by Sever Bronny
“You don’t know him,” Leera said in exasperated tones. “And it’s you that’s brainwashed. The entire kingdom is.”
The boy lay there a moment before replying. “What’s more likely, that an entire kingdom is brainwashed … or just you three?”
“The bigger the lie the more people believe it,” Bridget said quietly. “My father told me that.”
The boy shook his head sadly at them. “A shame. You will be dead and I will live forever.”
Leera snorted. “What, through Ley?” She pointed her cheese at him. “You can’t take eternal life back with you. Besides, Leyan lives are ridiculously boring. Picture standing in a windy desert for, like, a hundred years, staring at nothing. The most exciting thing you see is sunrise. That’s the only way to live for a long time, by reaching some dull nirvana or something.”
“We watched someone return from Ley,” Augum said. He recalled holding his great-grandfather in his arms, feeling the breath leave his body. “He aged before our eyes, dying within days. You really can’t take that lifespan back with you.”
Jonathan kept shaking his head. “False memories. Lies. You know not what you speak. And why should eternity only belong to a few?”
“This is pointless,” Leera said, extending her hand in readiness to cast another spell.
The boy closed his eyes. “Do what you must, but my family is starving in Blackhaven because of you.”
Leera curled her hand into a fist. “Ugh, seriously?”
“The Lord of the Legion cannot elevate his followers until he completes the Great Quest. When you return the last scion and the Agonex, he will open a portal to Ley. Only then will he be able to reward those most loyal to him.”
“Your family is starving because he’s been robbing the kingdom to fund his wars,” Bridget said. “He’s taken the fieldworkers for his armies. He’s wiped out entire villages!”
The boy’s head never stopped shaking. “You are so lost and brainwashed, I almost feel sorry for you.”
“The only eternal life you’ll be allowed is as an undead minion,” Augum said. “Serving ‘His Lordship’.” He said the last words in a mocking tone. “It’s necromancy. Think about it.”
“Necromancy is nothing more than mastery over death. His Lordship has taught us that only when you conquer your fear of death do you open your heart to the possibility of eternal life.”
Augum’s muscles tightened. “At the sacrifice of everybody else!”
“Sacrifices have to be made in great pursuits.” Jonathan, this small necrophyte boy they had heard casually kidding around in the Supper Hall, turned his flat gaze upon Augum. “You three and the crone will be captured or killed. It’s only a matter of time.”
Bridget’s hand shot out. “Flustrato—” and the boy went dumb again. “Sorry, couldn’t take it anymore.”
Augum rubbed his face, suddenly feeling tired. “Well that was depressing.”
“I saw all three of them in the library,” the boy mumbled. “Oh, eternity? I would be most grateful, Your Esteemed Lordship …”
Bridget watched as he rolled around in the grass, mumbling to himself. “Father told me that an idea could be completely made up of absurd nonsense, but as long as it’s popular and repeated often enough, people will believe it.”
“They’re called fanatics, aren’t they?” Leera threw away the stub of her carrot in aggravation. “I’d just call them loons seeing as no amount of proof will change their minds.”
The trio sat in contemplative silence for a bit before gathering themselves in readiness for the memory wipe quest. Bridget cast Confusion one more time on the boy before Augum and Leera lugged him up, placing his arms around their necks. They dragged him to the top of the hill where they stopped to survey the ever-dimming cavern.
“You wanted to know about the guard situation?” Leera said, nodding at the distant entrance. “Well, there it is.”
Before the great double doors were the dim outlines of two wraiths and five walkers. The obstacle course was nearby and it was going to take some sneaky prowling to get there without being noticed.
“Guess they didn’t appreciate having one of their wraiths and a bunch of walkers taken out,” Augum noted. He nodded at the giant rickety-looking house with exterior perches. “If we get to the back of that house, we can skip across to the stone maze.”
“And behind the maze is the obstacle field,” Bridget said. “I’ll lead.” Ducking, she slipped behind an exotic multi-colored bush. She peeked out and beckoned them over. She repeated this pattern from bush to tree, tree to ruined pillar, pillar to a cobble bridge, and then to the back of the old house.
