Bottom Rung, page 23
With a shrug, Tibs formed a pool of water in his palm.
“How? My teacher said the eyes always tell you about someone’s affinity.”
Tibs sighed. “It’s my age. I’m so young my teacher says I’m not fully into my element or something like that. It’s why I can’t do a lot with it.”
“You’re still alive, so you can do plenty,” the fighter said.
“So, you and Radkliff are a team?” Jackal asked the archer.
“Geoff, and I’m not sure. With only the two of us, it’s probably going to depend on if they put anyone worthwhile with us on the next run.”
“I think you can pick your own team now,” Tibs said. “When we got here, the adventurer was unhappy we hadn’t.”
“You sure?” the fighter asked. “I’m Pyan. If he’s right, I can use an archer on my team. Radkliff is a rogue, right? I already have one.”
“I’d like to finish dealing with what’s going to affect this run, Pyan,” Jackal said. “Unless you mind?”
“Sorry,” she replied.
“What’s your element,” Jackal asked. “I’ve seen those eyes before, but never got to ask.”
“Crystal. It’s more practical than you think.”
“Not arguing,” Jackal replied. “Every element has value to someone who knows how to use it.” He turned to the sorceress. “And you are?”
“Carina. Air sorceress, but you can tell that. I’m not on a team, if that’s your next question. I was like Geoff, but Tandy was offered a position on the last team she rounded up.”
“Are you okay to do this run?” Jackal asked. “It looked like you were leaving when the adventurer grabbed you.”
“I’m good, I was here just walking. The town gets stifling after a while.”
“Tandy?” Pyan asked. “Rogue, this high?” she raised her hand a bit higher than Tibs was. Carina nodded. “I’m sorry, I’m the one who grabbed her.”
“It’s okay,” the sorceress said. “At this point, I think it’s going to be tough for someone not to have at least heard of someone else. Let alone worked with them. Does anyone know how many of us are left?”
“I know we started with around four-thousand people,” Geoff said. Tibs didn’t bother asking for clarifications, and simply decided it was a lot. He remembered the crowd, and how everyone had pressed against each other in this field.
“We’re definitely nowhere near that anymore,” Jackal said. “Not to put pressure on you, Carina, but you can consider this your audition for our team if you’re interested. We already have a team room paid for, and this run will let us add the rest of a month at a minimum.”
“If we survive,” Pyan said.
“We will,” Tibs ordered.
“Tibs’s right,” Jackal continued. “I have nothing to prove. The moment I don’t think we have a chance to survive the next encounter, I’m pulling us out. If you have any doubt, I pulled us out when our sorcerer died in the trap room without any coins to speak of. If you’re more interested in pushing your luck until you die, tell me now.”
They all shook their head. Tibs figured the overly greedy and impatient ones had all been eaten by the dungeon at this point.
“So here’s the plan. Tibs gets us through the trap room. If there’s a cache, he gets the contents and we decide who gets it. Something for a specific class goes to that person, no arguments. Something more general we can discuss. Clear?”
Nods.
“The boulder room is simple. Me, Pyan, and Tibs will draw the rats out of hiding by standing in the room. Carina and Geoff take as many of them out when they’re on top of the boulders. We kill whatever they can’t. Once it’s clear, we collect the coins then Tibs holds on to them. Don’t argue,” he told Pyan, who closed her mouth and blushed. “He has a coin pouch, and if you don’t trust a rogue by now, that isn’t something I’m dealing with. In the warren room—”
“What about the key?” Pyan asked.
“We have Tibs, so there’s no point bothering trying to find it,” Jackal said.
“We don’t have to search,” she said. “I know where it is, and so long as four of us survive the boulder room, we can get it. I’m not saying I don’t care if someone dies,” she cut Jackal off. “Just that it only needs four to unlock. It’s the four boulders at the corner of the room. You turn them at the same time and it opens a compartment in the central pillar with the key in it.”
