4.6 - Taylor
"It is said the Gods watch over Creation eternally, judging each choice and conflict to see whether Good or Evil will settle the wager. What this truly shows is the role of superior intelligence and information in a conflict. In today's session I will detail a plan to remedy this, with the construction of a massive demonic eye to be placed at the apex of the Tower..."
- Dread Emperor Malevolent IV, the Vigilant
Borer's hand grabbed mine and somehow, despite every fiber of my being insisting that tiny hand at this speed couldn't possibly hold onto me, he was pulling me up onto what looked like some bastard child of a dragon and a chronically ill snake.
"Borer?" I asked, slightly dumbfounded by the sudden appearance. The increasingly familiar feeling of a minor concussion probably contributed to that.
"Hold tight," he grunted, pulling the reins hard as we banked back towards the now shattered window.
I turned and saw Ranger, the flash of anger in her eyes felt like it resonated through the room. She drew her bow in what looked like slow motion, yet took no time at all. The arrow came down, nocked and pointed. I grabbed at the reigns from my position half laying on the saddle, my back filled with a shooting pain from being thrown against the window just half a minute ago.
"Swerve!" I grunted back.
Borer turned to look at me and I saw his yellow eyes widen as he looked past me and saw what Ranger was doing. It would only take us a few seconds to retreat, but she had us dead to rights if she hit us. At this short of a range, from someone of her caliber, it was a foregone conclusion. Robber and Beastmaster couldn't do anything except get in the way, which was equally unacceptable. I wouldn't leave them behind to fight that monster of a woman. I tried to pull my swarm in to obfuscate her view for what good it might do.
Borer's eyes flicked to mine for a long second and then back to Ranger. I heard the snap of the bowstring and ducked on principle, but our mount didn't suddenly buck or plummet. We rushed through the broken window into open air, immediately banking to fly straight up against the surface of the Tower. Robber and Beastmaster flanking us a moment later, keeping a wide berth from us as they did the same.
I looked to Borer, confused, as I tried to put together what had happened. Holding the reigns in one hand he flashed me the sight of his hand holding an arrow by its head from inside his small jacket and pressed a finger to his lips after closing the jacket. I stared back at his wide yellow eyes and nodded firmly. He gave me that small twitch of his lips that I had learned was a smile for the unusually straight-laced goblin.
Wrapping my arms around him I squeezed. "I didn't say goodbye," I said.
"That's traditional in goblin culture," he replied, stoically looking forward.
"You came back for me," I followed with.
He tilted his head. "Less traditional in goblin culture."
A chuckle escaped my lips as wind buffeted us. "I'm a bad influence."
He answered in that monotone of his, "The worst. It's why we came, of course." Casually turning his head to the side so we could both pretend I hadn't seen the twitch of his lips when he said it.
I relaxed my grip around him, though certainly not around the mount. The saddle was clearly designed to help keep the occupants on despite the nearly vertical angle of our ascent, but that didn't mean I was unclenching my legs. A few seconds more of flying and we levelled out, drifting up onto a platform at a higher floor. Beastmaster and Robber landed almost at the same time, dismounting quickly.
"We should get inside pronto like, boss," Robber said, gesturing to the door as he scuttled over to another imposing door bordered in skulls and demonic looking figures. I was thoroughly convinced the Praesi couldn't just build normal things.
Beastmaster ran a hand through his hair as he walked beside me, looking up. "She's going to kill me."
"She's going to kill all of us if she comes up here," Robber added as he pulled the door open.
I wasn't good at comforting people, but I tried to put a hand on Beastmaster's shoulder. It felt awkward, but it could just be how out of practice I was with normal human interaction. Between the bullying, which felt like ages ago, and the running around with capes and goblins.
"Thanks for coming for me," I said.
Beastmaster glanced over to the side at me, the strain in his eyes softening a bit. "We're companions, are we not? I owe Lady Ranger much and more, but she will survive what constitutes a minor inconvenience for her."
We slipped inside, finding a hallway that looked like it was decorated for a gothic dance. Black decor adorned with almost tacky skulls and bone motifs, all regal in design. Following Robber we ducked into a room with a few tables, what looked like a long empty punch bowl fashioned out of a screaming maw, and a skeleton slumped against the wall in the decaying remains of some dress. Borer began shifting the tables around, setting four chairs up around one that looked the least disgusting.
"So...what now?" I asked, glancing around the table.
"We wait. If Lady Ranger wants to pursue you, there's little we can do about it. Our hope is that she's annoyed, but not enough so to chase you. Then, when she has gotten bored and left, that we might sneak you back down," Beastmaster elaborated.
Robber gave a sharp laugh. "Which should take all of about five minutes. She's got a portal to a whole nother world right there. Easy bait for someone like her."
"Exactly. She's unlikely to bother with us while there's a more interesting target," Beastmaster agreed with a nod.
