A Monster Life Ch. 22-24

The echo of the hit reverberated through the hall while the knight's head snapped back with part of its jaw broken off. It didn't stop it for long and it swung its sword at him again.

The intention to draw all attention to himself succeeded though and the other knights stabbed and swung at him while the wizards picked up stone rubble from the floor and hurled it at him. He stopped briefly in front of one knight, then ducked between its legs when a wizard threw a large piece of a wall stone at him. It shattered one lower leg of the knight and tumbled it to the floor.

'I was hoping they were stone brained as well!' he said while he climbed up the back of another wizard and swung down his clutched fists into its face. It tried to grab him but he jumped off of its shoulders and away from the guards. A quick glance at the wizard heading towards him confirmed his other suspicion. 'I can't blind them, they don't really see with their eyes!'

'So they'll need to be smashed to bits to stop them!' said Elzbieta.

Ulric jumped away from a stone hitting the floor near his feet. 'This will take some time!'

Elzbieta noticed one knight and a wizard stepping towards her. 'We're targeted!' she said and stepped forward to create distance between her and the other girls.

She evaded the sword and the stones thrown at her and landed a couple of blows on the knight's leg. 'The stone's too hard! I can only chip at it!' she said after seeing the fist sized gap in the leg. 'Even if I cut the legs of the knights I can't cut through the robes of the wizards in time!'

Ulric punched part of the knee of one knight to bits and jumped away to avoid another large piece of stone. 'Kaui! We'll need the grenades!'

'I don't have enough for all of them even if it would only take one to destroy them, Master!'

Iphigenia took one of the grenades from Kaui. 'Elz, cut a gap in the wizard's side!'

Elzbieta ducked and evaded the knight, closed in on the wizard and slashed at it with all of her strength. The wizard turned around to grab her but she moved away again. 'Done!'

Iphigenia bolted towards the wizard, jammed the apple sized jar into the gap, pulled the string, and ran away. 'Look out!'

Elzbieta moved to the other side of the knight to use him for cover and the next moment the explosion blasted a large part of the wizard's side apart. The top half wobbled, then fell down when the weight broke it off completely.

Iphigenia rushed towards Kaui. 'Cut those wizards! I'll plant the grenades!'

Both Elzbieta and Ulric focused their attacks on the wizards and one by one they went down after Iphigenia pushed Kaui's grenades into the cracks in their sides and large chunks of their stone bodies were blown away.

Elzbieta continued to slash at the knees of one knight while Ulric crushed the hand of the first downed knight to take its stone sword, and used it to smash the next knight's legs until they were shattered along with the sword, then grabbed the next one for the next attack.

After the last knight went down, Ulric lifted large chunks of stone and smashed them down on the crawling upper torsos of the statues to destroy them completely.

He sat down and slumped back onto the floor, panting with his tongue hanging from his mouth while the girls hurried up to him. Iphigenia smiled at him and put her hand on his heaving chest. 'Well done.' she said and kissed his nose.

He smiled tiredly at her and the others. 'You all did well.' he panted. 'I just finished them off.'

Elzbieta sat down next to him and stroked his cheek. 'But lifting all that stone to crush them was quite something.'

He chuckled. 'Good thing bloodwolves are sturdy and strong creatures. In my case anyway.'

'My friends tell me there's a relatively safe chamber close by where we can rest.' said Valdys. 'They found the controls to the grate and are trying to open it.'

Ulric had caught his breath by the time the grate lifted, and the group followed several rodent skeletons along dark corridors to one with empty chambers on either side. They settled into one with a stone slab on the floor that could be used as a low table and took the opportunity to have a bite.

'We've encountered floating armour and stone statues now, any other kinds of guards we should look out for?' asked Kaui for Ulric.

'I can't tell for sure.' said Valdys. 'The guards don't react to my friends so they don't know what kinds there are or where more traps might be.'

'You couldn't tell if the statues were guards until the trap was triggered, right?'

Valdys nodded and looked down. 'Sorry.'

Kaui gave her a gentle smile. 'It's not your fault. We'll just have to keep in mind that we don't have a way to detect them.'

Valdys looked up again. 'I asked my friends to look for signs of them.'

'That's good. Hopefully we can avoid at least some of them.'

Ulric looked at Elzbieta eating quietly. 'We'll take a rest here, give her friends some time and regain our strength.'

The others agreed and Kaui would keep first watch with Valdys, who didn't need any sleep as an undead.

