84

82 - The One Tower

Malyssa blinked her eyes and rubbed the crusts out of them. The lowest catacomb was the most quiet to sleep in when she didn't want to be found as well, but the disadvantage was that there was more dust and the old coffins had cracks under the lids that let it all in. She looked once more into the dimly lit chamber. She had dreamed about other monsters and elves and dwarves before, but this one was incredibly real.

The outsiders in front of her glanced at each other. 'What do we do with the vampires?' asked the bloodwolf.

'For what they do to these poor folks, I'm tempted to kill them.' said the elf.

Malyssa realised she wasn't dreaming.

She hissed and jumped back out of her coffin, baring her fangs. 'Who are you!?'

Ulric stepped forward and transformed his fur to scales. 'I'll capture her.'

Malyssa stepped back again while her heart raced in fear. 'Don't you realise I'm a vampire!? I am more powerful than any ordinary monster!'

Ulric shrugged. 'I can't say that I'm ordinary. I don't want to do this but we can't have you alerting the whole place.'

She tried her charm ability to influence him, but Ulric didn't falter in the slightest as he approached her. She backed up against the wall. 'I, I'll bite you!'

Ulric loomed over her and growled. 'Just try it.'

She shrank even more and whimpered. 'Please don't kill me.'

He moved his face close to hers. 'With the way you treat the people here, why wouldn't I?'

Her heart beat fast and her mind raced for a way to survive as she trembled. 'I never killed anyone. It's the head order that kills the slaves. We young ones want to end the old ways and be free.'

'Why should I believe you?'

His question gave her hope. 'Most of us are tired of being locked in this country. We want to see and experience more of the world like others. We can help you.'

Ulric backed off a little. 'You don't even know why we're here.'

She looked up at him. 'You're here to defeat us and free the slaves in exchange for the riches in this burg, right? Why else would you be here?'

Ulric only gazed at her.

'I can help you defeat the head clan and then we can make peace with the slaves and live normal lives. We don't want to be oppressed by the Old Ones just like them.'

'How would you help us?'

Malyssa relaxed slightly and her confidence grew. 'I know all their ways and habits and where they are. I can tell you how to kill them. And there are many of us in the clans.'

'Shall we use her?' Ulric asked without taking his eyes off of hers.

'We can use all the inside information we can get.' said Iphigenia. 'Vampires are a strong opponents.'

'I agree.' said Elzbieta. 'I know of one battle that took many elves to defeat one elder vampire.'

Ulric tilted his head a little. 'Looks like we'll take you up on your offer, miss?'

'Malyssa.' she said, and sagged against the wall in relief.

He leaned his muzzle close to her again. 'But if you dare to betray us, you will find out what it's like to be shred to pieces by a ferocious monster.'

She tensed at once and quickly nodded as she was too afraid to speak.

He stood up straight. 'All right. Talk.'

Malyssa sat down on an old coffin on the floor and glanced at the party standing around her. Nine people were enough to take down even a few vampires, but these nine were obviously not ordinary mercenaries in her eyes. She knew little of dragons apart from what she'd heard and read, but there had to be a reason for one to be among them, even if it was still a small one. As she added the number and strengths of her friends to them, she calculated that taking down the Old Ones was possible. The intruders would at least serve as enough of a distraction to grab control of vampire society. 'There are a dozen clans here, each with about a dozen main members, not counting the lower ranked servants, but if you take down specific people, the others will become confused and can be overpowered.'

The remark that the vampires could be killed was encouraging to Ulric. 'So, how do we take them down?'

'The only way to kill the Old Ones is to crush their hearts.'

Ulric had a bad feeling and raised an eyebrow. 'Crush?'

Malyssa nodded slowly. 'Crush. Don't stab, don't cut, don't slice. It has to be completely crushed.' She emphasised by making a fist.

Ulric crunched his muzzle. 'Yuck!'

Elzbieta suppressed any queasy sensation in her stomach. She'd seen enough carnage on the battlefield and at the hands of demons and monsters to do anything about it. 'We'll do what needs to be done.'

Iphigenia felt similar about it. 'They'd have to be exposed and disabled to do that.'

Malyssa curled up a corner of her mouth. 'They are when they are cornered enough to shift into their animal form.'

Ulric pricked up his ears. 'If they do transform into a bat or something, that might make it easier.'

