57
“We’d booked some time on the range,” Milo said, keeping things simple. He was sitting upright in a cot in the infirmary. His ribs were wrapped in bandages. The burn had been deep, but other than a scar, he should recover fine. “We were running late, so decided to go past the Dungeon Hall.”
“It’s quicker,” Tania put in.
Headmaster Kendrickburn sat in a chair against the wall, his fingers steepled under his chin. He studied Milo as though he was studying an interesting new insect.
Beside him, Mistress Vizzingbelle was sipping from a small cup of tea. She looked calm and disinterested. She was most likely there as a witness.
“We were talking about the next dungeon,” Milo continued. “And who we could recruit. I just glanced as we passed, really. And saw the two bodies.”
“The door to the Dungeon Hall was open?”
Milo nodded. “Yeah.”
“Hmm. Go on.”
“I saw the bodies and went to help if we could.”
“You weren’t afraid?”
“Of course.” Milo nodded to where his rifle was resting against the wall. “But I had my gun. And Tania and Selma were with me. I guess we’ve come to rely on each other.”
The headmaster nodded. “Given how little mana you can use, that’s only natural.”
“Yeah, well.” Milo felt his face flush as he was reminded of his shortcomings. “Anyway. We saw they were dead and didn’t know what to do. Then we saw Fergus and the others running down the hall. And the doors started closing.”
“On their own?”
“Well, we didn’t do anything to make them,” Milo said. “At least, we don’t think we did.”
“You didn’t pull out a key?”
“Key?”
The headmaster pulled a small card made of dwarven bronze from his pocket and held it up. “One of these?”
Milo shook his head. “No. But I saw Fergus had one. At least, he used one on the door to the Chamber.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Mistress Vizzingbelle said.
“Sorry.”
“Start where you saw them running. The door closing.”
“We followed.”
The headmaster cocked his head, tucking the card away and steepling his fingers thoughtfully again. “You followed. Why?”
Milo shrugged. “I don’t know, really. We just thought it was the right thing to do.” He glanced at Tania and Selma. “We didn’t really talk about it. But we knew something was wrong.”
“I pulled the alarm thingy,” Tania said. “Before we went in.”
Headmaster Kendrickburn shot her a look. “That was you? It wasn’t pulled before?”
“Nope.” Tania mimed pulling the chain. “Yanked it myself.”
“Alright,” he said. “Next?”
“Well, we chased them for a bit. It wasn’t easy. Fulka’s a great shot, so we kept falling back.”
“The girl has some talent with a rifle,” Mistress Vizzingbelle agreed. “But so do you, Milo.”
“I couldn’t get a clean shot most of the time,” he said. “There were other mages, too. They were trying to stop Fergus.”
“But they couldn’t?”
Milo shook his head. “They moved quick. It was like they knew where the guards would come from. And Fulka… She was good.”
“Jin was amazing, too,” Selma offered. “His lightning was incredible. I can’t do anything like he could. He was dropping mages with his mace.”
“It was gross,” Tania said, wincing.
“We followed as close as we could. I tried taking a few shots. Even Tania tried getting close.”
“I don’t think my stealth is so great,” she said flatly. “And with all the magic going back and forth, a gal could get mooshed. I wanted to get close. Maybe take one out. But the guards were always blasting away. Coulda got myself killed.”
“Hmm.” The headmaster nodded. “Did you think of joining up with them?”
“We’d have had to get around Fergus first,” Milo pointed out. “We just tried to distract them as best we could. Tried to make it easier for the guards.”
“I don’t think we were very helpful,” Tania said.
“But this isn’t the kind of thing we trained in,” Milo said defensively. “Sure, the last dungeon was through the halls, but that was different.”
“No one’s saying you should have done more, Mister Mooney,” Mistress Vizzingbelle said. “We just want a clear picture of what has occurred.”
“Sure.” He tried to look nervous anyway. “Well, then Jin decided to hold us off. We heard him say he would. He wanted to give Fergus a chance to get something they called the Primal Core.”
“Primal Core?” Headmaster Kendrickburn lifted his head sharply. “Are you sure that’s what they said?”
“Yes,” Milo said firmly. “I don’t understand that. If they were after that, why did they go to the Leveler? That’s what they ended up trying to steal, right? The Leveler?”
“It’s not something you need to know about, Mister Mooney,” the headmaster said softly. “Please forget you ever heard of the Primal Core. It would be awkward for you if you speak of it again.”
“Alright.” Milo nodded, looking puzzled. “Can I ask, though, just for curiosity… Are they the same thing?”
“It’s your turn to answer questions, Mister Mooney. Not ours. What happened with Mister Stimpleton?”
“He wanted a fight,” Selma said brightly. “I gave him one.”
“You fought Mister Stimpleton? Even though, as you say, he could use his lightning better than you?”
Tania shrugged. “I might not be as electric as he is, but I can still sling my sword. Also, Milo’s copper wire trick really came up trumps.”
“Copper wire?”
