Sistina’s attention suddenly turned to the exit that had been besieged as she felt a sudden, powerful spike of mana. The growing sense of power was intense, and it took her a few moments to locate it. The power was coming from a group of individuals outside of the cavern, and she could barely see them. But from what could feel, it was almost like all of them were combining their power. And the spell was powerful. As Sistina watched, she went to work deciphering the spell, the powers seeming to simply fall into place as she saw the weave of mana around them.
The spell would cut through stone like it was butter, melting a hole into the mountainside. All she’d manage with the ten-yard plug was to slow them down and force them to waste mana burning through the rock. On the other hand, that would be a benefit all on its own. Glancing at them mentally once more, Sistina gave a faint mental smile. Adjusting her cavern to add a small alcove just above the exit, she sent a golem toward the new cave, then inhabited her body so she could go warn the waking guards that an attack was coming.
At least she knew where the threat was coming from ahead of time.
* * *
Jared shielded his eyes as his seven priestesses wove their spell. A brilliantly glowing star was forming above their heads, the power within it so greatly compressed that he had trouble even sensing it.
“Dear gods...what are they going to do with that?” Jared heard one of the soldiers mutter behind him, and he could only smile as the priestesses continued to cast their spell.
Forty crack soldiers were following him this time, but the ones in the lead would be his Jewels. The power they could put into a shield would block anything the elves could do to keep them from breaching the stronghold under the mountain. He was certain that nothing short of an archmage could stop them, and his smile only broadened as he sensed the spell coalescing at last.
The star flared, grew, and then condensed downward into a single point for a moment, and Diamond pointed her hand at the cavern wall that hid the passage they were seeking. Flaring as bright as the sun itself, the star exploded into a beam of multi-colored light that was so hot that Jared had to take several steps backward and instantly began to sweat.
Where the beam hit, the stone steamed, glowed, and began to melt away. A foot of stone flowed out of their way, then a yard, and more. For an endless minute the beam bored into the mountainside, molten stone slowly oozing across the ground. Again Jared had to step back, this time to avoid the lava his Jewels had created. It would burn all the flesh from his bones on contact, so this time he moved with alacrity.
When the beam finally stopped, a glowing hole ten feet across extended thirty feet into the mountainside, revealing a tunnel beyond it. Glowing lava flowed down that hall as well, and Jared spoke up brightly. “Good job, girls! Now cool off that lava, and we can get this attack under way.”
“Yes, Adjudicator.” Diamond acknowledged, and the seven carefully stepped away from the molten rock before they began to cast the next spell they’d prepared.
Jared grinned, his eyes glittering as he looked at the entrance that led to his next victory for Kelvanis. He spoke under his breath. “Even if they had an archmage, my girls could handle them.”
Chapter 47
Lily hurried away from the tunnel leading to the surface with Ilmas, her breathing coming heavily as the two rushed toward Sistina’s tree. Lily knew that she had no reason to be breathing so hard, and the run should be easy for her, but her fear was getting the better of her. As she distracted herself, she stumbled on a rock and Ilmas had to pause to catch her, his voice soft and worried. “Don’t worry, Sistina’s dealt with attacks before. We’ll be fine, just you see.”
“That’d be a lot more reassuring if you weren’t trembling.” Lily gasped, giggling slightly, her eyes wide as they darted around her. It was then that she realized what was worrying her. She wasn’t worried about herself, she was worried about Ilmas. She couldn’t imagine what she would do without him.
“Heh. Well, unlike Sina, neither of us have been training with the guards.” He laughed softly, shaking his head. “But you saw Sistina’s face, didn’t you? She seemed like she was looking forward to the invasion.”
“Maybe she was.” Lily panted, glancing up toward the tree, where she saw Phynis waiting, looking concerned as she paced back and forth. “But we’re hardly the only ones who’re worried.”
Laughing, Ilmas shook his head but didn’t voice a word of disagreement.
