by Tom Larcombe
“More than just an image. You need to have more of a gestalt of the person you want to talk to in your mind.”
{Like this?} Gunter sent.
“Yes, just like that. So you know you can use it to communicate with me. Try Nimue also, don't try Verruckt until he's done draining for the day though.”
Gunter concentrated for a moment.
“I can't get through to Nimue. Wait a moment.”
He frowned in concentration again. Moments later Anguis came swooping in for a landing.
“I can talk to Anguis though.”
“He can communicate properly? How?” the dragon asked.
“I provided him with another spell on his crystal. He can use it to communicate with us by mind so we can have an alarm without warning any adversaries. So far, he's contacted you and me.”
{That's great, someone else to talk to.} Anguis sent.
{Don't just chat with him that way. The spell uses up part of the magic in the crystal each time it's activated.}
{Well, Damn!}
Merlin was shocked.
{Anguis! What are you doing cursing?}
{You do it all the time and it's perfect for expressing some emotions when nothing else has the right flavor.}
Merlin pointedly did not send a reply.
He's right. I just didn't expect it, Merlin thought. I'd have to watch my own language if I expected him to do the same, so I guess Anguis gets to curse.
Merlin spent the next day reviewing the information he got from Anguis again. He just couldn't see a way to handle the amount of power necessary to control the portal spell without burning himself out. He needed some sort of buffer or a means to handle less than the full strength of the spell.
The following day he was discussing possibilities of how to do it with Nimue when they were interrupted.
{Merlin, Alarm!} Gunter sent.
“Did you hear that Nimue?”
She nodded.
“Go help Verruckt detach from the spell strand as quickly as he can.”
Nimue stood and sprinted towards where the Dverger and the knife were draining the spell.
{Anguis, where are you?}
{Looking at these people coming into the valley. Want to see?}
{Yes, please.}
The image that appeared in Merlin's mind showed a large group of SS troops, about twenty-five or so, under the command of an individual wearing the modified SS logo that contained the Dagaz rune in the center. The leader looked familiar.
{Can you go a little lower without being seen?}
Anguis' reply was to swoop down while still showing Merlin what he saw.
It's that bastard Horst, Merlin thought. I should've killed him when I had the chance. So much for showing mercy.
{Go higher Anguis, just keeping an eye on their general movement will be fine. No need to expose yourself, they have at least one wizard there.} Merlin sent.
A minute later Gunter came sprinting into camp. The crossbow was slung on his shoulder and he held his assault rifle in his hands. Moments after he arrived, Nimue and Verruckt returned as well.
“We're going to be attacked by a group of about twenty-five SS troops, led by a wizard with an innate talent for mind control,” Merlin stated bluntly.
“Do I get to kill something now?” Verruckt asked. “There's been far too much sneaking around for my taste in this tale so far. A little combat will liven things up.”
Merlin sighed inwardly but couldn't contradict the Dverger.
The Germans know we're here and they have a wizard to track us if we flee, he thought. Horst may even have learned a means to see through concealment shields by now if he's been studying with Ave. I'm sure he's here at her bidding so there's a connection there.
Merlin spoke aloud, his reluctance obvious in his voice.
“Yes, I'm afraid we'll have to kill them. I can't see another way out of this, can anyone else?”
Nimue shook her head and Gunter chambered a round in his storm rifle. Their actions were answer enough for Merlin.
“Anguis is keeping an eye on them from up above. So we'll be informed of their movements. Speaking of which...”
{Anguis, where are they?}
From high above, Merlin saw the SS troops fanning out, the men on the ends moving much faster than the middle.
“They're going to try to encircle us. Should we let them? We have a couple of minutes before they complete their circle at the rate their moving.”
“Normally, that would be a disaster. But if you can hold a shield around all of us when they're firing their rifles, it could work to our advantage.” Gunter said.
“I don't know how long I can hold something that size,” Merlin replied.
“Try it with this,” Nimue said, and tossed Merlin a crystal.
Merlin examined the crystal and found it held a variant of the physical shield spell. He cocked his head at her.
“It's designed so that there's minimal force to the shield anywhere it isn't being hit. Essentially it's a two layer shield, one layer feels an impact and routes power to the other layer. So there's no energy wasted on the parts of the shield that don't need it. With your power, you should be able to shield us all for several minutes at least.”
Merlin nodded.
“Okay, we'll do that. Everyone remember that there will be a physical shield up. Use your magic to reach beyond it before creating an affect. Gunter, you'll have to be our backup, just in case the shield goes down.”
“It only reacts to strong impacts, right?” Gunter asked.
“Yes.”
“Then I might be a bit more help than just backup, but I'll keep an eye out for anything that gets through the shield.”
“Nimue, let's see if we can start by surprising them. Would you use a cloaking shield on all of us? You can drop it once the fight begins.”
Nimue's answer was to pull out her token. Merlin watched as the group shimmered and disappeared. Her disembodied voice spoke.
“Will that do?”
“Wonderfully, thank you. Everyone pick a target and attack when I say so. As soon as we attack, Nimue drops the cloak. I'll raise the shield when I can see everyone again.”
