Dealings With Deities

Chapter 23 - Finally out

Broken scraps and shattered iron rained onto the floor while Pots, pans and shield-shaped woks vanished from the shelves. Shinoko and Vordum watched in awe as Kaiho's figure turned to steel with every step towards the front of the store.

What was originally a human in hodgepodge cooking utensils quickly became a golem of metal. Were it not for the pot handle sticking out the side, one could almost mistake Kaiho for a foreign knight in exotic armour.

Kaiho's transformation was finally completed as one foot reached the door. With a second step, he had fully entered the storm. Instantly a resounding clang echoed out as bright claw on steel sparks sent Kaiho flying out of view.

"Kaiho!"

No matter how much her body protested, the desire to save Kaiho pulled her forwards. Shinoko's feet dragged to the front of the store, where the wind of a thousand wings blew past relentlessly. Every feathery blast drained her momentum and brought weight to her breaths.

The black swarm felt as though entering would be stepping into the afterlife.

The thought of Kaiho diving headfirst made her fear for his sanity. The realisation that she wanted to jump in after him made her question her own.

"Do you think he is alright?"

She asked the just arriving Vordum.

"Aye. I can hear the scrape of his steel. He's holding stoic not too far."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't doubt a dwarfs ear girl."

"Then we must save him."

"Agreed. Cast yer witches curse and get out there."

Shinoko clenched her jaw at both the insult and the thought of being told what to do by a dwarf.

"It is a holy blessing, dwarf." She mumbled before starting to chant.

Shinoko's words formed into prayer calling for divine support. With the final word said, she released her clasped hands and spread them wide, waiting for a response from her higher power.

Her god replied with a golden light that encompassed her body, sinking and vanishing into her skin.

"Once I return with Kaiho, we will devise a new plan of escape."

"Witches curse, holy blessing, yer think that is good enough to protect you in this devil's swarm?"

"What are you insinuating?"

Try as he might to dislike the elves, the one in front of Vordum was also just a child, and no dwarf could call himself a dwarf if they let a child march to their death. Even if it were an elven child.

"Would be a shame for you to go alone," Vordum replied with a tone of worry that his stoney face could not show.

The two watched each other closely, exchanged a nod and charged into the storm.

The crows smashed into the pair of new obstacles, flying forwards as if they were not there at all. Shinoko's blessing made the crows strikes painless, leaving no marks. But the weight of a thousand birds was more than enough to fling her backwards.

Vordum's shield rose and crashed against the never-ending force. Unlike Shinoko, his obscenity-filled prayer received no gods reply. So when the crows sent him flying, their claws and beaks would leave deep gashes in his thick fat.

Wave after wave pushed them back as they, like Kaiho, lost their footing. The pair tumbled and rolled as the swarm denied them any chance to gain purchase.

*Bang*

Vordum hit the wall first with a heavy thump. Following narrowly behind was Shinoko whose path to the wall was blocked by a large dwarven stomach.

"Gachk!" Spittle flew from his mouth coating Shinoko's back in an alcoholic slime.

"Gross. Is that how dwarfs say hello?" The wall behind them asked as two large wok shaped doors slammed shut, blocking the swarms advance.

"Kaiho-san!" Shinoko exclaimed.

Although smashing into him at a high speed was not the plan, they succeeded in finding Kaiho alive and in surprisingly good shape. The crows had struck from only one direction, leaving his right side almost bare of armour. To Shinoko it still seemed exotic, just now it was exotically uneven.

"Okay take two," Kaiho yelled to his companions. "Vordum, my side is a little bare, can you take it?"

"Aye!" Vordum screamed in reply, quickly finding his feet and grabbing Kaiho's large shield.

"What about me?"

"Push!"

Forwards through the storm, avoiding falling rubble and flaming birds the three struggled. Kaiho and Vordum led the front, their faces squished against their shields. The steel woks curved fronts forcing the swarm to split around them.

Many of the deflected crows flew to find a new path upwards, while a few swooped around after finding a new target. The birds foolishly dived for Shinoko as something drew their eyes. As beak and claw made contact with her holy barrier, the birds ignited in flame, their bodies crumbling and turning to ash.

Sadly the trio did not witness this event. Their focus was completely facing forwards as the slightest distraction could make them miss their goal. Through the tiniest gap in their formation, Shinoko saw it first.

"There!" She screamed, barely heard over all the chaos.

Infront, row after row of large square doorways the size of small cars lined the walls. Where the doorframe met the floor laid equally large holes, an obvious place to park the platforms. To their dismay, all of the platforms were gone.

Of course, Kaiho thought in disgust, always with the drama.

All the platforms were gone, all but one. The doors were opened only halfway and a lever on each side locked the platform in place.

"How's it work?" Kaiho asked.

"We got to hold the levers till it's out of the tower," Vordum yelled.

"But then it will be gone without us!" Shinoko yelled back.

"Shinoko focus on that door. Vordum, shield bash then jam it."

"Aye!"

"Okay!"

Kaiho and Vordum split to the side as Shinoko entered a full-blown sprint. Without slowing, she charged directly onto the platform before jumping and slamming her body into the giant door. It swung open, not completely but hopefully far enough to allow them to leave.

At the same time as her leap, Kaiho and Vordum were doing the same. They both dived forwards into their respective levers, smashing the levers forwards and off as their weights destroyed the exposed machinery. Then as a final act of insurance, two wok shaped shields slammed into the base of the levers, destroying any hidden mechanism that could have possibly caused the locks to reset.

The locks released and the platform shifted forwards but it was still not free. The door was not open enough, it's corner still held the platform in place.

"Oh no," Shinoko exclaimed.

There was no way she could move the giant door again without throwing herself into it. But the platform did not reach out far enough for her to land again. At least not without falling four stories first.

"It's still stuck come and help me move-"

Her command was barely over before she was again knocked to the ground. The sudden additional weight of a falling human and dwarf shoved the platform down sharply and forwards, out to freedom.