Duchy Unleashed

by Zack Finley

  “Great,” sent Inoa and I could sense her relief. I wasn’t the only one who disliked trying battle magic for the first time in actual battle.

  I was starting to feel prickles in my mind, some on the channel I normally shared with Argon and others associated with our partnerships. Inoa had warned us to ignore anything unless it came on our battle net. Our invincibility shields blocked all channels of mental communication except that one. She and Argon had debated whether to even leave that channel open for days. In the end, Inoa thought we needed it to coordinate shifts in magic and to counter any ghostly communication.

  “Anyone else getting feelers on your mental channels,” I asked.

  “You seem to be the designated target,” sent Tobron. “Probably because Argon is there with the little beasties and your meld is very strong. They are going to strike out in every way they can. She is very strong, and no spirits are going to beat her.”

  “Incoming,” sent Cleon, getting all of our attention.

  “Everyone watch your own quadrant. Cleon and I will handle this one.” Inoa sent.

  Inoa launched one of my hottest blasts at the incoming spirit. I couldn’t help but watch.

  The ball of plasma struck the spirit in mid-air, engulfing it in a firestorm. The fireball continued on its trajectory, unaffected by its encounter with the spirit.

  It was impressive, but did the spirit survive?

  I returned to my watch responsibilities, hoping the spirit was either on its way to the next life or was destroyed.

  “The spirit has disintegrated,” Inoa announced after a few moments. “Fire did the trick. Steve, how are your magic levels doing?”

  “About the same,” I sent. “The attacks on my mind are intensifying, now they feel like the screeching of nails on a stone wall.”

  “Keep alert everyone, I doubt that little spirit was the only one in the area,” sent Inoa.

  Two more individual spirits came in, lured by the cleansing. Inoa dispatched them with the same ease.

  But the prickling in my brain was intensifying, making it difficult for me to maintain focus.

  “Steve, how is your magic holding out,” sent Inoa.

  “Okay, but whatever they are doing to my brain is getting a lot worse.”

  I felt a slight lessening of the pressure in my head. “That is better, but it is still there.”

  “You are as locked down as I can get you. Keep your focus, Argon should be nearing the end of their ritual,” Inoa sent. Her concern was obvious in the flavor of her sending.

  It was then I started to get one of my ‘feelings.’ “Something is coming,” I warned. The prickling in my mind went from being annoying to outright pain. Ice picks, then pickaxes. I gritted my teeth and held my spot, even though my vision was starting to tunnel.

  I hadn’t noticed, but Inoa had switched places with Cleon. She was now beside me. When she touched my arm, the pickaxes shifted back to ice picks.

  As if through a fog I heard her tell the team to keep a sharp lookout, that some of the attacks on me were coming from outside the spiritual sphere. My vision was still narrow and black around the edges. I could do little to help keep watch. Inoa kept repeating that they had me covered, allowing me to focus on my interior battle.

  Even with the vast amount of mind magic I had available, I had never really tried to delve into it on my own. Argon and Inoa were too good. I needed to stop this attack on my brain because my gut told me we’d be facing a real challenge in moments.

  I closed my eyes and time slowed down. I could sense the mental leaks, where the ice picks were concentrating their work. I grabbed a handful of magic and stuffed it into the first leak. I didn’t know what I was doing, but the magic acted like a stopper. With one leak plugged, I shifted to the next and then the next. Until I was alone again in my mind. I opened my eyes, and I was no longer looking through a long tunnel.

  “I’ve got it now,” I sent to Inoa as I squeezed her hand. “Whatever is coming will get here soon.”

  She shifted us back into quadrants. “Can you sense where the thing is coming from?” She asked.

  I’d never tried to refine my ‘feelings’ since coming to Jaloa and gaining access to magic. I was also not sure whether any directional data I got would be accurate. But I tried anyway.

  There wasn’t much, but it felt worse in the direction of the palace. I relayed my findings.

