Chapter 95 - A Devoted Wife

Abby dipped under Zeke’s arm so she could support his weight. She wasn’t sure about the details of what he had done to that door, but she could infer that it had completely drained him. All the symptoms of mana drought were there, plain as day. And she’d felt it enough times early on during her time in the Radiant Isles that she could easily recognize them. Even now, more than seven years since she’d felt those effects, she had to suppress a shudder. She’d never felt weakness as complete as when she’d depleted her mana reserves. In fact, it had been the main reason she’d taken up the bow; getting her first skill to work as an offensive option was so draining that she’d sought out an alternative, which had resulted in her development of her archery path.

“Come on,” she said, helping him down the spiraling stairs that circled the tower as they led down to the cellar. “You can rest when we have another door between us and the zombies.”

The way down was narrow and steep enough that Abby stumbled a couple of times along the way. Given that she had a good portion of Zeke’s weight bearing down on her, those stumbles could have easily turned into something more dangerous. Thankfully, the narrow path worked for her, and she was able to steady herself against the wall. Behind her, Pudge let out an annoyed grunt; he’d grown so big that he could scarcely fit.

“I know,” she muttered, heaving a half-conscious Zeke forward. “I ought to make you carry him.”

“You don’t have to carry me,” came Zeke’s mumbled response. But his eyelids had drooped, and his body continued to sag. “I’m fine. I can walk.”

She patted his arm. “Sure you can, big guy,” she said in as soothing a voice as she could muster.

After about a minute spent spiraling downward, the trio finally reached the door. It looked very similar to the heavy, steel door they’d destroyed on the ground level, but Abby was relieved to see that it swung open easily. A few dozen feet above, the zombies continued to rail against the blockaded door; it was only a matter of time before they breached the entrance. And then, if Abby and her friends weren’t safely ensconced in the cellar, things would turn ugly. Even with Zeke’s efforts, they’d only barely been capable of holding the zombie horde at bay. With him out of commission, they wouldn’t stand any chance – especially with Pudge suffering the aftereffects of using that berserker skill. It had left the bear drained of energy and incredibly vulnerable to attacks.

Once she’d dragged Zeke inside, she leaned him against a wall. Then, after Pudge pushed his way inside, Abby closed the door. It shut with a loud clang, and she was pleased to see that it had a heavy lock as well as a thick, steel shaft that could be used to bar entry. Individually, the undead weren’t that strong, but together, they could eventually overwhelm most fortifications. However, with the combination of the narrow, spiraling staircase and the sturdy door, it was unlikely that the creatures could gain entry into the cellar. Or so Abby hoped because the alternative wasn’t a situation she wanted to ponder.

Finally, Abby let herself relax. They’d been fighting for what felt like an eternity – enough that she’d gained her first level in years. However, she was in no condition to celebrate. While she hadn’t overextended herself quite as badly as Zeke, and she wasn’t as wounded as Pudge, she was exhausted, and she sported plenty of injuries herself. But she couldn’t rest. Not yet. There were a couple of things that needed to be done before she could allow herself that luxury.

Kneeling beside Zeke, she said, “I need you to summon some food from your storage, okay? Some of the higher-level stuff, like that snake meat.”

Zeke’s eyes fluttered, though they didn’t completely open. She shook him a few times, then repeated her request. With a groan, he complied, and a few slabs of snake meat appeared on the cellar’s dusty floor. Thankfully, a few pieces had already been inexpertly cooked for just such an emergency. Grabbing a piece, she tore into it, and as she chewed the gamey meat, Abby tried her best not to think about the monster it had once been.

“I hate snakes,” she muttered. But the crude meal did its job, stemming the blood flowing from her many wounds. It would never heal her completely, but because of the meat’s latent mana, it served as decent first-aid. After tossing a couple of slabs toward Pudge, she went to work trying to get Zeke to eat. His wounds were almost as bad as the bear’s, so he was in dire need of some sort of treatment. And without a dedicated healer, the monster meat was the best they could do. At first, Zeke refused to open his mouth; he was barely even awake, so getting him to eat was a chore. However, after a few minutes, he complied. After that, the task was tedious, but she managed to get him to eat enough that she saw that the blood seeping from some of his shallower wounds had stopped, and the more serious injuries weren’t far behind.

Crisis averted, Abby then went to work on curing the disease that would eventually turn them all into zombies. Her skill, [Cure Disease], wasn’t as powerful as others like [Purify], but she wasn’t a dedicated healer. So, she was lucky she’d had even her weak skill available. It took dozens of casts, but eventually, she felt the disease recede, then fade away altogether.