* * *
“Everyone get into position!” Desa ordered, watching her guards and the regular soldiers taking up defensive positions behind the earthen berms that had appeared shortly before Sistina had arrived to warn them of a coming attack.
The dryad was standing on the edge of the forest that mostly filled the cavern behind her, watching everything calmly, with a faint, eerie smile on her face. Something about that smile bothered Desa, but she couldn’t put her finger on why that was. Regardless, she turned and settled into her own position, waiting for the attackers to come pouring down the tunnel. She’d been dubious about the attack until the wave of heat had surged down the tunnel, at which point she’d grown worried.
“Why isn’t she just crushing them, like she did last time?” One of the nearby soldiers asked, worry evident on his face.
“Sistina hasn’t said specifically, but she did mention that they had slaves with them, and that we weren’t to go past the berms.” Desa replied absently, and could only wonder how long it would be before the invaders got here. “Just keep your head down and fight as planned.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The man replied, testing his bow string. A moment later he adjusted how his arrows were placed in the ground next to him. Desa couldn’t help but shake her head slightly, turning to look at the tunnel again. The guards chosen to come with them were definitely not the best, which meant that there was likely more to Phynis’ opinion than Desa wanted to admit.
Several spells flickered through her mind, but the simplest one was probably the best. Forming the same spell as she’d used against General Fairbrook, Desa took a deep breath and let it out, spindling her mana tightly within her. Strangely, there seemed to be more of it than she was used to.
* * *
“Watch your step, this is pretty slippery.” Jared told the men behind him as his feet slid along the surface of the tunnel burned through the mountainside.
“Thanks for the warning, milord.” The man just behind him replied, flashing a brief smile.
“You’re more than welcome.” Jared chuckled. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Ahh...I’m private Derek Mason, milord.” The man replied, slightly hesitantly. “Are you sure you don’t want us to take the lead, sir? You the lead is making me nervous.”
“Don’t worry about it, Derek. I’m not taking the lead, they are.” Jared replied with a laugh, nodding at the women in front of him. “And once we’re on solid ground, they’re going to put up a shield like you wouldn’t believe could exist. Should get us right through all of the fire I heard the others ran into when they encountered the princess’s guards.”
“As you say, milord.” Derek replied, obviously not putting a whole lot of faith in the explanation, which caused Jared to laugh.
“Just wait and see, Derek. My jewels are incredible.” Jared grinned, stepping over the last few feet of glassy stone and onto the cracked stone that the women had cooled off, the stone cracking loudly under his feet. The Jewels were waiting for him, and Amethyst spoke softly.
“The mana levels in the tunnel are elevated, Adjudicator.” The woman spoke in a soft voice, looking troubled. “I suspect that we set off a number of defenses or warnings.”
“Oh? Well, get the shield up, and move down the hall far enough to let in everyone else. Once the troops are all past the entrance we can go hunt down our rats.” Jared ordered, smiling thinly. “I wonder how they’ll react to all of you?”
“As you wish, Adjudicator.” Diamond acknowledged, and the seven began to concen
trate and murmur the words to bring up their shield.
* * *
Sistina watched the group of soldiers and mages enter the caverns with great interest. Compared to the previous group she’d seen, these were much better armed and armored, and they seemed to be moving more quickly and easily as well. Their crossbowmen all carried enchanted bolts that would make things more difficult for the defenders, and their weapons had temporary enchantments as well.
Even more interesting were the eight at the front, though. Seven elven woman in skimpy outfits, little more than skirts, brassieres, and jewelry, were weaving mana with breathtaking skill, and she could feel immense mana reserves from them. Each also had a brightly glowing golden slave brand as well. It also intrigued her that the dawn elf women all looked quite similar, almost like sisters, save for their hair and eye colors, which matched the color of a jewel set in their brands, their clothing, and even the jewels in their jewelry. The most powerful of the women was the one with almost crystal-white hair, and that one was forming the spells with the aid of the other six. She’d have to split them up. She adjusted the ground slightly in front of the cave exit, making certain that it would be easy to move the women where she wanted.
