Chaosmage (31 page)

Everyone drew their weapons and on Tammy's signal Kovac pushed open the door. Inside the room they found the former occupants. Both priests were dead, a dagger buried in each of their hearts in what appeared to be some sort of suicide pact. Their faces had sunk and the skin was tight, but they showed little sign of decay, making it difficult to know when they'd died.

The sister went to work on the other lock and as she worked Tammy felt something brush against her skin. She glanced at the others to see if they had noticed. Kovac was staring at the door and the others were fidgeting. He held one hand against the edge of the closed door where there was a small gap next to the frame.

“I can feel air moving,” he whispered. The lock clicked open and once again they proceeded with caution.

Beyond this door was a short set of stairs that led down to an empty basement. Tammy and the others stared at a hole in the floor that fell away into a black pit. The flagstones had been ripped up and finally she saw some evidence of the passage of many people. There were numerous scuffmarks on the stones as well as mud and drops of old blood. Rising up from the hole was a musty and damp smell that she couldn't identify, and yet it was familiar.

One of the sisters stripped some of the clothing off the dead priests, which she then lit with flint and tinder. It made for a poor torch and would burn out quickly but it was all they had. The light revealed what looked like a cave or tunnel under the basement. A set of crude steps had been created with chunks of stone which Tammy considered as she drew her sword.

“Are you sure?” asked Kovac, still talking in a whisper.

“We can't turn back now.”

Tammy went first while other makeshift torches were fashioned until they had one each. At the bottom of the rough steps Tammy found she was standing in a long tunnel that extended in both directions. The walls were so cold they felt almost damp to the touch. The mildew smell was much stronger but she still couldn't see anything rotting.

Choosing the left tunnel at random she moved down it before it curved out of sight. The mercenaries followed, the sisters staying at the steps and watching the tunnel in the other direction.

Around the bend the tunnel extended in a straight line for a while before it came to a crossroads. Faced with three options she chose the left fork, determined to at least map the edge of the cave system. It was completely black in the tunnel and there were no natural sources of light, not even any phosphorescent fungus clinging to the walls.

When they reached the next junction Prince stopped suddenly, cocking his head to one side. Kovac tapped her on the arm and they all stood in silence, listening to the crackle of the fire as it ate up the material of the priests' old robes.

Prince tapped his ear and pointed down the passageway on his left. Straining her ears Tammy tried to blot out the pounding of her heart and focus on the darkness beyond. Her breathing and that of the others seemed to be incredibly loud, but there was nothing else to hear. Just the silence echoing over and over. She was just about ready to move on when she heard something. A faint huff of breath.

There was someone else down here. There was no way to know how close they were or how many were hiding in the dark.

Kovac moved to her side until he could whisper in her ear. “We've gone far enough. The torches won't last very long and we don't want to get caught down here in the dark.”

Prince tapped Kovac on the arm again and this time gestured down a different passageway. This time she didn't have to wait long to hear the scuffle of movement against stone.

“Move,” she said, urging Kovac back the way they'd come. He didn't need to be told twice and neither did the others. They raced back, taking the right turn at every junction, shoving the others ahead of them.

She followed the others and tried not to focus on whatever was lurking in the dark behind her. Perhaps spurred on by their sudden flight, something was moving closer and closer behind her. It wasn't trying to hide its presence any more and the rhythmic patter on stone told her it was walking on two feet.

By the time she reached the last bend in the tunnel the sisters and Prince had already gone up the steps into the basement. Each had dropped their torch as they went, creating a pool of light.

Tammy waited until only Kovac was left in the tunnel before moving slowly towards the steps. Taking a risk she threw her torch behind her, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was pursuing them. The torch bounced off the wall and then fell to the ground, where it lay for a moment before someone picked it up.

The man who held it was a stranger but Tammy recognised the writhing black tendrils moving beneath his skin. More surprising was that the Forsaken's skin had started to turn purple in places, as if badly bruised. Even more startling was that when their eyes met he snarled, revealing a set of pointed teeth and a black tongue. She raised her sword and he took a step back, only to collide with something. Looming over his shoulder Tammy caught sight of another face and beyond that several more. All of them had pale purple skin and some had peculiar growths that had erupted from their face and neck.

Turning her back on them Tammy ran for her life. She could hear them giving chase, but it was only a short sprint to the steps and she had long legs. Hands pulled her up the steps and then she span around and waited with the others in a ring around the hole.

