by Bill Ricardi
Just when we thought our situation was improving, the ground started to vibrate. That was when I realised that the black robed elf wasn’t catching his breath. He was channeling. His earth elemental broke from the far tree line and started to stomp towards the left flank. It was a bad matchup for Ames.
I shouted, “Nine, Toby!”
Toby turned the distraction into advantage. He feigned a turn towards the elemental, and the armored warrior lunged in with his longsword. The Axe of McGrondle found the weapon in mid thrust, shattering the tip and allowing momentum to bite into the enemy’s hip. The screaming and distraction allowed the paladin to withdraw and hustle over to support Ames’ flank by meeting the elemental head on. This left Tara and Leeson in a two on three situation. But between the sliced hip of the center warrior and broken toes on Leeson’s opponent, two of the enemy fighters already had mobility issues. The young melee mage alternated long staff thrusts between his original opponent and the one hobbled by Toby. Tara stopped trading shield blows with her foe, playing a more passive and cagey role, shifting right a bit so that the wounded and abandoned warrior would think twice about making a wild lunge towards Leeson.
I reached into my component pouch, and my gloved fingers found the smooth bit of rock that I required. I knew that the orcs were almost free, and I needed to buy some time. Concentrating on the mid-point between us and the far treeline, I murmured an incantation that I hadn’t used in a number of months.
I wasn’t paying attention to what Benno was doing, with my monitoring of the greater tactical situation. Then I saw a bright flash out of the corner of my right eye. My son conjured a Flaming Sword and stepped up to help Leeson. By the way his left arm was bent in front of him, I could only assume that an Invisible Shield had also been cast at some point. I wanted to shout at him for being stupid, but I was mid-incantation. Besides, it’s probably what I would have done myself three years ago.
The cloudy crystal that I had palmed slipped into the ether. Even considering my earlier minor spells, I felt the mental drain as a mere irritation. This was simple magic, if effective. A billowing cloud of Fog appeared between our melee front and the far treeline. The slingers, who I assumed would free themselves shortly, would have no way of picking out targets through this soup. The elven mage also wouldn’t be able to control his elemental by sight. He would need to get inside of its head, leaving his own physical body vulnerable.
As my gaze scanned back towards Ames, I noted a secondary threat. There was more smoke from the South, closer to the shore. The were-cat was a bit too preoccupied with the whip wielding warrior to take notice. But I was keenly aware that we needed to make the cliffside sooner rather than later, or risk being cut off by multiple wildfires.
But at the moment, fire was the were-cat’s ally. While the unarmored brute was tearing off his pants to avoid being immolated, Ames took another slashing blow from the whip, but this time it was intentional. The leather weapon snapped as it cut through the feline’s armor and wrapped around Ames’ left bicep. The were-cat snarled and locked arm against torso, trapping the whip for a split second. The firebrand sabre lashed out and severed the whip to a uselessly short length. This caused the cultist to grimace, her main weapon destroyed. The woman drew a jagged looking scimitar instead.
Only myself and Ames had been in the group who faced off against Koroth’s bishop and Duke Harrington all those years ago. The two of us had seen Toby pick apart an earth elemental using the Axe of McGrondle, in between our own violent efforts. I’m proud to say that my friend hadn’t lost a step in the intervening seasons. If anything, the paladin advanced his technique into a genuine art form. Toby spun to avoid a heavy handed strike from the stone creature. His axe blade, runes writhing excitedly along the bloody surface, bit deeply into the elemental’s left leg. It staggered back. One more strike like that and the earth elemental would be helplessly maimed.
“Eight!”
The cry was, surprisingly, from Benno. He used Leeson’s distracting staff blows to rush the toe-crushed human from the side. His conjured long blade took the warrior by surprise, sinking into his lower back and through the kidney. Leeson put the man out of his misery with a skull crushing coup de grace.
The cultists’ front line crumbled. As the hip-hobbled swordsman attempted to stumble forward and attack the two mages in melee range, Tara deftly dislocated his jaw with a backhanded swing of her cudgel. My son and ‘little brother’ were on the next fallen foe in a flash. Soon there was a cry of “Seven!”
