Chapter 1: Ruins in the Woods

Drip…   Drip…   Zach did his best to tune out the sounds of the ruins. He didn’t know where exactly the noises were coming from, just that the rhythmic dripping was echoing from somewhere further down the corridor. Against the otherwise silent underground, it felt near deafening at times.   Zach wondered if that was by design in some twisted way. Dwarves were a paranoid lot if their ruins were any indication. The handful of trapdoors he and Ryu  had to navigate were proof of that. It wouldn’t surprise him one bit with the constant echoes of water dripping against stone were a form of subtle torture for unwanted guests.   Shaking his head, Zach dispelled his silent musings and focused his magic through his hand and into the surrounding stone. The flow of energy echoed back, outlining the void below the slabs of stone beneath his feet as well as the hollow channel lying beneath the surface. Following it, he glided his hand across the floor and up the wall to a brick indistinguishable from the others around it. Zach pressed firmly against it, pushing it into the wall.   A low scraping sound resonated from below, eliciting an alarmed squawk from behind Zach.   “We’re safe,” Zach said, tucking a loose strand of blonde hair back.   “Try telling that to Sora,” Ryu replied, petting the bird on his shoulder with his free hand as she nipped at the points of his ear. The action seemed to placate Sora, though she remained far from happy. Ryu gazed on guiltily as he tried to smooth her ruffled red and brown feathers.   “We can head back if you want,” Zach remarked.   “What?” Ryu said. “But we haven’t found anything yet!”   Zach couldn’t deny that he was right. Aside from the traps they’ve been navigating, they hadn’t found much of note. All he’d been able to record in his journal was the layout of the corridor they were in and there was only so much one could write about a single, if twisting, hallway. Hardly enough to earn the coin to make coming here worth the trek.   No relics. No runes. Frankly, if it weren’t for the absurd number of trapdoors lining the passage, Zach would be dubious if this was a dwarven ruin at all.   Frustrated as he knew they both were, though, Zach was keenly aware that they couldn’t continue on for much longer. Scanning for hazards, while not too taxing, did wear on him after long enough.   Or perhaps it was simply his nerves that were worn out.   “Come on,” Ryu urged, stepping past Zach as he mused. “Let’s check a little further.” He hoisted his lantern up. The light it cast revealed a bend in the corridor. “If there’s anything that looks interesting around that corner, we check it out. If not, we pack up and head home. Sound good?”   Zach frowned before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Fine,” he relented. “But I’m holding you to that. We see what’s there and head back. Okay?”   “Deal.”   The two rounded the corner and found two sights. The first was a staircase leading further down. Neither of them could see where the steps ended, but the sound of dripping water rang loudly up to the boys.   Second was a doorway breaking the continuous stonework of the corridor’s wall. Holding his lantern high, Zach peered inside through the threshold.   He almost dropped his lantern.   Seated across a table from him was a skeleton. Strips of whatever rags and leather had survived the passage of time hung like cobwebs from its bones. After a beat, Zach managed to tear his gaze away from the empty eye sockets staring at him and examined the rest of the room.   Decay seemed to be a recurring element of the room. Much like the table, what furniture there was looked fit for little else than kindling. A couple crates sat in a corner, a pair of clay jugs sitting on top of it. Against the far wall stood a set of shelves seemingly built into the stonework with metal shutters over the compartments.   If decay had been an element, storage seemed to be the theme. Stepping over towards the shelves – and being sure to give the skeleton as wide a birth as he could – Zach examined the doors covering them. Each shelf had a pair with a latch connecting the two. One had been left open while the others each had a sturdy looking lock on the latch.   Now that he was standing close, Zach noticed how clean the metal shutters looked. In stark contrast with the rest of the room, there was no wear to be seen. Not even a fleck of rust.   Definitely dwarven, Zach observed. The race had been dead for centuries and much of their handiwork looked as if it was forged just the day before. As if to prove the notion, he gave the locks on the shelf a few strong tugs that only succeeded in a jingling metallic racket.   “You think you can pick these?” Zach asked looking over to Ryu, who had been examining the interiors of the crates. Sora had hopped off Ryu’s shoulder and stretched her legs on the table. She gave the skeleton a few curious glances but choosing to ignore it. Zach had never been so glad red-tailed falcons weren’t carrion birds.   As with the shutters, the lock looked near pristine underneath the layer of dust and grime. The mechanism was made up of a wide U with a cylindrical bolt bridging the gap between the two ends. A keyhole was clear on one side, though much smaller than what either boy was used to seeing.   Ryu produced a set of picks from his sleeve and got to work. Not that it did much good. After a minute of scraping the inner mechanism without finding purchase, he pulled his picks out in defeat.   “What are the odds he has a key?” Ryu remarked, glancing at the skeleton behind them. Zach gave Ryu a look that left nothing uncertain as a reply. Sighing, Ryu pocketed his picks and held a balled-up fist in his palm.   