Book 3: Chapter 21

Book 3: Chapter 21

Kay and the remaining members of the expedition, to check out Darkport and scout out the pirate threat to the northwest, limped back into Avalon with little fanfare. In fact, there was no fanfare at all, just people running to and fro as medics and healers started grabbing people and dragging them off somewhere on stretchers. Kay was about to grab one of the people rushing up towards the expedition when Eleniah suddenly blurred into view next to him and slammed into him in a rough hug.

"Kay!"

"Ow ow ow fuck!" He pushed her back with his other hand. "You slammed your head right into my bad shoulder!"

"Sorry!" She quickly stepped back and waved one of the rushing healers over.

"No!" Kay gestured them away with a scowl, "I'm one of the least injured at this point; help one of the others."

The healer rushed off without complaint.

"Where did all these healers come from?" Kay asked as he watched the undertaking of transporting the wounded.

"The Adventurer's Guild came through with that recruitment favor you asked for. The first people they managed to find were two healers who both want to stay. They've already started training people that want to be healers."

"Where are they?"

"At the hospital." She nodded when he gave her a questioning look, "We had one built while you were gone since we had people to use it."

Kay started stalking off, deeper into town. "Where's the new hospital?"

"It's near where you decided to put the central square. A little bit south of there, to be exact."

Kay adjusted his direction a little, then paused and glanced over his shoulder. "Lauren!"

Lauren's head appeared over the small crowd of people. "Sir?" She shouted back.

He gestured with his hand for her to come closer. "You're with me; let's go!"

She jogged over and opened her mouth to say something. Kay just turned and started walking. She looked at Eleniah with wide eyes, who responded with a small frown as she watched Kay.

"That's not the expression of someone headed to a hospital to get treated," Eleniah said after a few minutes.

"What? I'm not going to get treated; they should focus on the people who are actually hurt."

Eleniah nodded slowly, "Okay, then why are we going to the hospital?"

"I want to talk to these healers the Adventurer's Guild found."

Kay staggered as Eleniah reached out and grabbed his hand on his uninjured arm, gently but unyieldingly forcing him to stop. "Why are you going to talk to the new healers that we want to keep around with that kind of pissed-off expression? Are you mad at them?"

"What? No, I was going to ask them about Tyuah and Mark." Kay scowled and tried to pull his hand away.

"Oh," Lauren let out a small sigh, "Kay, you can't keep blaming yourself for that."

"What's happening?" Eleniah glanced between the two of them.

"Tyuah and Mark both lost limbs during the trip back. Tyuah lost a leg when the tier seven Ancients attacked, and one of her arms in the Dungeon we used to escape, and Mark lost an arm in the Dungeon as well." She turned back to Kay, "Shit happens, especially in Dungeons. No one that came with us thought we were going on some peaceful walk around a park or something."

"I don't blame myself, but they got hurt in my service. I'm the big bad leader of Avalon; I can't just walk away from people that got injured working for me. Just like I have to make sure the families of the people that died are taken care of."

"You keep going on about how I'm going to be a big shot since, you know." He glanced at Lauren, "Oh yeah, we should probably tell you about that before the announcement."

Lauren cocked her head to one side, "Huh?"

"Never mind, it's not really the time for that; we'll get to it later. Anyway, I was thinking, since that guy just called this the Avalon Branch, what happens when we get nation-sized?"

Eleniah frowned at him. "What about it?"

"Well, is Avalon this village which becomes a town and then a city, or is it the country? And what do we call the other one when we get to that point?"

"Oh. Well, a lot of places just call them both the same thing. Sometimes they differentiate by adding 'City' to the end. Other places just decide when they get to that point."

"Like New York." Kay nodded.

"Sure?"

"Well-"

The man rushed back to them, "If you'd follow me, please?"

They headed up the stairs to a back room that was completely unfurnished.

"This will be the Guildmaster's waiting room, eventually." The man opened the door at the back of the room and bowed them through.

Gemglass was sitting behind a wide desk in front of a bank of windows. The view of the lake and the mountain looming over them was gorgeous.

"Damn, that's a hell of a view," Kay murmured as they walked in and took seats.

"Isn't it?" Gemglass grinned and looked over her shoulder for a moment, "I'm pretty happy with the location we got."

They all looked at it for a moment more, then Gemglass turned back, her face taking on an inquisitive expression.

"Welcome back from your trip, by the way. But what happened that this is your first stop?" She asked.

"I would have made another stop somewhere else, but apparently, that wouldn't have been useful." He glanced at Eleniah, who gave him a small smile and a tiny shrug. He sighed before making direct eye contact with Guildmaster Gemglass. "How much would it cost me to hire some strong Adventurers to hunt down two tier seven equivalent Ancient fliers and their tier five kid?"

Gemglass choked and started coughing. She had to slam her fist into her chest a couple of times in order to stop. "What?"

"Two tier seven Ancient flier and their tier five equivalent kid decided our group looked tasty. I need them hunted down."

She stared at him in shock, literally goggling at him. Eventually, she recovered. "I... While hunting them down might make you feel better about your losses, revenge against monsters doesn't actually get you anywhere. I'd recommend just avoiding the area if they're that strong."

Kay closed his eyes for a moment, internalizing the losses they'd faced once more. He probably wouldn't be able to remember the faces and names of every person he lost, not if his life was going to be as long as Eleniah thought it would be, but he'd remember as many as he could. "It's not really about revenge, although I'm sure part of me desperately wants that. It's more about the Dungeon. Or Dungeons, I'm not really sure."

"What?" Gemglass slumped in her chair. "Dungeons?"

"We got trapped in a ruin that the Ancients couldn't get into, and we managed to escape using a Dungeon that ended up being next to two other Dungeons in some big hall that looked like it got built a long time ago. Or maybe it's all one Dungeon with different parts? I don't really get what was going on; it was really weird. There weren't any rewards the whole time, and the team that Lauren and I were on ended up going through a total of three times."

Gemglass held up her arms and started waving them in front of her. "Whoa! Stop, stop!" She reached under her desk and obviously pushed some kind of button or switch. "I just called Forn, and I'll send for my Dungeon expert as well. Start from the beginning and tell me everything."

Kay raised an eyebrow at her. "You're that interested? I thought I was just going to post a job to take out the Ancients, and then maybe you'd send a team to check out the Dungeon."

"Are you kidding? We're totally going to check it out, and more information is better for that." Her grin became almost malicious, "I might have given you some doubts telling you about some of the truth behind the Guild, but it doesn't change what the Guild wants to do. Changing the world is an expensive goal and weird Dungeons that ancient people might have used? That sounds profitable."