Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 48 A Lot Of Skeletons.

Isaac still hadn’t made up his mind on whether or not he was up for a concert in front of hundreds of people so the pair decided to go stretch their legs. In this case, killing spiders. The pair had just decided to leave when Edward returned. “Wai’.” He told them around the food in his mouth.

“What?” Isaac questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Edward swallowed. “Wait.” He repeated. “I actually came to find you for a reason.”

“Oh?” Isaac asked. “Why?”

Edward sat down next to them. “There have been a large number of drow spies around recently.” He explained.

“How many is a large number?” Isaac wondered.

“We caught three of them.” Edward replied. “I hope we got them all but you can never be too sure.”

“Three?” Lenna asked with obvious concern. “What were they after?”

Edward shook his head. “They killed themselves once they got caught. The guards didn’t have enough time to incapacitate them.” He explained. “I just wanted you to know about the incidents and to remind you to keep an eye out.” He said the last part with a very deliberate nod towards Isaac and his Polarity Sense.

“I will.” Isaac assured him. “I am actually surprised that we haven’t had any fake refugees. They know that Lenna is here so I kind of assumed that they would send someone under the guise of a defector.”

“They would never do that.” Lenna explained. “It would be too easy to pressure them into forswearing Dri’El. They would rather die.”

Isaac nodded in understanding. “What do you think they were after?” Isaac asked both Lenna and Edward.

“Probably us.” Lenna replied.

Edward nodded. “I agree.” He said. “Either you or the explosive ballista bolts from the attack.”

“Why would they still be after us?” Isaac wondered.

“What do you mean?” Lenna asked. “You killed Jallen and I was in the frontline. I doubt my cousin is up to the task of running the city so the council of elders is probably doing it all for him. Those ancient bastards, my parents included, are probably still hoping to get revenge one day. If not revenge then they want to be sure that you’ll die of old age. You are an unknown and they will want you to be known.”

“Basically, just be careful.” Edward said. “Keep your eyes and ears open. That’s all I wanted to say.”

A boy who looked no older than fifteen with brown hair and eyes ran up to the three of them. “Guild Master.” He said and pulled a folded piece of paper out of a pocket on the inside of his vest. “Miss Bittittiddel gimme this for you.”

Edward took it with a frown. “Thanks.” He said offhandedly and handed the boy an electrum coin. He opened the paper and his brows creased as he read it. “That’s not good.” He looked over at Isaac and Lenna. “Are you up for a job?”

“How’s the pay?” Isaac asked with a grin.

“Fifty gold for a short walk.” Edward replied. “More if you can find out anything useful.”

“A short walk?” Isaac questioned.

“Someone said they saw a skeleton in the cave just past the spiders.” Edward explained. “I want to know if they were eating mushrooms or if it was real. I’ll pay you more if you can find out where it came from and even more if you can fix it. The last thing we want down here is undead. Gods know this place is lethal enough without the casualties standing back up and adding to their ranks.”

Isaac nodded once in affirmation. “We’ll get right on it.”

“Thank you.” Edward replied.

“Just one quick thing.” Isaac added.

“Yes?” Edward questioned.

“How much of a pay increase are we talking about?” Isaac wondered.

Edward chuckled. “Normal bounty rules plus bonuses based on what happens.” He shook his head. “I won’t empty the guild coffers for something trivial so make sure you bring back proof.”

Isaac sighed. “It was worth a shot.”

Lenna shook her head. “Come on, the sooner we finish, the sooner we get paid.” She told her mate and the pair headed off.

—

The pair had just entered the spider tunnels when Isaac stopped. “That’s odd.” He said quietly.

“What is?” Lenna asked.

“The spiders are closer than usual to this side of the tunnels.” He shook his head. “But that is only what first caught my attention. There is something out there.” He said and pointed towards the other end of the main tunnel that cut through the spider area. “The spiders are noticeably stronger than they used to be and yet they are afraid of it.”

There was some movement at the other end of the tunnel but it was far too far away for either of the pair to make out what it was. “Let’s check it out.” Lenna replied. “Carefully.”

“It feels pretty weak though.” Isaac assured her. “Kahtesh, go check it out. We’ll be right behind you.” He said and his shadow opened up. The familiar small dragon skeleton leapt out and bounded down the tunnel. After a few increasingly far leaps he fully extended his wings and began flying. As usual, the dragon didn’t beat his wings but rather ran mana over them like air currents. Flying like that he preserved almost all of his momentum and didn’t have to run on the ground like lesser creatures.

