The Archmage unbound

Chapter 34

It was late afternoon when we finally rode into the foothills in the eastern part of James’s lands. In the distance the Elentir Mountains could be seen rising up on the horizon. Supposedly those mountains had been created long ago, by the first wizard to bear the name Illeniel. What no one really knew was why he had done it. Most people discounted the story as a fairy tale these days, but after my experience nearly destroying Lothion I had come to give the story greater credence.

Walter and I had used the teleportation circles to reach Lancaster quickly and borrowed horses from the duke’s stable. Sir Harold had showed up shortly after we arrived, leading a force of some five hundred of my armsmen. Seeing them mustered so quickly and efficiently made me even more aware of how much the war had changed my estate.

It wasn’t without irony that I realized I now had more soldiers than my liege, the Duke of Lancaster. Luckily we were friends; otherwise there might have been an issue with that.

I watched Walter carefully, it had taken us a four hour ride to reach the area that James said contained the cave where the shiggreth were hiding, and he looked weary. “How is your leg holding up?” I asked him.

He gave me a smile that only underscored the dark circles under his eyes. “It hurts like hell,” he answered honestly.

“We’ll be camping here tonight so you’ll be able to rest it before we press into the caves tomorrow,” I told him.

“A peaceful night sleeping on the ground should do wonders for it,” he replied sarcastically. Despite his tone I didn’t get the feeling he was really complaining, it was just his way of making conversation.

James and Harold had been discussing the camping plans during the march (most of the soldiers were afoot). As soon as we arrived James sent a detail to relieve the men guarding the cave entrance, while the main body was put to work preparing our field camp. A large area was cleared of the stones and small brush that were ubiquitous here and tents were erected. Latrines were dug and a picket line established around the camp.

All told we had a combined force of some seven hundred men camped there. A group of fifty men were on guard duty at the cave entrance and another hundred were kept active maintaining the pickets around the camp. Although that might sound excessive none of us wanted to have a rude surprise during the night and the shiggreth’s particular abilities made them difficult to guard against.

Even with those precautions, I doubted many of us would sleep soundly that night.

Despite my fears I slept hard and I might have had an excellent night’s sleep, if it hadn’t been for someone kicking me in my bedroll. “What the hell do you want?!” I said, sitting up angrily.

A young soldier was staring down at me, “My Lord, the shiggreth have surrounded us. We are under attack!” His voice was shrill and on the verge of panic.

I bolted up and nearly fell as my feet tangled in the blankets. The soldier was quick though and caught me before I fell. “Thank you,” I told him hastily. “Where is Sir Harold?”

“On the eastern side of the camp, the enemy are strongest there, but they have already flanked us on both sides and some have gotten past the lines,” he answered.

I cursed silently and stumbled out of the tent, hoping to get a better picture of the camp. All I saw was a madness of chaos and torches. Despite our lanterns and torchlights it was difficult to see more than fifty feet in any direction. Men were running back and forth as messages were relayed and some simply panicked. More than anything we needed light.

I closed my eyes and used my magesight to assess the condition of the camp. I could easily locate our soldiers but the shiggreth were harder, still I had learned to spot them as pockets of ‘emptiness’. What I found wasn’t encouraging. The eastern line was still strong, largely because that was where Harold was, roving up and down the line. I could see that considerable fighting had already occurred there but he was having moderate success maintaining order.

The western side of our camp was a mess and it was clear that although there were fewer of the undead on that side they would soon overrun the defenders there. First things first, I reminded myself. “Lyet bradek searus ni pyrren!” I shouted holding my staff out and pointing it at the sky. A blinding streak of white gold shot upward and then formed a great yellow white ball of blazing light several hundred yards above the ground. The overall effect was as if the sun had just come out. Everything was now illuminated by a harsh yellow light.

A cheer went up across the camp for the men knew I was awake now. Looking around I saw Walter standing beside me. “Where did you learn that spell?” he asked. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

I frowned, “I just made it up.” I started walking toward the western side of the camp. “Follow me, they need help.”

A minute later I had reached the chaos that might be described as our western defensive line. The light did little to allay my fears for beyond the immediate fighting I could see hundreds more pressing forward and all around me men were being dragged down by creatures that stole their strength even as they struggled.

Even as I stood there the men standing in front of me collapsed and five of the undead ran toward me, yet before I could react lightning flashed past my head, branching and forking as it reached out to strike the creatures. Unfortunately the lightning flickered and vanished the moment it reached the shiggreth as their innate ability absorbed the magic powering it.

“They really do eat magic,” Walter said behind me.

“That they do,” I agreed. It was a lesson Penny and I had learned together one night a year ago, nearly at the cost of our own lives. “You have to use a rune channel,” I added lifting my staff to point it at the oncoming creatures. “Pyrren ni tragen thylen!”

A blazing cone of fire shot forth from the end and consumed the bodies of the undead nearest us. The flames were so intense that everything they touched was reduced to ash within seconds. Unfortunately more kept coming and I couldn’t put the staff down long enough to do what I needed to do. “Here!” I said shoving it into Walter’s hands during a brief lull. “You keep ‘em off of me for a few minutes. I need to do something.”

“I don’t know how to use this!” he said anxiously. I could see panic in his eyes.