They waited in silence.
* * *
Chapter 22
The first sign Merlin saw of the SS troops was the barrel of a rifle easing around one of the cabins. The camp didn't have a clear line of sight at ground level since it was situated between the house and the barn.
The soldiers must be using whatever cover they can to get to us unobserved, Merlin thought. I can't sense any magic at work, so it has to be their own skill.
The rifle barrel was followed by the rest of the weapon and then the soldier holding it. He moved to the entrance of a cabin and peered in. When he moved to the next one Merlin had to shift, quietly, out of his way to avoid being run into.
When he found no-one in the second cabin either, the soldier walked back out of the camp, stopped next to the stream, and whistled softly. Other SS troops appeared as if from nowhere, coming out from behind things Merlin wouldn't have thought could provide concealment.
A small group of soldiers clustered around the scout who had investigated the camp. With his enhanced senses Merlin could make out some of the words being exchanged.
“...no-one there... recently though... fire... still going.”
“..check... Horst said... He knows... talking about.”
The scout shook his head.
Good, they don't trust Horst enough to take his advice, it means they might be reluctant to follow his commands as well, Merlin thought. I think it's time to start. That group right there has at least one person in a position of authority, we'll see if removing him causes any additional confusion.
“Attack!” Merlin whispered.
Merlin's own attempt was focused on the small group clustered around the scout. The water from the stream flooded up to surround the group, soaking them completely. Before it could flow away, Merlin
followed the water with a blast of bitter cold. Not the cold from the upper skies but still a cold that was enough to flash freeze the water into a massive block. The soldiers doused by the water were flash frozen as well.
Verruckt had chosen another area to attack. Three soldiers were standing near the base of the hill on a large patch of scree. At Merlin's signal the rocks and stones of the scree flew into the air, pounding the hapless soldiers senseless.
Nimue dropped the concealment shield and lashed out with thin lance of flame. She targeted the soldier nearest the cabins.
Merlin followed up his blast of cold by raising the shield, using Nimue's crystal to do so.
“Shield's up,” he called.
Gunfire began to pour from the SS troops as they recovered from their momentary surprise. The bullets striking the shield left small stars of light behind as they ricocheted off. Merlin watched, curious, as Gunter approached the front wall of the shield. He could tell where it was from the marks left by the ricochets. The ex-German soldier slowly thrust his rifle out in front of him and Merlin understood the earlier question as he saw it extend beyond the shield.
Once Gunter had the firing mechanism of the rifle beyond the shield, he began to squeeze the trigger. His target was the frozen soldiers from Merlin's initial attack. With one bullet per target, he shattered the frozen men into bits and pieces. Then he slowly repositioned the rifle and began to search for more targets.
Return fire from the SS left the shield nearly opaque in places while translucent in others. The wizards continued to target individual soldiers. The remaining SS had seen what Merlin did to the small group and were staying well separated.
Merlin targeted another soldier. He was trying to juggle the shield spell, which was much more draining than the personal shield he normally used, and his attack spells so his attacks were coming slower than usual. The next time the soldier tried to fire his rifle, it exploded in his face. Merlin had blocked the barrel with a miniature shield that left nowhere for the bullet to go.
The blocking shield worked on the rifles the way Merlin hoped it would when he created the spell a few days back. He tried to block the barrel of another soldier but found himself unable to do so.
“What's this?” Verruckt asked. “My spells aren't going where they should.”
Nimue looked at Merlin.
“Mine also, I'm getting no results,” she said.
“The shield is still up, you can see it when it's struck. But I can't seem to reach very far beyond it with my magic either,” Merlin replied.
Gunter drew his rifle back in from beyond the shield, changed magazines, and waited.
Horst shimmered into view farther out then the ten SS soldiers still standing. A barked order from him stopped the rifle fire from the SS. Horst strode confidently towards Merlin's shield, stopping just beyond the point that Merlin could still affect with his magic.
“So,” Horst said, his voice higher pitched than Merlin remembered, “you're the one causing all this trouble for me. I knew you'd be trouble the day they found your journals, but they wouldn't listen to a woman.”
What's this? I'm sure Horst was very confident of his masculinity... Perhaps I'm wondering the wrong thing. Who is this might be a better question, Merlin thought.
Merlin cocked his head and looked at Horst. The eyes were wrong. There was far more depth and experience to them than the cocky Horst had ever shown.
“Ave?” he asked.
“Well at least the man who has been interfering with my plans is intelligent. That's not going to save you though.”
Merlin saw Gunter slowly edging his rifle through the shield again
“Your plans are insane,” Merlin said. “Germany will never defeat the world. The Americans and the British alone will be too much for you. There isn't a master race of humans. Your ancestors don't determine your worth, your actions do.”
Merlin was prepared to continue but Ave's raucous laughter rang out on the battlefield, drowning out his voice.
“You idiot. I thought you were intelligent, but you've swallowed my propaganda just like everyone else who heard it. You're quite right that there is no master race of humans. There will be a master race when I'm done though. One made up of wizards who are dependent upon me for their power.”
