Qing's Quest book 2, Chapter 34: Golems

Qing stood by the door in the library room, clenching his fists as he listened to Tariq beating up Rendal on the other side. But the princess hadn’t been mentioned, so maybe she wasn’t there. If Tariq would let Rendal go with a beating, then Qing would heal him afterwards, and their cover wouldn’t be blown. Morgana held Qing’s arms firmly, eyes imploring. 

“It sounds like a small man,” she said. “Someone who has to assert themselves by pushing other people down.” Qing nodded. He’d known his share. Blaise’s face sprang to mind, and Qing felt sick to his stomach at standing idle by as Rendal was bullied.

“Use the time,” Knut said, and held out the palace guard armour. Qing took it into his inventory and handed back Knut’s regular equipment, keeping his hands busy. He handed over the stolen helmet to Knut. 

“Isn’t this from Jorik’s basement?” Knut asked. 

Qing nodded, but winced as Rendal cried out in pain, begging Tariq to stop. 

“It might come in handy when we free Jorik,” Qing said. “It’s epic quality, with excellent defense, and increases your attack speed by fifteen percent. Once per hour, you can trigger it to look at distant targets up close, enhancing your shot accuracy, once per hour.”

“That might come in handy,” Knut said, grudgingly, though he was less happy than Qing had expected.

He must be worried about Jorik. And why doesn’t Ghida say anything? Is she not there?

“The Grand Vizier himself lifted the ban,” Tariq said. “And, he put me in charge of library security. 

Qing’s blood ran cold. This wasn’t a random guard who would leave Rendal with a beating.

“Don’t hurt me, please,” Rendal said from outside, whimpering. “And be careful of the books.”

“Books, books, books! That’s all you ever care about, isn’t it?” The sound of a fist meeting flesh and a body tumbling to the ground followed. 

Qing handed Knut his bow and quiver. 

“Yell as loud as you want,” Tariq said. “Nobody can hear you over the alarm, nor will they come for you. Not even your precious golems. They only care about what we bring out, don’t they? So if your corpse stays here...”

“Please, no. I just—” Rendal said. 

“Sir!” another voice said. “We’ve searched every room. There’s only librarians here.”

“And this sniveling worm,” Tariq said. “Go turn off the alarm. I’ll find out what he’s hiding.”

“Yes, sir!”

At the sound of a sword cutting through air, Qing looked to Morgana and shook his head. She sighed and let go of his arms. 

He won’t leave Rendal alone. And if he carves him up, my heals might save his body, but he’ll keep the mental scars for life.

He pulled on the door. It was locked. He pulled harder, and it rattled. 

“Is someone there?” Tariq said.

“No!” Rendal screamed. 

Qing leaned into a kick, hitting right above the lock, and the door splintered open.

Rendal lay in a fetal position, body covering two books as he shielded them with his body.

Tariq stumbled away from the door, curved sword raised. He was no small man, but looked like a rat ogre, towering over Qing. His face was narrow, dark eyes beady, and he had a long, drooping mustache. Fine clothing hung on his body, reminding Qing of second-generation rich kids in Chicago with their luxury clothing treated liked rags.

“Who are you?” he asked. 

“Someone who hates bullies,” Qing said, stalking out of the room.

“Not a step closer,” Tariq said, putting his sword to Rendal’s throat. 

Qing hesitated, and the man grinned. “Ah, I see. Friends. I don’t know how he smuggled you in here, or why we didn’t find you, but you will tell me everything.”

How can I kill him before he kills Rendal? Maybe I can heal him fast enough that it won’t matter, but…

The bells quieted, and Qing walked into the hallway. It ran straight and was broad enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder. 

Maybe it is long enough…

Doors lined the corridor. 

“They offer no escape,” Tariq said, looking at Qing’s eyes. 

“Please,” Rendal said. “Don’t do this. They…they’re just here for a book.”

“If that’s what you think, you’re as stupid as I always thought you were. These are the foreign collaborators of Princess Ghida,” Tariq said, before adding, “but you knew that, didn’t you. You were always her personal little library monkey, weren’t you?” A grin spread across his face. “She must be hiding in here somewhere too.”

