24

* The party of adventurers find a new goal to fulfill in their quest to find the demon lord.

*

22 - Valdys

Ulric carried their trembling attacker in his arms out of the thicket. The spirits rushed at him again but diverted away before getting close, and twirled in a wild cloud at a short distance. 'Looks like they don't dare attack now that you caught their master.' said Elzbieta and put her sword away.

'Thankfully.' he said and knelt to sit down the cloaked figure. Kaui sat down in front of the hooded figure. 'Why did you attack us?'

The hood turned her way. 'Weren't you sent to attack me?' asked a voice that sounded lifeless but was unmistakeably from a young woman.

Kaui shook her head. 'We're only travelling here. We came to this clearing in the hopes to find some information on what's around here. We have no hostile intention, even if you commanded these spirits to attack us.'

The hood looked down. 'I didn't command them.'

Kaui looked at the flickering white wisps crossing each other nervously. 'You didn't?'

The hood shook. 'They're my friends.'

'They were protecting you.' said Iphigenia. 'They thought we'd harm you and that's why they attacked us.'

The hood nodded.

'Why would anyone try to attack you?' asked Kaui.

A sigh came from the hood. 'Because Demetrus keeps trying to capture me.' she said and pulled back the hood.

Ulric and the girls stared at the grey-black face of a young woman with long, grey hair and black eyes with light grey irises. 'You're an undead.' said Elzbieta.

The woman nodded. 'I was cursed a long time ago by a nobleman that wanted me. I disliked him and kept refusing, and one day when he tried to force me I smashed a jug in his face. In his rage he cursed me with his secret knowledge of undead magic while I ran away, and by the time I came home I noticed my heart had stopped beating.' She placed her hand on her chest for a moment. 'In the days after the colour of my skin turned from black to this grey, and cuts in my skin didn't bleed any longer. I was shunned by the rest of the village and fled here into the woods, but it didn't matter much because soon Demetrus revealed his plans and turned the entire area into this dead wasteland.' She looked up at the black sky. 'Everyone I knew is dead. He sucked away their life force to replenish his own, and used their undead existence for his experiments and as fighters to attack intruders. After all this time none of who once lived here are left.'

Ulric growled low and the girls nodded. Kaui leaned closer to the woman. 'Is there a way to defeat him?'

The woman looked at her wide eyed. 'Defeat!? That's impossible! He's living deep within a twisted mausoleum guarded by living armour and stone statues! The book that holds his soul is thoroughly defended!'

Kaui nodded. 'So, his weak point is a book.'

The woman looked around at them. 'Yes! But there's no way to get close to him through the mausoleum and my friends don't have the power to steal the book either without getting caught!'

Ulric growled and took a step towards the whirling cloud. 'But they could if they wouldn't get caught?' asked Kaui.

The woman looked at her, then at Ulric's back. 'But there's no way!'

Ulric turned around and smiled. 'I think you just told us how.'

***

'Let me introduce ourselves.' said Kaui while Iphigenia and Elzbieta pulled food from their packs. 'We are Iphigenia, Elzbieta, Kaui, and Ulric. Our party is named Quaint.'

'Valdys.' said the young woman and gave a nod in greeting. 'So, you're a party of adventurers then?'

Kaui nodded. 'Indeed.'

'But there's nothing of value around here. No adventurer has come here in ages.'

Kaui glanced at Ulric. 'We, have our reasons to come this way.'

Valdys nodded and didn't pry any further. 'Why help me though? I don't have anything of value to give you, and even if you'd defeat Demetrus, I don't think he has a lot of valuables either.'

'There's some information he might have that could help us in our quest, but Master doesn't like people like Demetrus either and will try to help whenever he can.'

Valdys declined Iphigenia's offer of food and drink. 'I no longer need to eat or drink, thank you.'

'Of course.' said Iphigenia. 'I should have realised but this is the first time I don't have to be hostile towards one of your kind.'

Ulric growled and Kaui nodded at him, then turned to Valdys. 'What can you tell us about Demetrus?'

'I don't know much, just what I hear from friends who've been inside the mausoleum. When he cursed me he was already advancing in death magic and progressing in controlling dead things. Since then he became a master necromancer and delved into the most forbidden knowledge, and my friends even overheard a mention of challenging the demon lord.'

Kaui caught Ulric's eye. 'But that never happened, right?'

