"Did you have to hit him so hard?"
"Yes."
"We don't hate him, but he'll understand in the end. We really had no other choice."
Will could hear two voices like he was underwater. He tasted the blood on his lips. He tried to open his eyes but noticed that the darkness didn't go away. Was he blindfolded?
This time a third voice joins the conversation as Will hits the ground and the air is knocked out of him.
"What have you brought to me this time 'Volcano Queen'."
Will's blood turned to ice. That Voice. It was the Golem speaking.
"Coal, you are dismissed. Do your job well." The voice of the Grandma he remembered was replaced by someone who commanded authority, even in front of the abomination of such magnitude she seemed to not give it a thought.
"I've brought you a genius rune scholar in the making. He has more talent than even the people of my lost kingdom. He even managed to copy one of your best works and was completely unaffected by it." Will couldn't see but she pointed to the bowl. "He planned on releasing some of the beasts as a distraction to escape from the crater. Obviously, once I found out his plan we subdued him and brought him here. This should be the last of the specimens you asked for. This would be 50 high quality human lives. 40 for my release and 10 for my servant."
Will was on his knees looking down, unable to see anything just listening to his conversation. He was stunned. He thought they had been developing a relationship. He thought he found himself a little group, a teacher, a protector. But here he was. Just a bargaining chip for the other two slaves to be released.
"Hmm, yes. We did have a deal." The tyrant responds.
In all his time here, he never felt so helpless. So small and weak. He had no skills to help him, no way of fighting back. He could feel his body slowly filling with just the smallest portion of the vile abominations terrifying might.
With how far the voice sounded from him, he was well within its striking range. Will had seen the last time the Golem decided it was going to kill something. He was completely blind to how fast it had moved then and Will was sure not much would have changed since then.
The Golem's voice finally rumbles again.
"But, tell me your Highness. How will you force me to release you? If I double my requests, could you fulfill it?"
Grandma was quiet, for maybe a moment too long before responding.
"Well, we made a deal. You're much more powerful now, but I would advise you to stick with our previous arrangement. For both our sakes." She adds the veiled threat at the end. For some reason, Will didn't feel like it was just a bluff. In his current predicament, if there was a slight distraction after testing the restraints, he felt he could tear them easily and run. But to where? He would be trapped in this crater with two traitors and an Awakened Tyrant. He would just be delaying his death.
A dry chuckle escapes from the Golem.
"Please, your Highness, you were not able to defeat me with your last champion all those years ago. I've decided. I'll be doubling our deal. I would love to see you struggle to keep going." He could hear the Golem move. Then a wall of heat was approaching him.
This is it. He had to move now or he would be cooked. Or smashed. Tensing all his muscles about to explode with as much speed as he could muster, a voice cuts through the tension in the air once more.
"Ah. I will have to humbly decline your new deal. Since we can't come to an agreement then I will just have to settle with the other option." Grandma sighed. She sounded genuinely sad. As if she wished she didn't need to be put to this limit. "If you bring the drake here, this man here can teach you a rune that will allow you control over it. I've casted a spell on him to be unable to show it to you without me, and the drake present."
Huh? Did that ever happen? He remembered going over many unfamiliar runes. She also taught him how to channel what little essence he stole some into existing runes. Like the dagger Coal let him use. It had runes inscribed into its blade and hilt.
"Hmm, that sounds like trickery, your Highness. How can I be sure you're not playing some game?" The Golem's hand didn't move closer or further away from him. The heat emanating from it was suffocating, he could feel the heat making him feel faint.
Grandma shrugged her shoulders.
"Does it matter if it is? You're much too powerful for us to fight and you've beaten the drake before without all the power you've gained. I'm sure it would be so much easier for you now. What is trickery in front of overwhelming power?" The Golem seems to consider her words. All the while Will was desperately trying to stay awake gritting his teeth as the two voices barter over his life.
"You're right. You ants couldn't do anything if you wanted. I will bring the drake. If either of you are missing. I'll massacre the last of the survivors of your kingdom." Will figures that he must be talking about the other slaves here with them all. They were all leveraged to get her to fork over the few talented subjects to spare the mass.
With that, the suffocating heat retreats away. Will took a huge breath of air. It was acrid and disgusting like usual, but it was better than the oven he was in just a few moments ago.
The sounds of heavy footsteps retreating from Grandma and Will fades but the shaking of the ground continues just a while longer. Then silence.
It was quiet for much too long before she talked.
"You must understand my position."
"Fuck you. I trusted you both. We had a plan, I thought we would become a team. It was all a lie I guess. I'm no genius. You couldn't give less of a damn about me. Since I'm not one of 'your people'." Will spit some blood on the ground. "So what now? When he comes back and I don't know what rune you're talking about then what?" He blindly looks at where her voice was coming from.
"Thats the thing. I guess neither of us will know until he gets back." She replied. Even with the Golem gone she still held this air of royalty as she talked to him, something she never did with him before.
