Demi-Deity E-Book

Michael Anderle

• Herausgeber: LMBPN Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Chronicles Of KieraFreya
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 436

Beschreibung

Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 05

Leseprobe

DEMI-DEITY

CHRONICLES OF KIERAFREYA™ 05

MICHAEL ANDERLE

This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

Copyright © 2019-2020 Michael Anderle

Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/

Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

A Michael Anderle Production

LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

LMBPN Publishing

PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

Las Vegas, NV 89109

First US edition, September 2020

eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-182-3

Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-183-0

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Epilogue

Books by Michael Anderle

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THE DEMI-DEITY TEAM

Thanks to our JIT Readers

Dave Hicks

Deb Mader

Diane L. Smith

Dorothy Lloyd 

Jeff Eaton

Kelly O’Donnell

Larry Omans

Peter Manis

If We’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

Editor

The Skyhunter Editing Team

To Family, Friends and

Those Who Love

To Read.

May We All Enjoy Grace

To Live The Life We Are

Called.

PROLOGUE

The air was filled with the acrid stench of sulfur. Poisonous black clouds darkened the skies, puffing in small bursts from the open mouths of vents littering the land.

A land that stretched on for infinity, a kind of limbo differentiated only by towering rock formations. Rugged things that broke free of the land and reached for the sky like fists from the grave.

The creature walked on.

His head hung down in shame, every footstep dragging, his mind lost in a darkness reflective of the land around him.

He came to a river. The water lay thick and black like motor oil, greasy rainbows staining the surface. A boat appeared in the water, its captain a blankly staring skeleton. It waited patiently.

The imp smirked. “How much to take me home?”

The skeleton gave no reply. Fukmos clambered in and took his seat as the skeleton placed a long paddle into the dark waters and maneuvered them into the heart of the river.

The ride was smooth despite the choppy waters. After a stretch, the water began to gently bubble and roll. Steam rose in billowing clouds, and through the fog, Fukmos could see the dead swimming in the river, heads breaching the surface like dark dolphins.

He placed a hand in the water, the skeleton at the front of the boat paying no attention as he continued to paddle.

Several hands reached for Fukmos’, passing straight through it. He grinned, enjoying the teasing of the dead. Even in death, the souls of mortals had no effect on the forms of the gods.

He returned his attention to the boat, surprised to see that the skeleton had paused, paddle half out of the water, and was now staring at him.

“What’s the matter? Am I not allowed to pet the animals? You didn’t say ‘hands and legs inside the ride at all times,’ did you?”

The skeleton continued to stare for a time, the intensity of its gaze unnerving. Fukmos looked into the pits of the skeleton’s eyes and was sure he could see something in there, watching him. Some other intelligence studying Fukmos from afar.

Who was he kidding? Of course, He was.

The skeleton’s bones creaked and its focus returned to rowing. The boat passed into the yawning mouth of a cave that plunged them both into unholy darkness. It was only when Fukmos snapped his fingers that emerald-green flames appeared at intervals along the cave’s wall, balancing precariously on small torches.

The river wound ever deeper into the cave. The skeleton guided them down forks in the river without hesitation.

A little farther on, the water began to quicken its pace. Fukmos knew this place well, having spent many of his formative years tracing and exploring the waters of the Underworld, and he knew that a little farther down that route would be a waterfall, the largest Obsidian had to offer.

A waterfall so large it made the Angel Falls look like a ripple in a stream.

At the bottom of the fall was a series of dagger-like rocks. Those condemned to suffer in the Underworld would tumble over the waterfall, plummeting thousands of miles to their inevitable re-death, then appearing back at the start of the falls and tumbling again. It was the ultimate punishment for the worst the world had to offer.

Fukmos shuddered. That sounded terrible even to him. But his father had his ways, and the god of death was hardly going to hug and squeeze people into oblivion.

They pulled up on an ashy shore. Fukmos exited the boat, then tipped an invisible cap to the skeleton. It wasn’t paying attention. It was already slipping the boat back into the water.

Fukmos started to climb the steps that spiraled into the higher reaches of the dark cave. After the first few, he realized his efforts were futile. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and melted into shadow, saving himself the exertion of the climb. Increasing his pace, he slithered up the stairs and rose ever higher.

He returned to his true form when he was a few steps from the top. A pair of shadowy sentinels in dark armor adorned with rusty spikes guarded the door but made no movement as Fukmos walked past.

He was expected, after all.

He strode across the large open chamber, stopping at the bottom of a short staircase. An imposing figure shrouded in a mist of darkness and shadow that writhed and coiled around his being like a serpent sat in silence on the dais. Eyes like blue flame flickered beneath his dark hood. The throne was decorated with the bones of folks long since passed.

Fukmos fell to one knee, sliding his eyes from the blue flames to the black rock on the floor. “Father.”

“Fukmos. You have failed.”

Fukmos swallowed hard. He frantically nodded, knowing how futile it would be to deny all that had occurred.

“A minor setback, almighty Dark One. A simple glitch in the plan is all. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed—isn’t already being fixed. Trust me, I don’t—”

“Trust is difficult to earn,” Asros interjected, his words cold and measured, “but it is very easy to lose. You have lost any semblance of trust that you might think you have.”

Fukmos continued his frantic nodding, his hands twisting together near his stomach.

