Looting the 13th Floor 8: A Reverse Portal Fantasy, page 17
“Luckily,” she said with a slow smile. “You have some of the most powerful magical beings in Hollowfell in your army. People who have been brewing potions for longer than you’ve been alive.”
“You reckon you can make a potion that would work?” I asked hurriedly. “Something that could be unleashed in the air as a poisonous gas? Enough to wipe out whole armies of High Society fucktards?”
“It’s definitely possible,” Sacha said. “But it would take serious skill and dedication to make it in the quantities that would be required. We would need to get a potion station set up and running as soon as possible.”
“Then let’s search these tunnels some more,” I said. “We can’t keep going forever, but we can make sure there isn’t anything lurking nearby. I reckon it’s safe enough to split up into two groups. One to keep going down here, and one to turn back and inspect the other pathway we saw.”
My troops quickly arranged themselves, and the second group started to head back with Murik and Gurff at the front. I turned back toward the deep darkness of our current tunnel, and my women stayed by my side as we continued downward.
It felt like we had just unlocked one of Hollowfell’s deepest secrets with every corner that we turned. There were piles of small animal bones scattered around, and deep claw marks that dug into the cursed black rock.
“This is so weird,” Myra said as we marched further down. “I wonder how long it’s been since anyone walked this way.”
“Centuries,” Sacha muttered. “I doubt we’ll find any traces of life down here. Even the vermin probably stay clear of the reek of evil that lingers.”
“How long should we keep searching?” Kali asked.
“Just a while longer,” I said. “Cleo, keep an ear out for any signs of movement ahead.”
The cat-girl nodded as we continued to march down through the dank tunnel. We kept going for another fifteen minutes with no signs of life or recent activity down in the darkness. Then we turned and strode back up until we reached the fork in the road, where we waited for the second group.
“All clear!” Murik called as they marched back up to join us. “Well, as far as we can tell. There’s nothing lurking close enough to attack, by the looks of things.”
“Then we can use the cavern for our people.” I nodded. “Go and start setting up your supplies, and we’ll send word back with the unicorns that the witches will need to bring those cauldrons with them.”
Althea took some parchment out of her purse along with a quill pen, and she scribbled a note before she rolled it up.
“I’ll send this along with the unicorns,” she said. “Shall we send all of them back?”
I glanced around the small army I currently had, and I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of the day scouting for more information about the Necromancer.
“We should keep a couple of them here,” I said. “I want to search for the Dark One’s lair while everyone gets set up here.”
Then the ground rumbled slightly, and some light debris fell from the ceiling.
My adrenaline spiked as I tried to imagine what this incoming threat could be, but then my redheaded lover started clapping with glee.
“Ooooh, I know that sound like it was my own heartbeat!” Ash said excitedly. “That’s one of the dragons!”
My adrenaline shifted to excitement in my veins as we started to hurry toward the entrance of the tunnels. Sacha’s spell would mean they couldn’t see the doorway directly, but it had sounded like the dragon had landed close by.
I couldn’t wait to see which of my fighters had arrived first, and I raced the last few steps until I emerged from the hidden doorway.
My jaw dropped as I spotted Zutha close by with every inch of her huge back covered in people.
“Zutha!” I called as I stepped out through the misty shield. “You found us!”
“I stopped off at the troll town,” the dragon rumbled. “They pointed me toward this place, and I have our first batch of fighters. Fresh from the Pearl Coast.”
I frowned in confusion as I looked properly at the beings who were packed onto Zutha, and she lowered her wing to let them down.
“Pearl Coast,” Kali said thoughtfully. “Have we ever been there?”
“I’ve been there, but years ago,” Myra said. “I’m pretty sure Liam has never been out that way. These are Sea Faes, and they’re powerful as hell.”
“I really don’t think I’ve ever met them before,” I said as I studied the new arrivals.
They all had deep blue skin, and both the men and women were incredibly muscular. Each Sea Fae had silver armor draped over their sculpted bodies, and their turquoise hair was either in neat plaits or slicked back in a ponytail. They had small blades tucked in their belts, and they had silver packs that were bulging with some kind of supplies.
One of the women strode down Zutha’s wing first and headed straight toward me with a wide grin. She was incredibly beautiful, and I felt a pang of recognition somewhere deep in my mind. But I couldn’t recall a beauty with bulging biceps like she had. Still, I held my hand out to greet her.
“Liam,” she said in a soft voice that didn’t quite match her burly form. “The Sea Fae of the Pearl Coast are at your service. We are strong and ready to fight.”
“It’s an honor to have you here,” I said as I shook her hand. “Thank you all for coming to join us. I just can’t place where I know you from?”
The woman’s smile widened as she looked at my women and nodded at them.
“I recognize a few of you,” she said. “But it looks like Liam spent a lot of time breaking out more monster girls after he freed me.”
I suddenly remembered where I knew the Sea Fae from as the memory of the High Society auction snapped back into my mind.
