Armareth's Tower

David woke up to a low rumbling and the smell of burnt hair. He shuddered slightly, breathing hard. His heart was like a restless little animal, frightened, wanting a way out. He almost passed out, but he gripped the edge of his bed, blinking away the black that hung at the edges of his vision. Everything was blurry. But only briefly. Soon everything came into focus and he realized it was all familiar. His mind sifted through memories, reorienting him with the room, the scent, and the woman standing beside his bed. David almost scampered away from her. Instead, he willed himself to stay still.

“Finally awake,” Tara purred, every movement of her body was seductive. She was an unintentional temptation. One of the ones men recognized but still couldn’t avoid. She sat on the stool beside his bed, stretched as if uncoiling, and then grinned at him.

“Got bored waiting for you to get the hell up. We don’t have time.”

David groaned, mind still a bit foggy. Now that the tension had faded, his body was settling back into the exhaustion of before. He felt no pain, but Chloe’s healing had drained him. He wasn’t surprised, she was still getting a hang of what she could do. The possibilities dragged a smile from him. Tara leaned her head sideways, watching him.

“Did you hear what I just said?” She asked. David nodded. His shirt was torn from the blast, but now he could see new burn marks. He glared at Tara. “I had to wake you somehow.”

David grunted. He felt dizzy when he tried to get up too fast. Tara caught and steadied him. They stood silently for a moment until David shrugged her hands away. He was about to take his shirt off when he remembered he wasn’t in his room. He could feel Tara’s eyes on him. It made him a little self-conscious. Then he remembered Tara kissing Jeremy and he wondered why he cared about the woman.

“We have things to do,” Tara said. “And you haven’t kept up on your side of our deal. Or don’t they teach integrity where you are from?”

David scoffed. Outside the room, the silence shocked him. He’d expected to hear Chloe’s voice, or Elisha’s. He walked quickly to the room they shared, finding his cloak there, but nothing else. He turned briskly, almost knocking down Tara. She frowned.

“Where are…”

“They are outside, sparring. That was why I came to get you. That and our deal.”

David sighed. Took off his shirt and wore the one Tara provided earlier. It was a bit too tight, but he could make do.

“What do you want to know?” David asked.

“Everything,” Tara said and David scowled.

“What we know is what the dragons told us.”

“Dragons?” Tara asked, startled. David frowned. She was worried, he could see that. David thought about it and decided he would be scared if he heard about Ziel too. She was the one thing he dreaded the most about the tower.

“Yeah, Ziel and her children. They were on the first floor. Didn’t you see that?”

Tara shook her head. “The first floor was a settlement ravaged by monsters. An easy clear, but only after we were able to identify the main boss. It was some kind of mimicking type of monster. We didn’t meet these dragons you speak of. That would probably have been the end for us.” She grinned. “You defeated these dragons? You don’t look strong enough for that.”

“No, we were given tests. It was…” David winced when he recalled the many deaths they suffered. “They were brutal in a way, but there were some who couldn’t be bothered by the test so we got off easy.”

“And this thing about tower gods?” Tara asked, arms folded over her chest. Her shirt was loose, tucked into her pants. She had no weapon on her, yet David knew she was deadly. She struck the figure of one who was confident enough to take on an army of monsters. David wondered how she would have fared with Nurend. He shook the thought away.

“As you know, there are six towers,” David said, facing her. She was a head taller, but he was larger. Yet David felt overwhelmed. He stepped away from her but held her gaze so it wasn’t obvious what he was trying to do. “From what I have gleaned, the towers were built by different tower gods. Perhaps it is some kind of game. We don’t know the specifics yet, but you have to conquer one tower to go to the next. I have a small suspicion that I cannot verify yet.”

“What?”

David frowned, contemplating if to share. He decided after a few seconds. He couldn’t predict what she would do if he decided to hold on to the information. And it wasn’t really important.

“I think whoever conquers the first tower gets claimed,” David said. Tara stared at him, confused. “By one of the tower gods, most likely Amareth. Or perhaps, people are going through the other towers as we speak. Like I said, I don’t know yet.”

