Quick note: Welcome to the new year, everyone! I'd like to congratulate Penname wa Silver Bon finishing Dependence I: Heartsinger. It's a fantabulous fic, and the sequel is shaping up to be just as great!
Chapter 6: Lifestyles of the Undead and Restless
Whatever had been buried in this crypt, it was too ancient to have any lingering foul odors. All the same, Aurora imagined that she could smell the stomach-turning sweetness of decay among the lighter scents of mold and damp. Daylight streamed in through the open entrance but gave way to shadow no more than a yard into the tomb. Something scuttled across the stones beyond.
"After you," Szaren said, bowing with the cordiality of a gentleman caller as he gestured to the tomb.
"Yes, ladies first," Xanos agreed.
And they say chivalry is dead, Aurora thought as she stepped into the tomb.
She allowed her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, flattening herself against the wall near the entrance and listening carefully. The scuttling sound persisted: nails on stone, most likely a few rats scavenging a meal. Further off, there was another noise, one which became clearer the longer she concentrated.
Aurora suppressed a shudder. Whoever was chanting and whispering deep within the tomb, she had no desire to make their acquaintance.
She edged her way forward, stepping carefully so that her boots made no sound. Off to the right was a door, faintly illuminated by the phosphorescent lichen growing upon it. She angled toward it, keeping one hand on the wall as a guide
The door was of heavy stone barred with iron. It had a single keyhole, but the locking mechanism proved too complex to pick. Doubtful that the kobolds could have managed it if she could not, she continued along the wall.
She had gone no more than a few feet when her hand, until now touching only rough stone, encountered something warm and furry. With an enraged squeak, the fuzzy lump flew at her face.
Startled, Aurora reeled back from the bat, and the slap of her boots against the floor echoed loudly throughout the chamber. She froze, once again listening carefully. This time, it was an absence of sound that disturbed her. The scuttling had ceased.
She turned slowly, drawing her sword. She had been mostly correct in guessing at the source of the noise: there were five or six rats close enough to see, all staring at her. She had not, however, guessed that each rat would be the size of a small dog.
The first rat scampered toward her, and she launched it into the air with her boot. The rest attacked en masse, forcing Aurora to perform a strange sort of hopping dance as she avoided their snapping teeth. The plump, furry little bodies made vile squishing sounds when she skewered them, often sticking upon her sword until she shook them off. The fight was more vile than challenging, for while the rats were quite large, they were no more intelligent or coordinated than average rodents. One by one, she killed each of them, finishing off the last rat just as Szaren and Xanos ran up to her.
The Red Wizard spoke the words of a spell, and the chamber flooded with light. She narrowed her eyes against the sudden glare, but was still aware of Szaren's smirk.
"Well done, young Aurora," he said. "If my shop ever becomes infested with vermin, it is good to know there will be a capable exterminator within walking distance. Tell me, does your blade rend the flesh of kobolds as skillfully as that of rats?"
She wiped the blade clean of gore on the fur of one of the rats and glared up at him. "Rats, kobolds . . . wizards."
"No doubt, if you keep it as sharp as your tongue." Chuckling, he strode to the center of the room to examine a broken pillar covered in ancient writing.
Aurora stared after the wizard, feeling a deep chill that had nothing to do with the winter air. The questions that had arisen in her mind the moment Szaren had appeared continued to gnaw at her. He clearly knew something of her story, but how much? Had he been sent to find her? Aurora had served her purpose as the instrument of her father's humiliation. She had never considered that the Thayvians might have further designs upon her.
"This place . . ." Xanos said behind her. "It has a feeling of life about it . . . and of death."
Aurora turned to him. His expression was serious, his eyes distant, and she wondered if he could hear the ghostly voices as well.
"Getting nervous?" she asked, putting away the subject of Thay for the time being. "If you're scared, you can always wait here."
"Bah! Xanos fears nothing!" He looked at Szaren while he spoke, and Aurora realized that he did not want to lose face in front of the other man. "Yet . . . this tomb is older than I had realized," he said more quietly. "Who knows what lurks in the darkness within?"
"The kobolds know," she reminded him. "They might not have gotten very far, though. They're probably more scared than we are."
"Scared?" His laugh echoed throughout the room. "What did Xanos just say? It is for your sake only that I worry, little girl."
"How sweet. I assume you're shivering on my behalf as well?"
"Hmph." He hid his hands beneath his cloak.
They were interrupted by Szaren calling them over and gesturing at the pillar.
"It seems we've stumbled across the final resting place of the warriors of Ascalhorn," he said.
