Origin ARS 4 (14 page)

A few minutes and a dozen raspberries later a thoroughly satisfied little fairy fluttered past Rhea. Her entire body was bright red from the shameful joy that she had experienced.

“Happy now?” asked Rhea with more curtness than she wanted to give off in her tone.

Ero gasped once then fell briefly before she started to flap her wings once more. “Fairy much so...” she panted. Her cute little legs scissored back and forth while she tried to fly in a straight line. She, of course, failed miserably and fluttered about like she was drunk.

Rhea tried not to laugh, but she could not help it. Her sweet laughter died quickly when she felt warm masculine arms slide around her.

She leaned back gently then whispered, “You would embrace me so brazenly after making her so happy that she can’t even fly straight?”

Scott kissed the side of Rhea’s neck and she giggled gently. He said, “If you’re so upset, then maybe you should make her feel better about being such a cute little fairy next time.”

The bridge of Rhea’s nose darkened then turned slightly pink. “I doubt that you would turn away.”

Scott kissed her warmly on the ear. “No, certainly not. I would have been making you feel better.”

She started to say something but he gave her a rather telling raspberry to the neck that spoke volumes concerning his intent. She closed her eyes and then laughed sweetly. “Well, I suppose that would be alright then.”

“You know, maybe we should finish off these bandits before we go around slobbering on each other.” said Scott lightly, after a rather intense and heated moment passed.

“I vote for slobber!” called out Ero from her new perch. She had found a nice rocky outcropping to lie down on.

They all had a nice laugh after hearing that. Though they were deep in the heart of murder-inclined bandit territory, they truly believed that everything was right with the world.

Chapter 10: Fly My Fairy BFF! Fly!

Everything had gone well for the bandit slaying trio as they wandered through the underground inner-sanctum of the murder-minded bandits. Outside of a small few altercations they had not really had to do anything difficult to continue onward.

At this point they had taken out eighteen or so bandits, and had begun to see the ending to their quest. Soon, they came to the end of a large corridor and were confronted with an even larger open area. The place seemed strangely empty, and something about that fact did not sit right with the group.

“Think it’s a trap?” asked Ero.

Scott nodded then looked to Rhea. She nodded as well. It was obvious that something was going on here. There should be at least a few more bandits to contend with, but the place had a strangely empty look about it.

Ero volunteered to check the place out and fluttered forward to see what she could see. After a few minutes she returned and shrugged her tiny little shoulders. “It’s empty.”

Scott glanced at her then at Rhea. He could not stop feeling a strange sense of dread about the situation, but if it actually was empty then what else could they do?

“I’ll go out first.” said Scott.

Ero had flown a scouting mission. Now Scott would go on point to see if he drew any bandit fire. It could be possible that they were simply waiting and well-hidden for Scott or Rhea to come out.

“Be fairy careful Scott.” whispered Ero as her sorcerous love interest moved forward.

He glanced back at her and raised up his thumb. He wanted to show confidence in the face of whatever might be found.

Rhea smiled at him as well, and he nodded to her. The women-folk appeased for the moment, Scott began moving forward to see what he would find. As soon as he entered the open area, he moved to the wall on the left and used it to circle the room. A sizeable area, it could have comfortably fit a few hundred people. There was a series of scaffolds and ramps around the area that rose several levels into the air giving the place the appearance of a former mining location.

Light streamed down from several holes in the ceiling of the cave and provided slight illumination. The background music was soft, quiet; it held an empty and mournful tone to it like he had entered a tomb.

He leapt upward and grabbed onto a rail high overhead. He swung up onto the scaffolding and continued to check the area. There were no signs of life anywhere that he checked. Even the mine office was suspiciously lacking in recent signs of life.

None of what he saw, or rather did not see, made any sense. This was clearly the largest area in the bandit sanctum. Where were the bandits? Why were there no signs of anyone having here recently?

Scott returned to the girls and discussed the situation with them. It was Rhea who made a key observation. “Too bad that hairy hornball died earlier. His nose might have told us something.”

“Yeah, if only he wasn’t an idiot. Still, that doesn’t change anything. Do we continue on?” asked Scott.

Rhea sighed. “It feels like a trap.”

“It’s definitely a trap.” said Scott.

“Shouldn’t a trap have bait?” asked Ero.

Scott looked to her then nodded. “Ah, but it does have bait, the empty room. Most might not notice it, but it’s too empty. This place is run by bandits. They haven’t shown themselves to be particularly clean and orderly bandits, either. Yet, I don’t even see recent trash in that room. There are no signs that anyone has been in there in a long time.”

“Yeah, but what do we do about it? We can’t stay here, and if we go back we can’t finish the quest.” said Rhea.

“True. I suppose all we can do is fall into the trap and hope for the best.” said Scott.

“That’s a terrible plan, Scott.” said Rhea.

“It’s fairy silly...” said Ero.

Scott nodded to them. “Absolutely, but we don’t have to make it easy for them. We can go one at a time to the next area. If they spring a trap here, it won’t catch all of us. They’ll have to pick one of us.”

“Good point.” said Rhea. It certainly seemed like a reasonable plan of action. They also had little choice other than to abandon the area and come back later, possibly when they had to deal with a lot more bandits.

“Ero, you should merge with me. I think that might confuse them if they expect three of us to come out.” said Scott.

“OK!” exclaimed Ero with great excitement. She fluttered down then slipped into the side of his head. Once nestled safely within his mind she unleashed a soft giggle.

“Pop, always warned me about letting a girl get inside my head.” said Scott. He looked to Rhea. “Did I listen? No.”

