Gabe whistled and yelled to Dahron, “Hey, how about hitting this rock out of the air?”
Dahron nodded once and drew his arrow. Gabe threw a rock 20 feet into the air away from camp.
Dahron let the arrow fly, and it met the rock, point on.
Kanos said, “He’s… a magic archer?”
Gabe said, “Yep.”
Elias asked, “Does he use enchanted arrows?”
Gabe said, “He has a few from the Donway Market. He doesn’t need them, really.”
Elias grabbed his arrow and walked up toward Dahron. When he approached, he said, “Your shooting is enviable! I’ve never shot an arrow half as well.”
Dahron smiled as Elias handed him the arrow and asked, “Are you familiar with enchanted arrows like this?”
Dahron said, “Yeah. They have a spellback. You can’t see the spell they hold. Did you buy this one or find it?”
Elias said, “This arrow and a hundred others like it flew straight through my shield. The same arrows are blocked by Gavin’s shields, though.”
Dahron casually said, “I saw him throw an arrow down. He had me shoot one at his heart. But still, he lives.”
Elias smiled at his dryness and calm demeanor. He further asked, “How can I make my shields block this arrow?”
Dahron said, “I only know of arrows, not much of shields.”
Elias replied, “That’s too bad… I was hoping to die of one less arrow tomorrow.”
Dahron smiled big and said, “Well, I could shoot arrows at you until we figure this out.” He pointed to the logs, drew and shot one arrow, and he reached for an arrow again and again, in rapid succession. The log was slapped with arrows with a second in between.
Elias appreciated the show and said, “Pity you don’t have more arrows.”
Dahron gestured for Elias to follow him to his horse. They walked up beside his strange rectangular saddle bags. Dahron pulled against the back of the box, which popped the top open. A gap was made, and an arrow rose, ready to be drawn. Dahron said, “There’s a hundred on each side. The boxes dispense them one by one. At two hundred arrows, I say that’s a hundred dead.”
Elias saw that Dahron intended no exaggeration.
Elias replied, “Even half that number that could save our lives.”
Dahron said, “It would be my pleasure to help end this ridiculous showdown. I already miss my woods. What kind of man lets a phantom schtop his mind?”
Elias agreed and said, “No friend of mine.”
Dahron replied, “Aye, and no friend of mine.”
The night grew cool and darkness settled in. The men prepared for a night of rest. They dimmed the fire to a bed of coals, and Elias set a spell to keep the coals at slow-burn all night long.
They all fell asleep content they had the upper hand, but the realities of battle held a string in all their hearts. It pulled a little until sleep set in.
42.
The ruffling call of birds careened through the morning air. The sun was barely up. There was a distant whir that could be heard. A strange sound.
There was silence once again, and the normal insects’ buzzing could be heard.
The whirring sound was heard again.
Gavin awoke and heard the birds call as they shifted in the forest.
The whirring sound was heard again. He puzzled over this.
There was silence.
Then there was the sound of cracking limbs, but far away.
Silence again.
Again, the whirring, brushing sound was clear, and the cracking sounds followed.
Gavin knew all was not well. He stirred the men. They heard the sound and also puzzled.
Gavin said, “I think there’s something moving out there.”
The whirring sound was met with cracking sounds — clearly small limbs breaking.
“I think those are leaves,” said Gavin, “and the sticks are being broken straight off the trees.”
Elias said, “I picked this camp for a reason. The bowl hides us well, but it could become a hard place to escape.”
“Should we climb?” asked Gabe, who was quite alarmed.
“Let’s find a better angle. Gavin, you should hide Nox and return when you can. Gabe, can you raise your beasts?”
Gabe gathered his wits and stood to find some ground.
Elias said to the men, “We must prepare.”
The whirring sound grew louder, and the crack of sticks became punishingly clear. The loudest cracks were deep, and another sound emerged. It was clear that something massive tread through the woods and was pushing over trees at will — the men listened to the treefall.
