“Finally!” Dexic shouted as she pulled her sword from the eye socket of the fairy boss. “I’m glad you two managed to clip her wings.”
Tanila nodded even though the warrior couldn’t see her response.
“Elf tits, that thing wasn’t fun, but the worst was all of its summons!” Fowl exclaimed, the sound of crushed pixies and fairies under his boot making a squelching sound as he walked through the scorched forest.
Over two dozen bodies were burnt, frozen, or pulverized from this fight, and while it hadn’t been easy, Fowl never once seemed truly challenged.
“Seems so anticlimactic if I’m honest,” Cordellia stated as she moved to where Tanila stood quietly and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Took us far longer to reach this thing than I had expected after the pace Se—we used to travel at.”
“You can say his name,” Tanila whispered. “I know he’s still alive. I can… feel him, and my necklace hasn’t changed.”
Dexic had gone from killing the boss to cutting off pieces as the body began to fade. She glanced at Fowl, who was picking up parts and storing them as well.
“What should I do to help?” she asked.
“Nothing. It’s been two months, and she still believes Seth is alive somewhere. I…”
The dwarven warrior took a deep breath and let it out slowly, replacing his armor with normal clothes via his storage and crossed his arms. Slowly, he stroked his beard as he studied the trio, who were huddled together as always.
“Batrire says she believes Tanila. Me… I know he wouldn’t leave like that. Not without at least a goodbye letter. He especially wouldn’t have been gone this long on his own. She has checked with the elven kingdom, and I have made contact with a few back in my kingdom, and no one has seen or heard anything about his whereabouts.”
“That leaves the queens,” Dexic replied, swapping out her equipment as she stood next to Fowl. “Everett and Tom both showed us the letter that came. Somehow, I don’t think our fearless leader really believes them.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As the trio moved toward them, Batrire gave a forced smile, and Tanila moved at her usual zombie-like pace.
“Would you like to open the chest?” Fowl asked, his eyes locked on Tanila.
She shook her head, and the tiniest grin appeared for a moment.
“You go ahead. We all know how much you enjoy doing so.”
“Bah! As much as you all know I enjoy chests, I have had my fill of them lately. Perhaps someone else here should get a turn to enjoy them as much as I have.”
Dexic snickered, and a few groans came as their healer and archer picked up on the joke that had been made.
“I’ll do it,” Cordellia stated as she moved toward the small silver chest that had appeared. A relief of tiny fairies and pixies decorated the outside. “Seems anticlimactic for sure. That chest is so small.”
A groan came from Dexic, who followed the archer and went to see what was inside.
Moving till he stood next to Tanila, Fowl gave her hand a squeeze and looked up at her green eyes, seeing the redness that never left them.
“He’s alive. If there’s one thing we know about”—Fowl paused, glancing over his shoulder, and lowered his voice—“Max, it's that he loves you, and he will fight every god there is for you. Keep moving on and trusting he will return. Just know when he does, you can flaunt how far you are in the tower. I mean, we just beat the level forty-five boss!”
Sniffing, Tanila grinned and stored her staff, reached out with both arms, and pulled the dwarven warrior close.
Batrire gave them a second before wrapping her arms around the pair and held Tanila as she shook a little.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for believing that he is alive like I do. Se—Max will appreciate how you two are loving on me.”
Batrire shushed her as she rubbed her elven friend’s back.
“We’re family, dear. This is what family does. Now, let’s go over to that chest and make fun of the crap the tower decides to give us.”
Coughing and clearing her throat, Tanila wiped her eyes and nodded.
Each dwarf took one of their friends' hands, and they walked together along the scorched, brown dirt, unable to truly celebrate the achievement of being only five floors away from the halfway point in the tower.
Without Max there, each of them felt the victory was hollow.