45 – Pocket Dimension

  Rundle flew down the stairs, a ball of steel, fur, and slashing claws. Andy watched as the battle-bear bowled into the blitz-rat patrol, slamming the three armored ratmen back into the stairwell’s stone wall, creating a path for him, Bella, and Omar to advance. They pushed behind the bear, taking a position at the top of the next flight, stabbing and hacking downward against the surge of rats and ratmen. Lucy held back with Bea and Jilly; she was down to three arrows and was saving them for emergencies.

  Andy stabbed a blitz-rat in the throat; it fell back, crushing a giant rat as it tumbled head over heels down the steps. Andy’s eyes followed its descent, and he realized just how many vermin were piling up the steps, clawing over each other, chittering and screeching. “Stay behind me!” he yelled, then inhaled reflexively as he cast Cinderstorm Blast.

  Hot mana filled his lungs, and he exhaled a roiling cloud of smoke and fire that washed over the horde, immediately providing some much-needed breathing room. As Bella and Omar closed in beside him, shields up, he checked his mana: 95/630. They’d been fighting for a while, but he hadn’t expected it to be quite so low.

  A thunderous crash behind him signaled the completion of Rundle’s fight. Andy glanced at the battle-bear, noting the wild, angry glare in his eyes. The bear rumbled something, and Jilly yelled, “He wants to advance!”

  Andy shook his head, gesturing to the fiery cloud. “Let the smoke fade!” He could hear the rats screaming and, further down the stairwell, he saw burning figures streaking away into the dark. He wasn’t using Ember Vision, in an effort to regain mana faster; Bea’s magical light blazed behind him, anyway.

  Rundle’s heavy paw nudged him aside, and the battle-bear descended a pair of steps, thrusting his big, armored head into the smoke cloud. When he jerked it back, sneezing violently, Bella said, “Patience, big guy.”

  The bear roared in his thick, rough voice, and Jilly called down, “He has a battle boon that will fade shortly!”

  Andy shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a way to—”

  Cool droplets sprinkled out of the darkness above, and the fiery smoke sizzled as it rapidly faded. Andy looked at Bea and saw her tucking a water bottle into her pack. Apparently, her cleansing spell worked on his Cinderstorm. A crash down the steps brought his focus back to the fight, and he saw Rundle pounding down the stairwell, slamming aside the vermin who lingered—most of them had been broken by the fiery smoke already.

  “Let’s go,” he said, and he and the others hurried in the battle-bear’s wake. Rundle was moving fast, though, and soon they lost sight of him around a corner. Andy scowled in frustration. He wanted to cast Ember Vision and Smoke Drift, and then leap off the side, gliding down into the depths to help the bear fight. His mana was dangerously low, though, and then he’d be way ahead of his allies without any oh-shit spells.

  He jumped down the next flight and, on the landing, he saw a dead ratman archer. “Arrows!” he yelled, pointing, then he ran and jumped down the next flight.

  He could hear Omar and Bella thumping down the stairs behind him, so he continued. After one more flight, Andy gave in and cast Ember Vision; Bea’s light had grown too distant to see by. Hurriedly, he checked his mana: 165/630. He felt better knowing he could cast Smoke Cloud or Cinderstorm Blast if he had to. When Bella and Omar reached the steps above, he called out, “I should hurry! Rundle’s alone, and I don’t think he’s thinking clearly.”

  “Bea’s still a ways back!” Bella yelled breathlessly.

  “I can see,” Omar said as they hurried down the last few steps to join Andy.

  “Just hurry with the others, Bella. You should wait for them, okay?”

  Bella looked at Andy, her dark brows drawing down, but he knew she wasn’t mad at him; she just didn’t want to get left out of the fight. “We’ll hurry,” she said, nodding.

