by Tom Larcombe
Anguis' laughter rang in Merlin's mind.
{Now I know what it must be like to have a nagging mother. Don't worry Merlin.}
Anguis took to the sky again. As he gained altitude he flew away from the town. He altered his shape, taking on the outline of a bomber as seen from below. It left him very thin but when seen from the ground that wouldn't matter. Once Anguis reached the proper size, Merlin sent his awareness out. His mind flew beside the little dragon and duplicated the image of a plane over and over until the sky appeared crowded with bombers.
Anguis turned and flew directly towards the city. The sirens still rang in the distance and the sound of English bomber planes was added to the cacophony when Anguis triggered the crystal he held. Spotlights lit the night sky and before long Anguis and Merlin's illusions were illuminated by them.
As the illusory flight of bombers passed over the town, Merlin added the visual of bombs dropping and falling through the sky. When the images of the bombs neared the ground, Merlin spoke through his body.
“Now Anselm.”
Merlin observed from his awareness in the sky as Anselm began to trigger the grenades he and Gunter had hidden around the town throughout the day. As each one went off, Merlin added some extra light and flash to the resultant explosion, bringing it up to the level that bombs dropping on the town would've created.
“Nimue, your turn,” Merlin's body said.
The portion of Merlin's awareness remaining in his body watched as Nimue cast a sight shield around the entire group, obscuring them from view. Then she held the spell and assisted in guiding Merlin's body as the group began to move to the truck. Gunter was in front and Besnik brought up the rear. Vadoma assisted Anselm, who was still detonating grenades. Verruckt was keeping an eye to either side, ready to react should they be discovered.
The 'bombs' continued to explode as the group moved through the town. Their route was plotted earlier by Gunter, who ensured that they wouldn't pass by any of the hidden grenades. They were still close enough to smell the smoke from the explosions which added a degree of authenticity to the illusory bombing.
Evidently Gunter had added to the plan on his own because now he spoke.
“Anselm, I think one of our surprises in order.”
Moments later a blast of noise and light erupted from an area across town.
“Don't stop what you're doing Merlin. I know you can hear me so I'll just tell you we found several anti-aircraft positions unattended. I think we just got one along with its ammunition,” Gunter said.
Merlin's awareness in the sky was momentarily blinded when the explosion occurred but it was only a result of surprise and the bombardment continued.
“I'm going to go forward and scout the truck. It's close to a barracks so I don't know if they'll leave it unattended,” Gunter said before hastening out from the sight shield and taking to the shadows.
Verruckt slid forward to take the point position without a word, suggesting to Merlin that his was not the only plan being executed tonight.
A minute later Gunter appeared from the shadows.
“We'll need that second surprise Anselm.”
This time the explosion was just down the street and the group was blinded for a moment by the flash. Gunter, aware of what was coming, had closed his eyes to the flash. Now he took his pistol and, by the light of the flames, fired four shots, two at each of the soldiers standing guard on the truck in the street ahead.
Gunter ran forward again and peered into the back of the truck, pistol still in hand. He shook his head and turned, motioning the group forward with his hand.
Merlin and Gunter slid into the cab of the truck while the rest of the group piled into the back. The portion of Merlin's awareness that flew with Anguis sent a quick message to the dragon.
{Meet the truck out of town where we planned.}
Before Merlin pulled it back to his body.
By this point, they're either convinced or not, he thought. Adding more illusory bombs isn't going to change anything. I'll just hold onto the planes for one more pass and then let those go as well.
“Merlin? You were going to start the truck for me?” Gunter said.
Merlin touched the ignition with his finger, using a touch of force and a tiny jolt of electricity to convince the truck that it should be running. The engine started right up.
Gunter dropped the truck in gear and gave it gas. The truck responded by moving up the street in a series of jerks before its movement smoothed out.
“I hate low gear in these things,” Gunter muttered.
Gunter took a course that led out of town without passing any of the recent explosions. At one point he turned and yelled towards the back.
“The rest of them Anselm.”
A rapid series of explosions followed, one of them only a block behind the truck.
“That should prevent any pursuit. One of those explosions was the other truck, and the empty building behind us probably spilled rubble into the street when it exploded,” Gunter said.
“Seems I wasn't the only one doing some planning,” Merlin replied.
“Your plan was good. We followed it, didn't we? We just added a few things, a twist here and there.”
“I'm not complaining, just wasn't expecting it,” Merlin said.
Now that the truck was out of town, Gunter picked up speed. Merlin let the illusion of the bombers drop when he heard from Anguis.
{Coming in for a landing Merlin. Might be a bit bumpy.}
“Gunter slow down, Anguis is coming in but something's wrong,” Merlin said.
Gunter slowed the truck just before Anguis came swooping down. The small dragon hit the truck hard and at a bad angle, denting the hood before caroming off onto the road. Merlin jumped out before Gunter had the truck fully stopped and ran to Anguis.
{What's wrong? Are you hurt?}
Anguis staggered to his legs and lifted his left wing, showing the missing outer third.