The next couple of hours passed in an exhausted blur as Abby alternated between curing her companions and forcing them to eat. Even Pudge, whose appetite was usually voracious, was initially hesitant to do anything other than collapse onto the floor and go to sleep. But eventually, she managed to both cure them all and drag them away from death’s door.

After that, she finally allowed herself to rest, and she gratefully slipped into unconsciousness. It felt like only a second later when a loud bang erupted from the door; the zombies had arrived.

“What was that?” Zeke muttered, his eyes shooting open. He was on his feet in an instant, though Abby noticed the tremble in his legs. “Where are we?”

“Under the tower,” she answered, standing. She was still exhausted, but most of her wounds had closed. Zeke still sported a few injuries, as well, but he’d been similarly healed. Apparently, they’d both been unconscious for longer than she originally suspected. Hours, at least, judging by the state of their injuries. “How much do you remember?”

“Not much,” he said, shaking his head. Then, he removed his helmet and ran his hand through his short hair. “I remember overloading one of the glyphs in the rune, and then it exploded and…I…after that, I lost time. I don’t know how much. I don’t even remember coming down here.”

She smirked. “That’s because you were half-conscious,” she said. “I carried you.”

He raised an eyebrow, but all he said was, “Thanks.”

Then, he looked around the room. That motion reminded Abby that she hadn’t done the same. She’d been so focused on keeping Zeke and Pudge alive that she hadn’t even given the cellar a cursory inspection, much less looked at it in depth. And the moment she let her gaze wander around the circular room, she was glad that she hadn’t. If she’d let herself notice her surroundings, she never would’ve gotten anything done.

The walls were lined with shelves that contained numerous books, various bundles of plants, and a plethora of vials containing all sorts of strange substances. Below those shelves were tables which held a wide variety of glassware.

“This is an alchemist’s laboratory,” she said.

“I figured it was something like that,” Zeke responded. At her interested look, he explained, “I saw some shops in Beacon. They all had stuff like this. Not as much, though.”

Abby hardly heard him. Instead, her focus had shifted entirely to a pair of engraved cylinders across the room. Both were about eight feet tall, with hundreds of tubes snaking out of them. Some connected the two cylinders, but others stretched across the room to various vials or barrels.

“What are those?” asked Zeke, already stepping toward them. Abby followed, and as they drew closer, she saw that there was a small, glass window on the side. However, the glass wasn’t clear; instead, it was clouded by frost.

Abby reached out and wiped her hand across the glass, but the obscuring frost was on the interior. Still, she managed to see the vaguest of shapes beyond the glass. “I think there are people in these,” she muttered.

Zeke didn’t answer. Instead, he was busy running his fingers along the engraved surface of the left-most metal cylinder. “They’re runes,” he whispered, clearly to himself. “It’s all so clear…”

“What?” she asked. “You understand them?”

“Some of them,” he admitted, glancing in her direction. “Most of them, even. They’re…kind of…I don’t know. Basic. And they’re wrong.”

“Wrong? How?” was Abby’s next question. “What are they for?”

“I…I’m not sure,” he said with a shake of his head. “I just upgraded my artisan path, so I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything. But it feels like someone just crammed a bunch of cotton balls inside my brain. Everything’s…fuzzy.”

“You can understand these engravings, though?” she asked.

He nodded. “I know what the different pieces do,” he said. “This whole thing, it’s a conduit. I don’t know what it’s for, but I don’t think…I don’t think it’s good. No. Not good at all.”

“What do we do?” Abby asked. “Are those people alive?”

Zeke shrugged. “I have no idea,” he admitted. “The runes don’t –”

He never finished his statement, because a moment later, a huge explosion rocked the entire tower. The ground shook, clouds of dust erupted from the walls, and the various glassware tumbled to the ground, shattering upon impact. The door bulged inward, and mingled fire and light erupted from the gap between it and the floor.

“W-what the…”

Abby’s bow unfolded from her glove, and she summoned an arrow. Zeke slammed his helmet back on and dragged his mace and shield from his spatial storage. Pudge jumped to his feet, positioning himself to the side of the door.

It creaked loudly as something pushed against it. Not the bangs of pounding zombies.  But something else. Something stronger. The rod barring the door bent, then twisted. The door protested. Zeke stepped to the side opposite his bound companion and hefted his shield in one hand, the mace in the other. The metal bulged inward, inch by inch, the screech of protesting metal filling the air. The rod snapped with a clang. The rivets holding the door together rocketed away, clanging off of Zeke’s shield.

