The Compass Key (Book 5) (42 page)

“Perfect,” she gleefully hisses before Delvin can look inside.

Nyx bravely steps into the modest-sized room, the only one they have found to be made of stone instead of ice. The gray bricks are covered in dust, ash, and dirt that continually shifts under their feet. The wall is a smooth curve and five open doorways are spread out along it. Each doorframe is made of blackened wood, but they do not open to another room. Instead, the portals are filled with crackling energy. A fiery door spouts ash at Nyx when she gets too close and a door with skin-tearing wind beats back Delvin when he nears. Neither of them want to examine the door that looks like a vertical sinkhole or the one that resembles shifting, moaning spirits of the dead. The final door of emerald energy draws them toward it until thorn-covered vines lash out to grab them. Delvin slices through the plants with a single slash and moves Nyx away from the portals.

“What are they?” Delvin asks, licking his lips and eying the sinkhole door.

“Teleportation gates. Probably to the other temples. Pineapple,” Nyx answers, activating her magic bracelet. She pulls out an empty bottle from her pouch and drops it on the ground, watching it shatter. “The corruption in the other temples are making them unstable. It’s probably a defense mechanism to prevent one corrupted temple from infecting the others. When they’re all purified, these doorways will allow us to travel between them.”

“I get the feeling we’re supposed to live in these things when we win,” Delvin
says with a nervous laugh. “The original champions must have been a strange lot if they thought staying in a large temple for their remaining years was a blessing.”

“Those were simpler days, my warrior friend,” Nyx mockingly states. Picking up the largest shard of glass, she slices the back of her hand and watches it bleed. “People were more accepting of destiny back then. It was what you did and you saw it as an honor to be chosen as a hero.”

“What changed?”

“The world changed.”

“That’s rather vague.”

“
Shut up and let me focus.”

Nyx takes a deep breath and concentrates on her
bloody hand. The blood shifts and bubbles on her skin, releasing a red vapor that drifts into the hallway. Feeling lightheaded, the half-elf sits on the ground and continues the spell. She shivers and giggles at the odd feeling of her blood turning to mist and moving throughout the temple. Her face is pale by the time she stops her spell and pulls out a strip of cloth to tie her hand. The end of her magical blood trail waves and twists in the doorway like a thin worm.

“I guess w
e wait,” Delvin whispers.

“I’m worried
about you, Luke, and Timoran,” the caster blurts out, struggling to her feet and shaking the fog from her head. “You three have taken on a lot of stress and pressure these few days. Meanwhile, I’ve spent most of my time researching the Compass Key and staying out of the action. I noticed when we were on the Matriarch that all of you are losing yourselves. It’s like you three are losing what makes you special.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Maybe it’s because I wasn’t around that much, but you seem different. Not in a good or bad way. Just different,” Nyx tries to explain. She curses under her breath and rubs at her temples as she thinks. “I guess the big thing is that all of you are taking risks. I expect that from Luke, but not you and Timoran. It worries me that you two are letting my little brother draw you into his methods. I love him, but Luke needs all of us to be smarter and more cautious than he is.”

“
He’s more cautious than you give him credit for, Nyx,” the warrior admits. A snap from the fiery portal makes him jump and pause until he is sure nothing is there. “I can’t speak for Timoran, but I will admit that I’ve let Luke influence my actions. He takes to these adventurers with such passion and energy that one feels compelled to follow his example.”

“But-”

Delvin holds up his sword to request Nyx let him finish. “All of us are brave, so it’s no wonder we follow the bravest of us. Say what you want about Luke, but he is the bravest warrior I have ever met. That’s probably where this comes from, Nyx. We’re feeding off each other and adopting the strengths. Luke’s courage, your confidence, Timoran’s wisdom, my caution, and Sari’s . . . not sure what she brings to the group. The point is that friends do become similar in some fashions.”

“I think we should be careful not to adopt each other’s flaws
.”

