There was no chance we were making it back to Moorhaven without resting. Hask was stabilized by Alara's healing magic, but was unconscious, breathing shallowly. His wounds had been closed slightly, but would require a Priest or Paladin, who I was told were the most capable healers, to fully fix. Same with his many broken bones.
So we lit a campfire, unfurled our bedrolls, and settled on a small plateau, as far away from the entrance to the maw as felt safe.
We made the foreman as comfortable as possible, and Alara did not leave his side. She looked dead inside; tired eyes, pale complexion, and the suggestion of fury that she was too spent to properly feel.
We sat around the fire, switching between staring at Hask's prone form and exchanging worried glances.
We sat in tense silence for a very long time.
Finally Kael broke the quiet. "Soooo…are we gonna talk about it?"
I looked over at him. "About what?"
He blinked slowly. "What do you mean? The fact that our Janitor Foreman turned into a shining golden god and single-handedly destroyed a monster that killed a member of one of the most powerful adventuring parties in the Empire?"
I exhaled. "Yeah…that was a thing that happened."
Even Tessa was thoroughly subdued. "He was amazing."
Kael scratched the side of his face contemplatively. "He was…I knew he was a retired adventurer…but I had no idea it was like that. I thought he was probably an A or B rank that got injured and had to retire…"
Tessa shivered despite the fire. "He was clearly S rank."
"At least."
I cocked my head. "Is there a higher rank than S?"
"Not officially. It's said that the founding members of the original adventuring parties had power that made even our strongest modern adventurers look like novices. But it's only ever been rumors."
I contemplated her words. Hask couldn't be that old, right? I knew that dwarves were long-lived, but the original adventuring teams, as we know them, came around five-hundred-something years ago, according to the Guild Handbook.
Before that, dungeons were cleared by freelance warriors and mercenaries. "I guess we'll have to ask him when he wakes up."
"If he wakes up."
Alara had been completely clammed up since leaving the dungeon, so her cold words hit us hard.
Tessa glared at her. "Don't you dare say that! We're gonna get him back to the city and get him to a temple, and he's gonna be fine."
Alara was glaring at Tessa with equal venom. "And how do you propose we get him home, huh? Carry him? Lorne is strong but not that strong! Are we gonna make a stretcher and carry him all the way back? It was a two-plus hour walk to get here at full strength! We're exhausted. Hask is on death's door. It'll take at least a day!"
"And what are we supposed to do, Alara?! Sit here and let him die?! Is that what you want?!"
"Of course not, idiot! But we're stuck! Hask is going to die on us, we're going to be a ship with no rudder and we're going to have to disband, and then what?!"
As quickly as she had found it, all the fight left her. She slumped back, sitting on her heels and staring at the ground. I saw a tear hit the dirt. Her next words were almost a whisper. "I can't do it again."
Tessa softened as well. Her eyes became gentle, and she reached a hand toward the elf girl. "What does that mean, Alara?"
The healer brushed aside the gesture, looking defensive. "Nothing. It means nothing. Forget I said anything."
"...if you need to talk about something…"
"I SAID FORGET IT!"
Her yell caused a swarm of bats to burst into flight from a nearby cliffside, and we heard rocks shifting. She went quiet again. "Let's just sleep and figure out how to get the foreman home in the morning. I can keep him stable at least until then."
Kael and I looked at each other, too worried to speak and set off another fight.
Instead we slipped into our bedrolls and made the effort to sleep.
I had incredible trouble doing so, however. My mind was racing with thoughts of everything that had happened. The dungeon, the monsters…the impossibility of us surviving without Hask…and all the questions that had been burning since we first entered the Ebon Maw.
"Tree trunk and shrubs."
I glanced over at Kael, who was also staring up at the night sky. "What?"
"Tree trunk and shrubs. For our genitals."
For the first time since the core chamber, I felt the smallest of smiles on my face. "Goodnight, Kael."
"Goodnight Lorne."
The dawn was unreasonably beautiful. I resented it somewhat.
