Warlord of the Forgotten Age

by Charles E Yallowitz

  Sari rolls up her sleeves before taking a long drink of fae water, which makes her body shine. Leaping off the chair, she hurries to the nearby pond and plunges her hands through the thick algae. The toxins threaten to infect her body, but she pushes the bloom deep beneath the surface until it is sent hurtling away to the distant ocean. Seeing that the plants quickly come back, Sari takes all of her fae water flasks and empties them into the basin. Using the purer liquid as a medium, she cleanses the pond and underground spring as best she can. Knowing that she cannot purify the entire continent, the gypsy creates a patch of ice to seal the crack and cut off the chaos elves’ natural well from the infected source. It is a temporary fix, but she is sure that it will last long enough for Trinity to return and create a permanent solution.

  While tendrils of clear water rise from the pond and flow into pitchers of ice that appear on the table, Luke holds out his Feast Ring. The clear images of a goblet and roasted chicken spark as he releases the stored spell. Within seconds, food from around Windemere appear on the table and all of the flat surfaces that are nearby. The chaos elves are unsure of what to do until Lily grabs a cookie that is as big as her head and takes a bite. Seeing that she is unharmed, the others quickly begin trying whatever is in reach. Moving around the crowd, the champions make sure everyone gets enough to eat and answer the flood of questions they have about the foreign dishes. Perched on a pillar of water, Sari watches the crowd and indulges in memories of her clan before Nyx hits her in the face with a slice of pumpkin pie.

  “Oh, I’m not letting you get away with that, Nyxie. Food fight!”

  10

  “A food fight?” Luke asks as he walks next to Sari. He laughs at how the gypsy blushes and slows down half a step in the hopes of escaping the conversation. “You’re lucky the chaos elves believed that it’s a custom in Spellstream. New friends hurl their first meal together at each other. Nyx looked ready to kill you for dragging her city into the mess.”

  “She started it,” Sari mutters while finding another green pea in her clothes. Flicking the cold food away, she gently takes the half-elf by the hand. “It’s nice to see you joking and smiling. Even after we talked, I was afraid you wouldn’t be happy again. Mind if I ask what helped you recover so quickly?”

  The forest tracker looks uncomfortable and scratches his head as he admits, “Xan let me see Kira and apologize. We talked things over and she reminded me that I still have family who need me. That and I can make a new one with her, but only if I survive. Honestly, I’ve no idea what will happen when I face the Baron. The terror is definitely still in me, but I think I’m able to ignore it with enough distractions.”

  “Making a new family does sound like a nice idea.”

  “Are you starting to cry?”

  “Only because I think some pepper fell out of my hair and into my eyes.”

  “I told you to bathe before we left.”

  “We didn’t have an hour to spare for that.”

  Their voices are silenced by Dariana, who is ahead with her finger pressed firmly against her lips. Timoran is lying down next to her, the barbarian sneaking a peek at their destination through a hole in a pile of rocks. Demons stand in a cleared and flattened area, which leads to a pyramid built out of the solidly packed earth. A door built into the front occasionally opens and slams shut from a strong breeze, the impact sending dirt rolling down the three sides. Brown tiles have been laid on the ground in a checkered pattern, the darker spots nothing more than exposed soil with tufts of defiant weeds. The champions remain in hiding while they watch the demons and try to discern if there are any traps. None of them know how much time has passed before Sari steps into the open and jumps around with her arms in the air.

  “Everything is frozen down there,” the gypsy points out as she spins on her toes. Taking a seat on a boulder, she spins two daggers while searching for signs of the trap. “Whoever put this together is pretty confident since the door is unlocked. Unless somebody pilfered this place already. Could the demons be fake?”

  “I sense residual brain activity, so they’re real, but nearly dead,” Dariana replies, her telepathy searching for anything alive and active. She catches the faint thoughts of a rat inside the pyramid, the contact making her squirm and wiggle her nose. “The trap ignores small animals and the one I found is telling me there are weapons inside. Swords and spears with a few suits of leather armor and a lot of daggers. No information on the danger. I recommend staying up here until we know more. Should we go back for Nyx?”

