Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) (11 page)

“We are ready, brother of the overlord,” grunted Khazatch, the orc platoon leader, in its language. Growing up on Salidar, Rubic had the misfortune of spending enough time with orcs that he spoke their language. While Rubic couldn’t emulate all of the grunts that they made perfectly, he could understand their language without any problems.

“Lead on, then,” replied Rubic, and the platoon leader barked out the command to advance. A giant of an orc, Khazatch was almost seven feet tall and 300 pounds, with a mix of features both ape-like and pig-like. Pig-like won out in the end, as tusks stuck out several inches from both his top and bottom jaws. His skin was a grayish green, indicating that he came from the southern part of Salidar. Immensely strong, he carried a double-headed great axe on his back and a whip at his side. Rubic also caught flashes of metal from all over his body as the giant orc turned and left at a jog, and he guessed the platoon leader had many hidden knives as well. 

A squad of six large orcs followed Khazatch, each restraining a large worg. Although the orcs were six and a half feet tall and over 250 pounds, it took all of their strength to control the animals. Three feet high at the shoulder and weighing over 300 pounds, the worgs’ eyes were right at Rubic’s eye level. Rubic knew from experience not to look into the worgs’ red eyes; the worgs were extremely intelligent and some of the most evil creatures he had ever met. Like the orcs holding them, they liked to kill for fun, often leaving their victims not-quite-dead for long periods of time, just so they could watch them suffer.

The six orcs of the second squad were normal-sized orcs, standing just over six feet tall, with the black hair, pointed ears and reddish eyes characteristic of their race. Like their leader, they were grayish green in color, and all wore mustard yellow pants and tunics that clashed garishly with their skin tone. Each of the normal orcs was just over 200 pounds and either carried an axe or a sword, as well as some sort of knife.

The last orc to jog past him was shorter and slighter than the rest of the orcs, and it was dressed in a variety of animal skins, bones and trophies. Armed with a staff and a bandolier of ceremonial knives across its chest, the orc shaman didn’t look at Rubic as he ran by. He was focused on praying to his gods, which was quite all right with Rubic. He’d take all the help he could get.

Rubic chased after them, the orcs’ jog translating into nearly a full run for the halfling’s shorter legs. He was sure that they had enough combat power to kill the outlander’s group; Rubic just hoped they would catch up with their quarry before his legs gave out.

“What does the crown do?” asked Ghorza.

“It allows the wearer to control members of evil races,” replied Lady Ellyn. “Whoever wears it can control orcs, hill giants, ogres, trolls, or any other evil humanoid that you can name.”

“That’s how they were able to unite all of the races of Salidar,” said Dantes. He paused, deep in thought. “That also explains how they were able to make the teufling go with the ogres. It must have been under some kind of spell.”

“I understand that the crown is magic,” said the ranger, “but I canna’ imagine that it would let the wearer control more than just a few o’ the enemy at a time. How did it get them to storm the city? Commanding that big an army would not be easy.”

“I was there at the gates of the city,” replied Lady Ellyn. “The halfling did it by controlling a few of the leaders and making them do what he commanded.” She paused, and then said, “Even so, it was a battle for the ages, full of fury and majesty. The enemy forces called forth a huge cloud bank, allowing their troll forces to move up unhindered. Our air mages worked to blow the clouds away, but the trolls charged before they could do so.”

“I’ve been on the receiving end of a cavalry charge before, and it was horrific,” she continued, her eyes distant as she relived the battle. “This was worse. Far worse. Although the average troll stands about nine feet high, they hunched forward as they charged across the field, looking much shorter than they actually were. We weren’t even sure what they were until they were almost upon us. It was the king who first recognized them for the danger they were. The archers had been firing at them as they crossed the field, but as you saw earlier, trolls regenerate. Any that were hit simply pulled out the arrows or ballistae, and the wounds closed as they continued to run closer. Even the most grievous wounds had little effect on them.”

“The ground shook with their approach, and lesser men and women on the wall began to quail. Then the king realized what they were, and cast a Smite spell on their leader. I have never before seen a paladin of his rank in combat; the way the king Smote his foe was awe-inspiring. Sent from the heavens, the power descended on the troll from above, shattering the cloud cover. The power of the one true god came down like a ray of sunshine, and he blasted the troll to dust. Following his lead, all of the paladins on the wall began Smiting the hells-brood charging at us, and we broke their charge. Once we realized they were trolls, the fire mages threw fireball after fireball into their ranks, and the screams they made as they burned up in front of us were horrible to hear. We finally killed the last enemy-controlled troll, and the rest of them stopped right in front of the wall.”

