Chapter 26

Not what I was expecting

With the date on the token being just two days away we had a little time to kill, and that night while sitting with the others and watching two of them eat I hatched a plan. A wicked plan. A naughty, delicious plan that needed a few things to go right, but was I not a master of all I surveyed? Of course I was! If I couldn't pull this off, it was time to hang up the old spellbook for good. Part one of my plan could be put into action immediately! It looked like everyone was about done and would be getting up shortly, and I didn't want to forget what I was about to learn. Now, act casual, Orchid. That's it, nice and causal.

"Say, have you two noticed that Malachite's tail seems to be getting longer?"

"You really think tho?" Snarly asked, looking over.

"I didn't notice anything," Hanz reported.

"My tail? What are you talking about?" Malachite twisted and turned, trying to see his own tail around his wings.

"I mean I wasn't checking it out or anything," I hastily assured him, needing to sell it and sell it big. "But it just seems longer to me now than before. You should be careful not to knock into things if you think it's one size but it's another."

"Why my tail though?"

"Don't look at me. Oh, here! Easy way to tell. I'll just cast the measure spell on you and then again in a few weeks. We can compare the size and know for sure."

"A logical plan of action," Hanz praised.

"Okay," Malachite allowed. I got up and went over to him, touching him and casting my measuring things spell. This was easy enough to pull off, and I announced his tail was 1.05 meters in length currently. But secretly, I was repeating his other measurements to myself so I didn't forget them. Dinner soon broke up and I hastily wrote down what I had learned. Part one of my plan was complete!

The next day I left early, Malachite still snoozing away, and headed into town. I took on the appearance of a dark elf, and named myself Midnight for no particular reason. My first stop was a clothing shop that catered to driag, thankfully there were some in this city. Most places didn't exactly like having them around for one reason or another, but with their lands so close by and most of the guard being driag I had plenty of places to choose from. I picked one that seemed to have some nice examples in the windows and a bit of looking around and talking to the salesman later I handed over his measurements and was assured he could tailor the outfit I had picked out to fit Malachite perfectly. For a small fee he said it would be delivered when I asked, and I handed him the note I had written to be included. With that done I headed out and found a nice looking open carriage I could rent, then made reservations at a nice restaurant for tomorrow evening. Thankfully I could ride around doing all that and not walk, so I made it back with plenty of time to spare for the day. I still had work to do before leaving for the meeting.

My divination magic assures me we can get there and back before dinner tomorrow. The best time to arrive is exactly noon, so that's when we'll be there. We'll meet whoever shows up, head back here, and I can put my plan into action.

We had discussed what to do with the money and we didn't have many good ideas for now except to put it into the "safe" and worry about it later. Always better to have the problem of "mo money" as Hanz put it than "no money" which I decided was them making some kind of joke? I didn't get it. But Malachite did have one request, and that was a spell to protect him against ice attacks. He said fire elementals would be no problem for him, not that he could hurt them easily, but that ice elementals- such as the ones that seemed to be popping up everywhere- were a real concern. So I headed off to the usual magic shop, and 50 moons later (This better be worth it!) I had a spell to make someone completely immune to cold attacks. At least I didn't have to maintain it, thank you spell symbol magic! I spent the rest of the day studying the new spell and that evening I asked what form he wanted the spell symbol to take. I offered him some spell tokens, but he decided to just have me burn it onto his armor. Yes, it could only be used once until I refreshed it, but then he didn't have to fumble around with a sack of stone disks either. It didn't matter to me either way so that's what he got. I set the tokens aside to put in the shop once I went back there, figuring I might as well make some of my money back.

Finally the day had arrived. The fated meeting, if the wanderer that told me about the coin was on the level, that is. We left soon after Malachite got up, flying to the treeline of the Dagger Forest and heading inside. We knew the place was somewhere within, but not exactly where, so we had a bit of searching to do. Still, I could use my compass spell and Snarly took the compass/watch we had gotten so long ago and we spread out in a line to try and find the place. We had searched for maybe a half hour when suddenly it started to get dark, and I looked up in alarm.

It was a solar eclipse!

