by Bill Ricardi
I turned to Rick and Will, “Right now, where are the Arcane Syphons? Of the eleven used to build the Arcane University, I know where exactly one is: The Voodoo Engine in the middle of my village. Where are the rest?”
Rick turned to Will. Neither of them had an answer.
I insisted, “We need to know now. Right now. Toby, when they picked you up did they pick up a bunch of components from a list-”
The minotaur cut me off, “It’s on the third bed on the left, Sorch.”
I rushed out of the kitchen area briefly to grab the bag of material components that Ginger promised. As everyone looked on, I took out a strand of copper wire. Closing my eyes, I murmured the incantation for Max’s Message.
Keeping the image of Hemitath in my mind, I sent: ‘Need help. Need to know where every Arcane Syphon is right now. Celebration may be trap. Possibly traitors in University.’
Moments later, I got the reply: ‘Syphons building infrastructure for celebration in United Diben, Limt, Ice House, Royal Moffit, Eastern Hook. I’m coming to you.’
I related what I sent and the Headmaster’s reply aloud.
“Rick, Will, if there are Syphons in the city can you find out where they are supposed to be deployed? I assume for building platforms, clearing parks, building footbridges… are they accounted for?”
Will nodded, “We’re on it.” The pair hurried to find and ask the Court Magician, who would have likely been informed of such an undertaking.
I ran my fingers roughly through my hair. “Toby, Hemitath is teleporting in, could you meet her at the front gates and bring her back here?”
When he had gone, I slammed a fist into the table. And again. Ames restrained my arm and said, “Stop.”
I sighed. “I had all the pieces of the puzzle yesterday! Why didn’t I see it?”
The feline reminded me, “You were running on no sleep, and nearly fully drained of your enhanced intellect. Nobody else put it together either. And you didn’t know about the disappearing mages until just now. Assuming you’re right, what does this mean?”
I grit my teeth, “One or more incredibly powerful artifacts have been stolen by traitors inside of the Arcane University, hidden in places unknown, and they’re about to be used as a force of mass destruction.”
Ames blinked. “Oh.”
I furiously scribbled every detail, every assumption, and every guess down on a piece of parchment, just in case I was wrong and we had to rethink the situation. By the time I was done, people were arriving. All of them looked somber.
Toby and Hemitath arrived, followed seconds later by Rick and Will. “Update me, Sorch.” ordered the Headmaster in a polite tone. I had never seen her in adventuring gear. Even after a few hundred years, the archmage looked at home with a backpack, belt pouch, and high laced boots.
I took a deep breath, “If I’m right, we’re about to be told that nobody has any idea where the Arcane Syphons are in Royal Moffit.”
Rick said, grimly, “Nobody has any idea where the Arcane Syphons are in Royal Moffit.”
I sighed once again. “Headmaster, I’m afraid that the mages who have gone missing, as well as some who have access to controlling the teleportation system, are enemies of the Arcane University. At least two Arcane Syphons are missing… possibly every single one save for the Voodoo Engine at my village. We need to start ferreting out the traitors and seeing if we know where any of the Syphons are currently.”
The pale elf grew more pale as I explained the situation. I started to walk her through my logic, but she stopped me, already convinced.
Hemitath murmured, “I’ll contact Max. He’ll contact the other major cities but… assume you’re right.”
I nodded. “If I’m right, up to ten Arcane Syphons are somewhere underneath us right now. They’ve probably been enhanced by Koroth, and because they’re all grouped up together they also enhance each other. The goal being to syphon magic from a huge area, perhaps half the city or even the entire city. When the celebration starts, they can be used to dig out the supports under the castle, collapse roads, break the sea wall, and leave Royal Moffit’s remains in a smoking or flooded crater.”
I held up a hand to forestall the obvious next suggestion. “And if we cancel the celebration, a small army of criminals and traitor mages will start unleashing arcane destruction on the city. That will leave us either fighting back with mundane means only and losing, or fighting back with magic and helping to feed the Syphons anyway.”
