Chương 33: Incorporeal

Once or twice, I woke briefly to the sounds of someone or something eating. I dismissed the sound as Darwin getting a bit of a late-night snack. My companion, after eating a few of the Scarab Lord carapace rinds, had grown a small carapace-like shell on his back. Goblin eyes, rabbit ears, a scorpion pincer, and now a shell. I didn't know what he was turning into, but I'd seen nothing like it before. I awoke early, just as the morning sun crested over the nearby mountain range.

Pale light spilled across the broken stones of Millstone, catching on old dust, cracked pillars, and the half-collapsed mouths of tunnels. The air was cool enough to sting my nose, though the ground still held the dry, sour smell of the crumpled ruins filled with smashed bugs beneath it. Vaelith and Marnie were already awake, packing things away. Moolisa grazed, as per usual, and Darwin grazed with her, eating grass. I gave him a sidelong glance. There was, however, one person I didn't see.

"Where's Sable?" I asked. Vaelith shrugged.

"Must be using the little princesses' room in a nearby bush, I'd imagine."

"Where I'm from, we don't speak of such things," Marnie replied.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not where you're from," Vaelith retorted. The two stared daggers at each other.

"I'm gonna go look for her," I said. The two women turned their eyes on me. I held up my hand defensively.

"No—not like that. It's just nobody has seen her so…" They both grunted and went back to their own tasks. Wandering, I did my best to avoid the many holes and tunnels in the ground. I could already see myself falling back into a pit. Luckily, the ground seemed solid here, and I searched until I found an odd sight. There, on the ground, was Sable's lyre… but there was no sign of the bard herself. I picked it up.

The wood felt smooth in my hand, but there was a certain heaviness to it; it was as if I held it too long, I'd lose something of myself. The strings were still, yet my fingers tingled where they brushed the frame. A dark feeling crept up my spine.

"Sable," I called out into some nearby trees, figuring that's where she would likely do her business." Sable!" I tried again, louder. Then I noticed something odd. A few feet away, there were scuff marks on the ground. Like something had been dragged. Something… or someone.

"Shit," I muttered to myself. I ran back to the camp.

"Sable!" I said, drawing Marnie and Vaelith's attention.

"I think she's—" They were staring at me strangely.

"What?" I asked. Vaelith gestured around a large rock, where we had left the body of the Scarab Lord. When I turned the corner, I saw that most of the Scarab Lord that had remained, its entrails, eyes and such, were gone. Hell, there was barely anything left at all. And all of the meat I had separated and not cooked was gone as well. Something had taken it or eaten it. Darwin hopped onto my shoulder.

"Who stole food?" he asked.

"Monster steal food. Darwin kill. Darwin eat!"

"Calm down," I replied.

"Fuck the Scarab Lord… look—" I pulled out Sable's lyre.

"I found this next to some drag marks. Something clearly took her." Marnie's face went pale.

"It has to be the minotaur. I never would have guessed it would be so quiet."

"What do you mean?" Marnie cleared her throat.

"I've heard stories before. Minotaurs are not herbivores, like their less monstrous bull counterparts. They are omnivores. Worse, they track prey. Yet I thought they would be loud about it. Clumsy. I never thought that a being such as a minotaur could be stealthy." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"So this minotaur came into our camp, ate the Scarab Lord, and then stole Sable?" Marnie nodded.

"Likely it's as Vaelith said. Sable was out takin' a piss and the minotaur caught her in the act."

"Now who's not being proper?" Vaelith asked.

"Can you be serious for one second?" Marnie shouted.

"Oh, and is being serious going to save Sable, huh? No… that will be me. And after, she'll have no choice but to become my follower—""Shut up, both of you," I cut in.

"Marnie… I'm going to need you to tell me everything you know about minotaurs. And then… then we're going to save Sable."

As much as I didn't favor playing reactionary, the truth was that we knew very little about this supposed minotaur and its habits. We would not be able to set up a trap. We'd need to fight it on its own terms. Vaelith seemed to relish this. She used a whetstone to sharpen the simple woodsman's axe as if she were about to go to war. The stone scraped over the blade again and again, the sound sharp against the quiet morning. Marnie had explained that the minotaur was strong.

