He mimed climbing even as Annala's screams echoed in his ear.
Nolien stood in a desolate field. Everywhere he looked, plants withered and slaves worked in agony. Monstrous humanoids marched up and down, whipping them into shape. Overlooking it all was a golden tower encrusted with jewels of all kinds. On top of this tower sat a man resembling Nolien, but different enough to pass for a brother. Tiza, her naked body marred with whip marks, did humiliating acts for his amusement. In the background, an elderly couple lay forgotten and fading into nothing.
“Not real. Not real. Not real. Not real.”
Haburt saw Tiza approach on his left and another girl resembling her but dressed in a school uniform, approach from his right. Together, they called him a villain, a murderer, and a hypocrite. The second girl said she hated him and that he was a horrible father and demanded he jump to his death to atone for his actions.
“Not real. Not real. Not real. Not real.”
Basilard heard a trio of screams and saw his students falling off the cliff. He was about to jump himself when BloodDrinker flashed in warning. He hesitated and watched them crash on the rocks below. Their spirits left their broken bodies and three more joined them. The six surrounded him and blamed him for their deaths. On top of the mountain, a man with red hair and red eyes laughed evilly while holding BloodDrinker aloft in his right hand and Mia’s severed head in his left. Basilard reached for the sword, but it was gone from his waist. The six ghosts held him in place while the figure used the blade to fire a blood red beam.
“Not real. Not real. Not real.”
Zettai watched a pair of ghosts fly down from the peak of the mountain. Primal terror raced through her mind when she recognized them. They were her parents. Every detail was the same from their clothes to the bullet holes in their foreheads. They descended to either side of her and she pressed herself against the mountain, hoping it would swallow her. As one voice, they told her what a bad girl she’d been and how they would punish her later. In the meantime, they would punish her new friends. Zettai threw mana bolts at them, but the spheres fizzled out immediately. She was powerless to stop them from lifting Eric off the cliff and throwing him to the ground below. Her fear turned into anger and reminded her of the Third Law of Magecraft. Shutting her eyes, she chanted, “Not real! Not real! Not real!”
Sias was entirely unaffected. Although she passed directly through the Fear Field, there was no fear in her heart because she was on her mountain. Dengel’s spell couldn’t break her connection to it. She remained calm, stoic, and continued rising.
Tiza found herself in a dreary boarding school and her clothing morphed into a corset. It was so tight she could scarcely breathe, and so confining she could barely move. A collar materialized around her neck and a leash pulled her towards a room at the end of the hallway. Waiting for her there was a woman with long, blonde hair. With a kindly smile, she gestured at corpses to either side of her: Sathel, Retina, Eric, and Basilard. Then she stepped aside to reveal Nolien strapped to a chair. His eyes were glazed over and yellow-black ooze dripped from his mouth.
“Lord Heleti, this is the girl I mentioned earlier. Does she suit your tastes?”
“No,” Nolien said coldly. “An alley cat like her would never be a suitable wife for someone of my standing. She is good only for enslavement.”
“As you wish, my son.”
“Thank you, Mother dearest.”
Fear and despair hit Tiza hardest of all. It drove all rational thought from her mind, thus making her forget this was an illusion. Memories of her past surfaced and spliced into her surroundings, confusing her further. Panic dove deep into her subconscious and triggered Videlicet Mens.
The rapid influx of mana through her spirit, body, and mind disrupted the spell's hold on her. Her vision cleared and she raced up the mountain, completely focused on finding the mechanism controlling the Fear Field. This triggered a second set of runes near the summit.
Sias tried to warn her, but the girl was blind to her hand signs and too fast to catch with rocks. There was nothing she could do to stop the girl from stepping out of the Fear Field and into the Fire Field. Magical flames activated and the girl was lost in a sea of crimson and sapphire.
