Chapter Thirty-Six: The Cursed Blade

The battlefield fell away, and then I was falling. Falling for what felt like an eternity and only a few seconds all at once. Then I wasn’t falling anymore. The pain was gone, along with any weight. I was floating. Peaceful.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was how different things looked from the last time I’d been here. I knew that the space around me wasn’t real, but rather a manifestation of my mind to try and make sense of the magics affecting me. Whatever semblance of a realm existed in the sword.

When I’d been here before—under the influence of [Cursed Existence]—the little pocket realm had seemed to be out of focus. Like I was viewing everything through a distorted window. A sea of darkness with a pool of raw power in the center that I’d dipped my hands into. It had filled me with enough power to kill Valethar Karn, even if it had taken me months to fully recover.

But things were different this time. The darkness was there, but it was sharper. An inky void that stretched on further than the eye could see, yet pressed in on me and made me feel like I was about to be crushed by its magnitude. Though my eyes could make nothing out, I felt like there was something lurking there, waiting to strike. And in the center was a sphere. It was a deep, glowing green that slowly spun. Something tethered me to it. A line that went from the sphere to a spot at my side. The connection between me and the blade.

When I approached the sphere it wasn’t solid at all. It was made up of hundreds of green ribbons of varying lengths and shades, each of them torn and frayed at the ends. When I reached out towards it, I realized my body was gone. Replaced by an outline made from the very same material as the sphere.

“Not energy or magic,” I mused, my voice devoured by infinity, “but souls.” Pieces of them. Scraps that had been torn away every time someone had used it. Some were larger than others by a significant margin. Big enough that I instinctively knew their owners hadn’t survived. Others were smaller, and from the pull I felt from the majority of them I knew a number of the strips were pieces of my soul. Shards ripped away and sucked into the blade.

I brushed my hand through the mass of ribbons and felt flashes of every soul I touched. The soul was a fluid thing, ever changing and in constant flux. A representation of its owner. These scraps were forever locked into the state when they’d been ripped away from the whole. Mine were drawn to me, but when I touched them they recoiled. I was familiar to them, but I wasn’t the same person as when they’d been taken from me.

I also knew that the fragment that had saved me from the spiders when I was hallucinating had been one of those very ribbons. A shred of me that was similar enough to the Zaren I’d been during the time I was in those catacombs that—thanks to the hallucinations—I’d been similar enough for the soul to mesh for me, even for a while.

I looked down at my body and started to understand. Tears and cuts and rips covered me in head to toe. My body carried the scars I could bare, but my soul was covered in the ones I couldn’t. I could see the places where it had been severed and healed back over and over, every time I’d lost someone I’d loved. Just looking at them my brain filled in the gaps. Hannah. Ina. Eliya. The ones I might have loved given the chance, but were taken from me too soon. The sisters Siri and Sora. Eve and Maris. Louis and Jon. A soldier teaching me to fight because she couldn’t bear the thought of me going to war with so little training. An artificer willing to give me somewhere I felt safe, even if only for a short time.

As long as the will to live remained, a soul could heal. Mine healed faster than others. I’d been told that once, but I hadn’t really understood until I was looking at my own. I lifted the tether that connected me to the sphere. It was linked to a patch that I knew would rip away the moment I tried to pull out of the sword. It would hurt, and it would take time to recover, but I’d survive. It wasn’t just my class that made it possible for me to wield the sword, it was my tattered soul that was so used to being abused and recovering from the damage that getting ripped apart by some ancient sword was just another day.

But my soul was dull. Dim. The tether had sucked out too much of the energy in me. I was out of mana and out of time. There were strips in the sphere that still burned bright, though. That was where the power had come from last time, when I’d given myself to the blade before. I hadn’t understood it then because my skill had protected me, but there was no buffer now. No veil to hide behind. Nothing to obscure my understanding.

I reached towards one of the brightest strips. One that called to me. It would never slot back into the soul I now carried, but it could be converted into raw power. I hoped it could, at least. My fingers closed around it and fire raced through my veins, but when I tried to pull it away something shot out of the sphere and grabbed my wrist.

If I’d had lungs, I’d have screamed. My brain told me a hand was grabbing my wrist, trying to pull me into the sphere, but whatever imitation of eyes I had struggled to make sense of it. I tried to break the grip at first, but then I paused. Intent was everything here, and I could feel the presence of whatever had grabbed me like its mind was pressing against my own.

