Broken Mage (15 page)

The look on Crusher’s face began to get
worried with the passing of each day. He began to take longer on
deciding which tunnel to take and he would often check the walls
thoroughly as if looking for something. When they settled down to
rest for the night Crusher seemed more agitated than
normal.

Letting his curiosity get the better of
him Thad moved over and took a seat next to Crusher at the fire. In
his disturbed state he didn’t even take note of Thad’s presence.
Thad sat awkwardly for a few moments trying to think of a way to
broach the subject until he finally swallowed his nerves and tapped
on the dwarf’s shoulder. Crusher didn’t respond, so Thad put more
force using his whole hand instead of just a few
fingers.

When Crusher finally turned to look at
him, Thad could easily tell that there was more going on than the
increased presence of the creatures in the tunnels on his friends
mind. Now that he had the dwarfs attention Thad was at a loss on
how to ask the question without the use of words. Hoping Crusher
would get the point Thad made a sad face then pointed at the
dwarf’s head.

Crusher ran his hand over his bald head
his face contorted in concentration. After a few moments to gather
his thoughts Crusher began trying to explain what had been on his
mind. Crusher didn’t pause or give Thad a chance to get
clarification on what he meant he just continued to rant using his
hands. Thad was sure the dwarf was frustrated and even though Thad
only caught the meaning of a few of the gestures it was helping
Crusher get it off his mind.

From what Thad did catch it seemed that
the tunnels belonged to his village and the presence of the
creatures didn’t bode well. He was torn between the decision to
return home or to fight the beasts that now roamed the darkness
taking what belonged to his people. The rest was lost to him in
Crusher’s frantic waving.

Thad wasn’t sure what to do, from what
he understood they were close to Crusher’s home bringing Thad even
closer to his goal of returning to his own home. On the other hand
his friend wanted to chase the creatures from what he considered
his peoples’ land. Thad would think the obvious choice would be to
return to the dwarven village and gather more soldiers but it
didn’t seem like Crusher wanted to wait.

Thad knew that it would be near
impossible to find the dwarven village on his own. Leaving his fate
in the hands of whatever his friend decided. Thad knew that he
could argue and try to persuade the dwarf toward what he wanted,
but would that be right. What would he do in the same
situation?

It didn’t take long for Thad to come to
find an answer. He had seldom been rational in most of his
decisions. He was sure that if faced with the same situation he
would do exactly like Crusher. Run into the fight well before he
found a better solution. His staff didn’t seem to like his train of
thought as it forced pictures of him and the dwarf lying dead in a
dark tunnel. His staff did have a point even with Crusher’s inhuman
strength and Thad’s magic if they followed this path there was a
good chance they would both end up dead.

In the end it was an easy decision. He
had only had few friends in his life and many of them had taken
great risks for his sake. Joan had taken him in even knowing he was
an escaped slave. The princess had kept his secret knowing her
mother was anxious to find him. Monique had partnered with him
knowing full well that if anyone found out he was an escaped slave
her business would suffer, and Eloen had helped him escape capture
at great personal risk.

With everything his friends had gone
through to help him when he was in need. There was no way he would
turn his back on someone now when they needed him even if it was an
insane mission.

Thad placed his hand on Crusher
shoulder as he continued ranting with his hands oblivious to the
fact Thad wasn’t paying attention anymore. When his companion
finally stopped his frantic hand gestures and looked at him Thad
opened his hand and showed the dwarf an illusion of the two of them
fighting a horde of the creatures that now roamed the subterranean
tunnels.

Crusher looked at him awestruck for a
few minutes then let out what Thad was sure would have been a
roaring laugh as he pounded Thad hard on the back. Thad joined in
his friend’s laughter.

Crusher quickly switched from
celebrating to planning how the three could best attack the
invaders. Thad had some trouble following but not much as Crusher
drew figures on the ground often scribbling one out and redrawing
it to make it clearer to his friend.

The plan was simple they would stalk
and attack any group they could find that seemed small enough to
handle in a short period of time without the use of Thad’s magic.
At the same time they would have to dodge the larger patrols and
armed groups. After a short time the enemy would begin searching
for whoever was killing off their men. The increase in troops would
allow Thad’s magic to be put into devastating effect. Crusher
wanted to know if Thad could make magical traps that would only be
triggered by the creatures and not them or any other unsuspecting
being.

After giving it a lot of thought Thad
figured it wouldn’t be impossible for him to make magical traps.
Since they wouldn’t be held he wouldn’t have to worry about the
feedback problem he had been faced with when trying to make rings
with offensive capabilities.

The plan was brilliant as far as Thad
could tell. By keeping his magic a secret the enemy wouldn’t be
prepared for the magical onslaught allowing them to take out large
number of troops very easily. There was still the problem of what
to do when the enemy adjusted for his magic after he began putting
it into effect, but until they knew of how they would respond there
was little they could do to prepare for it themselves.

With the basic plan set out for the
coming war Thad and Crusher settled down for a good sleep not
knowing when the next time it would be afforded to them. Even with
the promise of bloody days ahead Thad had no trouble falling into a
peaceful slumber. It was frightening that he had grown so
accustomed to bloodshed. The fear that he would not only grow used
to the endless battles but also grow to enjoy them much as his
friend did crept into his mind. Thad tried to dispel the fear but
it continued to linger in the back of his mind.

CHAPTER XII

The first day of their personal war
started slow. They had come across a few of the enemy but Crusher
had let them go without challenge. The groups weren’t large and
Thad could not see the reason to let them go but in the end he was
leaving the majority of the choices up to his friend. It was his
war and Thad couldn’t argue that he had vastly more experience in
the subterranean world than he did.

