Dungeon Walkers 2 Read online

  “We’ll make you little for bed,” Stern told her. “The tent will already be snug with three of us in it.”

  Cyra’s steps slowed as they walked away. “Oh, right.”

  “I’m going to sleep between you two,” Trish smirked. “I’m going to enjoy it.”

  “I slept next to him before and it was fine,” Cyra said softly. “In the tent, in fact.”

  “That’s true,” Stern agreed, “but will you be comfortable with it?”

  “I think so,” Cyra said. “Can I sleep between you both tonight?”

  Stern and Trish exchanged a glance, smiles crossing both of their faces.

  “Yes,” Stern agreed.

  “Of course. We just thought we’d ease you into it, but if you want to dive right in, go ahead,” Trish grinned.

  “Speaking of,” Stern said, looking at the setting sun, “we should find a place to camp for the night.”

  “How many days is it to Waterrock?” Cyra asked.

  “A week by road,” Trish said. “Going like we are, closer to two.”

  “Oh. We’ll have plenty of time to change up who sleeps where, then.”

  Stern gave her a sideways glance, feeling her hope. “That’s true. If you handle tonight well, we can rotate who gets to be in the middle.”

  Trish’s eyes sparkled. “And if it’s me, you can both have fun.”

  Cyra blushed and Stern just shook his head.

  They found a good spot a few minutes later. Cyra stayed to set camp, while Trish went to grab firewood and Stern took Pawly out hunting.

  Coming back into camp as the sun finished setting, Stern handed Cyra the gutted rabbit. “Here you go.”

  “Oh, skinned and gutted,” Cyra said, taking the rabbit. “That’ll make this quicker.”

  “Only one?” Trish asked.

  “Yeah. It’s the only thing that I found nearby. The game might start showing up more after tomorrow when we get farther from the city.”

  “Good point.”

  “Nice collection of firewood,” Stern said, looking at the small stack.

  “Found a downed tree. Was easy enough to use the hatchet to pull the bigger limbs off and trim them down. Been dead for a while, so it burns well.”

  The sizzle of cooking meat came just before the scent did. All three of them felt hungry, and their stomachs soon rumbled in agreement.

  “This is nice,” Cyra said as she watched the food cook. “Even more than when it was just Stern and I.”

  Pawly huffed.

  “Stern, Pawly, and I,” Cyra amended.

  “Meow.”

  “Sorry,” Cyra said, giving Pawly a smile before mixing the meat and vegetables in the pan.

  “How was that?” Trish asked. “Just the two of you traveling. No issues?”

  “None of that kind,” Cyra said. “Stern’s never triggered those reactions in me.” She suddenly blushed a deep red.

  Stern chuckled at her surge of embarrassment.

  “What?” Trish asked, wanting to know.

  Cyra covered her face for a moment before exhaling loudly. “The, uh… the first night, I… might have cuddled him.”

  Trish’s eyebrows went up, and she gave Stern a surprised look.

  Stern chuckled. “Hang on. It was freezing, and we were back-to-back, sharing the blankets when we went to bed. When I woke up, she was curled up to my back with her arm and leg over me.”

  Trish began to laugh and Cyra blushed more. “She was the one holding you?”

  “She was only trying to get warm,” Stern sighed.

  “I dreamt a fluffy cat was there to warm me up...” Cyra muttered.

  “Well, he has a fluffy kitty,” Trish laughed harder.

  Cyra was flushed red, but she giggled. “It’s fine now. I wonder if I’ll do it again, though?”

  Trish grinned. “If you do, I’ll be holding you, too.”

  Stern was the one blushing now. “I… wouldn’t object.”

  Cyra snuck a glance at him, her heart soaring and her hope high as she went back to cooking.

  Chapter Four

  Stern was glad when, in the early afternoon, Waterrock came into view. “A hot bath…” His words held a wistful need.

  “I’m looking forward to it, too,” Cyra agreed.

  “Me, three,” Trish sighed. “Even cleaning up when we could, I still feel disgusting.”

  “The long treks are always like this,” Stern said. “Nothing that can be done about it except to accept it.”

  “We could have stuck to the road and had a couple of inns over the week it took to walk to the city,” Trish said, “but we don’t complete quests that way.”

  “Which we need to do to make money for when we’re in the cities,” Cyra said. “I can handle it, but a hot bath sounds wonderful.”

  “If you two want to go secure rooms at the inn, I can handle the quests,” Stern said.

  “Rooms?” Cyra asked with a pang of sadness.

  “I think we did okay together,” Trish said, glancing at Stern.

  Stern had to admit that the last couple of weeks had been better than he’d thought. Cyra had curled up with both of them, no matter who slept in the middle. She didn’t panic or become fearful, even the one night Stern had his arm over her waist when she woke up.

  “I… uh… was thinking about more than sleep,” Stern said slowly. “I think it’d be best to have separate rooms for that, still.”

