The Archmage Unbound (46 page)

It wasn’t the normal sort of black you
might encounter if someone used some dark paint. He was
utterly
black.
No light reflected from him at all. It was as if a man shaped hole was
standing before me.

“That’s what the shiggreth look like to
magesight,” he explained. “Now this is invisibility.” He vanished and now I
could see objects behind him.

“I think I understand now,” I said slowly.
“When you are invisible it’s like you are transparent. But the shiggreth
aren’t like that, magic doesn’t pass through them, it’s all absorbed.”

“Exactly,” he agreed.

I looked over the enemy again and now
that I understood better what I was seeing with my magesight it was easier to
pick them out. It still wasn’t easy to count them but I figured I could manage
it. Harold broke my concentration with a nudge.

“Excuse me. I know all of this is very
interesting but how are we going to get past the ballistae?” he asked and then
remembered belatedly to add, “your Lordship.”

I smiled at him, “You can handle it for
us.”

“Pardon?”

“There’s only twenty or so guarding the
entrance. I’ve been wanting to see how you fight with the new earth bond and
that armor I made for you,” I elaborated.

He gaped at me, “Two wizards and fifty
men at arms here and you want me to go alone?”

“Be honest,” I said, “Do you really
think twenty of them will be a problem for you? I saw you fighting more than
that last night.”
Appeal to his ego first,
I thought to myself.

He sighed in exasperation, “Twenty I can
probably handle without issue, but they have
two ballistae
in there!”
His voice rose in pitch as he reached the end of the sentence.

I gave him a look that clearly expressed
my doubts about his manhood. “I made that armor you’re wearing, if I thought
something as simple as a ballista could pierce it I’d never ask you to go.”

“Surely you jest,” he said, staring at
me in disbelief.

I ignored him and walked back toward the
men, “Someone give me a crossbow.” As luck would have it none of them were
armed with one, the soldier I asked said something about them not being
effective against the undead. Instead he ran off to find one in the supply
wagons. Several minutes later he returned with a deadly looking weapon with a
steel bow. “Load the bolt and cock it for me if you would,” I told him and he
did so. Once the bolt was loaded and cocked I gave the command, “Now I’d like
you to point it at Sir Harold here and shoot him.”

“Excuse me sir?” he said, startled.
Harold also jumped at my command.

“It won’t hurt him…” I started to
explain but then I gave up in exasperation. “Here give me that.” I took the
weapon from his grasp and pointed it directly at Harold’s chest.

To give him credit, even though he
thought I was about to execute him he didn’t whimper or beg. “Sir I think you
should reconsider,” he began.

“Nonsense,” I replied and I started to
pull the trigger, pausing only at the last second. “You there!” I shouted at a
soldier standing to one side, “Better move back behind me, this bolt might
ricochet.” He made haste to do as I said.

Harold stared into my eyes. “You’re
making a terrible mistake your Lordship,” he said in a very reasonable tone.

I laughed, “Best hope I’m not Harold,
because otherwise you’re out of a job.” Then I pulled the trigger and several
things happened at once. The bolt itself struck him dead on at point blank
range and, as I had predicted, it failed to pierce his armor. Instead it
shattered into a dozen pieces. At the same time the force of the blow rocked
Harold back and someone shrieked horribly.

Nervous laughter broke out among the men
as Harold straightened back up. His eyes were a bit wild around the edges from
his near death experience and he kept staring down at the place where the bolt
should have pierced his armor. “Holy hell!” he said softly.

I clapped him upon his steel clad
shoulder, “See there! I told you it would be fine. I tested that armor many
times before I ever gave it to you after all.”

“You could have told me that,” he
suggested with an irritable tone in his voice.

“Someone told me once that a
demonstration is worth a thousand words,” I told him companionably. “Or
perhaps it was pictures? I forget. I think Dorian told me that.”

He shook his head, “I really doubt Sir
Dorian said anything like that sir.”

“You’re probably right,” I said
agreeably. “By the way, why did you shriek like that at the end? You sounded
like a little girl.” I probably shouldn’t have embarrassed him with a remark
like that, but I was honestly surprised.

“I think that was Walter, sir,” he
replied.

Looking around I realized Walter had
taken a seat on the ground and was busily fanning his face with his hands. He
looked up at me with an expression of weariness. “You are going to give me a
heart attack. I am certain of it.”

A short time later Harold prepared to
enter the lion’s den, so to speak, if lions had siege weapons and absolutely no
fear of death that is. We were huddled near the entrance, ready to follow him
once he had disabled the ballistae, but I really didn’t think he would need our
help. Unless there were surprises we hadn’t foreseen.

“Ready?!” he asked me for the second
time. Harold’s pupils were dilated and his breath was coming in short bursts.
I had never doubted his bravery in any of the battles we had been in before,
whether those recently or those of a few months past when Gododdin attacked us,
but I worried he might die of adrenalin overdose today. I suppose a heated
battle was different than being asked to charge two readied ballistae… alone.

“Yeah, go for it,” I encouraged him.

“Now?” he asked, just to be sure.

“Sure, whenever you’re ready,” I said.
“Go massacre them.”

“Alright, I’m about to charge,” he informed
me.

“Godsdamnitt all go!” I yelled at him.
I used my voice of command but inwardly I was chuckling at his nervousness. I
needn’t have worried for he was so charged with energy he didn’t disappoint.

Harold took off like an arrow shot from
a bow. He leapt over the rock we were crouched behind and sailed a good
fifteen feet into the air. Luckily the overhanging lip of the cave ceiling
arrested his upward ascent or we might not have heard from him again.
Obviously he hadn’t quite gotten used to the extra strength he had gained from
the earth bond and his nervous enthusiasm had made matters worse. I couldn’t
help but giggle.