Will cursed. “And we have no idea where they are.”
Hemitath provided a glimmer of hope. “I may be able to find them. But I need to prepare a personal teleportation spell, and I need the help of your friend, Sorch. The one you call Shaman.”
That was the last name I expected to hear. “Shaman?! Why? How can he help?”
The Headmaster explained, “All of the Arcane Syphons are identical artifacts. They have the ability to link with each other and work together. That includes your Voodoo Engine. If your friend can get me in close proximity of it, I can use that as a way to find the others. All of them, their exact positions. But he needs to disguise me, shelter me, and give me a place to recover so that I can return home safely.”
Will asked, “Can you use that link to change their task?”
The elf shook her head. “For that, you still need to touch them, or at least one of them assigned to a particular task in close proximity. Direct access is the only way to shut them down.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll prepare Max’s Message for Shaman.” If I was right, this would mean that I wouldn’t have many major offensive spells for the upcoming battle, but it needed to be done. “We’ll all rest, meditate, and prepare to end this one way or the other. People in key positions need to know that although we’re pretending to go through with the parades, we won’t be using any more magic in the streets until we’re forced to respond. Ames, Toby, we need to tell the General, and the King, and the paladins and…”
Ames summed it up with, “Everyone.”
Toby nodded, “We’ll go tell everyone.”
As I saw Hemitath take out a strand of copper wire, I mentioned, “If they’re zealots, they might be impossible to find before they strike. But if they’re not zealots, they aren’t working for free. Tell Max to follow the money.”
The Headmaster gave me an odd little smile. But without further comment, she performed the incantation and sent a message to Max. Then, we rested.
It seemed strange to be laying down, having just discovered that a horrifically powerful force was going to tear the entire city apart. While squadrons of guards and soldiers were being quietly deployed, and the biggest celebration in modern history was being stealthily cancelled, we were all taking a nap. It was absolutely necessary, but at the same time somewhat ludicrous.
Once we had memorized the spells that we needed in order to make the plan work, I opened up my notebook to share sketches of the village and even a drawing of Shaman’s tent with Hemitath. I pinpointed the location on a continental map, and described all of the nearby landmarks. The aged elf needed to be as intimately familiar with the area as possible to avoid teleporting to the wrong location, or gods forbid, into solid rock.
As the Headmaster studied, I used Max’s Message to contact my oldest, dearest friend:
‘Need help. Sending elf archmage. Hide and protect her. Get her near Voodoo Engine. She can save us all. Save the world.’
The mental reply was near immediate:
‘You crazy. But fine. Better to be crazy in saved world than uncrazy in destroyed world. I protect your elf.’
Hemitath’s eyes were distant as she dealt with her own Message. “Max got the reports back. All of the Syphons are missing. Our loyal people are helping to track down the traitors.”
I rubbed my eyes. “Ten Syphons then. Alright. Shaman is with us, he’s awaiting your arrival.”
The archmage nodded. “Do you have anything with you that came from the area? It would greatly in
crease the accuracy of the Teleportation spell.”
I reached into my pouch. Hemitath was now the proud guardian of Rock.
“Best of luck Headmaster.”
“To us all, Sorch.”
We all watched as the elf stood as still as possible. There were no gestures, no material components, just the murmuring of an incantation that would transport Hemitath halfway around the planet. The last syllable of her spell drifted across the room, and in an instant, she was gone.
Soon after, a message started to come to me. At first I was confused, since there was no way that the Headmaster had already accomplished her mission. Then I realized, it was Max:
‘Followed the money. Caught pair that teleported Syphons. Once we are secure, will send more help. Happy hunting.’
I sent the reply, ‘Thanks Max. Hemitath at my village. Using Voodoo Engine to find Syphons. Will need to rest after to teleport back. Good luck.’
I said aloud, as we all got suited up, “Max’s people caught the traitors who teleported the Arcane Syphons via the University. He’ll send help in a few hours after they clean up their own mess.”