  We didn’t have long to wait as its first evil tendrils attempted to breach our wards. We still could see nothing except a flickering blackness in the predawn night. A strange chill descended on us, even as Inoa splashed us with a modest fireball.

  At first, the tendrils pulled back sharply as if singed by the fire, they then firmed up and struck all four of us and the central protection sphere.

  I was rocked by the blow but stood my ground, teeth chattering in the icy chill it had unleashed. Inoa countered with a mild fire spell dancing around the four of us. As I peered through the dark toward the palace, I more imagined than saw something darker. More an absence of light or a black hole.

  Inoa must have seen the same because she launched a series of intense fire blades at it. They resembled fiery swords, edged with force magic.

  They must have hurt because the bellow of rage coming from the darkness was instantaneous. Within milliseconds we were surrounded by a blackness so devoid of light I had never witnessed anything like it. The freezing chill threatened to congeal my blood, even as I was using flesh magic to soothe the frostbite. I held my ground, supporting Inoa, who was blasting our assailant with a continuous diet of glowing plasma.

  For the first time in my brief history as a mage, I noticed all of my magics dropping.

  “It is draining my magics,” I sent. “I still have just over half of everything, but I can visibly see them dropping.”

  “It will weaken with the dawn,” Inoa sent. You could feel the strain on her. “Warn us again at one quarter.”

  I began to pull from my oso armor to offset the drain. I had spent so many days filling the armor, but I never tried to use any of its magical stores, before now. The armor seemed eager to help, and I began pulling stored magic in to offset the drain.

  Inoa had shifted our attack to a rope of fire, coiling rapidly around the thing that had enveloped us all. I could barely make out the gleaming coil of fire through the dark veil of the creature which shrouded everything in darkness. The veil wasn’t solid, I could see the fiery rope biting deep into the thicker writhing protoplasm of the entity surrounding us. As the protoplasm tried to avoid the bite of the coil, the ropes tightened again.

  Even as I watched that ebb and flow between the fire rope’s magic and the spirit, Inoa ratcheted up other aspects of the attack. Her fiery swords began stabbing out from each of us, deep into the bulk of the creature. I could feel its desire to escape, but the scorching rope continued to anchor it around us.

  “I’m down to one quarter,” I sent.

  “We only have to hold it a few moments more, and dawn will deal the death blow,” Inoa sent.

  I knew the creature was wounded but not done. I increased the draw from my armor and felt the solid support from my partners as they prepared to hold the line.

  Inoa held firm, peppering the creature with minute balls of fire, lighting up wherever it wasn’t being gouged by the plasma rope. Between the flashing blades gutting its insides and the pain caused by the wholesale assault on its exterior, I could feel the creature writhing around me. It was trying to expel me from its innards, bucking me right and left. I braced myself and settled my invincibility cloak around me, refusing to move. I sensed a similar struggle going on with my fellows, but their firm resolve came through our mind link as we held against the thrashing creature.

  We were giving it indigestion, and I could feel it weaken even as the first rays of the sun broke through. Inoa drew strength from the rising sun and dealt our adversary a massive burst of plasma. The black veil tried to smother the explosion of fire but we had w
eakened it too much, and it erupted into a geyser of glowing black globules.

  And then there was nothing. Just the four of us standing in the plaza around a glowing shield we had kept the creature from breaching.

  Knowing my magics had to be reaching a critical stage, Inoa first dissolved our invincibility shields and then began cutting off the magics powering the shield protecting the spiritual sphere.

  Suddenly my link with Argon returned. She tasted exhausted but triumphant as their sphere dissolved.

  Inoa slumped to the ground, only to have Tobron and Cleon rush to her aid. I was too depleted to join them, collapsing to the ground in a boneless heap next to her. My magics weren’t completely gone, but nearly so. It had been a very close fight.

  Once Argon confirmed I was just exhausted, she helped heal the frost damage that Inoa, Tobron, and Cleon had suffered. She gave Inoa a healing boost to restore some of the vitality she had lost from channeling the vast power needed to kill the thing.

