TST (25 page)

Azerick and the men looked around intently as they entered the large chamber but saw no sign of ambush. Several tunnels branched off from the large, domed chamber. Their magical lights were just able to illuminate the tips of the stalactites that clung to the ceiling that was lost in inky blackness. Stalagmites jutted up from floor in a parody of Azerick’s stone spike spell, some over ten feet tall with a base that would take three men linking arms to surround it. The humans quickly scouted the room and found that four new tunnels presented them with a decision to make.

“Which way do you think, lad?” Zeb asked him.

“I don’t know, Zeb, I just don’t know. Damn it all!” Azerick swore in frustration and knuckled his forehead, thumping it rhythmically trying to induce it to produce an answer.

Whether it was luck, divine intervention, or just thumping his head to jar his brain into action he had an inspiration. He held out his hand and produced a small flame. It hovered just above his palm, flickering like a tiny willow wisp.

Zeb hushed and held back his men as Azerick strode about the wall of the chamber, pausing in front of each tunnel. After he had made nearly a complete circuit, he returned to the second tunnel on the left from the one they had entered.

The tiny flame began to flicker and dance upon the sorcerer’s outstretched hand. “This one, Zeb, there is a breeze coming from this passageway. Get everyone moving, quickly.”

“You heard him folks, let’s get a move on,” Zeb called back towards the people trying to catch their breath.

Azerick paused by the tunnel entrance and made sure no one was left behind, particularly Toron. The old minotaur flashed him a grin as he brought up the rear guard. Satisfied that all were accounted for, he jogged back up to the front of the troop column. The group came to a sudden halt as they found the source of the breeze that wafted through the tunnel. It was not a surface exit as Azerick had hoped but a massive chasm, its depth and width lost in darkness.

“This doesn’t look good, son,” Zeb remarked with concern.

“Hand me a crossbow bolt,” Azerick commanded.

One of the sailors plucked a quarrel from a short quiver at his hip and handed it over. Azerick chanted a word of magic and the bolt suddenly lit up with the same bright light as the stones he had made.

“Fire it across the gulch, try to hit the far wall near the same level we are at,” he told the sailor as he returned the bolt.

“If there is a far wall,” the sailor muttered.

The man made a guess as to the distance and fired his crossbow. The magical makeshift flare sped across the dark expanse before clattering against the stone side about fifteen feet up from their position on the far side. The illuminating bolt looked little more than a bright star surrounded by an expanse of darkness when it finally came to a rest at the bottom of the chasm.

“Did you all see the tunnel on the other side?” Azerick asked the men that stood around him. Several of them affirmed that they had. “All of you give me a bolt but do not take your eyes off where you saw the tunnel.”

Azerick repeated his spell over the half dozen quarrels then returned them to the men that held the crossbows. “Try to get your bolts to land inside the cave on the other side. One of you shoot first to get a second look then the rest of you aim for the cave.”

They all raised their crossbows and waited for the lead man to fire. The single bolt sped away across the dark expanse like a shooting star. It struck surprisingly near the entrance, just a few feet above it. The twang of the crossbows hurling their projectiles echoed through the cavern the moment the first one revealed the cave entrance. Three of them struck just on the outside of the distant cave and joined the previous two at the bottom of the deep gulch but two made it inside and illuminated the passage.

“Good shot, men,” Azerick said, congratulating the men on their marksmanship.

“Shoot, weren’t nothin’. Try it from the top of a rocking ship’s mast at sea,” one of the grizzled sailors replied.

“Stand back, everyone,” Azerick instructed as he began another enchantment.

Azerick deftly wove a spell and the air began to shimmer before him. Light suddenly appeared in thin line as if someone had just taken a knife and made a long cut in the air revealing the outside sunlight. The thread of light widened until it was six feet wide and eight feet tall. Through the magical doorway, the men could see the cave with the illuminated crossbow bolts lying on the ground but it now looked only a few feet away.

“Zeb, get everyone through quickly. I don’t think we have very much time.”

Azerick slapped his head in rebuke as the rest of the party ran through the portal. “I am such an idiot!” Azerick shouted at himself as he pulled a scroll tube out of his pack and began shuffling through the pages.

“What’s the matter, boy? Why are smacking yourself about?” Zeb asked.

“I have a veritable treasure trove of magical spells at my fingertips and I completely forgot about them!” he snarled as he set a couple of the scrolls aside before rolling up the rest and dropping them into the leather tube.

“Everyone else is through, little wizard, time to go,” Toron rumbled.

“Not just yet. They may know a way past this. I want to convince them that it is not worth their effort or lives,” Azerick said darkly.

“Whatever you are going to do make it quick, lad,” Zeb cautioned.

“I will wait here and guard you,” Toron insisted.

Azerick was going to argue but the look in the minotaur’s eyes made it obvious that it was a statement and not a request. He jogged down the tunnel with Toron close on his heels. A minute later he stopped, handed Toron his light stone, and unrolled one of the scrolls. He read the spidery runes of magic, each one flaring out of existing with a tiny flash of flame as soon as he read them aloud. When he came to the end of the scroll and the last rune flared out of existence Azerick let the charred velum drop to the ground.

