“That’s the spirit.”
She pulled away, and picked up the dwarven war axe she’d acquired during the fight. The giant, double-bladed weapon must have weighed fifteen pounds, but she handled it like it was weightless. She twirled it in one hand, and rested it on her shoulder.
“Let’s do this thing.”
Chapter 14
Tavrin’s crew were still casting spells when we came down, so I took the power stone with us. The storm was still blowing, but it was simple enough to throw a force dome over our party to keep the wind and snow off. I stepped into the darkness beyond the little glowlights that decorated the ship’s hold, and turned to Sefwin.
“Alright, you’re up. Which way to your partners?”
She closed her eyes in concentration, and raised her hands. A faint hint of green foxfire flickered between her palms, forming a ball with two wisps of smoky green energy trailing down and to one side.
“That way.”
“Alright. Tell me when we’re directly over them.” I set out into the snow, with Cerise at my side and everyone else trailing along behind me.
Tavrin frowned. “We aren’t going to use the entrance? I’ll grant that their defenses are bound to be formidable, but surely tunneling in will be worse? Their settlement will be solidly warded.”
I gave him a grim smile. “Yeah, that’s not going to do them any good. You guys just sit back and get ready for a fight. I’ll take care of getting us in.”
This was almost like those fantasy role-playing games I used to play back in college. Fight your way down through a vast underground maze of monsters and traps to find the lost treasure, or rescue the fair princess. I always thought it was stupid to play it straight with that kind of scenario. I used to drive Dungeon Masters nuts with my penchant for lateral solutions. Why fight the monsters when we could just scry the princess’s location and teleport in to get her? Or divert a river to drown the orc horde, or undermine the caldera of the volcano that overlooked the Evil Overlord’s tower, or… well, there was always something. Those games usually have so much magic available that it’s impossible to defend against every possibility.
I might not have a huge laundry list of poorly thought out spells to choose from here, but I had the options I really needed. When we finally reached a spot where Sefwin’s tracking spell pointed straight down, I backed off a little and conjured a big iron disk for us all to stand on. That got a levitation spell, and a force field tied to the power stone.
“Alright, everyone stand on the disk. We’re going to ride it down, so don’t be surprised when it starts moving.”
As the elves cautiously boarded the floating construct I conjured a long iron rod, and laid a hasty version of the wizard staff spell on it. Then I tapped it against the ground, and focused my earth sorcery.
In a thirty-foot circle around us the ground began to vanish, the earth and stone banished by my magic. I struggled to keep the effect even, giving my disk a relatively flat surface to hover over as we sank quickly into the hill. Twenty feet. Forty. Sixty. Eighty.
A hundred feet down we hit a ward that blocked my spell. Our descent stopped momentarily, and Tavrin nodded.
“You see? The dwarves are adept at earth magic. They wouldn’t overlook such an obvious method of assault.”
The magic was more like the enchantments I’d woven into some of my earth magic than the wards over Kozalin. Instead of a thin shell of defensive magic the protection was actually infused into the stone.
“Think they’re ready for this?” I asked. I pulled deep on my amulet’s power, and slammed a dispelling into the ward.
It was a tough enchantment, but I had a lot of power at my disposal. The spell shattered the protections over several cubic feet of stone, and then I banished it. Interesting. Unlike my island there was no giant energy reserve behind the protections, and no regrowth function trying to repair the damage. There was bound to be some kind of alarm, though.
Tavrin looked at the crater I’d made in the stone, and back at the power stone. “I see. Yes, I suppose having such an enormous energy source frees you from many of the usual constraints. I take it you’re going to set up some kind of continuous attack?”
“Exactly.”
I only needed to do this once, so I didn’t bother with making a permanent enchantment. I just conjured up a stone disk, with long iron bars extending out from it towards the edges of the shaft, and started slapping spells on it. A link to the power stone to run it. A high-powered directional dispelling and a cheap stone banishment. Wait, no, the dispelling would interfere with the banishment too. Alright, make them alternate. A few seconds of dispelling, then a second of banishment, and so on. Both fields would be about the size of the shaft I’d started digging.
Having that thing below us would break the disk’s levitation field, too. Alright, add on another bit of force magic that would grip the sides of the shaft to hold the disk in place, and move it up or down. I’d have to manage that manually, but no big deal.
I anchored the disk in place, and triggered the digging device.
The dispel blew away the wards on several feet of stone, which the device immediately banished. It fell, rattling against the new floor of the shaft, but its shape ensured that it couldn’t flip over or otherwise shift around much. Dispel, banish, fall. The whole cycle only took a few seconds, and burrowed through several feet of stone.
“Impressive,” Tavrin said.
Cerise leaned into me. “He’s always doing stuff like this. Hold on to your hats, everyone. The elevator to Tartarus is going down!”
I lowered the disk.
A hundred feet further down the wards grew noticeably stronger, and the digger’s progress slowed a bit. Then it broke through into a passage full of water, which immediately rushed out to cover the bottom of the shaft. That would have been a nasty trap if we were normal miners. I halted our descent, and watched until the water level started to fall. That took longer than I’d expected, so there must have been a pretty substantial network of water-filled tunnels.