Of course, that's why we had to come here on this date, I thought to myself. But is this place only visible while the eclipse is happening? I hope not! I still don't know where it is, and how long does an eclipse last for? I dug the coin out, just in case as I hadn't felt any magic on it before but as I held it up, a beam of light shot through the trees.

"Hey, come on!" I shouted to the others. "Can you hear me? Come on, it's this way hurry!"

Naturally I was the slowest of us but the trees slowed everyone down. We broke into a clearing and there it was- a large structure with four beams of light coming out of the open doorway. One of them was connected to my coin, and winked out as we got close. Everyone looked around as I studied the entrance. There was some writing around the door, which was just an open portal into darkness.

"Hey, comeone's soming," Snarly announced. "I mean thomeone's comith."

It was true. Several figures pushed past the trees, blinking in surprise at what they saw. One was an older man trailed by a younger, both in robes so they were probably spellcasters. One was a very well dressed dwarf, no weapons but he was trailed by an armored figure, probably a bodyguard. The last group were three female beast-kin, two cats and one raccoon. They had simple weapons and clothes on, so were probably just normal folks. Their coins winked out as well.

"Is this all of us then?" the dwarf called. "I demand to know who's in charge here!"

The others looked to the other groups, but no one spoke up.

"I guess we need to go inside. Right! I'm going in first, any objections? No? Fantastic. Come along Mitsu."

"Hang on, we should talk about this!" pleaded the human. "We can't just go in there without making some kind of plan! I should prepare a few spells-"

"Forget all that," the dwarf roared. "You know how much I paid for this token? It's finally time to recoup my losses, and not a one of you is going to stand in my way."

He marched up to the door and went inside, followed by his bodyguard.

Expect he wasn't.

"I can't get past the doorway," he exclaimed. He shoved against nothing, trying to get in. "Mister Steelshod, I can't get in!"

"Maybe you need to actually hold the token to enter?" asked the wizard. "What sort of spell could do that though? Hummmm."

"There's writing here, I was going to try and work out what it said," I told him.

"Ah, now there's an idea. Archmage Duceldorf, at your service!" He came over, holding out a hand to shake. He didn't seem put off by my appearance, but then, he was probably prepared for strangeness given the whole situation. I hadn't bothered to put up my disguise while wandering around the forest, and I hated people seeing the 'real' me, but there was nothing for it now.

"Orchid Spellweav-" I started to say, but was interrupted by a blood curdling scream. Everyone looked at the door, where the noise had come from, and the dwarf booked it out of there slamming past his bodyguard and sending them both tumbling.

"What in the world?" the wizard asked.

"Monsters!" the dwarf announced. "Creatures. Horrible! Almost didn't get away!" Looking at him now I saw his clothes were smoldering, like he had been attacked by fire. "Just what are you all trying to pull here? Where were you?" he demanded, as his bodyguard got up.

"I couldn't come in after you," he protested. "I tried. Didn't you hear me calling after you?"

"Typical. You! Girl! Give Mitsu your token so he can come in after me. I'll toss you a trinket or something on the way out, should I find one. Come on then, don't keep me waiting."

I looked around for this 'girl' he was referring to. Was there one behind me?

"No, you, the bald girl with the spiky bits. Hand your token over this instant!"

"Oh really?" Malachite growled, stepping between us. "How about you give me your token and I'll go in with her?" He put his hand on his sword. "Or better yet, I'll fight you and your so called bodyguard for it. That's fair, right?"

"I'm not fighting anyone over this!" exclaimed the beast-kin girl. "And I'm not going in there if there's monsters. You can have my token!" She threw it at him and spun on her heel. "Come on, let's go home. What a waste of time."

"I told you we shouldn't have come here," said the raccoon one.

"Shut up, Augustine. We heard you the fifth time you said it." They vanished into the trees.

"Good!" said the dwarf, now up and rubbing his hands together after handing the token to the armored man. "We've secured a second token and reduced our competition in one swoop. Now we can go. See you all inside."

"Sir, shouldn't we go in together with the others? Safety in numbers, and such?"

"You're supposedly the best," he pointed out. "Earn your pay. I won't be second in this, we're going in first."

"But it may not matter," he protested, rushing to keep up with the dwarf. "At least tell me about these creatures..." They vanished inside.

