Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 14 I Want Its Head.

Isaac awoke to the sound of metal being slowly dragged against the stone floor. His eyes flew open and shadows coalesced in them so he could see. His eyes scanned the tunnel and settled on Claus’ gauntlet slowly moving like the big man was trying to get his hand under his shoulder to stand.

Claus grunted, low and deep like the planet itself was moving. He was still face down with Aria’s staff down his back and his armor tossed about. He turned his head and squinted his eyes. He saw Isaac leaning against the fall cradling his arm.

The mage smiled at his once again living companion and nodded towards him. “Back from the dead I see. How’s the other side? Did Zei and Rei say hi?”

The warrior inclined his head towards Aria who was still unconscious face on the ground, butt in the air. “She passed out right after fighting off the reaper for you. That doesn’t look comfortable.” Isaac replied to Claus’ unspoken question.

“Why stick?” Claus asked and looked back at Isaac.

“She had to keep your gear from burning you back to death.” Isaac stated matter of factly. Claus just nodded and closed his eyes. Isaac closed his as well.

The mage focused on his mana and guided up towards his dislocated shoulder and down his arm as well as the part of his chest that the arm was touching. He pushed shadow out these places and tried to wrap it around his injury and his arm. He then tried to solidify it. He knew that shadows had some amount of substance to them. What he wanted was not a cloud that he could put his hand through but a solid object that could withstand some amount of force.

He felt the shadow mana trying to do as he asked but it was not an easy task. Shadow by its nature was easily dispersed and thus weak, even if it was easy to control. Slowly but surely he felt the shadows solidify. He had to keep increasing the amount of mana he poured out especially under his arm.

‘Why’s my arm gotta be so damn heavy?’ He thought. Eventually the shadows were strong enough to at least hold his arm in place. He was pushing up against his new equilibrium. He was taking in almost as much mana as his new sling required to stay effective. He opened his eyes and saw Claus watching him.

“Sling?” The larger man asked.

“Yeah.” Isaac said and then with a grunt got to his feet. “Let me help you with your stick problem.” Isaac walked over to Claus on unsteady feet. His legs were weak as his body was diverting his strength towards healing his injuries and not his weakened muscles. He felt like he bruised his rib, that Aria had recently healed, from his pummel hitting him when the monster bucked him away.

Isaac knelt down by Claus and felt the back of his gambeson. Noting that it was cold he nodded and then grabbed the top of the staff. He slowly pulled it out. Claus let out a long, low, pained grunt as Isaac pulled it out. “Burn on your back?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah.” Claus responded and then slowly got to his feet. “Thanks.” He took off his gauntlets and pauldrons, setting them down carefully on the ground so as to not make too much noise. He then dropped his gambeson on the ground with a soft thud. Isaac in the meantime had gone and grabbed a bed roll and was waiting for Claus to finish.

Claus turned to Isaac and Isaac pointed the bed roll at him then nodded towards Aria. “At least one of us should sleep comfortably.” Isaac said and Claus took the bedroll. Nodding Claus laid out the bed roll. He gently picked up Aria and set her on the soft, cushioned, blanket. He stood back up and looked at Isaac.

“What happened?” Claus asked.

Isaac told Claus exactly what happened after he was grabbed by the Chimera’s six tendrils. Once he was done Claus had a few words to say. “Got lucky.’ He said and nodded. Then he turned towards the Chimera’s corpse. “Bad fight. Not many of those.”

Isaac raised his eyebrow. “Because you died?” Claus turned back to him and nodded towards the semi crushed bundle that was Chris, the petrified scout. “Oh. Yeah. We should wait until Aria heals my arm. It’s dislocated.”

Claus nodded and leaned in to look at Isaac’s shoulder. “Only dislocated?” He asked.

“Yeah. I think I’d know if it was broken. The muscles and tendons still feel like they are in one piece. It just needs put back in place and some healing and I’ll be good to go.” Isaac explained.

Claus looked Isaac in the eyes then said: “I’ll do it.” Isaac swallowed and then after a brief moment of thought he nodded his agreement. What followed was Isaac covering his face in shadows to hide the yell of pain from the big man putting the ball back into Isaacs dislocated ball and socket joint.

