The System Seas

Hours later, it was dark. Elisa had confirmed there was a day-night cycle in this dungeon hours before it was obvious, and now there was no light except from the Palmar’s communal campfire and whatever dim light the sliver of moon in the sky provided.

Elisa had been instructed to stay put. Marco had threatened death first, which didn’t daunt her. After that, he had just threatened to take her back to her father, which seemed to have more of an effect. He was now stooped in the dark just outside of town, trying to get the moment he’d approach just right.

Now.

He let the sand muffle his steps as he kept his heavy leather boot steps as light as possible while still moving quickly. All the Palmar sentries were at the fire, either taking a break from their duties or just done for the night. He approached the cage, eyes wide open to take in any bit of light they could. It hadn’t been obvious from a distance which side of the cage was which from a where’s-the-door perspective.

Against all of Marco’s intuition, it seemed the door was on the back of the cage, facing away from the town. The person inside was laying still and breathing weakly, unconscious for some reason or another. He decided not to wake him. There was no special reason to think the Palmars heard especially well, but any sudden loud noise would bring a small army of them running.

He eased the door open on its rope hinges, glad there was no metal to creak. Then, softly and slowly, he lifted the strange man onto his shoulder and began to pad quietly away. He was almost back to the stand of trees when the man suddenly stirred in his arms, went tense, and began to scream.

Marco couldn’t blame him. He really couldn’t. They were all dead now, of course, but he understood what a shock it must have been.

“Quiet, you absolute idiot.” Marco shifted his weight on his shoulder, deciding the man’s light weight probably also meant he was too weak to run very fast. “Elisa, run.”

Looking over his shoulder, Marco saw a dozen small shadows rise as the little monsters stood and blocked the firelight before moving outward in their direction.

“Fool, fool. Why did you scream?” Elisa hissed.

“I was surprised!” The man’s voice wobbled as he bounced on Marco’s shoulder. “I’ve been in there for a week!”

“Can you fight?”

“No,” the man said. “They’ve barely been feeding me. I don’t have a combat class anyway, really. I’m a Sturdy.”

“Sturdies can fight!”

“If they specialize in it! I haven’t.”

“Well, you’re going to,” Marco said. “But first we need some distance. Elisa, I dropped my gun in the cage. We're going to need it if we fight.”

Marco and Elisa were just about as fast as each other, provided Marco was carrying an entire human. That meant she could lead the way as she drew a large semicircle back towards the Palmar camp. He had no idea how she did it in the dark, but they made it back not only to the camp but almost dead-on aimed at the cage. Marco just about tossed the mystery man to the ground as he dove in the cage, scrambled around, and got the gun.

“Okay. Running again?”

“I don’t think so,” Elisa said. “I think our best bet is to fight. I can put him back in the cage and fight with you.”

“No. You’ll almost certainly die that way,” Marco stated. Elisa knew a lot more about a lot of things than Marco did, but Marco had heard stories of what it was like when people got swarmed by little enemies of this type. He could at least hope to dodge and kill. Elisa was clever, but only about as evasive as a normal bookish girl. She’d have no chance. “We need another idea.”

“If you’re in the cage, and you don’t fight, they won’t hurt you,” the Sturdy said. “They didn’t hurt me. When they saw I was unarmed, they just took me prisoner.”

“Do that, then. I’ll get them. I just wish I had more light.”

Elisa looked like she wanted to argue. She didn’t.

“I can at least help with that. Give me a minute.”

Running hut to hut, Elisa applied fire from her hand on every grass roof except the two closest to the cage. The light shone out into the night as the bonfires roared to life, illuminating the entire village and a good area around it as well. By the time the Palmars started arriving, Marco could see them just fine.

“One.”

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Marco fired the first shot as the little men came into view. Closer now, he could see there were exactly nine of them. Each shot had to count. The first pellet thunked into the target, a tiny glow flying through the air before extinguishing itself in the center of one of the grunt’s foreheads. It went down.

“Two.”

Every motion of the gun was informed by the skill, and Marco could already tell he was a good shot. His muscles were developed by years of varied work and could keep up with every instruction the skill was giving him. He could already tell that in this kind of situation where nobody could see where he was aiming, could possibly predict when he was firing, or had any intention of veering away, he would basically never miss.

“Three.”

A brute was caught in the knee on the third shot, putting it to the ground and disabling it. He cocked the gun again, getting a shot ready that he wouldn’t use for now. Six of the enemies had crashed into his melee range, forming a semicircle around him.

Every stat Marco had accumulated in this place would matter now.