Thankfully he hadn’t knocked himself
out. The armor was good enough that I doubted he could have killed himself
unless he stood still and let them take their time figuring out how to finish
him off, but there are always risks in war. He staggered upright and resumed
his charge forward into the cave. At this point only a few seconds had passed
and the enemy still hadn’t reacted to his sudden appearance.

He had covered half the distance to the
ballistae before he realized he had dropped his swords when he slammed into the
ceiling. As strong as he was I imagined he probably could have made do with
rocks or simply pulling them limb from limb, and it certainly would have had an
artistic touch but he chose instead to run back for his swords.

Walter piped up in disbelief, “What the
hell is he doing?!”

I almost collapsed I was laughing so
hard at that point, “He’s running back for his swords.”

“Why the fuck are you laughing? Are you
insane?!” the older wizard yelled at me.

I couldn’t answer; I had no air left to
me by then. I pointed and tried to say, “Just look at him running,” but I
couldn’t get the words out. The shiggreth had finally realized they were under
attack and a massive ballistae bolt shot forth. It grazed Harold’s shoulder,
knocking him down before it exploded against the rock sheltering us.

Walter ducked down even further, “Holy
shit!” he screamed as fragments of rock and wood rained down over us. “He’ll
be killed!”

I strengthened my shields and peeked
back over the top of the rocks. Harold had recovered his swords and was
bounding back toward the enemy. The terrain was so rough he probably would
have been better off at a fast walk but he was in the throes of adrenaline
induced madness now. Miraculously he didn’t fall over anything during his
second charge.

He reached the second ballista just as
it fired at him. This time however he was staring it dead on and his reflexes
were beyond human. Stepping right he avoided the massive bolt and bringing one
of his enchanted sword blades down he sliced the front end of the massive siege
weapon apart. His swing damaged the great bow and the device literally
exploded as the massive bow limbs came apart with incredible force.

The first of the two great weapons was
nearly reloaded by the time he turned back toward it, but the undead creatures
manning it never had a chance. Another swing of his right hand sword and that
ballista also fell into ruin. After that it was simply a slaughter as he moved
from place to place. Like a whirling dervish he cut the enemy into pieces.
With his enhanced strength and impenetrable armor the undead really never had a
chance.

I turned to the captain leading the rest
of the men in our ‘invasion’ contingent. “Wait here captain. I’ll confirm the
entrance is clear before we bring the men in.” Standing up I entered the cave
with my staff held out before me and my shields readied. Walter followed me
in, though I hadn’t asked him to come with me.

Harold stood panting near the remains of
the siege weapons and their dismembered operators. “Don’t say anything,” he
warned us as we approached.

I gave him one of my winning smiles, “I
wouldn’t dream of commenting.”

“For what it’s worth I think he’s mad as
a hatter,” Walter told Harold as he pointed a thumb in my direction.

I couldn’t blame him. Recently I had
begun to suspect I might be coming unhinged, and losing Penny and Dorian had
only driven another nail into the coffin regarding my sanity. I wasn’t ready
to admit to it yet though. “Let’s clean up the mess and we can bring in the
troops. Walter, see if you can spot any more of them waiting in the tunnels
further along. I’ll dispose of the bodies so they won’t have to rest in
pieces.” My joke elicited a groan from both of them but I assumed it was
because of their poor taste.

Pointing my staff downward I spoke a
word and began channeling a white hot flame along the length of it. Playing it
back and forth I started the rather foul task of incinerating the still moving pieces
of our undead foes. The stench of burning bodies was incredibly foul, but
unfortunately it wasn’t a new smell for me. I had had a lot of experience with
it in the aftermath of the battle with the army of Gododdin. The cremation
fires then had lasted for more than a week.

As I reached one of the bodies near the
ballistae my flames took hold in an unexpected way, blazing up and filling the
room with light. The floor was covered in a slick substance that burned,
almost as if someone had poured out a barrel of oil. I released my spell but
the fire continued to spread across the floor between both of the broken
ballistae and then outward in lines, following channels carved into the floor.
My eyes grew wide as I realized I had inadvertently set off a trap, just as
they had known I would.

“Get down!” I screamed at Harold and
Walter as I ran toward them. Confusion was written in their faces as I reached
them and they still made no move to do anything. Without time to do anything
else I created a shield around the three of us and grabbed them by the
shoulders. “Down!” I repeated and thankfully they knelt as I pulled downward
on them.

“What’s going on?” asked Walter, and
then the world exploded. Somehow the bastards had gotten their hands on what I
assumed must be quarry powder. The dark grey substance was produced by both
the illuminator’s guild, which refused to share, as well as by some master
stone masons, for use in quarrying rock. The damn stuff was too dangerous to
use for much else, though I had heard some talk of incorporating it into siege
weapons somehow.

The end result was similar to what would
have happened if I had been stupid enough to use my explosive iron spheres, in
a cave, under hundreds of tons of stone. The entrance collapsed and although
we were rather far back from where the explosion occurred we were struck and
nearly buried by a deluge of rock and debris. The noise and vibration were
incredible and went on for more than a minute after the explosion itself was
done.

When it finished we were cut off from
the outside world. My shield had managed to keep us from being buried by the
rock but we had several large boulders leaning across the top of it. I was forced
to slowly change the size and shape of the shield to allow them to slide to one
side. Once the heaviest of the rocks was off of it I was able to release my
spell so we could climb out.

Standing amidst the rubble Walter and I
surveyed the tons of stone blocking our way out. “That’s a lot of rock,” I
observed.