"With that out of the way," the wizard decided, dismissing the dwarf from his mind no doubt. "What you were saying, my dear?"

"I was going to see about reading this writing or whatever it is," I said, pointing to the runes.

"Please proceed!" he agreed, stepping out of the way. "Always nice to see a fellow practitioner of the magical arts at work!"

I cast my spell, touching the writing, and it became clear to me. "Welcome to the temple of the eclipse," I read. "Those with the proper means may seek their destiny within. There is nothing to fear, your master of ceremonies awaits you in the lowest chamber."

Ah, proper means. Holding a token, in other words. Right.

"Ah, so we are to be met," the wizard decided. "But if there is nothing to fear, why the monsters? Perhaps the fine gentleman dwarf simply rubbed them the wrong way? They are known to be a bit abrasive perhaps he got their dander up he wasn't offered a cool drink right from the start and they took umbrage?"

"A trick, perhaps?" Hanz decided. "To try and delay us entering? He may meet this master of ceremonies and claim no one else was around."

"He theemed pretty schared," Snarly decided. "And a jerk."

"Would he really burn himself like that?" Malachite asked.

"A good point," the wizard agreed. "Well, we have two tokens remaining. Will you join me, my dear? I know a combat spell or two, so I'm not completely helpless. Hopefully with that brute in armor already down there we can have a good chance to come to their aid."

"Why not let me go in there?" Malachite offered. "And see what the situation is? I know you can take care of yourself Orchid but for all I know this guy will stab you in the back the moment my eyes are off you."

"Now see here!" he protested. "I would do no such thing. I simply wish to see what this is all about. I have no designs on anyone. Whatever happens within, I am content to take third place, if this even is some kind of contest. The writings do not imply such, though why all this cloak and dagger business does confound me fiercely."

"Perhaps it should be me," Hanz spoke up. "As I can be invisible. Let the 'good' dwarf and his highly paid companion distract these creatures while I do reconnaissance. I will, of course, record his face when he learns he is second after all, should I reach the master of ceremonies before him. How to display it though..."

"Orchid could make me invisible!"

"Until you had to attack someone," they protested. "Mine doesn't wear out."

"Pluth they have a ranged weapon," Snarly added. "For tha record I don't want to go inthead of you. Even though I thoo can be invithible thanks to Orchid. It'th all yourth."

I hummed, looking between the two of them. They made some good points, and I doubted either would betray me no matter what treasures were to be found inside, should I give up my token to allow them to go alone. We had been together long enough to let me know that, perish the thought. So why then did the thought of giving it up seem so repugnant to me suddenly? Hanz could handle themselves, and report on what they found. Both were sturdy, good fighters in their own right, and with my spell powering their weapon the ranged aspect would maybe help. And Malachite really couldn't miss with his sword now. But the dwarf had been burned, if this 'monster' was some kind of fire elemental they would be helpless. I was going back and forth between them in my mind when Snarly cried out, "Look!"

We looked, and the two tokens were expelled from the doorway, flying in an arc and landing in the grass. He went over and started running his hands through it, coming up with the two a moment later.

"Well, they're dead!" Malachite announced. "I guess we can all go in. Snarly, whatever your name is, give me your token and wait here!" He held out a hand for the tokens.

"You really think they're dead?" the wizard asked, looking pale. He clutched his token to his chest, as though Malachite was going to yank it away from him. I noticed I was doing the same and forced myself to relax my grip and put my hand down.

"Want to go down and find out?" he said with a grin. (Don't forget he shows a lot of sharp teeth when he does this)

"Nope!" he decided, handing over his token. "It's not worth my life. You have fun in there! Come on." He turned and walked back the way he came, his apprentice looking relieved and even giving us a grateful wave before they vanished back into the trees.

"The question now becomes," Hanz announced, "do the four of us believe we have a chance to survive in there? We are becoming fairly old hat as they say about these sort of situations. Do they still say that? I forget."

"Even if it's the whole building and not just the door that keeps us out," Malachite told them, handing the coins out. "We can each have a token so there should be no problems. Let's head into the astral, we can bypass any 'monsters' and just go right to the last chamber. Our host has a lot of explaining to do after this!"

