“It helps if you close your eyes,” Rollar suggested. “At least, that’s how I did it when I first used the helm.”
I closed my eyes, and as Rollar had said, it did help. Suddenly, the thread grew brighter and more solid, as if my “guest” had begun to understand a little of my language, and I some of his. To speak would likely be useless. A better option would be simply to think on a more subconscious level about what I wanted the rat to do.
I focused my thoughts on the object of power hidden somewhere in the labyrinth. Sure enough, I sensed that my new furry friend was moving. I got the sense that he was trying to say, “I’m doing what you asked me to” but didn’t know how to put this sentiment into a language that we could both understand. I tried to communicate back to him–without directly communicating, which was weird to say the least–that this was okay. I just needed that object. I could only hope that it was small enough for a rat to carry or drag.
He moved through the labyrinth, ducked around corners, scrambled through small gaps, climbed up broken walls, and scurried down fallen pillars. I also got the sense that he was an older rat, one who knew the layout of the labyrinth well. He also seemed to know exactly what I was looking for.
Eventually, I received a garbled message—if that was what I could call it—that he had the object. I asked him in vague thoughts to bring it to me. He didn’t seem to think that this would be difficult, so whatever the object was, it was pretty small.
“Is it working?” Rami asked.
“Shh, don’t bother him,” Rollar said. “What he’s doing requires concentration, trust me on that.”
I sensed the rat returning, dragging the object of power with it. I gave it a sense of where I was, giving the glowing cord of light a gentle tug. Soon, I heard the sound of scurrying paws and clinking metal getting closer. The rat scrambled up the steps, then squeezed itself out of the hole to emerge at our feet, which made Elyse jump with fright and Rami recoil with disgust. The rat ignored them, turned, and dragged a silver wrist-mounted crossbow out of the hole. I was somewhat surprised by the rat’s strength, but it was probably the largest of its kind I had ever seen. Attached to the crossbow was a quiver of little bolts, barely larger than darts.
“The string has rotted away,” Rollar said, “but I can easily get my archers to fashion one that will fit it.”
It was a beautifully made weapon; indeed, it was a work of art, wrought by a master craftsman. The silver limbs were made to look like the boughs of an oak tree, complete with twigs and leaves branching off them, while the body of the crossbow looked like the trunk. It had an intricate mechanism by which it could be fired and reloaded automatically. A pretty nifty little item indeed.
“What does it do… besides the obvious?” Rami asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It has some magical power, I can sense that much. What the exact magical properties are though, I have no idea. Rollar?”
He simply shrugged. “All I know is where the temples and items are located, not what they are or what they can do.”
“Isu would probably know,” Elyse said. “But yet again, she’s gone off on her own, doing Lord knows what.”
“Rollar, let’s get a new string on this crossbow and see what it can do.” I reached down and gave the rat a scratch behind his ears, which he seemed to enjoy, then took off the helm. “Go on, little buddy,” I said to him. “You’re free to go now. Thanks for the help.”
Even though I was no longer wearing the helm, the rat seemed to grasp what I was saying. He bobbed his head, then turned and scurried back down the hole to rejoin his friends in the labyrinth.
We crawled out of the wrecked temple and ate a quick dinner while Rollar ordered his archers to make a string for my newest weapon. After we had eaten, one of the archers brought the weapon to me.
“It’s ready.” He handed the crossbow to me, “good as new.”
“Thanks,” I said.
I strapped it onto my right wrist and saw that the archer had fixed the loading mechanism as well. The bolts were held in a belt that circled my wrist. Each time I would fire a shot, the belt would pull through the crossbow, reloading another bolt into it and cocking the string and trigger mechanism. This was a perfect little device for an assassin.
Now, I just needed to find out what sort of magic it was imbued with.
“Let’s go shoot some shit,” I said to my companions.
“My archers have set up a shooting range just outside the camp,” Rollar said. “If you’d like to try it out there, you should be able to see the targets clearly enough in the moonlight.”
“I was thinking of something more interesting than just archery targets,” I said. “We need a variety of materials… and test subjects.”
“Hey, you’ve already killed enough of my troops for one night,” Rollar said warily.
“I wasn’t planning on killing any more of your men. I have skeletons who are expendable. I want to try these bolts on a variety of materials too. Get some spare helms, some leather armor… some wooden shields too. We’ll see what it does to them.”
We set up these targets, and I commanded a few of my skeletons to line up as well. I decided to try to shoot a wooden shield first. I cocked the crossbow, which I’d only need to do once until all the bolts had