Tibs looked around in case one of the adventurers could overhear them. When he confirmed they were safe, Jackal was looking at him. “The rats have always distracted me,” Tibs said.
“Alright, we get the key and move on. The warren room is simple if we’re careful. The three of us rush the rats. You two take the rabbits that come for us. No need to kill them on the first shot, the point is to keep them from getting us. Questions?”
They shook their head.
“Alright, has anyone here killed the boss?” he asked.
“As far as I know, no one has,” Carina said.
Pyan nodded. “Yeah, the day that happens, I don’t think they’ll be able to keep it a secret.”
“What do you know about the room?” Jackal asked. “We didn’t try it when Tibs found it.”
“That whip arm hurts.” Pyan rubbed her shoulder. “And it has reach. I haven’t seen it bother defending itself because it can reach anyone anywhere in the room from the center of it.”
“Actually, that’s easy to deal with,” Geoff said. “All you need is to blind it.”
“It’s a golem, it can’t be blinded,” Pyan replied.
“It can. Whatever the rules in the dungeon are, the golem has eyes and they’re set up that if you destroy them, it doesn’t see anymore. That’s how we managed to get out on my last run. I got in a lucky shot and blinded it. I lost a teammate as we ran, so we couldn’t keep the coins we found, but it could have been worse.”
“Is it real stone?” Tibs asked, remembering how easily the rats could be cut.
“As much as it needs to be,” Geoff said, “but the stuff in the dungeon doesn’t always behave like what it looks like.”
“I haven’t gone up against it,” Carina said, “so, I don’t know how it’ll react to air attacks. I asked around but no one would give me details, claiming that secrecy thing the adventurers enforce.”
“So Geoff blinds it and we hit it as hard as we can and hope we kill it?” Jackal asked.
“Best plan I’ve heard of yet,” Pyan answered.
A few minutes later the other team exited—bloodied, tired, but all five of them. Their defeated expression said they hadn’t beaten the boss.
Chapter 25
“What’s the count?” Jackal asked Tibs.
“Four and eight coppers,” he answered without having to check; he’d wrapped each ten coins separately. It was strange that having so many coins in his pouch now felt normal. He could remember the day he’d seen his first whole copper coin, how unreal it had felt.
“You mean forty-eight,” Pyan said, and he felt his face heat up.
“He’s new to numbers higher than fifteen,” Jackal replied, “so let him count it the way he prefers.”
Tibs smiled at the fighter. “And this time there were ten silvers in the warrens. That gives us two silvers each, and we can pay the guild’s cut with the coppers, then split what’s left.”
“We need to split first,” Geoff said. “I owe them for the leather chest.” He tapped his armor.
“That still leaves enough we each can pay with the coppers,” Carina said.
“How’s everyone feeling?” Jackal asked.
“I could use a breather,” Pyan said. “As much as I like the versatility of this armor, it’s heavy.”
“This has gone fast enough so far we can afford a break.”
This had been the smoothest run Tibs had been on so far. He had a scrape on his cheek, but that was from jumping out of the way of a rabbit and losing his helmet before he landed and slid on the floor. The strap had been chewed on by a rat on a previous run and he hadn’t thought to get it repaired. No one else had gotten hurt.
Geoff had the cache’s item, a pair of gloves that, when he’d put them on, made his bow pull stronger. It was the main reason they’d made it this far with no injuries. That, and his exploding arrows. He could make crystal arrows that exploded on impact; with good aim, he’d taken multiple rats out at the same time.
“What do you think of Carina?” Jackal asked Tibs, keeping his voice low. The sorceress was speaking with the archer.
“She hasn’t had much to do, but her air slice worked well against the rats and rabbits here.”
“I was thinking more about her helping you with your plan, like I did. After that, we’d just need to find someone for fire and you’ll have done them all.”
Tibs looked in her direction. Something she said made Geoff chuckle, and she smiled. “I’d have to tell her why, explain what I’m doing. If she’s not going to be on the team, she could tell someone.”
