If destruction were the perfect solution, then most of this world would have been in ruins when I arrived, mused the mage.
Then there was Loki. Tyler guessed the trickster had something to do with the plague, despite the deity’s statements to the contrary. He didn’t know how the bastard had found such a complicated spell, or how he did it, but the mage held the trickster responsible for the terrible blight. So far, he couldn’t think of anybody else – the events in the lands of fire and ice only reinforced his suspicions. Even Hela had problems with rebelling dead in her dark realm, so that ruled her out for the time being. But one thing was clear; the problem appeared to be centered in Skaney and somehow involved the Norse pantheon.
But he wasn’t sure about the ambush involving Asem – it could have been part of the opening moves of the war in the southwestern part of Adar. The priestess was the deity Thaut’s daughter after all, and she was a formidable power in her own right. As a realm, Kemet had its own share of enemies, and it stood to reason that a major war would open with something to provoke Kemet’s pantheon. Yet there were also too many gaps in that puzzle.
Too many unknowns, assessed the mage. He didn’t discard the possibility that Loki might be involved somehow in the ambush, but Tyler needed to find Loki’s motivation—the trigger—behind the attack, if indeed the Norse god was involved. Loki’s involvement would definitely leave traces to be discovered, leading to a break in the oath he gave to the mage.
The consequences would be severe – the magic itself would punish the deity and Tyler would be free to act against Loki. Yet, it was a binding arrangement the trickster went to great lengths to secure, again a contradiction giving Tyler pause in that line of reflection. Loki may be crazy, unhinged, or whatever description fitted his madcap personality, but stupid he certainly is not.
But one headache at a time, decided the mage. And the most pressing one is right on my doorstep.
Tyler thought that the undead host near Hedmark could act now and advance on the fortress, depending on how its leader interpreted the failure to eliminate the dwarves, or they could continue as they were doing – gathering strength and waiting for the arrival of the much larger host gathered near the Barrens. There wasn’t word on how Freyr fared in the promised diversion. Despite the price of such involvement by the deity, the mage knew he desperately needed the Barrens army out of the coming battle.
The battle for Hedmark would have but a slim chance of going in our favor, if and only if the Barrens army is not involved, he reflected gloomily. If the two forces joined, then he doubted if the tsunami of undead could be held back, even with the help of the hammerless Thor. To make matters worse, the peculiar energy of the animating spell would render the mages of the fortress incapacitated most of the time. What they encountered on the field was but a small part of the main horde, and yet the strange aura nearly killed the accompanying mages of the rescuing host. The question of the bizarre magical energy was a crucial problem that had to be resolved. There was no telling what the effect of a much higher concentration of such power would do to him.
“Guys? Anything about that weird energy feedback?” he asked the guides.
“Yes, sire,” replied X. “A fortunate result of your unhappy experience was the availability of the energy in such a concentrated form, enabling us to make use of large samples to test our conclusions. The spell had an ingenious magical structure, and whoever crafted it intended to disguise its origin.”
“X. The short version, please,” commented the mage. There was no escaping the theoretical mindset of the two when a subject fascinated them. Like now.
“The energy used is a natural one. But the spell itself is actually composed of two conjurations. The first is a fairly common example intended to keep a spell or spells together and amplify the effect. It is similar to a protective and carrying spell meant for complex magical patterns. But the second, the main spell, is an ancient one which once existed and was known only during a time of war between gods and men on one side, and Titans on the other,” explained X.
“Titans. Isn’t that a Greek myth? I mean, what has that got to do with Skaney?” It was puzzling, yet far-reaching in implication.
“It is indeed of ancient Greek origin, magic of a kind not practiced anymore on the First World after the defeat of the Titans at the hands of Zeus and his army. By its very nature, it is magical knowledge unfamiliar to the Norse pantheon and possibly even to the Greeks, considering that each side used dissimilar lore during the Titan Wars, or the Titanomachy,” added Hal.
“But it should be recognizable or familiar to those of the Greek pantheon who fought in that conflict, Zeus for one,” said Tyler, trying to understand how the spell escaped the scrutiny of the northern pantheons.
“Therein lies the ingenuity of the spell. Wrapped in a common shielding spell, the ancient knowledge became difficult to discern, even to one acquainted with it, as the two came from different systems of magic. Add to that the fact it was cast through a dimensional medium, confusing matters further,” explained X.
“I guess the spell used in Hellas used the