When the first Forsaken tried to come up the steps Kovac split open the woman's skull with his sword. She fell back with a scream but three more replaced her and then they started to boil up out of the tunnels like a rising tide. It was a good chokepoint, but after a few minutes of stabbing and shoving them back, Tammy's shoulders and arms were burning and fatigue began to set in.

There wasn't much room to fight, which stopped the Forsaken from overwhelming them, but their numbers seemed to be endless. There appeared to be sufficient bodies to keep this up all day, but she and the mercenaries would eventually tire and slip up. They had to fall back before it was too late.

“Pull back slowly,” said Tammy. “Get ready to lock the door,” she yelled at the sisters. One of them nodded grimly a second before jabbing her sword into a man's face through his right eye. He screamed and fell back into the darkness but others scrambled forward to take his place.

The others withdrew until only Tammy and Kovac held the Forsaken at bay, swinging more wildly now that they had room to attack. Sweat ran down her face and she was breathing heavily, gasping for air in the stale basement as the Forsaken crawled out of the darkness like a walking plague.

“Get out of there!” yelled the sister from the top of the stairs.

“Go!” yelled Tammy, but Kovac shook his head before stabbing a man in the throat.

“We go together,” he said. “Now.”

They both cut into the Forsaken with a final burst of energy and then fell back together, running up the stairs. The moment they were both through the door it slammed shut and the sister went to work on the lock. The other mercenaries piled in, pressing themselves against the door to try and keep it in place. Tammy added her own weight, pushing as hard as she could in readiness for the first assault. Something hit the door from the other side, hard enough to make her grunt, but the door barely shifted. Several people were shuffling around on the other side but by the time they pushed again, one of the sisters was done with the lock. She made a savage twisting motion and snapped her pick. This time when the Forsaken hit the door it didn't move.

Not waiting to see how long the lock would hold they ran out of the church and kept up their pace until they were out of the Dureen district. They slowed finally to a fast walk but no one relaxed until they saw the familiar wall of the winery.

Now that Tammy knew where the Forsaken were hiding, she would normally make a plan to study them. But just as the plague priest had said, assigning human motivations was pointless. They only wanted one thing. She would have to respond in an equally direct fashion.

Right now, the only plan she had in mind involved a lot of fire and smoke to choke them to death in their underground burrow. Failing that, she would call on the Sorcerer, who she was confident could summon fire hot enough to roast them to death.

As they reached the gates of the winery Tammy knew they were safe for now, but she wondered how the Forsaken would react to having their territory invaded. She suspected they wouldn't have to wait long for an answer. It was going to be a long night.

A
s soon as he left the camp Balfruss took precautions, hiding the echo of his connection to the Source. If one of Kaine's students saw him, it wouldn't make any difference, but at least this way they wouldn't be able to feel him getting closer.

It was one of the earliest things he'd learned from the First People. Just after the war he'd left Seveldrom with his father and travelled to live with the tribal people in the north. In less than a year they'd taught him so much about the nuances of magic that he felt like a child again. The majority of what he learned was not anything anyone at the Red Tower had ever been taught. When someone hired a Battlemage they wanted powerful and aggressive magic to force back an enemy. The First People had taught him subtlety and finesse and how to weave magic so delicate a person wouldn't even feel it unless they concentrated.

The First People believed that all life was connected to the Source and that, on a primal level, animals could feel that link. Beyond their normal senses many animals seemed to possess unusual intuition, which helped them avoid predators. People able to wield magic were broadcasting their connection so loudly it made them useless as hunters, unless they could hide the echo of their power.

Weaving a fine net he'd memorised years ago, Balfruss laid it over himself, starting at his heart before miming pulling it tight over his head like a hood. The tribal teachers had laughed at his gestures, as they weren't necessary, but they helped him picture things in his mind. The memory of such a different time in his life brought a sad smile to his face.

Physically nothing had changed but now anyone trying to find him with magic would look right past him.

While holding the net in place he drew a little more power from the Source and extended his senses, stretching his hearing and eyesight beyond that of a normal person. The buildings around him swung into sharp focus until he could see every crack in the stonework and every grain of dirt on the windows. He could hear the faint sighing of the wind through gaps in the stone and smell a change in the air. More snow was definitely on the way.

Holding both weaves in place while reaching for a third would have been impossible for him until after the war. The Grey Council had abandoned their posts as teachers and leaders of the Red Tower, which ultimately led to its downfall. Long before that, they'd undermined the school and its students by hoarding their knowledge. They had known about so many Talents, but very few of them were taught.

