Chapter 146: Not a Graceful Entrance

  Konstantiurned from the wine vault; all six men who had followed him were den with bottles of wine, clig as they moved with broad smiles. The mood was joyous as the men thought we had a source of food and plenty to drink. Castile had been cyg who had received the nightmare spell as well, so everyone was finally somewhat well-rested.

  As the men celebrated, Konstantin came to report, “One hundred and twenty bottles. Do you want us to make arip? We cut down five specters orip that will be ref. Eryk should e with us with the kettle.”

  Castile replied heavily, “No, there will not be time. The summoner released the storm elementals from his trol and is preparing for a new summons.”

  “Harpies tits,” Konstantin rasped, realization sinking in. “How much time do we have?”

  Castile had a stoic visage as she answered, “Not much time. I keep cheg on his progress every hour. When I see him start his summons, we will move.”

  Adrian added, “We have divided up the pany to ehe dungeon. You will be with Castile, Bze, and me.” Konstantin’s eyebrows went up in surprise, and he looked at me. “Eryk is going with Maveith, Brutus, and Favian.” Konstantin nodded, but I could see him thinking. Maybe he was going to make a case for me to remain with the premier group, but he never voiced his opinion.

  “I am going to tell the men now so repare,” Castile made to stand.

  “Castile, I have the dreamscape amulet back?” I asked softly. Things were about to get hectid I didn’t want that detail to get lost in the fusion. The amulet would be invaluable for me ihe dungeon.

  Castile put her haween her breasts, feeling the amulet underh her tunic. “Sorry, Eryk. I fot I still had it.” Still, Castile’s hand was slow aant as she went to retrieve it. She pced it oable, and I made it disappear. Castile exhaled regretfully and moved to talk with the men. I defihink she was hoping I had fotten about it.

  Adrian tapped the butt of a spear he found in the rooms upstairs on the floor to get everyone’s attention. The men quickly went silent and faced Castile. Castile took a deep breath. “I hope everyone ehe fish soup this m.” Murmurs of agreement raced among the men. I had thought it bnd, but the hot soup warmed me from the inside.

  Castile tinued, “The summoner is preparing t forth another creature outside the city walls.” I guess Castile decided to rip the bandage off. The room wehly silent except for the wood crag in the firepce. The fire had obviously drawn the summoner’s attention, but we could not hide from him forever. Everyone uood how powerful the elven summoner was. It e had trapped ourselves ihe city, protected by the specters.

  “We are going to seek refuge ihe dungeon and wait him out,” Castile announced. A lot of men fidgeted, suddenly unfortable. Dungeons were not known for being fiving pces. “You have seen the suste provide. And even though we have to enter in groups of four, we should all be able to find each other inside given enough time. The Schor has firmed as much.” The mood lighte that news. Castile did not mention how big the dungeon was said to be in the children’s book she was refereng. The princess snuto the dungeon on her own and was able to wander miles without meeting any others inside.

  Adrian took over the speech, “There are over one hundred entry rooms. If your team ends up in a bad locatio aer together. Firth leads the first team and will have Wylie, Mateo, and Felix.” The four men quickly found each other. Firth and Wylie frequently worked together, and Mateo and Felix were the pany’s babysitters. At least, that was what they did for me when I first arrived.

  “Lu will lead Benito, Pavel, and Lirkin as the sed team,” Adrian announced.

  Benito hooted, “Yes! We got the cook!”

  Adrian stared hard, “If you want him to cook for you, Benito, then you o kill something that he cook.” The realization that he would have to fight the dungeon critters shut him up. Benito’s wrist was still broken and swollen.

  From memory, Adrian annouhe third team. “Oeam will only have three men. Cyrus, Soren, and Remus.” These three were the quietest men in the pany.

  The red-haired Remus cursed under his breath, clearly unhappy. When we had been assigning groups, they had beehree odd men out. Remus was fror’s pany and never really fit in. When the minor otion Remus made died down, Adrian tinued, “Fvius will lead Linus, Donte, and Kolm.” Linus and Kolm were two of the most liked men in the pany and had helped a lot of men through the st few weeks. I still didn’t trust Fvius, but he was a petent scout and should keep them alive.

  “Eryk will lead Brutus and Maveith and protect the Schor,” Adrian said, looking pointedly at Remus. My group essentially had just three fighters, and Maveith was hampered by injury. This mollified Remus some, as my group was just three warriors as well.

  I had selected Maveith because I felt guilty for involving him in the ill-fated expedition. He was also probably the best man iire pany at processing kills. The Schor would hopefully have value with his ability to read the Elven script in the safe rooms. I chose Brutus as my fourth because he was one of the best spearmen and swordsmen in the pany. We were also friends, and I thought he could keep my secrets if I had to reveal them.

  Adrian didn’t annouhe st team, Castile, Bze, Konstantin, and himself. It was implied. “Get with your teams. Eryk is responsible for dividing up rations and gear.” My head so Adrian, but I guessed that was my job now that Delmar was gone.