  Luke takes two steps down the hill, all of his senses on edge. “She would only be able to help if this is magical. General Vile might have had Nyder set up a mechanical trap since he wasn’t a caster. If he was caught in his own trap, he’d have no way to counter it if the attack was magical. I could turn into Lucy and fly over there to take the top off the pyramid. Although that could set off whatever we’re facing. This is beyond me and I don’t want to make things worse, so I’m going to have a seat over there. Let me know when you have something for me to do.”

  “Thank you so much for being here,” Sari says as she walks down the hill. The gypsy stops halfway to the tiles and grabs a handful of dirt to bring back to her friends. “My fingers are tingly from touching this, so I’m guessing the trap starts at the bottom then rises to at least that point on the hills. Definitely paralysis and, from what I can tell, non-magical in nature. Have to admit that my knowledge of poisons isn’t as advanced as I’d like it to be. Still, the trap has gone off enough that there are trace amounts of the toxin permanently in the dirt. The real mystery is how the whole mechanism gets set off and where does it emanate from.”

  With a snap of her fingers, Sari hurries back and finds a rock big enough for her to throw at one of the demons. The stone bounces off the frozen creature’s head and thuds onto one of the squares of soil. Nothing happens, so she goes hunting for another projectile that she hopes will set off the trap. Before she can finish her search, Timoran lifts a decently sized boulder and hurls it with all of his strength. When the boulder smashes one of the demons, a white cloud billows out of the unlocked supply shed. The champions back away even though the paralytic fog does not rise higher than the tip of the pyramid. Only Sari dares to inch closer to the clearing, but she stays near the top of the hill in case the trap is suddenly blown in her direction. She frowns at how the cloud remains and churns, the wasted seconds eventually turning into minutes.

  “Well, we just made things worse,” the gypsy says before kicking a rock down the hill. She tries to use a foul-smelling puddle to clear some of the trap, but the splash merely disappears into the fog. “Figured that wouldn’t work. I’d bet my own money on General Vile having had an item that would reset the trap and clear the path for him. That would explain why it’s still active so long after his death. Wait, that isn’t right. Something should have set this off already and there would be no way to reset it if he had the item on him. There must a switch or button around here that clears the fog. He might have had something that made him immune to the paralysis too. Not that any of this helps since we don’t have the bastard here.”

  “Searching every stone would take too long and that is if Vile did not bury it in a random patch of dirt,” Timoran states with a groan of frustration. He kicks over the pile of rocks and checks each one for strange markings before crushing the last one in his hand. “I fear that this mission has become a failure. The only other idea I have is for Luke to turn into Pike and burrow into the pyramid from below.”

  “I was thinking the same thing, but we don’t know if the inside of the building is clear,” the half-elf admits, his body already starting to grow scales. An idea pops into his head, one so horrible that it makes him hesitant to speak. “There might be a way that is really risky and fairly stupid. I think my blood can cure the paralysis since it’s a natural poison. All I have to do is fill two vials because Dariana is going to stay behind. To get inside, I could make a tunnel big enough for Timor
an and Sari to follow. That way, we spend less time in the fog.”

  Dariana picks up on her friend’s thoughts and bites her lower lip while considering the unexpected plan. “Yes, I could control your bodies after you’ve been paralyzed. The only problem is that you are immune to your own blood, Luke. We will need to get you to Delvin before your lungs stop working. I’m sorry, but I don’t see how we can do that if we want to clear out the pyramid. Putting the equipment in our bags will take at least fifteen minutes since we can only put them in one or two at a time. Are you being suicidal again?”

  “Actually, I think I recognize the poison in the fog,” the forest tracker claims with a wry smile. Sniffing the air, he tastes it with a forked tongue that twitches from one side of his mouth to the other. “Cessia must be on our side because it’s snake fiend poison and they’re usually immune to their own poison. Pike is telling me that there are some variations in breeds that very few people pay attention to. We can’t tell if it’s the same kind he creates, but this gives us a one in five chance. Worst case scenario is that I get paralyzed too and Dariana rushes me back to Delvin.”