“Not far now. It is a giant or a demon,” said Elias. “I’ve seen them both. I assure you I am not afraid .”
The men took stock in what Elias said, and their trepidation slightly shifted.
“Care to look?” asked Elias to Gavin.
Gavin looked quite serious, nodded, and bounded from the ground straight up into the sky.
Dahron found his place behind the front wood line, behind the open ground where the men gathered. Dahron’s horse was well-trained and walked side to side around a clump of younger trees. It knew to find cover behind the trunks.
Gavin’s levitation peaked, and he sailed straight back down. He padded his landing and stepped back to the soil. His eyes were wide open, “Guys this is real. That thing is huge. I could see its back slipping through the forest. It pushed against a tree and sent it down.”
Elias said, “Does it walk on two legs?”
Gavin said, “No, it’s like… an animal. It has a tail.”
Elias said, “It could be a giant demon. I guess we’ll know in a minute.”
The men waited in position. Gabe stood beside his freshly conjured form as the ambiguous creature hardened into shape. Kanos sat atop his stallion and stood in clear and open view, as the other men found some kind of cover.
The whirring sound increased with every massive step. The crackling sounds grew louder. All the men stared at the tree line as the leaves began to shake. A tall old trunk from within the woods collapsed, and a canopy of leaves was crushed against the ground within their view.
The beast emerged. Its bizarre face was slurred with huge and beastly features. The eyes were opaque and five feet wide apiece, and they rolled around like polished rocks. The tiny pupils focused slowly. The mouth of the beast was wide and hung open, and teeth hung like two-foot shards that dripped with sticky saliva. The beast’s tongue rolled arounds and the sound of clapping goo was quite loud.
Massive forelegs pulled the creature across the ground, and the beast’s claws dragged with incredible strength. The creature rocked from side to side as it moved, and as its shoulders struck a tree, the tree tipped over and ripped the root ball from the ground.
“It must weigh 20 tons,” yelled Gavin, “It’s longer than it is wide.”
The men prepared to fight the biggest demon any of them had ever seen. The sound of distant clanking began to surface in the air. There were soldiers in the midst; they ran behind the demon.
Elias pulled back his fist, and lines of power began to grow. His hand was boxed within a blue dodecahedron, a shape that grew and breathed into greater sizes. Elias yelled, “First strike, going out.”
He sent forward the shape, which pulsated as it moved, each line ran a course of light. The demon did not turn away, it simply stopped.
The shape of energy rolled into the left side of the demon’s face. The shape sizzled as it rolled; it shaved a quarter-ton chunk of flesh right from its face.
The demon’s eyes looked around. The heap of flesh fell and hit the ground.
The demon’s mouth opened wider, and a sound emerged. It was an ultra-deep pulsation, a sound that moved up and down.
Elias yelled, “I think its… laughing. These things don’t feel like you and I do.”
From the gaping wound poured no blood, a simple draining mucus sloughed in small proportion. Dahron began slamming arrows
into its open flesh wound, and then against its solid eyes where they could not stick.
Elias yelled, “This beast must be broken to a pile of bones before it stops.”
The soldiers breeched the wood line, a dozen then a dozen more.
Kanos and his stallion reared, and they began to charge.
43.
Ahba leaned forward and pushed out both arms. His hands let loose a violent yellow-orange energy. It shot out like a stream of molten lava and sprayed across the massive beast’s face. A golden membrane lowered over the creature’s eyes, which repulsed the energy, but its face was sizzled with the torrents of burning heat.
Elias called to the sky above, “Gova Na Evo Menda.”
The beast opened its mouth and coughed out an enormous blat of green rolling energy. Elias’s spell landed as a giant tube of energy dropped from the sky and shined down to the soils in front of the beast. A giant cylinder of light prevented the beast’s attack from moving forward — its energetic venom lapped around the tube and hit the ground. The vegetation below sizzled, and the rocks fumed with smoke.
