Return of the Runebound Professor

The wall shattered and Noah dashed forward, using the rain of stones as cover.

I can’t waste time with this idiot. Tremorsense told me there were only a few rooms with people in them this deep, and that means the head of this den is somewhere nearby. I need to finish this guy off and go get the boss before he runs off.

Bryorn spun toward Noah, spotting him immediately. Evidently, the stones flying around him hadn’t been enough to keep him hidden. That was fine, though. Noah had never been one for stealth.

He clapped his hands together, then released a violent gale of freezing wind from his palms. Ice washed across the ground and crusted over Byron’s armor, turning it from a shimmering silver to a whiteish blue within seconds.

Bryorn’s movements ground to a halt and he snarled in fury. “What have you done to me, fiend?”

Noah lowered his hands. That had worked better than he’d been expecting. He took a step toward Bryorn – and threw himself back as the ice shattered and Bryorn lunged forward. His sword crackled past Noah’s back, singing his clothing.

He hit the ground and rolled to the side, blasting himself back with a surge of wind before lightning rained down on where he’d been. Noah leapt to his feet and skidded back, stopping against a wall and gritting his teeth.

“You read me,” Bryorn said, spinning the sword in his hand. “You have a degree of skill. Killed many innocents before, you vile man?”

This larping prick is actually pretty damn good.

“I don’t think you fully realize who you’re working for,” Noah said. He reached down to his pack and pulled his pipe out, placing it between his teeth and packing some Flashgrass into it. He combusted the grass, drawing in a deep breath and letting a puff of smoke out into the air.

“Of course you smoke,” Bryorn said. “Vile through and through. Have you corrupted the good women traveling with you? That must be it. They are enslaved. Fear not, lasses. I will free you of this demon’s influence.”

Every word that comes out of this moron’s mouth makes me want to fry him even more. Why couldn’t he have been one of the weak guys?

Noah stepped forward. He was starting to run out of ideas, but he still had one trick that had yet to let him down yet. As smoke gathered around him, Noah prepared to engage Bryorn once more.

He didn’t get a chance.

Moxie sprinted past him, red vines cracking up from beneath the stone and wrapping around Bryorn’s legs. He let out a startled curse.

“The enslaved witch is entangling me! You’ll not hold me down, wench!”

Moxie’s vines tightened around Bryorn’s armor, but they couldn’t break through it. That didn’t stop her. She snarled in anger and yanked her hand back. The vines yanked one of Bryron’s legs, spinning him like a top.

He let out a startled cry, then pitched back and crashed to the ground with a loud bang. Moxie’s vines wormed along his armor, their thorns clicking against the metal as they tried to find a crease.

A wave of electricity ripped out of Bryorn’s body. Vines shot up around Moxie, blocking the magic and getting fried in the process. Then she reared back and kicked Bryorn in the helm, striking it with her heel instead of the top of her foot to avoid breaking a bone.

What sounded like a bell rang out. Bryorn let out a slew of curses. Moxie kicked him again.

“Stop that!” Bryron yelled.

“This guy is seriously pissing me off,” Moxie said. “N – Vermil, take his helmet off.”

I thought I was the one fighting him.

“I’m not sure how to,” Noah said, walking up beside Moxie. He raised a wall of stone as another blast of lightning ripped out of Bryorn, blocking the magic.

“There is nothing that can be done. Fear not, wench. Deep within the recesses of your mind, I know you scream for freedom from this vile man. I will rescue you.”

“I could drop him into the ground and seal it over him,” Noah offered.

“No,” Moxie said, cracking her knuckles. “I want this one.”

“Aha!” Bryron exclaimed. “Her true personality comes out! Longing for a real–”

Moxie braced her foot against the bottom of Bryorn’s helmet, enveloping her entire leg in a thick layer of vines. Lighting ripped into her, but the vines absorbed it, getting blackened in the process.

At the same time, the red vines enveloping Bryorn’s legs yanked back. He let out a strangled scream. There was a loud crack, and the helmet pitched back slightly, revealing a tiny opening.

Moxie’s red vines raced into the opening. Bryorn’s screams grew louder. The vines pulsated, their already red hue turning darker. Noah grimaced as Bryorn writhed on the ground, thrashing helplessly.

A few seconds later, Moxie stepped back. Bryrorn laid still. A puddle of blood trickled out from his armor, then quickly disappeared as it was absorbed by the red vines covering him.

The Rune I gave her was Bleeding Forest, wasn’t it? God. What the hell do those vines do?

“You don’t want to know,” Moxie said, sending Noah a flat look and guessing his thoughts perfectly. “This guy pissed me off.”

“I could tell,” Noah said. “Pissed me off too.”

He felt the energy gathering from Bryron and rising into the air. Sunder could have probably harvested it, but Moxie had done all the work and Noah didn’t need another lightning Rune at the time – not to mention they had to keep all the magic they could for the upcoming fights, so he didn’t Sunder it.

A small amount of the energy entered Noah, but the majority of it went to Moxie.

“He was loud,” Lee said, walking over to join them and collecting her axe from the ground. “Smelled like sweat and cheese, by the way.”

“You know what? I could have guessed that,” Noah said through a grimace. “I imagine he and his brother usually fought together. That might have been a real threat. With how hard Bryorn was to hit, I get the feeling his brother focused on offense. Oh well. Sucks for them.”

“On to the next one?” Lee asked, nodding toward one of the three doors in the room they’d fallen into.

Noah drew on his tremorsense, briefly checking all the rooms around them. He shook his head, then pointed to the door to their left.