{I don't think I like being an airplane Merlin. They get shot at by some really big guns.}
Merlin struggled to pick the injured dragon up. When he straightened with Anguis in his hands his back protested, but he carried the dragon to the rear of the truck and gently deposited him inside.
“Nimue, we have to keep moving. Can you do anything for him?”
Anguis flared his injured wing, eliciting gasps from those in the back of the truck.
“I'll do what I can. Get us going again,” she said.
Merlin ran back to the front of the truck and jumped in.
“Is Anguis alright?” Gunter asked.
“Injured, but I don't think it's serious. Nimue's checking him out right now but we need to keep moving.”
Once again Gunter set the truck into motion, carefully and smoothly this time to avoid jostling the injured dragon.
* * *
Chapter 17
“Gunter, do you intend to drive straight through?” Merlin asked.
“We can get there in four hours if the roads stay clear. Plus I think we're less likely to be caught with the truck if we do the whole drive in darkness.”
“But you spent the day placing grenades, were in a fight just after dark, and you're still going? Aren't you tired?”
“Slightly, but I can keep myself awake by thinking what will happen if I'm caught here and identified. That wakes me right up.”
“If you get too tired, pull over. We can conceal the truck during the day and finish the drive tomorrow night.”
“I'd rather get us as far as we can tonight. I know the fuel tank was full when we took the truck but I'm guessing we'll arrive on fumes if we make it at all. Unless we find a way to get more fuel, we may have to walk the last bit. This kind of truck, the Opel Blitz, has roughly a three hundred and forty kilometer range and from the start of our drive it's about three hundred and thirty kilometers to Herzberg.”
“So, we should make it if there aren't any problems?” Merlin asked.
“I f
igure I can stay awake long enough to find out,” Gunter replied.
“I can't,” Merlin said, “wake me if there's a problem. I'm going to check on Anguis, then sleep.”
{Anguis, how are you?}
{I hurt Merlin. You never told me how much pain hurts.}
{I hoped you'd never find out. I'm sorry you got hurt doing something for me.}
{That's alright. Nimue's been fussing over me and Vadoma's helping her. I won't say it's worth it, but I won't turn the attention down either.}
{So you'll be alright?}
{Nimue said she thought I'd probably need to eat lots more metal for it to heal. I don't know if I can eat any more than I have been though.}
{I'm glad to hear that you'll be okay. Tell Nimue to have half the people back there sleep for two hours, then the other half when the first ones wake. Gunter's planning on driving straight through.}
{I'll tell her Merlin, but you could just send it to her.}
{I don't like intruding on people's minds if I don't have to. You prefer this means of communication though, so that's different.}
{You humans, so strange. I'll tell her.}
Merlin dozed as Gunter drove through the night. In the early morning hours Merlin woke to find Gunter shaking him.
“We're almost there Merlin. Not out of fuel yet but we're cutting it very close.”
“What time is it?”
“I don't know, maybe two in the morning or so, why?”
“Well, if we abandon the truck and hide it a little, we can probably be on the South Harz Railway line to Nordhausen before the truck is found. If we hide it better, we might make our transfer and be on our way to the Brocken forests before they find it.”
“I have to tell you I'm still wary of riding the railway openly,” Gunter said.
Merlin started to snap at Gunter before realizing it wasn't warranted. He thought for a moment before replying.
“There are degrees of openly. We'll ride in full view, we just won't look like ourselves. If there are lots of SS on the train, we'll look like them. If the train holds more civilians than soldiers, we'll look like civilians. Once we're near the station I'll use my magic to scout and see how most of the passengers are dressed. We'll be disguised accordingly.”
While he spoke he examined himself with his Sight. As he suspected, little tendrils of reddish-orange power were trying to worm their way into him.
“I understand but I'm still nervous.”
“Gunter, I'd be more worried if you weren't nervous. As you said, you're in the middle of the country that you left because parts of it were badly corrupted. You're aware of what will happen if you're caught. I have just one question, do you have a method to get us there that would make you less nervous?”
Merlin examined Gunter with his Sight since focusing on his nervousness wasn't like him. The same tendrils were working their way into the ex-German soldier.
“No Merlin, I don't. You're right, but it doesn't help to know why. I'll still be nervous until we're done here.”
“That's understandable. But you're doing fine so just keep going as you have been and we should be okay.”
Merlin took advantage of the silence that followed to work a quick spell to drive the demon's influence away from himself and Gunter.
As the tendrils withered away to nothing, the truck started to sputter and jerk.
“That sign we just passed said five kilometers to Herzberg. I think we'll be walking the last couple of those,” Gunter said.
He eked out as much distance as he could from the truck before pulling it off to the side.
“Let's roll the truck back to those pines we just passed. We'll get it off the road and behind them. They're close enough. A little magic will make the colors blend better and then we'll be walking,” Merlin said.
Merlin got out and began to push while Gunter steered. There was a slight incline leading back the way they came, which helped. By the time the truck was nestled behind the trees, Nimue had woken everyone in the back. A touch of illusion from Merlin changed the color of the truck. He used just enough power on the illusion to ensure that it would last through this sunrise and one more. By then they would be well beyond this area, or already captured.