Valdys shook her head. 'No.'

'Did the lord or any of his staff actually come here?'

'Not that I've heard of. But I have barely any knowledge about who comes and goes there. I believe there might be a portal somewhere in the deepest regions.'

Ulric nodded. 'We'll just have to find out then.' said Kaui.

Valdys pulled on her cloak. 'How do you plan to defeat him? You might fight your way in but at some point you'll face his strongest guards or even himself, and you can't kill him because he's already beyond death.'

Kaui gave her a gentle smile. 'Master has a plan, but we need your help to complete it. Are you in?'

Valdys looked down at a spirit that floated into her lap. 'Are you certain it'll work?'

'We have faith in Master.'

'I wanted to rid this world of him for so long, but never believed it could happen while he became more powerful. Even if there's the slightest chance of success, I will take it. I will help because I have nothing to lose and I believe you're the only hope I have.'

Kaui nodded and put her hand on Valdys's knee. 'Master won't give up easily.'

***

Ulric's ears pricked up after they followed the ancient remains of a road deeper into the dead forest. 'Hold up. I hear movement around us.'

Valdys watched him stand on guard while Iphigenia and Elzbieta unsheathed their swords. She wanted to ask Kaui what was going on but as soon as skeletons from small woodland animals surrounded the group, she understood. 'Wait! These are my friends!'

'These, former creatures?' asked Kaui.

Valdys stepped towards the ones closest to her, squatted, and one of the skeletons jumped up into her arms. She turned and stroked its skull. 'Yes. Because they need a certain amount of mana to move about they can only go so far from the mausoleum that radiates excess mana.'

Kaui looked closer at the creature that she thought used to be a squirrel and she could swear it twitched its non-existing whiskers at her.

'They, along with the spirits, have been the only ones to keep me company all this time.'

'They don't seem to be much of a talker though.' said Ulric.

Valdys chuckled after Kaui translated. 'I learned some death magic myself from books I found in Demetrus's old residence, and my friends here managed to smuggle more books out of the mausoleum to help me learn more. I can control some dead objects at a short distance now.'

'Oh? That aught to be an advantage to us.' said Kaui.

'I don't think I am of much use though. I've only seen the battle armours and statues move in groups. To control that takes much more power than I can muster.'

Ulric held out his paw to the creature and it jumped on it after a short hesitation. He let it sniff his finger before stroking its skull. 'Any small distraction or disturbance on their side can make a difference between victory and defeat.'

Valdys nodded and for the first time in years she noticed the corners of her mouth lifting up in a smile. 'I'll do what I can.'

'Thank you.'

***

A while later the fog became thicker and ahead of the group loomed a darkness blocking what little light there came from above. 'That's the mausoleum.' said Valdys while she held her arms. 'That's where Demetrus dwells.'

'How big is it?' asked Kaui as she peered into the fog above.

'No idea. It has been growing with Demetrus's power and it's even bigger on the inside.'

'Inside?'

Valdys nodded. 'He used transformation magic to expand the space inside the building. It's as good as infinite now.'

Ulric whistled. 'People would kill for that ability in my world. no more cramped housing and skyscrapers blocking the view, infinite closet space for women.'

Elzbieta raised an eyebrow at him.

He grinned. 'A stereotypical joke in my world. Us boys would use it to try to hide our porn stash, but mothers would still have the uncanny ability to find it.'

The closer they came, the more impressed Ulric and the girls were. The view that the fog allowed showed a seemingly infinite wall of black stone, thick pillar motives, intricate chiselled patterns, detailed statues of gargoyles, knights killed by demonic creatures, dragons, elaborate swords, as well as wizards, all framing huge stained glass windows depicting death, war, suffering. Ulric stood on his hind legs and looked up but even his enhanced eyesight was lost in the haze before he could spot a hint of a roof. 'Just how many people have been working on this?'

'None.' said Valdys. 'This has all been created by death magic.'

He nodded. 'I can see it rubbed off on the architecture and decoration.'

He looked at two huge stone doors with decorations of dead members of various races reaching out in agony. 'Very welcoming.'

Kaui shuddered. 'I'm chilled to the bone just from this.' said Kaui.

Ulric took her hand and squeezed it gently. 'I'm here to keep you warm.'

She smiled at him and relaxed as warmth filled her chest. 'Thank you, Master.'