I frowned a bit, thinking back to what little I had gotten to see through the portal. "That portal went to Brockton Bay. I don't want her going on a murder spree through my home."
Robber shook his head. "Worse than that actually. The dwarves saw the portal too. No way the Kingdom Under isn't going to have an interest in that."
"It's in the Tower though. Surely the Black Knight and the Dread Empress wouldn't just let them take it," I ventured.
"The Kingdom Under could sink the entire Tower if it wanted," Borer informed me. "The Empire will have no option but to give them access."
"The Black Knight was the one to tip us off, even if there's not a single shred of evidence for it because who else had the opportunity? He's not fully allied with the dwarves in that case," Beastmaster supplied. Interesting, as I hadn't known the Black Knight had been the one to arrange my rescue. That man was craftier than he seemed, for someone so unassuming in a dramatic world like Calernia.
"You said the Black Knight is smart before. Everyone talks about how clever he is. He came in with the dwarves, surely he wouldn't have shown them the portal in that case?" I asked, chewing on my lip.
Robber shrugged. "He may not have had a choice. Or maybe he has a plan. Knowledge of something like the portal existing would be pretty bad for the Empire though. I can't think of anyone on the continent who wouldn't try to square up with Praes over it. It would take months for most of 'em to organize though."
Beastmaster nodded sagely, hunched over the table as he cradled his chin. "Which means we're on a time limit." He put a finger down onto the dusty tabletop, drawing a semicircle. "We should assume the portal will be defended or contested. While the Empire is likely fine with letting us go through, the dwarves probably won't be. The Empire will have to side with the dwarves, which means we can expect some token resistance from them."
I stretched my swarm sense out, slowly filling the floor we were on as much as I could with my depleted swarm. I was too high up to reach the spiders I had left in the sewers unfortunately. At the very least I wanted to know if Ranger showed up.
"The Empress won't be a fan of letting the dwarves run around the Tower making demands," Robber added. "We can expect her and Black to be doing their own thing in the mean time to try and get control back."
I thought back to what I had seen through the portal as I had fought Ranger. What looked like the Triumvirate facing off against Tattletale and what I was pretty sure was Apprentice. It had been months since I had seen him and I had only met him for a few days, so I wasn't wholly certain since he looked a bit different. His hair was distinctive though and he certainly didn't look like a native Brocktonite.
"Lady Ranger will likely be gone long before we can get down there, but we should descend the Tower internally. If she or the dwarves secure that room, coming in by flying mount will be suicide," Beastmaster replied in turn.
Robber pursed his lips, drawing in the dust with his short, scrabbly finger. Or claw. I wasn't sure exactly where the line was drawn. I had never bothered to ask. "So we have to navigate the Tower while against two superior forces. Borer, what supplies did we manage to get?"
"None, sir." Borer blinked slowly at him.
"Honestly, you see what I have to work with?" Robber gestured to Borer.
"You insisted we needed to shift everything in Warlock's room half a hand to the left before we could resupply. Your specific orders were 'to fuck with his feng shui'," Borer replied flatly.
Robber threw his hands up. "And now giving away operation secrets!"
I felt out with my swarm, occasionally losing bugs to various bits of this floor of the Tower. The inherent hazards that existed in this spiraling tower of insanity were their own challenge to overcome. While Robber did his bit, I turned inward and thought.
We had to descend the Tower against two potentially hostile forces. We had an unknown number of Named opposing us. We were on a time limit and had almost no resources. I could maybe force my way down between using my bugs for recon and sneak attacks, but a single bad match up with a Named could see me screwed. Navigating the Tower alone would be dangerous.
I was fine with risking myself to push for the portal, but this would involve risking the others. And if I did get to the portal, what then? I'd go through, leaving those three on the other side with a lot of pissed off powerful people in what was going to be a highly contested zone. That was a pretty shitty way to say goodbye to people who saved my life and kept me company. If I was going to do this, I wouldn't do it in a way that fucked over my friends. All three would probably take on a suicide mission, so I had to find a better option.
"We're going to do this right," I said, interrupting the quibbling. Even Beastmaster had joined in, seemingly aware that the quibbling was entirely lies and slander and playing into it. I hadn't figured the hero for the type, but he was slowly warming up to the two.
All three turned to look at me and I took a deep breath in. "We've got no resources, no clear allies, and no fallbacks. I want, I need, to go home. And it might fuck us over to try. But there's no point in doing it stupidly."
I looked to Robber. "You said it would take months for anyone outside Praes and the dwarves to mobilize on this. If we take time to prepare I think it will only improve our chances." Rushing in at Liesse had been necessary, to a degree, but it had resulted in a lot of people dying. I wasn't about to make that same mistake if I could do better this time.