And then the door fell apart, revealing a hulking figure.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” came a deep voice tinged with a southern accent. The figure stepped out of the shadows, and piles of ash spilled through the door. The figure resolved into a tall, broad, and dark-skinned man. He had a great, bushy beard and thick dreadlocks hanging down to the middle of his back. “Who are you?”

Abby blinked. The man was the size of an NFL lineman, and he held a pair of glass spheres in his hand – one with red liquid sloshing around, and the other with some yellow substance. But that wasn’t what drew her attention. Rather, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the collar around his neck.

Inscribed with runes, it was made from cleverly joined metal links. What’s more, she recognized it for what it was. A slave collar. They were outlawed in Beacon, but she’d been on a few missions for the guild that had brought her into contact with the horrible things. Most of them had been around the necks of young women, but she’d found a few men who’d been destined for a life of backbreaking labor wearing them as well.

“What is that on your neck?” asked Zeke. “Those runes…”

The big man tilted his head as he studied Zeke. “Your accent,” he said. “Lower Alabama, right?”

“Mobile,” Zeke admitted. “Why?”

“Jackson, Mississippi,” said the big man before his face split into a grin. “Always good to meet a fellow southern boy. But you need to answer my question. We ain’t got long before he gets here.”

“I…my name is Zeke. This is Abby,” was Zeke’s answer. He gestured past the man. “And that big ball of fur behind you is Pudge.”

“What?” asked the man, turning to look in the direction Zeke had pointed. He flinched away, half-screaming, “Goddamn! You tamed a goddamn dire bear?”

“More of a partnership, really,” Zeke said. “Now – who are you? What’s that collar around your neck? And what do you want?”

“Well,” the man said, dragging the word off as he stepped away from the dire bear. “Considering you broke into my tower, I think it’s a bit more appropriate if you tell me why you’re here.”

“Zombie horde,” Zeke said. “You might’ve noticed them.”

“I did, I did,” the man said, nodding his head. “They’re gone now, though. But that’s where the problem starts. Where there are zombies, there are liches. And the one that raised this group is a nasty son of a bitch. I can’t think he’ll take too kindly to you trespassing, and even if he takes that in stride, he won’t let you leave now that you’ve seen our little project.”

“W-what?” asked Abby. “The tubes? We don’t have any idea what they’re for. You can let us –”

“Alabama there already guessed it, I’m thinkin’,” said the huge man. “Or enough that Micayne ain’t lettin’ him leave. I’d help, but…well, the collar, you see…”

Zeke moved more quickly than Abby had ever seen him move before, grabbing the offending collar. The big man tried to react, but Pudge had darted forward at the same time, crashing into him and pinning him against the wall. Only an instant later, there was a surge of mana, and the collar popped free.

Both Zeke and his bound companion backed away. He held up the limp collar he’d retrieved from around the man’s neck, saying, “Okay, that’s one problem solved, right? Now – what’s going on with those tubes? Did you know you’ve got the runes backwards?”

The dark-skinned man massaged his neck in astonishment. “W-what…how? Are you a runemaster?” he murmured.

“I dabble,” Zeke said. “Now – how about you start answering some questions, huh? And what’s with those snow globes you’re carrying around?”

The man sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Name’s Tucker. I’m an alchemist. Maybe you’ve heard of me?” He shook his head, muttering something about “damn kids” before continuing, “Guess that’s too much to ask. I came here to advance my path, but I got caught by the lich. He slapped a slave collar on my neck, then made me work on all this. I thought I’d solved it, but…you say the runes are backwards? Can you elaborate?”

“Why would we do that?” asked Abby, holding her bow and a conjured arrow. She hadn’t pointed the weapon at him, but that didn’t mean anything. She could loose an arrow in less than a second, if the situation called for it. “We don’t even know what you’re trying to do.”

“This is important!” Tucker shouted. “If we can give Micayne what he wants, there’s a chance we get out of this alive.”

“Then you need to get busy explaining, because there’s no way I’m going to help you without knowing more about what’s going on,” Zeke said.

Tucker glared at them for a long moment, fingering the glass spheres the whole time. Finally, he said, “Fine. But we ain’t got time for more than a summary, okay? If that ain’t good enough…”

“A summary is fine,” Abby said. “Now, talk.”