Malyssa leaned a little forward. 'Except that you have to know which one to kill.'

'Which one?'

'They don't simply turn into one small animal, they turn into a flock of bats or a bunch of rats or spiders. Only one of them is the heart.'

Ulric and the girls looked at one another. He scratched his jaw. 'So, we have to find out which one is the heart as long as they're shifted. Any special way to do that?'

Malyssa leaned back on her hands. 'Not that I know of. If we knew, we'd probably have been free of the Old Ones already.'

Ulric looked at the girls again. 'We'll need to think of something. I fear we'll only end up in an endless fight if we can't kill them.'

'How can one individual thing be distinguished in a group of similar looking things?' said Valdys. 'We need to think as simple as that.'

'We can forget about visual clues for a start.' said Elzbieta.

'If we go by senses, that leaves sound, smell, feeling, taste.' said Iphigenia.

Caylais made a disgusting expression. 'I wouldn't want to try finding out by taste.'

Ulric sniggered. 'I agree. If we go by touch, that would also be difficult when we have to capture and test every animal to find out which is the correct one.'

'That leaves sound and smell.' said Valdys.

Iphigenia looked ta Ulric. 'Your sense of smell could find the one.'

He pondered for a moment. 'I can't say for sure if I can sniff out the one in a room with lots of targets running around. But I guess it could make the search somewhat easier if there is a way to mark the target with a strong enough scent during the transformation.'

Tipper turned to Malyssa. 'You said it's the heart in one of the animals. Do you mean it literally, as in a big, beating heart?'

Malyssa leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. 'You know, I never thought about it, but I do think it's something like that. Or at least the sensation of a heart is captured within.'

Tipper looked at Ulric. 'Us dwarves communicate by sound in total darkness. Wouldn't you be able to hear the heartbeat with those big ears of yours?'

He folded his arms and frowned a little in thought. 'You might have something there.' He looked at Elzbieta and Caylais. 'Wouldn't you two be able to hear it?'

'If the beat was loud enough, probably.' said Elzbieta, and Caylais nodded in agreement.

Ulric focussed on the link.

'Can anyone think of a method to mark a person's heart with a smell, and make it beat hard for a while?'

The girls were lost in thought for a while until Kaui spoke.

'I could make a potion that accelerates someone's heart. I do have the ingredients for it. Also for marking something with a very strong smell. But I don't see how to use that one on a heart.'

'Stab them with it.' said Yingshien.

The others looked at her. 'Stab them?' said Ulric.

She nodded. 'They supposedly won't die from a stab to the heart, but wouldn't that mark it if the blade was covered with the potions?'

'If the potions aren't spread through the bloodstream, that might work.' said Iphigenia.

'I can isolate it with a spell and bind it to the heart.' said Valdys.

'My daggers can stab through any bone with precision.' said Conchim.

Ulric looked around at the girls. 'I think this might be the only way that we can pull it off.' He focussed on Kaui. 'Cutie, mix up those potions.'

***

Muni slashed the thick undergrowth in two in front of him. 'Not another jungle.' he grumbled as he glanced up at the lush canopy overhead. 'If I spot as much as one overgrown spider, I'm going back to the inn and drink and you can search for the stupid rock on your own.'

Elyta sniggered behind him. 'What happened to the mighty warrior seeking to become the strongest? Afraid of monsters with many legs now?'

He threw her a momentary glare before hewing down more unfortunate greenery that stood in his way. 'I'm not afraid. I just don't want to fight hordes of those disgusting things all at once again.'

She sniggered and glanced at Tarrence, whose expression remained stoic as ever. She knew he didn't care about what they had to face, he would do his duty for his own sake. It might look to others he was unconditionally loyal to the demon rulers, but she recognised it was only as long as it benefited him. His ambition was of use to her, she had surmised so far during the time she was a member of his party, and his good looks were a lucky bonus. She would make use of him for her own plans.

Tarrence checked his compass. They were still heading into the correct direction, but he hoped the information on possible artefact locations was accurate enough. It was compiled and given to him by his superior Seterus, but he'd have preferred to checked the archives himself, or at least supervised the work of the clerks who went through them. On his own would have taken too much time in any case. He would certainly make use of the mistake of not verifying the location spell given to Gigacks by the high wizards, and the subsequent loss of long range detection of the artefacts. As much as Seterus didn't like failures, so did the rank above him. 'Stop.' he said when he sensed the presence of many creatures somewhere in front of them.

