Mindbender

by David A. Wells

  Without warning, a dozen corpses rose straight up out of the ground surrounding them. They looked like men who’d been dead for months, with rotting flesh and broken bodies, some with terrible wounds that left bone exposed. The dozen animated corpses started shambling toward the six of them, groaning as they closed in around them.

  Alexander was startled at first, but when he saw that the creatures had no colors, he relaxed and waited even as his friends drew weapons and prepared to meet the attack.

  Boaberous was the first to strike. He brought his hammer down on one of the zombies with a blow that crushed the dead man into a broken heap on the ground. Anatoly brought his axe down in a diagonal strike, cutting another in half. Jataan drew his sword and decapitated another followed by taking the leg of the next.

  Alexander watched and waited. He knew the zombies weren’t real but he had no way of proving his certainty to his friends, especially since the creatures seemed to fall from the onslaught of attacks being leveled at them.

  “What are they fighting?” Chloe asked without speaking.

  “Illusions,” Alexander replied to her silently.

  “Why aren’t you fighting?” Anatoly shouted as he felled another of the slow-moving animated corpses.

  “Because they’re not real,” Alexander said. As he spoke, the zombies turned to black smoke and evaporated in seconds, leaving no trace of their existence.

  “I’m getting really tired of that,” Anatoly growled.

  Before they could finish their discussion, Evelyn came running up. “The soldiers are coming!”

  She didn’t stop or wait for a response, but turned and ran back to help her brother. They all followed her to the section of wall that stood over the broken switchback.

  The enemy was advancing up the road with shields raised. There were easily a hundred men with many more formed up below, well out of range of any stone they might throw. The soldiers’ plan seemed simple enough. The unit advancing up the road would try to enter the keep while the unit at the base of the road would provide cover fire with their bows.

  Alexander heard the commander of the archers order the first volley. “Duck!” he yelled.

  They took cover to avoid the hundred arrows rising toward them. Many struck the base of the wall while others overshot and arced over the broken wall, falling into the courtyard.

  Everyone took up a stone and went to the edge, where they saw three soldiers trying to climb to the top. They tossed their stones and the three men fell into the soldiers below. Another volley of arrows lifted toward them from the archers and they took cover again. Arrows clattered against what remained of the face of the wall and whizzed past over their heads.

  They tossed another volley of stones into the soldiers on the road, knocking two over the edge and wounding several more. More arrows rose up to meet them, but this time only half of the archers fired. They took cover again, but when they went back to the edge of the wall to throw more stones, another volley of arrows nearly caught them in the open. They dropped back quickly and managed to avoid being hit but they weren’t able to keep some of the soldiers from climbing to the top of the wall and securing ropes so the rest could follow more quickly.

  “Can you hit those archers with a rock from here?” Alexander asked Anatoly.

  He grinned as he found a stone half the size of a man’s head. He moved down the wall to get a better vantage point. Powered by the magic of his belt, Anatoly heaved the stone into the ranks of the archers far below. Alexander watched the stone sail through the air. It was a powerful throw that he could never match. It hit an archer and the lightly armored man crumbled.

  “Little One, can you see what’s happening below without putting yourself in danger?” Alexander asked Chloe in his mind.

  “Of course, My Love, I can see everything around me in the world of time and substance when I’m in the aether.”

  “Good.” Alexander sent his sight to her and looked through her eyes. He sat down and focused on orienting himself to his new point of view.

  “Anatoly, I want you to focus on the archers. Keep moving so they don’t know where you’re going to be next. Everyone else, start throwing stones over the edge and listen to my guidance for direction and distance. Chloe is going to spot for us.”

  With their new plan in place, they threw a steady stream of stones over the edge of the wall without getting close enough to the edge to risk being shot with an arrow. Alexander called out distance and direction corrections and they followed his instructions diligently.

  Anatoly moved from place to place along the wall, taking shots at the archers. Each stone he cast killed another archer, while each volley the archers loosed depleted their supply of arrows.

