Busy.
Look, I was just questioned quite thoroughly by Selene, and they are well aware of your absence. His familiar advised. For once, I am glad I could not speak their language.
Endrance felt a dread that surpassed even the hordes of the undead approaching. I am so dead. He replied. Dead, dead, dead.
She did seem to be deeply interested in your personal welfare. Gullin remarked. Is it time for me to help?
Yes. Please come immediately. Endrance replied. And for the love of the gods, be quick.
They took the Ewer with them, and Gnaeus led the group to the spot he had identified. A section of the pines thinned close enough to a mountainside that a natural channel was formed of trees on both sides and a steeply angled stone wall at the back. The stone face could be scaled, but would be difficult. About thirty feet up the stone, he could see a natural divot in the side, making an area where a small group of armed men could defend more easily than being on open ground. It looked like a giant hand had scooped out a part of the mountain.
“Get your wolves climbing.” Endrance said after reviewing the location. “I’ll be right behind.
“What are you going to do?” Gnaeus asked as he gestured to one of his wolves. The warrior sheathed his sword and leapt onto the mountainside without hesitation, his nailed paws finding purchase in the stone as he ascended.
Endrance shrugged. “Help control the battlefield. Give me a minute to set up some better defenses.”
At that moment, Gullin drifted down from the night sky and landed on a branch nearby. The wolfman’s ear flicked, the equivalent of an expression of irritation.
“We will call down when they are close.” Gnaeus confirmed, turning to join his men climbing the mountainside. They had tied ropes to the Ewer, and the ones who made it up to the top started levering the thing up into the air.
Endrance took a moment to gauge his status. Exhausted, check. Whole body hurting, check. Aura nearly empty, check. Bracers also low on power, check. Scared out of his mind, double check. Endrance took a steadying breath. He knew how bad things were. He had to find a way to get the wolves through the night, preferably with his hide intact as well.
Gullin was a useful asset, and he knew that the natural channel and defensible position at a high location would be a huge advantage against a foe that didn’t have any ranged methods of attack. However there were only thirteen fighters and one battered mage against possibly hundreds of foes.
He needed to fight smarter than just numbers and brute force. He had been taught better than that. He looked at the trees on either side and got an idea. He turned to the row of trees opposite of Gullin and recast his wall of ice. The snow around the base hardened and crystalized, springing up into a forty foot tall solid wall that connected the outermost trees like they were dots on a line. He turned to the other wall, noting that his familiar hopped into the air with an agitated squawk.
With the second wall in place, he had formed more effective barriers that ran from the rock face out two dozen yards on either side, making a funnel they would pour in to get at them. There could be others that ended up on the outer sides, but the walls would prevent them from getting flanked. Now he had to do some more precision work.
Endrance fervently went through the calculations he needed to have the spell work the way he needed, well aware of the approaching sounds of hundreds of Atastos closing in on his location. His repeated casting of spells probably didn’t help much since they were attracted to his magic like flies to honey.
He cast the ice wall spell one final time, and this time waved his hand in a zig-zag pattern as he backed up to the stone wall. Six foot tall, one foot thick walls of ice sprung up, turning the area into a maze of crystalline ice. That should slow down at least some of them.
Endrance sagged. He had used up much of the power he had recovered since he had fought the previous Atastos mages, and he had to tap into some of the bracers’ energy reserves just to finish the spell. He drank up more of the power stored in the bracers, refilling his aura completely. The gems dimmed somewhat, but he at least felt a little better.
He turned up to the mountain face and tried to find a place to climb up. Gullin circled overhead, looking out over the flatlands.
They are just behind the last hill. Gullin reported anxiously. You have less than a minute before they spot you.
Endrance scrambled up the wall with renewed vigor. He was barely a third of the way up when the Atastos came into view. They were barely a hundred yards away by the time he had reached the halfway point. Endrance felt a renewed burst of panic. He scrambled up the wall as fast as he could manage, hoping he didn’t slip and fall.
