by Bill Ricardi
Towards the end of our journey, the wolves were getting playful. Fallen logs became balancing beams. Hilltops became launching platforms. Even Laoghaire, without a doubt the most relaxed of the giant wolves, became competitive. He charged up one particularly steep hillside, only to leap over a ten pace gap in an attempt to reach the next hill without having to go down and around. I very nearly cast Soft Fall on the flying lupine. Instead, Toby and I held on for dear life and were forced to trust our mount’s judgment. The landing was ‘firm’, but we survived. Laoghaire looked over his shoulder briefly, either surprised that he pulled that off or fishing for praise at how well he had accomplished the jump.
Luckily, we arrived at the outskirts of Braxen before our mounts managed to kill us. The giant wolves skidded to a halt at the center of our little tent town, and waited patiently for us to draw enough water from the well to slake their powerful thirst.
As the wolves drank their fill, Yarith said, “We made good time. I suggest that you rest and prepare. As I understand it, the ship with the Syphons will arrive in a couple of hours.”
Jarotath agreed on this course of action. “Hemitath is supposed to be warning the townsfolk and offering martial protection as needed. Everyone will be meeting back here to organise. We can take these boys and girls hunting in the meantime.”
Just before our lupine friends loped off, Yarith made sure that Toby and Tara were Enlarged again, much to their relief. The two minotaurs grabbed Ames and went to get the lay of the land. Benno and I entered one of the empty tents. As the two of us waited for word of the R. M. N. Taboo’s arrival, we rested and prepared our full allotment of spells, focusing on a mix of combat and utility magic.
Benno finished before me, and was outside keeping watch. I heard him speaking to someone in murmured tones, but kept my curiosity in check as I finished the memorization of my final spell. Only when I was confident in my repertoire did I poke my head out of the tent.
My son was stroking the mane of a charcoal gray destrier. The horse was easily 17 hands tall, and muscled enough to almost ignore the partial chain barding that it wore. Astride the warhorse was a man that I never saw before. His hair color almost matched the horse’s fur, as did his shaggy beard and thick mustache. The old warrior wore leathers, and had a jeweled cutlass hanging at his hip. Although he and my son seemed to be getting along, I still wanted to perform my due diligence.
I stepped out of the tent fully and said, “Greetings, stranger. I see you’ve met my son. Were you waiting for me? Do you have business here?”
The old human nodded slowly. “Yep. Yer elven lass sent me from town. Wanted ta let ya know that you got some creatures and cultists and things comin’ from the East. My people spotted ‘em some 7 miles out, but they don’t look ta be stoppin’. That was an hour an’ change ago.”
I blinked at the phrase ‘Yer elven lass’. “I’m sorry, do you mean Yarith the wolf rider, or Hemitath the archmage?”
That question resulted in a pair of raised, bushy eyebrows. The man asked, “Ya have a second elven lass stashed ‘round here son? Must be the luckiest orc on Panos, you. Hemitath was her name. She and her guards are gonna help secure the town. Some number of mages are apparently arrivin’ by cart, and she plans ta split them between Braxen and the southern coast. My boys are warnin’ yer people all along the path ta shore.”
I offered a hand, and it was grasped by one just as calloused and beat up as mine.
I said, “Thank you. What’s your name, sir?”
After a brief but firm shake, the old human withdrew his hand. “Not a sir anymore. Was a sir when I was captain of the ‘Burglar's Prize’. Now I’m just Renver. Renver DeWalt.”
I smiled, “Many thanks then, Renver.”
Benno asked, “Where are you and Alice off to now?” I assumed Alice was the name of the man’s warhorse.
“Gonna stake out th’ South of town. The boys got some nasty traps ta set up, but they gotta be watched just in case someone innocent bumbles by.”
We said our goodbyes and Benno stepped away from the destrier. Renver made a clicking sound with his tongue, and Alice trotted out towards the main path, before turning North and taking off at a gallop.
