Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty - The Buck Stops Here

It was hard.

That’s pretty much the only way I could describe having to do what I had to.

The others were looking to me to lead them. We’d never had a vote on it, we never sat down and delegated positions and such. Somehow I had just... ended up as the leader. Maybe it was because I clung onto others, or because I’d sorta-jokingly taken the title of captain.

It didn’t matter. I was the leader, and that meant that some things fell to me. This was one of them.

I took a deep breath, eyes fixed on the ground. I’d never really looked at Emmanuel’s feet. Hooves, really, though he had these sorts of boots on atop them, a leather sheath covering his legs up to the knee, with bits of metal worked into it.

“Emmanuel,” I said. “I think it might be best if you go back.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to say. I wanted to offer to help, to teach him, by example and word, how to be a better friend. He had potential, under all the silly ideas and the sometimes-rude behaviour. I could imagine him being a good friend. Everyone had that potential, and while it wasn’t right out on the surface with Emmanuel, it wasn’t buried that deep.

But I couldn’t think just about myself.

I was leading others, my friends. If what I wanted put others in danger, then maybe I had to put that aside to make sure everyone would be safe first.

It was like... brushing your teeth. Not fun to do, but you did it because it was less annoying than a toothache.

Maybe that wasn’t a very good example.

“We can still be friends,” I said quickly. “Just, I don’t know if things are working out very well right now. So... yeah. It might be best for everyone if you return to the surface for now? We have a quest to complete, and it’ll be dangerous, and... yeah.”

I glanced up, then away from Emmanuel’s face. His expression was conflicted.

My friends... Bastion nodded to me, once. A show that he approved. Amaryllis still looked a bit peeved, and Awen looked like she was more concerned about me than Emmanuel, which was nice, I suppose.

“Because you don’t trust me?” Emmanuel asked.

I held back a wince. “It’s... not just that. Well, actually, yes?”

The cervid stomped one hoof down. “No, no, I see how it is. You, you...” he paused, his head falling. “You see me as some sort of failure.”

“Not a failure,” I said. “Just not someone who’s ready to work as a team, and in this place, that’s what we need most.”

“Not a failure, a liability, then,” he muttered. “Thank you, I suppose that clarifies things. So much for being a great hero.” The cervid stood up, his pride straightening his back. “In that case, I think I’ll go and find people who need my saving more.”

“Alright,” I said. “That might actually be for the best. You can learn and make friends, and practice being a hero?”

Emmanuel’s jaw worked, and he looked to all of us in turn before stepping around and walking towards the exit. “Goodbye,” he said. I expected it to sound prideful, but he sounded sad instead.

I sighed when he turned the corner and left out of sight.

Awen came up behind me and gave me a hug, but it was Amaryllis who spoke up first. “That wasn’t easy for you, was it?”

I shook my head.

“Hmpf. Next time, let me do the dismissing. I’ve fired a person or two before. It’s nothing too complicated.”

“Thanks,” I said. She might have said that, but I could read what she meant under all of that. “It had to be me, I think.”

Amaryllis took a deep breath. “No, but it might be better this way. I had lessons about leadership, you know? I was never very interested in them, but I’m sure some of it stuck. And one lesson is that you need to learn how to delegate some things. You also need to be able to make sacrifices. I think one leadership lesson a day is enough, though.”

I smiled, and if it was a bit wry, she didn’t comment. “Thanks.”

“Are you okay?” Awen asked.

“I’m fine,” I said as I leaned back into the hug. Awen was getting good at hugging. Bet she’d get the skill soon, then she could use it to show off to Rose later. “We should probably move on.”

“We can take a moment,” Bastion said.

“And we can grab the loot Jim dropped,” Howard said.

I turned towards the old fishman. “Loot?” I asked.

That had us all perking up.

“Nothing too special,” Howard said as he moved around the big stone table. “Ah, here it is!” He bent over double, then came back up with a hat in hand. A black bowler hat.

“Oh, that’s neat,” I said. “What does it do?”

“Provide shade to your head?” Howard said with a chuckle. “We’ve collected a few of these over the years. They help with negotiations.”

He flicked the hat our way, and I caught it out of the air, then used Insightt on it.

A Shrewdman’s Bowler. Helps ferret out secrets and find the right angle to approach a negotiation.

“Cool,” I said.

“Not something I need help with,” Amaryllis said.

“Broccoli should keep it,” Awen said. “She’s our negotiator.”

I looked to Bastion, but he shrugged. “I’m not removing my helmet for a felt hat.”

Shrugging, I wiggled my ears and pulled my turtle shell hat off and handed it to Awen in exchange for the bowler hat. As soon as I placed it between my ears, I felt the material shifting. “Oh! It’s changing shapes!” I said.

“That’s normal,” Amaryllis said. “It’s still new.”

Right, that had happened before.

I raised the hat, then stared at the two, neatly cut holes set in on the edges of the ‘bowl.’ “Huh,” I said. This time, I slipped it on, and my ears slid snuggly up and through it. “How do I look?”