  “There’s that breathing problem, Luke,” Sari reminds him as she tries to hit the top of the pyramid with a dagger. The weapon sticks into the loose dirt and slowly slips out to fall out of sight. “I could make myself immovable and have Dariana move me around like a puppet. Maybe I can’t be affected if I’m already paralyzed. You just repeatedly bring me out of the fog to breathe and then send me back in. Luke can use his blood on me if that fails. Can’t believe I just said that without gagging.”

  “I always thought snake fiend poison could get through the pores,” Timoran interjects while flipping over a boulder. The barbarian realizes that a halfling could never move the heavy stone, so he puts it back in place. “Since we have a way to heal ourselves, I could build up enough rage to resist the poison long enough to grab a few weapons. Perhaps I can charge and knock the entire pyramid out of the fog with an empowered strike. Where is Dariana?”

  The three champions look around to see that the telepath has disappeared and there are no footprints beyond the ones where she was last standing. An unnerving pulse of energy runs through the area and makes the hair on the backs of their necks stand up. With a loud crack, the ground shakes and they see the pyramid mysteriously rise a few feet. The structure moves towards the champions at a steady pace that becomes slower when it appears to go around the frozen demons. Her hair black and her cheeks puffed, Dariana lumbers out of the fog with the small building over her head. She exhales to release all of the toxins that she has gathered in her mouth instead of inhaling them, but her legs move stiffly and threaten to lock up. Sensing that she is not as immune as she hoped, the immortal gently lowers the pyramid and falls asleep in the dirt.

  “I’m sorry, but I was getting impatient,” Dariana says in her friends’ minds. Her body curls into a ball and she yawns, which releases a dribble of toxic foam. “I must retain my full power until my system is clear. For your information, there is no poison inside the building. Our first plan would have worked. I tried to tell you, but everybody else had plans and were talking too quickly. Please wake me before we return or carry me if you feel the need.”

  Sari puts a blanket over the telepath while she admits, “Guilt trips are so much worse when they’re said directly into your brain.”

  *****

  Delvin taps his finger on the table while looking over the maps that the chaos elves have helped him draw. Ignoring the doodles that Lily was adding until she ran off to greet Timoran, the warrior is confident that they have a good idea of what they are walking into. The empty moat filled with undead and the drawbridge are his main concerns for the initial assault while inside will require more spontaneous planning. He is thankful that the chaos elves have agreed not to go any further than the entrance unless they are called in by Dariana. It has taken a lot of work to get his point across, but he is sure they now understand the importance of holding the ground that they capture. The only thing Delvin left out is that he is not sure it will be that kind of battle since the goal is to get the champions inside and find a portal to the Chaos Void. Only two of the locals have heard of such a gateway, but neither of them have ever seen it. The best they can offer is a story about how the Great Cataclysm tore the sky and the Baron fell directly into his new throne.

  Letting his eyes rest, Delvin leans back and watches Nyx enchant the weapons that are piled around her. Having worn the half-elf down with their constant requests to help, the finished gear is taken by the children and delivered to whoever is entering the fight. Due to the slow progress, the kids spend most of their time watching the channeler weaving threads of magic between her fingers. Once the network is complete, she lets her assistants choose the next weapon that she infuses with the simple spell. The only physical change is that the edges become keen and the hilts harden to make sure they cannot be separated from the blade. Knowing that the daggers will take longer than the larger weapons, Nyx leaves them in a pile until nothing else is left and she has run out distractions. With the threat of utter boredom, the children leave her to the last piece of work and go in search of something else to help with.