When I realized I was awake, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked up at the sky: the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon and streaked the purple sky with light.
I groaned and sat up.
Tessa and Kael were still out cold; their snoring was so loud that I initially thought there was an active sawmill nearby.
I looked over at Alara: she was seated in almost the same place that she had been last night.
Had she not slept to keep watch over Hask?
I didn't say anything, just watched her.
She looked lost and beyond exhaustion. To say that she was running on fumes would be overestimating the amount of energy she had left. The only times she took her eyes off of Hask were when she dozed off and almost immediately snapped back awake.
I wondered what her deal was, but now was not the time to try and find out. I stood and roused the other two. Tessa took a fair amount of nudging. "Just seven more hours…"
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I smirked. "C'mon, Tessa. We have to get moving."
She pulled herself out of bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly. "I had a dream that I was in a horrible dungeon and we all almost died. There was a tentacle monster and -"
She froze, as if hit by a realization. "Oh…right."
Kael was on his feet, rummaging in his pack. "I have an idea."
Tessa's yawn forced me to do the same as I observed him. "What's that?"
Kael pulled a box from his bag. "Flare guns. We didn't use them on the way here, when there weren't any wolves in the foothills."
I stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. "The way I see it, we could fire our flares, one by one, and hopefully someone will see."
That wasn't a bad idea. "And we just hope that someone sees?"
Kael shook his head. "The flares, as they are, won't cut it. Even if there are adventurers nearby, they probably wouldn't see it from the road. And the nearest Janitor outpost is pretty far in the opposite direction from Moorhaven."
A pause. "So…?"
"So, I can modify the guns and the flares to shoot higher, maybe give them a shrieking sound. It'll maximize our chances of being rescued."
I nodded slowly. "Not a bad plan. But we should have contingencies. I'll try to make my way out to the road and see if I can find anyone. Maybe some merchants are going to the city or something."
"That works. And if all else fails…"
I waited. "...well, if all else fails, we're back to square one."
"Great. I'll head out. Any of Ojola's sandwiches left?"
"Yeah. One for each of us."
As he passed me a sandwich, I traded him my flare gun. "Be careful out there."
Kael's tired expression showed me that he meant it very seriously.
I nodded assuredly. "You too."
As I left the camp, I cast one glance back at Alara and sighed. If we didn't figure something out soon, we'd be dealing with two dying team members.
I began the process of scrambling over rocks. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed like the mountainside was an even deeper shade of black than before.
Probably just my mind.
To take my mind off the climb down, I turned my thoughts inwards. I had no shortage of things to think about.
Hask was first and foremost on my mind. I had known the foreman for all of two days, and we had already been through hell together. We traversed a dangerous dungeon under his cool, collected leadership. He knew the dangers we faced, but did not coddle us. He had faith and kept us going; he made decisions that were probably pretty difficult, all while teaching a greenhorn how to use a mop effectively.
I realized after a while that I had emerged into the foothills, passing into the low ravines and around hills. Then my mind resumed its wandering.
"Callister. Good Work."
Those had been Hask's words to me after the floor trap incident. Three words that I could tell he meant completely and sincerely.
But there had been something else in those words.
I wouldn't think that Hask was capable of being baffled, but his tone had indicated he was at least a little caught off guard by the incident.
And the trap itself.
What exactly happened?
It had all been a blur. I heard the trap click, and stopped remembering. The last thought I had had was "we're dead."
I not only kicked Tessa off her feet, but also yanked Alara down and caught a dart an inch from her eye.
How?
I shook my head. I didn't have the strength to think too deeply about it.
But Hask saw something I didn't, I gathered.
And also…
Who exactly was Hask?
He dove headfirst into a battle with an unthinkably awful monster with just a handaxe. He then waited until he was almost dead before turning into a super-powerful warrior and annihilating the thing.
The thing that had killed an S-Rank adventurer. It was even stronger due to an early respawn.
It all boggled the mind.