“The children discovered how grounding works,” Mistress Vizzingbelle put in.
“Ah.” The headmaster looked surprised. “How industrious of them.”
“I was a clocker,” Milo said. “We used to have to use copper wire to stop ourselves being zapped when fixing old dwarven clocks.”
“That explains it,” the headmaster said. But his eyes still glinted. “So, you fought Mister Stimpleton?”
Selma nodded. “It was real close. But then he triggered a trap.”
“The saws.” The headmaster nodded. “Yes, we noticed… what was left of him. But how did you survive that?”
Tania pointed at her legs. “I can run real fast?”
“And the rest of you ran fast, too?”
“We’d already gone ahead,” Milo said. “We left Selma to look after Jin.”
“Bold choice.”
“We trust her,” Milo said simply. “Selma’s proven herself in every dungeon. We knew she’d handle him just fine.”
“So, you gave chase.”
“We caught up to them as they entered the chamber.”
“And the door?”
“It was trying to close when we got there,” Milo said. “But it seemed to get stuck.”
“Stuck?”
Milo shrugged. “I don’t know. It looked like the mechanism wasn’t working properly.”
“Damn Tinkers,” Headmaster Kendrickson muttered. Then he nodded. “Go on.”
“We couldn’t get inside, though. Fulka kept shooting. And also she used geomancy. She kept exploding the walls.”
“Geomancy can explode walls now?” The headmaster glanced at Mistress Vizzingbelle.
“Fergus’ reports did mention she was a trifle enthusiastic with her magic.”
“Hmm.” Headmaster Kendrickson looked a little surprised. “But exploding granite?”
“We’ll have to ask her,” Mistress Vizzingbelle said, sipping her tea. “When we find her.”
“Or the Court will,” the headmaster mumbled sourly. He waved a hand. “Carry on, Mister Mooney.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you,” Milo said. “A couple of guards arrived and tried to go ahead of us. They told us to stay out of the way.”
“They didn’t listen.” Tania scowled. “Bunch of saps.”
“Fulka took them out.”
“Not Fergus?”
“He was doing something,” Milo said, showing a confused face. “There looked like there were wards on the floor. He was doing something to them.”
“Breaking them,” the headmaster grunted.
Milo blinked at him. “That’s possible?”
“Another question you don’t need the answer to.”
“Alright.” Milo gulped before sighing. “When we got in finally, Tania tried to take down Fulka. It was close.”
“She’s a slippery dame,” Tania allowed. “But next time I’ll nail her to the floor.”
“She backed away just as Fergus snatched the core. I tried to shoot him.” Milo smiled apologetically. “But as I did, he pulled up the wall. That’s when Selma arrived and then everyone else came a few seconds later. I guess you know everything else.”
“Moderately,” the headmaster said. “But why would young Master Paddstone blame you for everything? That’s what I want to know.”
“He said it was all your fault, Milo,” Mistress Vizzingbelle said. Her eyes suddenly showed interest.
“Why would he say that?” The headmaster leaned forward. “Were you involved in their plan, young Mister Mooney?”
“What? Work with Fergus?” Milo choked. “He couldn’t even bear to be in the same room as me. I don’t know what his problem was, but he hated me.”
“A lot,” Tania growled. “Are ya trying to use Milo as a patsy?”
“We just want the truth,” Mistress Vizzingbelle said softly.
“Then the truth is, I don’t know.” Milo shrugged. “He was obsessed with the idea we were cheating. In the dungeons. Maybe this had something to do with that. Actually, now I remember, he did say something!”
The headmaster squinted. “What?”
“It was after one of our dungeons. He accused us of using the Primal Core to get through dungeons,” Milo said.
“He said that?”
“Yeah.” Milo closed his eyes, pretending to remember. “I didn’t know what he was talking about. He seemed to think the teachers gave it to us. He said it was the only way we could be completing the dungeons as quickly as we did. He said I was Mistress Vizzingbelle’s pet.”
“What?” She snorted at that.
“It wasn’t long after you made him run a lot.”
“Ah.”
“He said she was giving me the Primal Core.”
“Nonsense,” Mistress Vizzingbelle coughed on her tea. “Where would he get such ideas?”
“I don’t know,” Milo said. “Anyway, Cerena and Belt heard him. We were all confused.”
The headmaster stared at him, clearly thinking everything through. He turned to Mistress Vizzingbelle. “Speak to Miss Fenwington.”
“I’m not lying,” Milo said, putting some indignation into his voice.
“Then it won’t hurt to ask her.”
“Sure.” Milo rolled his eyes. “That’s all, anyway. Is there anything else?”
“One question does come to mind,” the headmaster said. “How do you pass the dungeons so swiftly?”
“We give our notes to Master Garmstooth,” Milo said, allowing a smile to creep across his face.
“But mostly I just get every scrap of information I can about every dungeon and break it down until I can put it all back together in a way that works efficiently. I was a clocker. So I know how to break things down. I’m very good at it… ”