The Sac'a'rith (38 page)

“Yes, I am afraid so, but we will need better armor,” said Ragnar. “Crivreen crafted his first wand successfully yesterday. My suggestion is that both Crivreen and Felix work on creating as many wands as they can to supplement our swords, and you start improving our armor. Once we are ready, we will have to sneak into the fortress and attempt to destroy the table. It will be extremely dangerous, and it is almost a certainty that we will not all make it back alive,” said Ragnar.

“What do you mean by: ‘improving our armor’?” I asked.

“You enchanted the armor with leather. Leather is a force multiplier that takes all the traits of the armor and makes them stronger. I suggest you add a layer of cotton and stitch that layer with spider silk. The cotton will add life to the armor, which will increase the vitality of the wearer and has the convenient side effect of increasing its protection against the dead. Spider silk has binding properties which will make both the leather and cotton more effective; it will bind them to the armor better than the thread you are using now,” he said.

“What other materials should I consider?” I asked.

“I do not know if any others work for enchanting armor. My knowledge of the subject is quite limited, but I do know that leather, cotton, and spider silk is the preferred combination for armor,” he said.

“I have no idea where we could find such supplies,” I objected.

“Leave that to me,” said Agent Byron. “I have hundreds of agents all over the region. If it can be found, we will find it. I assume we want to keep this purchase as quiet as possible?”

“Yes. The less we tip our hand, the better,” said Ragnar.

“Assuming we get into the castle, how do we destroy the table?” asked Crivreen.

“I don’t know,” said Shira.

“Artifacts are strong, but not invulnerable. From what you told me of your weapons, I am sure we can make something equivalent, perhaps, to a dozen or so of the explosive runes you saw me use,” said Ragnar.

“Yeah, I can do that. Narcion has plenty of explosives; I can rig something up. We will just need to place it on the table and run,” he said.

“Well, a remote detonator would be nice,” I said.

“If you can get the explosives placed, I can gate us all to safety,” said Shira.

“This sounds like a dangerous plan. Is that the only way?” I asked.

“Yes, I believe so,” said Ragnar.

“How long will it take to gather the supplies we need?” I asked.

“Well, natural spider silk and cotton will be pretty hard to find quietly, since they are fairly rare. I would expect several weeks before I can get the first shipment out here,” said Agent Byron.

“I have enough branches to get started on the wands, but only enough to make a couple for each of us, assuming no more mistakes. That leaves none for Felix, though,” said Crivreen.

“I can get you more branches, too, but what are wands?” asked Agent Byron.

“A magus can cast spells into a natural wood stick and then release them later with a command. So my wands will hold lightning bolts and Felix can make fire bolt wands. Since the power is stored in the wand ahead of time, it takes no energy to use the wands, and they have a nearly instantaneous casting time. Essentially, it is the magi equivalent of a blaster,” said Crivreen.

“The only real drawback is that only a magus can use them,” said Ragnar.

“Byron, please start your team gathering supplies. Sounds like we have a good month, maybe two, of preparation before we can attack. Shira, how likely is it that he will attack another station in that time, without your assistance?” I asked.

“Not very likely, I believe. He will have to find a new person here to help him before he can attack, and that will use up some of his power. He will probably fall back and wait for our next move. He assumes Narcion is out there getting ready to attack him, so he will consolidate his power base,” said Shira.

“Do you think he suspects we will come?” I asked.

“He assumes you are all still working with Narcion, so he expects you will arrive with Narcion when the time comes,” she said.

I wanted to wait for Narcion to return, but if this necromancer got stronger with time, that would not be wise. Narcion would want me to go ahead and take down the necromancer, so that was what we were going to do. “Okay, unless anyone has a better plan, I think we all have our marching orders.”

While Zah’rak and the others were preparing for their showdown with the necromancer, Narcion stood on a hill overlooking an old decrepit castle. Around it was a thick lush forest, but the trees closest to the castle were dead and petrified. Nothing stirred anywhere near the castle, although the rest of the forest was filled with life.