“That way. There are three people in that room, and the other ones are empty right now. I can’t feel movement anywhere else in the area, so I’m pretty sure that’s where the people we’re after are waiting.”

“Waiting?” Moxie asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s bold. Or stupid. They should have rushed us as soon as we got down here.”

“Should have,” Noah agreed. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out, though. You and Lee want to back off in case things go wrong?”

Lee and Moxie exchanged a look, then both shook their heads.

“No,” Moxie said. “We’re sticking around, at least for a little longer. There’s no reason for us to bail on you.”

Noah nodded. “Together, then. Just be careful.”

And, with that, he walked up to the door and pushed it open.

Warm candlelight spilled out, and Noah blinked. The room before him was brighter than he’d been expecting. Rows of red wax candles covered the ground and jutted out of the walls. Most of them had melted, covering most of the room in a thick, glossy layer of wax.

The only uncovered areas were walkways running through the room, all leading up to a single chair at the back end of it. An elderly man sat upon it, his fingers interlaced and a soft, welcoming smile on his face.

A young woman stood beside him. Her skin was tanned from years of working under the sun, and she couldn’t have been much older than Isabel. She held a thin blade at her side in a resting position. Its blade sat on the top of one of the candles, as if its tip held the flame rather than the wick.

Noah only spotted the other person because of his tremorsense. Standing in the back of the room, hidden in a patch of darkness untouched by the candles, was a humanoid form, a heavy clock covering the majority of their features. Unlike the other two in the room, the one at the back corner had only twitched a single time – he didn’t even look like he was breathing.

“Welcome to my home,” the old man said, extending his arms in greeting. “I had hoped that you would take the longer path, but kids are often rebellious. I can’t blame you at all. Have you found your trip enjoyable thus far?”

Oh, wonderful. He’s completely off his rocker. It might be a good idea to fish for some information here. Something about these guys puts me on edge.

“Depends on your definition of wonderful,” Noah said. “Do you make it a habit of trying to kill innocent people?”

“Absolutely not. I would never forgive myself if I hurt someone that did not need hurting.” The old man sounded so sincere that Noah almost believed him. “But I am being impolite. I must introduce myself. My name is Gentil.”

“I wish I could say it was a pleasure. I take it that you already know who we are?”

Gentil’s eyebrows rose. “A wonderful guess! Yes, I do. You are Vermil Linwick. Your companion is Moxie Torrin, and the girl with the lovely axe is from neither family. How did you know?”

Because it’s always the weird bastards that randomly have all the information than they shouldn’t. It’s not like we’ve been hiding our identities that much, though.

“Well, Moxie’s wearing a badge, and I imagine some word has spread through some channel or another.” Noah shrugged. “You seem like a pretty reasonable guy, though. What’s the point of doing all this?”

“Your friend murdered one of my men in cold blood.” Gentil shook his head, clicking his tongue in admonishment. “That is not an insult I take lightly. Their lives are not hers to take. It was a great tragedy. He will be missed and remembered.”

If he’s missed, why didn’t you use his name instead of just calling him ‘he’?

“He stabbed me first,” Lee put in. “I just wanted some food.”

To Noah’s surprise, Gentil’s expression flashed with surprise. “He did what?”

“He stabbed me,” Lee repeated. “Tried to, at least. So I stabbed him back with his own dagger. It wasn’t that hard, though. I didn’t think I killed him.”

“We’ve also killed about… ten or twenty of your people so far?” Noah said, scratching the side of his head. “That’s kind of on you, though. We wouldn’t be here if you weren’t going around trying to stab people in dark alleyways.”

Gentil’s brow creased in anger. He turned toward the impossibly still man in the corner of the room.

“Is this true?”

There was no response. Gentil turned back to face Noah, his hands tightening around the armrests of his chair.

“A horrible tragedy. It seems that we may have come into conflict entirely due to what I am learning to be a very flawed information system. Will you forgive me?”

This guy is seriously off his rocker. I don’t believe this apology for an instant. We just killed a bunch of his people on top of that. Does he not care about them at all?

“Well, I’d say we’re even because of…” Noah nodded over his shoulder. “You know. All the people you had in the way.”

“Ah, yes. I hope they provided sufficient entertainment, Miss Torrin.”

“They didn’t. I hated them,” Moxie said, her voice flat.

Gentil looked like he’d been physically struck. His face fell. “Oh. I see. I had hoped you would have been entertained. I ensured that every room would pose a slightly increasing challenge so you could have an exciting trip down.”

You intentionally spaced your people out so we’d mow through them one group at a time? Holy shit. Are these people or toys?

“Why Moxie specifically?” Noah asked, almost not wanting to know the answer but too curious to stop now.

“You see, our initial meeting may have been pure chance, but I actually have an appointment with Miss Torrin,” Gentil said, straightening back up in his chair. His expression returned to the kind smile in a blink of an instant – far too fast for any real emotional change. “She has some people that are very interested in meeting with her.”

“And if I don’t want to meet them?”

“Then that would make them very sad,” Gentil said, the smile fading away from his face. “And I hate disappointing people. I am afraid I must insist.”

“Then I must decline,” Moxie said. “Now what?”

“Looks like we’ve struck an impasse,” Noah drawled, starting to draw energy from Natural Disaster. “Anyone ever teach you that no means no?”

“I’ll have to ask for your forgiveness in the afterlife,” Gentil said, flicking his fingers. “You did take the lives of a few of my men. That should equal the balances for your own, yes? Alexandra, Assistant, go. Remove the intruders from our home – and make sure you leave Miss Torrin alive.”

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