Warmaster 8 charnel keep.., p.35
Warmaster 8: Charnel Keep: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure, page 35
He dug in his belt pouch and brought out a fat steel ring, covered in black wire mesh on one end and a faceted lump of quartz on the other. “Drorg’s ring turned out to be a key, sort of. More accurately, it provides access permission to the user, like how in the Enchanterium the keys were badges or something. Once we discovered that, moving through the keep was easy. Then Ruan died, and we found the stairs up, and met you—that’s all.”
Aderyn tensed at the mention of Ruan’s death, but Owen didn’t say anything. She loved that he didn’t push, and that lack of pushing made it possible for her to speak. “Ruan lied,” she said in a low voice, though it didn’t matter who heard. “His Fated One quest was actually to steal a sword from the Charnel Keep treasury. He told us his quest was to rescue the prisoners because he knew that would get us to come with him and provide support.”
“That bastard.”
“Yes.”
“And you fought when you found out the truth?”
“More or less.” The memory of Ruan’s stunned face as he plummeted to his death shook Aderyn as it had not at the time. “I was lucky. Suveer refused to help Ruan kill me, and while Ruan was distracted, I used [Reposition] to shove him through that opening above the atrium. The scimitar tree did the rest.”
“Scimitar tree? I didn’t know that was there. You can get experience when you don’t deal the final blow?”
“If you’re fighting something, and you maneuver it over a cliff edge or into a trap or another monster, it counts as you doing the damage. Father says it’s complicated and he thinks the system decides on a case-by-case basis whether to award experience, but I don’t know anymore.” She hugged Owen. “I’m glad Ruan is dead. His greed might have gotten us all killed.”
“And now I feel guilty about my greed,” Owen said. He dragged his knapsack toward him and unlaced the top. “I had the chance to grab some of that treasure while Weston was opening the door. I didn’t go for anything in particular, there wasn’t time, but I grabbed one of those little caskets.”
He removed a silver box from his knapsack and opened the lid, which had a latch but no lock. Aderyn gasped at the sight of a pile of jewels, some rings half buried in the pile, and a tangle of golden chains. “Owen, it’s a fortune!”
“Even divided among the six of us, it’s a lot,” Owen agreed.
“Divide what?” Livia said.
“Owen picked up some of Glasha’s treasure.” Aderyn ran her fingers through the mix of jewelry and gems. “I was going to be upset about him taking time away from our escape, especially since the system message told me greed is the enemy, but it doesn’t matter. This could set us up for life.”
“Oh, well, if you put it that way.” Livia withdrew a matching silver box from her knapsack. “I figured, even Weston needed a few seconds to get the door open, and I didn’t have anything else to do—”
“Livia!” Aderyn couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Then I feel less awkward about having taken something as well,” Isold said. He removed a smoothly curved mace from his waistband. “I was about to take one of the coffers when I saw this. It is called
Aderyn rested her head on Owen’s shoulder. Her heart felt lighter than it had since… she couldn’t remember how long it had been since she last laughed. “I feel like we’re close to success. I don’t know what it will take to make the orc army retreat, but it can’t—”
“You’re going to jinx us,” Livia warned. “Don’t say anything about how it can’t be that hard.”
“All right, I won’t.” Aderyn ate more grapes. Around them, the citizens of Shantos, the former prisoners, lay huddled on the ground. Most of them appeared to have fallen asleep. “I hope—oh, I forgot to see if Glasha had Varoun’s
“They had plenty of time, even if Varoun used the
“The Blighted Range is hardly that,” Weston joked, “but I know what you mean.”
“I think a few hours will be enough,” Isold said. “None of them are injured in a way healing can fix, just exhausted and traumatized. Better we get out of the high-risk zone as fast as possible, and finish recuperating after that.”
“I agree,” Owen said. “But we should set watches as if it’s nighttime. Aderyn and me, Weston and Livia, Isold and Suveer. An hour and a half each—what time will that put us at, Livia?”
Livia checked her pocket watch. “It’s a little after seven a.m. now, so call it about one in the afternoon.”
“We reached Charnel Keep a little more than twenty-four hours after entering the high-risk zone. By my math, that means travel took fourteen hours.” Owen stared into space like he was doing more mental calculations. “With the civilians along, we won’t go as quickly, but I’m sure they’re motivated to get back to civilization, so I’m guessing we won’t add more than a couple of hours to that number going back.”
“And the sun rises and sets around six or six-thirty every day,” Aderyn added.
“Right. Traveling at night is far too dangerous, so we’ll cover ground today for five hours and, if we push hard, we could camp outside the high-risk zone tomorrow night. Livia, is there any way we can shorten that with magic?”
“There’s one possibility I wasn’t sure we should consider,” Livia said. “When my reserves are full, I can cast world door seven times without exhausting myself. Tomorrow morning I could send the citizens back to Ikharatia and I’d still have some reserves left. It would take them to safety and keep us safer because we wouldn’t have to worry about keeping them alive. But I wouldn’t be in a position to defend us if we ran into something really dangerous, and ‘really dangerous’ is practically the definition of what we encounter here.”
