by D. W.
“What do you mean they are limited in their use of magic?”
“I must admit the loss of your history is becoming quite annoying. I do hope you humans are able to destroy the blight of the Brotherhood and begin to regain your past. Each race has an element that it is linked to with the exception of the humans. Dwarves are linked to the earth, Vathari are linked to the darkness and so on. There is no Vathari that can draw from the earth elemental. Likewise our enchantments are limited in the same way. That is one of the reasons humans were always a worthy foe they were the embodiment of chaos. While we are slaves to our gods you are free of all chains except the ones you decided to burden yourselves with.”
“You have gods?” Thad asked shock clearly evident in his voice and on his face.
“I believe I might have said too much there, but it has been so long since any of our race has talked to one of yours. Be that as it may, I will have to leave you for the night it seems our time is up and I do have many other things to do this day. Good hunting human, may your blade find the flesh of your enemies’ before theirs find yours.”
Sae-Thae disappeared along with the room around him in a flash leaving Thad alone within the recesses of his own mind. Last time after his visit with the Vathari he had woken up right afterword but now he simply floated in his own mind. This time he was left simply floating in the darkness with nothing around.
Sae-Thae had been able change the surrounding easily so Thad wondered if he could do the same. Fixing the picture of his room back in the palace Thad waved his hand and suddenly he was surrounded by the familiar sights he had been missing. The only thing better would have been if the princess was there to tease him.
Sitting down on the corner of the bed Thad started to think about what he had learned during his meeting with the Vathari. Most of it was useless in a battle but still very interesting. The fact that they were limited to using the darkness element was something he was sure he could use to his advantage though at the moment he was unsure of how.
There was one thing he knew if he only had to protect against magic made with the darkness element that would still leave him with a great deal of room to work. He still had no idea how to make a shield to block magical effect but it was something to work on.
Sitting on the bed he began to think about the different way to counteract magic that might be used against him when what he was truly doing hit him. He was sitting in his own dream working. It was slightly disturbing but also useful at the same time. If he could learn to do this at will then when he was pressed for time he could work even while he slept. It wasn’t perfect as there might be some carryover from his subconscious mind into the effects of his magic but it still left him room to contemplate.
Kicking back on the bed Thad started running through ideas that might be useful against a mage or priest. Though he was still unsure of how a priest differed from a mage he hoped that their magic could be countered in the same way.
CHAPTER XVII
Thad and Crusher had stayed in their base for over two days planning out their next attack. At night when he slept Thad had hoped for another meeting with Sae-Thae but it had not come. He had also tried and failed to enter his own dream world both nights. On what little time he wasn’t working on enchantments or tying new spells Thad looked through his magical eyes.
The Vathari had become more active and had begun to actively search for them. He had also noticed a few of the robed Vathari walking around. It was hard to notice them but there was a subtle heat change depending on where their clothing rubbed against their skin. The weapons they carried had also begun to vary, and he had noticed something that he hadn’t before. Some weapons had different heat signatures than others. Thad knew that some of that was caused by the metal the weapon was made of but for the drastic differences in some of them he could only guess that they were of magical in nature.
He couldn’t really prove his theory without tracking down one of the weapons and slaying its owner so he could study it at his leisure. It was a good idea but at the moment it seemed incredibly risky for such a small goal. He had his own weapons to check on but neither of them showed a huge change in their heat compared to the ones he was seeing through the magical eye.
The magic eye in the Vathari city was hung up in what he believed was Sae-Thae’s study. It had the same look as the one from his dream. It was even well lit with large books and scrolls strewn about in a disorderly fashion. It was more than a little surprising to see such a well-lit place deep in the underground. The other places he had seen had been lit but only dimly, barely allowing him to see more than the basic definition of the things around him without the use of his nightsight.
There hadn’t been a whole lot of activity in the magical eye hung up in Sae-Thae’s study but he had caught a few glimpsesof the Vathari mage. The view of the room did allow him one advantage though. The magical eye was positioned so that he could easy see a book that was laid out on the mage’s table. It was written in standard and it detailed the events around the beginning of the Fae War. The first day he had read the page five times trying to commit the knowledge to memory. The second day when he had looked at it, the page had been changed. He wasn’t sure if Sae-Thae was doing it for his benefit but he could see no other reason to account for it.
Thad hadn’t spent all his time idle, while he waited for their next move he had come up with a few surprises of his own to use against the Vathari. Nothing overly complex but he had learned that simple had less of a chance of backfiring when he was messing with unknown elements. The only real problem was that all his weapons were based on the light element meaning that it took a lot longer for them to fully charge.
Thad was glad they were finally back in the tunnels. One could only stay cooped up for so long before it started to get to them. Not to mention they were beginning to run low on food. Crusher had tried to sneak out the day before to get some but the Vathari had been too thick for him to safely secure any food.
