Wizard Gigantic (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 9)

by Rodney Hartman

  “You have broken your lower back,” said Nickelo. “Your healing Power is working to repair your injuries, but I calculate it will be at least thirty seconds before your back will be healed enough to walk.”

  Two massive arms picked Richard up. He groaned and looked into the eyes of Amir. The big man tossed him over his shoulder none too gently and began running. Richard saw the sides of the canyon streak by. Horses passed him on both sides. He caught a glimpse of Tracer leading Mia’s horse. The priestess was clinging onto her steed’s mane with one hand while holding her staff in the other.

  An arrow whizzed by Amir’s head. The big man picked up speed.

  Richard heard angry shouts from the throats of thousands of orcs and goblins.

  “The main body has joined the others,” said Nickelo. “They are in a full charge up the canyon.”

  “Then we’re doomed,” Richard said, resigning himself to the inevitable.

  Before his battle computer could reply, a rumbling filled the air. Richard sensed vibrations passing up Amir’s legs whenever the man’s feet touched the ground. The rumble turned into an angry roar. The angry yells of the orcs and goblins turned to shouts of fear.

  Using his passive scan, Richard sensed the life forms of the orc army turn as if to flee. They were too late. He sensed more than saw the right side of the canyon give way as monolith after monolith came crashing down, bringing most of the cliff with them. Raising his head, he looked behind them.

  A wave of dust and massive boulders, some resembling helmeted heads, rolled over the retreating orcs and goblins. In a chain reaction, the monoliths on the other side of the canyon began to fall. The crumbling statues seemed to race toward both the foot and the head of the valley. Richard spied the broken wall ahead. It was close, but he wasn’t sure it was close enough.

  “Are we going to make it?” Richard asked.

  “The priestess and the others are already at the wall,” said Nickelo. “Unfortunately, Amir cannot run as fast as a horse while carrying you. I calculate the two of you will be a few seconds too late.”

  Richard sensed magic reach out from the direction of the wall and wrap around Amir and him. The magic pulled them into the air and toward the fortifications. They passed through a shield of blue energy just as a wave of dust and rolling stones caught up with them. The magic surrounding them disappeared. Amir and he dropped to the ground. Amir wound up on top, knocking the air out of Richard.

  “Get off,” Richard said as he shoved at the big man’s body with both arms. Surprisingly, his arms were working enough to roll Amir off.

  Although he was still unable to stand, Richard twisted enough to look back at the canyon. Broken pieces of monoliths were visible among the billowing plumes of dust along with bloody pieces of orc and goblin. A five-meter-high wall of shattered stone rested against the blue shield of magic.

  Looking around the milling elves, he spotted Mia sitting on the ground with staff still in hand. She locked eyes with him and nodded before staggering to her feet and shouting orders.

  Richard closed his eyes and relaxed. The dark elf no longer registered on his passive scan.

  Buried among the rocks, Richard thought. At least I’m not going to have to worry about him.

  Chapter 27 – Dragon

  _________________

  Lord Crendemor lowered his arms from the front of his face. He was no longer in the canyon. It was dark and cold. Water dripped in the distance. Looking around, he took in his surroundings. Although he could see with perfect clarity using his night-vision, everything was shades of gray.

  I know where I am.

  The rasping sound of steel-hard scales sliding on the rocky floor of the cavern confirmed his location. He thought the words of a calming mantra. Once he was composed, he faced the large black dragon whose lair was the cavern where he now found himself.

  “Send me back,” Lord Crendemor said. “My enemy is there. He is without Power. I can capture him and exact my revenge in ways that will make him wish he had not killed my Lillia.”

  The dragon snorted. “You are as big a fool as my brother the Dalinfaust told me. If I had not teleported you out when I did, the high priestess’s magic would have killed you.”

  To his shame, Crendemor knew the words of the demon-dragon Efrestra were true, but he wasn’t going to admit it out loud. My enemy caught me by surprise, he thought. I could have defeated the elf priestess if not for him. I could have killed him as well, but he had help. He brought energy from his bondmate somehow. If not for that, I would have killed them all.