“It’s still a smart idea,” Owen said. “I love the thought of getting them to safety and especially putting Debran where he can’t bitch at Aderyn anymore. But you’re right we should consider other options. Anything else?”
“I can transport us about ten miles at a time, but we’d have to split into two groups, and I’m superstitious about separating the party. And ten miles might not be worth the power expenditure.” Livia looked thoughtful. “A final option is for someone to go to Ikharatia via world door and borrow Varoun’s wand, but we don’t know where he is and, again, we’d be splitting the party.”
“I don’t know,” Aderyn said. “That first plan is more appealing the more I think about it. We’ll have to be extra careful, but we would do that anyway.”
“I agree,” Weston said.
“Does that mean sending me, too?” Suveer asked.
An awkward silence fell. Owen said, “Do you want to leave?”
Suveer shrugged. “Either I’m a useless Warmaster or I’m not. There are six former prisoners, and you said, seven world door castings. But that would leave you mostly defenseless. I don’t know if you want me along.”
Owen glanced at Aderyn. Aderyn, who was used to leaping to Suveer’s support when he said things like that, found herself at a loss for words. Finally, she managed, “You’re an adventurer. You have abilities these non-classed people don’t. If you think you can fight beside us if something happens, we want you to stay.”
Suveer tilted his head, fixing his one eye on Aderyn. “There’s nothing for me in Ikharatia. Maybe I can be useful here.”
The thought of Suveer as a permanent member of their team gave Aderyn an uncomfortable uneasiness that ran all through her body. She was sure he hadn’t meant it that way, since they would be leaving the Southlands when the Fated One quest was complete, and Suveer might not want to leave his home. But where the thought of Jessemia joining them had pleased her, having Suveer there in her team roster forever just filled Aderyn with dread. It made no sense. She seemed to have gotten what she wanted, for Suveer to see his value, and it hadn’t satisfied her.
“You can stay with us until we reach the city,” Owen said as if he could read Aderyn’s thoughts. “See how much experience you gain.”
Suveer nodded. “I’m sure I’m close to seventeen now.”
Owen rose. “Then that’s settled. Aderyn, you and I will watch first, and I think everyone should nap if they can.”
Aderyn followed Owen a short distance from their impromptu camp. “Thanks,” she said. “I don’t—Owen, this is awful, but I don’t want him with us forever.”
“How is that awful? He’s really not a fit for our team.”
“Because I wanted him to see his self worth, and now that he has, I don’t like him any more than I did before!”
Owen sighed. “Come here.” He drew her into his arms and held her for a few moments. “That is a problem only you could have.”
“Owen!”
“That was meant as a compliment, sweetheart. Didn’t it occur to you that you don’t have to like everyone? Suveer has changed in large part because you believed he could. But he’s still Suveer. He is still damaged from all those years under Ruan’s thumb. You can’t turn him into another person. And you shouldn’t feel bad that you didn’t.”
“But—” Aderyn shook her head. “You’re right. I guess I feel responsible for him, and I feel guilty that I sort of resent him still being here. I didn’t ever think beyond getting him to realize his potential.”
“It’s all right. He can stay with us until we return to Ikharatia, and then we’ll say goodbye. Maybe he’ll team up with another partner, or maybe he’ll retire. Level sixteen is respectable for any class, and for a Warmaster it’s downright miraculous. But you—” He kissed her lightly. “You aren’t responsible for him no matter how you feel about it. Let that worry go.”
“I will. Thank you. I feel you’ve lifted a burden. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now, let’s stay alert. Now that the immediate crisis is past, I’m feeling weary.”
Aderyn’s weariness grew as they walked the perimeter, and after an hour and a half she was ready to let Isold and Suveer take a turn. Sleep, even a short sleep, refreshed her, and when Weston and Livia got up to take their turn at watch, the movement roused her and she discovered she was slept out. She sat with her back to one of the dry, desiccated trees and closed her eyes, listening to the wind’s voice rustling what few leaves were left and the sound of Livia and Weston’s boots pacing around their camp.
Someone settled beside her. Suveer said, “I still don’t know why you were nice to me. I didn’t like you from the start.”
Aderyn resisted the urge to respond sarcastically. By now she realized Suveer had no idea what small talk was. “I told you. You and I are the highest level Warmasters in the world, as far as I know. I liked the idea of being able to talk to someone like me, and you were it. And I don’t like seeing potential wasted.”
To her surprise, Suveer smiled. It was a thin, crooked smile, but she’d never seen him so much as twitch his lips in amusement no matter how good the joke. “Ruan said you wanted to be better than me. That you only cared about being the most powerful Warmaster. He said a lot of things to keep me away from you.”
“He told you a lot of lies over the years, I think.” Aderyn felt no shame at speaking badly of a dead man. “He knew if you ever met a Warmaster who knew the truth about our class, you’d figure out he was controlling you for his benefit.”
