Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 53 That’s Suicide!

Lenna had no way of knowing how right or wrong her bet had been. After the first hour was over, the frontline had switched with the reserve soldiers and adventurers. After another hour the last group had been moved in. When it was time for the first group to move back into place they realized that holding for more than six hours was simply not possible. The casters were all out of mana after their second turn, even Alexander, and the frontline was quickly becoming too exhausted to keep it up. The mages had been forced to start meditating as soon as their turn was done but it still wasn’t enough.

Alexander had been forced to do something he really didn’t want to do. Due to his plan they had been caught out with far too much distance between them and the city to make a safe retreat. There were far too many skeletons and even if someone managed to hold a Wall of Flames for long enough to make the skeletons back off, which they had tried on Alexander’s second turn supporting the frontline, as soon as the wall was down the skeletons would start charging again. They had even begun throwing their weapons through the wall.

Alexander summoned up his resolve and threw his pride into the wind. With a gesture and concentrated focus he reached out to someone that he knew would help but would also charge an arm and a leg for it, maybe literally. ‘Lady L’Vore, can you hear me?’ He sent to the woman who lived in his basement, a basement that was already half the size of his tower.

‘Hmm, yes, I can hear you.’ Jala sent back.

Alexander was sure that she had forgotten his name. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time she had used it. He couldn’t keep himself from sighing. ‘How much would it cost me to have you teleport forty people ten miles in a straight line with a clear line of sight?’ He asked her directly.

‘Hmm, it depends on the time frame. I am in the middle of something.’ She replied casually with absolutely no urgency in her message at all. It made Alexander’s eye twitch.

‘Half an hour from now.’ He sent back after he took a quick look over the people he had brought to what had turned into an attempt to stop a tsunami with castle walls. It worked… for a while. ‘They need to be moved within half an hour.’

‘You remember that leaf I ordered?’ Jala returned. ‘I would like you to cover that.’

‘WHAT?’ Alexander couldn’t keep himself from mentally shouting back. ‘That was worth more than my library.’

Jala sent a sigh back to him. ‘Well, I suppose I could make due with an assistant and a lifetime supply of gold paint.’

Alexander winced. ‘I will just contact another court mage to come bail me out if you are going to be unreasonable.’ He countered.

‘Oh!’ Jala replied. ‘You could have just asked your senior for help.’ She replied cheerily.

‘What?’ Alexander couldn’t help but reply. This was why he hated dealing with Jala. He never knew how she would react to anything. One moment she was arguing with him about something arbitrary and calling him a mindless child and the next she was acting like she was a reliable teacher. The worst part was that Alexander had no idea what the real Jala was like. Maybe it didn’t even exist and she just always showed people whatever she needed to in order to get what she wanted out of them.

‘Consider it a favor that you now owe me.’ Jala replied and then in a moment there was a sudden shift in the magic in front of Alexander and Jala materialized as if there weren’t any wards against teleportation around their tower. She really could have left whenever she wanted to. Alexander had always thought that she was capable of it but to actually see it happen so quickly and easily made him feel like he had just made a deal with a fey creature. Maybe he had. At the very least he now owed a witch a favor. A six hundred year old witch no less.

It only took Jala ten minutes to use illusion magic to create the spell sigils for teleportation under all of them. Another ten minutes later and the same sigils were copied over open ground right in front of the nearest city gate. “Thank you, Lady L’Vore.” Alexander told her.

“Yes.” Fable said with a skeptical look on his face. “This would have turned out quite messy without a grandmistress’s help.”

Jala seemed to take notice of the legendary warrior for the first time. She gave him a quick look up and down before her eyes settled onto his arm. “Boy,” She said to Alexander. “I want that arm as my favor. It is full of twisted energies that are parasitic in nature but also full of life and the symbiotic relationship between the living tree and this man’s arm is something that I absolutely must study.”

“I’m afraid that that is outside of my abilities to procure.” Alexander replied diplomatically.

Jala sighed and kicked a rock like a child being told ‘no’. “Fine.” She grumbled. “And here I thought that you were someone important but if that is outside of what you can do then there is no helping it.”

“I am important.” Alexander sighed. “But he is more so.”

Jala suddenly perked up. “So I should have made a deal with him instead?”

“No.” Fable replied. “I know better than to make a deal with a witch.”

“I’m a wizard. A real and proper master of mana and magic. Don’t call me something that you know nothing about.” Jala chastised The Glinting Blade like he was a teenager who had just mouthed off about something he had no business knowing. Those few that were listening to their conversation all shared looks of concern and worry. No one had ever talked down to The Glinting Blade like that.

After a moment of silence Fable nodded to her. “I apologize, grandmistress L’Vore. Please, continue with the rescue of our men.” He told her diplomatically.

It was in that moment of total focus on Jala and Fable that Alexander noticed something. Jala’s robes had been altered in a way that he hadn’t noticed before. There was another layer of fabric stitched over top of the actual robe. The fabric seemed to be heavier than it should have been when she moved and it also looked almost stiff. His eyes widened in shock. She had enchanted her own robes without anyone knowing with metallic thread of some kind that he had no way of knowing where she acquired it. Alexander swallowed hard.