  “You fool no one, elf,” said Efrestra. “Do you really believe I do not know your thoughts just because you do not say them out loud? You are not nearly as powerful as you believe. You would have died along with those worthless orcs if I had not snatched you out of the landslide when I did. You are lucky you accomplished your mission, or I would have left you there to die with the others.”

  At the demon’s words, Crendemor became instantly alert. Things were not as they seemed. “My mission was to capture the giant. I have not yet done so.”

  The demon raised its dragon head high and snarled in laughter. “You thought your mission was to capture the giant, and capture him you will, when the master desires that to occur. As it is, you identified the giant’s new form. He connected with the stone as the master desired. All is as it should be.”

  “I was not supposed to capture him?” Crendemor said. “Why wasn’t I told this? How can I accomplish my missions if I do not kn—”

  “You will do as we want, when we want,” said Efrestra. “Other than that, you need know nothing.”

  Balling his fists, Lord Crendemor recited another calming mantra in his mind. The Dalinfaust had been hard enough to work with. Efrestra was proving even worse.

  “Of course,” Crendemor said when he had his temper under control. “May I suggest I be sent back to the fight? I might have time to capture the giant before the elves escape to the sea.”

  The dragon-demon laughed again. “You mortals and your obsession with time. You are no longer sixteen thousand years in the past. I teleported you back to the time your enemies think of as their current time. As it so happens, you will not be here for long, time-commando. The master has another task for you.” The demon gave a toothy smile with his dragon mouth. “I think I am going to enjoy sending you on this one.”

  Crendemor grew leery. I was used to working with the Dalinfaust, he thought, trying to keep his thoughts private but not sure he was succeeding. I knew how far I could push his limits. Efrestra is still a mystery. One thing I have learned while working with him is that if he is enjoying himself, those around him probably will not.

  Keeping his face neutral, Crendemor said, “Is it too much to ask where I will be going and what I will be doing?”

  Efrestra laughed again. “You will be going two million years in the past, my faithful time-commando. As to what you will be doing, you will be setting the foundation to make sure two elf friends will die.”

  The black dragon head lowered until it was only an arm-length from Crendemor’s face.

  Crendemor resisted the urge to step back. “How will I do that, may I ask?”

  “By doing exactly what I say,” hissed the demon. “With any luck, you will capture the giant and kill someone close to the master’s variable to make him suffer the way I suffered when he helped steal the three seed parts.”

  Lord Crendemor moistened his lips with his tongue. “Who do you want me to kill?”

  The dragon’s lips curled up to show his jagged teeth. “I want you to kill High Priestess Jeehanathoraxen for me. That will make the wizard scout suffer as nothing else can.”

  Lord Crendemor smiled. “It will be my pleasure.”

  Chapter 28 – Recovery

  _________________

  Mia didn’t allow the elves to tarry long in the canyon. After the lancer’s medic applied a few bandages to those in need, the high priestess had everyone move out at a b
risk pace. Before long, they were riding down the eastern side of the mountain. An ever widening, fast moving stream just off the side of the path ensured both mounts and riders had plenty to drink.

  Around noontime, the mountains started to rumble. A landslide came straight at the tail of the column, threatening to bury a half dozen horses and riders in its rocky grasp. Master Freestrod put up a hasty defensive shield that kept the falling rocks at bay long enough for everyone to escape. Although no one was hurt, the high priestess urged everyone on at an ever faster pace. As the reddening sun began setting below the rim of the mountain behind them, the trail they’d been following came out onto a flat plateau overlooking a plain a thousand meters below. Only then did Mia order a camp for the night.