The name was familiar. Aurora tried to place where she had heard it before, but the memory wouldn't come. Xanos had no such trouble.
"A city of fools." The half-orc shook his head. "Xanos would never allow his power to be his own undoing."
"You've heard of Ascalhorn?" There was a note of surprise in Szaren's voice. "You read a lot when you were a child, I'm guessing."
"Constantly," Xanos agreed. "Hmm . . . Xanos was under the impression that Ascalhorn was obliterated. I wonder who was left to build this monument?"
"No one with any sense of proper poetry." Szaren curled his lip at the ancient pillar. "Consider yourselves lucky you're unable to read this tripe. Noble traitors, pride before the fall . . . all the usual propoganda."
At Szaren's words, the memory Aurora had been searching for rose to the forefront of her mind.
It had been at one of her father's rare dinner engagements, rarer still in that he had actually allowed her to attend. Swathed in brocade and pearls, she had perched stiffly on the edge of her chair throughout the night, striving to give her father no reason to banish her to her room upstairs. A bard had been hired to entertain the guests, and Aurora found listening to his songs a less daunting prospect than engaging a friend of her father's in conversation. The bard, knowing well his audience of knights and paladins, sang songs of virtue imperiled and evil vanquished, including one called 'The Shattered Jewel of Earlan.'
A ballad of Ascalhorn.
Szaren noticed her preoccupation. For the second time, someone speaking nearby roused her from her thoughts. "You can stare at that pillar for as long as you like, my dear thief, but I doubt the words will become any clearer."
Aurora felt a surge of hatred for the wizard. Whether Szaren intended it or not, it was his presence that was bringing back memories of a past she preferred to forget. "Let's go," she said tightly.
The corridor opposite the locked door appeared to contain nothing more than a statue, leaving the door in the center of the wall as the only untried option. Szaren's light spell winked out of existence just as Aurora reached out to open the door, plunging the room into darkness once more.
As it turned out, that didn't matter. The tunnel beyond the door was lit with an eerie radiance, the source of which Aurora could not determine. At the end of the corridor was a set of stairs, leading downward.
"Wait here," she whispered to Xanos and Szaren. "I'll see if there's anything waiting for us down there."
It was rather difficult to find decent places to hide in the unnatural light. Just as before, Aurora stayed close to the wall and concentrated on keeping her footsteps as light as air. As Drogan had taught her, she imagined herself as a shadow among shadows.
At the foot of the stairs, a long corridor extended farther than she could see. There was a door up ahead and to her left, but the dust at its base was undisturbed. At various points along the tunnel, boxes and other debris had been dragged together to form barriers. Behind them, Aurora could hear kobolds snarling and yipping back and forth.
She crept back to her companions, relieved that the only enemies she had seen were of the flesh and blood variety.
"Well?" Xanos asked impatiently when she appeared.
"There's an ambush waiting for us," she told them. "No more than a handful of kobolds, from what I could tell. They've set themselves up behind piles of debris in the hall."
"Perhaps we should limit ourselves to attacking from afar in case there are more than the few you saw." Szaren cracked his fingers, seemingly pleased by the prospect of conflict.
Xanos unhooked his crossbow from his pack and began winding back the string. "Xanos is happy that at least one person here besides himself understands the value of attack strategies."
Ignoring him, Aurora searched through her pack for her set of throwing daggers. She was not overly fond of missile weapons, preferring the solidity of a sword in her hand, but she was not about to rush the kobolds by herself.
Aurora had not practiced with the daggers since the loss of her fingers, and she was rather at a loss as to how she could hold the extras in her mangled hand. She settled for carefully sliding the weapons between her belt and her trousers.
Xanos smirked at her display of awkwardness. "Be careful not to slice through your belt, Aurora. Xanos does not wish to be subjected to the sight of your bony posterior."
Rolling her eyes, Aurora set the first dagger in her hand and went to the stairs. The others followed close behind, and on the count of three they ran out into the tunnel.
The noise drew the attention of the kobolds immediately.
"Is gnoll! Kill it!" A kobold popped up over the barrier and fired a bolt their way.
"Not gnoll," another corrected the first. "Kill it anyway!"
Xanos gave them an answering shot from his crossbow. Aurora aimed for one and let the dagger fly, but the little beast ducked out of the way just in time.
By now, the kobolds hiding behind the second barrier were getting into the fight. One of their bolts whizzed past Aurora's head, ruining her aim and wasting a second dagger.
Szaren caught both of the lizards behind the first barrier with a well-timed spell, sending a blinding spray of colored light into their eyes. Xanos took out one of the blinded kobolds with a pair of bolts. Aurora pulled a third dagger from her belt, but it was oddly positioned in her hand and clanged harmlessly against the wall above the head of the kobold she had been aiming for.
