by Tj Dixon
I suppose I never really thought that there would be a war. Nirvali was hidden so well and the Kuroneko never even bothered looking for us. Contractia never took the land and the Fallen Angels who took our old homes soon lost interest in searching the tunnels for our people. So how could there be a war?
Of course that didn’t change the fact that we had to be prepared for the possibility of war. The dwarven army is weaker than it once was, but it certainly isn’t weak. We don’t have as many traps and fortifications as in the ancient cities, but Nirvali was still built with every intention of being able to defend it. Sure we might have to abandon a few domes, but we could always move the other domes with earth magic so that losing one dome really wouldn’t be a big problem.
The enemy haven’t just found one dome though. It seems certain that all the domes are now at risk. We must fight to the last dwarf even if it is just to buy time for the civilians to leave Nirvali and create a new city. Last time it was a hundred elite dwarves, but this time it will surely take our whole army. We simply don’t have dwarves of the same talent as we did before and with so few traps and fortifications the only choice left is brute force.
All of a sudden a black swirl fills the air above the enemy. Every dwarf in the back and middle ranks raises their shields around us, whilst I along with the rest of the front rank continue to burn the enemy. What are the enemies planning? What evil magic is this? Death magic?
The enemies seem to be in confusion. They look at the black fearfully and their advance is halted. At least for now. There seem to be desperate conversations amongst their ranks. Then just as suddenly as it first appeared the black swirl expands. It seems to fill the whole dome. If I reached my hand out in front of me I could touch it, but I daren’t do so.
Do the enemy plan to advance under the cover of this darkness? Was their confusion feigned? Just as I am about to order my comrades to raise a fire wall between us and the enemies the darkness is gone. It doesn’t fade. It was there a moment ago and now it is not. Not only the darkness is gone though, so are the enemies. Every single one of them. Or are they hiding?
“Fire wall!” I call out and along with my comrades create a fire wall where the enemies were. There is no reaction, but we sweep it over a wider area. Still no reaction. “Drop fire wall, but keep your guard up.”
(Nairon)
I look down at the centre of the dome where Grunti is pointing. A swirl of black mana appears in the air right where he’s pointing. Then it expands so quickly that if I had blinked I would have missed it. It disappears just as quickly and to my shock every single human is gone. The buildings and ash of people already killed are still there, but not a single living person is left.
“What happened?” I ask in shock and awe.
“I sent them up to the surface. They’ll lose almost all their memories so they aren’t going to be able to use magic or fight, but they can still remember enough to live. I hope their new life will be a happier one.” Grunti says happily. I consider for a moment whether to tell him the truth, but he notices my expression before I can decide. “What’s wrong?”
“If they can’t fight they’ll be killed. Most likely they’ll become wind sisters.” I tell him.
“Become wind sisters? But they were all men. Are they going to be turned into cute girls?”
“Well… They’ll have their have their souls torn to shreds and merged. A wind sister will be created using the remains of their souls. It takes nine human souls to forge one wind sister.”
“That doesn’t sound pleasant. Even to create cute girls that seems too cruel.” Grunti frowns.
“The wind sisters will be used as disposable weapons so they’re unlikely to live long. They certainly aren’t going to be treated well whilst they are still alive.”
“You elves are a cruel folk.” Grunti says looking at me differently now. I wince.
“It isn’t the elves who are responsible for this. The Envoy is the one who makes these decisions.” I tell him, though it sounds like an excuse even to me.
“Where can I find this Envoy? I want to kill him.”
“There is nothing I want more than to kill the Envoy, but it’s impossible. Even if you somehow manage to kill her body she’ll just possess a different elf, or perhaps even possess you.” I warn Grunti.
“The Envoy is female?”
“Well, the body it is in is female. I don’t know if it even has a gender of its own.”
“Is the body it possessed cute?” Grunti asks and I blink.
“It always chooses the body of a beautiful or handsome young elf. I don’t know whether you would consider her cute, but she is childlike.”
“Then if I free her she should be grateful, right?”
“The only way you’ll free her is by killing her.”
“I just need to kill the Envoy that is possessing her. What is it anyway? An evil spirit, a demon or a god?”
“The child of an angel and a demon.” I tell him.
“That is one weird mixture. So how do a demon and angel make a child together? Did they make their child like dwarves do, or did they make it naturally?” Grunti asks and I look at him uncomfortably.
“It’s natural, sort of, but it’s a bit gruesome, so I’d rather not go into details.” I tell him hoping not to anger him and praying he’ll leave it there.
