Dungeon Bringer 2 Page 19

  Refineries deposit their ka in the dungeon lord's core at sunset each day.

  <<<>>>

  “Neat,” Zillah said as she ambled out of the temple. “These are pretty. How much damage do they cause?”

  “None,” Kezakazek groused. She was right behind Zillah, glowering like a banshee about to shriek. “Though if I was advanced...”

  “I’ll make you a deal,” I said to preempt the drow’s festival of rage. “When this refinery has generated ten motes of ka, I’ll spend it all on a boost for you.”

  “Really?” Kezakazek asked. “Because if you’re teasing me, I’m going to craft a magical vagina dentata that supernaturally implants itself into one of your guardians at random. Then one night—”

  “I get it,” I said. “I pinky-promise that you get the first ten ka out of this refinery for any ability I can purchase.”

  Nephket emerged from the temple, cleared her throat, and flicked her head toward the passage behind her.

  “I see you’ve already found the temple,” Delsinia said. “It was meant for the aniset, but they never arrived...”

  A flash of pain crossed the soul taker’s face but vanished before it could take root.

  “In any case,” she continued, “you should feel free to use it as you see fit.”

  Rathokhetra’s thoughts ground like stones inside my head. He felt closer now, nearer to the surface of my mind. There was a strength to the old monster that I hadn’t felt before, as if by reclaiming more and more of his old territory, I was making him more powerful.

  More real.

  I did not like that at all.

  To banish that grim specter from my thoughts, I strode across the refinery and into the temple. The wahket sat in the pews, their hands clasped in their laps and their eyes closed as they regained their strength from our struggles of the day. Surprisingly, the temple had not changed at all when I took over the dungeon.

  I wasn’t sure whether I could claim the temple, since it wasn’t on my Tablet of Engineering, but I’d never know if I didn’t try. Before any second thoughts could stop me, I reached out and exerted my claim over the temple.

  <<<>>>

  TEMPLE OF WORSHIP

  Cost: 20 motes of ka

  Limit: 1 per core

  Spawn: No

  Combinable: No

  Type: Divine

  Description: The Temple of Worship allows the dungeon lord to convert up to ten non-guardian, intelligent creatures into worshipers per dungeon level. This conversion requires a ceremony conducted by a religious leader, and all creatures to be converted must be willing participants.

  At the ceremony's end, the worshipers gain an affinity for the dungeon lord. They can now see, touch, and hear the dungeon lord, even without the use of The Dungeon's Visage, The Dungeon Speaks, or other abilities.

  In addition, all worshipers now gain experience points for killing monsters or raiders inside the confines of their dungeon. This allows these worshipers to gain levels and become stronger over time, just as raiders do.

  Worshipers must continue to gather in the temple for a ceremony at least once per week. If they attend ceremonies at least three times per week, they gain a ten percent bonus to all experience points gained. If they attend a ceremony for five consecutive days, they gain a morale bonus to all attacks and damage for the next week.

  <<<>>>

  Holy shit, it had actually worked. It cost me twenty ka, but it was worth it to give Nephket this gift and to turn the wahket into warriors with much greater potential.

  A bright light flashed through the temple and interrupted my thoughts. The stained glass windows underwent a sudden and shocking transformation. The images of the glass wahket transformed until all of the windows were identical.

  I saw myself in each of them and felt a strange twinge inside my head, like the first trembling wave of a migraine.

  “Finally,” Rathokhetra’s voice crackled in my thoughts like distant thunder. “At last, I am free. May I suggest-—”

  “I’m going to need you to fuck off,” I thought at the old tyrant. His sudden strength and assertiveness had rattled me, and I did not want to hear his voice any longer. “When I want to hear from you, I’ll rattle your cage.”

  “As you wish, dungeon lord,” Rathokhetra said. His voice was so laden with sarcasm the words felt oily against my thoughts. “But you and I are one, now and forever. Best not to forget that.”

  Great. That’s just what I fucking needed.