Chapter 11 Enlightenment
Everyone heard Tiza's screams, but they dismissed it as part of the Fear Field. Only Sias knew she was burning alive. The pain, fear, and intense mana rendered her mindless and she jumped off the cliff into empty air. Sias pushed off the mountain and caught the girl in her arms, then she suspended gravity to arrest their fall and increased the pull between herself and the mountain to bring them back. Tiza screamed and thrashed against her grip, smacking her in the face and stomach. She could only wait and pray to the mountain for her salvation.
Basilard counted forty-two in his mind and reached for where he believed BloodDrinker to be. Even though he felt nothing in his grip, he plunged the sword into where he believed the Fear Field runes to be. The sword pulsed and a shockwave tore through the mountain, ripping deep into its interior and shattering everything above Basilard himself. Sias’ prayers made sure the debris didn’t fall on her mercenaries. The runes were now so much dust and, without its runes, the Fear Field ceased immediately. The nightmare faded and Nolien saw the mountain clearly. Then he saw Tiza and he thought he was still in the nightmare.
Her clothes were scorched, large patches of skin were black or blistered, and tuffs of hair were still burning. Spiders, themselves on fire and trailing smoke, crawled over her, biting her and squirting liquid and web on her burns. Nolien jumped over to the platform Sias generated and more spiders crawled out of his sleeves and out of his hair. They used his arms to cross over to Tiza.
She smiled as they swarmed and bit her neck. Her eyes fluttered and she drifted into a drugged sleep. Other spiders moved to her open sores and spat antiseptic to prevent infection while still others created patches for when a third group was finished clothing injuries.
Nolien shook his head at the sight. He placed his staff on her chest, closed his eyes, and called up everything he knew about burn injuries.
“Excess of Fiol, hostile flames, by my will and by my knowledge, I revert your menace! Return this one to pristine condition! Water’s Mercy!”
A cylinder of sea-blue light encompassed Tiza. It eased her pain and tended her wounds, going deeper than the spiders to heal the worst of the damage. Basilard sat off to the side, struggling with himself not to interfere. If he mixed magic with Nolien, he could do more harm than help.
The rest of the team joined them on the ledge to regroup. Seeing Tiza in such a state made Eric hate himself all over again. I should have warned her about the Fire Field! Dengel told me about it! I should have known she'd have that reaction; what Haburt did to her....Haburt!
It was his fault Tiza was like this! He called the professor's name and, when their eyes met, gave him the full force of his Evil Eye. The old man froze, but it wasn't because of the intensity of the attack. He sighed and slouched.
“No matter how much you hate me right now, it cannot be more than my hatred for myself.”
Zettai looked from one to the other. “What are you guys talking about?”
Eric spun to face her and accidentally blasted her with Evil Eye. She instantly went statue stiff. He immediately shut it off and she shivered like someone having a seizure. Once again, Eric hated himself, but not for long. As soon as she recovered, she asked what he just did with her usual inquisitive glee and he gladly explained.
They spent hours on that ledge in the thin air and in the cold. Tiza didn't wake up. The healing finished and she still didn't wake up. The spiders applied the silk patches they made earlier, but they only did more damage to the fire-weakened cloth. Having completed the task assigned by their contractor, the spiders gathered up their dead for funerals.
Many didn't survived the flames and more died in their haste to save Tiza. Only charred bodies remained at her hair roots and the folds of her clothes. Th
e spiders collected these remains into a pile on Tiza's stomach. Then they performed a ceremony and ritualistically ate them. Once finished, they dispersed to somewhere on Tiza and on Nolien. His skin crawled under the multitude of legs.
“I can't believe Sathel hid these on me without telling me...On second thought, yes, I can believe it.”
“Because she's Squad Four?” Eric asked. Nolien nodded.
“What's Squad Four?” Zettai asked.
Eric closed his eyes, grinned, and waggled his finger at her. “Sora Wa Himitsu desu.”
“Can you tell me who Sathel is?”
“Tiza's legal guardian,” both boys chorused.
“I assume the truth is more complicated?”
“You're sharp,” Eric said to Zettai. “She's sharp,” he said to Haburt. “You should hire her as an assistant or something.”
“Really?!”
“No,” Haburt said firmly. “The only way you're getting out of this country is on the back of a dragon or a trickster.”
