Xass imagined two things. Acknowledgement and disappointment.
In a pleasant turn of events the young lizardman found himself on the fifth layer, fittingly in a leadership position. Party leader of three, given two primary tasks. Collaborate to exterminate the rat infestation and dry up any orc pit on the way. Currently, the latter occupied him.
Pale, red eyed creatures of varying sizes surrounded him and his two party members. In a shimmer of bronze his sword cut through clay, leaving a sticky shine to his blade. He was not in any real danger. The gold lines in his grey tunic waved with tension as he decimated another mud crawler. Left and right sounded jovial laughter and the wet noise of heavy clubs slamming into clay, as if a drunken brawl. He looked at the two lizardman that accompanied him, dressed informally in grey pants and a loose vest. They didn’t even care to wear armor of any kind. He looked back at a small grey critter that cautiously moved in on him and vertically split its head in half. In all honesty, this was the warranted amount of seriousness.
His team, too elite, was surely assigned to him through the influence of his uncle, king Valen. The two wide lizards laughed as they slammed their stone clubs into the pitiful orcs, competing who could hit them the furthest. Which was what he liked to believe. In fact, he understood that these two were soldiers, who he was assigned to. Not as a leader, but as a fragile package. No matter, he thought. The youths were very talented at focused aggression and managed to occupy most orcs. He was set up with strong recruits, though it vexed him, he would use to his advantage.
Another small group of mud sacks had gotten over their fear and were snarling at him, their eyes squinted in red fury. Some young ones scattered and an adult hulked over him with sharp teeth. They were fascinating creatures. Essentially, sentient mud and clay, held together by a see-through membrane. No one knew if it was the clay that moved within the membrane, or if it was the membrane moving the clay which sprung these beasts to life. Nevertheless, gold shone, bronze shimmered, a sword returned them to the earth. Swiftly.
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Homebase didn’t contain any tents or logistical benefits, but a fire was set up for the lizardmen to warm themselves through the night. The labyrinth wasn’t heated like the city, so without magical blessing or protection you likely caught sick if you ventured for over two days. At home significant defenses were established, nearly guarantying the absolute safety of residents. Out in these tunnels one had to make do with setting up pikes in the hallways and laying out a mat on the ground. The lizardmen prioritized mobility over strength. Luckily, this area rarely rained.
Since provisions were difficult to set up, all teams gathered under different companies, spreading up through different sections of the labyrinth’s floor. In this way the burden of the work could be divided, and the role of hunter and forager could be passed on to one team every night and still sustain an entire company.
At this homebase five squads set up camp under the command of a company chief. This Drake would lead part of the greater operation, handled communications with the other companies, set up short term goals and managed the parties that he was assigned to. This specific chief was an imposing figure with a commonly bronze hide and rippling muscles, exposed below a hard leather vest. He viewed Xass his team skeptically. It was unusual for a party to include this many elite soldiers which would usually be dispersed across different parties as party leaders. He understood the argument; Xass was technically royalty. The king had decreed this assignment himself, arguing that the ‘muscle minds’ in question, Bronq and Phath, were too dumb to lead a party or lacked leadership potential or whatnot. The chief remained skeptical.
‘You located five mud pits, executed pest control measures, and closed the pits up. That is exceptional work for two days. If all teams work at this rate, I expect to be receiving my badge of honor within the week.’ He frowned as in the corner of his eye Bronq his club collided with Phath his tail, after which Bronq his club found its way into Phath his face. They were both laughing. The two soldiers had received honorable mentions for their military achievements by holding off a swarm of orcs during an earlier operation. Their terrified party leader had reported their good mood during the affair and the two soldiers never, at any point during or after the affair, seemed to have understood the significant difference between 20 and 120 orcs. After knowing them for two days the chief found they could barely count till 20 and likely never noticed anything particular about the size of the pit.
‘Thank you, sir.’ Their party leader sounded. He too was assigned by the king himself. Ranked as an adventurer, Xass could technically work as a chief himself. Oddly, the work of a chief was typically safer than party work. This made him unsure how to categorize the young lizard. Was he a pampered royal who required protection or was he a proud royal who required protection. It added to his uncertainty, that the details around the young man’s adventurer title were obscure.
