“Wretched Dietrich again!” White clenched his fists. “He thinks he’s at home already! Very soon he’ll be roaming all around the castle!”
Lethmiel was the first to work it out. “I don’t think they’re preparing a space for catapults,” he said. “They’ve probably used the island to install a fragment of the Veil of Silence,” he added with superstitious fear.
“Which is what?” Archie demanded.
“The Veil of Silence is a powerful magic damper. It was invented by a dwarf called Mad Ghym. A very famous character.”
“How does it work?” White asked skeptically.
“It’s a charmed piece of very special rock,” Lethmiel explained. “You can only find it in the Mountains Beyond the Clouds. When the dwarves and the Dark Elves went to war with each other, Mad Ghym and his kin faced extinction. That’s when he made the Veil of Silence. He charmed the cliffs that formed the canyon leading to the Underground City. The Elves couldn’t use their magic and had to retreat.”
“Are those cliffs still there?” Kimberly asked. “Does the spell still work?”
“It does,” Lethmiel said. “Not a single wizard has been able to reach the dwarven city. The place has been long abandoned but the Veil of Silence still guards it against any potential looters.”
“A wizard, you said. Can’t a common warrior get there?” I asked.
“In order to cross the mountains, you need magic,” Lethmiel explained. “You can’t travel there otherwise. The mountains are unscalable. Reaching the city requires a monumental effort.
“Well, the Founders apparently did it!” White said. “They must have farmed enough of it so they’re now busy placing it all around the castle!”
Lethmiel nodded. “I’m afraid so. It definitely looks that way.”
“Is it strong enough to hinder the castle’s elemental protection?” Enea asked anxiously.
Lethmiel shrugged. “I really can’t tell. One thing’s for sure: it can considerably weaken our defenses. The closer they manage to bring the rock fragments to the castle walls, the weaker our magic will be. Which means it’ll require much more energy.”
I didn’t like it at all. “Platinus, bring the Disintegration Potions here now!”
White swung toward me. “What’re you up to?”
“I’m gonna give Yorm a hand and get us a few samples of that rock. Togien! I need you here! Bring your pick with you. I’ve got a job right up your alley.”
“I don’t think you can break the rock with a pick,” Lethmiel sounded doubtful. “Or even with Disintegration Potion. Magic dampers are indestructible.”
“Are they really? In that case, how did the Reapers managed to get them?”
“I’ve no idea,” Lethmiel admitted. “One thing’s for sure: they appear to be working.”
“How do you know?” Christa asked.
“The portal didn’t work, did it? The Magic Eye didn’t work at first, either. I had to launch another one and keep it at a safe distance. Alex, this is a trap! You can’t go out! All your magic abilities will be blocked!”
“In that case, the magic damper should affect the Reapers too, shouldn’t it?” I pointed out. “Which means they won’t be able to use magic, either!”
“I’m not sure,” he said.
I’d never seen Lethmiel so anxious before.
* * *
Act in haste, repent at leisure, as the old adage goes.
I couldn’t agree more — still, recently we’d had to throw caution to the wind.
“Full combat alert for the clan! Archie, get everyone, no exceptions! I’ll let you know if we need help. Just keep your eyes peeled, okay? I’ve no idea how these rocks work. They might disrupt our communications in which case you’ll be the one making the decisions.”
“Got it,” he didn’t sound too thrilled.
Still, we had no choice. We couldn’t leave Yorm, no way. That was something we just couldn’t do.
Platinus arrived, accompanied by Togien and Gwain.
“You are not going anywhere,” I said to Gwain. “Your job is here, guarding the walls.”
Gwain heaved a sigh. “Yeah.”
“What’s up?” Togien asked, still clueless about the reason for our emergency sortie.
“Yorm is in trouble, I’m afraid. If we don’t help him now, he’ll get himself killed.”
“Sure! Let’s go and do it! What do you need the pick for?”
“Ever heard of the Veil of Silence?”
“Are you joking? Every dwarf knows about it.”
“The Reapers somehow managed to get to the Mountains Beyond the Clouds, broke up the charmed cliffs and brought a shitload of their fragments here.”
“To dampen our magic?”
“They’re trying to. The portal we set up for Yorm didn’t work. Neither did the Magic Eye we sent there.”
“Too bad. Actually, from what I head, the Veil of Silence was made using the magic of Earth.
That was useful. My Elemental Control ability just might help us solve this problem. Which meant we still needed a sample to experiment with.
“The thing is, I don’t think we can carry an entire fragment,” I said. “It’s probably very big. That’s why I want you to chip a piece off it.”
“No way. A pick won’t do that.”
“And if we first treat it with Disintegration Potion?”
Togien shrugged. “We could try, I suppose. Plats, what do you think?”
“I’ve got some Disintegration Potion concentrate,” the alchemist said, “plus a couple of new things I’ve been working on. It should work. If all else fails, at least we’ll destroy the fragment. That’s not so bad, is it?”
“I’d rather you brought back a sample so that we could study it.”
As I clued them in, the others were preparing for the sortie.
Kyle walked over to me and handed me his microchipped sword. “Take it. I’m sure you’ll need it.”
