51. The Tower 2

No more questions followed and they all walked towards the lake. They did not want to leave the horses tied in the field by the lake. Soon they all stood at the edge of the lake and Novum handed them all their first potions. They were about to drink the potions when Berry spoke up. "Wait just a second." She pulled out a little of her magical energy and wrapped them all with a very thin barrier. "That will not offer any defense but it will keep us dry and keep our mobility in the water." They all gave her a nod of thanks. Without further hesitation they all chugged the potions and dove into the water after Novum.

Novum took the lead and Rurik was right behind him and the rest gave them a little more distance. Novum looked over his shoulder and saw the formation and he saw that everyone had a melee weapon out. They realized that it would be hard for them to use magic under the water. As they swam deeper and deeper into the lake they saw a few fish that were a lot bigger than normal but nothing that was a threat. They got to the tower and they all quickly spread out and let Berry and Topaz get close and they rest formed a half circle behind them facing out.

Berry got close and put her hand on the barrier and sent her magical energy out into it. She touched it and pulled her energy back and then pulled her energy back from her hand and then reached out again. This time her hand slipped through the barrier without any issues. "Okay so it appears that my barrier will not be allowed to pass through this barrier. But you can without it. Topaz can you search the door first and then if you need it I will peel the barrier back as needed."

Topaz swam up close to the door and looked over every square inch of the door. "There is nothing on the door that I can find. Can you shift the barrier back to my elbows?"

Berry pulled the energy back and Topaz reached out and tried the handle of the door. Nothing exploded but the door did not open. Topaz pulled out her tools and went to work on the door. Since she was not under a time constraint she took her time and had no issues opening the door. When she pulled it open the barrier around the tower shifted to accommodate the door. "So that answers that question. As long as Berry pulls her barrier back we should not have to worry about water while we are in the tower."

Novum spoke up. "But make sure you all keep a water breathing potion on you. One of the fail safes of the tower might be to pop the barrier. Topaz are you okay going first and checking things out or would you like a meat shield to go first?"

"Let me take a look at the interior of the door and see if I can spot anything." Topaz moved up close to the door and she did not spot anything. "Berry can you pull this back from my head. The barrier is making it a little harder to see through to the inside of the tower and I don't want to take any chances." She put her forehead against the barrier and Berry pulled her energy back little by little.

Topaz stopped her head from going forward but Berry pulled the barrier back a little more before she realized it. Topaz let out a little yell. "That water is way colder than I expected it to be."

"Sorry Topaz that was my fault."

Topaz was looking around the inside of the door. "No worries. Boss I do not see anything like a trap. I will go ahead since this is my part of the job. Okay Berry lets start pulling all of it back."

Topaz adjusted herself so that the tips of her toes could reach the step on the tower and put it against the barrier. Berry put her hand on Topaz and concentrated on her barrier. She felt where the two barriers were meeting and pulled them back even slower than before to make sure that Topaz would not get wet. It was hard to fight when wet and cold.

Topaz was about to step through the door when Berry called out. "Wait before you go forward make sure you can come back.

"What the hell do you mean by that? I put my hands in earlier and they came back out."

"Yes but part of you was still outside of the barrier. Sometimes barriers are one way and have to be completely taken down. I am not deserting you and I am coming in I just need to be aware in case I need to prepare something different before I go in."

"Before?"

Novum swam a little closer. "Topaz even if Berry has to leave for something I am will come in there before she does. I will not and would never leave one of you behind. If you want I will come in there and test it out so that if you try it and it does not work you will not think that I would run away."

Topaz was looking him in the eye and knew that he was telling the truth. He would come in here with her without any questions. "No I believe you boss." Topaz put her finger up against the barrier and blew out a long breath and pushed. The barrier shifted and bulged just a little and then her finger and part of her hand came out of the barrier. "It appears that we are good. Through as you can see I had to push harder than expected so when it gave more than my finger came out."

"Berry go ahead and put me in there as well. Topaz can search ahead for traps and I will protect her while you get everyone else through the barrier." Novum put his hand on the barrier and slowly walked through the barrier and was soon standing on the step beside Topaz. "We still have some time on the potions, so let's let Topaz look around a little before you guys come in."

