Chapter Text
The only sounds in the room was Laios’ annoyingly heavy breathing and the faint click of metal tools on metal parts. If Chilchuck were to listen for it, he’d hear the rest of the team taking a break somewhere nearby, in the next room or so. The rustle of packs being opened, crunches of teeth on dry rations, and conversations being picked up where they left off.
Instead, Chilchuck took a deep breath, adjusted his toes on the narrow ridge beneath him, ignored Laios’s eyes on him and zoned in on his task at hand: disabling the broken parts of the room’s puzzle.
It was simple enough that Chilchuck figured it out within a minute of entering the room – two engraved metal plates sat high on the wall, notched and scratched as a result of many arrow and rock hits. Strike both at the same time and the false wall to the left would slide away to open up the path forward.
Too bad one of the metal plates was shattered right through. It would have to be set off by hand.
The wall was easy to scale, its heavily ornamented engravings providing plenty of holds for small hands and feet. But Chilchuck was disheartened to learn that whatever had broken the plate had also damaged the mechanism behind it. Chilchuck had identified which lever needed to be moved, but getting to it was the issue: the broken parts were in the way.
It was obvious that whoever had come this way before them simply applied an overzealous amount of brute strength. Chilchuck quietly cursed them. Loosening the broken fittings wasn’t helping – their jagged edges were hooking on each other in a frustrating pattern.
This was his job, damnit. Chilchuck was paid to scope out traps, pick locks and clear the path ahead. He didn’t want to sidle back down the wall and admit sheepishly to Laios that he couldn’t fix the broken puzzle. He didn’t want to be the reason they would need to backtrack, losing more time and resources. Chilchuck scowled and hit the wall with the meaty part of his fist.
Something jostled deep in the wall. Chilchuck held his breath, head turning to listen.
It sounded promising – the high-pitched slide of metal on metal. He hit the wall again. The mechanism whined.
Right. Brute force. Applied strategically. It wasn’t Chilchuck’s first choice, but it will have to do.
He slipped his tools back into their pouch and continued hitting the wall, listening and rejoicing silently each time he heard the mechanism respond. His hand was starting to hurt, but that was minor in the grander scheme.
The mechanism clicked, and then there was a fleshy thud.
Fleshy? Chilchuck paused.
Another very low sound had started. It seemed to vibrate right through the wall and into his very skeleton.
“Oh crap,” Chilchuck muttered.
He knew that sound. It rose slowly, and then it was distinct. It was buzzing. Chilchuck needed to hurry.
“Laios!” he called, looking down for the first time. Chilchuck never looked down if he could help it.
The tall-man was already looking up at him, far below, brows knitting in question. The ground was further away than Chilchuck had realised. If Chilchuck fell from here, he’d splat on the ground like a bug.
“There’s bees on the other side of this wall!”
“Bees?” Laios said, surprised.
“It’s getting louder, I don’t know how!” The wall trembled suddenly beneath Chilchuck’s fingers and feet with a terrifying rumble. Dust puffed through cracks like breath into cold air.
Chilchuck needed to get down. His feet found a ridge below him, and then his hands. His grip faltered as the wall shook again, and he flattened himself to the wall as much as he could.
“Chilchuck!” Laios shouted below him. The buzzing was loud now, and the wall was crumbling in places. “You gotta jump!”
“Are you insane?” Chilchuck snapped, looking down again. Dear lord, it’s high.
Laios stretched up his arms, his face determined.
“I’ll catch you!”
Chilchuck didn’t have a chance to respond, as the wall to his left suddenly burst open.
A bee the size of a large pig buzzed angrily into the room, followed by five more.
Chilchuck yelped and scrambled up to the broken metal plate for a better handhold. He hooked an arm into the gap between the plate and the mechanism, not caring as it tore sleeve and skin with sharp edges.
Just in time too, as the wall bucked and he lost his footing – for a moment, he was weightless. His arm, locked into the wall, wrenched him back and he fell hard against the stone. His fingers and feet scrabbled for handholds, but the outer layer of the wall was crumbling away, leaving only smooth stone that not even Chilchuck could hang onto.
He dangled helplessly from the mechanism, his arm straining with pain. He could hear the sounds of fighting below him amid the obnoxiously loud buzzing. A strange, wet cracking drew his attention, and he looked through the hole in the wall.