“Okay, but don’t you think needing her help is enough to have her join? She isn’t any worse than the other sorcerers I’ve run with.”
Tibs nodded. “Let’s see how she is with the last room.”
“Works for me.” Jackal turned to the other. “Rest over. Pyan, you have the key, so the door is yours. Geoff, get in position. If it behaves the way I’ve seen it do before, it’s going to turn to face the door as the light comes up. You’re going to have a clear shot. Please don’t miss.”
The archer moved his gloved fingers. “With this, there is no missing that target. I think it does more than give my pull strength.”
“Once it’s blinded, we charge. We still need to be careful once we’re in close combat, since it’ll be able to tell where we are as we hit it.” He motioned to the door, and Pyan removed the keyhole cover and inserted the key, then she and Jackal pulled it open.
The inside of the room went from pitch black to fully lit as the golem turned to face them. It was the same height as before—much taller than Tibs—and seemed more massive this time, with its right arm still ending in a black whip instead of a hand. While the eyes were the same stone as the rest of it, Tibs couldn’t help but sense a maliciousness behind them.
Geoff’s arrow detonated on impact with enough force the golem staggered back.
“Now,” Jackal ordered. He ran in and was the first to reach it, slamming a fist into its chest before it backhanded him and he flew away.
“Clear the space,” Geoff called. “I’m going to shoot it again.” Instead, he screamed as the golem took a step forward and the stone whip flew at him.
Tibs spun in place, looking for what made the hissing sound. It was like the scratching the rats made, but louder, closer. If there were rats in here on top of the golem, they were dead.
“I thought you said it couldn’t see?” Pyan yelled.
Tibs refocused on the fight in time to watch her jump out of the way of the whip.
“It can’t, I swear.” With a curse, Geoff rolled out of the way in the process of getting back up.
“Did the dungeon change how—” Jackal jumped, but the whip nicked his armor, opening a gash that exposed his earth skin.
“Quiet!” Tibs yelled before anyone could reply, and jumped out of the way as the golem turned, took a step, and the whip flew at where he’d stood. He stayed low, watching it, as it stepped back in place.
“Tibs,” Carina called, only to shriek in fear, an air funnel forming around her, deflecting the whip. The golem struck at her again and again, each time moving in the same way then stepping back into its starting position.
“Hey, Rock Face!” Jackal yelled as it readied for a fourth attack. Tibs barely heard him over the sound of the whirlwind protecting Carina, and the golem attacked her. Tibs motioned for Jackal to yell louder. He thought he had this.
The fighter yelled loudly, a wordless scream, outstripping the wind, as the golem repositioned itself, then turned in his direction. Tibs motioned to Carina, desperately trying to get her attention and have her end the wind.
Pyan yelled something Tibs didn’t make out before the golem faced Jackal, and it turned in her direction.
The lack of attack finally registered to the sorceress, and the winds died. As she opened her mouth, Tibs emphatically placed his finger over his lips. The whip hit the wall, then nothing as they looked at each other. In the silence, the scratching-like hiss came again, and Tibs fought his fear a rat was close to him and focused on what the golem did, which was nothing.
Jackal looked at him, mouthing, “Now what?”
Tibs shrugged, wondering why the golem hadn’t reacted to that hiss. Maybe its hearing wasn’t strong enough?
Geoff formed an arrow, aimed, and pulled the string. In the silence, it made a sound, or maybe it was the wood the bow was made of. The golem turned, took a step, and the whip flew. It was faster than Tibs expected. Faster than Geoff anticipated as the whip caught him in the arms before he could react.
Jackal and Pyan yelled, drawing the golem’s attention away from Geoff until he had his breathing under control and stopped making sounds. He laid on the floor holding his bloody and broken arm. Silence fell again, and Carina stepped toward Geoff. The creak of her leather boots made the golem turn, but before it was ready, Jackal and Pyan were at it again, and it turned, trying to pick a target. Carina hurried by Geoff’s side, then stopped moving.
