by Pedro Urvi
Lasgol managed to complete his invocation and released. The shot struck the guard in the eye and penetrated his brain, and he fell dead. Astrid managed to finish off the other guard, and was already fighting the third. Lasgol aimed at the one Camu and Ona were holding against the floor and sent two arrows into his stomach, killing him.
Eicewald meanwhile was casting spells against Olagar and his two acolytes. He had generated a winter storm over them, but all three had protection against spells and for the moment were withstanding the effects of the murderous storm. Olagar now sent a purple-black smoke to surround Eicewald. It was magic of Transformation and Death, but luckily the Mage’s defense held fast. The two acolytes each hurled a bolt, also purple-black, and held them over the anti-magic sphere of the mage to weaken it.
Lasgol spun round and released at Olagar, and though the arrow reached the grey sphere it failed to penetrate it. He swore and released again, with the same result. He had managed to damage the sphere, but not seriously. He calculated that it would take him a good while to break it. He released at one of the acolytes and found he had the same protection. There was no way he could penetrate it, at least not without a whole sequence of shots.
The acolyte now focused his attention on Lasgol. He was clearly about to cast a spell on him, which was very bad news. He pointed his staff at Lasgol, who saw that the purple bolt of Transformation was coming straight toward his chest. He prepared for the worst.
The bolt failed to reach him.
Eyes open wide in surprise, he stared at the bolt which the acolyte was still directing, but which had stopped short of his body.
I protect, Camu transmitted.
Is it you doing it?
Camu flashed silver, and Lasgol saw the protective dome he had raised covering Ona and himself.
Yes. I deny magic.
You’re fantastic! Then Lasgol had an idea. Can you make it bigger?
Yes, a little more.
Do it.
Camu flashed silver again, and the half-sphere, which covered them to the ground like a dome, expanded a couple of paces more.
Perfect. Now the three of us are going to move toward that acolyte who’s attacking me.
I agree.
Ona clawed at the air, making it clear that she was ready.
The three moved forward as one, with Lasgol taking a step and Camu and Ona following together. The acolyte saw them coming toward him and conjured a second transformer-bolt. Both beams struck the protective dome Camu was holding and fizzled out on it, to the bafflement of the acolyte.
Astrid and Viggo were still fighting against the guards, who were extremely hard to kill.
“I’m going to eat all your limbs tonight!” Viggo shouted at them as he delivered thrusts and made the slashed tentacles fly around.
“I think I’m on for that dinner,” Astrid said. She too was beginning by attacking the creatures’ tentacles.
“Barbecued and with plenty of paprika they’ll be really tasty!” Viggo called back, while he slashed two tentacles which had wrapped themselves around his neck and were threatening to choke him.
Eicewald was still fighting Olagar and the other acolyte. They launched offensive spells at one another, while at the same time they drew on part of their reserves to maintain the defenses they had raised. The first to exhaust his inner energy would lose the battle. Offensive spells used up a great deal of energy, but at the same time damaged the opponent’s own defense, so that he had to send more energy to sustain it. Eicewald was attacking with spells that caused direct physical harm, sending dozens of ice-stakes against the two sorcerers which crashed against the physical defenses of both and weakened them. He kept putting on pressure, conjuring up stalactites and stalagmites of ice to hurl at his two enemies. The impacts were devastating, and the defenses of Olagar and his acolyte felt it so much that Eicewald could see his two enemies staggering within their protective spheres, so that they nearly fell. Unfortunately, they managed to stay on their feet.
Olagar recovered and conjured a dark sphere, but instead of directing it against Eicewald he directed it at the water at the far end of the cave. The sphere sank beneath the surface, then suddenly exploded with a beam of blackish light and an intense whistling.
Lasgol was five paces away from the acolyte who was attacking him. He took two more steps, and Camu’s dome covered him. The acolyte opened horrified eyes as the two spheres he was keeping up vanished from around his body.
I deny magic, Camu said proudly.
That was the idea, Lasgol told him, and released against the acolyte. The arrow hit him in the heart, and he fell dead with a look of incomprehension on his face.