The beast laughed again and reared back its head, and from its opened mouth, a ball of blue energy formed. From the ball sprouted 30 tentacles of deranged energy, which shot out in every direction.
Kanos was laying soldiers out, and he charged behind the shield that obscured the beast. His sword mauled every energetic tentacle that he came across, but one grabbed his stallions hind leg and jerked it back.
The soldiers ran into the mess, and Kanos struggled to cut loose the tentacle, then turn to slash the soldier’s torsos and sheer their skulls. They tried to pierce him with their spears but could not break his stallion’s shield.
Gavin soared from high above and smashed a row of soldiers. He pushed them into the ground and scrubbed them far and wide.
Dahron’s arrows sprayed and never stopped. Every second that passed filled the air with another arrow as Dahron struck tentacles and pinned soldiers in the neck and arms.
The soldiers that pierced the wood line saw many of their fellows dead — so their phantoms began to show. The gnarly faces of phantasmal beasts wrapped around the heads and torsos of the approaching battalion. The arms of the barisee moved wildly as their energy shredded small tree limbs as they moved.
Ahba sent loose an array of energy spraying into the air. His strike was incredibly wide, and the forest caught on fire, along with the soldiers that were struck.
Ahba closed his fists, and the fires pulled down into a heated core. He yelled aloud, “Vemos Neve Membra.” The cores of fire exploded, sending stone and wood flying. Five soldiers exploded also, their torsos flayed and their guts and ribs scattered through the air.
Kanos ran down the departing soldiers and slashed them down at will. Gavin continued to mercilessly pound every stray that scattered, cutting between trees with create speed — he sent soldiers flying through the forest with bursts of shield.
Elias swirled his staff in a ten-foot ring before himself. He casted a circular line. The demon flinched and clearly knew the strike would compromise its existence. The creature pushed its front claws hard against the ground, and the torso of the demon lifted. It reared back on its hind limbs and raised its head 80 feet into the air.
Elias screamed as his ring of light hovered and then was pushed into a spinning run toward the beast. The ring surged upward and dashed against the demon’s head.
The massive head rattled as the ring surged forward and cut the neck slowly through — the energy moved like a wire of razors, quickly and with no cause to stop.
The demon’s body loomed as the huge round head was cut through and slowly tipped. The head fell off and hit the demon’s tail and rolled across the ground as soldiers struggled to keep from being hit.
Elias watched as the demon’s body did not fall.
Kanos turned and yelled, “It’s not enough.”
The demon leaned from left to right. Its claws grabbed trees and tried to steady. The trees tipped and fell. From the gaping neck hole, a steady gurgling could be heard. From the hole, a blue light began to shine. A massive ball of pale blue light began to rise from the creature’s throat.
The demon’s footing began to steady. The upper body dropped again. The claws dug deep into the soil.
The great blue ball of light emitted a deep and high-pitched tone, and the light began to grow.
Gavin catapulted himself into the air. The other man turned away and ran.
The demon’s energy sphere shot out, and the whole valley arena was filled with horrible light that burned all life inside. As the spell blast passed, the sizzling energy enflamed with remarkable speed.
Elias found himself within the strike; his shield alone kept him and the ground below from being scorched.
Gabe’s conjuring was frozen still. Its shell was nothing but a statue. Gabe stood just outside the ring with the other men and began to run backwards, darting into the forest to conjure another Basi.
The demon’s ball of light began to charge again.
The men fled back into the wood line. The soldiers followed, and the demon dug and pulled its might claws, dragging its way forward.
44.
Elias yelled, “I have to flank — I’ll drill that beast in the side.” The men re-arranged their angle. “Do not allow that thing to split us up, but do not band together or we’re dead.”
The men did as he asked. Kanos said, “I will run the flank full length and strike the rear.” He bucked his horse and they ran the length. Elias followed. Gabe conjured another creature and began to summon yet another.
Dahron loaded his bow with a two-foot-long arrow: it shimmered green in the forest light. Ahba looked and said, “It’s about time!”
