Taking a step forward, I placed myself between D'arce and Rag; I opened both arms, keeping them both apart. Therefore, without much choice, I said nonsense after nonsense, trying to convince everyone here not to kill each other in vain.
"Seriously?!? Are you really going to fight at a time like this?!? After all the trouble we had to get here, you will turn on each other because of one person?!?" I exclaimed to everyone.
"Listen, I don't know if you noticed, but that mountain of muscle over there is killing my gold mine!" Cahara replied, pointing his scimitar at Rag.
"And he will kill you too, if you don't put down that sword!" I spoke back.
"Please get out of the way, I don't want to hurt you, but I can't allow Le'garde to be killed!" D'arce shouted, pointing her trembling sword towards me.
"D'arce, do you have the slightest idea what Le'garde did to end up here?!?"
"If you're talking about the failed revolt…"
"Before that!" I shouted, interrupting D'arce.
"N-no, what are you talking about?" D'arce said nervously, looking away.
"Don't act like a fool; you know what I'm talking about. Before the failed revolt, Le'garde led an attack on the Kingdom of Oldegard, massacring everyone in sight, this aggressive act generated distrust in the Kingdom of Rondor towards Le'garde, which was one of the reasons that made it easier for him be locked up here."
"That… That's not…" D'arce muttered.
"If you know what this man did, why are you trying to stop me?" Rag spoke, still squeezing Le'garde's neck, but not enough to kill him.
I saw Le'garde staring at me; the mercenary's face was turning from red to blue, with tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. I looked away with an irritated growl; I'm not doing this for you.
"Honestly, I don't care if you kill Le'garde, I have no relationship with this man, and he is a total stranger to me…"
I realized that D'arce and Cahara were about to protest, but I continued with my argument.
"...But I don't know if you noticed, but we are in the depths of a dungeon full of monsters never seen before! Each of us ended up here by traversing the floors in some way, which means there are hordes of monsters above, below, and all around us! So I have a question for all of you, after you kill each other, break your bones and dismember yourselves, how do you plan to get back to the surface?!? Do you really want to be stuck here until you die or become some monster's toy?!?"
"T-toy?!?" D'arce asked as Cahara swallowed and looked away.
"Oh! Believe me, death will be a mercy compared to what the monsters will do to you if they catch you! Do you want me to go into detail?!?"
"If you're so uncomfortable with us fighting here and now, what do you suggest we do? You want me to let this bastard go after everything he's done!" Rag exclaimed through gritted teeth, his scream echoing through the cell as he gave Le'garde's neck a tight grip, making the knight choke.
"No, as I said before, I don't care about Le'garde, I'm no judge, jury and executioner, and I can't decide his fate! What I'm suggesting is that you stop your disagreements until you leave the dungeon! What about this? We tie up Le'garde, take him out of the dungeon and you decide what to do next, because I don't care, I just want to get out of here, and I don't know if you noticed, but I have a child with me! Do you really want to leave a child in a place like this?!? A little help getting her out of here would be appreciated! Five minutes ago I was almost going crazy, but it seems that in the end, I'm the only sane here!"
After I finished my little speech, a tense silence took over the room. Everyone looked at each other with suspicious looks, weapons in hand; ready to spill blood, meanwhile, Rag's hands were less than one movement away from breaking Le'garde's neck.
The mercenary in question appeared to be on the verge of death, his face covered in sweat and hands struggling weakly to escape Rag's grip.
The first to break the silence was Rag.
"I hear that you knights of Rondor value your honor above all else. Then swear on your honor that you will not turn against me until we leave this cursed place." Rag spoke seriously, looking at D'arce.
"So that means..."
"Don't get it wrong, I will kill this man, but the boy is right about one thing. This is not the place to decide the fate of the man we came to seek, if I'm to die, I want it to have been trying to complete my objective, this way I will maintain my honor and the gods will decide my fate in the afterlife. And you? Do you also have this honor? If so, swear that you will not turn against me until we escape from here." Rag said to D'arce.
