"If you don't listen, I fear what will happen to you, son of dragons."
This caused Helios' eyes to narrow warningly. "I don't appreciate your threats."
The spirit glided closer to him and its eyes narrowed at him as well. "This is not a threat but a warning. You walk the wrong path, a dangerous path, son of dragons. If you continue, you will suffer the same fate as those which ravaged our world. The blue ones and their beasts will fall soon. Join the side which is right and righteous, or join them in true death."
Helios readied an angry retort, but as quickly as it had appeared, the ghost disappeared once more. His mouth opened to yell in defiance at the creature that he still wondered might be an illusion drawn up from his mind, though he didn't recognize it as anyone from his past, but the Zmaj sorcerer was left with only frustration.
"Do you think he was right?" Alec asked from the darkness.
Starting at the new voice, the silver eyes tried to find the boy. The dragaoin's eyes weren't as good in darkness, but he knew about where he lay. "You heard him too?"
"He spoke plainly enough."
Letting one worry settle as Helios now knew that he wasn't hallucinating; the dragon weighed the words spoken to him. "Right about which part?"
"He said that the hollows are learning and growing. They are actually Zmaj like you more or less."
"What if they are?" Helios retorted gruffly. "They still pose a threat."
"Your people posed a threat to the Ciemnosci, the dark elves as he called them; but only because they invaded your world. Does it make defending your lands wrong?
"If the Zmaj in the illusion was correct, then are you saying that we were wrong in fighting them, since we have now in turn pushed into their lands?
"It is my world too. They have no right to keep me from it."
"Is there a way to coexist to see how much they can grow? Maybe they are like babies in a womb which first needs to finish growing in order to then learn about the world around them?"
Letting out a heavy sigh, Helios didn't answer right away. He had been reacting and was defensive in his words; but if Atropos was growing these hollows, then maybe they were now the indigenous people here. Anyone, even the living Zmaj returning to Atropos, would be invaders. The hollows might simply be defending their home.
"I don't know. I have seen the research and heard the judgments of those researchers. Everything says that these hollows are just a strange reaction to the release of life and death thanks to the dust. They are mindless."
Their conversation halted at the sounds of warning grunts and growls from the salamanders a floor below them.
"What is that?" Alec asked nervously as the boy started to get up.
"Our mounts smell something," Helios replied and created a single glowing orb in the air before him. It gave off about as much light as a torch, dim, but enough to see most of the room that they were in now.
The boy reached over tapping one of Shaelamee's exposed feet sticking out from her blanket. As she questioned everything again, the dragaoin listened for the trouble that the salamanders seemed to have discovered.
The air fence covering the windows suddenly rippled while the scratching of something against stone brought his attention upward.
"Did you seal the roof?" Alec asked knowing that Helios had come from there recently and more scratching sounds could be heard moving on the walls around them.
Chapter 14-Siege
"The ghost was a distraction!" Helios growled angrily.
"Which means it was likely not a ghost," Alec replied sounding surprisingly calm in spite of the fact that he was pretty certain that they were about to be attacked by hollows again. It had been nearly every night of this trip, so perhaps the young wizard was simply growing used to it.
Looking at the ceiling the boy pointed and asked again, "Is the roof secure? If they can climb the stone, the windows and stone walls won't matter."
"I will go and block off whatever stairs I can before they can reach us," the silver dragaoin replied pulling a pair of rods from his belt. He had been holding them just in case. There had been no stories of hollows climbing anything, but the last few days had proven too unusual not to keep them ready.
Hurrying up the stairs, Helios disappeared from Alec's view.
"What is going on?" Shaelamee asked with a yawn. She had only had a couple of hours sleep, but unlike Alec it had been real sleep and not the rest given from mere meditation.
When the blanket was pushed aside, the boy was relieved to see that Shae was already wearing her clothing. Ignoring his relief when under the circumstances it was just another stupid bit of his childishness pushing through, Alec replied, "More hollows attacking."
"Again?" was the sighed response. "These hollows just don't know when they are outclassed."
"Helios saw a ghost or illusion leading up to the attack. We think it was a diversion to keep him from noticing the hollows' approach."
"Now we have ghosts too?" she asked sounding a bit more worried than before.
Alec moved to the top of the stairs leading down to the bottom floor where the salamanders looked agitated. The beasts looked at the shimmering fence blocking the door one moment and turned to look around them at the stone walls as if they could see something through solid bricks.
"The ghost, or illusion of a Zmaj, said that the hollows are little babies or children which are still growing. They are learning and evolving, if what he said was true."
"Great, that is all we need, smart hollows," the girl griped in annoyance. She picked up the bracers putting them on before those designed to protect her legs. Having time to put on the battle skirt as well, Shae simply put it on over the scarf tied at the waist. Lastly, a sword appeared from out of thin air. The small girl looked as ready for battle as she could be.
An explosion sounded from above them.
"Helios?" Alec questioned as Shae moved quickly to the stairs leading upward.
"They're above us," the dragaoin's voice carried from a distance that told him Helios was more than one level above them.