  “The annoyance with magical daggers is that they aren’t worth doing unless you add a return spell,” Nyx explains as Delvin approaches. Tossing her newest creation at the ground, she nods when it reappears in her hand. “At least if they’re nothing more than durables or small elemental charges. People who specialize in daggers always end up throwing them at some point. I remember Cyril complaining about a thief who showed up every week for a new weapon because he kept losing them. Never wanted to pay for the return spell and my father refused to argue with him until he had had enough of the nonsense.”

  “This can be a hobby for you,” Delvin teases while he takes a seat. He nearly jumps to his feet when he turns around and finds a garish helmet staring at him. “What in all of Windemere is that thing? Looks like a giant suit of armor, which makes no sense for General Vile. Wonder if he was a collector and there are stashes all over the island. Pretty sure Trinity would know, but I’ll mention it in case she doesn’t and wants to hunt for them. Are you going to do anything with this?”

  “There’s a statue that I can put it on and then I’ll animate the whole thing as a golem,” the channeler says nonchalantly. Flexing her fingers, she counts the remaining daggers and stops when she gets to fifty. “I’m still not convinced their protection spell is going to hold. We don’t know if all of the demons are like the ones we saw in the factory and the mine. There could be Hellfire Elves, Spurges, or Eblem over there. Might even be a Named One if we’re really unlucky. If the protection spell is even slightly compromised, then beings of that power will get through. This golem will be under orders to guard the children. I still can’t believe you agreed to bring them along.”

  “What was I supposed to do?”

  “Say no because they’re kids.”

  “And Lily swore she would lead them to battle anyway.”

  “She does seem the type to do that.”

  Delvin sighs and stares at the yellow crystal that is gradually darkening in response to the storm outside. He turns at the sound of laughter and watches some of the chaos elves work to put the remains of the feast in bags. Even with so much food and the fun that they had, the locals refuse to gorge themselves and have made sure there is enough for the march. Others have kept a few bites of their favorite dish with the intention of sharing it with their loved ones who are with Trinity. The fact that those people may have died attacking Stonehelm makes no difference to the chaos elves. Hearing them speak about hope being all they have reminds Delvin of the tenacity and cunning that makes them a feared people across Windemere. Even so, seeing the positive mentality in the children and elderly, he finds it difficult to connect them with those he fought as enemies in the past. He smirks when he remembers that he spent years unknowingly fighting alongside a chaos elf who he would gladly list as
one of his dearest friends.

  “The missions make the man,” Delvin whispers with a chuckle. Getting a strange look from Nyx, he clears his throat and takes a seat. “It’s something mercenaries would say. You are judged by the jobs and missions you accept. For example, if you take a lot of assassination assignments then you are judged to be cold and murderous. This might not be true, but you can’t walk in such a world without getting dirtied. Doesn’t mean you can’t be cleaned either, which is what I hope happens with the chaos elves. They really do deserve a chance to be something more than their reputation.”

  “They’ll only get that if we win,” Nyx calmly responds as she tries to work faster. Needing a boost, she steals a kiss and some aura from Delvin, which leaves him yawning. “Sorry about that, but I need it more than you right now. Besides, we’re always swapping energies. That sounded dirtier than I expected. Oh, did you notice that Dariana is annoyed?”

  “How can you tell?” the warrior asks, scratching his head. Taking out a coffee ring, he fills his mug and has a drink, the aroma catching the attention of the nearby chaos elves. “I mean, she’s usually so calm even in battle. Not counting the occasional breakdown and how she can get overly apologetic. Can’t imagine something happening that would cause her to be visibly annoyed. Although, she was rather short with her responses and quick to go off alone when they got back.”

  Taking a break from her work, Nyx nearly collapses from the pins and needles running along her legs. “I’m okay. Need to walk or limp it off. Just like the old days when I pulled all-nighters in the library. Anyway, I had a little mental chat with her to see if there’s anything we could do. Seems Timoran, Sari, and Luke each tried to find a way around the paralytic fog in their own way. There wasn’t much teamwork between them. Dariana finished the job herself while they were debating, which she admits makes her part of the problem too. All of us want to be the one who saves the day and that could cause trouble.”