The thing I struggled the most to wrap my head around: why did I care so much?
I met Hask exactly yesterday. Why was my gut twisted in knots at the thought of him dying? He was certainly a good man; that was clear from the outset, but I shouldn't have been this anxious.
"Callister. Good work."
The words rang in my head again.
"Callister. Catch."
I was roughly pulled from my brooding as my foot connected with a stray boulder. I managed to catch myself, barely.
Why was I not actually frightened of any of this? I was tense, I was anxious, but never any further than that. I felt like I should have been lamenting not bringing a spare jumpsuit, but no matter what that dungeon threw at me, I was levelheaded.
Was something wrong with me? Did I just not experience true fear unless a horrific tentacle monster is bearing down on me?
No…
I was already used to it.
The realization hit me with a ton of bricks.
I was on the road. I don't know how long it had taken.
Glancing up at the sky, I saw that it had gone from dark gray streaked with purple, to a soft, reluctant gold, as though the sun wasn't entirely sure the world deserved it this morning. I couldn't fully disagree.
I glanced up and down the road: deserted.
I pondered the idea of walking further. Staying put risked wasting time we didn't have. Moving risked wasting it faster.
The quandary was solved some minutes later when I heard the clattering of a cart around the bend to the north.
I felt a mix of relief and tension at the thought of encountering another living being after yesterday's events.
As the wagon rounded the corner, I could see that it was driven by a blonde man wearing a sort of half plate that looked like it would come in very handy if his right shoulder or nipple were in danger.
Walking beside the horses that plodded the cart forward was a woman dressed in red robes, using a long wooden staff as a walking stick.
I waved at them, trying to catch the driver's attention.
As the cart pulled closer, it slowed, rolling to a stop just before me.
The woman in the red robes addressed me in a tone that I immediately found annoying. "We're not a taxi service, young man. Don't you have better things to do than waylay travelers?"
I immediately felt my hackles rise, but I did my best to keep my tone polite. "I'm sorry to bother you. Really. But my group is in danger. We just left the Ebon Maw, and my Foreman is -"
The man in the driver's box interrupted. "Foreman? You're a Janitor?"
The glibness that he didn't bother hiding immediately took most of my remaining patience. "Y-"
He cut my thoughts short with a loud, obnoxious laugh. "I should have guessed from the jumpsuit. You're scrawny even for a janitor!"
I sorely wished I had Hask's magic axe.
I took a deep breath. "Please. My foreman is in d-"
The woman butted in. "We don't have the time to stop for every Janitor that needs a ride. The Scarlet Communion is on its way to Moorhaven, having recently cleared the Howling Vortex dungeon."
Another teeth-grating laugh from the lunk on the cart. "Yeah! And being seen with a damn janitor would totally lose us all the respect we've earned!"
Another two voices came from inside the cart. "Is that a Janitor?!"
"You gonna beat him up, Gortak?"
The driver sneered at me. "Nah. Not even worth the blood I would have to clean off my boot."
I felt my fist clench, but bit my tongue. The woman took my attention again. "Now run along, little Janitor. We return home to glory!"
The cart resumed rolling forward. Once it had passed me, I couldn't help myself. "Good luck! I hope you get enough gold to buy armor for your other nipple!"
I heard an angry exclamation and saw the meathead stand up from his seat while the cart was still moving.
Shit.
Before he had a chance to jump off, the voices from the cart stopped him. "Leave it Gortak!"
"You just said he isn't worth it!"
The big man made a rude gesture and sat back down. The cart clattered onward.
I shook my head. I had been warned that Adventurers hated the Janitors, but I had hoped it would have been exaggerated.
Apparently not.
I decided to make my way back to camp, hoping that Kael had made progress in the however-long I had been gone.
As I turned on my heel, I had one more thought.
The Scarlet Communion.
What kind of name was that?
I heard it before I saw the camp — a sharp, shrieking whistle that bounced off the mountainside and kept going, fading into the distance above the clouds. Kael had, if anything, underestimated his own work.