It wasn’t malicious. It wasn’t trying to draw me in to kill me. From where me and the entity touched, I felt…fear. Sadness. A crippling loneliness that was deeper than I could ever fathom. And beneath all of that, the faintest spark of hope. A begrudging hope that refused to be stamped out. The grip was weak, and I knew I could break it if I wanted to, but did I want to?

“It’s you.” My voice was swallowed by the black again, but the entity shifted. A response that was more like a sensation than anything resembling words. “You’re the source of these emotions I’ve been feeling. The skills. The evolutions. You’re the sword.”

A pulse of emotion. Anger. Frustration. Indignation. I flinched, but I didn’t break the contact. “No, not the sword then. But you’re inside of it.”

It calmed. Confusion, but mixed with agreement. Relief. And fear, but fear directed towards the scrap of soul in my hand. “You’re lonely. Surrounding yourself with the scraps of the ones who wield you. Or, the sword you’re in, at least. The closest thing you’ve had to companionship for however long you’ve been trapped here.”

Sadness. Deep, unending despair that told me that I was right. It was why it tried to stop me from taking the scrap of soul. These ribbons of identity were all the entity had. It tried to pull on me again, but I resisted. “I’m sorry. I need this. I have to save my friends, and the only way I can do that is with the power these scraps will give me.”

Hesitation. Desire. Need. It was conflicted. It wanted to help, but it didn’t want to lose the scrap. It’s grip lessened, and the fear returned. It understood it couldn’t stop me. “I’ll figure you out,” I promised. “With Rhallani’s help, once we get to the capital, I’ll find a way to understand you. To help you if I can. But I need to survive today first. I need the people I care about to survive, too.”

Hope. Hesitating, burning hope. A question. “Yes, I promise. I give you my word.”

The hand squeezed me once, then let me go. I pulled the scrap out, but then I was bombarded with other scraps. They shot out of the sphere and latched onto me, each one sending burning power surging through me. They started pulling me back, away from the sphere. The hand reached for me one last time, then withdrew. The tether suddenly pulled taut and the darkness closed in all at once, attacking and shredding and refusing to allow me to leave.

Then the tether ripped away, taking a chunk of my soul with it. The darkness abandoned me, ripping into the chunk until it was just another frayed ribbon circling around whatever shape was hidden in the now-smaller sphere.

Then the void disappeared, and the pain returned.

# # #

The good news was that I could feel my toes again. The bad news was that I could feel everything between my chest and my toes. Then the power surged out of the blade and the world exploded. Like [Dark Sense] multiplied by about a thousand, only it included my sight. A roar sounded and it wasn’t until Serena and the healer were holding me down that I realized it was coming from my throat. I checked my stats.

[Health: 77/220]

[Mana: 2/140]

[Soul Essence: 734/100]

What in the actual fuck?

It felt like there was a raging inferno in my chest. I’d never heard of Soul Essence before, and I had no idea how it functioned, but damn it if I wasn’t going to find out. I reached for the fire and found power that was overflowing. A cup spilling over violently. I watched it start to trickle down and knew I was very suddenly on a timer. Whatever the fuck it was, I needed to either use it or lose it.

Instinct took over. Instinct guided by something that I didn’t have time to think about. Whatever its uses, I knew the moment I drew upon the new resource that Soul Essence could at least be used as a substitute for mana. That’d have to do.

First things first, I cast three uses of [Shadow Stitching] on myself. A scream fought its way through clenched teeth, and Serena turned a shade of green before turning around and vomiting. Then I closed my eyes and reached out for my connection to Tiana. I conjured a dozen tendrils and took control of one, wrapping it around her body. It was warm still, but completely enclosed. Dirt and rock pressed in on her, but when I slithered up her body and reached her neck I felt a pulse.

Keep her alive, I commanded. They all flexed outward, pushing against the tons of rock above her and the ground beneath, buying her just enough room to not be crushed. That was all I had time for. I wrapped my body in more tendrils, conjuring more than I ever had before. I lurched forward and I heard voices cry out.“I’ve got this now,” I told Serena. She just looked at me blankly and shook her head, but I didn’t hang around to chat.