Muni stopped and listened, while Elyta and Gigacks pulled out their weapons and the lich performed a discovery spell. 'Large group of primates at a hundred and fifty paces.'

'We'll have a look.' said Tarrence, and the party moved slowly and quietly forward.

Muni glanced back at the others when excited noises reached his ears, and continued forward after a nod from Tarrence. They hid behind chest high bushes with thick, large leaves and observed a village of primates. The ape-like creatures covered in black and dark orange striped fur stood together in the middle of huts constructed from branches and very large leaves. The primates themselves reached shoulder height next to an average person. Most of them were jumping and screeching around two of them, who were facing off against each other. They shook their fists and stepped back and forth, until one chief primate, who stood more calmly and wore decorations of colourful feathers in his chest fur and on his head, screeched once. The two fighters clashed.

The two didn't hold back or retreated. Ripping fur, punching and clawing, screeches became darker and guttural. One rammed the other to the ground, and bit him below the throat. The other, undaunted and more furious, grabbed the skull of his opponent at the side and pressed his thumb into his eye. The resulting cry muffled the squish as the eye burst.

The primate fell back clutching his face and the other jumped on top of him, punching and tearing at every exposed part of his challenger. Blood sprayed around with chunks of fur and pieces of skin attached.

It ended when the chief screeched again, and the winner moved back from the twitching, but lifeless and butchered corpse, while the other members of the tribe cried out in victorious excitement.

Tarrence gestured with his head to the others to continue the trek around the village.

They had barely rounded it when they parted the undergrowth and stumbled upon two of the primates eating large, yellow larvae from underneath several rocks. Muni and Tarrence were not fast enough to prevent one of them to screech in alarm before cutting their throats.

Similar cries came from the tribe and Muni grumbled hard. 'Do we fight them?'

Elyta pulled her sword out. 'The way they tore at each other, I don't think we'd easily stop them.'

'Yes.' said Tarrence. 'It's better to run this time.'

The party ran from the mob headed towards them, but the noise they made grew closer. 'They're gaining on us!' said Muni as he sliced a large snake in two in passing.

Elyta dodged the bloody end of one half of the snake body flopping down. 'They're used to moving through this vegetation! Unless we reach open space, they'll catch up with us!'

Gigacks scanned for an open or less dense area, and pointed to the left. 'That way!'

The four rushed as fast as they could through the obstructing greenery, but the screams in bloodlust were quickly upon them to the left and right. Muni growled in frustration. 'They're flanking us!'

The next moment, three primates jumped shrieking out of trees to the sides.

Elyta and Tarrence cut them down at once and Gigacks skewered the last one with a long and thin shard of ice. 'I see light up ahead!' said Muni.

More primates jumped them from the left and right and behind, but were not numerous enough to touch any of the party members. The four ran into a wide, barren area of rock, and halted at the edge of a wide crevice surrounding land in the centre with jungle, and a broad and tall, square tower made from dark grey and black stone. They turned to defend themselves but the primates kept to the edge of the jungle, throwing rocks, wood, and anything else within their reach while they screamed with agitation and fear.

Muni glanced back at the tower. 'Are they afraid of this place?'

They relaxed a little while Gigacks blocked projectiles with a shield spell. Tarrence examined the tower. 'This was an old demon stronghold. They might still fear it because their ancestors did.'

Elyta squinted as she observed birds flying around it. 'Seems abandoned.'

Muni looked left and right along the crevice. 'I take it that's where we're headed, so how do we cross this gap?'

Gigacks pulled out a thin rope from his pack, and held it out to Elyta. 'Tie this to an arrow.' She did so and put the arrow to her bow. Gigacks muttered a couple of spells and pointed to a large boulder on the other side. 'Shoot it in there.'

Elyta drew her bow and sensed the enhanced strength it had received. She aimed carefully at the centre of the boulder, and loosened the arrow.

It pierced exactly where she wanted it to and it embedded deep into the stone. Gigacks gave the rope a hard tug. 'Good.'

Elyta tied the other end of the rope around a large rock and pulled on the rope. It trembled barely. 'Who wants to go first?'