Cleo and Kali had helped me free dozens of monster girls the same night we had saved Ash. One of those girls had been a beautiful Sea Fae who had sworn her allegiance to me that very night before she vanished into freedom. She had been so tiny and petite, and it was now clear that was not her natural form. The woman in front of me was obviously what a healthy Sea Fae was meant to look like, and I laughed as I pulled her into a hug.
“No fucking way,” I chuckled. “You look insanely good! Freedom suits you.”
“I agree,” she said, and Kali scrunched her face up in confusion.
“You remember,” I said as I nudged the nymph. “This is one of the monster girls we saved the night of Ash’s auction.”
The dragonling gasped before she flung her arms around the Sea Fae and laughed brightly.
“Oh!” Kali gasped as her wings fluttered excitedly. “My goodness! You look amazing!”
“You came!” Ash said. “You remembered after all this time.”
“I never stopped singing Liam’s praises,” the blue woman said. “I went back to my people and told them exactly what he had done for so many monster girls he didn’t even know. We became stronger and stronger, and then word spread of the Outlaw King. I knew who he was before I even saw the wanted posters.”
The rest of her people steadily made their way down Zutha’s wing and grinned excitedly at me.
A whole colony of warriors I had never met had showed up to fight with me, and it all came back to a good deed I had done so long ago.
“I’m Ciara,” the Sea Fae said. “And we’re ready for whatever this battle will throw at us. Zutha filled us in on the way here, and we told her what an honor it was to fly with a dragon.”
Ciara bowed to Zutha, and the dragon nodded respectfully back.
“Thank you all for coming,” I said to the newcomers. “We have a hidden lair for everyone to use as a base while we wait for more fighters to arrive. It’s hidden by Sacha’s spell, and there is more than enough space for you all.”
“This is so exciting,” Myra said as she grinned at the new fighters. “Sea Fae are some of the strongest creatures of the ocean and land combined.”
“Our army keeps getting better,” I laughed. “Okay! Let’s start to get everyone set up inside the cavern, and we can send all the unicorns back for the second batch of fighters from the town.”
The sirens hurried over to the Sea Fae and started to lead them over to the hidden cave doorway. I took a deep breath as I arranged my thoughts and decided what the next move would be while we waited for more people.
“I want to find the Necromancer’s lair,” I said. “Zutha, can you take us? That’ll be the fastest option.”
“Of course,” the dragon said with flared nostrils.
“Sacha,” I said. “Can you come with us? I have a feeling your knowledge of ancient magic might come in handy whenever we track down this fucker.”
“I’m right here with you,” the sorceress said.
We waited until our new fighters had safely been taken to the underground lair while Sacha explained to Zutha what we had found. Then we raced up the dragon’s wing and arranged ourselves to set out on our scouting mission.
“You plan to use the underground lair against the evil ones?” Zutha asked as she spread her wings. “That is an excellent idea, Liam. It feels right to kill them off in the same hovel they crawled out of to begin with.”
I opened my mouth to agree, but Zutha shot into the air and knocked the air from my lungs. That adrenaline rush from flying would never get old, and I gripped onto Zutha’s scales as we soared into the dark sky. Nuri clung onto my waist as I stared out at the giant mountains in the distance.
“That’s where Hawthorn Bridge is,” Zutha called as she started to fly toward the hills. “Over by those great peaks.”
“Hopefully we can find someone who knows of his lair,” Althea said. “I imagine he keeps it well hidden and shrouded with magic.”
“I have no doubt about that,” Sacha said. “But there are many spells and curses I can break through. We will find his lair.”
The sorceress spoke with so much confidence that I knew we couldn’t fail.
We soared over overgrown land that was crammed with giant weeds and wilted flowers. There was a wide pond that had dried up completely, and another abandoned house overgrown with ivy.
Zutha sped up to an insane speed to bring us closer to the mountains which loomed so far above everything else.
I wondered if the Dark One had set up inside one of the hills and had his dark souls stored in some gloomy cave. Could he truly have given them the enormous doors to access the world above ground? If he did, then he’d know about the High Society tunnel system.
Surely he did, since he was the one who summoned them. But did that mean he also had access to the underground passages?
“They are so beautiful!” Ash gasped as Zutha slowed down.
The mountains were close now, and I had never seen anything like it. Each curve looked so smooth and perfect that it barely even looked like rock. A dusting of snow covered the very top peaks of the hills, and the ridges that lined the sides were beautifully round and symmetrical. The mountains were deep black, but there was no sign of any green specks.
Then Zutha suddenly stopped and hovered in the air so silently that I was slightly worried she was about to drop.
“Hey,” I said as I eyed the ground below us. “Is everything okay?”
Zutha didn’t reply, and I gave her a second before I gently squeezed a scale.
“Are you good?” I asked. “What did you see?”
“There,” Zutha breathed. “Those…”
I had never heard the dragon shocked before, and that warning sign that ran down my neck was blazing.
“Friend,” Sacha said. “What have you spotted? Do you sense the Dark One?”
My magic was ready to attack as I gripped my staff and prepared to fight like I had never fought before. I studied every crevice of the mountains trying to see what had spooked our giant ally.
“I’m scared,” Kali piped up from behind me. “Zutha, please tell us what’s wrong.”