Followed by Toby’s low, calm declaration of “Six.” He removed one of the hobbled earth elemental’s arms at the shoulder, and was able to move in close enough to sever that thick head at the neck.
Ames added to the count, just not verbally. The speed of the were-cat wasn’t something that the leather clad warrior woman could handle. The blur of Ames’ flaming blade chopped off her wrist. Before she could finish voicing an agonised scream, the were-cat added a detached head to the unfortunate cultist’s list of injuries.
While the final longsword wielding warrior was being overwhelmed, I spotted the burned barbarian staggering to his feet, now pantsless. As he turned to run I was already in motion. It wasn’t the cleanest of tackles, but I held onto his wounded ankle and twisted until he fell down again. That was enough time for Toby to make his way over and finish what I started. Messily.
Wiping the blood out of my eyes, I peered around the battlefield. The Fog spell was starting to dissipate, but I didn’t see anyone remaining at the treeline. “Three fled?” I called out, uncertain.
My companions surveyed the area before agreeing with my assessment. The mage, upon losing his elemental, wisely beat a retreat. There was no sign of the enemy orcs other than a couple of dropped sling bullets, left behind in their haste to get away.
As Tara called upon Melflavin to heal Ames, Toby called upon Aro-Remset to heal his wife’s bruised arms and ribs.
I said, “There are multiple forest fires all around us. I don’t think anyone has time to put them out right now. We need to make the clearing on the cliffside.”
Ames took the lead. All of us were nose-blind and red-eyed from the low levels of smoke in the air. But the were-cat still had the best eyes in the group under just about any conditions. Tara took the rear, more likely than any of us to be able to detect any sort of elemental disturbance.
The trees thinned as we approached the cliffside clearing. Suddenly dirt and twigs gave way to brown sand, gravel, and stone. The exposed cliff face ceded all of its vegetation to the erosion of wind over the millennia. For the moment we stayed inland, using the last few trees as cover as we awaited word of the R. M. N. Taboo’s arrival.
We hunkered down to catch our breath and sip some water. The sky had at least four rising columns of thick black smoke, ranging from the shore all the way back to Braxen. I silently hoped that our people were faring better than the enemy. I also felt a pang of guilt for bringing the conflict to the doors of a bunch of retired sailors and merchants. Hemitath would do everything in her power to defend them, of that much I was certain.
“No more spells.”
I was snapped out of my reverie. Ames spoke the words quietly, but with an unusual harshness. The feline was offering my son that wicked little hand crossbow and a pouch of bolts.
Benno snarled, “I’m fine. Don’t henpeck me.”
The were-cat noted, “You’re one major spell away from having to enhance again, and we don’t have that kind of time.”
Knowing that Ames was an expert in gauging the limits of both Benno and myself, I laid down the law. “Son, save it for the Astral. There’s no curse there and the Arcane Syphons will need to be set off if a simple command doesn’t work.”
The younger orc looked like he was about to object again, but saw five sets of stern eyes staring at him.
Toby summed it up best, saying, “You are the mission now, kiddo.”
Reluctantly, Benno took Ames’ crossbow and started to load it up. The two b
antered back and forth while the rest of us kept watch.
The feline said, “Remember your lessons.”
My son said, “I do, don’t worry.”
“I do worry, because you’re a lousy student.”
“Hey I was hitting your silly targets after a while, wasn’t I?”
“Barely. Go ahead, take a test shot.”
“You have the trigger so sensitive on this thing that it practically goes off by itse-”
There was a twang followed by a scream.
I had one of those parental moments, thinking that my beloved son somehow managed to shoot himself with my mate’s crossbow. The truth was far stranger. Whether by instinct or accident, Benno’s test shot had sailed all the way across the clearing and into the copse of trees opposite us. Where he hit something.
Benno made the call, uncertainly:
“One?”
And then there was chaos.
