P I and Magic Book II: The Gods Return
Copyright© 2005 by Volentrin
Chapter 11
As the saying goes, no time like the present. I had memorized a host of spells designed to fight demons, had my ring and staff charged to capacity. My sword would also act as a focus, as I had recently discovered. My cloak was bespelled as never before.
I felt as if I fairly hummed with power. Mirwanna had a wizard who was familiar with Fenoris. He opened a gateway, and just as I was going to step through it, it collapsed! But not before we had seen a human form, a darkly cowled form that held a glowing... darkness in his right hand.
The backlash from his spelled gate being collapsed, caused the wizard to collapse, himself. While he would be all right eventually, he was numb and unable to perform any further magics until he recovered.
After the wizard had been removed to the infirmary, Mirwanna and I held a brief conference about what we had seen. The darkness in the demons hand had been more like a scepter, than a staff or sword.
We both agreed it glowed with a blackness that was disturbing. Even though we had beheld it only briefly, we both felt the evil that had been oozing from it. It had been unsettling to say the least.
"This is a disaster. That gate was to open in the royal palace. If the demons are there already, then the royal family is already compromised. We will have to rethink our strategy," Mirwanna told me.
I nodded. She told me to hold myself available for a council meeting, later this day. I nodded again, and was dismissed. I returned to my quarters. Mariel had already gone to the city, thinking I would have left for Fenoris.
I smiled as I thought of how she was so frightened to sit in judgment at first, and how she was now eager to go on a daily basis. I still sat once a month, myself. But with Mariel dispensing justice, the job had gotten much easier.
I set my staff in the corner, placed my sword on the desk, and sat. I looked at the blade, and one of the runes grabbed my attention. I seemed to sink into the sword itself! This was new.
<I am lonely, now. I never knew aloneness until you separated the owners from me, > a voice told me in a petulant tone.
"You were not supposed to have your owners souls within you. That was an error." I told it. I knew it was the sword. It had brought me into it.
We talked for some time. It was like talking to a child. But a very powerful child, with no idea of its power. It was sulky. It recognized me as its owner, but was sad over the absence of the previous owners whom it had housed for so long.
I finally told it I would visit it again, but I had to return to the outer world. It was reluctant to let me go, but finally did so. I found myself back at my desk. I sighed explosively. It had been a near thing. I would really have hated being stuck in my sword for all eternity!
I immediately concentrated on contacting Vostich. When I got him, I informed him what had just happened. He seemed a little worried about the sword pro-actively bringing me into itself.
We discussed the ramifications, but came to no clear determination of what we should do about it. He again said he was trying to contact Shabasonti, but had not been successful, as of this time.
Two days later, with a new plan, I was on my way to Fenoris. This time I was being led by a dragon, and I was in my dragon form. Still, it would take the greater part of a days flying to bring us to the border. We dared not teleport, or give the enemy any indication we were coming.
I was not the only one going. Fithian was going by a different route. After hearing about the demon with the scepter, it was decided I would need help. Fithian had a 10-dragon wing of dragon riders, with all their equipment.
They would attack and provide the distraction I needed to sneak into the royal palace. Timing was critical. We could not afford to do telepathy, or magical communications of any type. My dragon guide would stay handy in case I needed reinforcements.
As we flew south, we picked up several more dragons. By the time we got to our position on the border, I had an escort of 15 dragons, all of whom were ready to back me up if I needed it. I figured with 25 dragons, 10 dragon riders, Fithian and I should be able to handle a couple of demons. We set up camp just before reaching the border. We wanted to be rested for tomorrow's battle.
I yawned and stretched. I really was beginning to hate sleeping on the ground. I rolled up my bedroll and put my boots on, after making sure nothing had crawled into them during the night.
I ate a dry meal. The dragons had already eaten, last night. They would be good to go for a couple days. I turned back into a dragon, and we flew into Fenoris proper. I had looked at a map, and knew what landmarks to look for. I finally found the road, and turned east.
We followed the road. Sure enough, about 20 minutes later, I saw the city with the royal palace ahead. As my group was flying in, we saw Fithian and his dragon riders coming in on a more direct route.
That's when all hell broke loose, literally. A reddish haze snapped into being everywhere. I faltered, and had to angle down for a landing, as did all the other dragons. As soon as I hit the ground, I transformed to human form.
All the dragons were now on the ground. For some reason, some how, the reddish haze stopped our ability to fly. The air became very hot, and it was hard to breath. We all started walking the rest of the way to the palace.
Even before we got to the city, I could see troops forming up on the city wall. This was going to be more difficult than I'd thought. The city was much smaller than Landkur. It was a walled city, and the wall appeared to be old.
(Fithian? Can you hear me?) I asked mentally.
(Aye. I know, Paul. This was something none of us took into consideration, ) Fithian answered me.
(What do we do? All my dragons are grounded. They can't fly, ) I told him worriedly.
(I have already informed Vostich. Keep advancing to just outside arrow range. Give Vostich a chance to work something, ) Fithian told me.
Great. I felt like I was smothering. The air had a sulfur smell, and the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. It was like a description of hell I had read about when I was a child.
The dragons were angry. They had spread out, and were walking in a very angry stiff manner. I tried to calm them, but it was hard to reach them. I finally managed to get a few of the dragon's attention, and I cast several spells, trying to protect them. Unfortunately, being dragons, the spells didn't work. That damned immunity to magic.
I considered. If they were immune to most magic, why was this affecting them? It had to be the air that was magicked, not the dragons.
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