Erica gave Novum a severe look. "Novum you do realize that you and Rurik are the only guys here, right?"

"Technically you are right. But I am not real big on the whole guys can do things that girls can't and the other way around. Yeah women give birth but guys get women pregnant. Yeah I got it. But I still have an old habit of calling everyone guys, regardless of gender. I will probably always do that. So please don't take it the wrong way it is a term that I use to refer to everyone."

Crystal spoke up. "Erica he did not mean anything by it and you are being sensitive. If he had an issue with us he would not have hired us. So you can debate about that after we clear the tower."

Erica seemed to be thinking about what she said but her eyes never stopped scanning the area that she was responsible for. "Fine."

Novum stepped up to the doorframe but did not put a toe past it. Topaz who was inside the room searching around was about to tell him to stop when she saw he was about to step in and then she realized that he was as still as a statue looking into the room for any danger that might be coming her way. The look of determination in his eyes was a little intimidating even to her and it was only there to protect her. She quickly shoved the thought out of her head and went back to her search.

Topaz searched everything in the room and came back to Novum. "I found nothing in this room so you can bring everyone in while I check the doors out of the room. There are two of them. One of them probably goes to another small room and the second will go up to the next floor."

"Okay bring in it. Rurik stay close to Berry so that she can put everyone else in. We can't split her focus." The other three swam over and Rurik set his feet on the bottom of the lake right beside her. Close enough to act if she needed help but also far enough away that he was not in her way.

Erica had already passed through the barrier and Crystal was about half way through when Rurik spotted trouble coming. A snake that had been hit with the magic was coming towards Berry from behind and she was completely focused on getting Crystal through the barrier. Rurik shifted and put himself between Berry and the snake.

Rurik got his shield in line and was actually knocked back at the force of the blow. He was hit so hard that he bumped into Berry. Not enough to break her concentration but enough to shake it a little bit. The snake struck again while Rurik was still off balance from trying to not run into Berry. The strike landed on the inside of his shield arm as he was not able to tuck it back out of the way. Rurik felt the venom enter his body and he shook his head a few times and cleared out the cobwebs from the bite.

The snake was surprised that the dwarf was able to ignore its bite and dove right back in. Before it could land another attack Rurik was back on a sold base and he had his shield set. He saw the strike coming and positioned his shield at a weird angle, an outsider would have thought the venom was working but it was all a setup by Rurik. The snake hit the shield and the shield forced its head to move in a certain direction. As soon as the head was in position Novum dropped his axe on the top of the things head and almost split its head in two.

Crystal was finally through the barrier and Berry was about to turn around and give Rurik a talking to when she saw the huge snake floating in the water. She also saw the blood leaking out of the fang hole in his arm and she grabbed him and shoved him against the barrier and pulled the magic back as fast as she could. Rurik was surprised by the force behind the move and did not fight her. He did reach out at the last second and pull the snake in the tower with him. No use in letting a free meal get away.

Crystal had soon almost everything and was careful not to yell out in surprise in case it would break Berry's concentration. As soon as Rurik was in the tower she cast a spell that would remove the venom from his body and started on another healing spell. "Save that one. Just wrap it up for now. If it still needs treated after we are out of here I will leave it to you."

"Master dwarf are you sure?"

"Yeah I already ignored the venom but some of them come back later to bite you in the ass. So thanks for that."

Berry had just passed through the barrier. "Thank you master dwarf. I had no idea that I was even in danger."

"What is with this master dwarf shit. Names Rurik same as it was when we were talking a little bit ago."

Both girls smiled at him. Berry saw the snake and asked. "Rurik, why did you bring the snake with you?"

"No use in wasting a meal. Although the way that Novum and I cook it could hardly be called a meal."

Novum looked out and saw the snake. "Oh you brought lunch. Or should we maybe put it in storage and eat trail rations until we get back to the house?"

Novum and Rurik looked at each other and then the snake and at the same time said, "house." Rurik handed him the snake and he dropped it into his storage so that it would not rot.

Topaz called out from inside. "Boss both doors are good to go you just need to pick one."