I chuckled. "Seems to be the go-to strategy isn't it?" I agreed. "Grab on."

We headed down the stairs, expecting as usual for the astral to get dimmer and dimmer as we did so. But strangely, it got a bit dimmer but no more. From what we could tell the ceiling here looked like the night sky, and there was the eclipse, a ring of fire lighting the way. But there was another light source down here too- a creature made of light. Flanked by two more figures made of darkness, they were heading back down the corridor away from the bodies of the dwarf and the bodyguard. I shook my head and said a short prayer for their souls. Perhaps the patron of lost causes will see something in them? We passed them and continued on. Halfway down the hallway was an altar of sorts, sitting atop it was a crystal that shone brightly, just like the creatures that thankfully didn't seem to notice us. They were strange looking, the dark ones having multiple limbs that were hard to count or keep track of, while the light ones were too bright to look at directly so they could really look like anything. We had seen creatures of darkness like this before, had they looked like this? I really don't want to think we've been killing them, and so they've started evolving or something to become harder to kill, when they come here. Are they all connected? This place hasn't been used in ages, what are they even doing here? How does being here further their goals? They aren't making an army, it doesn't make sense.

"It's the God forsaken ice cave all over again," Malachite announced. "And just when I got immunity to ice too. Figures it's a different element now. These are elemental light demon things aren't they?" He looked to me.

"That's how it seems," I agreed. "It was just sitting there the first time, that ice orb I mean. It was only protected the next time because we tipped our hand. Thankfully these guys don't seem to communicate and haven't taken steps to secure this one. Or maybe they can't, how do you protect something with light?"

"So this place is compromised? It shouldn't look like this?"

"Yessss," I slowly answered. "That also seems to be the case. Maybe they aren't thrown out because they're made of light or something? Let's move on, but I don't expect anything good." In fact I suspect our "host" to be long dead, if these things have taken the place over.

He nodded, and we headed further in. There was a door which didn't bother us any, and down the next hallway was a similar altar, with another crystal. It was hard to tell with this one but it seemed to be sucking light in, rather than giving it off. Another two elemental creatures, dark ones, were by the door, and shockingly two mechanical figures guarded the door at the far end. They were on treads, and looked powered down.

"Those- it can't be," Hanz decided, walking around them. "Do they even function?"

"What are thay?" Snarly asked.

"War machines," they answered simply. "I didn't think any were made since the fall. Very peculiar. Oh, if we could only capture them somehow and reprogram them to follow our orders. We could protect the house and bring one with us!"

"I'm not carrying that thing around," Malachite announced with some distaste.

They do make a good point though, a tireless sentry at the house would be nice.

We stepped around them just in case, then came face to face with three figures in the final chamber. Two were simply larger variants of the light and dark demons we had seen in the passageway, but the other was another remnant like Hanz. Superficially, anyway. Same basic structure, but Hanz didn't have dark and light energy pulsing through them like that. We could see it along their joints, which seemed to be pushed apart by it slightly. We all jumped when it suddenly looked around.

"Intruders detected in adjacent dimensional space!" it announced. "Preparing countermeasures!" It let out a scream and energy started pouring off it in waves. Meanwhile the two demon things were alerted, and looked around for us. Thankfully they didn't seem to notice us. Still…

"Let's go let's go!" Malachite announced, spinning me around and shoving my back. "Don't want to be in here anymore, let's go!"

I agreed, and we hustled out of there. The two war bots were now active in this hall as well, but thankfully also didn't seem to notice us.

"Was that suppothed to be our hoth?" Snarly asked. "There wath a chest in there I thaw."

It would make sense, something that could stay here, alone, without food, to meet us during the eclipse. But it seems compromised now. What was that energy? How was it doing that? Is Hanz holding out on us? But no, I've never heard stories of remnants able to do that!

"If they were," Hanz told him, "they're a bit too far gone now. Prudence suggests we retreat, however I estimate a 96% chance you will request we think of a plan to at least not leave empty handed." They were looking at me when they said that. "You want those crystals for study, do you not?"

"You know me so well," I told them with a grin. "Let's let the big guy calm down a bit and see what we can come up with..."