Just before he arrived at the city’s western gate, he veered right and sprinted southward, the basic stability spell allowing him to navigate through the bumpy, barren earth that had long since been cleared of its harvests near the end of the previous season.
Alistar no longer needed to rely on ice magic to surmount the walls, a change that had taken place several months back. These days he simply enhanced his leg strength with swordsman’s aura and leapt upward at a run, catching himself atop the lower ledges of the parapets and pulling himself up with the tips of his fingers. Afterwards he would drop down on the other side and land at a roll, always leaving a fresh energy imprint at a random spot along the walls before hurrying off into the forest with sure-footed steps.
He arrived at the cave a short while later, wasting no time in entering its hidden confines and summoning a ball of illuminating fire.
“Who’s there?” came the usual, hardly coherent rambles. “Come to take my—”
Alistar strode over to where the man lay atop the thick bedroll he’d brought for him a long while back, touching an index finger to the centre of his haggard forehead and casting the basic mind cleansing spell that he now had perfect control over.
“I said, who are—what’s this?” Patting his body down, his withered face lifted in surprise as he realized that he wasn’t entirely emaciated. “I’ve…I’ve been eating? You, are you the one that has been feeding me?”
Next, Alistar activated the memory preservation spell, which returned the knowledge of all of their former interactions to the man, who sat up with no small amount of effort and fumbled around for one of the many glass bottles of water that Alistar had kept well-stocked since they had struck up their agreement.
“How long has it been since your last visit? Did you update the memory preservation last time?”
“Only five days. And I did.”
“Bah. Five days, ten years, it all seems the same to me. Especially since time passes faster in this blasted place.” Finishing up with a satisfying sip, he placed the bottle down at his side and gave his ratty-haired head a curious tilt. “So, any progress with reminting the gold?”
“About that. Even though those crowns are several times larger than the coins we use today, it’s still nowhere near enough to afford the amount of high-class magic crystals that we need.”
“It shouldn’t be that difficult. Magic crystals aren’t that rare, after all.”
“They are these days. A single high-class crystal can cost hundreds of gold coins depending on its colour. You know, because—”
“Yes, yes, the lighter they are the more durable they are, making them more long-lasting for magical matters. Still, what’s the problem? Didn’t you say there’s a perfectly untouched crystal deposit just a few leagues away? You know, such places tend to have more than one entrance. I’m sure you can find a closer access point if you snoop around the relevant mountains.”
The labyrinth?
Momentarily intrigued by the idea, Alistar was quick to shake his head. “That could take months. Besides, that place is incredibly dangerous. Over a thousand people have gone missing trying to harvest the valuable minerals inside. I’m just one person, after all.”
“One person with an unheard of capacity for inner energies, who also grew up mining the exact crystals we’re in need of.”
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“You make it sound so simple. I’ll have you know, I was almost killed by just one swordsman a while back. I’m not invincible.”
The man’s expression went flat. “Complain to me more about almost dying, why don’t you?”
“Sorry…”
“Listen boy. Limnin’s people might show up at any time, so you can’t keep putting this off. And what about your friend? Aren’t you worried about the things she might be dealing with in those mines? She’s a girl after all, so it goes without saying that—”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear it.”
The man let out an impatient sigh. “You’re wearing limiters, correct? Just take them off before you enter the cave and whatever’s inside will leave you alone. It’s that easy.”
“It’s not, though. The sorts of creatures attracted to those places are lured in by the energies they sense from the crystals. Won’t they just come looking for me if I’m giving off my own signal?”
“You’re speaking of rabid beasts, yes? Even those can tell the difference between energy given off by a living creature and energy given off by inanimate, non-living things. If your aura is strong enough, they’ll leave you be.”
Alistar grew pensive, considering the man’s words. He had been worrying lately over the possibility that someone from the church’s upcoming delegation would be aware of his accomplice’s situation, and that they might come to the cave to make things difficult for him. According to the man himself, every time such a thing had happened, the ones that had come to see him had made a sport of taking his life over and over again in all sorts of ways. Since he couldn’t die, there was virtually no consequence to these actions. If that were to happen within the near future, then the memory preserving spell that enabled the two of them to talk like this would doubtlessly be erased, along with all of the man’s memories of Alistar.
“I’ll think about it. That’s not why I came here, though.”
“Why, then? Was there a particular spell that you wanted to learn, or did you simply miss my charming appearance that much?”
“I think it’s about time you told me how you ended up here. It’s only fair, considering that we’re working together.”
“I was betrayed. There’s nothing more to it.”
“By Saint Limnin, right? Why did he betray you?”
The man spat to the side, or tried to, but his mouth was too dry to spare any of its precious saliva. “Because I found out what he was up to.”
Heartrate quickening as he finally received a serious answer, Alistar urged the man on. “He was trying to wipe out the Drunaeda, right?”
“If you already know that much, why ask?”
“Because there’s clearly more to it. There aren’t many, but there’re still Drunish people in the modern world. I’ve been wondering, if he really wanted to kill them all then why didn’t he see things through to the end when it was fully within his power to do so?”
The man grew quiet, his expression darkening. “He was after something far more sinister than just that. But that’s a tale for another time.” Shaking his head, he added, “Maybe I’ll tell you once you collect enough magic crystals to free me from this dreaded place. Perhaps that will encourage you to stop half-assing things.”
“I’m not going into those tunnels alone.”
Recently, the first of the workers and soldiers that his uncles had resolved to send to the Iron Dungeon had arrive as promised, though things had gone anything but smoothly. Word had spread all throughout the kingdom of how nearly all of the fifty men that had begun to set up the necessary infrastructure had been killed by an unknown beast, for only the five that had been left at the entrance had survived to tell the tale. The most disturbing part was, the men hadn’t gone inside in small groups, but as one large contingent, and whatever had killed them had used magic to do so. It was because of this that the Iron Dungeon’s threat level had been raised to ten by the association of frontiersmen guilds, making it the third Great Labyrinth Dungeon ever to be discovered on the continent. Because of this incident, people were now suspecting that it wasn’t simply danger beasts that lurked within the unseen depths of those ancient tunnels, but something far more deadly.
Hearing the hesitancy in Alistar’s voice, the man crawled over to the disgusting rug that had contained most of what remained of his belongings, beside which lay the old sword and the long dagger. He grabbed hold of the latter with impatient hands and tossed it at Alistar, who caught it out of reflex.
“If you’re so nervous, then take this. It’s a pity that they only left the most useless of my belongings with me, but they still have a couple of enchantments that’ll make things easier for you.”
The dagger was dull and marked with countless scuffs and scratches, exceedingly ordinary in every aspect.
“I don’t sense any enchantments.”
“I shouldn’t think so, considering that they were cast by an arch magus. Try injecting some of your energies into the handle—just a bit should do.”