“We were able to stop one of the dwarves that he took. We have been giving him thorn apple. We think that Bergmann is trapped in the body. We have been dosing the other dwarf for a week, and there have been no attacks since,” Frau explained.
“This is good. If he is trapped in the body, then he hasn’t figured out how much power he has yet,” Phelim stated.
“Can you save Gefangen?” Frau asked the necromancer.
Phelim nodded his head. “I have a container. If I can lure the phantom out of the dwarf’s body, I can trap it in the container. Destroying it will be another matter, but that is something we can address once it is contained.”
“I have two questions,” Grizzle said, drawing the eyes of all of them.
“I will answer your questions if I can, King Stoneheart,” Phelim answered.
“”You said if you can lure Bergmann out of the dwarf’s body, but if the only way Bergmann knows how to escape a body is to kill it, then how can you lure him out without killing the dwarf?”
Phelim nodded as if he had expected the question. “I can create a link between the dwarf and the container. Once that link is created, I should be able to draw the phantom into the container.”
“And if you can’t?” Frau asked.
“Then the phantom will be freed. I will create a boundary around the dwarf, the container, and myself. If the phantom escapes, I will force him into the container. He will not be able to get away as long as the boundary is intact,” he explained.
“That answers my second question,” Grizzle said.
Phelim turned to Frau. “The sooner we begin, the better. Where should I begin preparing the boundary?”
Frau looked around the room. “You can do it here. I will have Gefangen brought here. What will you need?”
“I will need a crucible of molten gold. It will need to be enough to make a circle a finger’s width around the dwarf and myself. I will begin drawing out the boundary. Once you have brought the gold, I will pour the boundary and we can begin. I have already made the container and placed the runes. King Stoneheart about the materials when this is complete.” He looked toward Grizzle as he said this last part.
Grizzle nodded and turned to Frau. “Frau, go and get the dwarf Bergmann is trapped in. Grundel, go with one of the guards and get a cauldron and the gold needed. Take it to the King’s furnace in the chamber next to this one. Once it is heated, bring it here.”
Frau and Grundel shared a look as they exited the main hall and then they were on their way in different directions. They could have their time later. Now was the time to end the chaos that the Bergmanns had begun for good.
***
Bergmann heard footsteps approaching outside the room. After waiting a moment that seemed like an eternity, Frau Gemcutter came into the room with a dwarf on either side of her.
“Today is the day, Bergmann,” she said.
The statement was infuriating. Not only did it not give any hint as to what was going on, but she had hinted that she somehow had an advantage. On top of that, she had confirmed that she knew he was still trapped in this body. The body was unconscious. If she wasn’t completely sure, she was confident enough to speak to a comatose dwarf body and expect him to hear. The worst part about it all was that he had no idea what was going on. She could very well have the advantage, and there was nothing he could do. He had no idea how to escape this body. They had trapped him, and they had the ability to research. They could find out information about phantoms. He had no way of finding out about what he might be able to do while he was trapped in this body. He realized that he had made a huge mistake. Instead of exploring his power, he had immediately sought vengeance.
He may as well have been a dwarfling taking up his father’s axe to seek out vengeance on his murder. He was the little dwarf charging into battle with a weapon he wasn’t trained with. He had to escape. Once he did, he would have to be more careful. He would learn what he was capable of. Once he knew the full extent of his power, he would exact his revenge. The dwarves obviously had a plan in mind. He just had to find an opening. He would wait. Someone was bound to make a mistake, and when they did, he would be free of this fool dwarf’s body.
Chapter Twenty
The Necromancer’s Circle
Grundel stared into the furnace, watching as the flames danced up the side of the crucible, orange flames leaping over yellow, yellow flames leaping past the orange, all of them trying to make it through the stone crucible. The crucible hung from a steel rod with a large hole in the center. It grew wider toward the top until it rested inside the circle. Grundel let his gaze leave the dance of the flames and fall on the glowing metal inside the crucible. He could sit mesmerized by a fire for hours, but the fascination of melting metal usually happened very quickly. The metal would resist as long as it could, holding its shape until the last moment. Once the metal became too weak, it would collapse on itself and melt. He watched as the final piece of gold lost its fight with the heat. It was a thin gold rod that would have been used as an inlay for some ornamental piece. It folded first, bending near the bottom end until it fell into the molten gold pool and was absorbed.
He turned to the dwarf who had come with him. “Go see if the necromancer is ready.”
***
Jerrie watched as Phelim made his circle. First, he poured a line of sand a couple inches tall in a circle about six feet across. He then ran his finger through the center of the pile all the way around, creating a trench in the sand. He poured a small pile of sand in one spot and made a triangle. He then connected the trench to opposite sides of the triangle. A little further down, he poured another small pile. In this pile, he made a square and again ran his finger through the sand from the edge of the square, tying it into the trench. He did this three more times, making a five-pointed star, another square-like shape with six corners, and then a circle. Each of the shapes were linked into the main circle.
