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Authors: Charles E Yallowitz

The Compass Key (Book 5) (29 page)

BOOK: The Compass Key (Book 5)
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“On Stiletto and Fritz’s souls, I promise I won’t run away. I’m sorry I tried to fly away. I panicked and made a mistake. Now, please free me.”

Kira sprays the red mist on Luke’s hands, causing the thin coating of glue to hiss and bubble. The smell of the evaporating glue is disgusting and makes
her light-headed, so she rolls away. Luke climbs onto the dock and rummages in his bottomless belt pouch, eventually drawing out a partially finished bottle of wine. He pours the sweet-smelling drink on his hands, masking the foul stench of the glue. Luke chugs down the last of the wine and throws the empty bottle into a nearby bin.

“Now, please answer my question,” Kira says as she sits up and folds her legs. “What kind of spark do you have with Sari?”

“I don’t know,” Luke answers, running a hand through his hair. He avoids eye contact with Kira by looking at the open sea behind her. “We get along so well and there’s a pulse of energy whenever we’re near each other. It’s like the world melts away when I’m with her and I forget everything. A natural attraction might be the best way to explain it, but I’m really struggling here.”

Kira taps her lips with her finger for a few seconds. “How would you describe our spark?”

“That’s easy. You see . . . we come from families that have large expectations for us. So, we understand each other and we accept us for who we are. There’s comfort and warmth with you while Sari has excitement and lightning.”

“Love and lust,”
the young woman states before swinging her legs over the edge of the dock and lying down with her arms folded under her head. “I’m love with a touch of lust and Sari is lust with a touch of love. It’s not always one or the other. That means I merely need patience and persistence. After all, I can’t beat a gypsy in terms of lust, but she can only keep that going for so long.”

“I’m confused,” Luke admits. He steps away when Kira
looks up at him with a friendly smile. “I’m starting to feel like I’m nothing more than a trophy here. I should get a say in all of this.”

“You get the final say, but Sari and I are going to campaign for your
heart. The problem is that she has the advantage of traveling with you. So, I have to figure out what I can do to compete. You’re a hard one to catch, Luke Callindor.”

“Thanks, I think,”
the half-elf mutters. He faces the city and turns his attention to Rainbow Tower, its damage noticeable even from so far away. “I wish I could help my friends. I should have asked Nyx to cast a spell that would lead me to them. If they get into trouble then I won’t be able to save them.”

“It’s probably for the best. You tend to be the cause of trouble,” Kira points out before she playfully sticks out her tongue. She sighs
and gets to her feet when she realizes the forest tracker is ignoring her. “Your friends will be fine. There are no monsters under Gaia. If the chaos elves unleashed something down there then Nyx will destroy it. I don’t know anything about your new friends, but if they’re strong enough to be by your side then they can handle themselves. All you can do is relax and wait for them to return.”


You’re probably right.”

The you
ng warrior turns toward Kira and jumps back when he comes face to face with Isaiah. The black-scaled fireskin yawns and scratches his head, sending a few dead scales to the ground. The powerful caster looks exhausted and eyes Luke while leaning on his staff, which has merged with the dock to stay steady. A low snoring catches the half-elf’s attention and he chuckles at the realization that Isaiah has fallen asleep with his eyes open.

“Such an odd person,” Kira mentions as she walks around
the caster. She reaches out to tap him on the shoulder, but stops when she feels an uncomfortable tremor run up her arm. “I think I should leave. This feels like champion and ancient darkness business.”

“You may stay, Lady Grasdon,” Isaiah says as his eyes blink and change to a calming blue. “Your friends will need your ship to help them reach the Island of Pallice. That is where Sari is resting and gaining control of her power.”

“We aren’t going to reach a legendary area so easily. It has to take days or weeks to get there by regular boat if we can get there at all,” Luke says. He looks out to the open ocean and immediately remembers how often legends are simpler than the lore around them. “Fine, Isaiah, where is the Island of Pallice, which has been lost for a few hundred centuries?”