“Understood, Dark One. But please, if you’ll just give me another chance, we can win this. The girl is still missing a piece of the armor. The biggest piece of all. And it is locked away. If we can keep that piece hidden, buried, and lost with the ancients, she is doomed to roam the world incomplete for the rest of her life. The threat will pass, the problem perish—”

Asros’ hands clutched the arms of the throne as he leaned forward angrily, eyes blazing. “The problem will not perish until the problem has been exterminated!”

He stared for a moment into Fukmos’ eyes. They had never been what anyone would consider “close” as a family, yet Fukmos had always felt a strange admiration for his father and hated to disappoint Him. He cowered and whimpered into his hands, waiting for his moment to speak again.

Asros leaned back impassively.

“As long as the girl exists, and as long as she carries the fallen goddess, we risk the unraveling of it all. Our little secret. I cannot allow this to happen.”

Asros raised a hand toward Fukmos. The imp was lifted off the ground, the air around his throat clamping like a physical force. His legs kicked as he began to choke.

“Fix it!” Asros roared. “Find a way to fix what you’ve done. I will not tolerate any more failures. Do you understand?”

Fukmos nodded, his body flailing in the air. The next thing he knew, he was in a crumpled heap on the floor. “Understood, O Dark One. Understood. No more failure. I can do this. You’ll see. I can do this.”

Fukmos got up, then bowed so low his nose touched the floor. He turned and strode back toward the stairs, freezing when he heard his father say, “I know you can.”

Fukmos spun.

“Because this time, you’ll have assistance.”

Asros clicked his fingers. A burst of smoke coalesced on either side of him, forming the shape of two girls. Although they looked child-like, Fukmos knew better. He had been around them for the better part of several millennia.

The girl on Asros’ left stepped forward. Her hair was long and black and flowed around her body as though she were underwater. She hovered several inches off the ground, and her eyes were vacant pools of white. “Of course, he does. Don’t you, Fukey?”

Fukmos’ nostrils flared and he glared at the girl.

“Oh, now, don’t tease, Myaris,” the second girl, Dryana, said. Where her sister’s hair was long and flowing, hers was short and thin. There were clumps of it missing from her scalp, and her skin seemed to be poxed, not that it seemed to pain her. “You know he only likes causing the mischief, not receiving it.”

“Too bad,” Myaris replied. “I thought we could have some fun together on the surface world for once. It’s been terribly boring down here without you.”

“And to think, all that time up there wasted,” Dryana teased. They giggled like schoolgirls, although there was an emptiness to their tone. “Weeks and weeks, and nothing to show for it.”

“We slowed her down,” Fukmos flared. “The host…Valoric-whatever-that-bitch’s-name-was. We slowed her down. Created a challenge.”

“Oh, really?” Myaris laughed. “As I understood it, you collected the armor for her, then delivered the goods on a silver platter. Isn’t that what you told us, Father?”

Asros sat silently, watching with a studious eye.

Fukmos frowned at the pair. “Mistakes were made. It will not happen again.”

He turned back to the stairs. His eyes were dark, his pride bruised. He walked briskly, hoping he would be allowed to exit without the nuisances following. The girls had caused him untold torment and irritation in their formative years when the world was young.

Before he reached the third step, a cold voice spoke.

“No. It will not,” Asros crooned. “Remember, I made you. In failure, you can be undone.”

Fukmos nodded, then sped down the stairs, chased by the haunting giggles of the dark-haired girls as they followed him.

CHAPTERONE

Therese planted her feet. The edge of the forest was in sight. All around her, she could feel their presence, but the damn creatures had once again camouflaged themselves within the shadows.

“When there’s something strange in your neighborhood…” she murmured, shield ready in one hand, hammer in the other.

Huk shifted uneasily. “Who you gonna call?”

He stood a few feet behind Therese, his goblin eyes scanning the forest. The setting sun shone through the trees, its final rays bright enough to impair their vision and leave blank spots in their eyes.

Gideon sighed. “Are we really going to do this?”

“Ghostbusters.” Ben grinned, his bowstring creaking as he held it taut.

Something moved in the corner of his eye. He released the string, letting the arrow soar through the trees and find its mark. There was a groan of pain as the projectile took a large chunk of the creature’s health.

“Bingo,” Chloe said, her Dark Vision identifying the ghouls dotted around the group.

Several of them rushed out of the trees in unison.

They were strange creatures. They looked like severely malnourished hags with thin, bracken-like arms and legs, and forms that could melt into their surroundings. Their skin was marbled blue and black, their eyes dark orbs in their faces.

“To the right,” Veronica shouted.

Chloe whirled, an Ice Shard forming in her hand. She threw the missile and pierced the ghoul’s shoulder. The ghoul was knocked back but continued coming for her.

Ben was ready. Casting Double Shot, he loosed two arrows, one taking its place in the ghoul’s cheek, the other skimming its skin and finding the one behind it.

The first ghoul went down, crumbling into a heap. Its body evaporated into the forest floor.

“Left!” Talbot called. “Big ones, too.”

“Spread-eagle!” Chloe shouted.

The team took their positions, putting their training into practice.

The “spread-eagle” tactic was simple, involving the team positioning themselves in a tight cluster with the warriors and clerics in the center (in this case, Talbot, Huk, Leonie, and Veronica), flanked by the two mages (Chloe and Gideon).

The tank took front and center, blocking direct oncoming attacks with their shields (Therese), while long-range fighter (Ben) took the rear.