“The underground tunnels are not the only surprise found today,” Zutha said. “These mountains… they hold more than meets the eye.”
“How so?” I asked as I stared at the snowy peaks. “What am I missing here? Is there some badass colony that lives here?”
“Oh, yes,” Zutha chuckled, and her whole spine vibrated. “These are not mountains at all, Liam.”
I was even more confused as I looked at the hills and tried to work out what else they could be.
“Are they houses?” I asked. “For the Dark One’s army? Or for another army?”
“They are not houses,” Zutha said.
“Tell us!” Ash cried. “What are they?”
“These,” Zutha said. “Are the most ancient beings besides us dragons. These are not mountains. They are sleeping giants.”
Chapter 12
Nobody spoke for a moment as we stared at the mountains and tried to take in what Zutha had just told us.
I studied every peak and smooth slope to try and locate a telltale sign of life, but there was no evidence of living beings.
“Giants,” Ash breathed eventually. “Are you sure?”
“It’s true,” Sacha said, and I twisted back to see the sorceress looking truly stunned for the second time that day.
She didn’t blink as she gazed at the hillsides, and I knew it must be true if both Zutha and Sacha could tell.
“They are sleeping,” Zutha said as I turned back to the mountains. “They have been for a very long time.”
“Those mountains are alive?” I asked. “Giants? Actual, real giants?”
For some reason the idea of giants blew my fucking mind despite all the amazing things I had already seen in Hollowfell. There was something about the idea of towering people that seemed too insane, even for the magical world. But I tightened my grip on Zutha’s scales and reminded myself of just how crazy it was to have a fucking dragon as a friend.
Maybe giants would become normal in time, too.
“They just look like mountains,” Nuri said. “I don’t get it?”
“I don’t see any noses or ears,” Myra said suspiciously.
“There is a strange smoothness to their rock,” Althea said. “But Myra’s right, I don’t see any heads or faces, either.”
“You cannot imagine the depth of their powers,” Zutha said. “Hiding their features is the smallest trick imaginable in comparison to what they can do.”
A rush of excitement and curiosity shot through me, and I was desperate to learn everything possible about the giants.
“Can we land?” I asked. “I want to see these guys up close.”
Zutha circled a barren part of land right in front of the giants before she lowered herself down.
A deep sense of awe consumed me as we looked up at the mountains that towered above us. Then we hurried down Zutha’s wing, and I strode right up to the closest of the hills.
My women crowded in beside me as Sacha paced up and down while she peered up at the tall peaks.
I hesitated before I reached out, but I reminded myself that the giants would have had hundreds of people walking over them throughout the years. They wouldn’t be startled or harmed by the palm of my hand, but I still braced slightly as I placed my hand against the smooth stone before me.
The black rock was cold and smooth, and my magic sparked inside my chest at the touch. I could sense something great and powerful, but I didn’t have that warning spark to go with the emotion. It was the same rush that I had felt when I saw the dragon army for the first time, and I could deeply sense that I was in the presence of greatness.
A calm but mighty energy wrapped around my magic as if Hollowfell itself was comforting me.
“It feels safe here,” I said gently before I turned to face my group.
Every one of them had their neck craned to stare up at the sleeping giants. Sacha now stood beside Zutha, and both of them had wide eyes as they took in the view.
“Tell me about giants,” I said. “Are they likely to be on our side?”
“They would be,” Sacha said softly. “If they were still awake. The tale from long ago said that they decided to fall into what we called the great sleep.”
“They fell quiet.” Althea nodded. “I read those stories. It was said that the giants saw the darkness consume the world and decided they wanted no part in it anymore.”
“They chose eternal peace,” Sacha said softly. “Rather than stay awake in a world that was burning.”
“I don’t blame them,” Murik grunted. “They haven’t exactly missed anything fun.”
“Until recently,” one of the sirens said as she nodded at me.
I strode around from side to side to look at the giants from various angles and take in how fucking huge they were. It was hard to tell if each peak was a different giant, or if they were all tangled together to form the mountains. The plants that grew at the base of the slopes were the only ones around that seemed to be thriving. Bright red petals sprang out of thick stalks as if the land had wanted to decorate the only bit of good still left in the realm.
“You said they had powers,” I said as I turned back to Sacha. “What exactly were they capable of?”
“Their magic is vast and ancient,” the sorceress said. “They are said to have powers with the soil, trees, and winds of Hollowfell. All the elements that make up the land also live within the giants.”
“So they can work with stone?” I asked. “Does that mean they could have been the ones to build the wall around the city the trolls found?”
“It must be!” Kali gasped. “That’s why it’s so huge!”
“And it explains the note,” Gurff said in shock. “They wanted to do one last act of good before they slept.”
I wished I could have met the giants and wondered if they would wake up when Hollowfell was finally free of evil. Would blue skies cause them to rejoin the world of the living?
“I take it there aren’t any caves,” I said as I squinted up at the ridges.
“There won’t be,” Sacha said. “That means the Dark One won’t have his lair exactly here.”
“But he could be close by,” Gurff said. “Hawthorn Bridge is just on the other side of the giants, and that’s where he was spotted recently.”
