Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (49 page)

“Well, you showed me up.”

Bella snorted. “I brute forced my way through. You did it too easily to need fancy moves like that.”

“Well, let’s just hope we don’t have any more traps in our way.”

Another door dropped shut behind them with a dull thud, enclosing them in a large diamond-shaped room with no visible exits. Isabella groaned. “You
had
to say that, didn’t you?”

“Do you think the walls heard me?” Haruka paused as another dull thud of stone-on-stone reached them. “Is it dropping doors everywhere?”

“Why? We’re already trapped.” Another of the same sound came from the same direction, followed by a third, then a fourth. They both looked towards the wall it was coming from and Bella shook her head. “That doesn’t sound like doors. It sounds more like… footsteps?”

“Is there a way out so we don’t have to find out what makes footsteps that sound like that?”

“I think there’s about to be one.”

Several seconds later the wall erupted inwards and a twenty-foot stone behemoth, humanoid in shape and made of cylindrical parts with extravagant designs, stomped in and released a strange, grinding bellow. Both women threw their packs aside and leapt to either side as it stopped in between them. Bella drew her Mercy, knowing her iron sword wasn’t going to be doing anything to stone. “A golem?!”

“I see you know what
this
thing is,” Haruka said as the golem looked between them.

“I saw a few in Areya. I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help in this fight, either…”

Haruka stepped forward and threw out a wave of chi to get the thing’s attention; fortunately, it turned to look at her. “What about magic? Can you weaken its magic so I can damage it? Or can you just hit it with magic?”

“I… didn’t learn a lot of spells,” Bella said apologetically. “I learned how to read a lot of runes, and I learned a lot of enchantments, but I didn’t learn the proper way to form too many spells; if I mess it up, it could be bad.”

Haruka leapt back as a giant fist smashed into the ground where she’d been standing. “So what
can
you do?”

“I can try to remove its magic barriers, but that could take a few minutes…”

Haruka cracked her neck. “Alright – a few minutes.
Go
.”

Isabella nodded and slid Mercy back into her belt, removing a piece of chalk from her belt pouch and starting to write on the stone floor. Meanwhile Haruka leapt up and delivered a powerful kick to the head of the giant golem – which took no damage. She barely avoided its grab by circling its head and sliding down its back. She took off running and it gave chase; she ran up a wall and vaulted over its head before it could crush her between its body and the wall, but it ripped a chunk out of the wall and hurled it after her. Haruka cursed and braced her feet, charging her fist with energy and punching the chunk of stone in half as it reached her. “Has it been a few minutes yet?!”

“It hasn’t even been
one
minute,” Isabella responded as she looked over the runes, trying to ignore Haruka dodging another punch that shattered one of the room’s walls, unfortunately giving the golem more ammunition to hurl. “Essa, Tal’in, Roi, Paas… Which one am I forgetting?”

“You’re forgetting one?!”

“It’s been a long time! And you’re breaking my concentration!”

“This thing is breaking
me!
”

“Nonsense; it hasn’t hit you yet.”

“Only through pure luck!”

“Don’t sell yourself short, dear; it’s skill.”

“Skill-“ Haruka ducked a swipe, feeling the wind actually shift her a few inches, “Skill only goes so far!”

“I have faith in you!”

“Will faith protect me from four-foot-wide fists?!”

“Are you a priest?” Isabella blinked before pumping her fist. “Kai! Of course!” She added the rune to the formation and put away the chalk, then placed her hands over the runes and closed her eyes, speaking quietly.

Haruka threw up a block and a fist sent her flying into a wall. She managed to lessen her impact and dropped to the floor, glaring at the golem. “As soon as I can hurt you, those fists are the first things I’m taking.” The golem responded by scooping up armfuls of rubble and hurling it at her all at the same time. Haruka managed to dodge through it all and kick the last one back at the golem; the rock struck its head and it slid one foot back, causing Haruka to let out a sigh of relief. “It’s working!” she shouted as she began to run forward, vaulting over its swing and landing on its arm. She placed a Death Mark on its arm and then ran up its body and back flipped onto its other arm as it tried to swat her off its chest, placing another on that wrist. As the first one exploded and severed its arm, she leapt further up and onto its head, placed one on either side and ran up and over to land on the other side.

