Dungeon at War: Dark Dungeon 03 Page 3

  If she got any wrong, the room would kill her. I was a little curious, I’d never seen a dual affinity try out the room before, would the room use water and fire to counter both her elements? That sounded like a worse mix of elemental spheres than earth and air.

  April cursed, “Well fuck, how is this possible. Earth and air don’t mix.”

  She was right, and I looked at the spell. It had both earth and air magic forms in it, but the forms didn’t truly interact to support or cancel each other. It was a two-stage spell, much like I’d created with my exploding stone spears using earth and fire in the battle yesterday.

  April bit her lip in concentration. Is it weird I hoped she’d figure it out? Not that I’d be upset to add her life force to my power, but honestly, I didn’t need it. It was far more fun to challenge her party and watch them grow, than it was to kill.

  April gasped, “Holy shit. This spell is awesome.”

  She studied the wall, and then the plates, before she placed them down one at a time. She put her hand on the lever, and then released it. She frowned and went over it again. Two of the plates were very similar, but I already knew she’d gotten it right.

  She turned around, and started to cast, muttering the new spell under her breath. A small stone dart left her hand, hit the wall, and then exploded in hundreds of small air blades. Against an enemy, the small dart would impact and penetrate flesh, and then cut the body apart from the inside with air blades.

  She snickered, and turned toward the levers feeling far more confident that she’d placed them correctly after casting the spell. She was also the first person to take the time to do that extra step of verification.

  “Damn, this room was worth it just to learn that spell,” she said with a grin, and then she pulled the levers one by one.

  A small chest rose out of the floor, and she opened it up and pulled out a ring with two stones in the setting, which was enchanted. She wisely put it away for later identification, but I already knew the stones were small elemental stones of air and earth, that could pass magic for her to use or store. The stones also powered an earth and air shield, both independent but layered.

  Nothing too special on the enchantment strength, around what she already used, but what made it unique was she didn’t have to supply magic to those shields, as long as the stones still had a magical charge in them she would be shielded.

  She closed the lid of the small chest, and the door opened to let her out. She laughed at the expressions on Selene’s and Timothy’s faces.

  “Easy as pie.”

  Selene laughed nervously, “Maybe I should try it then.”

  There was no reason she couldn’t, a cleric was simply a light mage when it came down to it. The spells themselves didn’t come from the gods, just the light magic did.

  April shrugged, “It’s up to you. But if you don’t have a good handle on how to read new spells, and recognize spell forms, I’d study up first.”

  Timothy said, “Nope, it’s my turn, back to the transport room.”

  Selene glared, and I thought for a moment she might walk in the room out of spite, but she turned and walked off instead. It didn’t take them long to retrace their steps, and go to the eight floor. April led the way and mobs just died at waves of her hand. They were a powerful party that usually fought on floor twelfth level and above, or would it be below? Only running into real trouble on level fifteen. It didn’t take them long to get to the warrior death trap room on eight.

  Selene was angry, and surprised both Timothy and myself when she kissed him, and said to be careful.

  Timothy stepped into the room, which was a lot larger than the mage one. It had a high ceiling, and was just about forty feet in length, width, and height. When he got to the center, the door shut with a loud clang.

  He took a deep breath and looked around as platforms, poles, bars, levers, and ropes appeared from the walls. There was also a pedestal in the middle which rose out of the ground with a lever on top. Two of the platforms had a small earth elemental rise out of it in a vaguely threatening humanoid shape.

  I’d added that last part recently, because one of the cleverer warriors stripped off his armor, and as a result was able to defeat the timed puzzle quite handily without the extra weight. There were also various traps designed to slow down a challenger that wasn’t visible at all.

  The way to win was simple, he needed to pull the lever to start, and then use his enhanced physical body and power to get to the next lever which would pop up in a random place on a platform, or on the ground, if he got to that one in time, it would raise another lever. If he failed at any time to make it to a lever in the allotted time, he would fail and be killed. If he managed to get to all six levers within the time limit, he’d get some good loot and be allowed to leave the room.

  It wasn’t just strength, he would need agility, and to use his head as well as his reflexes to evade sudden traps. He’d need a quick mind to map out the best routes between levers, and do so quickly enough that he wouldn’t run out of time. The timing between levers was more than possible, but didn’t leave a lot of extra time for planning.

  I wasn’t sure if he’d make it or not, but I thought it was a fun challenge. The gnomes were really quite good at this kind of thing. I hadn’t realized just how much taking them in would pay off when I had first done so. Like the mage room, this room would measure the power rating of the warrior, and adjust the difficulty accordingly.

  This one didn’t talk to himself as much as April did.

  He just took a deep breath, and pulled the lever.

  It sunk back down into the floor, and then Timothy looked around until he spotted the lever high up on the wall. Another quick glance, and he turned to the left, ran, jumped, and barely caught a hold of the lower platform. He pulled himself up quickly, and then turned to the right and jumped again, catching the pole to swing to a rope. He climbed the rope several feet, and then swung until he reached the second higher platform. Another rope, and he climbed up and pulled the lever.

