Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) (31 page)

More surprising was a third stone golem joining the other two. Vewen had left Maura to join the fray. His golem was only slightly smaller than Collin’s, an earth specialist. The two stone soldiers held the right and left flanks with Nara’s quicker wood one appearing almost like a dancer between the other two.

The battle mages and Serrena fell back trying to hold onto their magic reserves. Between running and fighting, they were all looking a bit winded. Collin and Nara were even more tired as they manipulated their golems, which were a huge energy drain for a single wizard. The amount of power just to create one was more than any battle mage could pull and they were using their strength to manipulate them in battle besides.

“Mecklin, Frell, be ready to assist Nara and Collin. You may need to give up some power. You know the spell I mean,” Sebastian ordered the two best at a spell designed to share magical strength between wizards and mages. They placed a hand on the wizards to pass a portion of the power to the others when their own strength waned.

One of the beasts grappled with Collin’s soldier. Catching the mound like head with a forceful blow, the stone head shattered. Were it a true human instead of a puppet, the fight would be over, but Collin continued to fight back with the fracturing stone golem. Chunks of the wood golem were beginning to litter the ground as the golems were slowly forced to give way.

They had made it to the edge of the forest, when a roar nearly deafened them. The monster with the metal in its back surged into the battle towering over his massive brothers and sisters. Easily a man’s height taller, the creature’s arms were thicker than Sebastian’s chest. This was also the one that the mage knew was where the signal had led.

Pushing its smaller pack members aside, the king of the monsters struck Collin’s golem with a pair of overhand fists. Both arms of stone shattered trying to defend against the attack and the golem stumbled. A second and third attack left it a pile of rubble.

The earth wizard groaned like he had been hit himself, but he responded quickly, “Earth spike!” From the rubble of his golem, spikes of stone lashed out striking the monster’s legs.

Even the giant could be hurt and the spikes caused it pain. Stepping back to recover, Sebastian grew emboldened. “Reflex, stone skin,” he chained the two spells together. The mage knew that he couldn’t hope to take a full hit from the beast, but prayed that if he was hit that his spell would save him.

Rushing forward, the mage darted between golems and reptiles alike charging the largest beast. The monster spied him and moved to greet him with an open maw and swiping claws.

“Darkness,” he ordered a variation of the night shield. A cloud of black encircled the monster’s face and more importantly eyes. The spell caught the creature off guard as he had hoped. Reaching its legs, the mage used the hand holds of the armor plating to quickly leap up its legs. While the monster could feel his weight at least slightly, the loss of vision kept its hands from catching him with its claws.

The mage used the thigh to grab hold of a large plate guarding the base of its ribs and swung around reaching the monster’s back in a swift maneuver. Spying his goal, Sebastian pulled his body up the back as quickly as he could while the monster shook and reached for the annoying gnat on its back. He grasped the hilt of a weapon, but it wasn’t a sword. A long handle of metal led his eye to a double bladed axe head. Legend had it that the Grimnal’s weapon of choice was an axe much like this.

Pulling hard, the weapon refused to budge. There was pitting from years of being attached to the monster. As he tugged again and again, the realization that this beast must be ancient came to him. An axe used by a man lost for a century and a half meant this monster had lived through a fight with the legend shortly after the Cataclysm.

His presence on their leader was bringing attention to the mage now. Holding onto the axe, the mage called on another spell, “Dance.” Lightning lanced from each finger dancing across the face of the nearest monster that reached out for him. Rearing back in pain, he could see smoke from the contact and could hear its anger as it growled and roared in vain.

Crying out in anger as well, the battle mage grasped the axe with both hands setting his feet against the armor of the beast beneath him. He knew if it gave, the effort would drive him away from its back, but his time was up. More of the beasts were closing and, if he were to have any chance of getting the artifact, it was going to take all his strength and some luck to survive the attempt.

Heaving on the handle, Sebastian put his all into pulling the weapon from the monster’s back. Its body had formed a bond with flesh hardened as a shield from the foreign metal, but when the blade shifted in the sheathe it was a quick release.

Sebastian had the axe, but for a moment made longer by the power of his reflex magic he flew feeling nothing beneath his feet. His own instincts took over to try and protect the man caught out of his element. To fly on the winds with his mind was one thing, but with his entire body was defying the rule of gravity beyond even a battle mage’s magical ability.

Twisting in the air, Sebastian managed to spy the ground and using that contorted into a roll that put his feet between the man and ground. As he hit the ground, the mage let his legs absorb the blow enough to let him slow into a roll without killing himself. The axe handle pulled across his stomach became a center to curve around as he tumbled end over end twice.

He leaped up to his feet feeling pain. Both hurt from the fall, but his right ankle felt like he had sprained it as well. Half limping, the mage did his best to sprint between the reaching claws of the monsters surrounding him. Bolting through legs, Sebastian made it back through to the forest side looking for his team.

They had been driven back under the green canopy as the last of the golems had fallen. Magic still lashed out trying to keep the beasts back and the man followed the noise towards the others. As he ran, he noticed another set of noise greater than the sounds of exploding fireballs and air spears.

Calls, hoots and even roars seemed to echo throughout the forest. It wasn’t just from where the battle raged. When he closed on the woods just ahead of the reptilian monsters chasing him now, new dark forms came surging from the forest pursuing two of the gray armored giants. Some larger than men, some on all fours looking almost like scruffy, large wolves, a new army came charging towards the mage.

“Sebastian, no!” Yara cried out as she watched the mage run into the thick of the fight with the largest monster.

A hand pulled her back towards the forest and she heard Collin’s voice, “We need to get back, Yara! Sebastian can take care of himself. I can’t believe he did that, but I know he can.”

