Kira stands and watches as Luke disappears into a distant bathhouse. She makes sure nobody is looking at her before she sneaks behind the nearest building. The terror from her first battle and the worry of what Luke will go through finally hits her. Kira sinks to her knees, dropping her weapon and sobbing uncontrollably. A twisting knot grows in her stomach until the feeling is too much for her to ignore.
“I’m going to throw up,” she whispers, clutching her stomach with both arms.
15
It has been eight hours since the battle ended and the academy is already filled with the noise of repairs. Logs and metal support bars litter the killing field while students and teachers build new sections for the heavily damaged walls. The repairs on the wall have barely begun since most of the students are busy helping Duggan chop up and carry the dead monsters to the edge of the Caster Swamp. Once there, the bodies are thrown into a large bonfire, which Aedyn magically keeps under control. The stench of burning meat and bubbling poison wafts into the academy grounds whenever the breeze is just right. It is a tolerable inconvenience while the injured are tended to in and around the overwhelmed infirmary.
“No good deed goes unpunished, huh?” Nimby jokes while measuring support beams for the wall repairs.
“I don’t know about that. Being ordered to work on repairing the wall and buildings is a nice change of pace from what we’ve been up to lately,” Fritz claims as he works on plans to make the wall stronger. “I missed doing work that didn’t involve putting my life on the line. Can you hand me that ruler? Thanks.”
“True. To be honest, I was terrified when Luke and I entered the battle. It was so chaotic and loud,” Nimby admits with a shiver. “I heard stories about how you can barely tell your allies from your enemies in full-scale melees, but I never believed them. The only thing that kept me focused was the sea of poisonous stingers and snapping pincers.”
Fritz looks up from his plans and chews on the end of his glasses. “It’s interesting that very few of the buildings were damaged. Those monsters got into the academy and the worst they did was put a hole in the teacher’s dormitory. I always thought that a swarm of monsters resulted in total destruction instead of selective damage. Still, I guess we should thank the gods for small favors. Maybe us fighting back kept them from going after the scenery. How long will it take your class to finish preparing the beams?”
“Probably another hour to get them sized and coated in hardening sap,” the halfling explains, handing the measured beams to a crowd of students. They quickly run the beams out to the killing field while Nimby starts on the next pile of lumber. “What if the controlling magic was so powerful that they had to avoid destroying anything that they weren’t told to destroy? For example, if the spadix were magically compelled to kill every living thing then they would not go out of their way to destroy a building. This would explain why something as large as a forty-foot cyclops didn’t cause a lot of property damage.”
“I guess that could be the reason,” Fritz says, returning most of his attention to his wall plans. “Though, that big guy sure left a mess in the courtyard. Selenia has to send for a specialist to remove the footprints from the ground and cleanse the fountain. Unless Luke makes her angry and is punished by having to do all that work by hand. I would not envy anyone who has to scrub away at drying cyclops gore.”
“I can easily see that happening,” Nimby laughs.
“That should do it,” Fritz announces triumphantly. “The wall should be stronger with these extra beams attached to the interior of the wall. They should soak up some extra force from anything battering against the wall.” He rolls up the plans and hands them to Nimby. The halfing angrily snatches them out of Fritz’s hand and tosses it over his shoulder toward a waiting student.
“Why did you have to change the plans, Fritz? I already prepared all of the support beams we would need,” he complains, his tired voice rising in pitch. “Now, I have to make extra with Selenia giving me a deadline to finish the repairs by tomorrow night. Come to think of it, I have no idea why you’re here.”
“There is nothing else to do since classes are cancelled for the rest of the week,” the gnome states, tucking his hands into his pockets and wistfully gazing around the academy. “I have my class disassembling the catapults, but they don’t need my supervision for that. So, I decided to help with the wall by thinking ahead. Besides, you can easily do this job before the deadline.”
“You left your class unattended with the catapults?” Nimby asks with a nervous smile. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.”