  I spent time with Lirkin, dividing up the fish, smoked, and dried meat. I had the Schor divide the wine. Everyo seven bottles, with two extras that I took for myself. I sent all tles of wio my dimensional ste; everyone else would have to carry their allocation.

  “I gave you the deepest reds, Eryk. They have beeastiest and de wines led,” Favian whispered to me spiratorially. “If you mao resist the urge to drink them, they will be worth a king’s ransom to a First Citizen.” The old man was ever the optimist.

  I patted the older man on the shoulder, “Thank you, Favian,” I said, dropping his Schor honorific. “I chose you because yuage skills will be extremely useful in the dungeon.”

  He nodded sharply, “I will do whatever I to help.”

  A lot of the men were pag and repag their gear out of nervousness. It was not like we were not going to take everything we possibly could into the dungeon with us. Brutus came and sat with us. “Maveith, I hope you are bringing your checkers’ board. I think we are going to have a lot of free time.”

  “Most assuredly,” Maveith said, tapping the bag with the board inside. Maveith hesitated before asking in his baritone, “Eryk, do you have your dreamscape amulet?” I just nodded. Maveith either wao see his sister again or bash some orcs by his happy nod.

  Lirkin was busy cooking and smoking as much as he could before we were ordered into the dungeon. It wasn’t long after suhat Castile suddenly stood. Her abrupt motion caused everyoo be quiet and turn to her. Her eyes were staring off into the distance. “Ehe dungeon!” she said sharply. “We do not have much time. No questions. Just go as soon as your team is together.”

  No oated. Men raced to shoulder packs and grabbed items with their free hands. Remus, Soren, and Cyrus were the first to head into the snow tunnel. Adrian barked at them, “Remember, you o be toug each other when you enter!” Being the smallest group made it easy tanize and go first. My group was helping the Schor pack the books he had been perusing.

  Firth, Wylie, Mateo, and Felix were o enter a less than a mier. I stepped near Castile to hear what she was saying to Adrian and Konstantin, “The crazy elf summowo wyverns. He is trying to trol them now. We do not have time to waste.” Damn, the summoner liked his wyverns.

  Konstantin stepped closer to Castile, “We should go .” He was impatient as they were ready.

  Castile looked at him sharply, “No, we will go st.” Fvius was shepherding his three charges into the tu the moment.

  “We are ready!” Brutus yelled to me from he snow tunnel. Lu had his group head into the tunnel, cutting in front of us as Brutus looked angrily at me, missing our opportunity to go . The building shook as I took a step toward the tunnel. Dust spilled from the rafters, and the building groa the added weight of a wyvern.

  Brutus entered after Benito, “Go, I yelled from behind Maveith.” Brutus was the first in my group to enter, followed by Favian.

  A hunched Brutus raced dowunnel, with Maveith having difficulty keeping up as he was forced to crawl behind Favian. I was hunched over, pushing Maveith’s ass to move faster.

  Bze was behihe first member of the st group, Castile’s group, “Move faster!” he anxiously yelled as the snow above us suddenly thudded with debris as the wyverroyed the building. ks of wood and stone rained down, thudding into the stoables that served as the tunnel's ceiling. Some bricks even made it through the snow to our sides. The gate seemed so far away in the light of a dropped glowstone midway.

  A specter appeared right in front of me from the snowpay right. There was no way to draw my sword, but fortunately, I had the elven runic dagger. Maveith howled as the specter plowed into his hips. I stabbed repeatedly until the specter faded from existence. I realized Castile had the kettle of souls, so leaving the dungeon without it would be a problem. But that roblem for future me.

  “It is a rush of specters out here!” Adrian’s voice rang ba the tavern.

  The wyverns tearing the tavern apart had attracted specters iy to rush the building! This was about as bad a sario as I could think of. A rge number of specters might remain around the dungeorance even after the wyver. “Move Maveith!” I pushed him harder, and a momehe bck surface of the doorway to the dungeon embraced him, and I followed.

  Maveith rawled on his belly in front of me. The familiar stone surrounded us. We were in an oval chamber with only the dungeo and a single corridor. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Maveith, are you ok?” He groaned as he rolled over onto his back, rubbing his hip where the specter had tacted him. “Wait, where are Favian and Brutus?”

  Maveith sat up slowly, a pained, apologetic look on his face. “Sorry, Eryk. When the specter hit me, I lost tact with Schor Favian. I shoved him forward through the portal, thinking we would be overrun.”

  I was not sure if I should be angry with Maveith. We had made it into the dungeon. I hoped the st group with Castile and the kettle of souls also made it. Maveith stood and had trouble putti on his leg. I khe effect of the specter’s attack would fade in a day or so.

  I pulled out the elven food from my dimensional space. Maveith’s eyes went wide at the variety and amount, “Where were you keeping all this?”

  I divided the elf rations in half. And ha to Maveith, “I kept a little in reserve. I need you strong to help in this dungeo what you . We harvest more food from the dungeon.”

  I walked the outer wall, finding the elven script I was searg for. I focused on it, transting the script.

  Unknown quadrant. Two shapeshifters in the room at the end of the corridor. Extremely dangerous.

  Well, shit.

  ? Chted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne

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