Chapter Twelve: Speed Bump

TWELVE

They exited together out of the safe room, the nausea less extreme this time. Roan couldn’t tell if it was because of how little he had in his stomach, or that he was getting used to it.Taoya was the first through the portal and power was already starting to collect around him. Everyone held their breath as they stared at the coffins and there was a collective sigh of relief as the coffins stayed sealed.

“Alright, from what we know the skeletons won’t exit their hallways. We’ll work in shifts and focus on clearing them. We’ll rotate in so we all get some points. If you’re not fighting then we rest or help collect weapons,” Darren instructed. Roan groaned internally as he remembered the long knives he’d secured but hadn’t sold. They were still sitting on the grass of the hill where he’d set them down.

“Taoya will go first. He wants Roan and Moira with him as his trio. Get together in trios and we’ll start rotations,” Darren said and Roan couldn’t hide his surprise at the powerful sect member wanting him on his team.

“No need to look surprised. You’re good. I’ll go first, Moira collects my loot, you rest. Then Moira fights, you collect loot, I rest. Then you fight and I collect loot and Moira rests. Nice, simple, system. We do it a few times and then sit down to let the others go!” Taoya was a well of vibrant life as he smiled and slapped Roan on the shoulder.

“Can we start where I started? There’s plenty of weapons over there that I wasn’t able to get,” Roan asked, pointing out where he’d fought the skeletons.

“Of course. Moira, are you ready?”

“Let’s get going, big guy,” Moira said, her voice serious as she crouched down like a sprinter in their blocks. Taoya laughed again and then charged, a burst of speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a man that big. He hit the line of skeletons like a train and sent chunks of bone flying down the hall as he began to punch and kick, energy rapidly building around him.

When Roan had fought he’d been stuck in at the entrance, unable to push into the hallway as the weight of the crowd had refused to yield. Taoya didn’t have that problem. The man bowled through them, never slowing as he created space for Moira to dart in.

She didn’t try to search for anything, just throwing items over her shoulder and out of the alleyway. Roan didn’t stand around and rest, he started to sort items out as she worked. The vast majority of what she threw was trash. Broken bits of bones, scraps of cloth, bits of metal armor, but there were a few nice pieces. Mostly weapons, the long curved knives that the poor-grade skeletons seemed to prefer, but also a few pieces of jewelry stuck on fingers or necklaces like he’d already found. All these Roan set in a pile off to a side until Moira started tossing bones that weren’t split but splintered, the transition from Roan’s axes to Taoya’s fists.

He couldn’t help but feel a hint of jealousy as the second pile grew faster than his had. Taoya was cruising through the skeletons, none of them able to withstand a single blow as power began to crackle around Taoya again, sparks of lightning leaping from his skin.

“I’m going to need my break! Moira, you ready?” Roan felt his eyebrows rise up as he realized the big man hadn’t lasted long, only a few minutes before he was done. An analytical part of his mind started to work on how the man’s bloodline worked.

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