  The battle lasted only ten minutes before the soldiers withdrew. They suffered many casualties under the steady stream of rocks cast down on them. Each stone was deadly from such a height and, with Alexander’s guidance, accurate enough to prevent all but a handful of soldiers from reaching the crumbled gatehouse. Those few who did met Jataan and died quickly.

  The remaining enemy soldiers assembled not too far from the keep but well out of normal bow range and began making camp. Alexander and Jataan appraised the situation from atop the wall while Anatoly prepared stacks of stones in a few strategic locations and the rest of Alexander’s friends gathered arrows that had fallen in the courtyard.

  “Lord Reishi, I can reach them from here if you permit me to use your bow,” Jataan said.

  “You can really shoot that far?” Alexander asked.

  “Quite accurately.”

  Alexander chuckled, “Good, but let them get settled in first.”

  This time it was Jataan’s turn to chuckle.

  They gave the enemy time to pitch their tents and start cooking dinner before Jataan took Alexander’s bow and tested the string. He nodded his approval then nocked an arrow. They’d gathered over a hundred of the enemy’s arrows that were still flight worthy and set them out on the wall closest to the enemy encampment. Jataan drew, took aim and loosed his first arrow. What followed left Alexander and his companions speechless. Jataan loosed five arrows before the first hit its mark. He drew and fired so quickly that it was hard to believe he could be taking aim, yet every arrow dropped another enemy soldier. Within moments the camp below was in disarray. After twenty men lay dead, the rest were in a panic, scattering into the surrounding rocks to find cover from the sudden onslaught. Once the enemy had all taken refuge, Jataan stopped.

  “Huh,” Anatoly said, shaking his head in wonder.

  “Well done, Commander P’Tal,” Alexander said. “Keep an eye on them until dark. If they give you an opportunity, take a shot but don’t stay here past sundown. We’re going to make preparations for tonight.”

  Jataan nodded and stood his post.

  Without a word, Boaberous took Jataan’s place as Alexander’s shadow.

  Alexander picked a place in the middle of the ruined keep’s courtyard and placed a stone.

  “Clear a space twenty feet from this point in every direction,” Alexander said. “We’re going to make a magic circle to help protect us against the revenant.”

  Lucky, Jack, and Anatoly nodded and started working to clear the debris and stones from the area. Conner and Evelyn looked dubious.

  “Do you really think that will work?” Evelyn asked.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Alexander said, “but it might and I’m willing to try anything to get an edge.”

  “I’m afraid,” Evelyn said in a small voice. She was no longer being difficult. Her façade had failed. After all she’d been through, she could no longer mask the strain of it behind a brave face.

  Alexander stopped clearing stones and stood to face the young princess. “I am too,” he said. “There’s no shame in being afraid, especially given what we’re up against. The only real question is, how will you face your fear?”

  “I don’t know,” she said with a slight tremor in her voice. “This is all s
o much bigger than me. I feel powerless to do anything about it.”

  “All we can do is all we can do,” Alexander said. “Courage isn’t about power, it’s about making good decisions in spite of our fear.”

  “I’ve heard stories about the revenant,” Evelyn said. “Some say it can’t be killed.”

  “Those stories are wrong,” Alexander said. “It’s hard to kill, but it will die if we cut its head off.”

  “How can you know that?” she asked with a little more vigor. She was working through her fear and her contrarian nature was shining through.

  “The Sovereign Stone lets me talk to the previous Reishi Sovereigns. The Sixth Sovereign, Malachi Reishi, created the first revenant. He told me how to kill it.”

  “We faced one on our way to rescue you,” Conner said. “It didn’t like the vial of light that Alexander has in his pocket. I think we’ll be safe enough if we stay in the light.”

  “That’s part two of my plan,” Alexander said. “We’ll set out our night-wisp dust on three stones so the light overlaps. When the revenant comes out, we’ll all stand ready and see what it does. If it attacks into the light and past the circle, then we’ll kill it.”

