Chapter 112: Duty

The unexpected murderous violence caught Jadis off guard and, for a heartbeat, she didn’t react. Others, however, were already moving.

Jana ripped the dagger from Douglas’ neck with a twisting motion, a fountain of blood gushing out of the gaping wound as she hurled the bloody blade at Aila’s face. Before any of Jadis’ bodies could react to the threat on her companion’s life, Aila raised her hand and a round, ghostly shield made of force magic appeared in the air before her, blocking the dagger.

Douglas, somehow not dead despite what had to be massive blood loss, shoved Jana away from himself, throwing her against the right-side wall of the alcove entrance. At the same time, Ealdread struck out with his spear, attempting to skewer Jana through the chest while Kerr tossed one of her hand axes at her from where she stood behind the front line.

Jana dodged both spear and axe, kicking off the wall as though she had no injuries at all. More daggers appeared in her hands as she began whipping them forward at anyone in range. At least one more lodged itself in Douglas’ chest as he clutched one hand around his neck wound.

Before Jana could toss another volley, Syd’s lance shot forward and pierced through the right side of her chest, going all the way through to impact the other side of the tunnel wall, pinning her there. Only, the woman didn’t seem to care that she’d been skewered like a stuck pig and threw two more daggers anyway, both aimed at Syd. One bounced off of her armor but the other dug into her upper arm.

Dys pressed forward in the tunnel, moving fast despite being forced to crouch-walk, and slammed the top of her maul into Jana’s right shoulder, hard enough to hear bone crack, then the other side as well, disabling both of the murderous mercenary’s arms.

Unable to attack with her arms broken, Jana stared with wide, unblinking eyes at Dys, her grin still far too wide.

“So glad I found you,” she repeated her earlier statement in gurgling tones. “So glad. So glad. So—”

Her words were cut off by Kerr’s other handaxe splitting her skull.

“What the fuck was that?” Jay cursed. “Seriously, what the fuck?”

“Possession,” Ealdread said shortly. “Had to be. And it had to have brought more—”

“Wait, I didn’t get a kill notification,” Kerr interrupted the elf guard.

Indeed, now that it was pointed out, Jadis hadn’t gotten one either. Putting her full attention back on the corpse of Jana still hanging limply from Syd’s lance, she spotted the problem.

The open wound on the dead mercenary’s side was crawling with dark tentacles, the wriggling mass no longer concealed by Jana’s arm. Dys moved to slam the top of her maul into the tentacles but before she could, the whole demon slipped out of Jana’s body with surprising speed. The single eye of the demon flashed emerald green in the dark before the horrid creature disappeared into the streaming water, dodging attacks from Dys, Syd, and Ealdread. In seconds the demon was gone, fled to the main cavern.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Aila wasted no time announcing. The magic shield she’d conjured, some new spell she’d gained from leveling, Jadis guessed, had already faded away. “If she followed us, others followed her.”

The redhead was right. Jadis could already hear the sounds of numerous inhuman creatures making their way up the waterway to where they were hidden. Looking at the damage done by the demon-possessed Jana, Jadis saw that Eir had already laid her healing hands upon Douglas who looked extremely pale in the green light of the cave moss, but still alive. Whatever health pool the man had, it was definitely larger than the average, maybe even a rival to her own recently boosted stat.

“Escape upstream,” Ealdread ordered, already moving into the tunnel, his shield to the fore. “I can hold them off while you check for a way out.”

“Hold on, we’re way stronger than you, let us—” Dys started, but Ealdread cut her off.

“None of you three have shields. I can see in the dark. This is why I’m here. Now go,” he commanded, his head never turning back to look at them.

Jadis wanted to argue. The whole reason she hadn’t taken Aila and leapt for the fleeing ship was because she didn’t want to leave anyone behind to die. Ealdread was strong, he’d proven that he was far more capable than she had given him credit at first, but she was still stronger. She should be blocking the oncoming enemy forces while everyone else searched for an exit. As Dys moved to push the elf out of the way, he whirled on her, his rock shield spell briefly flaring into existence as he pushed her back.

“What do you think my duty is, you giant fool? Go!”

Jadis snarled, her temper flaring, then she saw the expression on the guard captain’s face. Her anger melted away at the resolution she saw there. Ealdread had his own mission, his own duty to fulfill. He hadn’t followed after her on the Magistrate’s orders because he was acting as some kind of leash on her movements or a spy, at least not solely for those reasons. He truly believed it was his duty to die to protect her.

Jadis moved her selves away from the stalwart guard, following behind Kerr who had gathered her two hand axes and was already wading through the stream up the tunnel. Eir and Aila both helped Douglas along, the man drained but still struggling along.

“Any magic left for traps?” Jay whispered to her as she let those three pass her by.

“A little, though I used up a lot of what I’d recovered with that shield spell,” Aila replied. “I have enough for one force bolt. I think I better save it,” she advised, glancing back at Ealdread.

The two guardsmen, Garver and Falk, had joined their captain, taking up positions to either side of him so that their shields created a completed barrier across the tunnel. As Thea moved to join them, Falk looked back at her and shook his head.

“No. Take Busch and go, if you can.”

That was all the guard said, turning his back on his companion. Thea stood motionless for a moment before turning back into the alcove to retrieve the still unconscious Busch.

Jay sent Aila along up the tunnel, her throat tight. She didn’t like what was happening. Everything about it felt wrong, everything was moving too fast. But she wasn’t sure what else to do, either. The whole situation felt so far beyond her control. So, she did what little she could.