A horde of Atastos piled into his maze, filing through it with remarkable speed, several of them piling on top of the others to leap over the walls. Endrance whimpered in fear as he struggled to rise farther. The lip of the hole was barely a full body length above him, but it felt like leagues away. The Atastos hit the mountain face below him, and started climbing at a rate faster than Endrance could manage.
Gullin! Endrance cried.
If I attack I will destroy the walls you placed! Gullin replied.
Endrance desperately scrambled up the wall, gaining only a few feet. “Gnaeus!” Endrance gasped. The wolfman’s head poked out of the hole, spotted him and reached down. The wolfman had a long reach, and was able to haul him up by the hood of his coat. Endrance felt a tug on his boot, and when Gnaeus deposited him into the rock, he was able to see the leather on the side was almost slashed all the way through by an Atastos’ claws.
The wolfmen went to work, cutting down each Atastos that came within reach of their cubby hole, dropping the body down to knock down the enemies under them. Endrance took a moment to consider his options. He wished he had more support. He wished he had brought his Draugnoa with him. Though it was likely he was going to be overwhelmed, he regretted the last thing he had done was lie to them.
He stood, preparing to help them fight off the hordes approaching. Gullin, he commanded mentally. I need you to firebomb the hordes piling up at the entrance.
I will do it. His familiar replied, banking and flying off. In the distance he heard the familiar tripartite screech followed by a whud of the familiar’s fireball detonating. The night sky blossomed with firelight and Gullin swooped back for a second run.
“His emissary is powerful!” one of the wolfmen said to another in their tongue. Endrance took note, but kept his focus on cleanly giving as much power to his familiar as he needed. Gullin was performing spectacularly. Given free reign, the bird was able to rain explosive balls of death that not only destroyed the undead, but wrecked the battleground, making it harder for more of them to bunch up on them.
Endrance was amazed at how efficiently the thirteen were at killing the Atastos as they climbed up. It was like watching thirteen warriors as good as Joven working in tandem. Thirteen… that number seemed important to Endrance. Not counting the pack leader Gnaeus, there were twelve warriors. Joven had mentioned there had been twelve bloodlines originally set to protect the Spengur… Endrance shook his head. There was no time for speculation on how true it really was that the wolfmen were of Balator.
Endrance stepped forward, casting a healing spell whenever a warrior got injured, and for several minutes they were holding the cavern. The sky outside started lightening. Endrance felt a shiver of hope slip through him. They were going to make it.
Of course, this was when his luck went horribly awry. Another fiery explosion rocked the mountain, but it wasn’t Gullin’s doing. The side of the mountain next to their cavern exploded outwards as the masked figure from before appeared amidst the Atastos, slinging another spell. Gullin barely banked out of the way as the mage flung a handful of translucent swords he conjured. The bird whirled to reorient on the attacker, but the blades that had been fired halted midair several yards behind the familiar.
Endrance could see what was going to happen. Gullin! Dive! He commanded franticall
y.
The familiar squawked in surprise as he dropped into a dive and narrowly avoided getting sliced up a second time. The blades came to a dead stop yards after missing and turned to the familiar again.
Worry about yourself, Gullin! Endrance commanded. He stepped forward to shield the wolfmen from the next attack. He powered his wards, and immediately had to deflect a bolt of fire.
“Give up the Ewer, Endrance!” his opponent called. He had replaced his robes and mask since he had last fought. “And I’ll make your death quick!”
Endrance fired a wave of flames down the side of the mountain, knowing that with this opponent in the field, his walls of ice were for naught. His flame blast lacked the intensity of his opponent’s spell, but it had a wider area of affect. A dozen smoking corpses slid down the side of the mountain.
“I think I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer!” Endrance shouted back.
The enemy mage cast a new spell, lobbing spears of rock at them, the wolfmen ducked, only one of them getting clipped by an off center shot. Wrach dragged the wolfman back and took his place without a word.