“Are the prisoners still in the same spot?” I asked.
Sefwin checked, and shook her head. “They must know we’re coming. They’ve started moving them away, but they aren’t traveling very fast.”
“Perfect. We’ll just give them their own defense back as a little present, then.”
There was a muffled ‘whump!’ from somewhere below, and the water roiled violently. But it kept descending.
“Looks like this is getting the job done,” Sefwin observed.
“Yeah, I guess that was some kind of mine. These guys are pretty thorough about their defenses, aren’t they?”
“They are,” Tavrin agreed. “But they’ve still been found wanting tonight. Not much further, I think.”
There was another muffled thump from below, and a darker liquid began to mix with the water. Noxious fumes rose up where it reached the surface of the pool, and I threw an air purification spell over the disk. The stuff mixed quickly with the water, though, and in a minute there was no visible trace of it.
Then the water suddenly fell away below us.
“Looks like we broke through,” I said. “Let’s say hello to the welcome party.”
I dropped us quickly down the shaft, and then my spells lost their grip as it broke out into a larger space. We dropped into a grand chamber the size of a cathedral, falling freely. I caught a glimpse of dozens of armored dwarves being inundated by rushing water. A long coffle of captives in chains wound out an open door at the far end of the hall, in the direction Sefwin had pointed earlier.
Excellent. I gave the disk a good shove in that direction as we fell. We landed hard on a group of armored dwarves, smashing them down into knee-deep water. The levitation field mostly protected us from the impact, although we were all splashed a little. My skin stung where the droplets hit, but whatever caustic agent was dissolved in it was too diluted to do much damage.
Well, a few drops didn’t do much. Being immersed in i
t, like a lot of the dwarves had been, was another story. I sent the disk skidding across the water towards the captives, noting with relief that most of the dwarves were too busy screaming and clawing at their eyes to do anything about us.
I was a little concerned for the captives, but they were far enough away to be relatively safe. The water level fell rapidly as it spread across the giant room, and then abruptly drained away when my digging implement cut through the floor into another level below. By the time we were halfway across the room the water was only a few inches deep. Now all we had to do was deal with the group of dwarves that were actually guarding the prisoners.
Not one of Tavrin’s elves had panicked or fallen down during our wild ride, and they launched a coordinated barrage of magic the instant I grounded the disk. A wave of shimmering light rushed out from Tavrin to wash over the prisoners and their guards, while the other elves threw balls of darkness that expanded to cover most of the hall.
Between the water and the sudden loss of visibility the dwarves were thrown completely into confusion. I opened up with my revolver, lobbing explosive rounds blindly into the darkness to maximize the chaos, and several of the elves did the same with a variety of conjuration spells I didn’t recognize.
Tavrin led the rest of his elves in a charge towards the prisoners, following behind their fast-moving wall of light. Cerise seemed uncertain for a moment, and I pointed her in that direction.
“Back them up,” I told her. “They’ll need help getting the prisoners free quickly. I’ll defend the disk, and keep these guys from getting organized.”
“You got it,” she called, and trotted after the elves.
A golem started across the hall towards us, its head rising above the darkness. I sent my earth talisman flying up to the ceiling, where it grew into a giant mass of stone and iron that strained the limits of its levitation magic. I brought it down on the golem’s head just as it emerged from the darkness. It struck with a deafening crash, reducing the construct to a pile of rubble.
The elves who’d stayed with me were still casting. Two of them were conjuring balls of acid out of thin air, and lobbing them at any dwarf that showed his face. The third called up some kind of air spirit, and sent it into the darkness to find victims to suffocate.
I glanced at Sefwin to make sure she was alright, and found that she was using some kind of telekinetic spell to hastily lay out a magic circle drawn in her own blood. Well, that was ominous.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
“The dwarves are regrouping too fast,” Sefwin replied, eyes darting around the room for a moment before returning to her work. “We’re going to need another distraction to get everyone to safety.”
I frowned, and took another look around.
Tavrin’s spell had apparently blinded the dwarves nearest the prisoners, and his group was moving with the same supernatural speed as Cerise now. They cut through the guards in a flurry of spells and flashing blades, but it was taking time.
The prisoners were all wearing wrist manacles, which were each attached to a much longer chain. Cerise’s axe would make short work of that, though, and their feet were unencumbered. They’d be ready to run for it in three or four minutes, tops.
But the flood had already drained away, and most of the dwarves I could see were picking themselves up and trying to get organized again. Two more golems were looming out of the darkness, too. Sefwin might be right.
“Don’t do anything reckless unless you have to,” I admonished her, and got back to work.
I sent the giant hammer my talisman had become back up towards the ceiling, ready to come smashing down again. Then I held the trigger down on my revolver and waved it back and forth in the general direction of the dwarven troops, while I turned my attention to the disk we’d rode down on. I expanded it, making it big enough for our whole group to stand on, and reinforced the levitation spell. Better add a parapet around the edges this time, too. Our exit would be a little tricky, but I could make it work.