"Hey! I didn't agree with that!" Cahara shouted.
"SSSHHH!" I placed my index finger in front of my lips, silencing the mercenary.
The tense silence returned, D'arce and Rag looked at each other seriously, it was like a scene from a movie, and the two exchanged murderous looks. At any moment this could break out into a fight to the death, if that happens I'll grab the girl and run out of here.
Slowly, D'arce lowered her sword, and with one hand on her heart, she spoke.
"I swear on my honor, I swear on Alll-mer and I hope you do the same."
"Your gods mean nothing to me, but I swear it too. May the gods decide which of us will emerge victorious." Rag replied.
Slowly, Rag removed his hands from Le'garde's neck, making the nearly dead man sigh in relief as he coughed for air. After a few minutes of trying to recover, Le'garde got up, only to be knocked to the ground by a punch from Rag.
"But that doesn't mean I will treat you like a human, you don't deserve such courtesy, but I will offer you the mercy that has been denied to my people, for now." Rag spoke, taking a rope from his bag and tying Le'garde's wrists, with a pull; he forced the mercenary to his feet.
"Le'garde!" D'arce shouted, running towards his former leader.
"Holy crap! Calm down! I won't get my reward if his face is swollen beyond recognition!" Cahara shouted, also running towards Le'garde, more concerned about his money than the Mercenary Leader himself.
Rag stepped aside, allowing the two to talk, but he kept the end of the rope in his hands, not allowing Le'garde to escape.
Well, that's the best I can do; Rag will still try to kill Le'garde, at least I managed to convince him to do that when we leave. With that matter over, I went towards the Girl who was watching this entire scene near the cell entrance.
I got down on one knee and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, slowly the girl raised her head, looking at me with a sad look.
"Girl listen. I did my best, unfortunately I'm not a good negotiator, and everyone here is determined to kill or save your father, honestly we have no chance of defeating any of these people in a direct fight, I can only say that we will have help to get out of this dungeon, but I can't promise anything about what will happen to your father, whether he lives or dies will depend on who wins the duel after we escape."
The girl looked away, staring at the floor as she rubbed her hands together nervously.
"As much as a child shouldn't hear this, your father did some very bad things, and now he's suffering the consequences, but at least now you'll see the outside, we can explore the world, or if you prefer, find a peaceful place for us to live." I said gently, trying to comfort the girl.
The girl looked at me again, with a hopeful look, she held the hand I placed on her shoulder and gave me a small smile.
"I ask that you have a little bit of patience and we will get out of here soon, okay?"
The girl nodded quickly.
"Excellent! Let's pack our things and get out of here!" I said with a smile.
"Nice speech, I must admit. Have you ever thought about becoming a minstrel?"
However, that smile disappeared as soon as someone's voice approached the cell, along with the sound of clapping.
CLAP!
CLAP!
CLAP!
Taking the girl in my arms and moving away from the door, I pointed the rapier towards the cell entrance, I noticed that everyone else present had also prepared themselves. Le'garde tried to act as well, but was stopped by a pull from Rag.
Coming from the darkness and with a fluid movement, a person entered the cell, looking like a living shadow, a thin, tall and pale man, with long white hair on his head, an impassive face and wearing black robes.
Enki, the Dark Priest.
"Forgive me for my rudeness, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about leaving here with our dear prisoner, unfortunately I can't allow that." Enki spoke, and with a snap of his fingers, four skeletons entered the cell and I saw more outside.
"Do you also want this bastard to live?!?" Rag demanded, pulling on the rope and causing Le'garde to stumble, much to the concern of D'arce and Cahara.
"No, no, don't get me wrong. I share the young sorcerer's opinion here. I don't care what you do with the famous Mercenary Captain, but before coming here, I heard news that Le'garde acquired a certain artifact…" Enki spoke; approaching Le'garde as he placed a hand inside his robes.
