Volume 1, Chapter 40: Every Route Leads to an Argument (Patreon)

“That’s everything?” Nicky asked, glaring at me from beneath lowered brows while holding my map.

“Everything. The fiery line leads toward something we started calling the Spiral. The path follows a cone-shaped chasm, climbing higher and higher. At one point, the Spiral starts circling inward in tighter and tighter rings, forming a cone, but at the very top there’s nothing except a massive crystal stalactite. No way forward. And the fork along the blue route continues for another few dozen feet before ending at a collapsed section of tunnel.”

“So our only options for finding this Gatekeeper are the broken bridge or the collapsed tunnel?” Sophie summarized. She was sitting on a bench inside the tent they’d been given after leaving the mine, sipping something that looked like tea.

I nodded.

“Um, we didn’t run into any more aggressive creatures, but even though we, you know, tried a few things, we couldn’t get a rope across the chasm and make it to the other side.”

“Yeah, and I’m done walking for a while. How long were we gone after we split up?” I asked, sitting down on the same bench, though with my back toward the table. I rested my elbows on its surface behind me and looked out through the open flaps of the tent at the lively camp beyond.

“About eighteen hours,” Nicky answered. She reached for Sophie’s hand, twisted her wrist toward herself, and checked the watch.“ I still think you’re an asshole.”

“Completely understandable. I’m glad your quest was updated too once we figured out where the Toad That Dwells is.”

“Maybe, um, even though we went different ways, just like with that main quest, whoever sent us here, you know, decided we were still working together toward completing it,” Bri suggested. Then she greedily stuffed a solid chunk of wood into her mouth.

“Where’s Khufu? I haven’t seen him since we came back to the surface,” I asked. “I meant the underground kind of a surface, that is.”

“Khufu’Ri is helping construct the palisade around the camp. While we were gone, Master Plasario ordered the settlement expanded. Apparently, the merchants had grown dissatisfied with the delay in our journey,” Sophie explained. “Several of them even demanded that we leave immediately. Plasario refused. He argued that continuing onward before securing this position would accomplish very little, since the orcs could simply reclaim it afterward and render his soldiers’ sacrifice meaningless. To discourage further complaints, he offered favorable trading terms to any merchants willing to remain here once the settlement was established. That appears to have satisfied a considerable number of them, although they insisted that the camp be secured as quickly as possible. As a result, they have been cutting timber and constructing the outer wall ever since.”

 “He also stationed his archers on the towers, and they’re watching movement in the surrounding area as well as they can,” Nicky added, still studying me. “He plans to send a Messenger to the city to ask the Minister of War for reinforcements and the Minister of Trade to reopen the trade route between Frogflower Village and Salirion. I think this would be a good opportunity for the two of you to go with that man and use him as your guide.”

“You just can’t wait to explore the cave without us, huh? You were accusing me of trying to cut you out of the group, and now—”

“I’m only pointing out an opportunity that would put you closer to your main objective. Nothing would stop you from coming back here later with a caravan or with new soldiers. Maybe by then we could rebuild the bridge inside the cave, or clear out the collapsed tunnel.” Nicky set my map aside. “Thanks for marking the route. We’ll see what it looks like for ourselves when the time comes.”

“Nicky, thank you very much for caring. I hope you manage to find the Gatekeeper,” I lied with a straight face. “And thank you for everything we managed to survive together.”

“Is that an official goodbye?” Sophie asked, weaving a few fresh flowers into her belts and arranging them in what she apparently considered the proper order. She looked up at me, though, and her gaze settled on my eyes, studying them without the slightest hint of shame.

“Not yet. I have no idea when we’ll be leaving. Hopefully pretty soon, because I’ve had enough of these Egyptian darkness,” I joked, glancing toward Bri. Unfortunately, nobody but me even chuckled. “Tough crowd. Never mind. See you later, girls,” I added, waving to them as I headed toward the tent flap.

“See you, well, later!” Bri called, spinning once in the air before flying off.

“Bri, my dear. Stay here with them in case Plasario decides to give in to his prejudices again. I’d rather talk to him when you’re not around, okay?”

She shrank and faded slightly, her fiery hair drawing in close to her head, but her entire face slid downward within the sphere that made up her body in a gesture of agreement.

“I trust you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. Bri’s company is always welcome,” Sophie said.

I gave her a smile and ducked out of the tent.

I made my way through streets where tents were being built over with planks, chunks of stone, and what looked like pieces of mushroom stalks. Humans, elves, and dwarves worked to turn the place into something more than a temporary stop. Something permanent.

They watched me carefully as I moved step after step, leaning on my staff.

Following the shouted commands that suggested organized work, along with my general sense of direction, I soon reached a small hill where Plasario stood beside Rodrick. The other man was shouting the swordmaster’s orders down toward the people working below and toward Khufu towering among them. My Lion companion was currently carrying a long tree trunk across his shoulders by himself. He supported it with one hand, long hard bones protruding from his fingers.

“Master Plasario,” I addressed the bald warrior, studying his tattoos.