***

'A sewer that's not exactly underground. This really is a fantasy world.' said Ulric when the group followed a couple of small spirits through brick tunnels with a narrow water canal in the middle. The sounds of droplets trickling and torches crackling echoed faintly with their footsteps.

'Not to us, Wolfie.'

He chuckled and looked up at Iphigenia. 'Yeah, to you my world would look like a fantasy one.'

One spirit came up to them from the other end and floated in front of Valdys. 'It says there's a statue behind a barrier up ahead at a junction and it could be a trap.'

'Any way around it?' asked Kaui.

Valdys shook her head. 'Only through more halls with statues.'

'Let's have a look, Maybe we can take it down.' said Ulric and they continued in silence.

At a thick iron grate blocking further passage through the tunnel, they kept to the wall behind the short extension the grate was cemented in and peeked at the statue standing farther away with its back to them. 'How can we pass this grate without breaking it and that thing hearing it?' asked Kaui.

Valdys pointed to the water. 'Apparently there's a hole in the grate near the bottom. The difficulty lies in the possibility the statue will react when we try to get out of the water.'

Ulric looked at the canal. 'How deep is the water here?'

'More than a man's height.' said Valdys.

He looked at the statue again. 'And that one is a man's height.' he said and calculated the distance to the statue. 'I think I can make it that far.'

'You're thinking of swimming underwater?' asked Elzbieta.

He nodded. 'Grab the statue by the ankles and pull it into the water where it can't get out. Probably.'

She frowned. 'That's rather risky.'

He looked at the statue again. 'Seems our only choice.'

She sighed. 'True.'

Iphigenia took his face in her hands and kissed him. 'Be careful, Wolfie.'

He smiled gently at her. 'Of course, my cutie.'

Elzbieta pulled his face towards her and kissed him as well. 'Just for luck.' she said with red cheeks.

He chuckled. 'Thank you, sweetie.' he said and noticed Kaui fiddling with her fingers as she looked up at him. 'Want to add something?'

She pulled out a grenade jar from her bag and put it in his paw. 'This is the last one, just in case.' she said and kissed him. 'Please be safe, Master.'

'I will, my dear.' he said, crawled to the edge of the canal, took a few deep breaths, and slipped silently into the water. The girls followed his shadow in the water towards the grate, then saw it vanish to the bottom.

There was barely enough light from the torches to see far into the water but his senses helped him find the hole quickly, and he went through and kept as low as he could while swimming towards the junction where the statue stood.

The girls watched the end of the canal in apprehension while every sound seemed to scream through the silence. 'Almost there.' said Ulric through the familiar link and the girls held their breath for the next part.

The sudden splash of water startled them as Ulric surfaced fast from a jump at the bottom of the canal. He embraced both ankles of the statue and pushed himself away from the edge with his feet.

The statue fell forward and hit the floor hard with its torso and head as it was pulled into the water. Ulric let go of the ankles and stepped against the back of the statue to rise up from the water, but before he could get his head out, the statue snatched his tail and pulled him back down.

'Ulric!' shouted Iphigenia through the link when she sensed his surprise and the difficulty of holding his breath.

He stomped at the fist gripping his tail but his foot slipped away each time. Growling hard he dove down, stomped hard against the statue's torso to topple it, and quickly placed his grenade underneath it as it fell to the bottom. He braced himself on top of it with his paws covering his ears.

The girls cried out at the explosion of water. Iphigenia and Elzbieta dove into the water, swam as fast as they could through the opening in the grate, and swam towards the junction while calling out to Ulric as he drifted up to the surface.

24 - Failure

Ulric coughed up some water while he held on to the pathway's edge. 'I'm all right.' he said through the link. 'Just a little jumbled from the pressure of the explosion in the water.'

Valdys and Kaui followed Iphigenia and Elzbieta through the water after quickly undressing, used the grate to get back onto the side, dress again, and hurried to the junction. 'Master!' called out Kaui. 'We're coming!'

The two helped the others get out of the water and Iphigenia and Elzbieta pulled out dry clothes from their packs while Kaui pulled out a towel and dried Ulric. 'Thank you.' he said as she rubbed his back and he smiled at Iphigenia and Elzbieta while they undressed.

Elzbieta noticed him watching and covered her front with her towel. 'Don't look!' she said while blushing hard.

Iphigenia chuckled. 'What? As if he hasn't seen every intimate detail of you already.'