Hovering around the edge of battle, ready to charge when required, was—

“Blueballs!” Chloe shouted after the lumbering blue toffet, already bounding on his powerful paws toward several ghouls that had materialized in the woods beside them. He was already gnashing his razor-sharp teeth, ready to take down the enemies.

“He’s got it, Chloe,” Gideon called back, summoning his Volt Shock spell and shooting sparks ahead.

He took a few steps forward, opening up the formation for the warriors to attack. Chloe completed the maneuver on her side, the cluster of players spreading out like the wings of an eagle.

Chloe held her sword high, imbuing the blade with Deic Light. KieraFreya’s mythical sword was incredible—light, sharp, and able to maneuver at her every whim to cut down the enemies ahead of her, not that she expected anything else from the personal armory of the goddess of retribution.

“A little higher,” KieraFreya whispered into Chloe’s ear, the magical armor taking a life of its own. Chloe’s sword swiped at a ghoul and created a deep cleft in its stomach, which oozed thick, dark liquid. “I personally find that if you go for the head, you only need one chop.”

“Thank you for that.” Chloe decapitated the ghoul with the next swing.

“You’re welcome. Maybe one day you, too, will become a fearsome warrior, as I once was.”

“I’m a Battle Mage.”

“Oh, yes. I forgot. You’re one of those,” KieraFreya teased.

Veronica, who had been darting between the players, casting Healing Hands to keep each player topped up to full health, overheard. “I told you Battle Mages were frowned upon. Finally, someone else in the group sees it.”

Chloe smirked, not wanting to show Veronica that she was getting to her. “Yeah? Well, at least I can do this!”

Chloe poured additional energy into her blade. Four ghouls came out of the shadows, sprinting toward her. She broke free of the group, her sword lighting up the shadows. She twirled the sword in one hand as she summoned the etheric in her mind and prepared for what was to come.

“Watch out!” someone shouted.

Chloe grinned. The ghoul’s arm reached for her and missed by an inch as she stopped and turned in a full twist around the creature. She swung her sword behind her and opened the ghoul’s back in one swift motion, then used the momentum of the blade to stab the next ghoul’s shoulder blade.

The ghoul cried out in pain as the other two came from either side.

Chloe released her grip on her sword, leaving it embedded in the ghoul’s shoulder, and spread her arms wide. With one hand, she focused on her Shadow Tweak ability, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction when the shadows snaked toward her, creating a small wall directly in front of the ghoul on her left.

With the other hand, she summoned Creepers Crawlies, bending the plant life to her will and pulling down several vines that formed a block in front of the ghoul on her left.

She raised both hands, and the spells lifted higher.

The ghoul on her left tripped over the wall and fell on its face. A blanket of shadow appeared and cloaked its body, keeping it pinned to the ground. The ghoul on her right groaned as the vines coiled around its legs and dragged it into the air, suspending it several feet up.

With deliberate slowness, Chloe sauntered over to the second ghoul and retrieved her glowing sword from its back. She kicked it away, assessing its health with Creature Identification and seeing the bar now on zero.

She turned to the suspended ghoul and drove the blade into the part of its body where she presumed its heart to be; she couldn’t know for sure. Either way, the area was glowing ever so faintly, thanks to her MonsterSlayer skill, which showed her the weak points of the monsters they battled.

In a final maneuver, Chloe sawed the blade through the shadow blanket and finished off the last of her ghouls.

Veronica and Therese stared at her in stunned admiration. Behind them, Gideon, Blueballs, Huk, Ben, and Leonie were engaged with half a dozen ghouls of their own.

“Oh, this?” Chloe said, raising an eyebrow and wandering back toward them. “It’s nothing. Anyone can do this. Y’know, master the sword and the etheric.”

“Can you do that?” Therese muttered out of the side of her mouth to Veronica as Chloe laughed and moved to join the rest of her party in battle.

Veronica’s face soured. “Shut up.”

There were more ghouls on the other side now, coming in droves from deeper in the woods.

“We must be near a nest,” Ben called to the others. “They just keep coming.”

“A nest could be fun,” Chloe said, appearing behind Ben and slapping him on the back before sprinting into the fray.

Ben shook his head and grinned. He brought his eyes back to his bow and continued raining arrows on the ghouls.

Although Huk, Leonie, Gideon, and Ben were doing a great job holding the ghouls back, Blueballs was the star of the show. His arms pinwheeled in a blur of blue fur, bowling through the creatures and weakening them for the others to pick off. Chloe could see him, a short distance into the dark, powerful arms sweeping the ghouls off their feet and hurling them against the trees.

The area lit up in a flash of blue as Gideon shot electricity from his hands.

“You might find life a bit more fun if you played with your other powers, y’know,” Chloe said.

Gideon shrugged. “I like electricity, okay? It’s…cathartic.”

“I see.”

“Besides, how else can I get the spell to level 5?”

“Level…” Chloe’s voice trailed away. She quickly scanned through her spells-dex. “That’s not fair. My best is Telekinesis at level 3.”

“Maybe train that one a bit more?” Gideon suggested. “Looks like it’s easier to level up one skill if you keep using it.”

Chloe shrugged. “Fine. But not now.”

Her hands lit up with the great spheres of crackling purple fire of Purple Blaze. Gideon stared at her wide-eyed. “We’re in a forest, the whole thing will be set ablaze!”

