Chapter 17

“Pathios! I have a terrible feeling about this,” Enti muttered from behind me. “There is no sign as to what attacked them.”

“I know Enti,” I replied as I continued to look around. “That means that it could be a flying creature and that makes things more dangerous.”

“Why do you say that, Pathios,” Ilthvana asked, glancing at me with a confused, yet worried look on her face.

“Flyers can cover a lot more ground,” I answered. “That means we could be nowhere near their lair.”

“Fuck!” Dilbar exclaimed. “We have today and tomorrow to try and figure out where their lair is and deal with them. What would you suggest we do to lure them out of wherever they are hiding?”

I glanced around at the attack area and noticed that there was a particular type of flower littering the ground around it. It gave me an idea, not only of what to do, but what we would expect. I saw some fresh flowers along the side wall near the tunnel that we were about to enter and rushed over to grab a few.

“Everyone get ready!” I yelled at the others. “We are going to have some company very soon.”

A peculiar smell began to fill the air from the stalks of the picked flowers and in a moment or so, a humming began to fill the air.

As the sounds grew closer, we moved away from the tunnel to give ourselves more room to work with. While we kept our marching order, we spread out a bit to ensure that there wouldn’t be any issues with someone crossing our line of fire. It also ensured that our enemy wouldn’t be able to bunch the group into one attack.

“They are approaching quickly,” Enti yelled. “Getting close to the tunnel revealed the path and I can see at least ten large blips heading our way.”

“Casters get your spells ready!” I bellowed. “Fighters switch to ranged attacks and Theresa, call out your harpy.”

“I don’t have ranged weapons on me Pathios,” Cassandra replied. “I also only have so many charges to my sword.”

“Fuck!” I exclaimed, as I opened a pouch on my belt and handed the contents to her. “Time for you to test out your work. Use these on any enemy that gets close.”

She nodded and loaded them into a pouch on her belt, before drawing one of the shuriken and readied herself.

Theresa tapped her bracer and called out, “Airia! Come out and help us deal with this coming threat.”

We didn’t have to wait long before our enemies emerged through the tunnel. Large bees that seemed to be almost the size of a person began to enter the cavern. The first of them let out a cry that sent chills down my spine and I found myself having trouble moving. I realized that this was part of how they could be such effective attackers, as I struggled to get a Divine Blast ready and had trouble lining up my shot. After a few minutes there were five very fast-moving insects trying to attack us. Regular townsfolk that lived on this floor would feel the potent effects of their venom and I was glad that there hadn’t been many serious injuries or fatalities so far. Our saving grace was that Airia seemed not to be as affected by their debilitating attack. While we had trouble attacking them as they drew near, we were still able to dodge before their stingers could impact us. On their first pass in attacking, I was surprised to see the serrated tip and understood just what kind of damage they would be capable of if it came into contact with one of us. I could feel the effects of their stun attack ending and began planning my counterattack.

As I looked around, I saw that there were now nine of the beasts and I understood that the stun was to give time for reinforcements to arrive. I turned to line up my first shot and let loose a Divine blast that incinerated the target. I felt a thrill knowing that it was strong enough to do so and began targeting the next one.

“Theresa. If these things try to flee, can you send Airia to follow them?” I asked, as I tried to dispatch another target. “Would you be able to see where she went and follow her?”

“Um, I am not sure,” Theresa said in an uneasy tone, as she let out a yelp and ducked to avoid an attack run from one of the bees. “There is only one way to find out though. Airia! Follow any that try to flee from this fight. Do not kill them! Only follow them to their lair.”

The harpy let out a cry and then continued chasing a target, barely dodging a stinger that was launched at her with a moment to spare. I marveled at the speed at which the stinger had been fired and how quickly a new one emerged.

“Watch out for the stingers!” I yelled. “They can fire them at us from a distance and Theresa’s harpy was barely able to dodge one at the speed it was fired. Be careful and aim for their head or thorax. Nothing else will be effective in killing it!”

They acknowledged the order and we worked quickly to stay out of reach of their attacks while trying to widdle their numbers down. Soon there were only two left, and I was shocked as one of them charged us with another stunning scream while the other sped off down the tunnel. Airie quickly followed the fleeing giant bee, while we struggled to attack the one attacking. I watched as the insect’s eyes began to glow and knew that this was not good. I still couldn’t focus on my Divine Blast enough to get one ready to fire, and I could see the bee’s body begin to swell as it drew close. It was building to a self-destruct, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t just be ichor that would emerge from its exploding body. Before the creature could reach us, a screech came from behind us, and the bee was blown back by a force before it could reach us. The explosion that preceded it was substantial and had the beast reached us, we could have been worse off than I had expected.

