it meant a chance to put a blade in him after all this.

He kept one eye on the unconscious Joy while he set to cleaning up what treasure he wanted to keep, leaving the rest for the dungeon. In a few hours or days it would absorb what was left here, adding their power and remaining items to its own.

“They gave their lives,” Conrad said, quoting Karina as she had waited patiently for Mara, Troy, and Karl to be killed by the dungeon, “So that we can get rich.”

As he rifled through Buck’s possessions he came across a piece of paper. Yellow with age but intact and maintained in the peculiar way that only magical paper would. He picked it up and read.

I, Joy Calgary (signature), do hereby commit to the agreement and magical binding nature of this contract, whose nature and composition are described below…

“Order preserve me,” Conrad muttered. He scanned the contract and found that it could be nullified by tearing it up, just the same as his slave contract. He ripped the paper in two and a cry arose from a suddenly conscious Joy.

Conrad walked over, torn paper in his hands and saw in Joy’s face and eyes a clarity of expression he had never believed possible to the man he had thought of as Buck’s simpleton brother.

“Joy Calgary?” Conrad said, shaking the paper at him.

Joy nodded, face pale and greening, but eyes understanding.

“What is his name!?” Conrad demanded, pointing at the burnt husk of a corpse that was Buck.

Joy swallowed, tears leaked from the corners and he began to cry, “Buck,” he said, “Buck Tanner.”

“You’re not… is he your brother?” Conrad asked, wanting full confirmation as the weight of the discovery began to settle in.

Joy shook his head no and then began sobbing

Conrad stumbled through half formed thought after half formed thought, all of his questions struggling to be first to get answers, “They did to you… what they were doing to me. Joy you… How long have you been…”

“Too long,” Joy said through sobs. He clenched his teeth and with an effort he shouldn’t have been able to make and with furious anger growled , “Buck’s good!”

Conrad looked with horror at what would have become of him.

“We’ve gotta… I’ll get you out. Might be I can find an antidote for the poison and-”

“No,” Joy interrupted, “The things I’ve done…”

He squeezed his eyes shut. For the first time in years he was seeing his world with a mind completely free of compulsion. He was looking at a life formed for years by the decisions of Buck and Karina.

Conrad had only been with them a short time, and even with this new knowledge of what they had done to Joy he realized he had only begun to see them for the monsters they were.

“I can get you out,” Conrad said, but as he did items and gold began to appear next to Joy. He was emptying his inventory.

“Take it,” he said, and fumbled at his waist for a belt knife. He withdrew it and poised it over his heart, but it slid from his weak fingers. He had no strength left to drive it through.

“Can’t even end things,” he said, “Finish me, Conrad.”

“Joy you can make it,” Conrad began.

Joy laughed, it was mirthless, but as he looked down at the scratches on his arms and the pus leaking out of them it seemed as though an entirely new person was wearing Joy’s body. No longer the simpleton, he understood the position he was in.

“Couldn’t live on my terms,” Joy said, “Let me die on them.”

He poised the knife over his heart again and beckoned Conrad forward.

“I didn’t come out here to kill men!” Conrad shouted suddenly.

Joy smiled weakly, “Too late. Take your prize. Don’t give it all back to the dungeon.”

Conrad took a hesitant step forward. The logic of it was simple - either he killed Joy now or the poison would get him later. If it was poison, then the dungeon would claim Joy and all of his accumulated XP, if it was Conrad, then it was his. And it was he who had led the Seekers through the Midnight Arrows. He was responsible for this, whether he finished Joy or not.

It had been with pleasure that he had killed Karina. Pleasure. Justice. But none of this made what he was being asked to do sit right. Joy had been an unwilling pawn in this whole game. What’s more, even in that role he had been kind to Conrad. The abuse, the horror had all been at the hands of Buck and Karina.

“Don’t make me suffer,” Joy said, voice even weaker.

At those words Conrad steeled his resolve. He knelt down next to Joy and placed the man’s hands on the knife, wrapping his own around them for support.

He nodded to Joy, who nodded back and closed his eyes. Conrad leaned hard on the knife, driving it quickly through the man’s heart and, a moment later, minimized the prompt informing him he had killed Joy.

It wasn’t long ago that he had set out on this path, a Merchant keen on picking up some new skills, perhaps some stories of adventure before making a true decision about what direction he would take along the Path of Order. This though, was not in any way what he had wanted.

He collected a few more things from the fallen Seekers. He had work left to do, and this work at least would be done without the overbearing weight of the Seekers slavery contract. Order’s path was meant to be traveled alone, each man or woman forming their life through their own decisions, and by that logic he wasn’t closing a chapter on his adventuring life. He was beginning it.

He hurried off down the path and back toward the land bridge.

“Chaos take you all. I’ve got a date to keep.”