Another Stupid Trilogy

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Another Stupid Trilogy Page 55

by Bill Ricardi


  I wasn’t aware of the passage of time, but I was confident that the harnessing was happening at a strong, steady rate. I felt the water flowing through me, as if soaking into my pores and being exhaled through my nostrils. It was like a reservoir had gathered in my mind, and was ready to simply spill out of me.

  When I felt the power reach its apex, I spat into the center of the summoning circle. With that gesture, all of the water seemed to drain out of me. It collected and gathered inside the circle, growing as it took on a life of its own. The circle flashed and faded, absorbed into the planar creature that I had called forth.

  Then, the other kind of drain. I felt the walls of my mind crumbling, and my knowledge and reasoning started to pour out. I managed to shore up the holes, but not before losing a quarter day’s enhancement. It was my most powerful spell, and with that came great cost.

  In that moment however, the drain was worth it. I maintained my channeling so that I didn’t simply control the minor water elemental. I was the elemental. I ‘saw’ through it, I felt myself spreading along the ground, yearning to slip into that vast pool situated so close. Knowing it would let me grow, let me breathe and flex, let me feel and flow. I slid into the swamp with a happy burble.

  I was a surge in the calmness of the waters. I could recklessly kick up silt or silkily slide through the shallows without a trace. Fish and turtles and lizards were swept aside harmlessly, confused by the sudden pressure and flow, but embraced by my benevolence and set down gently in my wake. The occasional caiman thought to challenge me, but thought again as I flowed past, thrumming with potential and danger. The water was their home, but I was the water. The difference was clear, even to them.

  Once I had a feel for my new form, I covered the vast gap between my friends and the perceived disturbance in a few seconds. I lay skulking, a knot of heavy water surrounded by elemental pillars, boney legs, and stilts made of muck and silt. Only when I was confident in my camouflage did I spread myself thinly across the surface, becoming a lens through which I could see the creatures standing above me.

  And there he was. There was no doubt in my mind that this was Salt, flanked by his elementals. The huge conjurations did have some protection from the water, legs packed in clay that seemed to cling to them unnaturally. Still, I felt them seeping through, slowly poisoning my element. I felt rage. But there was still more to see, so I contained that anger for the moment. Further up there was another gathering, and I flowed to it. A hundred paces was covered in just a few of my useless orcish shell’s heartbeats. From this new perspective I saw another unwelcome face: the Necromancer. He too thought dead, he too spreading the stench of his taint to my waters. The dead rose to his call, skeletons that gathered muck and clay, born in the swamp, bound by the swamp. And all the dead were former orcs. The clay made them orcish in shape, and they were wielding rusty orcish weapons.

  And at the head of his new army, a beast that was the creation of both of the risen, mad elves. A half-ogre golem made of bone plates packed inside of a salty clay shell. A golem imbued with the spirit of the dead, and with a hole burned right through the heart, as in if its chest had been hollowed out by bolts of acid.

  Each of them were connected to a strand. This strand led back. Led west. I snuck away from the interlopers for a couple of minutes, until they couldn’t possibly detect me. Then I followed the flow, tearing through the waters of the swamp, not caring that I left a miniature tidal wave in my wake. I got as close as I could to the source and rose from the muck, a living being in the shape of a humanoid, striding on the surface of the water. I was hellbent upon seeing what caused this abomination. I strode upon the wet land, slowly melting away as I moved towards the source of these strands.

  And then I saw it. The village. The convergence of all of the strands.

  The Voodoo Engine.

  There was a sudden surge of power. I was caught in the disjunction. Slowly I melted away, becoming one with the land, knowing that I would flow through and once again join my fellow droplets and drips. And together we would be the swamp once more.

  I opened my eyes with a startled gasp, forced to breathe air. For a moment I panicked, looking for the swamp, a swamp that I could inhale and be one with. But then I remembered who I was. I took hold of that memory and donned my identity like a warm cloak.

  “Sorch Stonebender. Sorch Stonebender.”

  I heard Ames say, curiously, “Sorch? Why are you saying your own name over and over again?”

