A Soldier's Life

Chapter 152: Q&A

The elf girl was speaking Latin. Many thoughts raced through my mind, and none of them were pleasant. “Maveith, I don’t know about this. If they remember us each time…”

Maveith did not seem as intimidated by the shapechangers as I was. “I am healed this time. I can manage one by myself,” he declared confidently, his voice echoing in the hall.

In a blink, the boy’s eyes turned yellow and stayed that way. He flashed Maveith a toothy smile. “The big one thinks he can beat me again.” His skin stretched, and his clothing ripped as he grew to full height. He did not resemble the creature we fought before but instead was a mirror image of Maveith, albeit nude and immodest.

Maveith suddenly looked uncomfortable, his hands clenching around the handle of his hammer. “I do not know about this, Eryk. Perhaps we should try the vine room next.” His voice was now uncertain as he faced himself as an opponent.

My focus remained on the creatures. I worried that these two could continuously learn from us, preparing better to fight us each time until we eventually lost. I had an unusual thought. Maybe they would not tell the truth, but perhaps they could share something about the dungeon. I recalled something the girl had said: “You lied. There was no treasure in the dark room.” I never entered that room, but she did not know that.

The creepy elf girl’s face twisted into a horrid sneer. “We do not lie.”She pointed at me. “Oh, did you not bring your mining pick?”Her tone was mocking.

Maveith’s unease at seeing himself did not prevent his curiosity from shining through in the conversation. “Mining pick?”

“You travel this deep into the labyrinth and come unprepared,” the girl laughed unnaturally, openly taunting us.

I grasped at the thread in her words. “Deep? Where are we in the labyrinth? Are there levels?”

The girl nodded energetically at her companion. “We want the red apples. I am sick of the berries. Bring us twenty apples, and we will tell you where you are!”

Maveith was about to say something, but I raised my hand to negotiate. “Twenty apples is a lot, and the bear does not like to give them away without a fight. Five questions and five apples for each answer. If I do not like the completeness of the answer, no apples.”

The boy turned to the girl, and they deliberated. “He is trying to trick us. He will give us the apples and then steal them back after killing us again.”

“You could always let us pass without fighting?” I offered, interrupting them.

“Those are not the rules. Break the rules, and we will never be made whole again,” the girl said angrily.

I produced five apples in my hands to entice them. “Then eat them after you answer my question.”

They looked at each other and then back at me. The girl’s eyes locked on the apples, desire clear. “You are near the bottom of the labyrinth but not at the bottom,” she blurted. That was a cryptic answer. What did it mean to be near the bottom?

“We just entered the labyrinth in the room down that corridor,” I pointed down the corridor we had arrived in.

“They are lost! They know not where they are!” The girl danced, mocking me. “No more questions until the apples are received!”

I felt I had not received a complete answer, but it was best to build trust. I rolled the five apples into the room, and they snatched them suspiciously. “Think they are poisoned?” the girl asked the boy.

“If they are, then it is a good trick on us,” he replied, his teeth becoming needle-like as he devoured the first apple, noisily chewing and savoring the flesh. The girl, not to be outdone, also grew sharp teeth to attack her own apple. The five apples did not last long. Juices dribbled down their bodies in a gross display of gluttony. Seeing how much they enjoyed them, I produced five more.

“Next question. How big is the Shimmering Labyrinth?” I hoped to get a clearer idea so that maybe being near the bottom would make more sense.

The girl said, “It has been too long since we wandered the dungeon. It is wider than you think and deeper, too!”

The boy added, “It continues to grow, so you never know how big it is! Now, the apples!” His greedy eyes focused on them.

I frowned at their vague answer. “You did not answer my question to my satisfaction. No apples.”

The boy rasped out angrily, “I told you we shouldn’t trust them.” He fumed before calming down and trying to offer a better answer. “When we wandered the dungeon, there were hundreds of rooms. Right, left, straight, down, and all around! We ended up here eventually. Trapped!”