Crusher was using Avalanche by having
her scout ahead using an enchantment Thad had made that allowed him
to see around her with little effort. While the rock dog was loud
the creatures seemed to take little notice after her initial
appearance. They would watch her but other than that they treated
her as a passing curiosity, allowing them to stalk their prey
effortlessly.

Instead of having to describe
everything that was happening around Avalanche to Crusher Thad
linked the new enchantment to a polished piece of the ultra-light
metal. It wasn’t as good as a mirror but with a little magical
assistance they were able to see what was going on. With little to
do and Crusher seeming intent on merely watching their enemies Thad
sat down with his magical tome and began to read.

After four pages into his book Crusher
tapped him on the shoulder grabbing his attention. After a small
pause Crusher pointed at the polished piece of metal. Looking at it
he saw that Avalanche was stalking a small group of only five
creatures. One of the creatures was slightly different than what he
was used to seeing. It had a much larger body standing nearly two
foot taller than its companions. While it was obvious that the
creatures were the same breed they were bred for different
purposes.

It didn’t take long for them to reach
where the creatures were located. The four smaller creatures
carried tools that looked as if they were made for mining while the
large one simply stood behind them looking intimidating. Thad and
Crusher positioned themselves a good distance away and watched them
through the magically linked metal mirror.

They moved slowly, searching the
tunnels intently until they found what they were looking for and
began to chip away at the rock. One of the smaller creatures
accidently dropped its load onto the larger ones foot and was
rewarded with a vicious backhand. From what Thad had seen of the
creatures he had expected the smaller one to attack back but it
simply whimpered and went back to work.

The battle started easily with
Avalanche springing into action and ripping the throat out of one
of the smaller creatures then turning and running back toward where
Thad and Crusher hid. The creatures took the bait and chased after
Avalanche with the larger one leading the charge. Focused on the
dog they didn’t even notice them until Crusher’s axe took the large
one full in the chest.

Surprisingly the larger creature didn’t
die from the attack and pulled the blade of the axe from its chest
and lifting Crusher from the ground as he stubbornly held onto the
axe’s haft. Thad made a cut across the back of the creature’s
outstretched arm causing him to drop Crusher. As soon as he
regained his feet Crusher started hacking at the creature’s leg as
if he was a lumberjack trying to fell a tree. Thad wanted to help
his friend but he had his own worries and he fended off the attacks
of two of the three remaining smaller creatures.

Avalanche was faring much better than
he was as she darted in and out attacking the remaining creature
who was frantically trying to escape her vicious attacks. Thad
didn’t know how much he had begun to rely on his magic until he had
faced off without using it in an offensive manner. He still had his
shield but he had to forcibly refrain himself from using any of his
magic offensively.

Thad had only finished off one of the
creatures when he was joined by both Avalanche and Crusher. With
the three of them the poor creature had little chance and were soon
overwhelmed. With the battle finished Thad and Crusher looted the
bodies taking everything including the clothes from the creature’s
backs. Thad wasn’t sure why they went so far but if that’s what
Crusher wanted to do then he didn’t have a problem with
it.

When their morbid task was done they
returned to their base. Crusher had picked the place out and Thad
had to agree it was perfect for their needs. It was a network of
dead-end tunnels giving Thad and Crusher their own small room.
Their first night there Thad had placed one of his magical walls up
and added an extra enchantment to make it look like the surrounding
walls to both normal vision and nightsight.

The spoils they didn’t need were thrown
in the farthest room. They hadn’t got much of use, a few more of
the weird coins and a couple of gems were all that Thad had found.
Crusher had taken a dagger that looked as if it was of dwarven
make, as well as a couple of the weird coins.

In the largest room Thad had built a
fire pit in the ground and on the far wall Crusher had begun a
large map. It outlined the surrounding tunnels and marked their
recent encounter with a large x. Food was plentiful besides what
they were able to scrounge off the dead creatures, as there was a
nice herd of sheep like creatures not far away.

The creatures looked like sheep though
they had seven eyes and where their mouth should have been there
was a sucker. Thad figured they lived off the moss that grew
thickly in the subterranean tunnels. He had succumbed to eating the
moss before and while it tasted foul it had sustained
him.

While Crusher sat next to the fire pit
sharpening his axe Thad worked on some magical traps. The plan was
to have them set off for anything except them. He had worked with
making an enchantment work only for him but this time it was in
reverse. It wasn’t as easy to do as he had initially thought. While
making it set off by movement was easy and excluding himself was
simple as well. The trouble came from when he tried to add in
Crusher and Avalanche.

It was a fun project for him as he
could finally use spells that he had otherwise considered out of
his reach due to the backflow. Whenever a physical spell was cast
such as fire or lightning, the item channeling the spell also got a
small backlash of the effect. If it was fire the person wearing the
ring would be burnt and if lightning would receive a nasty shock.
He had once tried to replace the metal with wood but that worked
even less as the fire burned or blew apart nearly taking off some
of his fingers.

He had thought about insulating the
metal using a layer of rock but he had yet to try it. Whenever the
idea occurred to him he was too busy to try it and when he had time
it always seemed to skip his mind for other more interesting
ideas.

Currently he was working on a lightning
trap. Just like his paralyzing ring it sought out any nearby bodies
and targeted them. To make sure they didn’t set off the traps Thad
had made, a set of rings that he and Crusher could wear and for
Avalanche he had made a necklace that she could wear around her
neck. There was still the chance she could rub it off but it was
the best thing he could come up with.