Benno said, grimly, “Dragon coming from the North. A cultist army from the East. Probably elementals from gods know where.”
I said, “Your job is to stay safe.”
Benno started to object, but I cut him off.
“The only two psychics that can pull this off are you and your boyfriend. He’s currently holding the Arcane University together with spit and baling twine. Without him, anyone could potentially use the Circle of Transport. Including doomsday cultists. He may have something figured out in the next couple of hours, but I wouldn’t count on it. That means there’s one person who can get to the Astral and set the Arcane Syphons to overload, assuming that works at all. You.”
I poked my son in the chest, to punctuate the point.
He gently batted away my hand. The younger orc looked like he was trying to formulate a retort, but then his shoulders slumped and he sighed.
Benno said, “And what exactly happens if I can’t get them to feed back on themselves?”
I shrugged, “We’ll have a literal boatload of mages with you. You can take them in and they’ll start blasting the Syphons. You know, the old fashioned way.”
“Didn’t the old fashioned way nearly get us both killed?”
I squeezed my son’s shoulder. I didn’t really have anything comforting to say, so I went with honesty. “Yup!”
He peered at me through narrowed eyes. “Great pep talk, Dad.”
A new voice said, “The old fashioned way shouldn’t be required. In this close proximity, all of the Arcane Syphons should be linked. You issue the command from the Astral to one, and all of them should blow.”
I turned and walked over to my ‘little brother’. Leeson received a bearhug so tight that even the muscled human had to let out a grunt. He returned the gesture as well as he could under the circumstances.
After letting him go, I said, “Good to see you. How did you get here?”
Leeson said, “Max just teleported the final group in. I’m here to escort Benno down to the shore to help Rick and Will as soon as they arrive.”
My son said, “Oh come on, now I need a bodyguard?”
Leeson offered Benno a smile. “A babysitter, I think Max said.”
Benno said, “Fine. It might not be such a bad thing. We’ve got cultists coming in from the East.”
The young human nodded. He said, “One of the riders from town caught up to us. We’ll all be ready.”
A sudden, chilling thought came to mind. I asked, “What’s to stop the Original Engine from sending water elementals after Will and Rick?”
Leeson said, soothingly, “Even with the magnified power from all of the Syphons being in the same place, having them at the bottom of the ocean is next to useless. The Original Engine, and by extension the cultists, want the Arcane Syphons in a place where they can actually absorb magic. They’ll try to capture them, not sink them. That will require humanoid hands and some way to get them back to shore.”
Benno said, “But once we sink the Syphons, they won’t be so restrained.”
Leeson nodded his agreement. “The cultists won’t be pleased either, even if they win it will take a lot of work to recover those sunken Syphons. Here’s the good news: Max will be performing Gustov’s Disjunction just before we dive. That should give us an elemental-clear window so that we can overload the closest Arcane Syphon and start the chain reaction.”
I wasn’t privy to this part of the plan. I asked, “Wouldn’t sinking them in shallower water mute much of the explosion? Why over the Trench?”
Benno said, “The Great Trench gives the Original Engine direct access to the surface world. From your description, the whole thing isn’t open to ridiculous depths, just the portion South of us. So the explosions can seal that part off. Two lizards, one rock
.”
“You’ll have someone who can Teleport you out if it belches one of those anti-magic waves at you?”
My son said, “Even better. Hierophant Petrinoth and some of the most senior druids of Del-Nekbenth will be diving with us. As dolphins. When they transform, they really transform. They assure us that if things go wrong, they can get us safely back to the surface in short order.”
I still had reservations about the plan, but all of them revolved around the fact that it was my son down there and not someone else. So I simply grunted and nodded.
Benno asked, softly, “How’s Jess and Master Gideon?”