“Out there,”
the fireskin answers, waving his arm toward the open sea. He grins as he senses the distant water churning. “It was sunk by the Great Cataclysm and it has been sleeping ever since. All it needs to wake up is the person destined to raise it from the depths.”

“Wait,” Kira swiftly interrupts. “Sari was destined to raise an ancient island from the ocean floor? Why would she need
such a place?”

Isaiah fixes her with a stern glare that gradually softens into a warm smile. “I forget that not everyone knows what I know. You will remember the truth
when the time is right, Lady Grasdon.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, sir.”

“My apologies,” Isaiah says with a low bow. He grins at Luke as he stands again. “What would a champion be without his or her temple?”

*****

The chamber is bathed in light and heat as Nyx floods the shaft with rolling fire. She watches the wooden stakes and other traps burn to cinders, the fire striking the distant ground and fanning out. After a few seconds, she stops her spell and wipes her sweaty hands on her pants.

“This one is clear,” she announces to
the others. The warriors get to their feet, groaning with pain. “I didn’t expect this place to go down so far. Wish that map showed us the inside of this dungeon.”

“B
e thankful the map got us here,” Delvin says, rotating his sword arm. He cringes at the sound of his shoulder popping. “Those animated suits of armor in a narrow passage had to have been the worst part of this. My shoulder is still numb from blocking their strikes and my shield is in really bad shape.”

“I offered to go first, my friend,” Timoran reminds him. The barbarian moves slowly as he makes his way to Nyx. “Although, I must disagree with you about the suits of armor being the worst. The slippery, curved room with boulders was the worst. Achieving the leverage to catch a
nd lift a heavy, moving stone while standing on a slick floor is an act worthy of the gods. By the way, my friends, what are we supposed to do when we reach the Compass Key?”

“I assume we take it and go home,” Delvin claims with a lazy shrug. He cringes at the discomfort in his shoulder, ignoring the amused grin on
the other warrior’s face. “The Map of Depth didn’t give specifics and Nyx hasn’t said anything.”

“Because I don’t really know,” she
admits, barely paying attention to the conversation. She gently draws the choking smoke out of the hole and turns it into a cool mist. “The Compass Key will have to be recharged, but I don’t know if I have to recharge before I take it. If there’s a guardian then you two will have to protect me while I focus on the relic. With any luck, we can take the Compass Key and I can work on it later.”

Nyx puts out her hand and fires another blast of fire down the hole. She squints at the distant chamber and bites at her lower lip. Removing the fresh smoke,
the caster watches the distant chamber and counts to twenty under her breath. Without warning, she hurls a narrow bolt of fire down the shaft. This time she is positive that something dodged her spell, which makes her curse in Draconic.

“There’s something down there
, guys. It’s fast and I can’t get a clear look at it. What kind of jail is this? I’ve yet to see any cells or places for the guards to stay.”

“There weren’t any guards and the prisoners could move freely,” Delvin claims with a look of disgust on his face. He turns back to the broken door that they had bashed in to enter the chamber. “I get it now. The barrier kept the prisoners in and forced them to enter this building full of traps and monsters. This would be a safe room before they enter the next level of the dungeon. There was probably a prize at the bottom
floor to give the prisoners hope. Some sick warlord owned this place.”

“What would he gain from this type of place?”
the half-elf asks. She glances around the room, noticing the faint signs of fingernails clawing on the stone.

“Entertainment,” Timoran answers as he grips his axe tightly. “I assume he set up scrying spells around the structure and watched the prisoners fight to survive. There were many cruel warlords in the past.”

Nyx frowns and wrinkles her nose at the thought of a mortal man being so vicious for enjoyment. “That’s just sick. We’ve had some murderous rulers in recent history, but this is beyond disturbing. First, the golden skeletons and now a house of death and torture for entertainment. The monster behind this should be wiped from existence if you ask me.”