“The trolls just stood there, almost within reach of us, but they were confused and without direction. With their leaders dead, they were not sure whether they were supposed to continue attacking or flee, and we threw everything fire-based we had at them. Fire arrows rained down by the hundreds, fireballs arced out and we dumped cauldron after cauldron of burning oil on them. It was a slaughter. We knew that if we could hold off the trolls, we could most likely fight off the giants we could see following them. The giants pushed forward, and the halfling riding the giant forced some of the trolls to continue the attack. The enemy began advancing again.”

“We would still have carried the day,” she said proudly, “were it not for the turncoats. The troops hired by the merchants’ guild opened the side gate to the city while our attention was focused on repulsing the trolls. Our first indication that something was wrong was when the ogres hit us from behind. Their leader struck without notice, striking down the king. The ogres, ten feet tall and over 700 pounds, used their clubs to sweep the defenders from the castle wall. Those that fell were run down by the mercenary cavalry in the courtyard. The slaughter continued, but now it was our forces being slaughtered.”

“Most of my squad of Silver Swords were killed defending the queen while the healers worked to save her life. When she heard that the Magistra had also been wounded, she sent Father Telenor to save her, with me to protect him. Unfortunately, we ran into several other pockets of fighting on the way to the Magisterium, and Father Telenor was forced to use the remainder of his healing spells on me as I fought through a band of hill giants. He had to use his last major cure spell on me when one of them broke my leg by throwing a donkey at me. Because of this, he arrived at the Magistra’s bedside out of mana, even though he was tasked to save her. He had to use all of it to save me.”

“To save both of us, if the truth be known,” added Father Telenor. “Had the giants taken m’lady out of the fight, I wouldn’t have lasted much longer, and certainly wouldn’t have made it to the Magistra’s bedside. Curing Lady Ellyn saved both of us, so that we could make it there, but it caused me to arrive without any healing spells. The rest of our story, you already know.”

There was a momentary lull in the conversation, which was broken by John. “Hey,” he said to Ghorza. “Can I see the book that the Magistra gave me?”

“Sure,” she replied, handing him the large tome. Over five inches thick, John expected it to be heavy.

“That’s weird,” he said as Ghorza let go. “This book is really big, but it doesn’t weigh a thing. Why is that?”

“Magic,” said several voices around the group.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“The book is magic,” explained Ghorza. “It is about magic, and it is full of magic; it’s magic in every way. It’s light because its last owner wanted it that way. It is also thick with hard covers for the same reason. If you wanted it to shrink or grow heavy, it would. The shrinking part might help, but I can’t imagine why you’d want it to be heavy while you have to carry it around.”

John concentrated on the book becoming smaller, and it shrank down to just about an inch thick, with thinner covers. Its weight never changed.

“Cool!” he said, opening it. As he looked at the first page, though, he felt something change.

“I think we need to have another talk about magic,” John said to Ghorza.

“Why’s that?” she asked. “You shouldn’t be surprised that you can’t read it. Until you become a first rank mage, you won’t be able to read any of those spells. You can’t read what you cannot use.”

“Really?” John asked, flipping through the pages. “So I can use the Read Magic, Hold Portal and Invisibility spells? Cool!” He flipped to the red tab about a quarter of the way through it. “I can also use Flare, Burning Hands and Magic Missile? Oooh cool, Magic Missile!” He flipped to the blue tab. “Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp and Fog Cloud?” He turned to the brown tab. “Summon Monster I and Summon Monster II?” He looked up. “Awesome! What do I have to do to use them?”

The rest of the group stood frozen in place, staring at him like he had just grown two more heads or sprouted wings. “What?” he asked. No one said anything for several seconds.

“That cannot be,” said Father Telenor finally, breaking the silence.

“What?” John asked again.

“Not only should you not be able to read them,” said Ghorza, “some of those spells are second level spells. You’d have to be a third rank mage in order to be able to cast them.”

“How is this possible?” asked Father Telenor.

“I didn’t get a chance to tell you,” said John, “but when I set the troll on fire, something happened. I don’t know how or why, but my head all of a sudden felt emptier. Not like when I cast a cantrip, but a
whole
lot emptier. The only way I can describe the feeling is to say that it felt like part of my mind that was solid rock turned to water and that there is now a giant lake in my head. It feels like my perception of life has expanded to encompass this new reality.” He shuddered. “I don’t know. It’s creepy.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t been there,” Dantes said, “but you leveled up. That is exactly what it feels like when you level up. It feels like your mind expands; that is your mana pool growing.”