To his surprise, Chloe was laughing. The orbs shrank to nothing. “You should have seen your face. Of course, I’m not going to throw fire at them. I remember what happened last time, doofus. What do you think I want to do, kill one of our party?”

The party tracked the ghouls to a clearing in the trees. Ghouls piled out, one after another.

The nest.

In the clearing was what looked like a large moss-covered rock. A hole led down into a dark tunnel. Even now, more ghouls were crawling out, reaching toward the KieraSlayers.

Huk wrinkled his nose. “It’s like watching a cow give birth.”

“How many of those have you seen?” Leonie asked.

“Enough.”

“Shall we block the hole? Find a way to stop them from coming out?” Gideon suggested.

Chloe tilted her head to try to get a better look inside the shadowed tunnel. “Unless we want to explore their hole and see what we find?”

“You sound like Ben after a few too many drinks,” Therese quipped.

“Hey!”

“We won’t fit in there,” Veronica crouched and ducked her head. Blueballs squatted at the cave’s entrance, bashing the skull of any ghoul that dared to crawl to the surface. The action reminding Chloe of the Whack-a-Mole game she’d seen at arcades. “It’s too small.”

“Huk could go,” Leonie suggested.

“You want to bet?” he replied.

“Or Therese?”

Therese scoffed. “I’d sooner lick Blueballs’ backside.”

Blueballs cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, no offense, pal.”

“Okay, well, blockage it is, then,” Veronica said, clapping. “Who’s going to do the honors?”

They turned to find Chloe already focusing on the tunnel. Her hands glowed with etheric energy, and soon they could hear the rock sinking into the ground. The cave entrance closed, looking more like a clamshell than the hole it was.

The cries of the ghouls quieted to a soft mumble as Chloe finished focusing on her Telekinesis spell. “There. Problem solved.”

They all nodded, each taking a second to stare at their notifications and allow Veronica to heal any wounds they might have acquired.

Chloe stared at her own menu and saw the updates in bright letters.

Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 7)

+530 exp

Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 9)

+590 exp

Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 8)

+550 exp

Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 8)

+550 exp

Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 8)

+550 exp

Chloe was also pleased to see that her two spells had leveled up.

Spell power increased: Creepers Crawlies (Lv 2)

Now that your spell has leveled up you can—you guessed it—control vines and foliage with a greater level of efficiency. A wider range of plant life is available for your manipulation, too.

Requirements: n x 17MP per second (where n is equal to the number of seconds taken to cast the spell)

Spell power increased: Shadow Tweak (Lv 2)

Ever thought of producing puppet shows? Just an idea. I suppose there are better ways to manipulate the shadows (extra points for creativity and innovation).

Requirements: n x 12MP (where n is equal to the number of seconds taken to cast the spell)

Not bad, Chloe thought. Maybe I should try harder to level these bad boys up.

Not that she hadn’t already been trying. Spells seemed a lot more reluctant to grow than her other skills. She wondered about their increased potential, making a note for herself that when she had a quiet moment, she would experiment with her newfound etheric skills.

Finally, scrolling through her menu, she looked up her skills and stats, curious to see how close she was to obtaining her next character level. She had a hunch something would happen at level 15, but she wasn’t sure what.

After her review, Chloe was pleased to see that she wasn’t far from reaching level 15. Thanks to the KieraSlayers’ journey from Killink View toward the mountain city of Hammersworth, they had encountered a whole host of local monsters and enemies that had boosted their experience.

Which was perfect, considering she now had one final obstacle to face before she finally reunited all of the pieces of KieraFreya’s armor: finding and taming KieraFreya’s noble steed, Shikora.

Who knew what dangers lay along that path, and what strength they would need to complete the last of KieraFreya’s mission? With their party down two men, they needed all the bonuses and benefits they could get. It had been bad enough losing Jessie in the battle for the armor, but to have to leave Tag safely guarded in Killink View while they continued on their travels without him?

That had been a tough pill to swallow.

Even now Chloe could picture his lifeless body on the bed in the sleeping chambers of the Twisted Spire inn. The real Tag was logged out and radio silent since the loss of his digital girlfriend.

They had left a note with the innkeeper, and Ben continued to try to communicate with Tag in the real world, but they couldn’t stop and wait while Tag dealt with his demons. They were a party, and they had a job to do.

When they emerged from the trees, the group blinked stupidly at the bloody sunset beyond the vast stretch of the Yoren mountains ahead. Fields and streams covered the several-mile stretch between them and their destination. Small villages and farmhouses littered the land that bordered the legendary city of Hammersworth.

“Is that it?” Veronica asked, coming up beside Chloe.

Chloe shielded her eyes. She could see the high white stone walls encircling the city, which was half-tucked into the mountainside, reminding her of her first sight of Killink View.

She nodded. “I don’t know what else it could be.”

“And do we really think he’ll be there?”

Chloe took a deep breath; the description of the man Prince Gilligan had told them about was still fixed in her mind, their only lead on this wild goose chase across Obsidian.

“Dear God, I hope so,” Chloe replied. “Because if he’s not, we’ll have come all this way for nothing.”

“Not for nothing,” Gideon said.

Chloe raised an eyebrow.

“Every step we take together brings us closer as a party. No time is wasted in Obsidian.”

Chloe smiled, pride swelling in her heart. She looked ahead and took her first steps onto Hammersworth’s farmland.

CHAPTERTWO

Killink View was large, but Hammersworth put it to shame.