Jala frowned at Fable and Alexander. “You really are a useless junior.” She told Alexander. “You act like a bureaucrat that uses magic instead of a real wizard. Fix that so you can pay me back for this.” She then snapped her fingers and they were all instantly in front of the gate. She hadn’t maintained physical contact with any of them like teleportation usually required and she hadn’t even used an incantation. Everything was done with runic arrays made out of illusory light and her massive mana pool.

Jala visibly sagged after the mass teleportation. “Now, don’t bother me again unless it actually concerns me.” She told Alexander. “And get rid of those bones before their perversion of death messes with any of my experiments.” She turned to leave but then stopped. “Actually, if that is Shamsha, make sure I get the fragments of his heartstone.” She then snapped again and was gone.

“Wait-” Was all Alexander could get out before she was gone.

“Does she know about this threat?” Fable questioned Alexander.

“That’s what I want to know.” Alexander replied. “But we don’t have time for that. Fable, organize the defense here. I’ll go make sure we can get all of the mushroom farmers inside before the undead run them over.”

Fable nodded curtly. “Edward!” He called out. “Organize the defense!” He ordered the Guild Master. Fable then started stalking towards the incoming horde with both swords drawn. “I’ll soften them up.”

“You better not die on me, you old bastard.” Edward threatened.

“That is why there is a cleric in town.” Fable replied casually. “I’m not done putting down threats to humanity yet.”

Shy turned to her best friend and party member. “Fina, how long can you maintain Invisibility?” She questioned her team’s sorceress.

“I need some time to rest.” Fina replied honestly. “Maybe ten minutes? Would Shroud work?”

Shy shook her head. “You have until Fable makes contact to refill your reserves.” She explained. “He needs help.”

“Shy, that’s suicide!” Fina scolded.

A woman, a native, Eleonora, sighed next to them. “Bart, hit me up with Quicken. I’ll thin some of them out on the way back.”

“No.” Edward spoke calmly but loudly enough for all of them to hear. “All of you are going to climb the wall and wait until the undead arrive. Casters are forbidden from casting anything that isn’t Fireball or Wall of Flames. Everyone else, rest up while you can.” He ordered them. “Move. Now.”

No one looked happy about it but he was the Guild Master for a reason. Edward Sasston had fought in multiple wars and even more skirmishes. The only person among them who had more experience was Fable who had promptly tossed everything into Edward’s lap. “But what about Fable?” Shy questioned even as she was complying with his order.

“Fable can handle himself.” Edward replied with pure confidence. “Worry about the city and all the civilians that can’t stand up against one undead soldier let alone thousands.”

“How many do you think we’ve killed?” Esk asked.

Edward shook his head. “You were supposed to keep track of your own kills.” He told the platinum adventurer. “I have no idea. Too many to count. Most of the cities on the surface would’ve been buried under them by now.”

“That’s because they are out in the open and full of rookies.” Esk shot back.

Edward nodded. “Yes, we’ve been lucky to have not lost anyone yet. It will not stay that way if Isaac and Lenna don’t end this soon.” He gestured towards the incoming horde as bells all across the city began to ring. “We need a miracle…” Edward’s voice trailed off as he realized something. “Jared!” Edward called out to the most outspoken garrison member that had joined them. “Go tell Cel what’s going on! Maybe we’ll get our miracle!” Jared nodded and took off in a run towards The Celestial Dawn. Edward knew the man was exhausted, they all were, but Jared showed no sign of slowing down.

Edward sighed. “What is it?” A voice came from next to him. Marie seemed to have just appeared out of thin air.

“It was supposed to be seven thousand undead soldiers.” Edward complained and watched as the skeletal menaces poured out of the tunnel like a kicked anthill. “Seven thousand of them have already been killed.”

“Where did all their armor go after you destroyed them?” Marie questioned.

“Half of it was burned to ash and the rest was trampled under foot. It was rust in the rough shape of armor.” Edward explained. “It had formed a ramp up to our shield wall before Jala L’Vore, of all people, came and bailed us out. They were about to start cresting the shield wall on the remains of their comrades.”

“Won’t the same just happen at the city walls?” Marie questioned.

Edward nodded. “Yes. Probably in less time.”

Marie looked at him with some confusion. “Why quicker?”

“They won’t have to wait for their comrades to be killed to start piling up.” Edward replied and walked inside the city. Once he and Marie were ten feet inside the city, the gate slammed down and a sergeant met him.

“We are at your disposal, sir.” The sergeant said and saluted him.

Edward sighed again. “Find everything explosive in the city and bring it to the top of the wall. We need to keep them from climbing the walls.”

The sergeant nodded once. “Yes, sir.” He agreed and began ordering his men around.

“This reminds me of Moucastle.” Edward said to Marie.

“I’ll pack Sera up.” Marie replied. “Don’t die on me Eddy.”

Edward turned to look at Marie but she was already gone. “I’ll do my best.” He whispered, unsure if she could still hear him, and turned to look through the iron grate that sealed the city off from the oncoming wave of the dead. “I’ll do my best.”