When he was finished, Phelim looked up at Jerrie. “There are a lot of people who make their symbols very complicated. In reality, the more symbols or runes you use, the stronger the magic will be, but it is also harder to sustain and more likely to fail.”
Jerrie stared at the circle of sand with the symbols drawn in it. “So you are just going to pour the gold in the trench?”
Phelim looked back at his circle. “Yes. The gold will create a permanent boundary. If I left it like it is, I could likely trap the phantom inside the circle, but I would risk damaging it. The circle itself, the phantom couldn’t touch, but if the circle is broken in any way, it loses its power. Many necromancers and wizards have lost control of powerful beings because they overestimated their circles. I have seen a number of circles done in chalk. One young necromancer I knew summoned a powerful demon into a circle made of chalk dust. The demon could not touch the circle itself, but he had wings. When he flapped his wings inside the circle, the dust was blown away and the circle was broken. The necromancer died. Since that day, I have never made a circle out of anything but gold. Steel and copper do not work as boundaries, and silver often retains energy created inside the boundary. Some wizards will create boundaries with silver. They will then summon beings of great power into them. When the beings try to use magic to escape the circle, the silver absorbs the magic. It is very dangerous, and in those cases the runes need to be very complicated, but once the beings are dismissed, the silver is latent with magical energy. That is why I use gold.”
Jerrie stared at the circle. “So you are sure you can keep Bergmann contained inside that circle?”
Phelim looked Jerrie in the eyes. “Nothing is ever certain when it comes to spirits.” Phelim looked around the room. Kraft and Grizzle were talking near the doorway. There were no other dwarves in the room at the moment. Rundo and Evelyn had gone to get something to eat. “Jerrie, anything can enter the circle, but spirits cannot escape while the circle is intact. This phantom is a king’s spirit, so it will be more powerful. Right now, the phantom doesn’
t know how much power it has. If it gets control of me and is able to access my mind, it could become nearly unstoppable. If it takes control of my body, you have to kill me immediately.”
The necromancer’s eyes were so dark they looked like his pupils had overtaken his irises. As Jerrie stared into those dark orbs, he felt as if they were pulling him in. “Don’t let him take your body, but if he does, I will make sure he doesn’t get to stay.”
Phelim looked Jerrie in the eyes again, but this time they weren’t the same. In that moment, Jerrie realized that the necromancer was scared. He wasn’t scared for his own life; he was scared of what would happen if he failed. This man was risking himself for them. He had hated this man because of what he did, but this was a good man. Jerrie realized that he had been judging him because he didn’t understand him. “I won’t let him take you.”
“Thank you,” Phelim answered.
The dwarf who had gone with Grundel came in and went straight over to Kings Stoneheart, and Kraft. “King Stoneheart, Grundel sent me to let you know the gold is smelted. I will go inform him when the necromancer is ready for him.”
Grizzle looked past the dwarf to the necromancer. “Phelim, are you ready for the gold?”
“The circle is ready. It just needs to be poured,” Phelim answered.
The dwarf turned and left the room without a word. Phelim turned back to the circle and inspected it one last time.
***
The dwarf returned a minute after leaving. “The necromancer is ready.”
Grundel went to one side of the furnace. The two dwarves worked without speaking. Metalworking was something every dwarf had to learn the basics of, even in Tiefes Loch. They each took hold of one end of the rods holding the crucible. Together they lifted the metal out of the furnace and carried it into the next room.
Grizzle, Kraft, Jerrie, and Phelim were all standing around the circle. Grundel and the dwarf soldier made their way to the circle. They immediately began pouring the gold into the circle rune. The gold filled the trench a little more than halfway around the circle before it started to slow.
Grundel and the other dwarf moved the crucible to the other side and began pouring the molten metal into the star. In seconds, the entire circle and all of the runes were filled with molten gold. Grundel stared down as the gold began to solidify. The surface hardened nearly as quickly as it had melted only minutes ago.
They all looked to the necromancer.
“It’s ready,” the necromancer said, a sinister undertone hanging on his words. He turned and faced Grizzle. “We can begin whenever the dwarf arrives.”
***
Queen Frau followed as two dwarves carried the incapacitated dwarf. The dwarf’s brother walked at her side. “If anyone can get Bergmann out, it will be the necromancer,” Frau said, trying to comfort the dwarf. She also was saying it to unnerve the phantom dwarf.
Bergmann heard everything Frau was saying. Grizzle and the others had gone and enlisted the aid of a necromancer. He wasn’t sure what the necromancer was capable of, but some part of him began to panic. He tried frantically to escape the body again when he was carried into the king’s hall. He saw the necromancer and knew that he was in trouble.
***
Jerrie watched as the dwarf Bergmann inhabited was carried into the room. Frau came in behind him, and a few moments later, Crissy came into the room. On her hip hung a hand axe. The dwarves were insisting that everyone carried a weapon just in case Bergmann inhabited a body. Everyone needed to be able to protect themselves.
Everyone stood in a big circle around the necromancer and the two dwarves holding the unconscious dwarf form.
Phelim turned to the two dwarves. “Set him inside the circle.” The two dwarves looked at the circle suspiciously. “The circle is not activated yet, and even if it were, it cannot hold a mortal form. That is not its purpose.”
