by Stone Thomas
Improve to Stalactice 2 to increase shard count to 4. [32 AP to cast] [Requires: Constitution 12] [750 XP to improve].
Improve to Stalactice 3 to increase shard count to 5. [34 AP to cast] [Requires: Constitution 13] [1,125 XP to improve].
Intended Change: 0 –> 3
Cost Subtotal: 2,250
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TOTAL ICE QUEEN SKILL XP COST: 2,250
Summary
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Available XP: 2,487
Cost of Intended Changes: 2,550
Precision Training Discount (5%): 128
Total Adjusted Cost: 2,422
Total Projected Remaining: 65
Confirm?: Yes / No
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“How do you like the sound of Stalactice? Giant ice spikes shooting from the sky?”
“That’s more like it,” she said. She and Cindra took off toward the towers.
“Mamba,” I said, “it’s time to wake up Larry. Can you get me closer to the general?”
“It would be Larry’s pleasure,” Mamba said.
“Ess,” I said, “will you summon some of your children to help hold back any cretins or war dogs that come after me while I take care of that big guy?”
“Every child has chores,” she said. “Consider it done.”
The ground shook as the dirt parted, revealing a massive snake made of a skull and tightly compacted rib bones. I pushed those bones aside, stepped into the snake’s frame with Mamba, and held on tight as we raced across the hilltop.
The general had knocked a hole in the south wall, revealing twisted and torn metal bars from the support structure Vix had built inside the stones. A few cretins climbed through that hole behind him while war dogs hurled their muscular animal bodies over the wall. They charged toward us while more emerged behind them.
“Leave me here,” I said, “and take Larry back to the temple.”
“We want to stay and help,” she said. “A sour wind is coming, one that lifts up to tear down.”
“I need to know that you’ll get Nola out of there if the cretins break down the doors,” I said. “Take everyone you can to safety.”
Mamba brought Larry to a stop and leaned forward. She kissed me once. “You worry about everyone else too much. I need you to worry about you right now.”
“I’ll be fine, Mamba.” I flashed her a smile that didn’t fool either of us, then climbed out of Larry’s ribcage. Mamba rode her giant bonersnake into the darkness.
The closest cretin barreled toward me with its sword raised. I lifted my forearm, blocking its blade with my bracers, then thrust my spear forward. A pool of black sludge was all that remained.
A war dog butted its head into my side, knocking me down. It launched its heavy body on top of mine, but I lifted Razortooth in time to block its fanged mouth. I kicked off the ground, rolling the canine onto its back. I couldn’t wrestle my polearm free, so I pressed its pole downward against the monster’s maw until I heard its jaw break.
It bucked backward in pain, giving me a chance to get to my feet. I pointed my spear’s blade down and pierced the hard metallic shell of the evil war dog.
My spear sank too hard too quickly though. The blade hit the ground as it sank through my enemy’s body. It bent along its familiar crease.
I bent the blade back into position and turned to face a new opponent. Cretins and war dogs alternated their attacks, and I handily ended each one-on-one. The general, meanwhile, continued to smash the walls that surrounded Halcyon. Each new break in the stone let another stream of monsters in.
One entry point was narrow enough to keep a steady but manageable stream of attacks coming. Two, and now three entry points sent more cretins than I’d be able to handle.
Blue magic lit up occasionally, sending ice balls that froze war dogs in place. The general had gotten too close to an active energem, cracking the wall apart where Lily’s spells could slow the attackers down.
Then, that energem moved. A metal arm plucked it from the wall and swept it along to a hole closer to the center of the action, then brought a red-glowing gem into range.
They did it!, I thought. They fixed the control tower!
The dark hilltop lit with flickering flame and blue magic as those spells further slowed the oncoming attackers. A war dog approached, but it was no match for my Piercing Blow. The next cretin came from afar, so I threw my spear through its chest. It puddled onto the ground as I recalled my weapon with Call to Arms.
