Chapter 111 - A Deal

"It used to belong to a great clan, but it fell to an outer plane incursion," I said. "That is as much as I know. What exactly is this hive spire?"

Horadir stood and slowly began to pace back and forth, taking pulls off his kuffa as he called. "You are only partially correct. This outer plan incursion did happen, in fact, the many tribes of the plains are descendants of the people who once ruled these lands, but our ancestors grew too greedy. I do not know the full story, but they did something, performed some form of magic that opened a gateway into another world, a world of abominations."

I glanced over to Asara who was listening in rapt attention and to Karyea who was sat down with a bored expression on her face, which either meant she didn't care or she'd heard this story before.

"The war was long and although the gate was closed in the end, it was too late. "Horadit shook his head. "The land was dead, or more correctly, placed into an eternal state of decay. The very air we breathe smells of ash and there is no green to be seen, only a rotten yellow, the same color as the abominations that now plague these lands."

The chief took a deep breath and turned to give me an assessing look. "The hive spire is a relic of the old world, it is some sort of living machine that creates abominations."

I froze at his words and tried not to show any hint of emotion on my face. "Could you please repeat that?"

"It is an organic machine that creates monstrous beasts," Horadir said.

"And you'd like me to destroy it?" I asked.

"Yes, if what my daughter saw you do was true then I see no reason as to why you couldn't rid my people of this curse."

Had I accidentally used defense force or attack force on Domino and gotten her luck because it sounded like this hive spire was an endless farming location. Destroy it? I was going to contain it and then grind levels, but first, I needed a bit more information.

"What else can you tell me about it?" I asked.

"Other than the location, not much else," Horadir said with an apologetic look. "It creates monsters and releases them into the wild. We've never gotten close enough to see where they come from, but we are sure it is from the spire."

"How have you not been overrun?" Asara questioned.

"The monsters die soon after they are born," Horadir explained. "Sometimes they last a few hours, and others a full day, but they always rot away into ash eventually."

I glanced over to Asara and was happy to see she wasn't giving anything away, and that her face had no visible emotion. This was a golden opportunity if I'd ever seen one. Fate or luck or whatever had to be on my side. If I could use this to farm levels then my power would skyrocket.

"I accept," I said as I stood and held a hand out to the chief.

He looked at it oddly for a second and I realized he might not know what a handshake was. I lowered my hand and turned to Karyea who looked quite happy at my decision.

"Then we are in agreement," Horadir replied. "My daughter will take you to my brother who will tell you the location of the spire. Once you have destroyed it then return and we will have some of our riders confirm it. Once that is done we will tell you all you need to know."

Karyea led us out of the tent, and bowed to me once we were outside. "First you save my life and now you agree to help my tribe, I am in your debt."

"There's no need for that, you can repay it by taking me to your uncle."

The tribe woman nodded and then led us away from the tent and through the guarded area towards where I assumed her uncle lived.

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Asara whispered to me as we followed Karyea.

"That depends," I replied quietly. "Do you think I'm planning to use this hive spire as a farming location, because if that's so, then yes, I do."

"Are you sure we can contain such a place? The chief made it sound very dangerous."

I held back a sigh and rolled my eyes. "You've seen what I can do, what my summons can do. Do you think a few beasts that can't even live longer than a day can beat me and my summons."

I also had three summoning tokens to use, all of which would give me even more power and who knew maybe one would give someone as powerful as Esdeath or even more powerful than any of my current summons.

"I just worry, your majesty." Asara smiled and lowered her head.

I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "And I appreciate that, Asara, but you don't need to worry about this."

Karyea's uncle lived in a smaller tent near the edge of what I was now guessing was the inner area of the city, where the army and higher ups lived. What was strange about this tent and different from the others, was the two large stone golems standing guard on either side of the tent flap. Both looked over eight feet tall and instead of two Hands, had one normal hand while the other was a stone ball that looked like it could easily crush a man and any smaller beast. Karyea had said her uncle was a mage so I guess I should have expected some magic.

"Impressive golems," Asara commented as Karyea walked up to the tent. "Will they let us pass?"

"Let me speak to my uncle first, and explain everything. He controls the golems."

"More waiting," Asara grumbled, though Karyea had already disappeared through the tent flap. "I hope this is worth it, your majesty."

"As do I," I replied. "And if it isn't and I find out we are being played then there's going to be hell to pay."

That brought a smile to Asara's lips, and she shot me a hungry look.

I guess that type of talk was a turn on for her.