Fritz is about to saying something when a whistling sound catches his attention. He turns away from Nimby in time to see a swarm of pillows flying through the air. The soft projectiles sail across the entire academy, disappearing behind the Elfstar dormitory. An instant later, another swarm of pillows appear from the area where the earlier pillows had gone. Fritz chuckles to himself as everyone watches pillows continue to fly from one end of the academy to the other. It isn’t until there is a long pause in the action that he begins to worry. He turns to talk to Nimby, but he is stopped by the sound of a catapult followed by a student screaming. Fritz nervously turns to see a gnome strapped between two mattresses flipping through the air. The gnome bounces off the roof of the Elfstar dormitory before crashing into a tree.
“At least he was protected,” Fritz claims, refusing to look at Nimby.
“Maybe Selenia will only hit you with deducted pay for a month. After all, nothing was damaged and the student looks to be in one piece. He’s just stuck in a tree that the rest of your class can’t . . .” Nimby says. He pauses when the mattress-encased gnome gets knocked out of the tree by a flying ball of wet towels. “Never mind. I should have expected them to starting launching things at him with the catapults to get him down.”
Fritz starts walking away, hanging his head in embarrassment. “You can’t say that the battle did any damage to their spirits. I’ll talk to you later, Nimby.”
The halfling turns back to his students to find them already finishing the support beams and carrying them toward the wall. He begins to follow them when an amusing sight walks through the gaping hole in the wall. Aedyn is obviously embarrassed as Roland carries him into the academy. The large youth has the priest draped over his back in a mutually humiliating form of piggyback. Nobody dares to laugh when Roland glares at everyone, which is a scarier expression than before due to the gaping hole where his left eye used to be. Students are still talking about how the young man took a stinger to the eye and kept on fighting. Roland stops when he reaches Nimby and gently lets Aedyn down.
“Would you be able to watch him, sir? I have to go to the infirmary and get my eye looked at,” Roland nonchalantly mentions.
“Is everything okay?” Nimby asks, moving to help Aedyn sit on a nearby stool. “I was surprised to hear that you requested to help with the clean-up after your injury.”
“The academy needed my help and I can still see. Kira saved me from the poison as soon as I was hit and Kevin stopped the bleeding after the battle,” Roland proudly states, reflexively standing at attention. “I only need to get fitted for an eye-patch. It’ll make me stand out even more now, which isn’t a bad thing. I think it might even get me out of a few fights down the road. Cowards tend to view guys with eye-patches as too dangerous to challenge.”
“That’s true. There is also the story to go along with your injury. You can get some women with that,” Nimby points out. He shakes his head and grimaces in self-loathing. “Sorry. Fritz walked away and he would have wanted someone to say that in his place.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Tell Aedyn that he doesn’t owe me for the ride,” the young man says as he waves to some of his classmates and walks away.
Nimby turns to find Aedyn already getting to his feet and slowly reaching for a flask of water hidden beneath his robes. The priest doesn’t look as tired as he did when he first arrived, but his skin is very pale and hi
s lips are cracked. A few smoking singe marks are scattered about his filthy clothes. Nimby immediately notices that Aedyn’s staff is no longer the six-foot, finely crafted weapon that it once was. The sheen of the wood has been replaced by charred black and white ashes flake off wherever it is touched. Once the priest puts the weapon down, it crumbles into ashy dust that is blown away by the gentle breeze.
Nimby wipes some ashes off his shirt. “I hope that staff wasn’t important to you.”
“It was from my order, but I can request another one,” Aedyn replies after another sip of water. “Thankfully, staves are cheap to make and easy to come by.”
“Tough spell, huh?” the halfling asks, carefully watching the priest for any early sign of a collapse.
“The fire was stronger than I expected because it reacted with the magic used to control the monsters. I had to make my staff part of the containment field to prevent the fire from spreading,” Aedyn explains, stopping to yawn and smile. “Overall, I would have to rank it as one of the least challenging moments of the last few days.”