“If you’re that worried about it, I promise to be the
voice of reason in this group and I’ll talk to Timoran about being the wisdom,” Delvin offers with a bow to Nyx. “Are you feeling better about us now?”

Nyx
is about to smile when she senses something coming close. “They’re almost here.”

“We should fight reactively,”
the warrior whispers as he moves to stand to the side of the door. “The room is too small for major spells, so try to set them up for me to decapitate. We have to work together. Maybe we can throw a few of them into the unstable portals. I’m not sure what it would do, but I assume it would be bad.”

“Good idea,” Nyx replies while she grows long, fiery fingernails. “I can do some beheading too if need be.”

“You’re never going to let me protect you.”

“I will when I need protecting.”

A chorus of guttural laughter is heard before a fist bursts through the wall, striking Delvin’s shield and sending him flying across the room. The vampire screams as her arm turns to ice and shatters up to the shoulder. A tall vampire with blonde hair walks into the room and holds out his hand to stop the others from entering. He grins at the look of fear in Nyx’s eyes and makes a sudden movement, enjoying the sight of her jumping away. The vampire claps his hands and moves to let his friends in. The last vampire to enter the room is an elven woman, who is touching her shoulder where her arm used to be.

“What kind of idiot
s attract vampires?” the Dawn Fang’s leader says, eying Nyx and licking his lips.

“
Very dangerous people,” Delvin proudly declares.

“More like people that want to die,” the vampire snaps, flexing h
is long fingers. Horns grow out of his head and his skin turns red. “I’m tired of this place. Too many of my friends have died here.”

Nyx creates a wall of fire in front of her and prepares for an attack. “Guess Kernaghan didn’t pay you enough.”

“No idea who you’re talking about,” the vampire claims as he finishes transforming into a towering minotaur. He scratches the stone floor with his hooves in an attempt to intimidate the caster. “We were hired by a guy named Stephen. Said he knew the first Dawn Fang, which should have been a sign that he couldn’t be trusted.”

“Don’t you hate it when evil employers throw you
into the abyss?” Nyx sarcastically asks. She gestures to Delvin, but the vampires fan out around the room to surround them. “Where is Stephen anyway?”

“The bastard decided that
a drite was more important than taking over this mountain. I couldn’t believe it since he wouldn’t shut up about this place for days,” the vampire claims, his anger rising until he snorts and punches the ground. He shakes the chunks of stone off his furred hand and cracks his knuckles. “Then again, he did mention a drite when he was describing his enemies. I forgot what he said about the critter.”

“He wanted to catch
and play with it,” a scrawny calico vampire says. “Though, his version of play was torture. Wanted to shred the drite’s wings and pick its scales off one by one. Stephen is a sick creature even by our standards.”

“
As long as he pays,” the minotaur vampire says with a grin to his friend. A sudden wave of heat brings his attention back to the caster. “What the hell?”

Nyx is bathed in roiling fire, her violet eyes shining like twin stars that bore into the vampire’s soul. The wall of flame vanishes when she steps forward and reaches out to the large beast. She laughs as the
Dawn Fang snorts and bends down to gore her. She lets him get as far as lifting his foot before reaching out and snaring him with a large hand of flame. Her face is a mask of murderous rage as she pulls the screaming monster closer.

“I don’t have time for any of you,” she hisses in a voice that crackles.

With a casual flick of her hand, Nyx tosses her enemy into the unstable fire portal. He shrieks in agony as his body is consumed by the flames and the ashes are transported to another temple. She grins at the nervous vampires, who are unsure what to do in the face of a powerful, enraged caster.

“I’ll let you run if you want,” Nyx offers, smiling at the chorus of
Dawn Fangs. She stretches her arms as the eight monsters close in. “This won’t take long, Delvin. You can leave the room and wait outside.”

“I think
I’ll stay and watch,” he admits, taking a seat against the wall.

“It shouldn’t take long.”