Another guard hurled himself at him but Ona intercepted him and brought him down. Camu gave his face a stinging blow with his strong tail, which seemed to stun him, and with another arrow Lasgol killed him.
Nice bit of work! Now for the other acolyte, he told them, and began to move towards him.
I destroy magic.
Yes, but be careful not to get anywhere near Eicewald, or you’ll destroy his defenses too and they’ll kill him.
Oh. All right.
You hadn’t thought of that, had you?
No, not thought, Camu admitted.
Astrid and Viggo were fighting the last two guards, and would soon be done with them. They were no rivals for the two Rangers, no matter how tough they might be as fighters. Every thrust and sword-stroke of theirs, seemed slow and clumsy compared with the speed and agility of the Ranger Assassins.
Eicewald went on launching physical attacks of ice against Olagar, whose defenses were beginning to crack. He threw a giant ice trident at him, which embedded itself in the grey sphere. The three prongs managed to penetrate the sphere, and only just failed to touch the sorcerer’s body. The Mage began to conjure a javelin of ice to finish the job.
The acolyte who was attacking Eicewald realized that Lasgol, Ona and Camu were coming toward him, and conjured up an ominous-looking black cloud over them. To his surprise it did not affect them, and was destroyed by Camu’s dome. The acolyte began to conjure again.
Let’s go, quick, Lasgol said, and they ran to the acolyte. Camu’s dome enveloped him, and they stopped. The spell he was casting failed with a brief, unexpected flash. The acolyte stared at his staff, not knowing what had happened. He could not conjure, and his two defensive spheres had vanished suddenly. He saw that Lasgol was already aiming at him, realized that he was lost and plunged into the boiling well at the moment Lasgol released. As the arrow hit him in the shoulder; he vanished into the black waters, never to reappear.
Lasgol now saw that the Ice Mage had already defeated Olagar. We’d better help Eicewald, he said.
The Sorcerer had stopped attacking and was sending what little energy he had left to stop his protective sphere from being destroyed. The ice trident and javelin were embedded in it, and the Mage was about to hurl three ice daggers at it. These would destroy it.
Astrid and Viggo finished off the last two guards.
“Come on, Mage,” Viggo said as he cleaned his knives. “Finish off this cuttlefish-sorcerer and let’s get out of here, ’cause I’m hungry and I want my plate of seafood.”
Suddenly, behind his back, they heard something coming out of the waters in the part of the cave where there was no floor. They spun round in surprise, and to their horror they saw a monstrous sea-creature emerging, splashing everything around it with great waves of water. A gigantic tentacle emerged from the water and wrapped itself around Viggo’s waist. He turned his head when he felt something grasping him and saw a giant octopus emerging from the sea to defend the sorcerer who had summoned it.
“You’ve got to be kidding …” Viggo said a moment before the monster lifted him into the air.
Astrid wanted to run to help him, but another of the beast’s tentacles seized her and lifted her in the air as well.
“Eicewald! Help!” Lasgol yelled.
The Mage abandoned his conjuring against Olagar, turn
ed to the monster of the seas and conjured a bolt of ice which hit it on the head. The giant octopus did its best to crush the Mage with another of its tentacles, but he dodged to one side. The whole floor shook from the impact. Lasgol released repeatedly against the monster, while Astrid and Viggo used their knives to stab at the tentacles which imprisoned them.
Olagar gave a series of orders, which the monster followed. One brutal tentacle fell on Lasgol, seeking to crush him, but he slipped to one side to avoid it. The huge limb struck the floor, and once again everything shook. Lasgol realized that he would not be able to kill it. They had to kill Olagar, who was the one controlling it.
Camu, Ona, attack the Sorcerer! he told them as he dodged another blow from a tentacle, rolling to one side and releasing again, hitting it in one enormous eye which was staring at him with a murderous brilliance.
Astrid managed to wriggle free from the octopus’ grasp, and fell into the water. Viggo stabbed again and again frantically, trying to cut the tentacle that imprisoned him and was preventing him from breathing. He was choking.
