Book 4 Chapter 15: Maniac Kludger

    Brixaby dropped down right in front of the adventuring groups, startling a few people.

    Lopez and his men had been leading the way, with the rest ranged far to the right and left on either side. Arthur got the impression that healthy competition had turned to active dislike among the different adventurers, and the solution was to stay far away from one another.

    Once he recovered from the shock, Lopez must have read the look on Arthurs face because his own expression went grim. Whats wrong?

    Our scourgelings problem has gotten bigger, Arthur said, and then started to describe the nest hed seen. As he spoke, the adventurers crowded close to hear.

    However, when Arthur explained that a fissure had opened in the ground a lot like a mini-eruption, he was interrupted by whoops of delight. Some people even took off their wide-brimmed hats and waved them in the air.

    This isnt a good thing! Arthur snapped, shocked. Its a precursor to an eruption.

    All the way back, he had replayed Soledads story of what happened in Nawlens over and over, and worried that these people were cutting it too close here.

    But he might as well have been speaking to brick walls. Adventurers had already turned to their friends and were making plans with one another, discussing plans of attack and how to split the loot.

    Lopez gave a sympathetic shrug. Things like this happen when the dark heart is almost ready for its harvest. Its just another sign were nearly there.

    Arthur grit his teeth. I get its a good opportunity for shards and cards, but if those scourgelings make their way to the city

    Thats why were here, Lopez said.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    Someone called from the back, Whats wrong, dragon rider? You a coward?

    Brixabys head snapped up toward the direction of the speaker and boomed out, My rider is no coward! Say that again, to my teeth!

    The heckler didnt speak up, but there were a few audible snickers.

    Arthur kept a tight rein on his temper. Im not afraid to fight scourgelings, but Ive also seen what they do to people. Theyve destroyed incoming wagon trains up and down this interstate

    Well, thats the risk they take! someone else yelled. No one said life was fair.

    There was a difference between life not being fair and actively inviting a catastrophe, but the speakers voice had come from a place where no one had stood. Probably thanks to Brixabys threat. Arthur suspected a wind card was at play, and he wasnt about to get into a shouting match with someone who wouldnt show his face.

    Jon, who was in charge of the Lightning Cats, came up to Lopez. Sheriff, may my group have permission to move forward? Many of us have speed enhancements. He looked at Arthur. Since time is clearly of the essence.

    Lopez took a moment to remove his wide hat and scratch a hand through his dark, sweaty hair before replacing his hat again. He nodded. Yes, I suppose its time.

    That got another round of whoops, as well as groans from others who didnt have a way to outpace the others. There were a few men and a woman or two who had body modifications that were bulky and geared toward defense. They wouldnt be fast movers.

    Lopez held up his hand, and the adventurers fell silent.

    You all know the rules: Kill as many as you can, but only tagged bodies get you the official credit. I need group leaders right here so me and my deputies can pass out the tags and log who gets what.

    One of the men by Lopez pulled out a box full of organized paper slips, all with twine on the ends. The paper stacks were arranged in a rainbow of colors. As Arthur watched, he saw each group was assigned its own color.

    The leaders each got their own thick stack and then turned to either pass them out to the rest of their party or kept them in their own possession, probably to tag the bodies themselves.

    When the last group leader was assigned their tag and color, Lopez turned to Arthur. Youve done what youve come here to do by leading us to the nest, but Id still like your help cleaning up, if you can.

    Of course, well fight, Arthur said, annoyed. It seemed Lopez was also mistaking his disgust for playing stupid games with scourgelings as cowardice.

    Weve very likely killed more scourgelings than your adventuring groups ever have, combined. And well gladly kill more, Brixaby added.

    Good, because I thought this would go nicely with your dragon. Lopez showed Arthur a thick stack of deep purple tags. The color did pair nicely with the flashes of iridescent purple up and down Brixabys dark scales.

    Brixaby snorted and turned his head toward the direction where the Lightning Cats and other fast-moving groups had gone. Some of the Lightning Cats had gone down onto four feet in order to lope forward, which had been more than a little disturbing to watch. By now, they were distant dots along the horizon.

    Lopez continued, "There still might be a little time before the dark heart is opened. If you can find any more of these nests for us in the future, I''m sure you''d be well compensated."

    It was times like this that Arthur wondered if he was the crazy one for thinking cutting things so close was a stupid idea. Brixaby was looking excited at the prospect of eradicating more scourgelings hideouts... but then again, he was a dragon.

    To Arthur, these Texans were playing with fire.

    Still, there was only one answer he could give. "Of course," he said, stiffly. "I dont even want to think about what it will be like if one of these nests goes unchecked." He couldnt stop from adding, "I think you and the rest of the city administration are taking this too lightly."

    Lopez shrugged again. "Well, you haven''t seen our adventuring groups in action, have you?"

    Dont think about it, Arthur warned, though he was amused.