"Plus Lady Ranger certainly won't wait longer than that," Beastmaster noted.
I gave him a nod. "Also that. If we can get in contact with the Black Knight as well, we can get an idea of what they're up to. You said they want the dwarves out but can't afford to piss them off. Maybe we can work with them under the table." I paused, thinking. "Again."
Robber cackled sharply. "I thought you swore off working with the Calamities after the whole Diabolist thing."
I shot him a glare. "As much as I was pissed at Assassin for getting me into that, he's not the one who raised a zombie army and flying city." I sighed deeply and gave a half-hearted shrug. "Besides, it's not like that'll happen here."
Beastmaster and Robber glanced at each other. Beastmaster making some strange gesture to the sky.
"What?" I asked the two of them.
Beastmaster pointedly looked at Robber. Robber feigned confusion and looked at Borer. Borer sighed.
"When you say something like that it makes it more likely to happen," he said flatly.
"Narrative irony. It's a trap many Named fall for," Beastmaster elucidated.
Robber nodded. "It's why I've been one day away from retirement for eight months now. Really a shame how they keep pushing it back on me."
"Isn't that going to make you more likely to get killed?" I asked, confused for a moment. I figured it out right after I asked.
Robber grinned. "Exactly. Keeps things interesting!"
Beastmaster and I both facepalmed together to the sounds of Robber cackling.
---
"There's only soup," Borer reported back.
"What do you mean there's only soup?" I asked.
"He means there's only soup," Robber helpfully clarified.
"The entire stockroom is filled solely with soup?" I asked again, hoping for a more sensical answer.
"Correct," Borer replied.
"And you tried the other rooms?"
"There was just more soup." Robber shrugged.
"Well, at least we won't be going hungry any time soon. Was it good soup?" Beastmaster asked, looking decidedly too chipper for this news. Robber gave another shrug in response.
I sighed. "Well, as fascinating as it is that the Tower apparently has a magic kitchen continually making soup…"
"Probably poisonous, rotten soup," Robber added.
"...making probably poisoned, rotten soup," I corrected. "I'd have preferred munitions."
Beastmaster held a hand up. "Let's not be hasty Skitter. Why have a kitchen making food if there's no one to eat it? I'd wager if we wait around we can find someone to tail."
Borer grimaced silently and Robber shook his head. "Not so sure about that. The wards for that room were pretty old and the layer of dust over the floor suggests no one's been in there for a few years at best."
"So another experiment left from some previous regime," I concluded. We had run into several by now, though this was by far the most benign. The room full of spike traps only on the ceiling and a weird static electricity feel had been decidedly less pleasant to discover. This level of the Tower seemed to be largely unused, filled with strange creations that had been left running where the magic hadn't broken down.
"There's got to be something in here other than Sentinels and various types of devils," I grumbled.
"We've gotten lucky so far I'd say. Heroes that try to breach the Tower often face unending swarms of devils, monstrous experiments, and difficult trials." Beastmaster leaned against a wall, looking thoughtful.
"Feels like we're not part of the story anymore. We're just stumbling on random irrelevant rooms. We must be missing something…" I muttered, half to myself.
I had to try and force my mind to think in the patterns of this world. I was an outsider about to return home, my story wrapped up. But suddenly I was interrupted by the consequences of my actions and was forced to flee. It was hard to fancy myself in the role of a villain, I still wanted to do right even if I had been labeled a villain by the PRT. At best I was sort of neutral, but it would be hard to see myself as a Hero here. So what happened next?
A false ending leading to a new act. Powerful opponents. If this was a heroic tale I'd be expecting a training period, a new insight into myself, or a power up. Was that the trick? I was being given some downtime. Ranger hadn't pursued, it would take even the dwarves some time to secure the gate.
"Robber…" I said slowly, pondering the conclusion I had come to. "What are the odds there's some sort of relic or artifact on one of these floors that I could use?"
Robber shrugged, balancing a knife on his finger. "Sure, probably. Half of 'em are probably booby-trapped to hell and back, and that's literally. Thinking of dropping some devils on someone?"
I shook my head. "No, but it feels like we're being given time. Usually that means getting stronger or smarter somehow. There's no bugs or animals up here for me or Beastmaster and training wouldn't do much for us either. There's a lot of weird magic stuff here, so I figure that's our best shot."
"And normally, you'd be right," a voice said from behind us. We turned around to see the Black Knight standing in the hallway. How had he snuck up on us? I had my swarm covering the floor. "But that's not the Story you want. Magical artifacts, especially for Villains, are almost always a mistake."
Beastmaster looked uncertainly back at the man. "I do hope you have a counter proposal that isn't turning Skitter over or giving up."
The Black Knight smiled, a bit too thin and toothy to be considered a wholly friendly smile. I had the feeling that it was his equivalent of Tattletale's grin. A blade like smile instead of a vulpine grin, but the effect was the same.