Will couldn't help but chuckle to himself. In the end his nightmare was quite similar to Sunny's. He just wasn't as cynical as the little rat and got caught in a trap that he was so sure was avoided.
"So your majesty, who are you really?" His muscles were still tense, he needed to be ready to run when the Smith returned and found out he knew nothing about whatever that rune was to control the drake. Since she couldn't move quickly, he would out run her easily and maybe it would kill her first in anger.
"Oh stop with the honorifics, pebbles for brains. I'm no queen with no people to rule over. You've seen them, they're barely alive. But with me and my knight, we can at least warn the other kingdoms of the threat residing here. I'm sure the information will be rewarded handsomely, and we can retire from this godforsaken mountain. You must understand this isn't because my life means more because I'm a royal. I merely and am doing my best to survive along with the man who has been dedicated to me here. If you arrived first, I would be bargaining for your life instead." She lays it all matter of factly. If he was being logical, he couldn't be mad that she didn't want to sacrifice her or her most loyal servant for some random bumpkin.
That didn't make the sting of betrayal sting any less.
"Oh yeah, I should just be mad I didn't show up sooner than it would be Coal here instead of me." Will laughed.
"Coal? Is that what you call him? That's a bit on the nose, don't you think?" She sounded like she was on the verge of laughing.
"It's better than Grandma" he retorts.
There was a painfully long silence, he thought maybe she walked away or something until a rock hit him in the head.
"Rude." Was all she said. Will would've laughed if he wasn't in his current predicament.
Then the ground shaking signalled the return of the Tyrant King of the crater.
"Here is the last piece. Give me the rune" A loud crash as what was probably the cage with the Salamander in it hitting the ground hard.
"Well, you're gonna have to let it go. I'll need to come into contact with both of them to release the spell." She said matter of factly.
"Sure. Remember I am much stronger. Don't pull anything." The sound of the cage opening followed Golem's statement. Followed by a loud thump that sounded like a sack of potatoes. "This thing is no threat. It's much too weak now."
Will could feel Grandma's hand on his shoulder. He knew there was no way she could force him to his feet let alone drag him to the Salamander. He was tense and about to bash her over the head with his hands.
"Don't resist. Just listen and don't try to use that cracked boulder of yours." Her voice whispered in his ear. But gone was the air of royalty. The mischievous albeit nervous voice had returned that made him pause for a moment. "Please little genius, just listen"
"What is taking so long?" The Smith's voice was still mechanical and monotone. But still somehow sounded annoyed to Will.
"Oh, nothing to worry about. He's just a bit dizzy, my servant might've hit him too hard." Her official and royal voice returned to talk with the vile creature. Squeezed his shoulder or the best she could muster. It barely did much.
Will had decided. What was to stop him from running again even after she did whatever she was planning. Something was nagging at him that running away was the wrong decision. That trusting in her was the way he had the best chance of survival. Was it [Fated]? Who knew, but he trusted it.
Standing up and silently following her lead as she pulled him towards the Salamander presumably.
"Follow my lead when it happens." She whispered once more before pulling off the blindfold Will was wearing. He was flashbanged by the brightness around them. Unable to cover his eyes he squinted realizing he was right in front of the Salamander. But it was… Asleep? He looked at her in confusion. It was feeling much better the last time they visited.
Now it was completely knocked out free of its chains and cage. It looked much better. Its scales were blacker than night. The purple lines of power softly glowing in sync with its breathing. It had nearly fully recovered, so why was it asleep and helpless right now?
"So what we will need to do, my apprentice, is to get down low and wait for the signal. Okay?." She gently pulled on his hand, signalling him to come down and placed her hand on the stomach of the sleeping Nightmare creature.
Will followed her lead, placing his hand over hers. Grandma began chanting in a language he couldn't understand, it also gave him a slight headache listening to it.
Grandma finished her chant, and Will could feel the breathing of Salamander slowly change as if was waking up.
"Just remember, 'Coals' first lesson." She sighed. Her voice tired. Drained. Lacking her usual jovial nature.
"Survive" She says as a roar erupts from a previously sleeping lizard. As its eyes shoot open and the slits in its eyes narrow when they lock on the Golem.
At the same time, an explosion of pink powder impacts its hulking figure. It wasn't enough for it to even react, it didn't even turn away from the Salamander. In response to the roar, the hum from the fairies inside started. But when they flew through the pink powder, more than 80% of the fairies plummeted, hitting the ground after barely escaping the tunnels of the Smith.
Will's eyes frantically search around for the source before noticing a streak of pink in the air. Following it he could see Coal, who was above the Tyrant, on top of the now completely cooled furnace.
Standing up straight after throwing the powder bomb with his whole might, and leaning back to roar words many times louder than he ever expected the silent mountain of a man to speak.
His angry voice booming across the massive crater. The cry of a true warrior.
"Survive! And Fight!"