“Hey? You still alive?”
Consciousness returned to Joanne like a mallet to the back of the head. She let out a hiss, reaching back as she lifted her head from the dirt floor. Her fingers felt an unpleasant wetness. Blood, most assuredly. Strangely enough, she didn’t feel any real wound. There was no stinging sensation that she recognized as cuts in her skin.
Or else the stinging was simply drowned out by the sheer ache that coursed through the entire rest of her body.
“You were banged up. Lucky I learned a little of that Flesh Weaving spell. Doubt I did a very good job though.”
Joanne lifted her head enough to see eight glossy black eyes staring down at her. The arachnoid. Kevin. The hard chitinous armor he naturally had looked worse for the wear. It was cracked in places. One of his many forearms was missing entirely along with the stump haphazardly sealed up. Probably with the Flesh Weaving spell.
Seeing his face brought a rush of memories back to Joanne. The sabotage mission, the explosive pots, the wind in the tunnel, and…
Joanne groaned, pressing a hand to her temple. She had a splitting headache. But she couldn’t just lie down. Planting a hand on a nearby tree, she used it to help get herself back to her feet. Her balance was unsteady and the world spun around her, but she forced through the dizzy sensation with pure willpower and…
Tree?
Joanne looked around with narrowed eyes, trying to force the world to stop spinning.
They weren’t in the tunnel anymore?
Looking back behind her, she found a long trail through a forest’s underbrush, though she couldn’t see much of it in the dark. Bits of dirt and grass clung to her mail armor, stuck in the little gaps. Kevin must have dragged her here.
“The others?” she ground out, wincing at the volume of her own voice. “Lyre, Opal, Viv?”
Kevin shook his head. “Not with us. The tunnel collapsed just ahead of where you and I dove for cover. I don’t know if they’re buried or managed to outrun the collapse.”
Joanne clenched her teeth. She had lost enough Claymores. Them too? Not if she could help it. Turning, she faced the trail her dragged body had left behind. “Situation?” she asked. It was a struggle to not rush back to dig them out with her bare hands.
Getting herself killed wouldn’t save them.
“The blast took out the roof of the tunnel over our heads, thankfully. Or we might have been buried as well.” Kevin paused, eyes flicking around the forest. Joanne had no idea how well arachnoids could see in the dark. The moon wasn’t out tonight. She could barely see his silhouette now that they were a few paces apart. “I don’t think the Eternal Empire was expecting the explosion. They seemed to be in disarray. I managed to carry you out before they could surround us.”
“How far away?”
“Not very,” Kevin said, stepping forward. He pointed one of his arms off to the side of the trail in the brush. “Those lights over there are their glowstones.”
The world was still spinning, but not as violently. Turning to look didn’t make Joanne want to throw up, at least. That was a good sign.
The mass of twinkling lights through the forest was not. They were a whole lot closer than she had expected from how casually they were speaking. Both Joanne and Kevin were whispering—her, mostly because her head was aching to the point where any louder and she might just crack—but even that suddenly felt too loud.
One thing was certain, if that was the site of the explosion, she wouldn’t be getting back to dig through the debris without alerting every guard in the area.
“So?” Kevin said. “Orders?”
Joanne crouched down, suppressing the urge to groan as she didn’t wish to make more noise than necessary anymore. “I don’t know if I should be giving orders. My head isn’t exactly on straight. We’re out in the middle of nowhere, in enemy territory, injured, with no support, and no equipment.”
“If we try to trek back to Elmshadow, we’ll likely be caught,” Kevin said. “The whole reason we were going through those tunnels was to avoid forward defenders and scouts.”
“Can we get back inside the tunnel system somehow?” There weren’t supposed to be other entrances into the system. But… “Have the other teams blown their explosives? Or were they caught as well?”
“Unknown.”
Joanne swore under her breath. She turned her head upward, trying to figure out what time it was. The explosives were supposed to have gone off all at once, or close enough to it, based on a signal given by Arkk. But with the problem with her team, would he still go through with the others? It would be just the distraction she needed to try to get back to the blast area and dig through to the tunnel. Assuming there was anything left of it.
Assuming they could dig through to the tunnel. Who knew how much dirt was in the way. Or whether they could dig without collapsing more of the tunnel.
If Lyre and the others had made it far enough and had collapsed the tunnel using the ritual marks, they might have been able to find an entrance further down the line.
Joanne was certain Arkk already knew about the situation, but delved deep into herself, found the link from the contact, and pulled on it. Nothing happened save for a faint tug back from the other side. Unfortunately, the link wasn’t exactly great for communication. He was aware. Knowing Arkk, he would try to help as best he could.
But watching those lights search around the blast area, Joanne doubted his help would come soon enough. They would have to help themselves first.