Qing stood in the middle of the corridor, looking down along it, with Tariq directly in front of him, standing over Rendal. 

The massive man reached inside his billowing robes. “Capturing the rebel princess and killing several spies? It’s a good day to be me.”

Qing leaned his shoulder forward, tucked in his axe, and triggered his sandals. 

It felt as if he’d run straight into a brick wall, but the axe buried itself into Tariq’s chest, blood spraying, and the man was flung down the hallway as Qing staggered to a halt. 

“Ouch,” Qing said, nursing his shoulder.

“What have you done?” Rendal shrieked. 

“Saved your life. Where’s the princess?”

“You idiot,” Rendal said. “You just killed us all.”

“Not very appreciative, is he?” Morgana said from the doorway.

Qing felt something underneath his feet.

“You murdered the head of security! The golems will kill us all now,” Rendal said. “She was safe, but now…Can’t you feel them?”

“Tariq said they wouldn’t care about a dead body,” Qing said. “Only if the body was brought out.”

“He was an idiot,” Rendal said, scrambling to his feet. “One who didn’t know how they truly work. We need to get the princess.”

“Why isn’t she with you?” Qing asked. 

“I put her in another room to keep her safe. I just knew you’d do something stupid like this. Now she’ll have to leave as well.” 

“Let’s go back out through the shaft,” Morgana said.

“No,” Randal said. “They’ll find the princess.”

“With this clown dead, they’re unlikely to kill her,” Qing said. “They’ll put her in prison, but we can rescue her later. Do any of you know which pyramid is the Augrian? I got a new quest.”

Knut and Morgana shook their heads. “Never heard of.”

“The Augrian pyramid?” Randal asked, licking his lips. “I can tell you anything you need. I’ll take you there myself! But only if you save the princess.”

“Must be others who know the pyramid,” Knut said. “How time sensitive is the quest?” 

The floor rumbled. 

“We need to go tonight.”

“There are over thirty pyramids just in the city,” Rendal said. “You couldn’t even visit them all if you had a full day.” 

“Someone else must know the name,” Qing said as the ground shook more noticeably.

“It’s an ancient name, known only to scholars.” 

“Tell me which pyramid it is, or I’ll cut your fingers off,” Morgana said, flourishing a dagger as she stalked towards him.

“I’ll never betray her,” Rendal said, brow furrowed. 

Morgana shrugged and sheathed her weapon. “I tried.”

Qing hoisted him to his feet. “Fine. Take us to the princess.”

Randal nodded, and started walking down the corridor, but stopped to throw a glance at the bleeding corpse. “Maybe…” He shook his head. “No, not even he would be so dumb.” The two books clutched to his chest, he hurried down the corridor. 

“Are those the books we came for?” Qing asked. 

“No. Spell books the princess asked me to pick up,” Randal replied.

Spell books?

“Let me see them for a moment.” 

“Be careful,” Randal warned, handing them over as they rounded a corner, heading away from the stomping.

Item: [Level Two Skill-book] x 2 has been added to your inventory.

Qing chuckled.

“Where did the books go?” Randal asked. 

“Safe in my inventory,” Qing replied. 

“What’s that?” Randal asked as he led them in one door, through a room filled with iron shelves stacked with books, and out into another corridor. From three doors, people poked heads out, faces white in fear, but seeing them, they slammed the door shut and locked the doors.

As they rushed on, the heavy stomps faded, somewhat.

“A magical storage,” Qing said. 

“Can you keep anything in it?” 

“Not everything. But equipment, money, potions, gems, books, fo—”

“How many books?” 

“I don’t know,” Qing said.

Randal screeched to a halt. “Maybe you can bring the banned books out of the library.” The stomping came closer. 

“I thought you were all about the princess?” Knut asked.

Randal clutched his worn brown leather satchel, fingers working the leather as he bit his lips. “Yeah, of course. The princess. But the books... They’ll throw me out after this, if they don’t kill me. It might be my last chance to save a few books.”