The black energy left behind by that conjured monster rose from the ground and snaked through the air, landing in a raw energem carried by a goblin. She was taken unaware, dropping the scalding crystal as the energy found a new home.
Other torrents of black energy swirled over the ground as they arced toward energems that could contain them. More goblins came from behind, depositing what energems they could before turning back and fleeing again.
The wall mechanism shifted again, sending the ice gem away and bringing in a stone that erupted with snakes when its internal energy crested.
More cretins and war dogs poured in through the cracks in our wall. If the army on this side of the hill rivaled the size of the mob assaulting our front doors, this stream would never end. Three cretins approached at the same time now, which was more than I could handle. I thrust at one, but a quick motion from another drew my attention too soon. I missed entirely giving two cretins a chance to slice into my leg.
I thrust again, ignoring the two cretins that weren’t my target. I might get hit once or twice, but I needed to take this one enemy at a time. As one monster liquefied before my eyes, another grabbed my arms and charged, dragging me to the ground.
I bucked against their weight but couldn’t get up. The ground thumped with the footfalls of oncoming war dogs. I hadn’t even made it to the general yet.
Dirt pelted my face as gi-ants erupted from the soil. An army of them swarmed us, pulling the cretins from my prone body and flinging them aside. I nodded my thanks, then charged toward the war dogs that came at me. My gi-ant companions erupted under the monster, throwing it off course. I let them handle the rest and headed toward the opening in the wall.
Frozen monsters broke free of the ice magic that held them in place as firewalls rose and fell in different places along the hill. The general continued smashing the wall stones. I needed a way to slow the on-comers down.
A high pitched squeal pulled my attention toward a cretin that held a goblin upside down in its arms. The small green woman punched with short arms that couldn’t reach her captor. Five more monsters climbed over the wall while I made a decision.
I went back for her. She and her kind risked their lives to bring energems up so that we might have a chance at strengthening Halcyon after this. I couldn’t let Duul’s minion tear her apart.
With a quick swing, I knocked Razortooth’s handle into the fiend’s head. It stumbled forward, dropping the goblin, who in turn dropped an energem. I killed the cretin in one stab. Then I saw how that poor goblin managed to get caught while other goblins were able to deposit energems and scamper away. She had dragged the heavier ten-inch gem from Valleyvale all the way from the temple.
“Empty energems!” I yelled after the small woman. “I only want it if it’s raw!”
I picked up the hefty rock as it pulsed with electric energy, then faded again. A snarling sound brought my focus back to the cretins. There were a dozen now, with war dogs close behind. It was too many. By a lot.
Nola, I said. This is usually where you spark an idea that saves the day.
Or… maybe I could spark my own idea this time.
Tucking the large energem under my arm, I ran. I dodged past dark, shadowy monsters that tried to cut me down with blades and snap my legs inside powerful jaws. I wove through the oncoming creatures and charged toward Vix’s wall.
I slid along the ground with that gem held tight, slipping beneath the metal contraption that repositioned energems. A cretin’s face emerged in the V-shaped
hole in the wall before me. I kicked it, sending it rolling back down the hill. Peering over the edge, I saw hundreds of those creatures clamoring for their chance to climb into our home.
I wedged the energem into the bottom of that crack, nestling it into the space between stones and bracing it against the twisted metal rods that failed to hold the wall against the general’s attacks.
Please, I thought, let this work.
More of the monsters crept up the wall. They perched on the brown stones, staring at me with eyeless faces. Their jagged teeth were like razor blades in their jaws. The energem radiated its light, brighter and brighter, until it finally crested and released its pent up lightning.
I had expected an arc of electricity that would zap a few cretins and give me time to get to my feet. That’s not what happened.
Instead, a wave of electricity erupted from the energem, sending lightning streaking across the wall in both directions through the stone and the underlying metal. The lightning bolts arced across the broken gaps in the wall and swept around the entire settlement. They crossed paths at the north end of the hill, snaking past each other and converging again at the energem before the stone went dark, beginning its thirty second charge anew.