Endrance felt trapped. With a very skilled enemy mage in the opposition, the place they had considered secure and defensible just became an oversized target on a pedestal. Endrance would be on the full defensive just keeping the wolves protected from his opponent’s attacks. Meanwhile, his familiar was having a harder and harder time avoiding the blades.
He put his foot on the lip of the cavern entrance and prepared for anything the enemy mage would throw. “Gnaeus, just keep the Atastos off me, and I’ll try to get us through this alive.”
The wolfmen renewed their defense, keeping the dead out of the cavern while Endrance readied himself for the enemy’s next move.
The mage began his assault, flinging more spears of rock at them in a spray. Endrance threw up a three inch thick wall of ice like a film over the cavern, catching the spines. One rock punched through and stopped an inch from his face. He slapped his hand on the ice and powered his repulsion tattoo, blasting shards of ice and the rock spines back in a rain of shrapnel.
The enemy replied with a blast of fire that swept across the entranceway. Endrance blasted into the flames with a funnel of snow he roughly ripped from the mountainside, filling the air with steam which quickly grew into icicle daggers and shot back towards Endrance. He was able to sweep a chunk of rock through the cloud of icicles, but several of the wolfmen took minor injuries from the shrapnel.
Endrance fired a blast of lightning at the mage as he reached out and touched one of the injured wolfmen. As soon as the lightning cleared his fingertips he formed the symbol and slung a quick healing spell. The stone fragments worked their way out of the wolf’s body and he was able to stand again.
Endrance fought on, but his power was waning. The masked mage pressed on, forcing Endrance to draw from his bracer to power his wards. Then, when his aura ran low, he drew on them to also fuel his counter attacks.
Endrance gritted his teeth. The mage was better than him, plain and simple. Even on the defensive, all he’d been able to do is react to his opponent. He’d not been able to get an upper hand or make an offensive action. He needed an edge.
I will help! Gullin cried out. Dodging the translucent flying swords yet again, this time by a very narrow margin.
Gullin no! Endrance replied. You’re still being-
The familiar dove with a screech as he launched a fireball at the mage. He banked and tried to come out of the dive, but the blades of magic swept through his space. Endrance felt a spike of pain transmitted through his link, but was trying to deflect another volley of rock spears and could barely concentrate on his own spells.
The tiny bead of fire shrieked towards the mage. Right before it impacted, the enemy mage reached out with a hand and slung another spell. He swatted the fireball with his hand, redirecting it right at Endrance’s chest. The ball shot towards him faster than even Gullin could fire them. He had hardly the time to draw in a breath before the bead struck him dead center.
This is it. He thought. I’m dead.
The fireball exploded, filling Endrance’s world with fire and roaring sound and light. And then everything went black.
He faded back into consciousness in what must have been only moments later. He had expected to not awaken at all, but there he was. A loud ringing filled his ears and he levered open his eyes. Everything was blurry, but he could make out that he was in the back of the cavern. The stench of burnt fur filled his nose, and he could see the body of at least three armored wolfmen strewn about in front of him. Four more were piled on one side of the room.
He blinked for what he thought was a moment, but had to have been longer, as when he opened his eyes the masked mage stood in the cavern. His vision cleared somewhat, and he could see the masked mage direct several Atastos to drag the Ewer to the center of the chamber. Endrance tried to move, but it seemed his body was unable or unwilling to respond. Maybe he had been blown to pieces and he was just being allowed to witness the last moments of his life.
The Ewer seemed unharmed, due to it being the farthest away from the blast. As the Atastos finished hauling it forward, the masked man shaped mudras with his hands and must have been intoning words of power. It seemed like the night sky opened up next to the Ewer, and the Atastos diligently began dragging it through the glittering tear.
The mage glanced at him, and noticed his eyes were open. He walked over, crouching next to him. He said something, but Endrance only heard buzzing. The man tilted his head, tapping Endrance on the forehead. The battered wizard could barely blink at him angrily.
