Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles 1: Wizard Defiant

by Rodney Hartman

  “I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be, Shandria,” Richard told the elf. “Are you sure you still want me to keep my best stealth shield up? You said they’re going to know where you are the moment you take the blue sphere from its stand.”

  “That can’t be helped, Rick,” she said. “We’ve discussed it, already. My stealth shield can’t hide all three spheres, and you can only hide yourself with yours. They’re going to know where I am, but if we can keep them guessing about your location, it may give us a slight edge. End of discussion, Rick. It’s time to go.”

  Richard activated his best stealth shield. He watched the elf as she opened the alcove and slipped the blue sphere into her leather bag. The stealth shield surrounding their secret room dissipated. He did not wait to see the elf put the bag in her pack. Speed was everything now. Richard opened the secret door and stepped into the hallway. His heads-up display indicated the straight section of the tunnel outside the secret room was clear of any life forms. Richard glanced to the right, it was clear as expected, but he needed to go left. He turned his head to the left in preparation for sprinting. He wanted to get ahead of the elf to run interference with the run-of-the-mill ghouls before the more powerful foes began showing up.

  Demon, Rick! shouted Nickelo mentally. It has a stealth shield.

  Twenty meters ahead was a humanoid-sized monstrosity from some horror movie. It was not the demon they had fought previously, but it was definitely a demon. It reeked of evil. It dropped its stealth shield as it converted a ball of Power into magical energy.

  Richard reacted without thinking. He held down the trigger of the assault rifle. A stream of forty rounds filled the hallway in the direction of the demon. Some missed and ricocheted off the tunnel walls. Other rounds stopped short of their target as if hitting an invisible barrier.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out the demon had a defensive shield. But, Richard had noticed some of the rock shards blasted from the tunnel walls had hit the demon. He assumed its shield was focused on energy attacks, not physical ones. Richard drew his phase rod and charged the demon.

  In response, the demon released its ball of magic. Richard sensed the flow of energy heading straight towards him. Shandria’s hours of training in defensive shields paid off. Reflexively, Richard threw a defensive shield between him and the incoming energy. He angled the shield slightly like the elf had taught him. The energy turned into a lightning bolt. It hit Richard’s shield and ricocheted off to the side where it began bouncing from wall to wall as it continued down the tunnel. Richard breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the white dot on his heads-up display representing the elf was still in the secret room.

  Lower your shield, said Nickelo. Conserve Power.

  Remembering Shandria’s warning to only use the Power-hungry defensive shield the minimum necessary, Richard stopped the flow of Power. The shield faded away as Richard jumped to the demon’s right side. As he passed through the demon’s defensive shield, the battle suit’s electronics momentarily blinked, but Nickelo quickly brought them back online. By the time Richard was even with the demon, he was in full command of the suit again. He thumbed the phase rod’s setting lever to destructive and swung a hard blow at the back of the demon’s head. The phase rod bounced off the demon’s skull. However, the rod’s subatomic energy must have had some effect, because the demon gave a cry. It wasn’t so much a sound of pain as it was a sound of surprise.

  The demon made a backhanded swing at Richard with a metal rod it held in its right hand. The metal rod burst into a red flame as it arced towards the base of Richard’s spine. The demon’s blow was too fast for Richard to react, but it wasn’t too fast for his battle computer. Nickelo took advantage of the override to make a hard kick with both legs of the battle suit. Richard felt himself propelled above the demon’s weapon. When Richard hit the ceiling, he was none too graceful, but he managed to brace his feet against the tunnel’s roof. He kicked hard to propel himself back towards the demon. He hit the demon as it was turning around to face him. They both went down hard. Richard pictured an image of himself driving the point of his phase rod into the demon’s right eye. Nickelo picked up on the image and moved the battle suit to accomplish Richard’s desire. In a movement too fast for a mere human to comprehend, the battle suit’s assisters drove the tip of the phase rod into the demon’s eye. The unarmored eye burst upon contact. The phase rod’s tip continued its forward movement and burst through bone into the demon’s skull. Richard took control of the suit and wriggled the phase rod back and forth to scramble the brain. The demon shuddered and stopped moving.