Elzbieta looked away. 'I know, but it's still embarrassing to do it when there are others around.'

Iphigenia looked at Valdys, who looked discreetly away. 'Ohh, right.' she said and grinned at Ulric. 'It's no problem if she's a member of our party then.'

Ulric chuckled once and shook his head. 'I'm not going to make every woman we meet into my familiar.'

Iphigenia stuck her tongue out playfully and took her time drying and dressing for him while Kaui blushed as she dried his front. 'Ehm, Master?'

He looked at Kaui glancing up at him. 'What is it, my dear?'

She quickly licked her lips. 'Do you want me to dry you, or to please you first?'

He looked down at his erection and coughed. 'No! Eh, just dry quickly!' he said, glad that Valdys stood with her back towards his back. 'We can't do that in front of others!'

'Yes, Master.'Kaui said and rubbed his nether region quick but gentle while feeling relieved, but also a little disappointed. She blushed more when she realised the thought of him making her please him in front of others caused a pleasant shiver through her body.

'Which direction now?' she asked of Valdys when everyone was dry and ready.

Her skeleton friends pointed with their noses into one of the passages. 'That way. We're going up again.'

***

Several stairwells, winding passages, and silently sneaking through tunnels to avoid more guards, the party crossed a pathway spanning three towers. Elzbieta noticed Valdys looking around when they rounded the second tower. 'Guards?'

Valdys stopped. 'I'm not sure.' she said and closed her eyes. 'I sense a presence but my friends haven't seen any up ahead.'

Ulric sniffed the air. 'I'll have a look then while you wait here.' he said. 'Maybe the critters can't recognise a possible threat.'

'I'll go with you.' said Valdys when she understood why Ulric moved towards the next tower while the rest stayed put. 'I might detect something.'

He gave her a nod when Kaui said Valdys would follow and she hurried to his side.

She gasped and stopped at once, then turned to the side. 'It's there!'

From out of the haze a giant statue of a bulky barbaric warrior appeared with a raised club. Ulric had no doubt on what it planned to do and grabbed Valdys by the sleeve of her cloak. 'Get away!' he shouted to the others and ran towards the third tower.

He'd barely pulled Valdys with him when the club struck the pathway and broke it in two behind them.

The two halves sagged under their weight and Ulric pulled Valdys onto his back. 'Hang on!' he growled while her squirrel friend gripped his tail.

Valdys clutched his neck at the urgent growl and he bolted forward, claws gripping the stone underneath as it gradually inclined more on its way down into the abyss.

Iphigenia gazed with large eyes at Ulric half running, half climbing the crumbling stone passageway. 'WOLFIE!'

'Get away from there before that thing attacks you!' he yelled through the link.

Elzbieta seized Iphigenia by her shoulder. 'He's right! We have to get out of here!' she said and pulled her back.

'But Wolfie!'

'He will be safe!' Elzbieta snapped at her despite her fear for him. 'We have to get out of here so he won't worry about us!'

Iphigenia clenched her jaw as she knew Elzbieta was right, and ran towards the first tower with her and Kaui, following the couple of rat skeletons that were with them.

Ulric pushed off from the broken chunks of the pathway close to the third tower while they fell down and landed on the part of the pathway that was still intact. He dove into a doorway in front of him and turned to see the warrior statue strike the second tower. 'Iphi! Elz! Kaui!' he shouted while one corner of the tower shattered and fell down into darkness.

'We're running!' Elzbieta said and cursed at the sight of floating armours rushing towards them from a pathway to the side. 'They're after us!'

One rat jumped onto her shoulder and chittered frantically in her ear.

'We're going to follow the rats!' she said while they turned away from the armours at the first tower.

Ulric saw the warrior look at him and raise his club again. 'We have to get away again!' he growled and ran through the tower towards the pathway at the other end.

It shook violently underneath him from the strike behind them but it held.

He ran with all his might towards the next tower, where he turned to see if they were safe again. He took deep breaths when it looked like there was no immediate threat and put his paw on Valdys's arms.

She relaxed her grip around his neck and moved off of his back with trembling knees. He looked up at her while she leaned on his shoulder for support. 'I'm all right.' she said. 'Thank you for saving me.'

He understood and gave her a short growl, then swung his tail aside and looked at the squirrel clenching it tightly. 'You can let go as well now.' He gazed back into the haze. 'Girls! We're safe for now!'

'The rats are leading us through some passages!' Elzbieta said. 'I think we can escape safely!'

