Edge of Chaos

by Des Pensable

  The bellow was a signal and dozens of Panmagican ground troops came storming in towards the camp. Several fireballs came flying in exploding in great blossoms of orange flame burning the structures and charring the ground. The druids were untouched having all cast elemental protections on themselves. They stood their ground, some using magic causing vines to shoot out of the ground that twisted and swirled around entangling the charging soldiers while others caused large chunks of ice to fall out of the snow storm above onto the troops below pounding and concussing them.

  The wizards dispelled the entangling vines and urged their troops on so the druids called on the ground to turn into quicksand and the troops began sinking, drawn down by their armour. The wizards dispelled the ground and it turned solid again but the troops were buried to their waists in the ground. The druids laughed with glee. Clouds of insects appeared on top of the groups of soldiers. They attacked the half sunken Newmans crawling under their armour and began biting and stinging their victims on their arms faces and necks.

  The wizards defended by using fire balls on their own groups to kill the insects but this also weakened or removed the elemental protections on their men. The druids again directed ice chunks to fall from the sky. Next air elementals and water elementals appeared and then with glee the druids turned into large bears, some brown and some white, all bulging with rippling muscles and hardened skin. They wanted blood.

  On seeing the obviously fake Grand Druid turn into a green dragon both Heteronymous and Featherdown swiftly shed their gowns. They both had the same thing on their minds. Dragons were very resistant to almost all magic. The best way to fight a dragon was as a dragon and both had done it more than once before.

  Featherdown began chanting, growing and changing until he was a great red dragon. Not a big as the green one but pretty tough. The idea was to occupy the enemy dragon while druids fought the ground troops. When the druids won then they could help handle the dragon if not then he might be forced to withdraw.

  Heteronymous had the same idea. He changed into a huge metallic silver dragon not quite as big as the green one but certainly as dangerous looking. The green dragon attacked Featherdown first knocking him back but causing little damage, but then the silver dragon smashed into the side of the green one knocking it off balance and causing it to break off its attack on the red one. In no time at all, the druid camp was totally demolished by the three fighting dragons lashing and slashing and butting and biting.

  All around them druids attacked the half buried troops. Most of the druids turned into bears while some stayed in their normal form entangling any free troops and directing attacks on the wizards and priests. The brutes were in a frenzy but useless while buried to the waist in solid ground. The bears by-passed them going after the officers and magic users first and then they played with the soldiers allowing them to dig themselves out before attacking them and ripping them apart. The most difficult problem the druids had was trying to keep out of the way of the three rampaging dragons towering above them.

  The sight to any onlookers would have been horrifying, but totally gripping and awe-inspiring to see such feral and elemental power unleashed. The fighting between the druids and the ground troops began to wane as many of the troops still alive began activating bracelets of recall leaving their dead and dying comrades behind.

  The battle between the three dragons continued with little resolution as neither side seemed to be able to gain the advantage. The red and silver dragons kept attacking the green dragon keeping it occupied, but couldn’t seem to damage it as its skin was impenetrable and while they were slowly weakening, it wasn’t.

  Helix being very small wasn’t in any real danger as he was too small to see in a fight amongst huge creatures. He flew onto the highest pole of the druid camp and called attention to possible problems while watching the dragon fight, that is until the camp was demolished then he flew onto the remains of the unicorn statue, which was the highest structure still standing.

  ‘Newmans are quite remarkable, they always think big is better, never small is smart.’ he thought.

  ‘Featherdown used one of the most powerful shape changing powers known and changed into a dragon of all things to fight a dragon. Why not something small and lethal? Fighting is not about showmanship it’s about winning.’

  ‘I guess I’d better help.’ he thought then said into the mind of Featherdown the red dragon.

  ‘Featherdown this is Helix. I recognize the green dragon. You won’t beat him as he seems to have some sort of divine protection. I’ll remove him for a while to allow you to clean up the ground troops and heal up then it won’t be worth his while returning. Bye.’

  Helix used a shape change power and turned himself into what looked like a small cloud of mist about the size of a Newman hand. It was a small air elemental one of the fastest creatures alive, and then flew off at an incredible speed towards the green dragon and flew straight into his mouth. The green dragon never even got a glimpse of the small air elemental as it entered his mouth and shot down into his lungs. Helix changed shape to a slug-like creature and slid into a crevice in a bottom of one of the dragon’s lungs and using suction, hung on tightly.

  The green dragon felt something strange in his chest momentarily but didn’t quite know what it was. It coughed a couple of times but to no avail. The red and silver dragons both took the opportunity to attack and the green dragon had to ignore his chest and concentrate on defending against the combined attack.

  This is exactly what Helix had expected. Dragons had excellent magic resistance on the outside but very little on the inside. He wasn’t known as a Traveller bug for nothing. He created a temporary gateway and immediately he and the green dragon were gone, transported to another world, a place that wouldn’t be pleased to have a green dragon visiting them unannounced. It would take the dragon at least a couple of hours to get away even with divine assistance.

