I keep an eye on Brandon’s health for the hour or so it takes Sam to contact the tracker he knows, and for her to arrive at the inn. It doesn’t shift in any way I notice. It’s slightly below a quarter still. I know health goes up slowly, but still. And why isn’t he drinking a healing potion? Is he unconscious?

She’s an elf, but there is nothing ‘haughty’ about her. She wears leather armor like it’s her everyday set of clothing; it’s worn and patched. Everything about her speaks of practicality, over appearances. There’s a quiver at her hip, which means she has a bow in her inventory, and a sword in a plain scabbard on the other side.

“Rachel,” Sam greets her. “These are the people who need your help.” He motions to us in turn. “Dennis, Helen, and Silver.”

She looks us over, then addresses Helen. “It’s five hundred dollars upfront. After that, it depends on how difficult it is to find what you’re looking for.”

I raise my hand, then speak before she moves her attention to me. “I don’t know if it matters, but I’m the team leader, and I’m the one who asked Sam to contact you.”

She looks at me in surprise, then at Helen, who just raises an eyebrow. When Rachel looks at me again, there’s hesitation, maybe regret? She shrugs. “Like I said, five hundred upfront.”

Did she overcharge because she thought she’d be working for Helen?

“You said it goes up from there. How will that work?”

“I have multiple ways to find something.”

“Someone. We’re looking for our teammate, Brandon.”

“Okay. I start with the simplest. I’d say half the time, that’s enough. If that doesn’t work, I move on to the other methods. Each one is slightly more complicated, requiring more time, more tools, and more ingredients. For each method I have to use, it’s a hundred dollars.”

“And if you don’t find him?” Helen asks. “You give it back?”

“I will find him. I’ve never not found what I was paid to find. It’s just a question of how well hidden it is and how much you’re willing to spend.”

“Whatever it takes.” I open the trade window and put the five hundred in it. She accepts it.

“Okay. I need something of his. What doesn’t matter, but it’s got to mean something to him. The importance doesn’t have to be great, but it’s got to be there. If you can’t…” she trails off, looking at me as I’m about to ask Sam if Brandon left anything in his room. She looks over her shoulder; at me again. “Is there someone else in your party other than this Brandon?”

“No, it’s just the four of us.”

“Then I have him. Follow me.”

Silver and Helen look at me, but all I can do is shrug and follow Rachel.

*

She takes us halfway across town. To a neighborhood of stone houses among yet more trees. While I know Louisville was here before the system arrived from what Sam said, I can’t help feeling like the trees have always been here, and the houses built in the spaces around them.

“He’s in there.”

This house is mostly field stones. There’s a porch stretching across the front, and the bay window on the left is perfectly formed glass. Not something that’s cheap to get.

“Do you know who lives there?”

“No. This isn’t quite the wealthiest part of the city, but we aren’t far from it.”

“Of course my brother would bother someone with money.”

“He was looking for someone who was alive before the system arrived. It makes sense they could set themselves up if they were in any way smart,” Silver replies.

“Are you coming with us?” I ask Rachel.

“No. I got you here. That’s where my work ends. I can tell you he’s in the far corner of the house, on the ground floor. Against the back wall.”

“Thank you.” I step to the door, and get confirmation Brandon’s been here by the busted latch and door frame.

“Did he really kick in the door of a stranger?” Silver asks.

I don’t bother answering. At best, he might have knocked, then kicked in the door if there was no answer or if they refused to let him in. Manners are not Brandon’s strength.

I knock on the door, and it moves in slightly. “Hello?” When I don’t get an answer, I push it open the rest of the way. I’m looking at a well-appointed living room. Couch, seats, fireplace, even a carpet under the low table before them. “Hello? We just want to talk.”

There’s a hallway to the left of center.

Maybe Brandon injured them in the process of getting hurt?

Helen grabs my shoulder as I step in. “Are you seriously going in there?”

“Brandon’s in here. And probably the person he was going to question. They’re probably both hurt. Someone would have replied when I called out otherwise.”

“Or this is another trap to get their hands on you.”

Yeah. That’s crossed my mind. I can’t not consider that at this point. “So what? Your suggestion is we leave your brother to get out of this by himself?”

“He got himself into this without any help.”

I pull my arm out of her grip. “I don’t leave friends behind.” I really wish she’d get that. They both follow me in. The hallway has two doors on one side, three on the other, and opens up at the back. I open the doors as we pass them to confirm there’s no one hiding in them. One’s a stairwell going up.