'Good! Tell me as soon as you are!'

Valdys shook his shoulder and he followed the direction she pointed at. Floating armours and fast stone knights were moving towards them. The squirrel chittered at them from a stairwell behind them and he gave Valdys a nod. 'And we're running again.' he said and followed behind Valdys as they hurried up the stairs.

***

'Ẃolfie?'

Ulric smiled a little. 'Yes, cutie?'

Iphigenia fiddled with her dress while she, Elzbieta, and Kaui had a quick rest in a secluded small hall while more skeletal creatures scurried about along with some small spirits. 'I hate this.'

He chuckled once. 'I don't like it either. I don't want you girls to be where I can't protect you.'

Valdys shook her head at him after other critters and spirits came up to her.

'Looks like they don't know a path yet for us to meet up again.' he said and looked down at a gallery with floating armours from a narrow window in the room they hid in. 'The guards are at full alert too.'

Iphigenia sighed. 'There goes our plan to defeat the necromancer.'

Ulric looked at Valdys talking to her friends. 'Not so much. I think I can still do it with Valdys and her friends. It'll just be tougher on my own.'

'You still want to go on with it?' asked Elzbieta.

Ulric nodded. 'It's no use giving up. By now that Demetrus must know we're here and we'd probably have a harder time trying to find and fight our way out of this dead maze than going forward. Not to mention it would most likely take a lot less time.'

Elzbieta sighed and leaned her head back against the wall she sat in front of. 'Can't argue with that.'

'Promise me you'll take the least risk of getting hurt, Wolfie.'

'I will, cutie. I may be tough now but I still don't like to get hurt.'

Iphigenia nodded and smiled slightly.

Ulric turned to Valdys, grabbed a small rock, and drew a crude drawing on the stone floor of her in her long cloak, himself looking more like a large dog, the necromancer as a robed figure with a skull for his head, a tiny skeleton and a wobbly shape as her friends, and a book. 'This is what I have in mind of doing.' he said, more to make a point than actually telling her since she couldn't understand his speech. 'Simply said, I'll attack Demetrus to distract him while you and your friends steal his book and sneak away to destroy it.'

Valdys watched while he drew everything and gestured at the figure of her, then at herself, and at the figures and her friends. Ulric nodded and she nodded in return in understanding. Ulric gave her a smile and she smiled quickly in return while realising she once again felt a sense of purpose and being alive.

She asked her friends to find a way to Demetrus's chambers where he kept the book and after a while a rat skeleton and a spirit returned to convey they'd found a way. She asked for help in retrieving the book and they immediately indicated they and the others gave their support to end the necromancer's reign.

Valdys gestured at Ulric she and her friends were ready and he smiled again at her. 'Let's do this.'

***

'Are you safe?' Ulric asked through the familiar link.

'We're doing all right.' Iphigenia said. 'The rat skeletons sort of said they might have found a way for us to come your way although it might take some time.'

'That's good. Valdys and I are ready to assault the necromancer so please don't contact me unless it's an emergency. Don't worry about me when you sense trouble through the link.'

'Wolfie, don't say that!' Iphigenia said while her chest tightened.

'I will need to focus on fighting, Iphi.'

She sighed and nodded. 'Tell us as soon as you're all right, Wolfie.'

'I will.' he said and took a deep breath. 'We're almost at the end of the tunnel to the back of where he lives. I'll speak to you later.'

'Good luck and stay safe, darling.' Elzbieta said. 'Both of you.'

'Come back to us whole, Master.' Kaui said.

He smiled a little. 'I will not let anything prevent me from going back to you, my dears.' he said and gestured at Valdys he was ready to go on the offence.

She gave him a thumbs up and he took a deep breath. 'We're going in.'

The corridors were dim and cold. Ulric moved along them with anxiety twisting his stomach. According to Valdys, Demetrus dwelt in a small hall like a throne room with an attached study room where he conducted experiments, and Ulric had no idea what to expect.

The rat that led him stopped at a set of large, open black doors, smooth as granite, and he took a peek inside after he listened carefully for any activity. The throne made from the same stone as the doors and shaped as a collection of bones and skulls with two large bone wings looming above it and forward was the first thing that he noticed. "What is it with evil wizards and their taste in furniture? Do they all get off on the same kink? Or do they all buy at the same Swedish chain store?" he thought and observed the rest of the hall lit by tall fire stands at the sides of the throne, casting menacingly flickering shadows everywhere.