“Sure, old man,” one of the younger fighters said. “It was a Pixie. Isn’t it always?”
“No,” he said. “It was a thing of beauty…”
Moxy wanted to take more out, but checked her bloodlust. That wasn’t her job.
Confident her new friends would be would be OK, Moxy took to the trees again to head back to the caves.
Bracing for The Storm
Moxy, covered in bloody ice, stood in front of Vinnie. Even Gerty was shocked. She gave her report. The enemy was coming, but the sentry and reinforcements had slowed them down.
“You people keep surprising me,” Gerty said. “How are you not frozen to death, child?” To Gerty, almost everyone was a child.
Moxy shrugged her shoulders. “Magic changed my people, I guess. We still tell stories about being like you all, but that was long ago. Legend, really.”
“I hate to ask this,” Vinnie began, and held up her leather and silksteel cloth armor. “But would you mind? We’re not used to people being, ah—“
“Deadly and as naked as the day they were born?” Gerty finished helpfully.
Moxy gave her wind-chime laugh and complied. “I keep forgetting you folks are distracted by flesh.”
Stretchers bearing wounded came down the corridor to the safe caverns below.
“Won’t be long now,” Gerty said. “Sentries are in. First defenders are in.”
“Well,” Tarkon said as he adjusted the pistols in his belts, “let’s go greet them at the door.”
Vinnie’s eyes turned black, then glowed like the inside of a volcano. The ground shook underfoot. “I’ll meet you there.” He grinned.
The ground in front of him split open with a rumble and he jumped into the void. The rock floor closed an instant later as if the opening had never been there. Vinnie knew exactly where to go. He could feel the footsteps that ran through the rock as if they were coded messages.
He followed the vibrations, tunneling toward them like a bull toward a red cape. Close behind, the pounding feet of his friends urged him on.
Up Vinnie went, burrowing through rock and soil. He angled upward diagonally and popped out of a wall in the middle of a column of marching men who shrieked like frightened children when a man with glowing orange eyes began to smash skulls.
Crossbow bolts and swords tried to pierce him, but his flesh became harder than rock. But he wouldn’t have long; he couldn’t keep this energy going indefinitely. He had to damage as many as he could as fast as possible.
A sword blade came down hard on his forehead, but he batted it away as a mere annoyance and grabbed the arm wielding it. He swung his attacker like a ragdoll, knocking six men to the ground, and dashed the human club against the wall to finish the job.
But the sword strikes that bounced off his arms and shoulders began to hurt. His energy was low and his strikes became less lethal, but he didn’t slow down. Instead he snapped an arm and grabbed a sword as it fell, then ran it through the man who donated it to him.
Vinnie wasn’t conscious of how he acquired the second sword. With a blade in each hand, he fought a constant stream of men.
CRACK! went Tarkon’s summoned explosion in the chamber of his pistol, and the man about to stab Vinnie fell in a cloud of blood.
A white blur streaked through the crowd, dropping men before they could register the tiny woman who ended their lives.
Gerty danced her deadly ballet with hatchets and daggers; some thrown, some wielded so expertly that men fell dead in sudden heaps.
Vinnie, who was in the front line, pushed forward. Until he couldn’t.
He heard a faint high-pitched whistle and saw a flash of light. Something struck him in the chest, and he knew it was near-fatal because of the pain he didn’t feel. The blast stopped him cold and he staggered, then went down face-first. He could hear nothing at all…
The Aftermath
Well, Vinnie thought, even before his vision came back, I was right. Near-fatal. Hurts, so I know I’m not dead. Ouch.
“He’s groaning,” a familiar voice said.
Shit, they’re talking about me. He needed to know if everyone else was safe. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t make the words come out. The pain was a massive stone crushing his chest.
“Vinnie!” someone shouted. No, not just someone, Tarkon. The world started making sense again.
“Sorry,” Vinnie finally managed to wheeze. He realized the sounds he’d been making must have alarmed them.
Something cool touched his forehead and he almost wept at the relief of it. He hadn’t realized how hot he was.
“He’s healing,” someone announced. “Finally.”
That was when he caught the scent of burned meat and realized it was coming from him.
“Shit on a stalagmite, what is that?” someone shouted.
Even through closed eyes the flash of light was a bright pure white, and suddenly he could breathe again.
“The stones stopped glowing,” a fearful voice exclaimed.
“Wait,” a voice replied. Vinnie recognized Gerty.
It was an odd sensation to feel his shattered ribs pop back into place. It sounded like someone chewing on chicken bones, and it hurt. Badly.
“What happened?” Vinnie asked as he sat up. He was naked to the waist. What he quickly realized was dead skin sloughed off him and fell to the floor.
He felt his massive belly with both hands and found it to be intact. The magic had healed a frightening amount of damage, but how? It should not have been possible. He wasn’t a healer. He had always used his magic to avoid taking damage. He’d trained since childhood to use magic this way.
“Well, you’re still alive,” Tarkon said, squatting beside him. He slapped Vinnie on his massive bicep.
Vinnie had not realized he’d wondered that aloud. “The stones. They contain magic.”
