The Ranger (Book 1) (17 page)

“Then if we can get through that room, we should be fine,” Vincent reasoned. The head turned its gaze on Vincent, once again surprised.

“It is an interesting company you travel with,” Dahl said to Benjamin before addressing Vincent. “No, Chosen, there are more ancient creatures in the depths of this tower. Beware; it has long been corrupted by the minions of the abyss.” Dahl paused. “May the blessings of Sandora accompany you.” The head tore free of Benjamin’s grip and plunged back into the ground.

“What do we do now?” Vincent asked

“The only thing we can do,” Benjamin replied. “We push forward. We take out every one of those blasted minotaurs, or we die trying.”

“The real question is,” Lauren said, turning to Vincent, “are you willing to give your life for the glory of the Golden Hand?”

“Yes,” Vincent whispered in response.

“You don’t sound very convinced,” she spat back. “If you’re not in this one hundred per cent, you might as well turn back now, because you’ll just get in the way otherwise.”

“I’m not turning back,” Vincent said firmly. “Master Silva and Master Auna have put their trust in me. I’m in this till the end.”

“Good,” Lauren smiled. “Then prepare yourself, because this is going to be one wild ride.”

Chapter 10: The Heart Chamber

“Lauren,” Benjamin scolded, “we don’t have time for squabbling.”

“Sorry,” she replied curtly.

“Vincent,” he turned his attention from Lauren, “get your token ready; we’ll need all the help we can get.”

Vincent embraced his token once again. “Let’s go,” he whispered, gripping his swords tightly.

They crawled back to the ledge. The minotaurs were now busily eating the spoils of their latest raid.

“We need to be smart about this,” Ben whispered. “If we attack head on, we’re done for. Any ideas?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one,” Vincent said, smiling. “Minotaurs don’t get along well with each other, right?” Benjamin nodded. “So we use that against them.”

“What are you thinking?” Benjamin asked.

“Just watch,” Vincent was still smiling. “I’m not sure if this will work, but if it does, it will give us a huge advantage.”

Vincent closed his eyes, concentrating while trying to ignore Lauren’s protests. Slowly, he reached out with his token until he had found all of the torches lighting the large chamber below them. He opened his eyes. His face was glowing with excitement.

“Now the fun begins,” he said.

The torches lining the walls all burst into roaring blue flames. The minotaurs looked up at this strange change. The flames suddenly shot from their places on the walls to the long wooden tables, which then burst into flames. The blue fire ran up and down the room. The beasts at the tables quickly jumped away, trying to avoid the flames. They soon became frenzied as the beasts closest to the tables also burst into flames from the intense heat.

“This is where we enter,” Vincent shouted over the din, jumping to his feet and charging down the stairs.

He called some of the flames from a nearby table to his sword as he crashed into the fray, slashing at anything that moved. The flames on his sword cut easily through the armour of the beasts, and they fell left and right.

He was soon lost in the rhythm of his swinging blades as he followed the forms he had practiced so long, and perfected with the help of Trent. Vincent was quickly stopped though, as his sword dug deep into something very hard.

Vincent looked up in time to see the huge hand of a troll swing at him. The blow picked him up off his feet and sent him flying. He landed hard, the wind knocked out of him.

The troll started lumbering toward him, roaring angrily. Vincent’s sword was still lodged in its leg. Vincent struggled to regain his feet, but with little success. The monster was only a few strides away. He could feel his death approaching.

A large spike suddenly grew from the ground at Vincent’s feet, pointing at his charging foe. The troll tried to stop itself, but it was too late. It drove itself straight into the spike, impaling itself through the chest.

Vincent felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to his feet.

“This is no time to be lying down,” Benjamin’s voice came from behind him, almost laughing.

“Right,” Vincent replied as he pulled his sword free from the troll and returned to the battle.

“Leave the trolls to me,” Lauren’s voice carried over the noise from her perch on the ledge, as she sent another arrow flying into one of the hulking creatures.