  Cyra’s face went red. She was imagining Stern being in the room when she and Trish explored each other, or if she was there when Stern and Trish did things.

  Trish looked thoughtful. “Hmm... I can see your concern.”

  Stern blinked as the feeling of Cyra’s embarrassment and lust hit him. “Cyra?”

  “Umm... we could do a single room,” Cyra said, not looking at them. “If it gets to be too much, one of us could just leave for a bit... Right?”

  Trish’s lips grew into a wide smirk. “Oh? Fluffy bunny is feeling brave?”

  Cyra flushed hotter and nodded slightly.

  “Okay. We can... uh, we can do that,” Stern said, his own emotions becoming tangled— eagerness, lust, worry, concern, and more became a ball of uncertainty.

  “Cyra and I will take you up on the offer, Stern,” Trish said softly, taking Cyra’s hand. “We’ll head to the inn first and arrange things. We’ll probably get a bath before you get there.”

  “I don’t blame you in the least,” Stern said. “It shouldn’t take too long to deal with the quests. Even then, you’ll probably have a good hour of time alone before I get to the inn, much less get a bath.”

  “We’ll make good use of that time,” Trish purred, squeezing Cyra’s hand.

  “Are we going to do the dungeon tomorrow?” Cyra asked, feeling a little guilty about having time alone with Trish.

  “Probably not,” Stern answered her, thinking she wanted off the previous topic. “We’ll need to ask around and find at least two more to go with us. It might take a day or two to manage, as we’d like to find people who’d go on with us, not just a stop-gap for this dungeon. These three dungeons are where a lot of crews start their climb together.”

  “And where most fail,” Trish said softly. “This is the first big breaker of groups.”

  “Yeah, tin is that, as well,” Stern agreed. “Trish, are you going to be the one looking?”

  “Might be for the best,” Trish nodded. “Two-fold— I’ll meet with them first, then invite them to meet with you both and see how they react.”

  Cyra glanced at Stern, seeing his creased forehead. “They won’t go because…?”

  “Many might balk because of me,” Stern said a little stiffly. “Dead weight, and a blighted.”

  “But—!”

  “That’s what they’ll likely think when meeting him,” Trish cut Cyra off gently. “We might know better, but it’s probable.”

  “Okay...” Cyra exhaled. “We need to try to find a trap finder at least, right?”

&nb
sp; “A big must for later dungeons,” Trish nodded. “We could use a caster of some kind, as well, preferably not entirely focused on a single element. That isn’t as big of a must have, just useful.”

  “Casters can be a big help, but finding one who understands that diversity is better than a narrow focus can be harder,” Stern said. “Later Walkers know that, but down here, many just pour into a single type.”

  “Is that all?” Cyra asked curiously as they got closer to the city.

  “There’s a lot of variety,” Stern explained. “We have Trish for the bulwark, you for healing and extra damage, and Pawly for flexibility and damage. I wish I could do more by myself.”

  “We’ll find a lot of melee-damage-oriented people,” Trish picked up his thread. “A few who might focus on the bow or crossbow.”

  “Animal handlers,” Stern said, but his voice wasn’t pleasant. “Most of them are not… good people.”

  “Why?” Cyra asked.

  “Because their animals are more tools than friends,” Trish said. “They’ll go through a lot of salve to keep their favorites alive, but if the animal dies, they’ll train another or buy one who’s already been trained.”

  “Oh... We should probably not accept one of them,” Cyra said.

  “Yeah. I prefer not to, anyway. Their animals are normally aggressive, and Pawly would not get along with them,” Stern agreed.

  “If I’m the first contact, we’ll have a lot of interest to start, but weeding out from there will be the rough part, especially for Stern,” Trish said.

  “I’ll handle it. Besides, it’ll give us a good feel for who’ll work with us for a longer period of time.”

  “There is that,” Trish nodded.

  “Will me being a part of the crew help?” Cyra asked.

  “It should. A lot will try masking how they feel about Stern just for the security that a healer can bring to the run,” Trish said. “Stern can let us know who’s faking it, though.”

  “Which will make it harder on him,” Cyra said, her ears drooping.

  “I’ve expected it all along,” Stern said, taking her other hand. “I’ll be fine.”

  Cyra glanced at him with a tentative smile. “Okay. Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

  “Maybe,” Stern said, but internally he winced at her saying it out loud.

  “Cyra...” Trish sighed. “Those kinds of things shouldn’t be said. ‘It’ll be fine,’ ‘Maybe it’ll be nothing,’ and similar are known to make things worse.”

  “Really?” Cyra asked.

  “Okay, maybe not,” Trish hedged, “but it’s a commonly held belief among Walkers. I heard it as raising a flag. It’s just begging for bad luck to prove you wrong.”