The last one had even larger mana reserves than the other women, but the human didn’t bear a brand like the women did. No, she felt a complex sigil underneath his clothing on his right arm, a sigil faintly similar to the one on the Enforcer she’d killed back when she’d rescued Lily.
But this time she had a reason to keep him alive. So she smiled and waited for them to walk into her trap.
* * *
“Get ready, they’re coming…” Desa murmured, tensing as she saw white light begin to illuminate the entrance of the tunnel.
All around her the other soldiers began to brace themselves for the coming assault. Desa’s eyes narrowed at the shade of light, though. It was much brighter than torchlight, and even a magical light likely wouldn’t create something quite that bright. So she shifted to the side, trying to get a better angle to see down the tunnel. The angle didn’t really help much, but she did see a shimmering barrier, immediately followed by-
Her eyes widened at the sight of the seven enslaved spellcasters, all holding the barrier in front of them. The barrier looked like it’d started as a simple shield of light, but she’d never seen one that brilliant before! As the women stepped out, she opened her mouth to warn the others, but at that moment the defenders unleashed their attacks, just as she’d previously ordered.
Three fireballs followed a bolt of lightning that arced through the chamber, the deafening crack of its passage all the louder for being in a cavern. Behind those magical attacks came a furious hail of arrows, hissing through the air with deadly intent. Mentally swearing, Desa launched her own volley of a dozen dense spears of ice into the wake of the others, hoping that she was wrong about that shield.
The fireballs exploded against the shield with furious detonations that created clouds of smoke that obscured the tunnel for a moment. The hairs on the back of Desa’s neck rose as the glowing shield emerged from the smoke unscathed. Arrows bounced off like raindrops off a glass dome, and even Desa’s spears shattered uselessly against the shield. Disbelief coursed through Desa at the sight. How could any mobile barrier be that powerful?
Ignoring all of the attacks without the slightest ripple in their expressions, the seven elven women spread out as they exited the tunnel and the shield spread with them, forming a glowing dome that protected a broad arc in front of the tunnel. Just behind them was a man in chain armor and with a sword sheathed at his side. The smug expression on his face was chilling, and a shiver went down Desa’s spine as she saw the soldiers file out of the tunnel and move into formation as though they had all the time in the world.
“Captain! Orders?” Lieutenant Vander, the leader of the platoon guarding the researchers called out, looking desperate.
“Fall back to secondary positions! They can’t hold a shield like that over a large area!” Desa ordered, quickly falling back as she added. “Move, quickly!”
But when she glanced toward Sistina, she saw that the woman’s smile had only widened since she’d last seen it. And Desa had only a moment to wonder why before the dryad made an idle gesture.
The light above flickered, and Desa turned just in time to see a massive figure fall from a gap she hadn’t noticed near the cavern ceiling. The figure fell into the middle of the clearing past the berm, and an explosion of fire rolled across the cavern floor.
Staring in shock, Desa realized that the exit had vanished. And a few moments later, so did the barrier.
* * *
The berms had been perfectly placed, Sistina decided in satisfaction. They had contained the exact area of the fire blast she’d expected the golem to produce. Unfortunately, the shield created by the elves held under the magical blast, though it hadn’t shrugged it off nearly as easily this time, as the seven elves staggered under the sudden strain.
Standing up from its crater while the flames began to ebb, the golem stood tall and intimidating, the granite surfaces of its body almost covered in a glaze of glass. And the entire surface of it was covered with glittering runes of power, seemingly producing veins of pure flames.
It was time to test her golem, and Sistina couldn’t be happier as she smiled broadly. But first to get the seven mage slaves out of the way. They weren’t all quite near enough to the chutes, but that was why she’d adjusted the ground earlier. With another surge of mana, she opened seven pits simultaneously, and those women who didn’t find themselves standing on nothing let out shrieks as the ground launched them toward the nearest pit.