  Eleven pairs of eyes were peering at me. Dammit, not again.

  I cleared my throat, “Sorry, channeling the elemental like that can be… immersive. Let me think. Let me remember.”

  I tried to incorporate those memories from another life into my own. I started to reconcile the alien sensations of being water. I mapped those feelings over to a system that my humanoid body could comprehend.

  And then I understood. The weight of my discovery hit me like a landslide.

  “Oh gods.”

  Tara asked, “What is it Sorch? What did you see?”

  I said, hoarsely, “My past. Everyone I helped to kill. Brought back. Summoned by the Voodoo Engine as it absorbs all of the excess power from the Plane of Negative Energy. Made possible when I touched that damned black gem. I gave him a template.”

  Yarith shook her head. “I don’t understand. You gave who a template?”

  It was Ames who answered on my behalf, grimly. “Duke Harrington. An actual demon now, who in life was personally killed by Sorch.”

  I growled, “And he empowers the Necromancer to raise the dead, and Salt to embalm them in clay and shape them into orcs. The captain of their army is a vicious half-ogre I once had to kill, now reanimated as some sort of macabre golem. The orcs really are marching against the elves. They just aren’t alive.”

  Yarith nodded. “I’ll send back a Message, get the word out that this isn’t really an orc army. Our traps could be getting set off by anything. Little elementals or reanimated lizards made of mud. The evidence just falls back into the swamp and melts away.”

  The temporarily small hand of Toby gripped my shoulder. “Sorch, if he’s trying to start a war, is there a chance that there is some actual orc involvement? Surely Harrington couldn’t be relying on this undead ruse alone. It would be discovered eventually.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know Toby. We need to get to my village and find out exactly what’s going on.”

  Yarith said, “We’ll get you as close as we can, but then we need to head back. There’s only so much two dozen words can convey, and my people will need all of the details to combat this threat.”

  With that, Yarith cast Max’s Message and let the elven Council know what they were up against. The reply that she related was that the elves would hold the borderlands defensively until their reconnaissance could be shifted to the Jeywafa village.

  Ames rumbled, “What in the hells is that supposed to mean?”

  Tara guessed, “They want to find out if there’s willing orc involvement in this mess before they commit to any rash action.”

  I didn’t mince words, “It means if my idiot chieftain willingly threw in with Harrington and his people, he may have started a war.”

  Toby shook his head. “No.”

  I glanced over at the minotaur, my gaze too high at first since I was not used to conversing with him at a reasonable vertical level.

  My horned friend squeezed my shoulder once again. “Not if we get there first, Sorch. Not if we stop him.”

  I blinked, not having considered the possibility that we might be able to outpace the scrying. “Yarith, if we start out now, can we beat the Eyes?”

  The elven magus considered. “We’re far closer. They have perfect speed over every terrain but if the wolves are willing to get you very close… yes. We can beat the Eyes.”

  Soon each of us had our assigned giant wolf crouched next to us, waiting for all of these silly bipeds to mount up.

  Horaneth ruffle
d her red-brown wolf’s ears. “I think we have our answer, no need for Aoife to translate.”

  Ames mounted up on the alpha female. “They’re getting closer with their summoning and raising of the undead. After you drop us off, you’re going to need to head southeast right down to the shore if you want to have any chance of not being cut off.”

  The rest of us got back in the saddle. Yarith laughed a little bit. “These boys and girls will tear through a few skeletons like dry kindle. As long as we can avoid their main force, we’ll be alright.”

  I couldn’t keep the thought out of my head: And if they did get caught behind the main force, they were dead and we would have effectively killed them. Unless…

  I mentioned, “If you get cut off, there’s a cave with an entrance large enough for the wolves. It’s a couple of hours south of Jeywafa village. It was called the Silverfish lair but I took care of the Silverfish. Hole up there, rest, and then you can head west across the hills to Limt.”

  Horaneth and Yarith exchanged arched glances. It was the mage who said, “You are full of surprises, Sorch Stonebender.”

