The Archmage unbound

Chapter 35

I rose early the next morning but I had pity on Walter and let him sleep longer. The poor man seemed to have been truly exhausted by his efforts the night before.

I found James and Harold supervising the collection of bodies and body parts. It appeared that neither of them had slept at all after the attack. They both appeared worn and weary.

“How many did we lose?” I asked James.

“Slightly more than a hundred and fifty men,” he answered immediately. “They wiped out the men guarding the cave last night before they assaulted the camp.”

I grimaced. We couldn’t afford to lose men that quickly. The shiggreth could replace their numbers much more easily than we could. “At least there’s one bright side,” I noted.

“What’s that?” asked Harold.

“If they wiped out the detail guarding the cave first then it means they’re desperate and that opening is their only means of ingress or egress. If we assume that the ones remaining last night didn’t skulk off somewhere then we have most of them cornered,” I explained.

“They might have wiped the guard detail out to give us that impression falsely,” suggested James.

I sighed, “If they’re that clever then we may be in trouble. Let’s hope they aren’t.”

James nodded, but spoke up anyway, “Hoping and wishing are good ways to get men killed.”

“You sound a lot like Dorian,” I said with a sour grin.

“It’s more likely that he sounds like Gram Thornbear, which is where I heard that originally,” he corrected me.

Sir Harold spoke up, “Alright, let’s assume that they want us to think it is the only entrance. Why would they do it? What are the advantages to them?”

James responded first, “The obvious conclusion would be that all or part of their forces would take us from the rear. Then they could either bring the caverns down and trap us, or slaughter us between them.”

“The real question is how many of them are left down there,” I pointed out.

“We accounted for over a thousand of the bastards last night,” said Harold. “Well Mordecai did anyway,” he amended.

“Let’s not start counting notches, Harold,” I admonished him.

“We can’t do anything until tomorrow at least, no matter what we decide,” James said, drawing us back to the proper reason for our discussion. “It will take the rest of the day just to collect all of the bodies.”

“They need to be burned,” I added.

“I agree,” he said, “but that will take even more time. Collecting the wood necessary to burn that mountain of flesh will take a lot of men and labor.”

“I’m not entirely certain how useful an army will be once we get past the entrance to those caverns,” I said at last.

“It isn’t as if we can starve them out,” James answered bitterly.

That set me to thinking and I put my hand out to forestall further discussion for a moment. “We don’t actually know that. In fact we know next to nothing about them. Those bodies may decay and become useless after a certain period of time, or they may require some form of sustenance.”

Harold snorted, “You mean us.”

“That might be true, or not. We don’t really know,” I clarified. “James I’d like you to keep one of the cut up shiggreth bodies quarantined, rather than burning it with the others. We can take it back to Lancaster when we’re done. I’d be very curious to know if it will eventually lose its animation, or whether it will decay.”

James looked thoughtful. “We need one that hasn’t been cut to pieces as well then. They might last longer if they haven’t been cut up, if indeed they can starve at all.”

Sir Harold spoke up, “This might be beside the point, but how do you plan on capturing a creature whose very touch is anathema to us?”

James smiled, “Ha! We use nets. Once we have one trapped we bind it carefully with ropes. After that we can put it on a litter and drag it back to Lancaster, the dungeon and a couple of guards should be sufficient then.”

“Actually I’d like to construct a special holding cell for it James, but we can keep it in your dungeon for a while at least,” I added.

“So back to the point, what are we going to do today?” asked Harold.

We all fell silent for a moment, and even the normally decisive duke looked to me first to see what I might say. “Keep most of the men at clean up and burn duty. I’ll take Harold and a small contingent into the entrance. If we can clear out whatever defenses they have in there we’ll scout a bit further in. If we can’t we’ll pull back and wait until the clean-up is finished.”

Surprisingly they both agreed with me. “How many men?” asked Harold.

“About fifty I think. Make sure they are among the better armored of our men. No one in anything less than full chain, the less exposed skin the better,” I told him.

Two hours later we were ready and we were staring into the yawning mouth of the cavern. The entrance was fully fifteen feet in height and more than twice that in width. The morning sun illuminated the first twenty feet or so, but beyond that it was shadowed in darkness. From outside it was impossible to see more than that, if you were relying on normal eyesight.

Thankfully I was not. The contingent assigned with guarding the entrance had pulled back to allow us to enter. They would resume their duty after we were inside. I made note that James had supplied them with onagers and barrels of oil. If the shiggreth tried to break free of the caverns again they were prepared to set fire to the entire cave entrance. I just hoped they didn’t panic when we made our exit later.