The largest city in Obsidian, and often considered the realm’s capital, Hammersworth was the oldest inhabited city, its history stretching back thousands of years.

The walls surrounding the city were of thick, impenetrable stone. The houses and buildings inside were a mix of old and new, most of them constructed from the same rock that made up the city’s walls. Every inch of the city was built to last.

Flags and trebuchets marked the walls at intervals, and dwarven guards were posted at the gates.

That was the first thing Chloe had noticed after they had ridden in and been granted entry: the number of dwarves populating the place. Talbot had informed the party that Hammersworth had once been the foremost mining town, way back in the days where resources were few and the world was growing.

Now the city continued its tradition, tunneling deeper and deeper into the mountains from which the city spread. Many dwarves still called Hammersworth home.

“You must be in paradise,” Chloe said to Therese.

“I’ll be honest; it’s nice to outnumber you guys for a change. Everywhere you go, it’s humans, humans, humans.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Have you met your kind?”

They spent their first day in Hammersworth getting their bearings and laying low. The city was divided into four main sections, and they soon found themselves a comfortable place to stay in the residential quarter while they hunted for the mysterious man Prince Gilligan had told them of.

As with Killink View, it took a while to convince the innkeeper to let Blueballs stay with them. They’d expected nothing less, having learned that toffets were a rare breed, found only in the depths of the Heartwood. Even there, there seemed to be few of them left, considering Blueballs was the only one they’d crossed paths with.

After some gentle monetary persuasion (coin taken from the reward the king and queen had given them after the party’s assistance to the Killink monarchy), the innkeeper had yielded.

“Prince Gilligan said he’d be hanging around stables, or anywhere, really, that had animals,” Chloe said to Gideon as they made their way through the cobblestone streets. “Apparently he has quite an affinity for them.”

They passed a great many dwarves, as well as a number of humans and elves. There were also some locals whose race confused Chloe. They were wide like dwarves but almost as tall as humans. Chloe wondered if there had been any incidences of cross-species breeding in the city.

“Well, that should be easy, then? Surely?” Gideon replied, eyes lingering on an apothecary shop as they passed. It featured a cage with a rather lively bat hanging from a hook on the outside.

Chloe laughed. “We’ll have time to go shopping later.” Gideon’s ears flushed. “Once we’ve found this guy, we’ll be able to grab the horse, complete the quest, and bathe in the riches of the mythical rewards. We’ll be back to exploring and hunting for adventures like you used to do in your other games.”

Gideon gave a half-smile.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure I want it to be like any other game,” Gideon said. “It’s because this hasn’t been like any other game that I love playing so much. In Relic Hunter, it was always the same: gather items, slay the dragons, and level up. This is the first game where I’ve felt a sense of purpose. I didn’t realize being a mage could be so much fun and bring so much to the team. Being a warrior never gave me that. I was just another brutish busybody with a sword and a lust for blood.”

“You? A lust for blood?” Chloe winked. “I couldn’t imagine such a sweet-hearted guy could be so…”

“Reckless?”

“Sure, let’s go with that,” Chloe replied with a smile. “Oh, excuse me!”

Chloe ran over to the dwarf who had come around the corner. In his hands he held several leads for the llamas he was currently trying to drag through the streets. The creatures were stubborn, their hooves planted as though the last thing they wanted to do was follow him to his destination.

The dwarf grunted, his face turning red as he pulled, gaining inch by painful inch.

“Excuse me,” Chloe repeated, closer now.

The dwarf looked at her with angry eyes. “Not now, girl. Can’t you see I’m a little busy? Come on, Felicia. You’re setting the example for the others.”

Veins bulged on his biceps as he pulled.

“Maybe we can be of some assistance?” Chloe said. “You see, we’re looking for people around here who know about animals—”

“I don’t need any help.” The dwarf grunted, eyes closed as he strained. “I’ve gotten them this far, haven’t I?”

“Gotten who where?” Gideon asked.

The dwarf stopped straining, took a breath, and massaged his shoulder with his other hand. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re saying that you’ve gotten them this far, but we really have no frame of reference. If you’ve dragged your llama friends from way outside the city walls, then that’s something we can applaud. For all we know, you’ve dragged them from there,” Gideon pointed toward a junction between buildings, just twenty feet away from where they stood, “to here, in which case, it’s not as impressive.”

Chloe tried to hide her smile but failed.

The dwarf looked as though he’d just been kicked in the face. “Look, mage. I’ll have you know that I’m one of the strongest damn dwarves in this city. I can haul a rock twice my bodyweight and bench-press my goddamn wife until she falls asleep. I don’t need your wise-cracking logic or your approval of my strength to get these goddamn animals to the stables.”

“I meant no offense,” Gideon said. “Your comment was just ambiguous, is all.”

The dwarf couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Look,” Chloe said, stepping between the two and moving closer to the llamas, “let’s put a stop to this demonstration of wits versus strength and look at the problem at hand.”

The dwarf opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, Chloe continued.

“Sure, you could continue to drag these beasts across the city, straining and struggling to make any distance. You could. You definitely could.

“Or we could help you on your way and make the whole thing easier. We’re not challenging your pride, and we’re not saying you can’t do it, we’re just saying it might be easier with some help. How about that?”

The dwarf considered for a moment, curling a finger through his thick beard. A wry grin crawled up his cheeks. “Fine. Let’s see how you motivate these blockheaded beasts.”

