Advent of Eternity - Chapter 110 (Patreon)

Lillicent rose to her feet and extended a hand. Knell studied it, then reached out and took it with his own. They shook and Lillicent let out a pent up breath.

“I’ll be honest, I half thought you’d kill me. I know you spared my life the last time we met, but part of me thought it might have been a mistake.”

“I don’t make mistakes in such simple scenarios.”

“So I can see. I’ll be on my way, then. I’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

“No interest in the stuff below?”

“If it’s not a Boon, it can’t help me right now. I’ll make do. Thanks, though.” Lillicent raised a hand in farewell and ascended the stairs. They listened to her footfalls as they faded away.

“Don’t we have a whole bunch of Boons right now?” Maya asked once the sounds of the Artificer’s passing had disappeared. “Wouldn’t it have been okay to give her one or two?”

“Boons are not so easily found for me to give them away freely, even if we can’t do anything with them right know. I spared the woman’s life because Mordrigal desired her death, which was reason enough for me to ensure that she lived. Whether she will be a useful tool or not has yet to be revealed, and I am not willing to risk a Boon on it.”

“The only reason you saved her was just to mildly annoy Mordrigal? That’s petty, Cap.”

“I am a petty man. I have to get my small pleasures in life somewhere,” Knell said with a dry smile.

Cyll didn’t get a chance to reply. Stix emerged from the dark passage behind them, her eyes red but her features composed. They all fell silent as she approached.

“Thank you,” Stix said. “I’m ready.”

“Are you sure?” Maya asked. “Knell gave you an hour.”

Stix’s lips quirked into a small smile before falling flat once more. “An hour? That’s more than I expected. It’s fine. Tears won’t change anything now.”

“Yeah, but–”

“Maya. It’s fine,” Stix repeated. “Knell, I’m ready to leave when you are. Also, I heard some conversation. Did something happen?”

“Old acquaintance swung by. She just left. You’ve got good timing. If there’s nothing else, we should be on our way. No sense to tempt fate.”

Stix nodded. “Let’s collect what we want and get moving, unless you had something else planned.”

“Nothing. Time is ticking. Cyll, Maya, did you want anything?”

“There was a sword–”

A loud crash split the air, and the dungeon shuddered. Knell staggered into Cyll and the older man steadied him. All their gazes shot toward the exit. Stone shattered above them, and the distant thunder of magic reached their ears.

“What in the Sixteen Seas is that? A monster?” Stix grabbed the bundle huge bow from her back and clutched it to her chest.

“Unlikely. Probably the Ruler’s men or the Adventurer’s Guild,” Knell said, striding toward the exit. “Come. We want to meet them before they can get into the dungeon. The tight entrance will favor us better. I did not expect them to catch on this quickly.”

Cyll grabbed Knell and darted up the stairs, the other two crewmates close on his heels as the wrapped the corner and shot into one of the various, clean polished areas of the dungeon. The sounds of magic grew louder as they approached the exit of the dungeon.

“Give it up!” a woman yelled from outside. Lillicent dove into the room, closely followed by a streamer of fire. It curled through the entrance of the dungeon, licking across the ceiling and bathing them all in warmth.

Knell extended his staff and cast Warp on the entrance. Several arrows thudded into the swirling green pool that appeared, their movements slowing to a crawl as they passed through it. They clattered to the ground harmlessly as Lillicent staggered to her feet.

“Thanks,” she said breathlessly. Blood was splattered across her sword and chest, and it didn’t look to be hers. “We appear to have some unfriendly company.”

“Convenient timing,” Stix muttered. “You sure she’s safe, Captain?”

“No,” Knell replied. “But, considering she has their blood on her blade, I doubt this is Lillicent’s doing. How many enemies?”

“Eleven, now,” Lillicent replied, her eyes narrow. “Looks like only a few of them are Path-users though. Killed one of their bodyguards when their guard went down. Guildsmen.”

“Exit the dungeon!” the woman outside called once more. “You are wanted for questioning by the Adventurer’s Guild of Rosewood.”