I slapped his shoulder. “Thanks, man. It’s all right. We won’t be long.”
I was a bit worried about Enea’s light gear. She had no protection at all.
“I’d like you to wear your scaly armor set,” I said. “Just in case we really can’t use magic.”
“Don’t worry. I believe in the power of Nature.”
“Enea, please.”
“Alex, I know what I’m doing. Trust me. All the vegetation near the magic damper is still nice and green. It hasn’t wilted. Which means that the aura of the Shrine of Nature still works there.”
“Very well. But please keep your armor at hand.”
“Actually, Yorm is doing a good job,” White said as he watched the unfolding scene.
“Guys, this is a trap,” Christa said, visibly nervous.
“I don’t think so. How could the Reapers have known what Yorm was going to do? They couldn’t have anticipated his attack. It all happened unexpectedly for them.”
“I’m not sure. Yorm is quite smart in his own way. He always knows when the sun is about to rise so he can take cover. And now all of a sudden he decided to go and take on a few Reapers?”
“Do you think they lured him there?”
“I’m sure of it. Also, how did he port there if they have those magic dampers installed? A teleport error should have pulverized him! This is a trap, I tell you.”
“Okay. So what if you’re right? What other options do we have? Should we just leave Yorm over there to turn into stone?”
“He’ll come back to life when the sun goes down again!”
“And how about those magic dampers which the Reapers are trying to install all around the castle? Should we ignore them too?”
“I agree with her,” White said. “They’re either trying to lure us out of the castle or it’s a diversion for something else.”
“So what do you suggest?”
He shrugged. “I just think we’re being too rash.”
“Maybe. Still, it’s the best we can do. Once Yorm turns into sto
ne, they’ll take him away. The Cargonite Golem will be their next target — and he does rely on the castle’s energy source. Once that’s out of the way, the elemental sequences will give up the ghost. Don’t argue with me. We need to destroy the magic stones and bring back a sample.”
Still, White was especially prudent today. “And what if the Reapers are drawing their main forces up and creeping around the castle even as we speak?”
I turned to Enea. “You think you could check that?”
“In a moment. Give me some time.”
She closed her eyes. A greenish glow formed around her in twilight, thin beams of light reaching out toward the growth of vegetation surrounding our island.
“There’s no ambush there,” she finally uttered. “There were thirty crossbowmen hiding in the vines. I’ve immobilized them.”
I nodded. “The sun is about to rise. Let’s go!”
* * *
We used a Mass Teleportation spell to move to the other bank of the large stream surrounding the castle.
“The area is clean,” Stephen’s voice encouraged us. “Potential enemy: fifty warriors who are fighting Yorm at the moment.”
The troll’s fierce roar was tearing through the morning twilight. The Reapers were killing him slowly but surely.
In the presence of the Veil of Silence, the icons of the magic abilities in my interface dimmed.
“Our connection with Nature is still strong,” Enea said, disproving my initial suspicion.
A rustling noise followed the sound of her voice as a multitude of creeping plants slithered toward the scene. They trailed along the ground, enveloping the rocks in their way.
And there he was, our Yorm, on a small island overgrown with greenery. We reached it safely and lunged at the Reapers.
They crumbled under pressure. Our levels were way out of their league.
“Yorm, you old sonovabitch! What possessed you to leave the castle?”
“The rock called me! Yorm can feel it! The power of the Earth!” the troll swung his club, pointing it toward a heap of large boulders lying on top of makeshift log rollers. Those of the Reapers who’d been busy shifting them had already scattered to safety.
“I want you to go back to the castle now!” I said. “The sun is about to rise!”
The exhausted wounded giant didn’t dare disobey me. He turned round and trudged back to the castle. The water in the stream had got so low it barely reached his waist.
“Alex, the enemy’s on the move,” Stephen’s voice resounded in the chat. “About two hundred riders coming your way from the direction of the wastelands. High-level Reapers. Range, fifteen hundred feet.”
“You break the magic dampers,” Enea exclaimed. “I’m gonna distract them!”
The powers of Nature obeyed her call. The wall of greenery stirred. The lithe vines reached out for each other, intertwining, until they formed a barrier impenetrable to the horses.
“The riders are dismounting,” Stephen reported. “They’re trying to hack their way through the plants but so far, without much success.”
Okay. What really worried me was the slow expiration of my magic abilities.
“Togien, Platinus, move it!” I ordered, then switched to the clan chat, “Arwan, you think your archers can cover us at this range?”
“We can try.”
A few arrows whistled overhead and stuck into the ground a bit further on.
“The flight is almost spent. I’m now gonna bring up all the archers who have unique bows.”
“Stand by and be ready. We might need your support any moment now. Poison all the arrows so that even the slightest graze can deal some damage. Trebuchet teams, zero in! Aim for the dry tree,” I added, setting up a marker.
Boulders shook the air overhead, hitting the water’s edge to the right of the island.
The trebuchets’ next volley proved more successful though, breaking a dry tree branch nearby.
“That’s good! Enough!”
Now even if the Reapers hacked their way through the green wall, they’d be showered with boulders and poisoned arrows.
