by Cat Wilder
"I have lightning, but my bolts aren't as powerful as Abbess Veronica's bolts," she said. "I could produce a bolt that powerful, but it would drain all of my mana. She's using god magic. And really, you've seen all of my martial spells. I was not a fighter before the Red Knights captured me and started retraining me."
"She's more into potions and creating talismans," Kahlan said. "And don't look at me. I can't hurt anyone."
My face must have reflected my excitement, because she recoiled and looked worried.
"No, it's not bad," I said. "I just remembered how you took out those two assassins in the butcher shop. You drained their energy or something."
"Yes."
"Can you do that to larger groups?" I asked. "You could sneak up behind them while we're fighting them and steal their energy."
"I can try, but I have to have skin-on-skin contact," she said. "And honestly, doing it exhausts me. I gain a few mana, but that's it. Not worth the effort."
"But it'll help us," I said. "It's a non-lethal way for you to help in a fight."
Elky objected. She felt it endangered Kahlan too much. She had a point. Sometimes I forgot that Kahlan and Meike didn't respawn.
I discovered Tahki had a little magic, but mostly to protect her from magical attacks. Mundane swords, knives, and arrows were more an annoyance, since they couldn't penetrate her scales, but did threaten her eyes. Magic weapons were another matter.
"Our best tactic is the original plan," Elky said. "Either sneak in over the walls, or Tahki can fly us straight up atop the tower keep, and then we rush inside and hit her before she knows what's happening. If we give her ten seconds she will blast us to smithereens."
"Tahki? Do you think flying up to the roof of the keep would work? Does she have any wards keeping you from landing there?"
I don't know about any wards. Meike could warn me during our approach, the dragon said. But I can fly you up there pretty fast. They'll see me, and sound the alarm.
"We won't have much time," Meike said. "And honestly, if the roof is warded, then so are the ramparts. At least by flying in we'll have a little surprise on our side."
I looked around. No one objected. No one offered another idea.
"Okay, that's settled," I said. "But we still need a better weapon against them. A weapon of mass destruction."
"You want to nuke them?" Elky asked. "Sounds like overkill. So, why not?"
We grinned at each other, but none of the others understood what that all meant. I didn't feel like explaining it. Instead, I stared off into space and tried to figure out a way to take the assassins down quickly. The way Meike talked, we'd need to spend a month in bed with Kahlan to generate enough mana for her to challenge Veronica on equal terms.
"I think the original plan is still the best," Elky said. "Go in during the wee hours of the night, hit them hard and fast, and take the abbess down before her mind can wrap around the danger. Knocking her ass out cold would be best."
I found myself staring at a big, fluffy cloud as she spoke. I could feel an idea on the tip of my tongue. Hit them while they slept. Knock out. Cloud…gas?
"Meike," I said, heart racing. "You make potions. What about sleep potions?"
She shrugged. "Sure. How do we get them all to drink it?"
"Not drink. Breathe," I said. "Can you make it a gas?"
"No. Potions are liquid," she said, giving me an annoyed look. Then she paused, eyes glazing over. "Well, I could maybe… Wait, let me think."
The elfmaid started pacing, muttering under her breath. It got rather animated, too. Finally, she turned back to us.
"I'll need the three of you to go gather the ingredients, but I can do it," she said. "It's probably not exactly what you wanted, but close." She smiled. "I can make the sleeping potion, store it in our healing potion containers. All I have to do is add another potion in a fragile membrane within that'll super heat the potion when the container is broken, filling the room up with sleeping gas."
"Sleeping gas grenades," I said. "I love it."
Meike gave us a list of ingredients she needed, all of which could be found in the forest below. She started on the sleeping potion while the rest of us mounted Tahki. I settled into the saddle with a good feeling. What could go wrong?
Chapter 30
Meike
First thing, I asked everyone to give up all of their potions.
"Why? We might need our healing potions during the attack," Cormac said. "Kahlan's mana is not unlimited."