  Andy and Omar advanced. They ran together for a couple more flights before Andy pulled ahead—lighter and quicker on his feet. All the while, they ran past vermin corpses—some burned, some slashed and broken. Andy paused near another archer, dragging it away from the wall, so Lucy would notice its quiver when they went past it. When he heard Omar hit the next flight up, he turned and continued; the sound of the bear’s fighting was getting close.

  After he cleared two more flights, he saw he’d reached the bottom of the stairs. A long, wide corridor led away from the steps. Its walls and ceiling were the same dark gray stones of the keep above, but they were damp and covered with white moss, and the air had a chilly bite to it. He squinted his eyes against the unpleasant, ammonia tang as he inhaled, squinting into the dark corridor, and there he saw Rundle’s massive form engaged in battle. Blitz-rats had surrounded him.

  Andy charged ahead, spear out, aiming for the rats crowding in behind the battle-bear. One of them saw him coming and screeched in their chittering language, but the hallway was chaos—Rundle’s roars, vermin death-cries, and blitz-rats determined to have their voices heard in the din. That said, Andy slammed into the single blitz-rat who’d seen him coming and wove his spear-tip around its saber, sliding it past its guard, and slamming it into the seam of its breastplate and shoulder armor. The jagged metal tip—notched and worn from his many battles in Scarag Heights—slipped into its fur-covered flesh and delivered the Balefire that coated its blade.

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  The blitz-rat hacked at his spear haft, but Andy was already drawing it back, and when the vermin’s downward chop threw it off balance, he slipped the point inside the collar of its breastplate and drove it six inches into the side of its neck. With a gurgle, the creature collapsed, and Andy got to work on the many targets still hacking and clawing at Rundle.

  With their backs to him, fully occupied by the heaving battle-bear, the vermin were easy pickings and, over the next half minute, Andy delivered a dozen fatal blows. By the time Rundle broke free, whirling to throw one of his tormentors against the wall with a wet crunch, Omar had joined him, shield high, mace ready—but the fight was over.

  When all the vermin had been reduced to cooling corpses, Rundle sat down and leaned against the blood-slick wall, his stout legs sticking straight out before him. “Hrul broga drun,” he growled, nodding his enormous head as he licked a gash on the side of his left paw.

  Andy didn’t know what he’d said, but for some reason he nodded and said, “Good fight.”

  “Wish I didn’t miss most of it,” Omar said, shaking his head ruefully. “Wonder what’s through those doors. Those are doors, yeah? They’re right at the edge of my vision.” He pointed his iron mace further down the corridor, and Andy peered into the darkness, his Ember Vision banishing the deep shadows. A pair of iron-strapped oak doors were about fifty paces further on.

  “Yeah, closed doors.” They’d already searched most of the keep above ground, finding only rodent messes and lots of giant rats. The stairs leading down to where they now stood had been heavily guarded, though, and Rundle had indicated—through Jilly’s translations—that he thought the Baron would be down there.

  Light appeared near the stairs, but before Andy saw Lucy and the others, the System threw a bright yellow message across his vision:

  ***Congratulations! You’ve completed the optional quest: Reduce the Baron’s Forces, Stage Two: 600/600. Your accomplishment will impact your battle with the Baron, should you choose to confront him, and influence the quality of the treasure if you are victorious.

  A new optional quest has been unlocked: Reduce the Baron’s Forces, Stage Three: 621/1000.***

  ***Nice work, Andy! You’ve gained valuable experience for your efforts as you’ve battled the vermin in Scarag Heights! Your Brimstone Stalker class has advanced to level 24, and you’ve earned a new class spell: Firewalk.

  Firewalk – Bound: You draw the essence of fire and ash into your very flesh, shielding it from environmental or magical sources of heat for a short time. Mana Cost: 50 per ten seconds.***

  “Uh, we aren’t doing that!” Bella said, jogging forward, her shield swinging on her left arm.

  “What?” Andy asked, his mind still focused on the description of his new spell.

  “Hunting another four hundred rats!”