On the other side, giant hexagonal shapes had cracked and broken, and were peeling away from the wall. Each shape was as big as a large bathtub and filled with a thick, amber goo.
Chilchuck had seen these giant bees before, but never their hives. If he was less panicked, he would have been fascinated.
As he watched, a whole section of honeycomb collapsed, falling as if in slow-motion to the ground below.
“Watch out!” Chilchuck shouted and looked down.
Laios, Shuro and Namari were fighting off bees, and several were already lying in pieces on the ground. They sprang away at his warning, and the giant honeycomb took down another bee in its wake. Falin and Marcille were hovering at a more respectable distance, taking pot shots at bees and throwing worried looks up at Chilchuck.
More bees spilled into the room created by the now even bigger hole. Chilchuck’s arm was killing him, and he tried to compensate by wriggling his other arm under the other side of the plate.
A loud click made his blood run cold.
The plate was loosening.
Chilchuck made a panicked grab for the mechanism itself as the metal plate tilted forward, but with both arms somewhat occupied, his fingers only scrabbled weakly at broken metal, coming away bloody.
And they were most definitely coming away. The metal plate fell forward, and his arm came loose. His bloody fingers gripped at the edge of the broken plate, and with a jolt, Chilchuck knew he was going to fall.
Then the plate came loose completely, and Chilchuck was falling. The only thing he could do was tuck and hope to survive.
XXX
Marcille screamed as the half-foot began to fall.
“Chilchuck!” She heard Falin shout beside her, and Laios stormed forward to get to Chilchuck before he reached the ground. The honeycomb was in the way, and one of its cells had burst its seams, spilling a pool of honey on the ground. In his haste, Laios didn’t notice, stepping right in the sticky substance, his own boots suddenly slowing him down.
Marcille and her party watched helplessly as their picklock fell, plunging head-first into the very middle of one of the honeycomb cells below.
Namari was the closest. She hacked through waxy comb with her axe, plunged her hands into the honey and grabbed hold of a linen-wrapped foot. Marcille and Falin had rushed forward, and Marcille could see Namari’s hands slipping on Chilchuck’s ankle, and she winced as Namari’s hands flexed, gripping tighter. Slowly, Namari was pulling Chilchuck closer to the edge of the cell until she could grab both ankles.
It was slow going, but Namari eventually pulled Chilchuck out of the thick, sticky liquid by his feet. The half-foot coughed out a gob of honey, but sat up, seemingly unharmed, albeit utterly covered in honey. His hands came up to his face, trying to wipe off honey but not really managing.
Marcille heaved a sigh. That could have gone a lot worse.
Off to the side, Shuro was dispatching the last bee. Falin and Laios were hovering near Chilchuck, and Marcille could tell that they wanted to help but were hesitant to get into the famously prickly half-foot’s space. Or get covered in honey. Namari was shaking honey off her hands, frowning, then caught Marcille watching.
“My hands feel funny,” Namari said.
“Funny how?” Marcille asked.
“Tingly,” Namari flexed her hands. “And kinda numb.”
“Oh?” Laios said, stepping closer and peering at her hands, still mostly coated in honey. “Do you think it’s the honey?”
Namari’s hands stopped flexing, and her eyes widened in shock.
“I can’t feel my hands,” she said, her voice low and scared, then rising. “Somebody help me get it off!”
Marcille sprang for a waterskin and soap and quickly helped Namari rinse off the honey from her hands and forearms, not noticing the deathly silence that had fallen over the group.
It was only when she realised that everyone was staring at Chilchuck, who had yet to stand up, scowl at anyone or grumble something, his head, skin and clothes shiny with honey, that the waterskin slipped from her hands and she screamed in horror.
XXX
“But what does it do?” Marcille wailed as she frantically heated water.
“I don’t know,” Falin whispered, mid-chant, gently wiping honey from Chilchuck’s face with a damp washcloth. He hadn’t moved since Namari had pulled him from the honey, and was staring sightlessly at his hands. He was breathing and sitting up, still blinking honey from his eyes, but wasn’t responding otherwise. “If I had to guess, I would say it paralyses. But I can’t say for certain.”
Marcille let out something between a sob and a moan, and came over with the warm water.
Laios and Shuro had carried Chilchuck to the preceding room, carefully using cloth to handle him, closer to their gear and a steady source of water. The two men were now searching for anything that could be used as a tub while Namari sat nearby, forlornly gazing at her useless hands.
