“Were the goblins working those tunnels again? I thought we told them to halt their digging until they shored them up properly. If I find that Molek had them digging again, I will kill that goblin!”
As the last of the enemy hurried out of his sight, Sebastian quickly moved into the room assessing any remaining dangers that might have been left behind as guards. A frightened pair of orcs stood their ground until the mage moved between them jutting air lances into their heads similarly to his tactic with the werewolf.
Visible to all now, his allies looked ready to shout his name until he held a finger to his lips. That didn’t prevent some of the imprisoned orcs and goblins from jabbering as they spied the new assassin.
Half ignoring the inhuman prisoners, the mage triggered three more of his corrinut bombs in the distance making sure to keep things unsettled. The prisoners huddled together ignoring him once more as they feared their fortress was likely to become their tomb.
Cutting the ropes from Druick first, Sebastian quickly moved through the others’ bonds releasing the three. The Southwallers stood expectantly in a huddle as they tried to regroup themselves. Though the girls looked worn down from the enemy torture, at least the magic used seemed to have left little outward physical traces as far as he could tell from a glance.
“What now?” Rilena asked for them all.
“I’m not sure exactly,” Sebastian confided quietly, but added, “I was thinking we might use our magic to sneak out the entrance you all were taken in through. I’m not sure the lower tunnels I used will still be intact. I had to collapse some of them to try and draw off your torturers.”
With a wane smile, Rilena nodded and said, “For which I am appreciative, Sebastian, but, if we don’t come up with a good plan quickly, we’re going to be recaptured very soon. If no one else has a better idea, then I guess we’ll need to try sneaking past as many as we can before we need to fight through the outer door guards.”
Druick looked thoughtful a moment while he ignored Rilena’s shared thinking before he turned his attention back on their rescuer to ask, “What did you use to make the explosions?”
Pulling a small sack still holding maybe twenty more nuts inside, the mage offered, “Corrinuts, just like the books said.”
The nature wizard smiled uncharacteristically at the knowledge of his own brand of magic having been used in the diversion. “Excellent. Then I think I have just the right magic for our escape. I’ll need the remaining nuts though. You three will also need to keep watch while I set this spell. It takes a few minutes to cast something as big this.”
With a nod from the other three, the wizard took the bag from Sebastian’s hand and went to work creating an open circle. Nereith assisted him by placing pieces of wood scavenged from breaking some chairs between each nut creating the circle more completely. As they worked, Rilena and Sebastian kept watch near the door.
His senses remained heightened so the mage listened for the enemy to return to their abandoned prisoners. Sebastian even set off another trio of explosions when he feared the fortress was settling down. Despite his precautions, however, it soon became evident that the distractions would not be enough of a delay.
“Someone’s coming,” the mage proclaimed to the others worriedly. His senses had picked up the scent and power of the giant again. “It’s Garosh! Hurry, he has too much power to try and fight him here.”
Druick didn’t even acknowledge his voice as he continued setting his wards and enchantments. Similar to Sebastian’s earlier use of the nuts, the wizard added power into each of the round shells quickly.
Nerieth replied for her master, “It takes time. This is no simple spell, falcon. If they are coming here, you’ll have to try and buy him some time, but when the spell is ready you two must be in the circle or you will be stranded here.”
“We won’t be able to hold them by ourselves,” Rilena said worriedly. “They’re all coming back.”
“I’ll try and back you up as best I can.” The red haired apprentice began an enchantment as she stepped from the circle. Nereith’s spell began to encompass one of the large torturer’s tables and the mass began to contort and break up. A pair of chairs nearby began to come to life moving towards the larger mass of the table. When the various limbs of wood finally took the shape it was roughly human, though taller than Sebastian by half a foot in height and much more massive in weight.
Her golem formed, Nereith’s eyes seemed to regain focus on the mages before her. The wooden creature began to step forward even as they heard shouting from nearby.
“Here they come!” Sebastian declared keeping his voice as low as he could and still be heard by the wizards. He also had a feeling that the magical beings with Garosh had noted the nature wizards’ use of magic and been spurred to return by the unexpected display of power within their fortress.
Druick began to chant and his power increased beyond the small amounts that had been added earlier in the spell. The wood and corrinuts were joined by his magic as his spell began to grow.
“It won’t be long now,” the apprentice noted quietly.
Unfortunately, they all knew that it would not be soon enough. As the falcon turned his attention back to the doorway and stepped back, the first of the orcs entered with weapons drawn. The slight surprise of seeing their prisoners freed and waiting in ambush was quickly put aside by the creatures that had been bred and trained for war and killing. Ten orcs spilled through the door and attacked, as the first orcs cried alarm.
Sebastian and Rilena used their reflex spells at their appearance heightening their speed instantly. Swords flashed in the falcons’ hands cutting down the first pair of orcs to reach them almost before they knew the fight had begun. The mages’ increased speed neutralized the raw power and numbers of the enemy at first. Like twin tornadoes, the two mages danced among the orcs as aches and pains faded into the back of their minds. The golem anchored the middle for the mages. Reaching out with rough wooden hands, Nereith caught one of the orcs as it stumbled back from Rilena. The golem picked up the creature like a rag doll first slapping it against the ceiling before slamming it down with deadly, crushing force onto the stone floor.