As Camu and Ona reached Olagar, the Sorcerer’s barriers fell. Taken aback, he tried to cast a spell on them.
Attack, Camu told Ona, sure that his power would deny the Sorcerer’s magic. And Olagar’s spell failed.
Olagar’s eyes opened wide as he stared back at Camu. He understood that something had been set in motion, and that it was something very bad for him.
Ona launched herself at the Sorcerer, and with a powerful bite of her feline jaws, killed him. The sea monster stopped and let go of Viggo, who fell into the water. A moment later it vanished in the deep sea as suddenly as it had appeared.
Lasgol saw that his friend was sinking with the monster. “Astrid, get Viggo out!”
Astrid dived at once, and they all ran to the water’s edge. For a moment nothing happened, and Lasgol was deeply worried.
Suddenly Astrid reappeared. A moment later she pulled Viggo out of the water by his hair.
They pulled him out, and Lasgol gave him the kiss of life, because he was not breathing.
Astrid clambered out of the water with Eicewald’s help. “Is he alive?”
Lasgol blew air into Viggo’s mouth and pinched his nose. “I don’t know, he’s not breathing!”
“Keep trying!”
Lasgol kept breathing air into his friend’s lungs, but there was no reaction,
Viggo … Camu said mournfully.
Ona gave a high, loud moan.
Suddenly Viggo began to cough. Lasgol put him on his side to drain the water he had swallowed from his lungs. Viggo coughed and expelled all the water, then breathed in with all his strength and collapsed on to his back.
“I’m… not hungry… any longer…” he muttered.
“Because of all the water you’ve swallowed?” Lasgol asked.
“No, because you’ve been kissing me.”
Lasgol rolled his eyes, and Astrid burst out laughing. “He’s perfectly all right,” was her diagnosis.
“Let’s get out of here,” Lasgol said with a smile,
Chapter 32
The team followed the same route out of the fortress as they had used to get in. Because of the fire in the ships, everybody inside it was concentrating on what was happening in the bay rather than where they were. The plan, as it turned out, worked perfectly, and they went to join Ingrid, Nilsa and Gerd at the meeting-point.
“Everything all right?” Ingrid asked when she saw them approaching at a run.
“No trouble at all,” Viggo said with and ironic smile.
“I can imagine.”
“No, you can’t,” Astrid replied. She waved her hand in a gesture that implied it had been terrible.
“That bad?”
Lasgol raised his eyebrows. “A lot worse,” he assured her.
“I warned you it wouldn’t be at all easy,” Eicewald said.
“Yeah,” Viggo protested, “that business at the end with the sea-monster struck me as a touch of genius.”
“Sea-monster?” Gerd repeated, with eyes like saucers.
“Viggo nearly didn’t make it,” Astrid explained. She gave him a slap on the back for support and smiled. “Luckily weeds are impossible to kill.”
“What?” Ingrid asked shakily. She was looking at Viggo with worry in her eyes.
Viggo shrugged. “The little monster took a shine to me and nearly tore me in two, then tried to drown me. It’s because of this charisma of mine. I’m just lovable.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Lasgol said.
“But are you all right?” Ingrid asked. She was looking him up and down, trying to see if anything was wrong with him.
“Good as new. A few lovely bruises all over my body which I can show you later.” He winked at her.
Ingrid was about to reply to the comment, but instead said nothing. She snorted. “I’m glad you’re all okay.”
Nilsa grimaced. “I bet there was a lot of treacherous magic,” she said with half-closed eyes.
“Masses,” Astrid said.
“A really lively battle of magic and counter-magic,” said Viggo.
“I knew it! I’m glad I wasn’t there!”
“Camu was awesome,” Lasgol said. “He destroyed the defenses of the three sorcerers!”
Eicewald nodded. “Quite true. He’s a very special creature. Very.” He was looking at Camu, genuinely impressed.
“And Ona was wonderful too,” Lasgol added. “She’s the one who finally polished off Olagar.”
“That’s awesome!” Gerd said, and went over to her to pet her. Ona accepted the attention with pleasure.