The thing that burst from the trees was the size of six horses placed end to end. Glossy black serpentine scales covered its belly and sides. But the top of the creature was adorned with red and white feathers. From my scholarly studies, I knew that its eyes would be a luminescent yellow-green. But I also knew enough not to check.
I shouted, “Basilisk, don’t look it in the eyes, ‘ware the spit!”
But my warning came too late for Tara, who met that draining, hypnotic gaze for a long moment. The minotaur screamed in pain and fell to her knees, as her right arm and right leg went limp. It looked like the basilisk's paralysis was only partial, but without even engaging, it had already swung the odds.
This monster of the earth was joined by a creature of the sky. The massive air elemental swept up rocks, branches, and copious amounts of leaves in its vortex. One tree was stripped bare as the elemental entered the clearing, as if demonstrating the disturbing ease of its power. Fifteen paces behind the elemental was the same damnable elf from before, hiding in deep cover as he channeled his control.
The unfortunate orc that Benno had hit in the shoulder moved up to the edge of the forest before yanking out the slim bolt with a pained yelp. His friend took cover behind the next tree over, and started to load up his sling so that he could line up a shot.
Tara tucked in behind her shield and started to murmur a prayer to Melflavin. Toby stepped in front of her, tears of rage in his eyes. The paladin stalked towards the basilisk, looking for all the world to be a bull with bad intentions.
The first sling bullet was once again fired my way. This time I was in motion however, and the rounded stone whizzed past my head. I was sprinting around the perimeter of the clearing. As unintuitive as it may have seemed, I was heading towards our foes at the far end of the clearing. I needed an angle on the mage who was channeling if we were to have any chance of beating the elemental. The second bullet, fired from the sling of the wounded orc, rolled to a stop in front of me. I glanced off to my left, trying to see why his shot went so far awry.
A small crossbow bolt was embedded in the tree trunk that the wounded orc was using as cover. Benno calmly reloaded and fired at the same target. The close call must have panicked the other orc and forced an early release.
Ames faced an impossible task: One small white were-cat against a massive vortex of wind and debris. The feline tried the same trick that we used in the Apprentice Library. When the air elemental was close enough, my mate thrust the flaming sabre deep into the funnel of wind, attempting to ignite the debris inside. Instead, Ames received a powerful shock that threw the feline back five full paces. The were-cat managed a backwards roll and landed in a crouch, every strand of fur standing on end from the excess static electricity.
Leeson was finishing a spell that I assumed was preparatory. I was incorrect. When my young friend finished the Blink incantation he appeared on the other side of the clearing, in between two very startled orc cultists. The sound of hastily drawn short swords and pained yelping ensued.
Toby barely managed to raise his buckler in time to catch the wad of acidic phlegm that the basilisk launched his way. The excess spattered onto his armor and started to erode holes in the chain and leather before finally losing its potency. The triple-scythe claw attack missed high as the minotaur ducked and charged in. He landed a solid chop to the beast’s forearm before the backswing sent the paladin tumbling away, like a toy soldier propelled by the boot of a frustrated child.
Tara, still immobile, finished her prayer. Her icy Divine Warhammer rose up from behind the prone minotaur, like a vengeful spirit. As Toby recovered from his tumble, the ethereal looking weapon proved just how solid it really was. A concussive blow landed on the earth serpent’s long neck, freezing a patch of scales and causing it to shriek and recoil. The basilisk snapped at the handle of the spiritual weapon and managed to fling it away. But the Divine Warhammer approached once again, an inexorable force that needed to be dealt with.
With Leeson doing more than just holding his own against the two orc cultists, I was free to advance. Soon I found my quarry. Taking the amber wand from my pouch, I pointed it at the helplessly distracted mage before rubbing the swatch of fur against it. Soon the conduit to the quasi-elemental planes formed, and my Lightning Bolt coursed into the elven cultist. I felt Glogur’s curse bite deeply into my psyche, my mind starting to unravel with the rapid use of combat spells. But the enemy mage, completely unaware of my assault, was electrocuted. His heart had been caught between beats, doomed never to make the effort again.