  We killed it, Richard said. It was easier than I thought. Maybe that other demon, Efrestra, won’t be as difficult as we feared.

  Don’t kid yourself, Rick, said Nickelo. This was a low-level demon of the cannon fodder variety. From what Shandria said, Efrestra is one of the higher-level demons right below a master demon. Now, get off the floor and start moving. We’re supposed to be clearing the easy stuff out of the way for Shandria.

  Richard rose from the floor and began sprinting down the tunnel again. His mission was to get to the intersection two hundred and forty meters away and hold it until Shandria arrived. He could run much faster in his battle suit than the elf. If he could get to the intersection and clear out the lower-level riffraff before she arrived, it might give them an advantage. The intersection was actually a fair-sized cavern containing the entrances to five tunnels. Shandria had told him one of the tunnels led to the exit that was their destination.

  The intersection was quickly in range, and Richard saw a mass of yellow dots. Those would be undead. He saw no other colors. Richard hoped that meant there were not yet any magic-using creatures at the intersection. Of course, they could be using a stealth shield like the demon, but Richard refused the think the worst until forced.

  How many, Nick? Richard asked.

  Thirty-two, Rick, replied Nickelo. I don’t register any magic users, but of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. There soon will be if you don’t hurry, though. Have you noticed the red dots converging on our location?

  Richard had noticed. Just like he’d noticed the hundreds of other dots of varying colors all seemingly headed in the direction of the intersection ahead.

  Swap out your rifle’s isotopic battery, Rick.

  I only shot forty rounds, Richard said. I still have over three hundred and fifty.

  You shot forty-two rounds, said Nickelo. And don’t argue. Switch it out while you have a chance. You may need every round when you get to the intersection.

  Richard stopped arguing and extracted the plasma rifle’s isotopic battery. Reaching over his shoulder, he lifted the dimensional pack’s flap and dropped in the battery. He closed the flap and then reopened in it. Reaching inside, Richard felt a small cube with his fingers. He hoped it wasn’t the same battery he had dropped in the pack. Richard pulled it out and shoved it into the empty slot on his plasma rifle. The heads-up display registered four hundred rounds for his plasma rifle. He had a full load again.

  As he was accomplishing the reload, Richard noticed the white dot representing Shandria’s position was about a hundred meters behind him. She had stopped. A group of fifteen or so yellow and orange dots had closed in from behind her. Suddenly, the yellow and orange dots disappeared. The white dot began moving in his direction again.

  Did you really think you had to worry about the elf? asked Nickelo who must have sensed his concern. Shandria’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. You need to worry about you. Remember, you can’t self-heal until you get your baseline DNA taken. As a resistor, you can’t be magically healed either. So, not only do I want you to try and not get killed, I want you to try and not get seriously injured.

  I’ll do my best, Mommy, Richard said.

  * * *

  When he was twenty meters from the intersection, Richard stopped. A curve in the tunnel blocked his sight of the cavern and tunnel entrances, but he had no d
oubt the cavern was just ahead. The mass of yellow dots on the heads-up display verified its location.

  What are those two orange dots? Richard asked Nickelo.

  I’m not sure, said Nickelo. They’re not magic users, but I don’t recognize their signature. That’s why I made them orange. We’ll find out soon enough. Are you ready?

  Richard verified Shandria’s location on the heads-up display. She was staying a little over a hundred meters behind him. Two red dots and a score of yellow ones were in the tunnel behind her. Richard heard a series of muffled explosions. One of the red dots disappeared along with a half dozen of the yellow ones. The elf was fighting a rearguard action. Richard was momentarily tempted to go back and help the elf. It grated his male ego to have a female doing the major fighting. But logic won over, and Richard returned his concentration to the intersection ahead. Their plan was sound. His mission was to secure the intersection before reinforcements arrived. Shandria’s mission was to cover his rear and buy him the time he needed.