Quest unlocked: Stubborn Llamas

This dwarf is having trouble getting his llamas to cooperate with him. Maybe a little gentle persuasion could yield a generous reward?

Difficulty: 1/10

Rewards: 500 exp

Accept quest: Y/N

He offered a lead line to Chloe, but she had already selected Y and was walking to a llama’s side. The frontrunner stepped back as she approached, its eyes wary.

“Shhh,” Chloe whispered, hand trailing down the thick fluff on its neck. The llama tensed, took another step back, and spat at Chloe.

The spit hit her helmet and dripped down the metal onto the ground. Chloe, however, wasn’t fazed.

Chloe searched through her spells-dex and found a spell which might work, something she had learned back in Killink and had yet to try.

This seems as good a time as any.

Chloe closed her eyes and, resting her hand on the llama’s neck, she focused on hunting through the mystical etheric swirls in her closed vision, searching and scanning for her familiar, who would act as her gateway into synchronizing with the magical force.

The small rabbit appeared and bounded toward her eagerly. The horn nubs on its head looked like they had grown since the last time she had cast a spell.

Chloe breathed slowly, her hands glowing a warm red as the spell left her fingertips and began to pass into the llama’s coat.

“What’s she doing? She’s staining my livestock!”

Chloe heard Gideon hush the dwarf as she focused, feeling a sudden connection open between herself and the llama. Her Whisper of the Wild spell allowed her and the llama to communicate on a very basic level.

She felt anger and frustration, annoyance, and mistrust. With only her thoughts to guide her, she set about injecting positive emotions into the beast, the red aura that surrounded them both beginning to shift ever so slowly from red to orange to yellow, morphing now into blue and then green.

When she opened her eyes, the llama was staring at her, its body completely relaxed.

The dwarf cautiously pulled on the lead and, instead of planting its feet and protesting, the llama took a few easy steps forward.

“What did you do?”

Chloe smiled. “Nothing much. I just took a second to calm her down rather than try to drag her where she didn’t want to go. Here, I’ll show you again.”

Chloe used Whisper of the Wild on the other two llamas, leaving the whole pack calm.

“Try it now.”

The dwarf did, his eyes widening as the llamas came along willingly. She could see he was already preparing for the battle to continue, but they trotted with him, guided easily by the dwarf. They walked farther in ten seconds than he could have dragged them in ten minutes.

“I…I guess a ‘thank you’ is in order,” the dwarf said, leading his pack through the crammed streets.

The sounds of braying and various animal calls hit their ears almost as soon as the smells did. Located just outside the main gates, the main stables housed a whole range of animals. Chloe was glad to see she was familiar with many of them, only a few being strange adaptations of other animals she had seen.

The dwarf led them deep into the large barn, passing several pens housing horses, deer, and more llamas. He ushered the llamas into the pen, shut the gate, and locked it tight, before wiping his sweating brow on his forearm.

Quest complete: Stubborn Llamas

You did it! Wow, was that one easy. Still, every good deed deserves a reward.

Rewards: 500 exp

“You guys really did me a solid,” he said. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be back there trying to get these beasts in here. The name’s Burdock, by the way. I’m not sure I gave that to you.

Chloe smiled. “Chloe.”

“Gideon.”

“It was nothing, really,” she continued. “Happy to help.”

“What were you doing with llamas in the city anyway?” Gideon asked. “I can’t imagine a scenario in which you’d need animals like these inside the gates unless they were…” His voice trailed away, not wanting to say the rest.

Burdock finished for him. “Dead? Chopped up on a platter and grilled?”

Gideon nodded.

Burdock pulled a dirty cloth from his pocket and rubbed his hands. “There are those within the city who believe that llamas bring certain kinds of luck.”

“What kinds of luck?”

“Virility, mostly.” Burdock grinned. “Some folks believe that making love in the presence of a llama is a surefire way to make sure a bun appears in the oven. For years, the city has had a problem with illegal llama breeding, particularly in the poorer districts. Some of the rich people will actually pay pretty handsomely to…borrow…a llama in order to improve their chances of conceiving with their wives.”

Chloe snorted. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope. It’s true.”

“That’s absurd,” Gideon said. “Do you believe that’s true?”

Burdock shrugged. “Who’s to say? All I know is that I breed and look after llamas for a living, and me and my missus have ten beautiful children to show for the eighteen years we’ve been together. I’m not saying that’s proof, but…”

“Impressive,” Chloe said.

“Thanks.” Burdock clapped and startled the animals around him. “Now, how about, as thanks for your assistance, I get the missus to brew up some delicious herbal tea and share her famous bread with you both?”

Gideon’s stomach rumbled loudly, the mage only just realizing how hungry he was. “Sounds fantastic.”

“Sure,” Chloe agreed. “Why not?”

* * *

Burdock and Reyner lived in an adorable little house not too far from the stables on an acre of land. In contrast to the stonework of the city, the house was built entirely of wood, with a small porch at the front that overlooked the various pens and enclosures in which their livestock roamed.

“I wasn’t expectin’ you home for hours,” Burdock’s wife Reyner said, a look of utter shock on her face when she opened the door.

“You say that like you have a boy toy inside and I interrupted you.” Burdock stuck out his tongue.

Reyner flicked a towel affectionately at his shoulder, then invited them all inside.

She busied herself in the kitchen with the drinks, boiling water in a pan and adding her particular blend of herbs. Soon she came through with a tray laden with thick loaves of bread and cups filled with the most sweet-smelling liquid Chloe had ever encountered.