“It’s good to see you smiling, Aedyn. Before Luke showed up, you were always off by yourself looking dour,” Nimby claims with a friendly punch to Aedyn’s leg. The priest suddenly falls backwards as his leg gives out and he crashes on top of the halfling.
Aedyn groans and feebly tries to move. “Why did you think hitting a weak man in the back of the knee was a good idea?”
“It never got me into trouble before,” Nimby answers, pulling himself out from under the priest. “Then again, I would normally do it to knock a person down and take their gold. Those were the good old days when I stole for a living instead of battling monsters.”
“You are openly talking about your past now? That is a surprising change,” Aedyn mentions, pulling himself into a sitting position.
“I have nothing to be ashamed of. Those were choices that I made and they made me who I am today,” Nimby proudly admits before he leans in closer to Aedyn to whisper. “Of course, I trust you won’t tell Selenia and the students because it might get uncomfortable. No matter how I feel, people tend to be nervous around retired thieves.”
“Your secret stays with me,” the priest promises as he looks around the area. “So, where is Fritz? He said that he would be helping you with the wall.”
“His students were playing with the catapults and launched a mattress-wearing gnome into a tree. Fritz finally acted like a real teacher and went to put a stop to their horsing around,” Nimby says with an amused grin. “You’re being emotive, Fritz is being responsible, and I’m being honest. Our lives sure have changed ever since Luke came along. I’m still not sure if it’s a good thing.”
“You must realize that we have had an effect on Luke. He has become less impulsive and more mature since meeting us,” Aedyn admits, ignoring Nimby’s look of doubt. “Though, I think you have been a negative influence by helping him stick his neck into trouble. Just once I would like to hear him say no to one of your food-stealing schemes and childish pranks. Don’t even get me started on Fritz trying to explain women to . . . do you hear flapping wings?” He looks into the sky where a gathering of clouds has dimmed the sinking sun. A flickering of shadow catches his attention, but it disappears before he can get a clear look.
Nimby cocks his head to the side, straining his ears to find the faint noise. “Now that you mention it, I do hear something. I thought it was just the wind picking up, but I definitely hear something flapping. I think it’s somewhere in those clouds.”
A sudden blur breaks from the clouds and crashes into the top floor of the central building. Wood, brick, and glass crash to the ground as the sound of battle erupts from the gaping hole. Nimby is already rushing toward the building when a female scream is cut off by a bestial screech. A second of eerie silence follows before an elegant griffin glides out of the building. The beast moves awkwardly in the air due to a bedpost sticking out of its hind leg and the struggling Kellia in its talons. The girl thrashes violently until she looks down to see the ground far below her. Everyone can hear her cursing and swearing at the griffin as it passes over the academy.
*****
Selenia is reviewing the incident reports when the sound of a catapult going off causes her eye to angrily twitch. “Fifty students were killed and only thirty-seven of them have bodies for us to send back to the families. That cyclops must have eaten the rest unless we have some students who ran away and haven’t returned. I will be fixing this disaster for the next month or two with funerals to pay for and attend. That’s not even considering the possibility of some families attempting to resurrect their child. Those are expensive and extremely risky, so I should request all of my temple contacts to be on stand-by. You should know that I am starting to regret letting you into my academy.”
“I’m getting that feeling, but it could have been worse,” Luke responds as he sits on the windowsill. “The academy could have been attacked with you having no idea that the Lich was back. The body count would have been higher if that was the case. If anything, my secret being revealed helped you protect your students.”
“That is why I have not hit you yet,” Selenia casually informs him.
The forest tracker’s hair is still damp from his long bath, which washed away all of the blood and gore from the cyclops. His own clothing is being cleaned and repaired, so he is forced to wear clothes borrowed from some of his classmates. The pair of brown breeches and a white peasant’s shirt with road-worn leather boots make him look more like a farmhand than a forest tracker. Only the polished sabers at his sides remind Selenia that this is the boy who defeated a demon and fought by her side earlier in the day.