I surged forward with more strength in my limbs than ever before. With how much strength surged in my legs, my run was closer to a series of controlled leaps. I hurtled to the side of the queen and blasted her with a Soul Essence powered [Umbral Barrage], which sent a veritable wall of crimson tinged spikes hurtling towards the queen. They were larger and more numerous than usual, which meant skills powered by Soul Essence must have a little extra kick.

Many of them bounced off her carapace harmlessly, but enough found purchase to get her attention. Most of the guards that had intercepted her were on the ground, unmoving, but not as many as I’d feared. Wherever I’d gone, time hadn’t moved the same there as it did here. They threw more spells, spears, and arrows at her, but I was up and moving. She had eyes only for me.

She shrieked gibberish and hurled magic at me, but I could see it coming. Ripples in the air so vibrant I knew exactly how they’d attack even before they began moving. I dodged the first few attacks and twisted half my tendrils together into a single mass to swat aside the final two. She charged me, and I raced to meet her. I hurled another [Umbral Barrage], and the dozens of impacts made her gait stutter.

I wrapped my legs in shadow and leapt. More magic, but I could see it coming in a way I never had before. I cut through it and lashed out with my super tendril. It hooked around her foreleg and pulled me in. She tried to swing at me, but it was as if she moved in slow motion. Tendrils attacked her claw, pushing me down just enough to slip below the strike without interrupting my momentum.

I wrapped the blade in shadows and cut right at the joint. It didn’t sever it, but it did enough damage to make the limb go limp. She howled and hurled me away, but my shadows struck the ground while I flew and righted me. I hit the ground sliding, then rushed her again. She backed away and two Valax ran to her. They got within a few feet, then they withered and keeled over.

Her patterns glowed and her limb started moving again. She was healing herself from their essence, so I’d have to damage her faster than she could regenerate. She sent out more attacks, but I was still thrumming with strength and Soul Essence. I dodged nimbly, my shadows projecting me forward without any input from me. She opened tears to try and summon more foot soldiers, but I could see where they were about to appear before they did. I cut through them before a single Valax could get between us and slid underneath her.

I struck up at her underbelly before she could drop and crush me. Deep gouges that spewed more bile-green blood opened up and I used my shadows to hook myself around her back leg and yank myself into the air behind her. She whirled, but not fast enough to avoid the shadows that out to grab a second leg, pulling me onto her. I tore into her with crimson tinged tendril and sword, then shot a point blank [Umbral Barrage] into the exposed flesh.

She howled and bucked, but I wrapped my shadows tighter. I slid off her now-bloodsoaked back, but I was still tethered to her. Her violent lurch just put me in range of the hole Tiana had made. She’d repaired the innards, but the carapace was something that would take time to grow back.

Like I had with the blightwolves, I wrapped the sword in whatever tendrils weren’t holding me in place. Then I slammed the blade into the hole and the tendrils all lurched outward in different directions, tearing into the weak flesh and organs around them. The pull on my soul lessened as the blade’s magic found a more potent source of energy to feed upon. The queen howled and tried to roll over me, but I just let go and pushed off. The tendrils pulled out chunks of something that looked important, and I narrowly managed getting crushed.

She roared more of what had to be obscenities, but the words made no sense to me. I checked the Soul Essence. Less than half of what I’d started with. I conjured more tendrils, and in the process found an additional purpose. I’d condensed and controlled the raw mana in my body, and the way the extra Essence moved in me made me try the same.

I forced it into my limbs and immediately felt light. Lighter than I’d ever felt before. I shot forward in a blur, letting the blade pull me along as if it already knew exactly where it needed to go. I moved with the speed and strength of a much higher level. The queen lashed out at me, and I met her claw with my blade. It glowed a bright, warm red and her claw severed. The strike cut straight through it and into her thorax, then kept going.

I pushed until I was met with open air. A deep gouge that nearly cut her in half. Then I whirled and lopped off both back legs a few feet from the ground with a single swipe. She pitched backward and I slammed the blade to the hilt in her abdomen, then ripped it to the side. A deluge of green blood erupted from the side and she tried to turn weakly towards me, her patterns pulsing, but I slammed the blade into one of the largest of her eyes and let my tendrils run amok until they ran out of mana—or Soul Essence or whatever the fuck was keeping them swinging—and the queen finally went limp.

