Chapter 337: The Golden Fruit

“Baldo is Raelia’s griffin,” I said, answering the hunter. Navek just nodded but was clearly confused.

Scouting ahead was a good idea, but I didn’t like that Raelia had revealed my space to the goliath hunter. If Raelia could fly across the maze, scout the next room, and then return, it could help us prepare. However, I reconsidered her scouting the next room because another devious trap might be lurking in the passage. Being an open-top maze, flying over it would give a clearer picture of how many beasts were in it and any surprises.

Konstantin kneeled, studying the maze below us, and voiced his concerns, “I don’t see any flying creatures, but that doesn’t mean they do not exist. Also, what would stop the goats from following you if you entered the next passage?”

I had also considered the goats, but I thought that if they couldn’t see her, they wouldn’t follow her. With this room being so massive, did that mean all the goats could attack us at once if they could reach us? I looked up at the arching stone ceiling, which was relatively flat and speckled with glowstones. To my eyes, there was nowhere for an avian creature to hide.

My only other concern was taking out Baldo and the dungeon, and Navek becoming aware that I had stored him in my dimensional space. My companions looked to me for a decision. “Before you fly on him, have Baldo circle alone and retreat to us if something engages him in the air. He can lead it back to us, and we can handle it together.” I handed Raelia a bowl of the fresh, chunked raw meat she liked using to train the griffin.

Navek was waiting to see this Baldo we kept referring to, and when the griffin appeared, he stepped back, surprised. He was the size of a small pony, and his beak and claws looked like formidable weapons already. The hunter was fairly stoic, but we had surprised him too many times. His mouth agape, he leaned against the wall for balance and to process. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Baldo had immediately tensed at the change of the environment until Raelia’s voice soothed him. Seeing no danger, he preened his feathers and shook his body. Then he let out an energetic sneeze before noticing the bowl of meat Raelia held. He sat and chirped a request for a snack, but Raelia quickly got him focused with a series of elvish command words.

She waited until he acknowledged the commands before tossing him some meat. He snatched it from the air, moved to the archway to the maze, and paused. He was extremely confused as he processed the foreign environment. He eventually looked back at Raelia, and she urged him. “Fly,” she commanded in elvish.

He flapped his wings twice to stretch before leaping up and flapping powerfully to gain height in the cavern. We all stepped across the threshold into the large dungeon cavern. Maveith and Konstantin had their bows ready, and Realia was forming a fireball while we watched Baldo soar high above the maze. “He should just make one large circle and return. If he encounters danger, he will come straight back to us,” she said confidently.

Baldo swept in a long, arcing path over the maze. He didn’t return; instead, he formed a tight circle over one of the goats standing on the maze wall, clearly eager to swoop down and attack prey. I glanced over at Raelia, who looked embarrassed and put a whistle to her lips.

She blew it hard twice, and the “come” signal was obeyed as Baldo abandoned the easy prey in his mind to come back to us. Nothing in the open cavern had attempted to intercept Baldo during his flight. A few of the goats who noticed the griffin had become agitated below, but none of them raced up the switchbacks to attack us.

As Baldo came to us, he extended his wings to break and buffeted us with a gust as he landed and chirped for his reward. Raelia didn’t give it to him as he hadn’t obeyed her commands. We patiently waited while Raelia gave the command sequence and once again sent Baldo to circle the cavern.

I think the young griffin might done his version of rolling his eyes—rolling his head in a big circle, but I could be wrong as I was still learning his body language. Either way, I smartly hid my smirk from Raelia as Baldo followed the commands correctly this time, earning a double reward of raw meat on landing.

“My saddle and harness?” Raelia asked politely.

As I produced the saddle, I told her, “See if you can lure the goats out of the maze and up to us. It is too dangerous for you to explore the passage alone.” She couldn’t hide her grin as she saddled Baldo and flew inside the dungeon room.

Fifteen minutes later, we all watched Baldo with his rider leap into the air and circle the outer walls high up in the cavern. I could tell she missed flying, but Baldo would tire quickly, so she swooped down after her second loop. A fireball arched from her hands as she dove, lancing toward one of the goats perched on the wall. The goat was oblivious to its fate as the explosion of flame threw it down into the maze, disappearing from our sight. I almost cheered at the display, but since no one else did, I restrained myself.

Raelia used the heat and explosion to make an updraft for Baldo to rise on. We all admired her as she menaced the goats from the back of her griffin. She cast three more fireballs before returning to us—the extent of her aether. Her actions had caught the goats' attention. A few rams were dashing along the top of the maze toward the switchback to reach the fleeing griffin and his rider.

As we waited, Baldo was heaving from the effort of carrying Raelia. Over the next year, he would become significantly larger and fitter. I tossed him a small steak and stood with the others, watching the charging goats. “There were fifteen in the maze,” Raelia said as she joined our defense. “I injured five with my four attacks.”

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Maveith and Konstantin’s bows began to sing as a stream of goats bounded up the switchback. Despite their large size, they were nimble on the rocks, cutting out the switchbacks and dashing straight up toward us. I counted eight goats exiting the maze to attack us, and handling them at range was no issue. Each took three, sometimes four, arrows to take down, but as they tumbled down the slope, the arrows lodged in their bodies would be ruined, and we had a finite supply. After the first wave, Maveith was down to four arrows and Konstantin three.

