HBWnovel Chapter 79: Ullmark
Chapter 79: Ullmark
Chapter 79: Ullmark
This was Freya’s third trip on a skyship, but just like Gareth and I, the excitement hadn’t worn off. She was at the railing and watching the lands fall below as the ship moved toward Aegis city. Gareth was in a deep conversation with Callem, so I stood beside Freya.
“How are you doing, Freya? You have been doing an excellent job in getting the restaurant supplied,” I offered with enthusiasm.
Freya’s face brightened, “It has been fun. I like visiting all the farms and setting up contracts. After the Gaskills signed on, everyone else was eager. I have been hitting the increased quotas for the Shiny Platinum.”
I asked my younger sister, “Do you think I can convince our mother and father to move to Aegis city?” I wanted to get my family close to where my skyship was moored in case we had to flee the sky islands.
Freya looked perplexed at my question, “I don’t think they could live in Aegis city. The prices are so extreme. Mother just got her master carver’s pin, and I think she is considering opening her own shop. Father is not home much. His duties have doubled as some of the skyship guards under his command have been reassigned to the larger cities.” I nodded and sighed internally.
Convincing my parents would not be an easy task, “What about you, Freya? Would you want to move to Aegis city next year? I will be in the dungeon academy, and Pascal will be in the guard’s academy.” I disagreed with my brother’s decision. I would have offered to pay for his education, but he wanted to follow in our father’s footsteps. By going to the Aegis guard academy, he would have a long term of service after he graduated.
Freya was considering my question. She had a small business empire and employed almost every child under the age of 13 in Hen’s Hollow. But I also knew the amount she was getting from the contract of supplying the Shiny Platinum put those funds to shame. After turning the question over in her mind, she asked, “What did you have in mind?”
Freya had a look on her face like she was ready to negotiate. I put on my own devious face, “I figured you could rent one of the apartments at the Shiny Platinum, and I would pay for your tutors while you continued to supply the Shiny Platinum.”
Freya’s lips puckered in distaste, “How about no tutors?” I had been paying for her special tutors since entering the academy, and it was the worst part of her day.
“Mother wouldn’t allow it if you were not getting an education before the academy,” I said seriously.
Freya mumbled, “I already make more than her.”
I sighed. I had created a monster. I shouldn’t have been paying her so well. I would have to think of a way to cut her off without getting her upset with me. “Well, think about it. You are to spend the day with Wynna and Ennet, and I don’t want to hear anything about you wandering off alone. If I do, then I will never take you to the city again,” I warned her.
The skyship landed, and I made my way down the ramp. Tatem, my artist, had started painting the side of the building. The massive hydra was already sketched out, encompassing half of the side of the building. A large number of departing passengers stopped and looked at it before going into the restaurant to check it out. The restaurant was not open for business until noon, but they could still see the panels inside and wander over to the bakery. The hydra was a great advertising platform.
I started to rethink my position of not making miniatures. The shelves I requested had been installed to display miniatures of the beasts in the panels. I was going to see if I could find a metal sculpture to create them, not wanting to waste my own time and aether creating the bronze and shaping them. Maybe I would make a few...
I took the stairs up to the apartments to look for Gimble. Lana was in the hallway and directed me to the training room. In the training room, Gimble and Sammie were engaged while Talia and an older man looked on. I walked over to stand next to the older man and asked, while watching Sammie get some instruction, “Ullmark?”
“Yes. All you, the young pupil of the mysterious Callem Dregella?” He asked while appraising me and still watching Sammie.
I did the same to him. He had salt and pepper hair and a well-trimmed beard. Ullmark wore clean heavy canvas adventuring clothes worn where the straps for leather armor would have rubbed. He carried just a long sword on his belt.
“Callem is my mentor or at least one of them,” I answered. “His true protegee is Gareth, who I am sure is either apologizing to a young woman or wooing a new one,” I said, offering a smile.
Ullmark smiled back, and we shook wrists. “I am willing to join your dungeon squad,” he shook his head in disbelief. “I never thought I would tie myself again to a team.”
I thought quickly, “You can leave at any time, Ullmark.”
“Ahem, yeah, I have already selected a room below,” he grinned and chuckled. “I admit the apartment put it over the talk and free food below? You are going to end up with overweight delvers, Storme.”
The smell reminded me of rotting eggs and urine. We only faced single goblins as we circled to the center of the town. Gimble said we only had an hour left before our eight-hour clock expired. This meant we would have to defeat the hobgoblin and then exit on the second floor of the dungeon. The round hut was prominent in the center, the only two-story rough wooden structure. Ullmark spoke, “When we get close, they will all rush out at once. Talia focus on the shaman with ranged spells. I will keep the hobgoblin busy, and everyone else will take down the guards as quickly as possible. Then join me in attacking the chief. He is a lot tougher than he looks, and don’t think just because he slows down, he isn’t dangerous.”
A stray goblin came streaming out of a small hut, and Sammie cut it down. We then approached the central structure. A loud scream echoed from inside. It was a challenging scream. A six-foot, well-muscled goblin charged out and ran at us. His bodyguards followed, but I did not see the shaman. I summoned my two-handed falchion, dropping my staff. Taking limbs would bring this encounter to an end quicker.