“These dragons told you nothing?” Tara asked, frowning.

“On the fifth floor, we will meet a cult. I am supposed to retrieve something for her. I don’t know what it will be yet.”

“You know nothing useful then,” Tara asked, her face going dark. “Just more of what I already know. You said you knew secrets I didn’t know.” Tara scoffed. David took another step back. He wasn’t sure how he would fare in a fight with her. She was fire and storm, and he was barely able to keep his powers in control. Not that he knew how to control it anyway.

“Do you speak Skraelig?” David asked. He’d almost forgotten what the last of Ziel’s children told him, now the dragon tongue echoed in his mind, like it had always been there. It was creepy, but David was grateful for it. He wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that a piece of the dragon was locked away in his head, waiting for when he could retrieve the message.

“What is that?”

“Dragon’s tongue,” David said. “One of Ziel’s children said something to me and I can feel how important it is, but I can’t understand it.”

Tara shook her head and groaned. Then she started to walk for the door. David watched her leave, relieved that he would finally be alone. He had to settle his thoughts.

“Come, David,” Tara called once she was at the door. “You don’t know much about where we are going, but you can tell about these dragons and gods you seem to know much about. Have you met Amareth?”

David scoffed, following behind her as they walked the small distance to the door that led them to the common room where they ate before David.

“Of course not,” David said. “But there are beings other than gods in this tower. Arya and the eternal Ifryr. I imagine there will be more as we move up the floors or enter the other towers.”

Tara stopped abruptly, turning to look at David as if he’d transformed into something else. He watched her carefully. She was on the threshold and the late evening light was almost on her, touching the small of her cheek and her hair.

“You plan to enter the other towers?” She asked, disbelief thick in her voice. David shrugged.

“Not yet, I will have to ask the others. But there is nothing out there for us. Our parents are most likely dead. The world here is dangerous but predictable. We know there is only the worst to fight against. Out there…” David shuddered. He could almost see Chloe crying once they confirmed that their parents were gone. The possibility was gnawing. Like hot iron touching a new wound.

Tara seemed to understand because she nodded and turned around. David caught the hint of a smile before she turned away.

“Tell me more.”

“We killed the eternal,” David said blandly. He was not proud of it.

“I thought being eternal meant it—whatever that was—was immortal?”

“Yeah, that was what we thought too.”

They went through the open front yard and walked on the short grass that smelled faintly of mint and something else David couldn’t place. Through the low wooden gates and just a few distance away, to the left field flanking the narrow road, he saw his siblings. Heard them. Zoey hailed Elisha. David winced as a curtain of shadow blanketed the small space in front of him. The wave of essence shocked him and made him wonder who Elisha was sparing against.

Tara stopped and David tensed. He hated how the woman made him feel like a prey. He wanted to know how much stronger she was than him. Behind her, the sparks of silver-edged darkness gave him an idea.

“We should find a way to use the portal and leave this city,” Tara said, holding his gaze. David’s eyes narrowed to slits. He wasn’t sure why that annoyed him, but suddenly he wanted to punch the woman in front of him.

“What?” he asked, his voice coming out more as a whisper. “And the cult? I thought that was the plan.”

“Yes, but that would be too risky. You heard Galan. There is someone who has seen the fifth floor and survived the horror. Do you think you can survive a collision with such a person? I have seen how you stay guarded around me just because you have seen me whip people to death with lightning. Trust me, Han has stronger minions. People who create golems with just a thought and upend the earth under you like it is nothing.”

“You are scared then?” David asked, trying to keep his voice leveled. “You are running away because you think you are weak? You think that makes you careful? No, it makes you just like him, a coward. If we don’t destroy the cult, others will come and be placed under their heels and deceived just like you were. We will have changed nothing.”

“And you think you are some kind of hero?” Tara asked, taking a step closer to him. David stayed put. He could see the storm brewing in her eyes. Something made him shiver. And then a white web of light sparkled over her skin.