  Richard took off running as hard as he could for the intersection. He turned the corner and raised his plasma rifle. The moment he saw a head he began firing. It didn’t matter that the head was already a skull half covered with rotted flesh. The head exploded under the weight of three plasma rounds. Richard kept the trigger pulled and swept the intermittent stream of red plasma rounds to the left towards a group of zombies lumbering towards him. Richard relied on Nickelo’s override of the battle suit to guide the red stream into the heads of the nightmarish creatures. The group went down amid a spray of rotten-brain matter.

  To your right, yelled Nickelo.

  A glance at the heads-up display showed one of the two orange dots closing in fast from the right. Richard turned in time to see a large, gangly humanoid twice as tall as the zombies and ghouls around it. Before Richard could react, the big creature grabbed a nearby zombie and threw it at Richard. Trying to get his plasma rifle into action, Richard squeezed the trigger and streaks of plasma energy bounced off the floor as he elevated the rifle towards the creature’s head. Richard felt Nickelo try to accelerate the movement of his battle suit’s arms, but it wasn’t quick enough. The thrown zombie collided with Richard, bowling him over in a mass of flailing arms and legs. Richard released his pressure on the rifle’s trigger. He felt pressure on the back of his neck. The zombie was behind him trying to chew through the suit’s armor from behind.

  Good luck with that, Richard thought as he slammed his left fist into the zombie’s head. The battle suit’s assisters magnified the strength and speed of the blow. Richard wasn’t able to see his fist make contact with the zombie’s head. However, when he pulled his arm back, his fist was dripping with dark blood, bone slivers, and brain matter.

  Richard tried to scramble to his feet, but he was thrown onto his back again as his feet were jerked out from under him. He felt pressure on his ankles where the large creature was grasping his legs. Before Richard could defend himself, the creature began swinging him around its head like a club. The centrifugal force kept Richard helpless and fully outstretched. If not for the strap on his plasma rifle, he would have lost it. On the third circuit of its swing, the creature released its grip. Richard went flying through the air until he hit the cavern wall. The battle suit’s armor cushioned the impact, but even so, Richard’s breath was knocked out of him.

  The tubes in Richard’s nostrils immediately pumped air into his collapsed lungs. His feeling of helplessness disappeared as his lungs re-inflated. Richard got a grip on his plasma rifle and aimed at the chest of the creature. Instead of firing his plasma rifle, he pulled the trigger of the 20mm grenade launcher under the rifle’s barrel. The rifle bucked in his hands. The grenade exploded against the creature’s chest. Bone and flesh burst from a double-fist sized hole as the creature was thrown backwards.

  Richard turned his attention to two zombies and a ghoul approaching from his left. Twenty rounds from the plasma rifle made short work of them. Richard glanced back to his right. To his surprise, the large creature was rising from the ground. As it rose, Richard noticed the hole in its chest close over until it was no longer visible. Within seconds, all evidence of the 20mm blast was gone.

  Nick! Richard said.

  It’s a troll, Rick, said Nickelo. You’re going to have to burn it. And you don’t have much time.

  Richard’s passive scan told him what a glance at his heads-up display confirmed. Hundreds of dots of every color of the rainbow were converging down all the tunnels. The intersection would be crawling with an overwhelming force in less than two minutes.

  Since he was fresh out of flamethrowers, and since he didn’t have time to summon one, Richard concentrated on the remaining zombies and ghouls. He liberally sprayed them with his plasma rifle until Nickelo warned him he only had twenty rounds left. Richard pulled his phase rod and switched it to destructive mode. He closed with the weaker undead, staying well clear of the trolls. The fight was all one sided since his opponents’ teeth and claws could not penetrate his armor. Still, it was a race against time, and Richard knew he was losing the race. He could kill the zombies and ghouls easy enough, but they were slowing him down. Before long, Richard encountered the second troll. He was forced to expend two more 20mm rounds to keep it at bay. The troll quickly healed itself and continued running towards Richard.

  Only a handful of zombies remained. Changing tactics, Richard avoided the few remaining zombies. He ran a dozen meters down one of the tunnels. Extracting three blocks of J22 plastic explosive from the satchel at his side, Richard jammed them onto the tunnel’s ceiling. They were naturally adhesive, and they easily stuck in place. Richard turned to leave. As he’d hoped, one of the trolls had followed him into the tunnel. It charged towards Richard with a vicious growl, its arms outstretched.