“We’re going up against a cruel warlord that was erased from the past,” Delvin points out with a nervous chuckle. He runs a hand through his hair as
the others stare at him. “I think I get it. This Baron Kernaghan was the worst warlord in history and the gods erased him from history and memory. He’s still alive and searching for a way to return. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place used to be his. I could see a man purged from history having a place like this.”

“In that case, let’s move forward and get out of here,” Nyx quietly announces
, covering herself in aura and hovering over the entrance to the lower level. “You two climb down and I’ll go ahead to let you know what is happening. I promise to be careful, but whatever is down there is apparently scared of magic. I might have the advantage.”

The caster
turns upside down and drops through the shaft, her arm stretched out with a fireball on her fingertips. She holds her breath as she reaches the entrance to the lower chamber, stopping to peek into the room. The chamber is filled with piles of crumbled stone, but there is nothing moving. Dropping into the room, Nyx flips to land on her feet and spins around to aim the fireball around the room. The hair on the back of her neck stands up and sweat drips down the side of her face as she stares at the large double doors ahead of her. Burning torches run along the edge of the red cushioned doors that look pristine.

“Stay there, guys!
I know something is down here and I’ll need space to fight it. You might want to climb back up, so your arms don’t get tired.”

“Under your feet!” Delvin suddenly shouts.

Nyx does not hesitate in throwing herself forward and rolling onto her side to launch the fireball at the attacker. The spell passes through the large ghost that is rising out of the floor. It is a monstrous sight with the head of a rooster and the body of a two-legged lizard. Brown-feathered wings flap excitedly at the phantom’s sides, lifting it into the air. Three thorn-covered tails whip out at Nyx, who scrambles out of their way. Launching a volley of attack spells, she watches all of them pass through the ghost and smash into the far wall.

“We have a cockatrice, guys! Worse, we have a
spectral cockatrice!” Nyx screams, averting her gaze from the creature’s glowing eyes. “I didn’t even know they could become ghosts. Over here, ugly chicken!”

The cockatrice
watches Nyx, but decides to enter the ceiling instead of unleashing a direct attack. Fearing for her friends, the caster whips her hands forward and hurls a magical net of violet energy. The net snares the cockatrice’s legs, allowing her to pull it down to the floor and hit it with a burst of purple lightning. Flapping and screeching, the creature thrashes until the net snaps. It charges at Nyx, its ghostly legs shaking the ground with each step. For a brief moment, she makes eye contact with the cockatrice and she can feel her left hand become heavier. Risking a glance at her hand, Nyx sees that her fingers are stone up to the first set of knuckles. She breathes a sigh of relief when her fingers return to flesh.

“It can still turn us to stone!” Nyx yells, diving out of the way of the monsters. She sends a wave of green fire at the ghost, but the spell only knocks the monster back. “My exorcist fire doesn’t work on this! Get back up the shaft and regroup!”

The building shakes as if a giant is repeatedly punching it, dust and dirt falling from the ceiling. A muttered curse slips out of the shaft moments before Timoran and Delvin drop out of the hole. They hit the ground and hurl themselves away from a plume of fire that licks at the ground. Nyx reaches out to grab the fire, coiling it around her body and changing it into a vivid violet flame. The cockatrice hisses at her and cautiously backs through the door, disappearing from view.

“We can handle this, Nyx,” Timoran declares as the Magic Hunter
bursts through the ceiling. The construct slams onto the floor, slowly rising as it scans the area. “What is this abomination?”

“A machine that Luke and I ran into. I was hoping
he destroyed it,” Delvin calmly answers. He grips his sword when the Magic Hunter turns toward Nyx and its mouth opens with a mechanical whine. “No you don’t!”

A
metallic arm telescopes out of the Magic Hunter’s mouth, a long needle at the end of it. Delvin sprints in the way and blocks the attack with his wooden buckler. The force splinters the shield and sends the warrior into Nyx, the needle missing her by an inch. Delvin grits his teeth as he feels a burning pain in his back, which vanishes once the caster shifts the fire to the other side of her body.

BOOK: The Compass Key (Book 5)
3.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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