I ripped the sword out, breathing hard. I tottered, but managed to stay standing. All around me the spiders were in chaos. Valax and non-Valax breeds turned on one another. Many fled back into the holes where they came from. A not small number of the larger ones simply keeled over and died.

My body throbbed with pain and I knew the reckoning for what I’d just done was nearly upon me. I had to save Tiana before that happened. Guards were cheering and yelling and shouting words my addled ears could make no sense of, but the world was starting to warble and pitch around me. Serena took some hesitant steps towards me, but I shook my head.

“Find the scabbard!” I said, raising the sword that felt fused to my hand still.

Her brow furrowed, but I’d already moved on. Rhallani was already at the top of the hole with a rope, but I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. “Send the golem, but stay up here.” Then I stepped past her and threw myself into the darkness where Tiana had disappeared.

I fell for a few seconds, then slammed into the ground. My knees protested, but they could get in line with all the other body parts that had issue with me. I reached out for the connection between me and Tiana until I had a general idea of her location, then I climbed the pile to get as close as I could. I was dimly aware of the royal Valax corpse’s legs jutting out from the pile, but I dismissed it as soon as I was sure it was dead.

Tiana was still breathing, but my tendrils wouldn’t last much longer. I conjured another tendril on Rhallani above, then grabbed a chunk of stone. One small enough to fit in my storage that I was reasonably certain wouldn’t cause an avalanche if I moved it. I banished it, then used Rhallani’s tendril to pull it back out in a reverse of what I did with Elisa’s spheres back in the mine.

I felt it leave my storage and heard the faint thump of it impacting the ground above and couldn’t resist a grim smile. I could do it. I could get to her. I started moving debris in earnest, throwing aside whatever I could grab in my offhand while using the shadows to move anything I couldn’t. I heard Rhallani’s voice from above and reached out with my tendril until I could find the golem, then I transferred it down to help. It fell to its knees immediately and started digging, and it was only another minute before a rope fell from above and Noelle and some others climbed down to help.

It was now a race to see which would happen first. Either we’d reach her, or the blowback from the sword would put me in the dirt.

# # #

Tiana bit back a sob. She wasn’t sure which was worse: the throbbing pain in her arm or the horrible nothingness below her waist. She was scared. More scared than she’d ever been. She didn’t want to die. She really didn’t want to die down here, afraid and in the dark. With a thousand tons of rock crushing her like an insect.

But she was dying. There was nothing she could do about it. Nothing anyone could do. Even if they could somehow get the rock off her, she’d be a cripple. That was if she even survived her injuries. Something she doubted very much.

One thing scared her most of all. As selfish as it might be, she didn’t want to die alone. “Zaren?” It came out choked, a shattered plea with no hope left in it.

But then a hand slid into hers. The one not crushed. “I’m here,” he said softly. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

Another sob. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She felt his hand on her hair. It was a mess of tangles she’d never been able to get under control, but he didn’t mention anything about that. “Why are you apologizing? You’re the one who saved me. It should be me under those rocks, Eve. Not you.”

She sucked in a shuddering breath. She didn’t want the tears to start again. She didn’t want to spend whatever time she had left crying. “No,” she said softly. “No, that would be truly cruel.” Zaren was different than the other kids. They all knew it. Even before Hannah, he’d been different. There was a depth to his eyes. A hardness that only a few of the others carried. A darkness that made her think he might actually make it through Karn’s twisted experiments. No, it was better this way.

If any of them could survive, it would be Zaren. How many times had he stuck up for the little kids? Stood taller when Karn was doing his experiments so he’d get chosen and not the others? Karn had gone further to break him than anyone else, and for a time she’d thought he’d succeeded. Then they’d been sent down here and she’d realized she was wrong. So very wrong.

He’d survive. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did. She never would have. She didn’t have that hardness in her. She never had and never would. But she’d at least hoped she’d live long enough to see him thrive. To at least get a look at the man he’d become. It was so cruel to die down here in the dark. She could barely even remember the sun. The wind. Warmth. Safety. Happiness.