New Skill Acquired: Negotiating

Rank: D

“Cute,” Awen said.

“Like a clown,” Amaryllis said.

“Like you’re asking to have your head bashed in,” Bastion added. “The three of you aren’t what I would consider front-line fighters, but none of you are unable to hold her own. Awen and Amaryllis both fight from a little further behind though. They can afford to perhaps not have as much armour. You, on the other hand, are always in the thick of it. The helmet’s a better choice.”

“Yeah,” I said as I took off the bowler hat. It was nice, but maybe I could use it when we weren’t about to go and face off against a dungeon boss. I took off my pack and tucked the hat away. “Right, we should keep moving. Only one floor left, right?”

“The boss,” Howard confirmed. “It’s a tricky one, but I’m sure we’ll manage.”

“You usually do it with just two people, right?” I asked.

“Yup. There’s a trick to it. The boss is this great big monster. Weird eyes. Look into them and you’ll find yourself all confused. Anyway, the place has a bunch of altars. Every time you break one, the boss weakens. Then when they’re all broken the ceiling caves in. Often-times that’ll pin the boss in place.”

“You’re making it sound easy.”

“Oh, it isn’t,” Howard said. “If the ceiling doesn’t pin the big sucker, we often just leave and try again another time. And we haven’t had as much luck since those roots started showing up a bit ago.”

Bastion eyed Howard. “Can you tell us more than that?”

“Aye. The boss is about three buildings tall, with a squat sort of body. Thick skin too, like a whale. Plenty of tentacles, and the eyes I mentioned. They’re quite large, and they’re easy to take out. Oh, right, the water.”

“The water?” I asked.

“You all know how to swim?”

“I don’t,” Awen said.

“I dislike it,” Amaryllis added.

I hummed. “Normally, yeah, but not with a pack and armour on.”

“Going to need to be fast then,” Howard said. “Each altar that breaks makes the room start filling with water. It only stops when the boss is dead. Then the water goes back down. Plenty of levels around the outside of the room though,arranged like mezzanines with stairs between them. The miss should be fine if she keeps at range.”

“Ah, alright,” Awen said.

“Right,” I said. “Is that everything?”

“Just about,” Howard said. “Focus on the altars first. The boss is fast initially, but he’ll get easier to fight as we break altars.”

“I think we’ll split duties then,” Bastion said.

I nodded. “I can move pretty fast. I’ll do the altars. Awen can help. Amaryllis, lightning at first, then stop when water comes in.”

“Because the electricity will travel, right,” Amaryllis said. “I can switch out with Awen then, let her use her bow.”

“That sounds fair. Bastion, do you think you can distract it?”

“I can try,” the sylph said.

“Awesome, in that case, Howard, can you help Bastion, and if one of us falls in the water, your first priority is to help.”

“Can do,” Howard said.

I clapped my hands. “Okay then! Let’s all gear up. The boss isn’t our objective, but it’s in our way. Um... you can't negotiate with this one, right?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Howard said. “Just a big monster that’ll attack as soon as it sees you.”

“Alright then,” I said.

Howard revealed a door that I’d missed earlier on my first inspection of the room. A small passageway, right next to the bigger doors Jim had used to enter. It led a ways through the castle, until the corridor came to an end and a familiar sort of cave began.

As we started navigating through the cave with Amaryllis’ magic light guiding us, I couldn’t help but imagine Emmanuel returning back outside, all on his own. It must have been hard for him.

Talons squeezed my shoulder, and I smiled even if my friends couldn’t see it.

I was lucky, really really lucky.

The narrow cavern opened up onto a wider path, one that split, with a passage at a sharp angle behind the exit, and a more open, more inviting passage leading ahead.

Howard didn’t even hesitate to continue along the main path.

The cave widened, then narrowed once more before coming to a dead stop at a wall made of huge slabs of stone, each wider than my arm span. A door rested in the centre, with that strange symbol Howard had shown me carved all the way around it so that the signs overlapped.

“All ready?” Howard asked.

“How much time do we have once we’re inside to get in position?” I asked.

“The floor under the boss will rise up until he’s standing above us all,” Howard said. “You can attack him early, I suppose. Wouldn’t suggest it. Might fall into the pit the boss rises from.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Might want to start hitting the altars early, but that just makes the room fill faster in my experience, and the boss will fight harder from the start.”

“So no starting early, then,” I said.

“We’re not here to run this quickly,” Bastion said.

Amaryllis nodded. “Leave the speedrunning to others.”

“There’s speedrunning?” I asked.

“It’s a sport in some places,” Amaryllis said. “Who can clear a city’s dungeon the fastest. They keep score and all, with prizes for the fastest delvers. It means gathering things more efficiently, which is only good for a dungeon-based economy, and now you have me going on a tangent.”

“Sorry!”

Howard chuckled and pressed a flipper-like palm against the door. Then he pushed his way in.

It was time to face the last boss.

***