“I know.” Suveer lightly touched his ruined eye. “He meant well at the beginning, I think. Sticking with me even though I had a useless class—you know how people think. But all through our childhood, I was the one who tagged along after him. He had all the ideas and I followed where he led. So I had chances to break away that I never took, which makes some of this my responsibility.”
Aderyn had never imagined having this focused a conversation with Suveer on any topic. “That sounds right.”
“And it was easier to let him take the burden of leadership, even when I didn’t like what he decided. Like it wasn’t my fault if I did something bad because it was Ruan’s idea.” He drew his knees up and hugged them. “I should have stood up to him long ago.”
Again, Aderyn didn’t feel an urge to contradict him. “What matters is you stood up to him at the right time. You saved my life. I wouldn’t have had time for [Reposition] if you hadn’t distracted him.”
“I’m glad. You saved my life, too.” Suveer rested his chin on his knees. “I wish we had played Wall face to face.”
“Yes, you have to be better at it than Ruan. Did you teach him?”
Suveer smiled again. “That was me playing. We used [Bonded Mind] for me to tell Ruan what moves to make.”
“You—” Aderyn decided calling him a cheater was pointless. “You’re right. I bet if we played each other, without someone else as an intermediary, it would be a fantastic game.”
“It would.” Suveer yawned. “I just wanted to thank you again. Even though I wish I’d retired years ago.”
“What? Why?”
Suveer searched for words. “Because,” he finally said, “I’m not sure being a level sixteen Warmaster with a terrible partner is better than being a level one Warmaster with no partner at all.”
He rose and walked away while Aderyn gaped, stunned out of a good response. He’d said the words matter-of-factly, not denigrating himself, and yet the sentiment was so deeply depressing Aderyn almost felt like sliding into the black hole after him. And she’d had such hopes that he’d changed! Well, he had changed, just not as much as she’d thought. And she had the whole journey back to Ikharatia to get him to see things differently.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
With a snap, the final world door oval collapsed, making Debran disappear. Livia stretched. “I actually feel better than I thought I would,” she told Weston, who looked concerned. “I think my reserves may be greater than I realized.”
“That’s good, because I was thinking we could repeat that trick tomorrow morning,” Owen said. “Especially since we’ll be arriving in Ikharatia, where no monsters lurk to eat our faces and it doesn’t matter how low your reserves are.”
“I love this plan,” Weston exclaimed. “I’m sick of the Blighted Range. This place makes me itch. I want a bath.”
“Oh, don’t say that. Now I can’t think of anything else,” Aderyn complained.
“No daydreaming,” Owen said with a laugh. “Let’s get walking. Unless it’s safer to set up camp and wait the day out? Aderyn?”
Aderyn shook her head. “We’re likely to make ourselves a target if we stay put. I don’t know what kind of territory the monsters in this place have established, or if they patrol—you see the problem. If we keep moving, we might still disturb something, but the odds are in our favor.”
“Then we walk.” Owen stretched the way Livia had. “I shouldn’t be complacent, but despite this being the Blighted Range and a real pit of a place, I feel like we’re—”
“Jinx,” Livia and Weston said at the same time.
Owen rolled his eyes. “Never mind. Let’s walk faster then, how does that sound?”
Aderyn sympathized with Owen. The sun still blazed in the sky, which was yellow with haze and dust and heat, the air still tried to suck the moisture from her eyeballs and nostrils, but she felt good. The last of the prisoners had been rescued, and from here it was just a matter of surviving whatever monsters the high-risk zone threw at them. But, given how powerful those monsters could theoretically be, she wasn’t about to be caught off guard.
She walked beside Owen, occasionally Assessing the landscape. The bright green lines never failed to amaze her. Maybe after a few weeks they’d stop seeming so miraculous. Her team had left the trees behind, and the orcs’ “road” now passed through a barren landscape of rises too low to be called hills. Cracked soil covered with scatterings of loose gravel and sand looked as parched as the air felt. Aderyn’s boots kicked up light puffs of dust wherever she trod.
“Stop,” Livia said.
Aderyn turned. Livia stood motionless, stiff with tension like she was listening to distant noise with her whole body. “I feel movement beneath us,” she said. “Like the deep delver. That kind of vibration.”
“Crap,” Owen said. “Is it after us?”
Livia shook her head. “I can’t tell. But we have to assume it is. Everybody stay perfectly still. No movement. Maybe we can convince it we aren’t here.”
This made Aderyn uncomfortably aware that she wasn’t balanced very well. The need to move nearly overpowered her. “When will you know?”
“If it’s hungry, it will be more alert. We could be here for a while.” Livia frowned. “Actually, let me try something.”
She closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her at chest height. A tremor struck, not a powerful one, more of a jiggle of earth. It seemed the opposite of what they needed, and Aderyn was about to say so when she heard a deeper rumble, much farther away. In the distance, maybe a quarter mile to the north, the parched earth heaved, breaking the dry crust and sending more tremors through the ground. As the noise and shaking of the earthquake continued, Livia said, “Let’s run. That should draw its attention.”
“I thought you didn’t want to use up your reserves,” Owen said.
