Sellâ looked down. She hadn't seen it in the darkness but, illuminated in the light of the blue flame, she could the runic ring she was standing in. “No, no, no!" She lunged forward, trying to pull herself out of the seal, but her feet were glued to the ground. Realizing her struggle was futile, Sellâ turned back to Jasper. “You’re a bloody runic mage?” she spat.
“Actually, that would be me.” Ihra loomed behind him, a stony look on her face. "I took the opportunity to draw this up when I 'went to look for the key.'"
Sellâ tried, ineffectually, to shrink back. “Go, take the treasure - it’s all yours. Just let me live.” She raised her hands beseechingly.
But Jasper stepped forward, a threatening tone in his voice. “And what about your friends? Will they let us just waltz away with the treasure?”
Sellâ blanched, real fear creeping into her eyes now, as she begged. “Please!”
He raised his hands, casting a spell. Scales of Justice.
The trapped girl shook as the spell passed over her, and he bent down beside her.
“How many?”
“Five,” she blurted out, but he shook his head.
“Lie. You might as well tell the truth, Sellâ. As long as Scales of Justice is active, you cannot deceive me. So let’s start again. How many?”
“Thirteen.”
“Any mages?”
“No?”
“Will they attack us as soon as we step out of the sepulcher?”
“Yes. That was the plan, anyways,” she said bitterly.
He leaned forward, a subdued fury burning in his eyes. “How many have you killed? How many have you lured away with the promise of wealth?”
She looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. After a long minute of silence, he sighed. “Silence only makes it worse, Sellâ. Tell me this, at least - why us?”
She responded dejectedly. “We couldn’t figure out a way past the fire trap. The flames were just too intense for anyone without fire immunity to pass through them. But then you showed up. You had fire immunity, but I could tell you had no idea about our culture. I don’t know why the guards thought you were someone important, but it was clear to me you had no real backers, nobody that would miss you too much if you disappeared. It was perfect.” She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “How did you know?”
He snorted. “You’re not the first person who’s tried to take advantage of me. Also, your little operation hadn’t exactly gone unnoticed. The guards at Dūr-S̆innu didn’t have any evidence against you, but their captain and I had a little chat before we left. According to him, we weren't the first group to leave with you, but somehow, you always reached the next city alone.”
“Honestly, though? Giving me a map with a bunch of potential treasure spots when you just met me was way too on the nose. Perhaps I’m a little naive, but I’m not that stupid. Speaking of which,” he renewed the spell, “are any of the other treasure spots marked on the map real, or was this the only real one.”
“Nooo,” she ground out reluctantly. “They’re all potential places. There’s no guarantee somebody hasn’t got there first, though.”
He stood up, releasing the spell, and her eyes widened. “Please, don’t kill me - I’ll do whatever you want! Bind me, and I’ll serve you - I'll share your bed, scrub your toilets - whatever you want, I'll do. Just don’t kill me.”
“How many did you kill?” She pursed her lips, her eyes wide and quivering. He knew what that meant.
Jasper sighed, reluctant to do what came next. “I’m going to cast a spell on you, Sellâ.” He spoke gently, his heart racing within him. “If the spell passes over you, then once we’ve dealt with your friends, I’ll release the runes and let you go. You can’t stay with us, but I won’t kill you.”
Her voice shook. “And if the spell takes?”
“Then I’m sorry.”
He cast Purge.
For a second, he thought it had failed. Then the telltale ring around her neck begin to glow, her mouth opening in a silent scream as she flailed, vainly trying to escape the runic circle, and the fire that burned within. Moments later, her withered corpse fell across the floor with a dull flood.
He choked back the vomit as he turned away, his heart sick within him. He had realized from the start that she was playing a game with them, but he held out hope that he was wrong. The image of the teasing, vivacious brunette flashed before his eyes again, and he couldn’t hold it in, heaving his guts empty in the corner of the room. Groaning, he wiped his mouth. God, I hate this world.
Straightening up, he turned to Ihra. “You ready for this?”
She nodded grimly. “Let’s get this over with.”