“I do not see any effect,” stated Toron.

“Not yet but the gnomes will. Let’s go, we are not done yet.”

The pair ran back up the tunnel towards the magical doorway and stopped about halfway back. Azerick unrolled the second scroll and cast the spell it contained with similar invisible effects.

“That takes care of that. I’ll follow you through the doorway,” Azerick told Toron.

“I do not care much for a wizard’s chicanery. I hope you appreciate the level of trust I show you by stepping through such a thing.”

“Your trust in me is greatly appreciated. Now get your big hairy butt through the portal.”

Azerick dropped his light stone before he followed Toron through. The magical gate snapped shut as soon as Azerick stepped through the doorway. He walked to the ledge and cast his long step spell on the far side of the chasm. The portal’s exit he placed several feet away from the distant wall over a hundred feet above the chasm floor. There he unrolled a third scroll and prepared his last surprise and waited for the enemy’s arrival.

The two earth elementals lumbered into the rune field that Azerick had cast from the first scroll, the gnomes following close behind them. The elementals strode through the field without triggering the magical traps, their stone forms lacking the flesh and blood that the spell required to trigger its effect. The unfortunate cavern gnomes had no such protection.

Several gnomes made it nearly halfway across before the first trap erupted in a bright burst of energy, searing the flesh of the individual that stepped on it. Several more bursts followed as more of the gnomes marched into the trapped field.

The elementals continued their pursuit of the fleeing humans, oblivious to the attacks on the gnomes. Less than a minute later the lead elemental reached Azerick’s second trap. A sphere of pent up energy floated invisibly over the center of the passageway, waiting for anyone or anything to pass near it.

As the first stone behemoth came within a few feet of it, it became visible and exploded. The force of the blast shattered the lead elemental’s entire upper torso. It took two more steps then fell forward and lay still. The remaining elemental lost its left hand and a web of cracks ran through its chest. The gnomes had wisely chosen not to follow quite so close behind their summoned creatures but flying bits of stone still caused several deep lacerations in those closest.

The stone caller was furious at the destruction of another of his creatures and shouted in rage at the back of his remaining elemental. He was familiar with the chasm up ahead and knew that the humans could not be far unless they could fly. He urged the earth elemental onward, desperate to destroy these interlopers once and for all.

The stone caller saw a pale light up ahead and knew that the humans must be just around the bend. The remaining earth elemental rounded the corner, took three more steps, and unwittingly stepped through the dimensional doorway, which deposited it a hundred feet over the great black abyss of the chasm. It fell soundlessly until its hulking body shattered on the stones below.

The spell’s time limit expired just as the stone caller rounded the bend. He glared at the sorcerer who had somehow managed to get his people across the deep gorge.

Azerick called across the chasm as more gnomes appeared on the other side. “I will tell you one more time. We have no interest in fighting you or encroaching on your territory. We are merely refugees trying to get home but we will defend ourselves. How many more of you are willing to sacrifice your lives in this pointless pursuit? Cut your losses and allow us to leave unmolested.”

The stone caller was furious at the casualties he had suffered and the demands of this arrogant human wizard. “Human, I am named the earth caller. All around you is earth and I am its master. You and your people are doomed. Your petty tricks are no match for the power of the earth!” he shouted and raised his gem once more.

It seemed the entire world started shaking under Azerick’s feet as stones began falling from the cavern ceiling all around him.

“You have made a very poor decision, earth caller,” Azerick yelled and read the last word that remained on the scroll he held in his hands.

The instant that the remaining rune burned away from the paper, a massive fireball erupted behind the ranks of cavern gnomes standing on the far side of the gorge. The blast sent a dozen of the short figures hurling out over the black abyss as if flung from a catapult. Another dozen or more of gnomes farther back perished under the intense heat of the fiery inferno. Those that were able raced back in the direction from which they came, deciding that these humans were not worth their lives.

The earth shaking subsided when Azerick’s spell blasted the earth caller through the air along with many of his kin and dashed upon the rocks below. Azerick turned from the needless destruction and walked back to his people.

“I do not think they will be bothering us any longer,” Azerick told Zeb as he returned to the front of the group.

“I would think not. Don’t let it get you down, son. Life is hard by itself but some people insist on making it harder than it needs to be. Don’t let it make you hard on yourself,” Zeb advised, seeing the despondent look on Azerick’s face.

“You’re right, Zeb, I know. I am just getting so tired of all the death that seems to happen around me. For once I would like to be an agent for good—for life.”

The old captain scowled at the young man before him. “Look around you, boy! That is exactly what you are to these people! If it weren’t for you they would be living and dying as slaves right now. They know you are good, they know you have given them a chance at a real future. You have made good things happen and you have the power and character to make a lot more good things happen for a lot of people. I see the greatness in you, lad, and so do they.”

Azerick looked into the faces of the dirty, exhausted people around him. Several men nodded and the women smiled as he looked at them.

“Thanks, Zeb, I’ll do my best to remember that,” Azerick said quietly. “Let’s find a place to rest awhile. I’m beat.”