As for how the bastard knew exactly where we were, that was easy enough to figure out. Tucked away in a pocket on my hip was the Blood Jewel, which, like a fiery beacon on a hilltop at night, was blazing out our exact location to the Hooded Man. The easiest thing to do would have been to simply toss the Blood Jewel out, to cast it into one of the many chasms we had to cross on fallen trees and other improvised bridges.
As easy as it would make our lives, chucking this evil stone out wasn’t an option I was willing to consider, though. A humble street magician had found it before, and within months he’d become the most powerful person in Yeng, and had almost been strong enough to defeat me—almost. I couldn’t risk it falling into someone else’s hands.
The ground beneath us started to rumble, and the mountains around let out a resounding groan, bowel-rattling in its deep intensity.
“Shields up, turtle formation, protect your heads!” I roared. “Rockfall!”
With an earsplitting bang, like a clap of thunder exploding inside our skulls, a section of the mountain to our left broke off. Huge boulders came crashing down, hurtling down the steep slopes at speed and building up terrifying momentum. My party members huddled together under an improvised roof of tower shields—all glossy black, enchanted with Death magic—as I pulled a hefty mass of Death power into them from my distant army. Boulders that would have crushed a cave troll shattered against my shields, but even with the potent magic reinforcing their strength, we were still in danger. A huge section of rock, big as a barn, sloughed off the mountain and smashed one of my Jotunn off the trail and down into a miles-deep chasm. The zombie giant fell for a good few seconds before his body exploded into a splatter of rotten, pulverized flesh on the jagged rocks far below.
“We aren’t going to make it without some sort of serious counterforce to this storm!” Rami-Xayon shouted. “I’m pushing my Wind powers as hard as I can, but whoever is driving this blizzard is impossibly strong!”
“Strong maybe, but not impossibly so,” I growled, drawing my Dragon Sword from its sheath on my back and stepped out from under the shields. I pulled more Death energy from my army into the greatsword and used it to smash any boulder that bounced in my direction to powder. With the magic I was channeling through the blade, I could shatter even house-sized boulders into pebbles and grit.
“Come on, asshole!” I roared into the storm. “Is that all you’ve got?!”
The mountains groaned and rumbled again, and another thunderous clap boomed through the peaks. Another rockfall came crashing down the mountainside, and it took all of my speed and agility to dodge and smash the falling projectiles. Another massive chunk of mountainside split off the mountain, and another of my undead Jotunn was bowled off the path into the bottomless chasm below.
“This is madness, Vance!” Elyse shouted from under the shields. “You may be able to handle these rockfalls, but soon there won’t be a single Jotunn left! And I fear that any more of these seismic disturbances could cause a titanic avalanche that’ll bury us all!”
“Then we need better protection, and I think I know just how to do that!” I yelled back. “I’m going to need a few of you to chip in with your magic, though. Rami-Xayon, Elyse, Yumo-Rezu, hurry!”
The three of them moved to the front of the shield formation.
“I don’t know what else I can do, Vance,” Rami-Xayon said. “I’m using everything I have to create a windstorm to fight this blizzard. I can’t make it any stronger.”
“And I can’t see the sun, so I can’t call on my Light powers,” Elyse said.
“Fat load of good my Ice Bow will do against a fuckin’ snowstorm,” Yumo-Rezu said, the mouthy, youthful enjarta side of her personality dominating temporarily.
“That’s why we’re going to mix things up,” I said. “Rami-Xayon, call off your windstorm and create a funnel tornado instead. Aim it at the sun, so Elyse can get some light!”
“The blizzard might blow us all off the mountainside if I call my windstorm off!” she said.
“Not if we do this fast.”
“Okay,” she said, closing her eyes to concentrate on summoning a long, narrow and powerful tornado.
The moment she called her windstorm off, the blizzard picked up intensity. It took immense strength just to keep from being blown off the mountain, like a dry leaf in a gale. Then, with trees on my mind, I remembered another form of magic I possessed.
“Rollar! My wrist crossbow!” I yelled.
Rollar, using all of his barbarian strength to keep the shield formation together, reached into my pack, grabbed my Tree crossbow, and tossed it to me. I caught it and clipped it around my wrist. Rami-Xayon’s long funnel tornado blasted just enough of a gap through the blizzard to let a single ray of sun hit Elyse. One ray was all it took, and in the blink of an eye she was suited up in her gleaming golden armor, and her golden mace had doubled in size and was glowing with Light magic. Yumo-Rezu handed me one of her blue Ice arrows, and I tucked it into my belt. All the elements were now in place for my alchemical wizardry, enabled by the Dragon