“This is delicious,” Chloe said after taking her first bite of the bread. “And the tea…dee-licious.”

Gideon nodded in agreement.

Chloe swallowed her bite, then said, “I thought you said you had children? Are they upstairs?”

“One of them is,” Reyner said. “Has his nose in his books, as usual.”

Burdock chuckled. “The rest of them are out and about, doing their chores. I’m not sure how family works where you’re from, but folks in Obsidian tend to be put to work pretty young. As soon as they can put their hands to labor, they’re a part of society, helping keep the great cogs turning. They’ll likely be back around suppertime, but for now, it’s just young Durton upstairs, studying every damn sentence of those books we got him last winter.

“Can you believe the guilds were tossing out their stock? Getting rid of the old editions to make room for the new?”

Reyner shook her head. “What a waste.”

“And what about you two?” Burdock continued.

“What about us?” Gideon asked.

“Two young adventurers like yourselves must be on some fascinating quest, am I right? No offense, but the folks of Hammersworth certainly don’t dress top to tail in armor unless they’ve got questing to do.”

“Yeah, we’re on a quest, all right,” Chloe confirmed. “Me, Gideon, and our party. That’s actually why we’re here in Hammersworth; we’re searching for someone who we’ve been told might be able to help us. When we saw you struggling with those llamas, we actually thought you might be able to lead us to him.”

“I knew you’d need help,” Reyner said, smacking Burdock on the arm. “You and your pride…” She leaned toward Chloe and Gideon. “I offered to come with him, but did he want my help? Nooo.”

“Reyner,” Burdock hissed, “can we do this later?”

His wife sat back with a smug expression on her face.

Burdock rubbed a hand over his tired face. “And who is this man you’re looking for? I mean, I’ll try to help if I can, but we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves on the outer edges of the city.”

“We’ve been told he’s known as ‘The Wrangler’,” Chloe said, remembering the description Prince Gilligan had given them before they set off from Killink View. “A large man who dwarfs…I’m sorry, I mean, who makes others seem tiny and has a reputation for wrangling animals and studying them.”

“Do you know him?” Gideon asked.

Reyner and Burdock looked at each other, eyes narrowed.

“A tall man who’s good with animals?” Reyner mused.

Burdock stuck out his lip, his head shaking gently. “Doesn’t ring a bell. I know the Chestertons across the way deal a lot in more bovines, and the Yolans specialize in fowl.”

Reyner clicked her fingers. “What about that gentleman Doris Yolan mentioned last time we invited them over for supper? The bear-like man who showed interest in her peacocks?”

“Hmm…maybe.”

“What did she say, Mrs. Reyner?” Chloe asked, intrigued.

“Oh, please. Reyner is just fine,” the woman said. “She said he appeared late one afternoon as the shadows were lengthening. Knocked on her door and inquired after her prize peacocks. I don’t blame him, of course. They are something to behold. She was frightened out of her wits, but after a short conversation, she learned that he had no ill intentions. She showed the peacocks to the man and told him all about her history with breeding them, and after a short time, he left.”

“Where did he go?” Chloe asked.

Reyner shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Doris. She should be home about now if that’s of any use to you?”

Chloe and Gideon finished their drinks and bread and followed Reyner’s directions to the small house on the east side of the outer wall, where an old woman was busily hoeing the garden.

“Can I help you both?” she asked as they approached.

They told Doris they had been sent by Reyner and filled her in on their discussion.

“Oh, I remember that man. Terrifying to behold. Thick, muscular, large.”

Gideon swallowed. “How large are we talking?”

“Oh, huge,” she said, studying Gideon. “At least twice your height, and thrice your girth.”

“Do you know where he went?” Chloe asked.

Doris eyed her suspiciously, peeking through the slats of Chloe’s helmet and straight into her eyes beneath. “You two some kind of bounty hunters or something? Did I do wrong, talking to the man? He never gave me no trouble, I assure you. Just appeared, studied my precious peacocks, and went back off into the night. I never had nothing else to do with him, I swear.”

“Relax,” Gideon said. “We’re not bounty hunters, we’re just on a hunt for a man who matches your description. You’re in no trouble, Miss Yolan.”

“It’s Mrs. Yolan,” she said. “Well, if that’s the case, he went over yonder.” She pointed across a field to the tree line, toward a break that indicated the road which passed through.

“Are you sure?”

Doris nodded. “Positive. I remember because I watched him for what felt like hours. Usually when folks head toward the forest, after a short time, you can’t see them anymore because they’ve disappeared over the horizon. But this guy I remember watching. I kept expecting him to disappear, but his great shape was visible for a long time, and that’s the way he went.”

“Well, that’s very useful,” Chloe said, rising to her feet. She stared out the window toward the forest. “He didn’t say where he was going, did he?”

Doris shook her head. “No.”

Chloe and Gideon thanked Doris for her help and paused a short way away from her property. The sun was still high in the sky, the fields around alive with activity as the locals worked the land and tended their livestock. As they stared toward the forest, they heard footsteps shuffling behind them.

“Wait,” Doris said, out of breath from the short journey from her yard.

Chloe and Gideon turned, watching the woman walk-jog toward them. “There is one more thing.”

Chloe waited expectantly.