Dahron smiled as he released the arrow. They watched it sail so far away and fly right through the demon’s energy head.
“He’s not gonna like this,” said Dahron, “might have a bit of indigestion.”
The beasts barely seemed to notice the arrow, and it continued to claw forward. Dahron watched as the creature’s sides began to flex.
The beast began to swing its head side to side. Its ribs pulsated, and its whole body showed heaving undulations.
Elias was nearly on the flank, and he saw the creature acting strangely, not knowing what it meant. He held out his arm and directed it to the beast’s whole length, while his hand sent out a blue beam of light that zipped against the flesh.
The beast did not acknowledge the hit. It continued to heave and had to stop its forward motion.
Kanos charged through 20 soldiers that ran behind the beast, and he began to saw through their ranks. His sword shined in the light as he swung its blade down upon their heads.
Gabe raised another creature, which stood beside the other Basi that remained alive. He spoke to them directly. “Basi, see what you can do… charge.” The creatures turned toward the beast and simply charged.
Dahron and Abha flung projectiles in a constant stream as Abha laughed at the undulating beast. Elias cast energy towards the demon’s soft belly. He sent three vertical lines that sizzled straight through.
The beast’s guts were cut open, but there were no organs. A clay-like goo began to seep out the side as the creature moved away from the strike.
The arrow in the belly of the beast was not finished either. The creature bucked and heaved even more. The oozed poured out of the side wound with every flex, as the creature’s mass was slowly pouring out.
Elias repeated his cast and cut loose a larger flap of belly.
The beast rolled on its side and showed Elias its scaly back to protect itself from another blast.
Dahron nocked a sterling blue arrow. He sent it loose again into the throat of the beast.
Gabe’s summoned creatures arrived in full charge — in a way that looked quite horrific, they began to clamor and climb into the gullet of the beast. They grabbed and pinched the flesh of the wound and used their jagged limbs to pull and cut a
t the remaining throat.
Gabe looked in awe as he saw his manifestations do such gory things to protect him. The beast coughed and churned as its gut wound oozed goo more deeply. The blue sphere of its head could not charge, and it began to fizzle down.
Kanos rode down the rear of the monster and came across the softer belly. He ran his sword deep into the gut and pushed the blade 4 feet across. The creature could not move, and merely quaked and jiggled as the bowel of ooze just rolled onto the ground.
Kanos and the stallion turned and plunged into the forest to chase down the scattered soldiers.
The crew followed him, as Gabe called off his Basi — they came to him sopping wet with ooze and saliva. Gabe approved, “You have done well.” The creatures simply stared and ran forward when Gabe pointed in the new direction.
As the trail of soldiers was followed, many clamored and moaned on the ground in the wake of Kanos’s destruction. The crew found it quite easy to follow such an obvious path. They trekked a mile that way, all amazed at how much damage a single man and his horse could accomplish.
They came across a hilltop and prepared to cross, but before they did, they heard the heaving breath of a horse and the rapid gallop. Kanos and his stallion sped back across the hill. He saw the men and yelled, “There are three more beasts. And they’re fast. Pull back.”
The men found a piece of ground that would suffice. Kanos told them what he saw, “Below the hilltop is the battalion encampment. There’s another hundred men, and they have these huge… black… lizard beasts. They look like reptiles, but they’re not — they’re demons. Their faces are awful, and they move far faster than a horse.”
Elias nodded and said, “I will go first.”
Elias rode his horse over the hilltop. The men followed. Gabe said to his conjured creatures, “Attack the big ones, Basi. Go for their eyes.” His creatures turned and ran straight down the hill.
Elias raised his staff and began to gather his greatest strength. “ Eva Nievrah Amna Eviaaan. Hevra Ay Naliafrah.”
His staff sent out a light that burst outward as a single bolt of lightning. From the sky rained down a deluge of four-foot beams of white energy so bright that no one could look.
Mages of Avios 2. Battlemage Page 15