The cretins that tried climbing through at that moment were liquefied from the magic that coursed through them. I scrambled backward. The cretins kept coming. When the energem lit up again, it destroyed each of Duul’s minions careless enough to keep trying.
A few cretins made it past, but they were easily managed. Gi-ants erupted from the soil and pinned them down, dragging them into a grave full of sharp mandibles and insectoid claws.
Lily and Ambry might give me lip for using their mother’s energem, but I could see no better use for it tonight than electrifying our entire perimeter.
My excitement died when I realized the metal device Vix operated would conduct that magic back to the control tower if she made one more energem switch.
“Vix!” I yelled. “And Mayblin, stop!” I waved my arms into the darkness, but soon I saw both of them running toward me. They must have seen the electricity and powered down the machine.
The general turned from his work and stopped smashing the live wall. He laughed, a hearty sound that reverberated within his hollow metal chest. “You think that will stop us?” he asked.
“If you think you can survive the voltage, be my guest,” I said.
“My master does not like what rumors tell,” he said. “The people take hope from the stories of Halcyon. We will kill your goddess and destroy every last shred of this forsaken settlement. There shall be no proof that this place even existed. Prepare for the rise and fall of Halcyon!”
As the general finished those words, an enormous beast leapt over the electrified wall and crashed its paws against the ground. In the crackling yellow light that pulsed through the stones behind it, its features became visible.
Its powerful body was feline in form, with paws as large as its head. Its fur was a patchwork of browns and greens. It roared, revealing a tongue as black as night. Its eyes were like deep wells of tar. The creature looked like it was suffering, the same way the men that bore Duul’s curse would suffer.
“Arden!” Vix yelled, still speeding toward me. Mayblin was far behind, her short goblin legs ill-suited to such a long sprint. “That zenocat is cursed, run!”
Zenocat, I thought. Never heard of—
The ground began to shake as the zenocat’s paws sank into the soil beneath it. The general laughed. A chunk of earth surrounding the cat lifted from Halcyon’s hill and rose into the air, taking the cat, the general, and me with it.
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Cold night air assailed me as I fought to keep my footing on the disc of rock and soil that rose above our hill. The zenocat hissed in the center of this levitating earth, its paws indistinct from the soil now.
“Leave that poor creature out of this,” I said. “Your fight is with me.”
“I will use any tool at my disposal,” the general said. He charged at me, a hulking mass of black metallic muscle several feet taller than I was. Clods of dirt and rock fell from the edges of our airborne platform. “Including you!”
As he ran, he clutched a long black spear in one hand. It wasn’t the same featureless black that the minor minions carried. This weapon was crafted from a dark, heavy material that refused to reflect even the faint light of the moon overhead. It was as if he wielded a shadow made solid.
His other hand stretched before him, aiming a volley of black magic at me. I leapt backward, dodging evil ribbons of darkness that bounced on the ground before extinguishing. My heel almost landed in the air beyond the edge of this raised earth, but I caught my balance before I risked plummeting ten stories to my death.
“Your agility won’t protect you from your fate,” the general said, stabbing his spear toward the space I had been a moment before. I had already dodged forward to avoid him, then spun and activated Piercing Blow to stab him in the back. He lurched forward, but not far enough to send him over the edge.
“What fate?” I asked. The general swept his spear in a wide arc, catching me in the side. Something cracked deep inside my body.
“You have a common enemy, Arden Hochbright,” the general said. I stepped back, but the zenocat hissed in my ear and I scrambled to the side. The feline was still sunken into the dirt, but the earth crumbled away from the edges of our platform as we rose steadily into the sky.
“The empire seeks to control every aspect of life and death,” he continued. “Duul will restore that control to the people.”