  I couldn’t help but notice his nervous sweat, and his strained breathing. I supposed it wasn’t every obstacle course that killed you if you failed to make the time.

  He muttered a harsh curse, and slid down the rope to the platform as another lever appeared, this time back on the ground and in a corner. He jumped to the other rope, and lowered down to the end of it, and then let go and dropped into a crouch and roll toward the lever. He took a second for a breath, and then pulled the lever.

  Two down, four to go.

  A lever popped up in the opposite corner, and he ran for it, correctly interpreting that the closer the levers were together, the less time was allocated to get to them. Halfway across the floor, swords stabbed up out of the ground. He gasped and jumped, but didn’t quite make it. The swords didn’t make it through his armor, but it pushed him off balance and he landed badly, rolled, and limped quickly to the third lever cursing me under his breath.

  The dungeon I mean.

  The platforms moved, and changed heights, while some new poles and bars were extended from the floor and ceiling, and another lever appeared high up on the wall with nothing really close to it. He cursed again, and climbed up quickly to the higher platform, using two ropes, a bar, and a long pole. Then he gauged the distance, a good twenty feet, but his warrior body was up to that, and he ran a couple of steps and launched himself at the lever.

  He barely held on, but managed to grab and hold the lever long enough to pull it, and then dropped twenty feet to the ground where another lever rose. He was warier this time, and ready, so managed to avoid the spears that shot out of the wall as he got close, and pulled the fifth lever. He looked around for the last one, as the room reconfigured itself for the final time.

  The last lever rose in the center of the room, at the same time a wall rose between him and it. It was too high for even him to jump and grab the top to get over, so he looked around quickly, and then moved to his right and started to cli
mb the rope. Halfway up, a pole shot out of the wall and pushed him hard. He managed to hold onto the rope as he grunted in pain, spun, and then slapped into the wall. He used his feet to steady himself and grumbled as he climbed up to the platform.

  He looked around, the height gave him a much better idea of how he should go, and he ran and dove for a metal pole, swung, and released. He managed to wedge himself between another pole and the wall, and then swung out and grabbed another rope. Swung from that, and landed on the wall in the middle of the room.

  He was obviously panicking about the time, and he said, “Fuck it,” and jumped off from thirty feet high. His body crunched as he hit the ground, and one of his legs snapped in two places.

  I’d have winced watching, if I’d had a body. As it was, I marveled at the fact that all he’d said aloud since he started was to curse.

  He aimed well, and only had to crawl two feet to reach the last pedestal. He pulled the lever, and then collapsed on his back and started to laugh in relief.

  Everything in the room retracted into the floors and ceiling, and then a chest rose from the floor. He opened it, and pulled out a mace with a light blue stone in the bottom of the handle. It was a mace enchanted for speed. It would also come back to his hand, if he triggered the enchantment before throwing, and if there was a charge left in the stone. The stone itself would slowly charge over time through the enchantment.

  He closed the chest, and the door opened. He crawled toward it slowly as April and Selene watched, not daring to come in and help, in case the room reset itself.

  Selene growled, “I don’t know if I should heal you, or kill you.”

  He laughed… and so did I. On the inside.

  Chapter Four

  Mina was the calm in the middle of her storm of grief, and she drew strength from her presence.

  Catalina sighed with her eyes closed, the comforting aura of her water mage the only thing keeping her sane as the surge of grief slowly passed. Tears fell from her eyes, but the ripping sobs that lurked below them were held back for the moment. Her mother, Sienna, and now her father was gone as well. She was having trouble bearing so much loss.

  It was late, after dinner, and she was in her father’s study. Her study. Her father’s scent clung to the place, and his magical aura seemed to have sunk into the furniture, walls, and even the books. She was barely holding on, and trying not to fall apart. She took a deep cleansing breath and opened her eyes, to once again start reading his journals which he’d left for her in case of his death.

  His love was in the pages, and how proud he’d been. But there were a great number of practical things as well. Her father’s writings verified her own feelings about each of the councilors on the council. But her duchy was made up of far more than just four barons and two earls. The books also had all the nobles listed that she’d only met a few times a year, at balls and other functions. They also contained far more information than she’d ever wanted to know about them, their foibles and frailties, their ambitions and how he managed them.

  That was the real job of a Duchess, not to rule her people directly, but to rule over her nobles, and make sure they were ruling well. To ensure they weren’t being abusive to their peasants, and not looking above themselves at her throne, or her cousins. That included solving issues they brought to her, and keeping them from going after each other as well.

  In short, a duchess was a damned babysitter.

  She giggled at the thought, and then felt guilty as hell for doing so.

  Mina’s soft voice asked, “What is it?”

  She shook her head, “Silly thoughts, I’m trying not to fall apart. Thank you for being here, I don’t know what I’d do without you right now.”