Iphigenia clutched his other arm. 'I feel cold too.'

He looked at her and chuckled. 'Well, I have enough warmth for you as well.'

Elzbieta grabbed a patch of fur on his back and blushed as she looked away. 'And me.'

He smiled at her. 'You know it.'

Valdys glanced at the scene next to her but refrained from asking what exactly the deal was between the remarkable bloodwolf and the women. She agreed the name Quaint was a good fit for them. She stepped towards the door and muttered the phrase to unlock and open them.

The doors opened with the grating sound of hard stone on stone and a chilled breeze of ancient smelling air washed over the group. 'I think Demetrus should air out his home more often.' Ulric said.

They went inside with some sense of reverence and gazed upon the wide stone walkway extending into the dusty haze in the distance and the walkways connected to towers extending into the haze above and below them. Torches lit galleries surrounding the towers and floors were far apart. Ulric looked back. 'Oh crap, you weren't kidding.'

The others looked back to see the space inside extended beyond the entrance, where it shouldn't exist.

'Just how fucking big is this space?' he said and looked over the edge of the walkway into black depths. 'Would someone fall forever if they jumped down?'

The door closed again with a heavy stony clunk and the group stood in the dead silence only large empty spaces can produce. 'You know the way?' asked Kaui.

Valdys nodded and set her skeleton squirrel friend down. 'My friends do, actually.' she said and followed the squirrel as it headed forward.

Ulric and the others followed her while gazing at the practically void space around them and suppressing feelings of vertigo.

'We shouldn't encounter any guards until we're deeper inside.' Valdys said. 'I can't tell what kind or how many though when we do.'

'Can we take detours when we do?'

'Can we?' asked Valdys of the squirrel and it produced a bony chitter. 'My friends will try to find one if they don't already know one. This is basically an infinite maze and it's easy to get lost. It's only thanks to the large numbers that they know their way around.'

Iphigenia nodded while she looked at walkways spanning the distance between towers overhead. 'I have no doubt about that.'

***

Skeletal creatures and small spirits popped up along the way and took over as guides part of the way while the group went along more walkways, ascended and descended wide and narrow stairwells in the towers, sometimes navigating around gaps in the walkways or rubble blocking the way from breaches in walls. At one point they halted for a moment to look at a broken tower leaning against another. 'Wouldn't this sort of thing get fixed?' asked Ulric. 'Or shouldn't things be breaking at all with all this magic power?'

'It still takes attention to keep it in the state as it was built.' said Valdys. 'It only goes to show just how large this space is for things to deteriorate and not be repaired at this scale.'

He looked around at the tangible eerie silence and emptiness. 'Maybe that's just a good thing. For us at least.'

'I think he no longer senses much of what goes on beyond his close surroundings. It's the duty of his guards to take care of that anyway.'

The squirrel accompanied by the latest skeletal rat to guide them came running back with faint clicking of their feet bones hitting the stone. They chittered and Valdys looked at the group. 'There are guards ahead. Two floating armours.'

'Can we check them out without being seen?' asked Kaui.

The rat chittered at Valdys. 'We can watch them from behind a corner because they're stationed halfway down a walkway.'

Ulric nodded. 'Good, Let's see what they look like.'

The group kept low and out of sight as they went along the gallery that led to the corner where they could observe the walkway. Ulric watched two battered steel upper body armour parts float motionlessly with faint dark purple light behind the eye holes in their helmets. Both held large broadswords in their disembodied gauntlets. He moved back to the huddled group and Elzbieta took her turn to have a look. 'Have any of you ever fought something like this before?'' he asked.

'I haven't.' said Elzbieta.

'I've only heard a story from an adventurer I met once.' said Iphigenia. 'Everyone always tries to avoid them because they're just too dangerous if you don't have enough magic power or strength to withstand their attacks and destroy them. The one I met only defeated it because a lucky hit against an old wall made it fall down on the armour.'

'How about your death magic?' asked Kaui of Valdys.

She shook her head. 'I might be able to control one for a short while, but I can't really fight them.'

Ulric sat back against the wall. 'Detour?'

The rat chittered. 'Not this time.' Valdys said. 'Unless you want to take a very long one with a good chance we'll be lost for a long while.'

'So we have to fight them.'

'The only advantage is that with this far from Demetrus, he'll most likely never find out. The only communication here is between guards.'