    I wouldnt take those cards from his heart with so many people to watch. Brixaby sounded offended. But if he happens to die

    ****

    The first groups who had left were fast, but they were no match for the speed of a dragon in flight. Brixaby soon caught up to the leaders, and Arthur held him up for a few extra minutes to see how professional adventurers dealt with scourgelings.

    Brixaby grumbled, but Arthur could tell he was at least derisively curious.

    Lightning Cats on four feet were eerie and terrible to look at, disturbing him enough that he focused on the others who still ran like humans. Though all of them wore chain mail of Brixaby''s distinctive design which had always looked delicate to Arthur''s eyes, and completely in contrast to the dragon''s personality they weren''t slowed down at all.

    Mentally, he started ticking off what he saw. Body enhancements to make them more animal-like, speed boost enhancements. There was also a slight distortion in the air building between the team members. He suspected it was mana a start of a complex spell, perhaps?

    As the Lightning Cats were in the lead, they were the first to reach the nest. The wavering in the air solidified and became a rain of lightning bolts that battered the first rank of Commons which hovering at the edge of the nest like guards.

    A score of them died in an instant, and then the Lightning Cats were on the rest. Jon pulled a sword out of a personal storage space and began laying about. The sword must''ve had a poison aspect because even light cuts began to sizzle with foam, and the scourgeling quickly dropped.

    The girl who was covered with fur, stood back on two legs and gestured wildly with a closed fist. Ghostly claws extended out three feet, followed her motion, and cleaved a scourgeling into three separate chunks.

    But like an ants nest that had been disturbed by somebody trampling on the top, more scourgelings boiled out. Several larger Uncommons were mixed in with the Commons. These gave the adventurers more trouble, though no one got injured. More Commons followed, and these were not of that odd bird shape. Instead, they were sort of small and monkey-like creatures with elongated ears that tilted out to the side, green-black skin, and razor-sharp teeth.

    They could jump, too. Arthur saw one land on the back of one of the Lightning Cats before it was ripped away.

    The Cats would''ve been on the verge of getting swamped over, but more groups of adventurers arrived. One was one of the extremely muscle-headed men who waded through the fray and simply swung huge arms and oversized fists, pulverizing anything that he hit.

    The leaders of each team followed behind their members, and Arthur saw them darting back and forth, tagging the bodies.

    It was messy, but the adventurers were getting the job done. Unfortunately, the flow of scourgeling out of the fissure didn''t look like it was stopping anytime soon.

    "Where are the Rares?" Brixaby demanded, looking down eagerly.

    Arthur quickly checked his internal map. "They''re... everywhere," he said, looking down and squinting. He''d seen the size of the Rares. Nothing on the field approached that size "I can''t see them. These are all Commons and Uncommons."

    "Perhaps they''re invisible. One did have an illusion card. There may be more.

    Arthur heard the question in his dragon''s voice and smiled. "Why don''t you give it a test?"

    Buzzing eagerly to the side of the expanding battle, Brixaby blasted down with a stunning shout towards the edge of the group. His shout caught a couple of Uncommons and a cluster of three Commons that had been pushed to the side, but nothing else appeared out of invisibility. Brixaby blasted another group of Commons, just to be sure, peering down eagerly to see if anything would become visible again. But there was nothing.

    Arthur shook his head. "Either you''re not catching them, or they''re not here. I think they''re underground."

    By this time, even more adventuring parties were arriving, which was good because the flow from the fissure seemed to be never-ending.

    Arthur had to grudgingly admit that the adventurers were not doing a half-bad job. In fact, he noticed that the group leaders, who were tagging the dead scourgelings, were pretty much ignoring the Commons, and just focusing on the Uncommons. There was more than enough to go around, and no one wanted to focus on the small fry.

    "The Rares are still here. Save your strength," Brixaby yelled, but if anybody heard him, there was no reaction.

    A flaming fireball struck a cluster of scourgelings a fire that, when it hit, splattered like liquid and didn''t seem to want to go out.

    Arthur glanced over and saw, a quarter-mile away, the small figure of Claude standing next to his odd machine. He had kludged an arm over the frame with a large cup at the top. Using a rope, he winded it down again, pulling something out of his bag to load it up.

    "Keep an eye on that," he told Brixaby. "It''s a machine, not a magical effect. I don''t think he has any aiming skills attached to that thing."

    "The day I get struck by something thrown by a human in the air is the day I return my wings," Brixaby said, though Arthur saw him turn his head slightly and keep an eye on Claude.

    By this time, more Uncommon scourgelings had crawled out of the hole and joined the battle, and some of the adventuring groups had to fall back, though they were still eagerly fighting and killing.

    "Shall I join them?" Brixaby asked eagerly.

    Arthur shook his head. "No, if Rares are out there, we need to save your strength."

    His first indication that something was wrong was when he saw adventurers and scourgelings start to stumble for no particular reason.

    Dust rose from the ground, and Arthur couldn''t figure out why because there wasn''t so much as a breath of wind in the air. Then he realized what he was seeing. An earthquake.

    And that was when the ground fell out from under both scourgelings and adventurers alike, plunging the whole fighting mass into a deep pit.