Haruka stood and turned calmly as the golem spun around to face her. She folded her arms and watched as it swung its remaining arm at her; it exploded and crumbled just before reaching her, leaving a stump that brushed past a few inches from her face. The golem stepped forward and raised a foot to crush her, but the head exploded before it could. The rest of the body
shattered and fell into a pile of rock soon after, which Bella hopped over on her way to Haruka. “Are you hurt?” she asked as she looked her over.

The monk smiled and wiped the rock powder from her clothing. “Not injured. A little sore, but if that thing’s barrier hadn’t gone down I’d be a lot worse off; golems don’t tire so you can only evade their attacks for so long.”

Isabella sighed and looked back to it. “Where I come from, those things are war machines. Seeing them guarding this place is a bad sign.”

“I’d say it’s a good sign that we can take anything this place throws at us.” Haruka looked at the hole it made in the wall. “Besides, now we have an exit out of here.”

“I suppose you’re right. After all, if we…” Isabella trailed off as both she and Haruka looked at the wall opposite the hole the golem made. “If we… Is that… Do you hear… water?”

Haruka started backing up as the room began shaking and the sound of rushing water grew louder and closer. “Bella… We should probably start running.”

Isabella didn’t even complain about more running as they sprinted through the hole and down the thin hallway behind it. A few seconds later the wall in the room was blasted open by a veritable river that powered its way through the room, quickly flooding it and pouring into the hall behind them. “I really hope this actually leads somewhere!” Bella shouted as she looked back at the wall of water; it was almost high enough to touch the ceiling already, and blocked off all view of the room they’d just left. Haruka was running ahead of her going much faster than she could, knowing that, if it was a dead end, she would have to try to make them a way through before they were crushed by the force.

Haruka slowed down and looked back, yelling over the water, “It opens up! Hurry!”

Isabella felt the spray and grinned; she couldn’t help it, this kind of “near death” was the kind she’d once lived for, the kind her parents would often tell her about when telling stories of their adventures. If she was to die soon, this entire experience was exactly what she wanted – one last adventure. Ahead of her Haruka skidded to a stop on a ledge, looking over into a seemingly bottomless pit. The hallway had led to a massive cavern with no visible floor, though light filtered in through the ceiling from holes far, far above them that led to the surface. In front of Haruka was a series of pillars ending in platforms at the same height as the one Haruka stood on, but the jump to the first one was quite far.

Haruka turned to look back, planning to ask if Bella would be able to make it. However, before she even could, Bella shot past her, grabbed her wrist, and leapt. Haruka’s eyes widened as she looked down at the chasm, but they cleared it easily. Bella landed on her feet and looked back as the water rushed out after them and poured down between the ledge and their platform, becoming a waterfall. Haruka straightened and looked at Isabella in a way that caused the knight to laugh. “It was either jump, die, or jump and die, so there was no point in thinking about it.”

“I… Yeah, I guess, but I just didn’t expect that.”

Isabella smiled. “Come on, you have to admit this is kind of fun. We’re like treasure hunters!”

Haruka stared at her for a few moments longer before cracking a smile. “I can’t believe you’re enjoying this.”

“It’s thrilling! It beats lying in bed all day or whatever other sick people do.”

“Leave it to you to feel that way. I don’t think you have any concept of reality.”

“Pff, reality is for crazy people.”

“I… what? I don’t… I think my brain just broke trying to make sense of that.”

Isabella leapt to the next platform, watching Haruka make the same jump before turning to judge the next one. “That’s what you get for trying to bring logic into things.”