Across the west, mages became nothing more than living weapons. In other parts of the world they were teachers, scholars, and people of learning whose counsel was highly valued. The failure of the Grey Council was one of the reasons many students left the Red Tower with a deep sense of wanderlust as they were still hungry for knowledge.

Taking a slightly roundabout route Balfruss retraced his steps towards the ramshackle building from the previous day where he'd found Kaine's students. He checked the direction of the wind and circled the area until he was upwind, just in case they had scouts. Part of him still thought this was an elaborate trap set up by Kaine using his own students as pawns. A little caution wouldn't hurt and could save his life.

Balfruss closed his eyes and scanned the area with his magic, moving very slowly across the buildings. All of them were empty of people and there were no signs of the Forsaken. There hadn't been any indication up to now that Kaine's pupils were working with them, but he was taking nothing for granted. Once he was certain the area was clear Balfruss edged closer to the students' building.

When the building came into sight he hunkered down behind a pile of rubble. At this range he would need to be extremely careful, as even though the students couldn't sense him, they would feel him using magic if it wasn't subtle. It was painfully slow work and it required a lot of concentration, but Balfruss had learned patience while hunting in the emerald jungle. Whether a magic user or not, his tribal hosts had expected him to do his share and that meant putting meat on the table. Now he was hunting quarry of a different kind.

With a filament of magic as fine as a spider's thread, he touched the outer stones of the building. Numerous echoes of magic immediately rang in his ears, like a multitude of heartbeats, but each was slightly different in rhythm and tone. Every person's connection to the Source was unique.

As before, he counted twelve people but took no aggressive action. Instead he expanded the magical threads a little bit further until he could sense more about each individual.

Some of the students were sleeping in a
curtained
-
off
corner of the basement. They were more active during the night, shielding the building and running errands for Kaine despite the threat of the Forsaken. They were also the strongest and oldest students, which made it easier to see a peculiar synchronicity to their dreams. Kaine's fingerprint on their minds had remoulded them into something similar, though this wasn't obvious when they were awake. The others were younger, so the imprecise joins of what their Master had done to their thoughts were easier to see, like weeping sores in the mind. Eventually the wounds would heal over and they would become slaves to him without ever realising it. They would follow his orders and never question them because the idea of doing so would never occur to them.

Hardening his heart about what had to be done, Balfruss seeded more filaments of magic in the building. Instead of extending them towards the people he passed them into the stone walls. The columns supporting the basement had once been well made, but now they were old and one was cracked. Balfruss found pockets of damage in all of them, which he reinforced with magic, pressing it deep into the stone like wet clay. It was delicate work that had to be done slowly so that those inside didn't realise he was there. After an hour of concentrating and gradually trickling magic into the building, Balfruss was sweating and a headache was starting to form behind his eyes. Cramp had set in from sitting in one position for so long that his legs and hips ached, but he persisted and ignored the pain. Sweat was also starting to freeze against his skin as the temperature was falling as the day wore on. The snow was almost here.

Finally the last tiny thread of magic was in place. An earthquake could hit the entire city and Balfruss knew this building wouldn't fall. His magic had shored it up in so many tiny places it was almost indestructible. Drawing more power from the Source he flexed the magical filaments throughout the building, as if clenching a fist, and then quickly withdrew them all simultaneously. The people inside were immediately aware of his presence but not of what he'd done.

Balfruss stood up in plain view of the building and forced himself to watch. The tiny fissures and pockets he'd dug into the building's structure were torn open. The damaged support column cracked even further, then began to slide sideways. Pieces of stone started to trickle into the basement, first a few and then more as the other columns deteriorated, suffering decades of damage in an hour.

With a grinding of stone and a loud rumble, all of the support columns collapsed at once. Tons of stone from the two floors above dropped down onto the basement and a huge cloud of dust rose up into the air. It took only a few minutes but eventually the rubble settled until all that remained of the building was a huge mound of stones and one jagged wall.

Even though he knew what he would find, Balfruss had to make sure. Using magic again he extended his senses into the basement, searching for any signs of life. There were none. Everyone inside would have been killed almost instantly, crushed beneath the rubble before they had a chance to protect themselves.

Bile rose up in the back of his throat but Balfruss forced it down.

The Stones board had been cleared. There was no one left now, just him and Kaine.