  With that, Teagan and Aoife took off like they had been propelled from a ballista. The five pairs of us followed them west, with Ames and Faline quickly taking their rightful place in the lead.

  I leaned down to murmur into Laoghaire’s ear. “Hey. Keep them safe, okay? It’s the heroic ones who get into trouble. The world needs more level headed souls.”

  The white furred wolf responded with a breathless bark.

  I liked to think that he was saying, ‘Sure thing Sorch, everything is going to be alright. If we get in trouble we’ll double back and follow your advice. Don’t worry about us, concentrate on the mission.’

  But it’s far more likely that he was saying, ‘Well I’ll try Sorch, but I follow the alpha and she can get a little crazy. I’ll help out where I can, but whatever happens, happens. I’m sure you understand.’

  Though it occurred to me that he might have been saying, ‘Sorch, are you nuts?! Why would I follow the advice of the guy who grabbed an extraplanar focus, got himself killed, caused all of these crazy enemies from the past to appear, and is headed towards near-certain death himself? You’re a real idiot.’

  Then again, maybe I was reading too much into it. Sometimes a bark is just a bark.

  Chapter 19

  There was very little doubt that stealth was off the table. Six giant creatures sloshing through the water at speed was bound to attract the attention of any kind of scout that you care to name, living or unliving. If there was anyone in the vicinity, they knew where we were.

  Horaneth maneuvered close, our wolves shoulder to shoulder, and said, “Where can we drop you off?”

  I pointed to a couple of nearby sandbars. “That used to be much wider, but I imagine it still leads all the way up to the foothills. We’ll head north towards the village. You can move inland and then south to the Silverfish’s lair and rest these beasties.”

  Horaneth didn’t argue. One look at the wolf pack was enough to know that they’d already given everything that they had just getting us here. Heads were starting to sag, tongues were lolling out of muzzles. They needed fresh water, some fish, and a few hours of rest in secrecy. The lair and nearby river would provide all of that.

  The druid said, “I’ll use that time to pray, and then I’ll be able to summon a message raven. We’ll get the full details back to the militia one way or another. They likely have most of the salient points already if they’re sending Eyes, but best to be sure.”

  Once we were on solid land, the four of us gathered all of our gear. Toby and Tara were Enlarged, regaining their vertical advantage, much to their relief. I gave the elven women details on the landmarks that they should be aware of, and then we said our goodbyes.

  The wolves started to lope off, but Laoghaire remained a moment. I received a firm headbutt on the shoulder from the massive white wolf, and then a good long stare from those yellow eyes.

  I said, “I’ll be fine, Laoghaire.” I didn’t really know if that was the case, but it seemed like the wolf needed to hear it.

  The giant lupine snorted once, then he pivoted to jog west, following his packmates.

  Ames sighed. The were-cat said, “Well at least we don’t need to worry about camouflage.”

  My mate was right. We were covered head to toe in a layer of silt and clay. It took a few minutes to decake certain important bags, pouches, and weapons. We all pitched in with the cleaning of Ames’ crossbow bolts as we walked, making sure that they weren’t going to get stuck in the mechanism or fail to fly true when fired. Once that was done, Ames and I took point, letting the minotaurs follow around ten paces behind. For once, I was needed as the native guide.

  Orcish patrols were conspicuously absent, which didn’t make me feel particularly confident. If something had happened to the village, there likely wouldn’t be any telltale signs such as smoke or undue carnage. The undead army doesn’t use fire, and they would simply have raised the corpses to join their ranks.

  The sandbar continued to widen until we had joined up with the drier landmass adjacent to the foothills. Still no signs of sentient life. It was a good fifteen minutes of travel, putting us well into the foothills, before Ames raised an arm to bar my path. I reached into my pouch and ‘palmed’ something with my magic gloves, just in case we needed the element of surprise. One sharp claw pointed to a stout little shrub next to a sickly looking tree. Two pairs of eyes stared out; one set was larger and filled with wonder, while the other set was smaller and filled with suspicion. I knew those eyes.

  Irritated, I held out my wrist and called out, “Lizzy.”