More of them were running toward us, within seconds we would be overrun and slain if he didn’t learn quickly. Standing next to him I reached down with one hand and lifted the end of the staff until it was leveled at the monsters coming for us. I had seen too many battles to panic now. “Alright Walter, just do what I tell you. You can use whatever spell you like, just imagine it flowing through your hands and down the length of the staff, as though it were a pipe, directing your power,” I kept my voice calm and steady.

“Any spell?” he said uncertainly.

“Any spell,” I replied. “You need to choose quickly though, they’re almost to us.”

He hesitated and for a moment I thought he was going to freeze, but at the last possible second he came unstuck and his lips began moving. Lightning flared from the end of the staff and struck the oncoming monsters. It branched and forked and before it died more than ten of the shiggreth were lying on the ground, little more than smoking piles of burnt flesh. Walter took a step forward and I could see a look of excitement had replaced his fear.

I put my hand on his shoulder, “Don’t move Walter, we’re trying to hold a line, not rout them. These things don’t rout anyway.”

He stopped and nodded, biting his lip as he looked forward.

“Now look behind you quickly, these things have a tendency to sneak up on you and you can’t always trust your magesight,” I added. He glanced backward but the area behind us was still clear. “Now you burn the next ones that come at us. Just don’t lose your head and go looking for them, and remember to check behind us after every other blast.”

I watched him for a minute or so, until I was sure he had control of himself and the area around us, and then I reached into my special pouch, the one I had enchanted to open up inside a chest full of dangerous objects. Reaching in I pulled out a handful of dark iron spheres. They gleamed with a dull black luster under the stark light of the artificial sun above us.

I raised the first one to my lips and then blew softly upon it. “Tielen striltos,” I said sharply and it went streaking away into the distance. Before it reached its destination I had already brought another to my lips and had sent it following on a slightly different path.

Within seconds the western side of our lines was shaken by a string of powerful explosions as the spheres detonated one after another. I put as much distance as I could between the explosions and the men desperately trying to hold off the undead but it wasn’t easy and I was sure that in some cases I had probably killed some of our own men. Again I felt the familiar guilt, though I tried to convince myself that most of those that died would have been killed anyway.

I ran out of iron spheres and reached in to pull out another handful. This time I had more breathing room and I was able to space the explosions further from our own lines. Fire and thunder lit the battlefield as I methodically destroyed everything to the west of our camp out to a distance of two hundred yards. When I stopped at last I could see nothing moving there.

Walter was leaning heavily on my staff when I looked over at him. I took the staff from his hands and pulled one of his arms over my shoulder. “Here lean on me,” I said quietly. “We need to go help the other side of the camp.”

His gaze was full of weariness as he answered, “I’m starting to think you aren’t human.”

I half walked and half carried him along with me as I headed toward the area where Harold was still fighting. “Is your leg bothering you?” I asked.

“My leg is fine,” he said. “It’s my magic, I think I used too much. How is it that you aren’t exhausted yet?”

I laughed darkly. “I gave you the hard job. My iron spheres do all the work for me. You had to use a lot more power keeping them away from us.” Walter didn’t respond but I could tell he didn’t entirely believe me.

The other side of the camp was in much better shape but it was beginning to fall apart. Sir Harold stalked up and down the line, stepping in to dismember the undead wherever they overwhelmed the human defenders. Unfortunately the defenders were being overrun in more locations than Harold could be at one time. Looking out beyond the line I could see at least a thousand shiggreth pressing forward.

Since the line on this side was still intact Walter was spared from having to repeat his part with the staff again. Drawing forth more of my iron spheres; I began systematically destroying everything on the eastern side of the camp.

Within a few minutes it was over and I found myself standing alone except for Walter. The soldiers around us were watching me silently, eyes blank from shock and fear. An onslaught of undead monsters followed by an awful lot of fire and explosions seemed to have that effect on most people I had learned.

I glanced around and stared back at the men staring at me. After a moment I grinned and yelled, “And that’s what happens when you wake me up in the middle of the gods-be-damned night!”

Silence reigned for awkward seconds around me before finally men began chuckling. Once they started it was infectious and soon most of those that could, were laughing. I headed back to my tent. Harold found me there several minutes later.

“What do we do now?” he asked simply.

“Clear out any bodies inside the camp, ours and theirs. Make sure the men are careful not to touch them directly. They’re still dangerous. Set new watches and reform the picket. Once that is done put everyone not on duty back in their bedrolls,” I told him.

“Shouldn’t we burn the bodies?” he asked worriedly.

I sighed wearily, “Yes, in the morning, not tonight in the dark. That light up there won’t burn for more than twenty minutes or so.” I pointed upward at the brightly glowing light I had created. I had placed it extremely high to keep the undead from nullifying it, but now that I considered it I realized it was a good idea for any nighttime battle.

“But what about the ones that turn…,” he started to ask.

“The men on watch can keep an eye on them. If any of the corpses get up and start walking have them cut them into pieces. We’ll burn them in the daytime. The men need sleep.” I was already climbing into my bedroll as I relayed my instructions. I was exhausted from my own use of magic, though Walter seemed to be much worse off.

“But…” he protested.

I closed my eyes, “Ask James. Don’t wake me up unless we get attacked again.” He left after that and I was asleep not long after he had gone.