Chris began to wish they’d come up with some sort of comfort charm as they jogged through the hot muggy undergrowth. He felt sweat in parts of his body that really shouldn’t be so sweaty. He threw up a light shield spell around himself after he felt like he’d toughed out the bug bites for long enough. With the shield spell keeping off the bugs and nothing else to worry about beyond the sweat cascading off him he tried to focus around them as they ran. He was looking to see if he could pick out any threats.
As they moved deeper and deeper into the jungle things took on a more fantastical look. They’d left the outer machine gun toting patrols far behind at this point. Now they started running into areas they had to navigate around because of the massive webbing strung between the trees and bushes. They saw large grey rocks that were covered in some kind of glowing blue slime. Omasa held up his hand and they all converged on him as quickly and quietly as they could. Once they were together Chris focused briefly and made out a light sound barrier that Penny had put up around them. It would let them talk in normal voices without the fear of being overheard. The foliage was so dense around here it should block any magic users from being able to see or sense them.
“We’re only about a half of a mile from the temple at this point your highness. We really don’t have too much of an idea what’s going on over there. I can run ahead and scout it out and come back and then we can come up with a plan.” Omasa looked like he was ready to run off immediately.
“Great idea sir. Except this is my trial so I’m leaning towards I should be the one who goes and sticks his head into the dragons mouth first. You guys wait here and if I’m not back in a few hours you’re on your own. I’ll do my best to come back though. I’m not going to try and get too close but you’re right. We need to have some idea of what we’re going to be running into.”
“Excellent idea your majesty.” Wessel spoke up. He was standing there with his usual flair. Earrings shining in the pale light from the glowing blue slime. He had a wicked looking hatchet in one hand and a long staff topped with a giant emerald in the other. “The only minor detail I’d like to change about that plan is I think we all should just go. If you don’t come back we’ll just charge in and try to rescue you anyway. We’re not a large force hiding out here in the jungle. We’re about the number of scouts I’d typically deploy to check out an enemy location anyway.”
Chris looked at Omasa. Omasa shrugged. Penny was busy checking her fingernails for dirt. Chris sighed and got ready to keep moving forward with his entourage in tow. He guessed it never really hurt to be backed up by three of the most powerful beings on the planet. Penny expanded the silence shield around them as they moved forward. Chris tried to walk quietly but he probably could have been blasting away on a trombone the entire way. Then they were there.
One second they had still been beating their way through the jungle. Pausing to push snakes aside and pick large poisonous spiders off one another. The next second they were at the base of what looked to be a very wide and short pyramid. The wall in front of them was covered in mold and bugs. There was no way in evident from where they had ended up at so they randomly chose to start walking clockwise around the structure. They’d only walked about twenty feet when one of the giant spiders skittered out of the woods and bounded right past them. Not that he was going to complain but the spider hadn’t even looked over at them despite the fact that there is no way it could have missed seeing them.
Except there was a way. Chris looked over at Penny. She smiled and shrugged. So there was more to her spell than just containing their noise. Feeling a little bit more secure knowing they couldn’t be sensed easily by the giant spiders lumbering through the woods all around them Chris sped up the pace. They eventually circled around to where stairs led up to an open courtyard in the middle of the pyramid. The trees encroached on the side walls and the courtyard in the middle was covered in more vegetation. It was a devious way to disguise the huge structure out here in the middle of all this green.
There were some Corvellans standing around the bottom of the stairs carrying hand weapons as well as rifles and machine guns. There had not been any human guards since they snuck around the ones on the edge of the jungle. They confidently began to walk past the Corvellans.
A shock like you’d get if you’re shocked by touching an electric fence passed through all of them. The Corvellans turned as one and attacked. The shield spell Penny had been producing had been destroyed by the anti-magic barrier they had walked into at the base of the stairs. Their party answered violence with violence. Wessel flipped through the air towards the Corvellans with his staff and his hatchet reaching out to make deadly contact. Penny just started smashing Corvellan heads between really strong force lines which she sent out like giant pincers. Omasa charged with sword held high and Chris joined him.
The fight lasted less than twenty seconds and the small open area was littered with the bodies of the Corvellan guards. No one in the kings party was even breathing hard. Although in the oppressive heat they were all sweating like crazy. Chris saw creatures starting to gather in the woods for a counterattack and he turned and started running up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a smaller version of the jungle on the outside of the building. Chris looked around in different directions but didn’t see anything pointing him to go one way or the other. It was all just trees and bushes followed by more trees and bushes with the occasional vine.
None of his party was much help either. They just stood around looking calm while a thousand giant spiders and other assorted nightmares were bounding up the stairs a few hundred yards to their rear. Taking a wild guess Chris headed towards the north side of the pyramids giant enclosed courtyard. He felt like he’d made the right choice when they were embroiled in a bitter fight with a party of thirty Corvellans a minute later. A couple of these Corvellans were tougher than the last ones had been. One actually picked Chris up in the air with magic and Chris felt himself starting to be sling shot out into the jungle before he reached out with his own magic and smacked the Corvellan to the ground. Landing heavily, Chris looked to see who else was there for him to engage. He was happy to see his troop had already taken care of the rest of the Corvellans.