She had an injured arachnoid and herself, also injured. He had a short sword. Her sword seemed to have gone missing, either in the blast or while being dragged over, but she did have a smaller mail breaker in her boot and a small dagger sheathed at the small of her back.
Evestani or the Eternal Empire or whoever that was would find them soon enough. If not for the darkness hiding the trail where Kevin had dragged her, they probably would have found them already. There was a whole army behind them and scouts and defensive forces between them and safety. No way to easily access the tunnels.
Their situation was, in a single word, shit.
“Our first objective is getting away,” Joanne said. “Without getting caught and without running into any scouts. Once we have some space around us, we can figure out a plan forward from there. Sound good?”
“Lead the way. I’ll watch our backs.”
Joanne nodded her head. Taking one breath and focusing, she forced away the last of the dizziness.
Arkk had better figure out something soon. A dragonoid sounded good right about now.
“Priscilla! Kia! Claire! Emergency situation. I need you three ready to move now.”
All three stood bleary-eyed with that disoriented look people got when unexpectedly teleported. Unfortunately, Arkk didn’t have time to let them acclimatize. He was mentally teleporting others around, moving key personnel into their stations, and readying everyone for immediate combat. The scrying team was on full alert, soldiers were teleported to the armory, and Elmshadow’s defensive rituals were staffed by Lelith and her team—more of a precaution given the incident had occurred close to Woodly Rhyme, but it was good training if nothing else.
If something did happen closer to home, better to be prepared than caught out.
“Olatt’an will go over the details,” Arkk continued, then frowned as he looked at Leda. The small fairy hovered near Priscilla, looking as uncertain as ever. “I’m sorry, but I’ll need you to guide Priscilla again.”
Priscilla stepped in front of Leda, disorientation gone as she raised an anger-filled fist. “You want me to carry around dead weight while I’m trying to fight an avatar?”
“The avatar is confirmed to be in Woodly Rhymes Burg, protecting the majority of his army with that golden magic. You won’t be fighting him. You’ll be on search and rescue outside the burg—for which you’ll need a guide. As I said, Olatt’an will brief you. Now get to it!” Arkk snapped, teleporting all four of them a few paces away to where Olatt’an stood at the table.
Just to be sure that they—Priscilla mostly—wouldn’t turn around and argue with him, Arkk teleported himself down a floor before bringing the next group to him.
While Priscilla, Kia, and Claire were currently his heaviest hitters, there were a few other specialists in his employ that he would welcome contributions from toward the current emergency.
Lyssa, the full werecat, still had a manacle on one of her wrists. But the weaponized chain attached to it wasn’t just a bladed chain anymore. Zullie had worked her magic, turning it into something that could shatter anything Lyssa saw as a barrier. That included magical shields as well as walls, armor, and mundane, metal shields.
It was almost as effective as the shadowy scythes and yet could be made into any shape. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work as armor, so they had regular gear instead of the nigh-indestructible shadow armor, and it took a great deal of effort to produce while requiring a specific mentality to shatter shields. Only Lyssa and a small squad who had started calling themselves the Shieldbreakers possessed weapons with the barrier-rending enchantment. Expanding the squad was a task in progress, but it required specialized mental training because the enchantment worked off the user’s perception.
Zharja, Kahn, and Jann slithered up alongside Lyssa and her Shieldbreakers. They were mostly unaugmented, save for the mechanical end to Zharja’s tail that Agnete had constructed. It had a large stinger on the end and internal cavities to hold the caustic venom that gorgon naturally produced. Besides that, all three had glowstones embedded into the chest of their many-segmented armor. The glowstones weren’t high enough quality for use in rituals but could hold enough magic to let them use their petrifying gaze far more rapidly, though they wouldn’t last forever.
Richter Porter, Abbess Hannah, a Protector who had taken a liking to the abbess—much to her chagrin—and the battlecaster Vector represented the majority of the men who had deserted the Duke’s Grand Guard. The entire force wouldn’t fit into the small room, so these three would carry orders back to their men.
There were others present. Two freshly hired twin dryads, both with reddish blonde hair and bark-like skin, a quartet of elves plus one dark elf, a slime monster that Arkk still wasn’t quite sure how it got hired, and a recent hire. A syren. A beastman similar to a harpy with scales instead of feathers. They could cruise through water as easily as the skies and could sing songs that would hypnotize anyone who heard them. They tended to sink ships at sea and then plunder whatever loot they could carry away from the wreck. Most demihumans and even other beastmen treated them with suspicion and wariness, somewhat akin to gorgon…
And yet Arkk now had two working for him. Igvile and Primvila heard rumors that he had gorgon and dragonoids and other monsters and wanted to see for themselves what all the fuss was about.
“I apologize for the sudden meeting,” Arkk said as Alma stepped up alongside him.
