Chapter 37: Twisted Ambition
I dashed around the corner that Barbarius said Trelana had been standing by, ignoring whatever they had yelled when I did. I quickly came to a stop, noticing the door leading to the second floor had been left open and Trelana's staff laying near the top of the staircase leading up. I hurried up, picking up the staff as I passed. I gave the hallway a quick glance, but didn't see any sign of movement.
"I said wait, Nem!" Ruby yelled, running up behind me. Aya and Barbarius weren't far behind her.
"If we wait, things will only get worse! We're losing members one at a time, don't you get it?! This must be another ASP setup! They've been picking us off one by one for a while now. Mark, Harvey, Fargoth, Razelus... now Bryenn and Trelana! If they're behind what happened to Gnaar Mok too, I'll slaughter the lot of them myself!"
"Calm down, damn it!" Ruby shouted. "Think about it! This doesn't seem like an ASP operation to me, they don't usually go after innocent people!"
"Tell that to Sadrith Mora! I saw what they're capable of on my first mission. That fetcher Rodran killed the guards and took the city!"
"That-"
"Not long after that, Mortifer sent a raid on Gnisis! That's hardly keeping innocent people out of harm's way!"
"But..."
"Rachel had half of the people on our first big mission murdered, and went after Barbarius before he even heard of Forlorn!"
"That's true..." Barbarius muttered.
"Don't forget Rodran and Mortifer's other attacks on Dagon Fel, Harnaten's vendetta against Schimmel..."
"I get it!" Ruby shouted. "I'm still fairly certain that this isn't an ASP operation though! It just doesn't have the right feel. Normally ASP has bases like these are set up with a small battalion of men, but we haven't seen a soul! If the ASP were here, we should have had to kill at least one wimpy minion by now."
"That is true, they usually go for quantity over quality. I know that from all the times they attacked me on Solstheim." Barbarius said.
"We're wasting time. We can discuss it later, right now we have to find Trelana!" I said, turning to leave. I froze the second I looked down the hall. A Breton in a tattered gray robe was staring at us.
"Well, well... more familiar faces." He said, brushing his unkempt black hair out of his eyes. "Except for the girl behind the idiot thief, I don't think we've met before."
"Idiot... thief...? I'll kill you for that!" Barbarius snapped.
"You know him?" Aya wondered.
"I don't associate with scum." I muttered.
"I remember him. He's the one from the cave north of Suran." Ruby said, glaring at him. "You got him in the arm with a throwing knife, remember Barbarius?"
"Oh yeah, that freak. I'll be sure to aim for his throat this time." Barbarius said with a grin.
"I won't die that easily, but your friends will... if you don't save them." The Breton chortled, dashing out of sight.
The four of us charged after him, following him up the next staircase that led to the roof.
--
The moment we burst through the door outside, the laughter of that psychotic Breton filled the air. He was standing atop the propylon chamber, looking down at us. "Once again, you get to be my test subjects! You should be honored, nobody else has survived their first time!" He laughed.
"Test subjects!? Give it up! We're not going to let you get away with killing innocent people!" Ruby shouted.
"I'm simply doing this to prove my worth, you of all people should know what that's like! With this, he'll know what he did to me was a mistake! With this... I will prove that I am the right choice to become the seventh! Behold, my Nixbrid!"
A roar came from behind us. I glanced back and saw a beast at least ten feet tall lumbering toward us. It resembled a Nix Hound, but stood on two legs and looked much stronger. I was instantly reminded of the one in the cave, the one that took seven of us to topple. That one looked as strong as a scrib in comparison to this one.
"I have made a discovery with my latest creation. I was a fool before, picking people and hounds randomly to merge. The stronger each are, the more powerful the outcome! I finally found a decent warrior that was stupid enough to come right to me, and volunteer for my experiment." The Breton laughed.
"Nobody in their right mind would volunteer for this!" Ruby yelled.
"An unconscious person in close enough, in my opinion."
"A warrior... he can't mean..." I muttered.