“Archie, keep an eye for any other potential source of attack. This might well be only a diversion. Iskandar, tell your wizards to be on full alert. The moment we destroy the dampers, they can join in!”
It was getting hot here.
Togien’s pick hit the chunks of charmed cliffs in vain. All it did was strike off sparks. Platinus’ potions made the rocks emit a weak trail of fumes but that was the extent of it.
How on earth had the Reapers managed to farm them at all?
* * *
“The rocks are making a humming noise,” Platinus said. “They’re getting hot,” he snatched his hand away.
“I’m not surprised,” with a gentle sweep of her hand, Enea sent a weightless cascade of green sparks flying through the air. Almost immediately, the sparks expired.
“The magic dampers absorb the castle’s energy but they can’t handle such huge amounts of mana,” Enea explained. “They won’t last very long here.”
“In that case, why did they have to lug them all the way here?” Christa asked, casting watchful glances around. “Or was it supposed to be some kind of experiment?”
“They’re about to storm the castle,” White said confidently. “Even a small area free of magic might give them a decent fighting chance, allowing them to breach the walls and pour in.”
“That was made too easy for them,” Togien grumbled, working hard with his pick. “It won’t do anything!” he finally concluded.
“The riders are still trying to hack their way through,” Rodrigo reported, listening intently to the sounds coming from the thickets. “I don’t like it.”
He was visibly nervous — which was perfectly normal for a wizard suddenly stripped of all of the advantages of his class.
“Let’s just break these wretched rocks and get back quickly,” White agreed.
I glimpsed a vague outline which slid past at the far end of the clearing, disturbing the unhurried flow of the early morning mist.
Was it a ghost? Or just my nerves playing up?
“Give me a couple of minutes,” Enea walked confidently toward one of the humming, shuddering rocks. She crouched and touched the ground next to it.
“What’s that you’ve got, seeds?” Christa asked in surprise.
Enea flashed her an enigmatic smile. “Not exactly. These aren’t just any old seeds.”
“I don’t like this silence, it’s not normal,” Rodrigo looked around anxiously. “Have you ever experienced a silence this deep?”
He was right. All sounds seem to wither the moment they were born. The noise of the Reapers hacking through the thickets had died away. Even the birds had stopped singing. The only thing which sounded even clearer than before was the humming of the charmed rocks.
The rustling of the foliage stopped. The air hung motionless, pregnant with menace.
The blinding flash of an opening portal made us jump. A rider barged out of it. Still, White’s lightning reaction times didn’t even allow the Reaper to fully materialize. Lunging with his two-handed sword, White pierced the glowing image, disembodying the attacker.
A sad groan spread in the chilling air.
Portals began flashing non-stop.
None of us lost our cool. Rodrigo promptly disembodied another attacker with the tip of his staff. With a sweeping circular blow, Christa expired two more portals. Platinus hurled a few vials of Disintegration Potion at the Reapers who howled in agony when the acid burned through their armor.
Togien, however, was a bit too late. His pick pierced another Reaper’s helmet just as the enemy’s sword sliced through his own shoulder. The deep wound filled with the bluish haze of escaping neurograms.
The portals shut down. The earth hissed and bubbled where the drops of Disintegration Potion had touched it. The Reapers were gone like a sick illusion. Togien alone winced, pressing his hand to the wound.
�
�Help him!”
When we’d analyzed the logs after the Battle of Warblerford, we’d managed to work out that the first thing you needed to do when wounded by a microchipped sword was to promptly bring your health up to at least 80%. That alone would cause the wound to heal straight away. But it had to be done immediately. After just one minute, identity disintegration became irreversible.
“Alex, where are you going?”
“Dietrich must be here somewhere,” I said. “His retinue are the only ones who have microchipped swords. I order you to go back to the castle. White, make sure no one follows me.”
“Alex, please don’t!” Enea protested.
Too late. They’d been right all along. This was a trap.
A silent, intangible cocoon formed around me, enshrouding me and cutting me off from my friends.
* * *
I’d explored dozens of game worlds. I’d fought hundreds of PvPs ranging from the tragic to the ridiculous. Still, I couldn’t quite work out the nature of Dietrich, the First Reaper and the only human who’d thought of harvesting other people’s neurograms to build his own hybrid identity. He was rather a composite character who’d absorbed the features of many.
Once again the faint ghostly outline flashed past me. He definitely didn’t look as if he’d opted for humanity’s nobler traits.
“Come out!” I shouted.
The disturbed fallen leaves rose swirling in the air, then dropped again.
“What’s up, are you scared?” I continued. “Are you hiding from me? Are you so useless?”
My mockery achieved its goal. The surrounding darkness welled up, sucking the hazy outline into its spiraling vortex.
A figure rose before me, clad in dark runic armor streaming with magic auras.
The magic dampers didn’t seem to affect him. Most of my own abilities were still blocked — while Dietrich seemed to be able to use his just fine.
The First Reaper stood before me fully materialized, holding a heavy rectangular shield in one hand and a microchipped sword in the other. The visor of his helmet was closed.
The Reapers (The Neuro 3) Page 26