From behind the masked mage, the pile of wolfmen corpses shifted as Gnaeus slipped out from under the bodies of his brethren. While he had been burnt, he was well enough to slip forward silently. Endrance looked the enemy mage in the eyes defiantly, struggling to do anything more than just glare at him.
Gnaeus struck, lunging with his longsword. It was a very powerful strike, but the mage must have anticipated the attack. A blue light flared from the mage’s back as a translucent blue shield managed to turn a blow that would have skewered him into a shallow stab in the back. The mage cried out in pain, sounding like an angry swarm of bees.
Gnaeus kicked the mage towards the Atastos in the cavern and grabbed Endrance. He spoke to Endrance, sounding like a slightly less angry swarm of bees. Turning, Gnaeus took two steps towards the lip of the cavern and threw the wizard out forcefully. Endrance sailed out of the cavern, and the last thing he saw before crashing through a treetop were several translucent sword blades erupting through Gnaeus’ chest.
Endrance hit the ground hard, most of the branches of pine breaking his fall. For a while he just lay on the snow and dirt, stunned. Something was moving nearby, and Endrance managed to crane his neck. One of the surviving wolfmen limped out from behind a tree and knelt next to him. The ringing had reduced, but it was still impossible to make out anything.
His body apparently realized it was alive and still connected, since it decided to begin protesting its existence at that moment. He groaned, and managed to move his arm. The wolfman took it as a good sign, picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.
The remaining wolfmen met up with them only moments later, hiding in the thickest part of the forest. Every minute that passed made his head clearer and his hearing better, but the rest of his body hurt worse. Somehow, he had made it out of a direct fireball to the chest without being blasted to pieces, but he certainly had suffered some severe damage.
Of the thirteen that had come with him, only six remained. Wrach was among them, and trying to keep order. Endrance was left slumped against the trunk of a tree.
“I don’t know how he survived when so many did not.” one of the wolves said. “We lost seven brothers and our Alpha!”
“He isn’t even burned.” Another commented, and Endrance felt prompted to look down at himself. He had refused to up until that point because he didn’t want to see how
badly burned he was. To his amazement, his flesh was unmarred across his now exposed chest. But other than his shirt having been disintegrated by the fireball’s direct contact with it, he was intact. His tiger hide coat hardly had any scorch marks on it.
“Did you find his emissary?” Wrach asked.
One of the others nodded. “The thing is injured but alive. I only found a few cut feathers where it fell.”
“How much longer until dawn?” Endrance croaked out. The wolfmen turned and stared at him, their ears perked. Endrance stared at them for a few seconds before realizing that he must have been listening to them talk in their native language and had spoken it in turn on accident. He struggled to stand up. “Well?” he asked.
Wrach’s ear flicked and his tail twitched, but he glanced up at the night sky. “Only a half hour more.” He said.
“Then we’ve done it.” Endrance said. “We’ve managed to delay them long enough.”
“What about that artifact?” Wrach asked in return. “They were willing to waste hundreds of troops to recover it, if it was going to be solved by the sunrise then they would have given up.”
Endrance tried hard to think. What was it about the Ewer that was so important? He thought about all he had learned about it, as well as digging through the memories the captured mages had provided. He knew that there was something in the Ewer that he needed to let out; from what fragments he had pieced together, it was a liquid of some sort. The liquid was some kind of necromantic substance.
A nagging feeling started bothering him. Of all things, he thought of the hot spring he had used as a bath behind the longhouse before his home had burnt down. The water had magical power suffused through it, and somewhere along its underground avenue it was heated up. The simplest answer would be that wherever it was getting heated was also where it was absorbing power.
The water had trickled down the mountain through underground channels, cooling as it went. The water eventually fed into the reservoir, but by then the latent magic in the water was faded away. However, it could mean that it dispersed it through the whole city…
Spellscribed: Ascension Page 31