by Jamie Davis
Quest accepted — lure mage hunters in and get captured.
“Godspeed, Hal,” Kay said, stepping back to give him some room.
Drawing in wind magic, Hal opened a portal to a nearby village. Scouts reported it abandoned which meant there’d be no one caught in the crossfire when the spells started flying. As the doorway to another place opened before him, a familiar rattling sound began. The choice he made invoked that strange slot machine sound rolling in his head. His luck was in play.
It was time to see if it rolled his way once again.
Hal stepped forward, leaving the camp and the others behind him.
He now stood between a pair of humble, one-room dwellings. The huts had small gardens in front of them, now untended and overgrown. There was no sign of anyone nearby and Hal heard no sounds but the chirp of birds and the buzz of insects.
He released his hold on the spell and the portal closed behind him. Hal made sure to let plenty of excess magical energy bleed outward as he let go of the magic.
He smiled as his senses picked up the echoes of his spell resonating outward. That should bring the mage hunters running. It would undoubtedly grab his interest if he was tuned in and paying attention to such things.
That reminded him, it might be a good idea to tune his senses to magic in the vicinity. It would be good to know when his invited guests arrived. He wanted to be prepared to give them the fight they expected before he let them capture him. It was imperative they think he was nearly spent and desperate when he surrendered to them. Hal ducked into a tool shed at the rear of one of the huts and crouched down to wait.
The first sign of pursuit happened almost ten minutes after Hal arrived. A twinge in the magical sensor net he’d extended out from his hiding place alerted him to a portal opening nearby. A few seconds later, a second and then a third portal opened in different locations around the village.
Hal smiled. They had him surrounded. He had them just where he wanted. Waiting until he heard voices approaching, Hal spotted the first of the hunters through a crack in the wooden door of the shed. He drew in energy for his first spell.
It was time to drop some of magic on them. He was looking forward to getting some payback for kidnapping his family.
Hal reached out to create a fine mist and spread it outward from the center of the village, using community's central well as a moisture source. As the mist accumulated, it became a thick fog filling the whole central square with the suspended water vapor. It would blind everyone in the village now. It would also do something else as the moisture penetrated the clothes and armor of his opponents.
Smiling, Hal tried something he had thought up during his training with Tildi. He decided to call it, crossing the streams.
Holding onto his ice magic flows creating the mist, Hal opened up a channel to fire magic. Intense heat flashed outward from Hal’s location, super-heating the fog into steam in a heartbeat. Screams of pain sounded all around him as the scalding vapor burned everyone not inside some sort of shelter when the spell released.
2,400 experience awarded
2,400 experience awarded
3,000 experience awarded
The steam dissipated in an instant, using up the energy that created it. Looking out the door of the shed, Hal saw several bodies lying in the streets all around him. He heard other voices groaning in pain nearby. Now, he had to let them see him so they knew it wasn’t just a trap and that the chase was on.
Darting from his hiding place, Hal readied a series of offensive and defensive spells all at once. His new and improved ice armor appeared, encasing his entire body in a sheath of resilient, yet flexible ice plates, harder than steel. He was ready.
Hal ran into the street, into the fight of his life with everything he held dear in the balance. In his mind, the slot machine rolled and rattled with a fury. He hoped luck was on his side.
He was going to need it. The mist had all burned away when it flashed to steam. The hunters spotted Hal right away.
The first attack came from behind, knocking him to the ground when a crossbow bolt slammed into his back. It hurt like hell. The armor did its job, though, and the missile pinged away, ricocheting to the street beside him.
Health damage: Health -8
Pushing himself up to one knee, Hal turned and fired a spell at the crossbow-wielding hunter. The man, clad in black leather armor, fumbled to reload his crossbow.
He never got the chance as the ice lance took him in the chest, impaling him.
2,400 experience awarded
Shouts to Hal’s left alerted him to an approaching group of mage hunters. He got up and ran to the nearest building, peering around the edge.
Chips of stone and stucco shredded off the corner of the cottage as a series of spells slammed into the wall next Hal’s vantage point.
Jerking his head back as more spells, including a fireball, slammed into the building, Hal ran in the opposite direction, circling the building.
The cottage he hid behind was now aflame. The thatched roof caught fire as soon as the fireball exploded. Hal continued circling the burning home. He hoped to surprise this new group of attackers from behind.
They anticipated his move, though. Four hunters waited for him on the adjacent street. Two had crossbows leveled at point-blank range; two launched spells in his direction as he ran around the corner into the open space between the buildings.
One of the crossbowmen called out.
“Halt! In the name of Emperor Kang, you will surrender yourself to us.”
“Fat chance,” Hal replied and readied spells of his own.
Their spells landed first.
Vines grew up from the packed dirt of the street and clutched at his feet and lower legs. They had trouble finding purchase on the ice armor encasing his lower body but some of the spiny thorns struck home through the few gaps around his knees and ankles.
