His staff came overhead as he readied for a powerful attack. The weapon came down, but he pulled it to a quick halt.
He’s not even attempting to fight. He just killed someone he knew. I can’t do this to him.
Atlas lowered the staff and backed away from him. The dwarf remained in his place and stared at the dead body of the other marksman. Atlas decided he couldn’t be completely careless, so he addressed a few issues. First off was his health. While not critically dangerous, 75 health remaining wasn’t something he was comfortable with.
Two casts of Nurture boosted him back up to 129, while a cast of Harmony allowed his health to trickle back to full. This set him back 50 mana, putting him at 105 mana with the small amount he’d regenerated since the fighting started.
He considered looting the dead marksman but thought it might rile up the still living dwarf. Instead, he calmly walked over and picked up their muskets. He dropped them into his bag and walked toward the door. Knowing he couldn’t just rely on chance, he spent a little more mana and cast Entangle on the living marksman. The vines wrapped around the kneeling man and cradled him in place.
Confident the situation wouldn’t backfire, he focused on the door. It refused to open as he tugged on it, so he pulled out the key he’d found and inserted it into the door. A soft click sounded as he turned the key and pushed the door open with ease.
Inside was a large room, divided into four sections by metal bars. The front looked like a spot for the guards, and a table with two chairs sat in the space. Behind that sat three areas that appeared to be the actual cells.
Two of them were empty, but the one in the middle contained a scrawny looking young woman. Dirty clothes with spots of dried blood covered her lithe frame. Disheveled brown hair cascaded down and framed her face.
Must be from the struggle when they captured her.
When he was a couple of steps from the cell, the woman looked up at him. Lines streaked through the dirt caked on her face from the tears she’d shed. At the sight of him, she froze. Her eyes narrowed as she looked him over.
“You’re not one of them, are you?”
Atlas smiled, trying to help keep her calm, “No, I’m Atlas, the Master of the Wood of Nirithan. Your sister reported bandits had abducted you and I’ve come to save you.”
She looked around the room and even stood up and stepped to the side to peer past him.
“You came by yourself? You didn’t bring a party to help?”
“I’m here by myself,” Atlas affirmed with a nod, “I’m going to get you out of here and back to your sister. Although, your sister was so frantic I don’t recall her giving me your name.”
She stood in silence for a few moments, her mind trying to process that he’d truly infiltrated this place alone, before she finally answered.
“I’m Penny.”
“Good to meet you Penny, although I wish it was under better circumstances. I need you to come with me and do as I tell you so we can get out of here. Think you can do that?”
The woman’s face changed into a look of resolve, and Atlas finally noticed how young she was. She couldn’t be much older than eighteen.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“I’m going to unlock this door,” he said as he walked over and inserted the key into the cell door, “and we are going to leave this place and get you home.”
“That’s not a plan! Have you ever done this before? Seems like a poor rescue attempt.” She said with a frown.
“Not saying I disagree with you, but time was of the essence. Our exit depends on how many dwarves are blocking the way. Just do as I say and I’ll get you out.”
She still looked skeptical about his complete lack of an actual plan. Truth be told, Atlas wasn’t very confident either, but he couldn’t let her know that. Eventually, she sighed and relented, “Okay, let’s go then.”
Atlas led the way out of the room and spotted the dwarf from earlier still on his knees. His expression was vacant, and he hadn’t moved since their fight. They continued past and hurried to the stairs.
Metal clattered on stone below them and the thump of heavy boots filled the stairwell.
“So, Master of the Wood, now what?” Penny asked with sarcasm lacing her voice.
“Can it! I told you I’ll get us out,” Atlas huffed at her. He almost felt bad about the response. She’d been a captive for a while, but her attitude was already grating on his nerves.
The noise grew closer as he struggled with the situation.
What am I going to do? I can’t possibly fight them all. I also have to protect Penny. It’d be nice if we could just plow through them and make a break for it outside…
A smile spread over his face as an idea came to mind, and he turned to Penny, “I’m going to charge down these stairs and I need you to stay as close to me as you can. We are going to trample right through the dwarves and get out of the building. Once outside, we’re going to make a break for the city.”
“How are you going to charge through a bunch of dwarves? I know they’re short of stature, but let’s not kid ourselves. You’re not exactly a mountain of muscle.”
“Oh, that’s easy. I’ll just get a lot bigger,” Atlas told her.
Her confused expression was comical, and Atlas turned to face down the stairs. He activated his Dire Bear transformation spell and the familiar glow of power erupted from his body. Fur sprouted down his back and spread to his limbs. His face elongated bones popped as they shifted to his new size. He fell to all fours, and he heard Penny squeal in surprise. With the