Maveith’s deep voice reminded me he was behind me. “The dungeon did not create you?”

The girl was frustrated. “Another question? No apples for the last! They are tricking us!”

To mollify the girl, I rolled the apples into the room again. The grotesque display of their consumption happened once more. When they finished, I pointed at Maveith. “Answer his question next.”

The shapechangers looked uncertainly at each other. The boy finally answered, “We entered with the elves in the guise of one of their number.” The boy shifted into an adult elf. “They discovered our true nature, and we killed them but could not escape the dungeon.”

The girl shifted into an adult as well. “We died elsewhere but woke, trapped in this room, never able to leave. Bound for eternity to the cursed dungeon. Forced to kill interlopers.”

My body trembled at the thought of being cursed to live forever in a single dungeon room. I was sure I had new ammunition for nightmares. I absently rolled the apples forward, thinking. Maveith asked another question while I pondered, his voice uncertain. “Are the creatures stronger the deeper in the dungeon you go?”

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The woman wiped sugary drool from her mouth. “Of course! Foolish question, and now you owe us more apples!”

“Maveith, it was a good question,” I reassured him. It meant that the rooms we were exploring were much more dangerous than those higher up in the dungeon. It gave me hope that some of the company might have survived.

I gave them their prize, and the adult elf male smiled with his needle-like teeth. “You have but one question left!”

“But I have more than just five apples left,” I returned his toothy smile.

The woman answered, holding her stomach. “I am full and no longer desire apples. We will answer your last question as agreed.”

“Maveith, let me think,” I warned the goliath. If we only had one question left, I wanted to make it count. Maybe the shapechangers could be reasoned with again for more answers.

I finally asked, “Can we rest safely in the corridors between the rooms?”

The male laughed disgustingly at the question. “They enter a dungeon and do not know the rules! Foolish human and large gray man.” The woman joined him in mocking us. But they were the real fools here, having been trapped. Still, I wanted an answer.

The pair calmed down, reverting to their child forms. The girl answered, still giggling at our lack of knowledge. “Only rest rooms are safe. If you rest in the passages,” she locked eyes with me, “and stop making progress, then we will be free to come and find you.” The girl licked her lips, and I shivered. I gave them their apples.

“Would you be interested in some fish for more answers?” I offered. Their greedy eyes focused on the fillet I produced. The ceiling of the shapeshifter’s chamber changed to a flashing red pattern.

They looked up, worried expressions on their faces. “We have completed the bargain, and it looks like another bargain will not be struck,” the boy said. Did that mean the dungeon was watching us? Still, I felt the answers we had gotten were worth the fish. I tossed it into the room, to their surprise. The two elf children fought over it like quarreling siblings, shoveling chunks of torn raw fish into their mouths and trying to deny the other a bite.

The brief fight was violent, and the two were bleeding from minor scratches at the end. The girl addressed us when the fish was gone, shreds of fish stuck in her needle teeth. “Flesh is so much better than apples. Maybe it is time you come in and play with us so we can taste yours?” The ceiling faded from the red shimmering to return to normal.

It appeared the dungeon had warned the shapeshifters of their behavior. “Maveith, we need to get back to the safe room to rest.”

“Agreed,” his deep voice echoed reassuringly behind me. “I will take the boy. I am ready when you are.”

“Can you two back up to the center of the room again?” I asked the shapechangers. They started to shake their heads no, malicious smiles on their faces in anticipation. “I gave you the fish without compensation,” I told them. Reluctantly, the two children started walking backward toward the center of the room, conceding that the fish had been worth this small compromise.

Maveith and I entered the room, but the children morphed into their large, monstrous bodies and did not rush to attack this time. Maveith swung his hammer lightly in his grip. My black blade and round shield were ready for an attack, but it never came. The two of them were studying us, trying to learn from us.

I took a step toward the corridor to the safe room. If we did not have to fight them, all the better. My action caused the creatures to sprint toward us. I took the closer one’s head, causing the other one to try to flee in surprise. Maveith was not having it, though. He thrust the head of his hammer into its face. Facial bones audibly cracked as its face compressed.

