บท 50: Making Plans

"We would never kill such powerful assets as the three of you. No, instead, you shall be sent to the gold mines. You have earth affinity, do you not?"

Shiv pursed his lips. "I do. I still want my lawyer."

The woman that Shiv had thought was a man looked at his two companions. "One of you has ice affinity, correct? What does the other have?"

"Earth." Duncan lied with a cheesy grin.

She looked down at them from atop her throne, then looked at the other eleven people on thrones. "I say we kill him and put the earth mages to work."

Duncan laughed aloud at Briggs' expression. "I do have something to say, if that's alright."

"You've said quite enough, thank you. You there, call for the executioners." The woman called out to an armored man standing at the door. He promptly left.

Duncan ignored her dismissal and spoke anyway. "Thank you, so it's actually a question I've got, and that is…" The woman sighed and gave him an impatient look. "Why are the women here so ugly? And why are there so few of them?"

She blinked.

Shiv and Briggs both tensed up. "Well, we were going to have to kill these suckers anyway, I guess."

Briggs, who by this time was almost completely sober, snapped back in a harsh whisper. "But there's no need to take all of them on at once. They're powerful. All of them. It would be much better to deal with them individually! Not all together and in their home territory!"

The woman was staring at the ceiling and chewing on her lip, deep in annoyed thought. "There are actually more women than there are men. You just don't realize it because the women here are… very masculine looking. We have been cursed. Any woman born within the city will grow up heavyset and ugly."

Shiv hadn't expected such a calm answer, but still grimaced when Duncan asked yet another question. "Why not just leave the city right before birth?"

She glanced at the door, clearly hoping to see the executioners while one of her colleagues spoke up instead. "If the child is born within the city, and it's a boy, he will be blessed with great strength and incredible looks." The man who spoke had apparently been born outside of the city, with his diminutive stature and ugly mug. "There is no way to know if it will be a male or female, so most people simply birth the child within the city, and hope it's a boy. What mother would want to bereave their son of divine blessings?"

"The one who doesn't want to risk cursing their daughter." Duncan replied thoughtfully.

"I think the question was rhetorical." Shiv informed him.

"Oh, I know." Duncan smiled.

At that point, they were graced with the presence of three men who had clearly been born within the city, judging by their massive size and chiseled features.

Shiv cursed. 'Why couldn't that stupid suit-wearing sucker have transplanted my soul into a body like that?'

"This short, brooding man is the target for execution." The ugly woman pointed at Briggs, not that it was necessary, with that apt description.

The three of them didn't hesitate. They created various weapons with their elements. The lead one created an axe from a shiny stonelike material, while the one on his left created a hammer of ice. Finally, the one on the left gripped what could only be weapons of air. Or he was just miming holding weapons. Shiv honestly wasn't sure.

"That's ironic." Each of the executioners had the same element as Shiv and his companions. He glanced at Briggs, who was looking at the executioners with a raised eyebrow, and watched as the short man scoffed and turned his eyes back to the people on the thrones.

Shiv then glanced at Duncan, who hadn't even acknowledged the executioner's existence, and was instead staring at the ugly woman with his hand on his chin, as if he was contemplating something profound.

With a sigh, Shiv realized he was on his own. 'Guess Briggs is a bit upset that I beat him up. And Duncan is… well, Duncan.'

After a brief moment of wondering how he was going to take them out, he shrugged and decided to go with the plan he always did: wing it.

He put his arms out to show he was unarmed and stepped in the way of the trio. The lead man switched his axe to his other hand and placed a hand on Shiv's shoulder to move him out of the way, but froze when his chest was caved in. He looked down with a confused expression as Shiv stepped past him and punched the air mage, killing him instantly, but was sent tumbling when an icy hammer slammed into him. He rolled over just in time to lift his arms enough to absorb the blow aimed at his head. His ears were ringing and his vision was blurry, but he wasn't dead.

The executioner lifted his hammer above his head to slam it down again, but ended up dropping it when a spike jetted out of the earth and killed him.

"Thanks for the help, guys." Shiv said sarcastically and winced when he tried to use his arms to push himself to his feet. He collapsed, and a fire lit in his eyes. He glanced at his companions to find them in the midst of a deadly battle with six times their number. Duncan was flying like a cannonball from wall to wall, throwing blades of air at his many opponents. Briggs was dancing between his opponents, swinging two thin blades of ice and every once in a while throwing one as a javelin only to summon a new one immediately.

Frustrated at his arms, which he was beginning to think were broken, Shiv pushed through the pain and struggled to his feet. The battle was not going in Shiv's favor.

Yet.

With a grim smile, Shiv stumbled forward and watched the fight carefully, waiting for his chance. Abruptly, his eyes lit up and he sent palm-sized earthen blades flying in every direction from the center of the room. He had timed his attack with such precision that there were two enemies in between Briggs and the blades, and Duncan was behind one of the thrones.

The resulting destruction was dramatic, to say the least.

Several of the black-and-yellow robed attackers were brought down by Shiv's attack, while even more were wounded, effectively hindering them in the battle.

Duncan and Briggs did not hesitate to take advantage of the extreme advantage they gained thanks to Shiv, and were able to quickly annihilate the remaining council members.

"I gained a surprising amount of XP from that." Shiv said when the last of the enemies fell. Briggs, gasping for air, agreed while Duncan straightened his clothes.

"So… what do we do now?" Shiv frowned at his throbbing arms and asked.

"Rest." Gasped Briggs. "Let's rest and make a plan."

The other two had no objections, so Duncan took the lead and led them through the corridors of the castle, slaughtering any servants or guards they encountered. Eventually, he found a place he deemed suitable and sat down. The other two sat on his left and looked out with awe.

They were on a bridge near the bottom of the castle that blessed them with a complete view of the city below. It was truly massive, and the cavern was so deep that Shiv was getting a sense of vertigo from looking down.

"While we were separated, I learned that this is an active volcano, and that the magma is boiling right behind that wall." Duncan casually declared as he gestured at the side of the cavern opposite the entrance they had gone through earlier in the day.

"The materials being gathered in the mines are used by those living in the Islands of the Sky. They use it to create weapons and armor that are supposedly immune to the elements. The material can't be created by either earth or metal mages." Briggs said soon after, revealing that he hadn't been drunk the entirety of his time away from the other two.

"I uh, might have recruited the miners into a revolution that I'm going to lead against the tyrants up here in the castle and on those tall island things."

"The main issue will be in dealing with those supposed tyrants. To eliminate the city below, we can simply blow a hole in the wall and drown them in magma. But I highly doubt that stuff will reach high enough to destroy the rich people living up here." Briggs closed his eyes in thought.

"Then we lead the miners in a revolt, and have them help us eliminate all of the people up here." Duncan suggested.

"Same problem. If they're up here, the lava won't be able to reach them." Briggs rejoined.

"Then we simply announce a feast or celebration on the ground floor. Something that will draw everyone back down. That will be when we strike." Duncan explained.

Briggs opened his eyes and slowly nodded. "...Yes. That should work."

"Then we've got a plan. I told them I'd meet up with them tomorrow afternoonish."

"Excellent. That gives us time to rest and test the wall, to see just how strong and thick it is."

The trio was in agreement. Soon, the Underground City would be no more, and the trio would have many, many more deaths to be blamed for.