Just as he started to turn away he sensed something, a faint prickle of life. At first he thought someone had survived, but after only a few seconds the pulse of life became much louder and stronger. Something was moving towards him with incredible speed. The echo of magic was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. In fact it didn't seem human.

“That's impossible,” he whispered, moving to one side of the street. He stood just inside the open doorway of a building that was moderately intact, checking there was a back door before weaving a shroud of camouflage. Slowly, as the alien pulse of magic became a throbbing drum in his temples, he faded from view and blended in with the stones behind him.

Balfruss heard it long before it arrived, skidding to a halt at the end of the street. The creature was unlike anything he'd ever seen before and he struggled to recognise anything familiar. It was only when it turned to sniff the air and paw at the rubble that he thought there was something vaguely canine about it. It was roughly the size of a bull but it seemed to be part bear and part jackal with huge shoulders and short hind legs. Its leathery skin was deep purple, the same colour as a ripe aubergine, and its whole body was corded with lean muscle. Worst of all was the face. It had an unnaturally long muzzle, dripping with saliva, and a dangling black tongue that lolled as it caught its breath. A heavy bone ridge protruded from its forehead and its
deep
-
set
eyes were a pure emerald green that looked human.

As it scanned the street Balfruss could see it was looking for him as much as using its other senses. With its nose held high, tongue tasting the air and flappy ears tilting one way and then the other, he didn't think it would be long before it found his trail.

Kaine had created this creature. Balfruss could feel the familiar echo of Kaine's magic at work. It should not have had any sort of connection to the Source and yet the heavy thump in his ears told him that part of the creature had once been human.

Using the blackest of magic, Kaine had blended beast and man to create something new and abhorrent. With his students dead he had sent this bloodhound monstrosity to finish Balfruss off.

As he drew a little power from the Source the bloodhound's head whipped around. Balfruss released the power but held on to the weave that concealed his appearance. The bloodhound kept sniffing the air as if it could smell him, or perhaps it had sensed him using magic. It started to drift down the street towards him, glancing in doorways in a very human fashion before moving on to the next. It would reach him in less than a minute.

Balfruss considered a number of options. He didn't think hiding from it would work for very long. Dropping his camouflage Balfruss drew heavily on the Source and immediately released it, directing all of the energy at the bloodhound in a broad wave of force. It hit the bloodhound just as it was turning its head.

The creature was thrown sideways off its feet where it collided with the side of the nearest building. The amount of energy he'd thrown should have been enough to send it through the front wall and out the back. Much to Balfruss's surprise the bloodhound merely slammed into the front wall, shook its head to clear away the grogginess, then turned its eyes on him. It was shielded. Somehow it had shaken off the full force of his magic. His first attack should have killed or at least severely wounded it, but instead it merely looked angry.

Wasting no more time on speculation Balfruss slipped through the door into the building and ran towards the back. The bloodhound crashed into the doorway a second later with enough force to shake the building. Its broad shoulders prevented it from getting inside, even when it tried turning sideways. From the rear doorway Balfruss watched as its massive claws started tearing the stone to create an opening.

Dashing out the back door he ran down a narrow lane between two roads, cut down another alley and continued to
zig
-
zag
across the city using the smallest roads possible. The drumbeat of the bloodhound's connection to the Source faded only slightly before he heard it draw closer again. Its long powerful legs meant it was gaining on him.

Running into the nearest building Balfruss went up the stairs to the top floor and then out onto a flat roof. Making a sharp twisting motion with one hand, he ripped out the stairs on the lower floors. The stone cracked and tumbled away leaving him staring down into a void.

He needed a moment to think but the bloodhound had other ideas. It appeared beneath him in a matter of seconds. Undeterred by the lack of stairs it dug its claws into the outer wall and started to climb.

Taking a couple of seconds to settle himself, Balfruss changed tactics. Drawing more power from the Source he focused it into a tight ball, no bigger than an egg, then poured more energy into it until it glowed like the sun. He could hear the snarling and gnashing of the bloodhound, but didn't let it distract him. When the pain from drawing power from the Source outweighed the drumbeat at his temples he let go, driving the ball of energy down with several tons of force.

Burning as it went, the energy entered the bloodhound's chest and continued to travel down the length of its body before exiting its flank. Screaming in agony and thrashing about, the creature lost its grip on the wall. Dark purple blood gushed from the holes in its chest and back and Balfruss smiled grimly. He was about to finish it when something changed.