The large wooden figure caused the orcs to shift away only to find the mages harrying them from either side. All ten were slashed or crushed in seconds, but even that was too slow. Several more orcs followed through the doorway and worse they were joined by a pair of werewolves already in their half wolf forms. Much faster than the orcs and even stronger, the new combatants took the fight to the mages.
Twisting, Sebastian struck one of the new orcs with an air lance called to life from his off hand. The barely visible spear struck the armored orc on its iron breast plate and still drove through its chest. The force of the attack sent the half dead body into one of the wolves tripping it up. Slicing with his sword, the mage caught the beast with a good gash along his upper chest and shoulder, but the wolves were more resilient than the orcs. Leaping back to regroup and letting a pair of orcs get between them; the wolf quickly shrugged off the wound and took a new angle against him.
The powerful presence of the wraiths threatened to shift the battle even more as the mage felt the undead creatures approaching. He knew the fight was going on too long thanks to the dangerous werewolves and the odds continuing to stack against them. More orcs and the deadly wraiths were coming. Garosh was on the move as well and headed their way along with his pet wizards, Sebastian was sure. About the only saving grace, was that the room was getting too crowded for the enemy to add their numbers easily. Between the living and the dead under foot, their enemies were finding that getting past the fallen corpses to meet the mages’ waiting blades was becoming more difficult each minute. The golem continued to slap at the creatures from the center holding the line, while the two mages fought vigorously from either side keeping the enemy trapped between them and the doorway and away from Druick’s ritual.
“Flame!” Sebastian called forth a fireball an
d directed it into the werewolf before him. The unexpected move caught the beast with a direct hit this time. With a howl of pain, the wolf fell back onto the floor writhing as it tried to put out the fires on its hairy upper body.
Feeling a gust of power as Rilena sent a spinning blast of air into an orc, Sebastian knew that his partner was working her mage skills into the fight as well now. More than soldiers with swords, battle mages could wield magic in a fight and that made them much more than mere soldiers. Their magic could turn the tide of a battle as much as any wizard, but this fight was still barely in hand. Numbers were against them and, if they didn’t escape soon, numbers would eventually overwhelm and defeat them.
“Shield.” The spell formed a blue shield of energy over his left arm. Using his shoulder for more leverage, Sebastian drove forward as hard as he could into an orc throwing it back into the soldiers behind him. Unfortunately, the move also brought him face to with the soulless eyes of a wraith. In desperation, his sword flashed forward ripping into its chest. Black ichor sprayed from the wound splashing an orc beside it in a seemingly harmless way, but, like acid, the blood quickly bit into the armor and exposed flesh of the creature causing it to scream in horrible pain. It fell backwards over one of the many dead and was quickly dismissed by both falcon and undead.
In fact, the wraith barely slowed with the wound. Other than the spray his sword had carried with the blade, the wound seemed to spill no more of the black blood. It was one of the dead brought back to life. This creature couldn’t be harmed like a normal, living being. Sebastian’s brow furrowed with intensity as he became even more cautious of this fearsome foe.
“How soon?” he gasped not risking breaking eye contact with his foe. “We can’t hold them off much longer.” It was a confession he hated to make, but his wounds from the fight on the mountain were making themselves known once more and becoming a hindrance. He wasn’t a hundred percent and Rilena, who had been tortured mere minutes before this battle, was also straining to hold her side. The two mages were just not going to have the strength to hold back a wave of such powerful foes.
“To me! Now!” The words shouted from Druick mere moments later brought a thankful sigh to his lips even as he fended off the wraith’s assault.
Garosh’s massive form entered the room even as the Southwallers retreated towards the circle. Magic could be felt gathering as the giant readied his own spell of destruction.
Nereith disrupted the battle as her golem surged forward and shattered into shrapnel directed in a spray across the whole of the enemy. “Dance!” The mizard ordered sending a scattering of lightning from his fingers and even an arc left him through his sword. The combined attacks as well as Rilena’s use of several quick wind spells, gave the three just a moment to leap into the glowing circle. Sebastian twisted to reset his feet as he landed within the circle preparing to defend again if he must, but the room with all of its many dangers suddenly seemed to ripple and twist before his eyes.
His body felt like it was being contorted and twisted as well. It wasn’t pain that he felt exactly, but still his mind and body felt wrenched in a way that seemed to mirror a pain of the same sort. He tried to scream as the room beneath the mountain disappeared from his sight.
The world of stone and torches was gone in a flash, but just as fast a new world came to life around him. Much colder and brighter, it seemed to form beyond a cascading stream of colors that his body was pulled through in a wrenching, twisting rush. His scream stopped before he could let it out. The bite of winter air washed across his exposed skin as the moisture of falling snow sought to wash his pain away.
While his scream had stopped, Sebastian heard the startled cries of others in its place.