Far stronger than anything we'd have fought so far. Perhaps not as dangerous as a dragon, lesser or not, but if we tried to go blow for blow, we'd lose. No worries from me. I had no intention of fighting toe to toe or fairly.

"Here," I said, giving everyone a few of the Scarab Lord rinds.

"I think passive healing and VIT could be useful. They only last fifteen minutes though." Vaelith clapped her fist against her chest.

"Fifteen minutes is more than enough time." Marnie did not look nearly as confident, but slowly, she nodded, resigned to whatever might happen. We checked mine after mine after mine until we found one that looked promising. The outside was coated red, and when I went close, I could tell it was not paint, but blood. Something with some level of intelligence had smeared it as a warning. The old timber supports around the entrance were splintered and stained, and heavy hooves had churned the dirt outside.

Vaelith went to step forward, and she ran headlong into something solid… but there was nothing there. At least nothing I could see.

"What in the court's name?" Vaelith said as she tapped on the invisible barrier. I could see a ripple and a shimmer in the air, briefly giving me a glimpse of some sort of dome-shaped barrier.

"Looks like we aren't getting through," I said.

"Any ideas?" Vaelith, without warning, slammed her arm into the barrier. It rippled, and sparks began to form, like splintering cracks in glass. The power rebounded as a bolt of lightning cracked out, hitting Vaelith. She screamed silently as the electricity ran through her body, and the place where it had struck, just above her heart, sizzled on burning flesh.

"Fuck!" I yelled as Vaelith fell back. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. I put a Scarab Lord rind on her tongue.

"Eat this," I said. Luckily, she held enough consciousness to listen as she swallowed it whole. Soon, I could see the burned wound, which had blackened her skin, lighten until there was nothing left but the remnants of soot.

"Well," Vaelith said, opening her eyes, "that didn't go quite as I planned." I smirked and helped her to her feet.

"Any other bright ideas?" I asked. Vaelith narrowed her eyes at me.

"Not a one. You?"

"I have something," Marnie interrupted. Vaelith and I spun toward her.

"I've a potion of sorts. It provides… intangibility."

"Well then, problem solved," Vaelith replied, grinning. Marnie shook her head.

"Not exactly. I've never tested what intangibility looks like when faced with a magical barrier. Next… I've only five of them. Four for us, which leaves only one left, meaning…"

"Meaning we are stuck inside," I answered.

"Stuck inside a mineshaft with a minotaur who may or may not be stronger than the lot of us. We could be effectively going to our deaths and locking the door behind us." Marnie nodded. There was a chill wind that blew through the ruined street and across the blood-marked entrance. Nobody wanted to say anything. We all liked Sable for sure… but I'd known her, what—a few days? Was she worth my life?

"Save… Sable," Darwin said simply. I smiled.

"He's right; there is nothing to consider. Save Sable." The others nodded in agreement. Marnie pulled out four vials. They were small—barely the length of one of my fingers. Inside, they held a black liquid that shined with a silvery, almost translucent edge. We all uncorked them, and then I looked down at Darwin, struggling.

"Here," I said, kneeling and holding mine near his mouth. I uncorked my own.

"Everyone ready?" Marnie asked. I nodded. Vaelith did too, grinning. Three… Two… One… We all drank. My skin felt strange, as if I'd stepped outside of my own senses. I could move, but there was a lag between what I tried to do and it happening. Knowing I only had a second or two, I stepped forward past the barrier, and as I did, my form snapped back into my body. I sucked in air as if I hadn't breathed in an hour. We had all made it through. Darwin lay sprawled to my right.

Vaelith kneeled to my left, and Marnie leaned heavily against the entrance of the mineshaft. Nobody said a word as a loud roar caused the tunnel to shake and dust to billow out like the breath of a dragon. There was a scraping of metal on stone, and we all knew that the minotaur knew of our trespass.