Goats bleated in pain as they slowly expired below us. I considered going down to put them out of their misery, but seven more goats were still in the maze. A lone goat came rushing late, seeking vengeance for its companions. “Don’t waste any more arrows. Navek, care to show us your proficiency with your spear?” I looked at the goliath hunter. He nodded, readied, and threw his spear, piercing the goat’s chest and killing it as it almost reached us. It tumbled below to join the others.

Baldo and Raelia would need more time to recover, and I didn’t have the patience to wait. “Let’s put them out of their misery and gather the essences,” I said, taking the lead. We descended as a group, pausing to kill the mortally injured goats outside the maze entrance. Maveith and Konstantin recovered only two intact arrows each. When I told Maveith not to harvest the goats, he lamented the waste but let him take the horns if he wanted to carry them.

Baldo was allowed to feast on the fallen goats, his sharp beak cutting the belly open and going for the liver. These goats were not as large as the buck we had killed on the slopes of Mount Nashota, but I was hoping for more power essences. After messily devouring two large livers, Raelia stopped Baldo before he took a third. Raelia shook her head at the gluttonous griffin. “He is going to need half a day to digest that meal before he can carry me again.”

As I worked with the collector, I informed the group that we were entering the maze. “We can assault the maze on foot. Although we are not pressed for time, they appear to be normal, large goats and not difficult to deal with.” No one dissented, and they actually looked eager for the fight.

The eight goats yielded eight major coordination essences. I handed one to each of my companions, three went into my belt, and the fourth into my mouth. I savored the essence as my body metabolized it, sending tingles through my nerves. After the brief euphoria, I looked to my companions. Baldo and Maveith were looking longingly at the other goats.

“Do you want me to?” I started to ask Raelia, but she shook her head no, and I understood. If I returned him to my dimensional space, he would be in stasis, and he needed to digest his meal out here. We entered the maze as a group. The stone walls were twenty feet high and made of thick stone. Thick, dark green grasses grew in patches inside the maze. I was disappointed that the grass was just a common weed and useless in alchemy, but it was clearly here to sustain the goats.

As we weaved our way to the center, we encountered only two goats. Their charge was easily frustrated by layering two air shields, and then we overwhelmed the single goat together. They also yielded major coordination essences, and I could see why. The third goat we encountered nimbly jumped back and forth off the walls as it approached us, ping-ponging itself in an aggressive charge. I assumed this was how they reached the top of the walls as well. Still, the goat offered little challenge to the six of us after it crashed into an air shield. While it was figuring out what had happened, numerous weapons found it.

We reached the center of the maze, where the large fruiting tree stood. I had hoped there would be a reward chest here because I did not want to hunt down the remaining three bucks in the maze. I walked the open space, pulsing earth speak, looking for the dungeon core.

The others watched the three access points to the clearing while Konstantin inspected the tree. He turned the fruit over in his hand and announced, “It’s edible.” He took a bite and couldn’t control the pleasure on his face as he chewed. “It reminds me of a fig but much sweeter—closer to honey,” he exclaimed. He quickly consumed it completely and paused as he reached for a second.

“What is wrong?” I asked Konstantin, concerned.

“The fruit—I think it is giving me aether. My aether core is burning, like it is—oversaturated,” he replied.

Raelia rushed to the tree to try one of the fruits for herself. Yellow juices ran down her chin as she took small bites, considering each one. “He is right. It is like a very weak aether restorative.”

Trusting Konstantin’s appraisal that it was safe to eat, I tried one of the yellow figs myself. The flesh yielded easily, and super sweet nectar washed my mouth. The seeds added a slightly crunchy texture, enhancing my gratification. Raelia was right; even now, I could feel the effects. Was this how Zyna had felt eating dungeon food I prepared for her? It was intoxicating, like an aether stimulant.

The feeling faded after about fifteen minutes. It was minor compared to the true aether potions I had consumed, but this might be the perfect base for my alchemy to create such a potion. Ingredients for aether restorative potions were difficult to obtain, refine, and brew, and had a very short shelf life.

“Stop, Baldo, Raelia!” The griffin had been eyeing one of the branches laden with the yellow fruit. “Give him this instead.” I tossed her one of the coordination essences for the griffin. He loved essences, and his eyes followed the sphere longingly as Raelia presented it to him. She would make him earn it after he understood the figs were not for him.

Maveith tried one of the figs next, but he said he hardly noticed anything; his aether sensitivity was probably much lower than mine. “Maveith and I will pick the fruit,” I announced, feeling a little giddy at the prospect of such a valuable harvest.

I estimated the harvest from the large tree to be between 400 and 450 golden figs. I looked at Navek, who was better at controlling his impatience to destroy the dungeon, but after this harvest, I had second thoughts. This was too valuable a resource to be destroyed along with the dungeon. If the tree was full again when we returned, I might have to reason with him and try to convince him that they could control the manticores by delving into the dungeon regularly rather than destroying it.

We exited the maze and found one more mountain goat on our path. Baldo still wasn't ready to fly again, so it seemed like we wouldn't be completing the cavern by finding the missing goats and obtaining the reward chest this time. I led the way, scouting with my earth speak. We encountered no traps before arriving at the next room, and I wondered if the last trap had been added just for us.

We all stood staring in the next chamber. “Why is it always spiders?” I said as the chamber before us was covered in delicate webs.

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