There seemed to be five rows of pictograms or letters from an alphabet I didn’t recognize, running parallel across his scalp. When he turned toward me and my gaze moved lower, I noticed that his beard had been shortened. I was one hundred percent certain that before, each of the braids woven into it had held five beads spaced evenly apart.

Now there were only three.

“I heard there’s an expedition being prepared for the city. Would it be possible for me to travel with your messenger?”

“Of course, Master Arthur. I will have a mount prepared for you as well, and as soon as everything is ready, I will make certain you are informed. That much, at least, I can do,” he replied, looking toward the wall being raised below.

“Do you know when that’ll be? An hour? A few? Tomorrow?”

“The reptodons are still resting after pulling the caravan here. According to my stablehands, they require a few hours at the very least. Unfortunately, despite the warmth we have here, the creatures always perform better beneath the warm gaze of our beautiful sun.”

“I understand,” I replied, calculating in my head.

Reaching the broken bridge, if I hurried, would take about an hour and a half. Trying to shoot a rope with a grappling hook across to the other side—hard to say. Exploring whatever was on the other side—even harder. Then another hour and a half to return. On top of that, I would still need to steal a bow, arrows, and a soldier’s uniform so I could slip into the mines unnoticed.

Getting to the city was still my priority, and not having enough leeway to try something crazy might have actually saved me from making a mistake. I’d have to leave further cave exploration to the others—or do it later, if or when I returned here.

“Master,” I said, drawing his attention again. “I’d like to come back here someday. See what you manage to make of this place once you’ve given it a chance to raise into a proper glory, and try my luck in the mine beneath the temple again.”

“As you wish,” he replied, then passed the instructions to Rodrick, who moved a short distance away to shout them down to the people working below. “I have not found the strength or the opportunity until now to offer you my water, both in apology and in gratitude for the sacrifice made by your companions,” he said.

He pulled out a waterskin and poured its contents onto the grass beneath him. He kept shaking it for several long moments, watching the stream weaken until it finally disappeared altogether.

“I do not know the place all of you came from, but if I understand correctly, it is one and the same land. Nor do I know why you appeared here now. But I do not need that knowledge to appreciate what happened here. Please accept my water in honor of master Eli Park and lady Mara Vélez.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “We weren’t close. They made mistakes, and it cost them.”

“That is a cruel way to look at life and death,” he answered, and all I could think about was how completely full of shit he was.

“Maybe.”

I glanced once more toward Khufu, who was helping with the construction of the palisade with everything he had. I knew perfectly well that he was probably doing it because his mission involved preventing an orc horde from attacking the city, and fortifying this place was likely the first step toward that goal.

But I was almost certain that wasn’t the real reason. He was doing it because helping others was simply in his nature. I wasn’t like that. I didn’t even want to be. I considered helping others selflessly a waste of time, but despite my convictions, I wasn’t blind to my own flaws. More than once—and far too often over the last few days—I had sacrificed something for others, especially for Bri, for no gain of my own.

I needed to think long and hard about why. Because if I didn’t understand the feelings that tore through me whenever something happened to her, sooner or later they were going to lead me into a situation I wouldn’t be able to get out of unscathed.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the dark-skinned, skinny-legs man—Peter—the one we had met shortly before entering the cave. He had just passed me, walking with determination toward Plasario.

I turned to watch him, noticing the way he clenched and relaxed his hands and rolled his shoulders with every step.

“Plasario, man, I gotta knock out this quest ’fore I head to the city, and I’m runnin’ outta damn time. C’mon, let me up in that cave.”

He gestured with every word, explaining and practically acting out what he intended to do—to the point where he held one hand palm-up and used the fingers of the other to show himself walking toward the mine.

“Mr. Peter, the mine has already claimed one life. I cannot in good conscience send you down there knowing nothing about your ability to keep yourself alive,” Plasario replied, then turned his head away from Peter.

“My ability? Man, I crossed a whole-ass alien jungle by my damn self, fightin’ green motherfuckers and some kinda freaky snakes. Tore them bitches apart with my bare hands. What the hell else I gotta do to prove myself?” The man practically shouted the words, once again miming every one of the things he claimed to have done.

“Alien jungle? What do those words mean?” Plasario asked, raising one eyebrow as he folded his arms across his chest and turned back toward the other man.

“Well, I was—”

“Mr. Peter means that he is very far from home, yet despite that, he managed to overcome the dangers of this land,” I answered for him.

Peter looked at me as though he had only just realized I was standing beside the swordmaster.

“Yeah, aight. That’s what I’m sayin’. So what I gotta do?”

“Mr. Peter, I see no other way than to judge for myself what you carry with you against the wind,” Plasario replied, looking him up and down. “I propose a practice duel—until one side yields. You may choose the weapon.”

I stepped back when I saw Rodrick doing the same, though I kept watching to see how the confrontation would unfold.

“Aight. Just so you know, though—I’m packin’ some seriously nasty magic.”

“So you choose an unarmed duel with magic permitted?” Plasario asked.

I was curious whether he possessed any abilities of his own. If he did, there had been no obvious sign of them during everything that had happened so far.