“No,” David whispered, suddenly realizing that he didn’t care what she did. “I don’t have to be a hero, Tara. But I watched my father fight a horde of orcs for us to escape. And he didn’t have a flaming sword or a mysterious power. He had ordinary steel and the courage to do what he thought was right. That is what I am going to do.”

He walked past her or tried to. Her hand clamped on his left arm, pulling him back, but David was faster. Perhaps because he had expected her to do something like that. He pulled away and twirled, spinning like a ballerina. As he rounded on her, his fist came alight, bright orange flames burning with fury, Tara caught his fist, wincing as the fire torched her flesh. She shoved him back, flailing and hissing. David stared at her, confused because she was smiling.

“Fine,” Tara said. “I needed to see that you were not just being stupid. But you have to prove it for us to join your damn crazy crusade.”

“Prove what? I already to—”

“That you can hold your own. Most of the outworlders we have caught have been sent to the cult, fattening their ranks. No one thought we’d be fighting them someday, so it made sense to give them more power.”

“You mean you were forced?” David asked and Tara scoffed. Something sparked, lighting up the growing evening dark. They were close now, enough to hear Elisha’s grunting and Zoey’s booing. Chloe sat close to Zoey, reading a glowing sheet floating in front of her. She saw David and Tara first.

“They are still at it?” Tara asked. Zoey snorted.

“If you mean Claire is handing Elisha his butt still, then yes.”

She gave David a look that said she was pissed at him but happy he was alright. David smiled boyishly. He liked it when Zoey acted grown up, like their mother. She fussed uniquely; preferring to fume silently instead of acting out. Their father was the real hammer, the thunder and lightning.

Tara walked over to Jeremy. The blonde man sat on a tree stump. David wondered if he had felled the tree himself, but there was no tree anywhere close. Just a stretch of field, as if this place was cut out of the world, a hidden world like Galan’s.

“Thank you, Chloe,” David said, looking down at his baby sister. She looked up, scowled, and then went back to reading her script.

Everyone is angry, Ignis rumbled. David sighed. He shifted close to Zoey, knowing he had to mend things before it escalated. They had to stick together if they wanted to survive. Now and through the damn tower. He nudged her slightly.

“I am sorry, Zoey,” he murmured, watching Elisha disappear, his dagger flashing behind Claire only for something translucent to shield her back. She twisted, her sword making a low arc that would have cleaved Elisha at the waist, but he vanished again. Claire hissed, frustrated. Elisha appeared some paces away, but David sensed that Claire was done with the jumping around.

She blurred, moving so fast David could only track her by the flow of essence she gave off in her wake. Elisha’s shadow fluttered about him like a cape in the wind. It wrapped around him, ready to whisk him away, but Claire pushed through the darkness, caught him by the collar, and flipped him over her shoulder. Elisha crashed hard but made to move again, but Claire’s sword was hanging over his face. Claire grinned, withdrawing her blade, and then extended a hand to pull him up. David grinned at Elisha. He could see the shame on his brother’s face, but he’d learned too that shame came with learning.

“You have a long way to go if it takes you that long to beat someone like Elisha,” Jeremy said to Claire. His voice was soft as usual, but there was a severity to it. “No offense meant, Elisha.” He bowed slightly to Elisha.

“He was jumping around in that shadow of his,” Claire argued.

“And you could negate it,” Jeremy responded, his voice measured still. Tara laughed.

“Look at you two bicker like lovers.” She shook her head, then gestured at Elisha. “You have the potential to be one of the strongest of us, but your lack of imagination is a burden on you.”

“I was going to say that,” Zoey said. “He does the same thing over and over.”

“Fortunately,” Tara said, her smile widening mischievously. “I have to spar with your brother. I hope he can show you what creativity can help you achieve.”

David blanched. Everyone stared at him now. The sun was far down the horizon, but there was still enough light. Tara waved him to join her.

“Come, David. This should be quick,” She said. David gritted his teeth. He was not exactly mad at her. He just didn’t like the sly smile on Jeremy. As he walked over to where Tara waited, he wondered why he felt like he was competing against the blonde man.

So childish, Ignis chided, and David cussed the dragon.