“People he forces to fight for eternity, or to bear his demigod children,” I said. “That’s not freedom.” I ran at the general, Razortooth’s blade bent but still aimed at the oversized monster. He brought his own weapon up and blocked my attack, sending a painful vibration down my spear’s handle and up my arms.
I stepped forward and slammed Razortooth against the general’s arm. The serrated teeth of Razortooth’s blade screeched through his skin, releasing a slow drip of black blood that beaded like oil and fell in small droplets to the ground.
“And what would Nola have us do instead,” the general asked. “She is nothing, Arden. Serving her is a waste of your potential.”
“So what then,” I asked, “you’re here to recruit me?”
The zenocat roared behind me, shaking a paw free from the ground and forcing our platform to tip off balance. The general slid a few inches along the downslope while I dug my heels in for support.
“As if you aren’t recruiting as well?” he asked, wiping the blood from his wound with his bare hand before taking another swing at me. I raised my weapon to block his, but his blow was too forceful.
The serrated tip of my spear snapped off along its familiar crease and fell to the ground below. All I had left now was the blade’s short base at the end of my pole. It was still sharp, but it was a far cry from the weapon it used to be, or at least that I imagined it was when I first equipped it. Now what was left of its cheap spearhead was wider than it was long. It was nothing more than a pointy chode of a weapon.
The platform tipped again as the cat pulled another paw from the ground. Rocks and soil flaked away from the edges faster now, forcing me to step closer to the general.
“We have Kāya,” the general said, “as you have Gowes. You have creatures under your command, as have we. You’ve trained beasts, elves, and more. There are those in the beastkin lands and elf lands who will aid Duul, perhaps even willingly. We march on Denvillia and Mournglory soon, to show the world what cities that join the war might look like. Just as you recruit, so shall we.”
I ran at the general while there was still space to work up momentum. Soon, the perimeter of this floating rock would squeeze us both toward the enraged zenocat at the center, and then things would get even uglier.
I used Piercing Blow again, hoping to open a fresh wound in the general’s leg. My spear erupted in brilliant white light and shot forwar
d, but he lifted his foot in time to avoid it and kicked me back. I skidded toward the brink, coming to rest as my head and upper back slid past the edge.
On the ground below, a small orange light sparked against the darkness, trapping a dozen cretins within its quick flash. A faint red burst emerged next as a few rocks flew toward the twitching monsters. Vix was down there, supported only by Mayblin against an increasing number of cretins.
Nola, I asked. Are you okay?
Nothing.
I glanced up in time to see the general clamp his large heavy hand against my chest. I lifted Razortooth, but he grabbed my spear with his other hand. I clenched my eyes and pulled with all of my might against his grip.
My weapon’s pole slid further from my grasp until my fingers flew open and the spear was gone. When I heard another cracking sound, I assumed it was another rib snapping inside my body. Then I saw two short pieces of metal hit the ground. The general had snapped Razortooth in half with one hand.
“Duul made two mistakes in the last god war,” the general said, still pinning me to the ground. A few rocks crumbled away from the space behind my spine. I had the feeling of falling for a moment before my body realized I still had enough support. For now.
“He failed to draw allies to his fight,” the general continued. “He won’t make that mistake this time.”
I could barely breathe under the weight of the general’s hand. “Maybe,” I said, my voice faint, “it’s you that should switch sides.” I reached my arm out and focused on activating Call to Arms while I spoke. My broken weapon just sat idly on the ground. It was no spear now, just a worthless piece of cheap Titan steel.
“But you’ve seen the future,” he said, “why would I join the losing side?”
I stared at the general’s smooth black face. He grinned with a mouth full of sharp hideous teeth. His eyes were burning red orbs of flickering energy. I locked my eyes on his. Then he released another volley of black magic, one I couldn’t dodge. The magic snaked through my vest and dove into my skin, filling my blood with heat and anger. My fingernails dug into my palms as I resisted the war god’s curse.