Today their outing was more out of need than anything. If they couldn’t secure food then soon they would find themselves in dire straits. They were moving under one of Thad’s new spells that put up a shield that mimicked the heat signatures of the rocks around them. It wasn’t perfect but unless the enemy was really looking they should be able to pass unnoticed.
Thus far the spell had worked great and they had even passed close enough to one group of Vathari that Thad was sure they could have taken them out easily before anyone was the wiser. He had resisted the urge but was more than curious to try it out soon to see if it would work.
It didn’t take long to reach the herd of weird creatures. The only problem was that they weren’t the only ones there. The Vathari had a small group of soldiers guarding the animals. It was obvious they had culled a few for their own use, as the herd was nearly half the size it had been on his last visit.
There were a little over a dozen enemies in the cavern with the animals and only a few of them were grouped together in more than pairs. Normally that would be good for them but now that meant that it made it nearly impossible to steal one of the creatures without being exposed. As close as some of the Vathari were coming to them Thad was happy that the new necklace around Avalanches neck allowed her to move around silently by absorbing the sound her movements made on the stone floor.
Crusher tapped Thad on the shoulder and pointed at Avalanche then at the Vathari and made a clamping motion with his hands. After Thad nodded his head Crusher pointed at Thad then moved his hand over his face then pointed at the other soldiers. The first motion was easy he wanted Avalanche to attack but the second one was a little harder to grasp. After a few seconds Thad started to get Crusher’s plan.
Getting Avalanche to attack was simple she was always ready for a little play. Bending down Thad slapped the side of her head and pointed at the two Vathari that stood at the farthest tunnel entrance away from where they stood. She took off like a horse making it hard for Thad to keep the camouflage s
hield up around her.
The second Avalanche bent down ready to jump Thad let the shield drop. He was rewarded with the surprised screams of the first Vathari to feel Avalanche’s sharp teeth. The other Vathari rushed to the aid of their comrade. Thad still had to keep the shield up for both him and Crusher as the dwarf moved off to get their food. It wasn’t easy but thanks to his staff it wasn’t impossible as he moved around to get in a few strikes on the unsuspecting Vathari warriors.
The strain from his continued spells was growing rapidly the farther away Crusher moved. Trying to focus on his own job as well as keeping the spells active Thad walked among the Vathari soldiers striking at any one of them that exposed a vital point. His strikes were timed and well-aimed, each one sending a Vathari to their death.
The sounds of battle echoed and were answered back by the sound of one of the enemy’s horns. The battle was short lived and ended before any reinforcements were able to arrive. Thad and Avalanche hid in a far corner until Crusher returned. Thad didn’t see any of the animals with him but there was blood on his axe. Thad figured that he had placed it in his bag though how the dwarf planned to get the blood out later he wasn’t sure.
The cavern was quickly filling up with Vathari who began to inspect the area making it hard for them to simply slip out even under the disguised shield. More than once an enemy came almost close enough to enter the shield. It wasn’t designed to keep out biological elements so if one of the Vathari stumbled into their small area they would be exposed.
Thad knew he could add a silencing effect much like he had done for Avalanche but his magical power had already been stressed and he was afraid that if he tried to add anything else the shield might fail, leaving them completely exposed.
There were a few tense moments but the soldiers in the cavern began to thin out as time passed. It wasn’t perfect as the Vathari in the outlining tunnels had also increased and were on high alert.
Even back at the entrance to their base there were numerous soldiers patrolling. They didn’t seem to be set in any set pattern so all the companions could really do was wait until the tunnel was clear enough for them to enter undetected. Avalanche didn’t seem to enjoy the extra activity around her and Thad could tell she was more than eager to start playing with the Vathari soldiers. Luckily Thad was able to keep her under control until the Vathari moved far enough away for them to slip into their base undetected. When the time came Thad didn’t take down the wall but instead made a hole just large enough for them to slip through.
Thad had thought that the number of troops was staggering a few days ago made life difficult but now it was getting outrageous. It seemed that no matter where they went there were at least ten soldiers spread out. Thad could tell that even Crusher was starting to doubt their current course of action.
Crusher wasted no time in emptying their prize onto the cave floor. There were five of the large sheep like creatures. The one thing Thad noticed was that none of the creatures were actually bleeding leaving Thad to wonder where the blood for Crusher’s axe had come from.
While Crusher dressed out the creatures Thad sat down and began to work on his new project. Today had been a test of sorts to see if the spell would work. The trouble was that the heat of the rocks changed depending on the area so he couldn’t simply make a blanket configuration for them.
Thad had trouble in the past with an enchantment that needed a complex design. He could make different cores for different heat signatures but changing them at need would be difficult. There had to be a way but how would the best way be to go about it.
Absorbed in his own thought he didn’t notice Crusher trying to get his attention. He wasn’t sure how long the dwarf had waited before slapping him in the back of the head but he doubted it had been overly long.