Luke barely pays attention to anything in the office. Occasionally, he glances at the locked door that leads to where Theresa and Kellia are still in hiding. Luke pays more attention to the academy below him as he watches his hard-working classmates continue the repairs. He can barely see Nimby helping with the wall repairs and Fritz supervising the breakdown of the catapults. After a few minutes, he sees Roland crossing the killing field with Aedyn on his back. They are all so busy and Luke wishes he could have talked to them before Selenia gave them orders.
“This isn’t over,” Selenia announces, breaking Luke’s trance. “The Lich will try again. I know him far too well to believe that he won’t. He has always been easily frustrated and there have been times that he’s sent out monsters continuously for days. If he can’t sneak to victory then he tries to bash his way to it with as many minions as he can summon.”
Luke moves away from the window as Fizzle lands on the warm ledge to take a nap in the sunlight. Luke takes a seat in the chair across from where Selenia is tirelessly writing letters for the families of the deceased. A small laugh comes from the other room followed by some unintelligible murmurs. Luke ignores the noise, silently staring at the trophies displayed around Selenia’s office. Most of them are severed claws, horns, and skulls kept in glass cases. A pair of leather wings draped across a wall holds his attention for a few seconds.
“I guess you’re right,” Luke declares with a bored sigh. “The Hellfire Elf and the army that attacked the academy weren’t meant to get to Kellia. None of the monsters made a move toward the main building.”
“The Hellfire Elf was sent to destroy you. I wonder if you were the real target of the demon all this time and Kellia was just a way to get to you. Though I don’t think the Lich is smart enough to form a complex plan with that much foresight. The demon itself might have decided you were more important to kill. Those things love it when they think they have found a challenge,” Selenia calmly explains, leaning back in her chair and steepling her fingers under her chin. “As for the cyclopes and the spadix, those were sent to cripple the academy defenses and possibly eliminate me. I’m just glad that the spadix retreated once the abnormal cyclops was killed. Most of the students were exhausted by that point. We definitely have another move to expect from the Lich and it will be aimed at Kellia
. He must be getting impatient and sloppy, which has always led to his defeat in the past. My only hope is that he doesn’t come to the academy himself. The students would be a severe liability for me, which means he would have the advantage.”
“You seem to know this Lich very well,” Luke points out, his curiosity peaked.
“I had a few friends research the area after I first encountered him about fifty years ago. The Lich first appeared in the Caster Swamp approximately five hundred years ago. Very little is known about his origin, so what I’m going to tell you is practically a rumor,” the headmistress says. She reaches into her desk and pulls out a book with a red cover. “Documents hint that the necrocasters who ruled the swamp were gone within three months of his arrival. Many believe that he was a master thief who absorbed the auras of the necrocasters in order to steal their magic. This would explain why he has a unique magical repertoire with no spell theme like most casters. It makes him a pain to fight because planning is useless. Some times he will blast away with combat spells while other times he will attack with transformation spells. I have even seen him use high level mental magic and all styles of summoning magic. Still, nobody knows where this specific Lich actually came from. Normally, a Lich originates from a necrocaster who doesn’t settle for death, but this one doesn’t come off as living a life of magic. Then, there is his lack of a focus minion, which, as far as I knew, all necrocasters must have for their magic.”
“I’ve heard of that. A necrocaster has a servant, which gets a share of their magical power in order to be stronger,” Luke excitedly interjects. “They act like a manservant, but they are monsters. The Lich has that Hellfire Elf.”
Selenia glares at Luke until he apologetically stares at his boots. “The Hellfire Elf is a new servant. A focus minion would be old, experienced, and have a close bond with the necrocaster. Any normal necrocaster would have a servant like this, but it’s obvious that this Lich has never had an attached servant. That is not even the least of his strangeness. Many Liches have a specific target group in order to complete plans that they had when alive. This one has targeted people with no connection to each other. He has gone after homeless people, trained warriors, farmers, and pampered nobles. If he was a non-magical, regular person then I would think he was a crazy serial killer.”
Beginning of a Hero (Legends of Windemere) Page 36