  “Does anyone know what that thing was?” I asked.

  “I think it was a lich lord,” sent Inoa to us all. “I’ve never encountered one before, but if that wasn’t the lord, I don’t want to meet its master. It was a close thing, I don’t think I could have timed it any tighter. I knew it was going to be a race between losing Steve’s magic and the first light of dawn. How close did we get?”

  “Pretty close,” I answered. “I’m not totally empty, but you were pulling out the dregs as you delivered that final blast.”

  “I’ve never channeled that much magic before,” Inoa said in wonder. “It was exhilarating, but I feel singed. And, worn out. And, hungry. Anyone have enough force magic to teleport us back to HQ for breakfast?”

  Tobron and Cleon offered that their magic was in pretty good shape, offering to take us all back.

  Argon told them we’d meet them there as soon as she checked in with Avia’s acolytes.

  They were continuing their fast and would remain in the Keep as agreed.

  I was still sitting on the ground when Argon transported us to the food court at HQ.

  Argon pushed me to join Inoa’s table as she got us both some food.

  There were much fewer people at breakfast this morning. Most of the pathfinders were already on the ships and many others remaining in Klee had worked through the night loading supplies.

  Tobron, Argon, and I were scheduled to meet Ronar at the Keep docks in a few minutes to verify the warehouses were glappner free. I was so tired I could barely stay awake at the table and found it difficult to eat breakfast. Inoa looked the same.

  Tobron announced, “Steve and Inoa need to rest. Cleon, Argon, and I will handle the glappner inspection. Steve and Inoa should go to your quarters and get some rack time.”

  “I don’t understand why I’m so tired,” I protested. “I just need to get my second wind.”

  “Wielding that level of magic is hard on your bodies. Having nearly all of your magic depleted so quickly is also dangerous. We can handle the glappners while you get some beauty sleep. I assure you there will be plenty for you to do this day,” declared Tobron.

  I wanted to argue with him but just didn’t have the strength.

  “I’ll get my mate to our rooms and put him to bed,” said Argon, wrapping her arm around me and tugging me to my feet. I noticed Tobron had picked Inoa up in his arms.

  I mindlessly followed Argon to our rooms. She helped me remove my armor. I couldn’t remember much after that as I fell into a deep sleep.

  I woke up alone in our dark suite. My time sense said it was afternoon. I’d only meant to sleep a few hours, but my body had different ideas.

  Argon noticed when I woke up, but she waited until I brushed away the sleep before greeting me. I got the spiritual equivalent of a hot wet kiss and finished waking up. She was at the Keep. The warehouses had received a glappner-free inspection. I was not surprised that Tobron kept them blocked off. Duchy citizens were offloading the ships into the temporary structures that Clive’s team had built near the port entrance. She said Tobron was in his heyday, directing traffic and moving things along.

  Marfo had basas carriages transporting people and some goods from the port to the new quarters. The farmers and foresters had gone immediately back to work, barely pausing to place their bedclothes and chests of personal items in their rooms. They were directing the barntas delivering farming equipment.

  The Duchy Guard were helping everywhere, although they were careful to assign at least one member in each location to keep watch for possible enemies. While the death cult blight had been cleansed and the lich lord vanquished, the guard was warned that nothing was really secure.

  “How much has your magic replenished?” Argon asked.

  “Only about half full.”

  “Get something to eat, then come on out.”

  My stomach growled to remind me I was at least one meal behind. “Okay, I’ll pick up something and make sure everything here and at the warehouse is moving along. Then I’ll be out. I’m assuming Allo is still with the younglings.”

  “She can come to the Keep when they do. I only brought a sleeping mat and a few clothes, so we’ll be roughing it for a few days.”

  I’d rinsed off in the shower and was putting on my armor when we disconnected. I was still tired but didn’t feel oddly stretched the way I had immediately after our battle with the lich thing. If we ran into any more of them, I was worried about our weaker mages and our mundanes. Hell, I felt so run down that I wasn’t sure my partners and I had enough magic to take down another one today.