  Featherdown stood there dazed. It was unbelievable. When Helix had said he would remove the green dragon it seemed like joke of some kind. It was holding its own against both the red and the silver dragon and yet the Traveller bug made it disappear as easy as that. The silver dragon quickly moved off to attack Panmagican troops and Featherdown looked around to see where he could do some good and stomped off to squash a few enemy fighters.

  The battle was all over in another five minutes. The Panmagicans were routed and those still alive that hadn’t had a chance to escape tried to surrender with little success. The druids in bear form were not in a merciful mood as many had lost a friend or colleague.

  The final score sheet was less satisfying. Over seventy druids had been killed, almost all in the initial attack. This represented about one third of all the druids in the world, a very savage blow and very difficult to replace. The Panmagicans had lost one hundred and forty-two warriors, ten wizards and 6 priests. The Panmagicans had lost the battle but severely damaged the druids.

  Featherdown was standing discussing the fight with Quab when one of his junior wizards teleported in about a hundred paces away asking for him. The young wizard was directed to him and he came running over.

  ‘My Lord, I come with grave news. Twin Towers has been attacked by troops from Panmagica I was sent to advise you. There is a battle raging there right now.’

  ‘By the Powers Quab, it looks like the war has begun. Quick, go and find Heteronymous he will want to know about this. I will go and see what I can do. I will be back shortly.’

  Chapter 24 Evacuation

  Heteronymous swore a string of obscenities when told of the Panmagican attack on Twin Towers.

  ‘I thought Featherdown was going to close the gateway.’ he said to Quab.

  ‘This young wizard from the guard may be able to tell us what happened.’ suggested Quab.

  ‘Yes Sir. I was off duty having a drink with some friends in the Ugly Bear when I heard the Dragon Alert warning of an impending attack on the gateway. All the town’s people began pourin
g into the inn and all the guards in the inn raced back to the barracks to get their gear and join the defence.’

  ‘Our wizards and about half of the guards had taken up defensive positions by the time I arrived. I asked what had happened and the senior wizard said that Wizard Curbut had arrived with orders from the Druid Council to open the gateway. The Duty officer was not prepared to open the gate until Lord Featherdown gave the order. Two of our wizards sided with Curbut and demanded the duty officer open the gate. He still refused so Curbut killed him and they ran for the gate overpowered the guard detail there and went into the gate building and the alarm was sounded.’

  ‘By the time we were in our positions. Panmagican troops began pouring out of the gate building. I took up position with Captain Chantalot. We attacked them with spells and arrows. Then some of our wizards came under attack by invisible fighters that seemed resistant to magic damage. I was asked by the Captain to go invisible and come here. He told me there was a battle on here as well and wasn’t sure whether the High Wizard would be available. By the looks of it we were victorious sir.’

  ‘Yes.’ said Quab but at a terrible cost.

  ‘We’ve lost a lot of druids.’

  ‘What level of alarm was sounded?’ asked Quab.

  ‘Dragon Alert sir as directed by Lord Featherdown.’

  ‘Good that means most of the people should be in the Ugly Bear inn and the commercial teleporter disabled.’

  ‘I’m not too sure about the commercial teleporter sir. There was some fighting there.’

  ‘Okay we had better get ready in case we need to go there.’ said Heteronymous and called for the druids to return. They were currently spread all over the battlefield moving bodies, and searching for any remaining enemies and healing injured druids.’

  ‘Ten minutes later the druids had gathered and Featherdown returned.’

  ‘I’m afraid I was too late. It was almost over when I arrived. They’ve got at least three hundred troops on the headland and another hundred in the town. There’s wizards and priests from several temples there suggesting it’s been organized by the Unity of Wisdom. There’s a lot of our townspeople in the Ugly Bear but they have taken a large group of women and children to the Gateway building as hostages I presume.’

  ‘I saw High Priest Kelnor there with the leader of the force. I know the leader well. I’ve fought against him before. He’s a fellow called Firestorm. I thought he retired.

  ‘They really mean business if they got him out of retirement. He’s an Archwizard and Battlemaster with a very nasty reputation. He’s killed thousands of people, mainly innocents.’

  ‘Dam useless defence plan Featherdown.’ said Heteronymous.

  ‘No it has generally worked as planned. It has partially failed because we had a traitor within.’ replied Featherdown.

  ‘It seems they have resurrected your pet wizard who seems to be a key feature in a lot of our problems lately. I thought I got rid of him when I disintegrated him but it looks like the priests had a contingency plan in case that happened.’

  ‘Yeah I’m sorry about him. We got that one wrong.’ replied Heteronymous.

  ‘You have my approval to disintegrate him again if you get the chance.’

  ‘Anyhow we have a short window of opportunity while they wait for our response.’ said Featherdown.’

  Before they could discuss the issue a druid teleported in and was escorted to them.

  ‘I’m looking for the High Druid.’ he stated.

  ‘That’s me.’ said Heteronymous, ‘The other one’s gone.’

  ‘I have orders here from the Inter-World Druid Council. I am to take charge of the druids on Mudrun and we are going to withdraw from the world until further notice.’

  Featherdown looked at Heteronymous.

  ‘You’re not going to quit are you?’