Next to Narcion stood the yellow-eyed stranger who had warned everyone not to allow Narcion to continue. “I can’t believe we are actually here,” said the yellow-eyed stranger. She pulled her hood back and revealed long, thick and straight brown hair tied back in a sensible ponytail. Her face spoke of a long life of struggle and hardship, but her natural beauty was undiminished
.

“Now that you have returned to my side, Raquel, I can believe anything,” responded Narcion. “But soon this will all be over.”

“There are other tables, you know,” said Raquel. “They copied your design.”

“Yes, but even as we stand here the Wizard’s Council is discovering the tables and preparing to destroy them,” said Narcion.

“Then let’s leave it to them. We can depart this realm and start a new life somewhere else,” pleaded Raquel.

“No,” replied Narcion. “I created this. I am responsible, and I must make it right.”

“That Narcion is long dead; let him stay that way,” said Raquel. She was obviously concerned about something, something that seemed to shake her to the core.

“Like the necromancer on the other side of that table, that Narcion is fighting to come back from the grave. It must end here,” said Narcion. “Otherwise I will spend the rest of eternity fighting that Narcion and paying for his actions.”

They stood in silence for a while, staring at the castle. The sun slowly set behind them, creating long shadows, which added to the gravity of the moment.

“Then I will stand by you and see this through. I am as guilty as you are,” said Raquel.

“If I fall, promise me you will find Grandmaster Vydor and tell him everything. He must prepare for the dangers that yet lie sleeping,” said Narcion.

“I won’t let you fall,” she said.

“When I fall, it will not be your choice,” he said.

“What do you mean?” asked Raquel.

“Just what I said. Now, Zah’rak and his team are getting close and we have much to do to prepare,” said Narcion.

“Yes, but I think we will need to visit Korshalemia to get what we need. They have not yet reached that level of progress here,” said Raquel. “We must be careful not to be seen by their wizards; that could complicate matters.”