“The distraction worked very well,” Eicewald added. “Very good work. We were able to take advantage of it inside the fortress, and it helped us escape.”
“Thanks,” said Ingrid. “We left three ships damaged, but they’ve still got two they can use.”
“They’ll soon find out what happened and come looking for us,” Eicewald said. “We need to get to the pick-up point.”
“Will Arrain be there?” Ingrid mused. “Or will he have left us to our fate?”
Eicewald shook his head. “I trust him. He’s an upright man. He won’t just leave us to our fate.”
“I suppose we’ll know when we get there,” Viggo said. He did not sound too confident.
They went back to the cove where they had landed and waited for a while, but nobody came to pick them up. Doubt began to trouble everybody’s minds.
“I’m positive he’ll come,” Eicewald insisted.
“Perhaps the Turquoise Queen has other plans,” Viggo suggested.
The Mage shook his head. “Uragh is hard, but she’s honest. She won’t leave us here. She’ll honor her side of the deal.”
Viggo was looking out at the horizon with half-closed eyes. “I don’t know …”
They all began to feel restless. But just as they were beginning to lose hope, they spotted the two canoes. Arrain was on his way to pick them up, after all.
“I’m so glad to see you again, old friend,” Eicewald said. “For a moment there I was beginning to have my doubts.”
“I would never abandon old friends,” said the Shaman of the Sea. “In any case, the Queen doesn’t wish your death.”
“That’s good to know,” Eicewald said with a nod.
They all got into the two canoes and rowed away, leaving the Ferocious Islands behind, and set their course for the Turquoise Realm.
A few days later the group entered the Turquoise Queen’s dwelling, where she was waiting for them in her throne of water, surrounded by her guards and Sea Shamans. They had had time to rest after their return from the Ferocious islands.
Arrain bowed respectfully to Uragh. “My Queen, here they are, as you requested,” he announced. Then he took his place on the Queen’s right.
“Welcome to you all,” she said with a smile. Her voice was friendly. “I’m glad to see you alive.”
Ingrid, Nilsa, Astrid, Lasgol, V
iggo, and Gerd nodded respectfully. Ona and Camu lay down on the floor. Eicewald, a little ahead of them, bowed solemnly.
“And we are happy to find her Majesty in good health,” he replied very courteously.
“I have to admit, I’m surprised to see you all alive. It was no easy mission that I charged you with.”
Viggo was about to protest, but Ingrid put her hand over his mouth.
“It was certainly a complicated mission,” Eicewald said gently, without any suggestion that it had caused them any trouble.
“If you have returned, it can be either because you have succeeded, or because you have not. Which of the two is it, Ice Mage?”
“We were successful, your Majesty,” said Eicewald.
“That is even more impressive. You succeeded and suffered no losses … I need proof. Not that I don’t trust my old friend, but in this case, as I requested, I would like to see proof of the death of Olagar.”
“Of course, your Majesty.” Eicewald turned and beckoned to Viggo, who came forward with a bag.
“You may put the contents over here,” Arrain said. He pointed to the solid part of the cave in front of the throne.
“Of course,” Viggo said. Nonchalantly, he dropped the contents of the bag on to the ground. It was Olagar’s head, which rolled a couple of paces and nearly fell into the water of the Queen’s throne.
Uragh stood up and took a long look at the head. Then she cast a spell on it, and immediately it was covered with thousands of droplets of water. She cast another spell, and the droplets returned to her. She felt them and nodded.
“You have certainly done what I asked. It is Olagar. The residue of his twisted essence is unmistakable.”
“We carried out your Majesty’s wishes,” said Eicewald.
“How did you manage it? You are a powerful mage, and they are skilled warriors: that much I can see clearly. Even so, it was an extraordinarily difficult mission, with very little chance of success. I know that because my people have tried several times and failed.” She was looking at Arrain and the other shamans out of the corner of her eye as she spoke.
“There are several in this group who are really exceptional – special, I’d go as far as to say – and I don’t include myself among them. That’s why we were successful.”