I don't know what went through my mind, but due to the tension of the situation, I pointed the rapier towards Enki's face the moment I saw his hand moving to grab something.
Enki gave me a bored look, but taking a step back, he slowly took out an object from his robes, a book, leafing through the book; he stopped on a page and showed us a picture, a picture of a cube.
"I heard that Le'garde looted this artifact from a neighboring kingdom, and this artifact was brought here. I want the famous mercenary to take me to it, so you will have to postpone his execution." Enki said to everyone, his eyes looking at each one present.
"Well, that's fine with me! I know when I encounter a fight I can't win! As long as you don't kill the bastard, I'll help you find that cube!" Cahara screamed, throwing his hands up and rubbing his head nervously.
"Don't worry, he will be all yours after we find the cube, after that, I intend to leave you alone and go on my way." Enki spoke in a slightly irritated voice.
"I didn't expect to find a Dark Priest here, I honestly don't feel comfortable around one, but we're compatriots, so I hope we can work together despite all the pagan gods your kind worships." D'arce spoke suspiciously, as she stared at Enki, the sting being obvious.
"I'd rather not waste my time with ignorant-minded pathetic people like you, but since you value the Mercenary Leader's survival, I'll tolerate your insults for now." Enki retorted, with his less discreet insults.
Enki and D'arce faced each other, exchanging threatening looks.
"Please don't tell me you'll fight too!" I shouted at both of them.
"I don't mean to start a conflict, but I can't say the same about your red-haired friend." Enki said, pointing at Rag.
With those words said, we all turned towards Rag, waiting for his response. The outsider looked around, probably analyzing his chances of winning a fight against us, and then he turned his gaze to Le'garde who was still on the ground.
"Me and my companions crossed the ocean, we suffered hunger and thirst during those terrible days, surrounded by the cruel blue, I did things I'm not proud of to survive, only to arrive on a dark and cursed continent, we suffered to bring that artifact to our homeland, only to have it taken from us, and now I intend to get it back. In addition, you will lead us to it! You've gained some time in your life, enjoy it while you can!" Rag exclaimed to Le'garde.
"Well, since we are all in agreement, I made a room nearby as a temporary study environment. We can rest there before we go in search of the cube." Enki said monotonously.
"Hang on! Does that mean you'll stay be here?!? What about the girl?!? Didn't you guys agreed to help us get out of the dungeon?!?" I screamed.
Cahara and D'arce looked away, embarrassed, Rag gave me a soft look, Enki, on the other hand, didn't seem to care too much, he just let out an irritated grumble.
"Man; it seems like we all came here looking for Prince Charming here, except for you, it seems like we've come to an agreement for now. I intend to take advantage of this opportunity while I can." Cahara spoke.
"I thank you for guiding me here, you kept the promise you made, but I can't go back now, I feel ashamed for not helping you and this is a stain on my honor. However, you could come with us! Now that we have greater numbers, I'm sure we can handle whatever comes in our way!" D'arce said with a nervous smile, unable to look me in the eye.
"I will go after the artifact, if you haven't died by then, I will help you get out of here." Rag replied, crossing his arms.
"Well, you've heard everyone's thoughts on the matter, you and the brat can leave now. Nevertheless, I admit I'm disappointed, as a magic user, I expected you to stay here to gain knowledge, but it seems I was mistaken. If you can make it to the capital, perhaps you can become a Dark Priest, just tell them that Enki sent you and they will probably get something for you." Enki spoke, sending me away as if I were an inconvenience.
"Well, it looks like we're alone in this." I said to the girl, while letting out a long sigh.
The girl nodded, understanding the situation.
"Listen, apparently you know how to use necromancy, so could you teach me?" I asked Enki.
"And why should I?" The Dark Priest asked back.
"Because I'm alone and with a child, creating some undead to help me would make it easier for us to get out of here."
"And again I ask you, why should I?"
"How about I pay you to teach me?"
"Hm... And what do you have of value?"