  He started drawing a giant magical circle that would be big enough to enclose all of them for the night. He worked carefully to ensure that the grooves he cut into the packed dirt of the courtyard were well defined and faithfully represented the image of the magic circle he’d learned from the Reishi Sovereigns.

  After several minutes of work, they had a space forty feet in diameter that was cleared of all debris and completely enclosed in the circle. Alexander directed the construction of three pillars of stone three feet tall and flat on top, then placed his vial of night-wisp dust on top of one of them. Jack placed his vial on top of another and Lucky placed his vial on the third. The light cast by the night-wisp dust filled the entire circle with bright, warm light.

  Before dusk fell, Jataan returned to the rest of them and handed Alexander his bow. “The soldiers have retreated out of my range and are remaking their camp. Also, I believe the wizard has arrived with more troops.”

  Alexander looked up and appraised the clear sky above. The sun had fallen past the horizon but the stars hadn’t yet started to show through the deep blue. It would be a cold night, especially without a fire. The ruins were bereft of any wood and they hadn’t packed any with them. He fought to keep his fatigue from overwhelming him. None of them had slept the previous night and the day had been spent fleeing from the enemy. Everyone was exhausted, but between the soldiers below and the revenant within, there would be little rest for anyone.

  “Keep an eye on the weather,” Alexander said. “I’m more worried about the wizard’s magic than anything else. We’ve done all we can to protect against the revenant, and the soldiers won’t be able to get enough men up here in the dark to pose any real threat so long as we stay alert.”

  He stopped and looked at his friends. They were all worried and weary but he also saw resolve. He decided it was time to reveal the rest of his plan, the part he knew they would like the least. He took a deep breath and plunged in.

  “Once the revenant comes out to feed on the soldiers below, we’ll find its lair and seal it from inside so it can’t get back in.”

  “Won’t that make it mad?” Evelyn asked.

  “I hope so,” Alexander said. “I want it to spend the entire night terrorizing the enemy soldiers. Maybe we’ll even get lucky and it’ll kill the wizard. Whatever else happens, we need to get inside this mountain. I believe there’s information about my magic that could prove to be the deciding factor in this entire war. As it stands, I can’t beat Phane, and without a greater understanding of my magic, that will never change. This place is the best chance I have of discovering how to use my powers to their fullest extent. Of more immediate concern is the wizard and the army encamped around us. We’re vulnerable to the wizard’s magic out in the open, but inside the mountain, his magic can’t reach us. As for the army, we can’t hold them off forever. When they come, I would much prefer to face them in a confined space rather than out in the open.”

  “How do you plan to get out once we’re sealed in?” Conner asked.

  “We can always cut our way out,” Alexander said. “There’s also every possibility that we’ll find a secret passage leading out of the ruins. Wizards are nothing if not cautious.”

  “It’s starting,” Jack said, pointing to the sky.

  The stars were just starting to shine through the fading blue but they were being occluded by dark and angry clouds forming far too quickly overhead. Darkness fell rapidly as the light of day faded and the clouds grew into a swirling vortex above them. The temperature fell several degrees and the wind started to blow.

  Alexander knew his plan depended on timing. He needed the revenant to come out of its lair before the wizard could start calling lightning down on them. From their experience with the wizard’s power the night before, it was clear that he could easily kill them all if they remained out in the open and stationary. But they didn’t dare venture into the lair of the revenant while the creature remained within.

  When Alexander heard the shrill scream come from the ruins, the fear it evoked mingled with the thrill of his plan taking form. He was hoping beyond hope that the answers to his many questions would be found in the chambers and passages below the keep.

  The terrifying creature stepped out of the door of the manor and screamed again. The sudden fear was primal. It engulfed Alexander, freezing him to the spot where he stood. He withdrew quickly into the safety of that corner of his mind where emotion was distant and powerless, slowly regaining control over his body.