“But that doesn’t explain why he can cast second level spells,” Lady Ellyn said. “How is that possible?”

“The thing that happened when I burned up the troll happened again when I opened the book and started looking at the pages,” said John. “What was it? Leveling up? Well, I think it actually happened a couple of times. It seemed like there was an expansion, and then there was another one that happened right after the first.”

“It’s the Spell Book of Aran-Than,” said Ghorza, with awe in her voice. “It has to be. This book was thought to have been lost thousands of years ago. It’s boosted you from first rank to third rank. While it is in your possession, you will function two levels higher than you actually are.”

“The Spell Book of Aran-Than?” asked John. “If it’s got a name, it’s got to be something important, like some sort of artifact, right?”

“No,” said Lady Ellyn, “it is much more important than that. It is the second Item of Power. We cannot allow the enemy to get its hands on it. Among other things, it turns single target spells into area of effect spells. Instead of allowing the enemy commander to command individual members of evil races, he would be able to control whole squads or companies of troops at once.”

“The Spell Book also gives the holder access to every known spell,” added Ghorza, “as well as an extra two levels of casting ability. The holder can casts spells as if he or she had that much more experience, and makes the spells that much more powerful, as well. Even without the other Items of Power, it is a very potent arcane item, and you are incredibly lucky to have it in your possession.”

“Umm…maybe it would be better if one of you took it, then,” said John. “You’d be able to put it to better use than I could.”

“Perhaps…and perhaps not,” replied Dantes. “I would only be able to use the fire-based spells and Ghorza would only be able to use the air-based spells. You seem to be able to use all four of the elements, even if you are not able to cast as high a level of spell as each of us.” He thought for a moment and added, “Besides, the Magistra gave it to you. She is far wiser and more acquainted with the Prophecy than all of us put together, I imagine. If there was a reason she thought you should have it, I for one am not going to go against her wishes.”

“Nor am I,” added Ghorza.

“I don’t get it, though,” said John. “How does it change my magical abilities?”

Ghorza slapped him on the forehead. “How can anyone be this dumb?” she asked Dantes. She turned back to John. “It’s magic, of course. It does what it is supposed to do. Why? Who knows? Why do you have to ask so many questions?”

“Because maybe if I
understood
it better, I could
use
it better,” John said, his fists clenched at his side.

Lady Ellyn cleared her throat, interrupting their discussion before it could get any more heated. “So in a brief span of time, the crown and the spell book have both made their appearances. The only thing missing is the Scepter of Decency. Does anyone doubt that our quest is to retrieve it?”

“The Scepter of Decency?” asked John. “What kind of name is that? It sounds like something that was made for a child.”

“The Scepter gets its name from the fact that it has the power to command members of the good races,” replied Lady Ellyn; “basically, people that are generally decent in nature.”

“Even if we get these things,” Father Telenor said, “what are we supposed to do with them? We can’t just turn them over to someone so inexperienced, can we? He knows nothing about warfare or magic. We might as well go hand them over to the enemy ourselves.”

“With our aid and assistance, I am sure that John will find a way,” said Lady Ellyn. “This must be a trial that the one true god has put before us to test our resolve and our faith in her. Because John is unprepared to do it on his own, we have been called here because we all have a part to play.” She stabbed her sword into the ground in front of John and knelt on one knee, her hands on top of her sword. Bowing, she said, “If you are to be our savior, I will assist you in whatever way I am able.”

“So, he is to be our savior?” asked Father Telenor, sarcasm heavy in his voice. “I have to say I expected something... more.”

“Who is to know the mind of the one god?” asked Lady Ellyn. “She sets things in motion for us, and she allows us to do our part in her service. You have to
believe
, Telenor. No one ever said serving her would be easy.”

“No, that was never part of the agreement,” replied Father Telenor with a sigh. “Still...” his voice trailed off.

“Still what?” asked John. “What was it you expected?”

“I always envisioned our savior would be someone full of religious fervor, for one thing,” replied Father Telenor, “and would be someone with excellent leadership skills. I also thought our savior would have advanced magical skills, at least in the elemental, if not the clerical arts. Oh, and I would have expected you to be taller.”

“Taller?” asked John.

“Yes, taller,” agreed Father Telenor, who was less than six feet tall, but still much taller than John. “You know, someone I could really look up to.”

“Are you done?” asked Dantes.

Father Telenor sighed again. “I think so, yes.”

“Good,” said Dantes, “then we can stop wasting our time. We have a long way to go.”