Chapter 24

  Louder, Echoing… And Numerous

  Pearl’s voice broke through the void of dreamless sleep, like a hand waved through a spider’s web, tearing at the delicate threads in an instant of snapping illusions. “It’s time. Nik, wake up. It’s time for the ceremony.”

  Peaceful sleep had been a welcome change, one which Nik wanted, desperately, to cling to. A night free of dark sovereigns or nightmares, just empty, deep rest. But it couldn’t last forever.

  Funerals were always a time of sadness and remembrance. That was something Nik had learned as a child, even if he’d had no memory of ever going to one. If there was any type of ceremony for his uncle, or for the rest of the tribe, he didn’t know what transpired. He tried not to think of it, to push it all aside in order to avoid mourning his loss.

  I won’t be able to do that today. The clan needs to be allowed to grieve.

  “I’m awake,” he said as he pushed himself upright.

  As he came out from the medium-sized tent the clan had given him, Nik had to stop his jaw from dropping. Something new was happening, something he’d never seen before or even thought possible. The mana torches in their cavern were glowing with a deep purple flame, blending with the yellow light of dozens of candles.

  “My lord,” Kath said as she offered him a lit candle.

  He took it with a nod to his guard, and then he stepped forward to join the clan. They stood in a semicircle near the wall they’d taken shelter against during the rumble that had stolen Pliegs from them.

  Ryan and Pearl were along the outside edge of the crowd, quietly observing the ceremony. Ryan ran over, jumped to snag onto Nik’s belt, and climbed up to his shoulder. He realized, with a desperate battle to stay balanced, that Ryan had grown a couple of inches just in the days they had been underground.

  “Okay, buddy, you can stick with me,” he told the little orange fae-beast.

  The elder who had been the quickest to accept him and offer him guidance had become the latest reminder of the reality of death. That reminder was still hidden from view beneath his cloak. She’d been placed upon a latticework of gray cloth, but they’d left Nik’s tattered red cloak in place.

  Good, he thought. It should stay with her; maybe it will help keep her warm where the good find rest.

  One at a time people spoke. Nik supposed it must have been an expected thing since nobody had questioned it. Some spoke at length, while others were brief, but they all had lovely memories to share, stories of a life well lived. Some of them cried while others laughed at silly events that had happened with Pliegs caught in the aftermath, often trying to teach a valuable lesson from it.

  Then they all looked at him. The elders first, then his guards and then the younger goblins in turn, like a wave of focus had come crashing in his direction.

  Thankfully, before Nik had to do any guesswork, Terk said softly, “Pliegs, I believe, deserves the honor of havin’ her burrow lord’s words spoken before we escort him to his final resting place.”

  Nik stammered before catching himself, “Ye-yes, of course… I’ve only been with all of you for a little while, but I can see what time spent with Pliegs led to. Her clan cared deeply for her, and she cared so much for all of you. From the stories you tell, she always had the right words to say, and she was never afraid to speak them, either. Her last words to me were the two things that she believed a leader needed most. So, here’s to Pliegs, who valued kindness and strength, and never anything less.”

  A chorus rang out, “To Pliegs.”

  Next came the first step of the transfer. They were to carry Pliegs forth using the criss-crossed fabric that she’d been laid on.

  Nik almost flinched when something wrapped around his left hand. Kath’s fingers gently gripped around his palm. She led him to the front of Pliegs’ to stand beside her head.

  “Hold the handle of the earthweave cloth, right here with your free hand while you keep your candle in the other. You and the others will lift the bier as one and carry her forward. I will be by your side to guide your path,” Kath said in a low voice that neared a whisper.

  With her guiding hand on his arm, and with the help of his other guards and the youngest of the elders, Pliegs was borne through the halls and levels of the building to its exit.

  They traveled through the city and all of its magnificent structures, through the fields that grew their crops, and to a door that had been hidden only by its distance from the city. The door was framed by carvings of flowers and actual gems that sparkled with reflected light from mana-torches.

  They came to a stop before the doors and the remaining elders stepped forward, moving their hands in a single, smooth, coordinated motion that had the doors sliding open.

  Past the doors was a hall of precious uncut stones that jutted out from every surface but the leveled floor. Once past the doorway, the light of dozens of candles’ flames revealed the other thing that fought for dominance of attention in the room. Thousands of statues were carved out from the walls. Figures of goblins, old and young, lifelike, and frozen in time.

  Kath spoke once more, “This is the Hall of Echoes, my lord. Where the ones we’ve lost begin their next journey to where the good find rest. May the light guide them. Those from the city who passed have already been through the mergin’. It has been cleared of others for our clan to lay Pliegs to rest.”