“Ok, but does the child have a physical form like demons and angels do, or is it incorporeal like a spirit?” Grunti asks.
“Both. It can take physical form but it is normally incorporeal.”
“That would make it hard to kill. If it is normally incorporeal, then when it possesses someone it would be incorporeal, right?” Grunti asks.
“Yes.” I nod.
“What is its physical form?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen it or even met anyone who has.”
“I’m going to have to have a think about how to kill it. Any method would either need to force it to retain a corporeal or incorporeal state, or would need to be effective against both. This is going to be tricky.”
Chapter 14 (Multiple)
(Dairon)
My song ends and I open my eyes. To my relief the legate is smiling. All around us the fairies are now visible. They wear bright vibrant silk clothes and in their hair a green crown made from the same plant as the legate’s crown, but only the legate’s crown is alive. Like Sakura their silk clothes match their hair colour. Like Sakura many have red hair, but there are also many with bright blue, yellow, green or purple hair. There are also a few other colours mixed in, but they are rare.
“Your majesty, I Legate Sakura pledge my loyalty and service. The First Legion is yours to command.” She tells me, her voice sober and serious.
It is far more than I had hoped for, but her words also scare me. ‘Your majesty’… As a song elf I had hoped to convince her to abandon her orders, but I never dreamed she would accept me as her master. For her to call me ‘your majesty’, she must truly believe my soul is that of one of our kings. Faeries, like elves, are very attuned to spirits and the soul of a royal elf is very distinctive. My song revealed my soul in a way I have never done before. If she believes my soul is that of one of the kings, then there is no possibility that she is mistaken.
So I am a king and a slave. As king I may be able to unite the elves and their ancient allies. The faeries are just one of our allies. Right now I must accept my place as a king, but will my friends? I feel their curious stares. I turn to Peter a moment and smile weakly, before turning to Sakura again.
“It is my wish that this city should not fall to the Fallen Angels and their armies. Will you help us oppose them?” I ask Sakura and she smiles.
“It’s about time we fought back. We have served the Fallen Angels for too long, but if the king has returned then there is hope again. The first legion shall assist you and victory shall be yours, no matter the price.” Sakura declares confidently.
“The illusions and enchantments you specialise in
would be extremely valuable in this battle. Do you know where the enemy are?” I ask.
“Their weaker forces are attacking the city and still fighting the dwarves. Their elite forces are preparing to attack the dwarven king.”
“They know where he is?” I ask surprised.
“The traitor gave them a lot of information. They know where all of the ‘domes’, as the dwarves call them, are.” Sakura tells me.
“So none of the dwarves are safe.”
“That is correct.” Sakura nods.
“Do you know when they will attack the dwarven king?”
“Soon.”
“Then we must hurry and warn the dwarves.” I say and look to Peter who nods grimly.
(General Karina)
“General Karina.” I hear Captain Lela’s urgent voice through the mental link. “We have been told that the enemy know where all of the domes are, and that they plan to attack the king with their elite forces.”
“Who told you?” I ask in horror.
“The outsiders. They did help us against the traitor Thor and seem to have convinced a group of faeries to switch sides. It seems the faeries warned them about the enemy’s plan.”
“I pray they are wrong, but regardless, I must warn the king. Good luck Lela.” I say and cut the connection. I open a connection via the mental link to Royal Captain Theo. “Theo, this is Karina. We believe the enemy are planning to attack the king. … … Theo?”
There is no response and after another moment I realise why. Theo’s life status is showing on the link as negative. In other words the warning was too late. Flaming piles of rat shit!
“Command company, to me!” I call on the mental link and run as fast as I can towards the inter dome tunnel to the fifty first dome. As I reach the tunnel I notice the two guards seem a bit different but I can’t quite work out what is different. It also seems odd to still only have two guards under the circumstances.
“Stop.” One of the guards says but her voice is a bit slurred and her eyes seem kind of vacant.
“Your captain is dead. Check her status if you don’t believe me.” I tell her and to my shock she laughs. I get my shield up just in time as they send a flurry of at least twenty rock fists at me. Even in my armour it would hurt to get hit by so many rock fists. Only now do I realise what seemed odd about them. They are covered in a weird magic. Someone must be controlling them.
The guards both draw swords and so I draw my own. I sense other dwarves from my company are near but it will still be at least thirty seconds before they arrive. Perhaps I should have met up with them before heading here, but I never expected to have to fight at the tunnel to the dome itself. My swords are both two foot long whereas theirs are as long as they are tall at three and a half foot long. Like all dwarven swords they are enchanted to cut through magical shielding so I must defend myself with my swords or attack them with magic. I can’t simply shield until my comrades arrive. I tighten my shield so it only covers my body. That way if they attack with magic as well I’ll still be shielded.