As night fell, the air grew colder still. Sias expanded their ledge into a sizable camp and extended a wall on the three sides away from the mountain. The rest set up camp and, all the while, Tiza didn't wake up. Basilard put in his own magical Bladi touches to erase lingering marks and remaining damage. Nolien assured them that she was just sleeping off the spider's venom and that she would wake up by morning.
When morning came, Eric reached into his pack for jerky, but it wasn't there. He looked around the tent and in Nolien's bag, but didn't find it there either. He went outside and saw Tiza chewing the last of it between kicking drills. Nolien had done a remarkable job repairing the damage to her skin; from what he could see, there were no scars, scabs, bruises, or other signs that she was submerged in fire eighteen hours ago. The only evidence was her ruined clothing. It had more spider silk patches than original thread.
He ran to hug her. She deflected him into a leg sweep and then hugged him anyway. She didn't detect Basilard's hug until his arms enclosed around her.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I don't want to talk about it.”
“Tiza.”
“It was the same thing as Najica.”
“Fair enough. Sias and I are going investigate the summit for traps. You, your teammates, and the others are going to stay here.”
She craned her neck back to grin at him. “Is it a date?”
He lightly tapped her on the head. “No. I'm on duty.”
Sias tapped her feet. She stood on the edge of the camp and looked remarkably paler than she did yesterday. She crossed her arms and looked impatiently at him.
“Your lady's calling you.”
Basilard dope-slapped her a second time and then joined Sias. She floated the remaining feet to the top while he super-jumped. When they were gone, Eric asked, “What happened in –”
“Tiza!” Nolien ran out of the boys' tent but stopped himself from hugging her. Instead, he coughed and asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Good. Thanks for saving me... but you still suck at healing! Spider Daylra had to help you.”
“I know...I'm working on it...”
“So what happened in Najica?” Eric asked again.
Both of them blushed crimson and Tiza shook her head vigorously. Nolien simply stated that they were in the country on a mission, stuff happened, and they agreed to never talk about it again. This delighted Eric for he loved a good puzzle. He decided on a solution when Basilard and Sias returned.
“All clear.”
The summit of Mount Daici was a perfect plateau with a castle in the center. From the edge to the first ten feet was barren rock scorched by fire and broken by Basilard's magic. It encircled the summit as far as Eric could see; around the castle and over the ledges. The debris slipped and shifted when he walked but melded into a firm and flat surface for Sias.
After the Field of Fire was a Field of Ferns. Overgrowth of all sorts and varieties grew without limit or restraint in a second circle around the castle. Root vegetables, wild flowers, and shrubbery were only some of them. Curiously, there were no trees.
He didn't want his view obstructed.
Of course I didn't! The beautifully chaotic view was ruined by Shadow Dengel appearing inside it. High ground means nothing if you can't see your surroundings. Eric walked past it without looking at it. You will fail, it said to his back. Eric stopped. Everyone will die because of you.
Eric put his hands on his hips and scoffed. “This looks like an easy to nut to crack!”
The walls stood fifty feet high and higher at the corner towers. A ring of battlements jutted up between them. Striking from the center, a single tower rose highest of all. Four branches extended from it at each of the four cardinal compass points. The stones looked worn and the rune sigils only glowed on a quarter of the blocks and even then only faintly. Eric focused on the gate.
It was ten feet tall and made of wood. Before you ask, I created it out of nothing. It was no more weathered or rotten than the stone. In the center and overlapping the borders was a great shining rune. Eric recognized it as a classic symbol of protection, but then he looked again and noticed modifications. Is that a food preservation algorithm?
“FASCINATING!” Haburt shouted. He whipped out a camera and took picture after picture of the rune from every angle. “This rune doesn't appear for centuries in other writings and they were so primitive! This so far ahead...and just the entrance...inside could be...!”
“Did he overdose on coffee?”
“You guys can afford to overdose on coffee?”
“Mr. Bladi! Is there a way you can open this door without destroying it?”
