Dungeon Hunter: Act I

Found

"How do I know you're really Lee?" asked Jye from the spot they were sitting, idly trailing their finger through the dirt on the ground.

While it wasn't a bad question, it still pissed me off. I really shouldn't have expected anything different, especially considering that I was the one who'd warned everyone about the mimic running about the shrine area. However, that didn't mean I low-key expected the others to discern between me and a fake upon first glance. I guess I'd been fooled at a distance too.

"Tam is with me," I said, gesturing to the cat who'd now paused and was licking at a paw.

"You could be summoning her like an illusion or something."

"Okay, ask me a question."

They ran their hand over an imaginary beard.

"How many siblings do I have?"

I froze. Oh, fuck. How many did they have? It'd been like four days since we'd discussed this in the cabin and a lot had happened between now and then. I wracked my brain, trying to recall the number. They were all younger than Jye, that I remembered. Basically each of them were a year apart. Shit.

"Come on, it's not that hard to re–"

"Five!" I said, the memory suddenly becoming clear, the look in Jye's eyes at the time unfocused and concerned. "You have five siblings. Three brothers and two sisters."

The giant nodded solemnly and stood. "All right, off to find Wren then?"

Letting out a sigh, I shook my head.

"We already know where she is. We just can't get her out."

Jye tilted their head, much akin to a dog hearing someone saying "vet."

I explained to them that Tam and I'd tracked the young girl down first but that she'd been locked behind a solid wall on all sides. She was inaccessible. That was probably why she could only see darkness. Wren had been locked in an area that we couldn't reach. I couldn't use [Ground Smash] because the girl explained that her room was really small and she couldn't back up out of range. Her health was similar to mine, and based on what had occurred even just once in the cabin, the shrapnel the attack created could have fatal consequences if luck wasn't on our side. I also couldn't conjure any way to use Jye or Gigi's abilities to get through.

As always, thinking far beyond her age would have you guess, Wren had come to the same conclusion.

"Come get me soon, okay?" she'd said.

I'd promised her we would.

We were forced to leave her in the dark room all by herself.

It took everything inside me to do that. The idea of it made my stomach churn. Because I knew Chrissie had probably gone through something similar.

"So, she's safe?" asked Jye, wiping at the dust on their pants.

After my warning to the others about the mimic, we'd agreed to keep our shouts to a minimum, to avoid giving them any further information to trick us. The team had since been radio silent. Jye had only known about everyone's status up until then.

"Safer than us. And the copycat can't imitate her either. But we're down a party member for the fight."

Somewhat less concerned now, Jye folded their large arms over their chest. "What's the plan, boss?"

I considered our options. Without Wren we could take much less risks since I could do only so much healing. "You practised with the bow yet?"

"Got in a few shots while you and Wren were napping before," Jye admitted. Their shifty expression led me to believe that hadn't been enough of a chance to become familiar with it. Okay, so rule that out. I hadn't had time to get used to my glaive either, but swinging around a broomstick seemed ill-advised with the size our opponent sounded. At least Jye still had a bunch of knives left.