As I tried to recover from the drain, I turned to see what impact, if any, my elimination of the elf made. The air elemental was playing a far less cagey game now. Rather than gathering its static electricity and using it defensively, it lashed out at Ames from a distance. Charged branches and stones were hurled from the vortex. My were-cat deftly rolled and dodged, clearly straining with the effort... anyone would be after having their muscles jolted time and again.
Benno realized that there was a target in front of him, one literally as big as the broad side of a barn. My son reloaded and fired as quickly as he could, pumping bolt after bolt into the distracted basilisk’s ribs. He might not have been doing that much damage, but the bolts were causing the creature some pain, and thus distraction.
As the giant basilisk started to shamble towards my son’s position, Toby and the Divine Warhammer converged on it from either side. The Axe of McGrondle crashed into the creature’s rib cage, sending a spray of acidic green blood into the air. The icy floating hammer struck the basilisk’s shoulder, albeit somewhat ineffectually. After loosing an eardrum-pounding shriek of pain, the beast swiped at the Divine Warhammer, catching the weapon in its claws and pinning it helplessly to the ground. A sudden, fierce lash of the creature’s tail tore Toby’s buckler right from his arm, snapping the leather straps, sending the paladin staggering backwards from the impact.
A quick glance at Leeson gave me the impression that he had the situation well in hand. One of the orcs had been felled, and the other was simply being outclassed by the speed and power of my young friend’s staff work. I chose my next target.
I darted in, far closer to the melee than I was comfortable with, to be frank. Squeezing a small waterskin, I feathered my fingers towards the basilisk’s rump and completed the brief incantation. My Fan of Frost washed over the base of the creature’s tail, cracking scales and shattering feathers. The overgrown lizard stopped its advance towards my son. Apparently a much closer orc now had its attention.
Ames was watching a log. To be specific, a heavy log trapped within the air elemental’s churning winds. It orbited slowly within the creature’s vortex, or at least far more slowly than the smaller pieces of debris. After dodging a stone the size of a melon, the were-cat leapt. Ames rode the log up towards the center of the elemental, where a tight ball of twigs and leaves fluttered, like a massive heart. The rogue timed their stab perfectly, igniting the sheaf of detritus. The air elemental became a fire elemental. Very briefly.
But Ames wasn’t done yet
. Using the force of the explosion and the Ring of Leaping, the were-cat soared through the air towards the basilisk. There was nothing between my mate and the giant reptile’s skull other than a few meters of empty air.
Which meant that there was no way to dodge the wad of viscous spittle that the basilisk sent hurtling towards the airborne feline.
I helplessly watched the aftermath of my mate’s brief flight. Twin screams met my ears. The first was the were-cat’s agonised cry as the acid started to sear through fur and flesh. The second was the death knell of a basilisk, as a flaming sabre sunk through its feathers and into the creature’s brainpan.
Toby dropped his axe and dove to catch the writhing Ames, who fell off of the basilisk’s skull soon after the Ring of Leaping had provided sure footing, ever so briefly. The big minotaur managed to lessen my mate’s impact with the ground, avoiding further injury.
Leeson’s voice rang out to assure us that he dispatched the final orc cultist, and we could properly deal with the aftermath, “Zero. Clear.”
Benno rushed over to Ames and Toby. Even as the paladin prepared the Laying of Hands, my son was upending a full sized waterskin on the were-cat’s face, washing away as much of the foul spittle as possible.
Much as I wanted to help, I knew that there was nothing I could do for my mate that wasn’t already being done. Schooling my emotions, I instead ran to our other impaired friend. I said, “Tara, where does it hurt?”
The cleric had a bewildered look on her face. “Nowhere. I- I can’t feel my right arm or leg. I know that they’re attached, but they...”
She trailed off, just staring at her useless limbs in something akin to disbelief.
I took a deep breath, and then let it out in a relieved sigh. “If it doesn’t hurt, it’s just temporary paralysis. I’ve read about the effects of the basilisk’s stare. The sensation before your extremities start to turn to stone is supposed to be excruciating.”
Tara peered at me. She said, “You need to work on your bedside manner, Sorch.”