Tycoon May: Chapter 30 (Patreon)

Chapter 30

Adria sheathed her dagger as Grant picked up the lantern and sat it down on level ground before it could go out.  “I almost killed you!  What are you doing down here?  I thought you were wounded.”  She went to move closer, but thought better of it when she caught a whiff of what Grant smelled like.  “Is anyone else with you?”

“No, it’s just me.  I’ve been up and around since lunch.”  Grant tried shaking off the cloak, only managing to fling manure onto the top of his boots.  “I went to look for you when you didn’t come back.”  He flopped his arms in defeat.  “Believe it or not, I was trying to ask if we could stop somewhere so I could take a bath.”

“Well, if we make it through this, I’m definitely okay with stopping for as long as you need.”  Adria motioned back up the cave.  “Did you see any others on your way down here?”

“No, just this guy.”  Grant shined the light on the still unconscious Steve, who had a dark bruise forming on his temple.  “What’s going on?”

Adria crouched to make sure Grant’s knots tying the man up were tight enough, and took a moment to tie a gag in place before answering.  “From what I can tell, the same group that attacked us captured our scout and took him here.  You must have been right behind us, because I barely had time to check out where they’re keeping him.”

“Did you see how many more of them there are?”  Grant tugged at his smelly cloak.  “I would rather not wear this if I didn’t have to.”

“No, it’s too dark in the cavern they’re using to see how many there might be.  But, um… why are you wearing that?”  Grant took a few minutes to outline the plan he had come up with before Adria had interrupted him.  “Okay, I like the way you think.  Now that you have me to work with, we can do even more.”

The two of them talked over several eventualities, deciding on a plan that they both felt would work.  Everything depended on how many enemies there were, and where the scout was being held.

“Oh, one more thing.”  Grant motioned to all the manure smeared over him.  “What is a Gracken?”

“That’s what’s in this cave?”  Adria shuddered, scooting away from Grant.  “Do you know what a hydra is?”  Grant nodded.  He’d never seen one in person, but he’d heard of them before.  “Well, a Gracken is like that, except its heads don’t regrow when you cut them off.  Most of them have three or four heads per body, except for a few older ones that can have more.  They’re incredibly quick, and normally live in pairs.  Odds are, they caught one young so we won’t have to fight two of them.”  She looked down at her daggers, then at his sword.  “You have the weapon with the longer reach, so I’ll let you handle the monster while I deal with the people.”

“Fair enough.  I’ve fought monsters in caves before.”  Grant stretched, limbering up his muscles.  “Are you ready to get this started?”

Adria pulled her daggers in a reverse grip, laying their blades along her forearms.  “Let’s do this.  Lead the way, Grant.”

The two of them walked deeper into the tunnels, Grant leading the way.  Adria fell back as they rounded the last turn, and the tunnel opened up into a small cavern.  On either side, Grant saw planks of wood blocking two side tunnels.  Toward the back wall, a third tunnel fell away into darkness behind a pair of figures hunched over a small fire.  It was smokey in the room, making Grant fight back a cough as his lantern light cut through the haze.

“Eh, back so soon?”  One of the hunched figures looked up as Grant stepped into the cavern.  “I take it Brian hasn’t come back yet?”  Grant shook his head, afraid to speak out loud and give himself away.  The man grunted and leaned back over the fire, stirring a small pot hung over the flames.  “Not surprised.  The lout could get lost in a one-room house.”

“Don’t be so harsh, Paul.  It isn’t like the poor guy spent a bunch of time in the wilderness.  Brian’s a city boy, just like Steve is.”  He looked up at Grant, the firelight illuminating the face of a gaunt man in his later years.  “Ain’t that right, Steve?”

Grant could only nod, making sure to stay out of the direct light.  When he didn’t reply, both of them looked up at him.  The first speaker leaned forward, trying to get a better look at Grant.  “Something wrong, Steve?  You’re awfully quiet.”

All he could do was grunt and shrug, doing his best not to sweat.  He had the loaded crossbow he’d taken from Steven hanging from his belt he could use as his first shot, but he still didn’t know what might be hiding in the tunnel behind them.  Were there more people?  Was that where the Gracken was?  Thankfully, both men turned back to the fire when the pot hanging over it boiled over with a hiss, plunging the cavern into complete darkness besides the candle lantern Grant was holding.

“Dag nab it!”  The older of the two men jumped back to avoid the mess.  “Steve, bring that light over here so we can see what we’re doing.  Hopefully supper isn’t burned too bad.”

Grant walked over and sat the lantern down within reach of the two men, and took a step back.  They both started rummaging around, looking for the things needed to restart the fire.  Now was Grant’s perfect chance to find where the scout was being held prisoner.  Behind him, Grant knew Adria would be slipping out of the tunnel and getting in position.

