Clash (The Arinthian Line Book 4) (68 page)

“Try the trigger word—” Bridget said, glancing over her shoulder.

Wincing, Leera hopped onto the letter
A
. When nothing happened, she hopped to
P
, then
R
,
E
,
Y
, and finally
O
. A latch sprung and the door opened with a creak.

“Hurry—fly him across with Telekinesis,” Augum said. They concentrated, hands out. Augum quickly felt the boy’s weight leave his shoulders. Jonathan gurgled a moan as his limp body floated across the tiles. Just as he floated through the open door, Leera slammed her wrists together, shouting, “ANNIHILO!” A sharp jet of water shot past Augum and Bridget’s heads, slamming into a clacking walker. The undead creature smashed into the floor, skidding onto the tiles. Augum and Bridget had to jump to let it sweep underneath. It immediately began flopping around and smoking as miniature lightning bolts attacked it. Black smoke began to bellow out as if from a giant steaming kettle, along with a horrible smell that immediately took Augum back to that harrowing episode in Sparrow’s Perch.

“You go,” Augum said between coughs, sleeve over his mouth. Bridget nodded behind her own sleeve, eyes watering from the acrid smoke. Meanwhile, he turned to face the corridor entrance, hands in attack formation, trying to ignore the pain in his head. After training all evening, he had finally strained his arcane stamina with that last Telekinesis casting. His head now felt like there was a miniature demon inside it clawing at his brain. Behind him, he could hear Bridget yelp as she jumped from tile to tile while trying to avoid the burning bones.

A walker shot around the corner. “ANNIHILO!” Augum shouted, but it moved so quick he missed. He barely had time to raise his hard lightning shield as it slammed into him. Luckily his training paid off—he leaned into the hit and prevented the walker from bowling him over. The stabbing in his brain quickly sharpened as the walker beat on the shield with rabid ferocity. Augum refused to allow his shield to fail, grunting with the strain of arcane concentration combined with the physical effort of pushing against something with supernatural strength.

“Duck on two!” Bridget yelled. “One, two, ANNIHILO!”

Augum ducked just as his shield failed, but not before the walker caught him with a ferocious hook to the jaw, instantly breaking it. Its skull exploded an instant later and the creature fell to the ground in a heap.

Augum couldn’t help dropping to a knee, eyes welling with tears of pain, a grating sound coming from his jaw. Come on, seriously? This couldn’t have happened at a worse time. He wanted to scream from the frustration of it but was prevented by the grating sharpness.

A hiss came from the corridor, quickly growing louder.

“Wraith behind you!” Leera screamed.

Augum stood, trying to focus on the tiles, but his eyes were so watery he could barely see. There—there was the
A
! He jumped and wobbled, arms flailing for balance.

“What’s the matter with you, hurry—!” Leera shouted.

Augum found the next one,
P
. Behind him came the sound of thudding steps. He skipped from the R to the
E
as the hiss quickly approached, finally the
Y
and on to the other side where the girls yanked him through the door, slamming it shut. It immediately received a hard thwack, but held. Bridget and Leera slid to the floor, wincing and panting. There were repeated squeals and an angry hiss from behind the door. It sounded like the tiles were attacking the wraith. The hiss soon faded.

“It’s going to look for another way around,” Leera said.

Meanwhile, Augum groaned beside Jonathan, who was coming to. He raised his arm to cast Confusion on him again, but decided against it. He supposed it wouldn’t have helped—he had already pushed his arcane stamina to a dangerous degree.

Bridget’s hand shot to her mouth. “Aug, your face!”

“Runshed me!”

“What?”

Augum made a punching gesture at his own jaw. “Droken.”

Leera shot to his side. “It’s broken? No!”

“I’re bre fine. Ret’s go.” His jaw felt like it was made of a bunch of sharp rocks, and the area was swollen and tender. Breathing was difficult and he tasted blood in his mouth, but he’d work through it and find a way to heal it later.

“We got him, you lead,” Leera said, grabbing the boy with Bridget.

Thoroughly lost, Augum led them through a series of random twists and forks in the maze, until coming up to a corridor carved with three separate runic bands that ran along the floor and up the walls, each band separated by about four strides. He tentatively stepped over the first one, instantly feeling a tingling sensation in his brain he recognized as a Fear attack. He estimated the strength to be about 5th degree. Strong, but not unmanageable. He opened his jaw to warn the girls but gasped at the intense pain. Leaning against the wall for support, he gestured weakly at the ribbon, then at his own head.