Harold nudged me, “What do you see?”

I glared at him, “I see a lot more when I’m left undisturbed. Let me finish.” Closing my eyes again I resumed my search of the caves. I had already discovered that the main tunnel went back for over a hundred yards, and it was mostly straight from that point. I had difficulty locating the shiggreth along the way, but I could tell that there were quite a few about fifty yards back. They were standing next to some wooden contraptions that looked suspiciously like…

“Ballistae!” I exclaimed.

“They are called ‘onagers’ your Lordship,” Harold corrected me, thinking I was referring to the Duke’s catapults.

Harold really got on my nerves sometimes, though he did mean well. “I know that, I’m talking about in the caves.”

“What?”

Walter nodded in agreement, “You’re right. The shiggreth have ballistae back there. It looks like they are ready to give anyone that enters a greeting with four foot of wood and steel.”

I was surprised for a moment. I had never had another wizard around before, but it was nice to have someone else that could share my unique perspective. “I count two of them,” I replied.

“I agree,” said Walter, “and at least twenty of them hiding in the recesses behind the ballistae.”

I could tell there were quite a few back there, but I wasn’t quite sure how many there were. It surprised me that he seemed to be able to pick them out more easily. “How far away can you see things with your magesight?” I asked him.

He glanced at me in surprise but he answered readily, “About six hundred yards or so.”

That was significantly less than my own range, and yet he was able to perceive the shiggreth more easily. “Interesting,” I replied. “I can see further than that, but I can’t pick them out well enough to count them in there.”

He laughed easily, “It’s probably because I’m a Prathion. We’re known for being a little different than the other families.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Well you have already seen me use my invisibility,” he answered. “Or rather you have ‘not’ seen me while using it.”

“I was planning to get you to teach me that,” I said.

He shook his head negatively, “I can try, but the odds are you won’t be able to manage it. Very few wizards have been able to do it outside of the Prathion family.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the Prathions were famous for their ability to pass unseen, or so I was taught. It’s kind of like how the Illeniels were known for their devilish enchanting skills,” he explained, “that and their freakish strength.”

His off-hand comments were providing me with a window onto a world of lore and common knowledge I had never been fortunate enough to witness. Not for the first time I lamented the fact that I had never known my birth father. I pushed those thoughts aside and returned to the present. “How does your ability to become invisible relate to sensing the shiggreth?”

“Their magic drain ability renders them essentially ‘black’ to mage-sight, if you think of magic as a sort of ‘color’. My invisibility is different in that it redirects light, and sometimes even magic around me but still I can relate to what they are doing. I suppose I could use my ability to emulate what they are doing, or at least how they appear,” he replied.

I was enthralled by his idea. “Show me,” I said.

“Alright,” he said. “Here, this is what I look like when I become invisible.” His visible form vanished but I could still ‘see’ him in my magesight.

“Shit!” Harold exclaimed. “Warn a fellow before you do that!” I had to laugh at Harold’s discomfiture.

Walter’s disembodied voice answered, “We’ve been talking about it all this time. I thought you expected it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told him, “please continue.”

“This is what it looks like when I become invisible to magesight,” he added and his body vanished even to my arcane vision.

“That is why I could not find you when you were spying on me at my home. Why don’t you use it all the time?” I asked.

“Because I am currently blind,” he said. “When I am invisible I cannot see, but I can still use my magesight. When I do this I can no longer see in any capacity. I am left stumbling along in the darkness with only my sense of touch and my hearing to guide me.”

“Can you become visible but remain unseen to magesight?” I queried him.

He paused for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said at last. “I never thought to try that. I haven’t ever really had a reason to do that before.”

“Try,” I said. A moment later his body reappeared but I still couldn’t sense him with my magical vision. “I think you have it right,” I told him. “I wonder if they would think you were one of them like that.”

He shook his head negatively, “Of course not, this isn’t what they look like. It would be more like this.”

He did something and I could sense a change. I could still see him with my eyes but he registered differently to my magical senses. He had become more like them, a place that wasn’t there, before he hadn’t created an empty space. Now he was like a void. “You’re right, but I don’t understand why.”

He released his spell. “Look at me with your eyes and I’ll show you why.”

I did and nodded at him.

“Ok this is what a normal person looks like,” he said, remaining perfectly visible. “Now pretend that visible light is magic, and you are seeing me with your magesight. This is what the shiggreth look like,” his face and body turned black.

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.”