  Heteronymous grabbed the orders read them and then tore them up.

  ‘If you think we’re going to run out on Mudrun like a bunch of scared schoolgirls you’re an idiot and so are the druid council. Look around you. See that blood, that that belongs to my friends. Panmagicans killed over seventy of our brethren today. I’ve been living on of this patch of dirt for over a hundred years and nobody in the Druid Council or anywhere else is going to move me or any of my druids away. Go back to the Council and tell them Mudrun has just announced its independence. If we see anyone from the Council they will be treated as the enemy and summarily dealt with.’

  ‘You can’t do that!’ said the druid from the Council.

  ‘He just did. Mudrun is now independent. All foreign invaders will be dealt with. You are now an invader and have about 10 seconds to leave or you will never leave.’ said Featherdown.

  ‘You won’t get away with this. The druid council will not sanction your actions. There will be recriminations.’ replied the council druid then he teleported away.

  ‘Well that’s fixed our course of action.’ said Heteronymous.

  ‘I guess I better tell our merry band that we are now outlaws in the eyes of the Inter-World Druid Council. I hope the Lady looks kindly upon us.’ And he left to gather the druids for an announcement.

  ‘I can’t believe he just did that.’ said Quab.

  ‘I though he was just a cranky old bear with no fight left in him.’

  ‘Quab nobody on the council expected him to do anything else. I suspect the other High Druid that we have just got rid of may have been sent here to annoy us and to make us mad enough to fight. It’s politics. This way the Inter-World Druid Council can stay neutral in any fight between Panmagica and the Yith. We are free to harass them and cause chaos but with the commercial gateway open they can have thousands of troops here in a couple of days. We need to close it as soon as possible.’

  Heteronymous waited five minutes until all the druids present had gathered around. He congratulated them on their success, heaping praise on their strength and courage. They all sang a victory song together and cheered. Then he told them how the Inter-World Druid Council wanted them all to retreat from the world and hand it over to the Panmagicans so that they wouldn’t get hurt in any fight that broke out between the Panmagicans and the Yith.

  This brought calls of derision. Druids felt outraged. Many had been here half a lifetime or more. They just said outright they were not going. This was their home and they would not leave. Then Heteronymous told them he agreed with them he wasn’t going to leave either. He told them he was prepared to disobey the Council and declare Mudrun independent of the Council if they wished and called for a vote. It was unanimous. Mudrun was now an independent world run by the Druid Council of Mudrun.

  ‘This is incredible.’ said Quab.

  ‘Now you know why he’s the High Druid.’ replied Featherdown.

  ‘I think that it’s time to close the gate in Twin Towers permanently.’

  They quickly called a Council of War and discussed strategy and tactics. It was quickly agreed that they had to permanently close the Twin Towers gateway if they had any chance at all of being independent. Featherdown told them he had a contingency plan to close the gate down if other defences failed. He also told them that the town defence plan called for all citizens in Twin Towers to go to the Ugly Bear Inn and wait for instructions from him. They would be there right now waiting for him.

  He needed a diversion to get them and the guards out safely and then he could close the gateway.

  ‘I need some druids who are familiar with the game called Run Dragon Run.’ he said.

  Several druids volunteered to help Featherdown and the rest decided to help the High Druid reincarnate as many of the dead druids as possible. The land would be full of druids in animal disguise eager to cause trouble to any offworlders looking for it. Then the druids would go and inform any druids not present of what had happened and return to their normal area of responsibility and await news from High Druid Heteronymous.

  Quab had a special job. He had to go to visit the Crin, the Little People and Que
en Snowbelle and inform them about the new status of Mudrun.

  Featherdown gathered all his gateway strike team of seven experienced druids itching for a fight and explained what they had to do. If anything went wrong it would be because they wanted to fight rather than just rescue the townspeople and guards. Featherdown’s main worry was the locations of his brother Chantalot and friend Granwell.

  The first problem was to get into the town without being detected. They could teleport to one of half a dozen teleport markers in and around twin Towers. Many would be known by Curbut and guarded or watched but there was one he had placed a long time ago just for this situation. It was in Chantalot’s room in the Ugly Bear Inn.

  Featherdown and three druids formed for teleport, vanished and reappeared in Chantalot’s room.

  ‘What’s kept you?’ said an invisible Chantalot.

  ‘We’ve all been waiting for ages. Some of the town’s people would have left if it wasn’t for the Panmagican guards on the door.’

  ‘Precisely as I expected.’ replied Featherdown lifting the large rug off the floor to reveal a teleport circle.

  ‘Now let’s deal with the guards and get the people up here and send them to Templegate in groups of six. We’ll take the guards and you make sure the people all get away. There’s four more druids coming shortly and they will head off to create a diversion at the commercial teleport centre.’

  ‘Where is Granwell?’ asked Featherdown a little worried.

  ‘Oh he’s moving some valuables from his tower. He said he’ll be ready when you are.’ replied Chantalot with a grin.

  ‘Dam I asked him to move everything a week ago. He never listens. He just goes on as if nothing ever happens.’ grumbled Featherdown.