A Guide to Kingdom Building

192- Endgame Pt.4

Oprhella woke up to discover herself being carried in the beastman's arms. His muscles pressed against her body and made her awkwardly blush, for some reason. Maybe it was because it resembled similarly to a certain incident with Adaloun? She wanted to forget it or at least tried to get it out of her system. She patted Urfaal's chest and asked him to let her down, the beastman smiled sweetly.

"No, I can't let you do that." He said. "You collapsed earlier! You have exhausted yourself to save us. Please, let me do what I can to at least help." The beastman insisted.

"No, it's alright." She signed even though she felt light-headed. "I can manage, thank you!"

Urfaal hesitantly agreed and put her down. but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she immediately felt the world spinning and almost fell. If only not for the quick reflexes of the beastman, she could have hurt herself or bumped her head on one of those jagged debris.

Urfaal grabbed her by the waist and held her close. Their eyes met and they're faces were only a fingerling away from touching. The thought of it just flooded unwanted memories of that kiss she swore she'll forget, but apparently failing. She was staring deep into his deep set of blue eyes far too long.

"Hehem!" Ghwynmyr came up to them.

Orphella instinctively pushed the beastman away and she finally fell to the ground, hurting her buttocks in the process.

"Hope I…ugh…nay interrupted anything?"

"W-what d-do…you mean?" The beastman couldn't hide the redness of his face.

"No, we we're…." She was trying to think of a better explanation, but her words were too abysmal. "He was helping me!" She glared at the dwarf.

"I-I…was just asking…" Ghwynmyr felt her piercing stare and felt uncomfortable with what he did. "Yah know, Ad—I mean, Phellie and Urfie…y-you got to see this." He pointed at the carcass of the dead Salamander.

Orphella felt guilty of what she did to the poor dwarf, but it annoyed her the way he teased. They were her friends after all, and she wanted nothing more than that.

She followed Ghwynmyr dragging the dazed beastman with them. The feeling of fatigue faded from her body. It seemed like the dwarf's teasing worked wonders for her, albeit it wasn't what she would've wanted. She threw it out of her system and focused on what the dwarf wanted them to see.

The Salamander being skewered on its neck was a sight to behold. The behemoth lizard falling from a single shot was an impossible feat. She recalled the many elves that befell to this species and was proud to see her comrades took it out without risking burning or dying.

They found Adaloun brooding in front of the creature, looking at its open maw.

"Terrifying, ain't it?" Ghwynmyr approached him and gently punched his leg.

She saw Adaloun flinched and smiled at the sight of the dwarf.

"It is indeed." He answered. "It was a miracle that we ever killed one. And that's because of the both of you!" He smiled.

Orphella smiled but never did any eye contact with him. She couldn't especially with what happened earlier, she can't look at him and not blush. Ghwynmyr and Adaloun continued their conversation. She, however, was stuck inside her thoughts and couldn't care less about what they were saying and pointing on.

"Now, we must climb it!" Adaloun said.

"Agreed. Tis nay we can pass through dis bhstyrd!"

She immediately cut-off the men. "What do you mean climb?" She signed.

"Well, there's no way for us to pass through the other side without going over this serpent." Adaloun said.

"I was afraid you would say that. I really hate lizards! It makes my skin crawl!" Urfaal sighed. "But I guess there's no other way than up…I mean, I could try check it once again."

"Yah don't hafta do dat, Urfie. Tis dangerous already." Ghwynmyr pointed at the tail. "Now dat dis beast has died, tis only gonna take a matter of time before its muscle relaxes and drops its tail. Yah don't want to be caught by that. I assure you, tis not gonna be pretty!" He shook his head.

After a few arguing on which spot they would need to climb, they finally settled with the front spot. They quickly huddled together as Ghwynmyr wrote an earth rune on the ground and stomped on it. The earth rumbled and quickly elevated itself to level the monster's height. They quickly jumped off the platform and landed on the monster's head, sliding towards its neck.

The plates were smooth and slippery. It became difficult for them to traverse the monster's body due to the glabrous surface they were walking on. Up close, the plates looked like mirrors, reflecting the surfaces of the lizard's body, but was also semi-opaque which could give anyone a quick view of what's beneath the Salamander's scales.

Orphella had the urge to investigate the lizard's crimson skin and saw what looked like huge claw marks running across its nape towards its spine. They went further down its body and finally reached the coiled tail. She took a step forward when all of the sudden, the bridge began to collapse. She missed her footing and slipped, almost plummeting to the ground. Luckily Urfaal caught her by the arm and pulled her to safety.

"Run!" Urfaal grabbed her and carried her by the shoulder as the beastman and the rest of them ran through the slippery plates, racing to get to safety.

The stone bridge collapsed under the weight of the lizard's carcass. Urfaal threw her to safety. She tumbled safely to the ledge of the broken bridge while Urfaal and the rest barely made their way across. They dangled at the ledge, their grips slowly slipping from the stone.

Orphella rushed towards them and pulled up Ghwynmyr away from danger. Then she and the dwarf pulled the rest of them to safety. The four of them laid on the cold, dusty floor catching their breaths.

"I-I told y-you…I..hate lizards!" Urfaal croaked.

"We hate 'em too now!" Ghwynmyr sat up coughing.

Orphella was too tired to banter with them. She rolled on her belly and saw the door slowly opening in front of them. She tried getting the dwarf's attention and pointed at the door. Ghwynmyr patted the other two and showed them what she saw.

"Another open door." Adaloun sighed. "Would this be the last?"

Orphella shook her head, "I can't confirm." She took a glance at her sleeping bow.

"Regardless," The dwarf stood up and dusted himself. "Let's get on with it!"

Orphella nodded and hoped for the best.

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I dedicate this chapter to FreeER_atuebeacct. Hope you enjoy reading this !!!