Once Crusher had his attention he skipped trying to pantomime what he wanted instead he pulled the young mage over to the wall where he had drawn the map of the local tunnels and caverns. Using a white rock he began to map out a route to an area that to Thad’s knowledge they had yet to go. At first Thad figured he was planning another attack until the dwarf started drawing small houses on the wall.
Thad was almost ecstatic they were finally going to head to the dwarven village. Thad had given up ever getting out of the caves alive. At first he had held out some hope but as the number of troops increased that had gone away. He hadn’t really lamented his pending death but now that there was some hope he felt a little lighter than he had in awhile.
They weren’t very far from the dwarven village only about three days even at a slow pace of travel two if they could move unmolested. Crusher agreed after a few moments of awkward discussion that their best bet would be for him to finish his enchantments first and let them fully charge before they tried their luck. Now all he had to do was figure out how to get them to work. Crusher was never the most patient of people and he was sure that if he didn’t have a working model within a few days they would be fighting their way through the tunnels.
It was slightly more pressure than he wanted but maybe it was the push he needed to help him jumpstart his thinking. Picking up a bar of the ever light metal and a sack of different sized gems Thad retired to his room to begin his work away from prying eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being around the dwarf when he was working but if he didn’t secure himself away the dwarf’s mumblings and Avalanches ever increasing nudging to play would distract him.
Once back in his room Thad put up one of the metal walls to block out everything but his own workspace. As usual he sat down in a comfortable position and began to try and mental work through the different ways he could create the enchantment to work the way he needed. He sat for hours but nothing seemed to come to mind that would work without being so complex it would take him days to create and even longer to charge.
Frustrated Thad flopped down on his bed roll and tried to relax. As he had the nights before he tried to fall asleep while he meditated. It was a lot harder to do than he had imagined. While he was relaxed when he meditated, his body and mind were on different levels. If today went like the ones before after a few hours Thad would simply drift out of meditation and fall asleep.
CHAPTER XVIII
When Thad opened his eyes he once again found himself floating in the sea of darkness. He waited to see if Sae-Thae was going to make an appearance. When nothing happened Thad waved his hand creating a nice space that was reminiscent of the workspace he had once had in his own house back at the capital. Thad wanted to celebrate his success but he knew that there was no telling how long he had before he woke and any time wasted, couldn’t be regained.
Oddly enough he found it impossible to sit still within his own mind. He was yearning for some fresh air so he waved his hand and his room disappeared and was replaced with the familiar sights and smells of Joan’s farm. The feel of the sun on his face was refreshing even if it was an illusion. It had been so long since he had felt the wind brush against his face that Thad wasn’t sure if he should waste his time on anything other than simply enjoying what time he had in the sunlight.
Thad quickly shook the thought from his head and sat where he could still feel the wind on his face as he began to work through his problem. There had to be a way to make it so that they could move with the disguised shield without him having to personally preform the spell.
He had run through numerous ideas following each on until he hit a dead end. Most of them were possible but the required time, energy and size made them impractical. It was frustrating it didn’t seem like it should be that hard. It was essentially just a thin shield with an illusionary layer over it. Why was it giving him so much trouble?
Picking up a nearby stick Thad started stabbing the ground lazily as he thought. The cool grass under his bare feet helped drain the tension away as he continued to come up with a solution to his problem. There was no way the camouflaged shield was more complicated than some of his other works. There had to be a way to make it work. His f
rustration building Thad threw the thin stick on the ground.
“Very nice, is this what the surface is like?”
Turning Thad found Sae-Thae hovering slightly over the grass. In the full sunlight the Vathari skin looked almost translucent. He was sure that if they went out in the full sunlight for long they would burn faster than oil soaked wood in a furnace.
“Good to see you Sae-Thae. I must admit I have missed your company as of late.” Thad said getting to his feet.
“I apologize for not meeting you sooner but I had business of my own to attend to. While I’m here may I ask what you were so intently thinking about?”
Thad let out a heavy sigh. “I have been trying to figure out how to get a spell of mine to work as an enchantment, but so far nothing I have come up with will work for what I need.”
Sae-Thae sat back and immediately one of the chairs from his study immediately appeared under him. “I myself do not have the skill to enchant, but I have studied it intently so that I can better understand the art. It does so intrigue me. The ability to takes one’s own spells and permanently graft them onto an inanimate object. I have only got to examine two of the items you have made thus far but I find them to be a bit crude and I doubt they will last more than a few years. The idea behind them is brilliant but you could have done so much more if you had better thought them out.”
Sae-Thae waved his hand and the magical eye Thad had made appeared in his hand. “Take this for example; you have three different cores, each one performing a unique function. This is much like I have seen on others items but you have severely limited it in its use. If you would have made it able to make the focus move, or if it could transfer sound, it would be much more useful. There are hundreds of little changes you could do to make it a truly magnificent piece. The same can be said of your lightning trap my men brought in. It does its job but that’s all it has, nothing to make it unique or truly valuable.”