Five of the vampires charge while the other three unleash blasts of magic, two of them ice and the third acidic energy. Nyx jumps away from the blasts and decapitates the closest vampire with a long blade of fire. She turns to knock the closest vampire into the sinkhole portal with a wind spell. Whipping her fire magic off her body, she incinerates one of the ice blasters and knocks two of the other vampires against the wall. Stomping her feet, she sends a spell through the floor to turn the wall into a tooth-filled mouth. It slams on one of the vampires while the other leaps out of reach. The remaining blasters try to hit her again, but she grabs the aura of their attacks and hurls them into the windstorm portal. They scream as they’re torn apart, their bones being spit back into the room.

“This isn’t worth the pay,” the remaining male vampire says to
his one-armed ally. She glares at him as he runs for the door. “Suit yourself. I’m telling the others to stay away from Stephen and these champions.”

“You should follow your friend,” Nyx insists.

The female vampire snarls at the caster and grows a long, curved blade of bone out of her forearm. She rushes forward and slides under the incoming wave of fire. The blade comes in low and is about to strike when Nyx’s arm is jerked toward the weapon. Her thick bracelet catches the tip of the blade, deflecting it and sending a stunning pulse through the vampire’s body. The Dawn Fang stumbles back and tries to shake her head clear while Nyx’s magic evaporates. A look of fear on the caster’s face is enough to strengthen the woman’s resolve, so she pounces at the helpless half-elf.

“Bad decision,” Delvin mutter
s as he steps in front of the vampire. She slams face first into the ice shield, which freezes her body to the point where it shatters against the ground. “It was fun to watch, but I’m always happier to be involved.”

“Thank you,” Nyx gasps, shaking her hands until they spark with magic.

“You’re welcome, milady.”

“Enough goofing off
. We have a little friend to save and a jerk that I’ve been wanting a piece of since I met him. Stephen is going to pay for everything he’s done to me and my friends.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Delvin whispers, ignoring the icy
sensation in his chest.

*****

Luke stumbles over his own feet as he comes upon the throne room, the doors torn off their hinges. He slumps against the wall, his stomach rumbling so loud that it makes Timoran cringe. Drawing his sabers, the half-elf nods to the barbarian and prepares to do what he can to stay alive in the ensuing fight. They jump into the doorway and a wave of relief washes over Luke when he sees the throne room is nearly the same as they left it. The only difference is a frozen vampire standing with his hand in the watery throne.

“It is a good thing he is there,” Timoran says as he walks
further into the room. “I would have tried to touch the Compass Key to move us to the peak. The trigger for the lift must be hidden better than we expected.”

“Do you have any food or medicine?” Luke asks, falling to the
ground. He presses his face against the icy floor, enjoying the cold. “My stomach feels like it’s trying to eat itself. On the plus side, it’s helping me ignore the feeling that my skin is raw. I hate fighting creatures that use poison or acid.”

“I am sorry, but I do not have any food,”
the barbarian answers as he kneels in front of Luke and places a hand on the weakened warrior’s head. “I will go on without you, so do not worry. After this, we will find a way to prevent this from ever happening again.”

The forest tracker growls in frustration and staggers to his feet.
“I’m not staying behind. I think I know of a way to avoid this. I’ll work to help repair Gaia. The favors and money I earn will go toward a feast item. If I can create a large meal even once a day then I won’t have to worry.”

“
Those are strange items. I would suggest finding another way, but it is your decision in the end. Personally, I find such foods too light and ephemeral for my stomach. We should stop talking about food. It does not help you at all, my friend.”

“I think the food is decent and would only use it in emergencies,”
the half-elf continues, unable to get his mind off his stomach. He wavers on his feet and grins dreamily, the tension in his muscles fading. “Steaks and potatoes with a large salad. Chicken soup or a thick boar stew. Maybe throw an assortment of pies into the mix since I pick the menu. I would put raw elk or bear on the menu for the griffin to eat in case I’m in her form when I’m hungry. I feel dizzy.”