"If you want sleepy grenades, then give me all of your potions," I said, a little more firmly. "I need the containers of hold my potions."
We didn't have time for me to explain everything. Half the day had passed. It would take me the better part of the afternoon to brew the three potions I needed to make it work.
Kahlan didn't carry healing potions, but she had a few others that she quickly surrendered. It distressed her when I opened them and started emptying the contents onto the ground. She was also the only one of us wise enough to inventory large jugs of water, which I also needed for my potions. Cormac, then Elky reluctantly surrendered their healing potions. I started emptying those very small ceramic jugs.
"Don't just stand there staring at me," I said, clapping my hands a few times to get them moving. "Go find the ingredients I need. Send Tahki back periodically with whatever you have found so I can get started."
"Maybe we'll level up on foraging," Cormac said to Elky.
"We're not playing a stupid game," I reminded him, and her. "Don't come back until you've gotten everything on the list. Tahki, could you please bring me as much firewood as you can carry as soon as you drop them off?"
Will do, the dragon said.
I couldn't help but feel jealous when Cormac, Kahlan, and Elky climbed up onto the dragon's back. They didn't appreciate Tahki, or understand the honor the dragon bestowed upon them by flying them around. Elky and Kahlan probably thought less of her than they would a saddle horse.
"I'll make them understand," I whispered, while heading into the abandoned lair in search of anything flammable to start the fires. "I'll need three fires."
Fortunately, I had five small cauldrons. Together, they accounted for three-quarters of the weight in my Cache Stone. That weighed me down a pound for every ten cached away. The only way to lighten my load was to store them in a Cache Stone, and then place it within another Cache Stone.
I found very little wood within the lair. Mostly, I found bones. Human bones. Elven bones. Orc and goblin bones. And lots of cow, horse, deer, boar, and other game animal bones. The long gone dragon ate well. I even found a silver coin, but very little wood. At least the high altitude and low moisture content in the air preserved the wood I did find.
It proved enough to get three small fires started. Tahki showed up shortly thereafter, and I built the fires up. She headed back to the foraging party while I pulled three cauldrons from inventory. Each held about two gallons of water, and soon I had them heating up toward a nice rolling boil.
I used a fourth cauldron of water to wash all of the small containers. Afterwards, I pulled out all of the ingredients I had cached away, and went to work chopping them up. I chanted my spells as I chopped, and chanted different spells as I deposited each in the appropriate cauldron.
I started brewing the sleeping potion in the first cauldron, with the antidote in the next one over. The antidote was for the four of us, so we didn't accidently put ourselves to sleep. I brewed the heating potion in the last cauldron, a variation of a potion used in siege warfare. Catapults threw large jugs of it over city walls to burn down the town within. It super-heated instantly when exposed to air, which meant I couldn't cast the last spell on it until after I sealed it inside the container.
The dragon returned over and over, bringing more of my precious ingredients. The antidote's ingredients had to be added in a specific sequence, so I had to hold off on that one until I had them all readily at hand. The other two potions didn't matter, as
long as they were added in the correct proportions and I cast the appropriate spells.
"I bet I could sell the recipe for these sleepy grenades to an army or battle-mage," I said, envisioning wealth beyond imagination.
The others returned in late afternoon, with the last of my needed ingredients. They looked bedraggled and weary. Not surprising. Some of those herbs for the antidote were hard to find, and harder to retrieve.
While Cormac and Elky sat to watch me, Kahlan offered to help. I got her busy sorting, and then had her finely chop up the few ingredients that didn't require a spell cast over them. I did the others, and soon had everything added to my boiling cauldrons.
"Shouldn't you be chanting 'double, double toil and trouble' while stirring your cauldrons?" Elky asked with a smirk.
I stared at her. What did that mean? Double what? Toil and trouble? None of it made sense to me, but I noticed Cormac roll his eyes and grin. So it had to be part of their other world.
"The only trouble I ever have is from you two," I said, turning back to examine the contents of my cauldrons. "And you definitely double my toil and trouble."