  I checked the charge on my armor and was pleased to see Loma’s recharging system did its job.

  “Loma, can I pull on the batteries to replenish my magic?” I sent.

  “I haven’t tried, but there is no reason it won’t work,” was Loma’s quick response. “I wanted to show you the results of my tests anyway but was waiting until you checked in with Ellte. I heard you had a rough morning.”

  “I need to eat lunch; can you meet me there?” I asked.

  “See you in a few,” she responded.

  I had the hangover without the joy.

  ◆◆◆

  Chapter 5

  The food court was deserted since it was between lunch and dinner. The staff was eager to fill me a plate, especially because they had a lot of leftovers. While the younglings and their caretakers were still at HQ, most everyone else was either at the Klee warehouse or at the Keep. Those not in the pathfinder group were moving supplies to the docks to reload the returning ships.

  HQ wasn’t abandoned, but it was definitely not crowded anymore. I promised myself I’d drop by the warehouse complex before going to the Keep.

  Loma ‘ported into the food court and made a beeline toward where I was shoveling food into my mouth. All that magic work packed on the hunger.

  “How bad was the lich?” She asked aloud.

  I swallowed. “It drained me nearly dry,” I said, grabbing another roll.

  “I had to draw down my armor,” I said, around the mouthful of food. “It was drawing down our wards in all magics, but only fire hurt it. Since I was the only one with fire magic, I was getting pretty worried. Although Inoa was sure that daylight would really help.”

  “Yeah, the sun really does bad things to liches,” Inoa said, sliding into the seat beside me. We were the only ones in this half of the court, and she relaxed.

  “I’m worried we may have something bad show up tonight. I don’t like going into that kind of battle with too little magic. When I noticed my armor was back up to full strength already, it occurred to me I could either use it to fill back up or talk to you about our batteries.”

  “While I designed the battery to backfill enchantments, there is no reason we can’t replenish magic in people. I don’t want everyone doing it, at least not yet, but let me fix you a tap. The original rock batteries are nearly full of everything except force and health magic, so it will actually cost us very little,” Lom
a said as she closed her eyes and started muttering to herself.

  Apparently, that was how she manipulated her complex spells. I continued to eat while she muttered away.

  “This is totally manual,” Loma said, touching my arm. “Monitor your magics and tell me when to stop the fill.”

  At first, I didn’t see any effect and was about to say just that when I noticed the surface of my force magic container was churning. Normally as hard as I observed I couldn’t see them fill naturally. This new process refilled the magic fast enough I could watch.

  “The force magic is rising slowly,” I offered.

  “I’ll bring in the others, let me know when you want me to stop the fill.”

  Loma spent the next few minutes muttering to herself as I drank chee and watched my stored magic increase. I set my alarms at three-quarters full, then asked her the latest on her battery experiments.

  “I now have five prototypes. I’m still growing others because it doesn’t cost anything and I think we will want to grow hundreds of them. The amount of magic they can store is huge. I’m still storing only one type of magic in each stone. I suspect I can mix them, but that just complicates the spells needed to fill and empty them. I don’t know yet how much magic can be stored in a six-inch crystal,” Loma held up her hand when I started to interrupt. “I know you have been pushing for a measurement system and I now totally agree we need one.”

  I sat back in my seat, feeling smug.

  “The reason I don’t know how much magic can be stored is that I have tried to fill it, but it keeps holding more and more. I finally stopped, not wanting to risk some overload or explosion. I’ve also found out that many mundanes generate magic. They just can’t store it. All six of the mundane apprentices that Tobron sent me generate useable quantities of force and mind magic. Since we will have a lot more mundanes than mages in our Keep, that means we can harvest a lot more magic than I expected. In addition to force and mind magics, each generated another type of magic, including one with flesh magic. It may be possible to train them to use their magics if they have a battery.” Loma paused to gather her thoughts and then continued.