Delver Magic Book III: Balance of Fate

by Jeff Inlo

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  Sazar stood at the outskirts of Pinesway. A gigantic shag crouched uneasily at the serp’s side, but it made no attempt to join the carnage or kill the goblin that stumbled toward them.

  Sazar did not wait for a report, as he already knew what had transpired. In essence, he was seeing it now from the thoughts of his minions that he controlled and had ordered to attack this inviting target. He spoke an order to the apparently confused goblin with a hypnotizing tone.

  “Now that we have made our presence known, secure that large building to my right, the one just past the main road’s entrance into the town. Do you see the one I mean?”

  The goblin looked almost bewildered at the serp.

  Sazar glared into the goblin’s glassy eyes.

  “Point to the building,” the serp commanded.

  The goblin did so and pointed to the correct structure.

  With that, Sazar nodded. “Very good. Now go.”

  The serp took several steps in different directions as he peered across what was left of Pinesway. He listened carefully to what he could hear and focused on images that flashed through his mind. These images came from the minds of several goblins. He kept an active link to their minds throughout this first phase of the battle. His forward assault force made substantial progress through the town, catching many of the small time thieves unprepared for the onslaught. The thieves would be killed on sight, their bodies would eventually be plundered for treasure and weapons once certain strategic points were secured.

  That would occur later. Right now he demanded an overwhelming forward movement by his forces, a blitz that would take a U-shaped form around the edges of the town and eventually swing around the back end. When this was accomplished, he would have Pinesway encircled and escape cut off.

  As Sazar contemplated the initial progress of his assault, he grinned with appreciation. The screams he heard in the distant matched the bloody images that flashed through his mind. His goblins moved forward unopposed, not that Sazar expected any opposition. His hook hawk scouted the town for many days before this assault. He knew Pinesway held little more than riffraff and thieves—the dregs of human society that would not stand and fight but rather flee from a superior enemy. The ensuing panic that now gripped this town confirmed his assumptions. These thieves posed no real threat to him or his minions.

  These same humans, however, collected the spoils of looting escapades over many weeks, and Sazar knew the value of obtaining this treasure. This is why he targeted this abandoned town in the first place. The human bandits did the work for him, pillaging empty houses, plundering town stores, attacking wayward travelers that stumbled unaware into this place and relieving them of their valuables. Sazar now coveted these valuables. They could be sold and traded to other unscrupulous humans for the tools and weapons his minions lacked the talent to create for themselves. He could buy food that would entice other dark creatures to his side, close enough for him to weave his mind controlling spell over them and increase the size and power of his army.

  Mostly, however, he wanted Pinesway for his own. The buildings would serve as suitable quarters for a multitude of goblins that he could keep close by. If he could keep the goblins fed and near his presence, then he could maintain control over them. It was when they were scattered, when his minions ventured too far in the distance, that was when his hold was least tenable and when he lost most of his troops. By utilizing Pinesway as a headquarters, he could keep this from occurring. Goblins by the hundreds would flock to his town for free food and shelter and ultimately to serve him. That is why he now stood at the entrance of this place that the humans abandoned.

  “All goes well,” the serp snickered. “The humans panic and they run for cover. They stupidly run for the sanctuary of their own hidden shelters. They will lead us to the supplies they looted for themselves. In the very chaos I create, I will obtain all that I want.”

  He snickered again as he moved toward the building he had ordered the goblin scout to secure. He motioned for the massive shag to follow as he inhaled the smell of blood and terror in the air.

  Sazar found the chaos invigorating. He didn’t need order to control his minions—just the opposite. Unfettered chaos held great advantages for him. The pandemonium kept those under his control from ever clearing their minds, not that the minds of goblins, shags or the other monsters under his control could ever be accused of being complex. Still, simplicity led to simple desires as well as simple fears. Desire offered one stimulus and fear another. Chaos kept these dark creatures from seeing a clear path to their own needs, kept them from wiping away the confusion that cluttered their dark, twisted minds, and it fed the fear that made them easier to control.