Falin sighed, muttering a different healing spell and hoping this one would have an effect. Chilchuck was going to hate them, but it had to be done. The honey was too sticky to wipe off bit by bit, and it had soaked right through his clothes. And he hadn’t been wearing all his gear when he first scaled the wall either, shedding most of it for ease of movement, so the area of skin the honey could reach was even larger than usual.
She started pulling on his shirt, untucking it from his trousers, first stripping it off his skinny chest and over his head, then carefully peeling it off the skin on his arms, where blood and honey had congealed together, gluing the fabric to the cuts and scrapes. She needed to clean those cuts before healing them - who knows what could happen if she accidentally sealed something up in his bloodstream. Gesturing to Marcille, Falin lifted Chilchuck’s chin to tilt his head back, and then guided the thin stream of water Marcille poured over his head away from his eyes.
They were on bucket number three, rinsing off the worst of the honey from his now-unwrapped feet, when Laios and Shuro returned, carrying a half-barrel tub between them.
“You actually found a tub?” Namari squawked.
“I guess the dungeon really does provide,” Laios said, setting the tub in the corner of the room, close to where Falin was crouching next to Chilchuck, then looked hopefully at her. Falin shook her head sadly.
“Okay,” Marcille brightened at the sight of the tub, stepping over to look down into it. “Laios, if you and Shuro could fill the tub, I’ll heat the water. Falin is going to continue to try to get more honey off his skin, but it’s not coming off easily. We’ll need to scrub with soap.”
“I can help,” Laios looked up at her eagerly as he poured a bucket of water into the tub. Falin knew he was just anxious to help, but Marcille pulled a face.
“I think Falin and I can handle him, Laios.” Then Marcille turned towards Falin and muttered something under her breath. Falin sighed and poured more water over Chilchuck’s shoulders, using her hands to wash away as much honey as she could. But Marcille was right. There remained a thin, sticky layer on Chilchuck’s skin, and Falin worried how much of the honey his skin had already absorbed. She knew the cuts on his arms must have aided in absorbing whatever toxin the honey had introduced.
Namari suddenly whooped, and lifted her hands to show the group.
“I can feel my fingers!” Joy spilled into her voice as the tips of her fingers twitched slightly.
“That’s great, Namari,” Falin smiled. “It means that the effects are wearing off. You should be back to normal soon.”
Namari’s news had cast a hopeful glow about the room, and Falin caught Laios’ eyes. Relief threatened to burst from him, and Falin didn’t want to tamp it down. But her fears didn’t quite subside. Namari had her dwarven resilience – Chilchuck was a lot smaller and not as strong. And Namari hadn’t been drenched in honey like a piece of fruit on a stick.
Marcille tested the temperature of the water in the barrel and nodded to Falin. Falin moved her body to shield Chilchuck from the rest of the room, then whispered a soft apology before she quickly unbuttoned his trousers, shucking them off in one movement. She was relieved to see that the honey had not seeped much beneath his waistband, and his underclothes were mostly honey-free. Wrapping her arms under his legs and waist, Falin lifted him into the tub.
Then Falin and Marcille set about scrubbing him down.
Falin started by soaping up a washcloth and rubbing it on the back of one of his hands until she no longer felt the sticky coating of the honey on his skin, only the slightly squeaky friction of her skin on his.
“Is it coming off?” Marcille said from the other side of the tub, pouring water over Chilchuck’s head and trying to card fingers through his hair, but it was still too sticky. She only resulted in jerking Chilchuck’s head back.
“Yes,” Falin breathed, relieved. “Just go gently. We don’t want to hurt his skin.”
Falin cleaned his hands and his arms thoroughly, healing each cut and scratch as she came across it. Marcille was scrubbing his hair, the soap lathering laboriously. Something in the honey was actively fighting against them, and Falin felt like she was fighting a battle all over again.
Marcille sighed and poured more water over Chilchuck’s head to rinse out what little suds there were. Then she made a sputtering sound.
“Falin, look!”
Falin looked at where Marcille was pointing at the top of Chilchuck’s spine. The skin on his neck was puckering in small, raised bumps, and as they watched, it spread, across his shoulders, down his back and his arms. Falin could feel a weak tremble run through his small body.
Chilchuck was having goosebumps.