"Watch here. I'll check on him," Shaelamee ordered even while in motion. The petite girl padded up the stairs quickly with her bare feet making little noise, but Alec could still hear them as quiet descended for a moment.
Because of the darkness, the young wizard had to use a spell to see. If he was attacked, Alec hoped that it would be enough to help him in a fight. He wasn't trained for a close quarter battle and trapped inside the tower meant that was a likely possibility. Holding the hollows outside, or at least on other floors so he had time to cast his spells, was imperative; the boy thought to himself readying to fight.
The other window rippled as something touched it. At the door below, more motion in the wind fence let him know more hollows were testing the defense there also.
Sweat beaded on his brow from nervousness when he hadn't even done anything strenuous yet.
Scraping sounds could be heard all over the stones of the tower now. Some were short and quick, which likely came from hollows scrambling around as they climbed. Others sounded like claws working at the tightly sealed bricks making up the tower. Attempts at digging around the magical barriers or anywhere that looked weaker could be heard more and more.
His breath came from his mouth as if he had been running and, as he became aware of it, Alec shut it tightly taking a deep breath through his nose. Concentrating on meditative breaths, the young wizard tried to calm himself once more. It did no good to get worked up when he needed to be calm enough to use his mind quickly. Spells took concentration and staying ready was more important than getting worked up at this point.
More magic fired off above him. He heard Shae cry out angrily. A growl rose up in surprise before cutting off.
"Over here, Helios!" the girl shouted from a distance.
"What's going on?" he asked projecting his voice towards the stairway leading upward.
There was no response, though he could hear the heavie
r footfalls of Helios on the floor. Guessing that the dragaoin was either on the floor above him or the one above that from the sound, Alec looked back down at the lower part of the tower waiting to use his magic.
Time crawled onward, but there were no more breeches. Sounds of scratching could be heard, but minutes turned to hours as the three prepared to fight the besieging hollows. Still no more hollows found their way inside.
Shaelamee crept downstairs to check on Alec after awhile.
"The hollows managed to make a hole in the side of the tower. Some stones were loose enough to be pulled out. Helios sealed the hole after I sent the hollow off the tower."
"Did the fall kill it?"
Shrugging at him, Shae moved to her bedroll and pack drawing out her canteen. All of them were filled again, except for what they had drunk during a brief meal. After a quick swallow, the girl said, "Hollows are former dragaoin. Some of them can be pretty tough. Like Helios, many still have their scales so they have basic armor instead of skin like us."
She poked him lightly in the arm smiling at him in spite of the enemies surrounding them.
Shae added, "It looks like Helios may have picked a strong enough tower to keep them out as long as the wind panels hold. They'll need to be strengthened again by morning though."
"None of us are that rested," he reminded her.
As if the thought recalled her tiredness, the girl was forced to hide a yawn behind the back of her hand. Her free hand did the work while her right held a strangely detailed sword. Though he had seen the trick a couple times before, he hadn't had a chance to look at it closely. Not being an expert in weapons anyway, the wizard wasn't sure what he was looking at normally; but he sensed magic in the sword. It wasn't just a construct of magic, he thought, but couldn't figure out exactly what kind of magic was inside of it.
"Do what you can to rest then while we wait. I doubt that they will make it any further inside," she said sounding pretty confident. "Helios blocked off the fourth floor, so they might climb in from the roof, I guess," sighed the girl as if she was disappointed by the fact. Pointing at the ceiling, Shaelamee added, "The floors aren't likely as strong as the walls, however, so we might actually be more likely to find them attacking us from above.
"Who knew the things could climb a stone wall?"
A thrumming sound from the first floor brought them to the top of the stairs. Their salamanders stood growling and looked ready to attack anything that came through the doorway.
"Or they might break in there," Alec said worriedly.
"They almost never break the fencing. It takes a lot of them to overwhelm a wind defense," the girl replied, but her green eyes looked more worried than she sounded.
"What if they decide to just keep us trapped in here?" he asked. "They don't need sleep, right? They could remain out there indefinitely and we would be trapped here with just the food and water we have with us. Half the week's rations are already gone. It's taken us longer than Helios originally projected."
Her hand settled on his shoulder trying to comfort him. "If we have to, Helios and I can use our magic to get outside beyond the courtyard wall. He can transport you, but we might have to leave the salamanders behind. It wouldn't be ideal, but we could sneak away without them ever knowing that we left most likely."
"And we would fail the mission," he reminded her.
"Better a failed mission than dead. Losing the salamanders would be bad though. We don't have a lot of them on Atropos. Many of them were killed by the black sand decades ago in the war."
Alec looked down on the beasts ready to defend their selves. "When the wind fence fails they could try to escape. If we leave first, we might even draw some of the hollows away to make it safer for them."
He took a step down the stairs to look at the defended door better and Shaelamee took advantage of the change in heights to lean in to kiss him on the cheek. "You are such a sweet boy. Hopefully, if it comes down to escaping, you will be right. They might even find their way back to the fort. It has been known to happen on occasion that a salamander will find its way back to what it considers home after losing its rider."
More scraping could be heard and Alec asked, "Do you think that they will make more holes in the walls?"
