Chapter 19 - Z
It was a pretty nice morning. Syrenne was still drinking from the night before and I was surprised she hadn't slept (my nice way of saying that she hadn't passed out). Dagran was polishing the ceremonial sword that we had gotten as kids. Even though I know it means the world to both of us because it symbolizes a dream, I swear he has an unhealthy addiction to prettying that thing. It's like the only coping skill he has left.
When I finished a quick breakfast, I noticed that Yurick and Dagran actually seemed to be having a good conversation. They were standing in the corner by the door and Yurick seemed pretty animated, which was odd in front of the others. I didn't want to break the only time that they may ever get along, so I smiled to both of them and went out for a walk.
I was right. The morning was beautiful. The doves and pidgins hopping around and being chased by cats and kids were playing in the circle and by the river. I walked through the market and smelt the aromas of the fresh bread and soups dancing together in the light breeze. This was really peaceful. I thought about the day before. It was almost mad to think that such a lovely city had such horrid people in it, but I guess what they say is true. The brighter the light, the darker the shadows.
I sat on the edge of the fountain. It was becoming my new favourite place because of how nice it was to watch the kids play and just see the town function. A man was repairing part of a building and his son was helping him. It made me wish I had kept my family, but at the same time, if I hadn't lost them, I wouldn't have met my brother or the love of my life. Would I have been better off if I hadn't ever needed to meet them? Life had many unanswered questions. I stared at the water as it flowed from the small holes in the stone to the pool below.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" I heard a voice from behind. Startled, I turned quickly to see that lovely white hair and blue jacket. "I figured you may want to be alone, but I wanted to see what was making you so serene. It's kind of attractive, you're distant side," he smiled with a wink and sat next to me.
I blushed a little bit, "I just love how these people function, like everything is normal and nothing is wrong."
His loving stare turned into understanding. "It makes you miss home doesn't it?" I nodded, feeling transparent. He intertwined his fingers with mine. "That's alright, you know. We all miss our old lives, but we all like this one as well, even if some of us are only sticking around because of some weird guy with feathers in his hair," he smiled jokingly.
"Dagran?" I joked back. I swear he was about to hit me. That glare could have burned right through my head. I laughed. "I think I want to stay here, but at the same time, I know that will never happen, nor do I really want it to if the Count keeps up this game."
Yurick's face changed to hatred in a flash then quickly changed back into understanding and loving. "I agree." Just as he spoke, a cat jumped into his lap and started rubbing on his chest. "Oh, hello there," he pet it gently.
I smiled. "That's adorable," I reached out to pet the cat, but it hissed at me and tried to bite, "or not."
Yurick erupted into snickers and his face flooded with red. He kissed the cat on the head and, in between his attempt at stifling his laughter, he said, "I think we just found the one creature that doesn't like you. I want to keep him." I gave him a confused look. When his face finally flattened, he clarified for me, "Everyone we meet seems to love you. It's almost ridiculous. Sometimes I actually get really jealous."
"Really? Of what?" I stared at the cat with a glare as I tried to pet it again, but it hissed and jumped off of his lap.
"Of what? Are you really that blind? I'll start at the beginning then, shall I? Dagran found you and immediately decided that you were to travel together, Syrenne thinks of you almost like a little brother, Lowell thinks he should be your mentor and best friend, Mirania cares more about you than anyone else in the group, I love you, Count Aganon is obsessed with you for some reason, Jirall hates you so much it might as well be an infatuation, and Calista-," he cut off and I could see the anger in his eyes as he tried to continue speaking. "Let's just end it there. You're a very popular guy."
I kissed his hand, which was still holding mine, and spoke softly, "You don't have to worry about Calista, and Aganon can go stick his head in a Reptid cage. I've been avoiding him for almost a week." Just the thought of having to go back to the castle eventually was eating a hole in my stomach. That man was up to something, I just didn't know what the root was yet.
"Shouldn't you be going to the well today?" I wasn't that surprised that he wanted to change the subject, I did too, but I was surprised that he was asking if I was supposed to be going on a potentially dangerous task by myself. I nodded. "Good. Shall we go then?" I looked at him curiously as if to ask him why he was coming as well. "What? Do you really think I'd let you go alone?" He started walking towards one of the back alley ways. I shrugged and followed him.
When we got to the small area where the well was, we found two ladies doing some laundry and chatting about how there were more bubbles than usual. I tried not to laugh at how silly they sounded.
"Maybe the water's changed. It's become a bit salty," one of the ladies said. That must be some nasty Reptid salt. It was unnerving to think about people washing their clothes in that sort of nasty water.
The ladies didn't even seem to care that two grown men were climbing down the well where they do their washing. That seemed a bit odd to me, but I guess the peacefulness of the town makes the people forget that things are weird.
Yurick had gone down first. When he reached the bottom he said, "Well, this is definitely a cave." I jumped off the later and looked around. Dank, slimy walls and just a low level of water. How could people even get enough water from this to do their washing in the first place? "Who'd have thought we'd find something like this down here?"
"I wonder where it leads to," I squinted, trying to get my eyes to adjust.
"It looks like it must have been made by hand," Yurick ran his fingers along some of the rocks. "This isn't simple erosion."
We followed the tunnel through a few tight squeezes and came to a dead end. "Do you feel a draft coming through here?" I put my hand out to feel for the slight breeze coming through the cracks in the wall. I didn't wait for a response before I started kicking at the loose rocks. After the second kick, they fell through and made an opening.