“Don’t forget the dispatching of one of your useless men,” Lillicent called. “Why don’t you come down here and get me?”

She sent a glance toward Knell and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Is that magic going to stop them from getting inside?”

Knell shook his head. “Just ranged attacks. And it doesn’t stop them, just slows them significantly.”

“Seems like the same thing.”

A bolt of lightning slammed into the swirling magic. It shimmered as it passed through, sparkling energy twirling lithely through the strange green soup. Then it leapt forward, passing through the spell and re-accelerating. It slammed into the wall across from them, narrowly missing Lillicent.

“Never mind,” Lillicent muttered, flicking the blood from her sword.

“Wonder why it didn’t do that to the arrows,” Cyll said. “Magic keeps its energy, I guess?”

“Not the time to run theories,” Knell said. He extended his senses, stilling his breath and concentrating. His lips pressed together. “They’ve got a Scion. That means they should know I’m here. Cyll, to the front. Stix, get your weapon ready. Maya… just try not to get killed.”

Cyll drew his jagged blade and strode toward the exit. He let it drag along the ground behind him, sending up a raucous screech as its metal dug scraped along the stone floor. “Do I have to do the usual?”

“You always have to do the usual,” Knell said flatly. “Unless you enjoy washing socks.”

Cyll grunted. “You never know. Maybe I do. I guess I’ll just wait for them to come gallivanting in.”

“I’ve got your back,” Stix said, sliding a bolt into her bow and drawing it back with a thud. She ducked into the shadows, hidden from anyone that wasn’t looking carefully. “I doubt the Scion will be ready for this.”

“Last warning,” the woman called. “We’d prefer to take you alive, but my patience is growing thin. Drop the magic and come out – or die like a dog.”

“She’s not the brightest tool in the shed, is she?” Cyll asked. “Can you drop the wall thing, Cap? They might be worried about walking through it.”

“I’d rather be a dog than bend knee to the Guild again,” Lillicent called back, reading her sword. “Come and see if you like the taste of my steel as much as your fellow did.”

Knell released his grasp on Warp and the spell faded. As soon as it faded, several men charged into the room. Cyll stood by the entrance, still and unmoving, as the first three charged in. A man in robes followed them, a staff in his hand raised and a ball of flame roaring above it.

Their eyes locked on Lillicent, who stood directly in their line of sight. Not a single one of them noticed Cyll until he had already made his move. He lunged, even as more people poured into the room, and drove his blade straight into the robed man’s chest.

The ball of flame sputtered as the two staggered several steps. Cyll ripped his blade free, spraying blood across the ground as he spun, cutting another man’s arm before the Guildsmen lurched away from him.

More men poured into the room, and they all collapsed into a defensive position, several raising shields and forming a barrier to protect the others as they piled in. They’d clearly been trained well, as none of them tried to leave the safety of their ring to attack Cyll.

A woman was the last one to enter the room. Knell’s senses informed him that she was the Scion. A book floated just above her hands, its pages rippling as if it were in a breeze. She glanced down at her fallen man, her eyes narrowing in anger.

Cyll flicked the blood from his sword. “Damn. I didn’t get the important one.”

“Patience is a virtue,” Knell said. “Archer next, please. The Scion won’t be so easy to get rid of.”

“Impudent dog,” the woman snarled. “We appear to have found a whole kennel of strays rather than just two, men. Guards up. The cripple is a Scion.”

“Third man from the right in the inner circle,” Knell said.

Stix’s bow whumped. The huge bolt screamed through the air and punched through one of the men’s shields – then traveled through him and continued into the archer behind him. It threw both men into the wall behind them.

The shieldwall instantly collapsed, growing tighter before Knell’s group could take advantage of the damage Stix had done. Good training indeed – but it wasn’t enough to stop the fear from burgeoning on their faces.

“By my count, all you’ve done is talk, and I’ve already killed three of your men,” Knell said. “Not a very good record.”

One of the men snarled and made toward him, but the Scion grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back into place. “Don’t let him taunt you, idiot. Hold the shield line. I’ll deal with the archer.”