"How about I give you this rapier?" I said as I offered the weapon in question.
"And why should I accept it? I have my ways of dealing with future dangers." Enki said, waving his hand and pointing at the reanimated skeletons.
"You never know when something unforeseen could happen. The skeletons are numerous but fragile. What if something gets too close and you can't cast a spell? The rapier is brand new, it is a light weapon, which is perfect for someone like you, not to mention of course, that the weapon is enchanted, and it can poison those who get in your way."
"Hm... Acceptable, you captured my attention with the enchantment part. Let us begin your lessons immediately, as I do not wish to waste time." Enki spoke, accepting the rapier and giving a few quick and precise blows in the air, I felt humiliated by this demonstration.
Lessons? I don't have time for that! However, before I could continue that line of thought, I felt Kitab shaking in my hand, opening the book; I read what was written on the pages.
"PPSSHH! Hey! Tell him to touch me!"
"Instead of wasting time with lessons, I have a better alternative, how about you touch my magic book?" I spoke, showing Kitab to Enki.
Enki raised an eyebrow, curious about the situation, but slowly, he touched Kitab with the tip of his finger, and then words appeared on the pages of the book, showing a new spell.
"Necromancy: Bring life back to where it once lingered..."
"Curious, but ultimately irrelevant. You have what you wanted, now go." Enki said, pointing to the door.
Taking one last look at everyone present, I said goodbye.
"I'm honestly glad I met you all, I hope we can all meet outside."
In addition, with my goodbye said, I left the cell, leaving everyone to solve their own problems. However, I stopped as soon as a question formed in my mind.
"I know this may sound strange, but how did you get here so quickly? We all had to fight and take shortcuts to get here." I asked Enki.
"Oh! That! I just followed the rats." Enki replied before turning to talk with the others present in the cell.
Hm... It seems that one way or another, I ended up helping. Therefore, with no other option, I walked away from the cell, walking towards the stairs that led to the prison, but stopped as soon as I reached the Iron Shakespeare's corpse.
I have an idea; I put the girl down and opened Kitab.
"Oh! I already know what you intend to do! And I'm impressed by it!"
Giving a small smile, I used Necromancy, for a moment, the corridor turned into flesh and the pillars into bones, the shadowy figures stretched out their hands towards me, but soon it disappeared, and in front of me, stood the Iron Shakespeare, standing, and waiting for my orders.
The girl backed away scared, but stopped as soon as she saw that Iron Shakespeare wasn't moving, so she surrounded the knight, watching him curiously, then the girl stopped next to me and held my free hand.
"Say hello to our new friend!" I said to the girl while pointing at the big knight.
The girl waved at Iron Shakespeare, but the knight didn't react.
"Come!" With an order, my new Undead accompanied us on our way out of here; we reached the end of the hallway and headed up the spiral stairs.
"Well, looks like it's over." Kitab spoke.
With a mighty blow, Iron Shakespeare destroyed the gate in front of us.
"Yes, and it was faster than I expected."
The guard with the ballista tried to shoot us, but with one quick swing, the Iron Shakespeare hit him in the chest, sending him into the abyss below.
"I expected more."
We went up the stairs that led to the basement.
"Then you will be disappointed, for I intend to leave now."
Iron Shakespeare easily crushed the Manebas on the way.
"No, I can't judge. You are choosing the smart route, continuing down the dungeon would be stupid."
We reached the stairs leading outside and there I could see sunlight coming through the stone passage.
"Ready to get out of here, girl?" I asked with a smile.
The girl nodded, smiling back. Therefore, hand in hand, we walked up the stairs out of here.
Only to despair when a wall started to rise, blocking the passage, I quickly put the girl in my arms and ran towards the exit, but it was too late, the last thing I saw were the metal gates of the dungeon's main entrance closing, then the wall closed our exit and everything went dark.
XXXXXX
I entered the room with the armchair that was on the stairs leading down to the dungeon, I left Iron Shakespeare standing guard at the door and sat down, letting out a tired sigh, I reclined in the armchair while looking up, I removed my cloth hood and iron mask, covered my face with one hand and...