Muni felt the rope between his fingers. 'Are you sure this thread is strong enough to hold us?'

Gigacks pulled out his dagger and slashed once at the rope. Muni hummed as he gazed at the undamaged rope. 'I hope this doesn't mean you really need to sharpen your blade.' He secured his sword and pack. 'I'll cross first.'

He was glad for his sturdy leather gloves avoiding his fingers being cut in half by the thin rope halfway across the deep gap. 'I expected to fight monsters and enemies at this job, not perform acrobatics.' he muttered as he shimmied along while averting his eyes from the bottomless drop at his back. 'That damned artefact better be there. Or a decent treasure.'

He reached the other side and was really glad for solid rock under his feet. He took a quick survey of the surroundings, then gave the signal for the others to cross over. Elyta went first, and Gigacks next when she was halfway across the crevice, and Tarrence last at the same distance.

'So far, so good.' said Muni as they later walked towards the edge of the jungle. 'I hope the last one who left the tower disabled any nasty surprises.'

Elyta chuckled. 'You're expecting too much.'

The feline cut the first piece of undergrowth in his path. 'I don't expect. I said I hope.'

83 - Wheels and Motions

'Master?'

'Yes, my cutie?'

asked Ulric while he ran through the damp and dark forest towards the place where the river entered the tunnel through the mountain, his breath so hot it turned to fog in the slightly chilly air.

'The potions are done. Handil is heading towards your end with them.'

'Thank you. Great work, my sweet cutie.'

Kaui smiled and blushed. She would do anything for his praise.

'Be careful with them, Master.'

Ulric chuckled once and knew what would make her happy.

'Of course. We have to return safely so I can reward you.'

Ulric was glad he reached the cave without being seen by anyone, although the people probably would have been too afraid to see a bloodwolf to pay close attention to him. Handil made him out at a short distance from her spot inside the cave, and flashed her flashlight twice to show everything was all right. He relaxed at her signal and went towards her. 'Hey.' he said to her as she walked out of the cave. 'No troubles coming here through the tunnel?'

She held out the satchel with the vials to him. 'No problem. How are you doing with the plan?'

Ulric checked the contents with the darker green and yellow potions. 'The vampire we met is showing the layout of the burg to the others and teaching them about the Old Ones' habits.' he said, and noticed the question written on her face. 'Rachael is all right. She's a brave one.'

Handil relaxed a little. 'Be careful. All of you.'

He gave her a reassuring smile while he slung the satchel around his neck. 'We're all coming back, even if I have to tear down the whole burg to make it so.'

She chuckled once at his confidence. 'Okay.'

'Be careful on the way back.' Ulric said, and hurried back to the burg, looking back once to make sure she had left.

***

Muni kicked an old, cracked skull aside and looked at the skeletal remains scattered around on the ground in front of the tower's large entrance. 'Nice lawn decorations.' he said and looked up at the various carved skulls of different demon species adorning the doorway.

Tarrence squatted at a skull with a spine. 'Killed a long time ago. Looks like one of those ape things.' he said while he examined the grooves across the back of the skull.

Elyta looked up at the looming black tower, still contrasting the darkening sky of dusk. 'I'm used to plenty of things, but even I think something's eerie about this place.'

'There's the lingering scent of death.' said Muni. 'But I guess we can't skip this popular vacation spot.'

Tarrence walked to the open entrance of the tower, followed by the others. Heavy, iron doors stood wide open on the inside, and the black stone slab floor was partially covered with dirt. No light other than what shone through the doorway revealed a huge ground floor with a wide spiral stone staircase without any support leading up in the centre. Muni looked up at the open centre of the staircase into the darkness above. 'I'm not taking any bets that the artefact isn't on the top floor.'

Elyta followed his gaze. 'The prize is always at the place that's most out of reach. You expect that to ever change?'

Tarrence knew things weren't as they seemed, but thought it best to not disturb anything until it was necessary. 'Make some light. We're going up.'

Gigacks lit torches and handed them to the others before they ascended the black stairs.

***

Ulric climbed through the crack and into the lower basement of the burg. 'Missed me?' he said when he saw his girls sitting in one corner with Malyssa.

Iphigenia giggled. 'Even before you left, Wolfie.' she said and kissed him when he approached her.