The dwarves laid the other dwarf down inside the gold inlaid circle and quickly backed away. Phelim looked around the room. All of the dwarf leaders were standing around him. King Stoneheart, King Kraft, Queen Gemcutter, and the dwarf they all called Fuhrung, who was apparently about to become the new king of Tiefes Loch. Standing with them were Rundo and Evelyn. There were a few other dwarves he did not know and a paladin with one leg. He had been talking in the corner with King Stoneheart when Phelim finished the circle. Finally there were Crissy and Jerrie.
Phelim looked at Crissy who gave him a smile that made him uncomfortable. It seemed like it was meant to be supportive, but it was more discomforting. He smiled back weakly and turned to Jerrie, who nodded a silent understanding. He nodded back. The others all turned their attention to Jerrie, no doubt trying to determine what that was about.
Once Phelim was inside the circle, he immediately felt the presence of the phantom. He was both thrilled and fearful at the same time. He could feel the power and the anger of the dwarf king. If he failed, it could be catastrophic for not just the dwarves, but also the entire world. A phantom with this much power could create mass havoc for decades, if not centuries, before it was stopped.
Phelim looked back at Grizzle. “It is time. Once I began the rituals, I cannot stop. I will activate the circle so the phantom cannot escape. After that, I will force him into the container. If something were to happen and he is not trapped in the container, the circle will prevent him from escaping.”
From the looks he got, he could tell they all understood what he left unsaid. If things did not work out, he and the dwarf inside the circle would likely not be able to escape. If the phantom took one of their bodies, the body would not be able to escape the circle. He gave Jerrie one final glance before kneeling down and placing his fingertips on the gold circle. It was time to stop this creation of Delvidge for good.
Chapter Twenty-one
The Road to Patria
King Patria had been on the road for three days now. He could have slept in the back of the cart, but he chose to sleep on the ground next to it. He didn’t mind sleeping on the ground. He also liked the breeze coming through. When he was in the back of the cart, the small walls blocked the breeze. He felt like he was slowly suffocating back there. Even laying there at night, his clothes would be soaked in sweat. By the time the moon was high in the sky it was cold though, and this left everyone shivering. Nearly every one of his men had offered him blankets and animal capes over the last few nights. He had politely declined each of them. He would not take away the comfort of another man to make himself more comfortable.
He woke in the middle of the night because he had been lying on one side. His left arm had been trapped between his body and the ground. Now it was all tingly, and he could barely get his fingers to respond. He rolled over to his other side and saw something moving in the darkness less than a dozen paces away. The fire had died to a gentle glow and whatever was moving in the darkness was avoiding the light provided by the dying fire. He let his eyes close nearly all the way, making himself seem like he was going back to sleep. He watched through squinted eyes as the figure in the darkness moved toward him.
After a few more seconds, he had identified that it was a person, and they were coming for him. His hand slid to the knife at his side under the coyote cape he had been using as a blanket. The man was standing over him now. He heard the sound of steel sliding free of leather, but all he could see were the man’s feet and lower legs now. He didn’t wait for the man to ready his weapon, his hand shot up and he ran the blade of his dagger along the tendon behind the man’s foot. The man hit the ground with a thud, screaming in agony. Patria crawled on top of the man and drove his dagger in his skull. The men who had been sleeping around him were on their feet in an instant.
“To arms!” Patria shouted as another half-dozen men came charging toward him out of the darkness.
He shifted his dagger to his left hand and drew his sword with his right. His men were moving to him, forming a half circle in front of him. The cart was at his back. A crossbow bolt whistled past. A
t first he thought it had missed, but after a few seconds, the burning came. He pushed the pain down and focused on the moment. If he let himself be distracted by the pain, he would make a mistake.
He let everything fall away just like his arms master had taught him as a boy. The world was distant. All that was left was his sword and his enemies. The first men to get close were easily cut down by the half-dozen men who had come to his aide. More came out of the darkness though. In the time it took him to realize he was holding his breath, there were more men coming for him than defending him.
He heard the clang of steel around the camp. His men were fighting all around him. One soldier held off two attackers. The attackers were both in all black and each was attacking with a saber and a dagger. The soldier was keeping them at bay, but just barely. Patria thrust his sword forward, coming just under the soldier’s blocking sword. His attacker’s sword had been coming down, and now Patria’s sword came in at his open stomach. The man’s stomach opened, releasing a terrible stench as the man’s stomach poured its half-digested contents on the ground in front of him.
The soldier, having only one opponent now, had the upper hand and his attacker soon took to the defense. Patria left the soldier to it and shifted to another soldier who was facing off against two attackers. This time, he time he dropped low, sliding his sword past the soldier’s leg. His blade clipped off of bone as it bounced off the attacker’s shin. The man stumbled back. The soldier pressed, thrusting forward and driving his sword into the other man’s chest. The other attacker was taking advantage of the soldier’s attack, bringing his sword across faster than the soldier would be able to free his sword from the other man’s chest.
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