Health damage: Health -12
He struggled to pull free as the second spell struck home, wrapping him in straps of flaming iron, binding his arms to his side. Even with his fire resistance, the white-hot iron bands burned him, melting through his ice armor in places.
Health damage: Health -14
Hal created a sheath of dual hard-sided air bubbles around himself with an insulating vacuum void between and pressed outward, expanding the bubbles.
The increasing air pressure pushed the binding iron bands away from him until they fell to the ground.
He threw up a wall of ice across the street between himself and the attackers just as the crossbowmen fired at him.
The thin wall shattered from the missile weapons but the bolts were spent on impact and fell to the dirt.
More shouts behind him told Hal additional hunters circled around his position. He needed to move. He didn’t want to let them catch him too quickly.
Another fireball sizzled at his back, exploding just behind him as he ran between two buildings. The blast threw Hal to the ground and the wash of heat managed to melt the remaining ice armor on his legs, causing partial burns to the back of his thighs.
Health damage: Health -20
Hal struggled to get back to his feet and keep running. Two more crossbow bolts hit him from behind, shattering his back armor and knocking down again.
Health damage: Health -8
Health damage: Health -8
More vines grew up around him, threatening to pin him down to the dirt. Hal tried something new and fired discs of razor-sharp ice from his hands across the ground, slicing through the thorny vines. It worked.
He jumped up and limped on his burned legs.
Hal stopped in a nearby doorway, loosing a fireball behind him into the street as he ducked inside. Screams of alarm and agony sounded telling him he’d caught a few more of the mage hunters in the blast.
2,400 experience awarded
3,000 experience awarded
3,000 experience awarded
Hal looked for another exit from the building he'd
entered and saw none. He’d ducked inside a storehouse of some kind. Sacks of grain and farming tools lay scattered around the room. There was no sign of even a window to offer him a way to escape.
Turning and running back to the doorway, Hal peeked outside. Three crossbow bolts slammed into the doorframe and he yanked his head back. He’d seen enough.
Hal counted ten figures in the street outside the storehouse, covering the doorway with either crossbows or spells ready for release. They’d cornered him.
Scanning the room a final time for some way out so he could continue the fight a little longer, Hal saw nothing.
A voice called from the street outside.
“Hal Dix! We know it’s you in there. We have orders not to kill you.”
“You have a strange way of showing that.”
“We didn’t know it was you at first. For that, we apologize. Surrender and we will tend to your wounds before taking you back to the Emperor. He extends an invitation to you.”
“You expect me to believe I can just walk out of here and you will spare my life?”
“Mr. Dix, I’m one of the mages who has visited your world. I’ve seen where you come from. The Emperor knows you have no real connection to this world. He would like to talk with you about an alternative outcome to the current hostilities.”
That mage out there had been to earth. In all likelihood, that meant he’d been among the ones who’d entered his home and kidnapped his wife and child. Hal’s fingernails dug into his palm, scraping painful gouges in the soft skin as he clenched his hands.
Hal had a score to settle with this one and any of the others who’d dared to lay hands on his wife and daughter. He longed to run outside and fire off every spell he had until they were all dead in the street.
He figured he had an even chance of succeeding. Except that wasn’t success in this case.
Revenge would have to wait. Hal forced his hands to relax and released the spells he’d begun casting on reflex.
Keeping his eyes on the prize, Hal called out through the door.
“And all he wants to do is talk? I’m not sure I can believe you.”
“I cannot offer any assurances you’d find acceptable in this situation. I do not have to. Suffice it to say; I have enough magical firepower here to level this whole village if I order it. I have not given such an order because your death is not our desired outcome. Surrender and come with us back to Imperial City. You will see I tell the truth for yourself.”
Hal knew this was what he wanted but his slots still rolled in the back of his mind. The important decision he was due to make had not been made yet or that would have stopped.
“I’m coming out. Don’t shoot.”
Ping. The bell sounded as the slot machine ground to a halt. Whatever was going to happen was locked in now.
Hal kept his hands in view at his sides, away from the daggers on his belt, and stepped through the doorway.
The mage hunter was right. Hal saw at least a dozen mages and twice as many ordinary hunters and trackers. They'd come ready for a fight.
“Walk forward to the center of the street and stop there, Mr. Dix. Make no sudden moves or we’ll be forced to defend ourselves.”
Hal complied, stepping out until he stood between the buildings. Two hunters shouldered their crossbows and ran forward. They shackled his hands and feet. Runes covered the iron bands around his wrists and ankles. He suspected they would inhibit magic use if he tried to cast a spell now.
The mage in the blue robe stepped forward. He must have noticed Hal examining his bonds.
“Those are mage cuffs, Mr. Dix. They reflect spell energy back on the user. Anything you try to do to us will only hurt you at this point. I urge you not to try anything.”
“I’ll come along peacefully. I’m tired of this place. I just want to go home.”
“My name is Decimus, Mr. Dix. I will vouch for your safety as long as you do not resist. Do you understand?”
Hal nodded and Decimus smiled.