A cloud of magic missiles shot forth from Szaren's fingers, swarming about two more of the kobolds and killing them. Xanos finished off the final creature just as another of Aurora's daggers flew wild and buried itself in one of the boxes.
"That was pitiful!" Xanos exclaimed, lowering his crossbow.
"What are they teaching you at that school of yours?" Szaren asked drily.
Until now, Aurora had been unaware of just how badly her injury would affect her skills. She found it difficult to keep her frustration in check. "Just how well would either of you manage with half a hand?" she snapped.
As she pushed past them to collect her daggers, a flicker of movement caught her eye. Crouched behind the second barrier was another kobold, hidden until now. There was a pouch in its hand, and it was rearing back to throw it at them.
Aurora swiftly pulled the last dagger from her belt and flung it at the creature. This time her aim was true, and the dagger plunged into the kobold's throat. Without even a gurgle to mark its demise, the lizard fell backwards, dropping the strange pouch in the process.
There was the sound of a tiny explosion, and then a wave of sparkling dust raced toward her.
Before she managed three steps, it enveloped her.
Squeezing her eyes shut and striving not to inhale, Aurora ran blindly back the way they had come. Partway there, a hand closed on her arm and pulled her to the side. A door closed behind her, and immediately the choking pressure of the dust disappeared.
"Keep your eyes shut," Xanos said. Holding her face still, he blew the dust from her eyelashes.
"Thanks," Aurora said, opening her eyes cautiously. There was only a slight blurriness to her vision. "What was that stuff?" The only answer was a snicker, so she looked down at herself.
Her clothes and armor now shimmered with thousands of bright silver sparkles. A quick check revealed that her hair and skin had suffered the same fate. "Oh," she said glumly. "Glitterdust."
"Ha! Cheer up, scarecrow girl." Xanos clapped her on the back. "Your aim stinks, but you'd make a wonderful target."
Aurora ducked away from his hand. "Xanos, it's amazing how you always know just what to say to make me feel better."
He nodded, baring his tusks in a wide grin. "I try."
Looking at all that glitter was giving her a headache, so she turned her attention to her surroundings. The room contained a sarcophagus and little else. "Where are we?"
"We are in the tomb of Nilmaldor, Knight Gallant of Ascalhorn," Szaren replied.
Aurora was somewhat taken aback. "I wasn't expecting an answer that specific. Um, how do you know?"
All three jumped when a melancholy voice sounded in their minds. "I suspect he read the sign."
"Who said that?" Xanos drew his dagger.
In the center of the room, a whirl of fog took the shape of an elven man in ornate armor. "I did, of course."
"And who might you be, spirit?" Szaren's fingers were poised to cast.
There was a sound like a ghostly tongue being clacked in exasperation. "Is everyone alive nowadays this dense? Try to keep up with me, mortals." The spirit crossed its arms and regarded them with hollow eyes. "I am Nilmaldor, and you are trespassing in my tomb."
Aurora's heart jumped to her throat. "We were just leaving," she said quickly, taking a step towards the door.
"Wait," the spirit commanded, and she stopped short. The apparition floated near. "My . . . Humans have certainly acquired a strange sense of fashion over the years. Or was their taste always so vulgar?" Nilmaldor's form became diffuse at the edges while he pondered. With a shake of his head, he regained his former crispness. "In any case, why have you come here? Did you entertain hopes of looting the resting places of Ascalhorn's most loyal traitors?"
She shook her head firmly. "We came here in pursuit of a group of kobolds. They stole something of ours."
"Ah. Well, in that case, I may not need to rain fiery death upon the lot of you. Damn, I was rather looking forward to the exercise." Noticing their expressions, the ghost once again shook his head. "Never mind that last bit, would you? Er . . . What was I saying?"
Szaren seemed amused. "This sprit appears to have gone senile."
"Hold your tongue, mage. You are in the presence of a powerful spirit!" Nilmaldor began to glow with a pulsing aura. "The nerve! I've known earthworms with better manners."
Xanos chuckled. "Quite intimately, Xanos is sure."
Nilmaldor whirled on Xanos, his aura darkening. "Tread carefully, halfbreed. I have tolerated your presence in this sacred place thus far, but that could quickly change." The spirit became more transparent. "I can hardly stand the stink of him! And considering how long I've stayed here with only corpses for company, that's saying something." Another head-shake. "Now, where was I?"
"The kobolds?" Aurora suggested.