  Nephket bounced into the temple and threw herself onto my back. She wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. She showered the left side of my face with kisses; each one smacked so loudly I was sure I’d gone deaf in that ear.

  “Thank you,” she squealed and vaulted off me. She was halfway down the aisle to the pulpit before she pulled herself together and her scamper became a stately, dignified walk. When she reached the front of the temple, she took her place behind the lectern and clasped its edges with both hands. She held on tightly as if afraid the pulpit would vanish from her grasp if she shifted her attention from it for even a moment. And then, when she was sure this was all real and she had nothing to lose, she spoke.

  “My sisters,” she said. The exhausted wahket stiffened in their seats and leaned forward as they picked up on the intensity in Nephket’s voice. “After so long, the time is finally at hand.”

  An audible gasp ran through the crowd, and I eased back to the temple’s entrance. It didn’t seem right for me to eavesdrop on this religious event even if it was tied to me.

  Kezakazek and Zillah waited in the refinery chamber with Delsinia.

  “Ugh, church,” Zillah said. She elbowed me in the ribs and continued, “How does it feel?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Having people pray to you,” she said. “Is it annoying? Do you have to answer them?”

  “Knock it off,” I chided her. “I don’t know how I feel about it. But it’s serious business for the wahket. Let’s respect that.”

  “Fine,” Zillah said. “But you know what this means, right?”

  I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Apparently, you’re going to tell me,” I said.

  “It means you’ll be real to all of them,” she said. Her tail looped around my right ankle and then wormed its way up higher until the stinger’s tip rested on the inside of my thigh. “They’ll be able to touch you. And you’ll be able to—”

  “You’re going to need a bigger bed,” Kezakazek said with a smirk.

  “Many dungeon lords have dozens of wives,” Delsinia confirmed. “Their children are often gifted with abilities that far surpass mere mortals, and they make excellent guardians. Though the more ambitious ones must be watched closely and culled before they can pose a threat to their dungeon lord.”

  That gave me pause.

  “Wait, I thought guardians couldn’t turn against their dungeon lords,” I said. “I thought they were sworn to serve and protect, no matter what.”

  Delsinia smiled and stroked my cheek with the back of her hand. The scales that covered the outside of her forearm also provided armor to her knuckles, and they were smooth and cool where they caressed my skin.

  “You have much to learn, my love,” she said. “Some of which I will enjoy teaching you once again. What you believe is mostly correct, though there have been guardians in the past who have freed themselves when their resentment of their dungeon lord sharpened their hatred into an appropriate tool. Some who have mastered certain arcane arts have also slipped the bonds of their guardianship. And others have been freed by jealous rivals. Your guardians are your guardians.

  “Until they are not.”

  Both Zillah and Kezakazek ducked their eyes away from my gaze while Delsinia spoke. That didn’t sit well with me, and when this was all over, we were going to have a little chat. Here I was, thinking I could trust my guardians completely, and Delsinia came along to throw a wren
ch into the works.

  The murmurs from the temple stopped for a moment, and a new sound emanated from the sanctuary after the silence. It was soft at first, a faint melodious whisper that grew in strength with every passing moment. Harmonies separated themselves from the melody and then wound their way through an intricate, hypnotic tune.

  There were words, but despite my dungeon lord senses I couldn’t quite understand them. The syllables tugged at my thoughts and stitched themselves through the beats of my heart, and a growing sense of pride anchored itself in my chest. I’d sworn to protect the wahket from the moment I’d arrived on Soketra, and I’d done my level best to fulfill that vow. But the bond the cat women forged with me in that moment went beyond a simple promise.

  The ties between us became stronger than any chain, more powerful than any spell. They were no longer just my people to protect, they were a part of me as surely as my own arms or legs.

  “Whoa,” Zillah said. “I felt that.”

  “We all did,” Delsinia confirmed. “I have only experienced this event once before, and I never thought to again. It makes quite an impression.”