  That made her think of Baron Evansly’s advice. It made her angry, even as she now acknowledged the truth of it. Both lines of her family had just been devastated. If someone managed to kill her, then there was only one heartbeat, Jerrold’s, between someone ambitious enough and the throne of Nysten. Her family, which had ruled Nysten for uncounted generations, would end. Civil war would follow as the nobles set upon each other for power.

  But… not yet. She’d just lost her father, she wouldn’t survive losing Mina too. She loved her water mage far too much, and would be lost without her. She had responsibilities, and it was selfish, but she didn’t care. She needed time. Perhaps it was beyond selfish, but what was another year or two added to the twenty years it would take her to start and raise a large family? She just needed to be cautious.

  She put the journal on the table, and looked around. There was a lot more in this room she needed to read about for the kingdom, her father’s and other ancestor’s wisdom filled these shelves, but she’d finished the ones her father wanted her to read immediately. Plus, it was getting late.

  “Bedtime?”

  Mina smiled a bit wistfully, “Sounds good.”

  Goddess, even now, her lover’s smile could cause her heart to skip. Which of course, just made her feel guilty. How could she think about sex, when her father just died?

  She smiled tremulously and they walked down the hall to her quarters. She knew she’d have to move into the main suite, her father’s old suite, but it wouldn’t be anytime soon. They slowly undressed, the usual playful banter between them non-existent. It felt almost awkward, while at the same time Mina’s presence was comforting.

  She crawled in and slipped under the sheets, and then laid on her back. For a whole four seconds, and then she turned on her side and snuggled into her lover’s warm supple body. She told herself she wouldn’t cry, over and over again.

  Mina reached over and caressed her face and hair, “I love you Cat.”

  She started to sob…

  She wouldn’t be able to hide all day, but Catalina decided she could at least hide for breakfast. Her and Mina shared an intimate breakfast in her suite together that morning. She felt strangely content and guilty at the same time, the sore muscles in her body reminded her of last night. After she’d sobbed herself out, her and Mina had made love with a clawing desperation, as if to prove life and love went on.

  She felt a little better that morning, though she knew those surges of grief would be coming for quite a while longer in her life. She didn’t look forward to the funeral the next day, and she had guests that she needed to see to. Nurien and Lila had returned late in the afternoon yesterday, and they had plans to make. Revenge to claim, though she knew it would be empty, she still wanted Jennesar to pay for their crimes.

  She knew it would be empty, because she’d felt no satisfaction at Verin’s death for his involvement. She’d just felt a relief that it was over.

  Mina asked, “What are you thinking about?”

  She smiled, and pushed back the guilt, “Your amazingly nimble and pleasurable tongue, last night, and how pleasantly sore I am this morning. Thank you for that.”

  Mina blushed, but realized she wasn’t just thanking her for the amazing wild sex, but for being there.

  “So, war room when we poke our heads out?”

  She nodded, “I sent the message to Carlton that Nurien suggested, hopefully they’ll be here.”

  They took a bath together after breakfast, and got ready for the day. She set a thin wispy air shield around her, and the smallest whirlwind she could manage on her shoulder. Of course, she didn’t use an air blade whirlwind, since her throat was on the line. Still, the smaller spells and the whisper of magic she needed to maintain them would actually increase her control faster. It was far easier to overpower a spell, than it was to under power it and maintain control.

  Or at least, she believed it would help her control. It also gave her mind something to focus on, so it wouldn’t continuously slide back into grief.

  She may not be able to go to the dungeon anymore, but she still intended to make master. It would just take longer without the highly-permeated magic in the air, and the quick thinking and control under battle conditions. It was important, for self-defense, a longer
life if nothing killed her, and for her own personal goals.

  Still, for now it was her control that lagged behind her knowledge and power. She figured if she could maintain a couple of spells all day, and keep them stable, she might even make it to adept level three rather quickly. Plus, she was still doing mental gymnastics trying to figure out a way she could go to the dungeon. But, it would be far too dangerous.

  She smirked, then again, it wouldn’t be any more dangerous than being a duchess with an assassin after her. It was bound to happen at some point. Perhaps even more dangerous, since the faster she gained power, the safer she’d be from that sort of thing.

  They left the room and headed out of the royal wing, and made their way over to the war room, which was still in the private part of the castle. When she walked in, she realized everyone else was there and waiting for her. She almost apologized, but held it back. She was Duchess, she was supposed to be last, and waiting on no one. Just one more small detail in her life that she needed to get used to.

  Nurien and Lila were there, as were ten of the master mages who were present to reclaim the castle. Carlton was here in person, with Selwyn and Liren.

  She nodded in greeting, and then looked at Nurien, “What’s the plan for Jennesar?”

  Nurien replied, “We may have to adjust, but here are my thoughts on it and what we’ll do in the first village. Lila and I will head into the village, and take out the lawmen, and any master council that might be there. We’ll give any non-magical soldiers, who really are just peasants forced to do a job, a chance to surrender. Point is, Lila and I will do all the fighting, the people accompanying us have a different mission.”

  She nodded once as he paused, to indicate she was following so far.