“We’ve found it,” he confirmed. “The tunnel up ahead opens out into a large cavern. There’s a handful of small tents spread out, and a building being constructed in the middle. I could spot maybe six or seven Drow, all arguing about the spider that went missing; one of them is on the floor with a dagger in its back. Looks like they don’t like to share.” He gave off a low thrum of amusement.
“What about the boss; what about Oracle?!” I asked quickly, and he shook his head.
“Can’t see it anywhere. I’d assume it’s either not here, or it’s inside the building. There’s no sign of Oracle, as far as I can see. The present Drow appear to be regular soldiers, mainly armed with swords and shields, a few with bows. They’re all gathered around a cook fire in the middle of the cavern."
"There are piles of equipment and loot dumped against the walls, and I’d guess that they’re what remains of the caravans that were taken.”
He paused, then shook his head. “There’s also a cage against the far wall. A handful of prisoners are in it, with one being stripped of its skin on a table nearby.”
I froze, watching Bane, shock filling me as I considered what he’d just said.
“They’re alive, or at least they were recently, judging by the blood. It’s still flowing, but I think they’re unconscious. It might be a mercy to kill them.”
“No,” I said straight away. “We’re not killing someone that we might be able to save. Anything else you can tell me?” I asked, and he shook his head. “Fine, then; this is how it’s going to go down. Bane, you’re the stealthiest motherfucker amongst us. Think you can get into the cavern and hide?” I asked him and he nodded. “Great. Your job… your only job, is the boss. I’m going to make an explosive spell; it’ll be a big one, and I’m going to chuck it at the group that’s standing together, see if I can take them all out. Arrin, you be ready with a fuckload of Magic Missiles, and target anyone who looks like they might be trouble after that goes off but stay behind me with the others. Lydia, Barrett, you’re with me. We’re going to spread out in the mouth of the cavern; nobody gets past us. Cam, Jian, you’re right behind us, you support us, striking when we can’t, and if we get injured, you step up and take our places. There’s only seven of them, but I don’t doubt that others will come running once the fight starts. Miren, Stephanos…I want you ready with the poisoned arrows."
"Get the boss when it appears. This is its home, so I don’t think it’ll be far away. Any questions?” Lydia immediately spoke up.
“What about the prisoners?” She asked, and I shook my head.
“We deal with them once we’ve killed the Drow. Trying to protect them sooner is just putting us and them at more risk.” I knew my crew wasn’t happy, but they couldn’t argue with my logic. “Time to nut up or shut up,” I said, hefting my naginata, before passing it to Lydia. “I’m gonna need both hands for this, so do me a favor and hold that for me, okay?” She nodded.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, deciding at the last minute that if I was going to try to take out the entire group, this was going to need to be a beast of a spell.
I relaxed the walls I’d built around my anger, relaxing the forced control I’d been exerting. I thought about what they’d done. They’d taken Oracle, they’d taken someone I loved, and I did love her, I admitted that to myself now.
They’d taken her from me, they’d put everything I had at risk, they’d endangered my people, and now they stood between me and Tommy. They were scum, and they deserved everything I was going to bring to them.
I felt him stirring. Amon. As always, my extremes of emotion brought him out. He’d been watching, waiting, and now he was ready. I felt it, felt the bloodlust rising from him, fueled by the fury that one of his citizens had been taken, harmed.
I also knew Amon better now, and I understood what I hadn’t before.
He wasn’t just the last remnants of a long dead Emperor, my ancestor. He wasn’t just a ghost of a ghost that demanded I protect the weak and stand as their shield.
No, he was a fucking animal in his own right, a monster amongst monsters. The only thing that he’d ever feared was what he would truly become if he went all out and gave in to his darker side.
He’d instead made a set of rules, the rules that governed the Empire, and when something broke those rules, he could let go of the reins and fucking murder everything that crossed him.
He was a man who spent his life preventing the fight, ruling carefully and justly, but secretly lusting for war.
Now he was in my mind, and my anger was feeding his.
I could feel him as he made little suggestions, tweaking my understanding of the Firebolt spell that I’d already started to cast. I was planning on using the unstable Firebolt spell I’d made up before, but that wasn’t going to be enough, I realized. It wasn’t enough because that might leave some of them alive.
I kept building it as I sneaked along, getting to the Cavern entrance, and looking inside. The original seven Drow had shifted; five of them were still hanging around the corpse of the sixth, while the seventh had moved over to the half-skinned person on the table, and they were sharpening their blades, getting ready to go again.
The five Drow that stood near the fire were finishing off their snack and talking, laughing as one of