A loud gravelly voice filled the air. “Stay in your designated rooms for processing. Anyone found roaming will be judged.”

“Too late,” Qing said, and he push Randal into motion. “Take us to the princess.” 

“But—” 

“No buts. If you don’t hurry, you’ll loose both.”

Randal grimaced as he staggered into motion, but he unerringly led them through several hallways before drawing to a halt in front of a door like any other. He smoothed his clothes and ran a hand through his hair, before knocking twice and opening the door.

Inside stood princess Ghida, dressed in a pair of brown loose flowing pants, matched with a burgunder silken top that hugged her figure.

“Where have you been?” She said. “What was the alarm about? And why are you frowning at me like that?” The last she said at Qing. “Is something wrong with my clothes?”

He looked away, surveying the room. “No. Rendal got assaulted by a rat ogre, and the golems are coming.”

“Because you killed him!”

“Would you have preferred I let him kill you?”

“For the sun’s sake… I leave you alone for a few minutes,” Ghida said, shaking her head as everyone spoke at the same time.

“Shut it, princess,” Morgana said. 

“Which pyramid is the Augrian?” Knut asked, closing the door. 

“We need a plan to deal with the golems,” Qing said. 

“He can help us save books!” Rendal said. 

“Quiet!” Ghida shouted, raising her arms. “How long do we have until the Golems find us?”

“Five minutes, maybe?” Rendal said. 

“Are you sure we can’t kill the golems?” Morgana asked. “We are good at killing things.”

“They are resistant to both spells and physical damage,” Ghida said. “My spells wouldn’t even scratch them.” She turned to Qing. “Unless you’ve been hiding some secret abilities, I doubt yours would either.” 

“How close are you to leveling up?” Knut asked.

“Too far. Besides, there are no other enemies to defeat, unless I’m to start slaughtering librarians.”  He noticed Ghida and Rendal staring. “Which I won’t, of course.”

A slam rocked the room, as a nearby door was crushed open by an undeniable force.

“I might know a way out,” Ghida said. “It’ll be risky, but.”

“Shiha, he has a magic inventory. He can save more books than I could in a month!”

“He won’t need to if we just get out and remove Wazir from power,” Ghida said. 

Another loud crash filled the air. 

“Take us to the map room.”

“Why?”

“It overlooks the ocean.”

“You can’t swim!”

“I can’t fight a golem either.”

Rendal hesitated only for a moment before ripping open the door, sprinting out and to the left. The others followed, with Qing bringing up the rear.

As he stepped out, a roar filled the corridor as a massive golem came around the corner. The top of its lion mane nearly brushed the ceiling, and its hands looked large enough to envelop Qing’s whole head. 

You’re already pissed off, so let’s see if the princess was right. 

As Qing retreated down the corridor, he cast Magic Missiles. They flashed forward to slam into the stone, hitting the golem’s stone sixpack. With a loud fizzle, they disappeared, leaving not a scratch. 

“Damn. This is like aggroing city guards in online games,” Qing said to himself as he set off after the others, grabbing the corner for traction as he spun around. 

They rushed through libraries, down long corridors, and two archives. But the golem never lost their trail. It didn’t catch up as they ran flat out, but neither did it fall far behind. And each time they stopped for even a second, it gained. 

“Are we nearly there?” Morgana asked, heaving for breath as they rounded a corner.

“Not sure,” Ghida said. “The direct route was back three rooms, blocked by golem. We’re further away now. Almost at the entrance.”

With a curse, Rendal set off again, huffing and puffing, but a crash filled the air and a golem stepped into the hallway in front. Blood splattered with each step, and it held the remains of half a librarian in one hand, legs dangling.

They turned as one and retreated, but the a second golem stepped out, blocking their path, trapping them between the two. This one was clean, so far.

Qing turned in a tight circle. “The two doors here, where do they lead?” 

“Dead ends,” Rendal said. 

“Then all we can do is fight.”

Without holding anything back.

Qing opened his skill tree.