  Stern snorted. “Yeah, the worst being, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back. Nothing will stop me.’ Dad called that a ‘death flag.’”

  Trish nodded. “Yeah. I’ve heard that, too. The talk of flags is only a couple of decades old.” She glanced at Stern with a raised eyebrow.

  “That probably came from them. Dad says a lot of weird shit.”

  “Oh...” Cyra said as they continued walking. “I still have a lot to learn.”

  “And we’re here to help,” Trish said, squeezing her hand.

  “Yes, we are,” Stern agreed, also squeezing her hand.

  Cyra’s heart soared, a smile coming to her.

  ~*~*~

  The city guards didn’t give them any trouble, but they did give Stern a hard look, which dimmed his attitude. Cyra squeezed his hand, helping bring him back up some before they split apart.

  Stern flagged down a random patrolling guard to get directions to where he needed to go. The guard was fearful, but when Stern stayed polite, he felt embarrassed. Stern thanked him before heading off toward Kuster’s Coats first.

  He found the shop; the sign outside bore the image of a fur coat and “Kuster’s Coats” written underneath. The tinkle of a bell announced Stern as he entered the building. “Hello,” he said in greeting.

  The man behind the counter looked haggard. “Afternoon. How can I help you?”

  “Picked up a quest in Darkstone to bring you scurrifly tails.” Stern said, confused about the angelic with light skin. All the angelics he knew were dark-skinned, and this man had the feathered white wings of an angelic.

  The man looked a little happier. “Oh? How many did you bring?”

  “A few,” Stern chuckled, glad that he didn’t radiate fear or hate. It took a moment for Stern to pull the sack free of his bag. “Here you go.”

  Opening the bag up, the angelic grinned, showing gleaming teeth. “Ah, these will be good.” He quickly counted out the tails, his smile growing as he did. “Nice haul.”

  “Thanks…?”

  “Kuster. This is my shop.”

  A cough came from off to the side, and Stern looked over to find a couple of women standing in the doorway. “Ladies?”

  “This is our shop,” Kuster coughed. “We have scurrifly tails in.”

  “Oh, zenk goodness,” the one smiled.

  “We need those to complete our…” the other one started before trailing off. “Sorry. Pay him and we’ll take those.” She snagged the bag, shoving the tails into it.

  Stern was impressed at how fluidly she moved. It was a lot like his mother who preferred combat. “I’m good with that arrangement.”

  “Forty-two tails,” Kuster said as he quickly placed some money on the counter. “Is that good for you?”

  “Sure,” Stern said, not going to complain about the extra. He collected the coins with a grin. “You do fur coats?”

  “Normally, but we’ve needed these tails for something important. Did you need one?”

  “Not right now, but it’s always good to keep quality workers in mind.”

  “Quality is always hard to find unless you’re lucky,” Kuster grinned, giving his two wives a glance as they left the room.

  Stern watched the door shut and nodded. “Lucky twice over, in fact. I hope to be that lucky.”

  The angelic gave him a look, then chuckled. “Most men would hope for that. Maybe you’ll be one of us lucky few.”

  “Perhaps,” Stern smiled. “Have a good day.”

  “You, too.”

  Stern stepped out of the shop and headed down the street. He had a ways to go to reach his next destination. He walked slouched with his hood drawn, trying to minimize his height. People glanced his way, but covered, they didn’t feel as hateful. There were a few that were curious about why he was walking with the cloak, as the weather was good.

  Curmudgeon’s Corner dominated a corner of a square. Opening the door rang a bell, but also allowed the scent of the shop to waft out. It was an almost unpleasant smell— the clash of herbs and other items— but not bad enough to stop Stern.

  Letting the door close behind him, Stern looked around the shop. He saw a balding head bent over something behind the counter. “Excuse me, sir?”

  The man muttered a grumbled complaint before he looked up. “What do you want?” the old dwarf asked with a glare at Stern.

  Stern blinked— the man was irritated, not angry or fearful. “I have a quest to turn in,” Stern replied.

  With another unintelligible mutter, the dwarf stood up, placing a book on the counter. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.”

  “Sure.” He was a little upset himself, now, and wondered at the grumpy man’s demeanor. “Dark willow shoots,” Stern said as he untied the sack from his backpack and set it on the counter.

  The dwarf sighed and opened the sack, counting them out. “Useful.”

  Stern looked at the book on the counter, Darkness Incarnate.

  “What?” the dwarf nearly growled.

  “I don’t know the book,” Stern said slowly, wondering if the name of this shop wasn’t a bit too on point.

  The dwarf paused, giving Stern a long look. “You read?”

  “Used to, before I became a Walker.”

  “Don’t give it up just becaus
e of that,” the dwarf said. “You have plenty of time between runs to read.”

  “Maybe. I wouldn’t know what to read anymore.”

  “This one is interesting,” the man said, tapping the cover. “About a great evil that devours worlds.”