“Wizards are humans, just like everyone else. We've just got a little added something that lets us control magic. That doesn't define our race or our worth. What we do with it does,” Merlin said.
“Deluded, little, ancient man; it's a shame really, you probably could have sired some incredible wizards. Not after the way you've interfered with me though, you're too uncontrollable, too—”
Gunter's bullet would have struck Horst's body directly in the head, if there hadn't been a shield in the way. The bullet ricocheted off the shield and a gesture from Horst directed it back where it came from. Gunter grunted in pain and tried to yank his hand back through the shield, only to find the movement abrupt enough to be blocked. When he slowly drew it back inside the shield, Merlin saw blood spurting from his left hand.
Merlin needed to return his attention to Ave. He didn't know how she would react to Gunter's attempt to kill her. When he looked back she was staring at Gunter, hatred in her eyes.
“Well, Horst asked me to take one of you so he could control himself here. I guess maybe I will,” she said.
Merlin rushed over and stopped the bleeding with magic. Gunter's left index finger was gone from the knuckle up. He looked at Gunter's ashen face and found the soldier partially in shock.
“Thank you,” Ave called. “I would've hated to have to use my own power to fix my new body.”
Gunter went rigid, strain causing his muscles to stand out from his skin. Merlin checked quickly but the finger didn't start bleeding again. By the time he was done examining it, Gunter was relaxing again.
“This body, even with the recent wound, is in far better shape than the one I just left,” Ave's voice came from Gunter's body now.
Merlin glanced over at Horst who was swaying like a drunken sailor just setting foot on land after a long sea voyage.
“I can see that he's your friend Merlin. I'll find it delicious when I use his body to kill you,” Ave said.
Gunter's body moved slowly towards the shield, and began to pass through it. Merlin grabbed hold of his friend's body and tried to stop it but Ave used strength beyond what Gunter normally possessed to hurl Merlin back.
“I also see that Nimue is a fairly powerful wizard,” Ave said. “Such a shame that you've pitted yourself against me, woman. I can always use more female wizards to help bring forth the true master race. I should have tracked you down while they looked for Merlin.”
If words could kill, Nimue's reply would've struck Ave down on the spot.
“I would've killed you, or died trying, if you had.”
“Such ferocity. I must think of a way to make use of you. Perhaps we'll starve you out and when you're so weak you can't defend yourself any more I'll take over your body for my use. I've many a fine wizard that could sire children on us.”
“I'd rather die,” Nimue said, glaring at Ave.
“And your last companion, Merlin,” Ave said with distaste. “The Fuhrer and his ilk didn't get the idea of Untermenschen from nowhere. It was traditionally used for the Dverger and the other lesser magical races. I just convinced them that it should be applied with a wider brush. They wouldn't have believed the true Untermenschen races even existed, so now they use it for parts of their own race and treat them accordingly.”
Ave sighed with delight, chuckled, and shook her head.
“I just love my job,” she said.
She turned and started giving instructions to Horst.
{Merlin, can you hear me?} Gunter sent.
{Gunter, is that you?}
{Yes, she's locked me out of controlling my own body but I still have control of my own thoughts. Can you shift your shield and enlarge it so it it encircles my body and the SS
soldiers? Leave yourself outside of it.}
{Why?}
{If you can, just do it and tell me. I have a plan.}
Is it really Gunter or is Ave using his mind as well? Do I trust it to really be him? But what advantage would that request give her aside from allowing her to taunt us like she did the dragons? I can't think of one since the bullets would be blocked from coming out just as they are from going in. I'll trust him and hope I'm right, Merlin thought.
His energy levels were low but if he tapped one of his storage crystals, he could fulfill the request. He slowly reached into his pocket and touched a crystal. The power surged into his body and he dropped the shield. He raised an expanded version of it surrounding Gunter's body and the SS soldiers.
{It's done, Gunter.} Merlin sent, watching to see what would occur.
Gunter's body went rigid all over again. A female scream came from his mouth, slowly modulating to a lower pitch. Once the voice was close to what Merlin remembered as Gunter's, the body raised the rifle that was still in its right hand. Gunter held the trigger down and fired off the entire magazine of ammunition into the shield Merlin just created.
There were more gunshots than could be accounted for from Gunter's weapon and in the brief moments when the shield was transparent, Merlin saw that the SS troops were returning fire on Gunter. He was protected by his own physical shield and even when Merlin could see through the outer shield, Gunter's was being struck enough that he couldn't see through it. Merlin also saw the SS troops falling, one after another.
When the outer shield became fully transparent again Merlin saw Gunter and one SS soldier still standing. The SS soldier was changing magazines. Merlin tried a quick spell and when the soldier raised his rifle and fired at Gunter, the rifle's barrel exploded. Merlin let the outer shield drop. He couldn't have held it for much longer anyhow, since his energy was nearly depleted.
{Merlin, Look Out!} Anguis screamed into his mind.
The image that accompanied the warning was of Horst, aiming a pistol at Merlin.
Merlin dove to the ground. His ears were still ringing from the combined storm rifle fire but he thought the tiny pop he heard was probably a pistol shot. He looked up just in time to see Anguis plummeting towards Horst.
