“A foolish statement, and you know it to be...” he replied, narrowing his eyes as he studied my features, “Earthborn. Before you began devouring us, we had merely assumed you to be a reinforcement in the war for this place. But you are decades too young to be anything but a squire accompanying one of their Star Errants. And you are dragon as well.
Damn straight, Teeth said in my mind.
“But that is not the point,” the Scaleling rasped again. “The point is that knowledge is power, and you would be hard-pressed to find a greater source of wisdom anywhere else than beyond that gateway. Father’s children died in droves searching this place. We have explored it far more thoroughly than you have in these brief moments. Agree to a ceasefire, and we will exchange knowledge. And you will learn what awaits beyond that threshold.”
“I already know enough to make an informed decision about it,” I answered dryly. “And I resent our current relationship too much to trust you farther than I can throw a doom bolt.”
But Wes can’t cast doom bolts, Petalbell spoke up in my mind. That’s not his magic. He does a different kind of thing.
It’s a bluff, Petal, Breena sent to her fellow fairy. I told you about those, remember?
Ohhhhhhh.
“It was not our fault you arrived when you did!” the Scaleling snapped. “Father has been stranded in this place for a hundred thousand times the span of your life! He has been patient! He has invested much! You owe him the opening of that door!”
Anyone count more than thirty of these things? I asked through the mindlink.
Nope.
Not me.
I count thirty one, Breyn sent awkwardly. Because of the one in the very back, with just his head sticking out of his pool.
Final pair of eyes, I realized. That made sense.
“Your best bet is to appeal to either my sense of morality, or my sense of self-interest,” I replied. “So far you’re doing a terrible job of both.”
“Free passage,” the Scaleling in front spat. “Just let a handful of us accompany you into the room, take what we can carry, and Father will withdraw, and let you leave this place. You can return to Earth, far richer than you had any right to be.”
“Would you stay on Avalon, then?” I asked.
“That is no business of yours,” the Scaleling replied. “Your people lost all claim to authority in this place when we defeated them in combat.”
“Who defeated them?” I demanded. “Who was your leader?”
I had nothing more than Prodontis’ story and a suspicion shared by Breena. But even if Avalon’s usurper was an Umbra, I still needed to know more about him.
“A being far greater than you or these idiot ghosts can comprehend, young one,” the Scaleling snarled in a deeper voice, as if something else was now using its mouth. “The first creature to do what the cautious old cowards on their thrones never dared. He led an army against your people, and his army won. Understand that, Earthborn. I, a dragon, a true Wyrm and not some whelp like you with your diluted bloodline, consented to fight under his banner. There were kings and emperors who sought my service in their wars, but none could afford my price or impress me with their personal power. But the one who claimed this place did both, though he betrayed me in the end,” the Scaleling let out a deep growl. “I suspect he betrayed us all. Though I do not know how he brought the Flood to this place.”
“What is the Flood?” I asked. “The Atlanteans only know that it destroyed their minds and homes.”
“I do not know either,” the Tidefather admitted, using his puppet’s voice. “Something that came from a time long before the Council itself. Something that predates everything but the Primal Powers, and does not care for the laws that make the Expanse function. It hates whole minds, and seeks to unravel them. But it cannot hurt me. Not this scant amount of it. Whatever way it used to come here, no more than a few dozen drops made it into this place.” The Scaleling puppet cocked his head at me. “It can barely hurt me in my primary body, let alone these castoff shells. I can help you. Let the Flood overwhelm my spare bodies, and the rest of us will take what we need from the room beyond. You will not need to fight the creatures at all, though I doubt you even could. Take this chance, young Earthborn. You already have no further business in this place. You will not get a more fortunate chance than this.”
“Your opinion is noted,” I spoke dryly. “Do you agree to withdraw from Avalon at the conclusion of our deal?”
That was still far from a perfect solution, but I still felt really sketchy about my chances with fighting this thing, based on Teeth’s description of it.
“I already told you that I will go where I wish.”
“Yes,” I replied. “And you could easily just go wherever I went and eat me when I left. Not good enough. Withdraw from Avalon, or I don’t want to play anymore.”
“I don’t—fine,” the monster spat. “I agree to withdraw from Avalon long enough for you to escape with your scavenged wealth. I will give you three of this world’s days before I return.”
“Would you swear a binding oath to that effect?” I asked next.
The green humanoid narrowed its slanted eyes at me.
“No,” he said suspiciously. “And how would you know about such powerful oaths, little Earthborn? I won’t let you trick me into one.”
“You mean you have no intention of honoring any agreement with me,” I replied levelly. “You’re going to either double-cross me when we enter the room together or slay me as soon as I step foot outside this blue mountain.”
The Scaleling hissed again.
“You stole from me, and still expect to live,” the dragon spat through his puppet. “You are the dishonest one here. I will not let you take the fruit of my efforts for yourself!”
The mass of false-men sprang forward, and we unleashed arcane hell.