Narcion nodded, and Raquel cast a spell to open a gate. Narcion took one last look at the castle and then they both walked through the gate. Behind where they had stood on the hilltop, Grandmaster Vydor stepped out of the shadows and smiled. “God be with you, Narcion and Raquel,” he said quietly to the closing gate and vanished.

~~~

It took two months for us to prepare for the assault on the necromancer’s castle. During that time, I crafted armor, and Felix and Crivreen made wands. Shira returned to full strength and spent a lot of time answering endless questions that Agent Byron tossed her way. After a while, I realized he was gently interrogating her, probably without her knowledge. She did not seem to mind it, and it kept him from bugging me about it, so I said nothing.

Ragnar asked Agent Byron to get him some gems and other stones, which he crafted into runes. Much like the wands that Felix and Crivreen were making, he stored power in the runes that he could call up in battle. There was a very large range of runes he could make, but apparently he could only work magic through the use of the runes. His spell would consume the rune in casting and use some of his power, so it was not quite the same as using a wand, but it did have similarities. He told me that rune-casting gave him a much larger variety of spells than most magi, but each spell was weaker.

“Zah’rak, we will be landing in about two minutes,” said Crivreen.

When we had landed I said, “All right, everyone; just a reminder. The plan is simple. The necromancer is using an old castle as his base. Several of the walls have gaps in them that you should be able to slip through unnoticed. We will split into three groups. Ragnar and Byron will sneak in from the left, while Crivreen and Felix approach from the right. Your goal is simple: to get your explosives to the table and get out without being seen. Shira and I will charge the front gate; we will make as big an entrance as we can and attempt to draw his focus. Once you get your explosives planted she will gate us out, and we will all fall back to the Night Wisp. Any final questions or thoughts?”

“One thing: whatever you do, no matter what happens, do not remove any piece of your armor. If you do, a collector can get in and steal your spirit. A magus’ spirit is many times more powerful than a mundane’s. He will come for it the very instant he sees an opening,” said Shira.

“We must also remember our goal, which is that everyone makes it out alive and that the table is destroyed. No heroics, just stay on target,” said Ragnar.

“Agreed,” I said. “Anyone else? No? Then let’s move out,” I said. Once everyone was off the Night Wisp it would fly back to orbit on autopilot where it wouldn’t draw undue attention.

It happened to be after nightfall when we landed, but Shira assured us that would be no obstacle to the necromancer’s vision. Still, we all did our best to blend in and move quietly through the woods towards the main gate. Shira and I left first, and the other two groups left sometime after us. I had my doubts that we would fool such a powerful magus, but having a plan that sounded good helped keep everyone focused.

Shira’s short legs made slow work of our travel through the woods, and several times I wanted to scoop her up and put her on my shoulder, but I figured that would be inappropriate so I refrained. We walked for a couple of hours from where we had landed until we reached the entrance to the fortress. From our hiding point at the edge of the forest we could tell it was locked securely. “There it is. We just need to wait till the others are in position and I will blast the door.”

“I’m with you,” said Shira.

“You sure you’re up for this?” I asked.

“You couldn’t stop me, at this point,” she said with an evil smile. There was something dark in her eyes. I remembered how she had looked when she’d said she wanted to see the necromancer burn, and I thought about the many nights I had heard her screaming in her quarters as she slept. I knew it would be a long time, if ever, before she would be free of those nightmares. I wondered if I was doing the right thing by trusting her; her quest for vengeance could easily jeopardize the mission.

It was too late now to worry about that, so I pulled out my heavy artillery and started to set it up. It was too big and bulky to be of use once we began our charge, but from where we were hiding it should easily blow a large hole through the door and let us in.

From behind me came a familiar voice. “My brother, well done to find this place!”

“Narcion!” I said.

“Yes, brother, it’s me,” he said.

I turned and saw him behind me, with that stranger with the yellow eyes. “What happened? Where have you been?”

“No time to explain now. I presume the rest of the party plans to sneak in while you make some noise up here? Then you intend to plant those explosives you’re carrying and blow up the table?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. I wondered how much of that was guesswork and how much he might have heard through spying on us in some manner.

“I will handle the distraction. You follow me in and make a break for the table,” he said.

“Sure,” I said.

“Listen, Zah’rak: no matter what happens tonight, you must carry on. You and your team are the new Sac’a’rith. I must fade away soon,” said Narcion.

“But … ” I protested.

He waved me to stop and said to the stranger, “What say you, Raquel? Once more into the breach?”

Raquel nodded and gave an affectionate squeeze to Narcion’s shoulder, then they boldly walked into the clearing in front of the door to the castle.

“All teams, there is a slight change in our plan: Narcion will be creating the distraction for us. All teams, continue as planned,” I said over the communicator. They must have had a thousand questions; I knew I did, but right now we had to focus on the mission.

Narcion and Raquel walked up to the gate and stood before it. After a quick glance into each other’s eyes, they pulled off their robes and threw them into the air. The robes vanished to reveal bright, metallic armor. From the air, Narcion drew down a staff and Raquel a pair of swords, one glowing red and the other blue; both of them sizzled as they cut through the air.

From the castle came a laugh with no humor in it. “So the great Narcion and his estranged lover are finally crawling out of their hole!”

The couple seemed to ignore him as Narcion began casting a spell with great motions using his entire body. It was a complex and fluid dance that mimicked pulling things from the ground. Around him the ground started to rumble and skeletons burst forth, wielding swords and shields. At the same time Raquel began to cast, but her motions were more pointed and looked as if she were funneling some unseen river straight at the castle gate. Then a blindingly bright bolt of energy leapt from Raquel and slammed into the fortress, obliterating the door and much of the wall around it. Narcion directed the skeletons around him to charge the castle, and he and Raquel charged in after the skeletal army through the hole that her spell had made in the wall.

“What just happened?” I asked.

“Narcion summoned an army and made your distraction. Let’s move!” said Shira.

“All teams: move out!” I said, then quietly to Shira, “Skeletons? Lover? What’s going on?”