They kept moving and Chris saw a few doors along the side of the pyramid now. Choosing the grandest looking one they smashed it down and jumped recklessly into the dark depths of the pyramid. Wessel came in last and he immediately turned and tried to see if he could put the door back on. He was frantically motioning for the rest of them to go on. He was obviously planning on staying and acting as rear guard. It was a suicide mission with the number of enemies that were going to be showing up at that door. Chris focused on the areas of rock around the door and pulled with his mind.
Wessel jumped out of the way as the rock around the edge of the door stated pouring down in a full on avalanche.
“Thank you your majesty. Although if you could give me a bit of a warning next time you’re going to save me so I don’t end up a pink smear on the bottom of a boulder it’d be much appreciated.” Wessel smiled and clapped the king on the back as they started jogging down the hallway inside the pyramid. The walls down here were covered in that glowing blue mold. A set of gold rimmed doors stood twenty feet high set into the hall. The doors were shut so Omasa and Chris blasted them open.
On the other side of the doors was a set of stairs leading down into a huge open pit. Humanoid skulls and bones were lying discarded all over the pit. Rats, lizards and bugs were fleeing from the noise of the doors being blasted open. A few of the giant spiders started skittering towards them from where they had been picking at bones down in the pit. Chris sliced the front legs off a spider the size of a Shetland pony that ran down the wall at him and the hairy monstrosity fell on top of him. A thoroughly freaked out Chris hacked his way out but ended up in completely covered in spider goo. He jumped back into the fight as they continued to battle their way deeper into this deadly insane asylum.
Bullet
s bounced off the walls around them as a few Corvellans decided hand to hand combat with a group of powerful Xandians was a bad idea. The armor Chris and the others wore easily shrugged off the bullets. It was spelled to counter any high speed metal that came at them. Metal was one of the substances that was impervious to most magic so the charms had to be strong and if the bullets were too large they’d still get through. The same as a sword or spear could still get through simply because the charms on the armor could not get through that large a mass of metal.
The Corvellans knew the armor they were hurling bullets at was probably charmed to block the bullets. They also knew that while it could stop most of the bullets if they put enough lead in the air there was a good chance they’d get through. Omasa had run and jumped and now skimmed through the air head first about four feet off the ground straight towards the group shooting at them. He had his sword out and was ready to do some damage when he landed. The Corvellans broke and split off in different directions.
Wessel started flying around the pit bringing death with him everywhere he went. Penny leisurely reached out with her magic to fling Corvellans to their deaths. Chris charged forward to help Omasa deal with the couple of Corvellans he was still trying to track down. Every once in a while they’d come across the knight equivalent of a Corvellan and the fight would get very intense for about a minute. They joined back up and kept moving down the hallway as they dispatched their enemies. At the bottom of the hall was a hole going into the wall. Chris saw that several people in robes were running for the hole so he reached out and pulled it down in front of the people. One person had already gotten into it and was now buried alive.
Chris felt a flash of dark red force strike out at him. He jerked his hand up and threw up a strong spell that the attack broke apart on. Another line shot out for Omasa but he had his shield spells up as well and the line fell apart when it connected. Chris cast around with his eyes and his focus to see if he could find the wizard throwing out death rays at them. He finally spotted him hiding in the shadows on the other side of the raised stage area.
“Come out from hiding! Come out and face the light!” Chris hurled the challenge at the dark wizard as he moved forward with his sword and staff raised high. This was his fight. His mentors had made a semicircle behind him as he moved towards the stage. They were busy killing anything that came forward to protect the shaman or try to take Chris from behind. Chris blocked another attack from the shaman and used his focus to rip away at the stage beside where the shaman was ducked down hiding.
“Why do you attack little king?” The shaman came out and addressed him. He had a highly accented voice and he hissed like a snake when he spoke. “Why do you want to die so young?” The shaman pointed his hand at Chris and he noticed that the strike started in a ring on the shamans hand before snapping out at him. He blocked it again and then used his force to try and rip the ring off the shamans finger. The shaman resisted so Chris increased the level of force and ripped the shamans arm out of the socket and sent it flying across the floor.
Bereft of the ring and now missing an arm while he lay bleeding on the disgusting floor the shaman looked up at Chris and spit a wad of blood at him. Chris moved the shield around covering him so that the nasty projectile was wiped off. Then he put his sword on the shamans throat and stared down at the twisted excuse for a man.
“You are the last little king. You’re the last and you’ll die screaming as your people burn around you.” The shaman hissed up at him.