The half-werecat had a calm face but reached up to adjust her beret in a way that Arkk recognized as a nervous tick she often had. Luthor, the chameleon of the scrying team, stepped up alongside her, looking far more nervous. Once again, he wasn’t going to be doing the briefing himself.
“An emergency situation has arisen that requires an immediate response. Alma will be providing details while Luthor can answer any questions about current battlefield conditions.”
One of the Shieldbreaker beastmen called out, “Atta boy, Luthor!” leading the already nervous chameleon to shuffle and wave an arm.
“Silence,” Alma snapped out, stepping forward with her eyes narrowed. She flicked her gaze to Arkk, to which he nodded his head, before drawing in a breath. “The situation is as follows…”
Arkk didn’t stick around to hear the rest of it. If there were any problems, a tug over the link would have him back in an instant. He had his own task to see to.
A freshly risen horde of undead goblins stood ready to receive his command. They were a bit more animated than the undead army he had previously used against Evestani. The goblins bounced around, hardly able to sit still, and even nipped and bit at their neighbors. They weren’t alive in the same sense that the denizens of the Necropolis were alive, but they were certainly more independent. A result of some of the books Yoho had provided in their dealings.
Arkk hadn’t wanted to use them here and now. They were going to be a secret weapon, burrowing out of the ground directly underneath the Evestani army when they finally assaulted Elmshadow again. But they were undead he had created specifically to protect those still living.
They needed direction. More precise control than the previous army, which had just been told to attack everything they saw.
They had a brief march ahead of them. Sending three hundred goblins through a teleportation ritual was a good way to drain him right when he needed his magic the most.
With a force of magic, a visualization of their destination and how to get there, and one word, “Go,” they were off. They scampered, hopped, and climbed over one another as they rushed through the tunnels beneath Elmshadow. Arkk would catch up later via teleportation ritual. Until then…
“Using them already? I thought they were to remain secret.”
Arkk jolted, turning to find Ilya sauntering toward him. Her silver hair flowed in a way that implied wind but, down in the tunnel, there was nothing that strong.
“What are you doing down…” Arkk trailed off, confused for a moment before he realized. “You aren’t Ilya.”
There was no link between him and the person in front of him. The real Ilya was up in Elmshadow’s tower, readying the defense just in case Evestani chose now to attack.
An annoyed click of her tongue came from the false Ilya as she planted her hands on her hips. Now that he was watching her move more, Arkk noticed more and more wrong. The way she put her weight on her left hip, the back of her hand against her waist instead of the palm of her hand, even the posture wasn’t right. Not since her injury at the Duke’s party.
And her fingernails were black for some odd reason.
“Found out that quick?” she said, mouth in a tight frown. “Even the boy prince takes a minute and he knows about me.”
Mentioning the Prince set off the tolling of the alarm in the back of Arkk’s mind. In the blink of an eye, he teleported Kia and Claire on either side of the fake Ilya.
Except, she wasn’t Ilya anymore. Arkk found himself staring into his own glowing red eyes.
The shock cost him.
The fake version of himself raised an arm and shouted, “Seize the impostor!”
That momentary disorientation from teleporting was likely the only thing that saved Arkk. The afterimages of the dark elves turned away from the Arkk they had appeared next to and to him. He felt the rising tension of the link about to snap. Arkk teleported them back, straight to the top of the tower.
The link shattered just as they reappeared. He couldn’t see them anymore directly, not with the link gone, but he could see everything in his territory. Both Kia and Claire collapsed right in the middle of the command room. Why had they collapsed? He had seen the link break before and it hadn’t done that. Was it because of Project Liminal? Their bodies could require more magic than they could produce on their own. Without the link, they…
Were they alive? Arkk couldn’t tell anymore. Olatt’an and Leda rushed over to see if they could help, but…
“Annoying abilities you have.”
But he couldn’t concentrate on that now.
Arkk narrowed his eyes at the… demon? Was that what he was looking at?
He needed to escape and—
The moment the thought of escape crossed his mind, the demon was upon him, tackling him to the ground. Arkk tried to teleport, but the false Arkk clamped his hands around Arkk’s wrists. The teleport failed with a shudder. It was blocked. The same thing happened when fighting Vrox and the ice marble fell to the ground, trapping everyone in a sheet of ice.
The grip was too strong. Arkk didn’t think he weighed that much or was that strong, but the false version of himself pinned him to the floor with ease.
“Leaving so soon?” the false Arkk asked with a cruel smile. “I don’t think so. I’ve been watching, waiting for a good opportunity… Looks like this is it!”
Arkk clenched his teeth together, running over his options. He had magic. He could still teleport other things. He could bring someone else down here, but that might lead to their link breaking as well.
But he would probably only get one chance.