"Naturally," he replied. "Which is why we're going to build a second anchor at the top of the Tower."
I frowned slightly in return. "That doesn't get the dwarves out of your hair though, unless you have a way to remotely collapse the portal downstairs."
"A portal can only ever be two ends linked together. At least Warlock assures me that is the case," he answered. "We will be moving the portal to the top of the tower using the anchor. This will allow you to go home and us to close the portal afterwards."
That did sound like a solution. Moving the portal, if it could be done, would make it so we didn't have to fight or sneak through half the Tower and who knows how many enemies to a secured location.
I put a hand up to signal my hesitation. "You make it sound like you need to move the portal to close it."
Black flicked his eyes to me, the pale green gaze lighting up slightly at my words. "We are no longer in control of either side of the portal," he confirmed, nodding briefly.
"Is Lady Ranger-?" Beastmaster half asked.
"Presumably fine. We haven't seen Hye since she threw a Hero back through the portal," Black answered, smirking. "She was the happiest I've seen her in awhile though."
"Who's in control of the portal then?" I asked, less concerned for the safety of the woman who had been beating the shit out of me for fun. I could understand Beastmaster's concern, but there was no love lost between me and her.
The Black Knight stayed half turned away from us. If it was meant to be mysterious, it just came across as aloof. Though maybe that was intentional as well. The man did seem very calculating. "The dwarves were pushed back and we've worked with them to barricade the room while they call for reinforcements. We're unsure of what entity from your world has taken control of the portal, but none of our mages could re-establish control. They do appear to be Heros, rather than Villains."
Shit, that meant it was probably the PRT. I wasn't aware of any portal makers in the Protectorate, but then again I didn't know most of the Protectorate capes that weren't headlines famous outside my own city. It was possible Cauldron was involved, but frankly I had even less of an idea what they were capable of. I had been removed from the scene for too long to be able to make an educated guess.
"The Protectorate can be somewhat reasonable, it's possible you could negotiate with them. A temporary ceasefire at least," I said, mulling my thoughts over.
Black shook his head. "Unfortunately that isn't viable. Our best option is to play into the fact that we're Villains who unleashed something beyond our ken. A ploy to get you home, get Catherine, Warlock, and Masego back, and then seal it off for good fits that. We undo the damage and 'learn' from our mistake, sealing the forbidden knowledge back in a box."
I had to admit, that was a better idea than what I had come up with so far. It even fit with classic story tropes of evil unleashing a great power out of ambition or recklessness and the need to seal it again. Not having a hero to seal it was a bit of a problem, but I suppose as the outsider I could play the role of being the critical outside intervention. Not that I was considering going against the Black Knight here. The man lived and breathed the rules of this world. While I was going to question and examine any plan he laid down, I had to acknowledge that he had far more experience in this field.
"Won't the dwarves be kinda upset by that?" Robber asked, looking up to Black.
"Somewhat, but that's something we've anticipated," he said. "What we cannot handle is a nation's worth of Named, or their equivalent, trying to establish a beachhead in the middle of our capital."
Robber nodded in return. "That would pose a tiny bit of a problem. Goblinfire out of the question?"
Black put a single finger to the bridge of his nose. "I didn't think it was possible, but Catherine somehow managed to give you bad habits instead of the other way around."
Robber was all smiles with that, grinning widely. "Aww, thanks boss."
"The Tower has many horrors leftover from previous reigns. Surely some of them could be used to contain or destroy the portal?" Beastmaster asked, following up Robber's question.
Black somehow managed to look down at a man that had a solid foot in height on him. "Anything we unleashed that was capable of destroying the portal would also be unleashed in the middle of the Tower. There's several ways that could go, I think it obvious enough that none of them would be desirable."
Beastmaster winced slightly at the thinly veiled rebuke for the question. I had my largest spider lower from the ceiling and give him a small pat on the shoulder. I wasn't entirely fond of taking Black's plan at face value, given how much of a schemer he seemed to be, but he had been undeniably on our side every time push had come to shove so far. I would extend a degree of trust, I decided, while remaining vigilant. I still got the impression he wanted me out of here rather than dead, which was perfectly fine with me. This plan also left the others in a much better position, a major plus.
"Alright, what specifically do you need from us then?" I asked.
Black turned and began walking down the hall, speaking as he went, "We'll need to work quickly. Here's what I need from you…"
A/N: This chapter was massively delayed for many reasons, but it's here finally! Shout out to the Practical Guide discord for all the positive motivation they kept giving me. Future chapters for the next few months will sadly also be delayed most likely. I'm sure some of you have already guessed why - covid-19. I won't go into details, but suffice to say I work in a hospital so I'll be rather swamped for the next few months. Updates
may occur during that time, but here's your warning so you know the fic isn't dead.