Rhea gave him a flat look then reached out and poked him. “Goof.”

“I go into dangerous territory. If the enemy takes me, promise that you will never marry.”

Rhea laughed at his silliness then shook her head. “Heroes come back alive.”

Scott squinted at her then smiled. “Fair enough, I must risk it to get that biscuit...”

“I’m a biscuit now?”

Scott reached out and gripped her tight before kissing her warmly on the lips. His hands slid down to caress her perky elven posterior. “Soft and fluffy with a sweet yet buttery after taste.”

Rhea’s cheeks reddened ever so slightly, “Seriously....Comparing me to a biscuit.”

“Well, I’m a southern boy. We like our fresh buttered biscuits.” said Scott before he released her and stepped back. All kidding aside, it was time to go fall into the obvious trap.

“You’ll find no butter on these biscuits my good sir.” said Rhea.

Scott eyeballed her for a moment then grinned. “We’ll see....”

Her cheeks reddened further and she shook her head. What was she going to do with this guy?”

“You can butter me, Scott.” suggested Ero in an almost musical tone of voice.

Scott laughed again then shook his head. “Well, we’re off. I’ll wave when I’m through.”

Rhea nodded, and Scott headed off toward the obvious trap. Despite its apparent and obvious nature, no trap rose up to ensnare the man. He and Ero both safely made it to the far corridor. Scott glanced over to Rhea and waved at her.

The elf girl set off at a steady jog and soon she joined the others. Nothing happened.

Scott raised a finger to his lips and Rhea nodded once more. They still had to go down this corridor.

The group moved forward, Ero still hiding inside of Scott’s mind, and soon they came to another room. This one also seemed suspicious, but after a short time was spent searching the area, they discovered nothing. The exit had a metal portcullis atop it, no doubt to stop intruders, but it was left up. It was as though every bandit left in the underground base had evacuated the area in a hurry.

“Maybe the other bandits are all logged off?” asked Scott.

Rhea shook her head. “Doubtful, the system would have probably considered the quest finished if that was the case.”

They were at a loss for a moment. Whatever was going on, it was odd.

It was not until they moved toward the next corridor that something finally happened. Scott stepped down on a perfectly normal section of stone. There were no distinguishing marks, or any other sign that something was different in that one spot than anywhere else. However, something decidedly wrong did occur.

A brilliant blue-green field of energy rose up around them and set off a cascade of system messages even as a portcullis fell down before them. The way forward was blocked and they had no other alternative but to backtrack. The trap had been sprung!

[Message]

Your mana has been sealed! You will be unable to use magic or special techniques for ten minutes.

You have been poisoned! You will lose health at a rate of 1 point per second for ten minutes.

You have been mana poisoned! You will lose mana at a rate of 1 point per second for ten minutes.

You have been cursed! You will be unable to access your inventory storage for ten minutes.

You have been cursed! You are afflicted with weakness. Your strength, agility, and vitality are halved.

You have been cursed! You are afflicted with silence. You will be unable to speak for ten minutes.

[--]

“What the hell!” snapped Scott, or rather he tried to do so but no words left his lips. He looked to Rhea. She had the same issue. She could not speak and she looked visibly ill.

Scott tried to call up his inventory, but just as the warning message had said, he could not access it. He knew they were in trouble. Their health would run out long before they had access to their inventory! He thought as strongly as he could in order to reach Ero. “Can you still hear me, Ero?”

“Yes! This is fairy bad. I’m OK, but you’re going to die!” exclaimed the fairy girl.

“Can you do anything?” he asked her.

“Well, if I had some water... I don’t think my other healing powers are strong enough to break these curses and cleanse this level of poison.” she said. “In fact, I’m fairy sure that they won’t work.”

Scott winced. He knew exactly what she meant to do. He gestured for Rhea to follow him, and she nodded.

They ran back the other direction. If they moved swiftly enough, they might be able to reach the ocean and dip some water out for Ero.

However, the other portcullis dropped in front of them. They were stuck in the corridor with no way out.

“Dammit!” screamed Scott silently.

Scott tried to lift the portcullis, but he was not strong enough. Rhea joined him, but even together they were barely able to make it budge.

“Ero! Do you think your power ability will make me strong enough to lift this?” asked Scott quickly.

“No... At least not enough to let you both go through.” said Ero.

Scott frowned then shook his head. However, another thought occurred to him. “Ero, can you go make some sacred water and bring it back?”

“Sure! I’ll do my fairy best, Scott!” exclaimed the little fairy.

The tiny little fairy separated from her rapidly dying love interest then flew through the bars of the portcullis. It was all up to her now.

Scott reached over and took Rhea’s hand. They could not speak, but some things were easily said when left unspoken.

**

The frantic beat of tiny fairy wings echoed through the silence as Ero rushed to find some water, or at least some way to carry it. She could in fact, generate water of her own but there was nothing to put it in. Scott’s helmet might have been a logical choice, but the truth was that it might neutralize her efforts. The trap had not just caused that terrible series of status effects on her friends, but it would linger on their equipment as well. While it did that equipment no harm, it was possible that it would prevent her from using it to any good purpose. Her sacred water creation ability was magical in nature after all.

Tiny wings fluttered tirelessly as she zipped through the open area that they had suspected might be trapped. There was no sign of life, just like before. Ero could not stop to concern herself with that, however. Her friends had only a few minutes at most.

She flew into the corridor beyond and worked her way back to the treasure room. There were a few cups and bowls there that might work. She did not think it would be a good idea to try to reach the surface and acquire water there so she focused her power and summoned one of her few combat oriented skills, Fairy’s Water Hammer.