  The flying lizard launched from the head of the other shadowy figure. She circled me slowly before landing on my wrist. The silly creature then started preening and grooming herself, as if this were a normal, everyday meeting.

  The small figure that slowly paced out of the shrub was also familiar to me. Those wide, hazel-flecked green eyes were locked on Ames. Needless to say, Benno had never seen a were-cat before.

  I made the introduction, “Benno, this is my mate Ames. Ames, this is one of our promising young mages, Benno. Don’t shoot him.”

  I sort of forgot that the two biggest shocks of the young orc’s life were seconds behind us. This time, the small mage fell right back on his rump, mouth agape. He stared up, and up, and up at Tara, and then up some more at Toby.

  I said, “Oh right. The little one is Tara, and the bigger one is Toby.” I found it amusing to call Tara ‘little’. She did not, if the light slap on my shoulder was any indication. “These are my friends Benno, it’s okay.”

  He nodded, dumbly.

  I decided to address the more unimpressed of the two. “Lizzy, take us to Shaman?” There was a lazy yawn, a hiss, and then the lizard begrudgingly took flight. Benno seemed to be paralysed with a combination of fear and wonder. Tara scooped the lad up easily, set him on Toby’s shoulders, then the five of us followed Lizzy’s flightpath.

  The young orc quickly recovered from his shock to savor what might be a once in a lifetime experience. He gripped Toby’s black horns, still spattered with some clay but clean enough, and used them as handles. Benno spent the next few minutes experiencing what it was like to be the tallest orc in all of Panos. I glanced back at one point to see Toby getting one of the bigger shocks of his life as well. The minotaur’s eyes were wide, and he had nearly dropped his magic axe. It took me a moment to realize that the young orc must be talking to him, mind to mind. I probably should have warned my friends.

  Belatedly, I mentioned, “Benno is psychic, folks. If he’s touching you, don’t panic when he speaks directly into your head.” Toby stared at me after I gave the group that late warning. I just shrugged.

  Despite finding a friend, we were still on high alert. Luckily, or perhaps eerily, there wasn’t another soul in earshot. Our only companions were the chittering, croaking, and buzzing wildlife. Even those sounds seeme
d muted in comparison to what I remembered.

  The old copper mine was our destination. Benno had to disembark, and the minotaurs had to crouch until we were in the main cavern. I murmured, “Let them know we’re here Benno, I don’t want to be greeted by a salvo of magic, or rocks, or both.”

  “Uncle! Auntie! Sorch and his friends are here.”

  A couple of Light cantrips blossomed deeper in the cave. A relieved looking group of orcish students was illuminated by the first cantrip. ‘Uncle’ and ‘Auntie’, looking exhausted, stood in the second. Lizzy flew over to perch on Dutch’s back.

  Hemitath had warm, relieved hugs for everyone. This got the old elven archmage quite dirty, but she didn’t seem to mind. There wasn’t even a need to introduce Tara to the archmage, as they had Adventurer’s Guild dealings in the past. Everyone wanted to shake Shaman’s hand. The common line was, “We’ve heard so much about you.” My oldest friend gave me a look, but I assured him that all of what they heard was good stuff. He grinned toothily.

  We took some time to rest after our long ride and shorter walk, while Shaman explained what was going on in the village.

  “Chief screwed up, big time. Couple day back, he announce no need smart orcs for Voodoo Engine no more. He trade most of ‘em to Nightbane tribe as hammer-maiden breeding stock or something. They appreciate smarter orc babies. Our students sneak off to here. Chief say now we no need copper, can dig for gold and gems. Voodoo Engine know where, he say. Then bad stuff start happen. Engine get mind of own. Not just do our stuff, do its own stuff. Me not allowed to touch no more, only Chief. He let Voodoo Engine do whatever it want. Then we start seeing zombies, skeletons, bad night stuff. Chief say no worry, just Engine protect itself. Even the bashers divided. Chief power not really with them no more. It with Voodoo Engine and dis new dark army. When say something, sent me off to find strong wife in other tribes, make ally he say.”

 

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