The tears started again. Zaren just sat there, softly stroking her hair, holding her hand. It was cruel to him too, forcing him to listen to her death. She wanted to tell him to leave. To never come back to this dead end hallway. To forget about her. She wasn’t strong enough. She wanted to have him there until the end. The end that was coming sooner and sooner. She cried harder. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t want to die. Not yet. She wanted to live. She wanted to—

Light. She could see light against the backs of her eyelids. She drew in a breath and coughed. She shifted and realized she could feel her legs. Her arm was intact. She’d been dreaming, and already the events of the dream were beginning to fade. She remembered being buried. Remembered Zaren. But so many of the details were fuzzy. Fuzzy like the light filtering through her eyelids.

Light! She forced her eyes open and immediately regretted it. She couldn’t see anything. There was so much dirt and dust on her, but when she tried to wipe it away with crusty fingers it only made things worse. There was a wetness on her face. Thick and sticky. An ache that throbbed through her head. Blood, gluing dirt and gravel to her. Then the rocks on her back were shifting, crushing down on her.

She cried out, blind and afraid and confused. She heard shouting, more rocks shifting, then whatever weight that was digging into her back disappeared. Hands grabbed her under the arms and she flinched, then realized what was happening. Then she practically threw herself at them, desperate to be out from under whatever had just been threatening to crush her.

Tiana tried to pull, but her back half was lodged. Not for the first time, she cursed her curves. Then she felt Zaren’s shadows cascading over her body, finding the points where the rock and dirt dug into her and pushing it away. Compressing the softer parts of her and shifting her body enough that she could slip out. She let out a happy sob when she crashed into an all-too-familiar chest and he fell back with an arm around her.

“Tsefi ba’ar? Kallk nesier?”

It was his voice but it sounded like gibberish. “What? I can’t see, what’s happening? Zaren?”

Then she recoiled when water splashed against her face. She reached out blindly for the canteen and poured more on her, then someone else was there with a rag to wipe her eyes clean. She looked up at him and he was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

“Did we win?” she asked.

He grinned, but his eyes were dilated and unfocused, He was sitting with her pulled into his lap, one hand still clenched around a glowing sword with an eerily crimson blade. “Su leganyi niin. Maw ba’ar.” He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.

She was tired of holding back, especially after thinking she was going to die. Again. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, then she heard boots hit the ground somewhere nearby.

“Out of the way!” Serena yelled. She sprinted up with the big metal scabbard Zaren had been toting around. He saw her coming and lifted the sword like it took every ounce of effort he had left just to do so. Serena slid it on and slammed the clasp shut, then he went limp in her arms. His head lolled and the breath rushed out of him all at once.

Both her and Serena reached out to steady him, but he just grinned. “Could’ve gone better,” he admitted. “Could’ve gone worse, though.”

Serena let out a cry and threw her arms around him, glowing softly. Tiana ached too badly to do anything but press as much of herself into the exposed skin around Serena’s midriff to soak up some of that sweet, sweet healing. Then there was an impact and she looked up to see Noelle with her arms around Zaren’s neck. He smiled and leaned into her, but his good arm was underneath Tiana still. His other arm…

It a glance, it looked charred. A mottling of reds and purples so dark they were nearly black. It wasn’t until nearly to his shoulder that some of his normal skin tone started to peek through. The burn split into curling and curving strands of dark flesh until it disappeared under what was left of his shirt.

“Guys?” Rhallani called from above. “Is she alright?”

Then Zaren started to laugh.

# # #

I couldn’t help it. It started in my stomach and just wouldn’t let up until I let it out. Then I looked at the incredulous faces of the women around me and that just made me laugh harder. It was only when Serena, wearing a worried expression, turned my face towards her that I managed to get it under control.“Sorry, sorry,” I chuckled, “I just…the reality of the last two days is starting to set in. When I put it in perspective, it’s all a little ridiculous.”

Serena still searched my eyes. “How bad is the pain? Did you hit your head? Can you move your arm? Is your stomach—”

I tried to put my hand to her cheek and was a little nonplussed when my right arm didn’t respond, but I was too thrilled that they were alive to care about that right now. “I’m better than I deserve to be, all things considered. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She looked away. “We should get that healer down here.”

“Fuck that,” I snorted. She looked at me with wide eyes. “I won’t bleed out and die at least. You can both take a look at me after we get out of this fucking cave.”