Sefwin started casting something, but a fresh commotion distracted me from wondering what she was up to. One of the darkness fields went down, and a knot of chanting dwarves in gilded armor strode into the great hall surrounded by a fog of magic. I opened fire on them, but the explosive rounds failed to detonate. Damn it, I was not set up to fight guys with this much defense against magic. I could bring the hammer down on them, but what if that field around them killed its enchantment?
I switched to normal ammo, and shot the lead dwarf in the head. He fall over backwards, and I laughed. Hah. Even dwarven plate won’t stop a bullet.
His buddies all went to one knee and changed their chant. Another squad with tower shields started running up from behind, and the golems began to lumber forward. I hesitated, trying to decide which target to hit first, and a crossbow bolt from another direction punched through my force field to lodge in my breastplate.
I returned fire with a volley of explosive rounds, and brought the hammer down on the nearest golem. Once again the construct I’d targeted was reduced to rubble with a single blow, but it would take a minute to get the ponderous weapon back in position for another blow.
The elves to either side of me continued lobbing acid balls to good effect, but more and more dwarves with those tower shields were pouring into the room now. The chanting dwarves started to move forward again, under cover this time.
Sefwin finished her spell, and something terrifying erupted into being within the circle she’d drawn. A mass of flame and gleaming bone twice the height of a man, with six limbs that ended in flaming scythes and three heads with balls of fire for eyes.
“My blood and magic to slay these dwarves, until they or I am dead,” Sefwin called out. “Will you accept my bargain, Great One, or return to the Planes of Terror?”
The thing’s left and right heads turned, taking in the chaos. The middle head spoke in a hissing screech.
“Bargain accepted.”
The blood on the floor suddenly boiled away, forming a cloud of crimson smoke that the monster inhaled. Then it charged across the room at the chanting dwarves with an earsplitting hunting cry.
Three dwarves died before they could even react. The casters fell back frantically, while their guards tried to interpose themselves. It carved its way through their ranks like an ungol plowing through a group of townspeople.
“How the fuck did you summon something that powerful?” I asked.
Sefwin rested her hand on the power stone, and smiled wearily.
“Limitless power. There’s no need to assemble twenty mages to split the cost when I have this. It thinks I’ll either run out of magic to enforce the bargain, or die of blood loss and get my soul stolen. But I can hold the summoning for days with a source like this, and I know you can keep me alive. You will save my life, won’t you Daniel?”
Now that she’d turned to face me I could see that her right arm was cut open from elbow to wrist, and blood was streaming out only to evaporate on contact with the air.
I snorted. “You’re as crazy as Cerise.”
I put my hand on her shoulder, and poured healing into her. The wound itself was tied to her summoning spell somehow, and didn’t want to close. But I could restore the lost blood easily enough. Good thing, too, because she’d been uncomfortably close to passing out.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed, Sefwin? The blood loss almost got you there.”
“I had more safety margin than you did when you dropped us all into this chamber,” she retorted. “I can read the tide of battle, Daniel. Don’t chide me for doing what was necessary to save my people.”
I gave her another quick shot of healing, and turned to lay down some more covering fire. Whatever that thing Sefwin had summoned was, it was wreaking havoc. Crossbows and magic had no effect on it, and the few axemen brave enough to close with the monster barely got in a blow or two before its flaming blades cut them apart. They were going to have a hell of a time stopping it.
Then the rescue party finally returned. The prisoners first, bruised and battered and still hampered by their manacles. The elves had weathered their brief imprisonment better than the humans, many of whom had to be helped along. I was relieved to see the rest of the airship crew among the group.
“Sefwin! What were you thinking?” Lashkin and Amiya embraced the clan heir, but they seemed even less thrilled with her antics than I was.
“We were in danger of being overrun,” she replied. “I had to keep them off balance long enough for us to get out of here.”
Tavrin stepped onto the disk with a scowl. “That was reckless, daughter.”
“That was awesome!” Cerise disagreed, bouncing onto the disk to clap her on the shoulder. “Way to work the angles, Sefwin. Is everyone on board?”
“Everyone who lives. We’d best depart before they get the waygate open.”
An explosion rocked the room. I looked up to see the giant demon thing climbing back to its feet, with one of its arms blown off and a smoking hole in its chest. Across the hall a team of dwarves was reloading… was that a bazooka?
Whooosh!
A trail of flame leaped across the room, and another explosion knocked the monster back down. Fuck. It really was a rocket launcher.
“Yeah, we’re done here. Hang on, everyone!”
I activated the overcharged levitation spell, and it threw the disk high into the air. High enough for my force magic to reach the ceiling, and pull us the rest of the way up. I called my earth talisman back, turning it into a floating barrier between us and that rocket team, and pulled us across the ceiling towards the breech. Then the spells on the disk engaged with the sides of the shaft, and sent us hurtling up towards the surface.
We emerged into the teeth of the storm, and once again the arctic cold hit me like a physical blow. Even with the force dome blocking the wind my face was instantly burning, and I could feel my amulet’s healing kick in. It was worse for the prisoners, especially the children.
I gave Sefwin another shot of healing, and pulled her under my warmth cloak. She kept her wounded arm on the power stone, but leaned into me gratefully.
Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) Page 22