As Thea came out of the alcove, struggling to carry Busch’s dead weight, Jay took the man from her arms and sent the guard ahead of her. As they rushed after everyone else, Jay heard the sounds of combat echo behind her, the horde of demons meeting Ealdread’s shield wall.

Kerr led the group up the tunnel, rushing as fast as she could with Syd and Dys right behind her. The waters had carved a winding channel through the rock that sloped slightly upwards. The tunnel ceiling dropped so low at times that Jadis’ bodies were forced to crawl on hands and knees, the water deep enough in some pockets to reach Eir’s waist, but they kept moving. A second branch to the stream connected to theirs at one point, but the entrance was so narrow that Jadis couldn’t fit and so it was passed by.

Eventually they came to an abrupt stop, the tunnel ending in a blank stone wall.

“Shit,” Kerr spat, standing hip deep in the water. “The stream goes under.”

“What are the chances there’s a way out on the other side?” Syd asked, peering at the dark waters that were barely visible in the omni-present dim light of the cave moss. “And that we’ll be able to find it in the dark.”

“And that we can swim the distance?” Aila added.

“Not fucking good,” Kerr cursed. “Motherfucking piss buckets. This is not where I planned on dying…”

Jay looked back down the dark tunnel where they had come from. She couldn’t hear the sounds of combat anymore. They’d gone too far even for echoes. Nothing had come up behind them yet, neither friend nor foe, but that wasn’t going to last.

The simple fact was that they were cornered. Even if Jadis was far stronger than any bone thief or twisted wretch individually, the numbers were against them. She couldn’t hold out against the onslaught of demons forever.

“I will check,” Eir spoke up, her voice trembling slightly. “If there is a way out, I’ll see it.”

“What, you mean down there?” Dys pointed towards where the stream was coming from under the rock wall. “You won’t be able to see a thing under there.”

“I have the best chance of seeing any light out of any of us,” she argued, standing with her back straight. “And besides. Lyssandria will guide me. I have faith.”

The instinct to call the elf crazy was strong, but then Jadis remembered who she was and where they all were. Gods did exist. She’d met one. Maybe Lyssandria would do something to save her priestess in such dire circumstances. It was a chance, at least.

“Fine. Try it.”

Eir nodded once, then quickly stripped herself of her stained white robes and her boots, getting rid of any extra weight that would get in the way of swimming. Down to her small clothes, Eir ducked low, took a deep breath, then dove into the dark waters.

The tension was palpable as they waited to see if the elven priestess would return. So much could go wrong. With no light, she could lose her way. She could run out of breath before reaching an exit, or before she made it back to them. There could be a way out, but there could be demons waiting for them on the other side. Jadis had no doubt what would happen to Eir if she ran into any enemies while alone.

As seconds dragged on into minutes, Jadis began to despair of ever seeing the elf again. Jay’s eyes met Aila’s as she set Busch down against a wall, the three of Jadis moving to block the tunnel behind them. If it was going to be a final stand, she was going to do everything she could to take down as many demons as she possibly could.

“Sorry,” Syd whispered to Aila, putting her head close enough to the woman so that her words would be heard by her alone. “I didn’t think our adventure would be this short when I pitched you the idea.”

“I knew the risks going in,” Aila smiled at Syd, her blue eyes meeting hers unflinchingly. “I’ve known the risks of this kind of life for a long time. Don’t go killing us off yet, though. I fully expect you to do something insane and come out on top in the end. You’ve got a history to live up to.”

Syd grinned, then gave Aila a gentle kiss before replying.

“How can I argue with that logic?”

Just then, a burble of water came up from just before the rock wall, followed by Eir breaking the surface with a loud gasp.

“There’s a pocket of air, maybe a minute in,” she panted out. “Then, much further on, it opens up to another tunnel, much larger. It’s far, but it’s swimmable.”

“Fuck yeah red tits!” Kerr slapped the wet elf on the back. “Great job! Now let’s get going before we get turned into demon shit.”

“What about Busch?” Thea asked, looking at the unconscious guard. “If we have to hold our breath that long, I don’t think…” she trailed off, her voice hitching at the end.

“There’s no choice,” Jay shook her head. “If he makes it, he makes it. Otherwise we’ve done all we can.”

With no time to spare, those that needed to discarded anything that they didn’t need so they could make the swim. Jadis kept her armor on her bodies, certain that she could make it regardless of the extra weight. Aila took off some of her armor, stuffed it into her pack, then passed it to Dys to carry. Seeing what she was doing, the others also passed their packs to the three giants to let them carry the loads. Thea had only just managed to strip off her helmet and chest plate when the sounds of howling wretches came echoing from down the tunnel, signaling their imminent arrival.

“Forget it, just hold onto me,” Syd told the guard. “I’ll pull you along.”

“Follow behind me,” Eir told them all, having used the few moments to rip chunks of cave moss off the walls, making a ball of dim green light in her hand. “Breathe deep. Gods bless us, we can make it.”

With that, she dove under the water.

“Good luck,” Douglas rumbled to the room at large, then dove after her.

Kerr followed suit, then Aila. Syd went next, letting Thea grip tightly onto her belt, followed by Jay carrying Busch. Last to go, Dys took a final look back over her shoulder.

“Thank you, Ealdread,” she said softly before diving into the darkness.

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