She bit her lip, but she nodded. I looked at Noelle. “Go up and tell Rhallani we’re all fine, please? We’ll be up right after.”

Noelle’s grip tightened, and I was really starting to wish I had more than one working arm. There was no way for me to extract mine from where it was pinned under Tiana, so I pressed my temple into Noelle’s. “Hey, look at me.” She did. “I’m alive. So are you. Focus on that, and we can deal with the rest when we’re topside. Alright?”

She gave me a curt nod, then she tightened her arms around me one last time before she retreated and headed towards the rope. She started hauling herself up with ease, and I realized the other guards must have already done so.

I turned to Serena. “Help Tiana up, I’ll wait here for you.”

Tiana started pushing herself out of my lap. “I’m fine. I can get up by my—” she made it about halfway to her feet before she swayed and reached for the wall. Serena only barely kept her from careening to the ground. From the blood on her head, I figured she’d taken a knock. “Nope, never mind. Definitely going to need a hand.”

Serena glanced at me, her brows creased. I waved my good hand at her. “I’m fine, Serena. Well, maybe not fine, but I’m not in danger of keeling over. Go on, I’ll be here when you get back. Promise.” I couldn’t really feel my legs right now, so that was an easy enough deal to make.

She hesitated for a second longer, then half-helped-half-carried Tiana towards the rope. When they were out of earshot, I reached for the blade at my side. “Thank you,” I told it. “I’m going to keep my promise, but you’ll need to stay out of sight a little longer. I’ll figure you out if it’s the last thing I do.” I smiled at the sword.

“Luckily for you, I’ve got a cute little Arelim who’ll never let a mystery go unsolved once she’s sunk her teeth in it.”

I thought I felt a faint pulse of warmth from the blade, and I hoped that meant it understood. I could still feel the echoes of the loneliness I’d felt in that strange void, but at the end of the day someone was hunting this blade. The only safe place for it was my storage, and considering I still couldn’t so much as twitch the fingers in my dominant hand I needed to avoid conflict for a few days.

I banished the blade, then I looked at the golem. “You too. You’ve saved our asses a couple times now, so whatever your deal is, I’ll sic her on it once I’m done with the sword. Maybe sooner, depending on how things go. Who knows?” I lobbed a ball of shadow at the golem, banishing it as well, just as Serena’s boots touched back down to the ground. She walked over to me with an uncertain look.

She crouched down and threw my good arm over her shoulder without a word, then grunted a bit as she heaved me to my feet. Luckily, though I couldn’t feel them, my legs still worked. Mostly. Somewhat. They held me, at least.

It was slow going since she had to carry a good bit of my weight, but she brooked no complaint. She didn’t say anything at all, actually, which didn’t sit well with me. We were halfway to the rope when I decided the silence wouldn’t do.

“I didn’t make the same mistake this time,” I said softly.

She jumped, then looked at me with wide, red-rimmed eyes. “What?”

“I gave up before. I decided that dying was fine as long as I took my enemy with me. That didn’t happen this time.” She stopped, and I held her gaze to try and convey how serious I was. “I wasn’t sacrificing myself. Not at any point. I nearly did,” I admitted, “but every decision I made today was the one I thought would get all of us out alive. Myself included.”

Her eyes searched mine with a hint of desperation. “Do you mean that? You’re not just saying what you think I want to hear, are you?”

I stepped back, swaying slightly, and grabbed her hand so I could place it on my chest. “I give you my word. I fought to protect you all, but I fought to get back to you just as hard. I just—I just wanted to make sure you knew that.”

She stared me down for what felt like an eternity, then she leaned forward and pressed her lips into mine. “I know I’m your priestess,” she said softly, “but I would very much appreciate never seeing your insides again.”

I chuckled, then winced as my gut reminded me that it had not had a good day. “I’ll do my best. Would it make you feel better or worse if I told you that isn’t even in the top five worst injuries I’ve survived?”

She grimaced, then smacked me softly on the shoulder. “You ass.” But she smiled when she said it, then threw my arm back over her shoulder.

There were a million other things I wanted to say, but just walking took every bit of focus I had left. Serena tied the rope around my waist, then she climbed up ahead of me. I got an eyeful of everything under her skirt, and that made all the pain almost worth it. Then she got to the top and they started lifting me out.