His vision caught up to his new reality as fast as it could. There were horses and a carriage. The sight took a long moment to register in his mind. Falcon Markun called his name as horses pulled to a stop in the snow in front of him. The approach of soldiers from Southwall and the wizard Trenelaus with his apprentice Barnclae slowly registered with the stunned mage as his mind continued to reel from the bizarre results of Druick’s spell.
Druick’s magic had somehow transported them all the way to the ambassador’s caravan in a single confusing rush. How he had done such a thing, let alone what the strange spell had been, was completely unknown to Sebastian, but the relief from finding friends and safety were nearly overwhelming.
He turned to look at Druick as the mage’s wits attempted to return. The wizard’s face was white as the snow around them. Apparently the spell had nearly drained him as well, but a slight smile at his look revealed that it had all gone as planned.
A commotion came as the door of the carriage was flung open spilling out Ashleen followed closely by Helena and her father, drawing Sebastian’s eyes to the approaching kardorians. The apprentice’s worried look was tempered by the presence of the others, he thought. He and Ashleen were already close friends, and friends worried over one another.
By the time everyone had gathered around, the four newly arrived travelers were besieged by nearly a dozen voices all trying to ask basically the same thing.
Druick rose to his full height towering over those around him and waved them back. “Please, everyone, we can explain, but we should get moving east now. The enemy has a major stronghold in the mountain and if they should chase us, I doubt that we will be able to withstand their number.”
The wizard conversed with Trenelaus and Markun quickly before using his magic to call a larger bird to him. Where the falcon had been hiding itself in the winter weather, Sebastian had no idea, but the wizard’s magic didn’t worry over such things and simply called.
They quickly wrote a note and attached it to the bird’s leg. It was no homing peregion, but with magical guidance Druick and Nereith assured them it could find it’s way back to Falcon’s Keep. A second bird arrived soon after. It was a raven of even greater size than the falcon, which had just flown off towards the keep. The sight of the bird brought a slight smile to all the battle mages’ faces as the two iconic birds of their order would be the ones to answer the wizard’s call.
The raven was similarly outfitted with a note and flew towards Windmeer. They knew it would take them much longer to get there than the bird which didn’t have the snow drifts to slow it down. The castles would probably both have started to outfit and perhaps even sent out troops to deal with the enemy fortress by the time they managed to escape the mountains.
Even though the others wanted to know what had happened to them, the mages and wizards realized they had to leave. Limited conversations ran as they rode, though Sebastian found himself feeling less talkative as the ride continued. The pain of his injuries tried to drown the young man drawing him into himself as he wound up using most of his concentration just to stay on his horse.
He figured conversations could be held more thoroughly once they set up camp for the night and with that he simply rode with the pain.
Chapter 11- Almost Like Home
As darkness descended late in the afternoon heralding the night, the air turned even colder though the snowfall had finally stopped for the time being. A small cabin they had found set in the lee of a hill for travelers provided some of their party protection from the cold and snow. They also discovered that it had a well for fresh water, but it was frozen over thanks to the cold weather. Luckily, they had water wizard specialists who could use their magic to overcome such a problem with the cast of a single spell while others started a fire going in the cabin’s fireplace.
After the long ride through the cold and snow, Sebastian could no longer make it into the cabin on his own. His legs were shaking uncontrollably after the ride and he nearly collapsed just from trying to dismount. Two days of little sleep and his injuries from the ambush were all starting to catch up to him now. Grateful just to be in out of the weather, the wounded young man collapsed wearily onto one of the rough wooden benches near the slowly building fire.
“You d
on’t look so good,” Ashleen stated walking over to him and even placed the back of her hand against his forehead to check for fever. Her eyes took in his blood stained gear that he had never bothered to change. Gashes raked the cloth in over a dozen spots ranging from mere nicks to the four that had made it through to cause the worst of his wounds.
“I lost a fight and fell off a cliff. It’s unlikely I would look too good after that,” he replied with a wane smile leaning his back against the stone wall beside the fireplace where the bench was placed. Closing his eyes momentarily with exhaustion, Sebastian found reopening them once more to be a fight he almost couldn’t win. If not for some gentle hands pulling at his jacket, Sebastian might have gone to sleep until morning or longer.
Eyes opening tiredly, he noted Ashleen checking the wound on his side. She waved Deiclonus over with even more worry.
The elder wizard surveyed the damage and shook his head contemplatively. Grabbing his satchel, Deiclonus began working with some salves and ointments unknown to the battle mage, who simply sat wearily awaiting his fate. He knew that death wasn’t likely, but pain was a more certain foe coming for him soon if the fire wizard was going to attempt a healing spell. Sebastian’s fellow mages were useless when it came to healing and it was unlikely that any of the wizards from Falcon’s Keep had hidden any expertise this long either.
Applying a salve to the wound in his side, which was his worst, Deiclonus then followed up with an incantation. Sebastian’s eyes widened slightly in surprise wondering what a fire wizard could possibly be thinking to do. Fire flared along his side where the salve had been placed. The pain was so excruciating, the battle mage saw stars and nearly blacked out. In fact, he was so close to passing out; Sebastian missed the voices of those arguing over how the rest of his wounds should be treated.
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