He had covered half the distance to the ballistae before he realized he had dropped his swords when he slammed into the ceiling. As strong as he was I imagined he probably could have made do with rocks or simply pulling them limb from limb, and it certainly would have had an artistic touch but he chose instead to run back for his swords.
Walter piped up in disbelief, “What the hell is he doing?!”
I almost collapsed I was laughing so hard at that point, “He’s running back for his swords.”
“Why the fuck are you laughing? Are you insane?!” the older wizard yelled at me.
I couldn’t answer; I had no air left to me by then. I pointed and tried to say, “Just look at him running,” but I couldn’t get the words out. The shiggreth had finally realized they were under attack and a massive ballistae bolt shot forth. It grazed Harold’s shoulder, knocking him down before it exploded against the rock sheltering us.
Walter ducked down even further, “Holy shit!” he screamed as fragments of rock and wood rained down over us. “He’ll be killed!”
I strengthened my shields and peeked back over the top of the rocks. Harold had recovered his swords and was bounding back toward the enemy. The terrain was so rough he probably would have been better off at a fast walk but he was in the throes of adrenaline induced madness now. Miraculously he didn’t fall over anything during his second charge.
He reached the second ballista just as it fired at him. This time however he was staring it dead on and his reflexes were beyond human. Stepping right he avoided the massive bolt and bringing one of his enchanted sword blades down he sliced the front end of the massive siege weapon apart. His swing damaged the great bow and the device literally exploded as the massive bow limbs came apart with incredible force.
The first of the two great weapons was nearly reloaded by the time he turned back toward it, but the undead creatures manning it never had a chance. Another swing of his right hand sword and that ballista also fell into ruin. After that it was simply a slaughter as he moved from place to place. Like a whirling dervish he cut the enemy into pieces. With his enhanced strength and impenetrable armor the undead really never had a chance.
I turned to the captain leading the rest of the men in our ‘invasion’ contingent. “Wait here captain. I’ll confirm the entrance is clear before we bring the men in.” Standing up I entered the cave with my staff held out before me and my shields readied. Walter followed me in, though I hadn’t asked him to come with me.
Harold stood panting near the remains of the siege weapons and their dismembered operators. “Don’t say anything,” he warned us as we approached.
I gave him one of my winning smiles, “I wouldn’t dream of commenting.”
“For what it’s worth I think he’s mad as a hatter,” Walter told Harold as he pointed a thumb in my direction.
I couldn’t blame him. Recently I had begun to suspect I might be coming unhinged, and losing Penny and Dorian had only driven another nail into the coffin regarding my sanity. I wasn’t ready to admit to it yet though. “Let’s clean up the mess and we can bring in the troops. Walter, see if you can spot any more of them waiting in the tunnels further along. I’ll dispose of the bodies so they won’t have to rest in pieces.” My joke elicited a groan from both of them but I assumed it was because of their poor taste.
Pointing my staff downward I spoke a word and began channeling a white hot flame along the length of it. Playing it back and forth I started the rather foul task of incinerating the still moving pieces of our undead foes. The stench of burning bodies was incredibly foul, but unfortunately it wasn’t a new smell for me. I had had a lot of experience with it in the aftermath of the battle with the army of Gododdin. The cremation fires then had lasted for more than a week.
As I reached one of the bodies near the ballistae my flames took hold in an unexpected way, blazing up and filling the room with light. The floor was covered in a slick substance that burned, almost as if someone had poured out a barrel of oil. I released my spell but the fire continued to spread across the floor between both of the broken ballistae and then outward in lines, following channels carved into the floor. My eyes grew wide as I realized I had inadvertently set off a trap, just as they had known I would.
“Get down!” I screamed at Harold and Walter as I ran toward them. Confusion was written in their faces as I reached them and they still made no move to do anything. Without time to do anything else I created a shield around the three of us and grabbed them by the shoulders. “Down!” I repeated and thankfully they knelt as I pulled downward on them.
“What’s going on?” asked Walter, and then the world exploded. Somehow the bastards had gotten their hands on what I assumed must be quarry powder. The dark grey substance was produced by both the illuminator’s guild, which refused to share, as well as by some master stone masons, for use in quarrying rock. The damn stuff was too dangerous to use for much else, though I had heard some talk of incorporating it into siege weapons somehow.
The end result was similar to what would have happened if I had been stupid enough to use my explosive iron spheres, in a cave, under hundreds of tons of stone. The entrance collapsed and although we were rather far back from where the explosion occurred we were struck and nearly buried by a deluge of rock and debris. The noise and vibration were incredible and went on for more than a minute after the explosion itself was done.
When it finished we were cut off from the outside world. My shield had managed to keep us from being buried by the rock but we had several large boulders leaning across the top of it. I was forced to slowly change the size and shape of the shield to allow them to slide to one side. Once the heaviest of the rocks was off of it I was able to release my spell so we could climb out.
Standing amidst the rubble Walter and I surveyed the tons of stone blocking our way out. “That’s a lot of rock,” I observed.
“It will take forever to get past that, assuming the rest of the ceiling doesn’t come down if we try to dig out,” Walter added.
Harold spoke up, “I wouldn’t mind some light. It’s pitch black in here.”
Once again I had forgotten that not everyone could see in the dark. It was easier to do with Walter around, since he shared my sensory abilities. “Lyet,” I said softly, and a bright light began to emanate from the head of my staff. “Is that better?”
Sir Harold looked around, slowly taking in the scenery, rock, stone and more rock. He whistled, “I do hope you have another trick up your sleeve, your Excellency.”
As it so happened I did have options. One would be to create a teleportation circle that could take us to one of my circles in either Cameron or Lancaster and another would be to attempt simply walking through the stone itself. I wasn’t sure if I could manage that with two people, it had been difficult enough with Rose, but I could surely take them one at a time. “I can get us out,” I said confidently, “but first I would like to see what else there is down here.”
Walter groaned, “I had a feeling you might say that.”
We spent several minutes getting a better feel for the layout of the tunnels around us and making sure there were no more of the shiggreth nearby. It appeared that although the caverns branched in several places the offshoots rejoined the main tunnel deeper into the hills. In essence, although it was confusing there weren’t too many places to explore along the way.
After a few hundred yards we sensed more of the shiggreth though. Naturally it was Walter that spotted them first, “There are several hundred in the large cavern ahead,” he informed me.
By focusing more carefully I was able to see them as well. The large cavern they occupied was fairly level and had a smooth floor. Compared to the rest of the cave system it definitely gave the impression of having been altered to better accommodate human forms. I looked at my two companions, “I don’t really fancy trying to burn them all to ash.”
Their reactions were priceless. Walter’s eyes bulged as though they might try to escape his head, “But you considered it?” he asked incredulously.
Harold took an entirely different view. Now that he had survived the ballistae he was feeling decidedly more invulnerable. “Perhaps I could manage them…”
“Twenty or thirty perhaps, but more than that I doubt, remember Dorian,” I reminded him.
“So you do want to burn them?” Harold replied.
“Oh I’d like to certainly,” I answered, “but I worry that using too much fire down here would exhaust the limited supply of fresh air.” I had not forgotten using a flash fire to first burn and then suffocate Devon Tremont almost two years ago.