“Brace for mind attack spells,” Bridget said.

The girls made it over the first band okay, but Jonathan’s eyes widened and he started screaming. From various nearby places in the maze came the sound of hissing and clacking, combining into a gruesome symphony. The girls jumped as they heard a frantic scratching at the wall just beside them.

Augum couldn’t read the runes of the next band through his tears of pain. His hands were curled so tightly into fists that his nails were drawing blood. He steeled himself and passed through, feeling another familiar 5th degree attack, except this time his weakened arcanery failed and he instantly went deaf. He gestured at his ears to warn the girls before waving them over. The girls carried a shrieking Jonathan through.

Augum turned his attention to the final band, already suspecting the spell that awaited him. He steeled himself once more and stepped over the band. His thoughts immediately jumbled as if someone had picked up the lot and smashed them against a wall. There were somewhat familiar faces nearby, but why were they there? Their mouths were moving, yet for some reason, he couldn’t hear anything. His vision was blurry and the lower part of his head felt like a bag of hot coals.

Right—they were supposed to be moving! He should nod and smile that he understood that. Don’t want to look stupid, do we?

As soon as he did so, however, an excruciating heat flashed through his jaw, forcing him to lean against the wall. All right, bad idea. He twisted around on his heel. The girls had moved ahead, gesturing for him to follow. Was that the right way? Maybe they should have gone the other way. Why was it so hard to make sense of everything? Maybe he was supposed to go through those bands. Or had he already crossed them? It would be wise to test one, just in case.

His sleeve was yanked by that familiar pretty girl with a smattering of freckles. Why was she scared? Maybe if they went back she wouldn’t be scared. He stopped her, hoping to somehow communicate they should go back. Instead, she grabbed him and dragged him along. Ahead, two people looked like they were playing some kind of wrestling game.

SCHWOOM.

Suddenly sound and logic hit him like a boulder. The sensation was so powerful he flinched, sending a stab of pain through his jaw and down his spine. What in Sithesia had he been doing? Bridget was
fighting
Jonathan and Leera was holding onto him as if he had lost his mind! He instantly realized both of them had also reached their arcane stamina limits.

“BAKA!” the boy shouted, slamming Bridget against the wall. She hit her head and fell to the ground, clutching it.

“Ram frine, herp her—” There was little he could do without speaking properly, but he was confident Leera could handle Jonathan. She nodded and shot off, quickly tackling the small boy in a whirl of necrophyte robes.

Augum ran to Bridget. “Rou rokay?”

She took her hand away from the top of her head. There was blood on her fingers. They locked eyes, conveying the seriousness of the moment. She swallowed but signaled she was all right. “Come on,” she said, allowing him to help her up.

They ran to the struggling pair, and soon the girls had a hold on the boy again. Augum focused through the stabbing pain and once again led the group. The passages snaked this way and that. He avoided one with an obvious floor trap composed of rusted iron stakes, and another with a water pit and a golem. Last thing they needed was more underwater fighting. Finally, he spied a giant slab pierced with holes. It blocked a dimly lit wheat field. Carved into the wall beside the slab was a crude depiction of a warlock making a shoving gesture at the slab.

Augum knew he and Leera did not have the strength to do it, but Bridget, having rested just long enough, might. He pointed at the carving and jerked on her sleeve.

“I’ll try,” she said. A sliver of blood had run down her forehead and dripped from her nose. She did not seem to notice, and let Leera and Augum handle the boy, who struggled in their grip.

“Let go of me, you brainwashed gutterborn scum!” the boy cried, aiming a punch for Augum’s jaw. Luckily Augum caught it and bent his arm back. If the punch had connected …

“Vikari vika—” but the boy wasn’t allowed to finish the vicious little necromantic spell as Leera’s hand clamped over his mouth.

“BAKA!” Bridget shouted and the slab bounced a little out into the field, leaving a gap the width of a hand.

“Again, Bridge!” Leera said. Behind them, a hiss echoed off the walls, closing in fast.