“The man you’re looking for? He spent a great deal of time looking at my peacocks.” She turned toward a pen where several large brown birds were pecking at the ground. “He admired their beautiful plumage. Said he’d never seen anything like it. To be honest, most folks who see my peacocks say the same thing. I don’t think they breed in any other part of the land.”

One of the peacocks raised its tail, its feathers brown and dull.

Gideon cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, not those,” Doris laughed. “My pride and joy, Fernando. He’s the one strutting out of the coop now.”

They all stared at the dazzling blue and green bird descending a short wooden ladder. He made his way to the females and shook vigorously, then fanned his tail in a spectacular array of multi-colored feathers.

“He is really something, isn’t he?” Doris smiled.

“He sure is,” Chloe agreed. “But what has this got to do with your tall man?”

“Well,” Doris returned her attention to the others. “Before he left, he mentioned that he might swing by before the next full moon to catch another glimpse of Fernando. He had a large bag of coin strapped to his belt, and I got the feeling he was considering purchasing my baby boy from me at a later date.”

“Wow. Would you sell him?”

Doris shook her head. “Not in a million years.”

They thanked Doris once more, letting her know that they’d be by to visit again. They asked if she would be able to find a way to let them know if she got wind of the man, and she agreed to send a raven should there be a sign.

They gave their address at the inn, then headed back into the city. They had a while to go before they would be meeting the others, but they felt as though they’d made progress toward finding their target.

“Where to now?” Gideon asked, filing past the gate guards and scanning the streets.

“Arizona mentioned something about a mages’ school here. Do you think we should go explore? Maybe see if they’ve got any Guardians here we could potentially learn from?”

Gideon nodded. “Definitely.”

His hand clutched his stomach as it rumbled loudly again.

“Maybe we should get something to eat first?”

“Already?” Chloe laughed.

CHAPTERTHREE

The sounds of celebration filled the air.

Veronica heard it from afar—the drums, the trumpets, and the cheering. Even from the small maze of alleys she found herself lost in, she could hear the festivities.

“What have these people got to be so cheery about?” Huk’s gravelly voice croaked. “A city with no working plumbing or chocolate? I’d have killed myself years ago.”

“Why don’t you go ahead and do it, then?” Therese smirked.

Veronica found herself smiling as she ushered the others through the streets.

For the first time since joining the KieraSlayers, Veronica found herself alone with her original party. Well, not party, exactly, given that the group had never quite had enough members to form an official party.

They had been one person short when the exclusively party mission to defeat the dreyda had been announced and they had tagged along with the KieraSlayers out of desperation, wanting the experience of completing the mission.

At the time, Veronica had agreed reluctantly, wanting to remain the leader of her group, but she soon found that life was good under Chloe’s leadership. The groups had bonded and learned from each other. Chloe had a way of leveraging everyone’s strengths and overcoming their weaknesses, and the party had become a well-oiled machine.

Still, it was nice to go back to basics and spend some time with Huk, Therese, and Leonie.

“This way,” she called, squeezing through the crowded streets.

There was confetti in the air, and the music was louder now.

All around her, people craned their necks and rose on their toes. She might’ve worried that she’d lose Huk and Therese, the goblin and the dwarf being several feet shorter than the warrior and the cleric, but the rest of the crowd was comprised primarily of dwarves, with the exception of the odd human or elf.

Then Veronica saw it ahead. She paused at the thin rope holding the crowd back and marveled at the horse-drawn carriages working their way through the streets. Riders cloaked in gold held their heads high as those being driven waved out the windows.

A smile crept onto her face. “What the hell is going on?”

“It’s Union Day!” A person Veronica mistook for a small girl shouted to her. She realized a moment later it was a female dwarf.

“What does that mean?”

“These are suitors for the king!” The dwarf clapped giddily.

“A whole year since he became king, already?” Her friend replied. “I can’t believe it’s gone so fast.”

The first dwarf sighed. “I wish I could be in those carriages.”

Veronica chuckled. The dwarven maidens sat sullenly inside the carriages, shadowed by their enthusiastic chaperones.

Something tugged Veronica’s sleeve.

“Excuse me, miss. I can’t see.”

Veronica moved to step out of the way. “Oh, sorry, I—”

She stopped when she saw Therese bawling with laughter.

“You!”

“Come on,” Huk said, trying to hide his own chuckles. “With any luck, the shrine will be empty, with all these people standing around in the street.”

Veronica reluctantly turned away, heading back the way they had come. The music played behind them as the procession continued, dwarves and other locals passing them as they worked their way out of the crowd and took a right at the next intersection.

They had been looking for the shrine all morning. Despite the four-part structure of the city, Hammersworth was a large place, and there were no maps to make their hunt easier.

They paused and asked for directions. What they received was mildly helpful if a little vague and confusing, and soon they found themselves standing between a series of large fountains on a whitewashed path leading to a large temple.

Leonie tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “I was beginning to genuinely think we’d never find this place.”

“I never doubted it for a second,” Therese shot back.

“Liar.” Huk snorted. When Veronica asked him to explain, he was silent.

They made their way up the stairs toward the temple doors. It was calm around them, the music of the parade lost in the city. Clerics and other classes roamed in reverence, pausing at the fountains and occasionally closing their eyes to just breathe in the air.

Inside the temple, it was much the same, an even larger fountain taking center stage. A large basin at the bottom caught the overspill of an upper basin ten feet above it. Taking pride of place in the center was a carved tableau of every god imaginable.