  Delsinia was right about whatever this was leaving a mark. Waves of emotion pounded against my heart. I felt the adulation of the wahket, but also a great sense of awe tinged with fear. After so many centuries apart, the wahket had reunited with their god, and they were ecstatic.

  Honestly, so was I. For a handful of heartbeats, I was so overwhelmed by the powerful emotions that all I could do was bask in them.

  “My lord,” Nephket said as she exited the temple. She was radiant in her joy. Streams of golden light poured from her like rivulets of water off an exquisite statue. She strode toward me with smooth, purposeful strides, and her tail cut through the air behind her like a whip.

  The wahket followed their priestess, their heads held high and their eyes alight with pride and conviction.

  “I think that’s our cue,” Zillah said to Kezakazek and Delsinia. She took the two of them by the hands and led them out of the refinery chamber. “We’ll see you later, Clay.”

  There was a wistful tone to Zillah’s voice, as if she didn’t really want to leave but knew better than to stick around.

  Nephket didn’t say anything when the other guardians left. All of her attention was fixated on me, and there was no room in her world for anything else. She didn’t stop until her body was flattened against mine and her arms were wrapped around my shoulders. Her skin was fever hot against mine, and the look in her eyes was more seductive than anything I’d ever seen before.

  “We are yours,” she whispered.

  As if on cue, the rest of the wahket surrounded us. Warm hands caressed my back, stroked the backs of my legs, twined in my hair, and traced the line of my jaw. Dexterous fingers tugged my clothes loose and freed Nephket from her armor. The air rang with the sound of chain mail falling to the floor, and the press of bodies around me drowned all of my thoughts under a crashing sensual wave.

  Nephket’s arms tightened around my neck as she pulled herself up to me and hooked her legs around my waist. Her mouth closed over mine and her tongue darted across my lips like a wisp of flame in search of fuel. She lowered herself onto me, threw her head back, and cried out. The wahket raised their voices in answer and pressed in around us so tightly I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.

  Time vanished in that Möbius strip of flesh and desire, and the wahket gave more to me, and demanded more from me, than I’d imagined possible.

  “The drow will not wait for you to sate your appetites,” Rathokhetra muttered at the back of my thoughts.

  “Fuck. Off.”

  As if they’d sensed my distraction, the wahket became more insistent with their affections. I drowned in their love and couldn’t imagine a better way to go out than that.

  And that’s what it feels like when the wahket pray to you.

  Chapter 12: Forerunners

  AT SOME POINT DURING the festivities, the wahket and I moved back to the core room. With a wave of my hand I covered that chamber’s floor with a springy mattress that the wahket’s claws promptly destroyed. I was really, really glad I hadn’t introduced them to the novelty of a waterbed. The whole place would have been flooded.

  We still had most of an hour to go before sunset when the wahket ran out of steam. Nephket curled up near the core, and the wahket spiraled out around her to cover the rest of the tattered mattress.

  Apparently Zillah and Kezakazek had joined us at some point, though I honestly could not remember when that had happened. The scorpion queen and dark elf spooned near the outer edge of the mattress, and several of the wahket had curled up around them.

  The only member of my merry band who hadn’t participated in the fun was Delsinia, who was nowhere in sight. I closed my eyes and found her in the dungeon, which took the edge off my paranoia.

  I’d lost myself in the moment with the wahket, an issue that troubled me. As a dungeon lord, I had all kinds of cool powers to play with, and I was tougher than any ten regular men combined.

  Unfortunately, I was also subject to losing time when my emotions or memories were involved, and that worried me. Yet another problem to add to my list of shit to investigate when I didn’t have murderers breathing down my neck.

  I slipped out of a tangle of limbs, and Nephket reached out for me in her sleep. I caught her fingers in mine, kissed the backs of her knuckles, and then lowered her hand onto the hip of a nearby wahket. A faint smile crossed my familiar’s lips, and she slid into the embrace of a dream.