The guards approach me cautiously, taking advantage of their superior reach. They attack with their swords and I defend with my own. I reinforce my hands and arms with magic, but so do they. I fend off their initial attacks but they are stronger than I expected and leave me breathing hard after just ten seconds. I can normally last longer, but I was chosen as a general for my skill at magic and strategy, not my sword fighting prowess. I’m better than average, but two against one is still problematic.
I send flames at them but as expected they are shielding their bodies the same way that I am. That means I have to hold out, because the effort to overcome their shields would be a distraction and leave me vulnerable to their swords. I fend off another forceful attack from both of them and wonder whether I can really hold out for another fifteen seconds. I’m halfway there but tiring badly.
One of the guards charges me, throwing away the advantage of her longer reach. I grin and try to take advantage but I miss and then a boot lands squarely on my chest. It throws me three feet backwards and down to the ground. I didn’t notice the enchantment on it so got caught off guard. I land on my back and only narrowly avoid their next attacks by rolling to the left.
Using magic I jump up into the air and then quickly land on my feet. Flight magic isn’t my specialty. I doubt it is any dwarf’s specialty, but I am just about good enough for it to save me now. I fend off another round of attacks before I am finally joined by the first of my comrades. It is two against two but soon the rest of my company will be here. Sure enough another ten dwarves arrive and the battle is quickly won. We only knock out and restrain the enemy. They are after all dwarves who are simply being controlled.
“Sergeant Anise, have someone work out how to undo the enchantment. If we can undo it on the whole palace it would save us having to fight the whole Royal Guard, assuming they are all under this enchantment. Everyone else, follow me and keep your shields up. Who knows how quickly the enchantment can take us over if we are unshielded!?” I tell everyone and then lead the advance. I sometimes dreamed of a chance to actually fight in a real battle. Now that chance is here though, I really wish it wasn’t.
We are near the end of the inter dome tunnel and a barrage of rock fists hits our shields, but our shields remain strong. I spot the dwarven guards and launch my own rock fists at them. The rest of the company either spotted the guards at the same time as me or follow up our rock fist attacks with their own.
The Royal Guard are supposed to be the elite of the elite, but their shields fall quickly to our combined attack. True we out number them significantly. There are only twenty of them and I have almost two hundred dwarves under my command, but I would still have expected them to hold out for a while. Perhaps the enchantment is weakening their control of magic. If so that will certainly help us.
I leave a few dwarves to deal with the prisoners. They’ll catch up with us, but I don’t want to waste time, because we need to get to the palace as quickly as we can. I fear the king is already dead, but I don’t know for certain. Every moment wasted increases the odds that he will be dead when we reach him.
We head straight down the main road towards the palace. The few other buildings in this dome are the other side of the palace so on both sides of the road are fields of crystals. On our left are emeralds and rubies, and on our right are sapphires with the odd diamond mixed in. It is a sight to behold, but we don’t exactly have time to admire the view!
We quickly reach the palace gates and here we face our first real challenge. The palace is surrounded by a thick crystal dome and the only gates are closed. The crystal dome and gates are designed to withstand even the heaviest of magical assaults. That is not all though. Outside the gates stand over a hundred of the Royal Guard.
From the strength of their initial assault they seem to have full control over their magical abilities. Perhaps the guards we fought earlier were their weakest members. We still outnumber them, but especially if are aiming to knock out rather than kill them, this is going to be a tough fight. I’m not willing to kill them just on the off chance the king is still alive. My vow was to protect the city and its people, not the king. The dwarves we are fighting are the ones who vowed to protect the king. It is ironic that they are the ones standing against us as we rush to his aid.
(King Norbert)
I am glad I told my wives and children to take shelter in my harem sanctuary, but I didn’t expect to have to hide myself. It is well shielded and should be able to hold out for at least a month even under the brutal assault of flames and lightning that it is currently being subjected to. Of course that is where my wives would normally be anyway, but occasionally they have been known to sneak outside and my children are free to come and go as they please.
If it were simply the elves and humans I would fight and if need be die. Some of the mages assaulting my harem are elven or human, but many are dwarven. About half my Royal Guard are here and the other half I believe
left the palace. So now I am the one sneaking through the tunnels my wives thought I didn’t know about. I am glad they are large enough for me to fit through despite my large belly, but it is a tight fit.