“Flustrato,” Augum said after laying the boy down. Jonathan gave a grunt, eyes wandering.
“I think there’s some kind of cumulative effect happening to him,” Bridget whispered.
“Huh?” Leera said.
Augum had noticed it too. “Spell is more effective with each casting.”
“Oh.” Leera frowned. “Right, look at how his tongue is lolling about.”
Yet another one of the many peculiarities of arcanery Augum did not understand.
They hauled the boy up. Bridget peeked around the corner and soon zipped across to the maze. She looked again, holding her palm up to stop them. Suddenly she waved furiously and Augum and Leera ran with Jonathan flopping between them. One of the boy’s legs suddenly caught between Augum’s. They stumbled and fell the last few strides, rolling into Bridget. Augum’s hand clamped across the boy’s mouth just as a distant squeal echoed, followed by furious clacking.
Bridget dared a peek and paled. She glanced around, gesturing behind them and whispered, “The maze! Go, go, go!”
They scrambled into the dim entrance, choosing to go right. The maze had tall crude masonry covered with moss and lichen. The torches had gone out, forcing them to light their palms. As they chose random passages, they could hear the frantic sprinting of the walkers.
“They’re inside,” Bridget whispered. “Let’s try this way.” She led them into a wide but straight corridor, at the end of which was a section of charred tiles. Each of the tiles had a letter and was just large enough for a single person to step on. On the other side was an old plank door with the symbol of a broken cup.
“Take him, I know this one,” Leera said, leaving Augum to hold up Jonathan on his own. “It’s the name of the Repair spell,” and she stepped on the letter R, only to receive a nasty shock that made her recoil.
“Try the trigger word—” Bridget said, glancing over her shoulder.
Wincing, Leera hopped onto the letter A. When nothing happened, she hopped to P, then R, E, Y, and finally O. A latch sprung and the door opened with a creak.
“Hurry—fly him across with Telekinesis,” Augum said. They concentrated, hands out. Augum quickly felt the boy’s weight leave his shoulders. Jonathan gurgled a moan as his limp body floated across the tiles. Just as he floated through the open door, Leera slammed her wrists together, shouting, “ANNIHILO!” A sharp jet of water shot past Augum and Bridget’s heads, slamming into a clacking walker. The undead creature smashed into the floor, skidding onto the tiles. Augum and Bridget had to jump to let it sweep underneath. It immediately began flopping around and smoking as miniature lightning bolts attacked it. Black smoke began to bellow out as if from a giant steaming kettle, along with a horrible smell that immediately took Augum back to that harrowing episode in Sparrow’s Perch.
“You go,” Augum said between coughs, sleeve over his mouth. Bridget nodded behind her own sleeve, eyes watering from the acrid smoke. Meanwhile, he turned to face the corridor entrance, hands in attack formation, trying to ignore the pain in his head. After training all evening, he had finally strained his arcane stamina with that last Telekinesis casting. His head now felt like there was a miniature demon inside it clawing at his brain. Behind him, he could hear Bridget yelp as she jumped from tile to tile while trying to avoid the burning bones.
A walker sho
t around the corner. “ANNIHILO!” Augum shouted, but it moved so quick he missed. He barely had time to raise his hard lightning shield as it slammed into him. Luckily his training paid off—he leaned into the hit and prevented the walker from bowling him over. The stabbing in his brain quickly sharpened as the walker beat on the shield with rabid ferocity. Augum refused to allow his shield to fail, grunting with the strain of arcane concentration combined with the physical effort of pushing against something with supernatural strength.
“Duck on two!” Bridget yelled. “One, two, ANNIHILO!”
Augum ducked just as his shield failed, but not before the walker caught him with a ferocious hook to the jaw, instantly breaking it. Its skull exploded an instant later and the creature fell to the ground in a heap.
Augum couldn’t help dropping to a knee, eyes welling with tears of pain, a grating sound coming from his jaw. Come on, seriously? This couldn’t have happened at a worse time. He wanted to scream from the frustration of it but was prevented by the grating sharpness.