"The weight of the tower helps hold the stones tight against each other. It is harder to pull one free than you might think. The floors and ceilings would be the better choice. If the hollows can reason that out, that is where we can most likely expect an attack."
"Helios said that they can also dig out from hiding places in the ground. Could they dig under the tower walls to come up from below us?" he asked trying to think how he would attack the tower if he didn't have magic.
"Possibly, but the walls go deeper than the floor. Again it is more likely to come from above than below."
More time passed. Shaelamee moved up to check on Helios leaving Alec to watch the lower levels. As the night drew out while under siege, Alec felt less of the nerves he had at first. The initial worry was still there, but his mind and body could only remain tense for so long. His meditative breaths had done much to remove that tension anyway while time removed more. He was still doing his best to remain vigilant, but the boy began to understand why guards needed to have shift changes. It was hard to remain perfectly ready.
He grew tired and the boy nearly jumped when he realized that his eyes had closed. Unbelievable given the situation, Alec had fallen asleep and hoped that it was only for a moment. No one had come down to notice and no enemies were charging through the door or anything either, but the young wizard slapped his cheeks before rubbing his eyes to try and awaken him more.
The previous attacks had been quick and the boy was becoming aware that short fights were better than this prolonged waiting. He had been through a full size battle against an army led by dark elves. Ciemnosci, he ammended. Small fights since then had helped battle test him, but Alec felt like he was leaning on the others. They had carried the battle by driving the hollows away. Helios had used ice in many ways and flown. Shaelamee's use of green blasts of magic and her ability to use that sword even in a close fight was more than he could do.
Without them, the boy realized the weakness of being a normal wizard and needing space to cast his spells would have likely ended him. Hollows were as strong as the dragaoin from what he could tell. They didn't feel pain as obviously either. Even losing limbs didn't always stop the creatures' from continuing to attack.
The thoughts ended briefly and Alec shook awake again. Leaning against a wall was enough to let him doze off. He was still standing, but too tired to trust himself.
Pacing was added to his watch. It wasn't a fast pace, just one that he hoped would keep him awake just in case the hollows should breech their defenses again. He needed to stay awake, but his body wasn't conditioned for such long hours of wakefulness. There would be training in his future that would help with that, he had been told. Of course, that begged the question of whether he would ever get back home.
Shaelamee wandered down the stairs looking as tired as he was. The girl stifled a yawn behind her hand again. She was no longer carrying the sword.
"How are you doing, Alec?"
"I am just trying to stay awake," he replied honestly. The fear of the hollows and of being attacked was dulled by the wish of his body for more sleep.
Nodding at him, Shae pointed to his bedroll and said, "You can sleep, if you want. I will watch over the doorway while you rest. Then maybe I will need you to do the same for me."
"But the hollows..." he protested.
"Haven't breeched the shields or walls. I don't even believe that they can, except maybe the one at the top or the bottom. They've barely tested them so far. I can wake you in time if something seems to be happening."
Wanting to protest more, Alec felt his exhaustion building and finally nodded before lying down on his bedroll again. He was asleep almost as soon as his head rested on his pack. Shaelamee sat beside him before he los
t consciousness completely.
Something wet made Alec wake up again. He didn't feel completely awake, but whatever it was dripped on his face again.
Opening his eyes, the boy noticed weight on his left arm. Blue hair came into view dotted with moisture.
"Shaelamee?" he spoke her name in confusion.
The girl started at the mention of her name. More droplets sprinkled across his face as Shae sat up quickly.
"I fell asleep!" she said in shock.
With the weight lifted off of him, Alec was able to sit up as well. His shoulder was soaked from the genasi's hair, he noticed. His face was a bit wet as well. She had used him as a pillow, but he had no idea for how long. If her hair had been wet all along, then it was likely only a short time. Of course, Shaelamee had been trying to hold the moisture tighter to conserve water recently. There had been far less water on her body or in her hair the previous day.
Alec continued to get up so that he could move to check the lower doorway. To his surprise, the salamanders had settled down as well. It was like sleep had struck them all.
"Helios?" he called out for the dragaoin.
Shaelamee's eyes widened at the name. "Shh, don't let him know that I fell asleep on my watch!" the girl hissed in a panic.
"I already know," the silver scaled sorcerer said from the window closest to the stairway leading up the tower.
Jumping up, Shaelamee spotted the light glinting off the silver scales. The girl asked, "Why didn't you wake me?"
"The hollows moved off an hour ago. That was probably only a short time after you fell asleep. You two needed your rest."
"But they could have returned," Alec suggested walking towards the window as he noticed that the wind screen was no longer in place.
"They could have, but they didn't."
The dragaoin was frowning in thought even as he responded to their questions.
"Do you think that they are up to something?" the blue girl asked after looking down the stairs to the doorway there. The shield remained in place unlike the window.
Shrugging at her question, Helios replied, "If they have hollows intelligent enough to create tactics now, then perhaps they had something in mind. There was that ghost or whatever it might be. He didn't look worn or decayed like most hollows do. He was complete and even wore fresh robes."
Smart Alec in the Dark Lands Page 18