Toby snorted. “There might be nothing to teleport to in a few hours.”
We packed everything that might be useful, leaving all non-essentials behind, and headed down the tower stairs. The front gates of the Palace seemed to be as good of a place as any to gather. It was central, with quick access to members of both the city watch and the General’s people. The King and Queen arranged for two carriages and a mounted unit to be at our command. We kept a watchful eye out for anyone who might be trying to cause trouble.
After half an hour of pacing and idle complaining, something happened. Will stopped moving and looked out towards the horizon, eyes unfocused. A few seconds later, he relayed the gist of the message. “It sounds like all ten of them are in an underground cave, below the sewers. The entry point to the main cavern is directly under the open market on the west side of the city.”
Toby turned to the corporal who was standing with us, “Do you know where that is?”
The soldier nodded. “Gully Circle, sir. There’s sewer access, but I’m not sure about the caves.”
The minotaur nodded. “You and your men come with us.”
I told the gate guard, “Tell the King and the General where we’re going, and to send help when they have the spare people available.”
The five of us piled into the carriages. Our mounted escort took us west at a fair gallop. The sound of shod hooves on cobblestone was so loud, we didn’t even hear the first explosion. A series of sinister magical attacks had been launched. The sound of the first conjured horror triggered the next rogue mage to unleash their devastation, and so on and so on, until smoke and thunder rolled through the once placid city streets. As we raced to stop the Duke’s plans, his hirelings raced to fuel the Arcane Syphons while causing as much chaos as possible.
I tried to calculate our odds, but there were too many unknowns. I just hoped that Shaman and Hemitath were safe. And I hoped that we would have a chance, no matter how slim, to make a difference before the end came.
Chapter 17
We reached Gully Circle, a broad outdoor market. The center of the cobblestone circle was littered with carts of wares, ranging from foodstuff to hand crafted goods. It was surrounded by converted warehouses, serving as additional merchant space. When rain fell, the peddlers could still take shelter indoors. Today they were trying to weather a different kind of storm.
The crackling of a nearby lightning bolt had already sent merchants and customers alike scurrying for cover. Our escort acted with the kind of precision that one might expect from the most powerful standing army in the southern hemisphere of Panos. Our four mounted archers covered the roads into the Circle, while the two pikemen started patrolling the perimeter. The battlemage and medic found centralized cover near a stack of crates and dug in. Our remaining four swordsmen, one of them being the unit’s corporal, led us over to the sewer entrance and pried up the heavy iron lid.
The corporal said, “We’ll hold your exit and make sure you have a way out if you need it. Best of luck.”
Toby squeezed the man’s shoulder, and then threw his pack to me. I grunted under the weight, but swiftly realized why he did it. Although the sewer entrance was wide by our standards, it was a very tight fit for the minotaur. He did make it though after a brief struggle. I dropped his pack in, which was deftly caught. Then I climbed down the metal ladder that had been bolted to the sewer wall.
The smell was what you would expect, but not as intense as I had imagined. Once Will and Rick joined us and cast Light on their marker sticks, I understood why. The water and sludge were barely an inch deep, the remainder draining rapidly for some reason. Ames was the last to drop in, but the first to comment.
The feline noted, “We should go with the flow. If they’ve really bashed through the sewer wall or floor to reach some caves, it’s unlikely that they had the time to seal things properly behind them.”
Sewage normally flowed to designated areas of the ocean, which meant it should be travelling either south or west. But the flow in this stretch was oozing its way north. Not only had something been damaged, but the entire passage had sunk at least a few inches. The party trudged northwards as rapidly as we dared.
We found ourselves alone, save for a rat or two. Fifty paces up the tunnel, the only thing that had changed was the sound. A kind of rushing, churning din was growing in our ears. When the radius of our light reached the source of the noise, we understood why.