A hiss came from the corridor, quickly growing louder.
“Wraith behind you!” Leera screamed.
Augum stood, trying to focus on the tiles, but his eyes were so watery he could barely see. There—there was the A! He jumped and wobbled, arms flailing for balance.
“What’s the matter with you, hurry—!” Leera shouted.
Augum found the next one, P. Behind him came the sound of thudding steps. He skipped from the R to the E as the hiss quickly approached, finally the Y and on to the other side where the girls yanked him through the door, slamming it shut. It immediately received a hard thwack, but held. Bridget and Leera slid to the floor, wincing and panting. There were repeated squeals and an angry hiss from behind the door. It sounded like the tiles were attacking the wraith. The hiss soon faded.
“It’s going to look for another way around,” Leera said.
Meanwhile, Augum groaned beside Jonathan, who was coming to. He raised his arm to cast Confusion on him again, but decided against it. He supposed it wouldn’t have helped—he had already pushed his arcane stamina to a dangerous degree.
Bridget’s hand shot to her mouth. “Aug, your face!”
“Runshed me!”
“What?”
Augum made a punching gesture at his own jaw. “Droken.”
Leera shot to his side. “It’s broken? No!”
“I’re bre fine. Ret’s go.” His jaw felt like it was made of a bunch of sharp rocks, and the area was swollen and tender. Breathing was difficult and he tasted blood in his mouth, but he’d work through it and find a way to heal it later.
“We got him, you lead,” Leera said, grabbing the boy with Bridget.
Thoroughly lost, Augum led them through a series of random twists and forks in the maze, until coming up to a corridor carved with three separate runic bands that ran along the floor and up the walls, each band separated by about four strides. He tentatively stepped over the first one, instantly feeling a tingling sensation in his brain he recognized as a Fear attack. He estimated the strength to be about 5th degree. Strong, but not unmanageable. He opened his jaw to warn the girls but gasped at the intense pain. Leaning against the wall for support, he gestured weakly at the ribbon, then at his own head.
“Brace for mind attack spells,” Bridget said.
The girls made it over the first band okay, but Jonathan’s eyes widened and he started screaming. From various nearby places in the maze came the sound of hissing and clacking, combining into a gruesome symphony. The girls jumped as they heard a frantic scratching at the wall just beside them.
Augum couldn’t read the runes of the next band through his tears of pain. His hands were curled so tightly into fists that his nails were drawing blood. He steeled himself and passed through, feeling another familiar 5th degree attack, except this time his weakened arcanery failed and he instantly went deaf. He gestured at his ears to warn the girls before waving them over. The girls carried a shrieking Jonathan through.
Augum turned his attention to the final band, already suspecting the spell that awaited him. He steeled himself once more and stepped over the band. His thoughts immediately jumbled as if someone had picked up the lot and smashed them against a wall. There were somewhat familiar faces nearby, but why were they there? Their mouths were moving, yet for some reason, he couldn’t hear anything. His vision was blurry and the lower part of his head felt like a bag of hot coals.
Right—they were supposed to be moving! He should nod and smile that he understood that. Don’t want to look stupid, do we?
As soon as he did so, however, an excruciating heat flashed through his jaw, forcing him to lean against the wall. All right, bad idea. He twisted around on his heel. The girls had moved ahead, gesturing for him to follow. Was that the right way? Maybe they should have gone the other way. Why was it so hard to make sense of everything? Maybe he was supposed to go through those bands. Or had he already crossed them? It would be wise to test one, just in case.
His sleeve was yanked by that familiar pretty girl with a smattering of freckles. Why was she scared? Maybe if they went back she wouldn’t be scared. He stopped her, hoping to somehow communicate they should go back. Instead, she grabbed him and dragged him along. Ahead, two people looked like they were playing some kind of wrestling game.
SCHWOOM.
Suddenly sound and logic hit him like a boulder. The sensation was so powerful he flinched, sending a stab of pain through his jaw and down his spine. What in Sithesia had he been doing? Bridget was fighting Jonathan and Leera was holding onto him as if he had lost his mind! He instantly realized both of them had also reached their arcane stamina limits.