Kahlan giggled. She understood.
"Kahlan, could you please add the red toad's urine to that other pot?"
"Ewww. That stuff is nasty," she said, but picked up the small container and headed over to the wash pot full of containers. "You realize it'll just coat everything with greasy film."
"I do."
Once my potions were brewed and ready, I joined Kahlan at the fourth cauldron. She had all of the containers rinsed in the red toad urine water, and sitting out drying. I quickly cast a spell on the lot, causing the greasy film to solidify.
"There. Now they'll all be air tight." I picked up a small container, and turned to Cormac and Elky. "Make yourselves useful and help us."
I set up what Cormac referred to as an assembly line. I filled a container three-quarters full of sleep potion and handed it to Cormac, who dried the outside off. He handed it to Kahlan, who added a few drops of the red toad urine mixed with water, before handing it off to Elky. Elky only had to line them all up.
Once all of the containers were ready, I went over and cast a spell to solidify the urine and water mix, creating a thin membrane to seal the sleeping potion inside. Then we started the second phase of the operation.
Elky handed me containers, which I filled the rest of the way up with the heating potion. I handed it to Cormac, who again carefully dried the outside of the container, before giving it to Kahlan. Kahlan placed the cork stopper on them. And after they got them all filled and stoppered, Kahlan and I poured more of the sealing agent over the cork and I cast spells to solidify and completely seal from the air.
Only then could I cast the final spell activating the super-heating potion.
"Done. And we managed to do it without gassing ourselves to sleep."
"What about the other pot?" Cormac asked.
"That's the antidote so we don't put each other to sleep," I said. I filled the last four containers with it, giving one to each of them. "We'll take the antidote just before we start throwing sleepy bombs." I looked at Tahki. "I'll put the cauldron full of the antidote in my inventory for you. As soon as you drop us off, I'll need you to drink it so you can't be accidently gassed to sleep."
I emphasized how important it was to take the antidote before anyone threw a sleep grenade. The gas acted fast, and anyone who breathed it went to sleep instantly, for at least an hour. Likewise, the antidote only lasted an hour. So we had to get in and get the job done fast.
"Perfect," Cormac said. "You're brilliant and never cease to impress me, Meike. You're creation is far better than what I imagined."
I couldn't help it. His praise always made me weak and all warm inside. But then I remembered why I created the sleep grenades, and went cold inside. If we failed…
Chapter 31
Cormac
We departed around midnight. I settled in for the three hour flight. Conventional wisdom said most of the abbey would be asleep, and with the few guards close to the end of their long night, so probably groggy and less than alert. I prayed it was true.
That high up in the mountains, it was never hot. Flying above the highest peaks, in the middle of the night, proved mind-numbingly frigid. We wore our warmest clothes, but none of us owned a coat. The fierce wind cut through my wool cloak.
"Are you cold?" I asked Tahki.
No. I normally fly at this height.
I figured she kept herself warm by her efforts flying. Also, she was a lot more aerodynamic that the rest of us.
The temperature proved so distracting, I couldn't concentrate on the task ahead of us. Instead, I stared up at the stars, or down at the scattered lights. Even at that ungodly hour, I spotted a few fires burning brightly below us. I couldn't tell if they were campfires, or at farmsteads, or even castle watch fires. Eventually, I started nodding off, dozing.
"Wake up," Meike shouted over the wind, giving me a sharp poke in the ribs.
I awoke with a surly retort on my lips, but saw something bright ahead.
Yes, that's the Abbey of Vyx Triumphant, Tahki said. They don't normally light the watch fires, so they must be expecting us.
The fortified abbey looked even more daunting and dreadful at night.
"Can you see any sentries on the walls?"
Yes, she replied. I see five atop the Tower Keep, with another ten standing watch on the outer walls.
Fifteen to five, or a three to one advantage to them. Of course, we had a huge fucking dragon. Advantage us. Maybe.
"Take us over to the mountain cave we stayed yesterday night."