"B-Bryenn? No way! He... he couldn't..." Aya stuttered.
The Breton laughed again. "I'll leave you to kill each other. There's another matter I must attend to. If you really want to know if that is your friend, just open the door it's guarding... if you can survive that long." He leapt off the top of the building, landing gently on the ground thanks to a slowfall spell, and walked casually through the front door of the stronghold.
"Don't just walk away damn you!" Ruby shouted over the edge of the roof.
"Ruby, look out!" Aya cried.
The 'Nixbrid' as the Breton called it, had rushed over when we were focused on him and swung one of it's massive arms at Ruby. She didn't have time to react, and was sent skidding across the roof from it's blow.
Barbarius threw a couple knives at it's back, getting it's attention. I dashed over to Ruby, who seemed to have been knocked out by the attack.
"Wake up, Ruby! We're probably gonna need everyone to take this thing down! Don't sleep on the job!" I shouted, shaking her.
Ruby groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head. "The seventh... he's out of his mind. The only thing this'll get him is executed. Idiot." She mumbled.
"What are you..."
"Aya! Don't be stupid!" Ruby yelled, ignoring me. "You can't hurt that thing with your fists!"
"What am I supposed to do then?" Aya asked, punching it in the back again. As strong as she was, it was obvious she wasn't hurting it bare handed. "All I have are my fists! I don't like weapons and never took the time to try learning any spells!"
"You'll just get in the way here then, go after Orland! That fetcher has to die!"
"Orland? You mean that Breton?"
"Who else!?" Ruby got up and began hurling throwing knives at the Nixbrid as well. "Now get moving!"
"Right!" Aya dashed over to the door back downstairs, but couldn't get it open. "It's locked! How... ah!" She turned, running to the edge of the roof and leaping off. She rolled as she landed, quickly getting up and running into the stronghold.
"She's nuts..." I mumbled.
"Would you stop standing around and do something useful, Nem?!" Ruby shouted.
"Ah, s-sorry!" I stuttered, quickly firing a shockball at the Nixbrid.
--
The three of us kept at it for a while, but it wasn't long before we were all getting tired and low on equipment. I had used up all my magicka on shockball spells and was down to my last three arrows. Barbarius and Ruby had both run out of throwing weapons, and were now taking turns distracting and stabbing the beast with their daggers.
"This is going nowhere... we need a fighter!" Barbarius complained.
"There's nobody else here, what do you suggest?" I asked.
"You two distract it. I'll pick the lock on the dome and let the prisoners out. Maybe one of them can help." Barbarius suggested.
"Better than no plan. Go!" Ruby said, lunging at the Nixbrid and stabbing it in the leg.
Barbarius hurried over to the door to the dome atop the stronghold and started to pick the lock.
I fired my last arrow at the Nixbrid's head before rushing at it with my dagger drawn. I stabbed it in the side, but wasn't able to get out of its reach fast enough. Its claws dug into my side, knocking me halfway across the rooftop before I finally collided with the side of the dome. I thought I heard someone scream my name as I landed, but my mind was more focused on the pain than anything else.
The next thing I knew Trelana was crouched over me, clearly relieved. I quickly sat up, wondering what had happened. There were three slices out of my robe and the shirt beneath it, but no wound.
"Don't worry, I healed you." Trelana said, doing her best to keep a calm tone. "Barbarius unlocked the door and went back to fighting the-"
A scream of pain came from the direction of the battle. We looked over in time to see Barbarius skidding across the roof and bumping his head into the dome not far from us before he stopped.
"Oh no, Barbarius!" Trelana cried, rushing over to him.
I turned my attention back to the fight just as Ruby was struck. She flew backwards for a short distance and hit the roof hard. I tried to cast a shockball spell at the Nixbrid, forgetting I had no energy for it.
The beast advanced on her, raising its arm for another strike. I reached for my dagger that was on the ground a couple feet away, but wasn't able to even touch it before I heard the Nixbrid's claws connect with the roof and Ruby scream.