‘In light of these stellar results, I would like to exclude you from provisions duty.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ The young man said, and the chief smiled. The provisions duty was highly coveted, since it provided a reprieve from combat with the dangerous pests and let you get a certain amount of rest. This young man was not here out of duty. This was definitely a proud royal.
The chief didn’t know how right he was. The young royal was so proud, he didn’t want even the king to interfere with him. Xass despised his privilege. At every turn it stood in the way of his personal desire. He would be acknowledged for his own merits. He would fight for that. Constantly, his privilege haunted him. This time in the shape of Bronq and Phath, who already made his life unenjoyable in various ways.
This mission however, presented incredible chances. As a royal he was acutely aware of the significance of ratmen on the fifth floor, let alone this mysterious high rat.
Because of this he bent over backwards to have his uncle accept his placement, swearing a godly oath to Ragon not to tell his mother and, in the likely event that she found out, to protect and deflect his king from blame.
The honor he desired was higher than the promotions Bronq and Phath had received for their exemplar displays of murdering lesser cultures. Pest control was important, but low profile.
If he killed a high rat, though. He would be recognized as a hero of the ages.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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After a night of rest by the bonfire and the protection of the night shift Xass and his party ventured back into the wilds. To navigate the labyrinth, they followed stone markings he had edged into the walls the days before. This had been challenging. From a report he read that Bronq and Phath had gotten lost many times due to using the wrong symbols and needed to be found magically. This same report stated them reaching homebase by Phath writing the symbols wrongly and Bronq following them wrongly. They did not reject his proposal to take that responsibility to himself, but he still found himself regularly checking where his party members were walking off to.
They had walked past an old mud pit, which was now dried up and surrounded by dirt. It was custom to not return any orcs to the pits after death since their current brewing war required even the littlest of efforts. If an orc was returned to the pit, it was believed their soul returned to Cordifolius. In a few months, plants would be growing here, appearing from seemingly nowhere.
They arrived in a new planted room where they noticed scorch marks on one of the walls with a section of stone vines seemingly blown away. Bronq was just playing with some fang knives as Xass realized Phath was missing.
The dumb muscle head had done this before, walking off in an entirely different direction, probably because of a shiny thing or a movement. He often did not remember why. Backtracking usually led to the right tunnel, which would be filled with the loud sound of club meeting anything else. Xass kept his eyes steadily fixed on Bronq’s back, whom he had made to walk in front of him. Soon enough the familiar thumping noises resounded.
Phath was having a good time. Like a fissure his club ripped through several spiders the size of his head. Phath had a way of finding danger. Xass positively rephrases this as a gift for finding opportunities. This mantra he repeated, many times. This time, he didn’t have to. Spiders don’t live in numbers. Not unless there was something controlling them. It was a special occurrence for so many to be gathered as he saw. Nevertheless, all of them attacking the same target. Not only was this dangerous. This was a possible disaster, avoided for the other teams, all thanks to his party.
More spiders found their death as the party followed a track of silver threads deeper into the tunnel.
The spiders in the labyrinth were mostly of the same kind, White Widow was the common name. These arachnids had big bellies, lived in their webs, and bit with a tranquilizing venom. It was unusual to see them in these numbers, since they didn’t bother anything smart enough not to be caught by their webs. Their venom was not particularly potent and more effective for small prey.
Xass looked at the fluorescent white crawlers making their way to them. They really were harmless, he thought, and sighed nostalgically. He fidgeted about with the gold wires woven through his tunic, something he’d do at home while he waited for his beverage to cool down or while reading through an interesting rapport. He fantasized for a moment about the benefits of have a spider at home, guarding the door from a high ankle of the room. Snug in a little nest, red eyes looking sweetly out of a small hole. He took in the white shapes in front of him again. Maybe, they really could be pets, he thought as he stretched out his hand to one.
BAMMM!!!
The little white shape exploded into mush and chitin.
‘The fuck, are you doing boss?!’ Phath grunted as Bronq smacked Xass on the back of his head. ‘You need a handicap? We’re nearly there! You can see the light of a room approaching.’