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The Previous Night
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After hiring Bā’er, the three headed up for the night. Jasper stretched out on the thin straw bed, staring up into the darkness as he strained his ears to hear into the other room. After a couple of days of sleeping on the ground, even the worn-out pallet felt good, and he struggled to keep himself from drifting off to sleep. Eventually, his persistence was rewarded when the sounds of silence were replaced by the faint rumble of snoring from the nearby rooms.
He crept slowly out of bed and made his way across the floor to the door. Jasper froze as the wooden beams creaked beneath his weight, wincing at the noise, but the snoring continued unabated. Slipping out of the door, he silently descended the stairs. Many of the patrons had already left for the night, but the tavern was still humming with hearty cheer.
If worst came to worst, he'd just talk to the innkeeper but, to his relief, Bā’er still sat in a chair near the fire, a flagon of ale clutched in his hand.
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The man’s eyes widened as Jasper approached, and he started to stand up, rocking unsteadily on his feet as he tried to bow, but Jasper pushed him back in his chair. “Sit, sit.”
Bā’er took another swig of his ale, wiping the froth from his mouth before he spoke. “You aren’t thinking of canceling on me, are you, my lord?” A guilty look spread across his face. “I may have already spent some of the money.”
Jasper shook his head. “On the contrary. I still want you to come with us; I just want to make a few changes.” He dug a handful of gold coins out of his pocket and waved the barkeep over. “Yes, my lord?”
“Bā’er here seems to be a little tipsy, so I want to make sure you’re aware of my plan too.” Jasper held up the gold coin. “I want to hire a bunch of hunters, as many as you can gather.”
The men blinked, surprise evident on their faces. “So you are here to hunt kalmû?”
Jasper shook his head. “Oh, I’m here to hunt all right, just not kalmû. Here’s what I need you to do.”
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Present Day
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Ihra reached into her bag and drew out a small doll whose face was painted with three blue runes. Without hesitation, she tore its head off, only a few strands still connecting it to the base. “Alright, I sent the signal. Let’s give them a few minutes to get into position.”
Ihra leaned against the wall, idly sharpening her blade, as she kept an eye cocked on the doll, which lay on the floor before her, its head lolling off to the side. It was hard not to worry. The runes, for the most part, did what they were supposed to, but she had never had the chance to test this one out - just one mistake would ruin it. The minutes seemed to pass by interminably, but just as worry was starting to get the best of her, it finally happened. As if torn asunder by an unseen hand, the doll’s right arm suddenly fell off. She pushed off the wall, sliding her knife back into its sheath as she reached for her bow.
The two slowly crept up the ladder, holding their breath as the weakened rungs bent beneath their weight. But against all odds, the rotted wood held. Jasper was in front of her, but he paused at the top of the ladder, just below the sepulcher’s top. This was the biggest gamble in their plan. Hopefully, the village hunters had already taken out some of the ambush squad, but they had no way of knowing whether or not the exit had been booby-trapped. They had decided, therefore, that a quick departure was the best departure.
“Ready?”
Ihra nodded, and slowly climbed up onto Jasper’s back. The ladder bowed dangerously beneath their combined weight. “Hurry, it’s going to break.”
She wrapped her legs around him as best as she could, awkwardly hanging on, and tapped him on the shoulder. Not waiting a moment longer, he placed his hands on the sepulcher and vaulted up, activating Seraph Burst the instant he passed the stone lid. They shot up into the air as a hail of arrows slammed into the spot they had just vacated. The spell’s forward momentum quickly sputtered to a halt, the upward trajectory suffocated by gravity’s cruel grip, but it carried them just out of range of the projectiles. Ihra flung herself off him, as Jasper begin to spin through the air, hurtling back down toward the ground.
She landed deftly on top of one of the crumbling buildings, her hands already reaching for an arrow. A battle had broken out below them, as the hunters fell on the backs of Sellâ’s unprepared crew. Bā’er charged across the ground with a roar, a harpoon tightly gripped between his hands, straight towards the back of an unsuspecting bandit. The man turned just in time to be skewered through the chest, Bā’er lifting him up in the air like a trophy, before tossing the corpse against the wall.
Ihra scanned the melee quickly, loosing her arrow at a bandit that stood up above a hunter, his falchion swinging down at the villager’s head. Her arrow struck first, smashing through his skull in a shower of bone and brain, his swing falling limply. An explosion rocked the street below her, a plume of smoke blowing past her on the icy winds, and she smiled. Fire-boy is doing fine.