Ulric looked at the girls. 'I'm open to suggestions.'

23 - Blasting Through

Ulric looked up at Valdys as they walked casually towards the floating armours. She understood his intention and gave him a brief smile. 'I'm all right.' she said and tightened her fists to combat the shiver of fear inside her. 'The guards had been engrained with an order to recognise me and not attack like they would with any intruder. It should give us the advantage of surprise.'

He gave her a soft reassuring growl and prepared to transform his fur.

The armours floated at either side of the walkway and turned towards them while the purple glow of their eyes brightened and they lifted their swords in front of their chests.

At a few metres distance, Valdys began muttering her incantation and at her last word she thrust out her arm at the armour on her side. Ulric jumped at the other armour before it realised what happened and hammered it with his spiked fist.

The armour under Valdys's control trembled violently against it while its orders told it to attack the intruders. Valdys felt the strain on her body to regulate the flow of her mana. 'It's harder than I thought!'

Ulric held his opponent's sword back and aimed his punches at the bindings at the side of the armour. 'Hold on! They're coming!' he growled.

Iphigenia and Elzbieta rushed towards them with drawn swords as soon as the attack happened, with Kaui following as fast as she could.

Ulric received a blow against his head from the armour but kept his grip on its sword and punched again at the bindings on the side, piercing holes into the plates with the three thick spikes on his fist.

Iphigenia and Elzbieta shouted for Valdys to jump aside just when she began to lose control of the armour. It shook as it lifted its sword but before it struck at Valdys, Elzbieta pierced the breast plate with her sword and Iphigenia one of its eye holes with hers.

The armour shuddered and produced a metallic shriek and Kaui threw a small jar into the armour's exposed neck. Elzbieta kicked the armour back hard and in the next moment a sharp thud from inside blasted the armour into pieces.

Ulric cracked one of the bindings at the side of his opponent, pierced the opening between the front and back plate with his fingers, and ripped the two halves apart with a fierce roar.

The armour dropped its sword from its gauntlet and every part fell lifelessly down onto the stones.

He threw down the plates and took a deep breath. 'Everyone all right?'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta sheathed their swords and Iphigenia grinned at Kaui. 'Do you have many more of those blast jars?'

Kaui pat the bag hanging at her side. 'Just the few I could make back in town. They're better used in an emergency but I had to test its effectiveness.'

'I'd say it does the job.' said Ulric. 'When you get the chance, make more of these grenades.'

'Grenades, Master?'

'That's what we call these kinds of devices in my world, although they're more powerful there.'

Kaui nodded. 'Then I will make as many as I can, Master.'

He smiled at her. 'Wonderful.' he said and turned to Valdys. 'Whereto next?'

The squirrel and the rat that had climbed on her shoulders chittered and she pointed at the next tower. 'We must go further down first.'

***

The group came down to a great hall lit by dim light coming through tall and narrow arched glass windows, stone rubble scattered on the floor, and big statues of knights and wizards in alcoves between them, all in battle ready poses. Ulric peered at them from the doorway. 'Any chance these come alive?

Valdys took a look after Kaui asked and shook her head. 'I don't sense any magic aura around them.'

The group crossed the hall towards an arched corridor at the other end while keeping an eye on the statues. 'Creepy.' said Iphigenia at the intense look in the statue's eyes she glanced at.

'They are something indeed.' said Ulric. 'Nothing like in the movies.'

'Movies?'

'Like a play but projected onto a flat surface like a wall.' he said but that didn't alleviate her puzzled look. 'I'll explain it later.'

He was one step away from the corridor when Valdys gasped. 'Stop! It's a trap!'

He froze mid step at the sound of her voice and a steel grate came crashing down a hair's width in front of his nose.

He yelped out as he jumped back. 'WHAT THE!?'

Sounds of grinding rock spun them around in a flash. The statues had come alive and stepped out of their alcoves.

'Try to keep clear of them!' growled Ulric as he rushed towards them. 'Elz, you might be the only one that can damage them with your sword, protect the others. Kaui, I might need your grenades!'

'Yes!' called out the girls and Elzbieta took her defensive stance in front of the others, with Kaui close behind her fishing her grenades out of her bag.

Ulric hoped he had estimated his strength and toughness correctly and ducked at the first slash of the stone sword from the closest knight. He jumped up at the statue twice his size and gave it an uppercut with his armoured fist.