  The ones near the front were the most ancient of the carved figures, and Kath guided him past them all toward the very end of the path.

  Their steps and whispering voices echoed all the way to the last section of the hall. Even Ryan’s purring sent out small reverberations through the tunnel.

  When they arrived at the last few dozen feet of the tunnel, where only a small section of the sides remained unoccupied, they gently laid Pliegs down within the stone coffin that had been prepared for her. While he’d been focused on his necklace and getting some rest, they’d been busy carving. As the lid was slid into place, the depiction of Pliegs was revealed. With her hands together, held outward with palms up, she would eternally offer of herself.

  Nik’s mouth shifted into a sad grin. That seems fitting, he thought.

  Then the earth-shapers slid her coffin toward the wall, where it lifted into an upright position and fused into the stone. Here, Pliegs would remain as a sculpture surrounded by a glimmering rainbow of gems. A plaque set into the stone beneath her feet, said, “Here lies Pliegs, honored elder of the Stormclaw clan, who valued the courage to have faith in others, and the wisdom to guide them forward.”

  “It is done,” said Kath.

  “Then, I hope she finds her way,” said Nik.

  Kath remained stoic, and said, “ She will, of all people, I’m sure she will. She’s too stubborn not to. But we should go now and let her begin. If you are ready, I will gather the party and we can move out for the hunt.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Nik turned away from Pliegs’ ability-carved likeness, and said, “You’re right; it is time.”

  While the rest of the clan would spend the time they needed within the Hall of Echoes, Nik’s party would go back to retrieve their cart and set out to hunt some beasts.

  * * *

  It seemed almost like the scents of damp earth and musty spaces were going to be the norm for a while. The underground tunnels were a maze of passages that either ended in rubble or broke off into side tunnels the earthquake had opened paths between.

  In the darkness of the tunnels, initially lit only by ManaSniper’s torch, the rest of the party had used his flame to light torches of their own.

  The line of flickering light marched along their third offshoot since the goblin tracks they’d followed had ended, buried beneath collapsed stone. Sir BlackDagger ran his hand along the wall, feeling the difference in texture between this tunnel and the last. That’s weird, this is definitely more rough than the other tunnels so far. Maybe it’s a natural formation that wasn’t carved by the goblins? he thought.

  Hours had passed and they were still wandering paths that curled in like hairpins. They curved back and forth, sometimes splitting into or merging with other shafts, and the walls flipped between the two different textures he’d noticed from one branch to the next.

  This is an underground labyrinth, and we’ll need to make camp soon. Eric almost laughed at his own thoughts. We’re lucky we hadn’t set up camp yet, or most of our supplies would be above ground. Wouldn’t be much of a camp with no tents, bedrolls, or blankets.

  Sir BlackDagger announced the break to his followers, “Alright guys, let’s call it a day and set up here, good a place as any. We split up into shifts for guard duty, just like we were going to before we-” The lightest of vibrations had suddenly run through the tunnel, and Eric slid his feet into a wider stance, preparing himself to move at any moment as needed. The vibrations settled just as quickly as they’d appeared.

  “Let’s all get some sleep while we can. I’ll get some rest and then pull that last double-shift like we planned before.”

  That rest came easier than he’d expected, and felt like it ended way too early as Stabitha woke him from his dream, and it had been such a beautiful dream, too. So messed up… He’d just been fighting a dragon for the last slice of a cheesy, pepperoni-topped, brick-oven pizza. If Life was fair, he’d have gotten a bite before being woken up.

  The first shift of his watch went mostly fine. It was a little awkward because his partner in guard duty was Mark, and even though they’d settled their differences for now, it didn’t really feel over.

  He thought, Something about this guy just doesn’t vibe with me. I don’t have to get along super well with him to survive, though. We just need to be able to work with each other.

  It felt a bit taxing on the nerves to keep an eye on the partner at your own back while trying to watch out for every shadowy groove in the stone, but this was their reality.

  The voice of someone trying to whisper loud enough to be heard without waking others came from the direction of his watch partner, “Hey, I know I can be a bit of a bully. I’m working on it. I’m used to being in charge and leading my brothers, you know?”

  Sir BlackDagger shook his head and said, “We’re all growing, right? Each of us is just doing our best to get from point A to B.”

  “Only problem is that point B got a bit messed up recently. We just wanted to have some fun being awesome and powerful, not all of… whatever this is now,” said Mark.