The only warning she had was a slight dip in the shadows at her feet. Reacting on pure instinct, Ihra flung herself to the side a fraction of a second before a battle-axe swished through her shadow. She landed awkwardly but caught her balance immediately as the weapon clanged harmlessly against the stone. The battle ax rebounded from the mighty blow, but its bearer had it under control in an instant. A hulk of a man stood before her. Dressed in a vest of furs, his massive arms were naked in the icy weather, the faintest whisps of steam rising off them.
Screaming in rage, he whipped the axe right at her chest, and she threw herself backward, landing with a cry of pain as her ankle buckled beneath her. Her bow fell from her hand, skittering just out of reach as the man rushed at her. She managed to roll away from his swing, her ankle throbbing, and reached for her daggers. She thrust them up just in time, the two daggers blocking the blow descending on her head.
With a roar, the man pushed down, and it took every fiber of her strength to nudge the blade to the side. It slammed into the ground beside her, its edge nicking her shoulder, which begin to bleed. She kicked at the man with her good leg, smashing into his jewels, but he simply laughed at her. “Good one, little lass. That might have worked, fifty levels ago." He hefted the axe into the air, spreading his legs wide, as he leveraged every ounce of his massive strength for a final, killing blow.
Time seemed to slow as the blade descended down to her. Ihra knew she could not block that blow, having barely deflected the last. Her ankle screamed as she threw herself forward, narrow squeezing between the giant’s legs, her dagger thrusting upward.
The man screamed, the blade dropping from his hands as he fell to his knees, clutching his sundered testicles. Limping as fast as she could, she pulled herself over to him. Grabbing his long, shaggy hair, she yanked his head back and sliced through his throat. Warm blood gushed over her hands, quickly freezing in the bitter winds roaring off the lake. She collapsed on the ground beside him, as, now that the worse of the danger was passed, the pain flooded through her.
The sounds of fighting echoed through the streets below for a few minutes longer, the sound of explosions assuring her that Jasper was still okay. She decided to let them fight; a broken ankle wasn't a serious injury, but it was a liability in combat, after all. And then the ruins fell silent.
“Ihra? Ihra, where are you?” She could hear the worry in his voice, coming from somewhere down below. She called out, the words catching in her throat, as she suddenly became aware of how very dry her mouth was.
“Ihra?”
Clearing her throat, she waved her arm as she pushed herself up, leaning over the wall while gingerly babying her ankle. “I’m up here - I could use a little help.”
He scaled the wall quickly, his expression turning stormy when he saw her.
“Are you okay? Where are you hurt? You’re covered in blood!”
She waved him off. “I’m fine - most of it is his blood." She nodded at the corpse of the giant man. "He got the drop on me. Nicked me on the shoulder, and I think I broke my ankle, maybe my leg too - I can’t put any weight on it.”
He rummaged through his bag, pulling out a potion. Ihra shook her head, pushing it away. “No, we should save the money and use the runes instead.”
Jasper scowled. “And how exactly do you think that’s going to work? I can’t use the runes, remember?”
Overriding her objections, he pressed the bottle to her lips. The sweet drink poured down her throat, and she groaned in relief and pleasure as the felt the bone begin to snap back in place, the skin on her shoulder knitting itself back together. Within minutes, the worst of the damage had been healed, but she lay against the wall with her eyes closed, her body utterly worn out by the accelerated healing process. That was the worst thing about the potions; they healed you but, boy did they kick your ass.
Doing her best to ignore the bone-aching exhaustion that now flooded her, Ihra cracked an eye open. Jasper had sat down beside her, responding as soon as he saw her move. “So I take it we won?” she asked.
He nodded. “Sellâ’s crew has joined her in the netherworld.”
“And the hunters?”
“A couple of them were hurt pretty bad, but none died.” He hesitated, “Once you’re feeling a little better, maybe you could heal them? I'd rather not see any of them die unnecessarily.”
Ihra nodded, bracing herself against the wall, as she pushed herself up. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep, but sleep could always come later. For now, there were people to save. "Alright, let's get to it."