<Odds are, the scout is behind one of those two boarded-up tunnels.>  Grant chose the tunnel to his left to check first, and quietly moved over to see inside.  Without a light, he couldn’t see through the gaps in the wood, but Sarge was there to help.  <Tap on the wall, and I’ll try to highlight what I can.>

A light knock cast out a wave of dull orange in Grant’s vision, but nothing was there.  He knew from experience that Sarge couldn’t be precise with just a single noise, so he tried one more knock.  Something shifted right on the edge of Sarge’s range in response.  Grant took a quick step back.  That definitely wasn’t a person in there.

“Oy!  Quit messing with the Gracken, Steve.  You want to get eaten?  Just because we trapped it, doesn’t mean it’s friendly.  The boss would rather replace a Vassal than go through the trouble of tracking down another beast smart enough to be trained.”  The older man grunted as sparks erupted by where the fire had been.  He was using flint and steel to try and get it relit.  “Once the crew gets here to tame it, then you can go rilin’ it up.  Those boys know how to bring a beast to heel.”

Grant took another step back.  Adria and he had made a mistake.  The Gracken had been here before the House Saturday men had come here, they hadn’t brought a tame beast with them.  He mentally kicked himself, clearly remembering them leaving the city gate after they had started their journey.  They hadn’t had a beast with them, so thinking they would have one now was obvious.

Another grunt and shower of sparks briefly lit the space, and a quiet curse followed.  “Here, use some oil.  That might help.”

With the Vassals still distracted, Grant moved to check the other side of the cavern.  This time, when he knocked, a muffled groan answered.  Just like they talked about, Grant coughed.  It was the signal Adria was waiting for.

But, before she could spring her ambush on the ambushers, another shower of sparks shot out and erupted in a wash of oil-fueled flame.  A shout of surprise came from the Vassal who was turned toward Adria, which was enough of a warning for the older, more experienced Vassal to roll out of the way of her attack.

To make matters worse, the sudden flash of light woke up the other two Vassals that were sleeping in the darkened tunnel.  Grant raised his stolen crossbow and fired, missing all four enemies as the bolt fletchings caught on the edge of the cloak, but it at least caused them to duck and scatter.  A flash of metal caught the first Vassal who chanced entering the cavern, and Adria ran to recover her thrown dagger.  She looked back at Grant, who was struggling to remove the stinking cloak that had foiled his aim.  He couldn’t get the clasp to let go, and was fumbling with trying to get it off.

“Quit fooling around and get him out of here, I’ve got the rest!”  She accentuated her point by kicking a burning brand from the fire at the man still hiding in the tunnel, forcing him back again.  “Hurry!”

Slicing through the ropes holding the wood planks in place only took one sharp blow from Grant’s Uchigatana, and a heartbeat later he was untying the scout.  They had hung him by his wrists from a rocky outcropping at the rear of the small chamber.  It was clear they had worked him over some, but beyond some minor cuts and bruises he looked well enough to move on his own.

Grant slipped his gag off and helped him get untied.  “Are you okay?  Can you run?”

The scout, who Grant recognized but didn’t know by name, flexed his shoulders and clenched his hands, trying to get his blood flowing properly.  “Run?  If you give me a weapon, I can fight.”  Smiling, Grant handed over the short sword and crossbow with the remaining bolts he had taken from Steve.

“Good.  I’ve got to go help Adria deal with the rest of them.  Feel free to join us when you’re ready.”  The scout gave Grant a thumbs up and he ran back out into the cavern.

Adria was busy fighting two of the Vassals to a stand-still.  For a moment, he stood there, impressed by her skill.  They had longer weapons, and more size, but she was ferocious enough that they were barely keeping up with her.

<Grant, the third man!>  His head snapped around, expecting the missing Vassal to be about to attack him.  Instead, he saw him running for the other side of the cavern.  <Stop him!>

He activated Thundering Step, kicking off of the ground and catapulting himself across the room with a boom that shook dust from the ceiling.  The Vassal was skilled enough to turn in time to get his sword between himself and Grant, their weapons colliding with a scream of tortured metal.  Grant’s spell was still active, so the impact blew the man back with a flash of lightning that blinded everyone in the dark cavern, followed by the crash of splintered wood.

As the dots in Grant’s vision cleared, he saw that his spell had blasted the Vassal through the planks of wood that were keeping the Gracken trapped.  For a heartbeat, everyone froze as the three-headed lizard came strutting into the flickering firelight.

Then, a four-headed Gracken came out next to it, the legs of the Vassal disappearing down one of its throats as it swallowed him whole before looking down at the puny humans looking on with fear-filled eyes.  It took another step into the room and let loose a roar of challenge with all of its fang-filled mouths.

<Grant, what did you suppose I meant when I said ‘stop him’?  I think maybe we had a breakdown in communication, because you just released the Gracken.>