Erich's Plea: Book One of the Witchcraft Wars

by Tracey Alley

thought, the spider wanted to put an end to the irritating sound. As it crossed Nikolai’s path the spider’s body tripped the necromancer driving him heavily to the ground. The mage hit the unforgiving ground very hard, emitting a grunt of pain, ending up in a tangle with the tunnel spider that had caused his fall.

  As Nikolai struggled with the spider both Slade and Wulfstan seemed to snap out of their frozen shock. Wulfstan drew his sword and immediately cleaved one spider in two with the large blade while Slade drew forth his two matching katanas from the brace on his back. Lara, caught unarmed and unprepared, turned to face a tunnel spider that was almost as tall as she was and was considerably longer, heavier and extremely agitated by the noise Trunk was continuing to make.

  As the spider opened and closed its round mouth, exposing its razor sharp fangs the halfling woman screamed, a piercing note that seemed to be almost a counterpoint to Trunk’s continuing screams of terror. Trunk reacted instantly to Lara’s scream, scooping up the halfling woman and cradling her against his broad green chest as though she were a baby.

  Nikolai finally managed to regain his footing, his hands searching his belt for the small dagger that thanks to his magic he rarely had to use but kept nonetheless for emergencies. His hand closed over the empty sheath and the necromancer realized the blade itself must have slipped out during his fall. Looking around wildly, while still trying to keep one eye on the giant tunnel spider in front of him, Nikolai saw the blade lying on the ground behind the spider. Out of the corner of his eye the necromancer could see Trunk, who was still screaming, now standing frozen in fear. As the ogre-troll was cradling Lara it appeared the halfling woman was trying to calm the huge creature down. Nikolai shook his head in sheer frustration. Under normal circumstances he knew that his friend would have fought down the fear, fighting at his side and the two of them would easily have dispatched a gang of tunnel spiders.

  At that thought Nikolai almost laughed out loud. They were a long way from normal circumstances and despite the reassurances of his mentor, Lord Nexus; the necromancer doubted if they would ever return to normal circumstances again. Not for the first time the mage cursed his own inadequacy. That someone he had come to consider a valued friend and a trusted companion should be subjected to the indignities that Trunk was forced to endure while Nikolai remained unable to help was absolutely insupportable.

  Preoccupied with these thoughts Nikolai had not noticed Tares approaching the spider from behind while the necromancer had been edging around the creature in an attempt to reach his dagger. Only the sudden rush of air when the minotaur cleric raised his enormous mace alerted Nikolai to the priest’s presence. The necromancer barely had time to jump back out of the way as the huge weapon snapped the tunnel spider’s broad back in two, splattering spider blood and guts in a wide arc.

  “Thanks,” Nikolai said with a smile, “but we have to get him out of here and quick.”

  “Agreed,” Tares looked around him.

  More of the tunnel spiders were pouring through the hole in the wall; their numbers making even a clearing this large seem crowded. Nikolai and Tares both knew that tunnel spiders always travelled in family gangs of anywhere between twenty and thirty members. Although it appeared that Wulfstan and Slade were more than capable, in spite of their exhaustion, to deal with the minimal threat posed by the huge blind spiders there was no question they were both distracted by Trunk’s continual screams and obvious fear. Although neither of them was as distracted as Roulibard and Darzan appeared to be; neither of them had moved since the ogre-troll first began screaming.

  They would have to get Trunk far enough away from the spiders to calm the giant creature down. Unfortunately Trunk was standing near the opening of the tunnel leading back towards the prison and the rapidly growing population of tunnel spiders stood between him and the opening leading outside.

  Roulibard had been shocked by Trunk’s reaction to the tunnel spiders. The young mage had no love for the creatures either but they were blind and in spite of their size easily killed. As he stood watching the others dealing so efficiently with the growing numbers of spiders Roulibard cursed his own uselessness. He had woken into this nightmare two days ago, his memory ripped to shreds. He knew his name, knew he was a wizard, and his understanding of the world appeared intact. Roulibard remembered the names of the three moons, Sapphire, Ruby and Opal, and that they had been named after three of the principal goddesses. He remembered the political situation of Kaynos; he knew that the High Elves of the Kingdom of Kodeshka were amenable to trade with the rest of The Kingdoms but that the Wild Elves of the Kingdom of Lashandra refused contact with any outsiders, including the High Elves.