“Yeah but unlike you I’m not walking that road today.” Chris leaned forward and silenced the shaman for forever. He pulled his sword out and wiped it off as Omasa and Wessel walked over to see him.
Penny joined them as well and looked down at the shaman. “Nice job there your highness. A plus on the killing the shaman part. Too bad you also got us buried in a giant tomb underneath a pyramid covered in horde fighters. You’re gonna owe me a lot of extra credit.”
Chris smiled. “What’s a few hundred giant spiders between friends?” He grew more serious. “I’m also sensing that maybe this shaman wasn’t the most dangerous thing down here in this hole.”
That sobered everyone up real quick. If it were just the spiders outside that didn’t have magic all they had to do was fly over them to get out of here. If Chris was sensing yet another enemy that could be bad. Especially if the senses of a royal were telling him that this second enemy down here was much more powerful than the shaman master they had come here to kill in the first place. They turned to start walking back up the pit to the stairs leading out to the caved in area when the hole in the corner that Chris had collapsed suddenly exploded outwards.
A tall hard looking man in a black cloak with a huge sword in his hand walked out of the dirt. His eyes were black and when you focused on him you could see lines of power circulating and vibrating around him. The man looked at them and smiled. Then he began walking forward with the sword out. Omasa attacked him and the warlock engaged with relish. Powerful sword strokes forced Omasa to give ground. Penny and Wessel both joined in the fight by trying to pin down the powerful warlock with magic so that Omasa could finish him off. The warlock slipped their spells and flipped a wave of power across the room that threw Wessel and Penny into the back of the pit.
Chris charged forward as Omasa was on the defensive. Omasa was just barely blocking the blows of the warlock. Chris focused all of his power into his sword arm and let his arm go loose so that he could control it with his mind. It was like he was watching someone else’s arm swing his sword at the warlock with a hundred times more power than Omasa could have mustered.
The warlock lost his smile as his sword was shattered and his chest opened by the mighty stroke. Backing up he put his hands in front of him like he was praying and giant waves of force slapped at Chris from both sides. Chris brought his arms out and forced the waves to part. The warlocks arms opened wide and he saw his death in the way Chris walked towards him. The warlock hurled a small dagger which Chris caught with his mind and had drop into his own hand. He used his focus to press the warlock into a kneeling position on the ground. Bright blood was leaking through the mans ripped clothes and dripping on the ground as his head was forced down to bow to the king.
Penny, Omasa, and Wessel joined the king to stare down at the defeated warlock. The warlock had a circular steel crown on his head.
“Where are you from?” Omasa asked.
Chris was studying the warlock carefully. The warlock struggled to move his own body but Chris kept him locked firmly in place. He felt the magic of his mentors blending with his to help as the warlock struggled mightily. Chris realized he wasn’t going to be able to hold the creature much longer. As if sensing his weakened state the warlock began to struggle even harder. Chris brought his sword down to shatter the evil things skull.
“He wasn’t from here I don’t think. I sensed he came through a portal from somewhere dark. We need to find it and destroy it before any more like him make it across.” Acting on his own orders Chris boldly began to stride towards the hole in the wall the warlock had come out of. The others then strode after their king without hesitation into the hole leading ever deeper into the dark pit.
Chapter 29: Extra Credit
The small tunnel smelled of sulfur and rot. Chris walked in standing up but everyone else had to stoop down as they walked further down the tunnel. There were bones and rocks scattered in the tunnel that they stepped around as they walked. Chris led the way with a small pen light as there was none of the blue moss growing in the tunnel to help them find their way. The pen light was red and didn’t give off a lot of light by design since it was intended for use in sneaking around in the dark.
They walked for a long time on the uneven surface of the tunnel. Chris was thankful for his stout boots as he figured he’d have otherwise twisted his ankles about a thousand times. Omasa was directly behind him with Penny following him and Wessel bringing up the rear. All of them were on high alert and
fully focused as they walked. They all understood Chris needed to see where this tunnel went to see if there was still more to do on this trip. The final exam for Chris had already been passed and now he was just working on the extra credit.
They began to hear noises from up ahead. The sounds of metal striking metal and an occasional loud screech drifted to them on the cold stale air of the tunnel. The tunnel began to curve and as they followed the curve the noises became louder. Finally, Chris saw light up ahead that looked like it may be the tunnel letting out. He motioned for everyone to move with even more caution as they got closer to the source of the light. The tunnel stopped on a ledge that had a rough trail that disappeared down into a large cavern. The cavern was well lit and covered with horde soldiers.
They stood on the ledge and looked down into the canyon. None of them spoke for a few minutes as the enormity of what they were looking at sunk in. Chris closed his eyes and let his mind crawl around the canyon. He was slowly pulled towards the opposite end of the cavern by the magical pull of a portal. It wasn’t a large portal based on what he could feel but someone or something was supercharging it to allow horde soldiers to come through at an increased rate.
Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic Page 25