"I knew he'd do that," Yurick whispered to himself. I smiled.
We ducked under the wall and came out at a giant room that looked like it held a stone maze. Or at least that's what it looked like when the walls were all broken and cracked. There were torches along the walls of the cave that lit the room quite well with the aid of the few holes in the ceiling. We walked forward slowly. If the cave was lit, then there had to be someone here to light it.
Yurick motioned to me to be quiet as we snuck towards the edge of the maze. We knelt down behind one of the half walls and peaked over the edge. Nothing.
"I must say, it's quite the underground kingdom they've got here." We both jumped at the head between ours.
"Damn it, Lowell! How did I not sense you?!" Yurick put a hand to his chest and tried to breathe.
Lowell just smiled. He must have meant to hide his presence somehow. I wasn't a mage so I had no idea how to do that.
Once Yurick had gotten his heart rate back to normal, he muttered, mostly to himself, "So I guess all those times we've seen Reptids just appear…," he looked towards the end of the cave.
"Yup, this place explains how they get absolutely everywhere," Lowell stood next to Syrenne.
"Why are you two here?" I asked. "And where's Dagran?"
Syrenne sighed, "He went off to do something or other, not that I care. We were bored so we figured we'd join you. Saw you climbin' down the well like a couple of weirdos so we followed you."
"Also like a couple of weirdos," I added with a smile.
She shrugged and pointed lazily to Lowell, "He's the weird one. We ladies are more graceful at such things."
Lowell laughed. "Graceful? The only thing 'bout you that's graceful, Syrenne, is how you gracefully down your drinks like a man." Before he could continue, he was on the floor holding his nose, Syrenne standing over him with her arms crossed and chin held high.
The sound of him falling and his sword hitting the ground echoed throughout the cave and drew my attention to a Reptid attempting to hide behind a broken pillar. "There they are! Come back here!" I jumped the wall and chased after it.
"You idiot! Come back here!" Yurick yelled behind me. "This place is crawling with them!"
As I ran I noticed exactly where I was. There were about 15 archers behind me and about 20 fighters in front of me. I was stuck.
"I can't believe he's fallen into a Reptid trap," I heard Syrenne from across the cave. "That's like something Dagran would do. I thought he was smarter than that!"
"It isn't like him to be so impatient," Lowell said coolly.
"He's surrounded! What are we supposed to do?" Yurick was running along the edge of the maze trying to see away around the stupid trap I had run into.
"Oh, come on. We can make handbags out of these things. Let's just get 'em!" Syrenne was planning on just charging in after me. That probably wasn't the best idea, but it was one of our only options.
"Hold on there, Syrenne!" Lowell shouted after her. "If you just rush in there, you'll end up just like him. Look behind him!" He pointed to the squad of archers behind me, ready to shoot. I quickly ran and hid behind a broken piece of wall.
"Ugh! Healers...," Syrenne said.
Healers? I'm even more screwed. Why did I run in here? Their voices were farther away and harder to hear, but I needed to know what their plan was, so I strained to hear them.
"If we attack through this path, we can hit them where they're at their weakest," Lowell strategized. He was a pretty good leader, but his personality off, and sometimes on, the battlefield made him seem like a drunken skirt chaser.
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed.
"It is a plan. More of one than you had," Lowell joked.
"Shut up, you two. No time for that," Yurick interrupted.
I didn't hear any more from them. I peeked out from behind the wall as a sword came crashing down a foot from my face. Oh shit! I jumped up and kicked the swordsman then ran and hid behind another wall. I pulled out my crossbow and tried to get a good shot at the archers. I took out three of them before their attention was drawn to my location. I jumped up again and charged into the group of swordsmen and healers with my sword. I took out about five before the others met up with me and started taking out the sorcerers. I pushed my way through to a part of the maze that had a rusted rod iron gate. I took out a few more of the archers when I had the clearance to do so, but in the middle of a shot, the gate opened. I spun around quickly and dodged the troll that had just come rushing through and barely missed the two dozen swordsmen that had come running in after it. I'm so glad these things are stupid. It's like they didn't even see me.
I rushed in behind them when the last few ran passed me and started knocking them down from the back. Avoid the troll, avoid the troll. My last troll encounter wasn't a good one. Once I had gotten rid of half of the new reinforcements, I went to help the others, even though I was sure they could take care of themselves. I was just worried. As I ran towards them, a few Repids ran towards me, one of which was a sorcerer. A few sword slashes took out the first two, but as I charged the sorcerer he finished casting his circle, so I ducked behind a pillar to find an archer standing between me and the troll. Oh shit.
"GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled as I slid against the wall to the floor. Before my sword had hit the archer, the arrow had hit my shoulder. I pushed my thumb into my shoulder, just below the hole and the end of the arrow. I made a lot of grunting and groaning sounds then, after I had sort of gotten used to the pain, I looked around at my friends attacking the last few Reptids before tackling the troll.
"Lowell, look out!" Syrenne yelled. My head jerked into his direction as two Reptids occupied his sword and a third came from behind. He wasn't going to be able to spin fast enough. I lifted my crossbow with my good arm and fired. I have no idea if it hit or not. My vision went blurry and my arm fell. Oh shit. Poison.