Once I got to the top, strong hands reached down and hauled me the rest of the way out. I was too grateful to see sunlight to complain, even when they let me go and I damn near toppled back into the hole. They pulled me away from the precipice and Serena slid back under me, then Rhallani was latched onto my other side.

I gave her as many reassurances as I could, though both her and Serena both looked very worried about both my blackened arm and the puckered scar that took up most of my midriff. Considering the odds we’d faced, I was still feeling pretty good about how things went.

“You!” a voice called out.

I turned wearily to see the leader of the guards stalking towards me. The same captain from when I’d killed Vald. “I don’t suppose we can do this sitting down, can we?” I asked her.

Her eyes flicked from my stomach to my arm, then she nodded. We went over to one of the mining sheds I hadn’t been thrown through and I ended up sitting down with Serena, Rhallani, and Noelle all fussing over me. Tiana looked like she would be if she had it in her. She was content to simply sink to the ground next to me and lean her head on my thigh.

“How many did you lose?” I asked the captain before she could so much as open her mouth.She looked to where the short-haired healer was flitting between groaning men and women a ways away. There was another healer helping her, but I couldn’t help but notice his arm ended in a stump. I doubted he’d started the day that way.

“Four dead, eleven wounded. A minor fucking miracle all things considered.”

I let out a breath that turned into a hiss when Rhallani lifted my bad arm to slip it into a sling she’d tied around my neck. “I’m sorry you had to get involved.”

She gave me an odd look. “Sorry? You aren’t concussed, are you? If you hadn’t drawn that Valax out and killed her then we’d have lost ten times that many hunting her down.”

I inclined my head, ceding the point without pointing out that even that estimation was likely very conservative. “All the same. I’m sure a queen Valax will fetch a hefty sum, and I’d like a cut of that to go to the families of the fallen. The care of the injured, too.”

Her brows drew close and she slowly shook her head. “That’s not how this works. A monster like that is a threat to the city, we guard the city. Their families will be compensated, and we’ve got healers.”

“But the queen and that royal will net a fortune, and even a fraction of that dwarfs whatever they’ll get.” I knew from the way she averted her eyes that I was right. I sighed. “Look, if you and yours don’t show up, we die. If your healer didn’t get me back on my feet, we die. If your guys don’t jump down in the hole to help my friend here, she dies.” I rested my hand on Tiana’s head and I felt her clutch my pant leg. “I’d like to repay that, if you’ll let me.”

She seemed hesitant, but I knew from the way she looked at the injured that she’d cave. She cared about those under her. “It’s not the way things are done,” she protested weakly.

I chuckled. “I get the feeling that’s not the last time I’ll hear that. Tell you what, if it assuages your worries, then arrange some transport for the corpse and give us a ride into town.”

That seemed to relax her a fraction. “I can do that.”

I nodded. “Thank you. And you’ll want to get a party together soon. There’s a chance there are more captives down there, and I’m sure if you follow the trail of spider corpses and chalk marks from the mine you’ll be able to find your way to their nest.”

She scowled. “Yeah, I’ll definitely pass that along.” She looked out over the sea of spider corpses. “When I saw you in that tavern, I figured you for just another asshole. But you’re not just any asshole, are you?”

I smirked. “Nope. I’m the asshole.”

She shook her head again, this time in amusement. She pushed herself to her feet with a grunt. “Your fifth is over there,” she jerked her head towards where Elisa was helping tie bandages and splints. “I’ll go see about that transport. In the meantime, on the behalf of the city of Anford, you have my thanks.”

I watched her leave, then leaned my head back against the wooden wall. Tiana was already snoring softly against my leg. “Wake me when the carriage gets here. I’m fucking exhausted.”

Serena scooped up the stool the captain had been using and set it down next to me, then sat and leaned into my side. Everything not covering something important vanished and I felt her flesh against the parts of mine that could still feel. Her hand wrapped around my waist and she pulled Noelle into her lap. “Until I’m out of mana, you’re not going anywhere. Neither of you.”

I reached around her back and found Noelle’s hand, then Rhallani sat in my lap and leaned her head on my shoulder, being careful not to wake Tiana. “No arguments here,” I mumbled. Less than a minute later, I was out.