  “I get it. I just wanted an escape from my empty apartment. A place where I could be a powerful hero who slays monsters and saves people, then I get killed by a kobold — day one.” Sir BlackDagger let out a small chuckle, and added, “I was so pissed-off.”

  Mark replied with a little bit of venom in his tone, “Yeah, that freakin’ kobold interrupted us when we were sitting pretty and about to transport dozens of goblins to sell to some upper level slavers. I don’t even wanna know how much that set us back, and now this king guy who killed Jason with a shadow monster wants this kobold… I can’t wait to hand it over. See if we can get Jason to respawn in sort of a trade, you know?”

  A more observant person would probably have noticed Eric’s posture stiffen, even in the dim torchlight.

  Mark wasn’t an observant person.

  “Yeah… Hey, man, it’s been a while already. Why don’t you go ahead and try to get a bit more sleep in, and I can take the last watch with Bea — um… with Warden.”

  “Ah, I see. Don’t worry, I get it. She is pretty easy on the eyes, and you’re trying to get some alone time, eh? No problem. I’ll wake her up for you,” Mark replied with a wink that made Eric’s skin crawl.

  “No, it’s ok. I’ve got it. Thank you, though,” Sir BlackDagger said, while he made his way over the short distance to where Beatrice was sleeping.

  Yeah, she really doesn’t need to wake up to Mark’s creepy smile hovering over her, he thought as he put a hand on her shoulder to wake her up. He nudged her softly, shook her gently, and whispering her name, said, “Beatrice, it’s time for your shift.”

  He only had to repeat this process every few minutes for a total of five times before she woke. “You are not an easy person to wake,” Eric said with a chuckle.

  “I’m not a morning person, sue me. Next time make a pot of coffee and see if that helps.”

  “Haha, yeah, I’ll just swing by a cafe on my way to your place. Actually, I wonder what the closest thing to coffee would be here. I’d love an energy drink or something, anything with some caffeine in it, really,” said Eric as he helped her to her feet.

  They walked together a short distance from the rest of the group, so they wouldn’t interrupt anyone else’s sleep with their conversation. However, instead of continuing the teasing lament of being in a world without a readily available caffeine supply, she went serious.

  “BD, you can be a little callous and uncaring for what other people are feeling. You-”

  Eric interrupted, and said, “Woah, where did that come fro-”

  She cut him off in turn. “I’m not finished speaking. You can wait your turn to talk.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, eyebrows raised in shock. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, but she was never this forceful and direct.

  “You have some good qualities, confidence, bravery, ambition and drive, but you can be so cold. No, not just cold, you can be cruel. Bringing up their friend Jason, was too far. I understand that you wanted to make sure they would work with us as a team, but that is their choice. You probably only made them dislike you. We’ve had our disagreements, but that was the line. You finally made me outright dislike you, too. Do better,” she said firmly, staring him dead in the eyes while she spoke.

  “Yeah… I know. I know all of that is true, and I am sorry that I went that far, honestly. The truth is, I don’t know what I’m doing. This whole playthrough has been one crazy event after the other, and until yesterday morning this was still just a game. I think I kind of wanted a fight and I let myself go far enough to start one. It wasn’t in any way justifiable. I can do better,” he said.

  “Good, maybe I won’t tell my brother that you suggested you’d be bringing a morning coffee by ‘my place’ then, and he won’t have to zap your sorry butt,” Beatrice said, finally letting a little bit of a smirk back onto her face.

  The thought of an electric shock certainly didn’t fill him with much enthusiasm. “Oh, come on. You wouldn’t. He wouldn’t waste the mana on that anyways, right?”

  “Eyes on the tunnel, guard boy,” she said as she walked away to position herself on the other side of their still sleeping companions.

  Eric had some time to think on things a bit now that he was alone on his side of the camp. Bravery, I wish I was half as brave as she is. Actually she did say a few positive things in there, but they didn’t really sound much like compliments. Basically I’m not lazy or timid, but I am an incredible jerk, that’s great. I lead an incredible team, and that is not how to earn their respect. We need to be united, no respawns and lesser healing is not the time to start infighting.

  A distant sound broke him from his thoughts, and he looked over to lock eyes with Beatrice. She nodded her head, confirming that she’d heard something, too. It came from her side of the tunnel. He went around to stand by her side and they listened for the sound to come again.

  There it was. Some sort of clicking sound. Just a little bit louder, a little bit closer.

  Again, click-click, this time accompanied by a strange chittering.

  The sounds came once more, louder, echoing… and numerous.

  His shield was already in his hand by the time he’d said, “Wake the others, now!”