Chapter 52

What would pass for night for the next few weeks fell on the pair of men just as the ancient and ruined city of Kar’Xet came into view on the ruddy horizon. As the day progressed and the air temperature dropped by increments, the smoke also began to thin. By the time a rough dusk had settled over the land Mikel and Helsket could see a few miles in either direction. Beyond that, everything small was lost in the haze… As fate had it, Kar’Xet was nothing if not immense.

Red, late-day light stained the sky north of the city as the sun sank like a great, red marble to the west. This time of year there were only a few hours of quasi-darkness before the sun erupted on a new day, from the northeastern section of the horizon and bathed the world in its dry heat for another day.

Summers were rough on The Continent, but this year’s had been particularly brutal. Early heat, coupled with little rain had concocted conditions fixing to be the worst growing year for crops on record. Famine was on everyone’s minds and the death to come. Hard choices would have to be made, sacrifices to the continuation of a people - at the risk of total loss if no compromises were struck.

Fires danced around the land, where both lightning strikes and man-made blazes engulfed thousands of miles of grassland and forest alike. Even the areas untouched by flame were impacted as tons of char fell from the sky.

At the moment, to the East, beyond the bounds of the Desert of Karilaw, a fire burned north of The Capitol, and due to the wind patterns on this part of The Continent, the smoke wafted down and into the low bowl where Kar’Xet lay - and where Mikel and Helsket were headed.

Mikel couldn’t decide which burned worse - his legs or his lungs. His feet had been in the running, but miles hence had gone numb from the repeated thudding of his footsteps on the hard-packed, dirt road the pair made their way on. Twenty miles with a ruck was no joke and Mikel found a newly discovered respect for beats of burden and soldiers… If his family wasn’t on the line, you couldn’t pay him enough to do this sort of thing again…

He almost laughed at the thought of people doing this for fun but lost his enthusiasm when he took his next char-filled breath and nearly died. It took over a minute to quiet the cough which had begun to plague him about midday and showed no sign of respite.

For his part, Helsket seemed as fresh and as spry as when they’d set out from Farraway. Aside from some sweat stains and dirt caked on his skin - he was strong, fast, and able to travel quickly and easily.

Mikel doubly wished he knew the old adventurers' secret.

“Finally,” Mikel groaned as he hiked the pack up onto his shoulders for what he hoped was the final time of that day. He felt each pound he carried in his shoulders, in his spine, and in his knees and they all screamed for reprieve.

“And, we still have to get into the city,” Helsket said, eyes playing over the horizon. The sun had sunk out of sight, but it’s light yet remained, “We’re too close now. We either make it in before full dark or turn back for another mile. If we’re too close, as I mentioned, we’ll run into trouble.”

Mikel groaned but continued - this being his mission, he couldn't stop, not even if his entire body screamed in pain - and most importantly, he wasn’t about to backtrack a mile and subject himself to further abuse.

He knew that even though he was in pain, he was alive. The assassin and the Time Demon were absent for this part of the trip, although thoughts of the attack and the things that had come after played through Mikel’s mind.

As they drew nearer the city, what he’d thought the ancient Sunken Folk ruins had looked like, vanished in his mind.

Mikel had only seen drawings and paintings in books before this trip, and although they were well executed and the color schemes carefully chosen to set off the majestic, ancient architecture, they paled in comparison to the real thing.

The ancient city of Kar’Xet grew in size as the men approached. Spires, thin as a needle and yet solid, shot into the sky, their tops obscured by the clouds and low-hanging smoke. Halls and buildings, built in many shapes and fashioned from dozens of types of stone, clung to the ground like sleeping giants, waiting to erupt from the earth and stride anew after their millennia-long naps.

A hundred-yard-wide, cobbled thoroughfare struck straight through the city running North to South, dividing the city into two distinct districts. The suggestion of parks and outlying water features were still evident, thousands of years after the city was abandoned, and in some way, seemed that if the occupants returned, the city might yet spring to life again in mere minutes. Shattered gates beckoned inward - evidence of a tremendous blast or show of power thousands of years before.

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Although the outlines of the buildings were sharp, the finer details were lost as the sun began to sink into its brief reprieve for the night. Long shadows reached over the barren plains, some of the tallest spire shadows caressing the edge of the Karilaw, where sand mingled with the plants of the plains and each year claimed a little more of the fertile, but dry soil, for its own.

Mikel sucked in a breath as his eyes wandered the scale of the city.

Night would come quickly and he wanted to be in the city by then. Helsket and Telgil’s warnings were enough to make him wary.