“Wow,” Moxy exclaimed. She stood in front of him, arms akimbo. “Ya think? The scientist-mage speaks!”
Vinnie shook his head at the intense snark. Moxy usually didn’t come at him like that.
“She’s upset with you for running ahead without us,” Tarkon explained. “But if you hadn’t, that weapon would have mowed us all down.”
“What weapon?” Vinnie asked, alarmed. “Where are we? How many did we lose?”
“Twenty-seven,” Gerty said. “Too many—most of our fighters. We would have lost children too if it weren’t for Yulia. We think we killed more than half of them, but they are up there still.”
“But where are we?” Vinnie demanded.
Gerty handed him a jug of water and he drank it down in massive gulps. “The deepest parts of the cave system. This is where we go when we can’t fight anymore.”
“That weapon they used ripped our people to shreds,” Tarkon said, looking down at his pistols. “My magic was no match for it.”
“They’re up there right now taking the stones,” Gerty said.
“They had mining equipment,” Vinnie said. “That’s what they came for—the stones.”
“Killing us was either a bonus or an obstacle,” Gerty supposed. “Probably a little bit of both. They seemed to want to take out as many of us as they could.”
A thought occurred to Vinnie. “How did you manage to get me down here?”
Tarkon threw back his head and laughed. “You must have known.”
“Known what?” Vinnie asked.
“But now I know your secret,” Tarkon teased.
“I have no secrets from my friends,” Vinnie answered.
“You were no heavier than a bushel of apples. We almost threw you against the ceiling when we had five people try to lift you.”
Vinnie smiled. “I guess some part of me did know you’d be there for me. And yes, you now know my secret. But it’s not really a secret. My art lets me manipulate mass. I can make myself as light as a feather or as heavy as a boulder.”
“That’s how you can move so fast sometimes,” Moxy exclaimed, snapping her fingers.
Vinnie nodded, then turned to Gerty. “So, I assume you have plenty of food supplies down here.” He steepled his fingers and grinned. “Healing is hungry work.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dig, Dammit, Dig
Liesel patrolled the cavern with her magitech rifle. The cave-dwelling rodents had retreated, but not before killing thirty-three of the hired hands. The miners were not happy.
That was a good thing. Liesel fully intended to exploit their rage and hatred as a recruiting tactic. She was busy deciding how much she would pay for each head brought to her.
A gruff voice caught her ear. “How many of these rocks do we fucking need?”
She turned to find one of the men leaning on his mattock with a knee-high pile at his feet. Liesel shouldered the rifle and strode over to the man. She stood a full head shorter, and she was about half as narrow, but the cold glare in her eyes made the man pause. Even without the deadly rifle, she would have had the same effect.
She fixed him with a smile colder than her eyes. “That is the wrong question,” she purred. “You should be asking how much you can earn from your labor.”
“Well,” the man said, squaring his shoulders, “how damn much?”
“For starters,” Liesel answered, “you’ll get your very own rifle that you can use to hunt down the scum that killed your colleagues.”
The man displayed a row of yellow teeth as he grinned. “That’s a good start,” he replied, then picked up his tool and hacked at the wall with renewed vigor.
It was about time, though. They’d been in the mining phase of this operation for hours. If the cave dwellers had managed to regroup, they could attack at any minute. Finding them here had been a surprise. She was glad Gerolf’d had the foresight to arm the men so well.
On her final round of the cavern, she found her father hunched over a long row of commandeered tables with his instruments. She could tell he’d used much of his magic to charge a few of the choicest amphoralds, since he looked exhausted.
“Father, don’t spend all your reserves on this. We might need your strength on the ride back.”
“Thank you, dear,” Yarik said, patting her hand. “I’m glad you have your strength, so you can protect us both; that is how I raised you. But these stones are remarkable. I just had to charge a few just to see what they can do, but they already had a charge.”
Liesel was shocked. “They were already full of magic?”
“Not full,” Yarik replied. “But they were certainly not inert.”
Liesel looked around the cavern again. The information was intriguing, but they had work to do. “We need to wrap this up,” she declared nervously. In the back of her mind, she wondered how so many rocks had received magical energy in their raw form.
“Do you think we have enough?” Gerolf asked. He had seen Liesel and Yarik huddled together and came over to join the confab. He looked worried.
Liesel took a quick look at the piles of rock at the feet of each man. Most of the piles came up to the calves, but some were waist-high.
“We can tell them to start packing them up,” Liesel said.
Gerolf balked. “Would you mind telling me how you expect to carry all this rock?”
Father and daughter turned to each other then and shared amused grins. Gerolf looked frustrated.
“I’m glad you asked that,” Yarik replied. “Have your men move away from their piles. I think we have enough.”
Gerolf barked some orders, and the men put away their tools and picked up their weapons.
Yarik placed one of the fully-charged amphoralds in a u-shaped box and unslung the rifle from his shoulder. With a mechanical snap, Yarik placed his rifle into box’s groove. There was a hum like a swarm of bees and the tip of the rifle glowed to life with a bright blue halo.
“Stand back, please,” Yarik said as he adjusted several dials on the side of the add-on box.