  The human targets of his raids also felt the fear of chaos. With shouts and cries ringing from every corner, with screams of terror filling the air along with the smoke from surrounding fires, few of the remaining humans in this town would organize into a dangerous party. Instead, they would cower in dark corners or run in panic, and thus create more confusion and feed the frenzy.

  The only real difficulty with such turmoil was keeping the hook hawk from grabbing goblins as prey. Hook hawks with their gnarled talons and bent necks flew more like swirling boomerangs in a tornado. Their curved bodies allowed them to circle and swerve with razor quickness and they easily snatched that which moved in the same type of haphazard frenzied direction. Those that ran in straight paths could often avoid a hook hawk, but goblins tended to run in mindless patterns and were thus the perfect prey.

  Still, it was good to get a high overview of any skirmish, and Sazar could see what his minions saw. The loss of a few goblins here and there was small enough sacrifice. The hook hawk circling above gave him the perfect perspective for ascertaining the overall movements and progress of his ground forces.

  Far better than the hook hawk, however, was the perception he gained from the rock beetle under his control. Now here was a creature that Sazar truly appreciated. The rock beetle did not rely on sight as it spent most of its time just under the surface of the ground. Rock beetles utilized their other senses. They could pick up a scent that originated from a great distance even when it had to be absorbed through layers of soil. And smell was not the only sense that was heightened to compensate for the beetle’s dark underground world. They could isolate and distinguish sounds that most other animals could not even perceive. When linked with a rock beetle, Sazar could hear well beyond even what a hook hawk could see.

  A rock beetle, however, did more than just hear sounds. It felt vibrations, felt them like a spider feels a victim trapped in its web. The beetle could sense movement in all directions and at distances almost too far to believe. The ability to seize upon this incredible sense allowed Sazar to actually physically experience the battle as it occurred, and this was beyond invigorating.

  Through the beetle, Sazar felt the forward movements of his own minions as well as the horrified retreat of those humans still in Pinesway. Beyond that, the beetle’s senses actually allowed Sazar to sense the pulse of the battle. It was more than smelling, hearing or feeling. It was a deep perception of tremor and vibration. The serp became aware of the twang of each goblin crossbow, the thundering step of his shags, and every dull thud of a human body that crumbled to the ground. These palpable sensations allowed him to actually taste the crippling fear and chaos as he placed these sensations in context with the images that flashed in his mind.

  “This is turning out to be a delightful day,” the serp hummed in enjoyment as he stepped up to the building he had previously pointed out. He stepped inside past two other goblins that stood guard at the door. These creatures instinctively backed further off to the sides when the hulking shag tried to enter.

  The hairy monster was not meant to enter human sized buildings and it twisted, turned, crouched and bent in an attempt to fit through the door. The wood of the frame began to crack and splinter.

  “Stay outside,” Sazar commanded. �
��Wait at this spot and do not move from it.”

  The shag immediately ceased its efforts to obtain entry into the building and stood like a statue just outside the now somewhat mangled door frame.

  “This will serve as my lair until a more appropriate setting is discovered and secured. For now it will suffice.” Sazar then turned to the goblins that waited at the door. “Patrol the exterior of this building continuously until I tell you otherwise. Do not engage in any battles or attempt to loot any buildings. Simply circle this building over and over and watch everything that is in your view. Go.”

  Sazar quickly mouthed a spell and a gray, misshapen, jagged star of energy appeared above his head. It crackled with energy and then dissolved, but he now had an even more direct link with the two goblins that patrolled his new home. His spells were usually weak and the magical energy he could draw on to cast them was limited, but certain spells could assist him in maintaining a better level of security. With this new spell, his link went beyond the fact that he could see what they see. Now, he was linked to their instincts as well. If they felt threatened, he would feel threatened.

  Turning his attention back to the battle, he voiced new commands that he sent telepathically to his reserve minions waiting at the outskirts of town. He commanded them to enter the town and reinforce the forward goblins and fall into positions at several crossroads. He would seal off sections of town in mere moments and press his goblins further around the edges of Pinesway. It wouldn’t be long before he had the town surrounded with his forces.