* * *
“Shit, a golem?! Where the hell did that come from?” Captain Andrews demanded, taking a step back as the ancient war construct stood from its impact crater. Jared couldn’t really blame the man’s shock, considering how imposing the war machine was.
“Easy, captain! We have magical support with us, and they stopped its opening attack. We knew that this area had the ruins of an old kingdom, they must have reactivated it.” Jared called out, trying to reassure the man through his own shock. A golem was something he’d only heard of in magical texts, the making of them had been long lost! And the things were incredibly resistant to damage, even when they weren’t magically augmented. The fact that this golem looked like it was augmented worried him somewhat, but his confidence recovered as he remembered his Jewels.
Fortunately the shield had been in place, which had kept them from likely losing half their force to the flames. Taking a deep breath, he ordered. “Surround it and contain the golem, captain! Diamond! Maintain the shield! Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, focus your power and destroy the golem!”
The soldiers began to move, and it was at that moment that the shield abruptly vanished as though it had never been there. Several female screams rang out from behind Jared, and he turned just in time to see Diamond vanish down a funnel-shaped pit that had appeared beneath her feet. Three more of his Jewels fell down similar pits, and Jared saw Emerald flailing in a panic as she was literally thrown through the air toward another pit she’d been near! The upthrust ground beneath the last three Jewels had launched Emerald, Opal, and Amethyst sideways toward nearby pits, and in moments all seven Jewels had vanished into the maws of the pits.
Jared started toward the pits, utterly stunned by shock. But before he could take more than a step toward the pits, they closed as though they’d never existed.
With a sound of grinding stone, the golem chose that moment to charge. Its immense, oversized fists were surrounded by a wreath of flames, and the shriek of tortured metal echoed sharply through the chamber as swords snapped and armor caved in under the weight of the monstrous machine. But Jared paused, his shock deepening as he murmured. “Where’d the exit go?”
He almost didn’t notice when arrows began to rain down on his attacking force again. Instead, he drew his sword, taking a deep breath to steady himself a
nd his resolve. And he studied the golem ripping through his soldiers for a moment, looking for an opening or weakness as he murmured. “I will not fall so easily.”
And in an instant when he saw an opening, he charged.
* * *
Diamond let out an involuntary scream as the ground beneath her feet opened and she fell into darkness. The shock cut off both her concentration and her connection to the others, and in that moment the barrier spell shattered. An instant later her feet hit a hard, slick surface, and she found herself slammed into what felt like all the world like a glass slide covered in grease.
The light from above cut off all at once, and she found herself descending at a dizzying rate in utter darkness. Desperately reaching out to try to arrest her rapid acceleration, Diamond found that she was in a tiny tunnel no more than three feet across, and all the sides were as slick and smooth as the part she was sliding down.
Terror grew as she rushed down the slide in a trip that seemed to last an eternity, though whether that was just the shock, lack of knowledge of what was happening, or a lengthy trip she didn’t know. But all at once the journey came to an end.
Diamond came flying out of the stone slide and bounced off a soft, forgiving surface. She bounced off the surface after it absorbed most of her momentum, and fell directly into what felt like warm, thick water with a splash. No, not water. Water wasn’t so thick or viscous. Her feet settled down onto a soft, spongy floor beneath several feet of fluid as she climbed to her feet, spitting up the liquid. It was oddly sweet, but she reached around her, searching for an exit. Soft, smooth walls surrounded her, and she was up to her thighs in the thick liquid, though the way she’d entered meant that she was almost fully covered in it.
“What is this?” She murmured unsteadily, shaking as she took a deep breath. The air was warm, almost soothing, and she took another breath, and then slowly cast a spell to create a globe of light.
Ancient Ruins (Ancient Dreams Book 1) Page 35