  His companions were also frozen with the unnatural fear created by the revenant’s scream. Jataan broke through the fear first, followed a moment later by Lucky. Everyone else remained paralyzed. The rain was just starting and the wind was blowing. Flickers of lightning danced through the swirling vortex of black clouds high overhead, but the light of the night-wisp dust was clear and bright.

  Then something happened that Alexander hadn’t counted on. A second and then a third revenant stepped out of the ruins and screamed in unison. The sound was deafening and palpable. It penetrated through Alexander and found its way into the depths of his psyche, awakening a basic and instinctual terror. For a long moment, he couldn’t overcome it. He felt panic well up within and threaten to drive him mad.

  When Evelyn screamed and ran from the protection of the light, Alexander’s fear-induced paralysis broke. She sprinted toward the crumbled gatehouse, fleeing from the revenants in blind panic. Two of the three revenants launched into the night sky, while the third and largest slowly advanced toward Alexander’s paralyzed companions.

  Alexander spun and dashed toward Evelyn. She’d lost all reason in the face of the magically induced fear and was headed for the edge of the ruins. He ran with all the speed he could muster, closing the distance to her before she reached the mound of rubble that used to be the gatehouse. With one hand he grabbed her arm and turned her toward him and away from the cliff’s edge. When she wheeled around to face him, Alexander saw nothing but terror in her eyes. There was no rational thought, no reason, only the most basic need to escape danger. She looked up past him and screamed again.

  The revenant landed in the middle of Alexander’s back, pushing him on top of Evelyn. The beast’s clawed hands pinned him to the ground and crushed the air from his lungs. He struggled to draw breath as it sank its fangs into the left side of his neck.

  He felt a sharp pain at first that stunned him anew but the pain quickly turned to a numbing coldness as he felt the strength of his will sapped from him. The numbing coldness spread quickly from the wound as the revenant drained first his strength and then his life force itself.

  The second beast landed nearby, yanked Evelyn from under Alexander and clamped its fangs into the side of her neck. She tried to scream but only managed a helpless whimper.

&n
bsp; Alexander struggled to resist but his energy was waning. His arms and legs felt too heavy to lift. The numbing fatigue and penetrating coldness threatened to overwhelm him. Just as he was about to surrender, he felt a thin line of hope as Chloe linked herself to him and fed his life force with her own. Her love for him sustained him and gave him the strength he needed to renew his struggle against the beast.

  He jerked free and rolled to face the creature, sending the revenant toppling off him. With a great effort he gained his knees and then staggered to his feet. Through his weariness, he assessed the situation with his all around sight. He was so tired and drained that he had to remind himself to care about the outcome.

  Evelyn was collapsed on the ground like a discarded rag doll, the revenant clamped onto her neck. The beast feeding on her was oblivious to everything transpiring around it as it fed. The one that had bitten Alexander was drawing itself up to scream again. Somewhere in the distant fog of his mind, he knew he wouldn’t have the strength to resist the fear of its scream in his weakened state. He staggered in an effort to remain standing.

  Within the circle of light, Jataan and Lucky broke free of the paralyzing effects of the revenants’ screams. Jataan sprinted toward Alexander with magical speed. Lucky rummaged around in his bag.

  The third revenant launched itself into the air, spiraling into the sky.

  Then the world exploded. A bolt of argent-white lightning stabbed down from the swirling clouds overhead and struck the remains of the tower on the left rear corner of the ruins. The lightning dazzled Alexander, leaving him blinded and stunned. The revenant that had bitten him screamed in pain at the sudden onslaught of brightness and launched itself into the sky. The one feeding on Evelyn fell back, simpering and mewling from the pain of the light.

  The tower exploded as the thunder of the lightning strike reached them. The ground shook. The force of the explosion sent Alexander onto his back, gasping for breath once again. Evelyn lay helpless and pale where the revenant had left her. His companions still in the grip of the revenants’ screams tumbled to the ground as the spell was broken.