Basilard shook his head. “I'm a warrior, not a rogue. My students are a battle mage, a healer, and a swords-girl.” He glanced sideways at Zettai. “Unless our tagalong is holding out on us, then we'll have to destroy the gate or climb the wall.”
Eric shook his head. “The Dengel I know is such a perfectionist, he'd never stop at just three barriers.” He pointed at the center tower and continued, “I'd bet my staff that thing will ZAP you if you cross the threshold.”
He grabbed a rock and asked his mentor for assistance. Basilard pointed at him and he slowly floated above the castle wall. He chucked the rock over the threshold and watched it fall into the courtyard. It hit the ground with a dull thud and rolled to a stop. A lightning bolt vaporized it. Only a black scorch mark remained.
“I see...” Haburt said. “Mr. Bladi, could you destroy the rune's trigger mechanism and leave the rest intact?”
Basilard vanished from sight and reappeared on the tower's eastern branch. Drawing his sword, he rammed it through the center of the rune beneath him. This caused the rune to short-circuit and the following explosion destroyed the tower's first branch. The second and third followed. By the fourth, there were four interconnecting black smears on the tower's stalk. Basilard reappeared outside the walls, unharmed.
“Is there enough for you to study, Professor?”
“There should be plenty, thank you.”
Basilard offered his arm to Sias, who accepted it and, together, they ascended the wall and stood on top. Together, they raised rest of the group with their respective power. Only Basilard wasn't shocked at what they saw inside.
Nothing grew on this side of the walls. The castle courtyard was as barren, brown, and bleak as the bulk of the country. A village of clay and stone buildings was broken and scorched black like the stone Eric threw over the walls. Some of them lacked roofs and others walls. Sun-bleached bones lay scattered near them and other places. They were always accompanied by scorch markers.
Dengel the evil overlord. Norej will love this. He took pictures with his scry's camera.
“Eric, I cannot allow –”
Eric smiled sweetly. “Professor Haburt, as your guide and the ranking expert on Dengel, I must insist on free rein to take pictures of the site and anything else that may be needed or requested by the Dragon's Lair
or Her Majesty. If you have a problem with this, you may bend over and kiss my ass. Thank you; your cooperation is appreciated.”
He took a picture of Haburt's priceless expression. Nolien face-palmed, Tiza gave him thumbs-up, Zettai squeed, and Basilard read his dirty book.
Eric jumped into the courtyard and spat on the ground in a fit of impudence. This was a historical site and the dwelling place of spirits and, as such, it was supposed to be a place of reverence. Everyone else walked solemnly through the ghost castle and even Tiza deliberately avoiding stepping on the scorch marks, but Eric laughed and shouted abuse at Dengel. The Shadow demanded he show respect and Eric replied, “You're right. I'll go straight to the tower and show you just how much I respect you.”
In the center was a tower both tall and massive. Its professionally cut and mortared stones and the many elaborate runes glowing across its surface revealed how much more the master valued it than anything else. He didn't remember Dengel as the type to hide in fear and countless barriers, but then he remembered Basilard's story and the part about Dengel's initial recruitment clicked into place.
So this is where you were hiding. The Silver Dragon would never think to look for you here. Dengel, the backstabbing, power hungry, cowardly Evil Overlord.
The young mage appraised it with the same joy as prying an oyster out of its shell or pulling the thorns off a rose. He knew exactly how to disarm it. After listening to all of Dengel's bragging, he couldn't forget if he lived forever.
The door only opened to my unique spirit. No one else can get in. Eric thought Dengel-like thoughts and pounded on the door with his staff. The grey light shined and the door creaked and groaned, hesitating. Eric lashed out with fury in his spirit and an explosion of spiritual power knocked them all (save Basilard and Sias) off their feet.
It reached the top of the tower and the tower's crown glowed golden-brown. The blast radiated outward and touched every corner of the castle. The sigils grew brighter and more joined them. The stones regenerated as if time reversed. The air grew thicker as mana fell like rain. Eric pushed the door with his right hand and it swung open.
Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 Page 28