Zach mirrored him and the two drummed on their fists in their hands twice. On the third beat, Zach kept his fist clenched while Ryu flattened his.   Frowning, Zach took a tentative step towards the… body. Did it help to think of it as that instead? It was either that or… no. Body was going to have to do.   Crouching beside the chair with his lantern raised, Zach took a cursory look over the body. The figure appeared short in stature. Not to the extent dwarves typically were depicted as, but even Zach wasn’t sure how exaggerated those accounts were. Now that he was close – a fact he was desperate not to dwell on – he noticed that the body was missing two of its limbs. An arm and leg to be exact, both on the left side.   Ignoring that detail, Zach turned his attention back to searching for a potential key for the lock. Peering around the body, he caught a glint of metal on its left side by what he assumed had once been a belt. Giving a silent prayer of apology, Zach reached across the body and gingerly pulled the key free. The piece looked much like any key they would see back in town. The only difference Zach could discern were shallow ridges etched into the flat of the key’s tooth.   Deciding that curiosity about it and its mate could wait, Zach crossed back towards the shelves and inserted it into the lock. With a single twist, the bolt slid out and he was able to slip it off the latch. Zach lifted the door and surveyed the shelf with Ryu beside him.   A bundle of what might have at one point been cloth sat folded on the shelf. Much like the ragged strips hanging from the… body behind them, little had survived the passage of time. Though, albeit somewhat better than whatever the dwarf had been wearing. On top of the garment sat a dagger in a degraded leather sheath.   Ryu reached in and picked up the blade, peeling it out of its sheath. It was another dwarven piece. That much was certain. Like the lock, there wasn’t a bit of rust on the dagger. The blade was patinaed a dark black, only its edges and an engraving along the flat glimmered in the lantern light. Even the handle looked pristine with only the faintest wear marks showing it had been used in the past.   Ryu let out a low whistle as he examined the dagger. “Any idea what these engravings say?” he asked.   Zach took the weapon and immediately noticed how light it felt in his hand. The dagger stretched over a foot from tip to pommel, yet it weighed next to nothing. He tried to examine it to perhaps get an idea of what it was made off but felt the mana he channeled through his hand only got rebuffed from the metal. One more thing to try later when he’d had some rest.   Turning the knife over in his hands, Zach looked over the pattern etched into the flat of the blade. It certainly looked like an inscription, but the characters curved and flowed more than any dwarven runes he had ever read. He furrowed his brow as he tried to make heads or tails of what he was looking at.   “I’ll try translating it back at the library,” Zach said after a long moment, handing the dagger back to Ryu.   “Unless there’s anything else,” Ryu remarked as he slid the blade back into its sheath and stowed it in his pack. “I think that’s enough for one day.”   “Suddenly eager to get back home?”   “Sora is,” Ryu replied, jerking his thumb towards the bird currently glaring at them from her perch atop one of the crates in the corner.   Zach gave her a sympathetic look. “Couldn’t agree more,” he said, adjusting his pack and raising his lantern. “Come on.”   Sora cawed at the announcement, forcing Ryu to stretch his lantern-bearing arm to avoid the flap of her wings as she hopped onto his shoulder. Zach gave an amused shake of his head at the bird’s antics as he led the way out of the room.   The three began backtracking their way through the ruins. Lucky for them, they were able to move much faster while leaving than they had while first entering. It helped that they had already disabled the trapdoors that lined the corridor as they had gone. What lay beneath said traps or where they might have led to was still beyond Zach and the rough detail his magic had been able to give him. What was important and all he needed to know for the moment was that the panels were locked in place and thus safe to walk across.   And good thing, too, as the corridor wasn’t what one might call a short walk. They had been forced to spend the better part of their time in the ruins having to stop every few steps just to check for and disable whatever little surprises had been left around. It was a miracle they hadn’t had to turn back sooner because Zach had run out of mana.   Honestly, how did dwarves ever get anywhere if they filled every other hallway with booby traps?   As they turned one last corner, the passage brightened some from the light that spilled in from the other end. At the sight of the exit, Sora crowed in cheer and flew off Ryu’s shoulder and perched herself on an unlit sconce affixed near the door and gave the occasional squawk.   “Any idea what she’s saying?” Zach asked after the fourth of the bird’s cry.   “My guess is ‘hurry up.’”   Soon enough, the boys caught up to Sora and exited the corridor into a small cave. The cavern seemed to stretch further on, but wherever it led to was blocked by debris from a cave-in. Instead, Zach and Ryu turned their attention to the patch of stone missing from the cave’s ceiling letting in both light from the sinking sun as well as a length of rope.   Ryu grabbed hold of the rope and scampered up with ease, Sora flapping upwards beside him. Zach followed after with neither such speed nor confidence. Ryu was there offering his hand as Zach’s head poked out of the hole. Zach took the assist and was pulled up and out of the cellar.   