The Scalelings in front triggered a few fairy traps Breena and Petalbell had managed to create when no one was looking. Taking advantage of the distraction, we let loose a flurry of lightning bolts, fireballs, slicing blasts of wind, and rock storms. Petalbell was a fire and air sprite, and could access both Ideals at once, casting a different spell from each hand. Karim had improved upon my idea of enhancing Ideal spells with Script magic, quickly tracing a wide, translucent screen for our spells to fire through. Our effects grew larger and more intense when they came out the other side, and I reflected at just how often opening salvos like this one had been the deciding factor in most of my fights.
This time, though, only six of our enemies fell. The rest of them charged forward, smoking and reeking of burnt flesh, but far more healthy than I felt they deserved to be. We were still outnumbered more than three to one, in a wide open room where they could surround us.
I growled in frustration as I drew Toirneach and cocked the massive tomahawk back for a throw. Virtus had moved more quickly, and the tall skeleton launched one of the Atlantean javelins we had recovered straight into the skull of the foremost Scaleling. The monster let out a strangled cry that cut short abruptly, and he fell backwards, spasming violently.
He hates the cold, I remembered belatedly, then swore in frustration. Rookie mistake, Wes!
They’re weak against cold! I shouted through the mindlink. Switch to Atlantean and Hoarfolk weapons!
I would have hollered for them to use Ice magic, if I hadn’t been the only one who really knew any. Breena and Petal fired what Ice magic they could anyway, and Karim began writing new script into the air. Virtus killed two more of the scaly men in as many throws, and another Scaleling froze to death as he ran through Karim’s new script, and then they were upon us.
Breyn, Virtus, Eadric, and I formed up a loose shieldwall to protect the less armored members of our group. We had found enough Atlantean spears to go around for everyone but me, but I hoped my old militia spear would at least take the initial shock of close combat.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Breyn shift his spear to catch a Scaleling in the be
lly as it attempted to flank us. The monster screamed as the cold blade negated most of its vital guard. Virtus somehow had time to throw his remaining Atlantean javelin and catch another monster in the face before switching to his longer spear, taking another monster in the throat with a single thrust. Eadric swept his own polearm through a nearby Scaleling’s kneecap and made the monster’s entire limb crack apart.
I braced my own spear, previously strengthened with Shaping magic, and took the last handful of seconds to enchant the blade with a speck of Ice magic. I aimed it toward a large, charging Scaleling with the intent to run its chest through.
Instead of piercing the monster through the heart and making me look at least as competent as the rest of my team with their own magic weapons, the damn thing just skidded off the already weakened monster’s scales before snapping apart just below the spearhead.
I swore again and summoned my long Hoarfolk arming sword before the tall dragonman slammed straight into my shield. He was half a head taller than me, but I had knocked around Horde Mongrels that weighed far more than this burned and blackened thing. He should have made me skid half an inch before I was able to lift him off my shield, slam his reptilian ass to the ground, and stabbed him through the skull with the weapon I should have already been using.
When he pushed me back by over a foot, and nearly wrenched my shield arm out of socket with his bare claws, I realized I still needed to refine my expectations for what kind of day I was going to have.
“Hatchling whelp,” the monster growled as he tried to push me to the ground with my own shield. I strained to keep on my feet, realizing that the thing was as strong as I was, even with my enhancement spells. “You think yourself mighty because you ate a handful of my sleeping scales? I will rend you in half and use your broken corpse in their place until I molt again!”
Dragons molt? I couldn’t help asking in the moment.
Sometimes! Teeth gritted as he helped me push back. It’s complicated! Focus on not dying!
I closed my eyes for a half-second to help myself think properly. The next moment, I channeled out a spell that would coat the surface of an object with ice, and directed it to form over my shield. It was a spell I should have been casting at the start of the fight, and it reminded me that I needed to remember my old strategy of using my magic on the terrain, instead of trying to blow my enemies apart all the time.
The monster hissed and jerked its claws away for just a moment, but it was all I needed. I slammed my shield and its half-centimeter-thick barrier of ice into the dragonman’s face. As my blow smashed it away with a satisfying crunch, I used the newly gained room to drive my icy blade into its chest. The weapon burst out from the monster’s back, causing it to let out a strangled gasp and began to spasm as my Outer Current spell activated, channeling through its icy insides and finishing it off.
As the monster slumped off of my blade, two more took its place and tackled me to the floor. I struggled and thrashed, but it wasn’t nearly enough against two monsters just as strong as I was and with better leverage. My sword arm was pinned out of the way as another taloned hand gripped my throat, stabbing into my neck and choking me at the same time. The Scaleling throttling me snarled as it shrugged off another shock from my Outer Current spell, tightening its grip and straining my vital guard, which was working hard to repair my neck’s major blood channels. The other Scaleling yanked my shield arm upward and began stabbing its own talons under my armpit. My mindscreen flashed a warning that my vital guard was trying to repair too many critical injuries at once. I twisted as best as I could to try and kick them, but apparently a Scaleling’s vital guard can survive being kicked right in their burnt spots much more easily than a human’s vital guard can offset strangling while being stabbed in the neck and armpit.
Then the hand that was strangling me slackened. My tunnel vision made out a small form flashing by. The Scaleling that had been choking me leaned back, clutching its throat as it made cracking noises. My next kick knocked it off of my body, then I twisted onto my side and ran the edge of my Hoarfolk long blade across the throat of the one holding down my shield arm.