Vincent once again fell into the rhythm of his dancing blades, hacking through waves of foes. The minotaurs were now trying to organize. It was a meager attempt to save themselves from the blades that rang with death, but it was too late. Vincent hacked through the last of the minotaurs, cutting it cleanly in two at the waist. He continued in his forms, striking nothing but air, before realizing that there was nothing left.

He bent down and wiped his blades clean on one of the felled creatures, breathing heavily. He released his token, and the flames on the swords disappeared. Sheathing his weapons, he surveyed the room. There was little left of the tables. A few of them still smoldered in places, but for the most part, they had been burned completely to ash leaving the air thick with smoke. There was very little floor that was not covered with the bodies of the dead creatures.

Benjamin and Lauren were staring at Vincent, open mouthed. He raised his hand triumphantly.

“Fifty five,” he called through his gasps for air.

“Fifty six for me,” Lauren said bluntly, “but that’s not important. How did you do that?”

“Do what?” Vincent asked.

“The flames,” Benjamin said, sounding impressed. “I’ve never seen anyone use their token on such a scale.”

“And what’s more, you maintained it for almost an hour,” Lauren cut in.

“We were fighting that long?” It hadn’t felt nearly that long to Vincent. Benjamin just nodded in response.

“Well,” Vincent started to reply, but his head suddenly started to spin. He stumbled a few steps before falling to the ground.

“Vincent,” Lauren asked sounding concerned, “what’s wrong?” Her voice sounded like it was miles away.

Vincent tried to answer, but his mouth wouldn’t move. Slowly, everything went black.

***              ***              ***

Vincent opened his eyes and groaned. His body felt like a lump of lead and he could feel a slight trickle of blood running down his arm. His mask was gone.

“It’s about time you woke up,” Lauren said with a relieved smile. “I was starting to worry.”

“What happened?” Vincent asked groggily.

“You pushed yourself too hard,” Lauren said with what sounded like forced concern. “I’m surprised you’re not dead. Using a token drains your energy, and you had yours going stronger than I’ve ever seen. Not even Jason - I mean, Master Silva - can do something at that scale.”

“Where’s Benjamin?” Vincent asked as he tried to sit up. His head started to spin again so he lay back down.

“He’s lying over there,” Lauren said pointing to the other side of the room.

Vincent looked, taking in the room for the first time. It was small, with no visible door. A small fire burned in the middle of the room with smoke escaping from a square hole in the ceiling.

“He was exhausted after the fight,” Lauren explained. “Closing this room so we could rest safely was too much for him and he collapsed as well. He’ll be fine in a bit, but I’m worried about him. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s been muttering to himself ever since we entered this tower. It’s like he’s talking to someone that isn’t there, or like the tower is talking to him.”

Vincent tried again to sit up, this time with success. He was looking suspiciously at Lauren now. It was odd that she was being so kind to him.

“Alright,” he interrupted her, “what is it? Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden? For the last two months you treat me like I’m less than dirt and suddenly it’s all care and concern.”

Lauren looked surprised, and somewhat ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

“What?” Vincent was taken aback.

“I misjudged you,” she seemed to be forcing the words out of her mouth. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t very nice to you. You’ve shown me that you are, and always have been, worthy of the trust Jason put in you. You now have my trust as well.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Vincent said, feeling rather awkward with the situation and wishing Benjamin would wake up to put an end to it. A groan from the other side of the room granted Vincent’s wish, as Lauren’s attention was quickly diverted to Benjamin who was starting to wake up.

“How long have I been out?” Benjamin asked as he staggered to his feet.

“About five hours,” Lauren said as she tried to steady him on his feet.

“That’s not going to help us,” Benjamin sighed. “They probably know by now that the garrison of minotaurs is dead and gone. They’ll definitely be on the lookout for us.”

“Well, no situation is so bad that complaining about it won’t make it worse,” Lauren tried to laugh, but it sounded strained. “Here, have some bread,” she said, pulling a loaf from her pack, breaking it in two and giving the pieces to her weary companions.

Vincent devoured the bread before shakily raising to his feet. It wasn’t long before his strength had fully returned.

“You’ve got some amazing stamina, Vincent,” Benjamin said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I thought you’d be out for at least a day after something like that.”

“Thanks,” Vincent said uncomfortably.