"Ah, yes, thank you." The dark aura flickered and subsided. "I approve of your efforts to rid this place of those profane creatures. In fact, I'll help you get rid of them . . . if you perform a small favor for me."
"What kind of favor?" Xanos asked dubiously.
"Allow me to explain." Nilmaldor floated across the room and took a seat atop his sarcophagus before continuing. "That's it, Nilmy, give the anticipation a chance to really build." The ghost cleared his throat, a gesture Aurora guessed was born of habit rather than necessity. "Some time ago a powerful wraith invaded these tombs. I conquered it, but my power was severely weakened by the battle. Now, I am unable to travel any farther than this room. Recently, a giant spiders have overtaken the next crypt over. Since I am unable to travel there and kill the pests, I'd like you three to do it for me."
"Giant . . . spiders?" Xanos sounded highly distressed.
"Indeed, giant spiders. What, now he's stupid and hard of hearing?"
Aurora considered the offer. "If you can't leave this room, how will you help us with the kobolds?"
Nilmaldor straightened his shoulders proudly. "Though I am confined to this single room, my knowledge of the rest of the tomb is unmatched. If you perform this single task on my behalf, I will share with you a valuable piece of information. And if that isn't good enough, your highness, feel free to– " The flow of words cut off, replaced in Aurora's mind with an astoundingly graphic image.
Her eyes flew wide. "I . . . I don't think that's even physically possible."
"Oh, it is," Szaren assured her. "With years of practice and a certain innate limberness, at least."
Nilmaldor's aura flared, now a vivid shade of pink. "I don't have the slightest idea what either of you are talking about," he said stiffly. "But please, restore honor to this place and prove to an ancient spirit that there are still forces of good alive in the world."
"Right," Aurora said, still reeling from the lurid imagery. "Uh, will do."
"No, we most certainly will not do." Xanos shook his head emphatically. "Giant poisonous creatures are the last thing Xanos needs."
"You'd think his shade of green would clash horribly with a yellow belly," Nilmaldor mused.
The half-orc bristled. "What? You dare accuse Xanos Messarmos of cowardice?"
"It's just a couple of spiders," Aurora reasoned, anxious to leave Nilmaldor and his wandering thoughts behind.
"Oh, very well!" Xanos scowled. "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible."
Aurora didn't need to be told twice. In moments, the three of them were back out in the hallway, which was now mercifully dust-free. She collected her fallen daggers as they walked, stopping before the heavy door of the next crypt.
This crypt was larger than Nilmaldor's, and not as well lit. Several of its walls consisted entirely of rows of coffins, now spun over with spidersilk, and the dusky corners were thick with webs. At the far end of the crypt, perched on legs like great curving scythes, was a pair of spiders.
"Ugh, just look at them," Xanos whispered. "Foul creatures."
As if that was their signal, the spiders burst into movement. They scuttled with terrifying swiftness, overtaking the trio in seconds.
Aurora leapt to one side as Szaren stepped back into the safety of the doorway. Xanos lashed out at the arachnids in a disgust-fueled rage, scarcely avoiding being bitten but dealing out significant damage with each blow. Taking advantage of the distraction, Aurora dropped to her knees and swung her sword up with great force. The blade skittered disconcertingly across the spider's chitinous exoskeleton before biting deeply and laying open the creature's abdomen. With an alien screech, the spider dropped to the floor.
The second spider tried to retreat further into the crypt, but Aurora and Xanos followed close behind. Their combined assault was no match for the arachnid, and in moments it lay still in a pool of viscous green liquid.
Pleased by the easy victory, Aurora nodded to the half-orc. "You see? That wasn't so. . ."
With a muffled thump, another spider lowered itself to the floor in front of them on a thread of silk. Before she could react, there were three identical thumps just behind her. Aurora tried to dodge to the side, but a pair of spiders dropped down and blocked her. From the dark corners of the crypt, four more spiders emerged, climbing down the walls to join their fellows.
In a matter of seconds, Drogan's students were completely hemmed in. As one, the spiders inched forward, waving their forelegs and chittering back and forth. Aurora was soon back to back with Xanos.
"It's just a couple of spiders," the half-orc mocked in a high pitched voice.
Surrounded by hairy bodies and dozens upon dozens of staring eyes, Aurora was unable to answer. She gripped her sword tightly, trying to keep an eye on every spider at once as she tensed for the first attack.
Inexorably and with fathomless patience, the spiders advanced.
Author's Note: My apologies for giving in to my demons and ending the chapter right here.
Thanks, everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Please let me know whether or not this one lives up to your standards. :)