Season of Bloom - 5. Ranger's Revenge

Lapis awoke to warmth, Khemet’s nose shooting hot breath over his neck as the cat lay on top of him. The amurrun tapped the tiger gently, then a little more roughly, pushing the large cat off of him before sitting up.

“He’s completely healed,” Tristian said, the cleric pacing as the rest of the camp packed up. “We have a day at most to find Baron Cassiel’s bag. I pray we are not too late.”

He stepped up to Lapis, offering a hand to the amurrun.

“For what it is worth, I understand your decision, even if I am not happy with it. But you chose your friend over mine, and it will take me time to accept that.”

Lapis’ ears flattened, shame washing over the amurrun. But when he looked at Khemet, he realized it was a choice he would have made every time. Khemet was more than just his friend; the tiger meant the world to him.

“We need to set off now,” Faes called.

“Shouldn’t that be the cat’s choice?” Regongar smirked. “After all, you appointed him our leader. He should lead then.”

Lapis nodded, grabbing his bag and stringing his bow.

“We search for the bag. That is the top priority,” he said. “If I can help bring your baron back, I will do everything in my power to see him returned to you.”

They set off together down the west hall, passing under a grated ceiling that let the dawning daylight through. Lapis glanced up at the light as Regongar pushed a set of doors open.

Loud footsteps approached, Ekun scowling through the door as he nocked a pair of arrows back. Lapis looked after him, and his hand shot out, pushing the ranger’s arm down. A pair of rock trolls ran up to them, the human sized creatures staring at the group in unafraid interest.

“They’re small, aren’t they?” Lapis frowned.

“Rock troll kids. Kargadd’s get. Will become rock troll adults one day and kill,” Ekun said darkly.

“Borba want kill Daddy?” one of the trolls asked, peering down at Lapis.

“Borba bad,” the other troll said.

Ekun raised his bow again, the weapon groaning with the weight of the arrows on the string.

“They are just kids. They have done nothing to harm your family Ekun,” Tristian said suddenly.

Lapis blinked in surprise, looking at the ranger.

“This Kargadd… he killed your family?”

Ekun nodded, staring down the trolls. For their part, the kids didn’t even seem afraid, they just looked offended at the thought that someone wanted to kill their dad.

“If he killed your family, wouldn’t killing his family make you just as much a monster as him?” Lapis frowned. “Why would you want to become something you seek to destroy?”

“Enough of this bullshit!” Regongar snapped suddenly, whirling on Lapis. “For Calistria’s sake, don’t you dare stand between a man and his revenge!”

He turned to Ekundayo.

“Do it ranger. Have your revenge and revel in murdering those who took your family from you.”

With a sudden creak and twang, the bowstring released from the ranger’s grip. A pair of arrows sprouted from one of the trolls’ chest, and for a stunned moment, Lapis could have sworn the child was going to cry.

But all that emerged from him was a bellow, and he and his brother charged forward, angered by the assault.

The group beat a hasty retreat to the sunlit room, Lapis and Ekun peppering the trolls with arrows the entire way. As soon as the kids crossed into the sunlight, their bodies seemed to stiffen, though in their blind rage, they didn’t seem to notice their plight, until Ekun’s next rapid volley of shots pinned them down. Seconds later, they were as still as statues, and Lapis stared at them warily for a moment, before approaching them. A tap against their body confirmed what his eyes disbelieved. They had turned to stone in the morning’s light.

The party didn’t have time to celebrate though. A thunderous howl shook the fortress, an enormous rock troll storming toward them. Picking up a fallen piece of rubble, he hurled it through the open door, debris catching Khemet in the side. Kargadd had arrived to avenge his family.

The tiger yowled as he went down, and Lapis’ eyes widened as he threw his bow aside to help the cat.

“Dog!” Ekun yelled, a blur passing Lapis as the animal lunged at the troll.

Slowly, they lured Kargadd into the sunroom as well, a fighting retreat that lasted until he was just inside the room. Regongar circled through the tight opening, his scimitar flashing with the dark blood of the troll as he pushed Kargadd further into the room.

The fight ended before Lapis could get to Khemet, the amurrun taking a glancing hit from the troll’s fists as he tried to force his way around to get to his tiger. A healing spell brought Khemet back to his feet, the tiger grumbling as he stumbled slightly.

“You keep getting hurt…” Lapis breathed, hugging the tiger. “Stop fighting things bigger than you, we can handle it ourselves.”

“Done…”

The catfolk glanced up at Ekundayo, the ranger staring at the stone corpses of his foes. A strange look passed over his eyes, and he let out a long breath. Approaching the trolls, he delivered a hard kick to each of them. A loud crack made Lapis think he had broken his foot, but the Thuvian showed no sign of physical pain.

“Done,” he repeated, spitting on the corpses.

Turning to Lapis, he frowned slightly.

“Thank you for your help, friend. My family can rest in peace now.”

Lapis bit his tongue, fighting the urge to yell at the ranger. He had almost gotten Khemet killed for a personal vendetta, he had murdered children in cold blood.

Turning away, the amurrun stood up, another prayer driving away Khemet’s wounds.

“We walk on,” he said tiredly.