  When the troll was six paces away, Richard blew its left leg off at the knee with one of his precious remaining 20mm grenades. The troll nose-dived to the ground. Richard jumped over it and ran to the tunnel entrance. Once Richard cleared the tunnel, he spun around and fired his remaining plasma rounds at the ceiling above the troll. It had just gotten to its feet when one of the rounds connected with a block of J22 plastic explosive.

  Boom!

  The cavern shook as the tunnel collapsed on the troll. Dust and rock debris were blown out of the tunnel into the intersection. Richard was thrown back by the force of the blast. He automatically threw his hands up to protect his head. He went flying through the air towards the opposite wall of the intersection. In desperation, Richard wrapped himself in Power and attempted to use telekinesis to slow his momentum. He partially succeeded, but he still felt the back of his battle helmet crack when he made contact with the rock wall. Richard momentarily blacked out. He was brought out of his daze when Nickelo used the battle suit’s medical needles to shoot adrenaline directly into his veins.

  Your suit’s seals are still intact, said Nickelo, but we lost some of the electronics. You need to get up and moving. That other troll is headed your way.

  Richard forced himself to stand up. He was immediately knocked down by two zombies who began biting at his neck and chest. Richard got his knee under one and kicked it away. He slammed the butt of his phase rod into the second zombie’s temple. The zombie fell off and stopped moving. Richard drew his .44 AutoMag and blew off the back of the other zombie’s head. He rose to a sitting position and spun to the left where he sensed the second troll was located. Richard fired the remaining six shots of the .44 AutoMag into the troll’s chest knocking it down. Standing up, Richard holstered his pistol and then cocked the slide on the grenade launcher. He fired his last three 20mm grenades at the troll. By the time the last one hit, the troll was short most of its left leg and was missing an arm. It floundered around on the floor snarling with rage.

  The elf is still fifty meters away, said Nickelo. The enemy down that tunnel to the right is only forty meters from the entrance. You’d better hustle, Rick, or I’m going to start having doubts ab
out your wizard scout abilities.

  Richard was too busy to even take the time to banter with Nickelo. He could see the mass of dots on the heads-up display nearing the intersection. Heading towards the right-most tunnel, Richard pulled the pin on one of his anti-personnel grenades and threw it into the tunnel.

  Boom!

  When he reached the tunnel, Richard took half a dozen steps inside and started sticking blocks of J22 plastic explosive on the ceiling while setting their timers for ten seconds. He activated the timers and high tailed it for the tunnel’s entrance.

  Once back in the open intersection, Richard ran towards the tunnel opposite the one he had just rigged. When he was close, he threw his second anti-personnel grenade down the tunnel and flattened himself against the wall just outside the tunnel opening.

  Boom!

  The blast of his grenade was followed by an even larger blast from the tunnel he had rigged with J22 plastic explosive.

  Boom!

  Richard wanted to look back to make sure the J22 plastic explosive had completely blocked the tunnel, but he couldn’t afford the time. He stepped into the tunnel he had just thrown the grenade into and ran several steps inside before attaching three more blocks of J22 plastic explosive to the ceiling. He risked a glanced at his heads-up display. The dots were much too close. He didn’t have ten seconds. Richard pulled a block of J22 plastic explosive out of his satchel and set the timer for three seconds. He clicked the activate switch and threw the J22 plastic explosive down the tunnel. He dived for the floor.

  Boom!

  Richard stood up. The tunnel was so filled with dust he couldn’t see, but he found the blocks of J22 plastic explosive on the ceiling and set their timers to five seconds. He activated the timers and ran back towards the intersection. Once clear of the tunnel, Richard turned toward the final tunnel. This was the one Shandria had said led to her exit. Richard had to hold it until the elf arrived. Richard had only taken two steps before something tripped him causing him to fall to the stone floor. Looking behind him, he saw the remaining troll holding onto his ankle. Richard was struck by the fact that it was still missing most of its leg. He wondered if the troll had crawled to intercept him. Richard kicked with both legs in an attempt to free himself, but the troll had a grip of iron. It started pulling Richard closer.