Leeson frowned. He looked down at the ground and absently kicked at the dirt. The young man said, “Jess is upset, of course. I don’t have the full details but… nobody was in the clock tower when the Stasis Dragon attacked. I know that much. Whatever mechanism was running the security and identification stuff at the Arcane University was housed there. For some reason, Gideon was devastated by the loss. Jess could only say that it was a family thing, and she would explain later. Right now, Gideon is nearly comatose. He’s just sitting in his room, staring straight ahead.”
Benno looked to me. He asked, “Dad, do you know what that’s all about?”
I shook my head. I said, “No. I’m sorry guys, I can’t shed any light on that. I just hope Gideon is alright.”
Leeson was about to say something, but our companions chose that moment to come back from their snooping around. Leeson was given a warm greeting by Tara, Toby, and Ames.
When asked what they saw, Toby’s reply was firm, “We have to move. This place is a death trap.”
Ames was nodding agreement. The feline said, “Refill your waterskins from the well, but then let’s get out of here. The hills to the East naturally funnel into this area. It has a path leading right to it from the North and South. We could easily get surrounded and not even know it.”
Benno asked, “What’s preferable?”
Toby pointed a big finger off to the East. “The other fork on the path. The one that leads up to the big bluff overlooking the ocean.”
Tara said, “The bluff area is perfect, assuming our mages have a few Soft Fall spells and flight or transport types of magic?”
Benno, Leeson and I were all nodding.
Ames stuck a fuzzy thumb in the air. “Perfect. Between those and my ring, we can get 6 people off of a cliff side if needed?”
The three of us consulted briefly before I answered, “Yes, I can Levitate and then we have four Soft Fall spells among us. With your ring, that covers the six of us.”
Toby rubbed his meaty hands together. “That’s excellent. We’ll have high ground, an escape tactic that non-mages can’t duplicate, and as much tree coverage as we need.”
Benno said, “And as soon as the Taboo arrives, I can dive off and Soft Fall down to them.”
We grabbed some dry food from the tent and water from the well. Then the six of us set off to the North, backtracking until we found the fork in the forested path. We started our southwesterly uphill climb, knowing that danger was approaching from the West, but prepared to face it head on.
A few minutes into our upwards trek, Ames held up a paw. The were-cat said, “Smoke. North, Northwest-ish?”
We needed to get to a relatively clear spot in order to visually confirm the findings of my feline’s nose. Sure enough, there was a small billow of smoke to our Northwest, just outside of Braxen. Tara’s guess was, “Mages. Fire elementals. Or perhaps just arson.”
Benno had a different theory, “It might be the traps that Renver mentioned as well.”
Toby shrugged his big shoulders. He said, “Either way, we’re probably about to be in the thick of it if the town has met opposition.”
We drew our weapons and prepared spell components, knowing that the enemy was close now. Soon, there were immediate signs of that proximity. A careless snap that signified a branch being broken. An unidentifiable shout from the West, far too far inland to be one of our people. The doomsday cultists had arrived, and it was likely that they pulled out all the stops.
Ames suddenly paused and pressed right up against a tree. The feline took a quick second glance around the trunk, then exposed just their crossbow arm. A quick ‘twang’ was followed by an angry, pained bellow. Immediately, the were-cat started to reload. “About ten mixed regulars. Thirty paces and closing fast.” was the feline’s assessment.
Tara and Toby crouched, using the rise of the hill as cover more than the trees themselves, given their width exceeded that of the trees surrounding us. Leeson crouched with them and started to cast a preparatory spell.
I was too focused on my own magic to listen to whichever incantation the young human had chosen. Benno and I selected our own trees as cover. Both of us spotted the half elven archer, jogging towards us far too boldly. The man looked emaciated, crazed. I exposed only as much of myself as required to start casting my first spell at him. The appearance of my head and hands prompted a rushed shot from the half elf that embedded an arrow in the roots of my tree. Benno responded by sliding halfway out of cover to start his own spell. Soon the unwise archer was airborne from the brutal impact of my Force Bolt. My son’s Magic Missiles rained in on the screaming cultist. If he wasn’t dead before he landed, the impact of neck and spine on the trunk of a stout spruce tree finished the job.