Above them, Sora happily stretched her wings, giving a caw of liberation as she relished being above ground once more. Ryu watched her display for a moment before giving a whistle to her, but the bird just cawed some more and remained airborne instead of heeding his call.   “She’s going to be impossible to get inside tonight,” he sighed.   “Let her stretch her wings,” Zach said as he untied the rope from the tree anchoring it. “She’ll tire herself out eventually and be back asking for snacks before you know it.”   “Hmm… probably,” Ryu muttered as he blew out the lanterns. “Time we got moving. We need to get back to town soon or we’ll be camping out down there.”   Zach bristled. “No thanks,” he said.   The two started walking, soon finding the trail through the forest that would take them back to Olbrin. Sora kept her position, flying above the canopy and enjoying the fresh air.   “I can’t wait to see the look on little miss scholar’s face when she sees what we found,” Ryu said as they walked.   Zach shook his head, though his small smile was undeniable. “Well, I’ll be sure to tell you Abigail’s reaction when I sell her what we-”   A piercing caw cut him off and both boys came to a halt, looking up to see Sora circling overhead in the evening sky. Before either of them could say a word, a howl too loud and far too deep to be from any wolf echoed through the forest.   The following second was a blur of movement. In the same instant the boys began to turn, a mass of fur and stone shot from the undergrowth like a bolt. Zach had barely registered the growl that rumbled the air when he felt Ryu shove him from the side, sending him to the ground.   Zach rolled to a crouch, stifling a grimace when he saw the red stain blooming across Ryu’s sleeve. Their attacker stood opposite them, its fur mangy with clouded crystals protruding from its head and spine like horns. It stood with raised hackles, black teeth bared in a snarl at them.   Ryu made to move, but the mana beasts was faster. He was on the ground in an instant. Jaws snapped inches from his face, desperately held back by Ryu’s good arm. He hissed as claw tips cut through his shirt and bit his skin.   Zach just had time to scramble to his feet before he saw Ryu swing out with his injured arm. The mana beast yelped, leaping back. Ryu got up in a flash, knife held tight in his hand. The blade was coated in fresh crimson, matching what dripped from the mana beast’s side. It tried to stand up for another attack, but its leg buckled under its wound.   “Caw! Caw!” Sora squawked from above.   “There’s more coming,” Ryu translated.   He and Zach broke out into a sprint back towards the town gates without another word. They ducked and weaved through the uneven terrain, avoiding low branches and raised tree roots. The howls grew louder. Though the beasts they belonged to were still too deep in the forest for them to see, Sora screeched up a storm above them as a warning that that wouldn’t remain true for much longer.   Sprinting at full tilt, the boys finally broke through the tree line and saw the town walls before them.   Zach’s heart sank as he saw the gates by the guardhouse closed.   “Open the gate!” Ryu shouted as they approached.   Sora shrieked and cawed above as they came to a stop before the gate while their heavy pants and rushing blood filled their ears, but the gate remained silent.   Zach banged his fist against the wooden gate. “Let us in! We’ve got mana beasts after us!”   A dull scrapping resounded from the other side of the gate and the two great doors parted. Zach barely had time to process the sight before a metal hand grabbed him by the collar of his coat and pulled him bodily through the opening. Ryu followed close behind with the gates slamming back shut the instant he made it through. An oak beam fell into its brackets attached to the doors, barring it shut.   Howls filled the air, rumbling through the thick wood of the gates and echoing over the walls as their owners raged at the loss of their evening meal. Zach stared at the wooden gates, very much aware of how close he had been to becoming said meal.   “You alright, lad?” someone said, shaking Zach out of his stupor.   Blinking, Zach turned to see the guard that had pulled him through the gate looking at him with what appeared to be both concern and frustration.   “Ye… yeah,” Zach replied once he managed to steady himself.   “Good,” the guard said, finally releasing his grip on him. “Now you know we have final bell for a reason, right? Make sure you’re back by then, got it?”   Not so much as a beat passed following the guard’s words before the rolling gong of a bell filled the town air. “You mean that bell?” Ryu asked, his arms crossed. “Sir.”   The guard frowned and shoved the two along. “Best get the knife-ear checked out, eh?” he said.   Zach shot him a look over his shoulder before turning his attention to Ryu. The wound to his arm didn’t look any better; a crimson stain streaking the entire way down his sleeve.   “Come on,” he said. “We can get you cleaned up at the church.”   “Yeah… okay,” Ryu replied halfheartedly, using his free hand to apply pressure to his arm. He perked up as Sora fluttered down to rest once more on his shoulder. “Thanks for the warning back there, girl.”   Ryu moved to pet the bird, but Sora shuffled away from his hand, making him wince as her talons grazed one of his wounds. Sora flapped her wings and moved over to Zach, who simply gave a small sigh as he was made her new perch.   “Alright,” he said, scratching the bird’s neck with his finger. “You can have a treat after we patch Ryu up.”   Sora preened, giving an approving squawk.