Letting her friend pull her back regretfully, the healer looked to the wizard’s face and found that he looked tired. Starting a chant even as they moved, she took hold of his near arm and sent a charge of her own magic into the wizard. His power was quite low and the infusion of Yara’s magic was like adding energy to his whole constitution.

“Thanks,” the wizard said looking ready for more.

They slowed as Collin pulled Nara with them at a slower pace. The nature wizard let out a cry moments later as her golem was destroyed by the beasts. Vewen was moving back escorted by the battle mages and Serrena as they lay down cover fire to distract the monsters before the final golem fell.

“I can make one more,” Vewen declared though he looked very tired to the healer.

“Not yet,” Collin warned him. “Save those spells for inside the forest if they chase us.”

“What about the mage?” the other man asked glancing back in the direction Sebastian had charged.

“We have to hope that Sebastian knows what he is doing,” Yara echoed the earth wizard’s earlier sentiment. “Let’s get back to the others and ready for a final stand. Maybe the forest will deter them.”

As they entered the forest, they found that the monsters didn’t find the trees anymore of a deterrent than they had the golems or humans that they chased. Running through the undergrowth as quickly as they could, they watched as the much larger creatures had to either duck branches or take a moment to tear their way through the protective trees delaying them slightly at least. With having to deal with the trees, the humans pulled slightly ahead until they heard someone shouting for them to move towards their left.

Meeting up with Maura and the others, the research wizard asked Nara as they entered the shelter of bushes, “Can you mask our presence from them? Alter our scent to match the forest.”

With a quick nod, the nature wizard went straight into summoning the magic requested without any argument. She could tell that the woman had a plan. Yara’s nose detected a change in the smell in the air and the feel of magic embraced them with the warmth of nature.

Signing for everyone to get down and stay quiet, Maura waited with Idenlare and Liam for the timing to be right. Yara didn’t know what they had planned, but she hoped that whatever it was would work or they might all wind up dead.

A crash from the way they had come let those hiding know that the monsters were almost upon them. Maura nodded to the other wizards and Yara could feel a release of magic in the direction of the beasts. Traps released. Formed of magic a pit appeared beneath one creature dumping it quickly out of sight. Yara wondered just how deep they had made the pitfall, though she could see a new hole almost fifteen feet across instantly appear. A clawed hand caught one edge as the monster reached for the far side of the hole, but its weight was too great and the earth cracked in its hand before disappearing again.

Another monster was ensnared by the hugs of two trees and as many branches as could reach. Even the beast’s great strength was stilled by the strength and mass of two full size trees. It was a trap executed by Maura surprising Yara and Nara as well. She hadn’t known the researcher knew strong nature spells, though all research wizards had once studied most types of magic. Even they had magic that came to them easier than others.

A last trap revealed as Liam used his magic to trigger a bog beneath a third monster’s feet. Like quicksand, the bog trapped more than half of the creature’s lower body in a quick splash before continuing to try and drag the rest of it beneath the muck.

Yara wanted to complement them when a cacophony started all around them. Roars, cries almost human in nature, growls and more joined the air as the beasts of the forest reacted to the intruders. Two of the monsters witnessing their fellows trapped followed by the cries of the forest’s protectors, turned tail and ran back towards the sunlight in their field. They were powerful, but whatever made the noise must be capable of putting fear even into them, Yara thought.

Overhead large hairy beasts swung or jumped from branch to branch hooting and roaring as they gave chase. Wolf or bear like beasts ran past on all fours warning the monsters that both land and air were coming to chase them down. A few of the forest beasts crashed through their hideaway, but barely gave the humans a look as they chased their enemy from their territory.

“Stealth,” Sebastian called out as he ducked towards the ground letting the tall grass hide his body naturally as well as using his magic to become invisible. After letting the spell take place, the mage leaped up and ran forward blind but for the senses gained from the magic spell. His eyes couldn’t see any anything as he refracted all light around his body. Something beyond the shield that covered his form couldn’t see him easily, but at the same time his eyes were unable to see out either.

The spell acted as protection and radar to the mage who moved forward as quickly as possible. He wanted the monsters to think that he still lay where he had ducked down. Were they to check the spot where he lay, even a light shield wouldn’t protect a man from the crushing weight of these beasts.

He felt the smaller creatures from the forest running towards the monsters driving the two that had gone into their territory away. An army of monsters formed up against about a score of armored reptiles. He didn’t know if their numbers cowed the larger armored foes or if the forest denizens had powerful abilities of their own, but whatever the case Sebastian felt as the armored reptiles formed up with their leader at the fore ready for war.

When he reached the edge of the forest, Sebastian released his spell and looked on the sight with his eyes. The giant lizards were anywhere from twice the height of a man to about three times. The largest of the beasts seemed to be formed perhaps from trolls or kiriaks or perhaps both in some wild merging of the two. A few of the largest forest trolls were close to the size of the smaller reptiles, but lacked the armor plating of the field beasts. They carried clubs and he thought perhaps there was even a rusted sword in a few hands.

Twisted wolf like creatures proved even the werewolves had found themselves twisted by some unknown creator. Who could have done such things and why were the least of his concerns, however. Letting the island’s inhabitants settle their differences, Bas moved into the forest replacing his stealth spell.

Following the trail of destruction caused by their pursuers, the mage moved deeper until he found three magically trapped reptiles. A small smile touched his lips seeing what his team had come up with on the fly. Even these monsters would have to respect the power of Southwall wizards and mages.

Some crushed bushes let him spy the others still hiding nearby. He let his spell go seeing nothing more dangerous than the trapped monsters.