It was true. A glow appeared at the end of the tunnel and as he licked the air, Xass could feel a presence there. They continued through the increasing numbers of white fangs jumping at them from angles, but the webs were getting difficult to navigate. The white cotton like strings were thick around the light at the end of the dark passage and wrapped around the many stone vines that had overgrown the walls.
‘Stand back.’ He commanded, and from experience the soldiers had learned to listen. The air around his head began to vibrate with heat as a red glow appeared deep inside his throat. His eyes shone in the dark tunnel and the golden threats in his tunic shimmered as from his jaws streamed a river of flames. Streaks of fire moved magically over a distance. The cobwebs caught ablaze and carried back, lighting up the room from where they emanated.
Riding on the momentum, Xass and his men ran along with the fire into the room, hoping to profit from the chaos. And chaos it was. The whole room radiated with heat as all webs had been lit and glowed with the charcoal of spiders, curled up on their backs, burned to death. On the exceptional high ceiling hung a hulking shape. A black abomination the size of a thousand spiders into one, with a long stomach, great, thick legs and eight jaws. It screeched with fury as its red shining eyes focused on the intruders.
Readily Xass rose his sword, only to have it painfully smacked out of his hands.
With a great crash the abomination impacted on the ground before them, blowing flames away as it landed. A weight pressed on Xass as he was caught by the red eyes swirling in front of him. Thought of spiders consumed him, seas of white covering the world and he was part of it. His arachnid legs caried his white lizard torso into the great war where he would find glory, acknowledgement. He rose a white spear made of bone and a wave of spiders moved at his will, laying waste, devouring everything.
The dream was short lived.
He blinked at the sight of the giant creature being clobbered by Bronq and Phath their clubs. Screeching as its claws and jaws grasped at air or collided with blunt weapon. The hits resounded though the entire cavern and flames were extinguished by the gusts that ensued of heavy movements. Xass didn’t understand fully where he was but jumped at the abomination. With his sword strangely missing he leaned forward going with the next best option, calling on his soul to collect in the back of his throat. Once more the air vibrated as he released death from his jaws. Streams of flame overflowed. The hulking spider however, screeching and roaring as it did, was too large to be engulfed. Pushing beyond his limits he kept his flame lit as Bronq and Phath tried to bring the monster to the ground.
For the first time since he knew them, the soldiers weren’t smiling. Instead, they were focused. Aimed.
A wet crunch sounded as a severed spider leg swirled through the air. The fire slowly deteriorated armor. Heating up to ridiculous extends. Making it brittle. A club collided with the spider’s head with a wet sound, pushing it back in pain. Xass fell to his knees coughing. His throat keeping him from breathing right. His vision blurred, but he managed to pick up a bronze shine within the flames. He jumped at it, picked up his sword, and threw.
It swooshed past Bronq’s head straight into the beast’s neck and in a twitching fashion the spider crawled backwards clumsily on seven legs spraying a rain of green drips from its eight jaws. As Bronq leapt through the green rain, his club slammed the protruding sword through the spider’s neck, shooting it through to the other side of de spider in an explosion of gore and chitin. The hulking shape collapsed, and its legs twitched. From all tunnels around a high screech of pain rose in volume and pitch until the corpse curled up into a ball and remained still.
The only sound to remain in the orange space was the sizzling of fire.
The three lizards fell on their behinds and chuckled as they sat in front of the hulking, still shape. Xass pulled his last mana together to quiet the flames and then they waited. Their god rewarded destruction of great things, and this they thought was certainly a great thing.
‘Boss, you were useless.’ Phath shouted in a riot as he threw up his arms. ‘You just stood there!’
‘I couldn’t help it. The creature attacked my thoughts. It made me see things. Do things.’
‘Is that why you tried to cut your own throat?’ Asked Bronq. ‘I had to slam your sword out of your hands, could’ve damn well broken them.’
‘That’s why we don’t have thoughts.’ Phath stated cockily. ‘Only gets in ya way.’
Xass groaned as he retrieved his sword and saw two objects spilling from the jaws of the spider. Two spiked clubs, both tipped with a chunky ruby. From the corner of his eye, he could see Bronq trying to get up and fall unconsciously to the ground. What a disappointment.