“Excellent. Then let us return to the Crystal City. The Emperor will be most pleased to know you’ve decided to come and meet with him.”
“It’s not like I have much choice. You’ve been hounding me across the entire continent.”
“Let’s not dwell on past unpleasantries. I think you will find his Majesty fair in his judgment and disposition given all you’ve done to thwart him here in Fantasma.”
Decimus nodded and one of the other mages opened a portal in the street spanning the whole distance between the buildings. Hal was impressed. That was some gateway.
“Come, Mr. Dix. The emperor awaits.”
Quest completed — lure mage hunters in and get captured.
5,000 experience awarded.
35
The portal deposited Hal and Decimus outside enormous bronze gates set in tall stone walls stretching in both directions as far as he could see. Hal craned his neck to look around his escort of mage hunters.
“Impressive is it not?” Decimus said. “This is the great wall surrounding the Crystal City. Wards against all four elemental schools prevent us from opening portals inside this boundary. Do not worry. It is not a long walk to where I have carriages waiting.”
A horn sounded in the distance and a grinding thrum vibrated up through his feet. The great doors swung open in a slow, precise sweep. Inside, a thirty-foot tunnel extended through the wall. Daylight showed in an arched opening at the far side.
“Come. We mustn’t keep the Emperor waiting. I have sent word of your capture. He will be pleased our endeavors to locate you finally succeeded. He was most displeased with our progress until now.”
The hunters started forward, prodding Hal to keep up with Decimus.
“Sorry to disappoint you. I didn’t want to be captured and thrown into a dungeon. Perhaps if you’d extended an invitation rather than having your thugs chase after me with magic and crossbow bolts.”
“An unfortunate misunderstanding. One I hope we might remedy moving forward.”
“Hey,” Hal said, holding up his shackled hands. “I’m the one in the chains here. It’s not like I can do anything to change how we’re getting along.”
“Indeed. Well, perhaps that can be changed. First, we must make sure you understand the consequences if you attempt to escape or otherwise defy the Emperor’s wishes. I believe we have certain leverage over you now, do we not?”
There it was, Hal thought. The implicit threat they'd injure his wife and daughter. Hal decided to bring the issue out into the light of day.
“Speaking of leverage, when will I be allowed to see my family?”
“Your wife and daughter have been treated with the utmost courtesy for the last several months, Mr. Dix. I assure you they are safe, for the time being at least. Ah, here we are. The carriages are waiting for us as I expected.”
They exited the gate tunnel into the sunlight inside the walls of the Crystal City. The buildings inside looked much like all the buildings in this part of the world. Built of stone covered with a stucco cement so they had smooth sides, those closest to the gate were two stories tall and contained shops and market stalls one might expect to see near the gates of a major city.
The people, however, were not. Their eyes shifted from side to side, as if watching constantly for a surprise attack. The pedestrians closest to Hal and the others shrank back, a combination of fear and awe showing on their faces.
Those who didn’t move quickly enough for the hunter guards around Decimus and Hal were shoved backward amid shouts and threats of violence if they didn’t comply. People, for the most part, didn’t need to be told to stay back twice. They cowered and shrank back away from the group as they approached a pair of carriages in the street.
A squad of four mounted knights accompanied each carriage. The mounted soldiers' polished, silvery chainmail armor shined in the sunlight, the spikes of their helmets peeking out from the center of the turbans wrapped around the metal headgear.
/> Decimus led Hal forward to the lead carriage. The footman opened the door and stood to wait for Hal to climb aboard. The chains and shackles on his ankles prevented him from lifting his foot high enough to reach the step and Hal fixed Decimus with a baleful stare.
“I can’t get in with these on.”
“Hunters, assist Mr. Dix in boarding the carriage if you will.”
Three hunters stepped up, one on each side lifting Hal under his arms while the third pushed from behind. Hal stumbled and fell inside the carriage, barely managing to land in one of the cushioned benches inside.
Decimus climbed in behind him and sat on the bench opposite Hal’s. Two of the armed hunters boarded as well, sitting on either side of Hal.
“We may go, Major,” Decimus called out to the lead cavalry officer outside.
“Yes, sir.”
The officer saluted and began barking orders. The carriage jolted to a start, the horses in their traces pulling them down the street at a trot. Outside, the mounted troops formed up with four in the lead clearing their path, with the final four coming up behind them.
Outside, the streets seemed almost deserted compared to a similar street in Tandon or Hyroth at this time of day. There were only a few civilians in sight at any time as they passed onward towards the palace at the center of the city.
Decimus noticed Hal’s interest in the city outside the carriage.
“Impressive is it not? This is the shining jewel of the entire Empire.”
“I’m sure,” Hal said, unconvinced. “It seems deserted. Where are all the people.”
“Unfortunately, a certain element of dissident in the city has caused us to detain large numbers of the populace on suspicion of sedition. We are working our way through questioning them. Those who are found innocent are released back to their work and homes. It is tedious work, but the Emperor’s safety is of paramount importance when compared to a few people’s inconvenience.”