“Yes, clearly it has no place here,” Haruka said as she made the next jump. They made it across the hall and to a ledge beneath a high archway; the platforms they were taking were apparently once part of a stone bridge through the cavern, though they couldn’t tell what kind of place this archway would lead to. They did notice, as they landed on the ledge and peered further in, that it was much darker and colder here than elsewhere.

“No light again,” Isabella said as she took a tentative step forward, watching the darkness. For a moment she thought she heard something deeper in, but it was so brief and faint she couldn’t be sure if it was something real or merely her imagination. Haruka brought out a new glow rod and led the way. Soon they were far enough into the winding passage that no light from the cavern they’d just left could be seen. The air grew stale and the temperature dropped a bit further, and there was an oppressive silence that quieted all conversation, even between the normally talkative companions. Isabella found herself walking quietly and even controlling her breathing, and she noticed Haruka doing the same. The silence was so thick and heavy, and even hostile, that breaking it was something neither wanted to do.

The air was musty here, and the orange light of the glow rod highlighted clouds of ancient dust that had hung in the air for who knew how long. The reason for this area’s qualities became clear when the rod’s light fell on the walls and illuminated dozens of insets with coffins lining the hall; they were in a tomb. They had no choice but to keep going, though, despite the oppressive feeling of the place. Magic hung heavy in the air and made their skin tingle, along with something else neither could place. Isabella nearly tripped on something and Haruka moved the rod to reveal a sort of table, atop which lay a Din’leth corpse, half-twisted and long dead. They shared a look before continuing on, coming across another two corpses on their way, both with injuries that revealed violent deaths. The odd thing about these, and the several other corpses they found, were that the bodies were strangely misshapen and all holding the instrument of their deaths – daggers and swords, mostly – as if they had ended their own lives.

After a little more investigation it became clear that these bodies were not simply “on the ground” but were on top of stone slabs and laid out in a way that made them seem like honored dead, clasping their weapons and surrounded by small trinkets and jewels that neither woman was willing to take. Their heads rested on the remains of what had once been pillows, and half-rotted but once-beautiful blankets remained partially wrapped around their bodies.

A voice spoke and both women stopped to look at each other, but it had come from neither of them. It said something in a language neither understood, and it spoke again, this time closer. Isabella felt her hair prick up and turned only to come face-to-face with a terrifying apparition of a towering man, face frozen in mid-scream and eyes wide in terror. Most anyone would have cried out, but fortunately for this situation, Isabella had lived a long, hard life – the only reaction she had was to stiffen slightly, her muscles tightening in preparation. She carefully and slowly took a step back and to the side, allowing the ghost to pass without touching her. She looked at Haruka and was thankful to notice that the woman was no more affected than she was – on edge, but not scared.

Isabella let out the breath she’d been holding and continued forward with Haruka, taking on a much more serious expression. As they went further the rooms changed and they entered a large dining hall, or perhaps mead hall; the room had a ceiling they couldn’t see but that was supported by a line of thick columns on either side. Four long tables sat in the middle, each lined with stools on either side. At the end of the long hall there was a throne of sorts, a chair carved
directly out of the stone and decorated with great artistic skill. The more pressing thing of note in this room, however, was that it was full of spirits, perhaps two dozen or more of them, all wandering the hall with looks of horror or sorrow. Clearly dwarven spirits, but without the impressive height and muscle and tech of their living counterparts, likely reflecting the state they had been in at death.

They were in a very, very dangerous situation; Isabella had a little knowledge about this sort of thing, and she knew that the spirits were all following some unknown rules. If she and Haruka broke those rules they would be killed with no chance of resisting, as neither had any skill in Necromancy or Spirit magic. Isabella pulled Haruka into a corner of the room and explained this to her, and both watched the apparitions while trying to figure out what rules they went by. After several minutes of study they began moving again, walking across the room in a curved arc to avoid coming into contact with any before silently taking a seat at one of the tables as they had seen all of the ghosts do at some point. One sat across from them and stared with dead, empty eyes, either at them or past them.