"AAAHHH!"
...And I screamed with all my strength, while hitting the arm of the chair with my other hand.
Amid my screams, I felt Kitab moving in my hand, stopping my tantrum; I took a deep breath trying to calm down, and opened the book, reading its contents.
"I didn't expect that one."
"Hump! You're not the only one!" I exclaimed as I tapped my fingers repeatedly on the arm of the chair, still stressed about the situation.
"You better calm down, you're scaring the girl."
Realizing what Kitab said, I scanned the room for the girl, I found her near the opposite wall, sitting on the floor near some boxes and barrels, as soon as our eyes met, and the girl looked the other way.
Damn it! I mentally screamed as I tried to calm down. How do I solve this? I know!
Opening my backpack, I took out a notebook and my pencil case, opening the notebook to a blank page, I called the girl.
"Hey, I'm sorry for scaring you, but I'm just tired and irritated from everything that happened. It has been a while since we really rested, hasn't it? So how about we stay here for a while? You can draw a little if you want." I said as I showed the notebook.
This caught her attention, as the girl came running to my side and hopped in one foot to the other anxiously. Giving a small laugh, I handed the objects in question to the Girl.
She looked at the case and notebook curiously, playing with the case's zipper and notebook rings, she played with the eraser, sharpener, pens, but stopped when she saw a familiar object, a pencil.
The Girl placed the notebook on the floor, removed the doll from inside her dress and sat it down next to the notebook, and then the Girl lay down on her stomach and began to draw while dangling her legs in the air with a small smile on her face.
I think it's a good time to rest my mind, taking the phone out of my pocket, I opened the music app, went into my playlist and put it on shuffle, and anything will do now.
"Empty spaces"
"What are we living for?"
"Abandoned places"
"I guess we know the score"
Opening my backpack, I took inventory of what I had at the moment, a blue vial, a white vial, a worm juice, three blue herbs, two red herbs, a green herb, four pieces of cloth and four sticks, five tinderboxes from the room where I found the Girl, the skinning knife, the bone saw, the book of fears, a pipe with some tobacco and opium, and a great variety of food.
"On and on"
"Does anyone know what we are looking for?"
Not bad, I think we just need better equipment now, for the girl and me. Wasting no time, I ordered the rats to find better equipment, but only light things that the girl and I could use.
"Returning to the previous topic. What are we going to do now?" Kitab asked.
"I don't know, we're stuck here. The dungeon won't let us out."
"And you'll just give up?"
"No! But I don't know what to do, I need time to think!"
"We don't have many options, you can try to catch up with the others and go after the cube, try to kill the god of the depts., or take the cube yourself and go to Ma'habre."
I stopped for a second to think about the options.
"Another hero"
"Another mindless crime"
"Behind the curtain"
"In the pantomime"
"Are you suggesting that I become a New God?"
"I don't know, it's your choice. Or you can try to turn the girl into a Goddess, or fight Gro-Goroth's traces."
"Neither option suits me."
Hearing a series of squeaks, a group of rats carrying equipment entered the room. They brought a Hard Leather Armor, a better version of the leather robe I wore, and they brought a trench coat.
Giving a small smile, I removed my current equipment and put on the leather armor, which was extremely light, and put on the trench coat right after, a long black leather coat that reached my shins, with long sleeves and full of pockets. .
"Hey Girl! How I am?" I asked while striking a pose.
The girl stopped drawing, looked at me and gave a positive wave.
Giving a small laugh, I returned to my seat.
"Hold the line"
"Does anyone want to take it anymore?"
The rats retreated in search of more equipment, in my mind, I saw them running through the dungeon but I ordered them not to go into the mines or caves, I don't want to take the items from D'arce, Cahara and the others except for Le 'garde, fuck that guy.
"Hm... Maybe I should focus on acquiring books and scrolls, increasing my magic skills would be great."