“Are we… Going to make it? Maybe we could just… Press through and do not stop. I know you said it’s dangerous, but the city appears quiet. Maybe we can make it if we just continue?” Mikel ventured, hiking his pack up his back. There was enough daylight to maybe rush through, but Helsket seemed intent on spending the night within the confines of the city.

At first, Mikel hadn’t been bothered by the thought of moving into the dead city - but now, with it looming on the horizon like some long-dead, giant stone abomination, he found his courage prodded. Fear prickled his stomach and balls, while his skin chilled with gooseflesh at the thought of what lay within the ancient city.

“I’d like you to see some things,” Helsket said, “What we’re up against. Plus, if our dark-clad friends are still following us, I’d wager they wouldn’t try an attack after dark in the city - if they even ventured in at all. There are ancient things here more terrifying than a blade in the dark. They should know this.”

“So we go in, camp, and then… Leave in the morning?”

Helsket nodded, “Yes. We won’t sleep much - but we can rest.”

Mikel barked a laugh, his body aching and crying out for rest and sleep.

“Want to make a bet?”

Helsket shook his head, all humor absent.

“No. Let’s get -”

Helsket didn’t finish as a swath of shadow reared up in the road ten feet in front of them and a person dripping with darkness stepped from within the swirling, free-standing vortex.

Mikel’s heart leaped as he recognized the black robes and wickedly curved dagger.

“The guy who tried to kill me,” he mumbled as he automatically dropped his pack onto the moondust covering the hardpack it hid, and drew his sword. He spared the armor a single glance and wished he had time to don it - Now, there wasn’t a chance… Although the fear and excitement racing through him didn’t stop his mind from producing the image of him waving the attacker off for just a moment, so he could put on the leathers.

Two more black-clad figures stepped out of the portal - One with a staff, their form larger than the one who’d stepped through first - both taller and wider - while the third carried no weapon at all and hung back as if reluctant to join the battle - or commanding from behind.

Helsket looked at Mikel and beyond to the city sinking into darkness.

“You can run, Mikel. You can get inside. I can hold these three off long enough to get you in. Like I said - unless they’ve got a death wish they’ll -”

“I won’t hear it,” Mikel said in a clipped voice, “If you stay here and fight these three you’ll die.”

Helsket barked a laugh and sized up the assassins, “I’m dead anyway. You’re probably dead too - 3 against two are bad odds, to begin with - top it off that you and I are shot through tired doesn’t help. At least this way -”

“No,” Mikel said as he took up a fighting stance, “I’m done running. I’m tired of it and want to fight. These three aren’t angry priestesses you’ve had a fling with - they mean business.”

Helsket grunted and grinned at Mikel, his pack hitting the ground in a rush of dust. In the same motion, he drew the mace Telgil had given him and hefted it in front in a stance that favored overpowering attacks without defense.

“I always knew you had it in you,” Helsket said, eyes locked on their enemy as the three slowly began to walk toward them. Two, really - for whatever reason the third held back.

“I’m hurt,” Mikel said, trying in earnest to figure out how much reserve Stamina he had in the tank. The slate was in his pocket, and more importantly, out of juice. He’d need to rest, convert Stamina to Essentia, and then fill it up before he could check anything.

That image was even more ridiculous than the idea of putting on his armor right before combat.

He’d have to wing it.

“Whoever you are, turn back,” Helsket yelled at the black-clad attackers, “We’re on the cusp of the city. You don’t want to get caught out in the dark here. We all need to get inside for the night - if we do that we can tear each other apart in the morning like civilized people. If we don’t - well -”

Helsket received his answer as the attackers continued to stalk towards Helsket and Mikel - the larger staff wielder said nothing, as the small, dagger-wielding assassin swirled a portal open and vanished.

Before Helsket or Mikel could react another portal whirled into being right next to them - and the second black-clad assassin rippled out and rocketed straight towards Helsket, hand outstretched with a familiar sigil glowing like green fire in the person’s palm.

“Watch out!” Mikel yelled as he darted in between the assassin and Helsket, just as the Paralysis Skill fired off like an arrow from the assassin's open palm.

Mikel raised his sword and tried to block the flowing sigil but to no avail. Just as before the strange spell Mikel didn’t understand, hit him square in the shoulder and sent scintillating energy coursing through his body.

Then, he stepped forward and slashed down hard with his sword before the spell could take effect.

He knew he was only going to get one chance at this and meant to take this assassin with him even if it was the last thing he did.