  With most of their supplies gone, Richard finagled a pot from one of the more enterprising elves. Thankfully, she’d had the foresight to grab her pack before they’d been forced to flee their camp the night before. Richard sent Grapeon off to fill the pot with water. Through a series of grunts, hand gestures, and a lot of pointing, he convinced Skylark and Minsk to begin turning over stones near the mountain stream in order to gather some small crawdad-looking creatures that he’d detected with his passive scan. While they were doing that, he took Amir and Tracer with him to backtrack up the mountain a couple of hundred meters, since his passive scan had detected a concentration of life forms underneath some stones on the way down.

  “Snakes,” Richard told his battle computer as he kicked over the first of the stones. A meter-long reptile reared its head and struck out at him with long fangs. “I hate snakes.”

  “Well, do not blame me,” said Nickelo. “I told you there was an eighty-seven percent probability that the life forms you sensed were reptiles of some kind. By the way, I calculate this species of snake is nonpoisonous.”

  “Lucky me,” Richard said as he cut the snake’s head off with his sword.

  Pulling a canvas bag out of his trouser pocket, Richard stuffed the body of the snake into it and turned around to look at his companions just standing there with mouths opened wide. He shrugged. “Hey. It’s food. We’ve got to eat something.” He motioned at one of the stones littering the ground. “We’re going to need a dozen or more to feed everyone.” When they didn’t move, he said, “So are you going to help, or are you going to make me do all the work?”

  Although Richard knew they couldn’t understand his words, Tracer and Amir weren’t dummies. They were also obviously hungry. As he sought out his next victim, they got to work turning over stones and harvesting a few snakes of their own. Neither of them looked any more enthused about their task than Richard, but within fifteen minutes, between the three of them they’d gathered fifteen snakes. At that point Richard’s passive scan told him the other life forms in the area had scurried into deep cracks in the stony ground, putting them well out of reach.

  Once it was apparent no more snakes were to be had, Richard led the others back to camp where the three of them began the unenviable task of preparing the meat. He divided the snake meat and the crawdads gathered by Skylark and Minsk into three piles, then dropped one pile into the pot of boiling water. Grapeon had proved exceptionally enterprising by supervising the gathering a large stack of deadwood by a few of the elves in the other teams.

  “Well,” said Nickelo. “I calculate there is enough wood for a dozen fires, if necessary. At least you will not have to worry about staying warm tonight.”

  “To be honest, I’m more concerned about food than I am warmth.”

  Placing the lid on the boiling pot, Richard glanced at the elves around him. Several of them were whispering to each other and pointing at the pot.

  “Hmmm,” said Nickelo. “From the looks on their faces, I calculate snake meat is not high on their choices of dietary supplements. That’s too bad. Based upon the data from your passive scan and the ring’s sensors, your concoction will be high in nutritional value. Even so, I calculate you may not be able to convince them to eat it.”

  “Yeah, well, I can’t say I blame them,” Richard replied thinking about the slimy creatures he’d thrown into the pot. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to convince myself to eat any either.”

  “Oh, you will,” laughed Nickelo. “I calculate you are a more logical creature than you realize. Physical bodies need energy to survive. The snake meat has nutritional energy. One plus one equals two.”

  “You’re getting sloppy in your old age,” Richard told his battle computer. “I don’t need food to survive. I’m not planning on eating this crap. It’s for the others. They’re the ones who need to eat.”

  “You will eat, and here’s why,” said Nickelo. “First off, once you do the little trick with your Power and change the meat’s DNA, I calculate it will not taste like excrement. Secondly, I may be a computer and never had to eat to stay alive but, based upon information in my databanks I can tell you only fools would eat something the cook refuses to eat. If you want the elves to eat the culinary delicacy you are creating, you are going to have to shovel some of it down your throat and lead the way.”

  As the pot continued to boil, Richard monitored it with his passive scan. When he figured the snake and crawdad meat were at their optimum for change, he drew what little seepage he could from his Power reserve and modified the meat’s DNA in a way that seemed more pleasing to him. As soon as he did, the smell drifting around the pot took on a more appetizing aroma.