The back of the house is a kitchen and dining room spanning the width. It’s surprisingly modern, in the way of movies I’ve watched. A long counter, stove and oven, even something that could be a microwave. The table is dark hardwood with six chairs. There’s a glass patio door with a surprisingly large yard visible, considering how many trees are in this city. I can’t even see one out there.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Brandon is to the left of that, up against the wall. I’m halfway to him when an old man says, “That’s far enough.”

I whirl to face him, sitting at the dining table. I have no idea how I missed him, although his next action gives me the answer. With a wave of the hand, the entire room changes.

Gone are the appliances, the clean floor, the glass patio door. Even the walls are now just the field stones. The hallway we came through is also gone, but I’m not confident that’s not true. We did walk through it, and this speaks of illusion magic, rather than…wherever else it might be.

The man’s definitely old, human. He’s gaunt. His white hair’s thin, tied back. His clothing’s also old and worn. There’s an air of exhaustion about him, but his gaze is alert.

I wave Helen down as fire spreads over her hands. The look she gives me isn’t pleased.

“Hi. My name is Dennis. This is Helen, and that’s Silver. We’re just here to retrieve Brandon. I’m sorry for the trouble he caused.”

He snorts. “The kid barges in, then proceeds to threaten me with violence if I don’t answer his questions. Even landed a punch, the son of a bitch. I’m not inclined to let you take him anywhere.”

I glare at Brandon. “Really? You attacked an old man?” without the illusion, glowing bands around his neck and arms hold him against the wall.

“He wouldn’t answer me.” He sounds as weak as the old man looks. “And he’s tougher than he looks.”

“Maybe you need to start considering that before getting into fights I have to rescue you from.”

“I’m fine. You shouldn’t have come.”

“You are going to get this into that thick skull of yours. I am your friend. I will not leave you to deal with troubles alone, no matter what they are. And why the fuck can’t you just ask for help?”

He looks away. I’m pretty sure what he says is ‘I’m fine.’ But I can’t make out the words.

“If your friends of his, I’m also not inclined to let any of you go.”

“I’d love to see you—”

“Helen,” I warn. Does she realize she seems to be as eager as Brandon to get into fights when she thinks she has the upper hand? About the only difference between them there is that she is more aware of her limitations, usually. There is no way she can think she, we, can take on this man when he had such an easy time dealing with Brandon. Not to mention the magic he pulled to make us see the house as normal.

I focus on him again. “I’m sorry for the troubles Brandon caused. If you let us take him, I’ll make sure he never bothers you again.”

“He knows about Fort Knox.”

“And if you hadn’t made a mess of this, maybe we could have asked him. How about you stay silent and let me try to get you out of this?”

The old man chuckles. “You seem awfully confident you are getting out of here, boy.”

“Hopeful. There’s no way we can fight you, so I’m hoping we can come to an agreement about what it’s going to take to let the four of us walk out of here.”

“You’re sure you want to take him? You’ve been nice and respectful, so I’m inclined to let you and the two girls go, but him?”

“I don’t leave my friends behind.” I look at Brandon. “No matter what stupid shit they pull.”

“In that case, I’m not sure I can make it easy on you.”

“Look, I’m sorry he punched you, but—”

He waves that aside. “It’s not that. I barely feel stuff like that anymore. It’s the disrespect. I was old when his daddy was in his daddy’s balls, and he barges in here with his demands. You, at least, know how to be polite.”

“My Dad and Grandpa Louis, and Base are big on politeness with strangers.”

“Lost art, that. Being polite.”

“I appreciate you’re angry at Brandon, but there has to be something we can do, that we can pay, to balance what he did.”

His chuckle is without humor. “You are hanging a lot on the hope I’m a reasonable man.”

“You haven’t blasted us to dust yet, so I think you are.”

Now there’s levity in the chuckle. “Alright. I’ll give you a chance. There’s a dungeon outside the city that has something I want.”

“Couldn’t get it yourself?” Helen mocks and I glare at her.

“Do I look like the adventuring kind, little girl?”

“What is it?” I ask, still glaring at her so she won’t make matters worse.

“The core.”

I keep glaring as I try to puzzle what that is. When I can’t, I have to look at him. “What’s that?”

