Chapter XVIII
Behind the Veil
The Alchemist had been busy conferring with the Elementals about the best means to utilise their powers, and their meeting had carried on into the early hours of the morning without any of them noticing the sky lifting its dark shroud. Each subject was returned to time and again, but still they found themselves no nearer to defeating the Mandrake.
“It will be difficult to know what the Mandrake might do next. They have tried to storm the castle more than once and have failed. The problem we have is that we do not know the extent of his powers. Since he was once from Askalon, and since he was formidable even among his own people, I dare say he has a few surprises in store for us.”
Whilst he was speaking Kranz felt dizzy, he began to stagger and felt himself uncontrollably fall. The Sage of Askalon grabbed him before he feinted fully, making sure he landed on the chair, as opposed to the floor. Everyone gathered round him, but Kranz just shook his head and waved them all away. He excused himself and left to get some rest. As Kranz exited the room, he felt shaky once more, there was a tingling sensation in his hands, as he looked down at them, a strange feeling came over him, as though he were looking at them from afar, that they did not belong to him, but to someone else. He struggled to keep control, not realising that the cause of his malady was Jin reaching out to control his mind. Kranz made it to his room and sank down on his bed. As he lay there he tossed and turned, the sweat dripping off his forehead, he abruptly stopped and went stiff.
He sat up in bed. There was a strange savagery to his face as though he were fighting some inner struggle. His body stiffened, contorted and relaxed. His heavy breathing subsided to a calmer level, and turning over on his bed he hauled himself up and out of it, and looking around the room as if for the first time, he reached out and grasped the small mirror by his bedside to stare deep into it. It was not Kranz behind those eyes but Jin he had managed to take control of the Elementals body while he slept. He walked toward the door opened it and carefully stepped out onto the corridor.
Jin did not know how long he could maintain this level of control so he firstly forced Kranz's body to go to the battlements and check the defences of Findolin. He awkwardly walked toward the gates, and took the hard stony steps to the high walls, once there he noticed how well guarded they were. There were some Askalons standing side by side with Finns, also there was another people dressed differently from the others, whom he did not recognise. He gazed over the top and stared down at his army below. He could see that the ramp beyond the battlements was now close, well within arrow shot, still the Finns were well protected behind their walls, and more importantly they knew how to defend their city. Jin began looking for weaknesses that he could exploit, he took in the disposition of his enemies forces, and wondered whether there was any area that he could use to his advantage. As he inspected more carefully his surroundings, he noticed some large pots all piled together, curious to see what they were, he went over to have a closer look, but some guards prevented him from doing so. Jin was not confident enough of the control he had over Kranz to confront the guards, so he turned and decided to head back and see what he might uncover elsewhere, as for the pots, they could only be filled with one thing, and that was oil, highly flammable oil. They were so closely stacked together that if they were ignited then the eruption might bring down the entire wall.
Achil & The Rise Of The Mandrake Page 28