<Sorry if I zapped anyone,> said Mizuki.
<You zapped everyone,> said Isra.
<Sorry!> Mizuki said again, her voice slightly higher-pitched. <I was trying to get it to spread.>
<Let’s keep on,> said Alfric.
The pace felt relentless, and Verity felt a moment of unpleasant guilt as she reflected that this was largely for her benefit, so she wouldn’t have to spin up a second song until they were at least halfway through.
The path split again, this time giving them a choice between a corridor of ancient stonework and a narrow tunnel of damp rock that Alfric would have had to squeeze through. He took the one to the left, the stonework one, and Verity followed behind, keeping the song steady and giving the party as much in the way of additional reflexes and defenses as she could. She was most worried about surprise attacks, especially after how the last two rooms had gone. A sudden attack from the shadows could kill before anyone could do anything about it, and while Alfric had his shield, the shield was only good if he could move it to block whatever was coming at him.
The brickwork continued on even as the corridor ended, this time opening up into a place that looked like it once had human habitation. Alfric’s lantern illuminated a rotting bed in one corner and a bookshelf that unfortunately seemed to hold the rotted-out remains of books. It was larger than a normal bedroom, though, and larger than the study that might have been suggested by the broken desk. Everything was covered in either slime or moss, even though it was completely dark with no source of light. The dampness seemed more pronounced than in other rooms. Humidity wasn’t great for her instrument, and Verity was going to tune it again and hope for the best when they had a chance to rest.
<Animal,> said Isra. <Beneath the bed.>
Alfric tensed and crouched low, his sword ready for a thrust. Verity shifted the magic once again, giving him strength, the better to run something through.
<Hostile?> asked Alfric.
<Yes,> said Isra. <Very.>
There was a growl of warning, then a ball of fur came from beneath the bed. Only once it tried to bite at Alfric did Verity see its form, like a wolf with patches of missing skin and horns of jagged rock. Alfric thrust his sword at it, and the wolf dodged to the side, then in a blur of motion, there were two of it instead, the other ball of fur hurtling toward Mizuki. It didn’t have time to regret that mistake, because it was almost instantly incinerated by a concentrated jet of white-hot flame from her hands that continued on past it and started the floor and wall on fire. Mizuki retreated, scrambling backward while trying to keep her hands out in front of her.
When Verity looked back at Alfric, the wolf had multiplied again, and there were three of it, all trying to bite at him, stopped by a combination of his greaves, his sword, and his shield. When Verity noticed blood coming down his leg, she realized they’d been more successful in their attacks than she’d thought.
Isra appeared beside Alfric in a flash, holding her bow taut, and almost right away, she shifted position again, which was accompanied by the thwipping sound of arrows and the whimpering of wolves. The wolves multiplied again with a blur of fur, but this time the copies seemed to be wounded as well and collapsed after taking a few steps. When Isra’s quiver had refilled, she took more shots, carefully this time, with each shot going straight through a skull. She had a look of grim determination on her face as she took each shot, and because of the way the bow warped time, she seemed to go from releasing an arrow directly to holding a new arrow at full draw.
By the time she was finished, Hannah had already finished healing Alfric.
<Bixzotl,> said Hannah. God of Copies. <That could have gone wrong quickly.>
<It didn’t,> said Alfric, though the floor was stained with his blood and he was breathing hard. He turned to Isra. <Thank you.>
<We should be about half done,> said Hannah. <A break would do.>
Alfric turned to Verity. <Stop, or keep going?> he asked. For whatever else you might say about him, Alfric knew his business, and he was letting her weigh the cost of starting up a new song with the benefits of a break. Verity was grateful that he’d put it in her hands rather than deciding for himself.
<A break,> she said. <Please.>
<Thank the gods,> said Mizuki.
<Ten minutes,> said Alfric. <Then we’re back to it.>
Verity could have let the song unwind itself at once, but she brought it to a proper conclusion, finishing out a verse of the increasingly nonsensical and ahistorical song.
Chapter 24 — 10% Dungeons by Volume
Isra drank from her waterskin and tried her best to rest her arm. There were limits to how many times she could draw her bow in a day before the arm simply gave out and refused to pull, and she feared that she was hitting that point far too early. They had said five to ten rooms in the dungeon, and she didn’t know whether that counted the first one or not, but if they were halfway done, she didn’t think she would be able to fire the bow by the end of it.
<Hannah, can you do something for my arm?> asked Isra. She was rubbing her shoulder, trying to make it feel better.
<I can try,> said Hannah. She went over and gripped Isra by the left biceps, then frowned a bit. <Your right is bigger than your left.>
<I use the right to shoot,> said Isra, not quite understanding.
<You’re not symmetrical,> said Hannah. <If I had symmetricalized you before the dungeon, it wouldn’t be a problem, I’d just do a simple mirror left to right and you’d be nearly as good as new. But if I copy left to right now, then you’d lose muscle mass and tone and not have half the power you do now. If I mirror right to left, you’ll have two sore arms, which does no one any good. A partial mirroring is beyond me.>
<Okay,> said Isra, rubbing her arm. <Thank you.>
<Ay, sorry I can’t do more. If you want to be symmetricalized, we’ll set aside a day for it, but it’s not somethin’ that can be undone,> said Hannah with a nod.
Isra nodded back and dipped her fingers into the small pouch she had with her to pull out some turmeric root, which she chewed on for a moment before washing it down with water from her waterskin. The herb wouldn’t work instantly or completely, but it was good for sore muscles, which she was sure to have once the day was done, at least at the rate they were going. The bow was both a blessing and a curse, powerful, but also demanding.
Isra thought back to what Verity had said about the magical lute she’d once used, a whole concert in the form of a single instrument. She wondered whether entads had a tendency to do that in general, to push people to their limits simply by virtue of what they allowed a person to be capable of. Isra looked at Verity, who was taking a long drink from her own waterskin. Her helm was off, revealing sweat-damp stuck to her face.
Verity had said, during a long conversation the night before, as they lay in beds on the opposite sides of the room, that she felt a bit silly being a bard, singing to people who were throwing fireballs or swinging a sword, but Isra hadn’t thought that was true at all. She hadn’t, at the time, found a way to say any words of encouragement. It was noble and bright to give strength to others, to sing in the face of danger.
<Is everyone ready?> asked Alfric as he put his helm back on.
<Ready as I’ll ever be,> said Mizuki, slowly getting to her feet. She’d spent quite some time finding the driest spot on the floor she could, as far from the dead wolves as she could be. They were unsettling, though they’d been the closest to a normal animal that Isra had yet sensed. She’d been slower than Mizuki when it came to the vines, and in retrospect, it should have been obvious. The dungeons were different though, dulling her senses. The creatures in them were possessed by something.