The old engineer walked around to each pile. As he swept the muzzle of the rifle over the piles, they collapsed into mounds of fine dust. Shining amphoralds rolled away from the little gray dunes.
“Have your men pick through those and pull out any gems,” Yarik said when he was done. The whole process took about ten minutes.
Gerolf followed the old man with an astonished look on his face. Liesel was less impressed, since she’d seen it before. She also knew how much magical energy it took to make that device work. A large gem would be completely tapped when the old man was done.
“You continue to astound me,” Gerolf said, clapping the old man on the shoulder.
Yarik bowed slightly from the waist in the way that Liesel knew meant, “Thank you for letting me know that I can charge whatever I wish.”
“You flatter me, sir,” Yarik replied with a toothy grin.
Gerolf went to hurry the men along, and soon they had hundreds of amphoralds of varying sizes packed in crates, saddlebags, sacks, and pouches. They’d had to leave some of their tools behind to make room for all the gems.
They hurried out of the caves and loaded up the horses, having to steal a few mounts from the cave people to carry everything.
Once she was satisfied they were well underway and that their expedition was well-guarded, Liesel turned her attention back to Gerolf.
“Are your friends among the first lieutenants ready to receive us?”
Gerolf replied with a smile she’d not previously seen from him. “They are ready to receive the weapons they were led to believe you had, but I’m sure they will be so impressed with your devices that they’ll forget about that. I’m sure that’s what you are betting on.”
Liesel threw her head back and laughed. “I underestimated you,” she confessed.
“Yes, you did,” Gerolf replied. “Lucky for you, my personal feelings aren’t affecting my business sense.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” Liesel replied. “I think everything with you is some kind of tactic.”
“Of course it is,” Gerolf said. “And you know that because…” He gestured at her with a theatrical sweep of his hand.
“Because everything with me is a tactic,” Liesel replied.
“We’re on the same page,” he replied with a wink. “We can try to outmaneuver each other for maximum profit later. Right now, though, let’s focus on getting to our destination.”
Out of Hiding
Vinnie slipped on a tunic made from three patched bedsheets. Apparently, some of the stitchers had worked on it while he was laid out on the cavern floor.
“Thank you,” Vinnie said as he adjusted the garment. It looked ridiculous and he usually didn’t wear white, but he appreciated the kindness. “I’m so grateful you took the time to do this for me.” He tried to make the best of it. The garment came down to his knees. “And it even has a hood.” He adjusted the baggy hood to make it drape across his back.
Someone snickered, but Vinnie didn’t mind. He enjoyed it when people were amused, even if it was at his expense.
A woods person who had helped make the garment cleared his throat. “Ah, really, this was meant to be a death shroud. We thought…”
The smile fell from Vinnie’s face for a moment and cold chills spread over his skin. He had come close, but he hadn’t realized just how close. He shook it off and smiled again. He stepped forward to put his massive hand on the man’s shoulder.
“I’m grateful you and yours stand ready to take care of me in life or death,” Vinnie declared. “Grazie mille,” he added in his strange and ancient language.
“Yeah,” Moxy said, sidling up to the big mage. “So why don’t you let me go in first. Don’t go raging in before I check things out. You almost got yourself killed this time.”
“Of course,” Vinnie gently said, bowing. Moxy was still angry that he had almost died. She blamed his fighting style.
Her skin shimmered, then her leather and silksteel armor collapsed in a heap on the floor and she disappeared into the shadows, leaving only the faintest of footprints in the dust
.
As instructed, Vinnie stayed right behind Moxy, with Tarkon bringing up the rear. Of course, he had zero intention of staying behind as backup. If he saw trouble, he was prepared to charge in no matter what. It was second nature. He would just have to hope Moxy would forgive him.
He mused on the subject as he followed Moxy’s tiny vibrations in the hard stone floor. The stone spoke to him.
The sounds of digging reported by the early scouts were not present. The fact that the attackers had stayed in the upper chambers was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the living space of the cave complex was not damaged. On the other hand, the enemy had had unlimited access to a significant portion of the cave complex.
The woods people would have to change their defenses now. Very few outsiders, if any, survived to see the complex.
“These fucknuts were here for hours,” a disembodied voice said in the darkness ahead. It was as if Moxy had read his thoughts, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to guess what they were all thinking. “They’re gone. No sign of them all the way up to the entrance.”
Then it hit him: the chamber was dim. Many of the glowing stones that had speckled the walls were gone. Only the ones high out of reach remained.
Vinnie waved his left hand and the chamber filled with the bright light from his palm.
“Gah!” Moxy exclaimed. “So much for my night vision!”
When she became visible again, her pale skin was nearly blinding.
Vinnie stepped into a space transformed. There were piles of gray and black dust at random intervals near the walls and man-sized chunks of the wall were missing.
“They dug out all the glowing stones,” Tarkon said. He crouched and ran his hand through a pile of dust, then smiled as his eyes turned black and began to glow. “But they did us a huge favor,” he exclaimed.
“At least there’s some good news in all this,” Vinnie replied, eager to hear the Tarkon’s explanation.
“I think the magic that did this is similar to mine. Now the stone is broken down, it won’t take much energy for me to pull the sacred minerals from these piles.”
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