  Grapeon and Skylark leaned closer to the pot and sniffed. When they drew back, Skylark shook her head and mumbled some words of gibberish that didn’t sound like “my compliments to the chef.”

  “Hmmm,” said Nickelo. “I have a feeling they are not looking forward to the delightful meal you have prepared for them. By the way, I calculate it is as done as it is going to get. I recommend you spoon some into that collapsible bowl you keep in your pants-pocket and show them how it’s done.”

  Removing the lid, Richard looked dubiously into the pot. The grayish chunks of meat and other floating debris he knew were pieces of snake and crawdad looked none too pleasing. He glanced around the elves’ makeshift camp. All eyes were on him. None of the elves rushed forward with their bowls in hand.

  Someone feminine cleared her throat.

  Richard turned to see Mia standing behind him. She brushed her long black hair out of the way with one hand and held out a bowl with the other. Taking the hint, he spooned in some of the meat mixture. +

  When her bowl was half full, the priestess picked a piece of the meat out with her fingers, blew on it, and popped it into her mouth. As she chewed, no one in camp spoke. Then she swallowed. Pointing at the pot, she said several words of gibberish. When no one moved, her voice took on an edge.

  Tracer and Skylark held out their bowls. Once Richard filled them to the halfway point, they began eating. After they voiced their opinions to the other elves, the tension in camp lessened. All of the elves dutifully lined up for their meal.

  Once the first pot was emptied, Richard made a second, then a third. His eternal feeling of hunger finally got the better of him. Scrapping the last of the snake and crawdad stew into his bowl, he sat down and began eating.

  Mia came over and sat on a rock across from him. Pointing at the pot, the high priestess said a word of gibberish. When Richard didn’t respond, she pointed at the pot and said a word again. Whether it was the same word or not, he couldn’t tell. Like usual, the word disappeared from his mind almost as soon as it finished leaving the elf’s mouth.

  “When are they going to learn I can’t understand what they’re saying?” Richard asked in his shared space. “Tracer and the others in our team have tried often enough to teach me their language. Other than their names, their words seep out of my mind like water through a sieve.”

  “Maybe she is not trying to teach you her language,” Nickelo suggested.

  Mia pointed at the pot and said a word of gibberish a third time.

  Shrugging his shoulders, Richard said, “Sorry.
I can’t understand what you’re saying. It’s no use. Something’s preventing me from learning your language.”

  The elf pointed at the pot a fourth time and again said a word of gibberish. This time, the word sounded more like a question than a statement.

  On a hunch, Richard said “pot” using his language.

  Mia nodded and repeated his word for ‘pot.’

  Pointing at the bowl in Richard’s hand, Mia said another word of gibberish that sounded like a question.

  “Uh, bowl,” Richard said.

  “Uh, bowl,” said Mia. She pointed at the pot. “Pot.” She pointed at the bowl. “Uh, bowl.”

  Shaking his head, Richard grinned. “No, just bowl.”

  When the priestess frowned, Richard pointed at the pot. “Pot.” He pointed at his bowl. “Bowl.” He pointed at the empty bowl the elf had set down next to her knee. “Bowl.” He held up his wooden spoon. “Spoon.” He smiled. “Now you try it.”

  Mia returned his smile. The silver flecks in her eyes churned. “Pot, bowl, spoon,” she said while pointing at each of the items in turn.

  As Richard finished his meal, the elf pointed at other items. He told her the name for each in his language. Mia dutifully repeated the words back. Every so often the elf went over the items they’d covered and pronounced their names in his language. After thirty minutes, she could successfully name half a hundred items in the camp.

  “Good memory, and she is pronouncing the words perfectly,” said Nickelo. “Maybe she is part computer.”

  “She’s a spellcaster,” Richard told his battle computer. “They’re used to memorizing complicated lists of words and getting every nuance of the pronouciation exact. Otherwise, their spells might blow up in their face. The precise enounciation of their incantation helps convert their Power into useable forms of magic.”