  Before any of my worshipers could stir from their catnaps, I left the core chamber and headed for the temple to check on Delsinia. Her absence didn’t worry me by itself, but combined with all her other recent troubles it gave me cause for concern.

  Delsinia sat in the front pew, her eyes focused on the nearest stained glass window. The golden light that poured through it splashed across her face and she basked in its warmth with her eyes closed.

  I cleared my throat to get her attention without startling her. She opened her eyes and turned in her seat to face me where I stood at the back of the temple.

  “Hanging in there?” I asked her.

  Delsinia started to speak but furrowed her brow and bit down on her words before they could escape. She took a deep, shuddering sigh, and then continued.

  “I am well,” she said. “All things considered.”

  The soul taker’s state of mind seemed too fragile to intrude upon, but I couldn’t resist the urge to probe for evidence of any outside force. The drow were sneaky, and I wouldn’t put it past them to hide their hold on Delsinia even after they’d reasserted it. I found nothing, though, which was a huge relief.

  I made my way down the aisle and took a seat on the raised platform. We were only a couple of feet apart, but the separation between us felt miles wide. Delsinia had suffered, was still suffering, and in some ways the person I had once been was at the root of that pain. I wanted to pull the soul taker out of the darkness that clung to her like a rain-soaked cloak, but I needed to know more about what had happened before we could take that journey together. For now, I’d have to satisfy myself with the one thing I needed most from Delsinia.

  “I know this is a sore subject,” I said. “But I need you to tell me about the drow.”

  “They found me three years ago,” Delsinia said. “Kozerek claimed he was guided here, but he would never say who or what had guided him.”

  Holy shit, I thought. I’d believed the drow had something to do with the raiders, but they’d been here much longer than Kezakazek’s former guild.

  “Why?” I asked. “If they could find you, they could have found my dungeon as well. And it was a hell of a lot less protected than your place until very recently.”

  “The thoughts of a dark elf are always a mystery,” she said. “The drow crowed about how he had added me to his collection. He tortured me and made me drain my ka into a reservoir he brought to me each week, but
other than that the drow wanted nothing to do with me. They posted guards to watch over my dungeon but seemed uninterested in further exploration.”

  That was strange. As far as I knew, which admittedly wasn’t very far at all, only dungeon lords had any use for ka. What the hell was the drow up to?

  “But if you had a ka refinery all this time, it would have given you hundreds, maybe thousands, of motes of ka,” I said. “Why wasn’t your dungeon much more powerful than the drow could deal with?”

  A single tear slid down Delsinia’s cheek as she struggled to get the words out.

  “I,” she started, then let out a huge sigh. “I saved all of it. The geas locked away my ability to expand my dungeon or advance, no matter how much ka I gathered.”

  Rathokhetra’s thoughts churned in the back of my mind, a mixture of shame and rage that gave me a headache. The fucker had hidden his girlfriend down here in the dark depths of the Great Below with a bunch of undead and no way to defend herself against a serious threat. She’d been his bank, a living repository of ka that he could reap when he returned.

  If Rathokhetra hadn’t been such a shithead, none of this mess would be hanging over my head. His paranoia and possessiveness had screwed everything up.

  “Fuck,” I spat. “I’m sorry, Delsinia. That wasn’t me, but I’m still sorry this happened to you.”

  “I am sorry as well,” she said. “Had I been stronger, Kozerek would not have been able to enslave me. His forces would never have encroached on your territory. Perhaps, in time, we would have discovered one another again. Our reunion would have marked the dawn of a new age. All that ka. All that power. We could have changed the world. Now, though, I fear we have come together only to be destroyed.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s how this story ends,” I said with a smile I had to force into place. “Kozerek knows we’re here, but I bet he doesn’t know the whole story. Show me where he came from, and I’ll see what we can do to fuck up his plans.”

  “You do not know what he is capable of,” Delsinia said. “He is not merely a wizard. What he did to me was an abomination. If he could place the chain around my neck, then no one is safe, my love.”