Not a good idea. I see Sisters waiting there, Tahki said. I can't determine how many, since they keep moving in and out of the cave.
The assassins figured out where we stayed and observed them the previous night, so probably thought they could ambush us when we returned. Thank God Tahki had such incredible eyesight.
What are we going to do? Kahlan asked, surprising me.
I still hadn't gotten used to Tahki speaking into everyone's head at once. The fact she let everyone hear what everyone else "said" was freaky. And everyone’s voice remained the same in mindspeak.
We have to go straight into the attack, Elky said. If we can see them, then they can see us. We've already lost the element of surprise.
Not yet, Tahki said. The sentries on the walls are still acting normal.
Whatever, Elky said. I'm ready. Let's do it.
I agree, I said. Tahki, head straight for the top of the keep.
Tahki responded without hesitation. She surged forward, wings beating faster and faster. I leaned forward into the wind, eyes watering as I squinted toward the castle-like abbey. Halfway there, I saw the sentries suddenly start running back and forth. A moment later I heard the alarm bell tolling over the wind thundering in my ears.
We went straight as an arrow toward the highest point in the abbey. Tahki could only land at three places: top of the tower, lower ward, upper ward. Even Tahki didn't know where the Abbess's bedchamber lay, only that she stayed in the Tower Keep. According to Tahki, both Veronica and her two prioresses were players trapped in the game, so they would be in that abbey for us to find.
As we approached the tower, I saw five black-sheathed Sacred Death assassins waiting with crossbows raised and ready. I pulled a sleepy grenade out of inventory, and the antidote.
Take your antidotes now, I said, and drank mine. "Ack!"
That tasted worse than sucking on an aspirin! You could've warned us about the taste.
Sorry, Meike replied, but sounded amused.
As we drew closer, I realized the assassins' crossbows had a much greater range than our arms. I had just enough time to panic, when Tahki opened her mouth and spewed out a thick torrent of dragonfire. Apparently, her range rivaled that of the crossbows, because five young women went up in flames. My heart sank into my stomach, unable to imagine the horror of being burned alive. Than
kfully, their misery was brief. Dragonfire incinerated them within seconds.
"Oh Holy Mother!" Kahlan cried.
I barely heard her voice over the wind, but heard her loud and clear in my head. I also heard the shock and horror in her mental voice.
Did I do something wrong? Tahki asked. You were going to kill them.
You took us by surprise, Meike said. We're not used to having a powerful dragon fighting with us.
As Tahki came to a landing, moving to the very center of the roof, I looked around and surveyed the damage. The floor was slate tiles, so the only thing flammable were the unfortunate assassins. Them and the door. The door had already burned to ashes and glowing hot fixtures. That meant we weren't locked out of the tower, but also we couldn't close the door on any foes.
"Dismount," I commanded, sliding out of the saddle. I helped Elky down, sending her off the defend the door. Kahlan came down more hesitantly. Meike surprised me by moving forward into the saddle. She buckled the strap across her lap. "What are you doing?"
The elfmaid pointed to the south. I spotted two dark shapes flying away from the abbey, and a little lower. Dragons!
"While you three take care of the Abbess, Tahki and I will deal with them," Meike said.
Looking closer, I noticed each had a rider in all black. Two more of the Order's dragonriders, and both trained to fight air battles. I wanted to stop Meike, but those two had to be dealt with. Yet thinking about Meike standing alone against them scared the bejesus out of me.
Tahki roared her dino-battle cry, and leapt off the tower. She took Meike with her.
Chapter 32
Meike
No! Come back! Cormac shouted in my mind.
That wasn't going to happen. You have your job, I have mine. I paused, smiled as my eyes burned. And being a dragonrider is my dream.
The realization of my fondest dream proved bittersweet. I would fight real dragonriders in my very first fight, against women who'd trained for years with their dragons. It was unfair to Tahki.
I'm good, Tahki said. It will be an honor to fight and die with you, Meike.