“BAKA!” the boy shouted, slamming Bridget against the wall. She hit her head and fell to the ground, clutching it.
“Ram frine, herp her—” There was little he could do without speaking properly, but he was confident Leera could handle Jonathan. She nodded and shot off, quickly tackling the small boy in a whirl of necrophyte robes.
Augum ran to Bridget. “Rou rokay?”
She took her hand away from the top of her head. There was blood on her fingers. They locked eyes, conveying the seriousness of the moment. She swallowed but signaled she was all right. “Come on,” she said, allowing him to help her up.
They ran to the struggling pair, and soon the girls had a hold on the boy again. Augum focused through the stabbing pain and once again led the group. The passages snaked this way and that. He avoided one with an obvious floor trap composed of rusted iron stakes, and another with a water pit and a golem. Last thing they needed was more underwater fighting. Finally, he spied a giant slab pierced with holes. It blocked a dimly lit wheat field. Carved into the wall beside the slab was a crude depiction of a warlock making a shoving gesture at the slab.
Augum knew he and Leera did not have the strength to do it, but Bridget, having rested just long enough, might. He pointed at the carving and jerked on her sleeve.
“I’ll try,” she said. A sliver of blood had run down her forehead and dripped from her nose. She did not seem to notice, and let Leera and Augum handle the boy, who struggled in their grip.
“Let go of me, you brainwashed gutterborn scum!” the boy cried, aiming a punch for Augum’s jaw. Luckily Augum caught it and bent his arm back. If the punch had connected …
“Vikari vika—” but the boy wasn’t allowed to finish the vicious little necromantic spell as Leera’s hand clamped over his mouth.
“BAKA!” Bridget shouted and the slab bounced a little out into the field, leaving a gap the width of a hand.
“Again, Bridge!” Leera said. Behind them, a hiss echoed off the walls, closing in fast.
“BAKA!” Bridget shouted again, screaming after and clutching her head. “Can’t … do … more …”
The slab had bounced another couple finger lengths, but not enough for any of them to squeeze through. Augum let Jonathan go, hoping Leera could handle him alone, and raced to it and
pushed, but it was like trying to move a mountain. He suspected only arcanery could actually have any effect, and specifically only the Push spell.
Bridget, who had been on her knees, suddenly made a squeak and frantically crawled toward the slab. An oversized claw emerged from around the corner. Soon a massive warped skull with vacant holes for eyes peeked into the passage. When the wraith saw them, it assumed a low attack profile. Its jaw opened and it hissed. Black goop dripped onto the flagstone.
Leera, who had her arm around Jonathan’s neck, whipped him around. “Tell it to go away!”
“NO!”
“Tell it to go away or I throw you at it!” She gave him a sharp jerk, fear cracking her voice. “NOW—!”
“All right, all right!”
The wraith bolted forward.
“ADAI!” Jonathan shouted just in time, and the wraith halted mere feet away, its body wavering menacingly over them.
“Necro dodai!” Jonathan pointed firmly. “Onto! Necro onto!”
The wraith watched him with the malevolent expression of something that had been denied a meal, but it steadily retreated, soon disappearing around the corner.
“Take him,” Leera said. Bridget and Augum grabbed the boy. Leera stared the slab down, blood dripping from her nose. “This is going to suck.” Her shoulders heaved a few times before she shoved at the air before her. “BAKA!” The giant stone slab bounced a few more finger lengths as she collapsed onto Augum’s other arm, whimpering and clutching her head.
“I got him, go!” Bridget said.
Augum squeezed through the gap with a groan, then helped a writhing Leera do the same. He had to lay her down so he could help Bridget, who awkwardly slithered through the gap while holding onto Jonathan’s torso. But the boy had found a grip—his hands curled around the edge of the slab, forcing them to pull on his legs in a tug of war.
“Let go!” Bridget shrieked.
“NO!”
Suddenly the slab started to return to its position with a grinding sound.
“Let go or it’ll squish you!”