Val stood next to me, Scaleling blood freezing along the short blue blade she was holding. She gave me a brief, annoyed look, then darted under the ankles of another Scaleling trying to flank Breyn.
Our four-person shieldwall was holding much better than it should have, my little tumble notwithstanding. The monsters were around my strength, which meant that they should have been stronger than anyone else but Virtus, so they should have knocked us all over by now. But Breyn’s Woadtattoos had begun flaring under his mail, and Eadric just grunted and dug his feet into the ground, probably using a mixture of Earth magic and dwarven stubbornness to retain his footing.
Behind them, Weylin and Karim formed the second line of defense. The elven bard had switched to short blades that he sliced through the air in a defensive pattern to drive the Scalelings away from Karim. The script mage used the extra space to write line upon line of frosty text into the air, which began shooting out into the nearby Scalelings and blasting small holes into their now-cracking flesh. Breena and Petalbell flew up as high as possible and began raining down small icicles and spheres of hail on the heads of any monsters grouped up, combining their Water and Air magic together.
You. Idiot, I thought to myself, realizing that the magic users in my group were wreaking far more havoc with their spells than the front line could, even with our cold weapons. What the hell had I been thinking?
I dropped my sword and shield and took a step back. Virtus and the other two had already reformed the shieldwall without me back when I had gotten tackled to the ground. Outnumbered at least three to one, they probably didn’t even have the time to curse when I went down. So I did what I used to do all the time back when it was just me and four other people, and I hadn’t become part dragon yet. I worked out the incantation for Sinking Earth, spreading the spell out to cover about thirty feet all around us, giving everyone friendly on the ground a boundary of three feet. The solid stone ground beneath our feet dropped by a foot, then the next two feet under it became slippery mud.
I didn’t look to see the results, because I immediately began casting one of the new Ice magic spells I had learned, Frosted Face. This was the spell I had cast earlier on my shield to help kill the first Scaleling that grappled with me. Covering a larger area took time, but between the mud, my friends holding the line, and my sheer overwhelming magical affinity, I was able to cover the entire area of my last spell, creating a three inch thick coat of ice over the slippery mud.
Then the Scalelings began screaming, something they hadn’t even done when we had been burning them with lightning and fire. I had shut my eyes while casting for extra focus. As I opened them, I could see that most of the reptilian beasts had fallen on the floor, probably from the effects of the Earth spell I had first cast. That had allowed the Frosted Face spell to catch three limbs at minimum, usually all four, and in some cases, the cold-blooded creatures were completely up to their necks in Ice.
For all practical purposes, that was the end of the fight. The Scalelings had been weakened from our first barrage, and were unable to bring any of us down when we switched to cold attacks. Now they were dealing with someone who had just remembered he was a Practitioner-level mage in the element that was their greatest weakness. Three looked to be killed outright, four more looked like they would freeze to death in the next thirty seconds, regardless of what happened, and the remainder were wounded enough to be completely helpless to Weylin’s arrows and everyone else’s magic. The fight was over maybe fifteen seconds later, and we all took a moment to pant and catch our breath.
“Good call with the mud and ice,” Breyn offered encouragingly. Probably because he was the new guy and was still trying to be nice. I shook my head.
“I should have acted sooner,” I said back. “Their own memories told me Ice magic was their greatest weakness. I’ve relied too much on the amo
unt of firepower we can bring to bear with Lightning and Fire magic, and how quickly we can unleash it. This fight proved we can’t always just nuke our problems first and mop up the survivors afterward. Again, though, I should have realized that sooner, especially now that I can access more of my mind.”
“You’re not the only one,” Karim said as I walked toward the nearest body. “That’s something I’ve heard the Holy Fairy—excuse me—that’s something I’ve heard Lady Breena tell you before. It is more difficult to take advantage of the improvements Rising grants your mind than it is to take advantage of the improvements Rising grants your body. That’s probably part of the reason you tend to rely on physical skills more than magical ones, as do most of us,” Karim looked out to Eadric and Weylin. “Having access to one to school of magic, be it Saga or Ideal, is enough for others to consider one a mage, because of all the opportunities the magic opens up for a person. All of us should be making more use of the power we’ve gained in following you.”
Weylin nodded guiltily. Eadric just grunted again and shrugged.
“Thanks. And speaking of making more use,” I said out loud as I knelt next to the first corpse. “Give me a minute.”
As I cast Vein to Vein, I was greeted with a wall of rage.
The Tidefather’s angry roar rattled all the corners of my mind, but by now, that was a far too common experience for me. I pushed past it into the memories of the present monster, wanting to understand how it had gotten down here to begin with.
It was one of the later versions of Scalelings, created back when the Tidefather realized he was losing power faster than he was patience. The previous generation of Scalelings had made it all the way down to this cavern before they died, and were slain by the Atlanteans, back when a few were still alive. Tidefather did not know how they were still alive or what was killing them. But he knew there were secrets the last of the Atlanteans had hidden down here, secrets that were his key to advancing as a floodbeast.
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