He chuckles. “That’s not important to you. What is, is that it’s going to be a crystal. I don’t know what shape it’s going to have, since they’re never the same, but it’s going to be at the bottom of the dungeon.”

“Okay, you let me have Brandon and—”

“No, boy. He stays. Think of him as my insurance you’re going to try your best to come back alive.”

“And what’s to say he’s going to be alive when we return?” Helen demands.

“I have no interest in killing him. I’m perfectly happy to watch him suffer as he dies of hunger and dehydration. He looks like he’s got a lot of endurance, so he’s good for what, three weeks, a month without water? I doubt it’s going to be pleasant, but it gives you ample time to reach the dungeon.”

“Do you have directions to it?” I ask.

“Do you have a map in your heads-up?”

“Not yet.”

He harrumphs in annoyance. Then, with a gesture, a piece of paper appears on the table close to me. I take it. There’s a rough outline of Louisville as well as the trade roads, and a dotted trail from one of them to an ‘x’.

“X marks the spot,” he says.

There’s no scale, so I have no way to tell how far it is, but there are enough landmarks, I should be able to find it.

“Can you tell me anything about the dungeon?”

“It’s going to kill the lot of you,” he replies, laughing.

So it’s going to be tough. Tougher without Brandon.

“Don’t do this,” Brandon says.

“You lost the right to tell me what to do after the first time I had to rescue you.”

He snorts. “I had to rescue you plenty of time.”

I glare at him. “I’m a kid out on his first adventure. What’s your excuse?”

He looks away.

“We’re going to be back with this core of yours. I expect Brandon to be in the same condition he is in now.”

“I won’t do anything to make him worse, I give you my word. I can’t vouch for what time will do to him, so I suggest you hurry.”

I turn to leave, and the hallway is back.

The rest of the house is just as decrepit as the kitchen. It’s like the old man never bothered taking care of it. Or he just moved into an abandoned house.

Rachel’s not there when we exit. The outside looks the same as before. Like it’s been maintained, just like the other houses in the area. An illusion? Or does he make sure it looks normal to keep people from wondering about him?

The first stop will be the inn. Sam might know something about the dungeon. Maybe people willing to help us.

“I think that was a lich,” Silver whisper and there’s a shiver in her voice.

“I’ve never heard of that species.” I look at Helen, who shakes her head.

“It’s not a species. It’s a condition.”

“Like a debuff?”

“If it’s like that, it’s a combination of a buff and a debuff. According to the song, the man who became one gained an unending life, but only by taking other’s hit points.”

“Like a Vampire?”

“That a species,” Helen says.

“But it’s a bit like that, just without the drinking of the blood part. You noticed how Brandon’s health never changed? He probably absorbs any points above a certain level.”

“Okay, so he can’t ‘suck Brandon dry’.”

“He might be able to. The man in the song ends up being killed because he sucks so many people dry. The others in the town turned on him.”

“So we might get back, just find a dry husk,” Helen says.

“He said he wasn’t going to kill Brandon,” I reply.

“And you believe him?”

I round on her. “What the fuck to you want me do to, Helen? Go back, kick the door in and end up like Brandon?”

“Unlike him, you have me.”

“You really think you can take him on?”

She snorts. “He’s old. Attributes drop when you’re old enough.”

“And that’s balanced out with being high level, which works out in their favor.”

She snorts again.

“My combat trainer is old. Probably as old as he is. She’s Grandpa Louis’s mother. And I watched her take down monsters in the last wave back home. You’re not that powerful, Helen.”

“And he might be stronger than that,” Silver adds. “In the song, the man uses a lot of those hit points to temporarily boosts other stuff. I think it’s like a pool he can apply where he wants, at the cost of burning them out, so having to absorb more.”

“Then we tell the city about him. They’ll take him down for us.”

“What crime has he committed?” I ask.

“He’s holding my brother. Draining him.”

“Someone who kicked in his door and assaulted an old man.” I look at her. “You really think they’re going to look at Brandon and see a victim? How many others has he assaulted in the process of looking for information, Helen? Be realistic. If the city gets involved, they might take Brandon away from that man, but they aren’t letting him leave. The only chance we have is to get him what he wants.”

“He said the dungeon was going to kill us,” Silver says.

“It won’t be the first one to try,” I reply. “And at least what he wants doesn’t end up with us having to break laws. As far as I know, dungeons are fair game.”/