Isaac and Lenna followed after him in a jog. The pair were only a quarter of the way there when Isaac felt a strong sense of curiosity from Kahtesh. Soon after he saw Kahtesh leap backwards away from whatever was in front of him. Isaac’s hairs stood on end as an incredibly intense feeling of being startled slammed into his chest. ‘Kahtesh, be more gentle with the messages would you.’ Isaac sent to his familiar. It was clear to Isaac that Kahtesh had heard him but was too preoccupied to reply to a directive that didn’t really need one.

Kahtesh continued to bound towards and away from whatever he was playing with. Then, suddenly, there was a clang of steel on hard bone and Kahtesh tumbled. That was immediately followed up with a flash of light and a roll of thunder. Once the echo of the thunder died down the entire area was bathed in total silence. Isaac and Lenna were moving silently courtesy of Isaac’s shadows and not even the spiders were milling about in their tunnels.

‘Did you kill it?’ Isaac questioned and got a mixture of feelings back from Kahtesh. The dragon felt like he had done something wrong but he was also proud of it at the same time. Isaac sighed and decided to wait and reserve judgment until he had seen whatever it was for himself.

Isaac and Lenna eventually arrived next to Kahtesh who was standing over a long dead corpse. The flesh had long rotted away and the armor was rusty. The armor was simple chainmail and gambeson. There was a longspear on the ground next to it. “Definitely undead.” Lenna confirmed.

Isaac nodded. “It feels wrong in some way. Not the corpse, the corpse is fine, the residual mana is… off.” He said and knelt down next to the armored skeleton. “Kahtesh, did it feel like it was connected to something?” Kahtesh looked at him and rocked his head to the side. “Too esoteric?” Kahtesh nodded. Isaac looked up and towards the massive open cavern. “There are more of them… a lot more of them…”

“This is as bad as Edward feared, isn’t it?” Lenna wondered aloud.

“We don’t know that yet.” Isaac replied. “Only one way to find out though.”

Lenna nodded in assent and Kahtesh settled in next to them. Together the trio hiked through the large cavern until they reached the crest of the hill that almost seemed to shelter their side from the rest of the cavern. At the top of the hill Isaac’s breath caught. Lenna could tell something was up and hurried the last few steps to look over it with him. “Lua have mercy.” She swore.

Isaac stared, almost blankly, at the almost one hundred miles of open cavern in front of them before the next crest. At the top of the crest was a battered and broken castle that was little more than a dot on the horizon. All across the massive expanse there were chunks of stone torn up and tossed around like a giant has used it as a playground. There were ancient scorch marks and a massive red line. The pair couldn’t see the color of the line but the discoloration and tang of iron still hung in the air. This was the site of a brutal battle that had literally left a river of blood to evaporate across the lowest section of the cavern. If that was it then Lenna would have been happy. It was not.

“Damn that’s a lot of skeletons.” Isaac commented.

“You’re sure they are all skeletons?” Lenna asked.

Isaac nodded. “Absolutely. There has to be at least ten thousand of them.”

“Edward is not going to be happy.” Lenna joked.

Isaac chuckled. “Only if he finds out before we fix thi-” He was cut off by every single one of the undead, that had simply been milling about, turning to face them at the same time. “Is it too late to try and sneak in?” Isaac asked Lenna. At that moment every single undead in the cavern took a step towards them.

“Yeah.” Lenna replied. “I think we missed that window by about thirty seconds.”

“Do you think we can fight them all?” Isaac asked Lenna. They both knew that their bodies could theoretically last forever but Lenna would run out of mana and aura well before the army was cleansed.

“Can you teleport with me?” Lenna asked.

Isaac shook his head. “No. I still haven’t figured that one out.” He replied.

“Do you think your invisibility will work on them?” She questioned further. While the pair were talking, the undead legion started to go from a shambling walk to a jog and now finally to a run. A cacophony of clanking and clanging metal almost drowned out their conversation as it echoed and reverberated off the cavern walls.

Isaac shook his head. “They are way too coordinated for there not to be something smart controlling them. It might work but it might not. I’m not sure if you want to bet our lives on it.” He explained.

“Nothing to it then.” Lenna sighed.

“Time to run?” Isaac asked.

Lenna nodded. “Definitely.”