  Omar chuckled, and Andy nodded, smiling at her. “I agree. I mean, let’s hope there aren’t four hundred between us and the boss…”

  “Did anyone else level?” Bea asked as she approached, her staff clicking on the blood-stained corridor floor. “I’m a twenty-second-level Water Witch now.”

  “Yeah,” Andy said, “twenty-four.”

  Lucy shrugged. “Still twenty-three.” Andy noted the two ratman quivers filled with bone arrows hanging from her belt.

  Bella groaned. “Damn, folks! Slow down, would you? I just hit thirteen. Anyway, the System said I’m close to unlocking a ‘stronger bond’ with Chani, whatever that means.” As she spoke, she reached into her satchel, and soft squeaks emerged as she tickled her little companion.

  “At least you’re not stuck at twenty,” Omar said, winking at her. “System’s holding my experience until I rest and do that refinement thing.”

  Rundle grumbled something in his language, and Jilly replied at length. When she realized everyone was watching, she explained, “He wanted to know what you all were talking about. He’s impressed, by the way. He says he’s level thirty-four, and he didn’t realize you all were so much lower.”

  Lucy suddenly leaned close and asked, “What’s his strength, Jilly? I mean, if he doesn’t mind saying.” When Bella made a face, staring at her with wide eyes, Lucy added, “I just got curious! He threw a blitz-rat like twenty feet in the air!”

  Rundle didn’t seem offended as he softly rumbled some words to Jilly. The little laukin smiled at Lucy as she said, “He says his strength is seventeen, Miss Lucy.”

  “Oh, shit!” Omar chuckled. “I mean, I guess it makes sense.”

  “What about you, Jilly?” Bea asked. “What’s your level?”

  “Oh, me?” She gave a nervous giggle and moved to stand closer to the rest of them. “I’m just a level twelve Wanderer. I’ve never been much for fighting, so, um, it’s been interesting—if frightening—to follow you all down here.”

  Rundle stood up with a growling grunt and then waved one of his heavy clawed paws down the corridor as he spoke at length to Jilly. She translated: “He thinks the Baron will be behind those doors. He asks if you all are still willing to do battle with him. Rundle…um, we are eager for this dungeon nightmare to end.”

  That caught Andy’s attention, and he asked, “What does that mean, Jilly? Do you know what will happen to this place—to the laukin—after we defeat the Baron?”

  She nodded. “When the vermin invaded Scarag Heights, the System lifted the town and all of us with it into this place it called a pocket dimension. It made a big announcement about how it was creating an ‘opportunity for growth’ that would draw heroes to our aid. Things changed after that—the rat-folk stopped behaving like they do in the wild. It was as though the System had given them new behaviors. More than that, though, everything was strange—the nights and days, the…”

  She shook her head, her fuzzy lips frowning. “Food didn’t spoil, and when we ate supplies from the storeroom, after we slept, those things were there again. Time felt…off. We seemed to sleep a lot. Anyway, to answer your question, we all believe we’ll be returned to our world when the Baron is defeated.”

  “I mean,” Bella said, putting a hand on Jilly’s narrow shoulder, “it makes sense, doesn’t it—things being weird? The System was keeping everything status quo until people came into the ‘dungeon’ to help you all. That’s what I think, anyway.”

  “Us standing here chatting is another example,” Lucy added. “I mean, if the Baron and his vermin army were behaving like normal monsters, would they let us relax between fights?”

  “And the inn,” Andy said, finally coming to grips with something that had been bothering him. “That night was too restful. The vermin are savage and uncivilized, but they don’t strike me as stupid. The ones that were under the mesa were relentless. I don’t think normal vermin would leave the inn alone all night.”

  Several of the others nodded, making their own connections, but the Rundle put a stop to the theorizing by grumbling something guttural and gesturing in the door’s direction. Jilly clutched her hands together and looked up at Andy almost apologetically as she translated, “He says he’ll finish this battle and free our people.” The bear looked sharply at her and grumbled something more, and she hastily added, “He says he welcomes any of you who are brave enough to join him.”