"You have coins to spend. But we still need to decide where we will go."
"I only see one way, the caves, and then the mines. Considering we know how the dungeon works, unlike the others, we can assume that they went to the mines through the catacombs, which will lead them to a dead end since they don't have the rope."
"As for us, we will take the smart route. Using the elevator and getting to the cave dweller village."
"Exactly."
"Then it's decided! To the caves!"
"To the caves." I said in a less excited tone.
"The show must go on"
"The show must go on, yeah"
"Inside my heart is breaking"
"My makeup may be flaking"
"But my smile, still, stays on"
The rats returned, this time bringing a light brown leather helmet and a red leather robe, perfect for the girl. When we leave, I will give her this equipment, if I remember correctly, the girl can wear a chain mail helmet and a trench coat, the problem would be finding both.
"I think I should order the rats to bring rotten meat."
"And why is that?"
"Who lives in the caves and likes rotten meat?"
"Oh! We are getting a new team member!"
"Definitely! The best girl!"
"Whatever happens"
"I'll leave it all to chance"
"Another heartache"
"Another failed romance"
Changing my mind, I asked the rats to bring me something and look for a certain object. A few minutes later, they returned with a weapon and a shiny stone.
The Shark's Teeth, a crude improvised blade, capable of easily ripping soft flesh. Moreover, the other item was a soul stone; the rats found it near the priests.
Extending the stone towards Iron Shakespeare, a light came out of the undead knight and disappeared into the stone, and then the stone's brightness increased.
I held the soul stone in front of my face, studying its glow, and then shrugging, I put it in a pocket inside my trench coat. I felt a tingling throughout my body, probably the soul in the stone taking effect.
"On and on"
"Does anyone know what we are living for?"
"Don't you think you're going too fast, getting equipment and everything?"
"Are you really asking that in a place like this?" I asked while lifting Shark Teeth, it was a little heavy, not impossible to lift, but it could be easier.
I picked up a five-cent coin, cast The Color from Outer Space, and tossed the coin into the air.
"Heads!"
The coin fell and the result was tails.
"Fail, mutation acquired." Kitab spoke.
The only thing I felt different was that I was stronger, Shark Teeth felt lighter in my hands.
"Ssstrange, I don't feeel anyyything out of the orrrdinaryyy."
"I guess I'm learning"
"I must be warmer now"
"I'll soon be turning"
"'Round the corner now"
"Outside the dawn is breaking"
"But inside in the dark I'm thinking to be free"
"Something changed, but it was a small mutation, nothing that will help or hinder you, don't worry about it."
"Iiifff yyyou sayyy." I said while shrugging it off.
"So, ready to go?"
"Not yyyet, I want to ssstay here ffforrr a wwwhillle lllongerrr. And let the gggirrrl enjoyyy it forrr a while, childrrren ssshould have fun, not worrry about dyyying because of a monssster."
"Of course. That's fine with me. Do you mind if we talk some more?"
"No, jussst give me a minute."
I ordered a rat to get something for me, soon the mouse arrived with a bottle of booze, I took the bottle and sent the rat away, removing the cork, I took a sip.
I immediately choked on the burning in my throat due to how strong the drink was. I've drunk with my friends before, but never anything this strong, it just didn't take long for me to get used to it.
Therefore, having a small moment of peace, Kitab and I talked, while the girl drew. Just another normal day in the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger.
"The show must go on"
"The show must go on, yeah, yeah"
"Ooh, inside my heart is breaking"
"My makeup may be flaking"
"But my smile, still, stays on"
"My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies"
"Fairy tales of yesterday will grow but never die"
"I can fly, my friends"
"The show must go on, yeah"
"The show must go on"
"I'll face it with a grin"
"I'm never giving in"
"On with the show"
"I'll top the bill"
"I'll overkill"
"I have to find the will to carry on"
"On with the show"
"On with the show"
"The show must go on"
END OF CHAPTER