After Isaac and Claus got a drink and some jerky they just sat together for a little while in silence. “Got anything to do other than stare into the dark?” Isaac asked, getting bored and trying to take his mind off the pain. His arm was back in a sling to let his shoulder rest as much as possible.

Claus dug a pair of decks of cards out of his pack and handed one of them to Isaac. “I’ll teach. Sit.” The warrior said and sat cross legged on the ground. Isaac joined him and after a while he got the game down.

Each of the cards had a wizard spell on it and every turn they’d get another mana to spend to cast them. Whoever dealt enough damage to the other first would win. There were counterspells and fireballs but Isaac’s favorite was invisibility. It prevented Claus from targeting him with most spells and let Isaac gain mana for a few turns so he could hit Claus with a larger spell. Their decks were shuffled so what spells they had in their hand to play was different every time.

Eventually the two were interrupted by a high pitched groan from a few feet away. Aria went to sit up and immediately grabbed her head in pain. “Where am I? Why is it so dark? I can barely see my hand right in front of me.” She grumbled out drearily. “Claus, can you light a torch?”

“Claus?!” She bolted upright and looked around frantically. Her gaze caught her large friend sitting across from Isaac playing cards as if nothing had happened. Tears came to her eyes and she went to take a step. She stumbled as her head was assaulted with pain.

Through her pounding head she got out her prayer of healing and soon her mind cleared. Claus and Isaac were still playing their game, content to let her figure herself out. She glanced back at her bedroll. “Did you guys put me there?” She asked.

“Claus did. Good morning she who fights death itself.” Isaac said and tossed down a firebolt card. Claus turned his twelve sided die down to nine and then tossed down his own. “Not to sound needy or anything but Claus and I are still a little fucked up.”

She looked at him, then to his sling, then to the fresh burn on Claus’ back and nodded. She swallowed. “I’m just glad you’re alive” She said and knelt down behind Claus. The big man just nodded. Isaac could see his smile even before Aria started healing him. Isaac couldn’t help but smile too.

After they were all healed up Aria was back down to half of her mana. “Now that we three are in one piece it’s time for something I’ve been dreading.” She said as she turned towards Chris. “Let’s get him out and see how bad the damage is. Right now my only hope is that enough of him is still together to unpetrify.”

They slowly dug through the rubble and pulled out a mostly intact life-like statue of a human male no older than eighteen. His legs were broken however. His right leg was crushed at the knee and his left at the shin. Aria looked down at him with a frown.

“With a ton of healing and being unpetrified he’ll live. Unfortunately he will never walk again. Not unless his family can come up with a literal mound of gold to pay for his limbs to be regrown.” She said and shook her head. “In all likelihood he’ll never adventure again even if we can get him the whole way back to town without him braking further.”

Isaac just stared at the boy for a few moments. ‘What if I had looked into the basilisk's eye while it was active? Would I just be a broken statue somewhere?’ The thought was sobering. There were some fights not even Isaac would go looking for. He decided that he didn’t like anything that could kill him just by looking at him. Those things needed to be stabbed in the back as often as possible.

The party got something to eat and packed up. Claus once again had his armor on and Isaac retrieved all his weapons. Aria had her staff and was finishing packing up. Isaac’s eyes were locked on the skull of the Chimera. He still felt a powerful connection to it long after it had died. The connection was significantly weaker now than when the monster was alive but he noticed that the connection was only to its head for some reason.

He walked over to the fallen beast and withdrew his longsword. Taking a stance he hacked downward with all his might at the base of the neck. The scales stopped his blade barely an inch in. He noticed the others had stopped moving and he turned to see them staring at him.

“I want its head.” He stated simply. Claus just shrugged and walked over. In two mighty chops Claus had its head removed. Isaac lifted the dragon head and gazed into its eyes. “Thanks.” He said to Claus but his mind was elsewhere. The connection really was only to the head. Being removed from the body hadn’t changed anything.

After a moment Isaac grabbed some rope and tied the head to his backpack. Claus and Aria rebound Chris. With Chris in Claus’ hands, Isaac in the lead, and Aria being navigator they set off once more towards civilization. None of them knew how long they had been together at that point but neither did they care. They all knew the others would have their back regardless of what lay before them.