Unconquered Tower

FORTY-NINE

The caravan started to slow once they came into visual range. It took them only minutes at the speed they were moving, fast enough that Roan wondered how everyone was supposed to keep up with the caravan. While he and Taoya and maybe some of the stronger fighters in the group would have the ability to move that swiftly, most of the others wouldn’t.

He was rewarded with an answer when he saw the caravan. Dozens of massive ships with rails that sliced across the dusty plain. Each of them were pulled by lizards, ten foot long lizards that had to be nearly five feet tall at shoulder height. They ran with wide sweeping steps, hauling the ships quickly toward them.

“That’s not something you see everyday,” Roan muttered. Taoya grunted in agreement, the familiar charge of stored momentum starting to spark off his skin. Roan turned to see the group behind him shuffling about, all of them looking confused.

“Form a square! Anyone with a ranged weapon in the back, polearms and spears in the front!” Roan yelled. They moved surprisingly swiftly, Melissa and a few others yelling and chiding them into shape quickly.

“They respond a little too well. Does Amir’s suggestions last even past his death?”

“They’re slowing down. I think this is our ride,” Taoya said. The caravan was slowing and pulling to the side. Each of the ships was made of a light wood, scoured by dust and sand. Roan could see the battle wounds on them, patched and pitted wood like a patchwork quilt.

Dust roiled around the ships like a curtain, preventing Roan from seeing the drivers clearly. The lizards stunk, he could smell them from a hundred feet away. They were loud as well, screeching and whining in equal measure as the ships came to a halt. Figures lined the decks, but precious few of them. Worse still they looked as if they’d been in a fight, with more than one of them limping badly.

“You first,” Taoya whispered, nudging Roan forward.

“Hello, the ships!” Roan shouted. He glared back at Taoya, wondering why the big man wasn’t taking the lead at all.

A single figure leapt from the lead ship landing lightly on the ground. Thick dust still swirled around them, the long train of ships coming to a halt in an orderly line. Roan counted them and thought there was twenty of them, but the dust cloud only got worse the further back he looked.

“You are our escort?” The voice was muffled and Roan couldn’t discern more than that.

“Uh, yeah,” Roan said. The level quest had said escorting the caravan was the level and the storyline had clearly set it up for them to be found relatively quickly.

“Good! We have had trouble in this stretch of the Deadlands before,” the voice said, coming closer to them. The dust parted and the figure stepped forward. They were shorter than Roan, but taller than the defensive mobs had been. Loose robes covered their body and a scarf wound up around their face and hair. Dark goggles obscured their eyes and Roan made a mental note to obtain some of his own.

“I am of the Water Seekers. You may call me Tev. I have been given charge of this caravan,” the creature said, bowing slightly. Roan wondered what the Water Seekers were, a tribe, city, or business, but didn’t bother to ask.

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“I am Roan. This is Taoya.” Roan didn’t bother to introduce the hundreds of other climbers since none of them had bothered to walk forward.

“Greetings Roan and Taoya. Board the ships and we shall begin our route,” the figure said.

“Okay, this thing is definitely a mob,” Roan muttered. It had provided some background information and then steered them directly to the quest. Nothing at all like Hana or the other teachers they’d had on level two.

“Melissa! This is the caravan we’re supposed to be escorting. Break up into teams and load up!” Roan yelled back at the woman. That she was the only one he knew made her the de-facto leader of the group in his mind. In moments the square was breaking and large teams were being sent out further down the line.

“Taoya, stick with me?” Roan asked. The two of them splitting up would make more sense, but Roan didn’t trust any of Amir’s former instance to be ready to fight. If they lost the caravan, it would be disastrous. If he died because someone couldn’t carry their weight, then he’d be dead and nothing else mattered.

“I was going to suggest the same thing,” Taoya said. The two of them headed toward the lead boat, a much smaller team following after them. Roan thought of sending them away, but stayed his hand. Extra hands could be useful if things started to spiral.

The dust had begun to settle by the time he reached the ships, enough that he could see they were more like oversized sleds. Ten feet tall with bronze railings, there was a small rope ladder lowered down that he climbed awkwardly with his weapon held in one hand. Taoya just leapt straight up and over the side, landing with a loud thump.

“Show off,” Roan muttered, swinging his legs over the side of the rail and landing on the deck. The ship was maybe twenty feet across and flat, with a massive sealed door in the center of the ship. A covered shed was at the front of the ship where the reins to the lizards ran to.

“That’s where the pilot is sitting. Is that the right term? Does it matter?” Roan pushed the idle thoughts away and watched as the rest of his new team climbed up the ladder. He found himself missing Moira, Tyler, and even Darren at the moment. He had found their depths fighting through the last two levels and knew they could be reliable.

The eight people who had climbed up behind him; he had no idea if they were going to be useful in the coming battles. Roan reminded himself to be careful and turned to offer a hand to Tev as they came up the ladder.

Landing on the deck with ease the mob pulled their scarf back and Roan had to fight from leaning back instinctively. Tev was a dragon-kin. The slitted yellow eyes, long canines, scaled yellow skin, all of it reminded him of the general they’d killed. Her teeth peeled back into an imitation of a smile.

“You know my kind?” she asked. Without the scarf muffling her voice it was apparently feminine, at least in comparison to the general’s.

“I’ve fought one before,” Roan said cautiously. More figures were moving around the decks. A single dragon-kin on death’s door had nearly killed Taoya and him, a crew of healthy dragon-kin would tear them apart.

“Ahh, I understand the fear-scent now. Our mother has distanced herself from the Progenitor’s clans. They know nothing but the Hunger.”

“This feels very plot relevant,” Roan muttered, turning to look at Taoya. The man nodded and waved his finger in a ‘continue on’ motion.

“What is the Hunger?” Roan asked. He could feel how Tev had capitalized the word like it was a title.

“The Progenitor nests in the earth and his Hunger for his hoard to grow is passed upon his descendants. Those who fail to restrain the desire have fallen to the Hunger. They will continue to consume but nothing will satiate them just as nothing will satiate the Progenitor. It is why he was sealed in the depths long ago.”

“Uhmmm, if he was sealed then why does he have progeny?” Roan asked, trying to sort the storm of information he’d been given.

“He is sealed, but many have visited him. It is a pilgrimage for many, for the Progenitor is wise and powerful. If one offers a significant gift, they can be richly rewarded.”

“Giant dragon is living in the depths of the planet. We started off in deep catacombs infected. Level two had the horde fleeing their caves because of an infection, hey Taoya?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think the end of this floor we’re going to have to kill a massive corrupted dragon?”

“It’s looking that way,” Taoya said with a sigh.