Kiba awoke from his slumber, his entire body a frozen mess of scales. Crawling into a patch of sunlight, the kobold shivered as he slowly warmed, Apsu emerging slowly out of his pocket. Together the lizards let their bodies warm, Kiba trying to figure out why he felt like he was forgetting something.

The softskin’s body was still where it had been left, and the dead troll sat nearby. But there was something else…

And then he remembered, they had ridden horses. Surely the horses had been left with food… though he honestly didn’t trust the party to remember that either.

Groaning quietly, the kobold stood up, making his way through a thicket of pines to where the horses were trying desperately to reach what little grass they could. Frowning, Kiba approached Lapis’ horse, searching through one of the saddlebags nearby. The results were surprising, a bag filled with what felt like an endless amount of grain. Kiba began pouring it out in front of the horse until there was a good amount in front of him, before carefully loosening his reins to allow his head to reach the food.

He repeated the process for the other four horses, setting the bag back among the others. Finding a brush, the kobold frowned. Did the softskins really use these on their horses? He had always thought they were for the patches of fur on their heads.

Shrugging, he made his way around the small herd again, running the brush over the horses a few times. Regongar’s stallion stomped as he approached, nearly crushing the kobold’s foot, and Kiba stumbled back in alarm. He slowly stepped up to him again, swiping over his belly a couple times before hurrying away quickly.

Stepping up behind Tristian’s mount, he dodged a flying hoof, the lizard hissing at the animal.

“Kiba is trying to help you!” he snapped. “Don’t hurt the help.”

He smacked the horse’s tail, and it flicked back at him in annoyance, whipping across his face. The kobold dodged another strike, hurrying away from the weapon with a grumble.

Kiba set the brush back in the bag, returning to the main part of the camp with a relieved breath. He fetched his blade, running through a series of stretches drilled into him from an early age, even for kobolds, as he tried to figure out how to use his new magic with the sword.

Apsu sat sunbathing on a rock, watching flies buzz by lazily as the kobold worked. Kiba kept an eye on him, just in case, but he was reasonably sure the lizard wasn’t going anywhere.

The group passed into the room beyond the grated sunroom, finding themselves in a troll kitchen. A bubbling perpetual stew sat over low flames, likely tended to by the rock trolls. Faes chuckled grimly as he realized the stew would spoil quickly without them stirring it. Given the fact that there were likely bits of humans in the pot, he wasn’t that sad about spoiling the meal.

A pair of doors sat across from the pot, Faes crossing to one. No stone would be left unturned; he needed to find that scroll. Having Lapis as their leader was disastrous, even with him pulling the strings from behind. The half-drow would be better off worming his way into the service of the old baron. At least he seemed to have an idea of what he had been doing.

Throwing open the doors, the elementalist gagged at the smell of rotting flesh and blood. Behind him, he heard someone vomit, his eyes glued on the veritable mountain of half eaten bodies.

Moving to close the doors quickly, he was stopped by Tristian.

“Wait! That dwarf, it’s Harrim! And he’s still alive!” the cleric exclaimed, pushing into the troll larder.

The bare chested dwarf was staring up at the ceiling, his lips moving silently. Blood seeped out of what used to be legs, bitten off at the kneecaps, and the rest of his body wasn’t much better off.

“He’s dead enough to me,” Faes scowled. “There’s no healing this kind of wound.”

“Lapis? A single spell would not be enough, but we owe it to him to try,” Tristian said, appealing to the amurrun, and Faes' scowl deepened.

“Try to heal him. We can still save him if we try,” the catfolk said, his tiger burying his nose in his paws at the stench coming from the room.

The conversation grabbed Harrim’s attention, words spilling from his cracked and bloody lips as the ground started to tremble. Ignoring the obvious danger, Tristan chanted a healing prayer, setting his hands on the dwarf’s legs. Instantly the rumbling stopped, the dwarf’s eyes flicking toward the group.

“You… not trolls…” he rasped, chest heaving with the effort of speech. “I… found ruins… tried to search my soul… but the end comes relentless…”

His ruined hands reached out, a soft prayer escaping him, and Faes felt a strange, soothing warmth come over him as the dwarf’s last breath faded, his final prayer a blessing to those who tried to save him.

“We’ll return to bury him,” Linzi said sadly.

“Yes, the dead can wait. Can we get out of here now? The smell is sickening,” Regongar scowled.

They hurried from the room, eager to put the death and disease behind them. Kobolds stalked the halls, and trolls awaited them at the end, all falling to skilled archery and the simple fact that the trolls were too large to fit within the halls themselves.

It didn’t take long before they found themselves in a small storeroom, Linzi poking around a loose tile on the floor. There was a sudden click, and Faes flinched, certain a trap was about to explode in their faces, but the halfling just grinned as she shoved the tile aside, revealing a shortbow with no small amount of acid coating the limbs.

“Lapis, I’m pretty sure you get that bow. Our ranger friend seems to prefer longbows,” Faes noted wryly.

The amurrun reached for the bow cautiously, the acid rushing over his hand. His mouth opened in a sudden scream that cut off as he realized the acid wasn’t biting into him, it was just sitting around his hand, awaiting an arrow to ride on.

“The perfect troll hunting tool,” Linzi grinned. “We have acid now.”

“Keep moving,” Ekun said, turning away from the room. “Baron is wasting away.”