The rest of the enemies approached just as quickly, but as a group and with more regard for their own lives. Three of the cultists were wearing either scale or chain armor and held shields in addition to their longswords. One of them was bleeding from the arm, having intercepted the were-cat’s first shot. Ames’ next crossbow bolt was deflected by one of these lead warriors. With no time to reload, my mate went to the firebrand sword and spun out of cover.
That was the cue for Toby to rise and stride forward, standing hip to shoulder with the were-cat. Tara joined them, derisively smashing a sling bullet out of the air with her large shield before planting her hooved feet. Finally Leeson stepped up to guard the opposite flank from Ames. Neither of his enhancement spells had a visible effect, so I assumed he prepared himself with Aldus’ Armor and Leeson’s Living Layer. It was a formidable front line.
I took a moment to assess the battlefield as my friends blunted the cultists’ initial charge. “Eight!” I shouted out, indicating how many living enemies I saw. In addition to the three well armed and armored foes that Toby, Tara, and Leeson were engaged with, a lightly armored woman with a whip and an unarmored man with a wickedly studded tetsubo squared up to Ames. The source of that sling bullet was, unfortunately, one of two dark green skinned orcs in the far treeline. I didn’t like killing my own kind, but in this case I would make two exceptions. They were already slotting the next smooth stones into their slings for another try. Finally, a black robed elf was just catching up to his ‘friends’, taking cover behind a broad evergreen while he regained his breath.
Benno’s shout of “Eight!” confirmed my own sightings. Now that we were on the same page and our rather busy friends were aware, the two of us went to work.
I baited the first sling bullet by stepping out from behind cover, and then immediately ducking back behind the tree. Polished stone met bark with a satisfying crack. What I didn’t realise is that one of the two orcs held their shot, so when I stepped back out into the open I caught a glancing blow to the right shoulder. It stung, bruised, but there was no permanent damage. Cursing my own tactical stupidity, I turned to face the far left flank and palmed the slimy guts that I would need from my pouch. Benno also stepped out and started casting, though I couldn’t see what he had grabbed from his own stash of material components. My son’s eyes were focused far downfield.
The center line was a standoff. The cultist warriors seemed happy with a stalemate, counting on their missile slinging allies to turn the tide. Toby made as much use of his buckler as he did the Axe of McGrondle, just trying to make space and create an opening. Tara seemed content to trade bru
ising weapon-to-shield blows with her warrior, as her superior strength would numb the human’s arm far before she tired. Leeson, on the other hand, seemed to be befuddling his foe. Not only were some of the cultist’s blows being blocked by a floating invisible shield, but the melee mage was landing bruising low blows. The tip of his Ironwood staff would frequently catch the warrior’s armored shin or the toe of his boot, detracting from his mobility.
Ames was in full flight mode. The feline had only been caught by the whip once, but it sliced open the rogue’s leather armor and bruised the ribs beneath the impact zone. From that point on, Ames used the relatively slow and lumbering blows of the man with the studded club as cover. Every roar and swing was met with a nimble roll or a little backwards hop. Every evasive action left the whip mistress blocked by her comrade. It wasn’t a sustainable strategy, but the cat delayed them long enough for me to finish my spell.
Twin Acid Bolts sailed into the big tetsubo wielding maniac. I scored hits on his left side, causing the barbaric man to scream in pain. The acid left his ribcage exposed to the air, clean white bone sandwiching shrivelled flesh. Ames took the opportunity to strike low. The cut itself was just a flesh wound on the bellowing man’s ankle, but the firebrand sabre set his pants leg on fire. He howled and rolled off to the side, trying to put the blaze out.
Meanwhile, Benno landed the longest Web spell that I had ever seen. It had to be right at the limit of his range. Nevertheless, the sticky strands entangled both orcish slingers, giving us a temporary reprieve as they struggled to draw daggers from their belts and cut themselves free.