I moved far off to the right and engaged the further bodyguard. He was dressed in heavy furs that protected his entire body except for his hands and head. His misaligned yellow teeth grinned as he sought me with a black steel short sword. I easily parried his attack downward, spun, and brought my falchion to his ear. I was surprised when my blade took off the top half of his head.
Sammie was next to me, and she was evenly matched with the next bodyguard. I flanked him, allowing Sammie to embed her axe in his chest, and then I repeated my beheading attack, this time striking the next and getting the entire pumpkin this time. I smiled at Sammie only to be thrown violently back. The shaman had appeared, and a basketball-sized ball of ice had slammed into me. I coughed blood, and a quick check told me my ribs were broken. So much for my leather armor. I stumbled to my feet while casting lesser restoration instant healing to get my ribs back in place.
Looking around, I could see Talia firing streaks of fire at the shaman, who was protected by a magical shield. Sammie had checked on me before going to help Ullmark, who was bleeding and at a standstill with the hobgoblin. Gimble was kneeling over Gareth, who was dazed and having trouble standing. A large ball of ice told me what had happened. Gareth had been struck in the back of the head with it. Probably when he maneuvered behind it to kill it.
I needed to decide on the bigger threat, the shaman on the hobgoblin. Talia couldn’t break the shaman’s defenses, so I cranked up my lightning reflexes spell and charged. The hobgoblin tried to interpose himself, but I blocked him with an aether shield, not that he was fast enough to catch me anyway.
The shaman panicked and moved its shield toward me, allowing Talia’s magic to strike him and stagger him. I went into a slide on the snow of took him out at the knees. Both legs fell as his upper body collapsed, and he screamed in pain and disbelief. With his focus on his pain, I quickly removed his head.
The hobgoblin had disengaged and was trying to get me before I reached his shaman. He came at me with a visage of furious rage. Both Sammie and Ullmark were on his heels. I was still juiced from my lightning spell and wasn’t worried about the hobgoblin’s speed. As he reached me in his charge, he tripped on my invisible aether shield, falling face first and exposing the back of his head. I had already started the arc of my blade, and it sunk into the back of his neck. I was surprised I hadn’t severed his head. The hobgoblin twitched, still not dead but his spinal column severed, making his body useless.
I scanned the area and, with no other threats, moved to Gareth and Gimble and deactivated my spells. I immediately assessed Gareth’s condition. Severe concussion and some vertebrae damaged. Twenty seconds of healing magic, and he was standing and shaking his head.
“It’s over?” He asked, confused. Gimble started talking to him to explain things, and he swore. “I was trying to keep an eye on everyone else while dispatching my opponent. The shaman must have arrived late, and I had my back to him.”
Gimble said, “Gareth, you learn from mistakes. Focus on your sphere of combat, and you can’t control everything around you.” Gareth looked embarrassed.
“I should have been wearing a helm. I have one, but the bees and goblins had been so easy I didn’t think I needed it. How did everyone else fare?” He looked at the group circling him.
I moved and healed Ullmark, who had two minor cuts. Sammie had a sprained wrist and laceration on her thigh, which I also healed. Ullmark said, “It went well. Storme took care of the hobgoblin, shaman, and two guards. The shaman used to have only energy bolts, shields, and ranged healing for attack and defense. This ice ball is new. We should report it to the guild, as there might be a reward if we are the first to do so.” Gareth looked at me like he didn’t know me. He started to ask how I managed to kill almost every enemy myself, but I waived him off.
“Shouldn’t there be a treasure chest around here somewhere?” I said, doing a circle. I didn’t want Gareth to know about my lightning reflexes spell until I could surprise him with it in a duel.
Ullmark said, “It is in the chief’s hut as well as the arch to the maze on the next level. We all went inside, and the smell wasn’t terrible. As Ullmark said, an arch similar to the one we used to get into the dungeon dominated the space. A small chest was on a table. I examined the runes. There were 12 delvers already in the maze. Gareth was opening the chest, and for some reason, I had wanted to yell, ‘check for traps,’ but held my tongue.
Gareth spoke, “Three gold, three silver. It looks like the boots and a spell book.” Talia was moving to the chest.
Talia gasped, “It is not the surgical harvest spell. It is called the ice ball. She was paging threw it. It is a tier 1 water spell. I am not familiar with it.”
Gimble said, “I am guessing the dungeon evolved the shaman, and we were the first to defeat it. That is why the spell was within the reward chest.” Gareth was nodding emphatically at the explanation while putting on his new white boots. Since he opened the chest, they had sized to his person.
I walked to the chest, and the coins were gone as well. I would have to tell Remy to take it off his weekly pay. The boots would be deducted as well...that was another 40 gold? He wasn’t going to be happy.
I asked Talia if she was interested in the spell, and she shook her head no, but her eyes said yes. New spells were probably curiosities. I dropped it onto the shelf in my dimensional storage. Ullmark and Gimble were picking up the weapons outside and looting the goblins.
The hobgoblin had an aether crystal, as did the bodyguards and shaman. It was a bloody mess digging them out of the skulls, and I was glad I didn’t have to do it. I walked the goblin town with Sammie, and we killed two more goblins. Gimble called us to the town, saying we had just a few minutes to get back. We entered the arch as a group, on guard and ready for trouble.