“BAKA!” Bridget shouted again, screaming after and clutching her head. “Can’t … do … more …”

The slab had bounced another couple finger lengths, but not enough for any of them to squeeze through. Augum let Jonathan go, hoping Leera could handle him alone, and raced to it and pushed, but it was like trying to move a mountain. He suspected only arcanery could actually have any effect, and specifically only the Push spell.

Bridget, who had been on her knees, suddenly made a squeak and frantically crawled toward the slab. An oversized claw emerged from around the corner. Soon a massive warped skull with vacant holes for eyes peeked into the passage. When the wraith saw them, it assumed a low attack profile. Its jaw opened and it hissed. Black goop dripped onto the flagstone.

Leera, who had her arm around Jonathan’s neck, whipped him around. “Tell it to go away!”

“NO!”

“Tell it to go away or I throw you at it!” She gave him a sharp jerk, fear cracking her voice. “NOW—!”

“All right, all right!”

The wraith bolted forward.

“ADAI!” Jonathan shouted just in time, and the wraith halted mere feet away, its body wavering menacingly over them.

“Necro dodai!” Jonathan pointed firmly. “Onto! Necro onto!”

The wraith watched him with the malevolent expression of something that had been denied a meal, but it steadily retreated, soon disappearing around the corner.

“Take him,” Leera said. Bridget and Augum grabbed the boy. Leera stared the slab down, blood dripping from her nose. “This is going to suck.” Her shoulders heaved a few times before she shoved at the air before her. “BAKA!” The giant stone slab bounced a few more finger lengths as she collapsed onto Augum’s other arm, whimpering and clutching her head.

“I got him, go!” Bridget said.

Augum squeezed through the gap with a groan, then helped a writhing Leera do the same. He had to lay her down so he could help Bridget, who awkwardly slithered through the gap while holding onto Jonathan’s torso. But the boy had found a grip—his hands curled around the edge of the slab, forcing them to pull on his legs in a tug of war.

“Let go!” Bridget shrieked.

“NO!”

Suddenly the slab started to return to its position with a grinding sound.

“Let go or it’ll squish you!”

“NO—!”

Augum winced as he forced himself to help the situation with Telekinesis. The boy screamed from the strain but finally let go. The three of them collapsed in a gasping heap beside Leera as the slab shut. Augum could hear the wraiths and walkers rove about the maze, clacking with, he assumed, frustration.

Eventually, after hearing a hiss come a little close for comfort, they got up and trundled along the field, the girls firmly holding the struggling boy’s arms. Augum was constantly fighting back the grinding pain of his jaw, which dwarfed the arcane-induced headache. Soon they were in the dimly lit obstacle field. Bridget eyed each obstacle carefully, mumbling to herself.

“Where are you taking me?” Jonathan asked.

No one replied as they hurried along.

“They’ll hang you. No,
flay
you alive. Especially you two gutterborn wenches—”

Bridget flinched. “Don’t use those horrible words.”

“You’re not my mother. You’re an enemy of the kingdom. Brainwashed villains of the first order—”

“There, that looks like it,” Bridget said, nodding at a black pillar on top of which sat a carved stone head with a shaved pate. Before the pillar was a large crimson circle.

“Looks right,” Leera said, and they went over to it, half-dragging and half-walking the boy.

“No, you can’t—” the boy said, struggling anew.

“I’m sorry but we don’t have a choice,” Bridget said. “Hold him, Aug.”

Augum grabbed the boy as Bridget read the inscription on the pillar.

“ ‘Memory Wipe. Warning: this obstacle is for advanced warlock use only. Warlocks are advised to be proficient with Mind Armor at the 10th degree or higher. Rune one casts the spell at the 8th degree. Rune two casts the spell at the 10th degree. Rune three casts the spell at the 12th degree’.”

There were three gargoyle runes below the inscription.

“It should only wipe out your time here in Antioc,” Bridget said.

The boy increased his struggling. “Wait … I’ll never tell! Promise!”

Bridget closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry, but we cannot take the risk. There is too much at stake.”

“No! I’ll hex you, I will!”

She rested a gentle hand on his arm. “Please don’t or we’ll cast Confusion on you, and the effects might make it much worse.
Please
.”

The boy collapsed, exhausted. He gave them each a venomous look. “You’re going to hell anyway. All of you. And you’ll hang and I’ll watch you choke and kick until you are dead.”