As they walked the rest of the way to Herzberg, Merlin kept an eye on his companions. Verruckt seemed fine but Vadoma was, once again, trying to stay as close to Anselm as possible. Besnik glared at the two of them and more than once Merlin caught Anselm returning the glare with a challenge in his eyes. Nimue was abnormally quiet for most of the walk.
Shortly before they reached the town Nimue spoke to him softly.
“I've been thinking. I know a way that we could have people believe you. Perhaps the fear they experience isn't such a bad thing either. We could enhance it and then they'd jump to obey. It isn't respect but it can achieve the same results.”
Merlin glanced at her sideways.
What's this coming from Nimue? I know she was brooding over how I'm treated but I thought she decided it was fine if it didn't bother me, he thought.
Merlin glanced at her with his Sight. Tendrils of the demon's power burrowed into her, part of their essence already inside of her shields and penetrating her skin.
I didn't think the demon would have the power to affect those in the back of the truck, I thought Gunter and I were affected simply due to proximity.
He carefully shredded the tendrils. Nimue gave a gasp as the last portion of them, the section that had invaded her body, was destroyed.
“What was I thinking?” she said. “That's entirely the wrong way to go about things. But the idea still seems valid while at the same time ridiculous.”
“You were being influenced my dear. I removed the influence, and I imagine the attraction of the idea will fade quickly now.”
“You weren't joking when you warned us about that thing. I was brooding just a little over how you were treated and idea after idea popped into my mind. They cascaded into something much larger than any individual one of the originals and yet, at the time it seemed logical and sensible.”
“That's how they work. Are you familiar with the saying 'Give them an inch and they'll take a mile'? With a demon, the latter half could easily be rephrased to 'and they'll take everything you have and are'.”
“I believe you now. I thought you were just being paranoid before.”
“I think that the rest of our group might be suffering from the same influence. I better check and take care of it, otherwise Anselm and Besnik are liable to come to blows.”
Merlin used his sight to examine the others. As he suspected, the demon's tendrils were attached to everyone but Verruckt. He watched as a tendril approached Verruckt and was unintentionally, and unknowingly, absorbed by the Dverger.
He set himself to removing the tendrils from Anselm and Besnik first. The urges strengthened in Vadoma might be embarrassing but weren't liable to directly start a fight. He took care of Besnik first. While he was removing them from Anselm, the sun rose. When he turned to take care of Vadoma, he couldn't find the tendrils on her anywhere.
As the sun rose, Vadoma moved herself slightly away from Anselm, spacing herself equidistant between him and Besnik.
So that's it, I think our demon's power has a distaste for sunlight, Merlin thought.
As an experiment he took out one of his crystals that was almost drained already. He exposed it as they walked, letting it bathe in the sunlight. Its remaining power was used to turn it into a sun crystal with a fair amount of charge remaining. After his practice at making them in quantity, the process took less than five minutes. He slid the crystal into the bag containing the knife and cinched it shut again.
Hopefully that keeps the creature's mischief at bay. If not, I'll have to try something else, Merlin thought, Its incessant attempts to gain influence among us may well succeed if they continue.
Merlin's group stopped at the edge of town. It was still early enough that not many people were visible.
“Nimue, please conceal us. I have to scout ahead and see what disguises we'll need.”
She reached for the token prepared for this purpose, the same one she used the night before. She grasped it in her hand and flooded it with power. The group shimmered and then disappeared from view.
Merlin cast his awareness to the winds. From above the town he looked down and found the train station. He moved closer to it and surveyed the few people waiting.
The people already at the station were mainly in two styles of dress. One portion were dressed like businessmen and the rest were SS troops. Merlin scanned the area and noticed an individual SS officer off to the side. The officer was constantly watching everyone on the platform and paying even more attention to new arrivals.
Merlin moved his awareness up higher as he surveyed the man. His Sight showed the officer to be a wizard and he could only imagine that the man was scanning for magic. The wizard guard's insignia caught Merlin's attention. The normal SS lightning runes had a different rune in the middle, the Norse rune Dagaz. Merlin guessed that it was awarded to wizards the SS recruited and trained. He checked departure times for Nordhausen before returning his awareness to his body.
“There's a problem,” he said. “It seems that the SS have a guard positioned at the station. He's a wizard who appears to be keeping an eye on everyone that comes onto the platform. If he isn't looking for magic in use, I'd be amazed. The first train for Nordhausen leaves at eight thirty and the next one after that at ten thirty, so we do have a little time.”
“You're right, that is a problem. What can we do?” Gunter asked.
“We wait here while we determine a way to get past him without being caught,” Merlin replied. “Does anyone have any ideas?”
They talked about it for a while. The suggestions ranged from magically overpowering him and leaving him unconscious, rejected since everyone on the platform would notice it happen, to taking control of the man and leaving him simply standing motionless while they boarded, rejected due to Merlin's abhorrence of compulsion. Finally Nimue spoke.