“Well, are we all ready to go?” Benjamin asked as he picked up his pack.

“I’m good to go,” Vincent said, anxious to be out of the little room.

“Me too,” Lauren followed, handing Vincent his mask back and tying on her own.

“Alright,” Benjamin clapped his hands together; they glowed once again and a small section of wall swung inward like a door. “Let’s go.”

The light in the chamber where they had fought was dim, most of the torches having gone out. They picked their way through the heaps of bodies to the large door on the far side of the chamber. The passage was lined with statues of warriors dressed for combat. The dim light cast eerie shadows across their path as they continued downward.

Suddenly, one of the statues lunged forward at Vincent, waving a huge club. He barely managed to duck under the blow. Benjamin moved quickly, striking the being in the neck with his grapplers, cutting its head from its shoulders. The body crumbled instantly.

“Golems,” Benjamin muttered as he poked through the rubble of the fallen creature.

“What’s a golem?” Vincent asked.

“Golems are living stone,” Benjamin explained, pulling the club from under the pile of rock. “They’re Katrina’s version of an elemental; except they’re soulless, brainless and irritating. We’ll need to be even more alert if there are golems lurking around down here.” He handed Vincent the club. “That should be a bit more effective than your sword against these things.”

Vincent hefted the club with difficulty, the stone was incredibly heavy. They continued at a slower pace, Vincent struggling to keep up with his new burden.

They hadn’t gone far before another statue charged from among the ranks. Vincent swung his club at this new foe. He hit it in the chest, shattering both club and golem.

“So much for the club,” Vincent grumbled as he looked at the stump of stone in his hand. Still, he was relieved that he didn’t have to carry it anymore.

“We need to keep moving,” Lauren whispered urgently. “These things make a lot of noise when they die. It could attract something worse.”

They traveled at a quicker pace now. The passage was taking a much steeper slope than before. Benjamin’s mutterings were becoming more pronounced so that even Vincent, at the back of the line, could hear them.

“We’re getting closer,” Ben was saying, “Yes, almost there; just a little further.”

“With any luck we won’t run into any more of those things,” Lauren said, a little louder than necessary, trying to distract Benjamin from his mutterings, but he ignored her.

The passage divided abruptly in a fork as the ground leveled out.

“Which way do we go?” Vincent asked, gazing down the two tunnels. The torches only continued a few paces in either direction, leaving the paths in total darkness.

“Only one can lead to the heart chamber,” Lauren said pensively, “That’s what Dahl said, isn’t it.”

“Not exactly,” Benjamin said as he paused his low muttering. “The heart chamber is on the other side of this wall, I can feel it. The energy has gotten so intense here, it’s almost unbearable. These two tunnels just loop around to the door on the other side, making it effectively one path. So it doesn’t really matter which one we take.”

“We should take the one with fewer of those golem things,” Vincent laughed half-heartedly.

“Just be glad we’ve only encountered stone golems,” Benjamin said with a smile. “The metal ones are much worse.”

“I’d like to see that,” Vincent said, a little more enthusiasm behind his laugh now.

Suddenly, from the left fork of the tunnel came a sound like a hammer hitting an anvil. The three of them peered cautiously into the darkness. A shadow moved just beyond the light. The three of them slowly started backing away as the figure stepped into the light, revealing the hulking form of a man. His head barely cleared the ceiling of the tunnel. Every muscle on his body seemed perfectly sculpted, and his skin shone silver in the firelight.

“There, you’ve seen it,” The smile dropped from Benjamin’s face. “We take the right tunnel.”

They started running down the dark passage, the thunderous sound of the metal boots hitting stone was close behind. The passage curved, as if going in a giant circle.

“Wait,” Benjamin called, stopping the others. “It should be here.”

“What should be here?” Lauren asked, sounding very flustered.

“The door,” Benjamin shouted, “the entrance to the heart chamber!”

They didn’t have time to argue as the metal boots were getting closer. The three of them threw themselves against the wall, desperately searching for some sign of a door. Then Vincent’s hand felt wood. It was the door. He quickly found the handle and opened it. A surreal green light spilled from the doorway as the three hurried through.