If walking was loud enough to get its attention, they needed someone able to do so without making any sound. He looked at his shoes and smiled. Now, what he needed was something to do with that ability.
He could retreat, and with one of them causing a distraction, the other three might be able to do so too, but Geoff was down, and Tibs didn’t think even Jackal could get to him and carry him out without the golem hitting him. They’d have to bring the golem down literally, Tibs suspected, to manage to do it figuratively, if they wanted the whole team to leave this room.
He looked at Carina and nodded to the golem. She closed her eyes, opened them, and shook her head. Too tired for an effective attack. That meant he was the only one able to reach it.
He took a step forward.
“Tibs,” Jackal whispered in alarm, then was on his side, and Pyan took over distracting the golem away from the other fighter who was on the ground, gasping. Tibs looked at Jackal as he got his gasps under control. How badly was he hurt? He and Pyan were their heavy hitters. If the start of the plan he was getting had any chance of working, the two needed to be able to fight for all of them to get out of this.
Jackal sat up and nodded to Tibs. He moved his arm off his stomach. There was another long gash, but underneath, the earth skin looked intact.
Tibs took another step, then one more, and stopped. Was he close enough? He’d have to be; any closer and he would be within striking range. He couldn’t risk the golem having some way of telling when someone was close.
He placed a hand on the floor and spread his water toward the golem, nearly exhausting his reserve well before it was close enough for what he needed. He calmed himself and tried to sense the essence floating around him, but immediately he felt the sense of the water he’d spread lessen, and he cursed silently. He couldn’t afford to let go of his water, and while holding it, he couldn’t draw in more.
He didn’t agree with Alistair that he couldn’t hold more essence right now, but without access to more, what he thought he could do didn’t matter. His choices were to get more water essence somehow, or get much closer to the golem.
The hissing-scratching came back, and Tibs froze. No one reacted to it, not even the golem. Maybe Alistair was right and stress caused it. There was a strange cadence to it, something he almost recognized. In stories it would be a spirit, there to encourage him, provide inspiration.
Unfortunately, neither did him any good; encouragement meant nothing when he had no reserve to work with.
Except.
As carefully as he could, he slipped a finger in the pouch and touched the amulet, felt the essence in it—the water essence. It felt exactly like his reserve. He pulled on the essence and it responded.
Yes! He could do this. The amulet shifted, and he almost lost contact with it. He closed his fingers around it and felt one of the bundles of coins come undone and tumble over one another.
He looked at the golem, frozen in terror.
It didn’t move.
The coins made no sounds.
Of course. For the pouch to hide its contents, people couldn’t be able to hear coins jingle in it. He grasped the amulet and breathed. Now to see if he could do this. He didn’t want to test his belief, not right now, when it would condemn four other people if he was wrong, so how could he move the water in the amulet, without first having it go through his own reserve?
He pulled it over his hand. This was less about sensing and manipulating at the same time—which he couldn’t do—but manipulating his essence when it was split into two. Alistair had demonstrated it, but Tibs’s small reserve had made it difficult to test. He shivered as it moved up his arm, his shoulder, neck, and down the other arm, to join the water already on the floor. It spread around the golem, making a wide path between him and it.
He made the water into ice as slick as he could.
He looked at the golem’s back. “Hey!”
It turned, stepping only partially on the ice. Once it faced him preparing to whip him, it stepped fully onto the ice, and as the whip came at him—just as Jackal had done when Walter had covered the trap room’s floor with ice—the foot slid out from under it. The whip still hit Tibs in the side, and the impact broke something as he was sent sliding back.
He watched Pyan and Jackal race to the golem as it tried to find its footing on the melting ice, then they were on it, pummeling and hitting it with sword. Each time the golem threw one off, the other redoubled their effort until both of them were on it again. Carina assisted with air slices when she could.
Tibs fought the pain and exhaustion to push himself sitting before he thought about the amulet in his hand and used it to refill his reserve, making the pain more tolerable by itself.