Her book fluttered, settling on a page. She reached into it and drew out a crackling bolt of lightning. She hurled it toward Stix, but the nimble elf dove out of the way, rolling and coming back up unscathed.

“Not a very effective magic,” Knell drawled. “Cyll, please do something more than stand there looking menacing.”

“It’s your fault,” Cyll snapped, poking at the shield wall with his sword. A man batted it away and another thrust a longsword at him, forcing Cyll to step back. “How am I supposed to get close to these idiots without getting stabbed?”

Knell cast Slow on the man closest to Cyll. Cyll grinned and lunged forward. The Guild Scion hurled another bolt of lightning, and Cyll leapt back to avoid getting fried. By the time he got his balance back, Knell’s spell had worn off.

“Oh, come on. Couldn’t you wait until after I stuck your guy?” Cyll asked.

“Be silent, dog,” the woman snarled, drawing several bolts of lightning. Knell Slowed her, then stepped behind a rock as the spells rocketed through the sky. Stone cracked and debris pelted him as one of the bolts barely missed him. The others all also failed to find their mark.

Stix’s huge bow whumped again. A man flew off his feet and slammed into the wall. He struggled to pull himself off the bolt, but a second, smaller one caught him in the neck and he went limp.

Cyll charged into the gap before the men could close over it, his massive blade coming down on one of the Guildsmen’s shields. The man laughed as the sword got caught on it. He thrust a sword at Cyll, but Cyll twisted out of the way of the blow.

The man’s laughter stopped when Cyll snapped his neck. He jumped back, dragging the man’s shield away along with his sword. Cyll glanced down at it, then smashed it onto the ground and shattered the shield, freeing his blade. “Idiot.”

Knell slowed the Scion again as she went for her magic. She’d positioned herself well to avoid Cyll’s attacks, but that did little to stop Knell. Lillicent, who had her sword ready and raised for a fight, slowly let it slower as shock washed across her face.

Stix fired again, and another men fell. Once more, Cyll took advantage of the death. He drove his sword clean through a man’s shield and into his chest. One of the other men managed to leave a deep cut along his arm as he pulled back, but the shield wall was falling apart.

“Unimpressive,” Knell said. “This is all you brought?”

The Scion glared at him. Knell slowed her again, then smiled. Another one of her men fell. Then another. He easily stepped out of the way of the lightning bolt the woman hurled at him.

Just a few seconds later, every last man was laying on the ground, dead. The book slipped from the Scion’s fingers and she took a step back toward the exit, her legs trembling. Knell slowed her – again.

That was her fifth step toward the exit. She’d been running for the entirety of the last half of the fight, not that it did her much good. Cyll stepped around the woman, moving to block her escape.

“How’d you know we were here?” Knell asked, leaning on his staff. “Answer quickly. You’ve already wasted just over a minute of my time.”

“I – we discovered someone had been looking through the archives. It wasn’t hard to determine which books had been touched,” the Scion stammered. She tried to dart around Cyll, but he swept her legs out from under her and threw her to the ground.

“How many know?” Knell asked. “Why is the Guild doing the Ruler’s work?”

“We have an agreement. Look, I– I was just doing my job. I’ll tell them nobody was here.”

Knell approached her, his staff echoing through the empty dungeon as it clacked against the stone. “That’s it? You just saw the records?”

“W-we also heard a woman was passing through town, asking about the dungeons. It wasn’t hard to connect.”

Lillicent cleared her throat. Knell ignored her.

“Why didn’t the Ruler come himself?”

“He’s too important to do a job like this, but he’d be mad if you killed me! He likes me,” the Scion said, sweat trickling down her brow as she bumped into Cyll’s legs while backing up. “I can help you! I know things about the Ruler. His schedule. I could lure him out!”

Knell picked a stone up off the ground and fitted it into the skull relic on his shoulder. Its mouth ground, and a bullet fell out into his palm. He fitted it into his flintlock and pulled the hammer back.

“Wait, please! I don’t deserve–”

The flintlock barked. The Scion crumpled against Cyll’s legs, blood welling up from the hole in her forehead.

“Scum,” Knell said, sliding the flintlock back into his belt.