With the creatures dealt with, we took a breath as we waited for the stun to dispel before we collected the drops. There were a few gems of various sizes and brightnesses netting us a decent amount, as well as some chitin pieces and honey. We had sustained some damage and took a few moments to refill our mana and health with the potions that Katie had provided. I made sure to thank her, as did the rest of our group which made the dryad blush. I then turned to Theresa to see if our little plan had worked.

“So were you able to follow her movements?” I asked as I approached the tall German beauty.

She brought up her map and looked confused. “I can’t see any more of the map exposed than before our fight, but there is a line that seems odd.”

I walked over and once I saw it, I smiled, “That is the path your partner took, so that you can follow even if the map isn’t revealed. That will be particularly useful in the future for sure, but that will depend on any other partners we get you.”

She looked at me confused so I continued, “If we enter somewhere that could be a maze of twists and turns, we could send a partner ahead to figure out the route and then follow their path. It would depend on the circumstances, since it would require the right partner. Your wolf would be a good choice if it is following a particular scent.”

She smiled and we began to head in the tunnel. Enti and Theresa worked together to guide us down the path Airia had taken. Theresa showed the path to Enti and the gorgeous elf using her high awareness stat to let us know where to go and if there were any dangers. As we continued, I wondered what other threats we would encounter there as well. I was certain that there wouldn’t only be the bee’s and even if there were, I am sure the dangers would be greater. Still I had a feeling that we were walking into something that had been warped by Kali’s rogue group.

“Then if things become too much, call us to assist you father,” Draco called over our link, startling me a little bit. “Don’t forget that we can be called in to assist in the dungeon, and now we are big enough to be of help.”

I smiled and replied, “Thank you for the reminder, Draco and I promise that if I need your help, I will call forth you and your sister to aid me.”

I could feel happiness from the link between both of them and I began to feel better about things.

“What is on your mind Pathios,” Cassandra asked, surprising me as I had thought she was still farther back in the traveling party.

“Oh, I was just wondering what we were walking into,” I replied, glancing at her worried face. “I was reminded that we have assets that would help any struggle we had but didn’t realize it was ready. I am surprised to see you here, and not farther back as you were before.”

She glanced down at the ground in front of us, “When we were healing and preparing to move out, I asked Ilthvana to switch with me since she would be a better option to protect Theresa and Enti, with Katie’s help.”

“I take it you wanted to revisit our conversation from this morning?” I asked, getting a small nod from the crimson haired adventurer. “So what is it you want to say to me Cassandra?”

“I still am not certain how I feel about things,” She replied with a hint of anger still in her voice. “While I am glad to know the real reason behind what he did, I still don’t like the way he ended things. I know I can be stubborn, but I still deserved to be told the truth. I am also mad at you for visiting him behind my back like that. I know that if you had told me, I would have demanded to go and that would have hindered what you would have learned. It may not be logical, but I can’t control the anger I feel from it. Then there is the fact that you are the reason he is both maimed and cursed. While I know that had you not come along, I would not have ended up with him, but still I also wouldn’t know this pain right now.”

“I understand,” I said softly, trying not to let her know how hurt I was that I had caused her such pain. “I am sorry you are feeling that, and I wish it weren’t the case. What do you want me to do?”

She locked eyes with me, and I could see that determination of steel that she got when she was focused.

“Just be you,” Cassandra answered sharply. “You have ended up in the middle of things for the most part and I know in my heart you aren’t the true person responsible. Silvia would have still attacked the group had you not been there, and without your instincts and skill the death toll could have been much higher. We will continue as we have. I will work in the quartermaster’s and go on quests. I need time for my anger to dissipate and see what feelings remain. All I ask is the space to figure it out.”

I nodded, “Whatever you need Cassandra. I walked into that shower expecting you to never want to speak to me again, but I wanted you to have closure. It upset me to see you getting the run-around and getting more hurt with your questions going unanswered. I didn’t care what it meant for me, but I just couldn’t stand to see you in such pain and confusion.”

She looked deep into my eyes, trying to read something there before pulling me into a quick kiss then shoving me away. Her actions only left me more confused, but I could hear giggles from the women behind us and saw Cassandra blush, so it must have meant it was a step in the right direction. It was another hour of walking before we neared the end of the trail. We were slowed by the various mobs that emerged to attack us as we went.

Ants, Scorpions and even Manti emerged, but seemed warped and different from what we had encountered before. This only further proved my suspicions and had me worrying about what we would be walking into. I had a feeling that I would indeed need to call my dragon companions when the time came. As we neared the end of the path, there was a flash of light and Theresa let out an exclamation of surprise.

“Airia’s crystal lit up and now the color is back to green,” Theresa explained. “Does that mean something happened to her? Is she okay?”

I gave her a reassuring smile, “It was explained that if something happens to your companion to make their health reach critical levels, they would be returned to your gem to rest and recuperate. This just means that we need to be overly cautious about what we are walking into. She reached this location a few moments ago, but the speed in which she was dispatched worries me.”