The sewage coming from the north was plummeting downwards, like a foul waterfall. Whatever magics used to open the tunnel were unsubtle, to say the least. Perhaps this was the work of Arcane Syphons. Perhaps it was a mad geomancer. Either way, the ground had been cracked, lifted, and then torn asunder. Once the bare rock had been exposed, a steep tunnel was conjured to join the sewers to the natural cave network, situated below us and to the east. We continued to follow the flow of sewage, careful not to slip. If any one of us fell and were swept away by the muck, there was no telling what danger that person would encounter.
The arcane passage gave way to a natural cavern. This chamber was at least ten paces high, and easily wide enough for fifteen men to walk shoulder to shoulder. Sewage poured onto the rocky floor before draining into the southern chamber and beyond the radius of our light. We had no plans to follow it, however, as we were far more interested in the sounds coming from the other direction. Together we navigated the slight incline as the party moved towards the danger, a tendency often observed in the insane, the foolhardy, and adventurers.
As the broad cavern curled in a northeasterly line, a field of light could been seen in the distance. A mix of mundane torches and Light spells cast on rocks left us no shadows to skulk in. With a resigned sigh, Ames moved to the front of our group and stood shoulder-to-ribcage with the much taller paladin. Rick and Will tucked away their Light sticks, as they were about to become redundant.
Just as we were going to enter the well lit area, two humans appeared at the far side of the chamber, seemingly materializing from the left hand wall. Apparently there was a sharp turn into another cave or tunnel that we couldn’t quite see yet. We crouched and held very still, taking advantage of the surrounding darkness and the frailness of human eyesight. Humans only see within their somewhat narrow visible spectrum. So when standing in the light and trying to peer into the shadow, they were nearly blind. The two warriors moved dangerously close. We saw every detail of their scale mail armor, the quality of their bastard swords, even the manner in which they tied their boots.
The man in the lead stopped suddenly. It might have been because of the short sword jutting from his neck, or the broadsword piercing his lung, it’s difficult to tell. The second man started dancing in place as two full sets of Magic Missiles pummeled him from short range. My thrown dagger embedding in his abdomen didn’t help the human’s situation any. Both of them fell to the cav
e floor noisily, quite dead.
We unsheathed our weapons from the two bodies, and sprinted as quickly as possible through the well lit cave. Sure enough, this cavern linked to another via a short, downward sloping tunnel that was unnaturally round and smooth. We half ran, half slid down the connecting tunnel. It would have been a bad place to get trapped.
The next cave stretched to the northeast about forty paces. It was lit entirely by magic, as evidenced by the lack of fire’s telltale flickering. I wish I could say that we were the only occupants of this chamber, but I haven’t lied yet and I don’t intend to start now.
Of the four Sacrifices waiting for us, one caught my eye immediately. The naked minotaur that faced us had jet black fur from horns to hooves. Only it wasn’t exactly fur. Each patch of the glossy, warped stuff seemed to be petrified. It was as in if strands of hybrid wood and stone had grown from the forsaken creature’s flesh. If this thing was ever a man, there was no evidence of it, and gender had long since ceased to be a function of that twisted body and mind. It carried only a stylized battleaxe, ancient runes seeming to crawl over its surface like living things. It was smiling.
Standing at the deformed minotaur’s side was a humanoid of indeterminate species. The head had been twisted into… a neck-mounted three sided pyramid would be the most accurate way to describe it. Each ‘facing’ had a set of dead, pupilless eyes and a toothless mouth that gaped open and drooled. The rest of the thing’s body was as normal as could be expected. It was protected by a suit of ragged hide armor made from some kind of humanoid flesh. The creature wielded a simple longsword.
At the midpoint of the cavern stood twin orcs that had undergone the same ‘roasted skin’ treatment that we had seen before, making their bodies red and leathery. They had hand crossbows at the ready, and short swords sheathed at their sides.
And standing behind them all, at the far end of the chamber, was the Duke. He was still dressed in crimson and gold, albeit a bit grubbier from his underground excursions. He wore no weapon, and didn’t look like he wanted any part of the upcoming conflict.