  He remembered that the three human kingdoms of Ixlan, Saxenburg and Brikenwald were in some ways even more divided than the elven kingdoms. That Ixlan and Saxenburg, for example, were bitter enemies. The young mage had even recognized in Slade the former Crown Prince of Saxenburg. All this Roulibard remembered. However, how he had come to be in Ixlan, let alone inside Diablis prison, in fact every memory or detail of his life previously was completely and utterly gone and he had no idea why. The others, Roulibard knew, assumed he had been a prisoner in Diablis but Roulibard was sure that he had not been imprisoned and his lack of scars seemed to support his belief. The young mage could not be sure but he believed that whatever he had been was something far stranger than merely a prisoner.

  Throughout the prison break Roulibard had tried to be useful. Although even he had to admit that without magic and lacking any skills with weapons the young mage was afraid that Wulfstan was correct in his assessment of Roulibard, he was worse than useless. For reasons that the young mage was unable to define he knew in some way that he desperately needed to be a part of this group. He also knew that he absolutely had to get out of Diablis prison. Even though he could not consciously remember anything of his time within those walls, Roulibard felt a deep sense of fear bordering on terror at the prospect of remaining here. Now, they were faced with this situation and the young mage found himself again with nothing to add and unable to help. Roulibard was certain, deep in his soul, that if he proved to be a liability too often Slade would eventually heed Wulfstan’s advice and cut him out of the group to fend for himself. The young mage could not allow that happen.

  Nikolai, having retrieved his dagger, was edging backwards with Tares in an attempt to create a barrier between Trunk and the tunnel spiders, which had finally ceased coming through the wall. Slade and Wulfstan were working together on the opposite side of the clearing. Darzan had finally recovered from her paralyzed shock and was now battling the spiders. Lara was still trying to calm Trunk down, talking quietly to the ogre-troll but unfortunately it appeared her efforts were making little impression and Trunk’s high pitched terrified screams continued. Spinning around Nikolai searched for something that would help them herd the spiders away, not only from Trunk but also from the tunnel leading outside. If Trunk were to be confronted with spiders in the confined space of the tunnel there was no way of knowing what might happen.

  “We have to get him away from here,” Nikolai yelled, trying to make himself heard above Trunk’s screaming and the increasingly agitated noises of the tunnel spiders.

  “Take him back down the tunnel,” Slade bellowed in reply, “we’ll deal with the spiders here.”

  “I can’t do that, if I take him out that way he’ll never come back here,” Nikolai shouted.

  “So then leave him there. Who cares?” Wulfstan yelled back.

  “Absolutely not!” Slade shouted quickly.

  “I’d rather feed you to the spiders,” Nikolai answered Wulfstan in disgust, although the necromancer had been surprised at the vehemence of Slade’s negative reply.

  “Fine,” Wulfstan replied, smarting at Nikolai’s reply, “then what exactly do you suggest we do then?”

  “I don’t know,” Nikolai wailed in sheer frustration.

  “Fire,�
� Roulibard said from behind Nikolai, “Spiders are afraid of fire!”

  “Fabulous idea, but in case you hadn’t noticed we’ve got four torches burning as well as a campfire and so far that doesn’t seem to be bothering the spiders one bit,” Wulfstan said sarcastically.

  Roulibard flushed a deep red with embarrassment. The young mage knew exactly what he had meant but the warrior had still managed to completely misconstrue his suggestion and, in doing so, had managed to make Roulibard sound like a total fool. One day, the young mage vowed, he would wipe the smug, arrogant smirk off Wulfstan’s face and force the soldier to acknowledge his power. Thoughts flashed through the young mage’s mind, with blinding speed, of various things he would like to do, or see done, to Wulfstan; surprising Roulibard in their intensity and brutality. Clenching his fists Roulibard tried to rid his mind of the dreadful images and concentrate instead on dealing with the tunnel spiders.

  Nikolai suddenly spun around to face Roulibard. Something had happened but the necromancer could not immediately work out what it was; it had felt like a surge of power. Something incredibly strong that Nikolai had only encountered a few times before, but surely it could