The strike stunned the creature as Maveith’s strength was on display. I circled behind the dazed creature and targeted its hamstring, opening a gash and cutting deeply into the muscle. With no mouth, the creature could not scream.

It gained enough awareness to pivot and try to backhand me with its powerful arms. I had already retreated, and Maveith’s hammer was on a downswing. He missed the top of its head but caught its neck and shoulder. The head of the hammer embedded four inches deep in the grotesque figure, and a loud crack could be heard from the snapping of bone, forcing it to its knees. I did not hesitate to step forward and behead it.

We were both breathing heavily from the adrenaline and nodded to each other. It had been easier than expected, and we both came out unharmed. “Maveith, collect the blueberries, and I will help after checking the chest.”

The chest was in the same location as the first time, nestled in one of the blueberry bushes. It had thirty-six large silver coins and, again, another apex essence. The color was different this time, and it was light yellow—an essence of insight. Was this a joke by the dungeon after we gained some knowledge from the shapeshifters?

I used the essence collector on the shapeshifters but was saddened to see they both yielded just a major essence with the same shifting colors, though it was still a boon. Mental essences seemed to be less common than physical ones. The first time, they had yielded apex essences. Maybe it was because we had killed them so quickly after the first time? What were these dungeon rules they mentioned?

I started helping Maveith harvest the berries. “Maveith, what essence do you want? I have a few magical essences, the minor essence of quickness and an apex essence of insight.”

“Quickness,” he said immediately. “Being faster than your opponent is the best way to win a fight,” he stated confidently. I handed him the small green sphere as soon as my aether recovered enough to retrieve it. I also stored everything in my space.

Maveith stated the obvious. “After we rest in the safe room, we will have to fight them again to explore the dungeon.”

“I know.” I figured eventually the shapeshifters would find a way to make the fight more even if they recalled each fight.

We finished with the berries, and I relieved myself in the room. Having such a large bowel movement after so long was an odd feeling. I had a few wax leaves to clean up, but I wished I had more. I left the head of the shapeshifter on the mossy floor. On a whim, I tried to use the collector on it. It pulled no essence from the head, which was slightly disappointing.

I walked with Maveith back to the first room we entered. The familiar elven script was on the wall. The floor of the room where we had defecated was clean. The dungeon was cleaning up after us. The exit was still here, mocking us with a false offer of freedom. Maybe we could exit and enter before the specters swarmed us? It was a thought, but it was best to wait, as the summoner was still out there, and it had only been two days.

We were exhausted, and while Maveith prepared dinner, I set up our bedrolls. I figured it had been over a day since my last essence, and I assumed the glossy black apex essence would enhance my aether channeling. It worked quickly, giving me an intense awareness of the aether around me. The dungeon almost felt like it was forged from pure essence before the feeling vanished.

Maveith grumbled, “If we had a large pot, I could make one large batch of apple-berry jam.”

I surprised Maveith again by taking out the cast iron cauldron I had taken from a legion hall long ago. The thing must weigh seventy pounds with the lid, and I took it to use as an improvised weapon, not for its intended purpose. Maveith shook his head in disbelief. “What else do you have in there, Eryk?”

I mumbled, “This and that,” but did not specify. Maveith shrugged accepting and took the pot to work on his jam.

Maveith started talking as he worked. “It is too bad we got separated from Brutus and the Scholar. Their help would have been most welcome. Just the two of us are going to have a challenging time working through the rooms down here and finding the others.”

Maveith was stewing blueberries and apples together, making jam. He was also doing his best to make use of the last bits of the rations from the elven packs. Now that we knew we had food sources, we could be more liberal with our meals to restore our bodies—, the faster, the better.

After much internal deliberation, I finally revealed something to Maveith. “You know, Maveith, I may know someone who could help. Not sure if she would be too willing, though.”

Maveith’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Who?”

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